padflc Lutheran University SCene
December 1890
21 Alumni
Reitz I=amlly PLU Connections span Several Generations Every once in awh i l e we a re made awa re of fa m i l ies wh ose ties with PLU i nvolve large num be rs and spa n several genera tio ns. Among them is the Reitz fami ly, which i ncludes 2 1 a l u m n i and dates back to 1 9 1 1 . T h e late R e v . O . W . Re itz, a 1 9 1 3 Pacific Lutheran Academy grad uate, was the father of 1 1 children, 1 0 of whom attended PLU . That is be l i eved to be a one-fa m i l y PLU a l u m n i record . One son , Rev. Gerhard Reitz '39 of Spokane, was PLU's Dist i n gu ished A l u m n u s i n 1 9 87. Now an i nteri m pastor, ' he was a mis sionary in New G u i nea for nearly 40 years. Other fa m i l y a l u m n i i n c l ude t h e l ate E l i sa beth ( R e i t z '40) Adolph; Rev. Robert Reitz '44 of S pokane ; Rev. Arm in Reitz '45 of Lou isvi l l e, Ky.; Theodore Reitz '47 of Pasco, Wash ., a reti red teach e r; Rev. M a rcus R e i t z ' 5 0 of Ankeny, l a . ; Rev_ Otto Reitz ' 5 2 of La Porte City, l a . ; Rosal i e (Reitz '54) Knerr, a n u rse in Herm iston, Ore_; Joseph Reitz '56, a teacher i n Wa l n ut Creek, Cal if.; and Dr. Karl f�eitz '6 1 , a col l ege professor
Lo ndgren N ew Presid ent Of Cou nty LB B ra n c h R i chard Londgren ' 5 9 was e lected president of the Taco ma-Pierce Cou nty b r a n c h of Luth eran Brotherhood at the b ranch a n n ua l meet i ng at PLU Oct. 1 5 . He succeeds Anita (Gregersen ' 5 9) Ch rist i a n , who cu rrently serves as presid ent of the South western Washington Synod u n i t o f t h e Women o f the Evangelica l Lutheran Church i n America. Also e l ected were Ken Sto raasli ' 5 0, vice-pres i d ent; Da vid Ch ris tian, ' 59, t reasu re r; Steven Mel ton '81 , p u b l ic ity officer; and G ra n t Wh i t l ey ' 5 0 , e d ucat i o n officer. J o h n Ostrander ' 4 9 i s also a member of t h e board . The bra nch a n nua l l y cont rib utes thousands of liours of vol u nteer service and approximate ly $45,000 to cong regations and co m m u n i t i es in t h e cou nty. Lutheran Brotherhood also sup ports PLU with g rants, sch o l a r ships a n d match ing cont ribu tions.
in Yorba Li nda, Ca l,if. Two of Rev. OW.'s sisters had t h ree c h i l d re n w h o atte nded PLU. T hey were Martin Hel l be rg ' 5 2 of M i lton, Was h . ; Lois ( H e l l berg ' 59) H uesby o f Wa l l a Walla, Was h . ; and H u g h M a rsh '59 of Snohomish, Wash. A b rot her's son, H a ro l d Reitz of S h e l t o n , Wash . , g raduated i n 1 944. A t h i rd g e n e ra t i o n i nc l u d es Helen (Adolph 70) Marti nez, Dr. Arlis Adolph 71 of Denve r, Colo.; Dr. Pa U li Reitz 71 , a Seatt le musi cian; and Em ily (Reitz 72) Boleyn of Gladstone, O re. Rev. O.W.'s broth er-i n-law, the late H .T.F. Wittrock, received an honorary PLU d eg ree i n 1 95 3 . C l a rice H u esby ' 9 0 , a n ed uca tion major, m ight be considered the fi rst of a fou rt h generation of a l u m n i . She is the daughter of Lois ( H e l l berg ' 5 9) H u esby. As t h ese relat ionsh i ps a re st u d ied, one becomes aware that v i rtual ly any l isting Wi l l be i ncomp lete. M a rri ages m u l t i p l y the n u mber of possi ble al u m n i who m ight be i nclu ded i n an exten ded fa m i ly, and their fa m i l i es and ma rriages extend the web of relationsh ips almo.st i nfin itely.
Rebecca Black of A uburn, WaSh., and Scott Friedman of Elk, WaSh., were elected queen and king o f homecoming a t PLU in October. Black, the daugh ter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest L. 8lack, is a junior majoring in b usiness administration. Friedman is a junior majoring in earth sciences and secondary education. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Friedman.
N eswi c k O rga n i st W i ns N at i o n a l I m p rovisation Com petition Bruce Neswick 7 8 of Buffalo, N .Y., was the winner of a recent American G u i l d of Org a n i sts national competition in o rgan im provisation. One of 40 e ntrants, N eswi c k became one o f 1 0 sem i-fi nal ists on the basis of a subm itted tape record i n g of his work. Prior to the AGO national convention in Boston he p e rformed for 2 5 m i n u tes on two s u b m itted themes plus a hymn t u n e to become one of th ree fi nal ists. The final ists competed on the fou r-manual Fisk tracker-act ion o rg a n at H a rva rd M e m o r i a l C h u rch d u r i n g t h e convention.
They used two n ew t h e m es, written by William Albright. plus a hymn tune or chant. Each had 45 m i nutes away from the key board to study the themes and prepare ideas. Neswick, 34, who holds bache lor's and master's d e g rees i n music from PLU, was t h e unani mous choice of the th ree j udges and earned a $2,000 prize pro vided by the Holtkamp Organ Company. David Dah l, his organ m e ntor at Pacific Luthera n , att e nd ed t h e f i n a l co m p et i t i o n " I was amazed and proud of how i nven tively, colorfu l l y and m u s i ca l ly
B ruce worked out a n d devel oped the subm itted themes," he sa id. Neswick is i n his seventh year as orga n ist-choi rmaster at st. Pa u l 's (Ep iscopal) Cat h ed ral i n Buffa l o . Last s u m m e r h is Men and Boys Choir were invited to Yorkmi nster Cath edral and West m i n ster Abbey in E n g l a n d , to spend a week in each p lace si ng ing the daily Evensong services. D u r i n g the su m me r of 1 989, N eswick was the w i n ner of t.he a n n u a l San Anse l m o (Ca l if.) O rgan Improvisation Contest at Dom i n ican Co illege.
Aberdeen C h u rch Ma rks Co ngreg ation, PLU Cente n n i a l s
From left, Hank Bilderback 74, Paul Nelson 71, Keith Lile 77 and Craig Cummings BO.
T h e cente n n i a l c e l ebrat i o n of Our Saviou r's Luthera n Church i n Aberdeen, Wash ., coi ncided with PLU's centennial this fa l l . O u r Saviou r's cent e n n i a l ban quet Sept. 23 also featured PLU . A cong ratu latory message wac;; sent by the u n i versity. Pastor Pa u l Freese 7 5 noted that he and wife Patti 76 are PLU gradu ates. Rev. Davld Wold '56, b ishop of the south western synod of the ELCA, and h is wife Elisabeth '57, also partici pated . Special music was provided by a q ua rtet of PLU a l u m n i who were active in music organ iza tions on ca m p us. T h e y were Hank Bilderback 74, Pa u l Nelson 71 , Keith Lile 77 and Craig Cum m i ngs '80.