Ellie Gunn: Sharing the Linfield experience on eve of another graduation
A great deal happened during my time as circulation manager at Linfield University’s Northup Library from 1985 to 1989.
I was the staff liaison for several events, including two Nobel laureate symposia, where I met some amazing people. The distinguished roster included Elie Wiesel, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Frances Moore Lappé and Jimmy Carter.
All those amazing people inspired the students and staff to be more active, leading to the creation of an Amnesty International chapter and Linfield Students for Peace group. And after hearing from speakers and students about the deplorable conditions Black South Africans endured under Apartheid, Students for Peace petitioned Linfield’s governing board to divest stock in corporations supporting the South African government.
At a hearing on the petition, Sara Anne, a South African student who worked at the library, told the board about the very real discrimination her family endured when she tried to take her seriously ill mother to a hospital. She said her mother was refused admission and treatment simply because she was Black.
After hearing her testimony, and viewing a Power Point presentation about the corporations profiting from Apartheid, the board voted to begin moving the school toward a South Africa-free investment portfolio.
We were all surprised but very pleased by the board’s decision. We went outside and laughed and hugged one another. It was a very successful beginning for Students for Peace.
After I left my job at Linfield, I continued to work with Linfield students, helping launch the Community Garden and providing housing for students in need.
I had many friends who were students at Linfield. They helped with the garden and talked to me about their past experiences and future goals.
One student had a very traumatic childhood, but created a new life for herself with the help of friends she made at Linfield. We continued to keep in touch through e-mail, and now she’s a parent in a position to help other young people find their way.
One of the students who stayed at our house took care of our garden during our first trip to England and Scotland. Forging relationships with students like that was a real gift for me.
In 2011, I started the Banner Project to help the Yamhill Community Action Partnership raise funds for a much-needed new building.
Linfield faculty sponsored a banner I made out of purple and red fabric. It was embroidered with the handprints of students, faculty and staff members making donations to the cause.
When I finished the project, I wanted someone to take photos and create a Shutterfly booklet. I met Katricia Stewart as a Linfield Community Volunteers event, and she agreed to take it on.
We have been friends ever since. I taught her how to play cribbage and enlisted her to help with our garden project, and she took photos on campus to illustrate this piece.
I continued meeting with students and teaching them gardening and mediating skills over the years. And that’s one way the school continues to fulfill its longstanding “Linfield matters” theme - people helping one another and working for peace.
As Linfield prepares to usher the Class of 2026 into adulthood in Sunday ceremonies, I think it’s worth reflecting on what that means on the other end, as experienced by Katricia, from the Class of 2015, and Beth Satterwhite, from the Class of 2010.
Katricia:
While I didn’t recognize it at the time, I can look back and trace the arc of my professional career and personal growth to the people and experiences at Linfield.
I double-majored in music and psychology, and both departments offered a rigorous education, along with room to explore. In psychology, my academic advisor helped me secure three research grants, which meant paid summers doing genuine research and my first taste of what it meant to be a scientist.
Members of the faculty paid such close attention that they once overheard me talking with another student about my interests and suggested a very specific graduate program that was aligned with the kind of research I wanted to do.
Before that point, I’d never considered graduate school. But that nudge led to me earning a Ph.D. in community psychology and embarking on a career in support of individual and community well-being.
In the music department, the faculty gave me room to explore, to grow in my own direction at my own pace, without judgment, along with a superb education in music that I value and draw on still.
Linfield offered small classes, high standards and professors who cared enough to pay close attention. Beyond the academics, the extracurricular experiences I had shaped who I became as a person and as a citizen of the world.
I would not have been able to attend Linfield if it weren’t for the very generous academic and music scholarship aid I received when I was accepted. Those scholarships made the incredible Linfield education affordable to me and my family.
I am so grateful for my time there. That’s why Linfield matters to me.
Beth:
My experience at Linfield fostered a diverse range of skills and interests that apply to entrepreneurship, and gave me the courage to take a chance on myself.
I started my McMinnville business, Even Pull Farm, in 2013. I continue to operate it today, serving our local community through growing food and flowers.
The farm is truly a blend of my passions, which I discovered and defined during my time at Linfield. I am grateful I was able to explore there.
In conclusion, if you agree that Linfield matters, please join me in making a donation to support scholarships for students. You can find all the help you need at https://linfield.edu/giving.
Remember, tend and dream
Here among the oaks, a life takes the shape it must to thrive.
The camas bloom and ask that we remember, tend, and dream:
a place, you see, can only be made with the place itself in mind.
Imagine salmon boiling up this creek.
The camas bloom and ask that we remember, tend, and dream,
the way we love the shine of beakers, the smell of books, of paints.
Go ahead, imagine kings and silvers boiling up this creek;
imagine waking and saying yes to every hour’s toil and joy.
You love the shine of beakers, the smell of books or paints-
why choose anything other than what you love?
Imagine saying yes, and yes again, to every hour’s toil and joy.
Here we aim to build such braver, truer hearts.
We choose this place, we choose this work we love:
remember, a place can only be made with the place itself in mind.
So, here among the oaks, let us build together our braver, truer hearts.
Let each life take the shape it must to thrive.
Joe Wilkins teaches creative writing and chairs the English Department at Linfield University. He wrote this poem to mark the recent inauguration of Mark Blegen as Linfield’s 21st president.
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