The daily Astorian., August 13, 2015, Image 22

Fish, family
and the ties that bind
Tina Ward went from working summers to owning the Sportsmen’s
Cannery in Seaview, Washington — a labor of love and hard work
Story and photos by
LYNETTE RAE McADAMS
T
The family-owned-and-operated Sportsmen’s Cannery in Seaview, Washington, has been in continuous operation since 1943. The Ward fam-
ily, pictured here, took ownership in 2001. From left: Kempsey Ward, Tina Ward, Greg Petit, Sydney Ward, Kevin Ward, (and Ruger, the dog).
Christie Bartlett, right, and Kim Pickering pack fresh tuna
into cans at the Sportsmen’s Cannery in Seaview, Wash-
ington. Each can is packed by hand, individually weighed,
then sealed and processed in one of the facility’s twin pres-
sure cookers, which have been in use since the 1950s.
Tina Ward was penniless and unem-
ployed the day she stepped from the bus in
Seaview, Washington, and headed in to ap-
ply for a Mob as a ¿ sh proFessor at the Sports-
men’s Cannery.
,t was an aFt that would shape and Fhange
her life forever, but of Fourse, she Fouldn’t
have known that then — when you’re only
years old, the moving hand of fate Fan be
pretty hard to reFogni]e.
0ore than three deFades later, sitting
outside the same Fannery, now as its owner,
she laughs about that long-ago summer day:
³,t was time to think about sFhool Flothes for
the fall, and , wanted something fanFier than
what we Fould afford. 0y mom told me,
‘When you’re making your own money,
you Fan buy whatever you want.’
“Well that was the only opening I need-
ed,´ Ward reFalls, rolling her eyes at the
thought of her young, overly-ambitious self.
“I took it to mean that it was Must ¿ ne for me
to go out and get a job. So I hopped on the
transit, and that’s e[aFtly what I did.´
Looking ahead
Eight fresh coho salmon await the fi llet knife at the Sportsmen’s
Canery. Information for each order is written on parchment pa-
per and remains with the fi sh from start to fi nish, ensuring the
company’s motto: “Your own fi sh back since 1943.”
Kevin Ward looks over 91 albacore tuna, all destined for the can, which lie thawing at the Sportsmen’s Cannery at the
Port of Ilwaco, Washington.
The cannery
Fresh smoked salmon and salmon jerky, along with cans of the Sportsmen’s Cannery’s signature albacore tuna.
12 | August 13, 2015 | coastweekend.com
Opened in 1943 by Roseanne and Lefty
Leavers, the Sportsmen’s Cannery does
what the name implies — it’s the plaFe
where any sport ¿ sher Fan bring a fresh FatFh
for proFessing, and have it returned to them,
no minimum required. In the earliest days,
the business sustained itself mainly on ra]or
Flams, Fleaned and Fooked but through the
years, more and more serviFes were offered,
always alongside the Fannery’s signature
seller: 3aFi¿ F albaFore tuna.
When it Fhanged hands for the ¿ rst time
in 19, it was purFhased by the %rophy
family, who pledged to offer the same ¿ ne
serviFe as their predeFessors and to Fontinue
the Fompany’s original promise: “<our own
¿ sh baFk sinFe 1943.´ (ventually, the fam-
ily added a seFond seasonal loFation at the
3ort of IlwaFo, e[panding their FommerFial
buying operation for tuna and salmon, and
offering doFkside serviFes that made it easi-
I think watFhing that and learning how
to work has de¿ nitely shaped me,” says
Kempsey Ward, a 19-year-old student and
the Fouple’s youngest, who, with her sister,
spent formative years vaFuum-paFking ¿ sh
and learning to operate the enormous pres-
sure Fookers that remain the mainstay of the
family’s livelihood.
This summer, both girls are spending
time home from Follege, working alongside
their parents onFe more.
“She taught us that all the good things
you want in life Fome from hard work and
good FhoiFes,” says Sydney. “And I feel
really luFky to have learned that at suFh a
young age.”
Leaning in, Kempsey lowers her voiFe
and looks onFe over her shoulder, the usual
sign that a family seFret is in the of¿ ng, only
this time, the word’s already out: “TeFhni-
Fally, both my parents own this Fannery,”
she says, a smart little smile playing at the
Forners of her mouth, “but really, we all
know that it’s my mom’s.”
Cases of canned tuna fi ll every corner of space at both the Seaview and Ilwaco, Washington, cannery locations. Here, Kempsey
Ward, 19, stands in the smokehouse surrounded by boxes stuff ed with lemon pepper-, jalapeno-, and dill-fl avored canned tuna.
er to Fater to the Fharter ¿ shing Frowds.
