During the month of December, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) collected warm clothing and blankets, donated by employees and members of the public. In all, the “Warm Hearts Warm Hands” clothing drive collected one hundred 40-pound bags full of warm clothes and blankets. The donations were divided evenly and distributed to three local organizations, recommended by Whatcom County’s Opportunity Council: Fountain Church, Hope House and the South Samish Resource Center.
WhatcomTalk is expanding its writing team. Join our team of paid, professional writers that live, work and play in Whatcom County.
WhatcomTalk publishes positive stories about people, businesses and organizations doing good things in communities across Whatcom County. Our stories are published online and distributed via social media. Our platform reaches people that want to know about great things happening around us.
Joining the freelance writing team of WhatcomTalk gives you an opportunity to release your creative spirit, meet new people around the community, explore things that you are interested in, and contribute to a locally owned, growing business. Some of our writers craft more than 10 articles per month, others write just one — and everything in between. The position is very flexible, based on a writer’s time availability and interests.
Job Requirements:
Proven experience creating error-free articles on deadline
Ability to interview and interface with local business owners
Interest in writing advertising and marketing materials as well as business articles
Skills to snap quick photographs during interviews to submit with stories
Initiative to pitch story ideas on a monthly basis
Sincere passion for sharing the positive stories happening in our community
Dr. Stephen Robinson took part in four space shuttle missions, from 1997 to 2009. Photo courtesy: Dr. Stephen Robinson.
Celebrated astronaut Dr. Stephen Robinson is coming to the Mount Baker Theatreon Saturday, February 6 where he promises to take audience members to the cosmos with his spectacular multimedia presentation “This Side of Impossible: Achieving the Dream of Spaceflight.”
Now a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC Davis, Dr. Robinson spent nearly 37 years at NASA— 17 of those as an astronaut — and took part in four shuttle missions, from 1997 to 2009.
“This event will give folks in the community a window into the NASA Human Space Flight Program,” says Dr. Robinson. “People tend to be curious and passionate about space exploration, and this is a behind-the-scenes look at things you can’t find on the Internet or in the newspaper.”
Robinson’s presentation at Mount Baker Theatre will give folks a fascinating window into the NASA Human Space Flight Program. Photo courtesy: Dr. Stephen Robinson.
“From the Wright brothers to space exploration, all of us at San Juan Airlines share that fascination across the entire gamut of flight,” says San Juan Airlines Co-Owner Katie Jansen. “Sponsoring Dr. Robinson’s visit was a chance for us to share that curiosity and excitement with the whole community.
Part of the presentation’s theme is the value of persistence.
“Any adult could tell a version of that story, and this is my version,” says Robinson. “Both personal, but also in the bigger sense. Nobody would have gone to space, and continued going to space, if they gave up easily.”
Robinson says you need visuals to truly get a sense of what it’s like to fly in space, and through his presentation, he’ll help put powerful images in context.
Robinson takes an outer space selfie. Photo credit: Dr. Stephen Robinson.
Robinson was born in Sacramento but his family is from Vancouver, so he’s very familiar with Bellingham.
His parents owned a place in Blaine for many years, and Robinson — who is also a pilot — has landed at the Bellingham airport several times.
He shares a fond boyhood memory related to our airport.
“There used to be a DC-3 out there at the end of the runway and I remember spending a pleasant Saturday afternoon, sitting in the grass under the wing of that DC-3, waiting for somebody to arrive,” Robinson says, and then laughs: “That was quite a long time ago.”
Robinson is looking forward to his upcoming Bellingham visit and promises that whether attendees are 7 years old or 95, and every age in between, the experience will speak to them.
Preparing for spaceflight. Photo courtesy: Dr. Stephen Robinson.
“And it’s good news,” he continues. “There are all kinds of bad stories out there. This is a good one.”
Mount Baker Theatre’s Executive Director, Brad Burdick, describes Dr. Robinson’s story as one of adventure, courage, perseverance and hard work. “We’re honored to invite him to Mount Baker Theatre and hope — with tickets starting at just $10 — that families can enjoy this presentation together.”
Tickets are available at Mount Baker Theatre. Proceeds benefit Dr. Robinson’s Astronaut Alumni Scholarship at UC Davis.
Astronaut Steve Robinson repairs a heat shield. Photo courtesy: Dr. Stephen Robinson.
