After graduating from Oakland High School in 1883 and earning a certificate to teach primary school, Nina Blackman accepted a teaching position in Snohomish offered by her uncle Hyrcanus Blackman, a member of the school board, surprising both her mother and fiancé. When she arrived by steamer, Charles H. Bakeman, who had moved to Snohomish from Wisconsin three years earlier and had built a woodworking business that included the region's first buggy and a mercantile outlet for his furniture, saw her disembark and declared that he would marry her and buy her a sky-blue dress to match her eyes. Nina later broke her engagement, fell in love with Charles, and married him quietly on June 20, 1887. Their first five years were prosperous as Charles's furniture business thrived, producing box springs for the town, and they had two children, Inez Mildred in December 1889 and Guy Victor two years later. In September 1893, a fire destroyed Charles's store and its entire inventory, valued at $17,000 dollars, forcing the family from their home into a small rental cottage at 317 Avenue B, where Nina and Charles lived for the rest of their lives. Nina died there at age 79, and Charles lived another 14 years with their daughter Frances Hodge and her family. Years later, Frances found a sky-blue brocaded silk dress preserved among Nina's belongings, showing that Charles had fulfilled the second promise he made when he first saw her.