Interview with Barbara Hope Schulz
2012 August 14
Interviewer Barbara McMichael
BLM: This is Barbara McMichael and it is my pleasure today to interview Barbara Hope Schulz for the Highline Historical Society. The date is August 14, 2012.
So, you go by the name of “Hope”. Did that start from an early age?
BHS: Yes. My mother read a book and the heroine was “Hope”. She said that if she ever had a girl it was going to be “Hope”. I had three brothers and then I came.
BLM: So how come you got named “Barbara” ahead of the “Hope”?
BHS: Well, “Hope Barbara” didn’t sound right to her so she named me “Barbara Hope”. It’s been a bit of a problem.
BLM: Tell me when you were born and where.
BHS: I was born in April, 1926, up in Canada. My folks were brought up to Canada and raised up there. In 1941 when the war was on, of course Canada was drawn into the war with Britain. All three of my brothers were draft age and they decided that maybe they’d have a better chance with the United States, better equipment and whatever. So we moved down here in ’41.
BLM: For patriotic reasons, I guess. Where did you move when you came down to the states?
BHS: We moved into White Center temporarily, for six months. I went to Highline High School in my ninth grade. Then my dad got a job with the railroad over in Auburn, as a fireman, and we moved over to Auburn. I graduated from Auburn High School.
BLM: Why did your folks choose White Center to move to?
BHS: My aunt lived there and she let us live with her until we found a home. She had room, she was by herself. So we moved in there with her until we could get ourselves set up. My dad could get a job and whatever. So it took us a while to do that.
BLM: So it looks like you were about 16 or so when you came to the states.
BHS: 14.
BLM: Did you find it to be different in any way? Had you been up on a farm in Canada?
BHS: Oh, yes. We lived on a farm all my life up in Canada. We had cows and pigs and horses. My dad farmed a good sized farm up there.
BLM: What sort of chores did you do?
BHS: Oh, I milked cows. I had muscles like crazy when I came down here. Fed the pigs and rode horses, herded cows.
BLM: So was it culture shock when you came here?
BHS: Yes it was. It was hard. Up in Canada you have the habit of saying “Eh?”, which I lost – everybody laughed at me. I was real shy because I hadn’t been around a lot of people. But, we made it and people were really nice.
BLM: You say you have three brothers. Were they older or younger?
BHS: All three of my brothers were older. All three of them were in the Navy down here. My oldest brother was an aviation radioman. He married, had a baby, but he never saw the baby because he was sent overseas. He was on his last mission and he wrote his wife a letter and said, “Just think. Tomorrow night I’ll be on my way home to see my wonderful wife and baby.” Then they bombed Hiroshima and they were shot down. We don’t know where his body is. He was lost at sea.
BLM: Now, your parents were the Keogh’s, Michael and Elsie. Your brothers names were Bill, Patrick and Bud.
BHS: That’s correct.
BLM: So that was Bill killed?
BHS: That was Bill that we lost.
BLM: What about your other brothers? Have they remained in this area?
BHS: Pat and Bud married girls from this area, both of them Highline graduates.
Pat passed away three years ago. They had moved over to Idaho because of their daughter and her husband, a doctor over there. They moved over there to be close to them.
My brother Bud lived over in White Center, Top Hat area. His wife and he moved over to Wenatchee because they had family over there. We lost Bud just a couple years ago too. His wife still lives over there and I talk to her all the time.
BLM: When you went to Highline High School, what was that like? Can you recall any teachers, any students?
BHS: Yes, there was a gentleman by the name of Gilbert who was a really comical little guy. I dislike getting up in front of people and he made you get up and read in front of people. There was a kid by the name of Calvin that sat in the very front seat where you had to stand in front of him. He would kick my foot and say, “Shut up.” while I was reading. Gilbert would fall asleep and he didn’t know the difference. But I was so relieved when I could sit down.
BLM: What subjects did you study?
BHS: Well my mother worked at Penney’s as a cashier for a long time. She never had taken typing, but she could hunt and peck like crazy. She typed all the letters up there with a couple fingers. She said, “Hope, choose a commercial career. The field is open.” Luckily, she paid the bills and stuff and the cashier from the Northern Pacific came up there to collect for some freight that they’d gotten. I was going to graduate and she said to this Bill Kelso, “My daughter is graduating and she’s looking for a job. Are there any openings?” He said, “Yes, there’s an assistant cashier job down there that is open.” I went down there, applied for it, and got it. After 31 years on the railroad I went from Auburn into Seattle, south Tacoma for awhile. Because there was bumping going on, if you didn’t have enough seniority you got bumped and you ended up taking whatever job you could hold. But I ended up with a real good job in Seattle when they merged with the Burlington Northern. So, I was very blessed.
