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Ryderwood: A beginning for 300 retired persons\\ ooden sidewalks at Kxlrruood. \\ ash,AP photoBy Bob IngleRYDF:RW00D. Wash. (AP) For Washington 506 Ryderwood is a dead end; but not for the 300 residents of this retirement town who see it as the beginning of the road to fulfillment in their latter years Age isn't spoken here Residents say they're too busy living to think about that.No youngster itself. Ryderwood rose from a logging camp in 1923 to the third largest city in southwest Washington's Cowlitz County, complete with a high school and more than 2.000 residents.Thirty years later the trees ran out and the loggers weren’t far behind Long-Bell Lumber Co. hung a For Sale’’ sign on the town limits. Harry H Kem. a Los Angeles real estate promoter, bought it and set out to establish a community for retired persons, something unique in 1953 Uninspiring company houses sold for an average of $2,500 After a small down payment the balance was paid off at $30 a month.The new owners spent lavishly of their time Residents elect members of the Ryderwood Improvement Association, which acts as a city council for the unincorporated town, tending to municipal business and making rules. Rule No. 1 is that all residents have to be retirees — they run the volunteer fire department, the water system, the library the town.On a given day at noon, residents vie for the six stools in Lucy and Ed Vogel s Ryderwood Grocery-, which also serves as meat market, drug store and lunch counter.‘We’ve been here for one and a half years and it’s been the happiest of our lives. ” said Lucy—everybody here wants to be on a first-name basis. “You just can’t believe how pure the air is.Oh. here comes Millie You have to meet Millie, she's so wonderful I don’t know how the town got along without her before she came Millie Arnold came from Laramie. Wyo.. because “I got tired of the snow and Arkansas was too hot.' In Wyoming she went back to college at 39 to be a teacher, but bought a grocery store instead because. I didn't want to spend my time being a babysitter to school brats Now her days are filled with running errands for neighbors, seeing the ill and baking pies and cakes for the lunch counter She’s also the town cupidYou know, there are more than 50 widows in town, but not enough widowers The last widower who moved here lasted 10 days MARRIED in just 10 days, she said In walked Harvey Beadles, and Millie stopped her story just long enough to announce Beadles as the town's most eligible bachelor He responded with a schoolboy grin and Millie continued that Ryderwood marriages were always followed by a shivaree- that's where you takecow bells, pots and pans and catch the newlyweds unaware make a lot of racket.”And they told me it was quiet here,” sarcastically responds Harvey, who came here in 1961 from Wisconsin Nestled among evergreen hills, away from the hustle-bustle, quiet is the norm in Ryderwood. Wooden sidewalks where loggers' boots once clogged now creak with age under occasional foot trafficBeing at the dead end helps.” said retired Winlock banker George Ballard, who along with his wife. Fern, are the local representatives of Senior Estates Inc.. formed by Kem when he bought the town While there isn’t much through traffic, many of the locals have cars—although no one can remember the last time a horn sounded “And there are mini buses once a week for shopping trips into the larger cities like Chehalis and Long view Residents pay whatever they wish. George said.There are so many organizations.” Fern chimed in You could attend a different meeting every day of the week And there's the community clubhouse—dances every Saturday night 'Next to the grocery the most popular gathering place is the post office, which takes on added importance in a town where most residents depend on pensions and Social Security checks Inside are boxes numbered up to668, a bowl of plastic flowers, the usual commemorative stamp notices and Army recruitment posters that look strangely out of place Outside, a glass-covered bulletin board holds the minutes of the last town meeting: Roy Philbrookbrought up the idea of having an alley light on Second near Madison Decided to check on the cost before a decision is made.”Next to it a financial statement showed Ryderwood had $7,869 48 in its checking account and $200 in petty cash.Several creaks down the boardwalk is the library, operated on the self-service principle Residents make their selection, fill out a card, drop it in a box and leave. Librarian Mrs L B. Campbell comes in occasionally to place returned books on the shelf and tidy up a bit Ryderwood also has a service station, a small park, a manmade lake for fishing and an interdenominational church A deputy sheriff provides law enforcement when it’s needed, which isn’t often.To an outsider who passes along the nearly empty, tree-shrouded streets there appears to be little life here But, the life of the town is in its people who want more out of retirement than rocking chairs, rest homes and dependence on others That philosophy is summed up in a billboard in the middle of townRyderwood: Not more years to your life, but more life to your years. ”
Newspaper Details
Walla Walla Union Bulletin
Walla Walla, Washington, US
Sun, Jun 23, 1974
Page 23
Full Page
Clipped by
Timberland R.
WA, USA 02 Aug 2023
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