Carlson Jewelry closing after 61 years

Carlson Jewelry closing after 61 years
Month of June will be the last for the business
Dalles Chronicle

By RODGER NICHOLS
of The Chronicle
Three stores and 11 presidents ago, while still a student at The Dalles High School, 18-year-old Jerry Carlson became an apprentice watchmaker for Pounds Jewelry.
After three years of study, he passed the state board of watchmakers exam, an exacting test which included a requirement to machine several watch pieces out of metal stock.

“I started at no pay,” Carlson said, “And worked up to $5 an hour.”
In 1965, he struck out on his own, and set up shop as an independent business inside Monahan’s Jewelry to repair watches and clocks, while his wife Carole did engraving

A final move took them to Hampton Furniture in 1991, where their tidy shop is tucked in between the elevator and the east stairs.
Having a shop inside a furniture store instead of a jewelry store also allowed them to sell jewelry, gaining them more customers.
The Carlsons have nothing but praise for Hampton’s owner Angie DesRochers.
“Angie has been a real sweetheart. There’s nobody like Angie,” said Carole.
Angie DesRochers returns the feelings. “They’re very good people,” she said. “We’ll miss them.”
The Carlsons have announced plans to close their shop at the end of June, and have marked all merchandise at half price until the store closes.
Carole and Jerry share a birthday, April 9, and last month he turned 79 and she 72.
Jerry also suffered a stroke in 2004.
And although he has made remarkable recovery, Carole said, it’s time to make the change.
“Last week he sized rings,” she said. “It took him longer than he thought it should, but a year and a half ago he couldn’t have done it at all.”
Over the six decades, the Carlsons have seen a lot of people.
“Jerry’s quite an artisan,” said Carole. “We now have some fourth generation customers, and we’ve had people ship things from as far away as New York.”
Amid the watch and clock cleaning and repairs, ring sizings and stone replacement, Jerry even had some experience as a forensic jeweler.
When the bridge over the Columbia at Biggs went down in the 1964 flood, two cars drove over the end of the missing span. The state police brought him a watch recovered from a victim.
“They asked him if he smoked,” said Carole, “and he said just the occasional cigar. They said to have several at hand, and when they brought in the watch it was reeking of formaldehyde. He was able to get the number engraved inside and help trace the identity of the victim.”
For her part, Carole does engraving. “Anything metal,” she said, “as long as I can fit it in my machine.”
That includes a metal dashboard panel for an airplane built by Del Kendricks of Lyle.
After the store closes, the Carlsons plan a couple of weeks rest, then Carole will have a knee operation she’s been putting off until after the closure.
“We also are going to travel a bit, and do a few things we haven’t been able to do,” Jerry said.
The couple have two girls. “Deborah is a minister,” Carole said, “and Lisa works as an accountant at Schnitzer in Portland.”
The Carlsons have been married 50 years, as of last September.
“She tripped me,” Jerry says, laughing, about their courtship, “But I wouldn’t give her away for anything.”