upfront

EASTERN2

Editor – Kandi Carper ‘05

Graphic Design – Ryan Gaard ‘02

Copy Editor – Teresa Conway, Judy Crabb

Contributing Writers – Kandi Carper ’05, Dave Cook, Dave Meany, Brandon Hansen ‘08, Sam Buzby ‘07

Photography – John Demke ’98, Pat Spanjer ’80, Eric Galey ’84, Ryan Gaard ’02, Von Klohe ‘88

Editorial Board – Doug Kelley ’83, Jack Lucas ’77, Pia Hallenberg ’98, Kory Kelly ’98, Gina Mauro ‘90

Vice President for University Advancement – Michael Westfall

Director of Alumni Advancement – Lisa Poplawski ’94 and ‘01

EWU Alumni President – Kevin Linn ‘88

EWU Foundation Chair – Rob Neilson ‘81

Contact UsEastern MagazineLetters or commentsE-mail: easternmagazine@ewu.eduPhone: 509.359.6422Write: Eastern Magazine, 300 Showalter Hall, Cheney, WA 99004-2445

Address ChangesAlumni Correspondence Class Notes Submissions

E-mail: ewualum@ewu.eduWebsite: http://alumni.ewu.eduPhone: 888.EWU.ALUM or 509.359.4550Write: Office of Alumni Advancement 506 F St., Cheney, WA 99004-2402

Support Eastern Washington University

For information about making a gift to Eastern, please contact the Office of Alumni Advancement.

E-mail: ewualum@ewu.eduWebsite: www.ewu.edu/supportewuPhone: 509.359.4550Write: Office of Alumni Advancement 506 F St., Cheney, WA 99004-2402

Eastern, a magazine for alumni and friends of Eastern Washington University, is published fall, winter and spring by University Marketing & Communications, and mailed free in the U.S. to alumni of record.

This issue, and previous issues of Eastern magazine, may be viewed at www.ewu.edu/easternmagazine.

EASTERNFA

LL 2

011 THE MAGAZINE for Eastern Washington University Alumni and Friends

Dear Alumni and Friends,

The start of another school year here on

the Eastern Washington University campus

is always an exciting time, and this fall is no

different.

Another big freshman class is now settled

in, part of another record student body that is

approaching nearly 11,000 students.

The energy from winning a football national

championship has carried over to everything

on campus, as Eastern’s commitment to

excellence and success in the classroom has

never been stronger. There is definitely a new

sense of pride people feel when they talk

about coming to EWU.

The university is trying to capitalize on this momentum as it charts a new course

for the future. In the spring, I announced the creation of a new Strategic Planning

effort, which includes valuable input from a diverse group of students, faculty, staff

and community members. By the end of this year, EWU will have a bold plan known

as “Inspiring the Future,” with clear action plans and short-term attainable goals.

This is critical, because the academic direction and focus of the university have

changed, and new demands from the region and state require us to reassess the best

ways to utilize our resources. The university must take a fresh approach to meet the

new funding challenges facing higher education in the state of Washington.

In the end, the strategic path will reflect Eastern’s interest in strengthening our role

as an innovative, relevant and inclusive leader in the education field. You can learn

more about this process at www.ewu.edu/inspiringthefuture.

Speaking of which, you will find the stories in this issue very inspiring. The cover

story takes you inside the comic book world of a creative and successful EWU alum.

Two other graduates are profiled in an inspiring story about their lifelong friendship.

You will also learn how Eastern is taking the lead in preparing the next generation

to be leaders in the renewable energy field.

Your support, ideas and feedback are very meaningful during these challenging

times. We look forward to hearing from you, or better yet, seeing you around campus

this year.

Sincerely, Rodolfo Arévalo, PhD President

10 14 18 22

6

3Fall 2011

EASTERN

10 McFarlane Spawns an Empire From student janitor in Showalter Hall to creative genius behind the McFarlane Group of Companies

14 Powering Up the Future Eastern plans to become the Inland Northwest’s center for alternative energy education

18 An Enduring Friendship Upcoming movie documents alum’s life-changing story

22 Big Careers Start at Eastern Making it to the big leagues in sports marketing

2 Up Front

4 Letters to the Editor

5 On the Road

6 EWU Beat

26 Class Notes

33 In Memoriam

34 The Back Page

35 Alumni Events Calendar

Contents

Departments

On the cover Todd McFarlane is one of the hottest artists and most creative minds in the history of comic book publishing. A cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, he is best known for his comic book series Spawn. Cover concept Todd McFarlane, design by Ben Timmreck

I was very pleased to see Professor Lawrence Kraft’s picture among those on the front cover of the spring/summer issue of Eastern magazine. He was my debate coach from 1966-1970. EWU’s debate team was large and very active, and it was the ‘60s, a time when many of us believed that anything worth doing was worth overdoing. He didn’t just coach us, he was an ambassador from the outside world of adulthood, a world where integrity, personal responsibility and restraint were important. He was a gentleman in the fullest and best sense of the word, but I don’t think any of us really appreciated how important it was to have such a man influencing our lives. I certainly didn’t realize it until I became a high school teacher and debate coach and had to do the things Mr. Kraft had done. If a teacher is one who touches the future, then Mr. Kraft was most certainly one of the best I had at EWU.

Lloyd Smith ’90, ’70 East Wenatchee, Wash.

I received my spring/summer edition of Eastern magazine and enjoyed reading the article about favorite professors. I was pleased to see a picture of my favorite professor, Dr. Hank York-Steiner, on the cover. I have never met a more caring, kind, compassionate, intelligent teacher. I learned something from each of his classes that I reference to this day. I graduated from Eastern in 2004, and have been a special education teacher in sunny Arizona for the past five years. I think of him often and wonder if he really knows what a huge impact he had on my adult college career and my life. Thanks so much for writing this article. Those who teach like to know they are appreciated.

Kawna Harder ’04Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

I would like to congratulate your staff on consistently putting together a beautiful publication. I look forward to receiving my copy as it is always filled with interesting stories and beautiful pictures. From a fellow writer and publisher, kudos to you and your staff! Just my two cents – Steve Blewett should have been mentioned as “my favorite professor” for your article. He was a fantastic teacher who provided me with guidance that enabled me to succeed in my profession. I frequently cross paths with him as he remains involved in Spokane MarCom – just proving his commitment to the industry. I admire him and aspire to be as talented a professional as he is!

Allison Benjamin ’04 Colbert, Wash.

I attended EWU from 1988-94, getting both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the mathematics department. As the department was relatively small, I had several of the professors for multiple classes. I had one professor for 13 different classes! While it is difficult to choose only one of my professors as my favorite, I must say that Dr. Kit Hanes was particularly engaging and talented. His expertise was in geometry, and one of his many special skills was “blackboard management.” During each lecture, he managed to perfectly fill all of the blackboards, no matter how many, or few, with precise equations and text that was always the same size and spacing, without any space left over. This was a visual demonstration of how organized and clear thinking Dr. Hanes was, and his lessons imparted the same clarity of thought to me, which has served me well throughout my career.

David Turner ’94, ‘92 Norman, Okla.

I really enjoyed the favorite professor article in Eastern magazine. The professor who most impacted me was Captain Bob L. Gregory, one of the new team of ROTC instructors brought in to save the ROTC program. Eastern had finished last, or next to last, every year in the performance of its students during Advanced ROTC summer camp at Ft. Lewis. Captain Gregory was personally charged to shape up the program, beginning with my class. He was really ruthless in his determination to get us ready and we finished third out of the more than 100 west coast schools that summer. We were number one in physical training. I believe there were 25 of us at summer camp, and we commissioned all 25. Five years later, I was a company commander in the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and ran into LTC Gregory who was waiting to take command of a 1st Cavalry Battalion. A couple of months later, while home on leave, a major news story surfaced about the North Vietnamese Army capturing an American brigade commander. It turns out that LTC Gregory had assumed command of a battalion and his helicopter was shot down, all on board were killed. The NVA couldn’t resist embellishing the story. All of the bodies were eventually recovered. In a side note – I retired from the Army in 1983, and have lived in Augusta, Ga., since 1986. If Georgia Southern had won their last football playoff game this past year, Georgia Southern would have played EWU in the championship game. We would have been an incredibly long-odds house divided with my wife Bobbie being a GSU Class of ‘66 grad, and daughter, Ansley, a GSU Class of ‘11 grad.

Gary Lawhead ’62 Augusta, Ga.

Favorite Professors Acknowledged

4 EASTERN

tothe EditorLetters We want to hear from you!

Send us your letters. Letters may be edited for length or clarity and civility.

5Fall 2011

Where in the world will Eastern magazine next be spotted? Eastern alumni are invited to send photographs of themselves holding up the current issue. Please include some information about yourself with your submission. Due to space constraints, we may not be able to publish every submission, but the extras will be posted on the Eastern Magazine Facebook fan page. Send to easternmagazine@ewu.edu or Eastern Magazine, 300 Showalter Hall, Cheney, WA 99004-2445.

Eastern MagazineOn the Road with

’05 Krystn and ’05 Marc Axton, with their children, Noelia and Orland, recently took a vacation to Disneyland. Marc played basketball and Krystn cheered throughout their years at EWU. They live in Europe, where Marc is playing professional basketball.

Newlyweds ’07, ’03 Kristin (Cox) and ’01 Donald Sims took Eastern magazine with them on their honeymoon to the Cook Islands in July. The photo was taken on One Foot Island in Aitutaki. The couple lives in Spokane, where she is a physical therapist at Alderwood Manor. Don is the associate athletic trainer at EWU.

’64 Rod Ostboe and ’94 Wendy Ostboe Holsten took Eastern magazine with them on their summer tour through seven countries in Europe. They took this picture in Paris, in front of Sacre Coeur. Rod is a retired middle school teacher and gymnastics coach. Wendy is a 5th grade teacher in the Richland School District.

’67 Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jerry P. Mellick, traveled from his home in Spokane to see history being made as NASA launched the Space Shuttle Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July. This marked the end of NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program.

ewubeat

6 EASTERN

Eastern Community Feeds the Need

The fourth annual Eastern Washington University community food drive, held in August, generated more than two tons of food and $14,000 for the Cheney Food Bank, Cheney Outreach and Spokane’s 2nd Harvest.

