Graduating With Honors Their High School Years Interrupted By Illness, Two Men Receive Honorary Diplomas Form West Valley High School Decades After Their Classmates Graduated

Anyone in the small chapel at Good Samaritan Village Wednesday afternoon witnessed a phenomenon:

Time folded in on itself.

Two men received honorary high school diplomas Wednesday.

Rick Brinnon, 51, a member of West Valley High School’s class of 1963, and Richard Shaefer, 55, a member of West Valley’s class of ‘58, did not graduate with their classmates.

Catastrophic illness interrupted both men’s lives.

Brinnon came down with multiple sclerosis in the fall of his senior year.

“It came on very quickly,” said Melba Brinnon, Rick’s mother. “He couldn’t walk after just two months, after Christmas. And after the end of January, he couldn’t talk. It came on very rapidly. It was really hard to believe.”

Rick Brinnon had been an athlete. He played varsity baseball as a junior, and football. His classmates dedicated their annual to him.

Shaefer developed a rare nerve and muscle disorder as a freshman.

“They went to the old West Valley High School in those days,” said Lola Scalero, Shaefer’s sister. This was long before the advent of handicapped access ramps. The school had stairs leading to the front door.

“He couldn’t go up and down the stairs. He was falling on the way to school…. At that time, no one knew much about what to do.”

A trip to the Mayo Clinic resulted in a diagnosis and medicine to help control Shaefer’s condition, but no cure.

“He used to wheel himself all over Millwood,” Scalero said, and he made it to every football game.

On Wednesday afternoon, friends, family and other residents of Good Sam worked their way into the chapel. White-haired ladies with walkers, a crush of wheelchairs and two guestbooks inside the door - one for Brinnon, one for Shaefer - all conspired to make the procession move slowly.

Shaefer, in his wheelchair, waited in the corridor.

He talked, haltingly, with Dick Harwood. Harwood’s son had played football for the West Valley Eagles, and that’s how Harwood and Shaefer met years ago, watching the football games together.

“I once gave him an arctic survival suit, to keep him warm at the games,” Harwood said. “It would keep ya warm down to zero. Do ya still have it?”

“Yeah,” said Shaefer, a smile creeping across his face.

“Why don’t you go inside and find a seat?” Shaefer’s sister Lola Scalero said to Harwood.

“Oh, that’s OK. I’ll sit right here,” Harwood said happily. “I’ll heckle people.”

Brinnon, in his wheelchair, waited in a corner of the hallway.

He wore a necktie, a pin-striped shirt, everything new, bought for the occasion by his mother.

With his shock of white hair - long enough that bobbypins anchored his graduation cap - Brinnon is a handsome man.

It was particularly Brinnon’s dream to graduate. His speech impairment eased some, but not much. He struggled to finish school, even years after he lost his mobility. Just a few credits stood between him and his diploma. He tried tutoring. He and his mother tackled Washington state history together. To no avail.

Enter Pauline Baughman, who has worked at Good Sam for 10 years. It was her idea this fall that led to Wednesday’s ceremony.

“One day, Rick said something (about school). He’s very close to my age, only a year older,” Baughman said. The lightbulb flashed on. Once her idea for the special graduation was born, Baughman went into action, sparing no detail. She hopes it will serve as a prototype to make wishes come true for other Good Sam residents.

As the preparations unfolded Wednesday, Baughman gave a nervous Melba Brinnon a hug. Later, in the chapel she was among the first to reach for a Kleenex.

“I am amazed at the lack of bitterness in both men. They have learned to accept their condition with grace,” Baughman said. “I don’t know that an ordinary person could handle it as gracefully as they have - to be robbed at that early time of life.”

At the front of the chapel, West Valley Principal Cleve Penberthy admitted this was the first time he’d ever presided over a graduation “for two fellows who are a couple of years older than me.”

He spoke of meaning and honor and of the learning that goes on beyond high school

“I believe you guys have learned answers to the real questions: What is it to love? What is it to respond to setback? What is it to keep your mind in tune and alert?

“…You never had the opportunity to finish our tests and our quizzes. Today you would have.”

Indeed, not until 1974 did federal law create the right for the disabled in our country to have access to education.

Dave Murbach, Class of ‘63, stood in the cafeteria, while two cakes were cut and served. Orange and black balloons dotted the ceiling, bringing the West Valley colors to the reception. Murbach had brought Brinnon a gift. He held his camera and watched, as nervous as if his own child was opening the present.

“I hope he likes it,” Murbach said, intently.

Off came the wrapping paper. Off came the puffy plastic wrap.

And, finally, out came a delicate porcelain eagle, wings outstretched. The West Valley eagle.

Brinnon’s face glowed. Words weren’t necessary to know that, yes, oh, yes, he liked it.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (1 Color)