Knox Magazine - Class Notes - Fall 2020

FALL 2020

President’s Note Taking the Long View

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his fall, the College convened in ways entirely reimagined from the pre-pandemic past. Students returned to a campus where learning takes place largely on screens. Important events in the life of the College, like last spring’s Commencement and this year’s 100th Homecoming, have been cancelled or moved into the digital space. Faculty have adapted their teaching styles to the new realities of hybrid instruction and many staff are working remotely. We all spend far too much time peering at screens and coping with the resultant blurry vision and dry eyes.

One remedy for our strained vision is the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look away from the screen to a point at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. I have found some profound truths in this simple rule. To see well, we need to take the long view, to focus on something further away than the immediate present, and to do so long enough to gain perspective. This feels to me like a very important lesson as I work with the College staff to make the right decisions for Knox in this very challenging moment.

KENT KRIEGSHAUSER

Fortunately, we have always been an institution that looks outward as much as it looks inward; as a College we look to the future as much as we look to the past. We draw inspiration from the past and work with young people to prepare them for the future, and we are confident that through them the world will be a better place. We take the long view.

Yet there is no disputing that this year, 2020, has been an extraordinarily challenging year for the world, the nation, institutions of higher education, and Knox College. We confront a global pandemic, a racial reckoning, an economic recession, and political polarization of a degree only rarely seen in the postwar United States. But to address these issues, we must guard against letting the urgency of the present moment distract us from the future, both for Knox and for our students.

As an institution of higher education, the role of the next generation in responding to current events profoundly shapes our work and is the source of our deepest commitments. At every Commencement since I arrived in the fall of 2011, I have choked back tears to share with our graduates my hope and faith in them, citing Carl Sandburg’s remarkable poem written for the 1937 renovation of Old Main: “What young people want and dream across the next hundred years will shape history more than any other motivation to be named.” Standing on the steps of an historic building, Sandburg looked out a hundred years hence.

“To see well, we need to take the long view, to focus on something further away than the immediate present, and to do so long enough to gain perspective.”

The challenges this generation of students is facing are profound, but I have been inspired by our students who have complied with the COVID restrictions with remarkable patience and grace. They know that their college experience has been altered almost beyond recognition, but they are persevering and supporting one another.

As challenging as this time has been for our students, I also hear from many members of the Knox community, and have felt myself, that through this process of re-imagining our work, we find moments of creativity and of social solidarity even in the midst of social distancing. We are discovering that some of the changes we have made to adapt to the pandemic will endure and could actually advance Knox’s position in a competitive higher ed landscape. Our small size, our deep institutional history of resilience, our culture of caring for one another—all these are part of our past and they will help us secure our future. So in this 184th year of the College, let us all take the long view and prepare for the next hundred years of Knox history.

—Teresa L. Amott

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Class Knox 1940-1943 Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1944

If you attended Knox for one year, two years, or graduated with honors, you are a Knox alumnus/a. You are the best reflection of Knox College and the education it provides. So, keep us informed. Tell us what you’ve been up to, if you’ve been promoted or honored, or simply say hello. Here’s how: • Contact your Class Correspondent; • If you don’t have a correspondent, email, call, or “snail mail” us directly (see below); • Or have other media sources send us press releases, articles, and publicity.

Please send information about births, marriages, and deaths directly to: Alumni Records Knox College, Box K-230 Galesburg, IL 61401-4999 Email: records@knox.edu Send all other updates, correspondence, or questions to: Jennifer Gallas Associate Director of Alumni Engagement and Alumni Giving Knox College, Box K-150 Galesburg, IL 61401-4999 Email: jgallas@knox.edu Please note that Class Notes may be edited for space and in accordance with the Knox Style Guide.

1945-1946 Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1947 Annabeth McClelland Gay passed away on April 29, 2020. Our condolences to her family. ❯ Charles Trenka and wife Frances celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on July 31 with a drive-by party parade organized by their family!

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1950 Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1951 Jay Burgess and wife Shay continue to enjoy living in a senior living center in Florida near family. Jay says all is well and sends his best to all his classmates. ❯ On January 27, 2019, Carlee Bengtson Hallman, a retired United Methodist minister, was honored to officiate at the wedding of her grandson Matthew Antosz and Jing Ye Yu, in the chapel of the Asbury Methodist home where Carlee and her husband live. Mathew met Jing Yi in the U.S. when she was here as an au pair. He visited her twice in China. When she visited him in the U.S., they decided to marry.

1948 Class Correspondent: Sidney E. Norris 3135 Agate Street, Eugene, OR 97405, 541-683-6160, senorris@comcast.net

1949 My faithful correspondent, Bob Willett, writes, “Florida is not doing well in the current pandemic and it looks as if things aren’t going to improve. Wife Donna is in memory care in Melbourne, and visits have been shut off since March 13. Recently they started courtyard visits outdoors with a fence between us and six feet apart. Even that has stopped now, so we just wait.

I keep in touch with Frank Johnson ’50 and his wife Catherine in Fort Wayne. Frank hit the impressive age of 98 this year but Catherine tops him–she turned 105 in April! I talked to her recently and she still is pretty sharp. Hard to believe that it was 70 years ago that we left the sheltered campus for The World.” ❯ Three students benefited from the William Fern Endowed Fund this year. The prize, established

by Bill Fern ’50 in 1988, is given in honor of three close friends: Jeanne Zemek Bohn, Thalia Manganari Papavas, and Theodore Yelich. Bill faithfully keeps in touch with Jeanne’s son and daughter, as well as with Thalia. Bill writes, “It may be of interest for you and the College to know that Thalia Manganari Papavas, Sara Bohn

SUBMITTED

We are Knox.

You are, too.

Knox received the sad news that Barbara Lemke passed away in mid-July. She was a longtime class correspondent, Admission volunteer, and Fifty Year Club Scroll of Honor recipient. She will be missed by the Knox family.

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

Looman, and Nathan Bohn all held or still maintain a prestigious position in the education world.

Mrs. Papavas, now retired, was a professor at New York University; Sara Bohn Looman teaches English in advanced classes in Atlanta, Georgia; and, Nathan Bohn continues as director of admissions at Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania.” Thank you, Bill, for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

Carlee Bengtson Hallman ’51, a retired United Methodist minister, officiated at the wedding of her grandson, Matthew Antosz, and his new wife, Jing Ye Yu. Congratulations to all!

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“I did my tax returns six months early.” Bob Borzello ’58 Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1952 John Cooke celebrated his 93rd birthday last July. He writes, “I was part of the McDonald’s Corporation team that set the Big Mac up as a worldwide success. I have three boys (all living, two retired), five grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren. Marge and I live in a senior living facility in Galena, Illinois. Marge suffers from short-term memory loss, which we manage pretty well. I am grateful for my time in the U.S. Army.

I learned much that I used in my business career.

I am most pleased, though, with my connection as a student at Knox. I hope my classmates feel the same.” ❯ Chuck Porter and Ken Tranbarger ’61 held a socially responsible telephone meeting on Sunday, June 28. The Porters, Chuck and Priscilla, were camping in an RV park near San Diego where Ken and his wife Mary live. The Tranbargers have been properly sequestered since last spring. The Porters bought a small trailer to escape the 115-degree heat in Palm Desert, where they live. The couples meet up each time one of them visits the city where the other lives. Ken has been active on important park commissions in a city famous for its parks.

The Porters are still active in educational activities in the desert area. Ken always reminds Chuck about how hard he had to work as a Knox student to recover the College’s reputation after Chuck’s four years. Chuck is still working on a rejoinder to his jibes. Both of us are wishing the best for their alma mater in these trying times.

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1953 Don and Gail Holmes Curtis ’55 sold their home of 59 years in Flossmoor, Illinois, and bought a home on the shores of beautiful Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. They find plenty to do with a new home and have a list of projects to keep them busy both inside and out. Gail says they love being on the lake, and they are now close to two of their children, including a daughter and sonin-law who often come across the lake in their boat for visit and a cup of coffee. Don and Gail usually cruise to the Bahamas on their boat in late April or May, but the coronavirus changed all of their plans this year. ❯ Shirley Baker sent a message to report the passing of her husband Robert S. Baker in June in Franklin, Georgia.

Our deepest sympathy to Shirley and her family. ❯ Look for your next request for news to come from Audrae Norris Gruber,who agreed to take on the job as class correspondent! Many thanks, Audrae!

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

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1954 The Class of ’54 must be hunkered down deeply and aging safely. I’ve heard only from Ron Leganger, still recovering from a freeze that required replumbing his Chicago house and almost everything with it at a very sizable cost, not all covered by insurance. Fortunately, Ron also has a Fort Lauderdale home. ❯ Now, everything else is about me, Jim Dunlevey. Wife Kathie and I have a very sizable home library. Not surprisingly as a Knox poli sci major with a later law degree, I have several shelves of founding fathers and presidential biography and history, and in the past year have read more than two dozen. My conclusion: Never has this nation had a president more rude, crude, and lewd than the current temporary occupant of the White House. ❯ I also have several shelves of Galesburg and Knox material and, inspired by the search for at least 1837 donors for #KnoxProud Day, I read Earnest Elmo Calkins’ They Broke the Prairie (1937), and Professor Hermann Muelder’s Missionaries and Muckrakers, The First Hundred Years of Knox College (1984). While Knox leaders have long claimed the college was founded on February 15, 1837, it did not exist physically until a very rudimentary building was constructed in 1838—on that the historians agree. On the 1837 date, the men of the Illinois Legislature, then meeting in the state capital of Vandalia with Abraham Lincoln a member, approved a charter for the “Knox Manual Labor College.” ❯ The village of Galesburg then consisted only of a surveyor’s lines on a plat map. Just when, or even if, Knox formally adopted the Old Siwash nickname is not clear. The first of George Fitch’s stories was published in 1908, and others followed until a year after his death in 1916. It also is not clear how Fitch came to use the name. What is clear, as Prof. Muelder and others have explained, is that it is a derogatory term for Northwest American Indians derived from the French sauvage or savage, and by the late 20th century became the victim of political correctness on the campus. ❯ Fitch may, however, have been ahead of his time when women did not yet have the right to vote for president. In one of his stories while the fraternities fought furiously to elect their members to campus offices, the Old Siwash women quietly captured almost all of them. And finally, Professor Muelder’s Missionaries and Muckrakers just might have set a record for scholarly documentation and annotations. In 382 pages the 11 chapters contain 1,211 endnotes, and there is a 13-page bibliography and 17-page index.

Class Correspondent: Jim Dunlevey 27419 Embassy Street, Menifee, CA 92586-2005, dunlevey@aol.com

1955 What a year this has been—and it’s only July. I hope you are staying home, wearing masks when you do leave home, and washing your hands.

Boring, isn’t it? ❯ Jim Rogula lives in one of Chicago’s northern suburbs and has whatever is needed delivered. I do that too with Instacart. It’s a lifesaver. Jim has a positive attitude about the quarantine. He got lots of things done in the house and in the garden that needed doing. ❯ Here in South Florida, we have had floods recently and are cringingly (I don’t think that’s a word, but it’s accurate) waiting for a hurricane, since it’s that time of year. ❯ Russ Fuiks wasn’t aware the last Knox Magazine was online, and I’ll assume many of you haven’t seen it either. I’m tempted to just post it here. Before March and the pandemic, Russ and Jan were on their usual travels: last August to Sedona, Arizona, in November to Branson to see the Christmas shows and lighting. In February they were in San Juan Capistrano, California, watching whales and dolphins—and then—there was an abrupt stop to all travel plans. They live in Denver, so there are many beautiful places to visit right there near home. ❯ Pat and Paul Johnson, who live in Arizona, often spend time north of San Diego, California, during the hot summer months. I’m not sure if they will this year. Paul mentioned his friendship with Wally Larkin, which began when they were freshman roommates in Seymour Hall.

They still stay in close touch after all these years.

A 69-year friendship. WOW! ❯ I met Diane Ridge Ogdon in 1951 too. She died in June. She too was a dear friend for all these years. With her loss, we are ending our round robin letters since there are only three of us left. (We began with 12.) So sad. ❯ Jack and Marilynn Foster Weidman ’56 are living in a retirement community in Peoria. Jack retired from his banking career in 1995. Over the years he has enjoyed travel, golf, fishing, and currently, nature photography. They are rightly proud of their two sons, a physicist and a pediatrician, and their families. ❯ Barb Behringer ’56 and Al Paulus are dealing with Tucson’s dry heat (while we deal with Stuart’s damp heat). They have a grandson who just graduated from Northwestern and is applying to medical schools…an exciting time of life.

As Al said, it’s such a joy to see our children and grandchildren do well. ❯ Roland Peaslee, Mort Weir, and George Elliott were planning to represent our class at Homecoming in October, but since it will be a virtual homecoming this year, they will have to cancel those plans. However, on the bright side, they will save gas and hotel expenses. George has successfully recovered from open heart surgery and reports that his business is doing well in spite of the virus, with several construction projects on the calendar. Roland reports that the Weirs went to Arizona in June, but didn’t say if it was a temporary or permanent move. Roland’s son Jay is now senior vice president, wealth advisor, at Wells Fargo Private Bank, and one of his grandsons is in the First Marine Division Band and recently recorded a new version of the Marine Corps Hymn in Hollywood. ❯ Don ’53 and Gail Holmes Curtis celebrated their first 4th of July at their new (to them) summer

Class Knox on how he has spent the pandemic. home on Lake Geneva. Eleven of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there. I know you will agree, having that many members of a far flung family with you at one time is a rare treat. ❯ Logan “Bud” Wharton has had several falls and has been in the hospital for several weeks with a broken jaw and a broken rib.

Since I can’t visit him, we are very grateful to have FaceTime visits. I’m sure he is happy to see me, our children, and grands on screen, but the best treats are “visiting” with our toddler greatgrandchildren. ❯ All my best in our efforts to survive this crazy world.

Class Correspondent: Dorothy Wharton 3511 SE Fairway West, Stuart FL 34997, dtwharton33@gmail.com, 772-220-9433

1956 Whoever would have imagined that our “golden years” would find us adjusting to the wearing of masks, staying in place, and social distancing?

Adding to that was the surprising reality that our age group is among the most vulnerable. Shall we credit our Knox education for the ability to deal with these troublesome times? ❯ We hear from Burt Sargeant in Washington State that he and Cleo are hunkered down at home as ordered by their governor. Cleo celebrated her 90th birthday, and Burt celebrated his 86th. They now have 14 great-grandchildren, plus two more expected.

The family is scattered all over the USA— Upstate New York, Washington, D.C., Alabama, California, and three families in different Washington locations. They make good use of Skype. ❯ Fred Habeck says it is not fun being in the COVID higher risk category in Hobe Sound, Florida, but he and Isabel are dodging the bullets pretty well. They were able to squeeze in a New Year’s Caribbean cruise safely, just in time. For Fred, “Old Siwash” is a mental monument that arouses fond memories, and always will. ❯ Carol and Mack Trapp now spend summers in Snowmass, Colorado, “of which Aspen is a suburb.”

Sadly, the great Aspen Music Festival and School, the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival, and the Aspen Security Forum all canceled. The Institute did put on a terrific five-day virtual streaming program with interviews and discussions by Bill Gates, Madeleine Albright, Dr. Fauci, Yval Sharon, Walter Isaacson, Hank Paulson, and others. Mack reports that Albright is very bright, telling a story about being inspected by Customs at Heathrow Airport. She was on the floor with her suitcase open, pulling out all of the items for the Customs officer. Finally, she looked up and said, “Do you know who I am?” He said, “No, but we have a doctor on staff who might help you with your identity.” Mack reports no COVID among friends and family, and he spends safe time fishing for trout in local rivers. ❯ Bob Rothe, a proud math nerd and retired nuclear physicist, wrote a mathematics paper during the pandemic’s necessary isolation. Bob generalized the equation of a circle from beginning analytic

geometry to its parametric counterpart. His work is too long for the constraints of this column, but Bob happily will share it with other “math nerds” if contacted at bobrothe1957@gmail.com. Bob would like to get this work to the Knox Mathematics Department. He wants to acknowledge the role of Dr. Andrew Lindstrom, his math professor, in promoting his ongoing recognition of the intrinsic beauty of mathematics, both pure and applied. Trains are another of Bob’s passions, and he co-authored a magazine article in TRAINS Magazine. The tale, “fraught with fright, fun, fatigue, and failure,” is derived from a 20mile hike along the abandoned railroad tracks of a once-proud narrow gauge railroad in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. It will appear in a future issue of TRAINS Magazine. ❯ Since moving from Naples, Florida, to Lake Oswego, Oregon, in January 2019, Jenny and Stan Anton continue to enjoy their new home and adapted to a (hopefully) unseasonal chilly and rainy spring. Their daughter, Georgina, got married in Portland on August 8. She and her husband plan to continue their jobs and reside in the area. ❯ Rather than rattle around the house as a widower, David Yount has invited his twin daughters, Lisa and Christina, to join him at his home. Once they sell their Alexandria condo, they will have the top two floors of the townhouse, leaving David to rattle around in the furnished basement. ❯ Daughter Linda and I visited her twin sister Ellen and family in Springfield, Virginia, the first week in March, realizing after our return how lucky we were to be back home before travel restrictions started.

That was the last of “normal.” ❯ Please, everybody, stay safe and healthy!

Class Correspondent: Ricky Jung Schwarzler 854 Cessna Street, Independence OR 97351, schwarzler@msn.com

1957 Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1958 Mary Zahutnik Krughoff wrote that her grandson, Kevin Krughoff, who is in his last year of residency for urology at Dartmouth, just received a fellowship from Duke for corrective surgery.

Mary’s youngest grandson, Cass, had been living in Singapore when the pandemic started. She says he was lucky enough to get the second-to-last plane out before they shut down the airport! ❯ Mary Peterson Potter said she hoped that other classmates were doing well, and that she’d like to hear from them. ❯ Bill and Ann Velde Baker ’60 continue to spend time every summer at their lake house in Michigan. They enjoy time on what’s left of their beach since high lake levels have eroded much of it. Bill says the children and grandchildren are doing well, and only one grandchild is still in college. ❯ Judy Bowers

Rothe and her husband of 63 years, Dr. Robert Rothe ’56, moved from their home of 55 years in Boulder, Colorado. Judy writes, “In February 2020, we moved to Frasier Meadows Retirement Center, which is only 10 minutes from our previous home. I exercise and take the dog for walks, read murder mysteries, and watch more TV than ever before. Bob, who is a retired nuclear physicist, has written a mathematics paper. He’s had great fun with what he claims are never-beforepublished math findings. Stay healthy, classmates!” ❯ I received the following email from Bob Borzello. “There’s a famous British WW1 poster with a little boy looking at his guilty dad and the little boy is saying, ‘And what did you do during the Great War, Daddy?’ I thought of this in early March when our leader here in the UK was on TV telling us he had everything under control. Not only didn’t he but he ended up in intensive care with the plague. So I thought, ‘What will you do during the Great Plague, Bob?’ Usually I spend my time in London, Venice, and my cottage in the Welsh mountains.

But the latter two were closed down to all visitors so I would be in my London home. First, I did my tax returns six months early. Then, I did all the to-dos and must-dos that covered my desk.

Then I put my ‘affairs’ in order so when I die my kids will know what I’ve got and where I’ve got it.

Finally, I decided to do what, sadly, neither my parents or grandparents did: write a family history. It is particularly important as I am now the oldest person in the family and so the only person who remembers anything before 1943, and I’m the only one who can identify the old-timers in the family photo album. I have an uncomfortable feeling I will have plenty of time to finish it. I highly recommend it. Your grandchildren won’t appreciate it now but they will in 50 years.” ❯ John Norton celebrated his 84th birthday with a family dinner at a restaurant just days before most places closed in response to the coronavirus. He and Janet decided it was time to head home to Moline and arrived there just in time to celebrate a virtual Easter. Morning gym visits in Mesa were replaced with hilarious home exercises that left dubious results, until the weather allowed outdoor exercising. In addition, John continues to work on translations in preparation for the 175th anniversary of the founding of Bishop Hill, the “Prairie Utopia” located in West Central Illinois. He writes that the colony survived its first cholera epidemics during the late 1840s and 1850s, then the flu pandemic in 19171918, and is now recovering economic stability as Illinois works through the pandemic. He sends his best to Knox and his classmates. ❯ Mondo Lopez shared: “Thank you to President Amott for all her service, contributions, and dedication to Knox College. Over the past decade of the course of her presidency, Knox has been fortunate to have President Amott as a leader during challenging times for the College and our nation.

This includes how Knox is currently handling the coronavirus pandemic and the need to address

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“We have become big walkers, jigsaw puzzle fanatics, and better cooks, equality for all American residents at all levels. I recall when when she came to Knox, she said that in her first year she was going to listen carefully and work hard. She certainly has completed her objectives and Knox has been fortunate to have her. From our class and all alumni, we wish her all the best in her retirement years.” On a more personal note, Mondo and wife Jaquelyn welcomed a new grandson in May. A future Knox student, perhaps? The couple send greetings to classmates and friends who they remember always, but especially during this difficult time for the nation. ❯ Pat Craig Ruffolo says, “Mike Ruffolo and I are well. We have new patterns— we do use Zoom often for family visits, exercise classes, book club, etc. I have spent more time gardening and our flower beds are thriving. We take advantage of lovely parks in our area more than we did previously. Being out in nature definitely helps keep a positive attitude. I have also mastered a new skill. After three attempts, I am now quite accomplished at giving Mike haircuts!

However, Mike hopes that the barber shops open soon. We hear from Bob and Louise Bost Wolf ’59 regularly. All goes well in Knoxville, and they are able to enjoy family and strolling or floating around their pond. I talked with Mary Peterson Potter recently, and she and Reg are keeping busy. The Wolfs, the Potters, and Mike and I all look forward to celebrating 61st wedding anniversaries in October. We learned that Duane Paluska passed away in January. He was an English professor at Bowdoin but also had a career making custom furniture and wood sculptures. He was respected as an artist and had a gallery as well. Via Facebook, I am in contact with Caroline Andrews Porter. She is well, stays active, and has just recovered from a leg injury. Nina Allen has moved to a senior residence and is very pleased with activities and new friends. Ginny Daniel Swanson had interesting travel plans last we talked, but I imagine they are postponed.” ❯ Ivar Dolph wrote that he lives in Quimper Village, a co-housing community in Port Townsend, Washington. He writes, “I’m recovering from a mild heart attack which required only stents. I hear from Ron Moline almost daily on his political blog. My wife and I are actually doing pretty well.”

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1959 While Howard Dillon turned down the tempting invitation to serve as class correspondent, he did offer a brief note. He is retired and living in New York City after 40 years as a university librarian and 14 years as a college administrator at SUNYFashion Institute of Technology. He sends best wishes for good health to his classmates and hopes Knox comes through the current crisis stronger than ever. ❯ From Rich Bloomberg and his wife, Jean, “We have been doing okay during

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this scary time. Returned from Mexico just as things were locked down. We live in a retirement community so haven’t seen family or friends since mid-March. We can leave—just no one allowed in. We have become big walkers, jigsaw puzzle fanatics, and better cooks, and mastered Zoom meetings for church, family fun, and board meetings for Rich. We have attended our granddaughters’ college and high school graduations via Zoom. We pray our Knox friends stay healthy and mentally active. We feel so blessed that we were able to attend Homecoming last fall and see the classmates that attended. Doubt that will be an option this fall.” ❯ “I’m hanging in here, isolating myself pretty much in Madison, Wisconsin,” says Mary Coyne Karau. “I don’t go into stores but I order everything to pick up or have it delivered. I see friends from a safe distance outside. Occasionally, we get together for dinner. It will be lonely when winter comes! We are hoping for some vaccines and/or therapeutics to help us avoid the novel coronavirus. I’m in constant contact with my two daughters and their families. They live in the far west, so I don’t know when I’ll ever see them. I participate in some video conferencing with groups and paying attention to the news takes up a lot of time!

Wishing safe times to all.” ❯ Dick Olson and his wife live in Waitsfield, Vermont, on Scrag Mountain. He goes on to say, “The Green Mountains are across the valley and are home to Sugarbush and Mad River Glen ski areas. I can leave our house and be clicking into my skis in 10–12 minutes! Since the virus, we are isolated on the mountain. Except for the occasional package or grocery delivery, our frequent companions are chipmunks, squirrels, foxes, turkey, and deer, and the occasional black bear or moose sighting. Be careful and stay safe. We will get through this.” ❯ Molly Scholes Doolittle reported the loss of her husband, Joseph, who died in 2017 in Freeport, Illinois. Our condolences to Molly and her family. ❯ Bob Grover started his message with a quote from Winston Churchill. He writes, “I think it was Churchill and a former Chicago mayor who said, ‘Never waste a crisis.’ So as not to waste a pandemic, we have become enthusiastic Zoomers with a family Zoom meeting every Sunday morning with the children and grandchildren. I have been able to take several virtual courses using Zoom through the Northwestern University OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) chapter and a related Institute for Creative Social Distancing. I’ve learned that if your spouse is still working, and working at home like my Jane is, you can treat the pandemic as a trial period before he or she also retires. Can you spend 24/7 together without driving each other nuts? So far so good (at least in my view.) In lieu of eating out at least once a week, we treat ourselves to much better wine at home. As long-time jazz fans we can now livestream performances every Friday night from the iconic Village Vanguard in New York City! Finally, an update of my advice to my classmates at our 50th

Reunion: Eat less, exercise more, wear your seatbelt AND YOUR MASK, STAY SAFE and on your medications.” ❯ “I have been trying to think of something to tell you,” writes Georgia Raft Souris, “but, unfortunately, nothing much happens around here. We are both in reasonably good health and are sticking to the house like glue now. We had a couple of trips planned, but all cancelled. Our granddaughter had another baby girl, so that makes three great grandchildren—all girls. Talked to Ruth Ann Lindrothe Gray ’62. She lives in an assisted living apartment with her husband but is confined to a wheelchair.

