Claire Schneck’s Legacy of Opportunity

For Claire Schneck ’69, giving back to Eastern Washington University is deeply personal. Her parents, Lester and Luella Schneck, lived through the Great Depression and were determined that their daughter understood the value of hard work, education and careful saving.

Lester Schneck was especially keen to share with Claire what he’d learned about stretching every dollar, lessons gained he’d gained as a young man while working as an apprentice machinist for 26 cents an hour.

“My dad taught me to work hard and always do the best that you can,” Claire says. “He was a great machinist and would help others whenever he could.”

Luella, meanwhile, shaped her daughter’s future in a quieter but equally powerful way. A homemaker and careful money manager, Luella budgeted carefully to ensure that Claire would have everything she needed to one day succeed in college.

“My parents instilled in me the importance of getting an education and saving your money,” Claire says. “Thanks to their support and hard work, I didn’t have to worry about how to pay for school.”

When Claire arrived at Eastern in the 1960s, she says, the Cheney campus felt like a place where she could truly belong. That welcoming community was especially important to her since she had felt like an outsider during her junior high school years, after the family had moved to Richland, Washington.

“At Eastern, I really got involved in a lot of activities,” Claire recalls. “I was on the dorm council and a member of SPURS, the sophomore women’s service organization. I loved giving tours to incoming freshmen and helping at student theater performances.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree in education in 1969, she began a career as an elementary school teacher. Throughout her years in the classroom, she continued the financial habits her parents modeled: saving diligently, living frugally and planning carefully for the future. Those habits allowed her to retire at age 49—and to later consider how she could make a lasting impact at her alma mater.

In part to ensure that today’s students have opportunities and advantages similar to her own, Claire committed half of her estate to supporting Eastern students in their journey to earn college degrees.

Courtney Gray, of philanthropy, Jason Durfee, professor of mechanical engineering and technology, and Shari McMahan, president of EWU. — Courtney Gray, senior director of gift planning, Jason Durfee, professor of mechanical engineering and technology, and Shari McMahan, president of EWU, at the Schneck Family Metallics Lab dedication.

Claire, who originally planned for her estate gift to establish several endowed scholarship funds, decided to fund those scholarships early—during her lifetime— to make a difference for students now and into the future.

Over the past five years, she established the Claire Schneck Education Scholarship, the Lester Schneck Manufacturing Technology Scholarship, and the Luella Schneck Honors Scholarship.

“I hope these scholarships can help students along the way and eliminate some of the debt they would have to pay back,” she says. “It was very nice not having to pay any loans back once I graduated, and it was even nicer not having to work during the school year.”

Recently, Claire expanded her philanthropy to create an endowed Metallics Lab Excellence Fund for students in mechanical engineering, manufacturing technology, and construction management who are participating in capstone projects.

Thanks to her thoughtful gift, Eastern students will have access to the high-grade materials they need to build their projects and prototypes, deepening their practical understanding of the fabrication process for generations to come.

In recognition of her generosity, at Eastern’s recent Gesa Carousel of Dreams event in the Tri-Cities, the university honored Claire for her extraordinary gifts.

Claire admits the recognition was emotional. “It took my breath away,” she says.

A couple of weeks after the Tri-Cities event, Jason Durfee, department chair and professor of mechanical engineering and technology at EWU, recognized Claire’s support for the metallics lab with the dedication of a plaque declaring that the laboratory was henceforward to be called the “Schneck Family Metallics Lab.”

Although Claire didn’t attend the event in Cheney, she says the naming of the metallics lab was more than recognition: It was a tribute to the parents who made her education possible.