Oregon’s Military History Comes Alive at Camp Withycombe in Clackamas

Clackamas, August 14th, 2015. The spirit of 1945 was alive as the Historical Outreach Foundation, and supporters of the Brigadier General James B. Thayer Oregon Military Museum, gathered to honor Oregon’s military heritage. Amy Maxwell, KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer, Melanie Vogelpohl and Lisa Lucas were at the Camp Withycombe benefit. With the help of an Albertson’s-Safeway campaign, over $400,000 was raised for the museum which is currently under construction. 

Guests enjoyed 1940s music by the Dr. T. Band, dancing, and great company. Brigadier General James Thayer and his son, Tommy Thayer were honored. The keynote speaker at the gala was Major General (Ret) Raymond “Fred” Rees, Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, Training, Readiness and Mobilization and the 2nd longest serving Adjutant General for the state of Oregon.

Albertson’s-Safeway held a major fundraising campaign during the month of July running ads on KGW and allowing its customers to “round-up” their purchases and presented a large check to the Historical Outreach Foundation during the event.

In addition to the dinner and dancing, guests were able to participate in the live auction and raffle drawing to bid on exciting items like a trips to Italy and Cabo, a Timber’s package including a signed Timbers soccer ball, a Portland Thunder package, and a $500 gift certificate to Packouz Jewelers.

The funds help perserve the artifacts, including photographs, of Oregon’s military history.

There’s a $14.6 million Capital Campaign to renovate the The Brigadier General James B. Thayer Oregon Military Museum. It’s under construction with a variety of funding sources.  The federal government has funded a large majority of the construction.  The state of Oregon has recently passed a funding request to start the exhibit design.  Clackamas County and the City of Happy Valley have funded a portion of the exhibits that will be displayed in the Park portion of the Museum and over $2 million has been raised in private and corporate donations.

With close to $7.5 million secured, the Museum is on its way to becoming a reality in the next couple of years.  Additional fundraising to raise the remaining $6 million will take place through naming opportunities, events, a sustainment program and continued partnerships like the Albertson’s-Safeway partnership and additional state funding.

Here’s a video about the project from the Clackamas County Government Channel:

To follow the progress, email info@historicaloutreach.com to be added to the email list or follow on Facebook.  Donations are always accepted at www.historicaloutreach.com or by check at Historical Outreach Foundation, P.O. Box 1822, Clackamas, OR 97015 or call 503-683-6161.