Claussen: 'Mrs. Public Power'

Former Grant County PUD commissioner remembered

SOAP LAKE - Former Grant PUD Commissioner Vera Claussen "was dedicated to public service and wanted to make the world a better place," said another past commissioner Tuesday.

The commissioner, Mike Conley, served with Claussen for 12 years.

He said her death in a Tuesday house fire at her home near the Lakeview Golf & Country Club in Soap Lake was "pretty shocking." The fire's cause is under investigation.

During their years of service together, he learned tidbits about Claussen's early life in southern Idaho that possibly influenced her later years.

Her family ran a honey business and first received electricity when she was a small girl, he said.

She experienced living without a modern convenience for some time and it later became her focus in her career and service.

Claussen, 78, served for 24 years as a commissioner and in other roles during her 47 years in the power industry.

"There's never a person that's been a better advocate for public power than her," he said. "I learned a lot from her about public power."

Conley said he last saw Claussen in "great spirits" last month at a state association meeting for former commissioners.

Current Grant PUD Commissioner Tom Flint remembered Claussen as "extremely patient and very helpful for any of the new commissioners coming on board."

Flint said she would go out of her way to explain acronyms and simple questions in a complex industry.

Claussen was often referred to as "Mrs. Public Power" and "a warrior in pearls," stated utility spokesperson Rita Bjork.

Claussen retired as commissioner in 2006 after her husband's illness progressed, according to a Columbia Basin Herald article on her retirement. A sheriff's office press release about the fire said he suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

The utility's general manager Tim Culbertson stated he was shocked and saddened to hear of her death.

"Vera's commitment and dedication to public power and to the people she served was evident in her service to the utility," he stated. "She was a living legend and she will be truly missed by her friends at Grant PUD. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family."

Wanapum Tribe Leader Rex Buck, Jr. said Claussen attended tribal ceremonies like roof feasts and "always appreciated and recognized the importance of culture, traditions and belief of the Wanapum."

Grant PUD built the Priest Rapids and Wanapum Dams on traditional tribal home sites, he explained.

So the two have an agreement allowing the Wanapum to live within the project at the Wanapum Indian Village, he said. The agreement also allows for the care of artifacts and cultural materials, he said.

She began working in 1959 as a research editor for the Northwest Public Power Association and moved on to the Washington Public Utility District Association.

She served on the board of directors for Energy Northwest and was elected as the American Public Power Association's first woman president. She received the association's highest honor in 1999 with the Alex Radin Distinguished Service Award.

She is survived by her husband Al Claussen, a resident at McKay Healthcare and Rehab Center in Soap Lake, daughter Kathy and son-in-law Bob Chapman of Lake Stevens and son Ed and daughter-in-law Margo Edinger of Portland. She also has three grandchildren.

A service time was not set Tuesday, Bob Chapman said.