Mother to ten, but not "Just a mom"

The next time one of your kids gets on your nerves, reflect a bit on Katie Henry; she had ten children that is, with one new one about every 24 months. For you mothers, imagine being pregnant for 90 months or 7.5 years!

Katie created and repaired most of her family's clothes and with her expertise hand-me-downs became hand-me-down-down-downs with some clothes lasting through three to four of the boys. She cut all hair, routinely prepared dinner for eight or more, and was the traffic cop who determined which one was "next" in the family's single bathroom. Her recipes were quadrupled batches so if one uses them today they create food for the neighborhood. She loved to crochet, knit and create quilts that were donated to her favorite charity, Seattle's Children's Orthopedic Hospital, where she was a member of the women's guild for many years. In her later years she was working on quilts for each of her kids and grandkids out of materials or patterns that were personal to each.

Clothes washing was initially performed in wash tubs or with an old wringer washer and drying was performed by hanging the clothes out to dry on the ever-present clothesline. In the winter Katie proved weekly that clothes hung out to dry on a below-freezing day in Washington or Alaska would indeed dry even though they were stiffly frozen when taken off the line. Stack the clothes for an hour and they were totally dry!

Still, it was important to her not to be known as "just a mom." So, for 5 years she worked as the first kindergarten teacher for the Skykomish School district, first taking over the Grotto school house for her classes and later the Sky school basement for her class. The school district figured that if she could raise ten kids, she could teach classes even without a teaching certificate. She was the kindergarten teacher for her youngest child.

Born Ledy Kathryn Beck in Lind, Washington in 1918 to Russian-German parents, she lost her father at the tender age of 18 months. When her mother determined that she was unable to care for Katie, at two and a half years of age Katie went to live with Carolyn and Andrew Schrag on their farm near Odessa. In 1923 the Schrags gave up farming and moved to Park Place in Monroe with Katie moving with them. Katie attended school in Monroe, WA with the Schrag children and graduated from Monroe Union High School in 1937. As was the case with many of the Monroe kids in the 20's, Katie worked summers at Frye's Lettuce Farm and in her senior year was an usherette at the Monroe Theater where she met her future husband, George (Bud) Valentine.

In August of 1938 she married Bud and together they made their home in Grotto. In 1949, when the family outgrew their home in Grotto, they decided to move to a small farm in Monroe's Park Place with Bud commuting twice a week to the farm. Bud would stay in Grotto and drive down on Wednesday night, leave for Grotto Thursday, before first light, and then return again on Friday night and stay the weekend. Katie would ensure that all children's transgressions would be held until Bud's visit but, in many cases would "forget" the evil if the evil-doer would turn angelic in the interim.

Monroe offered more opportunities for the growing family of boys, raspberry and strawberry picking, delivering the Everett Herald and Monroe Monitor, lawn mowing, and support of the local dairy farmers who needed the occasional help, plus taking care of the garden, orchard, chickens, turkeys, cows, and other livestock kept on the farm for family consumption. Katie canned vegetables from the garden, beef stew meat, and hundreds of quarts of fruit from the orchard and from the annual truckload of peaches, pears and apricots from Wenatchee, WA. In both Monroe and Grotto the family members took hunting and fishing seriously with trout, frog legs, grouse and the occasional deer adding to the food inventory for Katie to prepare for the family. In Monroe and Grotto the boys peeled cascara bark and sold it to a broker in Monroe. For those who know what cascara is used for, the after-effects from preparing the cascara sometimes kept Katie busy in that previously mentioned "traffic cop" role.

Assignments were made for the daily chores of clearing the table and washing, drying and "putting away" the dishes after meals. The boys worked in the yard and gardens and worked hard to turn the Grotto home into a park. All of the older kids helped with the babies and this help allowed Katie and Bud to take their twice monthly trip to Monroe for groceries and the follow-on card game with Leonard and Bess Schrag at their home off the Monroe golf course. When they arrived home late at night it was expected that the house would still be there with everything in its place and everyone in bed ready for the next day's chores. Bud was the disciplinarian with Katie the gate keeper for all issues that managed to squeak through to Bud.

After eight boys and the first girl was born, the state of Washington decided to plunk the center line of the Monroe-Bothell cutoff through the living room of the home in Park Place so, after a less than successful negotiation to sell the farm to the state, the family again moved to Grotto where the last family member, a girl, was born.

Bud worked at the cement plant in Grotto and, in 1970 when the plant was closed, Bud supervised the demolition. When that was completed he and the family were transferred to Anchorage. Katie worked at Montgomery Ward until Bud retired in 1972. When the family moved back to Monroe where they lived and worked at the Schrag's golf course for six years while raising the last of the kids. Bud had suffered through his life with heart problems and the strenuous work at the golf course forced him into a second, but limited retirement. Bud and Katie moved to Marysville, WA where they lived until Bud passed away in 1982.

In 1983, Katie married John Glick Henry, a life-long friend of Bud and Katie's. John and Katie traveled throughout the western U.S. and Canada, and made many long distance trips together including several trips to Australia, several cruises to the Caribbean, and visited many Central and South American countries. John passed away in 1991 and Katie continued their dream of traveling with trips throughout the United States, a cruise to the Panama Canal and the Caribbean, a trip to Scotland, and an extensive trip to many countries in Europe.

Late in her life she achieved another goal, that of writing a short history of the town of Grotto. Katie loved to take care of her home, enjoyed gardening and was especially proud of her family. It was her dream from early childhood on to marry someone tall, dark, and handsome, have her own home, and have ten children with more boys than girls, a dream that she saw come true. She also lived another dream through her world travels and her extensive trips throughout the U.S. with her family and friends. Her greatest quality was being born with a sense of humor which she carried throughout her life.

Through her life, Katie's kids jokingly maneuvered to be "her favorite" and each crowed to the other that they were #1. Katie never let on who was her favorite but had confided to those around her that "I want my children to know that they each are my favorite".

Katie passed away in Arlington on March 18, 2011 at age 92 "plus". She is survived by seven of her sons; two daughters; and one step-daughter (having lost one son to Multiple Myeloma in 2009). Her surviving family includes a busload of grandkids; and a few van loads of great-grandkids.

Remembrances can be made to Evergreen Hospice Services in Kirkland, Washington.

ref: The Herald (Everett), March 22, 2011