In 1960, I was under the supervision of Paul Rennord, the Snoqualmie Falls plant site engineer. My first duty every day was to pull the time cards of all the plant site electricians, pipe fitters, oilers and millwrights. Soon, I discovered the marvelous men who, as a team, kept all the facilities operating smoothly. I transferred to the woods under Jack Kerlee, the woods engineer who taught me all the elements of logging engineering. Here, as on the plant site, I met the greatest group of men, and all were a pleasure to work with.

On the plant site was one such man, Herb Hezel. I saw him a great many times in his work mode. He always had a sincere and determined look in his eyes, as though he was contemplating his current task or planning for the next one.

One day, a new one appeared. Mr. Rennord had an excellent engineer and draftsman, John Margreiter. John could be seen leaning over an old table making excellent designs and drawings. That table appeared to give him some discomfort, so Herb was selected to construct him a new drafting table. He worked on it diligently, and when finished, it was a work of art. The top was of adequate drafting size and had a nice slope. The best part were all the drawers he built beneath the top. I recall perhaps a dozen or so pull out drawers that just glided out of their shelves.

The table was in an office, just south of the dry kilns. Later, new offices were constructed in the north end of one of the planer sheds, and the table was relocated. I saw it many times in a downstairs office. Eventually it was moved upstairs through a wide staircase. Later, the staircase was narrowed to the extent that the table had to remain upstairs.

The office has been closed for several years, and the status of the office furniture is unknown to me. I can only imagine Herb’s table is still in there, somewhere. Perhaps some day, someone will pull out a drawer and see a message — CRAFTED BY HERB HEZEL – 1961.

Obe (Max) Healea

North Bend