Families that clock in together, stay together

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 13, 2026

On Mother’s Day, most families share brunch. On Vashon Island, a few share something more complicated.

A handful of families here have built businesses together, mothers and children dividing responsibilities and blurring the lines between parent and partner. The work hasn’t broken what they already had. If anything, it’s added to it.

But it hasn’t been without adjustment. Roles shifted and expectations had to be worked out. And somewhere along the way, they had to learn each other all over again — this time, as colleagues.

Woodland Gardens

For years, Dayna Jessen-Rogers’s five-acre property held potential. Her family saw it. Her kids suggested it. But she didn’t quite believe it herself.

“I honestly didn’t think that it was something worthy,” she said. “Even when people would say, ‘This would be a great place for a wedding.’”

Then came 2021. Her daughter, Mallory Groth, needed a place to get married during COVID, when venues were expensive, limited and complicated. So instead of renting, they built.

They cleared, planted, fixed and reimagined the land Jessen-Rogers had been tending for decades. And something shifted.

“When she had her wedding here, and I listened to the guests, it started changing my mind,” Jessen-Rogers said.

The shift eventually became something more: Woodland Gardens, an outdoor venue for weddings and other events. For Groth, the vision had always been there.

“I learned how to be a good host from my mom,” Groth said. “Every time we got together, there was so much thought and care put into everybody’s experience.”

What followed wasn’t just a business plan. It was a merging of strengths. Groth handles logistics, marketing and communication. Jessen-Rogers focuses on the land — the gardens, the feel, the details most people don’t notice but always feel.

Together, it works. They don’t try to be the same. They rely on the fact that they’re not.

“I think it’s a two different minds targeting the same goal,” Groth said.

That difference hasn’t created friction. If anything, it’s created clarity.

“My mom and I kind of carry the same heart,” she said. “It’s very easy for us to understand what the other is going through.”

The work matters. But the relationship still leads.

Pollard Coffee

At Pollard Coffee on Vashon, the partnership between Robin Pollard and her son Daniel Swenson didn’t begin with a business idea. It started with trust.

Robin had been roasting coffee on her own for years — building the business from the ground up while also starting a vineyard in Eastern Washington. By 2018, something had to give.

“If the coffee roasting business was going to grow, I needed some help,” she said. “And who better to ask for help than your family?”

Swenson and his wife, Shaylea, made the move from Olympia to Vashon with a one-year-old daughter and a willingness to start fresh.

“I knew nothing about roasting,” Swenson said. “I really didn’t know anything about coffee.”

Pollard brought instinct — years of hands-on experience, reading beans by feel and smell. Swenson brought research, technology and a methodical approach to consistency.

“I was definitely more old school,” Pollard said. “Daniel took it to the next level.”

There were no major conflicts, just adjustments.

Swenson learned from other roasters, studied the process and leaned into trial and error until he found his own rhythm.

“I needed to bring a little bit of my own style,” he said. “But still depend on feedback from mom and my wife.”

That collaboration shows up in small, telling ways. When they recently went searching for new coffee beans, they made their selections independently. They chose the exact same ones.

“It reinforced to me that we are just in sync,” Pollard said.

For Swenson, the move wasn’t just about work. It changed how he sees his mother.

“I got to have a better appreciation for my mom and get to know her as an adult,” he said. “It’s really just a blessing.”

For Pollard, the partnership has changed the business itself.

“Running a small business is hard,” she said. “When you’re doing it by yourself, it’s scary. It can be lonely. Now that I’ve got this wonderful family team in place, it makes everything less daunting.”

Vashon Theatre

For Eileen Wolcott, the business didn’t start as a partnership. It started as her dream.

Keeping the Vashon Theatre alive means long hours, financial uncertainty and, at times, working without pay.

“I’ve volunteered at my own place for the last six years,” she said.

Her children grew up in that world. Rachel. Bailey. Jake. All of them worked at the theater at different times — through high school, college and beyond.

“For 23 years, I pretty much had at least one of my kids working with me,” Wolcott said.

They helped run it, improve it and carry it forward. During COVID, when the theater shut down for a year, her son Jake stayed.

He helped install new floors, rebuild the space and haul in theater seats from California — breaking them apart piece by piece and driving them back north.

“We just kept working,” she said.

But eventually, like all children do, they moved on.

“I hoped they would each move on to their dream,” Wolcott said. “Because this was my dream.”

That part wasn’t easy.

“It’s hard when they go,” she said. “We miss getting to hang out with them as adults in a work situation.”

Still, she understands the timing. Jake is now starting a family of his own. Her daughters have built careers. And the theater continues.

Her grandson now works there. The cycle, in a way, continues too.

“It was really more of a treat for me than for them,” Wolcott said.

Eddie Macsalka is a contributing journalist for The Beachcomber.