Out of appreciation for Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ-129 at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, the North Cascade chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association holds an annual picnic in La Conner each August.
It’s a gathering that brings together young, active-duty sailors with storied veterans who lived to tell about a tragic, yet iconic, event in U.S. history 73 years ago.
It’s also a way for the veteran group to thank members of VAQ-129 for their military service as well as for their sponsorship over the years, involving events and ceremonies.
Ordinarily much anticipated, the picnic two months ago was unlike any other, with those attending still reeling over the recent passing of two celebrated Pearl Harbor survivors.
When Cecil Calavan, the witty, North Cascade chapter president, died in his Anacortes home at the age of 90 on Aug. 14, it happened three days after the passing of fellow Pearl Harbor survivor and former chapter president Jim Stansell, 91, of Bellingham.
The picnic both men had organized, attended and shared stories at for years went on as scheduled Aug. 19.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Cindy Fowler, a senior chief with VAQ-129 and honorary member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Cascade Chapter group.
“We had a moment of silence. It (their absence) was very noticed.”
Calavan, a survivor of the USS Utah, had joked in recent years about being the youngster of the group. Also president of the USS Utah Survivors Association, he was well known in Oak Harbor and Coupeville for his animated story-telling, energetic personality and wacky sense of humor.
“Cecil was very special,” said Lynda Eccles, executive director of the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce. “He always had such a positive outlook on life.”
Eccles knew Calavan, Stansell and others with the Pearl Harbor Survivors local chapter because of their involvement with the Memorial Day parade and ceremony in Coupeville.
She pointed out that two others in the group also passed away in the past year — Anthony Nady of Anacortes and Roger Allen of Bellingham. Allen, a Korean War veteran, was an associate member with the Pearl Harbor group.
Stansell served on the destroyer USS Hull at Pearl Harbor, Nady on the USS Nevada.
“That generation will never come around again,” Eccles said. “They just had that exuberance. Whether it was what they went through, they were very positive and so full of life.
“They were very proud of who they were.”
Members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association North Cascade chapter also were honored guests in parades, changes of command and other ceremonies in Oak Harbor, including a Pearl Harbor remembrance on the Seaplane Base last December.
Fowler said younger sailors have come to her to share how much it meant to them to meet and chat with Pearl Harbor veterans.
“They got fairly well known around Oak Harbor,” said Skip Pohtilla, a retired Naval officer and member of the Oak Harbor Area Council of the Navy League. “They were able to get out and also participate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was an important part of Whidbey Island history to have the Pearl Harbor survivors here.”
With the number of Pearl Harbor survivors declining and current members now in their 90s, it’s a chapter of local history that is fading.
Only two Pearl Harbor survivors from the North Cascade chapter — Harold Johnson, who served on the USS Oklahoma, and Harold Shimer, who served on the USS Helena — attended the picnic in La Conner in August.
“The group is definitely dwindling,” Fowler said.
Only four members remain with the North Cascades chapter.
The group met in September at its monthly meeting at the Farmhouse Restaurant in Mount Vernon and agreed to continue on.
