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Examiner The Whidbey
News from the Heart of Whidbey Island
THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012
Pastor recovering from serious back injury By Kasia Pierzga Staff Reporter
Nearly a week after a well-known Coupeville pastor broke his back in a 25-foot fall down a steep embankment in the Ledgewood neighborhood, his family, friends and church community are praying for his recovery. Garrett Arnold, pastor of Living Hope Foursquare Church, remains in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after undergoing surgery in which doctors fused several broken vertebrae and stabilized his spinal column. Sarah Viers, Arnold’s sister-in-law, said the surgery was successful, but it will be some time before doctors will know the full extent of the injury. “The doctors continue to caution us that his back and his spine are so swollen, he needs time to rest and recover before they will be able to see what they’re working with,” she said. “They won’t tell us how long he’ll be in ICU or how long he would be in rehab. That’s the very frustrating thing with this type of injury.” Arnold and his wife, Sylvia, celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary at Harborview on Monday. The couple has three children, two of whom – Scott and Courtney – are students at Azusa Pacific University in California. Their third child, Brett, is a junior at Coupeville High School who also plays on the football team. Scott and Courtney were able to fly back to Washington to spend time at their dad’s bedside before heading back to college, Viers said. “Luckily our other sister Shannon lives there, so they have that support,” Viers said. Shannon is married to Garrett Arnold’s brother, Lance. The church’s Facebook page – Living Hope in Coupeville – is filled with comments from people near and far who are sending their prayers for Arnold’s recovery. Updates on his condition also are being posted to the page. Church Treasurer Suzanne Zetter, described the outpouring of love and prayers as “powerful.” “The family is extremely grateful of the outpouring of the community’s love and prayer,” she said Monday. People from churches from across the country and as far away as Australia and the Netherlands have sent thoughts and prayers to the Arnold family, she said. See PASTOR, page 11
VOL. 18, NO. 3
America’s espresso obsession began in historic Coupeville By Elisabeth Murray Staff Reporter
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mericans spend some $18 billion a year on specialty coffee, from lattes and Americanos to cappuccinos and whip-topped sweet caramel macchiatos. The next time you’re in line at Starbucks, consider this: America’s mania for fancy coffee has its roots in a very modest ice cream shop on Front Street in Coupeville. And the two brothers – Jim and Dave Stewart – whose passion for good coffee helped spark the nation’s espresso obsession will be in Coupeville next week to share their memories.
Roasting on Front Street
Contributed photos
In this photo taken in 1970, brothers Dave and Jim Stewart stand in front of the Wet Whisker on Coupeville’s Front Street. Jim and his brother Dave grew the Wet Whisker from a small ice-cream shop into a regional chain selling ice cream and coffee beans. After several name changes, the coffee business is now known as Seattle’s Best Coffee. At left is the original the Wet Whisker sign.
It was 1969, and Jim was a young optometry student visiting friends on Whidbey Island who needed help with some plumbing. Originally from California, the friends had moved to Coupeville to launch a salvage business. They convinced 21-year-old Jim that this quiet town was an up-and-coming tourist destination and the perfect spot for an ice cream shop catering to summertime visitors. The Wet Whisker served up scoops of 18 flavors of ice cream. First-day sales amounted to $18.75, and by the end of the summer the business had sold some 30,000 cones, earning a profit of about $800 – a pretty decent sum in the early 70s, Jim said. “It was awful on your wrist,” Jim said with a laugh. The business was a family operation with Jim’s 15-year old brother, Dave, also wielding a scoop. After that first successful summer, it would be many years before the business turned a profit again, Jim said. Front Street had fewer businesses and less traffic compared to today, both brothers said. Looking for a way to boost sales, the following summer the brothers began selling coffee beans by the pound, grind-
Stewart brothers return to share tales of the storied Wet Whisker ing them right there in the shop for customers who typically did not have a grinder at home. The shop’s Freeland-based bookkeeper had suggested the brothers roast their own coffee beans. She told Jim to check out a shop called The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf next time he visited Southern California. Jim ended up working for that shop for almost a year, in between the first two summers in Coupeville. The premium beans sold for considerably more than Americans were used to paying for coffee, and many people – including their parents – thought the venture was doomed to failure.
“My parents couldn’t understand why people would pay $1.79 per pound when you could get three pounds for 33 cents in the grocery store,” Jim said. “Everyone knew that coffee came in a can from Folgers.” But the brothers’ intuition panned out, as people were willing to pay a premium for higher quality beans and later on, beverages.
Seattle’s best
In 1971, the brothers jumped into the Seattle market. Their first Seattle-based ice cream and coffee bean shop was on Pier 70 on the waterfront, and the coffee was roastSee COFFEE, page 5