SOUNDER THE ISLANDS’
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
Pages 9 to 16
WEDNESDAY, October 23, 2013 VOL. 46, NO. 43 75¢ islandssounder.com
Trick or treat
Spooky calendar of events
To find out what’s happening on Orcas for Halloween, see page 17.
Historic women of Orcas Island by JAN KOLTUN
Special to the Sounder
Who are Orcas Island’s most historic women, born at least 100 years ago? Would you choose Dr. Agnes Harrison, who delivered hundreds of babies here? Bea Cook, who brought our library from the tiny Madrona Club collection to a resource worthy of our community? My own favorite candidates are Helen Loggie and Nellie Milton. Loggie (1895-1976) was reared in Bellingham, where her father reputedly owned the world’s largest cedar mill. This not only ensured that “Miss Loggie” didn’t need to spend time flogging her work, but also influenced the nature of her art. Internationally known for the trees she drew and etched with enormous skill, her career was marked by eight major one-person exhibitions from 1938-1993, in such venues as the 1937 Paris Exposition; Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; Carnegie
School board candidates duke it out by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG Publisher/Editor
School board candidate Justin Paulsen didn’t hold anything back during the election forum with opponent Tony Ghazel. During the debate hosted by PTSA on Oct. 14, he accused the school of failing in its administrative execution of the high school siding project. “There have been undocumented construction workers sharing the bathrooms and showers with the students,” he said. “It’s one thing to make a mistake – it’s another thing to stand behind that mistake and say you are right.” Ghazel, who has been on the board for nine years, defended the project. “Honorable people disagree with what Justin has been alluding to,” he said. “Mahlum Architects and our project manager – they all say it’s been done according to plan.” He explained that the head contractor and his wife lived on campus this past summer, but were asked to leave once school began. In an interview with the Sounder, School District Superintendent Barbara Kline explained on
Colleen Smith Armstrong/Staff Photo
Tony Ghazel (left) and Justin Paulsen (right).
one occasion the wife of the contractor on the high school siding project was in the girls’ locker room at a time that overlapped with students. “She was quite ill and very apologetic about being in the locker room at that time,” said Kline. “I have not heard of any other such incident.” Following a board retreat during the 2012-13 school year, Kline says the school has instituted
a procedure that requires all contractors on the small works roster to provide background disclosure forms. Cathy Faulkner of the Orcas PTSA led the forum for the two candidates, who are vying for the director two position. Chris Sutton and Scott Lancaster are running unopposed for the school board in the Nov. 5 election. Ghazel said he has been honored to serve for the past two terms. “I feel that excellent and free education are what define a community,” he said. He noted his ability to balance multi-million dollar budgets, work with state legislators and execute a successful bond project among his strengths. “Our job is at the state level,” Ghazel said. “I want to still be involved in that process.” Paulsen thanked Ghazel for his hard work with the state on funding education, but said it is “time for a change.” “There needs to be a fresh perspective, it’s time for a change and rotation,” he said. “There
SEE FORUM, PAGE 5
Institute, Pittsburgh; Whitney, New York; Library of Congress; and the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers, London. In 1914, Loggie entered Smith College, but dropped out to attend the Art Students League in New York, where she acquired a lifelong professional mentor, the etcher John Taylor Arms. Around 1927, she returned to Bellingham, to begin an intensive time of etching and printmaking. The next year, she bought property near Eastsound. She sketched outdoors in the summers, translating her drawings into etchings in the winters. Loggie knew how to present herself. In a 1939 review of her Seattle Art Museum exhibit, a critic praised her work, but appreciated her as well: “Miss Loggie ... is tall, slim, statuesque and goldenhaired. For last evening’s preview, she wore a black crepe dinner gown with gold-braided jacket and a spray of purple orchids.” By contrast, our second historic lady, Nellie Sweeney Milton (18901972) usually wore a light blue or
SEE HISTORIC, PAGE 8
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