Retired Wwp Executive Dies At 94

No service will be held for W. L. “Lou” Thrailkill. Private burial will be at Fairmount Memorial Park. Hennessey-Smith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Thrailkill, a retired Washington Water Power Co. executive and active community service participant, died Monday. He was 94.

He was born in Victor, Mont., and came to Spokane in 1933 and went to work as a rate engineer for Washington Water Power. He later became manager of the consulting and research department and in 1944 was named assistant general manager. He served as vice president for finance at WWP from 1957 until he retired 10 years later.

James Coombs, who worked with Thrailkill for several years before assuming the treasurer post himself, recalled a kind, modest man who did not flout his position.

Thrailkill’s proudest achievement at WWP, he said, was an exhaustive inventory of every asset owned by the utility.

The task was undertaken in the mid-1930s and was not completed until after World War II, when a trust that held WWP and other Northwest utilities for decades was dissolved.

Coombs also said Thrailkill had an inquiring mind. “He was a person who liked to explore new things,” he said.

Mr. Thrailkill graduated from the University of Washington and did post-graduate work at the University of Michigan.

He was an instructor of general engineering at the University of Washington for one year and then worked for the Washington Department of Public Service from 1928 until 1933.

After his career with WWP, he served as president of the Spokane Industrial Park from 1960 until 1967. He also was president of the Washington Irrigation-Development Company from 1956 until 1967 and served Pacific National Bank of Washington as a part-time consultant and chairman of the Inland Empire Advisory Board for several years.

Mr. Thrailkill was a member of the Knife and Fork Club, the Spokane Central Lions and the Moose Lodge. He also was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, Inland Empire Council, since 1943 and was past president and a former executive board member and council commissioner. He was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, National Council, since 1953 and had served on the regional executive committee.

He was a former board member of Junior Achievement of Spokane and had served as vice president and president of the Northwest Electric Light and Power Association. He was past president of the Washington Society of Professional Engineers and the United Crusade and Council of Spokane County.

Mr. Thrailkill received several awards from the Boy Scouts of America including the Silver Beaver Award and the Silver Antelope Award. Other awards include Engineer of the Year from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Outstanding Service Award from the Junior Achievement of Spokane Inc., the Outstanding Citizen Award from the Central Lions Club and the Outstanding Service Award from the Washington Society of Professional Engineers.

His first wife, Marian Thrailkill, died in 1987.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret Ross; two daughters, Joy Iverson of Bellevue, Wash., and Karen Ochletree of Spokane; three stepdaughters, Mary Ross Kellar of Las Vegas, Nancy Ross of Spokane and Virginia Ross Steckman of Bend, Ore., and a son, Don Thrailkill of Careywood, Idaho.

Memorial contributions may be made to Spokane Falls Community College Business Academic Work Scholarship.

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