The Sherwood Story

Donald Sherwood was born on September 29, 1901, in Colville, Washington, the younger of two sons of Edward and Anna Cameron Sherwood. His father died when he was a year old, and his mother—an educator—worked to ensure Donald and his older brother Cameron had a strong upbringing grounded in learning, discipline, and hard work.

Two Whitman College alumni who taught and coached in Colville encouraged both boys to attend Whitman. Donald joined Phi Delta Theta and held several jobs during his college years, working at Mrs. Holt’s boarding house, the Dacres Hotel, and Falkenberg’s Jewelers. One summer, he worked on a wheat ranch sewing sacks on a mule-drawn combine.

He graduated from Whitman in June 1922 with degrees in science and economics and immediately began working for the Standard Oil Company, which was establishing its Walla Walla headquarters. He advanced quickly and was offered a position in the San Francisco office by 1929. Preparing for marriage and a new direction, he declined the offer and instead became a representative of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada that April, remaining in Walla Walla.

Virginia Kelly was born on March 25, 1909, to Martha and John Kelly. Her family moved to Walla Walla in 1910, when her father purchased the local newspaper, which later became the Union-Bulletin. A gifted student, Virginia graduated from Walla Walla High School at age 15 and later earned a history degree from the University of Washington. She joined Kappa Alpha Theta and remained active in the sorority’s Walla Walla alumnae chapter, eventually helping establish its Whitman College chapter in 1956.

Quiet by nature but highly respected, Virginia was active in First Congregational Church and Chapter BI of P.E.O., serving in several leadership roles. In 1976, Whitman College honored her commitment to the community by awarding her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Virginia was known for her simplicity, grace, and understated elegance—qualities that reflected both her upbringing and character. She and Donald married on December 7, 1929, in the Kelly home. Their two children—Eugene and Claire—both preceded them in death. Although Donald and Virginia traveled widely throughout their lives, their home at 1107 Alvarado Terrace remained their anchor and a welcoming place for friends over many decades.

In 1932, Donald Sherwood joined Austin Roberts to form Sherwood & Roberts, Inc., building on the business he had begun in 1929. From this beginning grew one of the Pacific Northwest’s most successful “supermarkets” for financial services.

After Donald’s return from Navy service during World War II, the firm entered an accelerated period of expansion. Roberts managed the company during Donald’s service, while Donald stayed connected through letters, calls, and occasional trips home from his assignment in Washington, D.C. As the partnership matured, Sherwood increasingly focused on mortgage and real estate financing and on building correspondent-loan relationships with institutional investors, while Roberts developed a substantial insurance business.

Donald’s wartime assignments also gave him valuable exposure to major corporations, including Philco and Westinghouse—experience that strengthened his business acumen in the post-war years. The partners continued their work together until Roberts retired in 1972.

Donald Sherwood’s business interests were notably wide-ranging—from toll bridges and grape juice to paper mills, real estate, and significant downtown developments.

He played roles in two Columbia River toll-bridge projects in the 1920s. The first, opened in 1922 in the Tri-Cities, was financed largely by Walla Walla investors, who had more organized leadership and financial capacity at the time. The state purchased the bridge in 1931 when it became impractical to maintain a toll crossing on a major highway.

The second project was the Bridge of the Gods at Cascade Locks, inspired by Native legends of a natural rock span. Completed in 1926 by the Wauna Toll Bridge Company, the bridge was later sold under Sherwood’s leadership in 1952 to A. C. Allyn & Co. of Chicago.

Another major chapter in Sherwood’s business life centered on the Church Grape Juice Company. Around 1925, Virginia’s father, John G. Kelly, began investing in the company at the urging of founder M. R. Church. Donald joined the venture in 1932 with a purchase of four shares but quickly saw the potential for much more.

Kelly became president of the company in 1927 and brought Sherwood onto the board in 1933. Under their leadership, the company expanded successfully into the Los Angeles market and planted approximately 800 acres of Concord grapes near Kennewick—then the largest Concord vineyard in the world. The region remains a major producer of both Concord and wine grapes today.

