Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts

Local students named to Dean's List at Gonzaga University

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Gonzaga University, Spokane WA

SPOKANE, WA - The following local residents have earned placement on the Gonzaga University Dean's List for fall semester 2023. Students must earn a 3.5 to 3.84 grade-point average to be listed.

HOMETOWN, STATE; NAME

North Seattle, WA
  • Hannah Embry
  • Sean Essad
  • Molly Mazure
  • Cooper McKenny
  • Ethan Petrie
  • Henry Seward
  • Harrison Sheldon
  • Mae Skokan
  • Anna Thomas
Shoreline, WA
  • Lauren Adams
  • Hailey Belfie
  • Chloe Brockway-Langehaug
  • Haley Cavanaugh
Gonzaga University is a humanistic, private Catholic University providing a Jesuit education to more than 7,500 students. Situated along the Spokane River near downtown Spokane, Washington, Gonzaga is routinely recognized among the West's best comprehensive regional universities. Gonzaga offers over 75 fields of study, 24 master's degrees, four doctoral degrees in one college and six schools.


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Local students make the Fall 2023 Dean's List at St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College
NORTHFIELD, Minn.

The following local students made the Fall 2023 Dean's List at St. Olaf College. 

The Dean's List is a scholarly award for students who demonstrate academic excellence.

HOMETOWN, STATE; NAME, MAJORS (if listed), PARENTS (if listed)

North Seattle, WA
  • Ani Krabill, Social Work, Ronald Krabill and Nancy Chupp
Shoreline, WA
  • Joy Brandenstein, , Dale Brandenstein and Laura McMillan
  • Megan Peery, Social Work, Robin Peery

Located on 300 acres in Northfield, Minn., St. Olaf College is a residential liberal arts institution with an enrollment of more than 3,000 students offering over 85 undergraduate majors, concentrations, and pre-professional tracks. 


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North Seattle student makes Dean's List at Southwestern College for Fall 2023

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Southwestern Kansas
WINFIELD, Kan. (Jan 18, 2024) - Top scholars at Southwestern College in Winfield and at Southwestern College Professional Studies have been announced with the release of the Dean's Honor Roll for the fall 2023 semester. 

Full-time students who earned grade point averages of at least 3.70 (4.0 equals an A) were eligible for the honor.

Gannon Dow of Seattle

Southwestern College is a private liberal arts college, founded in 1885 by Methodists in south central Kansas. Today its Winfield campus is the residential hub that guides students to lives of meaning and service, with well-rounded academic and extra-curricular offerings attracting traditional-aged students from throughout the nation and world.


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Robert Knight named 2023 Officer of the Year for Shoreline Police

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Officer of the Year Knight holding certificate. Chief Kelly Park second from left, Captains Tony Lockhart (left) and Tim Meyer (right)

At a ceremony held in December 2023, Master Police Officer Rob Knight was named 2023 Officer of the Year for Shoreline Police.  

Officer Knight was named for his heroism and bravery, and the profound impact he had on the lives of many; specifically for his heroic response to a woman threatening to kill herself. 

Multiple units responded and MPO Knight was crucial in the rescue.


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Promotions at Shoreline Fire

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Promotions celebrated at Shoreline Fire

Shoreline Fire recently celebrated almost a dozen promotions.

Six people were promoted into positions vacated when half a dozen firefighters were sent to paramedic training.

Others had been in acting positions after predecessors retired.

Here are the positions and officers
  • Battalion Chiefs - Jeremiah Ingersoll & Michael Majeed
  • Medical Services Officer - Scott Kim
  • Lieutenants - Michael Mentzos & Joshua Waite
  • Community Services Officer - Wendy Booth
  • Driver Engineers - Jayden Petro, Robert Carrasquillo and Alan Christou
  • Training Captain - Jeremy Jamerson
Shoreline Fire serves Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, and Kenmore


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Winner of two Cy Young awards, Blake Snell to be honored at Shorewood basketball game January 25, 2024

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Shorewood HIgh School Athletic Department is excited to recognize Shorewood Alum Blake Snell, Thursday, January 25, 2024 at the Shorewood HS Main Gym, during halftime of the Varsity Boys Basketball game versus Monroe. 

Tip off for the varsity game is at 7:15pm.

Snell earned his second Cy Young Award this past year and he will be honored for his accomplishments at Shorewood.

Shorewood High School is located at 17300 Fremont Ave N, Shoreline WA 98133


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Anne Morgan Stadler 1931-2023 - A remarkable life

Friday, January 19, 2024

Anne Morgan Stadler 1931-2023

Anne Morgan Stadler died of natural causes on October 28, 2023, in Seattle's Swedish Hospital, in the company of her family. She was ninety-two years old. She was born Anne Elizabeth Morgan on March 7, 1931, in Rochester, NY, to Martha Oliver Morgan, a school teacher, and Wesley Morgan, an electrical engineer. Wes and Martha took Anne and her younger sister, Mary, on winter picnics, packing food and skates and blankets to hike in the woods and play on the ice and snow, during the long upstate-New York winters. 

