January 2003
Dear ’58ers,
Those
of you still in the north for the winter, it has been cold! Remember the old line that it makes us
stronger? Hah!
I'm
not sure we will reach 80 names of classmates in this letter, but we will try
with lots of news from Phonorama, notes on annual gifts and the reunion
questionnaires. Of course, gifts and
questionnaires are always welcome.
JANET
OLSON GREEN and her husband,
Richard, while retired, are active watercolor artists, with a showing at the
American Swedish Institute last summer.
They are also active cross-country skiers.
They care for twin grandchildren once
a week as well. Busy! JEANINE LUNDAHL OLSON is another
artist, but in music as a church organist and an accompanist for a mixed chorus
(and, has done so for 30 years!). The
Olsons have adult children in Sioux Falls and Boston. Their daughter recently completed her Master’s in Divinity from
Harvard. CHAR JONSON BERNDT is
retired, but works part-time in a china and crystal shop and is also a quilt
maker and is researching her family genealogy.
JIM
MC PHERSON has been lending his
expertise to Freedom; A History Of Us, an eight-hour PBS series, which
began January 12. Jim also began his
term as president of the American Historical Association in January. We very much miss Jim on the Gustavus Board
of Trustees. His experience, wit and
wisdom could be used today.
JIM
JOHANSEN is still working in the
transportation business in Anoka, particularly with school districts and
private contractors in the school bus business. Jim and his wife, Janis, (an artist) have two grandchildren. JOHN STERNAMAN has retired in Black
River Falls, WI and hopes to visit the campus with his grandson, an All-State
hockey player. DON and Sue
(Myers) MILTON have also retired in Nuncia, MI. Sue is active in garden clubs and Don is
creating a workshop in the barn on their property. Thanks to all of the above for their pledges to the Gustavus
Fund.
JUDY
SWANSON TEETERS has retired from
real estate, but is active in music, playing twice a week at Herberger's in
Southtown. She has a grandson who
attends Waldorf College in Forest City, IA.
LINDA ECKBLAD KNOCHENMUS and DARWIN are also retired and
belong to Friendship Force International, an organization where members stay in
each other's homes as they travel internationally. While in Jackson, LA, they
live on and operate a small farm. They
hope to introduce their granddaughter to Gustavus in a year or so. ROBERT and Karen (Hanson ’59)
SHOGREN have also retired. Their
two children went to Gustavus and they now have two five-year-old
grandchildren, who we hope will also come to Gustavus. Again, thanks to all of you for your
pledges.
DAVE
WAGNER continues his stained
glass artistry. He is currently repairing windows in a venerable Presbyterian
Church in Marshfield, WI. Dave and
Darlene recently moved into a new home, which provides a chairlift to his
basement workshop and ample space for his electric cart. I think Dave deals
with his MS with courage and humor and I always enjoy our conversations. A
remarkable guy!
JOYCE STRAND MARVEL, another remarkable person, has had many
complications from knee surgery, which has prevented her from going back to
work teaching at Washington University in St Louis. I hope she is making
progress and will be able to attend the reunion. It will not be the same
without her.
DICK
JAMESTON continues his competitive swimming at the Senior Olympic
level. (He started after he
retired!) Dick and Carol plan to attend
the reunion on September 26 and 27th. I
hope you will to! MARLENE HAUGEN
WIDMARK continues to work at Bunad Dress Embroidery in Grand Rapids. MERRILL retired some years ago. Their son, Stuart ’86, was married this
summer. MARK WIBERG added to his
retirement by learning to play the piano, lessons and everything! ANNE is also retired. The Wiberg family is working on a family
gift to Gustavus to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their father's birth.
Thanks
to STAN LARSON for his letter and gift to the Gustavus Fund. Stan is semi-retired, he says, but Marlene
has taken most of the responsibility for the management of their rental
properties. As the economy has slowed
down, so has the housing market, with four new homes this winter as compared to
a normal eight. Stan says it has never
seemed like work, so they have been fortunate like many of us who love what we
do. Thanks, Stan.
PAT
TRENCH ROSENBERG has also
retired and is very busy with Habitat for Humanity. Duane and their son, Jim, renovated the Polish Palace, a tavern
in northeast Minneapolis, and re-named it the Sample Room, at 21st and Marshall
for the adventurous and curious.
MARCIA AMUNDSON JANASZ and CHET lead a full life in
retirement. Marcia is the tour director
for a group of retired educators in the Osseo school district who travel
several times a year to places like Nova Scotia, Alaska, Baniff, etc. Marcia and Joe have nine grandchildren, all
of whom were home for Christmas!
REMEMBER, the 45th class reunion for the class of 1958
will be held at the Radisson South Hotel in Bloomington, MN on Friday the 26th
of September and the day of activities on campus on Saturday, September
27th. Make your plans now!
