Fishing pole in the back of his ‘56 Pontiac
Cliff Parrish’s story
as told to and transcribed by Tom Wagener
The “Oral History at ElderPlace” project
Portland, OR
Born in 1941, Cliff moved to Oregon in 1962 to find work after serving in the military. Just after moving to Portland, he decided to visit his mother—coincidentally, the day he went to see her in Yakima, Washington, was October 12. Shortly after leaving town, the Columbus Day storm hit and he missed one of the biggest events in Oregon history.
Two of Cliff’s passions are fishing and cars. He thoroughly enjoys Oregon’s coast for its lakes and streams and fishing for large mouth bass. He always will remember landing a 48-inch sturgeon in the Columbia River by Westport. His fishing buddy advised him to hold the fishing pole tightly between his legs when fishing for sturgeon. Although this was good advice, Cliff learned that it was important where to hold the pole between your legs after the sturgeon struck the line. After struggling for half an hour to land it, Cliff says it was well worth it. He says it “cans up real nice…just like tuna.”
He has a couple of favorite car memories—one more pleasant than the other. The first is about his ‘56 Olds and a braggart acquaintance who had a ‘56 Pontiac. They decided to settle which car was fastest by going to the Tillamook blimp hanger to race. Cliff’s Olds won hands down with the dual four-barrel carburetor! The second memory involved a car he loved—a ‘53 Dodge—which he sold only to see it later at the Klamath Falls Fourth of July celebration as the focal point of the car bash fundraiser. “Ouch, it hurt!” he says.
Cliff has both fine memories and some life struggles. He had a stroke in the 1980s and more recently a sextuple bypass. In assisted care living, he gets around well in his motorized scooter and is thankful for Portland’s mass transit system that gets him wherever he wants to go.
