Linda Barton

I have always loved water, pools, rivers, lakes and especially oceans.  I am not a swimmer per se, I do not do flip turns or swim fast.  I just plod along.   After successful back surgery 5 years ago, I decided to really pursue swimming.   I am the type of person that needs a goal, so I signed up to swim from Alcatraz.     I have done it three times and will again this September. Swimming is a life long activity that challenges you to improve.  Once you are in the cold water, warmed up, you can appreciate where we live.  It is exhilarating. Yesterday in MacKaye, a baby seal bobbed her head up and looked me right in the eye.

Robin Bergstron

My mother was an avid swimmer. Before our hometown had a pool, she taught children to swim in the river. One of my most fulfilling experiences was teaching children with Down Syndrome to swim. I swam competitively until college graduation in 1969. Twenty-five years later, I began swimming again to avoid recommended back surgery. As long as I swim regularly, I am relatively pain free. Because aquatics can provide such physical and emotional health benefits, I am a passionate supporter of a pool for Lopez.

Susan Wilson

Before moving to Lopez 16 years ago, our family swam together and our children participated in swim team.  We missed this so much after our move that we purchased wetsuits so we could swim during the summer time on the island. I feel a swimming pool is really important to have for many reasons.

It is a great way for families to interact and for community members of all ages to enjoy something together.  "There are no age barriers when everyone is having fun in a pool."

I fondly remember "water baby aerobics" where young mothers had social time with their babies and enjoyed introducing them to the warm pool water.  Our children loved to swim with their Grandpa Don and his senior friends would enjoy swimming with his grandchildren.

I currently work for Cascadia Kayak as a sea kayak guide.  My training and fitness process would greatly benefit from the opportunity to run safety lessons in a pool.

This November I will be a five-year survivor of breast cancer.  My treatment lasted three years.  "I knew what I had to do for some of my rehab time and that was to be able to submerge and exercise in a warm pool." There is nothing like that feeling of floating and swimming in a warm environment when you are recovering from pain, trauma and surgeries. I believe that the Lopez community would benefit from the healing

Sarah Brady

You may recognize me or the name as the local roadrunner, but there is one thing that’s better than running- it’s SWIMMING! Having grown up on islands, I first learned to swim in the ocean and swam my way through grade school and high school on competitive teams. My first SCUBA instructor was Buster Crabbe (one of the old Tarzans) while still in high school- he gave no slack whatsoever, even though I was the only girl in the class- it was do or die. Soon after, my hobbies became SCUBA instructor and swimming instructor (WSI).

Imagine what it would be like for our kids to have a Lopez Lobos swim team and or a synchronized team? Family swims, lap swims, swim lessons, lifesaving, therapy swims for medical- would all fall in accordingly. But it won’t happen by just reading articles and letting time slip by.  We need YOU to pitch in as little as $4.68 or your time and continued support NOW.   It seems only fair to say Lopez would benefit immensely if we work together (as this community has always done) to achieve this ultimate goal. Are you in?

Michele “Charlie” Gruenwald

I love to swim!  It makes me happy.

I’ve been swimming since the age of 5, when I was on a swim team. Although I tired of the competition, I continued swimming on a team through high school as a way to stay in shape.

Swimming is critical to my health. I’ve been diabetic since age 13, so I know it is extremely important to exercise. I carry a waterproof waist-pack when I swim to hold snacks in case my blood sugar starts to tank.  For me, swimming is the best form of exercise: it uses all the muscles, burns fat, and helps relieve every kind of injury to joints. I’ve had four knee surgeries, and swimming keeps me flexible and free of pain. It definitely feeds my mental and physical health.

I have four kids, ages 7 through 14, and all of them swim. It is SO important for kids to learn to swim; they live on an island with water everywhere.  Everyone should learn to swim, and everyone on Lopez will have a chance when the Lopez Pool is constructed.

