For two days in September, people in Tacoma and Bremerton will put one foot in front of the other in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s to raise awareness and support of Alzheimer’s care.
The South Sound-Tacoma walk will be staged Sept. 13 at Thea’s Park in Tacoma. And on Sept. 14, the Kitsap Peninsula-Bremerton walk will be held at Louis Mentor Boardwalk in Bremerton. Proceeds will support the Alzheimer’s Association’s fight against the disease that is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.
The association’s walks, which are held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide, are the world’s largest fund-raiser for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Participants of all ages and abilities are called upon to reclaim the future for those and their families who are afflicted with the disease.
Coordinated by the association’s western and central Washington chapter, the walk in Tacoma will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m., followed by an opening ceremony at 9:30 and the two-mile walk at 10. In Bremerton, registration will start at noon, a ceremony is set for 1 p.m. and the walk two-mile walk will get underway at 1:30.
There is no fee to enter, but each participant is asked to solicit pledges of financial support. Information on how to get involved is available at alzwa.org and 206-529-3898.
Volunteers helped participants get ready for the two-mile Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Tacoma last year. The Alzheimer’s Association will host the event again Sept. 13 in Tacoma, as well as another walk the next day in Bremerton.
LeMay-America’s Car Museum is heaven on wheels for people like Bill Simon.
As one of the volunteer tour guides, Simon gets to satisfy his own fascination with automobiles while fulfilling the curiosity of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the museum in Tacoma.
And there are opportunities for more people to join Simon in the museum’s volunteer ranks. Museum officials are recruiting for any of nine volunteer roles, ranging from guides to members of the “pit crew†who help visitors take turns in race-car simulators.
The unpaid staff members are important to the overall experience that visitors have at the museum. “We’re so grateful for the work they do,†said Jana Wenstrom, coordinator of the volunteers.
Most of the volunteers are asked to make a one-year commitment. Docents (tour guides) are asked for a two-year commitment that includes ongoing training and independent study.
The work is in shifts of about three hours Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or 1:30 to 5 p.m.
Simon, who also is a substitute school teacher at high schools in Tacoma, reports for duty at the museum next to the Tacoma Dome a little less when school’s in session. But even during the school year, he averages 30 hours a month with the museum. That goes up to 50 hours during the summer. And he loves every minute.
“I’ve always been a car enthusiast. I appreciate the elegance of these classic cars,†he said.
One of his favorites in the LeMay collection is a 1948 Tucker. “It’s one of the museum’s premier cars. Only 50 were made,†he said.
The Tacoma resident has been volunteering at the museum since it opened in 2012. A friend who already was volunteering got him interested.
On any given day, the 165,000 square-feet museum displays as many as 350 cars, trucks and motorcycles from private owners, corporations and LeMay. That’s a fraction of the total LeMay collection, which reached a Guinness Book world record of more than 3,000 vehicles in the mid-1990s.
“The wide variety of cars is one of the things I appreciate the most about the museum. There’s always something new to see,†Simon said.
The museum is often a trip down memory lane for visitors, who often Simon their personal car stories. He recalls, for instance, a woman who reminisced after seeing a 1965 Ford Mustang like the one she was in when her future husband proposed marriage.
“I like hearing people talk about cars that made an impact in their lives, whether it was learning to drive while sitting on their grandfather’s lap or the first car they owned,†Simon said.
His own story is about a 1964 Chevrolet Super Sport convertible. “That was my favorite of the cars I’ve owned,†he said. “It was a hot little car. I’d love to have another one.â€
Joining the ranks of museum volunteers can take a person in several directions, depending on the job they’re interested in:
• Tour guide. Docents conduct guided tours for school-age children, educators, seniors, visitors with special needs, and those for whom English is not a first language. Docents will provide a brief history of the museum and an overview of its programs in addition to answering questions about cars. Museum Educator
• Educator. Museum educators lead K-12 audiences in the discovery of automobile-themed topics in the subjects of American history, math, science, literacy, and the arts.
