As Mount St. Helens settles back into an uneasy slumber, memories of 1980’s cataclysmic eruption have been brought to the forefront of many people’s minds.
None more so than Kenmore resident Shirley Rosen, niece of the mountain’s most famous resident, Spirit Lake Resort owner Harry Truman. Rosen was a student in the writing program at Shoreline Community College in 1980 when the volcano rumbled to life and her 83-year-old uncle became a national celebrity for refusing to leave his home on the blue-green shores of Spirit Lake. On the morning of May 18, 1980, Truman became one of the mountain’s 57 victims.
It was grief and devotion to her uncle that led Rosen to eventually write “Truman of St. Helens: The Man and His Mountain,” first published in 1981. Now in its fourth printing, Rosen is amazed at how three decades later her book continues to have a life of its own. “They say a book lives about a year, but when you think about this one, it’s going on 25 years,” she said. “I still get letters once in awhile, which I think is so nice.”
“Truman of St. Helens” began as a series of short stories Rosen put to paper with the encouragement of her writing instructor. Writing became a way to cope with the loss she felt for not only her uncle, but the place where she had spent many summers as a teenager working for Truman and his wife, Eddie. “You expect to lose family members as people age,” Rosen said, “but you don’t expect to lose a place you love.”
She soon discovered there was tremendous interest in a full telling of Truman’s story, the man who prophetically said, “That mountain’s part of Harry, and Harry’s part of that mountain.” Approached by Seattle’s Madrona Publishers, Rosen immersed herself in research to finish the project. “It took me nine months of writing and interviewing.” the mother of three said. “I call it my fourth child.”
Released to positive reviews nationwide, Rosen traveled the country, even visiting New York and appearing on the “Today Show” with Tom Brokaw. The impact of her book didn’t hit her until she opened the first box of books and saw the Library of Congress number. “I cried because I realized I was going to be in the Library of Congress and that it would be there forever,” she said.
Ultimately, the national attention wasn’t as important to her as the personal accomplishment of bringing her family history to life. “It makes you feel good that you’ve done something that will live on in your family,” Rosen said. “Because it’s about family as much as anything else.”
As the 25th anniversary of the 1980 eruption approaches, Rosen hopes that people will remember Truman more for his life than his death.
“Some people think of him as being a mountain man that wasn’t too swift, but he was very smart,” she said. “I just want them to know that he was an intelligent person,” a World War I veteran who survived three days in the ocean after the sinking of his ship, a man with a deep respect for the environment who built his resort by hand in the mountain wilderness.
“I think he is a vanishing breed of American, and it’s sad in a way,” Rosen said. “We should try to remember and learn from those people – he taught me so much in my growing up years. I was so lucky to have that opportunity.”
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