Portland Magazine Autumn 2014

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THE FOOTBALL ISSUE

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SHOULDERING One of the best things about having a lot of brothers is not something that people with lots of brothers talk about much, but I think we should speak of it this morning, for I miss it, and I doubt I will ever feel it again in quite the same way, and it mattered enormously to me, and somehow contributed to making me who I am in all sorts of ways, so let us think for a moment about brushing up against the bulk of brothers in the kitchen, and bumping gently into brothers in the hallway, and being crammed against brothers in the back seats of cars, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with brothers in basketball games and tense moments, and having the arms and legs of brothers draped over you like thick vines and cables as you sprawl on floors and couches and beaches, and having a brother’s chin suddenly plopped on your left shoulder from behind as you sleepily make coffee. Things like that. We talk about collisions and battles and fisticuffs and hugs and handshakes and sharp elbows when we talk about lots of brothers, and well we should, because you cannot have a lot of brothers and not crash into them in every imaginable way including sometimes headfirst both with and without helmets, and sometimes we talk about the gentler brotherly touches, like a big eloquent hand on your shoulder when you desperately need a large tender hand on your shoulder, or a huge hand extended to help you up when you are down and dazed, or the way that bigger brothers hold the hands of littler brothers sometimes, which every time I see that I cry at such a shimmer of love right there in front of me at the bus stop or the train station or the schoolyard or the chapel, but we hardly talk about the slight brotherly brushes, the wordless hey of a brother deliberately leaning into you for no reason whatsoever as he shuffles past with his sandwich and tea. That’s a way to say I love you. Yes it is. There are a lot of ways to say I love you, it turns out, and two brothers cheerfully shouldering a third brother away from the plate of cookies and deftly boxing him out without undue effort even as he sets his feet and tries to leverage his way through and they are all grinning is an excellent way to say I love you, and I miss that, I miss that fiercely this morning. Just for a moment to shuffle back into the kitchen sleepy and discombobulated and instantly be confronted with a gentle elbow to the throat would be immeasurably sweet; and then an ever-so-infinitesimal hip check, and then when I reach for the bacon a massive form interrupts and I find myself reaching for air, and I hear several large men chortling, one of whom is our dad, who is the captain of the bacon, and if you think you are going to move him out of his front-row seat by the stove, not to mention he has the epic old spatula and he knows how to use it, you have another think coming, young man, although every one of his sons this morning will shoulder up against the chieftain, and lean strenuously against his brothers, and in a moment our mom will come in and glare wordlessly and we will get the message and retreat to the table like civilized beings, but just for one last delicious instant I lean against one large brother, and a taller thinner brother is leaning on us two, and the biggest of us all is leaning on the three younger brothers, and we are all leaning on the chieftain, who is laughing but immovable, and the bacon is almost done, and if you listen carefully you can hear all five men in the kitchen chortling gently. Brian Doyle is the editor of this magazine, and the author most recently of the sea novel The Plover.


F E A T U R E S 14 / Pilot Football, 1902-1950, by Matt Sabo ’91 The muddled, muddy, funny, colorful story of the University’s first great sports teams. 22 / The Pursuit of Happiness, by Governor John Kitzhaber How exactly should we measure the quality of life in Oregon?

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24 / Fish Camp, text and photographs by David Mattox ’04 The rough sweet bone-rattling joys of the Alaskan salmon run.

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28 / In the Dark, by Renee Schafer Horton When you are fearful and weary and cannot possibly go on, remember this: He believes in you. 32 / My Life in Pro Baseball, by Chris Sperry ’89 The joys and travails of being a “major minor leaguer.”

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3 / The exuberant ebullient eager extraordinary Profe Kate Regan (1959-2014) page 24

4 / New student body president John Julius Muwulya, from Uganda 6 / Math & Faith: an essay by professor Stephanie Salomone 8 / ‘I am a professor of wonder…’ — physicist Shannon Mayer 9 / The late Tom Nelson, dean of engineering page 28

10 / Women’s basketball coach Jim Sollars’ last teary hilarious Senior Night 12 / Sports, starring the finest young female runner in American history 36 / Alumni news, and the gentle late education professor Ruby Schendel 48 / The admirable Admiral Mike McCabe ’70…as a Pilot freshman

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THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND MAGAZINE

Cover: from a collection of glorious old Pilot football programs in the University’s archive and museum; our thanks to the generous Carolyn Connolly and Father Jeff Schneibel, C.S.C. Could those hard-working souls use gifts for their lovely storysaving labors? Dear yes. Send them c/o this magazine and we will make merry.

Autumn 2014: Vol. 33, No. 3 President: Rev. Mark Poorman, C.S.C. Founding Editor: John Soisson Editor: Brian Doyle Terse Creative Disgruntled Designers: Matt Erceg & Joseph Erceg ’55 Mooing Assistant Editors: Marc Covert ’93 & Amy Shelly Harrington ’95 Fitfully Contributing Editors: Louis Masson, Sue Säfve, Terry Favero, Mary Beebe Portland is published quarterly by the University of Portland. Copyright ©2014 by the University of Portland. All rights reserved. Editorial offices are located in Waldschmidt Hall, 5000 N. Willamette Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97203-5798. Telephone (503) 943-8225, fax (503) 943-7178, e-mail address: bdoyle@up.edu, Web site: http://www.up.edu/portland. Third-class postage paid at Portland, OR 97203. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product — Sales Agreement No. 40037899. Canadian Mail Distribution Information — Express Messenger International: PO Box 25058, London, Ontario, Canada N6C 6A8. Printed in the USA. Opinions expressed in Portland are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University administration. Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland, The University of Portland Magazine, 5000 N. Willamette Boulevard, Portland, OR 97203-5798.

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“Autumn this year is gonna break my heart / Leaves start falling and the feeling starts / Days turn shorter and the nights turn cool / And children walk home from school…” chants the great American songwriter Steve Forbert, who will be back on campus November 12 for a free noon concert in Hunt Theater; he was memorably the Schoenfeldt Writers Series visitor in 2010, talking about stories in songs. ¶ The University has two national top-20 sports teams in action this fall: men’s cross country (seventh in America) and women’s soccer (11th); see portlandpilots.com for details. ¶ The University’s Holy Cross priests and brothers will gather for Mass on September 15, feast day for Our Lady of Sorrows, patient Mary the Madonna, their patroness. The men of the Cross celebrate January 7 as the feast day of the first Holy Cross saint, Saint Andre Bessette of Montreal.

The University

Biggest event this fall; the inauguration of Father Mark Poorman, C.S.C., as the University’s 20th president, on September 26, in the Chiles Center. All welcome; information at up.edu. ¶ The 2014 University Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet is Saturday evening, October 4, in Bauccio Commons. This year’s honorees: two-sport stars Wally Panel ’59 and Jim Dortch ’64, soccer’s Shannon MacMillan ’95, and tennis’s Roman Borvanov ’05. The glorious 2002 women’s soccer teams, champions of these

Press); and novelist Caleb Crain, March 31. All events are at 7:30 p.m. in BC 163 free as air. ¶ The University annually sponsors ticket packages to musicals downtown at Portland Opera’s Broadway series: this year the events are Kinky Boots (October 4), Guys and Dolls (March 13), I Love Lucy (April 10), Phantom of the Opera (May 16), and Wicked (August 7). Information: Connie Ozyjowski, ozyjowsk@up.edu. ¶ Hosted by the University’s Garaventa Center for Catholic Life: History professor Brian Els on humor as a weapon against fascism, October 22; the annual Father Ted Hesburgh Lecture for Notre Dame alumni, on the history and meaning of the Sistine Chapel (October 28); and a deep dive into Dante’s Divine Comedy, on November 6. Details: Jamie Powell, 503.943.7702.

The Faculty

The University is up to 332 faculty members, all told, teaching some 3,500 undergraduates and 500 graduate students; the student/faculty ratio remains at about 13/1, Arts & Letters as it has been for some years. The spring semester Schoen­ ¶ Receiving the first Susan feldt Writers Series visitor, Moscato Award for innovative February 26, 7 pm, BC Aud, free and open to all: the won- teaching of nursing was… nursing professor Susan Moscato derful novelist Alice McDer’68, a key player as the Unimott, who won the National Book Award for Charming Bil- versity joined with Providence ly. ¶ The fall semester Schoen- Health, Portland Veterans’ feldt Series guest, on October: Affairs, and others to create America’s first Dedicated hilariously, this magazine’s Education Unit for nurses ten editor, whose most recent years ago. books are the novels Mink River and The Plover. Contact bdoyle@up.edu. ¶ Guests of the English department this year: fictioneer Dan DeWeese, September 22; memoirist Robin Romm, November 4; essayist Father Pat Hannon, C.S.C., February 10, reading from his newest book, SacraStudent Life ment: Personal Encounters with Of those 3,500 undergraduates, Memories, Wounds, Dreams, 59% are female, 54% live on and Unruly Hearts (Ave Maria campus, and a fascinating 42% Portland 2

are not from Oregon and Washington, the University’s traditional feeder states. Some 47% identify as Catholic; among the other 22 faiths on campus are Hindus, Anglicans, Buddhists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Muslims, Mormons, and 7 members of the faith of Jesus Christ. ¶ Most popular majors, in order: nursing, biology, finance, Spanish, mechanical engineering, marketing, psychology, organizational communication, elementary education, and accounting. ¶ The new student body president this year: John Julius Muwulya, from Uganda (see page 4).

From The Past

November 10, 1921: Father John Zahm, C.S.C., who helped Portland Archbishop Alexander Christie start the University of Portland, dies at age 70. Remarkable man: prolific author, noted scientist, Teddy Roosevelt’s travel companion. Prayers. ¶ November 13, 1850: Robert Louis Stevenson born, and the world is ever better for that. ¶ November 19, 1863: Abraham Lincoln’s terse taut perfect haunting piercing brave humble Gettysburg Address. ¶ November 20, 2003: Father Bill Beauchamp elected the University’s 19th president, and an excellent one he turned out to be, too. Thanks, Boss. ¶ November 26, 1901: the University’s very first cash contribution, $230, from the alumnae of Saint Mary’s Academy, which is still going and generous and a cool place altogether. ¶ December 3, 1857: Joseph Conrad is born in the Ukraine — maybe the best novelist ever in our language. ¶ Born on September 16, 1924: Betty Joan Perske, who would be much better known later in life as the late great Lauren Bacall. ¶ December 8, 2002: the first Pilot women’s national soccer title; December 4, 2005 was the second. Yessssss!

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY MILLER DOYLE

The Season

United States, will also be inducted. ¶ The annual Red Mass for everyone working for justice in the legal arena is Monday, October 20 at 5 p.m.; the Mass is open to all, but a dinner and lecture by Judge Carlos Bea afterwards doth require ticketage. His Honor was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) by President George W. Bush; he will be speaking about religious art in public places. Details and tickets: Jamie Powell, 503.943.7702, powell@up.edu. ¶ Two fall Hive events (the Hive is a free networking forum for all alumni): ‘Going green without going into the red,’ on September 10, and a look at radical changes in modern media, November 5; both events at 519 NE Hancock Street in Portland. Informa­tion: Bridget Bimrose-DelCarpio, 503.943.8370. ¶ Guest of the Pamplin School of Business on November 14: Steve Brown, the “chief e ­ vangelist and futurist” for Intel. Information: Amanda Walsh, 503.943.8801, walsha@up.edu.


Kate The University of Portland, and this blessed earth, lost one of its most exuberant, ebullient, generous, eager, energetic, engaging, and captivating members when the remarkable teacher, scholar, filmmaker, and force of nature Kate Regan died on July 23, only 55 years old. Suitably, aptly, of course, her sudden death was caused by an enlarged heart; no one had a heart as huge and open and welcoming as Profe Kate, as thousands of students and alumni will remember her the rest of their lives. The usual obituary notice would here note her extraordinary accomplishments at the University and in her profession — she was, for example, the Carnegie Foundation U.S. Professor of the Year in 2000, which is essentially The Best College Professor in America Award. When she arrived at the University in 1995, there were two Spanish majors; at her death there were 119, and a whole new Department of International Languages and Cultures, both feats ­directly attributable to Kate’s vision and energy and warmth. She was not only a renowned scholar of classical Spanish theater, but of brave early women writers, in a country which long disdained the female genius; she became a skilled and creative filmmaker, exploring Spanish history and culture in three documentaries, with a dozen more films planned and in production. She was the rare red-haired freckled Irish-American girl from Chicago who learned Spanish so fluently that she could and did explore Spanish-speaking cultures around the world from inside the dance and song of the language. She was the rare University professor to whom the usual academic and disciplinary borders were ephemeral jokes, a woman who counted friends and colleagues in every single department and office on campus. She was a whirlwind of energy who belonged to some dozen scholarly societies and associations, and never missed a meeting or a hug, and always had time for a student, and always, always, greeted everyone, everywhere, with a smile bigger than a country and a bolt of interest and affection so bright and genuine that you felt taller all the rest of the day. But the usual obituary notice would miss so much of the zest and verve and love and unquenchable grinning colorful joy of Kate Regan. This is the woman who anonymously donated money for her students to learn filmmaking. This is the woman who devoted her whole heart and life to her partner Mary Simon. This is the best aunt and godmother ever. This is the woman who said that her greatest joy as a teacher was her students’ thrill of exploring new worlds. This is the woman who was instantly friends with anyone she met anywhere at any time. This is the woman who said the world of ideas never ends, which is true, and a thread of light in this time of great sadness. This is the woman who was thrilled at her impending sabbatical so she could work harder on her next film. This is the woman of whom it was said, utterly accurately, that she never let up, never backed up, and never backed down, a lovely epitaph. This is the woman who, when her sudden death was tersely announced on the University web site, instantly drew hundreds of posts dear lord in this time of darkness from around the world, nearly every one of them con- help us see the darkness taining the words love and laughter. This is a being dear lord help us to not pretend who answered the great poet Mary Oliver’s question no more pretending What will you do with your one wild and precious life? dear lord may our gaze be defenseless with Everything all at once! This is a being so much and unshardable bigger and wilder and happier and kinder than the teach us the piety of the open eye words professor or scholar could ever even hint at. This dear lord in this time of darkness is one of the greatest human beings who ever graced may we be unafraid to mourn and together and hugely the University of Portland, and the thousands of may dignity lose its scaffolding people who loved and admired her will miss her with faces crumble like bricks a terrible piercing stabbing pang for many years to dear lord let grief come to grief come. The poet E.E. Cummings: I carry your heart and then o lord help us to see the bees yet in the lavender with me / I carry it in my heart / I am never without it / the spokes of sunlight down through the oaks anywhere I go you go my dear… rest in peace, Profe. and the sleep-opened face of the beloved Carry our love with you as you travel now, all light and the afternoon all around her and laughter forever. and her small freckled hands

Prayer

Brian Doyle

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Teddy Macker


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The new president of the University’s students this year: John Julius Muwulya, who won nearly 70% of the vote, and credited a pragmatic campaign promising better wi-fi and toilet paper, for example. Muwulya (civil engineering) and his running mate Josh Cleary (nursing) also are plotting a music festival on the new River Campus land north of Corrado Hall. John Julius came to Portland from Uganda at age 15, following his sister Noela Nalujjuna ’08; he played soccer and was class president at Grant High, and dreams of someday running the United Nations. Portland 4

PHOTO BY DAVID DILORETO

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Senior Emily Biggs and 24 classmates spent more than a month this summer traveling Europe with history professor Father Art Wheeler, C.S.C., and literature professor John Orr (see page 7), focusing on the literature and history of the First World War at battlefields, memorials, and museums in Austria, Belgium, England, France, and Germany. One haunting visit: the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. Brausebad is the German word for shower; this room was designed as a killing floor for prisoners, some 40,000 of whom were murdered at Dachau. Autumn 2014 5


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THIS I BELIEVE From ‘This I Believe: Linking the Mathematical Axiomatic Method with Personal Belief Systems,’ an article by math professor Stephanie Salomone in Becoming Beholders: Cultivating Sacramental Imagination and Actions in College Classrooms, a new book coedited by the University’s Karen Eifler, director of the Garaventa Center for Catholic Life. Mathematics is not usually associated with faith. In fact, in a typical mathematics course, the notion of belief not based on proof is billed as antithetical to the pedagogical underpinnings of the course itself. Mathematicians and mathematics students are generally trained to use only those mathematical theorems for which they have seen (but not necessarily understood…) a rigorous proof. Math students tend to believe, therefore, that all results must be proven. Furthermore, most students believe that pure mathematics exists in an academic bubble, that it is unrelated to any other subject or to real life. It is not surprising, given these common beliefs, that students tend to disassociate faith from abstract mathematics. However, rigorous mathematical proof rests on the axiomatic method, which is an “orderly development of theorems with proofs about abstract entities.” The method, developed as early as the sixth century B.C. in Greece but systematized by Euclid of Alexandria in 330 B.C., relies on the mathematician’s acceptance of certain statements, called axioms, without justification. These axioms must be carefully selected so as not to contradict each other, simple enough to be believable without proof, and robust enough to support the mountain of mathematical facts that can be logically deduced from them. The axioms we choose to believe are, in a sense, the mathematical equivalent of a moral code, in that they dictate what is legal (and perhaps ethical) in the mathematical world, and how that world functions around us. I claim that we could, and should, encourage mathematics students to see the link between belief in self-evident mathematical “facts” and personal belief systems. Both are the building blocks of a worldview, be it mathematical or personal. One

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change to a set of axioms has an effect on the mathematical world it supports, just as a change in a student’s core beliefs can rock the foundation of his or her world. As part of my geometry course, students complete several written journal assignments, notably a “This I Believe” essay, following the format of NPR’s segment of the same title, which is based on the Edward R. Murrow program from the 1950s. Now, as I teach this class, I am very aware that the University is and has always been affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, whose founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, wrote, “We shall always place education side by side with instruction; the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart.” In the case of modern geometry, the mind is certainly wellcultivated; the heart is a different matter entirely, and in most mathematics classes, at least, it is ignored, to the detriment (I believe) of both the student and his understanding of the mathematical curriculum at hand.

