alumni news

ALUMNI STORIES

TAKING ON THE PANDEMIC THROUGH THE LIBERAL ARTS

Chemistry grads employ array of skills learned at Monmouth

By Barry McNamara In St. Louis, four Monmouth College alumni are part of a team at an international company that is fighting COVID-19.

Gianna Scumaci Connolly ’12, Jennifer Scott Hazer ’08, Michelle Tank ’11 and Corey White ’07 all work at MilliporeSigma (formerly Sigma-Aldrich), a global life science and technology company that provides tools, services and digital platforms that empower scientists and engineers.

“Our company has played a large role in the fight against COVID-19 as a critical raw material supplier for diagnostic testing, vaccine manufacturing and therapeutic treatments,” said White.

White noted that MilliporeSigma’s sites are particularly accelerating the production of lipids, a key part of the COVID vaccine.

“Our sites are impacting the detection of and resolution to this global pandemic,” he said.

Even before there was a virus to eradicate, White was proud of the work his company does.

“To me, that’s the most rewarding part of being in this field,” said White, who was the first of the four Monmouth alumni to join the company, fresh out of college. “You see a commercial for a pharmaceutical on TV, and you’re able to say, ‘My day-to-day work is changing people’s lives.’”

White serves as MilliporeSigma’s head of production planning in St. Louis. He’s used to working months ahead on his company’s manufacturing needs, and the pandemic has factored into that planning in a major way.

“We’re always working six to 12 months ahead,” he said. “In the last two months of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, we started to see changes in the supply chain from China. We had to start thinking about ‘What is the impact downstream?’ That’s a huge part of what I do. We’re constantly looking at

future scenarios. Here’s how much material we need. Here’s how much each site can produce. Here’s what our customer needs. If there’s a gap, how do we close that gap?’” Coming up with those answers is more complex than a simple formula or consulting a slide rule. White said he constantly draws on skills he sharpened at Monmouth. “I don’t necessarily use the science that I studied at Monmouth,” said White, who majored in biochemistry and chemistry and was a production chemist at Sigma-Aldrich before making a course change that led to his current position. “What I do use is the problem-solving skills I learned at “I don’t necessarily use the science Monmouth.” White said he is grateful he experienced that I studied at Monmouth. What the hard science part of the company before I do use is the problem-solving making the decision that “I wanted to manskills I learned at Monmouth.” age people.” “I have a better understanding of all COREY WHITE ’07 aspects of the company because I see the day-to-day questions from our customers, and I also have an understanding of what happens on the manufacturing side,” he said. “Being able to problem solve is something I’m able to do because of my liberal arts education. To me, that’s the benefit of the kind of education that Monmouth offers. It opens up so many doors for you.” Hazer, who serves as a biologics operational excellence manager, said her liberal arts education was “an integral part of my career success at MilliporeSigma.” “Over time, I found myself becoming more than a chemist,” said Hazer, who was a chemistry and mathematics major. “I was becoming an employee who needed skills in engineering,

“It was not just the chemistry courses that allowed me to get to where I am today. It was … the small lessons from each professor.”

JENNIFER SCOTT HAZER ’08

maintenance, quality, leadership, technical writing, project and financial management, drawing and teamwork, among many others. I am a chemist by trade, but it was not just the chemistry courses that allowed me to get to where I am today. It was all the courses, the small lessons from each professor, that has enabled me to pursue the path that’s right for me.”

She still references lessons from professors such as Marjorie Bond and Michael Sostarecz, specifically, as well as the general “logical and creative thinking that was integrated into every course during my four years.”

“Monmouth College has given me the foundation for success in my career and has enabled me with the tools to pursue any future path that I choose,” she said.

Tank supervises the company’s quality assurance department, which is responsible for ensuring that the products manufactured comply with internal, customer and regulatory requirements. A biology major at Monmouth, she credits her alma mater for developing her leadership and critical-thinking skills.

“Being a smaller liberal arts college, Monmouth allowed me more opportunities to get hands-on leadership skills through involvement in Greek life and extracurricular groups, as well as critical thinking skills through various research projects, and team collaboration,” she said. “With these skills, I have been able to participate in and lead large process improvement projects for multiple facilities at MilliporeSigma, which ultimately improve the products we provide to our customers and patients.”

Connolly’s experience is similar to Tank’s. She also works in quality assurance and cites her Greek life experience as a positive influence on her career.

“My experience at Monmouth allowed me to explore ways of getting involved in extracurricular activities such as Chorale, sports and Greek life,” she said. “The skills I gained while involved in those activities were team collaboration, critical-thinking skills, mentoring abilities and leadership skills.”

As far as her academic training, the Monmouth biochemistry major particularly draws on what she learned in organic chemistry.

“That class has definitely helped out with my professional career the most, as I support the bio organic group at MilliporeSigma,” said Connolly, who has been with the company for four years. “I have been able to use these skills to help better train new and existing employees, as well as

“With (skills gained at Monmouth), I have been able to participate in and lead large process improvement projects for multiple facilities.”

MICHELLE TANK ’11 participate in some of the continuous improvements happening at my facility.” A fifth Monmouth connection to MilliporeSigma is Laura Stella Pearson ’83, who recently retired as a senior supervisor in quality assurance after 34 years with the company. Among her career highlights were leading the training team for more than 350 employees, participating in FDA inspections for new drug approval and overseeing the launch of the company’s Quality Systems software. “One of the key components of my role was teamwork,” she said. “I worked closely with all departments, including operations, quality control and safety. Learning at Monmouth in such a tight-knit environment taught me how important it is to work as a team and how to collaborate with others.” Pearson’s career grew from yet another Monmouth connection to the company. “I got my first job in this industry due to Monmouth alum Sandy Tirpitz Haman ’80,” she said. “Her boss was so impressed “My experience at Monmouth with her work that she requested (taught me) team collaboration, names of other Monmouth grads. critical-thinking skills, mentoring Sandy contacted Dr. David Allison, abilities and leadership skills.” who in turn contacted me. I was hired with very little discussion based on the quality of Sandy’s GIANNA SCUMACI CONNOLLY ’12 work.” MilliporeSigma’s website includes the statement, “We believe science offers unlimited possibilities.” For Monmouth science students thinking about their post-college destinations, that’s very good news. “My advice to students is what you do in college will get you in the door,” said White. “But you have to take advantage of the opportunities once you’re there. You’ve got to keep doing that to be successful.” Those opportunities include work at White’s company. Last summer, it was reported that MilliporeSigma was looking to add more than 155 jobs in the St. Louis area alone due to the pandemic creating additional demand of the company’s more than 300,000 products. The jobs ranged from sales and marketing roles, to lab-based scientific positions, to manufacturing and packaging jobs.

Brian Franklin on the scene in Colombia, where his coffee beans are being harvested.

By Barry McNamaraALL THINGS COFFEE

Speakers across the land couldn’t articulate a commencement message any better or more concisely than Monmouth College alumnus Brian Franklin.

“The end of college is just the beginning,” said Franklin, when asked to offer advice to seniors at his alma mater. “Now you get to decide what your skill set will be.”

