DePauw Magazine Fall 2021

DePauw M A G A Z I N E

Fall 2021

IN THIS ISSUE: Saving one starfish at a time / It’s official: Madam President / Inspired veeps / and more

The Solution Seekers

THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION

By John Dittmer Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act, many people of color have reported being disenfranchised and many state legislatures have enacted laws that some say discourage or disallow voting.

We asked John Dittmer, professor emeritus of history and author of the Bancroft Prize-winning book, “Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi”:

How can all Americans, regardless of their color, be assured that their right to vote is inviolable?

S

ince the beginning of Reconstruction, suppression of the Black vote has been a priority for Southern state legislatures. Mississippi led the way, calling a constitutional convention in 1890 for the express purpose of “eliminating the Negro vote,” and a poll tax and a requirement that the applicant explain a passage of the state constitution to the white registrar’s satisfaction had predictable results. Other Southern states followed suit and, by the turn of the 20th century, few Blacks voted in any Southern state.

The Civil Rights Movement changed that. African Americans organized across the South; in Mississippi, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee prioritized registering Black voters but made little progress until activists in Selma, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King, focused the nation’s attention on a Deep South county where only 4% of the eligible Black electorate was registered to vote. The police violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge shocked the nation and led to Congress passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

At the law’s heart was the “preclearance” provision, which prohibited states with a history of discriminatory voting practices from passing new laws until they could show that the proposed changes would not have a racially discriminatory effect. It was enormously effective. According to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, preclearance “blocked thousands of discriminatory voting changes that would have curtailed the voting rights of millions of citizens in jurisdictions large and small.” The Voting Rights Act had bipartisan support. When it came up for periodic renewal, every Republican president from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush signed off on it.

All that changed in 2013, when a conservative Supreme Court ruled that the preclearance provision no longer applied, arguing that racial discrimination in voting was a thing of the past! Immediately a number of states passed laws restricting the franchise. Among the first was Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels pushed through a bill requiring a state-issued ID to be presented at the polls. Registered students at DePauw who were from other states

Photo: Brittney Way

were ruled ineligible, while out-of-state students at public universities, who had state-issued student IDs, could vote in Indiana.

Although there has been no evidence of significant voter fraud in any state, the results of the 2020 election, when Democrats made significant gains in red states such as Georgia and Arizona, led to more widespread restrictive measures. In all, 18 states have passed 30 laws limiting ballot access, including Georgia, which made it illegal to give water to voters standing in lines, obviously targeting minority districts with few polling places and long lines.

Efforts to deny Blacks the ballot go back to the aftermath of the Civil War, and the current wave of discriminatory legislation threatens the foundation of our democracy. Garland said that “it is time for Congress to act again to protect that fundamental right” to vote. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2021, which restores the preclearance provision to federal law, is a good place to start.

DePauw

M A G A Z I N E

Fall 2021 / Vol. 84 / Issue 2 depauw.edu/offices/communicationsmarketing/depauw-magazine/ STAFF Mary Dieter University editorial director marydieter@depauw.edu 765-658-4286 Kelly A. Graves Creative director Joel Bottom Staff videographer/photographer Brittney Way Staff photographer Donna Grooms Gold Nuggets editor dgrooms@depauw.edu

EDITORIAL BOARD: Anne Cunningham, vice president for development and alumni engagement; Deedie Dowdle, vice president for communications and marketing; Sarah McAdams, internal communications manager; Leslie Williams Smith ’03, executive director of alumni engagement; Mariel Wilderson, assistant vice president for university communications and marketing; Dawna Sinnett Wilson ’82, director of stewardship; Wendy Wippich ’04, director of alumni engagement for campus and volunteer programs; Chris Wolfe, social media manager.

Photo: Brittney Way

IN THIS ISSUE

2 3 4 5 6 12 36 40

The Bo(u)lder Question by John Dittmer

First Person by Emily Chen ’18 DePauw Digest

Letters to the Editor Book Nook

Moments in History: The inauguration of President Lori S. White and more The Solution Seekers

Inspiration from DePauw’s new vice presidents Gold Nuggets

Leaders the World Needs: Zoe Knight ’25

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FIRST PERSON

By Emily Chen ’18

I

grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, a liberal suburb that, of all places, one would think could handle racism right. However, in high school, I didn’t learn about the Chinese Exclusion Act or Japanese internment. I didn’t even know that Asian Americans counted as people of color.

To this day, when meeting people, I brace myself for the detested, “Where are you from?” I’m from Boston. Yet saying this risks a followup, “No, where are you really from?” They want to know that my parents are from Taiwan. But I am from Boston.

I’ve been asked, “Are you adopted?” and “Are you ‘half ?’” People’s surprise that I’m not betrays their assumption that fluent English is impossible if one does not have a white person in the immediate family.

How do white Americans learn to speak English? By growing up in the United States, immersed in English. Same for me.

I have lived in the U.S. my entire life.

Anti-Asian insults and graffiti peppered my time at DePauw. There were so few Asian Americans that the Asian American Pacific Islander Initiative became defunct my junior year. As an overscheduled music student, I wasn’t able to bring it back. And my experience of racism is tame.

I realized that I had to stand up for myself as an Asian American, or else there might not be anyone who could. At DePauw, I miraculously got the chance to learn how to do so. I took professor Eugene Gloria’s Asian American literature course and a poetry workshop with Marilyn Chin, and had an amazing

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counselor who deeply understood Asian American identity.

After graduating, I connected with the wonderful Asian American mental health community in Boston. People there encouraged me to turn a brewing idea into a reality: DisOrient, my YouTube series on Asian American mental health, neurodiversity and representation (www.emilychenstudio. com/disorient). I hope DisOrient can give my AAPI community language and guidance for our complex experiences, and our allies a glimpse into what we face.

Racism exists. In Greencastle, it was overt, while Newton oppressed through omission. There’s so much to be done, and yet I’m invigorated knowing there’s so much we can do, if we’re brave enough to do it.

To my AAPI family: You are not alone, and there are so many ways to support yourself and our community.

Report hate crimes at Stop AAPI Hate (https://stopaapihate.org/). Learn about mental health and AAPI history through DisOrient, PBS’s “Asian Americans” film series and beyond. Seek help when you need it, through DePauw’s Counseling Services or the therapist directories at Asian Mental Health Collective or Psychology Today. Share your stories, even just with supportive friends. Connect with the AAPI community. We can be

well, and we can belong.

To my friends who are Black, Indigenous and people of color: I see you. I’m doing my best to listen to your stories and make sure there’s space for you alongside the AAPI community, so we can move in solidarity toward a better world.

To white allies: Acknowledge our existence. Investigate and question your assumptions. Accept, with grace and humility, what you can’t understand. Make space for us. Listen to our stories. Stand up for us. The work of self-reflection and anti-racism is never comfortable, but it can turn the insidious tide of hate. And who knows? You might be surprised by the AAPI luminaries you find, who make this world a brighter, richer place.

DEPAUW DIGEST Environmental excellence DePauw’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainability recently was recognized in three ways.

The university won an Indiana Department of Environmental Management Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for its campus energy master plan. The awards are given to innovative, sustainable and exemplary projects that positively affect Indiana’s environment and demonstrate measurable environmental, economic and social benefits.

Duke Energy likewise cited the campus energy master plan when it gave DePauw its Power Partner Award, which honors innovation, resiliency and sustainability. And the International District Energy Association gave DePauw an innovation award for its work to reduce energy use, enhance efficiency and strengthen reliability.

DePauw’s $11 million campus energy master plan, undertaken in 2019 and completed in 2020, reduces campus energy use by 33%, the equivalence of the energy used by 750 Midwestern homes; reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 7,303 tons, equivalent to taking 2,303 cars off the roads; improves reliability; and reduces costs by $780,000 a year. The project involved converting campus lighting to LED; optimizing the HVAC systems; installing low-flow water fixtures; and installing 860 solar panels atop the Indoor Tennis and Track Center.

Welcome, new trustees DePauw University’s Board of Trustees has welcomed seven new members.

Elizabeth A. “Betsy” Beggs ’21, the new student trustee, is an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs. Jose Antonio Bowen is a friend of DePauw and the owner of Bowen Innovation Group, which offers leadership consulting. Tamika Ragland Newson ’93 is a partner at Taylor English Duma LLP, where she practices in its employment and labor relations group.

Andrew J. “Randy” Paine III ’91 is president of Key Institutional Bank and a member of KeyCorp’s executive leadership team. Joseph Rohs ’84, the new Alumni Board president, is a retired chief financial officer. Peter G. Ruppert ’86 is founder and chief executive officer of Fusion Education Group, which operates grade 6-12 academies. John A. Scully ’79 is a trial lawyer and a founding shareholder of Cooper & Scully.

Winningest coach to retire Bill Fenlon, who in 29 years has won more basketball games than any other DePauw men’s basketball head coach, will retire at the end of the 2021-22 season. A national search will be conducted to find his replacement.

Fenlon came to DePauw in April 1992 after working as head coach at Sewanee: The University of the South; Rose-Hulman Institute for Technology; and Southwestern University. His DePauw record is 469282; his overall record over 36 seasons is 576-351.

He was named the 2021 Jack Bennett Man of the Year by CollegeInsider.com for winning with integrity.

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LETTERS

DePauw M A G A Z I N E

Summer 2021

IN THIS ISSUE: Sports, medicine and business / The Mourouzis tree / Title IX’s effect on women’s sports / and more

GOOD SPORTS

TO THE EDITOR: Thank you for the recent tribute to Coach Nick Mourouzis in DePauw Magazine. I never played for Coach Nick, but served as one of his assistant coaches during the 1987 season. That season was especially critical for the Tiger football program after we had lost the three previous Monon Bell games. During the summer of ’87, Coach Nick asked me to help with the tight ends and to scout. We ended up defeating Wabash in the final game 33-11 with a brilliant overall game plan by Coach Nick!

Tiger Pride, baby!

– Tom Fitzpatrick ’82 The Public Servants issue (fall 2020) was very helpful in making connections for Kiara Goodwine ’19, who is a law student at University of Michigan. She contacted Matt Kincaid (’92, Boone Superior Court judge) after reading his interview in the magazine. They had a nice conversation and then Matt

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connected her with me. My law clerks and I then went to lunch with Kiara. So the story, combined with her initiative, had an extremely helpful outcome for her.

Also, I thought the other recent issue (spring 2021) that profiled alums in many different fields asking, “so you want to be a [fill in the blank],” with a story about that alum and how he or she got to their position was fantastic. Please keep up your great work on behalf of DePauw!

– J.P. Hanlon ’92, U.S. judge, Southern District of Indiana Thank you for the sports edition.

It warms my heart to see all the opportunities for DePauw’s female athletes. When I was a student, there were NO varsity sports for women.

There were a few intramural games, and I recall playing on the Theta basketball team. That was about it.

Thanks to Title IX for opening the door for women to have a true liberal arts experience beyond academics.

And thanks to the editors for showcasing sports at DePauw.

– Sally Mills Butzin ’67 P.S. I am a fourth-generation DePauw family. My great-grandfather was former President Hillary Gobin.

You did a fabulous job on the summer issue of DePauw Magazine.

That was a wonderful tribute to “Tiger Nick.” If our son, Scott ’81, were alive, he would have added his comments. He and Nick became

good friends even though Scott was not a football player. Scott was sports editor of the newspaper.

As I recall, the graveside service we had at Forest Hill for Scott in June ’91, Tiger Nick attended … We were very touched.

– Laurie Hamilton ’58 I am a 1969 graduate who has always valued the education and experiences from my years there. I also enjoy reading the DePauw Magazine as a way to keep up with what is happening at DPU and my former classmates.

I was concerned with some of the statements in the article about the music department made by Elissa Harbert. Specifically, her statement about “dismantling the white superiority and racism baked into this traditional curriculum” concerns me as part of the critical race theory that is infecting many institutions of higher learning. I fully agree with the goal of a diverse and inclusive curriculum and community but starting from the premise that white people are by definition racist is not a position that I would expect professors at our great university would be promoting.

– T. Bruce Fox ’69 Just read the DePauw Magazine cover to cover. I found the profiles so compelling that I couldn’t stop.

Congratulations!

– David Gellman, professor of history

BOOK NOOK Just received and have already read a few of your articles in DePauw Magazine. Excellent variety of alumni stories where sports provided the foundation for careers and lifechanging paths. My brother, David ’68, and I are former DPU swimmers with multiple pool records that still remain (at the old Bowman Gym pool, that is). Student athletes can and do make a difference in many ways beyond sports. Well done!

– Michael Terry ’74

Is a recent read occupying your thoughts? Has a book indelibly imprinted your life?

We want to hear from you. Send your recommendation to marydieter@depauw.edu.

What We’re Reading

By Charles “Biff” Geiss ’62 “On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts” by James K.A. Smith uses the wisdom of St. Augustine to address ambition, sex, friendship, freedom, parenthood and death.

The chapter on freedom uses the film “Lady Bird” (Greta Gerwig) to illustrate adolescent flight to freedom in backwater Sacramento. But freedom from what?

Augustine had similar flight problems as he dealt with his mother, St. Monica. Later in the chapter Christian existentialist Gabriel Marcel points out the futility in “flight to freedom,” writing “Vanity runs, love digs. If you fly away from yourself, your prison will run with you and will close in because of the wind of your flight; if you go deep down into yourself it will disappear in paradise.”

I wonder what Jean-Paul Sartre would think? Smith’s usage of modern authors, philosophers and musicians enables the reader to bridge the gap so that the old is ever new.

Editor’s note: In the last issue of DePauw Magazine, we promised that President White would announce, in this issue, her choice of the next book for The President’s Book Club. Alas, she has been busy welcoming students back to campus, working on the university’s strategic plan and, as the next few pages will attest, preparing for her inauguration. We ask your indulgence.

Terry McConnell ’69 “Breaking Through the Line: Bobby Marshall, The N.F.L.’s First African American Player”

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INAUGURATION DePauw’s gold shines as Lori S. White is inaugurated as president The golden sun shone on DePauw University Oct. 1, as Lori S. White was inaugurated as DePauw’s 21st president.

The two-hour ceremony was marked by a cloudless sky, vibrant academic regalia, inspirational songs and rousing speeches.

