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Thursday, July 26, 2018

Merrill Parish (March 28, 1918-October 3, 1985)

Merrill Parish
(March 28, 1918-October 3, 1985)

I was in the Gig Harbor City Center Building no longer ago and I suddenly thought, ‘I wonder how many people know who was the second mayor of the Town of Gig Harbor?’.  Almost everyone knows that the first mayor was a local dentist, Harold Ryan.  Ryan served 9 years as Gig Harbor’s mayor; in June 1955 Merrill Parish was elected mayor.  Parish only served one term as mayor but he lived in Gig Harbor for 44 years.  Perhaps it is time to learn a little bit more about him.

Parish was born in Elba, Idaho, to Asel Bryran Parish and Sarah Ethel Rich on March 28, 1918. He was their first of four children - two girls, Beth and Melba, two brothers, Archie Dean and Lynn.  Unfortunately Lynn died shortly after his birth in 1929.

In 1935 at age 17, Parish moved to Gig Harbor and lived with his uncle and aunt, Frank Parish and Lillie Parish, and their children.  He moved back to Idaho in 1940 where he married Alta Lorene Lord the following year.  With the United States entry into World War II Parish enlisted in the military and was assigned to Fort Douglas, Utah, although he did not receive a branch assignment at time of enlistment.  Later he was assigned to the US Army and he served from 1945 until 1947.  During his service he also served in the Army Signal Corps including time in occupied Japan.

It was then that he and his wife moved back to Gig Harbor.  He took employment at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1948.  In that same year he purchased the Peninsula Dairy Store from Bert Uddenberg and reopened as Parish Economy Market which he owned and operated from 1948 until 1955.  

1955 was a busy year for Parish, he help found McDonald Realtors with Graham McDonald; he and the McDonalds purchased Raft Island, his son, Rex Bryan was born, and he was elected mayor of Gig Harbor.  And he joined with McDonald as co-founder of the Gig Harbor Golf Club and held lifetime membership.  His first son, Patrick was born in 1952.

Although Parish only served one term - June 1955 to June 1960, he was quite active.  He held public discussions on the proposed sewers.  As with any change in Gig Harbor, good or bad, there were very heated discussions on the sewers.  The following year he started a teen curfew without an adult  between the hours of 10:30 pm to 5:30 am to prevent teenage drinking but it was later repealed.  He was also responsible for installing the first street signs in Gig Harbor.  During his term, he (the Town)   rented office space in the Finholm Building on North Harborview.  However the council meetings were held in the Pioneer Electric Building or in Judge Thurston’s office.

Like the majority of men in the community, he was very active in various community organizations:  lifetime member of the Gig Harbor Sportsmen’s Club; Gig Harbor Lions; Past Worshipful Master of John Paul Jones Masonic Lodge; member of the Gig Harbor Ward, Church of the Latter Day Saints, and helped the church acquired the old Lincoln School property at the corner of Dorotich Street and Rosedale Street where they build their new church building.  He also acted a Chairman for several events raising funds for the polio drives.  

Parish’s home was located at 7421 Soundview which was lost in a fire in May 4, 1972.  

Parish died at age 67 on October 3, 1985.  He was survived by his wife, Alta, their two sons, Rex and Pat, two sisters, Beth Ward and Melba Culver, his brother, Archie, and a grandson.  

notes:

  • Peninsula Gateway - Page 7A, Oct. 9, 1985 and Page regarding Mayors of Gig Harbor
  • Tacoma News Tribune, page B7, October 5, 1985
  • Northwest Room, Tacoma Public Library
  • Ancestry.com

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry - Wednesday, July 2, 1890

Nice day but contained one hard showering about a pinch of thunder.In morn steamed  out to CC&P Yard with the 2 scows against the tide then back to O&D Yard - found theirs aground waited & got it -- towed it in against the tide Then towed Armstrong's to gridiron and ours out to RR Wharf --besides Thorne brot in shaft end of connecting rod.