Of the total cash donations, more than $6,400 will go to the Cheney Food Bank, and along with the food donations, will go a long way toward stocking the shelves to meet the high demand. Cheney Food Bank director John Matthews says the money raised represents half of his yearly budget.

Another $4,620 will go to the backpack for food program for Communities in Schools of Spokane County. This will provided 28 children with a weekend backpack filled with food, and is part of a nationwide effort to reduce the dropout rate and help children in need.

Donations generated during the food drive will also benefit 2nd Harvest Inland Northwest and Cheney Outreach, which received $1,000 and 80 backpacks filled with school supplies for children this fall.

Chair Nadine Arévalo, (EWU first lady) and co-chair Kathleen Warren credited the success of the food drive to the great community spirit during these difficult economic times.

Pass Through the Pillars Tradition Continues

Members of another freshman class marked their first steps on campus with a walk through the traditional entry point to campus, the Herculean Pillars, and up the brick pathway that leads to historic Showalter Hall. Faculty, staff and alumni lined the pathway cheering on the students as they began their Eastern journey on Sept. 19, 2011.

The Pass through the Pillars event was just one of many welcoming

activities held on the Eastern campus for the 2011 freshman class.

EWU is expecting more than 1,500 freshmen this year, putting it right on

par with the previous year’s class - which was one of the largest ever. The

entire student body is approaching nearly 11,000.

The Alumni Association and students created the gateway in 1915.

Comprised of two prominent stone pillars, it was designed to send a

message of hope and renewal in the aftermath of the Cheney Normal

School fire of 1912. Stone and granite from the original school were used to

build the monument.

Chaves Elected Chair of NCAA Administration Cabinet

The value, image and visibility of Eastern Washington University continues to expand on a national scale, as EWU Athletic Director Bill Chaves has been elected chair of the NCAA Administration Cabinet for the 2011-12 academic year.

The cabinet, which consists of 21 members from various Division I institutions and conference offices, is responsible for administrative functions within Division I athletics, including governance issues, review of applications for reclassification to Division I status and all committee selections.

“I look forward to continuing to represent the Big Sky Conference in the NCAA’s governance structure, as well as working with a talented group of professionals who do a tremendous job in carrying out the duties of this Cabinet,” said Chaves.

Chaves has served as the Big Sky representative on the NCAA Administration Cabinet for the past three years. Upon entering his fourth and final year of service, he was elected chair of the esteemed governing group. His term will conclude in June 2012.

Next Generation of Campus Housing

Students will have the option of living in a new residence hall, fall quarter 2013.In December 2010, the EWU Board of Trustees approved a budget for a new residence hall to be constructed on the parking lot below

Streeter Hall on Cedar Street, across from the University Recreation Center.Construction of the approximately 101,000 square-foot, 350-bed hall is projected to cost $25 million. ALSC Architects, Inc. was

competitively selected for design of this project.In spring 2012, construction is scheduled to begin, with an estimated completion date of September 2013.In 2008, Housing and Residential Life hired a consulting firm to put together a comprehensive housing master plan, a process that

included interviewing and surveying students, faculty, staff, administration and community members.Areas of interest were the use of space,

more privacy in bathrooms, improved accessibility for people with disabilities and more comfortable common areas.

Residential Life is a self-sufficient operation and acquires funds for projects like the new residence hall from bonds, which will be paid off later from the revenue generated by residents. The design may be altered slightly due to budget adjustments.

This new residence hall will become a model for the next generation of campus living at Eastern Washington University.

7Fall 2011

Sendak National Tour Exhibit Comes to Eastern

EWU Libraries is one of 40 libraries nationwide selected to host “In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak,” a traveling exhibition on display Oct. 28 through Dec. 16, 2011, at the JFK Library on the Cheney campus.

The exhibit reveals the push and pulls of New and Old Worlds in Sendak’s work, and shows how his artistic journey has led him deeper into his own family’s Jewish history.

Maurice Sendak is best known as the illustrator of more than 100 picture books, including Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen. He was born to Polish immigrants in Brooklyn in 1928, and his childhood was typically American in a number of ways.

The exhibit is an exploration of Sendak’s illustrations and picture books, revealing connections between these iconic works and his childhood, family and the popular culture of the time. The colorful exhibit panels feature illustrations of ferocious creatures, curious children and vibrant neighborhoods, alongside thematic explorations of the Jewish culture and history.

The national tour of the exhibit has been made possible by grants from the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the David Berg Foundation and an anonymous donor, with additional support from Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life.

The exhibition is free and open to the public during the library’s regular hours of operation, Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, noon-5 p.m. and Sunday, 1-9 p.m.

Eastern Washington University Libraries is sponsoring free programs and other events for the public in connection with the exhibition, including an opening reception, Nov. 2; Really Rosie, the Musical, a performance by the Spokane Area Children’s Chorus, Nov. 9; Tell Them Anything You Want, Maurice Sendak video and panel discussion, Nov. 14, and a presentation by Rita Berman Frischer, Nov. 30. These EWU events are made possible through the EWU Foundation Diversity Grant.

Contact Nadean Meyer at 509.359.4262 or nmeyer@ewu.edu or visit http://research.ewu.edu/sendak.

International Student Elected ASEWU President

EWU’s student body has selected Oscar Ocaña to serve as president of the Associated Students of EWU for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Ocaña received 48 percent of all votes cast in the May 3 election, and he holds the honor of being the first international student elected as student body president at Eastern.

“I believe strongly that we can create many opportunities for those who work hard every day to become successful in academics and life,” says Ocaña. “Together we can create something big for our community, Eastern Washington University and the state through education, diversity and unity.”

An economics major from Mexico, Ocaña transferred to Eastern from Spokane Falls Community College in August 2010. He is a 2010-11 merit-based EWU International Ambassador Scholarship recipient and serves as the public affairs officer of the International Student Association (ISA) of EWU.

More than 22 percent of EWU’s students are ethnic minorities - a much higher percentage (55 percent) represents the first generation in each family to attend college. EWU currently has nearly 500 international students from more than 30 countries.

8 EASTERN

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Hall of Fame Inductees Honored

Five individuals and the 1949-50 men’s basketball team were inducted into the 11th Class of Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in ceremonies on campus, Oct. 1, 2011.

The 1949-50 men’s basketball team finished 23-7 and won the Evergreen Conference title with a 13-1 mark in the league’s second year of existence. Despite falling short in advancing to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Tournament, legendary Eastern head coach Red Reese called the team “my best basketball club.”

Individual inductees include a pair of standouts from the 1940’s – sprinting sensation Holt Brewer and basketball standout Jack “Rabbit” Roffler. Brewer set school records in the 100-yard and 220-yard dashes,

and competed in the 1948 Olympic Trials. Roffler was a “dribbling and driving lay-in artist” who helped Eastern to a collective record of 79-16 and two NAIA Tournament berths.

Baseball pitcher Richard “Curly” Rousseau was also inducted for his record-breaking performance on the mound in 1970. Rousseau earned honorable mention All-America honors, as he had five

shutouts in 1970, setting the school record for both a single season and career. His 1.09 earned run average, in 1970, ranks second in school history, as he finished 6-2. He has since gone on to serve as president of the Eagle Athletic Association, helping that fund-raising group break

records as well.The other two inductees competed in the school’s infancy in the NCAA Division I ranks. Former

football cornerback and punt returner Rob Friese was a small-town football player from Lebam, Wash., who became a record-breaking Eastern football player from 1982-85. He helped Eastern to a 9-3 record, as a senior in 1985, and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (then known as I-AA). He had 169 tackles, nine interceptions, 16 passes broken up and a 12.1 average per punt

return in his career.Volleyball setter Suzanne Vick earned second-team All-Northwest Region honors in 1989, when she helped lead

Eastern to the NCAA Tournament after winning Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles. She helped Eastern win its first-ever Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles to advance to the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament, finishing 25-7 overall and 14-2 in the league. Vick set the single season school record with 1,367 assists.

Six former EWU administrators were also honored with the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame Service and Contribution Award.

The administrators are headlined by former EWU President H. George Frederickson (1977-87), who spearheaded Eastern’s drive to National Collegiate Association (NCAA) Division I status after being a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) for most of the school’s history.

Helping Frederickson and Eastern along the way were Ken Dolan (former assistant to the president), Russ Hartman (former vice president for business and finance), Jim Kirschbaum (former board of trustees chair) and Bill Shaw (former chief financial officer).

Also honored posthumously will be former athletic director Ron Raver, who was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001. Raver was represented Oct. 1 by his wife, Karen, and son, Tim.

They were relentless in their vision and faced a lot of tumult along the way. But 30 years later, after the school mesmerized the region with its 2010 NCAA Division I Football Championship, they deserve a debt of gratitude for what they accomplished through their perseverance.

9Fall 2011

Being at EWU was

just the first step of

doing something

positive with my life.

Getting a degree doesn’t

get you the dream job

right away, but a degree

shows people that you

have discipline. It shows

that for four years you

were regimented.

Todd McFarlane autographs Halo toys at Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego in July.

10 EASTERN

Not many. In fact, Todd McFarlane stands alone as a creative force, a man who

re-invented the comic book industry by helping start Image Comics. He now oversees an entertainment company, a toy company and a gaming studio with former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling.

And to think, during the early 1980s, McFarlane was once a student janitor, working in Showalter Hall at Eastern Washington University, a job which helped him pay for school and rent.

“At no time did I think I’d be a janitor for the rest of my life, it was a means to an end,” he said recently. “The good thing about it was I knew how every one of those offices worked. If you needed something with registration, I was like free help. I could have been a quasi-president with that stuff.”

McFarlane was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in 1961, but he spent much of his childhood in Southern California, where he learned to play baseball. It was baseball that brought McFarlane to Eastern.

After moving back to Calgary as a teenager, and finding that he was a weak skater in a hockey-crazed country, McFarlane became one of the best baseball players in the city.

“If they told me that I could play centerfield in the majors back then, I’d drop everything and do it,” he said. “In a perfect world, I’d get to be on a team and play baseball during the day and then at night, I’d do my comic books.”

While baseball was his life as a teenager, the self-admitted doodler was intrigued when he walked by a spinner rack in a mom and pop corner store.