The family lived a comfortable working-class life in Rochester's 19th Ward. Martha taught physical education. Anne proudly recalled her mother umpiring the first game played at The Baseball Hall of Fame's Doubleday field, in Cooperstown, NY: as Anne told it, while teaching at a nearby school Martha took her girls to play softball on the field before the Hall of Fame used it. Wes was also an athlete, recruited as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics. He turned down the offer when his mother told him to attend college, which he did at Cornell.

Wes fell sick when Anne was eight and he died when she was eleven. While she vividly recalled his presence early in life, she rarely spoke about his illness and death. Even her children didn't know until long into adulthood. 

Late in life, Anne wrote a brief recollection for her granddaughter to publish in a book of memories: "In 1938, during the second part of the Depression, dad had a psychological breakdown. He and his team had just invented a new set of signals for the Railway Signal Company, and he had presented their proposal to the big shots in Chicago. He'd been told they’d done a beautiful job. However, because the second phase of the Depression had happened, a few weeks after he came home the whole team was fired; the company decided it couldn’t invest in this at that time, and they needed to 'downsize.' It completely devastated him. He ended up in the Monroe County mental institution because my family didn't have the money for private care. The whole rest of his life was so tragic and sad. My father who had loved life so much, and had done everything he could for us and his work, was in an institution that didn’t have the resources to help people get better. I feel he probably died of a broken heart, isolated from us (he couldn’t see us), and from everything and everyone he cared about."

Facing loss, Anne found hope and growth, first of all from Martha, then widowed and raising two kids on a teacher's salary. Her job at a private school, The Harley School, led to a scholarship for Anne and an important teacher, Clif Whiting. Whiting told Anne to "stop being so nice!" Already skilled and confident as an athlete, Anne was able to grow into her social ease and boldness as teachers and friends showed their pleasure in her lively intellect. She read Ghandi, Rumi, and Rabindranath Tagore.

Far from the wealthy environs of Harley, Anne was exploring her own neighborhood and Rochester's polyglot working-class communities, which, in the manner of that time, thrived cheek-by-jowl, adjacent but split along racial and ethnic lines that could sometimes be crossed. The Morgans were Welsh and Episcopalean. 

Anne also attended the Catholic church because it was on their street, and her best friend was Catholic. Later she discovered the music of Black churches and the dancing at racially mixed "black and tan" clubs. Greeks ran the candy store, Italians, Irish, and Russians owned other shops where Anne took the family's ration stamps—her childhood world in Rochester was the same cosmopolitan world that she would grow up to do her work in.

Summers shaped who she would become. Clif Whiting and a friend opened a camp in Maine and staffed it with teenagers, including Anne, who was told to 'run the waterfront.' At Camp Joncaire, Clif Whiting's faith in Anne led to her take on all of the organizational and social complexities of what she'd later call 'a thriving community,' without a safety net. She learned by doing, and by listening to others affected by her choices. She loved canoeing. The pleasure of a canoe—its course set by responding to the flows around it—was a metaphor for her future journeys into collective work.

As a senior geology student at the University of Rochester, Anne was invited to tea by a young teacher, a man she and her friends called "Dr. Dimples." David Stadler had just finished his PhD in genetics at Princeton and taught for one year before he met and eloped with Anne. The newlyweds moved to Pasadena, California, where Dave had a post-doc at Cal Tech.

Anne recalled being "star struck" by their new friends in Pasadena, a worldly, brilliant group of young scientists, orbiting around the emigre physicist Max Delbruck and his wife Manny, who were as passionate about politics and social justice as they were certain that science had a key role to play in handling the moral dilemmas of a now-apocalyptic time—the nuclear age. 

Linus Pauling, Richard Feynman, the Delbrucks, and others held what Anne recalled as weekend-long gatherings, loud with arguments, music, and games. This was the milieu in which she became an activist, first protesting the threat of nuclear war that these scientists felt partly responsible for, and later in the civil liberties fight reacting to Senator Joseph McCarthy's witchhunt for Communists and their "fellow travelers." Anne met Quakers and other pacifists attending meetings at the ACLU and a Friends congregation.

In 1955, Anne and Dave and their two young kids moved to Seattle, where, as Dave explained it, he was offered a job at the University of Washington because the botany faculty needed a good left-handed hitter for their softball team. Anne explored the city by taking their children on city buses to the ends of the lines and picnicking. By 1960, Anne had four kids and a busy life of volunteer activism.

Through her ACLU and Quaker contacts she met a half-dozen other women, mostly mothers her age, who together created "The Peace Store" for the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Anne's central, lifelong friendship with Lucy Dougall began here. From The Peace Store, two peace organizations were founded: Platform For Peace and Turn Toward Peace (which later became the World Without War Council), run by young parents raising their kids in the heady atmosphere of public protest. 

Dave was an equal partner, but Anne was the public face of the family's peace work. In addition to their local activism, Anne and Dave gathered and delivered nuclear disarmament petitions to Washington DC and Moscow's Red Square. In 1960, Anne was an Adlai Stevenson delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, where John F. Kennedy jr. won the nomination. 

In 1962 she traveled to Port Huron, Michigan, for the founding of the Students for a Democratic Society. Then Seattle's B'nai B'rith named her the 1962 "Woman of the Year" (calling her "Mrs. David Stadler"). The children were raised in the drudge-work of activism and the giddy optimism of collective work. Anne helped build networks linking Seattle's diverse religious communities with student activists and those in business, media, and government sympathetic to the cause of world peace.

