Luther Magazine Winter 2023

Luther magazine

Volume 56, number 2, Winter 2023

© Luther College 2023

Editor Kate Frentzel

Art director/designer

Michael Bartels

Contributors

Sherry (Braun) Alcock ’82

Jessica Campos Arzate

Erin Dintaman ’23

Armando Jenkins-Vasquez ’21

Karen Martin-Schramm

Ellen Modersohn

Katie Schweinefus

Rachel (Schutte) Vsetecka ’09

Luther College Photo Bureau

Luther magazine feedback, inquiries, and ideas may be sent to the Editor, Luther Magazine, Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 521011045; magazine@luther.edu; phone (563) 387-1483

Class Notes submissions, changes of address, and alumni news may be sent to the Alumni Office, Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045; alumni@luther.edu; (800) 225-8664; (800) 2 ALUMNI.

Find us online at luther.edu/ magazine.

Remembering Rick

pivoted from a successful career in graphic design to fulfill a lifelong dream of professional wrestling. Read more on page 16.

Doing good in Decorah

Read about a few of the many ways Luther students make Decorah a brighter place.

LET’S STAY IN TOUCH

It hasn’t been easy to ask Luther alumni to give up their @ luther.edu email account. Thank you for understanding that Google’s decision to stop offering unlimited file storage to colleges and universities gave us no other option. In the past year, most of you have transitioned to an @ alumni.luther. edu  or another email account and have given us your new contact info. If you haven’t yet done so, please send us your new email address so you continue to receive college updates and information about class reunions, events in your area, and other alumni news. You can email alumni@ luther.edu or call 563-387-1164.

Richard Torgerson, Luther’s ninth president, served two terms at Luther, from

to 2013. He passed away in

but Luther continues to be shaped by the legacy he left behind.

Jasper Kange ’12

Uncommon

COMMITMENT

As Luther College’s current strategic plan (Inspired. Empowered. Engaged.) comes to an end, we are crafting a new strategic framework. In our conversations, one of the questions we return to repeatedly is what we mean when we say “excellence” and what Luther’s distinctive contribution to educating for the “common good” might mean. Many institutions claim both, but we believe Luther may have a special approach—one that is borne out by the many stories in this issue of the Luther magazine.

While some may ascribe excellence to the product of education (“She wrote an excellent paper.” “He was accepted to the best graduate program.”), we take pride in attending to the process along the way—we meet students where they are and accompany them to a higher level or onto an alternate path. We celebrate the art major and graphic designer who becomes a professional wrestler, or the brain researcher whose aspiration is to become an astronaut. Similarly, while some institutions laud the individual accomplishments of individual students (and we certainly have plenty to laud at Luther!), we notice that what often characterizes our alumni is the degree to which they use their own education to better the lives of others and the communities and organizations they serve.

In this issue, we also remember emeritus president Rick Torgerson,

who passed away in October. Many of the initiatives he spearheaded during his fourteen years as president reflected this commitment to educating students for the common good, particularly in the area of sustainability—an area in which Luther continues to be a national leader among undergraduate institutions.

As we enter 2023 may you, too, reflect on the way in which your Luther education equipped you to take joy in the twists and turns of your own life, but also opened you to opportunities to use those habits of mind and heart to make an uncommon commitment to the common good.

Soli Deo Gloria!

K. Ward

Jenifer

YOUR LUTHER EDUCATION EQUIPPED YOU . . . TO USE THOSE HABITS OF MIND AND HEART TO MAKE AN UNCOMMON COMMITMENT TO THE COMMON GOOD.”

President Jenifer K. Ward

Nola (Ekern) Nackerud ’72 has spent the past 21 years as an advocate for underserved students in rural Nicaragua.

EMPOWERING YOUNG WOMEN

Junita Sangare ’25 received a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant for her “Girls, Let’s Talk” project. Her goal is to empower young women in Liberia through reproductive health education.

In most of Liberia, sex and reproductive health are taboo topics. According to Sangare, 67 percent of adolescent girls with no education are either pregnant or have at least one child to care for, which is a life-altering struggle in a developing country like Liberia.

Through her grant, Sangare ran a seven-day intensive workshop for 75 women aged 15–20. She and a team of youth leaders developed a life-planning curriculum that covered topics like sex education, teenage pregnancy prevention, gender roles, and equality.

“It brings me nothing but great joy to do this work. This is the space where I feel fulfilled and purposeful,” Sangare says. “This project has left me with a strong sense of hope—hope that there are still plenty of chances to create a better world. I am proud to say that our successes have extended to starting a nonprofit called Educate Women Liberia under which we hope to continue this work.”

CHAMBERLAIN NAMED PROVOST

Bradley Chamberlain has been appointed provost of Luther College. He has served as vice president for mission and communication since 2019 and was named interim provost in August 2022. President Ward says, “He brings an innate curiosity to the project of higher education, always looking for ways to connect the best of what our faculty and staff offer to the accomplishments of the students they mentor.”

JOYCE WINS AWARDS

Brooke Joyce, Luther’s composer in residence, won two prestigious composition awards from the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the largest professional organization for the organ in the world. Joyce received the 2024 AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition and the 2024 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition.

4TH NATIONALLY

Last fall, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education named Luther the fourth best baccalaureate institution in the nation for our efforts in sustainability. Luther blue is looking pretty green these days!

DECORAH SEA SCORPION

A life-sized model of an ancient sea scorpion is on loan to Luther and viewable by the public. The Decorah sea scorpion, Pentecopterus decorahensis, is a fossil discovery from the Decorah Crater basin, which was formed by a meteor impact around 465 million years ago. It is the oldest sea scorpion fossil ever found and one of the largest at over six feet long.

NEW SPORT: BOWLING

Beginning next academic year, men’s and women’s bowling will become the 20th and 21st sports in Luther’s athletics department, making the Norse the third member of the American Rivers Conference to add the sport. Luther’s home venue will be King Pin Entertainment Center in Decorah, and Dan Bellrichard ’01 will coach the new teams. “My goals are not only to build an excellent bowling program but also to help the team members be successful in the bowling alley, the classroom, and the community,” he says.

A LEGENDARY GAME

On the night of Sept. 16, 2022, Luther College and Briar Cliff University became the first collegiate teams to play on the iconic Field of Dreams field in Dyersville, Iowa.

Before the game, Luther alumni players from each decade, from the ’50s on up, came together to scrimmage.

Participant Kent Stock ’85 remarked, “I just had knee-replacement surgery 11 months ago, and I said, ‘I’m in. I’m not going to miss that.’”

A highlight for many was finally watching the Luther baseball team walk out of the cornfield and onto the field. And while the end score didn’t favor the Norse, the crowd went wild when Ghavin James ’23 hit a home run deep into the corn.

The team had watched the movie the Tuesday before the game, and player Ryan Manternach ’23 summed it up well when he said, “It’s exactly like the movie. Perfect, I guess, is the only way to describe it.”

EDUCATING NURSE LEADERS

Last fall, Luther cut the ribbon on an expanded and upgraded Nursing Simulation Center (NSC). This facility will help send new nurses into the world even better prepared to be leaders in providing high-quality health care.

The NSC offers eight additional simulation manikins that emulate human patients—they even respond verbally. It also took the facility from two separate theatre-style spaces (with students watching peers administer care) to a much more realistic setup that includes three distinct patient rooms to approximate part of a hospital or care floor. This way, a student can experience—and troubleshoot in real time—what it’s like to perform a health assessment on one patient while another patient’s alarms start going off and a third also needs assistance. “Any opportunity where we can allow students to be interrupted and stimulated in ways that are really similar to current nursing practice will increase the safety for them to be professionals in those roles,” says Angela (Oldenburg) Kueny ’02, associate professor of nursing.

The new center also includes audio-visual equipment to record simulations and allow faculty and students to highlight things that went well or find opportunities to improve. This capability—of reviewing and course-correcting patient care in a way that doesn’t put actual patients at risk—is a true strength of a good simulation lab.

Jayme (Rutledge) Nelson ’87, associate professor of nursing, says, “A common misconception is that nursing is very task-oriented and that nurses use only menial skills, when the reality is that nurses are at the forefront of keeping patients alive and safe.” By offering students a highly contextualized, complex, ever-changing environment that closely mimics what nurses encounter in real life, Luther is sending the next generation of these essential care providers into the world as well prepared as they can be.

The NSC became a reality thanks to the combined generosity of the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust; the estate of Shirley (Klingsheim) Bentdahl ’59; and $100,000 in board-designated bequests; along with gifts from alumni, current parents, and friends of the college. It will also be supported by the endowment for nursing simulation created by Michael ’99 and Carryn (Ensrude) Anderson ’99 in 2013.

A SPACE FOR A LEGACY

The Robert and Ann Naslund Sports and Recreation Center (SRC) reopened its doors on December 1, 2022, after a $1.2 million renovation.

It serves as one of Luther’s primary venues for summer camps, and it offers community members, including high school teams, a place to train, walk, jog, and compete. Critically, it provides a place to do these things during Iowa’s long winters.

Improvements to the 45,000 square-foot facility include new floor surfacing that combines performance and safety, replacement of the multipurpose netting system to maximize space utilization, and installation of a videoboard to enhance the student and spectator experience.

Constructed in 1991 as part of an expansion of Luther’s athletics complex, the SRC had not undergone significant changes until the 2022 renovation. It is heavily used year-round for practices, competition, recreation, and events. Along with the renovation project comes the commemorative naming of spaces to honor Luther coaches who have made a lifetime of impact on their student-athletes: Bob Naslund ’65, Su Oertel ’72, Rich Leake, and Kirk Neubauer ’76.

