Seattle World's Fair and my Grandparents

I've mentioned my Grandfather whose career was in the hospitality industry before - Howard Johnson worked in hotels since he was a child starting as a page boy at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC.  My Grandmother, Lucy (Andrew) Johnson was in the hospitality industry as well and waitressed all her life (when I called her at age 16 to tell her I got my first job waitressing at Pizza Haven she advised me to always bring a second pair of shoes to switch into during the middle of long shifts because the different feel would make aching feet feel better - she also told me not to waitress my whole life). They moved from British Columbia to Seattle in 1951 and by 1962 they were working hard welcoming Century 21 Seattle World's Fairgoers.

My beautiful Grandmother waitressing in the Space Needle's revolving restaurant:

Thank you to Dean Syltebo for restoring this photo!!
We think this photo is 1963 - many of the waitresses suffered from motion sickness but my Grandmother was unaffected so she stuck around and worked there even after The Fair closed.

Processed July 1962

My Grandfather worked at several different hotels in 1962 - my Mother told me The Edgewater Inn hired him to work on the MS Dominion Monarch which was docked in Seattle to host guests as a hotel since the Edgewater Inn wasn't finished in time for the start of the World's Fair


But before that he worked at Century House Motor Hotel and he wrote me my all-time very favorite letter when I was four months old on stationery from there.  My Dad was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas so we lived in Killeen, Texas and I don't think he had met me, yet.

April 2/62
Dearest Jana:
This is just a note honey to say hello and to say how nice it was to hear your voice on the telephone. Your mother kept interrupting and it was a little difficult to understand you but I think I got the message. Parents are such a problem these days but try to understand them. Ask you Mother about it because I too was a problem parent.
Now that your Mother is caught up in this mad dizzy social whirl, cooking, dusting pamlum, diapers, feeding, ironing, washing and her golf and tennis guess she doesn't have time to write. I know you must be busy with your dates and school work but tell your Mother the enclosed stamps are just in case she gets a moment. If your Mother and Dad can't get away in June you come anyhow it will be a good chance for you and I to see the Fair.
Tell your Mother that we went to Dave Schwatz's wedding Saturday nite and both the bride and he looked fine.
Seattle is just busting out all over now only nineteen days to opening and everyone holding their breath. Biggest thing to hit Seattle. Lots of old buildings being torn down and everybody painting and getting ready. This place where I am working is putting in a new restaurant and cocktail bar. Carpenters, painters, plumbers, noise, dust and confusion trying to get ready for the Fair.
Grandmaw and I are going down tomorrow to ride on the monorail and see the Wax Works. The Observation Tower on the Space Needle and the Monorail are doing a rushing business already.
On Thursday we are going up to Vancouver to see your Great Grandmother. Has your Dad been teaching you to drive yet? I don't think Father's make the best teachers ask your Mother. Do all you homework and don't play the Hi-Fi too much. Be a good girl and say hello to your Mother and Dad. A big hug and kiss for you and tell your mother I didn't have to wipe my chin.
All My Love
Grandpaw
P.S. It will be okay to let your Mother read this letter.

Is that an awesome letter or what?! Family history, humor, Seattle World's Fair tidbits all on one page!

The front and back of the envelope it came in:


By the end of 1962, The Edgewater Inn was completed and Howard worked there for several years.


The Edgewater 2011:

Seattle.Gov's Historic Preservation Program tells me that The Edgewater is Category 4

"These buildings have been identified as ones that have been so altered that they would not qualify as Seattle landmarks."

I can't really blame The Edgewater for altering the hotel to stay competitive in the industry but I'll always consider it a Seattle landmark.


My Grandfather died forty two years ago today on July 25, 1970 when I was eight years old.  He was only 58.  I don't have many memories of him but I will always treasure the letter he wrote me when I was an infant.  Thinking about you, Grandpaw!!

(taken at the Mayflower Hotel - probably late 1950s)

Grandma and Grandpa and me November 1963


Grandma, Grandpa and me about 1964

Thanksgiving & the Mayflower (Park Hotel)

I recently mentioned my grandfather, Howard Johnson when I posted about a paint-by-number clown he painted for me.

Howard was born 1912 in British Columbia. He began his hospitality career at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC as a boy (pageboy standing on the left)

From Johnson Family

Somewhere in the family collection of photographs is a picture of an even younger Howard in a velvet suit carrying in the boar's head for a Christmas feast at the grand hotel.

Grandpa worked at other hotels in British Columbia before immigrating to Washington in 1951 with my grandmother and my pre-teen mother.  I thought he moved to The States to take a job at the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle - which seems charmingly quaint to me - the Mayflower is what brought my mom's family to America!  However in a conversation over at Vintage Seattle about the Carousel Room, the Mayflower Park Hotel historian mentions my grandfather was General Manager there from 1955-1959.  Perhaps he worked another position at the Mayflower before being promoted to General Manager and I can still think the Mayflower brought my family to America. . . .

