Portland Magazine
June 1, 2022
A building dedicated to the memory of a father and in service of UP’s talented Facilities Services Department
Story by Jessica Murphy Moo
Photos by Bob Kerns
Mike Nelson ’76MIKE NELSON WANTS you to know a little bit about his dad.
A kind, humble, and hard-working man, the late Walter E. Nelson started a janitorial supplies company in 1945, while home on leave from the Navy during World War II. A whiz at pinochle, Walter had won the seed money for his new venture off his fellow seamen. Given the rations of the time, Walter knew that products such as hand soap, cleaning supplies, and paper towels were often hard to come by. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, and Walter had found both a need and an opportunity. He rustled up all the inventory he could find and started selling his goods to the industrial businesses that needed them. Ever the savvy entrepreneur, Walter figured out a foolproof way to know which businesses to approach: he would check the skyline for burning smokestacks. His salesman’s instinct and his genuine people skills earned him loyal business.
University of Portland was one of Walter’s first customers. Walter worked with the custodian who did the ordering for the University from an office in the basement of what was then West Hall. When Mike was old enough, he took part in the age-old tradition of young people who grow up around a family business. He pitched in. He hopped into a truck and delivered boxes of towels or tissues, whatever needed doing. This work continued during his years as a student at University of Portland. Once classes were over, Mike was on the clock, a time he calls “a 90-hour workweek situation.” And being his father’s son, he loved it. Mike’s role during this time also evolved. He was an accounting major at UP. He was learning things. He started paying bills, doing accounting work before returning to Shipstad to hang out with his buddies in Alpha Kappa Psi—many of whom are still tight today—and finish his homework.
Mike started to see how the business could grow. He encouraged his dad to buy property and to incorporate the business. “My professors were almost consultants,” Mike says. “What I learned I immediately put into practice.” And the business grew. Today, the Walter E. Nelson Company has about 1,800 employees, with 18 locations in the Pacific Northwest.
What has stayed the same were many of the long-time customers and relationships, UP among them. And the value of hard work is still central too. Mike’s grandmother was a chambermaid, and his grandfather was a longshoreman. He knows his roots. Mike sees and affirms the hard work of the UP Facilities Services Department. He notices the work that is often unseen. He likes to work behind the scenes too.
Thank you, Mike, for honoring your father, for your immense generosity, and for seeing and valuing the essential contribution of the Facilities Services Department here at UP.
Mercedes YanezMERCEDES HAS KEPT Holy Cross Court, the housing for UP’s retired priests and brothers, in working order since 2004. She loves where she works, and it’s hard for her to believe seventeen years have gone by. “I love it,” she says. “I feel this is my house. Since the first day I came here, I could see that they are nice here.” Sometimes she attends Mass with the priests in their chapel. She likes to be able to share of herself and Catholic traditions from her Mexican heritage.
On Epiphany Day, she brings the “Rosca de Reyes,” a special Mexican bread made in the shape of a ring with a figurine of baby Jesus baked inside. The priests she works with always ask after her family, and when her parents passed away, they were a great spiritual support to her. In a way, UP has become a family affair. Her husband, Marco Antonio Gonzalez, is a mechanic here, and both of her children, Karen Yanez Gonzalez ’19 and Marco Yanez Gonzalez attended the University (Marco played soccer here and transferred). Her daughter and her coworker Melissa Peterson’s daughter have become close friends, and so the next generation of friendship continues. Mercedes is also a brand-new grandmother. The day we spoke she was making birria—a beef soup—for the weary parents of her beautiful new granddaughter, that age-old trick of bringing a meal as an excuse to visit, give the parents a break, and (most important) snuggle the precious little one. Mercedes loves to go hiking, especially on her birthday. And she finds humor wherever she can. During the very early days of the pandemic, when things were still shut down and everyone was asked to stay home, she did a video call with one of the priests. “I said, ‘Time to get up. Time to make the bed!’ They laughed and laughed. I like to joke with them.”
Arturo Barroso MendozaARTURO LIKES WORKING in his own garden, too. The tulips in his front yard looked especially lovely this spring, the perfect accent for his St. Johns home. He added a fountain that ties everything together, and he enjoys spending time there with his family and German Shepard. Walk by and you might feel compelled to compliment his work, as many other passersby do. Of course, these curational landscaping skills come as no surprise to his coworkers at UP. They know how hard it is to maintain this impossibly beautiful campus. The team has impeccable timing, too. Those petunias that bloomed purple just in time for families to arrive on campus for Commencement? All of that is intentional—the color, the timing, all of it. They are the conductors of these orchestral grounds. And Arturo has been one of those proud parents on Commencement weekend. His son, Jordy Barroso, graduated from UP in 2021. His daughter is at Central Catholic. They’ve both grown up in the Catholic school system. When Arturo moved to the US from Puebla, Mexico, in 1991, he worked in the apple orchards in Washington with his brother, but he wanted to work year-round. He has worked at a ranch on Sauvie Island and at a golf course (he likes to golf), and he has worked a few different positions at UP since he started here nine years ago. Groundskeeping has been a good fit. And being outside while Jordy was here meant he’d bump into his son on occasion. That was nice. His favorite plant on campus is agapanthus, which grows between the library and Buckley. It blooms in August, a stem comes up two to three feet and then the flower appears. But it doesn’t bloom every year. “You need to watch for it,” he says.
