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The sands of time have been kind to Cora Kellerman. A trained electrical engineer, the 29-year-old former La Conner High and Eastern Washington University volleyball standout now plugs into office hours on southern California beaches. Kellerman, who helped lead La Conner to State net titles in 2006 and 2007, is riding the popular wave of professional beach volleyball. Even for an accomplished player like Kellerman, who led EWU by averaging nearly three kills per set her senior year –...
Darwin Eugene Butcher, 88, passed away peacefully at home on December 9th, 2019 surrounded by his wife of 55 years and loved ones. Darwin was born August 11th, 1931 in Ogden, Utah to Harold Butcher and Hazel (Bingham) Butcher. He was the oldest of three children. His early childhood years were during the Great Depression. Darwin lived many places as a child including Washington D.C., Oklahoma City, Berkeley, Oakland and Seattle. In 1944, the Butcher family moved to Anchorage, Alaska. They were one of the first pioneer families to drive the...
Another month, another rain report. Regular readers know – and hopefully come to expect – a first issue of the month summary of the previous month’s rain and temperatures. For the thousands in the La Conner School district who don’t regularly receive a paper, this is a regular feature, as much as school news and sports. Just what is going on with the weather? Inquiring minds want to know. They find that answer in the Weekly News, the place for news about your community. A strong editorial voice is included every week, also. Edi...
Patricia McEniry Love, 94, of La Conner died at her home on November 26, 2019. She is survived by daughters: Robin (Richard Tanner) and Sheila Connolly; nine grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. No one will ever forget their “GG”. She was preceded in death by Henry Love, her husband of 60 years, daughter Ann Love Glick, and brother Michael McEniry. She was born Patricia Adele McEniry to James & Betty (Braga) McEniry on October 30, 1925 in Pasadena, California. The family moved to Seattle where Patsy attended Lowell School, and was a pr...
The weekly newspaper was delivered today, Wednesday, and through the end of this week around La Conner, as has been the case every week for 141 years, since 1878. Hopefully it is your local and weekly newspaper. To the subscribers in the greater La Conner region, the 98257 and 98273 zip codes, thank you. To expatriates in Seattle, Portland, California and beyond, thank you. To grown children and parents who have bought gift subscriptions for family members so those far away are kept up to date and reminded weekly of the goings on in the...
La Conner’s Mike Compton is in the hall of fame. After a lifetime of wrestling, starting before his winning a conference champion and being named Most Inspirational Wrestler at Western Washington State College in 1970, he has again been awarded: Nov. 2 Compton was elected to the 2019 Hall of Fame class of the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association. Compton finished his coaching career at La Conner (2004-2011). Hired as athletic director, he created a wrestling program. Before he retired,...
At its monthly meeting Monday, the La Conner School District Directors congratulated their high school’s state volleyball championship and then recognized outgoing Directors Janie Beasley and Kate Szurek with a board resolution. Together, the resolution stated, they have served 20 years on the board, Beasley since 2004 and Szurek since 2015. The resolution names specific contributions the two made to the school district and honors them for their involvement in school policy at the state and national levels. It ends with the Directors o...
Everyone loves a winner. That was the case here this week as La Conner High volleyball fans turned out in droves to support the Lady Braves in Yakima and then welcomed them back home after they captured their second in a row and fifth State championship in program history. “I have to say that in my past 25 trips to State we’ve never had a crowd quite like this,” said La Conner head coach Suzanne Marble, who has been at the helm for all five State titles. A chaperoned rooter’s bus carried 40 stud...
This corrects and updates the Nov. 6 election story which incorrectly stated all votes had been counted in the La Conner school board elections. Newcomer Marlys Baker will defeat Board Chair Janie Beasley for La Conner School Board Director and John Agen is posed to take Kate Szurek’s Director seat. Tuesday’s ballot count update shows a turnout over 50% higher than the 2015 school board election. With 800 votes to be counted countywide, Baker has 67% of the vote, steadily increasing her lead sin...
The 35th Anniversary of Art’s Alive! in La Conner opened with a bang and a crush of people attending the opening reception Friday in Maple Hall and the weekend, extending through 4 p.m. Monday, kept drawing people in. The show’s title, “Celebrating Skagit Valley Art Legacy,” was apt. Some 10 of the 12 artists had shown previous years. The late Clayton James and the elderly Ed Kamuda were the headliners and show draws. And they sold “really well” said Sylvia Strong, co-chair of the La Conner A...
The Billiken Club of La Conner was established in November 1909 by the women of La Conner. They adopted as their mascot the Billiken good luck charm which was used extensively in the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle in the same year. The Billiken is “the God of things as they ought to be.” Since the women organized to promote charitable causes in the community of La Conner, it was an appropriate mascot and mission statement for their new club. Dues were set at one dollar a year. Membership was limited to fifteen. New mem...
The Sun Dome in Yakima has a lot of fond memories for the La Conner High volleyball program. But the defending state champions aren’t looking back this week. Instead, their focus is on the task ahead, starting with a first round State 2B Tournament date with Willapa Valley (13-3) Thursday at 1:30 p.m. “We’re looking forward to going into the State Tournament, coming off a good showing at Tri-District,” La Conner head coach Suzanne Marble told the Weekly News on Monday. “I’ve scouted six of the...
