'MacGyver' reminisces about Washtucna life

Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series in The Journal.

WASHTUCNA – Raised on a 1,800-acre farm with his older brother and sister, Dennis D. Sackmann grew up collecting eggs, feeding pigs and herding cattle on horseback.

He also developed an aptitude for mechanical innovation and problemsolving.

Later nicknamed "MacGyver" by his family (after the popular television series that aired from 1985-92), the now 65-year-old became a real-life exemplar of the TV character's talent for finding creative solutions to perplexing problems.

"As a kid, Dad taught me how to build and create things," he recalled. "Many times we needed stuff we couldn't afford or track down. But we had a lathe, drill press, and welding equipment. If we couldn't find something, we created it."

As he grew older, Sackmann wasn't shy about tackling new challenges.

"In my early teens, I told Dad I wanted to learn how to drive," he said. "So, he tossed me the keys to our old '51 Chevy pickup and said, 'There you go.'

"I drove the truck to a back road and learned real quick that when paths are beaten down and ruts are low in the road, you can get 'high centered' in a pickup, especially one that's not four-wheel drive.

"I kept rocking the truck until the radiator filled with dirt and the clutch burned up."

Lesson learned.

After returning the truck to the family shop, his father supervised as the younger Sackmann learned how to replace a clutch.

"Dad said, "Here you go. Disassemble it," he said. "Remember how it came apart, and put it back together.'"

In his high school years, the younger Sackmann faced greater challenges when his father was badly injured in a car/tractor incident.

As The Journal reported in April 1973, "[Godfrey Sackmann] was driving a wheel tractor west up the long hill on Sign Route 26 just out of Washtucna at about 5:40 p.m. April 6. A Washtucna motorist, blinded by the sun, struck the tractor in the rear, inflicting severe injuries."

"I was in our shop," Sackmann said. "The local deputy showed up and took my mom and me to the hospital in Othello. We learned that Dad had fallen off the back of the tractor and a car landed on top of him.

"He had a broken pelvis and many other internal injuries. Battery acid had burned his skin in places. By the time he was extricated and taken to the hospital, things weren't looking good."

For months following the accident, Sackmann's father underwent numerous procedures at hospitals in Othello, Richland, Seattle, and elsewhere.

"Throughout my junior and senior years of high school, Dad couldn't attend a lot of my sporting events, and Mom was usually at his side," Sackmann said.

But with the help of siblings and friends, he persevered, graduating from Washtucna High School in 1975.

That fall he enrolled in appliance repair classes at Spokane Community College.

"It was a two-year course," he said. "In the first year, I lived with my brother, Larry, in Spokane and helped him renovate a home. Larry taught me a lot about carpentry."

Sackmann also worked part-time at Northtown Glass, where he assembled and delivered unfinished furniture throughout the city.

During his second year at college, Sackmann received a call from his father.

"Dad needed my help on the farm," he said. "So, I moved back home."

Eager to serve his community, Sackmann joined Washtucna's volunteer fire department in March 1978.

He would serve as a volunteer fireman for the next 38 years - 13 years in Washtucna and 25 years in Ritzville - finally retiring from the Ritzville Fire Department in January 2016.

In December 1978, Sackmann had other priorities. He attended a basketball game in Ritzville with his cousin Randy Kiesz and there met his future wife Connie Fitch, a senior at the high school. On her birthday in September 1980, he proposed at the Cloud Nine restaurant in Coeur d'Alene.

The couple married in April 1981 and began life together on the family farm in Washtucna.

- See Part 2 in the Feb. 8 edition of The Journal.