April Silvery remembers crying on the ride home because it appeared she wouldn’t get the car.
Back then, Silvery was a single mother of two kids who was borrowing her parent’s car. Her grandfather, Jim Casper, had promised that he’d buy her a car if she reached age 25 without a traffic ticket.
When she did, April and Jim traveled into Portland to acquire an Acura MDX. But Casper started haggling with the dealer, and then decided to drive back to Clark County, since the dealer wasn’t acquiescing. Silvery started crying on the ride back home in disappointment.
But this was all part of Casper’s master plan. He told Silvery: “They will call us before we get across this bridge, I promise.”
And sure enough, the dealership did call back, and Silvery, who’s now 39, ended up getting her Acura.
That’s a favorite story Silvery has of her grandfather, who died at 81 of lung cancer this January.
Jim Casper was “larger than life,” Silvery said, and he drove a hard bargain, but was also generous to his family and others. The Caspers’ generosity was on display when Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland announced this month that Jim’s wife of 62 years, Donna, 81, had donated $1 million to the hospital.
“It made me feel absolutely wonderful” to give the donation, said Donna Casper, who worked with her husband in property development. “It’s probably the best thing I’ve done in my lifetime. To think that the two of us worked so hard for every penny we had, and to think that we were able to save and save, and be able to do that was outstanding.”
The money was used to purchase an O-arm surgical imaging system that will help patients with spinal deformities. Whitney Krebs, a spokesperson for Portland Shriners, said that Donna Casper reached out with a dollar amount she wanted to donate. That amount exactly matched the funds needed for the O-arm, which Krebs said “was kind of miraculous in a way. It felt meant to be.”
Krebs said Dr. Michelle Welborn, a Shriners spinal surgeon who will benefit from the O-arm, jumped with joy and screamed when she discovered they would be able to acquire the equipment.
“This specific piece of equipment is meant to help with spine surgeries and to help with the accuracy of that,” Krebs explained.
Donna Casper said Welborn cried when they met her recently and saw the machine. Donna Casper, Silvery, and another granddaughter, McKenzie McCormick, 24, said it was touching to actually see the machine and learn what it does. McCormick said she learned about hard work from her grandparents, and noted that her grandfather would admit he probably worked a little too much.
That’s why Jim Casper made sure to let them know the importance of work-life balance and family, too.
“He really tried to pass on to his grandkids, that even though he and Grandma worked to the bone always, he really wanted our takeaway to be to work hard, but to enjoy our families more,” Silvery said. “They’ve allowed for us to do that.”
