CLASS NOTES


worked with Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls, and was a den mother in Cub Scouts. Susan volunteered with Head Start, was a program chairman for area GOP women, a counselor for the AYUSA exchange program, and belonged to Junior Club and PEO. She is survived by her husband of 60 years, William Lake; a sister, Elaine Brownell; a daughter, Sheila Hair, and son, Charles “Chip” Lake; six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.


Hall to become Oregon Episcopal School in 1972. Ben was elected student body president his senior year. He graduated from Whitman


Ben Westlund ’68 Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund


died March 7, 2010, in Bend, when he lost his battle with cancer. He was 60. The son of oilman Bernard “Bud” Westlund and Dorothy Reynolds Westlund, Ben was born September 3, 1949, in Long Beach, California. The oldest of three boys, Ben spent his first 16 years in Apple Valley. The family, originally from Washington, returned to the Northwest in the mid-1960s, and all three boys attended Bishop Dagwell Hall, which merged with St. Helen’s


College, where he earned a degree in education and history and belonged to the Sigma Chi fraternity. After college, Ben joined with two of his high school friends, John Flowerree ’68 and Dan Driscoll ’68, to start a successful mining venture in Christmas Valley called American Fossil. The company mined diatomaceous earth that was sold as kitty litter under the name of “Kitty Diggins.” Ben used his share of the profits from the sale of American Fossil to buy a 6,000-acre ranch outside Mitchell known as the Juniper Butte Ranch. A few years later, he bought a 3,000-pound bull named Reggie and found success in the cattle genetics business. Ben married Libby Bishop ’69, a high school classmate and friend, in 1987. Ben was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1996, and in 2003, he was appointed to the Senate and successfully won the seat in 2004. In his 12 years in the state Legislature, he was a co-chairman of the budget-drafting Joint Ways and Means Committee and championed legislation that created the state’s Rainy Day Fund, Public Safety Memorial Fund, and the Oregon Cultural Trust. He also led efforts to protect the Metolius River. Westlund survived an initial bout with lung cancer in 2003. A political moderate who started his career as a Republican, Westlund bucked his party and was the co-sponsor of legislation to give marriage-like rights to same-sex couples. He staged a brief campaign for governor as an independent in 2006. He fought for consumer protection and was the co-author of Oregon’s health system


reforms in 2007, and was elected as Oregon’s 27th state treasurer in 2008. Ben is survived by his wife, Libby;


children, B.J. and Taylor, all of Bend; brother Dr. Richard Westlund ’69 and his wife, Jana, of Lake Oswego; brother Morris Westlund ’75 and his wife, Paula, of Lake Oswego; nieces and nephews including John ’00, David ’01, Lauren ’03, Jason ’06, and Erika ’10; and several cousins.


Jacob Stults OES computer


science teacher Jacob “Jake” Stults died May 9, 2010, at age 26 from injuries suffered in a skateboarding accident. Students, faculty and staff colleagues, and personal friends celebrated his life in a memorial service May 11 in the OES Chapel. Jake was a musician, and several of his former band mates played songs in his honor at the celebration. His wife, Irene Saxton, shared touching memories of their wedding and their time together, and students recalled Jake as a patient and caring teacher. OES Head Chaplain Phillip Craig read a letter from Jake’s sister, who said that Jake’s donated organs had saved the lives of seven people, including a friend of hers with a rare blood type who needed a kidney transplant. Jake was appointed to his position at OES in 2007. He had received his bachelor’s degree from Drew University and a master’s in teaching from New York University.


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38 OES MAGAZINE SUMMER 2010 38


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