Picto Diary - 23, 24 June 2022 - Bruce Brenn

Above: 'Wing. Convenience store. Cottage Grove, OR. 23 June 2022.

Out and about on the 'Wing.

Cottage Grove, my only stop, is midway, 140 miles along the route, between Ashland, OR and Portland, OR on I-5, total distance 280 miles.

Above: Morton's. Portland, OR. 23 June 2022.

Out and about on the 'Wing.

Morton's. Five-minute walk from Hotel Zags where I am staying for two nights. I saw the restaurant while riding to the hotel. Easy decision on where to eat.

I had real problems with the 'Wing's navigation system coming into the city. There are two side by side read outs on the screen, each with different aspects, as you approach your next turn point. It's something that I'll have to learn, but, confused at the moment, I took out the Samsung smart phone, set the destination for Zags Hotel and was able to hear the navigation commands with the phone in my breast pocket while riding slowly in the city.

Above: Keller Fountain Park. Portland, OR. 23 June 2022.

Post dinner at Morton's I took a walk in the park and saw a disproportionate number of mask-wearing people with pastel colored hair and tattoos. Also saw a couple of people of indeterminate sex. The park was well cared for, and the park vibes were peaceful and relaxed.

Above: 'Wing. Zags Hotel. Portland, OR. 23 June 2022.

Not widely appreciated by many motorcyclists is that most hotels don't have a problem with bikes parking up on the pavement near the door as long as passageways are not blocked.

Above: Bishop at Powell's Books. Portland, OR. 24 June 2022.

Zags didn't serve a breakfast and I couldn't find a sit-down, table service breakfast in the neighborhood. I walked south from the hotel a few blocks and found an Einstein Bagel that had an offering of bagel breakfast sandwiches. Sit-down in the store was closed so I found a bench outside at the trolly stop to eat my two fried egg, cheddar cheese, and bacon plain bagel sandwich.

I walked a mile and a half south to Powell's Books and bought the following:

"The Code Breaker," Walter Isaacson
"The Mandarins," Simone de Beauvoir
"Taking Paris," Martin Dugard

Above: Bucket drum busker. Portland, OR. 24 June 2022.

I put a contribution in the cup and the drummer was happy to have his image captured. I noted especially the bottles sticking out of the crate, a bucket drumming idea that I wanted to pass along to my grandson.

Bruce Brenn Obituary (1935 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian (oregonlive.com)

Above: Bruce Brenn. Randy, Darby, and Jay Brenn. Kay and Tom Crouse. Celebration of Life Service for Bruce Brenn, Native American Student and Community Center, Portland State University, Portland, OR. 24 June 2022.

On 23 June 2022 I attended in Portland, OR the celebration of Bruce Brenn's larger than life life. Randy, Darby and Jay were just tots when Margaret and I knew them in Calcutta, 1973. Bruce was an inflection point, one of nine, in my life. Bruce was my boss at Citibank Calcutta, India, 1973. Bruce orchestrated, with me as his "gal Friday (Sr. Operations Officer)," the taming of the renowned Kanjilal (union leader) and the Citibank All-India Bank Employees Union. Bruce: Oregon Ducks Rose Bowl player. Phi Betta Kappa University of Oregon. Played tennis with then Crown Prince, now Emperor, Akihito. Ended career as head Nike Japan. Retired to Portland where he was influential in various Japan/Portland partnerships. Mench covers it. Also, the three kids are proof of excellent parental performance. I was asked by Randy Brenn to speak. In my remarks I depicted Bruce with three words: character, courage, and principled. Cindy, a victim of Alzheimer's, lives in a Portland, OR nursing home. Cindy was not present at the service.

Tom Crouse, who joined the bank with Bruce, circa 1968, gave some special reminiscences of his experiences with Bruce and Cindy. Tom and Kay had flown in from New Hampshire to attend the service. They indicated their intent to visit the Mike Giles and the Bill Taylors on their West Coast trip.

1973. Bruce's boss, India Country Head, Ham Meserve, and IBG Division Five Head, Carlton Stewart had given Bruce the green light to take on the bank union... this at a time, in Communist run West Bengal, when unions were strong and ascendant. The trigger for Bruce's action was noncompliance with a work instruction by one of the employees. Bruce/Citi took legal action against the union. For a three-month period, the union retaliated with lightning strikes and raucous demonstrations on the bank premises. Two hundred union employees walked out all together for a period of two weeks during which period twenty or so highly talented local officers ran all the functions of the bank. Bruce and I each left for new assignments before the case was eventually resolved in 1975 at Calcutta City Civil Court in the bank's favor.

Addendum:

Hi Steve, found out Larks is still open for dinner, not sure if or when they will open for lunch again.

Also, Beasy’s is open for dinner but only 3 nights a week now. Maybe that will change. Owner died a few months ago.

I’m sure staffing is an issue. Also, likely waiting to see if more tourists come to town…also a new independent coffee shop took the place of Starbucks on that corner…

Cyd,
Ashland, OR

I'm rooting for a solid OSF and Ashland recovery, but am thinking it will be a hard slog if OSF continues dissing its namesake, Shakespeare.

Steve, I'm remembering fondly our early morning, was it 0530 hours, horseback riding on the Maiden with Bruce, Cindy, and you on Big Boy. Please pass on to all the family.

Privateer,
Hancock, ME

I was kicked out of the Calcutta riding club on account of my being too big for any of the horses, including Big Boy.

I really enjoyed this, Steve—your tour of my familiar places. That summer with 2 8-year-old boys in tow, we fished for salmon on both the Klamath and Rogue Rivers. My brother had a motel in Smith River and was licensed as a fishing guide—called himself the "Master Baiter" on his business card. Then he lived in Brookings for a few years and has now landed in Grants Pass on a little three-acre farm at the edge of town. All those years, we've visited back and forth. I, however, make the jaunt on four wheels!

Diana,
Mayfield, UT

SW Oregon great area. Did you attend any musical performances at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, outside of Medford? I saw Trombone Shorty there three years ago. I loved walking on the Brookings beach in the early morning fog. At the fisherman supply store in Brookings, I bought a t-shirt that had on its front, "WTF! and then lower down, "Where's The Fish." That was before I understood a deeper meaning for the WTF acronymn. One ski day at Deer Valley, I was in the Snow Park Lodge having breakfast. I was wearing the WTF shirt when a man came up to me and said snidely, "Hmmm. what does WTF mean?" I replied, innocently, "where's the fish." The questioner shrugged and walked away. I puzzeled for weeks on why that guy approached me that morning. He obviously felt, perhaps rightly, that that was not the right shirt to wear at a tony ski resort where there are a lot of kids.