PRESERVING THE STORIES OF ISSAQUAH
A Memory Book Project of the
Issaquah Historical Society
Linda Adair Hjelm
Mr. Treat.
In the 5th grade, Louie Orth introduced me to individual rights. He told us that we had the right to our opinions and the right to express them! It was the first time I ever heard my mother threaten to throttle anyone. It wasn’t the last.
Many years later, Lonnie and I, went to our daughter’s “Welcome to 7th Grade Math” evening. There behind the desk stood Louie Orth.
My mother smiled. He was a good math teacher, too!
Yes, in 1949 I was leaving the lunchroom when the earthquake began. My Dad, a Seattle fireman always taught me safety issues, so I knew I was supposed to go “out in back” behind the school building where there were no power lines. I looked at the path I’d have to tae and cringed. A three-story brick building and a wood shop swayed with the quake. Between the two was a 6” diameter pipe that looked to be made of concrete. I could just hear Dad yelling at me if I went under that pipe. Before I had to decide, Dad pulled up to the curb.
Rena’s for pie. Shamrock for boys. Stayed away from Drylies but he never smiled. Always seemed to be grouch.
Grange Mercantile Grocery- frozen food lockers- building immediately south of Creamery. I remember mostly Pick Pickering, the manager. He was very kind to a small, shy girl.
In our era, beauty shops weren’t the “in” thing. I had lots of hair, Mom would give me home permanents but when she was only half way through the solution on that half had been on too long, but the second half hadn’t been rolled into curlers. It made for lots of tension and strange hairdos.
Joan Karvia was my favorite clerk at the Grange Serv-U.
Dan Boni delivered oil, not Grange Supply.
Lou Lawwil was a very kind man and carried lots of good comic books. Wonder Woman was a favorite.
The Depression was before my time but the effects weren’t. It was more important to have money in the Bank than have lots of pretty things. When I was 10, we were school shopping at Grayson’s in Seattle. I found a brown accordion pleated skirt that cost $11. It was the most expensive item of clothing I’d ever gotten. After much discussion between Mom and I, she decided I could have the skirt, but only because she could wear it too!
I had two Uncles in the War. I didn’t really know them well enough to miss them.
My Grandmother and I went on air raid watches which were done on top of the old Fire Hall (where the Library is in 2001). There was a long stairway and railing to the roofline but only a ladder hooked to the roof led to a room at the ridgeline where we watched. I remember vividly looking south down the valley totally baffled that this word “war” I kept hearing could possibly invade the air space above my safe home.
I have one other memory of WWII. I was standing on the sidewalk in Kirkland, my hand in Mom’s. A man was running down the sidewalk yelling, “The War is over! The War is over!” I looked at mom and tears were running down her face. I had never seen this happen. I then noticed the same thing on other adult faces.
It seems as if all summer long we did anything we (kids in the neighborhood) would do anything we could to earn money for Labor Day. We had talent shows for our families but not much talent was available.
One year I had taken baton lessons and was somehow was asked to lead the parade with Jeannie Njos. I was pretty impressed. One booth at the Carnival was a fishing booth (all fake) that had a statue of a baton twirler as a prize. I spent every dime I had earned in that booth over a period of three days and every dime I could talk my family out of. Finally, the last night…the carnival was shutting down and still I hadn’t won that statue. I was broken hearted. As Dad lead me away, I heard the men in the booth call us. He gave me the statue.
See above
Hiking when I was a child wasn’t considered recreation. In many cases it was a necessity. If you wanted to go somewhere, you walked. There were 5 areas that were considered off-limits. They didn’t require Keep Out signs. These were the slag dumps from the old mines. They continued to smoke.
One Saturday morning I went fishing with my Grandad, Archie Adair, at Alexander’s Beach on Lake Sammamish. After a couple of hours I hooked a big one! All the men yelled their best secrets for landing fish. I was so excited I put my right hand on the butt and my left hand about 18” higher and rammed my right hand toward the lake. This had the effect of sailing the fish back over my head into the wall of the cabin. The men weren’t impressed but I had landed my fish….all 24” of him.
We roller-skated there, but it was rather unremarkable.
For years we only swam in the creek. No adult had time to take us anywhere else. If you could swim upstream against the current, you could swim pretty well.
Later Dad bought me a used bike (It was a really good bike). All of us would ride down to Alexander’s. There was no State Park, boat launch, or swimming pool. All went well until we were on the way home on Front Street near the Villa. The change in elevation is considerable and deceptive and the bike awfully heavy. I don’t think I was ever able to ride to the top of that hill and home. I always ended up walking.
The Red Hall Mill, yes, but only that it was there.
It reduced the number of fish in the Issaquah Creek, considerably. I could fish there as a kid. Later there weren’t any fish of legal size to catch.
My Grandmother, Chattie Adair, used to take me to Seattle on the bus on Saturday. We’d have lunch at Ben Paris Restaurant, buy a gardenia from a street vender, then go to the Palomar Theatre. The first time I saw Sally Rand, the fan dancer, I was about 10. No one told me there was anything “wrong” with burlesque. I thought the point of the act was the strategic placement of the fans.
It opened the door to the world.
55 Ford from Jerry Malone Ford
I remember going to Turkey Shoots at the Gun Club. I never heard it called the Sportsmen’s Club until after 1990. It seemed to be more of a gambling affair than shooting turkeys, though my Uncle always came home with one.
Yes. Many years after our family was too large to celebrate holidays in one house, we had Christmas upstairs.
As long as it was Roy Rogers and Dale Evans I didn’t care. Cost was maybe 20¢ You were supposed to move? :)
My cousins and I went to church at the Bethel Mission with our great grandmother, Ellen Bonnar. Then, one Sunday morning, a new feature was added an older man sat in the front row, first space. We kids were told to line up and pass by him. When I got to him, I was told to show him my fingernails to make sure I wasn’t wearing any fingernail polish. If I had nail polish on, that meant I was a sinner. My mother had beautiful hands and nails and wore polish. I knew she wasn’t a sinner. That was the last time I attended that church.