McCluskey 65th

McCLUSKEY 65th

March 2, 2017, marked 65 years since Stan McCluskey and Betty Smith were married in Portland, Ore. Even in the poor years, it was wonderful to be together.

Stan grew up in Southern California and Betty in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Their paths met at Walla Walla College.

An unexpected letter came two weeks after the wedding inviting Stan to join the Army on May 10. After training as a pharmacy technician, he was sent to Korea to manage the pharmacy alone in a very busy and high-stress 48th MASH (mobile Army surgical hospital) close to the front lines.

Four years in Pullman, Wash., were tough financially, but Stan graduated with honors from Washington State University as a pharmacist. Betty was surprised to be given a special and well-deserved honorary degree. By then they had two active boys, and Betty had done an amazing job of stretching the few dollars, enabling them to be debt-free on graduation day. But they had to buy an old car with nothing down and borrow money to get out of town.

Several high-paying positions were available, but they accepted a request for Stan to work at essentially minimum wage for an Adventist hospital in Los Angeles. Another boy and a girl were born at that hospital, so it was time to find a rural location to raise the kids.

A small-town pharmacy was then purchased with nothing down, and that eventually led to more in Oregon, followed by care facilities. Then as the children matured and were getting married, it seemed like time to consider a more relaxed life. Good offers on the various ventures were accepted.

Stan and Betty were then asked to consider helping in Haiti, where Stan was administrator of the Adventist hospital and Betty was both public relations director and assistant Sabbath School secretary for the Franco-Haitian Union Conference.

Stan and Betty are now retired and living near Yakima, Wash. Their sons Ron and Ed are physicians, Harv is a critical care registered nurse, and daughter Sue is an accountant and a caregiver for her parents. Stan and Betty have 14 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.