ºìÌÒÊÓƵ

Obituaries

Recent Obituaries
In Memoriam Archive

Myron Joe Floren ’50

December 31, 2017, at his home in Clackamas, Oregon.

Joe’s early life in Oregon City was permeated by the subdued mood of the Great Depression. For a time, before moving to Northeast Portland, his family lived with his grandparents on their farm near Carver, Oregon. After graduating from Jefferson High School, Joe started at ºìÌÒÊÓƵ. He went on to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Oregon. In 1950, he married Marjorie Daum ’51, and two years later a daughter was born. Joe worked as a writer and editor for the Blue Mountain Eagle and then was hired by the Hillsboro Argus as its farm editor.

Four more daughters were born in Hillsboro. The family moved to Portland after Joe was hired to manage the communications department at Tektronix, where his award-winning annual reports spurred requests for classes on his no-nonsense approach to effective business communication. He developed a consulting business teaching classes for businesses and government agencies nationwide.

After Joe and Marjorie divorced, he married Olga Ferdinandus and they moved to Waldport, where Joe continued consulting and wrote several books on effective writing. Olga died in 1998, and a few years later Joe married Anne Mount Hay. They lived on Orcas Island, Washington, where he pursued photography and volunteered to promote low-income housing, nature preservation, and the arts. Joe is survived by Anne; his five daughters, Terese, Brooke Ann, Gillian, Celia Heron, and Marcia Waugh; and his brother, Don Floren.

Appeared in ºìÌÒÊÓƵ magazine: December 2019