Business and community
Shawn Vestal’s Thanksgiving Day article on Spokane’s painted building signs (“Looking for signs of ghosts”) sparked many memories for me.
Albers Milling, mentioned in the story, employed my father, Francis (Fran) Carroll, as a lab chemist after World War II. But the company was struggling and closed one lab after another, sending him on to the next one. Spokane in 1955 was the end of the road.
So my dad got his teaching certificate at Gonzaga University (while working nights for Milwaukee Road) and began a lengthy teaching career at Rogers High School. One of his favorite colleagues was Duncan Ormsby of the English Department, who with his family — whose members have gone on to serve our community in so many important ways — became our neighbors when we moved to the St. Al’s district.
This is an example of how businesses, sometimes even in their demise, contribute to the building of our communities.
Linda Carroll
Spokane