Anne loved music and singing. She loved to harmonize. The anti-war and civil rights work brought with it long weekends of music, banging away on guitars and singing all the great protest songs. Pete Seeger played a small concert at one of these gatherings, after the venue that was booked for his fund-raising show barred him. 

Each Christmas the Stadlers hosted a Christmas caroling party that wandered the wooded streets of Lake Forest Park, often culminating at the house of U.W. orchestra conductor Stanley Chapple, whose conducting delighted Anne. Friends Richard Levin and Chris and Ellie Kauffman were among the talented musicians and political fellow travelers who filled Anne's life with music. 

In her last hours before dying, Anne's children sang these same songs to her, gathered around her hospital bed.

In Anne's early forties several profound shifts came all at once: she learned Transcendental Meditation (TM, a twice-daily practice of emptying the mind); she quit smoking (overnight—after twenty years of pack-a-day smoking); she took a workshop in transpersonal psychology (and later helped develop Process Work, the post-Jungian, dream-based, body-movement therapy pioneered by Arnold Mindell); and she began to learn Aikido (for several months, as a daily practice, she threw herself across the living room repeatedly, "learning to roll"). 

In 1973 Anne was hired by Emory Bundy at KING-TV to program and run a collaboration between KING and more than forty civic groups in Seattle, called "People Power." Quite suddenly, Anne Stadler, peace activist, was also Anne Stadler, TV-show producer, a field completely new to her.

With the keen interest and support of Mrs. Bullitt, as KING's charismatic executive director was known to her employees, Anne brought her curiosity and organizational skills to a job where she had to learn everything from scratch. KING's veteran crew of editors and cameramen helped Anne learn to craft TV documentaries of astonishing relevance and reach—including the first local coverage of the AIDS crisis, in the mid-1980s, and a historic exchange with Soviet television during Perestroika, building a 'space bridge' connecting GostelaRadio in St. Petersburg (then, Leningrad) with KING-TV in Seattle. 

Via live satellite, citizens of both countries were able to speak with each other directly. Anne and news anchor Jean Enersen, who worked as a writer and co-producer as well as onscreen host, were in Leningrad for two weeks of programming. Anne called television "a learning medium for our community." Using the shows as a catalyst, People Power helped the city become more self-critical and engaged, from the four-part "Classified Critical" series Anne produced, looking at our region's role in military defense, to "Target Seattle," and "City Fair," a grassroots celebration of urban problem solving. In her seventeen-year career at KING, Anne won six Emmy Awards.

More profoundly Anne's presence—echoing Mrs. Bullitt's leadership— catalyzed a group of talented young women working beneath KING's glass ceiling to help bring the station's programming into the widely respected position of industry leadership it enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s, under Bullitt-family ownership. Lucy Mohl, Wendy Tokuda, alongside the more veteran Enersen, and others found a home and a road to prominence in their fields by taking to heart Anne's support and her frequent reminder to aim higher. 

Lucy Mohl wrote, "Anyone who thought peace, community, and love were laid-back concepts didn't know Anne. She was someone to live up to but also to laugh alongside. She never stopped being a work godmother, whether you liked it or not. Because those blue eyes would always tell you there was a high standard of excellence to meet and more work that needed to be done."

In 1981 Anne's first grandchild was born, followed by eight more in the decades after. As active as they were in civic life Anne and Dave loved being grandparents. Whether visiting Redlands, California, where eldest son, Mike, and his wife, Linda, were raising their six kids, or arranging summer visits to Seattle and the Northwest, Anne and Dave provided their grandchildren with an open door to the world and the love and support that helped them cross into it boldly. At age thirteen, each grandchild had their own trip to a city of their choosing, just them with grandma or grandpa. Great grandchildren came, beginning in 2004 (there are now seventeen), and filled Anne's life with an even greater level of joy and fascination.

On her own, Anne also wrote and painted. She wrote all the time, often refining her notes into essays or stories, for whomever requested it. She and Lucy Dougall delighted in writing parody send-ups of their peace-work colleagues, such as a fake fundraiser for "The World Without Issues Council" that they'd mimeograph and send to their targets. 

Anne loved to play Fictionary, inventing absurdities to make herself and her family laugh. More deliberately, she wrote books, one of which she published in 2015, a spiritual conversation called Burnished By Love, and a second that she completed a month before dying, The Way Home, about her understanding of Open Space and collective work. She painted colorful watercolors of vistas and plants, usually in small notebooks, as a kind of visual and manual meditation, another path toward empty mind. She would as often set them aside as she would give them to friends or display them at home.

The inner transformations that were catalyzed when Anne began TM and body-work practices shifted her attention toward the collective energies that shaped the work she cared about. Anne saw that groups shape their own potentials by the patterns and practice of listening, not just to oneself and each other, but to sources beyond the self. Seeking a practice that might enable collective work, Anne asked how can we together grow those capacities?

