Alumni Updates

Laura (Utech) Statza (‘55) and husband, Ken, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on May 27, 2021. They have a WLHS lineage starting with their children Ken Statza (‘80), Mark Statza (‘81) and Lauree (Statza) Madson (‘95), through grandchildren Alex Statza (‘04) and Carly (Statza) Hauser (‘08), and finally great-grandchildren Owen Charnon (‘20) and

Victoria Charnon (attended).

All six Schiebel siblings graduated from WLHS and are now happily retired, with the last brother retiring this year. The siblings are

Bonnie (Schiebel) Verhalen (’67), Mike Schiebel (’69), Barb (Schiebel) Weiss (’70),

Bev (Schiebel) Stein (’71), Tom Schiebel (’74), and

Phil Schiebel (’76).

Cheryl (Kittler) Gospodarek (’70)

and husband, Dennis, are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on June 19, 2021. The Gospodarek family resides in South Carolina.

Steve Reinhardt (’79) celebrated his 60th birthday on May 25, 2021, surrounded by WLHS friends and family whose graduation dates spanned forty years, from 1979 to 2019.

Patti (Breitigam) Wenzel (’83)

recently completed courses in Fashion Industry Practices from the Parson School of Design in New York. She currently serves as a teacher in the FACE department at WLHS.

James Flegel (‘89) accepted a call to serve Wisconsin Lutheran College as Director of Cultural Diversity effective fall 2021. After serving 17 years as Assistant Coach for the WLC Women’s Softball team, James completed his second season in spring 2021 as Head Coach.

Lindsay (Smith) Zimpelmann

(‘98) and husband, Adam, welcomed a son, Noah, on January 19, 2021. Noah joins big brothers Asher (5) and Ezra (4). The Zimplemann family resides in Fond du Lac.

Dr. Melissa Plamann (‘99) was promoted to Professor of Music at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University, effective August 1, 2021, where she also serves as the Coordinator of Graduate Studies. Melissa has served at Oklahoma City University since 2010 and has the esteemed title of University Organist.

Lumpree Brown III (’01) and wife, Mallory, welcomed baby boy, Lumpree Brown IV, on November 1, 2019. He was officially adopted on their “Forever Ours Day” on May 21, 2020. The family resides in West Allis.

Sheena (Faherty) Scruggs (‘03)

and husband, Paul, launched their passion project, a company called Solid Roots, on Earth Day, April 22, 2021. Their company helps people ditch the plastic bottles in their shower by switching to solid shampoo and conditioner bars.

Bill Dittman (‘06) completed the inaugural Cocodona 250, a 257 mile trail race in Arizona in the spring of 2021. The daily temperatures reached over 90 degrees, and Bill slept only eight total hours during the race, which he started on a Monday and finished on Friday. Bill is a National Account Manager at Nuun Hydration. He is pictured with his wife, Ana.

C.L. (‘06) and Nicole (Williams) (’07)

Whiteside were married on April 9, 2021. WLHS alumni in the wedding party included best man Brandon

Whiteside (‘08),

and maid of honor

Brittney Gray (‘07).

C.L. currently serves as Assistant Principal at WLHS and Nicole teaches K4 at Milwaukee College Prep.

Lajara (’07) and Melanie

(Beyersdorf) (’08) Owens

welcomed their second child, Chloe, on September 5, 2020. Chloe joins big sister Ava (7).

Bradley (‘07)

and Samantha

(Evans) Reinhardt (‘16)

were married at St. Marcus Ev. Lutheran Church, Milwaukee on June 13, 2020. Wisco grads in the wedding party included maid of honor Maddison Evans (‘20), matron of honor Nikki Pawlak (‘10), bridesmaids Emily Evans (‘12), Gracie Swezey (‘14), Morgan Krejcarek (‘16), best man Eric Sitz (‘07), groomsmen Jason Pawlak (‘08), Drew

Krueger (‘07), Zach Evans (‘12), and Alex Evans (‘15).

Brad is a math teacher at WLHS, and Samantha is a fourth grade teacher at St. Marcus. The couple resides in West Allis.

Meghan (Nitz) Walsh (’07)

has been appointed dean of the School of Adult Learning and New Initiatives at Alverno College, after serving as interim associate dean. She also served WLHS as Chair of the Young Alumni Leaders Council (YALC) from 2018-2021.

Tyler Kuske (’10) and wife, Kelsey, welcomed Amelia James and Charlotte Grace on February 3, 2021. They arrived nearly two months early and spent five weeks in the NICU. The Kuske family resides in Milwaukee. Tyler currently serves on WLHS’s Young Alumni Leaders Council. Raya Lynne was born on February 19, 2021, to parents Eric Zeitler (’10) and Annie. Raya joins big brother Koen. Annie is a cheer coach at WLHS and Eric is the Jr. Vikings Football program director.

Alexandria Lueck (‘12)

received her Masters in Business Administration from Drake University on May 15, 2021. She will remain in the Des Moine, Iowa area serving in her current role at Athene as Post Issue Processing SR Representative.

Stephanie (Gaub) Simmons (‘13)

published a cookbook called The One-Bowl Baker full of delicious one-bowl dessert recipes, along with helpful tips and tricks to make these desserts achievable and delicious for as little work as possible. Her cookbook will be in stores nationwide in August.

With their final pick in the 2021 NFL draft, the

Los Angeles Rams selected Viking alum Chris Garrett (‘17)

from Concordia University, a Division II school. Garrett played football all four years at Wisconsin Lutheran High School under Coach Joel Radue. He went on to a successful football career at Concordia University, St. Paul, as an outside linebacker and was selected as an AP All-American.

Alumni Updates

While at Concordia, Garrett proudly shared his faith. He was part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and led a discipleship group, teaching his teammates how to build their relationship with Christ.

“It allowed my teammates and I to grow together and let them know that my faith is the most important

thing to me,” says Garrett.