Index of Profiles:

"A Kid Named Joey"

Helen Bitar

Jerry Storvick

Henry Schatz (Follow-Up)

Neal Dempsey (Follow-Up)

Carl Fynboe

Johnny Greek

Henry Schatz

JoAnn Tatum Hattner

This is a delightful book that most if not all of us in the class of 1959 would enjoy, appreciate, 

and relate to. Joe Kempston wrote it with the intention of providing his kids and grandkids 

with information about his life from childhood into his life as a husband, father, and 

grandfather. It has turned out to be not only an interesting account of his time at Clover Park, 

but it is also about a life full of experiences that we can all relate to on several levels.

When I became aware of the book, I was curious about it because I knew Joe all through 

junior high and high school. We were in the band together for most of that period. And for 

those of us who were acquainted with Joe, we knew him to be a pleasant, good-natured, all-

around good person. That and much more about Joe comes out in his story. 

And there is so much in his story that will remind you of how little we know about our 

classmates, even our friends. He includes many people and experiences that are familiar to 

us and many others to which anyone can relate. As he writes about his life experiences with 

his parents and siblings and his life after Clover Park, not only is it interesting, but one can’t 

help but relate their own experiences when reading about Joe’s. It occurred to me how 

interesting it would be if all our classmates wrote an autobiography. Can you imagine how 

much we would learn about each other that we didn’t know?

This is a fun and interesting read not only for Joe’s classmates but for anyone who has had to 

navigate life into adulthood. If you enjoy a book that makes you smile and that is filled with 

experiences with which you relate, then you will enjoy A Kid Named Joey. Here are some of 

the several sources where it is available: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google Books. A 

Google search will show several more sources.

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Many of us knew Helen Bitar from our high school days.  Some knew her in junior high school and others from elementary school.  Regardless of where our connection with her began, we remember the friendly smiling face walking down the hallway, sitting in class, in the lunchroom, or maybe it was during an assembly or sports event where she was cheerleading.  Wherever it was, that smiling, friendly face was there.  What many of us did not know was what was behind that smile. As it turned out, a highly creative and talented mind was waiting to be unleashed in the art world.

Before embarking on her destined future, here is a bit about her life, beginning with her early years in her family in her own words.

“I was born in Centralia, Washington.  We lived in Raymond, Washington, which was the place my 

father was born.  He was first generation in this country.  He was Syrian until I was the age of twelve 

and then I was told his homeland was Lebanon instead. His parents came to Alaska first.  Then they 

moved to Raymond.  He had a department store. He had a wonderful garden. There were two brothers 

and two sisters besides my father.  They all had a special presence about them.  My father was a lawyer 

and a prosecutor for a small town. He had been in the reserves when he was in college so now it was 

time to serve besides the war was starting.  My mother stayed in the town for longer than she realized 

when a friend, a man, told her she needed to move  otherwise the brothers would keep an eye on 

her.”

“We moved to Lakewood, Washington.  She had gone to college for a short time but then honed her 

skill in being a secretary.  After my father was killed in WWII, he was honored by having the second 

most important street on Fort Lewis named after him. My mother became the secretary for the 

Commanding General.... I have 8 by 10 pictures of them.  Once we were at a neighbor’s house... sitting 

in the living room and hearing about who got awards at Fort Lewis, my mother got one.”

“Where we lived was not far from where the Villa Plaza was to be built. The reason I say that is

because from our house we could see Mt. Rainer very closely.  Did I feel that the mountain is

beautiful? The answer is no.”  I recall what my mother sister and I would do often on Sunday... that 

was to go for a ride around Lakewood.  There were lots of roads... people have said they were the 

paths the cows took so many years before.  We most often got an ice cream cone and listened to the 

radio, which had mystery stories on.  So much fun.  I mostly have a clear image of the development 

being built across where the Clover Park Drug store was and a beauty shop.  I remember how we 

studied one of the houses being built.... it had all been framed in.  Building was in my blood from 

a very early age.  Besides that, my mother had real estate men friends who sold old and new houses.  I 

do remember a development that was made up of single-family homes. The houses were ready for 

men who were coming back from Korea.  Thinking of those houses, I remember the huge development 

in Daly City by San Francisco.  Do you remember the song by Pete Seeger? Little Boxes? In my mind it 

was another reminder never to live in a house like that...in any form of suburbia. And even more of 

an influence on me was when I was very young and got the book... The Little House.  All the stages it 

went thru until it was moved back to the countryside?

Helen’s pursuit of her passion for art after graduation from old CP.

