Distinguished alumni are adventurous souls
By Dale Goodwin
Three of them came from small farming communities, another was a military nomad. Three have lived their adult lives moving around the country or around the world, while the fourth traveled overseas only to find his best fit right here in
Adventure is in their souls. But each one has spent his or her lifetime giving back more than any of them ever received.
On Oct. 23, Gonzaga honored four of its brothers and sisters with the Distinguished Alumni Merit Awards, emblematic of lives well lived. The honorees were Shirley Joan Johnson (' 69), Jim Adamson ('71), Gail Heck‑Sweeney ('74) and Joseph P. Delay ('52 J.D.).
"You are not only representatives of Gonzaga, but you are alumni who make this University great, and others can see in your eyes a place you represent that they too want to come to, and support," said Gonzaga President Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J.
"These four alumni love from the very core of their hearts, and they characterize that precious loving care for others," Fr. Spitzer said.
Shirley Joan Johnson's career path has taken her from a one‑room schoolhouse in Montana to a career with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was a path seldom traveled by women. She studied math and science at Gonzaga, the only woman in those classes at the time. Studies and employment at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation prepared her for a career as a safeguard inspector for the IAEA in Vienna. She was a member of an inspection team in Iraq in 1991-92, and currently leads a team that is designing safeguards for a reprocessing plant in Japan.
"People ask me how I can go from a one‑room schoolhouse as a child to the world stage," Johnson said. "It takes a village of very supportive people, and I felt that at Gonzaga, and all along the way."
Perhaps Jim Adamson's most notable professional achievement was coming in as president and CEO of Advantica, the parent company of Denny's Restaurants, and facing racial discrimination lawsuits head‑on. Within a couple of years Denny's had become a model for diversification. His inclusiveness training model has been used throughout the United States. He transformed the corporate culture, based largely upon his own family values and ethical standards learned at Gonzaga, and made Denny's the model for diversity at its best.
"I just had to teach people how to be nice to each other," Adamson said. He also was a savior for the K‑Mart Corp. Jim took over there soon after K-Mart had filed the largest bankruptcy case in U.S. history, and turned the discount chain around.
When Gail Heck‑Sweeney graduated from the engineering program at Gonzaga in 1974, she was one of only a handful of women in that program. The sense of adventure that spurred her into what was formerly a man's field spurred her into a worldwide adventure. She went to work for Hewlett‑Packard, and over the past 20 years has worked in various marketing leadership positions in Scotland, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and finally back in Spokane, where she serves as marketing manager for all of H‑P's wireless testing equipment.
But despite her world travels, some of her fondest memories are of her college travels with friends Jeff and Bob. "We'd take road trips to California, and I'd always learn more there than from anything I heard in the classroom," she said.
Jeff turned out to be Jeff Reed, president and CEO of her company, Hewlett‑Packard. Bob turned out to be Father Robert Spitzer, Gonzaga's 25th president. "I did end up liking the view from the middle seat," she said with quite a chuckle.
Joe Delay got enough adventure on the world stage as a paratrooper on the European battlefields of World War II. He returned to Spokane, got his law degree and began a law practice that has spanned more than 50 years. His law acumen is widely recognized. In 1991, he was elected to serve as president of the Washington State Bar Association. He served - and continues to serve - on many of its committees. He was chair of Gonzaga Law School's first capital campaign, and continues to serve on the School's Board of Advisors.
"I remember when I first came to Gonzaga," Delay said. "There were just two buildings. Now look at this place. After a lot of hard work by a lot of people, we have a new law building - and many other modern buildings - that everyone can be proud of."
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