by Liv Stecker
100 years is a lot of time. Over the course of the last century, Verna Fine Walsh has made the most of her time. As a mother, a wife, a postmaster, volunteer librarian, gas station attendant, camp cook, food bank volunteer, Charter Member and Past Master of the Kettle River Grange, actress, convenience store clerk, avid dancer, pinochle player and quilter, Verna has quite literally done it all. Only July 26th, Verna turns 100, friends and family from all around will gather to celebrate with her at one of the places that she was instrumental in building, the Kettle River Grange.
Verna Jean was born to Bill and Betty Plews in 1915 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. Growing up in Ione, Washington, where her father worked at the sawmill, Verna remembers the catastrophic fire of 1924 that destroyed much of the town. "They had the train backed into evacuate people because they didn't have any other way to get out." She tells the story. Her family was one of the few with a car at the time: "Mother had the car packed up, and in the evening, just before we left, the wind shifted and the fire went the other way." In 1929, the Plews moved to Boyds, where her father ran the local tavern for many years.
Verna went to school in Boyds and Marcus before the town was relocated, and was transferred for her senior year to Orient, due to reallocated school district. Her junior year, she was tapped for a role in the senior play at the Marcus School. The next year she starred in both the senior play and the all school production at Orient. She graduated in 1934 and the following year she met Lester Fine through mutual friends at a dance at the Sherman Creek Grange Hall. She and Lester were married that year and had their first son, Gary Dean Fine, in the spring of 1938.
Grange and schoolhouse dances were the best and often only place for young adults to socialize during the mid 1930s, and Verna recounts traveling all over to go to dances, from Laurier to Deadman Creek and Kettle Falls at it's original location above the falls. To get to dances at the Marcus Dance Hall, Verna says that she and her friends had to walk across the railroad bridge, since the only one who owned a vehicle apparently didn't have a driver's license yet. She says crossing the bridge in the dark seemed like a long trip, and looking back she's not sure it was worth it. "There was a fella that had built the dance hall out of slabs, and when you danced around, they would move." She laughs at the memory. Always at the dances, there was a fiddle player, and usually an organ or piano to accompany. Later on, the Kettle Falls High School orchestra formed a dance band that played for dances at the Orient School - one of the favorite dance locations.
The winter of 1938-39, Verna and Lester lived at old Kettle Falls. The relocation process had already begun, but Verna recalls how cold that winter was, and how poorly insulated their house had been. They had no running water and Verna remembers that the water bucket sitting right next to the stove would freeze solid overnight. Baby Dean was only a few months old at the time. "Good thing he slept through the night!" Verna chuckles at the recollection.
In the Spring of 1939, the relocation of Kettle Falls was completed. Verna remembers going with a young Dean to see the Grand Coulee Dam as construction was completed. Lester got a job with the mill on Sherman Creek as night watchman. The Fines lived in a company house and Verna worked in the cookhouse. "My son would come into the cookhouse and sit on the men's laps and they kept giving him food and taught him all kinds of bad words. He was just learning to talk, and luckily he forgot most of them after we left." Verna recalls.
The following year, Verna's second son, Monty Keith Fine was born. The Fines moved around for seasonal jobs, working for the Forest Service at Growden Camp on Sherman Pass, operating a service station where Verna became proficient at pumping gas, and finally ending up back in Boyds where Verna helped move the Post Office into the front of their convenience store.
In 1946, Verna helped to organize the Kettle River Grange, where she became a charter member. Shortly after its founding, she and several other community members spearheaded fundraising efforts to construct the grange building. "We started working hard at turkey shoots, dinners and plays - the plays were a big money maker." she says. The community built a basement with a peaked roof that could be removed when they had the funds to build the first story.
The first play at the grange took place in the basement. Verna remembers running around the outside of the building in costume to make entrances by sliding into the basement. That production was a minstrel show, all in grease paint black face, before the era of political correctness in theater. Verna played "Mammy" who had 16 children, including her own boys, all done up in black grease. She says that night was a greasy hot mess. The dinner they cooked before the show was put together in the cloak room of the schoolhouse, since the grange didn't have a kitchen yet. Someone had donated a cookstove that ran on propane, but Verna and her friends didn't have experience cooking with gas. There was a mini explosion when they lit the stove that melted holes in her girlfriend's nylons, and after that, the ladies gave up and resorted to the old reliable cook stove they knew so well. One of the gals had to run home and cook up a batch of potatoes on her own stove to save time.
Verna went on to play countless lead roles in the Kettle River Grange plays, which became major social events in the area. She recalls playing a "hideous hag" that no man wanted, and a schoolmarm that was overcome by shock and fainted in nearly every scene. One of the stand out productions involved all of the local men, burly loggers, miners and mill workers, dressed up as Can Can girls in a Showboat play. The community would bring potluck dishes to share for every play, and Verna jokes that everybody that wasn’t in the play got to eat all of the food while the actors were busy performing.
In 1956 she was appointed Postmaster of Boyds. Lester worked for the Napoleon Mine across the hill from Boyds driving an ore truck until it closed, then he went on to drive school buses for area schools until his retirement. Verna kept the little community of Boyds ticking through the grange and the Post Office until her retirement in 1976. Lester passed away in 1975, and following her retirement, Verna took many bus tours with her sister down to the redwoods in California and other scenic locations.
An avid pinochle player, Verna traveled to card games around the area in the "widow wagon" with three other widows that were chauffeured by Swede Hills every Saturday night. Card parties in those days would pack out the grange, with up to ten tables of card players. Kids would roller skate in the basement of the grange, as her son Monty recalls.
In 1977, Verna moved into Kettle Falls. She immediately began fundraising for the new senior center, an abandoned church building in need of remodeling. "I sewed quilt blocks day in and day out - I don't know how many I made!" she laughs. The church was originally relocated from the old town of Kettle Falls and served many purposes before the senior center purchased it and revitalized it. Verna says that they held dances in the center until they discovered that the foundation couldn't handle the traffic.
In addition to her efforts for the Senior Center, she also volunteered at the library, and the Kettle Falls food bank for many years, where she served on the board. Verna was a tireless advocate for the community for many years. Recently, the loss of most of her vision forced her to quit working, but she stays active in the community at the Senior Center and other local events, even riding in parades as Grandma Kettle!
On Sunday, July 26th, Verna’s son (Monty) Keith Fine and friends invite the community to join in celebrating Verna’s 100th birthday. The old fashioned potluck party will take place at the Kettle River Grange that was such a big part of Verna’s life in the community. Keith is providing meat, and asks guest to bring a side dish or dessert to share. The party will start at 1:00 PM; no gifts please.
Truly a matriarch of the community and an example of how to make the most of a long life, when asked what her secret is, Verna laughs. "Working! Just keep going I guess. Even when it's bad, just pretend it's not and move on!" With a memory like a steel trap, a keen sense of humor and a twinkle in her eyes, Verna is what all of us should hope to be at 100. Happy Birthday Verna!
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