For Franklin, that skill set has become all things coffee. He is the founding owner and roastmaster at the innovative DoubleShot Coffee Co. in Tulsa, Okla., which he opened in 2004.

Four years later, Franklin traveled to Colombia, one of the largest coffee-producing countries in the world. There, he met Cristina Garces, a professional coffee taster whose father was the largest coffee producer in the country, and her boyfriend, Ariel Montoya, owner of the farm Hacienda El Boton.

“My exuberance for coffee production and experimentation led the three of us to perform some trials on a special variety of coffee at El Boton called Maragogipe,” said Franklin. “One of the trials turned out to be a really amazing coffee, so in 2009, we planned to export it to the United States.”

That type of coffee had never been exported from Colombia. The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC), a federal organization in Colombia that regulates coffee exports, initially rejected the export request.

“I contacted the director of coffee quality at the FNC and convinced him to let us carry on with the export as

planned,” said Franklin. “The El Boton Natural soon became the first of its kind in the U.S. Today, I am roasting the 12th iteration of El Boton Natural, the Maragogipe variety, which produces unusually large coffee beans. We now call it ‘Maduro,’ and it is better than ever.”

The same could be said for Franklin’s business, which was featured recently in Daily Coffee News.

“I’m always dreaming, creating, designing,” Franklin told the publication. “I’m excited about sourcing new coffees and reengineering all of the tools we use every day to make coffee.”

The article paid special attention to DoubleShot’s new site, The Rookery, which opened to the public in 2019. It was constructed from the timbers of an Amish barn built in 1850 in Berne, Ind., and also has generations-old brick enclosing the onsite roastery that was sourced from a shuttered Muskogee Coca-Cola bottling plant. Its upstairs loft flooring is made from wood originally used in oil field plank roads.

Operating his business in Tulsa and being involved in his site’s construction both tie into his first year after graduating from Galesburg (Ill.) High School, which was spent studying architecture at Oklahoma State University.

“But I found that I missed football and I wanted to be at a smaller school where I could have more of a chance to interact with my professors and feel like I was getting the education I was paying for,” said Franklin, who then transferred to Monmouth to work on his college degree and to play football.

His point when giving his advice to seniors is that he didn’t learn any specifics about coffee roasting in college, nor negotiating with Colombian officials or selecting appropriate 170-year-old building materials.

“I’m not sure anyone really knows how to do anything when they graduate from college,” he said. “So I knew I had to start teaching myself everything I needed or wanted to know. I started reading and doing things I’d never done, and now I have a diverse set of skills including podcasting, graphic and packaging design, web design, product development and, of course, coffee roasting, cupping and brewing.”

But that doesn’t mean Franklin, a two-time All-Midwest Conference selection for the Scots, doesn’t value his Monmouth education.

“At Monmouth, I took classes that required a diverse range of skills,” he said. “From my hand-built pottery class, I’ve come to know and appreciate one of the preeminent potters in the United States, Doug Casebeer, who is an artist in residence at the University of Oklahoma, and he makes cups especially for DoubleShot.”

Franklin majored in accounting, and he uses those skills to read financial statements and make spreadsheets so that he can make wise fiscal decisions for his

“I’m always dreaming, business. His psychology classes opened creating, designing. I’m the door to better understand how to man age staff and how psychology plays into excited about sourcing new salesmanship. coffees and reengineering Franklin didn’t realize he did not want to all of the tools we use every have a career in accounting until after he graduated from Monmouth and went to an day to make coffee.” interview at Arthur Andersen in Chicago, then one of the Big 5 accounting firms. “I could tell I was out of my element and that I wanted to work in a field that is more active and creative,” he said. “So my first business was in personal training.” Being a personal trainer required a certain level of fitness from Franklin. It also required coffee. “I was getting up early every day for the job, and coffee became a part of my daily ritual,” he said. “I started learning more and more about it and how to make it better.” Then Franklin saw an ad for a home coffee roaster and tracked one down, buying it along with several coffees from around the world and a book on how to roast coffee. “Roasting that first batch and drinking it, the coffee felt alive in my mouth, and I realized I’d never had coffee that wasn’t stale before,” he said. “And that’s when I had an epiphany about coffee. It wasn’t until a few years later when I lost my grandpa and a friend in a short time frame that I made the leap and decided to make coffee my career. But to this day, I still roast all the coffee for DoubleShot, and freshness is one of the core tenets for how we serve coffee.” Franklin enjoys taking what he’s learned from his coffee-related travels and roasting and brewing experiences and “becoming a resource to help people enjoy better coffee at home, in their workplace and in our café.” “I want them to have memorable coffee experiences and impress their friends and family with their exquisite taste,” he said. “It’s really a passion of mine.” Information about purchasing coffee and merchandise from Franklin’s company is available at doubleshotcoffee.com.

THE ARTIST AT WORK: Brian Franklin still roasts all the product at his Tulsa, Okla., business, DoubleShot Coffee Company.

ALUMNISTORIES

FOR THE LOVE OF LAKES

By Barry McNamara

Long prepares to collect a sediment core with a device that takes four samples at once.

Long’s career immersed in the study of water

The science studied by college freshmen has generally changed—often drastically—by the time they reach the end of their careers. David Long ’69 can relate.

Last year, Long received the Geological Society of America’s prestigious Israel C. Russell Award, given for major achievements in limnogeology, the study of the biological, chemical and physical features of lakes and other freshwater bodies.

Lakes have been studied for centuries, but limnogeology is a relatively new development. The term did not become popular until the 1990s, when it became clear that lake deposits contain continental environmental and climate records. The GSA first named an annual award recipient in the field in 2010.

During his acceptance speech, Long, who retired as a professor of aqueous and environmental geochemistry at Michigan State University in 2019, discussed the somewhat random way he got into the field.

“Lakes have stories in their mud,” he said. “My stories have focused on a time span recording the antics of humans. How I got involved in mud stories is like a pachinko machine in which a small steel ball falls through a maze of brass pins. Hitting a pin changes its direction.”

Some of those first pins were at Monmouth College, after the initial pins of Long’s upbringing. He said his roots in science go back to watching “B-type sci-fi movies” with his father.

“Lab coats and perplexing questions did it for me,” he said.

Long chose to attend Monmouth “because of its reputation in chemistry,” and also studied Russian. However, when his passion for chemistry waned, his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brother Chuck King ’69 suggested he switch to geology, providing a way for him to still be involved in science.

“I took the introductory class in geology from John Palmquist,” said Long. “My first impression was, ‘Wow, do people really do this?’ and I changed my major to geology. My dad asked, ‘What do you do with geology?’ Funny thing was, at the time, I didn’t know. I just knew I’d found my passion.”

Glen Merrill replaced Palmquist and became Long’s adviser,

involving him in his research, which included “collecting and processing samples, analyzing the samples and preparing the manuscript for publication—‘the big three,’ so to speak,” said Long. “Glen was a stratigrapher, paleontologist and carbonate petrologist. When I went for my master’s, I was planning on doing similar work and started a thesis in that area. But I started thinking about what really interests me, and the word ‘water’ kept coming up.”

So Long changed course, first to the physical flow aspects of groundwater and then to its geochemistry.

