The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Dear Sirs,

With all our challenges these past nine months, my “self” returns to Waitsburg, my favorite place of choice.

My name is Dorothy Mock Shepherd. Onset of 1947, my family traveled to Waitsburg to live with my grandparents, Alex and Lilliam Mock, my dad’s parents, for the summer months. He worked the three months for the Parks & Recreation program to supplement his income as a teacher in Kirkland Wash.

Established in the early 1900s, my grandparents’ farm was located on a gravel road close to what was then the cannery. My dad, Hunter, and his brother, Forrest, were born approx.1913 & 1915, lived and schooled with their parents until the college years.

Daily, my brother Jim and I walked, via the mill, into town. We would find our uncle Coy, sitting on a bench with other men at the start/end of the city. He would give us a nickel or dime of which we would buy fudgecicles at a store next to the theater and post office.

The Christian Church was the site of our baptisms in 1947.

Several years ago, I was able to enter the church and embrace the ambiance, the recollection being no change, remaining the same, a true positive in my life.

In a time of so much negativity, penning these remembrances warms my heart, sharing with you who dwell there.

Embracing Waitsburg,

Such a gift.

Kind Regards

Dorothy Mock Shepherd