Wanda Toliver Cowles, 85

Passed away peacefully on Jan. 23, 2016. Wanda was born in Kansas City, Kan., on July 3, 1930, to Robert Heltzel Toliver and Gladys Lutz Toliver.

She moved with her family to California in 1936, and by her middle school years she knew she wanted to be a teacher. She received a degree from Los Angeles City College in 1950, and continued her studies with a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1953. After graduation she spent seven years teaching elementary school in Los Angeles as well as for the Department of the Army in Germany. It was there she met her future husband, Spokane native James P. Cowles, and they were married in Los Angeles on Dec. 20, 1958. She earned her master’s of education from Stanford University in 1961. She and her husband moved to Spokane the following year and lived here from that point on.

While Wanda never formally taught in a classroom again, she was an inspired and inspiring teacher to all who knew her. She devoted her time and energy to improving teaching and learning for all students and teachers in the Spokane area and worked at the local, state and national levels to broaden and extend gifted education.

Wanda is survived by her husband, James P. Cowles; her son and daughter-in-law, James L. Cowles and Katelena Hernandez Cowles; her grandchildren, Celia Cowles and Gabriel Cowles; her sister, Faye Thompson; and her brother, Boyd Raymond Toliver.

A celebration of her life will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, in the Cowles Auditorium at Whitworth University with a reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, Wanda requested that donations be made in her memory to Whitworth University, 300 W. Hawthorne Road, Spokane, WA 99251. Donation and celebration information can be found at: www.whitworth.edu/wandacowlesmemorial.