“My adviser’s specialty was the physical aspects of groundwater, not the chemical,” said Long. “This meant that I had to essentially teach myself. Monmouth gave me the tools and confidence to do this.”

Just before getting his master’s degree, a professor on his committee said, “Dave, you know there is more than just groundwater. It’s part of the water cycle. You need to consider the whole system.”

“That statement moved me to become an earth scientist, which for me was the interaction of the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere,” said Long. “I went on for a Ph.D. in aqueous geochemistry. This allowed me to study the chemistry of all aspects of the water cycle.”

A major new phase in Long’s career began unexpectedly with an encounter with a colleague from outside his department.

“Walking down the hallway (at Michigan State) one day, Bill Cooper from zoology yelled out, ‘Hey Dave, do you want to go for a ride in a submarine?’” said Long. “That started the Laurentian Great Lakes studies, from below and above,” which started his limnogeology studies and geochemical work to help solve societal problems.

“Example problems include contaminated sites, impact of land-use change on the environment, and the role of the chemistry of the environment in health and disease,” said Long, who has been to the bottom of all the Great Lakes except Erie, investigating contaminant cycling.

Although he regularly studies bodies of water close to his Michigan base, Long has also traveled far and wide as a limnogeologist. His international experiences include teaching and research activities in Australia, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Macedonia, Malawi, Mexico, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, South Korea and Turkey.

“His leadership and scientific contributions on Lake Tyrrell, a playa lake system in eastern Australia, led to some of the first publications describing in detail the geochemistry and the hydrogeology of a contemporary acid groundwater-lake environment,” said his nominator for the award, Berry Lyons, a past recipient of the Israel C. Russell Award. “His ability to integrate geochemical, hydrological and ecological principles into his research has been an important attribute of his work.”

While accepting the honor, Long thanked his colleagues, his graduate students, his many undergraduate students (including his son Jonathan), his wife, Jean Walter Long ’69, and “all the brass pins in my life.” Another pin is emeritus Monmouth professor Lee McGaan ’69, Long’s roommate.

“What’s great is that five of us—(1969 classmates) Lee, Lou Herrin, Chuck King and Mark Hughes—that hung together in SAE are still doing it now via Zoom,” said Long. “We reconnected when the pandemic hit, and it was like we never were apart.”

Those sessions bring back memories of his experiences at Monmouth, which launched his successful career.

“My full understanding of research came during my master’s work, but it was the training and education at Monmouth that was the underpinning for my master’s and Ph.D. work. In my research and working with undergraduate and graduate students, it was being able to do ‘the big three’ that made what we did so rewarding. Being able to do that as an undergraduate was invaluable. My only regret is that I didn’t go out for the baseball team.”

Long (on right) prepares to board the Jonson Sea Link manned submersible. Long employs a glove bag to reduce contamination while working on water samples.

NEWS

WE WELCOME NEWS AND PHOTOS related to your career, awards, reunions or travel with your Monmouth College friends, and any other information of interest to your classmates or alumni. We also welcome announcements and photos of alumni weddings and births, as well as alumni obituaries. Please see page 36 for submission guidelines.

1952

Ralph Whiteman 301 Courtyard Blvd. Monmouth, IL 61462-1098 ralphwhiteman1@gmail.com Pat Acosta Wiedenman of Avinger, Texas, spent her 91st birthday “visiting the family.” She reports she is healthy and enjoying life and its challenges. Mickey (Ethel) Bailey of New Wilmington, Pa., is dealing with rheumatoid arthritis while keeping up with her achieving family as well as the ongoing situation in the Middle East, where she and Ken (MC Hall of Achievement) spent much of their lives. Barbara Atchison Bailey, whose husband, Jim ’51, died just a year ago, is holding forth and participating in many activities at Penney Farms, Fla., while keeping track of her sons. A recent visitor to the Maple City with his kids was Carroll Toal—one of Gracie’s Boys—who is still singing in Windsor, Conn. We received a wonderful and perceptive Christmas note from Jeannette Feeheley, widow of our iconic classmate and all-around good guy, Jack. Jack Kelly, the athlete, pitcher, Monmouth and Yale scholar, university professor and author, still calls Jekyll Island, Ga. home— it’s been almost three-quarters of a century since he threw his first MC pitch! We hear often from Hal Campbell, turned quality email philosopher and humorist, from Weaverville, N.C. Peg Deschwanden Foster has turned 91 and hikes seriously twice a week. The fact that she does that in Honolulu might be a motivator. Since her husband, Dick, died, her daughter has moved there, becoming quite a Hawaii devotee, and her son joined them for Christmas. June Erdmier Salen is enjoying life in the Palm Harbor, Fla., area—fully recovered from her big 90th birthday bash! Shirley Moser Irion of Normal, Ill. remains physically active, still playing a good game of golf. Husband, Ron, and she try to travel and keep on the move. Janie Black Snyder is no longer teaching the birds (or others) to sing and has moved east to Rochester, N.Y., in congregate housing and to be close to offspring.

Four Monmouth College alumni are making an economic impact in Aledo, Ill. Kenzi Lafferty ’19 is the programs manager for High-Tech Small Town in downtown Aledo. The new company recently hired a pair of 2021 Monmouth graduates with computer science degrees—Mitchell Perez and Shayne Sendera—and is currently looking to expand. Also located in the company’s century-old building that was originally a Carnegie-funded library is 2013 Monmouth graduate Kyle McEwen, who serves as executive director of Mercer County Better Together. Pictured from left are McEwen, Sendera, Perez and Lafferty.

1955

65th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1956

65th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022 Sally Smith Larson 5135 Davantry Dr. Dunwoody, GA 30338-4554 larsar@bellsouth.net

1957

65th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1960

60th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022 Nancy Van Natta Wherry 1910 Highwood Ave. Pekin, IL 61554 njwherry@gmail.com

Carolyn Williams of Charlottle, N.C., is hoping for a trip to Ireland. Her family keeps her busy and she enjoys life with friends and family. She keeps up with Mary Ford. Florida interior designer Jackie Hoover Campbell continues to use her skills to help people enhance their homes. She has had many adventures housesitting in various

