Sometimes life flows along like a pleasant stream, meandering around boulders and logs, while at other times it roils down a mountainside like an avalanche.
With summer passing into fall, the past week or so seemed more like an avalanche.
The weekend after Labor Day, I joined more than 100 others at the Southwest Washington Writers Conference in the Walton Science Center at Centralia College where we reunited with friends, met new writers, and learned from experienced authors.
Every other year, I’ve invited the Washington state Poet Laureate to teach at our conference as each serves a two-year term under the program sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission.
When Derek Sheffield, the eighth state poet laureate, agreed to teach, I mentioned his upcoming visit to a friend involved in the Chehalis Friends of the Library, which then worked with the Vernetta Smith Timberland Regional Library to organize a free Friday evening public event dubbed “An Hour with the Washington State Poet Laureate.”
We were blessed to have both Best Western Plus in Chehalis and La Quinta Inn offer discounted rooms to our conferees, and Best Western provided overnight accommodation for the state poet laureate. Previous poet laureates who have presented at our conference include Rena Priest, Tod Marshall and Elizabeth Austen.
I was tied up at the writers’ conference but met Derek after his library presentation at the TransAlta Commons at Centralia College. We shared a table during a book signing as part of the Friday Evening with Authors, co-sponsored by Hope Alliance and the Lewis County chapter of the American Association of University Women. Centralia restaurants donated appetizers for the event and businesses as well as AAUW interest groups created baskets for a raffle. Book ’N’ Brush in Chehalis ran our conference bookstore and organized the book signing by keynote speakers and local authors. Altogether, the event raised about $3,500 to help survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
For the first time, the volunteer-run Southwest Washington Writers Conference sold out, perhaps in part because of our keynote speakers — historical novelist Kristina McMorris and middle-grade author Rosanne Parry, both from Portland. Despite a few technical glitches, the conference and Friday masterclass (featuring Seattle editor Christine Pinto and indie author Shawn Inmon of Tumwater) seemed successful based upon the evaluations, which I tallied from a recliner the day after the conference. After our treasurer reviews the numbers, we’ll send a check to the Centralia College Foundation for scholarships.
The following week kept me bouncing from the AAUW book club to the St. Helens Club in Chehalis and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association historical affinity book club.
Then, on Friday, I joined dozens of others at the Mason Jar near Onalaska for the Discover Lewis County Tourism Summit & Leadership Awards, where my friend Edna Fund, former Centralia City Council member and Lewis County commissioner, received the legacy award for her role in launching Discover Lewis County.
Or, in the words of emcee Todd Chaput, executive director of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County, “whose vision helped create the foundation of what we’re building on tonight.”
Edna is a terrific cheerleader for all of Lewis County.
I also enjoyed seeing the other recipients of tourism awards: Johanna “Joh” Jones of Toledo; Fionna Velazquez, Southwest Washington Fair and events manager; Cathy Cooper Murphy with Onalaska Alliance for Sustainable Community; Tony Karniss with Lewis County Back Country Horsemen; Mineral Lake Lions Club Board President Steve Mayer; and Mary Kay Nelson with the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum.
Mary Kay thanked everyone, including her daughter Annalee Tobey and colleagues Joanne Schwartz and Maree Lerchen.
“We’ve been at this for 30 years, and I love every minute of it.”
Edna agreed.
“The speaker said earlier, ‘You can’t do this stuff alone.’”
After rousing games of pinochle on Saturday night, I showed up at Chehalis West on Sunday afternoon for a 100th birthday party … that took place the previous day.
While visiting with Margaret Denzil “Denny” (Kirkendoll) Cole as she celebrated her centennial birthday, I started to question whether I should check with my doctor for dementia tests — that is, until her grandson Bret Cole and his wife, Christine, stopped by, saying they also thought the party was on Sunday. I realized with relief it was simply miscommunication over time and date of the event.
When I apologized for missing her party, Margaret simply said, “You can’t be everywhere at once.”
More than two years ago, I wrote several columns about Margaret, a spry descendant of early Toledo pioneers such as the Kirkendolls and the Laytons and a founding member of both the Lewis County and Toledo historical societies.
She was born near Layton Prairie on Sept. 20, 1926, to Mark and Edith (Layton) Kirkendoll, grew up on a farm with an outhouse, graduated from Toledo High School in 1944, and married Laurence Frederick “Larry” Cole on Aug. 6, 1944.
She had been married 50 years when her husband died on Jan. 3, 1998, at the age of 76. Their three children — Gene, Rick and Sheryl (Cole) McKinley — each graduated from Toledo High.
In 2024, Margaret still lived in the home she and her husband built together. At the time, she attributed her longevity to her sturdy pioneer roots.
“I take after my mother, and she lived to be 100,” she said. “But I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stay upright that long.”
Indeed, she’s still upright and celebrated her centennial birthday most of the weekend. She wasn’t tired after the party, she said.
“I didn’t do anything, just sitting in my chair,” she said.
She told me she keeps putting one foot in front of the other.
“Just hanging in there.”
Happy 100th birthday, Margaret “Denny” Cole, and best wishes for many more.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
