Monmouth College Magazine Summer 2024

Actress Sigourney Weaver Addresses Class of 2024

RED ZONES

Photographer Emilee Renwick climbed several flights of stairs and a few ladders to get this perspective of the new-look Bobby Woll Memorial Field at April Zorn Memorial Stadium. Shortly after the photo was taken, asphalt was laid for the track. It will cure until early September, and the new red track surface is expected to be in place by Sept. 21. See the story on Page 8.

Actress Sigourney Weaver and her husband, Jim Simpson, were the 2024 Commencement speakers.

Photo by Kent Kriegshauser.

3 MEET THE NEW LEADER

Patricia Draves returns to campus as college’s 15th president.

18 THE PRIDE OF P-TOWN

Several alumni have found success an hour from campus in Peoria, Illinois.

34 ‘HOME TOWN HERO’

Remembering the remarkable life of Mary Fernald Schrenker ’42.

MISSION STATEMENT: Monmouth College provides a transformative educational experience within a caring community of learners. As a residential liberal arts college, we empower students to realize their full potential, live meaningful lives, pursue successful careers, and shape their communities and the world through service and leadership.

Monmouth College does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, military service, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy or other factors as prohibited by law.

Monmouth College admits students of any race, religion, color, sex, and national or ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to Monmouth students.

Monmouth College, an Equal Opportunity Employer, is committed to diversity and encourages applications from women and minority candidates.

Any inquiries regarding Title IX or the College’s Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation (www.monmouthcollege.edu/nondiscrimination-policy) should be directed to the Title IX Coordinator identified below. The Coordinator will be available to meet with or talk to students, staff and faculty regarding issues relating to Title IX and this policy.

Michelle Merritt

Vice President and Dean for Equity and Well-Being, Title IX Coordinator 309-457-2115 • equity@monmouthcollege.edu

PRESIDENT

Dr. Patricia Draves

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Mark Kopinski ’79, Chair

Dr. Ralph Velazquez Jr. ’79, Vice Chair

Douglas R. Carlson ’66

Daniel Cotter ’88

Dan Dickson ’89

Dr. Harvey Echols ’81

Christine Beiermann Farr ’90

Robin Ottenad Galloway ’90

William J. Goldsborough ’65

Kevin Goodwin ’80

Augustin Hart III ’68

Mahendran Jawaharlal ’86

F. Austin Jones

The Rev. Robert C. McConnell ’72 J. Alex McGehee ’81

Pamela Meanes ’90

Bradley C. Nahrstadt ’89

Gail Simpson Owen ’74

Anthony J. Perzigian ’66

Dennis M. Plummer ’73

Anita Ridge ’88

Tim Salier ’96

The Hon. John J. Scotillo ’72

Dr. Carlos F. Smith ’90

Nancy L. Snowden

Mark E. Taylor ’78

Dwight Tierney ’69

Jean Peters Witty ’88

ALUMNI BOARD REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Marybeth Dues Johnson ’93

Roy Sye ’13

Mark Tupper ’94

ALUMNI BOARD

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Mark Tupper ’94, President

Wade Brown ’07, Vice President

Rachel Whitlock Kelleher ’14, Secretary

Tessa Jones ’18, Member at Large

EDITORIAL BOARD

Duane Bonifer

Associate Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Hannah Maher

Vice President for Development and College Relations

Barry McNamara

Associate Director of College Communications

Emilee Renwick

Creative Director

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION: Monmouth College is committed to diversity and encourages applications from women, persons of color, and members of other underrepresented groups.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE

VOL. 39 | NO. 2

EDITOR

Barry McNamara

DESIGN

Craig Media

Monmouth College Magazine is published three times a year for alumni, students, parents and friends of Monmouth College. All opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff or the College.

CONTACT US:

MAGAZINE EDITOR

mcnamara@monmouthcollege.edu

309-457-2117

ADDRESS CHANGE monmouthcollege.edu/update

888-827-8268

Development & College Relations Monmouth College

700 East Broadway Monmouth, IL 61462-1998

ALUMNI PROGRAMS

309-457-2231

888-827-8268 alumni @monmouthcollege.edu

REGISTRAR

309-457-2326 registrar@monmouthcollege.edu

ATHLETICS

309-457-2176 athletics@monmouthcollege.edu

GIVE TO MONMOUTH

309-457-2231

888-827-8268 monmouthcollege.edu/give

ADMISSION

800-747-2687 admission@monmouthcollege.edu

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

PREPARING OLYMPIANS AT MONMOUTH

I love the Olympics.

Although my schedule does not always permit me to watch a lot of the events, I squeeze in as much viewing time as I can every two years because competition in the Olympics is so inspiring. This summer’s Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, held in Paris, did not disappoint.

As I watched the dominance of Katie Ledecky and Torri Huske, the comeback of Rai Benjamin and the majesty of Simone Biles, I was reminded that Monmouth College is also in the business of preparing champions — champions who will earn their own kind of medals by having successful careers and vocations. You will read about many of them in this issue of Monmouth College Magazine — current students, members of the Class of 2024 and successful alumni who either have already made their mark in the world or are poised to achieve individual and professional greatness.

While our graduates might never represent their country on the Olympic stage, the transformative educational experience they receive on the Monmouth campus will empower them, as our mission declares, to “live meaningful lives, pursue successful careers, and strengthen their communities and the world through service and leadership.”

Just like the athletes who competed in this summer’s Paris games, our graduates learn that their full potential is realized only after a great deal of effort and dedication. When an Olympican steps onto the podium to receive a medal, that is a celebration of not only the years of hard work and training they invested into their sport but it is also a reflection of the support they received from coaches, trainers, and friends and family members.

The same holds true at Monmouth. Every graduate who walks across the stage in front of Wallace Hall to receive their Monmouth diploma gets to make that journey, to be sure, because of their hard work, focus and diligence. But they also made it to the stage thanks to a good deal of encouragement, support, guidance and mentoring from professors, advisors, counselors, coaches, teammates, and friends and family members.

The athletes of Team USA enjoy some of the best coaches, trainers and practice facilities in the world. So do Monmouth students. They are blessed to be members of a “caring community of learners” on a campus with superb facilities that is made up of outstanding professors and dedicated staff members who are deeply committed to helping them succeed and realize their career and life goals.

One of the sad parts about the Olympics is that after the games conclude, you often lose track of many of the athletes, including those whose stellar moments helped define the games. But when it is your privilege to be president of a dynamic college such as Monmouth, graduation is only the beginning. Through homecoming weekend, off-campus alumni gatherings, or from an occasional email or note, we will follow our graduates as they earn their own unique medals by serving and leading their communities and the world.

President Patricia Draves

Patricia Draves named 15th president of Monmouth College

BY BARRY McNAMARA

The first time that new president Patricia Draves worked at Monmouth College, she set up her chemistry lab in the Haldeman-Thiessen Science Center, a building named for a pair of legendary chemistry professors who began teaching at the college in 1918 and 1930, respectively.

So when Draves, who served as president of Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, the past seven years, talks about Monmouth’s “heritage,” she does so from a position of experience. And William Haldeman and Garrett Thiessen aren’t the only legendary chemistry professors who influenced her career in higher education.

“The heritage of Monmouth is deep and rich, and the values have been enduring since the beginning,” said Draves, who taught at Monmouth from 200206 before leaving to take an administrative role at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. “Education changes, the world’s needs change, and Monmouth is making sure their students are prepared for today and for jobs we don’t even exist yet.”

One such change that happened after Draves and her husband — 1985 Monmouth graduate Jeff Draves, who is also a former Monmouth chemistry professor — left for Ohio was the construction of the $42 million Center for Science and Business, which replaced “H-T.” But the necessary changes go beyond building or renovating facilities.

“The curriculum is constantly under review to make sure that the Monmouth of today is meeting students’ needs and society’s needs,” said Draves, who began her new role July 10. “Part of the tradition of Monmouth is making transformational changes and meeting those needs. Whether that’s through outstanding facilities and classroom experiences, or through curriculum and dedicated faculty, the mission hasn’t changed. Monmouth will always make sure that we have those things.”

Before serving as Graceland’s 18th president, Draves was vice president for academic affairs at Mount Union from 2006-17. She is proud of her accomplishments at both schools, but she said she was eager to come “home” to Monmouth and apply what she’s learned to grow Monmouth into the future.

“We did some amazing things over the last seven years at Graceland with the community,” she said. “But the opportunity to serve Monmouth and come

back home to a place that has meant so much for all of our family was just an opportunity I had to take advantage of. To think about the needs of Monmouth as we move into the future and how some of my experiences that I’ve learned at Graceland can translate — it was a no-brainer to seek out the opportunity. It’s such a blessing and honor to be selected as the 15th president.”

THE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH

The veteran higher education leader was unanimously chosen Monmouth’s 15th president by the college’s board of trustees after an extensive national search.

“We look forward to Dr. Patricia Draves’leadership as the 15th president of Monmouth,” said board chair Mark Kopinski ’79. “Her groundbreaking work as a college president and academic leader, along with her track record of developing innovative student-centered programs, has distinguished her in higher education. The entire Monmouth community is excited that she is again embracing the college’s tartan as our new leader.”

“Monmouth had an impressive and deep pool of candidates who expressed interest in the presidency or were nominated for the presidency,” said vice chair Ralph Velazquez Jr. ’79, who led

the 10-member search committee. “Dr. Draves emerged as the clear choice for the presidency, and we are excited for the future of Monmouth under her leadership.”

A PROVEN RECORD OF SUCCESS

At Mount Union, Draves led the establishment of its first graduate education programs and promoted and oversaw the development of three academic centers and 14 new undergraduate programs. She also steered the adoption of a new general education program and led efforts to increase experiential learning and establish a campuswide scholar day to celebrate students’ research.

In 2017, she became the president of Graceland, overseeing work in those areas, and beyond. Her legacy there includes the Blue, Gold & Bold Plan, which established a new academic model by awarding all of the university’s undergraduate students a second major in transformational leadership. Draves also helped the university raise more than $55 million and successfully guided it through the global COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ve served at a rural liberal arts college,” she said. “When I got to Graceland, my method was

to take the holistic approach, first identifying the needs of the campus and then taking a strategic approach.”

Draves said she needed to get a sense of all the university’s elements, then assess how they worked together.

“All of those things need to align — a strong, student-centered curriculum that will help prepare students, but is also fiscally responsible for the university,” she said. “So making sure that all of those things are integrated is a big lesson I’ve learned at Graceland. I’ve learned a lot in that position, a lot that I think can serve Monmouth moving forward. The need to bring a community together around common goals and focus together, the need for transformation to address today’s higher education environment, and an awareness of what that environment is throughout the campus.”

MONMOUTH MENTORS

It was at Monmouth where the seed was planted with Draves to pursue the path she’s been on for the better part of two decades. She particularly credited two individuals — beloved chemistry professor Richard “Doc” Kieft and former Monmouth president Richard Giese, who

Both Jeff and Patricia Draves taught in Monmouth’s chemistry department from 2002-06. Jeff is also a 1985 graduate of the college.

was the college’s 12th president from 1997-2005.

When Jeff was a Monmouth student in the early 1980s, Kieft was one of his mentors. Once his wife joined the faculty, she, too, found a mentor in Kieft.

“He was a major part of the reason we came back to Monmouth,” said Draves. “I had the honor of working with him day in and day out. He encouraged us to go out and be leaders in higher education. He continued, until his passing, to have a major impact on our lives.”

Draves was also mentored by Giese, Monmouth’s 12th president.

“Dick Giese’s mentorship has been very important to me,” she said. “He gave me opportunities as a faculty member, whether that was to serve on senior leadership team searches or major committees. I thought that was such a great opportunity for a young faculty member.”

That mentor relationship grew even stronger in Ohio.

“I learned a lot from him,” said Draves. “He gave me a lot more opportunities to grow. He gave me a lot more opportunities. He strongly encouraged me to seek out a presidency when the time came, and that’s how I ended up serving at Graceland. We’ve maintained a good friendship over the years. He and Sandy mean a lot to us.”

COMING HOME TO ‘SPECIAL PLACE’

Being a senior administrator was a path Draves hadn’t considered when she first entered academia as a chemistry professor at the University of Central Arkansas.

“I have a passion for science and a passion for teaching and helping students learn sciences and develop themselves,” said Draves, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She holds a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Illinois. “I never envisioned being a college president. But the opportunity to serve more students by leading an institution is really the reason why I pursued a presidency — to have a bigger impact on their lives and to shape the world that they go out and serve.”

The Draves have twin boys, William and Benjamin, who are both liberal arts college graduates. They were blessed with a daughter, Alison, who they lost in 2007.

“Jeff and I are so excited to start this new journey,” said Draves. “I fell in love with Monmouth more than 30 years ago, whether it was coming to Homecoming or to other college events with Jeff. Monmouth was such a welcoming community to us, and it was a place where we loved raising our children.

“I look forward to returning to this community as not only president of the college but also as a citizen of the city of Monmouth. I have been impressed with the community’s strong level of support for the college, and I look forward to working with other community leaders on projects that will advance the college and the region.”

Draves is the first Monmouth president with previous experience at the position since Duncan Wimpress , who held the position at Monticello College before being named Monmouth’s seventh president (1964-70).

Draves is the first Monmouth president who formerly served on the college’s faculty and the second female president, following Sue Huseman (1994-97).

“There are special places that prepare students for very meaningful careers and for rich lives to serve and to lead others. Monmouth College is one of those places,” said Draves. “Monmouth graduates do wonderful and great things. Being selected to be part of the team that leads this college is such an honor. I’m excited about working with the Monmouth faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends to move this outstanding college forward.”

Patricia and Jeff Draves (left) tagged along as bagpiper Tim Tibbetts led the traditional new student walkout west on Broadway to downtown Monmouth.

College receives second-largest gift

Monmouth College has received a gift valued at nearly $12 million, the second-largest donation in the college’s 171-year history. The gift comes in the form of a 780-acre farm in neighboring Mercer County from the estate of longtime supporter and 1948 graduate Marilyn Johnston. It is valued at $11,929,000.

Johnston’s gift is “yet another sign of the importance of deferred and planned giving arrangements, an area in which our development operation has made great strides in the last few years,” said Monmouth Vice President of Development and College Relations Hannah Maher. The Johnston farm will become part of the College’s investments, nearly doubling the size of its farmland holdings, both in acreage and value. The gift will also expand the college’s endowment

and investments, which are used to support areas such as scholarships and academic programs. Since 2013, the value of Monmouth’s endowment has grown by more than $40 million.

Johnston was a longtime donor to the college, giving annually for nearly four decades, including a major gift to the Monmouth chaplaincy endowment.

Born in Chicago, Johnston grew up in Aledo, Ill., and graduated from Aledo High School in 1943. She transferred to Monmouth after completing two years at Stevens College in Missouri and then being asked to leave the University of Michigan to make room for the many returning college-bound in-state World War II veterans.

Johnston graduated from Monmouth with a degree in general studies and went on to earn a nursing degree from the University of Colorado. She worked as a nurse in Denver for five years before returning to Illinois to care for her aging parents and to serve for 25 years at Mercer County Hospital. She was a missionary nurse from 1955-82 as well as a longtime farmer in the Aledo area.

Johnston died in September 2023 at the age of 98 in Washington, Iowa.

Johnston’s father, the late Robert Currie “R.C.” Johnston, served on Monmouth College Senate, which preceded the board of trustees as the college’s governing body.

The Johnston farm gives Monmouth five working farms that are now part of its investment portfolio.

Monmouth, OSF HealthCare enter partnership to bring nursing program to campus

When Dr. Ralph Velazquez Jr. ’79 was a Monmouth student in the 1970s, he recalled that his classmates who wanted to go into nursing had to leave campus early.

“They were only at Monmouth two years before they had to leave for Rush University (in Chicago),” said Velazquez, the system chief medical officer of OSF HealthCare and vice chair of the Monmouth Board of Trustees. “Many regretted having to leave.”

Thanks to a letter of commitment signed May 9 by Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt and officials from OSF, students pursuing a career in nursing will be able to stay on campus all four years.

Monmouth and OSF HealthCare’s innovative 3+1 nursing program, which will begin in 2025, will combine Monmouth’s residential college experience with the Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing’s excellent curriculum and regional healthcare facilities.

The partnership will allow students to earn two bachelor degrees in four years, both on the Monmouth campus.

Monmouth College and OSF HealthCare officials sign a letter of commitment to bring a 3+1 nursing program to campus. From left: Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing President Charlene Aaron, Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt and OSF HealthCare Chief Executive Officer Bob Sehring. Looking on is OSF HealthCare System Chief Medical Officer and Monmouth Board of Trustees Vice Chair Ralph Velazquez Jr. ’79.

and enjoying their experience at a residential college. This is very special to me, and I couldn’t be prouder today to be here to see this come to fruition.”

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Velazquez was not the only speaker to make note of “the best of the both worlds” dynamic of the partnership. In his remarks at the ceremony, OSF HealthCare Chief Executive Officer Bob Sehring called the partnership “a model of how institutions of higher learning and public and private organizations can combine to provide vital opportunities for students.”

Sehring noted that the partnership is not only a win-win for Monmouth College, its students and OSF, but also for future hospital patients throughout the state.

“Students will not only receive two degrees in four years, but they will also help meet the demands for nurses, not only in this region, but throughout Illinois,” he said.

For their first three years, students will be enrolled in an accelerated Monmouth program in either biology, biopsychology, or health science and human movement. In their fourth year, students will be enrolled in an accelerated bachelor of science in nursing degree offered by the Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing on the Monmouth campus.

“What an amazing opportunity for Monmouth students,” said Velazquez as he spoke at the ceremony announcing the partnership. “They’ll be doing it all right here on this beautiful campus

Sehring cited a study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, which projected the state will have a shortage of 15,000 registered nurses by 2025. The institute found that 55% of the nursing workforce in Illinois is 55 or older with another 27% of nurses considering retirement in the next five years.

Johnston

Marketing major new addition to business and economics

The market asked, and Monmouth College responded, said a member of its business department.

“I think it’s time,” said professor Tom Prince of a successful proposal to start a marketing major. “The market is asking for it. It’s a viable career path for students.”

Marketing is the process of identifying customers and “creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging” goods and services for the satisfaction and retention of those customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce.

The discipline has come a long way at Monmouth.

“As background, many liberal arts colleges didn’t have a business major when I first started teaching here 30 years ago,” said Michael Connell, who is chair of a department with more than 165 students. “We did, but we didn’t have marketing. It’s a different atmosphere now. The world has changed. We have the internet. We have all this data. We’re offering a new education for this brand new world.”

Prince agreed that whether it’s called the Digital Revolution or the Internet Age, a shift has occurred and that it’s important for the college to shift, too, to keep up.

“Marketing has changed a lot due to digital technology,” said Prince. “We have access to data we didn’t have before. The evolution of marketing has changed so much in terms of what’s important for bringing a product to market. Marketing is critical to the success of any business enterprise. We’re going to look at ‘What does marketing really do?’ and ‘What does it bring to the table?’”

Added Vice President for Academic Affairs Mark Willhardt, “Among the topics our students will learn is ‘How do consumers behave? How do you move them?’”

Some of those lessons will be taught in one of the required courses, “Social Psychology,” helping to make the major an interdisciplinary one. New courses being unveiled for the major are “Digital Marketing” and “Marketing Research.” Saad Bashir will teach the latter, 300-level course.

“Marketing is vital for businesses to create brand awareness, attract customers and drive sales,” said Bashir. “Marketing research enables informed decision-making by gathering data about consumer behavior and preferences, and market trends. Analysis of this data guides strategic planning, helps businesses adapt to changing market dynamics, and enables businesses to meet

customer needs effectively, ensuring long-term success.”

The marketing major is the latest example of Monmouth’s expanding academic programs. In the last six years, the college has added majors in engineering, neuroscience, and health science and human movement.

Monmouth receives $149,965 grant from NEH

Monmouth College has been awarded a $149,965 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund a three-year history project about west central Illinois.

“This place-based curricula project will be unique by moving beyond the study of a

particular place to examine the ways in which both displacement and replacement are affected by and in turn shape a sense of place,” said English professor David Wright, the project’s director.

Part of the grant’s funding will help Monmouth students conduct research with faculty members and conduct interviews with community members who have moved to Monmouth from other nations.

Chair of the English department, Wright was one of four Monmouth faculty involved with the successful NEH proposal, which is titled “Resituating the Humanities in Place-Based Learning.” The rest of the project team that submitted the proposal last May included two other department chairs — Anne Mamary from philosophy and religious studies and Bob Simmons from classics — as well as history professor Valerie Deisinger

WE’RE NO. 1! The Winter 2024 issue of Monmouth College Magazine, which had a theme of “Monmouth Magic,” was named the top alumni magazine in the nation for small colleges by Collegiate Advertising Awards. The second- and third-place schools were from Ohio and South Carolina. Alumnus Dusty Scott ’03 created the cover.

“We seek to more deeply explore how both humanities scholarship and teaching can take seriously our responsibilities to the places and communities we inhabit,” said Wright. “We’re very excited to see the humanities at Monmouth College receive such direct support. It’s an exciting time ahead.”

Partnership between Monmouth, ROE focused on helping more students attend college

The Illinois Regional Office of Education #33 and Monmouth College have announced a new partnership to better serve students in Henderson, Knox, Mercer and Warren counties.

The goal of the partnership — which includes all educational institutions in the region – is to provide students a seamless path from K-12 to college, according to Regional Office of Education #33 Superintendent Jodi Scott.

“Especially post-COVID, a significant gap has developed in the understanding between K-12 schools and higher education regarding preparation, expectations and student experiences,” said Scott. “This new partnership seeks to bridge that gap by achieving greater mutual understanding, along with detailed and practical actions, that support our students’ growth from high school through college, and to becoming contributors and leaders in the economic and social betterment of our communities.”

“The partnership amongst our area’s public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education represents the kind of creative connection that we all can and must make to better serve our students and, through them, the communities of our region,” said Monmouth College President Clarence Wyatt.

Scott said that during two meetings between the schools, leaders shared their perspectives on challenges facing students when they transition from high school to college. Follow-up meetings will include more detailed gatherings of high school principals and other college faculty and staff to develop specific and action steps to help students. Monmouth magic in the air as Tartan Nation turns out to support

Scots Day of Giving

Right around 3 p.m. in the headquarters of Monmouth College’s eighth annual Scots Day

of Giving, the song “Magic Man” by Heart was playing, one of several tunes selected as part of a special “Monmouth Magic” playlist.

The donor page projected on the screen showed that Monmouth was nearing 75% of its main goal. By the time the day was done at 11:53 p.m., those numbers had grown, and several goals were reached.

A year ago, 767 donors stepped up to support Monmouth on Scots Day of Giving. This year’s goal was to break 800, and that figure was reached in the final stages of the 18-hour, 53-minute event — a timespan chosen to honor the College’s 1853 founding.

In all, 942 donors combined to raise $269,525 for Monmouth College.

“It’s all about engagement,” said Zak Edmonds ’08, Monmouth director of alumni engagement, who “shadowed” last year’s event as he was just starting his new position at his alma mater. “This year, for me, the training wheels were off. You might think there would be some anxiety, but to see it all play out in real time, and to see faculty, staff, students and alumni all coming together, it was pretty special.”

You could even say it was magical.

“To me, the Monmouth magic is the people,” said Edmonds. “It’s the people who are here, the people who were here before us, and the people still to come.”

Zorn Stadium undergoing $1.6 million makeover

During his days as a Monmouth student in the early 1980s, Roger Haynes was once tasked by the athletic department with an important nightshift — guarding the Fighting Scots’ track from dusk to dawn during a key time in the installation of its then-new surface.

As the college made a surface shift, modernizing from a cinder track, Haynes and 1982 classmate Mike Simkins were stationed to ward off any potential shenanigans.

Today, Haynes is director of athletics at his alma mater, and his assignment at that facility is a bit more complex than simply sitting in a lawn chair in the wee hours of the day. For the past few months, he’s worked with vendors and construction companies to oversee a $1.6 million makeover at what is now known as April Zorn Memorial Stadium, home to the Scots’ football and outdoor track and field teams.

Started in mid-May, the project — funded by the State of Illinois Independent Colleges Capital Investment Grant Program — will be completed in September.

“This shows our commitment to our student-

athletes at Monmouth,” said Haynes. “About 180 student-athletes will use this facility in the coming year — about 110 on the football team and about 70 in track. The College has made other commitments in recent months, such as adding nursing and creating a new theatre space. It’s important to also show that kind of support for our student-athletes. It will be a highperformance facility, and our athletes should be excited to play at the facility. We think both are going to look great for recruits and for parents and for fans of the sports.”

Part of the project is new synthetic turf for the stadium’s Bobby Woll Memorial Field, replacing what was installed in 2009 when the College shifted from a natural grass surface. The other is the complete renovation of the track, parts of which have not been altered in the four decades since Haynes and Simkins played the role of would-be bouncers.

“The typical age span of the subsurface is 1520 years,” said Haynes, who spent thousands of days at the stadium during his 38 years as head coach of the Fighting Scots track and field team. “The top has been resurfaced since (the early 1980s), but not underneath.”

At one of the meccas of the sport, the University of Oregon’s world-class Hayward Field, the track has a Beynon 1000 surface. Monmouth will have the company’s next-best surface, Beynon 300.

Head track coach Brian Woodard believes the Zorn Stadium changes will have the same effect on the college that the completion of the Huff Athletic Center did two decades ago.

“The momentum is there for us to really take that next step forward again,” he said. “We had a charge there when the indoor track facility was done and there was a vitalization on campus. I think that’s the direction we’re going again. We feel great about our shoes getting a little dirty on campus again.”

Big-time facilities were definitely part of the planning process when it came to the design of the new Sprinturf field — UltraBlade DFE Extreme, if you’re scoring at home. Football head coach Chad Braun used aerial shots from such schools as the University of Alabama and the University of Utah to come up with a look heavy on the color red. The end zones — one of which says “Monmouth” and the other “Fighting Scots” — are Monmouth red, and so is the area of the sidelines known as the “red zone,” no matter what a team’s colors are.

“I remember in 2009 when the turf went in the first time, it was real exciting, and it’s just as exciting now,” said Braun. “It’s a new look with the red end zones and the ‘M’ logo in the middle. The track’s really going to make it pop when that gets done. ... Our players are really excited about it.

We’re excited to get on it and start using it.”

Back in his undergraduate days, Haynes guarded a stadium that was pitch-black at night. That’s something else that’s changed under his direction, as Monmouth hosted its first night football game two years ago. The Scots ushered in their new playing surface with the program’s second-ever such game at 7 p.m. Sept. 7, playing Wartburg in the season opener for both teams.

College dedicates Priscilla Trubeck Adolphson Memorial Arbor

Together again.

That’s what two sorority sisters, sisters-inlaw and lifelong friends became on May 7 after Monmouth College dedicated the Priscilla Trubeck Adolphson Memorial Arbor. It forms a natural backdrop to augment the Judith Williams Trubeck Memorial Amphitheater, Fountain and Garden, located just a few feet away.

Known as Pris, Adolphson was a 1970 graduate who met her husband, David Adolphson ’67, on campus. He spoke at the ceremony.

“Monmouth is where we met, where we dated, where we were engaged and where we dreamed of the life we’d have together,” said Adolphson, who lost Pris in 2023 after 54 years of marriage. “She ran a good race, and she ran it as far as she could.”

