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Stourwater's Lucy Ostrander teamed with filmmaker Nancy Bourne Haley to produce and direct a historical documentary on the life of Thea Foss. Shot and edited by Don Sellers, the film was completed in August, 2006, and made its theatrical premier at the Port Townsend Film Festival a month later.
Thea Foss's name adorns many buildings and public places in Tacoma, Washington, but few residents know her history. Perhaps that's not surprising: most of Thea Foss's life was similar to that of many immigrants. She joined a mass migration from Scandanavia to America in the late 1800s, lured by the opportunities in a land rapidly expanding to the west. She first settled with her husband in Minnesota, but affluence eluded them, the winters were hard, and they longed for the sea. They rode the newly completed Northern Pacific Railroad to its western terminus, the port of Tacoma, which was exploding with development. There they finally hit upon a promising enterprise - building boats to serve the important and expanding maritime infrastructure of Puget Sound. Captained by Thea, their small company grew; after her death the business became one of the largest tugboat companies on the West Coast - and Thea was used by a local writer as the inspiration for the character "Tugboat Annie".
Using Thea's diary, historical texts, and interviews with academics and family members, the filmmakers developed the story of an immigrant, who, through hard work and creative enterprise fought hardship and personal loss to realize the American Dream. Thorough research into archival stills and footage unearthed some visual gems: early footage of Puget Sound shot by the Ford Motor Company, large format prints of period ships and tugboats, precious family photographs of early Tacoma. With narration and the Scandanavian music of Hale Bill and the Bopps, the filmmakers wove a rich and intricate
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