Class Letters and that I was united with my husband, John, from my Ripon experience. My parents spent many weekends enjoying the campus and sporting events and were especially fond of Coach Elaine Coll. Fall is my favorite time of the year and always reminds me of the fresh start that a new school year brings. My request is that you take time to connect with your parents if they are still here, and, if not, make sure to pass on the love and kindness they provided you to others that cross your path. We hope you are enjoying this new approach for sharing school and class news. Please make sure to look through the publication to find the information and updates that are of interest. Thank you very much for your support! Please keep your updates coming to Ripon, update your email address, and feel free to contact me at the email address listed above. It would be great to share your news with our classmates. BARB WILLIAMS CLAY
1984 Krist Enstrom 510 Bede Circle, North Aurora, IL 60542 630-892-9156 / kenstrom@evergreenpark.org Connie Herbon Moser 33010 North Forest Drive, Grayslake, IL 60030 847-372-5410 / clmoser24@gmail.com Hello again Class of 1984! As always, I hope this correspondence finds everyone happy and in good health. Yet another year is in the books, and, despite all the troubles we read about in the news, The Power of Ripon continues to move forward. While many things change, many things remain the same. One thing that remains is my fervent hope that all these Ripon stories will encourage you to pick up the phone and call an old friend from Ripon. One thing that will change is that I have decided that this will be my last update as one of your Class Co-Agents. Perhaps when I retire in five years, I might feel differently and pick up the pen if needed again. However, I have decided to hang up my quill and let someone else experience the reward of this labor of love. I think it is appropriate that I take this time to reflect and go back to the beginning. When I started doing this almost six years ago, I thanked ERIC LUSTY ’84 for his years of service. He did this for longer than I did and I have a heartfelt appreciation for all the years he put out great newsletters. I decided to go way back for this last letter and gave a call to people I lived with on fourth floor Scott Hall — the Penthouse — our freshman year. I have had a great many wonderful conversations over the years with Class of 1984 members (which also led to getting in contact with friends from other classes). However, the most enthusiastic one I have ever experienced was with BRET JAEGER ’84. He had fantastic passion from one story to another. The positivity oozed from Bret, and after listening to his story, I could see why. After Ripon, Bret spent a year working with his dad in construction and “became buff.” Bret interviewed for a job at The Smithsonian but decided to go to grad school in Denver in the fall of 1985. He loaded up his station wagon and drove there only to find out that the program was cancelled the day before he got there. He then decided to go to library school in Madison where he continued to play lacrosse and got his advanced degree. After this, Bret continued to grow no moss and went back out to Meeker, Colorado, where he spent seven years. He not only fell completely in love with mountains, but he also fell completely in love with his wife, Bernada. They have been married for 23 years and have two children. Their daughter, Vanessa, 21, is still in college
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Connections
and is a freshman volleyball coach. Their son, Dennis, 18, is a freshman at Ripon College! Bret keeps in contact with several alumni — SUE SHEPARD ’84, SHELLEY ANDERSON BRYNES ’84, BOB BECHARD ’84, MIKE MULFORD ’84, TODD BUCHER ’84, TOM HORVATH ’84 (even though he is a Vikings fan) and LARRY HUEBNER ’83. He said he loves Facebook. Bret is also a Civil War re-enactor who gave a talk at Ripon and said that the only thing that would make him nervous was if Dr. William Woolley showed up. Dr. Woolley showed up. One thing that I am eternally grateful to Bret for was that he took pictures of me wrestling at Ripon. These were before digital, and he made two dozen copies for me and they are the only record I have of my wrestling days — 75 pounds ago. Bret said simply, “I was a historian at Ripon and didn’t know it.” Bret, who is the library director in Waupun, Wisconsin, says he loves life and wants to retire in Colorado, Montana or Wyoming. Finally, when I asked him what his favorite memory of Ripon was, he laughed and said, “Man, so many.” However, his most unique memory was also shared by TOM HORVATH ’84. Somehow, and no one knows how, Romulus and Remus — the stone lions for the Beta Sigs — ended up at the bottom of the pool. Coach Larson called Bret, Tom and BRUCE HORA ’84 over after playing tennis and asked them to get the lions out of the pool. I wonder why he chose those guys? Speaking of TOM HORVATH ’84, I had a great conversation with him, as well. Tom made the point that even though we lived on the same floor freshman year, we didn’t hang out much. However, he pointed out, it didn’t stop us from talking about Ripon for well over an hour. Indeed, it was like every other contact with a Ripon alum that I’ve had — we picked up like we just left Ripon yesterday. Tom has been married for 30 years to his wife, Sandra, and they adopted two daughters who are busy starting their own lives now. Tom works at NASA for the Defense Department. He runs laboratory tests in a wind tunnel to study aspects of the space shuttle. I thought I was in over my head when MIKE ’84 and LAURA BISHOP GALLENBERGER ’85 were telling me about the science involved with their dairy records business, but Tom took it to a new level with me. In the category of “it’s a small world,” Tom works with five people at NASA who were all in the same physics class at Ripon. He has staff meetings with LARRY HUEBNER ’83 and still works regularly with DR. CAROLYN JORDAN ’84. Tom had other favorite memories at Ripon besides the Romulus and Remus “caper.” He enjoyed riding his bike a lot and remembers fitting into a dryer at the laundromat next to the Beckoning. We both also fondly remembered the Saturday night steaks. Tom picked up the habit of drinking Mountain Dew at Ripon, and to this day he still drinks it instead of coffee. Finally, Tom stated that as soon as he hung up with me, he was calling BRET JAEGER ’84. Pretty cool. In closing, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for all the people who took time out of their schedule to chat with me about Ripon. I am grateful that I was able to reconnect with BRIAN PRINZ ’84 before he passed away, and I regret that I wasn’t doing this before JAY ARMSTRONG ’84 passed. Jay was at the center of some of my favorite memories at Ripon — like winning the DU Road Rally with VINCE TRTAN ’84’s motorcycle. I am also thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with old friends. Because of being able to be your co-Class Agent, I have been able to hang out and laugh with several old friends: TIM WHITE ’84, JIM BRAEMER ’84, JOHN HUBBARD ’84, MIKE FRANCOLUCCI ’84, CHRIS LUNDBERG ’84, KEVIN OSADJAN ’84 and CRAIG MAXWELL ’84.