C ONN E C T I N G W A S H I N G T O N S T A T E U NIVERSITY, THE S TATE, AND THE W ORLD • SPring 2 0 04 tate magazine COVER Mount St. Helens—The Perfect Laboratory STORY Beautiful, threatened Willapa Bay • Austere, diverse Soap Lake SPRING 2004 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 Washington tate magazine features 18 Lonely, Beautiful, CONTENTS and Threatened— Willapa Bay by Eric Apalategui • photos by Bill Wagner Willapa Bay is the largest estuary between San Francisco and Puget Sound. It boasts one of the least-spoiled environments and the healthiest salmon runs south of Canada. It produces one in every four oysters farmed in the United States and is a favorite stop for tens of thousands of migratory birds. And it’s in trouble. WHAT PRICE WILLAPA? Keith Lincoln, Barn Builder 24 by Pat Caraher Over 25 years at Washington State University, alumni director Keith Lincoln built many things, including friendships and a place where alums can go to sit in the shade. 29 Mount St. Helens— the Perfect Laboratory by Tim Steury • photos by Robert Hubner It is impossible to accept the immensity of Mount St. Helens and the effect of its catastrophic 1980 eruption unless you are able to stand beneath the enormous crater on the pumice plain and listen to John Bishop talk about lupines. 18 BILL WAGNER Extreme Diversity— 29 33 in Soap Lake HUBNER ROBERT by Tina Hilding • photos by George Bedirian Soap Lake is surrounded by stark shores, sheer rock walls, a primeval landscape. Its waters have long 24 been thought by some to cure certain maladies. It is also home to strange, hardy organisms that live nowhere else. Cover: Ecologist John Bishop has followed the reestablishment of life on Mount St. Helens’s pumice plain. See story, page 29. Photograph by Robert Hubner Washington tate CONNECTING WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, THE STATE, AND THE WORLD magazine panoramas Letters 2 On the origin of species—again 4 Architecture from the weapons of war 5 A SENSE OF PLACE: The last roses of summer 6 A more effective nag 7 Tackling megacity crud 8 PERSPECTIVE: High-stakes tests— what do they tell us? 10 Poor farm kid makes good 11 Solving Boeing’s problems 12 Grandfather extraordinaire 3 Degrees of Cool 13 Regents Scholars SEASONS/SPORTS: Golfer Kim Welch 14 15 SEASONS/SPORTS: Basketball’s Marcus Moore 16 Building a better bee trap tracking the cougars CLASS NOTES • IN MEMORIAM 40 SHORTS Bridges, docks, and dams Crossing the line Reservation vet aids scrapie test In search of the perfect instrument Happy in Hollywood Alumni president gets a grip Alumni Achievement Awards Cougar cruise Bill Monro’s cougar Raymond Muse remembered BRENT PEYTON 50 books, etc. 33 56 a thousand words LETTERS Washington tate magazine VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2, SPRING 2004 WORLD WIDE WEB: washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu Editor, Tim Steury Senior Editor, Patrick J. Caraher ’62 Associate Editor, George Bedirian Art Director, Jo Savage ’70 Photographers, Shelly Hanks ’88, Robert Hubner Contributors WRITERS: Eric Apalategui, Tom Bartuska, Lauren J. Bryant, Brenda Congdon, Marty Demarest, Phil Druker, Richard B. Fry, Nadine Munns Gerkey, Glenn Gifford, Megan Guido, Tina Hilding, Nella Letizia, Jon Naito ’03, Donald C. Orlich, Gail J. Stearns, Emmy Sunleaf Widman ’02 PHOTOGRAPHERS: Laurence Chen, Jeff T. Green, Dean Hare, Melba Remembering Lee, Chris Meyer, Henry Moore, Paula Pehl, Robert Pickett, Guido Alberto Rossi, Rafi Samizay, Bill Wagner Professor Muse ILLUSTRATOR: David Wheeler (See Raymond Muse’s obituary on page 49.) President, Washington State University, V. Lane Rawlins Associate Vice President, University Relations, Barbara B. Petura When I arrived at Washington State Uni- Executive Director, Alumni Relations and Washington State University Alumni Association, Tim Pavish ’80 versity as a graduate student in history, LETTERS: Washington State Magazine invites letters on its content department chairman Ray Muse greeted me or on topics related to the University. Letters for publication must and asked me to be his teaching assistant. I be signed and may be edited for style, length, and clarity. Shorter letters are more likely to be published due to space limitations. would be embarking on one of the most Writers should include an address and daytime phone number. wonderful experiences of my life. Send all correspondence to: Before class each morning, we would Washington State Magazine PO Box 641227 meet to discuss the day’s topic. From these Pullman, WA 99164-1227 sessions, I quickly discovered I was learning E-MAIL: [email protected] FAX: 509-335-8734 lessons from a master teacher about life that Washington State Magazine is published quarterly by Washington were probably more important than the State University, PO Box 