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N O T E S pass it on. The third angel I met lives in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Her name is Reverend Angel. She wears a long denim coat, a straw hat, brown combat boots, and a large cross necklace. She used to be a street preacher in San Antonio, Texas, spreading the Gospel. The fourth angel is named Robert. He was smoking a cigarette at the Vija Truck Stop near Casa Grande, Arizona, when I met him. He was wearing camouflage pants and a sweatshirt. He had a dog. He found a bed and an American flag blanket for me at the truck stop. Before I went to bed we watched a Roy Rogers movie, The Bells of San Angelo. He also had a cat
Canaan Chatman ’95 was all-WCC as a basketball player on The Bluff and then a professional ballplayer for six years in Israel, Australia, Japan, Poland, Turkey, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates before ending his career to focus on something more important: children, both his own (like son Kameron, pictured with his Dad above) and those he has taught and mentored in his ten years back home in Portland, where he was a star at Benson High. Today, after working with Adidas and Nike over the years, he’s the executive director of the YMCA facility called The Hoop in Beaverton, creator of the Rose City Showcase tournament, founder of the Inner City Portland team (whose alumni include the Detroit Lions’ Ndamukong Suh), owner of a company called Courtside Entertainment, and proud dad of one of Oregon’s best young basketball players, Kameron Chatman, among his three children with his high school sweetheart, LaShea Chatman. “I really wanted to help put UP on the map as the city’s premier basketball program,” he says of his college days, “but I also knew that when the ball stopped bouncing, my education would serve me well...” —Nathan Dinsdale ’00 Carlsbad, California, during which time I met several angels. On my ride I thought about the road ahead. I thought about glass, nails, potholes, flat tires, the wind, cracks in the blacktop, huge trucks, the physical limitations of my own body, candy bars, my four sons, my son’s First Combat Marine Engineers platoon. I thought about Upton Sinclair: ‘Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of unsyllabled isolation.’ The first angel I met used to be the mayor of
Apache, Oklahoma. His name is Bill. He sat down with me at breakfast at the Hop & Sak gas station and store. He loves cars. We talked about focusing on safety on the road. The second angel I met lives near Turkey, Texas. His name is Jerry. He put my bike in the back of his pickup truck and drove me 42 miles to a town where I could get spare tires and a good night’s sleep. He wouldn’t take the money I offered for his gas but only asked that I not forget the good that was done for me and
named Arizona. He liked to drink beer. At the very end of my journey I was toiling up a hill when a young man in battle fatigues called out to me. After a moment I realized it was my son. At the top of the hill were two more of my sons, who emptied a bottle of champagne on me, a moment I will treasure the rest of my life. God sends messengers. God unseals our eyes. God shows us how the ordinary is extraordinary. I did see angels. I met people without homes or food or money and they gave me what they had and I gave them what I had and I know they are angels.”
’80 MANNY AND MIKE Retired School of Engineering professor Larry Simmons and Manny Hotchkiss ’78 had a very enjoyable visit with Mike Monteith and his wife Catherine at their home on the St. Maries River in Northern Idaho, according to a note sent by Simmons in October 2011. “Both Manny and Mike are retired after long engineering careers,” writes Larry. “Manny has been volunteering for about 15 years as a member of the UP Engineering Dean's Advisory Council.”
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’81 MICHELLE VENTURES A GUESS “It is Jill Peterson,” writes Michelle Crukshank in response to our winter 2011 mystery faculty photo. “I did improvisational children’s theatre with her for three years at UP” Thanks Michelle, you guessed correctly, and Jill has always had the magic touch when it comes to children’s theater.
’84 THE GUESSES CONTINUE Yet another correct guess as to the identity of our fall 2011 mystery faculty member: “Probably lots of correct answers already,” writes Dave Sarchet. “Ken Lulay, class of 1984. One of a whopping dozen BSME’s that year.” Yes, it’s Ken, who is now a member of our engineering faculty here on The Bluff. Dave works at the Georgia-Pacific mill in Camas, Wash., as an asset availability leader. Pat Hensler knows the identity of our winter 2011 mystery faculty member: “Definitely Jill Hoddick. Jill is just one of those quality friends!” “The mystery faculty person for winter 2011 is obviously Jill Hoddick,” writes Randall Hobson, “with whom I have had the pleasure of teaching Fine Arts 107. I graduated with a masters degree in music in 1984 so I’ve known Jill for a long time.” Dorothea “Dot” DeLapp writes: “Your winter 2011 mystery faculty member is Jill K. Peterson-Hoddick. And yes, she was one of my best teachers. I knew her when she was Jill Peterson.”
’86 GOOD HEALTH TO ALL Chunwah Richard Lee writes: “I would like to wish Fr. Tom Hosinski and Bro. Fulgence Dougherty a Merry Christmas. I am now associate professor and assistant chair at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Wishing everyone at UP good health.” Thanks Chunwah, and good luck with your teaching career and life in general. We received sad news recently from Matt Waite ’84, who writes: “I thought you might like to know Kenny Meyerson passed away recently at 47, he only attended UP for one year, he was on the tennis team, as you can see in the 1982 yearbook. If you google ‘Kenny Meyerson Tennis’ you’ll get all the details. I knew him personally, he was a good guy.” Thanks Matt, we did that and found that Ken passed away in his sleep on Wednesday, October