Janna Gage, maker and chronicler of history, opens new chapter

She has owned a downtown bookstore, helped found the town's senior center and written accounts of La Conner history and her memoir.

Janna Gage, who hails from a pioneer Skagit County family, is now ready for her next chapter.

Seaport Books, which she and Marion Melville launched in 2017, is listed for sale.

"We're not retired," quipped Gage, a 1958 La Conner High School graduate and class valedictorian. "We're just tired."

But not so weary that Gage can't imagine taking on a new project or three.

After all, prior to opening Seaport Books – noted for its cozy, casual vibe and wide selection of Pacific Northwest-themed titles – Gage had excelled in college with a double major in literature and history, worked as an office assistant at the University of Washington's applied physics laboratory, lived eight years aboard a sailboat, saw the ill effects of segregation in the American South, served as a Hospice volunteer, thoroughly enjoyed 14 years as a reference librarian, embraced fabric art as a pastime and became the go-to person at the then-newly formed La Conner Senior Center.

And, she designed and helped build a log house at Gage's Point, the acreage near the North Fork of the Skagit River that her great-grandparents settled at the turn of the 20th century.

Her "can do" spirit is perhaps best illustrated in her autobiography, "Walking on My Shadow," published in 2008.

"I'm just naturally optimistic," she writes in the introduction. "I don't see my glass as half full or half empty. I see it as overflowing."

Her Skagit County bona fides are unquestioned. Gage's forebears arrived from England in 1881, eventually acquiring property she described as "on a high bluff of red aggregate with several acres of rich bottom land not far from La Conner."

In her tightly woven 107-page memoir, Gage writes that her great-grandparents, Frederic and Eleanor Gage, ventured to La Conner because their cousins, George and James Gaches, had spoken highly of the area. It was George Gaches who had the landmark two-and-a-half story Victorian mansion, which still bears the family's name, built on Second Street in 1891.

Gage's youth at the end of Landing Road – so designated because her father, Al Bergem, had developed Al's Boat Landing there – and in high school were marked by hard times and great blessings alike.

Growing up, she lived with kerosene lamps and through World War II rationing. One of four children – their mother died when Janna was 12 – she helped raise her younger siblings, made family meals and did the laundry and other household chores. "In the fall," she recalls, "school was our lifeline to the rest of the world. We never missed a day and were never late for the school bus, knowing there was no other way for us to get there."

In high school Gage earned high marks across all subjects and reported for the student newspaper. Her junior year she was chosen assistant editor, so would become editor as a senior.

"It was a lot of work, of course, gathering the news, delegating, writing articles, proof-reading and typing mimeograph stencils," she recounted. "When the teacher who was our advisor said everything was OK, we cranked out 100 copies, stapled and distributed them."

While Gage didn't opt for a career in journalism, she remained committed to the printed word, notably in library science. She retired in 2002 from the Mount Vernon City Library and, as it happened, a newspaper notice drew her to a new mission.

It stated a senior center was forming in La Conner, so Gage attended an organizational meeting to see how she could help. Gage told the Weekly News recently that the late Nancy Juneby was the main organizer.

"She was getting people together to form the senior center here," said Gage, "but she was already director of the Burlington Senior Center."

Juneby was stretched thin. It was agreed that Gage would chair La Conner's senior center campaign. Maple Hall was approved as the center's site.

There was one problem, however. The town's initial plan was to locate it in the small fireside room next to the stage.

That wouldn't do, Gage said.

"They were going to have a TV and a box of donuts," she chuckled at the memory.

Gage had bigger ideas in terms of space and variety of programs, which were ultimately supported.

"I went to town council meetings until they got tired of seeing me," Gage joked.

Unsure at first how long she would remain at the helm, Gage stayed for 15 years. Others laud her commitment.

"She organized a lot of meetings and activities and did everything entirely with volunteers," said the center's current director, Margaret Hillard.

Former four-term mayor Ramon Hayes praised her, too.

"She's been so much a part of the fabric of this community," he said. "She loves this community and has always been supportive of projects that benefit the community."

The concept of opening a bookstore in La Conner emerged when Gage met Melville. Both were –are – voracious readers.

"Book people," Melville explained, "just know that when they meet."

The two began discussing in earnest the prospects for starting a bookstore and assembling a team for its operation.

"We sat in the Melville house on Center Street and collaborated on the idea," Gage said.

Seaport Books has over the past seven years earned a reputation for stocking new books for readers of all ages and featuring creative efforts by area artists. In addition, it has held numerous book signings and presentations by authors, including Matika Wilbur, who is Swinomish and Tulalip and whose "Project 562" received acclaim in the New York Times.

Gage, meanwhile, is ready for her next adventure. She has followed the same formula for navigating change throughout her wonderfully unique, deeply fulfilling life's journey.

"My philosophy for a good life," Gage shares in her memoir, "is to always give more than you take.