“Out of the blue when most people reach the age that they drop comic books, I went in and bought five or six,” McFarlane explained. “I decided that instead of having 20 different styles of artwork, I wanted to learn how to draw American comic book heroes. It gave me tunnel vision in my art.”

But the diamond still beckoned. He tried out for Gonzaga University but ended up at Spokane Falls Community College.

How many people can say their career involves Spider-Man, Mark McGwire’s record-setting home run ball and a comic book hero called Spawn?

Due to team politics, McFarlane found himself riding the bench until a scout from the Seattle Mariners saw him play and suggested he play on a tournament team to increase his exposure. It was while playing for that team that EWU

baseball legend Ed Chissus saw McFarlane.“He came up to me and said ‘wow kid you had a hell of a tournament,’”

McFarlane said. Chissus recruited McFarlane to play for the Eagles, who competed at

NCAA Division I in the Pac-10. McFarlane’s demanding schedule of school and baseball, along with

his on-campus job as a janitor, didn’t leave him much free time, and he already had a girlfriend.

“I left my sweetheart at home and wasn’t a partier,” McFarlane said. “I’d get home at 11 at night and that’s when I would do my comic books.”

Once his sweetheart, Wanda Kolomyjec, finished high school, she joined McFarlane at Eastern, and the two lived in a small trailer by the train tracks in Cheney. He said he remembered the train would blow its horn, like clockwork, at 2 every morning waking them up.

When it appeared that Major League teams weren’t looking at McFarlane, he focused on getting into the comic book industry. He had worked in a comic book store in Spokane on the weekends, and he started sending out sample packages of his work to companies – about 700 of them. He received about 350 rejection letters.

“Finally, I think they got tired of me sending so many sample packages,” McFarlane said.

He remembered one day he was walking home from his janitor job when Wanda greeted him with the news: a call from Marvel Comics.

“I had to catch myself,” McFarlane said. “I still had to study for a final.” In the comic book industry equivalent of freelance work, McFarlane

was slated to produce an 11-page backup story entitled Scorpio Rose, in the Marvel/Epic Comics book Coyote, in March of 1984.

“It’s the equivalent of starting in the mail room,” he said.While working freelance and continuing to build his relationship with

Marvel, McFarlane remained in Cheney with Wanda. The two married in July of 1985, and Wanda graduated from Eastern with a biology degree.

“Here I am working for the ‘big guy’ and still lived in Cheney,” he said. “I

11Fall 2011

By Brandon Hansen ‘08

didn’t have to go to the big city and be a big shot.” McFarlane used what he learned about structure and regiment from

playing baseball. As a freelancer, you need to be self-motivated. “It definitely played a part because there is no boss,” said McFarlane. “You have to mentally do that yourself.”

When he got a box of his first comic book, McFarlane walked down the street giving free samples to anyone who would take them.

After going through the uncertain nature of freelance, McFarlane and his new wife moved into a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia.

That’s when his comic book career really started to take off.He penciled issues of Incredible Hulk and assignments with DC

Comics, such as the Batman Detective comics and two issues of Batman: Year Two.

“I climbed out of the mail room,” McFarlane said.And according to the artist, his work ethic set him apart. “I had shown that I could do two books in a month, and the editors

said I improved the artwork,” McFarlane said. And that’s when everyone’s favorite web-crawler, Spider-Man, called. Marvel’s signature superhero was in a bit of trouble in the late 1980s.

“Spider-Man was in artistic disarray,” McFarlane said. “Spider-Man was in a time warp, when (classic comic book artist) John Romita drew Spider-Man in the 1960s, because it was so good, nobody wanted to mess with the classic icon. When you got a check from Marvel, it was John’s Spider-Man that was on it.”

There were three different Spider-Man comic books, and Marvel assigned McFarlane to the Amazing Spider-Man, the longest-running in the series. And to make things even better, it was about to publish its 300th issue, meaning collectors would be gobbling it off the shelves.

“I, luckily, got the granddaddy book,” he said. McFarlane’s bold approach still impresses fans today, as he took the

1960’s Spidey and brought him into the modern age. “I’d be a fool to try and create a poor man’s version of John Romita’s

Spider-Man, so I was just going to try and come up with my own style,” he said. “If somebody had updated him every five years people probably wouldn’t have noticed my version as much,” McFarlane said.

McFarlane’s approach is still seen in how Spider-Man is drawn today. He gave him more webbing, bigger spider eyes, made the spider logo on his chest bigger, drew Spider-Man moving more like a spider, and made the character’s web slinging almost leap out off the page at the readers. He also played a part in creating one of the most famous Spider-Man villains, Venom.

This classic comic book had been McFarlanized and copies were flying off the shelves, outselling the competition by huge numbers, but that didn’t mean all things were peachy.

“My bosses didn’t quite take it that well,” McFarlane said of the changes he made to the Spider-Man book. “I would have odd conversations, where they would point their finger and reprimand me.”

Yet sales were going up?“We were in first place out of the 100 top books,” McFarlane said. “It

was bizarro conversations.” Marvel would eventually give McFarlane his own comic book,

Spider-Man, and it shipped in September 1990, selling 2.5 million copies, and setting an industry record for mainstream comic books.

McFarlane took a hiatus from work in 1991, when his first daughter was born. He and his family moved to Portland, Ore., a few months later. It was during this time that he started thinking about starting

In April 2011, Todd and Wanda McFarlane hosted the EWU golf team for dinner at their home during the Big Sky Conference Championships held in the Phoenix area. Back row, left to right: Kellien Holmstedt, Wanda McFarlane, Todd McFarlane, Morgan Lee, Jayme Carbon, Head Coach Brenda Howe, Associate Athletic Director Marc Hughes, front row, left to right: Sara Callagy, Neddy Martinez, Dana Stapleton and McFarlane’s dog Rikki.

12 EASTERN

13Fall 2010

his own publishing company. The lack of creative control in the mainstream comic book industry was becoming troublesome.

“When I started at Marvel I was the guy who wanted to start a union,” McFarlane said. “Eventually I got frustrated and a couple of buddies and I decided to start our own company.”

McFarlane had seen many comic book artists taken advantage of, even the famous ones, and was determined not to have that happen to him.

“I had done a lot of reading and I had seen that they take advantage of your art, or you become the old man and they stopped giving you work,” he said. “I had seen a couple of older gentlemen get the negative treatment.”

Soon after, McFarlane, along with some of the best Marvel comic book artists, announced they’d be leaving the company to start Image Comics. It would be different in the fact that every one of those artists would have control over their individual creations.

“I knew there was momentum going into this venture,” McFarlane said. But first they had to come up with those individual creations.

McFarlane went back to his high school days and pulled out a character he had created when he was 16 years old.

The dark, brooding character was Spawn, and when Image Comics published Spawn No. 1, it sold 1.7 million copies, the most for an independent comic book to date.

And this is where the genius of McFarlane set in. “I can’t see myself in the position where I’m leaving myself leaning

on any one thing,” he said. “What if the Spawn comic book is just a fad?” He left the inking duties of Spawn in 1998, and founded McFarlane

Toys and McFarlane Entertainment. McFarlane Entertainment’s film and animation studio has produced an Emmy award-winning animated series of Spawn, and, in conjunction with New Line Cinema, a commercially successful Spawn movie.

The toy industry was buzzing about McFarlane Toys’ level of detail and the quality of its products, along with the fact that its “toys” were intended more for adults than kids. But that didn’t prevent McFarlane from having a lot of doors shut in his face while trying to get license deals.

It was also during this time that McFarlane took a calculated risk – buying major league baseball player Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball for $3 million.

“Even though I had blown my life savings on a baseball, it brought

me a lot of media attention,” McFarlane said. Attention that caused a lot of people to start paying attention to, not just his comic book, but also his toy and entertainment companies. The toy company, which started out with just Spawn as its signature item, has since captured numerous rock bands, TV shows, movies and all major North American sports league deals. A dot-com bust had caused other toy companies to drop their sports figurine lines and McFarlane Toys was there to pick up the slack.

“Now after 10-plus years of sports licenses, I’m still ahead in the game,” McFarlane said of buying the home run ball. “That home run ball was literally the ante to get to the poker table.”

Now the comic book artist has a commercial portfolio so diverse that it’s hard to keep track.

“It just keeps fracturing,” McFarlane said. “If one thing doesn’t go well it won’t put me out of business.”

With so many things going on, McFarlane has had to become well-versed in the language of business. But, he’s certainly more comfortable being the artist, something that began as a child and was fostered at Eastern.

The university no longer has a baseball program, something that McFarlane says is a bit of a downer. “As a guy who likes his baseball, it’s a bit of a sad mark,” he said. “When you say you played for a Pac-10 program, and then say it was at Eastern, you have to start backpedaling because they shut the program down.”

But that hasn’t diminished what McFarlane took from the university, or his feelings about the importance of a college education.

“Being at EWU was just the first step of doing something positive with my life,” McFarlane said. “Getting a degree doesn’t get you the dream job right away, but a degree shows people that you have discipline. It shows that for four years you were regimented.”

From a janitor, to an industry leader, McFarlane said that in order for someone to be successful, they have to set goals and achieve them, not just talk about their dreams.

And McFarlane would know, having spun his own dreams into reality. E

It was also during this time that McFarlane took a calculated risk – buying

major league baseball player Mark McGwire’s 70th home

run ball for $3 million.

13Fall 2011

Stan Lee, former president and chairman of Marvel Comics, with Todd McFarlane

The vision is that Eastern will become the Inland Northwest’s

center for alternative energy education. By creating a learning/

teaching center on campus, students, teachers and the general

public will be able to explore, test, experience and increase their

knowledge about wind, solar and fuel cell technology.

“We are building on EWU’s history of engaging students from

elementary school to higher education by continuing to strengthen

the university’s relationships with regional schools and businesses

that work in the energy field,” said EWU President Rodolfo Arévalo.

“This project will have a tremendous impact on the economic future

of the Inland Northwest and the state of Washington. “

The timing couldn’t be better, as our country and the Inland

Northwest explore the development of renewable energy sources

that will meet the needs of future generations.

Additionally, energy-based business partners will work with the

university to provide important, viable economic strategies, and help

prepare employees with the scientific and engineering education

necessary to accomplish the goal of energy independence.

