here - Morningside College

spring summer 2012 

Recent grads make a difference through politics PAGE 8 

Former Hwa Nan president serves as guest professor PAGE 10 

Student advertising campaign could be a life saver PAGE 4

2 

F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T 

At a meeting of college presidents in January, I was deeply impacted by the remarks of Dr. Nan 

Keohane, former president of Duke University. She shared the “back room of the mind” image from 

Michel de Montaigne’s 16th-century essay “Of Solitude,” and said it was one of her favorite 

arguments for the value of a liberal arts education. 

As Keohane explained, Montaigne thought of his mind as a tower library filled with quotations, 

anecdotes, experimental thoughts and jokes. It was a place “to which he could retreat even when he 

was far from home... where he could keep company with himself.” 

Keohane said she counseled students to think of their college education as a way to furnish the 

back room of their minds. Then they would be better conversationalists so others would seek their 

company, and they would be better prepared to relish time spent alone. 

I have thought a lot about this back room metaphor, and I focused on the topic during my 

commencement address. Don’t you know people who have wonderfully elegant, vibrant back rooms 

that you never want to leave? I feel 

so fortunate that a place like 

Morningside exists to instill a love 

of life-long learning and provide 

a foundation for fabulous 

furnishings in the back room of 

the mind. 

Morningside offers many 

opportunities to furnish the back 

room of the mind, both in and out 

of the classroom. But certain 

activities have been shown to have 

an especially high impact because 

they get students excited about 

learning, helping them to take 

better advantage of their entire 

college experience. 

One of those activities is travel 

abroad. This spring Robin and I 

joined students, faculty, staff and 

alumni on a May Term trip to Italy, and we witnessed firsthand what the trip meant to our students. 

It is difficult to sing at Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica or to walk through Pompeii and not be 

changed by the experience. 

The students represented us well. They were inquisitive as they walked through cathedrals. They 

listened intently to tour guides. Trip organizers asked them to wake up early every morning and 

continue late into the evening, but they never once complained. They really seemed to appreciate the 

magnitude of what they were experiencing. 

Italy was just one destination. During May Term, our students traveled all over the world. This year 

they posted regular updates on Facebook. One of my favorite entries starts with student Scott Kruse 

saying, “So, today has easily been the greatest day of my life to this point.” For a link to all of the May 

Term posts, go online to www.morningside.edu/morningsider. To see these posts, you do need to 

have a Facebook account. 

It is easy to see how travel abroad makes students more enthusiastic about their learning. Travel 

abroad is just one of several activities that have been documented to have an unusually high impact 

on a student’s education. As we prepare students to furnish the back room of their minds for a 

lifetime, these high-impact activities must play an important role. 

President John Reynders congratulates Lin Benchun, one of the honorary doctorate 

recipients, during the 2012 commencement ceremony. Photo by Jolesch Photography. 

JOHN JOHN REYNDERS

Editor: 

Jenny Welp 

Art Director: 

Kevin Kjeldseth 

Vice President for Communications 

& Marketing: 

Rick Wollman 

Alumni Association 

Executive Committee: 

Adam Lloyd 2004, president 

Matt Campbell 1998, vice president 

Dick Stone 1968, treasurer 

Mandie Norby 2005, 

college board representative 

Karen Dreessen, secretary 

Gene Ambroson, 

alumni relations director 

Morningside College Operator: 

712-274-5000 or 800-831-0806 

The Morningsider is published twice 

a year under the auspices of the 

public relations office. © 2012 by 

Morningside College, Sioux City, 

Iowa. All rights reserved. 

Standard A postage is paid in 

Lawrence, Kan. The magazine is 

distributed free of charge to alumni 

and friends of the college. 

POSTMASTER: 

Send address changes to: 

The Morningsider 

Morningside College 

1501 Morningside Ave. 

Sioux City, IA 51106 

Morningside College does not 

discriminate on the basis of age, sex, 

religion, creed, race, color, sexual 

orientation, marital status, disability 

or national origin. 

The Morningside College experience 

cultivates a passion for life-long 

learning and a dedication to ethical 

leadership and civic responsibility. 

contents 

spring summer 2012 volume 67 number 2 

5 Randy Hughes 1984 created a television 

commercial nominated for a 2011 Emmy Award and 

named one of the Top 10 TV Commercials of 2010 by 

Time magazine. 

8 Cassie (Nguyen) Loomis 2007 served as secondin-command 

on the staff of Steve King, U.S. 

representative for Iowa’s 5th District. 

10 Lin Benchun, former president of Hwa Nan 

Women’s College in Fuzhou, China, spent the spring 

semester teaching at Morningside. 

in this issue 

4 Morningside Avenues 

Notable achievements on and off campus 

6 Mustang Minutes 

Morningside wins all-sports trophy 

7 M-Club Messenger 

Morningside comeback stories 

12 Faculty Excellence Awards 

Meet the recipients 

16 Faculty and Staff Notes 

Staff excellence awards, faculty news 

18 Awards and Honors 

See who was recognized this year 

19 Class Notes 

Alumni news, alumni features, donor lists 

The Morningsider is also available online. Go to www.morningside.edu/morningsider to read the 

magazine or to access additional online content. 

ON THE COVER: Morningside College students Katie Rasmussen (left), Chris Bevill, Brittney 

Andersen and Tazalea Scott lean with the Tower of Pisa during a May Term trip to Italy. 

Check out Facebook posts from this year’s May Term adventures by going to 

www.morningside.edu/morningsider and clicking on the link. Photo by Rick Wollman. 

3

4 

MORNINGSIDE AVENUES 

Ad campaign is a potential life saver 

A class project to create an advertising campaign against drunk driving has turned into a real effort to save lives. The campaign recently got attention at 

the state level, receiving funding to expand its reach. 

Back in the spring of 2010, Dr. Pam Mickelson challenged her advertising class to develop a marketing campaign to support a good cause. The students 

settled on the topic of drinking and driving, and then worked in small groups to explore different approaches. In the end, they brought together their best 

ideas to create “Sober Driving Saves: Live to Have Fun Again.” 

The campaign features vanity license plates with messages like “SBRDRVR,” “KEYZPLZ” and “DUIKILS” that were created by Cara Anderson 2011 in a 

graphic design course the previous semester taught by John Kolbo 1977. It also shares facts about drunk-driving deaths, the amount of alcohol in a party cup 

and the cost of an OWI. It reaches people through everything from posters and table tents to key chains, air fresheners and ice scrapers. 

Throughout the class, students worked with professionals who deal with substance abuse issues on campus and in the community. These professionals 

were so impressed by the final product that they provided funding to help the students implement the campaign at Morningside College and at local bars. 

They also helped the students get their message up on three billboards in Sioux City. 

Last fall Anderson went with Mickelson to Des Moines to present the campaign to the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB). They were awarded 

$8,000 to take the campaign to 10 colleges and universities around the state, and they were invited to present at the annual traffic safety conference in 

April. Police officers supporting the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and St. Ambrose University in Davenport were among the first to seek 

campaign materials. Along with Anderson, other alumni and students continuing to help with this project are Katie Brannen 2011, Heidi Lieber 2011, Kelsey 

Martin and Becca Hansen. 

“This program has the potential to reach thousands of college students throughout Iowa delivering a very serious and life-saving message,” said Mick 

Mulhern, program administrator/youth coordinator for the GTSB. 

By the numbers 

grant awarded to Morningside College by the U.S. Department 

of Education for “Project Proficient,” a program designed to 

help teachers improve instruction for preschool through 12thgrade 

students with limited language proficiency in English. 

$1.7 million

Notable 

Excellence in radio: 

Two Morningside students were 

nominated for Intercollegiate 

Broadcasting System awards for 

their work at KMSC Fusion 93, the 

student radio station. Nick Brincks 

was nominated for his promotions 

for his classic rock program, “On the 

Brinck,” and for his news reports on 

campus activities. Both Brincks and 

Ryan Tellinghuisen were nominated 

for their Boys Club of Sioux City 

public service announcement. 

Good business: 

This spring Morningside students 

competed against thousands of 

teams in the Business Strategy 

Game and placed in the global top 

100 five times. In the online 

simulation, small groups of 

students from business schools 

across the world must match their 

strategic wits against the other 

teams. Teams receive weekly 

rankings in specific categories and 

overall. Three times Morningside 

students made the top 100 rankings 

overall – reaching as high as 52nd 

place – and twice they made the top 

100 in specific categories. 

Trip to U.N. headquarters: 

Morningside student Elizabeth 

Norton was one of 20 female 

students in the nation selected for a 

practicum at the annual meeting of 

the Commission on the Status of 

Women at the United Nations 

headquarters in New York City this 

spring. In addition to learning about 

negotiation, advocacy points and 

networking, Norton completed 

several assignments, and was asked 

to create an advocacy project when 

she returned to Morningside. 

Have you seen it? 

MORNINGSIDE AVENUES 

Randy Hughes 1984, executive creative director at Carmichael Lynch, an advertising agency in 

Minneapolis, created a television commercial that was nominated for a 2011 Primetime Creative Arts 

Emmy Award and named one of the Top 10 TV Commercials of 2010 by Time magazine. The spot for 

Subaru tells the story of a parent whose daughter is about to drive alone for the first time. He goes 

over some safe driving tips with her. As he talks to her, she appears to be 5 years old behind the 

wheel. When she responds to him, she is now 16. To pull off the effect, a real father with two 

daughters was found to play the part. Hughes creative directs national advertising for Subaru of 

North America. You can watch the commercial online at bit.ly/subaru_mside or at 

www.morningside.edu/morningsider. 

New award focuses on student learning 

This spring Morningside presented the Dr. William C. Yockey Assessment Awards for the first time. 

Assessment is the process of systematically determining what students are learning and 

implementing strategies to improve student learning. Assessment award 

recipients were not only recognized and rewarded with a 

stipend; they also will give presentations at faculty 

workshops. The family of the late Dr. William C. 

Yockey 1949, a Morningside chemistry professor 

for more than 30 years, established the 

awards in his name. This year’s recipients for 

general education courses were Regina Bade 

in mathematics, Dr. Mike Calvillo 1985 in 

psychology, Dr. Greg Guelcher in history, 

Dr. Rachel Robson in biology and Dr. Chris 

Spicer in mathematics. The nursing program 

also received an award for departmental 

assessment. 

5

MUSTANG MINUTES 

By Dave Rebstock 

Morningside wins GPAC All-Sports Trophy 

Morningside captured the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) 

All-Sports Trophy for the 2011-2012 academic year. The Mustangs 

won the trophy with a total of 159 points for an eight-point margin 

over runner-up Doane College. 

It was a clean sweep for the Mustangs, who led all schools with 81.5 

points in the men’s sports and 77.5 points in the women’s sports. 

Morningside won regular season GPAC championships in football, 

volleyball and wrestling and was the league runner-up in baseball, 

women’s basketball and women’s tennis. 

Morningside claimed its third all-sports trophy in the last six years. 

The Mustangs also won the GPAC All-Sports Trophy for 2006-2007 

and 2007-2008. The Mustangs finished second in 2008-2009 and 

finished third each of the past two years. 

Track athletes excel at national level 

Morningside had its greatest success in track & field at the national 

level since its transition to the National Association of Intercollegiate 

Athletics (NAIA). 

Mustang athletes have earned NAIA All-America honors in 27 

events since their move to the NAIA in 2002, and 14 of them came 

this year with eight All-America efforts during the indoor season and 

six more in the outdoor campaign. 

