Perhaps the memories you hold onto through life are those that are connected to the most fearful experiences of your life. At 90 years I don't seem to have many memories that have stayed in my mind and it would mean I have lived a life without many fearful incidences throughout my West Seattle childhood.

One memory does stand out since the recent windstorm and, in spite of the many years that have passed, it seems to be the most vivid of all my memories. It was another windstorm, in the 1930s. All I remember is was walking home from somewhere, along Fauntleroy Way Southwest, towards Lincoln Park. I was stepping between power lines tangled on the ground, not realizing the danger I was in. In the distance I could hear the crackling of the falling trees of Lincoln Park. It was the clearing of the dense forest that once was that park. Two blocks away, I heard the sound of all those falling trees, a sound I have never been able to forget.

It was that storm that changed the design of Lincoln Park. The park that was once a forest was completely redesigned by the wind.

My father, being the caretaker for the park during those days, had the gigantic task of supervising the cleanup after that storm. It took many days of hard work of the workers assigned to the task of cleaning up a fallen forest. The park lost its original appearance forever and the wildlife that was said to have made a home there must have found other havens.

Harriet Warkentine

Genesee