KEEPING TRACK

30 H O R I Z O N S

NMU Alumni Associationmember

NMU Alumni Association lifetime member

’60sSylvia Saari Felishman ‘60 BS, ‘65MA of Wakefield was elected chairof the Finlandia University Board ofTrustees for a three-year term inJune.

Donald Kuebler ‘60 BS of Saginaw(pictured above) was honored atthe Prosecuting AttorneysAssociation annual conference for41 years of service as GeneseeCounty assistant prosecutor.During his 40 years as chiefappellate lawyer, he had over 500briefings resulting in publishedopinions.

Sonny (Ernest) Longtine ‘62 BS,‘67 MA of Marquette is the authorof three books: Marquette Then andNow; Michigan’s Upper Peninsula:Life, Legends and Landmarks; andthe latest, Courage Burning.

Jane Piirto ‘63 BS of Ashland,Ohio, has been awarded the life-time achievement award from theMensa Education and ResearchFoundation. She is employed as atrustee‘s professor at AshlandUniversity in Ohio.

Richard Lauzon ‘64 BS, ‘69 MA ofMilford retired after 43 years ofteaching at Highland MiddleSchool. He was also the activitiesdirector and coached boys basket-ball and track and field for manyyears.

Gary Antilla ‘67 BS, ‘72 MAE ofGreen Bay, Wis., has a second bookentitled Pickers Life Lessons. His firstbook is titled Pickers is a Thief. Hehas spoken at a number of motiva-tional forums throughout theMidwest on “A Recipe for Living.”

’70sMarilyn Cook-Kahl ‘71 BS, ‘84MA of Marquette retired in Aprilafter teaching physical education,health and dance in grades K-12.She is currently the contact for theformation of local middle and highschool National Dance AssociationHonor Society chapters.

Rodney Guizzetti ‘71 BA ofNegaunee was elected president ofthe Upper Peninsula Sports Hall ofFame.

Bruce Pikka ‘71 BS ofIronwood retired in June after

teaching 24 years in the GogebicCounty Community Schools.

Martin DeVenuta ‘73 BS ofMartinez, Calif., (pictured above)was honored by the VolunteerCenter with a community spiritaward for San Francisco County.He is employed as an accountantfor Wells Fargo Bank.

Molly Nash ‘73 BSN is the chiefnursing executive of the Ohio StateUniversity health system.

Gwen Klomp ‘75 BA of LakeOdessa was named Lakewood

High School teacher of the year forthe 2006-07 school year.

Marilynn Ham ‘76 BMP ofMishawaka, Ind., is a publishedarranger and sacred concert artistwith 18 published books.

Lou ‘78 BS and Marion ‘80 BSSpase hosted an alumni gatheringat their daughter‘s wedding

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celebration. Attendees includedKathy Heystee‘77 BS, Carol Lisuk‘84 BS, John Warstler ‘80 BS andChristine Signs-Warstler ‘79 BS.

Fred Stonehouse ‘78 MA ofMarquette was named the

Marine Historical Society ofDetroit‘s historian of the year. Fredis a member of the NMU AlumniAssociation Board of Directors.

Steve Dirksen ‘79 BS of GrandRapids joined the West MichiganWhitecaps Baseball Club as anaccount executive.

’80sFarral Bradtke ‘80 MA ofRutherfordton, N.C., completedher book tour in the UpperPeninsula, promoting her novelHeartless Heartland, in April.

Steve Santini ‘80 BA is a financialadviser for Ameriprise Financial.

Joanne (Popour) Sobeck ‘80 BSWof Bloomfield was recently tenuredand promoted to associateprofessor of social work at WayneState University. She is married toGary Sobeck ‘80 BA and they havetwo sons.

Thomas Crady ‘81 BS ofGrinnell, Iowa, accepted the

dean of college position atDartmouth College beginning Jan.‘08. He is currently employed asthe vice president of GrinnellCollege.

Charles Handley ‘81 BS of AtlanticBeach, Fla., is employed by EndurisExtrusions in Atlantic Beach.

Scott Sible ‘83 BS of GrandRapids, was named president ofMerrell footwear and apparel.

Todd Krueger ‘83 BS of Warwick,R.I., is the owner of an online foot-ball coaching and training Website, www.footballtools.com.

Diana (Dickerson) Rushing‘83 BS of Yigo, Guam, is

employed as a store manager forthe Army and Air Force ExchangeService. She is stationed in Guam.

Mike Murphy ‘86 BS of Tumwater,Wash., (pictured above) is acommercial helicopter pilot andchief ground school instructor ofGlacier Aviation in Olympia. Mikealso recently completed a three-month assignment runninghelicopter sightseeing tours on theisland of Aruba.

