Active Rachael Wolford adapts to changes

Puget Island resident Rachael Wolford decided to cap off retirement and a move to Seaside with an art show at Redmen Hall in Skamokawa this weekend.

If anyone could pull it off, Wolford could. Raised with the values of the country where she was born, that's just how it was.

"During World War Two, the guys were overseas," Wolford said of England. "The women were at home. You saw a problem and you took care of it. You did not look to see how to do it. There is a job to be done and you did it. That is kind of my mind set I think."

She was never one to say, "That's not my job." She just did what needed to be done.

The evidence is at St. James Family Center and at St. James Episcopal Church, where she spent the last 25 years in service.

"Here at the church we went through a process where they could raise somebody up from the congregation," Wolford said. "Then you did a training as a team. Out of that team certain people were discerned to be ordained."

"I was sure they were wrong with they discerned me and decided I was supposed to be the deacon," Wolford continued. "I fought it tooth and nail. I kept saying, 'I'll be on the team but you're wrong. I'm not supposed to be the deacon.' It went on for months."

Finally she relented but it still didn't feel right to her. Wolford told Irene Martin, a member of her team, that she would be the deacon but she wouldn't preach. Martin told her she had to do it once.

How could she know that one sentence into her sermon, she would be hooked? How could she understand that the congregation had seen something in her that she could not see?

"I realized that was where I belonged," Wolford said. One sentence in, she'd found a home.

Twenty-five years later she's delivered many sermons, taught bible studies and provided pastoral care. She was the liaison between the church and the family center. She was on the board of the family center, chairman twice. She's been in charge of fiscal oversight on two occasions. And she's been in charge of fundraising forever.

"For ever," Wolford breathed out.

It's time for something else.

Wolford's mother was from Portland. When her parents became ill, she left England with Rachael in tow, in order to return home and take care of them. It was while her mother was looking for help unpacking large crates of furniture that Rachael met her husband.

John showed up to help, and as her mother said, he never left.

"We built a 42 foot sailboat together in our backyard," Wolford said of her husband of 54 years. "We put it in the river and decided to sail it. We wound up in Cathlamet. We used to come in and out of here and sail around. Finally we gave up and decided this is the place we liked the best. We put down roots here. We lived aboard for 10 or 11 years before we built a houseboat on a barge. We lived on that for 10 or 11 years and then we bought property on the island and put a house on it."

Always near the water.

Water has informed Wolford's art. In fact, the theme of her art show which begins this weekend at Redmen Hall is Love and Water.

This time around she decided to combine a love story she had written with her watercolors.

Water and love are the two elements necessary for human life," Wolford said. "Without them, life isn't worth living."

Wolford began with pen and ink, but a teacher pointed her in the direction of watercolors and she has never stopped.

"To me it looks like the watercolors show water better than oils," Wolford said. "I know there are artists who do oils of water, but they never look quite right to me. I am drawn to watercolors. In fact when I visit any kind of gallery or museum I go to the water colors first."

"I especially like the colonial period," she added. "In the early days there were a lot of artists that came out west and painted the parks, like Yosemite. That era really appeals to me. When I visit Australia, I find watercolors from the colonial period when white people are moving in. It's very realistic, but it is also not completely realistic. There is a certain amount of idealism mixed in."

Wolford has developed arthritis in her wrist and she has a tremor. Carving was another love, but it has become too difficult to continue.

The painting is getting harder to do as well.

"I'm probably giving up those things," Wolford said. "That's why this art show will probably be my last. But you never know."

Always an active woman, Wolford will likely adapt to the changes and find a new creative activity.

"Creative juices come and I'll see something that will start me off on a trek," she said.

So long as it doesn't take her away from her husband.

"I plan to take it easy and do some volunteering and just a little bit at a time," Wolford said. "I promised my husband I would not get involved in something all absorbing."

Wolford's show begins April 16 and runs until May 29. There will be a reception on Saturday. Redmen Hall is open from 12-4 Thursday through Sundays.