ALUMNI NEWS | CLASS NOTES

countries. Judy Lamb of Tamarac, Fla., is one adventurous classmate, visiting so many different countries while hiking, rafting and working with Habitat for Humanity. Tom Cheetham of Jacksonville, Fla., is enjoying retired life with family and friends. He has been working hard on his house, adding hardware to assist with senior living. He enjoyed trips to St. George Island and Elgin, Ill., where he stayed at a B & B on the Fox River. Don Wirth (dwirth38@yahoo.com) keeps kept in touch with several alums, but would like to hear from many others. Carol Kemmerer Wetzel is now living in St. Louis. She keeps busy on outings with family and friends, and still stays in touch with some Kappas. Joe Suffield of Peoria, Ill., is a busy author, currently working on book No. 6. He stays in touch with Peoria-area alumni. Nancy Acheson McGaan of Manchester, N.H., was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Currier Museum of Art for her docent work. She has a new home at Birch Hill Retirement Community in Manchester and is still working with her artistic abilities. Jim and Bev ’61 Nelson are still enjoying their life at their lakefront home in Moutonborough, N.H. They have acquired a new chocolate lab pup, which keeps Jim taking walks. Their family count—children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren—now stands at 24. Barb Divinski Brundage is living in South San Francisco, Calif., where she enjoys taking long walks to Crystal Springs and the Golden Gate Park. She loves to have visits from her grandchildren and goes to visit them, also. Joan Schilthuis Wagenknecht had a wonderful 85th birthday party. She recently moved into a new retirement community in Wildwood, Mo. Floyd Sours of Janesville, Ohio, is a clinical psychologist and author. His 2010 book, Burnt Offerings: The Art of Politics and the Consequences of Freedom, is available on Amazon and still relevant to today’s political atmosphere. Patty Baird Link of St. Louis has retired from the Pi Beta Phi Foundation, where she worked for many years. She does miss the friends that she made while working at her position. She made at least 14 visits to Monmouth’s historic Holt House over the years. Ed Wentland and his wife, Joan, are still enjoying their beautiful lakefront home in Webster, Mass. They have made many trips visiting their children and grandchildren and friends. Richard Wherry of Pekin, Ill., has finally retired after 41 years as the attorney for Pekin Park District and the City of Tremont.

1961

60th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

Fred Wackerle continues to produce beautiful art—his newest works being oil on Nepali Lakto paper—but his plein-air nature, landscape and still life paintings are still in his repertoire.

1962

60th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022 Deeks Carroll 12433 Steamboat Springs Dr. Mokena, IL 60448-1639 deekscarroll@yahoo.com

This is the eve of our 60th reunion. As of now Bob Ardell and I are on the planning committee. We don’t know what to plan for our class because we don’t know what they will be able to do. There will be more classes at this reunion much younger than us and many events planned that we can attend or not. If you would like to participate, please let me know. We will also have two dinners for our class. If you would like to talk to us about interesting things you have done, please let me know. Because of the pandemic, the classes of 1960 and 1961 will also be invited to this reunion. This will give you a chance to meet friends who you rarely are able to see. So think strongly about attending. This may be the last chance to visit with old friends. Call someone and invite them to join you. You notice that our scholarship continues to grow and the amount each student receives does also. This is what we voted for 15 years ago and hoped would happen. I’ll be attending Scholarship Day in April to meet the new scholars and give you a glimpse of them in my July newsletter. I regret to tell you that Peter Anderson passed away in early January. He was a member of Theta Chi and president of the M Club. He was also a member of the football, track and baseball teams.

1963 Larry and Olivia Lunn Gibb recently moved from Rancho Mission Viejo, Calif., to San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

1964 Tom Rezner of Sun City Center, Fla., lost two stepsons to death in 2021. Neither was due to coronavirus.

1965

55th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1966

55th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022 Susan Kauzlarich Kuster 1863 Township Rd. 2850N Seaton, IL 61476-9608 susan.kuster@gmail.com

Submission Guidelines

Submit your news online at monmouthcollege.edu/alumni/ updates, by email to alumni@monmouthcollege.edu, or by mail to Monmouth College Magazine, Attn: Alumni Programs, 700 East Broadway, Monmouth IL 61462-1998. Digital photos should have a minimum resolution of 300 pixels per inch. Please include a photo caption with full names that clearly match faces, class years, date and location. We reserve the right to reject images for any reason, especially those with low resolution and those that require purchase from a photo gallery website. Submissions will be published at the discretion of the editors on a spaceavailable basis.

ALUMNI NEWS | CLASS NOTES

Andy Stumpf ’04, a middle-school principal in Winchester, Ill., received two Principal of the Year awards in 2021.

1967

55th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1968 Cheryl Trostrud-White ’68 of Kent, Ohio, lost her husband, Bill White, to pneumonia caused by Covid in December. He died two days shy of their 40th anniversary. She notes that they both had all three vaccinations.

1969 David Ward of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his wife, Susan, are new grandparents, their daughter and sonin-law having adopted a son.

1970

50th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1971

50th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1972

50th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

Fred Welch has been named executive director of the Copperas Cove (Texas) Economic Development Corporation. The 30-year veteran in economic development in Texas most recently served as senior director for economic development for The Greater Houston Partnership. Welch is a certified economic developer through the International Economic Development Council and a certified Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) through the National Development Council. In 2017, he served as chairman of the board of directors for the Texas Economic Development Council.

1973

Nick Tucker 429 Linden Ave. Apt. 1-W Wilmette, IL 60091 njtuckersr@gmail.com

1975

45th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1976

45th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1977

45th REUNION JUNE 2-5, 2022

1978

Kathleen Clark Kimmel 347 Blackhawk Dr. Hopewell, IL 61565-9457 kckcat@gmail.com

1980 Kevin Goodwin of Kirkland, Wash., a pioneer in ultrasound, is CEO of EchoNous—a company he co-founded in 2016 that combines artificial intelligence and deep learning with extreme miniaturization to provide highly accurate diagnostic medical imaging. Its newest product, called Kosmos, is a handheld device that weighs under two pounds, which physicians can use at a patient’s bedside.

1982

40th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022

1983

Traci Abbott 9802 Cardiff Park Ln. Houston, TX 77094 tabbott2@sbcglobal.net Paula Rundell Brooks has handed off the job of class agent to me, so I will be cheerfully pestering you all for news to share in Monmouth College Magazine, and reminding you of important upcoming events—like a 40-year reunion coming up next year. Forty years…how can that be possible? It means we are all now members of the prestigious “60” Club. I do have sad news that some of you may not have heard—our beloved classmate, Kellie Sumner Schroll lost her battle with cancer last May at her home in Tennessee. Several of us lived on third-floor McMike with Kellie our freshman and sophomore years. She was one of the sweetest, most genuine people and she will be greatly missed.

1984

Chris Pio 4262 Maple Dr. Galesburg, IL 61401-9510 cpio4262@gmail.com

1987

35th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022

1995 Danielle Nierenberg of Baltimore is one of three Dean’s Scholars-in-Residence this academic year at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. The president of Food Tank, she is participating in master classes, workshops and public events for the school’s Nutrition and Food Studies department.

1992

30th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022 1997

25th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022

1999

Ann McClung Klungseth 512 N. Main St. Washington, IL 61571-1525 ajclung@hotmail.com

2002

20th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022

2004 Andy Stumpf of Carrollton, Ill., was selected as the 2021 Illinois Principals Association Middle School Principal of the Year and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)’s Illinois Principal of the year. The principal of Winchester Elementary School, he also had an article titled “Principal Loneliness” published in the February issue of NASSP’s Principal Leadership magazine. 2007

15th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022 Hilary Hawkinson Stott P.O. Box 83 Bristol, IL 660512 hilhawkstott@gmail.com

WELCH ’72

NIERENBERG ’95

GOODWIN ’80

ALUMNI NEWS | CLASS NOTES

BOEHME ’12

WILLIS ’13

MAINZ ’17

DODSON ’18

DAY ’18

2008 Kate Fitzsimmons Cross of Roscoe, Ill., was appointed by the 17th Judicial Circuit Court to serve as public defender for Boone County, Ill.

