Photo: Christina Koci Hernandez / Getty Images San Francisco Chronicle
After the passing of esteemed children’s author Beverly Cleary, who died Thursday at age 104, fans, former young readers and other writers turned to social media to remember the impact of Cleary’s funny, engaging and relatable stories, including For all the boys I’ve loved before author Jenny Han, Small fires everywhere author Celeste Ng, and Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot. Viola Davis recalled, “You made my childhood fun,” while Reece Witherspoon tweeted, “I have the best memories of reading the Ramona series.”
Oregonians, in particular, paid tribute to Cleary, as the author was born in McMinnville and grew up in Yamhill and Portland, a childhood she described in her 1988 memories. A girl from Yamhill. Cleary was remembered by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, State Governor Kate Brown and Congressmen Kurt Schrader and Earl Blumenauer, the last of whom paid a visit to Portland’s Beverly Cleary sculpture garden to see the statues of Cleary’s beloved characters, Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins.