Rebecca Helm Beardsall - Western Washington Reflections: Stories from the Puget Sound to Vancouver

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2013 by Rebecca Helm Beardsall and Colleen Lutz Clemens

All rights reserved

Cover photography courtesy Brandon Sawaya. Front cover: Moclips, WA.

First published 2013

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.61423.957.4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Western Washington reflections : from the Puget Sound to Vancouver / [edited by ] Rebecca Helm Beardsall and Colleen Lutz Clemens.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-852-8

1. Washington (State)--History, Local--Anecdotes. 2. Washington (State)--Biography--Anecdotes. 3. Washington (State)--Social life and customs--Anecdotes. I. Beardsall, Rebecca. II. Clemens, Colleen.

F891.6.W47 2013

979.7--dc23

2013013803

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Jet, Nova and Ev

May their lives bring more stories

Contents

Acknowledgements

We are both thankful for our parentsRobert and Marilyn Helm and Sandra and Barry Lutzfor raising us in the tradition of the Pennsylvania German community, which cultivated our work ethic, for without it we would have given up long ago.

We appreciate the honesty, patience and talent evident in all of the writers who generously shared their memories and stories of Western Washington. Reflecting on the past is never an easy task, and we are grateful that they were willing to take that journey with us.

We would like to thank our editors at The History Press: Aubrie Koenig for her excitement and enthusiasm in this Western Washington project, and Hannah Cassilly for believing in our project of collected stories.

Finally, we would like to thank our partners, Matthew Clemens and Geoffrey Beardsall, for listening to book talk. Without your relentless support, this book would not exist. And a special thank you to Evalaine Lutz Clemens for making our world much more interesting.

Introduction

Over five million people lived in Western Washington as of 2010. They spread out over twenty-five thousand square miles. Some of them live along the Puget Sound, where they can watch the fins of orcas breaking the deep blue waters. Others live tucked in along the foothills of the Cascades. All fall asleep to the sound of raindrops drumming on the roofs during the winter and spring. Everyone looks to the mountains in awe and inspiration.

Western Washington is known for its natural beauty. The Cascades create the backdrop, and the Puget Sound sits center stage in a world regularly washed clean by rain. The pioneer spirit, which brought many to a land of trees larger than houses and wilderness so untame, continues in many of the transplants who now call Washington home. Western Washington is more than just natureit is part of our lives. It is our relationship with the towns, cities and farmland that grounds us and provides the support for our livelihoods. Our lives have been shaped by the values, cultures and traditions established in this Evergreen State. Coming to an understanding of our sense of place is important to how we view ourselves. This collection of creative nonfiction about the land, people, towns and cities of Western Washington was created for us to remember our history and heritage and to honor our present-day lives and accomplishments.

In 2005, we began a journey in Pennsylvania when we took on the challenge to show our home state through the eyes of some of the states best nonfiction essay writers. As two lifetime residents of Pennsylvania, we are proud to have edited two works that reflect the beauty, work ethic and tradition we see in the Keystone State: Philadelphia Reflections: Memories of the Keystone State and Western Pennsylvania Reflections: Stories from the Alleghenies to Lake Erie. In 2011, our lives changed when Rebecca moved to Washington. In an effort to cope with the loss of seeing each other every day, we decided another project would keep us connected. As Rebecca listened to the stories of the people around her in her new community, she realized there was a richness and depth to everyones story and, with Colleens help, decided to once again bring those stories to light in a collection.

We wanted to hear the stories from these thousands of square miles, the stories that come up from out of the ground of the mines and from the mountaintops, from the city streets and the lush evergreen forest, from the backyards and the trails. We invite you to share in stories from the state, linger in the spaces you find comfortable and learn something new about your neighbors who live on a different square mile. Let this book serve as a forest of stories that holds all of usresidents and transplants aliketogether.

The Smith Road Chronicles

LYNDEN

By Sarah Eden Wallace

Whos your mother? Thats how people in Lynden figure out who you are. Not where you work or what college you went to, but whether your mom was a Bonsen or a Shumway or a Van Weerdhuizen. Because then theyll know to ask if your grandparents were the Plagermans who lived off the Badger Road or the ones who lived on Front Street. No, you can explain, thats your dads cousin from Custer who married a Zender, and thatll unleash a gusher of information about where you probably went to grade schoolEbeneezer or Lynden Christianand whether your family raised Holsteins or Guernseys with maybe some Charolais thrown in the mix and whether youre related through the Zylstra side or were in glee club with one anothers cousins and it clarifies a whole lot and moves the conversation a hunk down the road.

When I first began interviewing folks for a book, they usually asked, with a puzzled tilt of the head, So, who are you? I found it didnt help if I relayed that I was a journalist and former editor for what I thought was a pretty big-deal major metropolitan daily. For the first time in my life, that fact carried no weight, inconsequential as the plastic binding snipped off a straw bale. In fact, it only added to the confusion and left them with a polite glazed look on their faces. Instead, I learned to explain, My familys from eastern Washington. My mom grew up in Metaline Falls. No ones ever heard of it; its a small mining town about fifteen miles south of Canada. Then and only then, that unease would drop, assuaged that I slid into a slot in the universe that makes sense, and we could proceed. Oh, shes from eastern Washington, no wonder. I could explain that I was writing a book about the 100th anniversary of our fair. Oh, its for the fair, theyd say, further relieved. We love the fair.

For more than one hundred years, the Northwest Washington Fair, shown here in 1955, has been a way of life in Whatcom County.

Indeed they do. In most parts of Whatcom County, the Northwest Washington Fair is a way of life, not an event. We have five seasons here: spring, summer, winter, fall and fair, says Gary Vis, grandson of Dutch immigrants and executive director of the Lynden Chamber of Commerce. He grew up on a four-acre parcel between Lynden and the Canadian border, one of the greatest places to be a kid, ever. For people who came here from California or New Jersey or Bellevue, not so much, and therein lies a tale.