Storyteller settles in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake resident Joan Tucker likes to tell stories.

Her methods are unconventional.

Tucker is a storyteller and author who moved from Cashmere to Moses Lake in October. She tells true stories from the point of view of the individual being talked about.

"It's just a thrill to be able to tell someone else's story, and I like doing it in first person," said Tucker, formerly a newspaper owner in Oregon and Washington. In the 1950s Tucker owned a small newspaper in Cave Junction, Ore., and later a newspaper in Woodland, Wash. After leaving the management side of newspapers, Tucker became a freelance writer.

A historian provided Tucker with a list of topics she might be interested in writing about following the publication of her book, "Knights of the Broadax." On the list was Mother Joseph, a nun who established the first hospital in Washington.

Just writing about Joseph wasn't enough for Tucker, who wanted to tell her story to people. Tucker said she has no difficulty playing the part of another person.

"She wants her story told, and she will brook no interference, believe me," Tucker said. "For some reason, she's chosen me to do it."

She told the story about Joseph to audiences more than 350 times. It doesn't matter to Tucker whether her audience is made up of children or adults.

"I just want people to be interested," Tucker said. "I don't care, I really don't."

Although she enjoys telling stories to all ages, Tucker modifies one of her stories for a younger audience. The story is about Ieetum Dick, granddaughter of the last chief of the Wenatchi tribe of Native Americans. Dick's grandparents died in a fire, and for younger audiences, Tucker leaves the tidbit out.

Tucker said she received permission from Dick several years ago to tell the stories, before she passed away. The desire to tell Dick's story began while Tucker was visiting a museum in Cashmere, where she came across letters written by Dick. She was inspired to look her up and found her living in Nespelem. Dick attended her first storytelling performance and knew what stories she was going to tell the public.

Dressing the part is important to Tucker. For the story of Joseph, Tucker wears a genuine nun's habit. For the story about Dick, Tucker wears a gown given to her by Dick.

In addition to telling stories about Joseph and Dick, Tucker tells about Moses Lake resident Lillian Tokunaga, her daughter-in-law's mother, who was raised in Seattle by her Japanese parents.

Tokunaga traveled to Japan in 1939 and was stuck there during World War II, attending a private girls' school. During the war, half her class was sent to one city and the other half was sent to another.

As for her parents, they moved to Eastern Washington to live with relatives instead of being sent to live in an internment camp. The Columbia River was the deciding line, Tucker said. Those living on the west side of the Columbia River were sent to internment camps.

Since moving to Moses Lake, Tucker told the story of Tokunaga to the Moses Lake Rotary and told the story of Dick to daughter-in-law Gail Pinkerton's 4th grade class at Longview Elementary School in Moses Lake.