PORT ANGELES — U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his wife, Becky Gates — who is the newest member of the Olympic Park Institute board — greeted wounded warriors at Lake Crescent last week.
The Gateses visited the Olympic Park Institute last Wednesday, said Tom Sanford, director of OPI, which is based at Lake Crescent.
The Gateses, who live in Mount Vernon, were in the state on vacation during a special program for members of the military who had been hurt during recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sanford said.
Since Becky Gates joined the OPI board in May, Sanford invited her to see the program for the service members and their families.
Her husband “asked to tag along,” Sanford said.
“She was coming to say thank you to the service members and he did the same,” he added.
No media were notified of Gates’ visit, nor was allowed to cover it, because of Department of Defense security issues and to protect the privacy of the program participants, Sanford said.
“I’m so pleased to be joining the Olympic Park Institute family and to have a chance to be here and be part of this wonderful program,” Becky Gates was quoted as saying in a statement from NatureBridge, OPI’s parent company.
Apollo 8 astronaut and retired Gen. Bill Anders and his wife, Valerie Anders, also were in attendance, NatureBridge said.
12 families
Fifty-one people, representing 12 families, particpated in the five days of Operation Purple Healing Adventures, Sanford said.
“The intent of the program was to get family members to have an opportunity to reconnect with each other after a time of intensive service and do that in a national park setting,” he said.
Myraid activities were offered from Aug. 23 through last Friday for both adults and children to allow them to “just have fun together in the park,” Sanford said.
It was the first such event that OPI has held specifically for wounded military services members.
“We’ve done this program for a couple of years for people who have been deployed and returned,” Sanford said.
“This was the first time we had done this specially for those who were wounded.”
The program — organized by OPI and NatureBridge, which is based in San Francisco — offered fly-fishing, pottery classes, guided hikes, a trip to Hurricane Ridge and canoe paddles on Lake Crescent, as well as massage, yoga and other activities, Sanford said.
Local businesses such as Aglazing Art Studio of Port Angeles and organizations such as the Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishers, contributed.
Most of the families were from the Pacific Northwest, although some had traveled from all over the country, Sanford said.
All the military members had returned in the last six months from service, and had been wounded or injured during their service.
Becky Gates, who attended Washington State University, lived in Sequim briefly as a child, Sanford said. She was a member of a Coast Guard family that moved often, he added.
All Operation Purple camps follow a curriculum developed by the National Military Family Association.
OPI was chosen to host the third Operation Purple Healing Adventures retreat and has hosted five National Military Family Association programs in the past, said a NatureBridge statement.
The retreat was free to all participants thanks to support from TriWest Healthcare Alliance and the Col. Patrick S. Madigan, M.D. Foundation, Nature Bridge said.