BLM: Tell me a little bit about your courting days. Did you date various boys?
BHS: I dated a few boys from Auburn. Went to a few of the dances there. My brothers were really good to me and they took me roller skating and to dances. We’d go to Redondo and skate the first session down there and go the “Castle” and dance til it closed.
BLM: The Spanish Castle?
BHS: Right. My brothers were just wonderful to me. They spoiled me rotten.
BLM: How did you end up meeting your first husband?
BHS: That was through my brother. He worked at a tire shop in White Center. George Love had a service station on 152nd and First Avenue. George bought tires from the tire shop or had them recapped or whatever. I went with my brother to his job one day and we stopped at the service station to get some gas. He introduced me to George. He asked my brother if I’d go out with him and that’s where it started. We ended up getting married three years later. We lived here in Burien and we had a service station on 149th and Ambaum. Then we got a wrecker to help us tow cars in and so forth. Then Frank Britton had started the Burien Taxi Service. He found it a little bit difficult and he sold it to us. So we had the Burien Cab for several years.
BLM: How many cars were there?
BHS: Two. We just had two cabs. We had a couple drivers help us.
BLM: Did you drive as well?
BHS: I just took people that I knew. If they were ladies or stewardesses that needed to go to the airport or something. Just to get out of the service station. I answered the phone all the time, to take the calls and so forth.
BLM: So your taxi service served people primarily going to the airport?
BHS: The bus came right by Ambaum there and they let the people off that worked at night. They’d stop at the cab company and for 50 cents would get a ride home. That’s what the fee was then. We ended up then selling the taxi cabs to Richard Aries and Delbert Campbell.
BLM: What was the cab company called?
BHS: Burien Cab.
BLM: Were the cars a certain color?
BHS: They were blue with the writing on the side. I ended up giving Cyndi Upthegrove some of the cab things. So they have some memorabilia of that and I wrote up a little bit of history of the cab company.
BLM: Were you also working for the railroad at this time, after you got married?
BHS: No, I took a leave of absence. Then I was able to go back in. I was not able to bridge all my service. I filled in for vacations all but one year. If I had filled in that one year I could have bridged all my service. So I would have had a lot more service and a better pension. But I was blessed. I had 31 years with them. Then I ended up working in Seattle.
BLM: Tell me a little bit about your children.
BHS: I had Mike. Mike was born in ’53. We found out that I had RH negative factor and they took him when I was 7 months pregnant. They totally transfused him and he was in an isolet for a couple weeks. He only weighed 4 1/2 pounds when he was born.
BLM: Where was he born?
BHS: At Virginia Mason Hospital. He had a rough go. He didn’t have any fingernails when he was born and he had a lot of problems growing up, with colds. He just didn’t have a chance to develop like he should have. The lungs were primarily the problem, so he had a lot of colds and stuff. But he made it and right now he’s a whopper at 5 foot and he weighs 100 pounds. But he worked for Burlington Northern. He was hurt on the railroad and he’s been disabled since 1984. He and his wife Sue live fairly close here so it makes it nice. I can see him. But, he’s disabled and would like so much not to be because he’s really ambitious and would like to do everything. His wife said if a pinecone drops on the lawn, he thinks he’s got to go pick it up. He’s just driven. Everything has to be in order and done.
Then I had Pat in 1955.
BLM: Who was your family doctor at that time?
BHS: Dr. Bledsoe.
BLM: Right here in Burien?
BHS: No, he was in Seattle. Dr. Bledsoe delivered Mike. And Dr. Swanson, his associate, delivered Pat in 1955. Then Dr. Swanson moved out here to Burien for a while.
Pat had a few jobs. He worked as a machinist, he was trying to get his machinist journeyman license. Unluckily, Boeing had some losses in business and they took the contract away from Stern’s Metals where he worked. So he didn’t ever get his machinist journeyman card. But he did go to Highline College and took emergency math and some blueprint reading and stuff, hoping he could get a job. But he was never able to get a job. He did it by hand and it all started being done by computers. So he kind of lost out. Then he started driving a truck and making deliveries to the airport and so forth. Just recently, this January, he was hurt, vertebrae in his neck out. He has just been put on the disability list now. So I’ve got two sons, both of them on the disability list.