There was no masking the enthusiasm for Halloween in La Conner last week. There weren’t even storm clouds to shroud excitement for all the guys and ghouls who donned costumes and paraded First Street prior to the big Halloween Carnival at La Conner Elementary School which was held afterward. “The weather was awesome,” said Beth Schmittou Bowles, who along with fellow members of the La Conner Parent-Teacher-Student Association coordinated the array of family fun activities in town Thursday after...
If you’re moved by the story James H. Keefe III shares next Tuesday at the La Conner High School Auditorium, you can thank Patty McCormick. The retired LaConner Schools bus driver was browsing the Mount Vernon Goodwill store with her daughter Emily when she found a framed photograph of a man in uniform, inscribed ‘great flying with you – the Tigers’. “I always wonder how family pictures end up in secondhand stores,” she told the Weekly News. Curious, she took her purchase out of its frame and found the name James H. Keeffe, Junior. Google...
The defending State champion La Conner High volleyball team extended its unbeaten league winning streak to eight matches with a straight-sets triumph over Mount Vernon Christian at Landy James Gym last Thursday. But everybody came away feeling like a winner because the night was also an opportunity for the large crowd on hand to play a role in the fight to cure breast cancer. Over $700 was raised during the Lady Braves’ annual Dig Pink/Senior Night Match to help give more women access to p...
John Agen learned to think on his feet while quarterbacking a no-huddle offense for a La Conner High league championship football team his senior year, in 1973-74. He later refined his research skills while a student at Whitman College and the University of Washington, where his studies in Business Administration led to a wide-ranging sales career. Now Agen hopes to parlay that background, with keen interests in finance and health, into a seat on the La Conner School Board. Agen is facing...
Elaborate costumes will conceal the identities of those celebrating Halloween here next Thursday. But there’s no hiding the fact there will be plenty of fun for those partaking of the local holiday festivities. Oct. 31 looks to be a boo-tiful time for kids and adults alike, both in La Conner and on Swinomish Reservation. Festivities kick off at 3:15 p.m. with the parade and always popular downtown trick-or-treating. First Street transforms from a tourist mecca into a gateway for Halloween e...
Simply Marbleous. That was the vibe in Mount Vernon last week when fans from near and far and across time gathered to watch La Conner High volleyball coach Suzanne Marble record her 500th career win with a program she has guided to four state titles, the most recent last November. La Conner’s straight-sets triumph at Mount Vernon Christian resembled many of the preceding 499 victories under Marble’s watch, a journey that began here in 1993. The Lady Braves served at a 94 per cent clip, won two...
When Janie Beasley speaks, whether in English or Lushootseed, people listen. In fact, her ability to speak – and listen – to a broad base of La Conner area constituents has long been a trademark of the incumbent La Conner School District Board Director, who currently chairs the five-member panel. Beasley, a La Conner High alum, is often called upon to deliver bi-lingual messages during local special events, both at school and off-campus. Thus, she knows well the importance of...
La Conner students enjoyed their summer, even those for whom the time off was more of a working vacation. Perhaps especially them. La Conner High junior Ashley Davis attended two separate student leadership events, one in Spokane and another in southwest Washington, while eighth graders Kailey Carlson, Hattie Walls and Latesha Guerrero-Gobert took part in a week-long Tech Trek session at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. They wouldn’t have done it any other way. “It was really neat,” Kaile...
An attentive crowd of 80 people heard candidates for La Conner School Board District Directors 1 and 2 at a forum co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Skagit County and the La Conner Weekly News last Wednesday on the Swinomish reservation. Incumbents Kate Szurek, District 1 Director, and Janie Beasley, District 2 Director, are challenged by John Agen and Marlys Baker, respectively. The large turnout indicated the interest in the tension between the administration and the two school unions. Also, the District 2 position is a contest...
This corrects and updates the Sept. 25 editorial: “School board candidates.” All people living in the La Conner school district are invited to attend tonight’s candidates forum featuring District 1 candidates John Agen and Kate Szurek and District 2 candidates Marlys Baker and Janie Beasley. All school district residents will be voting for the four director positions on the ballot. District 4 Director Lynette Cram and District 5 Director Susan Deyo are unopposed. The Sept. 25 Weekly News editorial stating that tonight’s forum was for residen...
She’s soft-spoken by nature, but Kate Szurek has long been a strong voice for public education, having served on three school boards in Washington locales. The local attorney has relished being a member of the La Conner School Board since her appointment in 2014 to succeed Gretchen McCauley on the district panel. “I jumped in with both feet,” she recalls. There was no hesitation, Szurek told the Weekly News, because of her faith in La Conner Schools, where she now has three grandchildren enrol...
Ten La Conner High School students raised their signs and their umbrellas Friday, striking for the climate and their future. They left their classes about 10 a.m. and crossed the street to the knoll in front of the elementary school, prepared for their day with blankets, markers and cardboard and had pizza delivered for lunch. They stayed out till the 2:40 p.m. last bell. The morning’s showers made their signs run, but the ten, ranging from first year student Ellie Fullington to senior and A...
Chuck Hedlund enjoyed a great career, one that took him halfway across the globe as a pioneer in modern international trade. But it was what he did in retirement, back home in La Conner, that has truly made a world of difference. On that count, pretty much everyone here is agreed. “Chuck Hedlund returned home from Singapore and took on the mantle of Community Volunteer,” said Maureen Harlan, a lifelong friend and herself a local civic leader. “He was dedicated to promoting and serving the youth...