Constance Waisanen - Fiber Artist, Habitat for Humanity, Chemical Engineer, Financial Advisor

Today’s guest is Constance Waisanen, a very creative and inspirational woman. 

Her hobbies include gardening, quilting, music, and her current passion is Fiber Arts, specifically fabric dyeing. 

She has been to a number of countries working with Habitat for Humanity. 

Her degree in Chemistry Engineering led her to a job with the Wauna Mill for 27 years.

 Seeking a career change, she became a financial advisor where she enjoys counseling people on quality of life and legacy planning. 

She is very involved with the Astoria Community and recently purchased the Charlene Larsen Performing Arts Center.

Today's featured author is Julie Bonn Blank, Innocent Lives.

#changetheworld,#quilting#performingarts,#charlenelarsenperformingartscenterastoria,#yoga,#qualityoflife,#smalltownlife,#northcoastchorale,#chemistry,legacyplanning,#joyfulgiving,#habitatforhumanity,#cultures,#vocationchange,#network,#fiberarts,#fabricdyeing

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Find me on my website: jan-johnson.com

Transcript

janjohnson.author@gmail.com

 Constance Waisanen

 Jan Johnson 0:07

I am excited today to have Constance Waisanen here with me in my studio. Have a little conversation. Hello, Constance. Hello, Jan. Tell me just for fun. What are some of the hobbies you've got?

 Jan Johnson 0:25

Well, I'm kind of hobby junkies. So, we'll have to start with the list. I think probably my primary thing I do is fiber art. Both hand dyeing and hand imaging fabrics, sewing those into things like quilts or wall art or baby gifts. I love my garden. Kind of like I fluctuate a little bit between wintertime activity indoor and then summertime out in the garden.

 Jan Johnson 0:53

What kind of flowers? Yeah, what do you like to grow?

 Jan Johnson 0:55

I grow mostly flowers. And actually, I really like to grow trees. But I've sort of limited out on how many I can fit on my property. And that sounds something because I actually have 20 acres. So yeah, the trees are my favorite. But my garden is more about texture and color leaf color than it is about lots of floral display. And I don't bother growing vegetables because you can buy those a store.

 Jan Johnson 1:22

Lot of good places buy with vegetables. And you know, I put some raised beds on the yard there. I'm really good at growing potatoes that I'm good at flowers. I can do all kinds of flowers. But beyond potatoes for veggies. Yeah.

 Jan Johnson 1:39

That's so much your special skill.

 Jan Johnson 1:42

I know. I know. I guess I don't have that kind of a thumb. The things that your garden and some of your fiber arts things. I'm kind of guessing you're not just a hoarder of those things. You probably do some of those things for other people.

 Jan Johnson 2:01

Just a few. There's been quite a few babies who ended up with a little bit of fabric. 

 Jan Johnson 2:08

Maybe a preschool. 

 Constance 2:10

Oh, yeah, I might have done a few preschool quilts 

 Jan Johnson 2:13

done maybe banners for church or 

 Constance 2:15

Oh, yeah, I just right now it's Advent season. And so, I've got banners up at church. And I actually had the congregation participate in doing a little hands-on project to dye those. 

 Jan Johnson 2:26

So very fun, very fun. And there's no end to it. See, there's always a reason to create Correct?

 Constance 2:32

Oh, always, always. The main reason, honestly, is our mental health. You know, that is what keeps me level.

 Jan Johnson 2:41

How about when you're creating something? Is it the process he like? Or the end product? 

 Constance 2:46

Process, process.

 Jan Johnson 2:48

Hands down for me process? I don't really even care what happens to it after it's done.

 Constance 2:53

Same here. And sometimes after it's done, I don't even like it. But then I'll put it away for a couple of months. And I'll pull it out and go like, oh, that actually was okay. It was yeah,

 Jan Johnson 3:04

No, I love the process. And I think part of the processes is because it's thinking time, as well as the creativity of it. But

 Constance 3:13

yeah, I think making art is in a way a form of meditation. Because a lot of times I'm putting whatever I'm working on up on my design board, and then I'll sit in the chair and just kind of stare at it for a while. Sometimes I'll leave it, go away from it and work on something else and come back to it. Just to let it percolate in my brain and tell me what it wants me to do next.

