Class of 1973 - St. Olaf College
Transcription
Class of 1973 - St. Olaf College
S t. Ol af College Fall 2012 newslet ter This Issue • Greeting • Reunion Weekend Memo • Class News Class of 1973 Events From Boston to Northfield to San Francisco to London, Oles gather all the time. Be sure to take part in one of these gatherings. With events as diverse as faculty presentations, ethnic dinners, happy hours, or lefse making events, we work to provide something of interest to everyone. Check out the events page for other Alumni and Parent events around the country: stolaf.edu/alumni/events • Passages Online Directory • Events Connect with a network of 30,000 Oles! • Closing • Update your records • Find old roommates, classmates and friends • Search for Oles in your same profession or geographical location • Submit news of your life • Define your own username and password • Go to: stolaf.edu/alumni (and click on “online directory”) St. Olaf on the Web Did you know that you can participate in the life of St. Olaf, even when you aren’t able to make it back to “the Hill?” Correspondent Judith Beck ’73 Brought to you by the St. Olaf Broadcast Media Department, our multimedia website offers many events in streaming media form. Just follow the “Video On Demand” link on the St. Olaf home page at stolaf.edu. There you will find a variety of St. Olaf events for viewing at any time. Chapel services, concerts, recitals, athletic events and academic presentations...all can be found on our multimedia website. Did you miss the live streaming broadcast of an event? -- You are even able to search for and view archived presentations. With new service upgrades that include two additional cameras in Boe Chapel, along with enhanced audio/video quality in live and archived streams, St. Olaf strives to offer the best experience possible for online visitors. Take advantage of our streaming services today. It’s the next best thing to being there. Alumni and Parent Relations | St. Olaf College 1520 St. Olaf Avenue | Northfield, MN 55057 | 888-865-6537 | 507-786-3028 | alum-office@stolaf.edu | stolaf.edu/alumni Dear Class of 1973, We are anticipating the class reunion weekend for the Class of 1973 – forty years! The planning committee is working to make this a special event. The following memo about reunion weekend comes from the alumni office: Save the Dates for Reunion Weekend 2013! We can’t wait to see you on the Hill for Reunion Weekend 2013 (Friday, May 31st to Sunday, June 2nd)! Your class reunion committee is already hard at work planning an enticing schedule of events for you and your classmates. Don’t miss the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones at your class gatherings on Friday night and on Saturday. Find out what has changed on campus and what has stayed the same. With an entertainment tent along the Cannon River, an alumni and family bazaar, faculty reception, meals, art, alumni college, and ghost stories, Reunion Weekend will deliver for all ages! Please look for more information about Reunion Weekend in the coming weeks in the mail and on the Alumni website (http://www.stolaf.edu/alumni/reunion). In the meantime, mark your calendars for your return to the Hill! The newsletter distribution is changing this year – you’ll be reading this newsletter online, not printed on paper. If someone wants a print copy from St Olaf, just let the alumni office know. St. Olaf is making the change and now class news notes will be posted on line, which will save the time and cost of the mailings. Also it is anticipated the notes can be searched, and that you’ll be able to call up news for friends and family in other classes. CLASS NEWS Here are updates from the class of 1973: Tom Duncan writes, for my 61st birthday I climbed down and out of the Grand Canyon in a day. North Rim to Phantom Ranch and up and out on the South Rim. There was majesty throughout and exhilaration to have made the journey in 113 degree heat at times. I hope to do this with my five grandsons someday. See you for our 40th reunion in 2013! 2 Donna Hannula Clementi writes: I graduated in May with a PhD in Education and Leadership. I am currently teaching a world language methods course at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. I also work as a consultant to world language programs with a focus on curriculum design, instruction and assessment strategies. I retired after 33 years teaching French at Appleton West High School, Wis, and 38 years teaching French and Second Language Methodologies at Concordia Language Villages, Minn. Rolf Foster-Jorgensen writes while on a business trip in Bangalore, India: I am in India providing training in internal consultative skills for some of my long-standing major consulting clients (this time IBM). I come here about twice a year, and will do consulting in Paris on the way home, and in Tokyo next month. I enjoy the travel and energizing consulting/training work I’ve been doing now for 30 years through companies Karen Foster-Jorgesen and I own. Karen does