SNOQUALMIE VALLEY – There’s no clean cut way to leave a community you have helped build for 64 years – even for a laundry woman.

Mary Lou McKibben, 86, is leaving the Valley at the end of this month to live in New Mexico near her daughter. McKibben and her husband John were well known in the Valley for the Consolidated Laundry business that had been in the family for 79 years.

“The three most important things in my adult life have been marrying John, coming to the Valley and all the friends he and I both made. You never know how much people like or dislike you until you die,” said McKibben, who is a little surprised by the open house that’s being held in her honor at the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society on April 23. The event will recognize McKibben’s decades of service to the life of the Valley before she moves to Albuquerque on April 26.

McKibben was born “Mary Lou McGilvra” in Minneapolis and followed her family out to Seattle after graduating from high school in June of 1936. They were moving west because of the Depression. She met John McKibben in 1940 at a Christian Scientist’s young persons dance in Seattle. They were married in 1941 and took over the laundry business in the Snoqualmie Valley completely in the 1950s from John’s father, V.M. McKibben, who started it in 1926 with his partner, Harry King. John enlisted in the Coast Guard and was gone for three years, leaving Mary Lou to run the laundry business. The couple operated the business for 30 years before handing it over to their son, David, who sold it last year. John McKibben died 12 years ago.

“We had 51 years of very happy marriage here in Snoqualmie Valley, I’m leaving my heart here, sort of,” McKibben said. She is going to buried next to John and other family members at the Tacoma National Cemetery when her time comes. The McKibbens lived in Snoqualmie from 1941 to 1987, then moved to North Bend. Over her many years here, McKibben said the biggest change she’s seen in the Valley is its growth.

“People and traffic have been the biggest change, but it’s inevitable. People come and see what a nice place this is and they want to come.”

McKibben said giving back to the community seems to run in her family, who always were very involved in the towns in which they lived.

“All of my relations, practically, have been interested in their country. I found out I had six ancestors in the Revolutionary War,” said McKibben, who loves exploring her genealogy and putting together books to document her findings.

“My other chief interest has been the museum,” McKibben said. She has been a charter and life member of the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society. She has also been involved with the library, women’s clubs and played piano in the Christian Science Society of Snoqualmie Church for 40 years before it dissolved.

Mary Lou McKibben is going to live in Albuquerque, N.M., near her daughter Karen and her husband Bill, whose children are all grown and live in various places around the world.

“She doesn’t have chick or child down there, so I’ll be queen bee,” McKibben said.

McKibben is looking forward to her move as New Mexico is rich in ethnic diversity and history “that predates the pilgrims,” she said. The winters are similar to Seattle’s because of the elevation, but the summers are a lot drier, McKibben said of her new terrain. “I’m looking forward to an entirely new life, but I don’t think about it too much, leaving the Valley, because it’s just wonderful here. Such a great place to raise children.”

She’ll have to make new friends, but is hopeful that e-mail, the telephone and a full stock of calling cards will keep her in touch with her beloved Valley companions.

All are invited to the open house for McKibben hosted by the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society Board of Directors at the museum located at 320 North Bend Blvd. S. in North Bend. The event will run from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

“It’s like a prememorial and I’m really overwhelmed by it,” McKibben said. “It’s so nice to be appreciated for what you have done.”

McKibben said she will miss the people and the view in the Valley the most. “This is a beautiful, beautiful valley. I get kind of emotional when I think about leaving. It’s been a nice journey here.

“It’s been a big, big change, but it’s natural. Nothing stays the same,” McKibben said. “Today is different from yesterday and tomorrow will be different than today.”

Staff writer Melissa Kruse can be contacted at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at melissa.kruse@valleyrecord.com.