James Irwin Metcalf, A Pioneer In Area's Public-Power Movement

When asked with whom she would like to sit at a banquet, Mark Twain's wife once responded that she couldn't imagine anyone more interesting than her husband. That's how Veida Metcalf says she felt about her 50-year-marriage to James Irwin Metcalf.

"He was a multi-faceted man," she said. "He had a very fine mind."

Mr. Metcalf, 91, a pioneer in the Northwest public-power movement and protector of one of Washington's premiere hot springs, died Tuesday (Aug. 11) after a brief illness.

Mrs. Metcalf said she's taking his death in stride. "Where you have no regrets," she said, "you don't have grief."

Mr. Metcalf was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and attended Williams College. He tried to enlist during World War I, but was told he was too young. So he went to work in the oil fields of Mexico, then returned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to complete his education.

After receiving his engineer's license, Mr. Metcalf worked for several Eastern electric utilities and telephone companies. He was involved in development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, his wife said, and was co-author of a government report that helped establish the Tennessee Valley Authority, which dammed and developed rivers in the Southeast.

He came to the Northwest in the late 1930s to head marketing efforts for the fledgling Bonneville Power Administration, charged with selling electricity from federal dams on the Columbia River.

"Everyone thought it was a boondoggle of the first order," Mrs. Metcalf said. "They had all this abundance of power. What were they going to do with it?"

The BPA now provides about half the region's electricity.

Mr. Metcalf left Bonneville to go into consulting, and he and a partner helped promote formation of the Northwest Public Power Association. They did much of the engineering and financial research for the public-utility districts that were forming in those years, his wife said.

Mr. Metcalf joined the Navy during World War II, working in intelligence in the South Pacific. He survived nine amphibious landings, and served on Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

After the war, Mr. Metcalf joined Harza Engineering of Chicago, helping to develop hydroelectric power projects in El Salvador, among other places. But he tired of travel, Mrs. Metcalf said, and opened his own hydropower and water-supply consulting business in Seattle.

Mr. Metcalf didn't slow down after retiring in 1962. He developed property on Holmes Harbor on Whidbey Island, and worked with his wife to develop her family's land in Seattle, on the north side of North 85th Street between Greenwood Avenue North and Third Avenue Northwest.

Goldmeyer Hot Springs, near the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River east of North Bend, also had been in Mrs. Metcalf's family for decades, and Mr. Metcalf took the lead in preserving it. The 28 acres surrounding the springs was donated to Northwest Wilderness Programs, a nonprofit membership organization Mr. Metcalf co-founded.

"It's one of the most beautiful spots in the country," Mrs. Metcalf said, "and our intention was to keep the forest and the waterfalls in their natural state."

In addition to his wife, Mr. Metcalf is survived by a daughter, Mary Louise Lau of Los Angeles; a sister, Marjorie Bowen of Bristol, Va.; and two grandsons.

Services will be today at 10 a.m. at Evergreen-Washelli Funeral Home. The family suggests remembrances to Northwest Wilderness Programs, 202 N. 85th St., Seattle, WA 98103, or to a favorite charity.