Emil Smith – Fifty Years in Sisters

This article was published in the 10/26/11 Nugget Newspaper
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Talking with Emil (pronounced “Eeemil”) Smith is both entertaining and educational. You’d never guess that this spry man with the lilting voice was seventy-eight years old.

Throughout our conversation I couldn’t shake the similarities between the actor Robin Williams and Emil – the little boy charm, sparkling eyes, and quick wit. Almost leprechaun-like in demeanor, Emil is an engaging and intelligent man that can talk for hours about his life’s passions and adventures.

Born in Brighton, Colorado in 1933, Emil had three siblings – a brother, Eastburn, born in 1935, sister Karen in 1940, and another sister, Kristin, in 1944. Emil’s mother, Doris, was a homemaker and Emil’s father, Marvin, was a federal forester.  Marvin’s vocation meant the Smith family moved frequently, something many children don’t appreciate.

But not Emil. An inquisitive boy, he cherished the educational opportunity of being exposed to new cultures and learning experiences. “I was very curious so new locations were fascinating to me,” said Emil.

In 1933 Marvin was transferred from Montrose, Colorado to Park Falls, Wisconsin, located in the Chequamegon National Forest of northern Wisconsin. The family spent six years there until 1939 when, at age six, another transfer brought the family to Springfield Missouri.

Music was a shared love in the Smith family and Emil’s humor was evident while recalling a family decision in their new town. “My parents chose their church in Springfield based on which one had the best choir,” recalled Emil. (A choir member to this day, Emil also played the clarinet and piano, becoming an accomplished trombonist at Cass Lake High School in Minnesota, winning several prestigious awards.)

Five years later, in 1944, the Smith’s were on the road again. Eleven years old, a fifth grader and avid Cub Scout, Emil was thrilled to learn they were moving to Cass Lake, home of the Chippewa Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota. 

 “As a Cub Scout I thought I had died and gone to heaven because I really admired all the Indian skills – tracking and all their natural abilities I had heard and read about,” said Emil.

Stoking Emil’s interest in the concept of “community,” the seven years spent in Northern Minnesota lit a spark that burns to this day.

“I really began to appreciate the value of a community where everybody knew everybody and you were exposed to a very diverse population. The Native Americans in that area were very poor, and the surrounding logging and railroad community barely eked out a living,” recalled Emil.

Common threads throughout Emil’s early years were a love of the outdoors, music, and literature. He recalled reading an issue of Life magazine in which Oregon was featured.

“I just drooled when I was the photos of Mt. Hood and Timberline Lodge. I was really into cross country skiing and the biggest ‘mountain’ in Wisconsin was 400 feet high,” said Emil.

The Smith’s remained in Northern Minnesota until 1951 when they relocated to Portland and Marvin assumed the position of Deputy Operations Chief for Oregon and Washington. Recalling the Life magazine article he read about Oregon, Emil couldn’t wait to move.

But college was his immediate future and, the very day they landed in Portland, Emil boarded a bus for Eugene to begin his college years at the University of Oregon. Torn between his love for music and his affinity for the sciences, Emil could not decide on a major after his sophomore year. And he didn’t want to stay in school simply to avoid the draft. After all, these were the Korean War years - June 1950 through the “cease fire” in July 1953.

Although a cease fire had been called the war was not yet over so, in October of 1953, Emil joined the “Volunteering for the Draft” program which limited military service to two years. “The advantage was that you knew when you were going to be called into service, and it would only be 2 years,” recalled Emil.

Soon after his eight weeks of basic training in Southern California the Korean War officially ended and Emil was transferred to Fort Devens in Massachusetts. While waiting for his next assignment he learned about the shortage of qualified people for the “Army Security Agency” (ASA.) Composed of soldiers with high scores on Army intelligence tests, the ASA was tasked with monitoring and interpreting military communications from the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, and their allies around the world. 

Emil applied and was accepted into the army’s language school in Monterey California in 1954. 

Already well-versed in German (his father and grandmother spoke it regularly); Emil studied both German and Russian, becoming fluent in both. “My Russian is a little rusty now but I’m trying to keep it up,” said Emil.

Having attained fluency in two languages, Emil was reassigned to Bamberg Germany, north of Nuremberg, for two years 1955-1957.

Following his two years of service Emil returning to the states in 1958. His military experience had clarified his life’s path. “I went into the Army because I couldn’t figure out what to major in. I came back to the states fluent in two foreign languages. I loved the cultural dimension of languages and I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” said Emil.

Taking his time crossing the country, he stopped in Cass Lake, Minnesota for a very special reason – he asked his high school sweetheart, Nancy, to marry him. “She didn’t accept right away but she eventually came around and accepted,” said Emil wryly.

The couple returned to Eugene in 1958 so Emil could complete his German language degree at the University of Oregon. Once completed Emil applied for a position with the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency.) This turned out to be a frustrating experience.

