Rest Easy Jerry Anderson
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Jerry Anderson, age 87, passed away peacefully in his Lummi Island home on 17 September 2020. Despite battling several chronic illnesses, he was active and full of irrepressible life force until his final days, doing yard work and closely monitoring the changing sea conditions on his beloved Legoe Bay.
Jerry was born in Bellingham in 1933 to Mary and “Swede” (Alvin) Anderson and was raised on Chuckanut Drive in Bellingham. His father, who was a charismatic football coach at Bellingham High School and later Washington State Director of Fisheries, died when Jerry was 17. Jerry’s mother died four years later, leaving the 21-year-old Jerry to raise his brother Ross, age 15.
Jerry featured in the 64th Annual Report, Washington Department of Fisheries, 1954
Jerry in the foreground spotting salmon in 1954 for LIFE magazine.
Listen below for why they are facing the wrong direction.
Jerry’s lifelong passion was reefnet salmon fishing, starting from his first crewing job on his father’s boat at the age of 10 to his last full day of fishing at 85. He was a founding member of the Washington Reefnet Owners Association in 1955, joined the delegation to renegotiate the US-Canada salmon treaty in 1956, and was actively involved in fishing politics and salmon conservation for the whole of his adult life.
A young 23-year-old Jerry shapes the Pacific Northwest fishing industry. From Restoring Fraser River Salmon, A History of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission 1937-1985, by John F. Roos
Minutes from a 1953 meeting of the The International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America, which would meet second story of the Beach Store Cafe
He was an energetic community member who co-founded the Lummi Island Fire Department and the Lummi Island Community Club and served as the island postmaster for 28 years. At the Post Office he charmed children with cookies, deciphered addresses for visitors, and operated as the island nerve centre for fishing news—season openings, test catch numbers, species trends, fish prices, and crew gossip.
Smoking salmon at Anderson Reef Net Fisheries, now the site of the Lummi Island Post Office
He was renowned for his kippered salmon, which he sold commercially for several years and then supplied for the annual island salmon barbeque. His life revolved around the Salish Sea, which tragically took the lives of both his mother Mary and his brother Ross (who drowned setting the reefnet boats in 1962).
Jerry’s hat and reefnet items during a history presentation he coordinated in May 2017
In 1960 he married Maria Schmitt who fed the fishing crews, operated an early B&B, and served as the island’s first librarian. After they divorced in 1985, Jerry lived with his long-term partner Susan Watson from 1992 to her death in 2016. He is survived by his sons Peter and Michael; his ex-wife Maria Anderson; grandsons Morgan, Collin, and Cai; sister-in-law Wahlella Moynihan and his niece Deidre (Toody) Hale of Rush Springs, Oklahoma; as well as Wahlella’s numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren; two step-grandchildren Cameron Johnson and Amanda Smith; and two step-great-grandchildren King Powell and Cassius Cook.
Subject to Covid-19 restrictions, the family plans to hold a life celebration event in the summer of 2021. Donations can be made to The Gathering Place or the Lummi Island Fire Department.
Jerry and his son Michael (left) race to the boats.
Jerry Anderson lives on in the history he saved and curated for Lummi Island, particularly around the reefnet fishing at Legoe Bay. Much of the collection at Washington Rural History for Lummi Island is sourced from his collection. Please tour the digital archive here.
The collection is a project of the Island Library of the Whatcom County Library System and Friends of Island Library (FOIL), funded by a grant from the Washington State Library.