Anne left KING in 1990, discouraged by the new ownership, and a year later she began work as a "consultant and coach to communities." Later she described it this way, "I open space for personal and collective vision expressed in practical community-building outcomes." The problem of naming what she did was lasting. What Anne Stadler did was show up—she listened with curiosity, considered what she heard, and offered what came to her. She was honest and frank. She believed in abundance, not scarcity. She quoted Rumi, "let the beauty you love be what you do."

Anne was honored by Third Place Commons. On the left is Ron Sher, founder and owner of Third Place Books; on the right is Norman Lieberman, long-time board member of Third Place Commons.
Photo courtesy Third Place Commons.

Anne's "clients" (another misnomer) were communities of every size and character (from schools to board rooms to neighbors in conflict), from near and far (she helped reinvent her local shopping center as a Commons while also working in India, Hawaii, and The Netherlands), with rich or poor (in India she combined work for the Tata Steel corporation with the bottom-up reinvention of a local school for lower-caste kids). 

Locally, Anne helped found Spirited Work (guided by Angelis Arrien's The Four-Fold Way) at the Whidbey Institute, mentored at Antioch College, "showed up" to help the Richard Hugo House, El Centro de la Raza, Third Place Commons, MOHAI, and many others; while globally she opened space for India's School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL), the Ala Kakui group in Hawaii, and In Claritas, in Europe, among others.

Her inner work—to live in dialogue with "spirit" (which she said first began in the woods of Maine at age 18, lying in the bottom of a canoe at night, staring up into the stars)—was vastly enriched by her lifelong friendship with Lucy Dougall, who shared Anne's interest in Celtic spiritualism and the female-centered histories of pre-Christian cultures in the North Atlantic, especially Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Iona, and the Orkney Islands. They traveled together, or with their husbands and friends; their bond deepened as each was widowed, Anne in 2007 and Lucy in 2009.

Dave Stadler's death, from lymphoma, in 2007, was a major turning point. As with every profound loss in her life, Anne experienced it as, also, a new beginning. Old friend Lucy became a more frequent travel companion and their habit of walks and conversation at home brought them to an intimacy both named, "anam cara," the Celtic term for a unique friendship in life, a lasting communion of spirits. 

With others whom she met while "opening space for personal and collective vision" Anne learned techniques of "sourcing" that deepened her ability to sense the presence of truth or spirit. As she explained, when sourcing, "there's a feeling sense in my body that I call 'resonance...' I experience a shared presence with the speaker and/or the maker (a musician, artist, writer, actor, etc.). I sense deep trust and joy rising in me, and a feeling of tears...I listen to the Universal field and get messages, images, and practices that help me unite the spiritual with the material fields of my life." 

While she continued to explore the use of Open Space, sourcing, and other techniques in her work, Anne more often simply showed up as herself—a voice of curiosity, love, and optimism who could share the insights she gleaned by listening to herself, to "the field," and to others.

Anne Stadler was an inexhaustible learner. Having ventured far and wide, in her last two decades she found that most of what mattered to her was rooted in the same working class, ethnically-specific communities she'd grown up in, now in Seattle rather than Rochester. At El Centro de la Raza, in the leadership circle of the BIPOC Sustainable Tiny Art House Community (asked what Anne's job title there was, co-founder Carol Rashawnna Williams said, "she was just a really good friend"), with civic activists in Burien, at home with Lake Forest Park's Third Place Commons, and in smaller groups such as the Women's Giving Circle and the Heart Fire Circle, Anne found deep traditions of collective work, often female-centered and linked to spirit and faith. Her last decade was buoyed by the joy of inclusion in communities that had answered long histories of injustice with solidarity, hope, and abundance. As happened everywhere that Anne showed up, those of every age and temperament, the quietest most of all, found their voices supported by this affirming old soul.

Anne Morgan Stadler will be celebrated and missed. She is survived by her four children, Mike, Sue (and Sue's wife, Quince Affolter), Aaron, and Matt, nine grandchildren, and seventeen great-grandchildren. A memorial celebration of Anne's life is planned for the afternoon of June 23, at the Lake Forest Park Civic Club. 

--This account of Anne's life was written collaboratively by her children

Correction: Anne has 17 great-grandchildren, not 20 as previously reported.
Addition: a date has been set for Anne's memorial celebration


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Event will honor the life and legacy of Edwin T. Pratt

Wednesday, January 17, 2024


Join the Shoreline Community College Foundation on Tuesday January 30, 2024 from 5:00-7:00pm as we remember the life and legacy of Edwin Pratt!

Edwin T. Pratt, a resident of Shoreline WA was an activist who championed open and equal access to education and housing opportunities for all of Seattle's residents.

He was the Director of the Seattle Urban League, and a key participant in civil rights campaigns against housing discrimination, school segregation, and employment bias.

He was also someone whose life was tragically cut short when he was killed outside his home in Shoreline in 1969 when he was just 38 years old. Join us on the 30th of January to learn more about him and the important work he did for Seattle.

The event will be held on campus 16101 Greenwood Ave N, Shoreline WA 98133 in the main dining room of the PUB.


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Maddy Lambert serves as a page in Washington State Senate

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Maddy Lambert served as a page to Sen. Jesse Salomon
Photo courtesy Legislative Services

OLYMPIA- Maddy Lambert from Einstein Middle School served as a page for the Washington State Senate during the opening week of the 2024 legislative session. Sen. Jesse Salomon (D-Shoreline) sponsored her time at the Legislature.

