Ruth Bogue was the first woman mayor of Gig Harbor. She was also its first full-time mayor. Because she enjoyed the luxury of not needing another job, she was both willing and able to devote her time to city hall. She did not consider herself a pioneer woman in government. In her view, she was a typical woman of the 70s taking a more active role.

The government of even a small city is a complex matter, particularly when that city is rapidly growing and changing. Ruth felt neither her pre-med course at the University of Washington nor her previous 10 1/2 years on the Gig Harbor City Council prepared her to be mayor. She asked Evergreen State College in Olympia for help. The faculty of the Urban Planning Department responded.

They created a course tailor-made for Ruth and Gig Harbor. With the faculty serving as consultants, Ruth and urban planning students analyzed and restructured the city's existing systems and procedures. It was a win/win situation. The students got hands-on experience and the city got the benefit of professional expertise at no cost.

Some of the issues facing the city during her seven years in office were: maintaining the quality of life through greenbelts and open space; providing adequate sewage treatment and utility services at reasonable rates; and keeping city operations cost effective.

Ruth now lives in Florida during the winter months when she isn't traveling. She is an avid birdwatcher and has pursued that hobby on at least four continents. She considers Gig Harbor her home and her heart is still in that small city she helped modernize.

 Five days after Borghild married Albert Anderson, they moved to Alaska where he became the missionary in charge of a boy's orphanage and she was the housemother. After eight years, in 1938, they returned home to Rosedale, bringing with them their adopted son. He was the first of the many children the Andersons befriended. Their home was open to anyone who needed help. Many foster children were welcomed there.

Borghild, an unusual woman with an unusual supply of faith, love, talent, and determination, did a number of unusual things. After her husband died, she spent two years as a missionary in Colombia, South America. Later she paid her own way to Hawaii, where she served as a missionary for six years.

She had great talent in music and art which she shared without restraint. When she played for church services, the music came from the depths of her soul. She played at nursing homes, leading residents in a weekly songfest. She tutored inmates in the women's prison. When she was teaching school at Artondale, her students received a detailed education well beyond the textbooks.

As she grew older and loss of sight forced her to limit her activities somewhat, she received many letters from those she had helped. A woman who had been in solitary confinement wrote that Borghild's inspiration had helped her make a new life. A young girl in her art class at Artondale had become a well-known artist.

During her entire exceptional life, Borghild went wherever she could help. That it might be difficult for her never entered her mind.

Anna came to the United States when she was about six years old. Her mother made the long journey from Yugoslavia to her brother's home in Tacoma accompanied only by her three small daughters. She did not speak English at the time.

When her husband Martin passed away, Anna Ancich had to find a way of supporting her large family. She inherited the boat, George A., which she chartered out for some years to local people. Then, in 1937, Anna took a most unexpected action. She ordered the construction of a commercial fishing boat! The vessel, a 75' sardine style purse seiner was built at the J. M. Martinac Shipyard in Tacoma. As an ongoing reminder of her initiative and enterprise, it was named the Anna A.