1981: Bernard Jacobson
Bernard Jacobson worked at the Columbia River Mercantile before joining the Army during World War II. Afterward, he worked many years for NAPA Auto Parts. He was a lifetime member of Trinity Lutheran Church and an exalted ruler of the Longview Elks Lodge. He enjoyed dancing, listening to music, and working on projects. He married lifelong local resident Beverly Beck, who also served in the Army during World War II.

1982: Ben F. Renn
Among Lower Columbia Junior College’s first students in 1934 was Ben Renn. He grew up using the surname Bodner until he enlisted in the Army during World War II. A second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, he was stationed in the South Pacific. He married L. Adeline Kisch in 1942. He was a self-employed landscaper and also worked in industrial sales, retiring from King Bearing in 1980. A Freemason, Renn held several offices and titles, including honorary grand high priest of Washington.

1983: Clarence Gauthier
After arriving in Longview, Clarence Gauthier’s father drove teams of horses to build banks along Fowler Slough, soon to become Lake Sacajawea. In the early ’30s, Clarence was a Daily News carrier whose route included the Longview Country Club, where he and friend Red Tidd got caddy jobs. They joined the Army after graduating from high school. Following their service, the friends purchased a team of horses and started logging. Eventually, Gauthier became a superintendent for Weyerhaeuser.

1984: C.R. “Bob” Bottorff
Bob Bottorff began a 45-year career with Weyerhaeuser after graduating from R.A. Long High School in 1933. He started as a timekeeper at Headquarters Camp. In 1940, he was tapped to work on the company’s first mechanical accounting equipment. Two years later, he was head paymaster. He then became data processing manager and a Longview city councilman in 1953. He and his wife, Karen, left Longview in 1963, when Bob was promoted to company headquarters in Tacoma. In 1978, they returned home when he retired. He died in 1989.

1985: Ned Piper
All four of Ned Piper’s grandparents came to Longview in 1923. He was born here in 1939 and became the first mascot for the R.A. Long Lumberjacks. Ned is most proud of his involvement in founding Community House on Broadway. He graduated from R.A. Long, Lower Columbia College, and the University of Washington. He was a partner in Torrence Insurance. Ned has three children: Rees, 55; Amy, 52; and Perry, 33. His wife, Sue, publishes the Columbia River Reader newspaper. Ned is the advertising and distribution manager.

1986: Dave Grocott
In 1939, Dave Grocott and Millie Becker first met on a downtown Longview street corner during a chance encounter between their mothers. Dave was 10, Millie 5. She remembers the good-looking boy and feeling antsy as the moms chatted. Years later, they courted and wed, and their union has thrived for 70 years. After Army service from 1952 to 1954, Dave began teaching in Longview schools. He retired as an elementary school principal in 1981. He spent summers running a salmon charter and expanded that enterprise after retirement. For years, his fishing connections netted him salmon he donated to ’23 Club dinners at Longview Community Church.

1987: Harry Renick
Harry Renick and his wife, Clara, bought Jansen’s Flowers and Gifts from her parents in 1971. They never changed the name of the business, so Harry was known as “Mr. Jansen.” In 1990, the Renicks moved their store from Vandercook Way to Washington Way. They sold the business in 2017. Before becoming a small business owner, Renick received a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Washington and worked about three years in the computer programming department at Boeing in Seattle. In 1961, he joined the Lower Columbia Junior College faculty as a mathematics professor.

1988: Don Packard
Don Packard grew up in Longview and attended Longview schools. After serving as a pilot in the Air Force from 1943 to 1945, he worked for 30 years as a teacher and elementary school principal. He retired from the Longview School District in 1977. He was also a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve, retiring in 1971. Packard belonged to many organizations, including the Longview Education Association, the Longview Pioneer Lions, and the Cowlitz Game and Anglers. He was active in the Mormon church.

1989: Paul Huntington
Paul Huntington’s lineage to Longview’s genesis began in 1848, when his great-great-grandfather, Darby Huntington, packed his family into a covered wagon and left Indiana for the Oregon territory. In 1849, he staked a 640-acre Donation Land Claim at the mouth of the Cowlitz River, now part of Longview. Darby’s descendants sold the land to R.A.Long in 1923. Paul earned a degree in business administration from Oregon State University in 1965 and lived in Longview the rest of his life. He was a district manager for the Equitable Life Insurance Co.

1990: Buffe Antilla
Buffe Antilla was a beloved educator who lived until age 103. A Longview native, she graduated from Western Washington University with degrees in education and psychology. Most of her teaching career was in Room 9 at Olympic Elementary School. Mrs. Antilla once told a Daily News reporter that she taught confidence, compassion, citizenship, commitment, and controversy. What she didn’t reveal was that former students had an enduring affection for her. Junior and high school youngsters would walk to her room for after-hours visits because they sensed how much she cared about them.