Fund a charitable remainder unitrust and receive income payments for life.

A charitable remainder unitrust is a specially designed trust that can provide you, and your family, with income and financial security during life and help you make a charitable gift to support Luther’s mission.

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Receive a charitable income tax deduction in the year you fund the trust.

• If the trust value grows, so will the income you receive from the trust.

• Avoid paying capital gains tax if you fund the trust with stock or other appreciated assets.

• The remaining assets in the trust, after all payments are made, will have an impact on Luther students and our mission. For more information about how you can fund a charitable remainder unitrust, please contact Kelly Sorenson, assistant director of legacy and gift planning, at (800) 225-8664 or kelly.sorenson@luther.edu, or visit legacygiving.luther.edu

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

The 2022 campaign raised more than $310,000 from 1,189 donors to support student-athletes.

REMEMBERING

In October 2022, we lost former president Rick Torgerson, who died on October 30. He served two terms at Luther, from 1999 to 2013. Those of us lucky to know him will never forget him—nor the ways his legacy continues to shape Luther College. Here, we outline some of the lasting impacts he’s had on this remarkable place.

Rick was extremely engaging—warm, friendly, and eager to hear everyone’s stories. This deepened the bond between our alumni, parents, and friends, which in turn strengthened all our programs. Over and over I witnessed how much Rick valued his time with our alumni, creating many meaningful relationships that helped build a better Luther College.”

—Sherry (Braun) Alcock ’82, executive director of alumni relations

He taught me that knowledge and administrative skills only get you so far as a leader. These qualities have to be anchored in trusted relationships and the strength of community. Rick and Judy strengthened Luther by modeling openness, warmth and interest in other people’s lives.”

—Karen Martin-Schramm, former assistant to the president

FISCAL HEALTH

SUSTAINABILITY

During the Torgerson years, Luther:

• pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 | Luther is on track to achieve this goal, currently at 72.2 percent carbon neutral

• erected a 1.6mW wind turbine | Generates 3.5 million kW/yr, about 30% of campus consumption

• installed its first solar field, the largest in Iowa at the time | Luther now has six solar arrays, supplying 2.2 million kW/yr

• became a charter member of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment | Today, Luther ranks #4 in the nation among baccalaureate institutions on the 2022 AASHE Sustainable Campus Index

• committed to sourcing more local foods, using more electric/hybrid/biodiesel vehicles, and adopting LEED silver standards for all new campus construction

• founded the Center for Sustainable Communities

Torgerson completed three major fundraising campaigns at Luther:

• Leadership for a New Century raised $63.5 million

• Higher Calling Campaign raised $93.3 million

• Sesquicentennial Fund raised $57 million  $213.8 M

Total value of Luther’s endowment on June 1, 1999, and June 1, 2013

#4

I think most of us have some notion, some philanthropic dream. We want to do good, there’s a desire to help, and so people respond to opportunities to fulfill their philanthropic dreams. . . . Fundraising isn’t about meeting needs—it’s about creating opportunity.”

—Rick Torgerson

1999 $43.6 M

2013 $131.2 M

Rick liked to say that Luther should be a ‘model not a mirror’ for society, and nowhere is this more true than in the lasting legacy of his leadership on climate action and sustainability.”

—Jon Jensen ’89, inaugural and current director

of the Center for Sustainable Communities

in the nation 2022 AASHE Sustainable Campus Index

FACILITIES

In addition to major additions and renovations, Torgerson had the foresight to consider the longterm care of Luther’s physical plant.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

President Torgerson was remembered on Nov. 19, 2022, at a Celebration of Life at Normandale Lutheran Church in Edina, Minn. Pastor Paul Pettersen shared the following remarks.

“When Rick entered your life, you hung onto your hat and you looked for a post in a windstorm, because you were about to go for a ride. Judy, we certainly, sincerely don’t quite know how you did it!”

“Rick Torgerson approached YOU. He didn’t wait for you to show up—he went out and FOUND you. And he likely already saw in you gifts and power that you didn’t even know you had. And he called them forth from you with a vengeance, challenging every ounce of your being to rise up and come alongside.”

“When Rick Torgerson takes up a mantle, the earth shifts just a bit on its axis. And then things start to move—at least inside of me, for having known him, and inside of you for having known him. Inside of countless people who saw that look on his face and heard that gravelly distress in his voice. And you were his companions on life’s journey, for he etched his spirit into you, perhaps in the very first encounter, or across the country on a phone call, or in a restaurant as you drew up a building plan on a napkin.”

Watch the full service at youtube.com/ watch?v=xzZb-uVBHIg

• Center for the Arts

• Sampson Hoffland Laboratories

• Legends Fitness Center

• Aquatic Center

• Bentdahl Commons

Luther made major additions and renovations to:

• Valders Hall of Science

• Dahl Centennial Union

• Jenson-Noble Hall of Music

• Loyalty Hall

• all residence halls

• central campus green areas and roadways

Save the Date:

Friday, April 28, 2023

Celebration of Life for former president

Rick Torgerson

Luther College campus

More details at luther.edu/events

He helped create annual budgets for capital renewal that have continued, allowing Facilities to attack deferred maintenance needs that directly and indirectly impact students’ campus experiences. His ability to listen and take action on campus needs will have a long-lasting impact on our students, faculty, and staff.”

—Jay Uthoff, director of facilities

Under Torgerson, Luther built:

Homecoming

It was a pleasure to celebrate Homecoming 2022 with so many of you! We made new memories together and took special care to honor some alumni dedicated to service, music, and athletics.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS

Michael Hovland ’72

Mike Hovland began his admissions career at Luther in 1973 and retired last year as director of enrollment management data analytics for the University of Iowa. For the past 41 years, he has sung in the choir at Zion Lutheran Church in Iowa City, where he’s also directed children’s programs and led Bible studies.

Richard Theiler ’72

A biochemist with over 40 patents and publications, Rick held senior leadership positions at Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, and Henkel North America. A former regent, Rick serves on Luther’s Facilities and Sustainability Committee. He

has helped establish a Luther biology research scholarship, initiated a solar project at his church, and worked with Feed My Starving Children.

Karen (Brandt) Monsen ’77

Karen is professor emerita at the University of Minnesota. An expert in public health nursing and nursing informatics, she has served as advisor to providers, systems, universities, faculty and students around the world. She received a top award from the American Medical Informatics Association and was named a fellow of the National Academies of Practice.

Tamara Gholson Bavendam ’77

Tamara recently retired as senior advisor for women’s health from

the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Tamara has earned Best Doctor in America and Best Doctor in Philadelphia, and Lifetime Achievement Award honors. She volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and Nashville Tools for Schools.

Rachel Reitan ’87

Rachel is assistant clinical professor in the OB-GYN department at Louisiana State University’s School of Medicine. She hosts a medical segment for the ABC News affiliate in New Orleans. She acts as an expert medical witness for two courts, serves on the boards of Catholic Charities of New Orleans and Vesterheim Museum, and supports agencies for animal welfare.

DSA recipients, pictured with President Ward, included (left to right): Roy Brown Sartin ’02, Amy Parker Fiebelkorn ’97, Andrew Anderson ’87, Joshua White ’97, Rachel Reitan ’87, Eli Williamson ’02, President Ward, Tamara Gholson Bavendam ’77, Karen (Brandt) Monsen ’77, Michael Hovland ’72, and Richard Theiler ’72.

Andrew Anderson ’87

Andrew is a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath in Des Moines. He has provided significant pro bono services and has lobbied for improved youth mental health programs. He chaired the Vision Iowa board, where he helped secure the financing and development of more than 100 projects across the state.

Joshua White ’97

Joshua is chief medical officer at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Vermont. He cofounded the Community Health Initiative, which provides health and human services to rural Haitian communities. He has also mentored medical students in the Physicians for Health and Human Rights organization.

Amy Parker Fiebelkorn ’97

Amy is a senior epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she oversees 24 adult vaccination projects. She has volunteered in Ghana, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The safe water system resource guide and standardized curriculum she developed for Kenyan healthcare workers have been adapted for use in over 100 clinics in 10 countries.

Roy Brown Sartin ’02 and Eli Williamson ’02

Roy and Eli founded Leave No Veteran Behind (LNVB), a charity investing in veterans through employment training, transitional employment programs, and educational debt relief. They were called to active army duty during the 9/11 mission but struggled to pay off college loans afterward due to various restraints for veterans. LNVB invests in veterans who seek to continue their service as assets in their home communities.

Distinguished Service Award (DSA) nominations may be made at luther.edu/alumni/services/awards.

MUSIC AWARDS

Weston H. Noble Award

Kirk Severtson ’97 is a professor of voice at the University of Michigan, where he conducts the opera program. He has served on the music staff at several opera companies, has conducted and coached around the world, and serves as the executive director of the National Opera Association.

Carlo A. Sperati Award

Jennifer Boomgaarden Daoud ’97 was the executive director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, where she earned two ASCAP awards, the Bush Prize for Community Innovation, and the Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras. She was appointed Omaha Symphony president and CEO in 2018.

Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award

Eric Head ’23 is a member of the violin section in Luther’s Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. He also sings in Collegiate Chorale and is deeply involved with collaborative piano.

Richard C. and Joann M. Hemp Family Prize for Orchestral Performance

Rob Clower ’23 plays oboe in Luther’s Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. He also sings in Collegiate Chorale and in the a cappella group Undeclared.

