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Note: nister, the Reverend Finley. His earliest memory was of standing on Union Avenue at Portland in 1919, watching the marching soldiers returning from service in World War I. He attended kindergarten and the first grade at a school at Portland, switching to Creston School for the second grade. Then he shifted to Joseph Kellogg Grade School at 72nd and Powell at Portland until October of his eighth-grade year.
He attended the Laurelwood Methodist Church with his family. At age 10, he sang a solo during the Sunday service, accompanied by his father on the French horn.
Often at night he would hold a light for his father, so the latter could see to repair his trucks. The family would camp in the woods on the Molalla River during the summer. And they were frequent visitors to the farm of his uncle, Isaac Howard, in the Hood River Valley.
At age 11, Delmar Borden Putnam and his brother, Gale, obtained their first jobs working at the Meng Shing Raspberry Farm at Gresham. They camped out on the farm for a month, their parents bringing them food once a week. Gale cooked and Delmar washed the dishes. The weather was very hot, and one day a hot wind came up and virtually "cooked" the berries. Mr. Meng Shing came out and begged them to pick berries before they rotted.
In October 1927, the Putnam family moved to Newberg. Delmar Borden Putnam completed the eighth grade there, graduating from Newberg Grade School in 1928.
At Newberg, the Putnams settled on a five-acre parcel of land on the edge of the town. The family had a large garden, in which Delmar and Gale were required to work. Delmar disliked this work, but Gale enjoyed it. One summer both boys camped out near Dayton and picked berries. They also picked hops.
His brother, Francis Arthur Putnam, was the "Oregon Journal" distributor for much of Yamhill County. During his first two years of high school, Delmar Borden Putnam had an "Oregon Journal" route. Later, when his brother was ill or on vacation, Delmar drove his motorized route of approximately 75 miles.
When Delmar Borden Putnam was 16 years old, he obtained a job for the summer operating the Post prune drier at Newberg during the night shift. The farmers would bring their prunes to town during the prune harvesting period. Wood had to be fed to the fire to heat and dry the prunes.
During his junior year in high school, Delmar Borden Putnam began working for the "Newberg Scribe," the local weekly newspaper. He was the newspaper's only sports reporter. He was paid 10 cents per column inch, and made $3 or $4 per week.
In high school, he was editor of the annual and the school newspaper. He earned two letters in football and two letters in basketball. He also earned a letter in baseball in his freshman year, playing third base. But the next year, due to financial difficulties brought on by the Great Depression, Newberg High School eliminated baseball in favor of track. So those students who enjoyed baseball formed their own team. They provided their own equipment and transportation. This team played many other high school teams and some college teams. They also remonstrated against the high school administration for eliminating baseball, and printed a four-page paper by hand-type denouncing the action. The paper contained a bad joke, and after it was distributed the boys were called before the principal and threatened with expulsion if they printed another edition.
Baseball remained his first love for many years. At age 16, he had a tryout with the Portland Beavers Baseball Club, but nothing came of it. Beginning that year, he played baseball in the semi-professional Portland Valley League. This league was supported by gate receipts as well as the sponsorship of local merchants. Delmar played third base and left field. In the ensuing several years, he played for Newberg, Sherwood, Carleton, and St. Paul. In 1932, he played for a team called Jurgeus Park, an area near McMinnville. He also played in the Tualatin Valley League.
Eldred Lamont Putnam had gone to Klamath Falls, where he was employed as time-keeper and payroll master at the Lamb Lumber Co. at Modoc Point. Delmar Borden Putnam went to the Klamath Falls area in 1931 to work at the sawmill for the summer. He worked mostly in the lumber yard, stacking lumber. He also worked on the green chain. He lived with Eldred, and they played golf almost every night on the company's nine-hole course with its sand "greens." The Lamb Lumber Co. had a baseball team composed of seven Indians and three white men. Delmar played on this team in the Southern Oregon League during that summer.