PoweringFuture

Up thefor

If we build it, they will come. “It” is Eastern Washington University’s Alternative Energy Education Demonstration site. “They” are K-12 students – our future engineers, scientists and renewable energy entrepreneurs, as well as EWU education and engineering students.

14 EASTERN

By Kandi Carper ‘05

The Alternative Energy Education Demonstration Site project builds

on the strengths and passions of the university’s faculty, who care

deeply about the education of K-12 students and the teachers

who teach them, as well as others who want to prepare first-rate

engineers. The project will allow engineering students to participate

in class projects and engineering research, and will give EWU another

one-of-a-kind opportunity for community engagement.

EWU professors Rodger Hauge (education) and Jeff Donnerberg

(engineering) have teamed up for almost four years to take their

math and science/alternative energy curriculum to K-12 schools to

educate students. As they have collaborated with teachers in the

community, the vision has grown to include this demonstration site

on EWU’s campus.

The project will feature four types of solar installations with an

accessible data kiosk; a small building equipped with the latest

sustainable building features; sustainable landscaping; a wind

machine; a mini-solar car racetrack; solar boat troughs; an activity

“pad” for student projects and a picnic area where students can

assemble their materials.

EWU will serve as the organizing partner of the Northeast

Washington Energy Education Consortium. This will be a partnership

between K-12 schools and higher education institutes, collaborating

to teach science, using project-based alternative energy models.

The consortium will host the Annual Energy Academy as a way to

encourage K-12 students to pursue engineering and computer

science careers. The university will provide professional and

curriculum development in the field of renewable energy.

From field trips to internships, from preparing engineers and

teachers, to challenging everyone to think big about the endless

possibilities in the renewable energy field, the project will be a

cutting-edge facility that leads to a brighter future. E

If you would like to support the EWU Alternative Energy Education

Demonstration Project, or would like more details, please contact

Tim Szymanowski, director of Development, 509.359.6132,

tszyman@ewu.edu.

15Fall 2011

The Nearness of YouSarah Shea ’05, BA music composition

Eastern alumna Sarah Shea has released her

first CD, The Nearness of You. Her debut CD is

a delight to the ear and the soul, filled with

classic melodies.

The CD features 12 tracks of relaxing jazz

vocals, including Shea’s personal favorite, I’ve

Got You Under My Skin. With the exception

of Fever, all of the vocals were recorded in

Sequim, Wash. Fever was completed in one

take and purposely left “raw.”

Other classic standards include The

Nearness of You, Sunny, Cheek to Cheek and

Summertime, among others.

The album also features Eastern alums

Jon Hamar ’99, BA music composition,

on bass and Mark Ivester ’78, BA music,

on drums. Also on the album is Al Harris

(arranger, producer, piano), Craig Buhler

(clarinet, sax and flute) and Ed Donohue

(flugelhorn).

You can preview the songs and purchase

the CD online at CD Baby, one of the largest

online distributors of independent music.

www.cdbaby.com/cd/sarahshea

sarahsheajazz.com

sights&soundsIf you are an Eastern alum or faculty member and have written a general interest book or have a music CD on the market (self-published works will be included if space allows) and would like to have it considered for inclusion in Eastern magazine’s Sights and Sounds section, please send it (along with your contact information) to: Eastern Magazine, 300 Showalter Hall, Cheney, WA 99004-2445.

House of Words Poems by Jonathan Potter, EWU Librarian Korrektiv Press

House of Words is a collection of poems

arranged in four movements echoing

the structure of an Elizabethan sonnet.

The book opens in wonder, dwelling in a

world in which words and the gestures of

language provide access to the freshness

deep down in things. But even in that initial

movement, a gap is evident which grows

as it confronts contradiction and death.

Subdued receding of resignation follow,

tentatively emerging into the light of faith.

Potter, EWU faculty librarian, had his

poem, You and I, read on Garrison Keillor’s

Writer’s Almanac show on National Public

Radio on Feb. 28, 2011. With several million

listeners across the nation, the show affords

the poems it features perhaps the single

widest audience for new poetry in America.

Potter lives in Spokane with his wife,

children and dog. His poetry has appeared

in Z Miscellaneous, Christianity & Literature,

Poems Niederngasse and Korrektiv.

korrektivpress.com

In Earshot of WaterNotes from the Columbia Plateau

By Paul Lindholdt, PhD, English professorUniversity of Iowa Press

Whether the subject is the plants that grow

there, the animals that live there, the rivers

that run there, or the people he has known

there, Paul Lindholdt’s In Earshot of Water

illuminates the Pacific Northwest in vivid

detail. Lindholdt writes with the precision of

a naturalist, the critical eye of an ecologist,

the affection of an apologist, and the self-

revelation and self-awareness of a personal

essayist.

Lindholdt first came to Eastern as a

lecturer in 1994, becoming a full professor

in the English Department in 2007. His areas

of interest include American literature,

environmental studies and creative writing.

He has won awards from the Academy

of American Poets and the Society of

Professional Journalists; has published some

170 books, book chapters, scholarly articles,

essays, columns, reviews and poems.

uiowapress.org

17Fall 2011

“A-list” actors are being considered to play Pete Peterson ’74 and

Jack Sheehan ’73, in the upcoming movie, Hayden Lake.

Peterson said that “someone crazy like Sean Penn” should

play his role, but since the movie takes place when Peterson and

Sheehan are in their teens and twenties, his first choice would be

Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings).

When Sheehan was asked who he’d prefer to play him he

laughed, “Brad Pitt, of course.” But since Pitt isn’t the right age,

he’d choose Adam Brody. “He looks sort of like me at that age – an

introspective type, an observer, someone who’s watching what’s

going on around him.”

Hayden Lake tells the story of Peterson and Sheehan’s lifelong

friendship and recounts a boating accident that changed

Peterson’s life forever.

Sheehan, a best-selling author who lives in

Las Vegas, wrote the screenplay for the movie.

Filming is scheduled to begin later this year,

with a projected release date of 2012, or early

2013. Location shots will take place next year, as

weather permits, at Hayden Lake, just north of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.

If a movie about your life was being made, who would you want to play you? For most of us, that’s just a fantasy, but for two Eastern alums it’s become a reality.

Left to right: Pete Peterson and Jack Sheehan at their first birthday party in 1950, with sisters Susan Sheehan and Terry Peterson.

Photo courtesy Mike Hays18 EASTERN

By Kandi Carper ‘05

The BurdenThe Accident

During their early years, Peterson and Sheehan lived parallel lives.

They were born 20 days apart in the summer of ’49. Their moms were

best friends; their dads were both dentists in Spokane. The two South

Hill families socialized together and summered at Hayden Lake. “Our

lives were so similar for the first 10 years, it’s a wonder we got along at

all,” said Sheehan. “We were as close as brothers.”

The two friends are pictured together in faded black and white

family photos – as infants resting in the arms of their fathers, as curly-

haired toddlers, and as young boys on a Hayden Lake dock.

Their families were together through the good times, and the

bad. When Peterson’s mom Edith was diagnosed with breast cancer

in 1960, Sheehan’s mom Lillian was there to support her. Edith passed

away two years later, leaving 13-year-old Peterson, his sister and dad

on their own.

The AccidentAt 15, Peterson drove one of the hottest jet boats on Hayden Lake,

a polished wooden Tollycraft Cruiser. He and a female friend were

out for a ride the night of Aug. 15, 1964, when the boat suddenly

exploded, ejecting and nearly drowning the two of them. They were

rescued by a passing boater and taken to shore.

Parts of a 13-foot fiberglass boat that had collided with Peterson’s

boat were discovered floating in the lake that night and the next

morning, but tragically, its passengers – two 16-year-old girls – were

missing and presumed drowned. Their bodies, and Peterson’s boat,

disappeared into the deep, dark water below.

Earlier that summer, Peterson was developing a bad-boy

reputation in the close-knit upscale Hayden Lake community – he

was too wild, too reckless. He had been involved in some minor

juvenile trouble, which made it easier for people to blame him for the

accident. At the time, there was even talk of a possible manslaughter

charge, something that never materialized.

Sheehan believed Peterson when he said he didn’t see anything

before his boat exploded. He may have been the only one who

believed him.

The Burden“Everyone told me that I had killed two girls,” said Peterson. He carried

this burden with him for years – through high school at Saint Georges

School, and later, during a short stint at the University of Washington.

By 1969, the Vietnam draft hung like a dark cloud overhead, and,

since Peterson was going nowhere in college, he decided to enlist in

the Army. His goal was to win the Medal of Honor – something that

would make his dad proud of him.

Jack Sheehan and Pete Peterson, April 2011, photo: Colin Mulvany, The Spokesman-Review

19Fall 2011

with the Coeur d’Alene Press, contacted Peterson and told him, “We

found your boat and you didn’t do it.”

Tom Michalski, a beer truck driver and skilled amateur diver from

Post Falls, Idaho, was scanning the bottom of Hayden Lake, when

he got a sonar blip signaling something was in the water below.

Michalski discovered the wreckage of the Tollycraft, buried 172 feet

below for nearly two decades. A few days later, he found the bodies of

Barbara Horne and Carol Thornton, the two missing girls.

Sometimes an accident is just that – an unavoidable accident. It

was no one’s fault. The bow of the smaller boat was buried in the side

of the Tollycraft Cruiser. An oversized replacement screw was stuck

in the throttle of the girls’ boat, causing it to lock in the fast-forward

position. The smaller boat’s lights were found in the off position. The

girls couldn’t stop their runaway boat from slamming into Peterson’s

boat.

Peterson said that he was glad his dad was alive when the boat

was discovered and saw that it hadn’t been his fault.

Television footage of the recovery of the boat shows an emotional

Peterson standing on the dock at Mokins Bay at Hayden Lake. You

can see a mixture of relief and sadness on his face, as he relived the

events of that August night 18 years earlier.

“I kept thinking, what if I would have left a few minutes later, or

gone a different way?” said Peterson. “I thought if only I’d have done

something different.”

From Article to ScreenplayIn 1964, the allegations came in three-inch, front page headlines in

The following year, he left for Southeast Asia, commissioned as a

lieutenant. He saw this as a way to redeem himself.