“The CIA was very slow in responding and I needed a job so I applied to teach high school-level German in Boulder Colorado. I didn’t get that position so Nancy and I decided to go on an adventure,” recalled Emil.

The couple decided to embark on a month-long bicycle camping tour, starting in Eugene and finishing at Crater Lake. Bicycle touring was not well known in the fifties, the basic equipment almost nonexistent.

“We were oddities for sure in 1958. We had 3-speed bikes and had to engineer all our own gear. The hardest part was the climb up and over the McKenzie Pass. Thankfully several car campers helped us along the way. We had a great time,” recalled Emil.

International and national events during the fifties would play a role in helping Emil determine his path. First it was the Korean War, and then came the launch of the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth’s orbit. Sputnik 1, as the Soviet Union dubbed it, was launched in October 1957, igniting both the “space race” and playing into the “cold war” between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

With a national desire to surpass the Soviet Union’s accomplishments, the U.S. government passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in September of 1958 as a means of expanding the number of students in universities studying sciences, math, and foreign languages.

Knowing that he could tap into the “G.I. Bill” to take his language education to a higher level, Emil applied for and received a year-long NDEA grant to study German at the University of Colorado. After obtaining his Master’s degree Emil was hired as a teacher by the university to supervise the teaching of first-year German students.

Comfortably situated in Colorado with his new wife and growing family (Rebecca Hilary was born in 1959; Randy in 1960, and Rachel in 1962,) Emil felt he was doing what he loved career-wise in a place that he loved environment-wise.

Oregon, however, had never left Emil’s mind and the couple wisely invested in Sisters land in 1962.

“I had a sense back then that Californians were ‘discovering’ Oregon; and as a result the prices of land were already going up faster than my salary. So we found a landowner that sold us directly, under contract, seven acres of land on Whychus Creek for four thousand dollars,” recalled Emil. Returning each summer during the school break period in Colorado, Emil built a comfortable “cabin” on the property.

Then, in 1970, fate intervened again to alter Emil’s path. The University of Colorado didn’t renew his teaching contract and Emil was faced with a decision. Remain in Colorado and seek a new position – or move back to Oregon and his cabin on the Whychus?

The family chose Oregon. “I figured that I could at least substitute teach in Central Oregon if nothing else surfaced,” said Emil.

But fate again intervened. As the family was packing-up for the move, Emil received a phone call from Bend Senior High School. Would he be interested in teaching foreign languages at Bend High?

“I told them I was packing right now and jumped at the opportunity!” said Emil.

A long teaching career (1970 until retirement in 1991) in the Bend school system once again allowed Emil to pursue his career and lifestyle passions.

Emil recalls Sisters as being a much different place in the 60’s and 70’s than it is today. “A four-room Army Quonset hut was the elementary school, located at the same location where the new one now stands. It contained one or two grades,” recalled Emil.

Downtown Sisters was also unique. “The main food market, Leithauser’s, was located where Sisters Drug is now and the Post Office was right next door to that (the parking lot of Sisters Veterinary Clinic)”, said Emil.

Present-day Sisters has a state-wide reputation of being tourist-friendly and community-oriented. But was it like that back in the 60’s and 70’s?

“Even back then people would comment on how ‘amazingly friendly’ Sisters was. Early on I wasn’t that aware that it was – but over time it became clear to me. Neighbor helping neighbor, strangers helping strangers. And to this day I believe this is one of our hallmarks, our strength, a real motivator for people moving here,” said Emil.

Although Emil’s teaching career was based in Bend he’s always made a point of using his skills, experiences, and energy to benefit the Sisters community.

A member of the Sisters School Board from 1976-1980, Emil served when local taxes primarily supported the schools and there was very little state funding. “We were making a big push to get a bond passed. Our goal in 1978 was to get a replacement high school. After extensive research, we split the bond issue so that some funding would go to both an elementary school and a new high school. Unfortunately only the funding for the elementary school bond passed,” recalled Emil.

Having lived in and experienced a number of diverse communities and cultures, in 1999 Emil became active in the growth and development of Sisters by joining the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS.)

CATS was a group of about twenty community volunteers representing a wide range of values, views and backgrounds. The group’s goal was to create a “vision statement” that would form the basis from which the community would determine priorities and establish goals.

“I got involved with CATS because I didn’t want to see Sisters follow Bend’s example – no foresight in planning and growth. It was pretty clear to me - did we want growth by default or design?” said Emil.  

Over the years CATS continued to work on the Sisters Community Visioning Project, resulting in the Sisters Country Vision Statement and the Sisters branding project in 2007. The Vision Statement, posted throughout town in public buildings, is now widely used in community goal setting and decision making.

In October 2010 CATS dissolved its non-profit status and transferred its remaining assets to a community grant fund managed by the City of Sisters.

When asked how he would characterize his fifty-plus years of living in Sisters, Smith said “I’ve always felt that Sisters was like living in my personal Lake Wobegon.”