Linda Clark (’72) worked hard for her education. No one in her family had ever gone to college, but Linda was eager to spread her wings and leave her hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. While she was volunteering and helping children learn to read at Saint Stanislaus School, one of the priests suggested that she look into Gonzaga University.
“I didn’t want to go to a large school. Spokane was a big city to me and yet it was close to home, so it just made sense,” Linda said. She was interested in journalism, so during a visit to the GU campus, she spoke with the communications department. After that, she decided that Gonzaga was exactly where she wanted to be.
“I just loved it,” she said, “I loved the atmosphere.” Her parents; however, weren’t entirely convinced that a college education was needed.
“My father said he would pay for the first semester to see how it goes,” she said, “but after that, he told me he didn’t want to pay for it anymore and that it was not necessary.” In spite of the lack of financial support, Linda was determined to get her degree. She found work in the public relations department, where she wrote press releases and worked after classes. She sought out a student loan and a second job, working in the advertising department at the Crescent department store. Linda was carrying a full course load and working two jobs when the time came for her to take a class that included an internship at an advertising agency.
“At that time, if you were an intern getting class credit, you couldn’t be paid,” Linda recalls, adding “I would have had to give up one of my jobs.” Because her jobs were such a big part of financing her education, her advisor made special arrangements so Linda could be paid by the advertising agency and still receive credit for her internship. “I thought that was really exceptional,” said Linda of the arrangements, which made it possible for her to maintain an income.
Linda was dating a law student, who wanted to get married and move to Seattle after Linda’s junior year. She wanted so badly to graduate from Gonzaga that she came up with a creative plan so that she could both get married and still get her degree from GU.
“I spent three years at Gonzaga, my fiancé had spent seven,” Linda explained, “so I asked them to make the exception for me to go to Seattle University and then come back and graduate with my class. I looked at it as a reverse transfer.” Linda’s plan worked and she was granted the opportunity to finish her coursework at Seattle University but still graduate with her class at Gonzaga. Once again, Linda was extremely grateful.
“I’ve just never forgotten all the support and all the help,” she said.
41 years after her graduation, Linda found herself feeling out of touch with Gonzaga. She worked for several newspapers through the course of her career, including as the publisher of a small community newspaper on Vashon Island, Wash. She had exchanged a few personal cards with classmates over the years, but wanted to find ways to become more involved with her alma mater and the place that meant so much to her.
“When people are talking about where they went to school, I just love saying, ‘Gonzaga!’’ she said. “Everybody, whether they went there or not, has a positive feeling about it. They always say, ‘Oh wow! The bulldogs!’ or ‘Wow, what a great school!’ and I’m just really proud to be a part of that.”
In 2013, Linda found her opportunity to reconnect with GU by endowing the Linda McKay Clark Work Award.
“I had some money with which to do whatever I wanted and Gonzaga was the highest on my list,” she said. Linda generously created this award to help students who may be going through a situation similar what she experienced.
“It’s to help a student who may have been going to school, when all of the sudden, things are falling apart financially and they need help – because that’s basically what happened to me. I thought my parents were going to support me. I really wanted to see it through and I want to help someone who has a similar situation; someone who wants to finish and for some reason, they’ve lost the financial aid they thought they were going to have.”
Linda says that it was “just luck” that brought her to Gonzaga in the first place, but over time, GU became something that would shape the rest of her life.
“It was such an honor and a privilege to be accepted to Gonzaga,” she said. “To have that opportunity – I think it gave me a confidence to reach for things that I may have never thought to reach for. I’ve had a wonderful life and Gonzaga was the springboard.”
Gonzaga is grateful for Linda’s generosity and inspiration to reconnect with the University through scholarship. Learn more about the process of endowing a scholarship and how endowed funds can live on forever, making a lasting impression on Gonzaga students.