Rotary made Father Treacy’s future

When the La Conner Rotary Club invited Father William Treacy to speak at their Jan. 3 meeting, members could expect a good tale from the 102-year-old Irish priest. The spry pastor did not disappoint the 25 or so members at their weekly Farmhouse Restaurant dinner meeting. He did not have time to tell all of his life’s story, but the chapters he shared revealed the long way he has come since leaving Ireland in 1945 for a temporary assignment in Seattle, which needed priests because of World War II.

Treacy has been in Washington state for 77 years now. A 1960 lunch with two Seattle Rotarians nud...