Morningside crowned its first-ever NAIA Track & Field National 

Champions at this year’s NAIA Indoor National Championships in 

Geneva, Ohio. Megan Glisar captured the women’s high jump crown 

by clearing a height of 5-8 3/4. The Mustangs added another national 

title when their men’s 3200-meter relay team of Brad Wright, Taylor 

Chapman, John Harris and Monte Larsen clocked a school-record 

time of 7 

minutes, 

33.55 seconds 

to upset 

heavy 

favorite 

Wayland 

Baptist 

University at 

the finish 

line. 

The 

Mustangs 

also had two 

national 

runner-ups at 

Megan Glisar became Morningside’s first-ever individual NAIA the NAIA 

Track & Field National Champion when she won the high jump 

during the indoor season. Photo by Dr. Gene Knudsen 1971. 

Indoor 

Championships 

with second-place finishes from Larsen in the men’s 

600-meters and Jessica Weborg in the women’s mile. Glisar had 

the Mustangs’ top finish at this year’s NAIA Outdoor National 

Championships with a second-place finish in the high jump. 

6 

Wrestling team wins back-to-back GPAC titles 

Morningside’s wrestling team went 6-0 in this winter’s GPAC duals 

en route to its second straight league championship. Tim Jager was 

named GPAC Coach of the Year and Joe Sievert was the GPAC 

Wrestler of the Year. 

Sievert had a perfect 28-0 record before he suffered his first loss of 

Morningside sports highlights 

the season in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championships. 

Sievert, Brian Block, Kory Kistner and Jared Wildeboer all earned 

NAIA All-America honors with place-winning performances at the 

national tournament. The Mustangs’ top showing came from Kistner, 

who was the national runner-up at 125 lbs. 

Women’s basketball team extends streak 

The Mustang women’s basketball team enjoyed another banner 

campaign by posting a 26-9 record and extending its streaks to nine 

consecutive 20-win seasons and 10 consecutive NAIA Division II 

National Tournament appearances. 

Chelsie Trask led the team in scoring with an average of 16.6 

points per game en route to first-team NAIA II All-America honors. 

Just a junior, Trask will have an opportunity next season to join Dani 

Gass 2009 as the Mustangs’ only two-time first-team All-American. 

The Mustang men’s basketball team also enjoyed a successful 

campaign, winning eight of its final 10 games to finish at 18-13. The 

top player was Danny Rudeen, who made the All-GPAC first team as a 

sophomore and now has the chance to join Brad Schmit 2006 as the 

Mustangs' only three-time first-team All-GPAC performers. 

Softball and baseball finish at or near 

the top of the GPAC 

Morningside’s softball team kept an impressive streak alive. After 

hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season, the Mustangs 

got hot at the right time by going 4-0 to win the GPAC Post-Season 

Tournament championship to lock up a fourth straight trip to the 

NAIA National Tournament. 

The softball team finished with a record of 28-21 and was led by 

freshman Taylor Michaelson, who topped the team with a .386 

batting average, and sophomore Kati Steffen, who paced the 

Mustangs with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs. 

It was also a successful spring for the Mustang baseball team, 

which posted a 37-21 record and finished second in the GPAC in its 

first season under new head coach Brian Drent. 

Sophomore A.J. Staiert was the team’s top hitter with a .376 

batting average and a school-record 10 triples, while junior Travis 

Hanson had a school-record 45 stolen bases to lead the nation in that 

category for the second year in a row. 

Freshman makes history in golf 

Freshman Brandon Thompson was named a third-team NAIA 

All-American this spring to become Morningside’s first-ever NAIA 

golf All-American. 

Thompson was the GPAC Men’s Golfer of the Year and the 

individual medalist at five of the Mustangs’ seven spring 

tournaments. 

The Mustang men won three tournament championships in 

2011-2012, while the Morningside women captured four tournament 

titles. 

Tennis programs on the rise 

Head coach Larry Mason 1973 has Morningside’s men’s and 

women’s tennis programs on the rise. 

The women had a 14-7 record, while the men finished at 9-7. Both 

teams established school records for victories and reached the 

championship matches at the GPAC Post-Season Tournament.

Would you be one, who dares to try, 

When challenged by the task; 

To rise to heights you’ve never seen, 

Or is that too much to ask… 

You will be proud of what you’ve done, 

When at the close of day; 

You look back on your battles won, 

Content you came this way! 

–From “The Challenge” by Dr. Heartstill Wilson, a locker 

room poem that inspired the 1974-1975 basketball team 

M-Club Messenger 

Colby Henderson 

led the NAIA with 11 

interceptions 

during the 2011 

season. He returned 

an interception for 

a touchdown to 

help spark the 

Mustangs’ 

memorable 

come-from-behind 

victory at Midland. 

Photo by Dr. Gene 

Knudsen 1971. 

Amazing Mustang comeback stories 

By Dr. Sharon Ocker 

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” This popular saying is often credited to 

former Yankee baseball star Yogi Berra, although others have also 

been said to be the author. Regardless of the source, sports fans know 

that it is very true. 

There have been some signature comebacks in the rich history of 

Morningside athletics. One occurred just this past fall, when the 

Mustang football team pulled out a victory over Midland that seemed 

out of reach with only a few minutes to go. I was in Fremont, Neb., for 

the game, and it was truly amazing. 

Midland entered the game unbeaten, thriving with the addition of 

a number of transfers, including a seasoned quarterback from 

Eastern Washington named Greg Panelli, who had his way with the 

Morningside defense, throwing a host of sideline passes with such 

speed and accuracy that we couldn’t seem to stop him. Midland’s 

defense was inspired, too, holding the Mustangs to just 73 yards 

through the first three quarters. The Warriors led 21-3. 

Preston Ives had a nice kick return to the Midland 38-yard line. 

Seven plays later, freshman Kyle Nikkel, filling in at quarterback 

because of an injury, hit Dillon Robinson with a 20-yard scoring pass. 

It was 21-10 with 12:09 remaining, but it still looked pretty bleak. 

Then Panelli went to the well once too often. Morningside’s 

cornerbacks had been playing soft on defense all afternoon, but Colby 

Henderson, who led the National Association of Intercollegiate 

Athletics (NAIA) in interceptions with 11 during the 2011 season, 

played closer, saw a pass coming, picked it off and ran it in from 20 

yards out. The score was 21-18 with 4:07 remaining on the clock. 

After the kickoff, the defense held and the Mustangs took over on 

their own 40 with 2:59 left in the game. A 10-yard pass from Nikkel to 

Colby Rohde and a 15-yard personal foul penalty got it close enough 

for freshman Zach Maxey to kick a 47-yard field goal to tie the game. 

Now 54 seconds remained. But Panelli threw two passes – one long 

and one short – to get Midland back in the lead at 27-21 with 20 

seconds left. However, they missed the point after. As Yogi said, it 

still wasn’t over. With time running out, Nikkel threw a 50-yard “Hail 

Mary” into the end zone. Three defenders fought for the ball with 

Kyle Schuck, but the Mustang wide receiver somehow came down 

with it. Maxey kicked the extra point, and the game ended with 

Morningside on top, 28-27. 

Another fabulous comeback for Morningside was a basketball 

playoff game in March of 1975. It happened in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 

where Morningside came back in the last minute to defeat hometown 

Iowa Wesleyan by scoring six points in less than 60 seconds. That 

doesn’t sound like much of a miracle today, but back then there was 

no 3-point shot. 

Iowa Wesleyan’s Larry Gunn was at the foul line for a one-and-one. 

He missed. Morningside raced down court and missed a shot, but 

Marvelous Marv Munden 1976, who had 26 points for the night, 

scored off a rebound. With 21 ticks left, Iowa Wesleyan’s Tom Dickens 

missed yet another free throw. This time, Doug Marx 1977 missed a 

jumper, but big Dave Schlesser 1975 tipped it in. There were 10 

seconds left. 

After a timeout, second-year coach Dan Callahan called for a “big 

man trap,” with Schlesser fronting the throw in. Wesleyan panicked 

and threw a long pass to half court that was headed out of bounds. 

Their guy tried leaping in the air to save it, but threw it to Joe Longo 

1977. Longo relayed it to Munden, who spied Dan Pomerenke 1975 

open in the corner. Pomerenke drove the baseline and put up the 

winning layup as time expired. Schlesser finished with 27 points, and 

in doing so, set a new Morningside single-season scoring record. 

Others who played that night included Owen Lomax 1979 and Herb 

McMath 1976. 

That Morningside basketball team punched its ticket to the NAIA 

National Tournament, where it lost in the first round to Wisconsin- 

Parkside to finish the season with a 17-12 record. There were many 

sweet memories that season, but none was better than the win in 

Mount Pleasant. 

Paralleling these great comebacks was one I witnessed at the 

Kansas Relays in 1960. A runner whose name I don’t recall was 

competing in the 3000-meter steeplechase. He led to the first water 

barrier, but fell in the drink and everyone passed him. He regained 

the lead, but again fell and was behind. By the time the fifth “wet” 

barrier was reached, with the same result, the crowd was really into 

it. It happened twice more, but at the last hurdle, he got up and won 

the race to tumultuous applause. Talk about not giving up. 

7

8 

Model 

Recent grads 

When Dr. Patrick McKinlay meets with 

prospective students, he is often asked what job 

they will get when they graduate with a degree in 

political science. He said he understands the 

question, but he cannot simply give them an exact 

answer. 

“As I try to explain to prospective students, the 

jobs they want may not exist yet,” said the professor 

and chair of history and political science. “Their 

Morningside experience helps prepare them to 

create their own opportunities.” 

Recent alumni have found ways to use their 

passion for politics to make a difference in the 

world. Graduates have gone on to serve on the 

Sergeant Bluff City Council, work for President 

Barack Obama’s grassroots campaign, and serve as 

second-in-command on the staff of Rep. Steve King 

in Washington, D.C. 

Last fall at the age of 26, Nicole Cleveland 2008 

became the youngest candidate in recent history to 

be elected to the city council in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. 

She ran against two incumbents and was still the 

highest vote-getter. 

“I think I knocked on every single door in 

Sergeant Bluff,” Cleveland said. “I did a lot of phone 

calling. I put up yard signs. I wrote letters to 

constituents. I went to every city council meeting 

for over a year before I decided to run and just stayed 

involved and made sure that I was ready for this.” 

Cleveland took office in December and has 

already faced a controversial issue – whether to 

overturn a property tax abatement program. She 

said she is trying to hear all sides of the issue before 

she makes a decision. And citizens do seek her out 

to share their perspectives. 

“I get letters, phone calls, knocks at my door,” she 

said. “It is just really nice to be able to be there for 

them. And they all have been friendly. Whether they 

disagree or not, they’ve all been very kind and 

respectful and cautious of understanding what’s 

going on. It’s been a lot of fun to be able to talk to 

them.” 

When Blair Lawton 2008 first graduated from 

Morningside College, he got a job managing a 

clothing store in Sioux City. Then he was on 

vacation in Washington, D.C., the week that 

lawmakers were debating and eventually passed 

the Affordable Care Act. 

Cassie (Nguyen) Loomis 2007 went to Washington, D.C., 

for a three-month internship. Two years later, she was 

second-in-command on the staff of Steve King, U.S. 

representative for Iowa’s 5th District.

citizensBy 

Jenny Welp 

make a difference through politics 

“That was my big issue in 2008, so it was super exciting going to the rallies and being 

out there on Capitol Hill when it passed,” Lawton said. “I was really excited but then 

also felt really bad. I was thinking it was just a waste of my time that I cared so much 

about this one issue but didn’t do anything at all to work for it.” 

