Oak Harbor family has 150-year legacy

Standing before the graves of those with whom he shares memories and a name, Mike Dougliss feels a mix of loneliness and solace. In a way, his family members never left him.

“It’s sad but it’s also comforting to know that they’re here,” said Mike, who has been working as Maple Leaf Cemetery’s supervisor for 26 years. “It makes me feel good because I’m taking care of them.”

After the passing of his mother, Ethel, in 2020, he became the last person named Dougliss in Oak Harbor. His sister, Karen, lives in town and took the name “Franzen” after marrying while his aunt, Margaret Dougliss, lives in Coupeville.

On top of taking care of the Dougliss family’s resting places, Mike also cherishes his 150-year-old family history on the island and its contributions to the community.

After fighting in the Civil War, Mike’s great-great-grandfather Hosea Douglass — with an “A” — left Brooklyn with his wife Eliza and son William in 1874. Their destination was Oak Harbor, which back then was a small town of 20 families that settled the area starting in the 1850s.

Mike believes his ancestors left New York because they were enticed by Whidbey’s ideal farm setting and simply because they wanted to get away from “the hustle and bustle.”

William Douglass, who was born in 1870, owned a farm and a butcher shop, which was located in today’s Harborside Village Mall and is commemorated with a photograph inside of the building. In the early 1930s, he became the town marshal and joined the special forces in the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

William married Everdina who, not being enthusiastic about her married name ending in “ass,” made it change to “Dougliss,” something she revealed to a young and amused Mike many years ago.

William and Everdina’s son Theodore, along with many other farmers on the island, helped build the seaplane base in the 1940s, and worked as a farmer from the age of 16 to 70. His brother, Albert, helped build the Deception Pass bridge in the 1930s and lost four fingers from his right hand while cutting pipes.

Every Sunday after church, little Mike, his sister Karen and his grandparents would visit the home of her great-grandmother Everdina, who kept a basket full of photographs. There, the grandparents would go through each photograph to share its story.

To this day, Mike keeps part of that black-and-white collection displayed on the walls of his office, explaining in detail where each building and unpaved road depicted is today. Back then, Oak Harbor was much different.

Mike, who was born in 1950, still remembers how angry his grandfather Theodore would get whenever they’d get stuck on Pioneer Way on their way to Coupeville, waiting for the cows to cross the street and squashing cow pies with his tires. Back then, Mike said, there used to be a farm near the current Safeway.

Over time, Oak Harbor evolved from a small town to a city with under 30,000 residents. Chance encounters with familiar faces while running errands or enjoying a dinner at a restaurant is no longer as common.

Even in his childhood, Oak Harbor felt “like a close knit family,” he said.

Whenever he’d join his grandparents on their trips downtown, it would take hours before they returned home as they would talk with anybody they’d run into.

“Everybody knew everybody,” he said. “Everybody had to talk to everybody.”

Now, Oak Harbor keeps growing in size and population. Once, family members could go deer hunting and clam digging outdoors. Now, a lot of that land has become a road, someone’s home or a neighborhood.

“They used to say ‘Whidbey Island is a well kept secret,’ but it’s not a secret anymore,” he said.

At the same time, all of the old timers are gone. Many of them are buried at Maple Leaf.

Mike has been the supervisor of the cemetery since 1998, watching the Norway Maples his grandfather Theodore planted in 1928 grow larger and larger each year, another lasting testament of his family’s impact.

He previously served as a cemetery commissioner for six years and, for 30 years, grew the famous and rare sugar Hubbard squash at the Scenic Isle Farm on Central Whidbey.

Bryan Stucky, owner of Wallin-Stucky Funeral Home, has worked with Mike since 2016 and expressed admiration for his dedication to the job and the families.

“His family is there, his friends are there, so he takes a lot of pride in maintaining that area for them,” he said. “If you were to ask him where someone is buried at the cemetery, he can, just by memory, tell you where they are.”

Considering how long he and his family have been on the island, Stucky said, there should be a street named after the Dougliss family.

While keeping track of one’s own family history might be challenging or simply not a priority, Mike always had an interest in knowing more about the Dougliss family history and believes families should share, listen and preserve their stories.

Some stories, in hindsight, can elicit a chuckle. One day, Mike’s mother Ethel and aunt Margaret were playing with their family’s German shepherd, Doc, applying nail polish on his nails. Coincidentally, a neighbor’s chickens had been killed, and Doc’s red nails were believed to be the victims’ blood.

Luckily, Doc was later found innocent and the real culprit — another dog — was found.

Other stories, Mike learned, can be shocking, like finding out through a Whidbey News-Times article that William, Everdina and their children Theodore, Albert and Elizabeth survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 — 102 years before Mike’s mother and aunt survived COVID-19.

The family, one could conclude, has robust health.

Often, Mike believes, people can find guidance and learn more about themselves through the experiences of their elders. It is thanks to the older folks, he said, that he is the man he is today.

“If you don’t know where you’ve been, you don’t know where you’re going,” he said.

Michael Dougliss speaks about the part his family played in the history of oak harbor, June 26. (Photo by Caitlyn Anderson)

Photo by Caitlyn Anderson

William and Everdina Dougliss, Mike’s great-grandparents, on their wedding day in 1907. (Photo provided)

Mike’s grandfather, Theodore Dougliss, at 21. (Photo provided)

Mike Dougliss’ great-great-grandfather, Hosea Douglass, came to Oak Harbor in 1874 after fighting in the Civil War. At the time, there were only 20 families in town. (Photo provided)