Bill Reynolds new historian of Skagit County Pioneer Association

The position of Historian-Memorialist (Historian for short) on the Board of Skagit County Pioneer Association’s, along with President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, has been a mainstay for the group, which in 2019 will mark 115 years.

Dan Royal, at this year’s 114th Annual Pioneer Picnic, was pleased to announce local resident and writer, Bill Reynolds as the Pioneer Association’s new Historian, voted and approved by the Board earlier in the year. Royal told the Board when he recommended Reynolds that, “if we don’t bring him on board, someone else will grab him. He is too exceptional of a writer to pass on.” Most of the Board knew of Reynolds or had known him for years. They agreed he made a great addition to the group. Reynolds retired in 2017 as a teacher. He continues as a writer for La Conner Weekly News.

This doesn’t mean Royal is retiring from the Association. He is the new president, following Karen Summers, and will also split duties with Reynolds by keeping the Memorial List and keeping the Memorialist title for the foreseeable future.

Royal, a local Heritage Researcher (genealogist and historian) became Historian when he succeeded the late and passionate Dick Fallis (1926-2011) in 2007.

Fallis had succeeded John Conrad (1894-1986), one of the group’s longest historians, from 1949 to 1973.

Fallis was also long serving.

Conrad had succeeded Fred L. Carter (1864-1949), “grand old man of the Puget Sound Mail newspaper, recorded these obituaries for many years until last year’s meeting, when I took over” according to Conrad’s August 1949 Memorial List.

The group’s founding Memorialist, Edgar A. Sisson (1849-1933) started the Memorial Roll tradition in 1923, a tradition, according to John Conrad in 1962, “is published each year of deceased residents of early days and those with ancestry of the early Pioneer period.”

Fallis owned the Puget Sound Mail from 1973 to 1979. Percival A. Stendal and William Rivord are recorded as short-term Historian-Memorialist during this time period with Fallis’ help at the newspaper on Pioneer Editions every August, a tradition from Pat O’Leary’s run as owner and publisher of PSM. Fallis was urged by the Board of the Pioneer Association to step into the position in 1979.

Before 1923 the Secretary of the group probably recorded the deaths of Skagit County Pioneers then in their twilight years from the founding of the Pioneer Association.

But as there are no longer living Pioneers, and sometimes no living descendants of pioneers.

The persons listed must have been a resident of the county for a minimum of 30 years or – if living out of county – from pioneer or early settler families of the county.

Individuals listed under 30 years of residency may also have contributed in a significant way to the betterment of their community and Skagit County.

Source material from all areas of Skagit County include: newspaper obituaries, genealogical data, published county histories and/or interviews.

The Historian part of the job is to keep and record Skagit County history – past and present – which is then held and archived by the Skagit County Historical Museum. He also interviews the President the honorees picked by the Board as Pioneer Family of the Year and Contributing to the Pioneer Spirit awards. He writes up the articles on these families or individuals and submits press releases to the local and county newspapers in time for the Annual Pioneer Picnic the first Thursday of every August.

A rich majority of Pioneers and descendants of Pioneers as well as the new president are added to the roster of the Pioneer Association Board annually. After their term as president, past presidents remain for life. They act as a nomination committee, unless they decide to retire from the Board. The Historian’s position has been more long term and for good reason. The person in the job needs a love for Skagit County history and its history makers and residents, or at least some passion for it, a good reason why Historians with the group have usually been handpicked by their predecessor and a full board of past Presidents typically vote approval.

The Skagit County Pioneer Association was founded in 1891, but with requirements so restrictive it soon dissolved.

In 1904, a concerned group from Sedro-Woolley revived the Association under less stringent guidelines, and the annual meetings and picnics have been held regularly at Pioneer Park in La Conner from 1920 forward – the property a gift from Louisa Ann Conner, the town’s namesake.

The annual Pioneer Picnic, with its barbeque salmon dinner – served by La Conner Civic Garden Club – helps to raise funds for the Skagit County Historical Museum.

A fidelity has existed between the two groups from the inception of Skagit County Historical Society to the building of the Museum proper, now celebrating its 50th year “On Top of the Hill” in 2018.

Royal also maintains volunteer work on the Boards of the Skagit County Historical Society and Skagit Valley Genealogical Society, which keep him busy since his retirement as a former teamster truck driver for Food Services of America. Then there are the grandchildren he and his wife Maureen are blessed with.