Don Peters

Interviewed by Harlan Lyso

Nearing the conclusion of our senior year I was one of a small group of PHS class of 64 seniors tasked with predicting the futures of our classmates. I’ve often wondered how closely those predictions reflected our classmates’ actual futures.  Would high school interests continue throughout one’s life? Would those interests lead to an obvious choice for a career? A thoroughly enjoyable hour-long conversation with Don Peters confirmed a resounding “yes” for Don to the first question and a “no” to the second.

In our wisdom, the predictions committee predicted that Don would be “playing sax in a band.” Interestingly, in my recent conversation with Don I learned that in just the past week he had played four different instruments (soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax) in five (that’s right five) different ensembles! So, has Don’s passion for his saxophone continued throughout his life? Yes, you betcha!

Don’s interest in band instruments started at Emerson Elementary when he took up the trumpet, on a circa 1918 instrument his parents bought at a pawn shop. He moved on to the saxophone at McLaughlin as he really wanted to play rock and roll. In high school Don, Neil Kenworthy and Mike Schmeckel formed a rock and roll band called “The Hypnotics.” They eventually added some guitars as well. By his senior year he was playing with a group called “Night Sounds” that had gigs around the Tri-Cities. Clearly, that was just the beginning, as he has been performing with various groups ever since.

Don was one of a small group of our classmates who were born at Lady of Lourdes hospital in Pasco. His parents actually moved to Pasco as kids in the 1920’s, when Pasco had fewer than 6000 residents. His mom was a telephone operator back in the day when Pasco served as the telephone hub for the entirety of the Tri-Cities, including Hanford. His dad and grandfather were both locomotive engineers. Don actually had opportunity to work on the railroads as well during summer vacations while attending WSU. He served as a fireman, mostly on passenger trains. Amazingly, as an apprentice he had significant responsibilities that involved walking on catwalks, putting out fires, etc.

However, following in his father’s footsteps was not how Don envisioned his life.  He entered WSU majoring in electrical engineering but quickly changed major to communications and joined the ROTC. Of course, this was during the Vietnam War. So, after graduation he was assigned to the Army Signal Corps in Georgia where his communications major enabled him to, among other things, develop TV programs on technical subjects as well as interview returning Korean War POWs on how to survive if captured. He was later sent to Vietnam, where he worked for the Armed Forces Vietnam Network during his 8-month stint. Think Robin Williams and “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

Don met his future wife Monica on his first day at WSU. (Obviously, attending WSU was the right choice.) They were married while still attending WSU and recently celebrated their 59^th wedding anniversary. They have a son, Brent, and a daughter, Wendy. Following his release from the army, Don and Monica returned to Tekoa, Monica’s hometown north of Pullman. Then they moved to Spokane where he worked doing film and video for a few years but then returned to WSU and its radio and television services, which eventually became Northwest Public Broadcasting. He concluded his career at age 70 as Director of Engineering, overseeing 2 TV stations and 19 radio stations. Through the years he produced classroom media, was operations manager of the Washington Higher Education Telecommunications System (WHETS) and served on a state-wide K-20 technical steering committee. In the last 20 years of his 43-year career at WSU, he returned to his first love – engineering, as a Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also an adjunct faculty member teaching TV production. Along the way both Don and Monica attained their master’s degrees.

While working at WSU he was invited to participate in a project to record indigenous music in Nepal. This led to giving seminars in India.  He got the travel bug and has since seen much of the world traveling with Monica – visiting something like 76 countries, all seven continents and all 50 states. Though he had some exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam and has some neuropathy in his hands and feet, he and Monica are reasonably healthy and committed to traveling and learning more about our world as long as possible.

Don believes that he has been looked after by “angels,” often random people who have taken care of him. Several significant experiences that impacted his life could not simply have happened by chance.  He and Monica remain committed Christians. In fact, Monica served as director of Christian education at their church for 26 years, and Don draws on his technical skills to help put his church’s Sunday services online.

Don thinks that he has attended every PHS Class of 64 reunion and has prioritized staying in touch with his classmates. As he reflects on his years since PHS he says, “I would like to think that while serving in Vietnam, providing music and TV shows from home for troops helped them cope with the horrors of war and brought them a little comfort.  Also, I treasure my interaction with my students.”  A quote that is especially meaningful to him reads, "One should never overestimate your importance and never underestimate your influence." There is absolutely no doubt but that Don has positively influenced, both professionally and personally, a huge number of those with whom he interacted over the years.

Through his professional success and his love of playing that saxophone, Don has proven himself to be yet another exceptional representative of our class. Not surprisingly, Don’s advice to his classmates is simply, “Be nice.”  Thank you, Don.