Mayflower Park Hotel postcard before my grandfather's era

From Visiting Vintage

From Visiting Vintage

Forward another decade after working at the Mayflower and through several other hotels (he went on to work at the Edgewater Inn - he was employed there when the Beatles fished from the window!) and here we are celebrating (quite seriously) Thanksgiving in 1969 with my grandpa and grandma.  Another of his paint-by-numbers is hanging on the wall.

From Visiting Vintage

That was my grandfather's last Thanksgiving.  He passed away July 1970 at age 58.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of memories of him but  two of them include hotels - I remember sharing a bowl of ice cream just me and him at the Edgewater and I remember watching a Seafair parade from a window of the Mayflower (he no longer worked there) .  At this Thanksgiving time, among a plethora of my many, MANY blessings, I am grateful that Howard Johnson created a life for his family which in turn contributed hugely to my very fortunate existence.

Very happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Labor Day

Labor Day usually indicates the end of summer to me.  However, I do want to remember the real reason for the holiday weekend.  From the facts page found on the United States Department of Labor regarding the holiday:
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

And I can't pass up an opportunity to share ads from the September 12, 1959 edition of the Saturday Evening Post that demonstrate American strength, prosperity and well-being of our country

From Vintage Goodness

(not that I like promoting cigarettes, but I do love the firefighters with their old trucks)

From Vintage Goodness

From Vintage Goodness

From Vintage Goodness

Happy Labor Day to all but especially to those who sweat; in the words of Mike Rowe the hard-working Americans who make civilized life possible for the rest of us.

Walt and the US Navy

Like many boys his era, my father-in-law Walter S. Robertson joined the military as soon as he graduated high school in Mount Vernon, Washington at age eighteen. It was 1936.

He enlisted in the US Navy. Training camp was in San Diego.

From Walt's Navy Photos

Walt was sent to Panama Canal aboard the USS Bushnell (more here) in 1937, Guantama Bay as a Submarine Tender and Norfolk, Virginia to service subs.

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

He developed pleurisy which was worse in the tropics and was discharged due to the illness in 1938 from Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia.

Walt then met Vi when on a double date - Walt was with Wilma and Vi was dating Gordon Shea - both couples switched partners. Vi and Walt married August 31, 1941. Walt joined the Naval Reserve in 1943 when World War II was in full swing.

From Walt's Navy Photos

He went through Hospital Corps School at Farragut, Idaho

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

and was stationed at the United States Naval Hospital in Seattle (Fircrest). He received training as a pharmacist mate - the doctor in charge was Wendell G. Scott who wrote text on Radiology.

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

From Walt's Navy Photos

After his tour was over in 1945, he returned to Mt. Vernon to his wife and baby daughter, Judy. They moved to Yakima, Washington where Walt worked as an X-Ray technician for St. Elizabeth's Hospital and four more children were born.

From Robertson, Fey, Noakes

His career then took his family to Bellevue, WA where he became the manager of the Xonics Inc. X-Ray Co. in Seattle. He retired from there in 1982.

More Navy photos
If anyone can confirm that the beginning photos of this album are in-fact San Diego, I would appreciate it (they weren't labeled).

Maren Nielsen Andersen & the Rev. Dr. Mark Allison Matthews

I met Maren (née Nielsen) Andersen in the early 1980's - she was born March 20, 1889 in Varde, Næsbjerg, Denmark so she was in her early 90s at the time. She was my fiancée's maternal grandmother. Maren was very sweet to me - I figured at her age she had met countless people and that it must be difficult to keep track of details of newcomers. I was delighted that she joked with me that I belonged in the family since my name begins with J so I fit in with several current family members Judy, Jolene, Jane, Jean.




Maren Dorthea Nielsen arrived in the United States October 30, 1907 (age 18). On her issued inspection card she wrote, " there never was a doktor to see me when i was so sick and laid in the bunk all the way to New York. How could a Dr. sign for everything as it shows he did on other side. I weighed 90 lbs landing on the dock." Shortly after arriving in the states, she got a job working as a domestic for the Rev. Dr. Mark A. Matthews in Seattle.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

"Miss Gwladys Matthews" This is one of the Matthews' children. Maren wrote, "I have combed her hair many times and dressed both her and Mark Allison when he was a Baby."

Maren appears to have had a lot of respect for Rev. Dr. Matthews. She clipped and saved many newspaper articles about him.

Dr. Matthews was quite active in early 20th century Seattle politics and religion as a Presbyterian minister. According to History Link he "pastored Seattle’s First Presbyterian Church for 38 years, from 1902 to 1940. He built his congregation into the denomination’s largest, with nearly 10,000 members at its height" "He spearheaded social projects and helped create new institutions such as Seattle Day Nursery, which evolved into Childhaven, one of the state’s most successful institutions to treat child abuse. He helped lead the effort to establish Harborview Hospital." The article goes on to describe his controversial efforts as well.








The Reverend and his wife gave a lovely carving set to Maren upon her marriage to Hans Andersen in 1910. 

When I married her grandson in 1983 Maren thought we should have this beautiful gift and I will treasure it always.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

She died in 1985 at age 96, a few years after I met her.  Of course I wish I had asked for more stories and found out more about her.