Piano performers Tiffany Fung and Declan Tse

SOU graduate student wins prestigious international piano competition

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Tiffany Fung, a graduate piano student at the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University, has won first prize in the 5th edition (2021) of the Best Rachmaninoff Performance contest – part of the London-based Great Composers Competition series for young performers.

Fung’s winning entry was for her performance of the Rachmaninoff piece “Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42.”

Fung is a second-year student in the SOU master of music-piano performance program, studying under professor Alexander Tutunov. She is a native on Hong Kong, began her musical journey at age 7 and graduated with first class honors from Hong Kong Baptist University before coming to SOU.

The Rachmaninoff competition is part of a performance series designed as a tribute to 24 of the greatest classical music composers of all time. Each competition in the international series is designed so the award winners are announced on the composers’ birthdays. The Best Rachmaninoff Performance results were announced on April 1 – the 148th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth.

The online competition began in early March with the submission of a “pre-screening” video recording, followed by a formal application and a final round of competition for those who advanced through the first round. All submissions were judged from March 9 to 18.

The Rachmaninoff competition was open to instrumentalists of all nationalities and countries, and included seven age groups for contestants as young as 5 and as old as 25. Fung competed in the highest age group, for those between 23 and 25.

Fung and fellow SOU master’s student Declan Tse each also won first prize honors in last year’s Masters of Piano Concerto competition, another event in the Great Composers Competition lineup. Fung played the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, op. 21, for that competition, and Tse played the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, op. 15.

Fung’s performances have taken her to various venues in France, Hong Kong, Italy and the U.S.

Tse – also studying under Tutunov in the SOU master of music-piano performance program – has performed in Asia, Europe and North America.

Archeological work on the Buck Rock Tunnel

SOULA archaeological project receives national BLM recognition

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The Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology (SOULA) has been honored for partnering with the federal Bureau of Land Management’s Ashland Field Office on an archaeological exploration of the Buck Rock Tunnel southeast of Ashland. The collaborative project received one of three nationwide Heritage Heroes awards this year from the BLM.

“SOU held an archaeological field school at the site in 2019, and the partnership has been working with students and the community to research the history of the Oregon and California Railroad and the abandonment of the Buck Rock Tunnel since 2016, with a particular emphasis on the Chinese railroad workers that constructed it,” said SOU archaeologist Chelsea Rose, who has worked on the project with BLM archaeologist Lisa Rice.

“This project has been so successful that … we have expanded the partnership and created the Southern Oregon Chinese Archaeological Project, which focuses on Chinese heritage sites across the Medford District of the BLM, and will include both railroad and mining sites.”

The Buck Rock Tunnel – south of Greensprings Highway and off of Buckhorn Springs Road – was started by the Oregon & California Railroad on both sides of a ridge in the early 1880s, but was never finished. The O&C was purchased by Southern Pacific Railroad, which opted for a different route to California.

The ongoing archeological project includes surveying and excavating the site, and recording findings, to offer a broader view of the Chinese laborers who worked at several railroad and mining sites in southern Oregon. SOULA and the BLM are also presenting their work on the Buck Rock Tunnel project on Thursday (April 29) as part of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department’s “Collaboration is Key” Oregon Heritage Virtual Summit. The project was recently featured as part of Unearthing Oregon, a collaboration between the Oregon Historical Society and SOULA.

“The Buck Rock Tunnel Project partnership organizes programs for students and the public each year,” the BLM said in announcing the award. “SOULA field schools provide anthropology students from Southern Oregon University with important training in archaeological recording and historical research. Local residents also participate in survey and excavation at the site.

“This multi-year project accomplishes valuable research and historic resource identification and evaluation. It also provides public education and interpretation opportunities, allowing the BLM to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.”

The Heritage Heroes awards are presented each year by the BLM’s Division of Education, Cultural and Paleontological Resources. This year’s other winners are the Cooper’s Ferry Site Partnership on Nez Perce tribal land in Idaho and the work of a volunteer site steward at a rock art location in Utah.

Rose’s work on behalf of SOULA was also recognized a year ago, when the Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project won an Oregon Heritage Excellence Award. That project, led by Rose, is a grassroots archaeology partnership of federal, state and local agencies that examine the Chinese diaspora – or dispersed population – in Oregon, and challenge stereotypes that have been historically assigned to the immigrants.

