Ken Donohue

Ken Donohue, a well-known former Thurston County homebuilder, died July 7, 2006 of lung cancer. Ken was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1936 but spent much of his early life in and around San Jose, California, where he graduated with great distinction from San Jose State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.Ken's family traveled widely when he was a child, following the fruit harvest and taking up farming in Arkansas and Florida. Ken came to Thurston County in 1970 to join the planning staff at the Evergreen State College as Provost Dave Barry's Administrative Assistant in charge of the Academic Budget. He left behind a job as an administrative assistant at San Jose State College. In 1971, Ken was appointed Director of Cooperative Education at Evergreen and was given the task of developing a new internship program to enable students to convert field experience into academic credit. The program was highly successful and gained national recognition. In 1976, Ken left the college to start his own home construction business with his wife, June. The company prospered, and by its fourth year of operation was building 80 houses a year, mostly in the affordable lower price ranges. In all, Ken and June built over a thousand homes and a number of commercial buildings in Thurston County. Ken was active in his local, state, and national homebuilders associations, serving as President of the Olympia Master Builders from 1991 to 1993 and the Building Industry Association of Washington (B.I.A.W.) in 1996. He also served as Treasurer and First Vice President of B.I.A.W. and was named "Builder of the Year" by B.I.A.W. in 1995. In 1999, Ken was elected to the B.I.A.W.'s Hall of Fame and also, in the same year, to the Olympia Master Builder's Hall of Fame. Ken was also active in state and local politics. In 1992, he ran for the Democratic nomination to the House of Representatives, and in 1993 he successfully co-chaired the drive to put Initiative 602 on the ballot. Ken is survived by his loving wife, June, who in his own words, "gave shape and reason to everything I did,"; by two sons, Kendal Donohue, who resides in Marysville, and Alfred Donohue, who resides in Bremerton; a daughter, Kay Camus, of Olympia; and four grandchildren: Kay's children, Chris and Danny Camus, Kendal's son, Dylan Donohue, and Alfred's son, Elliot Donohue.