to see the program for RCHS Outstanding Alumni 2013

RCHS Outstanding Alumni
These people have been honored as Outstanding Alumni of Richland Center High School.
1997
Carletta Moerer Heide, Class of 1967
2000
Connie Winterburg-Shireman, Class of 1965
John Poole, Class of 1966
Ann Walsh-Bradley, Class of 1968
Ron Fruit, Class of 1974
Gail Halink, Class of 1989
Chris Durst, Class of 1990 (posthumous)
Merrill Brunson, Class of 1996
2001
David Thompson, Class of 1965
Jane Nee, Class of 1967
Ben Koelsch, Class of 1977
Jarrett McDonald, Class of 1987
2002
Linda McKee, Class of 1960
Dr. Jerry Fry, Class of 1965
Lynn Breininger-Beasley, Class of 1975
Eugene Dorgan, Class of 1975
Bill Troxel, Class of 1978
Sheila Strang Troxel, Class of 1978
Ken Garden, Jr., Class of 1986
2003
Dr. Richard Edwards, Class of 1948
Dr. Randy Nanstad, Class of 1960
Dr. Barry Beaty, Class of 1962
Charles Anderson, Class of 1966
Dorothy Turner Thompson, Class of 1971
Trinda Strang Wells, Class of 1976
Jeff Hilleshiem, Class of 1985
2004
Roland Richardson, Class of 1965
Rick Unbehaun, Class of 1967
Deb Keller Fontana, Class of 1978
Robert Shoemaker, Class of 1978
Dale Schmidt, Class of 1983
Nick Grob, Class of 1991
Chris Molek, Class of 1996
2005
Rita Keegan, Class of 1952
Dr. Robert Parke, Class of 1965
Erik Olson, Class of 1968
Ed Wells, Class of 1977
Dorothy Breininger, Class of 1981
Brad Anderson, Class of 1985
2006
Wilmer Moser, Class of 1952
Michael Nee, Class of 1965
Bernie Coy, Class of 1967
Norlene Emerson, Class of 1976
Robert Blust, Class of 1978
Angela Durst-Larse, Class of 1991
2007
Allen Unbehaun, Class of 1953
Judy Shireman, Class of 1961
Larry Fowler, Class of 1968
Lorin Walter, Class of 1974
2008
George Durnford, Class of 1941
Larry Jewell, Class of 1966
Sharyn Wisniewski, Class of 1968
Dirk Boelman, Class of 1973
Ariel Ducey, Class of 1989
Brett Smith, Class of 1989
Kaye Voyce, Class of 1989
Andrew Hitt, Class of 1996
2009
Gene Markley, Class of 1952
Dennis Schoville, Class of 1963
Loretta Gillingham McCarthy, Class of 1957
Edith Davis Shannon, Class of 1958
2010
Sherry Schoonover Quamme, Class of 1961
Sheila Taft Fitzgerald, Class of 1964
Dale Lawton, Class of 1966
Darlo Wentz, Class of 1967
Jeremy Clark, Class of 1989
Dundee McNair, Class of 1991
2011
Mary Gies Grimm, Class of 1947
Evan Lance Myers, Class of 1963
Gary Peckham, Class of 1967
Connie Jewell Vlasak, Class of 1986
2012
Ariel Truesdale Ferguson, Class of 1946
Richard Kay, Class of 1949
Mary Holo Adix, Class of 1954
Sarah Fowell, Class of 1983
RICHLAND CENTER HIGH SCHOOL
Outstanding
Alumni Honorees
Karen Brindley Christenson
Class of 1961
2013
Karen was born and lived in Richland Center until she attended the University of
Wisconsin. She has fond memories of roaming the hills, crawling through caves, driving the county roads, eating apples fresh from the orchards, and inventing entertainment with friends, as kids
in small towns do. Her paternal grandmother’s family lived in Richland Center since the 1850’s,
and she is proud of the fact that Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the 19th amendment, which
gave women the right to vote, because her great-grandfather, a state senator, brought the document on the train from Madison to Washington, D.C., arriving before the representative from
Illinois.
At the University Karen majored in English and was active in student government
and her sorority. She spent two summers working in Hyannis, Massachusetts, and while clerking in a toy store, once waited on President John F. Kennedy, who bought a PT 109 model kit.