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32 H O R I Z O N S

Mike Powers ‘86 MAE ofManistique was named SchoolcraftCounty person of the year.

Doug Rodenberger ‘87 BS ofFremont was recently assigned tosupport the SAP implementation ofproduction planning andprocessing for the manufacturingfacilities for Gerber Products.

Brent Holcomb ‘88 MAE ofAlpena was named superintendentof Alpena Public Schools. Holcombwas formerly the superintendent ofHomer Community Schools.

Brent Stothers ‘89 BS ofNegaunee was appointedpostmaster of Negaunee.

Tim Lambrecht ‘89 MAE of Alma(pictured above) was namedMichigan high school social studiesteacher of the year by theMichigan Council for SocialStudies.

’90sSandra (Courneene) Johnson ‘90BS of Kimberly, Wis., recentlypublished her first educationalDVD titled "Johnson‘s Jammin‘Math Jingles." She is a seventhgrade math teacher.

William Bowerman ‘91 MAof Central, S.C., was awarded

the Clemson University trusteesaward for faculty excellence, andhas been selected to be an electivemember of the American Orni-thologists Union. He is an associateprofessor in the department offorestry and natural resources.

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Jim Thorburn ‘91 BS of Livoniaand his wife, LaVonne, recentlywelcomed their second child, ason, Colton.

John Driscoll ‘92 BS of St. CroixFalls, Wis., was named executivedirector of Hazelden Center cityadult services at Center City, Minn.He and his wife, Christine, havetwo children.

M. L. Zambrana ‘92 BA of Gardenhad a third short story released inAmazon.com‘s "Amazon Shorts"program, titled Losing Your Legs.

Christopher Charboneau ‘93 BMEof Cheboygan is in his second yearas band director in the Oak Parkpublic school system. His bandshave earned 30 first-division ratingsat district and state band festivals.He was also nominated for theWalt Disney American TeacherAwards in 2001.

Kathleen Thompson Boyes ‘94 BSof Farmington Hills is employed atWayne State University in theSchool of Medicine Department ofPediatrics. She is also a doctoralcandidate at Wayne StateUniversity.

Justin Gluesing ‘95 BS ofAlpena is employed as assis-

tant principal of Alpena HighSchool.

Rae Kammerer ‘95 BS, ‘98MA of Clover, S.C., recently

graduated from the University ofSouthern Carolina with a master oflibrary and information sciencedegree. She has accepted a posi-tion as a librarian at ITT TechnicalInstitute in Charlotte.

Amanda Lannet ‘95 AB of BruceCrossing is employed as ARmanager for the U.P. Association ofRural Health Services.

Jeff Brown ‘96 BS of Chelsea is aK-9 handler and motor officer withthe Novi police department.

Kelly Finnegan ‘96 BFA ofGrand Rapids is a financial

service specialist with RehmannFinancial Group.

Jonathan Brown ‘97 BS and hiswife, Karen, of Black Earth, Wis.,welcomed their first child, GeorgiaLillian, in March.

Michael Mulligan ‘97 BS ofHowell is principal of ConstantineHigh School.

Rene Ribant-Amthor ‘97 BS ofArmada and her husband, Scott,welcomed their first child, RubyRoe in February. Rene is an Englishteacher at Dakota High School inMacomb.

Tim Goggin ‘98 BS of Aurora, Ill.,is an archaeologist with anenvironmental firm in Cincinnati,Ohio.

Jeremy Stover ‘98 AS, ‘00 BSof Green Bay, Wis., is a public

safety officer with theAshwaubenon Public SafetyDepartment.

’00sElizabeth (Couchene) Hebl ‘00 BSof Minneapolis, Minn., recentlygraduated from the University ofWisconsin family medicineresidency. She is now living andworking as a family physician in St.Anthony.

Doug Leisenring ‘00 MAE is theprincipal of Escanaba High School.

Jennetta Clark ‘01 BS, ‘07 MS ofMarquette is employed byMarquette County as a systemsanalyst.

Roberto Benitez ‘02 AB of Ocala,Fla., was featured in a commercialcampaign of “Tu Pride,” an MTV3network production.

Vincent Tomasi ‘02 BS ofMunford, Tenn., (pictured right)was unable to attend the 50thwedding anniversary of his parents,George ‘56 BS and Bettey Tomasi‘81 BS, ‘86 MA, as he was living inGuam, but he paid tribute bygetting an article published in TheUndersea Journal chornicling hisparents’ careers as SCUBA diving

instructors and pioneers (throughtheir work at NMU) in the methodsused to teach the sport today. TheTomasis’ nine children all attendedNMU.

Brad Fuerst ‘03 BS relocated toAlaska with wife, Nicole ‘01 BA,‘03 Cert. They recently had theirfirst child. Nicole is a secondarylanguage arts teacher for theAnnette Island School District andBrad is a fisheries technician withthe Alaska Department of Fish andGame.

