Othello Community Museum prepares for June 17 opening
Courtesy photo - Eric Morgan, president of the Othello Community Museum, accepts a donation from Dean Kisler. Kisler, along with his employer Johnson & Johnson, recently made the donation to the museum to help pay for painting the interior walls and replacing the windows in the building.
The Othello Community Museum, located at the corner of Third and Larch, will open to the public at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 17. Dr. Richard Bunch will be the guest speaker and will focus on the Radar Air Force Base, which was an integral part of Othello for many years.
He along with Dr. Kenneth Pershall worked with the base medics to help provide medical services to area residents, as well as Air Force personnel.
The museum will host a second program in August about the Othello area men and women who fought during World War 11 and highlight some of our soldiers from that time.
Eric Morgan, museum president, said a grant from former resident Dean Kisler and his employer, Johnson and Johnson, will enable museum personnel to paint the interior walls and replace the windows. Kisler, a 1982 Othello High School graduate, has worked at the company for 27 years. He currently resides in Bothell.
Kisler donated $5,000 to the museum via his company’s double match program that encourages employees to give back to their local communities.
“We are so grateful for this funding,” Morgan said. “It is major donations like this that help us get bigger projects done.”
Kisler describes himself as a “person whose heart never left Othello.” He recalls visiting the Othello Community Museum when he was a freshman in high school.
“I looked at an old school attendance book from 1928 where I found the name of my grandfather,” he said. “He had perfect attendance that year.”
Kisler’s great-great-grandparents moved to the Warden area in the late 1890s. They were Germans from Russia. Dean’s parent, Wes and Sandy Kisler moved their family to Othello in 1967 where Wes worked for International Harvester. Dean has an older sister, Kari, who lives in Warsaw, Poland, and a younger brother, Bryce, in Everett. His mother began her teaching career in Warden; she also taught in Othello schools after their move here.
Kisler feels fortunate to have been raised in Othello with support from his family and the community.
“I was active in Key Club, which was a service organization at the high school sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club,” he said. “I learned so much from these community minded leaders.”
Kisler continues to visit his family in Othello.
“I also visit the Othello Museum at least once every summer. The museum is the keeper of our history and such an important asset to the community,” he said. “Years ago, I read the book ‘Sagebrush Homesteads’ by Laura Tice Lage who wrote about the pioneers who established homesteads on the raw sagebrush lands of the Columbia Basin. I was amazed by their fortitude and courage. I’m pleased to be able to help preserve their stories.”