Class Notes

CLASS OF ’61

In the Winter 2020-21 issue of the Bulletin, we stated that the Class of ’61 would have a combined 60th reunion with the classes of ’59 and ’60 in October 2021. However, the ’61 Tigers have decided to hold off and combine with another class in October 2022. See p. 44 for more information regarding Homecoming 2021.

1971

CLASS OF ’81

The Class of ’81 has decided to postpone its reunion until 2022. See p. 44 for more information regarding Homecoming 2021.

1986

Frieda Massopo Ekotto has been named second vice president of the Modern Language Association of America. Ekotto heads the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, the first African woman to do so. She also is a current member of CC’s Board of Trustees.

William “Bill” Oman and his husband, Larry Crummer, are staying healthy during the pandemic by sheltering in place. They were in the middle of another world cruise in late March 2020 when the cruise was abruptly terminated in Western Australia. They had to scramble to make their own arrangements to get home. Fortunately, their ship had departed from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on Jan. 4 before the pandemic began. Everyone on their ship remained healthy and they spent most of their time in Antarctica or visiting remote islands in the South Pacific before everything came crashing down. Mark Pankoff says hello to his fellow Tigers! 1990 Headquartered in New York City, Mark and his wife, Rebecca, helm a busy slate of activities for themselves and their quartet of 5- to 10-year-old children. In 2020, Mark chopped four cords of firewood, coached his son’s squirt hockey team to a championship, lowered his golf handicap, and more-or-less mastered the fine art of French braids. Off the rink and away from his axe and hairbraiding duties, Mark was recently promoted to executive vice president at Wellington Shields & Company, a prominent financial firm with a storied 95-year history.

Leanne E. Winner was selected as executive director 1991 for the North Carolina School Boards Association, which represents all 115 local boards of education in North Carolina and the Cherokee Central Schools Board of Education. Leanne is the first woman to hold the position. Previously, Leanne worked for NCSBA as its director of governmental relations. Prior to that she worked for the law firm of Everett, Gaskins, Hancock and Stevens as a lobbyist, and in Governor Hunt’s policy office as the assistant director for the strategic economic development plan.

1992

Iora Health announced that Gillian Munson would become chief financial officer. Gillian has spent her career building and investing in technology companies. Most recently, she was a partner at Union Square Ventures and CFO of XO Group, parent company of The Knot.

1976

Patricia Crown, a graduate of CC’s education program, was awarded the University Medal by the University of Colorado Boulder Board of Regents for her dedication to the health and well-being of children and families.

Susan McKee Tachau recently received an AARP Purpose Prize, which provides $50,000 to support her organization — the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation — and a year of technical support to expand its mission. Susan was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from CC in 2013.

1996

Stewart J. “S.J.” Breier is developing the second edition of “Orcish Poetry,” which begins, but does not end, with an anthropological parody of modern life. It’s the first in a series of “Poetry of the Fantasy Races.” For work, he’s still doing jobs like driving for Instacart, while looking to begin a career as a medical massage therapist. He says he is still a fan of Star Wars, though less of a purist, and questions the necessity of Leia’s slave girl outfit — it could be edited down for a re-release, he says, and we’d still have the original in the Hollywood vault for our history.

Erin McGuire Brady was elected to the state house 2000 of representatives in Vermont in November 2020. After CC, Erin spent five years working for Sen. Mark Dayton as a legislative aide in Washington, D.C. Then she earned her master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and became a high school teacher and an adjunct instructor in the graduate department at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont.

Joseph “Joe” Goetz was named music director of Classical 2007 Minnesota Public Radio last November. Joe will oversee daily programming and classical music selections and serve on the team dedicated to driving Classical MPR’s long-term strategies and goals, as well as those for American Public Media’s national classical programming. Joe began his radio career in 2005 at KCME in Colorado Springs, while pursuing his degree in music. He moved to Vermont after graduation and hosted classical music programming on Vermont Public Radio. He was also a member of the Burlington Choral Society, Vermont Choral Union, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus, as well as an occasional chamber music pianist. Most recently, Joe was the music director of WFIU at Indiana University.

2008

Tiffany Etter Garza and her husband, Patrick Garza, welcomed a baby boy, Abraham Mason, on Dec. 28, 2020, in Houston, Texas. He joins older siblings Jack (7), Mila (4), and Logan (2).