Dr. Stephen Robinson
This Side of Impossible: Achieving the Dream of Spaceflight
Saturday, February 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Mount Baker Theatre
104 North Commercial Street in downtown Bellingham
360-734-6080
When Jeff Evans made the leap from Seattle Mariners Assistant Director of Baseball Information to Western Washington University Sports Information Director in October 2015, some friends worried it could be a step backward.
Not Evans.
In fact, he happily left what had been a dream job, all in the service of his young family.
“I look at it as a step forward,” he says. “Because I’m able to do my own thing here and also raise my family in this amazing community.”
After nearly a decade with the Mariners, Evans came to a crossroads: Did he want to continue down a path of living the single man/sports fan’s dream or be around his family a whole lot more?
The decision was easy.
Evans grew up in Gig Harbor, watching Mariners baseball. As a freshman at Washington State University, he heard a man speak about his career as a publicist for players like John Olerud and Drew Bledsoe. The mix of journalism, public relations and sports hooked Evans instantly.
Jeff, Kim, Charlie and Caroline pose at Safeco Field, Jeff’s home away from home for nearly 10 years. Photo courtesy: Jeff Evans.
“I volunteered my freshman year with the baseball team, running the scoreboard,” he says. It didn’t pay, but it certainly paid off. “My sophomore year, the director asked if I wanted to oversee baseball.”
While at Wazzu, Evans also got involved with football and basketball, working the events and really getting to know his intended profession.
With a couple summer internships under his belt, Evans was offered a job after graduation from Arizona State University’s baseball coach.
His goal was to learn as much as he could, have fun, and ultimately get back to Washington State.
“I wanted to work for the Mariners,” he says. “That was my dream.”
After a five-year stint in Arizona, Evans went to the Texas Rangers for one year, before his dream position opened up in Seattle.
Evans traveled with the team extensively, writing game recaps, researching statistics, and working alongside superstars like Felix Hernandez and Ken Griffey Jr. — heroes to millions.
Eventually, Evans met his wife and started a family. With two young children in the picture, priorities began to realign.
Evans was rarely home during his tenure with the team. With 162 baseball games each season, plus spring training, Evans was at 120 — and writing about all of them.
Jeff, wife Kim, son Charlie and daughter Caroline have quickly learned to call Bellingham home. Photo courtesy: Jeff Evans.
“During the baseball season, it was hard for me to be around,” he says. “It came down to: How can I be at my son’s baseball games?”
The rising cost of living and traffic headaches also had Evans reevaluating what he wanted to do professionally and how to balance that with family.
“I did some soul-searching, and then this job at Western came open,” he says.
“I interviewed them as much as they interviewed me.”
Evans took over the role of Western’s Sports Information Director from Paul Madison, who left after 47 years.
“I have a lot to learn to get up to speed and look forward to learning all the sports programs and the great history,” he says. “I’m taking over for someone who cared immensely about the history of WWU Athletics and I look forward to keeping that tradition alive.”
Many would find Evans’ current Western workload hectic — following 15 different sports requires a lot of juggling. But it’s a far cry from the travel and intense schedule of working for the Mariners.
“I came in during the confluence in the fall and winter sports, where basketball was starting up and soccer and volleyball were going on,” says Evans. “I was thrown definitely into the deep end, with my day-to-day making sure all my ducks are in order for all the sports.”
Part of his job includes overseeing the Western Athletics website and interacting on social media.
Evans hopes to step up Western Athletics’ social media game, keeping things updated and making sure every sport is covered, while also staffing events for statistics and coming up with new ideas.
Jeff Evans became Western’s new Sports Information Director in October 2015. Photo courtesy: Jeff Evans.
“I’m very much in the evaluation stage, just trying to produce as much content as I can for our athletic teams, for the website and social media,” he says.
Evans is already a familiar sight at Western.
“I’m monitoring every event and I’m at a lot of them — that’s the nature of the beast,” he says. “But you can plan a lot more in advance and it’s not every single day. I look at this as a nice reprieve.”
He’s quick to add that it’s also a lot of fun. “Being around the collegiate atmosphere again is really nice,” he says. “Getting to know all the coaches and student athletes has been a great experience.”
Evans plans for this new position to be long-term. “I’ve already done this job at the highest of levels for 10 years in Major League Baseball,” he says. “Now I want to take everything I’ve learned and implement it and hopefully grow the department.”
