Arline Terry lives life vicariously through herself

DESERT AIRE - Arline Harvold Terry does not drink Dos Equis (XX), but she could be the most interesting woman.

Arline, 82, does not suggest you maintain a thirst for drink, like the supposed most interesting man in the XX beer commercials.

She suggests you have a hunger for life.

On Saturday, Aug. 3, Arline celebrated at the all-day party called Hot Desert Night (HDN) in 90-degree heat. The next day she went to work at 5:30 a.m. counting fish for the Grant County PUD.

“If you aren't busy, you die,” she said on Saturday.

But Arline has slowed a little. She did not run her 2009 Ford Mustang – boom box in the trunk – California Special in this year's HDN drag races.

“They've gotten too fast. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on my engine,” she said.

Arline was the only woman driver the first two years of the HDN drags. She also participated the next two years.

Arline is a member of one of the pioneer families in Redmond, where she was raised. She and a cousin were the 2011 Redmond Bicycle Derby Days Parade grand marshals.

Parade officials wanted Arline and her cousin to ride inside a Wells Fargo stage coach. She would not hear of it. She rode on top, like a shotgun guard.

“You couldn't see from inside,” she said. “I wanted to wave at everybody.”

Arline had been a schoolgirl princess at the same parade in 1949. And in 1948 she had represented Redmond at Girls State.

One of Arline's claims to fame was winning the Seattle Time's Guess Guesser college football contest in the 1960s. Her reward was a trip to the Rose Bowl for a game between USC and Purdue.

“Gosh that was wonderful,” she said. “I'd never been out of the state.”

She went to the races at Santa Anita and visited other tourist favorites.

Arline raised six children, and they're still close to her. They spend a lot of time laughing while remembering the past.

When her children were small, Arline took them on wild blackberry picking forays. Afterward, she packed the berries in boxes and took them to a canning plant in Mount Vernon.

Arline also took her children to Grandfather Casper Harvold's cornfields. They picked and packed, and then she delivered the corn to grocery stores. Daughters Jan and Jodeen sold corn at the side of a road.

“She drove the truck, and we each took a row and threw the corn into the truck,” daughter Jill recalled.

“Those were really great days,” daughter Jan added.

Arline plays piano – well. When she wanted to calm her children, she'd start playing and have them sing along. She has 13 grandkids, 16 great grandkids and one great great grandaughter and plays for them.

“She has passed the love of music down to all of us,” Jill said.

Arline is retired from 15 years of bus driving for the Lower Snoqualmie Valley School District. She is retired from 13 years at Boeing, where she was a secretary in the commercial, military and computer divisions.

Arline has driven dump truck for Chapman Sand and Gravel in Duvall. And she is a member of the citizens patrol at Desert Aire.

Arline moved to Desert Aire with her now deceased husband Patrick in 1993. She went right to work, doing a four-year stint in the pro shop at the Desert Aire Golf Course.

You can still find Arline at the golf course at least once a week. She likes to play 2-ball.

“That's a good way to meet people, especially for people who are new,” she said.

Arline started counting fish for the PUD at Priest Rapids Dam in 1998. She is there whenever the PUD needs her. It's a part-time job, but sometimes a week can be 80 hours.

“It's a seasonal thing. We count the fish when the fish are running,” she said.

Arline started with the PUD when the fish were still being counted at the fish ladder. Fish counting has modernized. A computer takes pictures of the fish passing through the ladders, and Arline counts the fish in the pictures while seated at a desk.

On Aug. 11, Arline will attend her family reunion in Lacey. She will be the oldest member of the oldest generation present.

It's likely she will have the most stories to tell.