Meet Louise Luce

Welcome to our Neighbor Spotlight! Here, we will feature neighbors and their history, both short and long, with Overdale Park!

Our first Neighbor to Spotlight can be found on the corner of 54th Pl!

Say hello to Louise Luce!

This is Louise on her 90th birthday! She is wearing a spruce root hat woven by the Tlingit people of Alaska. She and her huspand spent 8.5 months there in 1953 working with community health. 

Louise Luce has enjoyed life from her corner of Overdale Park since buying the property in 1960.  She and her husband had been looking for a lot with southwest exposure and a bit of altitude, (after experiencing the Snoqualmie River flood of 1959), when she saw an ad describing Overdale Park posted in the Issaquah Junior High School teachers lounge.  Clarence Rohrer, another early Overdale resident on 53rd St. had posted the ad.  

For the next 4 years they hauled rock from the property they owned near Snoqualmie Ridge.  Though they did much of the building work themselves, Louise’s father, a first- generation Swedish immigrant, added his craftsman carpenter skills as well as many Scandinavian contractors to the project.  Omer Mithun, from the faculty of U.W. School of Architecture drew up the structural blueprints.  It is post and beam construction and earthquake resistant.  The first night in their new home was Dec. 23, 1963!

The lot next door was being developed by the Buehler’s and soon after, the pan-abode home across the street was built. Louise loves having and using her edible landscaping!  We’ve all admired her beautiful apple trees!

Louise’s 2 back lots are designated Urban Wildlife Sanctuaries.  She purposely keeps it intact and monitors and notes the response of the vegetation to climate throughout the year.  Sadly, she has noted the mortality from drought to the Western Red Cedar.  Louise is a long time member of King County Master Gardeners.

A photo of Louise’s lovely home in 1963

We want to thank Sarah Bergdahl, our neighbor and HOA Board Member, for this exciting new addition to our website! We’d also like to thank Louise for volunteering her time to be our first feature!

Return to the main page to see more Neighbor Spotlights!