Tower-Fall-2020

24 TOWER | FALL 2020 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT What can you do with an art degree from Kutztown? If you’re Patricia Haines- Ainsworth ’78, just about anything. After graduating from KU with a bachelor’s in advertising art, Haines- Ainsworth worked as a typesetter and layout artist until moving to Seattle in 1983, where she began a career at an embroidery design company. You’ve probably seen some of her work – she designed logos for a wide range of recognizable clients, including sports teams. Soon, she started her own company, but took a hiatus for family obligations. During her “retirement,” which included a successful venture into creating and selling needlepoint canvases, Haines-Ainsworth began volunteering at her daughter’s school as an art docent, where she was inspired to create a traveling children’s theater company, Last Leaf Productions. “In 1998, there were severe cutbacks in the schools’ arts programs and a bus driver shortage,” she said. “A lot of their field trips were canceled, including trips to the local children’s theater in Seattle. I thought, ‘What if we founded a theater company that goes directly to schools?’ In the beginning, everything had to fit into my station wagon, including the actors.” Because she was working with rural schools on a shoestring budget, creativity was key. All of the source material had to be part of the public domain, while still appealing to children. So Haines-Ainsworth turned to fairy tales, adapting popular stories to fit schools and libraries’ reading themes, and also creating her own. Her partners, Terry Levvit and Larry Bridges, compose the music, while she writes the lyrics. There’s “Cinderella,” of course, but there’s also her original plays, like “The Day Zero Left Dodge,” a western about what happens when zero leaves town, evil eight comes to town, and you can’t count past nine. Last Leaf was performing at Head Start centers, libraries, schools and parks around Seattle, when other companies began to take notice and asked to adapt some of the company’s shows. That’s how Winking Kat Books (2015) began. Through this organization, Haines-Ainsworth provides scripts for teachers and directors who want to use her stories in their own productions, and has recently branched into producing podcasts aimed at creating a radio play experience for young children ( winkingkatbooks.com ). Next on the agenda: animated tales for children, available on her website. “I’m in the process of animating some of my favorite songs and turning them into little animated music videos kids can sing along with,” she said. “When I went to KU, that was one of my goals. I’ve come full circle.” Patricia Haines-Ainsworth ’78 Evelyn (Stauffer) Lewis ’43 BY JILLIAN LOVEJOY Evelyn (Stauffer) Lewis ‘43 remembers playing basketball as a child with her friends in the neighborhood, using the back alley as their court, aiming for a peach basket. “I was always physically inclined,” she says. “I always played sports, and I tried most everything.” The 1943 edition of The Keystone, Kutztown University’s yearbook, will corroborate this. Lewis played on KU’s women’s basketball team for four years, rising to team captain. She was also on the baseball, field hockey and swimming teams — as well as serving on women’s student council, sing- ing in the choir and other activities. That’s a pretty packed schedule for a student commuting by bus from Shillington, Pa. It’s clear, however, that basketball had the most substantial impact on Lewis. A framed photograph of she and her teammates sits on her shelf to this day. “The girls on our team were wonderful,” Lewis says with a smile. “I wish I could go back and do that all again.” Lewis stays current with the sport, as well. She loves watching college basketball on television, and she follows KU sports in the local media. If she could address the members of today’s women’s basketball team, she would tell them to “enjoy what you’re doing, give it all you have, and always try to improve yourselves.” Surprisingly, Lewis’ most treasured moment from her time at Kutztown wasn’t on the basketball court — it was from her commencement ceremony when the dean took a moment to congratulate her after she received her elementary education degree. Lewis celebrated her 100th birthday April 8, 2020. When asked the secret to a long and happy life, she smiled. “Keep busy and stay active,” she said. “I think that’s the key to the whole thing.”