Living

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008 Lynnwood woman lives dream of adventure More than six decades ago, a sturdy little girl stood by the railroad tracks in Mountain Home, Calif., and glimpsed the future. "For a moment I wished I could just walk down those tracks to wherever they led. I knew there was such a lot of world out there and I wanted to see it, " Irene Wulf, 71, recalls. "I've never forgotten that feeling." Her dreams of travel became career plans as she finished high school and then nursing school. Her graduation gift: a set of luggage. Her first destination: Hawaii. Determined to combine travel and nursing, she wanted to join the Army. Then a new option changed everything. President Kennedy established the Peace Corps. Wulf's application was quickly accepted. After two months of training at the University of Notre Dame, she was with a team sent to Ancud, a small island off the coast of Chile. "I was assigned to a school with 50 students who'd never seen a car or worn shoes," she says. The island people lived in desperate poverty. Children came to school sick and hungry. On the few weekends she had off, Wulf was able to explore the mainland, as well as the island. She fell in love with a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. There were five engagements, five cases of hepatitis and five appendectomies before her team's two-year term ended, she says, and there were life lessons, as well. "After seeing poverty on such a large scale, we came back knowing what we wanted out of life," she said. Marriage, nursing and four children cooled her traveling shoes, but not her dreams. Her husband completed a degree in veterinary medicine. Eventually the whole family moved to Hawaii for a few years before returning to California. As her children grew and her husband's practice flourished, she worked in hospitals and correctional facilities. Two decades later, divorce and an empty nest changed options for Wulf. That old dream of travel as an Army nurse was still hanging around. A cousin suggested she join the California National Guard. Fifteen months and a strenuous physical fitness test later, she was accepted with the rank of second lieutenant. "I knew about the sit-ups and push-ups and running. Lifting that 75-pound barbell over my head and holding it was tough, but I did that too." She made captain and was among the first in her unit to volunteer for active duty when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Wulf was 53 years old, 5 feet, 2 inches tall, 130 pounds and willing to go wherever she was needed. Too old for a young woman's job? A thought she refused to consider. The training regimen at Fort Carson, Colo., included rigorous 12-hour shifts as they prepared for battlefield conditions. Nine months later, the National Guard volunteers were released from active duty without ever leaving the States. That was enough duty to make her a vet, she says. "I was pleased as punch." She had other nursing jobs that allowed her to see the southwestern United States, and then a newspaper ad caught her eye, "Teach English in Korea." The pay, $12 an hour, and living accommodations were both close to poverty level. However, she was thrifty, and once again, there were new lands to explore. Traveling by train, scooter, bus and foot, she saw a great deal of Korea. She also spent time in Japan, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Each left her with dozens of adventures to add to her collection of travel stories. Back home, she took a job with the California Youth Authority at Chino, a juvenile rehabilitation center. Her adult children and her grandchildren all hoped Gramma's wanderlust was cured. Then, a vicious attack by an inmate nearly ended her life. The knife wounds on her hands, face and neck eventually healed. The nightmares, however, lingered. Depressed, she stayed home and watched TV. Favorite show: "Northern Exposure," the saga of Cicely, Alaska, and the eccentric individuals who thrived in that fictional small town community. She was 62, and her family tried to dissuade her from checking out Alaska. But dreams don't die just because we're a little older or something bad happens to us, she says. In Alaska she found new ways to use her nursing and military training as a Red Cross volunteer and a member of the Alaska State Defense Force. Two weeks after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wulf was among volunteers deployed from Alaska to work with the Disaster Medical Assistant teams caring for injured workers involved in the massive cleanup and recovery operation. "Fires underground were still burning," she says. "Smoke, ash, hundreds of volunteers working so hard... Once I dreamt of jumping out of helicopters into war zones... This was a war zone. No one could have kept me from going to work there when I got the chance." A few weeks later, she was back in Alaska. Since then, she's spent five years living in New Mexico before moving to Lynnwood to live with her youngest son, Robert, and his family earlier this year. The travel bug remains unsatiated, but now Wulf has a whole new state and region to explore. Her cousins were to arrive this weekend to join her on a venture east of the Cascades. After that, she has a list of the "cold" countries: Scandinavia, Germany, Iceland and Scotland. Irene Wulf is like so many folks I've met through the years: energetic people who pursue their dreams, risk failure and open their lives to new adventures. No regrets. Wonderful memories. No reason not to make a few more. That, Wulf says, is the good life. Linda Bryant Smith writes about growing older, surviving and finding a little gold in the golden years. You can reach her at ljbryantsmith@yahoo.com.

1. Emory’s owner fears fire was arson 2. Monroe honking case makes it to state Supreme Court 3. Vatican ponders the souls in space 4. 81 veterans' names, 81 meaningful lives honored in Snohomish 5. Hope dims that Olympics will boost region 6. Student hit in crosswalk to return 7. Smokey Point to celebrate end of roadwork 8. Death on Edmonds waterfront ruled a suicide 9. Help for young moms may continue 10. Semifinal slate sealed on ‘Dancing With Stars’ 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Bazaar Fever • Hawks proud of historic season • Olson always put Edmonds first • Honoring student veterans • ‘Wheedle' author comes to Lynnwood bookshop • Mavs build early lead en route to easy win • Prep football games of the week (state playoffs) • Tears of laughter, tears of grief • Death on Edmonds beach likely a suicide • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million