 Jan Johnson 3:36

Sounds like my writing. And when the character starts talking, and I go wait a minute, I didn't tell you to say that. You've done a little bit of watercolor too. 

Constance

3:46

Oh, yeah, I've done some watercolor. 

 Jan Johnson 3:48

yeah. A girl after my own heart. I love this. Okay, and I bet you do some of those things with your grandkids.

Constance

3:56

Oh of course I do. Yeah. I'd like I like to give them experiences. And you know, they may never become watercolor painters but give them a chance to try it. I recently have taken a class through the Hopkins Center of the Arts and water colored pencil. Oh, and my grandchildren sat in on the class with me and made their drawings.

 Jan Johnson 4:17

How old are your grandkids? 

 Constance4:19

Sequoia is six and Max's nine

 Jan Johnson 4:21

Perfect ages. Yeah, perfect ages. Perfect. Oh, no. Only gets better from there. And let's see what else you're active in your church. You do little yoga. What do you do for exercise?

 Constance 4:35

l yoga and walking mainly. I think yoga is just the best thing for clearing our mind. I think it really contributes to my creativity. I think that it's at to say nothing of as our bodies mature. We get old stiffer, and you take that stiffness out and you feel just a lot better.

 Jan Johnson 4:55

Yeah, maybe I need to look into that.

 Constance 4:59

It's also great meditation. 

 Jan Johnson 5:02

So yeah. And then weren't you singing with the North Coast Chorale for a while?

 Constance 5:08

Yeah, I haven't sung with him since COVID. But I plan to go back in the spring. That's a real satisfying thing to sing the four-part harmony.

 Jan Johnson 5:19

Oh, just music in general. I was just like, my whole life growing up was playing my flute and being in band all the way through college. And when I played it was just like, the community of it, and the sounds together and whatever, and

 Constance 5:33

There's nothing like being in the middle of the band, I played tenor sax, so I was smack dab in the middle.

 Jan Johnson 5:36

Yeah, no, I just love that. I just love it. I wish their practice times for North Coast was during the day or something. I just don't like to go out at night. Maybe in the summer when it's light, like that. And then maybe you're singing brought you to an interesting development.

 Constance 6:02

Are we talking about the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts? Yes, it did.

 Jan Johnson 6:08

Tell us about that, how'd that come about?

 Constance 6:10

So, I think it's a little bit of a backup. So really, the, probably the primary influences on who I am, are my parents. And my parents were both big volunteers in our community, and to understand that the light of the fact that my father was a dairy farmer, and if you are at all familiar with farming, especially dairy farming, it's a, 5am, to 8pm job every day. And yet, he managed to volunteer on the school board, he volunteered on the hospital board, he was very active and contributing to his community, and making it a better place for his children. My mother also was very active. And the message I received as a child was really kind of twofold. And both of them are coming to come from the Bible. We grew up in the Lutheran church. And there's a Bible verse that says, basically, to whom much has been given, much as expected. And I can remember that verse being pointed out to me, that I had been gifted with some talents and skills, and that it was my job to go out into the world. And then the other verse was make your light so shine before others that they will glorify your Father in heaven. And so it was both using my skills, but also making sure that that light that I shine out into the world isn't a reflection of me. But a reflection of something greater than

 Jan Johnson 7:45

Yeah, yeah. So, you taking that you saw need?

 Constance 7:51

Yeah. So, the history of the pack goes something like this. It was Trinity Lutheran Church at one time, it then became the building became part of the college's program in the College for a long time had an active music and arts dance program, center that they use the the building for. But as time went on, the focus changed, and budgets were tight. And the college really wanted to get rid of the building. And Charlene Larsen and I met with then college president and negotiated a deal that if volunteers would cover the costs of operating the building, could we keep the existing programs which at that time was the symphony, the band, the Chorale, could they continue to use the building and the college agreed. Well, times continued on the college could see that they simply couldn't support the building, if there was significant work that would have to be done for him to continue to meet the requirements to be a space that the college could use. And they wanted to sell the building. And they did give the then PAC partners first dibs, like if we could come up with a buyer that they would give our buyer priority. And so there were a number of options that came forward. And I started thinking about it one day, and I thought, you know, I think I could do this. I remember when my son was six, that's one of my favorite stories. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. 