And his goal to spend more time with family? That’s been a home run.
“This job has provided all that and more,” he says. “Everything being within 5 to 10 minutes away means so much when you’re raising a family.”
Evans and his wife have enjoyed discovering favorite running trails — bringing their son and daughter along in a double stroller — as well as Bellingham’s much-loved breweries and coffee shops.
Boulevard Park is already a favorite destination for the Evans family. Photo courtesy: Jeff Evans.
“We love craft beer, and the fact that we can bring our family to Elizabeth Station or to Kulshan Brewing or Boundary Bay and enjoy those Sunday afternoons where we just sit and talk,” he says. “Or The Woods! There seems to be one on every corner and we love supporting a local business.”
Evans and his wife have also fallen for the Bellingham Farmers Market and walking to Fairhaven from Boulevard Park.
“There’s just so much to do here,” he says. “And we haven’t even gotten out to Baker yet! It’s really refreshing to have so many outdoor recreation options right on your doorstep.”
For all the positive changes the move to Bellingham has brought, there are a couple things Evans knows he’ll miss about being with the Seattle Mariners.
“I’ll miss working alongside the players and also the thrill of having my work on a national stage. “When I’d put something out on Felix Hernandez, it would often end up on Sportscenter,” he says. “But I’m fine with it.”
Evans hasn’t looked over his shoulder since leaving the organization, but he is already looking forward to returning next summer in a different capacity.
“It’s going to be great to go down to Safeco Field with my son and sit in the outfield and just watch a game,” he says, smiling. “I haven’t watched a baseball game simply as a fan in the last 15 years.”
And though he admits there will likely be moments in the coming Mariners season where he’ll be tempted to pull out his laptop and email the PR staff with a stat or two — old habits die hard, after all — he’ll stop himself, because that’s not what he does anymore.
Jeff will cherish a lifetime of memories made with the Seattle Mariners, but is equally excited to now be working with the Vikings. Photo courtesy: Jeff Evans.
“I have a lifetime’s collection of memories in my mind and on my shelf — from Arizona State and Team USA Baseball to the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners,” he says. “And now I get to do that all over again in a town like Bellingham and at a school like Western.”
Read Jeff’s thoughts about his final game with the Mariners at his personal blog.
Since 1996, the K-20 Education Network has served as a high-speed, high-connectivity network linking local colleges, universities, K-12 school districts and libraries across Washington State — including institutions in Whatcom County — to innovative technology systems designed to enhance learning.
From its inception, K-20’s purpose has been to provide reliable, consistent access to students across the state, including those living in more rural areas. K-20, a public and privately funded technology network, does this by connecting students, teachers and parents to local, national and global resources in an effective and efficient manner.
For example, when a third grader opens a web page to virtually tour a museum, he’s accessing the K-20 Education Network. When a medical practitioner attends a remote training course, she’s accessing the network. And when a teacher emails a parent or an office professional completes payroll, they’re accessing the network, too. Essentially, if computer-driven education is a body, then K-20 is its circulatory system.
Comcast Business in Washington Vice President, Matt Fassnacht, says Comcast Business is proud to provide the infrastructure the K-20 Education Network — and the students, teachers and parents its support — with the tools it needs to be successful.
However, in the 20 years since the K-20 Education Network was founded, connectivity has skyrocketed. Today, people don’t simply connect to the World Wide Web via dial-up on their desktop computer; they’re connecting on the go with their phones, tablets, laptops and other wireless devices, sometimes all at once. So in order for a large-scale, statewide system like K-20 to be successful and fulfill its purpose, it requires a reliable infrastructure designed specifically with K-20’s needs in mind. Enter Comcast Business.
This past December, Comcast Business was selected by the K-20 Education Network to provide a comprehensive communications network system designed to better support the more than 100 higher education institutions, K-12 school districts and libraries that K-20 serves statewide.
In Whatcom County and other parts of western Washington, those educational institutions include:
“Technology can make life more efficient and stretch the boundaries of learning for students,” says Matt Fassnacht, Comcast Business in Washington Vice President. “You have to have the foundation and network behind it to support the applications. We have an opportunity with what we do at Comcast Business to provide the foundation for those ideas to take flight.”
