Cindy Hval

All Stories

News >  Voices

Love Stories: Adventurous spirit bookends union of 60 years

Wed., Aug. 31, 2016

It was 1953 in tiny Nichols, Iowa, and there wasn’t a lot to do. So Jim Porter and a buddy drove to the big – well, bigger – city of Muscatine to attend a dance.

News >  Features

Seizing serendipity: WWII vet Stan Parks has lived a Renaissance man’s life

Fri., Aug. 26, 2016

Stan Parks, 92, has been many things: sailor, dentist, world traveler, husband, father, grandfather, photographer, sculptor, civic leader. Recently, he added a new title to his résumé: author. In March he published his first novel, “Jakob’s Ladies,” through Gray Dog Press.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Finding enlightenment on family road trip

Wed., Aug. 24, 2016

Scenic mountain vistas, mighty locomotives, a dash of dogs and a sprinkling of enlightenment – our recent road trip had it all.

News >  Voices

Lifelong teacher not slowing down at 96

Wed., Aug. 24, 2016

Former teacher in Spokane Valley stays active at age 96.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Chickens peck away at the meaning of life

Wed., Aug. 17, 2016

Ever since that young chicken with black feathers and bright yellow feet wandered into my driveway one cold December day in 2009, I have come to learn a lot about chickens, and about life in general.

News >  Voices

Love Stories: One dance paired Dorothy and Leon Williams for a full life

Wed., Aug. 17, 2016

The Huntington Park Ballroom was awash in men in uniform in 1946, but Dorothy Wunderlich, 17, had eyes for only one.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Another summer speeding by

Wed., Aug. 10, 2016

Apparently, I blinked and missed July. How can a month with 31 days just vanish? I feel like I’m in an alternate version of a John Lennon song; “So this is August and what have you done? Another month over and a new one just begun.”

News >  Voices

WWII veteran uses art talent to help disabled people around world

Wed., Aug. 3, 2016

Artist Jack Rogers, 93, has always said he won’t retire. And despite suffering a series of strokes in October, he’s kept his word, though these days his desk is in a North Side care and rehabilitation facility.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: No need for fancy food – feast on friendship instead

Wed., July 27, 2016

You can call it “company,” “having people over,” or even the loftier “entertaining,” but I just call it fun.

News >  Features

High school sweethearts reunite, marry four decades later

Sun., July 24, 2016

“It was like no time had really passed by at all,” he said. “I looked at her and saw that 16-year-old girl I remembered.”

News >  Voices

Love Story: After five decades, still ‘scrappily and happily’ together

Wed., July 20, 2016

Some people have the benefit of growing up in homes with parents who have loving, lasting relationships. They are raised within the strong, secure bonds of a healthy family, so when it’s time to form their own families they have a good example of how to live happily ever after.

News >  Education

Mead program pays summer-school tuition for English Language Learners

Wed., July 13, 2016

Mead School District is covering tuition for summer school for English Language Learners this year.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Parenthood keeps make-believe alive

Wed., July 13, 2016

For me, the best part about being a parent has been the ongoing permission to indulge in my love of make-believe, Cindy Hval writes.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: ‘Ladies who lunch’ is good for the soul

Wed., July 6, 2016

Stefanie Pettit has become a lady who lunches, and she’s enjoying it.

News >  Voices

Spokane library Outreach team member Al Kiefer closes book on 32-year career

Wed., July 6, 2016

Al Kiefer often gets hugs as he goes about his work, but on a recent Friday afternoon the hugs were especially heartfelt. Residents of Lilac Plaza Retirement Community had learned Kiefer was retiring after 32 years with Spokane Public Library. For the past 20 years, Kiefer, 62, has worked with the library Outreach team, taking the library to retirement communities, nursing homes and rehabilitation clinics throughout the city.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Cats have her wrapped around their little claws

Wed., June 29, 2016

If you take care of the cats, the cats will take care of you.

News >  Spokane

Helicopter tour company offers new perspective on Spokane

Mon., June 27, 2016

Seeing Spokane from a different vantage point fosters a new appreciation for the wonders we often take for granted. Especially when that new perspective comes courtesy of a Robinson R44 helicopter.

Sports

Colin Zeng misses citizenship deadline to compete at Olympic diving trials

Mon., June 27, 2016

The clock has run out on Colin Zeng’s 2016 Olympic dreams.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Miss Chicken finally mellowing a bit

Wed., June 22, 2016

Miss Chicken, now 7, happy in the comfort of her Spokane Valley home.

News >  Voices

Love Story: After 67 years, they’re still living on love

Wed., June 22, 2016

Jeanie Fuller’s life forever changed when her high school youth group merged with the college group at the Presbyterian church she attended in South Gate, California. She was 16 and the merger meant she got to meet a lot more young men.

News >  Features

Boomer U: Graduating at 64

Sun., June 19, 2016

For Sheila Foertsch, 64, a college degree was just a matter of time. On Friday when she received her diploma from Spokane Falls Community College, she proved the old adage true: You’re never too old to stop learning.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Tears of grief, for the victims and for our lack of humanity

Wed., June 15, 2016

It’s not unheard of for me to write a column through tear-swollen eyes. After all, a personal column is, well, personal.

News >  Voices

Love Story: Romance got rolling on blind date at rink

Wed., June 8, 2016

Gordon Van Leuven wasn’t a fan of blind dates, but in 1945, a night at a local roller rink changed his mind.

Opinion >  Column

Front Porch: Death makes room for life – and three trees for future

Wed., June 8, 2016

There they are, three small subalpine fir trees in my front yard. They stand fresh and new with their roots beginning to move (hopefully) from their root ball into the ground as they seek to establish themselves in a location far from where they began.

A&E >  Seven

‘Laramie Project: 10 Years Later’ opens at Stage Left

Thu., June 2, 2016

Matthew Shepard was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyoming. His shocking death lead to the acclaimed play “The Laramie Project.” A decade later, the legacy of Shepard’s murder was revisited in “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later,” opening this weekend at Stage Left in Spokane.