Meet Rose Anne Quackenbush, 1951 Fire Lookout
Rose Anne Quackenbush (now Jaksha), worked as a fire lookout on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest starting in 1951! For two summers Rose Anne worked at multiple fire lookouts on the forest, including East and West Flattop lookouts on the Mount Adams Ranger District.
She made $94.23 every two weeks, lived in the lookout structure, and furnished her own food and bedding. Not only was Rose Anne a skilled lookout, but, due to her mother’s illness, she was also caretaker of her three younger sisters ages 4, 5, and 11, during her time working in the lookout!
After working as a fire lookout for two summers, Rose Anne worked an additional five years in the Mt. Adams Ranger District office in Trout Lake for Karl C. “KC” Langfield, who was District Ranger at the time.
Rose Anne was an excellent employee and still has a lot of pride in her work as a lookout and ranger’s assistant, back in the 1950's. Read the 1951 Ford Times article "Ladies in High Places," shared with permission by Ford Motor Company.
In November 2022, Gifford Pinchot National Forest employees had a unique opportunity to meet with Rose Anne at the Mount Adams Ranger District in Trout Lake and hear some of her remarkable stories.
Photos:
(1 & 2) Digital scans from the 1951 Ford Times article "Ladies in High Places," shared with permission by Ford Motor Company. (3) Rose Anne, in the middle, visiting Mount Adams Ranger District office in November 2022.