Comcast Business is providing 101 fiber-rich remote K-20 spoke locations connected back to K-20’s main data center hub in Seattle. There, two 100Gb fiber circuits supply the network with over 200 Gbps of data throughput, which Comcast says gives K-20 significant ability to grow quickly and seamlessly as future network demands increase. For the K-20 Education Network, the dedicated connectivity ranges from 100Mbps to 10Gbps per circuit.
Technology in the classroom provides students access to learning tools they wouldn’t have otherwise. Being able to connect quickly is key to enhancing education in the digital age.
As technology needs increase at an exponential rate, it’s important that infrastructure exists to support modern learning in the classroom. “There are economies of scale and efficiencies when the network is supporting what the teachers and students are doing,” says Fassnacht. “That should be transparent. From a strategic standpoint also, we’re going to see bandwidth needs dramatically increasing. Fifty percent of web traffic is mobile now. You’re only going to see those needs increase as more students are taking devices home. We’re not only providing them what they need today, but we’re providing them what they need well into the future.”
By providing the K-20 Education Network with a “fiber-diverse, ‘hub and spoke’ Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) network configuration,” Comcast Business is able to supercharge the K-20 Education Network with the infrastructure and bandwidth it needs to be successful and grow as network demands increase into the future.
Mike Scroggins, deputy executive director of information technology for the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and chair of the K-20 Network Consortium says he remembers what K-20 looked like when it formed 20 years ago. In the mid-1990s, infrastructure costs were prohibitive and access was anemic at best. But thoughtful legislators had a vision to create reliable and consistent access to information and make it available to all students across the state. To achieve this goal, they built an unorthodox coalition of educational venues. Included were K-12 districts, tribal schools, community and technical colleges, library systems, and universities — both public and private. As they correctly hypothesized, bringing all the players to the table maximized efficiency.
“One of our anchor tenets was to bring Internet access to rural communities,” explains Scroggins. “When we brought the network to places like Ilwaco or Forks, it paved the way for businesses, hospitals, and the general community to build on that infrastructure.” By benefitting local communities as a whole, the K-20 Education Network far surpassed its initial goal of enhancing learning in the classroom — it inspired connectivity throughout entire communities.
More than just supporting the K-20 Education Network as it operates today, Comcast Business is able to provide the infrastructure it needs to grow into the future.
With the help of Comcast Businesses, the K-20 Education Network will be able to continue growing and expanding with today’s ever-changing technology, enhancing learning in the classroom and better connecting students, teachers and parents to the world that surrounds them.
Fassnacht is pleased to share Comcast’s innovation, capability, and commitment with the educational community. “We serve large business, small business, government and the education sector,” he says. “What we do is affect lives, whether that’s promoting the interaction between a teacher and student or helping a large-scale enterprise business provide solutions to their customers.”
With K-20’s new and improved bandwidth, better educational experiences are expected for staff and students at every learning level, and that’s a win for everyone. “This isn’t just a partnership between Comcast and K-20,” says Fassnacht. “It’s a partnership between Comcast Business and that teacher, that student, that school, and that family.”
For more information about Comcast Business and how it works together to improve the communities it serves by better connecting them to the technology of today, visit Comcast Business online. For addition information about the K-20 Education Network, visit: www.wa-k20.net.
Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed Bellingham resident and retired business executive John Pedlow to Whatcom Community College’s Board of Trustees. Pedlow began his five-year term Dec. 15, 2015. He replaces local business owner Chuck Robinson on the five-member board. Robinson’s term expired in December, and he is stepping down after a decade of service to the College.
The trustees are appointed by the governor and serve five-year terms and/or until their successors are appointed, and must reside within the College’s district boundaries. The board’s duties include setting the College’s strategic direction, establishing policy for the College, awarding tenure, approving the operating budget and hiring the College president.
John Pedlow joins Whatcom Community College as its newest Board of Trustees member. Photo courtesy: Whatcom Community College.
“We are extremely fortunate that John has been named to WCC’s Board of Trustees,” says current board chair Steve Adelstein. “His experience as a business leader and commitment to education and community will help us to further strengthen Whatcom’s reputation for excellence and innovation.”
Pedlow retired in 2008 as chief executive officer of Broadcast Electronics Inc., which is the largest radio-only broadcast equipment manufacturer in the United States. During his career, he was also vice president of Alpha Technologies North American Operations, president and CEO of Power West Inc., and vice president of Square D Corporation’s power protection system division.He has a bachelor’s degree in business from Widener University in Chester, Pa., and completed post-graduate work in law and business administration at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. He and his wife, Joyce, moved from San Diego to Bellingham in 1996.
