If you’ve ever stopped by Al’s Grocery in Olalla, you’d know
there’s no more fitting location for the
memorial to be held for John Robbecke, at noon Sunday.
Ever since he took the business over from his dad — the guy who
put the “Al” in Al’s —John was the life and breath of the store. He
learned the butcher trade from his uncle and opened a meat counter
where you could get choice cuts of steak, chops and freshly ground
burger.
John carried on his parents’ tradition of having Santa in a tractor
visit his Olalla neighbors at Christmas time. And he also carried
on the Robbecke tradition of generosity and caring, extending
short-term credit on sundries from the store to families and
individuals in need.
I called John’s widow, Wendy, on Thursday to check on the
details of the memorial. I thought perhaps it would be a potluck,
but, no, Wendy has it covered.
“I don’t think anybody needs to bring anything,” she said. “Just
come and bring a John story.”
I’m going to be out of town Sunday, so I guess I’ll have to tell
my John story now. As long as I’ve lived in South Kitsap — since
1979 — I had never met John Robbecke. I was sent to Olalla to check
out
a report we’d heard that the store was for sale. I called the
real estate agent listed on the flyer at the front of the store,
and she told me the business was fine; John was not. He was ill and
not expected to live much longer.
The agent put me in touch with John, who hesitated then agreed
to give an interview. It was important to him, he said, that this
not be a big boo-hoo story. I told him I didn’t see it that way,
but people would want to know his plans for the store, an Olalla
institution, and wrap their heads around why it was for sale.
For well over an hour, John told me about the history of the
store and his family. About the “North Pole” mailbox his parents
put up, so they could help local kids hook up with Santa. Some of
their stories were heart-rending, John said. Good families rough
times.
“We started looking at these letters, and they were children’s
desires and needs, so we answered them,” Robbecke said. “You could
read, there’s a kid out there with a special desire and their mom
and dad couldn’t afford it. Some of those kids we bought them their
present. It was a very heart-fulfilling venture on both sides of
the coin.”
Then there was the now legendary start of the Olalla Polar Bear
Plunge, in which John and friends participated. During the
interview he had a great description of how just cold the water
was, but it was not something I could write in a family newspaper …
so I put it on the blog.
His exact quote was, “New Year’s Day is kind of amateur drunk
day on the couch. If you’re not drinking, what do you do? And if
you don’t like sports, you’re pretty out of it. So we said, ‘OK
guys, if you have enough testicles, come on down and join us, and
we’ll do something different. We thought, at high noon, we’d jump
off the bridge.”
Here’s an aerial view of Al’s, the bridge and the lagoon.
View Larger
Map
John and Wendy have two beautiful, talkative cats. The female
had recently had kittens, and I took notes with one of the crawling
around my lap, as Mama gave me the beady eye. After I relinquished
the kitten and she had it safely back with its siblings, she kept
watching me suspiciously, which John chuckled about.
John may have been terminally ill, but there was nothing wrong
with his sense of humor. At one point, I heard a scratching noise
and turned around to see the male cat relieving himself in the
litter box. John said, “Now, aren’t you glad you looked?”
John had some emotional moments, for sure, as he recalled the
past and thought about the future. But there was nothing pitiful or
diminished about him. Despite his illness, I could see his
personality shine through, and what a great guy. I’m sorry it was
under the circumstances, but I’m glad I had a chance to meet him,
hear all his stories and share a laugh or two.
As reporters we get to — sometimes have to — step in and out of
people’s lives at the most intimate moments. It is a mixed
blessing. I definitely feel blessed that I got a chance to chat
with John that afternoon.
I’m hoping people who knew him better will jump on here and
share their own John stories.
Share on Facebook
Recent Comments