Island residents keep their hands busy this year

Knit one, purl two …

Someone with years of working with young people is BECKY PEATTIE, manager of McDonald’s on Highway 20. She has a special knack for nurturing and molding, offering them greater levels of responsibility and asking for their input on the process.

This woman deserves to go home to a prepared meal and foot massage each evening, but no, she has taken on a new project. Starting in February, she will be teaching knitting classes to middle school children. A bus will pick up children at the middle school and deliver them to Oak Harbor Lutheran Church. The Key Club will also be tutoring in Life Skills.

Becky says they need knitting needles that are 7- to 8-inches long. The 10-inch needles are too long for smaller hands. Knitters will be making hats and scarves, and they’ll want to start some charity projects.

I just read that Waldorf Schools teach young people to knit as part of their education. The theory is that equal development of both hands will secure apt and coordinated functioning of both hemispheres of a child’s brain. Knitting helps a child develop dexterity and creativity, plus it gives them a skill they can hand down to others.

Becky says they have plenty of yarn, but guesses they can always use more. Please bring any short (7- to 8-inch) knitting needles to McDonald’s, marked for her attention.

Catch her if you can …

Another woman who has shaped the lives of six independent people is HELEN CHATFIELD-WEEKS. She arrived on Whidbey Island in 1969 as an Air Force widow, her youngest child then just 3 years old.

It was a Navy wife who found the family a place to stay. Helen so loved the people and beauty of the place, she decided to settle here. She worked as a reporter and photographer for the Skagit Valley Herald for 18 years, while her children and the city of Oak Harbor grew around her.

Helen’s quick wit and ready laugh are trademarks, so when she said she was turning 80 on Jan. 15, I thought she was joking. “Eighty,” I begged? “Yup, 80!” she laughed as she rushed out to meet a friend for coffee. 

Celebrating with their mother on that day will be her six children: Linda and John of Oak Harbor; Camelia, Guemes Island; Tom, Renton; Jim, Spokane; and David, from Eagle River, Alaska.

What was it like growing up with Helen as a mother? “We had our tears, but there was always more laughter,” she said. “‘Fascinating’ is the word!”

Helen has made birthdays happy for so many people, I hope her 80th is off the charts.

Jock doc …

DR. WARREN HOWE, team physician at Western Washington University since 1992, has been selected to receive a 2005 “Citation Award” award from the American College of Sports Medicine.

Howe also serves as a staff physician for WWU Student Health Services, and is recognized nationally as a pioneer in the field of sports medicine. He has been a member of the ACSM since 1972 and a Fellow of the college since 1976. 

Howe was in private practice in Oak Harbor from 1972 to 1992 and team physician for Oak Harbor High School. He also served as attending physician at Washington State wrestling championships from 1979 to 1988 and since 1989, has been the head tournament physician. His longtime service to wrestling resulted in his induction into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 1991 and into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003.

Helping hands …

Let me ask you this. Would you agree to volunteer if you knew you were needed for no more than four to six hours twice a month for a total gift of time of no more than 32 hours a year?

A few extra volunteers are needed now at the Gifts from the Heart food bank. You must be able to go to Greenbank Farms on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month from 11 a.m. to around 1 or 2 p.m., depending on the number of people working that day.

MOLLY HUGHES says they prepare 100 or more food bags each time they meet. Volunteers go around the storage room filling each bag with soup, chili, canned fruit and vegetables, enjoying each other’s company all the while.

Volunteers make this program run. Please call Molly at 678-8312 if you can help.

Remember Martin …

Another birthday observed on Jan. 15 is that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Other than getting a day off of school on Monday, Jan. 17, how much do children know about this civil-rights leader and his influence? A good resource for family reading is http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/

Call me at 675-6611 or email lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com to share your news and helpful information. I’ll be back on Jan. 19!