In 1933, 1934, and 1935, while attending college, he went to Klamath Falls for the summers and worked for the Ewauna Lumber Company where his brother, Eldred, was then employed. The first year he traveled to Klamath Falls by train and played baseball the very afternoon he arrived. This was a great game, and afterward he went to a local restaurant where everyone on the team tried to buy him a beer. But he told them that he didn't drink. He lived with Eldred for 10 days, then rented an apartment on Lincoln Street for the rest of the summer. He worked on a rip saw in the box factory and graded the components. He was paid $4.75 per day.
In 1934, he rode a freight train to Klamath Falls with two other young men. He again played on the mill team that year and the following year, and lived in a house with the other baseball players. This team, the Ewauna Red Sox, won the Southern Oregon League pennant in both 1934 and 1935. They went on to defeat the Blitz Weinhardt League in 1934 and the Northern California League in 1935, being the state champions both years.
In 1937, after he had entered the banking business, Delmar Borden Putnam had a chance to play professional baseball for the Western International League. This league included teams in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Canada. But the proposed salary was too low, and he felt that he was too old to start such a demanding career. He continued to play baseball until 1947, and afterward coached Little League teams.
Delmar Borden Putnam graduated from Newberg High School May 26, 1932. He had an athletic scholarship to Linfield College. But the scholarship was only for tuition and books, and these were the worst of the depression years. So he was forced to defer his education for one year. He managed the Open Air Vegetable Market at Newberg, in space adjoining the Open Air Meat Market. The vegetable market had been started by his brother, Eldred, who had come home to Newberg from Klamath Falls when the depression closed the Lamb mill. But the mill reopened in June 1932, so Eldred returned to Klamath Falls, leaving Delmar to run the market. He bought vegetables from Pacific Fruit and Produce, and the customers of the meat market also bought vegetables. But Safeway began giving customers free vegetables with each bag of groceries, and the small vegetable market could not compete. So Delmar closed the market to avoid the lease payments. He told the company that owned the spraying equipment to take it back.
He was then contacted by Ross Courser, a family friend about two years older than him, to split cordwood in the hills above Fernwood. There was a great deal of good, second-growth stumpage, at 50 cents per cord. The wood would be sold for $3.50-4.00 per cord. It would be sold by lot to fuel dealers on site, or delivered and sold to individuals. They cut the wood by hand with a saw and blasted the knots with black powder. Ross Courser had to leave for a time, so Louis Lamont Putnam came out to the site and helped saw and stack the wood.
They cut 200 cords of wood, but Delmar never received any money for his efforts. While Delmar was in Klamath Falls during the summer of 1933, his uncle, Harold Douglas Putnam, represented himself as a wood dealer and dealt directly with Ross Courser. The wood was sold. Harold Douglas Putnam claimed Courser received all the money and kept it for himself. Courser later told Delmar that he had only received a portion of his share.
He was cutting a two-acre field with a scythe, when one Emmett Gulley visited him and asked him to consider enrolling at Pacific College in Newberg. He was then earning about $10 per month, writing part-time for the "Scribe." The newspaper was having difficulty keeping staff during the depression, so he was offered $25 per week as a general news correspondent. He wrote social stories, sports, obituaries, business news - virtually all the paper. When Chet Diamond was bedridden for two years, Delmar had to do all the composition and sale of advertising. He received $15 in cash and $10 was applied against his tuition to repay a $600 debt the college owed the newspaper. He continued this work for almost four years, ceasing only near the end of his senior year.
He earned 12 letters in athletics, was on the debate team, was managing editor of the first college annual, and was business manager and then editor of the college newspaper. He graduated in 1937 with a major in history. But because his work at the newspaper did not excuse him from classroom attendance, he had 16 hours of non-excused absences. He went through the graduation exercises June 8, 1937 and was given a blank diploma. He was required to do extra work in order to receive his diploma; so he wrote a thesis on the history of the Jesuit movement in North America.
