DUNGENESS — “Fifteen feet of beauty” and the promise of peace: This is how Dean Childs describes the vessel coming together in his shop north of Sequim.
Thirty-one pairs of hands have worked for months on a cedar fishing boat to be given to wounded veterans at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Pierce County, and they began putting the final touches on its graceful body two weekends ago.
The vessel, a Rangeley lake boat, is another bend in the journey known as Project Healing Waters.
Childs, working with Healing Waters Northwest coordinator Chuck Tye, has helped open up the world of fly-fishing to soldiers stationed at Lewis-McChord, first by organizing the Greywolf and Olympic Peninsula fly-fishing clubs to make fly-tying kits for wounded veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Then Childs, Tye and Ken Pennington, who has two ponds on his Eden Valley property, hosted full days of fishing this spring and in spring 2009.
Then, last March, they embarked on the boat-building project, with six soldiers working alongside local lovers of fly-fishing.
Forks lumber store
Along the way, business people and others provided unexpected support, Childs said.
When he and his crew were at McClanahan’s Lumber in Forks looking for wood, owner Larry McClanahan asked what they were building.
They told him, selected their pristine cedar planks, and went to pay — but McClanahan wouldn’t take their money.
Three soldiers, while working on the boat, recently shared similar feelings about the time they’ve put in.
“It’s gorgeous,” said Master Sgt. Paul Huston, who returned about seven weeks ago from his third tour in Iraq.
Building a fishing boat is “rewarding and relaxing at the same time,” added Staff Sgt. Matt Castor.
Jesse Cothern, 28, has also served three tours in Iraq, and “the third time was the charm,” he said ironically.
He suffered an emotional breakdown and was transferred to the Warrior Transition Battalion, where his mission is to heal.
“Fishing is very, very therapeutic,” said Cothern, his Alabama accent softening his words. For a veteran suffering from anxiety and discomfort around crowds, he added, being out on the water is pure relief.
Graceful presence
This fishing boat, besides giving its builders a sense of accomplishment, is a graceful presence on a river or lake, said Tye.
“It’s very stable, which is good for a fisherman with mobility issues,” he said.
“You really look like you know what you’re doing in one of these,” so whatever your casting ability, “you look like you belong there.”
The boat will live at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, but first the 31 people who built it will take it out to an Olympic Peninsula body of water, perhaps Lake Crescent, in mid-July.
On June 27, after the soldiers had returned to the base, Childs received a piece of good news: Stan Marquette of Sequim is donating his plywood fishing boat and trailer to Project Healing Waters.
Marquette’s late uncle Harold Marquette as well as his late father Howard Marquette worked on the boat, and all three Marquettes are veterans, he said. Harold and Howard served during World War II and the younger Marquette is a disabled veteran who served in the war in Vietnam.
“When I heard about this program, I thought, wow, that’s perfect,” Marquette said of Project Healing Waters.
“That boat they’re working on,” he added, “almost makes you want to cry, it’s so beautiful.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.