In an effort to bring “the heart” back to the abstract mathematics classroom, I have asked students to delve into their personal beliefs with a writing assignment that ties back to the content of the modern geometry course itself. I hope that each student figures out the link between acknowledging and questioning personal core beliefs and accepting geometric axioms, and the similarities between building a worldview based on personal axioms and building a mathematical world that follows logically from geometric ones. Here’s part of one student’s essay: “When I was nine years old, my father bought a plot of land in northern Wisconsin. It was four years after my parents had divorced and my siblings and I were living a split life between our mother’s suburban household and our father’s inner-city duplex. For as long as I could remember, my father had been talking about this piece of land and his dream house. I will never forget the elation on his face when he picked us up Portland 6

from our mom’s house to take us up for our first look at our land. For me, these acres of forest represented freedom, happiness, and a return to my childhood. For the next two years our disjoint family spent every other summer weekend clearing the land that was to be our home. Next summer we will finally be able to move into the completed house. In that time both my father and mother married other people, and my siblings and I have scattered. Things have by no means been easy. But whenever I go home to Wisconsin, the first thing I want to do is visit my home up north. I know it is a simple notion, but I believe, above all, in home.” I see great value in engaging students in conversations about faith in general and in faith as it relates to our academic pursuits. However, such conversations are sometimes difficult to start because I do not come from the same point on the belief spectrum as many of my students. I am not Catholic, nor do I subscribe to any other system of religious belief. Nonetheless, I believe that we all operate on faith, and that we can, and should, explore the consequences of that faith. I write and share my own essay to demonstrate my dedication, my version of faith, and my commitment to sharing, questioning, and discussing the axioms we believe without proof. Some of my essay this past class: “I believe that any person can complete a marathon, and that no person can complete a marathon alone. Years ago, I was a runner. I wasn’t fast, but I was persistent. I was up every morning at four to run, and then I’d take a shower and go to class. It was not a schedule that I could keep forever, but it was my sanity held together by rubber-soled shoes and the daily triumph of passing the ROTC cadets as we all ran uphill. “It’s my third marathon that stays with me most, because of my pal Keith, who jumped in to run beside me. We ran slowly and then we walked. Keith picked me up when I tripped and fell in Mile 25. We inspired each other. At Mile 26, one block from the end of the course, we found our math friends, and we all crossed the finish line together, a pack of sprinting mathematicians. Looking back now, I’m certain Keith couldn’t have finished without me. I’m also certain that without him and others like him, I would never have had the courage to start...”


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Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. John Milton One Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. my home phone rang. I saw a 503 area code and a caller ID of Portland and thought to myself: There’s no way I’m answering this call. A number with no name. During dinner hours. It’s got to be a solicitor. But as we had not yet sat down to dinner, I began to reconsider. What, on the off chance, it’s someone we know? So on the third ring, I ignored my gut and answered the phone. A young man introduced himself. “Hi,” he said. “This is X. Is Elana there?” “Thank you for calling,” I interrupted, trying to end a conversation for which I was not in the mood. The day had been long and hot, and I was tired and still recuperating from surgery. “Okay,” he said, ready to let me go. But there was something in his voice, his readiness to let me go, his warmth, his enthusiasm, his earnestness that made me not quite ready to let him go, so…

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“I’m calling from the University of Portland,” he said. “Please thank her for her support. It’s with contributions like hers that we’re able to do what we do.” As he spoke, I tried to recall just how much I had given, and I found myself astounded that someone was calling to thank me for my $18 contribution. Yet I knew from my own experiences as a solicitor that every contribution makes a difference, and I remembered back to a pledge I had received many years ago, when a woman whom I had most likely interrupted during her dinner had said something like, “I’m going through a hard time, but it sounds like you do good work. Would you accept a contribution of $5?” “Sure,” I had said, “Thank you. We appreciate it so much. Every bit helps.” And I meant every word, so much so that when I rested the receiver on its cradle, I cried. After this young man’s kind words, and my recollection of my soliciting days, I delivered gratitudes of my own, “Thank you so much for calling,” I said. “I will pass on the message. You all do great work over there.” And I meant it, every word. And though I did not give voice to all the thoughts and feelings rumbling

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around in my head and heart, I was thinking about how much I wanted the university to continue doing its good work out there in the world, and how much I wanted them to keep on publishing their magazine which is, by far and away, the most interesting, spiritually uplifting, thoughtful, fun, genuine, gracious, compassionate, playful, loving and delightful university magazine I have ever read. With a voice proud and full, this young man thanked me for my words, and we bid each other goodbye. My point is this: The conversation played out in a way that enabled two people to express and experience pure gratitude. Whoever trained this young man trained him well. Or perhaps this young man figured out this blessed approach on his own. How simple it is: If someone isn’t home, don’t say you’ll try again later. Don’t ask when to call back. Just honor the moment and pass on the gratitude. It’s the gratitude that will be remembered And isn’t gratitude what it’s all about anyway? Rabbi Elana Zaiman Seattle, Washington


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A PROFESSOR OF WONDER By physics professor Shannon Mayer, whom we asked what is it that you really teach? Two days later this arrived in the mail. Wonder as a verb is an action, an impulse: to think or speculate curiously, to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; to marvel… It is the force that has propelled scientists, theologians, and explorers alike on the unstoppable quest to discover the story of our world. It is inborn and intrinsic, an inherent part of the fabric of human nature — as watching any small child will prove. But like gravity, which diminishes as you get further from the source of the gravitational pull, the force of wonder tends to diminish the further one gets from childhood. Other forces (fear, indolence, the pursuit of money, the prescriptiveness of formal education, etc.) conspire against wonder to diminish its power. Let us try the noun: a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable. Now, this is wonderful. Wonder sneaks up on you in ways you aren’t expecting. An encounter with unexpected beauty, a glimpse of the astonishment of nature serves to deepen your friendship with wonder. Like its cousin, joy, wonder is signpost that hints of a deeper, more profound mystery in the story of the world. Me, I was drawn to physics by a love of mathematics. As I often tell my students, mathematics is the language of science, and that to do science you need to learn to speak the language. For those who do speak the language, mathematics can be a purveyor of wonder; it possesses an artistic beauty akin to a beautiful painting or an intricate and melodic symphony. The fact that the universe is, at some level, describable by humans using beautiful mathematical equations is truly remarkable. Einstein once said that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. Why do we live in a world that we can describe using the language of mathematics? Why do humans have the desire and, more

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significantly, the capacity to understand the mathematics that describes this world? These are all questions that bring me back to wonder. Artists may have a favorite painting or sculpture that has become an intimate companion on their journey of wonder. For a musician, it may be a particular symphony that inspires awe. For me, a physicist, the masterpiece I most admire is a particular, beautiful equation. Its formal name is The Wave Equation and in the language of mathematic it looks like this:

A mathematician would call this a second-order, linear, partial-differential equation, but don’t let the formidable title scare you away. Let me introduce you to two of the beautiful features of this equation. First, it is simultaneously elegant in its simplicity and profound in its versatility. It was first studied in the 1700s by Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert, who derived the equation to describe the vibration of a musical string. Since that humble beginning, the wave equation has been found to be equally at home in the cultured world of the concert music hall, among the bravado and swagger of big wave surfers in Hawaii, and out in the cold and really empty space of space. Anywhere that one encounters

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a wave, be it mechanical (a vibrating guitar string or a slinky toy), acoustic (the campus bell tower chiming), or electromagnetic (sunshine streaming in your window this morning), the wave equation is there. The fact that so many seemingly different phenomena can be accurately described by the same mathematical equation is, to me, part of its wonder. The predictive ability of the wave equation is another of its impressive facets. In the mid-1800s, the physicist James Clerk Maxwell was puttering around with the mathematical equations known at the time to describe electrical and magnetic phenomena; circuits, magnets, and the like. What he found, if he combined these equations in just the right way, is that they predicted that electric and magnetic fields themselves could be described as waves. The wave equation applied to them too. The mathematics is the same, the application completely different. When Maxwell used his newly derived wave equation and computed the speed of these predicted traveling electric and magnetic waves, he found that, remarkably, they moved along at a speed eerily close to the accepted value of the speed of light. The beauty of his mathematics thus compelled him to predict that light itself was a form of traveling electric and magnetic fields. This proposal, and the simple, beautiful mathematics behind it, turned the world of physics upside down. The notion that light itself was a traveling electromagnetic wave was revolutionary; it brought together the seemingly separate disciplines of electricity, magnetism, and optics, and foreshadowed some of the weird and wonderful aspects of the world of quantum mechanics. The word wonder, I think, captures the essence of everything that we are about here on The Bluff. My craft, as a physicist, is to pursue wonder. My charge, as a professor of physics, is to empower students to be wonderers themselves, and in their wondering to make discoveries about our remarkable and curious world. My colleagues in the other disciplines likewise profess wonder in endless forms. Scientist or philosopher, theologian or poet, we all seek to use the tools of our particular trade to probe the mysteries of the universe. Indeed I am a professor of wonder, at a University of Wonder, and that seems, well…wonderful.


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Christened Tamas Janos Neubauer in Budapest; when he was five years old his family changed its name to Nemenyi, to evade the Nazis; when he was twelve years old they changed countries altogether, to Brazil and America; and when the family changed its name yet again, thus was born the University’s longtime dean Tom Nelson, who ran the Shiley School of Engineering from 1977 to his retirement in 1996. MIT grad, Princeton doctorate, U Michigan faculty, erudite, affable, respected, a remarkable man who died in May at age 80. Prayers. Want to make a gift to celebrate him? Call Dwain Fullerton at 503.943.8875, fullerto@up.edu. Autumn 2014 9


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After 28 years coaching women’s basketball on The Bluff, and 11 years as a professor of history at the University, and five awards as the West Coast Conference coach of the year, and almost 1,100 games coached in his 38-year career (he also coached at Portland State and Wenatchee Valley CC), Jim Siollars’ last home game was Senior Night in March. Everyone laughed and wept. A remarkable genuine witty generous man whose single favorite team ever, he says, was his 2004-5 Pilots, who finished 4-24 but “never, ever lost heart, and fought to the last whistle, and lost 15 games on the last shot, and never gave up on each other,” says Jim. Travel in beauty, coach; and our best wishes to his tall smiling successor, new Pilot coach Cheryl Sorensen.

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O N S P O R T S Women’s Soccer The Pilots, ranked 11th nationally in preseason, return 12 letterwinners from last year’s 17-31 team, among them WCC freshman of the year Allison Wetherington and all-WCC sophomores Ellie Boon and Danica Evans. Garrett Smith — named WCC Coach of the Year in 2013 for the sixth time—also welcomes back a steady senior-led defense for another ferocious schedule. See portlandpilots for all schedule and ticket details. Men’s Soccer The men, aiming for their 15th NCAA playoff run, welcome back All-American Eddie Sanchez, the league’s leading scorer last year; also back are all-WCC players Matthew Coffey, Derek Boggs, and Hugo Rhoads. Among the new faces: Cristian Arntson and Marco Gonzalez-Yanez, both from Central Catholic High in Portland. Among the schedule highlights: a game on Ronaldo Field at Nike headquarters against Siena College. Men’s Basketball The Pilots (112th in the nation last year, ahead of Boston College and Santa Clara, among others), open their season in November. Back is senior center (and Academic All-American, with a 3.95 gpa in tech management) Thomas van der Mars, wings Kevin Bailey and Bobby Sharp, and quicksilver point guard Alec Wintering; among the graduates was burly forward Ryan Nicholas, who

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signed with Mitteldeutscher BC Weissenfels of Germany’s top pro league. Nicholas finished his career on The Bluff fifth all-time in rebounds and 12th in points. ¶ Among the new faces: Everett’s Jason Todd, twice Washington state player of the year; Lake Oswego High guard Max Livingston; 7' German center Philipp Hartwich from Cologne (a star for the national team-handball team!); and guards Gabe Taylor (Valley Catholic High in Portland) and D’Marques Tyson (Bothell, Washington). The Pilots also signed all-Utah forward Alec Monson from Salt Lake City, but will wait for the devout young man to finish his two-year Mormon mission. Women’s Basketball Cheryl Sorenson, who succeeds Jim Sollars as head coach (see previous pages), will have leading scorers Cassandra Brown (14 ppg), Jasmine Wooton (13) and Kari Luttinen (13) back in her inaugural year, as well as new 6' 4'' center Sara Zaragoza from Madrid, where she played for Spain’s national youth teams. Sorensen was an AllAmerican at Oregon’s Clackamas High; she then played college ball at the U of Washington and coached at Bellevue CC (where she was named the league’s league coach of the year) and Eastern Washington U (where the Eagles earned the Big Sky league title) before joining the Pilots in 2011. Cross Country The Pilot men, seventh in the nation last year (and an Academic All-American team, with a

Mary Cain!! In a sweet bit of Pilot sports news, the finest young American female runner in 30 years will be a student on The Bluff this fall; but will not run for the Pilots, having turned pro to train with legendary coach Alberto Salazar (to whom the University presented an honorary doctorate in 2013). New York’s Mary Cain is already the junior world record holder in the 1000, and soon will earn the junior world record in the mile.

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team gpa of 3.27), bring back AllAmerican Scott Fauble, a slew of veteran harriers, and 13 new faces; no Pilot team has finished higher nationally over the last years than the men. Remarkable feat. ¶ The Pilot women, tenth in America among their peers in team grades (a stunning 3.64), finished 11th in the West, and second in the WCC (behind USF); back for them is all-WCC Tansey Lystad. Volleyball New coach Brent Crouch, who coached both indoor and beach volleyball at St. Mary’s in California, welcomes back all-WCC Makayla Lindburg; among the new faces are Marandah Boeder from Oregon’s state champion West Albany High, and allSouthern Arizona Emily Singleton, a star beach volleyball player. Rowing A startling six rowers were named 2014 National Scholar Athletes by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association; the honor goes to students with a 3.5 gpa or better. Biology majors Jessica Osborn and Molly Templin led the way, both with a 3.92. ¶ The Pilots, third in the WCC last year, welcome back all-WCC rowers Templin, Maggie Keller, and Kelsey Kincaid; among the new faces are British Columbia’s Katie Griffin, Germany’s Cara Pakszies, and Bainbridge Island (Washington)’s Kate Hathaway, who won the Northwest regionals and finished tenth in the nation as a high school student. Tennis The men, 9-1 at home last season on their way to their first national ranking (75th), return All-WCC senior Reid deLaubenfels and welcome 8 new faces, among them players from Switzerland, France, Germany, and Cyprus. ¶ The women welcome back all-WCC Maja Mladenovic, Sophie van den Aarssen, and Jelena Lazarevic, but all eyes will be on Lucia Butkovska from Slovakia, who sat out last year after spending a year on the WTA tour and playing in the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon. Baseball Pitcher All-American Travis Radke, second all-time on The Bluff with 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings, was drafted by the San Diego Padres this spring. ¶ Renovations underway this year, before the Pilots open play in the spring at Joe Etzel Field: artificial turf, new fencing, a new scoreboard, and new lighting so the men can play at night. A second round of improvements in the future will bring new grandstands. The men begin play in February; see portlandpilots.com.