Margie Konzo Wolf is still working with her daisies. I did try Zooming with the family. We all tried to talk at once. I guess we will have to get used to it. Louise Bost Wolf always did such a great job as a correspondent. Many thanks to Carolyn Swartz Park ’55 for the yearly FYC birthday cards. Regards to all the Knox family.” ❯ Conny Drew Tozer decided to trade cold, wet winters in Chicago for the sunny climate of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Because she was totally quarantined, she decided to do her own packing of more than 70 boxes. Conny stays in touch with Knox friends and reports that Jan Shroyer has moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and that Barbara Hanawalt Reece has a new love in her life—a little dog named Ricky. Barbara says that while on walks people want to pet, talk, and coo over the dog, and she is not sure if they even notice her! Barbara’s granddaughter had wedding plans for this summer, but the coronavirus changed that. Conny and her family Zoom every Sunday. She says, “I’m lucky to even get onto the Zoom meeting. Stay well and wear your mask.” ❯ Here’s a special note from Louise Bost Wolf. “I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who have helped me through the years. Many of you have answered my calls for news, attendance at our class Reunions, and financial support for the College. This has been a challenging year for all of us personally and likewise for small, private, liberal arts colleges like our Knox. I will no longer be contacting you but hope you will please continue to include Knox in your giving plans and share your news with us through Knox Magazine or the FYC Bulletin. Be safe and stay in touch. Veritas!” ❯ With only a little arm-twisting, Conny Drew Tozer agreed to serve as the new 1959 class correspondent. You’ll hear from Conny later this year when it’s time for notes for the Spring 2021 magazine. Thank you, Conny!

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1960 Jigsaw puzzles and boxes of unlabeled photos collected over generations have kept Mary Lu Aft busy. Responding to grandchildren’s requests that I write vignettes about the many roles I’ve played in my life has kept me occupied. We’re healthy.

Class Knox and mastered Zoom meetings.” – Rich Bloomberg ’59 We cope. And, as they say in Lake Wobegon, ‘It could be worse.’ ❯ John and Fran Rogers Ippensen are both well. She wrote that their Florida retirement community of 2,400 residents spreads over 700 acres on a large river. Its residents live in five different communities. They have been shut down tight since mid-March. As of June 10, only eight cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed, with no deaths. She reported, “I spent time before the virus volunteering for our community organizations. So, to say the least I am bored, very bored, since those are shut down; but John continues to have projects on the computer—always on the computer. We have lived here for 10 years and love all the opportunities for activities, volunteering, etc. Hope to live here for at least 10 more!” ❯ Richard Riggs and wife Emma toured Israel in 2019. He wrote, “We did the usual things. The special part was that I did the readings for a Mass in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because we were there for Pentecost, we also attended evening vespers in the Upper Room, where I intoned all the chants in Latin with the Mongolian monk standing next to me.

Once-in-a-lifetime experience.” ❯ As avoiding COVID-19 and fantasies about the “new reality” occupy too many of our thoughts, Mary Lu and I look forward to seeing what will be planned for our virtual 60th Class Reunion in late October.

Hope to share some online time with you then!

Be well!

Class Correspondent: Dick Aft aftd@fuse.net, 775 Windings Lane, Cincinnati, OH 45220

1961 Constantine Santas was one of the first to reply to my plea for news. He writes, “I remember my life at Knox very fondly. I was there as a foreign student from Greece, and, due to my military obligations there, I was delayed and was 28 years old when I arrived at Knox. I was treated superbly by my professors and classmates, achieved a good academic record, and excelled in creative writing, winning two first prizes in poetry during my junior and senior years. Leaving Knox, I went to the University of Illinois at Urbana and proceeded to get my Ph.D. at Northwestern University and become a teacher of English. I became the author of several books and now, retired at 91, I continue to write and publish. I owe my professional life to Knox, and my great professors, one of them Samuel Moon, and the then chairman of the English Department, Howard Wilson. Thank you, Knox College. You gave me a good life.” ❯ From Lynn Herche, “I was very glad to see in the latest Gizmogram that Charles Broomfield ’22 has the opportunity to work at Argonne Laboratory on a timely computing problem. I’m sure he’ll find the experience very rewarding as did I about 60 years ago. I got to spend four summers there, starting as a junior at Knox—two in the radio-chemistry division and two in the math division when Argonne was

designing and building a computer for the Batavia facility (including software). Charles should try to extend this opportunity to an additional summer or more if possible. My very best wishes.” ❯ Russel Johnston anticipated a normal winter visit to Florida where he goes from early December until early April each year.

The reality was slightly different. He writes, “We had purchased a small co-op unit in Pompano Beach, near Fort Lauderdale, after my stroke in 2015. It was a chance to escape the winter in New Jersey and have a little time to ourselves. Well, when COVID-19 hit in mid-March, everything changed. We decided to stay for the duration in Florida. We could remain in place with groceries nearby. We became very grateful for the 1,300 square feet of living space on the sixth floor. We were on the Intercoastal Waterway, near the Atlantic Boulevard Causeway and a marina/outdoor restaurant and bar. At first, we ventured out daily for a 45-minute walk around the neighborhood— meeting only a few people. We ordered out from a few of our favorite restaurants nearby. With my stroke, my wife (12 years my junior) decided she was a better health risk. Thus, she did the shopping at Publix (with face mask) and trips to the drugstore. I was sustained by Netflix and jigsaw puzzles while my wife preferred crossword puzzles and Kindle books. We used the house swimming pool, timing our short stay after others had left. My daughter uses Zoom for business, so we began a weekly family meeting much to everyone’s delight. In late June, I had an unfortunate allergic reaction to a new medication. It took a month to develop, so it took a while to figure out. The steroid treatment further reduced my resistance to infection. So I did not go outside at all. Quarantined, as it were. While it was Independence Day, not Thanksgiving, I began to think of things I am really grateful for. I had children late. My daughter, who lives in Durham, North Carolina, had triplets (two boys and a girl) in 2012. My son, who lives in Long Island, New York, had a son in 2017 and a girl in May. They all give me great joy. Who would have thought.” ❯ Ralph Morrison had sad news to share. “My beautiful wife passed away in April. She was as beautiful inside as out. She was a stay-at-home mom who always had time to help others—especially children. She did some important work at times. We were lucky enough to travel the world as well as the USA. Here’s a great story: We were at a Reunion, and she disappeared. I saw her in a long conversation with Sharvey Umbeck. I think he liked good-looking women. I just let them talk. After that, all mailings came addressed to her. A few Knox folks knew her. They were lucky.” Our deepest sympathy, Ralph. ❯ Thomas and Suzanne Summers Knauss shared this memory, “The fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate was held October 7, 1858, on the east side of Knox College’s Old Main building. As students we had the good fortune to see the re-enactment of the event on its 100th anniversary October 7, 1959.” ❯ Dianne Haynes informed me that her mother,

Joyce Townsley Jirka, had passed away in January 2020. Dianne writes, “Mom had many fond memories of Knox. It was there she met the love of her life, Anton ‘Tony’ Jirka, M.D. ’59, to whom she was married for 50 years until his death in 2012.” Our thoughts are with the Jirka family.

Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu

1962 Class Correspondent: Kate Bloomberg hankandkate@msn.com

1963 Ramona Reed Landberg reports, “I have moved to a continuing care retirement community in Davidson, North Carolina. In March, I left, with a friend, for what was supposed to be a threeweek trip to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos.

After finishing the Machu Picchu portion, the day we were scheduled to fly to Quito, Ecuador closed its borders to international flights. The same day, the government of Peru announced a lockdown for coronavirus; we spent most of the day in an airport jammed with people trying to get out of the country. We got home the day the county announced a stay-at-home order. The next several weeks I was faced with the sale of my house and the need to downsize from a nineroom house with a garage to a one-bedroom apartment, all during a statewide stay-at-home order that closed charities like Goodwill and the Habitat ReStore. Luckily, I found an organization that would take away all the stuff I wasn’t keeping, auction off everything that could be auctioned, and donate the rest, leaving me with a percentage of the proceeds. It was far more successful than I expected. I’ve settled into the routine here: meals and mail are delivered to our doors, all social activities have been cancelled, and residents are discouraged from leaving the campus except for medical necessity.”

Class Correspondent: Ramona Reed Landberg 400 Avinger Lane, Apt 136, Davidson, NC 28036 Phone 704 896-1136, Cell 704 807-1648, landberg.group@outlook.com

1964 Evan Cameron writes: “Knox taught me little about isolation, but it occurred to me that one or another of our classmates might find the following website of interest, if for no other reason than to assist them in connecting dots and filling in gaps within whatever memories remain alive for them. The site is very much a work in progress, but it was an honor for me to have been permitted by my university to mount the collection within YorkSpace (only three of my colleagues before me having had collections gathered and ‘named’ after them, and those only by others

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“I had not planned on having a second career as a preschool/daycare after they died), so I am obliged to conclude that, however isolated, I’m still alive, hard at work, and no less puzzled by the world about me than I was while at Knox. (Google ‘York Space – York University’).” ❯ From Carol Thompson: “I have kept busy during my isolation designing an ‘aging-in-place’ full-ADA house. That means stepless, walk-in shower, wide doorways and hallways, cork flooring, and lower countertops. It will be heated with a boiler and in-floor heat and a forced-air heat pump for AC, all electric except for the gas for the boiler. Solar panels on the roof will pay for electricity. In my design process, I was thinking of a cozy little hobbit house, but I find myself immersed in the intricacies of heating efficiency and south-facing windows. I learned at Knox to keep an open mind to new ideas, and this certainly gives me a chance to practice that skill.

A lot has changed in home design just since I did my last house in 2009. And we’ve come a long way from the house I was born in, which had a coal-fired gravity heat furnace, a claw-foot bathtub, a cistern to provide water for laundry and dishwashing, and removable screens that were put up in the spring and replaced in the fall with heavy storm windows. And lots of steps.” ❯ Pam Norton Nelson: “The most exciting things I have done are cleaning out my garage (so far 10 rolling bins of trash) and digging deeper into family genealogy—a real rabbit hole. I have had a chance to read my paternal grandfather’s letters to his wife of 10 months when he had been sent to a TB sanitarium in Ottawa, Illinois, for the six-month ‘cure.’ While living in a tent all winter he wrote a six-page letter to my grandmother every day! Hard to believe in this age of instant communication. Things did not end well: He died when my father (who graduated from Knox) was five, and his wife died three years later in the flu pandemic. Interesting reading as we go through a similar situation.” ❯ Sandy Allison Cooper reports: “With lots of time to think and read, I bought a copy of The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America. It takes me back to sitting on the steps of Old Main and getting the world in perspective. The book has a fascinating discussion of what went on culturally in Illinois before, during, and after the Civil War. (Owen Muelder ’63 is a contributor.)

It reminds me of how much I still owe Knox.” ❯ Fay Stevenson-Smith: “The coronavirus has definitely altered how I spent the past four months.

One notable result is that I now sport my own corona of white hair around my face since the hair salons closed down! Missing the Knox Commencement exercises as a trustee function, I took part in a video that was part of a virtual celebration of their special day. I have only gone out for essentials. I created one new sculpture, In The Moment, which was inspired by my love of the work of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, to whom I was introduced in my freshman course at Knox, Humanities 101/102. I look forward to the end of this isolation and pray the entire Knox family fares well through it all.” ❯ From Steve

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Gamble: “Grace and I are hunkered down here in the Rockies near Vail. Many relatives were scheduled to come this summer, but due to travel concerns we will be using technology to get together. Early in 2020, there was a burst of cases here but very quiet now. Activities: mostly small outdoor dinner parties, hiking in the White River National Forest and golf, which the Club at Cordillera is managing very carefully. Mike Lawrence and I discuss the upcoming election from time to time.” ❯ I received a 1,227-word contribution from Elizabeth Ayson which I will serialize in coming issues. A small taste: “My eldest of five granddaughters gave birth to a son, honoring me with the privilege of being a great-grandmother! Zairyx Keali’imekemanahumaoko’u’ohana Jaxtix Pi’ilani Arraujo was born weighing in at six pounds, 6.04 ounces. (That’s only 2 ounces per letter!) The Hawaiian name means ‘The Chief with the strength of my family.’ (How beautiful!) Now weighs 10 pounds, thanks to poi, mommy’s milk, and lots of zzzzzzzz.” ❯ Brian Leekley wrote: “I’m retired from an antiquarian bookseller career. My avocation is creative writing. I am also active in BLM.” (As an example, see Brian’s anecdote: “May 30, 2020, I Go to a Dinner Party for My 78th Birthday”, which can be found online.) ❯ From Ron Lebeiko who, living in Seattle, gave quite an eye-full, concluding with “sincerely hoping Pacific NW will return to its normal soon.” In addition to COVID precautions, he added: “Personally, I’ve become an absolute homebody, participating only in a couple of Zoom web sessions sponsored by groups I am affiliated with—a seniors’ swim group and a college continuing education group on national politics.” (He did not elaborate on how swim groups function via Zoom.) ❯ Leighton Scott had one of his works chosen for the multi-state juried Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition. The 68 works selected from 13 states and the District of Columbia included his abstract mixed-media work, Climate Change Denied. In recent years, Leighton has uniquely blended adhesive mortar and other materials to add environment-related works to his usual planet and galaxy themes. His works can be seen by Googling “#exNASAartist.” ❯ Val and I (Klopcic) returned in March from (the last) Roads Scholar trip to Panama. Highly recommend—history, culture, flora and fauna, and a boat trip from the Pacific to the Atlantic. ❯ Finally, sad news. Dennis Kalma informed me that John Hesemann died last fall. (I knew John, a math major and cross country runner, as a talented bass in the Knox Choir, of which he was the president in our senior year.)

Class Correspondent: Terry Klopcic klopcicjt2@roadrunner.com

1965 Antonica Cambier: “I spend my life going to school! My degrees are from Knox, a master’s in education from Western Illinois University, and a

library science degree from North Carolina Central University, a historically black college in the South. A fantastic experience for a little girl from the prairie getting to immerse herself in another culture. I retired from education in 2008, continued to work part-time in a public library for 10 years, and spent the last five years tutoring elementary students part-time. Finally retired due to COVID-19, to avoid exposure. I am a fulltime gardener with a community garden across from her house, and I keep very active. I am attempting to replicate the prairie with a milkweed bed for the monarch butterfly. I raised a bed garden on an old clay tennis court, raising six different kinds of tomatoes, two different kinds of cucumbers, three kinds of peppers, asparagus, and an herb bed.” ❯ Paula Hoffstadt Johnson: “I am married to Warren Johnson. I have been enjoying retirement for 15 years. I am studying Swedish; Warren is a third-generation Swede. We have gone to Sweden four times to visit Warren’s cousins and have also been to Israel to visit Paula’s cousins. We do a lot of traveling. Warren loves photography. Paula worked in schools and does a lot of advocacy work for mentally handicapped. We enjoy visiting the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, as we live just north and east of the metro area, where the first Swedish settlers came to Minnesota. We drive to Oregon each summer to visit our son.” ❯ Glen Dallman just completed his 26th year working for the Manatee County, Florida schools. He is currently teaching middle-school math. He now has 26 years in Florida, coupled with his 26 years in Illinois. He will begin his 53rd year this fall. Glen and wife Janet live in Bradenton, Florida. Janet is a consultant pharmacist working in long term care facilities.

Class Correspondent: Terry Rothstein, M.D. 220 N. 32nd Street, Parsons, KS 67357, antiquarian@wavewls.com

1966 I am so grateful to have settled into our new digs in Woodbury, Minnesota, a short time before the pandemic hit. It’s been a wild time here in the Twin Cities with George Floyd’s death and the ensuing protests. We are able to help with our youngest daughter’s three-year-old and a new baby girl, Madeline Grace, born June 5. We have acquired a wonderful puppy, a Havanese that is just 11 weeks old; we call him Wiggins after a Martha Grimes character in her mysteries. So yes, we are hunkered down here and lucky to have family near as we try to stay safe. I hope all of you are as well. Here are the replies I have received from my somewhat belated call. ❯ From Larry F. Sommers: “Joelle Nelson Sommers ’67 and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with daughter Katie Sommers ’98, and grandchildren Elsie (10) and Tristan (8). We had planned to take them to Italy for our golden anniversary, but somehow that plan did not mature properly....so we took them to Door

Class Knox teacher, but here we are.” – Nancy Rabenstein Pielemeier ’67 County instead, and it was good. Otherwise, we’re just having a low-key summer. Jo’s garden is going really well, and I continue to storm the heights of literary beginnerdom. My historical novel, Freedom’s Purchase, may be moving toward a publication contract, I’ve got several other fictional narratives in various stages of progress, and I blog weekly at larryfsommers.com. Oh! And doubles tennis for seniors has resumed here in Madison, so there is an outlet for my otherwise feeble urge to exercise.” ❯ Tom Beug writes: “A year ago, we moved to Oro Valley, Arizona, north of Tucson. It is a dry heat, really. It is 103 right now but more pleasant than Milwaukee at 80.

The weather is great, but being 2,000 miles from our grandchildren is not; they are 13 and 16 now, still cute, but with lives of their own. We are grateful that they were so close for so many years.” ❯ Jim Johnson writes: “Like you, we are in self-restraint and isolation. However, time still passes quickly while readin’, weedin’, hikin’, bikin’, swimmin’, etc., while keeping social distancing. Tod Brown ’65 and wife Nancy stayed overnight on their way from Colorado to Maine.” ❯ Ginny Bliss Bailey sends: “Husband Rick and I enjoy life in Colorado. Life is a bit slow right now. We have three children and seven grandchildren. Our oldest son is a dentist, but is back in school to be a golf pro. His wife is a realtor.

Their oldest daughter is a nurse, and the other two are in college. Our second son and his wife are involved in theatre and the arts. They have two boys. Our daughter’s family is in Colorado.

He works for the railroad, and she works in an office. Their oldest son will be in college in the fall. It is warm here too, but no humidity, which is great! However, 90 degrees is hot, humidity or not! We do wear our masks!” ❯ Mike Deniston comments: “Life goes on. In truth, this summer has not been much different for us than it would be sans virus. We are trying to ‘bloom where we are planted.’ I have a number of painting and maintenance projects in mind. I have managed to bake some of my artisan breads. Maxine continues her phase two cardiac rehab at the local hospital. We both have had haircuts, and she has had her teeth cleaned. We postponed our Viking trip to Romania, Ukraine, and Turkey until September 2021. I worry about my friends who teach and administer our schools and colleges; they are likely to be subjected to much verbal abuse and second-guessing whatever happens this fall. Our Peru trip was memorable. Minutes before we were to leave home for the airport, the power went out, but we had to go. We got into Lima in the early morning, found our way to the hotel and toured Lima with our group for a couple of days. The next leg of the trip was to Iquitos. You can fly in from Lima or by a three-to four-day boat trip. We flew. Once on the ship, Maxine was sick all the time we were on board. I saw a bit of the river and hiked through the jungle, but she was too ill. The paramedic on board said she needed medical attention. So…that evening she was strapped to a kitchen chair,

placed on the skiff, and off we went—headed toward the small village of Nauta. There, we moved to a private car for a one-hour drive back to a clinic in Iquitos. We rejoined the tour as they were flying out of Iquitos to Cusco to see the Inca ruins. Maxine has always been adamant that altitude does not bother her, but it did, likely because of anemia. She was able to ride the train to Machu Picchu, however, and with the help of our guide, hike into the site and view it. Once back home all was well, and we were glad we made the effort.” ❯ Beth Funk Irish: “Like most of you we have been sheltering in place, ordering groceries for delivery, and occasionally, when I don’t want to cook, dinners in. Back on March 31, I had to call 911 to have my husband transported to the hospital with a 103-degree fever. He spent four days in ICU, was tested for COVID (negative), and eventually moved to a skilled nursing facility. He came home on his birthday, April 22, with visiting nurses in place. He is happy to be home. I have him on hospice care for long-term.

I make charity quilts for children, specifically Project Linus and Olive Crest (an organization that helps abused children). Our sons are two hours away. Our daughter is in the Seattle area, so we do not see grandchildren, or kids often.

The main thing is that I have hope, and a very strong inner faith that I can manage the current situation, and still come out on top.” ❯ From Jim Drew: “I am doing fairly well living with Parkinson’s disease. I’ve had two bad falls this year. Physical therapy has been coming to our home twice per week since then, and my strength is a little better. On good days we walk our street, with me using a four-wheeled walker.” ❯ Thomas Lundgren passed away in January. From his employer’s Facebook page: Thomas Lundgren, Business Development Manager for MAPEI’s Concrete Repair Division ... worked in the field of concrete restoration for over 25 years in both North and South America—20 of those years with MAPEI. He received his M.A. from the University of Colorado and his MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management, Glendale, Arizona. He was a valued presenter at a variety of trade shows throughout North and South America, including World of Concrete; and played a key role in several unique construction projects, including the new Panama Canal.”

Class Correspondents: Judith Holland Sarnecki judithsmamabear@gmail.com

1967 Greetings, Knox ’67 Classmates! Helen Gilbert is your new class correspondent and asks that you be in touch with her to share your news! She writes, “The word ‘unprecedented’ is the word of the day and rightfully so. I write from my home in Pacific Beach, Washington, in the glorious Pacific Northwest, where we have been fully self-quarantined since early March. The early challenge of organizing grocery/supply deliveries

in our remote area is now second nature and is even beginning to seem ‘normal’! We are grateful for our (mostly) deserted beach for daily exercise and sanity. Zoom enables us to continue our volunteer work with the Seabrook Community Foundation and enjoy chats with family and friends, recently Tom Collins and Connie Bond, who have shared news below. The big news in my life is that the Montessori elementary school that I helped found in Seabrook, Washington, nine years ago has joined with our public elementary district to become the first public Montessori classroom in Grays Harbor County, Washington!” ❯ Connie Bond wrote to describe our fabulous mini-reunion last fall: Last September, Wendy Hummel Hill and her New Mexico-born husband, historian Kermit Hill, welcomed a gang of longtime Knox ’67 friends to their home city of Santa Fe for a nonstop feast of exploration, food, hiking, and conversations around the firepit. With our spouses and partners, we numbered 16 in all: Katie Linquist Adams, Connie Bond, Nancy Meyer Darman, Helen Gilbert and Peter Harris, Wendy Hummel Hill and husband Kermit, Paul ’68 and Diane Koeppel Madsen, Ruth Mesing, Nancy Rabenstein Pielemeier and husband John, Elsa Swenson Teel, Anne Talley Turner and Steve Kuzma, and Janet Sanford Westfall. As Wendy supplied us with catered meals of local specialties, Kermit filled us in on everything from the details of adobe construction to the history of the water wars. Our forays included visits to the world-class Museum of International Folk Art; the stunning home of Georgia O’Keeffe, where she created not only art but an unlikely verdant garden in the middle of the desert; superb eateries that the locals know best; and a cocktail party at Wendy and Kermit’s charming Southwest-style home, which Kermit designed. Joe Cecchi ’68 and wife Amy joined us for one of our evening happy hours.

Some of us wandered farther afield, to the small town of Taos and nearby Taos Pueblo, where the tiny stream running through its heart gave those of us coming from water-rich areas a living illustration of what it takes to carve out an existence in such a place. And—a special thanks to Wendy, for bringing our four years’ worth of Knox yearbooks to the largest of our three rental casas—it sure was fun sitting around the huge diningroom table paging through them, sharing the wine and the memories! ❯ Tom Collins writes, “I finally got glazes mixed, the gas kiln fixed, and the first glaze firing in nine months out on July 4.

It was great. Tons of plates and a few new pots.”

One of Tom’s new creations is a plate commemorating COVID-19 with a positive message, pictured in this Knox Magazine. He has also designed special plates for each of our mini Knox gatherings! Tom, his lovely wife Nancy, and 14.5year-old son Thomas Collins III live in Napa, California. ❯ Nancy Rabenstein Pielemeier writes, “I had not planned on having a second (or third or fourth) career as a preschool/daycare teacher when I turned 75, but here we are in

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“Make things up, please! The more salacious 2020. After the whole family had self-isolated for two weeks in March, my husband John and I hosted our four grandchildren, ages 0, 3.5, 3.5, and 7, for five hours a day while the parents worked double-time to keep up with full-time jobs. It has been a rewarding and exhausting experience, and now in late June as the kids are beginning to return to daycare and soon back to school, we value the special time we had with each child at each age and stage. Otherwise, I enjoy a variety of voluntary activities, especially being on the board of our local Audubon Naturalist Society—and currently chairing the board. Nature, particularly bird-watching and gardening, has been an avocation for many years, and I am proud of the conservation, restoration and education our society is providing in the National Capital Region. We notice that people are valuing nature and being outdoors more than ever as they are coping with isolation and social distancing, and this could bode well for increased environmental advocacy.” ❯ Dennis Chase wrote to thank Anne Talley Turner for her years as class correspondent. He added, “We have all traveled, raised kids and grandkids, been successful in business, etc. My story is the same—have enjoyed life. If you have a minute please visit www.GoGoGeezers.com. I created the website because many friends and family ask us for input when making travel plans.” His travel service is pretty cool…check it out! ❯ Sarah Burns Torgeson wrote to say, “I am actually beginning to miss those Gizmo runs and long treks across campus.” She adds, ”It is wonderful hearing from ‘old’ classmates.”

Class Correspondent: Helen Gilbert helengilbert@learningenrichmentcenter.org

1968

SUBMITTED

Susan Van Kirk shares, “My COVID experiences have been few and far between. Life goes on in

Tom Collins ’67 shared a photo of one of his COVID-inspired creations.

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the small-town Midwest as it always did, except I can’t go to church or have lunch with my friends.

Of course, the worst development is I can’t see in person any of my children or grandchildren who live in a state far, far away. However, in my retirement years I’ve been writing, so that hasn’t changed a bit. I just became president of a 1,000member writing group that’s the online chapter of the national Sisters in Crime organization. It consists of people who read, write, publish, and represent mysteries. It’s a very challenging position, and my first job was to create a misconduct policy to deal with the craziness going on all around us. Most members are amazingly civil and kind, but then, you know…! On July 7, Harlequin’s imprint, Worldwide Mysteries, published a new mass market paperback of my first Endurance mystery, Three May Keep a Secret.