Kimo Yamaguchi ’88WHEN KIMO ATTENDED UP’s Luau this year, the memories came flooding back. He pictured himself, along with fellow classmates, right back in the Bauccio Commons kitchen, preparing teriyaki sauce, salting the lomi salmon. “The kids did an awesome job,” he says of this year’s event. It’s among the moments that make him feel grateful to be back on The Bluff. When Kimo tells people that he’s come back to the mainland after thirty-one years working at University of Hawai'i, he is often met with surprise. “Wait. You left Hawai'i?” But when he explains that one of his daughters (also a UP alum) lives near Portland and talks about his close connection to this University, his return makes a whole lot of sense. “I learned so much from this place,” he says. “I wanted to give back.” A native of Hawai'i, Kimo came to UP to learn business management. He was a resident assistant while he was here. His academics and experience set him up for his career in the University of Hawai'i system, managing residence halls and special events. He also supervised a team when UH was expanding their campus, experience that is directly relevant to his work with the Franz River Campus. In terms of the new building, Kimo is most excited about the big conference room. It’ll be the first time the Facilities Services team has a meeting space that can fit everyone. And bringing people together is something Kimo genuinely loves to do. It’s why he restarted the Hawai'i Alumni Chapter, it’s why he stays connected to fellow alums, it’s why he hosts BBQs year-round. He’s also a foodie, loves Portland’s food scene, and loves to travel (he recently returned to Japan for the eighth time, where he delighted in well-prepared, delicious raw pufferfish that should never be prepared without a license). Right now he manages the day and night custodial department and events operations. “We’re part of the living experience that students have. One of the rewards of this job is that you’re part of somebody’s life.”
Emily ReillyWHEN EMILY GOES to a rock concert or a sporting event—softball is her game—she always takes a moment to appreciate all the work that goes into making it a success. All the planning, the preparation, the effort that takes place offstage. This year’s Commencement, for example, which went off without a hitch and brought families together for a wonderful celebration, filled her with joy. And pride. She has worked events in Chiles and across campus for years, and has attended her share of events on The Bluff. In a way, she grew up here. Her dad worked in admissions for more than four decades, her mom and grandfather went here, as did two of her siblings. Her brother works here, too. And now her career here is evolving. She recently moved into the role of building mechanic, part of the (very) busy team that does lighting and plumbing maintenance in the academic and residence halls. She is also in the process of getting her LBME (Licensed Building Maintenance Electrician) certification. She is the only woman on the building mechanics team, and one of few women in her certification classes. Some of her time involves shadowing Bill Vandervelden (see below), who has become her mentor. She appreciates that he shares not only his knowledge but his encouragement, and she loves that she is always learning. “I learn new things every day,” she says. The new building is going to be great for the team, she thinks, because a fresh start almost always brings opportunities. “Everybody is excited!”
William VanderveldenBILL LIKES TO solve problems, which is a good thing, considering that the ones that come his way can sound downright biblical in proportion. He’s been called— sometimes in the middle of the night—to fix floods, fires, and power outages. He’s fixed burst water lines and other pump house fiascoes that nobody wants to picture in high definition. And he’s helped the Secret Service set up secure areas for a presidential visit. That’s all fine and good, you might be thinking, but has he ever extracted a sheet pan a student crammed sideways into a dishwasher? Yes, he’s done that, too, and lived to tell the tale. When we sat down to chat, the mechanics had more than 200 job requests marked in the hallway monitor, outpaced only by HVAC requests. At a university of this size, something’s always in need of fixing. Bill has worked here since 1981, and as he says, “No two days are the same. It’s never boring.” An Oregon native, he grew up on the coast and now lives close to campus in North Portland. When you have the decades of experience in the trades as Bill has, mentorship often comes with the territory. Bill likes that. He likes to see his coworkers learn and blossom and grow, and eventually hear them say, “Get out of my way, Bill.” (For the record, he thinks Emily (pictured left) is doing great.) When he isn’t fixing things and responding to disasters, he’s fishing on the coast in Miss J, the boat he named after his lovely wife. She’s a special-ed schoolteacher and that’s what her students call her. He loves being out on the water, fishing for halibut and salmon, and keeping an ear open for the exhale—sounds like a loud shush—of migrating gray whales. Among the many talents (and secrets) in Facilities Services is the smoked salmon recipe Bill guards, handed down to him by Kurt Bottcher, longtime painter here at UP. Of all the amenities the new building has, Bill is most looking forward to settling in to the new and much-improved workshop.
JESSICA MURPHY MOO is the editor of this magazine.
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