SENIOR

PROM
REDEFINED
The Claytons celebrate
their anniversary in style
story by LAURA LOFGREN
photos courtesy of HERMISTON HIGH SCHOOL
What was supposed to start off as a simple anniversa-
ry surprise from Don Clayton to JoAnn Clayton of Port
Angeles turned into an even bigger event for the couple.
Each year for their anniversary, the Claytons go out
to dinner or visit Lake Quinault, and Don usually gets
JoAnn flowers — one for each year they’ve been mar-
ried, which will be 64 this October.
“But then,” JoAnn said, “after he started doing 63 last
year, I said ‘I don’t have enough vases for all the flow-
ers!’ ”
So, instead, Don reached out to their old high school
during a trip to Hermiston, Ore., earlier this school year
and asked Principal Tom Spoo if he and his wife could was graduating from high school.
attend their 2017 prom. “The story about the prom is that he said he asked me
Spoo said the couple was more than welcome to at- and I never gave him an answer,” JoAnn said. “My story
tend the event, and the wheels were set in motion. is that he never did ask me; he just presumed I would
go, so we didn’t go!”
A BIT OF BACKGROUND It would have been Don’s senior prom they attended,
What led Don to this gift is rooted in their high school but “it was stubbornness and lack of communication
days. that we didn’t go,” she said.
JoAnn and Don are both alumni of Hermiston High In 1953, Don joined the Marine Corps and left home
School, with JoAnn being a year older than Don. He that July.
graduated in 1953; JoAnn in 1952. “We hadn’t made any plans to get married that I
Back then — as true of most any high school couple — knew about,” JoAnn said, “but he called me ... about
communication was lacking in their relationship. six weeks before he came home and said, ‘We’re getting
Don and JoAnn began dating about the time JoAnn married when I get home.”
16 Lifelong Journey • JUNE 2017
 “Which wasn’t allowed,” Don added, “because as a
private, or PFC, you don’t make enough money. You had
to be sergeant or above.”
The Claytons said they were unaware of that rule at
the time and were married Oct. 5, 1953, at the Method-
ist Church in Hermiston.
After their wedding, Don told JoAnn he was going to
Korea.
“I probably wouldn’t have gotten married thinking he
was gonna be gone for all that time. But we did and we
made it,” JoAnn said.
Don was in Korea for about 15 months before coming
home.
The Claytons moved around a bit, spending some time
in Southern California and then Pullman, Wash.
JoAnn worked as a beautician while Don finished
Above, JoAnn and Don Clayton pose for their 2017 Hermiston
High School prom photo.
Opposite, Don and JoAnn took advantage of the photo booth
during their night at the prom.
Lifelong Journey • JUNE 2017
schooling at Washington State University, then became
a full-time mom to her kids.
“I was very fortunate to be able to be with my children
when they were small,” JoAnn said.
In 1973, the family made a move to Forks.
“We were in Pullman, and Don desperately needed a
job,” JoAnn said. “... So he called me one day from the
placement bureau and asked me, ‘How would you like
to move to Forks?’ And I said, “How would I like to move
where?’ I had never heard of Forks! But that’s where we
spent 13 years. Don worked as a librarian and audiovi-
sual [educator] at the high school.”
While in Forks, the Claytons raised three children,
who all graduated from Forks High School: Scott, who
lives in Belfair; Todd, who owns Athlete’s Choice in
downtown Port Angeles; and Lisa, who lives in Idaho.
Today, the Claytons have nine grandchildren and one
great-grandchild.
After living in Forks, Don and JoAnn moved to Port
Angeles in 1985, where Don worked as a contractor
until his retirement in 1995.
A SURPRISE, INDEED
Being married for almost 64 years is no easy task, and
celebrating each year differently can pose a challenge
for some. But after seeing a photo of JoAnn in the blue
dress she potentially would have worn to that prom
back in 1953, Don got to thinking.
“He was trying to think of something original and
something different this year,” JoAnn said. “And I think
he had friends who told him, ‘You gotta do something
different this year!’ ”
After confirming with Spoo that they could attend the
prom, the Claytons didn’t expect much from the evening
other than showing up and maybe dancing.
“We had expected that we would show up and say
we went and maybe do one dance, but they [Hermiston
High School faculty and students] made it into an un-
forgettable something.”
What the Claytons didn’t know about their prom date
was that the school’s leadership adviser and the stu-
dents from the student government decided to make it a
one-of-a-kind night to remember.
When the couple arrived, they were chauffeured by
Fred Clark in a 1951 Mercury, provided by the Herm-
iston Classic Car Club, and given flowers by the local
florist.
They were treated to dinner at Hale’s Restaurant,
where they sat and ate together with several family
members.
The Claytons were also given overnight accommoda-
tions at Oxford Suites.
PROM CONTINUED on 18 >>
17
<< SENIOR PROM CONTINUED from 17