2012

10th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022 Zach Boehme of Queen Creek, Ariz., has been recognized by Railway Age magazine as one of its 2022 “Fast Trackers” Under 40 honorees. Boehme started his railroad career as a conductor before moving up to engineer and trainmaster, then entered various management positions with Genesee & Wyoming Railway. In 2018, he began his current role as assistant vice president of industrial development for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad. Among his duties are creating transportation solutions for the wind turbine industry—hauling blades up to 243 feet long. Ed Wimp of Apopka, Fla., presented Monmouth College’s annual Martin Luther King Day lecture in January. Titled “Sowing Seeds of Legacy,” it was originally scheduled to be given in front of a live audience, in conjunction with student performances, but concerns over the recent rise in COVID cases changed it to a Zoom event. 2013 Jake Willis of Metamora, Ill., is marking five years with the City of Peoria Police Department. Two years ago, he became a member of the Special Response Team (SWAT). In 2021, he became a Field Training Officer, working with new officers who have just graduated from the University of Illinois Police Training Institute. Willis says that enforcement today is a very difficult yet rewarding career, and he hopes to show current Monmouth College students that law enforcement can be a rewarding career option after graduation.

2017

5th REUNION SEPT. 30-OCT. 2, 2022 Jacob Marx 106 S. Front St., Apt. 2D Philadelphia, PA 19106 jacob.p.marx@uscg.mil

Johnny Williams is pursuing an MLitt in Shakespeare and an MFA in Performance at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Va. This spring, he will perform as Cleon in the Blackfriars Playhouse production of Pericles and as Duke Senior in As You Like It. Last fall, he directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream and will direct Twelfth Night for the summer season. The Blackfriars Playhouse is the world’s only recreation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. Molly Weaver received her master’s degree in social work last May. She recently accepted a job as a school social worker in Merrillville, Ind. Claire Griffith of Moline, Ill., has been promoted to manager of human resources and development at Fortress Bank. She will complete yoga teacher training this summer and then begin teaching. Andrea “Dre” Corea earned her master’s in digital communications and media arts from DePaul University in May 2020, during the early days of the pandemic. During her two years at DePaul, she worked as a multimedia specialist for DuPage County, and interned for Chicago Fire Rec Soccer, the Chicago Red Stars and the National Women’s Soccer League. After graduation, she became digital content editor for Minnesota United FC, a Western Conference team in Major League Soccer, where her Spanish-language skills have been helpful in translating news releases, managing the Spanish Twitter account and creating closed captions in videos for players. This season she will travel with the team to capture digital content. Austin Hardy and Kirsti Barton ’18, who met as students at Monmouth, were married last September. They currently reside in Kirkwood, Ill., where he works as a State Farm agent, while Kirsti is a health fitness specialist in Burlington, Iowa. In August, they will move to Tennessee “to begin our next chapter.” Emma Vanderpool in February presented a Bluegrass Classics Lecture on the topic “Moving Forward: A Novella Writer’s Perspective.” The lecture series is a collaborative project between the MCL Classics Working Group at the University of Kentucky and the Classics Department at Transylvania University. A Latin teacher at Springfield Honors Academy in Massachusetts, where she earned the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2019, Vanderpoool has published more than a dozen novellas in Latin. Nick Mainz is serving as an archives technician at the National Park Service, Lake Superior Collection Management Center in Calumet, Mich. The government archive serves three National Park units— Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Keweenaw National Historical Park and Isle Royale National Park.

2018 Keri Dodson is the new community engagement director for Bridgeway Inc., a health and human services agency in Galesburg, Ill. She previously worked for the Rockford (Ill). Rivets baseball team where, in a similar position, she played a role in doubling average attendance to 1,500 fans. At Bridgeway, she is overseeing public relations efforts, community event planning and the creation of the organization’s promotional materials.

Saxon Day will complete dental school in May at the University of Pennsylvania, and will begin an oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) residency at Baylor University Medical Center. OMFS residency is six years long, and he will spend about three of those years also getting a doctor of medicine degree in additional to his dental degree.

2019 Ridge Greenman of Andover, Ill., a graduate of AlWood (Ill.) High School, where he was a standout baseball, basketball and football player, was inducted into its athletic hall of fame in January.

2020 Campbell Quirk has accepted a full-time position with the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a player development strength and conditioning coach.

IN THE SCOTLIGHT

WILL DEUERLING ’13

His homemade sauces are becoming a hot commodity

By BARRY McNAMARA

Looking to take your entrée from good to great? Then it might be time to #GetWillyWithIt.

That would mean breaking out the Willy Sauce, made by 2013 Monmouth grad Will Deuerling of Elburn, Ill.

Deuerling has been dabbling in hot sauces for a while now, but he stepped up his game in 2020—partly due to a brief furlough from his day job due to COVID-19—and made 250 bottles. Most of them sold at a local Kris Kringle market, and friends and family got the rest of the bottles.

In 2021, Deurling’s company was registered as an LLC, with “all the fancy food licenses I needed.” And he tripled production, producing 750 bottles, with sales at the Kris Kringle market again being a major help in moving his inventory.

As a high school student from Batavia, Ill., Deuerling didn’t have his heart set on a particular college or major. Ultimately, his choice came down to a big school in the big city (DePaul) or to the opposite, Monmouth. The smallschool experience won out, and “It proved to be a good decision,” he said.

Deuerling was active on campus through such commitments as the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and serving as a Scot Ambassador. He studied communication and art—beneficial disciplines for his new business pursuit.

“I’ve designed all the labels for the sauces and the logo used on merchandise and T-shirts,” he said. “It’s in hibernation now, but I also created and designed a website for Willy Sauce. After graduation, I didn’t know what kind of job I really wanted, so I’ve really enjoyed this opportunity to combine communication and art. Prior to the bartending I do now, I did some website and social media stuff, but doing it for somebody else, my heart wasn’t in it as much as it is now with my own product. It’s nice to use the skills I learned at Monmouth. It’s a win-win.”

And it’s a win for Deuerling’s customers, too. Two of his top-selling sauces are pineapple habanero and hot lemon garlic. The latter is endorsed by his mother, who got Deuerling

started down his path when she’d have him work alongside her in the family garden. “It’s got a light, bright lemony flavor, and then a savory flavor from the garlic,” he said. “My mom doesn’t like really spicy stuff, but even she likes that one.” Of the other sauce, he said, “It’s not overly fruity, and the sweetness from the pineapple cuts through the heat. I really like it on pizza. It’s a very versatile sauce.” Deuerling started out with tomatoes and other “simple stuff” in his gardening, but he now enjoys working with peppers on the hotter end of the spectrum. Similarly, his first attempt at making a hot sauce was based on a simple recipe he found online. “It helped me get the gist of it down,” he said. “But going forward, I’ve been able to make it my own. I shared the first batches with friends and family, and they said it was pretty good.” A holiday display showcases Deuerling’s colorful variety of hot sauces. Despite the more adventurous plants, his product isn’t the type that can only be eaten on a dare. “I focus on flavor over heat,” he said. “But it does have hot peppers in it, so it’s going to have a little spice to it.” For Obscurity Brewing in Elburn, Deuerling is working on a smoked honey habanero sauce that will pair with the restaurant’s focus on barbecue. “It fits their niche really well,” he said of a potential large-scale client. “Hopefully, it all pans out over the next few months.” Deuerling, who makes Willy Sauce out of his own kitchen, also plans to move his operation into a larger space, courtesy of some friends. “I really want to get it into some smaller local restaurants,” he said. “For the time being, this is just a side hustle, but it would be kind of nice for it to be more. Hopefully, it could be productive enough to be my main gig. I’m just taking it one day at a time. There’s nothing you can do that’s any faster than that.”

