Arts and History Alliance Features Author Dorothy Wilhelm At June Book Event

The Eatonville Arts and History Alliance is sponsoring a book signing and lecture regarding Dorothy Wilhelm.June 29 at 7 p.m. at the Eatonville High School auditorium. The presentation will highlight previously untold stories about the area around the South Sound and the people who built this state.

Why Eatonville? Did you know that this historic little town is the origination point of the phrase “Painting the Town Red?” Well, it is. That’s one of the stories that will be told at Eatonville high school auditorium at 7:00 on Saturday, June 29. The stories are taken from her new book, True Tales of Puget Sound which is in its 6th printing, as reported by Arcadia Publishing this week. Naturally it includes a chapter about Fred Oldfield.

The Eatonville stories will include the reason Thomas Van Eaton created the town that bears his name, and why his grandson, Pat Van Eaton still feels a little nervous remembering the smile his Grandfather kept on the dining room table. Another loved story is how the town’s doctor, who arrived in 1909, choosing this logging town because his father had been killed in a logging accident when the doctor was a child.. Dr. Albert Bridge went on to found one of the finest hospitals in the US, and named it for his mother. 

There’s the story of how T.C. Van Eaton confused historians by refusing to give Mt. Tahoma its new name of Mt. Rainier - ever. That’s just Eatonville. WIlhelm will also tell  stories like the Buckley’s Great Wine and Swine Train Wreck, or Milton’s story of the Mule who Ran For Office – won and served and many more.

Dorothy Wilhelm is a military wife, widow and mother.  She has been a national speaker, award winning broadcaster and writer for the past 35 years.  Her humor column appears in the News Tribune and The Olympian.