Edith Eleanor Shinn Erickson (1914-2008): Teacher, historian, researcher, writer

EDITH ELEANOR SHINN ERICKSON (1914-2008)

The late Edith E. Erickson was well-known as a teacher and for her research and writing about history of various aspects of the Palouse and Whitman County. For example, her 1985 book, “Whitman County: From Abbieville to Zion” remains a popular source for information on settlements, towns and cities in the county.  Here is information about her. This was posted 12/16/2017

--Based on information from Fall 2008 Journey magazine of Lewis Clark State College (Lewiston, Idaho):

Edith (Shinn) Erickson (LCSC Class of 1934) of Eatonville, Washington, passed away on August 1, 2008. She was 94. After graduating from Lewiston State Normal School, she taught in one room schools in Idaho and Nez Perce Counties during the 1930s, in Southwick in the 1940s, and spent about 25 years teaching 4th grade in LaCrosse, Washington. She retired. In retirement she became the perpetual volunteer. She worked with exchange students or adults who found English challenging. She volunteered for the Red Cross and numerous community committees in Colfax, Washington. Colfax honored Edith by naming her the first annual 'Edith Erickson Community Service Award' recipient. One of the joys in retirement was having the time to write. She carefully researched and wrote five history books. She also did genealogy and wrote stories and poems of her life and observations.

--From John E. Cochran Family Association website:

=Their second child, Edith Eleanor, arrived two years later on April 27, 1914. For a time she was called Polly by her doting Aunts and Grandparents. On March 11, 1916 disaster stuck the Shinn's. A fire destroyed the new house on the homestead. Among the things saved were the wedding dress, the old Shinn family Bible (dating back to the 1700's) and a quilt pieced by Grandmother Pickard for Ethel many years before. It is said that Louis yelled, "Oh, oh, our stovepipe is on fire." Edith, age 2, watched the flame and said "Pretty, pretty." An old tool shed was used for a home until other arrangements could be made.=

=The year of 1923 was one of trials and tribulations. Edith and Maurice contracted scarlet fever in October. They were the only children in the community to have the disease. The malady was discovered while Edith was at school so there was a vacation for all the other children while the building was fumigated with burning sulfur.=

=On September 20, 1923, Edna noted in her diary: "… On October 6 (Ethel) was in bed all day but believed "I am better tonight!' On October 13 both Louise and Edith [Shinn] were sick. Dr. Foskett came from Whitebird. Edith had the chicken pox…=

=After that both he and Edith went to high school in Grangeville, a distance of 40 miles. Maurice spent the first year in Grangeville, but joined his siblings in a "batch camp" in Lewiston while Edith and Louis were going to Normal School. Marion joined them in Lewiston in 1934.=

=1938 was an eventful year. Marion graduated from high school in May. Edith married Einer Erickson at Doumecq in June. The wedding was held at the same place her parents married 27 years before.=

=Their home was the center of activity for young and old alike. Friends gathered there for quilting parties, for Bible study, or just visiting. Einer, Edith and Geneal Erickson lived in Colfax and were in Lewiston nearly every weekend.=

--Edith Eleanor Shinn Erickson

Memorial Service August 20, 2008, 1:30 p.m. Eatonville, Wash., United Methodist Church

August 7, 2008, EatonvilleNews.net

Edith was born 4-27-1914 at Canfield on the high plains of central Idaho where her grandparents had homesteaded about 1900. She was the only daughter of Ray and Ethel Shinn and had 3 brothers. Maurice and Louis (widow Rowena) predeceased her. She is survived by brother Marion (wife, Lorena) of Lewiston, Idaho. In 1938 she married Einer Erickson who passed away in 2003. She is survived by daughter, Geneal Palmer (Willett) of Eatonville, Granddaughter Elizabeth Dompier (Chad) of Renton, and Grandson Darin Palmer (Abigail) of DesMoines. Blake and Keegan Dompier, her great grandsons were the joy of her life.

