Kirk Griffin ’70 and wife Sally’s current favorite phrase: ful outlook on life. They all live in Maine.” ❯ Nancy reminded me about the Great Bedspread Uprising in Whiting Hall, fall 1963. Women from our class probably all remember…we were told that bedspreads would be provided, but they didn’t arrive for months, and turned out to be horrible orange-striped things. The rebellion we staged in the communal rooms downstairs prepared us for future protests on more important topics, like women’s hours and the war. ❯ We Turners recently had the fun of running into Tom Collins and his wife and son in Wind Cave National Park—Oregonians and Californians all enjoying South Dakota! Later in the summer, we caught up with Nancy Rabenstein Pielemeier and husband John during their swing through the Pacific Northwest; Helen Gilbert was next on their itinerary. Class Correspondents: Jack and Anne Talley Turner 90498 Sunderman Road, Springfield, OR 97478, anneturner@wildblue.net
1968 Susan Tracy Van Kirk writes, “Chip Evans started a Facebook page called Knox 68. It is such a wonderful compendium of information about what happened when we were in school, what happened to our profs, and what’s going on with many of us. The page also has a section of people who have passed away. Last issue, I mentioned my first mystery, Three May Keep a Secret. I’ve signed a contract for a second, Marry in Haste, for 2016. I’m working on a third, Death Takes No Bribes, for 2017. I have retired from teaching at Monmouth High School and Monmouth College, have three children and nine grandchildren (two sets of twins in the same family!). Really enjoying retirement. www.susanvankirk.com ❯ Lee Balgemann lost his father, Ralph, at 96. “I was blessed to have him for 66 years.” He spends time grilling burgers at Long Lake Cabin in Phelps, Wisconsin, in his Knox sweatshirt. ❯ Jack Brown published an Occupy Wall Street anthem, “It Takes Love (Love in Action)” on Bandcamp. Download it for free. ❯ Rick Smith fully retired in 2014 after 31 years in corporate leadership with Blessing Health System, Quincy, Illinois. He has plans for foreign travel and time with his seven grandchildren. He was at a Knox Alumni Council meeting and wants to encourage other alumni to volunteer to help bright, energized students get ready for careers. ❯ Dan Gunning retired in 2010 but continues to coach football and track, including weight and agility training. He also supervises his extra-large vegetable garden. ❯ Peggy Gamble Vogelsinger and Ed have moved from Bloomington, Illinois, to Estero, Florida. They hope to spend summers with family in Naperville and San Francisco. When in the Naples area, they hope Knox friends will drop by. Call 309-533-8210 or revpv@me.com. They had a wonderful visit with Chris Schoenberg Black and husband Tom last fall. ❯ Rich Newman was
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immersed in rehearsals for a play that opened in July. ❯ Rich and Holly Thompson Nelson have been retired for three years, living in a retirement community in Tennessee. Their kids and grandkids live in Alabama and Texas, and they try to see them often. He has undertaken a new path and is in his second play, Mary Poppins, at Cumberland County Playhouse and loves it. ❯ Howard Partner and daughter, Madeline drove to Washington University in St. Louis in August, where she started college. No Flunk Days for her. They advised that she stay clear of the local Budweiser. ❯ Lynn Galbraith Fissell wrote, “After Knox, I moved to San Francisco, married Tony Judnich, and had our son, Louis. In the late 1970s, I moved to Hercules, California, cofounded its historical society, and served two four-year terms on the City Council, serving as mayor once each term. Currently, I am president/treasurer of the Hercules and Tsushima, Japan, sister city organization. In 1998, I married Bob Fissell from the University of California. I have three stepsons and five step-grandchildren.” ❯ Pam Harrison Stoffel wrote, “I continue to teach at an all-boys school in Rochester, including the only team-taught class in the school— theatre tech. This spring’s Oliver! was a huge success, and I will direct Cheaper by the Dozen and Fiddler on the Roof this coming year. Husband Jim and I have a home on Sea Island in Georgia, and the family spent the July 4th week there. After we got back, Jim and I headed to St. Louis to see our