Oregon Republican Gov. Tom McCall said: “Heroes aren’t giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say, ‘This is my community and it’s my responsibility to make it better.’”

Bill Thorndike Jr. spends much of his day, and has spent most of his life, making the Rogue Valley community a better place.

Thorndike’s bio lists more than 60 awards, plus board of director memberships, many as chairman. I told him early in our conversation that they would have to be described as “too numerous to list.”

Two awards were bestowed in 2006 — the SOLV/Tom McCall Leadership Award and the Glenn Jackson Leadership Award from Willamette University. “Having these two awards from individuals who made a tremendous difference in our state is something I’m very proud of,” he said.

The range of his civic involvement spans from the Butte Falls Community Forest Project to serving on the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank Board. On the Federal Reserve Board, Thorndike learned that “we built this shadow financial system that was imploding. It was a fascinating experience that had a huge impact on me.”

Asked what it means to be a good citizen, Thorndike responds “show up and participate … listen and learn.”

He referred to “the humanity of humility” when asked about life lessons, and then retrieved a plaque from the wall. Thorndike’s “wall of fame” turns the corner to a side wall, and awards fill an adjacent coffee table. Photos include former Fed Chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen (currently U.S. Treasury Secretary).

The plaque is a September 1995 profile from the Oregon Business Magazine entitled “Duty Calling.” It shows Thorndike shoveling manure. “I still have the same shirt. I’m still shoveling s**t after all those years.”

His typical workday stretches 12 hours and begins at 5:20 a.m. with 10 minutes in the hot tub, then he feeds his three dogs. He then takes a short drive to feed four horses. He sleeps in until 6:30 a.m. on weekends, when “I get to clean (out) stalls.” His wife, Angela, is an Olympic equestrian dressage judge.

His family custom steel fabrication business, Medford Fabrication, has been in operation for 80 plus years. “When I started working here at the company, I was out cleaning the toilets.”

“We build the stuff that nobody else will build. We support industries that come and go. The key to our success is adaptability and flexibility. If we bet everything … on one product … or one customer, we wouldn’t succeed.”

Thorndike works with his two brothers, Dan, corporate legal counsel; and David, vice president of marketing. Bill is a third-generation Rogue Valley resident. Grandfather Gene was the manager of First National Bank in Medford for 30 years.

Gene had minor business interests in orchards, wood, steel and construction. When he came home from WWII, Bill Thorndike Sr. was sent out to check on the books of these various businesses.

A June 1939 article in the Mail Tribune reported on young Bill Sr.’s firecracker business on Crater Lake Avenue, which caught fire. Gene was quoted as saying “Billie’s” first business was “exploding.”

Thorndike graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 1976 with a B.S. in business administration. One of the first boards he served on was JPR’s Listener’s Guild. His communications professor at Lewis & Clark was Ron Kramer, who ran JPR for some 37 years.

Thorndike counts being a trustee at Southern Oregon University among “the most challenging” of his assignments. SOU has a co-governance structure that includes a faculty member, student and staff member among its 15-person board.

“My goal … would be to have a consortium of four higher education institutions (SOU, RCC, OIT, KCC) working with K-12 so that (every) student … has a pathway to success,” he says.

The diversity of the SOU stakeholders creates challenges and requires “everyone to take ownership” of decisions. A recent restructuring that eliminated 85 positions at the university is called “SOU Forward.” “To get everyone … comfortable — not happy — (with those changes) … was huge.”

Thorndike notes that “safety net clinics” like La Clinica were the first local organizations that required patients to serve on their boards under the co-governance model, resulting in greater diversity of representation.

“That’s one of the reasons I would love to see us with five county commissioners instead three,” he said.

Thorndike has been friends with, and financially supported, both former Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican, as well as U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat. “I’ve basically been a non-affiliated voter for my entire life,” he said.

“I used to say I was a bridge-builder. Now I’ve shifted. I’m a navigator and a story teller. That’s where I think I can make a difference.”

And most good stories have a hero.