4:20 PM: The next beneficiary of Adah Cruzen‘s philanthropy: The Southwest Seattle Historical Society! We got the news from SWSHS while here at West Seattle Summer Fest and took the photo at the SWSHS booth minutes ago.

(Right now) at Summer Fest longtime West Seattle resident Adah Cruzen is (visiting to) tell some stories (to) be turned into impromptu poems by Typewriter Rodeo creator Sean Petrie. Adah recently donated $100,000 from the estate of her late husband, Earl Cruzen, the largest single gift that the historical society has received in its 34-year history.

Adah and Earl’s legacy gift helps the historical society in two major ways: Firstly, for capital repairs and ongoing care to the Log House Museum on Alki such-as porch deck and railing repairs, fence repairs, electrical upgrades, and other much-needed modifications and maintenance; and secondly “staff development and support,” an effort to help the society to expand its offerings to the public by increasing curatorial staff hours, professional development and training, etc. Presently the Log House Museum has two new exhibits on display that the Curatorial team has developed: “Fired Up: Neighborhood Fire Stations on the Duwamish Peninsula,” and “Navigating to Alki: Early Maps of the Duwamish Peninsula.”

The museum will also be launching a music-related exhibit, “Sound Spots: Music of the Duwamish Peninsula,” which opens on August 9, from 12 – 2 pm at the Log House Museum (in part to coincide with Sub Pop’s SPF30 music festival on Alki on Saturday, August 11, 2018).

“Adah and Earl’s gift will help — and has already been helping us — in major ways in our immediate future, and the ripple effects with the Cruzen gift will continue to help us for many years to come. The Southwest Seattle Historical Society owes Adah and Earl Cruzen a huge debt of gratitude for this major legacy gift.”

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Comments from Jeff McCord, Executive Director of Southwest Seattle Historical Society

I recently met with Adah Cruzen at the Log House Museum to give her a tour. She and her assistant, Alfredo, stopped by and I took them through our galleries and showed them the exterior of the building. She was pleased to see what we had accomplished, both at the museum and within the community at large.

Adah said that she wanted to share some good news with us about funding that she wanted to provide. She was acting upon the wishes of her husband, who himself was very active in the community. Earl had been a key force behind the creation of 11 murals that originally appeared throughout the Alaska Junction, along with a key mural in the Morgan Junction behind Starbucks. Earl also spearheaded the effort to create the iconic “Walking on Logs” sculpture along the Fauntleroy Expressway and was on the Advisory Council of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.

I shared with Adah our initiative of ‘Reaching New Audiences, Telling New Stories,’ and talked about the new curator staffmembers we’ve been bringing on to provide more resources for historic interpretation, all of which struck a chord with her. She expressed her support for our staff development, as well as seeing some of the needs we had about capital repairs and improvements to our ADA ramp, porch shoring, fence repairs, lighting and security updates.

Adah then gave us the amazing news about a $100,000 gift to the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Thank you Adah and Earl!

ADDED 8:38 PM: Jeff shared images of two poems from this afternoon, as well as video of Sean reading one to Adah: