1 week Ago
The past couple of weeks have seen great loss of caring, giving, selfless community leadership. The passing of three local legends has occurred: • Bill T. Brumsickle, Centralia educator and administrator, elected state representative and involved citizen.
• Elected Chehalis city councilor, mayor pro tem and local business owner Daryl Lund. • Involved citizen, elected mayor and Centralia City Councilor Lee Coumbs, a one-time educator, Southwest Washington Fair manager, organizer of the Lewis County Spring Youth Fair, elected fire commissioner and business owner. I had the honor of knowing and working with all three of these men over the past 30 past years or more as a professional photographer, a police officer and board member of the Chamber of Commerce and United Way.
As a business owner or private citizen, I ran across these three and always had the utmost respect for them and what they have to our community. They were involved in more than their share of committees, civic groups and community organizations. Look up the word “giving.
” You will no doubt find their photographs. You must have moved into the area last week if you don’t know all three of these men. Or at least not heard of them.
They were everywhere. They were involved in everything. If a major project was to be undertaken in the Twin Cities, these three men were a part of it.
When you read their obituary, you will get only a peek of who they are and what they accomplished. There should be statues and plaques for future generations to learn about these men and the true meaning of service to others. They wore so many hats that it is going to be hard to remember them all.
I met Bill and Lee’s families along the way, their wives and their children. I never had the pleasure of meeting Daryl’s family. My heart goes out to all of them.
I know how proud you are of these men and their accomplishments. I hope The Chronicle will do an in-depth story about all three. They deserve that.
Their family deserves that. The community deserves that. For now, I will say this for all of them, you made our community a better place to live in, to raise a family in, and to do business in.
Your footprints are so deep in the sand, they should be filled with cement, so they are never washed away. Thank you for your service gentleman. You are true American leaders.
Bradd Reynolds Chehalis.
