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Wednesday June 10, 2026 | 137 years

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Preserving the past, shaping the future School Marie Longfellow leaves a lasting mark on Cottage Grove board adopts budget CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel

On the afternoon of June 1, friends and neighbors gathered in the dining room of Magnolia Gardens Senior Living Center to remember Cottage Grove native Marie Longfellow. It was her birthday, and she would have turned 87. The timing lent a quiet symmetry to the moment. Marie spent her life honoring the past, tending to the stories of Cottage Grove, and caring for the places that held its memory. Now, on the day she first entered the world, friends and neighbors gathered to honor the life she shaped in the town she returned to after a career spent teaching in other communities. A LIFE ROOTED IN COTTAGE GROVE Her longtime friend and advocate, Suzanne Huebner-Sannes, served as the master of ceremonies. For the last decade of Marie’s life, she and her husband, Charlie, had been her closest companions and her steady support. Suzanne retired from a career at Senior and Disabled Services with the Lane Council of Governments and now serves as the president of the Cottage Grove Senior Center. Marie had no children or grandchildren, but she was not alone. Suzanne and Charlie became her family. Marie’s story began in Cottage Grove where her family had lived for generations. She was born at the McFarland Birth Home. As a child,

District strapped with $3 million deficit CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel

The South Lane School District’s newly adopted 2026–27 budget reflects the financial pressures facing districts across Oregon, as rising costs and flat state revenues force leaders to stretch limited resources while maintaining student services. Marie Longfellow (left) with Marcia Allen and Alexis Simpson in 2013. The spending plan closes a projected $3 million deficit through Marie enjoyed spending time with the same care she gave to her own education that spanned decades. reductions, staffing realignments and her maternal grandparents, J. E. family home. She later earned a Master of Arts a modest rebuilding of reserves. Young and Ermine Veatch Young, in She grew up in Cottage Grove, in education from Arizona State Superintendent Todd Miller said the familiar large yellow house on graduated from Cottage Grove High University in 1967. Teaching was the district faces “a challenging point South River Road that most recently School, and attended the University her first calling, and she carried the in time with finances,” even as leadserved as Farmhouse Bakery. of Oregon, where she played on same steady patience and curiosity ers work to maintain a unified vision The Longfellow home, in the the women’s basketball team. Her into every classroom she entered. for student success. In his budget Mount David Historic District, is on pride in being a former Duck athlete When she retired, she returned to message, Miller said every decision the northeast corner of Birch Avenue never faded. For years, her green the Birch and H Street home where followed a single question: “How and H Street across the street from Ford pickup, decked out with Duck her life had begun, settling back into do we best serve students with the the Cottage Grove Museum and the flags and decals, was a familiar the neighborhood that had shaped resources we have?” Veley House, two landmarks that sight around town, a rolling declara- her childhood. “The students of South Lane would become central to Marie’s tion of her loyalty to the University Marie came from a family woven School District deserve an education life. Friends said it felt natural that of Oregon. deeply into the civic life of Cottage that prepares them for their future, she became a guardian of those After earning her degree, Marie Grove. Her great grandfather, creates well rounded citizens and properties, watching over them with left Cottage Grove to teach in other offers an experience that is both communities, building a career in See LONGFELLOW Page 6 engaging and enriching,” he wrote. Miller cites rising costs, enrollment losses and the transition away from federal (pandemic era) relief as budget factors. The board unanimously approved the 2026–27 budget at its June 1 meeting. During the Oregon School Employees Association report, chapter co president Sheila Healy thanked district leaders for the way they approached the work of stabilizing next year’s budget. “With the effects of the budget deficit weighing so heavily on all of us, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some positives,” Healy said. “A huge thank you to Todd Miller, Brian McCasline and their team for all their hard work to look for other ways to cut and keep the impact on staff as low as possible.” STATE FUNDING PRESSURES Miller said South Lane’s financial Courtesy photo from Casey Woodard strain mirrors what districts across Banners above the Cottage Grove High School pool reflect the winning tradition shaped by legendary swim coach Bud Tay- Oregon are experiencing. Even lor, who will be honored in a June 13 ceremony. though the Legislature increased the State School Fund, he noted that the allocation “has not kept pace with the Current Service Level, the actual cost of maintaining our staffing and programming costs.” Rising staffing costs, health insurance premiums, PERS contributions and utilities have all outpaced revenue. He described the situation as a “perfect storm of financial presCINDY WEELDREYER The event begins at 2 p.m. at the continued in the sport as coaches, Now 84, Taylor remains a respected sures.” The state’s cap on special education funding leaves districts Cottage Grove Sentinel Warren Daugherty Aquatic Center, lifeguards and instructors. His profigure who stays connected with 1440 South 8th Street, and will grams in swimming, diving and former athletes who credit him with covering a growing share of mandated services. “The gap between A community that produced gencelebrate Taylor’s leadership, the water polo became a defining part shaping their lives. erations of championship swimmers athletes he mentored and the values of the school’s athletic identity. “It’s time to honor Bud’s positive our service costs and the amount we receive is rapidly growing,” he and water polo players will gather he instilled in young people who Taylor’s connection to Cottage influence in our lives and within Saturday, June 13, to honor the man carried those lessons far beyond the Grove began long before he stepped our community,” said lead organizer wrote. The end of federal pandemic era whose steady leadership shaped pool deck. onto the pool deck. He graduated Patrick Russell. “Coach Taylor made relief funding has also left districts much of that history. For many in Cottage Grove, from Cottage Grove High School a lasting difference in the pool and exposed. “Many of the student needs Friends of the Warren Daugherty Taylor’s name is synonymous with in 1959. After the local swim beyond, and not only when we were and intervention services still require Aquatic Center, the Cottage Grove the rise of competitive swimming. club’s coach left, parents asked student athletes, but well into our our attention,” Miller said, but with Swimming Alumni group and South His tenure as head coach from the 19-year-old Taylor, who was a adult years.” those grants gone, the district has Lane School District will host a 1966 to 1996, and again in 2012, University of Oregon sophomore COACHING PHILOSOPHY “increasingly depended upon our public celebration recognizing long- produced district and state chamstudying architecture, to take over. time Cottage Grove High School pions, college scholarship athletes He met his wife Sue at the pool, See COACH Page 6 See BUDGET Page 6 swim coach, Bud Taylor. and a deep bench of swimmers who where she worked as a lifeguard.

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