DOX Cooperative Moorage Association

DOX TAPESTRY

Here are stories of some of our past DOX residents.

Many have passed away and will be sorely missed, and some left to go after other dreams - but each individual wove their threads indelibly into the life our community.

Sandy McAusland
sandy

Sandy McAusland

Sandy was a third generation Seattlite and one of the first babies born in Broadmoor.  He grew up in Madison Park.   Like many men of that time he worked at Boeing as a mechanical engineer, and later did consulting on his own.  He worked on medical devices contributing to the earliest ultrasound equipment, and, with Portage Bay's Belding Scribner, on the first kidney dialysis machine.  He was an aviator and woodworker who used his skills to build and pilot various aircraft from gliders to a favorite Bucker Jungmann biplane.

Sandy was active in the airplane restorations at the Museum of Flight.  His last accomplishment was a full scale interpretation of Leonardo Da Vinci's Ornithopter now gracing the entrance to the Museum of Flight.

Sandy always wanted to live on a Houseboat and in 1996 after his divorce and serving in the Peace Corps in Granada, he purchased his first houseboat in DOX co-op on 2235 Fairview.

6 Degrees of Separation

Sandy was also a glider pilot who had glided for years in Eastern Washington as had another DOX resident Dillon Jackson.  They had glided together in the same club for years and when Sandy purchased his houseboat he knocked on the Jackson door – stunning everyone – and said “… I am your newest neighbor!”  Then we discovered that Dillon’s wife Misha had worked with Sandy’s daughter when she was with Patagonia doing business in India.  Such a small world.

DOX Romance

Linda (then Knudsen), who had lived on DOX since 1986, recalls, "Sandy's houseboat was 'caddy corner' to mine; we met during a welcome party for Sandy hosted by Bev Matson. Throughout his first summer, we 'hung out'; he took me flying and I took him to the Opera and Theater performances. They were married on October 8, 1998."  Since neither of their houseboats was big enough for the two of them they were lucky to be able to purchase a neighbor's larger place across the channel from Linda’s houseboat on the 2219 dock - where Linda still resides.  This houseboat has had three owners and all of them were newlyweds.

DOX Romance

Linda (then Knudsen), who had lived on DOX since 1986, recalls, "Sandy's houseboat was 'caddy corner' to mine; we met during a welcome party for Sandy hosted by Bev Matson. Throughout his first summer, we 'hung out'; he took me flying and I took him to the Opera and Theater performances. They were married on October 8, 1998."  Since neither of their houseboats was big enough for the two of them they were lucky to be able to purchase a neighbor's larger place across the channel from Linda’s houseboat on the 2219 dock - where Linda still resides.  This houseboat has had three owners and all of them were newlyweds.

Sandy had many interests and seemed to excel at all of them.  Sandy was an avid skier all of his life; he was a ski instructor at Snoqualmie Pass during the 50s and 60s and continued to meet his ski friends each year at the annual Ancient Skier gatherings in Sun Valley.

Linda remembers, "Sandy was an active part of the DOX community and said it was his favorite place of any he had lived.  He loved the sense of community and close contact with neighbors."  

Sandy handled a lot of the dock maintenance and his wood working legacy lives on in the bench that sits on the bulkhead in front of the channel between the two docks. One of Sandy's dreams was to have his own seaplane moored next to his houseboat. Instead, Sandy had a beautiful wooden electric boat - one of the first on the lake.  It was christened 'Tesla'.  He loved to navigate the lake and houseboat channels, talking to folks as he glided quietly by.  Linda recalls, "He was a familiar sight to many during the summer when he would go out every day to explore the boatyards, the houseboats, the marinas - just to say 'hi'.  Sometimes he would float out in the middle of the Lake and nap or read.  Often we would take picnic dinners on the Lake..."

Sandy's obituary said, "On October 31, Sandy McAusland, lifelong pilot, sailor, engineer and mischief maker bid us farewell."  He was 76 years old.  

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