Pedlow is a member of the Rotary Club of Bellingham and serves on the board of directors of the Mount Baker Theatre and the Bellingham Angel Investors group. Prior to his appointment as a trustee, he served as a member of the WCC Foundation Board of Directors. He was a founding member of the America’s Cup 95 organization and the Bellingham Innovation Group (BIG) Idea Lab, an incubator for local entrepreneurs. He is a former board member of The Arc of Whatcom County and WQUB FM, a National Public Radio affiliate station.
Whatcom Community College is a regionally and nationally accredited two-year college with an accomplished faculty and staff who serve 11,000 students annually.
Other members of WCC’s Board of Trustees are Steve Adelstein, attorney at law, Adelstein, Sharpe & Serka; Barbara Rofkar, counselor and mediator in private practice and with Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center as well as part-time faculty at Western Washington University; Sue Cole, brand marketing and communications consultant; and Tim Douglas, retired, former mayor of Bellingham.
Every year the Whatcom County Library System Youth Services department recognizes local community educators who have made a real and significant difference in the lives of the young people of Whatcom County with the Golden Apple Award. For 2015, WCLS recognizes two colleagues from Western Washington University (WWU), Nancy Johnson and Sylvia Tag, whose dedication to books and reading, and whose collaboration with their public library partners, has resulted in the sorts of experiences that open kids to stories and reading in unforeseen and indelible ways.
As committed members of the WWU Academic community, Nancy and Sylvia work hard to produce opportunities for their students to engage with the best contemporary literature for children and teens, and the writers and illustrators who produce it. They put on an annual Children’s Literature Conference, now in its thirteenth year, to bring luminaries from the world of children’s and young adult publishing to campus for a day of education and inspiration. They curate Poetry CHaT, a collection of resources, ideas and curricula designed to help educators share their love of poetry with children and teens, a landmark collection unlike any other in the United States. And in this impressive work they go out of their way to include children and teens from across Whatcom County, significantly increasing the impact of these initiatives.
(L-R front row) Nancy Johnson, WCLS Public Services Librarian Aubri Keleman, WCLS Teen Services Coordinator Tamar Clarke, Sylvia Tag, (back row) WCLS Youth Services Manager Thom Barthelmess. Photo courtesy: Whatcom County Library System.
From arranging for authors to speak to kids in libraries, in classrooms, or at the Whatcom County Juvenile Detention, to inviting members of the Whatcom County Library staff to serve on the boards and planning committees for their projects, Nancy and Sylvia have spread the wealth of their efforts to reach all young people. And in those efforts they not only celebrate the literature itself, but inspire young people to be not only consumers, but creators, too, of great literary art.
Awarded at the December meeting of the Whatcom County Library System Board of Trustees meeting.
Sewing, along with the “resourcefulness mindset,” while mostly absent from the average household for a few generations, is making a comeback. The reasons for renewed interest in the needle and thread are widespread — from a desire for self-expression to being able to create clothes that fit well, to hit television shows like “Project Runway,” and a handful of environmental, economic, and social justice concerns.
Locally, the non-profit organization Ragfinery is tapping into that growing trend. With a shop full of donated fabric, scraps, and garments along with a calendar full of workshops to help crafters learn what to do with them, Ragfinery is banking on Bellingham’s creative bent and environmentally responsible leanings to create a successful business model.
Sewing Bootcamp at Ragfinery is a great way to develop a useful skill and fun hobby. Photo courtesy: Ragfinery.
“As far as we know we’re the first non-profit of our kind in the US,” says Ragfinery Manager, Shan Sparling. “At the heart of it all, though, is getting people on sewing machines.”
Sewing Bootcamp
This February, Ragfinery offers its first installation of a new “Sewing Bootcamp,” where students learn the basics of sewing by upcycling old clothes into new items. The class is held over three consecutive weekends and is taught by veteran seamstress Brigitte Parra, who also designs and creates many of the upcycled garments and bags for sale at Ragfinery.
“Once people learn how to use a sewing machine they get hooked,” Sparling says. “We get more and more people coming through our doors who have realized they can have a fun and satisfying experience making high quality and affordable clothing that really expresses their personal sense of style.”
