Views From the Cab

By David Tollefson, Columnist

My sister Grace and husband Harry Meloeny lived for many years on Puget Sound in the town of Steilacoom, Wash. The population in 2020 is 6,727 people. It is just south of Tacoma.

My late wife Aileen and I visited them there a couple times through the years, enjoying their home right on Puget Sound.

Grace met Harry when she was teaching in Great Falls, Mont., and he was in the Air Force stationed there.  

Harry was quite an investor, buying properties, remodeling them and renting them out. One of the properties was in Mount Holly, N.J., where they lived for a time.

Harry also bought property in the mountains of that area of Washington, often selling portions of those to buddies of his.

Unfortunately, Harry passed away a couple years ago after declining health. Due to the severity of Covid all over this country, his memorial service was put off until this past June 17.

Grace was pleased that her two brothers were able to come to Kent, Wash., for the military memorial service. Luther’s wife Marilee also was along.

Harry and Grace have one son, Matt. He and his wife and three kids were in attendance, flying across country from their residence in Daniel Island, N.C.

Both Matt and his wife have been in the Air Force. Matt graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Both husband and wife flew C-17 Air Force Jet planes all over the world, supporting U.S. forces by transporting troops or their equipment.  

As mentioned above, Harry was memorialized in a military service held under a shelter near Kent. (As is common in that part of the country, it was a rainy, cool day at the same time as we were having 100-degree temperatures in Minnesota.)

I was particularly impressed with the flag part of the ceremony. A rather large flag was unfolded by two Air Force personnel for display at the memorial. After the eulogy by the officer in charge, the salute by guns was held, and also taps played. Then the flag was re-folded very ceremoniously by the same two personnel (one male and one female). You could certainly tell that this was practiced meticulously and faultlessly. Then the flag was presented to my sister to keep at her house.

After the memorial we were all entertained at an Italian restaurant a ways from the military cemetery. Matt, their son, thanked everyone after the meal, and then the stories began!!

The evening I came to SeaTac airport my brother met me with his rental car. We went right to Grace’s residence to enjoy the fabulous sunset over Puget Sound. I’m fascinated by railroads, so through the years when staying there we would be awakened at night by the traffic on the double-track railroad just below the house.  

I noticed a variety of trains while there – container trains, oil car trains, some trains with a variety of types, some car-haulers (enclosed).  

Near Grace’s house is a dock for ferries, where you can ride the boat along with your vehicle. We went for a walking tour of the docks, noting that the tide is in full display. As we walked near the water, one could see where the level of the tide may have been just a few hours ago. Many of the supporting posts were exposed, showing lots of crustacean deposits that one could consider a nuisance.

Being in that area such a short time (Thursday to Sunday) there was little time to enjoy the tourist attractions of the Seattle/Tacoma area. But the area brought back good memories that Aileen and I enjoyed in previous visits, like the Space Needle, Fisherman’s wharf, the fabulous car displays and glass blowing demonstrations.

We still have pictures of a place called Tollefson Plaza in downtown Seattle.

Harry once took me many miles up to Everett, where one of the main Boeing airplane plants is. It was fun to see Boeing 747s under construction.

One thing I did not enjoy was the congestion on I-5, the main thoroughfare running along the west coast, from the Canadian border to San Diego, Calif. Of course, we experienced the weekend traffic on that Friday of the memorial service, spending hours in six-lane traffic, slow enough where you could just walk alongside.

Also, congestion is irritating at the airports. I flew from what I call the “Humphrey” terminal via Sun Country airlines. In previous years the terminal 2 as it is called, was a lot less congested than the main airport, #1. But that had changed, at least on that weekend. The lines to get through security were something else. The lines move fairly fast, but you snake back and forth through those side-by-side lines.  

Once at security, it is fairly easy to get through, but as many of you know, computers, tablets and cell phones all have to be put in trays, along with jackets and things in your pockets. At least I’m old enough not to have to take off my shoes any more.

Once through security, you have your boarding pass, either in paper or on your cell phone. Then you look for the gate number with your flight on it. Fortunately for me, both flights to and from Minnesota were on time. I had a window seat both flights, and mostly clear weather for viewing what was below. But of course the pilots don’t tell you what we’re flying over. I do remember on the flight west the pilot mentioned we were going over Watertown, S.D. But for the rest of the flight west I had to guess if we were over the Black Hills of South Dakota, or already over Montana, Idaho or Washington State.

A lot of the fields in the Midwest looked pretty barren – from 30,000 feet or more, you can’t distinguish corn or soybeans coming up. But wheat and alfalfa surely do show up, or is it CRP?

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Please contact David Tollefson with thoughts or comments on this or future columns at: adtollef@hcinet.net