Attendees – students, alumni, faculty and staff members, White’s family and friends and delegates from more than 50 higher education institutions from across the country – braved the unusually warm temperature and honored a requirement to wear masks to witness a moment in DePauw history: White is the first woman and first person of color to be appointed president.

The inauguration’s theme was “Rise,” based on the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, one of White’s favorites. The ceremony featured several songs, including a rendition of Rosephanye Powell’s song “Still I Rise” by the DePauw Chamber Singers and “The Impossible Dream,” sung by Chloé Johnson ’22.

Thomas Parham, president of California State University, Dominguez Hills, presided over a libation ceremony, a celebratory ritual in which he harkened to ancestral spirits. English professor Eugene Gloria, the John Rabb Emison professor of creative and performing arts, read his poem, “Outside of Eden,” which he wrote for the occasion. Holden Thorp, to whom White reported when he was provost and she vice chancellor at Washington University, gave the keynote speech before White offered remarks.

Photos: Brittney Way, Linda Striggo and Cami Henry ’22

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Chloé Johnson ’22

Moments in DePauw’s History 1837 1852 1867 1870 1871 1877 1884 Indiana Asbury College is established.

Asbury Notes, Indiana’s oldest college newspaper, is published.

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Five women enroll in fall 1867 after the Board of Trustees and Visitors voted to include women.

The nation’s first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, opens.

Indiana Asbury College graduates its first four women.

Indiana Asbury welcomes its first international students, four men from Japan.

The School of Music is established.

Holden Thorp

“She knows that no field stays the same, that there’s no fixed canon, and that only in reaching for the new can scholarship thrive.”

– Holden Thorp

1888 1890 Tucker E. Wilson is the first African American to graduate from DePauw, so named in 1882.

DePauw and Wabash College compete for the first time in what would become one of college football’s most intense rivalries. The annual game became known as the Monon Bell in 1932.

1928

Mary Washburn Conklin ’28 becomes the first DePauw graduate to win an Olympic medal, a silver, as a member of the United States’ 400-meter relay team in Amsterdam.

Tony Tillman and his wife, President White.

1949 1970 WGRE-FM, the first 10-watt college FM radio station in the country, goes on the air.

Protests against the Vietnam War occurred on campus, including an attempt to burn down the campus ROTC headquarters.

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“I believe that liberal arts colleges like DePauw are crucial, now more than ever, to our ability to create a better, more just and more humane world. …

We will rise by staying true to this noble purpose and keeping our mission to contribute to the betterment of society at the very core of who we are.”

– President Lori S. White

DePauw welcomed delegates from more than 50 institutions and organizations.

1980

The Science and Mathematics Center is named for chemist Percy Lavon Julian, the 1920 valedictorian appointed posthumously to the chemistry faculty in 2021.

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1981

Alan Hill ’81 becomes DePauw’s first national champion when he wins the Division III pole vault title.

1982 1988 1996 Astronaut Joseph P. Allen ’59 flies on the space shuttle.

He did so again in 1984, when he walked in space.

Dan Quayle ’69 is elected U.S. vice president.

DePauw partners with the Posse Foundation to enroll students with extraordinary potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes.

Presidential Gown

The President’s Medallion

The president is the focal point of many college or university formal academic events. For this reason, the president typically wears a distinctive gown unique to the institution, as demonstrated by Dr. White’s regalia featuring DePauw’s Old Gold.

The President’s Medallion is the badge of office for the president when participating in formal university ceremonies. The 3.5-inch medallion features a relief carving of the seal of DePauw and is engraved on the reverse with the president’s name and the year in which the president’s term of office began.

Kente Cloth

Chevrons

Dr. White’s robe features cuffs of Kente cloth, which dates to 12th-century Ghana and the Ashanti people. The cloth was worn by kings, queens and important figures of state in Ghana’s society during ceremonial events and special occasions. Kente cloth received its name from the term “kenten,” which means “basket,” because of the cloth’s woven design.

Each Kente pattern was unique and had its own name.

The unique feature of a presidential gown is the addition of the fourth chevron to each sleeve. This honor is granted only to one who holds the rank of president or chancellor of an academic institution.

Personal Touch

For her inauguration, Dr. White wore earrings given to her that morning by her husband, Tony Tillman.

1998

Ferid Murad ’58, a physician and Ph.D. pharmacologist, is a co-winner of the Nobel Prize.

2015

Douglas HallwardDriemeier ’89 argues before the U.S. Supreme Court and secures the rights of two people of the same sex to marry.

2018

DePauw appoints Sami Aziz director of the Center for Spiritual Life, the first imam to direct a spiritual program at an American college.

2019

Veronica Pejril, director of Faculty Instructional Technology Support, becomes Indiana’s first transgender elected official when she is elected to the Greencastle City Council.

2020

Lori S. White becomes DePauw’s first woman and first Black president.

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GOLD WITHIN

Using grit to save one starfish at a time

By Mary Dieter

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D

ePauw University’s alumni ranks boast a tremendous number of graduates who are successful in many walks of life.

For some, however, “success” – at least in the traditional sense – may be hard to define. Maybe it’s fleeting or elusive.

Maybe it’s unattainable.

Yet something drives these alumni to take on difficult, even intractable problems, accept seemingly insurmountable challenges and try to make a difference, perhaps to only one person at a time. To summon the courage and the tenacity and the chutzpah to dig deep. To seek solutions.

What made Karen Koning AbuZayd ’63 devote her life to improve the lot of refugees? Why has Betsy Hake ’79 spent 40 years rescuing prostitutes and abused or abandoned children in Honduras?

What caused Sally Smerz Grooms Cowal ’66 to devote half of her work life to easing foreign relations and half to battling HIV/AIDS and cancer? What drove Edward Greene ’71 to buck the notion that men don’t care about child development and pursue a long career in it?

What makes these folks and other solution seekers who have passed through DePauw tick?

“Many of them don’t necessarily have, particularly in the short term, intrinsic rewards, right? So it’s not like every day you go and do this, you’re going to go, ‘Oh, that was such a great day,’” said Rob West, the

Elizabeth P. Allen distinguished university professor and chair of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. “You know, volunteering to help the puppies; every day you get to play with the puppies. It’s great.

But what these folks are doing is not.”

It might be what psychologist Angela Duckworth, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, calls “grit,” West said. His research interests lie elsewhere (he is an expert in cognitive control, decision neuroscience and neuro-cognitive aging), but West is familiar with Duckworth’s work because he uses her Grit Scale in his laboratory, where he and students are looking at self-control and brain activity related to gambling.

Duckworth, a 2013 MacArthur fellow, wrote about grit in her 2016 best-selling book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.” She bases her grit measurement on two characteristics: passion and perseverance.

“You can imagine that folks who are doing difficult things over extended periods of time are going to need to have both of those things,” West said. “You’re going to need to care about it over an extended period of time because, when the going gets tough, if you’re not really that passionate about it, (you might say) ‘okay, well, I’ll just move on to the next thing.’”

Aristotle said “man is by nature a social animal,” and a natural part of being human is wanting to solve problems for one another, said Andrew Cullison ’01, director of the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics and

an associate philosophy professor.

“It stands to reason that what likely gave our very early ancestors survival advantage was their ability to think critically to solve problems and come together as a community to solve problems for the good of the community,” he said. “That’s what separated us from beasts (they couldn’t bother with that). Early humans who played that game and lived in harmony with their community survived, as did their offspring. I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘what makes them tick’ is that there is a natural inclination to be a problem-solver to help others that is inherent to many of us as a species that got us to where we are today.”

Philosophy professor Erik Wielenberg, chair of the Philosophy Department, harkened to “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eisley, one of his favorite stories.

The gist: A man, upon seeing a boy tossing a beached starfish into the sea, questions why; thousands were stranded in a storm, he says, so it is unlikely the boy can make a difference. As the boy returns one to the ocean, he responds: “It made a difference to that one.”

Said Wielenberg: “In many cases, solving the problem isn’t an all-or-nothing thing but rather a matter of degree. There seem to be lots of large-scale problems that are unlikely to be completely solved.

However, they can be reduced – and even a small reduction in a huge problem can make a big difference for someone.”

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Karen Koning AbuZayd ’63: Rescuing refugees

By Mary Dieter

D

ePauw nursing degree in hand, Karen Koning AbuZayd ’63 headed into a career in which she would care for others.

But not in the way that she

planned.

“I intended to” work as a nurse, she said, “but I didn’t stay with it very long.”

She worked at a Chicago hospital, but her growing interest in the Middle East and Islamic studies led to a master’s degree at McGill University in Montreal and a career that has taken her around the globe in successively higher-ranking positions with the United Nations.

“I think I shall blame DePauw for … getting me interested in all kinds of things,” she said. DePauw “provided me with the foundation for a life of service,” she said in her 2007 commencement address. “The DePauw environment gave me a thirst for knowledge, along with a penchant to question conventional wisdom with healthy skepticism. It was here on this campus that the universally powerful precept about treating all human beings with genuine respect was confirmed for me.”

AbuZayd started her international career as a lecturer in political science and Islamic studies at Makerere Univerity in Uganda and the University of Juba in South Sudan.

Then “I fell into refugee work by accident, but have certainly appreciated it almost

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from the very beginning and more and more as I stay with it.”

Over her career, she assisted Ugandan, Chadian and Ethiopian refugees fleeing war and famine; worked to repatriate apartheid-era refugees into South Africa; oversaw the U.N.’s settlement of 100,000 Liberian refugees fleeing civil war and seeking shelter in Sierra Leone; and worked as chief of mission in Sarajevo, where she guided efforts to protect and assist 4 million refugees displaced by the Bosnian War. She retired in 2010 as commissionergeneral of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, where she had attained the rank of undersecretary general and oversaw the education, health and social services for more than 4 million Palestinian refugees. The next year, she was appointed commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, a volunteer post she still holds.

The multi-sided civil war that has raged in Syria for more than a decade and created 6.5 million refugees prompted her current work. The U.N. Human Rights Council created the three-member commission on which AbuZayd sits to investigate and record violations of international law by the Syrian government. A team of 20 investigators gathers information for the commission, which in turn issues reports –

34 to date – recounting human rights abuses.

The work distresses AbuZayd, who previously admired Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the kind treatment he extended to Palestinian refugees. But the later imprisonment, rape, torture, use of chemical weapons and extermination of numerous dissidents and rebels have caused AbuZayd to reverse her opinion of him.

“It just breaks my heart working on it now, having to record and listen to all the awful things that are going on and no sign of stopping,” she said. “It’s a horrible situation.”

Still, AbuZayd can “instill a positive and calming energy around her even when confronting the toughest and most depressing situations,” said Linnea Arvidsson, the head of secretariat for the commission. AbuZayd’s “deep understanding of Syria and the region always helps us in navigating the complexities of this protracted and devastating conflict.

“Her commitment and compassion give her a voice that convinces everyone of the unspeakable suffering of civilians, including refugees and those displaced inside Syria, and that it would be unconscionable to limit the free flow of aid to them.”

Working with refugees, AbuZayd said in the commencement address, provides “deep personal satisfaction. To work with refugees is to help restore human dignity to those

Photo: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

who have endured traumatic disruption in their sense of self and belonging.”

But she allowed in an interview that her work on intractable situations means “we don’t have very many successes. …

“It’s difficult, because you don’t see the world improving the way you’d like to; you see more difficulties for different types of people or groups of people in different parts of the world. So you might clean up one place and get it going back on its feet.

And then the couple more have popped up meanwhile. … It is discouraging, because you can spend a long time doing your best and making some efforts and making some progress and then everything falls apart again.”

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Nathan Hand ’03: Lending help to worthy causes

By Mary Dieter

H

e grew up in a service-oriented family, undertook activities required to become an Eagle Scout, won Bonner and Holton scholarships at DePauw for service and coveted a life of helping others.

But Nathan Hand ’03 wasn’t convinced he could make a career in philanthropy, at least not one that would enable him to comfortably raise a family and have the earning potential that his peers pursuing more lucrative fields would enjoy.

He thought about becoming a patent attorney. Or going into biology. He spent time pursuing education studies, then geology. He ultimately landed on a communication major and political science minor, and undertook enough internships, volunteer opportunities and extracurricular experiences to persuade himself that working in nonprofits would bring him joy and a comfortable life, if not necessarily riches.

“I just felt like there was an urgency there to get my career started, but also explore as many different causes as possible to find what I liked,” he said. “I needed to prove to myself that I could make a living doing this, the idea of volunteering and nonprofit service. It’s a big shift to go from a fun side hobby … to want to make a career out of this.”

During his four years at DePauw, Hand

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had eight or 10 internships at nonprofits, using “every window of time – summers, winter terms, etc. – to try to do as much of that as possible,” he said. Among others, he worked at the Points of Light Foundation in Washington D.C. and the Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation in New Jersey. He spent a winter term in service in Ghana, performing medical triage and building a shelter. Instead of studying abroad, he spent a semester at American University in D.C., learning about community transformation.

He also coached track at Greencastle High School, was a teacher’s aide at Tzouanakis Intermediate School and visited with elderly residents of Asbury Towers.

He organized Make a Difference Day and programs on leadership development, peer mentoring and more for DePauw’s Hartman Center for Civic Engagement.

For his activities at DePauw, Hand was awarded the Walker Cup and the Randal L. Wilson Union Board Award.

His service experiences at DePauw, he said, demonstrated that “it was not just okay and not just possible to do a career in this work, but worthy, something I could be proud of, something I can be good at.” In fact, his pursuit of a career in nonprofits has been so unremitting that “my only and last for-profit job was landscaping in high school.”

Photo: Brittney Way

Indeed, Hand has held a series of fundraising jobs, culminating in his position as chief advancement officer at The Oaks Academy, a private, threecampus elementary school in Indianapolis for which he has raised money, primarily for scholarships, since 2013.

“I’ve been extremely impressed by Nathan’s ability to deliver, no matter the challenge in front of him. He always finds a way and remains humble in doing so,” said Brian Millen, chair of the academy’s board.

“Nathan is a leader who rolls up his sleeves to do the very difficult work our school community needs. In a word, he’s awesome.”