O N B R I E F LY The Rise Campaign finished at $182 million on June 30, with 19,304 donors creating 232 new scholarships, 9 new professorships, renovating or building 12 new halls (including the Beauchamp Rec Center now under construction), buying the land for the eventual River Campus on the river below Corrado Hall, and creating such interesting ideas as the new Humor Project and the Ethics Initiative, part of which is a Character Project class taught by the University’s new president, Father Mark Poorman. “The most successful campaign in the 113-year history of the University concluded in June,” sad Father Poorman, “and we started redoubling our efforts on July 1. We want to make the University of Portland accessible to any and every bright creative student who deserves and desires a UP education, period.” Admirable ambition, that, and we will need very generous help. Targets for the next campaign: new residence halls, an academic center, and 500 new scholarships. Whew. Best Value The top Oregon school in the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance annual rankings of best values in private colleges and universities: the University of Portland. The annual report evaluates 600 schools nationwide for outstanding education and economic value. Enrollment on The Bluff during the Campaign (2007 to 2014) went up 31%, from 2,753 undergraduates to 3,612 this year, as the biggest freshman class ever arrived (1,100!), among them the finest young runner in American history, New York native Mary Cain (at left), who already turned pro to train with Oregon’s Alberto Salazar ’13 hon., but who also very much wanted an academic challenge in college. Faculty Feats Nursing’s Susan Stillwell won the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s ‘Scholarship of Teaching Award,’ presented to one nursing educator annually; she is particularly absorbed by the use of technology in nursing education. ¶ Engineering’s Deborah Munro (in photo) won the 2014 Vernier Software and Technology Engineering Contest, honoring teachers who use Vernier sensors creative-

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ly in their engineering classes; Munro is deft at engineering and biomedical research. ¶ Computer science’s Anmdrew Nuxoll earned an Erskine Fellowship to teach at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand this fall; he’s a specialist in artificial episodic memory and game theory. ¶ Off to Mysore, India, for a year on dual Fulbright grants: literature professors and married couple Molly Hiro and Lars Larson. ¶ Off to excavate and explore the ancient Roman city of Polléntia in Mallorca, Spain, this past summer: theology professor Father Dick Rutherford and chemistry professor Ray Bard, who will return, with students in 2015. The Father Bill Beauchamp Rec Center began in May, and should be finished next fall. It will take up all the grassy space between the Chiles Center and Fields/Schoenfeldt halls (the public safety office moved into Haggerty Hall), and feature an indoor track, a climbing wall, and two basketball courts, among much else. Soil and concrete from the dig went down onto the river campus, the old oaks were milled for future campus use, and the public safety building fell to a bulldozer (driven briefly by University president Father Mark Poorman, which was entertaining). We will not drop Howard Hall, contrary to rumor; that old barn may well outlast the rest of the campus in perpetuity. Student Feats Alexandra Quakenbush ’14 won the Rita Peterson Award in Science Education from the American Association for the Advancement of Science; she is absorbed by ethics education in biology research. ¶ Seniors Martin McMahon, Ingrid Nelson, Michelle Siegal, and Tyler Desmarais won the national American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Accounting Competition in Washington, D.C. , earning $10,000 and the chance to say national champs the rest of their careers. ¶ Both the Speech & Debate team and the Mock Trial team advanced to their discipline’s national championship rounds, for the first time in the 113-year life of this university. Whew. ¶ The University was again among the top three small schools in America in earning Fulbright grants for postgraduate study: 46 students have earned Fulbrights over the last 13 years. ¶ Biology major Sarah Donohoe earned national postgrad scholarship from the Harry S. Autumn 2014 13

Truman Foundation; she is intent on a career in wilderness conservation. ¶ The student Engineering World Health club was in Haiti for a week this summer, fixing infant incubators, electrosurgical units, patient monitors, suction pumps, and ‘other repairs,’ as senior Maldeep Kang said, politely and wearily. All told University students spend some 180,000 hours a year on service projects. Holy moly. Father Mark Poorman, C.S.C., is the University’s 20th president, as of July 1. Some things you did not know about this equable soul: he was born in Phoenix and earned his doctorate at Berkeley, so he is our first Western president; he will continue to teach his popular ethics course; he is riveted by how the University actually deep down teaches character more than anything else; he was once the rector of legendarily shaggy Dillon Hall at Notre Dame; he continues to say weekly Mass in the residence halls; he was a University of Portland regent for 12 years, and knows our dreams and ambitions very well indeed; and we wish him God’s peace and light in his crucial new job. Back on campus November 12, for a free Music at Midweek noon concert in Hunt Recital Hall: the masterful American songwriter Steve Forbert, Grammy nominee and composer of some 300 songs and 30 records. Information: Brian Doyle, bdoyle@up.edu.


Football on The Bluff For the first fifty years of its life, the University’s most popular sport was football. A look at the colorful history of the Cliffdwellers. By Matt Sabo ’91

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n the beginning they came from Oregon and Washington: from Grant and Sabin and Central Catholic and Vancouver High. Then they started coming from Idaho and Montana and Utah and as far away as New Jersey, lured to the Northwest by the chance to play football and attend college for free. Some of them were recruited during the summer by two tall lanky Holy Cross priests, the Hooyboer brothers John and Con, who would drive around the inland West in their gleaming black car, visiting Catholic high schools and chatting with fine athletes who had not thought of college, until the Fathers Hooyboer talked eloquently and passionately about their university in lovely Portland, where the boys could gain a rigorous education, and date the girls at Marylhurst College, play football against Oregon and Oregon State, and maybe even catch the eye of professional scouts...the Rams and Giants and Steelers have employed our gridiron graduates, the priests may have idly mentioned...the Lions have expressed interest in our boys…the Chicago Bears have sent letters...the Canadian Football League... 1902. Not even a year after the University began, as essentially a high school with vast ambition, the first football team plays four games – three losses, a tie, zero points scored. A year later, though: five wins and a loss. * 1904: the first full-time coach is hired – Francis Lonergan, who had played for Notre Dame. Two of the next three coaches are former Notre Dame stars; Knute Rockne himself comes to see the University’s team in about 1921, and several players immediately transfer to Notre Dame to play for the Irish. * Slip Madigan, Clipper Smith, Portland 14


ALL FOOTBALL RELATED PHOTOGRAPHS AND COVERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES AND MUSEUM

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1950 game in old Civic Stadium


Tubby Harrington, and Gene Murphy coach the “Cliffdwellers” during the 1920s; all are former Notre Dame players, Smith with George Gipp under Knute Rockne, and Harrington as a stalwart lineman guarding the legendary Four Horsemen. The football team is now playing against the best of the West – Oregon State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Brigham Young, Arizona State, Montana State, Hawaii. The highest moment: probably the 14-12 win in 1939 against nationally ranked Saint Mary’s. One weird highlight: a 6-0 loss to Oregon in 1935, which Portland fans considered rather a victory.

Knute Rockne himself came to see the University’s team in about 1921... Then came the war, and football was suspended; it resumed in 1946, but only for four years. During the final season, 1949, the Pilots hammered Central Washington 32-0 at the old Vaughn Street Park in Portland, beat Montana State 40-0 in Bozeman, and beat Lewis and Clark, 35-20. But that was the final victory ever for Pilot football. On February 11, 1950, University president Father Theodore Mehling issued a statement about extraordinary expenses, and lacking the funds to finance first-class football, and that was that. From 1902 to 1949, the University’s footballers were 150-136, with 34 ties (!). That last set of men, the Pilot players of the 1940s – they were and are remarkable men. Many were veterans of the Second World War. Many had survived horrors and lost dear friends and fought on Bougainville and Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal and served as navigators on airplanes making bombing runs all over Asia and the Pacific. Many of those men, like the cheerful star Bernie Harrington ’42, are gone. Peter Petros, John Freeman, Jim Souza, Ray Manning, Jim Sweeney, the brothers Joe and Don Marshello, Ray Utz, and many others are still alive and smiling and more than willing and able to tell tales. Ray Utz, end and punter,1946 to 1949: “What we did is all still fresh in my mind. You have such an allegiance to your coach and fellow players. It lasts a lifetime. “There’s a great

Anthony Rogers

Bob Boehmer, 1935

Edwin Fredell, 1903

Peter Murphy, 1926

Don McCarthy, George Albini, Larry Manion Portland 16


Ray Utz, 1950

John Freeman, 1948

Elwyn “Moose” Dunstan, 1937

F. Leineweber, 1934 William Kang ’52, 1948

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bond. A lot of things happen – funny, sad, heartbreaking. You grow up together, you win and lose together. You have some heartbreaking losses and some lucky wins and you share those things and you always will.” John Freeman, the Portland city schools sprint champion in 1947 out of Sabin High School, says he still thinks about those games and teammates. Jim Sweeney, who went on to a long coaching career at Washington State and Fresno State universities, often talked about his Pilot years. Jim Menath remembers his one season with pleasure; injuries finished his football career early. Joe Marshello misses all his teammates who have gone ahead, most of all his brother Don. The late Bob Boehmer once said he never forgot anything that happened to him when he played ball for the Pilots – the scent of grass and soaked jerseys and mud, the ring of laughter, the crash of colliding lines, the tidal roars of crowds, the rickety buses on road trips, the camaraderie, the delicious soreness after a win, the sad ache after losses. The late Bernie Harrington once said he loved practice even more than games, because to practice was to be working hard and well with your best friends. It was Bernie Harrington who framed a letter from George Halas of the Chicago Bears on his wall; Mr. Halas invited young Mr Harrington to come and join his team, but young Mr. Harrington joined the United States Navy after he graduated, and served as a Seabee in the Pacific, and when he returned it was too late to play pro ball, but he savored pointing to that letter, yes he did. Joe Marshello is from New Jersey. Served in the Navy during the war: “pharmacist’s mate, third class, stationed at Key West, Florida the whole time, though I tried to get sea duty.” He and his brother Don were recruited to play for the Pilots by an alumnus from Jersey City. At their heaviest he and Don went maybe 180 pounds. Emmett Barrett, who went on to play for the New York Giants, weighed 165 at his peak. The fleet half back John Freeman weighed 180. He says he remembers players on Oregon State who were three times bigger than the biggest Pilot linemen. The University of Idaho guys were twice as big, and the guys from Santa Clara and Pacific University were only a little bigger. John Oberweiser is from Billings, Montana. Served in the Army Air Corps during the war, as a navigator on a B-25 with the 14th Air Force stationed in China. Played two seasons

for the Pilots after the war, and then moved home to be care for his widowed mother and complete college at the University of Montana. John was an end. He weighed 180. Ray Manning Jr. served in the Marines during the war. Third Marine Division, Guadalcanal to Bougainville to Iwo Jima. He’d played football in high school and in the Marine Corps and thought he would try out for the team when he enrolled at the age of 23 in 1946. He played one year, and then met the woman who would be his wife, and decided he’d better buckle down and get to work. Top playing weight? About 180. Most common injury? Bloody noses from helmet bars being smashed down on your nose, say Joe Marshello and the cheerful Jim Souza (top playing weight: 155), who still organize a monthly meeting of Pilot football players at the Nite Hawk Café on Portland

Boulevard every month, with Ray Utz. Best player they played against? Eddie LeBaron, the slight and slippery quarterback for the College of the Pacific, who would go on to play 11 years professionally for Washington and Dallas. Best part of playing for the Pilots? Camaraderie. “It was a tough ending,” says Jim Souza. “We practiced on Friday and cleaned out our lockers on Monday and that was the end of University of Portland football. But what fun we had! I enjoyed every minute that I played. It was a great time. I loved it, and we loved the University of Portland...” Matt Sabo ’91 is the communications manager for Transformational Education Network, a Christian non-profit organization in Virginia dedicated to providing education for students in Africa and Haiti (www.ten3.org). He was for many years a sportswriter for newspapers in Oregon and Virginia.

Scrapbook page Portland 20


1921 team in front of Christie Hall

Merle Nehl Autumn 2014 21



THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS I

went to Bhutan recently, to study that nation’s idea of a ‘gross national happiness’ instead of a ‘gross national product.’ Much of the reaction to my trip was sneering; it was trivialized and dissed in many ways large and small, even though our own Declaration of Independence claims that the pursuit of happiness is a natural and God-given right. But let’s talk about the actual ideas and implications for Oregon. It was Bhutan’s fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who said that economic growth and social well-being are not the same thing, necessarily; that that economic growth should be a means to an end, not an end itself; and that health and environmental sustainability, for example, are the ends toward which economic health should be aimed. Our own founding document says so: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men were created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among those life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And to secure those rights government is created among men.” The most fundamental purpose of our government, then, is to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To me that means a nation built on equity and the opportunity to have a job, job security, mobility, safety and security; to be able to live in communities with common purpose and a sense of belonging and commitment; and the ability to enjoy a healthy national environment. The American dream, yes; although I believe these are the common aspirations of all people.

Central to the pursuit of happiness is having a job, having the ability to meet your basic needs: food, shelter, clothing, transportation, education, health care. Central to having a job is the economy; the economy is the vehicle by which we pursue the dream. So we must have well-trained and well-educated workers in an economy producing living-wage jobs. So we must have a partnership between the public and private sectors. The public sector’s responsibility is education; the private sector’s responsibility is producing jobs for these trained, educated people to fill. In Oregon we have been focusing on public side: by the year 2025 we are striving to have a 100% high school graduation rate, with 40% of those kids going on to at least two years of further education and training, and another 40% going on to four or more years of college. We’ve also sought to reduce the cost of health care and public safety so that we have more money to put into education. But what’s become clear to me is that even if we achieve this goal, we’re likely to have a state of highly educated, highly trained unemployed or underemployed people, because the economy is simply not producing enough family-wage jobs. The current economic recovery is leaving behind rural Oregon, communities of color, and English language learners, among others. Most of the jobs being created are not living-wage jobs. The fastest growing sectors pay about $18,000 a year, just above minimum wage. Oregon had the second-fastest growing economy in the nation in Autumn 2014 23

2011, as judged by the state GDP, but 70% of that came from high-tech. If we didn’t have Intel, most of the state would still be in recession. So: I think the fundamental challenge and the obstacle to the pursuit of happiness in America today is our current economic model. If we have an economy that depletes our natural resources, increases carbon in the atmosphere, pollutes air and water, and exceed the physical limits of the planet, all of us are in trouble. If we have an economy that shrinks the middle, reduces the number of people who actually have the means to take care of themselves, that’s immoral. That undermines the fabric of our society, of our rights according to the Declaration of Independence. The challenge is to have an economy that operates within the physical limits of the planet, that lifts everybody up, that works for all of us, not just some of us. Gross national product measures the total amount of money that moves through the economy – but it does not differentiate what it does. The Gulf oil spill: great for the gross national product. Lots of money spent. The war in Afghanistan: dynamite for the gross national product. Car wrecks, heart attacks – great for gross national product. But gross national product doesn’t measure qualitative things. It doesn’t measure the labor of parents who take care of their kids at home, or the loss of habitat on the gulf coast, for example. Why not try to account such things as community service in a GNI, a gross national index, or a GNH, gross national happiness? Isn’t that more accurate accounting?

PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN LEWIS / GETTY IMAGES

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber was on campus recently, as a guest of the Oregon Council for the Humanities, talking about a new way to measure quality of life in Oregon. Excerpts.


Fish Camp The rough sweet bonerattling joys of the Alaskan salmon run. Fish Camp is an ongoing series of photographs documenting a set-net camp on the Upper Cook Inlet of Alaska, a camp that comes together each summer for the commercial harvest of wild sockeye salmon as they return to spawn in the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers. I have worked in this camp for ten years, first for 4 years as a deckhand, and since 2008, as a permit holder, captain, and owner of my own small operation. When I first began traveling to Alaska, I was struck more than anything by the contrast between the stark beauty of its landscapes and the weathered state of disrepair in many towns and communities. I have come to find Alaska as a place where the realities of its seasons, the expanse of land, coastline, open water, and the extremity of its industries, combine to create not only unique lifestyles among its inhabitants, but a culture of work that is often misrepresented and misunderstood by people in the Lower 48. In ten summers spent in Alaska, I have become absorbed in photographing the people I work with because I find the allure of Alaska’s character more prominently displayed in their faces than anywhere else – the individuals who live Alaska’s narrative, season after season. The Alaskan character plays out on one of the greatest stages of land, water, and horizon that I have ever been privileged to witness. Pictures tell a fiction of their own, of course. Perhaps the story they tell is at its simplest the version that I like to remember the most. Alec Soth once said that “art is the experience of moving through the world, the photograph is just some sort of documentation of this.” It is in line with this sentiment that I both marvel at the place that I have found Alaska to be, and can think of no greater satisfaction than to be back on its shores as spectator, participant, and documenter. - David Mattox ’04





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ach Sunday, as I hold hands with strangers in church as we pray the Our Father, I also hold my breath. I’m waiting for a break that comes right after we sing deliver us from evil, a tiny space where the priest offers another plea toward heaven, a petition ending with and protect us from all anxiety. I cling to those words, repeating them in my head, while the rest of the congregation moves on to sing the prayer’s conclusion. I turn my face skyward, eyes closed, willing God to hear me. I connect the priest’s prayer against anxiety with the congregation’s confirmation of God’s power, just as in mathematics equations: If God is the power and the glory forever and ever, amen, then it must follow that God’s power can protect us from anxiety. Since my brain has never fully succumbed to this holy power, never been completely released from the grip of depression and anxiety, I often wonder if God is holding back on me. Luckily, I don’t get to wonder for long, since the Sign of Peace follows the Our Father, and I’m swept up in hugs and blessings all around. In any one year in America, reports the National Institute of Mental Health, some 15 million American adults suffer from what the Desert Fathers originally considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins: the sin of sadness. In the 17th century, sadness was dropped from the list, replaced by sloth. I find this tidbit of Church history oddly ironic, since the sadness, in my case, frequently leads to other deadly sins, most especially sloth. There are a number of varieties of depression. In one way I have a good kind, because it is partially responsive to medication. After many years of struggle I have not yet fallen into hell, which I define as joining the 15 to 20 percent of people for whom no medication works, ever. These are the people filling the rooms of what few mental hospitals we have left in the country, people who I rarely think about except when praying I don’t suffer their fate. Normally I am a fairly a generous person — giving away our raises, taking in strangers, cooking pregnant women meals — but I am greedy where depression is concerned. I want a complete cure and I want it now. I’ve had enough of this limbo-for-life state, not quite normal, but not quite yet a lunatic. I hate that the few medications that ward off depression increase my anxiety. I am tired of waking up sad, wrestling that monster to the ground so I can make it through the day, and then falling into bed at Portland 28

