Holden Village!

Alas, the pandemic has intervened with our group plans for a few years. Opportunities are starting to open up again for groups in 2023. Keep an eye out here to see whether any plans develop to visit once more as a Queen Anne Lutheran group. We look forward to the future.

Holden is great for kids and families.  Besides being safe and directly in God’s creation, the village school holds morning classes where kids can meet other kids.

Hiking into Holden – Would you like to hike from Stehekin into Holden over Martin Ridge using Cottonwood Creek Trail, Cloudy Pass, or Spider Gap?  Please let me know.

                                                                                                                                                                                         —Rich Mathes

(Below you can find Joel Matter’s reminiscences about his various trips to Holden Village. Click on the titles below to link to Joel’s letters. The first submission, from 2017, is printed in full below.)

My Time at Holden—April 2023

My Time at Holden—September 2022

My Time At Holden – October 2018

My Time At Holden – August / September 2018

My Time At Holden — August / September 2017

In September 2017’s Quill, there was an article containing different perspectives from several of us who were guests for a week at Holden Village in August. This time, I will relate my personal perspective of my second stay at Holden in 2017, from August 26th to September 14th.

The first three days of my stay were taken up with the meeting of the Science & Technology Committee (Sci-Tech). This committee, started back in the 1960’s by college professors and science professionals, meets twice a year – usually at PLU in late January and at Holden in late August – to listen to Holden staff talk about the village’s needs they deem important and to discuss options for possible solutions. Sometimes committee members may be allowed to set up test cases for proposed solutions, either at Holden or offsite. The committee is strictly advisory: the staff can accept, table, or reject suggestions made by committee members.

Membership in the Sci-Tech committee is not rigid. It is based on a person’s ability / knowledge in fields for with Holden has needs and the willingness and time to participate. People who have a long history and association with Holden are welcome, as institutional knowledge / memory and its transmission are values of the committee. Many of the people currently on the committee have been on it for many years. One does not need to be a college professor to be a member. My membership is based on my work in the Holden Museum scanning photos and documents, my long association with Holden (52 years), and my willingness to devote my time to volunteer.

The Sci-Tech committee members were given special extended, more technical tours of the mine remediation and the current operations of Holden. Reports were received from the Operations Manager (Marc Rerucha Borges), the village naturalist (Travis Houle, in a new position within the past two years), the museum archivist (Larry Howard), and the village fire marshal (Jeff Pierce).

In the general session, several items were covered. Currently in the works were the installation of a control panel for the hydros; with the new village electrician coming in September (on the day I left), work on this should get completed. A small water systems operating plan, required by state and federal agencies, is being drawn up. Plans for housing the busses during winter in the new 2nd level garage building were outlined. A plan for spraying an appropriate herbicide around the village grounds, as directed by the Forest Service, was mentioned. Futures discussed or brought up include:

Under the purview of the Sci-Tech committee are Holden’s waterworks, electrical, facilities and infrastructure, safety and risk management, garbology, information technology, education, forestry, as well as other issues that come up from time to time. Of the fields just mentioned, this time only Waterworks, Facilities and Education met as working groups to discuss specific needs. I attended the Education working group. The main items of discussion were:

On the last day of the Sci-Tech committee meeting, its members participated in a test of the “Rainbird” sprinkler system. Members chose which sprinkler to operate and were instructed to turn them on one at a time in a special order. Those who had sprinklers with meters on them were allowed to use a radio to pass information to fire marshal Jeff. I chose the western-most sprinkler, which had a meter not on the sprinkler but on the water main, so I also had a radio. My sprinkler was the last to be turned on. I could tell when any sprinkler was turned on by the change in the reading of the meter. From a nominal 108 psi, the meter would spike up about an additional 30-35 psi when a sprinkler was turned on, then would drift back to the nominal reading. When I told Jeff this, he was surprised, but later thought the PRV value accounted for this action. All in all, the test was a success: with all the sprinklers running over 1,700 gallons per minute of water was flowing without a loss of pressure, even after changes were made to water intake at the diversion dam and pressure changes were made at the hydros. This is amazing, as all water pressure for the village, whether for the hydros, the potable water at the taps, or the various sprinklers in the village, are all maintained by gravity alone. No pumps are used.

