Articles by betty.freeman
Senior seeks a life of service
Senior seeks a life of service
By Betty.freeman • October 18, 2012 11:44 am

When Amanda d’Almeida went to China last June to work in the Chao Yong orphanage outside Beijing, the experience changed the course of her life and brought her goals into sharp focus.

D’Almeida joined 12 others from the Coupeville area on a non-denominational mission through the Living Hope Foursquare Church. Working with physically and mentally handicapped children in the orphanage, d’Almeida, 17, learned that she wants to be someone whose life means something to the poor and neglected of the world.

Read Story

Learning Center targets homeschooled students
By Betty.freeman • October 17, 2012 2:21 pm

There’s a lot of learning going on in a very small space in downtown Coupeville. Educator Patrick Shanahan opened Coupeville Learning Center at the beginning of September at 6 N.W. Coveland St. in the former Whidbey Examiner office, offering a variety of learning experiences for students, whether they are enrolled in public school or are being home-schooled.

Read Story

Art school plans interactive sculpture
By Betty.freeman • September 26, 2012 1:43 pm

It takes a village to support art education.

That’s what the founders of Pacific Northwest Art School in Coupeville believed when they started the school in 1986.

Their backgrounds in art were diverse but they had a common goal: an art school that embraced multiple disciplines and brought students of all ages, respected instructors and masters together in an atmosphere of collaboration and learning.

Read Story

Boling earns a Fulbright
By Betty.freeman • September 21, 2012 1:18 pm

One young woman with deep roots in Coupeville is branching out into the bigger world.

“I am a small -town girl at heart, but I am only this way after experiencing many different cultures and living in various places in the U.S. and across the world,” said Jessica Boling, 27, who has lived in Boston, France, Cameroon and Korea since graduating from Coupeville High School in 2003.

Boling is currently working in Korea. She went there for an “adoptee’s trip home” sponsored by the Holt Foundation, which helps international adoptees travel home to explore their origins. She spent three months with a host family and the Holt organization subsidized her stay so she could teach English.

Jessica was born in South Korea, and adopted by the Boling family when she was four months old. She grew up just outside Coupeville on a farm in Ebey’s Prairie with her parents John and Linda Boling, older brothers Grant and Douglas, and a younger sister Lyndsay, also adopted from Korea as a baby.

Read Story

Poets capture magic of island life
By Betty.freeman • August 31, 2012 6:36 pm

“Island life has its own music and imagery,” says Clinton resident Sheryl Clough, editor and publisher of a new poetry anthology, “Surrounded: Living With Islands.” “I really dig Whidbey Island,” Clough said with a smile. “You can hardly go a mile here without wanting to stop and write a poem.”

Read Story

Coupeville historical cemetery tour brings history to life
By Betty.freeman • August 31, 2012 5:22 pm

Everyone at Sunnyside Cemetery is buried facing the sunrise – all but Frank Pratt, whose grave faces the stunning scenery of Ebey’s Prairie, Admiralty Inlet and the Olympics. “Pratt was unique,” said local historian Roger Sherman, who will lead a tour of the historic cemetery at 11 a.m. on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 3, as a fundraiser for the Island County Historical Museum.

Read Story