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry - Wednesday, June 25, 1890

Good average day tho a slight mist was visible during part of the day.  Broke our starboard propeller the first thing in morning then docked the Carson and then ordered a new propeller and got wood aboard and steamed to ? Pt.


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Donald James McCarty

Donald James McCarty
(June 27, 1924-2018*)

Donald James McCarty was elected mayor of Gig Harbor, Washington, in November, 1985.  He served in that capacity until 1989.  His obituary was published in The Peninsula Gateway on June 21, 2018.  However the date of death was not included in the obituary.  In the event you did not see the obituary I am reproducing it below.

Donald J. McCarty
Born Donald James McCarty on June 27, 1924 in a sod house in Garden County, Nebraska, Don’s family moved to Yelm, Washington in 1928, where Don attended school and graduated from high school in Darington, WA in 1942.  In March of 1943, Don entered the U.S.Army and served for 6 years with most of the time in the Air Corps (now the Air Force) before being honorably discharged.  During his time in the military, Don met Betty Amp and the two were married in January of 1946.  Don and Betty would spend the next three years attached to the American Embassy in Dublin, Ireland.  While they lived in Ireland, they established many lifelong friendships, which in the following years several trips were enjoyed visiting the Downey, Cronin and Ongley families on their respective homelands of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.  A son, Donald J. McCart, Jr. was born in Dublin, Ireland on September 2, 1946. 

After leaving the military in late 1948, Don completed advanced courses in aviation maintenance.  In 1949 the family moved to the Midland area of Pierce County, WA where they resided for the next 23 years.  A daughter, Diane, was born in Tacoma on December 8, 1954.  Don entered into employment in March 1950 at McChord Air Force Base where he was employed until September 1980.  Fifteen of those years were spent as Maintenance and Engineering Advisor on the F-106 Fighter.  After his retirement, Don and Betty moved to their new home in Gig Harbor, WA.  During that time, Don worked as a realtor, a mortgage banker, while continuing his service to the Southeast Tacoma Mutual Water Company where he was a member of the Board of Directors as well as Company President, and he also served as President of the Gig Harbor Historical Society.  Don helped found the Pierce County Regional Water Association and worked on several water studies and committees.  Don served on the Gig Harbor City Council for two years before becoming Mayor of Gig Harbor in 1986, where he served for four years, one of his proudest accomplishments.

Don spent his final years in the Phoenix, AZ area after moving in 2014 to remain nearby surviving family.  Don is survived by his children Diane and Don Jr. grandchildren Sean (Fidler), Kendra, Kyle and Kara (McCarty), and great grandchildren Aidan, Elizabeth and Ronan (Fidler).  Fond and lifelong memories go to our special friends and families in Ireland and New Zealand.  Special thanks to Rowena, Gatrene and the rest of the staff at Aegis at Redwood Assisted Living Home for such compassionate care during Don’s final years.  Private services will be held by the family at the Haven of Rest in Gig Harbor, WA.


There is a copy of an interview with Don in the Harbor History Museum Research Room dated January 13, 2010.  Don and his wife, Betty, first became volunteers with the museum when they moved to Gig Harbor, and eventually became President of the Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society (dab Harbor History Museum).   

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Conrad Michael Anderson (1/6/1865-4/7/1952)

Conrad Michael Anderson (1/6/1865-4/7/1952)

Conrad M. Anderson is known as one of this community’s earliest boat builders working first, as so many men did for Skansie Ship Building Company before opening his own firm in 1920.  This blog will just attempt to add to his story.
Fish boat "Oceania" under construction at Skansie Shipyard.  18 men on and in front of it:Gorge Dorotich, Conrad Anderson with pipe; John Jensich, etc (Harbor History Museum Bfsh-53.jpeg)

*(Encyclopaedia Britannica) 

