By ELSIE DENTON
News intern
August 1, 2007

Ken Jernstedt’s life has been a long and full one. His many years are bursting full of stories of adventure, good friends and fine service.

“I like people,” he said. “I always have gotten along well with all kinds of people.” Those he has met include five presidents and former Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek.

Two weeks ago, just before his 90th birthday, his doctor give him a positive report after his regular checkup, and while life has slowed down — “one of my favorite things is to sit in my back yard and feel the sun on my face — he stays active with visits from their children and 21 grandchildren, and “morning coffee” every weekday.

Jernstedt was born in 1917 in Yamhill County. He grew up there on a small farm in Carlton. After graduating from Yamhill Union High in 1935 Jernstedt went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Linfield College, McMinnville, in 1939.

In 1941, soon after his graduation, Jernstedt decided to take up flying and joined the Marine Air Corps. He didn’t stay with the Marines for long because his excellent flying skills caught the eye of those higher up. He was recruited to join one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s pet projects, the American Volunteer Group (AVG) under General Claire Chennault, better known as the Flying Tigers.

Jernstedt was one of 100 “discharged” military personnel sent to China to protect the Chinese and the Burma Road from Japanese attack before America officially entered the war after Pearl Harbor.

During his one-year tenure with the Flying Tigers Jernstedt shot down or destroyed 10.5 Japanese planes. (The point five comes in because Jernstedt and a fellow AVG man came upon and blew up 14 Japanese aircraft on the ground. They each got credit for half.)

After finishing his Burma tour in 1942, Jernstedt moved to New York where he worked for Republic Aviation as a test pilot. He flew almost every new breed of fighter development during World War II.

In 1943 Jernstedt stood as honor guard for a visit from Madame Chiang Kai Shek of the Nationalist Chinese and the Flying Tigers honorary commander. She decorated him for his valor in action. Jernstedt’s achievements with the AVG made him Oregon’s first flying ace, a pilot who has taken down at least five planes.

After moving to Hood River in 1946, Jernstedt bought Hood River Bottling Works, a soft drink bottling facility in the county. He later expanded his business and took over Mid Columbia Coca-Cola Company. Jernstedt was an early equal opportunity employer during his 25 year stint as owner and operator, hiring youth and people with disabilities. After selling Mid Columbia Coca-Cola, Jernstedt served a one-year stint as account representative for Pacific Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

He has lived in the same house on the Heights for 53 years.

Jernstedt’s business ventures overlapped with the time he served as a public servant and representative. He clocked 35 years of service to the county of Hood River and Oregon at large, serving variously on the city council, as director of the Hood River Chamber of Commerce, as mayor (in 1959 and 1989), and in the Oregon State Legislature (1966-1989). His legislative career included one term in the House of Representatives and five in the Senate.

“I’ve had a very interesting life,” Jernstedt on the afternoon of his 90th birthday, in an interview in his living room, a space lined with books, elephant figures and paintings by famed Hood River artist Percy Manser.

“I reflect on this quite a bit,” he said. “I’ve had a different life than most people,” he said, referring to his upbringing on a farm, his wartime and post-war experiences, coming to a new town and purchasing a bottling plant, and service as in both houses of the State Legislature and, twice, as mayor.

He prides himself on having the shortest floor speech in the history of the state legislature. In the 1970s, a fellow lawmaker spoke in favor of a bill that changed outdated language regarding irrigation and water districts. The man’s arguments were essentially the same ones Jernstedt planned to make. When it was his turn to speak, he rose and said, “Ditto.”

Among many other accomplishments as a city councilman Jernstedt helped procure property for the National Guard Armory and as a mayor assisted in the development of the groundwork of the city’s primary sewage treatment plant. In the legislature Jernstedt focused his attention on issues dealing with natural resources, agriculture and economic development.

Throughout his public service career Jernstedt was supported by his wife, Gen. They were married in 1962. Between the two of them the couple brought seven kids into their marriage. Gen was the first woman to serve on the Hood River City Council and she was Jernstedt’s legislative aide during his time in Salem.

The couple faithfully made the rounds to every county fair in the districts that Jernstedt represented: Wasco, Hood River, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow and Wheeler counties. Jernstedt was the first senator to be presented a “Friends of the Fairs” award. He has been a longstanding and active member of the Elks, the American Legion, and the Lions Club since 1946. He has served in every Lions chair there is — from deputy director to zone chairman. Jernstedt attends Hood River Valley Christian Church and supported the church in many offices as a respected elder. He served as president of the church, chairman of the church board, co-chairman of the building committee and as a deacon.

In 1981 the Air National Guard Base in Portland renamed their main entrance gate the “Jernstedt Gate” in his honor. Linfield named Jernstedt their “Honorary Alumnus of the Year” in 1983.

The Port of Hood River named Hood River’s airport on Tucker Road “Ken Jernstedt Airfield” in his honor in 2001.

In 1996 Jernstedt earned a Flying Cross for his service with the Flying Tigers and in 1997 he was inducted as a lifetime member for the Oregon Pilots Association. And, in 2003 Jernstedt became one of the first nine inductees into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor.

In 1979 Jernstedt began losing his sight due to glaucoma; barely two years later he lost vision in his right eye because of a detached retina. In 1996 Jernstedt was declared legally blind. He retains a 17-degree field of visibility in his left eye, enabling him to read. One of his particular favorite magazines is the news digest “The Week.” He and Gen share a love of books, and their shelves reflect a wide array of interests and experiences: “General Cartography,” “Latin America,” “The Death of a President,” “The Age of Chivalry,” “Helter Skelter,” “Photographs of the New China (1964),” “Fire at Eden’s Gate.”

Jernstedt never let the encroaching darkness slow him down. He served on the Oregon Commission for the Blind to help establish self-sufficiency programs for the blind, both young and old.

After he was declared blind Jernstedt was paired up with Driscoll, a faithful, yellow Labrador retriever guide dog. For 10 years the pair could be seen making their way around the coffee shops and visiting with all the locals, until Driscoll finally succumbed to old age in 2006. He was 12.

Jernstedt never found a guide dog that could replace Driscoll, though he brought two others home for a time. Jernstedt admits, though, that there was something about having a guide dog.

“I miss the companionship,” he said But Jernstedt still has a kind of “cane-ine” helper; he walks around his neighborhood, with the aid of his red-tipped cane, which he calls “Fido.” He said he has found that drivers are more respectful of the cane and more likely to stop than they were when he paused at crosswalks led by a guide dog.

For many years he was able to walk downtown for coffee.

“That kept me alive,” he said. But as he and Driscoll both aged, he came to rely on friends for rides. The coffee fellowship remains a weekday ritual for Jernstedt and his friends.