SALUTE: EOU President Dixie Lund, second from right, and the family of the late Michael Farrow examine the diploma for a posthumous degree that was presented in his honor at Saturdayâs EOU commencement. The family members are Michaelâs wife Louella and sons Gideon, left, and Jeremiah. The Observer/DICK MASON

Michael Farrow, a former EOU student, died in 2004 but his inspirational story is still alive and evolving.

A powerful new page of his story was added Saturday at EOU’s

commencement. Farrow, an American Indian and a former EOU student, was

saluted unlike anyone in the university’s history – he received a

posthumous degree.

An honorary degree in general studies was awarded to Farrow at

Community Stadium. Farrow’s wife Louella and sons Jeremiah and Gideon,

all of Thornhollow near Pendleton, accepted Michael’s diploma.

“It was a wonderful, wonderful feeling … He would be very honored, he would be walking tall … It was his dream to finish,” Louella Farrow said following Saturday’s commencement.

The posthumous degree reflects the respect Michael Farrow earned for his accomplishments as an EOU student, a serviceman in Vietnam and as a Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation leader. It also reflects the efforts of EOU President Dixie Lund and admissions counselor Jackie Grant, plus the heart of retired Eastern President David Gilbert.

Lund never forgot what Gilbert told her in the late-1990s when she headed EOU’s distance education program.

“Right before he (Gilbert) retired he told me, ‘One of the best things you could do would be to get Michael to graduate,”’ Lund said.

Gilbert’s interest in Farrow stems back to the early 1970s when he was a science professor at EOU. Farrow attended Gilbert’s classes.

“He was one of my very best students. He was extremely bright,” said Gilbert, who now lives at Wallowa Lake.

Farrow, who had served as a medical corpsman and medical clinician during the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1970, often talked to Gilbert about his experiences.

Gilbert, impressed with Farrow’s medical background and intellect, soon attempted to get him to pursue a medical career.

“I tried to talk him into going to medical school but doctors who were Native American were extremely rare then,” Gilbert said.

This discouraged Farrow, who took a different career path.

He was close to graduating from EOU in 1974 when he left to become director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, a position he held for 21 years.

He won such respect during his career that Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit appointed Farrow to the John Day/Snake River Resource Advisory Council for the Bureau of Land Management in 1999 and Gov. John Kitzhaber appointed him to Columbia River Gorge Commission in 2002.

Farrow also was called on to testify before Congress and the Oregon Legislature many times on natural and cultural resource preservation.

Farrow was a 1966 graduate of Pendleton High School. He was part Cayuse, Nez Perce, Walla Walla and Wintu Indian.

His Indian name was Wilaatya, a Nez Perce word that means “wind high up.”

Farrow had a unique ability to forge close ties in the non-Native American world while remaining anchored in his culture. For example, he was a devout Catholic while maintaining a strong tie to his Indian religion of Washu, Louella Farrow said.

The way Farrow reached out to non-Indians working at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation reflected his respect for outside cultures.

“He made sure that co-workers who were not tribal members fit in,” Jeremiah Farrow said.

Michael Farrow had a fierce loyalty to the United States and the land and resources of his Native American people.

“He fought for his country (in Vietnam) and his fight for his homeland never stopped,” Louella Farrow said.

Michael Farrow’s time in Vietnam exacted a toll. He suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which heightened his sensitivity to what returning Iraq veterans are going through, Gideon said.

The veteran did not complain about life’s tough times, but a humorous remark once revealed the depth of the hardships he faced.

Jeremiah asked his father if he would consider dying his gray hair black.

“Are you kidding? I earned this gray hair,” Michael Farrow told his son.

Farrow was convinced by Lund to re-enroll at Eastern in 1999 as a distance education student. Illness and family and job responsibilities though prevented him from completing his degree requirements. Farrow was 22 credits short of graduating when he died at age 56 of an illness.

Lund helped make it possible for Farrow to earn a posthumous diploma after getting EOU’s faculty senate to create guidelines for the awarding of such a degree. None were in place, indicating that Eastern had probably never awarded a posthumous degree before.

Farrow met the guidelines established by the faculty senate, setting the stage for Saturday’s emotional degree presentation.

Gideon Farrow felt the presence of his father at EOU’s commencement.

“It was uplifting knowing he was here today, knowing he was here in spirit,” Gideon said.

“He would have been very honored.”

Jeremiah and Gideon Farrow also felt honored.

“It (the degree presentation) made us proud to be his sons,” Jeremiah said.