“They just kept us busy the whole

time,” JoAnn said.
Arriving at the prom in their vin-
tage auto, JoAnn wore a lovely blue
dress, while Don wore his Marine
dress uniform.
They were escorted to their own
reserved table, enhanced by a pair of
throne-like heavy chairs.
Several students met and chatted
with the Claytons, thanking Don for
his 42 years of service in the Marine
Corps.
But the biggest surprise to both
JoAnn and Don was their crowning
as prom king and queen.
“Just before we were to do our
[solo] dance, they crowned us king
and queen of the prom!” JoAnn said
excitedly. “We hadn’t danced since
high school and haven’t danced
much since then, but they formed Hermiston High School students form a circle around JoAnn and Don Clayton after the
couple was crowned prom king and queen. The Claytons danced to “You Belong to Me” by
a circle around us on the gym floor Jo Stafford.
and put a light in the center and we
had to go out and do a dance.” The students voted to crown the evening,” JoAnn said.
The Claytons danced to “You Be- Claytons prom king and queen, and After their dance, the emcee
long To Me” by Jo Stafford. the couple got to keep their crowns brought out a microphone, handed
“And we didn’t fall down,” JoAnn as souvenirs. it to the couple and asked, “How do
added. “[The students] were gracious that you stay married for 64 years?”
“I said, ‘Well, you choose the right
person and then you hang on!’ They
got a big charge out of that,” JoAnn
said. “I should have said, ‘There’s
sometimes some bumps in the road,
and that’s when your really hang
on!’ ”
As their evening wound down, stu-
dents continued to make the Clay-
tons feel welcomed.
“The way the students and the
faculty reacted to us, it was like we
were welcomed, not that we were
intruding,” JoAnn said. “But we had
the thought that those kids are gonna
think, ‘What are those old folks doing
here?’ But they were really wonder-
ful. I think that was my favorite part,
the reaction from the faculty and the
students,” JoAnn said.
For Don, his favorite part was
their being crowned king and queen
and keeping the decked out crowns.
Don and JoAnn Clayton rode to the prom in style. They were chauffeured around in a
1951 Mercury by Fred Clark of the Hermiston Classic Car Club. PROM CONTINUED on 19 >>
18  Lifelong Journey • JUNE 2017
 << PESTS CONTINUED from 15

HUNTING/KILLING
Many legal restrictions apply to this
approach:
•  Protected or endangered species
cannot be harmed.
•  Migratory birds are under federal
protection.
•  Killing “game” (which includes
deer, most rabbits and raccoons)
requires a license and can only be
undertaken in open season.
The regulations are complicated and
change often, so review current regula-
tions (at www.wdfw.wa.gov/living/
rules) before getting out the shotgun.

Control of vertebrate pests is chal-

<< PROM CONTINUED from 18
HOME AS KING & QUEEN
Now that word of the Claytons
being crowned prom king and
queen has gotten around, friends
curtsy and call them “King” and
“Queen” in their presence. (During
this interview, some friends of the
Claytons stopped by and greeted
them with, “Hi King! Hi Queen!”)
“Don’s still floating around on
Cloud 9,” JoAnn said. “He’s very
quiet and mostly shy and to do
something like this was kind of
out of the ordinary.”
Thinking back on their prom
date that happened almost 64
years later from their high school
one, JoAnn remembers talking to
a friend about the whole anniver-
sary date.
“It’s a one-time thing. We could
go back and go to our prom and it
would not mean the same thing.
I’m so glad we did this one instead
of the original one! This one we’re
definitely not going to forget.”
lenging. Use of multiple approaches
based on the specific pest and chang-
ing them over time will be most suc-
cessful. But no approach (or combina-
tion of approaches) is likely to be
100 percent effective and substantial
time, money and emotion could be
invested in the process.
In the end many gardeners elect to
recognize the benefits of having these
critters in our gardens (how they
enrich our lives, contribute to the food
chain or improve the soil) and decide
to “live and let live.”
Jeanette Stehr-Green and Judy
English are WSU-certified Clallam
County Master Gardeners. Both write
gardening articles for local newspapers
and provide presentations to the public
on a variety of gardening topics. Stehr-
Green and English also participate in
Garden Talk, a monthly call-in radio
program on KONP.

<< ALZHEIMER'S CONTINUED from 13
The 18-month clinical trial will study the nasal spray
versus a placebo in 275 adults between the ages of 55
and 85.
XANAMEM
Australian researchers at Actinogen Medical have
begun trials of a new drug called Xanamem.
More than 170 patients with mild dementia in Aus-
tralia, the United States and the United Kingdom will
Lifelong Journey • JUNE 2017  19
take part in the placebo-controlled 12-week trial.
The medicine blocks the stress hormone cortisol in or-
der to improve mental function for those with dementias.
In 2015, an Edinburgh University study of mice
showed reducing cortisol in the brain improved their
memory and decreased the number of Alzheimer’s-asso-
ciated amyloid plaques in the brain.
Researchers continue to work as they seek a success-
ful, long-term option for treating or preventing Alzheim-
er’s disease and other dementias.