Sunday Showcase: Single fathers raising children in Clallam and Jefferson counties

Published 12:01 am Sunday, June 16, 2002

There are still things that Randy Manthe is learning about being a single dad to his 8-year-old daughter.

“I don’t know how to do a ponytail right,” said Manthe, 44, of Port Townsend. “If I start, my daughter will immediately say ‘you’re not doing it right.”‘

But Manthe is learning.

He is part of a small number of fathers in Clallam and Jefferson counties who will be celebrated Father’s Day today as superdads — fathers raising their children largely on their own.

Being a double-duty dad to daughter, Stevi, and 4-year-old son, Tyler, means handling everything from buying clothes to earning a paycheck.

“It’s not the norm,” Manthe said. “Nobody ever talks about single dads.”

There are likely fewer than 350 single dads on the Olympic Peninsula.

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