Islanders are invited to celebrate the long life of Gene Sherman with a filmed interview of four generations of the Sherman family. There will also be a slide show of photos belonging to Gene and his wife Peggy taken on Vashon from the 1940s to the 1970s.

The event, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, is a fundraiser for the Vashon Heritage Museum, an organization that Gene Sherman supported in innumerable ways.

Eugene ‘Gene” Sherman was born in 1919 and raised on Vashon Island. The Sherman family settled on Quartermaster Harbor in 1877. Gene grew up on the family farm in Paradise Valley, where they produced lumber felled and hauled in by horse teams. The were independent and self reliant, as many early day settlers were. Gene died in the fall of 2018; May 26 would have been his 100th birthday.

Gene Sherman is remembered as a man of wisdom with an ability to recall details and facts from years earlier. Many Heritage volunteers depended on him as the source for historic information, perspective and as a sounding board to piece together local history, according to a recent press release. In the film, islanders will be able to hear many stories and with the slide show images, be able to step back in time and see Vashon as it was.

The suggested donation is $10, but no one will be turned away for a lack of funds.