First Campaign Project Completed
Welcome to the New Rosario
The
view of Walla Walla College’s Marine Station at Rosario Beach just got
better. This summer’s students at the Marine Station are the first group
to use the new dining hall and new cabins, the most visible results of a $2.5
million renovation project.
More than 200 alumni and guests gathered at the station in May for an open house celebration marking the end of the four-year project. For the ribbon-cutting ceremony, WWC President W.G. Nelson was joined by alumni Clarence “Spizz” Lindgren, his sons Eric and Paul, and Ted Nedderman, all trustees of the Lindgren Foundation. The foundation provided a gift of $1 million toward the Rosario project.
This occasion now has special meaning for sons Eric and Paul. Two weeks after the event, on May 25, Clarence died during recovery from a surgery. “The Rosario opening was very significant for my dad, and it means even more to me now. Walla Walla College was very important to him and his family,” says Eric.
The campaign for the Rosario project drew support from more
than 100 alumni families. Three new cabins, provided for with major gifts
from the Committee of 100 and alumni Don and Phyllis Hall, were designed for
year-round use and wired for computer network and Internet connections.
Other alumni joined in the project by volunteering their skills. David Gill,
former executive director of plant operations, led several groups of volunteers,
in work ranging from framing and painting the cabins, to digging ditches for
new water lines.
This project has been 10 years in the making. In 1990 an ad hoc advisory board, called the Friends of Rosario (FOR), formed to advise WWC on the operation and preservation of the station. W