William Grant ‘03 BS is anaviation electrician for the UnitedStates Navy.

Shantrice Savage ‘03 BA ofChicago, Ill., is an English teacherin Japan.

Claire Koons ‘04 BS of SaltLake City, Utah, is a commu-

nity outreach specialist for theAmerican Red Cross Blood Services.

Emily Lapinski ‘04 BS ofGreensboro, N.C., is assistantwomen‘s swimming coach atGuilford College in Greensboro.

Tony Huver ‘05 BS of Brightonrecently joined the client develop-ment group for ASTI Environmentalin Brighton.

Barbara Thelen ‘05 BS of Lansing(pictured on next page)successfully completed the certifiedpublic accountant exam whileemployed at Andrews Hooper andPavlik, PLC, a public accountingfirm.

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Vince Tomasi

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34 H O R I Z O N S

MarriagesFrank DeMare ‘71 BS to SheliaRogers.

James LaJoie ‘86 BS, ‘99 MPA toKimberly Buzzo ‘90 BS, ‘04 MAE.

David Carlson ‘88 BS to ElizabethLa Panta.

James Alexander ‘91 BS, ‘96 MAto Lisa Thill ‘00 BS.

Shannon Mulally ‘92 BS, ‘03 MAEto Kevin Leonard.

Justin Gluesing ‘95 BS to JanelleRomel.

Rae Kammerer ‘95 BS, ‘98 MA toKeelan Lovvorn.

Elizabeth Couchene ‘00 BS toRichard Hebl.

Libby Ogea ‘00 BS to DouglasNelson.

Jonell Peterson ‘00 AB to MichaelHansen ‘02 BS.

Brooke Bjorne ‘01 BS to JasonLeClair.

Jason Doney ‘01 BSN to JaimeJohnson ‘02 Cert.

David Doyle ‘01 BS to LeslieGischia ‘01 BS.

Lori Gustitis ‘01 BS to MarkRivord.

Ryan Maino ‘01 BS to AmandaWilcox ‘02 BS.

Jeremy Senske ‘01 BS to AshleyPizziola.

Stephanie Whiton ‘01 BS to RyanStaples.

Angela Zanetti ‘01 BS to DavidSharkey.

Andrew Engstrom ‘02 BS to TerriTammelin ‘03 BS.

Jacy Gillum ‘02 BS to AnecitaFerman.

Jesse Kohtala ‘02 BS to LottieLancour ‘04 BSW.

Hanah Korpi ‘02 BS to Ryan Kilgren.

Joshua Salmi ‘02 BS to Angela St.Aubin ‘06 AB.

Kristin Williams ‘02 BS to KevinFlohe.

Jason Bluck ‘03 BS to CarolineDurocher ‘03 BS.

Ellison Bruce ‘03 BS to Lauren Karl.

Jolene Clouthier ‘03 BSN toShane Spencer ‘06 BS.

Heather Prudom ‘03 VOC toWilliam McCabe.

Paul Schoonveld ‘03 BS to KatieVadnais ‘01 BS.

Christine Stevens ‘03 BS toMichael Lasich.

David Bonk ‘04 BS to Lane Clark.

Stephen Ensley ‘04 BS to RebeccaRanta ‘05 BSN.

Michele Petzold ‘04 BS toJonathan Ringel ‘04 BS.

Jennifer Rhodes ‘04 AAS to AdamBingham ‘07 BS

Thomas Snow ‘04 BS to KaylieGrisham.

Shawn Thill ‘04 Cert to NicolePerrier ‘05 BS.

Jenna Weber ‘04 BS to JasonZdunek ‘04 BS.

Lacey Branstrom ‘05 BS toMichael O‘Donnell.

Traci Byykkonen ‘05 BS to StevenRuspakka.

Dayna Keranen ‘06 BS ofMarquette is the communicationscoordinator for Northern initiativesin Marquette.

Jeremy Brown ‘06 BS ofSeattle, Wash., is starring in

the show "The Declaration" inSeattle. He is employed as animprov comic and barista for WingIt Productions.

Shelby Mitchell ‘07 BS ofDePere, Wis., is an advocate

for sexual assault victims at the SafeHaven Domestic Abuse SupportCenter in Shawano, Wis.

A 103rd birthday party was held October 23 at NMU for Sarah Bottrell ‘24Life Cert., ‘29 AS of Marquette.

Barbara Thelen

36 H O R I Z O N S

Briann Ferns ‘05 BS, ‘06 MAE toMatthew Olson.

Tyler Gauthier ‘05 AB to AmberKirkish.

Jamie Grunert ‘05 BSN to DouglasKitchel.

Sara Johnson ‘05 BS to TrevorSholten.

