Rhs Newsletter 09 2003

History is Happening in Redmond!

The Redmond Recorder September 2003 Vol. 5, No. 7 Redmond Historical Society Our mission: To discover, recover, preserve, share and celebrate Redmond’s history 16600 NE 80th St, Room 106, Redmond, WA, 98052 425-885-2919 www.redmondhistory.org [email protected] Office hours: Mondays-Thursdays, 1-4pm

Derby Days Duet Sept. 13 speaker: Eric Erickson ‘Big Trees to Lumber’ Join us for our next general membership meeting, where author and historian Eric Erickson will present old photos covering the Northwest logging and sawmill industry. Eric is a life-long resident of King County and a life member of the Issaquah Historical Society.

Sept. 13 meeting 2-3:30 pm Cotterill Auditorium Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center

June 14 speaker: Tom Hitzroth Historian and past Marymoor Museum board president Tom Hitzroth showed how he used historic photos and architectural plans to locate the spot where John Tosh homesteaded on what is today Marymoor Park. Tom’s not done, though, as he’s working on offering guided tours through Old Redmond. Stay tuned for a chance to join him!

The Redmond Recorder

Charlie Lentz recalls the rivalry with Rae Adams, left, that led to the Derby Days bicycle races. Mayor Ives, far right, takes in the history lesson with others gathered at the City’s 90th birthday celebration on the City campus. Other long-timers present were Ruth Adams, Coeta Chambers, Opie Hartman, Pat Jovag, Judy Lang, Mary Ellen Lentz, Daryl Martin, Ward Martin, Marion Neal and Rose Weiss.

New Lifetime Members: Brad Best Vivian Robinson Margaret Wiese Society co-founder Margaret Wiese, center, received a Lifetime Membership certificate at the June meeting. With her are the Society’s two other co-founders, Naomi Hardy and Miguel Llanos.

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History is Happening in Redmond!

Society Business

Frank Mann – An Avondale Pioneer 1915-2003

Volunteers needed: Lawyer Very occasional review of documents/contracts. Contact Miguel at 425 8699806.

Saturday Market Our last booth for the season is Oct. 4. We need folks to staff 2 hour shifts. Call Roy Buckley at 885-1198.

Web site news: www.redmondhistory.org additions include: • Dozens of Derby Days photos taken by Webmaster Ilya Smirnov. • Photos and information on these and other locals/topics: Betty Buckley, Ray’s Meats, Troop 423 and Redmond Stage Line. Click on ‘New’ off the home page to get to it all. Would you like a guided tour of our Web site? Call the office to set up an appointment with Miguel.

Walking tours: Later this year, you’ll be able to join historian Tom Hitzroth as he walks through Old Redmond to share its stories. We’ll have sign ups at our meetings and via phone at our office.

The Redmond Recorder

Frank Mann, a charter member of our Society, passed away on August 8, 2003. Frank was a husband and father, a World War II veteran, and a man with many interests including writing, poetry, photography, and dancing. The Society sends condolences to his widow, Marge Mann, who shared 64 years of matrimony, as well as his sons Dale and Jack, and the Mann’s five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Frank lived in Avondale as a boy, and left a fascinating and often hilarious biography as a legacy. A copy of “Life on Bear Creek: A True Story” can be borrowed from the Society office. Here’s a sampling: … Our home consisted of an old deserted logging camp and 140 acres of brush. There was an old orchard, plenty of garden space and an old barn. We rented this for $5.00 a month. Many things happened in the next nine years while we lived there. On ‘water dogs’: “The stream was my playground. It ran from ½ mile upstream to ½ mile downstream from where we lived. There was also a very small creek which came in from the east. In the fall when the salmon ran, some would even go up that small creek. One day I found two animals that looked like lizards in a small pool. They hid under a log from me, so I got a shovel and dammed up the creek. I dug a ditch around the pool and back to the stream. I got a bucket and drained out the pool. It took me two days, but I finally got the two “water dogs.” This I was told later. They had big bulging eyes and their skin looked like jelly. They had no teeth that I could see. One was about 14 inches and the other about 10 inches. I put them in the pool and then removed the dam. I learned a little about hydraulics and that there are many weird creatures in the world. They probably thought that about me, too…” Up close with a bobcat: “I was somewhere between five and six years old. My brothers had a trap line where they caught furs to sell. One day there were a bobcat’s footprints by the railroad line or grade, so they set a trap... .When we got to the trap site, it was gone. We could see by the marks in the dirt that the trap had been dragged over a large log that was mostly buried in the dirt. Of course, I had to be the first to see so I ran and jumped on the log. When I landed, the cat attacked. Due to some fluke, the cat had gotten his back foot in the trap. We ran into each other face to face. He appeared to be 2 or 3 inches from my nose. Somehow, I stopped, as if I had hit an invisible wall. A shock like an electric shock went through me and I fell back off the log, scrambled to my feet and started to run. My older brother started to run to get a gun, while the other one stayed to watch the cat. Total terror overtook me. Why, I do not know. The difference between fright and terror is like night and day. My nervous system was totally taken apart. ... I ran and kept up with my brother on the railroad track and was stepping three ties at a time. When we got to the pasture gate, he jumped over and I threw myself on the ground and rolled under the wire. Continued on Page 3