They’ve also bought the second book in the series, which will be out in March 2021. It’s been a heck of a quiet retirement!” ❯ Susan Barry Flandreau and husband Mark (Tufts University ’68) moved to Waxhaw, North Carolina, at the beginning of June. They love their house, which they say is a good thing, since their only outings are doctors’ appointments, the grocery store once a week and their daughter’s house. It’ll be a while before they can explore the area! ❯ Ira and Janet Weiner have been mostly staying home. “The only times we go out are to grocery-shop, go to the library for curbside pickups, doctor appointments when face to face is needed, liquor store runs, and that’s about it. Fortunately, we have an attached screen room around and over our pool, and we can spend time outside reading. We expect we will miss seeing our daughter and grandkids at Christmas because we don’t want to fly. Also expect we will not be going to our favorite spot in Jamaica this year for the same reason. Wish all the best.” ❯ Chip Evans reports the Knox ’68 Facebook group is still active with over 150 members. Actually, the activity has increased during the 2020 stay-at-home period. All 1968 classmates and their spouses are welcome to join and participate. Lately we have discussed BLM, statues, freedom, 60s music, and of course, memories of Knox. Our class had online meetings in May and June using Zoom and plan to have our third in August. If we are successful, we may have one every other month. Look for an email announcement with a link to the meeting.

We look forward to seeing you in the ‘Brady Bunch’ view.” ❯ Bill Kowinski continues to write his blog. His latest post is the topic of our last online meeting—what I did over the summer of 1968. John Heyer sold his business and retired.

Ira Weiner also recently retired. Tom Mellen is in the process of retiring and is considering teaching a course at his local community college.

Norm Close, Rod Barker, Brad Routon, Susan Van Kirk, Bruce Grossman, and others are still working. ❯ We celebrate the life of classmate Armin “Tork” Blaufuss, who passed away July 7.

He taught for six years and then went to work full-time for an educational union in

Connecticut. He spent his last 30+ years working for the union representing Wisconsin’s educational workers. “Tork” retired to Sarasota, Florida, in 2012 with wife Debbie. ❯ This has been a tough June for us. I had to make the decision to admit my husband to a memory care facility. Luckily, it is only five minutes from the house and we had already chosen it. The COVID confinement had so much to do with his decline.

So far he is doing well. Looking forward to Phase Five.

Class Correspondent: Susan Meyer Mika 1519 North Kennicott Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL 60004, 847-253-7719, pottatea@comcast.net

1969 Ellen Smith: “I’m enjoying interesting discussions via Facebook with friends from ’69 who have shown up since our Reunion. Living 10 years on St. Simons Island, Georgia, I still travel when time allows, including a 5,000-mile solo road trip last year to Denver and back, and the year before, three weeks in Southeast Australia.

Next month, Montana with a sleeper to Chicago on the Empire Builder. Two forty-something children with four grandchildren under 12 keep me entertained.” ❯ Linda Pohle: “It’s a long, long road to alma mater… but I’m glad I made the trip from Denver to our 50th Reunion last November. The campus was lovely those fall days, once the snow melted! I sat in the sunny Common Room of Old Main, admired the beautifully renovated Alumni Hall, and toured the impressive new Whitcomb Art Center. Our class committee, chaired by Mollie Miller Thorn and Kim Adams Post, and the Knox Reunion coordinator, Megan Clayton, did a great job creating an event with both social interaction (remember that?) and substance. Susan Buckner Hammon kept our Facebook page current and informative for months before and after the Reunion. Of course, the highlight was reconnecting with old friends and classmates including Diane Tyrrell, Sue Donaldson, Jeanne Bannasch Jessup, and Rita Goldman. Susan Tracy VanKirk ’68 is a retired teacher and best-selling author of a series of mysteries set in the fictional town of Endurance (Monmouth?), Illinois. I recommend her books! I was able to verify with former roommate Jan Pope Mulvaney that, indeed, she grabbed her iron when we fled Whiting Hall our freshman year as a fire burned next door! Clare Theobald Kirkpatrick continued synchronized swimming as participant and coach for many years after Knox Puddles. Nancy Miller Staszak’s exhibit at the Whitcomb Art Center included a colorful gallery of dinosaur paintings! See them at nancystaszak.com/gallerydinosaurs-1. Through friends I reconnected with at the Reunion, I have happily reconnected with friends who did not attend, including Ellen Smith, Karen Butler Holzhausen, and Pat Bangs ’68. When the oversized check from the Class of ’69 was presented to the College at the

Class Knox the better.” – J.J. Burek ’70 Homecoming Convocation, I was stunned— $3.144 million! Thanks for that, go-to, especially mega-donor classmates Dan Logan and Ralph Walter. Someone (January Roeschlaub I think) noted that, when we were seniors, the new 50-year members were from the Class of 1919!

Separated now by 100 years, wouldn’t we have stories to share—from pandemic to pandemic?”

Class Correspondent: Bill Combs bcombsi@yahoo.com

1970 Congratulations to all of our new Fifty Year Club members. We have the honor of the non-Reunion this year, but 2021 should work better for all of us. ❯ Topper Steinman: “My parents made it through the Great Depression and WWII. Their resiliency and resolve to do so was a good model for me as we deal with COVID-19 and all the tragedies connected to Black Lives Matter.

Wife Carol and I have two adult children, their spouses, four grands, one great-grand, and lifetimes full of much health and happiness—amidst the daily struggles of ‘Did I take my pills?’ and ‘Have you seen my glasses?’ I do hope to attend our event and look forward to seeing others who can make it.” ❯ Ed Kucera: “My news for alumni is that I started a rock and roll band, and we did our first open mic at a bar near my house last winter. We did songs from the 60s and 70s.

If anybody remembers, I had a band with my brother Ken Kucera ’72 and Randy Purdy on drums back at Knox.” ❯ Jim Kilts: “Still working full time but doing more fishing, golfing and hunting. Had a great trip to South Dakota with Pete Drummond this June. Will be glad when vaccines become available for COVID-19!” ❯ Mac Hamilton still enjoys working at his commercial real estate brokerage and development company based in Rochester, Minnesota, creatively named Hamilton Real Estate, Inc. “Janine and I just celebrated our 47th anniversary. I can’t believe we have a granddaughter in college.

Unfortunately, we lost our youngest daughter’s husband to ALS in November 2018, and she and her boys still very much miss that great guy.

Oldest daughter Nichole is director of reinsurance solutions for Aon. We are lucky enough to have both of our girls and their kids in the Twin Cities. In the depths of winter, we head to our home in Saint Augustine, Florida, where I can still work, but at a more leisurely pace while enjoying the nice weather.” ❯ Christine Herbes-Sommers: “I closed my documentary production company about three years ago, and we went out strong—with a national broadcast of one film and a national Emmy nomination for another. Then, I decided to do what I always wanted to do—learn how to draw and paint from a classical master. So here I am in ‘red’ Southern Pines, North Carolina, at the Academy of Classical Design. My son begins his third year of medical school at the University of Chicago, and almost all friends and loved ones are managing to

get through this terrible year so far with no COVID.” ❯ J J Burek: “Make things up, please!

The more salacious the better. Other than marrying the love of my life in May, nothing else new.” ❯ From Bob and Jan Eckardt Butler: “Hot days in Tulsa. The weather has chased us up to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where daughter Anne currently teaches at Kalamazoo College, and shootin’ the breeze (behind masks and outside) with Judy Kramer Mosavat in Ann Arbor. Son Ian earned his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University.

He and Ingrid Fetter Pruneda and two-year-old son Julian live in Ingrid’s hometown of Mexico City.” ❯ Tom Culbertson: “I don’t have much to say, but I would hate to have you imitate the president and make up stuff. As it becomes more likely that we won’t be getting together for a 50th Reunion this year, I can’t help but think back to the chaos of our last term at Knox. Sadly we haven’t made much progress from those days. On a brighter note, our daughter and her husband fulfilled his boyhood dream by opening a comic/game store in Lakewood, Ohio. I built several of the display racks in my workshop. Due to lack of travel plans, I will have to be content with building things, playing golf, and reading.” ❯ Jim Hogue still runs a small farm in Calais, Vermont, performs, writes for www.vermontindependent.net, and is now married to Mars Rubia from San Jose, Philippines. He is running for Lieutenant Governor. He has a Facebook page. ❯ After almost 50 years in the field of education, Bill Larkin retired in 2019. His career included two small college presidencies, two dean of students positions, the chief higher education officer post for Pennsylvania during the Ed Rendell administration, and most recently, the CEO of the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training in Washington, D.C. Bill now resides in Cape May, New Jersey, and hopes to see everyone at the eventual Class of 1970 Reunion. ❯ Don Knefel: “We moved to Brooklyn, New York, from Iowa in 2018 to help with childcare (one grandchild and then suddenly another), and everything was going great until the roof caved in. Since March, we have been staying home, obeying the rules, and trying not to get too depressed about the disease and the Trump administration. It makes 1970 seem like a mild case of indigestion. We have managed to stay healthy so far, and are just now getting back in physical contact with our daughter and her two little girls. Luckily, we all live in the same neighborhood, along with our son, and Jack and Patty Pfitsch are just a couple of miles away.” ❯ Doug Youngren: “Almost two years ago, Sandy and I moved west (from Darien, Illinois, to Naperville). Amid the pandemic, we’ve cooked and eaten at home more than any time in our 34 years of marriage. We’ve had some great, socially distanced driveway happy hours with our new neighbors. Like everyone else, curtailed vacation travel. I’m personally practicing holding my breath. If I can get up to two hours and 25 minutes, I’ll consider getting back on an airplane to

Florida. Our son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first child—our first grandchild.” ❯ Mary Hachtel Bueschsel: “Since March, I have been stuck in Germany. Since I live here, I have enjoyed my house and yard. In general, most people do what they are supposed to do. We had the home office and schools closed. You must wear a mask when you go into a store. Now we can have more guests but there are a lot of rules for stores, churches, and schools. The mail to the U.S. sometimes goes by boat taking 6-8 weeks.” ❯ Cathy Heimann: “So, during this shelter-athome time I have read many books, knitted a baby blanket, colored some pictures, baked pies and cookies, and walked a bit. Not much of anything. My son, Kevin Heimann ’02, was here from Princeton, New Jersey, visiting. Daughterin-law Christy Rosier ’05 brought my granddaughter to see Uncle Kevin. Then he started having abdominal pains. Same symptoms his younger brother, Chris Heimann ’04, had. (Chris died last April of pancreatic cancer.) So Kevin saw our family doctor, was diagnosed with acute appendicitis, and had an appendectomy here before returning to New Jersey. Not fun, but definitely an acceptable option.” ❯ Sue Kamp Norman: “Ralph and I did cross the Cheese Curtain and visited Door County and Sheboygan to celebrate our 48th anniversary in June. In Sheboygan, we had dinner at Trattoria Stefano— owned by Stefano Viglietti ’91. It was delicious!!

He owns four restaurants in Sheboygan. We also had drinks at The Duke of Devon, an English pub he also owns.”

Class Correspondent: Nancy Hoover Debelius 865 Gayer Drive, Medina, OH 44256-2901, 330-723-5658, Knox1970@zoominternet.net

1971 The Class of ’71 rolls along! We got together recently for a wonderful “Senior Meet” on Zoom where we were joined by President Teresa Amott. We had a great time sharing and talking with her about Knox and the future—and all of us agreed that she has done a wonderful job as Knox’s president and will be very much missed.

As for class goings on (besides just sheltering in place)… ❯ Bob Fischer (rafischer1@aol.com) notes that his (very) part-time job scoring college entrance exam essays has dried up due to the lack of group testing in schools, so he has switched into a new role with regular (part-time) hours assisting test takers who are doing individual online testing. ❯ Charley Stivale (ad4928@wayne.edu) had planned to stay home a lot in his retirement, but not quite this much! He does keep busy, though, teaching two Zoom yoga classes per week for his part-time employer Sports Club of Novi, which doubles his previous, face-to-face teaching assignment, something that seems quite likely to continue. He also began teaching a weekly yoga class (Fridays at 9 a.m. ET to Knox (and other) friends). Some of the regular Knox yogis attending are Carol and Bruce Wyatt, Zooming in

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“That old curse, ‘May you live in interesting times,’ seems to be from Vermont, but some shy and nameless others remain committed, and it is fun to stay connected. Anyone wishing to join, just drop an email to Charley. ❯ Bob Rothstein (bobrothstein2@gmail.com) retired as vice president of medical affairs at Suburban Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2016 and moved to Davis, California, where his daughter was in vet school. He consults, mostly on medical device development and home health care. Daughter Melissa is now a vet in Oakland where youngest son Wes—and his wife and baby Isa—lives.

Oldest son Matt lives in D.C. and works for Goldman Sachs. He and his partner, a lawyer, are looking to move back to the Bay area where she can pursue her passion: surfing. Their daughter, Kaia, is four and definitely a future surfer and/or Judo player. ❯ Cathy Grafton (cathygrafton@ gmail.com), like most of us, has been mostly home since mid-March. She is doing her library work where they just recently opened curbside service. ❯ I recently had the honor to eulogize classmate Millie Culp, who passed away after a long battle with cancer. Her husband and classmate, John Pilcher, graciously asked me to speak. I was able to provide some stories about her time at Knox— with the help of several classmates—and also had to mention her hair, noting that, during a time of afros, Millie had one of the biggest and best of them! I must also note that Millie was also eulogized by Dr. Martin Marty, who served on her doctoral board when she studied at the University of Chicago and remained a lifelong mentor. It was an honor for me to share such an event with Dr. Marty, whom I studied while at Knox and who spoke at my graduation from the University of Chicago. His presence said a lot about Millie’s life. She is missed. ❯ Bill Goldberg (wjgoldberg11734@gmail.com) reported on a recent Zoom reunion of the Sigma Nus. Bill is still working (from home) for UBS Wealth Management in Houston, Texas. He also reports that Larry Kusch is retired and living in Brookfield, Illinois, and looks like he could still play for Knox football. Riley O’Connor is retired in Brookhaven, Georgia, and is still a train enthusiast. Dan Barron is retired from running Northern Trust’s business management group and moved to Northbrook, Illinois. Tom Cohrs is retired and living in Oregon close to his daughter. Bill Rice is retired and living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He still collects license plates and is looking for additions to his collection. Bob Rothstein is retired from emergency room medicine and is living in Davis, California. Steve Carpender has started a new band, Not Now Lilly, and lives in the Philadelphia area. Don Raleigh recently retired from a distinguished professorial career at University of North Carolina (he even has a Wikipedia page!) and lives near Chapel Hill. Rich Toll is retired from the book binding machinery business and lives in Newport News, Virginia. ❯ If you have not already, you will be hearing from the wonderful 50th Reunion Committee, which is already working hard to plan a great 50th celebration of

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our wonderful class. The group represents a cross section of our class and all are very excited to plan what will be a unique and memorable Reunion (hey, we only get to do this once!). The members are: Barry Bearak (barry.bearak@ gmail.com), Brenda Butler (bbutler4414@aol.com), Larry Clark (larrysclark@gmail.com), Carol Siegel Clegg (carolclegg@gmail.com), Colleen Conway (lifeguardqueen@hotmail.com), Terry A. Denoma (siwash71@gmail.com), Jan Novak Dressel (jandressel3@yahoo.com), Ted Fagerburg (ted@fagerburg.com), Mary Myers Fasbender (mfasbender@gmail.com), John Hayes (jehesq@ aol.com), Judy Waggoner Lambert (judywlambert@gmail.com), Mark F. Massey (mfmass@yahoo.com), Semenya McCord (smccord@knox.edu), Lynn Strand McIntosh (lynnmcwho@yahoo.com), Riley O’Connor (roc@rroconnor.com), Donald J. Raleigh (djr@ email.unc.edu), Dennis Reynolds (dpr2004@ comcast.net), and myself. If you have any thoughts, great ideas, questions, or suggestions for our 50th, please contact one of the committee members.

Class Correspondent: Jerome A. Tatar 333 Wilshire Drive West, Wilmette, IL 60091-3151, 847-251-4889, jerry@tatarlawfirm.com

1972 Jon Carbary writes, “Retirement is GREAT! Golfing three times per week. Can it get any better than this?” ❯ Cush Copeland writes, “During the quarantine, I have re-established contact with some Knox friends, including former professor Dewey Moore. He has written a fictionalized account of John Wesley Powell’s first descent into the Grand Canyon. Entitled, “Death on the North Rim,” it was inspired by a Knox geology field trip in spring 1969, the centennial anniversary of Powell’s expedition. Released last year, the 150th anniversary of that first daring trip through unknown territory, the book is full of geological and paleontological references (WOO WOO). Other than that, my wife and I are doing (or not doing) pretty much the same things most retired people are doing (or not doing) in these crazy times.” ❯ Tom Crabtree writes, “I retired after 44 years of practicing law. For the last 38 years, I ran the Central Oregon Public Defender’s Office, the longest tenure ever for any head defender in Oregon. I’m now spending time with birding and photography, active in Audubon, and am a reviewer for eBird. I also enjoy serving on Knox’s Alumni Council. I travelled quite a bit until this little COVID problem popped up. Fortunately, I spent sequester time with my daughter, a Utah State professor and research associate at Santa Fe Institute, and my son, a U.S. Forest Service employee on the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Hoping to make a pilgrimage to the ’burg once a vaccine comes along.” ❯ Bob Fairbank writes, “Perhaps you’ve seen the news reports of all the party animals in Old Town Scottsdale?

That … combined with Arizona’s intense dislike

of government … makes this one of the most dangerous places on Earth right now if you’re over 65. So, my wife and I are quarantining in place. Wine and DirectTV pretty much dominate our lives. We crank up the Led Zeppelin channel in our pool cabana and pretend it’s Flunk Day.” ❯ Sandy Hanna writes, “Time in lock down has got me writing another book. This one is about travels in Greece during my youth.

Working on a title and am inspired by Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dance Me to the End of Love’ lyrics.

It’s going through edits now, and will be looking for a publisher by this fall. For those of you who have read my first book, The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon, I’m slowly working on the screenplay. Apart from all this, trying to reconnect with so many people I’ve left behind all these many years.” ❯ Sandy Hroziencik Thompson writes that she and her husband still live in Austin, Texas. He continues to work for IBM (from home) and Sandy usually teaches a couple of community college math classes. Their daughter is married and living in the same city.

They had the pleasure to attend her 50th high school reunion in Brookfield, Connecticut.” ❯ Judith Ludwig writes, “Been having fun Zooming with Donna Rockin ’73, Jean Bitunjac ’73, Becky Burling ’73, Carol Nelson ’73, Margaret Shragal ’73, Diane Grosvenor ’73, Donna Pulaski ’73—married names omitted—every couple weeks … has helped us stay sane!!” ❯ Larry Nichelson writes, “Thanks for staying in touch with me all these years. I only went to Knox for six months but I remember that time well. I graduated from San Jose State University in 2000, and have been working as a special education teacher’s assistant in San Francisco.

Thinking about retirement now with the fear about working in a coronavirus environment. lnichelson@gmail.com.” ❯ Jim Rosenthal writes, “At our ages, nothing new is by definition good news. I am still working, although I am only doing video visits, which is kind of weird in emergency medicine. Spending time with my cars, my cats, my friends, and trying to stay out of trouble.

That old curse, ‘May you live in interesting times,’ seems to be hitting all of us pretty hard.” ❯ Wendy Scherwat Ducourneau is having a great time, catching up on deferred house maintenance, shredding old files, and best of all, reconnecting with old friends! ❯ Chuck Schulz writes, “I am now officially retired from my faculty position at Knox after 39 years in the physics department including six years as registrar. I expect to continue a part-time gig in ITS at Knox. My wife and I plan to stay in Galesburg and look forward to greeting classmates at homecoming each year. I hope everyone from ’72 stays in good health—only two years until our big 50th Reunion!” ❯ Bob Shullaw writes, “The Shullaws have been hunkered down since returning from a beach holiday in Mexico in January—just ahead of the COVID outbreak—their first vacation since Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Bob has found a new passion for sketching. You can see some of

Class Knox hitting all of us pretty hard.” – Jim Rosenthal ’72 his work by searching JRArt on Facebook. Lara is tending a patio full of flowering plants, studying Spanish, and learning to play the piano. We’re just waiting for a vaccine or a cure before we venture out of the yard.” ❯ Bill Sowle writes, “In Telluride for great hiking. My daughter, her husband, and I are in great health. I was supposed to have been on a three-month bicycle and sailing journey through the old Yugoslavia. I thoroughly enjoyed the cities of Ljubljana and Lake Bled in Slovenia (location of one of Marshal Tito’s summer villas which is now a luxury hotel, where I had lunch) and successfully completed 372 miles bicycling through the Istria Peninsula. One month into my journey all the COVID happened and I was unable to continue to Montenegro, Albania, and Greece...maybe next spring.” ❯ Sandra Wawrytko writes, “Keeping busy here at San Diego State University, with our classes moved online. Using contemporary issues to enrich a class on Asian leadership philosophies.

Worked with other ethnic studies departments to ensure passage of a new graduation requirement for Cal State students to take a three unit class in this area. Working on a book, The Hybrid Brain: What Neuroscience Reveals About Dysfunctional Philosophies of Gender and Ethnicity that links decades of research that began during my studies at Knox. No time to be bored, despite restrictions due to the pandemic.”

Class Correspondent: Wendy Scherwat Ducourneau wjsd@jps.net, Facebook Group: Knox College Class of ’72

1973 I was cheered by all the responses, and I apologize for necessary edits to shorten so many submissions! Although time seems to pass slowly these days, I am reminded our 50th Reunion will be in three short years! Spread the word to our classmates and start planning your trip to Galesburg now! ❯ Husband Clay Hunter and I were recently featured in the Michigan State Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences newsletter. Is that traitorous? ❯ Don Bernardi continues to work in his former courtroom as guardian ad litem for children in juvenile cases, when he is not golfing or fishing. He and wife Joan escape from Normal, Illinois, to Naples, Florida, in the winter. ❯ Bob Bolier writes, “All is good here in Sunny Sarasota, despite our leftist media frenzy! Been able to stay active with golf and tennis, and enjoy boating the Intracoastal waterways and the smooth blue Gulf of Mexico.”

He is determined, along with Kyle Vantrease, to win one of their clubs’ golf tournaments this season! ❯ Becky Burling Gaughan and husband John have three children and four granddaughters. John is a retired Air Force pilot, and Becky recently retired as director of music at the iconic Air Force Academy Chapel. They’re trying to enjoy retirement with lots of travel, but the travel bit has taken a serious hit. ❯ Elizabeth (Betty) Cernota Clark retired in May after 12 years at

Texas State University, where she was a senior lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Prior positions included teaching journalism and advising campus newspapers at several universities. In 2019, she was named a Scribes Scholar by the Bess Whitehead Scott Scholarship Fund in support of her research about the 1942 Nazi atrocity at Lidice, Czechoslovakia. Although she has no plans to retire from writing, she looks forward to traveling and spending time with family, including husband Tom, their three children, and five granddaughters. ❯ Don Corrigan received Missouri House Resolution #5355 recognizing contributions to journalism, including the founding of the blog, Environmental Echo, through his Webster University Environmental Journalism course. Recognition was prompted by his recent induction into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame and saluted Corrigan’s 40+ years as editor of the WebsterKirkwood Times newspaper group and his decades as a professor at Webster University, where he recently gained the title of professor emeritus. ❯ Tom Kroupa is catching up on house chores and long-neglected to-dos while remaining socially distant from everyone, yet organizing outdoor workout classes. Wife Kim, long thought to be a Knox graduate, is keeping up with her newfound Knox friends from over the years. Greg Divers reported to Tom that there was a Mike Panther sighting. ❯ Donna Rockin holds regular Zoom chats with Whiting Hall pals Jean Bitunjac Fuehrmeyer, Margaret Shragel Tolley, Nancy Perin Axmacher, Donna Pulaski Bolier, Carol Nelson Palmer, Diane Grosvenor Griffith, Becky Burling Gaughan, and Flossie (Florence) Hessen, as well as Judy Ludwig Gorham ’72. She says, “It’s hard to believe we’ve been close friends for over 50 years now!” ❯ Mark Skipworth joined two specialty garden clubs last fall, one for bonsai and for cacti and succulents. Despite Zoom meetings and enewsletters, he has met lots of new people and is enjoying things immensely. ❯ Jane Goeltz Stetson keeps busy walking her dog, grocery shopping for elderly friends, and participating in online classes at the Denver Zoo, where she previously was docent, and where she hopes to resume volunteering. She’s become an expert at social distancing even while yard-picnicking! ❯ John Gorski sent an article from the Knox Student, describing the fascinating history of the TKE House, which the TKEs have called home for 100 years. The oldest TKE house in the country, originally built in 1906 for a Knox music professor, it still retains some of the original woodwork. ❯ Ken Hand retired from law practice this past June. ❯ Karen Harris is sweltering in Oklahoma, gardening and helping friends on their organic vegetable farm. Joan Crager stops by her booth at the Tulsa Farmers’ Market and Karen visits with Jan Gulbis when she’s not crushing some other geezer at pickleball. Hot or not, she urges us to get outside to explore what nature has to offer. ❯ Pete Loiselle sadly

canceled multiple trips this year but is looking forward to his 45th wedding anniversary in October and hoping for a family get-together by then. ❯ Dotty Shaddle Larson retired last November and is conducting occasional divorce mediations.

She received an award from the Prince William County (Virginia) Bar Association for exceptional service to the court system on her last day of employment. ❯ John Straus and Chris Winick hosted a video “Senior Meet” for our class on #KnoxProud Day attended by me, Scott Drysdale, Pete Loiselle, Judy Barnicle, Greg Divers, Michele Magner, Amy Dooha, Howard Heath, Ed Kleitsch, Steven Kaufman, Beth Caithamer Kuly, Bob Bolier, Roger Onken ’74, Pat Vacek, Mark Perrone, Casey Kremer, Dave Kirshtein, Sue Van Bavel, and Jeff Seidell. Another call is in the works for the fall. ❯ Curt Strom fully retired in the summer of 2018, sold their home in Connecticut, and moved to Vero Beach, Florida. They spent time living on their boat, traveling to Europe and cruising, including a six-week trip to deliver their boat to Florida via the Intracoastal Waterway. ❯ In lessrestrictive times, Gail Wagner Tovrog traveled to Eastern Europe, Glacier National Park, and the Canadian Rockies. She and husband Ben Tovrog ’71 were very much involved with a Habitat build until work was shut down. They completed 19 COVID hikes in Georgia. These Truths (recommended by Mark Stefanick ’74) is a mind blowing 800-page read—way beyond any of Gail’s American Studies texts. ❯ Nick Poulos continues to work around the world, but now from his computer at home. Although he does not have to endure the longer than 20-hour flights, he still must keep the hours of the people with whom he works. He never predicted this type of work environment during all those computer science classes at Knox! He sneaks in a few hours to work on home remodeling projects. ❯ Kyle Vantrease retired nearly eight years ago after 18 years as a circuit judge, and Sue Dicks Vantrease ’75 retired as a practicing attorney a few years before that. They sold their Southern Illinois house and live full-time in the Southwest Florida village of Estero.