ATHLETICS AWARDS

Inductees into Luther’s Athletic Hall of Fame included: Donald Hrodey ’72, football; James Lantz ’72, baseball; Robert Miller ’72, track and field; Kirk Neubauer ’76, track and field, cross country, head coach of men’s track and field, head coach of women’s cross country; Jenarah Tekippe ’01, track and field; Jen (Shinbori) Giordano ’02, soccer; Christina (Gaard) Baumgart ’07, basketball, softball; Kyle Pearson ’07, football; Kyle Schroeder ’07, baseball; Kelsey (Kittleson) Millonig ’12, softball.

Doing good

Luther is home to an abundance of service-oriented students. From mentoring kids to organizing food donations, they make Decorah brighter through their community engagement. Here, we sample a few of the many, many ways our students reach out and do good in this place.

SPORTS TEAMS

Members of Luther’s football team (upper left) volunteered last fall at the Decorah Elementary Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Night at Carrie Lee Elementary School. Players helped families explore activities at different stations. Assistant coach Tim Souza says, “It was a great opportunity to connect and serve in the community.”

Luther football players (upper right) spent recess last fall at John Cline Elementary School teaching safe play and good sportsmanship.

Each August, Luther’s soccer teams (lower left) work with Get-2-Gether to put on events for adults with special needs in the Decorah community. Activities include bingo, dancing, kickball, sharing a meal, and yard games. Head men’s soccer coach Chris

Garcia-Prats says, “This event has become a tradition for our programs and an awesome way to start our season!”

Each August, Luther’s cross country teams (lower right) spend a day doing trail work on the Decorah Human Powered Trails. Women’s cross country coach Yarrow Pasche says, “Doing quality manual labor is rewarding in its own right, especially when done in community, and it becomes even more meaningful when we can see the fruits of our efforts unfold over the course of the day. Combine this with the knowledge that we are contributing to a fantastic resource for the Decorah community and building on the trails we as runners use all the time. It gives us a direct connection to the community and exposes all of our first-year students who are new to the trails great insight into the network we have here.”

STUDENT ORGS

SAC Christmas Cheer: For decades, the Student Activities Council has put on Christmas Cheer, a campus-wide drive to provide Christmas gifts for Decorah-area families in need. This year, SAC sponsored 30 families, filling six cars with gifts. Aden Barber ’23, who spearheaded the event, says she was surprised by “how willing and excited students on campus were to get involved. We had a lot of groups looking for ways to sponsor another family or help out with other wish lists.”

PALS: PALS connects Luther student mentors (this year, 20 of them) with area elementary school kids (this year, 45). At get-togethers, the “bigs” and the “littles” make crafts, play games, and complete other activities. “It’s great to see the connections the littles make with their big,” says vice president Elizabeth Doane ’25. “Every little is so excited to meet with their big every month.”

President Jessica Lambo ’24 says that PALS was one of the reasons she came to Luther. “A really important part about being a community is connecting with all different types of people. Working with kids is especially fun for me because they have so much energy, and they love to learn from older students,” she says.

A November PALS event included an ice breaker game, scavenger hunt, turkey hat crafts, and Thanksgiving stories.

APO: Luther has a chapter of the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO). Its president, Ashley Karas ’24, says she’s learned through APO that “great things can’t happen alone. All the projects and events that APO takes

part in are multistep occasions that require planning and thought from our team and the willingness to serve from our active members.” Karas has an especially fond memory of Luther’s APO chapter working with the Decorah Rotary Club and the Girl Scouts of America on a Saturday-morning Highway 9 roadside cleanup. “It was meaningful to me because I didn’t realize how much garbage actually accumulates on the sides of the highway and also how willing a group of tired college students was to engage with their community.”

Caf to Community: The Luther College Cafeteria to Community program brings together students, volunteers, and Luther Dining Services staff to package and label food that’s provided to four northeast Iowa facilities: Open Hands Food Pantry, Northeast Iowa Community Action, Decorah Food Pantry, and Midwest Mission Bible Training Center. Each facility ensures that individuals and families receive the nutritious meals at little to no cost. Since the program’s inception in 2014, it has donated more than 80,000 pounds of food to local organizations to address hunger.

“The Caf to Community program is a great opportunity to simultaneously reduce Luther’s food waste and help feed our community,” says Meg Sessions ’23, student program coordinator. “The meals we send are recently prepared, healthy, and balanced, which recipients of the food appreciate. Volunteering with Caf to Community is an easy way to make an impact in our community while encouraging sustainability on campus.”

Hola de Nola

When you envision a life of service, it’s hard to shake the image of Nola (Ekern) Nackerud ’72. She’s spent the past 21 years in rural Nicaragua connecting kids with education. At 72, she often walks over an hour to visit their homes. “Sometimes I’ll borrow a horse or burro to cross a river to get to some of my very rural schools,” she says. “If not, I wade across.” She lives in Condega and takes the bus for an hour to get her mail in the nearby city of Estelí. Six years ago, she finally got an indoor toilet and running water. “Still no hot water, but I feel like I live at the Ritz!” she quips.

It’s easy to focus on the sacrifices Nola makes in order to do

this good work. But what’s truly impressive is the effect she has.

A DIVERSE TEACHING CAREER

As a newly minted Luther grad who majored in education and minored in Spanish, Nola moved around a lot with her ex-husband. An abbreviated resume of the first three decades of her working life includes stints as a house parent to 12 kids ages 6 to 16 at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch near Billings, Montana; a kindergarten teacher on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana; and a home base teacher for Head

Start in Alaska. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in education and deaf studies and a second degree in interpreting for the deaf. She worked as an interpreter in elementary schools in Ithaca, New York; New Mexico; and outside Atlanta, Georgia.

When a divorce after three decades of marriage rocked her life at age 51, Nola took stock. She and her ex-husband had been accepted into the Peace Corps back in 1973 but decided to become house parents to troubled youth instead. But Peace Corps “never left my heart,” she says. She reapplied, was accepted, and stored 30-some years of belongings in a nephew’s

Nola (Ekern) Nackerud ’72 lives a remarkable life as an advocate for underserved students in Nicaragua.

attic. She set out to Nicaragua for a two-year engagement that’s turned into two-plus decades.

FINDING A FIT

Nola’s adjustment to her new life wasn’t easy. “Oh gosh, I felt so out of place!” she says. “Everybody was so young!” It was an emotionally fragile period. She remembers crying on the phone to a relative about the cool Teva sandals all the 20-something volunteers were wearing—they felt like a marker that she didn’t belong.

“But anyway,” she says cheerily, “I survived and I thrived.” After her two years were up, she asked to stay another two. There was a deaf school nearby, and she wanted to learn Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN). ISN has fascinating origins. It evolved spontaneously in the 1980s among deaf students who were finally schooled together. Before that, deaf children in Nicaragua communicated with their families through idiosyncratic home signs and gestures that didn’t have meaning outside their families.

While Nola knew both Spanish and American Sign Language, ISN was an entirely separate language that would help her bridge even more gaps and connect even more students with education. She ended up extending her Peace Corps service to six years, almost unheard of in the organization. When those six years were up, she leveraged the sister city relationship between Condega, where she lived, and Bend, Oregon, to draw more resources toward helping deaf families. She also started working for the Asla Foundation, a nonprofit founded by a fellow

Peace Corps volunteer to provide funding for underserved Nicaraguan students to attend high school and college.

In rural Nicaragua, Nola explains, many families live subsistence lifestyles far from cities and educational opportunities. It costs money—bus fare, clothing, books, food, and lost wages—to attend school, and not all families can afford it. For the Asla Foundation, Nola canvases families in rural, impoverished areas. She outlines options. She helps students—both deaf and hearing—fill out paperwork and applications. Sometimes she connects them with families and lodging in urban areas. This kind of support is often the difference between a child struggling for life and a child growing up to make meaningful, empowered decisions about their future.

DEAF RIGHTS ACTIVIST

In addition to working directly with students, Nola’s been involved in other projects to spread awareness and support deaf students. She helped make a documentary about rurally isolated deaf Nicaraguans called A Life without Words (Una Vida sin Palabras). She helped develop an app with Signs and Smiles (Señas y Sonrisas) to allow non-ISN speakers to communicate with deaf children. And she’s a critical ally in the fight for deaf rights.  It took more than two years of perseverance for her to get deaf students into a local university. Once there, it took another fight to get them a trained interpreter in their classrooms. She drafted a letter and had all the parents of

her deaf students sign it. She also threatened to make a phone call to the very popular local radio station. Two of the students Nola fought for went on to become teachers of the deaf.

This kind of support has real results. One Asla student has become a math teacher, another a nurse, and a third a doctor. “With the help of the scholarships, it changes lives,” Nola says. “I am witness to that.”

Nola remembers someone saying that in order to be healthy, you should get ten hugs a day. “Well, you know, I DO get ten hugs a day!” she says. When she goes on walks, little kids and their parents—sometimes former students—flock to her. This is your grandma. This is your other abuela, the parents say.

“My life certainly is not what I thought it would be at this stage,” Nola says. “But I do feel blessed to be able to continue to do whatever I can here to make life for some a little better.”

—Kate Frentzel

Learn more about the Asla Foundation at aslafoundation.org.

“It’s a challenge for sure, but these children need a language and need to learn and be with other children,” she says. “They use another language to communicate and need to feel proud.”