Also speaking at the ceremony was Bill Trubeck ’68, Pris’s brother, who introduced Pris to David. And it was Pris who introduced her brother to Judy, her Kappa Delta sorority sister and a member of the Class of 1969. Bill and Judy were married 41 years.

“Before they were sisters-in-law, they were sorority sisters and friends,” said Trubeck. “Forget family, they were just great friends.”

The Priscilla Trubeck Adolphson Memorial Arbor features four maple trees, joining two other trees

recently planted in the area, including one in memory of the late Nancy Speer Engquist ’74.

A decade ago, the Adolphsons provided the naming gift for the observatory atop the Center for Science and Business, which stands on the opposite side of the amphitheater.

Get the dirt on the yurt, educational farm’s new space

For the past few years, local schoolchildren have been able to do various types of hands-on learning at the Monmouth College Educational Farm, located on the east side of town at 419 N. 12th St.

But after factoring in the time it takes to get from their respective schools to the farm — typically, for K-3 students at nearby Lincoln Elementary School, nearly an hour to walk there and back — there wasn’t as much of an opportunity to learn as initially hoped.

Enter the yurt — the new outdoor classroom space at the farm that was formally dedicated April 13.

Historically, a yurt is a tent-like style of house used by ancient nomadic tribes in Central Asia,

particularly Mongolia. At Monmouth’s farm, the tent-like structure, which has a 30-foot diameter, seats up to 40 people and, importantly, provides a sheltered area that will allow visiting students and their teachers to spend much more time onsite during their field trips.

The yurt is covered and heated and is equipped with tables and chairs, as well as magnifying glasses, binoculars and microscopes, among other scientific tools.

“They’ll be able to be out there for all seasons and for longer amounts of time,” said educational studies professor Craig Vivian, a co-director of the farm who’s one of the main advocates of the place-based learning that the college is helping to bring to area schools. “They can get out here in the morning and spend three hours out here, or more. It will give them much more substantive opportunities for the kids to do projects related to math and science.”

Monmouth’s farm has evolved during the past decade or so, and the yurt will usher in a new era of growth, thanks, in part, to the three-year, $750,000 grant that made the facility possible.

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois secured the grant at the beginning of last year through the federal Community Project Funding program.

Educational studies professor Craig Vivian speaks at the April dedication ceremony for the new yurt classroom space. To his left is Director of Rural Education Initiatives Lori Ferguson.

Against a backdrop of the Priscilla Trubeck Adolphson Memorial Arbor’s maple saplings, David Adolphson ’67 recalls meeting his late wife, Pris ’70, while they were Monmouth students.

Strom named top advocate in moot court competition

Karli Strom’s late decision to participate in the college’s moot court turned out to be a wise one, as a three-judge panel named her the top advocate in the annual legal competition.

Cameron Shook ’25 placed second and Maya Dickerson ’26 was third. The top legal brief was written by Payton Crims ’27

The moot court case involved an establishment clause challenge to the practice of legislative prayer. The clause prohibits the government from supporting any religion. The case also questioned whether taxpayers have standing to bring the suit against the government.

“We’ve had many students who go on to legal careers or to law school cite moot court as one of the most important activities that they participated in at Monmouth,” said political science professor Andre Audette

The preliminary round judges were Dan Cotter ’88, Brad Nahrstadt ’89, Debra Nahrstadt, Kate Fitzsimmons Cross ’08 and Hadley Smithhisler ’20. The judges for the finals were Judge Heidi Benson of the 9th Judicial Circuit of Illinois, who served as chief justice, and justices Mary Alexander Corrigan ’82 and Sarah Billington, both of whom are attorneys with Howard & Howard Attorneys of Peoria, Ill.

A pipe dream

come true: Kelly ’24 to direct athletic bands

During his four years as a Monmouth student, Elijah Kelly was a member of just about every musical ensemble the school has to offer.

Starting the day after his graduation from Monmouth on May 19, Kelly took charge of two of those groups — the Fighting Scots

Marching Band and the Pep Band— in his new role as director of athletic bands.

“It was kind of a pipe dream for a little bit,” said Kelly, who first learned that the position might become a reality late last fall. “What person right out of college gets to direct their pep band and marching band?”

It takes a special individual, and Kelly certainly is that. In April, he was named the Senior Man of the Year by the Blue Key honor society. In addition to being a dedicated member of several Monmouth music groups – including Chorale, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble, to go with the two athletic bands –Kelly served as president of Sigma Phi Epsilon, helping the fraternity earn academic excellence awards.

“His involvement and knowledge of both the instrumental and choral programs will benefit all who participate in each of our vibrant programs,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Karen Ogorzalek.

Martinez-Urbina commissioned as Army officer

In 2023, Alexander MartinezUrbina was listed in the program for the college’s 166th Commencement Exercises, along with nearly 200 classmates.

But on Dec. 14, he had a printed program all to himself as the lone student receiving his formal commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army.

The ceremony for MartinezUrbina was held in the Veterans Memorial Great Room in the Center for Science and Business and marked the completion of his Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instruction.

Martinez-Urbina didn’t hesitate when asked about the direction he received. The toughest part, he said, came during COVID, when needing to go online for his military training almost broke his spirit.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but (communications studies

professor) Trudi Peterson was my adviser, and she kept me focused throughout that tough time,” he said. “I considered stopping, but she kept my head straight. She’s my cornerstone.”

Connell recognized for reaching 10-gallon mark in blood donations

Business and economics

professor Michael Connell gave his first pint of blood when he was a high school student in Flora, Ill.

For the years of his generosity that have followed, Connell recently received a special pin from the American Red Cross for donating a total of 10 gallons, or 80 pints, of his

A-positive blood.

Connell said that his propensity to give blood accelerated when he joined Monmouth’s faculty in 1992.

“When I came to town, Doug Hardin, who was president at the time with Community National Bank, asked me to give, and I’ve been giving ever since,” he said.

People can donate a pint of blood every eight weeks. Connell said that he might “miss by a few weeks, but I usually give once every eight weeks.”

According to ImpactLife — formerly the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center — less than 10% of the population gives blood, so donors who give on a regular basis are important to meet the critical need that patients face.

To learn more about what can be done to help, visit ImpactLife’s website at www.bloodcenter.org.

Alexander Martinez-Urbina is congratulated on his achievement by Lt. Col. Mark Christiansen, commander of the Leatherneck Battalion.

Ogorzalek completes decade-long journey

Monmouth College and United States presidents are linked in some very interesting ways, most notably the school’s 2000 Commencement address, which was delivered by the 41st chief executive, George H.W. Bush. His predecessor, Ronald Reagan, once lived just two blocks south of campus.

Now, there’s another College connection to the Oval Office, thanks to Dean of Students Karen Ogorzalek . The longtime student affairs administrator recently completed a decadelong goal of visiting each of the nation’s 15 presidential libraries. The milestone visit was to Jimmy Carter’s presidential library in Atlanta.

“When we got to the end of that visit, I knew I got something for being at all the libraries, so I said something to the staff member who was there,” said Ogorzalek, who regularly travels with Sarah Botkin ’98 . “I told him I’d been to all of them, and he said, ‘No way!’ Then he flipped through every page of my passport, and he said, ‘You’ve really done them all. I‘ll be right back.’ When he came back, he said, ‘On behalf of the National Archives and Records Administration, I would like to award you with this presidential coin.’ There was another couple there, and they applauded.”

Ogorzalek believes there is no substitute for firsthand experiences with history.

“They’re real people,” she said of the presidents. “Like them or not like them, they’ve shaped our lives. At all the libraries, I learned there’s more to a president than what the media tells us about them. I learned about them as a person. I like to get to know a person, and I want my version of who they are, not what somebody tells me I should think. At these libraries, you get to pick and choose what resonates with you.”

Fasano to help physics students chart their careers as an APS Career Mentoring Fellow

For years, professor Chris Fasano has been an advocate of studying physics, calling the field “great career preparation, and great preparation for life.”

Now, Fasano will continue that advocacy in an official role, as he’s been named a “Career Mentoring Fellow” of the American Physical Society for 2023-24.

“This allows me to play an increased role in mentoring students in their scientific careers in physics,” said Fasano.

Some of the universities represented by Fasano and this year’s other 53 fellows include Princeton, Harvard, Vanderbilt and California-Berkeley. Other institutions represented include the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“This is a relatively new initiative for the APS, within the last five years,” he said. “They want to draw more people into physics, and the Career Mentoring Fellows are a

He served as an editor of the Journal of Baltic Studies and was the recipient of Monmouth’s prestigious Hatch Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Research. The William L. Urban History Prize was established at Monmouth in 2015 to reward excellence in research by history students.

way to tap into that. But they’re also looking for more people from diverse groups to become involved — people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and people from other marginalized groups — African Americans, Hispanics, women.”

Emeritus professor Urban to be honored by colleagues, students with ‘Festschrift’

William L. Urban, who taught history at Monmouth for nearly a half century, will be honored by former colleagues, students and friends with a Festschrift.

A European tradition that originated in Germany before World War I, a Festschrift is an edited volume of academic essays written by faculty, former pupils and friends that is typically presented to an honoree during his or her lifetime.

Tentatively, the Urban Festschrift will contain 23 essays, along with an introduction and a biography of Urban. A list of books by Urban and selected articles written by him will also be included.

Urban, who taught at Monmouth from 1966-2015, is the author of nearly two dozen books on subjects such as East European history and the history of warfare.

Contributors to the Urban Festschrift include Tom Best , Jim Betts , Mathias Betyna , Mary Hanford , Simon Cordery , Stacy Cordery , Daniel Cotter ’88 , Neil Dahlstrom ’98 , Viv Edwards , Richard Harrod ’07 , Fred Keller , Ken McMillan , Bradley Nahrstadt ’89 , Joseph O’Neill ’01 , Jeff Rankin , Richard Sayre , Sylvia Zethmayr Shults ’90 , Tom Sienkewicz , Julia Sienkewicz , Janet Smith , Andrew Weiss , Vicki Wine and Clarence Wyatt

Sid Stockdale shares experience of growing up ‘a world apart’ from his POW father

Imagine you’re a sixth-grade student. Your father’s Navy commitment often takes him from home, but this time, you’re don’t know if he’s ever coming back. Imagine the bittersweet emotions you experience several months later — at first, the euphoria that your father is, indeed, alive, but then the sobering fact that he’s a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. And, as it turned out, the most senior naval officer held captive by the North Vietnamese. Now it’s a few years later, and there’s your mother on NBC’s Today morning show, being interviewed by Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs.

That’s what it was like to grow up Stockdale.

Sid Stockdale, author of a memoir titled A World Apart: Growing Up Stockdale During Vietnam, spoke this spring at Monmouth College, the school his father, Vice Adm. James Stockdale ’46, attended from nearby

William Urban is flanked by Tom Sienkewicz, left, and Jeff Rankin, coeditors of his upcoming Festschrift.

Abingdon, Ill., before beginning his military service during World War II.

Two decades later, Stockdale was a fighter pilot — almost due to age out of the position — as tensions escalated in southeast Asia. Sid explained how his father and mother, Sybil, were right at the center of Vietnam War events — from his father’s involvement in early August 1964, to secretive correspondence between his parents, to his mother’s role as a leader in bringing attention to the mistreatment of POWs.

There is more, much more, to Sid Stockdale’s story, and it’s all in his book. That includes the role played by Ross Perot, who would, two decades later, name James Stockdale as his vice presidential running mate in his 1992 presidential bid. But after all the family had been through during the seven-year ordeal, it seems OK to flip ahead to the happy ending on Feb. 14, 1973, when the Stockdales were reunited.

“It was truly amazing to have him home,” said Sid. “It was unreal, is the best way to say it. It was an amazing, amazing time.”

In 1989, Monmouth College named its student center the Stockdale Center to honor the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, and he was inducted into its Hall of Achievement in 2000. In 2016, the College established its James and Sybil Stockdale Fellows Program, a prestigious scholarship, leadership, service and enrichment program for Monmouth students.

Gore honored as Newman Civic Fellow for commitment to solving public

problems

An “exemplary student and innovative leader” from Monmouth College is among the students nationwide recognized as a 202425 Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow.

Kailyn Gore ’26 received the honor after being nominated by

President Clarence Wyatt.

“Kailyn Gore is an exemplary student, innovative leader, youth advocate and peer mentor who has demonstrated an ability to create positive changes here at Monmouth College,” wrote Wyatt in his nomination. “She regularly demonstrates her ability to quickly understand new institutional

social impact through grassroots endeavors to foster positive change,” said Gore, a prestigious Trustees Scholar at Monmouth who was named the Freshman Woman of the Year in 2023.

“My positions here have honed my ability to navigate higher education structures to enact meaningful changes, fostering greater political engagement within Monmouth College’s campus community.”

Gore said being a Newman Civic Fellow will open even more opportunities for civic engagement.

“The fellowship provides a unique opportunity to delve into creative approaches for community-building and advocacy, aligning with my goal of making a positive difference in marginalized communities globally,” said Gore, who’s studying a topical major, international affairs, that she created along with political science professor Jessica Vivian . As part of that major, she’ll study abroad in France this fall.

environments and work with others to identify improvements that would benefit the broader community.”

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides Newman Civic Fellows with learning and networking opportunities that help to nurture their development as civic leaders. Programming emphasizes personal, professional and civic growth that can empower them to collaborate effectively across disciplines and create large-scale positive change.

In her first two years at Monmouth, Gore has been an exemplar of civic involvement and leadership. She served as parliamentarian and treasurer of the Scots Student Senate, leading campus-wide reforms, such as enabling public elections through a constitutional amendment, and facilitating discussions with faculty and administration to address various student needs.

“Believing in the transformative strength of community, I approach

Another project that Gore has started at Monmouth is the Scots Political Society, which seeks to increase civic engagement and political discussion on campus.

One of the society’s initiatives has been to host what Gore called “Socratic seminars, which is a non-confrontational way to have political discussions and engage in political topics so that students feel comfortable in learning about the process of debate and increase their knowledge about current events, such as the 2024 presidential election and the situation in Gaza.”

Beyond Monmouth, Gore is considering joining the Peace Corps, as well as undertaking a law or doctoral program “to delve into international law and confront global challenges,” she said. “This academic journey will equip me with the expertise needed to contribute meaningfully to international law and pursue a career in public service.”

Alongside Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt, Sid Stockdale is pictured in front of the campus building named in his father’s honor. Below, Kailyn Gore ’26.

Great Greek grades: Fraternity, sorority students had stellar semester

Looking to improve your gradepoint average in college?

The answer might be as simple as joining a fraternity or sorority, especially at Monmouth.

While detailing the outstanding achievements that Greek life students made during last fall’s semester, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Student Engagement Cullen Marshall ’22 explained that the stereotype associated with the 1978 film Animal House doesn’t apply at Monmouth.

“I have to mention how proud I am of our young men, as the all-fraternity average GPA was a 3.09, compared to the unaffiliated/ independent male average GPA of 2.86,” said Marshall. “The word ‘fraternity’ often evokes images of partying and irresponsibility, so when our men are able to combat that stereotype and excel in and out of the classroom, I try my best to celebrate that.”

Marshall was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, which led the way last fall among the fraternities with a 3.31 GPA. Pi Beta Phi led the sororities on campus with a 3.65 GPA, helping the All-Greek GPA reach 3.23 – nearly two-tenths of a point higher than the non-Greek student average.

Student show shines with ‘darker art’

Joshua Hinkle ’24 hopes his award-winning artwork will not only inspire those who view it but lead them to support change.

Hinkle’s mixed media piece, America’s Veteran, received two honors in the college’s annual Juried Student Art Exhibition. It was named “Best in Mixed Media” as well as “Best of Show,” the top honor.

The powerful piece by Hinkle, an art and philosophy major, features a sculpture of what appears to be an

MUSIC, SUN AND SITES

Concert tour in Greece was ‘life-changing’ for students

Kelsey Moersfelder ’26 offered a take on this spring’s musical tour of Greece that several of her peers echoed.

“The atmosphere, the crowds — it was absolutely fantastic to feel welcomed in these new places,” she said. “We had no idea since we’d never been there before, but it was life-changing.”

Aiden Earley ’27, another student on the trip for the Chorale, Chamber Choir and Chamber Winds, agreed.

“My favorite thing was probably the amazing crowds that we got to see as we performed,” he said.

“They had total engagement with our music.”

“In a normal setting, as we work on goals and projects together, we see a deepening of relationships,” said music professor Justin Swearinger, who directs the Chamber Winds.

“But spending a week together in a land of new experiences is just so different for everybody. I was extremely impressed and proud of how much

the students helped each other navigate all of the logistics that come with travel and traveling with instruments. They took care of each other.”

Chorale director Tim Pahel listed some of the “incredible things” on the groups’ itinerary.

“In Athens, we saw the Acropolis and Parthenon,” said Pahel. “We also went to Delphi, Corinth, Epidaurus and Patras, and it was fantastic. We saw some incredible things, and we had incredible weather. We were able to love being outside, seeing all the beautiful sites.”

Earley said he was impressed by the upkeep of those historic sites.

“We could see them for what they were, which are these grand and amazing time capsules that take you back to what it was like back then,” he said. “You see how far man has come, but also how advanced they were then, as they served as the building blocks — the cradle — for Western civilization.”

The Monmouth students are pictured at the theater at Epidaurus, which music professor Justin Swearinger said had amazing acoustics.

emaciated soldier or veteran, sitting slumped over on the ground while holding an opened ammunition box that is stuffed with pills, a medicine bottle and a single ammunition cartridge.

The work is accompanied by original text by Hinkle, displayed on a nearby wall. The text decries how military veterans have been treated, lamenting “society’s indifference, a cruel charade,” adding that “so much pain unseen, we battle such demons, both real and obscene.”

“I served in the military for 13 years, and I have personally lost 16 of my brothers and sisters to suicide,” said Hinkle. “The boots that are in that sculpture were actually worn by my brother when he committed suicide. So I took them and encapsulated them forever so that we can remember him.”

Hinkle said he started work on his award-winning piece when he was a student at Carl Sandburg College.

“I let it deteriorate for a yearand-a-half, but I kind of had an idea about how I wanted to present it,” he said.

After Monmouth, Hinkle plans to pursue a doctorate in philosophy, then he hopes to “try to find a way to come at the (veteran) suicide problem from a philosophical way.”

“Some wounds, science can’t heal. You can’t heal the soul with science,” he said.

Kieft’s legacy lives on through students’ trip to ACS meeting in NOLA

Although beloved chemistry professor Richard “Doc” Kieft died in 2009, his presence is still felt strongly in his department and on campus.

When retiring chemistry professor Brad Sturgeon presented his final faculty colloquium March 22, he did so with a framed photo of Kieft occupying one of the seats in Pattee Auditorium. A few days later, incoming Monmouth president Patricia Draves — a

former colleague of Kieft in the chemistry department — cited him as one of her leading mentors in higher education.

Kieft’s presence was also felt by the 14-member Monmouth contingent that traveled to the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, which was held March 17-21 in New Orleans.

“The department is extremely thankful to Doc Kieft for his generosity,” said chemistry professor Audra Goach, who accompanied Monmouth’s 11 students, along with faculty colleague Laura Moore and lab manager Steve Distin. “We could not do the research we do, let alone share it with others, without the endowment Doc left us. His life lives on every day on the third floor of the Center for Science and Business and in the posters and talks our students present.”

From Kieft’s endowment, $16,000 is allocated annually for travel. The students agreed it’s a worthwhile investment.

“This was such an amazing opportunity, not only to present my research, but to also explore brand new science and meet brilliant minds on the cusp of new discoveries,” said Sophia Swift ’24, who presented a poster pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease with Alejandro Arteaga ’24. “I felt like a little kid in a candy shop, completely in awe of the amazing work being done in the field I’m so passionate about.”

Another of the students on the trip was Cassandra Nolasco ’26, whose research adviser is Goach. Her poster and talk was connected to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Cassandra’s talk was in a session with professors,” said Goach. “Afterwards, one of them told her that she should apply to graduate school at their institution when she graduates.”

In New Orleans, the group connected with three Monmouth alumni, including Alison Trettin ’21, a doctoral student in chemistry at North Carolina State University; Sam Brosend ’20, a

doctoral student in chemistry at St. Louis University; and Scott Shaw ’03, associate professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Iowa, where he’s also director of graduate studies.

Poli-sci majors Arrenius, Shook present at gradlevel conference

A pair of Monmouth students recently presented their political science research they’ve conducted about the culture wars in college classrooms.

Along with their professor, Andre Audette, Brady Arrenius ’25 and Cameron Shook ’25 made a presentation at the Henry Symposium on Religion and Public Life, which was held at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“The main takeaway of our research is that although religiosity influences punitive attitudes toward professors who make politically uncivil comments in class, different denominations were all very similar in their punitive level,” said Arrenius.

The Monmouth trio hopes to publish their paper, “Classroom Culture Wars: Experimental Evidence of the Influence of Religion on Educational Content Regulation and Punishment,” in the near future.

The purpose of the threeday symposium is to provide opportunities to share current research, foster personal and professional networks, facilitate joint research endeavors, and learn about research opportunities in the field. Both Arrenius and Shook appreciated the opportunity to be immersed in the conference experience.

“We had the opportunity to meet the political scientists — ‘the Gang of Four’ — who established the field of religion and politics, and a variety of political scientists who presented all types of religion and politicsbased research, some involving the Speaker of the House, views on military force, and attitudes toward

Israel,” said Shook.

Other than Arrenius and Shook, the conference was attended exclusively by graduate students, which made the event especially memorable.

MJUR publishes 15th issue

The Illinois educator shortage an issue that Monmouth College is taking an active role in trying to solve — is just one of the topics addressed in the new edition of the college’s Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research, which is now available in print.

Among its 10 accepted papers, the 15th issue of the annual, interdisciplinary publication also includes research on humanitarian aid in Haiti, runaway youths, abortion and the 2022 midterm elections, and creative placemaking in St. Paul, Minn.

May graduates Tyler Houck and Larissa Pothoven served as co-lead editors of this year’s edition. Houck has been a member of MJUR’s staff since his freshman year, interviewing for a position with the journal when he participated in Scholarship Day as a prospective student.

“I’m proud of how MJUR has evolved and stayed strong all four years, and it’s helped me do that, as well,” he said. “Every year, I’ve had more of a voice in how the process has gone, and I’ve learned to be more confident in my opinion.”

Houck, who is studying for a portion of the certified public accountant examination, will begin an audit associate position at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago this fall.

Pothoven fulfilled the second half of her duties from Scotland while studying at the University of Stirling. She is now pursuing a master’s degree in museum studies at Western Illinois University’s Quad Cities campus. A return to Scotland to work in a museum is not out of the question.

Peterson to begin work as U.S. asylum officer

BY BARRY McNAMARA

For 25 years, Trudi Peterson shaped Monmouth College students’ lives. Now the much-honored communication studies professor is looking to do the same in another role for people who have turned to the United States for help.

Last December, Peterson began training in Chicago for the next chapter in her life, working for the federal government as an asylum officer, adjudicating cases for refugees seeking asylum in the United States.

“I will be able to continue a career of service, but on a larger platform, to aid the government’s humanitarian efforts to provide relief to the most vulnerable populations,” she said. “I wouldn’t leave the college to go somewhere where I wasn’t doing meaningful work.”

Like a football player who retires from the sport a day after winning the Super Bowl, Peterson is leaving academia at the top of her game. Last fall, the department she chairs received an award as the top small liberal arts college undergraduate program in the United States.

“We applied because of (fellow communication studies professor) Shweta (Srivastava),” said Peterson of the prestigious Rex Mix Award from the National Communication Association. “I’ve never been a self-promoter, and when I look at myself, I tend to see the weaknesses. Thankfully, Shweta sees the positives.”

When the award was announced in August, Peterson had already decided that the fall semester would be her last on campus.

“It was a beautiful surprise,” she said.

CARING EDUCATOR

Peterson is also at the top of her game in what she called her “invisible” role of making a difference in her students’ lives.

“Students share with her and talk with her,” said another of her department colleagues, Chris Goble, whose office is just across the hallway from Peterson’s on the third floor of Wallace Hall. “I had Trudi ask me once, ‘Why do they share all these things with me?’ I said, ‘Trudi, it’s because you ask about them.’”

“I do care about them, and I ask them about their lives,” said Peterson. “I try to see the students holistically, and I try to fight for them and with them. We provide a safe space for our students, where they get seen as whole people, not just as students. A lot of the work I do might be invisible to most people on campus, but it’s important to the students.”

That behind-the-scenes commitment was

recently acknowledged, as Peterson received the Monmouth Difference Maker Award at the 2023 Highlander Awards, where outstanding contributors to the campus community are recognized.

She’s served as the adviser to the Sexuality and Gender Alliance student organization and as a chapter adviser for both Phi Delta Theta fraternity and Pi Beta Phi sorority.

“I’ve worked with so many student groups these past 25 years,” she said.

And Peterson can also flat-out teach. Four years ago, she was the recipient of the college’s prestigious Hatch Award for Distinguished Teaching. In addition to her leadership role in the communication studies department, she’s also coordinated the college’s women’s studies program.

‘YOU WOULD BE GREAT AT THIS’

But there are other careers where Peterson’s skill set would shine, and she learned more about a specific one three years ago.

“In the summer of 2020 I was in Chicago,

probably for some concert, and one of the things I like to do when I’m in the city is meet up with Monmouth alums who live there,” she said. “So I had lunch with Phil Buckwinkler ’15. He was one of my advisees, and then he went on to law school and became an asylum officer. So we were at lunch, and he was telling me how great his job is, doing important work on a large scale. He told me, ‘You would be great at this.’”

Peterson said the job requires the hard and soft skills she’s developed in her 25 years on Monmouth’s faculty.

“It will call on my research skills, my interview skills, my critical thinking skills,” she said. “Being in academia gave me the tools to do this job, although it did take me a week to turn my CV (curriculum vitae) into a proper résumé.”

And, as has been the case with helping Monmouth’s students, it will be fulfilling work.

“I’m not motivated by money, but by doing good in the world,” she said. “I’ve always tried to be a voice for underrepresented and marginalized people.”

Trudi Peterson (right) is pictured along with her communication studies colleagues Shweta Srivastava and Chris Goble.

Despite retirement, Vivian’s teaching days are far from over

BY BARRY McNAMARA

Craig Vivian has retired from being an educational studies professor at Monmouth, but it would be incorrect to say he’s retired from teaching. The lifelong learner has also instructed, in one capacity or another, throughout his adult life, and that shows no signs of stopping.

For starters, Vivian will continue to be involved with Monmouth’s Educational Garden and Farm, and not just as its beekeeper, a hobby he’s enjoyed for the better part of two decades. Along with his department colleagues and former U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, Vivian was an integral part of the College securing a $750,000 federal Community Project Funding grant.

A visible outcome of that grant is the farm’s yurt classroom, which was formally dedicated in April.

“I’m glad I was able to help get the grant and add that educational piece to the farm,” said Vivian. “We have two more years of funding, I’ve signed all the official paperwork to keep working out there as a volunteer.”

Vivian has helped lead the farm in a new direction, not only engaging Monmouth students with all the lessons that can be learned from working the land, but providing a valuable resource for school-aged children, as well.

The latter element is part of the place-based learning that Monmouth’s educational studies department has been emphasizing the past several years.

“We had a group out there the other day, and we had them digging for worms,” said Vivian. “At first, they’re like, ‘Ewww!’ but within 10 minutes they’re out there getting their hands dirty, cheering on other students when they found one. They’re seeing some things they wouldn’t normally see, and they get interested.”

