RHS News

To help celebrate the upcoming country-wide 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, RHS is launching a special membership drive, rolling back costs to what they were 25 years ago in honor of America250. “We Want YOU” to join the Renton Historical Society membership! America250 Rates Individual Annual Membership: $10 Student or Senior Annual Membership: $8 Family Annual Membership: $15 Patron Annual Membership: $150 Lifetime Membership:

Stan Greene 1930-2025 Born Stanley David Greene on February 24, 1930, in LaGrande, Oregon. Stan attended Western State College in Bellingham, Washington, as an undergraduate, and pursued graduate work in library audiovisual technology at the University of Washington. Stan met the love of his life, Rose Mary Dewar, and they were married on August 24, 1951. During the Korean War, Stan was in the Navy and served in Adak, Alaska, and Oak Harbor NAS. Stan and Rose Mary lived in Re

RHS is proud to share our Winter 2025 Q4 Newsletter with you! Click HERE for a downloadable PDF! Didn’t get your copy via email? Go to the front page of our website, scroll down, and sign up! Signed up & still haven’t received it? Let us know! Email us at info@rentonhistory.org

A shared headstone at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery¹ in Renton, Washington memorializes two young adults, Debra Marie Evans and Larry Scott Leek, who died in 1984, with the inscription: “Sweethearts. They Died for Love in the Green River Gorge.” Young sweethearts died on May 28, 1984, Memorial Day Weekend, at the Green River Gorge near Black Diamond, WA. When we are no longer able to tell our own life stories, we will be left to the writings of others. What do your relatives kn

Please help us welcome new members of the Renton Historical Society! Alice Lockridge Jacob Winter Steve and Avanti Bergquist and family Dan and Liz Hemenway Greg Bergquist Large Donors: Linda Della Rossa Kirk Mathewson Alice Lockridge Kristy Sharkey Bernie O'Donnell Karen Boswell New Lifetime Member: Bernie O'Donnell Would you like to view a PDF of the full, print newsletter? Please click on the Download image to the right, below.

Photo Credit: Bill Gaw, November 2025. Newly accessioned projector. A big thank you to our 2025 artifact donors! We look forward to featuring more unique relics from Renton’s history donated to RHS each quarter. Jack Bradley, a Renton local since 1962, recently donated a nice selection of projectors. We are grateful Jack thought of us to safeguard his impressive collection of historical significance, and look forward to creating an exhibit to share the story of the projectors

LOCAL FOLKS SHARING THE RENTON LOVE Check out these great Renton-centric social media accounts! GETTING INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY Arts, Heritage, and Science (AHS) Week brings together leaders and cultural professionals from across Washington state as advocates to meet with state legislators about statewide cultural funding, policies, and highlight local stories and concerns from communities across the state. For more details on getting involved with advocating for our commu

On August 21, 2025, RHS Board President Carrie Bergquist was recognized by the Washington State Genealogical Society for her “exceptional service to the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society and the North Beach Genealogy Society.” We are SO proud of her and look forward to offering genealogy services to the Renton community to help YOU connect to your family’s roots. The RHS board is offering genealogy services and has helped several families recently. One request included the hi

And Celebrating Renton’s 125th Birthday As July 4, 2026, approaches, the Renton Historical Society is excited to join the City of Renton, the State of Washington, and the entire United States of America in celebrating our country’s 250th anniversary of independence. Fun Fact - 250th anniversaries can be termed in the following ways: Semiquincentennial (half of 500 years), Sestercentennial (halfway between the 2nd and 3rd centuries), Bisesquicentennial (two and a half centurie

From right to left. Carrie is joined in her volunteer role on the RHS Board of Directors by the following volunteers: Vice President, Bill Gaw; Treasurer, Steve Bergquist; Secretary, Jacob Winter; Director, Kai Dalton, Director, Alice Lockridge; and Director, James Wilhoit. Carrie Bergquist was elected President of the Board of Directors at the Renton Historical Society’s (RHS) annual membership meeting in June of 2025, returning to a position she previously held between 1989

One of our favorite new offerings at RHS is our Genealogy services. You may have noticed we’ve talked about it a few times already in this newsletter edition. An exciting new addition to our newsletter is our Genealogy Corner, where we’ll share helpful tips and tools to help you explore your family history. One great source is FamilySearch.org . It is a free site, but you must create an account and sign in to access its services. We feel the most useful tool that FamilySearch

Published Authors Making Local History If you are a local author who has published a book, we’d love for you to take part in our newsletter section celebrating local art and writing! What we need: A 300 dpi image of your book cover. A web address where it can be purchased. Your Name and contact information. Send this to info@rentonhistory.org We look forward to hearing from you! Artists Making Local History First 2 images belong to Artist: Meena Merchant. Photo Credit: Rento