Mon, 09 Mar 2026 01:50:03 -0700WeeblyMon, 20 Mar 2023 21:26:44 GMThttps://www.skagitcohousing.org/our-blog/grandmother-may-and-neighbor-sam

Shelly Stiltner Parks
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My maternal grandmother, Manetta (May) Witcombe Butts, passed away on Thanksgiving Day in 1937. My then 17-year-old mother, Margaret, was standing next to her mom, the two of them doing the Thanksgiving dishes when May collapsed and died.

This story, and so many others of her childhood growing up on Butts Road as the 9th child of 10 in a family with no money but lots of love, Margaret generously shared with me. Even though my grandmother May died a 25 years before I was born, I felt connected with her in a very real way.

As a child, we would often camp in the area where my mom grew up. A number of her brothers lived on and around Butts Road, this road named after the family. While the home my mom had grown up in had long since collapsed, I felt this valley with my uncles, their wives and kids, to be part of my heritage.

Fast forward to a few years ago and the beginning of my own story about May, Sam, Butts Road, her daffodils, and how Skagit Cohousing connected us in a glorious way.

When my Aunt Dottie passed away, the last of my mother’s family generation, I met the couple, April and Fred, who many years ago had built their home on the land my mom grew up on. They shared that they knew exactly where the Butts family home sat and they’d be happy to give me a tour of the site.

What a gift that day was. They told me stories I had never heard and even gave me a vase that they had found on the site of the Butts family home. No doubt this was a vase May had used.

I also met Sam that day. Sam lived on the Butts Road neighboring property, was a good friend of many of my cousins, and also had Butts family stories to share. My favorite one being about a potluck when every single person brought a potato salad.

One day a little over a year ago, my phone rang and the number said the call was coming from Morton, WA. Morton is a small town and is where my mom and her siblings graduated from high school. This call definitely caught my attention as I answered, “Hello, this is Shelly.”
“I’m calling about Skagit Cohousing,” the person said.
“I see you are calling from Morton. Is that where you live?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you know Butts Road? My mom’s family settled there.”
“I live on Butts Road.”

WHAT!!?? Turns out it was Sam calling. When I had met Sam as we toured the homestead, I had not shared my cohousing story. This call from Sam was simply a lovely twist of fate. We laughed and had a wonderful conversation. And Sam ended up joining us here at Skagit Commons.

As we were getting closer to moving into our homes, Sam sent me the following email:

‘I was just thinking that if you wanted I could bring some big clumps of the daffodils at an appropriate transplanting time that your grandparents grew on Butts Road since the daffodils are still growing strong.’
Sam moved in just a week ago and yesterday the two of us sat on a corner here at Skagit Commons and repotted a big bag of May’s daffodil bulbs. May would have planted these more than 100 years ago. The bulbs from May’s daffodils are now safely in pots and once we are settled in a little more, these flowers will find a more permanent home here on the Skagit Commons land.

​My heart is so full because of this connection with Sam, his generosity in bringing me some of May’s flowers, and cohousing. I can’t imagine this happening without cohousing. I’m sure Sam and I would have never reconnected if he had not called me to inquire about a home here. I marvel at the way the threads of our lives connect and am so very grateful for this very sweet connection to the grandmother I never knew in person but who now feels very near to me.

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]]>Tue, 14 Mar 2023 23:58:38 GMThttps://www.skagitcohousing.org/our-blog/magic-skagitCompiled by Member Rusty Kuntze

Below you will find a short list of books that touch on the people, places and cultures that make the Skagit Valley such a special place. Included are works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and natural history. (Note: the first three listed books each contain interviews, artwork and/or writings by Skagit Commons member Libby Mills).​

• Natural Skagit: A Journey from Mountains to Sea. Published by Skagit Land Trust. A beautifully written and illustrated book that focuses on the special places protected by this local Land Trust. With an introduction by Tom Robbins and an afterword by Bill Dietrich (local best selling authors), it is an indispensable book for anyone living in Skagit County.
• Impressions of the North Cascades. John C. Miles. The personal reflections of 16 contributors about this magnificent landscape. Each essay discusses what the North Cascades landscape has been in the past, what it is today, and what it could become in the future.
• The North Cascades: Finding Beauty and Renewal in the Wild Nearby. William Dietrich. Pulitzer Prize winning author, and Anacortes resident Bill Dietrich presents the rich history and challenges facing this rugged habitat in the Skagit Valley’s backyard. Released in 2014 in honor of the 50th anniversary of the landmark Wilderness Act, it is an inspiring look at this jewel of a wilderness through the words and images of local writers and photographers.
• Poems from Ish River Country. Robert Sund.  A collection of the complete poems of Skagit Valley’s “Poet Laureate,” painter and calligrapher Robert Sund. One of the most distinctive poetic voices of the Pacific Northwest, his short, imagistic poems, in the tradition of William Carlos Williams and Kenneth Rexroth, capture the essence of the Northwest landscape.
• Another Roadside Attraction. Tom Robbins. LaConner’s own Tom Robbins’ first novel takes place right here in the Magic Skagit. Full of humor, insight, absurdity, romance, and yes mushrooms, this book does a wonderful job of conjuring up the atmosphere, feel and psychedelic surrealism of Skagit Valley.
• Poets on the Peaks. Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, & Jack Kerouac. John Suiter.  Taken from unpublished letters, journals and interviews, and based on the common experience of all three writers as fire lookouts in the Skagit Watershed of the North Cascade mountains. Full of fascinating stories and gorgeous photographs.
• The Living. Annie Dillard. NY Times best selling novel by Pulitzer prize winning author Annie Dillard, it is a mesmerizing evocation of life in the Pacific Northwest during the last decades of the 19th century.
• Koma Kulshan: The Story of Mt. Baker. John C. Miles. This is the story of the mountain outside our backdoors and the people who knew it. Full of engaging firsthand tales and a wealth of photographs.
• Valley of the Spirits: The Upper Skagit Indians of Western Washington. June McCormick Collins. The first full scale description of the upriver Skagit people. It describes their subsistence, work ethic, religious beliefs, and kinship and class system.
• ​Indians of Puget Sound. Herman Haeberlin and Erna Gunther.  Written in 1930, this anthropologic classic was one of the first attempts to look in depth at the lives, culture, religion and art of these Puget Sound peoples.
• Walking the Beach to Bellingham. Harvey Manning. In this unique memoir, noted writer, environmental activist and Pacific Northwest native Harvey Manning describes a memorable walk from Seattle to Bellingham. The book underscores Manning’s strong belief in staying put and getting to know one’s own backyard.
• Day Hiking: North Cascades. Craig Romano.  A great book full of some of local author Craig Romano’s favorite day hikes.
• 100 Hikes in Washington’s North Cascades National Park Region. Harvey Manning and Ira Spring.  Another classic by Harvey Manning.
• Day Hiking: The San Juans and Gulf Islands. Craig Romano. The title says it all.

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