When you are fearful and weary and cannot possibly go on, remember this: He believes in you. By Renee Schafer Horton



night exhausted but tense. I don’t want to end up like my mother and uncle, both so engulfed by darkness and confusion that they mistook suicide for the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t want to join what my friend Paul calls the ranks of the souls with broken hearts who got away when the rest of us weren’t looking. So I beseech God for a cure, throwing myself at the Almighty’s feet. And often I come up empty, angry, disheartened. Believing in something you cannot see — the very definition of faith — is difficult enough when all your neurotransmitters are lined up like schoolchildren. But when the brain’s chemical balance is upset, an overwhelming angst sets in, and belief becomes problematic. One question is paramount for me: Where is God? Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, warned his followers in the 16th century about “desolations.” These moments, he said, could lead to a lack of faith “and leave one without hope and without love. One is completely listless, tepid, and unhappy, and feels separated from our Creator and Lord.” The late Pope John Paul II addressed a Vatican health care conference on d ­ epression and said much the same thing, encouraging pastors and congregations to reach out to depressed believers and help them regain a sense of God’s presence. For me, episodes of depression are not just about feeling separated from God, wandering the chambers of my heart whispering where are you? or searching the folds of my brain for a memory of belief. Nor is it simply lacking faith and hope. For me, depression is being unable to recall that The Being and those virtues were ever a part of my life. Did I ever love? Has there ever been any reason to live? Is this thing I call “God” just a figment of my non-depressed imagination? Friends attempt comforting me by recalling stories of St. John of the Cross and his dark night, or St. Therese of Lisieux and her repeated depressions, but somehow, thinking the saints were crazy doesn’t help me much. That’s not to say it doesn’t help others. My friend Tara, smarter and wiser than I’ve ever been, says it helps her to know saints were once in the same boat she now rows because it convinces her that faith is not always heaven-sent. Instead, she says, faith is often jump-started by a moment-by-moment decision to b ­ elieve. “You choose to trust God, even if

you have to make that choice every minute over and over again,” she tells me. “And then each minute is a little victory over despair, and you must congratulate yourself for that.” So I try, patting myself on the back for my minutes of belief, rewarding myself for the façade of a positive attitude, taking one step at a time. This practice has shown that Tara is right, because baby steps in the direction of belief are better than sliding backwards toward the dark depths. It’s not a complete cure, of course, and that caveat still chafes. Still, the chafing is lessened by the comfort of folks like Tara, and the constancy of my parish community, proving John Paul’s point that outreach is crucial to help those who are navigating dark, lonely spaces.

In 20 years of sneak attacks from depression, the thought that God might believe in me had never occurred to me. Indeed, I can’t imagine how I would have survived my depressive episodes without a good parish community. More than once someone has reassured me that they will stand in for my limp faith, be fertilizer for my mustard seed. My spiritual director, a Jesuit scientist with a wicked sense of humor and a kind heart, has snatched me from despair more than once by convincing me that his belief is proof that mine will one day resurface, promising me that God is present in spite of all evidence to the contrary. For me, when the demon comes knocking, it is just a hop, skip and jump from life is good to I shouldn’t be alive. Engulfed in sadness, I see myself as worthless, lazy, stupid, sinful. These perceptions run through my mind like a hamster on a treadmill. My spiritual director reminds me that the hamster isn’t real, but God is. Proof of that reality, he will often point out, is in the way I’ve been Portland 30

placed in situations throughout life where I’m surrounded by devoted, humble believers unafraid of doubt about — or anger towards — God, folks who inspire belief in a Creator by showing the best of His creation. I got a lot of that during a year I spent working at a Dominican parish, getting to know the friars and sisters in that community. All of them were a lifeline at one point or another, usually without knowing it. Their good humor helped; their candor in the face of their own difficulties was even more inspiring. And their neverending willingness to serve others helped me see God in action when my own depression and anxiety had just about convinced me God was absent. On one particularly bad day a few years ago, I made a late night call to one of the friars, a man with a life illustrating the word busy in the dictionary. I sat next to the bathtub, knees pressed to chest, feeling helpless, and tried to dial his number through a river of tears. “It’s back,” I said when his voice mail picked up. “I can’t calm down without praying, but I can’t pray because my head won’t shut up. Please do it for me.” The next day my phone rang and I stared at it from my bed, wishing I could reach over and grab it. I did, about 30 minutes later, having convinced myself that any movement at all was better than wallowing in d ­ espair-induced sleep. I picked up the phone and dialed my voice mail. “Hey,” Michael’s voice said. “Of course I’ll pray. And remember, it a­ lways gets better.” That reminder saved me that day. It was the impetus I needed to get out of bed and get to work. It gets better, he said. I’d forgotten that. There have been various studies examining the intersection of spirituality and depression, and depending on who you listen to, they are either valid or scientifically flawed. One of the most interesting was in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Duke University researcher Harold Koenig followed depressed patients for nearly a year after release from hospitals for treatment of medical conditions such as heart disease and stroke. He found that the stronger people’s “intrinsic religiosity” score, the faster they recovered from depression. Specifically, Koenig discovered that for every 10-point increase in a person’s intrinsic religiosity measurement, there was a 70-percent increase in the speed of recovery from depression. Intrinsic religiosity was defined as a “deep,


i­nternally-motivated type of religious commitment, related to, but distinct from, organized religious activities and private meditation or prayer.” Essentially, people’s internal belief in a higher power, even when they didn’t connect with that power in a normally prescribed manner, helped pull them out of depression. On good days, I believe in studies like this, if for no other reason than the fact that walking into a church calms me down when my depression is in high gear. If I hadn’t been brought up in a religious practice, I’m not sure where I’d turn during those dark moments; I can’t see Starbucks having the same effect as stained-glass windows and hard wooden pews. On my bad days, however, I think these studies are hogwash. On bad days, friends like Tara come in handy, sharing their personal successes, making scientific ties between faith and the remission of depression more plausible. “Being raised on faith has allowed me to hold on,” Tara explained when I told her about the Koenig study. She has struggled frequently with the noonday demon beating down her spirituality and has managed to come up swinging every time. “This isn’t to say I feel completely safe in the arms of God when I’m depressed,” she said. “I still have moments when I feel abandoned by God. But in my mind, I tell myself to trust there will be better days. I have that inner belief that there will be, and without faith...” Of course, faith is not a panacea, as any depressed or anxious person who’s tried to get well on scripture alone will confess, but it is another finger in the dike for me, especially since I’ve come to accept that God can handle my anger about the situation. A few years back, my spiritual director convinced me that the only true prayer is heartbreakingly honest. When I argued with him that prayeron-medication certainly doesn’t count as prayer at all, he told me, kindly, that I was crazy for thinking that, and to stick with prayer anyway, medicated or not, angry or not. And so I do, praying in a more peaceful manner — thoughtful, coherent, open to inspiration — when the medication works, and praying in despair and ALL CAPS when it doesn’t. During those latter times, I approach God as though He is deaf, thinking maybe my prior requests were not understood. HERE, I scream, LET ME MAKE MYSELF CLEAR: HEAL ME. Then, knowing how that prayer’s track record has been poor,

I switch tactics: Please, I beg in a tiny, respectful whisper, don’t let my children inherit this nightmarish condition. Protect them from the trauma of watching their mother in illness. Let them have good memories of me. Friends say I worry too much about my children, pointing to the fact that all four seem healthy and happy. Kids are resilient, these friends say, and besides, they learn positive virtues such as compassion and perseverance from watching parents battle chronic illnesses. I’m not totally convinced. After all, children in war zones appear resilient as well, and those in refugee camps show compassion to the younger, weaker members of the camps. None of this means war has been good for them. Still, there are moments when it seems my friends are right. One such instance came when my youngest daughter was 13. I thought I’d been hiding my suffering well, pasting on the happy-mother smile, going to soccer games, fixing dinner, trying with all my might to act “normal.” One evening I went to bed before everyone else, making excuses about headaches and exhaustion. I woke up in the middle of the night and, unable to sleep, went downstairs to my computer. The house was quiet, everyone sleeping soundly, and the office dark. When I touched the computer mouse, the monitor lit up and I saw that Clare had taped a note to it. “Dear Mommy,” her middle-school handwriting read, “I love you very much. During this difficult time, I want you to remember that.” It was signed with x’s and o’s, and her full given name — Clare Frances Schafer Horton — as though she thought I might forget who just plain “Clare” was. She had carpeted my computer desk with the holy cards of saints, a child’s version of bargaining with God for her mother’s sanity. It made me cry and laugh at the same time. The best example — and worst experience — in my life of depression murdering faith came last April following a trip to Paris. For reasons I still do not understand, I returned from that city convinced there was no God. Perhaps it was visiting all those churches in a highly secular city and wondering, multiple times, where religion even fits into true belief. Whatever it was, the result was awful. It is one thing to think that God doesn’t hear your prayers or has shifted off your radar for awhile; it is quite another to think He does not exist. After trying to figure it out by myself for a few days, I made an emerAutumn 2014 31

gency visit to my psychiatrist, running through a box of tissues in less than 10 minutes. He appeared confused — I’d been fine two months ago when he’d last seen me. What, he asked, had happened? “I’m not sure,” I sobbed, “but I don’t think I believe in God anymore.” The hint of a smile shone in his eyes and he did something uncharacteristic: He let his soul out, overruling his by-the-book doctor persona. “That’s okay,” he said, leaning forward in his chair, elbows on desk, staring at my tear-streaked face and runny nose, “because God believes in you.” I sat there in shock, as though I was seeing something from another planet. In 20 years of sneak attacks from depression, the thought that God might believe in me had never occurred to me. I wiped my tears and thought for a minute: Maybe the ­secret to maintaining faith during battles with depression and anxiety isn’t found in trying to believe in God, but rather, in accepting that God believes in me. It took me nearly four months to work my way back to a state of comfortable — albeit small — faith after that incident. My psychiatrist’s words became my mantra: God believes in you, I would tell myself in my daily walk. God believes in you, I would say as I sat in church. God believes in you, I would repeat over and over in the shower on the days I thought I simply could not go on. And, slowly, it worked. The sadness and tension abated, becoming just one part of my life instead of the dominating factors. This experience, and reflection on the many years of fighting the good fight against a condition that appears to have annihilation of all things bright and hopeful as its goal, has led me to a different approach to life with depression. I’ve stopped thinking I need to survive this, and instead, started thinking about thriving in spite of it. Perhaps, I think, what separates the faithful who thrive in spite of challenging mental conditions from those who don’t is not doctors and medicine, although both are often necessary, nor a Pollyannaish “faith-heals” attitude toward a sometimes life-threatening condition. Perhaps what separates “thriving with depression” from “surviving depression” is a simple shift of focus, a tiny but persistent effort to see life — even a life of suffering — as gift, and then remembering that the Giver believes in you. For me, this is the message that saves. Renee Schafer Horton is a writer in Arizona; for more of her work, see her website Bus Stop Jesus.


MY LIFE IN PRO BASEBALL The joys and travails of being a “major minor leaguer.” By Chris Sperry ’89

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ne day years ago I sat in Hank Jones’s kitchen. Hank was a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had known me since I was fifteen years old. He had helped develop me as a player, watched me grow through high school and college ball, and was now offering me a chance to play professionally in the Dodgers’ organization. My contract lay beneath his fingers. He slid it toward me — then immediately pulled it back out of my reach. Staring me hard in the eyes, he said, “I want you to know something: you will never play in the major leagues. But you might manage there someday. I’d like you to do that for us.” Manage? Sure, sure — some day, I thought. But not until I proved Hank and every other naysayer, including my parents, wrong. A little later I was following Hank’s car to Salem, Oregon, where I would join the Dodgers’ Northwest League team. Alone in my car, I vowed to prove Hank wrong. I had been an underdog plenty before. When we arrived at the ballpark, it was clear I was indeed a long ways from Dodger Stadium. The field was a well-worn patch of dirt and grass that gave the impression the game should be finished quickly, before the



cows returned to feed. The lighting was dim at best, and the locker room was small and dirty. The first person I met when I walked in the locker room was Burt Hooton. A big, slow-talking Texas boy, Burt had just finished a distinguished major league pitching career (151 wins!) and was beginning his first assignment as a minor league pitching coach. I remembered his devastating knuckle-curve; Dodger fans remember him surrendering one of three consecutive titanic home runs by Reggie Jackson in the clinch-

ing game of the 1977 World Series. We shook hands. He seemed friendly enough, probably because I didn’t mention Reggie. Next, I met Tom Byers, the manager, who seemed busy and immediately on his way to something, or someone, else. Trainer Geoff Clark issued my uniforms and I began dressing for batting practice. A Dominican player in front of the locker next to me said something to me in Spanish I did not understand. Later I learned there were eight other players who spoke no English. The child of Greek and Albanian immigrants, all I knew in another language was ti kanis? (Greek for how are you?) and ade sto Diablo, which my Greek grandfather would holler when he was weary of pulling the cord on the lawnmower that wouldn’t start. I smiled, said nothing, and continued dressing. By the time the team assembled for stretching, the manager had forgotten my name. He covered by asking me to introduce myself to the team, which I did to 24 other players, most

of whom had been together for at least a year, and probably saw me — just as they would any newcomer — as a threat to their job. I immediately felt like an outsider, the new kid at school searching for a friend. I learned pretty quickly that there are two types of players who sign professional baseball contracts: prospects, and those who play catch with prospects. On any given minor league team, especially at the lower levels at which I toiled, there are only a handful of real prospects — those players whom the organization believes will one day wear a big-league uniform. The rest are roster-fillers, players who help fill out the lineup so a real game could be played. I was a switch-hitting utility player, reasonably adept at playing second base, third, and shortstop. On The Bluff I had also become serviceable behind the plate, so there were four positions I could play without embarrassing myself too badly. As a hitter, my best years were behind me. I had no power, was an average runner, and having my throwing shoulder rebuilt the year before had robbed me of the only decent tool I once possessed. I played catch with Mike Piazza, who would go on to become arguably the best hitting catcher to ever play baseball. Though I felt I could defend better than Mike, the difference in our hitting was staggering: had we been artists, Mike would have painted the Sistine Chapel, while I would have painted graffiti on highway overpasses. Needless to say, Mike was a prospect; my job was to get him loose. That year I also met the legendary former Dodgers catcher John Roseboro, one of a handful of roving instructors paid by the Dodgers to visit all the minor league clubs in the organization to evaluate and work with the prospects for two or three days at a time; and Dave Wallace, now pitching coach for the Orioles; “Sweet Lou” Johnson, whose battles with drugs once saw him use his World Series ring as collateral for cocaine, and who parlayed his successful rehabilitation into a meaningful role with the Dodgers, working with outfielders and speaking to players about avoiding the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol; and Dick McLoughlin, a salty, hard-drinking former Triple-A manager whose specialty was bunting, a skill he expected you to do with great accuracy. Once, during a drag bunting drill, Mac set his LA hat on the dirt as a target, 4 inches from the third base line. He then set my Salem hat on the grass four feet from the line before asking, “Where do you Portland 34

want your mail sent?” Point taken. Roseboro — Rosie to everyone — had caught for the Dodgers from 1957 to 1967, was an All-Star six times, won three Gold Glove awards, and was a three-time World Series champion. A gifted storyteller, he sat us down under a maple tree and just talked to us: priceless stuff you can’t get anywhere, about disguising your signs when a runner is on second base, how to stay fresh over a long season, and what it was like to catch Koufax. On Rosie’s final day with us, I fi ­nally got the nerve to ask him about the Giants, about Juan Marichal, and about one of the most notorious incidents in all of sports. In 1965, three months before I was born, the Dodgers faced the Giants’ best pitcher, Marichal, a fiery Dominican known for his pinpoint control and willingness to intimidate batters by throwing at their heads. To counter, the Dodgers sent out their ace, Sandy Koufax, the best pitcher in baseball and a calm gentleman. “From the first pitch, Marichal was gunning for us,” said Rosie. “He threw at everyone. I told Sandy he needed to answer back. He agreed, but he wouldn’t do it — he just kept pitching away. I figured he must have been waiting for Marichal to come to the plate. But when he came up, and Koufax threw outside again... well, I figured it was time for me to take matters into my own hands. When I threw the ball back to the mound, I leaned over into the batter’s box a little and the ball passed close to Marichal’s face. The next pitch, I leaned a little further and my throw passed a little closer to his face. The third time, I leaned way over and my throw grazed his ear. He started jawing at me, and when I took my mask and helmet off and started to stand up, he hit me over the head with his bat, three times. I remember trying to look up, and then the blood just pouring down my face. I don’t remember much after that.” Marichal’s blows to Roseboro’s head started a huge brawl. Rosie was sent to the hospital; Marichal was suspended nine games and fined. After his return, Marichal lost his last three decisions, while the Dodgers won 15 of their last 16 games and the National League pennant, on their way to becoming World Series champions. “Juan and I are pretty good friends today, though,” said Rose, smiling. As a player, you are often concerned — sometimes overly so — with who


