In memoriam: Andrew Hoskinson, 1950 - 2011

Andrew Allen Hoskinson, 60, died peacefully at home on June 23, 2011, from natural causes. He was 60 years old.

The third child of Robert and Mildred Hoskinson, Andrew was born Oct. 20, 1950, in Creston, Iowa, a city he'd eventually begin calling "Leave-It-To-Beaver-land." An intensely intelligent man, Hoskinson graduated from Creston High School as the class valedictorian and then graduated summa cum laude from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.

Hoskinson moved from Iowa to Bellingham in 1995, following the two close friends he'd helped move to the Northwest back in the 1970s using $1,000 he won in a grocery store bingo game. One of those friends was Rick Osen, assistant dean for administration and planning in the Western Libraries at Western Washington University.

"He had the chance to move, and he said 'I might as well move to where I want to be,'" Osen says.

Hoskinson landed a job at WWU in February of 1997, working as the friendly face of the fourth floor until his retirement in January of 2008.

"Andrew was often the only person people met when they came to campus; he had a very visible position at the front desk of the President/Provost Office," says Hoskinson's former supervisor Bev Jones, the current assistant to Western's provost.

He was great at his job, Jones says. Andrew was funny, kind and thoughtful, always able to put people at ease.

"In his quiet and gracious way, he touched so many lives in his daily activities," she says. "Andrew was a joy to work with and a dear friend to many of us at Western."

While he didn't brag about his work, Hoskinson was quite an accomplished artist, says longtime friend David Given-Seymour. He created many beautiful wood carvings, often in the form of walking sticks and canes. Some of Hoskinson's WWU friends hope to organize a collection of his carvings to be displayed at the annual Employee Arts and Crafts Show in March.

Hoskinson was a poet, too, penning songs and poems that Given-Seymour describes as beautiful, funny, sad, witty, insightful, ironic and literate. Hoskinson never learned to read music, but he was an excellent keyboard player and vocalist – rock and roll, blues, jazz, pop, folk, Americana – and played in various rock and roll bands in Iowa. Also in Iowa, he sang in barbershop quartets.

Among many things, he loved Walt Whitman, puns, antiques, Ray Charles, irony, things English and Scottish, playing music with his friends, chocolate, quirky movies, wearing bib overalls, his family, shaggy dog stories, dogs, crossword puzzles, unusual musical instruments, museums and black humor.

He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his sister, Robina (Sam) Reeves; brother, Robert (Marilyn) Hoskinson: nieces Kim (Steve) Johnson, Lori (Lynn) Worley and Tabitha (Barry) Blessing; a nephew, Ben (Mindy) Hoskinson; many great nephews; his "good woman" Mary Matz of Prague, Czech Republic; his long-time friends David and Susan Given-Seymour, Rick and Barbara Osen, David and Peg Sudol; and a host of well-wishers.

Andrew's family and friends have set up a blog in his honor for those who remember him to post comments, photos and remembrances.