641227, Pullman, Washington 99164-1227. Editorial offices are located at Washington State subject of history. I also heard some won- University, Information Technology Building, Room 2013, derful jokes. Pullman, Washington 99164-1227. Time spent with Professor Muse was spe- Board of Regents, Washington State University ©2004. cial. Although he had been at it for years, he Views expressed in Washington State Magazine are those of the authors still loved to teach and perform for his stu- and do not necessarily reflect official policy of Washington State University. dents. He provided amazing connections Alternate formats will be made available upon request for persons between events and presented American with disabilities. history in such a logical sequence. Washington State Magazine is pleased to acknowledge the generous When he talked about the English legacy support of alumni and friends of WSU, including a major gift from to American history, he would read a speech Phillip M. ’40 and June Lighty. delivered by Queen Elizabeth I to her sailors TO SEND THIS MAGAZINE: Washington State Magazine is distributed before they sailed off to meet the Spanish free of charge to graduates, donors, faculty, and staff of Washing- ton State University. With a gift of $25 or more, you can have Armada. His falsetto voice would bring WSM sent to someone who is not on our mailing list. For details, down the house. go to http://washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu/send.html or contact Sherri Hemphill at 509-335-1686, [email protected]. After I had finished marking the first set ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in Washington of exams in his class, he asked how the stu- State Magazine, contact Syndi Ellison, advertising manager, at dents had fared. I told him quite a few had 509-335-7628, [email protected], or go to washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu. received B’s or higher. He threw back his head, laughed heartily, and said, “Fine! Fine! CHANGED YOUR ADDRESS? Please send current address information to Sherri Hemphill, PO Box 641927, Pullman, WA 99164-1927, e-mail [email protected], or call 509-335-1686. Thank you! 102384 2 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2004 Fine!” Few things made him happier than outside. We opened the shades and stepped for his students to do well in class. outside to a huge wall of flames across the Professor Muse’s greatest strength, street. By the time we got the fire truck though, was his enjoyment of life. No across the street and water flowing a few matter how tough things appeared to me as minutes later, all we could do was keep the I struggled through some of my graduate fire from spreading to the end-zone seats course work, I could look past the dif- and the Compton Union Building next ficulties—when I was in his presence—and door. realize it would be worthwhile. Now, more We managed to save the KWSU-TV sta- than 25 years later, I still draw inspiration tion bus parked out front by rolling it away. More on Tiede from Professor Muse. An automated alarm system would have Robert K. Sutton ’84 Ph.D. History alerted us immediately. Even then, I doubt I want to commend the staff of Washington Bethesda, Maryland we could have saved that wood stadium State Magazine for your exceptional courage Sutton is the superintendent of Manassas after the arsonist had lighted his deadly gas/ in publishing in the fall issue Tom Tiede’s (Virginia) National Battlefield Park and an detergent mix. piece, “The First Casualty.” adjunct faculty member at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Our training back then was pretty I expect that you’ve received a dose of skimpy, as were our salaries. We were pro- criticism from those who do not yet realize vided room and board, and a whopping that “our lives begin to end, the day we Stadium fire $1.25 per day. Even so, there were still more become silent about things that matter” than 10 applicants for every opening. The (Martin Luther King, Jr.). I read the story on the WSU fire station fire station was manned by a great group of You are a clear voice that I trust will not with interest, especially the part about the guys. It was a wonderful place to live. I feel be silenced. famous 1970 stadium fire. I was one of the lucky to be a part of its history. Terry Fieldhouse ’50 Nevada City, California four student firemen on duty during spring Ken Frantz ’71 Political Sci. break. We were watching TV at night in the Hayes, Virginia lounge with the window curtains pulled. Frantz founded Bridges to Prosperity, Inc., and Fire Department, was the subject of a feature in the winter Someone noticed that it was getting light 2002-03 Washington State Magazine. Entomology In the article about the WSU fire depart- ment (winter issue), one important point was left out.