FEMA vaccination center opens Wednesday

Vaccination available through new FEMA/state/county collaboration

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Students, employees and other members of the SOU community will have another option for COVID-19 vaccinations beginning Wednesday, April 21, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) teams with state and local agencies to open the Jackson County Pilot Community Vaccination Center at the Jackson County Expo in Central Point.

The center will be one of about 500 nationwide in FEMA’s push to collaborate with state agencies and expand vaccination capabilities. It will increase capacity at the Jackson County site by about 1,000 vaccinations per day, with those doses being provided directly by the federal government – above and beyond regular state and local allocations. Jackson County Public Health is already operating out of the Expo – at 1 Peninger Road in Central Point – to accelerate the vaccination of historically underserved communities in and around the county.

“We are committed to making sure everyone who wants a vaccine can get one,” said FEMA Region 10 acting administrator Vincent J. Maykovich. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hard for communities in and around Jackson County who also suffered from historic wildfires. We are excited to partner to provide equitable access to the vaccine.”

Vaccinations at the Jackson County Community Vaccination Center will be free and available to all – there are no requirements for photo ID, proof of residency or insurance coverage. Those seeking vaccinations are encouraged to register for appointments online or call 2-1-1 for information in English or Spanish. Registration is also available on-site, where masks are required and social distancing will be maintained.

The center will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and from noon to 7 p.m. Friday through Tuesday.

The newly expanded Community Vaccination Center is a joint effort of FEMA; the Oregon Health Authority and state Office of Emergency Management; and the county’s Emergency Management and Health and Human Services departments. Then Expo site will include a drive-through option with the Pfizer vaccine and a walk-up option with the Moderna vaccine, and will coordinate mobile vaccination delivery.

Mobile vaccination locations and hours will be available and updated on the county’s website.

“I am so pleased Jackson County was chosen for a FEMA community vaccination center,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said. “The site will bolster our current efforts to deliver vaccines quickly and equitably, and to meet communities where they are.

“As the state recovers from last year’s historic wildfires and continues to manage through the pandemic, my goal is to elevate the needs of the communities hardest hit – especially those that have been historically underserved – and to rebuild those communities stronger and more resilient. The CVC in Jackson County will help us achieve that goal.”

FEMA is selecting its pilot sites based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Social Vulnerability Index” and other Census data, and input from state and local agencies.

All SOU students can sign up for vaccinations at an on-campus clinic that will be held on Tuesday, April 20. SOU’s regular and student employees, along with emeritus faculty and members of the Board of Trustees, are also eligible to receive their free COVID-19 vaccinations through the Student Health & Wellness Center.

NPR reporter and SOU alum Jeff Brady

SOU alum Jeff Brady: ready for NPR

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Jeff Brady, a 1995 SOU graduate in communication, was an insecure kid from the southern Oregon coastal community of Gold Beach before he became a national desk reporter for NPR – National Public Radio. He didn’t make the cut to work as a reporter for his high school newspaper and didn’t think he was college material.

“I didn’t really feel I was destined for college,” he said. “I grew up in Gold Beach, and after graduating high school I went with my mom to Central Point where we ran a small grocery store. At the store, I worked a lot of hours and listened to NPR, and I got hooked.”

Brady jumped at the chance when he heard a call for volunteers to answer phones during a Jefferson Public Radio pledge drive. “I worked my way to the newsroom as a volunteer.”

Brady wanted more, but he needed a degree to work as a broadcaster. That’s when he took a leap and enrolled at SOU.

“No one in my family had graduated from college, and I had not even traveled outside southern Oregon,” Brady said. “The idea of college was intimidating, so SOU was a perfect launchpad. I felt safe to explore the world.”

Brady continued working at JPR while attending SOU. He even occasionally hosted a news program called the Jefferson Daily.

“That is what I am most proud of; I just did it,” he said. “I learned how to do live radio, to develop my voice and use it to tell stories.”

His first reporting job after college was at KBND in Bend, where he learned to work fast and efficiently – skills that would become critical as he moved through his career. He returned from there to southern Oregon and began a three-year stint at KTVL News Channel 10, producing morning newscasts, reporting on stories throughout the region and ultimately co-anchoring the weekend newscasts.

The year 1999 became a tipping point for Brady’s career, having moved to Portland to work at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

“I landed at OPB at an interesting time – Enron owned the local utility, the telephone industry was undergoing deregulation and the internet bubble was just about to burst,” he said. “This is where I first started learning about the energy business and its environmental effects.”