BLM: I’m going to back up a little bit and I want you to talk a little bit about raising two boys, where they went to school and such.
BHS: I was divorced from George in ’59. I had Mike and Pat, who were 4 and 6. I raised them by myself.
BLM: Where were you living?
BHS: On 10th Avenue SW and 156th. They were busy kids. They liked to ride bicycles and motor bikes. They both played guitars and so they formed a band. There was lots of noise but I knew where they were at. I was always grateful that they were there at my house.
BLM: You said your brother helped you?
BHS: Yes, I had a brother who came over. He was a carpenter. He worked on the dams over at Libby. They had to cover the dam because it froze over there in the winter. So he didn’t have any work. He came here and he was working on a boys’ home up in Leavenworth. He would come and live with me and stay with me on the weekends. He did a lot of remodeling on my house. The kids were practicing in the garage and it was cold, with no heat and so forth. So he got a bulldozer down there and took the bank down and put a garage underneath and a recreation room up above. That’s where my kids practiced and I knew where they were all the time. It was noisy, but I could have cared less.
BLM: Did they have a name for their band?
BHS: The Love Boys. [Laughing]
BLM: Well, but of course! Did they perform around town?
BHS: Just a few places. Down at the Log Hall.
BLM: Where was the Log Hall?
BHS: The Log Hall is still there. Right on Ambaum. Do you know where the Taco Time is? Taco Time is on 8th Avenue as it branches off from Ambaum. The Log Hall is right there. It’s still there and they are still using it – for Alcoholics Anonymous and so forth, meetings. There’s a lot of memories there from a lot of people.
BLM: How did they get involved in music? Were you musical?
BHS: I played the violin, in high school. Which I managed to do even when I came down here. I really enjoyed music. My mother played the piano and I played the violin and my dad loved to sing.
BLM: Was there an orchestra at Highline?
BHS: Oh yes. In Highline High School. Then when I moved to Auburn I was in the orchestra over there.
BLM: When you were at Highline, there was the wonderful old auditorium theater in the high school. Can you describe it a little. Did you perform on that stage?
BHS: No, we were in the pit, the orchestra pit. We played for the plays and stuff.
BLM: I did too.
BHS: Oh, did you? Fun, huh? What did you play?
BLM: Viola.
BHS: Oh, loved them.
BLM: Tell me a little bit about after your divorce and you had the gas station and then you went back to work?
BHS: I went back to work and I leased the service station to Ernie Aries. Then eventually sold the service station to the restaurant people up there. We had a restaurant in it for a while. Then we changed from the service station to a restaurant. In fact, Larry Tarbuck who was a real estate man helped me get Taco Bell in there. They were my renters for quite a few years. Then they decided, I guess, to move down to First Avenue. So I lost the lease and I ended up selling the building.
In the mean time, I met a man who had sold an insurance policy to my son when he was born. He had lost his wife after her going through open heart surgery. He had three adopted children and I had the two. We were married in 1974. He was real involved in Kiwanis. He had a perfect attendance of 41 years in Kiwanis. So we were real involved in that. We went to the meetings and traveled. We went to Europe, to Vienna one year when the convention was over there. Then we went to Geneva for another convention. We traveled all over the United States going to conventions. I really enjoyed Kiwanis, it’s part of my heart. It’s a real special organization with a lot of beautiful people in it.
BLM: So, the man you married, we should mention his name.
BHS: Roger Schulz. He worked for New York Life and retired from New York Life. I lost him in 2003, he was 91 years old, and we had a beautiful life. He was very, very, special. Just a beautiful guy.
BLM: When you met him, I understand you played a little hard to get.
BHS: Yes, I wasn’t ready to get married again after a divorce. It was a sad time and I didn’t think I wanted that to ever happen again. But he was a born salesman [laughing] and eventually talked me into going out. I’m grateful that he did because he gave me one beautiful life. He loved me and he was so good to me.
BLM: With your blended family, you had five children.
BHS: Yes, we had five kids. We had one born in ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56 and ’57.
BLM: That’s a lot of teenagers in one house.
BHS: Right. Yes, we had our challenges for sure.
BLM: How did you manage that? Where did you live then?