• Collection monitor. Keeps an eye on vehicles that are on display to make sure they aren’t being handled. Monitors also provide information about the museum, its history, and the collection.
• Pit crew. The crew assists visitors with “The Speed Zone,†helping visitors in and out of race-car simulators and orienting them to how the attraction works. The pit crew also helps out with the slot car race track.
• Greeter. Greeters welcome museum guests, distribute maps and information, and answer general questions.
• Photo booth attendant. In this role, volunteers help with taking souvenir pictures of visitors in a 1923 Buick. The work includes starting and shutting down a camera-computer and changing photo paper and ink.
• Events specialist. These volunteers are assigned to special events, greeting visitors in the lobby and helping direct them where to go, serving as a collection monitor in the galleries, or even dressing up in costumes to fit the theme of a party. Volunteers for weekend and evening events are particularly needed.
• Museum ambassador. This involves representing the museum at the museum and off-site events. This position can include setting up booths, positioning vehicles, and arranging signs, tables and displays for off-site events.
• Collection management. This crew is in charge of seeing that vehicles and artifacts are displayed properly and also well-maintained. Team members help with preservation, conservation and historical background. There may be call for detailing, washing and polishing vehicles while they’re on display, maintaining computer records of the cars, and moving vehicles to events and between displays.
• Administrative assistance. These volunteers may help keep records and files, operate office equipment, answer telephone calls, type documents, and do other office-related tasks assigned by a supervisor.
Prospective volunteers can contact Wennstrom, the volunteer coordinator, at jana.wennstrom@lemaymuseum.org and 253-779-8490, extension 1022.
Pat Jenkins, who wrote this article, is the editor of Senior Scene.
Classic automobiles at LeMay-America’s Car Museum include the 1948 Tucker that tour guide Bill Simons (in red shirt) talks about with admirers. (Jim Bryant/Senior Scene)
Summer and outdoor concerts go together like hot weather and iced tea, which is why bands and other musical performers will take to stages for free concerts this month and in August in Tacoma, Steilacoom, Federal Way, Puyallup and Gig Harbor.
Here’s what’s coming up:
** Franke Tobey Jones outdoor concerts: All concerts at 6:30 p.m. at 5340 N. Bristol St. in Tacoma. Free. Aug. 7, Puget Brass (British brass band). Aug. 14, The Voelberg Family Band (fiddlers). Aug. 21, Carrie Cunningham and the Six Shooters (country rock). Aug. 28, Pearl Django (jazz, swing).
** Steilacoom Summer Concerts: 6:30 p.m. at Pioneer Park, 1700 Commercial St. in Steilacoom. Free. July 23, Michael Powers (smooth jazz). Jul y 30, The Blues Brothers. Aug. 13, Joey Jewel and The Swinging Orchestra. Aug. 20, Darren Motamedy (smooth jazz),. Aug. 27, Just Hook Me Up Band (jazz quartet).
** Federal Way Summer Sounds: 7 p.m. at Steel Lake Park, 2410 S. 312th St. in Federal Way. Free. July 30, 85th Street Big Band (jazz). Aug. 13, M80s (’80s cover band). Radio Active (top 40).
** Puyallup Concerts in the Park: 6:30 p.m. at Pioneer Park, 325 S. Meridian. Free. July 23, Bill Harley (family stories and songs). July 24, The Beatniks (classic rock). Aug. 7, Atomic Punks (Van Halen tribute). Aug. 14, United Generation (contemporary rock). and Sway (current top 40). Aug. 21, Blackstone River (rock) and Hell’s Belles (AC/DC tribute).
**
Bands and musical groups scheduled for free outdoor shows include Puget Brass, which will perform Aug. 7 at Franke Tobey Jones in Tacoma.