Delmar Borden Putnam had planned to enter either the journalism or coaching fields. But there were few jobs available in those fields in 1937. The First National Bank of Portland had purchased the US National Bank of Newberg, of which Samuel Parrett was President. Samuel Parrett was the father of Orville Clifton Parrett who had married Delmar's sister, Edith, in 1934. The new owner replaced many of the old employees, and this act enraged the townspeople. There was a town meeting, and the citizens demanded that more local people be hired. The bank management went to Pacific College and asked for recommendations for a new employee. Delmar was recommended. He decided to take this job for one or two years, in order to save enough money to attend graduate school.
His first job in the bank was that of bookkeeper as well as being in charge of the supply room. He was paid $70 per month, and received a $10 raise after six months. He subsequently gained enough experience to become a teller.
In August 1939, Delmar was asked to go to the First National Bank's branch at Heppner to assist during the harvest. This was a very busy branch, being the only bank in the town. He was a bookkeeper and also a teller. He worked there until mid-October 1939.
Then he was asked to transfer to Seaside as a teller. The Clatsop County Bank was being operated by First National as an affiliate bank. Delmar later became a note teller and helped perform many tasks in the bank. He stayed at that bank until December 1940, when he applied for training in the Army Air Force Cadet Program.
Meanwhile he had met his future wife. They determined to be married while he was home on leave in May 1941, prior to his departure for Barksdale Field in Shreveport, Louisiana. They went to Kalama, Washington, with her brother, Leo Marlantes, and his fiancee, Elna Erickson. Delmar utilized his relationship with a local banker to help them obtain a marriage license. They were married May 22, 1941 at Kalama in the Methodist Church. They then went to Portland, where they had a wedding dinner at Nendell's Restaurant.
When he returned to Portland from Shreveport after being discharged from the Army Air Force, Delmar worked in the First National Bank's auditing department for a few days. He then returned to Seaside and worked in that branch until he was again called into military service September 30, 1942.
After World War II, Delmar again became employed as cashier at the First National Bank at Seaside. He was subsequently promoted to the position of Assistant Manager. He continued to work for the bank until he reentered military service in 1950 during the Korean War.
He resumed playing baseball with the Seaside Seals, a member of the Lower Columbia Baseball League. And he renewed his involvement in the Community Methodist Church at Seaside. On February 22, 1948, he preached the Sunday sermon, entitled "Learning to Live the Christian Life." At the Methodist Church's district laymen's retreat August 12-14, 1949, he lead the Sunday School. On December 4, 1949, he commenced to lead a weekly Sunday evening meditation entitled "Learning to Live by Faith in Christ."
Upon his return to First National Bank after his discharge from the Air Force in 1952, Delmar served in the Auditing Department for a few months. He then returned to Seaside as Assistant Cashier and Loan Officer. He was promoted to Manager, January 11, 1956.
He received a grade of 95 on an American Institute of Banking Business Administration final exam, March 30, 1954. He attended the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington at Seattle for two years, in 1959-60. He would have graduated in the summer of 1961, had he not left the employ of the First National Bank prior to that date.
Delmar was very active in Seaside's civic affairs during the 1950s. He was treasurer of the annual Miss Oregon Pageant Committee, an active leader of the Seaside Council of the Cub Scouts, Chairman of the United Fund-Red Cross drive, President of the Rotary Club, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Realty Board, the Elks Lodge, and the American Legion. He coached Little League baseball teams. He also served as a Rear Admiral of the annual Astoria Regatta. In 1958, he was named senior distinguished citizen by the Seaside Junior Chamber of Commerce.
He was also active in the Community Methodist Church, serving as Sunday School Superintendent. He taught various classes at the church, and continued to preach the Sunday sermon on occasion. On October 28, 1962, he preached the Sunday sermon at the First Methodist Church at Newberg.
