Editor’s Eye: Everyday Huskies make our lives richer
I have lived all over the U.S., but never have I been in a place like Seattle, where just about everybody has some kind of connection to the UW. I say that on a day when I had an appointment with my UW-trained dentist, celebrated no cavities by eating some Fran’s chocolates (made by a UW business school grad), had a parent-teacher conference with my daughter’s 5th grade teacher (another UW grad and Husky football nut), went to the library to pick up a book by Husky grad Timothy Egan, dropped by the Lake City farmers market (run by yet another UW grad) and listened to the M’s game, where former Husky baseball star Mike Blowers explained why former Husky pitcher Tim Lincecum was landing wrong when he delivered a pitch.
What amazes me is how many times a day my life is made better by what I call Everyday Huskies. You know, not a Nobel Prize winner or cancer curer or even the Husky grad who invented disposable diapers (thank you, Victor Mills, ’26). I mean people like you and me, who take our kids to soccer practice and shop at Fred Meyer and listen every Saturday to Bob Rondeau on the radio and mow our lawns (sometimes).
It’s the work of Huskies under the radar who make such a difference to so many of us, every day. My job gives me the opportunity to meet the most amazing people in life, but I feel just as much satisfaction when I meet the Everyday Huskies who touch me all the time.
One of my biggest Everyday Husky heroes is Irvine I. Robbins. A Winnipeg native who grew up in Tacoma, he earned a degree in political science from the UW in 1940, was a member of Zeta Beta Tau, and served in the Army during World War II. Then he went on to become the Robbins from Baskin- Robbins and invented the idea of 31 flavors. I always brag to my friends about the people who went to school here, who walked the same halls I did (when I was a photography student in the early 1990s), and I always mention Robbins. I mean, if a Husky can bring us joy like that, especially with the single scoop of German Chocolate Cake ice cream on a wafer cone, he is an Everyday Husky hero to me.