The major industries are related to fisheries and boat building so one can easily assume that Conrad had experience in either one or both these industries by the time he arrived in the United States at age 20 in 1885.  Two years later, he had moved to Tacoma, Washington where he met Bernthine Sophie Pederson. They were married March 13, 1890 and moved to Purdy in Pierce County, Washington by 1900 according to the US Census for that year.  They had six children:  Annie, Chester Bertrum, Ingeborg Marie, Arthur Bennet, Ernest Christin, and Carl S.  Unfortunately Bernthine died on April 16, 1915 and Conrad was left with the younger children.  He had moved to Gig Harbor by 1920 when he left Skansie Ship Building Co. and opened his own boat building business.

Conrad had purchased some choice property at the foot of Stinson Avenue and Harborview Drive.  The property has deep water access which made construction of larger boats possible and he and his sons built both fishing boats and general purpose boats. 
(iPhone picture of circa 1920 Conrad Anderson Shipyard taken from internet)
And, on December 19, 1924, Conrad opens his own boat building business at this location according to the Peninsula Gateway.  All in all, it is believed he built 15 larger fishing boats including trollers and seiners.  Some of the boats were 1920 - Leif II (Karl Hansen); 1920 - Wisconsin (Peter Milos and Tony Lovrovich); 1923 -Equator (Frank Ivanovich), 1925 - Sharon …, 1926 - Venus (Paul Puratich, Andrew Gilich, Mike Katich), and 1927 - Gertrude S. (could this be the 70’ fishing boat they built for Sebastian and Stewart Fish Co.in the Peninsula Gateway 1/28/1927?). 
Art Glein rebuilt covered netshed after fire destroyed Conrad Anderson Shipyard buildings (Harbor History Museum BSL-085-GH.jpeg)

Lee Makovich wrote an article in The Peninsula Gateway December 3, 2003 issue titled “The Leif II was Conrad Anderson’s first”.  This was in ’The Past Alive” column Lee used to write.  

“The Leif II was the first of famed Conrad Anderson’s masterpiece creations.  The 52’ seine style vessel was launched from Anderson’s shipyard in the spring of 1920.  Powered by a 45 h.p. Enterprise gas engine, the trim vessel was built for Karl Hansen.  Records indicate that the Leif II was engaged in both halibut and salmon purse seine fisheries in the early years of her existence. It should be mentioned that Conrad Anderson was one of the early foremen at the Gig Harbor based Skansie Shipyard.  But when he left the Skansie facility to start his own shipyard, Anderson had a great many ideas of his own—which he intended to take advantage of in this challenging new business venture.  … But he also had a somewhat different concept for the design of the vessels he intended to build on his own.  … Anderson was not satisfied with some of the basic designs of the Skansie-built vessels he helped to construct. …He worked long and hard to try and put on paper, contemporary concepts that danced in about in his brilliant and innovative mind.  He soon transferred those modern ideas to designs on paper, and then to the construction of his masterpiece vessels. …The differences from the Skansie-built vessels were subtle to be sure, but Anderson believed that the hulls which he designed allowed the boats to slip through the water with much greater ease.  And there were many who absolutely agreed with that assessment.

In 1927, Conrad sold some of his property on the southwest side of Harborview Drive to Bert Uddenberg who then built a garage and service station.  Today you would find the Gig Harbor Yacht Club, Speedy Glass and Gig Harbor Marina’s Consignment shop. 

Bernthine died in 1915, and in 1924, Conrad married Sarah Grace Smith and they continued to live in Gig Harbor.  Unfortunately Sarah died June 3, 1943.  

Conrad’s first born son, Chester moved to the Pasadena area of Southern California in 1927.  He worked as a carpenter on odd jobs with his last job that I found was as a rigger on a dam project.  His wife, Maude Elizabeth Carroll died in 1957 while they were living in Alameda, CA, and it was there too that Chester died in 1965.

