Westport residents Don and Elaine Tackett marked 60 years of marriage last Thursday, Feb. 4, with a huge family gathering at their home.
Donald L. Tackett and Elaine M. Proctor met on June 13, 1955. It was Elaine’s first day at work with the Renton Parks and Recreation Department, where Don was also employed during summer vacations from college. She had just graduated from Renton High School and Don was a member of the RHS Class of 1951. Five months after they met, the two were engaged.
Following high school, Don served in the U.S. Navy from 1950-1954, where he saw service in Korea.
The couple wed in Renton, Wash. on February 4, 1956, and Don enrolled at Western Washington State College (now WWU) in Bellingham. After the birth of the couple’s second child the following year, he dropped out of school and went to work as a district executive for the Boys Scouts of America.
A few years later, Don returned to college as a Music major, graduating from Central Washington State College (now CWU) in 1970 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. The couple moved to Federal Way and remained there for five years where Don taught at Kilo Jr. High from 1970 through 1975.
In 1975, the Tacketts moved to Aberdeen when Don was hired by the Hoquiam School District, where he taught elementary and secondary music and drama until his retirement in 1993. He also coached football at HHS for several years and volunteered with the school’s track program. Don briefly came out of retirement in 1995 to again work at Hoquiam for another year.
Elaine spent her working career in the medical profession, serving as an admitting clerk and office administrator for emergency room services, first in Ellensburg and then at Riverton Hospital in Seattle.
When the couple moved to Grays Harbor, she worked for Dr. Korvel in Aberdeen for five years, and then at St. Joseph’s Hospital for seven years, retiring in 1987.
When Don retired in 1993, the couple had a home built on five acres fronting the Humptulips River out of Hoquiam, where they remained for the next five years.
In 1999, Don and Elaine decided to fulfill their wanderlust dreams and purchased a 5th wheel trailer. They spent the next two years on the road traveling across the U.S., all along the eastern seaboard, through the southern states, and then headed back north up the west coast all the way to Ketchikan, Alaska, to visit one of their daughters. Ready to settle down again in 2000, the Tacketts had a home built in Westport and have lived here since then.
In the early 2000s, Don returned to the classroom at Ocosta Jr/Sr High School as both a short- and long-term substitute teacher in the school district’s Music Department.
The couple has four children. Daughter Laura Tackett, born in 1956, lives in Westport. Peri Shapansky, born in 1957, and her husband Ray, are Westport residents. Son Lon, who was born in 1959, and his wife Margo, also live in Westport. Daughter Jennifer Henderson, born in 1965, and her husband John, live in Montrose, Colorado.
The Tacketts also have 15 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter.
These days, Don still keeps busy with artistic pursuits, He has painted scenes in acrylics; many of them on saw blades and handsaws. He has participated in several local art festivals and has also done a number of commissioned works. About a decade ago Don also started working extensively in watercolors, creating wall art and very popular note cards.
Elaine has also kept busy. She enjoys writing, especially journaling. For many years, she volunteered for several organizations in Grays Harbor, including Meals on Wheels and PAWS, as well as the South Beach Food Bank. These days, she especially enjoys playing casino slots.
To top off the celebration of their 60th anniversary, Lon and Margo are taking the couple on an overnight adventure to Angel of the Winds Casino and Hotel in Arlington this coming Monday.
