Gert Boyle, Wednesday's keynote speaker at the National Adult Protective Services Association's 25th annual conference in Portland, has a message for anyone who might try to victimize her:
"Don't mess with little old ladies. The last guy that messed with me got 16 years in prison. So just watch it."
Boyle, 90, the chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear and the longtime face of its "One Tough Mother" ad campaign, is referring to the 2010 incident in which a man with a gun confronted her at her West Linn home, where she lived alone, and roughed her up. Authorities later determined that the confrontation was part of a larger plot to kidnap Boyle; three men from the Beaverton area were eventually sentenced to prison in connection with the plot.
Boyle put her home up for sale six months later, saying in court documents that she no longer felt safe there. She now lives in a Portland retirement community and has a driver. When she's walking, she no longer lets her mind wander but stays "very cognizant" of who's around her, she said in an interview Tuesday.
But she continues to arrive for work every day at Columbia Sportswear's Washington County headquarters. And she's willing to retell, with nary a flinch, the story of what she called "a very trying night" when her hands were tied up, a necktie was wrapped around her neck, and she was ordered, though she didn't comply, to hand over her money and to disrobe.
She called that last demand the scariest part of the attack. Also frightening to recall: "He had put his tie around my neck and I never noticed." Only when the police told her, "You can take your tie off," did she realize it was there, she said.
But, she added, "it's something that happened four years ago and I'll be darned if I'm going to let it rule the rest of my life."
That resilience is why Boyle will be the featured speaker at "Stronger Together: Celebrating 25 Years Protecting America's Vulnerable Adults," said Mary Jaeger, the state's long-term care ombudsman and a longtime friend of one of Boyle's daughters who asked Boyle to speak. Boyle's story, said Jaeger, is that of a "comeback kid."
"Her story would be of inspiration for people who deal with a select group of older people that you don't meet under the best of circumstances," Jaeger said.
More than 600 people from throughout the world have registered for the conference, which is being held in Oregon for the first time and is co-sponsored by Oregon's Office of Adult Abuse Prevention and Investigations. The sold-out conference's Wednesday and Thursday sessions will address financial abuse, protecting people with disabilities, elder rights legislation, partnerships between protective services and law enforcement, and other topics.
"What an amazing opportunity to hear from a 'customer' – from a real 90-year-old who not only has an amazing (life) story to tell but has suffered through hopefully what no one else will have to," said Jaeger, who will be moderating a conference panel discussion titled "Experiencing APS (Adult Protective Services) from the Consumer Perspective: Real Life Stories." Click here to continue reading.
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