When he got back to Sioux City, Lawton started volunteering for President Barack 

Obama’s grassroots campaign, Organizing for America. He volunteered for almost a 

year-and-a-half, sometimes putting in as many as 40 hours per week. Then he was 

offered a paid position with the campaign as a field organizer for Woodbury County. 

“Definitely volunteering and working hard for that long span really got my foot in the 

door,” he said. “That was probably the biggest thing.” 

Since then, Lawton has gotten two promotions. Now he is working in Waterloo, Iowa, 

as a regional field director, overseeing 18 counties in Iowa. He manages staff and 

develops political relationships with key players across the region. 

Back in 2008, Cassie (Nguyen) Loomis 2007 traveled from Sioux City to Washington, 

D.C., for a three-month internship. Little did she know that two years later, she would 

be second-in-command on the staff of Steve King, U.S. representative for Iowa’s 5th 

District. 

Loomis was an intern for another lawmaker when King’s people called her for an 

interview. They created a position just for her, and she quickly moved up the ranks to 

become legislative director. In this position, she was a top advisor to King, responsible 

for studying the issues and developing recommendations on how to vote. She said it 

normally takes people at least five years working on Capitol Hill to reach that level. 

“The congressman really took a risk for me,” she said. “I told Steve – I had to look 

him straight in the eye – I’m like, ‘I know I’m unqualified for this position, but if you 

take a risk, I promise that you won’t regret it.’ And I had to work 60, 70, 80 hours a 

week to be on top of everything that I was given.” 

Loomis was legislative director for over a year. Then she became engaged and let 

King know of her plans to move home. King wanted to keep her on staff, so he created a 

position for her in Sioux City as a policy advisor and district scheduler. 

“It’s really been an incredible journey,” she said. 

As for Lawton, he said he is happy he found a way to use his passion for politics to 

make a difference. He said his previous job was fun, but it wasn’t very rewarding. 

“This one I feel like I get up in the morning, and I feel good,” he said. “I feel like I’m 

doing good work, and I’m helping people.” 

Nicole Cleveland 

2008 ran 

against 

incumbents and 

still won a seat 

on the Sergeant 

Bluff City 

Council. “I think 

I knocked on 

every single 

door in Sergeant 

Bluff,” she said. 

Photo by Doug 

Burg, Burg 

Studios. 

Blair Lawton 

2008 is a 

regional field 

director for 

President 

Barack 

Obama’s 

grassroots 

campaign, 

Organizing for 

America. He 

oversees 18 

counties in 

Iowa. 

Building on a tradition 

So many alumni have been active in politics over the years. 

There’s Stan Greigg 1954, who served in the U.S. House of 

Representatives in the 1960s and was later a victim of the 

Watergate break-in; Joanne (Franzen) Grueskin 1958, who 

became the third woman ever to serve on the Sioux City 

Council in 1986; Christopher Rants 1989, who served in the 

Iowa House from 1992 to 2010 and was either the speaker of 

the House, majority leader or minority leader for almost 10 

years; and Ron Jorgensen 1979, who served on the Sioux City 

School Board and currently serves in the Iowa House. We’re 

just getting started. What names come to your mind? Tell us 

online at www.morningside.edu/morningsider. 

9

10 

Slam Dunk for Morningside 

A Winning 

Attitude 

When he wasn’t preparing 

for classes, guest professor Lin 

Benchun enjoyed attending 

Morningside’s home basketball 

games. He was often in the 

bleachers next to President 

John Reynders. 

“The funny thing? He cheers 

for both teams!” Reynders 

said. “When the other team 

would make a great play, he 

would clap and cheer and talk 

about what a great play it was.” 

“I’m a fan of those players. 

Boys or girls, they are very 

good,” Lin said. After games, he 

enjoyed going down onto the 

court to give congratulations 

and shake hands with the 

team.

Former Hwa Nan president serves as guest professor By Claire DeRoin 

Whether teaching in China or America, Lin Benchun knows the 

ropes. He’s been teaching for 40 years. This spring he spent a semester 

teaching Chinese culture and Chinese cinema classes at Morningside 

College. 

On a particular Wednesday this spring, Lin spoke to students about 

the last dynasty of China and the 1911 revolution that overthrew it. He 

explained the last emperor’s struggle to hang onto power. 

“To prove he was a powerful emperor, he made a man drink ink. 

Ink!” Lin exclaimed. 

Some students wrinkled their noses, disgusted, while others 

laughed. 

Lin didn’t glance at a textbook or list of topics. He effortlessly 

weaved a tale, taking students to another time and place. The students 

listened intently, captivated. 

Lin came to Morningside as part of an exchange with Hwa Nan 

Women’s College in Fuzhou, China. Hwa Nan students have studied at 

Morningside, and Morningside students and faculty have had the 

opportunity to teach at Hwa Nan. 

“It seemed like the logical next step to bring Benchun here and have 

him teach for a semester,” said Morningside College President John 

Reynders. 

Lin is a leader in Chinese higher education. Now a professor 

emeritus at Fujian Normal University in Fuzhou, he served as 

president of Hwa Nan from 2004 to 2007. “There’s no question when 

they write the history of Hwa Nan, Benchun is going to play a huge 

role,” Reynders said. 

Lin has been a teacher his whole life. Retirement hasn’t stopped him 

from continuing what he loves. “Teaching Chinese students or foreign 

students, teaching is a very, very rewarding job,” Lin said. 

At first, student Natalie Waller, a mass communication major from 

Holstein, Iowa, was nervous about taking a class with a visiting 

instructor. “I did not know if his teaching style was going to be 

different, making it hard to learn.” 

During the first class, she immediately realized that she had no 

reason to worry. 

“He did pronounce some words differently than Americans, but we 

always knew what he was saying,” she said. 

Lin learned English from textbooks and by reading English literature 

and newspapers. The problem with that? “The vocabulary in these is 

very different from everyday language you use,” he explained. 

In the early 1990s, Lin spent time teaching in Oregon. “The colloquial 

expressions I learned 20 years ago? You don’t speak them anymore!” he 

exclaimed with a laugh. “The students here are very kind to me. I learn a 

lot of expressions from them.” 

Language and cultural differences can sometimes cause minor 

challenges. That’s not surprising, though, according to Lin. “Sometimes 

you have conflict. Different breedings give you different life habits. The 

inconvenience is a good way to learn about a culture.” He didn’t have 

much trouble adapting to the American lifestyle, however. “I’m a very 

flexible man. It is easy to fit in.” 

Despite any differences, Lin has detected a unifying factor among 

people worldwide: technology. “Here, everyone has a computer in class. 

You go to China and students all have smartphones in their hands,” Lin 

laughed. 

Lin’s hope for the Information Age is that instructors will teach 

students how to find and utilize information. “Maybe later in your life if 

you think about Chinese culture, you will know where to find more 

information for yourself.” 

Because of that, Lin’s tests are open-book and open-note. “As long as 

you learn, that’s enough,” he said. “Chinese culture is a civilization of 

5,000 years. How can you know everything?” 

Students like Waller found his take on teaching refreshing. “He taught 

about his lifestyle and things that happen in China, things he wanted us to 

know, not something a book told him to talk about,” Waller said. 

Reynders said he is extremely pleased with this exchange. 

“I hope this is the first of a number of opportunities to bring 

distinguished scholars from other countries to teach here,” he said. 

“Great colleges do this sort of thing. They bring somebody who has Lin’s 

kind of energy and passion and different perspective to campus. It’s been 

great for us.” 

What’s better than that? 

“I think we’ve made a lifelong friend,” Reynders said with a smile. 

Photo by Nick Buth 2011. 

11

12 

Sharon Walker Faculty 

Excellence Awards 

Dr. Brenda Mammenga 

joined the faculty in 2007 as 

an assistant professor of 

mathematical sciences. Award 

evaluators commended her ability 

to ask questions that “catapulted 

Morningside students into deep, 

integrated learning as part of 

their classes.” 

Meet the 2011 recipients 

Dr. Jeremy Schnieder 

joined the faculty in 2010 as an 

assistant professor of writing and 

rhetoric. Award evaluators called 

him “a role model in a variety of 

venues: in the classroom, during 

advising and through work with 

campuswide initiatives.” 

Dr. Chris Spicer 

joined the faculty in 2009 as 

an assistant professor of 

mathematical sciences. Award 

evaluators commended his 

teaching techniques that 

“engage students who may find 

the material frightening or 

challenging.” 

About the awards 

The Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards are funded by a generous gift 

from Jim and Sharon Walker 1970 of Wayzata, Minn. Criteria for selection 

includes teaching excellence, effective advising, scholarship and service to the 

college during the previous academic year. Read on to learn more about the 

recipients, or watch video profiles online at 

www.morningside.edu/morningsider. 

Walker Awards 2011 11 1

Why she got into teaching: 

I love being surprised by students – hearing a question or comment 

that shows insight into the problem in an unexpected way. I also 

enjoy challenging them, so that the ultimate success at the end of the 

course is so much more fulfilling for both of us. But the best part of 

being a college professor is witnessing the transformation that takes 

place in a student between matriculation and graduation. 

Why she came to Morningside College: 

When I decided to pursue a doctorate degree in mathematics, it was 

with the intention to teach math at a school where professors 

routinely got to know students personally, professors valued 

effective and enthusiastic teaching, and the community was both 

small and family-friendly. Those characteristics describe the 

Morningside College community very well. My students have been 

bright, hard-working and respectful, making our adventures each 

semester all the more enjoyable. 

Examples of real-world applications in her classes: 

When discussing percentages and proportions, I used an example 

from that week’s Target advertisement. To teach the concept of the 

greatest common factor of a collection of natural numbers, we 

computed the number of batches of Rice Krispie Treats we must 

make in order to have no left-over ingredients, given the packaging 

sizes of the various ingredients. By using scenarios that are current 

and local, I feel more genuine when I claim that quantitative 

reasoning is an important life skill for everyone. 

Dr. Brenda Mammenga 

assistant professor of mathematical sciences 

13

14 

Dr. Jeremy Schnieder 

assistant professor of writing and rhetoric 

His proudest moments as a professor: 

My proudest moments come when students figure out that they truly 

can write, speak and think intelligently and that they have something 

to say that should be heard. My proudest moments are when they are 

confident enough that I am no longer necessary. 

How his classes apply to the real world: 

Writing and speaking – communicating in general – are as “real 

world” as you can get. I also try to incorporate topics that students 

care about. In that way, their writing and speaking are as real as it gets. 

A life skill he tries to teach students: 

The most valuable life skill that I try to encourage in my students is the 

ability to think critically. If students can pull together multiple 

perspectives and use them to create something new, their potential for 

success is virtually endless. 

A concept he would like everyone to know or understand: 

To be able to speak and write, you need to start by listening.

Dr. Chris Spicer 

assistant professor of mathematical sciences 

Why he loves math: 

I have always loved math. Ever since my early undergraduate days, I 

loved that math always had a right and wrong answer. It had a level of 

finality to it: once you prove a theorem, it is proven for all time. I tell 

students that the proof that there are infinitely many prime numbers 

is the exact same proof that Euclid and the ancient Greeks discovered 

over 2,000 years ago. 

How his classes apply to the real world: 

Math is unfortunately plagued by beliefs that all mathematicians do 

is solve equations for x. In reality, math is used everywhere, and I try 

hard to bring that up in classes. Pretty much any topic is fair game, 

whether it is the security of an Android phone passcode, the 

mathematics behind Google’s ranking system, or the mathematics of 

the Rubik’s Cube. I try to make sure students see the real-world 

applications of the material they are learning as much as possible. 

