Westlake Girl

Westlake Girl: My Oregon Frontier Childhood is the true story of a spirited girl coming of age in an isolated village on the Oregon coast from 1928 to 1936. It portrays the artless feminist strivings of a capable girl who dreamed of a career in the Coast Guard on the merit of her skills as a boat pilot and champion swimmer. Frieda’s triumphs (taming a harbor seal as a pet, winning swim races against older boys) and disappointments (exclusion from the Coast Guard “for no better reason than that I was a girl”) will resonate with modern women who still meet obstacles – some natural and some arbitrary – to having it all.



Frieda Wampler is a spirited 95-year-old woman who lives independently (with assistance from nearby family) on a small farm in the rural community of Pleasant
Hill, Oregon, near Eugene. She cherishes memories of Thornton, with whom she shared seventy-three years of marriage, until his death in 2010. They raised two children, Bonnie and Larry. Frieda is also beloved by her three grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and a two-year-old great-great-grandson.