Roger Addleman has been named this year’s “Honorary Logger” for the Sequim Logging Show May 9-10.

The Logging Show takes place every year during the Sequim Irrigation Festival.

Addleman, who hails from a long line of loggers, will celebrate his 86th birthday on June 21. Born in Shelton in Mason County in 1939, he spent his early years in Hoodsport. At age 14, he and his friends would retrieve pulp logs and saw them into six-foot sections. They would then haul the logs by hand and load them to get them to the mill.

At age 18, Addleman was hired by Simpson Timber Company to work at Camp Govee. In 1962 he began working for Buck Mountain Logging Company as the bull buck for a highline tower. A bull buck is someone who runs a felling and bucking crew. Addleman logged up and down the Hood Canal.

In 1964, Addleman’s father, Dick Addleman, sold his fueling station in Hoodsport and went into a partnership to develop Addleman Logging Company Inc. The company used a spar-tree for some of their first jobs. A spar-tree is a tall tree that is trimmed of all branches, topped, then rigged with guy lines and blocks. It is used as a derrick to yard logs, moving them from where they were felled to a landing where they can be loaded for shipment to the mill.

In 1966 the family moved the business to Forks. The Addlemans had six trucks and several self-contractor trucks handling log transport during the 1980s.

In 1983, Addleman was president of the logging conference. In 1984, he expanded the business to have a shop in Port Angeles. Late in that decade, logging took a hit because of restrictions that were implemented to protect the endangered Northern Spotted Owl.

To save the business, Addleman branched out and started restoring roads and placing fish culverts for the forest service. He took state jobs removing roads and restoring the natural habitat, while continuing to log as much as possible.

Addleman’s wife Val said that her still-active husband never had a day when he wasn’t positive and happy.

Logging Show

The Logging Show will take place from noon to 10 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday on the Blake family property at 200 N. Blake Ave. Visit sequimloggingshow.com for more information.