JUST DEW-EY

John Dewey would be proud. The 20th century educational reformer, “was all about education and experience,” said Vivian. “Dewey believed that individuals grow and learn as they interact with the world.”

It was certainly the case for Vivian, who grew up in Austin, Texas. “When I was a kid, you could find me outside, collecting ants and putting them in a jar,” he said.

It was that self-teaching, perhaps, that inspired Vivian to keep on finding new experiences on his road to lifelong learning. That started in earnest when he and his wife, Jessica — a member of Monmouth’s political science department —

joined the Peace Corps out of college and were stationed in the Pacific island of Kiribati.

Vivian didn’t know it at the time, but he wouldn’t return to living in the U.S. until he was 35, also spending time in Sudan, Zimbabwe, France and Switzerland thanks, in part, to Jessica’s work with the United Nations.

Along the way, Vivian had informal teaching roles, helping, for example, the locals learn English.

When he and Jessica returned to the U.S., he pursued teaching formally, joining Monmouth’s faculty in 2000 after completing his doctoral work at Cornell University.

Vivian likes to think outside the box, and he’s encouraged his Monmouth students to do the same for the past quarter-century. A famous example, he said, is an exercise referenced recently by Tiffany Diehl Springer ’03, who became a colleague of Vivian’s in the educational studies department.

“I don’t believe in grades,” he said, “and I like to do different things with students to get them thinking differently. I had them write a paper, and then I asked them to grade themselves on ‘How much did you learn from writing it?’ Most of them gave themselves a pretty good grade. Then I threw all the papers in the garbage can. People freaked out a little bit. But as Tiffany has since told me, it was something that made her rethink what she was doing and why. Was she doing the work to get a good grade, or was she

doing it to learn?”

The correct answer should be B.

HAVE A HOB-BEE

B, or, rather, bee, is also one of the correct answers to “Name one of Craig Vivian’s main hobbies?” Other acceptable answers are chess, wine and music – specifically, the guitar.

Each of those hobbies ties into Vivian’s desire for lifelong learning.

“Almost all hobbies have different levels,” he said, “and you keep increasing the knowledge you have about that hobby.”

The guitar is a hobby Vivian put on the shelf for a number of years, but he revived it when his son became interested in playing. Its second iteration in his life has led to the formation of the popular Craig and Co. group. Asked to name a favorite song on the group’s playlist, Vivian singled out “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” a Beatles tune in which he also provides the lead vocals.

Finally, there’s his work with bees. It may seem dangerous, but Vivian shared a trick of the trade.

“Bees are not aggressive — they’re defensive, but not aggressive,” he said. “Wasps are aggressive — they’re on the hunt. But bees are not. They have no reason, because they’re not predators.”

That’s a lesson Vivian will continue to share with students who visit Monmouth College’s Educational Farm – one of many that he’ll provide, free of charge, in his retirement role as a volunteer.

Craig Vivian shows a colony of bees to visitors to the Golden Scots Celebration in June.

Sturgeon made contributions in teaching, service, scholarship

BY BARRY McNAMARA

Established in 2004, Monmouth’s Hatch Awards recognize outstanding work by its faculty in the areas of teaching, scholarship and service.

Three years after the award program was established, Brad Sturgeon joined Monmouth’s faculty as its physical chemist. Sturgeon is a big believer in those three categories — so much so that he’s devoted a great deal of thought to what constitutes a faculty member’s successful allocation of time to each.

“When you put a weight on the value of each — the time devoted to each — you can really answer the questions ‘Who are you?’ and ‘What is my function at the college?’” said Sturgeon, who speaks on the topic at new faculty orientation sessions, drawing on his 25 years of experience with quantum mechanics formulas. “If your numbers are 25% teaching, 1% service and 74% scholarship, you’re at an R1 institution, doing research. That’s not a Monmouth College formula.”

But at Monmouth, the pendulum can’t swing too far the other way, either, as service and scholarship are important components of a faculty member’s time, even while teaching is the primary focus.

The three categories also happen to be a way to summarize Sturgeon’s 17-year career on campus, and he’s had several highlights in each while keeping, roughly, a ratio of 50% teaching, 25% service and 25% scholarship.

TEACHING

Sturgeon joined the faculty as an assistant professor of chemistry in 2007, teaching physical chemistry, a form of the discipline that also incorporates mathematics and physics. He was promoted to associate professor in 2013 and to full professor in 2021. Sturgeon believes that with each step up the ladder, a faculty member can devote more time to service and scholarship. In their assistant professor years, as they’re developing their teaching style and focusing on course preparation, the daily rigors of the classroom require more attention.

In addition to teaching physical chemistry, Sturgeon developed courses on food and the green initiatives surrounding water during the recent “Global Perspectives” and “Citizenship” era

of the college’s curriculum,

Water was also a main focus of his two-week January-term trips with students to Andros Island in the Bahamas, which was the subject of his official “Last Lecture” talk in March. There, Sturgeon told the audience that he’s been traveling to that Caribbean spot, off and on, for 45 years. One of the scientific tools required in the Bahamas is an underwater drone – more on that in a bit.

SERVICE

Sturgeon has taken his turn in a leadership position of several faculty groups on campus, chairing the committees on Student Activities and Support, Curriculum, and Faculty and Institutional Development. He’s also chaired the local section of the American Chemical Society.

More than a decade ago, Sturgeon got in on the ground floor of what has become a spring staple on campus.

“I essentially started Scholars Day at the college in 2011,” he said. “I gave it up after a few years due to a sabbatical and picked it back up in the past few years.”

The April event is held on the same day as the college’s Honors Convocation and allows students the opportunity to present their research or display their talents in the arts.

He’s also carried on a Monmouth tradition with

MACTLAC, the Midwest Association of Chemistry Teachers at Liberal Arts Colleges. Sturgeon serves as the archivist for the organization, which seven decades ago was the brainchild of legendary Monmouth professor William Haldeman

SCHOLARSHIP

“Scholarship makes us different from a high school teacher,” said Sturgeon, who does what many Monmouth faculty members do, involving students in the research. “You’ve got to have this component as a college professor, but too much of it, and you’re not teaching.”

One of his most noticeable scholarly endeavors is the Monmouth Coffee Project, which started as a partnership pertaining to soft drinks with business professor Keith Williams. As the College dreamed, planned and eventually built the Center for Science and Business, which was completed in 2013, that science-business collaboration was frequently highlighted.

It actually blurs the line between scholarship and service, as Sturgeon’s Scots Roast coffee has been a hit with the campus community and alumni the past several years.

Another of his contributions in the category is the “maker” tools he’s helped bring to campus, such as the underwater drone, and also including virtual reality and 3-D printing.

Sturgeon said his “maker mentality” is why he got into chemistry in the first place.

“As a kid, I loved to take things apart,” he said. “I was always modifying my bicycle. I need to understand how things work. Chemistry was a good place to ask those kind of questions. I loved asking questions in chemistry and getting an answer.”

Sturgeon may be done teaching at Monmouth, but he’s not about to rest on the laurels of his successful Monmouth tenure. He plans to continue being an active participant in the maker culture and hopes to promote science literacy by educating communities and continue with a pair of his major hobbies, woodworking and brewing history and science. Those who’ve dined at the Patton Block restaurant in downtown Monmouth have had the opportunity to sample the DeNovo beer from the city’s only craft brewery, which Sturgeon started with alumnus Steve Murmann ’80

THE PRIDE OF P-TOWN

Several alumni have found success an hour from campus in Peoria, Illinois

STORIES BY BARRY McNAMARA

THE PERSONAL TOUCH

Young alumni team up to help their clients reach their fitness goals

Part of the Monmouth College mission statement reads to “empower students to reach their full potential ... and shape their communities.”

A group of Monmouth alumni, led by 2014 graduate Patrick Thompson, is helping to shape the Peoria community by guiding people toward their fitness potential.

Thompson is the chief operating officer at Anytime Fitness, which has a location on the north side of Peoria, as well as nearby Germantown Hills. Monmouth alumni on staff include trainers Francois Boney ’23, Tyler Dugan ’21, D.J. Frank ’18 and Jeff Tucker ’06 and office assistant Linsey Turner ’23. May graduate Skylar Garey has interned at Anytime Fitness with an eye on a full-time position.

The Monmouth-centric team is doing outstanding work. Thompson reported that both

Peoria-area facilities are ranked in the top 20 in terms of personal training operations among more than 2,300 Anytime Fitness locations in the United States. The Peoria location has been ranked inside the top 10.

“When a Monmouth graduate comes here, we know what we’re going to get,” said Thompson, who noted that more than half of the fitness center’s coaches are fellow alumni. “They understand the science behind it, and they’ve also been set up well by the college from a liberal arts standpoint. Because of the Monmouth education they’ve received, they know how to relate with people, talk with people, and they make it easy for our clients to understand what we’re doing with them.”

Doug Pinter, who owns the Peoria-area gym locations, hopes to keep drawing from the

college’s talent pool.

“We’ve really lucked out with our connection to Monmouth,” he said. “They get a great education there and have gone on to do great work here. We’ll take more.”

Pinter and Thompson go all the way back to the very first days of Peoria’s Anytime Fitness, just weeks before Thompson graduated from Monmouth.

“I remember trying to get people to sign up for memberships, and there wasn’t even any equipment here yet,” said Thompson. “It was kind of wild. There were a lot of learning experiences. I’d never opened a gym before.”

One of those learning experiences, he said, was that Monmouth preparation is solid preparation.

“That experience got me out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I learned that you may not feel

prepared, but after all your experiences at Monmouth, you are. Things I use out in the world like public speaking or leading a group workout with multiple individuals – those are all things that Monmouth teaches you.”

GETTING HEALTHY AND STRONGER

A recent CNN article reported that having a personal trainer has become more mainstream, and it also cited a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics prediction that the fitness training market will grow by 14% from 2022-32, a much faster rate than the average for all occupations.

“We meet our clients where they’re at in life and help them reach their fitness goals through dedication and effort,” said Thompson. “Our clients range from single moms, to people working two jobs, to parents with four kids. We teach them that small steps forward can pay off over time, helping them stay healthy and get stronger. Unless you’re a high-performing athlete, people don’t need to do anything special to see results.”

Coming to college from Monmouth-Roseville High School, Thompson knew he wanted to head down a path in athletic training. A key moment in his career preparation, he said, came at the beginning of his sophomore year, when kinesiology professor Sean Schumm joined the faculty and the college’s exercise science major was created.

“Professor Schumm is really good, so once he came aboard, he helped make it so easy for us to teach exercise to other people,” said Thompson.

“Through my classes at Monmouth, I was able to describe what I’d be doing for people in a very simplified way. Today, I pass that along so that our coaches and staff know why they’re doing what they do. Some coaches can make exercise too scientific, but we teach that a little bit goes a long way. It’s the KISS principle — keep it simple.”

Boney, who often works outside the facility at Bradley University and at area nursing homes, appreciates the opportunity to pass along that knowledge.

“My favorite thing about working here is the relationships I’ve built with the clients and just knowing that I can help change the path they’re on in life through health and wellness,” he said.

Like Thompson, Frank had a good idea of what he wanted to do when he enrolled at Monmouth.

“Growing up, I always knew I wanted to do something in the health and fitness industry, but a health scare when I was in high school drove me toward helping people and becoming a personal trainer,” he said. “My goal is to help individuals achieve their fitness and health goals.”

Dugan, a wellness administration major who found out about Anytime Fitness through kinesiology faculty member Jen Braun, wasn’t able to intern the summer before his senior year thanks to a COVID shutdown, but he eventually connected with Thompson and found a job he’s passionate about.

“I love the clientele I’ve built and the relationships I’ve built,” he said. “There’s nothing

more rewarding than helping clients hit the fitness goals they’ve set for themselves.”

A WINNING CULTURE

In addition to rewarding work, Garey credits the culture that Thompson has created as a reason she and other alumni are drawn to Anytime Fitness.

“My internship was a fantastic experience,” she said. “It’s the first work environment I’ve been in where all the co-workers and staff were very welcoming, communicative and supportive. They encouraged me to ask questions. They were just awesome.”

The new kid on the block, so to speak, is Tucker, the oldest alum of the group.

“I’ve known Patrick for almost eight years,” he said. “I was one of his first clients. We bonded over our shared Monmouth connection.”

An insurance agent, Tucker has gradually made the transition from client to team member, helping to teach classes. He said he finds the work to be “incredibly rewarding.”

“I didn’t think I’d be good at this, but Pat kept telling me, ‘I absolutely think you can do this,’” said Tucker. “I think of Pat like a mentor. He’s excellent at what he does. The goal is to keep doing this and to have my own place, like Pat.”

And Thompson has expansion plans, too, as he’d like to bring a gym that offers personal training back to his hometown area. If that dream is realized, he won’t have to look far for capable staff.

Chief Operating Officer Patrick Thompson ’14 (left) is pictured with four of the other Monmouth alumni who work at Anytime Fitness in Peoria. From left are Tyler Dugan ’21, Francois Boney ’23, Jeff Tucker ’06 and Linsey Turner ’23.

Morrow uses grit, ‘figure-it-out-iveness’ to keep raising

Roof

Right around the time of the start of the COVID pandemic, Ben Morrow ’11 decided a change was in order.

“I felt called to take a massive risk,” said Morrow, a communication major who minored in business.

That massive risk has turned into a massive success, as the company he founded, Roof Tiger in Peoria Heights, has grown to $8 million in annual revenue between its roofing and solar panel divisions. In its first year, the company worked on 100 roofs. In 2023, that number rose to 340, servicing an area within 100 miles of Peoria.

Part of the massive risk of Morrow’s career change involved making a big splash with his company’s image, a story that students in the college’s new marketing program might want to note.

“When you think of roofing companies, you think of a logo that looks like this,” said Morrow, bringing his hands together in the shape of an inverted “V.”

“The logo looks like a regular roof. The unintended consequence of that is that no one remembers you.”

So the Monmouth alum wasn’t having any part of that forgettable image, nor was he interested in going with the pedestrian name of Morrow Roofing.

“My dad called me ‘Tiger’ when I was a kid,” said Morrow. “But I didn’t even go with Tiger Roofing. I chose Roof Tiger. It demands attention from the public, and then we wrapped our trucks in tiger stripes to stand out even more.”

And on the day of his interview, Morrow himself was wrapped in a tigerstriped pair of zumba pants.

Similarly, the other division of his company goes by Solar Panther.

THE REASON? REASONING

Morrow was more than a decade too early to pick up a marketing major from Monmouth, but he credits his education for learning how to reason and think.

“Monmouth taught me how to think about things, and that solving problems is about asking the right questions,” he said. “It gave me the ability to reason. I’m not a finance guy or a science guy — the technology of our shingles is not my forte. But I know how to take care of people and how to use the feedback we receive to keep reinventing ourselves.”

In a video on Roof Tiger’s website, Morrow tells potential customers that Roof Tiger is “a family-run, family-organized business that is committed to the best construction experience you’ve ever had.”

“Being an entrepreneur these last four years, I think the most important skills you can have are, number one, grit,” he said. “And number two is what I’ll call ‘figure-it-out-iveness’ or resourcefulness. At Monmouth, I played tennis, I traveled to India, I was in a fraternity (Sigma Phi Epsilon) — I was in a lot of things. That helped me to intersect with different social circles, which has led to helping me service our customers, which is the foundation of what we’ve built.”

And Morrow wasn’t merely a participant in his activities. In tennis, he is one of just eight Scots to win more than 100 matches. While in India, he took award-winning photos. As a senior, he helped organize a student skydiving trip. At the end of that academic year, he spoke to the senior class on the eve of Commencement.

“That was one of my first large-audience speaking opportunities,”

Tiger’s ceiling

“Monmouth taught me how to think about things, and that solving problems is about asking the right questions. It gave me the ability to reason.”

Ben Morrow

said Morrow, who last year spoke to 1,000 people at a conference. “My confidence to speak began in my years at Monmouth. (Faculty members)

Trudi Peterson and Dick Johnston and (alumnus and SigEp brother) Brad Nahrstadt ’89 were pivotal in my confidence to start that process.”

HIS EARLY CAREER PATH

Morrow so enjoyed his time in SigEp that he began his post-graduate career working as a regional director for its national organization and “sleeping on a lot of college couches” as he traveled to different schools.

Next was 3-1/2 years working at Verizon, and then a stint with The Bath Co., a bath remodeling business where, Morrow said, “I cut my teeth in construction, learning how to price jobs and do that type of work.” He also worked for a solar company for six months.

“When COVID happened, the construction world was very, very light,” he said. “I was actually unemployed for six months, but I used that time to reset and refocus.”

He came out of that time ready to put his knowledge of the construction industry to work, but with his own spin on a basic concept, being “ferocious about quality roof replacements.”

“We’re a very customer-facing company,” said Morrow. “As problems come up, we solve them. We’re a company of our word.”

Administrator, coach, instructor Dahlquist inducted into Bradley’s Hall of Fame

With 9,000 fans watching the ceremony in Carver Arena, and with 7-foot-1 Patrick O’Bryant — a lottery pick in the 2006 NBA draft — standing nearby, 1978 Monmouth graduate Craig Dahlquist wasn’t quite sure he belonged in the company he was keeping.

The self-described “mediocre track athlete who never figured out I was bad” was having a momentary imposter syndrome experience, but O’Bryant quickly fixed it.

“I said to Patrick, ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’” said Dahlquist of the Bradley University Hall of Fame ceremony, which was held at halftime of the Braves’ Feb. 24 home game against Illinois State University. “Patrick told me, ‘You absolutely deserve to be here.’”

A HALL OF FAME CAREER

While a few members of the induction class of 2024 — which included Chicago Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman — starred at Bradley before playing professionally, Dahlquist wasn’t honored for times he ran as an undergrad or points he scored. Rather, it was for his four decades as a member of Bradley’s athletics staff, giving him the longest tenure of any current staff member and one of the longest in the history of the department.

His service to Bradley has continued beyond his official retirement in 2022, when he stepped down from his post as senior associate athletic director for finance and administration. He just completed his second year as a volunteer assistant for the Braves’ cross country and track programs, returning to the team he served as head coach from 1986-96. Dahlquist has also been a health and movement science instructor and worked as the athletics business manager and assistant ticket manager. A certified USA Track & Field official, he served as a volunteer official during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

“When you work in higher education, you’re not making a Caterpillar-type salary,” he said. “You really have to love the work, and I did. The relationships are what have really impacted me and been important. And being able to help my kids get educational opportunities (through tuition exchange), I know they all appreciate it.”

Asked to name some “wins” from his 40 years at Bradley, Dahlquist replied, “Most recently, helping to re-establish the track and field program. Being a catalyst to make that happen was rewarding. (Former athletic director) Dr. Michael Cross said, ‘We’re going to do this again.’ That was a big one.”

Dahlquist also pointed to the success of other Bradley teams, not the least of which being the men’s soccer teams from 2005-07. The ’07 squad reached the NCAA Elite Eight, and the three squads were collectively inducted into the Hall of Fame at the same ceremony as Dahlquist, whose late son Danny was on the team.

“Me getting inducted was important to dozens and dozens of people and to my family,” said Dahlquist, whose wife, Tricia, has been on the faculty for 35 years and is chair of the English department. “Over the years, there have been some super incredible people to work with, including people who would step in for me if I had to be away and who made me look good.”

Those people included a pair of staff members who “worked every single basketball game with me selling 50-50 raffle tickets,” said Dahlquist. “Through all those years, they never missed a game. And there were all the folks in the Braves Club who would tell you what a good job you were doing. It was really great to look out at the crowd during that ceremony and see the faces of people like that who had stayed in their seats to watch, rather than go out and get a hot dog. It’s humbling. I’ll end this all by saying that working 38 years in one place — that’s something you don’t see that much anymore, so I’m proud of that.”

A’S AND THE ALPHABET

Before Dahlquist had a Bradley story, he had a Monmouth story, which includes an

interesting introduction.

“My sister was at Millikin,” he said. “My thought was, ‘I’m not going to go there.’ So in the college guidebook, I literally turned the page from Millikin, and what’s next alphabetically? Monmouth. I applied, but I never visited. I came from a singleparent family, so I got a great financial aid package. My roommate was Joe Welty ’78, and we stayed together for all four years. We were the best man in each other’s weddings.”

Welty went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Illinois and start a family practice. Not surprisingly, the future doctor got good grades at Monmouth.

“The whole time Joe was here, he only got three grades that weren’t an ‘A,’” said Dahlquist. “I only got three A’s, so I always tell Joe that I got his three A’s. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

(Welty also topped Dahlquist in another area, sending his three sons to Monmouth. Dahlquist laments being 0-for-7 with his kids in that department. His youngest will be a freshman at Illinois Wesleyan University this fall.)

Those lackluster grades aside, Dahlquist embarked on the early stages of his hall of fame path at Monmouth.

“This place matured me. It made me grow,” said Dahlquist, who joined the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. “I never thought of leaving. I couldn’t wait to come back every summer,” from his home in suburban Rolling Meadows, Ill.

That enthusiasm for Monmouth even shaped his academic focus.

“When I first came, my focus was on physics because I was thinking about getting into engineering,” he said. “But I found out it would be a 3:2 program. I’d have to leave, and I didn’t want to do that, so I shifted to business with an accounting focus and had a lot of classes with Homer Shoemaker.”

Fast forward to the mid-2010s. Dahlquist was firmly established at Bradley, but he also felt a little tug from his alma mater 60 miles to the west, leading to a pair of five-year terms on the Alumni Board.

“I started getting more involved with Monmouth,” he said in April. “These last 10 years have been so rewarding. Coming back here today for my last meeting, it feels like I’m graduating again.”

Dahlquist returned the next week, as well, assisting throughout the annual Scots Day of Giving.

Meanwhile, just down the road in Springfield … Monmouth grads finding professional success on both sides of the aisle

It’s a little more than a two-hour drive from campus to the Illinois state capitol in Springfield. And it’s a road that many alumni have taken for a successful career as “there are Scots working everywhere in Illinois state government.”

Any such list is headlined by State Sen. Mattie Hunter ’76 of Chicago. In 2021, Hunter, who represents the 3rd Senate District, was inducted into Monmouth’s Hall of Achievement, the highest honor the college bestows upon its alumni. For a while, Abierre Minor ’20 served as Hunter’s chief of staff.

Minor was followed to Springfield by Natalia Garcia ’22, the chief of staff for Rep. Mark Walker of Arlington Heights (D-53rd House District), and by Illinois Senate Democratic staff member Halle Majdich ’23.

Older alumni working in the state capital include Rachel Bold ’10, Jaclyn Driscoll ’12 and Tanner Gillis ’16. Bold is an Illinois Senate Republican staff member; Driscoll is the press spokesperson for Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch; and Gillis is the associate research unit manager at the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

CHECKING POLITICS AT THE DOOR

Bold, Driscoll and Gillis were asked to provide a positive spin on what can be seen from the outside as a polarizing profession.

“In my experience working on a partisan staff, I would say most people, especially staff members, checked their politics at the door,” said Gillis. “That’s because we all had the same goal and just wanted to produce the best, most effective product possible for whatever constituency we were trying to help.”

The goal of Gillis’ work at the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is to provide dollars-and-cents information to Illinois state legislators.

“When someone asks a legislator for a cost estimate for enacting a particular piece of legislation, we’re the agency that provides them with that cost estimate,” he said. “We’re also the agency that provides the legislature with the required estimate for the revenues for the coming fiscal year, which they then use when crafting the budget each spring.”

Driscoll’s responsibilities include advising the speaker, a Democrat who represents the 7th House District. She also oversees external communications with the speaker and senior staff; responds to media inquiries; develops and manages communication plans on behalf of the

Office of the Speaker; and prepares the speaker for media interviews and speaking engagements.

“It’s exhausting to keep up with battles between the far ends of each spectrum, but what I get to see in my role is that the majority of us fall somewhere in the middle,” said Driscoll, who is a former TV and radio news reporter. “Maybe some are a little further to the right or left of center, but when we find opportunities for commonality, a lot of us want much of the same things.”

“It’s not all nearly as partisan as it looks,” agreed Bold, who primarily advises the caucus on media strategy and messaging, but also works on various special projects, including legislative initiatives. “The vast majority of legislation passes with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle. Those aren’t usually the bills that make the big headlines, but I want people to know that as much as it seems like the two parties are always fighting, there’s really a lot of collaboration that goes on.”

Added Gillis: “I expected the environment of the capitol to be a lot more cutthroat and that everyone would lie and cheat to get ahead, but in reality none of that was ever tolerated. People

would circle the wagons and push out any distrustful individuals. So honesty and trust are truly hard-earned currencies in the statehouse.”

Driscoll agreed that work being done in Springfield for the best interest of the people can be overlooked.

“I wish everyone got the chance to see government up close, rather than through echo chambers on social media or cable news,” she said. “I recognize that sitting through a committee hearing or listening to hours of floor debate can be a bit of an acquired taste. But within the four walls of the House chamber, I see deep passion for communities and constituencies, I see advocacy for noble causes that will positively change lives for generations to come, and I get to witness how lived experiences from people of all backgrounds help us create inclusive and transformative policy.”

NOBLE CAUSES

The three alumni have all provided a helping hand toward moving those noble causes along.

“I got to work on the first full-year budget following the budget impasse (of 2015-17), including the first capital projects budget in many

Tanner Gillis is the associate research unit manager at the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

years,” said Gillis, who prior to joining the CGFA was a policy and budget analyst with Senate Democrats. He staffed the Higher Education Committee and the joint House-Senate Higher Education Working Group, which was formed to address the college affordability and accessibility crisis across the state.

Gillis wrote the AIM HIGH Grant Program that provides $35 million in appropriations to state universities in Illinois to be used for means-tested, merit-based scholarship programs “to discourage out-migration and brain drain” of some of the state’s brightest young students.

Gillis was also involved with the need-based Illinois Monetary Award Program. Known as MAP grants, they are available to eligible Illinois residents who attend approved Illinois colleges and universities.

“I helped to initiate a five-year plan to restore and increase MAP funding, resulting in an increase in both the total number of awards, as well as the amount for individual awards,” he said. “Statewide, both of these programs combine for $750 million in grants and scholarships.”

Bold said a highlight has been getting to see state government “from different angles.”

“I’ve worked both the campaign and state side of things, which was an incredible opportunity to see firsthand how the laws that pass at the Capitol impact people’s lives back home,” she said. “I’ve had the chance to work for legislative leaders in both the Illinois Senate and Illinois House, which helped me better understand the unique characteristics of each chamber and how those dynamics impact the legislative process. I also worked as a governor’s press secretary, which forced me to look at issues from a statewide perspective. All of those different roles, from intern to senior-level staff, have given me a unique perspective on the process.”

Driscoll’s biggest win was a more personal one.

“Being selected as the first female press spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker in Illinois definitely tops my list of professional highlights,” she said. “It remains one of my greatest honors to serve in this role and to work alongside some of the brightest minds in Illinois.”

It’s an accomplishment that likely came as no surprise to her favorite faculty member, history professor Stacy Cordery

“Even though she’s no longer with the department, I want to emphasize that Dr. Cordery was the most important part of my experience at Monmouth,” said Driscoll. “She was someone who inspired me to make my own path, and she helped me understand how strong women can inspire societal change. Dr. Cordery is a big reason why I developed the confidence to pursue dreams I didn’t even know I had because I was confined by a patriarchal mentality. She made me believe I was going to be successful, not in spite of being a woman, but because I was one.”