He has now traveled the nation, covering issues ranging from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline to Three Mile Island. “None of the broadcasting jobs I have had would have been possible without my training at SOU and JPR,” Brady said. “It is where I was allowed to experiment and become a real live broadcaster.

“SOU taught me that I have a capacity for intelligence. I didn’t get that message in high school, but at SOU I remember taking classes where we would analyze a piece of literature or discuss political situations. That process gave me the confidence to move forward and express myself.”

His life experiences also helped to shape the news he pursues, giving people who are often left out of conversations the opportunity to share their stories and be heard. Brady’s journey has come full circle. This once-insecure high school student looking for his voice is now helping others find theirs.

Brady, who was recognized in 2018 with SOU’s Distinguished Alumni Award, is credited with helping demystify the energy industry for listeners and establishing NPR’s Environment and Energy Collaborative for reporters at NPR member stations around the country.

Shared and updated from the Fall 2019 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

tuition rates approved

SOU board approves lowest tuition increase in recent history

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(Ashland, Ore.) — The Southern Oregon University Board of Trustees agreed today with a recommendation from the university’s Tuition Advisory Council and President Linda Schott for tuition rates in the 2021-22 academic year to increase by the lowest margin in recent memory. Tuition for resident undergraduate students will increase by just $5 per credit hour.

Undergraduates from Oregon will pay $201 per credit hour, up from $196 this year – an increase of 2.55 percent. Residents of 16 Western states and territories that are part of the Western University Exchange will pay $301.50, up from $294; and other non-resident undergraduates will pay $597, up from $580. Tuition rates for graduate students from Oregon will increase to $505 per credit hour, up from $491; non-resident graduate students will pay $610, up from $593.

“Determining the cost of tuition and fees is a key responsibility that every SOU trustee takes very seriously,” said Paul Nicholson, chair of the SOU Board of Trustees. “Thanks to the great, collaborative work of our Tuition Advisory Council, the board readily approved a recommendation from the council and the president that seeks to balance the cost of a high-quality education with access and affordability for our valued students.”

The rates approved unanimously by the Board of Trustees are based on a recommendation from SOU’s Tuition Advisory Council, which met numerous times and is made up of students, faculty and administrators. President Schott agreed with the council’s recommendations and forwarded them to the trustees for approval.

SOU remains committed to keeping higher education within the reach of all students and prospective students, and will offset the tuition increase with additional institutional aid for those who are least able to afford the additional cost. The university has also addressed student expenses for textbooks, and the room-and-board costs of those who live in residence halls.

“We are absolutely committed to making an education at SOU as affordable as possible, while preparing our graduates for the regional job market and giving them tools to achieve fulfilling lives of purpose,” President Schott said. “These tuition rates will keep our university among the most affordable in Oregon.”

State legislators are not expected to make final decisions on the state budget until early July, but universities must prepare their budgets during the spring. SOU will continue to make its case for additional state funding, but must use current information to plan for the coming academic year.

The state paid for two-thirds of its universities’ operating budgets 30 years ago and tuition covered the remaining third. The ratio is now exactly opposite.

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Earth Month in full bloom at SOU

Earth Month in full swing at SOU

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Earth Day – first observed nationwide in 1970 to tap an emerging environmental consciousness – has blossomed 51 years later into a full-blown Earth Month at SOU with a series of events, activities and programing throughout April for the campus community and beyond.

This year’s Earth Month observance, organized by the Student Sustainability Team and hosted by the Social Justice and Equity Center (contact at ecos.sou.edu), includes a slate of more than a dozen opportunities for SOU students, employees and others to participate. Choices range from the monthlong EcoChallenge to a Bike and Hike Week (April 26-30) to an Intersectional and Inclusive Environmentalism statewide panel discussion on Earth Day itself – April 22.

Earth Week at SOU will feature public events both virtual and live, and on and off the university campus.

EcoChallenge. Everyone in the SOU community is invited to join the SOU EcoChallenge Team: take the challenge and see how a few weeks of action can add up to a lifetime of change for you and the planet. The Earth Month EcoChallenge provides tools and inspiration to turn intention into action, and gives participants a fun and social way to think about and act on proven solutions to reverse climate change. Visit earthmonth.ecochallenge.org to learn more, set up your account and join the Sustainability at Southern Oregon University team! This is a fun and sustainable way to get involved in the SOU community while at home.

