Barbara Zimmerman Podesta | 1915–2015

Barbara Zimmerman Podesta

February, 1915–December, 2015

by Barbara Meyer 
Always up for an adventure, my mother headed west with a fellow nursing school graduate, driving an automobile to a Portland dealership in the late-1930s.  Two cousins had sent glowing reports of the mountains and Mom couldn’t resist.  She found the Mazamas in 1940, met my father there (Adolph “Zim” Zimmerman) and began a life of hiking, skiing, camping and backpacking.  I have an August 11, 1940 photo of Mom and two other women on the summit of Mt. Hood with the lookout in the background. Her Summit Certificate indicates the leaders were J. Ed Nelson and Eldon Metzger.  My parents served on the Lodge Committee of the old log lodge in Government Camp.  Activities at the lodge and the Annual Outings became a way of life for several years.  More recently she set her skills to work on the braided rug visible in the Winter 2015 Mazama Lodge postcard.

After my father passed away, Mom moved back to Michigan, her birth state, to care for her aging parents.  Shortly after she returned to Washington, she met and married Joe Podesta, moving to his 60 acre farm.  Originally a dairy, by then he was raising beef cattle.  Having spent many of her childhood years on acreages, Mom readily took to farm life and driving the tractor while Joe loaded hay bales onto the wagon to store in the massive hay loft of the dairy barn.  Joe tended a huge garden every year and this is where I first tasted pesto prepared with fresh garlic and basil and served with pasta and green beans.  It was the best pesto I’ve ever eaten!  The family marble mortar and wooden pestle are now prized possessions.  Unfortunately, Joe’s pesto making skill was lost when he died in 1993 and I cannot replicate it.  In October, 2015, the Podesta Farm was awarded Heritage status by the State of Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.  During their years together, Mom and Joe enjoyed traveling to Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Europe.

Mom and I continued adventuring in my VW camper and later enjoyed the luxury of motels.  When Peter and I married, we included her in a vacation each year, generally staying in Washington and Oregon.  The coast, mountains and Columbia River Gorge were the big draws.  Mom was an avid reader, participating in a book group as well as a writing group.  She also loved music and attending concerts.  She had an inquisitive mind and if she read or heard about an event or place, she was ready to go check it out!

The final adventure began late in 2015 when cancer of the peritoneum was diagnosed.  With the help of Hospice, Peter and I cared for Mom in her home until the end just 11 weeks before her 101st birthday.  What a long and full life!  Thank you, Mom, for bringing me up in the Mazama family and setting the stage for my own many adventures!

Barbara Zimmerman Meyer, daughter and Mazama since 1959

Duncan Carter | 1946–2016

Duncan Carter

August 24, 1946—February 22, 2016

by Jan Kurtz

Duncan Carter passed away peacefully after nearly six years of defying prostate cancer.  He was surrounded by friends and family.

Duncan spent his boyhood in Prosser, Washington, the fourth of eight children, and, after many moves early in his career, lived his last thirty years in Portland Oregon.

He loved words.  With a mother and two siblings who were journalists and a family of inveterate Scrabble players, he grew up in a word-rich environment.  He was said to know more limericks than anyone alive. It was fairly natural, then, that he became an English professor.  After earning a doctorate in English at the University of Illinois (1974), he taught mostly writing and rhetoric courses at West Point, Texas State University, Boston University, and for the last 25 years of his career, Portland State University. He was sufficiently committed to writing that he insisted on authoring his own obituary.

He produced many scholarly books and articles, but was proudest of his work with internationalization—finding ways to introduce students to the rest of the world.  Of course, he was also a devotee of international travel himself.

Duncan was also a leader—or at least he kept finding himself in leadership positions.  He was president of his high school student body and his college fraternity, vice president of the Washington State University student body, a captain in the army, department chair at two institutions, chief negotiator for the faculty union, and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at PSU, among various other positions.

An irrepressible sense of humor got him through a lot of difficult times.

Duncan loved the outdoors.  He and various family members took pride in 22 straight annual week-long backpack trips.  He also ran marathons (two after age 60), climbed mountains, rafted, sailed, skied, cycled, hiked, and otherwise found any available excuse to be outside.

Duncan was on Josh Lockerby's BCEP team in 2009 with his son Daniel, and together they climbed Middle Sister as part of Adam Nawrot's Mazama team in 2010. He joined the Mazamas after taking BCEP and was a member until the end of 2015.

He was all about family.  He was fiercely in love with his wife of 13 years, Jan Kurtz.  He was also devoted to sons Daniel and TJ and daughter Katherine, all of whom survive him, as do siblings Dennis (San Diego), Dale and Dwight (Richland,WA), Darrel (Steens, MS) and Debbie (Fairbanks).  He also leaves four lively grandchildren.

A celebration of life took place on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 11:00 at Westminster Church in Portland (1624 NE Hancock Street).  In lieu of flowers the family asks that you consider a gift to the Duncan Carter Writing Award at PSU (through the PSU Foundation), The Oregon Food Bank, or your favorite charity.