“Actually, the State of Washington is all its own style.  What do I mean? Well, it was cold.  Houses 

were not well insulated.  There were many days of dark, damp, low overcast.  I say that if one is 

an artist... like there were many...I realized later... the weather was perfect. Good concentration, no 

distractions from the outside world.  But because of that when the sun shined. I and many others had 

to be outside to rejoice in the sunshine.  Early on, when I lived in San Francisco for a year and then 

New York City for a year, I knew, by discovery that having a regular job, which I tried, could not work 

for me.  Almost even today in my life I marvel at how many people accept? or tolerate being inside a 

building working.”

“I had to think about what kind of job I could tolerate.  I did have a job driving an early Volvo in San 

Francisco picking up blood specimens around town.  The lady who owned the company was all-

powerful and of course, one wanted to respect her.  She sort of taught me how to drive the very steep 

hills in the city... I had to stop in the middle of the hill, and using an old-fashioned clutch, continue 

climbing the hill.  Not a good experience in any form.  At least I conquered that challenge.”

“When I was in college, I got to know a wonderful woman, who I would have lunch with at her 

House.  She wanted me to learn a form of old-fashioned embroidery.  I like her so much, but I did 

not want to learn what she proposed.  But there was another woman who worked in the library of 

the Home Ec department that I met for some reason. She was exploring macrame and taught me 

how to do it.  She wrote a book on the subject.  I ended up teaching it in New York City at the 

Craft Student League.  It was in 1973, and macrame was very popular. There was a lady who was 

kind of doing something like that but using a big white robe.  I was so inspired by her work... I kind of 

wanted to copy her.  I took a few pieces I had made to the Craft Museum in the city and the head 

guy told me... that it was not me. My style was using color like in my stitchery. I left New York City at 

the end of the year... but was sad that I could have had a job at the Brooklyn Museum Art School.”

“I came across the country with a new partner. Details are not needed, but I lived in a neighborhood 

that was so special... I had dreamed of living in Greenwich Village, which was the epicenter of the 

1960's counterculture movement. The neighborhood in Portland was full of very creative people 

 and a craft gallery was not that many blocks away. I decorated my front yard with cut-out wood 

carvings which I painted.  People would stop and take a picture of themselves in front of the yard. 

The place was a very vital living organism thru the years... until I had to move.”

“There became high rises along the river and if I had stayed in the upstairs apartment of the house I

would have lost my view of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen's. I had been so inspired by the view I had

out my bedroom window of the mountain... seeing the sunrise... often so red and recreating the

image doing applique... besides making another quilt of the mountain in the day.  And not to be

forgotten was the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's ... an important visual from my bedroom window. I

paid for a brick that said Saint Helen in the main square of downtown Portland.”

Eventually, Helen settled in Oregon where she has found peace and happiness.

“After my leaving, which my girlfriend landlady said I needed to do... and a certain number of years 

later if I had lived there, I would no longer have been able to see the mountain because of the high 

rises.  My heart would have been broken.  I had visited friends in Northern California... artists of 

course, who had built their handmade houses.  One guy built or was always in the process of 

building a five-sided house.  I was so inspired.  The only way to have a home was to first buy the 

land... like so many people did in the hippy movement. One would not be able to go to a bank.  I 

looked for land. I found 41 acres.  My neighbor in the city was a prominent wood carver with 

very interesting and unusual traits. He had a strong attitude of how he thought about things.  He 

also acted in plays in Portland.  He was looking for land.  So, we ended up buying the land in one day 

and split it. Did we know or think or understand what had happen in Oregon right around that 

time? The answer was no.  We were lucky to have the right amount of land.”

“I did not complete the sketch of what Oregon was compared to Washington. I did not know that my 

relatives homesteaded in Sheridan... so many years ago. The amount being 600 acres. I never really 

thought about or delved into other relatives.  I would go to the summer gathering in Sheridan to try 

and understand about the relatives. I was disappointed because the women had no time except for 

that day. I do not know how it happened that I realized who my great grandmother was. My mother 

would not talk about Martha Bean except to tell me that she was embarrassed when Martha would 

come to the school to give a speech.  My mother said she would sink down in her chair...Martha had 

married my mother's grandfather who was so kind and sweet and loving.  Martha was a go-

getter.  They did divorce later after a child. Martha needed to speak out in the world. She was the 

daughter of Mr. Newby... who was very important and founded McMinnville Oregon.  And gave land 

to make Linfield College. Imagine that.  I came full circle to my homeland. In fact, behind me on the 

land that Hampton Lumber owns is a pioneer cemetery with a relative of mine from so long ago.” 

