Chasing sunsets

One Spokane resident is doing more than just enjoying the sunset years. He’s documenting them, taking hundreds of photos of sunsets from the area of 29th Avenue and High Drive.

Stan Witter, 77, started taking pictures as a hobby in the mid-‘90s.

“I kind of look out the window and see the sky turning a little orange, and run over,” said Witter, 2931 S. Howard St.

“They’re so pretty. Every day they’re different. It’s kind of like a Fourth of July celebration; you never know what you’re going to see. The colors are amazing.”

Witter was an announcer and newscaster for local radio and TV stations in the mid-‘50s, then joined Washington Water Power in 1965. He was a WWP spokesman in 1988 when he retired.

“After I retired, my children gave me a digital camera,” Witter said. “I really got interested in photography after I got the digital camera.”

Witter’s name may be familiar to many Spokane residents.

His grandfather was a state legislator and Witter Pool is named after his father, Stanley G. Witter, who was the city’s Parks and Recreation superintendent.

Witter’s wife, June, who died in 1995, was a nurse manager at Sacred Heart Medical Center and helped the House of Charity co-found its medical center. A family room at Sacred Heart is named after her, and she also is listed on the Rogers High School Walk of Fame.

Witter is continuing the family tradition of helping the community, making weekly visits to grocery stories to pick up food for the House of Charity.

“When you get old, you’ve got to keep active,” he said.

Witter says the best time to take sunset photos is when there is “rain in the afternoon, and you can see the clouds forming and the sky turns different.”

Although Witter also can appreciate the beauty of sunrises, they don’t fit his schedule as well.

“Sunsets are more comfortable. I might have to get up too early in the morning to take sunrises.”