Because her father believed that a woman should pursue teaching, nursing, or secretarial work,
she earned an M.A. in English Education, but taught for only one year, finding that teaching was
not her talent. She obtained a job at the University of Wisconsin Press to support herself and her
husband, Richard, a medical student, whom she married in 1966.
Karen and Richard moved to Los Angeles following his graduation from medical
school. She worked as an editor for Goodyear Publishing Co., a spinoff of Prentice Hall, while
he did his internship. Their son, Nathan, was born in Los Angeles in 1970. Having a few months
of leisure, the three traveled around Europe in a VW bus.
Upon returning to the U.S. the family moved to Phoenix, where Richard joined the
Indian Health Service, and Karen decided to attend law school, when the time was right. Their
daughter, Rachel, was born in May, 1972, shortly before the family moved to Anchorage, because a doctor was needed at the Alaska Native
Medical Center. Karen still claims that pre-pipeline Alaska was so beautiful that it was impossible to take a bad photograph. She particularly
enjoyed cross country skiing, picking wild berries, and watching moose step over the fence in the family’s backyard. Karen acknowledges that
her Alaska experience may have been enhanced by the certain knowledge that it was just for one year.
From Anchorage the family moved to Nashville for Richard’s training in radiology and Karen’s subsequent entrance into Vanderbilt
Law School on a part-time basis. Upon completion of Richard’s training, he and Karen returned to Wisconsin to be closer to family. They moved
to Milwaukee and Karen transferred to Marquette Law School.
Upon graduation from law school in 1978, Karen joined a private law firm. At that time there were no attorneys working part-time in
law firms and there were few female lawyers. After she left that firm, she practiced law out of her home. When she had volunteered at Legal
Services of Central Tennessee, she decided she was not meant to be a defense attorney, but she found the courtroom both fascinating and
intimidating. Her grandfather had been the Richland County district attorney and it seemed natural to apply for a position in the Milwaukee
County District Attorney’s office.
Karen served as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County for 13 years, prosecuting armed robberies, burglaries, homicides,
complicated white collar crimes, termination of parental rights, child abuse, and sexual assault. She discovered that she loved being in court and
being a prosecutor, helping victims, persuading juries of the credibility of the state’s witnesses and the truth of the state’s case. Pursuing justice.
Her peers awarded her the highest rating, AV.
It is common for prosecutors to seek judicial office. In Wisconsin judges are elected so Karen ran for a judicial vacancy in Milwaukee
County in 1998. It was a contested election, and both candidates spent the better part of a year introducing themselves at festivals, parades,
fish fries, senior center meals, any event where potential voters from one of the 19 municipalities in Milwaukee County might gather. She was
elected and has since been re-elected twice, and has three years remaining on her third term.
Judges in larger Wisconsin counties are required to rotate among various assignments. Karen has served in the juvenile division twice,
the felony division, family division, and has recently moved to a civil-probate calendar. She found it difficult to leave the juvenile division this
time, because she spent three years working to create and preside over Wisconsin’s first Family Drug Treatment Court, to help reunite parents
and children who were removed because the parents’ addictions made the children unsafe.
With retirement approaching, Karen is taking stock, trying to assimilate her experiences and envision what comes next. Every time she
watches the TV program, “Mad Men,” she is reminded of how much things have changed for women during her adult life and how fortunate
she was in not having been born sooner. She acknowledges the tremendous importance of good health and supportive family and is grateful for
the opportunities she has had to make a contribution.
Bob Totten graduated from RCHS in 1966. He was born January 1, 1948 in
R.C. to Bob and Delight Totten and has one wonderful sibling, Connie. Connie is married to Mark Dunn and they both have been active citizens in the R.C. community for
many years. Bob resides in Neenah, WI with the love of his life, wife Sandy (Paulson), a
1967 RCHS graduate. He says that without her love, his life would have seemed meaningless. They celebrated 45 years of marriage this past June 21st.
