Profile
by Jen Blazis
"[I'm a] firm believer that if you manage something, you need to know how to do it yourself."
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Integrity is a virtue
for HR director
Mr. and Mrs. Wolever both enjoyed their employment at Multnomah.
Mrs. Wolver will retire in November. -Erma Wolever, photo
Erma Wolever has taken off fewer than two years of work in the last 46 years. She keeps an ongoing prayer list split into seven different days. She's been married for 47 years this Oct. 7. She sings an infamous birthday song.
That's right, a birthday song. It starts with, "Happy birthday, Baby," and is so silly Mrs. Wolever has a hard time finishing it because she starts laughing--in fact, she has created a shortened version. The song is not hers, originally; it's from an old kids' television program hosted by Heck Harper, and Mrs. Wolever has been singing the song for 40 years. She has sung it to the likes of MBC's Dr. Dan Lockwood, Dr. Paul Metzger and Dr. Don Brake.
"It's kind of disgusting," she said, laughing. "Anyone with dignity wouldn't sing it. I only do it when requested of me." Students have asked her to sing it in classes--with the professor's permission, of course--and in the school cafeteria during mealtimes.
Because of her job, Mrs. Wolever has become acquainted with many people within the MBC community. As director of human resources, she coordinates hiring and firing, works with insurance carriers to arrange for employee benefits, performs exit interviews and organizes orientation schedules for new employees, among other duties.
Mrs. Wolever has a soft spot for new employees. "Working with new employees is my most fun thing," she said. "Not everybody gets that."
She also occasionally works at the Sutcliffe reception desk because she is a "firm believer that if you manage something, you need to know how to do it yourself."
To get to work, Mrs. Wolever arises at 3:30 a.m. to avoid traffic and drives 40 miles from her home in Kalama, Wash. She and her husband, Dick, both worked at MBC until Mr. Wolever retired from his maintenance job five years ago.
"I am married to a phenomenal person," Mrs. Wolever said. "He's just fun! He is a stability to me. I would be a workaholic, but he has kept me stable."
The Wolevers grew up together in Forest Grove, Ore., where Mr. Wolever was best friends with Mrs. Wolever's older brother.
"[Dick] left for the Navy when I was 13," Mrs. Wolever said. Two years later, Mr. Wolever came to visit the family at their new home in Northern Idaho.
"When Dick came [to Idaho], he said, 'You have grown up.' And he asked me out. I was just speechless," Mrs. Wolever said.
They dated for a year-and-a-half and married in October, five months after Mrs. Wolever graduated from high school.
"[Dick] tells people, 'I made one mistake in marrying Erma," Mrs. Wolever said. "'I shoulda married her when she was 16."'
The December following their marriage, Mrs. Wolever began working at Tektronix in Beaverton, Ore., where she stayed for 24 years.
At her workplace and in the home, Mrs. Wolever walked day-by-day for Christ by holding integrity in high regard, and in the workplace she was known for that integrity.
"I worked for a guy at Tek who wasn't easy to work for," she said. "[He told me,] 'Erma, you keep me honest.' There were times I had to tell him, 'I just couldn't do that with a clean conscience.'"
She didn't always talk about Christ to her coworkers but set an example for them. "You don't have to say a lot. Just living it is such an easy way to show you are a Christian," she said. "We have neighbors who aren't Christians, and they just watch us."
Mrs. Wolever carried her integrity with her when she arrived at MBC 19 years ago and set up a personnel department. Later she worked as an administrative assistant in the presidential wing.
"She's very bright, a very quick study," Paul Griffin, senior vice president of finance/administration and long-time friend of the Wolevers, said. "You can count on Erma."
Mr. Griffin has worked closely with Mrs. Wolever since her beginnings at MBC. "She won't tell you what you want her to; she'll tell you what she believes, what she sees from her perspective," he said. "She's honest and has integrity. She wants God's best."
Mrs. Wolever is well-known for what she says. "Erma has a way with words. I mean she can't use them very well sometimes," Mr. Griffin said. "We call 'em 'Erma-isms.'"
After years of friendship, Mr. Griffin's wife, Sandy, knows Erma-isms well. "Intead of saying, 'Oh, shoot,' she says, 'Oh, heiffer,' or, 'Oh, pig-sow-horse-mule.' If it's cold outside, Erma will say, 'You're gonna freeze your frazznoids.'"
Although Mrs. Wolever's time at MBC is coming to a close with a November retirement, her work is anything but over.
"It will be nice to have her home," Mr. Wolever said. "But we are going to focus on service. We've talked about different ways of serving the Lord. That's what we think retirement should be."
The Wolevers have discussed options such as short-term missions, hospital volunteer work and helping seniors in their church. They also want to travel extensively within the United States.
But Mrs. Wolever won't easily leave MBC behind her. "I've said this to so many people: Multnomah really gets into your blood. It's so special. It's not gonna be easy to leave," she said. "But it will always be on our Tuesday or Wednesday morning prayer list."
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