 Jan Johnson 9:28

Yeah. 

 Constance 9:29

And he said, Well, I don't know. Um, I pretty much have everything I want. And I reflected on my life and that I pretty much have everything that I want. Yeah, so I'm going a long way around on this story, but my only goal with raising my children was to make them into taxpayers. And I'm proud to report to you that they both are taxpayers out and I'm pretty solid. They're making income they're paying their way. They're contributing to society. That's really was my goal. For my children, and so I thought, I have this money that I've saved my whole life, I think that I have enough for everything I need, I really don't need anything more than what I have. Why not do something that will mean a lot to a lot of people. And so, I set up an LLC, and we purchased the Performing Arts Center.

 Jan Johnson 10:20

What a fun thing to do. I mean, how many people can say, hey, I kind of saved an entity to keep some culture going in our community

 Constance 10:30

Actually, when I told my children, Hey, guys, by the way, I bought an old church.

 Jan Johnson 10:35

And they said, Of course you did. Because they knew what you were like.

 Constance 10:40

No seriously, there are a couple days in my life that I think is the happiest days of my life. Certainly, when my children or grandchildren were born. My son's wedding. But the day that I was able to sign the contract for purchasing the pack was one of the happiest days of my life.

 Jan Johnson 10:56

It's fulfilling, you're on in such joy, such joy. Yeah. And I and it keeps giving that joy you keep every time you drive by there, you know, what's going on in there? You know, you're contributing to that. And yeah,

 Constance 11:08

and it's saving, it'll building I have a real heart for keeping the historic buildings in Astoria. I think that that's really a lovely thing when we can do it. And I think that it's, it's, it's a legacy for us as a whole community.

 Jan Johnson 11:23

Yeah. Yeah. And isn't that I think maybe you have the same thoughts as I do is to the importance of building community and pulling things together and helping out where there's a need, you know,

 Constance 11:42

exactly. And I think we are so blessed in Astoria that we are what I consider a right sized community, where we can actually make stuff happen, we don't have tons of bureaucracy to work around, we all know each other. We know who our county commissioners are, we know are our city councilors. These are our friends and our neighbors and they're accessible. 

Jan Johnson 12:08

They're accessible. 

 Jan Johnson 12:09

And, you know, we have just the ability to do I think some incredible and unique things in this community that maybe couldn't be done somewhere larger, and really create a quality of life for everything from our elders to our children. That really excites me. 

 Jan Johnson 12:30

You went to college? Oh, yeah, I did. What did you graduate with?

 Constance 12:35

Chemical Engineering

 Jan Johnson 12:36

Hmm. Yeah. And is that something you were passionate about? Or is it something you just kind of had the skills to do?

 Constance12:44

Oh gosh, I didn't have any idea what it was when I started college. Art has always been my main thing. And so, I started out and thought, well, if I ever want to do ceramics, I really need to understand the chemistry of glazes and somehow blew off high school chemistry was one of those roads not taken. I had a teacher who was really not very interested in having girls in his class, and he succeeded in getting me to quit. There could have been some personal issues. You know, I was literature and arts, and I wasn't worried about it. But then I got to college. I'm like, Well, okay, so I realized that sort of close some career paths to me. So, I signed up for chemistry. Well, I didn't realize that I'd signed up for the same chemistry that like doctors and engineers take, I thought I had signed up for beginning chemistry for Dummies or something. And about halfway through the quarter, I was in asking my professor a question. He said, Well, didn't you learn this in high school chemistry? And I said, I didn't take high school chemistry. Like,

 Jan Johnson 13:52

why are you in this class?

 Constance 13:53

Not supposed to be in this class. I'm like, Well, I'm here now. And I'm pulling a B I feel okay about that. I got that up to an A by the end of the quarter. And anyway, continued then on when I was really that professor who helped me understand that engineering could be a very good career. A career which still is where women are very underrepresented. And, yeah, so that's how all that happened.

 Jan Johnson 14:21

And then where did that lead you? What career did that lead you to?