Jessica “Jessie” Pocock is the executive director of Colorado Springs-based Inside Out Youth Services, an LGBTQ youth education and advocacy center that annually serves 350 teens and young adults ages 13-24. It is the only nonprofit in El Paso County that serves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and questioning youth — one-third of whom are homeless. Previously, Jessie served at other nonprofits and in pro-equality initiatives, such as One Colorado’s Southern Colorado efforts to advance statewide pro-LGBTQ and equity legislation.Formerly homeless herself and sober for 20 years, Jessie says, “Our goal is to save a life and help launch that life into adulthood and then into queer leadership for our world. That is what I live for. Young people come to our center, and they change, they grow, they develop, and they strengthen their lives — and it is so beautiful.”

Lauren Milliet was drafted to the Racing Louisville 2010 Football Club in the National Women’s Soccer League expansion draft. Previously, Lauren played two seasons with the North Carolina Courage. She finished her CC career tied for 11th place in program history with 16 career assists, tied for 12th with 21 goals, and holds sole possession of 13th place with 58 points. The two-time co-captain factored in 15 game winners, scoring eight and setting up seven. Lauren also competed with CC as Team USA at the 2015 World University Games where she struck for the only goal in Team USA’s 1-0 victory over South Africa. Less than two months later, she became the first CC freshman to record a game-winning goal in her first collegiate game since 2010 when she struck for the only goal in the 1-0 victory over the University of Northern Colorado. Racing Louisville FC is set to begin play in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. Johnny Reed has been named a Roddenberry 2013 Fellow for his work with ProjectHEAL Inc., which he founded in 2017 “in response to the need for school staff, students, and families to discuss how trauma impacts student learning and teacher well-being, and to collectively identify healthy, culturally relevant coping mechanisms necessary to navigate and transcend the mental scarring that trauma can inflict.” Johnny taught high school African American literature through Teach for America at Butler College Prep in Chicago, Illinois, where he saw the need for this training to increase the number of trauma-informed leaders. As a Roddenberry Fellow, Johnny is the recipient of $50,000 that allows him to take the existing initiative to the next level and amplify its impact. As a result of the pandemic and the abrupt halt of most air travel, Johnny has partnered with Temple Media of Los Angeles — founded by Jaime Roman ‘13 and Evan Ryan ‘13 — and LJ Cunningham of Las Vegas, Nevada, to launch ProjectHEAL’s trauma-informed education live-stream channel. Forbes has named Theodore “Theo” Hooker to its “30 Under 30” list for his work in building reforestation hubs — the enterprise that saves fallen city trees from landfills, turns them into their best use, and channels revenues into new tree planting — all while creating local jobs, supporting local economies, and fighting climate change. Theo co-founded Cambium Carbon, a circular economy startup reforesting America by enabling local wood economies, with Marisa Repka and Ben Christensen. Theo also was a Watson Fellow for his project Feeding the Earth and Ourselves, which focused on the complexity of food systems.

2014

Rosie Nelson won the Hilary Hartley Thesis Prize in 2020 for her work titled “Sexual Renegades: Bisexual and Plurisexual Experiences of Sexual Identity, Gender Identity, and Romantic Relationships.” Her thesis was supervised at the University of Bristol’s School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, where Rosie is a lecturer in sociology.

2018

Singers, songwriters, and producers Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler put out a new single “This Is How You Fall In Love.” The new song is described as a smoothly harmonious song that brings their strongest vocals to the table.

2019

Colorado College Esports Coordinator Josh Lauer was interviewed by KOAA News5 about careers and opportunities in the video game industry that is currently thriving, despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Plans are underway for an on-campus Homecoming gathering Oct. 7-10, 2021, for classes currently scheduled

to hold 2020 and 2021 reunions. The health and safety of our CC alumni, student, faculty, and staff community continues to be our top priority, and the college is monitoring national and international updates on COVID-19. If necessary, we will adjust plans for large gatherings on campus to reduce risk. More details can be found on the Homecoming website: coloradocollege.edu/homecoming

HERE’S WHO WILL BE CELEBRATING CLASS REUNIONS IN 2021

1959 and 1960 | 60th* 1964, 1965, and 1966 | 55th 1970 and 1971 | 50th 1975 and 1976 | 45th 1980 | 40th* 1985 and 1986 | 35th 1990 and 1991 | 30th 1995 and 1996 | 25th 2000 and 2001 | 20th 2005 and 2006 | 15th 2010 and 2011 | 10th 2015 and 2016 | 5th 2017-2021 | Young Alumni

*Please note: The classes of 1961 and 1981 have decided to hold their reunions in October 2022.

From The Archives

Photo courtesy CC Special Collections.

This panoramic map, dated January 1874, shows the layout of the city just a few months before CC was founded on May 6 and two years before Colorado would become a state. The nascent CC is not depicted on the map. Colorado Springs is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year.