similar work training child care center directors on management and finance through online and face-to-face offerings. Our big news is that Karen and I moved to the Canadian Rockies (I have dual US and Canadian citizenship) in December 2011, just to live in the mountains after having lived on the ocean in Washington State for twelve years. We are trying condo living after selling the beach home as empty nesters. We’re in Canmore, Alberta, right by Banff, Lake Louise, and only 75 minutes from the Calgary airport. I’m playing tympani (50 years now) in bands and orchestras as time permits. Our son, Hans, and his wife Mary are expecting our first grandchild next April. Hans flies KC135 refueling jets as a US Air Force Captain (USAF Academy grad) stationed in Spokane, Wash., and Mary is taking a break from applying her Gonzaga MBA and accounting degrees with the US Social Security Administration wherever Hans gets stationed. Our son, Lars, earned his BFA from PLU and is now a professional actor and sound designer, currently performing in the Buddy Holly Story musical near Seattle. He was also in a professional improv troupe, using his ten year DJ business to pay the bills while waiting for his girlfriend, Becca, to graduate from PLU next May. Tom Sibley writes: It is hard to believe that my students are 40 years younger than me, but I’m sure it isn’t hard for them to believe it! I still love teaching and working with students, although this year I am enjoying my fourth (and final) sabbatical. I’m rewriting my geometry textbook at Virginia Tech, while taking time for hiking in the beautiful mountains and making music regularly through a church choir, a community chorus and playing my flute. I get to play grandpa with my three grandchildren whenever my wife and I can get out to California. Peace. Susan Harrington, Marshfield, Wisconsin, writes: I retired from teaching High School Chemistry in June 2010 and have been busy teaching at the collegiate level since then. This is my first semester teaching at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. I am teaching CHEM 100, Chemistry and the 3 Citizen, which looks at the environmental issues relating to Chemistry. I am also teaching my 4th semester at The University of Wisconsin College in Marshfield. I have been teaching Chemistry and some Developmental Mathematics for students who need more math before Algebra for UWC Marshfield. Heidi Dorfmeister writes: I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 5 years ago. Since then I have had many ups and downs. Along the way I learned some things that I would be happy to share with anyone else who has this neurological disease. I have retired from Discoveries for Children Montessori in St. Louis Park, Minn. Greg Hughes writes from the Pacific Northwest on the Kitsap peninsula near Seattle, Washington: We have three great Labrador retrievers to enjoy it with us. Our children are grown, with our youngest in Poitiers, France for a semester away at the University of Oregon – go Ducks! Our daughter is working in San Francisco after graduating from Northern Arizona University in 2011. My oldest daughter has given me two wonderful grandchildren, a girl and boy, ages 13 and 11. They live in Gilbert, Arizona. I am an airline pilot with USAirways, formally America West airline since 1985. And very possibly the “New American Airlines!” I was given an extra 5 years to work when they passed the new age for airline pilots to 65. I’m not sure what I would be doing now without it. I feel very lucky in that respect and I love what I do. I’m actively pursuing flying helicopters for an active “retirement job.” Anyone out there know a helicopter operator in the Pacific Northwest who needs a soon to be retired airline pilot looking for a new profession in helicopters? I have the qualifications, just need the contacts. I have been lucky enough to travel often outside of my job to Europe. I gravitate towards Norway, Germany and France as we have had exchange students from there and have become very attached to them as well as their parents. What an extended family!! We now have a Swiss girl with us for the school year. She speaks German Swiss so I’m working hard to try and keep up with my “ein bisschen Deutch.” I think her English is so good that she can speak some German with me. Charlene Behrend Torkelson writes from the Twin Cities: This summer was time to reconnect with St. Olaf when my former roommate Lynn Argetsinger asked if I would join her on the 2013 reunion committee. It has been great calling, emailing and speaking with classmates from St. Olaf. After our committee meeting on campus in September, I have every confidence our reunion should be a fabulous time. I hope everyone puts that weekend on their calendar and hope to see many old friends at the reunion next year! In addition to my position with the Minnesota Professional Firefighters, I am an author and ballroom dance instructor. I’ve been busy teaching ballroom dancing in Golden Valley, Minn. I teach writing classes for Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie Community Education programs. I 4 have a mystery series with my latest book being eighth in the series. I also write for several magazines and continue to promote my published fitness book, Get Fit While You Sit. This week I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary. Although my husband, Tim, and I are waiting for the “empty nest” stage to begin, we have two sons still at home. Oldest son, Beau, was a Luther College student before coming back home. He teaches ballroom dancing at the Arthur Murray St. Paul Studio along with a large staff of St. Olaf alums. Our daughter, Breanna, is a student at Fresno State, and our youngest son, Luke, is a student at McNally Smith College of Music. Douglas W. Hanto, MD, PhD writes from Boston, Mass.: I am leaving my position as Chief of the Division of Transplantation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lewis Thomas Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School to become the Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis beginning Dec. 1. I have been in my current position for 11 years and have had an active practice in liver and kidney transplantation and non-transplant liver surgery. I have been involved in bench laboratory research looking at the ability of low dose carbon monoxide to block preservation injury after transplantation and in a large number of clinical trials of new immunosuppressive drugs; I have been involved in the education of medical students, residents, and fellows for over 3 decades; and I have written about a host of ethical issues around transplantation and organ donation. It has been a full plate for 27 years since completing my surgery training and fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 1985. I have three children Kristen, Lindsay, and John who are all happily married and working, and live in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Hillsborough, NC respectively. I have 4 grandchildren and travel to see them frequently. I have one sister who became a nurse at age 59 and now works on an Indian reservation in northwestern Arizona. She has two college-aged children, Jennifer and Andrew. By the time you read this I will be engaged to Dr. Mary E. Klingensmith who is the Mary Culver Professor of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and a general surgeon and surgeon educator. She has two children, Tucker and Tenley, who are 10 and 8 years old respectively. I am looking forward to being a Dad of young kids again while at the same time being a Dad to my grown kids and a Grandfather to my grandkids. Pretty wild but all exciting and will definitely keep me young and on my toes. My outside interests besides surgery include long distance running, golf, skiing, backpacking, (anything outdoors), and reading fiction. I am working on my first novel that I hope to have completed in a year (a medical thriller). It starts out at St. Olaf and involves two Oles. I have very fond memories of my time at St. Olaf and look forward to being back in the midwest and reconnecting with St. Olaf in a more meaningful way. I have contributed to the new Science Center in honor of my parents, and look forward to the time when I can to be more involved. 5 Charlie Medlin writes that he lives in Webb Lake, Wis. during the summer and in Sun City, Ariz. in the winter. Charlie was the president of Nordic Interiors for 10 years, before becoming a fire fighter/paramedic and the union president for Burnsville, Minn. Charlie writes: I was able to retire when I reached 50. Over Christmas and the New Year of 1999, I went to London with my family, where we were near Big Ben. After 55, I had a stroke, 8 years ago, which means that it is hard to walk without a cane, and my speaking abilities have gone down. Brent Mutsch writes from Dubai where he is serving as the Superintendent of the American School of Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as of July 1, 2012: After five wonderful years of service as superintendent of the Singapore American School (SAS), I’ve assumed what I anticipate to be my last overseas posting as superintendent of the American School of Dubai (ASD). As Dubai aspires to be the “Singapore of the Middle East,” there are interesting parallels to this particular professional assignment. ASD is on much smaller scale than SAS with a student enrollment in KG1-12th grade of 1665 as compared to 3890. However, the challenges remain the same – create transformational learning experiences for students, regardless of the tenure of the stay, that enable students to see their world through a more global lens and empower them to be contributors to the world in ways that make a difference. This intersection between intellectual and emotional vitality, sometimes described as the balance between “matters of the head and matters of the heart” represents one of the essential opportunities for developing the next generation of leaders within schools that serve an international population. The