Annual cemetery event showcases Edmonds trailblazers

For some, Edmonds’ Memorial Cemetery’s Walk Back in Time event featuring Edmonds trailblazers was a walk down memory lane. For others who may be relatively new to the Edmonds, the July 19 event was an educational and entertaining window into the history of their city.

Attendees became familiar with prominent figures in t Edmonds’ development who are buried in the cemetery. Ruth Belle Hyner Hough, Myrtie Mabel Rynearson Otto, LeRoy Sylvester Keeton, Fred A. Fourtner, and Ruth Catherine Caskey Sater were portrayed by friends and members of the cemetery’s board, and each had their story told.

Attendees were greeted with information about the history of the cemetery and its board, and were welcomed by Dale Hoggins. The event’s facilitator was Tracy Little, who directed people to split up into groups and go to each station around the cemetery.

The first station was the gravestone of LeRoy Sylvester Keeton (1868-1966), who was portrayed by Larry Vogel. As the group stood among the trees, Vogel began the story of Keeton, Edmonds’ ultimate “man-about-town.” Keeton was born in what was eventually known as Hope, Ohio, which is now at the bottom of a lake. When Keeton was 20, he left his family and moved to Seattle, where he met his wife Katherine and worked in the hustle and bustle of Fremont.

But Keeton’s interest was piqued by the road known as the North Trunk Cutoff, which he had heard, had no end. Keeton decided to find the end, and so he set off north and bumped into Edmonds. “’Hey,’ I thought, ‘This place needs a good butcher shop,’” Vogel said. So Keeton became the town’s first butcher. Keeton had an immense love for his town. He was known for carrying candy around for the children, so Vogel performed lyrics from the Peter Paul and Mary song Talkin’ Candy Bar Blues. Keeton also wrote, in his own words, about his fondness for Edmonds in a poem:

“…The passing ships I want to see and many things that’s dear to me

I want to go back to old friends true

I want to go back to Edmonds, and I’m going to.”

Next up was Betty Lou Gaeng’s portrayal of Ruth Catherine Caskey Sater (1902-2001), who came to Edmonds in the 1930s. “One thing it [Edmonds] was and has always been, it welcomed women,” Gaeng said. A woman was the owner and publisher of a newspaper in 1906, women had the right to vote in 1910, and a woman was the mayor in 1924. “So women have always had a big say,” Gaeng, as Sater, said.

Sater was born in Michigan, but moved to Ballard where she graduated from high school in 1919. She went to the University of Washington to study music, but married and left school before she got her degree. She would later return to the UW to finish her degree in music at the age of 80.

Sater and her husband moved to Edmonds from the Shoreline area in the 1930s. She worked in the office of Hubbard Real Estate and became friends with owner Larry Hubbard, before buying a beauty salon next to the Princess Theatre. When she sold that business, she bought a heating oil company where she worked until retirement. Eventually, she was a founder and on the board of the Bank of Edmonds until she was 89, and was on the board of trustees for the Hubbard Foundation, which awarded small grants for education.

When Larry Hubbard died, Sater became the first chairperson for the cemetery board. “That was when the cemetery was a mess,” Gaeng, as Sater, said. “The gravestones were tipped over, broken, the grass was high, vandalism was terrible, and so we got to work.” Sater lived to be 99, staying on the cemetery board until nearly that age.

“Anything that went on, she was on the committee,” Gaeng said of Sater. But in the role of Sater, Gaeng put her involvement simply: “I kept busy.”

The charisma of Fred A. Fourtner (1976-1965) was portrayed by Ed Cornachio. Fournter was the mayor of Edmonds for a total of 18 years, though not consecutively. He was mayor for six years starting in 1926, and then was elected mayor for 12 more years in 1937. He saw the city through the Great Depression and World War II.

“The country was rebuilding itself on all this big new hope,” Cornachio said as Fourtner, “and good ol’ Edmonds was part of that big new hope.”

Fourtner grew up as a politician’s son after moving to Edmonds when he was 10. His father was active in the community, and Fourtner went to school in a single-room school with 14 other children. When he was older, Fourtner bought the Bartlette Cigar store and developed a taste for fine Cuban cigars; as mayor, he kept a drawer full in his office.

Fourtner built the large brick building on 5th and Main, later known as the Fourtner building, where the downtown Starbucks is now located and which has housed a long list of retail establishments.

While he was mayor, Fourtner worked for the Municipal Defense Committee, and was on the board of the Washington State Reserve during the war. He was dedicated to the city and its peace of mind. This came back to bite him, though, when he made comments about how teens petitioning for a teen center might better spend their time in the library. The resulting reputation was that “some said of me I was never fond of children, and frankly, that hurts me a little bit.” Cornachio said as Fourtner. “I honestly thought my suggestion would benefit their future.” The earnest, long-time Edmonds man and mayor lived to be 88.

Melissa Johnson as Ruth Belle Hyner Hough (1877-1956) told the story of her father, Matthew Ellison Hyner (1846-1929). “I thought we had landed in the wild of nowhere,” Johnson said as Ruth arriving in Edmonds when there were five houses. “Edmonds wasn’t even Edmonds yet.”

In 1887, there was also no post office for those five homes. The nearest post office was in Bothell, so Hyner, Ruth’s father, petitioned to start a post office in the town. Hyner bought and grew the town’s small general store, and then became the town’s first postman. Hyner built a house up the street with a cupola on top, from which his children — including Ruth — would look for the ships with the mail coming around the point.

“We thought this was a very important job and took it seriously,” Johnson said as Ruth. Matthew Hyner would have to walk to the wharf, and if it was low tide, row out to meet the steamer and retrieve the mail. He moved on to other endeavors in 1896, eventually setting up the town’s first switchboard in 1900. Ruth was 16 and became Edmonds’ first telephone switchboard operator.

Matthew Hyner also helped building the first Congregational church, and helped fund a number of causes around the developing city. “We wanted to make the focus of this event the trailblazers of Edmonds,” Johnson concluded as herself. “And Hyner was certainly one of them.”

The last stop on Edmonds’ own historical narrative for 2018 was the life of Myrtie Mabel Rynearson Otto (1892-1981), portrayed by Joan Longstaff. Longstaff was the 3rd owner of Rynearson’s home, which she made into an art gallery and eventually a dress shop.

Rynearson was a huge supporter of the arts. “They say I was born in the 19th century, but I am a 20th century woman,” Longstaff said as Rynearson,with a smile. Rynearson graduated from Edmonds High School in 1911, along with six other students. She was married eight years later, and had her daughter in 1920.

“It has been such an honor to own that historic house at 524 Main,” Longstaff said as herself. She quoted Millie Ingles, who said of Myrtie Rynearson “She’s remembered fondly as a woman of quiet and dignified demeanor who loved this city and has been an integral part of its business and cultural life.”

— Story and photos by Mardy Harding

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