Hand has dabbled in consulting, was a founding member of an international fundraising think tank and since 2014 has taught at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, from which he obtained a master’s degree. And he is a busy volunteer, though he said he has scaled back since his twin daughters were born four years ago.

He teaches because “there’s absolutely a need for more of the nonprofit sector to be professionally trained in this work.”

He passes along the same approach he takes in his job: that fundraising involves “respectful relationship-building, trying to help people understand what their own philanthropic interests are. And then if it aligns with your cause, great; go do some wonderful work together for kids or puppies or trees or whales or whatever. …

“It does a disservice to pester and strong-arm people,” he said. “You might get a donation, but it’s probably the last one. And it’s probably not the size that it could have been if you treated somebody well and just built a relationship and introduced your cause and the challenges you might be facing and how they can make a difference.”

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 17

Betsy Hake ’79: Reaching out to outcasts

By Mary Dieter

I

nspired by a winter-term mission trip to Guatemala, Betsy Hake ’79 left her job as a nurse and headed to Honduras in 1980 to “go and serve and get it out of my system.”

Forty-one years later – with nearly all of that time spent in the impoverished Central American country – it’s obvious that Hake did not purge herself of the desire to serve.

“She was always lovely, kind and as beautiful on the inside as she was outside,” said Tim Collins ’78, who has known Hake since her first year at DePauw. “In retrospect, one should have known that she would spend her life in the service of those that need her the most. She has done truly amazing things at great personal sacrifice. The world is truly better for her service and courage.”

Hake taught at a bilingual school during her first two years in Honduras. She felt called to the ministry, so she attended a seminary outside Pittsburgh before returning to Honduras to run a rural clinic – and use her DePauw nursing degree – for six years. Next she moved to the capital city, Tegucigalpa, to join a missionary group seeking to establish a church.

There Hake witnessed the change that occurred as day turned to night, and a middle-class neighborhood boasting five nice hotels turned into a red-light district, with prostitutes seeking the high-paying

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customers lodging there. She felt called to reach out to them.

“It was really a step of faith for me to go out on the streets to try to reach the women, because it was outside my experience and outside of my training,” she said. “But because I felt like the Lord gave me the burden, I convinced a couple of people in my church, and we started to make visits to the women on the streets. We’d just pray for them and share the love of Christ with them.”

Hake knew that, without an alternative way to make money, the women were unlikely to abandon prostitution. So she asked one woman, whose mother also was a prostitute, about her skills. “She thought if she had a sewing machine, she could sew up a storm,” Hake said. “… So I went out and bought two little sewing machines.”

A sewing workshop, which trains not only a skill but also teaches the women how to work in a regular job, was born.

One of the original rescued women operates it these days. Some women who have been trained find jobs in nearby companies; others produce goods sold in a store established by Hake’s Jericho Ministries.

Over the years, Hake said, she and her

Submitted photo.

team have persuaded about 60 women to abandon prostitution or garbage picking, and donors contributed sufficient funds for the ministries to build a group home on 130 acres outside of Tegucigalpa. They also built a school for the women’s children.

Soon after the home opened, the three women living there departed, one leaving her two daughters behind. Hake and the team took it as a sign that they should shift their focus to help children who have been abused, exploited, threatened by gangs or orphaned. Jericho Villa was transformed to a children’s home, where 35 or so children live, and a second school was built. Hake lives in a cabin on the property with five girls: a 17-year-old who wants to be a doctor and four orphaned sisters, whose mother died in childbirth.

Hake hopes to expand the ministries. A chapel is close to completion; she wants to build more residential cabins and another school and transform the children’s home to a retreat center. She maintains that God provides resources when Jericho Ministries need them.

She also believes God protected her when she was twice robbed at gunpoint in a country known for violent crime and that he cured her of cancer in 2008. She has no plans to retire.

“I’ve already been here 40 years,” she said. “So yeah, my prayer is that God will just let me keep doing it.”

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Edward Garnes ’99: Serving sweet tea for the troubled mind

By Mary Dieter

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Photo: Shannon McCollum

E

dward Garnes ’99 learned family history, but also life strategies and coping mechanisms from his grandmother. Sweet tea ethics, he calls them.

With those life lessons enhanced by master’s degrees in psychology and counseling and by training toward a doctorate that he plans to finish over the next year, Garnes passes along her wisdom through his organization From Afros to Shelltoes, which provides cultural programming advocating practical strategies for social change, personal development and emotional healing. He consults with companies, universities, arts organizations and other clients who wish to empower Black men.

“My programming involves education, history, music and culture,” Garnes said. In Sweet Tea Ethics, one of the organization’s programs, “I’m not giving a canned speech.

Someone is interviewing me and I am freestyling on topics.”

Another “very successful and highly requested” program is Hip Hop and Healing, “where I talk about how the principles of hip hop have the same elements of Black psychology, and how Black men and Black women and people of color have used hip hop to find healing and to find their authentic selves,” he said.

Garnes also customizes Black history, literature and psychology curricula for colleges and universities, based on the needs of the schools. He plans to continue

operating his organization after earning a doctorate from the University of Tennessee; at the moment, he is a doctoral intern at the University of California, Berkeley.

It’s quite a journey for a man who came to DePauw to take pre-engineering classes but switched to an English writing major with the idea of being a journalist. He wrote for The DePauw student newspaper and got freelance assignments to interview entertainers and write biographies of them.

He also hosted and produced a DePauw television show called “The Underground,” which, among other things, featured commentary on activism, Black psychology and the arts. That was one hint that Garnes someday would emerge as an advocate for Black empowerment; he also co-founded

the Student Coalition for Awareness, Revolution and Education, which strove to restructure student government to include representation from and funding for affinity groups such as the Association of African American Students.

But it was not until Garnes had graduated and found work writing for entertainment publications that someone pointed out that “my articles were deeply psychological. Not only was I interviewing people, but I had elements of their psychological development, how they built their self-esteem, how they were able to come back from difficulty.”

That someone was the late Joseph L. White, who was known as the godfather of Black psychology and who happens to

be the father of DePauw President Lori S. White. As a DePauw student, Garnes was assigned to escort White around campus when the eminent psychologist visited.

With White’s encouragement, Garnes applied to graduate programs in psychology and, though he still dabbles in writing prose and poetry, he headed into a new career.

Garnes, said his mentor Clifton West, “seeks to get up every day and do all that he can do with the gift of another 24 hours to make this world a better place.”

Another mentor, civil rights activist and poet Kevin Powell, put it this way: “I see his life work, especially around mental health, not only advancing Black men and Black boys, but all people, regardless of identity.”

Melissa Martin ’71: Breathing life into small towns

By Mary Dieter

A

high school counselor squelched Melissa Martin’s dream of becoming an architect. As a woman, she’d be allowed to design only plumbing and heating systems, never a building, he claimed.

All these years later, that counselor might do a double take if he saw Martin, a 1971 graduate of DePauw, at work.

Not only did she eventually take some architectural drawing classes that helped her flip several houses in the once decrepit and now posh Lockerbie Square neighborhood of Indianapolis, but Martin

is assisting small towns interested in reviving their downtowns by restoring architectural gems.

Martin, who majored in studio art at DePauw and still paints, operates Great Towns Inc., a nonprofit she created in 2012 to assist small towns with revitalization. Over the next three years, she wound down her successful career as a public relations and marketing professional and owner of GMG Communications, which opened in 1984, and its principal division, Issues and Advocates, which was established in 1987.

She was inspired by the Orton Family Foundation, a Vermont concern that supports what it calls “community heart and soul development.” Martin said she admires Orton’s “totally different” approach to economic development in which it promotes “an emotional connection,” as opposed to the usual dollars-and-cents calculations made about economic development projects.

And so she has approached a few communities, offering her consultancy for free, thanks to some small grants that provide a tiny salary and cover

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 21

Photo: Brittney Way

printing costs. Her work generally starts with an essay contest for local teens, “If These Walls Could Talk,” to teach them architecture and “instill a sense of pride and hope in their community.” Participants write an essay about a historic building in their town, including its history and architectural style, and can win a smartphone and a $500 scholarship.

She ran such a contest in Sheridan, a town of 3,000 people 40 miles north of Indianapolis, which generated an idea that she hopes results in a board-game pop-up store before Christmas. It also generated interest from a local business owner who wants to create a façade loan and grant program to help neighbors spruce up their storefronts.

Martin launched the first essay contest in Ferdinand, a town of 2,065 in

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Southwestern Indiana.

“Melissa led our community in the restoration and redevelopment of the 1886 New Farmers’ Store at 1245 Main St. in Ferdinand starting many years ago with her ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ program,” said Keith Fritz, a custom furniture maker whose creations are owned by, among others, presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Fritz, who owns another Ferdinand storefront that serves as his furniture-making shop, bought the Farmers’ Store and is rehabilitating it. So far, he has opened a two-bedroom suite for overnight stays, and Martin is working with him to write a grant application to renovate the façade and the rest of the 13,000-square-foot building.

“I could not have done this restoration and redevelopment without her,” he said.

“She has guided me and encouraged me

every step of the way.”

Martin has worked with several other communities, though the COVID-19 pandemic stalled her for more than a year.

Sometimes local government officials contact her; other times, it’s a citizens’ group seeking help.

She does it, she said, because “I grew up in small towns in Indiana, Columbus and Greensburg. And I’m a ninth-generation Hoosier on both sides. So going back, my peeps were here before Indiana was even a state. And so I think it’s in my DNA to care about these communities. …

“I’m a behind-the-scenes person. I want to effect change. I get great satisfaction out of making things better.”

Scott Moon ’83: Staging the stars

By Mary Dieter

Submitted photo.

H

e looked around at other options – being an accountant, or maybe following his father into the ministry. But ultimately Scott Moon ’83 came back to the work he has loved since high school.

“I started stage-managing in high school, and did it through college at DePauw,” he said. “I ended up stage-managing operas and musicals at DePauw because I was a technician who could read music.”

After graduation, he headed to Ohio University to study lighting design. He was assigned to stage-manage a production of “King Lear,” enjoyed it and earned kudos from the director. Maybe, Moon thought, stage management was where he belonged after all. He switched his program, igniting an upward trajectory that has taken him to the pinnacle of his profession: the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where he has been a stage manager for 30 years.

He paid his dues, to be sure. After graduating from DePauw, he worked briefly at the Red Barn Theatre in Frankfort, Indiana. Later, he was a jack-of-all-trades at the Dry Gulch Dinner Theater in suburban Chicago, where he made the set list – who would sing what – every day, operated the lights and the sound, ran rehearsal, carded patrons who might be underage and changed out the beer and wine kegs.

He spent time at the Lyric Opera in Chicago; the Chautauqua Opera in New York; and the Greater Miami Opera before landing at the Met, which puts on more than 200 performances in a nonCOVID year, with 800,000 people in

Moon and Gabriel, who appears in“La Boheme” and other productions. attendance. Moon is one of seven stage managers, who rotate four sets of duties that are performed for each show.

“It’s nice that way, keeps it fresh, and you’re not doing the same thing all the time,” he said. He expects he will work on 16 to 18 of the 26 operas the Met will perform this season, which opened in late September and will run until mid-June.

Moon is proudest, he said, of the times when he has helped the production recover when something goes awry, like when the scenery turntable won’t budge. Or the time

near the end of “Rigoletto,” when a restless audience alerted him that a projector was on the fritz, sending a burning odor – but no real danger – throughout the hall.

“There’s a line from an opera called ‘The Death of Klinghoffer,’” he said. “You remember Klinghoffer and the Achille Lauro? There’s a line from the captain that says ‘calmness at all costs.’ That is the motto. Calmness at all costs. The place is burning down? Be calm, you know? That’s the thing. Nobody wants a stage manager who’s freaking out.”

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Photo: American University in Cairo

Barbara Lethem Ibrahim ’71: Seeking justice in the Mideast

By Mary Dieter

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Queen Rania of Jordan (left) with Ibrahim at American University in Cairo, the queen’s alma mater.

H

er parents were active Methodists, and they wanted their daughter, Barbara Lethem Ibrahim ’71, to attend a Methodist-affiliated college. She chose DePauw University.

“My parents, I am sure, thought ‘she’ll go to this nice Methodist school; she’ll meet a nice Methodist boy, pre-law or premed; and she’ll have a nice life close by,’” she said. “And then the ’60s hit, and they hit hard at DePauw … Everything changed.”

In a Zoom interview from Cairo,

Ibrahim chuckled at the irony of any expectation that hers would be a quiet life, lived as a well-educated housewife in some Midwestern suburb. She has lived in the tumultuous Middle East virtually all of the five decades since her graduation; carved out a significant international career for herself; and has been married 50 years to a human rights and democracy activist.

She doesn’t remember if she shared her parents’ expectations back then. “I was pretty busy, rebelling and objecting and being impatient with my parents’ generation, certainly with DePauw at the time,” she said. “It was a very conservative place.”

But she knows, without a doubt, that her activism precipitated her lifelong pursuits. “DePauw was a very safe place to rebel,” she said. “We could fight dean (Robert) Farber about women’s hours and hone our skills. If I’d been at Berkeley or a place where everybody was radical, it would have just been fitting in; it wouldn’t have been blazing a new personal path.”

She and Saad Ibrahim, who taught sociology at DePauw while he completed his dissertation, “kept bumping into each other at Black power rallies and anti-war demos,” she said. “He was young and progressive and he was going to go back to Egypt and change the world. He made that very clear when we first met that, if we were going to be serious, I needed to think about whether I could go and live in a place like Egypt.”

They were married and, with Saad expelled from Egypt, they lived in Beirut while Barbara earned a master’s degree in sociology from the American University of Beirut. They were allowed to move to Cairo in 1975, and Barbara earned a doctorate in sociology from Indiana University in 1980.

She got a job as a program officer with the Ford Foundation’s field office for

the Arab region, where for 10 years she developed programs in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Yemen about women’s employment, poverty and gender roles.

“I had a chance to use my academic training to help organizations – whether universities, nonprofits or, in some cases, labor unions – to do programming that would open opportunities for women in the labor force,” she said. “… I couldn’t have landed a better job.”

But she eschewed her bosses’ wish for her to move into administration, and went to work as regional director for the Population Council, overseeing programs from Morocco to Pakistan for 14 years.

