Oregon's First Lady Often Has Her Head In The Clouds

SALEM, Ore. - For Sharon Kitzhaber, it seems, the sky's the limit.

Born into a blue-collar family in Saskatchewan, Canada, the former Sharon LaCroix has gone through several incarnations as a physical therapist, successful businesswoman, pilot, and most recently, Oregon's first lady.

And after keeping a low profile most of the year, Kitzhaber has become active in children's issues and other causes that could make her a more familiar face to Oregonians in the months to come.

That's not to say that she has had any lack of things to do since she and her husband, Gov. John Kitzhaber, took up residence in January at Mahonia Hall, the governor's mansion in south Salem.

Besides working for teen pregnancy prevention and child safety programs, Sharon Kitzhaber also has kept up with her business interests in Hawaii and pursued her love of flying.

She flies a single-engine Cessna out of Salem Airport at least three times a week.

"I'll show you a picture of it. It's like a baby picture," Kitzhaber says, laughing.

Speaking of babies, don't ask if she and the governor are planning a family soon. "It's one of those wait-and-see things," she says.

But Sharon Kitzhaber, 40, is forthcoming and animated as she discusses other aspects of her new public life.

Kitzhaber says she enjoys the demands of juggling her roles as wife, first lady, businesswoman and pilot and doesn't mind the attention that comes with being the spouse of one of Oregon's most famous citizens.

"I'm mostly left alone unless I'm with John. Even then, it's definitely him that they want," she says.

People who know Sharon Kitzhaber are struck by her energy.

Jane Ratzlaff, a family friend, owns a ranch along the North Umpqua River where the Kitzhabers were married on New Year's Day. On a recent visit, Sharon assisted with the birth of some lambs.

"She's very anxious to try things, and she's not afraid to get her hands dirty," Ratzlaff says. "She seems to be able to make time for everything and everybody."

Kitzhaber graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1977 with a degree in physical therapy.

She worked in Geneva, Switzerland, for a year and traveled around Europe before she opened her first physical therapy clinic on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 1985.

She eventually expanded the business to three clinics on Maui, which she sold in 1992. She moved to Eugene in 1993 to be with Kitzhaber, whom she first met in 1989 on a plane flight from Maui to San Francisco.

Sharon Kitzhaber says the sale of her three clinics on Maui, along with some rental property holdings she still has in Hawaii, have left her financially independent.

"It allows me to spend my time doing these projects, as opposed to working," she says.

Kitzhaber is founder and honorary chairwoman of the Oregon Safe Kids Coalition, which works to reduce and prevent childhood injuries, and she is active in a program called STARS, which promotes abstinence as a way to curb teen pregnancy.

Despite her involvement in those causes, Sharon Kitzhaber says she has no interest in promoting any particular political agenda as Oregon's first lady.

"I'm a physical therapist by profession," she says. "I certainly have issues that I feel strongly about, but I've never been a political person."

Besides, she says, "John already does a good job at that."

Looking to the future, Kitzhaber says that besides her work on teen pregnancy and child safety issues, she also hopes to oversee some remodeling work at Mahonia Hall, her new home.

And, of course, she plans to continue flight training for instrument and commercial ratings as a pilot.