WordFest highlights and celebrates people’s personal stories on Tuesday, February 10, 6:00-8:00 pm, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Avenue in Longview.
Life partners Jeff Stookey and Ken Barker are featured in a forthcoming anthology titled Crossing Paths: Queer Moments That Changed Everything, scheduled for release in April. Compiled and edited by Paul Iarrobino, Crossing Paths is a collection of “how we met” stories.
Jeff and Ken met in 1980 in Seattle. Thirty-three years later (2013) they were allowed to legally marry in Washington state. They came from different backgrounds, Ken from Texas, Jeff from Okanogan County in northeast Washington. Ken joined the US Air Force, flying 272 combat missions in Vietnam, while Jeff was a college student protesting the war in Los Angeles. Before his retirement, Jeff was a medical technician and is the author of the Medicine for the Blues trilogy, set in 1920s Portland when the Ku Klux Klan was rising to prominence in the state. Ken is a photographer, and volunteers at the Dharma Rain Zen Center, where he managed their community garden for many years, delivering fresh produce from the garden to local food banks.
Jeff and Ken will be reading an excerpt from their story and talking about working with Paul Iarrobino on the Crossing Paths project. You can find more information at https://www.ourboldvoices.com/.
Long time WordFest member Gloria Sanders cared for her partner at home for 11 years as he descended into Alzheimer’s dementia. She shares her story to help people understand both the disease and what it’s like to live with and care for a loved one going through the experience. A native of Longview, Gloria graduated from R. A. Long High School in 1955, and worked at Longview Fibre for three years. She returned to work at Longview Fibre later in life for 13 years until her retirement. Gloria now resides at Campus Towers where she teaches knitting, her knitting group making hats for Head Start kids.
New to WordFest, Wade Boyd began writing as a volunteer at the Community Hospice Care Center. He recounts how, during the volunteer orientation session, “we were asked to write about departed loved ones, and I was overcome with emotion as I tried to put into words my feelings about my mother and father. In the days that followed, I began writing poems to help release the emotions stirred up. In the years since, I have often found myself sitting down to write stories and poems as a way of coping with both the joys and the travails of life.”
Married for 62 years to his college sweetheart, Wade served as a First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Artillery during the Vietnam war. Earning a PhD from the University of Washington School of Forestry, he became a professional forester and computer systems analyst with the U.S. Forest Service, as well as a college instructor, Senior Vice President of Timber at Longview Fibre, and a certified Search and Rescue K-9 trainer and handler.
An open mic will follow the presentations where people can read for 10 minutes. The Open Mic sign-up sheet is on the center table when one arrives.
The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, in the fellowship hall of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. The events are free and open to the public.