“But back to what Oregon is...it is not melancholy like California where the beauty is so perfect it 

seems untouchable.  Oregon does not scream I am grand instead it stands silent and strong in its 

beauty, which for all of us we had Tom McCall the governor... the man with a vision.  I remember 

when I lived in New York hearing about the bottle bill in Oregon. What a great thing that was done 

and then there was the rule that the ocean beaches were for all of us. Oregon's birthday is on 

Valentine's Day.  I always need to remind people that on that day... no one is left out... everyone gets 

to be loved.  Finally, there became the land use bill in about 1974... around the time I bought my 

land.  Was I really aware? No.  But as time went by and I observed how some people did not want 

to follow the rule, I thought it was such a good idea Tom would say to outsiders come and visit but 

do not stay.”

“Moving into resolve... like working for a company one's whole life, works for some artists.  I had 

thought it would be my way too, but there got to a point ... that jurors had favorites... instead of 

being unbiased.  I became glad it ended because I saw how creating had the habit of circling in on 

myself.”

Challenges along the way to creating her dream home in Oregon.

“After I bought my land with a price I could afford.  You might not be aware or remember so many 

years ago land was not very important.  Of course, the process of having a life on the land was a 

large ordeal. Like lots of bells and whistles. My road was put in in sections because my hill was 

steep.  I would not say that anyone really knew how to construct a road well.  It was some years

later that I spend a lot of money on fixing my road because a spring was in the middle of the road... 

there had to be digging down seven feet to quiet the passage of the water upward.  Finally... I was 

safe and secure.  There was the need for water... I learned to watcher witch.  Electricity was put 

underground and of course the most important thing was a septic tank.  To fulfill the dream took a 

long time.... boyfriends... helpers...workers... step by step. Finally getting out to the country... living 

in my cabin with wood heat, I felt like I lived in Eastern Europe because my big living room was my 

outside.  I became a member of the Hardy Plant Society.  Ordered lots of catalogs.  Bought small 

special plants.  I went on tour trips to Europe to visit gardens... through the Society.”

“Making my house was very homegrown like so many of the handmade houses in the seventies.

Certain things were necessary like having five entrances; I grew up with that concept when I was 

young.  Our house was built by a couple... the woman was the grandmother of a girlfriend from high 

school.  She was a chip carver.  Her many dining room cupboards were very European old-looking 

because of the technique of chip carving.  There was the front door, side door, bedroom door 

back-room sunroom door, and patio door.  I would have felt trapped without lots of ins and outs... of 

course, the cats rarely use their cat door...they choose... depending on their mood... which floor to 

enter. I needed to make curved ... arched interior doorways or for divided rooms... why.... because I 

had one in my upstairs apartment in an old Victorian house in Portland, Oregon.”

“Because color is important in houses... I would visit paint stores and buy seconds.... Each of my 

rooms has a variety of colors in it. My upstairs TV room is mostly very dark green... like being in a

forest... which highlights the window view of my land. I have red curtains with some sequence.

People who have visited through the years saw my place as a feel of Hollywood and also, a place to 

have parties.... one would say I had rooms. Of course, it would never be my style to have parties in 

my private home.”

“Early in my life, I studied where the sun came into a place I was living... such as living on the wrong 

side of the street in San Francisco.  Or always being aware of the sun leaving in the afternoon in 

Portland because the tall hill behind me blocked the sun.  Yes, I could see the sun across the river 

and over to the East side.”

“When I used to garden, I could listen to talk radio from Portland and partake in the conversation. 

Fun fun fun.  But now I suppose I shamefully say I am addicted to what used to be Twitter. Not 

Facebook. Facebook... I think that is just friends and family. I am in the world... or rather the world is 

my home. What did I learn in school when I was young.... not much, but now I am educated every 

day by twitter.... I know who killed Kennedy... I know what happened on 911. The secrets are 

unfolding, and the picture is not pretty. There are many things about health on X.  I worked in 

explaining about fluoride in Sheridan and now it will soon not be allowed in the water.  

“I have become very obsessed with dark skies.... because down in the valley maybe three football

fields away from me is a pole plant from Canada... on a Superfund site.  Their lights come into my 

bedroom as shadows in the corner.  The struggle with making change is constantly difficult.  I also 

deal with the state highway.  I know a lot of the guys and one lady in charge. Movement in different 

forms is so difficult like the flashing red lights I see from afar.”  

“Before spring we cut down three tall oak trees that blocked the southern sun. We also had cut a 

very tall fir tree on my road coming up the hill... I often feel sad that it is gone as it was a good 

friend...but it did block a section of the west where the sun does appear.”