Class Correspondent: Nancy Bakos Hunter 5280 Easley Way, Golden, CO 80403-1161, 303-278-3163, geo_hunters@q.com

1974 Betty Harpham Spieth-Croll: “COVID-19 turned me into a second grade teacher in May and June as schools closed down. Granddaughter Rylie and I spent two or three hours each day doing math, grammar, reading, science, and art.

She graduated to the third grade! Sister Piper stayed home with her parents, all attempting the chaos of working, parenting, teaching, and learning. It takes a village, especially now, and we’re grateful to be here to help out. Seattle has been a hotbed of protests and Black Lives Matter activities, which we are immensely proud of, even as

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“We spend winters as golf bums ... but in summers we are grown-up naturalists some of it turned tragically violent. Be well and let’s all help reimagine our future together.” ❯ Kent and Marcia Krieg Sezer: “We had to cancel our long-planned bike tour starting in Bordeaux and riding along the Atlantic coast of France. At the end of the trip, we were supposed to spend three days in Paris. Ironically, when we canceled the trip, the big problem was the spread of the virus in Europe, not here. Son Matt lives in Astoria, Queens, in the epicenter of the epicenter.

Just before the lockdown in New York, he flew back to our house in Oak Park, Illinois, and stayed in his old room until mid-June, when he returned. Marcia had an old bike that he could use, and so we would sometimes ride together, just to get out. A bike ride to Western Springs is not the same as a ride through Bordeaux, but it beats sitting in the house reading bad news about contagion.” ❯ Allyson Sawtell: “Here’s what I’ve been up to: Attending environmental justice webinars. Reading Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown. Doing power walking videos and Pilates for seniors. Reorganized my recipe box.

It’s lovely. Writing poetry. Playing a fair bit of computer solitaire, and re-reading Dune. The phrase on my mask is ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Stay well, everyone!” ❯ Bruce and Janet Ruthen Shaw ’76: “We have avoided the COVID. Despite what is on the news re: high numbers in Florida, we know absolutely no one who has had it. We’ve been busy doing things around the house and remodeling our son’s house. Bruce had his annual fishing trip to Lake Powell canceled in May. Jan had a sewing seminar in Idaho canceled in June. We had a wonderful Danube River cruise to see the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, canceled for late August. Yes, we are wearing masks when we go out, but they are plain.” ❯ Scot Silzer: “Home to office and back again, except when I head to the grocery store and wonder why I ended up in my driveway.

What a drag it is getting old. Fourth grandchild (third girl) born in July, after COVID-19 canceled the Colorado wedding. The oldest is now a freshman in college. What? Graduating Knox seems only a few short years ago.” ❯ Monta Lee Dakin: “Like many of you, all my trips this year along with speaking engagements were canceled.

Instead of spending a month in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Nuremberg, and Slovenia this past May, I sheltered in place; instead of talking about historic house museums or doing strategic planning for museums, I helped to write policy papers on closing a museum. I did manage to steal away to Kansas to celebrate my only grandchild’s first birthday and to find out more about my people’s westward migration that earned them an ‘early settler’ moniker in Kansas history books. I still hope to travel to Alaska next year to find out more about my grandfather’s experience running mail by dogsled. We’ll see if that happens.” ❯ Fran Ansell Zimmerman: “What a joy it was to see my good friends from Knox—Monta Lee Dakin and Pam Brockman ’75! Monta Lee and husband Steve stopped in Chicago for a few days

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on their way back from the Knox Reunion last November. Pam and husband Pedro graciously hosted Monta Lee, Steve, husband Stu, and me for dinner in their home. We also had a chance to catch up recently on a Zoom call. How wonderful to reconnect again after all these years with these very special Knox friends!” ❯ Melissa Croghan: “I truly LOVED my one year at Knox, and because of kooky situations in my life (like getting married at age 19) I did not ever again get to relive college dorm living. THOUGH I could tell stories about life in the dorm at Knox, the old Civil War Hospital at some distance (especially in winter) from the rest of campus. I remember the wind howling through the corn husks as I slanted (my body) across the way to get to classes! AND I remember riding in a grocery cart—high jinks— down the long corridors of Whiting Hall! And one strange deep (odd) tub, but never mind that!

I recently wrote a novel that received good reviews: The Tracking Heart. It is about the mysterious connection between a forest ranger, the man she loved, and an enormous black bear, based on an article I read in the paper about a rare, 500pound bear in Pennsylvania. I am now writing a book for Michigan State University Press, the title of which is Great Women of the Great Lakes.”

[In addition to being the author of several books, Melissa is also an accomplished artist.]

Class Correspondent: Monta Lee Dakin 303-979-9307, mld780@aol.com

1975 Our class is going to be able to celebrate both our 45th AND 46th graduation anniversaries in October 2021. Bonus! We are flexible, and the extra year means we’ll have more stories to tell.

Meanwhile, here are a few to tide us over. ❯ Cindy Valek Mottl had a longtime dream come true by having one of her artworks make it into the prestigious Colored Pencil Society of America Annual International Exhibition. “My piece Old Growth in the Porkies will join works from 126 colored pencil artists (out of 800 submitted works) for an online exhibit beginning July 2020.

This show is usually held in a gallery, but was changed to online due to COVID. And earlier I was thrilled and honored that Wisteria and Hydrangea, Morton Arboretum Children’s Garden was juried into the International Guild of Realism Online Spring Salon, which ran March through June 2020. There were over 700 entries from 20 countries, with 215 chosen.” (View her beautiful works here: www.CindyValekMottlArt.com.) ❯ John ’72 and Betsy Boccard Healey celebrated 47 years married. Betsy writes, “In 1973, I finished my sophomore year at Knox and we got married with A LOT of Knox folks in attendance. You know who you are. We both moved on to the University of Iowa for marketable degrees, oil business careers, and a very satisfying retirement. I always gave Knox College credit for my grammar, ability to hold more than one thought at a time, and our very influential

retirement ‘career’ for the last nine years. We spend winters as golf bums in Arizona, but in summers we are grown-up naturalists for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. We influence kindergarteners, college students and professors, state career professionals and politicians, and regional cultural organizations on behalf of preserving and protecting natural and cultural resources.” They would love to hear from some Knox friends; email Greenbetsy2@gmail.com and Greenjhm2@gmail.com. ❯ Daniel Martin retired several years ago from the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., which makes loans for development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Married to Veronica for almost 30 years, they have “two kids that we are still raising and life is good. I miss Knox, important to my life, even though I’ve not done much of a job staying in touch. Will fix that.” ❯ Living on his Ladybug Ranch in Littleton, Colorado, Gary Pokorn was COVID-ready, as he’s been working remotely for years for Oracle NetSuite.

Wife Debbie’s business, ThrivingPetsInternational.com, has been home-based from the start as well. “During these challenging times,” Gary writes, “hopefully one of our brilliant Knox College research scientists will help find a medical breakthrough.” ❯ After eight years as director of the School of Theater at Ohio University, Michael Lincoln stepped down this year, which he calls a big relief. Even after retiring, he still hopes “to continue to design lighting on a freelance basis, as I have done for four decades. However, David Dobkin’s gorgeous photographs of San Miguel de Allende have made us think seriously about moving to Mexico. We’ll see!” ❯ After participating in our class Zoom in June 2020, Jim Petrila commented, “We are old. But not in spirit!” Hey, I thought we all looked great, Jim! ❯ Dave and Linda Nelson Langston reside in Iowa, where Dave enjoys retirement and the entertainment of his young grandson. Linda remains the chair for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Resilient America Roundtable, and has also joined a collaboration of the NAS and the National Science Foundation that is seeking to quickly answer pressing questions for policy makers related to COVID. Closer to home, she participates in the Linn Area Partners Active in Disaster. ❯ Fred and Kathryn Giertz Nirdee are “social distancing halfway up the mountain in Asheville, so at least we have wildlife and view.

We get together with our neighbors every few weeks for cocktails on the cul-de-sac. Fred continues to work from home as the CFO of a community mental health agency, and I still do part-time as a mental health consultant for the Job Corps in Cherokee, North Carolina. Our daughters are nearby and doing well; each recently changed jobs for the better.” ❯ Be well, friends.

Class Correspondent: Jeanne Pankanin jeanne.knoxfriend@gmail.com Knox College Class of 1975 Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/1509789545910382/

Class Knox for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.” – John ’72 & Betsy Boccard Healey ’75

1976 Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. That is the theme of this column. First of all, I received a Facebook message several months ago from Myra Peak. Myra resides in the western states and has written several children’s books. She recently attended a writers’ conference in Wyoming and bumped into Tom Farrell, who is also an accomplished writer. They attended a writers’ critique workshop together with Myra’s daughter, Emily. Myra says, “Hi” to all and has plans on working for many more years. ❯ I recently “crashed” a Zoom conference of several of our classmates including Ellen Interlandi (she lives in New Mexico), Ruth Brackney (I think she lives out east), Kathy Kodl Fridovich (she is in Arizona), Chris Day, and Maureen McGarrity Murphy (Lake Bluff, Illinois). This group and a few others decided to survive the quarantine/pandemic by having weekly Zoom get-togethers. It was fun to see everyone. ❯ I did attend two Knox Zoom sessions. First was a talk given by our classmate Keith Maskus on the economic impacts of the pandemic. I thought for sure Keith would quote Professor “Bro” White or Roy Andersen, but he did not. Keith’s talk was fantastic and had nearly 100 attendees. ❯ I also attended the #KnoxProud Zoom party hosted by our class in early June. This was a great day for Knox and the Class of ’76. Our session was hosted by Christine Ross Gould, Ann Feldman Perille, Keith Maskus, and yours truly. We had a great turnout and a fun time chatting with classmates. Chris Ross led us in some fun Knox trivia questions.

There were lots of laughs, no streaking (thank goodness), and appearances by many of our classmates, including Mike Widerschein (who described the musical instrument featured in his senior photo in our yearbook); Chris Ross Gould (who resides in Wisconsin and misses the Gizmo ladies); Keith Maskus, Ann Feldman Perille, Janet Hogan (who resides in Seattle), Jerry Erjavic (of Schiller Park, Illinois), Jim Carden and Ann “Tooty” Murphy Carden (who called in from California), Sue Benn Attwood (who resides in and called from England at 1 a.m.! And does not eat baked beans on toast), Mitch Baker (who called in from Mexico), Barb Epstein, Steve Varick, Tom Farrell, Ellen Jones McNair, George ’74 and Mary Marsellus Rosic, Annette Greco Cade, Yvonne Johnson Richardson, Glenn Ruklic, and Ann Murray Smith. Jim Straus ’78 crashed the event for a few minutes and Tad Daley ’78 tried to join us but was late due to living on the West Coast. We did agree during our Zoom call to talk up our 45th Reunion for 2021, including the infamous kazoo marching band, with concertmaster Glenn Ruklic working on marching band steps for our group (Glenn remains active with a community band in the south suburbs of Chicago). ❯ Yours truly recently saw Bill Anderson ’78. Bill resides in Naperville, Illinois. Bill’s parents, Bob ’54 and Jean Kester Anderson ’54 both attended Knox

are still leading active lives in the Naperville area.

Bill is enjoying the world of social distancing and selling puzzles at his family retail pharmacy. ❯ The famous Phi Delt-Fiji golf outing was postponed this year due to the pandemic, so as a result the Phi Delts did not lose this year. There was an alternative match that occurred in late June 2020 with Norm Hillner ’79, Steve Malecha ’81, Jun Adachi ’81, and Joe Czurylo ’80 against Tim Loch ’78, Bob Szyman ’79, Bob Holshouser ’79, and me. The match came down to the last putt and was declared a draw. ❯ That is all for now. I hope you are staying safe and healthy and thanks for the updates.

Class Correspondent: George M. Pearce 1114 Forest Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091-1655, 847-2565968, geoknox@comcast.net

1977 Hello, everyone! Sounds as if most of us are weathering the pandemic fairly well. I have been having regular Zoom sessions with Mitch Baker ’76 and his wife Karen in Oaxaca, Mexico, Ed Jepson and his wife Susan in Riverside, Illinois, and Brian Bond in Phoenix. I believe we all are running for president, and we agree that we love music. Lots of other things were discussed but I can’t remember what right now. ❯ Mary Kay Luby Donnelly ’78 has been teaching her fifth grade students online, and has connected them with an elementary school class in England as “pen pals.” ❯ Doug Hill checked in: “Nothing to report this year, all racing has been cancelled. I have even decided to put off retiring for a little bit because my trophy wife is two years younger than me, and she likes my current Cadillac medical coverage and we’ve got nowhere to travel.

We have twin grandchildren who just turned one, and my wife helps take care of them every day.

Heck, she works harder than I do. I have broken the prosecutor’s office record for longevity, 37 years and counting. I did pull off eighth place at last year’s World Championships in Switzerland and we followed that up with a great week in Paris. I felt great after the race but walking about 15 miles a day in Paris just exhausted me!” ❯ Chris Seely is engaged to be married! He retired from American Airlines in 2016 after 36 years of flying. His boys are both married, and the oldest is expecting in October. ❯ Bob Nordgren reports: “All’s well here and hunkering with the best of them. I’m still working on the retirement plan—maybe next year! I’m working on a COVID vaccine program, which is interesting.

It’s not going to make us either rich or famous, but interesting all the same.” ❯ Amy Eichengreen Andrews writes: “We have been seeing a lot of our grandchildren since everything has been closed: many sleepovers and bonding time. Our oldest daughter was pregnant with twins during this scary time. She had the twins in May, and they were each about seven pounds.

Connor and Elizabeth are a wonderful addition to our family. Connor is the first grandson on both sides of the family so that is exciting.” ❯

Bunny Friedman shared: “The only news I have is that after 40 years with the Nebraska State Historical Society, I retired in August 2019. Since racquetball is too hard on my damaged shoulder, I’ve taken up pickleball (hate the name, love the activity) as my retirement sport and have gotten up to tournament level play. Oh, also, I reconnected with Missy Mueller and Jan Schlichting at Rod Davis’s celebration of life service in February. Rod was a hero to all of us. ❯ Although it’s a couple of years away, I’m looking forward to our 2022 Reunion. I hope we’ll be able to have one!” ❯ Rick Stiles got in touch: “After 38 years in banking, I retired from Wintrust Bank in July, where I had been president and CEO for the past 10 years. Previously I was a group head at American National Bank & Trust of Chicago for 20 years. The pandemic has been stressful on our team and customers. We have all learned how to Zoom! The successful people will be the ones who follow the golden rule by treating others like you would like to be treated! ❯ Sue RunyonDavis shared: “Pam Ord Newton and I have talked on the phone a couple of times and have commiserated about our isolation and inability to travel. She doesn’t get to see her grandkids, but I do. My county in Tennessee has way less infection than hers in the Chicago area. She works from home. I’m retired, so I work from home as well! We are both ready to move on and travel.” ❯ From Jim Munro: “BIG NEWS—I got married! June 13, at St. Luke Union Church, Bloomington Illinois. The bride, the former Charlene Beringer, is an Illinois State grad, so you wouldn’t know her. And because of the COVID-19 lockdown, we did it virtually. The wedding was streamed live via the church Facebook page.

Since it was virtual, we invited practically everyone we knew—and some we didn’t (don’t know if Queen Elizabeth made it or not). Among the Knox attendees were Kate Sorensen Blunk, Debra Haskell Nielsen, Jenny Niehaus Thieman, and Bruce Hall. There may have been more, but the curse of virtual is that not everyone gets registered. That’s about it. Oh, yeah, I didn’t inform the alumni magazine yet—so you get the scoop!” ❯ I had dinner last night with Rick Swanborg ’76 and wife Ann near their home in Cohasset, Massachusetts. They had just settled in to spend the winter in their new condo in Sarasota, Florida, when a family emergency brought them back to New England. After sheltering in Cohasset for the pandemic, they are not sure when they will return to Florida, due to the spiraling virus cases and lax attitudes in that state.

Rick reports that Steve Kaszynski ’76 has just become a grandparent, as his oldest son and daughter-in-law just had a baby boy. Congratulations Kaszynski family! ❯ Kristie Zamrazil got in touch. “Like many, I spent some of my quarantine time cleaning out files. Unlike many, I ran across my copy of The Expert’s Guide to Mixological Marvels; Knoxist Bartending as Taught by the Experimental College of 1976 under the direction of James the Cogill Salwitz. For those who didn’t take

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Ruth Aydt ’80 climbed out of her bedroom window in the middle of the the class, it contains recipes for about 90 cocktails and a brief description of beers and wines. One of the class requirements was ‘to stay on the high side of sober.’ I am quite certain this class taught me some important life skills, which I have continued to hone (being the good student that I am). Furthermore, I had the privilege of bartending at least one faculty party, which also taught valuable insights. Once it is safe to travel again, I invite fellow alumni to join me here in Santa Fe where we can work our way through the syllabus.”

Class Correspondent: Sarah Kaull 52 Ober Street, Beverly, MA 01915-4733, 978-810-0181, skaull@icex.com

1978 Kathy Mahaffey and her husband divide their time between Springfield and the Chicago suburbs to see more of their new grandson, Brooks, who was born in November and is growing up fast. ❯ John Luthy spent two weeks in Santa Barbara house-sitting in January (a great time to be OUT of Illinois!) for his younger brother, and concurrently had listed his house in Naperville for sale. The house sold quickly to his surprise, leaving him little time to find a new place, pack up, and move out. He found a place just outside of Bloomington-Normal in the metropolis of TOWANDA, which he says reminds fellow Knox alum Kathy Hearn Luelling ’77 of a clip from Fried Green Tomatoes. While he downsized the house, he upsized the lot, with 2.7 acres, wild deer, and turkey. He closed in Naperville and drove to Bloomington-Normal just as “shelter in place” orders came down. The new house has needed some work, and he had to stay in a motel for months as the contractors dawdled. He is in the house now, and near his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, but with few visits due to his daughter-in-law’s compromised immune system.

Fortunately many hours of conversation with friends and other Knox alums and brothers of Phi Delta Theta made this tolerable. ❯ Faith Miller has had a rough year, even by COVID-19 standards. In late December, her mother died, and in early February, her cat, Jasper, did too. And then came coronavirus, which hit New York hard and early, so she mostly quarantined out at her house in New Jersey. She had thought of relocating to Florida, but then Florida became the nation’s hot spot. In May, she did have a nice virtual mini-reunion with Kate Littrell (North Carolina), Cynthia Shurtleff (Germany), Audrey Sandburg (Upstate New York), Sue Morehouse (Indiana?), and Julie Murphy (Arizona) back in May. Everyone is doing well and no one had changed a bit. Although Faith sees Kate regularly, and Cynthia and Audrey were at her wedding, she hadn’t seen Sue or Julie since graduation. She has become a Zoom lover, and used her stimulus check to support museums and has enjoyed some excellent presentations, particularly from the New York Historical Society and the Morgan Museum and Library. ❯ Jim Straus is helping

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watch the grandkids so their parents can get some work done at home. He notes: “Zoom, work at home, no office, no travel, who would have thought?” ❯ Susan Hughey Walker rejoined Bank of America last year, celebrating her one-year anniversary in May. She loves being back at the bank; it is almost like she never left.

She is no longer traveling each week and is only managing one market, which has turned out to be a blessing! She had grown accustomed to working from home, and her team has become quite proficient in using WebEx and Zoom for meetings. On a personal note, both of her children’s weddings scheduled for this year were postponed.

They are now looking at May and July 2021. ❯ David Dickson stepped down from his position in the health insurance business after 43 years.

He is ready for a new challenge, but in the meantime, he is “treating himself to a sabbatical including, but not limited to, a) completing a long ‘Honey Do List,’ b) after we have a COVID-19 vaccine, taking some extended trips in the United States and overseas with my wife, and c) starting a ‘giving back’ career wherever there is a vacuum.

Then I’ll see what’s next. Stay tuned—and thanks to everyone who has joined me on this ride.” ❯ Brad Milton is still in Germany working on the U.S. Defense Health Agency replacement hospital for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. He and his family are grateful to be in Germany at this time, where they take the pandemic seriously and as a result are in pretty good shape. The bad news is that they won’t be seeing much of family and friends this year except via video. The good news: The EU borders are open, and they’re free to travel. In fact, they just returned from Provence and the French Riviera (about an eighthour drive) with VERY few tourists. Most everyone they met was French, German, or Belgian.

He says, “if you’re only sightseeing, it’s a great time to be doing it. Shopping… not so much as many of the smaller stores are still closed. A benefit of social democracy though is that most will reopen in time. Restaurants were busy. Most serving outside. Fortunately, it has also been a very comfortable spring and summer. Masks are required in stores and when entering restaurants.

Optional on the street at the moment.” His wife Peg was teaching fourth grade online from home from mid-March through the end of the school year. Not certain where she’ll be this fall. DOD is supposed to get all of their kids back in school, but they also have to follow German guidelines as they are guests here. Brad has also been working from home since March. Not certain when they might head back, as they are actually at the hospital and they want as little potential for contamination as possible. His kids are both well: Evan is working in Chicago now. Emily is in Michigan pursuing her Ph.D. ❯ As for me, the year has been as crazy as everyone else’s. Early in the year, we got a wild hair and decided to buy a home in Colorado, where I grew up. That prompted a mad scramble to sell our home in Houston, and then another mad scramble to get moved as the

pandemic was emerging and things were shutting down. We got here just in time for my 91-year old father to become very ill, but that meant we were here to help him manage through two surgeries to remove gallbladder and complications (he is all better, thank God). But just then, our adult kids learned (1) that they were working remotely for the rest of the summer and beyond, and (2) that we bought a house in Colorado where they could freeload and enjoy the outdoors, and shahzamm, here they are. We are mostly enjoying all their company, and we just learned that my daughter is pregnant with our first grandbaby, due in January! ❯ In these trying times, I hope all of you stay safe. Let’s be there for each other. Thanks.

Class Correspondent: David Bates 121 W. Caramillo St.,Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907 dbates@foley.com

1979 Class Correspondent: Brian Cox 21 Briarcliffe, Collinsville, IL 62234-2913, 618-406-7014 (cell), bjcox5257@att.net

1980 We hope all of you are staying safe and are healthy as we approach our 40th Reunion. As you probably know by now, we will be celebrating remotely this year with our in-person Reunion scheduled for 2021. ❯ Carol Runyon writes, “After seven years with Greystar Management, I was recruited to join Western Wealth Communities as a manager of two communities in Ahwatukee, Arizona, facing the golf course of the Arizona Grand Hotel. My son just finished his associate’s degree and started classes at Northern Arizona University. Due to COVID, he studied from home through July. He looks forward to being back up in Flagstaff this fall. We have enjoyed time together again, but when you are college age, living at home can be a challenge. We have hiked a lot since spring and have really enjoyed exploring new trailheads and farmers’ markets.

Five years ago, I really dove into looking at what preservatives are in our food. Once I really started reading labels, I dropped 20 pounds and have kept it off. I challenge you all to read those labels if you are not already. Life is short and I know our families want us around!” ❯ David Workman writes, “I hope this ‘update’ finds you and yours healthy. It has been an ‘interesting’ time during the pandemic. I have run my business from home with my office open but closed to the public since mid-March. My staff doesn’t particularly like me so they are all working from home as well. My county was the sixth or seventh highest in COVID infections per capita in the country. Our three kids and their spouses and granddaughter are all within an hour or so, and we get to see them frequently. I look forward to playing in the Knox golf tournament and hope my back won’t hurt so much as it did after last year’s tournament from carrying my teammates

Class Knox night on Flunk Day … she didn’t want to wake me up!” – Karen Kelly ’80 (Steve Holmes, Jim Pogue, and Dave Cratty).

No plans to retire as I can pretty much do as I please. Grace and Peace.” ❯ Fred Johnston says: “Annette Ambrosini Johnston ’81 and I have gone through 38 years together. She made the most important times of my life possible. Really, she made me possible. Parenthood has been the hardest and most joyful part of my life. Older son Rick lives in Iowa and sells surgical supplies.

Younger son Ben lives in Massachusetts and works for a hedge fund. Our sons are very different from us, yet they’ve become the men we hoped they would be. I practiced law for over 30 years, including two life-changing experiences. I spent several years with a firm in East St. Louis, one of the poorest and most violent cities in the United States. Working there forced me to think hard about how to solve the problems of poverty and racial inequality. It made me work to be a better person. It made me work to improve our nation. The second profound experience was serving as a lawyer in the Army Reserve. I had been perfectly happy as a civilian—until September 11. At the age of 45, I became a judge advocate’s attorney. I saw a whole new side to society—military culture. Eventually, I did a year of active duty in Germany. Oddly enough, I went over with a lawyer who had grown up in Galesburg. We helped infantry soldiers prepare for a deployment to Iraq. Thank heaven they all came home alive. I continued in the Reserve until I reached the mandatory removal age of 60. While I was never in a war zone, I saw what military service does to people. So, I thank those Knox alums who served, or are serving, honorably, and alums who were, or are, military spouses or dependents. I now have some small idea of what you gave or still give. Annette and I continue on in a great little neighborhood in the northern suburbs of Chicago. We’ve been in the same house for 28 years. That time did fly. I feel like we finally finished a decades-long wind sprint.” ❯ George Eaton writes, “Annette Zemek ’81 and I just celebrated our 39th anniversary. We are still in Davenport, Iowa. Annette works at a hospital in Clinton, and I still work at the Rock Island Arsenal. After about 15 years as the historian for a large Army command, I got stupid and took on leading a new organization that includes history, public affairs, congressional and community relations, and business relations. I head into my last year before retirement working far too many hours! Our niece, daughter of Barb Zemek ’86, has lived with us for three years now after Barb passed away. She just finished her first year at Knox. She came home for spring break and never went back. We now have two grandchildren, ages 15 months and one month. We are actively planning the first stage of retirement—camping through all national parks—and then will figure out what to do next.” ❯ Marsha Sanders McCormick works the night shift at Delmar Gardens South Nursing and Rehabilitation Home. She wanted all to know her sister, Karen Sanders Raleigh-Champion ’72, passed away on

April 4, 2020. Prayers and condolences to Marsha and her family. ❯ Fritz Goeckner writes, “Tracy Bell ’81 and I are mostly the same (but with masks on). We welcomed our first grandchild, Charles Duvall Goeckner, on April 22! He lives with his parents in Seattle. No word on when he will be big enough to come spend a week with us.” ❯ Jay Copp writes, “I’m married to Laura, a teacher in Chicago, and we have three sons.

