Everson-Nooksack News
Lynden Tribune | Ferndale Record | Wednesday, May 22, 2019
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Rob McKissick home remodel in Nooksack
Retired NVHS industrial arts teacher gets creative in downsizing By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune
NOOKSACK — Robert McKissick has raided the Whatcom Museum archives, Pinterest and a selection of his favorite things to define his retirement home. McKissick, 67, taught many local residents woodworking, photography and architectural drafting in his 37 years as an industrial arts teacher at Nooksack Valley High School. He met his late wife Bev back in first grade in the Meridian School District at the Irene Reither school. Married, they first lived in a quaint home of approximately 1,400 square feet of a 1913 vintage Trapline Road farmstead with an assortment of outbuildings, farm animals and orchards. A porch and solarium were added to the home, and the outbuildings were extensively remodeled. Both Rob and Bev had grown up, he said, in rural settings in Laurel where their families canned their food and had animals. Following too many years of Northeaster winds and the 1990s storms, they decided not to pursue further remodels. The family progressed to staying with friends in their basement on Tom Road — all six of them at the time — as they built their custom home, designed by Rob who had designed other homes on the side for years. It was on five acres of wooded property For those who have watched, it’s been a gradual transformation of the property at 406 W. First St. in Nooksack. (Elisa Claassen/ Continued on C2
Lynden Tribune)
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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
on Telegraph Road and Kinney Creek between Everson and Sumas. After about 20 years at each of those places, McKissick found himself an empty nester as the kids had married and moved, and Bev, also an educator, passed at age 58 after 10 years of battling cancer. The beautiful 3,000-square-foot house, with a focus on antiques and many of Bev’s artistic selections, was now simply too large for one person. Following garage sales, the sale of the big home, and an eight-month stint in a cabin, McKissick found a small 1,050-squarefoot older home in Nooksack — at the time, just a block from one of his four children, so his grandchildren could walk over. It had once been closer to 700 square feet, with a well shaft by the kitchen and even an outdoor toilet in the early days. It now appealed to him because it had original wood floors and specialty six-panel interior doors of various woods such as old-growth fir and maple. He had noticed this place was for sale, but ended up having his Realtor, Jason Heutink, contact the owners upon noticing it was taken off the market. They were still willing to sell. He did not intend to make many changes, until a prompt from his son Jacob got him thinking: “Dad, really?!” and he looked around at the unusual layout lacking openness. So in the past few years changes have been made one after another and are still happening on a smaller scale: A wall moved here. A wall moved there. Fixtures and appliances in the kitchen entirely rearranged. A new furnace with air-conditioning bought and installed. Cobblestone walkways re-
placed by poured concrete with a brush finish for safety. Boards from the old fence now shelves. Portions of former NVHS gym bleachers above a doorway in the kitchen. While McKissick stayed with the existing primary color of the exterior, a chat with friends to confirm color choices brought in bright red and yellow-green accent colors to the exterior and trim purchased by Terry’s Paints of Lynden. Of the three sheds existing on the property, one was moved, one torn down, and one remodeled. This freed up space for the new garage with space for his pickup and boat and a small shop attached. Trees and shrubs along the front and side of the property had become overgrown, allowing only glimpses of the home to the public. McKissick chose to thin these to allow more light in, and place a few art pieces of his making in the shop. He simplified the flower beds for clean lines. He created a fun concrete back porch with some privacy. There is also a small garden space, fire pit and Adirondack chairs made from skis. He followed his heart — and Pinterestinspired ideas — to make the place one that kept the best from his old home and yet was truly him, as proclaimed by his friends watching the changes. It is much smaller than the farmsteads, but still has space for a hammock and room to entertain friends. It is less maintenance in order to get away to fish, ski and visit family now, whether that be Montana or Germany where he was hiking with views of old castles with his daughter recently. He has already checked off an item from his bucket list: skiing in all ski places in the state of Washington large and small
EVERSON-NOOKSACK NEWS
Robert McKissick has made every space count in his old house remodel, including space for display of family mementos and photos, below. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune) within two years. He even has gone horseback riding with friends who still have their horses on their farms. Entering from the front porch, hanging lights of winter have been replaced by strung pine cones that reflect a mountain cabin feel. The now-enlarged living room/ dining space, in what was previously a bedroom and a living room, has a new fireplace with “exposed” bark edges and a selection of his favorite knickknacks and books alongside. The previous home’s library has been downsized, yet favorite things remain with new things of his choosing such as a large black-and-white image of the early Mount Baker Highway obtained from the Whatcom Museum’s archives for about $200. “It spoke to me,” he says of when he first saw the image in the museum’s rotunda on a larger scale. Not only did it involve local history and beloved woods, but also made a statement: “Old man going down the road,” he said. Through an enlarged open doorway to the rearranged kitchen space, one splurge item is a white farmhouse sink and its curved Italian faucets. Small collections of family photos and memories continue room by room in niches. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” is prominently displayed on the simple dining table next to road atlases for planning adventures. A small room used as a breakfast nook by the prior family is now a study for McKissick with natural light spilling onto
