Part 4 - Theatrical Reading & Costume Commentary.
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Part 3 - Buffet dining and socializing.... Part 1 - Recap
We gathered in the lovely Community Hall at Hinson Memorial Baptist Church for our 2026 Spring Tea. Thank you to Elaine Johnson for booking this lovely venue and assisted with hosting! She really was our girl Friday and wore many hats throughout the event always helping however she could--setting up the tea/friendship sale, overseeing the buffet tables, shuttling carts up/down the elevator, and was the go-to person for early and late arrivals. Whatever had to be done, Elaine was there to graciously do it! Elaine's husband, Larry Johnson was indispensable. He greeted attendees as they entered the building, helped our region with loading carts, and directed everyone to the elevator. Thank you also to Hinson Memorial Baptist Church for accommodating our region and setting up the tables for us. As a result, we had a beautiful venue with a delicious potluck, a spacious friendship sale, silent auction, a theatrical reading, and a costume commentary. Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto, organized the event with the elegant theme of lavender, white, and gold. The buffet and dining tables were adorned with lavender tablecloths, gold flatware, gold sparkling cups, and lavender floral napkins with butterflies. Vonnie also created the table centerpieces of fuchsia and pink peony flowers with white lighted lanterns. Elaine brought hand picked snow blossom flowers from her garden and arranged them into vases which graced the gold lighted wall display as did the white lighted lanterns. Linda Olson and Joann Graham organized and maintained the buffet tables. Lauri Conway provided the punch bowel and Linda also made the lemonade. Our Secretary, Karen Kinzey greeted attendees and took registration. Our Treasurer, Margaret Christmann collected payments for the friendship sale and silent auction. Also, thank you to the many volunteers who assisted with the donations storage, set up, and Friendship Sale. New this year was the Friendship Sale of 3+ estates: Susan Schwartz, Kim Higgins, and Bill Boyd with Regency era and historical related items including books (fiction and nonfiction), art, jewelry, porcelain, teapots, decorative plates, crafts, ribbons, party supplies, textiles, Regency era costumes, and more. We all had a great time shopping the Friendship Sale: 1) Select your purchases, 2) Pay what you can afford, 3) Be Fair, and 4) Have fun. The Silent Auction had a similar premise with no starting bid! The lavender dress donated by Kim Higgin's was a hot item and quickly found a bidder as did the Jane Austen illustration of Northanger Abbey. Another hot item was a signed copy of the newly released 250th Anniversary edition of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen with an Introduction by Caroline Jane Knight (great-niece of Jane Austen), donated by member Kathleen Jones from the 2026 Baltimore AGM. Other silent auction items of note were a pink sugar and creamer set, a blue willow teapot and teacup set, a Jane Austen charm bracelet from the 1995 BBC television mini-series, a hardback copy of The Complete Novels of Jane Austen in one volume, and a framed Northanger Abbey poster by Jan Koot -- highly collectible as the the poster was distributed at the Portland 2010 AGM. Our guest author was once again, Collins Hemingway who brought his books for sale: The Trilogy of the Marriage of Miss Austen and his nonfiction book: Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in "A Style Entirely New." He also brought his new release, Running Against the Wind: A Black Arkansan's Pursuit of his Dreams. Gresham Readers Theatre both wrote and performed the two one act plays of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Persuasion especially for our region! Each reading was cleverly adapted and directed by Melissa Standley and read by the play readers in 15 minute segments from beginning to end in full Regency costume. We were all mesmerized by the theatrical reading transported us back into the Regency Era. Gresham Reader's Theatre noted that Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age satire following Catherine Morland, a naive, imaginative teenager who travels to Bath and Northanger Abbey. Influenced by Gothic novels, she misinterprets real life as sinister drama. Catherine learns to distinguish fiction from reality, finds love, and matures after facing social deception. Grehsam Reader's Theatre described Persuasion is a poignant novel about second chances, following 27-year-old Anne Elliot, who years earlier was persuaded by a family friend to break her engagement to a poor naval officer. When he returns wealthy and successful, Anne must navigate her enduring love, regret, and societal pressures. A costume commentary followed given by costume historian Laura Streeter who both designed and built the costumes. Laura presented on women's fashion in the Regency Era. Her husband, artistic producing director, Michael Streeter presented on men's fashion and critiqued the costumes worn by the male play readers. We found it insightful to hear the male perspective on men's fashion in the Regency era and the constrictions of wearing such garments. Another high point occurred when the costumed female play readers left the stage and walked through the the audience modelling their historic footwear. Thank you to the play readers of the Gresham Readers Theatre for a stellar reading! And thank you to both Laura and Michael Streeter for an insightful and audience engaging costume commentary! Many thanks also to Dayle Olson, Tricia Kasch, and Vonnie Alto for providing photos of our Spring Tea. Additional haut ton fashion graced the tea with men's top hats and women's bonnets and lovely gowns. Photos followed with many of us choosing a photo op in front of the lighted gold wall display. Afterwards, attendees pitched in for clean up and boxed the supplies and remaining items from the Friendship Sale. A lovely time for us all!  This year, our Spring Tea will be held at the The Community Hall in Hinson Memorial Baptist Church in SE Portland. Here are highlights of our upcoming Spring Tea:
If interested in attending, please reserve a seat. Email your reservation to: [email protected] Parking is across the street and next door to the church. See you there!