“I was very interested in women’s health – always had been – and I thought maybe there would be room for an adolescent girls’ program because they were taking a lot of interest in gender inequities,” she said. “I was also interested in the whole problem of population growth and how it was holding back Arab countries, and you can’t get women to adopt family planning if you’re not offering them a high quality of health care services.”

Her team conducted the first adolescent research at a national level in Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan and participated when the United Nations held an international conference in Cairo in 1994. “It was a real heady time,” she said.

It also was personally turbulent, as Saad Ibrahim was sent to prison several times for his political activity. “One of the things I noticed that made him and others very vulnerable was that they had to seek funding for their work externally,” she said. “There were not Arab foundations or institutions, or even individuals, that did grant-making for development or social change. …

“I decided that I should look at grant-

making and philanthropy … and see whether there was room to grow a new institution that would promote strategic Arab philanthropy.” She pitched the idea to the American University in Cairo, which hired her in 2006 to create and direct the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, named for a former university president who, coincidentally, had hired Ibrahim at the Ford Foundation.

Under Ibrahim, the center created 40 experiential-learning courses for students; conducted research; and did advocacy work. Using data, it proved that female genital mutilation was not dying out, as the Egyptian government mistakenly thought, leading to laws that criminalized the practice and imposed prison terms on doctors who performed it.

“I’m not a flamboyant, in-your-face advocate,” she said, but rather someone who uses “reasoning, finding champions, testing the ground, but then having the courage of your convictions if you’re challenged. And having your data, marshalling it well. …

“My staff wanted to talk about the ‘draconian measures’ of the ministry and the ‘despicable role’ of (some) groups. You take out ‘despicable,’ and you take out ‘draconian.’ Just give facts and let those do the work for you. I think there’s a temperament, perhaps, that I brought from my solid, Midwestern background that was helpful because, when people get passionate about a subject, as many of my young staff members were, they need a little bit of experienced guidance about what’s effective.

Yes, have your passion, but then think about how you’re going to effectively make a difference. And that was a good role for someone a little bit older to play.”

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 25

D

ePauw senior Edward Greene ’71 was student-teaching in Philadelphia, and some unanswered questions nagged him.

“I was in an upper-grade, middle-school setting and trying to answer the question of how do children learn,” said Greene, a clarinetist who planned to teach music. “You do student teaching, you take methods courses, they have you demonstrate that you can do a lesson plan, but you’re never asked the question: Do you know anything about the individuals with whom you are working as human beings, who are learners?

“How do children acquire and use knowledge? How do children come to understand the world? It was something that was in my head.”

He voiced his concern to the woman from whom he rented a room. She happened to be an administrator and trainer at Head Start, then a new federal program that provides early childhood education to low-income families, and she introduced Greene to the program, which had been created in 1965.

Head Start excited him so much that he wrote his semester paper about it. And though he spent a year teaching school in Detroit after he graduated from DePauw, he soon headed west, with plans to study for a master’s degree in child and human development at Pacific Oaks College and work with 4- and 5-year-olds in its children’s school. In the summer before classes started, he worked in an infant and toddler program, getting hands-on experience with little ones.

“That’s how I grounded myself in terms of really understanding what it means to be with an infant,” he said.

Yet Greene faced a major obstacle: He was a man in what was primarily a

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woman’s profession.

He found that “men don’t talk about child development,” and thus he had to “figure out how to make my way in that field.”

He started by obtaining the master’s degree and sufficiently impressing Pacific Oaks that it appointed him to its faculty to work on teacher training and child development. He also found the support of mentors who were prominent in the field. An instructor introduced him to

Barbara Bowman, a pioneer in early childhood education who cofounded the groundbreaking Erikson Institute, a Chicago graduate school, and who became Greene’s most cherished mentor.

Said Bowman: “I was impressed with his genuine enthusiasm for the work on behalf of children and families. In addition, his commitment to the early childhood field was evident through his thoughtful examination of issues and

Photo: Saed Hindash Photography

Edward Greene ’71: Exploring how children learn

willingness to work hard. I was particularly taken by his warmth and willingness to engage with advocates of all ages, races and backgrounds. I am proud to be listed as a mentor, since I learned as much from him as I gave.”

He moved from Pacific Oaks on to other jobs, including the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the Coalition for Children and Youth and the Michigan State Senate,

By Mary Dieter

where he supported the Education Committee chair.

Mentors urged him to seek more education, so Greene earned a doctorate degree in elementary and early childhood education from Indiana State University.

Others in the field saw his potential and began to enlist him to appear on panels or write a book chapter. He was asked to do photography on a project, which “gave me visibility as someone who looked at

environments through a lens of what are the ways in which environments are set up for young children.”

His former landlady, Helen Basham, hired him for his first consulting job, setting off a varied career in which Greene has worked both as employee of and consultant to numerous governmental agencies, private organizations, foundations and educational institutions across the country. He became an expert in children’s digital media environments; worked three years as the global outreach director for Sesame Workshop and nine years for the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network; and consulted with the Discovery Channel, PBS Ready to Learn and Children’s Television Workshop.

He delved into creation and advocacy for good public policy, such as better pay for child caregivers and recognition that child care is not merely babysitting. He has served on numerous national and statewide boards, including serving as the first chair of the men’s caucus of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. And he has won a number of awards that have celebrated, among other things, his vision, innovation and leadership in child development.

Greene recognizes that he has enjoyed a serendipitous career, sometimes being “in the right place at the right time. And people saw something in me and I was too silly to say ‘no.’”

But he has put the work in too. “I was learning so much about how the world actually does work,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of having a cookie-cutter approach to life or education. You have to put things together and you have to take them apart and look at them and put them back together with what you’ve learned.”

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Sally Smerz Grooms Cowal ’66: Healing countries and people around the globe

By Mary Dieter

R

unning the picturesque Muse Vineyards situated in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley could make for an idyllic life.

And, to be sure, Sally Smerz Grooms Cowal ’66 appreciates her “absolutely gorgeous” surroundings 100 miles west of Washington D.C. and the chance to “stay in one place and learn the joys of the seasonality of the place.”

But a traditional retirement? Not for her.

For one thing, Cowal misses “the interaction with people of very different backgrounds and cultures than my own …

“It’s a huge change in my life because, for a variety of reasons, ever since I left DePauw 55 years ago, I have been what you’d call a global citizen – you know, someone who traveled extensively and spent most of her existence, both personal and professional, thinking about and living in other countries around the world and dealing with their problems.”

For another, she sees similarities in her life then and now.

“I’m the vice chairman now of Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, and we worry about conservation issues and education of young people in the valley about the value of their river and how we need to protect it,” she said.

“And the Shenandoah River eventually flows into the Chesapeake Bay. So it is connected to the world. …

“I’m discovering that a lot of the problems are actually more similar

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than I knew. We have communities of disadvantaged people here. We have communities of poverty here. We have pockets of poor health here. We have high drug abuse here, a pretty high suicide rate. We’ve had a pretty severe COVID epidemic. So all these things that, for 50 years, I thought I had to go somewhere else – Africa, Latin America, Asia – to find, I find similar challenges and a similar ability to be involved.”

As a DePauw history major, Cowal recognized that she had to venture outside the expectations of women of her generation to find the challenges she sought. “I thought that my options were nursing or teaching,” she said. “I found those not broad enough to encompass what I was interested in. And also, let’s look at it more pragmatically: The pay of nurses and teachers was extremely poor.”

She spent a semester in Washington, where she learned she could pursue a career path to her liking and make more money by working for the government.

She spent much of her senior year preparing for the federal service exam and did well, winning a spot high on the list from which agencies would invite job candidates to interview.

She landed a job with the U.S. Information Agency, which promoted American values in other countries. While she was able to get her master’s degree from the George Washington University, Cowal was dissatisfied that she had been

assigned to work stateside.

“If I’m in the bucket brigade, I’d rather be the one throwing the water on the fire, not the one filling up the buckets,” she said.

So she took more exams that led to her assignment successively to India as a public affairs trainee; Colombia as head of a center where high school and university students were taught about America and American values; and Israel, as cultural attaché.

The latter assignment provided “these enormously important and rewarding chances to participate in a world that was far beyond my wildest dreams growing up on the south side of Chicago.”

Cowal had been in Israel four years when Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, asked her to serve as political counselor. “That was my breakthrough to becoming a State Department person with higher aspirations, and certainly a broader pool of things that I might choose to do for the rest of my career,” Cowal said. “… I played that out, and I was able to do everything I wanted to do.”

That included serving as ministercounselor at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

She retired in 1992 from the foreign service, figuring additional service “would be a little bit of a repeat of what I had been doing all along.” What’s more, “by the time I reached my early 50s, the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, the Berlin Wall had

Photo: David E. Guggenheim

fallen. “It no longer seemed to me to be a debate or a fight or war between these two countries, or even these two systems, but rather, the problems to me seemed to be the problems that we face in common, and I would define those as poverty and poor health and underdevelopment and lack of education.

“And so the next 25 years or so of my life, I spent in the United Nations and in various nongovernmental organizations, … trying to see what I might do to make a contribution to alleviating those problems.”

That included working on HIV/AIDS for the Joint United Nations Programme and for Population Services International and on international cancer-prevention programs at the American Cancer Society.

With contributions down during the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancer society curbed its international work, and Cowal retired in August 2020.

Well, sort of. She and her husband, Robert Muse, planted their 50-acre vineyard 15 years ago and produce award-winning wines. Though he practices international law in D.C., Muse nurtures the vines and produces the wine. Cowal handles public and community relations and runs a tasting room, a restaurant and a guest house.

“Part of the reason my husband and I established this vineyard and business 15 years ago was from a sense that we didn’t see ourselves sitting on a beach somewhere, doing very little,” she said.

“We wanted to be active.”

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Jan Risi ’81: Transforming a mom-and-pop into a competitor

By Mary Dieter

F

ranchisees of Subway® restaurants had a problem, and they looked to Jan Risi ’81 for help.

Would Risi use her considerable experience in the food business to help them purchase food, packaging, equipment and services for the lowest possible prices? The brand had been functioning in that role, but the 6,000 franchisees that existed at the time, 1996, thought there may be a better way.

“I realized quickly that, although the name ‘Subway’ was known, … it was a momand-pop organization. And it was a very unique opportunity because, although they had been successful in establishing the brand, which was always the toughest thing to do, they didn’t act like a big brand. So there was opportunity to solve business problems in a more traditional manner. And it was implementing processes and controls and being involved in agribusiness and things that they weren’t involved in, to really help make them a long-term, competitive player.”

Risi formed the Independent Purchasing Cooperative Inc. and has grown the franchisee-owned cooperative to where it now services 42,000 stores around the globe. She is the president and chief executive officer, overseeing services for the 25,000 stores, with about 10,000 franchisees, in North America in what is a $5 billion business.

“Over time what happened is we were so successful that the brand wanted us to do

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more things outside of the normal things that go into the supply-chain responsibilities for restaurants,” she said. “So we started taking over technology and we set up a payments platform and a gift card loyalty program. We built bread plants and we got into construction and a whole host of other things that I think helps you attain success.

“I did not have the vision for any of those things. I worked hard, we were successful, and they came, but (when people say) ‘you had this vision,’ … that’s not really true. I wish I could claim that, but that’s not really true. … It’s the timing and being at the right place at the right time. And surrounding yourself with the right people is really important.”

Many of her leadership team have worked with her for the cooperative’s entire 25-year history. “This is not ‘the Jan Risi Show;’” she said. “I hired people a lot smarter than me – which, by the way, is the true key to success. So a lot of things came together to make the model successful.”

Gary Lemon, the J. Stanford Smith chair in economics and management, taught Risi and now counts her as a friend.

“She’s one of the most generous people I have ever met,” he said. “… She truly cares about people. In terms of her business, it shows through. … I mean, Subway has had some rough financial times during the pandemic, and she truly cared about her employees and what it meant for them during this particularly trying time.”

Risi, an English composition major at DePauw, hadn’t planned a career in business.

She obtained her teaching certificate and expected to teach. But after an interview during her senior year, Ralston Purina hired her as a trainee in commodities. “There were very few women in commodities at that time,” she said, and “I certainly wasn’t qualified.” Maybe Ralston Purina, she surmises, “had some vision.”

The work involved buying grain that would be used to feed livestock. “They sent me to Texas, and I was working in a big, old, dirty feed mill, and I loved it,” she said. “I loved this idea of seed in the field to product, and watching all the steps in between, and the manufacturing, and then the business step of it going out to dealers, and then the dealer selling it to consumers.

I thought it was fascinating, an eye opener for me of what it took behind the scenes to get things done. …

“I’ve never looked back; I’ve just loved being in this field.”

Subsequent jobs – all in food – enabled her to learn about manufacturing, operations, sourcing, distribution, marketing and logistics. And prepared her for the monumental task of creating a cooperative from scratch.

Risi is successful because of her ability to communicate, Lemon said. He recalled that, as a student, Risi came to him, worried that she didn’t understand financial accounting.

Indeed, he gave her a “C,” though he teases her that she probably deserved a “D.” But her less-than-stellar performance with accounting concepts didn’t faze him, he told her then. And her career has proven him right.

“I said, ‘Jan, someday you’re going to be very successful. And what you’re going to do is you’re going to hire some dumb schmo like me to do accounting.’ … You do not need to know the nitty gritty to be successful.

And Jan, obviously, is very successful.”

Randy Dwenger ’80: Finding hope for troubled youths

By Sarah McAdams

F

or more than 30 years, Randy Dwenger ’80 has treated all sorts of people struggling with mental illness or substance abuse, but “I have a passion for working with adolescents and young adults.

“This is a population that I particularly

like because there’s so much hope,” said Dwenger, a medical doctor board-certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine. “I don’t really see that there’s a ceiling that they can only go so far. The sky is really the limit. If we can address the addiction, then there’s so much hope and possibility

for every person.”

He maintains a private practice in Connecticut and is chief medical officer at Mountainside, a substance abuse treatment center. Over his career, he has run an adolescent rehab facility, developed a detox program and overseen a homeless veterans’

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Submitted photo.

treatment program.

His private practice focuses mostly on psychiatric evaluations, managing medications and some psychotherapy.

