Another great story of a Pasco pioneer. I thought the headline was a curious reference to to Mr. Hull's misfortune.

He's kept his eye on Pasco 50 years

By the Tri-City Herald staff
Published on January 11, 1959

As he approaches his 50th year in Pasco, Harry W. Hull has seen a lot of things come and go.

One of the things he looks forward to coming is the city's 18-hole golf course which was seeded this fall. On the verge of becoming 89, Hull is an avid golfer, playing 18 holes a day just a few years back.

Though he hasn't done this the past couple of years, he still loves the fairways and the greens. The new course will be quite a change from driving the white pellet out in the sagebrush with the jackrabbits, as in the early years.

Mr. and Mrs. Hull, of 112 S. 8th Ave., came to the city in January, 1909. He bought out a jeweler and they operated the store until five years ago.

"Dad was a watchmaker, and mother was the business manager and did the selling," said their son, Dr. Markwood J. Hull, a Pasco dentist. "He'd rather repair a watch and get $5 for it than sell a $50 ring."

Fifty years ago Pasco looked a bit different, observed the elder Hull. He recalled seeing one tree, but his son, who was 10 at the time thought there were as many as three. There were no sidewalks.

He and his mother, who is now 79, rode down on the train to join Hull. They were greeted by one of the city's famous sandstorms. In those days the sand was laced with ashes which had been put down to "pave" the city's streets, the Northern Pacific Railway supplying the cinders from its engines.

After riding a horse cab to the store, then located near 4th and Columbia, they ate a meal in one of the local restaurants. Mrs. Hull observed that cockroaches were helping the waiters.

"I remember Mother saying, 'I don't think I can live anyplace like this,'" her son recalled.

But they stayed and she took an active part in community affairs in addition to helping operate the store, which was later moved to Lewis St. between 3rd and 4th Aves. She was First Worthy Matron of the Eastern Star, and active in the White Shrine and Daughters of the Nile.

Hull is a past master of the Masonic Lodge and served on the Pasco School Board. He holds a life membership in the lodge and she in the Eastern Star.

Both of them believe in keeping their mind on the present instead of the past.. Having always been interested in astronomy, he is finding it interesting to keep abreast of the Sputniks and American earth satellites.

An experience in Hull's life seems to reflect the spirit that keeps him out whacking at a golf ball when most men his age would be content to sit and talk of younger years.

Several years ago while he was on jury duty his eye became swollen, apparently from an insect bite. He lost the sight in it.

For a watchmaker this is quite a handicap, but he overcame it and continued repairing the intricate insides of timepieces with his one good eye.

Mr. and Mrs. Hull celebrated their golden wedding anniversary 11 years ago, and will observe their 50th anniversary of being Pasco "old-timers" shortly.