Thursday, March 28, 2024

Rollie Schmitten pens a new book

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Native son of the upper valley, Roland A. Schmitten has just published a new book. Lake Wenatchee Early History. As a great grandson, Schmitten represents the fourth generation of the Schmitten Lumber Company family. He is a graduate of Cashmere High School and Washington State University with a degree in Forest Management.

After serving four years in the Marine Corp where he served 13 months in Viet Nam he returned to the Wenatchee Valley and worked as a logging manager for the family lumber company.

Schmitten has served on the Cashmere City Council, the Chelan County Port Commission and three terms in the Washington State Legislature.

By the time he retired  in 2005, he had served 3 presidents, and 7 Secretaries of Commerce besides his remarkable career with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Washington State Director of Fisheries.

Schmitten and his wife Barbara currently reside in their home on Lake Wenatchee where his family’s involvement goes back to 1917.

In the Dedication and introduction to the book, Schmitten writes. “I had always hoped that someone from one of the pioneer families would write a book on the early days of Lake Wentachee. Now those pioneers are gone, and those who remember are fading quickly, so I wanted to tell the story as best I could.”

His list of sources for the book is a who’s who of local residents including Pat Morris, Frazier Strutzel and Bill Newell.

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