Encore July 2020

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Wednesday, July 22, 2020

What’s Inside....

B3 — Clair Hibbs reflects on 96 years of seeing the opportunity in adversity B6 — Concrete Creations steps from grandmother to granddaughter B8 — Author Jo Dereske picks up her pen for the Lynden Pioneer Museum

A supplement of the Lynden Tribune and Ferndale Record

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Ferndale Record

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020| Ferndale Record

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A rich life of 96 years making the most of opportunity Clair Hibbs' motto: ‘In the face of adversity there is always something to be gained’

“quite good,” he said. Quite good indeed.

By Elisa Claassen elisa@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — “In the face of adversity there is always something to be gained" — that's Clair Hibbs' approach to life.

Some view adversity as a reason to give up. Others see opportunity there. Clair Hibbs, 96, is definitely the optimist.

Amidst everything of recent months, it might be a good time to revisit the concepts of adversity and opportunity. Clair Hibbs is in a position to piece together his life history, review it, write about it, and continue to move into the future — ­ even at his age.

Let’s start with the name “Clair,” which is not especially to Dr. Hibbs’ liking. He recounts that an ancestor was named “Pleasant Hibbs” and he said he would have preferred that. Oh well, he endured a bit of teasing, but life went on and any slighting went to the wayside as he served in the military and later became involved in the operations of veterinary labs.

Dr. Clair and Ann Hibbs of Lynden have now been married for over 73 years.

They have lived full lives and wish to continue to do so from their own Lynden home as long as possible, with visits of support from a few caregivers to help with errands, doctor visits and so on.

Their Edgewater Lane home of 24 years, filled with Ann’s beautiful embroidery and quilting, is also home to their mini Schnauzer dog, Mitzi. Photos sitting out show a strong likeness of Ann to actress Judy Garland or, as Ann would say, “Judy’s likeness to me!”

Hibbs, retired from the veterinary field specializing in pathology, was raised on farms. So his work of overseeing labs felt in sync with his upbringing. Today, he continues to be involved with the Lynden Mt. Baker Rotary Club, with the title “past president.”

Several years ago, Clair collected his photos and succinctly put together family and professional memories and went to the Lynden Tribune to publish it all in a booklet for his family: wife Ann, sons Drew and Gerry, and granddaughter Hannah.

Dr. Hibbs holds proof of his practical credentials in the profession, his truck in snowy conditions at The Veterinary Clinic. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune) While many people don’t make it to their 90s, let alone with so many of life’s memories intact, Clair has done both.

Clair went from farm to college to the workforce to the military, back to college with lots more formal learning to follow.

Overall, it resulted in these degrees behind his name: Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Master of Science, and PhD (Doctor of Philosophy). Although Clair’s English may have put him into remedial classes, his science background was

Stages of life The advantage of age, he says, is having more time to accumulate life stories and having more time to develop how to tell them. This is an overview of 90-plus years.

Early days: Life started on Oct. 10, 1923, in Missouri. Dirt roads. Pastures.

Farms. No electricity. During a time of drought they were able to save their cattle by cutting down trees and feeding leaves while others lost their herds. As a child he had talked with the family vet who frankly discouraged him from the profession after Clair expressed interest. Their horses had sleeping sickness. Another area vet, who had learned the trade via a correspondence course, loaned him some of his study material. School was two miles away walking or on the family pony. Later as a member of the state’s All Star football team, Clair did two things: he (and not the coach) essentially memorized and called all the plays, and football earned his way into college on an athletic scholarship.

World War II: His father kept him out of college — and the U.S. military — to help on the family farm with a class 2C (farm) deferment. Clair did this for a while. Their farm used horses and mules primarily and it was hard work.

Farming life wasn’t for him: Clair managed to leave the family farm with some money from friends and get to Kansas City in search of connections. Unfortunately, the friend had gone into the military and so Clair had to hurry and find employment. He didn’t know anyone else there.

Alcoa hired him in the “mixing department” mixing sand. He moved up to being an operator, which paid more money. He also made it clear he was not going to be spending his shifts crawling in and out of the machines to do the work others could be doing. He had been watching the operators and caught on quickly. When the others wanted to reduce their quotas in production, he and his work partner refused to. “I was hired to work.”