respects you. I was small, skinny, and injured. I was not built like the other guys on the club, and didn’t get to play much. I spent most of my time in the bullpen, catching young pitchers with terrific arms and no idea where they were throwing the ball. If I hadn’t realized it sooner, it was becoming clear that I was not a prospect, and that the bullpen was the place my playing career would end. The manager never spoke to me. Most of the roving instructors, like Rosie, walked right past me to work with the few prospects they had been sent to. And all of my passion, love for the game, and hard work was going unnoticed

guage that screamed his disdain for a player so utterly devoid of talent. I knew he preferred to spend his energy improving a prospect, rather than wasting his arm on a hack like me. Nevertheless, he reluctantly tossed pitches to the plate, which for some reason this time I peppered on lines into the outfield. It wasn’t that I had done poorly in my daily BP, but for some reason that day I got his attention. He even stopped, twice, to turn and watch balls sail over the left-field fence, which, for me, did not happen often. From behind the cage Rosie said, “Attaway, college boy. That’s how you do it. Tommy, how

because it was wrapped in a package of limited skill. I was making $700 a month to catch in the bullpen and throw occasional batting practice, and got to play rarely, and mainly in lopsided games at second base, third base, and behind the plate. I knew what they thought of me. One July day when Rosie was in town, he stood next to me while I was waiting to enter the cage to take my batting practice swings. As the hitter before me completed his last round, Rosie put his hand on my shoulder and said “Swing hard, son, just in case you make contact.” I couldn’t tell if it was a jab or the best advice I had ever received, so I pretended to smile and entered the cage. The manager was throwing batting practice. As I stepped to the plate, I recognized the familiar body lan-

come we don’t get more guys to hit like this kid? We ought to get him in the lineup tonight.” It was arguably my best moment as a professional baseball player, and I prayed the manager had heard him. He didn’t, and I spent the night catching in the bullpen. In early September, the club fell short in its quest for the Northwest League championship, and guys prepared to head to Pennsylvania or Baton Rouge or Venezuela or the Dominican Republic, or wherever they called home. I stopped by a party following the last game, mainly to say goodbye to the few friends I had made. I wanted desperately to rejoin them, healthy, at spring training in Vero Beach in March, but gathered from the way the season had gone that getting an invitation would be a long Autumn 2014 35

shot. After spending the season being thrashed in the bullpen by ­errant fastballs and fifty-five foot curves, and getting very few at-bats, the writing on the dugout wall was pretty clear. As I was leaving, Mike Piazza shook my hand and said, “See you in Vero.” That would be great, I thought. I haven’t seen him since. In time, my shoulder would make a full recovery. But the same calendar that measured my health could do nothing to change my unassailable mediocrity. Two months later, on a rainy November day, I responded to a notice summoning me to the local post office to collect a certified package. Inside was a letter from the Dodgers thanking me for my service to the organization and granting my unconditional release. My professional baseball career was over. I paused for a long moment, as if someone would pull the paper from my fingers, just as Hank had done five months earlier when he offered me the contract. Alone in my car, with the wipers clearing rain from the windshield, I laid the letter in my lap and wept; my dream of playing in the big leagues was over. I was 23 years old. It is a cruel game, baseball. It permeates your skin and swims in your veins, makes you believe that it will reciprocate your love and loyalty, only to mire you with sadness and unrelenting failure. Much is said about the best hitters in the game and how even they make outs 70% of the time. Less is said about the rest of us. Years later, I realized that Hank had been right: I was never meant to be a big-league baseball player. He knew that instinctively the day he ­offered me a contract, then pulled it from my fingers. That day, instead of telling me what I wanted to hear, he had told me what I needed to hear. Thanks to him, I didn’t wallow for the rest of my life, thinking I had been screwed out of a major league playing career that I did not deserve. From the start, I was an outsider looking in. And thanks to Rosie, for one hour in July of 1989 I felt like the best player on a professional baseball team — a feeling I will savor and remember as long as I live. Chris Sperry ’89 has been coach of the Pilot baseball team since 1998, and has led his team to 324 wins. He has written beautifully in these pages of courage and of the legendary late Mauro Potestio, the University’s most assiduous basketball fan.The Pilots begin their season in February; see portlandpilots. com for schedule and details.


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Reunion 2014…

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Was the University’s most popular ever, with 2,030 guests celebrating the Salzburg Program’s golden anniversary, the deeply strange residents of Villa Maria (who roasted a pig for their celebratory dinner), the happy ending of the Rise Campaign ($182 million raised for students), the happy ending of Father Bill Beauchamp’s presidency (ten excellent years), and the happy opening of Father Mark Poorman’s presidency (ten excellent weeks, as we went to press). The Salzburgers were here in force: there was at least one from every class, Frau Gundi Walterskirchen was here beaming, and you would not believe the amount of Stiegl and sausages in evidence. See lots of Reunion photos at up.edu/alumni.

Reunion 2015…

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radically expanding the num- office at 888.872.5867 or alumber and variety of offerings ni@up.edu. for alumni on and especially off campus, from performances to talks to games to receptions to wine tours to culinary feasts. A much more energetic outreach to alumni nationally and internationally is in the cards, and we are grateful to Carmen for starting the ball rolling. The Annual Athletic

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to organize an event for alumni entrepreneurs, focusing on how their ideas and hard work have elevated their communities. Interested in participating? Have ideas and tips for who we should contact and invite? Contact Katie Mitchell at mitchellk@up.edu or 503943-8696.

Hall of Fame Banquet…

The Hive Entrepreneurs Network…

Is an open forum for Univer­ sity alumni of all ages, current M.B.A. students, and friends of the University who are interested in business and entrepreneurial activity within the community. The Hive focuses on connecting and assisting UP alumni and supporters in finding new business partners, clients, and investors through interactive educational presentations. This fall, join The Hive for “How to Go Green without Going into the Red” on September 10th and “Media Transformed— Capturing Our Attention in the Digital Age” on November 5th. Information: uphaivenetwork.org.

Will be June 25-28, and celebrate particularly the Classes of 1965 and 1990. If you are interested in helping organize your honored year celebration, please contact alumni relations at 888.872.5867 or alumni@up.edu. We could the Chef’s Table Dinners… the help Will again light up the fall. Bon Appetit general manager Kirk Mustain and his chefs will select a menu of eight to twelve mini-plate courses accompanied with wine pairings, served in the beautifully renovated and enlarged Bauccio Conmmons. Trust us when we say that these are Carmen Gaston ’05… memorable and savory eveWho directed the alumni renings, especially for people lations office for the last eight fascinated by terrific local years, stepped down in July; food, fine local wines, and a national search is underway skilled and creative cooking. for her successor. Perhaps her Dates and price are still in greatest feat as director was play: call the alumni relations

Is Saturday, October 4 this year, at 6 p.m. This year’s honorees: the glorious tall epic brave brilliant unbeatable 2002 women’s soccer team, which won the University’s first NCAA Division One national title; two-sport stars Wally Panel ’59 and Jim Dortch ’64 (both baseball and basketball), soccer’s Shannon MacMillan ’95, and tennis’s Roman Borvanov ’05 (Information on the event: 503.943.8420.

The Alumni Christmas Party…

On campus will be Friday, December 5 — appetizers, drinks, good talk. Save the date and then see up.com/ alumni or 888.872.5867 or alumni@up.edu for details.

The Alumni Poker Dreamgirls at Portland Tournament… Center Stage Is Friday, January 16 — the Join us on October 29 for a Motown evening at Portland Center Stage. Loosely based on the career of The Supremes, the Tony Award-winning musical Dreamgirls follows the story of singing trio “The Dreams” as they vault from back-up singers to superstars. For information about tickets or the preshow alumni reception, visit up.com/alumni or contact alumni relations at 888.872.5867 or alumni@ up.edu.

The Alumni Entrepreneur Fair…

More and more the University’s commitment to entrepreneurs and their energy and creativity is becoming an alumni office theme, and this year we would very much like

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National Alumni Board’s annual no limit Texas Hold-’Em Tournament. All entry fees support the National Alumni Board Scholarship Fund. For more information, go to up.com/alumni or contact alumni relations at 888.872.5867 or alumni@up.edu.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN MASLEN

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We could say of the late Ruby Fern McKay Cunningham Schendel, professor of education on The Bluff from 1981 to 1996, that she was a very fine teacher, and that would be true, and that she was a very fine colleague and friend, and that would also be true. But there are so many deeper Ruby stories. The girl who endured a pained and tumultuous childhood and earned a doctorate. The dashing horsewoman who built a mountain cabin by hand with two friends. The woman married for fifty years to her beloved Jack who never did lose his crush on her. The devout Christian who traveled often to Latvia to work with theology students there. The wry witty Sunday school teacher. The University professor with a thousand friends among education alumni. The Girl Scout leader who was a wild legend for her campfire stories. The gymnastics coach who started a whole softball league in Ohio. Can you sing her spirit with a scholarship gift for the next generation of wry witty generous Rubys? Sure. Call Kirsten Heikkala at 503.943.7460, heikkala@up.edu. Autumn 2014 37


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C L A S S Michael Anthony “Mike” Stepovich ’36 CP, the last surviving territorial governor of Alaska, died in San Diego, Calif., on Friday, February 14, 2014, at the age of 94. Stepovich served in the Navy in World War II and set up a law office in Fairbanks after the war. In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed him to the office of Territorial Governor of Alaska, the first person born in Alaska to hold the position. He worked tirelessly to sell the idea of Alaska statehood to the public and politicians, traveling and speaking widely in the Lower 48 and Washington, D.C. He was on the cover of Time magazine; Life did a spread about the young chief executive and his big family; he was a guest on the popular “What’s My Line?” television show. He served on the Alaska Judicial Council for 25 years and was offered judgeships but declined the opportunity. In 2009 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is survived by thirteen sons and daughters. Our prayers and condolences to the family. FIFTY YEAR CLUB Walter Joseph Stott ’33, ’37, of Lake Oswego, passed away peacefully on June 7, 2014, at the age of 99. He grew up in the Albina neighborhood and later moved to Mt. Tabor. Walter graduated from UP in 1937 and promptly joined the faculty, teaching chemistry on The Bluff for fifteen years. He was among the earliest environmental advocates in America and a tireless activist against pollution. In 1943 Walter married the love of his life, Rellalee Gray. They raised a family of five children and were unwaveringly devoted to each other for 69 years. Survivors include his daughter, Rosemary Caudell; sons, Peter Stott, John Stott, and Thomas Stott; thirteen grandchildren; and eleven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Rellalee, and his son, James Stott. Our prayers and condolences to the family. James Bruce, Jr. ’41 passed away on February 20, 2014, just shy of 94 years old. He fought in the South Pacific in World War II. After completing law school he spent 34 years with Idaho Power, serving as president from 1976 to

1985. Survivors include his sons Jim, Steve, Bob, and Dave; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family. George D. Watson, Sr. ’42 died at the age of 94 on January 16, 2014. He enlisted immediately with the U.S. Marine Corps at the start of World War II and saw fierce fighting in the Pacific Theater on Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. He retired as a full colonel after 30 years. George met Louise Hayes ’43 at UP and after the war they rekindled their relationship and married in 1950. With his brother Wally he owned and operated Watson’s Valley Pharmacy on Barbur Boulevard in Portland for 40

N O T E S years. George and Louise are survived by their son, George Jr., and his wife, Linda, and their daughters, Hillary, Emily, and Bonnie; son, Jim; and daughter, Martha Herron and her husband, Scott, and their children, Felicia and Trevor. George, of course, was featured on the cover of the Spring 2013 issue of Portland Magazine, the “Heroes” issue, and that’s what George was, one hundred percent. Robert “Bob” Wack ’43 passed away on March 22, 2014, at the age of 96. He was an ensign in the U.S. Navy and served during WWII in the Aleutian Islands. He served on the board of Pacific Printing Industries from 1975-1986 and the board of directors at Blanchet House from 20012006. Survivors include his children, Nancy Gaunt, Stephen, Patricia Haigh, Susan, Sally, Michael, and Matthew; five grandchildren; and six greatgrandchildren. He was predeceased by his wives, Doris Wack and Marjorie Wack; and daughter, Mary Child. Our prayers and condolences to the family. We received sad news from Sheila Meagher Corcoran ’69, who writes: “I am writing to let you know that my mother, Margaret Mary Murphy Meagher, who graduated from your school of Nursing in 1944, passed away on May 8, 2014. She died peacefully in her sleep, and was 91 years old. On a brighter note, because Mom graduated from the University of Portland, I also attended and graduated in 1969 and my son, Donald Patrick Corcoran, graduated from UP in 1997. My grandfather, who graduated from St. Louis Medical School, believed in girls receiving an education. He, according to my mother, picked up the phone and called a contact at the School of Nursing which was mostly at St. Vincent’s then, and my mother was admitted. As it turned out, Mom’s degree in nursing supported her family most of her career, and my degree in education supported myself and my son and then supported his years at the University of Portland. So you just never know how the University’s effect on one person can affect other generations! I am very grateful.” Survivors include children Sheila, Brian, and Michael; four

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grandchildren; and two greatgrandchildren. Prayers to you and your mom and family, Sheila, at this difficult time. Wayne Fick ’44 passed away on October 23, 2011, surrounded by his loving family: wife of 58 years, Patti Ruth; son, Doug; daughters, Gail Vetorino and Karen Salvo; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Our prayers and condolences. Jean Gowing ’48 died on February 12, 2014, in Brush Prairie, Wash., at the age of 87. She owned the Abbey Hotel, a residential care facility in Portland, where she cared for the elderly. She then owned the Perry House residential care facility until she retired. Survivors include her daughter, Lori Buerkle; sons, H. Greg and James D.; and five grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences. John Lester Donis ’49 passed away on February 1, 2014. He was born in Portland and served in the U.S. Army Air Force. He will be missed. Our prayers and condolences. Richard Bisenius ’49 passed away on May 18, 2014. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He worked for many years in the fields of vocational counseling and rehabilitation. He is survived by his wife, Kay; daughter, Janet Avery; sons, David, Kevin, and Matthew; 13 grandchildren; five greatgrandchildren; and brothers, Matt and Al. Remembrances may be made to a favorite educational fund. David Lawrence Nudo ’50 passed away on January 15, 2014, at home, after a brief battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. He served in WWII, earning Bronze and Silver Stars. He served in the Oregon National Guard, retiring as brigadier general and commander of the 41st Brigade. In civilian life, he and Sam Nicoletti ran the Club 21 restaurant and bar. His wife, Toni, passed away in 2004. Survivors include his children, David II, Megann, and Mario. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the University of Portland Nudo Family Scholarship Fund or Health Occupation Class at the Owen Sabin School. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Michael Fajer ’50 passed away on April 19, 2014. He grew up in Portland’s Slabtown neigh-


C L A S S borhood, the son of Slovakian immigrants. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1945 and spent one year assisting in the demobilization of WWII Navy personnel. Mike worked for the State of Oregon for 32 years, retiring in 1983. Survivors include his wife, Dorothy Gysin Fajer; children, Michael Vincent, David James, Keith Allen and Mary Frances Gritta; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. His daughter, Beth Fajer ’83, died in a 1986 vehicle accident. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Connie Meurlott, wife of Byron Meurlott ’51, passed away peacefully on March 2, 2014, at Mary’s Woods in Lake Oswego. Survivors include her husband of 63 years, Byron; children Tom Meurlott, Marlu Newvine, Vince Meurlott, and Anne Van Holde; three siblings, nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Joann Boland ’51 died on March 14, 2014. Joann is survived by her children, Joseph, Richard, Cathleen Alleman, and Debbie Craswell; stepsister, Jeanette Williams; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences. John Anthony Huseman ’53 passed away on January 5, 2014. He served aboard the U.S.S. Blenny submarine during World War II. John was a crack firefighter with the Portland Fire Department, retiring after 25 years of service. He is survived by his daughters Christine, Koren, and Jeanette; three grandchildren; and one greatgrandchild. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Leo Sherry ’53 passed away on April 13, 2014, peacefully and among family, after a long illness. He was a longtime attorney and CPA in Portland. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Nancy; sons, Joe and John; daughters, Katy Smith, Ann Sherry, and Jean Mullen; brother, Denton; and six grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family. John William Carskadon ’53 passed away on January 14, 2014. He enlisted in the Navy after graduating from Columbia Prep and was assigned to

the U.S.S. Lexington. He married Mary O’Connor in 1960. He worked for Payless Drug Stores and the City of Salem Parks Department as head gardener. Survivors include Mary, his wife of 53 years; daughter, Theresa Beers; son, Brian Carskadon, six grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and his brother, Richard. Our prayers and condolences. Samuel Conratt ’54 passed away on February 5, 2014, in his Portland home. Sam married Maria Vukovich in 1963 and worked for the state of Oregon for more than 30 years, managing the Fuels Tax Branch of the Department of Transportation, before retiring in 1994. He is survived by his wife; son, Robert; daughter, Laurie; and grandsons, Derek, Michael, and Calder. Donations in his honor may be made to Blanchet House or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Our prayers and condolences. Joseph G. Rodgers ’56 passed away on June 25, 2014, at his apartment in Greenwich Village, New York. He taught drama, speech, and English at the high school level for many years. In the early 70s he moved to New York to find his claim to fame and stayed for 43 years. His long career included theatre productions, films, and TV work. He truly had a love of teaching and theatre. He was the devoted partner of the late George Straus of New York City. He is survived by a niece, Denise Pombo, and nephews, Leroy, Dan, Chris, Steve, and Greg Simonich, along with their families, all from California. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Homer Medica ’57 passed away on June 29, 2014, in Portland, Ore. He attended St. Patrick School and Central Catholic High School before attending the University of Portland. He is survived by his wife, Joyce; sons, John, Paul, and Colin; and one granddaughter. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Chuck Smith ’57 was inducted into the Partners in Science Hall of Fame by the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust on January 18, 2014, in San Diego, Calif. He was cited for his service as a “circuit rider” for the Partners in Science program for the past 20 years, “racing