In retirement she became the perpetual volunteer. Several times she worked with exchange students or adults who found English challenging. She tutored her neighbor to become a U.S. citizen. She volunteered for the Red Cross and numerous church and community committees in Colfax. It was a proud day when several years after her move to Eatonville to be near her daughter, Colfax honored her by naming her the first annual Edith Erickson Community Service Award recipient.

One of her joys in retirement was having time to write. She carefully researched to write 5 history books. She also did genealogy and wrote stories and poems of her life and observations which she shared with her family. She enjoyed gardening and remained actively involved in several organizations. She rarely missed lunch at the senior meal site and greatly appreciated the caring shown by the workers and volunteers there. After she was widowed she enjoyed traveling with her family. She was a member of the Eatonville Methodist Church.

A memorial will be held August 20, 2008 at 1:30 at the Methodist Church in Eatonville with internment at the Colfax cemetery on September 6, 2008. 

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--Edith Erickson, 94, Eatonville, Wash. 

Aug 8, 2008 Lewiston Tribune

Edith Erickson was born April 27, 1914, at Canfield, on the high plains of central Idaho where her grandparents homesteaded about 1900. She was the only daughter of Ray and Ethel Shinn and had three brothers. Maurice and Louis (widow Rowena) predeceased her. She is survived by her brother Marion and his wife, Lorena, of Lewiston.

In 1938 she married Einer Erickson, who passed away in 2003. She is survived by daughter, Geneal Palmer (Willett) of Eatonville, Wash.; granddaughter, Elizabeth Dompier (Chad) of Renton, Wash.; and grandson, Darin Palmer (Abigail) of Des Moines, Wash. Blake and Keegan Dompier, her great-grandsons, were the joy of her life.

In retirement she became the perpetual volunteer. Several times she worked with exchange students or adults who found English challenging. She tutored her neighbor to become a U.S. citizen. She volunteered for the Red Cross and numerous church and community committees in Colfax. It was a proud day when several years after her move to Eatonville to be near her daughter, Colfax honored her by naming her the first annual Edith Erickson Community Service Award recipient.

One of her joys in retirement was having time to write. She carefully researched to write five history books. She also did genealogy and wrote stories and poems of her life and observations, which she shared with her family. She enjoyed gardening and remained actively involved in several organizations. She rarely missed lunch at the senior meal site and greatly appreciated the caring shown by the workers and volunteers there. After she was widowed she enjoyed traveling with her family. She was a member of the Eatonville Methodist Church.

A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Methodist Church in Eatonville, with inurnment at the Colfax Cemetery at 2 p.m. Sept. 6. Both will be followed by receptions at the Methodist churches to visit and continue a celebration of her life.

Information posted here found through Internet and other research.
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Researched/written by Edith E. Erickson unless otherwise noted:

--“Lumbering in Whitman County” (Summer 1980/ Vol. 8, No. 2, ppp 13-17, Bunchgrass Historian, Whitman County Historical Society)

--“Colfax 100 Plus” history of Colfax (1981)

--“From Whence We Came 1632-1985,” compiled by Edith E. Erickson (1985)

--“Whitman County: From Abbieville to Zion” (1985)

http://content.statelib.wa.gov/cdm/compoundobject/collection/whitman/id/3903/rec/1

--“Colfax I.O.O.F. No. 14 and Verona Rebekah Lodge No. 13” (Fall 1987/ Vol. 15, No. 2, pp 20-23, Bunchgrass Historian, Whitman County Historical Society)

-- "Rosalia: From Battlefield to Wheatfield, 1858-1988," compiled by Edith E. Erickson (1988)

--''From Sojourner to Citizen: The Chinese of the Inland Empire,'' by Edith E. Erickson and Eddy Ng (1989)

Also:

--Looking Back” column in Colfax Gazette --In the Colfax Gazette (also known as Whitman County Gazette), May 21, 1992: “The May 7 Gazette story of mammoth bones found on the location of the new PGT pipeline near La Crosse reminded Edith Erickson of other mammoth bones found in the Rosalia region in the 1870s. Erickson, former long time Colfax resident who now lives in Eatonville, found an article from the Nov. 7, 1930, issue of the Whitman County Farmer about Tom and William Donahue finding an 800 pound skull, foot wide backbone joints and leg bones nearly ten feet long. Erickson, who has written three historical books and used to write the “Looking Back” column for this paper, said fossilized bones were found north of Rosalia at Hangman Creek and south of Rosalia at Pine Creek.”

