This past March, the education community lost a valued member. Steve Colby died on March 17, 2020, due to complications from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in a Palm Springs, CA hospital, just two days after he turned 72.
Steve Colby was only 28 years old when he was first elected to the Anacortes School Board. After a four-year term on the Anacortes School Board, he was nominated and elected to the board of the NWESD in 1982. Steve served as the NWESD District 3 Director (representing Anacortes, Burlington-Edison, Concrete, Conway, Darrington, La Conner, Mount Vernon, and Sedro-Woolley school districts) for 31 years, retiring from the Board of Directors in 2013. In retirement, Steve and his wife Patty spent their winters in southern California.
Over his 31 years on the NWESD board, Steve participated in providing cooperative and information services and programs to support the education of students in the region’s school districts, approving the annual budget and hiring superintendents for the NWESD, and establishing direct student service programs within the NWESD region.
“Steve will be remembered for his perspective and guidance,” said Jerry Jenkins, former superintendent of the NWESD during Colby’s term. “Education in the region is better for his service.”
When he was not serving on a board, Steve worked for 19 years as parks director for the city of Anacortes, as a special operations manager for six years for Skagit County, and as the supervisor for a cemetery in Bellingham. Primarily based out of Anacortes, Steve was also a high school and college basketball official for more than four decades. He served as the WOA board president and he was inducted into both the WOA Hall of Fame (2012) and WIAA Hall of Fame (2014) for his service.
A Steve Colby Memorial Fund has been set up for donations toward the WOA scholarship program.