Sometimes, there comes a time in our lives — for us "older folk" — when we feel we just can't go on with anything and we'd just as soon sit in a "lift chair," if we have one, and read good books for the rest of our lives.
That feeling was hitting me pretty hard recently when I figured I'd already written columns about everything interesting I could think of and it was time to leave these spaces in The Chronicle for someone else to fill.
The responses from Chad and Coralee Taylor, the owners who sign my checks each month, provided me with another way to look at the situation, suggesting there are a lot of newcomers in the area who have read only some of my recent columns.
"Why not just repeat some of those old ones?" they said.
So, after first bringing a few things up to date, here is what many people may have been reading on Aug. 14, 2008, after seeing former Chronicle photographer Holly Pederson's poignant photo of large machines at work, demolishing the Vader school buildings, located in south Lewis County.
They were clearing the land, but the photo really focused on two empty, child-sized chairs, sitting by themselves, off to one side.
I had once developed a wonderful memory of that school — or, at least, an incident which happened there.
Here's that story.
I am one of about a dozen or so adults in the community who was accepted to sing with students in the Centralia College Choir. In past years, they had often given spring concerts at some of the grade schools in the area. And, one year, it was decided to include the Vader school in our tour schedule. We arrived a little early and, to make sure we all stayed together, we gathered in the playground area. The swings, slides, teeter-totters and other equipment were then given tests by some of the singers Yep, a group which included me. Later, when it was time for our performance, we lined up in a hall and children filed by us before our performance was scheduled to begin. One young boy — probably a second or third grader — stopped in his tracks when he saw me, pointed his finger at me and, with one of the biggest grins I have ever seen, said, "You're that old man who went down the slide!"
I had to put my finger to my lips to silence him and his revelation just as the teacher pushed him into moving again, giggling slightly as he went on.
When we sang for the pupils that day, it was done in a combination lunch room/auditorium/library and we could see that the facility was inadequate for even one of those purposes, much less all three.
So, until the demolition and, later, construction of the new building was completed, the students were daily saddled with a long bus ride to and from a school in the next county.
A problem? Maybe. I may have worried then, but I have a different opinion today. You see, in my youth, we went through the same problem when our school moved from the basement of our church to a new location that seemed to us to be halfway down the road to Mount Rainier, in Parkland.
It didn't seem to hurt us a bit. We had fun singing most of the way. Besides, we didn't turn out too badly. Out of a class with five boys in it, here's what eventually developed. We seemed to lose track of one, Leroy. There was word that he went into the rodeo business but we never found out in what capacity. Myron became a fireman in Tacoma but spent his "leisure” time practicing until he won the national championship in the sport of handball. Bob settled for the post office and became a member of the Washington State Letter Carriers Association — in addition to being a national business agent for the mail carriers. After working in Richland, John's last position was with the International Atomic Energy Commission in Warsaw. I spent time in various capacities of radio, politics, bookselling and trying to think of what I could find to write about in these epistles. Bus riding didn't hurt us a bit, did it?
And, finally, I hope the failure of the school levies this past week will not impede the support our students in the county deserve. Fingers crossed.
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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
