The Pentecost House is one of the homes on this year’s Historic Homes of Tacoma Tour. Photo courtesy of Tacoma Historical Society.
By John Washington
In 1890 Levi and Izora Pentecost engaged architect Arthur L. Smith to design this large Victorian home. Smith was a well-known architect and the designer of the Gross Brothers department store on Broadway (now the site of the Pantages Theater). The two-story house cost $4,000, complete with its turret lookout. Levi Pentecost, born in Indiana in 1845, enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at age 16. After the war, he went into various businesses, ending up in banking. He and Izora came to Tacoma in 1888, where he organized the Citizens’ National Bank. Citizens’ merged with Pacific National Bank in 1895. He rose to the presidency in 1911, a year before his death.
The house was updated in 1914 by Izora, who replaced the Victorian woodwork with Craftsman-style woodwork in the entry and living room, added a new front door, and a built-in cabinet and window seat in the dining room.
Izora died in 1919, and the house was purchased in 1921 by Dr. Gustav Wislicenus and his wife Emma, who were emigrants from Germany. Their daughter, Brunhilde, a graduate of Stadium High School, graduated from the University of Washington in 1935. She attended the 1936 Olympic Games. An avid mountain climber, as were here parents, she joined the Tacoma Mountaineers in 1940. Brunhilde, lived in the house until 2003.
The current owners purchased the house in 2006. They have undertaken extensive renovation and expansion. The entry and living room retain much of the 1914 Craftsman update. The fireplace in the entry has a Prairie-style mantel. The living room fireplace has an ornate oak surround. The window seat installed above the radiators and the built-in china cabinet also date from 1914. The stained-glass windows in the entry and the living room are original to the house. The light fixtures in the living room date from circa 1900, when electricity was installed. Original pocket doors access the dining room, which originally stopped at the beam visible in the ceiling. The family room beyond the dining room is part of the expansion. The kitchen was expanded to the rear. The stained-glass window in the kitchen was originally located in the dining room. The pantry and bathroom are also part of the expansion.
The two upstairs bedrooms at the front of the house retain their original woodwork and doors. The semi-circular alcove in the original master bedroom is striking. The new master bedroom suite is at the rear of the house. The washbasin in the master bedroom is original to the house, as is the bathtub in the master bath.
Tacoma Historical Society hosts an annual tour of Tacoma’s historical homes and businesses. Tickets purchased in advance contain a brief history of each home and a map. Tour dates are May 5 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 6 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $20. Call (253) 472-3738 or e-mail hometour@tacomahistory.org.
Below: A team from St. Francis Cabrini plays around after painting one of two homes they tackled last year. Newkirk says they were instrumental in helping to locate eligible candidates in Lakewood.
This summer will mark the 28th season for Paint Tacoma-Pierce Beautiful. To date, 2,031 homes have been transformed by groups of dedicated volunteers that keep coming back year after year.
Greg Newkirk, Director of Paint Tacoma-Pierce Beautiful (PTPB), is still looking for applicants who qualify for the program.
This year’s program has about 30 applications so far, and Newkirk would like to see about 100 to 150.
“The deadline is April 9, but for Senior Scene readers, we might extend that application deadline,†he said.
Applicants need to be low income as defined by HUD and either 60 and over, or, if under 60 years of age, they need to have an established disability.
The program, said Newkirk, connects homeowners with volunteers and the community resources and helps them maintain their affordable housing.
“Our primary focus is to help low income elderly and low-income disabled stay in their homes,†explained Newkirk.
Newkirk has been involved as a volunteer since 1992.
“I was a team member and then eventually a team lead for the Weyerhaeuser company crew and then I participated on Mason United Methodist crew for many years,†explained Newkirk, who participated in the program for a number of years before coming on board full time with the Associated Ministries program last year.
“It was a leap of faith,†he said. “A huge change for me and when the job opened up I said let me go for it.â€
Newkirk said they are also going to enhance their yard cleanup activities, specifically in the Lakewood and Tacoma areas and explained that this is a new piece for PTPB.
“This is another opportunity to serve and we’re interested in hearing from organizations that would like to be a part of that,†he said.
PTPB relies on donations from a number of generous organizations. The PTPB group provides all the materials that stay with the home, such as paint thinner, paint, caulking, primer and minor repair materials, and the crews provide everything else, such as the ladders and the labor.
