INDICATES UOAA MEMBER
The Biggest "O"?1940s
Thomas G. Wright '48, a member of Theta Chi, was recently elected to the governing board of Portland's Terwilliger Plaza, a senior retirement facility with 320 residents. Wright contributes poetry and profiles to the in-house Terwilliger Times, which just proves, he says, that "old journalists never die, they're cast in type."
1950s
Morris G. Sahr '51, M.A. '53, is profiled in the twenty-sixth edition of Who's Who in the World. Sahr is the founder of Deposit Management Services and producer of the Washington Forum on Financial Planning television show.
Frederick T. Fraunfelder '58, M.D. '60, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and n James H. Gilbaugh Jr. '60, M.S. '63, M.D. '63, a member of Tau Omega, have published Retirement Rx: The Retirement Docs' Proven Prescription for Living a Happy, Fulfilling Rest of Your Life.
Marianne (Shepherd) Fields '59, a member of Delta Zeta, displayed her art during February and March in a show entitled "All My Friends" at the Beaverton Lodge's Golden Gallery.
Beverly E. Lloyd '59 retired from Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie in 1991 and continues to support Putnam students by sponsoring a scholarship for graduating seniors. She winters in Sun Lakes, Arizona.
1960s
Tom Doggett '60, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, recently retired from his post as vice president of television programming at Oregon Public Broadcasting. In July, Doggett was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Public Television Programmers' Association at its annual meeting in Boston.
Joe M. Fischer '60, M.F.A. '63, painted a wall mural for the athletic department of Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington.
A congressional subcommittee has subpoenaed Alaby Blivet '63, president of Blivet Junction Trust Bank of Blivet Junction, Colorado, to testify at upcoming hearings about the institution's "Fog a mirror, get a mortgage" policy.
Morton Hall dorm-mates Oliver Crary '63, a member of Sigma Chi, and Mike Kimball '63, a member of Sigma Nu, enjoyed the Beijing Olympics. "We thought we saw Alaby [Blivet '63] and Sara [Lee Cake '45] at the Bird's Nest," the two report, "but we lost them in the crowd."
Jon Jay Cruson '64, M.F.A. '67, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, works in the Eugene area as a painter and printmaker. Sacred Heart Medical Center commissioned him to paint a landscape that now hangs in the hospital's new RiverBend facility in Springfield.
Claibourne Smith, Ph.D. '64, was recently named acting president of Delaware State University while the university's search for a new president is carried out. Smith has served on the DSU Board of Trustees since 1987 and as chairman of the board since 1993.
Patricia O'Brien '66 will have the paperback edition of her novel, Harriet and Isabella, published in January 2009 by Simon and Schuster's Touchstone Books division. The novel tells the story of Harriet Beecher Stowe and her family.
Michael Rainey '68, a member of Delta Upsilon, was recently reappointed to the Sparks, Nevada, Civil Service Commission for a three-year term and was elected vice chair.
1970s
Marc R. Levy '70, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, is pleased to be returning to Oregon from Ohio. Levy will take over as president and CEO of the United Way of Columbia-Willamette, serving the greater Portland area.
Harlen Springer '70 returned to Oregon from San Francisco in September to enjoy his newly constructed beach house in Florence and take a new position as chief operations officer of Boing! Designs, a gift products manufacturer in Portland.
Richard Fuller, M.M. '71, has recorded a new CD of Joseph Haydn's piano music, which Fuller performs on Haydn's own piano. The CD is due for release in November, in time for the 2009 celebrations commemorating the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death.
Portia Mather-Hempler '72 received a diploma in the art of spiritual direction in May from San Francisco Theological Seminary, where she is also enrolled in the doctor of ministry program. Reverend Mather-Hempler serves as a spiritual director in San Jose, working with small groups and individuals. She and her husband Jim enjoy traveling and spending time with their three grandchildren.
Bill Edelman, M.S. '78, is the athletic director of Vernon Township High School in Vernon, New Jersey. Edelman will become president-elect of the Directors of Athletics Association of New Jersey during the 2009–10 academic year.