How he interacts with students outside of class: 

There is a well-known quote that says a mathematician is a machine 

for turning coffee into theorems. Therefore, I always have a pot of 

coffee on for any student who wants to stop by my office, have a cup 

of coffee and shoot the breeze. 

Photos by Doug Burg, Burg Studios. 

15

16 

Announcing the 2011 

Thompson Award Recipients 

Morningside College presented the 2011 

Thomas S. Thompson Staff Excellence 

Awards to Jessica Jones-Sitzmann, head 

softball coach; Lisa Krohn, administrative 

assistant to the president; Dr. Mary Leida, 

dean of advising and associate dean of 

students; Andre McWell, director of 

Student Success; Janice Petersen, secretary 

for graduate studies; and Bill Schindel, 

general maintenance. Leida also was 

named staff employee of the year. 

Recipients were selected based upon 

their demonstration of outstanding 

dedication, service and commitment to 

Morningside and its students during the 

2010-2011 academic year. 

President John Reynders presented 

the awards at the annual holiday and 

recognition banquet in December. Each 

recipient received a cash bonus. Funding 

for the annual awards comes from an 

endowment established by Margaret 

Thompson, wife of the late Thomas S. 

Thompson, who served as president of 

Morningside from 1969 to 1978. 

Jones-Sitzmann 

joined the college in 

1996 as an assistant 

softball coach and 

was named head 

coach in 1999. As a 

standout athlete in 

high school and 

college, she built a list of honors that 

included school records and all-state and 

All-American recognition. Her 13-year 

career as head coach at Morningside has 

added more accolades: several Great Plains 

Athletic Conference (GPAC) coach of the 

year titles, regular season and post-season 

championships, and National Association 

of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national 

tournament appearances. She is the 

winningest softball coach in Morningside 

history. 

Krohn came to 

work for Morningside 

in 1999 as the 

administrative 

assistant to the 

president. She has 

many skills that make 

for a highly effective 

and likeable employee. The president’s 

office is one of the busiest offices on 

campus. It could not function without her 

ability to organize, plan and deal with 

last-minute changes. There are always 

unexpected assignments. For example, last 

summer she managed the check-in and 

check-out of more than 100 flood victims 

living temporarily in the dorms. Krohn 

doesn’t have the easiest job on campus, but 

she always handles it with grace and 

exceptional competence. 

Leida began working 

at Morningside in 1987 

as an assistant 

professor of biology. 

During almost 25 

years at Morningside, 

she has been called 

upon to wear many 

hats: chair of the biology department, 

associate dean for academic affairs, 

coordinator of first-year programs, and now 

dean of advising and associate dean of 

students. She demonstrates her dedication 

and commitment to students and to the 

college in so many ways. It is apparent in 

her work with students. It is apparent in her 

wise counsel and effective leadership on a 

variety of task forces and committees. 

McWell started 

working for 

Morningside in 2002 

as an assistant track 

and cross country 

coach. He became 

director of the Student 

Success program in 

2005. He makes every effort to ensure that 

high risk students are successful at 

Morningside. If it means coming in early 

and staying late, he does it because a 

student will benefit from the extra time. 

If a student has an important off-campus 

appointment and no car, no problem. 

He will drive them. Needless to say, 

commitment like this builds strong, 

productive relationships with students. 

It also makes the Student Success program 

a valuable campus resource. 

Petersen came to 

work for Morningside 

in 1986 as secretary 

to the associate dean 

for continuing 

education, and she 

started working in the 

graduate studies 

department in 1990. She does many things 

well, but she has been singled out for 

excellent customer service. Prospective 

and current graduate education students 

get high-caliber customer service, and that 

same commitment to customer service is 

evident when she deals with employees in 

other departments on campus. She is a 

team player who makes life as pleasant as 

possible for everyone with whom she 

comes in contact. 

Schindel joined the 

maintenance 

department at 

Morningside in 2005. 

He has been 

described as 

steadfast, dependable 

and a jack of all trades 

who really is good at everything he does. 

During a typical week, he will tackle a wide 

variety of projects that impact students, 

faculty, staff and administrators. He sees 

what needs to be done and does it without 

being told. The results of his work can be 

seen in almost every college building and 

facility, as well as on the campus grounds. 

From snow removal to assembling and 

setting up new chairs and tables for a 

classroom, he takes pride in a job well 

done. 

faculty 

and staffnotes

Faculty Notes 

Aaron Bunker, Ph.D., assistant professor of 

biology, gave a presentation at the 

American Physiological Society meeting in 

San Diego, Calif. He provided tips on using 

the online learning platform Moodle as a 

supplemental virtual classroom when 

teaching physiology. 

Marty (Steele) Knepper 1972, Ph.D., 

professor and chair of English, presented a 

paper at the national meeting of the 

Popular Culture Association and American 

Culture Association in Boston. Her paper 

focused on the suicide of feminist literary 

critic Carolyn Heilbrun, also known as 

mystery writer Amanda Cross. 

Chad Leugers, Ph.D., visiting assistant 

professor of biology, co-authored a chapter 

for a book about the molecular biology of 

neurodegenerative diseases. "Tau and 

Tauopathies" appears in volume 107 of the 

book "Progress in Molecular Biology and 

Translational Science.” Leugers 

co-authored the chapter with Gloria Lee, 

his graduate school advisor at the 

University of Iowa in Iowa City. 

Pam Mickelson, Ed.D., professor of 

business, wrote a book that was recently 

published, and she gave presentations in 

Missouri and Texas. “The Brand Builder 

Workbook” was published by The Copy 

Workshop in Chicago. It is a step-by-step 

guide to creating a marketing campaign, 

from identification of a situation or 

problem to creative execution of a pitch. 

Mickelson wrote the book using more than 

20 years of experience working with 

Morningside College students to develop 

marketing campaigns for local businesses 

and nonprofit organizations. The book is 

available through the Morningside College 

Bookstore. At the Marketing Management 

Association’s educator’s conference in St. 

Louis, Mo., Mickelson gave a presentation 

called “Student Evaluation Feedback: Using 

the Results Productively.” At Sam Houston 

State University in Huntsville, Texas, 

Mickelson spoke to consumer behavior and 

marketing communication classes. She 

focused on the use of qualitative research 

in decision-making and the process of 

creating a branding campaign. 

Joan Nielsen, Ed. Spec., associate professor 

of education and director of Project 

Unlimited Proficiency (PUP), and Caroline 

Donaway 1996, M.A., PUP project manager, 

were presenters at Iowa’s 26th Culture & 

Language Conference in Coralville. Nielsen 

gave a presentation about a five-year 

collaboration where universities in 

multiple states used the same curriculum 

to assist teachers working with English 

Language Learners. Donaway led an 

interactive session to strengthen the skills 

of those who face language barriers in their 

schools. PUP is a federally-funded program 

at Morningside College where area 

teachers receive scholarships for courses to 

become certified to work with English 

Language Learners. 

Heather L. Reid, Ph.D., professor of 

philosophy, gave invited lectures at the 

Royal Institute of Philosophy in London 

and at the University of Rome Foro Italico 

in Italy. In London, she talked about how 

the Olympic Games originated in religious 

sacrifice. Based on this heritage, she 

argued that the modern Olympic Games 

should dedicate themselves to 

humanitarian rather than commercial 

goals. In Rome, she talked about her paper 

“Philosophy, Democracy and Sport: From 

Pythagoras’ Gymnasium to Plato’s 

Academy,” which explains the connections 

between philosophy, democracy and sport 

in the ancient world based on research 

from her recent book “Athletics and 

Philosophy in the Ancient World: Contests 

of Virtue.” 

Andy Thomas, Ph.D., visiting assistant 

professor of chemistry, and student Lyra 

Christianson were awarded access to one 

of the world’s fastest supercomputers for a 

research project. They used the Kraken 

supercomputer housed at the Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory in Tennessee to study 

lipid molecules in bacterial membranes. 

Internet connections allowed them to run 

their research simulations on the Kraken 

supercomputer without leaving the 

Morningside campus. 

Jessica Tinklenberg deVega, Ph.D., 

assistant professor of religious studies, is 

co-author of the recently published book 

“All You Wanted to Know, But Didn’t Think 

You Could Ask: Religions, Cults, and 

Popular Beliefs.” The book is a compendium 

of short chapters on 40 different world 

religions and belief systems. It is written 

for upper-level high school and early 

college students. Tinklenberg deVega wrote 

the book with Christine Ortega Gaurkee, an 

instructor in Eastern religions at Berkeley 

Preparatory School in Tampa, Fla. It is 

available at the Morningside College 

Bookstore. 

Leslie Werden, Ph.D., assistant professor 

and chair of writing and rhetoric, was 

appointed vice president of the 

Independent Writing Departments and 

Programs Affiliate. The organization is an 

affiliate of the Council of Writing Program 

Administrators, a national association of 

writing professionals with interests in 

developing and directing writing programs. 

Werden will serve as vice president for two 

years, president for two years and past 

president for two years. 

Jill Wilson, D.M.A., assistant professor 

of music, had a paper selected for 

presentation at two summer seminars in 

Greece. Her paper, “Informal Learning in 

the Collegiate Music Classroom,” was 

selected for presentation at the 18th 

International Music in the Schools & 

Teacher Education Commission Seminar 

in Komotini, Greece, and for poster 

presentation at the 30th International 

Society for Music Education World 

Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. 

New Staff 

Hoonch Cleveland, 

floor technician, is 

responsible for floor 

care, cleanliness of 

assigned areas and 

other duties 

established by the 

director of physical 

plant and custodial supervisor. He came to 

Morningside from Little Priest Tribal 

College in Winnebago, Neb., where he 

worked in the maintenance department. 

Colleen McMahon- 

Levine, custodian, is 

responsible for 

cleanliness of 

assigned areas and 

other duties 

established by the 

director of physical 

plant and custodial supervisor. She 

previously worked at the Tyson Events 

Center as a security officer and member of 

the clean-up crew. 

17 

faculty 

and staffnotes

18 

AWARDS & HONORS 

Distinguished Alumni Award 

David Holub 1970 of Sioux City received this award from the Morningside 

College Alumni Association. He was a member of the Morningside College 

Alumni Association Board from 1995 to 2012, most recently as president. 

A senior vice president at Security National Bank in Sioux City, Holub also 

has served as a board member for Boys and Girls Home and Family 

Services, The Alpha Center and Siouxland Chamber of Commerce. 

Outstanding seniors recognized 

by alumni association 

Jessica Boschen, a biology major from Newman Grove, Neb. 

Garth Hamilton, a psychology counseling major from Lincoln, Neb. 

Lindsay Noteboom, an English education major from South Sioux City, Neb. 

Whitney Postma, a nursing major from Ireton, Iowa 

Wert Award 

Dr. Jack Hill, associate 

professor of psychology, 

received the Lucille and 

Charles Wert Faculty 

Award, which recognizes 

the faculty member 

judged by his or her peers 

to best exemplify the 

ideals of the academic 

teaching profession at 

Morningside. 

HONORARY DOCTORATES 

Lin Benchun, former president of Hwa Nan Women’s College in Fuzhou, China, received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his 

assistance with renewing ties between Hwa Nan Women’s College and Morningside College. A Morningside graduate was involved 

with the founding of Hwa Nan in 1908, and the first three Hwa Nan presidents were Morningside graduates. Lin served as a visiting 

instructor at Morningside this spring. See the story on page 10. 