Through the 1940s, Sherwood led the company’s expansion into the Sun Belt. He became president in 1952 and negotiated the profitable sale of the company to Welch the following year. This success became the foundation for Pioneer Investment Company, formed in 1953 as the successor to Church Grape Juice. For decades to follow, Sherwood’s office became a regular stop for innovators, entrepreneurs, and unconventional thinkers.

The year 1929 marked Sherwood’s major career transition, while 1953 represented a period of accelerated momentum. That same year, Sherwood & Roberts purchased the John Davis Company in Seattle, and Donald began a long relationship with Luke and Charles Williams, founders of American Sign & Indicator Corporation, then the world’s largest manufacturer of time, temperature, and moving-message signs.

Walla Walla’s public library on Alder Street stands as both a tribute to the Sherwoods’ generosity and a memorial to John G. Kelly.

Donald had acquired the Alder Street property in the 1930s. It had once housed the Walla Walla General Hospital and later a grocery store and service station, both of which had moved or been lost to fire. When the old Carnegie Library became overcrowded in the 1960s, the city approached Sherwood about purchasing the property. He agreed, with one condition: it must be used for a library.

When voters failed to pass a construction bond, Sherwood offered to build the library himself and lease it to the city. Once the library opened, passing a bond to retire the debt became straightforward. Later, when fundraising for furnishings lagged, the Sherwoods stepped in again, donating significantly and establishing a reading room honoring John G. Kelly.

Donald Sherwood played a significant role in shaping downtown Walla Walla. One of the most notable examples was the transformation of an entire city block in the late 1970s.

To assemble the properties, Sherwood often found himself visiting taverns in the area—a surprising sight to some friends. He was negotiating a block-wide package that included the sale of the former Montgomery Ward building, owned by Pioneer Investment Company, for a new branch of Seattle-First National Bank. With one exception, Sherwood acquired all the properties bounded by Main, Alder, Third, and Fourth to complete the project.

Purchasing taverns—he ultimately bought four—was new territory for Sherwood, but navigating complex bank transactions was not. He also assisted with many important downtown deals, including:

• purchasing the former Seattle-First building for First Federal Savings

• selling the former Gardner Department Store building to Bank of the West

• locating branches of United Mutual Savings Bank and Old National Bank on Alder Street

• placing a Fidelity Savings branch at First and Main

• arranging the sale of the Baker Building to Baker Boyer National Bank

Sherwood often joked that “bank deals are far less complicated,” and friends were far less startled to see him leaving a bank than a tavern.

Sherwood’s influence extended well beyond downtown. As Sherwood & Roberts grew, his work broadened into industrial development and shopping centers across the region.

He helped promote the original Walla Walla Canning Company and later secured its plant site from the Union Pacific Railroad. He handled property acquisition for Libby, McNeil, and Libby, and assembled the real estate and rail access needed for Walla Walla’s Continental Can Company plant.

One of Sherwood’s most significant efforts involved Boise Cascade’s paper plant at Wallula—now a major contributor to local employment and tax revenue. Without Sherwood’s ability to secure an option on the Wallula land, the plant would likely have been located in Eastern Oregon or Idaho.

He also played a key role in attracting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regional office to Walla Walla in the 1930s. A requirement was the guaranteed construction of 200 rental homes for incoming employees—a challenge Sherwood met by forming a group to build them. Walla Walla won the bid over Pendleton and the Tri-Cities.

Sherwood also had a long-standing interest in shopping center development. After selling Church Grape Juice Company and forming Pioneer Investment Company, he retained 50 acres in Kennewick and developed the Vineyard Shopping Center, attracting Albertson’s as its first tenant. He later built and leased Albertson’s stores throughout Washington.

In 1962, his Columbia Center Corporation acquired the 80-acre site for what would become the Tri-Cities’ regional mall, which was later sold to Allied Stores of Seattle.

Another significant transaction came in 1971 when Donald and Virginia sold the Union-Bulletin to The Seattle Times. Their stock holdings went to Whitman College as endowment support for scholarships—a continuation of their long-standing philanthropic commitment.

Throughout their lives, the Sherwoods supported Whitman College through memorial donations, scholarships, capital projects, and long-term endowment. In 1972, Whitman awarded Donald an honorary Doctor of Laws for his decades of service to both the College and the Walla Walla community.

By the time of their deaths in 1994, the Sherwoods were the largest individual financial supporters in the College’s history.