Kaun

HAS SPOKEN

When Jasper Kange ’12 saw his first wrestling VHS tape as a kid, he was hooked: “I became enamored. I was making collages out of magazines. I was making my parents go to live shows when I could, recording every episode of Raw and SmackDown. I was completely obsessed.”

Childhood obsessions tend to cool off. Kange’s did, for a while. But at 27, well into a successful career in art and design, it reignited. He made the bold decision to pursue professional wrestling. And he’s hit the big time.

Jasper Kange ’12 fulfills a lifelong dream as a professional wrestler.

FROM VISUAL TO PERFORMANCE ART

Kange, a self-described introvert, transferred to Luther from the University of Minnesota because, he says, “I wanted that smaller community feel and smaller class sizes so I could actually talk to my teachers and feel more comfortable around other students.”

He majored in art and soon lived out his college dream of art directing a magazine. But at the same time, as he dipped back into wrestling documentaries, behindthe-scenes footage, and news articles, he started plotting a parallel career in wrestling.

When a cross-country move took him to Baltimore, he seized the opportunity to enroll in a professional wrestling school half an hour from his new home. “I was like, I’m not going to be happy with my life if I don’t go for this dream. So I just made that decision. I literally just signed up and never looked back,” he says.

MAKING A MARK

To prepare for the first day of wrestling school, Kange visited a trampoline park and practiced rolls and bumping (hitting the ground or mat). “Signing up for something new when you’re 27 years old and sucking at it is very humbling,” he says. “It was terrifying at first, but even getting to touch the wrestling ring was so exhilarating to me.”

Kange excelled quickly. A lifelong athlete who’d played football at Luther, his natural talent and the effort he put into building his technique and physique quickly caught the attention of premier

independent wrestling agency Ring of Honor (ROH). In an industry where it’s common for people to practice for a decade or more before earning a contract, he was signed to ROH in just one year. There, he made history.

At ROH, Kange wrestled as the persona Kaun, which, he says, draws on his heritage as an actual Cameroonian prince (his grandfather is a village chief in Cameroon). One of Kaun’s common catchphrases is an authoritative Kaun has spoken!

“Kaun is the person I wish I could be all hours of the day—very confident, conceited to a point,” and intolerant of any disrespect in the ring, he says. Early on, Kange joined forces with fellow Black wrestler Moses. At a time when Black tag-teams were rare, Kaun and Moses were a dominating force, winning MCW Pro Wrestling belts. They made history again when they won the ROH World Six-Man Tag-Team Championships with a third Black wrestler, Shane Taylor.

In a sport that hasn’t historically been racially diverse, this representation matters. Kange recalls a final show before ROH ceased operations. At the end, all the Black performers ran out into the ring to pose together. The moment immediately went viral, and Kange started hearing from fans who’d been touched by it.

“I get goosebumps talking about that because I never thought I would have the ability to really affect people like that,” he says. “When I was watching wrestling 20 years ago, there were not a lot of Black wrestlers, there were no Black champions. And to see

how far we’ve come—there’s this unity of Black performers, there are Black world champions, there are Black women wrestlers who are main-eventing shows. And you’re seeing how you can really change people’s lives by just wrestling on TV. That’s crazy to think about.”

LIVING A DREAM

Kange now wrestles for premier agency All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and he also manages an independent wrestling career. He recently moved to San Antonio, Texas, to focus on the independent circuit, where he can easily perform four nights a week. At 32, he admits that his body feels some wear and tear, but he also hopes his best years are ahead of him: “A lot of wrestlers hit their prime in their late 30s, so I’m banking on that. If it’s scheduled lax enough, you can wrestle into your 50s to 60s. You can really build out a great career and wrestle for 20 or 30 years.”

In the meantime, he says, “I get to travel to different states, even different countries. Literally your whole time there is built around a 10- or 12-minute segment on national television. That’s so cool! People don’t get to do this for their jobs.” He laughs. “I’m literally just living out my childhood dream, and I’m so fortunate to do that.”

—Kate Frentzel

AEW is on TBS Wednesdays and TNT Fridays. Kange is on Instagram (@the.kaun), Twitter (@thekaun), and Facebook (Kaun).

Right from the start, Scott Lien ’87 understood that computers could ease lives. Sure, he played a few games—his fourth-grade classroom in Ossian, Iowa, had an early computer connected to a mainframe at Luther that allowed the kids to play Oregon Trail as well as take math quizzes—but one of the first programs he wrote as a child helped his father and brother calculate dairy cow feed rations. Now he is CEO and cofounder of GrandPad, a company that connects families through a simple-to-use tablet.

Lien grew up on a farm south of Decorah and bought his first computer by selling a pig. He taught himself to write computer code and was instantly hooked on the technology. At Luther, he majored in computer science and business and began learning about user-centered design in a January Term computer engineering class taught by Walter Will.

“Walt was the customer. He gave us requirements, and we built a system,” Lien says. He’s been designing programs for specific customer needs ever since, working with Bank of America, Intuit, and several startups before cofounding GrandPad nine years

Tech TO CONNECT

Scott Lien ’87 is named Entrepreneur of the Year for his senior-friendly GrandPad mobile device.

ago. His mother, Marlys (Wilkens) Lien ’57, was the initial customer inspiration for GrandPad.

Lien describes his mother as a brilliant lady who ran the Once Upon a Time Book Shop in Decorah. But when she was about 80 years old and Lien lived in California, he says, “she was extremely frustrated with technology to the point where she just said she was too busy for it.” Marlys had hearing loss, which created additional frustrations with technology and made it difficult for her to stay in touch that way.

large buttons and enhanced sound. Soon users will be able to play games like chess and checkers with family and friends remotely.

His son, Isaac, knew there had to be a solution to the problem. The two then recruited two computer science students from Chapman University, which Isaac attended, and they all sat around the kitchen table and started designing. They came up with a mobile device that allows people challenged by computers to talk and email with family, teleconference with doctors, view photos and videos, and more by using a simple navigation system with

GrandPad has grown into a worldwide business that is being used to connect more than 1.4 million seniors, families, friends, and caregivers in 120 countries. Lien credits his team for him being named as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner for 2022.

“GrandPad is going to help all of the generations, and it’s going to have great positive economic benefits,” Lien says. “It’s a big, bold mission that we’re on.”

—Ellen Modersohn

“All of a sudden I couldn’t communicate with my mom anymore,” Lien says.

Scott Lien (left) and son Isaac cofounded the GrandPad business.

Scott Lien ’87 with mother-in-law Joan Schissel (left) and mother Marlys (Wilkens) Lien ’57 (right).

NEW FRONTIERS Mapping

As a child, Krista Wahlstrom ’15 wanted to know how things worked. “I was always the kid who asked a million questions about everything,” she remembers.

At Luther, she fell in love with lab-based, hands-on science, focusing her curiosity on biology and psychology. “I became really interested in psychology and cognitive neuroscience,” she says. “When I took a behavioral psychology course offered by professor Kristy Gould, I became really interested in the brain in particular.”

Wahlstrom earned a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Iowa, where she worked in the lab of Ryan LaLumiere researching learning and memory. She looked specifically at the role of the amygdala in forming long-lasting memories. “It’s known to be at the center or the hub of various memory networks in the brain,” she says. “I was interested in how that brain region and its connections to other regions help facilitate different types of memory.”

To study this, Wahlstrom used optogenetics—a technique to turn on or off different parts of the brain using light—to figure out if the amygdala and its pathways are

important for memory formation in a rodent model. Her research, for which she earned a National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award, was groundbreaking. She mapped two previously uncharted pathways from the amygdala to other areas of the brain that are important for spatial memory (using landmarks to navigate) and cued memory (based on specific environmental cues, like words or symbols).

work could have major bearing on treatment for patients with memory-related disorders, like Alzheimer’s Disease or PTSD.

Of course, with so much still unknown about the human brain, it’s hard to predict exactly where Wahlstrom’s research will go or what she’ll discover. As a lifelong space enthusiast who plans to apply for the NASA astronaut program to conduct research at the International Space Station, that’s pretty exciting to her.

“Space is the final frontier of human exploration, and I feel that maps directly onto the human brain as being this kind of final frontier of exploring the human experience,” she says. Lucky for the rest of us, Wahlstrom’s exploration already pushes knowledge forward and stands a good chance of improving future human lives.

—Kate Frentzel

As a postdoctoral fellow in Cory Inman’s lab at the University of Utah, Wahlstrom continues her memory research, this time in humans. She uses direct electrical stimulation of the amygdala to interrogate its role in memory for scenes compared to objects. Her

“I was able to figure out that the amygdala can influence these different types of memories and either enhance or impair them by way of its projections to very distinct brain regions,” she explains.

Neuroscientist Krista Wahlstrom ’15 breaks new ground in learning and memory research.

SUMMER PROGRAMMING AT LUTHER

Immerse yourself in learning about Nordic culture on the Luther campus July 25–27, and extend your stay to take in Decorah’s famous Nordic Fest, held July 27–29.

Luther’s Nordic Studies Institute consists of short courses and other activities that highlight various aspects of Nordic culture, including music, food, the arts, and the outdoor environment.

MORE INFO at luther.edu/alumni-friends/ events/nordic-studies-institute .

Luther College Dorian Summer Music Camp lcdsmc

KEEP CONNECTED

Most Luther news and announcements about upcoming reunions and events are sent through email. If you haven’t provided us with an updated email address, please send it to alumni@luther.edu or call us at (563) 387-1164. Likewise, if you have a professional or personal update you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you!

