Virginia Warren hated history when she was in school because she thought it was boring.
Like any other lifelong Camas resident, Warren has seen a lot of change in her hometown. Her opinion on history included. Warren, who celebrated her 94th birthday earlier this month, has spent the last seven-plus decades learning, studying and compiling Camas’ history.
Now, the historian of the city is preparing to donate a few items from her personal collection to the Camas Public Library so it can be studied and enjoyed by future generations.
“They don’t teach our local history in schools,” Warren said. “Now kids can come down to the library and read these books.”
If you go
What: The ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the Camas Public Library’s Virginia Warren Collection, which will feature donated items from the Camas historian’s personal collection.
When: 3 p.m. Friday, followed by tea on the veranda.
Where: Camas Public Library, 625 N.E. Fourth Ave.
Warren will donate three scrapbooks she put together with photos, news articles, brochures, business cards and other info about Camas history. One book will be put in a glass case up front in the library, and library staff will turn it to a new page each day. The other two books will be available for guests to examine but not check out. They won’t leave the library. The book on display in the case will rotate through all three.
“They go back 100 years or so,” said Connie Urquhart, director of the library. “It’s not your typical historical volume. This is the collection of a woman who, over the years, has pulled together things that have meant something to her.”
The donation was set up through a mutual friend of Warren and Urquhart. Warren moved last year from her home in Camas to a retired living facility in Vancouver and was downsizing. Urquhart said the library was thrilled to accept the donations and will have a sign with Warren’s name on the case where her books are displayed.
“All you have to do in Camas is say the name Virginia Warren and people light up. She’s famous in Camas,” Urquhart said. “I’ve lived in Camas for three years now, and I heard her name as soon as I got here. She’s the person who knows the most about Camas. She’s the expert. To be able to put the Camas expert’s name on one of our collections really puts the stamp of authenticity on our library. It’s a win for us, and it’s a win for the community.”
The Camas library is one of the few in the area that is not operated by the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. While they share some services, the Camas library is independent. There was a discussion to maybe join the library district in 2016, but city councilors decided against it. Urquhart said having an independent library is a source of pride for residents, and adding Warren’s collection will further that.
“This is absolutely a reflection of the kind of service we provide in Camas, that personalized Camas community that people look for there,” Urquhart said. “They want to know what’s happening in the Camas neighborhoods. They want to walk in the doors and see a reflection of their community.”
For Warren, that’s a community that has changed quite a bit over the last 94 years.
“I’m sad it’s not the mill it used to be,” she said. “But, I admire the downtown people who have kept Camas together. I admire them a lot.”
Warren said she’s still not totally used to her mill town turning into a quaint downtown that brings in people from around the region. The 1944 Camas High School graduate said Camas was a place where everybody knew each other. Many people in her family worked in the paper mill, as did Warren for a brief stint after graduating high school. Due to World War II, she moved to Oakland, Calif., where she drove deliveries to different shipyards. She moved back a year later, married soon after and took up an interest in local history. She read books, talked to people and started compiling her own scrapbooks.
“People started asking me questions because I lived here my whole life,” Warren said. “I decided I should start studying it.”
Some of Warren’s favorite Camas history stories include the Slackers’ Monument, which she said was built by a local women’s group who wrote the names of men who refused to serve in World War I on it and placed it in public. She also remembered when a hay truck and gas truck tried to squeeze underneath the old bridge across the Washougal River, sideswiped each other and started a fire that melted the bridge. Nobody was hurt, Warren said.
Of all the former Camas sites that have passed, Warren said she is especially sad at the loss of the Crown Willamette Hotel, which was across the street from where Safeway is now located.
When she moved in September, Warren said she had to get rid of some things due to a lack of storage room in her new place. She still has a few scrapbooks filled with local history, and some other mementos, including her a badge that belonged to her older brother, Marvin Lethlean. It was his employee badge from the paper mill. Warren said she had one from her time working at the mill, but isn’t sure where it is.
Studying history has also helped her keep mentally sharp, Warren said. She tells people the three things she tries to do are stay active, stay positive and keep her sense of humor.
“I’m always telling my kids, ‘Just because you’re old of age doesn’t mean you have to be old,'” Warren said.
She takes exercise classes and goes walking a lot. She still tries to spend time with her three sons, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren as much as she can. And even though she has technically moved from the city, Warren said she’ll never leave Camas behind.
“It was such a nice place to raise my sons and grow up,” she said. “Even though I live in Vancouver now, I’ll always be a Camas girl.”
