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Dolores and John retired to Shelter Bay in 1992. She loved gardening and boating and she was a great 1st Mate. John and Dolores were charter members of the Shelter Bay Yacht Club. She loved to travel, and Hawaii and Arizona were a few of her favorites from her world travels. Dolores was a member of the Ann Carlson Orthopedic Guild, Seattle Ryther and the Ballard Elks Emblem Club. Dolores is survived by her spouse John, daughter Karen (Malcolm) Unseth, son John F Bratland, grandson Matthew (Christena) Unseth, 2 great-granddaughters, sisters... Full story
Family and friends brought a dozen guns and a plethora of knives to be fired in a blacksmith’s forge and pounded flat and twisted into useless pieces of metal – and made into a future sculpture. Five artists, a couple of churches, City Councilman Eric Johnson and Director of the Anacortes Are Festival Rita James are the force behind “The Anacortes Regeneration Project: from Guns to Art, from Conflict to Peace.” They were joined by Chris Wardenburg-Skinner, an Edison artist with Safe and S...
Work along Shelter Bay Drive posed a minor inconvenience for motorists on Thursday. But the work itself was in response to what looms as a potential major concern later down the road. Drought-stricken and dead trees lining Shelter Bay Drive were cut and removed as a traffic and pedestrian safety measure, a scene community leaders fear will have to be repeated going forward. “According to arborists we have contacted,” Shelter Bay Manager David Franklin told La Conner Weekly News last week, “th...
A local fire district is turning 13 into a lucky number. That’s because Fire District 13 residents have the good fortune to be served by an outreach program rarely found elsewhere – even in urban settings. “Good Morning – District 13” is a free voluntary program in which on-duty crews check the welfare of seniors, shut-ins, persons with functional needs or residents living under special circumstances. Nearly 50 persons residing within District 13 boundaries have signed up for the p...
Class reunion season here isn’t just for former students. Retired La Conner High teachers and administrators also gather each summer for what’s fondly called an “old school lunch” on the waterfront. The class act resumed Wednesday afternoon on the outdoor deck of the La Conner Pub & Eatery. Some came from as far as the Olympic Peninsula. Many, however, still reside locally – living in or near a town much different from the sleepy fishing village with boarded up downtown storefr...
I would like to thank all the crew at “Good Morning District 13” for their help in early June getting me to the ER and home again. I know when I signed up for the Good Morning Dist. 13 service I wouldn’t be sorry. Thank you Gary Ladd and all the great staff that helped me and checked on me each day. Sincerely, Betty Wells Shelter Bay...
To the Editor: Thank you for your recent “Damn democracy” editorial. Achieving the goals of democracy requires constant vigilance and debate. Your statement has stayed with me because it captures the political malaise influencing us all. Those like me who oppose Trump and those who support him are more likely to express our views, but your message is for everyone who cares about our country’s future. That means all of us. It is not a time for silence. Yes, it can be discomforting We often hear “Let’s not get into politics” in social situ...
There’s a growing appetite for a game in which staying out of the kitchen can be a winning recipe. A couple dozen people of all ages got their first taste of pickleball, the nation’s fastest growing sport, during a special two-hour beginner’s clinic on the Shelter Bay community’s lower courts Saturday morning. It was clear a good time was had by all. “Pickleball is so much fun,” confirmed clinic instructor Barb McGrady. “I know a lot of people who got addicted to pickleball after playing it fo...
For the school year 2018-2019 the La Conner School District budget shows general fund taxes at $1,006,174, and debt service taxes at $1,500,000, for a total of $2,506,174. There are 564 students estimated in the school population, of which 90 students will come from Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned. These areas are not on the tax rolls. Subtracting 90 from 564 leaves 474. Divide that into $2,506,174 and you get $5,287.29 per student. That times 90 equals $475,856 that the Swinomish Tribe owes for the kids who come from Shelter Bay and Pull &...
Mark Eisen passed away on July 21, 2018, his 66th birthday, at his home after an extended illness. Mark was born on July 21, 1952 to Vincent and Augusta Eisen. He spent his childhood in La Conner, graduating from La Conner High School in 1970. After high school, he served in the United States Air Force. While stationed at Edwards AFB, California, he met and married his wife Debra in 1973. The couple recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Mark moved his family back to La Conner in 1982. Mark was very handy and a skilled mechanic.... Full story
New greens at Swinomish Golf Links helped raise much appreciated green for area charities, among them the La Conner Sunrise Food Bank. Golfers taking part in a special free day at the Swinomish Tribal Community-owned course near La Conner last Wednesday chipped in $227 for the local food pantry, which took donations on the par-3, 156-yard fifth hole. Almost $5,600 was raised for area charities, split evenly between $2,800 donated by golfers to the charities positioned at each hole and $2,757...
For the artists hosting the 21 stops on this weekend’s NW Art Beat tour, there is no opportunity to see their colleagues work. That is exactly why artist Dee Doyle organized her three La Conner area colleagues for a preview tour open to the 30-plus Skagit Artists last Wednesday. Thirteen artists, spouses and interns took the Progressive Appetizers Tour, making the socializing better by enjoying provided snacks and beverages. The group started at Lynn Skordal’s, a paperwork artist on North First Street. Skordal’s work is slightly three dimen...
