Brushes With Fame
Kittitas County’s Celebrity Connections
Kittitas County boasts a wealth of people with name recognition across the region, the country and in some cases the world. Here are just a few.
William Craven
Washington state’s first African American mayor
Biographical Info
William Craven (b. 1938) was born and raised in Roslyn. He became Washington’s first black mayor on June 10, 1975, as an appointee the city council selected to fill the vacancy. Shortly thereafter Craven was elected with 272 votes to the 33 his closest competitor garnered. He served until 1980. Craven made his living as a maintenance man for the school district and also moonlighted as a caretaker-gravedigger-sexton for one of Roslyn’s cemeteries. Today at the age of 76 he is retired and still living in Roslyn. In this photo Craven just finished a day volunteering to clean up the Roslyn City Cemetery at the site where his son Tom and wife Virginia rest.
Know of any Celebrity Connections to Kittitas County that we may have missed? Write us!