My family history is rooted in the Columbia Basin, the Okanogan country and the Yakima Valley. So, I very much identify with central Washington. I was born in Ephrata and raised in Soap Lake. Growing up in the lower Grand Coulee, I often wondered about those large cliff walls on the west side of the coulee. What are they about? How did they get there? And why are they located here and not over there?
Upon graduating from Central Washington State College I put in a career teaching high school Special Education and Alternative Education in Tacoma. That was interrupted with a few years serving in the US Army.
As I was approaching retirement from teaching I wanted to learn more about the history and geology of the Pacific Northwest and our state of Washington. It wasn’t long before I came across the videos, speakers and field trips being offered out of Ellensburg and Central Washington University. I started attending those events and I was hooked.
Fast forward to the present day and I have found it extremely satisfying to be learning answers to those boyhood questions—and ones I hadn’t even thought about asking. I’m looking forward to learning and discovering even more.