 Constance 14:25

I learned to make toilet paper. I hope all of you out there listening are appreciating me at this moment, because I know, like 99.9% of you use it. And I'm glad. I'm really glad. So that led me to an interview at the Wauna Mill and 27 years making toilet paper, among other things.

 Jan Johnson 14:46

Okay. You know, for a dummy who doesn't really know chemical engineering. What practically did you do in your job that led to the toilet paper? Okay,

 Constance 14:59

Well, we'll keep it simple. If we're on a paper machine, there are the mechanical engineers work on the nuts and the bolts and the gears. Okay? The electrical engineers probably pretty straight forward. They work on the circuits in the process control. The chemical engineers work on everything that's inside the machine, the pulp and the water and the chemicals that go to that make that pulp and water into the type of paper that you want to make it. Okay, so we're process engineers. So, everything that's not physical and hard that you can see that's flowing through. That's our job.

 Jan Johnson 15:31

All right. Good. So, let's see— you didn't stick with that. You did for a while, 

 Constance 15:37

my 27 years pretty good sticking with it 

 Jan Johnson 15:39

And it's a pretty sticking with it. Yeah. So, then what, what next in your life.

 Constance 15:44

So, what happened next is that I realized that the mill had been purchased by the Koch brothers, and I will say no more about them. And the values of how we were treating people were changing. And I was very uncomfortable with at this point, I was in management, and I was very uncomfortable with the expectations of managers. It was very much more focused on how much money we were making for someone who does not live in Oregon, and less upon quality of life for those of us who are actually doing the work. And so, after some deep consideration, I decided I wanted to do something else. I didn't feel I was ready to retire. And so, I engaged in a research project with a friend, and we met weekly and looked at career options. 

 Jan Johnson16:39

Yeah. 

 Constance 16:40

Which resulted in me finding, oddly enough, this funny little ad in my church newsletter that Thrivent financial was looking for someone. And my first thought was, I can't do this. This is like, not and I'm like, well, wait, what are my special skills? Oh, I can add and subtract 

 Jan Johnson 16:57

your superpower. 

 Constance16:58

That's my superpower, I got it. And then once I realized the career is much more about, it's really more like a counseling career, you sit down with people, you get to understand their goals. And then you help them do the addition and subtraction to get there. And so, I switched over, I guess, almost 15 years ago, now. It's been a really nice change of pace for me,

 Jan Johnson17:21

and what have been some of the joys of doing that, 

 Constance 17:24

oh, gosh, just meeting with people and letting them see the possibilities. That are whether they're trying to achieve early retirement, or whether they're looking at ways to create a legacy. You know, my ability to purchase the PAC was the direct result of me looking at my own financial picture and saying, like, hey, you know, you're really not gonna run out of money. Yeah. What do you want to do with this excess? And what, what's the highest and best purpose for that. And so, it's lovely, sometimes it's working with, with couples and helping them realize they don't see things eye to eye or that they're carrying some. I don't like the word baggage, but they're carrying some preconceptions about money that they learned in their family of origin, that are not helpful in their current relationship. So that's always fun to help them see that there is a there is some middle ground where they can both work

 Jan Johnson 18:18

I can see how some of that counseling would come in or maybe helping them figure out what they're passionate about.

 Constance 18:25

Yes, helping them connect with that, and then helping them see what are their what are their long-term legacy goals? You know, if you've done decent planning, most of us are likely to have some excess at a certain age. And how do they want to put that to use?

 Jan Johnson 18:42

Yeah, yeah,

 Constance18:43

they want to change the world.

 Jan Johnson 18:45

And I'm going to guess that you have found out like, Ed and I have that the more you give away, it seems like that hole in the bucket just keeps filling up all the time. So, there's more to give away. 

 Constance 18:58

Absolutely. As I think generosity builds on generosity, and people who are generous, attract other people who are generous. And so, there's so many great projects and Astoria that we can find I think there's kind of a worldview out there of there being limited resources. And so, we have to be constantly working on the brink of death on everything. And it's absolutely not true. There is everything that we need to run this world is out there. There's enough food, there's enough money, it's just not distributed correctly. It's not distributed so that everyone can be happy. I don't have to go into how we see some of our wealthiest people. Misuse of resource they've been given. But it's it really is possible to have a world where we can provide for everyone.

