Oprah's weight should take back seat to pair of Valley philanthropists

At 192 pounds, I weigh less than Oprah.

Earlier this week, the ever-popular talk show host from Chicago confessed she has been expanding at a rate equal to our national debt.

Well, it's not that bad, but in the world of Oprah, it might as well be. Her bathroom scale reads
200 pounds, a gain of some 40 pounds over the past two years. At that rate, she would reach an eighth of a ton by the spring of 2011.

Oprah's therapy will be pure confessional. On the January cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, she has already vowed to reveal her gut for all to see. It's reminiscent of Demi Moore flashing her pregnant belly years ago on the cover of Vanity Fair. That sent the publishing world into a tizzy. I can only imagine what Oprah's bulge will do.

What annoys me about all of this hoopla is what it will do to Oprah's television show. The diva of daytime television will be, as they say in the media biz, "off message." I don't want her to talk incessantly about her weight, nor do I want to hear her trainer Bob Greene blather on about the virtues of abdominal crunches and the evils of Lay's Potato Chips.

How about us, Oprah? Ditch the "Clean Up Your Messy House" tour and your upcoming segment called "Ask Dr. Oz: Am I normal?"

The Yakima Valley deserves some face time on your nationally televised show. We've earned it -- about $34 million worth.

That's the grand sum two wonderful women left behind after their deaths. They have put heart and soul back into what has always been a fumbled word when spoken -- "philanthropy."

Even their names are warm and friendly -- Helen and Mollie. Both died at age 94, within a month of each other. One left her name etched into buildings; the other kept her fortune a deeply-held secret, even from those closest to her.

These women offer intriguing story lines, far more compelling than this oddity that will soon air on Oprah's show: "Is your mom totally self-centered?"

Helen Jewett was a diminutive woman who packed a punch with her checkbook. She died in late October, leaving behind $14 million that she doled out to early childhood programs, the arts, recreation, and those with special needs.

Some estimate that over the past decade alone, Helen may have donated nearly $2 million a year to charities, churches, high school bands, you name it. If young boys and girls were involved, Helen was there. You never doubted her generosity; you never questioned her sincerity.

She was a class act.

Her husband, Don Jewett -- now he was something else. Don made his fortune through the Farmers Insurance Group, which his father had founded. Don had none of the gentle qualities Helen possessed. He was a bit gruff. When we shook hands for the first time, the only response I remember was a "humph."

I worked briefly with Don, helping to oversee a charitable trust fund. After one of our board meetings where Don said nothing, I asked a very successful businessman about him. "Does he know anything about money?" I asked. "Everything" came the reply.

Only years later did
I know what that meant.

Mary Monroe Davis -- known as Mollie to her friends and family -- offers a far different tale. Poor health in her later years left her a virtual recluse inside her Yakima home. Neighbors told me they rarely saw her and knew nothing of her vast wealth.

It's a pity her later years were so cloistered. Mollie sounded like a wonderfully vital woman who, as her daughter told us, would head out to a stream near the family's ranch in Thorp and fish for trout, topless and fancy free. Her idea of a night on the town often ended, not with gold-wrapped Godiva truffles, but with a scoop of ice cream served in a waxed cup at Dairy Queen.

With money she had inherited and multiplied with wise investments, Mollie wanted to leave her wealth to future leaders of the Yakima Valley -- to young men and women entering college or wanting to learn a trade. So she entrusted $17.5 million to the Yakima Valley Community Foundation to create the largest scholarship fund in the area and another $3.85 million for financial aid to vocational students at Yakima's Perry Technical Institute.

Come on, Oprah. Aren't these stories worthy of your television show?

A year ago, former President Bill Clinton appeared on her show to talk about his book "Giving." Isn't what Helen and Mollie did the very essence of giving, where one person changes the fortunes of generations yet to come?

So let's send a message to Oprah. Beginning today, let's all go to her Web site at www.oprah.com and tell her what we think about Helen and Mollie.

And let it come from the heart. That's exactly what they did for us.

* Coordinating Editor Spencer Hatton can be reached at 577-7670 or shatton@yakimaherald.com.

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