The Beaver Hill Coal mine was located between Coos Bay and Coquille, Oregon, and a part of Southern Pacific Corporation. [1] George Watkins Evans was an engineer and manager of the Beaver Hill Coal Mine Company beginning in about 1920. [2] Previously, he worked for the Northwestern District of the U.S Bureau of Mines surveying coal fields as an engineer and geologist. [3]

Elizabeth Loring (1909-1976) was an author and playwright active in the Mormon community in Pierce County. Born in Kansas, she moved with her family to Washington State by 1920 where she graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1927 (1, 2). By 1930, she was employed as a public school teacher, and in 1933 she married George Loring, a dentist (3, 4). Their two children, Elizabeth Ann and Thomas Lovell were born in 1940 and 1949 (5). She and her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints around 1953 (6).

Since childhood, she had acted in and directed plays, as well as singing and composing songs, and in the late 1950s she became involved with Lakewood’s On Stage Summer Theatre. She held many roles in this company, which was organized and directed by fellow Mormon, Thor Neilsen (7,8). Her son was killed in a tragic automobile accident and she memorialized his life in a small book of reminiscences and genealogy, Thomas Lovell Loring, 1949-1966 (6, 9).

She spent seven years developing her play, You’re No Stranger, based on the diary of Amos Fuller, an early associate of the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. It was produced locally in 1971 and 1973 (7, 10). She died in 1976 at the age of 66 (11).

The Orpheus Club of Tacoma was founded on May 4, 1903, at St. Luke’s Parish House. Their first appearance as a chorus fell on the evening of Wednesday February 3, 1904, at the First Presbyterian Church of Tacoma for a memorial and benefit concert in order to aid the family of William Buchanan Gibbons. (1) The first official concert as a club was the night of Monday June 20, 1904, at the Masonic Temple. Inaugural concert members included Dr. A. Draper Coale, Charles A. Hook, Ralph C. Cunningham, Thomas J. Handforth, Walter E. Liggett, Donald McPherson, Jonathan Smith, William A. Bull, Robert Davies, William W. Seymour, George A Stanley, Orrello C. Whitney, Charles S. Crowell, Herman A. Lembke, Harry R. Maybin, Louis W. Pratt, Dr. Benjamin S. Scott, Paul Shaw, Gilbert G. Chapin, W. P. Cameron, George S. Davis, William W. Dow, Samson E. Tucker, Dr. Randall Dow, Samson E. Tucker and Dr. Randall S. Williams, and Keith J. Middleton. There were 700 guests in attendace. The following day the Tacoma News stated: “In attack, volume and tone, shading, color, balance of parts and harmonious blending of voice, points which make or mar in choral singing, all these were notably good, and the result in the ensemble was complimentary in the highest degree to the musical intelligence of the club and the skill of its director.” (2)

During the clubs’ peak years of the 1930s, membership reached 72 active members. Throughout the century, the Orpheus Club performed at various notable locations including the Stadium Bowl, Camp Lewis Theater, Tacoma Theatre, Chamber of Commerce, the Veterans Hospital, the Masonic Home, Cushman Hospital and McNeil Island. (1) The club performed in the Pacific Northwest region at least twice a year since their Inauguration through the mid-1990s. (2)

Frederic William Keator was born in Pennsylvania in 1855. He received an undergraduate and law degree from Yale University, and later moved to Chicago to practice law and attend theology school. He was appointed as a priest in 1891, and after serving at a few different churches, he moved to Olympia, Washington in 1902 where he served as the Bishop [1].

Keator was appointed state chairman for the Washington State Library War Council by the National Library War Council. This was a campaign in which libraries raised money to fund the creation and maintenance of libraries for US soldiers, both at home and oversees during World War I. In this role, he reached out to different libraries in Washington State to encourage donations to the national fund. The Tacoma News Tribune reports a telegram from Keator in 1917 stating, “The library war fund will be a contribution from the people of the United States to the contentment, effectiveness, and future usefulness of our soldiers. It is a part of the great effort the government is making to surround our soldiers with a wholesome environment and to give them an opportunity to redeem by useful occupation of their leisure some of the losses which are necessarily entailed in military service.” [2]

He died unexpectedly on January 31, 1924. On Friday February 1, 1924, the Tacoma Daily Ledger reported his death, stating, “Bishop Keator was one of the men of whom Tacoma was proud. Devoted to his church work he also was devoted to the interests of the state in which he resided. Of the highest type of loyalty, he had always been a leader in civic enterprises and his friendly counsels had always been helpful in all movements for civic betterments” [3].

