Nina Regor, who announced Sept. 27 she would not return to work as Camas city administrator, succumbed Sunday to an undisclosed medical condition diagnosed last spring.
Regor, 51, died around 5:30 p.m. surrounded by her family at her Camas home, said Mayor Scott Higgins.
“It was really surprising and shocking to all of us,” Higgins said. “A lot of us knew she was sick, but not until two weeks ago did any of us have any idea that she was in trouble.”
Regor was hired in January to succeed longtime City Administrator Lloyd Halverson. The new job was a homecoming for the Clark County native, who by then had advanced her career with jobs in Gresham, Ore., Spokane Valley, and Cloverdale, Calif.
She and her mother, Joan, lived in the same house together in Camas, and she cared for her mother.
“It was kind of a fun story, her coming home and back to the community, but it evidently wasn’t made to work that way,” Higgins said.
During her brief time in Camas, she helped shepherd the completion of a project to extend 38th Avenue to Vancouver’s 20th Street and finalize financing for the Lacamas Lake Lodge and Conference Center project, he said.
“She loved her job and loved improving the community,” he said.
The some 175 city employees she supervised have been offered grief counseling, and several of them took advantage of it on Tuesday.
Her death was particularly shocking because she was present at last month’s regular City Council meeting, Higgins said.
Regor loved to read and loved to share her love of reading with others. She used to volunteer as a reading tutor and help teach people learning English as a Second Language, Higgins said.
When a new Harry Potter book was released, she would buy several copies and find kids to give them to. “She was a neat lady,” he said.
Higgins, pastor at Hockinson Church of Christ, will fulfill one of Regor’s last requests by serving as the minister at her memorial service .A memorial service is set for 10 a.m. on Nov. 2 at Journey Community Church, Fourth Avenue and Birch Street in downtown Camas.
Human Resources Director Jennifer Gorsuch will serve as acting city administrator until a permanent successor is hired.
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