The Slice: Couple’s children respond after seeing column

You might recall March 21’s Slice column, about uncovering some wadded up 1950s Spokane newspaper pages at our house during remodeling.

I noted a few of the stories and ads appearing on those brittle pages. And after that column ran, I heard from two children of a couple featured in one of those articles, “Wedding Trip Taken By Pair.”

That was a report on the 1953 nuptials of Wayne Hagel and Nadine Ferry.

“I thought you might enjoy hearing from the daughter of the couple mentioned,” wrote Robin Hagel VanHyning of Friday Harbor, Wash., in an email.

(Her twin brother, Rod, responded via a comment on the online version of the column.)

“My father passed away 10/18/2009,” Robin wrote. “My mother is still alive but is living in long-term care with dementia on Guemes Island, Anacortes, Wash. They often showed me pictures of their honeymoon trip through the Southwest.

“My parents lived in the home they built at 8126 Geiger Blvd., Spokane, until the late ’90s when they retired to the house they built on 97 Hanson Lane, Lopez Island, Wash. Dad owned Specialty Machining located at 8012 Geiger Blvd. and had many long term relationships with businesses and wheat farmers around the Inland Empire.

“Mom remained friends with Louise Cadruvi (maid of honor, mentioned in the original story and last week’s column) until illness made that no longer possible.

“My twin brother, Rod Hagel, continues to live in the home they built on Geiger Blvd. and now operates Specialty Machining. My daughter has inherited their home on Lopez and life goes on generation by generation.”

More things readers found behind walls and under floors: Coins, buttons, razor blades, beer cans from local breweries, a pre-WWII toy car, junk mail from 1913, a newspaper from 1905, flashlight (still worked), a stash of 1970s Playboys, an animal trap, flannel shirts, mummified hamster, and a 1928 copy of The Worker’s Republic printed in Ireland.

Then there was this automobile-related response to the “Items found in walls” theme.

“A persistent and annoying rattle in our brand new ’74 Pinto was driving us crazy,” wrote Kath’ren Bay-Higdon. “After finally taking the suspected car door apart, we found the culprit – an empty Coke bottle! My husband flipped out, but it makes me smile to this day, imagining the giggling factory worker ditching it. Ya gotta wonder how many Pintos might still be out there rattling around, as they say.”

My guess: Not many.

Today’s Slice question: What makes you feel loved?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Still time to revise your Bloomsday strategy.