Tina Finneran

Swimming makes me feel relaxed and wonderful—I feel GOOD!  What a great group of women gather at MacKaye Harbor dock to Swim the Salish Sea.  Everyone should swim; it is wonderful exercise and a great stress reliever.

July 18th was my first time to Swim the Salish Sea. I moved to Lopez twenty years ago, and this is only my 5th time fully immersed in the cold northern Puget Sound/Salish Sea. I have a family, I am married with one son. All of us are SCUBA divers and swimmers-- we love water sports of all kinds.

Do I believe we need a pool for Lopez?  I DO—a pool will enable all children brought up here to learn to swim.  It’s crazy for an island not to have a swimming pool that will give everyone a chance to learn to swim. This surrounding water is just too cold for teaching. Swimming children survive!

Lou Pray

Having lived most of my life in the land-locked state of New Mexico, I  am very much a novice at swimming in the cold green of the Salish Sea. 
Willing my body to submerge itself fully for the first time in those chilly depths took my breath away - literally.  Once I kicked around for a while though, it was pure bliss!  I've always been drawn to water:
streams, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, the ocean. It was never enough just to look at it.  I always had to be in it: wading, dunking, swimming, touching the currents and sprays.  I always knew I wouldn't stay a desert rat forever.  I'm ready for my water sprite period!

Water is such an amazing medium.  We float in it in the womb. It composes most of our body & covers most of the planet. It is essential to our survival. You have to respect it, though.  Take precautions.  Learning to swim is precaution #1.  That is why a community pool on this island makes so much sense for improving our water safety skills and health.  After a hiking accident left me with a painful, arthritic ankle, I've been eager for more non-impact aerobic opportunities such as swimming to improve my health. Let's make this pool happen for our community. We'd all benefit!

Lori Taylor

I LOVE the water!  Growing up in Southern California where the ocean, the backyard pool, or the local high school pool are very well integrated and accessible to most everyone, I have experienced the benefits of easy access to warm water.  When we moved to Lopez in 2006, I joined the board of Friends of Lopez Island Pool because my husband and I believe that a community pool provides an asset that can only be measured by the many ways it enhances the lives of those who use it.  Swimming lessons, EMT training, recreation, fitness, water therapy – the list goes on – and we would love to be able to ease through our “golden years” with access to the fitness and therapy a pool provides. 

I traumatically fractured my leg in 6 places below the knee on November 29, 2009, and have major soft tissue damage.  The BEST resource for my recovery is water therapy.  On August 15, I joined the Sirens of the Salish Sea in swimming in the cold, green water of MacKaye Harbor.  I had to don a 5 mil. wetsuit, head and feet protection, goggles, snorkel, flippers… and did “swim”.  Oh, my goodness!  Just 30 minutes of kicking in that water did wonders for my leg, not to mention overall flexibility and sheer delight! 

People have expressed concern over the tangible “cost” of a community pool.  What is (has been) the intangible cost to our health, mental alertness, JOY?

Rita O'Boyle

Gene Helfman

I swim—because I hate to run!” Gene’s hearty laugh accompanies this confession, and he goes on to swear “This is the coldest water I’ve ever swum in!”.  What could be better, Gene asks, than a pool on this island for everyone, all ages, all abilities. “It’s crazy to live on an island and have your kids not be able to swim!”   Gene also likes the payback of his one-time investment in his wetsuit, an expense equivalent to an initiation fee in a rec club, without the annual membership fee.  Then Gene shared his tip for tackling the cold, cold waters of MacKaye Harbour—he pulls out a thermos of warm water and pours it inside his neck seal before plunging in!

Lia Neal

Jean Peterson

Michael Peterson

Joyce Lyster

I started swimming with FLIP last summer as a way to work with my back—and soon found I was not spending as much time at the chiropractor.  A pool for our island is essential for seniors and for kids.  It’s good for your health, it’s great fun, it’s FABULOUS exercise—and anyone can do it!