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N O T E S The University of Portland celebrated one of its largest Reunions this year from June 26 to 29. The 50th anniversary of the Salzburg Study Abroad program was celebrated along with the 30th anniversary of the Villa Maria “Villans.” We also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the class of 1964 and the 25th anniversary of the class of 1989. Be sure to check out our photo gallery at http://tinyurl.com/mxpymy3.

around the Pacific Northwest to provide orientation for new partners and visiting ever teacher in his or her research lab, providing encouragement and ensuring that they all had the best experience possible.” See more at http://tinyurl.com/qhd 4bnk. James C. Connell ’57 passed away on August 7, 2012. He was a veteran of the Korean War. Survivors include his wife Ivonne; children, Chris, Michael, Dave, John, Deanna, Joe, and Julie; 15 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Patricia Erickson ’57 passed away on April 10, 2014. She was a pediatric nurse practitioner and worked in hospi-

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tals, public health, international health, and home health in New York, Washington D.C., Washington, Oregon, California, and Cambodia. She is survived by her son and his wife, Mike and Cathy Erickson; four grandchildren; and great-nieces Jordan and Haley Satterfield. Our prayers and condolences. Paul Adkisson ’59 passed away on March 5, 2014. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Sandra “Puddy” Adkisson; children, Todd Adkisson, Belinda Adkisson, Denise Krueger, and Jeff Adkisson; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Our prayers and condolences. Bruce James Sieger ’63 died on June 23, 2014, in Seattle, Wash. Bruce served 21 years in


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C L A S S University regent Kay Dean Toran ’64 received the third annual Concordia University Governor Victor Atiyeh Leadership in Education Award for her longstanding commitment to education on February 4, 2014. She was selected in recognition of her significant contributions to improving the lives of her fellow Oregonians. As president and CEO of Volunteers of America Oregon, Toran works tirelessly to improve the lives of underserved children, families, and seniors all across the state through high quality programs and services. She strives to empower the individual and to create programs and collaborative relationships that promote education, self-reliance, and equality for all people in our community. She is a director of Albina Community Bank, and serves on the Oregon Education Investment Board and the Oregon Community Foundation. Kay was formerly the director of Oregon’s Services to Children and Families Department, served with the former Children Services Division, the state of Oregon’s Purchasing Division and Department of General Services; and as assistant to Governor Victor Atiyeh as the state's director of affirmative action. We can’t think of a more deserving recipient, by the way. the Air Force, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He then went on to work for Boeing, managing utilities and costs. Bruce is survived by his bride, three children, and five grandsons. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Richard DeKlotz, M.D. ’64 passed away on April 9, 2014, with his family by his side in Portland after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was a beloved pediatrician in Southwest Portland for 43 years. Survivors include his wife of 47 years, Rosemary; children, Michael, Mary Bacich, Stephen, Thu Anne, Timothy, and Patrick; nine grandchildren; and sisters, Barbara Miller and Janet Berger. Our prayers and condolences to the family. William “Biff” Hadley ’64 passed away on May 6, 2014. He was born in Long Beach, Calif., to parents Frederick H.

and Gertrude F. Hadley. Our prayers and condolences. We got a lovely message from Sr. Dolores Bray, C.S.C. ’64, who writes: “I just wanted to congratulate you and your staff on the excellent Portland Magazine (Spring 2014). I related so well with each article, and the Catholic/Christian spirit which was evident in each one. The photography is so clear and life-like. Alumni News updates all ages on their friends while at the University and continues on throughout their lives. The coverage of the change in leadership was outstanding—a tribute to Fr. Bill and a welcome to Fr. Mark as the 20th president of a great Holy Cross institution. I could go on about the richness I received from reading the magazine, and the pride I felt. You see, I am a Holy Cross Sister from St. Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana. I have a diploma

N O T E S from the University of Portland, graduating in 1964, 50 years ago. Since then I have been on the campus once, when the Holy Cross History Conference was held there. Our college at St. Mary’s of the Wasatch in Salt Lake City, Utah, was closing, and the U. of P. recognized our credits, and many of us were able to graduate after many summers at ‘the Wasatch.’ I’m sure much work went into that transfer of credit, and I and many others have been grateful for this certification, which enabled us to be confident in the ministry we have done, and continue to do, through these many years. Again, thank you for keeping me on the mailing list. I share the magazine with the sisters here at St. Catherine’s in Ventura. Keep up the good work, and many blessings in the future.”

’65 PRAYERS FOR WAYNE Earl “Wayne” Oliver died on Thursday, February 6, 2014, at his home in Canby, Ore. Wayne lived in Canby and worked at USF&G Insurance and Farmers Home Insurance before opening Wayne Oliver Insurance Agency in Canby in 1972. He had a deep rooted love for his Portland Pilots basketball team, only missing games due to his kids’ or grandkids’ events. Survivors include his wife, Kelly Oliver; sister, Vicki Lang; daughter and son, April Thompson and Ryan Oliver; stepdaughter, Brooke Henry of Canby; stepson, Brett Henry; and grandchildren, Brady, Cole, Alexa, Hayden, Maddox, and Kellen. Our prayers and condolences. Sister Kathleen St. Martin SNJM passed away on March 18, 2014, at Mary's Woods in Lake Oswego. She was a vowed sister for 70 years. Sister Kate is survived by her sisters, Peggy Bubenik and Bernie Herrick; and the members of her religious community. Our prayers and condolences.

’66 PRAYERS, PLEASE William Lawrence Murphy passed away on March 18, 2014, in New York State. Bill is survived by his daughter, Rachel Surface; five grandchildren; and sisters, Joanne, Sharon, Marylu, and Lois. Our prayers and condolences.

’67 A NOTE FROM “THE FIRST GROUP” We heard recently from Larry and Chris LaRocco, who writes: “Chris and I have been anchored in Washington, D.C. for way too long and we final-

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ly got home to Boise to catch up with our Portland Magazine. We are writing to thank you for the wonderful piece on Fr. Ambrose Wheeler and for including the group photo of Die Erste Gruppe. The tribute to Fr. Wheeler was exceptionally well done and we are grateful for the special Brian Doyle touch to his inspiring life of service.” Bob Markworth is mourning his wife Joyce, who passed on March 14, 2014. Bob held a memorial pipe organ concert in honor of his sweetheart at their home in Omaha, Neb., on April 13, a fitting tribute since Bob and Joyce shared a love of pipe organs and their distinctive music. You could say they were committed, judging by the full-sized, theater-style pipe organ they installed in their basement, complete with room for an audience of 80. Tears were flowing freely at Joyce’s concert but so too were the soaring melodies and heartfelt remembrances. Survivors include Bob; son, Sean Kelley; daughter, Jenny Kelley; stepson, Ron Markworth; stepdaughters, Kim Maguire and Laura Downing; grandchildren, Wyatt, Hannah, Samantha, Owen, Kathryn, Alyson, and Liam; parents, Arnold and Jessie Fast; siblings, Janice Balak, Betty Waechter, Ray Fast, and Shirley Kreikemeier; many nieces, nephews, and cousins; and loving pet, Crystal. See a newspaper story at http://tinyurl.com/owk6kco. You can also hear the special song Bob dedicated to Joyce at http://tinyurl.com/kw674qb. Our prayers and condolences. Sister Lavone Morisky SNJM passed away on July 11, 2014, at the age of 89. She and her family moved to Mount Angel when she was 10. She attended Sacred Heart Academy in Salem, and after graduating from high school in 1942 she joined the Holy Names novitiate. Her teaching career took her to schools all over the Pacific Northwest, and she served as principal and teacher at St. Peter, Newberg, St. Paul, and Coos Catholic schools before going to the Marylhurst Convent as nurse and driver, and finally as coordinator for the Provincial House sisters. Her final mission was at Providence Medical Center, where she worked in home care and as a lab courier. Survivors include her sister, Sister Lois Morisky; brothers Don, Jim, Tom, and their families; friends; and her religious community. Our prayers and condolences.


C L A S S ’68 PRAYERS FOR LUCIA Lucia Ann Miltenberger passed away on December 26, 2013, of complications from cancer. She was the wife of Arnaldo Rodriguez and mother of Elise Rodriguez ’99 and Juan Rodriguez. “Lucia’s family and friends treasured her intelligence, her judgment, her ability to make them feel special, her wry sense of humor and easy laugh, and most of all, her willingness to share her stores of love,” according to a biography on her memorial site at tinyurl.com/ m8vz7fd. “She was forgiving, steadfast, and a loyal friend and confidant.” Our prayers and condolences to the family. Colleen Millett passed away at home with her family by her side on May 2, 2011. She always said the highlight of her college career was her time in the Salzburg program. Survivors include her ex-husband, James Millett; her three children, Anne Millett, Molly Butler, and Carlos and Michael Millett; three grandchildren; and brothers Joe and Pat. Our prayers and condolences.

’69 REMEMBERING MARGARET MARY MURPHY ’44 We received sad news from Sheila Meagher Corcoran, who writes: “I am writing to let you know that my mother, Margaret Mary Murphy Meagher, who graduated from your school of Nursing in 1944, passed away on May 8, 2014. She died peacefully in her sleep, and was 91 years old.” Prayers to you and your mom and family, Sheila. Kerry Montgomery writes: “For the last 15 years I’ve been married to Judith Montgomery ’68, who was head of vocal studies at the University for 28 years until her retirement in 2012. We are now both retired—I spent 28 years as an attorney, followed by six years as a professional chef. Judith is a hospice volunteer and I teach English as a Second Language to foreign immigrants. In my free time (which is substantial) I ride an Annihilator X90 from Utah Trikes, study Spanish at PCC, read, and travel. Next January we head for Mexico for a month or two, with Italy, Spain,

and the British Isles to follow.” Donna Corlett died on March 26, 2014, in Vancouver, Wash. She taught for over 45 years, at all grade levels. She spent the last 25 years of her career teaching at the University of Portland, where she obtained her doctorate in 1969. Donna leaves behind her daughter, Shannon Hayes; grandchildren, Andria, Todd, and Kevin; great-grandchildren, Preston and Laura; brother, James Broyles; and four nieces and nephews. Our prayers and condolences.

’72 AN UPDATE FROM SPAIN We heard from Diane Foran recently, who writes: “I sure don't know why my class never has any class notes, so here you go with something to publish! First of all, the weekend of March 14 was an example of the circle of life: my first grandson, Jaime Francis Calderon, was born here in Spain. My son Marcos and his wife Eva are the proud parents. Then, sadly, my classmate Tom Charters passed away that weekend. Very, very sad. I am attaching a photo of Tom from 2012 with Belinda. I am a retired university professor now, after 40 years of teaching. I am having a bit of a problem adjusting, but with the new grandson, I am sure his parents will find some use for me! Of my three other children, Vanessa and Caren live and work in Portland; Paula lives, works, and plays basketball in Spain.” Beverly McColloch died on April 6, 2014, at her home at Springridge Court, surrounded by her loving family. She worked as a high school counselor for Portland Public Schools before retiring in 1978 and moving with her husband to Waikoloa, Hawaii. Survivors include her four children; five grandchildren; four greatgrandchildren; a multitude of friends; and sisters, Beth Carter and Lois Raffety. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’73 A COLORFUL LIFE Patrick David Gaston passed away at Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash., on April 22, 2014, from a pulmonary embolism. A native of Kansas, Patrick received a scholarship from the University of Portland to major in journalism

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N O T E S Sad news indeed from Michael Olson ’72: “Please include the news of my brother’s passing in the Class Notes section of your next issue. Gerald ‘Jerry’ Olson ’’74 died on June 24 while bodysurfing in Matzálon, Mexico.” That’s Jerry above on the left, pictured with Michael. Jerry was a high jumper for the Pilots track team, and he met his future wife, Ines Ciri, on The Bluff. He worked at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, and for the U.S. Postal Service. Jerry and Ines celebrated their 39th anniversary shortly before his passing. “Jerry was a selfless, silly, kind, sweet, hardworking, compassionate and lived to make the people in his life happy,” says Michael. Survivors include Ines; son, Kevin; daughter, Kimberly; granddaughters, Sophia and Liliana; brother, Michael; and sister, Mary. Our prayers and condolences to the family. and Spanish. He worked at the Salina Journal for 10 years and then enrolled in law school. He decided to go into private practice, retired in 2007, and spent the last five years of his life as a case officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Survivors include his wife, Jane; daughter, Amy; brothers, Michael and Stephen Gaston; two nieces, two nephews, two grand-nieces, and four grand-nephews. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’75 A LIFELONG EDUCATOR Rosalyn Petersen, wife of Donald Petersen, passed away on February 18, 2014, in the arms of her loving husband and surrounded by family. She married Donald in 1959 and theirs was a marriage of deep love and happiness. A lifelong educator, Rose taught adult classes and high school. Her passion, however, was early childhood education. Rose is survived by Don; son, Bryan; daughter

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Linda Chris Marino; three grandchildren; brothers, Robert, Roger and Ronald Lee; sisters, Alice and Janice; and many nieces and nephews. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’76 HONORS FOR VERNE D. Former School of Education dean Verne Duncan received the Professional Achievement Award, College of Arts and Letters/Social and Behavioral Science, at the Idaho State University commencement exercises on Saturday, May 10. Verne’s long career in education began as a teacher, then principal, then superintendent of schools in Arco, Idaho. He served for 15 years as Oregon’s state superintendent of public instruction, and joined the UP faculty in 1990. He and his wife Donna presently reside in Milwaukie, Ore.

’79 DAVID’S UPDATE We heard from the inimitable David Figueira recently, who writes: “I have several things that I wish to share with you. First, I have enjoyed the UP magazine for many years. I’ve always found the stories to be interesting and the writing to be first-class, and reading it has also helped me to stay connected with the University. Second, I was on campus in May for my youngest son’s


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C L A S S Faces may come and faces may go in the Bauccio Commons— student diners from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s will remember Wallace “Penny” Pennington, Booker the night baker, Mildred “Tootsie” Garoutte, manager Ron Tjaden, the infamous Bob “Grandpa” Minor, Bob “Bobby O” O’Connor, and other unforgettable characters—but Patty Brown has been a smiling, quietly dependable constant on the Commons staff since 1979. This fall she marks her 35th year on the job. Be they crazy coworkers, foodservice providers (Saga, Marriott, Bon Appetit) or tens of thousands of hungry students, Patty has seen them come and seen them go. graduation from the Shiley School of Engineering. Third, my daughter is also on campus as a junior. Fourth, I thought I would explain how so many members from two different families have kept their ties to the University over the years. Growing up in Hawaii, the kids in my family went to Catholic school with the O’Connor family. There were three of us and six of them. The Figueira kids always had O’Connor kids in our classes. We grew older together in school and our faith. The eldest O’Connor, John, went to the University of Portland, Class of 1975. His dad

ment consultant at GE Water for 27 years in Hawaii. Prayers, please, for Adrienne Hartmeier, whose father, Mel Hartmeier, passed away on February 19, 2014, surrounded by family. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Paula; children, Adrienne, Mark, Mike, David, and Steve; eight grandchildren; and one greatgrandson. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’82 PRAYERS, PLEASE Theron Croft Hill, 84, of Rockaway Beach, died on October 11, 2013. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’83 REMEMBERING LAURIE

bought a house near the school on Clarendon Street and many of the O’Connor siblings lived there over the years while going to UP (John ’75, Bob ’78, David ’82, Maria, Kathy ’83). I lived there for a while too. David’s son, David Jr. ’10 and his fiance Jane (they met at UP), Theresa ’14, my son John ’13, and his sister, Kristie ’16 are the second generation. Suffice it to say our families have a love affair with the school! Keep up the good work and God bless.” David has been a water treat-

Prayers, please, for Cindy Scheel and her family on the loss of her sister, Laurie Cuda, on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. Laurie is survived by her husband, Peter; their children, Christopher, Ryan, Matthew ’09, and Dominic; mother, Suzanne Scheel; and siblings, Maria Scheel, Alan Scheel, Cindy Scheel, and Ida Galash. She was predeceased by her son, David. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’84 A REMARKABLE MAN James Moran Sr., father of Joe Moran, passed away on March 1, 2014, in Portland, Ore. He grew up in Northeast Portland and graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1952 and the University of Notre Dame in 1956. He married Marianne Trapp in 1956 and moved his young family to

N O T E S Portland in 1958, and entered the family business, Moran Oil. They had eight children together and raised them in The Madeleine Parish, sending their children school there and then to St. Mary’s Academy and Central Catholic High School. After Marianne’s death in 1981, James met and married Suzanne Nimmo Gaittens. Survivors include Suzanne; daughters, Kathleen Bradach, Molly Moran-Yandle, M.D., Eileen Rilatt, Mary Pat Poteet, Laura Luthi, and Sheila Connelly; sons, James Jr., Joseph, John, and James Gaittens; 26 grandchildren; and five greatgrandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’85 EVERYONE’S FAVORITE UNCLE Tom Harrington died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes on Saturday, April 19, 2014. He is survived by his seven siblings: John, Susan, Pat, Mark, Kate Rice, Brian, and Nora, along with 23 nieces and nephews and 7 greatnieces and nephews. In 1981 he began working for his father Bernie at Harrington Concrete, and in 1998 Tom assumed ownership of the company. Tom was happiest while working on a job site with his crew, golfing with his friends, and being with his family. He shared a wonderful relationship with his many nieces and nephews. As a confirmed bachelor, he was without a doubt the “favorite uncle” and was invited to every special event, celebration, or ball game. He was a gifted athlete, too, playing basketball, football, and baseball in high school and college. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’88 A STAND-UP GUY The energetic doctor Christopher Van Tilburg just returned from another medical trip to Verettes, Haiti, with Medical Student Missions. This time, along with his work as a doctor, he brought

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an inflatable paddleboard, and there were stand-up lessons and blessed laughter. Find out more about Medical Student Missions at http:// medicalstudentmissions.org/MSM/ Home.html.

