The editorial illustration for “The Storyteller: Patrick McManus ’56, ’59 MA” by Tim Steury in Washington State Magazine’s Summer 2011 issue required the collaboration of two well respected artists: Derek Mueller—an illustrator who works in the style of Norman Rockwell—and caricaturist Daniel Vasconcellos.
The Storyteller: A triple portrait is a spoof on Norman Rockwell’s famous Triple Self-Portrait that appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, February 12, 1960. (It is in … » More …
In 1985 Derek Mueller was given a personal tour of Norman Rockwell’s home and studio by the curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge and recounts his visit and impressions here:
“Visiting Norman Rockwell’s Last Studio”
In 1985, I traveled to Stockbridge, Massachusetts to see the Norman Rockwell Museum, then located at the Old Corner House. I was carrying a portfolio of some of my own original works, and included some studies I had done of Rockwell’s paintings. The museum curator seemed impressed and decided to take me on a little tour. We … » More …
There was once a small, plump, good-natured lady who lived in a great old house with a cantankerous husband named Harold. She was about the best mate a man could have and he was about the worst mate anything could have.
The lady, whose name was Emma, had a peculiar habit, however, and that was that she never threw anything away. Her closets bulged with heaps of clothes and stacks of magazines and balls of string and boxes of buttons— in short, just about anything that had ever entered into the life of Emma was still there someplace, boxed or bundled up in the great … » More …
In 2006, when David Cox ’05 moved 1,200 miles from Pullman to Phoenix, he didn’t have many ties to the community. Hungry for new friends, he emailed the Washington State University Alumni Association and learned that Lisa Steele-Haberly ’99 in Tucson could help him track down local alumni. It turned out that she was head of the area’s chapter of the alumni association. Cox immediately offered to help organize outings. “We just started coordinating,” he says. “She would plan alumni events in Tucson, and I would organize things in Phoenix.” He helped pull together networking events, game viewing parties, and Northwest wine tastings at local … » More …
Henry Grosshans came to Washington State College in 1952, engaging in an active academic and intellectual life for three decades, after which he retired to Shoreline, Washington. Grosshans died last October, at the age of 89.
He was for many of those years editor of the University Press, raising its prestige and profile not only through the titles published, but through the journals he attracted to the press.
Before coming to WSC, Grosshans was a Rhodes Scholar, studying for two years at Oxford University between brief stints on the faculty at Kansas State and Bowling Green … » More …
“I’m easy to spot. I’m six-foot-two,” says Kristine (McClary) Vannoy, as we plan our meeting at an upscale grocery in Seattle. But when she appears, it’s not her height that’s eye-catching, or even her long red hair. It’s the packages of freshly-made fudge that fill her hands.
Vannoy (’87 Comm.) is the founder, owner, and main employee of Fat Cat Fudge, a company that makes three different varieties of fudge sold in 20 grocery stores in the Puget Sound area.
“It’s a fresh fudge,” she says. “It’s not meant to sit on a shelf for six months in a candy … » More …
Bill Gaskins says he knows exactly when Felicia Cornwall fell in love with him. On a snowy day in 1963, the two were walking arm-in-arm along WSU’s Hello Walk.
Felicia, a sophomore from Tacoma, was taking mincing steps through the icy slush when Bill, a freshman from Spokane, told her she needed to be more bold.
“Look Felicia, you need to stride like this,” he said, stepping forward with the athletic gait of a running back, which he was. At that exact moment his feet flew out from under him and he landed on his backside.
Bill is laughing, filling the room with his … » More …