The Stallcups moved from Denver, Colorado to Tacoma, Washington in 1889. In Tacoma, they lived at 317 South G St. The family included Judge John Calhoun Stallcup, Mary Pindell Shelby Stallcup, and their children: John C. Stallcup Jr., Evan Shelby Stallcup, and Margery Bruen Stallcup.

John Calhoun Stallcup (1841-10/21/1915) Practiced law in Denver Colo. and served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Colorado from 1887 until 1889. In 1889 he came to Tacoma with his family. He was elected to the Superior Court bench in 1892 on a non-partisan ticket and held the position for four years. From 1897-1900 he served on the State Board of Audit and Control, having received the appointment from Gov. Rogers. For his last five years, he had been a member of the Tacoma Public Library board. He also authored an essay titled "Refutation of the Darwinian Theory" which was published in Tacoma in 1905.(1)

Mary Shelby (Pindell) Stallcup (1846-10/21/1916), a native of Lexington, Kentucky, married Judge Stallcup on Nov. 2nd, 1880 in Kirkwood, Mo. She helped charter and held office in the Mary Ball chapter of the D.A.R. and was active in the parish, guild, and auxiliary of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. (1) (2)

Evan Shelby Stallcup (1888 -1938) A graduate of the old Tacoma High School and entered Stanford University on his 17th birthday. After two years at Stanford, he entered Columbia University where he completed his Law course then returned to Tacoma to work with his father in his law office. He served in the 91st Division in World War I. After the war, he moved to Phoenix where he became involved in city government. He held the position of City Manager and head of the Water Department. (3)

Margery Bruen (Stallcup) Smith (1883-1946) was admitted to the bar in 1909 (4). She was affiliated with the Women’s Club house board and the Tacoma Interracial Council and the Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Married Fredrick A. Smith in 1918 (6). She was a member of the 50 year club, on the board of the American Association of University Women and one of the founders of the Woman's Council for Democracy (7).

John C. Stallcup Jr (1886-1920)

Beatrice Mason Stanley

Born Beatrice Birmingham, daughter of Emma (Stone) and Earnest F. Birmingham, on May 23, 1887, in New York. Beatrice had two sisters, Eleanor and Pearl (Polly). After graduating from St. Agatha school, Beatrice spent two years at Smith College, then attended the Academy of Design and Art Student League in New York. She worked as a nurse in an Army hospital during World War I.

Beatrice Birmingham married Melvin Wood in 1923, but the marriage ended in annulment in 1924. The following year, in 1925, Beatrice Birmingham went to Fort Yukon, Alaska, to work at the hospital. She later married two pioneer Alaskans. In 1926, Beatrice married Willoughby Mason. She traveled 600 miles up the Porcupine River for winter fur, trapping with him and his brother Reuben. After Mr. Mason died in 1935, Beatrice remarried Lewis V. Stanley. Stanley was a prospector who arrived in Alaska in 1897. He was in Nome in 1901, Chisana in 1913, and worked for several large mining companies throughout Alaska.

The Masons retired to Seattle in 1941, and their home became a gathering place for former Alaskans, a service that became known as "Alaskan Friends." Beatrice's life in Alaska is described in the unpublished manuscript "Return to the Frontier." Beatrice Mason Stanley passed away in Seattle on February 12, 1972.

Willoughby Mason

Willoughby Mason was born in 1871 to Peter and Lyndia Mason of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was one of twelve children born to the couple. Willoughby’s elder brother Reuben was in the Klondike for the gold rush of 1898, and he joined his brother in 1903 with the goal of mining. Willoughby Mason is credited as being the first man to navigate the entire length of the Mackenzie River to Herschel Island in a gasoline launch. Additionally, he is credited with being the first person to take horses to the mouth of Mackenzie. He fished and mined near the arctic coast and became lifelong friends with the explorer Vilhjamler Stefansson. Willoughby would join his brother Reuben in hunting and trapping up the Porcupine River during the winter and spending summers at Ft. Yukon and Circle Hot Springs.

Willoughby Mason met Beatrice at Ft. Yukon, and they married on July 5, 1925. From 1925-1934 they continued to live their pioneering life on the Porcupine River; however, Willoughby’s failing health forced the couple to give up their wilderness existence. Willoughby died on December 12, 1935, at Circle Hot Springs, Alaska.

Reuben continued the old way of life until 1947, when several strokes led Beatrice to move him into her home in Seattle. She later placed him in a board and care in Seattle, where Reuben lived until his death on October 2, 1954.