American School of Dubai has 63 different countries represented in our student body. I was in a first grade class this past week with 18 students representing 12 different countries. When you learn with and from peers from across the world, it gives a student the opportunity to develop a much broader view of the world than I had growing up in a small town in Minnesota. I often wish I could make it back for a reunion; however, they are held at the time of the end-of-theyear hectic pace. Maybe I’ll be able to attend the 50th. I continue to remain in contact with Doug Sill. Brent Berry, Mary Bratsch Dwyer and I see each other with some degree of regularity in the summer. Paul Chmelik and I were recently colleagues when I was in Asia as he’s currently the head of the International School of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). However, he will be relocating to become the head of the American Embassy School in New Delhi in August 2013, and he and I will once again be reunited as both of our schools will be competing in the same athletic/activity league. Small world indeed! Bob Forsyth writes: I think all of us had a great experience at Olaf during “Heathstock,” co-ed dorms and the tragic 5 dead in Ohio years. It was a time of genuine people, free love, Nixon, veal birds and panty raids. Somewhere in it all we grew as humans and now reflect back. It now is 40 years since we left guaranteed cost of $2900...it went so fast. Here is the reflection of what is happening in my life....I will say the life experience has been a good 6 ride. I am finishing up my 40 years in the insurance biz with my talented son beginning in my footsteps and my first grandchild born this June. What a great experience it has been seeing another being beginning her life growing in a new world that maybe our class of ’73 helped shape in some fashion. I really do not want to list of my life accomplishments other than to look back and feel it was a good flight and great destination. I thank God everyday for the gifts I received and the knowledge and friendship I gained from my classmates...many that I still see today. Life is good!! Thank you everyone and Happy 40th! Scott Peterson writes from Ham Lake Minnesota: Vickie and I moved to Ham Lake, Minn. from Phoenix three years ago. I am with US Bank leading projects in the retail banking systems development group. We’re enjoying being back in the Twin Cities with family and friends after an 8year hiatus to Atlanta and Arizona. Linda Larson Berger continues her work at St. Olaf as Professor of Music and lead professor for music education. It may just be the best job in the world, considering the amazing students and wonderful colleagues on the Hill. She was able to take a half year sabbatical leave last school year, and traveled with her husband, Larry, to Israel, Europe and various parts of the US in connection with her project. Whenever possible, Linda and Larry enjoy their two grandchildren, Sadie and Cohen (Mark and Jessica Berger ’03), who live nearby, and also spend time with Scott (’08 - now in law school at William Mitchell) and Erik, who is a senior in pre-architecture at Augsburg College. Jackie Turcotte Burkey reports: My husband Mike and I escaped from Texas in 2006 and moved to Brainerd, Minn. where we’ve renovated a home built in 1930. I am so happy to be back in the land of 4 seasons and good dirt that I became a University of MN Extension Master Gardener, so besides doing a lot of gardening, I frequently teach about growing roses up north, wormcomposting, etc. The mayor appointed me to the Park & Recreation Board, I was made president of the Brainerd Garden Club a couple months after I joined (a position my grandpa held back in the 1920’s), I’m in the choir and on the Stewardship board at church, and I serve as secretary for the neighborhood association. Debbie (Johnson) Anderson writes from Austin, Texas: My husband, Urton Anderson ’74 has been a professor at the University of Texas (Dept. of Accounting) since 1984. Our daughter Bryony is in graduate school at the University of Minnesota, and our son Andy is a junior at Augsburg (both born in Texas but those Minnesota roots are showing!). When we drove him back to school this fall we were able to attend the state fair and the renaissance festival – great fun! I did not participate in music at St. Olaf, but find myself being very musical now: I play oboe (resurrected from high school) in my church orchestra, play handbells there also, play guitar (I once got to play with my children’s fiddling group at the Broken Spoke, where Willie Nelson has played), and I also play alto and tenor recorder in a recorder consort group. Playing in a recorder consort is more fun than anything I’ve ever done! I am learning to arrange music for both solo guitar and 7 recorder duets/trios. I love learning something new – learning is a lifetime joy! Neil Douglas-Klotz sends an email response that he is on sabbatical until April 2013, focusing on a personal retreat and further research. A