By Mary Owen
Author Jane Kirkpatrick has a grasp of how to blend Oregon’s history with fiction that grabs the interest of readers.
More than 50 people came out in June to hear Kirkpatrick talk about the power of stories in everyday life as part of the Stayton Public Library’s seniors program, said librarian Pam Pugsley. The popular author also talked about living and ranching in Eastern Oregon, Pugsley said.
“Jane is a superior speaker,” she added. “I’m still getting comments on how good the talk was.”
Kirkpatrick’s appearance wrapped up the Local Libraries Lifelong Learning Project, a collaborative project of the public libraries of Dallas, Falls City, Independence, Jefferson, Lyons, Monmouth, Newberg, Sheridan, Silverton, Stayton, Willamina and Woodburn. The project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library.
“The program was followed by a book signing and books were available for purchase at the event,” Pugsley said.
Kirkpatrick is an award-winning, bestselling author of historical novels and non-fiction books, many set in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Her newest novel, A Mending at the Edge, concludes her Change and Cherish Series, based on the true story of Emma Giesy, who helped settle Washington Coast’s Willapa Bay area.
Kirkpatrick will have a non-fiction gift book out in October about the quilts and crafts of the Aurora Colony of Oregon, where Giesy spent her final years. Other titles include: A Clearing in the Wild, A Sweetness to the Soul, A Tendering in the Storm, A Burden Shared, A Land of Sheltered Promise, and A Simple Gift of Comfort and Homestead.
Kirkpatrick, the 1995 winner of the prestigious Western Heritage Wrangler Award, bases many of her tales on her own life.
The Wisconsin native grew up on the family dairy farm before moving to Oregon in 1974 after completing her master’s degree in social work. She worked in the disabilities field, became the director of a mental health program in Deschutes County, and eventually retired from there to homestead 160 acres with her husband, Jerry, on the John Day River in a remote part of Oregon known as Starvation Point.
“It’s our ‘rural 7-Eleven’ since our home sits 7 miles from the mailbox and 11 miles from the pavement,” she wrote on her Web site.
As well as writing, Kirkpatrick works as a mental health and educational consultant on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Center Oregon with both American Indians and non-Indian communities.
