June 9th, 2008
Journalism honors
I was sitting on this exciting piece of news, but the Skagit Valley Herald reported it this morning, so the cat’s out of the bag: Wallie V. Funk of Anacortes has been named to the University of Washington Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. Funk, 85, was born in Anacortes and spent most of his community journalism career between this city and neighboring Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. Like many of his peers, this member of “The Greatest Generation” served in the military (U.S. Army) during World War II. He and partner John Webber (also a Husky) purchased the Anacortes American as “twenty-somethings” and operated it until it was purchased by the Skagit Valley Herald. Their impact on community affairs was dramatic in Anacortes, and even more so in Oak Harbor, where they published the Whidbey News-Times, the South Whidbey Record and “Crosswind,” a newspaper covering events at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Wallie and Mary Ann (a career high school English teacher) retired here after selling the Whidbey publications to David Black of Canada. What a logical choice for a “Hall of Fame” selection! We are blessed to still count Wallie among this community’s selfless “movers and shakers.” For article from UW Alumni Web site, see http://www.com.washington.edu/Program/alumni/notes/funk.html