Kevin, 24, a graduate of Providence, teaches at a Catholic school in inner-city Chicago. Andrew, 22, just graduated from Notre Dame. He majored in environmental engineering but will study for the priesthood at Holy Cross Seminary at Notre Dame. Brendan, 21, is a sociology major at Notre Dame. We live near where I grew up in La Grange Park, Illinois. I have fond memories of late-night bull sessions freshman year in Raub II, sneaking in Memorial Gym late at night to play hoops after waiting in the bushes for the maintenance worker to leave, yanking hard on the locked door, flipping the light switches and lowering the baskets (“Get the gun!”), the hidden TV purloined from the Beta house before the Super Bowl (more I cannot say), the great core of English teachers such as Howard Wilson, Sam Moon, Robert Hellenga, and Ed Niehus, and steadfast friends such as Dennis and Daniel Clohisy ’81, John O’Rourke, Steve Sarius, and Matt Devens ’81. Rest in peace, Richard Gregory, my first-year roommate. Wish I knew how friend Kevin Gardner from Raub is doing. I have served as editor/writer for a Catholic newspaper and the monthly magazine for Lions Clubs International, which gave me the opportunity to travel the world. I’ve written a book on religious and historical sites of interest to Catholics and am working on another book tentatively titled 100 People, Places and Things You Didn’t Know Were Catholic. I’ve written hundreds of magazine features on culture, food, sports, history, spirituality and more. I’m an avid bike rider (did the RAGBRAI in Iowa last year) and played a lot of basketball and racquetball until my knees rebelled. I thank God for my family and friends, try to take each day as a blessing, and would love to hear from people.” ❯ Jim Pogue is doing well in Colorado and looked forward to seeing everyone at the Knox Golf Tournament. ❯ Judy Heitman Miller: “I am the executive director of a legal aid called Administer Justice, and am busy establishing civil legal clinics across the U.S. I am the very proud grandmother of a grandson (2) who lives with his parents in Rhode Island. My daughter lives happily in Seattle. I am active in my community and serve on my village’s Police Commission as well as numerous justice and judicial committees. My favorite Knox memories revolve around the fun Robert Miller ’79 and I had as a young couple in love.” ❯ Karen Kelly writes, “It was great seeing all who participated in our 40th Reunion Zoom meeting. One of my fondest Knox memories was senior year when roommate Ruth Aydt climbed out of her bedroom window in the middle of the night on Flunk Day (yes,

from the first floor), as she was the Flunk Day cochair…She didn’t want to wake me up and potentially spoil the surprise! I think she even left her bed in such a way that at a quick glance you’d think a ‘body’ was there sleeping! It all worked—I was surprised with everyone else that it was Flunk Day!” ❯ Rich and Kathy Knosher Harden write, “We have lived in Champaign, Illinois, since graduating from Knox and getting married two weeks later (right outside Old Main). After law school and graduate school at University of Illinois, we ended up staying in the community, a very nice place to raise Jeff and Colleen Harden Aziz ’10. We are blessed with four grandsons within four years. Colleen and Hamed Aziz ’08 live in Oak Forest, Illinois. They have two children, Naseer (5) and Ehsan (2). Jeff and wife Melissa live near South Bend, Indiana, and are parents to Liam (4) and Luke (18 months). Rich has been a defense lawyer all these years at Thomas, Mamer, LLP. After a stint teaching at University of Illinois, I have been the assistant editor of The Journal of Nutrition since 1990. We haven’t retired yet and have been glad for the distraction of work during the lockdown! Rich remains an avid bike rider and is active in Venturing, a Boy Scout program that allows him to do the outdoor high adventures he loves. I enjoy reading and quilting, sewing, knitting, and all around ‘making things’ in my spare time. It has been great to occasionally see classmates on our trips to Galesburg, where my family still lives. Ruth Aydt and Joe Moore sometimes make it to Champaign. Nephew Eric Thompson ’20 just graduated from Knox. His brother graduated from Monmouth (long story, but a good move for him) in 2015—we still claim and love him! We hope many members of the class can get together in person when it is safe to do so. We’ve all been so clearly reminded what is really important— being with people you care about.” ❯ Kurt Pearson writes, “Deciding what college to attend—now an unbelievable 44 years ago!—was incredibly difficult for me. I visited almost 20 campuses my senior year, and then I visited Knox and the decision became easy. It felt like home; it felt like a community. I would like to thank my professors, my coaches (we of course were more than fortunate to have Harley Knosher and Tim Heimann ’70 there during our time), my teammates, friends, and classmates for being a part of that community that made my years at Knox not only enjoyable but also enlightening.” ❯ Barb Adams reports that she has moved her local and state government law practice to a new law firm, Donahue & Rose, PC, located in Rosemont. Barb remembers the great donuts we’d get in the middle of the night at the little donut shop on Main Street. ❯ On a sad note, John Kowal passed away on July 8. Prayers and condolences for his family. ❯ As for us (Roy and Joe), Roy Brandys enjoys living in Austin, Texas. “All children are doing well—Lyndzee, Dylan, Tyler, and Ryan. Pets— Archie our golden retriever, Reggie the mutt, and Leo the cat keep us busy. I’m still working mostly

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“After spending the last 35 years in human resources, representing landowners impacted by the border wall. My wife, Colleen, is a physical therapist at one of the local hospitals and doing well. All good even in the midst of the COVID.” ❯ Joe Moore retired last year from the Chicago City Council after serving seven terms (28 years). “Actually, the voters ‘retired’ me. I got swept up in the wave of political change sweeping the nation.

But I’m grateful to the voters for allowing me to serve them for over a quarter of a century. I recently started my own firm, Joe Moore Strategies, a consulting and lobbying enterprise with a specialty in local government. I work hard, but not nearly as hard as when I was in political office.

Wife Barbara and I downsized to a condo on Chicago’s lakefront two years ago. Son Nathan (30) works for a tech firm in Washington, D.C. that manages voter databases and web hosting services for the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates. Son Zachary (23) graduated last year from the Northwestern School of Engineering and now works as an analyst for Capital One in Chicago, making sure all you credit card users pay the optimum amount of interest on your cards. Barb and I spent the early days of the pandemic (April-June) house sitting for friends at their waterfront home near St. Petersburg, Florida. As we were ordered by our governor to stay at home, we decided it was better to spend it housebound in warm, sunny Florida than cold, rainy Chicago. During our time in Florida, we were delighted to get together with Paul and Tracey Rappaport Greenwood, who live in nearby Branton, Florida.”

Class Correspondents: Roy Brandys 1818 Feather Nest Drive, Cedar Park, TX 78613-1414, brandys@barronadler.com Joe Moore 773-848-5796, joe@joemoore.org

1981 Jane Strode Miller is the CEO of Lily’s Sweets and would love to send everyone some free coupons as a small “survival kit!” Email jmiller@lilys.com with your snail mail address and she’ll get some out to you right away! ❯ Dr. Belinda Morrill and Mr. Neal Anthony have retired to Tanque Verde, Arizona, just outside both Saguaro National Park and Tucson. “We plan to spend our time gardening, doing artwork, hiking, and traveling.” ❯ “Chris Daniels here. If you can please put in a word or two about our great friend Reed Graf who passed away on April 6, 2020. I might add that he was a kidney cancer survivor. Me and the rest of the ‘Abra Cadavers’ (Mark Chelmowski, Ward Dietrich, Rob “Nolan” Hetz, Mike Takehara, and Sue Thiel) miss him dearly, but are thankful for the times we had with him and his unique humor. Biggest news out of the Daniels’ camp is Granddaughter #1 and Grandson #2 were born 16 days apart this past spring. Grandson #1 is learning the ways of the ‘farce’ with weekly sessions of teasing, joking, and playing. All are doing well within the family

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bubble. Anybody know where I can get a Prairie Fire mask?” ❯ Tom MacMillan: “After several visits to Steve ’82 and Linda Mugniani McMillan in Phelps, Wisconsin, wife Kemmy and I have just purchased a second home up there in the same neighborhood. It is almost touching the border with Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, near Eagle River. We are on a lake, surrounded by national park forests. It gives us someplace fun to go now that travel is questionable for the foreseeable future. Being in the wilderness with a high-speed internet connection and all the modern amenities is also proving to be a really great place to work from home for friends and family with COVID going on. Son Grant planned to marry in August, with only 14 attending as they work around strict social distancing requirements.” ❯ Jennifer Matthew Baldwin: “Unfortunately, I got nothin’ new to share—it’s just the status quo, which is all good, thankfully. As Joe Walsh said ‘I can’t complain but sometimes I still do. Life’s been good to me so far.’” ❯ Warren Krup: “I am about halfway through chemotherapy treatment for my kidney cancer. This is my second fight with cancer. I had my right kidney removed in 2014. In late 2019, a tumor was removed that was the same renal cell carcinoma I had in 2014. Chemo and infusion therapy leaves me feeling fatigued and I’ve had a number of side effects but am proceeding relatively well. Dr. Mark Chelmowski and others have offered encouragement and prayers. I’m happy to still be six feet tall as opposed to six feet under.” ❯ Chris Shillestad: “I retired a year ago, and my husband and I bought a second home in Naples, Florida.

We now spend six months in Florida and the summer and fall in Illinois. Traveled through Scandinavia last year and hooked up with my relatives in Norway. My husband and I have taken up golf and pickleball and plan on getting into boating. Never knew retirement could be so busy!” ❯ Kari Hauge: “I haven’t responded to these requests for info, assuming that those who want to know about me have kept in contact.

However, now it seems that all connections are important! After Knox, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and lived there until 2012, working as a library manager for the Multnomah County system. I traveled a bunch, learned to knit, set up a darkroom, played in a local symphony, sang in a chorus, and became a wine snob, among other things. I got married in 2006, divorced in 2013.

My ex passed in 2018, and I keep in touch with that family. I am a proud aunt and grand-aunt.

After an unusually stable lifestyle (same job with same entity for 27 years, same home for 17 years), I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I also started a peripatetic lifestyle, changing jobs and locations several times in the next four years.

After the devastating 2016 election, I took a life-changing statistics class at UNM Taos and discovered that I could stop working RIGHT THEN. I had sold my Portland house, so I put my highly reduced possessions into a friend’s basement and began to live off my savings. I have

been a nomad and international pet sitter since 2017. My main tangible accomplishment was the commission and publication of The Famous Family Trees (Lincoln Press, 2018). Right now, I’m sheltering in place in the Sandias, feeding the hummingbirds, playing in my makeshift clay studio, listening to audiobooks, and avoiding my writing projects. My mom, who is 91 and living in a Florida beach condo, calls every day. In these days of international collapse, I am grateful for the paranoid prescience which caused me to abandon stability for a life of exploration and constant change. In an odd way, that lifestyle prepared me for the pandemic way of life: for three years my connections have been virtual, and I have become an introvert. People interested in tales of chance encounters, random discoveries, and distant cats and dogs can check the blog Herding Cats (refgoddessnomad.blogspot.com). I started it in 2017 but did not write much for the last year. People interested in self-indulgent introspection can check out What the Cat Dragged In (refgoddess.blogspot.com).” ❯ Tom Woolwine: “My family and I are healthy. Son Larson continues to love Denver, and we planned our summer vacation to visit him and enjoy the Rockies. I will mark 34 years at investment consulting firm DeMarche next month (crazy). I spend my free time volunteering as a member of Kansas City Rotary Club #13 (old club founded 1910). I am working on a new club community outreach project to help bridge the digital divide for KC metro youth K-12. Twenty percent of our kids don’t have computers, Wi-Fi, or internet! With the COVID-19 crisis, this group is being left behind. I also serve as chair of the KC Rotary Club Foundation Investment Committee, which provides the funding for our camp for special needs kids—unfortunately had to postpone summer activities. Finally, I continue to volunteer to serve as an Investment Committee member for the Knox endowment. I wish you good health and prosperity in these unusual times!” ❯ Linda Mugnaini McMillan: “I am sending this from New Zealand, but we supposedly have a flight home tonight! Back to COVID world. Steve McMillan and I went to New Zealand in March for a four-week trip, and we ended up staying for four months. We were in lockdown for seven weeks and then things slowly started opening up again. We had the unique opportunity to travel around with virtually no tourists and saw way more than what we had originally planned. Beautiful country, lovely people, and a journey we will never forget.” ❯ Jodi Domanic: “Patrick Lambert ’82 and I moved to Santa Monica, California in November 2018. I still work as a script supervisor for film and television productions (at least I will be when they start shooting again), and Patrick is a personal chef. We live a block from the beach with our dog Natasha, and two parakeets, Helmund and Smokey D.” ❯ Doug Aasgaard: “Our first grandchild, Emma, was born last October. Even with all the craziness of the shutdown, it’s the best thing ever. I’ve been an

Class Knox I will retire December 31.” – Diana Klapp Whitson ’81 son Knox—yes—turns 30 this year and got married last October to a wonderful woman (Marta).

Daughter Campbell recently turned 29 and returned from a year working in Chang Mai, Thailand. I guess our eight years living in Thailand and Korea, where she and Knox were born, had an impact. I have been at Nike for 29 years and am currently the VP of Global Footwear Product Creation after previously being responsible for our footwear manufacturing. Until recently, I spent a lot of time on airplanes, and Peg has my bags ready just in case the world normalizes (maybe a reason we are still together after 35 years). Got into running and ran a few marathons, including Boston, a couple of times but decided to play the long game with my knees.

All the best!” ❯ Donna Mielke and Mike Maday: “Our kids are all launching, so that’s a feeling of satisfaction and pride. We had the pleasure of attending our oldest daughter’s dissertation defense for her Ph.D. last August. She is gainfully employed doing air quality consulting for the oil and gas industry. One down. Our youngest, a son, wrapped up a six-year stint (undergrad plus two years as a graduate assistant) with Georgia Tech basketball, completed a master’s in computer science, and started a job as a software engineer in Atlanta. That’s two. The middle daughter just started her fourth year of medical school, so there is light at the end of the tunnel! We’re fine and hope you are, too.” ❯ John Nicolau: “Our #3 eloped in Ireland last September, our #2 was married in September 2018, our #1 brought us our first grandchild (a girl) in June 2019, and our #4 moved out this spring. So we are officially empty-nesters, though all four kids still live in the Chicagoland area. I’m still with the company that bought us back in 2018. They have kept me on due to my relationships, both with clients and with Microsoft, so I plan to continue to work for at least a few more years, either with them (as long as they keep me)

or as a hired gun in the IT space. In July, my wife marked 39 years as an ICU nurse in a hospital that went ‘All-COVID’ from March through June. However, they were well-equipped and well-staffed, so while it was a bit crazy at times, she has weathered it quite well. She plans to go for 40 years at the same hospital and then will reevaluate her options, as well as her babysitting needs. We planned to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary with our kids on a family vacation in September.

Class Correspondent: John Nicolau 930 Huckleberry Lane, Glenview, IL 60025-2302, 847-657-6311, j.nicolau@comcast.net

1982 Hello, Class of 1982. Hope you and your families are staying well. Not too much news to report, which is not surprising, given the restriction on our lives these days. ❯ Tim and I looked forward to our daughter Bridget’s 10-person micro-wedding at an outdoor courtyard in Chicago in August. Both our son and Bridget’s fiance’s sister joined us from out of state via Facetime. I attempted to throw a Zoom shower for the girls.

I have been enjoying connecting with some Knox alums over Zoom for cocktails as well. Since I am a CPA, this has been the year of the never-ending tax season and lots of helping clients with PPP loan paperwork. Tim has been hitting the home improvements hard and baking a lot of bread. I am grateful for both! ❯ Kelly Norton reports, “I just spent six months as director of the U. S. Geological Survey Lower Mississippi Gulf (LMG) Water Science Center. The LMG science focuses on water resources research for flooding and water availability. While guiding the science, I enjoyed the culture and cuisine of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

Happy to be back in Illinois.” ❯ Tricia Patton Morrow sent this update: “Tricia and husband

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independent manufacturers rep in the furniture industry for about 25 years. After sitting at home for three months while all of my customers’ stores were closed, we are now doing record-setting business. At least there is a small bright spot within the massive challenges we all face.” ❯ Mark Huddle: “I still work part-time as an attorney at Ice Miller, and paint. I’ve worked from home, in part, for 20+ years, so COVID hasn’t been a huge adjustment. It has allowed me to do even more painting than usual, so that’s one positive. Also, I just performed in a Zoom play, after five weeks of Zoom rehearsals—a postmodern adaptation of Chekov’s The Seagull. One advantage of the Zoom production is that the cast and crew could be far flung (California, Arizona, Chicago, and NYC), and the audience could live as far away as Australia.” ❯ Jim Whitehill reports that he is well, living and practicing law in Tucson, Arizona. Jim is the proud father of two recent Knox graduates, Andrew Whitehill ’15 and Allie Whitehill ’17. ❯ Heidi Lauritzen: “I retired on May 1 of this year. I had been a librarian and manager at the Iowa City Public Library since 1998.” ❯ Steve Tatge: “Our daughter just graduated from high school and has debated a variety of options of what to do next, with many of them impacted by COVID-19. Plan A was to move to Germany, but that is on hold for the foreseeable future. My wife continues to work in the social justice arena. I continue to lead the University of Washington’s capital project delivery group, and our projects are all still underway, albeit being designed and constructed in a very different way than just a few months ago. Winter will definitely be coming for higher ed in general, and I do expect a drop-off in the next year or two.

Hoping for better news in November, or else it might be time to move to a country with a grownup leader and COVID under control. New Zealand looks pretty good!” ❯ Diana Klapp Whitson: “After spending the last 35 years in human resources, I will retire December 31. I’m excited about enjoying a more relaxing life with my husband, Mike (37 years and counting). Our original plans were to do some traveling—we’ll see how that goes in light of COVID-19! At any rate, that time will eventually come.” ❯ Delia Thrasher: “Husband Tim Madden and I have lived in Lansing, Michigan, for 30 years, but still consider Chicago our hometown and routinely visit family scattered there. We are Spartan fans and often walk the nearby MSU campus. I’m a psychologist at the local community mental health center and also teach at the local community college (online now, and I really miss those in-person classes), and I garden every moment available. Texts since our last Knox Reunion from Sue Thiel, Gayle Grzebieniak, and Mary Beth Corcoran always give me a big grin!” ❯ Mark Allen: “Since I don’t think I have ever sent in an update, I will try to cover the last 39 years. Peg and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last year (while I was golfing in Scotland and Ireland—that demonstrates that I married up). Our

Members of the Class of 1981 enjoy a Zoom call together.

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“I’ve got some exciting news: I’m pregnant! Peter Dolan and I are Scott Morrow ’80 keep on keepin’ on in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, where they administer and teach at a 60-student elementary school in two houses. Neighborhood School has always been about social justice work and so this season of racial reckoning in the U.S. is especially significant. Tricia and Scott’s three young adult children came home to roost during the pandemic and everyone is healthy. Annual treks to a family farm in Joy, Illinois, keep them grounded in Midwest culture.” ❯ Our sympathies go out to Cindy Wilson and Sharon Schillereff for the deaths of their mothers and to Tim Gavlin for the death of his father. ❯ Please consider updating your email address with Knox, as we had a number of outdated email addresses bounce back. ❯ Hoping for better times ahead.

Class Correspondents: Sharon L. Schillereff 7780 W 38th Ave., #404, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033, 303-885-7185, Sschil7470@yahoo.com Chris Bohm Gavlin 4246 Howard Ave., Western Springs, IL 60558, 708-246-1419, cgavlin@gmail.com

1983 Gail Golberg Eisner owns two retail shops in Oak Park, Illinois—one that celebrates 25 years in business in October. Of course, the lockdowns have been devastating to retail. She started a Gofundme campaign to help: gf.me/u/x3vg8r.

Gail writes, “This has been our lives and our livelihood. It is humbling to ask for help and depressing to imagine our lives without our first ‘child.’ It is especially hard knowing that everyone has a struggle of their own while also trying to juggle our duty as citizens of the world to do the right thing for our communities and the Black Lives Matter movement.” ❯ Ann Elfline Davie, who lives in Australia, missed out on a visit from her parents and a planned summer visit to the U.S. She hopes both will be rescheduled for next year. She was able to work from home during the quarantine and enjoyed the tropical garden that she could view from her window. I can attest—it was beautiful! ❯ Kathy Schurr recently retired from the international banking field and planned on spending the summer cleaning out her home and assisting her daughter as she prepared for her first year of college. Kathy looks forward to new opportunities as she investigates second careers. Congrats, Kathy. ❯ Laura Thompson Sears welcomed her first grandchild, Jane, in December. She did get a few visits with the adorable baby prior to lockdown. Laura looked forward to a visit and babysitting gig in August. Congrats, Laura. ❯ Back in March, Ronda Wilkinson Sutton found herself in Kansas in the midst of an Army drill. They were located at Fort Riley, formerly Camp Funston, which many scientists believe is where the U.S. outbreak of the 1918 pandemic began. As the lockdowns began, a call came to promote isolation and social distancing amongst the troops.

This wasn’t easy, given cramped sleeping conditions. Ronda and other leaders worked to get all

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the troops home safely. Bravo, Ronda. ❯ As for myself, I’ve been learning about online book promotion since book signings and school visits are not appropriate right now. I’ve enjoyed keeping in touch with many of my Knox Tri Delta sisters online. Instead of vacationing with them this summer we checked in via Zoom cocktail hours. ❯ Please contact me with your news. I’d love to hear from you.

Class Correspondent: Beth Anderson Schuck bschuckgal@gmail.com

1984 Class Correspondent: Valerie Jencks P.O. Box 825, Downers Grove IL 60515, knoxcollege84@gmail.com

1985 Greetings, classmates. I hope all is well with you and yours. I heard from several of you this time.

Thank you. ❯ Forgive me if you already know about this first piece of news about classmate Diane Newell, but is too cool not to share. You may have read about Diane’s birthday in a Springfield, Illinois, newspaper or you may have seen her party on the news! About 50 of her local friends and neighbors organized a special “Greased Lightnin’” dance (socially distanced, on the street in front of Diane’s home), surprising Diane, who watched from the driveway. Diane’s group of friends (many in costume from the musical) practiced the dance separately, watching a YouTube video for instructions on the choreography. The dancers included childhood friends from Diane’s youth in Ashland, Illinois, as well as friends from graduate school, previous jobs, and various volunteer organizations. Diane certainly had a wonderful birthday, remarking, “My friends are a treasure. And to have them together from different points in your life… I’m so lucky.” ❯ Kathy Mateer Gedamke wrote: “I am still in sunny Southeast Florida. Lots has happened with the Gedamke clan this past several months. In February, daughter Sarah (who married three years ago in Virginia), had her first child (my first grandchild), Gustav Micaiah Marple. He is adorable! At the beginning of the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’, another daughter, Shari, decided to move out on her own, and in a big way. With only a few days notice, I was driving her to the airport, so she could join her boyfriend in Michigan! In May, daughter number three (Karen) completed her AA degree in business cum laude, a few weeks before her high school graduation.

Then she discovered she already has about a year’s worth of credits toward a bachelor’s degree!

She still doesn’t know what field to pursue, because she is a ‘multipotentialite.’ We are so very proud of her! So the nest is almost empty now [Kathy has seven kids!]. Three of the boys are on their own. The oldest, Nathan, has been married five years now, working in computers. Gareth is a door hanger by day and a certified dance instructor by night. Ian is a car detailer. My aspie son

Jorin is still home, learning to design video games that teach kids. I work at home these days and in my spare time, I am gardening, learning herbalism, creating websites, and staying active with my ministry work. I’ll never retire; I’ll just cross ‘job’ off of my to-do list.” ❯ Finally, such sad news: Last March, our class lost an absolute prince of a guy, Robin Carre, along with his brilliant, beautiful wife Beth Potter ’89. Our classmate Mike Boyd wrote, “My best friend and his wife, the best people I know, were lost in a senseless tragedy on March 30. My heart goes out to their children, family and friends.” ❯ Ann Johnson Stanger wrote: “It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of the death of a classmate, great friend, comedian, free thinker, philosopher extraordinaire, and all-around good guy, Robin Carre. He and his wife, Beth Potter unbelievably, were murdered at the end of March 2020 in an apparent double homicide. Robin and Beth were both very active in the community and were devoted parents to their three children, Jonah (24), Ezra (21) and Miriam (18). Robin was a pillar of the youth soccer world in Madison. He also ran a business that helped high school students find their ‘right fit’ college. His great sense of humor, quick wit, love of music, and commitment to social justice continued through the years. Jim and I had the honor of seeing them nearly weekly for drinks or dinner after they moved to Madison in 1995. Jim and Robin took turns providing daycare for our daughter Kali and Ezra when they were newborns. Our hearts are beyond heavy, but we take comfort in the fact that their spirit of fairness, equality and good deeds live on, both in their communities in Wisconsin, and at Knox.” ❯ If you would like to honor Robin and Beth’s memory in some way, many members of our class have donated to the new Potter-Carre Knox Experience Endowed Fund. The fund enables future Knox students to pursue educational experiences in public health, youth mentoring, social justice, education, and international relations beyond the classroom. A beautiful tribute from the fund webpage: “Beth Potter and Robin Carre made a difference in the lives of everyone who knew them. As a physician and an educator of future health professionals, Beth was dedicated to improving access to quality care for women and families in underserved communities. As an educator, consultant, and active leader in youth sports, Robin worked every day to create opportunities for young people to build their skills, knowledge, and confidence. Both demonstrated a lifetime commitment to social justice, community service, and the pursuit of truth and peace.”

