Gert Boyle, the 86-year chairman of Columbia Sportswear,
certainly last week lived up to the “One Tough Mother” role she plays
in her company's advertising campaigns, According to The Oregonian, Boyle was
confronted outside her home in West Linn, OR last Wednesday by a man claiming
to be making a delivery. When she got suspicious, he pulled a gun and ordered
her inside the house. Stating she had to turn off the house alarm system, Boyle
tripped a silent panic button to summon the police.
Unaware that the alarm had been triggered, the robber
“tied Boyle's hands, roughing her up a little, and began rifling through
the house.” After police arrived a few minutes later, the robber headed
out the back door. He was later
apprehended and was arraigned on charges of robbery, kidnapping and
burglary. Boyle is apparently in good shape.
“Gert is fine,” said Kerry Tymchuk, a PR specialist
who helped Boyle write her 2005 book. “She's just a bit shaken up, and she
has a fat lip. It really was a long night for her. But it's typical of her that
she outwitted the burglar. She's a pistol.”
Gert also managed to hold onto her well-known wit through
the ordeal. When West Linn Police Chief Terry Timeus visited, “he made the
mistake of wearing a North Face jacket,” another officer Sgt. Neil
Hennelly told the Oregonian. Said Hennelly, “The police chief asked if she
was all right. She said, 'I was OK until that jacket walked in here.'”