--"Tabor LaFollette History of Colfax, 1956-1979" in the WSU Libraries MASC/Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections "comprises Tabor LaFollette's tape recordings from newspapers of Colfax entitled, The history of Colfax (Colfax, 1956-1957; microfilm), and an index created by Edith E. Erickson (1979)."

--Biography of Ethen Ann Cochran Shinn by Marion Shinn at John E. Cochran Family Association website includes "special thanks to Edith (Shinn) Erickson, my sister, for her assistance in writing this biography. Her files contain detailed year by year accounts of important and trivial events in the life of Ethel Shinn and other members of the family."

--Edith Eleanor Shinn Erickson

Birth Date: 27 April 1914

Birth Place: Idaho, possibly in Canfield on Doumecq Plains in Idaho County.

Death (age 94) Date: 1 August 2008

Death Place: Eatonville, Pierce County, Wash.

Cemetery: Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Whitman County, Wash.

....

Story on back cover of book "Whitman County: From Abbieville to Zion" -- Edith E. Erickson is a retired teacher, who has for many years been interested in local history. Her first book, Colfax 100 Plus, was a thoroughly researched study of the town where her great-grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. James Pickard, homesteaded about 1871. While researching for that book, Mrs. Erickson interest spread to other areas of Whitman County as she uncovered interesting bits of information and felt others might be intrigued by the number of places that had at one time been named and have since disappeared. In her attempt to make this book as accurate and complete as possible in recording the history of Whitman County’s place names, she had used a variety of sources ranging from U.S. Postal records to interviews with people who have attended some of the very small and now consolidated schools in the past seventy years.”

Ken Casavant's MOTTO: DON’T DO ANYTHING UNLESS IT’S FUN

By Pat Caraher, retired editor of Washington State Magazine and WSU HillTopics

Winter 2017 issue of WSURA (WSU Retirees Association) News newsletter

Ken Casavant provided to PULLMAN :: Cup of the Palouse caption information about the photos in the Winter 2017 issue of WSURA News:

--“After retiring in June (2017), Dorothy and I spent two months in Ireland, separating from the busy life of Pullman and traditional time demands. The picture of us on the bench is of Kylemore Abbey which also has a massive Victorian walled garden—took four hours to see it and all its history.  It includes a Gothic Church and a lot of very green countryside. We had toured the Abbey and were relaxing out on the sun while contemplating our next Guinness. “

--Taken on “Aran Islands, specifically the island of Inishmore; note all the rock wall fences, which were richly attractive.  As the Irish cleared the ground, they had to have some place to put the rocks while delineating ownership; hence, a multi-tasking use of all that stone.  We, along with my hiking sticks, hiked all over the island.”

Casavant’s Motto: 

Don’t Do Anything Unless it’s Fun

By Pat Caraher, retired editor of Washington State Magazine and WSU HillTopics
Winter 2017 issue of WSURA (WSU Retirees Association) News newsletter

Growing up on in rural North Dakota, eight miles from Rolette (pop. 120), Ken Casavant learned a thing or two about farming from his father.  “We raised wheat, cattle, pigs, chickens – anything we hoped to make a dollar from,” he said.

But Casavant was drawn to business side of agriculture, rather than production. He went on to earn B.A. and M.S. degrees in agricultural economics at North Dakota State. He completed his Ph.D. in 1971 at Washington State University, focusing on transportation economics. That specialty would drive a 50-year career in teaching and research at WSU. Professor James C. Nelson, considered by many in the field as the “Father of Transportation  Economics,” became his valued mentor.

