Editor’s Note: This year, Yelm will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city’s official incorporation, which took place on Dec. 8, 1924. Each month, the Nisqually Valley News is presenting an aspect of the city’s history. The history of Yelm’s 16 mayors since its incorporation is the topic for November.
Photographs of Yelm’s 16 mayors over the past 100 years are enshrined on the walls of Yelm City Hall’s council chambers as a part of the city’s centennial celebration. Current Mayor Joe DePinto often finds inspiration from the portraits that watch over council proceedings.
“When we’re not in session and the doors are closed, I often go in there and look at them. I look at all the former mayors and I just think, ‘What issues were important in your day?’” he said in the recent Nisqually Valley News Bites podcast episode.
In many ways, the priorities have been the same across the 16 administrations, notably economic growth, public safety, transportation and more.
The inception of an official town government in Yelm came on Dec. 8, 1924, with the official incorporation. The first Town Council meeting came 11 days later on Dec. 19. Raleigh B. Patterson (1890-1970) was elected as Yelm’s first mayor, and since then, 15 mayors have followed and continued Patterson’s vision for a thriving economy in Yelm.
The following people have served the Yelm community as mayor:
R.B. Patterson — 1924 to 1931
Clarence Fox — 1931 to 1932
Jess M. Curry — 1932 to 1938, 1945 to 1947
E.K. Fristoe — 1938 to 1945
Nathan Henderson — 1947 to 1952
H.A. Trimble — 1952 to 1956
George C. Brown — 1956 to 1968
Roger Eide — 1968 to 1970
Lora B. Coates — 1970 to 1986
Ronald G. Lawton — 1985 to 1989
Robert A. Sanders — 1989 to 1993
Kathy M. Wolf — 1993 to 2001
Adam Rivas — 2001 to 2005
Ron Harding — 2006 to 2016
JW Foster — 2016 to 2021
Joe DePinto — 2022 to present
R.B. Patterson
Patterson, born in Yamhill, Oregon, in 1890, arrived in Yelm with his wife, Pansy Shirley, a couple years prior to the city’s incorporation. He was convinced that Yelm would become a thriving city because of its irrigation system, which was finished in 1916.
Patterson, a pharmacist, opened Patterson’s Drug Store in town in 1919 and owned it until 1949, when it was purchased by Ed Pickett. Pickett operated Pickett’s Pharmacy for another 30 years until Tim and Nancy Larsen purchased what is now Tim’s Pharmacy.
Patterson’s Drug Store was one of many businesses that was destroyed in the major fire on May 24, 1924, that wiped out most of Yelm’s downtown district. The store was rebuilt adjacent to Wolf’s, and its 875-square foot building included Rexall products, Eastman Kodaks and the beauty parlor of a woman referred to as Miss Thomas by Richard and Floss Loutzenhiser in the book “The Story of Yelm: The Little Town With The Big History 1848-1948.”
Patterson was recognized in town as a “radio pioneer,” and his radio broadcasts were often a center of interest. He was heavily involved in the community, serving on the library board, Yelm Orthopedic Auxiliary, the school board, Boy Scout council and the Lions Club. His wife taught piano, organized the Camp Fire Girls and Rainbow Girls and was very active in the Methodist church.
The first ordinances written and signed by Patterson provided for the establishment of street grades, the licensing and regulation of pool halls and card rooms in Yelm and prohibiting stock from running at large.
One of Patterson’s first tasks as mayor was to work with the newly seated City Council to establish a fire department and create a water system to fight fires. Yelm’s third mayor furthered Patterson’s vision for a fire department in the city.
Jess M. Curry
Jess M. Curry and his wife, Ethel Meiers, came to Yelm in 1928 from Eugene, Oregon. In the same year, he purchased Yelm Telephone Company from Jacob Hettrick. Curry was instrumental in getting a public water supply for the town, and he also helped plant the hawthorn trees on the main street. Curry retired from the Yelm Telephone Company in 1946 and handed it over to his son, Merle. Ethel played the piano at movies and at the Methodist church and started the local garden club.
Three years after the disastrous fire of 1924, Yelm only had one fire chief, an assistant chief and a few volunteer firefighters who formed the fire department, which soon became insufficient. A fire at Yelm High School in 1941 sparked the call for more firefighters instantly. In previous fires, including one in 1932 that burned the Yelm grade school and gym, firefighter response was not fast enough.
