Couple Write Computer Book For The Masses

Bill and Gloria Waggoner never think of themselves as gurus.

The computer world knows better, though.

Nearly every day, the Hayden Lake, Idaho, couple shove their shirt sleeves above the elbows and hunker down to work. Their mission? To demystify the computer for the frightened masses.

“We do a lot of hand-holding,” says Bill. “A lot of older people are apprehensive.”

The hand-holding is figurative only.

The Waggoner name is splashed across the bottom of “Using Computers: A Gateway to Information.” The textbook, used by more than a million students worldwide, is not something they envisioned themselves doing in their 40s.

After college, Gloria programmed, then taught. Bill sold computer systems and designed software. They were into bytes and chips when common people applied those words just to fast food.

When the editor of the textbook used in Gloria’s class asked her to take over rewriting the book six years ago, she hesitantly agreed and asked Bill to help. Gloria wrote from a teacher’s perspective; Bill provided the industry viewpoint. It was an enduring match.

Now, they finish each other’s sentences, on paper and off. Their dining room is their office, where they work more than full time. Just as they finish one edition, it’s time to start updating.

“We’ve always joked that we should’ve written an art history book that never needs revising,” Bill says.

North Idaho College uses the Waggoners’ book. So do schools in Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Computer instructors know the Waggoner name. Some want autographs in the photo-packed book. To the Waggoners, that’s the biggest mystery.

“I would never have guessed I’d be an author,” Gloria says. “We’ve been fortunate.”

Stage left

Playwright Tim Rarick is one of the Panhandle’s hidden treasures. That people aren’t lined up outside his North Idaho College office waiting for autographs is beyond me.

He took time off from his latest project to direct “The Chalk Garden” at NIC. The play opens at 8 p.m. Thursday and has attracted such talents as Julie Powell and Pam Long, stage manager for Spokane’s Interplayers theater.

How can you miss with a story about a governess with a mysterious past and an elderly woman raising her precocious 16-year-old granddaughter in an English manor? Rarick says it’s mystery/comedy and it says something.

Audience seating is on-stage. Call 769-3415 for tickets.

All-nighter

Long nights over the books are not unexpected in college. But Dorothy Browning recalled a special night after reading two weeks ago about Virginia Johnson’s love of books.

Dorothy was a student at Oregon State University in the 1950s. One of her roommates was a literature major crazy about James Thurber’s writing. One evening, the roommate began reading from Thurber to Dorothy and her friends and continued to read aloud until 6 a.m.

“We were spellbound,” Dorothy said. “It opened our eyes to a beauty we never knew existed.”

Which is lucky. Dorothy went on to raise six boys in Post Falls. Occasionally, she needed a little Thurber whimsy.

How’d you get here?

Without an American Automobile Association travel guide, Judy Whatley and her husband may never have found Coeur d’Alene seven years ago. But after reading about the town, they decided to move from Oregon. They’re glad they did.

How did you find Coeur d’Alene? From friends, through brochures, by accident? Tell your story to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Coeur d’Alene 83814; fax to 765-7149 or call 765-7128.