The Hon. Jack K. Mandel, chairman of the board for the Nicholas Education Foundation in Santa Ana, Calif., and a retired Orange 

County (California) Superior Court judge, received an honorary doctorate for his work with high school students in Santa Ana, Calif. 

He is co-founder of the Nicholas Academic Centers in Santa Ana, which provide mentoring and tutoring programs that help 

inner-city high school students overcome poverty and social restrictions to attend college and earn four-year degrees. Ten Santa 

Ana high school graduates who were part of the Nicholas Academic Centers program are enrolled at Morningside. 

Nursing Alumna 

of the Year 

Cmdr. Sherri (McGinnis) Santos 

1989 of San Antonio, Texas, clinical 

coordinator of the Medical Education 

& Training Campus at Fort Sam 

Houston in San Antonio. 

Awards from ODK Honor Society 

Faculty Person of the Year 

Dr. Jackie (Brummond) Barber 1995, associate professor of nursing. 

First-Year Teaching/Advising Award 

Andre McWell, director of the Student Success program, which helps 

first-year students make the transition into college. 

Staff Member of the Year 

Sherry (Streyffeler) Swan 1984, administrative assistant for the 

religious studies, history and political science, philosophy, and 

theatre and dance departments. 

National Alumni Educator of the Year 

Brendan Burchard 1964, a teacher and coach at Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City. 

Siouxland Alumni Teacher of the Year 

Mary (Peter) Dermit 1993, health science head teacher for the Sioux City Community School District. 

OTHER NOMINEES: Sioux City – Robert Barry 1983, East Middle School; Richelle Burr 2003, Emerson Elementary School; Imelda Garcia 2004, Irving 

Elementary School; Charles Hoberg 1994, North High School; Nicole (Schmoll) Margeas 1992, Riverside Elementary School; Kelly McElrath 2011, East 

High School; Steven McHugh 2001, West High School; Mary Miller 1988, Crescent Park Elementary School; Debbie Parrott 1994, Joy Elementary School. 

South Sioux City – Joseph Schmith 2003, South Sioux City Middle School. Iowa – Beth (Brooks) Kirby 1982, West Monona Central Elementary School, 

Onawa. South Dakota – Mary (Gambaiana) Hamstra 1980, Dakota Valley Elementary School, North Sioux City.

Class Notes 


Editor’s Note: 

We would love to hear from you! Everyone is 

excited to find out what is going on in your life. 

Class editors, thanks for all of your help in 

getting this information to us! 

Please send your news to your 

class editor, or to: 

Karen Dreessen 

Morningside College 

1501 Morningside Ave. 


alumni@morningside.edu 

712-274-5107 

Class Editors 

1943 Dr. Mary (Cruikshank) Grefe 

1953 Bruce Norris 

1959 Dick Daily 

1960 John Gilbert 

1961-62 Earl Parsons 

1963 Don Hill 

1965 Wayne Shively 

1967-68 Barbara (Kubiatowicz) Danger 

1972 Donna (Tack) Ricks 

1980 The Rev. Dale Schoening 

1981-82 Michael Madsen 

1989 Penny May 

1990 Tom Gerking 

1991 Troy Sparks 

1992 Jami (Walquist) McCuddin 

1993 Eric Wylie 

1995 Jennifer (Rice) LeMar 

1996 Kristin Johnson 

1997 Brian M. Clarke 

1998 Amber (Ellerbroek) Hegarty 

1999 Jami (Wheatcraft) Langholdt 

2001 Allison (Hallquist) Newman 

2002 Tasha (Segebart) Eldridge 

2003 Mike Eldridge 

2004 Erin Mulvany 

2007 Brian Hamilton 

2009 Trey Blackburn 

2010 Cassie Dickerson 

2011 Tennessee Bryant 

Forties 

1943 

Meet Your Class Editor 

Dr. Mary (Cruikshank) Grefe recently retired 

after serving 12 years on the Morningside 

College Board of Directors. She currently 

resides in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Send your notes to: marygrefe@aol.com. 

1944 

Dorothy (Dawson) and Dale Green 1950 of 

Estherville, Iowa, celebrated their 65th 

wedding anniversary on May 3, 2012. 

1948 

Darwyn “Tony” and Joan (Meyer) Snyder 

1949 of Omaha, Neb., celebrated their 64th 

wedding anniversary in December 2011. In 

addition, Darwyn was inducted into the 

Nebraska Wind Symphony Hall of Fame in 

April 2011. Back in 1977, Snyder and a small 

committee launched a community band in 

Omaha. Volunteers quickly formed a large 

concert band that became the Nebraska Wind 

Symphony, which Snyder conducted for the 

first 18 years. He also directed Omaha 

Westside High School’s bands for 21 years and 

was the school district’s fine arts coordinator 

for 12 years. 

Fifties 

1950 

Col. George “Bud” Day was inducted into the 

Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame at the Iowa 

Aviation Museum in Greenfield in October 

2011. 

The Rev. Thomas and Irma (VanderVelde) 

McKeown 1951 of Douglas, Mass., celebrated 

their 60th wedding anniversary. They were 

married on May 29, 1951, in Emmetsburg, 

Iowa. 

1952 

Doug Gresham and his wife, Jean Austen, 

live in Lantzville, British Columbia. They 

reported the recent births of three greatgrandchildren: 

Kamran Sharifirad, born June 

11, 2011; Braden Lawson, born Oct. 12, 2010; 

and Kaydence Dunn, born Sept. 11, 2008. 

1953 


Bruce Norris lives in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 

with his wife, Dione. He taught in the public 

schools and at the junior college level for 38 

years. He has been doing volunteer work at 

Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs 

for the past 19 years. 

Send your notes to: 

loweregister@msn.com. 

Judith Dirks received the 2011 Good Neighbor 

Award from the Rotary Club of Northfield, 

class 

Minn. She 

notes 

was honored for her work on the 

city’s Human Rights Commission and for her 

many years of service helping immigrants to 

become U.S. citizens. 

1956 

The Rev. Dr. Roger and Beverly (Lindberg) 

Swanson 1957 are back in Iowa! Married on 

Roger's graduation, the Swansons went to 

Drew University in Madison, N.J., for 

seminary, then on to a career in the United 

Methodist Ministry for over 50 years. Roger 

served in New Jersey as a pastor for 35 years 

and then with the General Board of Discipleship 

and the Florida Conference in evangelism 

ministries. Beverly finished her degree at 

Kean College in Union, N.J., also getting a 

master's degree. They have two children. 

Their daughter, Rachel, lives in Colfax, Iowa. 

Roger and Beverly are independent living 

residents at Park Centre in Newton, Iowa. 

1958 

Dr. David Lohr is retired and lives in Churdan, 

Iowa, with his wife, Christine. They have four 

children and 16 grandchildren. Lohr earned 

a Doctor of Medicine degree from the 

University of Iowa in 1961 and went on to 

complete an internal medicine residency in 

1967 and an infectious diseases fellowship in 

1975. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 

1991 after 28 years of active duty, including 14 

years overseas in Vietnam, Germany, Egypt 

and the Philippines. 

Joyce (Arnold) Sievers of Smithville, Tenn., 

has been a member of the Tennessee Council 

on Developmental Disabilities since 2000 and 

served as it chair from 2007 to 2010. 

Kent Watkins was featured in a New York 

Times article on Jan. 5, 2012. The article, 

“18th-Century Artisans, Tracked the Modern 

Way,” shared how Watkins has done more 

than 5,000 hours of research over the last 

seven years about his distant cousin, Mary 

Tillinghast, who ran a workshop in Greenwich 

Village from the 1880s to early 1910s that 

designed stained-glass windows, mosaics, 

tapestries, murals and tombs. Watkins is 

working on a book about Tillinghast, who was 

called “the most versatile artist we can boast 

of among the women in this country” in an 

1896 magazine profile. Watkins is an 

urban-planning consultant who lives in 

Bethesda, Md. He is chair of the National 

Academy of Housing and Sustainable 

Development. Watkins is currently helping to 

underwrite, from the Kent Watkins Fund at 

Morningside, the digitization of The Collegian 

Reporter since 1896. Watkins received a 

Distinguished Alumni Award from the college 

in 1988. 

1959 


Dick Daily lives in Blue Springs, Mo. He has 

been retired since 2000. 

Send your notes to: rcdaily@comcast.net 

or 3813 S.W. Jackson St., Blue Springs, 

MO 64015. 

19

20 

Sixties 

1960 


John Gilbert and his wife, Carlene, enjoy 

traveling, spending time with family, 

bicycling and fishing. 


jdgilbert1937@gmail.com or 12313 Long St., 

Overland Park, KS 66213-2210. 

1962 

Meet Your Class Editor for 1961 and 1962 

Earl Parsons retired in 2001, after more than 

35 years in the health care industry - nursing 

homes, specifically. He was involved in 

building, owning and operating buildings in 

Iowa, Nebraska, Arizona and California. 

Being father to three wonderful girls and 

grandfather to identical twin girls, all living in 

the Denver area, has led to a lot of traveling. 

Parsons says, "If I knew grandfathering was 

going to be this cool, I would have skipped 

parenting and gone right to grandparenting!" 


jephasarrived1@cox.net 

or 2601 W. Romley Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85041. 

Dr. Gary Hargroves lives in Fridley, Minn. 

He is a vice president for Thompson & 

Associates, which works through nonprofit 

organizations to provide planned giving 

expertise and assist donors with a 

personalized and comprehensive estate and 

charitable planning process. 

1963 


Send your notes to Don Hill: 

hilld@mercersburg.edu. 

1965 


Wayne Shively of Sioux City is currently a 

part-time employee of the Community Action 

Agency of Siouxland. He is retired after 

teaching English and language arts for 33 

years. 

Send your notes to: shively130@aol.com. 

Dave Stead, executive director of the 

Minnesota State High School League since 

1988, received the Bernie Saggau Award of 

Merit from the Iowa High School Athletic 

Association (IHSAA) during the boys’ state 

basketball tournament in Des Moines, which 

took place in March. The Bernie Saggau 

Award of Merit is the highest and most 

prestigious award given by the IHSAA. It is 

presented to those deemed worthy for their 

service to interscholastic athletics and their 

strong support of the purpose and values of 

interscholastic programs. 

1966 

Larry and Patrice (Nelson) Arndt 1968 

recently moved to Denver, Colo., to be closer 

to their son and his family. While still living in 

Maysville, Ky., Larry was named a Paul Harris 

Fellow, Rotary’s highest honor. He also was 

Catching Up with 

The Alexander File 

Graduation Year: 1972 (Michael), 1972 (Linda) 

Major: Business (Michael), Psychology (Linda) 

Additional Degrees: Executive Management Program, 

Stanford University, 1986 (Michael) 

Current Residence: Fresno, Calif. 

Current Occupation: President and CEO, United Way 

of Fresno County (Michael), Regional Director for 

Community Bible Study based in Colorado Springs, 

Colo. (Linda) 

Michael and Linda (McFarlane) Alexander both recognize the impact a Morningside education has 

made in their lives. 

“My time at Morningside has influenced every area of my life in some way,” Linda said. “I’m so 

thankful for my liberal arts education that gave me exposure to so many different subjects, and my 

professors challenged me in areas of critical thinking that I really hadn’t experienced up until that 

time. My Morningside experience really provided the foundations for a lifetime of learning and 

organizational skills.” 

Linda is now the regional director for Community Bible Study, which is based in Colorado Springs, 

Colo. 