He also saw things he never wanted to see again – death and

destruction.

“I look back on some of this stuff now, and can’t believe it was me,”

he later told Sheehan. “You get in a state where you’re kind of numb

to it all.”

That numbness went away one day when Peterson’s unit was

getting ready to make camp and a pair of booby traps were triggered.

A split second before the explosion, he bent down to pick up a radio,

escaping death, but taking shrapnel in his arm. Others in the unit

weren’t as lucky. Peterson helped get one man to safety, and he

found the foot of another young soldier so he could be buried intact.

He was honored for his bravery, receiving the Purple Heart and the

Bronze Star. Once again, his life was spared. He returned home shortly

afterwards, determined to move forward.

VindicationAfter returning home to Spokane, Peterson and his old friend

Sheehan reunited. Sheehan was completing his master’s degree in

English at Eastern. He suggested that Peterson join him; they could

drive to school together. So Peterson went to Eastern, earning his BA

in management in 1974. That’s where he met Gayle Halverson, (’75 BA

education) his future wife.

In December 1982, Peterson was working as a manager at a

J.C. Penney store in Spokane, when he got the call that changed

everything. Ric Clarke, an old high school friend who was a reporter

Vindication

From Article to Scr

20 EASTERN

21

the local newspapers. Absolution came in 1982, buried on page 4 of

section B.

That wasn’t enough for Sheehan – his friend deserved more. So

Sheehan did what he does best, he wrote an article, Buddies, for a

Nevada magazine in 1984, to further exonerate Peterson.

Shortly after Sheehan’s article appeared, he got a call from the

actor Jon Voight, who wanted to buy the film rights to the story.

Sheehan turned him down, but the story stayed with him and

at a friend’s suggestion, Sheehan went ahead and wrote his first

screenplay, which went on to win the Nevada Screenwriters Award

in 1988.

Because of Sheehan’s celebrity connections, as a writer and a

talented golfer, the screenplay eventually made its way to Warner

Bros. in 1987. Patrick Dempsey, then 22, (“Dr. McDreamy” on TV’s

Grey’s Anatomy) was being considered to play the role of Peterson.

But as the project moved forward, Sheehan became increasingly

uncomfortable with the studio’s changes to the story. Drugs and sex

were suggested by a producer, as a way to spice up the movie, but

Sheehan was adamant that the character of his friend not be twisted

in that direction.

In 1991, the screenplay made its way to ABC TV for a movie of the

week project. The same thing happened. Sheehan says he could agree

to some minor changes for dramatic effect, but not to changes that

portrayed his friend as someone he wasn’t. In 1992, the screenplay

was back in Sheehan’s office, where it would stay for 18 years.

Hayden Lake – the MovieIn 2010, Sheehan and Jim Page, an old friend from Hayden Lake, were

talking about the screenplay, when Page recommended that his son,

Ryan, could get the movie made with Sheehan’s story intact. Ryan

Page grew up hearing about the mysterious accident.

Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke, the writing and directing

team behind Blood into Wine, and the upcoming comedy Queens

of Country, came on board to finally bring Hayden Lake to the big

screen. Their plan is to make it a period piece, filmed the way classic

Hollywood movies were made in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Peterson understands the interest in the story, but after 47 years,

it ends the same way. “There are still two girls who are dead,” Peterson

said. “Two families lost their daughters. Whether I hit them, or they hit

me, it doesn’t change anything.”

In the end, it’s really not about which actors portray them. Both

Peterson and Sheehan feel that there’s a story to be told – a story

of two men, as close as brothers, whose friendship and loyalty have

spanned a lifetime. E

Jack Sheehan continues to write and enjoys playing golf in Las Vegas, where he lives with his wife Carol, and their children, Lily and J.P. During the past 35 years, he’s written 18 books and more than 1,000 articles for regional and national magazines. He’s sold three screenplays to Hollywood, and is frequently hired as a keynote speaker.

Peterson and his wife Gayle live in Spokane Valley. They have three children and five grandchildren. Gayle is the Head of River Day School in Spokane. Pete recently retired from Washington Auto Carriage and is enjoying his free time, playing golf and spending time with his grandchildren.

Hayden Lake – the

Fall 2011

By Sam Buzby ‘08Major League Talent

Jared Rose grew up north of Spokane in Chewelah, Wash., the type of small town where you can’t help but be

involved with just about everything. Rose brought that sense of community engagement with him to Eastern when he enrolled in the fall of 1996. “I looked at EWU as a natural extension of my small town,” said Rose. “I knew that at Eastern I had the chance to be more than just another face in the crowd.” Rose began his time at Eastern with ambitions to become a history teacher and cross country coach at a small rural high school like his own. Shortly thereafter, he realized that “history buff” was really more his hobby, and his true calling was with sports marketing. “I have a fascination with the marketing/advertising field, and sports have always been a part of my life,” said Rose. “Combining the two into a career seemed like a great fit.” That winning combination led Rose to two successful sports marketing positions in the Spokane area. In December of 2000, immediately after earning his bachelor’s degree

t’s no secret how many Eastern graduates love sports, and why shouldn’t they? Thousands of Eastern alumni and fans were there that unforgettable night in Frisco Texas, including one alumnus who not only loves sports, but has turned his passion into a career that is only getting bigger.

in business administration and marketing, Rose accepted a position as media relations and promotions director for the Spokane Indians Baseball Club. It was a seasonal job, which allowed Rose to attend graduate school at Marshall University during the off-season, where he earned a master’s degree in athletic administration. In 2003, Minor League Sports Zone gave Rose their “Rising Star” award, expressing that he was “a major league talent in a minor league market,” a statement that still motivates Rose to this day. After a

big careers start at Eastern

22 EASTERN

promotion to sponsorship director and five rewarding seasons with the Indians, Rose left in 2005, when he accepted the vice president of marketing position for the newly-formed Spokane Shock Arena Football team. Not only did the Shock provide a major career jump for Rose, but he also likes to point out that he was the first official employee in the championship team’s history. “One of my proudest moments was helping the Spokane Shock on their way to winning the 2006 league championship in the team’s first year,” said Rose. “The entire Shock experience was a major accomplishment, almost unthinkable. We went from expansion team to dynasty in the blink of an eye and I will always be proud, not only of that achievement, but the way in which it was attained.” After meeting head-on every challenge the Spokane sports landscape could throw at Rose, it was no surprise when he learned his name was coming up on the radar of a professional sports team across the country. Last year, Rose found himself with a new opportunity at the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Pistons NBA Team in the sizable sports market of Detroit, Mich. “Although I was not actively pursuing a career move, I was contacted about filling a vacant director of corporate marketing position at Palace Sports and Entertainment,” said Rose. After three rounds of phone interviews and a flight to Detroit, he was offered the job and eagerly accepted, starting his new life in Michigan within a matter of weeks. Just over a year into his new position in the Motor City, Rose balances his time between some

admittedly “mundane” days, filled with day-to-day sales tasks, and “off-the-charts exciting” days. The later could include anything from entertaining clients at VIP events alongside the likes of Tim McGraw, to hosting sponsor parties with none other than Detroit Piston Rodney Stuckey, a fellow Eagle. “Over the course of the year, we host roughly 300 events at various venues,” said Rose. “I don’t attend every event, but I certainly don’t maintain a normal 9-to-5 schedule. When you’re in the sports and entertainment field, you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of nights, weekends and holidays in order to enjoy working in such an exciting and highly rewarding field.” Whether he’s getting in a few holes of golf with professional basketball players, or rubbing elbows with the world-class entertainers his

company brings to Detroit, Rose never forgets where he came from. As he reflects on a career that is still relatively young, Rose needs little prodding to speak about those who have influenced his success along the way. While still a student at Eastern, Rose worked in the EWU Athletics equipment room with bosses Kerry Pease and Ginny Knox. Pease and Knox had a major impact on Rose’s career path, encouraging him to get involved and experience every aspect of collegiate athletics Eastern had to offer. “They displayed remarkable confidence in me to do whatever task they assigned, and I never once felt like I was just a student worker,” said Rose. But possibly the most significant piece of inspiration for Rose’s future accomplishments came with the opportunity to serve alongside then EWU President Steve Jordan on the steering committee for the first Governors Cup game. “The relationship I developed over the years with Dr. Jordan impacted my passion for EWU more than anything else,” said Rose, “I wouldn’t mind if someday the road led me back to Cheney to put my passion for sports marketing to work for the team I am most passionate about and the school that has given me so much.” E

The relationship I developed over the years with Dr. Jordan impacted my passion for EWU more than anything else. I wouldn’t mind if someday the road led me back to Cheney to put my passion for sports marketing to work for the team I am most passionate about and the school that has given me so much.

Rose with Spokane Shock 2006 AF2 championship trophy.

Rose (pictured right) cheers on the Eagles at 2010 National Championship game in Frisco, Texas

Rose playing golf with Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko

23Fall 2011

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EWU Fans Visit Husky Stadium for Season-OpenerEagle pride came out in force Sept. 3, 2011, in Seattle when Eastern alumni and friends descended on Husky Stadium for the EWU vs. UW football game and tailgate! This was the first meeting of the 2010 FCS National Championship Eagles and the FBS Pac-12 Huskies. Eastern dominated the Huskies in total offense 504-250. But four turnovers led to the narrow victory by the Dawgs, who clinched the win with an interception in the end zone with 29 seconds left on the clock, and a final score of 30-27. Junior All-America receiver Brandon Kaufman had 10 catches for 140 yards, Nicholas Edwards had 12 grabs for 108 yards and a touchdown and Greg Herd had seven catches for 87 yards and a TD. Each player had career highs for receptions and yards in the game. Sophomore Ashton Clark added four grabs for 73 yards and a touchdown.

EWU Pride in the Aloha StateEastern alumni got together in Hawaii June 24 and 25, 2011, to share stories, laughs and Eagle pride with former classmates and new friends. Pictured from left: Katie Hardwick ‘80, Fran Bierig ‘76, Roland Ariola ‘76, EWU Director of Alumni Advancement Lisa Poplawski ‘01 and ‘94, Cheryl Ariola ‘76, John Dang ‘76, Lyn Kinoshita ‘77 and Dale Kegley ‘80.

