Winners of the Boeing Spell Off, who will represent the company at the fifth annual Seattle Times Corporate Bee for Literacy. 

Spellbound


No need to Bee prepared

   By Mark Ziegler
   Boeing News

  
   Competitors in the Boeing Spell Off
   prepared for last Monday's event in
   various ways.

One man feasted on carbohydrates. A woman loaded her "photographic" memory. Another speller took a different tack -- he didn't prepare at all.

Yet, that lack of study time couldn't keep David Nelson, a specialist engineer from Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, from winning the Spell Off. Roy Bondurant, a cable wager at Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, placed second.

Nelson and Bondurant thereby qualified for the Boeing spelling team. They, joined by a Boeing executive, will compete in the Seattle Times Corporate Bee for Literacy next Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel.

Sarah Martin, a training coordinator for Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, finished third and will serve as the team's alternate.

Money raised by the Corporate Bee benefits Washington Literacy, a non-profit agency dedicated to eliminating illiteracy.

Most of the Boeing Spell Off's nearly 100 participants, double last year's attendance, were jovial, but nervous at the event's outset. Some, such as Elaine Hossom, a cost accountant at Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, were out of practice, but still determined to recapture past glory.

"This is the first time since I won in ninth grade, and that was some time ago!" said Hossom, guessing she'd last until the fifth round. "I have a photographic memory. Hopefully, the film's in today."

An editor from Boeing Support Services, Paul Brase, thought the supply of savory snacks might provide a nutritional edge.

"I'm carbo-loading," he said while enjoying some fresh fruit, crackers and cheese.

Sherry Stout, a writer for Boeing Support Services, foresaw a quick exit.

"I'll be out of here in ample time to get to the fitness center before they close," she said.

Alas, Hossom, Brase and Stout each made a decent showing, Hossom succumbing to "obeisant" (humbly respectful) in round three and Brase to "rudenture" (decorative architectural cabling) in the fourth. Stout may have even missed her workout, since she lasted until "cryophorus" (an instrument that illustrates the freezing of water by its own evaporation) in round six.

"I had never heard of that word before," Hossom said later. "I still don't know the word. I think I heard an 'x' in there somewhere."

Winner David Nelson, a member of last year's Boeing team that ultimately won the Corporate Bee, finished off the field with "thanatophidia" (venomous snakes) and "therapeutant" (a healing or curative agent or medicine).

"Every day, I wrote, 'practice spelling,' then I never did it," Nelson confided. "I thought last year (second place) was luck, so I figured there was not a chance to make it this year. But, here I am."

Summed up alternate Martin: "We came, we saw, we spelled."

Related follow-up article:

Spellers take second; no sweat