School district clerk enjoyed an awesome job

Marilyn Strange retired last week from the Naselle Grays River Valley School District after more than three decades of service. She's not sure what she's going to do with her time, but she's certain she will no longer be the oldest person working at the school. It's someone else's turn to be that.

Not that she's very old, but 35 years feels like a long time.

"I've been here so long it's time for somebody else to pick up the duties, Strange said. "I remember when I was the youngest and now I'm like everyone's parent or grandparent."

Strange grew up in another small town on the McKenzie River in Oregon. She went to McKenzie River High School and eventually made her way to the Portland area, living and working in Beaverton. It was there that she met her future husband, Jim.

After 10 years away, he wanted to return to his hometown, Naselle, and he brought his new bride with him. She'd known small town life, but it had been her own hometown. The new one did not welcome her with open arms.

"Jim thought he had died and gone to heaven," Strange said, "but I thought I had died and gone to hell because this is not an easy community to move into. I think it's better now, but back then it was quite an adjustment."

Strange had gotten used to life in Beaverton and she found the home she was making three miles up Salmon Creek to be altogether too quiet, even with the noise of a new child.

"There wasn't even traffic to watch," Strange said with a laugh.

She joined a local softball team and that helped a little.

When her child was two, Strange found a job at the school as a remedial assistance aide. She taught reading to kids at the Rosburg School for two hours each day.

One day a middle school student approached her and asked, "What do you think," turning his head to and fro.

Strange looked at him and paused, not certain what he wanted, not certain what he was referring to.

"My dad taught me to shave last night," he told her.

She laughs now.

"Some of the things kids say!"

Strange drove a bus, worked as an aide, a special education aide and in or around 1991, began working in the School District Office.

"I really enjoy the kids but I had been a secretary in Portland, so I had secretarial skills, more so than teaching skills," Strange said. This was a better fit. She was still around children, but she could use her skill set.

"I'm not out in the halls a lot, but the little kids will come in and give you a big hug," Strange said. "I'm going to miss those little kids and their smiles. By the time they get to be seniors they finally get to know you and realize you are a person."

Some students worked as aides in the office. She taught them some general office duties while they were there and enjoyed the interactions, sometimes building a bond. Two of her six grandchildren were aides.

One of them was filling out a job application and thought of his grandma as he folded it and placed it in an envelope.

"I learned that from you, Grandma," he told her. It was obvious she was pleased to be remembered for such a little thing.

Strange worked for nine superintendents during her 35 years. Many students have come and gone in that time. Grown men and women will approach her and while she's scrambling to put a name to a face, they know exactly who she is.

"You never change," they tell her.

"I was always an adult to them, so of course I never changed, she said, "but they change so much."

"This job has been my life for all these years," Strange said. "I appreciate the time that I've been here. I got up in the morning and I wanted to go to work. I came early and stayed late. It's been an awesome job."

"I've always worked," she added. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do now."

One of her sisters who lives in Beaverton is hopeful that Strange will join her in some activities. Strange isn't certain. Two of her grandchildren have graduated but four more are still making their way through the grades.

"They'll be involved in sports, Strange said, "so I'll still be involved. I'll probably volunteer at the school."

And she's young and healthy, so she wants to do some things while she still can. So long as her husband, two kids, their spouses and six grandchildren are nearby.

"We're a happy dozen," she laughed.

She may not know what she wants to do, but she wants to be there when it happens.