Early on Casavant addressed, among other things, the operating cost of moving farm crops to market by truck. For example farmers in areas of his home state were paying $1.60 per mile to move grain to market, while farmers in eastern Washington were trucking wheat at 50 cents a mile.  “I wanted to know why?” Casavant said.

Nelson proved to be a national leader in the free market economics. He didn’t like regulations.  “He was a good technician,” Casavant said.” He showed us what the real costs were and how they compared to rates being charged. Then we could evaluate equity and efficiency.”

At WSU Casavant  divided  his time equally  between teaching and research, plus advising students and outreach activities. 

“The university is a great learning environment.  It is a joy to work with students and see the light go on,” he said. “I believe in economics and they came to believe in economics, too.”

Eric Jessup, one of his former  Ph.D. students, now is co-director (with a retired Casavant) of the Freight Policy Transportation Institute at WSU.  Over the years, the two spent considerable time seeking ways to lower transportation costs.  Every dollar saved in transportation goes into the farmer’s pocket.

For example, he looked at transporting Palouse wheat by truck and rail to Kalama, a major exporter on the Columbia River. Their research showed barging grain out of Almota on the Snake River and Columbia was more economical than the other options. They also investigated the wear and tear on roads resulting from freight movement by trucks, particularly with the declining number of rural railroad lines.

In one study students were hired to track trucks at 40 different sites statewide over a 24-hour period. 

That study was repeated three more times during the changing seasons.  “We stopped a total of 30,000 trucks that year,” Casavant said. Prior to the study, he said , “we’d see a truck go by and we didn’t know what was in it, where it came from, or where it was going?  Were the trucks just “passing through” from Canada, Idaho or Oregon, or were they strictly in-state pickups and deliveries?  Who was “consuming the pavement. And who was paying state highway taxes?   

The methods Casavant and his colleagues used to collect data were accepted nationally.  Over the years WSU has received more than $11 million in federal and state grants for transportation economics.   

Additionally, his research and consulting work has taken him to 51 countries. He designed a physical distribution system for limestone in Portugal. His involvement in a wheat transportation project took him to Timbuktu, Africa.

His teaching efforts have not been without personal recognition at the university, state and national levels. He’s received teaching awards from the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, from the Western Agricultural Economics Association and from the National Association of Teachers of Agriculture. In 1982 his WSU peers chose him to deliver the prestigious all-University Distinguished Faculty Address.

When he retired this summer, Casavant ended an 18-year run as WSU’s Faculty Athletic Representative for the Pac-12 Conference. In that capacity, he said he was privledged to work under three athletic directors (Rick Dickson, Jim Sterk and Bill Moos) and four presidents ( Sam Smith, Lane Rawlins, Elson Floyd and Kirk Schulz). He found the opportunity to “work with and protect the student-athlete rewarding.” He salutes retired Associate Athletic Director Marcia Saneholtz’s efforts to significantly increase funding for women athletes.

Through his ties with athletics, Casavant visited approximately 35 college campuses, many for athletic events. “There’s a lot of respect out there for WSU,” he said, “even though we sometimes had the smallest budget and fewer wins.”

Casavant’s far-reaching contributions and service to WSU include serving as interim vice provost for academic affairs and interim vice provost for research. He also chaired university wide committees and task forces, and served as president of the WSU Faculty Senate in the late 80s. He also is a past president of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce and served a four-year term on the Pullman City Council.

His wife of 51 years, Dorothy,  spent 25 years at WSU, retiring as fiscal specialist in the Department of Sociology. 

They have two daughters.  Collette, (Ed.D., Seattle University) is academic coordinator in WSU’s College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Sciences. Michelle (Ph.D., American Studies, University of Kansas), now directs the College of Education’s Multicultural Center at KU. They also have two grandsons.

