The Senior Scene

Seventy-four years after he acted in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Jimmy Hawkins says the iconic movie is fresher today than ever.

The holiday classic is now available from Paramount for home viewing on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, resulting in sharper and brighter images. “It looks great, and of course the story is as great as ever,” said Hawkins, who was 4 years old when he played the son of the central character, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart).

Hawkins, now 78 and living in Los Angeles, said anyone who somehow has never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life” (“I very rarely meet anyone who hasn’t”) is missing its message “that you’re important, everyone is important. One person can make a difference. (Director) Frank Capra’s message gets through, and that’s why the movie is bigger every year.”

Hawkins, who went on to appear in other movies and television and work as a producer, said his memories of being in the movie include “getting up in the dark every morning in June and going to the studio and seeing the lights and the Christmas tree on the set.”

Little did he and the rest of the cast and crew know that some day their black and white work would be painstakingly restored by Paramount, using the original nitrate negative and two masters made in the 1940s.  Portions had begun to deteriorate, complicating the digital restoration.

“I love the way it looks now,” said Hawkins, who ranks “Wonderful Life” as his favorite all-time holiday flick. Others on his must-watch list?

“’Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ and ‘Christmas Story,'” he said. ‘The appeal of ‘Christmas Story’ for me is that it captures the time when I was a kid. That’s what it was like. And every boy really wanted a BB gun.”

For fellow movie buffs with a fondness for the old ways, never fear: Paramount also has a two-disc Blu-ray set that includes the newly remastered “It’s a Wonderful Life” in black and white (high-definition this time). It comes with the colorized version and three special features, including film from the movie’s wrap party.

Seattle ranks 24^th nationally and well ahead of all other Washington cities in a nationwide survey of the best places for seniors to live.

Caring.com, a San Mateo, Calif.-based senior care referral service that does the survey annually, based its 2019 rankings on healthcare, housing options, community engagement, transportation, quality of life, and workforce development. The findings were reported in October.

The survey ranks 302 cities. Besides Seattle, Washington cities on the list are Vancouver (148th), Everett (167th), Bellevue (127th), Federal Way (216th) and Tacoma (220^th).

The highest-rated city nationally is San Francisco, followed (in second through fourth place) by Fredericksburg, Va., Boston, and Portland, Ore. Portland ranks highest among Pacific Northwest cities.

Jason Persinger, Caring.com’s chief digital officer, said the company’s study “is designed to help families and seniors understand and discuss the landscape for senior living in specific states, while also supporting our nation’s communities in better serving the growing population of seniors.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 20 million Americans will be 80 or older by 2030.    

The Tacoma-Pierce County League of Women Voters holds a general meeting every month, and a recent one at the Puyallup Public Library found nearly every chair taken.

Members came prepared to take part in a lively discussion about the history of the suffrage movement, report on recent candidate forums, and share memories of their voting.

The group was engaged, interested and, in addition to taking care of important business, a lot of fun.

The League of Women Voters was formed nationally 100 years ago by women who were activists and trying to get the women’s vote, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County group’s president, Cynthia Stewart, who is passionate about the League.

She joined in 1972 when she had three kids under the age of 5. “I needed an outlet, something that would keep my brain going and an opportunity to get together with other adults,” she said.

Now, all these years later, she is still active and involved in the League.

The League, which is non-partisan, covers many issues and neither supports or opposes candidates or political parties.

“The overall mission is to get the public involved in government. We promote democracy, and we have two categories. One is voter services, and the other one is issues and action,” Stewart said.

The League works on voter registration, holds candidate forums and participates in election monitoring, including this year’s general election that ended Nov. 5. Their non-partisan involvement has given them high marks for being thorough, said Stewart.

Their “They Represent You” booklet, a directory of elected officials countywide, is very popular. “We print 7,000 copies and put them in libraries, politicians’ offices and any organizations that will take them. It is an information resource for the public that started many decades ago,” she said.

Paula Eismann serves as a unit leader (unit meetings are held in regions of the county and are open to the public), is a former co-president, and has been a member of the League for 20 years.“I’ve always been interested in public policy,” she said.

Eismann got her start when she served on the Planning Commission in the City of Edgewood, and has remained active for many years.

“The League does a study before we announce where we stand, and we use facts instead of emotions,” she said. She noted the League is inclusive and likes to look at both sides and allow people to express their opinions.

“We take on the environment, affordable housing, homeless issues,” she said, adding that this was the League’s way of keeping the public aware of what was happening so they are informed voters.

