Better Know a Volunteer: Jan Nofziger

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Pop quiz: Can you name someone at Alderwood Manor Heritage Association who was in the first graduating class of Meadowdale High School? One answer is Jan (Canfield) Nofziger.

Jan was born in Seattle, but her family moved to Beech Road in Alderwood Manor the following year to a three-acre chicken farm. After graduating from Meadowdale in 1965, she attended Seattle Pacific College, where she received a B.A. in Elementary Education.

Following college, Jan got married and moved to Ohio for Voluntary Service Continue reading →

Better Know a Volunteer: Linda Myers

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“All in all, in spite of a few bumps in the road, I was a pretty lucky, lucky Alderwood Manor kid.”

If you’ve been a volunteer at Alderwood Manor Heritage Association, especially if you’ve been a host, then you probably know Linda Myers. Linda is our host coordinator, recruiting and scheduling wonderful volunteers to greet visitors at the cottage. If you’ve been to one of our programs at the Alderwood Manor Youth Club, you’ve probably seen Linda’s shining smile greeting you at the door.

Even if you’ve never volunteered at AMHA or been to our programs, you may still know Linda, or know of her: Continue reading →

Meadowdale: “One of the most prettily situated hamlets in Snohomish County.”

People & Stories,

by Tiffany Villigan, 2011

The very early years

Long before you or I were here, the area that is now known as Meadowdale was nothing but lush, green forests and waterfront. If you’ve ever wandered through Lund’s Gulch or the adjoining Meadowdale County Park—following the trails that take you from civilization, through a dense forest and steep ravines, and miraculously deposit you at the clear blue waters of Puget Sound—you may be able to imagine what the area was like 200 years ago. Indeed, it would later be described as “one of the most prettily situated hamlets in Snohomish County,” and “extremely pretty [whose] views of Puget Sound are glorious.”

The region that would eventually be named “Meadowdale” stretched roughly from Continue reading →

Meadowdale: “One of the most prettily situated hamlets in Snohomish County.” (part 2)

People & Stories,

by Tiffany Villigan, 2011

Part II: Meadowdale continues to grow, and looks to satisfy the needs of its residents

By 1910, the region known as Meadowdale—bounded by current Highway 99 on the east, 180th St. SW to the south, Lake Serene to the north, and Puget Sound on the west—had grown from the uninhabited wilderness of the late 1800s and early 1900s to roughly 100 households.

With the expanding population, typical problems of a growing city began to arise, Continue reading →

New Twitter game! Where Am I Wednesdays

News and Updates

Starting this week, we’re going to feature a new game on our Twitter account: Where Am I Wednesdays. On select Wednesdays, we’ll post a picture of an Alderwood Manor- or Lynnwood-related site. Some might be obvious, some might not be so obvious. It might be at the Alderwood Manor Heritage cottage, at Heritage Park, or anywhere else related to Alderwood Manor or local history.

Some weeks I may be joined by my friend, Babe Ruth. No, not the baseball player. Babe Ruth is the great-great-great…granddaughter of the famous Alderwood Manor hen, Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth laid 326 eggs in one year and was written about in many  newspapers across the country!
Babe RuthDSCN2026

 

If you’re on Twitter, you can follow us @AlderwoodManor to see our #WhereAmIWednesday game. Think you know where I am? Send us a tweet or a reply.

If you’re not on Twitter, you can still watch: type http://www.twitter.com/alderwoodmanor into your web browser, and there we are! You won’t be able to tweet a reply, but you can always come to our website and leave a comment in the Contact Us form on the right of any page. Let me know if you’re enjoying the game, or if you think you know where I am!

Anyone who correctly answers where I am–either via Twitter or our website–will have the satisfaction of seeing their name (first name only) mentioned on Twitter 🙂

Answers will be revealed on the following Sundays.

Oral History Detective: JoAnn Rossi edition

News and Updates

In JoAnn Rossi’s oral history interview (which you can read here), she mentions a class picture she brought in to donate to Alderwood Manor Heritage. As I was transcribing the interview, I thought of all the boxes we have in our collections room, and wondered where in the world that picture might be. I’d love to find the picture and include it with the interview transcript at the cottage, as well as use it as a visual aid on the web version of the transcript. Now, if only I could find that picture… Continue reading →

Rossi, JoAnn (Smith)

Oral Histories, , ,

January 26, 2009; interviewed by Cheri (Stadler) Ryan

[Speech fillers, such as “um” and “uh,” have been omitted.]

Cheri Ryan, Alderwood Manor Heritage Association: It’s January 26th, 2009. I’m Cheri Ryan at the Alderwood Manor Heritage cottage in Lynnwood, Washington, and I’m doing an oral interview with—

JoAnn Rossi: JoAnn Rossi, and my maiden name is Smith.

CR: And JoAnn, can you give me your birth date, and tell me how old you are and your address, please?

JR: I was born in July—July 3rd of 1933. I’m 75 years old—young. [laughs] And my address is Continue reading →