Loretta Kepler Scholarship

Loretta was born on April 26, 1955 in Cody, Wyoming, the only child of Charles and Ursula Kepler. Loretta was a charming and gifted person who excelled in her academic and professional life. She attended the University of Wyoming, graduating with a B.S. in zoology, then followed that with the obvious choice of entering the University of Wyoming College of Law from which she earned a J.D. in 1981. Loretta practiced law with her father in Cody for several years. Wanting to further specialize in her legal career, she earned an LL.M. in tax law from New York University in 1985, after which she moved to Seattle, Washington. Loretta worked at the law firm of Perkins Coie, where she specialized in ERISA, benefits, and pension plans. Later she accepted a consulting position with Foster-Higgins which subsequently merged with the William M. Mercer consulting firm. In 1999, Loretta found her professional home at The Boeing Company. She thrived on her work there as a benefits attorney. Loretta’s work at Boeing even took her to the United State Supreme Court. Naturally she and Boeing were victorious. Afterward, Loretta never tired of saying, “I was THAT close to Ruth Bader Ginsburg!” Loretta loved the complexities and challenges of her work. In 1985, she had married Daniel Illich. She and Dan were friends from their high school days in Cody. Loretta and Dan blindly lived through nearly all of their twenties not realizing that they should be married to each other. Finally, on a lovely August day in Seattle’s Freeway Park, Dan proposed to Loretta. She recklessly accepted the proposal, and they were married late in 1985. It seemed at the time like the world could have easily seen what a special person Loretta was, but she had more to say on that.