Summer Sounds at Skansie: 6:30 p.m. at Skansie Brothers Park on the Gig Harbor waterfront. Free. July 29, Chris Anderson (jazz, pop). Aug. 5, Blue Rocket Music (blues, country and rockabilly). Aug. 12, Stick Shift Annie with Kimball and the Fugitives (blues, jazz, swing and rock). Aug. 19, Funaddicts (dance tunes).
Forty-six years after he was killed in action, the medals of a Vietnam War hero are in the hands of his daughter through the perseverance of a police officer and a veterans’ official in North Dakota and a cemetery manager in Spanaway.
Army Sgt. Robert Gerald Elgin was 29 at the time of his death in 1968. His body was returned to the U.S. for burial at Bethel Cemetery in Spanaway, next to his parents. His grave marker, worn by weather and time but still legible, is inscribed with his name, rank and PH, for Purple Heart. Not noted is another medal, the Silver Star, one of America’s highest honors for bravery in combat. It was awarded to Elgin posthumously along with the South Vietnamese Military Merit Medal, given by the Republic of Vietnam to soldiers for extreme bravery.
It wasn’t until Mike Nason bought both medals at an auction April 17 in Minot, N.D. that they began winding their way to one of Elgin’s daughters, who now has them as a cherished memento of a father she barely knew.
Nason, a captain in the Ward County Sheriff Department in North Dakota, found Elgin’s name on the back of the medals. It’s unclear how they had become possessions of the person who sold them to him, but Nason, who collects military artifacts, believed there was a more rightful owner somewhere.
“Once I figured out what the situation was and realized there may be somebody out there who should have these, I wanted to get them reunited,” Nason told the Minot Daily News.
Nason enlisted the help of Kathy Holte, administrative assistant at the Ward County Veterans Service Office in Minot. Through an Internet search, Holte learned where Elgin was buried and got in touch with Laurie Porter, who is employed by Bethany Lutheran Church as manager of the church-owned cemetery.
Porter is also a genealogist. She used her experience at tracing family histories to locate Elgin’s daughter, Katherine Ferry, who lives in Tulsa, Okla.
Porter located Ferry in two days, mostly by digging online. An e-mail address Ferry left when she signed the Virtual Wall, a website for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., led to contacts with Facebook friends, who let Ferry know Porter was looking for her, and why. Ferry called Porter, who shared the other connections Ferry needed to have the medals sent to her by the veterans’ agency in Minot. They arrived at Ferry’s home last Thursday, “and she’s thrilled,” Porter said. “She only has a vague memory of her father, so this is really important to her.”
Ferry e-mailed Porter a blurry, black-and-white photograph of her dad, the only one she has of him. It shows him in what appears to be his Army uniform, holding eggs in both hands during an Easter egg hunt.
Ferry was 3 when he died, and her sister, who now lives in Arizona, were adopted by relatives and raised in separate homes after their parents divorced. Ferry told the Daily News that she tried in recent years to get information about her father.
According to Porter, Elgin was born in Hoquiam and was the member of a Pierce County family. He died April 4, 1968, in a battle in the Thua Thien province in South Vietnam. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, 505th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade.
Elgin’s military record and the story behind the recovery of his Silver Star and Military Merit Medal (the whereabouts of his Purple Heart is unknown) were part of a Memorial Day ceremony May 26 at Bethany Cemetery. Elgin is among several military veterans, including one from the Civil War, who are buried there.
Porter, who lives in Kent, does family research for anyone who asks. She said involvement with uniting Elgin’s medals with his daughter was a little more special, given the timing with Memorial Day.
“I’m glad I could help,” she said.
(Reprinted from The Dispatch, a newspaper that covers south Pierce County.)
Laurie Porter, manager of Bethany Cemetery, helped connect people in North Dakota with a daughter in Oklahoma of Robert Elgin. Porter is standing at Elgin’s gravesite at the cemetery with Doug Korba, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who is helping organize a Memorial Day ceremony there. (The Dispatch)