Spring Tea Venue 
Producing Artistic Director of Readers Theatre Gresham 
Our region is thrilled to announce our closing 2025 Tribute Grant Honorees: Nan Williams and Jennifer Snoek-Brown!
In 2024, our membership voted to close out the Tribute Grant in 2025 in celebration of Jane Austen's 250th Birthday with two honorees. In 2025, our Tribute Grant Creator, Kim Higgins and our Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto nominated Nan and Jennifer for the closing Honoree Award which was then voted on by the membership. The following criteria served as a guide. The nominees must have been long time JASNA members prior to 2010 (and the Portland AGM) and the nominees must have contributed enormously to our region. Both Nan Williams and Jennifer Snoek-Brown with their spouses embody the attributes of a Tribute Grant Honoree. They both are longtime members of JASNA prior to 2010 and have volunteered above and beyond! Congratulations to Nan Williams and Jennifer Snoek-Brown! We appreciate your many years of service to the Oregon-SW Washington Region. Meet Nan Williams and her husband David: Nan joined JASNA in 2002. Throughout the years, Nan volunteered in a myriad of ways at Spring Teas and Jane Austen December Birthday Celebrations. She also served as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Portland 2010 AGM. From 2017 - 2023, Nan and David volunteered their community ballroom and hosted our annual Spring Teas at the beautiful Fairway Village Clubhouse. David graciously assisted Nan in making tea, moving tables, and cleaning up the event room. A perfect pair providing wonderful Spring Teas for our region! To read more about Nan and David, please follow this link: meet-nan-williams-our-2025-tribute-grant-honoree.html Meet Jennifer Snoek-Brown and her husband Sam: Jennifer joined JASNA in 2005. Jennifer created our website in 2013 and managed it. She also gave in depth presentations with her husband Samuel Snoek-Brown and hosted the New Members Meeting in 2013. In 2017, our region awarded Jennifer a Tribute Grant to attend the 2017 AGM in Huntington Beach, California where she co-presented with Pauline Beard, Professor Emerita at the Huntington AGM. To read more about Jennifer and Sam, please follow this link: meet-jennifer-snoek-brown-our-2025-tribute-grant-honoree.html Nan Williams joined JASNA in 2002. Throughout the years, Nan volunteered in a myriad of ways at our events while her husband, David helped with set up and clean up.
In 2010, Nan served as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Portland JASNA AGM conference and was a hit at the Hospitality Desk. She is long remembered for her welcoming manner and for providing superb red apples which initially were for decoration. The attendees enjoyed the apples so much that Nan and David brought more and more to the conference. Nan also assisted with the AGM meals, centerpieces, raffle baskets, and filling hundreds of swag bags. In 2014 for our December Jane Austen Birthday Luncheon at the Holy Names Heritage Center, Nan provided a display table featuring memorable items from the 2010 Portland AGM. She also collected photos taken during the AGM for this showing. From 2016 - 2017, Nan took over the tremendous work and artistry in creating raffle baskets for our Spring Teas and selling raffle tickets. We are also deeply grateful to Nan for volunteering the beautiful Fairway Village Ballroom and then hosting our Spring Teas there from 2017 – 2023 in Vancouver, WA. Altogether, Nan and David hosted 4 Spring Teas there: 2017 - 2019 and 2023. At the Fairway Village Clubhouse, Nan set lovely tea tables. Nan also collected raffle items and created beautiful raffle baskets through 2017 with leftover books sold individually. She collected payments for them and sold raffle tickets. Once our attendance and donations grew, Nan streamlined the donations by suggesting having "a proper book sale" at our annual Spring Tea. This was first implemented at out 2018 Spring Tea with a book and tag sale which we continue to hold today. After we reconvened from the pandemic, Nan and David hosted their final Spring Tea in 2023. Each Spring Tea included a presentation or performance:
As always, David helped with setting up the Spring Tea and graciously assisted Nan in making tea, moving tables, and providing cleanup. A perfect pair providing wonderful teas! Thank you to Nan and David Williams for their many years of service to the Oregon-SW Washington Region! We appreciate their most gracious and attentive hosting! Jennifer Snoek-Brown joined the JASNA Wisconsin Region in 2005 with her husband Sam. In 2011, they moved to Oregon and joined our region. In 2014, they became life members of JASNA. In 2011, Jennifer created our Weebly website which debuted on January 1, 2012. From the beginning, it contained a blog format with easy to add updates. This was so forward thinking that it remains relevant today--15 years later! Our region is deeply grateful for Jennifer's technical expertise in setting it up and managing our website until 2016. In 2013, the Snoek-Browns hosted the 2nd Annual New Members Meeting at their home for a lively discussion of Persuasion. Thirteen of us attended who were new or who joined within the last year or two, also members who were less familiar with Austen's works, as well as those who wanted to welcome new members in a more personal way. Jennifer and Sam also gave other depth presentations about Jane Austen's writings (see attachments):
