Grace Virginia "Ginger" Rutherford, July 17, 1922 — February 26, 2019

This day had been expected.  It is expected for all of us.  But it is no less surprising or sad when it finally arrives.  More will be said as we prepare for a memorial service, likely in April, but this is what I shared with my friends in the business school soon after Ginger's passing.

"A few hours ago, my 96 year-old mother-in-law, Grace “Ginger” Rutherford, went home to Glory. She’d long expressed her desire to “go Home.” She had had a major stroke on December 27th.

She had an amazing life.  Women’s National Intercollegiate Fencing Champion in 1944 ― a Wave at the end of WW II, she met and married a Marine Major in Washington, D.C. ―
70 years a member of University Presbyterian Church, a Deacon and later an Elder ― supporter of numerous ministries, including being the first woman to serve as a Board Member of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission ― both her daughters were high school valedictorians and she lived to enjoy her two great grandchildren. All around, a life full of treasures to cast at Jesus’ feet." 

"When I'm 64"

     Send me a postcard, drop me a line
          Stating point of view
     Indicate precisely what you mean to say
          Yours sincerely, wasting away
     Give me your answer, fill in a form
          Mine forevermore
     Will you still need me, will you still feed me
          When I'm sixty four?

I'm sure I heard this Beatles song in 1967 when I was 12.  The idea of being 64 was unimaginable back then.

Jean again made spice cake with penuche frosting. All my siblings chimed in that they too loved this perennial favorite from our mother.  Randy was delighted that it was served at the February birthday party we shared.  Don reported that he was the first to enjoy this Sleight birthday tradition long before Randy, Laurie and I arrived.

Nancy got me some snacks from Costco and two more dress shirts.  I realized that, the more I think about retirement, the more I act as if I will be at SPU for many more years.  I bought two formal vests to wear at work.  The Academy is the only proper refuge for a Ph.D.

(See the Monopoly icon below and the bit about my left knee.)  I've been using a cane, especially to and from the bus.  And I've gotten Nancy up before 7:00AM a few times to drive me to the bus stop.  I am certainly feeling my age.

Another purchase I'd put off until this birthday month was a new Nikon D750 camera body.  My D300 models were first introduced in 2007, and I bought my first one in January 2008.  But now that most of my photography has transitioned from sports to indoor events (grandchildren and SPU events), I've finally moved to a full-frame model that uses my current lenses.  The D750 (FX format with 24.3 Megapixels), will allow me to shoot amazing indoor photos.  The D300 (DX format with 12.3 Megapixels), will still serve for portraits at SPU and more.  My new D750 was $500 less than what I paid for my first D300 and $700 less than when it first came out.  I've offered any of my children a D300 if they can use it.  And I expect to sell one to my friend Dr. Jackie Miller.  B&H Photo in New Jersey took my order at 12:50PM on the 27th and it arrived at SPU at 9:50AM the next morning.  Free overnight shipping sweetened the deal, because we are celebrating Annie's birthday on March 3rd and I have our school's big Distinguished Speaker Series Luncheon to photograph on the 7th.  B&H also threw in a 4TB backup hard drive and a 64GB SDXC memory card.  I'm set for the next ten years — at least.

The Grandkids Report

Charis was gleefully giddy with joyful shrieks when she was allowed to toddle outside on the big driveway at Susan's.  Normally when she's outside, it's to get into the car or when she's in her stroller.

Charis helps move chairs to the dining room and return them to the coat closet.  And she uses a growing set of sign language gestures she's been taught to ask for milk or food, say she's wet, wave goodbye, say no, ask for more, and others. 

Jonathan tries whatever food lands on his tray and clearly shows with his facial gestures what he thinks of each new flavor.  And at this point, most of the flavors are new!

I don't see Jonathan nearly enough.  I'm sure all those in the Sleight clan hope Nathanael and Cynthia don't move too far south so we can continue to enjoy 'all family' visits.

The Icing on my Cake

Snow during winter quarter is always a possibility.  The TV weather forecasters were promising just a "dusting" for the first round of snow. 
I looked at the Weather.com data and expected more.  I was right.

The snow started during the Super Bowl on the 3rd.  Randy and I watched the game at Don and Judy's house (Patriots 13 - Rams 3).  It did not stop snowing until the following morning.  Nancy measured over 8" on our deck railing.  The temperatures dropped and school was cancelled on the 4th and we had a late start at 11:00AM on Tuesday the 5th.  So my birthday was ushered in by a cold snap.

But wait!  There was more!

On Friday the 8th, we got a second snowy blast and measured 6" of new snow on Saturday morning.  The canopy over our "Iolanthe" bridge in our southwest yard collapsed at its northwest support.  We propped it back up and returned to our snow weekend movie marathon.

Snow returned on Sunday the 10th and school was cancelled again on Monday the 11th.  Monday night, as rain was promised, we stepped outside to observe the result of all that snow.  It looked like one of our wild plumb trees had fallen across our south yard.  When the big melt came, however, the tree straightened back up. 

Up north at Susan's house, the snow was much deeper, even after the melt had begun.  I caught this doe after she enjoyed grazing on foliage on the west side of Susan's driveway.

At the end of the month, the weather folks are saying this was the third coldest February on record in Seattle.  Hopefully, our gas bill will not be especially high as Nancy keeps the house quite cool, and we all just bundle up.  I sleep in a sweatshirt and wear a wool ski hat.  And to top it off, I usually can't avoid a big warm Shadow on my left shoulder or my chest each night.

