In this 1981 photo, Vada McMullan, right, and Ella and Kirby Billingsley, chat following dedication of a basalt monument to honor Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, who made the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight in 1931 and landed above present-day East Wenatchee.
U.S. Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Vada McMullan, shown here in 1956, became lifelong friends. McMullan was active in the Chelan County Democrats group and later became the acting postmaster.
Vada Pelonquin, age 8, loved to play in the miniature post office and store her father built for her out of lumber and apple boxes. The family moved to Wenatchee in 1905, when Vada was 3.
Vada McMullan stands at the mail-sorting table in the Wenatchee post office. The building is now the home of the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center.
In this 1981 photo, Vada McMullan, right, and Ella and Kirby Billingsley, chat following dedication of a basalt monument to honor Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, who made the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight in 1931 and landed above present-day East Wenatchee.
Wenatchee World file photo
U.S. Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Vada McMullan, shown here in 1956, became lifelong friends. McMullan was active in the Chelan County Democrats group and later became the acting postmaster.
Courtesy of Andrew Munro
Vada Pelonquin, age 8, loved to play in the miniature post office and store her father built for her out of lumber and apple boxes. The family moved to Wenatchee in 1905, when Vada was 3.
Courtesy of Andrew Munro
Vada McMullan stands at the mail-sorting table in the Wenatchee post office. The building is now the home of the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center.
Vada Pelonquin was 3 when she moved with her parents from Minnesota to Wenatchee in 1905. The family did not have electricity on the Malaga ranch they purchased, and Vada hated growing up without it (unlike her friends in Wenatchee).
She and her first husband, Tom Halbert, whom she married at 18, joined the Grange and became involved with that organization’s support for public power. They and other Grange activists would meet at night on the Chelan County courthouse lawn, planning strategy and picking up petitions and literature to distribute around the county. Many Wenatchee leaders were opposed to public power, considering it socialistic, but in 1936 the county approved the formation of a public utility district. Affordable access to electricity was now available to rural residents.
Vada McMullan was known for getting things done, usually with a smile on her face.
Courtesy of Andrew Munro
Unlike most in North Central Washington, Vada’s father was a Democrat. She found that she liked the philosophy of the Democratic Party, which she described as trying to improve people’s quality of life by supporting schools and helping the poor. After a divorce, she married rancher Victor McMullan, chairman of the Chelan County Democrats. Vada became a precinct committeewoman, starting and maintaining a card file of all registered voters in the county. She organized weekly party meetings, doorbelled, telephoned, recruited precinct chairs and raised money for Democratic efforts. As a state committeewoman she made friends with famed U.S. Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson.
In 1960, Vada became the acting postmaster for Wenatchee, the first woman ever to hold the post. The first task she set for herself was to clean the post office, then in the building at 127 S. Mission St. that is now home to the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center.
She got rid of dust and cobwebs, washed windows, ordered a new carpet and, with Scoop’s help, installed air conditioning. She was appointed permanent postmaster by President John F. Kennedy.
In 1963, the Wenatchee post office became a sectional center. Vada then had 43 other post offices and some 560 employees under her supervision. She garnered many awards for conduct of office before retiring in 1976.
Vada became the first woman and the first Democrat on the board of the Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce. She co-founded the county chapter of the American Cancer Society, served on the Red Cross and Allied Arts Council boards, chaired Wenatchee’s Business and Professional Women, and in 1975 helped start the museum in her old post office. Greatly loved for her talent, humor and commitment, Vada McMullan died in 1999.
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