Marcia K. Schultz, J.D. '78, was promoted to managing partner of the Honolulu-based law firm Carlsmith Ball LLP in June. Schultz is a transaction attorney based in Saipan, where she specializes in labor and employment law, real property, and corporate issues in the Pacific region.
Jill Board '79 was recently presented with the Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Mildred Bennett Award for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to elementary education in Oregon. Board currently works for a nonprofit organization called the Teachers Development Group in West Linn and has been serving Oregon's children for over thirty years.
Judy Emerson '79 left the Rockford Register Star after twenty-two years in journalism to become director of development for Rosecrance Health Network, which provides substance abuse treatments for adolescents and adults.
Jim Stratton '79 is the Alaska regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association and was recently presented with the Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions by the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Stratton lives in Anchorage, where he spends his spare time flyfishing, birding, and hosting the Arctic Cactus Hour, a weekly public radio music program.
David Surdam '79 had his book, The Postwar Yankees: Baseball's Golden Age Revisited, published by the University of Nebraska Press. Surdam is a professor of economics at the University of Northern Iowa.
1980s
Jack Hamann, J.D. '80, was presented the Washington State Bar Association's 2008 Excellence in Legal Journalism Award. Hamann's book, On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of WWII, was excerpted in the Spring 2005 issue of OQ.
Kevin Thelin '81 has been promoted to vice president of Murray, Smith and Associates, a consulting engineering firm specializing in public infrastructure engineering. Prior to joining MSA, Thelin managed water supply projects in Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda, working with the Peace Corps and Terre Sans Frontières.
William T. Christ '82, a member of Kappa Sigma, has joined the Japanese specialized steamship line ECL Americas as executive vice president and chief operating officer. He, his wife Tomoko, and their two sons are happy to be back on the West Coast and within Duck range.
Tom Brikowski, M.S. '83, is a University of Texas at Dallas associate professor of geosciences and the lead author of a study published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study predicts that climate change is likely to cause a dramatic rise in kidney stone disease in the United States by 2050.
David Lesser '83 lives with his wife and two children in Manhattan Beach, California, where he is chairman of the planning commission. When not trying to keep up with his kids on the soccer field and baseball diamond, he serves as general counsel for a local health-care company.
Heather Moir-Dangler '83 owns Moir Financial and Insurance Services of Honolulu, serving more then 400 households and fifty small businesses.
Peter Baer '87 and his Bend-based company, Pinnacle Architecture, have designed the first Green Globes–certified building in Oregon. The energy-efficient building is a Head Start preschool in Hermiston.
Sarah (Wolford) Mensah '87 was named the chief marketing officer for the Portland Trail Blazers in August. Mensah will oversee the Trail Blazers' marketing, ticket sales, corporate partnership, broadcast, production, and game operations functions.
Staci Schipporeit '87 and her husband Michael Stearns '90 own MightyMerchant, a Springfield-based web development and hosting company. The two live on a seventeen-acre farm with their three children. MightyMerchant is home to a small flock of Ducks, including lead designer Kathy Smith '97, web developer Jesse Wakeley '07, and intern Ahren Baesler, currently a UO freshman.
Carene Davis-Stitt, M.S. '89, Ph.D. '93, was recently named Northwestern region governor of Soroptimist International of the Americas, an international volunteer organization for business and professional women.
1990s
Jennifer Archer '91 has returned to Eugene to work for the Convention and Visitors' Association of Lane County following six years with The Oregonian and a period of self-described "wanderlust," during which she worked in state and national parks of the West.
Darcie Meihoff '93, a member of Pi Beta Phi, has been named to the board of directors of the Forest Park Conservancy in Portland. Meihoff is the managing director of public relations with the CMD Agency.
Chris Arrell '95 was recently hired as an assistant professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Nathan Ayotte '95 has joined Portland's Ferguson Wellman Capital Management firm as vice president and portfolio manager. Ayotte previously worked as the branch manager for Scottrade's Park Avenue office in New York City.
