Alumni News
Decorah Samuel Garwood, son of Deb (Stortz) Garwood-Schacherer ’84 and Mike Schacherer, and John Garwood ’83 (deceased) Marea Holkesvik, daughter of Molly (Williams) ’97 and Bob Holkesvik ’96 Aaron Larson, son of Maureen Larson ’06, Santa Rosa, Calif., and Ken Larson, Decorah Peter Lillibridge, son of Renee and Jim Lillibridge ’80 Blake Moen, son of Judy (Finanger) ’83 and Larry Moen Breanne Pierce, daughter of Lori (Phipps) ’87 and Scott Pierce ’88 Andrew Storlie, son of Rhonda (Volden) ’85 and Chris Storlie ’83 Iowa City Bryn Hedlund, daughter of Diane (Gruenhaupt) ’87 and Shawn Hedlund Peosta Cameron James, son of Jody and Brian James ’83 Pilot Mound Solveig Orngard, daughter of Sarah (Austrheim) ’79 and Andrew Orngard Prairie City Andrew McCarthy, son of Mindy and Timothy McCarthy ’84 Ridgeway Leyton Bohr, son of Becky (Butikofer) ’07 and Dennis Bohr Swea City Alex Brandt, son of Mary (Henriksen) ’83 and Lennon Brandt Waverly Hannah Mick, daughter of Lore and Jeffrey Mick ’80 Windsor Heights Carly Rusek, daughter of Kathy Tenges ’82 and Ray Rusek ’81
MINNESOTA Arden Hills Ryan Vijums, son of Judy (Johnson) ’88 and Paul Vijums Austin Matthew Lunning, son of Janene (Chafee) ’89 and Bradley Lunning Jessica Tan, daughter of Tammy Lawson ’83 and Camille and Andrew Tan ’85, Tampa, Fla. Brooklyn Park Ashley Meyers, daughter of Ruth (Ives) ’89 and Jim Meyers ’89 Burnsville Brita Preus, daughter of Martha and Steve Preus ’80 Cannon Falls Jesslyn Hendrickson, daughter of Debby and Joel Hendrickson ’76 Cottage Grove Julia Reimann, daughter of Mary (Vaaler) ’87 and Tim Reimann Eden Prairie McKenna Campbell-Potter, daughter of Deb CampbellPotter ’75 and Ken Potter ’75 Fergus Falls Ethan Taylor, son of Anne (Lysne) ’88 and Sean Taylor ’84 Hastings Isaac Johnson, son of Camille (Clapp) ’87 and Kirk Johnson ’86 La Crescent Katelyn Evenson, daughter of Rachel Fishel and Matt Evenson ’91, Houston, Minn. Kent Sandness, son of Laura (Libbey) ’88 and Stephan Sandness ’86 Mankato Britta Petersen, daughter of Joanna (Swiggum) ’77 and Norman Petersen ’77 Anders Storvick, son of Di (Reque) ’85 and Eric Storvick ’85
Lois Swenson Fund promotes peace, justice, sustainability Lois Swenson ’57 was murdered in her Minneapolis home last June. The police investigation continues, and the case was unsolved at presstime. “We don’t want the focus to be on how she died, but on how each of us can carry on what she was doing to change the world,” says Rachel Hefte ’83, a close friend of Swenson. In that spirit, a close group of family and friends have started a memorial fund and will be advisers to donate money to causes that Swenson supported. The Lois Swenson Fund for Peace, Justice & Sustainable Communities has been set up with the Lutheran Community Foundation. The fund will support individuals or projects that further Swenson’s vision of a world where people live in peaceful community, children learn how to become engaged in creating a just world, and people treat the earth with respect and reverence. To make a gift in her memory, make checks payable to the Lutheran Community Foundation with “The Lois Swenson Fund” in the note portion of the check. Mail checks to the LCF at 625 Fourth Avenue South, Suite 1500, Minneapolis, MN 55415. To make a gift online, go to www.thelcf.org/loisswenson, where you can also read more about the Lois Swenson Fund. Friends have also created a website in memory of Swenson, www.loisswenson.com, where they have posted tributes, stories, and photographs, as well as many media reports and links to videos. In one of the tributes posted, Liz Erickson ’09 writes: “I’ve known Lois Swenson my whole life. A lot of who I am today is a result of my interactions with her. My earliest Lois memory was harboring her fugitive sheep ‘Mow’ in my Twin Cities suburb as a 5-year-old. We walked him down to the park and met everyone in the neighborhood. It’s funny to think at such a young age Lois was already teaching me to be an environmentalist and create community. “In elementary school, Lois baby-sat my brother and I. She trained us in waste reduction. Once she set us up with a stack of junk mail and instructed us to write things like “return to sender, stop wasting paper.” I always got excited to play with her oddball toy stash that she collected dumpster diving. My bedroom dresser is one she scavenged for me somewhere. She would continuously supply me with books she had saved, and got me hooked on the Trixie Beldon series. “I didn’t choose Luther College because Lois went there, but I know she had big dreams for Luther. Any time she checked in with me she wanted to know what was happening on campus. I’ll always remember her tracking down President Torgerson at the Luther Christmas concert to ask him when Luther was going to start raising chickens on the library lawn. To Lois it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ “She was glad to hear about the change in 2008 that required students to take a J-term off campus before they graduated. Her dream was that all students would have to study abroad before they graduated because travel had been such a transformative experience in her life.”
Winter 2013 Luther Alumni Magazine
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