After the Sci-Tech meeting was over, I moved on to volunteer work in Lawns and Gardens. With this move came a requirement to change lodgings. During the first three days of my stay I had a room in Chalet 2 with Tom Perry, a fellow Sci-Tech member and a linguistics professor at Simon Frazier University in Canada. For the remainder of my stay I was in Room 4 of Lodge 1, by myself. (Lodge 1 and Lodge 6 are where short-term volunteer staff are housed.) So I had to make what I dubbed “The Great Migration” from Chalet 2 to Lodge 1 with all my luggage – two large suitcases and a backpack.

As a volunteer, you get involved in village life. That includes participating in dish team at least once a week, as well as in garbology; these are required. You can volunteer in leading evening worship or Sunday Matins, offering a First Word in the morning, acting as a sacristan at Sunday worship, help scoop ice cream at the Snack Bar, or help hold the “Holden Village Welcomes You” sign and greet people who come off the bus each day, (as I did). You could offer a “spontaneous event”, something that is not part of the Holden program, but where guests and staff could attend or participate in. Or, on your time off, you could attend sessions, do an art project or several, hike, read, play games, or vegetate. I was a sacristan, I worked at a couple pottery projects, and I showed “PK” a couple of times to very small yet appreciative audiences.

There is a required weekly staff meeting on Wednesday evenings after Vespers. In these meetings new staff are welcomed, information is disseminated about what is going on in the village in the coming days, sign-up sheets are passed around for additional volunteer opportunities (usually for long-term staff), and hosting volunteers are requested to welcome new staff (make a “Welcome” sign, acquaint the new staff person to the village, make sure the lodging is ready for him/her, etc.). (Due to the lateness of my request to volunteer and my first three days at Sci-Tech, I did not receive this courtesy.) Within the meeting is a session called “Pass the Bass”, where a fabric shaped bass fish toy is passed – tossed really – around the room. The recipient offers a word of gratitude for someone in the staff who did something beneficial for them, then passes the bass to that person, who then offers their own word of gratitude to someone else, and so on. At the last meeting I attended, another such community building exercise was initiated: the “Shout Out Trout”, which utilized a hard rubber trout toy, where the recipient gave a “shout out” to a fellow staff member; passing the “shout out Trout was a way more dangerous than the bass. At the end of each meeting those staff member who would be leaving the village were called to come forward for a blessing by all the staff, with the “good courage prayer recited.

Janice Haakons has been the head gardener at Holden for many, many years. She started me weeding the lawn in front of Chalet 4, where I could move with the shade of a fir tree. Based on a recommendation from Rich Mathes, I bought with me a hori-hori knife for this task. (I also donated some hori-hori knives to Lawns and Gardens.)

Several of my days were spent in weeding, especially in back of Chalets 4 and 5 to prepare the ground for planting a new lawn. Part of that preparation included removal of lots of small stones and what I call “rockbergs”: rocks that show only up to 10% of themselves above the soil surface. I was checked out to operate a “golf cart”: a small electric vehicle for transporting relatively light loads of material. Other tasks included transporting wood chips to the garbology area in the 2nd level garage, acquiring and washing medium-sized rocks for outlining the new lawn area in front of Koinonia, seeding that same new lawn area, and dead-heading (pruning) the plants in all the flower boxes and hanging baskets in the village (and there are a LOT of them).

But the main job in Lawns and Gardens is watering. There was a rotation of which areas were to be watered when with which sprinklers. On some days the “Rainbird” sprinklers were turned on early in the morning around the chalets; also the Village Green (uphill from Lodge 4) watered on that day. On other days the plants around the Ark, the Hotel,, the Village Center, Koinonia (Art Center area), Lodge 4, Lodge 1, and Lodge 6 were watered. On still another day all the flower boxes and hanging baskets were watered. When new lawns were seeded, a special covering was laid and staked into place, and multiple water dousings were given daily to help germinate and grow the grass.

All these tasks were at first undertaken by six people under Janice. During my stay that dwindled down to two people, then rose to four before I left. Janice said she “had tasks enough for 100 people.” We did what we could with the forces at hand. My experience with the “Rainbird” sprinklers came in handy when Janice was on her days off and the sprinklers needed to be run.