Seabees: He left Alcoa with two weeks of extra pay. His military service classification had changed and Clair could now enlist. Drills involved wooden rifles due to a shortage of real ones. After a few transfers he was shipped out to Bermuda with no Continued on next page

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Ferndale Record

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Dr. Hibbs has had opportunity to share his life's experiences and outlook. In Whatcom County retirement, he was president of the Mt. Baker Rotary Club in 2005-06 and he also received a Meridian School District Community Leadership Award. Clair and Ann were married on Dec. 26, 1946. (Courtesy photos) Continued from B3

shore duty, then to Puerto Rico and to Trinidad to do tire repair. Sea sickness brought out the worst in some, but not in Clair. Military life gave him additional skills, such as using a machete, learning judo and even jiu jitsu. Transfers took him to an armory in Chicago, then Norfolk and Providence.

War over, he could return to college.

Meeting Ann: It resulted from a blind date, but Clair was determined not to get married until he was out of college. As it turned out, they were wed the day after Christmas 1946.

Vet-turned-veterinarian: At the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri, they received live horses

to practice on and to eventually put down and then use as anatomy specimens for their study. This practice is no longer done.

Summers were spent working with different veterinarians. After becoming a partner in a veterinary practice, Clair tried to sell his share to return for more schooling. Unfortunately, this did not yield enough money and so he had to work with the president of a small bank to get through his schooling. The financial help was greatly needed, as by now he and Ann had a small family to provide for.

Labs and learning: Microbes. Rabies.

Serology. Autoclave (a machine for scientific processing). Necropsy. Vet life is much more than the doctor looking at an animal.

It also involves testing and lab work. Cattle were showing pulmonary emphysema, but the testing could not show a cause. Clair tried thinking outside the box, and so considered the ensilage the animals were eating nose to nose. He told the farmers to stop the silage and give dry feed instead.

About 6,000 calves were affected. They saw an improvement.

Labs and universities: With additional schooling and more degrees, Clair eventually was hired at the University of Nebraska to start a regional diagnostic laboratory at the North Platte Station. Thanks to an old friend who was also a state senator, funding came through when needed to make the lab truly functional. However, it did

leave some wounded relationships with the powers that be within his institution.

Later a diagnostic lab was also needed in New Mexico and Clair answered that call as well. Retirement came in 1990 when he was 66. “I decided to retire from the diagnostic service, not because I was losing interest in the profession, but because I was having difficulty keeping up with the new events and new developments.” He was able to help in the hiring process for his successor.

Recent years: The Hibbs couple eventually moved to Lynden, quite a change from their Middle America roots. They discovered the Pacific Northwest after Continued on next page

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020| Ferndale Record

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Clair had hand surgery and visited medical friends in Friday Harbor. Early retirement life in Kansas was a bit too humid and hot and Las Vegas was also too hot. He had only heard of Bellingham once previously and that was due to purchasing an incinerator for a lab made in Bellingham, Washington, big enough for handing mining operations. The real estate agent drove the couple around, but the people and the beautiful flowers in Lynden won them over. While not working in recent years, Clair has stayed involved in the Mt. Baker Rotary Club; he won the Paul Harris Award, Rotary's highest honor. COVID-19 now has curtailed life a bit more, although they are eager to meet their new pastor at the United Methodist Church of Lynden soon.

About each part of his life’s story, Clair says, “I’ve been lucky.”

The author met Dr. and Mrs. Hibbs when doing a story featuring them with Take My Hand At-Home Care. For those interested in reading his entire memoir, he may have additional copies. Chapters tell his favorite stories and veterinary cases of interest, with documentation. It can stir others to look through the different chapters of their lives and piece together their journey for family to know.

Left: Caregiver Terri Edwards holds a photo of Dr. Hibbs with a stuffed animal picked up along his travels. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune) Right: In 1982 Hibbs was writing a brief history of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories at the New Mexico Veterinary Diagnostic Service in which he was involved. (Courtesy photo)

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Ferndale Record

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Passing a business from grandmother to granddaughter Concrete Creations stepping stones moves on to next stage

By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune

LYNDEN — First, there is the matter of two small stepping stones completed in the past year. They need to go to their rightful owner. They were ordered to memorialize two dogs in fall 2019. Lu Stuurmans would like to apologize, as it was the season when her husband was dying, and she was a bit hectic. She did not keep the name and contact of the person placing the order.

“After all this wait, they are free, from me,” says Stuurmans. Call 360-3547776 to claim them.

See page B7 for photo.

