I think it was my love of the movie "Legends of the Fall" that resonated with me when I first beheld the statue of a diminutive matron in Victorian dress in downtown Lynden, Washington. A nearby sign identified her as Phoebe Goodell Judson (Oct. 25, 1831 - Jan. 16, 1926), "First woman settler who gave Lynden its name, and considered to be the 'Mother of Lynden' for the care and love she showed for all those who called Lynden home."
The reference to Phoebe Judson as the "Mother of Lynden," while true from the standpoint of the immigrant wave of the late 19th Century, overshadows an earlier origin story -- one that makes it the stuff of a Hollywood drama that includes doomed romance, betrayal, and family estrangement.
You can read the original story about the origins of Lynden
