Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

Lynda Kuwahara

IDAHO CITY, Idaho -- Lynda Kuwahara liked working with people. That is why she pursued nursing after graduating from Nooksack Valley High School in 1969.
  But she didn’t stop there. Lynda, a daughter of Ted and Dolores Maricle of Everson, was one of the first nurses in the nation to follow up her nursing degree at the University of Washington in 1973 with an MBA from Boise State University in 1984.

David Lewis
Tribune reporter

  LYNDEN -- Alan Fritzberg recalls spending his early years growing up on the Stickney Island Road, west of Everson, enjoying the pastoral surroundings in the Pacific Northwest.
  Outdoors a lot, he and a friend even floated the Nooksack River on a raft that they crafted themselves all the way from Everson to Ferndale.
  But since his graduation from Nooksack Valley High School in 1962, Dr. Fritzberg has become so accomplished as a medical researcher that it is hard to believe that he has not only kept up, but cultivated, his passion for the outdoors in his leisure time. In fact, it’s hard to believe he has had any leisure time at all.

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

Dan Castles

LYNDEN -- Dan Castles knows that he will be associated with the 1974 Mount Baker High School basketball team that took second in state, losing to Nook-sack Valley five times that season including for the state title.

Timothy Newcomb
Tribune assistant editor

David Byle

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Believe it or not, being beaten with sticks by “angry nationalists” and then spending nights in jail is not the toughest part of David Byle’s work with Bible Correspondence Course (BCC) in Turkey.

Travis Sherer
Tribune sports reporter

Eleanor (Polinder) Dykstra

CERRITOS, CALIF. -- When Eleanor (Polinder) Dykstra graduated from Lynden Christian High School in 1961, she was determined to help girls get the athletic opportunities she never had.

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

Katie Van Kooten

WHATCOM -- Katie Van Kooten has a job like any other person. She is reminded of that whenever she comes home for a visit.
  The job, however, is different.
  Van Kooten, a graduate of Meridian High School in 1997, is now self-employed and a rising star in the world of opera.

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

Janice Van Dyke

CHICAGO -- Janice Van Dyke didn't plan to become the CEO of a company. She came into it upon the death of her first husband, Bill Van Dyke Jr., at age 44 in 1993.
  But the Lynden native is now being recognized for her success in directing the big transition and subsequent growth for Darwill, her family's 140-employee Chicago-area printing and distribution business.

Timothy Newcomb
Tribune assistant editor

Jim Hubbard

IRONWOOD, Mich. -- Jim Hubbard doesn’t run just any kind of family practice in this small town in Michigan's upper peninsula. No, he runs a full-spectrum rural practice, all the while instructing young doctors.

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

Gerald Van Kooten

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Almost every kid has a rock collection at some point. Gerald Van Kooten’s job is to help people rediscover their inner geologist -- at least, that’s what he tells his students at Calvin College.

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

Merle Jensen

TUCSON -- Merle Jensen, who grew up on a diversified farm on Willey's Lake Road, sees the future of agriculture not in soil, but in greenhouses.
  Jensen, 69, and a 1957 graduate of Lynden High School, has devoted his professional life to showing just how productive a controlled environment can be for growing food.