When a teenage Ward entered the sFene
in 1982, it was the height of salmon season,
the busiest time of the year. And while most
kids would have been put off by the thought
of handling ¿ sh all day, for her, it was a per-
feFt dream.
“I loved everything about it,” she says.
“The work, the ¿ sh, the Fustomers, the pay-
FheFk, all of it — I Fouldn’t get enough.”
Working summers and vaFations at
the Fannery through junior high and high
sFhool, Ward saved her money — ¿ rst for
those designer jeans, then for a Far, then for
Follege — eventually going away to Spo-
kane, Washington, where she enrolled at the
university with a major in pre-mediFine.
%ut every summer she Fame home: baFk
to the Long %eaFh 3eninsula and baFk to the
Sportsmen’s Cannery.
%etween her sophomore and junior
years, spending all day at the Fannery and all
night at a seFond job waiting tables, Ward
found little time for muFh besides work. <et
somewhere in the middle of it all, she man-
aged to fall in love with a young man named
Kevin, and by summer’s end, the smitten
Fouple faFed the ultimate game Fhanger —
The Sportsmen’s Cannery is located at the corner of 35th Street and Pacifi c Highway in Seaview, Washington.
an unplanned pregnanFy, and with it, some
tough deFisions.
Family Life
Kevin Ward’s hands are almost a blur
as he presses the thin blade of a ¿ llet knife
along the spine of a Foho salmon, deftly
maneuvering it through the bright À esh
with one seemingly effortless pass, just as
he’s done more than a million times before.
Looking up from the butFher table, he FatFh-
es a glimpse of his oldest daughter, Sydney,
now 22, and FoFking his head a little to one
side, À ashes a grin before saying, “<ou
know, it’s all about the women in my life.”
It’s obvious he means it and only in the best
of ways in all respeFts, he looks like a man
who Fan spot something good when he sees it.
“I didn’t know muFh,” he says, thinking
baFk to that ¿ rst summer with the woman
who would beFome his wife, “but I was at
least smart enough to reali]e that if I hung
onto Tina, she’d see us through.
“Now don’t get me wrong,” he adds, “I
work hard. %ut I’ve never met anyone who
Fan work like she does. I’m telling you,
she’s a Fomplete powerhouse. All the wom-
en in her family are that way. I remember
‘For me, it’s like breathing.
When the fi sh are here,
we have to work. That’s
just how it is, and I can’t
help but love it.’
a few years baFk, it was a three-day ra]or
Flamming dig, and we had limits to
Flean, so the whole family was pitFhing in.
Tina’s grandma worked for 28 hours straight
and her mom did 3. I made it to 3, but
Tina, she saw it all the way through to the
last Flam. It was 41 hours, non-stop, and she
was still standing. She’s the most ama]ing
woman I’ve ever known.”
“For me, it’s like breathing,” says Tina
Ward, of work in the Fannery she seemed
destined to own — an idea that beFame re-
ality in 21. “When the ¿ sh are here, we
have to work. That’s just how it is, and I
Fan’t help but love it.”
True to family form, she seems to have
passed her genetiF Fode straight down to
both her daughters.
“0y mom’s work ethiF is fantastiF, and
“I guess it’s that it’s always been suFh a
big part of my life,” says Tina Ward, quiFk
to admit her emotional attaFhment to the
Fannery. “It feels just like a family — all the
tears but all the fun and laughter, too. It’s like
an aFtual, living thing for me.
“%ut it was all my FhoiFe,” she adds, re-
linquishing her daughters from any pressure
to take over. “I want them to ¿ nd their own
work in this life to love, and I don’t think this
Fannery is it.
“People have offered to buy it from us
through the years, and my husband says,
‘Come on, isn’t there some magiF number
in your head that will do it"’ %ut the truth is,
there isn’t. I Fan’t just hand it over to some-
one who doesn’t really know what it entails,
or sell it to someone who thinks it might be
Fharming to have an old Fannery. %elieve
me, there’ve been plenty of times that I hav-
en’t thought it was very Fharming.”
All around her, though, there’s evidenFe
to the Fontrary: the same weathered Fan-
nery walls bear a FlassiF whitewash over
Fedar shake the same smokehouse Fhurns
out raFks of alder-sFented salmon, all done
to tawny perfeFtion the same ¿ shing À oats
festoon the entranFe to a world that, thanks
to this woman, has stayed largely the same
for 72 years.
Tina Ward says she hasn’t met the next
person destined to own her Fannery. “%ut
when I do,” she adds, “something tells me
I’ll know it right away.”
8ntil then, whether you’ve Faught it
yourself or not, the same inFredibly deli-
Fious produFts — fresh, fro]en, smoked,
sealed or Fanned — will Fontinue to be the
result of her family’s love and dediFation to
hard work.
And that’s good news for all of us.
August 13, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 13