In Memoriam – WINGS Summer 2023

Scholarship Dinner is the university’s single largest fundraising event. Since it began 37 years ago, it has raised more than $9 million, with every dime going directly to support Heritage University students.

Student speaker Miguel Mendoza

“It is undeniable that the support our students receive from the community is what allows them to earn their college degrees. For more than 40 years, it is the amazing support of donors that has created the opportunity for nearly 11,000 people to earn their degrees at Heritage. Eleven thousand people who have then gone on from here to serve the community as educators, business leaders, healthcare professionals and more throughout the Valley. We are grateful for their incredible support,” said Andrew Sund, Ph.D., president of Heritage University.

As a veteran service representative at Columbia Basin College, he helped veterans navigate college life. As program director at Elijah Family Homes, he helped low-income families in recovery become self-sufficient through stable housing and supportive services. In his current role as Therapeutic Court Coordinator in Benton County’s District Court, his work ensures that people struggling with mental illness and addiction get help to lead healthier lives.

But what means the most to Washburn isn’t the job titles that populate his resume. It’s the individual people he’s helped.

They’re people like “Charlie,” a veteran of the first Gulf War who returned home wondering where he belonged. He used drugs, became addicted, was arrested multiple times, and spent years in and out of what Washburn calls the “revolving door of the justice system.”

Entering Veterans Court following his release and having been ordered to check into “clean and sober housing,” Charlie absconded. He was promptly kicked out of the program that was designed to help him.

When he appeared in court, Charlie asked to read a letter he’d written. Through his tears, he said he’d promised his mom if he were given another chance, he wouldn’t disappoint her again. The judge let him remain in the program under the stipulation that his every move would be under Washburn’s vigilant watch.

“Today, Charlie is working on his bachelor’s degree in addiction studies with a plan to become a substance abuse professional,” Washburn says. “And he’s back with us, mentoring others.”

It was only after Charlie completed treatment that Washburn learned the extent of what he dealt with every day.

Sometimes it’s an earworm of sound that comes from nowhere and repeats over and over in his head.

“I’ll get this start of an idea. Sometimes it will start as a little melody in my head or a drumbeat that I think is interesting. I’ll grab my phone and kind of sing it into a recording that I can take back to my studio later,” he said.

The magic happens in his studio, a small room in his home. Dodson Dance’s instrument of choice is his computer keyboard. By his own admission, he has had very little musical training. The only real instrument he plays is the piano and very little at that. However, using the computer program FL Studios, he becomes a master musician, virtually proficient in every instrument one would find in a band: drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, and even the brass section. He uses the program to build songs by creating the rhythms and melodies played by each instrument. The process is kind of like painting with sound. He starts with an idea, finds a sound that he likes in one instrument and builds the musical shadows and highlights, instrument by instrument.

“My goal is to build a full, layered sound,” he said. “I start with my initial idea and build on that single thought. As it builds and becomes more interesting, I’ll bring in other sounds, play with them and keep mixing things until it feels complete.”

His songs “start with the beat,” he said. The words come later, sometimes years later. When he’s ready to start adding lyrics, Dodson Dance steps up the microphone. He’s the vocalist on almost every track.