BHS: We built a big, big, house. Roger had a home on Lake Burien and he had a couple lots. We built a big home to accommodate all five of the kids. Eventually, as they moved out, we ended up with a lot of steps and we decided then to build. We had another lot and we decided to build a handicap accessible home because Roger was having a hard time with the steps. I had taken care of my mother and my mother was 88. I took care of her for three years and I went up and down the steps, up and down the steps, because all of the bedrooms were upstairs and the laundry room was upstairs in this big home. So we decided we better build something that would be better for us. So we did. We built a handicap accessible home right in front of it on the lake. We’ve enjoyed that very much. We moved here in 1997.
BLM: Now before that time, it was part of your yard, is that right?
BHS: Yes, that’s right. It was a big yard.
BLM: So the kids played down on the lake.
BHS: Yes, they were able to play.
BLM: Describe what living on Lake Burien was like in the ’70s and ’80s, raising kids.
BHS: Well, of course they had their friends here. Then the house had a big recreation room down on the lower level. We had the piano and things that interested them. Of course, they did the swimming and they mowed the big lawn and so forth. And played ball and whatever. Anyway it all worked out. It was great.
BLM: Were any of them on the swim team or anything?
BHS: No. They liked to swim but they didn’t ever go into it in a big way.
BLM: One of your daughters, Kathy —
BHS: Kathy was totally deaf. When Roger and Harriet adopted Karen, her mother was an Indian from the Tsawwassen Indian Reserve up in Canada. She came down and gave her baby to the Catholic Children’s Home down here. Harriet and Roger had their name in for a boy and a girl in the Catholic Children’s home. Harriet was not able to have children. So they got Karen when she was three months old. Because they had their name in for a boy, when Karen’s mother came back down, pregnant again and was wanting to give the baby up, they asked Harried and Roger if they would take the baby, boy or girl because it would be a half sibling. They had different fathers, but it would be a half sibling to Karen They agreed to do it. Well, it was a girl and they took her. At about two months they found out she was totally deaf. By then they couldn’t give her away, they couldn’t give her up. So they kept her and raised her.
Then they finally ended up with a boy, Tim. We call him Tim. His name is Henry T. He was from the Lummi Reserve. His mother was from the Lummi Reserve. Just recently he tracked his family tree back.
Kathy was the one that wanted to find her mother. We weren’t able to find them until the kids were 18, that was the rule. Kathy came to me and said, “I want to find my mother.” She had gone to the doctor and had thyroid problems and the doctor said to her, “Is there a thyroid problem in your family?” Well, she didn’t know her birth mother. So we went to the Washington Adoptive Rights Movement, paid $175 for a search. They were able to open the records in Olympia. So we located her mother and her mother was real happy to know about her girls. She came down and we met her. They have had some time together. In fact, Karen has some health problems and she moved up with her mother for a while. I guess it didn’t work out too well. Anyway, she came back down here and is living back in the United States again. Kathy, because of the deaf problem and the communication problem they don’t see each other a lot. But they are in touch.
Kathy had a boyfriend and she has two boys, beautiful boys. Both graduated. Young Timmy, she named him after her brother, graduated and he is now working for a trucking company, works in the warehouse. I see him, a beautiful young man. And Jimmy is autistic and he still lives with his mother. So that’s kind of the story.
BLM: Since there was that challenge of communicating with your daughter did all the kids speak sign language?
BHS: Tim and Karen, of course were brought up with her and Harriet was really good about going to classes and everything. So of course she could communicate with Kathy real well. Roger and I took classes. Kathy wanted to go to the Vancouver School for the Deaf. Of course, if you don’t have someone to practice with, and Roger and I, busy with Kiwanis and everything, didn’t practice. We took classes and I know some sign, which got me through. But there was a lot of note writing. She could understand that. She lives up in the Burien Garden apartments now with her son. She works with the deaf and blind at night.
BLM: What about your boys? Were they able to communicate?
BHS: A little. Mostly note writing. Of course, Kathy was gone a good share of the time. She had her bedroom at home. We made this great big house so we could have a bedroom for all the kids. She was at Vancouver School for the Deaf and she came home on holidays and weekends and of course summer vacations. She graduated from that school. It was good because she could go to dances down there and she was a yell queen. So she was active and loved her school and all the kids that were in it.
BLM: Tell me a little bit about life in Burien back when you were raising your kids. Where did you go grocery shopping, for example.
BHS: You know, Burien Drug was on the corner of 152nd and Ambaum. Right across from there is the building that is going to be the museum. It was the Tradewell and that’s where we shopped. That was our grocery store. We had a theater, but a good share of Ambaum were homes. There was an egg farm by Mary Gay Flower Shop.
