Fall Winter 2017

The Oregon Caregiver Fall/Winter 2017 www.ohca.com 24 Addie Wallace Marquis Piedmont, Vanport RESIDENT This spring, the Oregon State Legislature honored the victims and survivors of the Vanport flood, which devastated the small city of Vanport in north Portland in 1948. Here, Addie Wallace, a resident at Marquis Piedmont, shares her experiences growing up in Vanport. Tell us about the day you and others who lived in Vanport were honored at the Oregon State Capitol. It was wonderful. It was really exciting and very interesting. I had so many good conversations about the flood, so many people asking me good questions about the flood. Marquis also surprised me by renting a limo to take me and my family from Portland to Salem for the day. I loved the limo. When it pulled up, I had no idea it was for me but everyone else knew. Of course I shed a few tears of happiness and joy. Can you tell us about your experience living in Vanport before the flood? My grandma and grandfather came out here in 1944, but they couldn’t bring me and my cousin with them at the time. In 1945 they were able to bring us here from Arkansas. Vanport was a little town within a town. We had everything there: grocery stores, shopping malls, movie theaters, and churches. Of course, I was involved in all of it. Did you like it? Yes, it was my home. We were like family and we still are today when we see each other. I wish they could have rebuilt it. If they had, I would still be there but they said they couldn’t rebuilt because the same thing would happen again. So now, all of Delta Park is Vanport. That was the best place I’ve lived since I’ve been in Portland. What happened with the flood came? It happened on a Sunday. My grandmother wouldn’t let us leave the apartment, but we didn’t know why. She told me and my cousin to go play in the backyard but not to go any further than the back yard. When the dike broke, they announced it on a loudspeaker. There were two ends of our street, Cottonwood. The families at the lower end of the street had a harder time getting out, but we were on the upper end. How did you escape? It’s funny. My Grandma has just bought us new coats, mine was brown and green. While we were running I dropped my new coat and I turned around to go back and get it but my Grandma said to forget that new coat and keep on going. We got to a little embankment and I got up on it, but we had to reach back and grab my grandmother. She almost got pulled under. Where did you go once you got to safety? The first night we were taken to a grade school, where I slept on a little cot. After that a family that we knew— they had a great big house on Williams Avenue—took us into their home. I’m not really sure of how long we were there but it must have been over a month and then my grandmother and grandfather found us a place to move to. What did other residents of Vanport do after the flood? People went a lot of different ways, but I think most people stayed in Portland. Addie Wallace (center) meets with Speaker of the House Tina Kotek (left) and Senator Jackie Winters (right) at the Vanport Flood Commemoration in Salem. PROFILE