Deuerling credits skills in art and communication learned at Monmouth for helping him market his hot sauces.

KAREN SKADOW ’10 AND LEONARDO JIMENEZ

WEDDINGS

EMILY BELRICHARD ’10 AND JEREMY PEACE KAITLYN WASHBURN ’14 AND TYLER COCKERHAM EMILY FLINT ’16 AND MATTHEW SCHMIDT ’14 KIRSTI BARTON ’18 AND AUSTIN HARDY ’17

2010 Karen Skadow and Leonardo Jimenez July 12, 2020 Emily Belrichard and Jeremy Peace September 5, 2021

2013 Clarissa Gardner and Alex Brooks October 11, 2021 2014 Kaitlyn Washburn and Tyler Cockerham October 16, 2021 Adelaide Columnas and Alex Woods ’12 December 18, 2021

2016 Emily Flint and Matthew Schmidt ’14 June 21, 2021 2018 Kirsti Barton and Austin Hardy ’17 September 18, 2021

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Visit monmouthcollege.edu/wee-scots to submit your baby photo and information.

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For all photos, be sure to include all pertinent information, including date of wedding or birth, couples’ and parents’ names and class years (if applicable), and identification of all individuals in photos, if not obvious.

2008 Cassie Jensen Gauf and Scott a son, Caleb Alan September 14, 2021 Karah Goetschius Hoffer and

Erik Hoffer

a daughter, Kaycee Elizabeth November 2, 2021

2009 Paige Halpin Smith and Henry a daughter, Alice Noreen March 30, 2021 Emily Demerath Graham and

James Graham ’10

a daughter, Elaina “Lainey” July 22, 2021

2011 Samantha Latora Baker and Kris a son, Beauden Kristopher July 3, 2021

2013 Lindsay Franey Johnson and

David Johnson ’14

a son, Brooks Andrew November 27, 2021

2015 Megan Shultz Sellman and Tyler a daughter, Brynlee Grace March 25, 2021 Emily Holt and Alejandro Plata a son, Wyatt Allen July 22, 2021 Jill Vass Moore and Patrick a son, Mason Patrick October 20, 2021

2016 Brittany Shumaker Berg and Chris a daughter, Hazel January 24, 2022

BIRTHS

CALEB ALAN GAUF KAYCEE ELIZABETH HOFFER ALICE NOREEN SMITH

ELAINA “LAINEY” GRAHAM BEAUDEN KRISTOPHER BAKER BROOKS ANDREW JOHNSON

BRYNLEE GRACE SELLMAN WYATT ALLEN PLATA HAZEL BERG

IN MEMORIAM

1940 Elizabeth Jones Oakberg, 103, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., died Dec. 18, 2021. Born in Walla Walla, Wash., in 1918, she studied English and education at Monmouth, then earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1942. Oakberg was a teacher for more than 25 years, most of that time leading a third-grade classroom in Oak Ridge. An active ham radio operator, she achieved many awards in the field and had radio contact with the Russian MIR space station.

1945 Mary Ann Thome Johnson, 97, of Washington, Pa., died Nov. 23, 2021. She graduated with a degree in English and was a member of the synchronized swim team and Kappa Kappa Gamma. Johnson, who completed a master’s degree in English at Bryn Mawr (Pa.) College, taught high school and college English, the latter at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington. She was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Roger Johnson ’44. Survivors include her children, Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson ’72 and Emily Johnson Minor ’76, and a granddaughter, Katherine Minor ’04. 1946 Virginia Holmes Majer, 97, of Sandpoint, Idaho, died Dec. 24, 2021. She began her college education at Monmouth, where she started her lifelong association with Kappa Kappa Gamma. She then left school after two years to support the World War II effort. Majer graduated from a modeling school in Chicago and then, after the war, completed her bachelor’s degree in home economics at Washington State University. She was a homemaker, but after her children went to college, she became an original employee at Nordstrom in Spokane, Wash., and she worked there until she retired.

1949 Joseph Staudenbaur, 96, of Madison, S.D., died Oct. 10, 2021. After serving in World War II, he graduated with a degree in mathematics and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. A sales executive with Sun Oil Co. for 25 years, he then started Specialty Oils, Inc., running it until he was 88 years old. He was known for his expertise in making perfectly smooth ice rinks and for cultivating peonies. 1950 Marcia Talbott Caltrider, 92, of Long Beach, Calif., died Dec. 25, 2021. A member of Kappa Delta, she headed to Long Beach in the early 1950s to find work, along with three Monmouth girlfriends. Caltrider taught 37 years for the Long Beach Unified School District and mentored teachers at California State University Long Beach for 11 more.

Stephen Kennedy, 95, of Clarkston, Mich., died Dec. 27, 2021. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. A World War II veteran, he enlisted the day after his 17th birthday and was a medical corpsman. Kennedy was among the first U.S. soldiers to occupy Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped. At Monmouth, he met his first wife, Patricia McConnell ’50. Kennedy worked in retail and ended his career as president of Crowley’s department store in Detroit, retiring in 1986. He also served as a photographer for Oakland County Parks. 1951 Charles Burke of Carmel, Ind., died Jan. 24, 2021. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Shelby Burke ’53. Martha Buschart Dilthey, 92, of Florissant, Mo., died in late November 2021. She completed her degree at Washington University and became an occupational therapist, serving as the first OT at Shriners Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. Dilthey had a professional career spanning more than 40 years. James Berry Williams, 98, of Mount Carroll, Ill., died Dec. 18, 2021. After serving in World War II— enlisting in the Navy at the age of 16—he graduated from Monmouth with a degree in psychology. Williams taught at Savanna (Ill.) High School for many years, retiring in 1986. He recommended Monmouth to many of his students. 1952 Robert Miller of Phoenix, Ariz., died Sept. 4, 2021. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and married Martha Claycomb Miller ’54, who survives. Marian Prugh Nichol of Columbus, Ohio, died Oct. 24, 2021. She graduated with a degree in music and was a member of Kappa Delta. Nichol worked at Chemical Abstracts Services, ultimately serving as supervisor of the company’s document delivery service department. Survivors include a number of cousins who attended Monmouth.

