By Kristine Lowder
Visit the Hoquiam Timberland Library and you’re likely to find a hint of the Old World behind the circulation desk. “My hometown is a lot like Hoquiam,” says Library Assistant Christine Vincent. She was born and raised in Gluckstadt, Germany.
The eldest of three children, Christine grew up in the small town located at the mouth of the Elbe River in northern Germany. “My sister and I had a little sailing boat that we used to go sailing on the Elbe River,” says Christine. That initial launch took Christine halfway across the world. Her adventures included stops in some of Europe’s best known cities before landing in Grays Harbor.
After graduating from high school, Christine worked as an au pair in Wimbledon, near London, for a year. She then studied English and German Language and Literature at the University of Hamburg in Germany and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Christine graduated with a Master’s degree in English from Utrecht in 1987. While in the Netherlands, Christine met her American husband-to-be, Mark. He was studying at the Eindhoven Academy of Fine Arts.
“He was studying to be a stone carver. He was planning to travel around the world at age 18, but he got stuck in Holland,” Christine says chuckling. They were married in 1987. The newlyweds decided to emigrate soon thereafter. Christine says she read Westerns as a little girl and “always wanted to go to America.” Sparked by her passion for books, she was eager to see the United States for herself.
The newlyweds moved to Rainier, Ore., in 1988, near Mark’s family. They worked in Astoria at a Christmas tree farm. Mark cut branches and Christine made wreaths. The couple soon moved to Salt Lake City when Christine was offered a teaching fellowship in German at the University of Utah. She has taught and tutored in German, English and ESL. She does translation work in German, English and Dutch. Christine also speaks some French and Latin.
Two of Christine’s eight children were born in Utah. Her children are: Jonah (25), Morgan (24), Clara (19), Maggie (18), Tobias (16), Xenia (13), Anna (12), and Irene (10). All were born at home with the help of midwives.
Christine home schooled all of them. She says, “The biggest advantage of homeschooling is that you’re able to individually tailor your teaching and the curriculum to each child.”
The Vincent’s eldest daughter, Morgan, is the youngest student to ever graduate from Franciscan University of Steuben in Ohio. She graduated when she was just 19-years-old. Morgan earned a Master’s degree from the same university at age 22. Besides homeschooling, Christine credits Grays Harbor’s Running Start program for helping Morgan complete her education early.
The Vincents moved to Grays Harbor in 1993, settling in Hoquiam. They like Grays Harbor’s small town, community feel. When Mark was offered a job making custom stone memorials for a Seattle company, for example, he turned it down. “We chose to stay in Grays Harbor,” explains Christine. “It’s a better place to raise a family. It’s a small, close, tight-knit community full of good people and lots of ‘substitute’ aunts and uncles and grand parents.”
When not homeschooling, teaching, tutoring, translating, or working at the library, Christine and her family turn out for the annual March for Life and Life Chain events in Olympia. The family is also involved in the Feed the Hungry program. “We’ve had a constant supply of Vincents working the program since 2003,” says Christine. They’ve also been involved in the Lighthouse Ballet Academy, 7th Street Kids, Bishop Center musicals, and Keith Bowers Karate in Hoquiam. The kids have also volunteered at the Quinault National Fish Hatchery.
Christine has been a library assistant at the Hoquiam Timberland Library since 2010. Her favorite authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, Willa Cather and Dorothy Sayers. Christine also enjoys baking, reading and walking the Elton Bennett Park and Sandpiper Trails. Both trails are in Hoquiam. Christine says her version of a perfect day is, “[When] we expected to do a lot of dreary work, but it gets sunny. We pile into the van, go out to the beach, enjoy the weather, picnic, fly kites, come home tired and watch a movie.”
A long way from her hometown in Germany, Christine Vincent says the people of Grays Harbor make it special. “Even when times are tough, people here still look up. They look out for each other here. You can’t really say that about the big city.”
That’s why Christine Vincent is proud to call the Harbor “home”— in any language.