Women’s basketball head coach Wendy Schuller, Brad Schuller and their children

Dennis Snellman ’95, Anthony Hundt ’97, Becki Hundt, Atom Duszynski ’97, Jeff Mitchell ’97 and Chan Erdman ‘95

Sam Anderson, EAA president and Thorne Tibbitts ‘61

Kevin ’80 and Linda Fairhurst ’80, Von Klohe ’88, Lisa Poplawski ’01, 94, Brenda Klohe ’90 and Nancy Tsutakawa ‘70

26 EASTERN

Alumni Photo Album

classnotes

Alumni and friends gather to show support for their Eastern Eagles wherever they go – Seattle, South Dakota or Montana – as the 2011 football season gets underway.

27

’10 s ’10 Gerald Claghorn, BS biology, has been awarded a fellowship through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, as he works on his PhD. He is in the Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology Program at the University of California, Riverside, Calif.

’10 Erin C. Cleveland, MEd French, has been awarded a Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange to Bretagne, France, for the 2011-12 academic year, to teach English as a foreign language to middle school students.

’10 Ramona Peacock-Bowman, BA business, has been hired by Professional Realty Services of Washington’s Spokane office to work within the Spokane and Tri-Cities areas.

’10 Scott A. Snodgrass, BA criminal justice, and ’10 Megan Hooper, BA education, married April 23, 2011, in Oakesdale, Wash. The couple works and resides in Cheney.

’00 s ’09 George E. Stoess, BA management, and ’03 Gina T. (Bogath) Stoess, welcomed their son Henry Frederick, born Jan. 10, 2011.

’08, ’05 Shannon Blue Webb, MSW, BA criminal justice, was awarded “Woman of the Year,” by the National Association of Professional Women. She currently is employed by Pioneer Human Services, as a member of their clinical team. She lives in Bellingham, Wash.

’06, ’93 Guy Breshears, MA history, BA education, married Peggy Chan in May 2011. The couple is moving to Hong Kong, where he will teach. He has donated a large amount of his research materials and books to a special collection in the EWU Library. His third book, To Seize Their Lands: Manifest Destiny in Washington Territory, was recently published by Heritage Books, Inc.

’06 Adam D. Harki, BA business, has been accepted, and is enrolled at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Mass., where he has been awarded a renewable merit scholarship.

’06 Sarah C. Rathbun, BA criminal justice, married Toby Quiring, May 19, 2011, at Makena Cove, Maui, Hawaii. She works for the Kootenai County Juvenile Detention Center, as a detention counselor. The couple lives in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

’06 Jacqueline May Wilson (Gorski), BA music, received her doctorate of musical arts in bassoon performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa, spring 2011 and will be joining the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire as a lecturer in bassoon this fall.

’05, ’01 Ryan C. Grant, MEd, BA education, and ’99 Paula R. Grant, BA education, welcomed their son Conner Daniel, born May 10, 2011.

’05 Thomas “Pete” Ryan, MSW, has been hired by the South East Alaska Regional Health Consortium Behavioral Health Division as a behavioral health clinician at the Alicia Roberts Medical Center.

‘05 Kathleen Senff, BA management, and ’00 Nathan Ward, have opened their own clothing store, “Tulees U” in Mount Vernon, Wash.

’04 Allison Benjamin, BS public relations, has been hired by Washington State University College of Nursing, as its marketing and communications manager. She formerly worked at Cancer Care Northwest. She has served several years on the Spokane Regional MarCom Association board, including serving as president, 2009-2010.

’04 Erin Reed, BS dental hygiene, and ’03 Travis Reed, DPT, BS exercise science, welcomed their second child, daughter Trinity Ziara, on Feb. 18, 2011. Travis is the director of North Bend Physical Therapy.

’04 David Tempel, BA education, and his wife ‘04 Sara (Borck) Tempel, BA marketing, welcomed their son Ryan David, born May 19, 2011. They live in Ephrata, Wash.

’03 Marty L. Gonzales, BS communication studies, is the director of Mobius Kids Children’s Museum, located in River Park

Square in downtown Spokane. He was selected as one of the top 20 Under 40 young professionals in the July/August Issue of the Inland Business Catalyst Magazine.

’03 Kara A. (Hendrick) Lamb, BA criminal justice, and her husband William, welcomed their son Nolan William, born on the couple’s third wedding anniversary, Aug. 18, 2010. They live in Spokane.

’02 Gavin Staeheli, BA education, has been recently hired by Keller Williams Realty Spokane as an agent. He previously worked for Safeco Insurance.

’01 Patrick O. McLaughlin, BS biology, recently completed his family practice residency in Greeley, Colo. He graduated from the University of Washington Medical School in 2008, and has been living in Greeley for the past three years with his wife Andrea and daughter Meagan Kate, born March 8, 2011. They are moving to Wenatchee, Wash., where Patrick will start his family practice career at Columbia Valley Community Health Center.

’01 Danni Marie Orne, BA health service administration, has been hired by Alderwood Manor as executive director. She previously worked for Burien Nursing and Rehabilitation in Seattle, and has 12 years of related experience.

’00, ’98 Kriste Colley-Valdez, MS applied psychology and BS developmental psychology, has opened a life and career coaching practice, Coaching Toward Empowerment. She does in-person, e-coaching and tele-coaching, helping women define, reach and live their dreams. She lives in Lawton, Okla.

’90 s ’99 Amy (Bouchard) Brooks, BA human resource management, was elected as vice president of communication and outreach for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, (UNLV) chapter of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, a political action committee and nonprofit organization with a mission of advancing higher education in Nevada.

Fall 2011

28 EASTERN

’99 Lora (Botha) Clothier, BA PEHR, is opening BioJunction Sports Therapy in west Seattle. Prior to opening her own clinic, Lora worked for more than eight years at G2 Sports Therapy in north Seattle and she recently wrapped up an interim contract with the Pro Sports Club in Bellevue, Wash. A volleyball player at Eastern, she continues to play the indoor season with USA Volleyball, one of the world’s leading organizations for the sport. This summer she joined other elite players for the 2011 USAV Open Championships.

’99 Marcus McCollum, BA electronic media and filmic art, has been signed as a director to Hello!, a production company that produces content for a wide-range of media including commercials, interactive and music videos. The past six years, he was with Crossroads Films. His work includes comedic spots for brands such as Toyota, Hershey’s, Honda, Turbo Tax and Time Warner. He lives in Lancaster, Calif.

’99 Julie Silbar, BA interdisciplinary studies, has been promoted from director of business systems support group to vice president of hospitality systems and central reservations at Red Lion Hotel Corporation in Spokane.

’98 T.J. Brill, BA marketing, has been hired as a vice president and commercial loan officer for Inland Northwest Bank. He previously worked for Banner Bank in Spokane, and has 13 years of banking experience.

’98 Patsy Gayda, BA liberal studies, has been named Spokane Teachers Credit Union’s vice president-branches. She joined the credit union as a teller in 1985, rising through the ranks to become director of branch operations in 2004. She is treasurer for the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and she is a board member for Women Helping Women.

’98 Monica Gyarfas, BA human resource management, has earned the “Professional in Human Resources Certification,” from the Human Resources Certification Institute. She is a human resources administrator for Global Credit Union.

’98 James P. Moran, BA education, has been awarded a James Madison Fellowship by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation of Washington D.C., in its 20th annual competition. Moran is a teacher at Pathways Middle School in Meridian, Idaho. His is one of 57 fellowships awarded in 2011.

’98 Leslie Czernik, BA English, has been appointed events chair for 2011-12 for the Spokane Regional MarCom Association. She works for Pearson Packaging Systems.

’97, ’92 Martin Patrick Hughes, PhD and BS chemistry, has been hired as manager of Product Development at Boehringer-Ingel-heim’s Ben Venue Laboratories in Bedford, Ohio. He is moving from Columbus, Ohio, with his wife Evan and their two children.

’96 Brenda Boateng, BS communication studies, has been promoted to review board coordinator in the department of evaluation and quality at the United Network for Organ Sharing. She was formerly a referral coordinator at Hospice of Virginia. She lives in Richmond, Va.

’96 Kyle Rydell, BA education, has been hired as the Republic School District superintendent. He has been principal of Trent Elementary School in the East Valley School District in Spokane Valley since 2007.

’95 Colin C. Conway, BA business, is a commercial real estate broker with Kiemle & Hagood Company, specializing in the sale and leasing of retail real estate. He is also a partner in a new martial arts studio, Kenpo Karate Studio, in downtown Spokane.

’95 Chad Larsen, BA education, has been hired as the athletic and activities director for Bellingham High School, in Bellingham, Wash. Prior to that, he taught and coached at Meridian High School for 11 years and he became the athletic director there in 2008.

’94 Lori A. Johnson, MEd, has been hired as the new principal for Broadway Elementary School, in the Central Valley School District in Spokane Valley. For the past 16 years, she has served as the principal at Liberty Elementary and Junior High School in Spangle, Wash. She has 22 years of education experience.

New This Year

Welcome to “Eagle Village” The tailgate area in Lot 12, behind Roos Field has been revamped and renamed “Eagle Village.” It’s the “go-to spot” for tailgating at Eastern football games. The Village will have activities for all ages, along with a DJ and live music.

Miller Lite Touchdown ClubThanks to Odom Corporation and Farmers Insurance Agent Bryan Jarrett, fans will now be able to watch the Eagles at field level in the “Miller Lite Touchdown Club.” This new addition will be in the south end zone (scoreboard end). Admission is $30 (doesn’t include game ticket). It does include a 40 ft. x 40 ft. tent with tables and chairs outside the tent, all-you-can-eat food and two drink tickets per person. There’s a limit of 200

spectators, on a first-come, first-served basis.

6th Man ClubTo jump start his tenure at Eastern, men’s basketball Coach Jim Hayford has created the 6th Man Club. The goal is to get EWU fans personally connected to the basketball program. For more information, go to the 6th Man Club, www.goeags.com.

classnotes

29

Welcome New Alumni

The class of 2011 was the first to “walk” on the red turf in The Inferno at Roos Field on June 11. Eastern’s Alumni Association welcomed its newest

members – 2,519 undergraduate students and 660

graduate students (master’s and doctoral degrees).

