If anyone wanted to form an Eastern Washington University alumni association chapter specifically for Mill Creek, City Hall would be a good place to start looking for members.
That’s because three of the city’s department heads – city manager Bob Stowe, recreation supervisor Lynn Devoir and community development director Bill Trimm – are graduates of the Cheney school.
“Good memories there,” Stowe said.
The trio went there at different times. Trimm is a 1970 graduate, Devoir a 1975 graduate, with Stowe donning the cap and gown in 1986.
There are other similarities between the three of them as well. All three began their higher education at a Washington community college, all three lived off-campus at some point while attending Eastern Washington, and Stowe and Trimm both majored in urban and regional planning.
Devoir, meanwhile, earned her bachelor of arts degree in parks and recreation administration, a major that came as a result of one of her first jobs and changed her goal from becoming an elementary school music teacher.
“My first job was with the city of Yakima as a playground leader,” Devoir said. “I saw the impact parks had on communities. I just fell in love with it.”
Trimm, meanwhile, found the school’s then-new urban planning program suited to his interests.
“I’ve always enjoyed land use, geography, anything to do with the natural environment and how we shape it, and sometimes mis-shape it,” he said, adding that his father once served on the Renton Planning Commission. “An interest I had turned into a major.”
Stowe went to Eastern Washington in part because several friends went there, as well as his sister. He was also interested in the urban planning program.
“The teacher to student ratio was small,” Stowe said. “You could always meet and talk with your professors.”
Eastern Washington also afforded him an opportunity to continue playing baseball, something he did for two years at Lower Columbia Community College in Longview.
“Like most kids who grow up on the west side, I wanted to go to the other side of the mountains,” said Stowe, who grew up in Centralia.
Stowe appeared in two games for Eastern Washington. A utility player, he had a single in two at bats and made one putout.
All three received plenty of practical experience in their fields while in college. Stowe interned with the city of Cheney’s planning department while in school, and as a senior did survey work looking at the different types of housing available in Yakima.
One class Devoir took was a therapeutic recreation class, where she and other students got to work with people with disabilities. Once a week, the class went to the city of Spokane to do a variety of activities with program participants, such as bowling, arts and crafts and planning events.
“The program made sure we had lots of practical experience,” she said.
Trimm, meanwhile, participated in an archaeological dig in the badlands between Cheney and Othello with a visiting archaeologist from England. They were trying to find evidence of a “buffalo jump,” where primitive people chased buffalo off a cliff to kill them for food. There, Trimm got to use his cartography skills in searching for buffalo bones.
The team dug a 20-foot deep triangular hole looking for evidence, which they didn’t find. Still, the experience left its impact.
“Just the whole experience of going back in time was amazing,” Trimm said. “The sense of being in the bottom of that pit and looking up – it’s hard to describe.”
Devoir continues to be involved with the school. She has gone back to Cheney “a few times” to do presentations, and has looked over programs and offered feedback.
“I have fond memories of Eastern and being there,” she said. “It’s a good feeling to go back and tell students what it’s like in the outside world.”
Devoir, Stowe and Trimm got to flaunt their status as Eastern Washington alumni around the office a bit when the school made the NCAA mens basketball tournament for the first time in school history in March. The Eagles, however, bowed out quickly, losing a first round game to Oklahoma State, who went on to the Final Four.
“Lynn (Devoir) even got me a shirt. I said it was the first and the last time I’d see Eastern Washington in March Madness,” Stowe said with a laugh.
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