As Lawns and Gardens was under the purview of Operations, we were required to attend daily Ops Meetings right after breakfast. Usually held outside on the Ark, they were the means for communicating the needs for the day to keep Holden going, what resources were required (like usage of a “golf cart” or finding who was checked out for running the wood chipper), who was using which heavy equipment, safety concerns, assignment of mavericks (volunteer staff who work odd jobs around the village, who can do heavy labor) to particular tasks, and any other items that needed to be addressed. After each meeting Janice would assign those of us under her directly to whatever tasks Lawns and Gardens needed that day.

Working in Lawns and Gardens made for long days: about 7 hours per day, sometimes starting at 5 a.m. I did not feel like doing much in the evening after a workday. On the up side, we received two days off a week. Kitchen staff have similar long hours, and also get two days off. Most other staff get only one day off. We could select which days we had off; I selected Saturdays and Sundays.

There are no holidays for volunteer staff. That meant Labor Day, which occurred during my stay, was not a day off. But that didn’t stop people from engaging in a spontaneous strike. Several staff, including myself (I was probably the only person in the group who had actually participated in a real strike), walked a picket line on Main Street in front of Koinonia, carrying signs like “Unionize Dish Team” and “Free Ice Cream”. That lasted for twenty minutes, when people tired of the activity returned to their tasks on their own. No riot squads or police required. Of course, the directors were out of the village when this “strike” happened.  (In fairness to the directors, they were out of the village partly on village business, but mostly out of worry for their possessions – artwork – threatened by the hurricane near their home in Florida.)

I think being at Holden between late August to mid September is the best time to be there. You get to see the village when it is busy with the summer program, and later witness the transition down to fall. The summer guests leave. Teaching staff changes over. Staff people leave for school or other pursuits. The rhythm of the village changes. Koinonia gets used for worship more and more, and the Village Center almost never. On the whole it is quieter, this smaller village, more close knit.

The school year begins at the school house (formerly “Narnia”). The sign is changed to reflect this. Depending on how many families are on long-term staff, their children make up the student body. This year there is only one student, a high school senior. Even with just one student, the Chelan School District must supply a teacher for this remote necessary school.

One of the best events at Holden is The First Day of School. It is Holden Hilarity at its finest. Preparations are made by staff for this time to celebrate. Silliness abounds. One of the busses, used to transport visitors to and from Holden, is transformed into a school bus that travels up Chalet Hill and down to pick up school children, and almost anyone else the frizzy haired bus drivers will allow. Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans adorn the front bus windshield. The bus driver has a cat hand puppet named “Bob”.  Various things impede the progress of the bus. A mock wedding takes place where a Jedi knight dubs the couple husband and wife with her light saber, and the man who helps guide the bus driver catches the bride’s tossed bouquet. A man with a five-page checklist stops the bus and inspects it, pounding all the tires with a rubber hammer. People with a large floatation device looking like a round slice of watermelon board the bus; the floatation device has to be deflated first. Even a bust of a giraffe, known as “Giraffy”, is put on the bus.  The one and only student gets to board the bus to cheers and great fanfare. But then the bus is stopped so the student can be a fourth in a card game. Two men playing chess momentarily block the way.  A stand-up comedian blocks the route. Housekeeping has set up a toilet in the middle of the road and is cleaning it. After all this the bus turns onto Main Street and leaves the village heading west. (Before mine remediation, the bus went to the third level for some activities; this is no longer possible.) The bus soon returns, led in by a person playing bagpipes (quite well). The bus stops at Beanies – Holden’s espresso stand – so the student can get a latte. Eventually the bus arrives at the school, where the student gives a short speech, then enters the school with her teacher. Not long after this lights flash and the fire alarm sounds, a Keystone Kops version of a fire crew comes with a long unconnected hose to investigate (going through the school and the Village Center) and put out any fire it encounters; none is found, thankfully. Thus endeth the first day of school.

