For more than 40 years, islander and Washington State Ferries dock worker Kimm Shride has helped ferry travelers on-and-off Vashon Island. Now, she’s moored her long career at the state ferry system.
Shride celebrated her last day of work Monday with WSF, swapping stories and taking pictures with coworkers and friends at a packed party inside the island’s north end ferry terminal.
More than 50 people showed up to celebrate Shride, bringing flowers, photos, food and mementos of her time working in the ferry system.
Shride’s career with WSF spans nearly half a century. She started in the galley (the ship’s kitchen) of the now scrapped MV Quinault on the Fauntleroy-Southworth-Vashon Triangle Route, a role she worked for eight years.
The ferries were male dominated and it was harder for women to get hired working with WSF in the late 70s and early 80s, she said, so many women started by working in the galley — which was not a state job.
But she was finally hired by WSF on June 6, 1984, beginning her 41 years of service as a dock employee on that same route — selling tickets, directing traffic and coordinating with arriving and departing ferries.
Asked what she thought looking back on all those years, surrounded by friends and coworkers, Shride simply said: “Family.”
“She is just an icon on the island,” said retired WSF supervisor Debbie Smith, visiting the island for Shride’s retirement party. “You could always count on that girl. … She would help you. She trained a lot of people. This girl is going to be tough to replace.”
John Shellman, a retired WSF captain, met Shride during her time working in the galley. The two reminisced over WSF’s old red polyester uniforms — “Those were horrible!” Shride said — and other memories from the job.
Running the dock is no easy feat, but Shride was focused and knew what she was doing, Shellman said. “She was really good to work with. … The ferry system is [losing] one of the best.”
Shride, a Vashon resident who has also driven the school bus for the Vashon Island School District for well over a decade, said she’ll keep driving the school bus for at least another year. After that, she plans to put her Vashon home on the market and strike out somewhere new.
Shride’s long career with the ferry system also included a rescue in 2022, when a person entered the water near the passenger ferry dock. Shride ran over to calm the person and coach them, working together with other ferry workers and Vashon Island Fire & Rescue staff to rescue them.
Just two days later, a ferry rider suffered a major cardiac event on the dock. Shride and several other terminal staff initiated CPR and twice used an automated external defibrillator. VIFR crews took over and brought the person to Harborview Medical Center for emergency heart surgery.