Jessy Lundin ‘05 BS to KellyThomsen ‘06 BS.

Kristin Myers ‘05 VDC to DanielRader.

Paul Wehmanen ‘05 AB to CarrieCallewaert.

Brady Beauchamp ‘06 BSN to ErinTabor ‘07 Cert.

Anna Echelbarger ‘06 BS to DanielRector.

Kara Frisk ‘06 Cert to Bradley Havel.

Kristin Hirn ‘06 BS to ChristopherMarana ‘06 BS.

Emily Mercure ‘06 BS to MichaelLinn.

Jon Trasti ‘06 BS to Kelly Ogle.

Connie Tuominen-Worth ‘06 BFAto Winch Diller.

Mandi Badge ‘07 Cert to EdwardRoos.

Jamin Wonch ‘07 BS to NatashaBalko.

DeathsLouise DeHaas ‘25 Cert., Aug. 21,2007, Seneca, S.C.

Jeannette Bowden ‘36 BA, LifeCert., Sept. 16, 2007, Marquette.

Walter Martinen ‘40 BS, April 15,2007, Hillsdale.

Mary Johnson ‘43 BS, ‘72 MA, May22, 2007, Marquette.

Thomas Vizanko ‘48 BA, July 1,2007, Ironwood.

Chester Casari ‘49 BS, March 1,2007, Zephyrhills, Fla.

Floyd Delbello ‘50 BS, June 5,2007, Traverse City.

George Hager ‘50 BA, ‘61 MA,Aug. 5, 2007, Marquette.

Stanley Ketvirtis ‘50 BS, Aug. 24,2007, Marquette.

Anna Kulju ‘51 BS, July 30, 2007,Ishpeming.

Patricia Larsen ‘51 BS, ‘63 MS,Aug. 18, 2007, Marquette.

Constance Dahlke ‘52 BS, July 29,2007, Hollywood, Fla.

Albert Morris ‘53 BA, July 16,2007, Marquette.

Albert Heino ‘54 BS, July 22, 2007,Baraga.

Lee Sjoholm ‘59 BS, ‘64 MA, May16, 2007, Ishpeming.

Raymond Peters ‘61 BS, April 9,2007, Detroit.

Margaret Guild ‘62 BS, June 22,2007, Kingsford.

Alton Bignall ‘63 BS, June 9, 2007,Eben Junction.

Edward Cory ‘63 BS, June 19,2007, Big Rapids.

Peter Adamini ‘64 BS, ‘72 MAE,July 6, 2007, Green Bay, Wis.

Eleanore Masse ‘64 BSN, May 4,2007, Austin, Minn.

Rev. Lance Roberts ‘64 BA, June24, 2007, Negaunee.

Donna Christian ‘65 BS, Aug. 13,2007, Marquette.

Joel Smith ‘65 BA, ‘70 MAE, May 5,2007, Norway.

Jeffrey Brown ‘66 BS, March 22,2007, Lebanon, N.H.

Richard Coombs ‘66 BS, May 2,2007, Eben Junction.

Paul Bystrom ‘67 BS, July 18, 2007,Chicago, Ill.

Irene Kaukola ‘69 BS, ‘74 MAE,Aug. 16, 2007, Escanaba.

Delores Parker ‘69 AN, May 2007,Hancock.

Helen Tuominen ‘69 BS, May 14,2007, Marquette.

Atlee Blazin ‘70 BS, ‘76 MAE, April9, 2007, Marquette.

Dean Halls ‘73 BS, May 7, 2007,Mequon, Wis.

Joyce Niessen ‘73 BS, ‘75 MAE,May 15, 2007, Manassas, Va.

Gary Veale ‘75 BS, June 20, 2007,Marquette.

Bernard Sieg ‘78 BS, Feb. 23,2007, Toledo, Ohio.

Randy Bennett ‘81 BS, March 22,2007, Mt. Pleasant.

Teresa Roberts ‘83 AT, May 20,2007, Louisiana.

Robert Edwards ‘93 MAE, June 28,2007, Marquette.

John Perala ‘94 BS, Sept. 21, 2007,Chicago, Ill.

Thomas Passinault ‘97 AS, May 30,2007, Owosso.

Jill Menor ‘05 BA, May 22, 2007,Menominee.

FriendsDorothy Verley, professor of danceat NMU, April 19, 2007, Marquette.

Elmer Schacht, former dean of theSchool of Education, April 24, 2007,Marquette.

Gertrude Holtgard, former NMUsecretary for 25 years, July 25, 2007,Marquette.

Kenneth Millimaki, former NMUequipment operator, Aug. 18, 2007,Ishpeming.

Jeannette Bowden ‘36 BA, Life Cert.served as secretary to five NMU presidents.