Last weekend wasn’t just Kay Skogen’s golden wedding anniversary, even though that is more than enough cause for celebration.

It was also a kind of homecoming, a return to her roots — the home she and her husband, Robert, renewed their vows in last Saturday was where Skogen was born on Feb. 12, 1941.

Decades ago, the building at 147 A Street North was known as the Mahlin Maternity Home, though the history of the house stretches back even further to 1900, when the home was originally built for Buckley’s famous Dr. John H. Sheets.

When Sheets died in March 1928, his obituary stated the burial “was one of the largest ever” in the city because of all the “unselfish work that the Doctor had done for the community and the life of service that he had lived,” being at one time the “only physician between Ellensburg and Puyallup.” He also served on the Buckley City Council and as mayor.

It’s not known how long the home sat empty after the doctor’s death, but it eventually became the Mahlin Maternity Home, where local historians say more than 600 babies were birthed until the 1950s (and it’s rumored nearly an entire high school class was born in the home as well).

Skogen (maiden name Borell) was one of those, of course, but so were Jack Borell and John Ames, Skogen’s cousins. Borrell, who was a groomsman when Skogen was married in the local Community Presbyterian Church, also returned for the golden anniversary.

Merle Carlson, who was born just a day after Skogan at the maternity home, was Skogan’s bridesmaid at her wedding, and also attended the anniversary.

In 1965, the maternity home was closed, but continued to serve the Buckley community as a preschool ran by the Lozier family from the ’60s all the way until 2003, even though it appears the home left the Lozier family in 1993.

Little is known about the house after the school was closed; all Buckley resident Denise Trivelas knew was that she was drawn to the home, and would watch the house to de-stress after a tough work day at Plateau Outreach Ministries, wondering what life would be like in the early 1900s.

Then a for-sale sign was put up, and Trivelas saw the opportunity to own a piece of Buckley history.

However, the house had fallen far from its former glory.

“We walked through the property, and the whole back part of the house was completely open,” exposed to the elements and completely unlivable, she said. “But amazingly, no one defiled it. All the hardware… from the late 1800s, no one came in and defiled the house.”

It took Trivelas and her husband nearly five years from when they bought the house in 2009 to restore it to a thing of beauty as the Le Sorelle Inn, which is open to the public to book for stays or just for one-day special events.

“This house, in its history, has nurtured people. It nurtured women and their infants after they were just born, and it nurtured generations — 35 years — of preschool here,” Trivelas said. “So I [wanted] it to be a place where people come and they feel refreshed and nurtured somehow.”

When they were satisfied with the work they had done, Trivelas held a quiet open house in 2014 for those who were born in the Mahlin Maternity Home or attended the Lozier preschool; Skogan and her husband were only two of the many people who attended.

“As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘Bob, this is where we should have our 50th wedding anniversary,’” Skogan said, adding how impressed she was by the Trivelas’ attention to detail and the extent they went to find authentic or near-authentic Victorian things for the home. “It is again a place to create, celebrate, [and] rejuvenate.”

There is more work for Trivelas to do on the home, of course, as well as around the yard, and she’s looking forward to breathing new life into every nook and cranny.

But the most difficult part of restoring the home may be trying to pin down its legacy — how many people were born there? How many were schooled?

To that effect, Trivelas hopes some locals can supply her with more information. She can be contacted by phone at (253) 232-7383 or by email at lesorelle inn@gmail.com.

Decorations at the Skogens’ golden anniversary include their original wedding announcement published in the Buckley News Banner 50 years ago. Photo by Ray Miller-Still