THE PATH TO SPRINGFIELD

While some of the Monmouth alumni working in Springfield got there via a major in political science, Driscoll studied in Cordery’s field — history.

“I was always a curious child and I loved to learn, especially about history,” said Driscoll. “It was at Monmouth College, particularly in any course offered by Dr. Cordery, that I developed a true passion for looking at the world and society through a historical lens. As we study history, we get a better understanding of how things change, and we begin to comprehend what causes those changes and how past events impact the world we live in today.”

Historical context, she said, is the key to making “better policy decisions. It also gave me a great deal of confidence in developing persuasive arguments that are backed by facts and research, which helps me develop effective communication messages and materials.”

Gillis and Bold also paved a path to Springfield through a non-political science major, with Gillis studying biopsychology and chemistry and Bold majoring in communication and international studies.

“I think that made me stand out in interviews,” said Gillis. “The experience I received at Monmouth in writing research and doing hands-on research really helped me to understand all parts of the research process. I’ve found there aren’t many differences between the scientific and the legal research process, and you can apply the scientific

method to writing new laws.”

“The best thing about the approach to education at Monmouth is that beyond any specific subject I studied, what I really learned was how to learn and how to keep learning for my whole life,” said Bold. “I genuinely believe that’s helped me to be more flexible and adapt to new and changing roles and the evolution of public policy over the years.”

The traditional method of gaining employment in the state capital, said Monmouth political science faculty member Robin Johnson, is through an internship program.

Johnson makes sure his current students know about his past students’ successes.

“From Rachel Bold in 2010 to Halle Majdich last year, it’s fun to see them in action as I continue to take students to Springfield every year on class trips,” he said. “They, and the other Monmouth grads, serve as inspirations to current students.”

And the list doesn’t end with the alumni mentioned in this story, said Gillis.

“There are Scots working everywhere in Illinois state government, and this isn’t just reserved to political science majors,” he said. “I was a biopsychology major, and one day I was having trouble with my computer and called Legislative Information Services and the woman that showed up to fix my computer was a recent Monmouth graduate named Mikayla Bolton ’19

“I’m not even the only Monmouth graduate currently working at the CGFA. Our revenue manager, Eric Noggle ’96, graduated from Monmouth with a degree in math.”

Jaclyn Driscoll (holding phone) is the press spokesperson for Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch (seated, center).

Monmouth’s A-list speakers didn’t fail to impress the Class of 2024 COMMENCEMENT

BY BARRY McNAMARA

From all accounts, the 167th Commencement Exercises at Monmouth College were a huge success.

From the warm and sunny spring day that allowed for an outdoor ceremony on Wallace Hall Plaza, to the traditional pageantry of bagpipes, trumpets and choir singers that have characterized the event for decades, to the A-list featured speakers, actress Sigourney Weaver and her writer/director husband, Jim Simpson, it was a glorious afternoon.

“Oh my gosh, it was so great to have them here, because the arts and humanities don’t always get the love they deserve,” said Jan Abel, who graduated summa cum laude with degrees in English and public relations.

By virtue of her last name, Abel was the first of 165 Monmouth students to be handed her diploma by Clarence Wyatt in his 10th and final Commencement as the college’s 14th president.

“To have big creatives like them here was so awesome,” said Abel.

‘STICK WITH YOUR MACHINE’

Although a day of celebration, the word “failure” came up in both of the main Commencement addresses, including the one given by another summa cum laude graduate, Lillian Hucke

“We have learned to adapt from online learning to our cafeteria catching on fire,” said Hucke, the college’s Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. “Even when times are hard, it is crucial to remember your inner power to overcome adversity. Also, remember that it is okay to fail. … Without failure, we would never know the extent of our inner strength and resilience.”

The award-winning Weaver, who has starred in such films as Alien, Ghostbusters, Gorillas in the Mist and Avatar, also focused on failure by paraphrasing advice from legendary playwright and director George Wolfe.

While delivering a speech to graduates of New York University’s Tish School of the Arts, Weaver recalled that Wolfe firmly gripped the podium and told the assembled students: “‘I want to talk to you about the most creative tool you have — failure.’ He said that life is like an enormous casino, with everybody at a slot machine, throwing in coins. You look around and hear bells going off and you see other people winning jackpots. It

ABOVE: Sigourney Weaver told the graduates to “Stick with your machine,” or, in other words, “Believe in yourself.” BELOW: Megan Holevoet gives the thumbs up, while Tyler Houck looks on.

165 FOR 167TH: There was nearly one graduate for every year of Monmouth College’s Commencement Exercises, and they were all happy to celebrate the joyous occasion.

makes you want to get up from yours and try theirs.

“But Wolfe’s advice was, ‘Stick with your machine.’ It may take a little while longer to develop and you’re going to have to make some adjustments. But this machine that each of you built at Monmouth … stick with that and believe in yourself, because if you do that, you will never go wrong.”

“It was super awesome to see them here — to have people of that level give the address,” said graduate Cade Sharp, Hucke’s boyfriend. Sharp and Hucke are two of several members from the Class of 2024 who graduated as a couple. “Something they said that stuck with me is something that Lillian talked about, too — that

failure can be a big part of life.”

One of the takeaways of the main Commencement address for another summa cum laude graduate, Madison Walker , was what Simpson said regarding trying to impress “gatekeepers” versus relying on advice and encouragement from loved ones.

Simpson said: “Don’t forget the friends you

PHOTOS BY KENT KRIEGSHAUSER

came up with. In my experience, they’ll be more influential than the higher-ups. That’s the turbocharger for creativity. My friends have had the greatest impact on that for me.”

“I liked the idea of knowing that the people you work with and are close to you will be a big part of your life,” said Walker. “It was super amazing they were here, and I thought their speech was amazing.”

There were light-hearted moments from the main Commencement address as well, such as when Simpson addressed the elephant in the plaza.

“I know many of you are wondering, ‘Really, who is this guy standing next to Sigourney Weaver?’ I’d like to introduce myself by way of my sister,” he said, referring to Gail Simpson Owen , who graduated from Monmouth 50 years ago in the Class of 1974, and who attended the ceremony as a member of the college’s board of trustees.

“Gail is one of the finest people I

know, and she’s an alum of Monmouth College,” he said. “Because of that, I have great respect for the school that helped make Gail the person she is. Monmouth has been an important touchstone for her for her whole life.”

With each point they made from their nearly 40 years of marriage, Weaver and Simpson shared relevant advice for the graduates that went far beyond Weaver’s quips of “who to call when you’re dealing with ghosts and extraterrestrials” and how the stress of co-writing the Commencement address nearly led to their divorce.

They were both presented with a doctor of humane letters by the college.

“We’re so thrilled to be here on this incredibly beautiful campus,” Weaver said when she began the address.

ABOVE: Anita Gandara and Luis Castillo are all smiles, and it was the final piping performance as a student for graduate Eli Douglass.

The day before Commencement in Dahl Chapel and Auditorium, the Rev. Charles Burton ’92 gave the Baccalaureate sermon, titled “Where Do We Go From Here?” 26 MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Chemistry major

thrived because of one-on-one attention

BY BARRY McNAMARA

and opportunities for involvement

With an enrollment of 2,750 students, Homewood-Flossmoor High School in the south suburbs of Chicago is a behemoth. The Vikings’ boys basketball team just won a state championship in Class 4A, the classification for the largest high schools in Illinois.

It was from that environment that Lina Jursa turned her attention to schools like Monmouth, where she’d get the type of personalized education she desired. Now that the chemistry major’s time on campus is up, she said she didn’t regret her decision to downsize one bit.

“I come from a really large high school — a lot of people,” said Jursa. “So I wanted to find a smaller college where I could get more of a oneon-one educational experience. I’ve loved my four years. I have no regrets.”

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

A college fair at her high school, where she met former admission representative Julio Trujillo, put Monmouth on her radar, and she soon made her first visit to campus for the college’s annual scholarship competition.

“The environment here was just so welcoming. Some people remembered my name, and that was something I hadn’t expected,” said Jursa, who was awarded a Presbyterian Scholarship, in addition to a music scholarship.

From the college’s point of view, both of those scholarships were worthwhile investments. Jursa was a solid contributor to both spiritual life on campus and to the Monmouth Civic Orchestra, in which she played the violin, an instrument she first began learning at age 5.

MAKING, AND BREAKING, BREAD

In Jursa’s early days as a Presbyterian Scholar, she worked closely with the chaplain at the time, the Rev. Teri Ott. She’s since been a valuable asset to the new chaplain, the Rev. John Huxtable, as he navigates his first full academic year in the position.

“It’s given me a different view of campus,” said Jursa, who planned events for a “Week of Kindness” observance as one of her final acts in that role. “I’ve been able to engage in a lot of different programs and done a lot of planning, getting to know what students want.”

“Lina is an amazing student who is completely dedicated to learning and growing in her faith

“It’s given me a different view of campus. I’ve been able to engage in a lot of different programs and done a lot of planning, getting to know what students want.”

Lina Jursa

journey as well as her academic journey,” said Huxtable. “She always is willing to give a hand at whatever we’re doing in the department. Lina is gifted at creating space for others to feel comfortable and always makes anyone around her feel appreciated. She is a true gift to our campus and the Religious and Spiritual Life Department.”

Jursa was part of the team that helped Huxtable assemble the 2023 LUX Summer Institute for Youth Leadership. She even used her chemistry skills, baking the sourdough bread that was used for communion.

Her interest in sourdough also earned Jursa a trip to New Orleans, as she presented her research with other Monmouth students at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society. She presented her poster, titled “Investigating

the Microbiota and Molecular Composition of Sourdough Starters,” in the Division of Chemical Education’s Agricultural and Food Chemistry section.

“I love all the chemistry department. My adviser, Laura Moore, has been a great help,” said Jursa, who said Moore’s “Inorganic Chemistry” course has been her favorite class in her major.

During the same summer that she assisted with the LUX summer program, Jursa was also part of the Doc Kieft Summer Research Program. Her research during the eight-week program showed that the sourdough starters she tested that originated in Illinois resulted in less sour bread than her outsourced cultures.

She said she learned other important lessons along the way.

“I’ve learned a lot about independence and time management skills through my research,” she said. “I had to make procedures for things that hadn’t been done before, which was challenging, but fun.”

CHANGE OF PLANS

When she entered Monmouth, Jursa knew that science was important to her, but her original plan was to study biochemistry to become a cardiovascular perfusionist, the medical staff member who helps keep a patient’s blood flowing during open-heart surgery or related procedures.

But by the end of her freshman year, Jursa realized she wasn’t passionate about a career in medicine, so she veered off her pre-med path to one geared toward education. A class she took around that time from educational studies professor Craig Vivian convinced her to proceed, and her goal became teaching high school chemistry — a goal that was realized when she secured a position in the AldenHebron (Ill.) school district.

“I’ll also be doing my master’s degree work online,” said Jursa, who gained classroom experience by assisting at Monmouth’s Central Intermediate School.

Jursa is busy drawing up lesson plans for her students, but before she left campus, she was asked to speak to recent high school grads who will be entering Monmouth as the College’s Class of 2028.

“I’d advise them to do as many things as they possibly can. Take advantage of all the opportunities here.”

The

experiences Castillo

had

at

Monmouth were even more than he envisioned

BY BARRY McNAMARA

When Luis Castillo sat down a few days before Commencement to chat about his Monmouth experience, the discussion was held in Mellinger Commons in the Center for Science and Business.

Across the mostly empty room, physics professor Chris Fasano was working, perhaps going over his students’ final exams. It was a bit of a full-circle moment for Castillo.

As a high school senior, Castillo participated in the college’s Scholarship Day competition, and he ultimately received one of two Admiral’s Scholarships awarded that year. The scholarship recognizes first-time freshmen who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and leadership in their schools and communities.

Through the Posse Scholarship program, Castillo visited some other schools, as well. After attending Amundsen High School in Chicago, which has an enrollment of around 1,500 students, he was looking for something different. He said a response Fasano made on Scholarship Day stuck with him.

“I asked what makes Monmouth College special, and Professor Fasano talked about how the experience you’ll get at Monmouth is so much more than you’d get at a university,” said Castillo. “It’s above and beyond what a university has to offer in terms of the relationships you’ll make with your professors and the opportunities to be involved.”

‘I WAS OUT THERE’

Even knowing that going in, Castillo said he was surprised by how many such opportunities there were, and he took advantage of many of them, often in leadership positions.

A member of the prestigious Stockdale Fellows leadership

One of President Clarence Wyatt’s mottos about Monmouth was “Free the possible.” Luis Castillo adopted that slightly, advising future students to be “as free as possible.

It’s an opportunity to be young again.”

program, Castillo served as president of Scots Student Senate and was a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, the Scot Ambassador program, the American Chemical Society and the baseball team. He even served as a rock wall instructor.

“I was out there,” said Castillo of his exposure to the campus community.

“I enjoyed being able to walk up to a variety of people and strike up a conversation. It was nothing like I envisioned when I first started.”

Something else he hadn’t envisioned was being part of a presidential search committee, but he was the lone student in the group that ultimately recommended Patricia Draves for the role of Monmouth’s 15th president.

“Being on the presidential search committee was a great opportunity and experience to see what it’s like to run a college,” he said. “You think you know what happens here, but I saw so much more about Monmouth through that process.”

Castillo also learned plenty through his own presidential role.

“COVID took the momentum of Scots Student Senate away, but I believe we made great strides rebuilding its strength and trying to express the importance of it to the student body,” he said. “We doubled the size of the average attendance at our meetings from about 12 students to 24.”

Just a few days before his college career came to a close, Castillo

offered advice for those who are just beginning their journey.

“My main advice is to get involved,” he said. “There are so many opportunities to get to know about things outside your major and about what you might want to do beyond college. You get to know a lot more people. It’s a cliché that your four years in college goes by quickly, but it really does. So take the opportunity to be as free as possible. It’s an opportunity to be young again.”

LOOKING FOR THE UNKNOWN

Within Castillo’s major of neuroscience, he also learned a lot, and he said an opportunity the summer before his junior year was particularly rewarding.

“The Doc Kieft Summer Research Program was a turning point for me,” said Castillo, who also minored in political science. “After I did that, I knew that I wanted to be involved with lab research.”

Castillo’s next stop is not yet determined, as he was in the interview process to work as a research lab assistant, potentially in the Pacific Northwest. He said he might also go on to get a master’s degree in biopsychology.

He is particularly interested in epigenetics, which is the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself or, as Castillo phrased it, “how the environment can alter the genomic sequence.”

“It’s the whole ‘nature vs. nurture’ discussion,” he said. “I’d love to do work in that field and study how the environment can influence the biological aspect. You never know what the right answer is in science. I enjoyed trying to look for the unknown. There’s so much that’s yet to be discovered.”

Hard-working business student received prestigious Tom Johnson Scholarship

BY JESIA CHOITY

Samantha Hartman knew something special was happening last spring when she replied to a request to visit business professor Michael Connell’s office and saw that several other faculty members from the department were there, as well.

The gathering was to let Hartman know she’d received the prestigious Tom Johnson Scholarship, which carries a $10,000 award.

Presented to a Monmouth student by the Edward Arthur Mellinger Educational Foundation, the annual scholarship, named in honor of the foundation’s former president, is presented annually to a junior who best exemplifies Johnson’s work ethic and values.

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

As part of the application process, Hartman wrote a paper reflecting on her life experiences in relation to her work ethic and character. In addition, a résumé and personal references were required.

Winning the scholarship was a major goal of Hartman’s since the moment she heard of it, and she said she was delighted to receive the good news in front of several faculty members.

“I was extremely excited when Professor Connell brought me to his office to deliver the news, especially when I saw all the other professors were there to congratulate me, as well,” she said.

“Sam models the virtues of the Tom Johnson Scholarship — conscientious, hard-working, involved in many things and helps others as a tutor and other ways,” said Connell. “Monmouth College’s motto ought to be, ‘Mentoring students like Samantha Hartman — it’s what we do every day.’” Hartman has always been

“I’ve had some wonderful experiences academically and overall at Monmouth. I’ve been encouraged to think deeper in many classes, pushing me to work harder than what is necessary.”

Samantha Hartman

high despite having a transitioning department at the time. Throughout that transitional year, I helped with the accounting search and provided feedback to our professors to give a student perspective on the search for new professors.”

HER MONMOUTH EXPERIENCE

Hartman said that she chose Monmouth for its small-town atmosphere and the opportunities to form close relationships with professors. She’s always known how important it was to her that her instructors knew her by name, and she’s received that personal touch from the very beginning of her Monmouth experience.

“I’ve had some wonderful experiences academically and overall at Monmouth,” she said. “I’ve been encouraged to think deeper in many classes, pushing me to work harder than what is necessary. Along with that, the department has trusted me, giving me great experience in the accounting search as well as in tutoring for the department, which has allowed me to grow even more — not just as a student, but as a person.”

During her time at Monmouth, the accounting and business administration major has also worked in the business office and been a speech assistant.

committed to Monmouth’s accounting program, and she believes that commitment played a part in winning the scholarship. Her enthusiasm for the discipline, her will to succeed and her Dean’s List grades were factors, but she’s made

other important contributions, as well.

“What I think qualified me most for this award was my dedication to our accounting department,” said Hartman. “I have worked extremely hard to keep my grades

Hartman said she has some “beautiful memories” of Monmouth that she will cherish forever, including participating in a study abroad program in Italy her sophomore year, as well the Homecoming traditions, including the Spirit Shout and fireworks.

Beyond Monmouth, Hartman plans to pursue her certified public accountant license. She began working for the accounting firm Wipfli LLP as an auditor in August.

Pandey attended every single class — about 1,500 of them

BY BARRY McNAMARA

When it comes to his academic record at Monmouth College, Rahm Pandey batted 1.000.

And it’s not because of a small sample size. Over the course of his four years at Monmouth, the classics and accounting major attended roughly 1,500 class sessions without missing a single one.

“It’s something I really wanted to do,” said Pandey, who also had four years of perfect attendance at Global Citizenship Experience Lab School in Chicago.

For Pandey, the rationale behind those eight straight years of perfection is simple.

“Number one, I love school,” he said. “But also, class is between 50 and 75 minutes. I’d rather spend it with the professor instead of trying to catch up. Just go to class. I feel like some people get a little too extreme with their quote-unquote ‘excuses.’”

ANCIENT FIGURES

“Rahm is the epitome of spirit, drive and humility,” said classics professor Bob Simmons, who had Pandey for “a mere 23 courses” at Monmouth, many of them of the partial-credit variety. “There are things that he absolutely loves — classics prominent among them — and he is indistractable in his commitment to them.”

Simmons might teach about ancient Greek and Rome, but he’s not above applying some mathematics, too.

“If my math is right, I think Rahm attended 270 quarter- and half-

credit individual classes and 165 individual full-credit classes, so 435 total times when he was present and on time for classes with me,” he said. “He was also a student worker for each of the past two years and never missed any of his shifts,” which were for two hours each week.

Pandey was a senior in high school when the COVID pandemic began, so even though he never missed a class at Monmouth, he wasn’t always present in a classroom. He

said at least five weeks of his college education were presented remotely, “so about a third of a semester combined.”

Those were the days of omnipresent masks, which is also how Pandey navigated the rare times when he wasn’t feeling his best.

“I just wore a mask and toughed it out,” he said of the alternative to taking a sick day.

“Rahm is also an extraordinary event planner,” said Simmons, citing

Pandey’s role as the active hours chair for the college’s Association for Student Activity Programming. “In addition to event after event that he planned for ASAP, he has been critical to three major classics events, which his focused efforts helped to turn into multi-awardwinners.”

Those include a pair of Classics Day events and Monmouth’s hosting of the national meeting of Eta Sigma Phi, the classics honor society.

NUMERICAL FIGURES

Classics is certainly a passion for Pandey, but accounting is the field in which he plans to make a living after he pursues a master’s of business and science degree at the University of Iowa.

Of the 50 or so courses Pandey took at Monmouth, he called his capstone course in accounting the hardest he had. Along with two classmates, he presented a poster from the class on Scholars Day, titled “Reflecting on New ESG Regulations’ Impact on Business Financial Reporting.” The poster about environmental, social and governance regulations stemmed from a 6,000-word paper he cowrote for the class.

Whatever employer lands Pandey after he completes his MBS in accounting can be certain they’re getting a reliable worker who will punch the time clock every day.

And Pandey can be certain his attendance record at Monmouth won’t be broken.

“I don’t think anybody can top that,” he said.

“Number one, I love school. But also, class is between 50 and 75 minutes. I’d rather spend it with the professor instead of trying to catch up. Just go to class. I feel like some people get a little too extreme with their quote-unquote ‘excuses.’”

Rahm Pandey

From New Jersey, to Monmouth, to Penn State for campus leader Gutierrez

BY BARRY McNAMARA

For someone who’s been told she “plays it too safe sometimes,” Fatima Gutierrez has made several ventures far away from her comfort zone — like 14-hours-from-home far.

That’s what she did when she came to Monmouth College four years ago as a freshman from Trenton, N.J. (and no, it wasn’t by mistake — she didn’t confuse the college for her home state’s Monmouth University), and it is continuing beyond graduation as she’ll enroll in a graduate program at Penn State University.

Along the way, Gutierrez has tried several new things, including joining Pi Beta Phi sorority and even experimenting with dance. Gutierrez was also a Scot Ambassador, a mental health peer educator, a four-year member of Concert Choir and a member of the college chaplain’s spiritual life team.

“This is when you have the opportunity to put yourself out there and try different things,” she said of the freeing power of college. “Change your hairstyle, change the way you dress. This is your time. Open yourself to all the possibilities.”

That’s advice she follows herself, and also what she told prospective students while she led campus tours. She also told those high school students that it’s OK not to have everything in their lives figured out yet.

“College can be a lot. I didn’t do well at first,” said Gutierrez, who majored in sociology and anthropology with a concentration in human services. “The best thing you can do is try. At the end of the day, even if you fail, it makes you grow as a person. Don’t expect to pass everything on the first try or know everything right off the bat.”

It’s that type of “been there, done that” perspective that helped Gutierrez relate to the students she listened to in her mental health role, and it’s the kind of compassion she plans to bring to her post-graduate work.

PROJECT BRITE

Penn State’s Project BRITE (Bringing Research and Intervention to Trauma-Informed Education) is a federally funded program that offers interdisciplinary coursework and supervised experiences to provide special education teachers with expertise in trauma-informed services for students with disabilities.

Gutierrez was encouraged to apply for the selective program by one of her professors, Tiffany Springer

“I took a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) course with Professor Springer, and she sparked the flame that used to be there for me about helping those who are disadvantaged,” said Gutierrez. “I thought, ‘Maybe I’m not suited for it?’ But she thought it would be a great fit for me. She was the motivation I needed to take the leap.”

It’s a leap that will eventually lead her to work with “vulnerable” elementary and middle school students.

“These kids are already at a disadvantage,” said Gutierrez. “They might have autism, and they feel like ‘Now everything’s about my diagnosis.’ But they aren’t their diagnosis, and they deserve a chance to better themselves.”

CHOOSING MONMOUTH

When Gutierrez first showed interest in Monmouth, an admission representative checked back with her, just to make sure she had the right Monmouth. But she knew what she was doing, as her high school teacher had told his class: “You can make an impact wherever you go. Don’t restrict yourselves to New Jersey schools.”

Her application was strong enough to earn an invitation to compete with other prospective students on the college’s Scholarship Day.

“On my visit, I not only fell in love with the school, but I fell in love with the sociology and anthropology program,” said Gutierrez. “I could see myself here. It just clicked with me. Yeah, it’s 14 hours away, but I decided I could use a break from the house.”

HER MONMOUTH EXPERIENCE

In that house, Gutierrez grew up with four brothers. When she came to Monmouth, seeking out sisterhood wasn’t at the top of her list, but her time with Pi Phi is another example of the benefits of opening herself up to possibilities.

“I gained 70 new sisters,” she said.

She’s also benefited from her work with the Rev. John Huxtable, Monmouth’s chaplain.

“I’m in the background, and he does the heavy lifting,” said Gutierrez, who helped start the weekly Chaplain Chat, which provides a regularly scheduled time for students to meet with Huxtable in Hewes Library. “I just want to help get him out there for the students.”

Putting herself out there has been the key to her successful time at the college.

“My time at Monmouth has grown me as a person,” she said. “I got to learn a lot about myself. You can get so lost in the city, trying to follow what someone else is doing. I decided that this kind of chance doesn’t come around often, so I took advantage of it while I could.”

Golden Scots get a taste of transformed alma mater during event-filled weekend

BY BARRY McNAMARA

One of the meal options for the 78 Golden Scots who returned to Monmouth College June 6-9 was “Taste of Monmouth,” where the alumni from 45 years ago and longer sampled such fare as pulled chicken sliders, elote, sparkling lemonade and mini cannoli.

Really, the entire Golden Scots Celebration could’ve been called “Taste of Monmouth,” as the alumni were treated to a variety of lectures, tours and activities that allowed them to sample the college as it is today.

One local establishment — the Maple City Restaurant — holds a special place in the heart of John Courson ’64, part of the 60th reunion class. The homestyle Main Street eatery was Courson’s first stop in town as a freshman after he got off the train from Colorado with a pair of foot lockers and two suitcases.

“It’s one of my favorite restaurants in America,” said Courson, who in 1960 then made his way to campus, where he said he was the first student given keys to a room in the brand new Graham Hall.

A FRESH TAKE ON MONMOUTH

Teaching the history of when the Golden Scots’ alma mater added new facilities such as Graham Hall was the objective of Jeff Rankin’s talk, subtitled “Monmouth College’s Changing Landscape.” The retired college historian noted that during a 12-year span around the turn of the 21st century, Monmouth spent $120 million on building projects and to expand the campus.

“This isn’t the same campus it was in the 1960s,” noted Chuck Rassieur ’60, as a campus tour made its first stop at the Center for Science and Business, the $42 million facility that opened in 2013.

“This isn’t the same campus it was in 1996, when I graduated,” said the tour’s leader, development officer Michael Blaesing.

Given the option of a golf cart for the tour or setting out on foot, Damaris Blansfield, a friend of Kristina Azbell ’79, said, “I’m going to walk. That’s what we just learned” from a prior morning session, “Wellness and Movement,” led by kinesiology instructor Jen Braun

On that first stop at the Center for Science and Business, Braun opened up the college’s greenhouse, telling the tour group, “This is our

ABOVE: The Golden Scots show their appreciation for one of the talks they heard, which ranged from conspiracy theories, to cranium chronicles, to the college’s changing landscape. BELOW: Biology professor Eric Engstrom led a tour of the educational farm.

hidden treasure.”

A few stops later, the group was at Dahl Chapel and Auditorium, where some of the more senior alums recalled attending daily chapel.

“What were the consequences if you missed?” asked Susan Helton Haley ’74

“I don’t know. I always showed up,” replied Mary Bailey Marshall ’64

Daily chapel might’ve been gone by the time Haley was a student, but the hill behind Wallace Hall was still there, with no steps yet installed to break up its steep slope.

“I remember one year, there was an ice storm,” she said. “We didn’t go to class. We just stayed at our window and laughed at all the people trying to make it up the hill.”

A FRESH TASTE OF MONMOUTH

The morning before, the Golden Scots were driven to the Monmouth College Educational

Farm and Garden. At the farm, biology professor Eric Engstrom told the group that “nutritious and delicious” eggs, blueberries and honey are the main products sold by the summer crew of students at the local farmers market.

One of the attractions of the farm visit was the opportunity to pick blueberries right off the bush and eat them.