The page program offers a hands-on opportunity for students to find out how state government works. During week-long interactive learning experience, students are visited by guest speakers and get to draft their own bills. Students also get to explore the Capitol Campus by delivering papers for Senate staff.

Lambert, 14, is a resident of Shoreline. She enjoys watching TV, playing video games, and skiing.

Lambert said she committed to being a page because her mom and her aunt were in the page program as well.

Pages also create their own bill to be heard in a mock committee meeting in between their day-to-day tasks. Lambert’s bill would have public schools, especially high school, start later as high school starts “way too early.”

Her favorite parts of the program included hanging out with the security guards and exploring the different buildings of campus.

For more information about the Senate Page Program, contact SenatePageProgram@leg.wa.gov.


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Dr. Gloria Burgess and the Community Foundation of Snohomish County to be honored at Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday January 15

Dr. Gloria Burgess
Dr. Gloria Burgess and the Community Foundation of Snohomish County, two community icons with long histories of enriching local communities through their work in philanthropy, continuous learning, mentorship, and economic empowerment, have been selected as the 2024 Beloved Community Award recipients by the Lift Every Voice Legacy (LEVL) Board of Directors, it was announced this week.

The awards will be presented by LEVL at the 6th Annual Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Inspiring a Beloved Community in Song, Spoken Word and Dance program beginning at 6pm on January 15, 2024 at the Edmonds Waterfront Center, 220 Railroad Ave, Edmonds WA 98020.

General admission tickets for the Evening Program are $15 and can be purchased through Eventbrite or at the LEVL website: beloved4all.org

Burgess, who lived in Edmonds for 36 years before her recent out-of-state relocation, is CEO and President of Jazz, Inc. and is recognized as a trusted advisor, consultant, and executive coach locally and worldwide. 

She is known for her grounded approach in intercultural competence, appreciative inquiry, and advocacy on tough issues related to race, reconciliation, reflective thought, and leadership. 

“She has a calming nature but the strength and depth of her knowledge and wisdom has made her a lasting icon of coaching and mentoring to many of us for more than three decades,” said Donnie Y. Griffin, LEVL’s Founder and President, quoting a statement from one of her award nominators.

In addition, along with her husband John, Gloria administers the family foundation providing program support and financial assistance to children and youth with emphasis on leadership, technology, the arts, and cross-cultural citizenship.

“The Community Foundation of Snohomish County (cf-sc) in Everett does not make much of a fuss about promoting its work throughout Snohomish County but its fingerprints can be found on the good works of several non-profit projects in small and large population service areas. This is particularly the case among Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community-based organizations,” commented Griffin.

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, the foundation natured and financially assisted over 70 BIPOC-led nonprofit organizations in Snohomish county as part of a CARES Act co-hart support group. "Many of which would have never survived the harsh economic downturn," Griffin added. 

“The Community Foundation of Snohomish County has made a commitment to advance equity and social justice by transforming itself into a diverse, equitable, and inclusive foundation, “according to its public statement on equity.

With 50 percent of its staff and 75 percent of its Board of Directors consisting of people of color, it appears the foundation is living up to its equity values internally as they are externally, Griffin noted.

“Dr. Gloria Burgess and the Community Foundation of Snohomish County are excellent role models of our Beloved Community values -- creating communities free of hatred, injustice and poverty,” Griffin said. 

“LEVL is excited to shine a light on their good works,” he continued. 

In addition to the Evening Program, A Beloved Community – Morning Program for children and families will take place from 9:30 to 11:30am also on January 15th at the Edmonds Waterfront Center. 

Admission to the Morning Program is free and will feature local performers in addition to a variety of fun activities specially designed for children and families such as a cooking demonstration for children, art workshops, tap and ballet dance lessons, and children's storytelling.


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Kimberly Rudolph, Kindergarten teacher at Lake Forest Park Elementary School earns National Board certification

Friday, January 12, 2024

Kimberly Rudolph, National Board Certified Teacher
Photo courtesy Shoreline Schools
Kimberly Rudolph, Kindergarten Teacher at Lake Forest Park Elementary School, who recently earned her National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) certification.

Kimberly joins the ranks of 90 Shoreline School District educators who've earned and maintained this certification. See the list here

National Board Certification is a voluntary, advanced professional certification for PreK-12 educators that identifies teaching expertise through a performance-based, peer-reviewed assessment. 

Through National Board Certification, teachers demonstrate that their teaching meets the profession’s standards for accomplished practice through a rigorous, peer-reviewed and performance-based process, similar to professional certification in fields such as medicine. 

In achieving Board certification, teachers prove their ability to advance student learning and achievement.


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Sound Transit Board approves Goran Sparrman's appointment as interim CEO

Goran Sparrman appointed interim CEO
for Sound Transit
The Sound Transit Board of Directors today approved the one-year appointment of Goran Sparrman as the agency’s interim CEO.

