Hood River
Mothers and Daughters Share
Tea Time
By Jeanie Senior
Ladies of all ages visit
the buffet table during
Mother-Daughter Tea at
White Salmon Church
of the Nazarene.
4
J u ly 2 0 0 9
Dorothy Stearns believes in keeping a tradition alive.
For the past several years, the Mount Hood resident
prepared food and furnished all of the decor for a
lavish Mother-Daughter Tea, held this year in May
at White Salmon Church of the Nazarene.
“This is something we’ve always done,” she says.
“I’ve just kind of kicked it up a notch.”
Despite days of preparation that included
preparing a sumptuous repast, “It’s really is a church
thing,” Dorothy says. “I like doing this. I get a real
kick out of doing this for the ladies. It’s not just
about me.”
It is a chance, for women “to come and sit and
enjoy themselves,” she says. “They don’t have
anything to do but just sit down and be ladies.”
A longtime collector who favors blue cobalt glass,
fancy tea cups and teapots and other tea-related
items, Dorothy transports boxes of china, silver and
bric-a-brac to the church, where the pastor’s wife,
Sonia Beattie, uses her design talents to decorate the
tea tables.
When Sonia is done, the church’s fellowship hall
looks like a cozy tea room.
Among the decorations are china dolls from
Sonia’s collection, and clothing and photographs
from Dorothy’s 1993 Victorian frontier-themed
wedding to Rick Stearns in the ghost town of
Shaniko.
Dorothy says she is an “eclectic” collector.
“My things aren’t really expensive,” she says. “I
just love all this stuff.”
The table decorations serve as a conversation
starter.
“You’re sitting next to someone you don’t really
know and it doesn’t really matter—there’s so
much stuff lying
around, even if
you’re looking at
the tablecloths,”
Dorothy says,
laughing. “We’re
women so we’ll
babble with each
other for hours.”
The buffet
table at the tea
is crowded with
platters of chicken
salad croissants,
crab-shrimp melts,
turkey bacon
club sandwiches,
tomato basil
tarts, six different
Rachel Smith of Hood River spends
salads and several
time with her niece McKinzie.
desserts, from tarts to
cheesecake.
“It’s worth the trip just for the food, to be honest
with you,” Dorothy says.
Dorothy sends out invitations, but says “I just tell
everybody to invite someone” whether or not they’re
a churchgoer. “We’re not proselytizing, it’s just totally
relaxed and laid back.”
More than 65 women, from old to young,
attended this year’s tea, including 18 from the Hood
River Church of the Nazarene, and friends and
family members from the Columbia Gorge and
Portland area.
The guest speaker was Becky Beals, whose
husband, former Hood River Church of the
Nazarene pastor Jim Beals, died in January.
Dorothy, who was born in Portland and moved to
Mill A west of White Salmon as a fourth-grader, is
a descendant of early-day Mount Hood guide Mark
Weygandt.
Tea organizer Dorothy Stearns, left, chats with her mother, Sanger Schwarz.
She is the mother of seven children, ages 12 to 32,
four of whom still live at home.
Dorothy owns Columbia Excavation and Home
Maintenance. The maintenance branch does
windows, painting and carpet shampooing. Husband
Rick drives a log truck she owns.
When she attended White Salmon Church of the
Nazarene in the early 1990s, Dorothy worked on the
tea with Rose Grove and other church members. She
started doing the tea soon after she returned a few
years ago.
This year, Rose and other members of the church
women’s group decided everyone should help pay
for the tea. Telling Dorothy about the decision, Rose
brooked no argument, starting a list where women
could sign up to purchase ingredients, such as
turkey and bacon for the club sandwiches.
“This year, I didn’t have to buy anything,” Dorothy
says. “This has been an effort where everyone has
really pitched in.”
Her daughters Tascha Stolhand and Wendy
Stearns helped with this year’s event. Several women
came early to do last-minute preparation.
Dorothy says she is happy to put in all of the
hours the tea requires.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” she says.
“You know how you just like to do something for
somebody? It’s kind of my way to say thank you to
the ladies, it doesn’t matter who those ladies are.” n
J u ly 2 0 0 9
5