ReUse Works (the parent organization of Ragfinery and Appliance Depot) Executive Director, Duane Jager, created Ragfinery two years ago using Appliance Depot’s successful “jobs from waste” model.
Sewing Bootcamps are set for February. Contact Ragfinery to learn more about the workshops and how to sign-up for an upcoming class. Photo courtesy: Ragfinery.
“Essentially, we’re tapping into the waste stream to create jobs, support the local economy, and protect the environment,” Jager says. “The textile industry is the second most polluting industry behind oil. If we can get folks to create and mend their own clothing, that’s a huge success.”
Ragfinery accepts clothing and fabric donations that are then either repurposed into upcycled items or sold by the pound to local artisans. All sales support job training for transitional populations, which happens on-site.
If you have questions about Ragfinery’s workshops or community endeavors, call 360-738-6977 or visit Ragfinery.com.
Enrollment is open for Leadership Whatcom, a program of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and Industry designed to cultivate the next generation of community leaders.
Leadership Whatcom is a community leadership training program that brings emerging and established leaders together to develop leadership skills while gaining unique insights into the multifaceted issues facing our county.
The class of 20–25 business professionals from various industries, nonprofits and municipalities participate in the 10-month program that includes interactive workshops hosted throughout the county to introduce Leadership participants to area industries and government leaders. Classes meet one day each month for 10 months with no classes in July and August for summer vacation.
The program focuses on practical leadership skills that help build bridges across generations, differing perspectives and sectors of the community. In addition, participants will collaborate with Leadership Whatcom alumni in order to build a program that utilizes the strengths of its graduates to mentor its students.
“The revamped program has received very positive feedback from the Leadership Whatcom class of 2015,” said Guy Occhiogrosso, President/CEO of the Chamber.
2015 Leadership Whatcom alumni Iris Maute-Gibson of Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center said, “As a young professional, Leadership Whatcom was the perfect opportunity. Our diverse cohorts challenged and supported each other through bolstering leadership skills, as well as our sense of place here in Whatcom County. This program will benefit me at work, at home, and in the community for decades to come!”
2015 Leadership Whatcom alumni Becky Raney of Print & Copy Factory added “Leadership Whatcom is a powerful program that brings people together to learn many different aspects of Whatcom County. We came together to learn how to listen, work together, ask questions, accomplish goals and apply forward thinking to support our communities for a strong future.”
Enrollment for the program is $1,000 for Chamber members and $1,200 for non-members and requires a 10-month commitment. Applications for the 2015–16 Leadership Whatcom Class are available at bellingham.com.
For more information on Leadership Whatcom, including information on sponsorship opportunities and how to apply, please contact the Chamber offices at 360-734-1330. You can also go online to the front door of the community, bellingham.com, where you will find general information on individual class sessions as well as an electronic copy of the application. Deadline to apply is February 12, 2016.
After a childhood deprived of outdoor recreation and play, Yuki Shepherd is making up for lost time. Photo courtesy: Yuki Shepherd.
If you’ve been up to Mount Baker any weekend in the past year, you may have spotted Yuki Shepherd and her husband, Rob. Yuki, a bookkeeper at Pacific Continental Realty, and Rob have been camping on the mountain in their camper van every weekend since they first learned to ski together in February 2015. Yuki, whose favorite hobbies are skiing, knitting and beer tasting, loves the life of adventure that she and her husband have cultivated together. But Yuki’s love for the outdoors and exploration didn’t start in Bellingham; it started a world away in Osaka, Japan, as the big dream of a small child.
Yuki grew up in Japan with her parents, two brothers and sister. In this family of six, life was very different for one child in particular. “I was an unhealthy child,” Yuki says. From age 8 to 22, Yuki struggled with kidney disease and was hospitalized for her condition when she was just 10 years old. Given a strict diet, Yuki was not allowed to engage in physical activities, not even in school where she often observed other children enjoying sports. Growing up, Yuki remembers her siblings going camping and learning to ski at the Osaka YMCA — something Yuki longed to try, but her protective mother prohibited it.
Unable to enjoy the activities of her peers, it was always a dream of Yuki’s to get out and do something.
And do something she did. In her early 20s, Yuki’s health improved and she decided to start saving money so that she could start traveling. At age 26, she boarded an airplane bound for New Zealand.
