Pete Swanda
Uncle of Larry Curtis, retired high school teacher. Curtis said his aunt and uncle raised him as a child and a teenager.
"Make your living with your brain, not your back."
Swanda worked on the Union Pacific Railroad and knew it was a life to be avoided if at all possible, Curtis said.
"He put me to work every summer just to impress on me that I didn't want work out there."

Ray Knighten
Steve Knighten's father, Ray gave the same advice to him. Though both Steve and Ray are farmers, says Valinda Knighten, Steve's wife and Grand Coulee City Clerk, they find ways to lessen the workload by being more efficient.

Mike Iannetta
Father of Terri McPherson, deli clerk at Safeway
"Treat others the way you would like to be treated."
Both McPherson and her dad worked behind counters and dealt with the public on a daily basis. Iannetta is a former postmaster of Coulee Dam.
"You always hope you don't act the same way as some of your customers when you go somewhere."

Terry Miller
Father of Nicole Dice, Grand Coulee deputy clerk.
"Stand by your kids, because you'll need them later in life."
Dice says her father broke an unfortunate family tradition and stayed with his wife and children and continues to be there for his children, and grandchildren.
Dice also follows another paternal maxim, "When in doubt, vote Democrat."
This may be due to the fact that Miller was raised by his grandparents who themselves grew up in the Roosevelt era of The Depression, Dice said.

Ed Aumick
Father of Sharon Hollingsworth, businesswoman.
"Don't judge anybody too quickly. Be honest, work hard and give 120 percent instead of 110 percent."
"Gosh, he gave us such good advice raising six kids," Hollingsworth says. "I think we all lived up to it."
Her father was an orphan himself from the age of four, Hollingsworth says, so he knew about the importance of getting along with others and working hard.