New Scholarship Honors Longtime Whitman Advocates John Bogley ’85 & Shauna Lilly Bogley ’83

When Jim Dow ’71 and Natalie Meacham invited John Bogley ’85 to meet them for coffee on the Whitman College campus, John figured they just wanted to catch up with an old friend. After all, he and Jim had worked together to recruit students to Whitman for three decades—alongside John’s wife, Shauna Lilly Bogley ’83, for four years—when John directed the Office of Admission and Jim was an Alumni Admission Volunteer.

Instead, the couple surprised him by announcing that they were establishing the John and Shauna Lilly Bogley Scholarship Endowment to honor the impact John’s and Shauna’s many years of service have had on Whitman College.

“I was stunned and deeply appreciative,” John says. “Jim and Natalie have been such tremendous philanthropists at Whitman, and to have a scholarship with our names on it that is trying to increase access to the life-shaping experience that Whitman provides is such a thrill.”

Champions for Whitman

John, who majored in History, and Shauna, a Theater major, have nothing but fond memories of their time at Whitman. John served as an Admission volunteer, was a member of the Wind Ensemble and played intramural sports, while Shauna was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and appeared in 16 theater productions. 

“The rigor of your classes and living in Walla Walla combine to make for an intense experience,” Shauna says. “Walla Walla itself is such a special place, and everybody creates a life for themselves here. You form really strong bonds with the faculty and students.”

Both Shauna and John spent much of their professional careers working for Whitman. Shauna joined the Admission team in 1984. A year later, she opened an Admission office in Seattle, where she focused on recruiting students in the region. She served in that role for four years before starting a career in theater. 

John worked for the Office of Admission for three years after graduating. He briefly left—a period he jokingly refers to as “the dark years”—before returning in 1994. He was named Dean of Admission and Financial Aid in 1996 and Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations in 2003, serving in that role until 2019. While leading Development and Alumni Relations, John worked with a group of committed alumni to help found the W Club and led the highly successful Now Is the Time campaign. 

“John always had the big picture in mind,” Jim says. “One of his many talents was he could show you where in the picture your gift fit in and, with a little adjustment, how it could contribute even more.”

The Bogley Scholarship will go toward merit awards that can enhance incoming students’ financial aid offers and open the door to a Whitman education.

Changing Lives

Today, John is Vice President of Philanthropy and Engagement at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. He says that was the one job for which he would leave Whitman.

“Life intervened, and when this position in my hometown came open, it was an opportunity for me to be a good son and help my parents through their last years,” he says.

John now splits his time between Michigan and Walla Walla, where Shauna volunteers and remains active in the local theater scene. They raised their three children—Kathryn ’15, James ’20 and Mark—on the Whitman campus and remain active with the college. Shauna has served as an advisor to Kappa Alpha Theta and Class Representative for fundraising, and John recently joined his class reunion committee. 

John says he graduated from Whitman with “the intellectual self-confidence to believe that [he] could do good things.” He hopes the scholarship named in his and Shauna’s honor will help other students feel the same.

“I want people to come out of Whitman with the tools to be good at their work, great at their family and difference-makers in their community,” he says. “I hope this scholarship makes it possible for people to change the world.”