8:42 AM

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A rendition of "Christmas for Cowboys" by former poet-laureate of Colorado John Denver, from Rocky Mountain Christmas (1975, RCA)

(photo: My grandpa, Don Woodfin, Ellensburg, WA, 1968)

Image of the Day

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Today is my Grandpa Don's birthday (he would have been 90). Above is a photo of him with my mom on Vashon Island, probably about 1951, and below is him in 1978. Pretty cool jean jacket.

Happy birthday, old timer.

American Experience

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CCC Firefighters in Washington State, 1937

I missed posting about this in advance, but I think it's worth putting up anyway. I'm working late and I have a TV in my office, and right now PBS is showing an American Experience documentary on the Civilian Conservation Corps, the cornerstone of FDR's New Deal that put millions of men to work during the Great Depression. Commentator Jonathan Alter:

Someone approached the economist John Maynard Keynes and asked him, 'Have we ever seen anything like this before?' And he said: 'Yes, we have. It was called the Dark Ages. It lasted 400 years.

So – we don't have it as bad as they did, and there are some signs that things are looking up, but I was saying to someone the other day that it seems like every other person I meet lately is out of work. I firmly believe that we need a jobs program in this country today and I think if Obama initiated it, it would change a lot of the haters' minds. It feels good to work and earn money, and when that's taken away, it can break a person, and break a country. In my mind, it's the most important thing to fix as we try to dig out from this financial crisis.

My grandfather Don Woodfin was a Firefighter in the CCC (old timers call it the CC's) in the mountains of Idaho. I'll write about that some time soon.

Preview the CCC documentary at PBS.org – it's worth looking out for a re-run or tracking down the DVD.

The incredible, edible egg

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Some old family photos that just re-surfaced:

My mom and my uncle Perry collecting eggs on my grandpa Don's chicken farm, Vashon Island, ca.1951

My mom's kindergarten class, Vashon Island – that's her in the middle row, fourth from our left. Click to enlarge – the back row looks like trouble.

Don Woodfin Poultry Farm float, Vashon parade, early 1950s. The sign on the front of the truck says
"How do you like these Chickens?"

Wild Style

There are advantages to being so sick that you can barely move. If I had been able to get off the couch Friday night, we would have missed an encore showing of Alone In the Wilderness on KCTS (the local PBS station) – Dick Proenneke's self-made documentary of his experiences building a log cabin by hand and exploring the natural environment of Twin Lakes, Alaska.

Using a hand-cranked 16mm Bolex camera, Proenneke carefully recorded the process of building the cabin and all the details that go along with it (including a stone fireplace, a thatched roof, wooden door hinges and a clever lock mechanism to keep bears out, an outhouse, a functional refrigerator in the ground, and much more). He demonstrates a truly amazing frontier craftsmanship that you don't see much of today; just as rewarding are Proenneke's beautiful shots of the flora, fauna, and spectacular scenery around him and his reverent but matter-of-fact take on it all.

I don't think it really does the movie full justice, but here's a clip if you're curious:



My brother first introduced me to Alone In the Wilderness, and Proenneke's skills, earned through his experience as a carpenter in the Navy during WWII, make me think of our own grandpa's experiences as a Navy Sea Bee and homesteader in Alaska.

Order the DVD and get more info at dickproenneke.com
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A Giant in the Mental

Yesterday was my Grandpa Don's birthday. He died in 2004 but it doesn't seem long ago – I think of him very often. Here's his obituary from the Whidbey News Times, written by my Uncle Perry:

Woodfin, Donald Wednesday, 08 Sep 2004

Donald A. Woodfin, 84, with his family by his side, died peacefully at his home in Rolling Hills Sept. 8, 2004.

He was born Jan. 26, 1920 in Palouse where the Woodfin family had homesteaded when Washington was still a territory. Don’s mother died when he was eight and his father passed away when he was 13. Orphaned during the Depression, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and at 15, lied about his age and joined the Marines. Stationed in Shanghai, China, in 1936, Don became an American Embassy guard and was the first American to sight and report the Japanese invasion of China. He was also a distinguished and decorated rifle and pistol marksman.

Out of the Marines, Don traveled to Sitka, Alaska, and worked on a halibut boat, and as an apprentice carpenter. He married Jeanne Perry and with the need for expert carpenter skills during World War II, joined the Navy SeaBees and helped build air runways at Sitka and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

Moving to Vashon Island, and with a growing family, Don purchased a berry and fruit farm. With his interest in agriculture broadening, he eventually built up the largest chicken farm in the Greater Seattle area. During this time he met and became a good friend of Betty McDonald. She wrote the famous novel “The Egg and I” that produced the lovable characters, Ma and Pa Kettle. Betty paid tribute to Don in her book Onions In the Stew as “...the unforgettable Marine.” The barn, chicken house, and caretaker house he built Betty and her family are now recognized National Historical Landmarks and Don is well known to the Betty McDonald International Fan Club.

