Reasons to love the seasons

Though we’ve had a few sunny glorious days lately, our gray wet winter weather has definitely arrived. We’ve quietly passed into mushroom season. I got my red rubber boots out yesterday and tried fitting Jackson into his yellow raincoat (not a popular event).

I don’t know what your winter traditions are but I’ll bet you have some. Now’s the time to open that drawer, box, cedar chest, or old suitcase where you’ve stashed your wool sweaters, gloves, and heavy socks. I dug up my flannel nightie and floofy slippers this weekend so I can pad around the house in cozy comfort before getting dressed officially for the day.

Then there’s that dastardly fall back stuff. I guess the changing seasons just remind us life is short. We’re always in the “Now” so we sort of miss the fact that time is rollin’ along. I think it’s the cycling seasons that keep us on track, at least annually.

Vet Lunch

And speaking of seasons — ‘Tis the season for the Veterans Lunch, this year on Nov. 11 noon to 2 p.m. at the Ocean Park Moose Lodge. (RSVP at 360-214-8213). As usual there will be pot roast, potatoes and gravy, veggies and desserts donated by the community. (Rita Nicely is awaiting your donations of homemade or purchased pies, Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Moose Lodge.)

On the question of the Jell-O-salad menu item — there has been quite a conversation on the organizing team. Unbelievably, over the years there have been many snafus with the Jell-O. Of course everybody loves Jell-O salad because — why not? — in the ‘50s our mom’s made it for us. When we were sick in my childhood home it was either Jell-O or chicken noodle soup. Three colors of Jell-O is standard at the Gable family reunions. (In the small towns of rural Pennsylvania you can even buy it in the deli case.) It’s a crowd pleaser. However — it’s tricky to serve. It jiggles and wiggles and when scooped up and put on a plate it loses its shape and doesn’t stay put very well, even if there’s a lettuce leaf under it (and who needs lettuce?).

Anyway, after much discussion and minor controversy, all American macaroni salad will be substituted for Jell-O, generously donated by Okie’s Thriftway in Ocean Park. Thanks, Robert!

Honoring our vets: Al Betters

I suppose the main feature of the Vet Lunch, however, is not what’s on the plate. It’s about honoring our local vets. I had a chance to talk to Albert “Al” Betters, long-time friend and co-founder with Nanci Main of the event. “I think we started the Vet Lunch in 2015? And the first year it was at Nanci and Jimella’s Café in Klipsan,” Al said, “then as I remember we ran out of room and it’s been either at the Senior Center or the Moose Lodge ever since then.”

About his military service, Al says, “The Navy chose me in 1947. My dad had been a special courier for Admiral Nimitz from ’42-’44, so my family was connected to the Navy. I’d just finished two years of engineering in college when they asked me to serve. That was for the Korean War.”

Al became a Navy Seal before they were even called Navy Seals (they were underwater demolition teams, or, informally, frogmen), and some of his missions he still can’t talk about. “I left the service in 1957, but they called me back in ’62-‘63 for a special project during the Viet Nam War. I also served in the reserves. Then I went back and completed my engineering degree. Education is one of the best military benefits.”

Before joining the military and again after he resigned, Al was making art: painting, carving wood, and making exquisite miniature pieces of furniture. (His art is represented in the Bold Gallery in Long Beach.) Al turns 90 on Nov. 23 — Happy Birthday, Al!

My next question for Al was about my dad. Bill Gable was in the army, but he served as an inventory officer on Navy vessels shipping from Seattle to the Pacific theatre. Al says, “Well, they’d just put you wherever they needed you. But the Pacific was tricky. The Seventh Fleet was there and they had to deal with Kamikaze pilots.” Dad passed his tendency to get seasick on to me, so I’ve often wondered how he did on those ships. He never talked about it, and I never had the courage to ask him.

Mauri Knapp

Then there’s Mauri Knapp, already a 90-year-old! “I was born in Longview. I enlisted in the army right out of high school at 17. I had to wait for my mom to sign the papers. She didn’t want to, but my dad worked on her for a couple weeks. I volunteered to go to Korean. They needed another weather observer at the front, and said, ‘Put your names in a hat and we’ll draw one…’ but, I dunno, I was 18 by then, I just said ‘Nah, I’ll go.’ It sounded like a good idea at the time.”

“Two years later I got out and went to college for a year, but it wasn’t for me, so I signed up for the Air Force. When somebody wanted a weather report, we’d go up and relay messages back on cloud visibility.”

“Afterwards, I had a cousin like a brother. We met up in San Francisco one time and he said ‘I’ve got a place in Seaview — I’ll sell it to you cheap.’ So I bought it, that was ten years ago. Now I live in Sunset Sands. I’ve gone to the vet lunch every year they’ve had it. They put on a good show!”

Carol Holmes

Another vet and fourth generation Peninsula family member is Carol Holmes. “My mom was raised in Ilwaco and I grew up in Aberdeen. I came back home after 20 plus years in the Air Force. I served overseas for 17 of those years: in Korea, England, Japan, and Turkey. I served in Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, the war in Afghanistan and also the Bosnian war. That was a lot of excitement for a young girl from Aberdeen.”

“First I was in logistics — I was just a weenie, sitting behind a computer. [No! you were doing something vital for the troops.] — then I cross-trained for professional development. I left as a First Sergeant from the Security Force Academy, the Air Force Police Academy. This was the proudest time in my life. I enjoyed every single minute of it.”

“A couple years ago I went to the Vet Lunch with my dad, Fred Holmes, and his buddy Pete Warwick who was in the Army airborne in Viet Nam. My dad was in Viet Nam too and Pete and my dad were really close. But my dad died just before the Vet Lunch last year, and I wanted to keep the tradition going — to honor my dad — so Pete and I go together now. It was a real honor to serve my country. I had such a fabulous time and the camaraderie in the military — and at the lunch — is amazing.” The lunch is free to all vets — it’s one time they can sit with fellow military folks and compare stories.

Vet time: coffee and donuts

There is a project in the works spearheaded by Ed Crawford, official veterans service officer for Pacific County (360-214-6011). Ed has heard from many vets who’d like a place to gather on a regular basis. Nanci Main, Senior Center board member, liked the idea and so did director John Vale. When the new addition is completed next spring the Senior Center will offer vets a monthly space for coffee and donuts. No program, just conversation. It will be the first Thursday of every month, 8-9 a.m. Stay tuned on that. And, this week, be sure you shake a vet’s hand and thank them for their service.