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Evelyn Rosella Shields Dusenbery ’37

Evelyn Rosella Shields Dusenbery ’37, May 24, 2008, in the Ray Hickey Hospice House in Vancouver, Washington. Evelyn entered Reed along with her twin sister, Adelyn Shields Dudley ’37. Evelyn attended Reed for two years before transferring to the University of Oregon, where she completed a bachelor's degree. She then attended business school. In an oral history interview with Morton T. Rosenblum ’49 in 2004, Evelyn and her husband, Harris Dusenbery ’36, discussed their meeting through Reed's Outing Club, on a Mount Hood climb. Said Harris, “I remember Evelyn up on about the 9,000-foot level, and talking to her for the first time.” Evelyn recounted: “Actually, when we got up to the 9,000-foot level, that's where the sun would hit you. So you wanted to prevent any sunburn and the only thing was that awful zinc oxide. And Harris was the only person that put it on his ears. And I thought, 'What a show off!' However, I later changed my mind and married him in 1940.” During World War II, Evelyn worked as a bookkeeper. The couple moved to Vancouver in 1951, and she was employed as an accountant at Clark College during the ’60s. She was dedicated to her community, and demonstrated it in a number of capacities, including as a volunteer for the First Presbyterian Church, the Columbia Arts Center, Friends of the Library, Friends of the Columbia River, the County Health Department, and Planned Parenthood. In 1996, she received the YWCA Woman of Achievement award. She also was a 50-year Honorary Life Member of the American Association of University Women. In retirement, Evelyn and Harris traveled to many countries on all continents. For her 50th-class reunion in 1987, she wrote: “We have been as far north as North Cape, as far south as Cape Horn, and as high as Lake Titcaca in Peru and Leh in the Ladakh Valley in India.” Survivors include Harris; her son and daughter, David B. Dusenbery '64 and Diane Dusenbery Waggoner '68; two grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Appeared in Reed magazine: November 2008

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