By Vern Holmquist
Sometimes life is like a boomerang, it has a way of coming back to you.
I took up wood carving as something to do to fill my idle hands. Carving all those little projects that most carvers start with looked a bit boring, so I tried carving a cane handle in a female form, a subject artists have turned to for years.
The cane turned out with just a hint of the subject. Well, a lady neighbor of mine spotted the cane, and said she knew of someone who would appreciate it, so I gave it to her.
More than three years later, I meet a very interesting lady – a lady I want to write much about – who to my surprise is the same lady who ended up with my cane.
This lady has a life story like few I have ever heard.
She worked as a logging camp cook, then made use of her flying skills to be a bush pilot flying loggers, supplies, equipment and mail to remote camps in Alaska.
She flew a workhorse of a plane called a Beaver, some times flying mercy flights to get help for ill or injured loggers. This lady worked on deep sea fishing boats, one time winning a hard fought 5-hour fight to land a 199 lb. tuna. She caught a salmon weighing 55 lbs., a little different than fly fishing the Pudding River.
Then I found some men who remembered her as a bartender in one of the most notorious bars in Alaska.
On her return to the Silverton area she managed a somewhat roughhouse bar called, The Pink Pussy Cat where the Gallon House is today.
Along the way she raised a loving son of whom she is very proud.
She was born in Spokane and while a young girl, moved with her family to Monitor where she raised a variety of crops and exotic parrots. She raised an Arabian horse, but after seeing crop dusters do their daring work she decided to trade her horse for flying lessons.
Talk about being there and doing that, one might say she has done it all.
She now lives in Silverton, has her own business as a grief councilor, has a big “top that” smile on her face. I am very proud to call her my special friend. The lady’s name is Zona Morrison. She deserves a place in the history of this area.
In response to my questions about her fascinating life she gave me this advise: “If you have a dream or desire to do something, chase that dream with all you have inside of you.”
