With a harpist playing in her room, Yamhill County (Oregon) native and retired Linfield College professor Charlotte Colleen Filer, 83, died March 24, 2015, at Vineyard Heights assisted living facility in McMinnville, Ore. She had recently been diagnosed with liver cancer and was under hospice care.
A memorial service was held beginning 11 a.m. Friday, April 17, 2015, at Pioneer Evangelical Church. A private burial was held March 27, 2015, at Odd Fellows Cemetery. Both the church and cemetery are in Dayton, Ore. Macy and Son Funeral Home in McMinnville was in charge of arrangements.
Prof. Filer was born in McMinnville to Lena Marie Dower Filer and Emmett Sylvanus Filer on March 7, 1932. She grew up at the family residence in Dayton, and graduated from Dayton High School.
She was a member of the Class of 1954 at Linfield College, graduating cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree. 
After working as a reporter for the McMinnville News-Register, she joined the administrative staff as director of the Linfield News Bureau. She took a year’s leave of absence from Linfield and earned a master of arts degree in 1960 from the University of Iowa. She returned to Linfield as journalism professor and director of the college’s news bureau until 1974. For most of her years teaching at Linfield, she was the sole journalism professor. At Linfield, in addition to directing the news bureau, Prof. Filer was the faculty advisor of the Linfield Review student newspaper and Oak Leaves student yearbook. She served as advisor to Pi Delta Epsilon, journalism honorary at Linfield and edited the Linfield Bulletin, the college’s alumni publication.
She was especially proud of the fact that her former Linfield students established the Charlotte Filer Journalism Scholarship at the college. Created in 1986, it is an endowed scholarship for Linfield students majoring in communication/print media. Scholarships are awarded with preference for graduates of Dayton High School or other high schools in Yamhill County. Over the years, more than 35 Linfield students have been "Filer Scholars." 
Prof. Filer was named public information director at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., in 1974 and retired from that position in 1989. While at Pacific, she was editor of Pacific Today, the university’s alumni magazine. She wrote Pacific Profiles 1849 – 1885, a collection of vignettes describing notable people and events in the university's history. She established the Charlotte Filer Scholarship at Pacific.
Her parents, brother Martin Emmett Filer and sister Audrey Lippens preceded her in death. She is survived by her niece, Karla Dupree of Rancho Cordova, Calif., many former students, friends, and special friends Edith "Duffy" Reynolds of McMinnville and Tom Barreto of Portland.
Memorials are suggested to either the Charlotte Filer Journalism Scholarship at Linfield College or the Charlotte Filer Scholarship at Pacific University.
Photos:
- In garden. (Tom Barreto)
- As a Linfield student with typewriter, journalism prof and with students in 1964 as News Bureau director. (Oak Leaves)
- With Marcia Loney at Linfield Journalism Reunion in Beaverton, Ore., Aug. 1986. (Marcia Loney) and Linfield Journalism Reunion story (Linfield Alumni Bulletin)
- Her glasses and quilt. (Mac News, March 2015.)
- Charlotte Filer gravestone. Rose art work and inscription: 'In Loving Memory Charlotte Filer 1932-2015 A journalist, an educator and a friend.' Photo taken 6/26/2015.
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