Just in time to mark the 39th anniversary Saturday, May 18, of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the Chronicle received a big manila envelope from a Washington man. Inside was a poem Guillermo Castaneda wrote about that sunny Sunday morning in 1980, about experiencing the “total eclipse” of ash-induced darkness that sent him and his family scurrying inside in fear.

The Hood River News set out to interview 52 people (and sometimes couples) for our weekly Slice of Local Life column this year. Having written two-thirds of these columns (or so says Kirby; math was never my strong point), I can tell you firsthand that Hood River is filled with remarkable people.