He has many fond memories of growing up in R.C. His family moved from
Boaz when he was two, and lived on Fourth St., until they moved across town to the top
of Stewart St. on the edge of Cairn’s farm when he was eight. His school years began in
the old West Side School kindergarten building and then was the first afternoon kindergarten student through the west doors of Jefferson School when it opened. His fifth grade
year was also spent in two schools as the first part was in the basement of the old Normal
School and the last part in the new Lincoln School. When the time capsule for Lincoln
School is opened, there will be something in it that he wrote at that time.
His summers were spent playing ball at Krouskop Park, swimming at the pool,
shooting archery, fishing with his dad and by himself, catching bullheads below the dam.
As a family they visited his many aunts, uncles and cousins for family reunions. His falls
were spent hunting the many ridges in the county for squirrels. He says that nothing can erase the wonderful memories of growing up in R.C.
As he entered junior high he became very active in student council, the Baby Hornet, forensics, and sports. In high school he served as
student council treasurer and class president his junior and senior years. He was a multi-letter winner in football, basketball, and baseball. He
was lucky enough to be part of the state baseball team in 1963. Bob also had a paper route (his dad helped a lot), worked at Krouskop’s Lumber
Yard, the park, and Elm Grove Dairy. Most of these high school years were spent with his best friend, Tom Wunnicke, who passed away in 1985.
They could be seen all over town riding their black and silver Hondas.
Bob credits his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles for their influence on his life. Their love and guidance have been very important
to him. He is also grateful to the great teachers he had at the elementary and high school levels.
After graduation Bob attend UW-Platteville where he attained a Bachelor’s degree in education, majoring in history and political science. He put himself through school by working for Steiner Brothers Construction (where he helped build the new library) and the Richland
Foundry.
His first teaching job came in January of 1971 at Mineral Point High School. He graduated on a Sunday and began teaching on Monday.
He taught history and coached freshman and JV football, freshman basketball, junior high track, and varsity baseball. After a year and a half Bob
was hired by the Neenah Joint School District. He taught and coached there from 1972 to June 2003, when he retired. He does continue to coach
three sports, however. Over the years has taught lots of history, written curriculum for the district, and attained a Master’s degree in administration from UW-Oshkosh.
He and Sandy have raised four daughters, Lisa, Julie, Paige, and Molly. They have five grandchildren, Anna, Evan, Kenrick, Miles, and
Gabriella. Bob worked summers at a dairy in Appleton to get extra money to buy a house and help put all four girls through college. In order
to get the job he had to start work in April or May, long before school was out. This meant after school he worked from 4:00 to midnight until
school was out.
Bob has coached baseball, football, basketball, and track as a head coach and as an assistant at all levels throughout his career. In all
he has coached 115 seasons up to this point. He was honored as the Fox Valley Conference Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 1989 and also
helped coach the Division I All-Stars that year. In 1997 the Wisconsin High School Football Coaches Association voted him District Ten Assistant
Coach of the Year, and a co-recipient of Assistant Coach of the Year for the state. He has also been honored by this organization for 40 years
of coaching football in Wisconsin. For his contributions to the student athletes of the Neenah School District, Bob was recognized with the Red
Smith Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010. This was given at a program that honors individuals from all over N.E. Wisconsin. The award
was presented by Donald Driver and former major league manager, Whitey Herzog. Bob’s most treasured honors, however, are the letters and
cards he has received over the years from former students and parents who have said thank you for his caring and the teaching of good values.
Bob continues to coach at the age of 65. He coaches freshman football, basketball, and varsity girls track. He has been very active in his
church serving as lay leader, chairing and serving on various committees, and doing some speaking. He has done volunteer work for the Salvation
Army and Habitat for Humanity. Bob has been a steady contributor to the Red Cross Blood Bank, UW-Platteville Community Scholarship Fund
(for Neenah High and RCHS), the local food pantry, plus Neenah city projects. As a coach his teams have been active in the community through
Adopt a Highway, spreading wood chips for local playgrounds, and collecting money for cancer. His 2009 freshman football team was honored as
the Wisconsin Prep Team of the Week for making a surprise contribution to a cancer fund in memory of a football player from another conference team who had recently lost his battle to cancer. Bob has always put the things that really matter in life ahead of winning. He has attempted
to expose his students to the strong hometown values of caring for others, working hard, love of family, honesty, and integrity, all things that he
learned growing up in R.C.
