Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Reinventing Community Part 4
Joseph, Oregon: From beams to bronze
1114AK_Reinvent4.wav [mp3, txt, jpg] 3:32 Feature 11/14/07 Anna King/ CD
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You?d think the population would plummet when a town loses three sawmills. But that hasn?t happened in Joseph, Oregon. The number of people who live in this tiny berg in the northeast corner of the state has remained steady. But WHO they are has changed drastically. The town was once filled with blue collar families. Now Joseph is home to rich retirees and bronze artisans. In part four of our series on towns in transition, Correspondent Anna King has this intimate portrait of a family that?s lived through the change.
BACKANNOUNCE: Tomorrow in the final installment in our series on Northwest communities re-inventing themselves, we go to Idaho?s Silver Valley, where mining towns are forging a future in outdoor recreation.
STORY:
SOUND: AMB ? library check out
Jenene Kingsford runs a ship-shape library right off of Main Street in downtown Joseph.
The library is in an old Forest Service building. From this vantage point -- with few windows -- Jenene has watched her town change from a bustling timber hub to an Aspen-like retiree Mecca.
JENENE: The town is a lot prettier. I do have to say the town is a lot prettier now. There weren?t any of the flower boxes uptown. A lot of the storefronts are nicer.
Jenene is melancholy, but it makes sense. Timber was her family?s lifeblood. And when three saw mills were torn down here, so was her family.
Her husband Stephen lost his mill job in 1994. To earn a living he took a job at another mill 50 miles away. But the swing shift and two hour commute took a toll.
JENENE: Boom. Overnight I was dealing with everything.
Jenene says with two teenage boys and a husband, who was gone for 12 hours a day, she was pressed to the limit.
JENENE: The youngest one was starting to get into drugs and I was left to handle everything. And it was really tough.
Stephen Kingsford, Jenene?s husband, says being gone from his family that much has been difficult for him too.
STEPHEN: Well I have two meals with my family in a week now. As opposed to being home seven days a week.
Stephen is a stout man dressed in overalls. He was kicked back in his recliner in the family?s living room while we talked. He says his hours at his mill job are long. And he had to take a pay cut to work further from home.
STEPHEN: And we are just now making what we were making in 1986 actually. The gross is back. We haven?t went forward like the rest of the state has in this county. It?s pretty hard.
But Joseph has moved forward. The mills have been replaced by three bronze foundries. They make huge statues for companies and artists across the U.S. The foundries and tourism industry provide some jobs.
SOUND: AMB ? caldron
CODY: I?m Cody Ray Kingsford and I work at Joseph Bronze.
Cody is Stephen and Jenene Kingsford?s youngest son. He makes the molds that the bronze is eventually poured into. It?s not pleasant.
SOUND: AMB ?glue room
He stands over a large vat of swirling glue all day. Cody says it doesn?t pay as good as a mill job.
CODY: I started out at 8 bucks an hour and I worked my way up to 10 after two years. But mill jobs you can start off at 10 or 12 bucks an hour.
With the job situation, Cody says he doesn?t plan stick around his hometown too much longer. He has an older brother in Lewiston, Idaho. He might go there.
CODY: I like Joseph but it?s hard. I don?t want to do foundry work forever. It?s not very good for ya. You wake up coughing a lot and different stuff. So I wouldn?t mind moving.
But despite the hardships the family has gone through, Stephen Kingsford says Joseph is still home.
STEPHEN: My mom is buried up on the hill and my dad?s in the nursing home down here. My sister lives at the foot of the lake. And it?s a beautiful place to live. I look at the mountain everyday and say that?s called my mountain.
But it?s a mountain he shares with new generation in Joseph. One without timber in its blood.
I?m Anna King in Joseph, Oregon.
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Copyright 2007 Northwest Public Radio
WEB:
www.josephoregon.com
www.josephbronze.net
PHOTOS:
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CUTLINE: The Kingsfords and other families had to adjust when Joseph, Ore., changed from a mill town to a tourist and retirement Mecca.
