By Sentinel Staff
For all her life, Ruth McMaster has thought she was one of four children of Dorothy Parker, who was the youngest of 13 children of a Coast Salish couple of British Columbia.
Then she and one of her sisters, Helena McGuire, signed up for Ancestry.com and got word they had a close relative – who turned out to be a brother, “Hiker Stu,” or Stuart Arestad, of Blaine, Washington.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said Ruth.
“It was a miracle,” said her sister Stella Jane Mason.
All three sisters were in town this week and last visiting with their newfound brother. He had to leave Monday to get back to work, at an Alcoa aluminum plant in Ferndale, Washington, but in the few days he was here, the siblings visited, shared photos (including one of their mom’s parents) and stories, noted family likenesses, ate local foods and looked over the town.
“He rented a bike and went exploring on his own,” Ruth said. “He’s very friendly.”
Siblings, from left, Stuart Arestad, Helena McGuire, Ruth McMaster and Stella Jane Mason, and Ruth McMaster’s husband Gary McMaster sit around the dinner table. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)
The family’s story started with their mother, in British Columbia. Both of her parents died of illnesses when she was 3, and an aunt and uncle raised her.
“She had a hard time,” Ruth said, and when she was still a teen she left for Washington state. The three sisters were born in the Tacoma, Washington, area. Their older brother, Robert Tommy, born in 1949, was sent to a residential school until he was 12, when he joined his sisters and mom in Tacoma. He later joined the U.S. Marines, and died in 2012 in New Orleans, Ruth said.
Their father was a commercial fisherman, and fished in Alaska, including for crab, Ruth said.
Meanwhile, the three sisters got married and scattered. Janie, 64, now lives in Wasilla; Helena, 65, in Anderson, South Carolina, where she has lived since moving there at age 17 while her husband served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam. She works in retail there. Two of her three sons, Wes and Greg Maguire, have been coming to Sitka summers to work for several years, and now are working on the Sitka Sound Seafood packer, the Sea Lion.
Ruth, who just turned 60, and her husband Gary own Wintersong Soap Company, and have two daughters in Sitka: Faye, who had a baby girl earlier this year, and works for Baranof Tours, and Dawn, who is with Youth Advocates.
Their mother died in 2005.
The sisters hadn’t known much about their mother’s life and family, until after they were grown, and made trips to their mother’s home, hosted by their mom’s oldest brother and taking part in some cultural events. Ruth’s and their brother Robert’s two children – and Stuart himself – are registered with the Coast Salish.
It was a desire to check their Native DNA that led Helena then Ruth to sign up with Ancestry.com. Helena got her results first and saw there was a close relative, “Hiker Stu,” but didn’t pursue it. Ruth got the same message and didn’t check it out until recently when she sent him a message telling about herself. And about that time one of Stuart’s adopted sisters contacted him to say she had just found her birth parents, in Las Vegas.
That inspired Stuart to contact Ruth, and eventually a time was worked out that the four could meet here.
Stuart told them about his life. He was born in Tacoma, and was adopted into a family of what became 13 children, all adopted, and lived on a dairy farm.
He told his sisters that one night the family was watching TV and a story came on about soldiers in Vietnam adopting an orphan. Stuart said his adopted father pointed to the TV screen and said, “That’s your new brother!”
Since the sisters and Stuart have made contact they’ve found they have mutual friends with him and his adopted siblings.
Stuart loves to fish, hike and play golf – he was so happy to see Sitka has a golf course, Ruth said, and the plan is for him to bring his golf clubs with him when he returns.
“We hit the jackpot,” Helena said. “He fits in so perfect.”
