Story by: Carol Bonino, Gonzaga University
One of Spokane’s pioneers in radio and television and his musician wife are the reason Gonzaga students enjoy a vibrant Music Department today.
Louis Wasmer came to Spokane in 1925 and purchased KREM when it was just a radio station. During his life he owned several other TV and radio stations in town. In 1940 he married Florence Waterhouse. A violinist, she played in chamber orchestras and was a staff musician at one of Wasmer’s radio stations.
After Louis died in 1967, Florence used his fortune to establish the Wasmer Foundation, and when she died 20 years later, her assets were added to the Foundation. In 2001, the foundation liquidated, turning over $4 million to the Inland Northwest Community Foundation in Spokane. At the time of the liquidation, the community foundation gifted $25,000 to Gonzaga’s Music Department, saying in a letter that “because of Florence Wasmer’s particular interest in the musical education of young people, and the importance of your Music Department to this community, we give $25,000 to you to be used as you deem most appropriate for the Music Department.” Gonzaga put the funds into a general music endowment.
The Music Department uses earnings from the Wasmer Music Endowment to purchase instruments. Right now the Department is saving up earnings from the endowment to put towards purchase of new practice pianos for students. The department has 15 of these instruments – the average age of which is 65-70 years! – and needs to replace most of them, and continue to add more.
The need is great for pianos and instruments because the Department has a record number of majors, and about double the number of music minors. But here’s what’s truly distinctive about Gonzaga’s Music Department: it serves more non-majors than majors, with the total number of students served each semester numbering between 600 and 700.
The Wasmer Music Endowment helps students pursue their love of music, majors and non-majors alike, and Gonzaga is grateful for the Wasmers’ generosity.