Lewis V. Stanley

Stanley was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on April 25, 1876. When Lewis was six months old, the Stanley family moved to Davenport, Iowa. After his father deserted the family, Lewis helped run the family farm for his mother. Lewis Stanley moved to Alaska to prospect, and he was in Nome in 1901 and Chrisana in 1913 following the gold rushes. A brother and sister did follow him to Alaska, but they both passed away. Lewis married and had two boys, but the youngest died at age four. His wife passed away when his eldest son Dean was twelve years old.

Stanley worked for a large mining company that took him all over Alaska. He met Beatrice Mason in 1936 and married on January 16, 1937, in Fairbanks the following year. After his retirement in 1941, the couple moved to Seattle, WA, where they remained active in Alaskan affairs and clubs. Lewis Stanley died September 12, 1956, in Seattle.

The Public Broadcast Foundation was formed in the late 1970s in an the unsuccessful attempt to save the public status of Channel 13 in Tacoma. [1] In 1979, Channel 13 was sold by Clover Park School District, who had originally bought the channel out of bankruptcy in 1975, and operated it as a public station. [2] The school received an offer from a private company and decided to sell the station at a profit. This was opposed my members of the community, who formed the citizen action group Save-Our-Station-13 (SOS-13) which organized and attempted to find other public buyers to purchase the station, such as local Community Colleges, to keep it operating as public. This incited a large community debate in which the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) had to decide if the sale was allowed, and SOS-13 filed a petition. Ultimately, the School district was able to sell the channel to Kelly Broadcasting Co. Of Sacramento, California in 1979 for a sum of $6.25 million dollars, and used the money from the sale to build a new high school. [3]

LUSS: Latinx Unidos of the South Sound
Latinx Unidos of the South Sound (LUSS)’s mission is to facilitate the engagement of South Sound Latinos in the broader community by 1) calling attention to the expressed needs of this diverse group, 2) encouraging pride in Latino cultural heritage, and 3) promoting and expanding on existing opportunities and resources. LUSS’s vision is “to see the full inclusion of Latinos in a society where our culture is celebrated.” LUSS is a volunteer-based grassroots group that has been advocating for Pierce County's Latinx community since it was formed in 2016, during and after, two Latino Town Halls organized by Latinx community volunteers. LUSS primarily outreaches to the Pierce County Latinx community which includes people from 21 countries and territories. Since our inception, LUSS has created recommendations for actionable items, policies, and recommendations to improve the living conditions of Latinx, immigrants, and refugees in the City of Tacoma and surrounding areas. LUSS most often engages Latinx community members experiencing socio-economic disparities and barriers to access as a historically underserved community. Barriers include, but are not limited to, language access, lack of proficiency with technology, and being undocumented residents. Our core group of volunteers, promotoras, and the majority of volunteers are Latinx community members. A team of promotoras, who reflect the community, serve, and engage the Latinx community in Spanish. Recent campaigns include census promotion and supporting COVID-19 outreach, prevention, testing, and vaccination promotion in partnership with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department for the past three years. We celebrate our cultures with an annual Festival Latinx. All people are invited to join our annual free showcase of Latinx arts, culture, and heritage that is Festival Latinx.

Benjamin (Ben) Hanson was born in 1926 in North Dakota, and moved to Washington with his family when he was young. He joined the military after high school, and later would go on to go to attend law school at the University of Washington [1]. He opened a law firm in Tacoma and became involved with Tacoma politics, joining the City Council. Ben Hanson was appointed as mayor of Tacoma in June 1958 by the Tacoma City Council under the Council-Manager form of government, and at 31 years old, he was inaugurated as Tacoma’s youngest-ever mayor at the time. [2] (Former Mayor Mike Parker now holds that title, elected at 30 years old in 1977 [3]). Two years later, in 1960, Hanson was elected to be retained by popular vote, and served 2 more years as Mayor of Tacoma [4]. Notably, during his term he made a visit to Tacoma’s sister city of Kokura City, Japan in 1959. After his time as Mayor, he went back to practicing law until his retirement. He passed away in 2007.

Carrie Woodard (1869-1941) was born in Boscobel, Wisconsin in 1869, the seventh child of Edman and Catherine Welch (1). In 1888, she married Albert E. Woodard, and by 1900 they had moved to Williams, North Dakota and had had five children (2). Three more were born by 1910, at which time they were in Minter, Washington (3). After thirty years of marriage, Albert began divorce proceedings in early 1918, citing the "ungovernable temper" of Carrie. Custody of the three minor children, including the two-year-old ninth-born, was awarded to her (4). She was 49 years old. Nineteen years later, she was granted a judgement against Albert, and he was to pay $300 toward child support (5). Her occupation at age 70 in the 1940 census was live-in housekeeper for a lawyer and his family (6). She died a year later at her place of work at age 71 (7,8).

