The Waggoner family
In some eyes the Waggoner family may be newcomers, but for more than half a century they have resided in the Cedar Grove area.
Mark Waggoner and Alpha Black were both born on Midwestern farms, and they remained farmers for the rest of their lives. The couple and their five children came West during the Depression, and one of their sons still remembers how rich family members felt to earn 25 cents an hour picking fruit.
But Mark Waggoner was not born and raised to pick fruit on someone else’s farm. After three years in Eastern Washington, he rented out the Nielsen Dairy on the Cedar Grove Road and ran it until 1962.
Up until the move to Issaquah Mark and Alpha had moved every three years, but here they finally found a permanent home. Their children seem to feel the same way about the area. Today, four of them live on the same 20-acre parcel just a stone’s throw from the old dairy. The spot is also home to two of the grandchildren of Mark and Alpha, and a third generation of Waggoner relatives is now in the Issaquah schools.
It is a fitting legacy to a hard-working couple who always put family first.