Class Notes

by Erin Dintaman ’23

’56

Donna (Weiser) Owen of Adel, Iowa, has taught Sunday school for over 45 years and has started a program in Panama.

’60

Kathy (Fjone) Richardson teaches memoir writing, poetry, and novels at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio).

Rosalyn “Kay” (Haugen) Rulifson and her husband, Dennis, live in Raleigh, N.C., and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last summer.

’61 Richard “Dick” Larson received the Legacy Award from the American Choral Directors Association of Colorado, only the fifth person to have received this honor.

’65 Jim Willmore is a volunteer assistant men’s basketball coach at Iowa Lakes Community College.

’73 John Van Norman of Holstein, Iowa, is a biofeedback specialist.

’74 Leslie (Smith) Sand leads the northeast Iowa chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby and is coleader of its national Lutheran Action Team.

’76 Bob Huncosky retired after 43 years as a nursing home program specialist for the state of Wisconsin.

’79 Amy (Waalen) Hansen is the Trail Ridge store retail manager for Xanterra Travel Collection.

’81

Sheri Brenden has published a book about a precedent-setting gender equity court decision involving her sister Peg

Brenden ’76 Break Point tells the story of how two teenagers took on the unequal system of high school athletics and claimed spots on school teams before the passage of Title IX

’82

Scott Gomer of San Diego, Calif., is chief communications officer for the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Joel Lunde of Des Moines, Iowa, is the deputy director of the Iowa Department of Management.

’83

Larry Winter of Scottsdale, Ariz., is an explorer in residence at Town and Country Travel.

’84

Beth (Lee) Klein is a therapist at Firefly Counseling in St. Paul, Minn.

’85

Charlie Hoven is the catering manager for Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

’86

Tim Watson has been appointed executive director of the Springs at Happy Valley (Ore.), a 210-unit senior living community.

’88 Doug Morse of Mason City, Iowa, is an advisor at ExecHQ.

’89

Elizabeth (Leyda) Hansen was appointed chief actuary at Universal Insurance Holdings.

’90

Jean Caraway is professor of psychology at the University of South Dakota. She has received funding for the graduate psychology education program to train students in mental health care.

’91 Anne (Skow) Adix earned a DPT degree from the College of St. Scholastica and is a senior physical therapist at Struthers Parkinson’s Center in Minneapolis.

Dian (Peaslee) Carmody of Norman, Okla., is the administrative director of surgical services at Norman Regional Health Systems.

Marit (Ness) Lloyd of Corona, Calif., is the director of toxicology at Ventyx Biosciences.

’92 Lisa Blumhagen has retired after 30 years of teaching. She taught in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; St. Louis, Mo.; and at the American International School of Guangzhou, China.

Jannelle (Johnson) Buisker of Forreston, Ill., is a clinical contact center triage nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Jeff Markwardt was promoted to supervisor at Hawkins Ash CPAs in Manitowoc, Wis.   Staci Sievert Zahn of Appleton, Wis., is a tech education teacher at Seymour High School. She was awarded the $50,000 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for teaching excellence and was named the Fox Cities Tech Ed Teacher of the Year.

’94 Neil Blackmore is the senior director of purchase experience delivery at Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, Wis.

’95 Julie Jensen is the director of clinical informatics at Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium.

Karen Ryberg of Baldwin, N.D., is the deputy director of the US

Geological Survey Dakota Water Science Center.

’96 Tonya Moe, Linn-Mar High School athletic director in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been chosen as the 2022–23 Iowa High School Athletic Director of the Year.

Theresa Nelson Williams and Scott Williams ’97 both work at the American International School of Lagos in Nigeria. Theresa is a school librarian, and Scott is an instructor in IBDP English literature and coordinator of the international baccalaureate diploma program.

’97 Lars Jensen is the director of aviation and chief pilot at Allstate in Wheeling, Ill.

Joshua Vorvick won the April 2022 Golden Pick from famed Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tenn. He released an EP, “Kinda Like Live,” a collaboration with Luther and Decorah community members, available in the Luther Book Shop. He also played at Iowa State and charity events and formed a band, Slim Whimsy.

’98 Andrea (Stockseth) Christians is the 7–12 principal for the Pocahontas Area (Iowa) Community Schools and director of the Manson Meridian Singers, a local community chorus.

Phil Hood lives in Minocqua, Wis., and is vice president of philanthropy and foundation at SSM Health.

Sarah (Pohlson) and Dustin Smith live in Grinnell, Iowa. Sarah is the director of outreach programming and events at Grinnell College and coaches girls swimming and diving

at Grinnell High School. She also serves on the Unity Point Health–GRMC Foundation Board and on the Grinnell-Newburg Alumni Association. Dustin is a financial advisor at Cirks Financial Services. He is also president of the Grinnell School Board and vice chair of the Grinnell Hotel-Motel Tax Committee.

’99 Ben Larson of Maui, Hawaii, founded Next Adventure Company, which offers full-service custom adventure vacation packages.

’00 Stephanie (Jaeger) Paulson is the revenue accounting manager at ConvergeOne in Bloomington, Minn.

Heidi Torgerson is the lead pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in La Grange, Ill.

Richard Winkels of Fairfax, Va., is a member of the US Army band Pershing’s Own.

’01 Heather (Svoboda) Morris is the director of corporate communications at Pentair.

’02 Heidi (Helling) Barr of Lindstrom, Minn., is the author of the book 12 Tiny Things . Her next book, Collisions of Earth and Sky , will be released in January 2023.

Mike Bollinger of Decorah has been named executive director of Seed Savers Exchange.

Sara (Rink) Buis of Waukee, Iowa, earned an MPA degree from Drake University and is program manager for family-centered services at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

Laurie (Pedersen) Geary of Edina, Minn., is a senior director at Accenture.

Ghion Roache of Nassau, Bahamas, is a senior manager with the National Insurance Board of the Bahamas.

Laura (Bartlett) Stuckey of Steuben, Wis., is an elementary principal in the Prairie du Chien School District.

’03 Katie (Woltjer) Doan is the one-stop manager at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

Andrew Ellingsen is the director of folk art Education at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah.

Darrin Geier of Woodbury, Minn., is the director of spiritual formation at the University of Northwestern–St. Paul.

Pete Hoesing of Sioux Falls, S.D., is the associate vice president for research and economic development at Dakota State University. He published an academic monograph, Kusamira Music in Uganda , in 2021.

’04 Bridget Boehmer of Charlotte, Iowa, presented “Harm Reduction Tools for Substance Use Disorders” at the Federal Bureau of Prisons Medication Assisted Treatment Symposium in Lexington, Ky., last May.

Anthony Nunez of Las Vegas, Nev., is the principal at Cheyenne High School.

Elissa Zoerb of St. Paul, Minn., is the marketing campaign manager at Bio-Techne.

’05 Muhammad Yasir Burney is a senior solutions engineer at JPMorgan Chase.

Phil Hoesing earned an MM degree from the American Band College of Central Washington University and is the director of bands at Nampa (Iowa) High School.

Kate Ingber earned an MBA from the University of St. Thomas and is a recruitment manager at UCARE Minnesota.

Elliot Jordan is a senior client systems engineer for Netflix.

Jeffery Miller Jr. is an assurance manager at RSM US.

Anna (Haug) Pena of Des Moines, Iowa, is a training analyst at Global Atlantic Financial Group.

’06 Sarah (Schultz) Doyle is an adjunct professor of education at Cornell College.

Holly (Wonder) Hoene is a school nurse at Dover Eyota (Minn.) Elementary School.

Amanda (Tryggestad) Nelson is the communication and member engagement manager at Ascension Lutheran Church in Green Bay, Wis.

’07 Chris Angelica is the senior manager of product analytics and operations at Hireology in Chicago.

Susan (Valo) Backmeyer is the manager of management reporting within the equipment operations management accounting group at Deere and Company in Moline, Ill.

Mara Erickson is the funding coordinator at the Canadian Wildlife Service—Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Emily (Pankow) Fritz of South Barrington, Ill., is vice president of scientific affairs at the Beachbody Company.

Brian Meyer earned an MA in psychology from UC–Berkeley and an MA in information management from the University of Washington iSchool. He is a data scientist at Twitter.

Jason Rude is a teacher in New Hampton, Iowa, and is a first responder/firefighter with Chickasaw County Rescue Squad; lead sports broadcaster on 95.1 KCZE; and national oratory fellow with Ford’s Theatre.

’08 Dylan Flunker of Minneapolis is the project manager for the Gender Affirming Care in Rural and Greater Minnesota Communities program at the Family Tree Clinic.

Andrea Funke of Austin, Minn., is a staff accountant at Your Part-Time Controller.

Edwin Holmvig-Johnson is a middle and high school special education teacher at New Century School in St. Paul, Minn. Charlie Moe is the vocal music instructor at Princeton (Minn.) High School. He is also the director of the East Central Minnesota Chorale.

Kari Myers is the director of education at Des Moines (Iowa) Performing Arts.

Cora (Johnson) Reidenbach is a school psychologist for Anoka Hennepin (Minn.) Schools.

Alex (Lancaster) Schuerman is a clinical practice nurse leader at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Nicki (Svestka) TerBeest of Decorah is a refractive technician at Oneota Valley Family Eye Care.

’09 Christina Arceo of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the clinical coordinator at REM Iowa Community Services.

Adam Erdmann lives in Minneapolis and is a genius at Apple.  Joel Martin is the emergency management coordinator for the Iowa Utilities Board in Des Moines.

