An explanation for generous scholarships

Editor’s note: Morris and Lynn Walker are working to make “Legends and Stories from the Heart of the Valley,“ a documentary film about Corvallis’ first 150 years. Each Saturday, they share tidbits from Corvallis that they’ve uncovered during their work. You can contact the Walkers at heartofthevalley@yahoo.com.

Timber was still king in the 1950s and 1960s. Timber barons like T.J. Starker, Gary Holben and Rex Clemens had done well and had contributed immensely to their communities. In 1959, Clemens decided to share his good fortune and started offering grants to high school graduates.

Thanks to Clemens, hundreds of Philomath High School graduates enjoyed a scholarship to the college of their choice in Oregon. And many residents of Philomath enjoy recounting their encounters with Clemens.

It was August 1977. It was going to be another blistering day, so the 13-year-old boy didn’t mind going to work at his dad’s Standard Oil gas station in Philomath at 4 a.m. when it was still cool. The loggers were rolling in early in their “crummies” (old Chevy Suburbans) to get started in the woods before the temperatures soared to triple digits.

At about noon the boy, Chris, was drinking an ice-cold Pepsi as he leaned against the worm-vending machine. The worm machine was a marvelous invention, created by Marlene Maltman and Noreen Serrano, who were known as the “Wonder Wormen.” They had adapted an old drink cooler into a vending machine that dispensed containers of “good tough Oregon worms.” It seemed like a great idea for passing anglers, until a very mysterious thing happened just a few days later. More about that later.

As Chris finished his Pepsi, an old friend of Chris’ father rolled into the station. As Chris remembers it today, his dad, Denny, ordered him to “Go out there and ask that man with the black cigar why he wants to pay for your college education.”

The boy approached the man with the cigar, Rex Clemens, and asked the question.

Clemens answered: “I’ll tell you why, because things are changing, old-fashioned logging is dying out. So you and other kids growing up in Philomath need to get educated in other ways. Pretty soon there will be all kinds of synthetic products and machines doing the work of 10 men, out there in the lumber industry.”

Clemens then asked Chris what he wanted to be when he got older. Chris, stammering, answered: “I’d like to be like our mayor, Mr. (Martin) Hoffman.”

“Well,” Clemens said, “you graduate from Philomath High School, and I’ll take care of you.”

Eventually, Chris graduated from Oregon State University. In time, Chris Nusbaum, following the lead of his mentor, Hoffman, became the mayor of Philomath. Today, Nusbaum has fond memories of his benefactor, Rex Clemens.

Now back to the great worm machine mystery.

Later that week in August 1977, someone reached in for a container of worms and found that the machine was empty. After a few minutes of investigation, Denny Nusbaum discovered that the worms all had slipped out of their containers and had bonded together in a ball-like mass of slithering worminess at the bottom of the machine. And thus ended the Wonder Wormens’ vision of a worm-vending empire.