Divorced in 1954, Don moved to Moses Lake, which was experiencing a boom. He married Jananne (Nan) Goltz and began a long and successful career as a custom builder. But his interest in agriculture did not leave him, and in the early 1960s he moved his family to Ellensburg and began ranching in addition to building. The Limousin breed of cattle captured his attention and by the 1970s he had earned a respected niche in the cattle industry throughout the Pacific Northwest, when in 1976, his wife Nan unexpectedly died.

In 1978 Don married Joyce Hofelter and they moved to Whidbey Island and began what was to be a 26-year marriage. Together, Don and Joyce became a major force in Limousin cattle with Don becoming known as “the Grandfather of Limousin” across the western United States. He became the president of both the NW and Washington Limousin Associations and with Joyce, started and developed the Limousin Bull Test. Many ranchers in the West attribute their start in Limousin cattle to Don.

Don had a passionate love of life which included golf (even a few holes-in-one), the stock market, and family. He fought a courageous battle with cancer for over 30 years. This battle defied odds and statistics due to his love of life, in addition to his excellent physical conditioning. He lifted weights and exercised every morning of his life, even up to one week before he passed away. On occasion, when in hospitals, he would be performing push-ups on his bed when nurses would enter his room and be startled by his unusual vigor. This zest for life included story-telling, and as everyone knew, he loved to tell a good joke.

Don is survived by his wife, Joyce Woodfin; his son, Perry Scott Woodfin of San de Fuca and his daughters, Donna Woodfin Stahl and Margaret Lee Woodfin of Seattle; his stepson, Gary Lyle Goltz and wife Bernatta of Coupeville; his stepdaughter, Roxanne Cole and partner Jim Anderson of Snohomish; his stepsons, Bill Hofelter and wife Cheryl of Phoenix, and Rex Hofelter and wife Jacqueline of Orange County, California. There are 12 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.

To his family, he was not a particularly tall man, but he was a giant.

I think I mentioned awhile back that I was going to start posting some photos of my Grandpa, as there are a lot of great ones (he was kind of a show-off). They're all packed away though, so this is that rare thing on Pacific Standard, a post with no images. My Grandpa Don was a great person – he had so many stories, we would beg to hear them all the time – and they were all things he had lived or seen…crazy stuff you don't hear anymore. I'm really proud to have known him.

Veterans Day

I meant to mark Veterans Day yesterday by posting an excerpt from the stories my Grandpa Don wrote down before he died. He was a Marine guarding the US Embassy in Beijing in the 1930s, and was the night guard on duty there who first saw the flash of gunfire in the distance when the Japanese invaded. He had some amazing stories, and many photos to go with them…but of course all of that stuff is in storage right now and I couldn't get to it. When I can, I think I might start posting some of his stories, maybe once a week. After he got back from China, he tried selling vacuums in Seattle, but the depression made that just about impossible – so he hopped a fishing boat and homesteaded in Alaska, before joining up with the Navy and constructing the base at Sitka. He would go on to build a big chicken farm on Vashon Island, a bunch of houses, cattle ranches and a bull test in Ellensburg, Moses Lake, and Whidbey Island, and…anyway, the stories go on and on. More on that later.

For now, here's a photo of our President-elect from the Times this morning. This struck me as an extraordinarily quiet, moving image.

President-elect Barack Obama marked Veterans Day by laying a wreath at the Bronze Soldiers Memorial in Chicago. He was joined by Tammy Duckworth, Illinois’s director of veterans’ affairs, who served in the war in Iraq and lost both of her legs there.

The Thrills of Owning a Chicken Ranch

One hundred years ago today, Vashon Island's own Betty MacDonald was born. The author of The Egg & I, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and many other books, MacDonald garnered a worldwide following and still has millions of fans today.

Why do I care? Number one, if you can't celebrate your local heroes, what the F can you do? Number two, my grandfather Don Woodfin had a chicken farm in Lisabeula (an area on Vashon) in the 1940s and '50s, and was a good friend of Betty and her family. He built them a barn, chicken coup, and caretaker house, all of which are now recognized National Historical Landmarks. Don was immortalized as "the unforgettable Marine" in Betty's book Onions in the Stew, her story of life on Vashon. After 9/11, many members of the international Betty MacDonald Fan Club e-mailed me to offer their best wishes and let us know that they were thinking of us, all because he had built her barn. It was really nice.