Julian Stanke earned an MA and EdS in educational leadership at the University of St. Thomas and is a middle school assistant principal at South St. Paul Public Schools.

Katherine (Miller) Thomas is a school nurse and RN at UnityPoint Des Moines.

Adam Tulkki of River Falls, Wis., earned an MA in music education from the University of St. Thomas and is an elementary music teacher in the Hudson School District.

Joy Waughtal is a senior professional research assistant at the Colorado School of Public Health.

Mary Whipple of Minneapolis is an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Minnesota.

’10 Jacob Johnson of Irvine, Calif., is the senior product UX/ UI designer at Premiere Digital. Jess (Janezic) Oja is a nurse practitioner at Nevada Surgical Associates.

Nora Shaffer is an adjunct professor of clarinet at Concordia University in River Forest, Ill.  Liz Winter is the coordinator of institutional effectiveness at Upper Iowa University.

’11 Joe Carey of Minneapolis earned an MM degree in composition from the University of Northern Iowa and is a staff software engineer at Mastery Logistics.

Beth Gonia earned an MS degree in curriculum and instruction from Western Governors University and is a standards alignment coordinator at RethinkEd.

Ellie (Neubauer) Kuennen of Decorah is an obstetrics RN at Winneshiek Medical Center.

Susana Hansen of Minneapolis is the front desk manager at Fox Den Salon.

Julia Schiefelbein-Egan is a board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist working in GI and primary care at the Madison (Wis.) VA Hospital.

Kate (McDonald) Sutherland is an ecology and marine biology teacher at the Rocky Hill Country Day School in East Greenwich, R.I.

’12 Sam Anderson of Minneapolis is a middle school health teacher at New Millennium Academy.

Jeff Babcock is a radiology fellow at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Lisa (Richter) Booth of Rockville, Md., is a scientist at Cellphire Therapeutics.

Tom Gerber is the assistant director of choral activities at Texas A&M University.

Betsy (Zimmermann) and Brian Gerike live in Watertown, Wis. Elizabeth is an ELL teacher, and Brian is a high school science teacher at the Watertown Unified School District.

Hannah Janaky of Milwaukee, Wis., is an experiential therapist at Rogers Behavioral Health.

Justin Marschall is an analytics and media manager at Amazon.

Kaitlin (Maas) and Sam Meyers live in Maple Grove, Minn. Kaitlin is a special education teacher with St. Paul Public Schools. Sam is the 10th-grade school counselor at Robbinsdale Cooper High School.

Therese (Thompson) Nelson of Red Wing, Minn., is a researcher at Rochester Title.

Carrie Niehaus is the school counselor for grades 4–7 at the Allamakee Community School District in Waukon, Iowa.

Anne Proescholdt of Middleton, Wis., is communications manager for the Wisconsin School Music Association.

Molly (McHenry) Sullivan of Elmhurst, Ill., is senior consultant for implementation at Cardinal Health.

’13 Andy Ambrose of Richmond, Calif., earned a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Arizona and is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California–San Francisco.

Katie Anderson of Marshfield, Wis., is a pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Jenna Mee Dosch is a member of the Frozen Broadway tour with the Disney Theatrical Group.

Alex Forbes earned an MA degree in marriage and family therapy from Saint Mary’s University in 2018 and is an outpatient psychotherapist at Nystrom and Associates.

Richelle (Johnson) Mahaffey of Des Moines, Iowa, was awarded the American Bar Association’s Fearless Children’s Lawyer of the Month Award in August for her work as a juvenile public defender.

Annie (Klepper) and Evan Neubauer ’13 live in Decorah. Annie is a pharmacist at Winneshiek Medical Center. Evan is a waste reduction and recycling educator for Winneshiek County Conservation.

Kelsey O’Leary is a registered nurse at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Emily (Schneider) Stelken is a CT coordinator at MercyOne Dubuque/Dyersville (Iowa) Medical Center.

Ryan Turnacliff of Minneapolis is a credit officer at Prime Security Bank.

Jessie Zenchak Petersen earned a DVM from Michigan State University and is an associate veterinarian at Midland Animal Clinic in Midland, Mich.

’14 Jayne Cole of Brooklyn, N.Y., earned a PhD in the history of art and architecture from the University of Oregon and is a lecturer at the City College of New York.

Kristen Flak-Solom earned an MA degree in music education from the University of St. Thomas and is a middle school orchestra teacher in Middleton, Wis.

Katherine (Ollman) Gisleson teaches preK–3rd grade music at MFL Marmac Elementary School in Monona, Iowa.

Grace (Erie) Kunkel is the director of music at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Mankato, Minn.

J.T. Rustad earned an MA degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland and is an assistant for competitions operations at the Mathematical Association of America.

Marissa Schuh is an extension educator at the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

Brett Steelman of Ames, Iowa, is a professional school counselor with the South Hamilton Community School District.

’15 Alain Alcime is an IT consultant manager at Ernst and Young in Minneapolis.

Katie Fillmore is a project manager at Pearson in Crescent, Iowa.

Marlon Henriquez earned a master’s degree in second language special education from Roosevelt University and is resident principal at the Frank W. Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy in Chicago.

Amanda Johnson of Rochester, Minn., is an international patient appointment services specialist at Mayo Clinic.

Aubrey (Ross) Lindquist of Litchfield, Minn., is a K–5 music teacher at Willmar Public Schools.

Jenna Nelson is a senior marketing specialist for 1517 Media and was named a 2022 Star Watch Honoree by Publishers Weekly.

Aldon Severson of Lakeville, Minn., is a senior implementation manager at MDA Leadership Consulting.

’16 Alex Erickson earned a PhD in clinical psychology and is an advanced postdoctoral fellow in geriatrics within the Greater Los Angeles VA Health Care System and an adjunct professor at Palo Alto University.

Paul Larson serves as pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Salinas, Calif., and as chaplain at California State University–Monterey Bay.

Tamo Lucero is the assistant director of alumni and parent engagement at Macalester College.

Lauren Mordini and Alex Bishop ’17 live in Madison, Wis. Lauren is camps manager at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. Alex is an outpatient orthopedic physical therapist at UW Health.

Erik Ohlrogge is a Wisconsin population health service fellow at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Ashley (Kappers) and Erik Queoff live in Wauwatosa, Wis. Ashley is a communications consultant at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Erik is a fitness provider at Ascent Wellness.

Nick Shaw of Minneapolis is the brand manager at Rootstock Wine Co.

Raleigh Sims of Washington, DC, earned an MA degree in public policy from the University of Virginia and is a national security analyst for the US federal government.

’17 Erin Ellefsen of Richmond, Ind., is an assistant professor of mathematics at Earlham College.

Michole Farrin of Three Lakes, Wis., is a first-grade teacher in the Rhinelander School District.

Betsy Fawcett is a management analyst at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in Washington, DC.

Rhianna (MacDonald)

Freiburger earned a doctorate of athletic training and is an outreach athletic trainer at Compass Memorial Healthcare. She was also the recipient of the 2020 Athletic Training Education Journal award for Most Outstanding Non-Research Manuscript.

Emma (Stivers) Gardner of St. Paul, Minn., is a human resources administrator at Fraser Autism Center of Excellence.

A group of Pi Sigs from the class of 1964 gathered, with spouses and friends, in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., in November to celebrate the 58th year of their graduation. The group has gathered annually for 23 years at various venues around the country. Front row (left to right): Emily (Homstad) Bodensteiner , Linda (Ladd) Messer , Barbara (Moen) Amundson ’65 , Kay Saxvik, Sharon Boyce, Linda Matter, Bonnie (Curtis) Behnken , Suzanne Birkestrand. Back row: Barry Behnken, Steve Messer , Richard Amundson , Erik Saxvik , David Kundert , Jim Matter , Dennis Birkestrand , Luther Nervig , Jim Boyce

Three Luther grads practice together at Great Lakes Dental Associates in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Shown here at their practice’s grand opening celebration on June 17, 2022, are (left to right) Linda Olson Bieri ’75 , Shaun O’Neill ’13 , and Janet (Brenton) Boyes ’09 . The frame Linda holds displays a photo of Steven Christensen ’82, who passed away after a few months into practicing dentistry in the new building with his fellow Luther graduates.

Newly minted Luther grad Megan Grimm ’22 submitted this photo, taken Commencement Weekend, of her many Luther-grad family members who celebrated the same milestone. Roughly left to right: Arthur Hovick ’68, Duane Osheim ’64, Mary (Nelson) Hovick ’68, Yvonne (Nelson) Osheim ’67, Jana (Hovick) Grimm ’95, Doug Grimm ’95, Megan Grimm ’22, Joy (Hovick) Kissel ’93, Kelly (Pustorino) Grimm ’92 , and Mike Grimm ’93

Kiersten (Hanson) Persson ’02 sent us this photo of a meet-up in Norway with Olav Skogass ’98 . She read a Luther magazine story about how he’s been weathering the pandemic and reached out because she lives in the same area. They’re pictured here at a BBQ event at Olav’s workplace. Yay for global Norse reunions!

Class of 1984 friends (left to right) Julie (Henriksen) Bowe, Pam (Christensen) Nelson, Kathryn Bader , and Heidi Sundet ’85 reunited at Pam’s house in Duluth, Minn., to tour the north shore.