Class Correspondents: Margaret VerKoulen Lynn mvlynn@comcast.net Jane Davis jedavis_ill@hotmail.com

1986 Greetings, classmates! This has certainly been a year for the books, hasn’t it? I’m sure many of you have been busy coping with this strange new normal in which we find ourselves. Let’s hear

Class Knox expecting in December … our first.” – Kelly Lynn Hogan ’92

1987 Class Correspondent: Lisabeth Simms Belman 12701 York Mill Lane, Clarksburg, MD 20871-4034, 301-972-3751, lisabeth1208@verizon.net

1988 Class Correspondent: TBD If interested in serving as the correspondent, please contact Jennifer Gallas at jgallas@knox.edu.

1989 Class Correspondent: Mia Jiganti 1850 W. Cortland, Chicago, IL 60622-1035, 773-278-0814, mjiganti@prodigy.net

1990 Hi, from Warren, Illinois! You have probably heard by now that our 30th Homecoming has been cancelled. Maybe we can make it “30th + 1” (or something!). Hopefully, everyone is staying healthy and sane during these pandemic times!

And now…..class news! ❯ Scott Coons wrote, “Greetings, Class of ’90! Seems we aren’t the most communicative group so I figured I’d share an update from a fellow ’90 alum. Julie Streibich

Coons ’91 and I relocated our family for the umpteenth time last summer. We haven’t figured out this direction thing as we continue moving closer and closer to Canada, settling this time just north of Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are down to two full-time children living at home, though we have two more in college attending University of Minnesota, and our eldest took a job in Minneapolis so all seven of us aren’t too far apart.

That’s good. Most of the time. If any of you ever get lost in the Upper, Upper Midwest feel free to stop by and visit. We have a pool that gets used 2-3 weeks per year when the temp here climbs above 70! Would love to hear from my fellow classmates. All my best!” ❯ Felicia Smith ’91 sent a message saying, “I was not sure if there was any mention in previous publications of Knox Magazine, but Karyn Halloran (former Knox staff) passed away this past October, and I was able to attend her memorial on the Oregon Coast. She was an advisor and mentor for most of my adult life; she was a friend. I moved to the Northwest upon her encouragement and simply love it out here. She had been residing in the Portland area since 2010. I know of so many lives at Knox, other than my own, in which she positively impacted and supported. I miss her dearly and just wanted to share that with the Knox community.” ❯ Here’s hoping to hear from even more folks for the next edition!

Class Correspondent: Darcy Turner 108 West James Street, Warren, IL 61087919-932-9150, Bonetbien1@gmail.com

1991 Class Correspondent: Jonathan Sheinkop 260 Cary Ave, Highland Park, IL 60035, jonathansheinkop@hotmail.com

1992 Celine Gura Matthiessen writes: “I want to congratulate Nan Vorath on daughter Autumn’s graduating as salutatorian of Milwaukee High School of the Arts. She will attend Beloit College this fall (we tried to get her to go to Knox). Nan’s and my plans of having Autumn and Anika room at Knox failed last year, when my daughter Anika decided to go to Texas A&M University at Galveston to study marine biology (well before that when she said no way she wanted to spend winters freezing up north). We did have a pandemic reunion this summer: Anika was out helping our family in Illinois and Wisconsin and spent time with Nan and Autumn. Wish I could have been there, but COVID ruined the travel plans!” ❯ Nan Vorath also reports her daughter volunteers as the educational director for a nonprofit group called Suburbs for Equality. Nan still works as an employee benefits account manager in the insurance field. Her company was recently acquired by USI. She and Carl are not ready, but become empty-nesters in the fall, along with their beloved 10-year-old German Shepherd, Thunder. ❯ Anne Wyatt Poston writes, “I’m finishing a

M.A. in counseling and started my internship.

Son Daniel is 15 and will be a sophomore in high school this fall (however that looks). He loves music and plays many instruments, even accordion! Dave is chair of the political science department at Central Michigan University and active in the union. We are weathering the pandemic okay, just taking it day by day.” ❯ Jennifer Quandt: “Quit my long time job at the nursery because my only child was getting paranoid being home alone. Since I wasn’t furloughed or fired, I got no aid from any programs. F*** COVID.” ❯ Kelly Lynn Hogan: “I’ve got some exciting news: I’m pregnant! Peter Dolan and I are expecting in December, and no, this isn’t a COVID-19 baby.

It’s our first, and we decided to conceive with a donor egg. It’s been a long journey to this point—and continues to be in a pandemic—but we are relieved and overjoyed that we had a successful first attempt at embryo transfer just before Illinois shut down its businesses. It’s remarkable that I had a government-sanctioned stay-at-home first trimester to my pregnancy, at age 50! Everyone mask up for the health of all those you love, and those you will love in December!” ❯ Brett Barnhart writes: “Eldest daughter Bridget Barnhart ’18 has joined the Navy postgraduation and is an intelligence officer. She’s learning a ton about the world that she can’t tell us about! Son Broderick Barnhart continues his service in the U.S. Air Force. My final two children Lucy (eighth grade) and Julia (sixth grade) are preparing for the new world of home-schooling as we face this pandemic. I continue to serve as city alderman for Geneseo, Illinois, and have thoroughly enjoyed working from home all summer!” ❯ Jennifer Hartman: “Here’s a little update from Lunenburg, Massachusetts. Made some major changes last year. After 17 years of delivering babies, I decided to simplify my life and do only office-based family medicine. I enjoy no

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your stories! In the meantime, here are a few highlights from the Class of ’86. ❯ Rachel Hall and Mary Cantrell joined sister Knox alums and writers Vida Cross ’88 and Anna Leahy ’88 in a wonderful conversation about writing, mentorship, and friendship at Tinderbox Poetry Journal.

They remember honestly the things they learned at Knox and how that has impacted them as women and as writers. Read the first half of their conversation at tinderboxpoetry.com and look forward to the second part in the Fall 2020 issue! ❯ Our hearts go out to Lisa Metz on the tragic drowning death of her son, Benjamin Noble Metz Belzer, on July 18. Ben was the personal assistant to Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin at the time of his death and was remembered by him as an outstanding young man. Ben’s older brother, Griffin Belzer ’15, and his father, Keith Belzer ’85, are also in our thoughts at this difficult time. ❯ I personally was diagnosed with COVID-19 in May but have completely recovered. I recently marked the conclusion of my fourth year as director of spiritual care at Lutheran Living Senior Campus in Muscatine, Iowa, and continue to care for my elderly father at home. That may not seem very exciting but in these days of infection, violence, anger, and upheaval, sometimes a little calm is a good thing. ❯ Let us know what you’ve been doing and how you have been surviving in this unexpected time or, really, anything else you’d like to share. We need more news!

Class Correspondent: Susan Bantz 2012 Shady Lane, Muscatine, IA, 52761, 563-554-9213, sbantz001@luthersem.edu

From left: Nan Vorath ’92, Anika Matthiessen (daughter of Celene Gura Mathiessen ’92) and Autumn Green (Nan’s daughter).

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“I’m now chief postdoctoral fellow at the Family Institute longer being on call and being more available to my family. My wife is a geriatrician on faculty at Lawrence Family Practice and thrilled to be teaching more. Daughter Bekah starts high school this year—we still can’t believe it. Much of our summer has been spent like most during COVID. We are doing home renovations, as our trips have all been canceled, and chauffeuring our daughter to various equestrian events. Wishing all healthiness and peace during these trying times.”

Class Correspondents: Celine Gura Matthiessen 6417 Marlar, The Colony, TX 75056-7119, 469-384-1805, celmatthiessen@hotmail.com Tammy Thorsen Ragnini 912 S. Summit, Barrington, IL 60010-5057, 847-382-4022, rragnini1@yahoo.com

1993 Class Correspondent: Rebecca Gillan rebecca.m.gillan@gmail.com

1994

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Hello, everyone! ❯ Jerry Zavorka sent me an update on his 2020. He continues to keep in touch with Andrew Wenk, Ryan Chaney ’95, Rob McNally, Scott Welch ’95, and Chris Welch ’97. Jerry, Andrew, Scott, and Matt Hannam ’98 planned to meet up to play golf at Sand Valley in Central Wisconsin over the summer. Jerry’s son Ryan was accepted in University of Wisconsin-Madison’s engineering program for

Michael Vanlandingham ’98 shares a photo of his Arkansas farm.

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the fall. Son Jack, now a junior in high school, looked forward to the high school football season. ❯ I’ve baked a lot more bread this year and had major changes at work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The anxious dread that followed me every day in April doesn’t haunt me quite so much—except when I hear someone I know is sick. I’ve taken to writing out my nerves with online creative writing classes (why did I not take these classes at Knox?!)—it’s been a wonderful gift. ❯ My kids are resilient, thankfully, though they very much miss being close to their friends.

Creativity blooms in much of my kids’ boredom.

I’m constantly cleaning up mysterious concoctions in the kitchen. We’ve all learned to adapt with “driveway” birthday parties (our cluster of neighbors stay in their driveways to publicly celebrate birthdays with song and waves), “FenceTime” (when our son talks to his best friend through our wooden fence), and Zoom calls with friends to have dinner together through the screens. Oh, and LOTS of Minecraft. ❯ Wear a mask. Stay physically distanced (you can socialize at a distance). Wash your hands. Take it seriously.

Be safe.

Class Correspondent: Lisa Preston-Hsu 217-649-7889, story.of.a.kitchen@gmail.com

1995 We had a fabulous showing for #KnoxProud Day, in addition to being among the contributors who gave nearly $1.5 million to Knox on that day!

Way to go! Nine of us from the Class of 1995 connected virtually and reminisced about what makes us #KnoxProud. We talked of our gratitude for being exposed to an incredible diversity of people and ideas and for helping us be adaptable, creative and flexible, which especially prepares us for the times in which we are now living.

Although you may be disappointed that we will not be meeting in person on our beloved Knox campus for our 25th Reunion in the fall, gathering virtually presents new opportunities to connect and gather without the time and expense of traveling! I hope to see you online for our 25th Reunion, Class of ’95! ❯ Nicole Havelka launched her new business, Nicole Havelka Consulting, which helps organizations and individuals use mindfulness to approach change with creativity, resilience, and purpose through training, coaching, and visioning. She also completed a 300-hour advanced yoga teacher training, making her a registered yoga instructor at the 500-hour level. ❯ Andrea Miklasz is very proud of her son, Luke Bechtel, (a.k.a. the curly-headed son of Craig Bechtel ’94) who is unbelievably halfway through DePaul University in Chicago and reportedly became a cleaning freak during the year in his Lakeview apartment. He is still studying (very successfully!). Andrea will continue spending the rest of her life living vicariously through the success of her child. Andrea is still drumming whenever possible and, yes, still on memoir #2. ❯ Caroline Scliffet King: ”In addition to my continued work as the executive

director at the American Red Cross of Northern and Eastern Maine, I recently became the president of the Rotary Club of Bangor Area Breakfast.” ❯ Juliana Tioanda was named a member of the Knox College Board of Trustees last June.

She said during our #KnoxProud Day gathering, “I’m #KnoxProud of lifelong friendships and how Knox equipped me with tools (critical thinking, problem solving) that have helped me in my life and career journey.” Congratulations, Juliana! We know you will serve well and make the Class of ’95 #KnoxProud.

Class Correspondent: Rev. Nicole Havelka defythetrend@gmail.com Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: @revnhavelka

1996 Class Correspondent: Kathryn Dix Biallas 1418 East Colter Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014, 602-944-7466, kathybiallas@gmail.com

1997 And like that—[snap]—it’s been eight years since I became Class of 1997 correspondent. Add that to the two years Rachel Ziech Mika put in, and one realizes they’ve been hearing from the Mika/Ziech family long enough. It has been an honor to share peer updates, narrate Homecoming visits, and reconnect with many of you! I wish you all health and safety; hopefully our paths will cross soon. #LiveIt ❯ Kent Vollmar writes, “I’ve recently started a new job at Navitus Health Solutions after being with the same company for 14 years. I’ve switched back to software development, which I find much more enjoyable than the DevOps work I was doing.” ❯ Aaron Cohn writes, “I’m now chief postdoctoral fellow at the Family Institute at Northwestern University, where I provide individual, couple, and family therapy, and research, write, and publish on clinical issues. It’s great to be part of the Chicago Knox community.” ❯ Last summer, Rebecca Slaughter was promoted to deputy director of the Quality of Life Department for the City of Las Cruces. The new position leads the four municipal museums, the library, and the department’s marketing program.

Class Correspondent: Josh Mika (retiring) If you are interested in becoming a class correspondent for the Class of 1997, contact Jennifer Gallas at jgallas@knox.edu.

1998 I feel like the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the urgent need to end racial injustice, has put our Knox education and career/life experience to the test. While it may feel hard to see light in these challenging times, I’m encouraged by a thread of hope in each of these updates from our class. We can, must, and are, doing our best. Let’s keep it up! ❯ I heard from Eric Reinhart! He’s raising two young boys with wife Stephanie and working as a criminal defense attorney. Eric is

Class Knox at Northwestern University.” – Aaron Cohn ’97 It’s neat to me how much new thought is being demanded of us all. I have hope for this moment to somehow drive humanity forward. My kids (11 and 13) seem to handle life well enough. They’ve opened a little website selling lemonade, kombucha, sprouts, and garden produce to my siblings (all homemade/grown). We’ve set up a zipline delivery system from our front window down to a tree at the sidewalk for no-contact delivery of the orders. It’s all very entertaining, just for fun, and the kids are totally into it. ❯ I’d love to be in touch and to be able to include an update from you in the next edition of Knox Notes.

Class Correspondent: Kip Conwell kipconwell@gmail.com

1999 Well, 2020 surely didn’t pan out like I believe most of us thought it would, huh? I’m sure we all have stories during this crazy time. I’ve spoken with a few fellow Knoxers, and none of us thought we’d live through what has surely been an eventful and challenging year (which isn’t even over yet). Kevin Kihslinger and I, Owen (14) and Elora (11), plus two pet rabbits (Cocoa Mix and Marshmallow), are doing well in the North Country of New Hampshire! Kevin and I still work at Pete and Gerry’s Organics, though relegated to working from home. We have also opened an Airbnb in our connected in-law suite, which is doing very well. The area is beautiful and, like our guests, we enjoy the numerous trails and hiking paths around. School’s out and with uncertainty of what’s going to happen this fall, we’re looking at options in how to help our kids continue their education. More adventures to come! I wish you all good health. ❯ Amanda Weimer Ziehm reports: “Husband Kirk and I, with our three kids (11, 8, 1), moved from Arlington, Virginia, to Evanston, Illinois, last August.

We spent the previous five years in the Washington, D.C., area and in Dallas, Texas. Having lived in Evanston as a graduate student at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management years ago, I am excited to be back in this vibrant and diverse community to raise our family. We purchased a house built in 1867, which is one of the oldest in Evanston. Homeschooling and house projects have kept us very busy during the pandemic.” ❯ From Ed VanDeSampel: “Things in St. Charles are Pandem-rific… We essentially have been learning, and teaching, and working, and living from home, like most everyone else. Prior, we were able to make it down to Knox for Homecoming, and son Isaac was able to hop into an intro to psych class with Frank McAndrew as well as chat it up with the soccer coaches as he begins his ‘where will I go to college’ journey. As a 16-year-old, he has incorporated a job, buying a car, classes, and soccer into his 24-hour cycle.

Daughters Genevieve (eight going on nine) and Rosie (three going on 13) keep us either busy or in stitches. Janelle Scheer VanDeSampel ’01 wrapped up her 15th year of teaching at St.

Charles North High with our neighbor and friend Erin Manheim ’01, whom we often see in the backyard with her two children, Maddie and AJ. I recently finished my 20th year teaching in Schaumburg School District 54, as well as 14th year working part time at Binny’s Beverage Depot in St. Charles. If we aren’t walking the dogs, heading to a sports activity or reading a book—we may be spending time doing projects around the house or trying to catch a nap. We often meet up and chat with many Knox folk: Dave Krueger ’01, Jon Beaty ’00 and Ben Beaty ’98, Charlie and Jessie Nadler Egan ’01, Todd Brown ’00, Ben Kulik ’01, Mike Darcy ’01, Mike Kremsreiter ’00, Josh Hamer ’00, Karl Hunsicker ’01, Mike Bailey, Caroline Sietmann ’01, Joel Mensing ’01, Craig MacFarland ’00, and I’m sure a few others whom are slipping my mind at the moment— old age kicking in. Otherwise, nothing horribly new.

New windows on the house in about a week and we’ve had solar panels since March—trying to live an efficient life, staying safe, healthy and happy!

Class Correspondent: Valerie Saks Kihslinger S3042 W. Salem Ridge Rd., La Farge, WI 54639, 608-268-6903, vsaks@hotmail.com

2000 Hello, Class of 2000! Well, the year of 2020 needs no explanation here. I can’t believe it has been 20 years since we graduated! I had been looking forward to our 20th Reunion, but we will

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running for Lake County State’s Attorney in Lake County, Illinois this November. His campaign is really impressive! He’s got great videos, statements, even impressive pro-sports player endorsements! We should wish him good luck as he strives toward this impressive goal to serve the region and the residents who need his help the most. Check out his campaign at: rinehartforlakecounty.com. ❯ Julie Landsdown sent me a note, and it sounds like she’s doing her best to continue helping those in need in Africa, and to hang in there through the global pandemic! ❯ Andrea Crain reflected on the ripple effects of schools being closed, even for a remote worker like herself: “Due to COVID-19-related layoffs, I am no longer with the arts management software company Tessitura and am looking for a new database programming gig. I’m not sure quite what to do with myself, but I know I want to keep working remotely (Tessitura was all work-from-home even before the pandemic).

Message me on LinkedIn (@AndreaCrain) if your company is NOT in the large public gatherings business and might need a SQL expert for anything! Stay safe out there.” ❯ Michael Vanlandingham shared an update: “The farm is keeping me busy, and I am trying not to let the outside world deter me, although the racial divide in this country makes me long for that beautiful bubble we had at Knox. The all-inclusiveness of our alma mater gave me hope that the world could all get along if they would practice Knox’s philosophy of freedom to flourish. I worry about family a great deal. My sister, her husband, and kids are in Maryland; my dad is in South Florida; and my mom is still in Champaign, Illinois. None of us can travel, so I can only communicate with them remotely. School is still up in the air for the fall as the pandemic is forcing us to consider routine and safety for the children and healthy practices to keep the teachers and staff safe as well. I have a decent garden this year which keeps me busy trying to keep the wildlife from taking it all. I adopted three Nigerian Dwarf goats that are not only helpful in keeping the weeds at bay, but are hilarious to watch. My daughter Brianna is now a high school graduate and is off to college this fall to study forensic nursing. I keep up with lots of my fellow classmates. Mike Jensen keeps me apprised of his adventures in California, Josh Gharst in Minnesota, Season Clauss ’99 in the Chicago area, Sreedhar Yedavalli ’93 in Texas, and many others. I long to go visit them. I still play harmonica but I am confining my playing to the deck and on Tik Tok (@deltapugtke1998), since most venues are either closed or not safe to gather in. At any rate, I am alive and well in the mountains of Arkansas.” ❯ As for me, things are going alright. This year has demanded such major innovation for working remotely, planning for safe returns to on-site work, and for staying connected with friends and family. Not knowing whether the efforts we put forth will succeed is tough, but at the same time, all the problem-solving and new ideas are somehow really interesting.

Kip Conwell ’98 gets a closer look at Comet NEOWISE, just discovered in March 2020.

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Huseyin Naci ’06 has been promoted with tenure to associate professor have to commemorate it from home. Flunk Day this spring sent me down a nostalgic path— looked at a lot of pictures and spoke with many Knox friends. I have certainly relied on my Knox friendships recently. My daughters turned five and seven this year. I don’t quite know what is in store for their education this fall and beyond, but it has been a joy to be unexpectedly home with them. My husband will add another decade to his years in January. I remain the same—except for the gray hair—working, reading, communicating with friends, parenting, and trying to retain a positive outlook! If anyone is interested in working on alumni projects or being more involved, please reach out and I will get you connected to the right person. I hope you all have health, safety, and security.

Class Correspondent: Jennifer Parker parker_jen78@yahoo.com

2001 Class Correspondent: Allison Honaker allisonhonaker@hotmail.com

2002 Class Correspondent: Jennifer Wreyford 1700 Bassett Street, #407, Denver, CO 80202, 813-482-4112, jwreyford@gmail.com

2003 Ryan Magruder, Anthony Balthazor, Tyler Frankel, Mike Erwin, and Kurt Stuart ’04 (though a non-graduate of Knox who transferred to a different school) all spent a weekend visiting Nathan Easley in November 2019, enjoying golf and a Chicago Bears vs. LA Rams game.

Class Correspondent: Allison O’Mahen Malcom 8134 Gridley Avenue, Wauwatosa, WI 53213-3049, allison.o.malcom@gmail.com

2004 Class Correspondent: Susan C. Vitous Johnson 1312 Iles Avenue, Belvidere, IL 61008-1407, susanvitousjohnson@yahoo.com

2005 Akwasi Asabere writes, “After 10 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I am moving back to the Midwest, specifically Minnesota, to lead my company’s commercial strategy in the Midwest.

My move should be complete by the end of this summer. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with folks in the Midwest and being able to participate in campus events.” ❯ Jessica Ramos Bess and husband Peter welcomed their third child, Nicholas Anthony, to the family on June 24, 2019. Jessica will begin her 14th year teaching eighth-grade language arts in the fall. ❯ Alexandra Birnbach tells us, “In late January, I accepted a new job as community library manager for a library in Contra Costa County (California). I’ve learned a great deal since then.

Managing during the pandemic and the fight for racial and social justice has shed a wholly different light on everything, including what libraries can offer the community during difficult times.

This has been and continues to be a tough, unsettling, and uncertain time for the world.

Please take care, everyone.” ❯ Jacqueline Dehne Scafidi recently began work as a substitute teacher for her local district, which also turned out to be interesting timing, because she spent March through June homeschooling and

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Ryan Magruder ’03, Anthony Balthazor ’03, Tyler Frankel ’03, Mike Erwin ’03, and Kurt Stuart ’04 and Nathan Easley ’03 reunited for golf and NFL football in November 2019.

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teaching her own children instead! She’s glad to get a refresher on elementary subjects with daughters Alexandra (9) and Vivian (6) and can’t wait to hopefully get back to the classroom again in the fall. Jacqueline has spent her quarantine time completing at-home projects and tending to backyard vegetable gardens. She and spouse Matthew have had some fun Zoom calls with many fellow Knox alums, such as Jason ’06 and Alli Beale Cascio ’04, Graham ’06 and Ashley Nehrt Lambert ’03, and Helen Drysdale Lillard and husband John. ❯ Ashley Steinsdoerfer Gottlieb and husband Jeffrey just completed their second year as Reno, Nevada, residents.

Both born and raised in the Chicago area, their adventure out west has been a big, wonderful change. They especially enjoy the dry climate, access to hiking in the great wide mountain wilderness, and road-tripping around a new part of the country. Since moving to Reno, Ashley also started working on a degree in fine arts and has since learned drawing, painting, and some ceramics. This fall, she is immensely looking forward to her first printmaking class! ❯ Sahil ’07 and Emilie McManus Kalghatgi welcomed daughter Lucy on June 4, 2020. We’re told that big brother Simon is loving his new role! ❯ Nina Neitzke Kindelin writes, “Bill and I welcomed another daughter, Alice Mae, on November 12, 2019.

That makes five kids at home—two boys and three girls. In the fall. I will teach preschool, kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade because I have decided to homeschool the children.

I feel so grateful for the education degree I earned at Knox, which has given me the confidence needed to start this homeschool journey with my family.” ❯ Briana Menconi and her husband welcomed their third child, Juliana Lenore Menconi, into the family on April 22, 2020. Juliana’s older brother and sister just love her to pieces! ❯ Emily Myers Thuja, husband Matt, and their daughter welcomed baby twin sisters into the family in May 2020. It turns out that twins run in their family!

Class Correspondents: Marissa Parkin moeparkin@gmail.com Ashley Steinsdoerfer Gottlieb 815-245-3648, agsteinsdoerfer@aol.com

2006 Jon Gripshover writes, “I opened a new program in CALPIA’s (California Prison Industry Authority) digital services division called ACTS (Accessibility Compliance Testing Services). In fall 2018, I trained about 10 guys to test websites and digital documents for accessibility violations— ways in which digital data were inaccessible to people with disabilities such as blindness, deafness, or mobility impairments. That winter, I hired half of them (I wanted to hire them all!) to do this work for any California government agency who needed help making their digital documents accessible, and have run this program while simultaneously supporting the Code.7370

Class Knox of health policy at the London School of Economics.

Welcome to Emilia Grace Fuentes, first child of Katya Manak ’07 and husband John Fuentes.

teacher, helped to transform in-person classes to an online platform, and we are now expecting our first baby in July!” ❯ Kaye Goldthwaite Longo writes, “I still live in Lowell, Massachusetts, and work for a global environmental consulting firm, Arcadis, as a project manager. Last year I was excited to discover that Jessica Berends ’07 works for the same company, but in NYC. Actually, Jess should get credit for the discovery as she figured it out by seeing me on the company website in an afro wig/disco outfit for Halloween. We got together in NYC in December and had a fantastic time catching up on all that has happened since college and laughing about how two creative writing majors ended up working in an environmental field. I am thankful that despite the many challenges of quarantine we are finding silver linings by getting to spend more time as a family— especially discovering new hiking trails around us.” ❯ Sarah Kilch Gaffney and her husband welcomed a daughter, Maris, in February 2020.

Big sisters Zoe and Lilah are over the moon. ❯ Matthew Armitage writes, “Suzanne and I moved into our new home together and celebrated our first wedding anniversary. I was promoted to driver/operator for my fire department.

Life is fun and crazy with our dogs and cat.” ❯ From Megan Gamble: “I’m still in Washington D.C., still working at NARAL Pro-Choice America. I was supposed to visit Hassan Massoud in Egypt this spring, but COVID put an end to all travel plans. When I’m not quarantining, I’m participating in Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations (wearing a mask of course).”

