Writing the tale of a working man’s life

Published 12:20 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – Herbert Ray is a little slow getting around these days. He walks with a cane and doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get anywhere.

“You can always tell an old logger when you see them,” he said.

Even with decades of labor in the woods and multiple surgeries behind him, the 89-year-old can still take care of himself. He drives his own car, cooks his own food and locks his own gate to his house outside North Bend.

He also can tell a story. Those stories are collected in a book that was published in 1988 titled “A Working Man’s Life.” The book, written over the course of three years, explains about every aspect of life in the Valley as a logger during the better part of the last century.

It is a chronology of Ray’s life and covers the big events, such as the birth of his five children, and the little things, like how the family’s pet chipmunk Pete died, with the same reverence. All the tales are told matter of factly with a little commentary to let the reader know what Ray thought about it all.

Ray’s stories are similar to those of many of the area’s forefathers, but are nonetheless fantastic. He was born in 1914 in a snow-bound town in the mountains of Oregon and moved to the Valley after his father got a job with the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. in Snoqualmie Falls.

In those early years Ray started to become acquainted with some of the families that would shape the Valley. There are stories of growing up with boys who had last names like Maloney and delivering milk for the Ribary family.

Ray started his logging career at the age of 15 after a disagreement with an unintelligible football coach (who also was the geometry teacher) caused him to drop out of school. He started making $3.50 an hour as whistle operator for the North Bend Lumber Co. and worked his way up the company ladder, laboring for other logging companies and eventually for Weyerhaeuser. He traveled all over the region and even spent time working in Alaska. The book has pictures Ray collected throughout the years from his days working in the woods, showing how big the old-growth timber was when the Valley’s logging industry thrived.

After logging, Ray went to work for the state Department of Natural Resources, from where he would retire in 1976. Before retiring, Ray took classes and earned his GED at the age of 57, and even took some community college courses. In his retirement years, Ray traveled extensively in the outdoors and there are two chapters at the end of the book devoted to two dogs that accompanied Ray and his wife on many excursions during their retirement years.

Along the way Ray managed to marry Nellie Genson in 1935, whom he would be with until her death earlier this year. She is a constant co-star throughout the book and a dedicated personality in the years she and Ray traveled after retirement. Many of the stories are about their relationship and Ray can remember when they were both children growing up in the Valley.

“She was special,” Ray said.

Ray can remember it all in detail, down to exact dates and what people were wearing. His daughter-in-law Linda suggested he write down some of the stories he wanted to tell the family. Ray needed a little coercion but agreed to sit down and start to work. The process started out with Ray recording his stories with a microphone, but that didn’t work out too well. Later, after two hip surgeries, he had some time to kill so he just started writing. He would pass on his handwritten manuscripts to Linda, who would type them up. After three years the manuscript was done and Ray had it published in 1988.

“I wanted to do something that could be handed down in the family,” Linda said. “I thought it would be sad if all those great stories were gone.”

Only a limited number of the books were printed and most were given to family and friends, although Ray’s mechanic did get a copy for working on his car. Those who have one are usually willing to lend it out, but will always ask for it back.

Those who can’t get hold of the book can always talk to Ray. Though he finished writing all his memories 15 years ago, he still loves to tell a story.

Ben Cape can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at ben.cape@valleyrecord.com.