Listening to Storyteller Bud Goulter, 2016

I was among the standing-room only crowd (76! by doorman Hal Buttrell’s count) at the Oysterville Schoolhouse yesterday to hear the stories of Bud Goulter, the community’s oldest ‘Oysterville Boy.’  It reminded me of the time in 1978 when people lined up around the block in Long Beach to get a hot-off-the press copy of Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa’s Village by Willard Espy, another revered Oysterville storyteller.

Willard (called Wede), like Edwin (called Bud) was born and grew up in Oysterville.  They were friends even though they were about a generation apart (Wede, b. 1910; Bud, b. 1928).  Their family histories here in Pacific County (and Oysterville) go back to ‘the beginning’ and so do their stories – each man’s version a little different.

Willard Espy, Raconteur – 1975

Bud told us yesterday that he has never done any research.  “I was there,” he said, “or I remember the stories told to me by the people who were.”  Wede was a researcher but he never claimed to be a historian and, unfortunately, cited few sources in his many books. Both men were consummate storytellers!

The highlight of yesterday’s schoolhouse talk – at least for me – was Bud’s story of Jimmy Anderson, one of the local ‘characters’ back when I was a child.  I remember when Jimmy died – it was in 1947, the year I was attending seventh grade at Ocean Park School.  Bud’s story of discovering Jimmy’s body and getting him out of his cabin and into the waiting pick-up was absolutely hysterical; it brought down the house!  (It was reminiscent of the “Bert and I” stories – a collection of ‘Down East’ humor stories from the culture of traditional Maine.)  Bud’s version, however, was very different from Wede’s version of the same event.  It’s Wede’s version that I remember… but is my memory confused by the passage of time?  Hard to know…

Oldest House in Oysterville – 1863

And so it was with most of the stories Bud told – all just a bit different from what others of us remember and, in some cases from what the research reveals.  As my mother used to say, “There’s the history of Oysterville and then there’s Bud’s history of Oysterville.”  Later, as Nyel and I left for Aaron English’s concert at the library, I couldn’t help glancing at the little red cottage with its sign, “1863 – Oldest House in Oysterville” and then at the house on the corner that Bud had just described to a rapt crowd as “oldest”  – “1873 – Charles Nelson Sr.”  But then… wasn’t it Mark Twain who said, “Never let truth get in the way of a good story.”  Amen to that!

Charles Nelson, Sr. House – 1873

Bud’s talk yesterday was taped for posterity by Amy Bozorth of the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum.  It will be available for the public to view soon.  Don’t miss the opportunity – whether you were there yesterday or not! The stories are 45 minutes of pure delight!