Thank you for the details about Seattle Pacific College during and after WWII in the article, “Tom Cooper’s Return.” My father, Willard Delwin Aldridge, was also a returning veteran. However, Dad graduated first, then was inducted into the Army. He returned to SPC to teach math or physics.
During much of the war, he was an instructor in the Artillery, teaching courses in electricity among other things. Dad received a Bronze Star for his work in increasing the efficiency of radar.
In 1951, dad left his teaching job at SPC and went to work for Boeing, but he continued to teach: his own children, his son-in-law, and neighborhood children. I also remember my mother, Eleanor Baldwin Aldridge, telling stories about the shortage of available men during the war.
I attended SPC when returning Vietnam vets were coming back to school in the early ’70s. For a short while, I was a TA for Professor Heintz.
Alice O’Grady ’75
Everett, Washington
The interview done with Nyaradzo Mvududu, done by Kari Costanza, is just wonderful. Full of life, info, and inspiring. It made my day. Thank you!
Niki Amarantides
Seattle, Washington
Just wanted to compliment the article written by Mark Moschetti about Loren Anderson. [Fall/Winter 2020, “Falcons hall of famer Anderson dies at 84.”] I enrolled at SPU in 1957, after two years at junior college. I was fortunate to make the team when Loren was a senior. We were the two starting guards.
Loren was a fabulous player who could score from anywhere on the floor. Besides being a great outside shooter, he could handle the ball well and drive
past anyone to the basket or stop on a dime and drill in a jump shot. When people would ask me who was the toughest player I had to defend in college, I always said, “Loren Anderson in practice.”
Incidentally, most people reading your article probably don’t realize there was no such thing as a “three-point shot” back in those days. Can you imagine how many points that could have been? In those days, some of the entire team scores were in the 50s.
After graduation, I was a teacher for 31 years and retired in 1991. I coached basketball, but my forte was teaching band and choir. Loved it!
Ron James ’60
Washougal, Washington