"In the next nine months, we will expand Link light rail at a scale never before seen at the agency, and we’re excited to have Goran’s skillset and background leading the way," said Sound Transit Board Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine. 
"This is ambitious, exciting and, of course, daunting. The Board believes in Goran’s ability to lead the agency through this transformative period of growth while continuing to focus on delivering reliable, frequent, and safe transit service for all our passengers."

"I am looking forward to joining with the dedicated professionals at Sound Transit to celebrate the upcoming successes and tackle the challenges ahead," said Sparrman. "By working together creatively and efficiently, I am confident that we will be able to deliver for the residents of our region."

Sparrman’s first day at the agency will be January 13, 2024. Departing CEO Julie Timm’s last day at the agency is January 12. Timm announced her resignation last month in order to return to the East Coast to take care of family matters.

Sound Transit builds and operates regional transit services for growing urban areas of Washington’s Pierce, King, and Snohomish counties. The region is home to more than 50 cities and more than 40 percent of the state’s residents, who have authorized the most ambitious transit expansions in the nation. 

This year, Sound Transit will open light rail extensions to Lynnwood and from South Bellevue to Redmond Technology Center. The system is the first nationally to operate entirely on carbon-free electricity.


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Shoreline Chief Kelly Park on National Law Enforcement Day

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

I want to take a moment to reflect on my journey as a law enforcement officer, and express my appreciation for the incredible workforce that I have the honor to lead as your Shoreline Police chief.

More than two decades ago, I made the life-changing decision to become a police officer. It was a calling that ignited a passion within me to serve and protect my community. 

From the beginning, I knew that this profession was not just a job, but a commitment to making a difference in the lives of others.

Today, I invite you to join me in celebrating our Shoreline Police Officers and every law enforcement officer. I am grateful for the dedication, professionalism, and compassion that each member of our work force brings to their role.

Thank you for everything you do to make our community a better and safer place!

--Kelly Park, Chief of Shoreline Police


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Chris Roberts elected mayor at first 2024 meeting of Shoreline City Council

Shoreline District Court Judge Raul Martinez (left) performs the oath of office to Councilmembers Keith Scully, Annette Ademasu and Betsy Robertson

At the first regular Shoreline City Council meeting of 2024, Shoreline District Court Judge Raul Martinez performed the oath of office ceremony to swear in Keith Scully, Annette Ademasu and Betsy Robertson.

In comments, Judge Martinez said, “We're grateful that these three individuals stopped to ask themselves the question. What am I doing for others? And we're grateful that they accepted the challenge of serving as our elected council members.”

Councilmember Keith Scully was first elected to the City Council in 2015 and was reelected after running unopposed in 2023. He served as mayor in 2022 and 2023. Councilmember Betsy Robertson was appointed to the council in 2019 and elected in 2019. She ran unopposed in 2023. Councilmember Annette Ademasu was elected to the council in 2023 after winning in the only opposed contest.

Mayor Chris Roberts
Councilmember Chris Roberts was elected mayor and Councilmember Laura Mork was elected deputy mayor. First elected to the council in 2009, Chris Roberts is the council's longest serving Councilmember and held the position of mayor once before. 

In Shoreline's form of government, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen by the City Council, rather than being elected directly. The Mayor runs the council meetings and represents the city at public events and regional groups.

Deputy Mayor Laura Mork
The council voted to extend the city’s moratorium on Bus Bases after hearing public comments from representatives from King County Metro and Black Brandt LLC, the owners of the Access Bus Base in the Ridgecrest neighborhood. 

The city is involved in litigation after halting the sale of the Ridgecrest bus base to Metro Transit. In public comments, Metro and Black Brandt again pleaded with the city not to extend the moratorium and warned of possible further litigation and disruption to bus service for disabled riders in the north King County region. For more details, see previous reporting in the Shoreline Area News.

The council also heard a staff update on the city’s new Human Service Strategic Plan which will for the first time provide a coordinated plan for addressing homelessness and behavior health services in Shoreline. 
Shoreline's human services staff compared to other cities in the region.
Graphic courtesy City of Shoreline

In the 2022 Resident Satisfaction Survey, Shoreline residents ranked homelessness and human services as the number one and number three services that should receive the most emphasis. Nevertheless, staff presented data showing that the number of city staff Shoreline dedicates to human services is lower than the average for other cities in the region. 

The council challenged staff to “think big” and come back with a more strategic approach. Specifically, to identify the problem that needs to be solved and to propose the solutions needed.

Shoreline City Council meetings are held most Monday evenings at Shoreline City Hall, broadcast online, and recorded. Because of Martin Luther King Day, there will be no council meeting on January 15; the next city council meeting is January 22. 

--Oliver Moffat

Correction: Chris Roberts held the position of mayor once before for a two year term, not twice as originally reported.


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Shorecrest student was key member of creative team for Museum of Flight's Pathfinder Awards Banquet

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

2023 Pathfinder Interns Shorecrest High School student Brendon Rudberg and Ballard High School student Ryder Waltmire at the podium during the Pathfinder Awards Banquet
Photo courtesy Museum of Flight

Shorecrest High School Senior Brendan Rudberg was one of four high school interns who served as key members of the creative team for the The Museum of Flight's Annual Pathfinder Awards Banquet on October 28, 2023.

