2007 reunion of EWU Sponsor Corp Alumni
Another
college classmate has passed away.
I knew Chuck Hiatt. We had
gone out one time and I had seen him at several EWU reunions for our class of
1965. As a result of this loss I
began to think about my wonderful life and all that had happened in college and
beyond.
EWU
highlights for me include the talk with Dr. Fretwell about my future as a
psychology major. After my failure
in my descriptive statistics class she advised me to change my major. I had my best grades in PE thanks to
Pat Whitehill and Mary Jo Tracey.
With wavers from Dr. Leighton of all team sport classes I was able to
graduate the summer of 1965. Chris
and I were married that August.
With
a year as the commander of the EWU ROTC Sponsor Corps, and several other honors
under my belt, and Chris having been EWU yearbook and Easterner photographer
and Easterner editor (taking over from the editor who flunked out with a .007
grade point average), as well as mentors Dick Hoover and Pat McManus for Chris, we had plenty of background for future employment.
With
our degrees in hand we set out to look for work in Santa Barbara, CA. After a 3-month
stint we returned to EWU to prepare to become teachers. We looked for work in
Spokane. I was hired to teach
first grade. Chris transitioned from the color dark room for the Spokesman
Review to news photographer for the Spokane Daily Chronicle. Chris became famous in Spokane for his
photographs in the newspaper. My
grandmother Stowell clipped and saved them all. He did some guest teaching for EWU at the extension in
Spokane. He also was on the board
for the Spokane Falls Community College.
But
we were a couple of kids who didn’t want to settle down. Our dream was to live on a boat. After joining the United States Power
Squadron and taking seamanship classes we bought our first boat-- a 14-foot C
-Lark sailboat. After that we
upgraded to a 17’ Thistle, and then a 21’ San Juan. We bought and sold 3 houses, God blessed us with 2 kids, and then we set off
for Seattle to begin sailing in Puget Sound. We lived in Seattle from 1978 until 1982. Then it was off for Keesler Air Force
Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for Microwave Electronics school. Then to California from 1983 until
1985. Then off to Arlington, WA,
Kirkland, WA, and Woodinville, WA.
The
rest is history. If you have been reading my blog you
read about our sailing adventures from 1997 to 1999. I published these memories on my blog for September 9, 2014 to September 16, 2014.
Now
we are in our “Golden” years. Time
to start on our new adventure. So
far we have tried a digital photography business and next will be publishing
e-books. Only God knows how many
days we have but with His help we will make them count.
