LOCAL AUTHOR READS Experienced writer delivers a thriller. Page 10
FOOT FAIRY Island nurse tends to seniors. Page 4
Inside this issue!
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
Vol. 59, No. 39
Pages 12-13
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
50 years of golfing and more
Club works to stay relevant, keep up growth By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Courtesy Photo
Katie Chale was a graduate of Vashon High School.
Young woman killed in accident remembered as bright, caring By NATALIE MARTIN
Last Sunday morning at the golf course, a visiting youngster got a quick lesson in how to swing and hit a long drive. After a few whiffs, 7-year-old Johnathon Palmer connected with the ball and sent it sailing through the air and down the fairway — then set off down the hill to look for it. Grinning from ear to ear when he returned — without the ball, which was under water — it was clear the golf bug had bitten him. “I hit it all the way to the pond!” he shouted. “I want to go golfing again.” It is that kind of enthusiasm that members of the Vashon Golf & Swim Club on Muary Island are hoping to tap into as they celebrate 50 years as a club and look to the future. President John Bender says that unlike the stereotypes of country clubs as enclaves of the elite, the Vashon club aims to be inclusive, and, he noted, it offers
Susan Riemer/Staff Photo
Dan Brown, a golfer since seventh grade, says the course on Vashon is a good challenge. top-notch facilities. “It is the best recreational facility on the island, and folks on the island should be using it,” he said. Across the country, many private clubs closed or strug-
gled to remain open during the recent recession. The Vashon Island Golf & Country Club also felt the effects of the economic slump and in 2010 made substantive changes, creating new mem-
bership options, opening its Mileta Creek restaurant to the public and dropping “country club” from its name. Those changes appear to SEE GOLF CLUB, 19
Staff Writer
TAKE A BOOK IN BURTON
Katie Chale seemed full of potential. Described by those who knew her as bright, confident and a leader who was mature beyond her years, many say the 22-year-old who recently graduated from college had everything going for her. But that potential was cut short last week, when Katie was tragically killed in an accident involving a bus on Vashon Highway. “She was ready to take on the world,” said Bruce Haulman, an islander who knew Katie through the local sailing program. “That’s why this is such a tragedy.” Still, Katie’s friends and loved ones speak of the impression the fiercely altruistic young woman left not only on Vashon, but at the University of Portland, where she attended college, and during her travels around the world. “She was determined to make an impact in everything she did,” said islander Donna Nespor, “and made a lifelong impact on all of us who had the good fortune to know her.” Kaitlyn Marie Chale, known to most as Katie, was born on April 1, 1992, to Jeff and Dolly Chale. Her family, including her older brother Tyler
It didn’t take residents of the Burton peninsula long to figure what the new birdhouselike structure outside Collin Hennessey and Lin Holley’s home was. In fact, the eclectic set of books inside has turned over quickly, as passersby took the couple up on their sign’s offer to “take a book, leave a book.” The Little Free Library is now one of about 15,000 such book nooks worldwide, many of which are registered at the nonprofit’s website, www.littlefreelibrary.org. Hennessey and Holley moved about a year ago from Seattle, where Holley said the small, often artful libraries were “reproducing” with 130 and counting. They recently decided to install their own on the Burton loop, and Holley, a skilled artist who has shown work at Silverwood and the Blue Heron, adorned the sides with quotes about reading etched into iridescent metal. “We hope it sustains itself,” Hennessey said. “It’s a little contribution to the neighborhood.”
SEE CHALE, 17