“My psychology studies especially helped me in areas of social and business-related 

relationships, as well as sales, management and communications,” she said. “I gained a greater 

understanding and confidence in myself and a greater understanding of people in general.” 

Michael went on to a 34-year business career with Kaiser Permanente in the healthcare industry, 

retiring as senior vice president and CEO of Kaiser’s San Francisco Medical Center. After a brief 

retirement, he took a leadership position as president and CEO of United Way of Fresno County. 

“Morningside gave me a very good business background, which has really helped me in my career 

commissioned by the governor of Kentucky as 

a colonel in the Honorable Order of Kentucky 

Colonels, a nonprofit organization that does 

good works for communities and the state. In 

Iowa, Larry was inducted into the Sac 

Community School District Education 

Foundation Hall of Fame in 2011. 

1967 


Barbara (Kubiatowicz) Danger retired in 

2001 after a 34-year career teaching English 

and working as a media specialist. She hopes 

to hear from classmates from both the classes 

of 1967 and 1968 because she started at 

Morningside with the class of 1968 and 

graduated early in 1967. 


barbaradanger@comcast.net or 13222 

Spencer Sweet Pea Lane, Eden Prairie, 

MN 55347. 

1969 

The Rev. John Blair is a clergyman at St. 

Ninian’s Uniting Church in Lyneham, 

Australia. From 2002 to 2010, he served the 

Australian Outback as a Flying Padre for the 

Uniting Church. Based in Broken Hill, New 

South Wales, and flying a Cessna 182, he 

ministered to families and workers on sheep 

and cattle stations, from 20,000 to 1 million 

acres in size, in or near the Far West of New 

South Wales. Blair met his wife, Rebecca 

(White) 1971, during his junior year at 

Morningside. She had just returned after a 

year in Brazil as an exchange student. Now 

they have one son, Matt, who is teaching with 

his wife in Beijing. 

James Dunlap was named District VI vice 

president for the American Society of Farm 

Managers and Rural Appraisers, representing 

North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, 

Montana and Wyoming. Dunlap is president 

of Dunlap Appraisal and Agri-Management 

Inc. in Sioux Falls, S.D., which performs 

commercial and agricultural appraisal work 

in eastern South Dakota, western Minnesota, 

northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska, as 

well as farm management work in eastern 

South Dakota and western Minnesota. He is 

an accredited rural appraiser and a member 

of the Royal Institution of Chartered 

Surveyors. 

Dennis Gray of Murphy, N.C., wrote the book 

“The Civil War in Cherokee, Clay and Graham 

Counties,” which was published by the 

Cherokee County Historical Museum in North 

Carolina. He became a grandparent for the 

first time with the recent birth of Aubrey 

Elizabeth Gray. 

Seventies 

1970 

Mary (Haley) Wiltgen retired in May 2010 

after 30 years of teaching special education

Michael & Linda (McFarlane) Alexander 


on the business side of health care – from finance to marketing to business planning,” Michael said. 

“I also minored in psychology, and that provided me with the ability to better understand people 

and what they are going through and to communicate with people.” 

Michael and Linda met in the fall of 1968. 

“I guess you would say he observed my silliness with a friend on the way back to Dimmitt Hall 

after a theatre production,” Linda said. “He called me the next day, and two and one-half years later, 

we were married at the end of our junior year.” 

Michael and Linda were both actively involved in Morningside’s Greek system, Michael as a Delta 

Sigma Phi and Linda as an Alpha Delta Pi. As a Delta Sig, Michael developed a friendship with the 

late Paul Splittorff 1969, who went on to post-Morningside fame as a longtime Major League 

Baseball pitcher with the Kansas City Royals. 

“He was my pledge dad in Delta Sig and the one who encouraged me to try out for the swim team,” 

Michael said. “He was a great advisor to me my freshman year. He held me accountable as far as 

making sure I went to class and had good grades, and he also opened my eyes in introducing me to 

people on campus.” 

Both Michael and Linda said the campus dances and Greek events were among their favorite 

activities as students. 

“The weekend dances were held in the cafeteria and were something that Linda and I enjoyed 

doing on a regular basis,” Michael said. 

“I also have great memories of being a part of the Delta Sigs and the camaraderie of that group of 

individuals,” he said. “I still communicate with many of them even though we live in all different 

parts of the country.” 

“We had great theatre productions and music concerts to see when we were there,” Linda said. 

“Attending football and basketball games, as well as Greek events, also provided a full calendar of 

social activities. My ADPi sisters are still close treasured friends and we meet frequently across the 

country for reunions.” 

and social studies at South Sioux City High 

School in Nebraska. She currently supervises 

student teachers for various local colleges. 

Mary and her husband, Ed, enjoy spending 

time with their two granddaughters. 

1971 

Kathryn Lindquist is the chief marketing 

officer for the international investment 

banking firm Taylor-DeJongh, which is based 

in Washington, D.C., with offices in London, 

Paris and Dubai. She recently joined the 

board of directors for the Maryland Public 

Television Foundation. She also is on the 

Thunderbird Global Council Board for 

Thunderbird School of Global Management in 

Glendale, Ariz., from which she received her 

master’s degree. 

Stan Wisnieski was an umpire at the 2011 

Iowa High School Girls State Softball 

Tournament in Fort Dodge in July. Wisnieski 

has worked the most state tournaments of 

any umpire in the history of the event. 

1972 


Donna (Tack) Ricks lives in Grinnell, Iowa, 

with her husband, Al Ricks 1973. She retired 

in 2008 from her position as a speech coach 

and English and speech teacher at Dike-New 

Hartford High School in Dike, Iowa. She loves 

being a grandmother to Ella and Tyce, who are 

the children of daughter, Sarah, and son-inlaw, 

Shane Van Waardhuizen. She continues 

to be active in the Iowa High School Speech 

Association (IHSSA), judging contests and 

serving as a consultant to area schools and as 

secretary of the IHSSA Hall of Fame. 

Send your notes to: djrteach@msn.com or 

1698 E. 142nd St. S., Grinnell, IA 50112. 

Don “D.B.” McCulloch retired from teaching at 

Spirit Lake Middle School in Spirit Lake, Iowa, 

and is the owner of Iowa Great Lakes Coins in 

Spirit Lake. He is married to Joan (Wolf) 1972. 

1973 

Linda Brant has edited three young adult 

paranormal novels written by her niece, 

Nancy Straight. “Meeting Destiny,” “Destiny’s 

Revenge” and “Destiny’s Wrath” are available 

in e-book and paperback. Brant is a retired 

English teacher who still directs speech and 

drama activities at Charles City High School 

in Charles City, Iowa. She is currently 

directing Neil Simon's “Rumors” for the Stony 

Point Players in Charles City. 

Dr. Kris (Toyne) O’Clair is coordinating a 

second "edition" of the English Language 

Acquisition (ELA) Summer Academy for the 

Denver Public Schools in Colorado. The 

month-long program enrolls 4,000 English 

language learners – students ranging in age 

from 5 to 14 with over 130 different native 

languages. O’Clair interviews over 300 

ELA-qualified teachers for the 17 school sites. 

In addition to providing instruction to 

improve academic language in both 

mathematics and literacy, the academy also 

serves as a practicum for newly-hired 

teachers in the Denver Public Schools. O’Clair 

commented that the experience was a full 

circle from her student-initiated experience 

as a Morningside junior when she taught 

English to Spanish-speaking migrant children 

in her hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, during 

the summer of 1972. 

Ken Spies of Hinton, Iowa, is a broker 

associate with Century 21 ProLink. He has 

served as president of the Greater Sioux City 

Board of Realtors for 2011-2012. The Greater 

Sioux City Board of Realtors also named him 

Realtor of the Year for 2011, and he was 

named one of the top 20 associates in the 

Heartland Region, a region composed of 64 

Century 21 offices. 

1974 

Luci Ferrin of Sibley, Iowa, retired after 35 

years of teaching instrumental music for the 

Sibley-Ocheyedan Community School 

District. She was honored by the Iowa 

Bandmasters Association, Iowa State 

Education Association and National 

Endowment for the Arts for her 35 years in 

music education. Ferrin is now the accounts 

receivable-technology manager at 

Motorvation Engineering in Sibley. 

1975 

Delbert Christensen was an umpire at the 

2011 Iowa High School Girls State Softball 

Tournament in Fort Dodge. 

Carol (Gonigam) Dietz, Jenny (Engelke) 

Jorgensen, Gloria (Jelken) Miller, Jean 

(Passer) Roemer, Joy (Engdahl) Shah, and 

Maggie (Neidigh) Stewart gathered at a 

crafters’ bed and breakfast in Stuart, Iowa, in 

July 2011 to mark the 40th anniversary of 

when they met as freshmen in the fall of 1971. 

Several of them had not kept in contact since 

they left Morningside, but they found each 

other through Facebook. Over their reunion 

weekend, they made crafts, visited a winery, 

and shopped in the dollar store in downtown 

Stuart. They are planning a second 

get-together and hope others will join them. 

Dale Howard recently finished co-authoring 

“Ultimate Study Guide: Advanced Microsoft 

Project 2010,” his 15th book about Microsoft 

Project and Microsoft Project Server. 

Howard is vice president of education for 

MSProjectExperts and is considered one of 

the world’s top trainers on how to use the 

Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project 

Server software. Over the past 11 years, he has 

traveled nationally and internationally to 

conduct training for clients and traveled 

regularly to the company headquarters in 

New York City to conduct open enrollment 

classes. He has held the honorary title of 

Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional 

for the past eight years. Dale and his wife, 

class notes 

21

22 

Mickey (Cobb) Howard 1976, live in Dunedin, 

Fla. 

1976 

Dr. David Davidson was installed as president 

of the Iowa Dental Association in May 2011. 

He practices general dentistry in Urbandale, 

Iowa, under the name of Davidson Family 

Dentistry. He is the immediate past president 

of the Iowa Dental Foundation, which 

provides free dental care to those in need 

through the Iowa Mission of Mercy (IMOM). 

The 2011 IMOM was held in Sioux City in 

November. David and his wife, Diane 

(Hantsbarger) 1976, live in West Des Moines. 

Diane has practiced law for the past 32 years. 

They are active in a number of volunteer and 

community activities and enjoy returning to 

Morningside College on an occasional basis to 

see improvements to the campus and have a 

Morningside pizza. They have three children: 

Philip, a chiropractor in Gurnee, Ill.; Michael, 

a dentist at Davidson Family Dentistry; and 

Elizabeth, a senior at the University of Iowa. 

In recognition of the importance of 

Morningside College in their lives, the 

Davidsons have funded an academic 

scholarship to a deserving upperclassman 

in biology or chemistry. 

Lynn (Brandt) Ubben, superintendent for the 

Perry Community Schools, was elected to the 

Iowa High School Athletic Association’s 

Representative Council. She previously 

served on the Iowa Girls High School Athletic 

Union’s Representative Council while she was 

superintendent for the Winfield-Mount Union 

Community Schools. 

1978 

Mark Swedlund of Ankeny, Iowa, is a business 

partner with Bob Conaway 1985 and a 

co-owner of Mid Country Machinery, which 

has Iowa stores in Fort Dodge, Waterloo and 

Sergeant Bluff. 

1979 

Donna (Christensen) Duncan of Quincy, 

Calif., is the forest minerals administrator for 

the U.S. Forest Service, Plumas National 

Forest. 