Delmar was well-regarded as Manager of the First National Bank branch office at Seaside. The bank constructed a large, modern facility which opened March 17, 1961. But Delmar was unhappy at the bank. He regarded the corporate organization as greedy and uncaring. This led him to resign as branch manager to accept a position as Loan Officer with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , June 5, 1961. In the press release announcing his resignation from the bank, he stated:
"I decided to accept the government position only after giving the matter a great deal of consideration. I first came to Seaside in 1939 to join the staff of Clatsop County Bank. Deposits at that time were less than $1,000,000 and loans around $100,000. We hit a peak deposit last year in excess of $9,000,000 and loans are well over $3,500,000. I have sort of grown up with the branch and it was not easy to make the decision to leave."
He sold his house at Seaside in 1962, and he and his family moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Delmar's career at the SBA was graced by his receipt of numerous honors and awards. These included Outstanding Performance Awards in 1968 and 1970. In 1973, he was nominated to receive an SBA Silver Medal for meritorious service. His accomplishments at the SBA were summarized in the nomination document:
"Mr. Putnam has been in the Community Economic Development program on a full-time basis since October, 1966. Four years prior to that date a portion of his time was devoted to community development work in both the Section 502 and EDA programs. An important result of this has been the growth of community development corporations in the Portland District Office area. There are now 67 in the area, five of which were formed in the past year. The formation of three more will be completed within 30-60 days. Our records show that in 1962-63, when Mr. Putnam first began part-time activity in this program, there were 21 established LDCs [Local Development Corporations]. By 1966, the number had increased to 48 and by January 31, 1973 there were 70 LDCs in the Portland District."
"In addition to duties in Portland, Mr. Putnam was also responsible for development of a viable 502 program in the Boise District Office area for 16 months ending July, 1968. During 1969 he served as Area Training Officer, DCAP, and Acting Program Coordinator in the absence of the Area DCA Program Coordinator. Also in 1969, he completed an Instructor Course in Community Development at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, subsequently serving as instructor in several CED courses at SBA's Western Training Center, Denver, Colorado."
"During F/Y 1972 Mr. Putnam completed an outstanding record processing 30 Lease Guarantees and 502 loans. The 502 cases included a $2.4 million shopping center in downtown Springfield, Oregon. This project, which is the start of business area reconstruction, had 24, 502 loans to small businesses and is one of the largest projects of its kind ever attempted in the 502 program. This was the culmination of five years of working with the community by Mr. Putnam."
"In spite of a heavy processing workload during the past 12 months, Mr. Putnam recorded a total of 2,070 interviews. This compares to 1, 864 interviews in the prior 12 months - a gain of 206. Average interviews per month for the past year were 172, compared to 155 in 1971-72. These contacts covered three phases of CED work - community development and "502" loans, lease guarantees and surety bond guarantees."
"Besides interviews noted above, Mr. Putnam held 52 meetings with local development corporations during the past year, plus 29 meetings with community groups who were contemplating 502 projects or investigating the formation of a development corporation."
"In June, 1970 Mr. Putnam structured and held the Northwest's first Lease Guarantee Seminar in Portland. The format for this highly successful effort at program development has been the basis for similar seminars later conducted throughout the ten SBA Regions."
"Most Loan Officers and Economic Development Specialists are strong in one or two elements of their program responsibilities. Mr. Putnam is the exception, having strong capability in all three areas, i.e., credit analysis, program development and public relations. His case processing is outstandingly meticulous and his excellent public contact in every community in the Portland District has created a most favorable SBA public image. He takes great pride in his work, believes it is worthwhile and with great dedication puts in many hours of uncompensated time. His courtesy, dedication and excellent record of accomplishment portray him as our outstanding public servant."
Delmar retired from the SBA, June 15, 1979. He then accepted a position as part-time business manager at the First Baptist Church of Portland, where he had been a member since 1972. He was rebaptized by immersion at the First Baptist Church, October 19, 1980 by Roland Johnson, Senior Pastor. He served on the Deacon Board of the Church, and as a Parish Zone Leader, Sunday School class teacher, and usher. He continued to serve in these capacities until his death.
Note: Delmar Borden Putnam was baptized at his parents home by a Methodist mi
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