Life on Whidbey: Tale of 2 Teresas

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, August 30, 2006

TERESA BESAW of Oak Harbor has news of a mini family reunion of sorts, for surely two groups of four adults and 10 children who once lived together in a single-wide mobile home are as close as a family can get.

“My friend TERESA WILHELMS (maiden name Coffman) was at her dad’s in Coupeville recently, here from Montana,” said Besaw. “We’ve been friends since we were 2.

“Our names are spelled the same but pronounced different,” said Besaw, “so I call her Tress and I became Trese. We met when my dad was stationed in Lemoore, Calif., and when we moved back here in the early ‘70s, the Coffman’s visited, loved it here and stayed.”

Tress’s dad, EVERETT COFFMAN, married JAN STODDARD of Coupeville in the ‘80s and Tress graduated there.

“We’ve always kept in contact and our families have fond memories together.

Tress and I have been friends for 38 years.”

Over the weekend of Aug. 12, the families reunited at the home of Everett and Jan, and this time, the girls brought their husbands and children.

In all, those attending were TERESA and JAMES BESAW and their three children; TRESS and TIM WILHELMS and their two children; Besaw’s father DAVID MICHEL and his wife DOTTIE; Besaw’s brother DAVID MICHEL; Tress’s sister SHERRY SCOTT and her husband BOB and their two children; and a smattering of grandchildren of both the Michel and Coffman families.

Dog has rosy future …

Mothers have honey-do lists, too, and taking care of the family car is important to a gang that must be carted back and forth to town several times a day.

When DEBBIE SOTO took her KIA to the service department in Mount Vernon, she noticed a dog belonging to one of the employees was enjoying a game of fetch. That’s when she commented to ROBBIE, the service lady, how badly her family wanted to get a dog, but couldn’t find one that met all their requirements. They were waiting for that perfect pet.

Robbie spoke up and said she had to find a good home for “Bailey,” a 16-month-old yellow Lab she gave to her 75-year-old mother. Bailey was too much for her to care for so Robbie had been looking for the perfect people to adopt her.

Debbie was astonished when Robbie said she would give Bailey, AKC papers and all, to her family, but she didn’t make a hasty decision, returning to her Rolling Hills home to see if Bailey had everything they wanted: must be gentle, obedient and remain calm in a busy household with several cats and five girls: Marisa, Brianna, Saige, McKenna and Kaitlin.

Bailey passed the test and Debbie arranged to pick her up the following day. On the way home, “She sat with her head in my lap and gave me that special look,” Debbie said. From that moment, Bailey was their dog. Guess you could say there are now six girls at Debbie’ house and the new addition is getting very spoiled.

Aircraft as angels …

Everyday things come to life under the brush of Coupeville’s SAM CHAPMAN. He will have his first one-man show in Seattle at the Patricia Cameron Gallery at 234 North Dexter Ave. Sept. 6 through Oct. 14. An artist reception will be on Sept. 6 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Chapman, who has a studio next to his house but does not have a gallery where he can sell his paintings, will show 10 large pastels with mixed media on paper.

He incorporates jets and helicopters in some of his work because he feels aircraft can bring destruction or relief. “In my paintings, they stand in for angels in our modern world, angels of death as seen in 9/11 or angels of mercy from the Berlin Airlift after World War II,” Chapman said. His interest in planes and jets started when he was a fire fighter in California, working around helicopters as part of a “helitack crew” during the 1980s.

“I have been living on the island for about 11 years, close to the ‘touch and go field’ at Coupeville, and though noisy, I love to watch them circle and practice their landings,” he said.

His work has been shown in Port Angeles at the most impressive Arts Center. “It’s definitely worth the drive,” he said, as you will see when you visit their Web site at www.pafac.org.

The Patricia Cameron Gallery Web site carries images of his work at www.pcameron

fineart.com.

This column is all about people on North Whidbey doing interesting things. Keep sending me your news at lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com or call 675-6611. See you on Sept. 6.