In memorium

Long time GFWC Oregon City Woman's Club Member Shirley Newhouse passed away on December 25, 2022.  Shirley became a member in 1997 and received the Woman of Dedication Award in 2003.   

She was born Sept. 1, 1935 in Oregon City, Ore., to Vernald and Katherine Moehnke. She married her High School Sweetheart William Newhouse "Bill" in 1956. While still attending college in Corvallis, their first of three sons was born (Grant). After a brief move to Lincoln City, they settled in Oak Grove where two more sons were born (Greg and Graeme). Shirley and Bill worked together for many years at their Pharmacy in Oregon City, near the top of the elevator. After the sale of the Pharmacy in 1982, Shirley continued her career as a Pharmacy Tech until her retirement.

Shirley was baptized and married at Zion Lutheran Church in Oregon City, and later made St. Stephens Lutheran Church as her family's church home. Shirley was very active in numerous community organizations including Oregon City Woman's Club, Lady Shriners and volunteered for many years with Hospice. She traveled with Bill across the U.S. as Shriner Ambassadors.

She is survived by her husband, William Newhouse; two sons, Grant Newhouse and Graeme Newhouse; son, Greg Newhouse predeceased her in 2014. She has eight grandchildren, Jake, Shane, Charlie, Blake, Troy, Taylor, Eric and Andrew; and six great-grandchildren.

Shirley will be remembered for her love of her family. Always looking forward to spending time and travel with her sons and grandchildren. For Shirley, there was no better time to be with family than the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas where she was known for her loving hospitality and wonderful cooking. 

With sadness the GFWC Oregon City Woman’s Club was sorry to hear that Karin Morey, a 10 year member of our organization passed away May 31, 2022. She was our webmaster, historian and parliamentarian. She was a previous Facebook publisher and member of our auction committee. Karin was passionate about OCWC history and pursued information about our Past Presidents. Each year, the club places red carnations at each of the Past President’s graves at Mt. View Cemetery. Karin was there most years to help with this project.   

Karin was born in Portland and was one of two adoptive daughters. Her Criminal Justice education led her to a total of 32 years with Clackamas County Parole and Probation. She leaves a son, Ryan.  

Karin loved history, especially historic research on Oregon City and Clackamas County. She was an author of many historic papers and books. She gave presentations on over 100 years of women in Oregon City. In 2017 she was named Oregon City’s “Citizen of the Year”. According to the information written by the city at the time, the award was for “her historic work that took many hours, days, months volunteering her time to transcribing hand-written minutes from the 1800’s to be archived. Her work ethic, inclusiveness, depth of experience and history have all contributed to keeping the City’s history alive”.   

In September 2021, the countywide Susannah Lee Barlow Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution awarded Morey with the Women in American History award, honoring her significant contributions to historical preservation, education and patriotism, according to Phyllis Hines, DAR chapter regent. "She works tirelessly in the Oregon City community," Hines said of Morey. Karin was very proud of this award and achievement.  

The Oregon City Woman’s Club is proud of the work she has done and honored to have had her as a member. We will miss her.  Note: there is a wonderful article about Karin that was published in the Oregon City News on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.    

 As we close out 2021, we say rest in peace to a long time member of the Greater Federation of Woman's Clubs . . . Betty Gallucci (90+ years old), was a member for around 50 years, having started in Lake Oswego and in 2016 moved to the Oregon City Woman's Club. Betty was committed to volunteerism and giving back to the community. She collected books, clothing, bedding, backpacks and many other items that she cleaned, sorted and delivered to various non-profits.

Betty was the mother of 2 children. She traveled extensively with her late husband Tony, who passed away at 74 years after 20 years of marriage. She loved dogs and you could always see her with hers. She was a realtor, a member of the Portland Storytelling Guild, Oaky Doaks Square and Round Dance Club and she was a clown for close to 30 years, performing as "Betty Boop Klosette".

From a few of our members: Gail Aldridge, said it well and echo's many other members of our club . . . " The thing that struck me the most was how she was continually looking for ways to be active, stay relevant and challenge herself. She was always looking ahead to the next club meeting or making plans to attend a conference somewhere. I know all of this because I was lucky enough to be on her mailing list and received her newsletters. She’s the only person I know who sent out a newsletter periodically, something other people only do at Christmas. She always invited her readers to join her in her various activities. She was really something." From Sandra Brown . . . "Betty was definitely a unique, fascinating, and charitable lady. Loved her newsletter! She will be missed by many. RIP Betty." From Bev Spilseth . . . "Betty is flying with the angels and I’m sure they are having a hard time keeping up with her! She was quite the character. Our phone conversations were long and late because she was a busy gal and had to tell me all about it. She was intelligent, had strong opinions, and wasn’t afraid to share them. I always tried to picture her as a realtor. I bet she was a pistol! RIP Betty. You will be missed." From Julie Peters . . . "I’m sure she reached the gates with a lot of noise and packages for everyone and maybe a tad late:). She was so kind and I still wonder if there was film in that camera when she snapped so many pictures. A life well lived for sure!"

Rest in Peace Betty!