Clarence Stave was a popular baseball umpire in Tacoma’s City League, officiating for almost 30 years. His father Ole was a Norwegian immigrant, his mother Ida came from Sweden, and he was born in Tacoma in 1897. He left school after the eighth grade and was 15 when he began employment at the Northern Pacific Railway Company as a messenger (1, 2). He was promoted to clerk and then shop timekeeper before leaving in 1918 to seek employment with the F.S.Harmon Manufacturing Co. (2, 3). There he worked his way up from stockman to clerk to furniture salesman, eventually moving to Sears, Roebuck and Co. where he remained selling furniture and appliances until his retirement in the early 1960s (3).

His life outside work included performing; he appeared at the Liberty Theater on amateur night, and with his wife was featured in a benefit for shopmen called “The Moonshiner’s Daughter” (4,5). He began as an umpire for City League baseball in 1924, and he was considered the first and favorite choice to officiate the City League games and others (6). He was usually the only official present and would announce the games as well as call them, adding in humorous quips and minor skits to enliven the action. Audiences came in order to see him as well as the game (7).

He had two sons, Clifford L. and James R. with his first wife. He married his second wife Lillian Shonberg in 1942 and she and his sons survived him when he died in 1973 (8).

William (Bill) Hocking was born in Seattle, WA in 1926, and grew up in Olympia. He was an architect and a member of both the Tacoma-Pierce County Civic Arts Commission and the Historical Landmarks Preservation Commission. After his death in June 1976, the Tacoma News Tribune described him as “a long-time advocate of preservation of Tacoma’s environment... Hocking was outspoken in his solutions, whether it was allowing people to use the City Waterway of the saving the old City Hall Annex.”

[1] “Wm. Hocking, architect,” The Tacoma News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington) · Mon, Jun 14, 1976 · Page 30, https://www.newspapers.com/image/735706573

The object of the National League for Woman’s Service was “to coordinate and standardize the work of women of America along lines of Constructive Patriotism, to develop the resources and to promote the efficiency of women in meeting their every-day responsibilities to Home, to State, to Nation and to Humanity; to cooperate with the Red Cross and other agencies in meeting any calamity-fire, flood, famine, economic disorder, etc. And in time of war to supplement the work of the Red Cross, the Army and navy, and to deal with questions of women’s work and women’s welfare.” [1] This league was created when the United States began to enter into World War I in early 1917, with the Tacoma Daily Ledger reporting on March 29, 1917, that “this emergency organization has been formed as the result of the bitter experience of European nation in the present terrific struggle. Germany had already carefully cataloged the industrial strength of her women and had little difficulty in making the necessary rearrangement which freed thousands of men from industry.” [2]
The Tacoma Daily Ledger reported on May 6, 1917 that 800 women had signed up for service, quoting the State Vice Chairman for the league in explaining, “this National League for Women’s Service means right now simply an opportunity for American Women to show their patriotism in tangible form.” [3]

Sulja Warnick is a Tacoma resident who was a public school teacher in the Tacoma Public School dstrict. Early in her teaching career, she was called upon to help translate for Korean women married to service men on the military bases. This started her work with the Korean Women’s Association (KWA). KWA started as a small social club for Korean women and has expanded to a non-profit organization that provides education, affordable housing, in-home care for seniors, and social services, including domestic violence counseling for all groups of people. KWA now has offices in 14 Western Washington counties, serving up to 150,000 people of 40 nationalities and 35 language groups. The organization is now 51 years old.

The Hilltop Action Coalition was founded in 1989 and as of 2023 is a non-profit organization. The HAC's aim is to “mobilize and empower diverse individuals, families, businesses and other public and community organizations to build a safe, clean, healthy resilient and united community.” They hold community meetings once a month, provide monthly reports to the City of Tacoma on issues within the community, and hold workshops and training sessions that help create connections between residents, schools, and businesses in Hilltop. [1] Since their inception they have lead initiatives like cleaning up overgrown yards, starting block-watch programs, and painting over gang graffiti. [2]

Frederick Gamble Jr. was born to parents Frederick O. Gamble and Mary L. Witzman on June 12, 1915, in Memphis, Tennessee. His family was involved in the arts, and Frederick Gamble Jr. was the third generation of professional musicians. While in grade school, Frederick Gamble Jr. and his family moved to Washington state, settling in Puyallup. After graduating high school, Gamble took care of his family’s fox farm business and his siblings due to his father’s ailing health and the death of his mother.