Luther alumni celebrated the wedding of Morgan King ’18 and Joe Christensen in Alexandria, Minn., last Sept. Left to right: Robert Torgerson ’72, Ann Torgerson ’77, Gail (Gulstrand) Torgerson ’76, Jessica (Rosenblad) Chopp ’18, Morgan (King) Christensen ’18, Andrea Wagner ’18, Mariah (Olson) Trewin ’18, Sean Trewin ’18, Lyle Torgerson ’76

Laura (Peterson) Meola ’15 married Joe Meola in December 2021 and shared this festive photo of celebrating with fellow Norse. Left to right: Dietrich Jessen ’15, Kalle Akkerman ’15, Carly (Densmore) Jessen ’16, Owen Neubauer ’15, Amy Hermeier ’14, Laura (Peterson) Meola ’15, Hannah (Wilson) Loewen ’14, Alison (Smith) Lohmann ’15, Emily (Wilson) Walt ’14, Allison Bird ’15, Elaine Seekon ’14, Tanya (Meyer) Kohnen ’15, Scott Raftshol ’15, Sam Olson ’15.

Averie (Manke) ’18 and Alex Knutson ’18 married last August in Milwaukee, Wis. Bringing their Luther spirit to the celebration were (left to right): Christopher Manke ’89, Andy Johnson ’19 , Julia Trandahl ’19 , Kyle Prudhomme ’18, Emily Jacobsen ’18 , Averie (Manke) Knutson ’18 , Brigid Burke ’18, Alex Knutson ’18 , Derek Kalb, Rachel Brodeur ’18, Elizabeth DePrenger ’20, Kirsten (Christianson) Burrett ’17, Noah Manke ’20

Thomas Dahle ’75 (far left) conducted the Phipps Festival Chorus in Hudson, Wis., in its final Christmas concert, concluding 33 seasons on Dec. 4, 2022. Also in the concert were (left to right): Barb (Westacott) Letourneau ’91, Stephen Dahle ’13, Daniel Melaas-Swanson ’18 , and Mel Olson ’68

The Sanctuary Choir of Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church in Ellison Bay, Wis., includes four Luther singers. Left to right: Erik Torkelson ’81, Ruth Ann Hjelle ’73, Jeanne (Svien) Aurelius ’74 , and Scott Henry ’82 . Erik, Ruth Ann, and Scott are former members of Nordic Choir.

Hannah Hagarty was an overseas missioner with Franciscan Mission Service in Kingston, Jamaica, for three years and is now a permanent resident of Jamaica. She is a guidance counselor at Alvernia Preparatory School.

Myles Hynes is a senior associate at RSM, an audit, tax, and consulting firm in Minneapolis.

Emily Kuhn of Madison, Wis., is the director of education— careers and community at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County.

Dagny LeMunyon earned an MDiv degree from Bethel Seminary and is an associate pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley, Minn.

Bethany Noltner earned an MBA degree in strategic human resource management and works in the general management leadership development program for American Family Insurance.

Matthew Peterson earned an MS degree in soil science from Texas A&M University and is an analytical laboratory coordinator at the University of Arizona.

’18

Paul Clark earned a JD and an MA degree in environmental law and policy at

Vermont Law School and is a judicial law clerk for Elko (Nev.) County.

Pilar Dritz received a DPT degree from the University of Minnesota and is a physical therapist at Rock Valley Physical Therapy in Decorah.

KT Johnson-Roets is a music teacher at East Bay Music Together in Berkeley, Calif.

Shelja Thakur is the local alumni coordinator and senior student liaison officer at Pestalozzi Children’s Village Society in Uttarakhand, India.

Sofie (Wallock) Walz earned an MEd degree in learning technologies from the University of Minnesota and is a UX/UI designer at KNOCK Inc.

’19 Alex Atal is a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Fort Myers, Fla.

Abigail (Korenchan) and Tyler Conzett ’19 live in Dubuque, Iowa. Abigail is a K–12 vocal music teacher. Tyler is a software developer and engineer at Metafile Information Systems.

Jordan DeCrow is the assistant athletic director and assistant girls basketball coach at Glenwood Springs High School in Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Marriages

’89 Jean Dickson and Greg Vens, June 11, 2022

’93 Cindy Berner and Jeremy Greene, Aug. 12, 2022

’04 Tom Johnson and Elizabeth Hauth, June 5, 2021

’08 Philip Knuth and Calli Cook, Aug. 6, 2022

Charlie Moe and Abby Thomson, June 19, 2021

’09 Victoria Booth and Jacob Zimmerman, July 2, 2022

Rebekah Stadie and Chris Shepard, April 23, 2022

’11 Ryan Klompenhower and Shannon Wimmer, Sept. 24, 2022

’12 Meghan McCall and Michael Caldwell, Sept. 24, 2022

’13 Caitlin Stensrud and Stephen Babcock, May 20, 2022

Chelsea Wyman and Spencer Green ’12 , Sept. 23, 2022

’14 Kristen Flak and Daniel Solom, July 31, 2022

Natalie Delcorps earned an MM degree in music education from Kent State University.

Maggie (Breitenstein) Fox

Hobson earned a master’s degree in health studies from the University of Alabama and is the regional clinical specialist for South Georgia in orthopedic trauma at Johnson & Johnson.  Anna Phearman of St. Paul, Minn., is a public health advocate at the Minnesota Disability Law Center.

Paige Yontz is a compliance development manager at Wolfe Eye Clinic in West Des Moines, Iowa.

’20 Gavin Lochtefeld is a junior software developer at Henry Broch Foods in Waukegan, Ill.

’21 Julia Lieb is the faith formation coordinator at Grand View United Methodist Church in Dubuque, Iowa.

Brent Schaeffer of Iowa City, Iowa, is a full stack software engineer at FactSet.

’22 Jenna Gengler is a freelance writer and event manager. Sarah Halverson is a graduate assistant athletic trainer for cross country and track and

field at Baylor University.

Haley Hoffmann of Burnsville, Minn., is part of the audit staff at Deloitte and Touche.

Isaac List is a computer science teacher at Pacelli Catholic School in La Crosse, Wis.

Logan Olson of Minneapolis is a natural resource technician for the Anoka Conservation District.

Madisen Ondrashek is an elementary educator with the Wauwatosa (Wis.) Public Schools.

Paul Priester of Minneapolis is a project scientist at Alliance Source Testing.

Megan Stevenson is a graphic designer at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Katilynn Swanson of Pine Island, Minn., is a sustainability project coordinator for Climate Corps.

Abs Trewin of Minneapolis is a tax associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ian Wreisner is the community editor for ABC Newspapers, which serves Anoka County, Minn.

’15 Carly Ellefsen and PJ Goodwin, Sept. 3, 2022

Laura (Peterson) and Joe Meola, December 2021

Aubrey Ross and Ryan Lindquist, July 30, 2022

’16 Ashley Kappers and Erik Queoff , Oct. 14, 2022

Rob Manges and Jillian Hoppe, Sept. 4, 2022

’17 Carolyn Baumeister and John Westby , Sept. 16, 2022

Kylie Hanschman and Kyle Knoke , Aug. 6, 2022

Shelby Larson and Max Olson, Aug. 16, 2022

Devin Roozeboom and Nathan Hemming ’18 , March 12, 2022

Jessica Skjonsby and Chris Chica, Oct. 1, 2022

’18 Morgan King and Joe Christensen, Sept. 2022

verie Manke and Alex Knutson , Aug. 13, 2022

Sofie Wallock and Wesley Walz, Oct. 13, 2022

’19 Maggie Breitenstein and Zachary Hobson, Oct. 8, 2022

Hannah Carmon and Ryan Simon , July 30, 2022

Tiwonge Chirwa and Xavier Conzet, Aug. 13, 2022

Arwen Inman and Caleb Bendull, Oct. 22, 2022

Brian Murman and Molly Matthes, Sept. 10, 2022

Births & Adoptions

’02 William, March 20, 2019, child of Laura (Bartlett) and Dan Stuckey

Jake, March 25, 2021, child of Laura (Bartlett) and Dan Stuckey

’08

Nora Grace, Aug. 18, 2022, child of Stacy (Malecha) and Jim Kowitz ’03

’11 Charlie, August 11, 2021, child of Abby (Herman) and Kevin Gadek

Dane Thomas, July 14, 2021, child of Ellie (Neubauer) and Bobby Kuennen ’10

’06 Ingrid Jo, Sept. 28, 2022, child of Jessica (Burgstahler) and Andrew Gottenborg

’07 Malcolm Ellis, Nov. 21, 2021, child of Kari (Lunde) and Sam Kramer

Henrik Naley, July 5, 2022, child of Anna (Amundson) and Tor Oksnevad

Charlotta Grace, May 19, 2022, child of Carolyn Starz and Nathaniel Anderson

’09

Malin Ella, July 28, 2022, child of Siri (Dove) and Duane Mytty

Donovan James, Oct. 7, 2022, child of Sarah (Krog) and Shawn Schmitt

Avery Lynne, Aug. 27, 2022, child of Mari (Henderson) and Josh Sharpe

’12 Wesley John, June 28, 2022, child of Betsy (Zimmermann) and Brian Gerike

Charles Alan, Dec. 24, 2019, child of Therese (Thompson) and Gradon Nelson

Magnus Owen, July 16, 2021, child of Therese (Thompson) and Gradon Nelson

Trey Lee, May 5, 2021, child of Annie (Klepper) and Evan Neubauer

Mallory Mae, November, child of Laura (Christensen) and Robert Starr ’15

Otto Preston, May 4, 2022, child of Katie (Schwartz) and Ethan Vogel

Crew Lennon, July 30, 2022, child of Callie Van De Walker-Sellers and Trigg Sellers Adoline Louise, Oct. 14, 2021, child of Joy Waughtal and Joshua Wise

Linden Maria, April 15, 2022, child of Mandie (Mickelson) and Greg Siems

’13 Adom, Sept. 15, 2021, child of Alex Forbes and Oketekyie Dakwa-Agyekum

’14 Eira, Jan. 20, 2022, child of Jess Landgraf and Katrina Nichols

’15 Konrad Howard, Aug. 17, 2022, child of Nicole (Wink) and Derek Kurth

’16 Nikolai Charles, Sept. 29, 2022, child of Erika (Balk) and Nathan Kaney

’17 Layne, Sept. 1, 2021, child of Rhianna (MacDonald) and Casey Freiburger

’18 Dean, June 4, 2022, child of Bridget (Becker) and Derek Miner

Vivian Joan, March 3, 2021, child of Haley (Frodl) and Raymond Mueller

Benny Hughes ’23, St. Paul, Minn.; Amara Marks ’25, Urbandale, Iowa

In Memoriam

Notices as of December 9, 2022

FACULTY EMERITI

Professor emeritus of music

Frederick Nyline of Sandstone, Minn., died November 16, 2022, age 84.