Lu Stuurmans is passing the torch — in this case, the operation of her small home business — to her granddaughter Mystina Abell-Euper. It is time. Mystina

grew up both watching and occasionally helping grandma Lu. She figured out she not only liked this business, but wanted it to stay in the family, to carry on a legacy.

It was 1985 when Concrete Creations began and now Lu is 85 years of age. “It's time for me to hang up and pass along,” she said.

Concrete Creations started off as an idea from something seen on a family vacation in Hawaii. Lu and her sister, Helen Navis, saw something and couldn’t forget it. It was that simple.

Many people could do that on a vacation and go home and forget it. They didn’t.

They figured they could do something similar at home, and make it their own.

They noticed stepping stones created from real leaves patterns. “We decided it would be fun to (make and) sell.”

Their dad, Simon Stremler, had a garage they could work from. After several years they moved the operation to Lu’s former home. Helen moved from Lynden to Colorado and started her own version of the business with just a slight name

Lu Stuurmans is ready to let granddaughter Mystina Abell-Euper take over the paver stones business begun 35 years ago. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune) variation, Colorado Concrete Creations.

Eventually, Helen moved back to the Pacific Northwest and the two sis-

ters worked together again. At age 83, “Helen’s very strong” and it takes a bit Continued on next page

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020| Ferndale Record

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of strength to work with the concrete, Lu said.

Within a year of their business start, another trip closer to home took them to Friday Harbor and they noticed little “flowers” in the sidewalks there. After they got to their homes in Seattle and Lynden, they called that night. They both had liked what they saw, It was agreed.

“Let’s do that. Let’s go to the beach.”

They started to sell more of their stepping stones with tiny colored rocks fashioned into flowers that are not only decorative but also serve as memorials for people and animals. (Lu has also handcrafted memorial stones for both her husband Stu’s and her future grave sites incorporating her work within a traditional gravestone background.)

At first they took children on outings to Semiahmoo and Birch Bay and then to the area around Deception Pass to “harvest” small rocks in different colors: grays, pinks, browns. Eventually they realized they needed to supplement their selection and save time and started to buy from Washington, but also from China and New York and elsewhere — “all over.” It also takes time to sort the colors of stones into bins, and

These are the two stones Lu Stuurmans created last fall but then lost the customer contact information on. The rightful owner should call Lu to claim them at 360-354-7776. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune) create the patterns.

“The most fun is picking the rocks,” Lu said, and laughed. Mystina, sitting

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next to her, agreed. That part also involves the family together and creating memories.

Lu’s late husband, Seymour “Stu” Stuurmans, was a big help as well.

“He helped and encouraged my business,” Lu said. His contributions included mixing the concrete, lifting, drying and delivering the final product.

They worked “side by side.”

Not only were their accounts in Lynden and Bellingham, but orders even came from beyond Washington state. Lu and Helen visited the buyers in the statuary department at Molbak’s Garden & Home and after a first order of 25 there sold fast, Molbak’s increased its orders to 50 at a time and then more. At the height of the business, some deliveries were 100 stones to the larger garden centers in the Seattle area. One business owner came with a horse trailer from Helena, Montana, and picked up her order of 180 stones. Eighty went to an account in Portland.

To keep up with orders, Lu said, she was working six days a week for quite a while.

Today, in COVID-19, the number of orders has tailed off for now, but a nice selection of Concrete Creations can be seen for sale in front of the Fairway Center Ace Hardware store.

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Ferndale Record

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Jo Dereske now treats Lynden to her writing Author of kids’ books and adult mysteries turns her skills to local history features

By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN ­— Readers of the bimonthly Lynden Pioneer Museum historical feature have been noticing a professional writer at work.

From her first entry in December 2017, “A New Deal Artist Paints A Lynden Pioneer,” Jo Dereske has been taking topic after topic of Lynden historical interest and applying her research and writing skills to it, all in about 800 words.

The outcome every other month is the legal-sized double-sided “Whatcom County Moments and Memoirs” sheet sent out by the museum to its 300 members and also available at the counter.

“I have enjoyed doing it,” says Dereske, who has lived in Lynden since 2012.

“I like to have projects. Most of it is research and writing. Doing this kind of thing is just a treat.”

Some of Dereske’s recent forays into Lynden history have been “Pioneer Poultry” for June/July, “A Tooth in Time” for March/April, and “Mrs. Boerhave’s Millinery” for November 2019.