Known to many in the LaConner and Shelter Bay area, Betty (Diane Elizabeth) Spencer passed away peacefully surrounded by her large family on June 21, 2018 at Franciscan Hospice in University Place, WA. Born December 8, 1925 in Los Angeles, she was 92. As a toddler she was part of Hal Roach’s Our Gang comedies, later known as the Little Rascals. Betty grew up in Arizona and moved to West Seattle in 1954. She and her husband Willard also lived in Renton and La Conner. She was known as a fantastic cook, gardener and seamstress, and loved to e... Full story
La Conner’s Fourth of July parade celebrated the nation’s founding in 1776, and was somewhat historic in its own right. People were united in wearing red, white and blue, though the shades, stripes, patterns and designs varied widely. Flags of all sizes, on and off sticks and poles, were waved and draped, respectively. The colorful downtown procession was by many accounts one of the best attended in the town’s recent history as crowds lined both sides of First Street on a picture-perfect day....
Jim Hernandez had no students aboard, but the La Conner school bus he drove Monday afternoon was filled to capacity nonetheless. With books, not students. At least for a while. His bus morphed into a local bookmobile for four fast-paced hours with stops at the Swinomish Gym and outdoor basketball courts, Shelter Bay Community Center and La Conner Regional Library. At each stop, students excitedly climbed into the bus to select from more than 3,000 donated books, a mission La Conner...
Their original summer camp venue fell through, but the beat goes on for members of the Seattle Cascades Drum & Bugle Corps. In La Conner, no less. The elite group of 150 musicians has been drilling on the La Conner Schools campus since mid-June and has scheduled a July 2, 7:30 p.m. send-off performance at Whittaker Field prior to embarking on a cross-country tour ending at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Seattle Cascades is the Pacific Northwest’s oldest youth organization in the pageantry arts. Members, who range in age from 14 to 21, h...
I just wanted the LaConner people to know of the passing of Rod Falor. He passed away on May 5, 2018. We lived in Shelter Bay for eight to ten years. Rod enjoyed the great outdoors, whether on the water, sailing or on the snow, skiing. He was part of the Board of Directors for the Shelter Bay Community for a few years. We enjoyed the community activities and the terrific people. We re-located to Snohomish County for medical reasons. There will be a Memorial service on Saturday June 2 at the Shoreline Community center at 3:30 p.m. Carol... Full story
Last week art, ceremony and truth telling were ongoing in our little town. Significant voices spoke on both sides of the Swinomish Channel. On the Reservation Thursday the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community welcomed everyone to a luncheon feast and then their Canoe Family, elders and four chosen youth led the gathering down to the water for the Blessing of the Fleet and the First Salmon Ceremony. In Maple Hall, students and audiences gathered Thursday through Saturday as poets seeped into La Conner’s reality. Friday it was students in w...
In a stirring and powerful presentation at the Shelter Bay clubhouse last Saturday, Matika Wilbur shared her vision and her ongoing quest “To Change the Way We See Native America” with over 80 people, primarily Shelter Bay residents and family friends. She has created Project 562, to “visit, engage and photograph all 562 plus Native American sovereign territories in the United States.” While showing photographs of her five years of traveling the country, visiting tribes and reservations, she told a deeply personal story, integrating her bio...
Plastics dominated the Town Council’s May 8 session. The Council signaled its willingness to ban disposable plastic bags handed out at retail stores. Carol Sullivan of Mount Vernon, the “BAG Lady with Skagit BAG BANd Wagon,” made a lively, lengthy, power-less, pointed presentation, using poster board signs to start the meeting. She buried them with facts: in this plastic age 350 million tons are produced annually. One hundred billion bags are used annually. Half of all plastics are single use and then trashed. Sullivan said society has “fall...
The luthiers came to La Conner last weekend, setting up in Maple Hall for the second annual La Conner Guitar Festival. The bait set by festival organizers Shirley Makela and spouse Brent McElroy brought some 1,500 guitar playing enthusiasts from across the country for three days of workshops, cabarets, mini-concerts, concerts and an exhibit hall full of the finest hand crafted acoustic and electric guitars, harp guitars, mandolins and ukeleles made in North America. Luthiers make stringed...
Years before moving to La Conner, I remember my first reaction upon seeing the wood-sided building painted blue with white trim on Morris, signed “La Conner Regional Library.” What a statement about quality of life here, I thought, to have a library in a small community, a safe place that is open to everyone for exploring, learning, reading, discovery and inspiration. Not only was La Conner home to three unique museums, but it had a library located near the entrance to town, close to the schools, easy to walk to and on a bus line! What I did...
Shelter Bay welcomes nationally recognized artist and lecturer Matika Wilbur sharing an exhibit of her award-winning photography and a lecture in the Shelter Bay Clubhouse on May 19 at 4 p.m. Matika is a member of the Swinomish and Tulalip tribes and graduated from La Conner High School. The public is invited and admission is free. Wilbur is the creator and director of Project 562 and the only Native American photographer and social documentarian to be welcomed into each of the 562+ Native American sovereign territories in the United States....
Rhoda Hazel Claassen Lindstrom of Shelter Bay died Sunday, April 8th, 2018 at Island Hospital following a battle with heart failure. She was 95. Rhoda was born December 26, 1922, in Akron, Ohio to Arthur and Letha Claassen. In 1942 she married Edwin Eugene Lindstrom in Tacoma. She was married to Edwin Gene for 66 years. In 1985 Rhoda and Gene built their home in Shelter Bay where they enjoyed boating, fishing, RVing and camping. Most of Rhoda’s career was in Special Education. She worked at Renton Hospital, delivery and nursery, Lake City Fircr... Full story
A little musing concerning your most resent musings. Please don’t tell me that my adversary during my two tours in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division was a “rag tag army of peasants wearing funny hats and sandals.” For, you see, in 1967 when I was shipped off to Vietnam by our peace loving president, LBJ, I was introduced to an enemy that was hardcore, battle tested and flat out in your face. They were the NVA regulars. We stood toe to toe with our enemy in places like Dak To, Quang Tri, Hue/Phu Bai and a place called the A Shau Valley wh...