“Oh my gosh, these are good,” said Cathy Blake Trent ’70. “You can’t beat that.”

It wasn’t Trent’s only taste of fresh produce.

“The young man in charge of the asparagus took me over to where it was and snapped off a stalk,” she said the next day. “I ate it raw, and it was fabulous.”

Asked about earning extra credit for their summer roles, Jaydon Wilbon ’25 replied, “No, but we get personal extra credit. It’s a lot of great experience.”

Later on that morning, the Golden Scots heard from four Fighting Scots coaches and from another longtime coach, Director of Athletics Roger Haynes ’82, who’s nearing Golden Scot status himself.

“How do you find another Caitlin Clark to go to Monmouth?” Rassieur asked women’s basketball coach Michelle Decoud

Decoud replied that building relationships with high school and club coaches was a major step in the process.

Haynes highlighted some athlete successes, including national sack leader Anthony Cikauskas ’26 from the football team and recordsetting swimmer Cally Tate ’26, who had spoken earlier in the morning to the Golden Scots about how quickly she’s taken to handling bees at the garden and farm.

“I enjoyed talking with the coaches on Friday morning,” said Tom Rezner ’64, who said he served as the de facto track coach his sophomore year in school, assisting Moose Corgnati in his only year leading the program. “I asked a couple questions, and Haynes had the answers.”

After finishing in the third quarter of his 800-student class in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Rezner came to Monmouth and finished “in the top 15 or 20%” before getting in on the ground floor of Carl Sandburg College in 1966, teaching there for 12 years before starting a career in industry.

A ’65 FRESHMAN’S TAKE ON MONMOUTH

One of Saturday’s programs was retired veterinarian Lou Herrin ’69 discussing his collection of animal skulls — including, to name a few, a wallaby, a hedgehog and an armadillo — which he donated to the College in 1996. As he told stories related to the collection, Herrin

drew plenty of laughs before tugging on the heartstrings.

In the process of acquiring the skull of Mike the baboon, Herrin said he had to drive the frozen corpse across Peoria, Ill. Since Mike was frozen in a sitting position, Herrin placed him in the front seat of his car, but then he realized that, in the days of full-service gas stations, he needed a fill-up.

“I looked up, and gas was going everywhere,” said Herrin. “I think the gas station attendant thought I had the world’s ugliest girlfriend.”

But Herrin also became emotional when talking about how essential his college education was.

“My postscript on all this is the value of an education at a small college,” said Herrin, who dedicated his collection to the late biology professor David Allison, who not only bailed Herrin out of jail in his first few days on campus,

but provided a transformational experience later on. “Dr. Allison invited me on a study-abroad trip to Costa Rica, and I can’t tell you how much that trip changed my life.”

Another member of the Class of 1969, Mark Goodman, also went into the medical field. He said what he enjoyed about being back on campus this year was “meeting the people — the ones I knew and the ones I really didn’t know — and how gracious and friendly they all are. When you’re in college, you have cliques, so to have that chance now to meet new people is special. ... The campus is incredible. The transformation from when we were students is magnificent.”

His wife, Elsa, added: “The athletic facility is phenomenal. The campus is so beautiful, and everyone is so friendly. I can’t get over how beautifully maintained the grounds are. And there are plenty of places to sit and enjoy the scenery.”

Asked his favorite part of the weekend, Courson replied: “Being back again. I love coming to Monmouth College. And my wife (Marcia) might enjoy being here even more than I do.”

The most senior alum in attendance was 97-year-old Ralph Whiteman, a member of the Class of 1952.

“You are an institution here,” Barb Trubeck Clark ’66 told Whiteman, just prior to Rankin’s talk on the college’s evolution.

“Maybe I belong in an institution,” replied Whiteman, in his typically self-effacing manner.

ABOVE: From left 1974 grads Liz Geiger Fry, Jeff Fry, Paul Waszak, Mike Castillo, Michael Woznicki, Greg Derbak (’75) and Warren Wilson enjoy some social time on the patio at the Alumni House. BELOW: Business professor Richard Johnston, aka Dicky J,” is part of Craig & Co., which performed during the weekend.

‘Home front hero’

The incredible life of Mary Fernald Schrenker

• STORY BY BARRY McNAMARA •

Memorial Day and Veterans Day are both times to honor individuals who served in the military, and Monmouth College has had its share, including four alumni who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the armed forces’ highest military decoration for personnel who distinguished themselves through acts of valor.

The two national holidays conjure images of soldiers in combat. But not all individuals who made great personal sacrifices during wartime served in the military or came into harm’s way on the battlefield.

Consider the case of the late Mary Fernald Schrenker, who was born in Larchland, Ill., the youngest of nine children. She grew up in Monmouth, then followed five of her Fernald siblings to Monmouth College — Herb ’35, Rob ’37, Joyce ’39, Sarah ’41 and Leon ’42.

While many of the other young women on campus were studying to be teachers or were involved with the fine arts, Mary took on the rigors of chemistry with legendary professors William Haldeman and Garrett Thiessen. She graduated in 1942 during the first year of U.S. involvement in World War II, and her chemistry degree was immediately put to use, as she served as a lab tech at the Kankakee (Illinois) Ordnance Works.

IN HARM’S WAY

The plant was one of more than 60 constructed between June 1940 and December 1942 to manufacture military munitions, a process that required specialized equipment and techniques. The boom in construction was an attempt to avoid the confusion and waste experienced two decades earlier during the mobilization effort for World War I.

Kankakee Ordnance Works and its sister plant roughly 20 miles to the northwest, the Elwood Ordnance Plant, were two of the first five plants to be constructed (and would, years later, be known collectively as the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant). During peak production, the two

facilities employed more than 17,000 people from 36 states.

The plants were separate because they had different purposes. Kankakee manufactured various types of explosives for use at other plants, while Elwood loaded artillery shells, bombs, mines and other munitions. During the course of World War II, Elwood produced a staggering number of bombs, including more than 3,000 two-ton bombs and, combined, more than half a million 250- and 300-pound bombs.

It was a simple fact of life that the plant’s employees were putting themselves in harm’s way. In fact, shortly before Mary began working at Kankakee, a large explosion on a loading line of railroad cars killed 48 people at the Elwood plant. The

blast, with an explosive weight equal to approximately 62,600 pounds of TNT, was felt as far as 60 miles away and reportedly heard 100 miles away in Waukegan, Ill. It was the deadliest U.S. ammunition plant incident of World War II and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in state history.

SETTING THE STAGE

When Mary began working at Kankakee, she was one of more than 10,000 people employed at the two plants. Most of the female employees did secretarial work, but Mary was one of the exceptions. Although this Monmouth connection wasn’t known at the time, she worked for a young Bernard Ryder, who would eventually have a daughter, Mary Ryder, who became

a 1972 Monmouth graduate. A distinguished professor emerita at South Dakota State University, Ryder has returned to Illinois, living in Normal, not far from the Illinois State University campus where her father taught chemistry for 28 years.

“She was working next to my dad, who was one of seven lead scientists on the project,” said Ryder. “At 24, he was actually on the older end of the lead team, which had an average age of 23.”

Ryder recently donated her father’s lab manual — an 86-page, three-ring notebook — to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Officials there told her they didn’t have anything like it in their Home Front Production Collection.

“I made a copy and sent them the original,” said Ryder. “It’s full of very

IN HARM’S WAY: Above, working around explosives was part of daily life for the thousands of people employed at Kankakee and Elwood. Opposite page, Mary Fernald Schrenker ’42 and her family pose for a photo in the 1950s. Background, Rosie the Riveter photo via the National Archives.

MONMOUTH IANA

technical material concerning the work they were doing at Kankakee.”

Also working in the lab was its supervisory chemist, Bernard “Ben” Carlson, whose son, John, went on to become a professor of astrophysics, retiring a few years ago from the University of Maryland. It’s possible John Carlson and Mary Ryder met as youth, but they’ve definitely connected recently as Ryder has dug deeper into her father’s World War II assignment.

“My dad stayed friends with several of the chemists for a number of years, and Mom wrote Christmas cards to the Carlsons,” said Ryder.

Ryder didn’t learn Mary’s full name until a recent conversation with Carlson, “and that’s when I put the two together,” she said of their Monmouth ties. “Some of the parallels between John and my family were pretty freaky, and then I was really freaked out when I realized that this woman who I’d heard stories about as a child had also gone to Monmouth.”

A FATEFUL DAY

Carlson provided details about what lab work was like at Kankakee.

“The main product was TNT — trinitrotoluene,” he said. “They also made a tricky, unstable detonator from lead azide.”

There were 12 TNT lines at Kankakee and six DNT lines. And Kankakee was the only facility in the system producing lead azide, which Carlson called “a pretty scary chemical.”

“In my father’s lab, they were working on better ways to make it, store it and package it,” he said. “It was unstable and dangerous.”

The lab manual read, “Everyone connected with the plant should always bear in mind that lead azide is a primary explosive and has to be respected. Safety rules are to be carried out exactly.”

“The bench chemists, like Mary, would have both examined the samples microscopically and used the ‘drop’ test to determine the nature of the sample,” said Ryder. “The latter was the really dangerous part. ... It was nearly as dangerous

A LONG LIFE: The fateful day in 1942 didn’t end Mary’s life. She went on to live nearly 70 more years, touching many lives along the way.

going into that lab as it was into the battlefield.”

From there, Carlson let his late mother — also named Mary — take over what he called “a really extraordinary story,” based on a conversation he had with her sometime after her 101st birthday in 2018.

“My mom and I could always talk about anything,” said Carlson, whose father died in 2002. “As she aged, she remained quite sharp. One day, I said something like, ‘When Dad was at the Joliet Arsenal at Kankakee, do you remember a story about an accident?’ She said, ‘Oh, yes. There was an explosion. A woman lost her hands and arms in the lab. Your dad was devastated. Her name was Mary, the same as mine. Mary Fernald.’

“Then I asked her, ‘Do you remember what specifically happened?’ She said, ‘They were in the lab, working on dangerous explosives. It just exploded.”

The detonation velocity of lead azide is approximately 17,000 feet per second.

Added Carlson, “In an instant, she lost not only her hands but her lower arms completely. Everybody came rushing in to save her.”

Carlson, who was born in Joliet in 1945, continued the recollection of his conversation with his mother.

“She said, ‘It was such a crisis, but she recovered and she got married.’ I said, ‘Do you know what it was that exploded?’ She said, ‘It was lead azide.’ It was just amazing to me that it was right there in her mind after all that time — more than 75

years — had passed. How could she remember that? It’s remarkable what this shows about the deep, deep power of memory, of trauma, of compassion, and how they as a couple felt about the accident.”

And that compassion was definitely present, according to both Ryder and Carlson.

“It was no one’s fault,” said Ryder. “Mary was working with a bad sample. Dad carried a burden of guilt for years, and John’s father blamed himself for the accident since he was the supervisor of that lab, though, of course, the accident wasn’t his fault. John’s mother wrote to Mary for years.”

“It was a horrible accident,” said Carlson. “My dad felt so bad, but it was nothing he’d done wrong. He had that collection of emotions you feel when it’s something that happened under your watch, like a lieutenant might feel about a battle. Just the horror of it.”

THE REST OF THE STORY

That Mary survived the ordeal is, in itself, a miracle, and then she went on to live another seven decades — including more than a half-century in Roseville, Minn., — dying in 2012 at the age of 91. Her surviving daughter, Janet Bender, filled in some details about her mother’s next 70 years.

“She was a pretty fabulous lady, well-respected,” said Bender, who reported that following the accident and her recovery, Mary went to Los Angeles with her sister-in-law.

“They stayed there several months so that Mom could learn about her prosthetics and how to use her hooks for hands,” said Bender. “One of the things she told me about that time was she was taught how to put on her make-up by the women who did make-up for the stars. At the cafeteria they had there, she saw Gen. Omar Bradley,” who would, less than two years later, serve as field commander during the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day.

Another employee at the Kankakee plant was Bill Schrenker, who would eventually have a career with 3M.

“Mom and Dad met at the plant, and Dad stayed with her after the accident,” said Bender. “There’s a story from their wedding that her future mother-in-law was crying, because her son was marrying a crippled, handicapped person.”

But despite such prejudices, the Schrenkers got along just like any other family. It just took some “ingenuity” sometimes.

“Her and Dad were ingenious,” said Bender. “They always had to be inventing something, like pads to cover her hooks. Before the accident, she and Dad had done horseback riding, and she was starting to get into golf. So Dad even tried to design golf clubs she could use. I’m not sure that they turned out, but at least they tried.”

Those inventions, combined with her mindset, helped Mary remain, in her daughter’s words, “independent” and “self-sufficient.”

“She wanted to be self-sufficient, and she was an inspiration to so many people,” said Bender. “One of them was the church organist, who struggled with rheumatoid arthritis. She was in a lot of pain, but after watching my Mom’s example for so many years, she told herself, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’”

Mary’s self-sufficiency included learning how to sew and getting behind the wheel of a car.

“She pushed for independence,” said Bender. “When she wanted to start driving, no one would insure her. The Hartford Co. finally did, and she didn’t have an accident until she was 84, and it wasn’t her fault.”

Simply put, Bender said her mother “just never made a big deal about her hands.”

“Others would, of course. I remember that little kids would point at her. My children are deaf, and I remember one time Mom and I were shopping with my kids, and a woman was watching us. She said something like, ‘Oh my goodness. So much bad has happened to your family.’ Mom and I just looked at each

MONMOUTH IANA

other, like ‘What? Isn’t everybody like this?’”

Mary could relate to her deaf grandchildren. As a result of the explosion, she lost a great deal of her hearing (her eyesight, however, was fine, as the safety glasses she was wearing did their job perfectly).

“When it came time to teach my kids to communicate, we had to decide on whether the main focus would be to sign or to be oral,” said Bender. “Even though she had hooks for hands, Mom said, ‘By all means, go with sign language.’ She would study for hours and watch DVDs, so she could understand what my kids were saying to her when they were doing things like asking for more, or for milk.”

Years after the fact, Bender heard a heartwarming story about her mother.

“At Mom’s funeral, the daughter of a neighbor lady who used to play bridge with Mom told me a story about when she was a child, around 5, 6, 7 years old. She said she asked Mom, ‘What are those hooks for?’ Mom said, ‘They’re for picking up little girls and swinging you around.’”

‘HOME FRONT HERO’

Mary’s obituary said she “cheated death” in an accident involving detonators for World War II weapons.

“She fought hard to survive, but lost both hands in the accident,” reads the obit. “She worked hard to rehabilitate herself, then married, and had two daughters.”

The obituary continued, “She was a loving and gracious person who touched everyone she met. She will not be easily forgotten, and her bright blue eyes and loving heart

will be sorely missed.”

“I heard her story throughout my growing up,” said Ryder. “The tragedy of the incident plagued, I think, all of the chemists who were at work there. Mary Schrenker was a home front hero. She made a sacrifice.”

“I’ve always remembered her name from my parents talking about her — Mary Fernald,” said Carlson. “She recovered and continued on with a full life. She even had children, which makes it a story with a good ending.”

One of those children appreciates that a longer version of her mother’s story is finally being told.

“This is something I have wished for for a long time,” said Bender. “How does someone so special leave this world without someone noticing?”

“In an instant, she lost not only her hands but her lower arms completely. Everybody came rushing in to save her.”

TWO BERNARDS: Mary Ryder’s father (left) is pictured near the age he was during World War II. John Carlson’s father (right) is pictured many years after his time at the Kankakee Ordnance Plant.

THREE THROW

A trio of Scots track team members in the news as students, as well

Monmouth to Virginia to Chicago to Greece for All-American singer

STORIES BY BARRY McNAMARA

Caleb Toberman navigated a potential travel snafu to have one of the more memorable spring breaks for a Monmouth College student.

The senior earned second team All-American honors in the weight throw at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 8 in Virginia Beach, Va., then managed to fly back to Chicago in time to join the Monmouth Chorale as it departed March 9 for an eight-day performance tour of Greece.

“It was definitely hectic,” said Toberman, who up until the first weekend in March was also a candidate to qualify for nationals in the shot put. Had he done so, he would’ve had to catch a different flight to Greece and catch up with the rest of the Monmouth group later.

But as it turned out, he even had a little down time at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on March 9, waiting a few hours for the Monmouth group to arrive after his own flight from Norfolk, Va., touched down at 8 a.m.

“It was a little bit of a rough night,” said Toberman of his final hours in Virginia. “I only got about four hours of sleep. We had to leave our hotel in Virginia Beach by 4:30 a.m. to catch our 6 a.m. flight.”

Fortunately, a groggy Toberman didn’t have to keep track of too many travel details.

“I didn’t have to worry about the logistics,” he said. “Coach (Brian) Woodard and Professor (Tim) Pahel handled all that. It was nice to not have that responsibility on my hands. But if I’d made the shot put final, that would’ve screwed everything up. Thankfully and unthankfully, I didn’t make it.”

Toberman fell just a little shy of reaching nationals in the shot put, despite a career-best mark of 51 feet at a last chance qualifier. In the weight throw, his best mark in Virginia was 59 feet, good for 15th place. His teammate, junior Shane Anderson, finished 19th.

AN ALL-AMERICAN IN OLYMPIA

Toberman has been a successful athlete throughout his high school and college years, and the same can be said for his singing. Freshmen weren’t allowed in the auditioned choir at Clifton Central High School — about 10 miles south of Kankakee, Ill. — but Toberman sang bass baritone for the group his final three years, and this was his fourth year with the Monmouth Chorale.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Toberman of the international trip, which Pahel organizes every four years so that all Chorale members get the experience during their Monmouth careers. “I enjoyed getting to know a lot more about the history in Greece, and seeing that all play out.”

One of the stops was of particular interest, as the track and field standout set foot at Olympia, home of the first Olympics 2,800 years ago.

“That was an exciting place to go,” said Toberman, who took a class on the ancient Greek language his freshman year. “They even had a miniature recreation of the old Olympic stadium. It was a lot of fun to see what it would’ve been like.”

Although the Chorale’s three public performances were strong, Toberman also enjoyed being an audience member for a concert presented by students at the Athens Music School.

“It was like high school is for us,” he said of the

school. “The oldest singers were about 18. It was a different style of music from what I normally hear, but it was so good. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Due to losing his freshman year of track and field to COVID-19, Toberman plans to stay on an extra year at Monmouth, graduating in May 2025 with degrees in computer science and data science and a minor in mathematics.

Among the possible career paths he’s considering are data analytics, especially as they pertain to sports, as well as being a software engineer or database manager.

Those are Toberman’s career goals. He was asked what he’d like to accomplish in track and field before his career as a Fighting Scot is over.

“I just want to throw as far as I can and score as many points for the team at the Midwest Conference meet as possible,” he said.

At May’s outdoor MWC meet, Toberman certainly racked up the points, winning three throwing events. He then broke the school discus record (172’9-1/4) at a last chance qualifier meet and placed 11th in the discus at the NCAA meet, earning another second team All-American honor.

Fighting Scots thrower, Greek life leader

Maddie

Boley in rare air

The storied history of women’s track and field at Monmouth College has a very short list of Fighting Scots throwers who rank in the top eight of the discus, hammer and shot put.

That list is even shorter when being the recipient of an Order of Omega national scholarship is added to the requirements for membership.

The first list features just Raven Robinson ’14 and Maddie Boley ’25. Boley has the latter list all to herself by virtue of the $750 Parker F. Enright Scholarship that she was awarded this spring.

In the discus, hammer and shot put, Boley currently ranks fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively, on the Scots’ honor roll. She didn’t top any of her career bests at this year’s Midwest Conference outdoor meet, but she topped all of her competitors, winning all three events to secure 30 of Monmouth’s 123 points as the Scots placed second.

DISCUS DISCUSSIONS

Coach Brian Woodard has a well-earned reputation for being a “thrower whisperer,” and Boley has benefitted from his expertise, although she said it hasn’t always been easy, particularly in her signature event, the discus.

“When I was in high school, I did the ‘glide’ technique,” she said. “When I got here, he wanted me to switch to the ‘rotational’ style. It’s a totally different throw, and I was frustrated at first. I wasn’t seeing results.”

Boley was already an athlete who “can get in my own head,” so the lack of progress could’ve derailed the whole process, which is akin to a golfer such as Tiger Woods dismantling his swing and starting over.

“We’re putting the pieces together,” said Boley. “Coach Woodard has been very supportive along the way.”

She said she made a breakthrough at Monmouth’s last home meet of the outdoor season.

“That was a big meet for me,” said Boley, who threw a career best 147’4-3/4. “I’d been struggling to get a PR in the discus. I think just being relaxed on our home turf and our own environment really helped, and Coach was cueing what I really needed to hear.”

That distance had Boley ranked as high as 15th nationally, but she ultimately fell just short of qualifying for the NCAA meet.

Boley has a pair of national meet possibilities left in her career, and earning All-American honors is one of her goals. She also has her sights set on breaking the school record in the discus and possibly the shot put, as well. Four women — Allison Devor ’13, Tanesha Hughes ’09, Robinson and Karen Seeman ’93 — hold the Scots’ four outdoor throwing records. Should Boley manage to break not one, but two, Monmouth records, she’d be all alone in another exclusive club.

CHOOSING ALPHA XI DELTA

As sure as Boley was about wanting to continue her successful athletic career at the next level, that’s also how certain she was that Greek life wouldn’t be a part of her experience in college.

“Absolutely not,” she said, when asked if joining a sorority was part of her college plans. “But I had a friend who went to Valparaiso, and she told me to just give recruiting week a try. I was on campus early for SOFIA (a summer research program), and

my mentor was in Greek life.”

Once recruitment began, Boley’s feelings started to change.

“I thought, ‘These people are really cool.’ It’s not how I envisioned it being. It was a long week, but it was fun. You get to meet a lot of people. When it came time to make my decision, I was pretty on edge. I called my mom, and she said ‘Give it a shot.’” Boley pledged Alpha Xi Delta, and leadership roles have become the norm. She’s AXD’s vice president for membership and has been named, in order, president of Panhellenic Council, Order of Omega and Blue Key.

“It’s built my confidence up a lot,” said the health science and human movement major. “I’m realizing what I want to do and the potential that I have.”

Once she makes her final throw with the Scots next spring, Boley plans to attend graduate school to earn a master’s degree in exercise physiology and, ultimately, a doctorate, with the possible goal of teaching at a school like Monmouth.

Schnetzler has taken ‘untraditional path’ at Monmouth

Monmouth College prides itself on being a school where students can be involved in a wide variety of activities simultaneously.

The experience that Jeff Schnetzler ’25 has had on campus supports those cocurricular opportunities, but it also adds another element — the adaptability available to Monmouth students.

If Schnetzler had been featured as an incoming student, he would’ve been described as a football player studying engineering who was not affiliated with Greek life.

Today, the rising senior is a secondary social science education major who’s a member of the Fighting Scots track and field team and Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. He’s also majoring in classics, minoring in history and serving as the head resident in Bowers Hall.

A NEW PATH OF STUDY

He explained how each of those changes occurred, starting with academics.

“In high school, I learned toward the beginning of the week, and then I’d have peers asking for my help,” he said. “I always found myself in a teaching role.”

Schnetzler is part of the innovative Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools initiative, which teaches future educators to adapt to a school’s environment to meet student needs.

crisis had on the lives of people during the 1929-1939 time period,” she said. “His ability to weave a variety of primary sources and high interest texts was authentic, insightful and effective. It is exciting to consider the positive impact that Jeff will have on the lives of his future students once he becomes a certified educator.”

OTHER NEW DIRECTIONS

Schnetzler came to Monmouth to play football but soon rediscovered his passion for track and field.

“Our TARTANS are committed to preparing for teaching in a rural community and being a visionary in their future teaching community,” said educational studies professor Tamara La Prad, who earlier this month led a TARTANS trip to Teton Science Schools in Wyoming to learn more about using place-based principles.

While in Wyoming, Schnetzler noted an emphasis on the students engaging with the outdoors.

“I really like the idea of that and finding opportunities to begin facilitating outdoor learning environments, such as Monmouth College’s very own yurt,” said Schnetzler, who soon will begin student teaching at an area school. “Teaching is something that I have grown quite passionate about, and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to put into practice all the tips and tricks I’ve learned from my time as a TARTAN, from my peers and from my professors.”

Educational studies professor Tiffany Springer said Schnetzler “demonstrates an undeniable passion for his area of study,” providing an example from a 300-level class she taught last semester.

“Jeff delivered an engaging and informative lesson with a peer regarding the Great Depression and the devastating impact the economic

“I did track when I was younger but stopped in high school to pursue other sports,” he said. “After I watched a couple practices, I decided to become a thrower for the track team.”

Also within athletics, Schnetzler is president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, an appointed committee that provides insight on the student-athlete experience.

“Last year, I was the representative for men’s athletics, so I got to travel to Beloit College and actually be at the SAAC conference meeting,” he said. “It was really neat to see the representatives from all the colleges and discuss current issues for student-athletes with them, as well as collaborate on ideas for possible solutions.”

Recently, the Dean’s List student who received the Good Neighbor Award at the 2023 Highlander Leadership Awards, made one other change to his college résumé –joining Zeta Beta Tau.

Going Greek was a decision he made later than most, but he’s enjoyed the new experience.

“ZBT brought another type of support into my time on campus, as well as brotherhood I hadn’t experienced before,” he said. “I also like the mentor relationships between the upperclassmen and underclassmen. I didn’t join until I was a junior, so there’s another kind of untraditional path when you look at my college career.”

2025 AND BEYOND

“After graduation I aim to teach high school history,” said Schnetzler. “In a perfect world, I feel most comfortable with the upper end of secondary teaching — 11th and 12th grade.”

The goal, he said, is to provide plenty of “a-ha” moments.

“What excites me about teaching is the sense of accomplishment you get when you see the light bulb turn on for a student,” he said. “I really enjoy that sense of helping better others and sharing different experiences that work well for me, helping to shape students into becoming lifelong learners, rather than just getting by.”

Schnetzler also plans to incorporate his time as a Fighting Scot.

“In addition to the educational side, I also have a passion to coach,” he said. “Track and field had a massive impact on my life and created a positive change in my academics. I want to be able to bring to students this same passion for sports while being able to teach the skills of time management between the work that comes with school and the play that comes with sports.”

‘The Putback’

A most memorable shot for a most

BY BARRY McNAMARA

The player his men’s basketball teammates call “the most interesting man in the world” hit the most memorable shot of the season, lifting Monmouth College to a 6564 victory over archrival Knox in February.

Sophomore center Turner Plumer made a putback of a missed free throw at the buzzer to lift the Fighting Scots to the dramatic road win.

THE SCIENCE GUY

Back to basketball momentarily but, in the meantime, Plumer’s nickname deserves some attention, too.

“Back at home, I’m into stock car racing and dirt track racing,” said the 6-foot-5 Plumer, who grew “too big” for youth racing cars at age 8 but sticks with the behind-the-wheel part of his hobby through a driving simulator in his dorm room. “I know how to work on cars. Since a young age, my dad taught me how to build things and work with tools. So I’ve built this toolbox for myself of doing a lot of work like that.”

It didn’t take long for his teammates to realize the post player’s off-court skills could come in handy.

“They’d say ‘My car won’t start,’ and I’d help them out,” said Plumer. “I’m good with technology stuff, too, and I’m able to solve some of those kinds of issues they might have and help them out.”

Appropriately, Plumer is an engineering major, and a strong one, at that, carrying a 3.97 GPA.