Pathfinder Awards co-chair Steve Taylor described the interns and their contributions to the high-profile event as “amazing.”

Brendan was in the Museum of Flight’s 2023 Washington Aerospace Scholars program. The online curriculum is a University of Washington college course focused on NASA’s space exploration program as well as topics in Earth and Space Science.

This allowed him to take part in the Pathfinder Intern program. The annual Pathfinder Awards honor Northwest visionaries that have made significant contributions to the development of the aerospace industry. 

The 2023 Pathfinder Awards Banquet on Oct. 28 honored Blue Origin spaceflight engineer Gary Lai, and retired Boeing president Ray Conner. The format of the Pathfinder event centers upon “fireside chats” with an emcee and an honoree that look back upon the Pathfinder’s accomplishments; and despite casual appearances the conversations are based upon well-researched scripts created by the Pathfinder Interns.

Pathfinders Lai and Conner were interviewed extensively by the interns to write their biographies for The Museum of Flight’s magazine, Aloft, and for developing a script for the Awards banquet. The interns were engaged in the Pathfinder program for about six months, culminating with the Pathfinder Awards Banquet.

The Museum’s Pathfinder Intern program has given dozens of high school students the rare opportunity to personally engage with some of the most recognized leaders in aviation and space

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Edmonds couple whose son died in a Shoreline house fire celebrate the distribution of 6,000 free smoke alarms

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Gerry and Bonnie Gibson next to a poster highlighting their nonprofit’s achievement.


Story and photos by Nick Ng
Reprinted from MyEdmondsNews.com

Six thousand. That is how many smoke detectors the Edmonds-based nonprofit Gibson Home Fire Prevention installed before last Christmas in Western Washington – from Tacoma to Blaine near the U.S.-Canadian border. 

Founders Gerry and Bonnie Gibson and their daughter Emily celebrated the milestone Friday night at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Lynnwood with 14 volunteers and guests.

The Gibsons started the nonprofit after their son Greg “Gibby” Gibson died — along with his pitbull Nino — in a Shoreline house fire around 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2016. The fire was caused by faulty wiring, and the house did not have a smoke detector in the basement where Greg was living.

Greg Gibson with his dog Nino. (Photo courtesy Gibson family)

“Our daughters said, ‘we got to do something,’ Gerry said. “We came up with the idea with a nonprofit and provided smoke alarms. And we tried to get some legislation to require smoke alarms and give penalties if [landlords] don’t provide them.”

After three years of lobbying by family and supporters, the Washington State Legislature in 2019 passed SB 5284 – otherwise known as the Greg “Gibby” Gibson Home Fire Safety Act. 

The bill requires property owners or landlords to provide at least one smoke detector before the buyer or renter occupies the residence. Landlords or property owners can be fined $5,000 if they do not comply. 

Tenants and landlords may also be fined $200 if they do not keep the smoke detectors in good condition. These fines will go into the Smoke Detection Device Awareness Account, which the state fire marshal is in charge of managing.

“After we got the nonprofit going, we went to a friend who worked with the Red Cross and told them about our home fire prevention campaign,” Gerry said. 
“We partnered with them and have people install smoke alarms. Between the Red Cross and our website referrals, that’s how we get our requests for smoke alarms and we go on from there.”

Bonnie said that the family had made many trips over three years to Olympia to push the bill. Gibsons also worked with the Washingon State Association for Justice on another bill – SB 5163 – to repeal a 1917 law that prohibited parents from filing a claim for the wrongful death of their adult child.

“Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the Chinese came over to work on the railroads, if they got hurt or killed on the job, their family back in China could not get any money or any compensation for their death or injury,” Bonnie Gibson said.

During that time, the U.S. still had in place the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited Chinese laborers from coming to the U.S. While it was originally a 10-year ban, it was made permanent in 1902. In 1943, Congress repealed the act when China was part of the Allies during World War II.

Supporters gather at Lynnwood’s Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate the installation milestone.

However, the state statute remained almost unchanged for more than 100 years until April 2019, when the state Senate passed SB 5163. That allows parents to file a claim for the wrongful death of their adult child, even if they did not depend on the child for money or did not live on U.S. soil. 


Previously, parents could only sue if they were financially dependent on the person who passed away and resided in the U.S.

Bonnie highlighted the 2016 Ride the Duck fatal accident, when five international students from Asia were killed. The victims’ families were not compensated because of the statute.

“The Washington Association for Justice took that on and solicited other families that had wrongful deaths,” Bonnie said. 
“So we learned how to negotiate and how to handle the legislature from Larry Shannon, who was the head of this. We met with lawmakers. We went to different legislators and told them our story. When you sit there, waiting in this room, and you testify, you don’t know if the legislator next to you will testify for you or against you. It was quite a lesson.”

After SB 5163 was passed, the Gibsons received compensation from Greg’s former landlord’s insurance.

The news of Gibson Home Fire Prevention’s work and activism also reached other states – even in Wisconsin – where people asked Gerry and Bonnie if they could have someone install smoke alarms in their homes. 

“They see us on the website and don’t realize that we’re a small family and volunteer group,” Gerry said. “We have posters in [local] banks, grocery stores, senior centers. We participated in a lot of safety fairs to get the word out.”