Following the liquidation of the family business Gamble began his journey into the arts by becoming a street singer “ballyhooing” films. He later moved from doorman to advertising man, and then theater manager until Frederick Gamble Jr. partnered with Sidney P. Dean in running the Lakewood Theater and four other theaters. Gamble served as director of the Seattle Community Concert Association. He was also active in local music circles and advocated for musicians. Gamble toured the country as a tenor. He debuted at the Carnegie Hall in New York City on October 6, 1953. (1)

Gamble moved to New York City in the 1950s, where he worked as a sales manager for Custom Shop Shirtmakers from 1954-1961, and later, he joined the Whitehouse and Hardy clothing firm, where he oversaw their training program from 1961-1965. He also worked for Damon International from 1966-1975, managing the warehouse outlet and as a sales executive for the southern branches. Frederick Gamble Jr. died on September 11, 1991. (2)

Alice Pixler and Milton Moriarty got married in Iowa in 1881 and moved to Washington Territory in 1883 [1]. The family became involved in the lumber industry. Alice’s nephew and his wife, King Pixler and Dorothy Gardner, moved to Kosmos, Washington in 1947. King Pixler worked for the Kosmos Timber Company. The creation of the Mossyrock Dam for the Tacoma City Light Cowlitz River Hydropower Project caused the (around 500) residents of Kosmos to sell their land and receive settlements from the City of Tacoma. With the approval of the 605 foot dam in 1964, the small town, located 16 miles upstream from the dam, would become inundated by water. [2] The Pixlers were one of the land owners that sold their property. Residents of Kosmos had to move out by June 1967, and the town was then demolished. [3] The location of Kosmos is now the Riffe Lake Reservoir, which is utilized for recreation and described by Lewis Talk as, “offer[ing] a chance to float above the once-proud lumber towns. As we fish, swim and boat around the waters, few of us take the time to remember what use[d] to be located along the now flooded riverbed below” [4]

Rudolph “Rudy” Henry Jr. was born on July 14, 1934, on a farm near Fresno, California. He was born to Tomas Enrique Filva (also known as Rudolph or Thomas Henry) and Ann Finley, a Mono tribe member, but was raised by his Aunt Teresa Silvia Miranda, also a Mono tribe member, and her husband Francisco Bustamante Miranda. Henry served in the U.S. Air Force from 1954-1958 in Germany. When Henry was honorably discharged, he moved to San Francisco and worked at TransAmerica for 25 years. He then moved to Tacoma in 1983 with McCluskey and participated in local activism for gay rights. Henry passed away on March 16, 2023, in Tacoma at 88 years old (1).

John McCluskey was born on September 9, 1936 in Pawhuska, Oklahoma to Lillian and Daniel McCluskey. He was drafted in 1950, but due to his openness about his sexuality, was rejected by the Army (2). He was transferred to Tacoma in 1983 by his job, the St. Regis Paper Company, and Henry moved with him (1). McCluskey participated in many gay rights campaigns in Tacoma, Pierce County, and Washington for the three decades before his death (2)(3). McCluskey passed away on May 25,2022 at age 85 at a Tacoma long-term care facility (2).

Rudy Henry and John McCluskey met at a New Years Eve party in San Francisco in 1958. On April 1, 1959 they made the commitment to live together as spouses. After nearly 50 years together as a couple, they were issued the first marriage license given to a same-sex couple in Pierce County on December 6, 2012. Their wedding was held a few days later in the First United Methodist Church on Dec 15th (1).

Joseph S. Ibbotson was born in Richfield Springs, New York, on June 17, 1907, to Joseph D. Ibbotson and Hedwig Tappe. [1] His father was a Presbyterian minister, librarian, and professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. [2] He had two older brothers and one older sister. Joseph's German mother was a pianist who passed away when he was six. [2] Joseph spent part of his childhood with his mother's family in Wernigerode Am Harz, Germany. He attended Phillips Andover Academy in Brookline, MA, Hamilton College, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. [2]

Ibbotson first worked as a New York Public Library reference librarian. He then served as an assistant professor and librarian at Colby College in Waterville, ME. Later he was an associate professor at the National College of Education while pursuing post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago. [2] Joseph served as the Library Director for the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas, from 1936-1949, Fort Worth Library from 1949-1953, and Tacoma Public Library from 1953 until his retirement in 1971. The Tacoma Library Board named him Librarian Emeritus. [2] Joseph was the founder and first president of the Texas Library Association and he was a rotary member in both Texas and Washington. During his retirement, he became a WSU master gardener. [2]

Joseph married his first wife, Anna Mills, in 1930 and they remained married until her passing in 1980. He married Jaroslava Vojtech in 1988. He had two children. Ibbotson died on May 12, 1990. [3]