Erik DeBowerProgrammer Analyst
You've heard of PKs -- pastors' kids? Well, Erik DeBower is a PLUK -- a PLU kid! He grew up on this campus, collating papers for his faculty father, attending all the sports events, and eating Sunday dinner at the old Lieu's Chinese restaurant with past PLU President Bill Reike and his family dining nearby. Those days are gone now, and there is some question whether that sense of community is still alive at PLU. But maybe it will be continued at least in part through Erik's son, Hunter?
Carrol DeBower came to PLU in 1965, remaining here as an education professor for all but two of the next 27 years. The DeBowers lived about 2 miles from campus at a time when the campus naturally was the center of their social lives as well. Erik has an older brother, Dan, who was born in Colorado and still lives in Parkland. And he has an older sister, Kari, who now lives in Vancouver, WA. Erik remains close to his siblings, perhaps a reflection of both the family and the sense of community in which they grew up.
Erik graduated from Spanaway Lake High School but chose the University of Puget Sound over PLU for his college education. (He swears, though, that he used the PLU library almost exclusively because it had more of the materials he needed for his course work!) He graduated with a double major in political science and economics. After working as a Pizza Hut manager for seven years while going first to high school and then to college, he just assumed he would continue with a business career. But one day he was rear-ended by another car, leaving him unable to spend long periods of time on his feet. So he began doing computer work for Rick Seeger in Academic Advising. The rest, as they say, is history -- In time he was able to complete a master's degree in educational psychology from PLU, and Erik is now a programmer analyst in our Administrative Computing department. Among his many customers is -- you guessed it! -- Academic Advising.
After graduating from UPS, Erik married his high school sweetheart, Ronda, and they've been married now for 10 years. Ronda works for the Department of Corrections in Olympia. Their son Hunter was born in June 2001, and weighed in at a whopping 11 pounds 8 ounces, and at 2 years old is still on track to be a big boy. The three of them spend as much time together as possible, with frequent trips to the zoo, North West Trek, and the grocery store.
The notion of a PLU kid is probably dying out, though. Fewer and fewer members of our community seem to live near campus and the earlier notions of a tight-knit community that blurred the boundaries between professional and personal lives seem to be fading. But Erik's memories remain alive, rich with values and experiences that will be passed on to Hunter. So maybe those values of community exist after all.