AIFF screening: “2040.” SOU students and employees are invited to attend a free virtual screening of the film “2040” as part of the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Director Damon Gameau, motivated by concerns about the planet his four-year-old daughter would inherit, embarked on a global journey to meet innovators and changemakers in the areas of economics, technology, civil society, agriculture, education and sustainability. Drawing on their expertise, he sought to identify the best currently available solutions to help improve the planet’s health and that of the societies that operate within it. SOU students, faculty and staff can register to receive a one-use screening voucher to view the film from home anytime on April 16 or 17. This registration form closes April 15, so please register in advance!

Story Circle. The Southern Oregon University Student Sustainability Team invites you to join Erica Ledesma and Raul Tovar from De La Raiz Project for a free online story circle on Wednesday, April 21, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. We will be gathering online to share our experiences of Our Place, Before and After. This virtual event is open to the public and folks both near and far are invited to join!

Intersectional and Inclusive Environmentalism. Student sustainability leaders from several Oregon colleges and universities invite you to this Earth Day keynote panel and Q&A on Zoom, featuring Summer Dean aka ClimateDiva & Madison Daisy aka ClimateDaisy.

EcoQuest Adventure. From Thursday, April 22 to Sunday, April 25, take part in activities at home and outdoors that are organized by local nonprofits, businesses and agencies that usually have exhibits at Rogue Valley Earth Day. You can sign-up and track activities in an online app (coming soon) — and be entered in a raffle to earn prizes! Check back soon at roguevalleyearthday.net/ecoquest for more information.

Food Pantry Bag Battle. Want to learn creative ways to cook meals based on items from the Student Food Pantry food bags? Join the live “Battle of the Food Pantry Bags” on Zoom, where students and faculty members will compete to create the best meals on a budget. Learn about the Food Pantry, hear stories from four contestants (faculty contestants include Leslie Eldridge and Dr. Jamie Trammel from the ESP program, competing against two surprise student contestants), and vote for what you think would be your favorite meal. All audience members will be entered into drawings for multiple “door prizes” – including gift cards to ShopNKart, Creekside Pizza and a CSA produce half-share from the Farm at SOU.

Bike and Hike Week. For the last week of Earth Month, the Student Sustainability Team invites you to participate in the Bike/Hike Week social media giveaway! How does it work? Simply take a picture of yourself riding your bike or going on a hike, tag us in the post or story, use the hashtag #BikeandHikeSOU, and make sure you are following @sou_studentsustainability on Instagram. Two winners each day will be picked at random to receive Dutch Bros gift cards, and contestants can enter every day! Not on Instagram or don’t have a public IG profile? Email your photo to ecos@sou.edu. Winners will be contacted by IG direct message (or email).

A Latino’s Conservation Journey. Erim Gómez will share how he has navigated college as a first-gen student and POC, and a career in conservation, all while struggling with learning disabilities. Gomez graduated from SOU with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies in 2007. He was a McNair Scholar at SOU and worked for ECOS, where he helped to establish SOU’s first Green Tag Fee to support campus sustainability initiatives. He went on to earn his doctorate in Natural Resource Sciences from Washington State University (2020) and is now assistant professor of wildlife biology at the University of Montana.

The Farm at SOU.

CSA. Sign up for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, a mutually beneficial way for community members to support the university’s farm by investing in a share of crops at a reduced price. Members receive a weekly bag of in-season, pesticide-free produce throughout the growing season.

Volunteer Fridays. Join the Farm at SOU at 155 Walker St from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Friday to volunteer and learn more about sustainable agriculture.

Art submissions. The Farm is currently looking for art submissions to be displayed on-site. If you have an idea for a visual art piece that you could create, please submit it for consideration.

Farm Stand. Save the date – The Farm will offer the SOU community a farm stand stocked with high quality, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables every Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m., located at the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Wightman Street, from May 27 to October 7.

Earth Week with OSPIRG. SOU’s OSPIRG chapter is hosting a week’s worth of events to celebrate Earth Day. Check out their events and RSVP.

A full list of SOU Earth Week events can be found at https://sustainability.sou.edu/sou-earth-month-2021/.

SOU president to retire by end of year

SOU President Linda Schott to retire by end of 2021

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University President Linda Schott, who has positioned SOU for the future since taking office in August 2016, announced to campus today that she will retire at the end of 2021, capping a 36-year career in higher education. Schott pledged to continue putting all of her energy into serving SOU and will do her best to prepare the university for her successor.

