FACES OF OLYMPIA, FIREHOUSE BAY 3
Click on images to enlarge.
Bay 3, Window 1
Jim Allen Rambo (1936-2013) was an Army veteran. He came to work for the Olympia Fire Department in 1957 and served for 37 years, the last 17 years as Chief. After his retirement, he volunteered with the American Red Cross. Read Jim Rambo’s obituary here. Photograph courtesy of the City of Olympia Fire Department Collection, Washington State Archives.
Bay 3, Window 2
Ida B. (Mitchell) Smith (1858-1923) was born in Michigan and married in 1878 to Frank Smith. She was in Olympia by 1892. By 1896 Mrs. Smith had opened a photographic studio and worked with her sister Aggie Mitchell, later Price. Her studio was at 520 Main (now Capitol Way). She was a prolific photographer. Smith later went to Idaho but was back in Olympia after the turn of the 20th century. She operated a store with her son Roy and died in 1923 in Olympia. Photo courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society, WSHS C2013.18.49.
Bay 3, Window 3
Dr. Thelma Jackson grew up in Alabama and graduated from Southern University in Louisiana with a degree in biochemistry. She and husband Nat moved to Pasco in the 1960s and they came to Olympia in 1970. Currently, she is the owner of Foresight Consultants, bringing over 40 years of consulting experience in various aspects of education at all levels.Thelma has served on numerous Boards of community, civic, and service organizations and is the recipient of a number of recognitions and awards for educational and community service. She is the founder and President of the Northwest Institute for Leadership and Change, a nonprofit tax-exempt corporation. Dr. Jackson is the editor with contributing editor Edward Echtle of Blacks in Thurston County Washington: 1950-1975: A Community Album, published in 2022. Photo and edited text courtesy of Dr. Thelma Jackson.
Bay 3, Window 4
Mary Olney Brown (1821-1886) was a midwife, poet, Oregon Trail pioneer, writer and staunch advocate for women’s voting rights in Territorial Olympia. She defied the norms by going to the polls before women were legislatively empowered to vote and put Thurston County on the national map as a suffrage center in the 19thcentury. Learn more here. Washington State Historical Society Photo, WSHS C1954.469.2.
Bay 3, Window 5
African American Margaret Lillian Howard (1856-1945) daughter-in-law of hoteliers Rebecca and Alexander Howard was the wife of the Howard’s adopted son Frank. Margaret Howard was on the voter registration rolls in 1885 when Washington women had the vote. The Howards operated the Pacific House. Read more about Rebecca Howard here. Photo courtesy of the Howard Family.
Bay 3, Window 6
One of Olympia's most successful artists, Nikki McClure, is known for painstakingly intricate paper cuts created with an X-acto knife and a single sheet of paper. She is also a prolific and highly regarded book illustrator.. Learn more here. Photo courtesy of Steve Bloom/The Olympian.
Bay 3, Window 7
Chief Leschi (1808-1858), revered chief of the Nisqually Tribe, was present during the Medicine Creek Treaty in 1854. He was judicially murdered in 1858 and exonerated through a Special Court of Inquiry and Justice in 2004. Read more about Chief Leschi here and here. Washington State Historical Society Photo, WSHS 2006.0.266
Bay 3, Window 8
Vietnamese refugees posing with honored sponsor Olympian Fern Powers in 2015 at a commemorative event. Photo courtesy of Phuong Nguyen.
Bay 3, Window 9
Harold Rambo (1910-1960) and Ramona L'Heureux (1910-1998) attended Olympia High School. He graduated 1928. They were dating when this picture is on Fones Road. Photo courtesy of Rambo Family Collection.
Bay 3, Window 10
Eliza Boone Prine (1895-1988) was born in Virginia and came to Olympia in 1904. She was married to Mino Prine. Eliza Prine worked for Olympia Knitting Mills and the Olympia Cannery as well as Selden’s in Olympia. According to her obituary, she was a treasurer of the Cannery Local of the Teamsters Union. Washington State Historical Society Photo, WSHS C1951.250.21
Bay 3, Window 11
Charlene Krise has cultural connections to Colville Confederated Tribe, Yakima and Nez Perce Tribe. She is an enrolled member of the Squaxin Island Tribe-Medicine Creek Nation. She was a tribal fisherperson and was key in the Squaxin Island Tribe’s participation in canoe journeys and hosted one of the first canoe journeys at Percival Landing. She is Executive Director of the Squaxin Island Tribal Museum Library Research Center and served on the Tribal Council for 20 years. She is also a Board member of the Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum. Read more about Charlene Krise here. Photo courtesy of the Squaxin Island Museum Library and Resource Center.
Bay 3, Window 12
John Grace (1931-2023) was known as Olympia’s “Piano Man.” Grace was born in Georgia to a large family. Blind from birth, he was a graduate of the Georgia Academy for the Blind and later attended the Piano Hospital and Training Center, renamed the School for Piano Technology for the Blind in Vancouver, Washington. He came to Olympia in 1962 and worked for a time with L. W. Heintzelman. He took over his business after his death as “Grace Piano Service.” Grace was well-known for his skill as a piano tuner. He was a founder of the New Life Baptist Church in the 1970s as a deacon and played at the first service of the church. He was also the Minister of Music for the Church. Learn more in Blacks in Thurston County, Washington: 1950 to 1975: A Community Album, edited by Dr. Thelma Jackson and Contributing Editor Edward Echtle. Washington State Historical Society Photo, WSHS C1986.43.64.7.23.3.1.