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I had to smile when I read Betsy Millard’s email to the Community Historians:
Summer is over and we at the Museum are heading into a busy season of programming! Join us this Saturday as we host an amazing event featuring documentary filmmaker Keith Cox and 4 of the “old timer” oystermen: Gustave “Dobby” Wiegardt, Giro Nakagawa, Jim Kemmer and Pete Heckes. This is a great example of community history and I hope you all can come. It will be fun to see you and we’ll have oysters and champagne too!
Sydney and Pete, 1938
Two of those “old timer” oystermen I have known all my life. Both Jim and Pete were born in Oysterville – second cousins to one another and, if memory serves, about the same age. I’m really not clear on that because they were younger than I – lots younger, like maybe a year or so. Somehow, when you are a kid, a year is huge.
And now they are not only ‘old timers’ but they are well-respected oystermen! Who knew? They came by it naturally – their fathers and uncles and cousins were also in the oyster business. Among my treasured memories are images of Glen Heckes coming in off the beds – huge in his hip boots, ready for a cup of coffee and breakfast, no matter what time of day or night it was. Or so it seemed. He always had a joke or a story or something funny to talk about. When Pete talks, I can close my eyes and hear his dad.
I remember birthday parties at Jimmy’s. Only we always called it “JimmyandDanny’s” like they were one person and it was one word. And I don’t know if I was there or I’ve just heard the story of when the dog licked all the frosting right off the cake and Barbara (JimmyandDanny’s mom) calmly made another batch and frosted the cake and served it without a word. Best birthday cake ever!
I’m hoping against hope that I’ll be able to make it to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum on Saturday to hear what those old geezers have to say. Dobby, too. But I must say I didn’t know him until I built next door to him and Lila in 1979 and they became neighbors of legendary proportions. (Pick vegetables in my garden any time!) And I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Giro. Surely he couldn’t be as old as those other duffers!
Maybe, just maybe, I’ll find a way to be there Saturday from 4:00 to 6:00. But I’ll not be eating the cake if there is any. Just in case.
Well, you are a distinguished local historian and definitely not old timey!
Love that photo.
Just a few fun facts to add to your fun stories…
Pete Heckes, born in 1936, is a 2nd generation oystermen, who has been going out on the oyster beds with his father, Glen Heckes ever since he was a kid. Pete is still oystering with the Julia C. Waring, one of the last wooden boats on the bay, built in 1944, after his father passed away he just kept running it. Pete’s son John is in the business now to, with his own oyster and clam farm. Pete works out of Nahcotta, and nearly 99.8% of his oyster farm still relies on a natural set.
Jim Kemmer, born in 1941, is a 2nd generation oystermen, who grew up on the bay, going out on the oyster beds with his father, Roy Kemmer. As a young teenager by the age of 13, Jim was running boats and working out on the beds. His father Roy and Pete Heckes’s father Glen, along with one other partner (Ted Holway) started the original oysterville cannery, the Northern Oyster company in 1939. Jim continues to work along side his son Jeff who has also grown up in the business. Both love fishing and hunting, and all the lifestyle affords.
Gustave “Dobby” Wiegardt Jr., born in 1931 grew up 3rd generation in the family business. His grandfather Heinrich Wiegardt was one of the original pioneer oystermen to settle on the Willapa Bay and bought his first oyster beds in Bruceport in 1870, later starting the Wiegardt family oyster business in 1874. Now into the 5 th generation, the Wiegardt family is the longest uninterrupted oyster business not only in Willapa Bay but possibly in the entire United States. Dobby grew up in the business “punching shell” at the age 5, and he ran the Wiegardt Bros. processing plant for 25 years, where he managed the cannery and crew, packaging and labeling. Retired from 66 years in the business, he continues to enjoy all aspects of the lifestyle that the bay has to offer, including keeping up a clam bed in front of the house on the bay.
Giro Nakagawa, born in 1921, started working in the oysters for the New Washington Oyster Co. as a teenager in 1939. He is one of the last oystermen still around that can tell the tale of living in an “oyster station house.” At one time there were many of these houses built on pilings out in the middle of the Willapa Bay, each surrounded by the various oyster companies oyster beds. Giro has continued to work in the industry ever since, and is still invested in Bay Center Mariculture, which bought out New Washington in about 1980.
Keith A. Cox, born in 1976 in South Bend, was the 5th generation (on his mother’s side) to live in the communities around Willapa Bay. His grandfather, Don Cox (on his father’s side), started the family business South Bend Pharmacy in 1958, it’s now into its 3rd generation. Keith however shifted away from pharmacy and instead moved to Los Angeles, where he has been working in the entertainment industry for the past 15 years. After creating documentary content for over 125 different movies for every major studio in Hollywood, Keith was inspired to create this documentary project about his hometown, as a way to give something back. And although he never worked in the oyster industry, Keith was attracted to preserving the history, and showcasing the oystering lifestyle of this 160-year-old oystering industry of Willapa Bay.
I had pulled that info (from my last comment) together for an article that was written for the Willapa Harbor Herald, so I just thought I’d share it here with you as well Sydney. Always a joy to read your stories!!!
Thanks, Keith!