PTPB receives funding from the City of Tacoma, City of Lakewood, Pierce County and also a number of private donations and foundations such as State Farm Insurance, Sequoia Foundation and Grey Lumber, just to mention a few.
Parker Paint has been a long time supporter, said Newkirk. “They give us a significant discount on paint and do amazing work with us every year.â€
Newkirk said that so may of the homeowners just need a little help. ‘When you meet them in person, especially during and after, it lifts their spirits and you see the joy and they know that people really do care,†he said.
Volunteers also get a lift from their work with the program, especially those that bring their children along to help.
Volunteers must be eight years and older and children are overseen by adults to be sure quality and safety are maintained.
Anyone who is interested in applying for the program, or volunteering can call Newkirk at (253) 426-1505 or go to paintbeautiful.org on line to download the application.
Nellis Kim, Cina Case and Mattie Lou Bell smile as they leave from successful meetings with Rep. Dammeier and Legislative Assistant for Rep. Zeiger, Sarah Pollock.
Over 300 people packed the pews of United Churches in Olympia on Feb. 23 to hear the governor, legislators and advocacy groups pledge their support and offer a sounding board for senior programs and concerns. Pamela McCarty, a union member with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 775NW, joined other purple shirted union members in her pew because, “I do everything I can to support seniors. Talking to the legislators is one of the most important things I can do.â€
Seniors are by far the largest voting sector. Yet time and time again when it comes to budget crunches senior services repeatedly go on the chopping block. Those services aren’t limited to federally funded Social Security and Medicare programs. In Washington state, senior services include everything from transportation to foot care to meals. That’s due to a little known act passed in 1977 called the Senior Citizens Services Act (SCSA). Initially created in response to the high number of individuals residing in nursing homes to offer them an option to stay at home, the SCSA leverages state funds so that for every dollar the state chips in, seniors receive about $7 in services.
In 1995, 88 people lived in nursing homes for every 1,000 residents (17,000 people in nursing homes).  Projections at that time indicated that by our current population, Washington state would need beds for 26,000 individuals. A recent report puts our current nursing home number at 10,800. To put that in financial terms, in 1995, 45 percent of Medicaid spending for long term care went for nursing home care. Today that number is only 21 percent. Home care saves the state roughly two-thirds the cost of nursing home care, a savings of over $1 billion over the last decade.
“Since the recession began in 08, we have been in a no win situation,†said Gov. Chris Gregoire. “When you have a recession like what we’ve experienced, the demand for social services automatically goes up. At the same time, our revenue dramatically goes down. Medicaid costs alone have gone up 23 percent. Our Medicaid inflation rate is just over 2 percent. The rest of the states in the nation are experiencing around 8 percent. Still you can’t absorb that kind of inflation when your revenues are going down. We have cut more than $500 million in long term care and DD (developmentally disabled services).â€
Many of those cuts have meant increased long term costs to the state, what one audience member called “volunteer drivers versus taxis†referring to the elimination or extreme cuts to volunteer chore programs and transportation options that have forced the state to pay for much costlier programs. “To say that we have not cut enough when I think we have now cut to the core of what is the fundamental responsibility of state government,†said Gregoire who disputed those who say the state needs to make more cuts.   “A budget is a document of values. It’s not a document of numbers. We cannot cut and cut and cut and leave our safety net frayed. If you cut mental health today, the consequence will be that we have to pay much, much more down the line.â€
It was Mattie Lou Bell’s second time coming to Senior Lobby Day. She serves on Pierce County’s ADRC (Aging and Disability Resource Center) Advisory Council where she’s been a board member for three years. Bell traveled the capitol campus with Cina Case, a UWT student who serves as a Pierce County Long Term Care Ombudsman volunteer and case management intern and Nellis Kim, Pierce County’s Long Term Care Ombudman and only paid staff for Pierce County. They spoke with Representative Bruce Dammeier (R) and Sarah Pollock, Legislative Assistant to Representative Hans Zeiger (R) both of the 25th District, to thank them for supporting senior programs and to reiterate the importance of two programs that have recently been hit hard with cuts: the Ombudsman program and Adult Day Health.
Dammeier agreed, saying “as the minority party sometimes the challenge is how you best influence.â€Â The House Republican Party had just the day before preserved those programs in their budget.
Kim pointed out with the recent Pierce Transit cuts, 700 people with disabilities lost access to transportation.