In 2016, the Snoek-Browns moved to Tacoma, WA. In 2017, our region awarded Jennifer a Tribute Grant to attend the Huntington Beach AGM! There, Jennifer co-presented a breakout session with Pauline titled, “The Talk: Lady Susan the Novella and Love & Friendship the Film.” This was especially exciting because for the first and only time, we had a Tribute Grant Recipient (Jennifer) with an Honoree (Pauline) co-presenting an AGM breakout session. That's never been done before! Jennifer is also the only member in our region to receive the double award of a Tribute Grant Recipient (2017) and a Tribute Grant Honoree (2025)! After Jennifer returned from the 2017 AGM, in the spirit of the "reel librarians" that she blogs about, she thanked our region with an insightful video about her Tribute Grant experience. Here's the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MBro9ZmCHQ Jennifer is an academic librarian and the OER Librarian for Tacoma Community Library. Previously, she was a faculty librarian at Mt Hood Community College in Gresham, OR. She also has a website blog titled "Reel Librarians" about librarians in film <reel-librarians.com/>. Jennifer grew up in libraries and wrote her undergraduate honors thesis titled, "A Glimpse Through the Glasses: Portrayals of Librarians in Film.” Jennifer continued her interest in analyzing the image of librarians in movies during her MLIS studies, and throughout her career as a librarian. Sam teaches college writing and literature at Pierce College. He serves as Production Editor for Jersey Devil Press and has served as the fiction judge for local literary contests in Oregon and Indiana. Sam is the recipient of a 2013 Oregon Literary Fellowship. for his novel, Hagridden. He has also have been shortlisted in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition, twice for short fiction and once for a novella. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist in the 2013 Story South Million Writers Award. In 2015, he also was a contributor to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Sam is also the author of 5 books! Jennifer and Sam are photographed each holding their favorite Jane Austen novel: Jennifer is holding her mother's copy of Persuasion that she gave to her. Interestingly, Jennifer's mother is also a lifetime JASNA member who introduced Jennifer to Jane Austen's writing. Sam's favorite Jane Austen novel is Northanger Abbey. The book he's holding is the copy he purchased during his graduate studies when he took a Gothic Romance fiction class (which was his first introduction to Jane Austen!). Between them is a hand-made pillow that reads Pride and Prejudice because "they both agree (as English majors!) that Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's best-written and best-plotted work." Thank you to Jennifer and Sam for their many years of service to the Oregon-SW Washington Region! We appreciate the timeless and relevant website created by Jennifer, the new members meeting that they hosted, and the many erudite presentations that they gave to our region! 
The Oregon-SW Washington Region announces that Governor Tina Kotek has proclaimed December 16th as Jane Austen Day in Oregon! Governor Kotek signed the proclamation in honor of Jane Austen who is one of the most influential and enduring authors in English Literature. Hereafter, Jane Austen's birthday of December 16th will be known as Jane Austen Day in Oregon! Our region together with the Southern Oregon Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America applied for the proclamation. Thank you to our Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto and our Assistant Treasurer, Arnie Perlstein for their diligent work. Arnie updated the JASNA template for the application then wrote a press release letter to Oregon media outlets, both with Vonnie's input. And thank you to Governor Tina Kotek for signing the proclamation and to Secretary of State, Tobias Read for witnessing it! We are most appreciative that Jane Austen's birthday of December 16th has been officially recognized in the state of Oregon as Jane Austen Day!  The Oregon-SW Washington Region gathered in the upstairs event room at the Hillsboro Public Library for a dual celebration of our region's 40th Anniversary and Jane Austen's 250th Birthday. This is our first anniversary photo ever! Photo taken by Janeite Coco Madrid.  |
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