This story originally aired on June 17, 2017. The San Juans' last homesteaders first discovered the islands on a map. June and Farrar Burn were newlyweds. They met in 1919 at a party June threw in her log cabin in Virginia. June quickly fell for Farrar’s ruddy-cheeked smile, curly red hair, and his ability to make himself useful immediately: gathering firewood, serving drinks, hosting as if it were his own home. Farrar was drawn to June’s lively eyes and her unmistakable, fierce spirit. In a

This story originally aired on June 17, 2017. Washington boasts the largest ferry system in the country. “Twenty-two ferries cross Puget Sound and its inland waterways, carrying more than 22 million passengers to 20 different ports of call,” according to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s website. Marsha Morse was one of the first women captains in Washington’s ferry system. She’s been navigating the waterways since 1975. In this episode of Sound Effect , we hop a ferry with

This week, stories of picking up the pieces. First, a story of how a chance discovery in a dumpster led to an inside look at a woman’s life , and eventually a musical tribute. Then, University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce shares the story of her brother , and his tragic death. Also, the story of how a shocking loss moved a woman to open up a contemplative and creative space . Finally, musician Naomi Wachira performs in our studios, and talks about how her songs of hope are often

Naomi Wachira was born and raised in Kenya, studied broadcasting in Chicago, then theology in Seattle. While she always had an impressive singing voice -- she sang in choirs since she was five -- becoming a professional musician wasn’t truly on the radar until 2013, after her father, a pastor in Kenya, passed away. “He followed his calling, he followed his life passion which was helping people and believing in people. And I think for me it made me realize that when my time is done here on earth,

On January 31, 2000, Claire Barnett lost 10 people she loved dearly on Alaska Airlines Flight 261. Two of the people on board were her daughters, 8-year-old Coriander Clemetson and 6-year-old Blake Clemetson. The girls were coming back from Mexico with their father, their stepmother, their 6-year-old stepbrother and their new 6-month-old baby brother. The MD-83 crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California after a faulty screw forced the plane into a nosedive. “People think

Ana Mari Cauce says her relationship with her big brother was pretty typical when they were growing up. "Every scar on his body was probably given to him by me," Cauce says, "He had a scar over his mouth where I kicked hime in the mouth -- not on puprose! He was in the front seat, I was in the back seat. He did some kind of name-calling and so I went to kick the back of teh seat, he turned around I caught his tooth." Cauce has served as President of the University of Washington since 2015. She

On a hot, windy night in San Francisco, a good friend of Everett musician Jason Webley climbed into a dumpster. His nickname was Chicken John, and he crouched at the bottom of the dumpster to light a cigarette. What he found, there among the garbage, turned out to be unexpected treasure: an oversized, handmade leather scrapbook that was falling apart. Chicken carried around the discarded, early-20th Century scrapbook for years. It contained items -- poems, newspaper clippings and other official

The Islamic Center of Eastside is Bellevue’s only mosque. It was at this Sacred Space that Muslims from more than 40 different countries prayed five times a day. That is, until it was the target of arson -- not once, but twice. In the Islamic faith, the mosque is not only a house of prayer, but the central place for Muslims to gather, according to Omer Lone, a mosque elder at the Center. "The mosque plays the role of the community center," he said. "It's the university and the town hall." In a

Oysterville, Washington is about 15 miles up the peninsula from Long Beach. It used to be a hub for oyster farming. It’s a tiny town, with an even tinier church. But this church has a very long history in Washington, as a little seaside haven. Sydney Stevens is the great granddaughter of R.H. Espy, who helped create this town. He also built the church, now called the Historic Church of Oysterville. This was in 1892, about 38 years after the founding of Oysterville. And while the town had a new

In 1996, when Ginny Ruffner moved into an old brick building in the heart of Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, her new backyard looked like typical big city blight: overgrown crabgrass and weeds, trash, a brick wall. “My view here was pretty urban, so I made my view. I augmented it, added to it,” said Ruffner . Over the years, Ruffner has transformed this space into an urban oasis that is home to a wide variety of colors, textures and, of course, plants. The botanical matron of the garden is a 12