Meet Virginia Pearce

Virginia is the owner and operator of Burien Books.

She holds the distinctive title as downtown Burien's most enduring business under one owner. Opening in the fifties, she has seen countless businesses come and go.

What is more, her store has been in the same block on Southwest 152nd, next door to what is now Key Bank which once was Seattle Trust, across from what was once Bunge Hardware, then Highline Savings and Loan and is now Wells Fargo Bank.

Remember Burien Hardware, the Clotheshorse, The Barb, Perry West Appliance, Veninos or Jaffe's shoes? How about Westside Federal?

Throughout Burien, there has been an amazing transformation over more than half a century that she has witnessed. She must have been doing something right to last that long in one place.

She has a carefully chosen stock of timely books and cards for most occasions and, at one time, provided picture framing.

She is never bashful and when we dropped in to say hello, she voiced concern at what has happened to the traffic that once traveled down the street.

"Where are the cars? We only get a fraction of the traffic since the city went to front-end angle parking and the new light system at the Ambaum corner."

I told her I avoid that aggravating intersection myself by ignoring it and going a different route like many others do. I suggested that it was likely the city traffic engineers created the plan to cut down traffic on Burien's main street for safety reasons.

I remember when there was parallel parking and having my driver side door ripped off of my new 1962 Studebaker when I failed to note a passing vehicle in my rear view mirror.

Yes, Virginia, there may be a Santa Claus in Burien and hopefully he can be found at City Hall.

Meet Jim Hughes

Chatting with Jim Hughes, affable long time owner of Sal's Deli, I mentioned how impressed I was at the recent community memorial for good friend Dick Dahlgard, the camera shop owner, who had dedicated so much of his life and time to Highline causes.

Jim smiled and said he surprised himself by his stage presence and then said that he has never been called on to address a large gathering in his life and was uneasy with stage fright and though he claims no deep religious convictions asked for some help from a higher power.

As he did, so his whole being was pervaded with a strange calmness. He then proceeded to speak. Without hesitation he became an orator who held his audience spellbound.

He then told me had a similar moment when he was a boy of twelve and was swimming with a friend in Lake Burien.

Diving off a float in front of the McEacheren place, he somehow came up directly under a huge log and started to panic. With one arm on each side of the log, he suddenly had that same mysterious calm descend over him and then felt his friend grip his extended hand pulling him out of the water to safety.

This may not be that unusual.

I once came upon a small book in my own dad's voluminous collection of books I inherited. Among the Harvard Classic and Complete Works of Shakespeare there was a tiny nameless booklet which urged the reader, when faced with peril to repeat the following phrase five times." If God Be With Me, Who Can Be Against Me"

It went on to say that you will discover a calmness settling over you.

I must profess that I have used that method a number of times. Works for me, too.