Emily Gibson, center, with two volunteers at the celebration dinner in Lynnwood.

Emily, who manages the nonprofit’s social media accounts and volunteer outreach, said that most of the donations were originally from people the Gibsons know. The amount donated was enough to cover their expenses so that they do not have to do a lot of fundraising.

“When we put smoke alarms in people’s homes, a lot would ask where they could donate,” Emily said. “We’re also included in programs from Boeing and Microsoft where the donations are matched.” 

Donations can be made through the nonprofit’s website.

“If you’ve ever known somebody who has died in a home fire or you’ve had an experience with a home fire, share your story because that’s the most impactful way to help people understand the dangers of home fires,” she said.

Gerry said that he would like to hit the mark of 10,000 smoke alarms installed but that may be a few years away. 

“Seven thousand is on the horizon,” Gerry mused. “We do it in Greg’s honor and keep doing it until we drop. It’s helped our family with the grief, and we want to prevent somebody else from going through what we went through.”

If you need a smoke detector installed, contact Gibson Home Fire Prevention.


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Medical Services Officer Richard Stapf retires from Shoreline Fire after a 32 year career

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Medical Services Officer Richard Stapf
Medical Services Officer Richard Stapf worked his last shift of a 32-year career. 

Rich entered the fire service in 1989 as a firefighter with Snohomish County Airport Fire Department. In December 1991, he was hired as a full-time firefighter with Shoreline Fire Department. 

Four years later, Rich attended the University of Washington’s Paramedic Training Program and graduated in 1996 from Class 22. 

In January 2002, Rich was promoted to Captain-Medical Services Officer for Shoreline Medic One where he currently serves. 

Rich has also served on the Board of Commissioners for the Port Townsend Fire Department. 

We wish him all the best with his much-deserved retirement! Thank you for your service to our community!


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Firefighter/Paramedic Steve Richardson retires after 20 with Shoreline Fire

Retired: Firefighter/Paramedic Steve Richardson
Congratulations to Firefighter/Paramedic Steve Richardson who just worked his last shift! 

Steve began his career as a Paramedic with Evergreen Medic One in 1996 after graduating from the University of Washington’s Paramedic Training Program Class #22. 

In January 2003, Steve was hired with Shoreline Fire Department where he has served as a Firefighter/Paramedic with Shoreline Medic One for the last 20 years. 

We will miss Steve’s vast knowledge of rom-coms and Pokemon cards. Thank you for your service to our community and the Department.


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Mountlake Terrace man arrested in connection with Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Saturday, December 30, 2023

FBI identified Matthew Stickney in surveillance photos at the Capitol on Jan 6

By Diane Hettrick

The MLTNews.com has published a detailed story about a local man who has been arrested as a participant in the January 6 Capitol riots.

34 year old Matthew Stickney was photographed in restricted areas of the Capitol on January 6. FBI built the case against him using records from two cell phones he carried, airplane tickets, text messages, and internet searches.

On Dec. 24, he searched for and viewed the webpage for the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. and “How do I take my gun with me on a flight?” Followed by “Is weed legal in D.C.?” on Dec. 27.

As Jan. 6 approached, Stickney viewed the webpage for the AC Hotel by Marriott in downtown Washington, D.C. as well as searching if he could bring a gas mask, walkie-talkies, and a knife on a plane.

After the Capitol riot, Stickney searched for — Hands burning from pepper spray. Jan. 6

The FBI concluded in its warrant request that Stickney knowingly entered and remained in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so. Further, he knowingly did so to “impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions.”



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UW Med: Cord blood transplant saved woman from rare cancer

Alexes Harris undergoes a cord-blood transplant at UW Medical Center-Montlake in September 2016. Photo by Hedwig Lee

Alexes Harris’ spin classes were starting to feel impossible. During the 20 seconds on and off sprints, she would become breathless.

“I used to always be able to do them, but in 2015 during these exercises, I’d find myself out of breath, as if I was having an asthma attack,” she said. Harris, a University of Washington sociology professor, however, was fit and had no history of asthma.

A year later, she was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer known as myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS. Aggressive chemotherapy initially pushed the cancer into remission in 2016. But the cancer came back; her team turned to a bone marrow transplant as an option.

For Harris, whose father was Black and Filipino, and whose mother was white, finding a match was a challenge.

"We are so underrepresented on the bone marrow registry. Being African American, Asian American, Native American, Latinx — and then if you have any intersections of those identities, we have a very low likelihood of finding matches, something like 20 to 30%," she said.

One clinician suggested a transplant using stem cells obtained from umbilical cord blood. She received the cord-blood transfusion and about three weeks later, the transplant was deemed a success. A biopsy that December showed no sign of cancer.

“The donated cord blood from the baby girl saved my life,” Harris said. “It was an amazing experience to know that, on the first day of her life, this baby saved mine because of this donation.”

This fall, the UW Medical Center-Montlake restarted its cord blood donation program in partnership with Bloodworks Northwest. Harris hopes more mothers will consider donating their baby’s cord blood.

“What better way to start your baby’s life than saving someone else’s?”
Find out more about the importance of donating cord blood for transplant recipients fighting cancer in this news item


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