Magazine Spring 2024 Honoring Longtime Friends and Faithful Servants

ELEANOR LEWER COURTNEY

ELEANOR LEWER COURTNEY ’45, a longtime English professor at Westmont, died August 4, 2023, at the age of 99. Born in Tibet to missionary parents, she grew up in Yunnan, China, and went to school in Hong Kong. Fleeing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, she came to the United States at 17. She majored in English literature and wed Charles Courtney ’45 the day they both graduated from Westmont. Eleanor taught English at Westmont from 1952 to 1997, earning her master’s and doctoral degrees in medieval literature from the University of Arizona while raising five children. She specialized in Chaucer and invited students to come to dinner and dress as figures from “The Canterbury Tales.” She also wrote several books detailing her memoirs of China. Three children survive her: Roxane, Rosine and Breton ’78 and his wife, Terri Golden Courtney ’78. Two predeceased her: Odette Green ’72 and Gavin.

GARY HARRIS

Longtime trustee GARY HARRIS, who blended faith, competence and humor, died October 27, 2023, at the age of 87. A respected banking executive and vice president at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust for many years, he joined Westmont’s board in 1980, serving as chair from 1995-2001. He led the presidential search committee when David Winter retired and helped the college purchase the Stackpoole property, the site of the Global Leadership Center. He became a trustee emeritus in 2013. He grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and joined the U.S. Marine Corps before earning a degree in banking and finance at the University of Utah. Gary worked at banks in Los Angeles and Boise, Idaho, where he met his wife, Jo, before moving to Santa Barbara in 1973. He retired in 2004 and continued to be an active community volunteer. He is survived by his wife, four children, 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

JOHN SIDER, distinguished professor emeritus of English, died November 10,

JOHN SIDER

 2023. He was 82. Fully committed to the Christian liberal arts, he believed in life-long learning. He led four Europe Semesters and wrote a guidebook for teaching art history during the program. A recipient of the Faculty Research Award, he published articles on Shakespeare and the parables of Jesus. He completed more than 4,000 annotations for the eighth edition of the “Norton Anthology of English Literature.” Using lines from Shakespeare, John wrote a play, “The Marriage of King Arthur,” which the theatre department performed. After graduating from the University of Waterloo, earning a master’s degree at McMaster and completing a doctorate in English at Notre Dame, John taught at Westmont from 1972 to 2008. He is survived by his wife, Anna, his children, Rebecca Sider and Phil Sider ’87 and his wife, Sonya Richardson Sider ’86, three granddaughters, including Holly Sider ’15, and two great-granddaughters.

DAVID SPAINHOUR

Trustee emeritus DAVID SPAINHOUR died May 27, 2023, at 91. A Westmont Medal recipient in 2004, he served on the Westmont board from 1991 through 2003, chairing the finance committee and providing leadership in fundraising and development projects. He received his education from Glendale College, UCLA and Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington, where he was named to the school’s Hall of Fame in 1998. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. David started at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust in 1966 and held various leadership positions, joining the bank’s board of directors in 1974 and becoming president in 1989, then chairman of the board in 1996 and chairman of the holding company in 2000. He retired in 2004 after a 50-year banking career. David served on numerous boards and was actively involved in the community and a faithful member of his church. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn, two children, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.