HAPPY RETIREMENT~~You Are Now Free To Roam & Do As You Please!!!~APRIL 28, 2011

A BIG Thank You to our Children for the Retirement Gift, KINDLE! Dad will ENJOY this gift as well as Mom...it holds up to 3,500 Books & you all know how much your Dad Loves To READ! In this post on the blog, I am including Dad's Farewell that he wrote & that was printed in a DNR publication regarding your dad's work history for The Washington State Department Of Natural Resources...We have been married almost 43 years & Dad has worked hard all those years for the love of his Family & Friends! He is going to enjoy this new chapter in his life called~RETIREMENT!

Looking Back – Looking Forward: Exit Interview with Paul Penhallegon Tell us about your early days with DNR.In 1983, I started with DNR in Ellensburg in the then Southeast Area Office, as a Land Manager 1. I worked for and with some great people, many who have preceded me in retirement – some are still with DNR. Why?, because I was older when I graduated from college, so many of my colleagues were younger than I. I worked to process hundreds of oil and gas leases – there have been several rounds since then, and millions of dollars to the trusts as a result. I also helped our field folks process agricultural leases, communication site leases, special use leases, stockpile leases and rights-of-ways. As I think back, we still do most of the same work we always did – just bigger, faster, smarter. So you have 28 years with DNR?No, I took four years off to try to make my fortune farming. I bought my first orchard the year after I started with DNR. The daily commute from Wenatchee to Ellensburg took its toll – 70-some miles each way. For those who recall my diesel VW Pickup – I still have it, and it has over 500,000 miles on it – it definitely needs a make-over at this point (or a burial). I decided to jump into “orcharding” full-time. We did alright until the Alar Scare of 1988 (the rumor that chemicals on apples were poisoning children) – I still have a hard time looking at Meryl Streep – she was the celebrity mouthpiece for bad science. I had a big loan with the Farm Home Administration and 2,000 bins of apples in storage, which became worthless overnight. I spent the next year trying to get a job with DNR. By February of 1990, I was back – with a regular paycheck, health insurance and a sense of security. Where did you re-join DNR?I joined up with Southeast again, this time as field staff. I commuted from Wenatchee to the Tri-Cities for a few months to work as a Land Manager 1 there, for Mark Bohnet. Then I traded places with Mark Grassel so he could more actively court his sweetheart – I then commuted to Ephrata. By 1992 I had a promotion into Ellensburg, and in 1993 I was selected to replace Roy Henderson when he moved to Northeast Region. I learned a great deal working for Bruce Mackey in the Lands and Minerals Division. I have been working for State Lands my entire career, focusing on agriculture and all of our other upland leasing activities. In 2001, Rights-of-Ways was added to the plate. Things have gone exceptionally well. Anything stick out as a significant accomplishment?I have been privileged to work with great folks who know and support the Trust Mandate. Together, we have accomplished what I consider to be a significant enhancement of the non-timber side of DNR’s revenue-making machine. When I started with DNR in 1983, agricultural revenue was at almost $4 million – it is presently at $12-15 million per year, depending on weather and the marketplace. Our commercial real estate revenue was at $500,000 in 1983 – it is presently over $10 million per year. Communication site revenue was $300,000 back in 1983 – presently it is at about $4 million per year. And, lastly, wind power leases have gone from nothing to over $1 million in under ten years. In 1983, Upland leasing revenue was just 3.5% of Timber revenue – it is now 15%. I think we have done a great job of diversifying the trust portfolio, and a significant accomplishment that I share with my fellow Upland leasing associates. Looking forward, what do you see?I have enjoyed my years of paid labor. Now I plan to allow my various retirement plans to pay me to do work that has no paycheck. My bride of 43 years and I have five grown children – together they have given us 17 grandchildren (so far), the oldest two of which graduate from high school this year. We plan to spend significant time with each member of our clan, playing and catching up – there are some little ones that don’t know us as well as we would like. By next fall, we will likely have selected a humanitarian effort we will support. We want to spend a few “quality” years doing good around the world, before we settle down to my “old man’s farm” (a few happy animals and raised gardens). We are planning on exercising long and hard every day, eating “more” right, all so we can live to be a burden on our children (sorta kidding). Any parting words for your DNR friends?So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu… It has been my pleasure to serve alongside dedicated, enthusiastic, and supportive folks during my entire DNR career. I may not care for some of the bureaucracy, but, in the final analysis (just like when I decided I wanted to make a career of DNR in 1990), I like what DNR does, who we are, and how we conduct business. Best wishes to all.