’48

Cora “Corky” R. Shiffer of Eau Claire, Wis., died September 7, 2022, age 97.

’49 Christabel (Adix) Jacobs of Fergus Falls, Minn., died September 26, 2022, age 94.

Lorraine (Bergland) Wangsness of Calmar, Iowa, died August 18, 2022, age 96.

’53 Arthur O. Lee of Bemidji, Minn., died September 24, 2022, age 91.

’54 Julaine “Julie” (Mair)

Barribeau of Baraboo, Wis., died August 6, 2022, age 87.

Alvin “Bud” Brekken of Copper Canyon, Texas, died October 13, 2022, age 89.

Alice (Hogenson) Kienberger-Iverson of Astoria, Ore., died August 3, 2022, age 90.

William Eugene Krohn of Avondale, Ariz., died February 21, 2022, age 89.

’55 Ilah (Olson) Breitbach of Oregon, Wis., died August 14, 2022, age 88.

Rhoda (Scheibert) Knudson of Albert Lea, Minn., died December 3, 2022, age 86.

’56 LeRoy “Lee” Schoenfeld of Greencastle, Ind., died October 31, 2022, age 92.

Geraldine (Nelson) Thompsen of Green Valley, Ariz., died July 31, 2021, age 84.

’57 Carlyle “Gil” Gilbertson , of Menomonie, Wis., died November 25, 2022, age 92.

Walter “Wally” Thompson , of Winona, Minn., died Friday, October 7, age 87.

’58 Lee Bohnhoff of Orfordville, Wis., died August 7, 2022, age 85.

Karen (Hellekson) Hanson of Cupertino, Calif., died in August 2022, age 85.

Colleen (Voehl) Peterson of Decorah died September 8, 2022, age 86.

Linda (Shoemaker) Schmidt of Mason City, Iowa, died June 15, 2022, age 85.

Janet “Jan” (Popelars) Torkelson of Cashton, Wis., died August 13, 2022, age 86.

’59 John Christianson of Lakeville, Minn., died November 28, 2022, age 85.

Darvin Lee Hacker of Decorah died August 20, 2022, age 89.

Patricia (Renshaw) Millard of Steamboat Springs, Colo., died August 28, 2022, age 85.

’60 Jerry Oswald of Des Plaines, Ill., died January 27, 2022, age 83.

Gale “Tex” Vathing of Vienna, Va., died April 19, 2022, age 83.

’61 Carol (Rasmussen) James of Northfield, Minn., died September 6, 2022, age 82.

Kay (Thomas) Nodolf of Milton, Wis., died October 15, 2022, age 83.

Ruth (Steenson) Skaar of Beaver Dam, Wis., died August 8, 2022, age 83.

Marilyn (Logemann) Tjaden of Britt, Iowa, died November 21, 2022, age 83.

Paul Twesme of Eau Claire, Wis., died October 26, 2022, age 83.

Carole (Knudson) Wendt of Zimmerman, Minn., died September 20, 2022, age 83.

’62 Paul “Tom” Skogen of Onalaska, Wis., died November 16, 2022, age 82.

Dorothy “Dode” (Erickson) Stoskopf of Mabel, Minn., died August 18, 2022, age 82.

’63 Jane (Anderson) Alwin of Woodridge, Ill., died July 31, 2022, age 81.

James “Jim” Helvig of Rochester, Minn., died August 19, 2022, age 81.

’64 Rolfe Gjellstad of Hamden, Conn., died June 24, 2022, age 79.

’66 Ronald Koester of Eldorado, Iowa, died July 9, 2022, age 82.

Adela “Del” (Schmidt) Roberts of Baxter, Minn., died August 7, 2022, age 91.

James (Jim) Womeldorf of Decorah died August 22, 2022, age 79.

’67 Wayne Homstad of Sheboygan, Wis., died September 10, 2022, age 77.

James R. Knutson of Atamonte Springs, Fla., died August 22, 2022, age 78.

’68 Candace “Candy” (Haemker) Gomez of Sparta, Wis., died September 9, 2022, age 76.

’71 Gary Dean Haugen of Salisbury, Mo., died July 9, 2022, age 73.

’72 Gregory Clemens of Symmes Township, Ohio, died March 23, 2020, age 69.  Kristine “Kris” (Henningsgard) Cruikshank of Buffalo, Minn., died March 7, 2022, age 71.

Craig Kruse of Minneapolis died October 27, 2022, age 72.

’73 Stephen Ganzkow-Wold of Shoreview, Minn., died August 27, 2022, age 70.

Steven Hendrickson of Alexandria, Virginia, died August 26, 2022, age 71.

Robert E. “Bob” Hill of Independence, Iowa, died April 21, 2022, age 70.

Douglas Winfrey of Parkman, Wyo., died August 23, 2022, age 71.

’74 Linda M. Lea of Mendota Heights, Minn., died January 26, 2022, age 69.

Jean Ann Sorenson of Hopkins, Minn., died September 28, 2022, age 70.

’77 Tod Broman of Stuart, Iowa, died August 14, 2022, age 67.

Rick Fox of Le Mars, Iowa, died November 26, 2022, age 67.

Rhonda (Ellerbusch) Schoenmaker of Lincoln, Neb., died August 26, 2022, age 67.

’79 Aaron Cook of Storm Lake, Iowa, died August 24, 2022, age 65.

’82 Pamela (Thu) Madsen of Glenwood, Iowa, died July 1, 2022, age 61.

’83 Mari Sue Anderson of Janesville, Wis., died August 13, 2022, age 61.

Paul Cleven of Fitchburg, Wis., died September 9, 2022, age 61.

’87 Luke Petterson of Lakeville, Minn., died September 23, 2022, age 63.

’88 Timothy Olson of Polk City, Iowa, died August 16, 2022, age 56.

’95 Brenda Jans Darling of Montevideo, Minn., died September 21, 2022, age 49.

’06 Alyson (Nienhaus) Haugen of Holmen, Wis., died October 11, 2022, age 38.

RECEPTIONS FOR ALUMNI, PARENTS, FAMILIES, AND FRIENDS WITH PRESIDENT

JENIFER K. WARD

Thursday, March 2, 2023

CHS Field

St. Paul, Minnesota

Friday, March 17, 2023

Ignite Sign Art Museum

Tucson, Arizona

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. Phoenix, Arizona

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Location TBA

Rochester, Minnesota

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Big Grove Brewery Iowa City, Iowa

GIVING DAY

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Luther College

CELEBRATION OF LIFE FOR PRESIDENT EMERITUS RICK TORGERSON

Friday, April 28, 2023

Luther College

ROBERT AND ANN NASLUND SPORTS AND RECREATION CENTER DEDICATION

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Luther College

MINNESOTA UNITED SOCCER EVENT

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Allianz Field

St. Paul, Minnesota

COMMENCEMENT

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Luther College

ALL BAND ALUMNI REUNION

Friday, June 30–

Sunday, July 2, 2023

Luther College

NORDIC SHORT COURSES

Photography (offered twice)

Friday, June 23–Sunday, June 25

Friday, July 21–Sunday, July 23

Culinary Arts (offered twice)

Friday, June 30–Sunday, July 2

Friday, July 28–Sunday, July 30

Luther College

NORDIC STUDIES INSTITUTE

Rosemaling/Sami Bracelet Making/Taste of Norway/Sustainability and Friluftsliv in Decorah

Tuesday, July 25–

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Luther College

NORDIC FEST

Thursday, July 27–

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Decorah

FAMILY WEEKEND

Friday, September 22 – Sunday, September 24, 2023

Luther College

HOMECOMING

Friday, October 6–

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Luther College

CHRISTMAS AT LUTHER PERFORMANCES

Thursday, November 30–

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Luther College

Sixteen alumni and friends of the college participated in the Luther’s October hiking tour of Vietnam and Bhutan, including Vanessa Abbe ‘04, Kurt ‘76 and Paula (Hermeier) Meyer ‘76, Chelle (Sullivan) Meyer ‘89, Bruce ‘84 and Tammy (Stelling) Olson ‘89, and Elisabeth (Archer) Tursi ‘12. The tour was led by Ann Highum, emerita vice president and dean for student life, and her husband Jerry Freund.