A Personal History of Tillamook

In 1974, Kris Ayer, a mother in one of the school’s founding families wrote the following account of Tillamook’s beginnings:

Last year about this time there was no co-op, no funky house, no teacher. I can hardly push my mind back to how I felt then.My mind doesn’t want to go. It was: “I’m using the last diaper and I forgot to put the clean ones in the dryer. My two-year-old is into the prunes and I’ve got to get to the store for some food. In walks my husband, hungry for dinner. I needed to go the bathroom two hours ago. I still need to. I’d like to go alone. Fat chance. Three days ago I washed my face. It’s only 8 a.m. and I’m ready for bed. There’s two-week old popcorn in the shag carpet and something wrong with the vacuum. The new baby sitter won’t change diapers. I need a break. And there’s no good child care around.”

You know those feelings?

Well, some of my neighbors and I got together. We were reactionaries. Some of us had kids already in child care or preschool. Some of the kids had well-qualified, certified teachers who didn’t like kids. Some teachers had too many kids. One parent went to pick up his child at the local play school on the first glorious sunny day in Spring and found his child watching TV, outside.

Some of us who came together needed more time for ourselves. Some of us needed any time we could get. I was one of those. We swapped baby sitting that summer to give each other time. And we held meetings. We met every Wednesday for a long time.

We talked and talked until we began to know what we wanted in a preschool. Paulette wanted a cheerful entrance. First impressions were important for young kids. Sandra wanted window seats where kids could muse and be quiet with themselves. Robin wanted a good outside play space, sandbox, gardens. Ginny wanted a communal neighborhood. I still wanted some time. We all wanted a homey, cozy space where things really belonged to us and the kids; and we wanted to be in charge. We wanted a house.

We advertised for a rental house. Then we learned the house at the end of the block might be available in September. Lynn talked to the owners before it went on the market and made an offer. Lynn and Paulette bought the house—and we had a home.

What we didn’t have was a teacher and enough kids. I don’t know who found Denise (the school’s first teacher), but I remember the night we met her. We told her we had never conducted an interview, and didn’t know how to do it. So Denise told us about herself and how she wanted a typical day to go. She wanted to know all of our names and our children’s names and she wrote them all down. I liked that.
She had thought about what we would need, where to get the materials and how to make most of the stuff ourselves. “Good Lord,” I thought, “she knows what she’s doing. Maybe it’s all going to be all right somehow.”

We painted, mowed, cleaned, fenced and built; we donated money in lieu of having enough kids.

We opened in September with four kids full-time and two half-time. We needed more children all right, but we also wanted parents who really wanted to be involved with early childhood education, to learn and to grow. We wanted a community. We discovered we didn’t tend to attract non-participating parents who just wanted to dump their kids somewhere. They could find other places to do that at less cost to themselves.

We had to carry the school for three months with only six families, with garage sales and donations. Those were tense times!

Well, the kids came and one day the checkbook even balanced.

Was it worth it? Sure was. I see the value seven days a week in a son who feels good about himself and others, and who takes more and more charge of himself. I see a place where the first priority is recognizing the human worth of each person, addressing ourselves to it and tending to it. Seeing that this human element is always present and primary as we meet new situations is what makes this school different. And it’s what keeps me here.

Locations over the years

Over the years, Tillamook Preschool has been located in various places.

1973–1975: A house at 23rd and Tillamook Street
1975–1976: In Mt. Olivet Baptist Church
1976–1997: In Bethlehem Lutheran Church
1997-present: In The Presbyterian Church of Laurelhurst

In Spring 1998, we celebrated Tillamook’s 25th year with a time capsule and tree planting ceremony.

Although we have been in different locations, the spirit of Tillamook has always been constant. Since 1973, Tillamook has grown into a large community of families joined by their dedication to the emotional, social, physical and intellectual development of the children they love.  Families work together to create a warm, supportive, and creative environment for children.  The work takes many forms, and tools include everything from hammers to words.  The warm, cheerful environment that welcomes Tillamook children each day depends on each family sharing its talents and working together with other families.

Parents and our teacher work together in the classroom to provide a fun, challenging, and creative environment for children.  As children explore their own interest and developmental skills by choosing from a variety of activities, they build self-esteem, learn to make choices, and learn to respect the choices of others.  Back in 1974, Kris Ayer wrote, “The first priority is recognizing the human worth of each person, addressing ourselves to it and tending to it.  Seeing that this human element is always present and primary as we meet new situations is what makes this school different.  And it’s what keeps me here.”

Tillamook’s strength lies in its collective of unique perspectives and talents, and in the abilities of Tillamook families to organize these talents into a vibrant, dynamic community.  Since 1973, Tillamook families have worked together to achieve such a community in the hope that our children have learned in heir hearts, from their earliest years, that the world can be a place of warm welcome and respect.

Twenty-five years and hundreds of children since our beginning as a dream, our children now enjoy a lovely library, a grassy playground, a sandbox, and a classroom full of adventure.  They also enjoy a community that lives in the hearts of every Tillamook member.