youngest and Sue Bennetsen Postel and husband Roy. Jim continues as a venture capitalist and sits on numerous boards, and we serve on the graduate research board at Notre Dame, his alma mater. We just celebrated our 43rd, and, as a gift, Jim invested in a share of a nine-passenger private jet. I have our 50th Reunion on the calendar and enjoy keeping up with everyone on the Knox 68 Facebook page.” ❯ Big happenings in the Mary Mangieri Burgland household. “Daughter Caroline Burgland Cormier ’97 gave us a new grandson, William, and son Rich also has a new baby on the way. We will have six grandchildren, ages 5 and under. Husband George sold our drugstore to Hy-Vee. Retirement is now in sight. We hope for more golf and visits with our grandchildren.” ❯ Alan Birkner wrote, “Wife Bettina and I recently returned from a Mediterranean cruise and time in Barcelona. We liked it so much, we have booked a cruise to Alaska next year. Would love to see fellow alums. Sold our house and enjoy the condo life.” ❯ Pat Bangs reported, “After 25 years at Fairfax County Public Library, primarily as a writer-editor in the marketing department, I retired in December 2013 and celebrated with a trip to New Zealand. I live outside D.C. and am active in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University. I usher at several theaters, keep fit with water aerobics, and volunteer on the information desk at a local library. I visit family in the L.A. area and see my former Knox roommate, Nancy Brunk Loncke, on my visits. I reconnected with Chip
Evans when he ran the Marine Marathon here a few years back.” ❯ John Heyer is very proud to report that his daughter expects his first grandchild, a girl due in October. ❯ Bill Foss and Bill Beard recently played in a regional bridge tournament in Colorado but did not recognize each other. They talked because one was wearing a Knox shirt. ❯ Steve Hayashi wants to be known now as “Steph” since his Warriors won the NBA finals. ❯ Alice McClenahan Burk says, “Life is good here in northern California. Bridge on Monday, babysitting our two darling granddaughters on Tuesday and Thursday, and traveling whenever. I need eight more states and three more continents to complete my travel bucket list.” ❯ Bradley Routon sold his business and retired. Keeping close to nature, he has two part-time dream jobs—winters at a ski area and summers at a state park—but doesn’t get a hat like Smokey Bear’s. ❯ Lynn Heidinger-Brown has retired from Southern Illinois University (SIU), where she served on the curriculum council in 2007. Lynn was married to a former chancellor of SIU, James Montgomery Brown, who passed away in 2005. ❯ I have taken up pickleball and find I can still move after two knee replacements. While our son with Down’s syndrome was at camp in Wisconsin, Wes and I visited La Crosse and Rochester, Minnesota. YEAH BLACKHAWKS! Class Correspondent: Susan Meyer Mika 1519 North Kennicott Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL 60004, 847-253-7719, pottatea@comcast.net
1969 Knox alums, and particularly the Classes of 1968 and 1969, grieve with the families of Mike Burns and Jerry ’68 and Diane Scott Stubbs. In July, Mike succumbed to a lengthy battle with cancer at his home in Alaska; Diane and Jerry lost their lives in a private plane crash near Cody, Wyoming, about a week later. These cherished friends of many will be sorely missed, and our hearts go out to their loved ones. We were all blessed to have the privilege of knowing each of these wonderful human beings, and the warm memories of them that we will continue to treasure. I encourage you to share your personal memories of Mike, Jerry, and Diane, with Susan Meyer Mika ’68 and me. We’d like to publish some of them in the next issue of the magazine. ❯ In other news, Steven Meyers reports: “I’ve recently published a book, Personalized Philanthropy: Crash the Fundraising Matrix. While working on it, I was in touch with Robert King on the Knox advancement team, who took an interest in some of the gift designs I’ve developed. It turns out we were able to help during a Knox effort to endow core program needs. That made me very happy. In fact, there’s a nice anecdote in the book about a gift from a Knox alum to establish a professorial chair. Here is a link to my author page at Amazon: amazon.com/author/stevenmeyers.” Class Correspondent: Bill Combs bcombsi@yahoo.com