From two Olympic medal winners to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to the former governor of Alaska.
Oh, plus a U.S. senator and a number of scientists and doctors. Don’t forget the guitarist and founder of the classic rock group Heart. That guitarist, Roger Fisher, Inglemoor High class of ’68, said he liked the idea that a rock musician was being feted hand-in-hand with that Pulitzer Prize winner and those Olympic athletes.
“I’m just honored to be in that company,” said Fisher, who is still involved with music and now living in Monroe. He left the band he founded after their first four albums, but not before playing one gig that drew some 300,000 people.
Not counting the honorees, about 50 people lined the stands at Pop Keeney Stadium the afternoon of Sept. 15 as Northshore School District leaders and volunteers unveiled the school system’s new “Wall of Honor.”
Of the 17 persons honored, 15 were at Pop Keeney or had a representative there. Olympic synchronized swimmer Candy Costie Merrill, Inglemoor class of ’81, came in from Kansas and said it was worth the trip.
“It’s been amazing,” she said.
Merrill added she does a lot of work with the schools where she lives and claimed that among educators, Northshore has a good reputation.
Merrill is, of course, one half of the local synchronized swimming team that took gold at the 1984 Olympic games. The now-closed Ruiz-Costie Northshore Pool was named in honor of Merrill and partner Tracie Ruiz Conforto, Bothell class of ’81, another honoree who also attended the recent ceremony.
Merrill said she had heard of the closing of the pool that carried her name. She added among her new heroes is the McMenamin’s restaurant group, which plans to reopen the pool as part of an entertainment complex planned for Bothell Way Northeast.
Other honorees included former Northshore teachers and staffers. Basketball coach at Bothell High for 15 years starting in 1955, Larry Peterson twice took his teams to the brink of a state title, missing championships by two points in 1962 and 1970. Northshore Superintendent Larry Francois spoke about and introduced each nominee. Nominees didn’t have the opportunity to speak, but Al Strand, co-chair of the wall fund-raising drive and Bothell class of ’63 grad, had something to say.
“Al just wanted to editorialize that the basketball team got robbed in ’62,” Francois said.
Besides those already mentioned, these were the first names to go on the “Wall of Honor”:
• Bernie Ackerman, music teacher, 1955-82
• Dennis Behrens, choral director, 1957-90
• John Halver, Bothell class of ’40, a biochemist who headed up research for the National Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 20 years
• Hebbel Hoff, Bothell class of ’24, a physician and Rhodes Scholar
• Julian Karp, Northshore superintendent, 1953-73
• Ina Knutsen, former teacher who served on the Northshore Board of Directors, 1952-87
• Keith Miller, Bothell class ’43, former Alaska secretary of state and governor, 1969-70
• U.S. Sen. Patty Johns Murray, Bothell class of ’68, represented at the ceremony by her sister
• Sid Nelson, Bothell class of ’63, University of Washington professor of medicinal chemistry, now dean emeritus of the UW School of Pharmacy
• Peter Rinearson, Bothell class of ’72, a 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner for a Seattle Times series on Boeing, he also co-authored the bestseller “The Road Ahead” with Bill Gates
• John Sutherland, Bothell class of ’63, a well-known microbiologist with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Karen Scholl Thorndike, Bothell class of ’60, the first woman to sail solo around the world, a trip that took two years including a three-month stop in the Falkland Islands to deal with a medical problem
• Gary Wegner, Bothell class of ’63, professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College and winner of a Fulbright Fellowship
Francois said Strand and fellow class of ’63 grad George Selg came up with the “Wall of Honor” idea. Selg previously helped raise money for Pop Keeney’s electronic scoreboard, which debuted last year. The plan is to add names to the “Wall of Honor” every year.
“Congratulations,” Selg told this year’s honorees. “You’ll be forever first.”
PICTURES
• Northshore School District Superintendent Larry Francois with Olympic synchronized-swimming gold-medal winner Tracie Ruiz Conforto. Next to her is George Selg.
• Roger Fisher from the rock band Heart with Al Strand and Francois.
• Karen Scholl Thorndike with plaque, Francois, Strand (left) and Selg (right)
