V. Mercedes Pellessier

Born in Omak in Northeastern Washington State, the second child of Irene M. MacDonald and John Angus MacDonald.

At an early age we moved to Tacoma, Washington. When I was about three years old my fathers’ engineering/construction company bid on a road construction job in the wilderness of the Washington State Coast. The job ran from the Indian Village of Queets, along the Pacific Ocean, to and across the Hoh River. The construction site was at Cedar Creek where it emptied into the ocean. Getting the construction equipment for earth moving, logging and paving was a difficult job. It had to be barged from Aberdeen, down the river, out onto the ocean and north up the coast to Cedar Creek. There it was beached and camp was set up.

My mother, my sister Helen and I were paddled in an Indian canoe from Queets, down the river to the ocean and up the coast to our new “home”. Our home for the next 18 months was a 16’x16’ tent with a wooden floor and 6’ wooden sides. It was primitive but cozy.

One afternoon while my sister and I were playing in the driftwood on the beach we saw a brown bear picking huckleberries. We ran to our mother with the bear strolling along behind us. When she saw the bear, she reached for the teakettle that was boiling on the cook stove and threw it at the bear. She didn’t hit him, but her hot water and blood curdling screams drove him off into the woods. We never saw him again. We did see many deer, raccoons, foxes and other wildlife while living in the wilderness.

It was during this time that I took a fall and fractured my collarbone. Since there was no doctor for many miles, my father padded my shoulder as best he could, put me in his backboard and walked up the beach to the Coast Guard Station, about seven miles, where there was a doctor.

When the road was nearly finished, we moved to the town of Forks, Washington where we lived for a year while the road was completed. From there we moved to the little town of Marblemount, Washington on the Skagit River.  Dads’ company had contracted to build ten miles of road across the river toward the upper end of Lake Chelan.

There I started school in a two-room country school much like the one seen in “Little House on the Prairie”. In one room were grades 1 through 6 and in the other room were grades 7, 8 and 9.  That may sound crowded but there were only 26 students in the whole school!

Dads’ next contract took him to Eastern Washington where his company was one of the companies working on building the Grand Coulee Dam.  While he was there, we again lived in Tacoma.  When his part of Coulee was complete, he went to Alaska for two building/mining seasons while we lived in the town of Rhododendron, Oregon on Mt. Hood. As you can tell, my early childhood was governed by my fathers’ contract locations.  My parents never had a son, but I was a “tom-boy” who enjoyed boy type activities and sports.  It was no surprise then when I spent some of my summer vacations on the job with my dad.  He took pride in the fact that he had a daughter who could operate a caterpillar and a bulldozer.  So did I.

We finally settled in Tacoma and my dad would commute to his jobs in Washington, Oregon and Montana while my mom saw to our education in one spot.  I enjoyed school, especially literature and math.

Some of my school years were “war” years and everyone who was able to work for the war effort did.  Many of the jobs usually done by men were being done by women because the men were in the service.  The women were building ships, planes and motor vehicles of all kinds.  That meant people like me worked at jobs usually held by women such as retail sales, food services and childcare.  I helped pay my school tuition by working first in sales at the Peoples Store in downtown Tacoma, in food services at St. Joseph Hospital and then in local restaurants.

On December 18, 1945, I married a handsome young Airman from Louisiana who had been introduced to me by my sister Helen, at a USO dance.  Since our first meeting he had been fighting for our country in such places as North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Corsica and Southern France.  His name was John Ray Pellessier, called “Ray” by family and “Frenchie” by his buddies.  We had many adventures and saw many places during our marriage.  The first seventeen years were spent in the Air Force.  One of the most exciting events was being stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska when it became the 49th State.  There was a big celebration in the City of Anchorage with a huge bonfire and fireworks like a 4th of July celebration that went on for days!  We were stationed at several other bases during our time in the Air Force and met many wonderful people.

During our marriage our family grew from two to nine with the birth of our seven children.  Fortunately our children liked to travel and were never afraid to face a new school or make new friends.

We settled in Fircrest, Washington where the children became adults, went to college and trade schools, married (except John) and had families of their own.  They are scattered now but we remain a close family, always there for each other.

Once my children were in school, I went back to school to earn my real estate license.  I sold real estate for a few years but never really enjoyed it.  In 1972, a friend of mine was leaving a position as an executive assistant/bookkeeper for a landscape architectural firm and recommended me to take her place.  I’m still in the same position today.

My husband and I were married for 50 years, four months and one week before his death.  They were good years filled with good times and not so good times, as are all lives.  He was a fine man, a decorated war hero, a faithful husband and a loving father.  We miss him.

Mine has been a good life in my estimation.  Some of the most important ingredients in a happy, fulfilling life, I feel, are a positive attitude, respect for others, love of God, family, country and yourself.  These ingredients have served me well.

Graveside service: Friday, June 9, 2023 at 11:00am at Calvary Cemetery, 5212 70th St W, Tacoma WA.  Celebration of Life: Following at noon at St Charles Borromeo, 7112 S 12th St, Tacoma WA

In lieu of flowers please send donations to St. Jude's Children's Hospital in memory of Mom. Due to allergies please refrain from all fragrances.