Sheila Hale & Larry Weaver

The son of a civil engineer in Plainview, Texas, Larry Weaver studied math and physics at University of Texas at Austin and served in the Peace Corps in Colombia before he came to the UO for grad school in physics. “The research I did was in molecular biology, in Brian Matthews’ lab,” he says. “We studied the structure of proteins, using X-ray diffraction and a lot of math.” Weaver got his Ph.D. in 1978, did three years of research in Switzerland, then returned to work in the Matthews lab until he retired in 2005.

Sheila Hale, a Quaker, was helping with a Salvadoran family taking sanctuary at the Eugene Friends Meeting House in 1984. Weaver was there as a translator. “We had one date,” she says. “We haven’t been apart since then.” Hale went to grad school in mediation and worked as a mediator until the late 1990s. The couple has lived on 14 acres along the Coast Fork of the Willamette, with a view of Creswell Butte, since 1987. They purchased 72 acres on the butte in 1995, and worked with the McKenzie River Trust to craft a conservation easement, limiting future development. Weaver has since dug out “five lifetimes of blackberries” and planted thousands of trees on the butte. Over the past three years, he has built an array of 40 solar panels on the riverbank land. “It produces all we can use for the six sunny months,” he says. “That includes our electric car,” she adds. His current project is a vertical-axis wind turbine generator with hinged sailcloth panels to catch the breeze.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!