Randy Sleight Retires—”The end of an era”

This article, written by the director of Randy's department, comprised a full page in the monthly PDS News (Snohomish County Planning & Development Services Newsletter).  His last day at Snohomish County was his 66th birthday, February 14th.

This month we are saying “good bye” to Randy Sleight as he says “hello” to retirement. Randy is truly a one of a kind engineer. He has never just “shown up”. Rather, from the time he received his degree from the University of Washington in 1975, to his Land Surveying License (1978) and Civil Engineering License (1982), he has been a lifelong learner. Over the years, he has added lots of initials to his title - P.E., P.L.S, F. ASCE, attended countless classes and seminars all while taking on various leadership roles through so many affiliations that they are too numerous to list here. He has worked on both sides of the aisle as an engineer and project manager. In the mid- 70’s he worked as a senior surveyor and engineer on private projects throughout the state with Reid Middleton and Associates. But when he began working for the public sector in the early 1980’s he caught the public service bug and never went back. Whether working as the City Engineer for the City of Lake Stevens, or as a Hydraulic Engineer for Surface Water or as a supervisor in the Engineering Division of Public Works he enjoyed bringing his unique experience and common sense attitude to so many important projects in Snohomish County.

In the late 80’s, Randy was moved to our department to help streamline the permit process for grading and drainage reviews. He and his team moved from Public Works to PDS in August of 1988 and Randy has served our department faithfully ever since. As Chief Engineering Officer for the County he consulted with staff and private engineers, reviewed and approved countless development projects and signed off plans for over 650 miles of roads in Snohomish County. I think one of the biggest projects that he needed to wet stamp and sign was engineered plans for the Brightwater Sewage Treatment plant near Woodinville. Randy spent hours and hours over several days signing his name.

He has been active with many professional organizations associated with surveying and engineering. A highlight was in 2005 when Randy was chosen as Government Engineer of the Year. In today’s world, it is rare that someone would stay this many years at the same place. Randy truly made PDS his home and we are grateful. Please take time when you see Randy to thank him for his service and wish him well on the next chapter of his career. I have no doubt that he will continue to serve others in our community with his many skills and talents just as he has served us!

Randy proudly displayed the many gifts and expressions of thanks and best wishes that his co-workers gave him.  This framed piece of a drawing from the UW Hospital extension that Randy had approved, shows that the draftsman had added someone, perhaps Randy, as needing to be cast in the foundation concrete of the hospital.

An album of cards from co-workers included both a litany of all the things Randy did for Snohomish County, and also how much he will be missed.

He plans retirement events up at Discovery Bay near Port Townsend in mid-March, and Nancy and I intend to attend the latter one. I haven't been back to that area since the wedding of my best man Ed Haynes.

The Dell laptop Laurie, Don, and I had bought him as a birthday/retirement gift had some glitches so I swapped it for a similar Dell model I had been using.  I also enhanced his personal web page and set him up with a new backup email account at randysl8@outlook.com, since he'll be losing his work email.

I also let him read the newest edition of the Captain Sir Thomas Kydd series of British Naval fiction in the Age of Sail.  As a newly retired fellow, he's got more time to read than have I.  

Bits and Pieces

This last day of February, a surprising email came out from SPU President Dr. Dan Martin. It reads in part . . .

"Per my request, Jeff Van Duzer will step down from his role as Provost at the conclusion of this academic year. I have made this request not out of any lack of appreciation for all that Jeff has done, and is doing, but because I have come to believe that a change in leadership style will be helpful as SPU moves into its future. In order to facilitate moving forward with the organization and structure of a Provost search process, I felt it important to announce Jeff’s transition at this time."

This year, returning to the Coffee Meets Bagel online dating app, Jean has discovered, and been discovered by, Mr. Joel Sitte (pronounced “city”). Tall and bearded is just the outward first impression — but also Christian, computer programmer, Eagle Scout, well-spoken, and person-parent to a big, young, shy, and no doubt sweet English Mastiff named Luna. They seem quite taken with one another, (Joel and Jean, not Luna). Time will tell if Luna becomes as smitten with Jean as Joel seems to be. We will all get more than a brief “hello…goodbye” at Annie’s birthday party on the 3rd.  I, of course, am very interested in becoming good friends with Luna. I’d especially like to see how Shadow takes to her. Considering how skittish Shadow is around Charis, I don’t have high hopes for another “Husky/Cougar” match.

I wrote this as a personal email to my colleagues on the 22nd.  Mid-month my left knee forced me to sleep on my back, and limp badly.

Many of you have seen me limping around McKenna Hall this past week.

Mea culpa:  I finally realized what I did to my left knee. A canopy in our yard had begun to collapse due to its load of snow. When propping it up, I rested it briefly on my left knee as a support before it could be lifted completely. Looking back, I realize it was like using my lower leg like a car jack.  I will try to get through this quarter, with a cane if needed. If the knee gets better, well and good.  If it remains injured, I'll move to the medical track over the break.

I like what Dr. Caleb Henry replied.  He sent the Monopoly image and wrote, "Rock the style, Dick."

Looking back to what I wrote about my knee last month, I realize this snow event only agrivated an existing injury.  Mea culpa indeed!

Once the 2019-20 Time Schedule was submitted (a week early this year), I had some "free time" to redesign my course home page.  Surrounding the 18 images with a table allows the page to appear the same on every browser and screen resolution.

My Quote from February