Nadine Arévalo leaves Cheney with many pleasant memories

The official face of Eastern Washington University the past eight years has been that of recently retired president Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo.

But those most familiar with the school might argue there was another - Arévalo's wife, Nadine.

The two were constantly front and center at every type of Eastern function.

The Arévalo's Cheney stay began April 1, 2006. It officially ended Aug. 23 following Eastern's 56-35 football game win over Sam Houston State University.

Nadine Arévalo recently sat in a partially empty president's house - most of the furnishings and belongings on the way to her new home outside Kansas City, Kan. She reflected fondly on both a triumphant, and tumultuous time for her and her husband.

While her memories are many, she said the ones that top the charts involved flight. The Arévalos got to take part in a U.S. Air Force refueling mission, a flight around Mt. St. Helens and of course that trip to the national championship football game in Frisco, Texas in 2011.

The refueling mission took them to Oregon, and involved topping off the tanks of six fighter jets. "That was, for me at least, really, really interesting to be a part of," Arévalo said.

Another notable memory involved Alan Hale, the late founder of Cheney electronics manufacturing company XN Technologies, Inc. The Arévalo's had originally extended the invite for Hale and wife his Kaye to be their special guests at an EWU football game in Portland.

It was Hale, however, who offered to fly everyone on one of XN's company planes. "He took us all the way around Mt. St. Helens," Arévalo said. "So we were able to see the big crater on top and the devastation that it had caused."

And there was no forgetting Frisco.

"If we would have lost, if we would have won, it still would have been an experience," Arévalo said. "That's the way we always try to look at everything; wherever we go, it's to have a good time."

Arévalo also witnessed a great deal of change on campus, much of it centered on Eastern football. "Going to the football games and all the crowd, the tailgaters, all of the fans," Arévalo said were vivid memories.

So do the tough times that surrounded her husband's battle, and victory, over pancreatic cancer.

"The man is totally remarkable," Arévalo said. "He's been a diabetic for 30 years, he had open heart surgery, five bypasses; he's so humble, he doesn't tell anybody."

"I remember saying to him you are so lucky that we caught it when we did," Arévalo said. "Luck would have been me not having it at all," was her husband's response.

Those were his only negative comments the whole time. "He always sees the positive, how can we do this or how can we improve on this or that," Arévalo said.

She said the people who showed their concern, and sent cards, "and the prayers, the prayers, big time" also played a big part. Rodolfo Arévalo recently passed the five-year time crucial to cancer survival and got a clean report.

Dr. Mary Cullinan assumed the role as EWU's 26th president July 31, coming to Cheney from Ashland, Ore. where she served as president of Southern Oregon University.

The role Nadine Arévalo played now belongs to Cullinan's husband, retired attorney Jeffrey Kelter. No titles are necessary to bestow on Kelter, much like was the case with Arévalo.

If there was any advice Arévalo might offer it would be the same her husband once gave. "Be yourself, that was the only advice," Arévalo said she received. "Truthfully I think I've done that pretty well."

"A lot of time I will talk to people and say, 'Hi, I'm Nadine - I'll just carry on conversations with them - and then somebody who's with me will say, you know who she is?'" Arévalo said. The person will say her husband's the president (of EWU). "I just love it because I want to talk to people on my level, not because of who I am."

Before arriving in Cheney, Arévalo said she sold real estate in Texas. Very candid in her response, Texas was a hard market to get into if one didn't know Spanish - and surprisingly she admitted, she didn't speak the language in which her husband was fluent.

Brought up in a German-Catholic family, Arévalo said she never went to college, "But I wanted to." She first married at 19 and raised four children. The Arévalos have been married 16 years, both second marriages that have produced a blended family with five children and several grandchildren.

"Rodolfo and I are just total opposites, we really are, (but) it works," Arévalo said.

In retirement, Arévalo said they plan to devote time to their grand kids who will live nearby. Her husband might also get to tinker with his beloved import sports cars.

And maybe find a food bank, too. That was Arévalo's passion in Cheney where she spearheaded the annual EWU food drive and volunteered at the Cheney food bank where they both regularly worked. "Truthfully, if we would have stayed we would have taken it over," she said.

What will she miss the most?

"People," Arévalo said. "People around here are so friendly, and once they were around us a little bit they realized how we were."

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.