By Acasia Berry, Development Director
I am on a quest to meet our longest standing members. To my delight I met with Ruth Blackburn a few weeks ago and I left so inspired.
Ruth first joined Columbia River United in 1994, a founding organization of Columbia Riverkeeper. She and many others came together to advocate for cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Site, protest the shipment of nuclear waste up the river, and reduce toxic pollution.
Ruth lives in the home she and her husband built with a huge view of Mt. Hood and a porch lined with bird feeders and flowers. I was greeted at her door with a big smile and a warm hello. Stepping in I knew instantly I liked this woman and I was going to have a fun visit. Her home is a museum and everywhere I looked there was an interesting story; the instruments she and husband built and played, the antiques on the wall, the costume jewelry hanging from the rafters, the photos of her and the trophies she has won.
A native Oregonian, Ruth grew up outside of Eugene in a logging family. She loved growing up in the woods and shared a story of the young raccoon her mother rescued from a forest fire and raised. She loves the fir forest of the west side, opting out of events that would take her to the oaks and grassland. She does not understand why anyone would want to spend time where it is hot and dry.
She embraces adventure and welcomes new experiences with a wry smile. She took up windsurfing in the 80’s, when the sport was just taking off in the gorge and continued surfing into her mid 80’s. She loves parades and rides the large trike her husband built her, powered by an old Maytag washing machine engine. She moved her bed to the porch for the summer so she could see the stars and moon at night. She loads in the wood to keep the stove burning in the winter.
I asked her why she supports Columbia Riverkeeper and so many other conservation organizations and she exclaimed “I am a nature nut” I want to be just like Ruth when I grow up.
