FOREVER A LOPER

1951

Ernie and Verla (Smith) Matuschka MSE ‘72, Ed.S. ‘76 of Sun Lakes, Arizona, celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary Sept. 16.

1962

Bob Phares of North Platte was awarded the title Regent Emeritus by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. He served three terms as regent.

1964

Ken Aldridge of Mansfield, Texas, published his twelfth novel, "Cold Case 82-3." He served 24 years as a special agent with the FBI.

1965

Charles Real of Omaha authored an essay titled "Went Away ... the Reals of Pallas ... the Reals of Oola" for the 2022 Journal of the Lough Gur Historical Society (Limerick, Ireland). Real’s essay describes two related Irish families leaving Ireland and England aboard ships bound for Australia and the United States and how both families survived in their new homes.

1967

Bill Backes of Milford was inducted into the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame.

1968

Sheryl and Lyle Shafer of Sunrise, Florida, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Aug. 5.

1970

Dick Luebbe of Columbus was inducted into the Columbus High School Hall of Fame for his 50-year coaching career. Dick coached wrestling, basketball, track and football.

1971

Russell “Herb” and Judy (Ripp) Dixon MSE ‘98 of Pleasanton celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Craig Lathrop MSE ‘77 of Kearney was inducted into the Kearney High Bearcat Hall of Fame as an assistant track coach.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Alumni are making an impact in their communities every single day. Please share those stories with us at lopers@unkalumni.org.

1973

Steve Larson of Funk was inducted into the Kearney High School Bearcat Hall of Fame as an assistant track coach.

Jean (Thomsen) Sidwell of Kearney retired as the Buffalo County treasurer with 40 years of service.

Roger Mathiesen MSE ‘77 of Kearney was inducted into the Kearney High School Bearcat Hall of Fame as a track coach.

1974

Alan Farlin MAE ‘93 of Minden is the volunteer coordinator at Pioneer Village. Alan has taught computers and math as a missionary for almost 40 years.

James and Mary Paulsen of Funk celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Aug.26.

1976

Terry Olson of Lincoln is a physical therapist with Prairie Orthopedic & Plastic Surgery.

1977

Bruce Elder of Kearney celebrated 40 years of service to UNK.

Shannon (Welch) Vesely of Bloomfield, Iowa, published a book of poetry, "The Way of Things," which won the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry by the Nebraska Center for the Book.

1978

Kimberly (Ashburn) Jacobson of Lincoln is a suicide prevention specialist with the Nebraska Department of Education.

Diane (Stork) Feldman of Litchfield received the August Gold U Award in recognition of her dedication to the UNMC College of Nursing — Kearney Division. Diane has been the learning resource center coordinator for the past 26 years. In addition, she received the KUDOS Award from the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

1979

Meg (Gross) Minton of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, received the 2022 Nancy Mickler Award presented at the Western

& Southern Open at the Cincinnati professional tennis tournament in August. The award is presented to a USPTA women’s tennis professional who has gone above and beyond promoting tennis in the Midwest. She is a 2010 UNK Athletic Hall of Fame inductee.

1980

Becky Reier of Kearney retired from Kearney Public Schools with 28 years of service.

Terry Wohlers of Fort Collins, Colorado, is the head of advisory services and marketing intelligence with ASTM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence and is the president of Wohlers Associates.

1981

Tyler Martin, M.D., of Roca is the CEO of Aeolian Biotech, which is developing an improved pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (iPCV) to prevent invasive diseases (bacteremic pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis).

Michelle (Holscher) Carlson MAE ‘03 of Lincoln is a business development manager for Purdue University Global and recently received the R.O.S.E. (Recognizing Outstanding Service Excellence) Award.

1982

Marianne Pierce of Holdrege is a preschool assistant teacher at Legacy Christian School in Holdrege.

Dan Scamehorn of Kearney retired from the Buffalo County Sheriff’s office. Dan served 22 years in the military reserves and 35 years in law enforcement.

Calvin Streeter of Pflugerville, Texas, retired with 33 years of service as a professor of social work at the University of Texas at Austin.

