Alice Bartelt - Active in Our Chapter from Day One

Alice graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School and passed the bar examination in 1981. She practiced workers compensation law and was a staff attorney at SAIF Corporation for a number of years.

Alice has a long history of very active involvement in many organizations. She is currently President of NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon and of the Oregon Association of Parliamentarians. She is also very active in the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and, during the legislative session, spends many days of the week at the Oregon legislature volunteering on their behalf. She is also very involved at the local, state and national level in a number of other organizations.

Alice became involved in the issue of separation of church and state in the late 80’s when there was a movement in the country to take over school boards. People who had fundamentalist views and sent their own children to private religious schools were recruited to run for public school boards. Alice and others were concerned about their lack of experience and their motives. This concern led them to Americans United and to form the Columbia Chapter in 1994. Alice was elected treasurer and continued in that role until 2011.

Alice says “Keeping religious teachings out of public schools is one of the main reasons that I became involved in AU.”

Alice’s husband Dick died in 2006. They had been married for over 39 years and have two daughters. Alice retired from SAIF in 2007 and has recently been blessed with twin grandsons.

Earle White - Over Fifty Years of Activism!

Earle White became involved with Americans United in the mid 1950's, a time when the idea of supporting private and religious schools with tax money was being hotly debated. A meeting on the issue was held at Portland’s Civic Auditorium (Now Keller Auditorium). Glenn Archer, AU’s first executive director and Stanley Lowell spoke to a packed house! At that time Earle White was a young attorney. He filed the papers to form Oregonians United for Separation of Church and State and affiliated with the national organization.

In 1957, a law was passed in Oregon that would use tax money for textbooks for private and religious schools. The law was challenged as a violation of church/state separation and headed to the Oregon Supreme Court. Earle asked AU for help and they arranged for Leo Pfeiffer, the General Council of the American Jewish Congress to take the case. The law was struck down. Over the years, the legal climate changed as the courts decided more cases in support of church/state separation and Oregonians United for Separation of Church and State declined. More recently, Earle learned about the Columbia Chapter and, at the age of 91, began attending chapter meetings. In the summer of 2007, the Rev. Berry Lynn was scheduled to speak in Portland, so Earle arranged for us to hold the event at the First Baptist Church where he has been an active member for several decades.