Dad and I met with Sandy Rose, a classmate of his from Redmond Elementary days, at Ooba Tooba, one of my favorite Redmond restaurants. It was fun to see them catch up over stories and yearbooks after all the decades.
Here’s Sandra Rose’s story.
“It’s called the slough” Us old timers have an attitude. When we hear people say ‘the river’ we think to ourselves, ‘What river? It’s called the slough.’”
[Photo: one of the mini hydroplane races that was held annually on the slough]
Sandy Rose grew up on 148th St. Ave NE and 70th, across the street from Grasslawn Ranch, which is now Grasslawn Park. “The Kings lived there. I remember Mr. King driving his tractor through their log archway gate to the road. He’d take his hat off and wave it. He did that for his wife because there were so few cars driving at the time.”
Sandy reflects on how back then, everything used to be woods. “When I graduated from high school population was 400. The only reason it got larger was because of “Bill,” She says
Sandy was raised in Redmond and never moved away. Her grandparents lived here. Her mother was born in Seattle in 1919; she went to Redmond’s school when it was Redmond elementary through high school. Sandy started in the First Grade. She was a classmate with my dad, Jack Dorsey. When they were students at Redmond Elementary School went through Jr. High.
Dad and Sandy were ten years old and swimming at Lake Sammamish when Nancy Burlingame drowned. The school encouraged people swimming at the lake and offered swimming lessons in the summer. Kids walked to the lake and played in the cool water on hot days. Mr Williams, the track coach, tried to save Nancy, doing CPR. “That was the most awful thing that every happened in my life in Redmond,” Sandy says.
Sandy has never known anything else but Redmond. It is part of her life. “We came to town every other week to get groceries. We only came to get sugar or flower. We raised beef and hogs and chickens and we had a garden,” she recalls. Sandy notes that most people who came through the war had Victory gardens. “It was in the war years, and we learned to save everything,” she says.
Sandy’s dad was from Mason City, Iowa. He’d worked in the Kirkland ship yards – like my Grandfather Dorsey did – during World War II. It was common for the men to serve in the military, or work at Boeing or the Shipyards. “The nice thing about the men working together was that it brought the community together,” Sandy says.
When she was ten, Sandy’s dad got open sores in his leg. His doctor wanted to cut his leg off for a time. He kept it, but couldn’t use it; it was all black. She helped her dad by milking the clow, slopping the hogs, and feeding the chickens. “I was happy that I got to help my dad. I liked to help Daddy,” she says. Many of their neighbors had milk cows too and a couple of acres because back then land was cheap.
When I asked Sandy if they were poor, she told this story. My sister and I took my mom out in her eighties. We were having lunch, and I told mom how wonderful it was that we were so wealthy. ‘Wealthy, what are you talking about! Your dad got sick. I had to go to work.’” Her mom never complained.
Bill and Irene Siepman and their kids Harry, Verna and Janet were neighbors who had milk cows. They lived on Bel Red Road and 40th street. Harry was my Uncle Bob’s best friend.
[Top left photo: Harry with rabbits; Top middle photo: Harry, Dorsey boys and neighbor kids playing; my dad, Jack Dorsey, on far right; Top right photo: Siepmans and neighbor kids; my dad, Jack Dorsey, on far right; Middle left photo: Siepman barn; Middle photo, Janet Siepman and friend Kathlene at Gateway Park on Lake Sammamish; Bottom photo: My uncle Bob Dorsey and Janet Siepman]
Janet was a classmate and friend of Dad and Sandy. Sandy remembers a vacation with the Siepmans. Irene was sweeping the dirt floor of their cabin while the girls sunned themselves near the lake, without a care in the world. She also spent time with them at Camp Lagoon on Camano Island. “They loved Camano,” she says.
[Photo: Janet enjoying the waters of Camano Island]
The Siepmans eventually bought a farm in Cle Ellum and moved there. The kids found a way to stay in touch, taking cars across Blewitt Pass to enjoy the Apple Blossom Festival in Wenatchee.
Back then everyone knew everyone else. “Our town was small. You saw the same people all through school, Sandy recalls. Many of their teachers lived in town too, like Jenny Peterson, the art teacher. “We lived during a time when people were really friendly. When people were having a hard time, everyone wanted to know what they could do to help. It was just small town closeness.” Sandy says, “I’m so glad I was raised in this little town. It was so special,” Sandy says.
She loved the woods and farms on Rose Hill. She remembers coming down the hill to town with horses grazing on both sides of the street. She remembers always being down at the slough in the summer. “We’d take intertubes and float down.” She remembers the small hydroplanes that would race from the lake all the way almost to Woodinville. “That was the big entertainment,” she recalls, “that and the Bicycle Derby.”
After she graduated from Lake Washington high school, Sandy stayed put. She raised three kids, and after they were grown, attended Northwest University. She traveled a little. After she and her first husband were divorced she married Dave Rose, who had also grown up in Redmond. His mother Helen’s last name was Peterson. Their family had been here a long time, and left their imprint on Redmond. Helen was a staunch Democratic, and one of the starters of the Redmond Bicycle Group in 1935. Sandy’s mother and Helen went to Redmond elementary together. Dave’s father was from the Rose family. Their family helped build Bellevue, and owned the Star Motel in Wenatchee. “His Grandma Rose was one of the nicest people, a dear Christian woman,” Rose says.
Back when Dad and Sandy were kids, there were no trails along the slough like now. But it was a magical playground for the kids. Years later, Sandy would drive to the slough, park her car, and run three to four miles every day. “You asked me what I like,” she said at the end of the interview. “I like that there are still many trees in Redmond, and birds in the trees.” The beauty of creation, the slough – or river – the trees and the birds, is something that we can all still share in, appreciate and enjoy.
And we can cultivate lifelong friendships here too.
Sandy talks to her elementary school friend Carolyn Holton at least once a week. “I talk to Carolyn every week. I haven’t seen her for 30 or 40 years, even though she lives in Redmond, not to many miles from me.” Truly friends are friends forever.
The Bridges of Redmond
This article is part of my Bridges of Redmond project. One part of this project is to tell stories of the river that runs through the hearts of Redmond and the people who live on and love the Sammamish River. My goal is to build bridges between people, place, history and generations. Here are some other articles.