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99 Years of Childhood

By Nancy Ward for The NW Paper

The message on voicemail is from the editor saying she wants me to check out Fruit & Flower at 2378 NW Irving. As I try to figure out what Fruit & Flower is – a produce market, florist, or maybe a gift shop – I hear her say “a day care center.” Huh? I wonder how it got that name? So I ask them.

When your history goes back to 1885, there is a lot of story to tell. It seems a group of eight young women from prominent Portland families were looking for something useful to do and started delivering fruit and flowers to hospital patients and shut-ins. In 1906, 21 years later, they recognized that women entering the workforce needed someone to tend to their children. Evidently they believed it was more important than delivering fruit and flowers. These women of vision established Oregon’s first childcare center, Fruit & Flower Day Nursery.

For most of the century they were located downtown. Eventually PSU took over their location and they moved to their current building in the ‘70s. Somewhere along the line the name became simply Fruit & Flower. In the lobby is a wonderful wall of photos with a picture of the founding mothers, who look incredible young. Photos of early staff show women wearing crisp white nurses uniforms complete with winged caps and sensible shoes.

After 99 years in any business, you will be affected by, and required to, change. Regulations and operating requirements force change, while mores, trends and fads influence change. However, spending time in Fruit & Flower I am reminded that the product they're building is the same as it was in 1906. Children only come in two flavors and never go out of style.

Judi Gilles, Program Director fills me in on the details. This is a private, non-profit, full-time childcare facility, open from 6:45 am to 6:00 pm. Their clients are welcomed aboard as young as six weeks and may stay until they are five. Current enrollment is 119 children with a staff of 50+.

George Janis, Executive Director explains that 20 percent of the clients are enrolled on a sliding scale tuition based on income and family size. Exposing children to the melting pot of society keeps life more interesting and offers a learning experience that cannot be achieved in a standardized population.

Judi takes me on a tour of the building, starting with the room for infants. When we open the door every head in the room swivels in our direction. We’re met with big eyes, shy eyes, curious eyes and eyes filled with tears. Standing in cribs, sitting in highchairs, lying on a changing table or rolling around in infant walkers. It remains quiet until I bend down to ask a little boy in a highchair how he’s doing – which was apparently just fine until he was face to face with a stranger. Oops, time to move on and leave it to a familiar face to restore order.

We head up the stairs to see where the older children hang out. They are organized in groups of 18 and supervised by teams consisting of a lead, an assistant and one or more aides. Every room is loaded with equipment, books crayons and crafts. Restrooms are accessible from the classroom, and the best part? Little toilets sitting close to the floor. Posted signs remind them of proper bathroom etiquette.

The onsite kitchen provides a min breakfast, hot lunch (Chicken Tetrazzini the day I was there) and two snacks. Food is brought to each room. This means the children spend a lot of time within their own group. That may account for the fact that not everyone is glad to leave at the end of the day. I watch three parents have to deal with three very unhappy children who really don’t want to leave their friends.

Then we go outside, where the action is. Oh yeah, when crayons lose their luster and stories seem too tame, it’s time to hit the playground. They don’t hire electronic babysitters here. No TVs to rob energy and imagination from little bodies and minds. Instead, under the watchful eyes of adults, helmeted tricycle riders chase each other around the courtyard. Little girls in dresses dig their way to China. Budding Warhols create masterpieces with colored chalk. One of my favorite sightings is of a little girl carrying a bucket in her arms, covered in playtime dirt and wearing a “diamond” tiara. As interesting as it is to watch, there is no mute button and; besides, it’s time to go.

I ask Judi how long she has been at Fruit & Flower. “Well, I’ve come and gone, but this time I’ve been here 18 years.” Judi has a kind of quiet assuredness and gentle manner that instills genuine confidence. My guess is any flower will bloom brighter and any fruit bigger and better in a Judi Gilles garden.

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