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History is Happening in Redmond!

Redmondiscing A Redmond High School cheerleader for four years, Kay Brulé holds the record for being Derby Days queen the longest. As a high school senior in 1942, she was crowned Redmond’s second Derby Days queen, and her term lasted more than four years because the pageant was suspended during World War II.

From Eastside Journal 2/12/25:

From Eastside Journal 5/7/25:

Frank Mann’s ‘Life on Bear Creek’

Continued from page 2

Ray got ahead of me there and went across the footbridge over the stream. As I started across, all I could see through the tears were cats. It was fall and the stream was at its peak – approximately 3 to 3 ½ feet deep and very swift. I went down feet first and lit on the bottom on my face. ... I was able to get my feet on some big rocks and walked crab-like on my hands and feet across the stream to shallow water ... I got up and ran to Mom. She grabbed me and wrapped me in a warm blanket and I just shook and kept saying, “He bit. He bit.” After this, I stayed in bed for 5 or 6 days…” On moonshine science: “We had a moonshine still out in the woods. It was operated by a friend. I would go to the still with him and he taught me the chemistry and why things worked as they did. He started with making the mash. He had four large barrels into which he would put ½ sack of sugar. He then added about 25 pounds of corn, put in a block of yeast and filled the barrel with water which he had warmed. His secret to making good whiskey was that he used swamp water. It has less oxygen in it. Also, the flavor of the tree leaves that had decayed was there. … Every day he would stir the mash and test it with a gravity meter – the same as an anti-freeze tester. Alcohol floats at a different level than water. He would clean the 300 gallon copper pot. He explained that copper corrosion was poison. He also explained that alcohol boils a few degrees before water does, so to control the temperature was very important. … The proof of whiskey is the percentage of alcohol. Pure alcohol is 200 proof. In order to make 100 proof, he had to run it through the still at least twice. The first is called singlings and is about 25 proof. When you hear some authority talking about real good first run liquor, he doesn’t know what he is talking about.” On school: “I went to a two room school the first two years. After that, they took the partition out and we had eight grades in one room and one teacher. … My first two years, I was happy as a clam. I had someone to play with. Also, they had some books with actual colored pictures. My fascination with bright colors and clean sheets of white paper is still with me. They had the overall boys with blue overalls for the boys. The girls had the blue bonnet girls. I took to reading like a duck to water. … The next year, they put us all in one room and handed us such things as math, geography, music and spelling. That year was a disaster. I don’t think the teacher knew I was there. I don’t recall her ever saying anything to me. I remember – but I don’t know when – that I was supposed to move my whole arm when doing penmanship. My arms were exceptionally heavy and I was the most clumsy kid in the state. Every time I would go anywhere, I would fall down … The next catastrophe was spelling. I couldn’t see any reason to it. Math was easy. I could remember numbers, but not letters … I could drill on a list of spelling words for hours, get up and spell 30% of them wrong. They came along with an introduction to music. I took a look and saw a lot of marks on a staff. I thought, “Hell. That’s easy. It’s just like numbers.” The teacher even sent a note home saying that I understood music. That was just great, until they started to sing. The teacher put her hands over her ears and asked me NOT to sing. What a let down!” On Christmas: “It is about Christmas time as I write this, and I’ve gotten to thinking about how it was earlier. The one big deal was a whole tub of candy which was ordered from Sears and Roebuck. It would take about a month to be delivered. Then we couldn’t touch it until Christmas. Mom always made fudge and taffy. Pulling the taffy was the big event of the evening. Of course, I would get it all over me – including in my hair. We would make popcorn strings and put them on the tree. Also, we tied on apples and popcorn balls. There were little candleholders that clipped on the tree. Mom would make us all sit down and she would light the candles. Then she turned the light down low. We would all “ooh and aah” and then she would put them out and take them off the tree. I think she thought it was safer to put them away. Somehow, gifts did not seem to be important.”

