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J. Merrill Peterson on extreme right

Former Multnomah University trustee and men’s basketball coach, James Merrill Peterson, died on December 17 of natural causes at the age of 86. He served faithfully for 40 years on Multnomah’s Board of Trustees and coached the men’s basketball team from 1962 to 1965. During Mr. Peterson’s reign as coach, he led Multnomah to a record year of 15 wins out of 19 games.

Mr. Peterson is remembered by family and friends as one who embodied strong moral integrity, a disciplined work ethic, and committed faithfulness to God and others. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Melba Baller; sons, Timothy J. and James M. Jr.; and six grandchildren.

In remembrance and celebration of his life, you are invited to a public memorial service held in Mr. Peterson’s honor on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 1 p.m. in Riverview Abbey Funeral Home, 0319 SW Taylors Ferry Road. His family has generously requested that all remembrances be sent to the Multnomah University Student Aid Fund, c/o Multnomah University, 8435 NE Glisan St. Portland, OR 97220.

Dr. Willard M. Aldrich will celebrate his 100th birthday on Sunday, January 4, 2008!  Willard (as he’s known by many around here) was with Multnomah since its founding. His leadership and hard work with fellow founders laid the foundation for the principled, Biblical education we strive to give to this day.

• Founder
• Founding Trustee (until retirement in 2004!)
• President
• First Registrar
• Faculty Member
• AABC Accreditation Overseer
• Campus Mover (literally)
• Builder of 5 Campus Buildings
• All these above and many more

Won’t You Tell Him What He Meant To You?

We’re asking everyone to send us stories and well-wishes that we can present, on behalf of the entire Multnomah family, to Willard and the Aldrich family. Your words will be set and bound in a book that we hope will be a blessing to a family and man that has done so much for the Kingdom of God through Multnomah.

2 Ways To Say It

1. Comment below this post
2. Send a private email to willard@multnomah.edu

Examples Already Sent In

“…I’ll always remember our special time together with you and Mimi out at the cabin, when I brought my dorm section up to stay the weekend in the A-frame.  …Oh how we enjoyed sitting at your feet and hearing old stories while learning about your love for trains and your deep passion for the Word of God…”

“…We have many happy memories of Multnomah when we were there. One of the fun times was when we came to your place and made apple cider.  We’d never had homemade cider before and it was very good, even though you told us afterwards that you just threw in the whole apple. worms and all…”

“…One of my favorite memories of you when I was a student was seeing you on the “campus days,” wearing your flannel plaid shirt and driving your tractor around campus.  For me you exemplified down-to-earth faith as well as a scholarly and godly professor…”

There are so many well-wishes already, but we’d really like to get more from you. Comment or send them to willard@multnomah.edu

What do my eyes behold? Another storm system coming in to dump untold inches of snow, sleet, and freezing rain on our beloved Pacific Northwest? This is truly an odd winter we’re having here in Portland.

To quote a lady who lives down the street from me: “I had to drive to 13 places to find tire chains!” (to which I almost replied, but didn’t: “How did you ever make it to 13 places to find tire chains without tire chains on?”)

Due to continued inclement weather, all Multnomah University offices will be closed on Wednesday, 12/24/08

Also, in case you’re wondering, because Thursday and Friday are MU staff holidays, we will not open again - weather permitting - until Monday, 12/29/08.

Stay warm. Stay safe. And if we don’t get a post done between now and then…

Merry Christmas!
Luke 2

The weather continues to make travel in Portland and Beyond treacherous - so all Multnomah offices will be closed for at least one more day before Christmas on Tuesday, 12/23/08.

Post Office Hours
**UPDATE** The Post Office will be open from 10am-3pm
Keep checking “MultnomahU” on Twitter for any updates.

Speaking of the Post Office
Here’s a little something I got from Lisa Hezmalhalch via Facebook today:

Hey Robert!
I thought I would give you a little update on the Post Office being open. None of the actual post office staff were there. Ha! The Post Office was being run by married students who, along with their wives, were sorting the mail and packages as best they could so that folks could get what they needed. It was pretty amazing. Luckily, since the post office was my job for 4 years, I was able to jump in and help. With the combined forces of Peter Ekle with keys, Bobbly Silva with computer access and my knowledge of the Post Office, we even printed out package slips and did a fair job sorting everything. Oh boy, it was great. They might have it open tomorrow as well.

