Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge

by Georgie Bright Kunkel

When I learned that there would be a ceremony on West Marginal Way to unveil the highway sign JEANETTE WILLIAMS MEMORIAL BRIDGE I could not stay away. Soon I found myself driving along the boulevard and crossing the tracks into the parking area. Several dignitaries gathered to honor the woman of politics who took part in making sure that West Seattleites had a high bridge.

You may not realize it but the newly named, Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge, made it possible to drive downtown to and from work without waiting for ships to pass under the drawbridge. This high bridge came into being because of an interesting occurrence. I will never forget the exciting news of Rolf Neslund, an older pilot, who made an error which resulted in the freighter Chavez crashing into one of the old bridges making it unusable. It is reported that he said, “My wife will kill me for this.” Well, as it happened she later died in prison for just that, killing him, even though his body was never found.

West Seattleites had to suffer traffic tie-ups because of the bridge’s demise. There was a good deal of wheeling and dealing to find the funds for a high bridge. Our senior senator Warren Magnuson had enough seniority to pull it off and the high bridge became a reality. Much of the groundwork for making it all happen was facilitated city council member Jeanette Williams when Charles Royer was mayor.

Williams did not begin her life in politics. She played viola in both Seattle and Chicago orchestras and even formed a traveling women’s band. But it wasn’t long before she found her calling. Anyone named after Alice Paul, feminist and political strategist, would naturally be a leader. She was the first female chair of a metropolitan Democratic Party organization in the United States.

I remember going with my husband downtown to her office and doing mailings. She showed us how to line up all the envelopes with the part to be moistened folded back. We would take a sponge and run it across at least ten or twenty envelopes and then seal each one. That was in the days of hands-on politics. It was before all the yard signs and high priced TV ads.

Her resume includes twenty years on the Seattle City Council with a reputation of being for parks, human rights and of course the West Seattle Bridge. Her grown children watched her stay intellectually active up until she died just a year ago at age 94. Although she wanted to see Hillary Clinton run for the presidency, she cast her vote for Barak Obama before she died.

Rusty Williams, her son, worked tirelessly to bring the issue of naming the bridge after his mother before the citizens of Seattle. He is very proud of the fact that she is the first woman to have such a large structure named in her memory.

There was a time in which I could drive over the high bridge and enter the freeway without merging at 60 miles an hour. Perhaps some other activist like Jeanette Williams will step up to the plate and find a way to change the traffic pattern to allow West Seattleites to have the right of way once more. I know that if Jeanette were still around, it might be accomplished.

Georgie Bright Kunkel is a freelance writer who can be reached at gnkunkel@comcast.net or 206-935-8663.