Washington State Skill Center Association

Originally, Hildahl said he wanted to be a Lutheran minister and attend Pacific Lutheran University, but his high school counselor told him he would not be able to afford the private university. Instead, Hildahl decided to attend Washington State University, but when he did so he said he had no clue what he wanted to do with his life.

The summer before his freshman year of college he said he was at an All You Can Eat Night at a Pizza Hut when a professor asked Hildahl what he had planned for a major. At the time, Hildahl said he was thinking about a business-related degree.

It was from this professor that he learned about the hospitality business management program.

Hildahl decided to enroll in a hospitality course.

“I take this course and I absolutely fall in love with it,” Hildahl said.

During college, the first restaurant Hildahl worked at was Clinkerdagger in Spokane, which was owned by Restaurants Unlimited.

His plan for after college was to be head of operations for a food and beverage company, but Restaurants Unlimited recruited him as its executive chef in 1976.

“I didn’t realize I had this ability,” Hildahl said. “I didn’t want to be a cook.”

He became inspired to teach by his two young children.

After going through a divorce, Hildahl said when he had his kids he thought they would always want to go out to eat, so he rarely cooked.

His daughter, at the age of 5, asked why if he was a chef he didn’t cook at home, and she asked to cook dinner with him.

Hildahl said he took the opportunity to teach his kids about cooking with fresh, local ingredients. This way they would understand about the people who farmed the food, the flavor components and the time needed to prepare meals.

“It’s the first lesson I had in terms of what I wanted to teach,” he said. “Cooking is an event. It’s not a moment in time to eat and provide nutrients.”

In 1984, Hildahl became director for culinary arts and hospitality management at Skagit Valley College, and his journey as a teacher had officially begun.

Some of his most memorable include being a co-owner of Flounder Bay Café in Anacortes for seven years.

“Those seven (years) were the most inspiring,” Hildahl said.

He said he enjoyed having the opportunity to make decisions and impact customers. The restaurant became profitable in its fourth year.

“Every season had its moments. It was fun, hard,” he said. “When you own a restaurant you live it. It’s your life.”

Hildahl said when thinking back to his time as director of the Skagit Valley College program, he always goes back to time spent in McIntyre Hall, where he helped develop the hospitality side and design the kitchen.

During his tenure, the culinary students at the college would cater events at McIntyre Hall.

“Back when I was there that was a big part of what we did,” Hildahl said. “We just had so much fun taking that menu and having students in culinary experience it.”

It was during this time that he learned a lesson from a student that he would carry with him for the remainder of his teaching career.

During one of the many catered events, a Japanese exchange student named Niko who was working with the catering team told Hildahl that she had observed that Americans are lazy, and while they work at the beginning they don’t want to work at the end.

Hildahl said this was probably due to his energy also waning at the end of the night. He said Niko explained that in Japan people are expected to have the same energy throughout the entire event, and that finishing strong is important.

Hildahl said what Niko said really hit home, and at the end of the event he put on some music by the rock group AC/DC, turned it up loud and watched the energy level pick up.

“I made it kind of a mission of my own to teach ending strong and ending in beauty,” he said. “Since that night I have been teaching that value.”

Hildahl said this applies to everything from preparing a meal to cleaning up afterward.

Hildahl has been able to impact students outside the Skagit Valley.

He helped accredit program in other countries, including Sweden, Japan and the Czech Republic. While on those trips, he took the time to experience the food and culture.

“I was able to experience the world,” Hildahl said. “I don’t think I would have been able to experience that without what the college provided.”

He said during his time at the college he was also asked to help design the kitchen at the Northwest Career and Technical Academy.

“I said absolutely,” he said.

Hildahl also spent about eight years working as director of education for the Washington Restaurant Association in Olympia.

There, he was able to help member restaurants succeed.

“I loved that job,” he said.

Hildahl left that job when he got tired of the drive, then began looking what would come next for him.

While grocery shopping, Hildahl said he ran into Northwest Career and Technical Academy Director Doug Walker.

Hildahl learned that the academy’s culinary program was having issues and may be closing.

Hildahl said he couldn’t let that happen, and agreed to come on board for one year to help kick-start the program.

“I really believe in this,” he said.

What was meant to be one year turned into eight, and during that time Hildahl helped develop the program and showcased it to the community.

Diane Smith of the Washington State University Skagit

County Extension worked with Hildahl on the Harvest for Healthy Kids program in which culinary students make healthy snacks for Head Start students using produce from Viva Farms.

Smith said Hildahl was a champion for promoting healthy cooking, and therefore healthy eating.

“That’s what made this so successful,” she said. “He saw the value in it and made sure it has happened year after year.”

Hildahl said teaching high school students at the Northwest Career and Technical Academy was different than anything he had done.

He said while he wasn’t prepared for becoming a parental figure to so many young students he feels he was able to keep some from going down the wrong path.

“We have touched lives in a lot of positive ways,” he said.

Even in his final years of teaching, Hildahl’s lessons remained strong.

Northwest Career and Technical Academy student Colin Burns said Hildahl taught the class how to prepare food, about nutritional value and to be OK with making last-minute adjustments.

“He’s an amazing teacher and I couldn’t ask for a better one,” Burns said.

Fellow academy student Jamie Credle agreed.

“It was amazing,” he said of his experience with Hildahl. “He’s by far the best teacher I’ve ever had.”

Credle said there was one lesson that will stick with him forever — always end in beauty.