website for his publications and recordings is www.abwoon.com, the website of the Abwoon Resource Center in the USA. This site also contains many articles, podcasts and other information, including Dances of Universal Peace. There is more information about Neil’s work at the Edinburgh Institute For Advanced Learning Research And Education For Conscious Living at www.eial.org. Steve Gangstead writes: 2012 has given me many way cool moments, inter alia: feasting the eyes on Diego Rivera murals at art institutes in Detroit and San Francisco; digging a summer-like St. Pat’s weekend in Door County; toasting the marriage of the elder son of Heidi Dorfmeister and David Irvin in Costa Rica; welcoming artist John August Swanson into my home to see paintings I’ve collected; applauding “The End of the Rainbow” at the Guthrie and “The Normal Heart” at American Conservatory Theater; securing a Global Entry card from U.S. Customs; reading stories to fourth graders for a fourth year at Emerson Spanish Immersion Center. Travel is my continuing education and in December I’m making a first trip to Vancouver. Das Leben ist gut. Judith Lyon writes: My husband, Ron & I live on Lake Windward in Alpharetta, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. We have two cats. On Feb. 4, 2012, we celebrated my Mother’s 86th birthday in Davenport, Iowa. Last fall I enjoyed visiting with Lowell Pickett at The Dakota in Minneapolis. It’s fun to read the Class Newsletter. If you are traveling through Atlanta, come visit. Rebecca Mitchell Lassen and Melissa Johnson Wannigman celebrated their 60th birthdays together in San Antonio! Donald Brasted-Maki writes: For those few who might remember me at St. Olaf, I can only say that that person must have been my evil twin brother who impersonates me and tries to ruin my reputation. After graduating in 1973, I completed a BS in education and taught HS English in Wyoming, Turkey, and Eden Prairie while working on my MA in English, which I completed in 1986. In the late 80s, as a part of the Nicaraguan Solidarity Committee, I fought to change U.S. interventionist foreign policy with no success as the next two decades demonstrate. In 1991, I finally found an otherwise very intelligent woman who agreed to marry me. I was a real “fixer 8 upper” as the saying goes and needed (and still need) even more work than she anticipated at the time. Fortunately for me, she is a very patient woman. After the wedding, we moved to Philadelphia where I completed a Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature and Critical Theory at Temple University. I am still married to her after 20 years, and the father of two extraordinary daughters. We all live in Oregon where I teach writing at Oregon State University and Lane Community College. Marilyn Espe-Sherwindt writes: It’s hard to believe that once I headed off to grad school at Ohio State, I’ve been pretty much here in Ohio ever since. (But I still watch Christmas at St. Olaf every year on PBS!) I’m the director of the Family Child Learning Center (a collaboration between Akron Children’s Hospital and Kent State University). Our focus is children birth to five with disabilities and their families – we provide services, train future professionals, do research, and provide information/education to families and professionals across the state. I love this field! For the last 20 years, I’ve also been a consultant to the early intervention system in Portugal, which has led to connections and friendships with other colleagues across Europe – and that’s how I finally got to Norway in 2008! My husband Mark is a Lutheran pastor and we have two children, who chose Northeastern University in Boston (son) and Ohio State University (daughter) over St. Olaf! Our big trip this year was to visit our son – we spent two weeks in Turkey, Georgia and finally Armenia, where he was finishing up his two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I actually did post some pix on Facebook from that trip! Dave McCarthy retired in 2010 after working 30 years for Northwest/Delta Airlines as a pilot. He is currently leading mission trips to Haiti for Healing Haiti and has been there 6 times this past year. He resides in the Twin Cities with his wife Pam Salberg McCarthy. This writer knows that Dave and Pam can be seen attending great theater in the Twin Cities, as they are Ordway and Broadway series subscribers and thespians. Ken Oberg writes that he will miss the 40th reunion as our daughter (Maggie ’74)’s wedding is the same day. Ken writes about his roommate, Dave Braun. Ken drove up for the grand opening of his newest United Farmers Cooperative shuttle facility late this summer. This grand opening was attended by a crowd of thousands for this occasion. Dave and other co-op board members anticipated a couple of years ago that the Mississippi river might not always be a reliable means of getting Minnesota grain to market, due to low water levels. They anticipated what ultimately occurred this summer. What they accomplished