A Day With Clayton And Jackie
Today Marilyn and I drove over to Oregon City to visit with Clayton and his wife Jackie. Clayton was the CEO (then called Executive Manager) of the festival when Marilyn first worked there. Eventually Marilyn became his executive secretary.
We knew Jackie quite well, as she was very active with the festival and was around a great deal (unlike other wives of the various CEOs since Clayton). and Clayton always had a delight sense of humor. Marilyn and Clayton used to play some really amusing pranks on one another! One time we filled his large office with balloons! He had photos of that among his keepsakes today.
Clayton wanted to give Marilyn a bunch of his festival stuff, so we went there to have him pull things out and share the stories with us. He and Jackie are a remarkable team -- when he can't recall a name or person, Jackie always can.
We were there for hours. Clayton, Jackie and I had wine, and Marilyn had a cup of tea, while we visited. We used our GPS (on my phone) to find their home in Oregon City. Worked like a charm. They just moved into this new home a month ago. They'd been living at the beach for the past 19 years. Their house was just finished in 2014. Really very lovely.
Such a trip down memory lane! Jackie had bought a scrapbook from the early years (1900's) with large, lovely photos of festival floats that I can't wait to scan! And she gave Marilyn this lovely, delicate glass keepsake with 75 in the center. It was made by a vendor at the festival center during the 75th year, and given to Jackie, and she wanted Marilyn to have it.
There's a ton of items, including stacks of souvenir programs, something we're always on the lookout for. Clayton and Jackie know that Marilyn and I are very protective of the historical items of the festival. Marilyn is truly considered the historian of the festival. she knows so much about it.
I think it's wonderful that they wanted to pass these things along to our care. I can't wait to start sorting through all of it.
It was EXHAUSTING, though! We stopped on the way home to get a bite to eat. Then after having our dinner, we both took a long, long nap.
Tomorrow we need to go shopping. (We'd thought we might get to it today, but the visit with Clayton and Jackie ran much longer than we'd expected.) We also need to get manicures. Anyway, we have some errands to take care of tomorrow.