While he works with clients who are in various stages of recovery from addiction, Dwenger also treats a lot of clients suffering from anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and other mental disorders. He also consults on treatments for students at local boarding schools, some of whom exhibit attention deficit disorder, “but there is also a lot of depression, anxiety, substance use and overall angst among young people today.”

The pandemic has affected young people in a significant way as they have missed out on important milestones such as graduations, senior spring events and college campus tours. “It’s been harder to connect with teenagers through Zoom and harder for them to feel connected,” he said.

“And I also think – perhaps because of the political climate, or possibly due to legitimate concerns about the planet and their futures – it has been easier for young people to lose sight of their path and often struggle to find their personal trajectory.”

Dwenger believes it is important to expand access to mental health treatment and decrease the stigma attached to seeking it.

“Addiction is a disease of the brain,” he said, “and involves brain circuitry and reward, memory and motivation. Just like diabetes is a disease, just like hypertension is a disease, it’s treatable. And there doesn’t need to be that judgment that you’re a bad person. Rather, you’ve got a sickness. Let’s see if we can help you get better.”

The stigma can be decreased through education, he said. “And it’s through

knowing that there’s someone whom you love who could be helped by getting treatment, rather than shaming or shunning them.”

Dwenger also strives to reduce stigma in his work training medical students.

“The one goal I have for them is to finish the rotation with the understanding that people suffering from addictions are human beings with an illness and deserving of our compassion and attention and caring,” he said.

“Teaching new doctors and society overall this simple point goes a long way to reducing stigma and can help people seek

treatment and recovery rather than feel shame and avoid accessing treatment that works and can help save their lives.”

He acknowledges that the battle against mental illness and addiction can be daunting.

“If I’m going to look at the situation from a drone, high above, the landscape doesn’t look that good,” he said. “But when I look at it from a microscope, I can get really hopeful and excited that I can help this person.”

Jennifer Pope Baker ’89: Making noise about quiet problems

By Mary Dieter

F

program that enabled her to interview with United Way agencies around the country. A position opened in Indianapolis, “and I thought, ‘oh, my friends from college are there.’” She moved and worked three years at United Way

there, made a couple other stops and then, in 1998, was hired as the only staff member of the two-year-old women’s fund, which was in the “interesting notion phase,” trying to raise money and home in on the work it ultimately would do.

Photo: Brittney Way

or 23 years, Jennifer Pope Baker ’89 has done the serious work of lifting women out of poverty and intimate violence. So every once in a while, she ventures off-script, and dives into a volunteer gig in sports.

“My heart is really in the work I’m doing with women and equity,” she said, “but I love sports. And so that feeds my soul and gives me something else to do.”

As president of the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, she oversees its grantmaking to organizations and projects that support women involved in caregiving of children or the elderly; experiencing intimate violence; or struggling with economic security. In the last several years, the fund – which is part of the Central Indiana Community Foundation – also has supported work to enhance mental health and emotional well-being and has been more intentional about ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion in its work, she said.

Baker didn’t plan to go into women’s advocacy or philanthropy. At DePauw, she was a communication major involved with WGRE student radio and occasionally the student newspaper.

“I thought that maybe I would do something like that, but I didn’t have a concrete plan,” she said. Her parents urged her to find meaningful work during school breaks, and United Way in Cleveland provided a position throughout her college years and upon graduation.

She later participated in a training

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“We were very careful to say that we were going to do things other people were not paying attention to,” Baker said. Leaders “wanted to look at the quiet problems, the ones you don’t say out loud, the ones that happen to ‘those people,’ other people.”

More than two decades on, she still enjoys the work. “I still have new challenges,” she said. “There are still new things to do. And I think that as long as there are new things and I’m challenged, it’s the right fit for me.”

Brian Payne, CICF’s president and chief executive officer, said Baker “is a great connector of people and ideas. She generously opens up her network of smart, committed and charitable people that will get you the expertise or advice you need to go from plateau to breakthrough.”

Baker finds respite from her day job in volunteering for sports events, such as serving as vice chair of the Indiana Sports Corp and as NFL team liaison for the 2012 Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

When the NCAA announced in January that its entire March Madness basketball tournament, not just the Final Four, would be played in a controlled environment in Central Indiana, Baker took a leave of absence from the Women’s Fund to chair the local organization and coordinate the massive logistics of hosting 68 teams playing 67 games.

“Jennifer,” said Rick Fuson, the sports corp chair and the president and chief operating officer of the Indiana Pacers, “is a pragmatic problem-solver, someone who truly lives the principle that anything is possible when we do not worry who gets the credit.”

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Ashley English ’01: Exhibiting empathy born of experience

By Sarah McAdams

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ittle did Ashley English ’01 know that hitting bottom can set you up to bounce back up.

It was in 2004 – June 26 specifically, because she remembers it well – that she decided that her lifestyle “wasn’t in line with the way I was raised, what I was taught and certainly not in line with God … I said, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore. I’m morally bankrupt. I am spiritually broken. I do not feel good about things that I’m doing, where I’m progressing in my life.’ And it was at that moment that I said, ‘tomorrow will be a new day.’”

For 17 years now, every tomorrow has been a new day. Not only did she permanently set aside the alcohol and marijuana she had regularly used, as well as “other drugs (that) were not unknown to me,” but she passes along her example and expertise as a licensed addictions counselor to other substance abusers who find their way to her and The Willow Center, her addiction treatment center in Brownsburg, Indiana.

Clients are referred by physicians, employers, schools or the courts, with their enrollment precipitated by threats of divorce or loss of job or some other inciting incident.

English declines to describe the incident that prompted her turnabout or the specific

substances she abused, lest other substance abusers use their differences as an excuse to avoid treatment. They may say, “I didn’t use that or she didn’t use what I use and therefore I can’t find hope,” she said.

“People like to find reasons why they can’t identify with you.”

And yet, English and the members of her staff who likewise are in recovery most assuredly identify with them. “I want people to know that there isn’t anything that they’re going through that somebody else isn’t,” she said. “They need to know that they will get through it and their story is valued. There’s a purpose for that. Do not give up before the miracle happens. It will happen. But you have to reach out.”

English said she used substances while a student at DePauw, though “it was after DePauw that I totally crossed the line of moderation.” When she arrived in Greencastle, she was considering majoring in psychology, but a few days of a statistics class changed her mind. She considered communication, but eventually switched to education studies and student taught, though it didn’t feel like the right choice for her.

As graduation approached, her sorority sisters were landing jobs, and that “just added to the panic that I wasn’t good enough or worthy enough.” After graduation, she taught as a substitute

Photo: Brittney Way

and took temp jobs. Three years later, her reckoning came, followed by a new job at a methadone clinic and, six months after that, a position at what is now Community Fairbanks Recovery Center in Indianapolis.

She stayed eight years, during which she became a certified life coach with a specialty working with substance abusers, then got licensed as an addictions counselor.

Then, in August 2012, the owner of a counseling center who was shutting down his operation asked if she wanted to buy his assets and take over his client list. With another counselor and an administrative assistant, she opened The Willow Center.

Nine years later, she still sees some individual clients and runs a men’s group but spends most of her time overseeing a staff of 15-20 who provide customized individual and group counseling to about 400 clients a month. She hopes to eventually open more centers.

Last year, as she watched a softball game played by former clients – part of the center’s after-care programming – she noticed some joyous children in the bleachers. Their father was on the field.

At that moment, she said, she realized that “this is success, when your kids are smiling, your wife is here, they’re cheering you on where they’re supposed to be cheering you on. It was in that moment I said ‘this is why we do what we do. We’re reunifying families and communities and we’re giving people their dad back, their mom back, their son back. And to me, that is success when you can look over and the kids are smiling again.”

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The new VPs: Seeking solutions Two new vice presidents joined DePauw early in the 2021-22 school year. To get a glimpse of their personal and professional philosophy and values, we asked them to provide a quote that speaks to them and to describe, in their own words, their motivation to work at DePauw.

ANNE CUNNINGHAM, a development leader at the Case School of Engineering, was named DePauw’s vice president for development and alumni engagement.

INSPIRATION

IN HER OWN WORDS

“Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you’d rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, drive through the other barrier. And after you’ve done that, to do it again the next day.”

“It is an honor and privilege to work with DePauw alumni to build and support this great institution to achieve even more in the future.

Philanthropy allows us to think beyond the possible, to consider the impact of not just today but for many generations forward. Each and every day the Development and Alumni Engagement division strives to strengthen the relationships and commitment of all alumni with DePauw University.”

– Seth Godin, author and entrepreneur

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for admission, alumni MARY BETH PETRIE, dean of admissions at Lawrence University, is the new vice president for enrollment management.

IN HER OWN WORDS “I believe that a strong liberal arts education is exactly what the world needs to solve the problems that we face today and the problems we’ll face in the future. I take great pride in the work that we do at DePauw in challenging the leaders of tomorrow who can think critically, challenge systems, debate respectfully, create inspirational works of art and articulate their ideas sometimes in several languages. Our work in Enrollment Management is to support that mission by recruiting, selecting, enrolling and awarding curious, diverse and collaborative students who will develop into uncommon leaders who thrive and succeed at DePauw and beyond.

INSPIRATION “If we want people to fully show up, to bring their whole selves including their unarmored, whole hearts – so that we can innovate, solve problems and serve people – we have to be vigilant about creating a culture in which people feel safe, seen, heard and respected.”

– Brené Brown, lecturer and author

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FROM THE DIVISION OF ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

GREAT JOB, TIGER ALUMNI! Your efforts played a huge role in helping DePauw’s Office of Admission with recruiting last year!

Check out these numbers for the Class of 2025: • 81 legacy students • 36% of alumni referred admitted students

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This proves that DePauw enrolls some of its most promising students with the help of your referrals.

If you know an academically high-achieving student who would excel at DePauw, complete a referral form at https://bit.ly/ReferTigers.

FROM THE DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Practical approaches to everyday ethics …

That’s the Prindle way Alumni and other lifelong learners can learn about useful, practical approaches to the ethical questions that arise in their own lives at the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics, located at the DePauw Nature Park.

n Leadership begins with ethics and ends without it.

The Prindle Institute offers leadership development programming for organizations of any size and for leaders of any shape. www.prindleinstitute.org/leadershipdevelopment-and-consulting n The Prindle Institute assists parents and grandparents by offering more than 200 discussion guides designed to introduce philosophy and ethics using popular children’s books. www.prindleinstitute.org/teaching-childrenphilosophy/ n Everybody wrestles with questions about ethics.

Some are easy to answer but others are more difficult to answer. The Examining Ethics podcast provides listeners with tools and ideas so they may find answers to questions that arise in their own lives. https://examiningethics.org/

The Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics, the only national ethics institute at a liberal arts college, opened in 2007.

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 39

GOLD NUGGETS GOLD NUGGETS publishes submitted updates about DePauw alumni’s careers, milestones, activities and whereabouts. Send your news to DePauw Magazine, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, IN 46135-0037 or dgrooms@depauw.edu. Faxes may be sent to 765-658-4625.

Space considerations limit our ability to publish photos. Group photos will be considered if you include each person’s name (first, maiden and last), year of graduation and information about the gathering or wedding. Digital photos must be high-quality jpegs of at least 300 dpi. Submitted hard copies cannot be returned.

Questions? Contact Mary Dieter at marydieter@depauw.edu or 765-658-4286.

1957

1965

Pi Beta Phi graduates Nancy Ford Charles, Suzanne DeCosted Breckenridge, Margaret “Peg” Steffen Sant’Ambrogio and Judie Roser Smith celebrated 68 years of friendship during their 14th off-campus reunion. Judie Roser Smith hosted the group at Batchelor’s Gulch, Colorado, for five days of sightseeing and reminiscing.

David L. Callies’s eighth edition of “Cases and Materials on Land Use” was published in August by West Academic publishers. David retired from the University of Hawaii law faculty May 31 after 43 years of teaching and 10 years of law practice in Chicago. He is now professor emeritus at the William S. Richardson School of Law.

The Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care in Southern Pines, North Carolina, held its annual golf classic in honor of Donald L. Hamilton. His son, Mark B. Hamilton ’88, was a member of Don’s foursome for the event, which raised more than $30,000. Don has twice served on the coalition’s board, chaired several departments and worked as a screener for 15 years.

Hampton Scott Tonk is listed in “Who’s Who in America” for 2020 on page 1,272.

1958 Carolyn Hancock Cleland’s husband Arthur “Art” Cleland died Sept. 5, 2020, at 91. They were married 65 years.

1959 Larry L. Smiley has self-published a book, “Images in the Rearview Mirror: A Glance Back.” He lives in a 55+ community in Banning, California.

1964 The gourd art of Nancy Lyon Miller was on exhibit for a month in the fall at the 1920 Gallery at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion.

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Barrie A. Peterson lives in Pawling, New York, and leads efforts to honor his hometown LaPorte, Indiana, for its nurturing of young Isamu Noguchi into a world-renowned sculptor. A mural was hung at the local library, books on Noguchi have been donated and “Noguchi November” events are planned.

James R. Williamson retired last Nov. 30 as circuit judge in the First Judicial Circuit Court of Johnson County, Illinois. He was first elected in 1978 and subsequently retained for six six-year terms. He was chief judge for the last 6½ years of his tenure. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest serving circuit judge in Illinois. He previously practiced law and was elected Johnson County state’s attorney in 1976. He resides in Vienna, Illinois, with his wife, Debbie.

1970 Edward V. Lauing Jr. was reappointed by the Palo Alto, California, City Council to a second four-year term on the Planning

and Transportation Commission. The council also appointed him to the Housing Element Working Group to create the state-required housing plan for 2023-31; he is co-chair. Edward is managing partner of executive recruiting firm Equity Search Partners.

1971 Scott S. Brinkmeyer has written his first novel, “Mark of the White Rabbit,” a thriller-mystery available on Amazon under his pen name, Lincoln Cooper.

Scott has worked as a trial lawyer, certified arbitrator, mediator and adjunct law professor.

David L. Wann has written and published “Tickling the Bear: How to Stay Safe in the Universe,” his first novel after nine nonfiction books and five TV documentaries. He says his book has a mission “to present self-guided champions of social and cultural change.”