Associate Professor Mimi Marinucci of the

Women’s and Gender Studies Department was

this year’s keynote speaker at the undergraduate

graduation ceremony. She was the recipient of the

EWU President’s Award. Marinucci also received a

Professor of the Year award, as well as Faculty Merit

Awards for Scholarship, Teaching and Service.

The keynote speaker for the graduate students’

Commencement was Assistant Professor Amanda

Reedy from the School of Social Work, who

received the Graduate Faculty of the Year award.

At Eastern at Bellevue, 160 Eastern

undergraduates were eligible for the June 16

commencement ceremony.

’93 Chris S. Johnson, BA business, has been promoted to director of accounts receivable, credit and collections at TrueBlue, Inc., in Tacoma, Wash. He has been with the company since 2006.

’90 Jarrod Boyle, BA recreation manage-ment, and his wife Ali, are the owners of Alexandria Nicole Cellars, which was named the 2011 Washington Winery of the Year in the spring 2011 edition of Wine Press Northwest.

’80 s ’89 Greg Bever, BA liberal studies, has been elected to the Board of Trustees of AAA Washington. He is the publisher of Spokane’s Journal of Business and also serves on the board of directors for Greater Spokane Incorporated and the Community Colleges of Spokane. Throughout his career, he has served on many other boards including SIRTI, Spokane Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the Washington State Parks Foundation.

’88 Mary L. Kienholz, BA business/liberal arts, has had her books, Opium Traders and Their Worlds, Vol. 2, and Adventures in Poetry, published by iUniverse.

’87 Todd LaRue, BA business, is the director of national accounts for Lens Care, General Eye Care, Eye Vitamins for Bausch & Lomb. He lives in Sparta, N.J.

’87 James J. Sullivan, BA management, married Teresa Concepion Albare Ramirez, Sept. 12, 2009. He lives in Redmond, Wash.

’86 Gregory Deckard, BA management, has been re-elected to the Independent Community Bankers of America’s board of directors and has been appointed chairman of the organization’s Regulatory Review Committee. Deckard is chairman, president and CEO of State Bank Northwest.

’86 Marchelle Mae Fias, is a professor at Brown Mackie College, where she teaches public speaking. She lives in Meridian, Idaho.

’86 Bobby C. Sells, BA criminal justice, retired Sgt., honorable discharge, served from 1971-74. He resides in Nashville, Tenn.

’85 John Clemens, BA marketing, has been hired by MetLife Home Loans, as a senior mortgage loan officer. He has 13 years of local mortgage industry experience.

’85 Joseph B. Harris, BA physical education, has been a varsity boys basketball coach and physical education teacher at Chelan High School, in Chelan, Wash., for 20 years. He was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on July 21, 2011.

Fall 2011

30 EASTERN

classnotes’83 Randall Guidinger, BA radio/TV, has been hired by Numerica Credit Union as branch manager of the Lyons branch in Spokane. He previously served as branch manager of Kitsap Credit Union in Silverdale, Wash., and has more than 21 years of credit union industry experience.

’81 William Anthony O’Daly, MA English, has completed his eight-book series with the publication of World’s End, a translation of the late-career and posthumous poetry of Chilean Nobel Poet Laureate Pablo Neruda. All volumes are published by Copper Canyon Press. The celebratory reading-performance, with Spanish classical guitarist Louis Valentine Johnson, was held June 4, 2011, in Grass Valley, Calif.

’70 s ’77 Nicholas D. Sweers, BA journalism/history, is vice president of global communications for Motorola Solutions, Inc., in Schaumberg, Ill. He oversees all international and U.S. media relations, internal communications and industry analyst relations.

’73 Michael Grant Cahill, BA psychology, was presented with the Secretary of the Army Award for Valor, posthumously, for his heroic actions during an attack at Fort Hood, located outside of Killeen, Texas. Cahill served as a civilian contractor at the time of the attack on Nov. 5, 2009, and is credited with being the first to try to stop the shooting rampage before being slain.

’73 Jerald R. Litt, BA geography, has been appointed to the Washington State Trans-portation Commission. A resident of East Wenatchee, he has worked as a planning professional for his entire career, retiring from public service after 13 years as the community development director for the city of Lacey, Wash. During his 10 years as the Douglas County planning director, he spearheaded Douglas County’s successful implementation of the Growth Manage-ment Act. He also has worked as a planner in Chelan and Douglas counties, and served as president of the Washington State As-sociation of County and Regional Planning Directors.

2011 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners

The EWU Alumni Association announced the recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Awards at the annual Benefactors’ Appreciation Dinner in May. Since 1973, the awards have recognized 96 alumni for their outstanding achievements in professional fields and exceptional lifetime contributions in their communities. This year’s award winners are: Jamie Manson PhD, ’94, Outstanding Achievement in Professional Endeavors Manson was honored for his strong record of career achievements. He returned to EWU in 2003, to join the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as an associate professor. He is passionate about teaching and research, and has not only received grants from the National Science Foundation, but is known internationally for his work in the f ield of inorganic chemistr y. Larry Soehren ’81, Service to Community Soehren has contributed to the regional community through his service and volunteer work. He is vice president and COO of Kiemle and Hagood, Spokane’s largest commercial real estate services company. He has spent countless hours working with various civic, nonprofit and other professional organizations to improve our region’s economy, vibrancy and quality of life. The two most outstanding examples of his work are with the YMCA and the Public Facilities District in Spokane.Dave Carter ’77, Community Building Carter was recognized for his work to promote equity and to advance underrepresented groups. He has been a Spokane County public defender for more than 20 years, guiding juveniles through the judicial system. In his career, Carter has represented more than 5,000 troubled youth and has dedicated himself to improving life for this most vulnerable population.

Pictured left to right, Jamie Manson, Larry Soehren and Dave Carter.

31Fall 2011

1,000 Members and Counting!Join the EAA, the Team Behind the TeamsEagle Athletic Association is the official booster organization for Eagle Athletics. Since, 1983, the EAA has encouraged the involvement and financial support of alumni, parents and friends of the university’s athletic programs. “We had a great spring, which culminated in a very successful fund drive,” said Sam Anderson, EAA president. “I am proud to say that we have eclipsed the mark of 1,000 memberships.” The EAA is dedicated to continuing the tradition of excellence by providing nearly 300 student-athletes with the opportunity to succeed both academically and athletically. The EAA has eight different membership levels to choose from. All membership levels have privileges associated with them. Some of these privileges include: VIP/donor hospitality access, season seat priority purchasing, donor parking and program recognition.

For more information go to www.goeags.com/EAA, or call Krysta Plato, 509.359.6208. Become a fan of the EAA on Facebook.

EAGLE

AT

HLETIC ASSO

CIATION

Make Your Mark Create a personalized engraved brick to be set in the Hello Walk - the pathway between historic Showalter Hall and the Gates of Knowledge. The tax-deductible bricks are 4” x 8” and display special messages chosen by you. You may add your class year, collegiate organization or a special message. Bricks are also a great opportunity to congratulate a recent grad, celebrate a degree or accomplishment, or honor a loved one. Order now! Go to www.ewu.edu/brick to purchase your brick, see photos of existing bricks, learn more about the “Pass through the Pillars” tradition and view a special video presentation.

Alumni and Individuals $200Graduating seniors and their parents $100Corporate $500

Proceeds benefit the Eastern Fund and are used for the area of greatest need, including student scholarships, academic projects and the Governor Martin Alumni House. For more information call the Alumni Advancement Office at 888.EWU.ALUM.

’70 Jon Heimbinger, BA finance, was recog-nized by the Washington State Senior Games in July 2011, with its premier “Spirit of the Games” Award. For the past 13 years, the 63-year-old Spokane businessman and lifetime athlete has traveled to Olympia, bringing one or two basketball teams with him, to compete in the Washington State Senior Games. For the past 33 years, he has served on the Spokane Regional Sports Commission Board and he has been in-ducted into the Inland Empire Hall of Fame, the Northwest Region Softball Hall of Fame, Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame and the Spokane Falls Community College Hall of Fame.

’70 Rock Peterson, BA management, owner of Brien Motors in Everett, Wash., was honored by his peers with the Robert P. Mallon Dealer of the Year award, May 19, 2011, at the Washington State Auto Dealers Association’s annual convention. The committee noted his continued community involvement and contributions to organizations such as the Edmonds Art Center, Housing Hope, United Way and others. In 2009, Rock also won the Executive of the Year award from the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce.

’60 s ’69 John O’Neil, BA English, retired after nearly 30 years with the Cottonwood Library in Cottonwood, Ariz., were he served as director.

’67 Mark W. Kuntz, BA business, retired June 23, 2011, after 40 years in the construction and metal fabrication industries. He is retiring to his home of 33 years in Kennewick, Wash.

32 EASTERN

Visit us online atalumni.ewu.edu

What’s up? • Printing costs EWU Office of Alumni Advancement spent approximately $115,000 on printing in the past fiscal year.

• Mailing costs We also spent approximately $40,000 on mailing.

That’s an increase of 30 percent in printing and mailing costs over the past three years!

What’s goin’ down? • State funding for EWU More than 45 percent decrease over the past three years.

What can we do? • We are committed to keeping you informed. • We will improve our communication with you. Going more green and saving more green – it’s the right thing to do.

What will you notice? • Less clutter in your mailbox – hooray! We will be mailing less paper to you.

• Enhanced event communications in Eastern magazine You can still receive three issues annually by mail, or request to receive Eastern online only. Just drop us a line at easternmagazine@ewu.edu – we love 21st century technology.

• Greater opportunities for updating your email address so you can still receive special event info.

What can you do? • Here’s your “To-Do Today List”:

Still Red. Just Greener.

If you haven’t done so already, join AlumniLINK!

Sign up at alumni.ewu.edu to network with fellow graduates and update

all your info. Check back frequently to learn about alumni discounts,

events, career counseling and more.

“Like” EWU and EWU Alumni on Facebook!

Visit facebook.com/EWUEagles and facebook.com/EWUAlumni

Follow EWU @EWUEagles on Twitter!

Visit twitter.com/EWUEagles

View alumni photos and more on Flickr!

Visit flickr.com/ewuphoto

Remember to keep your email address up to date!

