Madame Libby’s journey began in 1931 at Libby Cannery in Alaska with just a haul and sail; she spent days filled to the gunnels hauling fish back to the cannery. In her retirement, she made her way to Seattle to the Center of Wooden Boats. Where she caught the eye of Jake Rufer who saw her beauty and had big conversion plans for her. For the cost of $1000, he purchased her and brought her home to his yard in Tacoma. Where he spent countless hours and years pouring in a labor of love, He named her Madame Libby after the builder of the haul and cannery she worked so hard for.
He decided then that she was gonna be a live aboard and he called her his girlfriend the last woman he was gonna love. That was until he ended up meeting his future wife, Arline, and dreams and visions changed. Libby spent many years sitting untouched until Jake, now in his late 80s, felt it was time to help Libby find her happy ending to the story that he started.
This is where we come in. My brother, being a close family friend to the couple, told Jake of our love and history with wooden boats and suggested a meeting. Connections were immediately made and it was meant to be and arrangements were made to get Libby moved to our yard, and for the next two years, we felt and shared that same love that Jake has for her—all the time pushing ourselves to get her to the water before something might happen to Jake. He needed to see her grace the water not just thru pictures.
On November 27, 2019, she was launched and just like she had been the water for years. This strong little boat powered through the Puget Sound to her home in Shelton at Oakland Bay Marina until May 2021 where she’ll make her way to her new home at Pleasant Harbor at Home Port Marina.
In December 2019, Jake and Arline came to visit his old girl for the first time. They joked that this is what it’s like to sit on her and actually rock in the water. They said they used to have friends over and have drinks on her and drink till you felt as though she was rocking.
We are so happy that Jake allowed us to be part of her story. All the years, tears, and dollars are nothing compared to the smile that graces now 90-year-old Jakes’s face from ear to ear when he hears or sees his Madame Libby. He beams with joy and tells us giving her to us was the best thing he’s done. And the story of Madame Libby will continue to live on through all of us.