Beavers will add their plaque at Lake Roosevelt Schools

The Coulee Dam Beavers' history will be commemorated at Lake Roosevelt Schools soon, as another of the predecessor schools' alumni raise money.

A plaque commemorating Coulee Dam High School will be installed on the same basalt pillar at Lake Roosevelt Schools as Grand Coulee High School's plaque, featuring their Tiger mascot.

The two former high schools merged in 1971 to form Lake Roosevelt High School.

The plaque will celebrate the Coulee Dam Beavers and is being prepared by Bobby Knight, a 1970 graduate of CDHS.

"Today, Bobby goes by the name of J.R. Knight, or sometimes as Jack Knight, but us kids that grew up with him will always call him Bobby," said Bert Smith, a 1971 CDHS graduate, who described Knight as "a world-class talent."

"I decided to lead the Coulee Dam Alumni effort to fund and get the plaque designed," Smith said. "My immediate choice was to ask Bobby to do the design and sculpture work, and he graciously accepted."

Smith's 1971 class was the last to graduate from CDHS. He was the student body president, and along with Hal Rauch, the Grand Coulee Tigers' student body president, "spearheaded naming of the newly consolidated Lake Roosevelt High School," as Smith put it.

Knight, who now lives in Prescott, Arizona, is a professional artist and sculptor, and worked in the movie industry making props and doing sculpting work on big-name movies such as "Minority Report," "War of the Worlds," "National Treasure," "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man 2," "Thor," and many more.

Knight said he's made things ranging in size from a mask or helmet to four-foot structures, such as a giant rock formation on which a fight scene ensued in "Black Panther."

For the Coulee Dam plaque, Knight is making the beaver sculpture out of wax, and through an involved process, a foundry will turn the sculpture into bronze and attach it to a plaque being made by another foundry.

"I was born and grew up there, so it's nostalgia for me," Knight said. "It was a good time; I had a great time in high school. A lot of people I graduated with, I went to kindergarten with."

Knight mentioned that he has known Keith Powell, who designed the Grand Coulee Tigers plaque that was installed in 2017, for years.

Knight still knows other people in the area, and hopes to come up to the coulee when the plaque is ready, or soon thereafter.

Smith is still helping raise money for the project.

"Right now the plaque is estimated to cost about $3,300," Smith said, "and we have secured funding for about half that amount right now, with fundraising still ongoing. Our hope is to have the plaque fully funded by Coulee Dam alumni by the end of April. Once completed, we plan on having a small ceremony in front of LRHS to attach the plaque to the basalt pillar and a small unveiling ceremony."

To donate, or for more information, people can contact Smith at 405-323-1484, or by searching for Coulee Dam Alumni on Facebook or going to http://www.facebook.com/allcoulee.