Yuki always wanted to learn to speak English, so during her time in New Zealand, she enrolled in language school and stayed at a youth hostel. It was also in New Zealand that Yuki got her first taste of outdoor life while hanging out on beaches and watching the stars at night. On Saturdays, she would wander around the craft markets where she saw a woman knitting Cowichan-style, kiwi bird-patterned hats. Yuki fell in love with the hat and became inspired to learn how to knit.
As Yuki continued to learn English, she also discovered other hobbies and interests and continued to explore the outdoors, enjoying activities like hiking and even sea kayaking. She also loved meeting tourists. The concept of people taking time for themselves to travel was eye-opening and ultimately life changing for her. “I started to have a different idea about my life,” she says. “I wanted something else.”
After a childhood deprived of outdoor recreation and play, Yuki Shepherd is making up for lost time. Photo courtesy: Yuki Shepherd.
Yuki’s time in New Zealand, however, was cut shorter than planned when her mother called asking her to return home. Yuki’s sister was pregnant and she wanted Yuki to help raise the baby. Yuki bought the kiwi bird hat she fell in love with and gave it to her newly born niece as a present. Leaving New Zealand was hard, but being able to help raise her niece is an experience Yuki is grateful for.
Back in Japan, Yuki was eager to continue practicing her English, so she decided to participate in a pen pal exchange program. Yuki was matched with an American named Rob Shepherd. “He was very patient,” Yuki says. For about a year they wrote and talked on the phone. One year later, the two pen pals lost touch — but only temporarily.
At the time, Rob was working extensively on a business plan and Yuki was traveling three hours round-trip each day and, at times, working 14 hours on top of that. Some days she was too tired to return home and would stay in a hotel near her work to sleep. Just when Yuki thought she couldn’t take it anymore, she received a surprise call from Rob. Yuki asked him suddenly, “Can I visit you?” She didn’t know where he lived, but Rob agreed to meet her in Seattle. For four days, Yuki enjoyed the tours Rob led her on. They visited the Space Needle, the Seattle Aquarium, museums, restaurants and more. “Everything was very new, having food and taking time for conversation; I felt so fortunate.”
Rob Shepherd keeps warm on the mountain with the sweaters Yuki knits for him. Her lifetime goal is to knit her husband a 100 sweaters. Photo courtesy: Yuki Shepherd.
Heading back to Japan, Yuki knew where she wanted to be. It took her six months to train her replacement at her job before returning to the United States to be with Rob. The two married three months later, and shortly after Yuki visited an American doctor who issued her a clean bill of health. Yuki’s new life in the United States was off to a bright start, but life in a new country with a new husband didn’t come without its own set of challenges.
Marriage was a culture shock for both Yuki and Rob who were both familiar with very different customs. Communication was difficult as well. To find some common ground, the two decided to focus on what they enjoyed doing together — outside adventure.
Yuki and Rob decided to rent a camper van and camped on the Olympic Peninsula. However, Yuki’s sensitive reaction to mosquitos made it difficult to spend extended periods of time in the woods. This led the couple to purchase a sailboat. Rob claimed that sailing wouldn’t be as buggy, although Yuki recalls seeing a few mosquitos out on the water.
In search of the perfect outdoor activity, the adventurous couple eventually became interested in learning how to ski. This took them to Mount Baker where they enjoyed their first ski lesson. The pair was immediately hooked.
Weekends spent on the slopes were what Yuki and Rob enjoyed most. When lack of snow in 2015 caused the ski resort to close earlier than normal, this didn’t deter the couple from enjoying their favorite activity — they would hike whatever distances necessary to find skiable areas. In the spring and summer, when the snow melted, they continued to frequent the mountain, substituting skiing with hiking.
Rob and Yuki Shepherd have camped every weekend for almost a year up by Mount Baker in their camper van. Photo courtesy: Yuki Shepherd.
Working Monday through Friday and camping on the weekends has proved itself to be a kind of ritual for Yuki and Rob, and they have no plans of stopping anytime soon. February 2016 will mark the couple’s one-year anniversary of camping every weekend on Mount Baker together. For Yuki, this life of personal challenge and outdoor activity after a childhood of illness has been very significant. “I just want to see how far I can go,” she says. “That makes me excited every day.”
After five decades of operation, Barron Heating, AC, Electrical & Plumbing continues to be a local leader in meeting the heating needs of residents....