Roger Kriebs was an official at the National 

Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 

Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships 

in March in Boise, Idaho. Kriebs has been 

the chief marshal at the Drake Relays since 

2002, and he held the same title at the 2012 

NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field 

Championships in June in Des Moines, Iowa. 

He also was the chief marshal at the 2011 

outdoor finals in Des Moines. 

Kathy (McKeown) Specketer of Winterset, 

Iowa, is the state coordinator for the Learning 

Disabilities Association of Iowa. For her 

leadership, she received a President’s Award 

during the organization’s 2011 conference in 

Des Moines. 

Catching Up 

The McNaughton File 

Graduation Year: 1991 

Major: Business 

Current Residence: San Diego, Calif. 

Current Occupation: President, Elite Concepts Consulting 

From being a key employee during the transformation of Gateway 

Computers from a small family business into an $11 billion 

international giant, to becoming president of a major consulting firm 

and a frequent opening act for renowned motivational speaker Tony 

Robbins, you might say Gene McNaughton is at the top of his profession. 

But back when he was a sophomore at Morningside, McNaughton felt like he was near rock 

bottom. 

“When I started at Morningside, I really didn’t know what I wanted to major in,” McNaughton said. 

“I was thinking I might want to be an engineer, and I quickly got into some courses that were way 

over my head. I was taking classes like calculus and computer programming – stuff that was just out 

of my league. It was hard work for me just to get an acceptable grade in those classes.” 

Enter William Steinman, associate professor of mathematical sciences, to steer McNaughton on 

the right track. 

“Steinman taught me a really important lesson as I was failing his computer programming class,” 

McNaughton said. “He told me the real key to success is to find something that fits your interest 

and is also something that you can get passionate about. If you can find what fits your natural 

abilities, the rest will come easy to you.” 

For McNaughton, that something was the business department. There he was guided by Dr. Pam 

Mickelson and Dr. Doug Livermore. 

“At that time, they saw more in me than I saw in myself and motivated me to step up with my 

education,” McNaughton said. 

John Steele, chief financial officer for Werner 

Enterprises in Omaha, Neb., received the Best 

Investor Relations by a CFO Award in the 

small-cap company category at the 17th 

annual IR Magazine U.S. Awards, which were 

presented in March at Cipriani Wall Street in 

New York City. The small-cap company 

category was for public companies with a 

stock market value less than $2 billion. 

Janice (McVicker) Swedlund took an early 

retirement after teaching for 33 years in 

Ankeny, Iowa. She still volunteers in her 

previous fourth-grade classroom, but she 

enjoys traveling more with her husband, 

Mark 1978. 

Jennifer (Seeger) Town was honored for her 

service as a Navy captain and as a civilian 

when the city council in Coronado, Calif., 

declared Nov. 1, 2011, as “Jennifer Town Day.” 

Town served 27 years as a Navy nurse, and she 

is now director of the Comprehensive Combat 

and Complex Casualty Care unit at Naval 

Medical Center San Diego, where she works to 

ensure that wounded veterans returning from 

Iraq and Afghanistan get the physical and 

emotional care they need to transition from 

military to civilian life. She retired from the 

Navy in September 2006 as director of 

nursing services/senior nurse executive at the 

Naval Medical Center, but two months later 

signed on to continue serving the critically 

wounded as a civilian. 

Janet (Liibbe) Young was named the 2011 

Iowa Association of Student Councils Advisor 

of the Year. She advanced to the regional level 

of the competition, and out of eight regions in 

the United States, she was named the 2012 

Region 5 High School Student Council Advisor 

of the Year. From the eight regional winners, a 

National Advisor of the Year is being selected 

by the National Association of Student 

Councils during a conference this summer in 

Oklahoma City. 

Eighties 

1980 


The Rev. Dale Schoening is pastor of the 

United Methodist Churches in three Iowa 

communities: Bussey, Hamilton and Lovilia. 

He holds a Master of Divinity degree from 

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 

Evanston, Ill. He also plays trombone in the 

Oskaloosa City Band, collects license plates, 

and serves as consulting editor and Facebook 

page moderator for The Joyful Noiseletter, 

which is published by the Fellowship of Merry 

Christians. His wife, Mitzi, graduated from 

Morningside with a master’s degree in 

education in 2010. She is a special education 

instructor in the Colo-Nesco Community 

Schools. 


daschoening@gmail.com.

with Gene McNaughton 


McNaughton went on to graduate from Morningside with a degree in business along with a minor 

in mass communication. He said he also benefitted greatly from courses outside of his core 

disciplines. 

“At a private liberal arts school like Morningside, you have to take a lot of courses that you don’t 

think will impact you down the road,” he said. “At the time I didn’t think it was necessary to take 

classes like history, philosophy or the sciences, but over time I’ve found they were some of the most 

important lessons that really helped me with my career long term.” 

McNaughton attributes his success to his commitment to life-long learning and to studying and 

learning from experts in his field. That meant studying the works of individuals such as 

self-improvement specialist Dale Carnegie, personal success author Napoleon Hill, and self-help 

author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins. 

“It was 2004. I had left Gateway, and was trying to decide what I wanted to do in my life and 

career,” he said. “I decided I wanted to go to work for Tony Robbins because I was a huge fan of his 

work. I’m not exaggerating when I say that a week later I received a call from one of his executive 

recruiters. They reached out to me, and I was blown away by that. 

“I met with Tony, went to an event, and they hired me on the spot,” McNaughton said. “Tony asked 

me about my two-year goals in working with him. My answer was to break every sales record in his 

company, which had 11 divisions in multiple countries, and that I wanted to be his opening act. He 

just kind of chuckled and said, ‘Nobody has ever done that before, but I like the fact that you think 

big.’ Two years later to the day, I opened for him in front of 3,500 people in Colorado. Just another 

example of the power of goal setting.” 

McNaughton said he has now opened for Robbins in 10 different countries in front of crowds 

ranging from 2,000 to 15,000. 

“The foundational learning I received at Morningside made a significant impact to help me 

achieve what once was just a dream,” McNaughton said. 

Gwen (Huldeen) Ecklund was appointed in 

February to the Iowa Board of Barbering by 

Gov. Terry Branstad. 

Lori (Olsen) King is administrator of Quality 

Health Care Center, a nursing home in North 

Port, Fla. 

1981 


Michael Madsen is a customer service 

representative at Stericycle in Northbrook, Ill. 

Send your notes to: mpmadsen1@att.net. 

Cleo Franklin is vice president, marketing, 

product development and strategic planning 

for Mahindra USA in Houston, Texas. 

Dave Kock, head girls’ basketball coach at 

Ar-We-Va High School in Westside, Iowa, 

guided the Rockets to a 21-4 record and their 

second straight state tournament appearance 

in 2011-2012. The previous year, Ar-We-Va 

was the runner-up at the Class 1A state 

tournament and ended at 24-3, with two of 

the team’s three losses coming against Iowa’s 

2011 Class 1A and 2A state champions. After 

seven seasons, Kock has a 136-32 coaching 

record. In addition to coaching, Kock is 

general manager of Allied Producers’ 

Cooperative, and he and his wife, Janine, own 

The Observer newspaper in Westside and The 

Manilla Times in Manilla. Their daughters, 

Kellsey Morrison 2007 and Kendra 

Fredericksen 2010, are Morningside 

graduates, and their son, Jared, attended 

Morningside during the 2010-2011 school year. 

Sheila (Smith) O’Connell was promoted to 

vice president and retail banking manager of 

Heritage Bank for its nine Iowa offices. 

Dr. Bryan J. Watkins was appointed associate 

professor and dean of the School of Adult 

Learning at North Park University in Chicago, 

Ill. Prior to his appointment, Watkins had 

served for 14 years at Dominican University in 

River Forest, Ill., most recently as acting 

assistant provost for continuing studies and 

special initiatives. 

Jon Wilcke was named to the Faith, Hope & 

Charity Board in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 

September 2011. Faith, Hope & Charity is a 

private, nonprofit agency serving children 

with disabilities, mental health issues and/or 

chronic health conditions throughout the 

state of Iowa. 

Sandy Winter, K-12 art instructor and 

co-head coach of the high school girls’ 

basketball team for Corning Community 

Schools in Iowa, was selected to coach in the 

Iowa Girls’ Coaches Association Senior 

All-Star Game for Class 1A schools that took 

place in Cedar Rapids in April. 

1982 

Dr. Barbara (Backer) Condon is a 

contributing editor to Nursing Science 

Quarterly, a peer-reviewed international 

nursing journal that focuses on nursing 

science, nursing theory and nursing research. 

The Rev. Anna (Clock) Saxon is the 

coordinator of senior services/chaplain at 

Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, Ill. 

1983 

Dr. Keith Vollstedt, a general surgeon at 

Midlands Clinic P.C. in Dakota Dunes, S.D., 

received his recertification from the 

American Board of Surgery. He has been 

practicing general surgery since 1992 and has 

a strong professional interest in bariatric, 

general, thoracic, laparoscopic and trauma 

surgery. 

1984 

Carter Burnside is the sales manager for 

Heartland Area Accessories in Fremont, Neb. 

The firm is a distributor of General Motors 

(GM) accessories that serves 70 GM dealers. 

GM designated Heartland Area Accessories as 

No. 1 in the nation for GM accessories 

distribution to GM dealers in Nebraska and 

western Iowa. 

Karen (Solberg) Hadden accepted a position 

as a bookkeeping and office support 

instructor at Western Iowa Tech Community 

College in Sioux City. She had served the 

community college previously as an adjunct 

business instructor for seven years and as a 

mentor trainer for the distance education 

program for two years. 

Dr. William Irwin recently wrote a chapter on 

the reproductive effects of some pollutants 

published in the book “Reproductive and 

Developmental Toxicology” and was awarded 

the title of diplomat of the American Board of 

Toxicology, a board certification for 

excellence in the science of toxicology. He is a 

toxicologist at the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. 

1985 

Lori (Bielenberg) Baldwin, a public health 

nurse for the Siouxland District Health 

Department in Sioux City, received the 

Immunization Champion Award from the 

Iowa Department of Public Health in June 

2011 for her hard work, dedication and 

commitment to better the health of Iowans. 

Becky (Hill) Thompson, assistant 

administrator and nurse for Audubon County 

Public Health in Audubon, Iowa, was selected 

as one of 100 Great Iowa Nurses for 2011. 

Jeff Vanderloo was named director of men’s 

class notes 

basketball operations at Creighton University 

in Omaha, Neb., in the summer of 2011. 

Vanderloo spent the previous 19 seasons as 

the head coach at Sioux City East High School, 

23

24 

where he led the Black Raiders to 295 wins 

and eight state tournament appearances. 

1986 

Thomas Bachmann is an engineering 

manager for Nortech Systems in Mankato, 

Minn. 

1987 

Sandra Olson Harris received a United 

Network for Organ Sharing Award in June 

2010. She was nominated by the Iowa Donor 

Network for her efforts to promote organ and 

tissue donations. Her late husband was an 

organ donor. He gave the gift of life to six 

people. Harris was able to meet one of his 

kidney recipients and now corresponds with 

her regularly. Harris recently did a television 

promotion for the Nebraska Department of 

Roads that will air this summer on KETV in 

Omaha. 

1988 

Alicia (Wessendorf) Bohlke is regional 

operations administrator of Dignity Health 

Medical Foundation, doing business as Mercy 

Merced Medical Group. Dignity Health owns 

44 hospitals and many clinics in California, 

Arizona and Nevada. Bohlke recently obtained 

certification as a medical staff recruiter 

from the American Academy of Medical 

Management. 

