Hewitt Hebert

On February 6, 2017, this country lost another of its "Greatest Generation." Hewitt A. (Nick) Hebert passed away after a brief stay at a nursing home in Sedro Wooley. He was 91.

Nick spent nearly all of his adult life on South Whidbey. He was born on July 18, 1925, in Bell City, Louisiana, one of 9 brothers and sisters and the son of Noah and Loretta Hebert, farmers. Most of his childhood was spent growing up in the Lake Charles, Louisiana area, until World War II and his enlistment in the United States Navy. Nick was very proud of his time in the Navy, as were we. But like most of his generation, he rarely talked about it. In the few times that he would, we were able to glean the following: He served almost his entire time in the war aboard the battleship USS Indiana. He saw engagements at the Marshall Islands, Truk, Ponape, Guam, Tinian, Saipan, and Okinawa, among others. At the Battle of the Philippine Sea he saw intense combat as the Indiana shot down several aircraft and had two torpedo near misses. He said that Truk was the longest battle, but at Iwo Jima they spent nine days off shore lobbing 16 inch shells non-stop to "soften up" the beaches for the invasion. At one point throughout the war, he spent thirteen consecutive months aboard ship, from engagement to engagement, without ever setting foot on land.

His position during "battle stations" was to be on the bridge next to the Captain as the radar operator. He jokingly said it was his job to tell who the good guys were from the bad guys during an attack. He complained once that sometimes they spent 70-80 hours at a time in code Red (full battle gear); especially during the battle of Truk. While the threat of torpedoes and kamikaze attacks were constant, Nick said he never once worried about getting hurt aboard ship. He said he was only worried about those "damn sharks."

After the war, Nick married Marilyn Mackie of Clinton and took her back to Lake Charles. They were married for 29 years. Eventually Nick and Marilyn settled on South Whidbey. They had three children, Jim, Howard, and Laurie. Nick began working for the Blackball Ferry Line. To augment their ferry salary, he went into the wood cutting business with his good friend Bill Fittro. He and Bill ran two big trucks around the clock. They would get off their shift on the ferry and then do a shift on the truck. There were several mills in operation at the time (Frei and Waterman were two). They would get the slab from the mills and then cut and sell it for fire wood. Shortly after getting his Mate's license with Blackball, he was working on the ferry one day when Blandon Izett came across with his bread truck. Blandon had said he was quitting the business, so Nick called the Golden Rule Bakery that day and got the job. It paid twice what he was making on the ferry at the time, and Nick worked for them for several years.

Sometime after 1960, while on his bread route, Nick said he happened to walk into Dewey Hoekstra's furniture store in Midvale on the day Dewey had a heart attack. Dewey and his wife were customers for years, and Nick had sent people to Dewey on many occasions. It was that day that Dewey's wife talked Nick into buying the business. He moved Dewey's furniture store from Midvale to Clinton and opened Nick's Home Furnishings (a fixture in the Clinton landscape until the late 1980's).

In 1976, he married Betty Hunsinger and they remained married for nearly thirty years (upon her death). When Nick and Betty sold the Furniture store to Murphy's in 1988 (relocated to Ken's Korner), Nick decided to postpone retirement and began selling real estate on South Whidbey. He finally retired around 1990, and for the last ten years, he lived just outside Langley, enjoying life with his very good friend Sally Hicks, also of Langley.

Nick was preceded in death by wives Marilyn and Betty, daughter and son Laurie & Howard Hebert, and grandson Donald Hunsinger. He is survived by son Jim and his wife Marsha Hebert of Bothell and grandchildren Darrell, Crissy and Holly Hebert; grandson Travis Hebert of Edmonds (Howard's son); Stepson Mike and his wife Wendie Hendrix of Laguna Hills, CA, and grandchildren, Brian, Gregory, and Kevin Hendrix; Stepson Dennis and his wife Jeanne Hunsinger of Langley and grandchildren Joanne and husband Mac Rogel, and Matthew Hunsinger; Stepson Steve and his wife Laurie Hunsinger of Scappoose, OR, and granddaughter Shannon; and nine great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at Visser Funeral Home in Langley on February 18 at 1 p.m.