NORTH BEND — Several hundred workers and families packed the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 12 Hall in North Bend on March 17 to honor longshore worker and songwriter Harry Stamper, Jr., who died of a heart attack March 9 at his home in Charleston, Oregon. He was 67.
Welcoming the crowd, Stamper’s daughter Anna announced, “This is a sad day, but a celebration.”
And so it was.
Bill Bradbury, retired Oregon secretary of state, described Stamper as “…an awfully fun person, but he was damned serious about changing the political structure so it serves us and not the corporations.”
Past and present faculty of the Labor Education Center at the University of Oregon (LERC) wrote they were proud of Harry as “Our guy from Oregon, the best labor folksinger/songwriter around.”
The Low Tide Drifters band led a set of Stamper’s songs, including his famous anthem of the occupational health and safety movement: “We Just Come to Work Here; We Don’t Come to Die.” The song has been recognized as a part of American labor and folk music history by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution.
Other musician friends of Stamper played on through the afternoon.
Harry Stanford Stamper, Jr. was born Sept. 20, 1944, in Roanoke, Va.
He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s, and worked as a longshoreman for more than 37 years. He was a longtime member of ILWU Local 12.
He married Holly Hall in 1985. They had two daughters, Anna Brown and Nell Ero.
Stamper is survived by his wife and daughters; three grandchildren; his mother, Viola; two brothers, and three sisters.
In lieu of flowers, Stamper’s family suggests contributions to the ILWU Auxiliary,12064 Sherman Ave., North Bend, OR 97459; or Waterfall Clinic, 1890 Waite St., North Bend, OR 97459.
(Editor’s Note: Special correspondent Stefan Ostrach of Eugene contributed to this report.)