many family photos that tell many stories, and a bathroom with a French theme. An earlier addition off the kitchen by the prior owner now contains a mud ”REI” room to contain laundry as well as ski and hiking gear, two bedrooms and another bathroom. Large windows look out into fenced backyard. “When you are small scale, you can do big things.” You also improvise a bit, like taking a cabinet apart and putting it on wheels to go from the edge of the kitchen into the middle for a sudden “island” as needed. An old door also became a headboard above a bed. While McKissick could do parts of his remodel himself, he also reached out to former NVHS students and fellow teachers for help with electrical, framing and other things with both this and the past house. These helpers included Scott Conner, Allen Vinkes, Pat Himango and Don Warren. Although he felt he had a good eye, he said, he found that Pinterest gave lots of ideas for specific projects and even color choices which he felt filled in where not his strength. The pine cones on the porch, as a replacement for Tibetan prayer flags many have used in Bellingham, were his own idea. The shop out back, seen for its vibrant red color from the road, has his father’s wood stove to heat it, equipment and tools to create projects, and even collections of his carpenter father’s tools. He calls it: “The old man putter shop.” Old doors from the
EVERSON-NOOKSACK NEWS
Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
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Friday, Saturday, & Sunday
July 12, 13 & 14 Hope to see you there! A small study takes advantage of some window light with a handmade desk that had been used as a table by the former owners. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune) NVHS shop were claimed and used here on a track to separate the space between the garage and shop. Old skis, including one he somehow had for years and others found in secondhand stores, have been incorporated into the décor as a grouping forming a coat rack at the front door. “Important in décor ... things that give you joy.” Such things include mountains, skiing and family for him. Whether his next step in living might be some form of assisted living, he intends to take some of these same delights with him. McKissick encourages others to not just collect stuff to store away, but to find ways to group and display them whatever their setting. While other friends his age are staying in their larger homes, “everybody gets to do it how they want,” he says. His choice has
resulted also in much smaller utility bills: about $23 a month for natural gas and an equal amount for electricity. “It’s comfortable and I enjoy my neighbors.” Advice on deciding: These are questions to ask when deciding about keeping or discarding: Is it sentimental? Does it have any value? Does it perform a function? To be kept, it needs to meet two of the three conditions. For example, Rob McKissick managed to keep his father Howard’s late baby baptismal outfit. He couldn’t picture his children finding any significance in it in coming years, and so it was discarded. Elisa Claassen had Rob McKissick as a photography and architectural drafting teacher at Nooksack Valley High School. He is now one of her neighbors. She wrote about his prior home and has been watching his remodel in recent years.
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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
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EVERSON-NOOKSACK NEWS
Affordable homes being built in Nooksack Whispering Meadows in first phase of 29 houses off Gillies Road By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune
NOOKSACK — Realtor Greg Crim, also the developer, has shown the first few homes underway in his Whispering Meadows development off Gillies Road. Phase one of 29 lots is being built; eventually 90 lots will be available in three phases. Phase two is in the engineering stage. No timeframe is set yet, Crim said, for phase three. He was watering the hydro-seeded yard on one of the first homes sold, a basic 1,700-square-foot rambler on a 10,000-square-foot lot, just closing in midMay. Several nearby homes in Whispering Meadows are selling for $342,900 and up to $367,000, the latter being 2,100 square feet
with four bedrooms and two and one-half baths. Home details include wood-wrapped windows, ceramic floors, walk-in closets in the master bedroom. Crim, a former associate pastor at Cornwall Church, developed his long plat plan in February 2017 from approximately 40 acres of farmland. While many lots will be 10,000 square feet, some will be as large as half an acre. His company is actually building a number of the homes, but some lots will also be available for custom building. “The number one motivation is ‘affordable housing’,” Crim said. His own children are now young adults and he has seen many young families have a hard time finding affordable housing in Whatcom County. The goal is to create a “great neighborhood,” he said. His partnership, he said, is willing to make less profit to do this. In addition, the developers were asked by the city to complete a sidewalk from the development down the street. That has been done. “It is a great place to live,” he said.
