Ten minutes before the event was to begin, laughter rose above the steady flow of vehicles moving along SR 302, past the former site of the Goldman Grocery Store that first Saturday afternoon in August.
People told each other stories about how they were recruited into the fold. Brent Doering of Burley recounted spotting his friend Bruce Murray, likely with a machete in hand, down near the public boat ramp, “… and I say, ‘Hey Bruce. Looks like you’ve got a big project there. Count me in!’ ”
People were already snapping photos on their phones as others jockeyed into position around the recently refurbished “Discover the Key Peninsula” welcome sign to commemorate this extraordinary day.
Even with an excellent wide-angle lens, the idea of squeezing everyone into the frame and still having recognizable faces was laughable. Without a cloud in sight, organizers could not have picked a better summer day to forge past and present in celebration of this momentous occasion in local history.
Three generations of Goldmans flew in from Alabama and Florida. Bruce Murray introduced local dignitaries: Pierce County Councilmember Robyn Denson, Bart Wolfe and Paul Michaels from the Key Peninsula Historical Society, Kelsey Natson, official historian for the Washington State Department of Transportation, Kathy Lyons, president of the KP Council and leader of the KP Beautification Project, and Stan Moffett, who heads up Key Pen It Clean.
Bruce introduced members of the Burley community, like his “project engineer” Doering, good neighbor representatives like Andrew O’Brien, who purchased the Goldman family home some years back, as well as the faces of many Burley community friends and neighbors.
I well remember the first time I spoke with Bruce by phone when he told me about his plan to spruce up the entrance to the Key Peninsula. First task on his agenda? Eradicate the extremely invasive knotweed that obliterated the sign from view and had become a fast-growing eyesore. To Bruce, it was a sign that said nobody cared. He knew better.
Having personally battled knotweed for decades myself, I concluded the kind-hearted Mr. Murray was about to meet his match. His enthusiasm and work ethic attracted help from others. The work was certainly illustrative of controlling a beastly invasive and was a nice clean-up effort, so we published an article about it (“Purdy Spit to Be Purged of Invasive Knotweed Species,” May 2024).
As it turned out, there was a man living in Alabama who was reading his hometown Key Peninsula News online. Larry Goldman said he saw the article and couldn’t help but wonder if it might be the same Bruce Murray he played Little League baseball with as kids.
He wrote to him: “Look, I don’t know if you’re the same guy I played baseball with back in 1959, but I’m writing to let you know I like what I’m hearing, and I especially like that you identified the sandspit as the Wauna Sandspit. And I say, Yes Sir!”
And with that story, cheers erupted, arms flew overhead with pumped fists in a show of solidarity — including that of Goldman’s cousin Mar White Hoey, age 101, who sat beaming as proud as she could be. Goldman said, “Mar Hoey is our senior Goldman official. I’m trying to catch up with you, Mar, but I’m not sure I’m going to make it. But I’m so glad you’re here, I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful to you, all the volunteers, and all of y’all out here for coming today.”
“History in our community is so important,” said Robyn Denson. “I think if you live out here, you know that. We spend a lot of time and money between the county and state, but this time it’s our volunteers who make sure we’re remembering community and remnants of the past. This is here for everyone to enjoy … it makes a great legacy.”
With that, everyone was invited to join a reception of food and drink at the nearby Burley Community Hall, where I chatted more with Larry Goldman.
“The spirit of volunteerism, when somebody believes in a cause like a historical site or an environmentally sensitive area, some amazing things can happen when a person gets motivated and gets a bunch of other people involved in it.
“I’m really proud of this group of people here, and I feel touched by it, I mean, really touched by it. I know my mother and father would be blown away by all this business. It cements their legacy, more so than anything else.”
Bruce Murray is proud, too. “This project was done without official plans, informal plans, or permitting of any kind that I know of. We communicated with the appropriate parties for nodding approval and kept in contact, we were free to go out there, but we kept it relatively simple, too.”
Standing there on the beach that day, listening to speeches, I remembered my own childhood. My dad was in sales, and if he had a good month, we’d make the trip across the Narrows Bridge to eat dinner at Pearl’s by the Sea, looking beyond the bridge toward Wauna and wondering what was out there. I never dreamed that I would be here over 50 years later as the editor of the newspaper in the land beyond the Wauna Spit.
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