1953 Jo-anne Lusk Meyers Burlington, , 90, of Iowa, died Aug. 6, 2021. A Monmouth native, she was a member of Kappa Delta during her time on campus, earning teacher certification. Meyers worked for the National Research Bureau for seven years and for two radio stations. Genevieve Gould Michael, 90, of Leadville, Colo., died Dec. 17, 2021. She spent her first two years at Monmouth, where she was a member of the synchronized swim team and Kappa Delta. She completed a degree in dance at the University of Illinois, where she became chapter president of the sorority. Mary Margaret Stewart, 90, of Gettysburg, Pa., died Oct. 10, 2021. A member of Kappa Delta, she graduated with a degree in English, then completed a doctorate in English literature from Indiana University. Stewart taught English at Gettysburg College for 37 years, serving as chair of the department for some of that time. She was also instrumental in adding women’s studies to the Gettysburg curriculum. 1954 Neil Verigan, 89, of Hillsboro, Ore., died in October 2021. A member of Theta Chi, he graduated with a degree in history. A certified NRA rifle instructor, he taught rifle in Monmouth’s physical education classes and coached the College’s teams, leading the team to a national individual and team title. His association with rifle coach Garrett Thiessen led to his joining Thiessen’s team that in 1952 rescued the College’s fabled Civil War cannon, which had been lost in a creek for nearly 50 years. Volunteering for military service

ALUMNI NEWS | OBITUARIES

IN MEMORIAM

Professor Gary Willhardt ’59

Emeritus professor of English Gary Willhardt slipped into the “Realms of Light” on Nov. 27, 2021. He was 84 at the time of his death in Clarksville, Iowa.

“He was an outstanding teacher,” said Jeremy McNamara, a longtime colleague in the English department. “I don’t know anybody who didn’t enjoy his classes and get a lot out of them. Right from the beginning, he was a success.”

That beginning came in 1967. As the new chair of the English department, McNamara was charged with hiring faculty, and Willhardt came recommended from the department chair at Ohio State University. Willhardt was completing his doctorate at Ohio State, which included a thesis on 18th-century English poet John Byrom. He and his first wife, Janet Miller Willhardt ’60, moved to Monmouth along with their young son, Mark Willhardt.

The end of his teaching tenure came in 2000 and overlapped the beginning of Mark’s career in the English department. Today, Mark is the College’s dean of the faculty and serves as vice president for academic affairs.

“In academics, it’s unusual to follow one’s parent into the same discipline, but it’s practically unheard of to do so at the same institution, as well,” said Mark. “That I could build my career upon his legacy is truly something special, and something I have cherished from my first day on faculty.”

Between 1966 and 1995, either McNamara or Gary Willhardt served as chair of the English department. Gary manned the post from 1971–88, and Mark was twice chair of the department from 2011–18.

“Gary was a very close friend,” said McNamara. “We really hit it off, both in the department and out of the department. I can’t imagine a closer, more productive, more enjoyable relationship with anybody. We really agreed on what a small-college English department should be.”

Willhardt articulated his viewpoint on that subject in a 1986 article in Scots Newse, the College magazine.

“Education cannot simply be external,” he wrote. “One thing students have to do is develop some sensitivities and begin to understand what they feel about things, not just what they know about things. … ‘Who am I and what do I believe in?’”

Willhardt’s belief, expressed in a 1980s-era admission piece, was that “literature can make a difference in people’s lives … through literature, students can learn more about themselves and about society.”

When the careers of Gary and Mark intersected in 2000, Scots Newse ran a piece comparing and contrasting the teaching and fashion styles of the father and son. Their department colleague, emeritus professor Craig Watson, contributed to the article, citing Gary’s “18th-century elegance.”

Today, Watson, who taught with Willhardt for 14 years, expanded on that sentiment.

“Wry, elegant, self-deprecating and very funny—Gary was in every sense and on every occasion a gentle man of belles lettres. He happily taught writing and literature as achievements of style in service of a gentler ‘cultivated society.’ He epitomized and taught students to value reflection and taste and, to use a Jamesian term I appreciate, ‘sensibility.’ In short, we already know painfully what it is to miss him and his influence.”

Emeritus history professor William Urban also touched on Willhardt’s wit when offering his remembrances.

“He was by far the best after-dinner speaker we had in my 50 years of experience,” said Urban. “His dry wit, delivered flat, always had a point, but he was careful to keep that lowkey. Each presentation was fresh, modest and devoid of any pretense of superiority.”

In a 1996 newsletter that featured a history of the English department, Willhardt, who was by then its senior member, wrote, “When the question of who would write (it) came up, all turned to me. Apparently, the old guy is typecast as the chronicler. I’m the man who came to dinner and never left.”

Willhardt came to study at Monmouth from Washington, Ill. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, later joining its alumni board and serving as president.

He met Jan at Monmouth, and the couple was married 32 years until her death in 1993. He married Jean Woltemath in 1996, and she survives, along with Mark and daughter-inlaw Kat Argentine Willhardt ’12, and granddaughter, Emma Willhardt.

In addition to serving on various faculty committees, Willhardt was a presence on the Warren County Library Board, the Monmouth City Planning Committee and as a founding trustee of the Buchanan Center for the Arts. The latter volunteer work dovetailed with his hobbies of painting and woodcarving.

“He was a skilled woodcarver, an art requiring patience and great care,” said Urban. “The large piece he entered in the competition at the Buchanan Center was magnificent.”

—Barry McNamara

ALUMNI NEWS | OBITUARIES

IN MEMORIAM

Professor Esther White

Emerita professor of education Esther White died Dec. 30, 2021, at a Monmouth nursing home. She was 101. After a long career as a teacher and administrator in Keokuk, Iowa, esther White came to Monmouth in 1974 as a professor in the education department. She intended to stay only a year or two but taught until 1988, preparing students to be the next generation of educators. She cited the relationships she built and the creation of Monmouth’s summer enrichment program, College For Kids, as reasons why she stayed. Among the last students she taught was Sandra Pragas ’88, who returned to her native Malaysia and eventually started her own kindergarten. Traveling to Malaysia to help Pragas formally launch the school was one of White’s career highlights and is a memory also treasured by Pragas, who keeps a photo of the occasion.

“Among my first course subjects with Ms. White was ‘Children’s Literature’—a textbook that I still have in my library of books to keep for life,” said Pragas. “In came this lady on the first day, with bright red lipstick and a big smile. She chuckled and introduced herself. She had me at ‘hello.’ But that smile also came with a firmness and high expectations from her students.”

Another of her former students, Crystal Krug Sargent ’85, recalled White’s passion for children’s books.

“She loved children’s literature and had such a strong knowledge of it,” said Sargent, a former special education teacher who is now a teacher of English language learners in the Galesburg school district.

Sargent called White a “pioneer” for the administrative roles she held as a woman during the middle of the 20th century.

Born in 1920, White grew up near the tiny community of Argyle, Iowa. She gave a great deal of credit for her longevity to her very rural upbringing, which included experiencing the Great Depression.

To get to school, she rode a horse-drawn bus, which stopped at her farm’s one-lane dirt road. White not only attended a one-room schoolhouse but eventually taught in one, fulfilling a goal she’d had from a young age.

A 16-year-old high school graduate, she took courses at Fort Madison Business College until she turned 18 and was old enough to teach in Iowa. In 1938, she took a 10-week set of classes at nearby Iowa Wesleyan College, which qualified her to be a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse, earning $50 a month. She went back each of the next four summers to get her full teacher’s certification, then became a teacher for eight years—and then a principal—in nearby Keokuk.