“I really enjoy learning how things are built and how they work,” said Plumer, who’s focusing on mechanical engineering but also plans to “add a couple courses” and have an electrical engineering focus,

interesting Fighting Scot

SOME

as well. “I just want to get a job that’s hands-on, building and designing things.”

Plumer’s love of car racing and technology merge in the videos he makes for his local track, the Spoon River Speedway. Skrivseth showed off one of those videos for Allen Brothers Racing while discussing his valuable big man.

“He’s a very quiet guy until you get him on a certain topic — car racing

or woodworking, things like that,” said Skrivseth. “He’s a tremendous teammate and very much respected by the guys. He’s a hard worker and you get the same person every single day. That’s a nice luxury. I’m fortunate to be able to coach him.”

It’s not uncommon to see Plumer dunk at a game, a skill he first showed off on social media as a high school freshman.

“I don’t remember the first time

I ever dunked, but the first time everybody found out that I could was during offseason workouts with the football guys, when our coach had me dunk and put it on one of his Twitter posts as a way to show that hard work in the weight room pays off,” said Plumer.

Plumer credits increased confidence for helping him raise his scoring significantly from his freshman season, when he averaged 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds. This year, Plumer finished with a 11.3 scoring average on 54.6% shooting and pulled down 4.7 boards per game, earning second-team AllMidwest Conference honors.

‘THE PUTBACK’

No rebound was bigger than his one against Knox.

“When (Kyle Taylor) was at the line with 1.4 seconds to go (and the Scots down two), I thought for sure he’s making both of them,” said Plumer of the sharp-shooting sophomore point guard.

Taylor did make the first, but the second one “rattled out,” said Plumer. “Max (Maring) tipped the rebound, and I think he even touched it twice. Then it just came off the backboard straight to me and I got off a quick shot. It fell in as the buzzer went off.”

Plumer was immediately swarmed by his joyful teammates.

“That was pretty cool, but I was just looking around between them to see the refs and if they’d counted the shot,” he said. “I never did see, but then I saw the points on the scoreboard.”

For Plumer, who secured his first collegiate double-double with the rebound, it’s a new top highlight on a rapidly expanding list of big moments. Another occurred in January when his two free throws with under a minute to go lifted the Scots to a 60-59 win at Ripon.

HOLIDAY STUFFING: To jump start Thanksgiving break on campus, the Fighting Scots played a Tuesday night home game, and Turner Plumer was certainly up for it, slamming down two of his 17 points as Monmouth posted a 79-70 victory over Blackburn. Photo by Lydia Perez ’24.

In her first year with Scots swimmers, Cally Tate rewrote the record book

BY BARRY McNAMARA

A change of scenery has led to a breakthrough in the athletic career of Fighting Scots swimmer Cally Tate

After a year at another school, the sophomore made what she called “a last-minute decision” to transfer, returning to her hometown to study and swim at Monmouth College for coach Jake Dacus

And when Tate says “last minute,” she really means it.

“My time at Illinois Wesleyan was a good learning experience, but I decided I couldn’t return for three more years,” she said. “I met with Coach Dacus and the team, and I clicked better with the team than I expected to. And I obviously knew the campus from growing up here. It was all very last minute. By the time I decided, I was three days late for the start of the fall semester.”

When it comes to swimming, “best minute” is a phrase that could be used to describe one of the many highlights of Tate’s debut season with the Scots. Since her days as a swimmer for Monmouth-Roseville High School, Tate has had her sights set on breaking the one-minute barrier in the 100yard backstroke. And the sophomore is not alone — every talented Scot in the program’s 20-year history has eyed that number, but only one, Jaidlyn Sellers ’23, had achieved it, clocking a time of 59.54 seconds in the 202223 season.

Tate finally accomplished the elusive feat as part of an outstanding string of performances at the Midseason Championships, hosted by Beloit College the first weekend in December. She set the new school record in the prelims with a time of 59.37, then followed that up in the final with a first-place swim of 59.57.

But Tate wasn’t done breaking school records or posting first-place finishes. She also set the new standard in the 50- and 200-yard backstroke with times of 27.75 and 2:09.80, respectively, winning both events, and she touched first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.

“That was one of the most exciting meets of my life,” she said. “Every time I’d look up at the scoreboard to see my time, I was like in shock. Some of those times, you don’t think it’s possible until it happens.”

SWITCHING IT UP

Which begs the question, just how did those times happen? Both Tate and her coach supplied answers.

“Training for me this year has been really different,” said Tate. “At Illinois Wesleyan, the coach really focused on how many yards you can get in during practice. I wasn’t dropping time that way. It wasn’t working for me.”

In short, it was wearing her down, and injuries that included a sprained ankle and tendonitis “pretty much left me with just one good leg,” she said.

At Monmouth, Dacus’s workouts have focused more on speed and, said Tate, “on doing things right.”

TALENT PLUS HARD WORK

And Dacus said the standout sophomore is definitely doing things right in practice.

“Cally’s fantastic,” he said. “She’s an extremely talented swimmer who works incredibly hard. And she’s the most humble person on the team. That’s why everybody loves her. When you combine that kind of talent with what a hard worker she is, school records are bound to happen.”

When she’s not setting records in the pool, Cally Tate studies environmental science. She’s shown here with a Madagascar hissing cockroach on an entomology field trip to West Virginia, and she also helps keep bees at the Monmouth College Educational Garden and Farm.

Tate was asked what else could happen during her first swim season at Monmouth, which reached its second-half peak at the Midwest Conference Championships in February.

“I’m hoping to get on the podium in my top three events, which means making the ‘A’ final,” said Tate.

So, how did she do?

The sophomore continued to rewrite the record book with a pair of runnerup finishes, the best MWC result for a Scot women’s swimmer since 2008. In both races, she set new marks, touching in 2:07.11 in the 200 backstroke and 59.03 in the 100 backstroke.

1956

Gerald Marxman has moved from the Bay Area to Chandler, Ariz., to be closer to family, including his grandnephew, Adam Kinigson ’11

1964

Ron Mervis of Westerville, Ohio, retired as professor of neuroscience at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa Bay. But due to what he called “overwhelming boredom and the desire to continue to contribute to advance scientific knowledge,” he’s opened a contract lab in the Columbus area with research grants and studies focused on his areas of expertise: morphometric, synaptic and neuronal changes in brain aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and traumatic brain injury.

1974

Ron Barshinger of DeKalb, Ill., is the library access manager at Northern Illinois University Library.

Denny Tavares of Englewood, Colo., is the chief information security officer and a senior consultant analyst at Tavares Consulting.

1975

Tom Aggen is serving a post-retirement mission in Hong Kong. As he was touring the Palace Museum, he came across

WE WELCOME NEWS AND PHOTOS related to your career, awards, reunions or travel with your Monmouth College friends, and any other information of interest to your classmates or alumni. We also welcome announcements and photos of alumni weddings and births, as well as alumni obituaries. Please see page 49 for submission guidelines.

Mark Duffield ’71 was featured in the writer’s issue of Monmouth College Magazine in 2023. In a follow-up to that story, a theatre in Falmouth, Maine, produced a stage play based on his book, The Last Shepard and Tales of the Tenth Ornament.

an exhibition of paintings from the National Gallery in London, several of which depict scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses Some of the works included a credit for Monmouth emeritus professor of classics Tom Sienkewicz. “The museum staff was looking for Chinese connections which would appeal to their audience in Hong Kong and came across reference to my work

HOW’S MY DRIVING?

Well, maybe not up to par, judging by the state of the equipment. But fortunately for the the Fighting Scots Golf Outing team of, from left, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers Andy Hawley ‘80, Mike Quagliano ‘83, Brian Curry ‘82 and George Gaulrapp ’81, they had a “celebrity driver” to help out — Director of Alumni Engagement Zak Edmonds ‘08 (in red shirt). Nearly 50 teams played at Gibson Woods over the two-day event June 21-22.

and Will Motley’s on Chinese porcelains depicting scenes from Ovid,” said Sienkewicz. “This led to a collaboration by Will and me with the museum staff to create a video, which is on display in the gallery with the paintings.” Aggen, who’ll be in Hong Kong for the remainder of 2024, had met Sienkewicz when he returned to campus for the 50-year reunion of Monmouth’s undefeated 1972 football team. “This is one of the ‘small world’ experiences I have noted while in Hong Kong,” he said. “So far, none of the others have involved Monmouth. Who knows what more I may observe as time passes.”

1976

Jim Elsey lives most of the year in Sioux Falls, S.D., after retiring from his career with John Deere. He winters in Arizona and annually serves as a marshal at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Pauzi Zakaria Kajang, Malaysia, is a professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

1979

Christine Pinkston McCarrell of Peoria, Ill., has retired from Caterpillar, where she served as the DOT compliance manager.

1982

Prior to starting his current line of work, James McKnight of Miami, Fla., was the first African American stockbroker in Springfield, Ill., worked for well-respected firms such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, State Farm and Prudential, and taught college economics for six years. He then got into the airline business as an agent, and eventually rose to become a trainer, a position he landed after impressing the company’s CEO. After crafting the company’s first union contract, he became president of the local union, consisting of nine states and the Virgin Islands and around 2,500 employees. When legislative issues arise, he’s frequently in Washington, D.C., as well as Miami and Chicago.

Roger Osborne of Ventura, Calif., is now blissfully retired and enjoying his interests, hobbies and projects full-time, which include home and lawn improvements, new artworks, political involvement and frequent trips abroad and in the U.S. to visit friends from coast to coast.

1983

Joel Hillison of Carlisle, Pa., was the co-author of the 2023 book Sustaining America’s Strategic Advantage. He holds the General Colin Powell Chair of Military and Strategic Studies at the Army War College. A retired military officer with over 30 years of service, Hillison spent three years in NATO and served as the comptroller, Multinational Forces Iraq.

Nahrstadt authors biography of overlooked 1904 presidential nominee

BY BARRY McNAMARA

A member of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees has stepped up to fill a surprising void in the genre of American political biographies.

Retired attorney Brad Nahrstadt ’89, has written Alton B. Parker: The Man Who Challenged Roosevelt, published by the State University of New York Press in Parker’s home state.

‘THAT DOESN’T SEEM RIGHT’

About 30 years ago, Nahrstadt’s interest in the judge-turnedpolitician was piqued when he discovered that Parker, one of the most important New Yorkers of the Gilded Age, was the lone member of an exclusive club.

Nahrstadt uncovered that vital nugget in Irving Stone’s classic book They Also Ran, which “provided a mini-biography of every man who’d run for president on a major party ticket and had not been elected,” he said.

In the 1904 presidential election, incumbent Republican Theodore Roosevelt routed Parker, a Democrat. Roosevelt captured more than 56% of the more than 12.7 million votes cast, winning the electoral vote 336 to 140. Parker won only 13 of the 45 states, all in what was once known in electoral politics as the Solid South.

“Stone wrote, ‘Of all the major-party candidates for president, Parker is the only one to never have a biography written about him,’” said Nahrstadt. “That just kind of struck me when I read it. I was like, ‘Well that doesn’t seem right, that he’s the only one — that no one has ever told his story.”

An avid collector of historical items — including an impressive collection of presidential campaign buttons spanning more than a century — Nahrstadt went to work correcting the historical oversight.

“Parker was a lawyer and a judge, and I was a practicing attorney, so I felt a kind of kinship with him,” said Nahrstadt. “I started collecting anything that I could find that I thought might shed some light on who Alton Parker was, what he did and about the campaign in 1904.”

The author or co-author of over 90 journal articles and more than 40 book chapters on legal issues, Nahrstadt eventually decided to take the plunge on Parker’s biography.

‘TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE’

Parker’s omission from full biographies can be explained, in part, because of his short tenure in politics and the fact that he lost the election in what Nahrstadt called “spectacular fashion.” His 18.8% popular vote deficit was the largest in a presidential election

since James Monroe essentially ran unopposed in 1820.

Prior to the election, Parker had worked his way up in law to “the one job he really wanted — chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, which was, at the dawn of the 20th century, the second-most important court in the country,” said Nahrstadt. “It was his dream job. But Parker believed that in a democracy, if you were called, you had to answer the call. And so, when he was nominated to run in 1904, he quit the only job he really wanted to run against arguably one of the most popular people to ever be president.”

A doomed strategy sealed the landslide defeat. In 1896, Republican William McKinley had successfully run a so-called “front-porch campaign” against Democrat William Jennings Bryan from his Canton, Ohio, residence. Eight years later, that

political ploy failed Parker.

“His problem was that people couldn’t get to his front porch (at a farm called Rosemount outside Esopus, N.Y.),” said Nahrstadt. “There were people who were telling him, ‘Just stay at home. Run the campaign like McKinley. People will come see you.’ The problem was, Esopus, N.Y., is not close to anything. It’s an hour boat ride up the Hudson from New York City. It was a several-hour train ride. People just didn’t go because it was very, very difficult for folks to get there. His front-porch campaign just never materialized.”

Finally, with about a week left before the election, Parker got off his porch.

“He finally decided, ‘OK, I better get out and give some speeches,’” said Nahrstadt. “What’s funny is, he never went outside of New Jersey and New York (also Roosevelt’s home state). That didn’t help him. He should have gone to the Midwest. He should’ve tried to pick up Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, maybe Michigan. He just did too little, too late, and he lost in spectacular fashion. That’s really part of the reason why he was never written about. People just forgot about him.”

While Parker went more than a century before an author penned his biography, the same cannot be said for his running mate in the 1904 election, Henry Davis, a millionaire and senator from West Virginia.

“There are actually two published biographies of Henry Gassaway Davis, but there weren’t any of Alton Parker, which I thought was very weird,” said Nahrstadt of the 81-yearold vice presidential candidate, an “astute businessman” with an “ungodly” amount of money. “Davis contributed very little in terms of effort. He gave a bunch of speeches, all in West Virginia, none of which, by the way, helped them carry the state.”

1989

Jon Anthony Hauser of South Bend, Ind., has authored The Destruction of Liberty: Creating the American Socialist Aristocracy. The book joins a pair of historical novels — Road to Byzantium and Beyond Byzantium — that Hauser has written.

Dato’ Yap lives in Singapore and is the founder and CEO of Metal Commerz Group.

1991

Steve Klien of Columbia, Mo., was recently the recipient of two inaugural awards from the University of Missouri. Klien received the College of Arts & Science Faculty Career Development Leader Award for contributions to integrating career exploration education into undergraduate courses. He also received the Provost Award for University Citizenship in Faculty Service for exceptional contributions to the university’s goals through distinguished service. An associate teaching professor in communication, Klien is director of undergraduate studies at Mizzou.

1992

Mike DeGeorge has been hired as the men’s basketball coach at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He joins the Mustangs after six seasons as the head coach at Colorado Mesa University, where his team reached five Division II national tournaments and averaged 23 wins per season.

Todd Morey of Tecumseh, Kansas, is a territory manager for Lambton Conveyor.

1993

Kate Ogilvie Halm of Conroe, Texas, completed her first year in her new position at Oak Ridge High School as student success coordinator. She planned and implemented three

state-mandated exams on two campuses serving around 2,600 students.

1996

Vanessa Treat Wetterling, general manager of three Prairie Communications radio stations, including Monmouth’s WRAM-AM and WMOI-FM, has spearheaded the local food drive, Freezing for Food, for 23 years, assisted by an army of volunteers. “Our goal is to collect thousands and thousands of items for our local food pantries here at Monmouth and in Roseville,” said Wetterling.

1997

A BRUSH WITH HISTORY: Dusty Scott ’03 painted the official portrait of President Clarence Wyatt, which was unveiled toward the end of the spring semester. “I have a painting at my alma mater that will be there for the existence of the college,” said Scott. “It’s very surreal and very meaningful. It’s a huge honor to have that painting at a place I love so much.”

Sarah Vayo Pendry of Geneva, N.Y., is a custom training specialist at Finger Lakes Community College.

1999

Josh Didier of Mahomet, Ill., the principal at PaxtonBuckley-Loda Junior High School, was named Junior High/ Middle School Principal of the Year for the Corn Belt Region of the Illinois Principal Association, one of 17 regions in the state. He began his current role in 2012 after two years as an elementary school principal.

2002

Adam West of Lombard, Ill., is an assistant principal in the Palatine school district. He recently defended his dissertation on the topic of supporting students who are isolated or feel lonely, then graduated from Loyola University Chicago a week later.

2004

Andrea Bond Monroe of Abingdon, Ill., has been named the executive director of the Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce and the Maple City Area Partnership. In those roles, she will work closely with Chamber members and small business owners to address their needs, act as a spokesperson and liaison with local government agencies, promote tourism, plan events, and lead initiatives that enhance community development in Monmouth.

Pictured together are four Monmouth alumni and United Methodist Church clergy who are members of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference. From left are Trevor Oetting ’17, Bill Pyatt ’75, Roberta Davilla Robbins ’77 and Bruce Weiman ’76.

Aaron Jensen, new president of Midwest Bank, has evolved with the industry

BY BARRY McNAMARA

Monmouth College and Monmouth’s Midwest Bank change presidents at the rate of roughly once per decade.

The new president of the latter institution is a graduate of the former, as Aaron Jensen ’89 took over on Jan. 1.

A veteran of nearly 40 years in banking, Jensen is Midwest’s 18th president in its 154-year history. His alma mater just named its 15th president since its founding in 1853.

Jensen started in the industry during the fall of his sophomore year at Monmouth in 1986, working afternoons and weekends at Security Savings, where Ralph Whiteman ’52 was president.

“It was a little different for a bank president back then,” he said. “Ralph seemed like the oracle on The Wizard of Oz, in a back room making things happen. I don’t know how correct that was, but that was my impression.”

JOINING MIDWEST BANK

Banking itself is different today, explained Jensen, who’s played a key role in overseeing those changes at Midwest Bank, where’s he worked since 1995, when it was known as The National Bank of Monmouth.

A prime example of change that Jensen has already overseen is a shift in the bank’s model with the addition of its wealth management and trust divisions.

“We changed the model of the trust department,” he said, “taking more of a wealth management approach to the process. We had to redefine how banks were driven and how roles were defined to make it work for us.”

Jensen has also managed the bank’s investment portfolio and bank operations, serving as chief operations officer, a title he will continue to hold.

He described his new role at Midwest Bank, in part, as “overseeing a community banking model that supports local businesses, farmers and customers, helping to drive the local economy.”

A recent change at the bank, which occurred in December 2022, is its designation as a financial holding company. It was previously a bank holding company. Looking ahead, more changes are on the horizon.

“What does the bank look like in an AI world?” he asked, referring to artificial intelligence’s

impact on the industry. “How does that help us? How does that challenge us? We’ve always relied on technology, and that’s fine until you have a question or a problem or you’re doing something new. You want to talk to a person. So it’s important that we retain a component of human contact and help our staff evolve in that space.”

In his 29-year career at Midwest Bank, Jensen has certainly evolved, advancing from a trust officer to executive vice president and COO, to his new role, where he oversees the bank’s strategic direction, working closely with the executive team to drive innovation, enhance customer experience and strengthen the bank’s position.

SUPPORT SYSTEM

That means there’s a lot on his plate, but Jensen is quick to say he’s not flying solo, either at work or at home.

“Our board has just been so supportive,” said Jensen. “I travel and visit with people from other banks, and not every bank is as fortunate to have as supportive a board as we do. You know you’re not alone.”

He cited a strong management team as another major area of support. It includes the bank’s former president, Chris Gavin, who serves as chief

executive officer in addition to taking on the role as president of Western Illinois Bancshares, the parent company of Midwest Bank. The rest of the officer positions are Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Anderson, Chief Credit Officer Matt Gillen and Chief Retail Officer Sara Bockelman.

On the home front, he credits his wife, Dana Jensen, a former employee of the college for more than 20 years.

“I’ve had the support at home that’s allowed me to have success here at the bank,” he said. “That support and that belief, and not just from my spouse, but from our kids, as well.”

Two of those three children — Cassie Jensen Gauf ’08 and Cara ’18 — are Monmouth graduates, while Cory graduated from Bradley University.

MAKING IT MONMOUTH

Jensen said his son was looking for a larger campus, but in the mid-1980s, the opposite was true for him.

“I took tours of Augustana and St. Ambrose, but they just weren’t what I was looking for,” said Jensen, who was born and raised about a halfhour from the Quad Cities in Prophetstown, Ill.

“There were only 58 kids in my graduating class, so maybe that’s what struck a chord for me at Monmouth. When I set foot on campus, it felt like where I wanted to go. It was a good fit.”

As is often the case, Jensen’s plans entering college didn’t wind up being the path he followed. He was considering a 3:2 program in engineering, but by his sophomore year, he’d shifted to business. Jensen kept his problem-solving side satisfied with a minor in mathematics, and he found that the two could overlap.

“At the time, (business professor) Rod Lemon was doing research for the natural gas industry,” said Jensen. “I helped him with multiple regression models he was doing. It was a great opportunity to connect one-on-one with a professor, and we’re still in touch today.”

Within his math minor, Jensen appreciated the opportunity to knock on the office doors of professors Rich Cogswell and Lyle Welch to ask them to explain concepts that weren’t quite clicking in his mind. He recalled building a multiple regression analysis for Welch that dealt with the most efficient way to staff bank tellers, a project influenced by his collegiate side hustle — a part-time gig that evolved into a bank presidency.

Alex Sandoval is the new head women’s soccer coach at Black Hawk College, a community college in Moline, Ill. Sandoval will remain the head girls soccer coach at United Township High School in East Moline, his high school alma mater, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2022.

2005

Chris Knoepke is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He serves as principal investigator on two newly-funded research projects related to “Red Flag Laws” as a way to prevent firearm-related injuries and deaths — one from the National Institute of Justice and the other from the National Collaborative for Gun Violence Research.

2006

Sarah Zanger-Venvertloh of Quincy, Ill., is an on-call sexual assault advocate for Quanada, the Quincy area network against domestic abuse.

2008

Sara Mendez, the eighth grade English language development teacher at Monmouth-Roseville Junior High School, was named the 2024 Bilingual Teacher of the Year by the Illinois State Board of Education. The honor qualified her to be one of 15 teachers across the state who are part of the 2024 Teacher of the Year cohort, as well as a finalist for Illinois Teacher of the Year.

2009

Chris Schwarz has been named an assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association. He was most recently the principal at United High School outside of Monmouth. “Chris Schwarz exudes leadership and service in every aspect of his life, and we are excited to be able to welcome him to the IHSA staff,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson, a 1991 Monmouth alum. “His background as a high school student-athlete, teacher, coach and administrator in Illinois made him an ideal candidate, and we look forward to working with him to see how his talents and passion can best serve the IHSA membership.”

Briana Tucker Vignone of St. Louis, Mo., is a senior project manager for Median Technologies.

2010

Jess Engle Dwyer of Billings, Mont., is an academic specialist and tutoring coordinator at Rocky Mountain College.

Sally Hayes Hart of Washington, Iowa, was named director of outreach and community for CapCO2 Solutions, focusing on carbon capture and utilization efforts in the ethanol industry.

Teacher Julie Larson Martin ’00 (left) and 2007 classmates and spouses Jared Kunkle, a farmer, and Rachel Jenks Kunkle, an accountant, have joined forces — along with Julie’s husband, Adam — to form Land Management Partners LLC, a farm management and insurance agency in Monmouth.

Jessie Howes of Long Grove, Iowa, was named executive director of board affairs at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa.

Lauren Vana Pedersen of Park Ridge, Ill., is a vice president at the global real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle, charged with continuing to drive growth and innovation within the organization.

2011

Nora Carleson graduated with a Ph.D. in the history of American civilization from the University of Delaware last year. In June of this year, she joined Historic New England as associate curator of collections. She and her husband, Chase Tarleton ’10, live in Lowell, Mass.

Fannetta Jones-Palumbo is a literary specialist for Chicago Public Schools.

Alex Tanney will begin his fourth season as an NFL assistant coach. He’s now on the Indianapolis Colts’ staff, serving as the passing game coordinator. “Even when I was a really young coach, when I first started in the NFL, I just thought (Alex’s) process in his brain and how it worked, it was kind of very coach-like,” said Colts coach Shane Steichen. “The way he worked on a daily operation with us in (Philadelphia’s) building for two years, just to get him over here now – just the ideas that he’ll have, just the detail that he coaches with. He’s got a really, really bright future in this league.”

2013

Jake Willis of Washington, Ill., is a police officer with the City of Peoria.

2014

Jess Bybee is now the general manager at Chicago’s Frasca

Pizzeria & Wine Bar. She said she’s grateful for the lessons in life, wine and food that have come with her “unexpected, but beautiful career.” Bybee has been in the industry since 2018 and in management since 2020.

Jon Steban of LaSalle, Ill., is the director of enrollment management at St. Bede Academy.

2015

Abby Clanin Porter recently joined Hanson Professional Services as a social media strategist, working out of the company’s Springfield, Ill., headquarters. Hanson is a national consulting firm providing engineering, planning and allied services.

Alyssa Riley coached Glenwood High School’s girls basketball team to the Illinois Class 3A state championship game. The victory that sent her team to the Final Four was her 100th as a varsity coach. In the final, Riley’s team fell to undefeated Lincoln, led by Colorado State University recruit Kloe Froebe. Fans of Illinois hoops for the past few years know that Froebe is the daughter of alumni Kent ’00 and Kari Walters Froebe ’99. There was a third Monmouth connection to the 3A title game, as one of Froebe’s teammates, Piper Whiteman, is the daughter of Kirk Whiteman, a former Fighting Scots assistant coach.

Brooklynne Springer lives in Denver, where she is a board certified behavior analyst at ABA Services of Colorado.

2016

Bryce and Megan Altfillisch Adams live in Roscoe, Ill. Bryce is a senior application analyst for M Health Fairview, and Megan completed her master’s degree in social work from Aurora University in 2023.

Brian Johnson of Chicago is executive vice president of Pillar Designs, which specializes in creating quiet work spaces

From Lululemon to TV, from the Army to education, Carlson has led rich life

BY BARRY McNAMARA

As she looked back over the course of her first 50 years — a milestone she officially reached in May — Tracy Peck Carlson ’96 quipped that she’s led nine lives.

A quick review does indeed include nine, and the very active Monmouth graduate still has plenty of time ahead of her to embark on a “back nine” that’s just as fascinating.

So far, Carlson has:

(1) Served as a brand ambassador for Lululemon, a company that stepped into the national spotlight in the 2000s, thanks to its yoga pants and other sportswear apparel. She’s actually done so twice, once a decade ago and again this year. Photos of her in the company’s apparel are prominently displayed at Lululemon’s location in suburban Deer Park, Ill., not far from Carlson’s home in Mundelein.

“I’m what they call a legacy ambassador,” said Carlson. “I’m honored to go up on the walls again 10 years later.”

(2) Provided a key assist to Danni Allen, who won NBC’s The Biggest Loser in 2014. At the request of a girlfriend, Carlson stepped in to help the 26-year-old from Wheeling, Ill., drop her weight from 258 pounds at the start of the competition to 137 pounds. Carlson said a key was helping Allen lose the weight steadily, with four different weeks of a six-pound weight loss before she shed 57 pounds over the final four weeks. Allen’s Body Mass Index correspondingly fell from 41.6 to 22.1, and she received a $250,000 prize as the winner of Season 14.

“It has to become a part of your life,” said Carlson of the type of diet and exercise required to begin and maintain weight loss. “It’s all about balance. You can’t cut out all your favorites. It’s about eating better and working out.”

As for Allen, “It’s become an amazing friendship,” said Carlson, “and she’s been an amazing role model for our kids.”