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Greg Crim is starting to sell houses in the new Whispering Meadows neighborhood of Nooksack. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune)
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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
EVERSON-NOOKSACK NEWS
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Did You Know? Nobel winner was part of 1983 donation to be Ostrom Conservation Site on South Pass Rd. By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune
EVERSON — The Ostrom name is primarily associated with the sign for a former mushroom business on Goodwin Road. But who knew that a Nobel prize winner was involved in a land donation on South Pass Road? The late Elinor Ostrom, married to a former Everson resident and political scientist, Vincent Ostrom, Ph.D., won the Nobel Prize in 2009 for her “analysis of economic governance, especially the commons,” which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson. According to Wikipedia, Elinor remains the only woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics. She passed away June 12, 2012,
of pancreatic cancer. Vincent died 17 days later from his own complications related to cancer. They lived in Bloomington, Indiana, and she served on the faculty of Indiana University. Although her prize was awarded for economics, her studies were in political science. According to the website for the Nobel Prize, Ostrom “challenged the conventional wisdom by demonstrating how local property can be successfully managed by local commons without any regulation by central authorities or privatization.” Deeds in the Whatcom County Auditor’s records show that Vincent’s mother Alma Ostrom, along with Vincent and Elinor, donated property in the fall of 1983 at 4304 South Pass Road for the Ostrom Conservation Site, a natural area leased to the Nooksack Valley School District for use as an environmental education site. It is also open to the public to enjoy. A small parking lot is adjacent to the roadway with signage. Retired Nooksack Valley teacher Robert McKissick said students used to regularly go to the site to work on trails.
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The property deed recorded with Whatcom County shows the donors behind the Ostrom Conservation Site. (Courtesy image)
Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
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EVERSON-NOOKSACK NEWS
Valley Tap House opening in Everson Soft opening has happened; beer garden will be open by July seating 40 By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune
Owners Joan Heller and Cindy Morgan look out toward the library from their new Valley Tap House in the Everson shopping center. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune)
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EVERSON — “Welcome to our home away from home, a place to make new friends, reconnect with old, make new and share old memories.” A flyer states that “Not only are we here for the Valley, We are from the Valley.” Two Nooksack Valley High School alumni, Cindy (Lambert) Morgan and Joan (Hill) Hammer, have opened the Valley Tap House in the Everson Shopping Center near Little Caesars. A soft opening in mid-May will be followed by a larger grand opening with the establishment of a beer garden seating 40 people by July. Both Cindy and Joan have fulltime jobs. Cindy works at Whatcom Electric. Joan has been self-employed for 32 years in catering and concessions. Everson has limited commercial space, which resulted in downsizing from their original plans to a space that doesn’t have a kitchen. They have renovated the space themselves — floors, painting walls, setting up counters, etc. — with help and support of their families including Cindy’s husband Kevin Morgan and all of their children. To honor the community they
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EVERSON-NOOKSACK NEWS love, they have salvaged materials from the recently demolished school buildings including taking a door from the old Nooksack Valley Middle School for the menu listing of beer and cider on tap, along with wine and non-alcoholic beverages. The wood tap handles were carved from the trees that once stood in front of the elementary school turned middle school, Morgan said. The trees were purchased and planted with pennies collected by grade school students 40 years ago. The concept of giving back means saving 25 cents from each drink for a fund to help those with needs they become aware of, they said. They are also open to doing fundraisers. “We are a social arena,” Cindy said. Already a group of neighbors have chosen to meet at Valley Tap House weekly to discuss business in a fun way. Drinks were picked, they said, by sitting at a table and establishing their picks from light to dark with a focus on local choices. “We are encouraging people to try something new,” Cindy said. In addition to the drinks, Valley Tap House will have light snacks and encourage patrons to bring in food from other eateries or even from home. Games are
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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
The new proprietors are both Nooksack Valley High School graduates who wish to make their business a community gathering place. (Elisa Claassen/Lynden Tribune)
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Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | Ferndale Record
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