Joe and Joanne McReynolds have been selected as the co-Grand Marshals for the Forks Old Fashioned Fourth of July parade.

Joanne was born near Bunker Creek in Chehalis about 83 years ago. Joe was born in Kansas and he is 86 years old. The couple met and married in Elma in 1948 and moved to Forks in 1951.

Joanne said, “I had an aunt and uncle living here in Forks and pretty soon the whole family moved here.”

It was Jan. 13, 1951 when the McReynolds arrived in Forks.  Just a few days later at 3 a.m. the house they were living in caught fire. “The cat woke up the family and we all just ran out as the roof collapsed,” Joanne said. All 13 family members made it out alive, but they had lost everything.

Joanne remembers it was a cold night and many Forks residents took the family members in that were now homeless. She said, “The people just started showing up with money, everyone was there for us.” She remembers one person giving them a check for $300.

The McReynolds family left Forks and returned several times when Joe was looking for work, especially at one point when the West End was on strike. They eventually settled in Forks for good and Joe went to work for Fitts Logging, taking over and running the company when Mr. Fitts was ill with cancer.

Joe said he enjoyed his career in logging. “It was hard work, but a lot of fun, we had a good crew.”

Joe was at the first Forks Old Fashioned Fourth of July logging show in 1963. He helped raise the tree that he later topped during the show. Joe said, “We used the tree again the next year, we just put another top on it.”

Joanne even got in on the Log Show action, winning the spike contest one year.

Joanne said her claim to fame is being “the hostess with the mostess,” saying she has always enjoyed cooking big quantities of food for family get-togethers.

Through the years Joanne has operated a cleaning business and still cleans the Rayonier office. The pair have been Grange members for years and Joanne also was a Cub Scout leader.

As far as hobbies, Joanne says she has several cats she has rescued and she feeds her raccoon family. “I feed the raccoons, they come and go, sometimes they get hit by a car or something else happens, but at least they don’t die hungry.”

The McReynolds raised four sons — Wayne and Jeff both live in Forks and Pat and Clay both live in Idaho. They also raised a grandson, Anthony, who also now lives in Idaho.

Joanne said, “It’s going to be fun to be in the parade.”