Let's
also not forget the Gustavus Fund!
Thanks to many of you who have made gifts and pledges! Your participation is very important to BOB
PETERSON, as the General Chair of the Fund, and to me. Let's all try to contribute in our own
way. Thanks!
The
Alumni Office asks all reunion class members to complete a survey of facts,
news and other helpful items. Thanks to
the many of you who have completed the survey; the following news notes come
from the surveys:
Kudos
to BARBARA JENSEN OLSON who was runner-up in the Ms. Senior Georgia
pageant last spring and who has been making appearances since in senior and
nursing homes singing and dancing to "It's a Grand Old Flag." Now, there is the first item on the program
for our reunion! We certainly are
seniors and BJ will lead us in some great fun!
She is also active in P.E.O., square dancing and the Classics Club of
GA. KAREN LANGE THORPE has not
appeared in a class letter since I was a much younger man! She retired this year after 18 years as the
administrative assistant to the Chairman of the Board of the Intel Corporation
and before that, twenty years as a physical education teacher. Karen and Dick ’59 live in San Jose. I hope they come to the reunion!
ELLEN
MAUS BOLER is a retired
financial analyst living in Greenville, SC and enjoying local theater,
symphony, hiking and four grandchildren.
MIKE DALE continues to work part-time at The Foursome in
Wayzata. Mike and Marcia (Halgren ’57)
have two grandchildren. ALJEAN VAN
WINKLE LOVING and her husband are very involved in mission work and may be
working with HCJB World Radio in Sierra Vista, AZ next summer. They have eight grandchildren! JERRY HESSER is after me for my
comments about Cosmos High School, but he knows I am well intentioned. Or thinks so. Jerry and Dana (Knobel ’60) spend most of their time in
Mexico, but summer in Minnesota. Jerry
continues to do some free-lance writing and has a book ready for
publication. Rohl and PATRICIA
MILLER PETERSON are building a home in Tucson.
RENEE LINDBERG SMITH continues to work in suburban Kansas City and is
helping recruit her grandson for Gustavus.
AARON MOEN has retired from teaching at Cornell University, but
is still writing and published his book Learning First in Higher Education this
past spring.
A
thirty-five to forty year bridge group features partners DOUG and JANET
(THOMAS) PRITCHARD, RICHARD and Patricia (McLane ’59) OLSON, Jim and
NOREEN HEINE BECKER, and Les and MARTHA BANKE CURTIS. Let's hope the entire bridge group comes to
the reunion. Marlys and BILL BINGER
are active artists in retirement, first in oil and now in watercolor. Bill taught stained glass for several years
and Marlys continues to write poetry.
Their three daughters all attended Gustavus and the next step is to
recruit the seven grandchildren.
MARTHA
TELLEEN PETERSON retired from
her job with the Department of Transportation for the State of California and
now enjoy taking groups on cruises and land trips. She is also president of SKANDI-Fest (Scandinavian Festival) and
sings in the River City Chorale. She
and Paul ’56 have two grandchildren. ELLWOOD
JOHNSON continues to update his historical documentation of "beautiful
downtown" Lowry. Besides the print
version, which I have admired, there is also a web site, a CD, and various
Lowry Group caps and hats. Ok, Cosmos
boys, here is a challenge for you!
As
reported in the last letter, ROBERTA ANDERSON GARDNER is on sick leave
with cancer, but hopes to be able to return to work at Cambridge Scientific in
Silver Spring, MD. Leroy continues to
volunteer at National Archives II in College Park. They have one grandchild.
Thanks to JOHN and Dorothy (Rylander ’59) JOHNSON for
their note and gift. They have three
new grandchildren and the total numbers ten!
Well,
no cheating by listing St Peter classmates to pad the list! Thirty-six in this letter, which still
leaves almost a hundred yet to be mentioned.
Send news with your gift to the alumni office or email me at
osammels@gustavus.edu.
Spring
thoughts: Send in your survey. Send news to keep the home fires
flaming. Send your contribution to the
Gustavus Fund.
And
thanks to all of who have responded thus far!
Mark
September 26 and 27 on your calendar!
Cheers!
Owen Sammelson
P.S. Now we’ll have the Alumni Office add a some
other campus news:
Campus Conversations about Gustavus’ Mission
President Dennis Johnson is leading a campus-wide initiative to talk about the mission of Gustavus. Conversations will be both philosophical and practical as the community discusses goals and visions, but also within the context of challenging budgeting times. The goal is to prepare the campus for the search and hiring of the next Gustavus president.