Mark Bergeron '95, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, received his master of public health and completed a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the University of Minnesota in June. Bergeron has joined Associates in Newborn Medicine, practicing neonatology at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in St. Paul. He and his wife, Christine, have three daughters.
Deirdre Lorenz '95 is the lead actress and executive producer of the movie Thira, due for release in 2009.
Bronwyn Baz '96, '00, completed her pediatric residency at Stanford in June and returned to Portland as a pediatric and neonatal hospitalist. Baz is also a vocalist and continues to sing in Portland and the Bay Area; she has given several benefit concerts in the U.S. and abroad. She and husband Matthew Waddell '97 celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary in August.
Judah Garfinkle '96, a member of Kappa Sigma, serves as director of craniofacial orthodontics at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Garfinkle performs a clinical procedure at OHSU called nasoalveolar molding, which reduces the severity of cleft lip and palate in infants.
Richard L. White '98 recently completed U.S. Navy basic training with honors at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois.
Michael Burnham '99 won the National Press Club's first place award for analytical reporting in the newsletter journalism category in July. Burnham works for Greenwire, a Capitol Hill-based news service focused on environmental issues, as an editor and contributing writer.
Melissa Rock '99 is a doctoral student in geography and women's studies at Penn State. Rock was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct her dissertation field research in Beijing, China, in the next year.
2000s
Aaron Tresham, M.S. '01, graduated from the Master's Seminary in Sun Valley, California, after earning a master of theology. He is currently at work on his doctorate in theology.
Joshua Booton '03 was awarded a three-year James A. Michener Fellowship in Creative Writing from the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers. Boonton's poetry earned him one of the twelve prestigious fellowships (chosen from among more than 700 submissions) awarded in 2008.
Justin Winn '02, M.A. '03, was promoted to audit manager at Portland's Perkins and Company accounting firm.
Celeste (Burns) Edman '03 has opened Page One Trading Company, a women's clothing, shoe, and accessory store in Eugene's Chapman Building. In addition to her store-owning duties, Edman is also the marketing manager for the Kendall Auto Group.
Kellie Horn, M.S. '03, coordinates early intervention and early childhood programs for the twenty-three school districts of southeastern Washington. Thanks to a bone marrow transplant, she is in excellent health and stays busy raising her eight-year-old daughter.
Rachel Newman '04, M.Ed. '05, and her husband, Zech Newman '04, had their first child, Zoe Grace Newman, in September. Grandparents Bob '87 and Pat Young are convinced that Zoe is destined to be a Duck.
Peter Hollens '05 and Evynne Smith '05 are featured performers on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' Sovereign of the Seas, sailing between Florida and the Bahamas. The two were married in August 2007.
Haloti Ngata '06 made the NFL Baltimore Ravens' final fifty-three-man roster for the third straight season.
In Memoriam
Margaret Mahan '25, a member of Gamma Phi Beta, died in August at age 106. After graduation, Mahan moved to Chicago, where she worked for the University of Chicago Press and met her husband, James. The two raised two daughters, who report that just days before their mother's death, she was still playing Scrabble—and winning.
Ralph "Pete" Peters '43, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, died in January 2007 at age eighty-six. Peters served in the U.S. Army for thirty years, earning the rank of colonel. He and his wife, Doris, raised two sons.
Wilma "Billie" L. J. Howard '48, a member of Alpha Xi Delta, died in June at age eighty-three. She met her husband, Frederick Howard '49, M.A. '50, in a chemistry class at the UO. The two raised five children in Davis, California, where Frederick was on the UC-Davis faculty. Billie was an accomplished violinist, taught private lessons, and even played at the Vienna Conservatory during Frederick's Austrian sabbatical. In later years, Billie, Frederick, and their youngest son raised shiitake mushrooms and were a regular presence at the Davis farmers' market.
