Don Lown

After 33 years in education, the final 21 as a fifth and sixth grade teacher in Greece, New York, a suburb of Rochester, Don Lown found his way to Oregon and a new career. "I see my life now as a professional volunteer," he says. Following his retirement in 1994, Lown and his wife Hydie packed a trailer and headed west. "We camped our way across the US," he says. "After two-and-a-half months we ended up in Eugene." Within weeks of his arrival, Lown began volunteering at the UO Museum of Natural History (he's currently on the board) and at Wistec, now known as the Science Factory. "I've built shelving in nearly every room here," he says. He spends one afternoon a week cleaning fossil finds in the UO's Condon Collection, another tutoring students at LCC. He's been program chair at the Emerald Empire Kiwanis Club for 10 years. Other consuming interests include photography, mineralogy, and stone sculpture. "Don is a renaissance man," says Science Factory director Joyce Berman. "He seems to be involved in everything, but he always has time to talk or share a smile."

happening people photograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 4 January 2007