This week’s Rotary story is about a Rotarian who has been married to her amazing husband, Jeff, since March 25, 2000 (so 23 years next month)!
They have two incredible children - their daughter, Emerson, is a sophomore at the University of Colorado Boulder in the NROTC program and plans to commission into the Marine Corps, and their son, Cole, is a junior at Ferris. He plays trumpet in the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra, and lacrosse, and is a stellar student.
Our Rotarian owns EXIT Real Estate Professionals where she gets to work with about 70 amazing real estate professionals. She also works with wonderful clients (buyers and sellers), as well as teaching continuing education to realtors throughout the Spokane area.
They love to go to their condo at Schweitzer all year long and snow ski, mountain bike, hike, and simply escape the daily rat race here at home in Spokane. They also love watching Gonzaga basketball (she notes she is a double Zag having attended undergrad and law school there)!
They like to travel (they went to Europe for the first time last summer) and love heading out to explore the pacific northwest in their 5th wheel named "Lola", exploring great restaurants and wineries and golf (her husband Jeff is really good, she likes to hack around the courses!). Investing in their 5th wheel and the condo at Schweitzer has given them the ability to get away (especially during Covid) and make amazing memories with their children traveling with "Lola" and going up to their "happy place" at the mountain she says are priceless!
She says she went to law school because she wanted to be like Susan Dey from LA Law but quickly realized the practice of law is not as portrayed in LA Law and as she had a taste of selling real estate while in undergrad at Gonzaga, it was easy to let a career in the law go and return to real estate. She loves what she does and wouldn't be doing anything else. She serves on the Gonzaga Alumni Association Advisory Council and works to fundraise for her kid’s schools (e.g., chairing the Big Band Ask to raise over $25,000 a year to help fund the Ferris Band program where the district falls short).
She joined Rotaract right out of law school because she had gone to RYLA and really enjoyed the networking opportunities with people her age. As a third-generation Rotarian (her father was in Hillyard Rotary for many years and his father was in Rotary in New York), she felt like Rotary was definitely in her blood and her calling for any philanthropic work she might want to do for her community and the world. Though her attendance has not been stellar (her words, not mine), she hopes to improve that once she is an empty nester and in theory has more time on her hands! She loves being a part of the strong tradition of giving that is Rotary.
