Principal Of Audubon Dies Of Cancer

Teachers at Audubon Elementary School aren’t surprised Principal Dick Stannard waited to die until after school had started.

Stannard, 55, died Wednesday, a day after children were back in his classrooms and nearly a year after he learned he had bone cancer.

“Dick was kind enough to sit back and know that school had gotten off to a good start, and once it had, he knew that was his time to let go,” said Dave Petty, a friend and Spokane School District 81 administrator.

Teachers and children hugged one another and cried as word of Stannard’s death spread through the north Spokane school where he was to begin his eighth year as principal.

“It really sucks, doesn’t it?” said a little boy.

“I’ll miss him because he always called me ‘Cupcake,”’ a tearful girl told a counselor.

For 31 years, Stannard worked as a teacher and principal in Spokane schools.

Most Audubon students didn’t know Stannard had been diagnosed with cancer last October. Even after chemotherapy treatment during the winter, he stood in the schoolyard while they played during lunch hour.

The chemotherapy “made him sick, but he came to school,” said Maureen Schneider, a counselor at Audubon.

By summer, Stannard’s health was failing. He chose to go to Seattle in July for a stem cell transplant, an experimental and risky procedure, Petty said.

But Stannard never returned to his Spokane home after the procedure. He died at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

On Thursday, Stannard’s red-eyed colleagues talked about how much they’ll miss his compassion, encouragement and practical jokes.

When researchers came to Audubon one day to see if boys and girls were being treated differently, Stannard helped students play a prank: All the boys sat in the front desks and the girls sat in back.

Long ago, Stannard set clocks at the school three minutes slow “to help kids get to school on time,” said Laurie Dolan, area director for schools in northwest Spokane.

Stannard’s wife, Susan, teaches a bilingual education class at Shadle Park High School. They have two children: Jeff, who lives in Tacoma, and Julie, who teaches in Japan.

Greg Baerlocher, a sixth-grade teacher at Audubon, began the school year as acting principal and will continue until a new principal is appointed.

The transition will be sad but fairly smooth because Stannard worked hard to finish his plans for the coming school year, Dolan said. “I have detailed page-by-page plans on how to make sure school operates smoothly for the kids and staff.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Memorial services will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Whitworth College auditorium.