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(L-r): Dorothy Detlor, '61, Marty Miller, '89, Andrea Palpant Dilley, '00, and John Rodkey, '47 |
Andrea Palpant Dilley graduated from Whitworth with a double major in Spanish and English literature and writing, and was the recipient of the President's Cup and the Alumni Ideals Award.
She explored a wide range of career paths before finding her calling with North by Northwest Productions, where she works as a producer and director in the company's nonfiction division.
Palpant Dilley has collaborated with Whitworth faculty, students and alumni to produce the documentaries In Time of War, about the Japanese American experience during World War II; Art in Me, about the importance of vocation and calling; and A Portrait of Leonard Oakland, which will premiere in February as part of the inaugural Leonard Oakland Film Festival. Palpant Dilley's love for the university and appreciation of its mission inform and strengthen these Whitworth-related documentaries that celebrate and honor the university's past, present and future.
When his parents' resources were wiped out by the Great Depression, John Rodkey worked hard to pay his Whitworth tuition. His efforts paid off: He earned an undergraduate degree in 1947, after serving in World War II, and a master in education degree in 1958.
Rodkey's commitment to Whitworth and to the Spokane community are legendary. He currently administers the Helen and Verne Rodkey Family Scholarship, which was established through the estate of his mother, Helen. The scholarship stipulates that funds go to students who are unable to attend Whitworth without additional support.
Rodkey worked in high-school education from 1948-79, including a 20-year stint as principal of North Central High School, in Spokane. As principal, Rodkey arranged student-teaching positions for many Whitworth education majors and hired a number of them after they graduated.
As a Whitworth student, Marty Miller volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, which, with the intellectual and theological foundation he built at Whitworth, influenced his decision to pursue a vocation helping those in need. Miller graduated with a degree in political studies and worked for Habitat for several years, then served a year on the U.S. Senate's Labor and Human Resources Committee on behalf of former Washington State Senator Brock Adams.
After earning a master's degree in economic development at Eastern University, in St. Davids, Penn., Miller joined the Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing, a nonprofit corporation in Yakima, Wash., that develops housing for farmworkers and other rural, low-income residents of Washington state. Miller is now executive director of the ORFH, which has built approximately 1,025 units that house more than 5,500 people.
During her years at Whitworth, Detlor had planned to become a missionary nurse in Africa. When she graduated, however, her mission field turned out to be much closer to home, in the emergency department at Spokane's Deaconess Hospital.
In 1973, Detlor earned a master's degree in maternal/child nursing from the University of Maryland, and then returned to Spokane to teach at the Intercollegiate Center of Nursing; she went on to become dean of the School of Nursing at Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, and to earn a doctorate from Gonzaga University.
Detlor capped her 45-year career as dean of Spokane's ICN from 1997-2006; this allowed her to maintain close contact with Whitworth students who complete their nursing degrees through the program. She also was active in raising funds to create a larger facility for the ICN, which was recently completed in downtown Spokane.
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