(3) Had an 11-year career in the military. The daughter of a now-retired colonel, Carlson participated in the ROTC program as a Monmouth student, making an almost daily drive to Western Illinois University for military science classes and physical training, in addition to her education major. When the Pi Beta Phi member graduated, she was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army, and Carlson

completed her service — which included running a field hospital and reserve duty — as a captain.

(4) Earned a master’s degree in education administration from Northern Illinois University and served as a teacher and assistant principal, primarily at Mundelein High School. As Mundelein’s testing coordinator, Carlson helped college-bound students prepare to take the ACT and SAT tests.

(5) Even after retiring from teaching, continued as Mundelein’s gymnastics coach, a role she relinquished last year.

“I coached gymnastics for 20 years,” she said. “That was a big one to give up, but after I handed my son his diploma, I wanted to walk away from the high school and have more time for travel, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Her son is now a student at the University of Tennessee, and her daughter attends the University of Miami.

(6) Worked as a fitness instructor, one of the

most constant elements of her “lives.” Its roots go back to even before her time at Monmouth College, and it’s a role that continues today as an elite instructor with Life Time Fitness, a national health and wellness company with more than 170 locations, including Carlson’s home gym in Vernon Hills.

“At Monmouth, I’d run fitness classes in the cafeteria, and I also ran some at the gym downtown that was by Center Stage,” said Carlson, who’s been affiliated with Life Time the past 16 years. “It was just part of my life, and it always has been.”

(7) Appeared as a contestant on Kevin Hart’s CBS show, TKO: Total Knock Out , which Carlson called a cross between Wipeout and American Ninja Warrior .

“I got the itch to do that after doing the stuff I did with Danni,” said Carlson, who ’fessed up to being bleeped for uttering a swear word or two on the nationally televised show. She said close to 200 family and friends gathered for a watch party when the show aired in 2018.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better experience,” she said of her time on the show.

(8) Been a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan. When contacted about setting up a time for her interview, she was on her way to Wrigley Field for one of the chilly night games in the Cubs’ season-opening homestand. Last year, she was honored on the Marquee Sports Network as the Cubs’ “Fan of the Week,” in part for her role in helping her father, Michael Peck, be honored on the field as a military veteran. Her X (formerly Twitter) handle includes “Cubslove,” a love she inherited from her father and has passed on to her kids.

“My dad’s a military guy,” she said of her father, whose more than 30 years of service included fighting in Vietnam. “He’s my ride or die.”

Carlson even helped make it possible for her dad to sit next to the “pink hat guy” in the first row behind home plate at Wrigley Field. (Cubs fans understand the significance of that.)

(9) Most importantly, has been a wife and mother. She said she’s using her newfound free time to schedule plenty of travel to visit her children on their respective campuses, as well as attend Cubs games and other athletic events, and continue her active lifestyle.

Tracy Peck Carlson’s image overlooks the apparel at the Lululemon store in suburban Deer Park, Ill.

designed to make employees happier and more productive. Kylee Winiecki Johnston of Wonder Lake, Ill., is a manager at Porte Brown LLC, a business accounting firm in Chicago.

Jaire Sims of Chicago has authored a new novel, Patience, which was called “an emotional and compelling read,” as well as “thoughtful, refreshing and memorable.”

2017

Morgan Martindale Quirk of Tallahassee, Fla., is the controller at C.W. Robert Contracting, a highway paving company.

Trent Rains recently received the HON Champion Award, voted on annually by peers and presented to an employee who best represents what it means to be a HON business development manager. “I work hand-in-hand with the distributors that sell our product,” said Rains. “We make sure the dealers are taken care of. There are 61 of me throughout the U.S. I cover Iowa and Nebraska, and I-80 has become my office.”

2018

Lydia Hill Gedmin of DeKalb, Ill., is a rehabilitation counselor for the SHARE program of Leyden Family Services.

Shea Sievers Hartoonian of Peoria, Ill., is a continuous quality improvement specialist for the Center for Youth and Family Solutions. In 2022, she completed her master’s degree in social work at St. Ambrose University.

Stephanie Saey received the 2024 Pacesetter Award from Carl Sandburg College, her alma mater prior to Monmouth. Last year, she graduated with distinction in both teaching and research from the University of Iowa and is in a residency program in internal medicine at Mayo Clinic.

2019

Elizabeth Smith has moved to Stillwater, Okla., to work as the study abroad coordinator for the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State University.

Josh Talley, who first encountered 8-man football when the inaugural Illinois state championship game was played in April Zorn Memorial Stadium his senior year, will now coach the sport. He was recently named the head football coach at Pawnee (Ill.) High School.

2020

After earning a master’s degree in museum studies at Western Illinois University, Will Best is director of the Champaign (Ill.) County History Museum.

Campbell Quirk has joined the Peoria Chiefs Single-A baseball team as its strength and conditioning coach. He held the same role the past two seasons at Single-A Palm Beach. Both teams are affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Nadine Waran-Perrero ’17 helped keep the stars aligned on the red carpet at this year’s Grammy Awards thanks to her role as the coordinator of student enrichment at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University. WaranPerrero is also an adjunct professor at the Nashville college.

2021

Dylan Chiaro, a graduate student in physics at the University of Missouri, was selected for one of the Student Presentation Prize awards at the American Physical Society’s Prairie Section Meeting last year.

2022

Keegan Brown of Cambridge, Ill., is a math teacher in the AlWood school district and serves as the middle and high school athletic director.

Julia Oakson has started a new position as a public relations and partnerships marketing associate at Bectran, Inc. in Schaumburg, Ill. The company provides credit, collections and accounts receivable software.

Bryan and Shepherd Coventon Peters live in Buda, Texas, where Bryan is the senior recruitment consultant for Viridan Group, an executive recruitment firm.

Kaitlyn McCullough ’23 (right) was named the Student Teacher of the Year by the Illinois Music Education Association for her work in the Monmouth-Roseville district. The music education major now directs the grade 6-12 choirs in the Orion (Ill.) school district. In addition to that work, McCullough will also direct Monmouth College’s Concert Choir this fall.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

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Hanson is Galesburg’s city manager

BY BARRY McNAMARA

When Eric Hanson ’98 drives back to his former community of Normal, Ill., he passes by the stateof-the-art facility for electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian.

He remembers his time as Normal’s assistant city manager, when he and his team helped save a dilapidated warehouse that had sat unused for 15 years and was targeted for demolition. It’s now a 1 million square-foot facility for Rivian.

“I drive by it, and I see rows of trucks in the parking lot and hundreds of people working,” he said. “It’s pretty rewarding to see that type of progress.”

If Hanson needs some gas while he’s in Normal, he can drive out to where Interstates 74, 55 and 39 intersect northwest of the city and fill up at Love’s. That takes him back to a three-year project of bringing the Oklahoma City-based travel stop to town.

“It’s the largest Love’s property in their network,” said Hanson. “We started that project in the fall of 2019, and then we had COVID. We worked hard to keep it going and get it to the finish line in 2022.”

The Love’s jobs are nice for the community, but perhaps more important is the revenue created.

“It brings in between $1 million and $2 million, free and clear, for Normal,” said Hanson. “That’s money that can be used for parks and trails, for public safety, for infrastructure. That might not be the most sexy project I’ve been a part of, but it’s one that really moved the needle.”

A NEW CHALLENGE

The residents of Galesburg, Ill., are hoping that Hanson can work that type of magic in their town, where the Monmouth graduate was appointed city manager late last year. Hanson acknowledged there are challenges in his new role, but he preached a forward-thinking approach.

“We’re trying to change the trajectory,” he said. “Like so many towns in the Midwest that have lost manufacturing jobs, that’s a big chunk of the economy. The biggest hurdle ahead is, are we going to continue to look in the rearview mirror of what we had 20 years ago, or are we going to work toward what we want to be 20 years from now? That’s no small task, but it’s a task worth attacking.”

The rearview mirror shows the loss of Maytag, the city’s largest employer, two decades ago — a development that has been studied by Monmouth College political science students. But Hanson said there is a healthy list of pros to help offset that con.

“Galesburg is located on an interstate system and is a major railroad hub,” he said. “BNSF (Railway) is a huge player regionally. Knox College is here, and the new Knox president (Andrew McGadney)

is outstanding. He sees a bigger, regional picture.”

As a Monmouth student, Hanson served on the presidential search committee that ultimately chose Richard Giese, who served in that role from 1997-2005 and oversaw a period of major growth for the college.

“He led a concerted effort to have the college and the city work together, and the results speak for themselves,” said Hanson. “I see similar potential here with Knox.”

Hanson also pointed to Carl Sandburg College, a strong school district, OSF HealthCare and “an incredible downtown” as major community assets.

“We have a lot of things going for us that we should be proud of,” he said. “There are definitely assets here to build off of.”

It would be Hanson’s hope that in 20 years, Galesburg’s infrastructure has improved considerably. To attract the large manufacturing companies and truck stops of the world, those types of changes have to come first.

“There’s been a lot of deferred maintenance,” he said, including roads, fiber broadband and housing as areas that require particular focus.

SOLVING PROBLEMS

Hanson is drawn to the work of a city manager because it provides an opportunity to help.

“I understand how government functions and how it can work to create better communities,” he said. “Philosophically, I’m not one to believe that government will solve all of our problems, but there’s an appeal to doing this type of work at the local level and helping people you know.”

Hanson has also had stops in city government in Indianola, Iowa, in Ballwin, Mo., and in Monmouth, in addition to serving as mayor of his native Cambridge, Ill., at the young age of 24. In all, he estimates he’s been a part of $1.25 billion in

development, including at least $100 million in public infrastructure improvements.

Addressing infrastructure was the key to another of his big wins, which came while he was the city manager in Monmouth.

“Smithfield employs a lot of people in the region,” he said. “Working on a sewer plant isn’t high on my list of fun things to do, but it’s a necessity. But for solving the infrastructure problems we faced, (Smithfield) wouldn’t be there. I still feel good about that one.

“All of these things have taken great teams. I’ve had the privilege of working in places with great people.”

HIS MONMOUTH COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

In Indianola, in addition to successes with commercial development, a medical facility and housing, Hanson served on Simpson College’s presidential search committee. The experience took him back to what he said was a formative time in his Monmouth College career.

“I was 20 years old, and just being in the room with leaders like (search committee members) Walter Huff ’56, Fred Wackerle ’61, David Bowers ’61, Peter Bunce and Saf Peacock was quite an education,” he said. “They were all in their prime and at the top of their game. That was an education that I couldn’t get in the classroom.”

Another Monmouth figure in his prime during Hanson’s time as a student was political science professor Ira Smolensky, who served as Hanson’s academic adviser, as well as a mentor. Hanson’s poli sci courses were helpful but, given his future career as a city administrator, the economics courses he took as an upperclassman were especially valuable.

“I use things I learned in Rod Lemon’s macroand microeconomic courses every single day,” he said, while also giving a shout out to Lemon’s department colleagues, Mike Connell and Dick Johnston. “The fundamentals of a good economy and the principles of sound financial policy apply to government, as well, despite what some people might think. Those two departments — political science and economics — and those four individuals really shaped my Monmouth education.”

Hanson also enjoyed classes he took or interactions he had with faculty members such as Roger Haynes, Lee McGaan, Steve Buban, Doc Kieft and Jim Betts.

“I’m very grateful for my Monmouth College experience and for the education I received,” said Hanson, who met his wife, Tara Sloss Hanson ’00, as a Monmouth student. “It put me on a path to success, and now it’s come full circle. I’m back home. And that was part of the appeal of taking this job — getting Tara closer to home. She has as deep or deeper roots in the community than I do.”

WEDDINGS

Pictured from left are Logan Komater ’23, Lauren Fulscher ’23, Abby Tucker ’21, Renee Rude ’21, Nate Melvin ’23, Lucas Smith ’20, Lauren Sperry Smith ’20, Billy Williams ’22, Darius Williams ’21, Thao Dang-Williams ’93, Loryn Beal ’22, Riley Cook ’21, Michael Williams ’93, Jackson VanIwaarden ’22, Anthony Ruggles ’22 (groom), Karlie Drish Ruggles ’22 (bride), Justin Bost ’22, Sydney McVey ’20, Nick Basala ’22, Tim McNally ’23, Megan Gilstrap Kimble ’22, Kaylee Woodard ’22, Connor Sharp ’20, Cade Sharp ’24, Lillian Hucke ’24, AJ Hatlestad ’23, Brandon Skovronski ’21 and Neil Mecagni ’10.

Simmons and Evan Davis

2002 Sarah Lemberger and Antonio Grasso

2005 Rebecca Gillengerten and William Moe

Megan Soper and Timothy Krisher

and

July 23, 2022

June 3, 2022

June 6, 2024

2011 Fannetta Jones and Michael Palumbo April 14, 2024

2017 Morgan Martindale and Campbell Quirk ’20 July 9, 2022

Jessica Simmons and Evan Davis ’14

2018 Lydia Hill and Benjamin Gedmin

Shea Sievers and Graham Hartoonian

Sophia Slocum and Noah Applegate ’19

2019 Zoe Meyer and Brandon Allsop

2021 Julia Sterr and Seth King

2022 Mackenzie Coziahr and Keegan Brown

Shepherd Coventon and Bryan Peters

Karlie Drish and Anthony Ruggles

November 4, 2023

March 5, 2023

June 30, 2023

September 23, 2023

October 11, 2023

June 8, 2024

November 4, 2023

May 2, 2022

June 1, 2024

Elizabeth Gustafson and Thomas Witty ’21 June 23, 2023

and Noah Applegate

Jessica

Sophia Slocum

Elizabeth Gustafson and Thomas Witty

Rebecca Gillengerten and William Moe

Megan Soper

Timothy Krisher

BIRTHS

2009 Wendy Downing and Brian Jordan a son, James Dennis May 11, 2024

2010 Katie and Noah Emery a daughter, Hope Mary August 15, 2023

2012 Haley Jones Stockton and Tyler a daughter, Belle Marie November 14, 2023

2013 Alyssa and Ray Gerard a son, Grayson

Lakin and Jake Willis a daughter, Isla Ray

2014 Rachel Whitlock Kelleher and Jeff ’13 a son, Jude

January 19, 2022

May 12, 2024

January 30, 2024

Megan and Jon Steban a son, Connor James December 14, 2023

2015 Mary Kate Guinea Moroney and Kevin a daughter, Teaghan Katherine May 8, 2022 a son, John “Jack” Richard December 8, 2023

2016 Bryce and Megan Altfillisch Adams a daughter, Mae Rose April 25, 2024

Kylee Winiecki Johnston and Andrew twin daughters, Mila & Jaime September 8, 2023

Mary Gonzalez Pogioli and Anthony a son, Cyrus December 5, 2023

2017 Morgan Martindale Quirk and Campbell ’20 a daughter, Charlotte Mae

March 13, 2024

2018 Abby Baldocchi Gertz and Michael a son, James Warren May 24, 2024

Rebecca Guinea Jones and Christian a son, Rhett Taylor

October 4, 2023

Belle Marie Stockton John Richard Moroney and Teaghan Katherine Moroney

James Warren Gertz

Rhett Taylor Jones

1941

Betty Johnson Dew, 103, of Fort Wayne, Ind., died April 11, 2024, roughly six months after her family was recognized as Family of the Year at the college’s annual Alumni Impact Awards. Growing up, she rode her pony to a one-room school and learned to drive at age 12 so she could attend Alexis High School outside of Monmouth. Dew studied history at Monmouth for two years, then left to teach in her own one-room school. She completed her degree in 1961 at St. Francis College, followed by a master’s degree there a decade later. Dew was also a middle school and high school teacher. She was preceded in death by her husband of 76 years, Clairus Dew ’38. Other relatives include seven great-great grandchildren.

1943

Betty Weiss Oberstar, one of the first women from Monmouth’s nationally reputed chemistry program to achieve professional distinction, died in August 2023. She spent nearly five decades in the cosmetics industry, developing products for more than 40 countries and receiving several patents. The former head of Clairol’s chemistry lab, she was a member of the International Committee of the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association and the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. A member of Alpha Xi Delta, Oberstar was inducted into the College’s Hall of Achievement – the highest honor Monmouth bestows upon its alumni – in 1995.

1944

Louise Clark Arnold, 101, of San Francisco, Calif., died May 9, 2023. A member of Alpha Xi Delta, she graduated with a degree in biology and put her science background to use immediately, serving as a medical lab technician at Camp Butner, N.C., during World War II. She met her husband, a college professor, through her interest in the World Federalist Movement. He had positions at the University of Chicago, Princeton University and the University of California-San Diego. At the latter school, she was an integral part of the Oceanids, the support organization for spouses of UCSD workers. Among the avid traveler’s trips abroad were a pair of sabbaticals in India. Arnold was active in local governance, including president of the San Diego chapter of the League of Women Voters.

1945

Georgiana “Nan” Van Duzer Fleming, 99, of Evanston, Ill., died Feb. 11, 2024. She studied English and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma before completing her degree at

IN MEMORIAM

Nancy Glennie Beck ‘53

Nancy Glennie Beck ’53 of Hoffman Estates, Ill., an emerita member of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees, died Sept. 27, 2023, following a 10year fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

It was during her service on the board that she and her husband, Larry Beck, made the naming gift for Monmouth’s Glennie Gymnasium. Larry, who died in 2018 after the couple had been married 62 years, was a co-founder of Waste Management in addition to many other business ventures.

First opened in 1983, Glennie Gym remains the home venue for Fighting Scots basketball and volleyball as part of the Huff Athletic Center.

Northwestern University. She eventually settled in her mother’s home in Evanston, living there 30 years, and she also resided in Indiana, Ohio and Colorado.

1946

Helen Young Dunn, 100, of Monmouth, died April 23, 2024. She graduated with a degree in mathematics and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. During World War II, she served in the Navy. Dunn also earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University. She started her 30year career in teaching in nearby Kirkwood as a math teacher and retired from Galesburg High School in 1980. She was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years who, like her, was an awardwinning golfer.

1947

Eulalia Hickok Garrett, 98, of New Windsor, Ill., died Jan. 12, 2024. She was a member of Alpha Xi Delta. She and her late husband farmed, and she also worked for Deere & Co. in its Corporate Planning Division.

1948

Robert Foster, 99, of Hot Springs Village, Ark., died March 17, 2024. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and was a member of Theta Chi.

As a Monmouth student, Beck was an active member of Kappa Delta, Crimson Masque and the synchronized swim teams while studying physical education with a minor in English. In addition to raising the couple’s three children — including Holly Beck Riordan ’78 — Beck was co-owner of Tower Gift and Bath in Western Springs, Ill. She served on Monmouth’s board from 1982-95, including nine years on the Executive Committee. She was also a member of the board of the Hazelden Foundation, which has the Betty Ford Center under its umbrella of organizations Beck is survived by her three children, as well as 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

1949

Laura Gowdy, 96, of Aledo, Ill., died March 15, 2024. She graduated with a degree in English before earning two master’s degrees. In 1956, she was part of the Fulbright program and taught English in Holland. Upon her return, she began her career as a librarian at Illinois State University. Gowdy had 25 great-great nieces and nephews and was expecting a great-great-great niece in June.

Gwendolyn Keating Lowe, 95, of Madison, Wis., died in January 2024. She graduated with a degree in elementary education and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. While teaching second grade in Loveland, Colo., she met her husband, and the couple was married more than 60 years, spending their life in Iowa City. Lowe volunteered at University Hospital for 25 years.

Donald Sachs, 96, of Rapid City, S.D., died Nov. 30, 2023. After serving in the Army, he attended Monmouth, graduating with a degree in business. He was also a member of the track team and Alpha Tau Omega. Sachs owned several businesses and was a realtor. Survivors include his wife of 69 years.

1951

Joan Ray Head, 94, of Beason, Ill., died Oct. 3, 2023. She graduated with a degree in physical education and was a member of Pi Beta Phi, receiving her 75-year pin last year. Head was a

greeter and garden center worker at the Galesburg Hy-Vee for 30 years, “making new friends in every aisle.” She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, with whom she farmed in Berwick, Ill., beginning in 1963. Survivors include a daughter, Sarah Head Stambaugh ’85 and grandchildren Sarah Mabry Calle ’14 and Charles Powell ’18

1952

William Brown, 93, of Urbandale, Iowa, died Nov. 11, 2023. He graduated with a degree in business and was a member of the football and tennis teams and Tau Kappa Epsilon. After a stint as a cost accountant for U.S. Steel, he was an office manager for Illinois Bell and, in 1963, a marketing budget manager for Quaker Oats, a position he held for 26 years.

1953

Patricia Mason Bailey, 92, of Baton Rouge, La., died Feb. 3, 2024. She studied Spanish, was on The Oracle staff and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma before completing her degree at the University of Illinois. Her first job was working for two-time Nobel Prize recipient John Bardeen, a physicist and electrical engineer who invented the transistor. In 1958, she and her husband moved to Baton Rouge, La., where Bailey was active in the development of St. Thomas More School and was a substitute teacher, among other roles. She was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 70 years.

Doris Hansen Craig, 91, of Savoy, Ill., died March 15, 2023. She graduated with a degree in biology. Craig was a teacher in Waukegan, Ill., for 25 years. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dale Craig ’54.

1954

Mary Marsh Franknecht, 91, of Houston, Texas, died Dec. 29, 2023. She studied elementary education and was a member of Kappa Delta before completing her degree at Northwestern University. After teaching for several years, Franknecht raised her three children. She was preceded in death by her husband of 69 years, Kenneth Franknecht ’54.

Marilyn “Mickey” Verploeg Hay, 88, of Maple Plain, Minn., died June 5, 2020. She graduated with a degree in physical education and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. After a year as a teacher, she joined the Red Cross, and while stationed in St. Louis, she met her husband, who was in the Air Force. Together, they owned and operated Woodwinds Farm in Maple Plain, Minn., specializing in raising

IN MEMORIAM

Hal ‘Tiny’ Devore

Hal “Tiny” Devore, an assistant football coach at Monmouth in the 1980s and ’90s, died Feb. 12 in Galesburg, Ill., at the age of 86.

One of “Tiny’s Fat Boys” summarized the impact that the Fighting Scots offensive line coach had on his life.

“He is one of a few people in my life that I thank for being where I am today,” said Dan Cotter ’88, an attorney at Dickinson Wright in Chicago and a member of Monmouth’s board of trustees. “He had faith in a not very good freshman 40 years ago this August and kept after me. But for that, who knows what the rest of the story would be?”

Monmouth Director of Athletics Roger Haynes ’82 served on the football coaching staff with Devore.

“Hal Devore was an excellent coach and a better man,” said Haynes. “I remember many

and showing Arabian horses. Hay had a reputation for breeding some of the finest Egyptian Arabian horses in the industry.

Jane Woods Hobson, 91, of Louisville, Ky., died Dec. 26, 2023.

Rev. James Meacham, 91, of Denver, Colo., died Dec. 30, 2023. He graduated with a degree in philosophy and was a member of Theta Chi.

1955

Richard Romine of Westminster, Calif., died Sept. 8, 2023. He graduated with a degree in physics and was preceded in death by his wife, Anne McLoskey Romine ’54.

1956

John “Jack” Read, 92, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Oct. 2, 2023. A physical education graduate, he was a member of the football and baseball teams.

After completing dental school at the University of Iowa, he co-founded Dental Health Partners, where he practiced for 30 years. During the latter years of his career, he taught dentistry at Iowa.

Sara Mears Warfield, 89, of Monmouth, died Jan. 20, 2024. She graduated with a degree in history and was a member of the synchronized swim team and

bus rides home where Hal taught me to appreciate the geese heading south and the beauty of a fall sunset. He was a tremendous mentor to his students and players alike.”

In addition to his time with the Fighting Scots, Devore was a high school history teacher in the Illinois communities of Mount Olive, Farmington and Galesburg, teaching for 38 years before retiring in 1996. He was also a professor at Knox College in its teachers program.

Devore summed up his life in his own words: “He taught school. He had a great family. He had a good life.”

Cotter offered a short summary, as well: “Tiny in stature, he was and will always be a giant in my heart.”

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Eunice.

Pi Beta Phi. Throughout her life, she was active as a member of the college’s class secretary program, as well as Crimson Clan and various reunion committees. After two years as a stewardess, she married David Warfield ’57 and raised her family, including a son, John Warfield ’89. Her husband preceded her in death, and other survivors include a granddaughter, Alexandra Warfield ’21.

1957

Rev. John Baumann, 88, of Oconomowoc, Wis., died Jan. 14, 2024. He graduated with a degree in religious studies and was a member of the cross country, track and swim teams and Theta Chi. After a year on a mission in Ethiopia, he attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He served three Presbyterian churches in Wisconsin – in Crivitz, Oshkosh and Stone Bank – retiring in 2000. Among his many family connections with Monmouth ties are his wife of 64 years, Beverly Carlson Baumann ’58. Other survivors include a brother, Paul Baumann ’54, a daughter, Elizabeth Baumann Riggs ’89, and a granddaughter, Rebecca Riggs ’13

Ronald Berry, 88, of Chelan, Wash., died May 13, 2024, after a short battle with cancer. A member of Theta Chi, he studied elementary education. Berry also studied at the University of Illinois before beginning a 20-year career in

the Air Force. During the Vietnam War, he was stationed at Ubon Royal Thair Air Force Base in Thailand. Berry received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering through the Air Force from the University of Colorado. His Air Force service also included work with the Ministry of Defense in London. After retiring, he moved to Chelan, where he worked in real estate, was a support services manager at the hospital, ran the golf course’s snack bar and drove a bus for the school district.

Curtis Brown, 87, of Le Claire, Iowa, died Dec. 4, 2023. He graduated with a degree in business, was a member of Theta Chi and was president of the senior class. Brown began his professional career in Brussels before becoming the director of human resources and government liaison for Sundt in Saudi Arabia for nearly a decade. He also worked in human resources for ZPS in Moscow. In the late 1980s, he joined the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and became its state president in 2005.

Larry Flanders, 88, of Trout Lake, Mich., died Oct. 1, 2023. He graduated with a degree in English and was a member of The Oracle staff, Crimson Masque and Sigma Phi Epsilon. An Army veteran, he earned a master’s degree from Northern Michigan University in 1967. Flanders worked in the Rudyard school system for 30 years, teaching English, speech, creative writing and drama. He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years. Survivors include a granddaughter, Kate Griffith Wignes ’10

DeVere Webeck Benson, 88, died in March 2024. At birth, she overcame 50/50 odds of survival and went on to become a mother of three and a registered nurse. After her studies at Monmouth, she graduated from Methodist Hospital of Central Illinois in Peoria and later joined her daughters at Western Michigan University to further her education. As a nurse, she won state and local awards for her dedication to staff and patients.

1958

Harry Billups, 87, of Sherrard, Ill., died June 2, 2024. After serving four years in the Navy, he was a member of the baseball and football teams and Tau Kappa Epsilon and graduated with a degree in physical education. Billups later received advanced degrees in education from South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. He taught, coached and was a principal for 20 years, beginning his career in Williamsfield, Ill., and spending the majority in Sherrard, where he founded the wrestling program. In 1982, Billups became an insurance agent with County Financial in nearby Moline

IN MEMORIAM

Coach Bill Reichow

Bill Reichow , one of the winningest Monmouth coaches of all time in three different sports, died Jan. 7 at the age of 94. Reichow led the men’s golf team to four Midwest Conference titles and coached the Fighting Scots wrestling team to new heights.