Getting into a topic usually puts Dereske into contact with a living source of information or connection to the past, as it was for her on the poultry past of Lynden with Herman Oordt, grandson of the Oordt Bros. Nursery pioneer of the same name — and not long before this valued

Knowledge & Experience

Jo Dereske, right, comes in to the Lynden Pioneer Museum frequently where she can also catch up with colleague photo archivist Isabell Sertz. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune) source died at age 91 on May 24.

On the topic of Mrs. Nick Boerhave’s hat shop, Dereske had access to her historically-minded granddaughter Marilyn McCoy, living in Lynden.

With her own curiosity guiding her, there is never any shortage of topics that Dereske wants to take on next. Her motivating impulse is “all these stories to tell!"

Her next subject may be a farm of the area that is at least 100 years old, although like a good publisher she is always concerned about having enough visual material to go along with her copy.

The writing gift is not by accident. “I was always writing, forever,” Dereske says of her life.

She has now lived in northwest Wash-

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ington for more than 40 years, but she grew up in rural Mason County, Michigan.

For anyone familiar with that territory, the city of Ludington in Mason County is the eastern port of the only ferry that traverses Lake Michigan, and Dereske has relatives who worked for “the boat,” as they term it.

“I longed to be a writer, but as a child believed it was impossible since I didn’t live anywhere near New York City. I left Michigan and headed west after college, positive I was destined to write about the wider, more exotic, world. But curiously, nearly all my books and short stories either have a connection to, or are set in, Michigan” is Dereske’s explanation in her author profile.

Her first books were written for her

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two children. Since then, she’s written 12 books in the Miss Zukas (Avon/Harper) mystery series and three books in the Ruby Crane (Dell) mystery series.

How’s this for Dereske uniqueness?

She draws heavily on her Lithuanian heritage and her love for the oddities of the library world for the Miss Zukas series.

And forgery — “always an interest since I forged my first absence excuse in fourth grade” — figures heavily in the Ruby Crane series.

The New York Times, in review of the Miss Zukas series, calls it “a loving sendup of the stereotype of the prim and proper librarian.” The Toronto Sun said, “You’re in for a good time.”

She had stints in advertising and technical writing, too, and working in a university library.

Where did she get these inclinations, in a family of an electrician father and a stay-at-home mom? Lest she shortchange them, Jo adds this about her mother: “She was what people call a lifelong learner, always curious about the world, a voracious reader who even kept books in the kitchen cupboards. ... In her 60s she attended (university) and was working on her BA when she died of breast cancer.

“Ah, our parents are such influences, aren’t they? Mine were both encouraging.”

And so the return to roots, and the appreciation for them carry on, to the benefit of her Lynden readers now.

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020| Ferndale Record

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Continued from B7

A display of Concrete Creations products for sale is ongoing in front of the Ace Hardware store in Lynden's Fairway Center. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune)

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With Stu’s passing, it is time for Lu to downsize her beloved home with views of gardens out almost every window and for Mystina to continue the business on.

It’s too much work to maintain at this stage. Lu also enjoys other creative outlets. The decision was not made lightly and Mystina, who attended school in Lynden and then graduated from Squalicum High School in 2001, figured out the finances and her husband Willie is helping to create her own work area on their Sumas property. A shed is coming to house the operation. Lu could see her granddaughter was serious.

Mystina’s additional training at Bellingham Technical College and Whatcom Community College in business management will help her.

The mother of three already is watching her own children eager to learn to make the stones for special occasions. Mystina’s mom and grandmother both have enjoyed pursuing artistic talents in more than one way, and now Mystina is discovering her own approach and designs.

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Ferndale Record

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How to be a good caregiver Local counselor Miriam Drake urges ‘be good to yourself’ and delegate tasks First and foremost, be good to yourself. I cannot emphasize this enough!

This is extremely important. It is not being selfish. It is simply practical. If you are not there, what happens to the patient? Once you understand what is happening and that you have a patient to care for, organize your thoughts, then delegate as much as possible, as soon as possible. Invite friends and family members to help you during all the stress and chaos.

The point to remember is to delegate early in the process of the illness or recovery, so that you avoid the bane of all caregivers: severe burnout. I’ve been there! I burned out. I was past burnout at week #10, but still had 42 weeks left to go in my husband’s care! You don’t need to do this.

