The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Bud and Dottie Mickelsen must have made an impression in the 18 years they've lived on Puget Island, because this year they will be the grand marshals of the Bald Eagle Days Parade on July 16.

Like a lot of people who are committed to service, the Mickelsens didn't want to talk much about themselves, preferring to talk about the Warriors and Widows event they started last year. The event teams veterans, widows, and children of veterans with local volunteers who take them fishing on the Columbia River. The local VFW has taken the reins of the event, but the Mickelsens are still involved and excited about preparations.

"It's been fantastic," Bud said. "It's expanding. It's gone over like I never expected. We hope to reach the kids that really need it. We've had enquiries from as far as Arkansas."

"Last year out of 35 participants, 30 caught fish," Bud added.

"Some had never seen a salmon before," Dottie added.

The two smiled at the memory of last year's happy faces.

This wasn't the first time the couple have gotten involved and inspired a community to work together. While living in Toledo they established the Friends of the Cowlitz organization to put fish back in the Cowlitz River. It began with meetings in their home and eventually ended up with an office downtown, according to Dottie.

They set up a sturgeon derby in Cathlamet to raise money for Dollars for Scholars.

"We started that in our living room too," Dottie said.

Bud grew up on a cattle ranch near Weiser, Idaho.

"We were in an environment where it couldn't have been any better," Bud said. "We fished rivers and streams that hadn't been fished since the fur traders. There was wildlife and tranquility.

"That became my life," he added. "The more I got involved, the more I enjoyed it, the more I wanted to pass it on."

After a one room schoolhouse and Weiser High School, he went off to college to study business.

"I ended up with monkey business," Bud said. He didn't graduate and found himself in the Army serving in Korea with the Signal Corps.

After getting injured, he was medevacked to Tokyo and eventually to the Presidio in California.

It was some time after that he met Dottie. They had both been married before. He was working for United Airlines and she was running her late husband's business, Washington Memorial Park, a cemetery near Sea-Tac. Bud had three kids and Dottie had four.

"We met on a blind date," Bud said.

"No, it was not," Dottie countered.

"I couldn't see," Bud teased.

"My brother wanted me to go to an awards banquet and they had this guy picked out to take me," Dottie said.

She told her brother that she would not go out with the fellow unless they brought him by the house first.

"Maybe we can have a drink here," she'd said, "and we can each get up and run if we don't like each other."

They've been married 42 years now. A shared love for the outdoors and two great senses of humor have kept them happy. Their seven kids have added to the family and now there are grandchildren and even a few great grandchildren.

Dottie retired after they sold the memorial park and the couple relocated to Toledo.

"He parked me down in Toledo," she said. "We were supposed to build a house and he was working in Seattle."

"I commuted from Toledo to Sea-Tac," Bud said.

"I could hear the refrain when he went up the interstate," Dottie laughed. "You can do it, honey!"

"She had too much free time," Bud teased, thinking of Dottie building the house. "On top of that we bought a condo in Hawaii because we could travel at low cost."

Thankfully for Dottie, the condo was already built.

They spent a few years in Toledo but eventually, as Dottie said, "the house and acreage got too big for us, or we got too slow for it."

They decided to downsize and found a home on Puget Island.

"We love it out here," she said. "The people here are absolutely marvelous."

"It's a small community and just a homey feeling," Bud added. "Small enough you get to know just about everybody."

Dottie was into machine knitting and created afghans with team logos and student's names. Bud continued to build and sell fishing rods, a hobby he learned and loved when he was young. He did some commercial fishing and worked as a guide.

He started fishing rod building programs and caught the eye of the former Wahkiakum High School Vocational/Ag teacher, John Doumit.

Soon Bud was teaching WHS students how to build fishing rods. He even taught Voc/Ag teachers around the state, so they could pass the craft on to their students.

"A lot of them are still doing it," Bud said.

"We've gotten some wonderful letters from parents and grandparents that said their kids stayed in school because of the rod building," Dottie said, pleased.

The couple have some health problems that slow them down but they accept it as just a matter of getting older. They can't do as much these days, but they still manage to keep busy making other people happy.

And each other. This week Dottie gets to win every fight. Next week, it's Bud's turn again. Just in time for the Bald Eagle Days Parade.