A major event in September was the Miners Reunion. The children of the workers of the Holden Mine and their families came to Holden to celebrate their heritage and origins. Larry Howard and Linda Carlson came back to Holden for this event: Larry for his role as museum archivist and preserver of Holden mining history, and Linda for her work and book on company town communities. Linda Powell Jensen and Bill Phillips, who grew up in Holden during the mining days, provided leadership for their reunion. Based on the proposed completion of the new Holden museum building, and the fine time they had at their reunion this year, the miners’ families promised to return for their next reunion in 2019.

After the miners reunion, Larry Howard, Josh Post (Holden board president), and Lola Deane (long-time Holden board member), hosted some of the prospective exhibit designer firms at the village. It was a chance for representatives of these firms to see for themselves what Holden was, what it is currently about, and to interview these three and the village itself. When the new museum is built across from the school playground, it will house artifacts and exhibits that tell four stories: the natural history and geology of the Railroad Creek Valley, the Holden Mine, mine remediation, and the history of Holden Village – the retreat center. Whichever design firm is finally chosen will have the responsibility to tell these stories. Josh Post also unveiled, in a session for the village, an architect’s model of the new museum. It should have the same amount of floor space as the old museum.

It is especially affecting when long-term staff leave. Downsizing events are scheduled, where mostly long-term staff attend. Items that have been accumulated over their time at Holden are displayed for anyone who speaks up to take possession. Some of these items have a history at Holden, cannot leave the village, and must be left to other staff. The event I witnessed involved three long-term staff who were leaving within a week’s time.  Items ranged from clothing (jeans, blouses, sports bras, coats), a suitcase, books, lights, hair care products, and a whole host of other items. I took possession of a dictionary of word origins.

Another way to send off long-term staff is to gather together at the chalet in which they have been living for snacks and to ask questions (like “What was the best thing about their time at Holden?” “What do you remember about ______?”) of the soon-to-leave staff person.  It’s like a somber, loving exit interview.

For me, who has come to Holden so often for so many years, a visit is a chance to see old friends. I saw many people who I have come to know through Holden, like Art and Joan Neslund, Mariel Vinge, Terry Sanderson (the long-time mechanic for Holden), Katie Turner (who left Holden after a two year term the day after I did), James Dallas (who cooked in a chalet for a small group that included myself some fish he had caught, very tasty), David Roinas (a long-term Holdenite who has done many jobs in the village over the years, and who wears bacon-themed T-shirts every day), and Anne Basye (who often writes for “Living Lutheran”).

But each visit offers the opportunity to meet more people who may become new friends. This was especially true of Bill Burwell, who was my co-worker at Lawns and Gardens. Upon talking with him and his wife Marilyn, I found out he was a cousin of a classmate of mine throughout grade school, junior high, and high school, and was a member of the family that started Ace Tank, a company that was located along Elliott Avenue for many years. I learned the history of Ace Tank and the current disposition of the land that now lies vacant (ask me about it), as well as lots of family history. Where else but at Holden could such a connection be made.

What was extra special about my stay at Holden this year was that I saw again and visited with the people who first introduced my parents and me to Holden on a Memorial Day weekend back in 1965. Erv Janssen and his family invited my family for a short visit, which became a lasting relationship with a concept of community and love of locale and the people who make their way to this “place apart”. Erv, his friend Ginny Young, and his two daughters Julie and Cathy with their husbands came this time with Erv’s brother Werner Janssen and Werner’s son Jeff. Werner was Holden’s original business manager, from 1963 – 1984; that job is now divided into six or seven positions. (BTW, Werner hired Terry Sanderson initially back in 1982.) Werner was invited to give some talks about Holden in those early days as a retreat center. He gave five talks and one podcast in the three days he was there. With my work schedule, I could attend two of them. But the chance to visit with them was very, very special indeed.

One day, a male moose was sighted on the road (FS 8301) from the incoming bus driven by Nancy Rerucha Borges. The bus was delayed until the moose walked off the road. A video was made of the sighting, but I have yet to see it. This was the first sighting of a moose in Railroad Creek valley in modern times.

By the time I left Holden, the school busses were no longer used to transport people up and down the valley. Few people were coming in or leaving. I left the village in a red van with hikers, retired women who left their husbands at home, who had just returned from a several-night stay at Lyman Lake. The stories they had to tell were as many and as varied as what I have just told you.

BACK TO CONNECT