The Redmond Recorder

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History is Happening in Redmond!

History Mystery William F. Underhill was Redmond’s first City Clerk, taking office in 1913. Some research has shown that he was born in New York State in 1844, and later moved to New Jersey where he married and raised a family. He served three months in 1868 in the 9th New York Infantry during the Civil War. Prior to 1892, he left New Jersey and moved to Island County, Wash., where he lived in Coupeville and worked as an accountant. He was listed on the 1910 census for Avondale Precinct as a bookkeeper in a logging camp. There is a headstone in the Redmond Cemetery for W.F. Underhill, dates of birth and death unknown. We know he was in the Redmond area from 1910 to 1913, but we don’t know why he made his way from New York to Coupeville to Redmond. What happened to him after his term as City Clerk is also a mystery. Anyone who knows anything about him is asked to please contact Margaret Wiese at [email protected] or the Society office at 425-885-2919.

Can you guess the year?

Answer on page 6

The Redmond Recorder

Holding down the fort Roy Buckley and Patsy Cook Rosenbach staff the second ever Society booth at the Saturday Market on June 7, 2003. Dozens of visitors have picked up walking tour brochures and membership forms. Thanks to Roy and the Market for making it happen!

Yours truly Margy Rockenbeck, Society Newsletter editor extraordinaire, is having to step down due to other commitments. Below is her letter to readers:

Dear RHS: September has always been the time of new beginnings for perennial students like me, and this year it is truly a time of transition and change in the Rockenbeck household. Some years ago, my sister and I inherited the historic old family house in State College, Pennsylvania, which we have kept as a summer and vacation home. (Actually, it’s in a little hamlet outside of State College called Houserville, and it is one of the old Houser properties.) It is a wonderful place, the first part built of logs in 1810, and the last wing built in 1894. It was a various times a wagon factory, trading post, post office, country store and farm. It is full of family treasures, memories, and Central Pennsylvania history. The Umbergers, my family, are only the second family to have owned it in 200 years. I have enjoyed trying to fill my late father’s shoes as the “resident historian.” With the current generations all far-flung, the old house needs to enter a new phase of its existence, and we have decided to turn our property into a bed and breakfast home, which requires us to be in residence when the rooms are rented. We’ll be sharing these duties with other family members, but we need to be available on a flexible schedule to do our part. We are most assuredly not moving away from Redmond, but will be out of town a lot, especially during the Penn State football season and trout fishing season. This will be a scheduling challenge all by itself, but trying to put out a monthly Redmond Recorder on deadline in addition is just impossible. It’s very hard for me to say goodbye as editor, because I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Redmond history and interacting with everyone who writes and calls with ideas and articles. For now, though, Miguel Llanos has valiantly volunteered to do the job, and I know we will all benefit from having a professional journalist as our editor. If there are readers out there who, as yet unknown to us, would like to try their hand working on the newsletter, I’m sure Miguel would be interested in talking to you. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be the editor, and am especially thankful to the many people who helped to make it happen each month: Naomi Hardy, Miguel Llanos, Margaret Wiese, Doris Schaible, Larry Hoger and Dave, Laurie and Bill Rockenbeck. I’ll be in Pennsylvania in September, so I’ll see you all at the October meeting. Margy Redmond, Wash., and State College, Penn.

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History is Happening in Redmond!