Bob is humbled by this honor and knows many others in his call that deserve recognition. He accepts this award on behalf of his fellow
classmates, especially in memory of a wonderful man, Tom Wunnicke.
D
CHLAN
I
R
Class of 1966
TR
DIS ICT
Robert Totten
SCHOOL
FOUNDATION
Richland School District Foundation
Board of Directors
Gregg Gochenaur, President
Dawn Horter, Vice-President
Carletta Heide, Secretary
Brian Moore, Treasurer
Rachel Schultz, Director
Christopher Shannon, Director
Jane Williams, Director
Richland School District Foundation
1996 Highway 14 West
Richland Center, WI 53581
www.richlandschooldistrictfoundation.org
Mission Statement
The mission of the Richland School District Foundation is to enhance the
educational opportunities provided by the Richland School District, and to recognize and
promote successes throughout all the schools in the district.
Goals
To provide enhancements throughout the district.
To provide opportunities to all schools and all students in the district.
To create an endowment fund for each school building.
To support the district’s strategic plan.
To continue providing scholarships and fine arts opportunities.
To expand on additional academic areas by providing resources.
To increase operating funds.
To increase efforts to reach out to alumni.
Jeff Leyda
Class of 1989
After high school, I attended college at Milwaukee School of Engineering
to pursue a career in computer science and engineering. I didn’t know what
that meant at the time. I knew I liked computers, but didn’t know if I would
be programming them, designing them, or building systems with them. I
discovered I needed additional time to find out exactly where I fit into the
world of technology.
Within six months, I left Milwaukee for Minneapolis. My good
friend, Jeremy Clark, had gone there after graduation, and he needed a
roommate. One of the first people I met was Neil McKay. We formed a
band, which eventually signed with a small independent record label from
California. We released a couple CDs and toured most of the U.S. by the
end of the decade.
I found my first real job in January of 1991 at Zeos International.
It was assembly work on a factory floor, but I was building computers. The
early 1990’s were a fast paced time in the computer industry. Prices were
dropping. Software was more user friendly. The machines were getting
faster and more powerful. My company was expanding, so within a few
months I was promoted to inspector. Because of my childhood computer
background, I worked on the repair line, diagnosing common problems. In my spare time I developed software to assist with the
diagnostic work. I wrote software which could examine the internal memory and the hard drive, test the floppy drive, etc. and
then report findings to the user. This software lead to a job in the engineering department. In engineering I worked full-time on
developing software to assist the production floor. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life, and that was write software.
I’ve landed a job doing exactly that. I love going to work every day.
Over several years, I was in charge of a wide range of software solutions that helped track an order from the time it
was placed by the customer, through the shipping department, including real time information gathered from the first time the
computer powered on, to when it finished the 48 hours burn in diagnostics. Through this work, I was granted six patents for
streamlining production assembly and quality assurance.
Today I am still working for the same company. It has changed names and owners, but my employee ID number is still
the same. I work for Micron Technology, Inc. and I write software for a group of engineers who are responsible for some of the
things you use in your computer. My coworkers and I helped develop and achieve industry adoption of a new memory technology called Double Data Rate RAM (DDR-RAM) which is used in nearly every computer and game console available. In the last
years I have been working on a new type of permanent storage device, called a Solid State Disk (SSD). SSD’s are now starting
to become common in the industry, and my group has produced what is currently the fastest SSD in the world.
In my personal life, I enjoy bicycling, music, and of course, computers and video games. I bicycled solo from the Pacific
coast to the Atlantic coast, and across many states. Since the summer of 2000, I put enough miles on my touring bicycle alone
to circle the globe at the equator. During the summers of 2011 and 2012 I made a brief attempt at bicycle racing, but all those
miles traveled on lonely roads at my own pace never gave me the skills needed to be competitive in the sport. On my final race
in 2012 I let the guy who was drafting behind me take the line ahead of me, for 17th place, and I knew my career needed to be
over. I have also participated in two week-long, group bicycle touring events that serve as fundraisers for Bolder Options. Bolder
Options helps mentor at-risk youth by focusing their energies towards athletic endeavors and healthy pastimes. Through training
and setting goals such as running a 10K, the kids realize that once they put their minds and bodies onto the right track, anything
is possible.
