Monday, January 21, 2002 - Page updated at 12:00 AM- Seattle Times
Letters to the editor
Wilbur lives
A dying town wouldn't have this strong heartbeat
Editor, The Times:
Regarding "Pockets of grief in dying town" (Times, Jan. 12), I grew up in the small community of Wilbur. The bluffs on each side of this little haven are snow laden in the winter and bloom with wild flowers in the spring. They are the places of imaginary alps and Easter egg hunts. They are the bluffs of my childhood and contributed to the person I am today.
I go home, which is what I still call Wilbur, as often as possible. I go downtown and I don't find it bleak. Downtown is where I go to see old friends, and where even the newer residents will offer a friendly word and a smile.
I go "home" to see my family, my mother, two sisters, numerous aunts, uncles and cousins who are part of a family that settled in Wilbur in the 1800s. I go "home" to see some of the classmates who went through 13 years of school with me. Many of my classmates are members of "deep-rooted families that go back generations." They have taken over the family farms.
Many or them did what young people do in what you consider dying towns, they went to universities, trade schools, or community colleges. Some of them returned to Wilbur where they teach the children of their former classmates. Some of them never left.
Those of us who did leave still consider ourselves members of the community that you think is dying. I have news for you, not only is it not dying, but it might be living next door to you. It is living in each and every one of us who grew up there.
Your story insulted and hurt a community already reeling with grief. If you didn't see it, perhaps you weren't looking closely enough. Maybe grief looks different in a small town. The Wilbur I experience is still close-knit and caring. Your negativity did nothing for the memory of Nathan Hays, but the people of Wilbur will remember him well, as he remembered them.
Nancy Arvan, Kennewick
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