Rivenes Park

Paul Rivenes was senselessly brutally stabbed to death in a robbery at Rivenes Hubbard Market that he and his brother owned, currently known today as the American Market located on the corner of Pacific Highway 99E and G Street.   Paul Rivenes was a gentle man who hated violence when he was robbed two years prior, he had told police then that he would just as soon give robbers the money, because the money, he said, wasn’t worth as much as his life.  A week later, the entire town was in mourning, not only for the loss of a beloved father and friend, but for the loss that shattered the community sense of security.

The Police Chief at that time, Dave Dryden, credited alert citizens for spotting two of the accused as they fled the grocery store, discarding the murder weapon and a blood-stained shirt as they ran allowing police to be waiting when the assailants finally emerged from their hiding place outside an apartment complex north of town.  The third suspect was apprehended at his Woodburn home the next day. 

On the two-month anniversary of Paul Rivenes’ death, August 25, 1996, a ceremony was held in the park where Mayor Janet LeBlanc officially renamed the “City Park” to “Rivenes Park” in memory of Paul Rivenes.  Barbara Rivenes shared with the crowd that she had collected about $8,450 to help improve the play equipment in the park.  A stone monument in memory of Paul Rivenes was installed where family and friends shared stories of their lost family member and friend.

In the homicide of Paul Rivenes three indictments were handed down by Marion County Grand Jury July 5, 1996.  For stabbing Paul Rivenes, the 18-year-old perpetrator of Stockton, California, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  The 27-year-old who distracted Paul Rivenes was sentenced to twenty-nine and half years for robbery in the first degree, and felony murder.  The 29-year-old of Woodburn, drove the getaway car in the robbery and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

When Paul Rivenes “Paul” was born on August 26, 1932, in Hayfield, Dodge, Minnesota, his father, Oscar Martines Rivenes, was 45 and his mother, Emma Julia Pederson, was 41.  He married Barbara Ann Snyder September 7, 1957, in Woodburn, Oregon. He lived in East Woodburn Election Precinct, Marion, Oregon, in 1940. He died June 25, 1996, in Hubbard, Marion, Oregon, United States, at the age of 63, and was buried in Belle Passi, Marion County, Oregon.  He left behind a wife and two daughters (Julie Rivenes-Hedden & Lori Rivenes-Davis)

In August 1996 there was an interest in the community to upgrade Rivenes Park.  The Hubbard Commercial Club wished to underwrite the costs involved in donating a “splash bowl’” type fountain to be located at Rivenes Park in memory of Paul Rivenes.

Larry Krieghauser, former resident, and Parks Improvement Committee President vision of the “splash bowl,” was a simple splash fountain which he had spent a year visiting other cities to designed one for Rivenes Park.  His vision generated a 50-foot diameter fountain like the one located in the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon. To make the vision a reality, the Parks Improvement Committee became a non-profit organization.  Vice-President of the Parks Improvement Committee, and later City Councilor Hildred Huyssoon, spearheaded a grass-roots fundraising effort that was already underway to purchase new playground equipment, but since the park was renamed to honor Paul Rivenes, local merchants pitched in to build the Memorial Springs splash fountain in the park which added momentum to the parks fundraising effort.

The Hubbard Parks improvement Committee sold memorial paving tiles for $50 a tile which included a personal message and would later be placed in a circle around the Memorial Springs splash fountain.  With the installation of the new playground in 1997, continued efforts of the sale of bricks, snow cones, cookbooks, donations, and volunteers assisted with the improvements to Rivenes Park which currently include playground structures, a basketball court, horseshoe pits, barbeque grills, picnic tables and benches, a covered picnic area, and a flagpole.   Hildred Huyssoon had estimated overall the community donated more than $95,000 in cash, and more than $200,000 in materials and labor.

Before the installation of the Memorial Springs splash fountain and play equipment, Hubbard’s Park was not a place where you’d want your children to play.  With the efforts of the Parks Improvement Committee and the entire community, the creation of Rivenes Park is a place where families are welcome and crime, which once inhabited the park, has moved on.

The water at the Memorial Springs fountain goes into a 3,000-gallon underground tank and is recycled back into the fountain.  There is a filter to catch large debris and a large pool filter to clean the water.  The water is treated during the filtration process.  There are three pumps, moving approximately 1350 gallons of water per minute.

In 2016 a Local Government Grant was awarded to reconstruct the restroom in the park and was completed at the end of 2017.  The project cost totaled $278,867 (Grant $121,286; City Match $157,578)

Rivenes Park is the most heavily used of the city’s parks and is also the home of the City’s annual HOP Festival on the third Saturday of July, which brings the community together for a day of fun and friendship.  It is also used for large family events, picnics and due to the Mineral Springs splash fountain, an excellent play area that is very attractive to children and families, especially on a hot summer day.   Beginning Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend, the Memorial Springs splash fountain comes on at 10:30 a.m. and automatically shuts off at 9:00 p.m.   The covered picnic area is available for everyone to use on a first-come first-serve basis.

Video of the names of those who purchased Memorial Bricks that surround the splash fountain.