But it was on the gridiron where he achieved legendary status, turning around a struggling program and making it, for a glorious decade, one of the best small-college football teams in the nation, including a 1972 squad that went 9-0, Monmouth’s last football team to finish without a loss.

Affectionately known as “Moose” to his players, Reichow was a 1993 inductee into the college’s M Club Hall of Fame.

— an .852 winning percentage. In all, the Scots went 78-31-2 (.712) from 1966-78.

But there’s more to that story, said Mike Castillo ’74 , an All-American wrestler under Reichow, who also played for the ’72 football team.

“It’s the lessons in life that carry over,” he said. “Forget the X’s and O’s he taught us, forget the wrestling moves. It’s what he taught us about life that lasts, and that’s why we owe him.”

Reichow came to Monmouth in 1965 from Albia, Iowa, where he coached high school football. Prior to that, two of his major formative experiences were playing quarterback and tackle at the University of Iowa for coach Forest Evashevski and serving as an Army paratrooper for three years during the Korean War, earning the rank of Sergeant First Class.

“His Monmouth teams were tough, like him,” reads a St. Olaf College account of the famous Scots-Oles rivalry.

In the 12 seasons before he took over as head football coach, Monmouth won just 17 games. He quickly got to work changing that losing atmosphere.

“Monmouth College had been a doormat for a decade,” said Rod Davies ’74 , an all-conference lineman for the Scots who grew up in Monmouth and is now mayor of the city. “Coach had to change that culture, and he sure got it changed. You started to see that red station wagon down at the fieldhouse day and night. You knew he was working at it. Monmouth was starting to improve, and we benefited from those teams that came before us.”

In a seven-year span from 1968-74, Reichow’s football teams lost just eight times

“I started coming to games when guys like Dave Purlee ’78 and Jim Simpson ’78 were playing for Coach Reichow,” said Monmouth Director of Athletics Roger Haynes , a 1982 graduate. “Anytime you’re around alums from that era, they undoubtedly have lots to say on the positive influence he had on their lives, and usually more about the personal side than the playing side. That’s the great measure of any mentor or coach. He touched hundreds and hundreds of people’s lives through the three sports he coached, and he had great success coaching those sports, as well.”

His former players gathered in 2019 to celebrate Reichow’s 90th birthday. “Happy 90th, Coach, from the men you made,” read the icing on the cake.

At the College’s Homecoming in 2022, former players had one more chance to show their appreciation for Reichow, gathering for an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ’72 team, which was good enough to be one of four teams considered to play in that year’s national championship game.

In addition to his career in Albia and at Monmouth, Reichow was a longtime independent DeKalb Seed dealer and chairman of the Warren County board. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Marcia, by three daughters, including Julie Reichow Graves ’78 , and by nine grandchildren, including Lauren Crawford ’08 and Claire Griffith ’17 . One of his daughters, Joanie Reichow ’81 , preceded him in death.

Jim Paul, 92, of Monmouth, died March 10, 2024. He spent his childhood in both rural and urban settings, milking 27 cows twice a day in Gilman, Iowa, and also living in Chicago, where he made deliveries for a corner tavern, among other jobs. He even earned a tryout with the Chicago Cubs. Paul served in the Navy from 1950-54, attaining the rank of radioman 3rd class. Part of his service time was spent in Korea. At Monmouth, Paul earned a degree in chemistry and was a member of the wrestling team and Alpha Tau Omega. During his time in school, he also worked for the CB&Q Railroad. It was on one of his walks to the depot when Monmouth staff member Glen Rankin chatted with Paul about his story and encouraged him to look into the GI Bill, which enabled him to afford his studies. Paul earned his doctor of dental surgery degree from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in 1963 and was a dentist in Monmouth for 30 years. An active citizen, one of Paul’s involvements was president of the Monmouth School Board, and he managed the Paul-Francis farm for most of his adult life. He was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Helen Francis Paul ’59 (see below).

Joyce Humphreys Person of Phoenix, Ariz., died June 26, 2022. A professional volunteer who lived for 30 years in Western Springs, Ill., Person made important contributions to the many clubs and organizations to which she belonged, which primarily involved gardening, as well as government relations and the Marine Corps.

Christa Bellis Waller, 87, of Monmouth, died Feb. 7, 2024. After studying elementary education, she worked for two local department stores and three grocery stores, also serving on the District 38 school board. Waller was preceded in death by her husband of 47 years.

1959

Sheryl Stripe MacBean, 86, of Omaha, Neb., died in April 2024. She graduated with a degree in history and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta before earning a master’s degree at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. MacBean taught students of all ages, retiring after 12 years as a reading teacher with the Omaha Public Schools alternative high schools. In retirement, she served as an adjunct instructor at Creighton University.

Ed Nelson, 87, of Forreston, Ill., died Feb. 20, 2024. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and was a member of the football and wrestling teams and Theta Chi. Nelson, who later earned a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University, had a long career in education, serving as a chemistry teacher, guidance counselor, athletic director and

bus driver. He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years.

Helen Francis Paul of Monmouth died March 2, 2023. She grew up attending the one-room Coonville School and Kirkwood High School. At Monmouth, she participated in the rifle club and synchronized swimming and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. While a student, she met her husband, longtime Monmouth dentist Jim Paul ’58 (see above).

1960

Charles Bell, 85, of Stronghurst, Ill., died Nov. 16, 2023. He graduated with a degree in economics and earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University. Bell was executive director of the MidAmerica Port of Commission of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. He was also active in the economic development of his surrounding area. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Sarah Bell ’71, and three children who attended Monmouth – Brian Bell ’83, Ronald Bell ’84 and Debbie Bell

Sally Charvat Cagle, 85, of St. Paul, Minn., died Oct. 4, 2023. She graduated with a degree in English and received a master’s degree in American studies from Indiana University. Cagle was a technical writer for several Minnesota mainframe computer companies, including 3M. She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Gary Cagle ’59.

Charles Dixon, 84, of Little York, Ill., died Sept. 28, 2023. He worked as a foreman at Foremost Dairies before retiring in 1994. Dixon was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years.

Karen Sundberg Finn, 86, of DeKalb, Ill., died May 1, 2024. She graduated with a degree in English and was a member of Crimson Masque and Pi Beta Phi. Finn also earned a master’s degree in education from Western Illinois University and was a teacher at the former Forest View High School in Arlington Heights, Ill. She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years.

Charles Link, 86, of Ballwin, Mo., died Nov. 19, 2023. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and was a member of the football and wrestling teams and Theta Chi. His family had a long affiliation with the Star Union brewery in his native Peru, Ill., and he was the fourth generation in his family to work in the brewing industry. To prepare, he attended Chicago’s Siebel Institute. Link worked at Pearl brewery in San Antonio, Texas, before becoming a brewmaster at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, where he worked until his retirement. Survivors include a granddaughter, Elizabeth Meyer Ireland ’15

John Nunnikhoven, 87, of Chester, Vt., died April 1, 2024. He graduated with a degree in mathematics after also attending Iowa State University. Nunnikhoven worked for U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, International Minerals & Chemicals and American Can Corporation.

Arnold Nyman, 84, of Claremore, Okla., died Sept. 17, 2022. He spent the bulk of his career with Burgess Norton, first in Geneva, Ill., and then overseeing the construction of the company’s new plant in Claremore. He also worked at Chicago Rawhide, at his father’s commercial construction company, and for Diamond Chain in Indianapolis, Ind.

1961

Gaye Winbigler Anderson, 84, of Marengo, Ill., died April 4, 2024. She studied elementary education and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta before completing her degree at Northern Illinois University, where she also earned a master’s degree in curriculum and supervision. Anderson taught kindergarten in Marengo and Crystal Lake for 25 years and was later a sales representative and consultant with Scott Foresman K-12 Publishing Company. Survivors include her husband of 62 years, Richard Anderson ’60

Ancil Guilinger, 84, of Savanna, Ill., died Feb. 14, 2024. He graduated with a degree in physical education. Guilinger was a teacher, principal and coach during his career in education, which was with the Mt. Carroll and Savanna school districts. In 1997, he was inducted into the Northwest Illinois Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring from education, he worked for Law Jones Funeral Homes. Survivors include his wife of 63 years.

Robert Jornlin, 84, of Earlville, Ill., died March 5, 2024. He graduated with a degree in geology and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. Jornlin gained fame for captaining LST-325, a World War II ship that he and a crew of sailors with an average age of 72 returned to the United States from Greece. The ship docked in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 10, 2001. Jornlin wrote a book about the adventure, titled Bringing Back a Hero. A Navy veteran, he farmed in Earlville for many years.

Ronald Noton of Laramie, Wyo., died April 16, 2024. He graduated with a degree in physics and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

John Reasner of Gilbert, Ariz., died in 2023. He graduated with a degree in business and was a member of the basketball, baseball and track teams and Theta Chi. Survivors include a brother, Timothy Reasner ’65

Henry Rogers, 83, of Ashland, Ore., died July 2, 2023. He graduated with a degree in physics, served on The Oracle staff and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon before earning a master’s degree in physics at Western Illinois University. Rogers worked at a munitions plant and at Honeywell before becoming vice president of Gresen Manufacturing. He then went out on his own, teaching a method of manufacturing developed in Japan. That work required extensive travel, including many trips to Venezuela. In retirement, he bought a coffee shop in Ashland and perfected his coffee-roasting skills. Rogers was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years.

David Russell, 84, of Englewood, Fla., died Dec. 24, 2023. He graduated with a degree in physical education and was a member of the football, basketball and track teams, as well as Crimson Masque and Theta Chi. Russell earned two master’s degrees from Northern Illinois University. After three years teaching in Malta, Ill., Russell moved to Genoa, Ill., and was a teacher, coach and administrator there. His 1977 GenoaKingston football team was the undefeated state champion, and the school’s football field was named in his honor. Russell is a member of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Genoa-Kingston High School Hall of Fame. Survivors include his wife of 60 years.

John Toal, 84, of Monmouth, died May 23, 2024. He worked in the maintenance department of the Warren County Housing Authority for 27 years before retiring in 2003. Toal was preceded in death by his wife of 49 years, Mary Alice McLoskey Toal ’63. Survivors include a sister, Ann Toal ’60, and a daughter, Kathleen Toal Lee ’88

1962

Frank Adam, 83, of St. Louis, Mo., died Dec. 7, 2023. He graduated with a degree in economics and was a member of the swim and tennis teams and Alpha Tau Omega. Adam was a stockbroker with A.G. Edwards for 35 years. Survivors include his wife of 52 years.

Dr. Susan Nickel-Trimble, 83, of Albany, Calif., died March 14, 2024. She graduated with a degree in biology and was a member of Crimson Masque and Kappa Delta. She then attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, where she was one of eight women in a class of 156. Nickel-Trimble practiced ophthalmology in Oak Park, Ill, and at Loyola University Medical Center. She later was a site reviewer for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Survivors include a sister, Joan Nickel Sanders ’64.

Stephen Smith, 82, of Jacksonville, Ore., died April 22, 2023. He graduated with a degree in economics and was a member of Crimson Masque and Theta Chi. After four years of service in the Navy, he settled in southern California for 15 years before moving to Oregon in 1982. Survivors include his wife of 55 years.

1964

Richard Halloran, 83, of Livingston, Mont., died May 15, 2024. A member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, he graduated with a degree in English. Halloran started his career working with Aetna Insurance. After a move to North Palm Beach, Fla., he and his wife of 60 years, Jo Howell Halloran ’64, owned two Hallmark stores and a printing brokerage, where their clients included the Golden Bear Co. In retirement, the couple moved to Livingston, where Halloran was a part-time fly-fishing guide.

Louisa Magzanian, 80, of Silver Spring, Md., died April 28, 2023. Born in Syria, she moved to the U.S. from Lebanon when she was 9. A member of Alpha Xi Delta, Magzanian graduated with a degree in English, also studying Russian. She immediately joined the Peace Corps, teaching English to young women in Afghanistan. In 1968, Magzanian began a 20-year career as a researcher and writer for National Geographic. She then worked for Interages, helping teach geography to elementary school students. Magzanian spoke fluent English, Armenian and Farsi, plus a smattering of Arabic, Turkish and Russian.

Stephen Wilson, 81, of Delaware, Ohio, died Jan. 8, 2024.

1965

David Charles, 78, of De Pere, Wis., died July 16, 2022. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of the golf team and Alpha Tau Omega. He had a successful career in leadership with Sears at three Midwest locations, before became a certified financial planner with IDS, retiring in 1998. He also helped his wife create and run her business, KC Freight, through 2003. Even though he was dealing with stage-4 cancer, the former Fighting Scot golfer shot his age just months before his passing.

Joyce Brown Duesing, 80, of Kenosha, Wis., died Jan. 26, 2024. She graduated with a degree in psychology and was a member of Kappa Delta. Duesing was an elementary school teacher in Elgin, Ill., and Tiffin, Ohio, and continued her studies at Waynesburg (Pa.) College and Carthage College in Kenosha. She worked in administrative roles at Carthage and the Racine

Area United Way and, for many years, was the internal auditor at First National Bank of Antioch. Survivors include her husband of 58 years, Kent Duesing ’64, who she met on a blind date while at Monmouth.

Mollie Ehle Landfear of Fox River Grove, Ill., died in February 2024. She completed her degree at Northern Illinois University and taught at Larkin High School in Elgin, Ill. In retirement, she opened a yarn store. Survivors include her husband of 60 years, Douglas Landfear ’65.

John Stack, 80, of Indianapolis, Ind., died Jan. 8, 2024. He graduated with a degree in economics and was a member of the basketball and baseball teams and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Stack was an independent insurance agent in Indianapolis for many years while also developing and investing in property and real estate. In the mid-1990s, he built Keystone Indoor Golf, which evolved into a multi-purpose all-sports facility. In 2003, he founded Positive Swing, Inc., which provided free sports programs to inner-city youth and the mentally and physically handicapped. Through a series of major sponsorships and donations, his non-profit helped thousands of individuals enjoy sports at no cost to them. Survivors include his wife of 57 years and a sister, Dorothy Stack Spaulding ’64.

1966

Rev. Dick Anderson, 78, of Palm City, Fla., died Sept. 14, 2023. He graduated with a degree in sociology and was a member of the baseball team and Sigma Phi Epsilon. At Yale University, he was the first person to attain simultaneous master’s degrees from the divinity school and the school of music. In the latter field at Yale, he was a member of the Glee Club and sang on The Ed Sullivan Show and at Carnegie Hall. For the next six years, he sang professionally and taught in Europe, before answering the call to full-time ministry in 1976. He served three Presbyterian churches in Illinois, as well as churches in California and Florida. Anderson was also an Abraham Lincoln presenter, delivering inspiring performances as the 16th president for almost 40 years.

Alan Loya of St. Louis, Mo., died Feb. 26, 2024. He graduated with a degree in sociology and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. He was preceded in death by his parents, Hal and Eileen Sandberg Loya ’40, who both worked for Monmouth, and by a brother, Mervyn Loya ’62. Survivors include a sister, Karin Loya ’63

Steven Owen, 79, of Healdsburg, Calif., died died in May 2024 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. He studied psychology before completing his degree at North Central College. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at Purdue University and taught educational psychology and statistics for 30 years at the University of Connecticut. He then taught and worked in the University of Texas system as a biostatistician and statistical consultant. Owen authored the college text Educational Psychology. Survivors include a sister, Jean Owen ’72, and his former wife, Jane Schmitt ’65, who he met at Monmouth, just as his parents did in the 1940s, as well as his fraternal grandparents.

1967

Charles Blatherwick, 80, of Blue Anchor, N.J., died June 24, 2024. A member of the wrestling team and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, he graduated with a degree in biology. He completed a master’s degree at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and also did graduate work at Rutgers. Blatherwick was an award-winning and beloved science teacher at three New Jersey schools – Edgewood Regional High School, Moorestown Friends School and Hammonton High School. Survivors include his wife of 54 years.

1969

John Andrew Cook, 75, of Wake Forest, N.C., died April 26, 2023. He majored in speech/ communication/theater and religious studies and was a member of Crimson Masque. After two years in the Army as a platoon sergeant, he completed a master of education of exceptional children degree from the University of Georgia. Three decades later, he earned a master’s degree in school administration from Appalachian State University.

George Lirakis, 76, of Harborside, Maine, died Nov. 23, 2023. He graduated with a degree in history and was a member of the football team and Theta Chi. Lirakis taught industrial arts, coached football, and played and sang folk music at many venues for more than 30 years.

Carlton Pate, 76, of Rocky Hill, N.J., died June 23, 2024, of cancer. A member of Crimson Masque and Alpha Tau Omega, he graduated with a degree in physics. He also completed a degree from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking and spent his entire career in the financial industry. After nine bank mergers, he retired as a vice president from the Bank of America. He owned four early-model Fords, including three Model T’s,

IN MEMORIAM

and he authored Pate’s Early Ford Encyclopedia: The Ford Cars 1903 to 1909. Pate was also a model train enthusiast.

Charles Schacht, 77, of Tulsa, Okla., died Nov. 18, 2023. He played baseball for the Fighting Scots and at Arizona State University while earning his master’s degree. Schacht taught at Lombard Junior High School in Galesburg, Ill., and at the University of Chicago, where he was the head baseball coach and assistant basketball coach. He also worked for the dental school at Oral Roberts University and for Autopilots Central in Tulsa, where he resided for the past 42 years. Schacht and his wife were married 55 years.

1971

Judy Miller Dunn, 75, of Hershey, Pa., died Dec. 1, 2023. She graduated with a degree in English and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. Described as “a competitive reader,” she served in many capacities with the Hershey Public Library, including the fundraising co-chair for its current building and organizing the annual book sale. She was also an accomplished artisan baker with a passion for sourdough. Survivors include her husband of 52 years, John Dunn ’71

Randall Johnson of Panama City, Fla., died Aug. 9, 2020, after battling cancer. During his time at Monmouth, he studied business administration.

Dr. Robert Litchfield of Buchanan, Mich., died in April 2024. One of his most cherished memories of his time at Monmouth came when he was asked to drive a young performer to campus after picking him up at the Galesburg airport. That artist, Stevie Wonder, was in the early stages of his music career. After graduating with a degree in biology from Monmouth, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, Litchfield attended the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at Chicago Osteopathic hospitals, serving as chief resident. He completed his cardiology fellowship at the University of Iowa, one of the top cardiology programs in the country. While there, the faculty named him chief cardiology fellow. Litchfield also served as associate dean of graduate and continuing medical education at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He practiced cardiology for 40 years with Cardiospecialists Group. After retiring from that position, he worked as a consultant for Community Hospital in Munster, Ind., for three years.

1972

William Bluder, 72, of Lake Zurich, Ill., died in

September 2023. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Bluder lived with multiple sclerosis for more than 40 years. Survivors include his wife of 49 years.

1973

William Koegler of Walworth, N.Y., died Oct. 14, 2019. He graduated with a degree in art.

Richard Lucco, 70, of Chicago, died May 17, 2022, after battling cancer for several years. He studied psychology and was a member of the football and tennis teams and Alpha Tau Omega before completing his degree at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In 1979, he graduated from the North Park Theological Seminary. During his time in the ministry, he served in the Illinois communities of Princeton, Kewanee, Elgin and Mt. Prospect, as well as 10 years in Salem, Ore. Lucco also worked for the Great Lakes Conference of the Covenant Church in Canton, Mich., and in Chicago, retiring as executive minister of ministry development. Survivors include his wife of 47 years.

Teresa Hewes Rueckert, 72, of Longmont, Colo., died March 26, 2024. She graduated with a degree in art and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. Survivors include a brother, Thomas Hewes II ’74

1974

Stephen Purington, 72, of Laconia, N.H., died Dec. 12, 2023. A member of the swim team, he studied psychology. Purington completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Southern Maine and received a master’s degree in education from Tufts University. He was on the faculty as a math teacher for many years at the Pike School in Andover, Mass., and he also taught and coached at three other academies.

1975

Douglas Fisher, 70, of Las Vegas, Nev., died May 27, 2024. He graduated with a degree in education, focusing on learning disabilities, and earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University. Fisher taught in the Sherrard (Ill.) school district and was a teacher and vocational coordinator at the Black Hawk Area Education Center in the Moline (Ill.) school district.

1976

Tim Burk, 73, of Atwood, Ill., died June 16, 2024, just three weeks after celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary with his high school sweetheart. An English major and member of Theta Chi, Burk was the quarterback of the

Fighting Scots’ undefeated football team in 1972. He went on to play semi-pro ball with the Madison (Wis.) Mustangs and was a teacher and coach at four Illinois high schools – Tuscola, Sullivan, Villa Grove and Atwood-Hammond.

Esther Domnitz Thompson, 68, of Princeville, Ill., died Oct. 13, 2023. She graduated with a degree in topical studies and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta.

1977

Chuck Fry, 68, of Monmouth, died March 27, 2024. After studying at Monmouth, he graduated from Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Chicago and worked at funeral homes in the Illinois communities of Monmouth, Pekin and Havana. Fry also worked with his brother at Monmouth’s popular Center Stage, then renovated and opened Filling Station #3 restaurant, proudly serving more than 1 million people over 16 years. At the same Main Street site, he also operated Traditional Amish Hardwoods, wwhich was in business for 22 years. Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Ann Arthur Fry ’79, and children Katie Fry Novak ’09 and Jim Fry ’11

Doug Nelson, 68, of Milan, Ill., died March 12, 2024. He graduated with a degree in physical education and was a member of the football and basketball teams and Alpha Tau Omega. Nelson also earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University, not far from Northwestern High School, where he worked as a science, health and P.E. teacher for many years. He also worked in the nearby Dallas City school district and retired as an administrator from the Mercer County School District in Aledo, Ill. Throughout his career, he helped coach basketball, track and baseball. Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Kristen Fausett Nelson ’77, and children Matthew Nelson ’98 and Joni Nelson ’07

1978

Glenn Carlson, 67, of Superior, Wis., died April 7, 2024, after battling glioblastoma cancer. He graduated with a degree in geology and was a member of the basketball team and Tau Kappa Epsilon before earning a master’s degree at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. Carlson was a teacher and basketball coach at Rich South High School in suburban Chicago before coaching the men’s team at the University of Wisconsin-Superior from 1987-94. He also served as a professor at Superior for more than 30 years, chairing the health and human performance

IN MEMORIAM

department for 12 years. From 2018-22, Carlson taught in the applied human science department at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He shared the gospel through his prison ministry, as well as several missionary trips to Africa.

Alexander Hutton, 68, of Peterborough, N.H., died April 11, 2024. In addition to Monmouth, he attended Waseda University in Japan and Plymouth State University. Hutton worked for NEC Corporation and Hewlett Packard.

Leonard Wcislo, 67, of Hickory Hills, Ill., died Nov. 28, 2023. He graduated with a degree in mathematics and was a member of the soccer team and Crimson Masque. He was a retired systems analyst for AT&T and longtime member of The Palos Village Players, serving as its president.

1980

Dr. Susan Redmond of Harlingen, Texas, died April 11, 2022. She graduated from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and specialized in obstetrics and gynecology.

1983

Rodney Lubke, 66, of Raleigh, N.C., died Jan. 7, 2024. A member of the football team, he graduated with a degree in business.

Matthew McDonald, 63, of Lakeland, Fla., died April 9, 2024, of cancer. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of the football and basketball teams and Tau Kappa Epsilon, serving as president of the chapter as a junior. McDonald worked at Mazzella, formerly Florida Handling Systems, for 25 years.

1984

Rusty Orwig, 72, of North Henderson, Ill., died Dec. 5, 2023. After graduating from Alexis High School, he served two years in the Army before managing his family’s farm. An airplane accident in 1978 changed the course of his life. He went back to school to become a social worker, studying at Carl Sandburg College, Monmouth and, after becoming a licensed social worker, the University of Iowa, where he earned a master’s degree. Orwig worked in the Illinois Department of Corrections for nine years as a social worker, then taught at Sandburg and Western Illinois University before retiring in 2016. Survivors include his wife of 52 years and a daughter, Randi Orwig Grodjesk ’00

John Schmalhausen, 58, of Clearwater, Fla., died Nov. 15, 2020. He was a member of the football team and Theta Chi.

1989

Daniel Beattie, 56, of Audubon, Iowa, died Dec. 8, 2023, as the result of a motorcycle accident. He graduated with a degree in sociology and was a member of the football team and Theta Chi. In 1996, he received his master of divinity degree from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind. He served the New Life Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne and the Chapel of the Cross Lutheran Church in Mission Hills, Calif., before accepting an urban mission call in Des Moines, Iowa. There, he mentored graduate students, planted a church in nearby Johnston, and developed and served as executive director of Family of God Ministries. In the latter role, he established men’s transitional housing, a cafe for job training and an immigrant resource center. During his career, he directed a women’s homeless shelter, led gang outreach and intervention, and traveled to West Africa to train emerging pastors. While in Iowa, he was also the pastor in Norwalk and Audubon and worked at Lounsbury Landscaping in West Des Moines. One of five fire chaplains in the state of Iowa, he joined the Audubon Fire Department as a fire fighter in 2021 and was certified in 2023. He was also involved in the International Conference of Police Chaplains.

1993

Chris Buban, 56, of Monmouth, died Dec. 30, 2023. He graduated with a degree in English and was a member of the tennis team and Crimson Masque. He moved to Washington, D.C., following graduation, working at the National Institute of Health, as a paralegal for the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson and – using his considerable cooking skills – as a baker at Great Harvest Bread Company. He returned to the area and worked at Monmouth College in various capacities, most notably the oversight of audio/visual services. Survivors include his wife, former staff member Paula Buban; his parents, emeritus sociology professor Steve Buban and his wife, Nancy; his brother, Peter Buban ’99; and three children, including Amy Vellenga-Buban ’20

1995

Brandy Hidalgo Vargas, 50, of Pearland, Texas, died Dec. 7, 2023. She graduated with a degree in speech/communications/theater, worked at the radio station and was a member of the tennis team and Pi Beta Phi.

2017

Travis Gray, 28, of Moline, Ill., died March 10, 2024. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of the residence life staff. Gray worked for the Rock Island Arsenal as a contract specialist.

Word has also been received of the following deaths:

Olivia Bishop, 24, of Galesburg, Ill., a former staff member, died Nov. 27, 2023.

Leo Cruz, 64, of Kirkwood, Ill., the assistant director of the college’s physical plant for 11 years,

died Jan. 12, 2024. Survivors include a daughter, Suzana Cruz Castellano ’02

Audrey Johnson, 100, of Carson City, Nev., the wife of former physics professor Franklin Johnson, died Oct. 5, 2023. The couple, who met in England during Franklin’s WWII service in the Canadian army, lived in Monmouth for 12 years.

Prescott Johnson, who taught philosophy at Monmouth from 1962-86, died April 17, 2024, at the age of 102. After completing two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree in Kansas, Johnson earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Northwestern University in 1959, writing a dissertation titled “The Problem of Value Apprehension.” He’d

already been teaching since 1943, and he eventually became head of the department at Bethany (Okla.) Nazarene College. He then taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1957-62 before joining Monmouth’s faculty. His list of publications is long, well-read and highly regarded among professionals. One of his most widely regarded publications is “The Ontological Argument in Plato,” which appeared in The Personalist very early in his Monmouth career.

Robert Klapproth, 86, of Prophetstown, Ill., a former staff member, died Sept. 29, 2023.

Beth McCoy, 96, of Roseville, Ill., a former staff member, died Jan. 28, 2024.

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SUMMER 2024

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