Five Outstanding Alumni Honored at Homecoming Ed Johnson
The student body of the early 80s elected Ed Johnson (MA 86, BS 84) to two consecutive terms as student body president. In his second term, the governor of New Mexico appointed Ed to the New Mexico State Board of Educational Finance. Ed furthered his public service career working on Capitol Hill and with New York City’s youth afterwards. In 1998, Ed began his 15-year tenure of public service for Asbury Park, New Jersey. Ed served as city councilman, chairman of the Urban Enterprise Zone and most recently as Asbury Park’s mayor. Ed transformed Asbury Park into a 21st century community where property values rose from $416 million to $1.2 billion. He is a member of the Zeta Sigma Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
Major General David Kee
Retired Major General David Kee (BS 77) participated on ENMU’s swim and football teams and was a member of ROTC. The United States Army commissioned General Kee after graduation; he attended the Quartermaster and Petroleum basic courses along with Airborne school in Fort Lee, Virginia. General Kee’s first overseas assignment was to Zweibruecken, Germany. Afterwards, he served with the Allied Central European Rapid Reaction Corps in Saraajevo, Bosnia from 1996-1997. In 2005, General Kee deployed to Kuwait as the director of CENTCOM’s Deployment and Distribution Operations Center. Following this deployment, General Kee worked as the Joint Chiefs of Staff ’s deputy director for Logistics until his retirement in February 2014.
Loren Nancarrow (posthumously)
After leaving ENMU, Loren Nancarrow (BS 75) worked as an anchorman, reporter and weatherman in San Diego, Calif. He is the recipient of five Emmys, four Golden Mics and won the AP Investigative Reporting Award. Recognized as Environmentalist of the Year, Loren was a conservationist and environmentalist committed to planetary sustainability. He also co-authored
four organic gardening books with Random House. Doctors diagnosed Loren with stage III terminal brain cancer (Anaplastic Astrocytoma) in early February of 2013. He courageously faced his diagnosis, as Loren created a blog where he wrote about his experience. During this time, Loren also reached out to Scripps Health to setup a healing garden for cancer patients. Loren passed away on Dec. 28, 2013.
Larry Patton
Upon graduation, Larry Patton (BBA 71) went to work for the Comptroller of the Currency as a commissioned national bank examiner and the Regional Director of Corporate Activities; shortly after, Larry began his banking career. In addition to serving as president and Chief Executive Officer of WestStar Bank, Larry has served as president and CEO of several other banks in El Paso. WestStar Bank became and remains the only El Paso based bank to reach $1 billion in assets. SNL ranked WestStar Bank as the “Top Community Bank” in 2010 for banks with $500 million to $5 billion in assets. Larry will serve on the Finance Commission of Texas until 2020.
Berylene Rogers
Berylene Rogers (BA 70) served as the editor-in-chief for the The Chase and worked as a columnist for The Portales News-Tribune. From 19872002, Berylene ran a design firm that evolved into a results-oriented consulting firm focused on public relations and marketing strategies for small but high-end clients. Berylene’s clients included Apple Computers and NASA. Beginning in the early 90s, Berylene began working as a senior technical editor and documentation specialist for Los Alamos National Laboratory, a designation she holds to this day. Established in her field, Berylene has received numerous awards for excellence in scientific publishing and publication relations.
Green & Silver | November 2014
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