’89 A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT Bernie and Bobbie Dore Foster ’89, owners and publishers of the Skanner News Group, received the Victor Atiyeh Lifetime Achievement Award on February 12, 2014. The Fosters are being recognized for their leadership in their community and for their ideals of good citizenship and access to higher education for students in need. They have raised funds for low-income students to attend college for over 30 years. Sally J. Scholz writes: “Here’s some news for the class of 1989 (because we didn’t have anything in the last Portland Magazine!): I won the 2014 Outstanding Faculty Research award at Villanova University recently. In previous years, I won the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award (2006) and the Gallen Faculty Service Award (2011). So far I am one of only two faculty members to ever win all three university-wide awards.” Thanks for writing, Sally,and congratulations! We see you are a professor in the philosophy department at Villanova.

’90 SAD NEWS Gail Ione Walsh passed away on February 9, 2014, in Seaside, Ore., with her husband by her side. Survivors include her husband, Robert James Walsh; sons, Brian James Walsh and Kevin Robert Walsh; four grandchildren; and one great-grandson. To leave condolences and sign the guest book see www.hughesransom.com.

’91 WHERE AMERICA’S DAY BEGINS! Ramona Domen writes: “I finished my Ph.D. in nursing at the University of San Diego in 2012, and was promoted to the rank of U.S. Navy Captain in August 2013. I’m doing great as a nurse anesthetist stationed in Guam, USA, ‘Where America’s day begins!’”

’92 A FIRST FOR SOPHIA Sophia Chu was named as general manager of Hyatt Regency Guam in March 2014.


C L A S S She is the first woman and the first Guam resident to be appointed Hyatt Regency Guam general manager. Chu was previously executive assistant manager and director of marketing.

’94 PRAYERS, PLEASE Edward Joseph Hallinan passed away on May 23, 2014. He was a lifelong Portland resident. Edward was employed by United Parcel Service and is survived by his sisters, Monica, Kathleen, and Sheila; brother, Patrick; nephews, Xavier, Quinn, and George; and nieces, Alex, Sophia, Sally, and Olivia. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Edward’s memory to St. Andre Bessette Catholic Church, which provides services to the homeless. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’95 LIKE TWO SHIPS PASSING IN THE NIGHT Tammi Burkhardt writes: “I started a new job at the OHSU Foundation, where I am a reporting analyst. I just missed working with former UP alumni relations director Pat Regan ’83, with whom I worked at UP in the mid-90s. I am also a year into earning a master’s degree in applied information management at the University of Oregon with an expected graduation date of Summer 2015.”

’99 WELCOME, JACOB! Allyson (Adler) Bennett writes: “I just realized after reading (the lack of) class notes, that I never sent in an update after our son was born! We welcomed Jacob Curtis into our family on October 3, 2013. He is a happy baby and brings much joy into our family, and loves all the hugs and kisses he gets from big sister Nichole, who turned 4 in January.” Marie Bordeleau is thrilled to announced that she is close to signing final adoption paperwork and officially welcoming her foster son into her family in early 2015. Charlie has been with Marie for more than a year now and and has been an enormous blessing to her family. Marie has also been named the new principal of St. Hilary School, which overlooks San Francisco Bay in Tiburon, Marin County, California.

’00 SCOTT & JOSH’S BIG DAY National Alumni Board member Scott Smith and his longtime partner Josh Yates celebrated their marriage on August 16, 2014 in Newberg, Oregon, surrounded by friends and family. The couple met in Portland in the fall of 2001,

when Scott was working in the UP admissions office. After living in Josh’s native Australia for a time, the couple has settled in Chicago. They love their adopted home town, but visit the Northwest as often as possible. Josh is a familiar face at UP alumni events in the Midwest, and joined Scott in hosting 50 alumni on a trip to see Notre Dame play Navy in South Bend last year.

’01 THE STORY OF ARIC AND MISSY Ah, the stories upon stories we’ve heard while celebrating the Salzburg Program’s 50th anniversary this summer. Here’s one: Aric Ward is a theology teacher at Portland’s Central Catholic High School and teaches freshman theology here at UP one night a week. His parents are Diane ’69 and Dr. Needham Ward ’68; they both went to Salzburg as UP students in 1967. Diane really wanted Aric to participate in the Salzburg program so he did in 1994. Also in the Salzburg program at that time was Missy Spooner, who admired Aric from afar, intrigued by this “exciting nonUP guy in the program.” When Aric came to UP to get his master’s degree, they started dating. She went on to law school at U of O and at some point they got married and she is now Missy (Melissa) Ward. They have a daughter at All Saints grade school in Portland. Missy also mentions that her cousin Mike Paluska ’91 and her little brother Tom Spooner also went to Salzburg.

’02 THE LONE STAR STATE Ginger Chezem and her husband John Chezem ’04 have moved to San Antonio, Texas.

’03 PRAYERS FOR JASON Jason S. Carrick passed away on February 3, 2014, after a

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N O T E S Married at the Chapel of Christ the Teacher in April, with Father Jim Lies, C.S.C., celebrating: Peter Mahoney and Bridget Harrington, both Class of 2008. Both were glowing and beaming, there were some thirty alumni in attendance, it was a delight and a song of a day. Bridget’s extended family, we note with awe, had at least one student on The Bluff from 1934, when her grandfather Bernie Harrington ’42 started at Columbia Prep, until Bridget graduated, a stretch of some 75 years. Wow. Our thanks to Christy Cassano-Meyer for this great photo; for more see christycassanomeyer.com. tenacious battle with cancer. Survivors include parents Doug and Leslie Carrick; wife, Kirsten (Loewer); son, Alex; brothers, Grant, Ben, Spencer, and Adam; sister, Alison Smyth; and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. For the full obituary, visit www.springerandson.com. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Carolyn Huber, mother of Michael Huber, passed away on February 12, 2014, in Portland, Ore. She worked as a nurse at Maryville Nursing Home and then at Oregon Health & Science University for 10 years. She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Michael Huber; children; Mark, Kimberly, and David; five grandchildren; three sisters, and one brother. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Prayers, please, for Casey McDermott and her family on the death of her mother, Barbara McDermott King, on March 31, 2014. Barbara spent

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25 years teaching students with special needs through her work as a speech pathologist with the Multnomah Education Service District. According to her family, “Barb died as she lived: quietly, without complaint and surrounded by people she loved.” Survivors include her husband, John King; son, Shahms; daughter, Casey; sister, Brenda Clark; and a closeknit community of friends who became her adopted family. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’04 BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, RIGHT? One of the problems with a quarterly magazine is that babies don’t stay little for long, as in the case of Matt and

Terra (Montoya) Wissbaum’s newest arrival, Emerick Baine Wissbaum, born on February 18, 2014, at 2:02 a.m., weighing in at 8 lbs. 2.5 oz. He must


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N O T E S Colorado. I have started a fundraising firm focused on raising money and building up new members for PBS and NPR stations across the country, including OPB. I credit my days as a TOP caller with Monica Long and Colin McGinty ’99 as the foundation for my career in non-profit fundraising. Until the birth of Callum, Amy was a teacher at a local Montessori school. She now has the mighty task of planning daily lessons for Callum.”

’05 SEAL OF ZAPPROVAL Elena Haugen (Murillo) ’07 and Michael Haugen ’07 tied the knot on September 1, 2013, in Seattle, Wash., surrounded by 140 friends and family, including 45 UP alumni. “The oldest there were my parents, Carlos and Lena Murillo ’78, as well as their classmate and close friend Deborah Reynolds ’78,” writes Elena. “My sister, Olivia Murillo ’10 was my maid of honor and Debbie Gorder ’07 and Kerry Dunn ’07 were bridesmaids. Trevor Coolidge ’06 and Andy Gorder ’07 were groomsmen. It was truly a UP affair and party!” Thanks Elena, and congratulations to you and Mike. surely be many times that size now, if his parents would care to send a new photo, hint hint. Editor Brian Doyle has a note to share from Christine King: “I just had to send a quick e-mail to say that my teeny family and I are moving to Southern Oregon this summer, but you’re going to have to find another middle school class to visit each year because they need you. Arti and I had our baby on February 2, 2014. Her name is Juniper Clementine Boyd. Wow, parenthood is a whirlwind mish-mash of absolute giddy joy, frustration, love beyond all love, and bone-tired body. So intense! I’ve attached a photo, so you can see our little nugget.” Sam Barbara writes: “It’s been quite a year! I got married to Kimberly Sinclair in July with about a million Pilots (give or take) in attendance, I completed my doctorate in choral music from USC in December, I was appointed

as director of choral activities at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and our son Theodore Doyle Barbara was born in April. Roger O. Doyle, my mentor and the late UP legend, fostered my passion for music and helped me in every step of my career. I and so many others owe him so much, naming our son after him was the least I could do.” Gavin Clark has great news to share: “Amy Uberuaga ’05 and I are proud to announce that on April 30th, Amy gave birth to a healthy and strong baby boy. Callum Francis Clark was born at 5:07 p.m., weighed 7.0 lbs, and was 19 inches. Amy is doing great and is taking to motherhood with grace and seemingly endless energy. Callum has already told us that he is excited

to meet his UP Classmates of 2036. Such a little man already! We now live in Denver,

Monica Enand, chief executive of Zapproved, has been named to the Oregon Growth Board, a panel created by the Oregon legislature two years ago to help Oregon businesses find funding and technical assistance. The board aims to coordinate development programs among more than a dozen state agencies, to coordinate their work and use funding more effectively. Prayers, please, for Jillian (Schrupp) Heacock on the death of her father, Richard “Dick” Schrupp, on March 22, 2014. Survivors include his loving wife of 39 years, Alison; children, John, Jillian, and Kyle; brother, Jim; and many cousins; nieces; nephews; and friends. He will be remembered for his kindness, generosity, ridiculous sense of humor, and more. Our prayers and condolences. Michelle Taylor (Shutler) passed away on March 24, 2014, after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis. “She was a strong and beautiful woman who refused to believe she couldn’t accomplish anything she set her mind to,” according to her family. She is survived by her husband, Sean Taylor, and her parents, Joe and Becky Shutler, all of Snoqualmie. The family asks that donations be made in her memory to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 520 Pike St, Suite 1075, Seattle, WA 98101, or online at www.cff.org. Former UP tennis standout

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Roman Borvanov retired from professional tennis earlier this year after a very successful nine-year career. He won nine ITF futures singles titles, had a 14-8 record in Davis Cup competition for his native country of Moldova, and played the qualifying events in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Kristy Getz Willet writes: “My husband Jake and I welcomed our second child, Henry Walter Willet, on March 23, 2014. Hank joins a very proud big sister, Mary, who is two-and-a-half.” Alexis Apatoff writes: “I received my DMD from Tufts Dental School in 2010, where I was awarded a Health Professions Scholarship from the U.S. Army. After graduating, I was stationed at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. After serving three years in the Army, I moved back to the Northwest in 2013 and went into practice with my father at Apatoff Family Dentistry in Edmonds, Washington.” Sara Bernards and her writing partner Wendy Fresh have written The Guided Lecture Notes, a supplement for a textbook authored by Sullivan & Sullivan, “that is a leap of practicality that minimizes the tedium and maximizes the joy of learning college math.” It is especially helpful for students for whom English is a second language. “Students were spending way too much class time copying math definitions and formulas from a white board, time that could have been spent talking about what the definitions and formulas really mean, exploring the math concepts, and working problems,” says Sara. “The Notes give students more time to get to the ‘why’ of the mathematics for a deeper level of understanding.” Sara has taught math at Portland Community College for the past four years.

’06 MARRIED BY THE BAY Ryan McArdle-Jaimes married Daniel Jaimes on the evening of April 4, 2014, in the Presidio of San Francisco. Daniel, a graduate of the University of San Diego (’05), met Ryan in San Francisco in 2010. The evening was a wonderful event (as you’d hope for someone who works in events) highlighting the couple’s love for Hawaiian and California fusion, with many of Ryan’s UP


C L A S S alumni friends in attendance. Ryan recently accepted a position as a strategic account director for Live Marketing, a creative agency for trade shows and live events. Daniel works for the public affairs firm Katz & Associates, and consults for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The couple resides in San Francisco with their dog Kai. Robert Samuel Dale Hein passed away on April 16, 2014, at home with family and friends after a five-year struggle with brain cancer. After earning his degree from the University of Portland School of Nursing he enjoyed a career as a surgical nurse at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital. “Rob was a delightful, loving man who treated everyone with kindness and embraced all life with reverence, remaining a dedicated vegan to the end,” according to his obituary. Rob is survived by his mother, Elinor Hein; sister, Lisa Gifford; nephew, David Gifford; sister, Marilyn Hein; niece, Angela Sterling; and brother, Paul Sieber. Our prayers and condolences to the family.

’07 EAST COAST SALZBURGERS, UNITE! AnneMarie Ashburn (now AnneMarie Horowitz) writes: “This former Beacon editor-inchief got married in Washington, D.C., in October 2013, to a UNC-Chapel Hill grad and fellow Obama for America ’08 campaign worker. We happily hosted many Salzburgers at our wedding and I’m working with the UP alumni team to get an even bigger group together by throwing an East Coast version of the Salzburg 50th Anniversary here this fall. Tell the alumni office if you want in!”

’08 WE’RE HAPPY! WAIT, WE’RE SAD! Our always effervescent Caitlin MacMillen accepted a position as a client services associate at First Republic Bank in downtown Portland, which makes us happy and proud, but that means she can no longer share her awesome powers of good cheer, efficiency, professionalism, and all-around awesomeness in our alumni rela-

tions office, which bums us out to no end. Caitlin worked in both admissions and alumni relations when she was a student, and was a natural fit in the alumni office. We wish her good luck and a well-deserved bright future. David and Kristen Gregg met their new roommate Cole on July 9, 2014, in Tualatin, Ore. They live in Burns, where David is working from home as a consultant for World Perspectives Inc. in Washington, D.C., and Kristen is working for the Harney District Hospital. So says proud grampa Gerald Gregg ’81, who heads the UP public safety office. Leah Hebié (Sonnenberg) writes: “As always, beautifully crafted magazine you produce. The time has come to share some news of my own. I am now the head of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program at Pilgrim School in Los Angeles. On February 16, 2014, I got married in the City of Angels. My husband, Arouna, and I met during my Peace Corps service in Burkina Faso. We are looking forward to the next opportunity to visit the Northwest so he can experience the beautiful community and stellar women’s soccer team I have described to him for so long! The picture is from Valentine's Day in 2011 in Burkina.”

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N O T E S Here we see retired UP English professor Lou Masson’s grandson Jackson (son of Larisa Masson ’93) after winning his first track meet race in Kuala Lumpur. We note that his grandfather was a terrific runner in high school, as readers of Lou’s columns in this magazine over the years will no doubt remember with a smile. both so in love with our little angel, and hope to have a future Pilot on our hands!” Congratulations Kyle, isn’t parenthood the best? Rachel Prusynski has exciting news: she just bought her first house! In Seattle, no less. “I decided to become a real adult,” she offers in explanation.

’10 RACHEL’S UPDATE Rachel Leiber now leads Essia Health’s electronic medical records (EMR) implementation services division. She oversees current and future go-live projects across the country, as well as informatics support, working from the company’s Portland office. Maria Petterson has some great news: “I just wanted to let you know that I have legally changed my name after being married on August 3, 2013. I was formerly Maria Teresa Oliva and now I am Maria Teresa Oliva Petterson (Teresa and Oliva are middle names). Thanks so much and I hope you are having a wonderful summer!”

’09 KYLE’S WONDERFUL NEWS

’11 OSCARS, HERE I COME!