was to extend a new rail line to their property and also created a two mile loop. This loop would allow them to load a 120 car rail train in ten hours and send it to the west coast. They also extended a gas pipeline to the facility so they could dry up to 10,000 bushels per hour. This also needed financing and an investment partner. They were very successful on all aspects and have already been shipping 9 grain out of this facility. The 7 million bushel facility is full and functional. The equipment is enormous with massive conveyors running in four directions. Photos were previously viewable on their website, www.ufcmn.com. I think some of the photos might be back up on the site by the time this gets published. I thought that accomplishment to be newsworthy. Ann Highum writes: My big news is that I retired from Luther College last May, after 21 years as the VP for Student Life. My husband retired late last year, and we have basically been “on the go” ever since. We had a chance to go with a wonderful group of 12 people to Namibia and South Africa in June/July 2012, as part of a non-profit effort assisting Lutheran primary and high schools (40% of Namibians are Lutheran, who knew!). We also spent time in the national game preserve, the Namib Desert, and in and around Cape Town. We also get back in Ariz. fairly often to visit friends and family there. And now we have another reason to visit Denver, as our older son and his wife moved there over the summer. We’re both involved in a bit of consulting as well, but in general, loving retirement! See you at the May reunion! PASSAGES Gerald Sutton, of Boone, Iowa, passed away on Dec. 24, 2011. He died from complications of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. He was born on June 24, 1951, in Boone, Iowa. After attending St. Olaf, he attended Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Sutton completed his residency at Christ Hospital and Rush Presbyterian St. Luke Medical Center in Chicago, Ill. He was named Resident of the Year and was the first DO in the history of the hospital to earn this distinction. Gery practiced family and geriatric medicine for 26 years in Claremore, Oklahoma. He loved being a doctor and especially loved taking care of elderly people. He was known as a dedicated, caring physician who was loved by his patients and highly respected by his colleagues. In 2008, he was honored as a Lifetime Member of the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association. He was a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a longtime volunteer at the Neighbor for Neighbor free clinic in North Tulsa. Gery was an accomplished horseman and a marathon runner. He ran the Boston Marathon in 2000, one of several marathons in which he competed. He loved to read history books, follow the Chicago Cubs, the Iowa State Cyclones and the Boone High Toreadors, play chess and spend time with his family. In 2007, Gery returned home to Boone. Gery is survived by his wife, Christine McMahon Sutton of Boone; Dr. Sutton is survived by his five children; Elinor Catherine Sutton, Julianne Olander 10 (Sutton) Morgan and husband Coy, Gerald Shaughnessy Sutton, Patrick John Sutton, Michael McSparren Sutton, and his first wife, Mary Sutton of Tulsa. Jane Stamstad, Bayfield, Wisconsin, musician and student body president 1973-74, died June 26, 2012. EVENTS The Black and Gold Gala fundraising event 2012 was a fun event. Michael and Jane Swenson had a great time at the table with daughter Abby ’08. David Irvin (son Jake ’11), Sue Perkins, Steve Gangstead, Holly Kelly and others gathered at a Class of ’73 table. Roger ’72 and Denny Ring, friends of the class of ’73 were on the dance floor having late night fun. The St. Olaf Alumni and Parent Relations office send along information about this year’s event: Celebrate Black and Gold! Twin Cities Alums! Excited for your reunion and don’t want to wait for June? Here’s your chance to celebrate early! Join us on March 2, 2013 for the 5th Annual Black and Gold Winter Gala at the Hilton Hotel in Downtown Minneapolis. This is a fun and festive way to enjoy an evening of dinner and dancing with your classmates while supporting current students. Put the date on your calendar today! Visit stolaf.edu/alumni/events/gala for details. Opening night at the Jungle Theater brings Oles from the class of 1973 to the theater and connections with the cast and productions. We all are appreciative of the notes from the friends and classmates from 1973. It’s a privilege to serve as your correspondent. I’m writing this on Veteran’s Day, following the national election excitement, All Saints Day, and the World Series. Bruce Springsteen plays tonight in Saint Paul and the first winter snow has arrived. Thanksgiving preparations are underway and we have much to be thankful for. I am especially thankful for the St. Olaf experience and its lifelong gifts and friends. May your Thanksgiving be happy, and 2013 bring you happiness. See you at the 40th reunion. Judith Beck “JB” 11