Ingeborg Marie married Odin Julian Jensen in February 1920 and they moved to Ketchiakn, AK where Odin worked as a building contractor.  Odin died in 1971, and Ingeborg died in 1974.

Arthur married Nellie McKenzie in 1923 and Arthur took employment in Wrangell, AK in 1930 as a ship builder.  Five years later they moved back to Seattle.

Ernest married Mary H. Mills in 1925. They too moved to Wrangell AK in 1930 (perhaps with Arthur and Nellie).  Ernest was also a ship builder where he worked until 1948.  He died in 1964; his wife Mary lived until 1999.

Carl, the youngest, moved to Ketchikan AK in 1928 and two years later, moved to Wrangell, AK.  Yes, his occupation was also as a ship builder.  1940 found him living in Petersburg, AK and then, in 1944, he moved back to the mainland and settled in Everett where he owned Fisherman’s Boat Shop.  In 1959 he sold the business to Dick Eitel who then added steel work operations to the boat work.

One document describing Conrad ’s boat building operations in Gig Harbor states that when he retired in 1937, his sons took over the boatyard here and ran it as a repair shop.  However, the sons were scattered:  Chester in California; Arthur in Seattle; Ernest in Wrangell; and Carl in Everett.  The document goes on to say they had assumed control and were running it when it caught fire and burned to the ground in 1940s.  The fire occurred when the community’s fire brigade was entirely volunteers.  The first fire protection district did not become a reality until January 6, 1945 when Pierce County Fire District #5 was established.  Neither the Northwest Room, Tacoma Public Library, nor I could find any articles regarding the fire, its causes or the actual date.      

Conrad died age 87 after a brief illness, although it was rumored he was found at home alone where he died of a heart attack.  (TNT 4/11/1952 p29)  Rev. Mary J. Turner officiated at his services and he was buried in the Burley Cemetery .  According to the Peninsula Gateway 4/18/1952 obituary, he had learned his trade as shipbuilder and designer in Norway before leaving there in 1885, and arriving in the Puget Sound area in 1890. 
  
Another document that caught my attention was a photocopy of page 57, Alaska Fisherman’s Journal, October 1985 titled “A Rose Full of Room”.  Although the article is not about Conrad himself, it is very interesting because it is about his son, Arthur’s grandson, Bill Gardner.  Bill Gardener is the son of Helen Thompson Anderson and John K. Gardner who were married September 22, 1950.  The Gardner Boat Repair business located in Ballard is a fifth generation operation.  It is interesting because of the relationship to Conrad Anderson and the ship building and repair business he started.

Gardner was first a seiner, halibut fisherman and a gill netter before he started working on boats, rather than in them.  His grandfather was an experienced boatbuilder as were his great uncles.  One of them, Carl owned Fisherman’s Boat Shop in Everett.  His entry into boat work was easy and in 1976 he opened his shop working as a shipwright.  At the time of this article he was subcontracting all his woodwork to his uncle Glenn, his mother’s brother, and to his uncle Carl, Carl Sr.’s son.  

Notes:

  • Peninsula Gateway - various inc. obituary 4/18/1952; The Past Alive 12/3/2003
  • Tacoma News Tribune - 4/11/1952 obituary
  • ancestry.com
  • Alaska Fisherman’s Journal, October 1985
  • Tacoma Public Library, Northwest Room
  • Eddon Boat Yard
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica - Folda, Norway

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry - Wednesday June 18, 1890

Somewhat rainy again.  Got out early and towed a scow of coal to Puget Sound Brick, Pile & Terra Cotta Co.'s works.  Then returned and lay around till p.m.then took on fuel and juice and steamed head of Ketron Island and anchored for the night- in the meantime towed the Lottie Carson to anchorage and credited the Size with another  V


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry Wednesday June 11, 1890

Somewhat rainy - fair in p.m.Towed the Snyder raft to Delano Beach and returning bro in a scow of sand.


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.