MOSES LAKE — When LeAnne Parton steps down as executive director of the Big Bend Community College Foundation at the end of August, she’ll do it with her head held high.

“Serving as Executive Director of the BBCC Foundation has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life,” Parton wrote in an announcement from the college. “I have had the privilege of working alongside incredible faculty, staff, board members, volunteers, community partners, and generous donors who all share a common belief – that education has the power to change lives. Every scholarship awarded represents a student whose future has been forever impacted, and I am incredibly grateful to have played a small part in that journey."

Parton has headed up the Big Bend Community College Foundation for 14 years, and in that time the Foundation’s ability to help students has grown enormously.

“In the 2012-13 academic year, the Foundation awarded scholarships to 123 students totaling $132,619,” BBCC officials wrote in an announcement of Parton’s retirement. “By the 2025-26 academic year, that number had grown to 350 students totaling more than $619,000, providing life-changing educational opportunities to hundreds of students each year.”

Parton, who grew up in Moses Lake, is a BBCC alumna herself, and later graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in business administration, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives. Before taking the reins at the Foundation, she served as the administrator of Moses Lake Christian Academy. During her tenure at that job, Parton said she oversaw significant growth. “I grew that from 114 students (in 2002),” she said. “When I left (in 2009) there were 305.”

She was impelled to take the job with the Foundation by a desire to see students succeed, Parton said.

“I have been incredibly blessed in my own life, and I wanted other people to have the same opportunities,” she said. “That was the starting point for me, (asking) how can we make this better for them?”

But she hadn’t done all of this alone, she hastened to say. 

“This was never a one-person show,” she wrote in the BBCC announcement. “Everything we accomplished was the result of an extraordinary team effort. I have been blessed with an exceptional Foundation staff whose dedication, passion, and commitment made every success possible. They worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure our students and donors received the very best experience."

She also credited BBCC presidents past and present, and, most of all, the donors who keep the Foundation’s work going.

“Our donors are truly the heart of this organization,” she wrote. “Their generosity has opened doors for thousands of students, and I have witnessed firsthand the incredible difference they make in changing lives. It has been an honor to build relationships with so many individuals and families who believe so deeply in the value of education."

However, Parton isn’t retiring completely. She and her husband manage a number of commercial and short-term rentals that need to be taken care of, and the Partons recently welcomed their first grandchild.

Stepping into her shoes will be Wendi Stark, who has served as Parton’s assistant director for two years. Stark will hit the ground running, Parton said.

“We’ve put (the Foundation) on a great trajectory for Wendi when she takes over,” she said. The work is going to continue … I think we did a good job in succession planning. It makes a difference.”

    Big Bend Community College Foundation Executive Director LeAnne Parton (right) and Workforce Education Services Benefits Navigator Tara White (middle) accept a check for the Foundation from Columbia Basin Foundation Director Corinne Isaak (left) in 2024.
  

    BBCC Foundation Assistant Director Wendi Stark (left) will take over from Executive Director LeAnne Parton when Parton retires Aug. 31.