Obituary of Phillip Gerald Droke

Our beloved Phillip Gerald Droke passed away on May 4, 2009 from Stage 4 non small cell lung cancer and pneumonia. Born in Seattle, Phillip continued to live and work in Washington his entire life, graduating from Stadium High and the University of Washington with a Masters in Economics. In high school he lettered in Debate and was the Debate Club president and president of the World Affairs Club. He was a Thespian, a member of the German Club, and served on several dance committees. He was a math instructor at Eastern Washington State College prior to coming to Highline Community College in 1966 where he taught Economics and served as head of the department for many years. Recently he was head of the Social Science Division. Actively involved in the governance of the college, over the years he served on or chaired in various capacities, some of which were: Tenure Review Committee, Faculty Senate, representative to FACTC (Faculty Association of Community and Technical Colleges) and its Policy Development Committee, the third annual Tools for Teaching Conference, Economics Teaching Conferences, HCC Strategic Plan Committee, Accreditation Report Committee, Appeals Committee, and the Title 3 grant to integrate NAFTA into macroeconomics classes. He received Highline’s Outstanding Faculty Award for 2006, and has been nominated many times to “Who’s Who Among American Teachers.” In 1999, he traveled with colleagues to South Africa and Namibia as part of a Fulbright-Hays grant. He was an incredible mediator not only among his peers but could de-fuse potentially explosive situations in areas outside of the workplace. His love of Mexico involved him for many years in the “Make a Child Smile” project in Matzatlan where he helped to raise money for school supplies and shoes for poverty-stricken children. His love of travel and his spirit of adventure led him to explore Mexico on two solo trips culminating in yearly return trips to Mexico where he not only snorkled in the sea and tasted the finer aspects of Mexican life, (Christmas pageants, dancing to live bands, supping and sipping in elegant restaurants), but where he personally embraced the lives of the poor and the lower working class to become their true friend and confidante. In his early sixties he studied Spanish to make this possible. His love of good wine led him to back-road vintners and wineries; his love of nature led him on road trips and camping trips throughout the western states and Canada. He excelled in nature photography, kayaking, and wilderness hiking, and downhill skied for a number of years. His love for cycling took him down roads with covered bridges, alongside pounding surf, past onion fields and strangers giving him wild rose plants, to bird sanctuaries and mountain vistas in Eastern Oregon and Canada and through by-ways in the Napa Valley wine country; his love of cooking had him trying new recipes and sharing the kitchen with his wife as they made dinner together; his love of music spread beyond Boogie-Woogie and the Beatles to embrace Bluegrass festivals, Gospel and Jazz which he and his wife played together, her fiddle and his guitar, and eventually led him to take classes in Classical Spanish guitar. Phillip also had a love of pottery and created many beautiful ceramic pieces throughout his life. He was a generous man whether donating food to the church food bank or finding ways to help his neighbors in their times of need, or empathizing with a student’s personal problems, or being concerned with the needs of his peers. He was courageous in his lifetime, yet even more so in his illness where the traveler in him made the most courageous journey of all: to his newly-found heavenly home and into the arms of his Heavenly Father and to the peace he discovered in Jesus Christ during his final weeks. We release him to God. We will miss him. Phillip is survived by his wife Shaaron and her two daughters, his son Cal, his brother William (Bud) and his wife, daughter, and grandchild, his first cousin Helen Burgh and her children and grandchildren, and the children and grandchildren of cousin Irene Holmes, recently departed. Memorial Service to be held at 4:30 P.M., Thursday, May 14th 2009, in the Mount Constance Room, Student Union Building, Highline Community College 2400 S. 240th Street, Des Moines, WA 98198 Donations can be made in Phillip’s name to: The Franciscan Hospice House in Tacoma, WA: 2901 Bridgeport Way, University Place, WA 98466-4631 Telephone: 1-800-338-8305 and/or Make a Child Smile: www.vineyardmem.org