Shelton-Mason County Journal - Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886

My paternal grandfather, Eric Ericson, came to this country from Sweden with his parents in the early 1900s, maybe to escape a herring famine or something. We’re not sure why they came, but we do know those Swedes love herring.

I know of two jobs my grandfather had. The first was as a teen in Spokane selling shoes in a store. He told me he was fired for telling a woman her feet were larger than the shoe size she insisted she had.

He said he walked down the street to the Old National Bank, where he asked for a job as an errand boy. The hiring fellow asked whether he was married. He said �...