1973 The Alpha Chi Omega class gathered at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, for a reunion. A highlight was seeing SHOUT, a musical that featured songs from the members’ youth. Penny Leitner Lisi modeled an outfit that Ruth Fraley Evans ’17 wore at DePauw in 1916 (Marilyn Shultz Evans’s husband’s grandmother). (See photos.)

1974 John K. Burke retired as a school superintendent in Kansas after 36 years.

1975 Kathleen S. Jagger was installed Oct. 7 as the 12th president of Newman University in Wichita, Kansas.

1976 Nancy Gibson Prowitt was appointed

by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to the Board of Visitors of George Mason University for a second four-year term.

Penny Leitner Lisi ’73

1978 Janet Hayes Nice retired from Indiana University April 30. She spent more than 18 years at the IU School of Nursing, achieving the top rank of clinical professor.

She was director of IU’s statewide RN to BSN online degree completion option for 11 years. Her scholarship has been recognized nationally and internationally.

She is a fellow in the National League for Nursing’s Academy for Nursing Education. She was co-leader of the International QSEN RN to BSN Task Force. She served as a member of the Indiana Hospital Association’s Council on Quality and Patient Safety to reduce patient harms. She has been awarded the clinical professor emeritus rank by IU and the 2021 innovation award for QSEN, and declared a “university treasure” from IUSON for her teaching excellence and numerous national and international publications.

1979 N. Peter Rasmussen retired from Bloomberg Law. Peter, a senior legal analyst, covered corporate and securities law and was a frequent author, speaker and panelist on corporate law matters. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with his wife, Peggy Mathias Rasmussen ’80, who retired as a director of international IT for AbbVie Inc. in 2017. Their daughter, Katie Rasmussen, graduated from DePauw in 2008. (See photo.)

Ian B. Davidson ’80

N. Peter Rasmussen ’79 and Peggy Mathias Rasmussen ’80

The 1973 Alpha Chi Omega class reunion. Those attending included (back row) Christina Brogren Scofield, Marilyn Shultz Evans, Rebecca Swindler Curry, Mary Ann Cox Sadler, (front row) Mary Jones Landon, Leslie Kennedy Bender, Nancy Pierobon Hensel, Penelope Leitner Lisi, Nancy Netherland Becker and Susan Vaughn.

1980 Ian B. Davidson’s newest album, “Un Deux Trois,” with the Wild Basin Winds, was released late last year. His latest film collaboration with fellow Austin musicians, “Simple as Water,” was nominated for best documentary film at the 2020 Tribeca Festival and released commercially in 2021.

Davidson is principal oboe of the Austin Opera Orchestra, associate principal oboe of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and a Regents’ and University distinguished professor at Texas State University. (See photo.)

1982 Bradley S. Fuson retired in December after practicing law with Krieg DeVault LLP in Indianapolis for 35 years. Brad and his wife, Teri, will continue to reside in Carmel, Indiana, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Brad plans to increase his community and faith-based volunteering.

1983 Valerie Knox Mireb is pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Pickens, South Carolina.

1985 John T. Locke was the lead medical/ head athletic trainer for USA Diving for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

(See photo.)

John T. Locke ’85

Members of the classes of 1980 and 1981 gathered June 11-13 in Greencastle to celebrate a combined 40th reunion. The city of Greencastle provided a street party Friday, June 11, on Indiana Street. Class members were honored to have President Lori White address the crowd before dinner June 12. Dinner was held at The Inn at DePauw, followed by music and dancing on the terrace. Old friendships were renewed and new ones made, making this rogue reunion a big success. Until next time, Tigers, A Toast to Old DePauw!

Jennett McGowan Hill will become president of the Lilly Endowment foundation Feb. 22.

1987 Susan Barkley Rice was recently sworn in as president-elect of the American Probation and Parole Association, an international organization representing more than 90,000 community corrections professionals in the United States, Canada and island territories.

She will serve two years as the president-elect of the association, then two years as president. Susan was the chief probation officer for more than 30 years in Miami County, Indiana, and now is director of community supervision partnerships for Uptrust, a San Francisco-based company that

Phi Delta Theta brothers from the early 1980s gathered for golf and dinner. Those attending included (back row) Darrell R. Johnson ’85, John C. Cassidy ’82, Christopher L. Johnston ’83, Ken A. Owen ’82, Joseph W. Dayan ’82, Tracy L. Clifford ’83, Brian M. Wolf ’81, (front row) Stuart B. Smith ’84, Thomas L. Vear ’80, David S. Dewey ’83, Peter J. Durment ’82 (host) and James C. Malles ’83.

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GOLD NUGGETS of First Internet Bancorp and its subsidiary, First Internet Bank.

1998

C. Stephen “Steve” Mayberry ’94

Alexa N. Kovachevich ’12 and Stacie M. Grissom ’11

1992 Dale S. Porfilio is the chief insurance officer at the Insurance Information Institute.

1994 Stephanie Beck Klein is the associate judge for the 23rd Judicial Circuit Court of DeKalb and Kendall counties in Illinois.

Stephanie Bewley Kress ’05 builds software to help people navigate and exit the criminal legal system.

1989 Michael D. Barron received the Healing Hands Award from Franciscan Health Central Indiana. He has practiced cardiology at Franciscan Health since 2000, when he joined Indiana Heart Physicians. He holds a degree from Indiana University School of Medicine.

1990 Phillip D. Joseph, a former executive officer of Prologis and Spirit Realty and an avid cyclist, has purchased Janus Cycle Group, a fabricator of premium titanium bicycles and components.

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C. Stephen “Steve” Mayberry appeared on Showtime Networks’ “The Chi,” in the “Black Messiah” episode, which aired July 11. This was his fourth role in a television program or movie, including “Dog Eat Dog,” starring Nicholas Cage and Willem Dafoe, and “Chicago Fire.” He also is a voice actor for promotional, narrative and commercial projects. (See photo.)

1995 Renee N. Madison is vice president for equity and inclusion at Colgate University.

Pat Roberts, who is in his ninth season with the Minnesota Vikings, was promoted to assistant director of college scouting.

1996 Nicole Sunkel Lorch was named president and chief operating officer

Photini “Melanie” Downie Robinson earned her certificate in Byzantine music with highest distinction from the Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology, one of only 10 women ever to do so. She is the founding director of Yphos Voice Studio and is the lambadarios, or second cantor, at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. She is a touring artist and soloist with the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Cappella Romana and headlined the Utrecht Early Music Festival in September. She entered the Portland Seminary in the fall to pursue a master of divinity with a specialization in clinical chaplaincy and pastoral ministry.

Danica Rodemich Mathes was featured in D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas 2021” list. She is an attorney for Bell Nunnally specializing in intellectual property. She was also named to the Best Lawyers in America 2022 list.

1999 Hilary Guenther Buttrick was named the executive director of the Orr Fellowship, a two-year program that connects high-caliber recent college graduates with high-growth Indiana companies. Hilary lives in Carmel, Indiana, with her husband, Stuart R. Buttrick ’97, and her children Laurel and Robert Foster.

2000 Ryan W. Higgins is the chief commercial officer of OmniTRAX, the Broe Group’s transportation affiliate.

2001 E. Renee Barnett is chief financial officer at Immunovant, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on autoimmune diseases.

2002 Emmy Huffman Hildebrand worked for U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar until 2012 and then transitioned to HVAF of Indiana, which helps homeless veterans get treatment, housing and employment.

She is the chief executive officer, with a 70-person staff and an $8 million budget.

2003 William J. Brooks and his wife, Allie, announce the birth of their son, Oliver James Brooks, on Oct. 10, 2020. They live in south Broad Ripple in Indianapolis.

Roberto J. Munoz is vice president of external communications for Fannie Mae, where he leads external communications efforts through creative storytelling, thought leadership and stakeholder engagement.

2004 Katherine Gehring Erdel is an attorney for Dentons Bingham Greenebaum in Indianapolis.

2005 Stephanie Bewley Kress was awarded the Indiana Public Defender Council 2021 Gideon Award June 3. The award goes to a person who works to ensure equal justice for indigent people. (See photo.)

2006 Sarah E. Masterson is an associate professor of piano and music theory at Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina. She is reconstructing and recording the music of Philippa Schuyler, a mixed-race composer, pianist and journalist whose works have not been recorded or published. Sarah is fundraising for the cost of recording and distributing the album. More can be found at https://sarahmastersonpianist. com/recordings/ and https://www. newberry.edu/news/masterson-reviveslife-and-lost-music-of-philippa-schuyler.

Sarah will be recording Schuyler’s piano

Melody L. Buckley ’11 and Robert L. Bryant III

work “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” for future release.

2009 Clayton E. Hopkins is the lead product designer on the data and technology team for the Democratic National Committee.

2010 Michael A. Alsop earned a Ph.D. in music education at the University of Georgia. He is a lecturer of instrumental music education and athletic bands at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

2011 Lacey M. Berkshire is an attorney with Ice Miller LLP. Laura A. Brown is deputy general counsel for the Indiana Hospital Association.

Melody L. Buckley and Robert L. Bryant III were married April 3 in Nashville, Tennessee. (See photo.)

Stacie M. Grissom and Alexa N. Kovachevich ’12 attended the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the initial public offering of their company,

Samantha L. Mullennax ’15 and Dylan B. Sheldon ’15’s wedding. DePauw alumni who attended included Kreigha P. Henney ’14, Christopher C. Bertolini ’15, Marissa A. Doherty ’15, Cole M. Hanson ’15, G. Richard “Chip” Locke IV ’15, Enrico R. Lumanlan ’15, Ian K. Munn ’15, Jack D. Peck ’15, Morgan A. Sears ’15, Matthew W. Owen ’15, Karen Tan ’15, Tiara L. Winston ’15, Connor R. Hollensteiner ’15 and Linda A. Frauenhoff ’74.

Erin K. O’Brien ’15 and Tyler J. Bussian ’15 wedding. DePauw alumni attending included Patrick C. Brems ’15, Aaron D. Krabill ’15, Benjamin J. Ramos ’15, Rachel A. Hanebutt ’15, Rudra Vishweshwar ’15 and Jack C. Leibovitz ’15.

BARK. They are two of BARK’s earliest employees. Stacie is BARK employee No. 3 and Alexa is BARK employee No. 5. (See photo.)

2012 Lauren Hannan Brandstatter was promoted to director of community engagement at Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center.

Amy K. Peterselli is an attorney with First Look Family Law in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

2013 Emma R. Scherer is the executive director of the Santa Fe Symphony.

Sara K. Scully graduated from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in May. Her grandfather, John Scully ’79, is a trial lawyer in Dallas.

Members of Phi Psi who attended a rehearsal dinner in Indianapolis for William T. McClamroch Jr. ’16 included Paul J. Simon III ’16, Jeffrey A. Vorherr ’16, Daniel D. Kiel ’16, W. Tobin McClamroch ’77, Jay D. Robinson III ’15 and P. Griffin Dolle ’16.

2014 Kelsey E. Binion was appointed by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to be student trustee on the Indiana University Board of Trustees. Her term runs through July 1, 2023. Kelsey earned a master’s degree in applied communication from IU and is a second-year Ph.D. student in health communication there.

2015 Tyler D. Benware has been promoted to director of operations at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He oversees the

orchestra and the youth orchestra’s performance engagements, recording activities and rehearsal schedules.

Samantha L. Mullennax and Dylan B. Sheldon were married in Indianapolis May 1. (See photo.)

Erin K. O’Brien and Tyler J. Bussian were married May 30 in Rochester, Minnesota. (See photo.)

2021 William “Billy” Drevline is interning with the Texas Rangers major league baseball team.

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 43

GOLD NUGGETS DePauw Magazine marks the death of alumni, faculty and staff members and friends. Obituaries do not include memorial gifts.

When reporting a death, please send as much information as you have about the person and his/her affiliation with DePauw to Alumni Records, DePauw University, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, Ind. 46135-0037 or to jamahostetler@depauw.edu.

IN MEMORIAM 1939 Betty Macy Smith, 104, Seattle, May 4.

She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and a social worker. She was an avid quilter who enjoyed boating.

1940 Ruth Durham Hegreness, 102, Portland, Oregon, June 13. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega; an accountant; and a tax consultant. She traveled frequently; played golf, mahjong and bridge; did taxes; danced; sang; and lawn bowled.

She saw 20 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild.

1942 Jean A. Banta, 100, Buffalo Grove, Illinois. She was a member of Delta Zeta and an elementary school teacher.

Anna Jack McCord, 101, Sheridan, Indiana, July 25. She taught music at the Indiana School for the Blind for 10 years. She enjoyed playing cards, crocheting and music.

1943 Mary Downs Thompson, 100, Austin, Texas, June 16. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and a clinical dietitian who enjoyed traveling and reading. Survivors include a sister, Joyce Downs Menk ’48.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Virginia Downs ’52.

44 I DEPAUW MAGAZINE FALL 2021

1944 Katharine Draper Haimbaugh, 98, Columbia, South Carolina, May 21.

She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a community volunteer. She was preceded in death by her husband, George D. Haimbaugh ’38, and a sister, Dorothy Draper Hawkins ’42.

1945 Kenyon S. Tweedell, 97, South Bend, Indiana, March 30. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and a university professor who published numerous research papers in biology journals. He enjoyed fishing, gardening, birding, kayaking, singing in the church choir and researching family genealogy.

1947 Mildred Routt Gardner, 95, Zionsville, Indiana, July 29. She was an elementary school music teacher and later a chief financial officer. She played the organ; directed choirs; and volunteered in the community. Survivors include a daughter, Leslie Gardner ’79.

1948 Virginia McGahey Harshey, Franklin, Tennessee, March 4, 2020. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta. She loved music and taught her children to love it as well. She was the center of her family who had a gift to generate her own happiness. Survivors include a daughter, Terese Harshey ’74, and a granddaughter, Laura Lempke Dugger ’05. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Alice McGahey Kinne ’43 and Frances McGahey Lupke ’45.

Betty Owens Proffitt, 95, Delta, Colorado, May 19. She was a member of Alpha Omega. She was a cosmetologist and a district manager for Avon. She enjoyed singing in the church choir. She was preceded in death by her husband, James W. Proffitt ’48, and a daughter, Jan Proffitt ’74.