During the early days of the pandemic, White’s 100th birthday was celebrated with friends and former students and colleagues driving by her home near campus, while she sat outside and waved. A brief memoir she wrote for the occasion concluded with the following words:

“I wish to each of you a long life also and one surrounded by love and appreciation made evident by all of us. Only as we make our love evident does it add to our living.”

—Barry McNamara 1953 (continued) in 1954, Verigan qualified for the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps School and was subsequently appointed a special agent. His professional career included 14 years with Employers Insurance of Wausau and 12 years as assistant vice president of marketing for Rollins Burdick Hunter in Portland, Ore. 1955 John Leach, 88, of DeKalb, Ill., died Dec. 23, 2021. A member of the swim team and Alpha Tau Omega, he completed his degree at Michigan State University. He worked at his family’s business, Leach Brothers Lumber and Coal, before branching out to start Leach Homes, a land development and homebuilding business. A nursing scholarship that he and his wife started evolved into the Leach College of Nursing at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill., where he lived most of his life.

1956 Evard Best, 87, of Blue Ridge, Ga., died Dec. 3, 2021. A member of Theta Chi, he graduated with a degree in economics. A teacher in Minnesota, Best held a master’s degree from Mankato State University. 1957 Constance Jefferies Behrman of Spokane, Wash., died Dec. 20, 2021. She graduated with a degree in English, worked for The Oracle and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta. 1959 Arthur Gust, 84, of Fayetteville, Ark., died Nov. 4, 2021. He studied chemistry at Monmouth and was a veteran of the Air Force. Gust worked in a fast-paced industry for three decades, managing thousands of employees, then was an educator in a college classroom. He also had a radio show focusing on jazz. Elspeth Barclay Peterjohn, 84, of Willoughby, Ohio, died Jan. 9, 2022. She graduated with a degree in English and was a member of Kappa Delta. When not raising her family, Peterjohn taught for many years—much of that time at Shaker Heights High School—retiring in 1996. 1960 June Christiansen Fredericks, 82, of Plainfield, Ill., died Dec. 28, 2021. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the synchronized swim team. For 23 years, she managed the Jazz Members Big Band, also known as the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. She also did office management work.

ALUMNI NEWS | OBITUARIES

1961 John Phillips, 82 of Geneseo, Ill., died Dec. 13, 2021. A member of the football, wrestling and track teams, he graduated with a degree in physical education. In 1972, he completed his master’s degree in education from Eastern Illinois University. Phillips was a teacher and coach in four Illinois school districts, including Harlem in Loves Park, Mattoon, Atkinson and Erie, retiring in 1993. Survivors include a daughter, Cathy Jo Phillips Zahari ’91. 1963 Virginia Cleff Ford Elizabeth , 80, of City, N.C., died Nov. 26, 2021. She graduated with a degree in sociology. Ford served for 30 years with the Elizabeth City school system, retiring in 2005. A diehard Chicago sports fan, she coached Little League for many years.

Phillip Raistrick, 78, of Bradenton, Fla., died Nov. 20, 2019. A sociology major, he was the founder of En-Vision America, an assistive technology company that helped blind and visually impaired individuals overcome their disabilities. Raistrick worked for computer technology firms for three decades before founding his company in 1996. Mary Jane Jones Singer, 80, of Zionsville, Ind., died Nov. 4, 2021. She studied art history and was a member of Kappa Delta. Survivors include her husband, Robert Singer ’61. 1964 Stuart Fanning, 78, of Hampton, N.H., died Oct. 3, 2021. He graduated with a degree in business administration. Fanning was an administrative officer in the Air Force, a business manager at the Strafford Guidance Center and a real estate broker. Marshall Peterson of Murphy, N.C., died Dec. 14, 2021. A physical education major, he was a member of the basketball and track teams, the Octopus Club and Theta Chi. 1967 Keith Sanderson, 75, of Loudon, Tenn., died Jan. 9, 2021. He graduated with a degree in history and a minor in English, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. An advertising and marketing executive who held major communication positions at twop Fortune 500 companies, he became director of e-business strategic planning for the multinational construction company Komatsu, headquartered in Tokyo. As vice president, he wrote and promoted construction equipment, and helped him form an e-commerce system for Komatsu America. In later life he became an animal advocate and podcaster for Pet Life Radio. Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Helen Pedersen Sanderson ’70, and a son and daughter. 1968 Thomas Schneider, 75, of Brookfield, Wis., died Jan. 3, 2022. He graduated with a degree in biology and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. An accomplished surgeon, Schneider was also a member of the founding team of the Wisconsin Association for Fire Safety’s Camp for Burn Injured Youth. 1970 Eric Rosenblum of Levittown, N.Y., died in August 2018. He graduated with a degree in English and worked for the College radio station. 1976 Rick Amy, 67, of Illinois City, Ill., died Dec. 3, 2021. A physical education major, Amy was a member of the football, track and soccer teams and Alpha Tau Omega. He was a teacher and coach in the Rockridge (Ill.) school district for 35 years, leading the Rockets to state titles in football and wrestling. He was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Hall of Fame, as well as the hall of fame at his high school alma mater, Sherrard. 1983 Kellie Sumner Schroll, 59, of Thompson Station, Tenn., died May 1, 2021. 1984 Alicia Peterson Pallister, 59, of Burlington, Iowa, died Aug. 21, 2021, of complications associated with liver disease. She graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. For three decades, Pallister worked in advertising sales and marketing for the Burlington companies of Case Corporation and MediaCom.

1985 Donald Brandon, 59, of Springfield, Ill., died Dec. 29, 2021. He studied physical education and was a member of the basketball team. He worked as a security guard at Southeast High School in Springfield, where he had been a standout point guard. Brandon was affectionately known at the school as Mr. Spartan. Nick Johnson, 58, of Kewanee, Ill., died Oct. 25, 2021. He studied business administration and was a member of the football team and Alpha Tau Omega. Johnson worked at Pines/ Great Dane for a number of years, as well as several other Kewanee-area businesses, including Rookie’s Food and Spirits in Bradford, which he owned. He was also a basketball, football and baseball official. Survivors include his brother, Michael Quagliano ’83. Aileen St. Ledger, 59, of Grayslake, Ill., died Dec. 17, 2021. An art major at Monmouth, she was with Jewel/Osco in Grayslake for many years. She was preceded in death by her father, longtime Monmouth staff member Dean St. Ledger. Survivors include her mother, longtime staff member Nancy St. Ledger ’69, and a brother, Raymond St. Ledger ’85. 2013 Daniel Hardaway, 31, of Tavares, Fla., died Dec. 19, 2021. A financial consultant, he graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of the football team.

Faculty and Staff:

Eunice Reynolds, 88, of Monmouth, a former member of the admission office staff, died Dec. 9, 2021. James Wyman, 73, of Sandwich, Ill., a former member of the College’s communication and English faculty, died Jan. 9, 2022. Carolyn Tinkham, 72, of Warrenville, S.C., a secretary for various departments from 1987–2005, died Jan. 18, 2022. Thomas L. Fernandez, 92, associate speech professor from 1963–69, died Jan. 26, 2002 in Tyler, Texas. After Monmouth, he served as vice president of student and academic services at Emory University and as provost at the University of Texas at Tyler.