Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Roy Bartlett
Roy Bartlett, a longtime Tekoa resident who married the farmer's daughter he worked for the summer after high school graduation - and once washed money at the Davenport Hotel - will turn 100 on Feb. 19.
A celebration will be held four days before for family and friends. He now lives independently at Bishop Place in Pullman.
Bartlett farmed 2,500 acres outside Tekoa; wheat, bluegrass, lentils and barley.
"I was more a city guy than I was a farmer," he said. "All the work we could get was farming."
He went to Latah High School, graduating in 1938. His future wife, Fern, a member of the Tekoa class of 1936, graduated from a country school at age 15.
First Bartlett followed her to Spokane where she went to school at Kinman Business University (after a year at Washington State College).
Bartlett moved into a room at the Pacific Hotel, the first floor of which held a state employment office. Through this, he got odd jobs; from washing dishes at a five and 10-cent store, Newberry's, to hardware wholesaler Jensen-Byrd to Marshall-Wells, another hardware operation, where he worked as an order clerk, tracking merchandise coming in on freight trains.
Another job, at night, from 9 p.m. to as late as 5 a.m., Bartlett worked at the Davenport Hotel, on large event nights.
"Louis Davenport was still alive," he said. "I washed money at the end of the day, just like new silver; knives and forks, make them look as good as new."
They would wash the coins in drums in a cleaning solution. That and silverware.
"Then we were getting vegetables ready for the next day," Bartlett said.
What was his favorite job he had in the time he was in Spokane?
"It wasn't washing dishes," he said.
Roy and Fern were married in 1941 at St. John's Cathedral in Spokane.
Soon after, the U.S. entered World War II. Bartlett was classified 4F, for a heart valve issue.
"It meant you weren't worth a damn," he said.
The couple returned to Bartlett's in-laws' farming operation outside Tekoa.
"My wife wanted to go back and live on the farm," he said. "I never cared too much about farming, it was a good life, though. We made a living."
How did he like Tekoa?
"Everybody went to Tekoa to shop," he said. "J.C. Peney, Burgan's (furniture)..."
Did he ever buy a car from Dorsey Chevrolet?
"A two-ton truck," he said. "Two pickups, two cars. We lived in Tekoa a long time."
In 1953, the couple moved into town, where Bartlett served on the school board and was an EMT for the Tekoa ambulance.
Something in particular drew him to the school board.
"The old school was getting pretty tattered and worn, there was quite an argument about whether to build a new one. My wife and I wanted a new school, so we got on the school board," Bartlett said.
The new building opened in 1961, replacing the square brick high school.
Did he stay on the board after that?
"I had enough of it after we got the new school," he said.
What about his wife?
"She loved Tekoa," Bartlett said. "She was a Tekoa girl."
Roy's own schooling began at age six, with a year and a half in a one-room schoolhouse outside Latah, four miles from the family farm. Bartlett's older brother would drive a horse, with a buggy attached, with three siblings inside, including Roy.
After that year, Latah built a new school in town and the outlying kids went there.
"I didn't like the country school," Bartlett said. "Kids all ages. In Latah there were enough kids to play basketball."
He retired from farming in 1985, his neighbors taking over. Fern died in 2011.
Roy now follows WSU and Gonzaga (basketball), with a son who graduated from Gonzaga in 1983.
Did Roy ever watch any games back then?
"Yes. I suppose we won some, lost a lot," he said.
What about this year?
"They're not doing as good as they could be. (Coach) Few will bring them out. Tommy will bring them out," he said, referring to assistant coach Tommy Lloyd.
What does he think of the new WSU football coach?
"Didn't like the old one," said Bartlett.
Overall, he lived in Tekoa for 53 years, he and Fern raising three children.
Did he know former mayor John Jaeger, a longtime teacher, principal and coach?
"Oh yeah," he said.
How did you know him?
"I won't tell you," Bartlett said.
To what does he attribute his longevity?
"My mother," Bartlett said. "She lived to be 99 and something."
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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