LA GRANDE — On Blake Bars’ first day working at Nature’s Pantry, co-owner Linda Clayville tasked him with cleaning all the shelves and products in the entire store.

Bars, who had just earned his master’s degree in business administration at Eastern Oregon University, was perplexed by the assignment. While he didn’t feel that cleaning was above him, it definitely wasn’t the sort of task he imagined himself doing while getting his MBA.

It took him around three months to complete the job. Throughout that process Bars learned where everything was located. He learned about the different products. He learned from customers who came to him with questions. He learned tons — as Clayville with her wisdom already knew he would.

“I got through the process and actually had a really solid understanding of the store. It kind of reminds me of the Karate Kid,” Bars said, referring to the 1980s movie franchise.

Clayville, who opened Nature’s Pantry with her husband, Dennis, nearly 38 years ago, died June 9 at the age of 77.

Linda and Dennis Clayville met at college in 1969. Dennis Clayville recalled how he bought her strawberry pie and roses for her birthday on May 22. The couple were married that December and would have celebrated their 55th anniversary this year.

Nature’s Pantry

Nature’s Pantry has been a staple of the La Grande community since the Clayville family opened the doors on July 1, 1986. The husband and wife duo launched the health food store in a 750-square-foot portion of the Foley Building.

In 1988, Nature’s Pantry moved into the building on Fourth Street near Washington Avenue, which has been home to the business ever since.

When Al Adelsberger bought the New Town Square Building, he said it came with Nature’s Pantry and the Clayvilles.

“In my line of work, with so many commercial tenants, you don’t get to know everyone. You couldn’t help but know Linda,” Adelsberger said.

Nature’s Pantry celebrated 25 years of business in 2011. The couple had been feeling like they needed more room for their business and that same year an opportunity presented itself. Yellow Book, the telephone directory publisher that did business next to Nature’s Pantry, elected to leave New Town Square.

Through negotiations with the landlord, the Clayvilles were able to bring down the wall separating the two stores and expand Nature’s Pantry by 1,500 feet. The couple celebrated the unveiling of the new space — and being in business for a quarter of a century — with an open house the following year.

The Clayvilles expanded again in 2014 — bringing the store up to a grand total of 7,000 square feet.

Impacting the community

Linda Clayville used the store to teach people the fundamentals of natural health, Bars said. She wasn’t there to sell products, Adelsberger added, but rather to help people. Bars called Clayville “transparent” and “honest.”

“Linda had a way of helping you with your health needs in a way that was gentle and loving and caring,” he said.

Cathy Riley, who has worked at Nature’s Pantry for 27 years, spoke fondly of all the times she listened to Clayville chat with customers. Riley said she always tried to incorporate what she learned from Clayville’s interactions.

“She was always so gracious and nice to people. She was a wealth of knowledge,” Riley said.

Bars said Clayville built what she viewed as a ministry. She wanted the whole person to be healthy in body, mind and soul. Beyond running the store Clayville also facilitated classes at Nature’s Pantry and did speaking engagements.

She was preparing to present to a group of women at Eastern and wanted to share a concise message on holistic health, Bars said.

“She was a woman of faith and she prayed about it and asked God to show her a good message to give to people. She felt like God put on her heart the acronym: WHOLENESS,” he said.

The acronym stands for the fundamentals of natural health, Bars explained, which are: water, healthy habits, outside air, love, exercise and elimination, nutrition, endorphins, sunshine and sleep.

“The mission of Linda’s heart and God’s calling on her life lives on through the team at Nature’s Pantry,” Bars said.

Taking the reins

Bars has been with Nature’s Pantry for 11 years.

He grew up attending the same church — La Grande Adventist Church — as Clayville. Bars said he was in business school when the Clayvilles approached him to inquire if he would be interested in learning the business — and maybe one day buying Nature’s Pantry from them.

He did eventually buy Nature’s Pantry from Linda and Dennis Clayville in 2023.

“Linda taught me the principles of healthy living, showed me how to love and serve people well, and inspired me to follow in her footsteps. My life is founded on what she built, and I’m forever grateful to her for it,” Bars said.

Before the pantry

Linda and Dennis Clayville were helping the people of Union County with their health long before they opened Nature’s Pantry.

The couple moved to La Grande in 1970 to help run the Valley View Manor nursing home. Dennis Clayville’s uncle, Don Dempsey, built the nursing home on west Adams Avenue in 1964.

The couple arrived in La Grande in January, Dennis Clayville said, and his wife, who grew up in Arizona, did not own a single pair of closed-toed shoes or warm clothes. Her first purchase? A pair of boots.

The Clayvilles lived on a cherry orchard in Cove where they raised and homeschooled their four children.

Both husband and wife had business degrees and a passion for health and nutrition. For 16 years, the Clayvilles were nursing home administrators and eventually became the owners.

During this time Linda Clayville realized many people in the nursing home did not have a good quality of life, Bars said. She tried to help them turn around and eventually came to the conclusion that it would be useful to help people before they were in a nursing home.

“She really felt a calling that she should be helping people earlier in life,” Bars said.

However, the residents at the nursing home were depending on the Clayvilles. The owners were mindful of their responsibility as stewards of the residents’ well-being.

So, Bars said, the couple prayed to God.

“They said: ‘We’ll pray and we’ll say, if God will send a buyer to us who is going to take good care of the place and the people, then we’ll take that as a sign that we’re supposed to open the store,’” Bars said.

Very quickly after that the couple did find a buyer and they opened Nature’s Pantry.

“It was a tiny little vitamin shop and slowly over time they added more grocery items and more produce and the rest is history,” Bars said.

There will be a memorial service for Linda Clayville in La Grande in the fall. Details will be announced by Nature’s Pantry.

Linda Clayville was born May 22, 1947, and died June 9, 2024. She is survived by her husband, Dennis Clayville, and their children, Kevin Clayville, Brian Clayville, Lynn Sisto and Jason Clayville; daughters-in-law, Casie Clayville and Jenni Clayville; and grandchildren, Chance Clayville and Paxton Clayville.

“The mission of Linda’s heart and God’s calling on her life lives on through the team at Nature’s Pantry.”

— Blake Bars, referring to former co-owner Linda Clayville