Hello, again, Friends of Aunt Phoebe:

I'm still trying to navigate my way around this blogging thing and, I fear, not doing very wel at it. Perhaps this will work..Here is an update about the Judson Statue Project. At last Bob McDermott has begun the sculpting process and is working on Aunt Phoebe's head. This will be a staged process; Stage I is a life-sized bronze bust of Phoebe Judson, "The Mother of Lynden." Once this is completed, Bob will then begin to create another life-sized bust of Holden Judson, Lynen's first Mayor and "Father of Lynden." These will then be used in conjunction with construction of the full statue, featuring Phoebe seated on a marble bench and Holden standing behind her. We envision residents and tourists coming to visit the statue, sitting on the bench next to Phoebe..or standing next to Holden..and getting their souvenir snapshots, just like they do now with the Dirty Dan Harris statue in Fairhaven. There is enough money to pay Bob his first payment and will likely be enough to pay the second one in six weeks. I feel comfortable, at last, in the outlook for large future donations because we now have some major fundraisers interesting in joining us in this project. Within a month, the Lynden Tribune will feature an article about Bob McDermott, in his studio in Blaine, sculpting Aunt Phoebe's head. When I have a photo, I will post it to this blog. Stay tuned!

Hello, Friends of Aunt Phoebe:

I've been absent and I apologize. Busy doing lots of new research and creating new PowerPoint slideshows..and showing them. First is one about the history of Lynden's City Hall, beginning in the 1890's and going all the way up to our brand new facility at 4th and Liberty. The side purpose of this program is to draw attention to the Holden and Phoebe Goodell Judson Memorial Statue project, statue to be located in the new Judson Park on the corner of 4th and Main Streets. I've done the program twice and have another scheduled for the 13th of October at the Lynden Library.

The other program is aimed at elementary school children and is entitled "Lynden's History for Children." I presented it this past week to 3rd and 4th graders at Ebenezer Christian School and they were a wonderful audience! Lots of group howling when I showed the slide about the timber wolves in Lynden back in the 1870's. I hope to expand this program and to present it to a larger audience of elementary school students. Later, I will move to middle school and high school students, with an emphasis on reading Phoebe Judson's book, A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home.

Other projects include the passing out of thousands of full-color flyers of the Judson Statue in Judson Park with a brief history of Lynden on the back. These are beautiful, glossy prints, suitable for framing and the local merchants are enthusiastically allowing me to place stacks of them on their counters. Some percentage of people who pick them up will end up deciding to call Whatcom Community Foundation to order a brick. My new philosophy is, "Sell 2,000 bricks at $50 a brick and we'll have the statue paid for!" Lynden has 11,000+ residents..here's hoping that they will see the pretty colors and intriguing picture and end up wanting to be a part of this historic project!

Lastly, I am moving forward on my idea to get the churches of Lynden to cooperate on a single plaque paying tribute to the Judsons for "bringing the church to Lynden" way back in 1876. I am going to Chiliwack, B.C., next week to see about having a look at Rev. Tait's diaries which are kept in the museum in that city. Candy Wellman gave me copies of some of those entries but I would like to see the whole collection. This gives a firsthand account of how the first religious services in Lynden were conducted by Rev. Tait and "Captain John" (an Indian) in the Judson's log cabin in July of 1876. The first church I plan to approach about the group church concept is the Methodist Church, who actually acknowledge that the Judsons brought them into existence.

So, lots of work on the horizon, but it is fun, too. I don't have time right now to be writing anything on my new book, Finding Aunt Phoebe; My Search for the True Life of Phoebe Goodell Judson, but I am looking into revising and reissuing my first book, Memory Book, Friends of Aunt Phoebe Reunion. Stay tuned. I have worked out an agreement for profit sharing with Lynden Pioneer Museum in the event that I do republish the Memory Book. There are many, many people who have already expressed an interest in buying one if they are ever republished.

So for now, dear people, I will sign off. Watch this site for future updates which will now be concentrated on the work of "Aunt Phoebe's Corner" instead of all the other fun aspects of my life here in Lynden. I will save the fluff for my Facebook page.

Mary Michaelson

Gearing up for the Gem City Picnic

Busy day today. I met this morning with Cal Bratt, Editor of the Lynden Tribune. He is crafting a couple of articles concerning our new fundraising efforts to benefit the Holden and Phoebe Goodell Judson Memorial Statue in Lynden's new Judson Park. Our first event will be the "Gem City Picnic" on Saturday, August 15th, at Lynden City Park. We'll have live music by "Travelin' Light" (Lou Lippman on keyboard and yours truly on vocals) and "The Halleck Street Ramblers," a 7-piece Dixieland Jazz band. Tickets ($5 for adults, $3 for kids) will include food (hot dogs, chips, drink and Dutch apple pie.) We are gathering up sponsors at a brisk pace and all is going well, though ticket sales are just now taking off.

The second event will be the Northwest Washington Fair, where Lynden Pioneer Museum will be manning a booth for two purposes; fundraising for the Judson Statue as well as the collection of old-timer's stories about the early NW Washington Fair. We are receiving a free booth in exchange for helping the Fair Centennial Committee with information gathering in preparation for next year's Centennial book and DVD. Our booth will be manned by some Judson/Goodell family members, sculptor Bob McDermott, docents from Lynden Museum and staff from Whatcom Community Foundation, our fiscal sponsor (501(C)(3)) for the statue.

Cal is an excellent reporter and I expect his article(s) to be of their usual high quality. The first one (about the picnic) will come out this Wednesday and it is hoped that it will spark ticket sales. The second article, which will come out next Wednesday, will feature the new watercolor rendering of the statue as it will appear on site in Judson Park in front of Lynden's brand- new City Hall. As time goes on, we will eventually have a website to allow folks to make donations on line. For now, it is face-to-face contact and the passing out of paperwork that will generate our donations. Stay tuned for this over the next few months..I expect it to take off like a rocket as a result of massive exposure during the Northwest Washington Fair.

As soon as the watercolor painting is done (within the next couple of days,) I will post it on my blog. Rick Mullen, Presentation Art Studio, of Bellingham is our very talented artist. Rick has done renderings of many of Bellingham's best-known architectural projects. We are so lucky to have him on our team!

Lovely Lynden

Hello, world! What is it like to live up here in Lovely Lynden, a mere 4 (or 5, depending upon who says so) miles south of the Canadian border? Well, photos tell much more than words, so here are a few pictures of the wonderful City of Lynden, Washington. Enjoy!

Hello, world!

Today is the first day of my new blog, "Aunt Phoebe's Corner." I must admit to being more than a little intimidated by the whole thing but, at the same time, a little excited! For a writer, blogging seems to be a great way to get into the swing of things and loosen up the old "writer's block." Eventually, I will learn enough to feel comfortable with this..I hope!