“I intend to stay fully engaged in leading the university until a new president is hired,” President Schott said. “Our leadership team is strong, and all have indicated their willingness to continue in their roles throughout the presidential transition.”

Paul Nicholson, chair of the SOU Board of Trustees, praised the work Schott has done at SOU and said she will leave the university on firm footing.

“Linda Schott has been a force for change at SOU; her vision, energy and leadership have transformed the university in a positive way,” Nicholson said. “The board is deeply appreciative of her work and what she accomplished – all of which has laid a powerful foundation for the challenging work ahead of us.

“We also thank Dr. Schott’s husband, Tom Fuhrmark, and their family for their tremendous support during her tenure. The board wishes Dr. Schott much happiness in the next stage of her life.”

The SOU community developed a new vision, mission and strategic plan that has been integrated into the university’s daily operations during Schott’s tenure. The university also opened several new facilities during the past five years (the Student Recreation Center, Lithia Motors Pavilion, Thalden Pavilion and the Theater/JPR Building) and garnered additional state funding for the campus and its infrastructure. The university reshaped academic offerings for both traditional students and the growing number of adult learners who are returning to SOU to complete bachelor’s and/or master’s degrees. Graduation rates for SOU students increased 13 percent over seven years ending in 2019, and the percentage of graduates working in fields related to their majors has reached 68 percent – 10 percent above the national average.

Using national data to help align academic offerings with emerging workforce needs, the university also developed a menu of 18 new microcredentials – with more on the way – that enable both undergraduates and those who have already graduated to pick up extra skills.

President Schott played leading roles in the creation of the Southern Oregon Higher Education Consortium and the Southern Oregon Education Leadership Council. 

Schott came to SOU from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where she served as president from 2012 to 2016. She previously taught at three Texas universities and held administrative positions in Michigan and Colorado. She received her bachelor’s degree in history and German from Baylor University, and her master’s degree in history and Ph.D. in history and humanities, both from Stanford University.

SOU’s Board of Trustees plan to discuss the president’s retirement and a presidential search during its regular meeting on April 16, 2021. A search committee is expected to be formed in the coming weeks to begin the process of finding Schott’s successor. Nicholson said the board will look forward to engaging the campus community during the search for SOU’s 14th president.

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About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University is a medium-sized campus that provides comprehensive educational opportunities with a strong focus on student success and intellectual creativity. Located in vibrant Ashland, Oregon, SOU remains committed to diversity and inclusion for all students on its environmentally sustainable campus. Connected learning programs taught by a host of exceptional faculty provide quality, innovative experiences for students. Visit sou.edu.

Vaccination clinics have begun at SOU health center

COVID-19 vaccination clinics begin at SOU’s health center

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SOU President Linda Schott received her first COVID-19 vaccine this morning at the Student Health & Wellness Center, setting an example for others in the campus community who choose vaccination as a means of protecting themselves and reducing the opportunity for the virus to continue its yearlong spread.

“I’m very excited to get it and really pleased that we’re able to be doing it on-campus,” President Schott said. “I hope that everybody on campus who is able will also come out and get their vaccination.”

All regular and student employees at SOU, along with emeritus faculty and members of the Board of Trustees, are eligible to receive their free COVID-19 vaccinations at the Student Health & Wellness Center beginning this week due to their status as front-line workers under Oregon Health Authority sequencing guidelines. Gov. Kate Brown announced on Tuesday that all Oregon residents over the age of 16 will become eligible for vaccinations beginning April 19, so SOU students will be able to receive their shots from the health center at that time.

Today’s 10 to 11:30 a.m. vaccine clinic was the health center’s first, and additional appointment-only clinics will be held each week, depending on demand. Those who are eligible to take part should call the SHWC at (541) 552-6678 for clinic times and appointment availability.

clinic is located at 560 Indiana Street, and those participating in the vaccine clinics should enter the building through the door facing the Cox Hall parking lot. Everyone who visits the SHWC must wear a mask.

Participants in the vaccine clinics should arrive at their assigned times and bring the following documents with them to their appointments:

SOU team wins hackathon

SOU team wins statewide hackathon

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A team of four SOU computer science students won first place out of 62 teams in a statewide “hackathon” last weekend after developing and coding a game they called “Laughing Stock” over two days. The HackOR event, held on a combination of online platforms, drew a total of 600 contestants with teams from institutions including the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

The game created by a team of SOU juniors – Liam Erickson, Sam Platt, Peter Jacobson and Ronin Ganoot – challenges players to try getting through a TSA terminal at a virtual airport. Once aboard their airplane, they must make various decisions, such as whether to put their bare feet on the seat (bad idea). The team described it as a “nightmare realm” of adventure games of the players’ choosing.

