Archives West Finding Aid

This collection is comprised of four total series, as arranged by the donor. The first series consists of New Century High School (Lacey, Washington) materials. Prior to its closing in 1998, New Century High School was a successful part of the Schools for 21st Century Project – a Washington State Legislative Initiative that provided millions of dollars for public school reform efforts from 1987 to 1995. This series includes general school information, administrative documents of reform efforts and challenges, interviews with those involved in creating the initiative, the legislatively mandated evaluation of reform efforts, and Suzanne Cofer’s teaching memoir, which includes serval chapters devoted to New Century High School. Cofer worked at the school as a teacher at New Century from 1992-1998.

The second series contains photos, letters, a scrapbook, and other family documents pertaining to Cofer’s father, Earl Desilet, who attended WSU and served in World War II.

The third series is comprised of personal family genealogy research of the Ruark, Jones, and Haworth families (Cofer’s ancestors), who were early homesteaders in the Clarkston, WA and Lewiston, ID areas. This series also includes materials on Cofer’s mother, Wanda Haworth. Like Cofer and her father, Wanda Haworth attended WSU. High resolution scanned photographs of the Leonard and Ruth Haworth family and their homestead ranch outside of Clarkston, short stories, a memoir, yearbooks, and other papers pertaining to Haworth are located in series three.

Series four includes information on Cofer’s aunt, Maxine Desilet Dickerson, who served in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1949 to 1956. She worked as an executive secretary to high-ranking embassy officials and ambassadors in Berlin, Munich, Caracas, and Rangoon. This series is comprised mainly of letters from Maxine Desilet Dickerson to her parents, as well as from her husband, Denver Dickerson. The letters begin in 1936 when she was a student at business school in Spokane. Denver Dickerson was the last political appointee of President John Kennedy prior to his assassination. He served as Lt. Governor of Guam for five years, during which Maxine Desilet Dickerson was the official social hostess for both her husband and the Governor.