Leader wants to share Pacific County’s stories: ‘Relevance’ is watchword for museum strategy

Published 11:10 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Michelle Claud-Clemente has a passion for history.
And as executive director of the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, she is eager to share that with the community.
Claud-Clemente, 58, is the seventh person to take the helm of the museum in its 42-year history.
She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California at Davis.
She worked for the zoo in Santa Ana, Calif., beginning in 1991, mainly with primates, then served in natural resources roles for the city of Newport Beach. For six years, she worked in animal services roles with the city of Mission Viejo.
Though her jobs have focused on animals, she sees parallels with her challenges at the museum.
“Through my career I have been involved in building communities and stewarding the stories of countries, and I see that is what we do here,” she explained. “The stories are different everywhere you go — that’s what I am passionate about sharing.”
Travel has long been a passion, too. She has traversed around the world twice, in each direction, and savors memories of a trip from Beijing to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Menagerie

When she and her husband, Jason Clemente, started getting closer to retirement, they visited family in Portland. They had enjoyed visiting the coast for a couple of decades. His zeal for surfing was a driving factor. “We looked at different places and we like it here a lot,” she said.
Their home in Nahcotta is filled with animals. She grins almost mischievously as she lists them off. They tend chickens, a feral cat, snakes and turtles.
And their three dogs, if weighed together, would tip the scale to 360 pounds. For the record, a Tibetan mastiff, an Anatolian-Great Pyrenees cross and a German shepherd-Husky mix. “They travel with us — we get a lot of stares,” she said.

Relevance

As Madeline Matson was departing the museum after a five-year stint as executive director, their transition conversation stressed the need for maintaining relevance.
“We look backwards because it helps us navigate our ‘forwards,’ refining our ‘why’ for the future,” Claud-Clemente said. “We have got the components here. I wish more people knew about us. I am going to work hard in that endeavor.”
• The museum is located at 115 SE Lake St. in Ilwaco. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free.