Kyle Bunch has discovered the greatest thing in the world. He writes: “I just wanted to send an update on our family. My wife Rachael and I welcomed our first daughter, Miriam Bernice, into our lives on April 26 at 8:29 p.m. She was born 9 lbs. 7 oz. , 20.5 inches, and is doing quite well. She is keeping us on our toes, but luckily Rachael is able to stay at home with her. We are

Likely YouTuber to Win a Best Director Oscar,” thanks to his short film, “The OMEn Chronicles,” a Harry Potter follow-up, which now has over a million views on YouTube (http://tiny url.com/n6cgmap). See the article at http://tinyurl.com/

Wren Weichman was named by newmediarockstars as “Most

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nq4yba7. Wren is an engineer as his day job. David Williams writes: “I recently moved from Austin, Texas to Brooklyn, New York, where I’m working as an event manager for the New York Road Runners.” The Road Runners are a community running organization which strives to help and inspire people through running. See more at http://www.nyrr.org. Here’s an update from Elizabeth Hepp (formerly Beshoar). “My husband Simon Hepp and I were married in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher in June of 2011 shortly following our graduation from UP. Since then we’ve moved away from the Portland area. Simon was accepted into Officer Candidate School in the U.S. Navy, and last March he graduated as an ensign and was assigned as gunnery officer aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Donald Cook DDG 75. We moved to Norfolk, Virginia and recently moved again to Rota, Spain because the ship has been relocated there permanently. The ship is currently on patrol in the Mediterranean. Simon and the ship were in the news when a Russian jet passed near the Donald Cook and several photos of Simon surfaced. The attached photo is of Simon and I from his commissioning in March 2013.” Aaron Davis sent us the following note: “After graduating from UP in 2011, I traveled to Spain to teach English for a year. In June 2013, I received


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Jocelyn Sterling ’10 and David Thompson ’10 were married last New Year’s Eve—December 31, 2013—in Auburn, California. A number of UP alumni were in attendance. Pictured, l-r: Colton Coughlin ’10, Brian Carter ’10, Lindsey Jones Carter ’10, Ryan Willis ’10, Alli Romolino ’11, Tim Scheumann ’10, McKenzie Roberts ’10, Paige Rachor ’10, Kelly Mitchell ’10, Janelle Mellor ’10, Jocelyn Sterling ’10, Kyle Bunch ’09, David Thompson ’10, Kevin Lockwood ’10, Katelin Villamil ’10, Ken Ankrom ’10, Erin Thompson ’13, Carolyn Borsch ’10, and Timmy Trabon ’11. Jocelyn and David met and began dating their freshman year in 2006 while living on the same floor in Corrado Hall. They now live in Denver, Colo. David works as an environmental engineer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. In 2012, Jocelyn earned her master’s degree in health communication from Emerson College and Tufts University School of Medicine, and now works in cardiovascular outcomes research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine as a professional research assistant. my M.Ed. from the University of Washington in intercollegiate athletic leadership. Since then, I have been serving as an AmeriCorps member with College Possible, preparing low-income high school juniors for college success.” Mark Pomeroy has a new book out: The Brightwood Stillness: A Novel has been released by Oregon State University Press. “This new novel takes a vivid look at friendship, masculinity, and the challenges of cross-cultural communication,” according to OSU, “poignantly taking on the legacy of Vietnam from a Pacific Northwest setting.” See more at http://osupress.oregonstate.edu. Katherine Lillian Schleiss writes: “After graduating from the University of Portland with bachelor of arts degrees

in political science and psychology, I moved to New York to attend the prestigious Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. There, I was awarded the health research training program fellowship and worked as a program assistant for the New York City Department of Health’s Bureau of Environmental Disease. I graduated in May 2013 with a master of public health in epidemiology, and last July started working as a research analyst specialist at the Minnesota Department of Health’s Office of Rural Health and Primary Care.”

’12 A DREAM JOB Katy Portell writes: “I am a passionate advocate for organ and tissue donation and have always wanted to combine that passion with my communica-

N O T E S tion education and work professionally to promote the lifesaving impact of organ and tissue donation. I am now working in my dream field as the volunteer program coordinator at Southwest Transplant Alliance (STA) in Dallas, Texas. We are a non-profit that promotes education and awareness for organ donation. It really is my dream job!” Jonathan Sandau was featured in the Salem Statesman Journal on May 6, 2014, in their State Worker Spotlight. Jonathan worked in the Office of the Governor as a constituent affairs specialist. He was an intern in U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader’s office in Washington, D.C., before starting work in Governor Kitzhaber’s office in July 2013. See the article at http://tinyurl.com/ pvsxs5l.

’13 A BUSY WEEKEND Sarah Batten and Matthew Yokubaitis were married on May 4, 2013, at The Old Church in Portland. Matt was commissioned as an officer

into the U.S. Army hours before their wedding. They graduated as part of the University of Portland Class of 2013 ceremonies the following day. Sarah and Matt make their home in Dupont, Washington, as Matt is stationed at nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Pictured are Casey Yokubaitis, Alex Batten, Cameron Sparks, Matt Yokubaitis, Sarah Batten, Maddie Kirby, Caitlin Hogan, and Julia Lyons. Please keep Jennifer Bond and her family in your prayers after the loss of her father, Daniel Bond, on March 6, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Susan; daughters, Jennifer and Rachel; mother, Leila; brothers, Wayne, Larry, and David; sisters, Judy Simonds, Karen Messenger, and Kathleen; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Our prayers and condolences. Emily Wilson writes: “Hello! I wanted to let you know: 1.) I got married! My name is now legally changed from Emily Wilson to Emily Ruhl; 2.) I switched positions and am a full-time RN at the Portland Veterans Administration Hos-

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pital; 3.) My husband and I just bought a house!” Thanks for the note, Emily, and congratulations on all your milestones. Michaela Capelle writes: “I am finally e-mailing you my JVC update! I’m going to New York to work at BronxWorks, an older adult day center, their biggest one. I’ll be a case manager. I’m really excited!! Hard to believe I’ll be spending Christmas in New York this year!” Congratulations, Michaela, keep us in the loop, okay? Danny Rodriguez spent the last year doing research at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and was recently accepted into U of A’s School of Medicine, according to Pat Ell of UP’s Moreau Center, who keeps up on such things. “He had to turn them down, though,” says Pat, “because he was also accepted into OHSU and given a full tuition scholarship! I’ve never heard of this happening before. Danny was an RA in Christie Hall for two years, was active through the Moreau Center coordinating Border and Rural Immersions, and was confirmed here at UP—I am his very proud padrino.” Kelsey (Nevins) Budge married Ryan Budge on June 20, 2014, in Half Moon Bay, California. Kelsey graduated with her B.S. in biology in December 2012 and is working on furthering her education with a couple of certificates before applying for her master’s in animal behavior. Ryan is a graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is a second lieutenant in the Army stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

’15 HELPING THE BLIND TO SEE Michele Roth writes: “My daughter, Chelsea Olivas, is a biology student at UP. Last summer she came home from a visit to her eye doctor and confirmed her desire to focus on ophthalmology and restoring sight to the blind. She heard about a doctor here in Tri-Cities, Washington who has been traveling to Africa to help cataract patients regain their vision. Chelsea was given the opportunity to join the team this past March. They restored sight to 254 people in just six days, including a first-time surgery for an 8-month-old who was blind in both eyes due to congenital cataracts. Many lives were changed, including Chelsea’s. There is much more to this amazing story of how a small


C L A S S community in Southeastern Washington has become responsible for the infrastructure of eye care for this region of West Africa.”

FACULTY, STAFF, FRIENDS Edward Walsh, who covered many of the late 20th century’s most important political figures for The Washington Post and finished his distinguished journalism career at The Oregonian, died on Friday, February 14, at the age of 71. He was the father of former UP residence life director Mike Walsh. He passed away under hospice care at his home surrounded by his wife, their children, Michael and Catherine, their spouses, and a granddaughter. For a complete account of Ed Walsh’s remarkable life and career, see http://tinyurl.com/ophbz8b. Our prayers and condolences to the family. Robert Earl Collins passed away peacefully in his sleep surrounded by loved ones at his home in Portland, Ore., on April 1, 2014. He married Julia Pinkerton in 1949 and they raised three girls in Portland. He was a professor of biology at the University of Portland, and later taught at Western States Chiropractic College before becoming dean of students. Survivors include daughters Coral, Deborah, and Victoria; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. In lieu of flowers, the family would like to suggest donations to the scholarship fund at the University of Portland or buy a drink in his honor at his favorite restaurant, The New Copper Penny. Our prayers and condolences. School of Education professor Ruby Schendel passed away on May 26, 2014, shortly after suffering a stroke. Ruby taught at the University of Portland from 1981 to 1996. From 1994 to 1999, she and her husband Jack traveled to Riga, Latvia, to help develop a special certification program in Christian Morals and Ethics at the University of Latvia. Survivors include Jack; children, Betsy Taylor ’86, Carol Shelby, Jackie Schendel ’91, and Kurt Schendel ’92; and eight grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family. See page 37 of this magazine for a special tribute to Ruby. We heard recently from Kay Doyle, wife of the late great

much-missed Roger O. Doyle: “When I arrived home from a trip with All Classical Radio to Croatia, I opened your wonderful magazine and couldn’t believe that a full page was dedicated to Roger. That means so much to me. Thank you. I am sure you have been hearing about the new facility for All Classical radio downtown on the waterfront. The performance space is named the Roger O. Doyle Performance Studio and there will be a live broadcast each Thursday afternoon of local musicians performing. I believe the time will be 4 p.m. Also some other good news: Sam Barbara ’04, former UP music student who finished his doctorate at USC in choral conducting last summer, has named his first baby, born April 13, Theodore Doyle Barbara in honor of Roger. I got to meet and hold the new baby this past Monday. How exciting all of these events are. I am always bragging.” Thanks Kay, you certainly have good reason.

DEATHS Walter Joseph Stott ’33 CP, ’37 UP, June 7, 2014. Michael Anthony Stepovich ’36 CP, February 14, 2014, San Diego, Calif. James Bruce, Jr. ’41, February 20, 2014. George D. Watson, Sr. ’42, January 16, 2014. Robert “Bob” Wack ’43, March 22, 2014. Margaret Mary Meagher ’44, May 8, 2014. Wayne Fick ’44, October 23, 2013. Jean Gowing ’48, February 12, 2014, Brush Prairie, Wash. John Lester Donis ’49, February 1, 2014. Richard Bisenius ’49, May 18, 2014. David Lawrence Nudo ’50, January 15, 2014. Michael Fajer ’50, April 19, 2014. Connie Meurlott, wife of Byron Meurlott ’51, March 2, 2014, Lake Oswego, Ore. Joann Boland ’51, March 14, 2014. John Anthony Huseman ’53, January 5, 2014. Leo Sherry ’53, April 13, 2014. John William Carskadon ’53, January 14, 2014. Samuel Conratt ’54, February 5, 2014, Portland, Ore. James C. Connell ’57, August 7, 2012. Patricia Erickson ’57, April 10, 2014. Homer Medica ’57, June 29, 2014, Portland, Ore. Paul Adkisson ’59, March 5, 2014. Richard DeKlotz ’64, April 9,

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The 2014 Upsilon Omega Pi Reunion, held during the 2014 Alumni Reunion, was a wonderful afternoon for over 80 Upsilon brothers and friends, and for many, the joys of returning to UP for the first time since graduation far exceeded expectations. Two brothers in particular hadn’t seen each other in 49 years—John Holman ’67 (DUD) and Michael Lamb ’65 (BAA-A A) hit it off right away. Eric Nelte ’84 (FUBAR) was kind enough to create a 17 minute video of the event which can be seen on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/oj5gy36. “I’ve received a number of e-mails of thanks for organizing this reunion,” writes Matt Waite ’84 (KRETN), “but it was the Upsilon Brotherhood that made the gathering such a success. Judging by the laughter and joy, it’s evident we need to gather more often. Let’s do it again in two years by celebrating the 65th anniversary of the founding of Upsilon Omega Pi. Mark your calendars for June 25, 2016.” 2014, Portland, Ore. William “Biff” Hadley ’64, May 6, 2014. Earl “Wayne” Oliver ’65, February 6, 2014, Canby, Ore. Sr. Kathleen St. Martin, SNJM ’65, March 18, 2014, Lake Oswego, Ore. William Lawrence Murphy ’66, March 18, 2014. Joyce Markworth, wife of Bob Markworth ’67, March 14, 2014. Lucia Ann Miltenberger ’68, December 26, 2013. Colleen Millett ’68, May 2, 2014. Donna Corlett ’69, March 26, 2014, Vancouver, Wash. Tom Charters ’72, March 14, 2014. Beverly McColloch ’72, April 6, 2014. Patrick David Gaston ’73, April 22, 2014, Renton, Wash. Rosalyn Petersen, wife of Donald Petersen ’75, February 18, 2014. Mel Hartmeier, father of Adrienne Hartmeier ’79, February 19, 2014.

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Theron Croft Hill ’82, October 11, 2013. Laurie Cuda, sister of Cindy Scheel ’83, March 25, 2014. James Moran Sr., father of Joe Moran ’84, March 1, 2014, Portland, Ore. Tom Harrington ’85, April 19, 2014. Gail Ione Walsh ’90, February 9, 2014, Seaside, Ore. Edward Joseph Hallinan, May 23, 2014, Portland, Ore. Jason S. Carrick ’03, February 3, 2014. Carolyn Huber, mother of Michael Huber ’03, February 12, 2014. Barbara McDermott King, mother of Casey McDermott ’03, March 31, 2014. Richard “Dick” Schrupp, father of Jillian (Schrupp) Heacock ’05, March 22, 2014. Michelle Taylor (Shutler) ’05, March 25, 2014. Robert Samuel Dale Hein ’06, April 16, 2014, Daniel Bond, father of Jennifer Bond ’13, March 6, 2014.


L E S S

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Every once in a while we are just totally knocked out by how the University welcomes lanky eager grinning children, like young Michael McCabe (here trotting across campus in 1967 as a shining new member of the cross country team), and then a moment later they are lanky grinning grizzled graduates, and then in two moments they are esteemed around the world for one thing or another, or two things, sometimes. It’s amazing. This beaming skinny boy, for example, ended up flying a Navy fighter jet in the Vietnam War, and running Navy’s Topgun school, and rising to admiral of the American Third Fleet in the Pacific, and running Navy aviation worldwide from the Pentagon, where he survived the murderous attacks of September 11. Today he is a personable cheerful avuncular 1970 alumnus and “former Navy man,” as he says, who lives on the Oregon coast and is invited around the country to give motivational talks. Yet two minutes ago he was this lean child trotting across campus, hoping he would survive class and track practice and someday maybe get a date. It happens so fast. Sometimes we should stop and gape in amazement that the University really is a sort of time machine in which bright children enter and remarkable men and women emerge, ready for their wild lives. What a great idea. What a remarkable enterprise. Portland 48


Ever notice how the best fundraising stories are not really about funds, but about generosity and r­ everence and honesty and hope? You know what we mean? So here’s one. Short version: University alumna Liz James, Classes of 1977 and 1986 (MBA), died in 2012. Worked most of her career as a financial wizard for Providence Health System. Made a small gift to the University every year for 30 years; never missed a year. Left the University $1.6 million when she died, for scholarships and the library. Long version: Unsung, quiet, respected, calm, undramatic, the sort of person who if you knew her you liked her and if you didn’t know her you missed a quiet glory in this world. Not into sharp cars and dashing clothes and luxurious housing. Did her work very well indeed and savored her friends and loved anything that jazzed the mind like books and puzzles and photography and travel and plays and movies and concerts and opera. Quietly handled the finances for her church and for other nonprofits which always desperately need someone calm and smart to keep a sharp eye on finances. Star swimmer in high school, went to the state finals, survived cancer as a young woman, endured cancer again as an older woman, never complained, quietly got her affairs in order, left the University money enough to jazz the lives of hundreds of students. She’ll never meet the kids whose lives she changed; but you can bet the University will make sure they know about the quiet grace and wonderful generosity of Ms. Elizabeth James, of Vancouver, Washington, and always, always, of the University of Portland. Feel like jazzing kids’ lives? Opening new doors for kids who might well invent ways to heal and elevate the bruised and weary world? Call Kirsten Heikkala, 503.943.7460, heikkala@up.edu. And say a silent prayer for Liz.


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FATHER MARK POORMAN, C.S.C.... …started work as the University’s 20th president in July, will be formally inaugurated before a whopping crowd of folks from around the world on September 26, and just reluctantly moved from Schoenfeldt Hall to the president’s house on north campus, an old Victorian beautifully renovated years ago by the University’s carpenters. Father Mark will still say Mass every Wednesday in the residence halls, though, and he’ll also continue to teach his beloved ethics class, even as he takes the reins of a university now ranked among the best small Catholic universities in America. Wish the man well in his work; say a prayer for joy and energy granted unto him when he is wan and weary; and maybe send him a few dollars for the secret scholarship slush fund he wants to start, so the president can himself help out kids who are really financially desperate. Great idea. Let’s make it happen. Call Kirsten Heikkala, 503.943.7460, heikkala@up.edu.


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