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CELEBRATING LIFE AFTER 50 IN THE PUGET SOUND REGION SINCE 1986
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Northwest
VOL. 17 NO. 2
Februar y/Ma 2017 rch
Nancy Nordhoff Northwest Philanthropist and Environmentalist Extraordinaire
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ancy Nordhoff comes from a long line of philanthropists, yet her own brand of handson, roll up your sleeves generosity makes her a true original.
Since 1988, Hedgebrook has hosted nearly 2000 writers, including Gloria Steinem.
While Nancy has dipped her hand into countless ventures helping people and communities, she is best-known for founding Hedgebrook, a writer’s retreat for women on Whidbey Island…a simple description that does not begin to describe Hedbebrook’s positive ripple effect felt ‘round the world. Natalie Baszile worked on her debut novel, Raised in Seattle’s Laurelhurst Queen Sugar, while at Hedgebrook. It has neighborhood, Nancy was the youngest been made into a TV series produced by of three children. Generations of her Oprah Winfrey family are recognized for their charitable endeavors, including her grandmother, most great ideas never get off the shelf. Jeannette Skinner, a founder of Seattle “This is one that went into action,” she Children’s Hospital. Nancy’s brother, D.E. says of Hedgebrook. “And that, to me, Ned Skinner, was a key figure in the 1962 has really been the best accomplishment Seattle World’s Fair, an early investor in in my life…outside of the three children the Seattle Seahawks and a great supporter I gave birth to,” she adds with a smile. of the arts. Her sister, Sally Behnke, was Nancy’s children have followed in her one of the community’s most influential philanthropic footsteps, and generously leaders, with a particular interest in serving support a number of Puget Sound Seattle’s health and medical organizations. nonprofits. Nancy’s path into the family’s “In August 1988, Hedgebrook ‘good works’ business started with an opened to its first session of writers,” states adventurous twist. After school, she Hedgebrook’s Executive Director, Amy obtained her Wheeler. “Over pilot’s license time, nearly 2000 and flew a single writers have lived engine Piper and worked in Tripacer across Hedgebrook’s the country cottages, during her generating early days of thousands philanthropy. of novels, Hedgebrook poems, plays, came decades The retreat is designed to put the writers’ needs and screenplays, later, but the idea comforts at the center, including the Amish-inspired memoirs, works cottages that serve as home during their stay. Photo of non-fiction. for a retreat for by Tom Marks women writers Literally millions may have been planted at a young age. of people have experienced the work that Nancy went to Seattle’s St. Nicholas, has been generated in our cottages.” a private all-girls school, then on to It all began on an old dairy farm on earn a degree in chemistry from Mount Whidbey Island, overlooking Useless Bay, Holyoke women’s college. She carries a with a sweeping view across Puget Sound deep personal commitment to nurturing to Mount Rainier. It’s a beautiful place, women and supporting their vision. With filled with meadows and forest, streams Hedgebrook, Nancy created a community and wildlife. in which women can thrive and raise their At a transformative time in her life, voices. Nancy left her volunteer projects behind, “I’m a person who’s been in the notbought a van and drove the country for-profit world most of my life,” notes seeking to find her place in the world. She Nancy. Over the years, she’s seen that was looking for a place to call home.
Nancy Nordhoff comes from a long line of Seattle-area philanthropists and is best-known for founding Hedgebrook, a writers’ retreat for women on Whidbey Island. Photo by MJ Alexander
“I was in a time of change,” recalls Nancy. “Change was coming, and I wanted to be anchored with a new place.” The Whidbey farm appealed to her because it had everything she wanted: “It had pastures, trees, old buildings. So it was perfect for feeling at home.” But as she walked the land, she felt it telling her it wanted to be something else. “It was too much for me,” says Nancy. “The land was too large, there was too much to be done. But it was a place that really cried out to be used. So the question was what to do. And the answer came: women writers, women’s voices…” “What I think is so extraordinary about Nancy Nordhoff is that she was seeking home and she chose instead to create a home for other women,” exclaims Amy. The original plan was simple: a few cozy cottages and lots of time and space to write. “I wanted Hedgebrook to be familylike, friendly and welcoming,” says Nancy. Working with her friend, writer Sheryl Feldman, and a group of architects, artisans and advisors, Nancy transformed the farm into a 48-acre haven for women writers. The retreat was designed to put the writer’s needs and comforts at the center of the process. Seven cottages were crafted in the Amish “post-and-beam” style to feature writing and reading areas, a wood-burning stove for warmth, a small kitchen and a sleeping loft, with thoughtful touches such as stained glass windows to catch and prism the light, and fixtures designed by local artisans. Nancy worked alongside the builders
and craftspeople, siting the cottages herself to ensure that a writer can see the lights of another cottage through the trees at night when she is burning the midnight oil. “So she’s in solitude, but not alone.” Nancy believes it is important for women to trust their own instincts and rely on their own resourcefulness. With that in mind, she wants the women at Hedgebrook to know how to build fires in their cottages. “The first fire is laid for the writer. After that, she’s on her own!” But everything else is taken care of, including meals. The women fill their time as they choose. Nancy encourages them to connect with the land and nature while in residence—walking through the woods or to nearby Double Bluff beach, spending time in the garden, writing at a bench by the pond, or soaking in the views. A writer’s time is her own. The only requirement is that everyone meet for dinner at the property’s old farmhouse, to join the community of women. The chef prepares dinner and clears the dishes at the end of the meal so that writers can stay engaged in conversation. “It’s amazing how hard it is for most women to let someone else clear and clean her dirty dishes!” observes Amy. “I started using the phrase radical hospitality to describe what happens here,” she explains, “because I felt like we needed a way to talk about the transformative experience that women writers have when they are nurtured in this way.” All women have to do while they are at Hedgebrook is to be a writer. They come to Hedgebrook ...continued on page 14