“Events such as this prepare our students for the workplace, where they will need to analyze the requirements for a project and develop software solutions in a fast-paced environment,” said Priscilla Oppenheimer, an assistant professor in SOU’s Computer Science Program.  “SOU prepares students for environments like this by teaching them not just to be great programmers, but also to think about what problems need to be solved.”

She said at least two other SOU students – Joshua Yoon and Jacob Golden – also participated in the HackOR event, which was held on social platforms including Zoom, YouTube, Discord, Devpost, GitHub and gather.town. Oppenheimer served as one of the hackathon’s mentors, helping students with outreach and providing support during the event.

The HackOR event was founded by Joy Liu, a student who is on a gap year before starting college. Judges included both industry leaders and professors from around the state and included at least one from Ashland – Bill Saltzstein, an engineer and innovator in the medical device field. Judges said that they especially liked that the winning SOU entry was hand-crafted, with good code and excellent graphics.

Last weekend’s competition was the first statewide hackathon for SOU computer science students. The university put on its own internal event last year.

Dorothy Thomas Kole in her mink stole

Remembering college fur-ever

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Dorothy Thomas Kole often regaled her daughters with stories of her college years in Ashland – of her involvement in the theatre program, soliciting donations from community members of curtains, bedspreads, tablecloths and other materials that could be used to make costumes.

So it seemed only fitting to the daughters that they should donate a mink stole that was prized by their mother, who earned her teaching credentials in the 1938-39 academic year at what was then Southern Oregon  Normal School before beginning her life as a teacher and mother.

“We are so delighted that our mom’s mink will find a new home working as a theater costume piece,” daughters Linda Kole and Karen (Kay) Kole Leary said in a two-page, handwritten letter accompanying their recent gift to the SOU Theatre Department.

“She was involved in the plays Mr. Bowmer put on. (She always called him Mr. Bowmer.),” the letter said, referring to the late Angus Bowmer, who taught drama at the normal school and founded the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

“She loved to laugh and tell about her big dramatic Shakespearean role,” Dorothy’s daughters said. “She had one line, ‘Master, he cometh!’”

Their mother had another key job in the play – she and a friend dressed as pageboys to open and close the curtains – but the daughters suspect that may have been “a bit of tomfoolery” by Bowmer.

Dorothy forgot over the years from which Shakespearean play that line had come, but her daughters narrowed it down by finding a playlist in the 1938-39 edition of the Oregon SON (as in, Southern Oregon Normal) yearbook. It could have been “Hamlet,” “Taming of the Shrew,” “A Comedy of Errors” or “As You Like It.”

“We’re not sure ‘master, he cometh’ is an actual line from any Shakespearean play,” the daughters said. “Perhaps Mr. Bowmer’s sense of humor was at play here, as well.”

Among the items that Linda Kole and Kay Kole Leary sent to the SOU costume shop along with the pristine mink stole is a photo of their mother wearing the fur piece and posing with her husband and daughters – who point out that they were “accessorized” with white, bunny fur hats and muffs.

“Our dad … does not appear to be draping himself in any dead animal skins, but we do have a photo of him with a dead dear draped around his shoulders in much the same manner as Dorothy’s minks,” the letter said, explaining that he was “packing it out on a hunting trip.”

Linda and Kay said that Dorothy – the daughter of a saw filer whose family had lived in Chiloquin, Ashland and Medford – loved her year at the Ashland college. She later taught in Oregon, California and Brazil

“She followed her brothers, Frank and Ralph, to Southern Oregon Normal and they all had careers as teachers,” the letter said. And it pointed out that due to her experiences in theatre productions, “she could make a costume out of anything.”

Dorothy Thomas Kole died in November 2019 in California, just short of her 101st birthday.

“Dorothy set her sights on living to 100,” her daughters said in their letter. “She planned on a ‘big birthday bash’ and lived a life that got her there. At her party, she danced to ‘Stardust’ and other songs that once echoed out of the old halls of Southern Oregon Normal School.

“Pet the minks for us every now and then, and give them our most fond regards.”