Getting the story straight
14/03/24 01:08
I love to tell stories. I have studied the art of storytelling, including taking a course for college credit that focused on the structures of storytelling. Among the text books for that course was Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero’s Journey.” I was a member of the Fellowship of Biblical Storytellers and used their journal and guidelines to hone my skills as a storyteller and preacher. Long before I became a minister, I have enjoyed telling stories of my family life and growing up. I suspect that part of the motivation that keeps me writing journal entries each day is that I enjoy good stories and this media gives me a forum to continue telling stories. Some stories, like the birth of my brother on Christmas Eve or flying over Yellowstone National Park with my father, have been told over and over and over again. I have read, and I suspect that it is true, that the stories we tell the most often are the ones that are most likely to deviate from the facts of the actual event. We naturally embellish and expand good stories, sometimes adding details that were not a part of the actual experience.
Once in a while I discover that a story I have been telling is not accurate. I do a bit of research, read an old article from the newspaper, or discover something that I had not previously known. One of the tasks that I have been tackling bit by bit recently, is sifting and sorting through my mothers papers. I have found newspaper clippings, family letters, and other documents that have given me fresh perspective on events that I recall. Often I have been recalling the events only partially and sometimes, I realize that the stories I have been telling are not the truth.
Looking through an article about area Grange Halls in a very good online publication, I discovered that a story that I’ve been telling since shortly after we moved to this area is not correct. I’ve fed family and friends false information. My only defense of the untruth is that I believed it to be true when I told the stories. And it is part of the local lore. It is a story that I have heard from people who have lived in this area much longer than I.
At the corner of Grandview Road and Vista Drive, an intersection just before we turn onto the Interstate Highway when driving to Bellingham or other nearby towns, stands the hall of Orchard Grange, No. 346. The building is in crumbling condition, needing paint and several other obvious repairs. It stands next to an open area that I presume used to provide parking for those attending Grange Hall functions. That parking area is now the regular location of a very good Taco Truck, El Tapatio. Often when I drive by that old Grange Hall, I tell visiting family and friends that the hall was the site of the first public performance by Loretta Lynn. Lynn was the hardscrabble coal miner’s daughter from Kentucky who was married at 15, began having children at 16 and was a grandmother in her early 30s. Born in a cabin in Butcher Hollow, the second of eight children, she and her husband Mooney, somehow ended up living in rural Whatcom County with a Custer address. That is the town where our grandchildren’s elementary school is located, and the area where the Grange Hall stands.
In her autobiography, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Lynn tells the story of living on Birch Bay-Lynden road, learning to can fruits and vegetables, and wining ribbons at the Northwest Washington Fair. She also tells the story of her first public performance at the Grange Hall, promoted by her husband, who heard her singing as she was working, bought her a guitar and a copy of Country Song Roundup, a magazine with chords and words to popular songs. He helped her to from her own band, Loretta’s Trailblazers, and, from their first performance at the Grange Hall, encouraged her singing career.
Here is the thing, however. That performance was never at the Orchard Grange Hall that we drive by on a regular basis. Loretta Lynn began her public singing career at another nearby Grange Hall, Delta Grange Hall, at 1105 Loomis Trail Road. Delta Grange Hall also been called the Custer Grange, though it is fairly close to another town, Lynden. Unlike the Orchard Grange, which is a seldom used hall in poor repair, the Delta Grange is a larger hall, in better repair, and currently home to Garden of Worship Church. It even has a church bell out front.
Grange halls dot rural communities throughout the country. They were meeting places for farmers organized by farmers. The National Grange was started in 1867 and Washington Grange was officially established in 1889, a couple of months before Washington achieved statehood. Granges have been around for a long time. There are six active Granges in Whatcom County. Skagit County has 10.
150 years later, Grange halls are, for the most part, no longer centers of community activity. Fewer and fewer of the residents of the county are full-time farmers. Our son’s place, which once was the center of an active dairy herd and a full time occupation for a family, now is a part-time pursuit of a couple who both have professional jobs in neighboring towns. Farm after farm in this region have been subdivided. Driving around the backroads of our county, it is fairly easy to spot the homes that belong to executives of high tech companies in Seattle. The Covid-19 pandemic, which expanded opportunities for people to work remotely, encouraged many to move farther from urban centers and a lot of farm land in our county has become more hobby farms. And those people don’t find their entertainment in the local dances and bands held at the Grange Hall. They don’t attend sessions on animal husbandry or soil stewardship sponsored by the State Department of Agriculture. They are not interested in classes offered by the Extension Service. And the Grange organizations are slowly fading away. Many of the halls, like the Delta Grange are being leased to others for different uses.
