Trudy Stack came into this world 91 years ago by way of the front-facing, second-floor bedroom of the home pictured here in the year of its birth, 1904.
Given the name Gertrude, she was the ninth child born to Gerthe and William Wood; and, although the family moved to Seattle when she was only two years old, Trudy still makes the trip to Snohomish with her husband Harold nearly every year, to drive by the home that her father built, just to see how it’s looking; but, this year she will be invited inside because it’s on the Snohomish Historical Society’s Annual Tour of Homes.
Located just across Fourth Street from our Nationally Registered Historic District, the Queen Anne-style home was built for William Wood’s large family around the same time that he expanded his lumber mill operation at French Creek by purchasing a second Climax locomotive. In partnership with the Iverson brothers since 1898, Woods & Iverson incorporated in 1902 and remained so for 40 years. Iverson also built a large home in Snohomish at 312 Avenue D, which was on the home tour last year.
As the last of her siblings, Trudy is the keeper of the family stories and she loves to tell the ones about her mother Gerthe, born of Norwegian parents who homesteaded a small farm in northwestern Minnesota, Gerthe made her way west when only 16 years old at the urging an older cousin living in Tacoma. By the time she was 18 years old, Gerthe owned land in the Tacoma area, Trudy boasts, but times were hard and she took a new job as a nanny with the McMillan family of Roche Harbor. There she met William who was a cook at the Hotel DeHaro, owned by the McMillans, who also owned the lime kilns, which is where William first met Iver and Carl Iverson.
Gerthe and William were married that same year on a two-week vacation to Tacoma, in 1889. When they returned to Everett, as Trudy tells the story, her mother had a premonition that the local bank was going fail and urged William to withdraw his savings of $1000, which he did, and just days before the bank closed its doors. This nest egg, along with a team of horses contributed by the Iverson brothers, began the life-long business relationship of Woods & Iverson.
William Wood was a three-term Mayor of Snohomish, winning in 1911 with 343 of 366 votes cast. His administration was responsible for the installation of a water system using cedar pipes, and we have him to thank for our concrete sidewalks.
And speaking of walking around the city, I hope you can join us Sunday, September 16, for our Historical Society’s 36th Annual Tour of Homes; and if you do, be sure to check out the second-floor bedroom facing Avenue C of the Tuohy home -- you just may come across an attractive, neatly attired woman with a twinkle in her eye, quick to smile, and ever ready to tell you the story her birth in this very room 91 years ago.
Published in the Snohomish County Tribune, September 2007.