According to Dammeier the legislators use a term “decimal dust.â€Â This refers to inconsequential numbers, in this case money. Usually that number is around $1 million but this year it refers to $10,000. “Our priorities are education, public safety and the most vulnerable (includes children and seniors).â€
At Zeiger’s office, Kim pointed out that an additional 20 percent cut in budget effectively cuts the program by 50 percent.
“The primary goal of the program is to keep people in their own home for as long they can,†Kim reminded Pollock.
“It’s not just senior citizens,†Case inserted. “It includes 18 plus (adults).â€
“Some of those programs are vital for those people that can no longer use public options,†said Kim. “Unfortunately, (losing those options) does end up tipping some of those people (to) where there’s no options.â€
In Representative Tami Green’s (D) office, a small contingent of Community Connections, Community Resources and ADRC volunteers and employees were pushing the same message to a receptive audience. Green, a registered nurse who works with mentally ill adults and children agreed that additional cuts to programs “will save you money but it’s going to cost you money.â€Â She pointed out that Sea Mar estimates that as much as 80 percent of their clients have major health issues. “You walk down Tacoma Avenue and you see an interesting mix of folks who just fell through the cracks. If you look at the disabled population, the highest percentage of people on disability are the mentally ill.â€Â She emphasized that mental illness is not a character flaw. “I get frustrated about the mental health issue in that with this much work (she held two fingers about an inch apart) you get this much help (held arms out).â€
Pierce County Auditor, Julie Anderson, is talking to seniors about voting. Not that seniors have problems voting, seniors vote in droves (at least 79 percent of individuals over 65 in the last election) compared to the rest of the population but there are special considerations for senior voters. So Anderson is going to places seniors live and gather and giving seniors a chance to see the inner workings of the Pierce County Auditor’s Office.
Anderson’s job as auditor involves animal control, elections, public records and licensing, “I do everything but audit.â€Â She likes to tell people she’s the only Pierce County official with a horse trailer. With 507 elected officials in Pierce County and 124 jurisdictions, by far the most scrutinized aspect of her job involves elections. Every piece of equipment has to be certified and certification takes on average two years. “With 39 counties in Washington, there would be 39 different types of elections if we didn’t have standardization,†Anderson tells her audiences. Still, over 170 election laws changed as a result of Washington’s 2004 election for governor.
Every ballot’s signature gets compared to an electronic version of the voter’s signature as the first step to getting counted. If a voter doesn’t sign the ballot, the elections office sends a letter or calls to “cure†the ballot. “That’s why,†said Anderson, “its’ important to give a phone number.â€Â Your voter registration is public information so it isn’t covered by any of the envelopes contained in your voter’s packet but phone numbers and e-mail are not public so they are covered. Medications, disabilities, disease and age can change signatures so they should be updated as needed. Signatures can even be an X but the elections office must have on record that that’s your mark. Computers and trained election staff compare your signature to what’s on file.
When election officials remove your ballot from its outside envelope as the next step, the two holes punched through that envelope help guarantee that nothing remains in that envelope. All the empty envelopes are grouped and threaded with zip ties to ensure that nothing is left behind.
The inside envelope also contains holes but those holes serve to reduce weight so the cost of postage is less.
Once the ballot has been removed, election workers look for stray marks such as circled or multiple selections. If stray marks exist, the ballots are set aside and stamped with a unique seven digit number. A second ballot is pulled that must be the exact blank ballot, (there are 382 precincts and therefore 382 unique types of ballots) and the serial number from the original is written on the new ballot. Two election workers prepare the new ballot, one reading, the second marking and a second team of two will repeat the process all under observation from political party observers. The purpose of all those people is to determine voter intent.
Anderson wants everyone who wants to vote to do so. One way to make that possible is through the use of voting centers. There are five voting centers open the day prior to Election Day and Election Day. Voting centers provide voters with assistive devices such as touch screens, audio ballot or other assistance. “You get to decide how much assistance you want. You’re in the driver’s seat,†said Anderson.
Anderson said that spouses and family members will sometimes get frustrated that voter information continues to come to someone with a degenerative disease that makes voting difficult or unlikely. The only way to get off the voter role is by request from the voter or a declaration from a judge that the voter is not competent. It’s against the law to fill out the ballot for someone else even with a power of attorney.
Left: Carol Murdock and Jessica Ho tear off the secrecy flap on fake voters ballots during a speech by Julie Anderson at Harbor Place at Cottesmore, a retirement facility in Gig Harbor. Anderson's speech is part of a county wide effort to update signatures and talk about proper voting procedures especially as they pertain to seniors.