Class Correspondent: Megan Rehberg megan.rehberg@gmail.com

Pathfinder group with Sean McKittrick ’07, Andrew Bantel, and the aforementioned Mr. Yeager continues to chug along.” ❯ Jeremiah Tindall graduated from the University of Miami with a master’s degree in music business in August 2019. He is in his third year as site director for the Liberty City chapter of The Miami Music Project, where he oversees an after-school and summer camp orchestral program. He also became the proud owner of an Australian Shepherd named Gypsy. ❯ From Erika Barrish: “I have been getting ready to rent out my house in favor of living in a temporary RV situation with partner William, our 2-year-old daughter, and my mom as we begin our very own back-to-the-land movement on 40 acres. My parents were part of the original movement in the 1970s in California, and I am shocked to discover that I want to return to those roots. We’ve been bulldozing earth, researching spring development and building codes, and daydreaming about a more self-sufficient lifestyle. I consider our current shelter-inplace order good practice!” ❯ Rebecca Meyerson graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Nursing clinical nurse leader master’s program and was awarded a master of science in nursing. She received the Excellence in Clinical Nurse Leader Award, presented to a graduate who has demonstrated the highest standard of involvement in community interest, and in the professionalism of nurses across the continuum of care. She accepted a position as a psychiatric nurse, which will start in June. She lives in Baltimore with partner Trevor and cat Macklemore. ❯ Dana Johnson Dibaba writes, “This has been possibly the most eventful year of my life to date. In July 2019, I got married to my love, Daniel Dibaba, moved to Tennessee, finished my 14th year as an elementary art

2007 Zoe Berman continues to live in Washington, D.C., with husband Mike Boettcher ’05, and they welcomed a daughter, Isabel Boettcher, in

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program. Since I started the coding program with CALPIA and The Last Mile in 2014, The Last Mile has taken our training model national, opening ancillary programs in Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, and Oklahoma, as well as seven others in California. On March 9, I was named CALPIA’s Instructor of the Year!” ❯ Huseyin Naci has been promoted with tenure to associate professor of health policy at the London School of Economics in the U.K. ❯ From Ann Hernandez: “My pandemic activity was moving across the country— from Washington, D.C., to Texas. In April, I started a position with Space Center Houston, the official visitor center and learning center of NASA Johnson Space Center. I manage and develop a leadership program that pairs NASA astronauts and experts with other thought leaders. I am loving helping executives, community members, and nonprofits think through how to build resilient, compassionate, and high-performing teams and individuals.” ❯ Mary Tibbets writes, “Husband Peter McKeigue ’04 and I are very fortunate that we continue to do well in Austin, Texas, despite the crazy state of the world. In October 2019, we took an incredible trip to China and Japan. It was our second time to visit China and our first time to visit Japan. While in China, we stayed with our dear friend Xing Jin ’05 in Shanghai, visiting Hangzhou by train as well. It was the last travel we got in before the pandemic hit, and I’ll admit to wistfully looking back through those photos more often than is likely sane. We’ve had regular virtual cocktail parties with Jenni Davids, Cameron Lilly, Leanne Lilly, Will Yeager ’07, and their respective partners. We also have a regular virtual movie group where we meet to discuss movies we’ve watched with Will Culbertson ’03 and some local Austin friends. Finally, our online

Olivia Katherine Meador was born April 14, 2020, to proud parents Andrew ’10 and Sarah Ellis Meador ’07.

Erica Jaffe ’08 shared this adorable photo of her daughter, Isabel Jaffe Bloomfield, born June 17, 2020.

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Tasha Coryell ’10 had a book of short stories, HUNGRY

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October 2019. Zoe is working on international development projects in Latin America and loves it. ❯ Andrew ’10 and Sarah Ellis Meador welcomed a new addition. Olivia Katherine Meador was born April 14, 2020. ❯ Akshay Gavai moved to San Jose two years ago and works for Workday—a software company based in Pleasanton.

He definitely misses the Midwest, but says it is a great change to be out west. ❯ Cailyn Healy Martuni married Tony Martuni on October 19, 2019. ❯ Sam Jin shares, “Since March of this year, I have been working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K. I teach history, geography, and politics of East Asia and conduct research on diplomatic history and international relations of East Asia.” ❯ Katya Manak and her husband welcomed their first child, Emilia Grace Fuentes, into the world on March 26, 2020. ❯ Natasha Pamenter Paris just finished her fifth year of teaching agriculture at Ripon High School. She is also a farmer—you can find her hawking her pastured pork and grass fed beef at www.parkelm.farm or—if you’re in Madison, Wisconsin, on a Saturday, visit her at the Westside Community Market! ❯ Chris and Samantha Eggert Paul ’10 welcomed son Oliver into the world on January 3, 2020. ❯ Michael Sales was promoted to the senior coordinator of student activities at Thomas College after five years of service to the college. He continues to inspire, develop, and educate students through programs, activities, and classes (even in a pandemic, while caring for his two year old in his home office!). ❯ Tawny Wilson Boyce writes: “This past June, husband Ber, and I welcomed a second daughter, Frances ‘Frankie’ Pearl. I miss my Knox friends dearly and am grateful for group Zoom calls and group text messages during this pandemic.”

Megan Reardon ’08 and Eric Feltes ’08 at a protest in support of racial justice in Los Angeles.

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KNOX MAGAZINE Fall 2020

Class Correspondents: Laura J. Wentink Marcasciano 5650 Abbey Drive, Apartment 3P, Lisle, IL 60532-2558, ljmarcasciano@gmail.com Michael C. Sales 8 Maillet Street, Winslow, ME 04901, KnoxClassof2007@gmail.com

2008 Tiffany A. Bradley, M.D. has graduated from family medicine residency and has relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada to start life as an attending. ❯ Natasha Robin Berman is still living in Pittsburgh working as a genetic counselor at UPMC children’s hospital of Pittsburgh, and as a genetic counselor with the UPMC precision medicine primary care clinic. She and her husband Ben are thrilled to have welcomed a baby boy on June 26. ❯ Nicole Reister says, “So far this year we have fostered two litters from birth to 8 weeks old.

The first litter had a momma cat to take care of them, but the other had a mama that was too wild and they became bottle babies. It’s exhausting work at first, but it pays off in the end! The seven adult resident cats are busy teaching the kittens how to cat. They all enjoy having kittens around!

My sister and I bought a bigger house with our mom last year which makes the kitten fostering so much easier. I’ve been busy knitting during the isolation and my regular knitting group has adapted to Zoom meetings nicely. I am the grocery shopper in the family as I have the least risk factors. I’ve also been grocery shopping for an immunocompromised friend since March. I’ve been spinning during Tour de Fleece this year, during which you spin yarn along with the Tour de France. Except the Tour de France was delayed this year due to COVID, but Tour de Fleece went ahead as scheduled. I think we’re going to do it again whenever Tour de France actually happens! I miss my spinning group, which is full of older ladies at high risk and they haven’t figured out how to Zoom. I’ve been keeping up with online spinning and knitting friends via Discord, though. Thank goodness for technology, or this isolation would be really hard!” ❯ Alex Enyart runs a solo law practice in his hometown of Belleville, Illinois. He is the only bilingual attorney in Illinois, south of Springfield, and served in the 100th General Assembly as an Assistant General Counsel for the Illinois Senate President. If you’re looking to invest in Illinois hemp production, give him a holler. ❯ Meghan Reardon says, “Things in Los Angeles have been crazy. I live a block away from fellow Knox Grad and former roommate Eric Feltes. Here’s a pic of us during a protest in our neighborhood. We hope that by the time that this gets published, they’ve arrested the cops who killed Breonna Taylor and Elijah McClain.” ❯ Matt Allis recently accepted a new job with a Danish wind energy company called Vestas. He started two months ago as their regional mobility specialist, North America, out in Portland, Oregon! ❯ Andy Fitz says, “We decided to more-or-less

completely gut our house and put an addition on during a pandemic, so that’s been fun. Luckily, we found a rental house down the street so our two kids can still sort of see but not really play with all their neighborhood friends, which sucks. I’m busily planning out all the tech the house will have with the help of Charlie Brown ’07, who became a dad this summer!” ❯ Adrianna Greising Crawford and her husband James are still in Madison and getting ready to welcome their new daughter Ada at the end of this month! ❯ Erica Jaffe says, “On June 17, my husband and I welcomed our daughter, Isabel Jaffe Bloomfield.

I didn’t know I could be this happy while also this tired!” ❯ Kathryn Sweet has been coping with quarantine stress by putting the “pan” in “pandemic” and baking lots of bread. “My sourdough starter’s name is Bready Mercury.” ❯ Maurice Harris is enjoying working in gym shorts at home and catching up with Knox friends via Zoom. Also helping to rule Golden Valley with a velvet-covered iron fist via WebEx. ❯ Magdalena Tortoriello says, “I was laid off from my job as a costume draper/maker in March due to the pandemic, but I have been making PPE while looking for work and have made more than 550 masks and counting! Pandemic activities have included becoming Scrabble champion with my parents and lots of cooking.” ❯ Nehha Bhatnagar has been in Australia during lockdown. This has prompted her to run online video lessons for dance with the not-for-profit organization she runs in India, Sarvam Shakti. She was supposed to be in India at this point, but COVID. That prompted her to create some videos on animals and dance and nature—marrying all the elements close to her heart. The videos have received a fair share of appreciation on Instagram. She has uploaded some YouTube videos for the Knox family at Search “nehha Bhatnagar” on youtube.com. ❯ Jessica Platt’s first book, Flair, which was published in 2018, is coming out as an audiobook in 2020.

Class Correspondents: Miriam M. Gillan, miriam.gillan@gmail.com Erica Stringfellow Tully, e.stringfellow4@gmail.com

2009 Daniel Hoffman is farming in Michigan. In his spare time, he goes to graduate school. ❯ Maren Reisch recently got engaged to a man whose last name is Axe, and is therefore looking forward to an extremely pun-filled engagement, wedding, and forever. ❯ Will Gallmeyer got married last summer at a co-op with some Knoxies present.

There was square dancing and shepherd’s pie; it was cute. Baby is due late July. Green Projects Group is still going strong. ❯ Michele Darrow: “I’m glad I moved out of the U.S. a few years ago, but man is it hard to be so far away from so many who are struggling. Be kind, be smart, do the hard work for change.” ❯ Larissa Peterson paid off her student debt just in time to turn around and go back to school for nursing. ❯ Jackie Lee Gravert relocated to Iowa in January with her

Class Knox PEOPLE, published by Split Lip Press.

2010 Daniel and Laura Miller Dyrda are sheltering at home in Chicago’s South Loop with their 4-yearold son, Rowan. Laura published two novels in the past year and is busy helping the healthcare media company where she works transition to virtual events. ❯ Christy Reuter Starr earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from University of California, Santa Cruz, started a position as a postdoctoral scholar at University of California, Irvine, and has enjoyed hiking around Southern California with her girlfriend. ❯ Denise Dimmitt and Rob Hull ’07 welcomed a baby girl, Lenore Hull, into their family on January 29, 2020. Denise is a librarian at Clover Public Library, and Rob is a social studies teacher and technical director at AlWood Junior-Senior High School. ❯ Maurice and Samantha Tweed McDavid celebrated 13 years of marriage in July and have three children. Samantha is in her second year on the local school board in DeKalb, Illinois, and works for the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education doing early childhood outreach. Maurice is principal at Turner

Elementary in West Chicago District #33 and a part of the Diverse and Learner Ready Teacher Network, an ISBE subcommittee. He started a podcast called Black, Brown and Bilingüe with a grad school friend. ❯ Maddie Freeman and her husband live in Chicago, where Maddie works as a medical copywriter. They are welcoming a little one around Thanksgiving, “which feels appropriate after this turbulent year.” ❯ In 2019, Gloria Feliciano Feltman completed a M.S.W. and M.Div. and began work as a therapist at a community mental health clinic. In 2020, Gloria completed another big step towards ordination as a deacon in the United Methodist Church.

Gloria and her husband, Tim (Marist College 2006) welcomed their first born, Dahlia Ellerie, in April 2020. ❯ Creal Zearing transitioned to a new job in January as the associate director of development at Gathering Waters, an environmental nonprofit in Madison that works to protect and preserve land in Wisconsin. She and her partner, Matthew, expect their first little one in December. ❯ Marc and Erin Souza Dreyfuss now have a happy family of four, with the addition of another daughter last April. ❯ Caitlyn Thompson accepted a position as lecturer with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Jack Gallalee moved to Cook Medical, where he works in regulatory affairs (yawn). They celebrated 10 years in Indiana this year and hope to travel to see some Knox buds in 2021. ❯ Mary Vanden Plas is still in Chicago and working as director of operations at a recruiting firm. She plans to get married this Halloween to fiancé Ralph McGeary. ❯ Nicole Henniger is in her fourth year as a psychology professor at Tennessee Tech University. The pandemic moved most of her life to online: classes, research, and even her wedding! In May, she married Perry Johnson in the backyard of their new house in Cookeville, Tennessee, which the officiant and guests attended virtually over Zoom. ❯ Shane Donegan and handsome boyfriend James have been COVID-ing along, doing our best. The current struggle is “figuring out how y’all save up downpayments on houses; if you’ve got any decent schemes lying around send them my way.” ❯ Michael ’09 and Ashley Atkinson-Leon welcomed their first child, Lily Autumn, on July 27, 2019. ❯ Chris Kottmyer got married, bought a condo, and started a part-time master’s program in analytics in 2019. He has spent over four years at Salesforce.com Einstein as a database engineer. ❯ Tasha Coryell had a book of short stories, Hungry People, published by Split Lip Press. ❯ Abby Harms has been doing drag as Simon Paul, and their career is really beginning to take off!

They host a Hamburger Mary’s brunch show and have been nominated for several awards for a local awards show in Denver. Follow on Facebook and Insta! ❯ Chanel Sasse completed her teaching certification and is teaching her first class of her own. She also changed her name, moved into a place on her own, bought a car, and started her master’s thesis on developmental trauma disorder. ❯ Richard Thiemann left

Singapore after being fired from his financial IT gig after he pressed the wrong button and is fully embracing his midlife crisis as he eats, prays, and loves across the world during a year of travel in 2020. ❯ Zach and Krystle Susmani Hunter celebrated their first anniversary last October and traveled to San Diego, explored the Grand Canyon, and spent the holidays with family in the Bay Area (and may have seen the musical Hamilton twice). Krystle is also a big sister to a 12-yearold girl in the Big Brother Big Sister program. ❯ Things are still going well in Oskaloosa for Margaret Spiegel as the director of the Mahaska County Historical Society. She also welcomed a new nephew to the family recently! ❯ Margaret Wehr still loves life in Portland, Oregon. She works for a national co-working startup, Industrious, and is thrilled to be a part of such a passionate, thoughtful, and inclusive team.

Margaret has also been very active performing and recording in the Portland and L.A. music scenes for the last nine years: She is honored to have worked with over 50 bands so far! ❯ Katherine Williams Booth is now a tenure-track instructor of mathematics at Georgia Highlands College in Marietta, Georgia. ❯ Clayton Besong got married in October 2019. Knox graduates were able to attend the celebration. He and his wife spent their honeymoon in Australia for 19 days. ❯ Dan Pers completed his second year as a postdoctoral research scholar at the University of California, Riverside, studying the genetic regulation of animal-microbe symbioses. This fall, he began a second postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine, studying DNA conflicts that lead to mutations

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husband and daughter, and assumed a director of acute care pharmacy role at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. ❯ Brian Chi Zhang now works at Assembled Brands, which funds online businesses, and recently pivoted to help banks process Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. His new goal is to be the least evil player in the financial world. ❯ Kaley Morlock lives in Imperial Beach, California. She is working towards a master’s degree in education and single-subject teaching credential in English. ❯ Drew ’08 and Samantha Pelkey-Flock are building a teardrop trailer, packing up the fur kids, and bidding adieu to Portland. Sam is leaving public education (for now) and moving on to a career as a mental health therapist. Drew is finishing his sixth year with Technolutions. In this new chapter, they are excited to do all the stereotypical New England things like leaf peeping and apple picking this fall. ❯ Jill Bergantz’s book deal got COVID-cancelled. She cancelled her marriage just pre-COVID enough to make it feel like a fair trade. Please clap. ❯ Ruvini Jayasinghe got engaged (!!) and is working remotely by the shore in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Could not make it back home (Sri Lanka) in April, but looking forward to when we can travel again. “Hoping all of you are healthy and happy during these trying times.” ❯ Mike Callahan is living his life a quarter-mile at a time. ❯ Salleha Chaudhry is debating leaving the beautiful Bay Area as we WFH. “Very blessed to work with an amazing team, as we co-build free K-12 educational engagements for students across the U.S. HUGE hug and love to you and your families.” ❯ Sam Jarvis is working in public health in Iowa City, and his partner Kate Heitkamp Jarvis ’12 has just started her third year of residency.

Class Correspondent: Sam Jarvis samuelpaulleejarvis@gmail.com

Denise Dimmitt ’10 and Rob Hull ’07 welcomed a baby girl, Lenore Hull, on January 29, 2020.

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Marnie Shure ’11 became the editor in chief of THE TAKEOUT,

Clayton Besong ’10 and Ashley Chambers—October 26, 2019 FRONT ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): Carly Kauffman ’10, Ashley Witzke Lanfair ’10, Christine Woodard ’12, and Carolyn Hill ’10.

Nicole Henniger ’10 and Perry Johnson—May 22, 2020

BACK ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT): Daniel Feldman ’10, Sam Magnuson ’10, Clayton Besong ’10, Percy Bromby II ’10, Kevin Foerster ’10.

and evolvability with the goal of being able to block the evolution of antibiotic/drug resistance. ❯ Last year, Lauren Assaf-Holmes and her dance partner were the first same-sex partnership to compete in the professional divisions of the U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships.

Class Correspondent: Lauren Assaf-Holmes knoxcollege2010notes@gmail.com

feels like only yesterday we were standing in line in the Gizmo for a breakfast bagel, or heading out for our senior meeting. Don’t blink or another ten years will pass just as quick. ❯ Sasha Murphy and Sean Frohling ’10 welcomed baby Silas Murphy Frohling on April 21, 2020. Sasha later explained that 6/6/2020 was a special day for optometrists, but I couldn’t see it. ❯ Lexi Frensley finished her ninth year of teaching in the most bizarre circumstances ever, and she and husband Jonny Gersten welcomed a baby in the fall. ❯ Calvin Zirkles is just working these days. ❯ Marnie Shure became the editor in chief of The Takeout, a website featuring food news, features, recipes, taste tests, and all things edible, in October 2019. ❯ Tomilola Olotu enjoys her career as a wealth management specialist with FirstBank of Nigeria. ❯ Rachel Goldstein left sunny Denver for a new adventure in D.C. following a promotion within the federal judiciary. She and pups Caleb and Teddy are doing well. ❯ Brett Daley started his teaching career with the 2020-2021 school year at Crestwood

2011

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Hey, Class of 2011! Can you believe it? Our 10year anniversary is right around the corner. It still

Courtney Jude ’11 and Christian Lewis-Jude ’12 with Imani (5) and Ryan (2).

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Luke ’08 and Samantha Claypool Temple ’11 with new arrival Simon (Knox ’38?).

High School in Cresco, Iowa, teaching science and social studies and coaching wrestling. ❯ Luke ’08 and Samantha Claypool Temple welcomed Simon Temple (Knox ’38?) into the world in early 2020. Quarantining with a baby proved quite the challenge, but Samantha still managed to find time for her Ph.D. in public affairs. ❯ Ruby Goh moved to Paris, France, after returning from a 12-month work secondment in Tokyo, Japan. Her latest project has been to learn French! ❯ Grace Fourman and Kevin Wickman ’10 celebrated their 10-year anniversary and their wedding in Chicago surrounded by family and friends. ❯ Ari Timko hit her professional sweet spot as a clinical psychologist straddling trauma and health/rehabilitation psychology positions in Chicago. She had a good year of personal exploration and will continue cuddling other people’s babies. ❯ Kelly Wiggen finished up her cardiology residency at the University of Missouri over the summer, and she was excited to join the cardiology faculty at Mizzou! ❯ Sam Harrison excitedly started a graduate program for social work in the fall. ❯ Brigette Atcheson-Demke and Cole Atcheson ’13 celebrated one year of marriage and 10 years together at the same time she started a new job—this time working on a stroke/cardiac floor at a teaching hospital. ❯ Courtney Jude completed a master’s degree in educational leadership and accepted the position of principal in St. Louis Public Schools. Wife Christian Lewis-Jude ’12 moved out of the classroom and into administration as well. ❯ Hannah McMahon moved into a house and got married during the summer of 2019. She also started a new job as a front-end developer in fintech during a global pandemic. ❯ Nea Fernández finished a master’s degree in Spanish tax, and she is excited to apply it to her work as an immigration consultant. ❯ Ben Reeves writes, “Really excited to announce that one of my feature screenplays, Kane the Gunslinger, won the Big Apple Film Festival’s screenwriting competition. It’s a sci-fi Western and was a ton of fun to write. A lot of work went into this script, and I

Class Knox a food website, in October 2019.

cannot thank all of my readers enough for their constant feedback and support. I’ve started publishing a free daily newsletter with recommendations on what to watch while people are in quarantine. It’s something small, but hopefully it will help people get through their time indoors a little easier. I’m also inviting film professionals and screenwriters to provide guests posts in an effort to give people otherwise out of work some exposure. Visit highlytransmissible.substack.com.”

Class Correspondent: Tim Schmeling trschmeling@gmail.com

2012 Emma Gingold and Josh Wood are experiencing all the joys of homeownership since buying their first house and moving to Elmwood Park, Illinois. Josh celebrated the end of his first year at Rocketmiles, and Emma has begun graduate studies in collaborative piano at North Park University. ❯ From Benjamin James Greuter in Guangdong Province, P.R.C. “‘It was the best of times and the worst of times’—I’ll be saying soon enough about this year. Being in mainland China with our firstborn on the way, due early July, my wife and I have struggled through hoping, losing hope, regaining hope, and finally dashing our hopes of returning stateside for the birth of our son, Levi. That said, blessings in disguise have been the theme so far, and the greatest blessing has yet to come, or, should I say, be born.” ❯ Paul Lurenz III has agreed to release the following public statement after discussion with Kate Donoghue ’12 over The Great Chicken Tender Snafu of 2019: The provided pizza was both plentiful and delicious. He continues to live in Madison, Wisconsin, with Lena Brandis ’13 and cat Himé. He will not get TikTok, no matter how many videos Julia Shenkar ’12 shares with him. ❯ David Aken started a new job as a value analysis coordinator in February at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The challenge of battling the PPE shortage amidst COVID-19 in his new position has been an exhilarating experience thus far. Wife Carmen

Grace Fourman ’11 and Kevin Wickman ’09—July 21, 2019 Kevin Wickman ’09, Grace Fourman ’11, Hannah McMahon ’11, Britt Anderson ’11, Molly Snook ’10 Cassidy Bires ’10 Carla McDowell ’10, Dick Wickman ’72, Kate Jarvis ’12, Audra Allis ’09, Eric Ballard ’11, Tim Lee ’11, Sam Martone ’11, Linda Kelahan ’08, Paul Albertine ’08, Sean Kraus ’08, Nish Dittakavi ’08, Adam McDowell ’09, Dave Kurian ’11, Grant Foster ’09, Kim Smith, Martha Baumgarten ’11, Chelsea Fitzpatrick ’10, Sam Jarvis ’09, Zak Kahn ’11, Matthew Schmalz ’08, Mike Prentice ’08, Lydia Stout, Oliver Horton ’12, Paul Kenney ’14, Haley Richter ’17, Jimmy Thornton ’11, Luke Yanos ’13, Marie Fourman ’13, Dave Smith ’10, Ben Fitzpatrick ’08, Patrick Dooley ’10, Matt Allis ’08, Derek Hayes ’10, Alex Nimmer ’09, Micheal Callahan ’09, Dave Brankin ’12, Joe Kozlowicz ’11, Kevin Cole ’08.

Vargas Aken ’14 has been very supportive and burns all of his clothing when he gets home. ❯ Julia Shenkar got a dog. ❯ Rachel Clark Cole and husband Michael live in Coralville, Iowa, with two playful kitties, Mae and Aspen. They both work at the University of Iowa Hospital— Rachel with older adult brains (as a postdoc researcher studying Parkinson’s disease) and Michael with little kid brains (as a pediatric neurology fellow). They bought a house in 2019, where they regularly fail to do normal adult things like mow the grass and remember to take out the recycling on time. During the COVID-19 quarantine, Rachel stayed sane while working at home by talking to the cats all day and teaching virtual Zumba classes. She was even able to have some fellow Knox alumni who are spread far and wide join her classes! All are welcome for as long as virtual classes are a necessity. ❯ Michael “Mikey” Whitt got married over a year ago to a wonderful woman named Shannon. The first year of our marriage has been crazy with family problems and, of course, COVID, but things seem to be looking up. “I just got a new job at Plainfield Central High School teaching special education and coaching football, and am looking to spend more time with all my friends and family.” ❯ AJ ’11 and Elizabeth Cockrell Shule kicked off 2020 celebrating their 10th dating anniversary in January and their daughter’s birth on February 12th. Eliza Maryanne is named for the strong women in her family and loves reading organic chemistry for baby books with her dad. AJ continues to work as a refinery chemist in the St. Louis, Missouri, area and Elizabeth works from home as an environmental consultant. ❯ Kristi Weller and husband Paul Lebryk ’14 finally bought a house in Central Illinois and learned that working from home suits them. Kristi spends her free time observing her neighbors mow their lawns every day, wondering if there will ever be a cuter dog than her beagle Nova, and writing a horror novel about Crocs. ❯ Lucas and Chelsea

Coventry Molina welcomed their daughter, Juniper, in April 2020. She’s a blessing in the middle of a pandemic! ❯ Greg Noth has become more housecat than man during the pandemic and spends too much time looking out the window. He “graduated” (on Zoom, of course) in May from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service with a master’s degree in Arab studies. He’s reading a lot and having socially distant beers on his balcony with Thomas Veague. ❯ As for me, husband David Boehm and

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Krystle Susmani ’10 and Zach Hunter—October 13, 2018

John William Budding ’13 was featured in a national social media campaign encouraging U.S. residents to complete their 2020 Census forms.