Curry launched a fund drive to improve the fire department, an effort that resulted in the addition of several pieces of equipment. A secondhand 1926 four-door Studebaker touring car was converted into a pickup. A four-cylinder forestry pump was added to the vehicle, along with 1,000 feet of 1.5-inch hose. A roller chain from the transmission operated the pump and allowed two hose lines to be used at the same time.
During Curry’s second tenure in office, he helped the department acquire a used 1939 Ford V8 truck. He and the force purchased the vehicle through fundraising dances. Due to a shortage of red paint, they painted the truck purple, which lasted until the end of World War II when a “red-painting party” was held.
Curry resigned from his mayoral position in 1947.
Lora B. Coates
Yelm’s first female mayor was Lora B. Coates, who took the oath of office in 1970. She was reelected in 1973 and again in 1977, at age 72.
Coates was Yelm’s mayor during a time of significant growth, as Yelm’s population was 632 in 1970 before blooming to 1,970 in 1978. She was partially responsible for bringing cable television to Yelm as, in 1978, she appointed a special committee to meet with the town’s attorney to drive a proposed franchise agreement with John McCaw of McCaw Communications Companies.
Coates was the longest-tenured mayor of Yelm and is one of two women to serve as mayor. The second, Kathy M. Wolf, took office in 1993.
Ron Harding
Ron Harding, born and raised in Yelm, was elected mayor of Yelm in 2005 after serving as a city councilor from 2001-05. He was responsible for major updates to the infrastructure of the city during his tenure.
Longmire Park, the Yelm Community Center, the skate park and the spray park at Yelm City Park are all recreational facilities added during his term as mayor.
The city also updated its water and sewer mains, constructed a new well, completed the mini loop reducing traffic on Yelm Avenue, improved the turn lanes in front of Yelm High School and added sidewalks throughout the city. Harding helped the city lower property taxes at the time and turned the animal shelter into a “no-kill” shelter.
Harding resigned from his role on Aug. 9, 2016, to take work in Oregon.
JW Foster
After growing up in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, JW Foster moved to Yelm with his wife, Nicki, in 1996. He spent many years coaching youth sports teams, volunteering for Yelm Community Schools and working closely with local service organizations on a variety of projects. He served on the city’s planning commission before being elected to the Yelm City Council in 2011. After Harding’s resignation in 2016, Foster was elected by the council as the interim mayor before being elected by voters in 2017.
Foster served in the Marine Corps for five years and worked in fire service for 34 years before his involvement in Yelm. He also held the position of chair of the Thurston Regional Planning Council and the board president of the Nisqually Land Trust. Through these boards and committees, Foster helped Yelm and other small communities land a seat at the table at the county level.
He supported the staff and city through the COVID-19 pandemic, provided new community services and public amenities, and started programs in Yelm with a focus on supporting vulnerable populations. Foster created a task force to identify and provide resources for those in need, including children in the school district.
Foster, the Nisqually Valley News Person of the Year in 2018, is also a member of the Yelm Lions and Rotary clubs of Yelm. His priorities during his tenure as mayor were to maintain quality and safety of the city’s workforce, enhance community services and strengthen community partnerships.
Joe DePinto
Joe DePinto moved to Yelm at the age of 5 in 1993 and went through Yelm schools before graduating from Yelm High School. He was the youngest Yelm city councilor at the age of 28, and following a narrow defeat to Foster for the mayor’s seat in 2017, he was elected in 2021.
Before jumping into local government in Yelm, DePinto served as a staffer for Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and as a senior legislative aide for state Rep. Paul Harris.
During his tenure as mayor, his biggest priorities have been focused around increasing public safety, supporting Yelm’s local law enforcement officers and reducing traffic in town. He helped the city secure new water rights through 2045 after a decades-long battle and added enough police officers to the department to increase the amount of officers on duty at all times.
DePinto is also working to finally bring the Yelm Loop project, also known as the Yelm Bypass, to fruition after decades of efforts on the project. Utilities and power lines have been relocated for the first time in the project’s timeline, and the Yelm Loop project will go out to bid next year.
