If you think the name“Fluff ”LeCoque belongs to a Las Vegas showgirl, you’re right.
[ WHO DUNNIT?] At 2 a.m. every weekday, Nick DiMartino, ’69, sits in front of his computer, coffee in hand, conjuring up a new mystery set at the UW. DiMartino, who has spent almost 50 years working on campus, has written 17 mysteries, nearly all of them set on campus or in the University District. “You know what they say: ‘Write what you know’,” he says. Padelford Hall is the setting for his most recent book: “The Professor’s Wife.” Check out “Nick’s Picks” at the University Book Store’s HUB branch.
CORPS S T RENGTH FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, THE UW WAS RANKED NO. 1 FOR PRODUCING THE MOST PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS AMONG LARGE UNIVERSITIES, WITH 72 HUSKIES CURRENTLY SERVING MANKIND ALL AROUND THE WORLD.
S BUR EAU LAS VEG AS NEW
After graduating from the UW with a degree in drama, LeCoque, ’45, became a Las Vegas entertainment legend and one of the best-known showgirls in U.S. history. Two years after earning her diploma, she earned $35 a week to dance in Liberace’s show at the Riviera. In 1958, she went on to perform in Lido de Paris at the just-opened Thunderbird Hotel, the first topless show ever in Sin City. LeCoque, dubbed “Miss Thunderbird,” was called the show’s most “bankable star.” LeCoque worked with the likes of Danny Kaye, Maurice Chevalier, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jimmy Durante.
HAIL THE ‘HUSKY 100’
Join us in saluting 100 undergraduate and graduate students who are being honored for embodying the Husky Experience through volunteer work, student clubs, internships, study abroad and leadership. Want to be inspired? Go online and meet all 100. washington.edu/studentlife/husky100/
LulyLivery ✈
When Alaska Airlines wanted to spiff up its uniforms
as part of updating its brand, it turned to renowned fashion designer Luly Yang. So, for the past couple of months, Yang has been busy interviewing pilots, flight attendants and other crew members in her quest to design new uniforms for Alaska and Horizon Air’s entire workforce. Yang, ’90, of course, has built a reputation for her couture bridal gowns, cocktail attire and evening gowns over the past 15 years, and she couldn’t be more excited about delving into this frontier. “Alaska is my hometown airline,” says Yang, who is focusing on everything from material to buttons to minute details as Kelsey Schmidt, a Ph.D. and R.D. student in nutritional she strives to understand the very sciences, is also Miss Washington USA. A fourth-genfabric of the airline. eration Japanese American, Schmidt was teased as a
Thinking Cap
young girl for being chubby. Her journey to the top may present an obstacle; she is afraid of heights.
At the age of 43, she hung up her dancing shoes and sashayed into management. She auditioned thousands of dancers for epic shows such as Jubilee and Hallelujah Hollywood. Born in Butte, Mont., the daughter of a copper miner, the grand dame of Las Vegas entertainment had her final encore on Dec. 10 when she died in Las Vegas at the age of 92.
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