Casavant attributes his success, in part, to usually being able to get things done that people ask him to do. He finds that a sense of humor makes life easier. When he was younger, he said, he had a motto: “Don’t do anything unless it’s fun” and the second part of that is “Make it fun.”

“That saved me some long days and long nights.” 

His hobbies? For 20 years he was a winemaker. He no longer is. He remains active in partisan politics and reads. He’s completed a couple of chapters on the history of Notre Dame Academy (1906-1968), a French speaking boarding school, where he and Dorothy once were classmates.

“Retirement doesn’t mean you’re not busy,” he says. “You still have to order your activities. We’re working on it.”

::::::::::

Ken Casavant provided to PULLMAN :: Cup of the Palouse caption information about the photos in the Winter 2017 issue of WSURA News:

--“After retiring in June (2017), Dorothy and I spent two months in Ireland, separating from the busy life of Pullman and traditional time demands. The picture of us on the bench is of Kylemore Abbey which also has a massive Victorian walled garden—took four hours to see it and all its history.  It includes a Gothic Church and a lot of very green countryside. We had toured the Abbey and were relaxing out on the sun while contemplating our next Guinness. “

--Taken on “Aran Islands, specifically the island of Inishmore; note all the rock wall fences, which were richly attractive.  As the Irish cleared the ground, they had to have some place to put the rocks while delineating ownership; hence, a multi-tasking use of all that stone.  We, along with my hiking sticks, hiked all over the island.”

After 18 years, Ken Casavant stepping down as WSU Faculty Athletic Rep (Originally posted 1/14/2017)

After 18 years, Ken Casavant stepping down as WSU Faculty Athletic Rep (Originally posted

1/14/2017)An item from Jan 12, 2017, WSU Announcements…

https://news.wsu.edu/announcement/search-continues-for-a-faculty-athletics-representative

… is headlined, “Search continues for a Faculty Athletics Representative.”

Text to item reads, “The university is seeking a new Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR). The FAR will serve under the direction of WSU President Kirk Schulz and play a critical role ensuring the academic integrity of the intercollegiate athletics program, facilitating institutional control of intercollegiate athletics, and enhancing the student-athlete experience at WSU. The application deadline for the position is Friday, January 20. See the FAR search website for additional information.”

https://president.wsu.edu/far

News CougGroup contacted Ken Casavant, who was appointed as WSU Faculty Athletic Rep in 1999 by WSU President Sam Smith.

https://news.wsu.edu/1999/08/17/wsu-names-casavant-faculty-athletics-representative

Casavant told News for CougGroup that he “recently resigned from WSU academically.”

Casavant said he and WSU President Kirk Schulz “agreed I would stay on phased retirement” as Faculty Athletic Rep until May 15, 2017, “allowing the new (Faculty Athletic Rep) to shadow me on the job and get a leg up on all the challenges and responsibilities of the position.”

Asked why he is retiring, Casavant responded: “After 18 rewarding years as (Faculty Athletic Rep) and being in my 50th year at WSU, in the most enjoyable job to be imagined, in a University that I do dearly love, it was time.”

Casavant said he is staying on as Director Emeritus of the WSU Freight Policy Transportation Institute.

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Postscript:

-Casavant succeeded Irving Tallman, professor of sociology, who held the half-time Faculty Athletic Rep position 1994-1999.

-Tallman succeeded C.A. “Bud” Ryan, a professor of biochemistry who was Faculty Athletic Rep, 1991-1994.

- Ryan, professor of biochemistry, succeeded Edward Bennett, professor of history, who resigned in 1991 as Faculty Athletic Rep after serving 25 years. Bennett was appointed by WSU President C. Clement French.

Top photo: Spokane S-R 12/15/2013.

Lower photo: WSU Magazine Fall 2004.

Two photos below from Moscow Pullman Daily News in 2015. They show Ken Casavant and Karen Kiessling concerning planting daffodil bulbs on Pullman's Bishop Boulevard.