By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News Editor
May 10, 2008

Work can be a cake walk for Barb Cooper.

For her birthday in September 2007, her Westside Elementary co-workers surprised her with a cake walk in the gym, after she had once mentioned a fond memory of a childhood cake walk.

But 13 years ago, events were full of trying surprises in her first days as secretary at Westside Elementary.

It could be said of Cooper, a mother of three, that she has had hundreds of kids in her years at the school. Kids who have gone on to high school still greet her with hugs

“You’re the nurse, counselor, mind-reader, and sometimes parent,” said Cooper, who regards the children, staff and parents of Westside to be family.

“I could call any of the teachers or parents if I had a problem. It’s that way all over Hood River,” she said. Her sons, Matthew and Trevor, are HRVHS grads in 2002 and 2007, respectively, and her daughter, Emily, is a ninth-grader at HRVHS.

Cooper knows that for many years now she has been “the representative of Westside.”

“This has been the perfect fit for me,” said Cooper, who has lived in Hood River for 17 years.

But that first day in 1995 nearly gave her fits. She had applied for work with the school district and received a phone call on Sunday from then-principal Betty Shalhope. The secretary job had unexpectedly come open and could she come to work on Monday? But since Trevor was in pre-school Cooper arranged to start work that Tuesday.

Early that Wednesday, a teacher called Cooper with the news that Shalhope was in the hospital for emergency surgery.

When Cooper arrived at work that morning, one of her first tasks was a totally new one: A teacher sent a student to the office, but not for misbehavior.

The girl had a tick in her head.

“All of a sudden I’m the nurse. I had never seen a tick, but there it was sticking out of her head. The teacher is saying, ‘I think you get to take care of it.’ I didn’t know what to do at first. I realized right then that this job is going to involve a lot of different things.”

Such situations are no problem now for Cooper. She has grown accustomed to holding hands, wiping tears, grabbing a towel or a tissue or fetching an ice pack.

While being interviewed Thursday, a kindergartner came to the desk saying, “I got hit by a ball.” Aide Debbie Dorich quickly produced an ice pack and the boy returned to class, content.

“Where would we be without ice packs?” Cooper said.

“The head lice, the ticks, the throw-up, the nosebleeds; it’s just part of the day,” she said.

Calmly dealing with what she calls “the medical things“ and upset parents are two of the biggest skills she had developed over the years. She said she now knows how to listen to parents who have a concern or problem.

“It occurred to me a long time ago to look upon these kids like they’re my own,” she said, “and to remember that my kids are in school, too, and someone is looking out for them wherever they are. And I hope someone would treat them the same way.”