Delegation gives the caregiver valuable time off regularly to rest, think, enjoy some peace and quiet, to forget about the burden of caregiving for the moment, and to enjoy expressing oneself in conversations with friends and family. It is important to get time away from the patient and to express your feelings honestly and openly with someone who is willing to listen actively and not judge you.

Releasing all of your emotional, mental and physical stress regularly will prevent the buildup of stress inside you. Internally held stress will not only weigh you down emotionally and mentally — it actually is a health hazard. Hire a counselor soon in the process to help you lift those burdens each week from your mind and heart. Working with a counselor will help you keep your perspective and remain healthy and sane.

These meetings are private and confidential, so airing dirty laundry isn’t a problem. Do it! If there is a spiritual dimension to the problem, visit with your clergy person.

like this, so go ahead and let loose. Funny things will happen to you.

My late husband had had a stroke, and then two emergency surgeries, all of which required hospital stays. After each time he returned home, and I had him snugly tucked into bed, he invariably fell out of bed while I was not looking and attending to something else. This happened each time! At first, I was horrified thinking something awful could happen to him. I have no medical knowledge.

But once I realized this was just the way it was and nothing awful happened like death or worse, we began to see these falls as funny. It became hilarious for

both of us. We’d just look at each other and burst out laughing.

During the second half of my late husband’s stroke survival year, we happened to meet Peg and her husband at church. I was lucky to have Peg in my life. Her husband had Parkinson’s and she had been caring for him for over 20 years during which time his health and capabilities had significantly declined.

She knew the dark side quite well, better than I. We spent hours commiserating and howling at the dark stuff that happened to us and to our men.

Continued on next page

Miriam Drake And many hands make light work.

To delegate is simple. Make a list of everyone you know could help and think about what tasks would be suitable for each person. Start with a task list and place names after each task you wish to delegate. Then ask these people for help.

Put together a schedule of who is doing what, along with the day and time of the week. Keep this list organized. If you get forgetful, just laugh! Be easy on yourself.

You will be doing dumb things, I guarantee it. It’s all part of the caregiving role.

During the most difficult months of caring for my incapacitated husband, I could barely think straight. I was alone in a foreign country doing everything myself, and I was making mistakes. I finally decided to put together a group of 10 friends to meet weekly and brainstorm solutions with me. In your case, this could be your family. These meetings were invaluable. They helped me solve problems, see a bigger picture, release stress and feel understood and connected.

During your role as a caregiver, you may go through some very dark times and have some very dark thoughts and moments. This is normal. Count on it happening. There are dark things that happen that are truly funny, though.

Dark humor has its place in situations

Being a caregiver is an enormous investment of personal time and energy with the care receiver, but counselor Miriam Drake advises having a definite strategy for caregiver renewal and life balance. (Courtesy photo)

Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020| Ferndale Record

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Caregiving can have its crazy funny moments. It’s amazing what’s funny when you are dealing with all the challenges and all the things that can go wrong. Trust me, they will go wrong.

Dark humor aside, remember to take care of your own body too. This means a diet rich in nutrients. It is also good to do things to stretch the body like yoga and let the stress out through movements with dancing, walking, gardening and running. Get outside and breathe.

The trees exhale oxygen and need the carbon dioxide we exhale. So do yourself a favor each day or each week and take walks in nature, surrounding yourself with living, breathing organisms.

General helpers daily assist the caregiver with the little things like getting the patient out of bed and walking with assistance.

Then this is a more specific itemizing of tasks volunteers and friends can help you with: • errands of all sorts • cooking • cleaning • grocery shopping • scheduling appointments

• bill paying • medicine and medical supply inventory and shopping • taking the caregiver out for tea or lunch • listening to the caregiver and brainstorming solutions • taking the caregiver out for “walk and talk” • going with the caregiver to exercise or yoga classes • helping the caregiver get what he/ she needs, like time off ... an afternoon off, a weekend away, even a month away from home and away from the patient for recharging the batteries.

My advice to the new caregiver is to stay connected with friends, family and your therapist. Take good care of yourself. You will get through this. If I could do it, you can too! I extend my very best wishes for your happiness and good health.

Miriam Drake, of Lynden, operates a counseling practice in Bellingham especially working with grief and loss. Her website is mdraketherapy.com. To schedule a free 30-minute introductory meeting by phone or in person, email mdraketherapy@gmail.com.

Miriam Drake was the busy caregiver for her own late husband, Ferndando.

(Courtesy photo)

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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Ferndale Record

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