“I remember them moving typewriters into one of the big army surplus trucks that they got after the war. Dad hopped in the truck and drove to the house where we were and warned the family. Dad went through the building and knocked on doors and warned people to leave.”

For this year's special 75th anniversary issue of Portland State Magazine, I wrote about Portland State's origin story, born in the shadow of the Vanport floods, as seen through the eyes of Charlotte Gezi and Stephen M. Epler, daughter and son of PSU's founder, Stephen E. Epler.

Read story