Saying goodbye

One of the oldest family-owned fishing and water-recreation resorts in the region is undergoing another transition that’s left tears rolling down the weathered faces of even the hard-core anglers.

Joe Haley, 59, who runs Granite Point Park Resort on Loon Lake with his wife, Linda, recently began letting friends know that he had cancer of the pancreas. By the time the disease is diagnosed, victims usually have only a few precious weeks to live.

“Joe’s a resort owner, and he immediately began making a list of things that needed to be done,” said Don Ostlund, a Spokane angler and friend who lives at Loon Lake during the summer.

High on that list was trying to say goodbye to the hundreds of people he’s befriended from the resort docks, but he wanted to avoid a parade into the privacy he needs with his family.

Much was accomplished on Dec. 9 during a mostly word-of-mouth gathering in Deer Park. A steady stream of friends, young and old, filtered for hours through the packed reception room at St. Mary’s Church to snuggle between Haley’s broad shoulders and get one last hug of a lifetime.

The Haleys were given coveted tickets for that evening’s big basketball game between Gonzaga and University of Washington, where Joe, looking normal to the sellout crowd but clearly weakening in the eyes of hunters and anglers who know him, would be brought onto the floor incognito to take a few shots at the hoop for prize money.

Roger Johanson pulled Haley away from the church reception and into the parking lot for the judging of the informal big-buck contest they enter every year with a group of friends who make $5 bets.

“Joe was the clear winner,” Johanson said.

“Actually, there was no way he wasn’t going to win this year,” he added, dipping into the spirit that’s getting Haley’s friends through this transition. “The season’s closed, but he could have gone out this morning to get a bigger buck if he had to. I mean, he doesn’t have anything to lose.”

Chris Sturbaum and Bob Glass, who rent spaces at Granite Point, said Haley has always made time for his summer crowd as he crisscrossed the resort in his golf cart.

“He has a habit of stopping by when we’re playing poker,” Sturbaum said. “He antes in for one hand, cleans us out, then he has to go and take care of something.”

Haley is one of several pillars in the history of Granite Point Park.

The resort was built in 1921 by Joe Biddle. It was taken over by his son Glenn Biddle and Glenn’s wife, Betty, around 1948. Their daughter, Linda Biddle, married Joe Haley in 1974 and they started working summers at the resort, where Joe became an expert contact for anglers seeking to catch the lake’s mackinaw, kokanee and other species. The Haleys took over Granite Point Park in 1983 along with Linda’s sister, Nancy Jo Rogg.

Glenn Biddle was a fixture at the resort until he died in 2000 at the age of 79.

“We’ve had every expectation that Joe would be the foundation here until 2040,” said Linda, taking a break from the reception where her unflappable smile gave strength to friends.

As usual, the resort is closed for winter, but Joe Haley said he has been making sure the infrastructure is in order for the 120 trailer spots, 18 cottages, store and other facilities.

Linda plans to spruce up Granite Point Park as usual in late winter to be ready for the fishing season that opens in April.

“I”ll have my daughter, Jolin, who’s been working here the last 10 years, and our two long-time helpers, Rob Higgins and Scott Hill,” she said. “It’s been in the family for a long time and we’re going to try to keep it going.”

“Joe is a wonderful guy to work for,” said Higgins, who’s worked at the resort for 18 years. “We work our butts off, but he’s very fair. The resort is well-kept. Joe is a hands-on owner. We don’t do anything he hasn’t already done. Most of the time, he’s right there with us.”

The crew plans to start working as usual as soon as bare ground shows at the lakeshore.

Meanwhile, the Haleys are living every day as it comes, and friends at last weekend’s reception were grateful for the chance to look into Joe’s yellowing but sparkling eyes.

A friend of the Haleys brought the room silent by singing Danny Boy at his request. She couldn’t finish a second song, though, and hers wasn’t the only throat with a lump in it.

Everyone applauded and then shuffled briefly in discomfort before the Haleys reached out and began lifting their spirits again.

I just happened to be standing beside a man who had brought his young daughter. The little girl turned around and gazed curiously into her father’s wet, red eyes.

“But Daddy, you said there was no reason to be sad,” she said.

He rubbed the tear from his cheek and tried to say something, but nothing came out.

I wanted to tell the little girl that her daddy was a fisherman, and it’s OK of they sometimes tell little white lies.