GRAND MARSHAL NOMINEE

Over fifty years ago, Paul Parker pulled into Mattawa with his wife in order to pay a brief visit to her family.

Feeling the wall of heat, Paul commented to his wife, "better make it quick because we are getting out of here."

Lucky for us, he stayed.

I've nominated Paul Parker to be Grand Marshal for Community Days because he stayed and has exemplified service all of his life.

Recently, Our Lady of the Desert Parish celebrated its 25th anniversary. A speaker came up and thanked several people for their labor, but they didn't mention Paul.

Afterwards I asked Paul about it, and he replied that there was an old corral on the site, and he was up there earlier clearing the ground so the walls could be raised. Even before the church had ground to clear, Paul made the introductions so the Diocese of Yakima could purchase the ground.

Paul Parker also knows many of the town's stories. When I first moved here, I asked Paul for a tour of the town. He replied there wasn't much to see but relented and gave me an hour tour.

I heard about the railroad diner car where the workers would drop off their lunch boxes each day and pick them up each morning filled with a sandwich and fruit. Paul recounted the rough and tumble ways people dealt with neighbors who didn't control their dogs and the more common stories of how, from the get-go, neighbors looked out for each other.

I saw the locations of the various social clubs and heard about the going-ons that occurred. Paul shared the stories too about Mother Sweetwine and the boarding house she operated off the railroad tracks in Beverly.

I heard about the years the church celebrated Mass in an old cinder block bar near Priest Rapids and how the congregation covered the neon signs with a cloth. Paul's reminisces connect me to my community and those people who preceded me. His memories and recollections help keep our nascent history alive.

Beyond those two small reasons, there stands a multitude of Paul's contributions to this town, from the school board to putting in fields to his legendary service to our fire department.

So it is with gratefulness to Paul and those other forgotten founders of our town that I nominate him as the Mattawa 2013 Grand Marshal.

Brian Berghout

Mattawa