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Nick Sienkiewicz ’15 can be found lounging in his silk dressing

Hannah McMahon ’11 and Colin Reinhart—August 19, 2020 LEFT TO RIGHT: Jack Marchese ’12, Kate Barrett ’12, Eric Ballard ’11, Michael Callahan ’10, Grace Fourman ’11, Joe Kozlowicz ’11, Keely Campbell ’11, Colin Reinhart, Hannah McMahon ’11, Kelley O’Connor ’11, Jimmy Thornton ’11, Jordan Newsom ’13, Aimee Neilan ’13, Monica Price ’13, Kevin Cole ’08, Molly Snook ’09, Kevin Wickman ’08, Dave Brankin ’12

I recently relocated to New Jersey as I started a new role as a senior UX researcher at Flatiron Health in Manhattan.

Class Correspondent: Aparna Kumar Boehm aparna.kumarboehm@gmail.com

2013 Lotte Vonk Kaniewski: “I had a baby girl named Olivia Ivy in September 2019, and run the American branch of a software company in Chicago, and live in Skokie with my family, a cat, and a dog!” ❯ Hannah Basil Bryant and husband Caleb sold their condo and purchased a home in the North Mayfair neighborhood of Chicago in July. Everyone—especially their dog Lily—loves the additional space and yard! More socially distanced bonfire hangouts and game nights; fewer street fests, concerts, and travel these days. ❯ Alyssa Soren is pursuing a master’s degree in critical psychology and human services at Prescott College. She is engaged to Robert Forney but had to postpone the wedding until 2021.

They live with two fabulous cats and one derpy dog named Wilma. ❯ Amanda Lee: “I finished my Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee and will start as an assistant professor at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in August.” ❯ Mike Schroeder and Brynne Downum got married on 10/27/19. They live in St. Louis where Mike is a lab supervisor at MilleporeSigma and Brynne works as a community engagement coordinator at Webster University. ❯ John William Budding was featured in a nationwide social media campaign for the U.S. Census.

Class Correspondent: Danny Schaefer danielcschaefer19@gmail.com

2014 Grace Glowiak has been in Spain for the past six years. In that time they have gotten a dog, married the fantastic Pol Wagner, started a career working in the board games industry (Catan, anyone?), gotten their MBA, and spends their time taking care of their chickens and garden.

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“Thanks to Knox for starting me on this adventure, and thanks to everyone who has come to visit! Kisses from Girona xoxo!” ❯ James Sheppard just finished a master’s degree in Austrian studies at the University of Vienna.

Class Correspondents: Esther FarlerWestphal, Natalia Binkowski Kaplan Knoxnotes2014@gmail.com

2015 Class Correspondent: TBD If interested in serving as the correspondent, please contact Jennifer Gallas at jgallas@knox.edu.

2016 Class Correspondent: Kati Stemple kstemple2012@gmail.com

2017 Stephanie Nikitenko earned a J.D. from University of Illinois at Chicago John Marshall Law School in May 2020. ❯ Caroline Faulk: “I am settled into the McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago and still working in commercial real estate. I was awarded an industry scholarship to receive my Real Property Administrator designation and am currently taking the classes. I also recently passed my real estate license exam.

I’ve been volunteering as an English as a second language tutor in my neighborhood and recently switched to virtual tutoring via Zoom, which presents new challenges. I also joined a neighborhood mutual aid group of volunteers which is an exciting new chapter of community service for me. There’s so much one can do in this city!

As always, and now louder than ever: #blacklivesmatter.” ❯ Elizabeth Clay and Nick Sienkiewicz ’15 have now celebrated two years of unwedded bliss. They currently reside at their suburban Tudor estate, where they can be found re-watching Downton Abbey with three fur children. Liz is currently experiencing a quarter-life crisis, having taken up horse riding again (English

Brynne Downum ’13 and Mike Schroeder ’13— October 27, 2019

Hunter/Jumper, of course) and working in retail management while figuring out if going to grad school is worth selling another limb and the soul of her first-born child. Nick can be found lounging in his silk dressing gown drinking scotch, the peaty nectar of the highlands. The announcement of their interfaith Catholic/Protestant commitment ceremony will follow in due course. ❯ Jakub Dulak writes, “In January I handled casting for Jubilee Media’s ‘Do All Men Think The Same?’ video, which currently sits at over a million views. The last feature film I cast, For Prophet, is due out this fall.” ❯ Tevin Liao: “Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I graduated from SUNY Buffalo State with a M.S. in higher education and student affairs administration. I’ve decided to stay in Western New York for the foreseeable future. I will soon begin my journey into academic advising as an academic success coach at Bryant & Stratton’s online college. My furry friend, Mox, is doing fantastic as we are quickly approaching the end of our first year together.” ❯ Mitch Prentice is still in the Lake of the Ozarks region, living in Eldon, Missouri.

“I’ve been working as a digital analytics and content editor for Lake Media for about 2.5 years.

Two-year anniversary with Hannah McCullough Prentice ’17 in October. Cheers!” ❯ Kalie McGuire continues to travel the country working on political campaigns. Most recently, she worked—first in Iowa and then Texas—for Senator Elizabeth Warren. She is back in Missouri now looking for the next righteous fight. ❯ Madison Belka plans to pursue her own dreams of indie game development over the next year, after two years at her current job. ❯ Elisabeth Zarnoti just celebrated her quarter-of-a-century party with friends near and far from Minneapolis on July 8 with a spectacular Zoom party that included virtual Pictionary and what may have been the hardest game of trivia any of the 15+ participants had ever experienced (with Elisabeth-centered questions). She is quickly approaching the end of her first year of work at YWCA St. Paul, where she has spent countless hours creating reports, fixing participant and

Class Knox gown drinking scotch, the peaty nectar of the highlands.

2018 Class Correspondent: TBD If interested in serving as the correspondent, please contact Jennifer Gallas at jgallas@knox.edu.

2019 Class Correspondent: TBD If interested in serving as the correspondent, please contact Jennifer Gallas at jgallas@knox.edu.

2020 Class Correspondent: TBD If interested in serving as the correspondent, please contact Jennifer Gallas at jgallas@knox.edu.

Marriages and Unions Sharron Vincent Porter ’71 and Jim Hatfield on 4/28/18.

Jim Munro ’77 and Charlene Beringer on 6/13/2020.

Dana Johnson ’06 and Daniel Dibaba on 7/20/2019.

Cailyn Healy ’07 and Tony Martuni on 10/19/2019.

Clayton Besong ’10 and Ashley Chambers on 10/26/2019.

Nicole Henniger ’10 and Perry Johnson on 5/22/2020.

Chris Kottmyer ’10 and Yu Yang on 6/21/2019.

Mary Vanden Plas ’10 and Ralph McGeary on 10/31/2020.

Krystle Susmani ’10 and Zach Hunter on 10/13/18.

Grace Fourman ’11 and Kevin Wickman ’09 on 7/21/2019.

Hannah McMahon ’11 and Colin Reinhart on 8/19/2020.

Brynne Downum ’13 and Mike Schroeder ’13 on 10/27/19.

Deaths Margaret Beard Hatfield ’36 on 9/22/2020.

Mildred Nelson Schubert ’38 on 1/24/2020.

Dorothy Green Sloan ’38 on 4/16/2020.

Jayne Housel Marks ’40 on 9/5/2016.

Mary Onken Styrt ’43 on 5/22/2018.

Kenneth J. Wright ’43 in October 2018.

Barbara J. Lemke ’44 on 7/14/2020.

Robert E. Nickerson ’44 on 1/15/2020.

Jean Scupham Ratko ’44 on 8/14/2020.

Claire A. Varven ’44 on 5/30/2020.

Annabeth McClelland Gay ’47 on 4/29/2020.

Charles A. Fifield, Jr. ’48 on 9/1/2020.

James S. Moser ’48 on 3/12/2020.

Celia Gualandri Bernardi ’49 on 6/30/2019.

Leo A. Cash Jr. ’49 on 1/29/2020.

Mary Brown Cox ’49 on 5/9/2020.

Marvel Evans Davis ’49 on 7/20/2020.

Clark A. Shanahan ’49 on 4/22/2020.

Carlene Nichols Barstow ’50 on 3/28/2020.

Frances Grothe VanGiesen Carman ’50 on 7/20/2020.

Carol Howland Gilpin ’50 on 8/14/2020.

Ann Suitts Isaacson ’50 on 4/7/2020.

Catherine Merrill Jenkins ’50 on 2/8/2020.

Margaret Uhlir Mann ’50 on 4/25/2020.

Patricia Oberlander Allender ’51 on 2/12/2016.

Jerome C. Beam ’51 on 4/17/2019.

Margaret Stouffer Campbell ’51 on 5/15/2020.

George J. Rendall ’51 on 4/20/2020.

Gretchen Shirck Sandager ’51 on 1/9/2020.

Robert H. Coleman ’52 on 8/6/2020.

Lorraine C. Grand ’52 on 7/8/2020.

Robert L. Hegel ’52 on 9/27/2020.

Charles E. Koch ’52 on 8/11/2020.

In Memoriam John P. McCall, 15th President of Knox College John P. McCall, the 15th president of Knox College, died May 22, 2020, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He led the school from 1982 to 1993.

McCall received a bachelor’s degree from the College of Holy Cross and, after serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, a Ph.D. in English literature from Princeton University in 1955. Prior to his arrival at Knox, McCall held academic positions at Georgetown University and the University of Cincinnati.

A noted scholar of the English poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer, McCall regularly taught English classes at Knox throughout his presidency.

He also earned American Council of Learned Societies, Fulbright, and Guggenheim fellowships.

As Knox president, McCall initiated a comprehensive strategic planning process that examined the College’s curriculum and administrative structure. During his tenure, Knox completed the $24 million Sesquicentennial Capital Development Program—a five-year fundraising effort that included restoration of Seymour Library, construction of T. Fleming Fieldhouse, and increases to academic and student scholarship endowments.

He also made the controversial 1993 decision to drop the College's longtime athletics nickname, Siwash, which was changed to the current Prairie Fire moniker.

While Knox didn’t use the old nickname in a pejorative way, evidence showed it had been used as an ethnic slur against Native Americans since the 1800s.

After McCall retired from the College in 1993, he and his wife, Mary-Berenice McCall, joined the Peace Corps for two years and served in Turkmenistan. McCall’s volunteer work earned him recognition as “Person of the Week” on ABC Nightly News in 1993.

Upon completing their Peace Corps service, the McCalls moved to New Orleans.

Mary-Berenice McCall preceded her husband in death in 2004.

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donor data, teaching others how to use the databases, and being a bridge between staff and managers. She lives contently with partner Sean Ramsey ’18, roommate Madison Belka, and their lovely Cat Boi. She hopes to become more involved in community and social justice issues in her hometown through volunteering and donations in the coming year. ❯ Jonathan Tupper passed away in early 2020, and his mother contacted Alumni Relations to notify Knox of his passing. Here is her message: “Jonathan Tupper, 25, died of mental illness in Chicago on January 15, 2020. Jonathan attended Knox College from 2013-2016, before transferring to Roosevelt University where he received a B.A. in psychology in 2019, and was a graduate student in social work at Northeastern Illinois University when he died.

He was also working as a peer counselor at Trilogy Mental Health Clinic for the past 18 months.

He had quite a few good friends at Knox College, where he ran cross country, which was one of his passions, besides social justice, chess, hugs with friends, and pizza. At Knox, he made the student newspaper when he successfully argued in favor of a Good Samaritan policy that allowed for callers reaching for life-saving assistance for drug overdoses without the risk of the caller’s arrest.

Jonathan (also called ‘Tup’ by some at Knox) enjoyed entertaining his Knox friends playing and singing songs by Ben Folds and Leonard Cohen on the guitar and piano. Back in his hometown of Chicago, he volunteered for several years at ONE Northside, a community organization in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, working for equitable housing for those with low income, racial justice, funding for mental health treatment, and decreasing social economic inequality. At Trilogy, he was teaching clients to play chess and improve their game as well as serving pizza on weekends, when many came for socializing. To honor his memory, you can donate to The Greater Chicago Food Depository, where he also volunteered serving meals, or ONE Northside. Jonathan is buried at the historic Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. Rest in power, Jonathan.”

Class Correspondent: Elisabeth Zarnoti elisabeth.zarnoti@gmail.com

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Knox mourns the death of Congressman (and 1999 honorary In Memoriam Eugene A. Perry, Professor Emeritus of Biology

FILE PHOTO

Eugene A. Perry, Knox College professor emeritus of biology, died on July 17, 2020, at his home in Galesburg.

He taught at Knox for 35 years, joining the faculty in 1967 and retiring in 2002.

A Wisconsin native, Perry received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Northland College in 1960 and a Ph.D. in botanymycology from Indiana University in 1967.

At Knox, he taught courses in general biology, microbiology, medical microbiology, field biology of algae and fungi, and advanced microbiology.

Perry’s research interests included regulation of fungal spore germination, and the interactions of algae, fungi, and bacteria in various soil and freshwater habitats. For example, he researched the response of those organisms to stresses such as extreme temperatures and introduced pollutants.

He received the Philip Green WrightLombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching in 1982. His service to Knox included serving as chair of the Department of Biology from 1983 to 1995 and as program advisor to the ACM Wilderness Field Station in Costa Rica.

Perry was a member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Society for Microbiology, and The Society of Sigma Xi. He was preceded in death by his wife of 32 years, Shirley Roach. Survivors include a son, Donald Perry of Galesburg, a stepson, Bryan Roach of Galesburg, stepdaughter, Cindy Roach, a granddaughter, Anna Perry, and three step-grandchildren.

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W. Douglas McLain Jr. ’52 on 7/5/2020.

Dean E. Moore ’52 on 5/2/2020.

Anne Reutlinger Porter ’52 on 7/14/2018.

Robert S. Baker ’53 on 6/13/2020.

C. Rodney Boynton ’53 on 7/28/2020.

Jessie Boyd Breytspraak ’53 on 2/12/2020.

Betty Sanders Figley ’53 on 2/16/2020.

Keith H. Hyzer ’53 on 2/19/2020.

Vernon E. Spencer ’53 in 2017.

William C. Hamann ’54 on 7/7/2018.

Frederick A. Leafgren ’54 on 8/22/2020.

Edward F. Myers ’54 on 5/27/2020.

Betty Darnell Nelson ’54 on 2/4/2020.

Claire Willis Shannon ’54 on 8/8/20.

Ronald W. Shirk ’54 on 2/10/2020.

Richard J. Stein ’54 on 12/28/19.

Robert A. Windish ’54 on 5/23/2020.

Rita Gualandri Corson ’55 on 3/11/2016.

William N. Grandgeorge ’55 on 9/10/20.

William C. Ives ’55 on 5/30/2020.

J. Charles Janes ’55 on 2/16/2020.

Peter T. Jelinek ’55 on 1/28/2020.

Robert M. Mack ’55 on 6/2/2020.

Diane Ridge Ogdon ’55 on 4/12/2020.

Jean Pfiffner Orloff ’55 on 4/28/2020.

Norbert M. Schactner ’55 on 9/19/20.

Eugene S. Tabor ’55 on 5/14/16.

Donald R. Carlson ’56 on 7/31/2020.

Col. Franklin J. Casey ’56 on 9/13/20.

Carole Pankey Jochimsen ’56 on 3/25/2020.

Wilma Long Scheffner ’56 on 5/17/2018.

William R. Schmidt ’56 on 8/4/2020.

Terrence Q. Snider ’56 on 9/9/20.

Kathryn Berg Agar ’57 on 1/26/2020.

Doris Clay Landon ’57 on 11/9/2018.

Robert C. McAllister ’58 on 4/12/2020.

Duane A. Paluska ’58 on 1/28/2020.

Carol Huseman Schroedel ’58 on 2/16/2020.

James H. Spence ’58 on 6/24/2020.

John A. Feemster ’59 on 3/18/20.

Stanley J. Kozlowski ’59 on 5/7/2020.

Michael B. Wilken ’59 on 1/20/2020.

Jeremy T. Chester ’60 on 8/4/2020.

Susan Greco Straetz ’60 on 12/17/2019.

Kent Dittmer ’60 on 8/6/2020.

Joyce Townsley Jirka ’61 on 1/1/2020.

Donna Hafele Chockley ’62 on 5/2/2020.

Patrick F. Graham ’62 on 3/8/2020.

Edwin K. Kitow ’62 on 11/28/2018.

Robert P. McComas ’62 on 2/27/2020.

Jerrold M. Peterson ’62 on 8/23/2020.

Elinore Boehm Rupp ’62 on 1/26/2020.

Kenneth F. Ilchene ’63 on 1/27/2020.

Mary Matheson Maltby ’63 on 3/31/2020.

John C. Benson ’64 on 2/12/2020.

Louise Barnett Rainey ’64 on 7/16/2020.

Rodney D. Engman ’65 on 1/24/2020.

Steven K. Schreiber ’65 on 4/12/2020.

Rana McMurray Arnold ’66 on 5/28/2020.

George E. Crapple ’66 on 4/25/2020.

Thomas E. Lundgren ’66 on 1/11/2020.

Robert N. Parke ’66 on 5/21/2020.

Keith L. Davis ’66 on 8/27/20.

Armin F. Blaufuss ’68 on 7/7/2020.

Richard W. Levin ’68 on 4/23/2020.

Barbara Belehrad Matthews ’68 on 8/4/2020.

David L. Delawder ’69 on 9/8/2020.

Ira Gold ’69 on 6/10/2020.

Nancy Allin Nelson ’69 on 8/5/2020.

Carol Hartman Bordet ’71 in August 2020.

Mildred L. Culp ’71 on 2/24/2020.

Max E. Haptonstahl ’72 on 5/28/2020.

Karen Sanders Raleigh ’72 on 4/4/2020.

George S. Spitzer ’72 on 7/21/2015.

Gregory L. Mackey ’73 on 8/5/2020.

Brian Raymond “B.R.” Miller ’73 on 2/8/2017.

Stephen M. White ’73 on 5/16/2020.

Michael B. Wiggen ’77 on 9/4/2019.

Jeffrey L. Scott ’79 in May 2020.

John A. Kowal ’80 on 7/8/2020.

Daniel J. Clohisy ’81 on 2/14/2020.

Reed A. Graf ’81 on 4/6/2020.

John Crowell ’82 on 8/5/2020.

Debra Osoffsky ’83 on 8/11/2020.

Raegan Hayes Caputo ’88 on 3/24/2020.

Robert S. O'Brien ’89 on 5/20/2020.

Elizabeth M. Scray ’14 on 8/17/2020.

Jonathan Tupper ’17 on 1/15/2020.

Deaths of Friends Marie B. Wright, wife of Kenneth J. Wright ’43, on 9/21/2017.

Joseph D. E. Doolittle, husband of Molly Scholes Doolittle ’59, on 11/25/2017.

Constance L. Ludwig, mother of Sara Ludwig ’97, on 6/9/2018.

Robert J. Vogel, husband of D. Anne Wisener Vogel ’47, on 7/19/2018.

Noel P. Lane Jr., father of John Lane ’09, on 11/15/2018.

Leonora Jelinek, wife of Peter Jelinek ’55, on 11/23/2018.

Adrienne A. Seagraves, mother of Glenda Seagraves ’02, on 1/27/2019.

Mimi Byrnes Pelton, formerly of public relations, on 3/29/2019.

Elizabeth Reed Oostenbrug, friend of the College, on 5/10/2019.

Alphonsajoy K. Thomas, mother of Mary Anne Thomas ’16, on 7/16/2019.

Sharon Lockett, wife of James Lockett ’55, on 9/4/2019.

Terence J. Crooks, husband of Mina Shupienis Crooks ’69, on 10/7/2019.

Dick Vartanian, husband of Zabelle Norsigian Vartanian ’62, on 12/24/2019.

David H. Jones, husband of J. Whitten Park Jones ’72, on 1/26/2020.

Linda Sue Schisler, wife of Dan Schisler, facilities, on 2/4/2020.

Helene Dietz, mother of Michael Dietz ’68, on 2/9/2020.

Robert W. Kimble, father of Fred R. Kimble ’71, on 2/10/2020.

Stephen Toadvine, friend of the College, on 2/10/2020.

Class Knox degree recipient) John Lewis on July 17, 2020.

Daniel Colangelo, father of Sarah Colangelo ’10, admission, on 2/13/2020.

Walter H. Bamberg, friend of the College, on 2/24/2020.

Timothy G. Lee, husband of Suellen Ross ’65, on 3/1/2020.

Margaret A. Schisler, mother of Dan Schisler, facilities, on 3/11/2020.

Don Myrick, father-in-law of Pat Pendergast, facilities, on 3/14/2020.

Robert Lloyd Henry, father of Bobby Jo Maurer, business office, on 3/22/2020.

Jane S. Wojtena, mother of Joseph Wojtena ’00, on 3/26/2020.

Doris G. Ross, widow of Willard “Bill” Ross, former professor of mathematics, on 3/27/2020.

Michel Barbezat, father of Michael Barbezat ’03, on 3/29/2020.

Patricia H. Matzek, mother of Paula Matzek ’73, on 3/29/2020.

Elaine Morrison, wife of Ralph N. Morrison ’61, in April 2020.

Sharon Wilson, wife of Douglas Wilson, professor emeritus of English, on 4/16/2020.

Rosemary Rakers, mother-in-law of Andy Crawford, music, on 4/19/2020.

John Gibbons, father of Andy Gibbons, athletics, on 5/1/2020.

Sandy J. O’Malley, mother of John O’Malley ’04, on 5/2/2020.

James C. Strothmann, husband of Valerie Wilks ’72, on 5/3/2020.

Mark A. Jaskolka, husband of Diane Willard Jaskolka ’82, on 5/31/2020.

Devlin Kane Reem, son of Miava Ehrenhart Reem ’01, biology, on 7/6/2020.

Benjamin Noble Metz Belzer, son of Lisa Metz ’86 and Keith Belzer ’85 and brother of Griffin Belzer ’15, on 7/18/2020.

Robert Hellenga, professor emeritus of English, on 7/20/2020.

John P. McCall, former president of the College, on 7/20/2020.

Jon Moore, friend of the College and fan of Knox Athletics, on 7/29/2020.

R. Dan Beck, husband of Christine L. Poelma ’71, on 8/6/2020.

Meghan Genovese, formerly of Advancement, on 8/11/2020.

Joan Christine Dilts Neumiller, widow of Harry Neumiller, professor emeritus of chemistry, on 8/15/2020.

Anita Carlton, honorary FYC member, on 8/19/2020.

Francis Polite, father of Brandon Polite ’03, associate professor and chair of philosophy, on 8/20/2020.

Patricia Ann Welch Addis, mother of Nancy Fennig, academic affairs, on 8/22/2020.

John Campbell, formerly of Advancement, on 9/10/20.

Tom Wilson, friend of the College, on 9/1/2020.

Barbara M. Bloomgren, former employee of the College, on 9/29/2020.

In Memoriam Robert Hellenga, Professor Emeritus of English Robert Hellenga, George Appleton Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English and Distinguished Writer-in-Residence, died on Saturday, July 18, 2020, at age 78. An award-winning author, he taught at Knox College for nearly half a century.

His most recent novel, Love, Death & Rare Books, was published earlier in 2020.

In a discussion of his teaching interests, Hellenga said that he was “very interested in the nature of literary experience, which is affective as well as interpretative. What is this experience like?

Why do we value it so highly?”

Hellenga advised readers to pay attention to feelings as well as interpretations. “The heavy emphasis we place on interpretation has pushed questions about the affective dimension of literary experience to the periphery of literary studies. I’d like to nudge them a little closer to the center.”

Hellenga joined the Knox faculty in 1968 and continued to teach long after his formal retirement in 2005. His wide-ranging academic interests encompassed composition and writing of fiction and poetry, Malory, Milton, English Renaissance and Romantic literature, literary criticism, and classical mythology. He also served as director of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Florence Programs in 1982-83.

In an interview with The Knox Student in 2014, Hellenga said that he began writing fiction only after joining the Knox faculty. He sat in on writing courses taught by colleague Robin Metz, the co-founder of Knox’s Program in Creative Writing, and eventually began publishing short fiction, followed by his first novel, The Sixteen Pleasures, in 1994.

Hellenga graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1963, and he earned a doctorate from Princeton University in 1969.

His critically acclaimed novels also included Snakewoman of Little Egypt, selected as one of the best books of 2010 by Kirkus Review and The Washington Post; and The Fall of a Sparrow, which won best fiction awards in 1998 from Publishers Weekly and the Los Angeles Times.

In a review of Love, Death & Rare Books, Booklist wrote, “All of Hellenga’s novels revel in the details of their protagonists’ occupations, PETER BAILLEY ’74 and this one is no different: it is an ode to physical books, their smell and feel, but also to the idea of both living life and reading about it, not choosing one over the other.”

Among Hellenga’s many awards are the Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction, National Endowment for the Arts Artist's Fellowship, PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, Illinois Arts Council Finalist Award, and six Illinois Arts Council awards for fiction.

Hellenga is survived by his wife of 57 years, Virginia; his brother, Ted Hellenga Jr.; three daughters, Rachel Hellenga, Heather Hellenga ’90, and Caitrine Hellenga; grandchildren Braxton Farr, Harper Lee, and Jackson Colcasure; six nieces and nephews; and beloved dog Simone.

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Parting Shot

Knox’s Newest Classroom While this tent and its collection of banquet tables and folding chairs may lack the technological pizazz of the new classrooms inside the renovated core of Umbeck Science-Mathematics Center, it does offer some advantages: good ventilation, room to spread out, and increased protection against the spread of COVID-19.

Photo by Kent Kriegshauser

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MAGAZINE Knox College Galesburg, Illinois 61401-4999

IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU HEARD FROM US. Look for a full print issue of Knox Magazine in Spring 2021 as the College bids farewell to President Teresa Amott and welcomes her successor. In the meantime, you can read news and features from our latest issue—including profiles of five alumni who are meeting the moment—online.

magazine.knox.edu