There is the saying, “All politics is local,” but it’s even more true of history.

Some historians assert that only stories that chronicle the most intimate details of everyday life, can satisfy a person’s desire to be connected to a place.

In this spirit, three sisters of a Central Whidbey pioneer family shared oral histories of Coupeville at the United Methodist Church Saturday.

The session was videotaped to be added to the archives of the Island County Historical Museum.

“We hear stories you don’t hear about in history books,” Rick Castellano of the Island County Historical Society said.

Sisters Marilyn Libbey Bailey, Lyla Libbey Snover and Janice Libbey Coffman were born in the 1930s, on the Coupeville prairie. They sat panel-style, facing the crowd, and craned their necks to watch a slideshow of black-and-white photos behind them.

Among the images projected were “the winter of the big snow,” and a prairie family riding horseback.

The women’s portrait of early Coupeville was similar to the setting of the play “Our Town:” Innocent, small-town America. An early sign by the school read, “Population: 350,” and everyone knew everyone.

“You always knew where your car keys were because they were in the car. Houses were unlocked,” Snover said.

There was no hospital, sewer treatment plant and today’s courthouse space used to be the baseball diamond. The sisters grew up in a house at the site of the Coupeville Yarn shop. They raised cows, pigs, chickens and dogs.

These were the days of ringer washing machines and once-a-week baths.

Coffman told the audience a story of learning to drive at 11-years-old. It was a half-ton pick-up truck, and she was behind the big wheel without a driver’s side door.

“We took it to the airstrip, because for years it wasn’t used by the military. I used to practice out there. I just had to make sure I didn’t fall out,” she said.

Snover pointed out to moderator Rob Harbour, that “we used to do things that if you did them now, you’d go to jail.”

In the winter, the girls would tow their sleds behind cars and build fires in the road to keep warm. During high school, Snover said she, and 15 of her friends, as a prank stole some turkeys and put them in the Front Street Post Office (now, the Touch of Dutch). The cops came to the school the next day, after finding a student’s wallet at the scene.

The penalty called for the teens to pay 25 cents. The postmaster took a turkey home and ate it, and was also required to pay the fine.

Snover admitted she was also guilty of putting goats in the Coupeville Rec Hall.

“I found out goats will sit in the back of the car and just lick you on the neck. They’re great,” she said.

For their first jobs, the sisters would clean homes, drive horses, fork hay and pick strawberries and beets for 10 cents a row.

In Bailey’s yearbook, all of the kids fit onto two pages. There were seven students in her graduating class.

“For fun, kids would drive to Ebey’s Landing, the cemetery and Drunkard’s Lane,” Snover said, referring to Vine Street. “You could get into Oak Harbor much faster then, and cut corners.”

As the sisters shared stories of teenage years, they also filled in dates and where buildings used to be situated. The session focused on day-to-day living.

“These women have transitioned into a primary historical resource,” Harbour said. “The historical society will protect these stories.”

The hope is that a student working on a class project in 2053, will have access to these resources, he added.

This was the third rural series in “Rural Recollections.” The next will be held April 18 at the Coupeville Rec Hall, with former Front Street merchants and candy store kids.