For now, however, Orchard Grange Hall sits unused. I will, however, be updating my story and no longer tell others that it is the place where the famous singer Loretta Lynn began her career. I may, however, use it as a prompt to tell the story about Delta Grange.
Once in a while I discover that a story I have been telling is not accurate. I do a bit of research, read an old article from the newspaper, or discover something that I had not previously known. One of the tasks that I have been tackling bit by bit recently, is sifting and sorting through my mothers papers. I have found newspaper clippings, family letters, and other documents that have given me fresh perspective on events that I recall. Often I have been recalling the events only partially and sometimes, I realize that the stories I have been telling are not the truth.
Looking through an article about area Grange Halls in a very good online publication, I discovered that a story that I’ve been telling since shortly after we moved to this area is not correct. I’ve fed family and friends false information. My only defense of the untruth is that I believed it to be true when I told the stories. And it is part of the local lore. It is a story that I have heard from people who have lived in this area much longer than I.
At the corner of Grandview Road and Vista Drive, an intersection just before we turn onto the Interstate Highway when driving to Bellingham or other nearby towns, stands the hall of Orchard Grange, No. 346. The building is in crumbling condition, needing paint and several other obvious repairs. It stands next to an open area that I presume used to provide parking for those attending Grange Hall functions. That parking area is now the regular location of a very good Taco Truck, El Tapatio. Often when I drive by that old Grange Hall, I tell visiting family and friends that the hall was the site of the first public performance by Loretta Lynn. Lynn was the hardscrabble coal miner’s daughter from Kentucky who was married at 15, began having children at 16 and was a grandmother in her early 30s. Born in a cabin in Butcher Hollow, the second of eight children, she and her husband Mooney, somehow ended up living in rural Whatcom County with a Custer address. That is the town where our grandchildren’s elementary school is located, and the area where the Grange Hall stands.
In her autobiography, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Lynn tells the story of living on Birch Bay-Lynden road, learning to can fruits and vegetables, and wining ribbons at the Northwest Washington Fair. She also tells the story of her first public performance at the Grange Hall, promoted by her husband, who heard her singing as she was working, bought her a guitar and a copy of Country Song Roundup, a magazine with chords and words to popular songs. He helped her to from her own band, Loretta’s Trailblazers, and, from their first performance at the Grange Hall, encouraged her singing career.
Here is the thing, however. That performance was never at the Orchard Grange Hall that we drive by on a regular basis. Loretta Lynn began her public singing career at another nearby Grange Hall, Delta Grange Hall, at 1105 Loomis Trail Road. Delta Grange Hall also been called the Custer Grange, though it is fairly close to another town, Lynden. Unlike the Orchard Grange, which is a seldom used hall in poor repair, the Delta Grange is a larger hall, in better repair, and currently home to Garden of Worship Church. It even has a church bell out front.
Grange halls dot rural communities throughout the country. They were meeting places for farmers organized by farmers. The National Grange was started in 1867 and Washington Grange was officially established in 1889, a couple of months before Washington achieved statehood. Granges have been around for a long time. There are six active Granges in Whatcom County. Skagit County has 10.
150 years later, Grange halls are, for the most part, no longer centers of community activity. Fewer and fewer of the residents of the county are full-time farmers. Our son’s place, which once was the center of an active dairy herd and a full time occupation for a family, now is a part-time pursuit of a couple who both have professional jobs in neighboring towns. Farm after farm in this region have been subdivided. Driving around the backroads of our county, it is fairly easy to spot the homes that belong to executives of high tech companies in Seattle. The Covid-19 pandemic, which expanded opportunities for people to work remotely, encouraged many to move farther from urban centers and a lot of farm land in our county has become more hobby farms. And those people don’t find their entertainment in the local dances and bands held at the Grange Hall. They don’t attend sessions on animal husbandry or soil stewardship sponsored by the State Department of Agriculture. They are not interested in classes offered by the Extension Service. And the Grange organizations are slowly fading away. Many of the halls, like the Delta Grange are being leased to others for different uses.
For now, however, Orchard Grange Hall sits unused. I will, however, be updating my story and no longer tell others that it is the place where the famous singer Loretta Lynn began her career. I may, however, use it as a prompt to tell the story about Delta Grange.
