MEET JOHN DICKOVER

He used to buy airplanes. Big ones. In fact he bought the Boeing SST that was never finished, KC-135 tankers, and scores of others.

He bought them but he didn't own them. He was the Air Force agent in charge of purchasing them.

He even bought 707s for the German Luftwaffe and fuel tankers for the French air force.

Yes, he haggled over the prices and drove hard bargains. He also took test flights to make sure he got what he bargained for.

John lives in Tukwila near the Riverton campus of Highline Medical Center. He said when Congress decided the SST was too expensive and pulled the funding plug, somebody in Florida bid on the untested plane and had it shipped to Miami for use as a restaurant or something.

He is 74 now and retired, but not idle. He is a Worship and Eucharistic minister at St Luke's Episcopal Church in Renton.

Meet the Duchess

If you shop at McClendon Hardware in White Center you probably already know her.

She has been a cashier there for nine years. Duchess is her nickname. Her real name is Vida Rayfield and she hails from Chimacum, but now lives in Boulevard Park.

I noticed the 24 bracelets on her left arm and got curious. She has so much metal on her arm she could set off every airport detector in the U.S., but she never takes them off so the security people just take her aside to satisfy their curiosity,

She got her nickname when she was a bratty little kid and classmates pinned it on her.

Meet Ray Rice

This former heating oil company owner in West Seattle was an outstanding baseball player for Seattle's old Broadway High.

He played second or third or shortstop before World War II and in 1941 he joined the Merchant Marine. After the war, he played second base for the University of Washington.

Tubby Graves, legendary coach for the Huskies, told the press that Ray was the best player in the league. At age 82 he still plays a mean game of tennis.

Now retired and living in Burien, he and his wife, Louise, held their 60th wedding anniversary recently.