Highlighting Lewis County: Concert Recalls Days of Old; WWI Preservation Important

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Times change, but some things never do.

Saturday night I stood with my 17-year-old daughter amid a crowd in front of a stage at the sold-out Roseland Theater in Portland waiting to hear the Irish musician Hozier.

The 28-year-old singer and songwriter born on St. Patrick’s Day in Bray, Ireland, is one of my daughter’s favorite indie musicians. He plays guitar and sings soul, blues, folk, and indie rock with a remarkable range of voice.

What’s most precious is that my daughter wants to spend time with me. I cherish these moments as I know life changes and people face different pressures.

I’ll never forget attending the concert of another activist folk musician with my mother in the early 1980s. John Denver’s concert drew people of all ages to the Memorial Coliseum in Portland. That huge arena filled with people fell absolutely silent when he sang.

I’ll admit to being taken aback Saturday night after waiting nearly an hour in a line that stretched around two sides of a Portland block only to arrive upstairs and discover we’d be standing the entire time. What? No seats?

I bought a Diet Coke, popped two Tylenol, and wiggled into a spot in the middle of people packing the floor. We waited. And waited. When I bent over, my daughter asked what I was doing.

“Pulling down my socks,” I told her. “I don’t want blood clots from standing in one place for hours.”

That thought never occurred to me 38 years ago when I joined college cluster-mates from the University of Washington’s McMahon Hall for a concert of the English pop group The Kinks. We stood near the front in the Seattle Center Arena. When the opening act took the stage, the crowd surged forward. Terror filled my heart as my feet left the ground. Fearing I’d be trampled like the 11 who died at The Who concert in Ohio the previous year, I gripped the shoulders of tall strangers nearby and held on.

Over the years, I’ve attended other concerts — such as the Rolling Stones and Styx in Seattle, Huey Lewis & The News in Tacoma, Billy Joel in Portland, and country musicians Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson, John Connolly, Alabama and Oak Ridge Boys. At some point I decided it’s better to sit in an easy chair and enjoy a better view of musicians as they perform on television.

Yet Hozier’s concert, where probably 10 rows of people separated us from the stage, brought back what you miss in watching television — the rumble beneath the feet, music blasting from speakers, flashing lights, and a crowd singing and swaying beside you.



The ambiance matters most. That, and the company we keep. My daughter is the best company I know.

Armistice Day Centennial

As we approach the centennial marking the end of World War I, it’s wonderful to see the Lewis County Genealogical Society, the Veterans Memorial Museum and Lewis County Historical Museum working together to preserve information about those who served.

My great-uncle served during the Great War, but I knew him only as the white-haired gravelly voiced man who called himself the Big Bad Wolf. Yet my mom shared stories about William Paul Sullivan, who was born in Romney, Indiana in 1895, dropped out of school after eighth grade, and worked 46 years for the Monon Railroad, retiring as vice president and earning a spot in “Who’s Who in America” books. He died in April 1970.

At 22, he enlisted in the Army on Nov. 28, 1917, served in the Motor Transport Corps, received a promotion to sergeant and sailed overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces. He served in France from Jan. 4, 1918, until June 11, 1919. Uncle Paul complained about the arrogance displayed by French residents toward Americans fighting for them, but he always supported the Red Cross, which set up canteens to serve food and beverages to traveling soldiers.

My mom paid for plaques on the Veterans Memorial Museum’s Wall of Honor to acknowledge the service of Uncle Paul and her three brothers, while I bought tiles for my father and my husband.

If you aren’t sure whether your relatives served in WWI, but they resided in Southwest Washington, follow this link to an online version of a book called “In the Service, The Great World War Honor Roll, Southwest Washington:” http://www.skagithistory.com/swww1service1.html  Then swing by either museum and pick up a copy of the application so their service can be honored and remembered. I need to fill out one for Uncle Paul. It’s the least I can do for the Big Bad Wolf.

 

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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at chaptersoflife1999@gmail.com.