Joy Drewfs

I came to Tacoma in 1945 when I was a toddler and the North End of the city was not developed the way it is now. 26th street ended at Pearl and went no farther. My family took drives on the weekend, and I remember going down to the ferry to go over to Vashon Island, and stopping by the zoo to see the bear (brown or black) and the place where Dub Dub, the harbor seal, lived. There was an amusement park across the street from Point Defiance called Funland with rides like the merry-go-round, the Octopus, and the Shoot the Chutes water-ride. I do remember my dad taking me on the Octopus one time when the attendant didn’t close the front of the car securely.   As the ride was whirling around, it flew open! Dad held me tight and yelled for the man to stop the ride. It might have been my first brush with death but, like a cat, I do seem to have numerous escapes.

Sometimes my dad would drive past Franke Tobey Jones and my mom told me it was a nice place where old people lived. Since we were living with my grandmother, I knew what she meant by old people.

I never had any family members live at FTJ but I have had friends who’ve lived here. One of them was Joanne Selden. She asked me when I was going to move up from Oregon and live here.  Since I was watching the progress of the Bristol View apartments being built, I told her that when they were done I would move and that I wanted an apartment on the east side of the building.  Having lived away from Tacoma for over 50 years, I wanted to come back and be close to the Salish Sea and see “her majesty. Mount Tahoma” when she’s out.

I moved to FTJ in May of 2020, during the first part of the COVID pandemic and felt fortunate to be able to move at that time. I’ve dubbed the people who are lucky enough to live in Bristol View “The Bristolites” and we are a jolly group. Some of us get new cars while others of us get new knees and hips. All in all, life is good here at FTJ.

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