BLM: About what cross street was that on Ambaum?
BHS: The Prater Read Dime Store, Bunge Lumber was across from Burien Drug.
BLM: Ok, so that’s at about 152nd.
BHS: That’s 152nd, right on the corner. Then at 8th Avenue, and right next to that was a Mode O’Day Shop and the Prater Read Dime Store and the Mary Gay Flower Shop. Then there was an egg farm next to that. It had a lot of chickens and whatever. Then there were homes of course along there. We had a Burien play field that took up a lot of that property. George’s mother lived on the east side of the play field. She had property there. The kids eventually sold it. But there was a big play field right in the center of Burien.
BLM: What about shopping at, before it was Lamont’s, it was Bell’s of Burien?
BHS: Bell’s of Burien was across the street. There was a drug store there that Frank Phinney owned. Of course the bank – there was a bank there where it is now. There were little businesses along the south side of 152nd and several homes. Then there was a doctor’s office, Dr. Morrison, on 4th and 152nd.
BLM: How about the library? Did you take your kids to the library?
BHS: Yes, they went to the library.
BLM: It was on 153rd.
BHS: Yes.
BLM: That became an Osborn and Ulland Sports or something like that.
When your family went for outings, that’s an awfully big family to pack along anywhere. Did you go to local parks or on vacation? Where did you go.
BHS: We were busy most of the time because we had the service station and the wrecker and the cabs. So we didn’t take a lot of vacations then. It was mostly work, work, work. The kids liked the musical programs. They liked to go when the bands came here to Seattle. That was their specialty. They were expensive tickets but at least we were able to get them those.
BLM: Are you talking about rock and roll bands?
BHS: Rock and roll band, yes.
BLM: Because there wasn’t any Spanish Castle left at that point.
BHS: Oh yes, that was a sad thing. Redondo was a skating rink, it was nice. White Center had a skating rink. We skated there a lot.
BLM: Tell me a little about skating in White Center. What do you remember about that?
BHS: That’s where I learned to skate. Believe me, I ice skated up in Canada on the ponds that were in our place. Roller skating is a lot different than ice skating. But that’s where I learned to roller skate. Then when we moved out to Auburn, Redondo was closer, so we went there. It was a really nice skating rink.
BLM: There was also the Highline Ice Chalet. Did you ever use that?
BHS: No, I never did go. I took my kids down there a few times.
BLM: That was right on First Avenue.
BHS: First Avenue and 156th. Mike went down there. He was learning to skate and he fell. A girl ran over his hand with her skate and cut his finger, nearly cut his finger off. So we ended up in the hospital. That kind of stopped that.
BLM: Put a damper on it.
BHS: Yes, put a damper on the skating.
BLM: Did you use Highline Hospital?
BHS: Yes. Thank God, Highline Hospital had been there.
BLM: Now, was it Burien General at that time?
BHS: I think so, yes.
BLM: What do you remember about the hospital?
BHS: Well, it was small at the start, but it was sure nice to have it out here. It’s just been beautiful to see it grow into a beautiful facility with so much to offer. I belong to Group Health which was offered through my company and I do have to go downtown. But it’s been real nice. My kids have been able to be taken care of here at Highline. That’s great.
BLM: Now, you belong to the Catholic Church.
BHS: Yes.
BLM: Which church?
BHS: St. Francis. Roger had been in the choir for years and years. He said, “You know you’d really make me happy if you would join the choir.” I said, “Well, I don’t know how to read music. I read music to play the violin, but to sing it is different.” He said, “There will be people there to help you.” So, we joined the choir and we were in the choir for about 22 years. Really enjoyed it. I belong to the funeral ministry. We have nice luncheons there after the funeral.
BLM: Do you sing in the choir still?
BHS: No. It was getting hard for Roger to get up and down the steps and the choir director changed and that was kind of a factor too.
BLM: When you sang in the choir, what did that involve? Was it a rehearsal every week?
BHS: Yes, we rehearsed Thursday nights to sing Sunday. 10 o’clock mass.
BLM: Did you ever give special concerts, special music?
BHS: We participated in some competition with other churches. That was kind of fun, where all the churches come together and the choirs sing. That was pretty much the total. But we did sing for funerals and for Sunday mass. Somebody said, when you sing, you pray twice. I really enjoyed that.
BLM: What special music do you remember from that time? Can you hum a few bars?