1983

Timothy Obermier, Ph.D., of Kearney celebrated 30 years of service to UNK. He is an industrial technology professor.

Randy Sump of LaVista received the Midlands Community Foundation’s 2023 Reflection Award. He was instrumental in restructuring the MCF to enable local communities in Sarpy and Cass counties to establish their own community foundations as affiliated funds, and to enable many nonprofit organizations and individuals to establish designated, donor advised and endowed funds under MCF’s 501(c)(3).

1984

Mark Suhr of Seward is an independent agent with Delta Dental Insurance.

1985

Rob Ryan of Loveland, Colorado, is a regional manager with Allergan Facial Aesthetics.

1986

Renee (Gustafson) Besse MAE ‘94 of Kearney is the financial aid director at UNK. Larry Keiter of Lincoln is the owner of LarryKeiterCoaching.com.

Troy Stonacek of Lincoln was inducted into the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame.

1987

Tim Echternach MAE of Columbia, Missouri, has taught for 35 years and is currently teaching at Central Methodist University, Moberly Area Community College and MACC Adult Education and Literacy.

Darrell Morris MAE of Kearney retired from Cargill Commodity Marketing Division and was inducted into the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame.

Theresa (Salyard) Wadkins of Lexington was honored with the Pratt-Heins Award for Teaching. She leads UNK’s long-term care management master’s degree program and is the interim chair of the criminal justice department.

1988

Kristine (Tynan) Gerber of Omaha is a 2022 50 over 50 Nebraska Award recipient.

1989

Lori Baker, Ph.D., of Marshall, Minnesota, has been named interim dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Sheri (Lyon) Jones of Chandler, Arizona, is the executive director of military certification and compliance at Grand Canyon Education.

Scott Weitzel of Broomfield, Colorado, is a shareholder and patent attorney with Sheridan Ross P.C.

1990

Wendy (Going) McCarty MAE of Grand Island celebrated 20 years of service to UNK. Wendy is a professor in teacher education.

Jeanne (Ott) Schroeder of Malcolm is an executive administrative assistant at TeamMates Mentoring Program.

1991

Brooke Envick, Ph.D., MBA ‘93 of Holdrege is an academic diversity officer for the Division of Academic Affairs at UNK. Brooke is professor of management for the College of Business and Technology. Brian Reetz of Lincoln is the communications coordinator and executive specialist at UNL in the office of the vice chancellor for business and finance.

Scott Renken ‘93 of Kearney is the environment, health and safety manager at West Pharmaceuticals.

1992

responsibilities. She is the general manager of BD Construction Inc. in Kearney.

Marsha (Bonne) McCulloch of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is a content development coordinator for The Institute for Functional Medicine.

Ann Marie (Harr) Park of Kearney is adjunct professor in intercultural development at UNK.

1993

Holly (Bonnesen) Derr MAE ‘08 of Harvard is a Title I reading teacher at Harvard Public Schools.

1994

Patrick Fielder of Lincoln is an organizational specialist for the Nebraska State Education Association. Patrick worked for Lincoln Public Schools as a teacher for 20 years. He and his wife, Christina (Mash) Fielder ‘94, have three children.

Jennifer (Olson) Marsh MAE ‘04 of Kearney is a first and second grade teacher at Legacy Christian School in Holdrege.

Alison Peck, Ph.D., of Alexandria, Virginia, is a program director at the National Science Foundation. She works with astronomical observatories and telescopes and organizes workshops in equity, diversity and inclusion at national conferences.

Amy (Kropatsch) Theis of Osceola is a mental health therapist at Columbus Middle School.

1995

Jeff Cogswell of Omaha is a senior solutions consultant at Helix by Q2 Software Inc.

Mike Covalt of Seward is vice president, insurance and financial services, at National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

1996

Linette (Grahleer) Butler of Kearney received the 2022 Community Supporter Award from the Associated General Contractors-Nebraska Building Chapter for utilizing her construction skills and leadership talents to support, promote or move the industry forward outside of her work

Roger Thomsen MAE ‘02, Ed.S. ‘11 of Amherst received the 2022 Nebraska State Association of Secondary School Principals Distinguished Service Award. He is the junior/senior high school principal at Amherst Public Schools.

