Stefanie Pettit

Stefanie Pettit is a free-lance columnist for The Spokesman-Review in the Voices department. She writes a bi-weekly column called Landmarks, featuring historic sites, buildings and monuments that often go unnoticed. She is also a regular Front Porch column contributor. The columns appear Thursday in the Voices community news sections. Stefanie is a former Spokane newspaper reporter and Eastern Washington University public information officer.

Contact Stefanie

Fax: 509-927-2175

Recent stories by Stefanie

Landmarks: A charmer in Cheney

May 17, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page S8 If a person thought it unlikely that a small community in the region might be home to a residence that embodies the finest grandeur and elegance of high Victorian architecture, …
Front Porch: Angel freely gives kidney to her cousin

May 10, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Most angels come with beautiful wings. Some come with beautiful kidneys. I know one of those angels. Her name is Kay Mohr, my friend, and she just gave one of … 1
Front Porch: We should be smarter than our phones

April 26, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I don’t text. I don’t tweet. I don’t Facebook. I’ve heard of but don’t have any idea what Angry Birds really is. And I’m fine with it that way. Moreover, …
Old downtown SRO hotel dates to boom of 1890s

April 19, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V5 During Spokane’s early days, the central business area was populated by many single-room occupancy hotels to accommodate the burgeoning numbers of individuals flocking to the area to seek employment. Most …
Front Porch: Rain reliably gives beauty, memories

April 12, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 As I look out the window on a rainy day late in March, I spy a man building an ark on my front lawn. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating about the …
Salvaged history

April 12, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V5 When it comes to home renovations, Sherry Knott picked perhaps the most challenging one possible. Having once lived in a row house in Philadelphia that she loved, she always wanted …
Front Porch: OK, Mom, just don’t call the cops

March 29, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 The readers of this newspaper are pretty special people – particularly those who read the Voice section, and most specifically, those who regularly make their way through the Front Porch …
Landmarks: Many sites honor Spokane Garry

March 22, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page S5 There are a number of landmarks around town honoring the legacy of Spokane Garry, the storied leader in the Spokane Tribe of Indians who is also considered the region’s first …
Front Porch: Andy Rooney’s take on candidates sorely missed

March 15, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page S1 I really miss Andy Rooney. Nobody could do curmudgeon as well as he could, and I would so like to hear his crusty but-no-doubt insightful take on the current presidential …
Landmarks: Barn a popular photo setting

March 8, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V2 If this old barn and rock house look somehow familiar, you probably have seen them before – even if you’ve never stopped by their location on the Moran Prairie. Every … 1
Front Porch: Mom is Mom for life, so get used to it

March 1, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 You’re never done being a mom. Ever. I’ve been vaguely aware of this for some time, but now even more so. It’s not like I see my grown sons all …
Gym-turned-studio building once part of Catholic school

February 23, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V5 The old parochial school gym building in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood is not only beautiful, it is a wonderful example of a strikingly different kind of early-Spokane architecture. St. Joseph’s … 1
Front Porch: My funny, heavy-metal valentine

February 16, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Valentine’s Day has come and gone. The chocolate truffles have been consumed, the romantic dinner long since digested and/or the lovely new earrings happily worn. These are the symbols of …
Front Porch: It’s useless to resist the mom morph

February 2, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 When my cousin Susan and I were young girls, we would delight in listening to our mothers talk about their childhoods. Their backgrounds as children of immigrants growing up in …
Memorial honors basketball player Talley’s zest for life

January 26, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page S5 It’s 155 days until Hoopfest 2012, and if things had worked out differently, Jerry Talley would be on the basketball court in Peaceful Valley getting ready – snow or no …
Front Porch: Young ears embraced King’s words

January 19, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I almost met the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once. I belonged to the Luther League at my church in Miami back in the early 1960s. There was going to …
Landmarks: Arnesons honor former house of playwright

January 12, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page S5 The American foursquare-style Dyar-Kiesling home just off Rockwood Boulevard celebrates its centennial this year. Beautifully kept, with many of its original features intact, the house is a wonderful tribute to …
Front Porch: Hyperlocal news had home at Star

January 5, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 As a new year begins, another newspaper bites the dust. The Star (originally the Rathdrum Star), a weekly paper that covered the news of the North Idaho communities of Rathdrum, … 1
Students pass pillars of EWU’s past into their futures

December 29, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V5 The Pillars of Hercules are commonly considered to be those large promontories in Spain and North Africa that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. But Cheney has its …
Clock Tower originally kept trains on time

December 15, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page S10 Probably the best 360-degree view of the city from the downtown area is atop the 155-foot-tall Clock Tower in Riverfront Park. And pretty much the only person who gets to …