BHS: [Laughing] That might be a little hard. St. Francis, there is a prayer of St. Francis that is especially meaningful.
BLM: It’s your church.
BHS: And it’s also a prayer.
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
That was the prayer and it’s a song that’s beautiful.
BLM: Did your church have a church basketball league and that sort of thing? Were your kids involved in any of that?
BHS: No, they were not. Roger’s children, Tim and Karen, attended the St. Francis school, then they went to Highline.
BLM: Your boys went to —
BHS: They went to Burien Grade School, and to Sylvester, and then to Highline.
BLM: Sylvester must have been fairly new at the time, wasn’t it?
BHS: Well, it had been there for a while.
BLM: Did you tell them a thing or two about what it was like at Highline in your years?
BHS: [Laughing] I suppose I did, no doubt.
BLM: Were there any teachers left there?
BHS: I don’t think so, that were there when I was there. But, Mr. Gilbert was I think, everybody’s joy. He was so funny. A real cute little guy. He had a blind daughter. I don’t know if you knew about that or not. He was loved by all the kids. But he would doze off in class and the kids kind of took over.
BLM: What other memories, especially of this area, would you like to share with future generations. What should people in the future know about what Burien was like and what the people were like? Specific examples of how we worked or played or shopped.
BHS: Well, of course, memories are special. The little theater in Burien is gone. That was a special place that my kids enjoyed.
BLM: The movie theater?
BHS: Yes, there was a little movie theater. Do you know where it was at?
BLM: No, you’ll have to tell me.
BHS: The Italian restaurant that’s across from where Taco Time is now. That’s where the theater was. It is now a restaurant. It would be on the corner of 153rd and Ambaum.
BLM: Ok. Did you go see movies there?
BHS: No. My kids did though.
BLM: You were too busy.
BHS: Yes, we put in 24/7 many, many, many days. You never knew when you were going to get a taxi call. It wasn’t like a big, big, business. It was a small business. There was usually a stewardess coming in in the middle of the night or something we had to get up for and go get her.
BLM: It must have been nice, though, taking people back and forth to the airport for all those years? But then when you were in Kiwanis you got to travel.
BHS: Yes.
BLM: Tell me a little bit about how the airport changed and your experience with the changes over time.
BHS: Just gradually seemed to build up and out.
BLM: What do you remember about the early airport?
BHS: Being very small, and fewer planes. It just grew, and grew, and grew. But it’s a beautiful facility. I know that a lot of people aren’t happy about the noises. Of course they have homes closer than what we have. You can hear it here a bit sometimes. But it never does anything that bothers and it wasn’t over on 10th Avenue – it didn’t bother me over there. Of course I wasn’t in the flight pattern like some of them are. I know they really fought it and fought it hard. But time marches on and we have to grow with the times. That’s kind of part of it. So much work had been done there it would have been a shame to try to move it out to someplace else. It’s between two big cities, Tacoma and Seattle. I think the location is great. But I feel for the people who have to put up with the noise. I do have a friend that’s right in the pattern. They know what it’s like, but they manage it.
BLM: Recently you attended a reunion of Highline students. Isn’t that right?
BHS: Yes. There are a group of people. Ernie Aries’ dad owned Max Fuel right on the corner of 152nd and Ambaum for many years. Ernie ran a service station in ours for a long time. Then he moved out to 188th and First Avenue. Then he ended up moving to Tahuya. He got a hardware store over there. He and his wife Shirley are both graduates of Highline. Anyway, Ernie and a group of people are very active in the reunions. He does a lot of the calling and the legwork for them. I’m in touch with them and so he called me up and asked me if I’d come to a reunion that they have down at the Poodle Dog in Tacoma, at Fife. So I was able to go down there and see some of the kids that I hadn’t seen for a long time. Corry Ward – some of the names escape me, but Ernie and Richard Aries, and Lola, we lost Lola – that was Richard’s wife. Shirley and Maxine Zimmerman and Zip Zimmerman. They were in business with Ernie. Anyway, it turned out real nice and I was really happy I went.
BLM: What memories did they recall, at that reunion? What did you reminisce about?
BHS: Highline and some of the things we’d done. Some of the special things that had happened in our life. It was good. It was real good to see the people and it brings back memories when you see people that you’ve known. It was special and I was happy that I went. And I’ll go again – if I’m here. [Laughing] At 86, you count your blessings.
BLM: Absolutely. Well, thank you very much for your time today.
BHS: You’re welcome.