Thankfully, neighbors still step up to help out

Published 4:27 pm Thursday, November 20, 2008

Some of the best holiday memories come not from carefully planned celebrations, but the unexpected surprises life tosses our way.

Such was the case more than once when November storms brought rain, power outages and flooding to Stanwood, my hometown for decades.

I had a half-baked turkey, dressing, pies, and rolls rising when a massive storm smacked down our electricity one Thanksgiving morn.

There were hungry teenagers in the house and a grandmother on the way.

Radio reports confirmed we could not expect a quick fix.

About that time a phone call came from my longtime friend Audrey Elefson. Her big farmhouse a few miles out of town on Thomle Road still had power. “Bring your food and your company, we’ve got room,” she said.

We were not the only family who came in out of the storm that day. By the time she gathered in other friends and relatives who’d lost power at home, nearly 50 adults and children filled the rooms upstairs and downstairs.

The basement had a small cooking area with an old electric range. My turkey landed there.

Soon, there were plenty of cooks in both “kitchens” producing platters and bowls of food for the buffet table while turkeys in both ovens roasted to perfection.

Men and boys hunkered down in front of football games on television. Younger kids roamed outside until the dinner bell rang. Teenagers staked a claim on the downstairs rec room.

The good china was set aside in favor of more-practical paper plates. Dining was informal. Folks just found a place to sit and good company wherever there was space.

It was one of those wonderful occasions when the meaning of family expands to fit time and place. It was a family Thanksgiving.

A few years later in 1990, on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, many of those same folks were preparing to attend a celebration at the Sons of Norway Hall in Stanwood. The party honored the Elefson’s daughter, Elena, and her bridegroom, Dean Lum, who were wed in Seattle, the weekend before.

Audrey spent hours and hours making hundreds of Swedish meatballs. In addition there was ham, lefse, variations of smoked salmon, pickled salmon, a full wheel of brie, crackers, rolls, salads, vegetable trays and a beautiful wedding cake. The night before, she and her friend Gretchen Mork transferred the food and decorations to the hall, filling refrigerators to the max.

Everything was ready.

So was the Pineapple Express. Warming temperatures, melting snow in the mountains. Torrential rains filling rivers throughout the county to their banks, and more.

“I looked out the window that morning and saw an eagle in the tree,” Audrey recalled, “and I thought oh-oh, what’s next…”

Across the road, a channel of the Stillaguamish River seeped over its banks.

A few hours later, the Elefson’s farmhouse was surrounded by water. Many of their neighbors along Thomle Road were evacuating.

In town, volunteers manned sandbag brigades to stabilize the dikes and stop water covering the farmlands from reaching the downtown area. By 11 a.m, people were being asked to stay out of downtown Stanwood, especially the west side.

It was clear there’d be no wedding reception. So Audrey, after calling her daughter in Seattle, called her friend Esther Hanson who lived north of Stanwood for advice. “They could sure use the food down at the fire hall to fee all those sandbaggers,” Hanson, mother of a volunteer fire fighter suggested.

Esther, her daughter, Karen and Elsie Chandler and emptied the refrigerators and tables at the Sons of Norway and transported the contents to the Fire Department in East Stanwood, the staging area for flood workers.

Once there, they made sure the meatballs were heated and helped set out the reception food. They stayed through the day, along with other volunteers, serving the townspeople, volunteer firefighters and all those who came to help hold back the river.

“I remember the looks on the faces of those volunteers when they came in to take a break and eat,” Hanson says.

Many worked through the day and well into the night. After a few hours sleep, they returned to the sandbag lines.

Dirty and cold to the bone, they stumbled into the fire hall when it was their turn for a break in search of hot coffee and maybe a sandwich. None anticipated the food on those tables, especially not a wedding cake for dessert.

To me, it’s the American Spirit in action: from the dozens and dozens of people who came from miles around to fill and stack sandbags, to the family that sent elegant wedding food to feed them, and the volunteers in the fire hall who kept the coffee ready and the food fresh. Young and old, they all stepped up because it was the right thing to do.

Such stories happen daily in America. From big cities to suburban neighborhoods to small country towns, volunteers with caring hearts and willing hands are at work; neighbors are helping neighbors.

That’s worth celebrating everyday and especially on the day we set aside for giving thanks.

Linda Bryant Smith writes about growing older and surviving the golden years with a little sass and a generous helping of attitude. You can reach her at ljbryantsmtih@yahoo.com.