Most of your alumni event info and news from Alumni Advancement will

only be available by email, so please update at alumni.ewu.edu. It will

take you no more time than it did to read this to-do list!

To-Do Today List

33Fall 2011

To be included in “In Memoriam,” we require a newspaper obituary or a letter of notification from the immediate family. We extend our sympathy to the families of the following alumni and faculty. inmemoriam

’10 s Carlos E. Slaughter ‘11, age 22, died June 23, 2011, Camas, Wash.

’00 s David A. Saling ’02, age 51, died July 2, 2011, Spokane

’90 s Marc Alan Avery ’95, age 51, died April 7, 2011, North Bend, Wash.

Sheila M. Adams O’Grady ‘95, age 67, died May 5, 2011, Omak, Wash.

’80 s Robert Van Zee ’87, age 72, died July 20, 2011, Spokane

Darrell C. Nelson ’81, age 69, died Oct. 31, 2010, Las Vegas

’70 s Karen (Heilsberg) Johns ’76, age 59, died July 9, 2011, Spokane

Barbara Jo Wilkerson ’76, age 58, died July 19, 2011, Bellingham, Wash.

Diane Pearl Woodman ’75, age 60, died July 3, 2011, Valleyford, Wash.

Craig Allen McCollim ’74, age 66, died May 30, 2011, Bozeman, Mont.

Jon A. Kingman ’73, age 68, died May 9, 2011, Spokane Valley

James G. Pollard ’73, age 72, died July 10, 2011, Spokane

James Pugh ’73, age 73, died May 14, 2011, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Col. James Wagner, USAF, Retired ’73, age 88, died May 13, 2011, Spokane

David W. John ’72, age 83, died March 22, 2011, Omak, Wash.

Frank R. Mace ’70, age 93, died April 12, 2011, Cheney, Wash.

’60 s Nick Joe Ecklor ’69, age 76, died May 15, 2011, Fort Worth, Texas

Bill M. Womble ’69, age 64, died April 30, 2011, Houston, Texas

Donald J. Campbell ’68, age 84, died May 14, 2011, Kennewick, Wash.

Stephen R. Frey ’68, age 67, died July 17, 2011, Spokane, Wash.

Judith A. Wooley ’68, age 71, died June 4, 2011, San Rafael, Calif.

Samuel Ellsworth Indorf ‘67, age 69, died May 4, 2011, Spokane

Margaret “Peggy” Rudolph ’65, age 85, died June 18, 2011, Spokane

James R. Miller ’64, age 68, died May 15, 2011, Aberdeen, Wash.

Katherine Snipes ’64, age 89, died April 14, 2011, Spokane

Marian E. Warren ’63, age 89, died March 13, 2011, Independence, Ore.

Judith Lee McElvain ’62, ’61, age 72, died May 5, 2011, Spokane

Hetvina Hamlin Thompson ’62, age 97, died July 18, 2011, Spokane

David Crowell ’61, died May 2011, Anchorage, Alaska

Joseph H. Mertens ’61, age 75, died April 29, 2011, Spokane

Donald Robert Smith Jr. ’61, age 77, died May 12, 2011, Spokane

Lois Evanoff ’60, age 93, died May 2, 2011, Spokane

’50 s Theodore Aust Teitzel ‘59, age 73, died July 6, 2010, Chehalis, Wash.

Ralph Gene Montroy ’56, age 80, died May 22, 2011, Spokane

Carl (Bud) Boe ’54, age 82, died May 25, 2011, Federal Way, Wash.

Virgil R. Durand Jr. ’52, age 80, died May 23, 2011, Rathdrum, Idaho

Verla Mae Palmer ’52, age 83, died May 20, 2011, Campbell, Calif.

’40 s Frances (Torpey) Shumway ’40, age 93, died July 3, 2011, Lacey, Wash.

’30 s Wilbert E. Nuetzmann ’38, age 94, died March 14, 2011, Verlot, Wash.

Jane Pauline ’34, age 97, died May 5, 2011, Pasco, Wash.

Faculty/Staff Charles E. Miller, PhD, 84, died June 24, 2011. Miller retired from Eastern’s Department of Education in September 2002. He was responsible for bringing the one-room school house, built in 1905, from the Newport, Wash., area to the Cheney campus. The building, now the Cheney Normal School Heritage Center, was originally known as the Jore Schoolhouse. The building symbolizes Eastern’s historical significance as a teacher preparation institute, and provides a venue for seminars and presentations related to the history and development of education in the Inland Empire and the Pacific Northwest.

Robyn Ann Strayer, 48, of Newport, Wash., passed away May 20, 2011, from a brain aneurysm. She worked at Eastern as an Education/NCATE coordinator and adjunct professor. Strayer served 21 years as crytologic technician and instructor in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer in 2002. She received her bachelor’s degree while in the Navy and her MS degree in psychology from EWU in 2006.

Former head football coach, wrestling coach and athletic director at Eastern Washington University, died Aug. 29, at age 72. He was a three-sport athlete at Walla Walla High School, where he played for his father, Boots Wooten. He lettered three seasons at the University of Washington, with two Rose Bowl trips. He spent more than 30 years as a physical education professor at EWU.

If you haven’t done so already, join AlumniLINK!

Sign up at alumni.ewu.edu to network with fellow graduates and update

all your info. Check back frequently to learn about alumni discounts,

events, career counseling and more.

“Like” EWU and EWU Alumni on Facebook!

Visit facebook.com/EWUEagles and facebook.com/EWUAlumni

Follow EWU @EWUEagles on Twitter!

Visit twitter.com/EWUEagles

View alumni photos and more on Flickr!

Visit flickr.com/ewuphoto

Remember to keep your email address up to date!

Most of your alumni event info and news from Alumni Advancement will

only be available by email, so please update at alumni.ewu.edu. It will

take you no more time than it did to read this to-do list!

Coach Brent Wooten

Did you know … You can drink lattes in the library, sit in comfortable overstuffed chairs, and it’s OK to talk? A lot has changed since JFK Library opened in 1968.

In fact, on one night, partying is encouraged!

See for yourself at “Casino Royale.” EWU’s 9th annual Oktoberfest5-10:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011JFK Library on the Cheney CampusDinner - Victor Azar (Victor’s)Beverages - Latah Creek Wineries, Walla Walla Vintners, Northern Lights Brewing and Golden Hills Brewery

Casino jazz – by the Don Goodwin Group Live auction, with something for everyone, from

computers to exciting getaway vacations.

Tickets: $35, $175 for a table of six, $15 EWU students, available

online, www.ewu.edu/oktoberfest, or by calling 509.359.2264.

All proceeds go to the EWU Libraries’ Collection Endowment

Fund to purchase books, journals and electronic resources for

students, faculty, staff and the EWU community at large.

34 EASTERN

thebackpage

Name (Former Name) Class Year (s) Degree (s)

Address

Is address new? Phone (s)

E-mail (s)

News

alumni eventscalendar

What’s New with You?Did you get a promotion, start a new career, win a Nobel Prize, get married, retire, move or have a baby? Send us your news and we’ll share it with alumni and friends in an upcoming issue. We can also update our records with the new information.

Send your note with a click! http://alumni.ewu.edu.Or send this form to Class Notes, EWU Alumni Advancement, 506 F St., Cheney, WA 99004-2402Phone: 888.EWU ALUM or 509.359.4550 Fax: 509.359.4551

Start something big at EWU events. For more information and to register, visit http://alumni.ewu.edu or call 888.EWU.ALUM.

October8 Oktoberfest, Casino Royale JFK Library, 5-10:30 p.m. For more information contact Carol at 509.359.6915, or visit www.ewu.edu/oktoberfest.

14-15 Homecoming Weekend14 Homecoming parade, pep rally/bonfire and bed races 7 p.m., at First St. and “C,” in downtown Cheney and ending at “E” St. Put on your best clown face, ring master suit or bearded lady costume and join the fun while you rally the team to victory. 14 Homecoming Jazz Concert Featuring the Eastern Jazz Ensemble, Collegians (vocal jazz) and special guests Ferris High School Jazz Orchestra 7:30 p.m., Showalter Auditorium, Cheney Campus

15 Annual Alumni Tailgate Decorating Contest various locations around Roos Field, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Tune up your barbecue grills and get ready to battle for tailgate superiority. New entry categories and great prizes!

15 EWU Football* vs. Northern Colorado Roos Field, Kickoff 4:05 p.m.* Look for the Alumni Association tailgate tent in parking lot P-12 lot behind Roos Field, 2 ½ hours before game time to get your tattoos, noise makers and grilled hot dogs.

22 EWU Alumni Pregame Event (Sacramento) Pregame 3:30-5:30 p.m. Join alumni and Eagle fans at the official tailgate at Sacramento State University. Enjoy a barbecue, beverages, giveaways and more.

29 EWU Football* vs. Portland St. Roos Field, Kickoff 1:05 p.m.* Look for the Alumni Association tailgate tent in parking lot P-12 lot behind Roos Field, 2 ½ hours before game time to get your tattoos, noise makers and grilled hot dogs.

January 16 Alumni Board Meeting, Cheney

28 Alumni Appreciation Night, Cheney

Bring the entire family to the EWU vs. Montana St. men’s basketball game. Kids pregame activities, poster signing and discounted concessions available. Bring a can of food or nonperishable food item and help us restock the shelves at the Cheney Food Bank. Sponsored by Washington Trust Bank.

Feb/MarchEast Meets the Old West at the Annual Alumni Beer Sampling in Spokane. This annual tradition has been moved to the late winter when we are all looking for a reason to escape the winter blues. Look for some new twists and turns to the event this year. Location and date, TBA.

For more information regarding alumni activities and updated event details, visit http://alumni.ewu.edu/events, or call 888.EWU.ALUM or 509.359.4550.

*For a detailed and updated schedule of all fall athletic events, ticket prices and to reserve your seats, visit www.goeags.com.

-the- greatest show on TURF

35Fall 2011

EASTERN MagazineUniversity AdvancementEastern Washington University102 Hargreaves HallCheney, WA 99004-2413

Non Profit Org.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDEastern Washington

University

-the- greatest show on TURF

EWU Homecoming

www.ewu.edu/homecoming

Oct. 10-15, 2011