Alan A. Kunz '50, M.S. '57, died in December 2007 at age seventy-eight. Kunz served in the Korean War, earning two Bronze Stars. He returned to the UO to complete his master's degree and met his wife, Joan (Passmore) Kunz '57, while the two were serving as dormitory counselors. Alan and Joan raised three children. Kunz was a high school science teacher in California for three decades and spent his retirement cooking, gardening, and traveling.
William M. Addison '52, a member of Beta Theta Pi, died of prostate cancer in July at age eighty. After serving in the U.S. Army in the late 1940s, Addison worked as a CPA in a Eugene firm. He and his wife, Donna (Kletzing) Addison '50, raised three children, Constance (Addison) Bode '74, Thomas Addison '77, and Amy Rudolf.
David Cass '58, a member of Phi Kappa Psi, died of emphysema in April at age seventy-one. Cass was a professor of economics, teaching at Yale and Carnegie Mellon before settling at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained until his death. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970 and a fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003, and he authored numerous articles and books about economic theory.
Douglas Collins '63, '02, M.A. '69, a member of Theta Chi, died of multiple melanoma in March at age sixty-nine. He is survived by his wife, Virginia, and three children. After a distinguished career in public service, and working as agency director of the Oregon State Scholarship Commission, he returned to the University to study art and graduated in 2002.
Faculty In Memoriam
Leonard "Jake" Jacobson '37, M.D. '41, assistant professor of health education, died in April at age ninety-three. Jacobson served in the Army Medical Corps during World War II, after which he and his wife, Allie, moved to Eugene with their four sons. Jacobson had a long and fruitful career as a surgeon, served as chief of surgery and chief of staff at Sacred Heart Medical Center, and was a member of the UO faculty from 1962 to 1977, teaching a variety of health courses.
DECADES
Reports from previous Winter issues of Old Oregon and Oregon Quarterly
Oregon Quarterly Archives
Porcelain Xs and Os UO All-American quarterback (and future Pro Football Hall of Fame member) Norm Van Brocklin (left) and coach Jim Aiken exploring the intricacies of the Oregon T formation. Such sessions helped the team tie with Cal for the 1948 Pacific Coast Conference title.
1928 A UO senior boasts he's the state gum- chewing champion after masticating eighty sticks at one sitting. "I could have chewed another package or so," said the "champ" calmly, "but I didn't want to tax my powers."
1938 A bronze plaque in memory of the forty-seven UO students who lost their lives in the World War has been placed by the entrance to Howe Field.
1948 In the wake of pollsters' famously in-accurate prediction of incumbent U.S. president Harry Truman's defeat by Thomas Dewey, many pundits forecast that red-faced prognosticators such as the Gallup and Roper organizations may soon be out of business. Political writer and UO journalism professor Gordon Sabine disagrees, saying reports of the demise of polling are premature.
1958 The traditional homecoming bonfire burns brightly on campus. Coverage of the event in Old Oregon includes the assertion that "there will always be a homecoming bonfire."
1968 No longer forced to slog around on swampy practice fields or get soaked in an Oregon downpour, UO athletic teams can now practice to their hearts' content inside a three-ton inflatable "instant field house." Made of translucent white nylon cloth, the balloon measures 203 feet by 180 feet and rises 40 feet in the air.
1978 A promising eighteen-year-old joins the UO women's basketball team. Six-footer Bev Smith, fresh from a year playing starting guard for the Canadian National Team, will play forward for the UO. Smith, who Oregon coach Elwin Heiny calls "the most complete player" he's ever seen, is already looking forward to playing in the Moscow Olympics in 1980.
1988 The UO tallies more than $32 million in grants and contracts brought in during the 1987–88 academic year, a jump of 28.2 percent over the previous year. Most of the funding comes from sources outside of Oregon and adds significantly to the local economy.
1998 Tom Cruise, Donald Sutherland, and Robert Towne all come to Eugene for the gala premiere of Without Limits, the Warner Bros. film based on the life of legendary UO runner Steve Prefontaine.
