Anne George has been integral in shaping both the World Languages department and the Visual and Performing Arts department over her many years of service to the College. Her ongoing commitment to quality as a teacher of the French language and the humanities has been an inspiration to both her students and colleagues. Her colleagues always greatly appreciated the patience, humor, hard work, and humanity she brought to the many collaborative enterprises she designed and organized for the College. For one of these, the World Languages Poetry Reading, Anne produced booklets that combined meticulous scholarship, carefully crafted texts, and exquisitely curated faculty art into the most beautiful and elegant publications ever issued at the College. Her own humanity, beauty of mind and elegance of taste, and dedication to the highest quality enriched all of our lives. We wish her well with her future projects!

Bob came to us in 1992 from a career as a practicing psychologist and as a veteran of the national health service. He was the first, and for 15 years the only, full-time psychology professor. Attending to student needs and mentorship for his adjuncts, Bob developed psychology into the third largest discipline at the College. Also very active in the faculty union, Bob served terms as vice president, two as president, and two contract cycles as chief negotiator. Bob is also very concerned about the environment and how humans interact with it. He was a driving force in establishing both the College's sustainability program for better campus operations, and for the sustainability requirement for students’ coursework. In 2015, Bob transitioned to adjunct status, but remained very active in college affairs. Despite how obviously busy he was, Bob always had time to help someone in need of advice or assistance. We wish him well in the world travels he intends to pursue.

Cathy came from Seattle in 1980 to run the Lynden Center branch of the College. “A college without walls” was the motto back then and Cathy ran a mini-college there with registration, advising and classes. She was responsible for attracting students from out in the county and providing rural residents access to a college education. As buildings grew on the Whatcom campus and operations became more centralized, Cathy moved to the main campus as we know it in 2001. She returned to teaching history and philosophy, mentoring newer faculty and helping the faculty focus on organizing themselves into a union, which she served as president. She was also the last social science department chair prior to the great division reorganization in 2009. In 2013 Cathy transitioned from full time to part time teaching, although as active as Cathy stayed in the faculty union and social science department, one would never know of her change in status. Cathy’s empathy, insights and knowledge of the College and the outside world were incredible.

Cynthia Davis, a beloved ESLA (English as a Second Language – Academic) instructor, retired in the summer of 2020 after 35 years of teaching. She taught mostly elementary and middle school, a bit of high school, and finished her classroom teaching at Whatcom in the ESLA program. In Cynthia’s words, “my greatest joy in teaching was my connection with my students! My first group of students are now in their mid- 40's! I am happy to have had the honor and privilege of touching so many lives around the world. I will also miss the great colleagues I worked with, those kindred spirits who traveled the journey with me!” Thank you Cynthia for always putting your warmth and caring into all your interactions!

John Taylor (known to all as “JT) came to us in 2005 after a full career in law enforcement with the California Department of Justice. Hired for his extensive training experience, JT took over a struggling criminal justice program and ably led it as the coordinator until the end of 2020. Using his abilities to organize and work with others, JT formed relationships with the many local law enforcement agencies and built a program to meet the needs of employers and students. For the 21st century. As the College has grown over the years, so did the need to formalize its student conduct procedures. JT assisted greatly with that by taking on an additional duty as the first Student Conduct Officer, a role he defined for others that would follow. JT loved our students, and would work tirelessly to develop the sort of connections and mentoring needed by them to transition from very young adults to responsible citizens and eventual law enforcement professionals. We will miss him.

Pam misses WCC, but is enjoying retirement. Her new daily routine includes getting up early, going for long walks, taking care of her newborn granddaughter along with enjoying her son’s cooking. Pam enjoys having the time to clean her house, go shopping on week days, and watch movies at any time. Pam enjoyed All College Day the most in her time at WCC. She enjoyed spending time with all the faculty, the student panels, and the classified staff. She missed it dearly the last two years during the pandemic. “I loved interacting with everyone from WCC and continue to miss it every day,” Pam says. Pam also valued watching her son and two daughters graduate from WCC. She credits WCC for their solid foundation for learning. Pam recalled everyday she came to work like going to her second home. She remembers when Dr. Heiner praised her for her good work. She joked, “I am just cleaning toilets”. Dr. Heiner patted her back and said, “You raised three good kids”! After retirement, she is enjoying spending time with her granddaughter Zoya, gardening at home, and volunteering at her local Sikh temple in Lynden.

Sally Holloway has an amazing ability and capacity for making an impact in early childhood education (ECE), and WCC has been lucky to be home to her gifts which have benefited both the College’s ECE program and our community in many ways. Since March 1997, Sally initially taught in, and as program coordinator helped to build WCC’s Early Childhood Education program in its formative years. Then, due to her vision, leadership, and efforts on State ECE committees and councils, she attracted the attention of the State Board of Community & Technical Colleges and the Washington State Department Children, Youth & Families for her ability to work with colleges across the state. This vital work has created state-wide standards to improve ECE programs, and to provide leadership to critical projects that have helped educate early learning professionals on best practices and new rules and regulations (in multiple languages!), and to represent Washington’s innovation in ECE nationally. Sally has always fought for improving the education, standing and standards of childcare providers, that will be so important to future generations. It is difficult to imagine our work without Sally’s direct involvement; she provided invaluable mentorship and guidance to students, staff and colleagues. We feel a great sense of gratitude to her for the opportunities she has provided many in our program. It is her leadership, her commitment to children and families, and her vision for the profession that we will attempt to carry on. We will miss you Sally! Your passion, hope, and vision are an inspiration and will impact so many for years to come.

Sally joined Whatcom Community Collage as an adjunct librarian in the fall of 2005, and later landed a tenured position as our systems (technical) librarian. In her role she regularly was consulted by colleagues throughout the state in managing library service platforms and formerly served as the state library consortium technical consultant. Outside of work Sally is active in the regional contra dance scene and plays the fiddle. After hours she used to host five Whatcom colleagues who practiced their trade-music playing in the old Heiner Library media center. Sally and her quick wit will be greatly missed in the library. She frequently misplaced her keys and was late to meetings which is part of her quirky charm. We wish her the very best.

Sharon is relishing retirement after working so many years of the night shift. Switching to a normal sleep routine has been surprisingly easy! Sharon is spending as much time with her family as possible, especially her 10 year old granddaughter. Her small vegetable garden is doing quite well, fingers crossed! Sharon really misses everyone at WCC. “WCC was a huge part of my life”. There are too many memories to try to pick a favorite, but Sharon recalls in the early 90's when we still did pot luck for Thanksgiving where the great office ladies would take turns cooking the turkey. This particular time it was Fran Allen (Registration) who was in charge. The Custodial department was working 10PM to 7AM, at 4 AM Fran came into LDC wearing a pink bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers carrying a huge turkey and roaster. She was determined to make sure that the turkey was done on time!

Susan joined Whatcom Community College as an adjunct librarian in January 2015, and immediately made an impact. Susan is passionate about teaching and learning, and actively worked to develop instructional content. As a long-time Bellingham resident she immediately knew many colleagues and students (and sometimes, their parents or children). In retirement she is excited to spend more time with her new grandson and, soon, granddaughter; traveling; and hiking the many regional trails. We wish her the very best.