Nancy O'Mara has one question to thank for changing her life and, in doing so, the lives of countless others.

O'Mara, 60, who is retiring at the end of June after nine years as the executive director of the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV), said she found herself helping battered women after she answered "yes" to a newspaper ad in Washington that asked: "Are you concerned about violence against women and children?"

"I thought that I would do it for a little while until I found out what I was really going to do," O'Mara said, laughing at the memory.

She answered that ad in 1981, the same year that CARDV was founded.

O'Mara didn't know at the time that she was among the pioneers of an organization to educate communities about domestic violence and to aid the victims.

"In 1981, we were considered like ... the feminist, radical fringe," she said, then burst out laughing. "Me?"

But while it might not have been radical, the work O'Mara and others were doing at the time was groundbreaking.

"We were the messengers in many ways in 1981, saying ‘Please pay attention to this.' People didn't want to hear it."

People listen now. The concept of "coordinated community response," which includes law enforcement, schools, citizens and advocates to prevent and respond to domestic violence, is now common. CARDV has regular meetings with police, medical staff and representatives of the district attorney's office.

"That's just extraordinary," O'Mara said. "It has made a profound difference on those folks who need these services."

O'Mara joined CARDV in 2001 after working at a center for victims of sexual assault in rural Bethel, Alaska.

Her time with CARDV has seen the establishment of Sexual Assault Response Teams in both Linn and Benton counties, the purchase of a confidential shelter site, expansion of a program to educate children about abuse and the founding of a program for teens about dating violence. CARDV also has begun making on-scene responses to domestic violence situations.

"I think we all were very sad when she announced (her retirement)," board member Mary Alice Seville said. "She's done a fantastic job for CARDV and gotten CARDV to a place where I think it's a job people would really want."

To O'Mara, stepping down at this time feels like a natural transition. She's excited for a next executive director to bring new energy and creativity to the position.

"We're also very happy for Nancy, because we love her and want her to have some R and R," said board chair Mary Bentley. "And we're also very confident for the future."

O'Mara, who plans to travel with her husband once she retires, said there's "no way" she could leave if she didn't share that confidence. Looking back at her career, O'Mara said that despite all she's witnessed, what has impressed her the most was not the horror, but the hope.

"I worried about the impact of seeing the full measure of cruelty people are capable of," she said. "What I didn't anticipate was ... how moving it is, and humbling and inspiring, to see how resilient people are. How they can still be kind and generous. "I don't have words to describe how life-affirming that is."