1997

Sergey Alekseychick of Naples, Florida, is the vice president of revenue analytics at PODS.

Michael Derr MAE of Harvard is the superintendent at Harvard Public Schools.

Tracy Lungrin MSE ‘01 of Lincoln married Jim Townsend Dec. 23 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Miechelle (McCarty) McKelvey, Ph.D., MSE of Kearney was recognized with the PrattHeins award for service at UNK. Miechelle is the chairperson and a professor in communication disorders.

1998

Hope (Wagner) Shuler of Aurora, Colorado, is the media and communications manager for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

1999

Martonia Gaskill, Ph.D., MSE of Kearney is an academic diversity officer for UNK’s Division of Academic Affairs. She is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and the Graduate Program chair. She also serves as the digital pedagogy expert for UNK Online and celebrated 10 years of service with UNK.

Massih Hamidi of Irvine, California, is the general manager, lead architect — security architecture with AT&T Cybersecurity. Paul Rosenthal of Johnstown, Colorado, is an outside sales representative for Rexel USA.

Cathy (Luebbe) Sanchez MAE ‘04 of Kearney was inducted into the Columbus High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a three-sport letter winner.

Todd Wiltgen of Lincoln was appointed Lancaster County election commissioner.

2000

Dhiraj Mainali of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, is an associate director with S&P Global. Alex Straatmann of Kearney is the chief compliance officer at UNK.

2001

Shelley (Cross) Haberlan MSE ‘05 of Waukesha, Wisconsin, is a sales engineer with 2W Technologies, Inc.

Teresa (Warren) Vang-Freeling of Gering celebrated 10 years of service to UNK. She is a professor in social work.

2002

Ryan Caldwell of Lincoln is the international treasurer of the Arch Chapter of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

Travis Cobb of Omaha is the director of operations for Express Employment Operations. Dusty (Walston) Hatt of Lincoln is director of Pilates at Genesis Health Clubs and was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at UNK.

Jenny (Chapman) Knipping MAE of Kearney was honored for promoting inclusion at Northeast Elementary School by the Down Syndrome Advocates in Action during Inclusive Schools Week in December.

Liz (Doll) Warman of Andover, Kansas, is a quality improvement advisor with Kansas Healthcare Collaborative and a physician assistant at Rausch Medical Clinics.

2004

Kent Garman of Papillion is a revenue manager with Hill Brothers Inc.

Lynn (Rauner) Martin of Kearney, the Buffalo County Board of Commissioners administrator, received special recognition from the Nebraska International Governmental Risk Management Association, the county’s property, liability and workers’ compensation coverage and risk management services provider.

Brock McGee of Lincoln is a regional sales manager at Venus Group.

Julie (Bray) Obermeyer of Lincoln is the UNL College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources career development and corporate relations director. She has been reappointed to serve a one-year term on the board of directors for the National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association.

Heather (Hansen) True of Minden teaches fourth grade at Minden Public Schools.

2005

Clay and Erin (Jones) Mankin ’06 of Central City are parents of a son, Remington Max, born Aug. 19. He has three sisters and two brothers.

2006

Krystle (Faust) Buntemeyer of Kearney is chief executive officer at SCORR Marketing. Jodi Garrelts of Lincoln is an attorney with Immigrant Legal Center.

Shauna (Birchard) Graham MBA ‘08 of Central City was inducted into the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame.

Christy (Hagler) Rose of San Antonio, Texas, is the associate vice president of customer marketing at Definitive Healthcare.

2003

Christina and Heath Stukenholtz of Lincoln are parents of a son, Romeo Jo, born Sept. 8. He has a sister, Frankie. Heath and Christina are the founders of Senior Care Finder.

Nancy Ibarra of Omaha is an area manager II at Amazon.

Kellen and Emily (Murdoch) Jacobs of Norton, Kansas, started a nonprofit foundation called Leap of FaithE Foundation to support all involved in the U.S. infant open adoption process. Kellen also manages the rehabilitation department at Norton County Hospital.