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Irene Whitfield & Jack Chisholm |
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Jack Chisholm was born John Kenneth Chisholm on 24 June 1904 at his parents' house at 350 N. 75th St., Seattle, Washington. He changed his name to Jack Chisholm later on in life. His parents were J.J. "Jimmy" and Lulan (Royle) Chisholm. They moved with him and his younger sister Jean to Fall City in 1908 or 1909.
Irene Margery Whitfield was born 27 June 1909 in Fall City, Washington at her parents' house and was delivered by Dr. W.W. Cheney M.D. Her parents were Charlie and Elsie (Howe) Whitfield.
June 1913. Jack and Irene met at her 4th birthday party because they both lived in the neighborhood (only a mile or two apart) and all the children were invited even if they weren't all the same age. Irene said that most of the children were older than her. Jack always told about the games and jokes the older children were doing.
1919. Irene's mother died leaving three small children, of which Irene was the oldest at almost five.
One story I was told was that it was deathbed request from Elsie that he marry her best friend and cousin, Gertrude, who was a widow. Whether that was true or not, the fact was that Charlie Whitfield remarried to his first wife's cousin Gertrude (Howe) Ranf, who already had one child, Kenneth. They settled down and started having more children.
During this time, Irene spent time staying with her step-mother and father in Vaughn, her maternal grandparents (J.E. and Effie Howe) in Fall City, her paternal grandparents (Lew and Fannie Whitfield) in Lake Bay, her step-grandparents (Alva and Stella Howe) in Vaughn and her father's aunt & uncle (Mary and Well Cardwell) from Seattle. Among other people. Finally, her maternal grandparents in Fall City raised her.
Both Irene & Jack went to school in Fall City, including Fall City High School. Irene's senior class had 7 people in it.
Jack went to both the University of Washington & Washington State University for a quarter or two each. Then he went on an adventure to Alaska.
Irene went to University of Puget Sound in Tacoma for several years. She baby-sat for bread and board during the school year. (Basically as a nanny except that she wasn't paid extra beyond having a place to live and food to eat.) During the summers she did other jobs to pay for her school clothes and the books and tuition.
Jack Chisholm and Irene Whitfield married on 26 May 1931 at his parent's house at Hill Acres, Fall City, King County, Washington.
Irene had inherited land from her great-grandfather J.E. Howe (via her mother Elsie Howe Whitfield) and that's where they moved and built a house. At first it was a little clapboard cabin along the creek and then they discovered how viciously that creek flooded. The house was moved with rollers and ropes across the creek and up onto higher land. The log cabin was built around it. Jack always had plans to actually finish it, but he never did.
Children-3..born 1932, 1935 & 1954. [NOTE: Yes, there is an 18 year gap. This is NOT a misprint! The third child, me, was born in a hospital, was delivered by a doctor, and has a birth certificate stating parent's names. I have been asked about this several times, by people who figured I was the child of one of my siblings (which I'm NOT), so I figure it's best to explain it up front.]
There are two children, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren living at this time (2007), and I'm not going to give any details about them.
Jack worked as a bread delivery person, fire warden, electrician and handyman. Among other things. He was also a Boy Scout leader for awhile, and was on committees about conservation.
'Conservation' is what they called 'saving the environment' back then, except that it was focused mostly on who was allowed to hunt what game and where, and keeping the streams clean & the forests unburned so that there would be game, rather than on all the parts of the environment as a whole.
Irene raised the children and kept the house. She also wrote poetry, played accordion or piano, and drew & painted. She loved to read. She was also very interested in wild plants of all kinds and served as Nature Lady for the Camp Fire Girls day camp for several years in the late sixties.
Jack took many photos, did much of the processing, and shared them with others.
Frequently went on trips. Since there wasn't much money, both were into books and education, and both preferred the woods, they went to scenic and educational places. Hiking & camping were the preferred entertainment.
There were two trips to Yellowstone, one to Florida, many up and down the Washington & Oregon coasts, a number to California. Many hundreds of other shorter trips. All the trips were by car. At first it'd be a car & trailer and camping in a tent and then they had a pickup truck and a homemade camper.
They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1981 by deciding to have the whole year as a celebration and had anyone that dropped in sign the guest book from the neighborhood kids to the insurance salesperson! They had one party on the anniversary day with the people who'd attended the wedding (or their descendents or representatives) and a big potluck in the summer where everyone who was even remotely related, and who was willing to attend, showed up.
Their last few years were filled with illness. Jack had cancer three times. Went through chemotherapy once, radiation twice.
Irene had a major stroke on 10 March 1986 and required home care for the last five years of her life.
Jack died 28 February 1988, Overlake Hospital, Bellevue, King County, Washington from the complications of cancer.
Irene died 4 March 1991 at the hospital in Snoqualmie, King County, Washington from a heart attack.
Photographers: Jack Chisholm (log cabin, Irene), Jimmy Chisholm (Jack on rocker, Jack with bear)
Author/artist/designer/programmer of page: Rowan Ainslie Chisholm
This website and all contents copyright 2009 Penelope Chisholm aka Rowan Ainslie Chisholm
This page first posted 7 April 2007
Latest revision: 23 January 2011