 Jan Johnson 19:56

Yeah, yeah. And what a great thing to start teaching your grandkids or kids and whatever to know how to use finances, the finances they have in a valid way and, and just how joyful it is to give. It's just really brings a lot of joy. Yeah, it does. 

 Jan Johnson 20:30

Let's talk about habitat. That's the place of other ways to give. I know Ed and I go down to Guatemala in South America to visit our sponsor kids down there. And that's just been a really neat thing. But he does. Habitat I haven't done that before. Tell me about that

 Constance 20:50

Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful organization. For one thing, it's a hand up not a handout. The people who received homes through Habitat, receive them with a contribution of sweat equity, not only in their home, but in the homes of others. And so, I've done some local builds in the United States. But it has been a wonderful opportunity for me to engage with other cultures. I've been to Madagascar, Macedonia, Argentina, Paraguay, Cambodia, and I have built with everything from mud, literally mud, we were digging a hole in the dirt and mixing it with water. Fortunately, we had a young football player, because that was hard work, stirring the mud and the water together. And building making the mortar. And I built with bamboo that we had to split. It's just interesting to see how each culture builds.

 Constance 21:44

And when you build with Habitat, you don't go build them a house like you would have. And what is the hardest for a lot of people, especially the man is that you don't, bring any tools. You work with their tools. And sometimes their tools are very substandard. Yes, primitive is the word. And you know, you're working with people who don't own shoes. They're working in the mud barefoot. You're making a house with dirt floors, and yet it's a significant improvement over what they've had. And the people are so grateful and so gracious. And so, giving. They would always bring us food. And yeah, we chat with them. 

 Jan Johnson 22:29

Haven't you found in some of those other cultures that you don't have to have a whole lot to be happy?

 Constance 22:38

Exactly. Yeah, that's the thing. 

 Jan Johnson 22:40

We notice all of the South American countries, we've gone to Central America and whatever they, they're, they're just happy. Yeah, they've got a hard life on things. I mean, some of them are making $3 a day working 10 hours in a field. You know, and yeah, it's very hard, a hard life. But

 Constance 23:03

by contrast with ours, they don't have the automation and you know, of a 10-year-old girl, and her job is to watch an 18-month-old baby all day, because I was working. Yep. 

 Jan Johnson 23:13

Yeah, they're all together, happy, you know, they truly have a kind of a sense of peace that, you know, we don't in the States. 

 Constance 23:22

Oh, there's definitely a sense of peace. Yeah.

 Jan Johnson 23:25

And I think that's something you know, and I think part of that may be their faith as well. But it just as a culture, I think we could do a little bit more with being satisfied with what we have, or, you know, we're not always seeking out for something more whatever. I really feel, you know, my biggest thing for me, my biggest joy is developing relationships. And I think that's because that spreads, you know, and once you have relationship, you know, then being there for somebody is the turnaround, being there for me, either or for your families or whatever. But I think that's a lasting thing. And I think it's something that maybe it's not something after I died, was it worthwhile? I don't know. I think it is, you know,

Constance 24:20

it is and it can't be taken away from you. It's when you have a relationship, you always have it. Yeah, even when that person passes away, you will still have those moments when you walk past something that reminds you of them or, you know, you see a sunset and you remember a sense that you watched with them.

 Jan Johnson 24:37

Yeah. So true. It truly is. I think, you know, when somebody passes away, you do. You're really sad. They're gone. But there's so many things that you have memories of, you know,

 Constance 24:48

I don't think they ever die as long as I live. Yeah, they're always living in me.

 Jan Johnson 24:58

What do you think people will say about you at your funeral?

 Constance 25:02

Oh goodness. Well, I hope they say that I made a difference. That's really the gist of who I am or what I want to be. Yeah. I hope they have a few jokes too and a few stories.

 Jan Johnson 25:19

Maybe a little laughter

 Jan Johnson 25:22

a lot of laughter Yeah. A lot of laughter Yeah. laughter is good.

 Jan Johnson 25:25

That's great. Well, we are coming to the end of our time here. So, thank you, because it's been fun.

 Jan Johnson 25:33

Thank you, Jan.