I live in a townhome complex close to downtown Minneapolis. I recently finished my second term on the association’s
board of directors as vice-president and security subcommittee chair. In 2007 I helped the police arrest a neighborhood thief,
who was burglarizing homes as well as stealing packages and mail. I placed bait packages on my front porch for several weeks
with motion activated computer cameras. After delivering the video evidence to the police, they made an arrest the same day
and even managed to return a few of my neighbor’s stolen items to them. The story was on the local TV news and my townhome
association received a community service award.
Jonathan Maxwell
Class of 1997
I was born in Richland Center to Donald and Lorna Maxwell in 1978. I
have two older sisters, Melissa Fruit and April Schildgen who are still residents of
Richland Center. I was a member of the first graduating class from the new high
school building in 1997.
I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse with a Bachelor of
Science degree in elementary education (grades 1-9) with a mathematics minor. After
completing an internship with the McFarland School District, I accepted a position
as a 5th grade science and social studies teacher at Nottingham Country Elementary
School in the Katy Independent School District (KISD) in Katy, TX (a western suburb of Houston). I went back to school at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005,
where I completed a Masters degree in elementary environmental sciences in 2008. I
decided to continue my education and was accepted to Texas A&M University into
the PhD program for curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in mathematics. I
continued to work while I was going through graduate school, but I was looking for
more experiences at different grade levels and in different subject areas. In 2009, I accepted the position of 7th grade mathematics teacher at Wood Creek Junior High in KISD. After a great year of working with junior high students, I was contacted by the
district office about a position in the technology department. I accepted the position of Technology Integration Specialist in 2010.
I was able to work with all the teachers in the district, integrating technology into their classrooms.
During this year, I was taking a course at Texas A&M about the history of education. I was given an assignment to
research and write a paper about a school building that was more than 50 years old. Instantly the old RCHS building popped into
my head, as I attended that building for my freshman through junior years. I worked with Carletta Heide to gather information
about the building that existed from 1912-1996. Who else would I contact? Carletta knew more about Richland Center and the
high school than any other person. I also conducted interviews with over 50 people, collecting memories of the old high school
building and ended up writing a historical “story” about the old building called High School Spirit: The Story of the Richland
Center High School 1912-1996. I was lucky enough to include the stories that my grandmother, Amy Crary, shared with me before
she passed away.
In 2011, the position of Elementary Math & Science Curriculum Coordinator opened up in KISD and I was lucky to
be hired. This is the current position that I hold, and I oversee 35 different elementary schools and work with the staffs of these
schools to write, enhance, and deliver mathematics and science curriculum for grades Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade. We
have around 35,000 elementary aged students in our district with roughly 2000 elementary teachers. It is a challenging job, but
one that I love as education has been my life’s work.
That same year, I was also lucky enough to marry my wife, Sally. She is a very beautiful and patient woman. She has to
be, to put up with me! I just want to say that it is an honor to be selected as an Outstanding Alumnus of the Richland Center High
School for 2013.
100th Anniversary of Agriculture Education at RCHS (2013-2014)
85th Anniversary of FFA at RCHS (2014 - Chartered October 7, 1929)
Agriculture education was introduced to Richland Center High School students in the 1913-1914 school year. C. W. Gullickson was
the first teacher, a graduate of River Falls Normal. FFA was first organized in Kansas City, Missouri in 1928. October 7, 1929 the first
chapters were chartered in Wisconsin and Richland Center High School was one of those first chapters.
Fuzz McCauley and Gary Gutknecht interviewed alumni. Those interviews are being broadcast on local Channel 12.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Homecoming Parade Float - Any past and present agriculture students are asked to ride a trailer in the parade
Meet at the Phoenix Center at 1:45 p.m. to board trailer
Snacks and Music 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Center
Football Game 7:00 p.m. (visit the FFA brat stand)
Social with Music at the Phoenix Center 9:00 - 11:00 p. m. (music by Mounds of Sounds)
Save the date! Saturday, October 11, 2014, at the Phoenix Center. A formal banquet will be held as
the final event in the celebration year. This banquet is part of Homecoming 2014. If you have pictures and
stories to share, contact Carletta Heide at 606 Sunny Lane, Richland Center, WI 53581 or cheide@mwt.net.