Well, just thought I’d let you know what’s happening on campus. Also, I took some more photos. It’s crazy how much snow there is! Well…just check them out!
-Lisa

Yes, signs of life on campus. Given how close it is to Christmas and the fact that there are likely lots of mail and packages to send and receive for MU students who get their mail on campus or nearby, the Post Office and Campus Security are doing their best to supply staff to help out.

Just note that the register will not be open, so you will not be able to purchase postage or do anything else that requires a purchase.

• The Multnomah University Post Office will be open for only 2 hours today from 1-3pm.
• If the post office doesn’t have a package you’re expecting, please check at the Security Office - they may hold on to some packages for students.

Stay tuned for potential closure information for tomorrow.

All offices will be closed and Adult Degree Completion classes cancelled on Monday, 12/22/08.

The snow just keeps falling - maybe we’ll have something new to blog about soon - but don’t be surprised if we stay closed for a few days (no, that’s not the official word - yet)!

Stay warm and safe!

Well, it didn’t really snow last night, but what snow was still left has now frozen over solid! It’s nothing but glazed over roads and slippery sidewalks.

Due to inclement weather, all Multnomah offices - inlcuding Adult Degree Completion classes - are closed on Friday, 12/19/08.

It’s Just A Little Snow!
Now I know that some of you from our more “winter-weather-inclined” states like Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, and the entire Midwest tend to look at our “feeble” responses to the snow in the Pacific Northwest and wonder “what’s wrong with those guys? It’s just a little snow!”

Well, there are three main excuses…err…differences as I see it that make our snow particularily dangerous for driving:

1. It’s not dry and powdery, it’s all wet and slick from the beginning and it rarely gets too cold to be dry snow so it’s always hovering between frozen and not - so as soon as the weather dips into the mid-20’s and below, the moist snow and slush becomes slick sheets of ice on top of snow and this is a problem for a major metropolitan area.
2. We don’t have the monster army of sand trucks, de-icer machines and snow plows at the ready that even smaller cities in the midwest might have. We have a very good supply and very talented transportation safety crews, but not a fully adequate supply like elsewhere. Why? Because we don’t need it as often. We’re “lucky” if we need it once-per-year. Which brings me to my third point.
3. Don’t tell anybody - but we just don’t get a lot of practice sliding into each other on the roads and so we get a little queezy thinking about the mangled piles of steel and risk to life and limb out on impossibly slick and icy roads. And yes, we do know how to get winter studded tires and chains put on our vehicles - but it just doesn’t matter or seem to help as much around here. We’d rather live another day and contemplate the implications of shutting down the local economy over a hot cup of famed Northwest coffee!

With the exception of this week of winter weather and a few extra rainy parts of the year, the Portland area is actually quite temperate, quite sunny, and very lush. You should try it!

As of 9:00 AM PST, Multnomah University officials decided to send all staff home due to inclement weather on 12/18/08. Students and most Faculty are already home because finals were last week.

All Adult Degree Completion classes are also cancelled today.

Still Giving Out “Hot Beverage Mugs”
If you have any good photos of campus from TODAY to send me (rleary@multnomah.edu) then I’m still giving away “Hot Beverage Mugs” - I’ll keep it going until I run out of mugs!

I’ve gotten lot’s of shots of the prayer chapel…anyone want to get other things? We’ll turn it into a full on Flickr feed folder…

The Winter Storm Continues
Due to continued inclement weather, all Multnomah offices - including Adult Degree Completion classes - are closed on Wednesday 12/17/08.

That’s right night class folks, stay home and enjoy a day off like the rest of us!

Want A Free “hot beverage” Glass MU Mug?
Why do I call it a “hot beverage” mug? Because I don’t want to be insensitive to all the tea and cocoa drinkers out there who have to “suffer” under the “repression” of being given nothing but “coffee” mugs! (That’s my attempt at humor for tonight!)

But I digress…

If anyone can get good snowy photos of campus, and send them to me, I’ll give you a “limited edition” Multnomah University hot beverage glass mug! Send them to rleary@multnomah.edu