The Asian Cultures
Club and the Diversity Center are sponsoring "Hmong Education
Workshops" every Monday and Wednesday throughout January to help educate
the Gustavus community about various aspects of Hmong life and tradition. The workshops will include language, art,
customs, and history, and will feature Hmong speakers.
January is the traditional time for the Gustavus Choir and Gustavus Band to tour. This year the choir will spend almost three weeks touring Italy. The band stays in the Midwest, going as far as Colorado. Touring is an opportunity for learning for these students to experience different cultures and communities, but also valuable as musicians to perform the same concert multiple times in different venues. Finally, touring is a wonderful public relations tool for the college as these students stay with host families and spread the Gustavus story.
Gustavus is a leading institution for the number of students studying abroad, according to an annual ranking recently released by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Reaffirming the mission of giving students an education that is international in perspective, Gustavus ranked 8th in the "Top 20 Baccalaureate Institutions" list of IIE’s "Open Doors 2002" report. The College has been in the top 20 since 1994-95 and in the top 10 for the past 3 years. Gustavus was 1 of 5 Minnesota private colleges to make the list. During 2000-01, 397 Gustavus students studied abroad. In 2002, 52 percent of the Gustavus graduating class had an international educational experience.
Peer Assistants
Making a Difference
Like many colleges Gustavus relies on a wide range of students to help educate other students about issues, one such group is the Peer Assistants. Created in the 1980s, this group of 15 students focuses on teaching Gusties about making healthy lifestyle choices. They speak in residence halls, conduct workshops and do one-on-one counseling about such topics as alcohol and tobacco use and relationships. For the 5th time since 1996, the Peer Assistants were presented with an "Outstanding Affiliate" award for colleges with an enrollment below 7,500 at the annual National Peer Educator Conference.
Upcoming Events
February 22 – Naples, FL Campaign Event
February 23 – Vero Beach, FL Campaign Event
March 1 – San Diego, CA
Campaign Event
March 14 – Tucson, AZ Campaign Event
March 15 – Phoenix, AZ Campaign Event
March 16 – Sun City, AZ Campaign Event
March 22 – Easter Bunny Breakfast, Minneapolis
April 4 – Bay Area, CA Campaign Event
April 5 – Seattle, WA Campaign Event
May 3 & 4 – Gustavus Band 125th Year Celebration
May 10 – G.I.V.E. Service Day
There are many questions among alumni, students and parents about the College’s financial situation. People hear of our success in the capital campaign and ask, “How come the budget is so tight and some items are being cut?”
One might look at an $80 million total to date of the $100 million goal and conclude that we have plenty of spendable resources. A closer look at the designations of our campaign gift and pledges hopefully provides a helpful explanation. During the past 5 years of this 6 ½ year campaign:
· $23 million has been given for post-tornado rebuilding projects, including the Jackson Campus Center, the new outdoor track, the Curtis and Arleen Carlson International Center, a new residence hall and the replanting of trees. As I’ve already reported, another $1 million has been designated for Old Main renovation.
· $24 million has been committed to us in the form of “future gift” commitments. These are typically planned gifts that provide an income to the donor, or they are bequest commitments. In either case, these are not dollars that are available for the College to use at this time. However, they hold great promise for the future.
· $16 million has been given to the College’s endowment fund to support scholarships, academic chairs and other programs. While our endowment is significantly below that of our comparison schools, we must continue our progress toward increasing that number well beyond the end of this particular campaign.
· $8 million has been received as restricted dollars for various programs such as the Center for Vocational Reflection funded through a grant from the Lilly Endowment.
· $8 million – approximately $1.5 million per year – has been received without restriction. These are the only dollars raised during the course of the campaign available for use in the College’s $60 million annual operating budget. Herein lie the concerns related to our present budget challenge and where you can make the greatest impact. We are in the second year of the three-year 50 by 50 Campaign. The goal is to achieve 50 percent participation of all alumni in the Alumni Fund by the 50th Anniversary in 2004. Our class totals through December 31, 2002 are 70 donors and $40,275.43 in total gifts. Our goal is to achieve 125 donors by May 31, 2003. Thanks to those that have made their gift. If you have not made your gift yet, please respond to the next mailing, log on to gustavus.edu, or call toll free 866-487-3863. Remember, while we were students, we benefited from alumni who made gifts to the alumni fund. Let’s do our part to help future Gusties.
Presidential
Search Process
The Presidential Search Committee is well underway, and the
members have set an ambitious timetable.
Candidates are to be interviewed at an off-campus site in February, with
three candidates being invited to interview on campus in March. It is hoped that a recommendation to the
Board of Trustees will be made in April for ratification and election of the
new president. If all goes according to
the plan, a new president will be in place by mid-summer. You may read the “Presidential Prospectus”
by going to the Gustavus website gustavus.edu
and finding the President’s Office.