HIgh Five
Not surprised by The Oaks students
I’m not a bit surprised Peter Barber was acknowledged for his volunteering endeavors at the front desk at Holy Family Hospital (June 5 Voices). Peter was a student of mine when I taught Latin to third-grade students at The Oaks. Neither am I surprised that Scott Parmely is the valedictorian at The Oaks Academy. They are exceptional young men.
When I took my grandsons to be tutored in Latin during the summer months, I learned the basics myself. I was invited to teach third- and fourth-grade Latin to students the next year and we had a lot of fun. We did our verb chants “amo, amas, amat” to the tune of “The Mexican Hat Dance.” The secretary in the office below our classroom wondered why her lights always swayed during our class session.
We had contests between Roman centurions and Greek gladiators when memorizing our nouns. Even our tests were fun. I had the third-grade students draw pictures of Hannibal nearing Rome on elephants after crossing the Alps. “Hannibal ad portus” was our sentence of the week. When I took these tests and drawings to Whitworth to be interviewed by the education staff to see if I could qualify to enter the masters in teaching program, they were amazed to see third-grade students learning Latin. I was accepted into the program, but declined my slot to give my daughter a fine wedding after her graduation from Whitworth and ICNE. They eloped.
Congratulations to all of Spokane’s fine students.
Donna Kuhn
Spokane Valley
Neighbor took care of business
I would like to give a High Five and several thanks to a neighbor of mine who really knows what it is to be a “great” neighbor. Rob McNutt, owner of Northwest Construction, lives about a quarter-mile down the road from me. This winter, during some of the worst snowstorms that we had, he came to our aid to help clean out some of the snow so I could water my horses and get to our TV satellite dish. He also put up my mailbox that had been pushed into the ditch by the snowplow, but this was not the end.
When my husband and I were getting ready to go to Hawaii with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, we discovered that our sump pump had quit and the basement was flooded. My husband worked all day to get the water out and hoped that we had the problem solved, but it wasn’t.
My daughter and her family came out the night before we were to leave and they continued to work on the basement. About 10:30 p.m., I called Rob.
He told me to bring up the key to the house and he would take care of the problem and for us to go to Hawaii as planned and have a great vacation.
I knew that my house was in great hands so we left for Hawaii and when we returned there was very little water in the basement and the pump was replaced and working. Now I call that a “great neighbor” who deserves recognition. Thank you, Rob, for all that you have done.
Sara and Jim Johnston
West Plains
High school athletes show sportsmanship
After being at the state high school track championships in Pasco (in May) I felt compelled to write in to commend one of the participants at the meet.
A local runner, Andrea Nelson, of Shadle Park High School, finished second in the 3,200-meter run on Friday night in what was an outstanding race, won by Nicole Cochran, of Bellarmine Prep. Andrea finished strongly to overtake the second-place girl at the finish line to a roar from the crowd. Nicole Cochran finished first by a ways. Later there was a controversial disqualification of Cochran for supposed running on the line during the race. At the award stand, as the meet ended, Andrea was awarded first place and each runner moved up one place, including the ninth-place girl (eight medals were awarded).
After the awards, Andrea and the other girls walked up to