Editor,

The controversy over the choice of art to inspire and commemorate Whidbey Island and its population hub, Oak Harbor, is interesting.

The choice seems to be between an ethereal depiction of heavenly imagination and a memorial to the practicality of the hardy pioneers who made our island sanctuary livable.

While ethereal aspirations may be noble, where would we be without the functional creativity of artisans, craftsmen, farmers, housewives, cooks, entrepreneurs, mechanics, innovators, electricians, gardeners, well drillers, naturalists, teachers and even plumbers who provide civilized life here?

Our island has had the outstanding good fortune to have its history well chronicled in book and newsprint form going all the way back to when written documentation came to this continent. It’s when early settlers came here.

Why should Whidbey’s unique history get lost in the rush to be like elsewhere?

What better symbol could inspire future generations and honor our down-to-earth founders than a functional windmill?

Al Williams

Oak Harbor