Cindy Hval

Every high school teacher or adviser looks for them. The students who can be counted on. The ones who will show up when they say they will, who will complete promised tasks on time and then offer to do even more. Gonzaga Prep senior Brian Entzminger is one such student.

When Ellie Adolphson approached Scollard's Dry Cleaning on the South Hill recently, she couldn't find a place to park. "Customers were streaming into the store," Adolphson said.

The reader board outside The Man Shop in downtown Spokane read, "Help a Hippie get a haircut." While a Seattle Mariners baseball game was playing on a nearby television on May 9, a small group of family members and friends gathered around Jesse Hansen, the "hippie" in need of a trim.

Bill Slater knows the value of persistence. He first caught a glimpse of his future bride at Whitworth College in 1970, but it took nine long years to win her hand. "I saw her running up the stairs to get to the head of the food line," he recalled. "She did that every day, and every day I noticed her. I just had to get to know her."

Love and luck often seem intertwined. Fenton and Violet Roskelley found lasting love, thanks to a slip of paper, drawn at random, from a hat. They met in England in 1944. Violet, from Yorkshire, had been drafted into the army. Brash, young American soldiers were everywhere, and the British girls were crazy about them.

The reader board outside The Man Shop in downtown Spokane read, "Help a Hippie get a haircut." While a Seattle Mariners baseball game was playing on a nearby television earlier this month, a small group of family members and friends gathered around Jesse Hansen, the "hippie" in need of a trim.

Recently the 15-member Junior Disability USA Team traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, to compete in the World Junior Disability Championships. Remarkably, four of those team members are from the Spokane area. The teens are part of Team St. Luke's, a group of fiercely competitive, physically disabled athletes. They competed against teams from 13 countries in track and field and swimming events, bringing home 21 medals.

A small group of recruits met recently at the Five Mile Grange for their third week of boot camp. The group consisted of women of all ages, shapes and sizes. Their drill instructor greeted them at the door with a warm smile and a high five. "Welcome ladies, it's good to see you," he said.

I read a recent Dan Webster story in The Spokesman-Review (Writing on the Wall, April 13) with dismay. Apparently movies, music, candy and novelty items are taking up more space than printed material in local bookstores. Booksellers opined that reading just isn't what it used to be anymore, especially among the younger crowd.

On the second Saturday of every month, a group gathers in a small room just off the cafeteria at the Shriners Hospital in Spokane. Hawaiian print shirts and sharply creased military caps identify them as an elite and dwindling group. They are the Lilac City Chapter of Pearl Harbor Survivors.

Helen Marie Schmidt grew up hearing stories about life in foreign lands. Missionaries frequently visited her parents' Veradale home. A seed was planted as she listened to their tales of hardship and adventure while doing God's work.

Love and luck often seem intertwined. Fenton and Violet Roskelley found lasting love, thanks to a slip of paper, drawn at random, from a hat. They met in England in 1944. Violet, from Yorkshire, had been drafted into the army. Brash, young American soldiers were everywhere, and the British girls were crazy about them.

The reader board outside The Man Shop in downtown Spokane read, "Help a Hippie get a haircut." While a Seattle Mariners baseball game was playing on a nearby television last Wednesday, a small group of family members and friends gathered around Jesse Hansen, the "hippie" in need of a trim.

Recently the 15-member Junior Disability USA Team traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, to compete in the World Junior Disability Championships. Remarkably, four of those team members are from the Spokane area. The teens are part of Team St. Luke's, a group of fiercely competitive, physically disabled athletes. They competed against teams from 13 countries in track and field and swimming events, bringing home 21 medals.

Sunlight streamed through the windows of an upstairs room at Northpointe Retirement Community. It bathed the group of women gathered around a table in golden light. It glinted and flashed off the crochet hooks that moved rapidly in their hands. Each Friday afternoon the women gather to crochet or knit. Northpointe activities director, Diane French, christened the group, "The Busy Needles." She said,

Music spilled from the doors of the Eagles Lodge. The sounds of trumpets and clarinets, along with the steady patter of drums, swelled and echoed down the hallways. Each Monday evening the 27-piece Eagles Lodge concert band meets to practice. The emphatic strains of Sousa marches mixed with ebullient patriotic songs reverberate through the North Side Lodge.

After spring break, most families begin counting down the days until school's out for summer. But parents of 5-year-olds are already thinking about September, deciding whether or not to enroll their child in kindergarten. Spokane Public Schools and the Mead School District offer only traditional half-day classes. But other local districts and private schools offer full-day programs in addition.

A small group of Whitworth College students gathered in the campus dining hall on a recent Saturday afternoon to make sandwiches – 300 sandwiches, to be exact. They are part of En Christo, a student-founded, student-led ministry established as a campus club in 1990. Each week, they deliver sack lunches to residents of the Otis and New Madison hotels in downtown Spokane.

Shannon Blakesley put a sign in her window and a posting on Craigslist: House for sale. The responses came fast: "I had millions of people calling," she said. A real-estate agent wanted to turn the house into a rental. A man she thinks was Canadian made an offer.

Brad Apperson walks to school each morning. It isn't far. His classroom is in the basement of his family's four-level Mead home. The sixth-grader's desk is tucked below a window. A map of the United States and a multiplication chart hang nearby. His sister's brown and white rabbit, Ariel, frequently peeks at him from underneath a foosball table. Bookshelves line the room. Clear plastic totes filled with art supplies and Legos are stacked within easy reach.

The spicy aroma of tacos drifted through the hallways of Alexandria's House on a recent afternoon. Five young women gathered in the small kitchen to share a meal. Sippy cups and plastic dishes crowded the table, surrounded by highchairs and infant seats. A cacophony of baby babble filled the room.

My kids accuse me of being a compulsive mother. They say not only do I parent them, but anyone under 21 who happens to be nearby. They cite a recent incident that occurred when we were in a crowded line to buy movie tickets.