Community Spotlight: Heli Hatanpaa-Wetzel
- Nordic Northwest
- May 7, 2024
- 1 min read
Nordic Northwest’s Community Spotlights celebrate the valuable contributions, enthusiasm, and achievements of members in the Nordic community. Thank you to all of our dedicated and supportive community members!
Heli joined Nordic Northwest three years ago, after retiring from a career in teaching and moving from California to Oregon. With more free time on her hands, she dove right into volunteering in the Nordic community.
Heli, our Nordic Cuisine (formerly known as Cook & Eat) Committee Chair, also volunteered with the Friday Night Lecture Series Committee and generously donated her time to ad hoc event assistance. When asked about favorite Nordic foods and food combinations, gravlax & schnapps as well as Karelian pasties definitely are on top of her list!
Born in Pori, Finland, Heli later lived in Turku, married her teenage sweetheart “many moons ago”, and majored in English Philology at the University of Finland. She worked as a foreign language teacher for English, Swedish & German at her former secondary school. After moving to California, she got a degree in Special Education and taught in California for 21 years until her retirement. She is currently the president of Finlandia Foundation Columbia-Pacific Chapter and also helps out at Nordic Finn Ware. Stop by and say hi next time you are at Nordia House!
Thank you for donating your time, Heli! We are so very grateful for your most wonderful support and enthusiasm.
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Wow, Heli's journey is truly inspiring, from teaching foreign languages to embracing Nordic culture so wholeheartedly after retirement! It's wonderful to see her passion shine through her involvement with Nordic Northwest, especially her dedication to the Nordic Cuisine Committee. Seems like she brought that spirit of fun that reminds us all of papa's games into volunteering! Her gravlax and schnapps preference sounds delightful!
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