Susan Ward Bollinger Christopherson, 95, Petoskey, Michigan, Aug. 28. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Survivors include a son, Richard S. Bollinger ’73. She was preceded in death by her mother, Martha Howard Ward ’26, and her first husband, Richard L. Bollinger ’47.

1949 Patricia Coyne Taylor, 94, Edina, Minnesota, May 13. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. She was a homemaker who shared her love of life with those who knew her.

Rae Rickenbacher Hickman, 93, Lexington, Virginia, July 19. She was a member of the Washington C. DePauw Society. She was an accomplished violinist who taught and played violin in orchestras and chamber groups. She volunteered at the library and hospice and taught English as a second language.

She enjoyed reading, walking, hiking, birding and puzzling. Survivors include her husband, Cleveland P. Hickman Jr. ’50. She was preceded in death by her son, Andrew R. Hickman ’81.

1950 Francis E. Evans, 92, Fairmount, Indiana, April 26. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and a Rector scholar. He was a career research chemist and had more than 200 patents for chemical procedures. He was a master gardener and a rock hound.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mildred Semelka Evans ’50.

Gene Hahn Cheney, 93, Columbus, Ohio, June 20. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and the Washington C. DePauw Society. Her career included administrative positions in several organizations, including The Ohio State University Medical Center.

She volunteered at the James Cancer Hospital and the Ohio Historical Society, and was an avid reader. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard G. Cheney ’49.

Charles H. Heaton, 92, Huntsville, Alabama, June 11. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association; a Rector scholar; an author; an organist; and a choir director.

Mary-Helen Smith Beiger, 92, Danville, Illinois, July 3. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and a librarian.

She was involved with Sweet Adelines International and directed choruses.

She enjoyed golf, traveling, gardening, sewing, crafts and entertaining. She was preceded in death by her mother, Edith Hill Smith ’28.

1951 Beverly Baughman Ruser, 92, Alexandria, Virginia, July 15. She was a librarian.

Dorothy Duck Gray, 92, Westfield, Indiana, June 8. She was an executive secretary who retired in 1969 to help her husband run GAPCO Inc. She was active in several community organizations.

Charles A. Whitcomb, 92, Helena, Montana, April 26. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and had a career in international banking. He enjoyed playing golf and bridge, fishing, walking and volunteering. Survivors include a daughter, Laura P. Whitcomb ’79.

1952 Russell “Jack” Fry, 93, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, July 21. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the Washington C. DePauw Society and president of Emruss Corp. He served in Korea as a sergeant in the U.S. Army.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Mary Jackson Fry ’22.

Nancy Driscol Gardner, 91, Cary, North Carolina, Aug. 19. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta and a teacher.

She had traveled to every continent except Antarctica. Survivors include a brother, Theodore D. Driscol ’58, and a sister-in-law, Kay Farr Driscol ’56. She was preceded in death by her mother, Elizabeth Engle Driscol ’28; her father,

Paul E. Driscol ’27; her first husband, Robert Dawson ’51; her third husband, Thomas H. Gardner ’52; a sister, Carol Driscol Brandt ’54; and brothers Thomas E. Driscol ’53 and Paul E. Driscol Jr. ’56.

Ruthann Inlow Roberts, 90, Cortez, Colorado, July 13. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. She was an avid reader and a lifelong learner who enjoyed classical and contemporary music. Survivors include a sister, Lillian Inlow Gehres ’46. She was preceded in death by her husband, David N. Roberts ’51, and a brother, Paul M. Inlow ’51.

Lewis L. Kirk Jr., 87, Santa Monica, Feb. 4, 2018. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association, a Rector scholar and an engineer for Litton Data Systems.

Thomas B. Littlewood, 92, Urbana, Illinois, June 6. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and a journalist.

He was a retired journalism professor who had taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was the author of six books and numerous professional publications covering political and historical subjects.

Survivors include daughters, Linda Littlewood Johnson ’75 and Leah Littlewood Hamrick ’84, and son-inlaw, Richard C. Johnson ’74.

Muriel Nelson Berger, 90, Riverside, California, April 14. She was a member of the Washington C. DePauw Society. She enjoyed travel and was an avid runner. She ran her last marathon at age 75.

Henry L. Soukup, 92, Hinsdale, Illinois, May 6. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi and a Rector scholar. He was a businessman; a community leader; and a volunteer. He was preceded in death by a brother, Vernon P. Soukup ’46; a sister, Betty Soukup Boyd ’53; and a brotherin-law, Max L Boyd ’51.

Marilyn Thomas Peterson, 90, Union City, Indiana, Aug. 6. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and a high school music teacher. Survivors include a daughter, Kathryn Peterson Quinn ’80, and a sister, Romaigne Thomas Adams ’47.

Marjorie Vaughan Barondes, 91, Alexandria, Virginia, April 18. She was an elementary school teacher and a community volunteer. She played the violin and was a Brownie and Girl Scout troop leader.

1953 Joan Arterburn Walker, 91, Marion, Indiana, July 15. She was a high school English teacher. She was interested in classic cars, rescued greyhounds, classical music, playing the piano, traveling and watching sports. She was preceded in death by her mother, Lois Richards Arterburn ’23.

Betty Corder Outerbridge, 88, Highlands, North Carolina, April 13.

She was a member of Delta Gamma and a business owner. She was an avid reader and an amazing cook who enjoyed bridge, golf, traveling and dogs.

Arthur E. Edwards, 90, Fort Worth, June 29. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He had been vice president of sales for Southwest Air in Fort Worth and later co-owner. He enjoyed golf and working with computers.

John C. Lowe, 90, Indianapolis, July 5.

He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a physician. He enjoyed tennis, bridge and walking dogs. Survivors include a son, John C. Lowe Jr. ’89, and a daughter, Katy Lowe McPeek ’97.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Marilyn A. Lowe ’52.

Mary Miller Evans, 91, Valparaiso, April 29. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was a golfer and a community volunteer. She accompanied her husband on a medical missionary trip to India where she volunteered at the hospital. Survivors include her son, Daniel M. Evans ’77, and a nephew, Robert S. Lukemeyer II ’78.

1954 Bruce H. Brown, 90, Tangier, Indiana, July 26. He was a member of the

Washington C. DePauw Society and a teacher. He enjoyed traveling and chronicled his life in journals. After retirement, he completed work on a history of Liberty Township (Indiana) veterans from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan; the book now is in the Rockville Public Library. Survivors include daughters Alyson Brown Navarro ’87 and Mary Brown Moore ’91.

Carmen Lynch Siegel, 89, Indianapolis, April 9. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta; an elementary and nursery school teacher; an accomplished pianist; and a violinist.

She was a community volunteer who enjoyed gardening. Survivors include a son, David L. Siegel ’87, and a granddaughter, Sarah M. Redman ’18.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Louann Lynch Roe ’55.

Robert J. Nunn, 88, Fort Myers Beach, Sept. 5. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega, a Rector scholar and a business owner. He was an avid golfer. Survivors include his wife, Joyce Milnar Nunn ’55, and a daughter, Patricia Nunn Lynch ’85.

1955 Warren E. Beebe, 88, Muncie, July 23.

He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and a Rector scholar. He had a career in real estate and was a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor. Survivors include a daughter, Margaret Beebe Kirby ’88; a sister, Wanda Beebe Hamilton ’51; a nephew, James A. Hall ’79; a niece, Jill Hall Cleaves ’87; and a nephew-inlaw, Douglas V. Cleaves ’86. He was preceded in death by his father, Waldo E. Beebe 1921, and his wife, Mary Montgomery Beebe ’60.

Othmar G. Grueninger, 92, Indianapolis, July 16. He was a member of Sigma Nu, owner of Grueninger Travel and president of Carras Cruises.

Survivors include a grandson, Hugh Huntington Dyar IV ’14. He was preceded in death by his wife, Elisabeth Jones Grueninger ’54.

George R. Lambert, 88, Fort Myers,

June 24. He was a member of Delta Upsilon, an attorney and vice president and general counsel for an insurance company. He was active in many civic organizations. He was preceded in death by his parents, George R. Lambert ’26 and Velma Jones Lambert ’25.

1956 Richard E. Crandall, 93, Gainesville, Florida, Aug. 6. He was a member of Delta Chi and a Rector scholar, and a retired professor from the University of Florida. He served on several research programs and published more than 50 articles. He enjoyed canoeing and fishing.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Albert E. Crandall ’56, and a sister-inlaw, B. Louise Woods Crandall ’50.

R. Victor Dix, 87, Naples, Florida, Aug. 21. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta, a newspaper publisher and a community leader. Survivors include a sister, Edna Dix Crocker ’58, and a brother-in-law, David A. Crocker ’59.

He was preceded in death by a cousin, Prudence Dix Hilger ’57.

Norma Dreyer Vandorn, 87, Viets, Kansas, May 18. She was a registered nurse. She enjoyed music, reading, travel, making baby quilts and volunteering.

She was preceded in death by her brother, William H. Dreyer ’52, and a sister-in-law, Donna Cook Dreyer ’53.

Norma Hawkinson Winemiller, 86, Portland, Oregon, July 27. She was a member of Delta Zeta. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert H. Winemiller ’56.

Robert B. Hirschman, 86, Indianapolis, April 11. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, an orthodontist and a community volunteer. Survivors include a brother, Richard R. Hirschman ’67; a nephew, John F. Hirschman ’91; grandnieces, Elizabeth H. Cottingham ’20 and Katherine S. Cottingham ’23; and a sister-in-law, C. Sue Strickland Hirschman ’59. He was preceded in death by a brother, Frank F. Hirschman ’58.

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 45

GOLD NUGGETS Mary Woodford Pavlikowski, 86, Rio Rico, Arizona, March 13. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi. She traveled extensively with her husband throughout the world. She was a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a merit awarded by the pope for personal service to the church.

Robert E. Sutton, 86, Dallas, July 16.

He was a member of Sigma Nu and a businessman. He enjoyed camping, fly fishing, golfing and woodworking.

Survivors include his wife, Diane LeClair Sutton ’56, and a sister, Doreen Sutton Ryan ’48.

1957 Suzanne Blair Lemser, 86, Montrose, Colorado, May 3. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta and an elementary school teacher. She enjoyed needlecrafts, making copper-enamel jewelry, wood carving and tole painting. Survivors include her husband, Lawrence S. Lemser ’57.

Veryl “Skip” Frye, 86, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, May 17. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and a surgeon. He played the viola; sang in several church choirs; and enjoyed working with young people, wounded warriors and senior citizens. He enjoyed tennis, woodworking, gardening, bird watching and fly fishing.

William C. Frey, 86, Los Angeles, July 22. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and an electrical engineer who worked for NASA. Philip W. Kendall, 85, Brownsville, Texas, May 21. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a Rector scholar. He was a university professor and administrator. He enjoyed fishing, playing his flute and studying Spanish.

Survivors include a sister, Margaret Kendall Soulen ’56. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles S. Kendall ’27 and Mary Travis Kendall ’29, and a brother, C. Travis Kendall ’54.

46 I DEPAUW MAGAZINE FALL 2021

1958 Janet Brebach Murray, 85, Marietta, Georgia, Aug. 20. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, a teacher and a community volunteer. She was preceded in death by her husband, William D. Murray Jr. ’58.

Jason J. Kesler, 86, Fisherville, Kentucky, May 3. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and a Rector scholar. He retired as a professor of economics from Minnesota State University-Mankato.

He enjoyed the outdoors, traveling, fishing, playing cards and hunting.

Robert E. Manhard, 85, Aurora, Colorado, Aug. 9. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and a business owner.

He enjoyed tennis, volleyball, boating, entertaining, dancing, growing roses and playing the harmonica. Survivors include a brother, Elgin A. Manhard Jr. ’62, and a sister-in-law, Sally Smith Manhard ’62.

Jane Middleton Anderson, 84, Iowa City, Iowa, July 23. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Pi Beta Kappa. She was a clinical psychologist who operated a private practice and worked as a faculty member at the University of Iowa. She also was a community volunteer.

fishing, reading, coffee with friends and volunteering.

Mary Morgan Halfmann, 83, Aiken, South Carolina, Aug. 22. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta; a teacher; and a community volunteer. Survivors include her husband, George C. Halfmann ’57; a son, Charles Morgan ’90; daughters, Debra Halfmann Nelson ’83 and Mary Halfmann Lampe ’85; a granddaughter, Meghan L. Voigt ’13; and a sister, Martha Morgan Bull ’58.

1960 Nona Hartnett White, 82, Ithaca, New York, July 7. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and a real estate broker who designed gold and silver jewelry, wrote two children’s books and volunteered in the community.

Barbara Prescott Mueller, 83, Athens, Texas, June 13. She was a member of Delta Zeta and a science and math teacher. She enjoyed bridge, travel and hiking.

Janet Schroeder Ellsworth, 83, Little Rock, Aug. 4. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and a teacher. She enjoyed acting in community theater groups, sewing, singing and time with family.

Charles B. Stafford, 85, Cincinnati, Aug. 31. He was a member of Delta Chi and the Washington C. DePauw Society; a Rector scholar; and an actuary and tax examiner for the IRS. Survivors include a brother, Stephen W. Stafford ’63. He was preceded in death by an aunt, Charlotte Stafford ’25, and an uncle, J. Howard Stafford ’33.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Walker, 83, Rockford, Illinois, April 9. He was a Rector scholar and a member of Beta Theta Pi. He pastored United Methodist churches in Northern Illinois for 40 years after earning a doctor of ministry degree from Chicago Theological Seminary. Survivors include his wife, Ellyn Vyhnalek Walker ’59, and his son, Stephen Walker ’85.

1959

1961

Jack C. Morgan, 83, Sellersburg, Indiana, Jan. 29. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and Phi Beta Kappa and a Rector scholar. He taught economic education for 44 years; was the author and co-author of numerous articles and instructional materials; and founder and executive director of the Kentucky Council on Economic Education. He enjoyed

Richard B. Brock, 82, Los Angeles, April 15. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a health care consultant and registered nurse.

Charles H. Colin Jr., 82, Valparaiso, June 17. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and a high school coach and athletic director. He enjoyed golf and travel.