“Every day I of course look out at my place... having pictures of course that remind me of what my 

place looked like in the seventies.... I had a naked circle of views of faraway land.... the Chinese 

would say... you own all that you see. But now, because of my yard with beautiful Italian Cypresses, 

thirteen of them, and a variety of other trees and my many fir and oak trees, I am almost smothered 

by my landscape.  I do have a better view on the second floor and third floor.” 

“I love to go for rides sometimes..... one sees so much land.... the very large rolling hills are not like 

the dry golden land in Calif.  and it is not a bunch of fir trees... as I remember when I was young in 

Washington.  People from somewhere have homesteaded on Oregon land.  They have a perfect 

yard...with mostly grass. No trees for the birds to sit in. Even more so there are a few Homes that are 

located on a high hilltop.  They are large and perfect.  I can see a patio with places to sit... I say to 

my friend who drives around working for the county... what is this... these houses are high up on a 

huge hill...of course with a perfect circular vista.  He said that seems to be the style now. No trees 

anywhere.... just naked huge rolling hills for miles.” 

“I remember driving up to Tacoma and knowing there was no land use and how every inch is filled 

up there because 'they can.’  The weather changes about every three days.  We get beautiful 

rainbows. We are either affected by the East Winds or the Ocean fronts.  Our days are not stagnant 

with heavy low-hanging cover of grey...but too we do not have water like Washington has.  Today I 

went to Costco in Salem.  It was raining a lot of the day. I was surprised to see so many people in the 

store and for some reason people were so friendly.... friendly smiles...like one big family, which is 

really what Oregon is about.... friends are like a family.”

Through all her adventures after leaving high school, Helen was able to pursue her passion of 

creating art.  She pursued it at the University of Washington, New York City, San Francisco, and she 

eventually found her roots and a lifestyle that makes her happy.  She has made many friends during 

her journey and greatly enjoys meeting new people, including strangers on the street or in Walmart.  

She has a natural curiosity, so she easily engages with people.  She found a peaceful place to live in 

Oregon near McMinnville, which connects her to her family’s history.  She also enjoys the peace of 

the property with the deer and other wild animals that comfortably roam regularly and the silence.

“Being an artist might be because of being different and creating gave so much welcoming

care.  Even though I do not make objects, I write stories of my experiences in life and send them

to my friends.  I also take pictures and go to Walmart every Friday to develop them and of course,

send them to my friends who are not in my email circle.”

“A girlfriend sent me a birthday greeting expressing who I was!!!!!! She said… you give all of your 

being to any and every cause and obstacle you see fit to be improved; unabashedly committed.  

When fearlessly putting together a harmonious and authentic experience you have the honor and 

the power to living this life as All yours.”

(More of Helen's Photos)

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A Fond Rememberance of Jerry Storvick
Faculty Icon and Very Special Teacher
A Rich Life Lived: 12-31-1929 to 3-3-2018



We were fortunate to have many excellent teachers at Clover Park High School.  Each of us has 2 or 3 or more who we can remember as our favorites or as someone who had a special impact on our life.  If we were able to see a list of all of our classmates showing those teachers, my guess is that Jerry Storvick would be mentioned often and maybe most often. 

Jerry was not only a good Social Studies and Contemporary Affairs teacher, he made every class fun and interesting.  And he had a way about him of making every person he spoke with feel that they were a special person.  And, Jerry really did feel that we each had something special to offer.  Each of us who had Jerry as a teacher, or simply knew him has a fondly-remembered incident or experience to recount.

If you have something to share that you remember about Jerry, please share it with us.
 

Here is the Obituary that appeared in the Tacoma and Olympia newspapers this past weekend:

 

Jerry Storvick, 88, was born in Albert Lea, MN on 12-31-1929. He died on 03-03-2018 in Lacey, WA. Jerry attended high school in Albert Lea, MN and then spent four years in the U.S. Navy. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wyoming with a Master of Education in Educational Guidance. He worked as a teacher, a high school counselor, and a public services coordinator from 1957-1990. He held local, state, regional, and national offices in counseling services to high school students. He is survived by sister-in-law, Lynn Storvick, and family in Columbia, MO. He appreciates family, neighbors, friends, students, their families, and staff with whom he worked. He wishes everyone could receive as much personal satisfaction and gratification from their choice of life work as he did. "Always look for the good in others. It is there," he was known to say. No local services are planned. Interment will take place at Round Prairie Lutheran Church in Glenville, MN.

Published in The Olympian on Mar. 11, 2018

Neal Dempsey - Update to 2013 Profile

As for our original questions, “When will he slow down?”, When will it all stop?”, we hope not for a long time.  We’re all a little better off because of your contributions and your efforts.   Keep up your good works, mighty warrior!