Flowers for Cason

“We’re incredibly thankful to the Skills Center and to Robert Wells-Clark for getting all of the pieces cut and ready so quickly,” said Jan Peterson-Terjeson. “Because of that, we were able to get these kits into the hands of students all across Eastern Oregon.”

Jan Peterson-Terjeson and her husband Matthew Terjeson show off the prototype of a sunflower made by Columbia Gorge Community College students at the Regional Skills Center in The Dalles. The couple have collaborated with students and Instructor Robert Wells Clark at the Skills Center as well as numerous high schools throughout Eastern Oregon on a fundraiser to help families navigate the grief of losing a family member.

By Tom Peterson

The Dalles, Ore., April 28, 2026 — After losing their 16-year-old son in a farming accident in 2007, Jan Peterson Terjeson and Matthew Terjeson set out to rebuild their lives by helping other families navigate grief.

That mission brought them to the Columbia Gorge Community College Skills Center in The Dalles on April 16 — not just to pick up steel, but to pick up pieces of something larger: sunflower kits that would soon become symbols of healing.

Cason’s Place at 1416 Court Ave. in Pendleton

Over the course of two days, the couple drove more than 400 miles across Eastern Oregon, delivering those kits to high school welding programs where students are now assembling them into 85 metal sunflowers. The finished pieces will form a memorial garden and fundraiser at Cason’s Place in Pendleton, a grief support center founded in their son’s memory.

The project is expected to touch hundreds of families — the same kind of families the Terjesens once were, searching for support after loss.

The Terjesen Family found help at the Dougy Center in Portland after they lost their 16-year-old son. The Center provides support in a safe environment where children, teens, young adults, and their families who are grieving can share their experiences before and after a death.

After their son’s death in 2007, the family turned to the Dougy Center in Portland, where they spent more than five years working through their loss with their middle school daughter, Lydia.

“The peer grief support saved our family,” said Jan.

After their son’s death, the Terjesons — including daughter Lydia — found healing through peer grief support at the Dougy Center. Inspired by that experience, they helped launch Cason’s Place in 2016, creating a similar space in Eastern Oregon for families navigating loss together.

Today, Cason’s Place in Pendleton, a nonprofit serving families across Eastern Oregon with peer-based grief support for children and their caregivers.

The sunflower project aims to continue the crucial work of healing for Eastern Oregon families.

At the Regional Skills Center in The Dalles, students used industrial CNC laser equipment to cut sheets of cold-rolled steel into thousands of individual parts — including roughly 7,000 petals — that make up the sunflower kits.

Columbia Gorge Community College student Lindsey Hegemann, Instructor Robert Wells Clark, Metalica Scholar Miller Nobrega and Jan Peterson-Terjeson and Matthew Terjeson pause for a photo at the Regional Skills Center in The Dalles on April 16.

“The precision work is done here, and the high school students get to do the assembly,” said Skills Center Instructor Robert Wells-Clark. “That’s where they build confidence.”

Each kit was designed by CGCC students and refined through test cuts before being produced in batches and sorted for distribution.

“We couldn’t have done this without the Skills Center and Robert,” Jan Terjesen said. “They took this idea and helped turn it into something real so students across Eastern Oregon can be part of it.”

CGCC Part of the Bigger Picture

Instructor Robert Wells Clark and Metalica Scholar Miller Nobrega chat with Jan Peterson-Terjeson.

High schools participating in the effort include Condon, Heppner, Ione, Riverside, Hermiston, Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Helix, Weston-McEwen and Milton-Freewater, along with Blue Mountain Community College.

In each location, students are welding the pieces together — assembling petals, stems and structural supports using MIG welders — turning pre-cut steel into finished sculptures.

Once completed, the 85 sunflowers will be installed along the Cason’s Place property in Pendleton, forming a garden that serves as both a memorial and a space for reflection.

A place to cry and pull a new breath of hope.

Each flower will include copper leaves engraved with donor messages. Those leaves will be sold for $100 each, with the project expected to raise about $16,000 to support the nonprofit’s services.

“There’s always going to be families who need this,” Jan said. “For every one person who dies, there’s a whole group of people grieving.”

Welding is expected to be completed by May 22, with installation planned through the summer. Community volunteers will help set the sculptures in place and attach donor leaves later in the year.

For the Terjesons, the project is both deeply personal and outward-facing — a way to turn loss into something lasting.

“This is something youth are creating for other youth,” Jan said.