By Peggy Wallace, The Mountain Times
After 25 years of outstanding stewardship on behalf of The Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum, Lloyd Musser is passing the baton and stepping down as its curator.
Musser was born and raised in Ohio and while that state is not among the greats for skiing in the United States, it does have adequate skiing and snow-making capabilities and is a destination for beginner and intermediate skiers.
As a young adult, he moved to New York to attend forestry school at New York Ranger School. Shortly thereafter, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was pleasantly surprised when he was stationed in Germany rather than Vietnam. Needless to say, Germany offered outstanding opportunities for skiing and Lloyd took full advantage. Upon his return to the states, he ended up working at the U.S. Forest Service and was assigned to the Zig Zag Ranger Station.
Rumor has it Lloyd spent several decades “roaming the mountain and collecting its history” and “has been the guiding light of the museum, helping to develop its strategy and purpose,” board president Sandi Shaub said in the museum newsletter on Nov. 12th.
Now for a little back story on the founding of the museum: In 1997, there was a push by the community for urban renewal. Several people put their heads together and made a list of things they’d like to see in Government Camp. While the list included a museum, it was cost prohibitive.
It would not be an easy task to accomplish, but Betsy Valian and Maryann Hill put their heads together and formed a non-profit and Lloyd volunteered to do the historical research but had no desire to attend meetings.. He was appointed by the group as a board member and agreed, but reiterated that he was not going to be attending a lot of meetings. That was his plan anyway. We all know the old saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” and Musser’s went differently than expected.
The first significant donation came from the family of Everett and Ida Darr, who at one point, owned the Mountain Shop in Govy, Multorpor, the Golden Poles condos, Summit and part of Skibowl. When Lloyd went to examine what the donation might look like he was stunned. There were an innumerable number of boxes containing historic photos, buttons from local ski clubs, news clippings and literature dating back to the 1890s. And, all this was clean, well-preserved and organized.
Musser recalled that, “I took a semi load of stuff out of there, so now, we had the foundation for a museum. The next question was, where can we get a building?”
Lloyd noted that Charlie Sperr, owner of Charlie’s Mountain View, let the group use the space upstairs at Mountain View to do paperwork. For example, every donation had to be described with an estimated value to give to the people making the donations and keeping a copy for museum records for tax purposes.
A grant was obtained to determine what it would cost to construct a suitable home for this undertaking and the estimate was $4 million. That was out of the question, so the search continued.
In 2000, a 10,000 square foot bed and breakfast right on the main street through Government Camp became available. It was owned by Mary Swanson. Mary had been approached by some folks and their intention was to tear down the existing structure and develop the property. That was not something Ms. Swanson would consider. Lesli Bekins, Maryann Hill’s daughter and Lloyd approached Swanson and told her what their plan was. Lloyd recalls that she teared up and he was concerned that they’d said something offensive. Quite the contrary. She said that this was totally in line with her dream to keep the property functioning as a part of Government Camp’s unique history.
Swanson agreed to sell the property to the museum at a reduced price on the condition that the building would also be used as a community center. In addition, she sold it for “a couple of hundred down and pay when you can.” Lloyd referred to this loan as a farmer’s loan, but it must be jargon that is unique to Govy.
In September 2001, the Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum opened its doors and has been going strong ever since. The museum accepts only donations that are relevant to Mt. Hood. If you have the most expensive, exceptionally well-preserved pair of skis, they have to either be manufactured on Mt. Hood or used to ski Hood. Currently, there are 600 sets of skis and items just keep coming. Plans are underway to build an addition for archives.
In his time as curator, Musser has overseen the sourcing and implementation of several seasonal and traveling exhibits, including a replica of a Northwest Fire Lookout Tower and exhibits highlighting the Steiner cabins of local fame.
Lloyd Musser was a bit reluctant to do this interview because he acknowledged that he was a part of a greater thing, but it would be impossible to write an article about the Mt. Hood Cultural Center & Museum without some focus on him. But he does exemplify that it takes a village to get things done.