Last year the League held a three-part forum on civility that included voices from all areas.  “We also did a huge forum on homeless issues which brought in all the stakeholders,” Eismann said. “We really look at what is happening in society and do what we can to promote good decisionmaking.

League member Nancy Dahl attends Puyallup City Council meetings, writes a report on them and submits it to Eismann.

“I take detailed notes, and that helps me concentrate on what is being said and I try to get all of the comments,” said Dahl.

A member for the last three years, joining after the 2016 election, Dahl said she just couldn’t be uninvolved any more. She appreciates being part of a non-partisan group because it is focused on information instead of perception.

“These are not my positions but the League’s after intense studies. Every time I attend a League event, I come away feeling invigorated,” said Dahl.

Information about the League of Women Voters is available on the Tacoma-Pierce County unit’s website at tacomapiercelwv.org. 

Joan Cronk, who wrote this article, is a freelance writer from Puyallup.

Then and now: League’s original roots in Seattle have spread

Seattle is where the League of Women Voters first began to take root more than 100 years ago. At the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) convention in 1909, Emma Smith DeVoe proposed creating a separate organization to educate women on election processes and lobby for legislation favoring women’s issues. Two years later, DeVoe founded the National Council of Women Voters (NCWV). Suffragists were some of the first members.

In 1919, after 15 states had ratified the 19^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to give women the right to vote, the NAWSA and NCWV memberships voted to merge the organizations and become the National League of Women Voters. The consolidation was formalized the next year during a convention in Chicago.

Over the years, the League has lobbied for establishing the United Nations, opposed voter ID laws, and supported campaign finance reform.

As an organization, the League shuns partisan positions. It has played a role in partisan politics, though. Nationally, it sponsored presidential debates in 1976, 1980 and 1984 before stopping in protest of candidates’ campaigns placing conditions on the debate formats. At local and state levels, the League still conducts candidate forums for non-national races and addresses governmental issues.

In the Puget Sound area, local Leagues exist in King, Pierce and Kitsap counties, among others. The League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County, with about 700 members, lays claim to being one of the largest local chapters in the U.S. The League of Women Voters of Kitsap County reports 180 members.

Here’s how to contact the groups locally:

• King County: seattlelwv.org, 206-329-4848.
• Pierce County: tacomapierelwv.org, 253-272-1495
• Kitsap County: lwv-kitsap.org

For $40 a year for individuals and $45 a year for families, clients can purchase a year’s worth of access to a number of databases to research their families in downtown Sumner at the Heritage Quest Research Library.

The library also offers a day-use fee of $15.

Tucked into a building located at 1007 Main St. are volumes of information and volunteers ready to help anyone searching for information about their ancestry.

While other companies charge for searches into ancestry by offering one database, Heritage clients have access to a number of databases and are welcome to visit the library as often as they choose.

Heritage Quest Research Library is a non-profit organization run 100 percent by volunteers. It’s open six days a week–Monday through Saturday 10 a.m to 4 pm, and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In July, it served 160 folks, with 91 percent coming from outside Sumner, according to Carolyn Pasquier, library collections manager.

Upon entering, clients are greeted by walls lined with books and periodicals and access to a local obituary database, microfiche, CDs, maps and online databases. The book collection is comprised of over 15,000 books on a multitude of topics.

New clients fill out a beginner’s packet and a chart and include information that they currently know. They are given instructions about jogging their memory to help get the process started. If they have DNA results, the volunteers help them analyze them.

“This is a roadmap for me,” said Pasquier.

With over 50 volunteers serving on a rotating schedule, help is at the client’s fingertips when they return with their information to continue their search.

Pasquier, who started with Heritage in 1994 when it was located in Orting, runs the show and works closely with the tightly knit volunteer base. She has a passion for genealogy.

“I’ve been at this for 25 years and I love this place. When you start doing genealogy, you become the family historian and the family comes to you with their stories,” she said.

Heritage Quest provides computers for clients’ use, or they can bring their own laptops or tablets and access information through the in-house WiFi connection. A classroom provides space for seminars on genealogy, how to do newspaper researches, maps and land records.

Folks delving into their family history are looking for their own personal identity, said Pasquier.

“Another reason is to get to know your ancestors, and most people do it to find something to leave their family. I found out my great-great grandfather was the first person to bring a watermelon seed to Idaho. I can’t prove it, but it is a family story,” she said.

Heritage Quest will hold its Autumn Quest 2019 at the Emerald Queen Conference Center in Fife on Oct. 12, with internationally known Dave Obee speaking about researching old newspapers.

More information from Heritage Quest at 253-863-1806 and www.hqrl.com.

Joan Cronk, who wrote this article, is a freelance writer from Puyallup.