Community spirit, family pride keep sisters in top spots.

Byline: MATT COOPER The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Call them Springfield's power trio.

With Helen Wagner's appointment to the board of the Willamalane Park and Recreation District last July, her family carved out an interesting piece of local history - and a darn good trivia question:

Name three sisters who serve on the boards of the city's top public agencies.

The answer: Wagner, City Councilor Anne Ballew and Virginia Lauritsen, a member of the Springfield Utility Board and Lane Transit District board.

"We get teased all over town - `Hey, you're takin' over the town,' ' Lauritsen said. "There is another (sister) and she may be moving here. We're looking at the school board."

That's a joke, at least for now. The eldest of Judge and Dexter Ballew's four girls - Mima Jean - is happy in Wrangell, Alaska, but the rest of the family lives within a stone's throw of each other in and around the Washburne Historic District.

Ballew and Lauritsen, in fact, live just houses apart. You'd think that closeness might lead to friction when city and utility policies clash, but the sisters rank family above their roles in the community.

"We'll always be sisters," Lauritsen said. "We may not always be public officials, but we'll always be sisters."

The sisters are all smokers, and they are all forceful. They also put up a united front when it comes to revealing their ages: What's the relevance, they ask? (For the record: They're in their late 50s and early 60s, Helen being the second oldest after Mima Jean, followed by Virginia and then Anne.)

But you don't need their birthdays to tell them apart.

Helen's the quiet one. She might not have run for the park board earlier this year had Virginia and Anne not sprung the idea on her while picking her up one day at the airport, hustling off with the signatures needed to get her in the race (which they then supervised, and she won).

Virginia - or "Gin" - is the outspoken one, brimming with "strong opinions she's not hesitant to announce," Anne said. "Every organization periodically has little flash fires, and sometimes you're at fault. Gin would tend to be more angry about it."

Anne's somewhere in between. Tolerant, to a point. A faithful devotee of the bottom line. "Certainly willing to say what she thinks," Helen offered, "but she can change her opinion if she has more information that would make it logical to do that."

Investment in community

Judge and Dexter Ballew moved their four girls to Springfield from Arkansas in 1943 so Judge could work in the burgeoning timber industry. He put in 31 years as a faller for Weyerhaeuser Co., cutting so much board-feet that he made more money than the superintendent. (``They couldn't stand that," he said, eyes twinkling.)

Dexter was home with the four girls, keeping the peace. There was no talking back to mom, no rowdiness once dad came home from a day at the mill. Dexter never had to raise a hand to any of the girls, she said - although she admitted she once needed a clump of Mima Jean's hair to get her attention.

The girls also got a lesson in politics: If Dexter had a beef, she wouldn't hesitate to get some answers.

"I've always had this idea of accountability for politicians," Virginia said. "Mom would call up Governor Bob Straub - that was really important to me. I've been taught you speak right up, and they're working for you."

The girls were also expected to bring home dazzling report cards, and that planted the seed for secondary education: All three went to Springfield High School, then Anne and Helen got undergraduate degrees from the University of Oregon, and Virginia, from Oregon State University. Helen went on to get a master's in education and Virginia, a master's in mathematics and a doctor of jurisprudence.

Anne's career took her to Los Angeles. She arrived there for the Watts riots of 1965, worked 27 years for the county, mostly as a budget and financial analyst, then left after the Rodney King riots of 1992.

Virginia and Helen also lived and worked in California: Virginia as a corporate attorney in business law, and Helen, for a time, as a Beverly Hills cop.

Helen returned to Springfield first, in 1970, and has endured an especially difficult experience: She lost her 28-year-old son, Morgan, three years ago - he died in his sleep, mystifying the doctors. Tears well up in her eyes as if it happened yesterday.

But the family is encouraged by Helen's election to the park district and she sees the role as a way to ensure that kids today get the same opportunities to play that her son enjoyed.

"You have to play the cards that are dealt you," she said.

"When I look at those kids, they touch my heart. There's so many lost kids that find it difficult to find their way - if they can be led to good choices ..."

Anne retired to Springfield in 1992 and was appointed to the City Council in 1995. That was the year that Virginia returned; she took board positions with the transit district and the utility board in 1998 and 1999.

The sisters returned to Springfield partly to be with Judge and Dexter, but Anne also describes a fondness for the community that explains their call to public service:

"Hometowns always have a place in your heart," Anne said. "In Springfield, there's always been a very good helpfulness, neighbor to neighbor.

"There's a real investment of 'average people' in your community, your neighborhood. The energy level is lower here (than in Los Angeles), but it's a more comfortable place to be."

Dexter worries a bit about her daughters being in the public eye and presiding over potentially explosive issues, but her concern is tempered with the family toughness.

"We've come a long way, we really have, and it has not been easy," she said. "I'm proud of all three of 'em. They seem to be interested in worldly conditions."

"The dynasty family"

Those who work with the sisters say their commitment to Springfield as public officials stems from their roots here as a family.

"They care deeply about the town," City Manager Mike Kelly said. "The civic involvement is almost like an extension of their family values. They want to do the right thing and be honorable. It's personal with them."

Terry Beyer, a newly appointed state representative for Springfield, has worked with Anne on city issues, and Beyer's son and Helen's were close friends in college.

All three of the sisters are well-educated, fiscal conservatives, Beyer said - "strong-willed, but they know they have to negotiate" for consensus.

Mayor Sid Leiken described Anne as a "budgetary guru" and Virginia as an eloquent speaker, and said the three are never far apart at functions.

"We're calling them the dynasty family of Springfield," Leiken said, chuckling. "I have a lot of respect for them."

The sisters, too, have a lot of respect for each other. Far from warring siblings, they view the crossroads of their public roles and familial ties as a source of pride, not conflict.

Helen expects to gain special understanding of her sisters' organizations, while Virginia sees the three complementing one another.

And Anne, the youngest, established the ground rules for future debates in the public forum: Fight for your beliefs, and don't expect family favoritism.

"You don't get to win just 'cause you're my sister," Anne said, her soft Southern drawl creeping out. "But you're always supportive of their successes."

CAPTION(S):

A front porch in Springfield's Washburne District is often the place where the Ballew sisters - all public officials - hold forth. From left: Virginia Lauritsen is a Springfield Utility Board director, Anne Ballew sits on the City Council and Helen Wagner is a Willamalane Park and Recreation District director. PAUL CARTER / The Register-Guard "Hometowns always have a place in your heart. In Springfield, there's always been a very good helpfulness, neighbor to neighbor." ANNE BALLEW Springfield city councilor