Were you at our June 14 meeting? These folks were: Alexander, Margo Marr Anderson, Betty Aznoff, Dan Becker, Teresa Lang Campbell, Sally Cisneros, Nancy Cole, Richard Comer, Donna McCoskrie Coward, Liz Carlson Elduen, Violet Cook Emmanuel, Tony Garland, Lillian Gilbert, Evelyn King Gorlick, Audrey Goshorn, JeanEtta Dudley Hardy, Naomi Hitzroth, Tom Lang, Judy Aries Leicester, Norma Llanos, Miguel Loutzenhiser, MaryLou Magnuson, Cheryl Malowney, Georgeann Mann, Marge Marr, Clare (Amo) Marrs, Carl Marrs, Pat McCormick, Nancy McCoskrie, Eileen McCoskrie, RuthAnn Montgomery, Mary Muñoz, Alexa Norton, Robin Perrigo Potter, Dale Potter, JoAnn Robinson, Vivian Roe, Julie Roe, Phil Rosenbach, Patsy Cook Saunders, Dee Schaible, Doris Standley, Beryl Tollfeldt, Anne Tollfeldt, Harvey Torell, Jerry Turner, Judy Gilbert Usibelli, Helen Watkins, JoAnn Watts, Don Wiese, Margaret Evers

The Redmond Recorder

Thank yous! A heap of historical thanks to these great people for donating treasures, expertise, time and energy to support our mission! Frances Meitzer for donating her husband Fred Meitzer's C.A.R.E. papers from his years battling a shopping mall on the Redmond Golf Links site. Dale Martin for professional photos taken of today’s Redmond. Jennifer Macchiarella for researching charter information for Redmond Kiwanis Club, which closed May 31, 2003. Brad Best for financial support for Cowchips and for a packet of information on the Redmond Trading Company. Amo Marr for clippings and information about her grandparents, who owned Morey's Auction. Kathie Murray for early issues of Focus on Redmond for our archive. Clara Hammersberg for the book of her 50th high school reunion in which many biographies were captured, and for postcards, photos and clippings from her mother, Mildred McSparran. Our Mr. Potter who hung all the Barney Reilly watercolors in the Old Redmond Schoolhouse, and Judy Lang whose devotion to realizing the display of this historical collection now benefits our community. Nancy Cisneros for attending an indexing workshop in Vancouver, Canada, to start her valuable project of indexing our Sammamish Valley News archive. Colleen Dunham, a member of the American Association of Indexers and a taxonomist at Microsoft, for making possible this indexing project and preparing a plan of action. Wanda Williams for back issues of Derby Days programs, and Phil Roe for facilitating this donation. Marilyn Hartig for a 1955 Derby Days program. Betty Goudy for a treasure trove of Redmond memorabilia. Roy Buckley for getting volunteers for our Saturday Market booth and for two very cool old Derby Days t-shirts. Ilya Smirnov for taking Derby photos and posting them to our Web site. Joanne Westlund and the Redmond Saturday Market board for providing free space for us to spread our word. Margy Rockenbeck, for having served as Society newsletter editor.

Microsoft for providing Derby Days cake celebrating Redmond being 90 years young. 5

History is Happening in Redmond!

Stories, photos to share?

Dedicated to Derby

Or a Redmond history mystery that needs to be solved? You can: • Send items to our office via US mail • E-mail [email protected] • Call Miguel at 869-9806 --------------------------------------Correction from June issue: Connelly, Don: In 1954 Don started Cedar Lawns Cemetery on property he owns south of his farm. He lives nearby in his white house, and was both caretaker and gravedigger for the cemetery. --------------------------------------Redmond Market mystery answer (from page 4): 1925 -------------------------------------Newsletter stat: 635 folks get our newsletter, up from 22 when we first started in 1991!

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Harold "Butch" Kent drove one of his vintage fire trucks and son, John Kent, drove the other. Jack and Margie Suhr drove his handbuilt vintage car. Fire truck riders were Ruth Ann McCoskrie and nephew; Carol Trapp and granddaughter Coeta Chambers; Daryl Martin; Marcella Lee and son; Emily Lutey; Patsy Rosenbach; Roy Buckley; and Judy Lang. Mrs. Her-itage, Vivian Robertson, and Mr. His-story, Miguel Llanos, walked the route promoting "Redmond's 90th Birthday" and the cake cutting ceremony.

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