DAR honors West Valley High history teacher Ty Brown

West Valley High School teacher Ty Brown has always loved history and now he’s made a little of his own by being named the Washington State Society of Daughters of the Revolution’s 2021 Outstanding Teacher of American History.

Brown, who has been teaching history at West Valley for eight years, said he thinks his interest was sparked by his history teachers in school in the Mead School District. He can still remember all their names. “I can remember all the way back to junior high,” he said. “I think it started there.”

It continued to Washington State University, where he earned a degree in history. His professors, particularly LeRoy Ashby, made history come alive. “It was just so fascinating,” he said. “He made it exciting. I try to copy his style in the classroom.”

Brown taught for a few years in Seattle before coming back home to help with the family business, the Wandermere Golf Course. The course was built by his great-grandparents and is currently operated by his mother and uncle.

Brown began working at the golf course in the spring, summer and fall and doing substitute teaching in the winters. “Time just got away from me, and I did that for a number of years,” he said.

During that time Brown also did some world travel, often visiting Europe and Asia. “That really helped as well in the classroom,” he said. “I teach geography.”

But Brown decided he needed to get back into the classroom full time and got his masters degree in secondary education from Whitworth University. He taught at Colville High School for five years before taking the job at West Valley.

Sometimes teens can be reluctant students of history, asking “Why do I need to know this? It already happened,” Brown said. His response is that you can learn things from history.

“I think it’s something that’s very important to know,” he said. “You try to figure out what happened and learn from it. With history, there’s so many lessons.”

Brown said he tries to tie historical events to local history to help spark an interest in his students. When he’s teaching about a national event, he’ll examine what may have been happening in a historical Millwood neighborhood at the same time. “You’ve got to find the angle to reach someone,” he said.

Brown said he was surprised when he won the DAR award. Another teacher told him about it and friends who are local historians encouraged him to apply, so he submitted an application and his resume. Local chapters review the submitted applications, then pick one candidate to forward to the state DAR for consideration for the annual award.

Brown said he found out he’d won the statewide honor when he was giving a historical presentation to a local DAR chapter, which had been scheduled months in advance, and he was introduced as this year’s award winner.

“I was surprised,” he said. “I got the letter the next day.”

Brown doesn’t confine his history work to the classroom. Two years ago, inspired by his research into the history of his family and the Wandermere Golf Course, he self-published a book called “Wandermere: Legacy on the Little Spokane River.” It explores the history of the Wandermere area, not just the golf course.

He’ll continue that community history work, including a current project on Byron Riblet, who founded the Riblet Tramway Company in Spokane in 1911. “That’s a whole other story,” Brown said.

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Nina Culver can be reached at nculver47@gmail.com