1962 Ivan D. Floyd, 80, West Lafayette, April 30. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Beta Kappa; a Rector scholar; and an attorney. He enjoyed reading, listening to global news, watching sports and talking to people.

E. Ruth Johnson Piwonka, 81, Kinderhook, New York, Aug. 2. She was a historian; a consulting researcher; and an author.

Arthur G. Nevins, 79, Ashburn, Virginia, Oct. 6, 2020. He was a member of Delta Upsilon and had a career in the U.S. Air Force. Survivors include his wife, Sarah Humbert Nevins ’63.

James N. Ross Jr., 80, Marco Island, Florida, Feb. 25. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta; a Rector scholar; a veterinarian; and a distinguished professor at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. He enjoyed listening and telling stories while out on his fishing boat. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Marcia Collins Ross ’62.

1964 F. Lynn Huffman, 79, Fremont, Ohio, June 5. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and an educator. He enjoyed traveling, spending time in Florida, birding, fine food and time outdoors. Survivors include a brother, Wayne A. Huffman ’66.

Judith Peters Hope, 78, Godfrey, Illinois, Aug. 30. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and an elementary school teacher.

Janet Seaman Fromhold, 78, Middlebury, Vermont, April 18. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and a clinical social worker. She enjoyed theatre, music, art and the symphony. She and her husband traveled worldwide. She was preceded in death by her husband, George B. Fromhold ’63.

1965 Caryl Fernandes Wilhoite, 76, Indianapolis, April 17. She was a

member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the Washington C. DePauw Society.

She was a teacher and a community volunteer. She and her husband traveled worldwide. Survivors include her husband, Bert M. Wilhoite ’65; a son, Bert M. Wilhoite Jr. ’93; and a daughter, Rebecca Wilhoite Jacklin ’95.

Robert R. Cope Jr., 78, Sandpoint, Idaho, April 15. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and a physician.

He enjoyed scouting, music and playing his banjo.

1966 Richard K. Dowell, 78, Indianapolis, May 27. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, a Rector scholar and a medical sales representative. He enjoyed life on the water and fishing trips and was an avid race fan. Survivors include a brother, Duane L. Dowell ’58, and sister-in-law, Vera Ferris Dowell ’60.

Janet Krueck Keierleber, 77, Naperville, Illinois, June 24. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta and an educator who volunteered for adult literacy, preschool and special needs children. She enjoyed hiking, traveling and exploring the national parks. Survivors include a sister, R. Ann Krueck Silberglitt ’68.

Sara Pasco Williams, 77, Greenfield, Indiana, June 22. She was an educator and a lover of cats, books, quilting and the Girl Scouts.

1967 Karen L. Berrettoni, 75, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Sept. 9. She was a member of Delta Gamma and the Washington C. DePauw Society, and vice president of Key Bank in Cleveland. She will be remembered for her love of animals, nature and the ocean and giving to others.

Allison Claire Childress, 75, Westminster, Colorado, July 2. She was a United Methodist minister. She enjoyed cooking, traveling in the United States and abroad and reading.

Leroy V. Heldt, 76, Vacaville, California, June 3. He was a member of Delta Chi, a Rector scholar and an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He enjoyed golf, wine and travel. Survivors include daughters, Katharine Heldt Falace ’99 and Amanda N. Heldt ’00; his brother, Lloyd A. Heldt ’56; and his sister-inlaw, Patricia Metzdorf Heldt ’57.

Martha Kuenzli Smith, 75, Simi Valley, California, July 9. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and the Washington C. DePauw Society. She taught Suzuki Method violin and was an instructor in English and humanities at the University of Southern Indiana. She enjoyed music, reading, movies, crossword and jigsaw puzzles, card games, pug dogs and travel.

1968 Stuart B. Watson, 74, Glenview, Illinois, July 11. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and a businessman. Survivors include a brother, Richard C. Watson ’69. He was preceded in death by his mother, Dorothy Smithson Watson ’43, and his stepmother, Mary Ellen Henderson Watson ’44.

1969 Fredrick W. Parker II, 74, Indianapolis, July 9. He was a member of Delta Chi and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a businessman. He played many musical instruments. He sang in barbershop quartets and church choir. He enjoyed boating and traveling. Survivors include his wife, Barbara White Parker ’69. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Meghan K. Parker ’94.

1970 Barbara Brucklacher Mayr, 72, Powell, Ohio, June 10. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta and a medical technologist.

She enjoyed classical music and jazz; gave piano lessons; sang in church choirs; and hiked in national parks with family.

Survivors include her husband, William P. Mayr ’70, and son, James P. Mayr ’00.

Alma Hamm Evans, 77, Greencastle,

May 9. She was a teacher and a business owner. Survivors include a granddaughter, Megan J. Haltom ’20.

1971 Peggy Snapp Headley, 91, Greencastle, April 19. She was a school teacher and volunteer. Survivors include a granddaughter, Jeanette L. Jones ’10.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James R. Headley ’50.

James “Cy” Young, 73, Terre Haute, May 20. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and an attorney in Greencastle.

1972 Richard P. Haug, 71, Williamsville, New York, June 4. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and a technical specialist at the Marine Midland Bank.

Karen Werner Connolly, 71, Troy, Michigan, Aug. 11. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta. She was an expert in health care administration and accreditation and operated her own health care consulting company.

1973 Christopher E. Smith, 70, Howell, Michigan, April 30. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta. He enjoyed great success in growing the family business, Travel Plus.

1974 Paul Bai Akridge, 68, Falls Church, Virginia, Oct. 13, 2020. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and a Rector scholar who received an alumni citation from DePauw in 1999. He was a former member of DePauw’s Board of Visitors and the DePauw Alumni Board of Directors.

He had a career in higher education, government relations, international education and corporate supplier diversity programming. He enjoyed time with family and friends, swimming, international travel and reading.

1975 Dawn Hedmark Segalo, 68, Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 22. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi. She enjoyed reading, watching old movies, sewing and gardening. She was a pianist and sang in the choir.

1978 Steven R. Hoopingarner, 70, Greencastle, July 29. He was an elementary school teacher.

1980 Jay A. Metzger, 63, Jacksonville, Aug. 4.

He was a member of Delta Chi and a businessman who enjoyed sports.

1981 Roger K. Bechtel, 62, Tucson, May 10. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha. He was an actor, an author and playwright, an award-winning director, an avid reader and a competitive runner.

He taught acting and directing at Illinois Wesleyan University, Miami University of Ohio, Bowdoin College and Carleton College. After retiring from academia, he passed the Minnesota bar exam and became a public defender.

1982 Jennifer Davis Moy, 61, Indianapolis, May 22. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and a civic volunteer.

She enjoyed travel, family vacations, good food, games and jigsaw puzzles.

Survivors include a daughter, Lyndsay L. Moy ’10; a son, Benjamin H. Moy ’10; and a brother, Mark E. Davis ’86.

1983 Carroll Bottum, 59, Seattle, June 4. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

She worked in banking and holistic and compassionate health care. She was a community leader and organizer. She enjoyed nature – water, wildlife and birds.

FALL 2021 DEPAUW MAGAZINE I 47

GOLD NUGGETS 1986

Faculty

Peter W. Steelman, 57, Charlotte, North Carolina, July 30. He was a member of Delta Chi and a businessman. He enjoyed the beach, running, traveling and spending time in New York City.

Survivors include his wife, Sara Hatfield Steelman ’86, and a sister, Martina Steelman Mosley ’87.

James L. Cooper Sr., 86, Greencastle, Aug. 19. He was a professor emeritus of history and a recognized expert on the study and preservation of Indiana’s historic bridges. He was dedicated to faculty development, becoming the university’s academic dean in 1981 and then vice president of academic affairs in 1983. He valued engagement with his students and was an exceptional classroom teacher. A Danforth graduate fellow, he received his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His academic interests ranged from the American Revolution to urban planning, but his passion rested with cataloging, studying and preserving Indiana’s historic bridges.

In retirement, he wrote “Artistry and Ingenuity in Artificial Stone: Indiana’s Concrete Bridges, 1900-1942” and “Iron Monuments to Distant Posterity: Indiana’s Metal Bridges, 1870-1930.”

1987 Kelly Burk Wetoska, 56, Glenview, Illinois, Aug. 31. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi and an alumni scholar. Survivors include her husband, Stephen R. Wetoska ’88, a daughter, Emily M. Wetoska ’16, and a son, Michael S. Wetoska ’19.

Stephanie K. Martinson, 56, Boonville, Indiana, Aug. 31. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and the Washington C. DePauw Society.

Survivors include a sister, Jennifer Martinson West ’82.

1999 Amie Williams Mandat, 44, Jupiter, Florida, Sept. 19. She was a Julian scholar, a member of Delta Zeta and an athlete, playing basketball and volleyball at DePauw. She was a member of Chi Alpha Sigma Athletic Honor Society.

She received a doctorate in chemistry from Indiana University and worked as a doctor of organic chemistry for Fisher Scientific.

2014 Shay C. McInerney, 28, Ho Chi Minh City, April 29. He was a member of the Washington C. DePauw Society. He taught English in Vietnam. He enjoyed traveling, reading and all things “Star Wars.”

48 I DEPAUW MAGAZINE FALL 2021

Steven Linville ’06, who filled a number of critical roles in his alma mater’s School of Music for the past 14 years, died Oct. 19 in Indianapolis. He was 38. Linville, a tenor who graduated cum laude with a degree in vocal performance, worked at DePauw since July 2007, returning a year after earning a degree in musical performance. He rose through the ranks, most recently working in multiple roles: director of productions, overseeing all facets of the University Performing Arts Production Team, including planning for more than 200 School of Music events each year, developing marketing strategies to recruit and retain students, managing the operating budget and taking the lead on grant applications; part-time assistant professor of music; and music director for DePauw musicals. He also was the music director at Plainfield United Methodist Church and previously was executive producer for Intimate Opera of Indianapolis. He performed many roles in opera productions and musicals and as a concert soloist performed pieces such as Mozart’s “Requiem” and Handel’s “Messiah.” He maintained a private voice and acting studio. At DePauw, he participated in Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society; Mu Phi Epsilon, a co-ed international professional music fraternity; and DePauw Opera. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He earned a Master of Music in vocal performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2012.

Friends Lenora Alspaugh, 84, Greencastle, Aug. 20. She worked in many places, including The Hub. Her hobbies included working in flower gardens and spending time with family and traveling.

Mary M. Grimes, 90, Greencastle, Sept. 7. She worked for 28 years at DePauw, retiring as a secretary of the Management Fellows Program.

Robert J. Thomas, 91, considered “the father of computer science” at DePauw, died Sept. 24 in Greencastle. Thomas, who came to DePauw in 1958, held titles as professor of mathematics and professor of computer science. He taught a computer class in spring 1961, before the university even owned a computer, by arranging for students to do programming on a Bendix G‐15 at Rose‐Hulman Institute of Technology and driving to Terre Haute several times a week to deliver students’ punch cards.

He arranged the purchase of DePauw’s first computer, a $120,000, desk-size IBM 1620, using grants from IBM and the National Science Foundation. It arrived on campus while he was on sabbatical leave in 1961-62 to work on his doctorate.

No one else knew how to operate the computer, so it stayed in storage until his return. Thomas then developed and taught DePauw’s first computer science course, offered in spring 1963, and became the first director of the university’s computer center. He retired from DePauw in 1991, and two years later the university created the Department of Computer Science.

In 2013, Thomas and his wife Doris established the Computer Science Founders Fund for Excellence, which supports the purchase of equipment and enables students to travel to conferences to present their work. The Robert J. Thomas Outstanding Computer Science Senior Award is given annually to recognize a graduating computer science major’s excellence. Thomas graduated from Oberlin College in 1952; earned master’s degrees from Indiana University and the University of Illinois; and completed his doctoral degree at Illinois in 1964.

Survivors include his daughter, Sharon Thomas Williams ’78.

LEADERS THE WORLD NEEDS

First-year known for follow-through exemplifies DePauw’s outstanding students

Z

oe Knight ’25 had always had frank discussions with her mother, who taught her not only about her own bodily functions but also that some young women had much more to worry about than mild monthly cramps.

So when Knight was contemplating a meaningful project that would enable her to secure a Gold Award, the Girl Scouts’ top achievement, she decided to take on “period poverty,” the lack of access to feminine hygiene products. Period poverty, Knight said, sometimes keeps young women from attending school for several days each month and even causes some to drop out of school.

“A lot of people think it is just a thirdworld country problem,” Knight said, but she knew that some of her classmates at Kirkwood High School outside St. Louis were affected. “A lot of people don’t realize you can’t use food stamps to buy period products.

“It’s an awful system, and I’m trying to solve it the best that I can. And I’m hoping to grow and be able to solve it on

a bigger level as well. But right now, we’re just starting small.”

She learned that young women at her high school who needed a product had to go to the nurse’s office, where items she considered inferior were kept in a locked drawer. She created dispensers and worked with school administrators to install them in each women’s restroom, then stocked them with higher-quality products. When she sought contributions to buy more products, companies turned her down because she had not incorporated. So she created Project WallFlower, a 501(c)3 organization.

Knight’s project is continuing at Kirkwood this year, head principal Michael Havener said, and she wants to replicate it at other high schools, as well as DePauw. “I’m hoping that we can be set up in a ton of schools and make sure that we’re making a difference,” she said.

Knight, who also was a member of her high school’s mock trial team – which won the Missouri state championship and was seventh in the nation – is an example

of the kind of students who come to DePauw, said Mary Beth Petrie, the new vice president for enrollment management.

“DePauw students care deeply about their fellow community members, and they seek to make a deep impact on the world.”

Havener, the head principal, said he was impressed by “the way that she approached and handled a situation or a topic that some would have hesitation to have that conversation, especially with a male principal.” He also was impressed with her follow-through; “sometimes you have students who are leaders that start something and then just let it go. Zoe was very, very thoughtful in this process.”

He said that the administration is aware that some Kirkwood students struggle with poverty; one in six experience food shortages. But period poverty was largely invisible until Knight raised the issue.

Down the line, he said, “I expect her to lead. I expect her to be someone who is influential in the future and I really can’t wait to see what she accomplishes.”

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