Bob Heien of Sioux City is a computer systems 

analyst for the Woodbury County Information 

and Communications Commission. He 

recently became certified as a geographic 

information systems professional (GISP). The 

certification is a combination of training, 

education, conference presentations and 

work experience. 

Randee (Ball) Small is the graphic services 

manager at Morningside College. In this 

position, she designs college publications, 

coordinates development of website content, 

and manages the copy center and mailroom. 

Rick Vanderloo led the Sioux City East High 

School boys’ basketball team to the 2012 Class 

4A state championship game in his first 

season as the team’s head coach. 

Cynthia “Cindi” (Stevens) Van Horn has been 

the creative director of Artistic Rose, her 

desktop-publishing business, for 20 years; a 

Tupperware consultant for 14 years; and 

a first responder on the Glidden Fire 

Department for 15 years. She is a Girl Scout 

leader for her troop of Daisy Girl Scouts, who 

are kindergartners and first graders, and 

Cadettes, who are sixth through eighth 

graders. She also participates in other 

volunteer activities in her community in 

Glidden, Iowa. 

1989 


Penny May of Laurel, Neb., is a dispatcher for 

Nebraska Central Railroad. 

Send your notes to: pjmfrg@yahoo.com. 

Tom Betz was promoted to director of 

advancement for the Sioux City Bishop 

Heelan Catholic Schools. He guides Heelan’s 

development activities, including the Spirit of 

Excellence Annual Fund, Heelan Gold Club, 

Monsignor Lafferty Tuition Foundation, and 

Legacy Society. Betz is also the head boys’ 

basketball coach. He guided the Crusaders to 

a third-place finish in the Class 3A division of 

the 2012 Iowa State Tournament. He coached 

the team to three consecutive Class 3A state 

championships from 2009 to 2011. 

Nicki (Nystrom) Gross is a certified public 

accountant for Auxiant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Nineties 

1990 


Tom Gerking just finished his 22nd year as 

director of choral activities at Westwood 

Community School in Sloan, Iowa, where the 

vocal music program continues to maintain 

excellence. He also serves as a choreographer 

for several show choirs throughout the state 

of Iowa, and he serves as an adjudicator at 

music competitions and festivals throughout 

the country. 

Send your notes to: tgerk@hotmail.com or 

Box 337, Sloan, IA 51055. 

David Faldmo has been the president of the 

Sioux City Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter-day Saints for the past eight years. 

He oversees eight Siouxland congregations of 

2,300 members in Norfolk, Neb.; Spencer and 

Storm Lake in Iowa; Yankton and Vermillion 

in South Dakota; and three in Sioux City. 

Faldmo also is a physician assistant and 

co-medical director at the Siouxland 

Community Health Center. He recently 

completed a fellowship offered by the 

Department of Health Policy and Management 

at the University of Kansas Medical 

Center and the Kansas Association for the 

Medically Underserved. The year-long 

fellowship, designed specifically for community 

health centers, focused on skill development 

in areas such as management competency 

and executive leadership. 

1991 


Troy A. Sparks is a letter carrier who resides 

in Milwaukee, Wis. He also works in television 

production and as a sports writer for several 

community newspapers. 


troysparks45@yahoo.com. 

Dr. Anne Lyman-Petty of Las Vegas, Nev., has 

earned a doctorate in accounting from the 

University of Phoenix. 

Kim (Christophersen) Steffen is an accountant 

for Western Iowa Telephone Company in 

Lawton. 

Jim Vanderloo, director of secondary 

education for the Sioux City Community 

School District, was elected to serve on the 

Crittenton Center Board of Directors. 

1992 


Jami (Walquist) McCuddin lives in New 

Virginia, Iowa, with her husband, Mike, and 

three children: Brennon, Alex and Jenna. She 

is a licensed massage therapist, and she and 

her husband own Step One Fitness, a small 

fitness center. 


macjr@iowatelecom.net. 

Keith Jones of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was 

named to the 2011 Leaders Club by Wells 

Fargo Home Mortgage. The recognition was 

based on exceeding sales goals in 2011 and for 

providing outstanding customer service. The 

Leaders Club is an honor reserved for the top 

5 percent of mortgage consultants across the 

country. Jones also was selected as the 2011 

Affiliate of the Year by the Southwest Iowa 

Association of Realtors. 

Chris Kuhlmann of Parker, Colo., was a 2012 

inductee into the Iowa High School Athletic 

Association Hall of Fame. Kuhlmann’s scoring 

and defense led Denison High School to 1985 

and 1986 state basketball tournaments. 

Kuhlmann went on to play for the 

Morningside men’s basketball team and 

graduated as the college’s all-time leading 

scorer with 1,950 career points. 

1993 


Eric Wylie lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with 

his wife, Krista, and children: Nathan and 

Rachel. He owns Wylie Creative Communications. 

His website is www.wyliecc.com. 

Send your notes to: eric@wyliecc.com. 

Richard Doty of St. Petersburg, Fla., is one 

test away from obtaining his general 

contractor’s license. He is the former vice 

president of Bond Construction, a company 

located in the Florida Suncoast area. 

1994 

Darrin Fullerton was promoted to the 

position of marketing director for KSN 

television station in Wichita, Kan. 

Kandi (Klinghagen) Fullerton is the benefits 

administrator for Syndeo Outsourcing in 

Wichita, Kan. 

Daniel Otto is a certified firefighter through 

Northwest Iowa Community College. He also 

is a licensed emergency medical technician, 

and he is on a federal task force that executes 

search warrants for the Department of 

Justice. 

Julie (Sullivan) Steen is a licensed insurance 

agent in the state of Kansas. She works for 

Custom Harvest Insurance in Hutchinson.

1995 


Jennifer (Rice) LeMar and her husband, Joel, 

are the parents of three children: Elizabeth, 

Sam and Ben. Previously, she worked in the 

information technology industry in Des 

Moines, Iowa, and Dallas, Texas. Now she 

stays home with the kids and dabbles in a 

second career as a “digital artist.” 


nennikers@hotmail.com or 1005 55th St., 

West Des Moines, IA 50266-7534. 

Dr. Ryan Meis, a fellowship-trained 

orthopaedic surgeon at CNOS in Dakota 

Dunes, S.D., passed the exam for subspecialty 

certification in orthopaedic sports medicine. 

Jeremy Smith is the director of athletic bands 

at Iowa Central Community College in Fort 

Dodge, Iowa. Smith has taught percussion 

lessons at Iowa Central for the past six years, 

and now he has been charged with starting a 

marching band program and taking over the 

college’s pep band. 

1996 


Kristin Johnson is an associate editor for the 

Iowa Geriatric Education Center at the 

University of Iowa. She lives in Iowa City with 

her husband, Dan Brock 1996. She is a 

longtime volunteer for the Iowa City Animal 

Care & Adoption Center. 


kjohnson8779@msn.com. 

Yoko Aota works for Cathay Pacific Airways in 

Toronto, Canada. 

Pete Haack won the bronze medal in the 

400-meter run in the 35- to 39-year-old age 

division in July at the 2011 USA Masters 

Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 

Berea, Ohio. 

Nathan Hansen recently finished and 

published his first novella, “Forget You Must 

Remember,” where he brings to light the 

taboo subject of mental illness among our 

veterans. The novella is available as an e-book 

at www.amazon.com. Hansen earned a 

master’s degree in creative writing and a 

post-graduate certificate in pedagogy from 

Antioch University Los Angeles, and he is 

teaching English at Oak Creek Ranch School, a 

rehabilitative school near Sedona, Ariz. He 

recently presented a paper titled “A Walk 

Through the Cuckoo’s Nest: The Psychological 

Steps of a Neurosis Novel” at a Southwest 

Texas Popular Culture Association 

conference. The paper dissects Ken Kesey’s 

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and finds a 

12-step program within the text. Hansen was 

an Arabic linguist and flight medic for the U.S. 

Army until 2000. He is a former contributing 

writer and columnist for several Arizona 

newspapers. He was an award-winning 

columnist and investigative journalist as 

voted by the Arizona Newspapers Association, 

and he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His 

latest project is starting a nonprofit 

organization called Just Breathe Publishing to 

combine writers with causes. Hansen is 

married with four children: Jordan, 19; Jessen, 

15; Finn, 4; and Lily, 1. He lives in Sedona. 

Michelle Holmes is a Chartered Financial 

Analyst charterholder. She works for Security 

National Bank in Sioux City as a trust 

investment officer. She is the treasurer for the 

District 19 Toastmasters for the 2012-2013 

fiscal year. She also is a board member and 

treasurer for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure 

Siouxland Affiliate. 

Lynn Kogelmann accepted a job as the school 

counselor for kindergarten through second 

grade at the International School of Beijing in 

Beijing, China. The position will start at the 

end of July. 

Jason Lauritsen partnered with Cy Wakeman 

to launch the consulting practice, Bulletproof 

Talent, to help organizations bring a 

reality-based approach to leadership, human 

resources and talent. 

1997 


Brian M. Clarke is director of sales for 

ConAgra Foods, a leading consumer foods 

company, and lives in the San Francisco Bay 

area. 

Send your notes to: bclarke@comcast.net 

or 5050 Hacienda Drive #1331, Dublin, 

CA 94568. 

Adam Baumgartner was promoted to vice 

president of sales for retail national accounts 

at Wells Enterprises in Le Mars, Iowa. 

1998 


Amber (Ellerbroek) Hegarty of Sioux City is 

an associate with the law firm of Berenstein, 

Moore, Heffernan, Moeller & Johnson LLP in 

Sioux City. 

Send your notes to: alh_52241@yahoo.com. 

Misty (McDaniel) Jones is plant controller at 

Wells Enterprises in Le Mars, Iowa. 

1999 


Jami (Wheatcraft) Langholdt is an assistant 

vice president in the lending department at 

the Singing Hills office of Iowa-Nebraska 

State Bank. She shares her Morningside roots 

with her grandfather, James Moser 1965. 

Send your notes to: txjami@yahoo.com or 

3513 Virginia St., Sioux City, IA 51104. 

Two Thousands 

2000 

Jim Guttau, owner of Guttau Public Relations 

in Denver, Colo., was elected board co-chair of 

CultureHaus, a social and educational support 

group of the Denver Art Museum. 

class notes 

Shannon Sargent, coordinator of exhibitions 

and collections at the Sioux City Art Center, 

recently had artwork on exhibit at Prairie Fire 

Gallery in Sioux City; Le Mars Art Center in Le 

Mars, Iowa; and Bede Art Gallery at Mount 

Marty College in Yankton, S.D. Sargent and 

artists John Bowitz, chair of the art 

department at Morningside College, and Cory 

Knedler, chair of the art department at the 

University of South Dakota in Vermillion, 

created the exhibit, “Collaborationism,” which 

consisted of prints, paintings, sculpture and a 

variety of mixed media. 

2001 


Allison (Hallquist) Newman is a financial 

consultant with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage 

in West Des Moines, Iowa. She lives in 

Urbandale with her husband, Andrew, and 

their son, Tyler. 


allisonknewman@yahoo.com. 

2002 


Michael and Tasha (Segebart) Eldridge live 

in Sidney, Iowa. Mike is the sixth- through- 

12th-grade principal for Sidney Community 

School District. Tasha is the ninth- through 

12th-grade vocal music instructor at 

Nishnabotna High School, and the elementary 

music teacher at Farragut and Sidney 

Community School Districts. They had a son, 

Jacob Michael, on June 1. He joins big brother, 

Nathaniel. 

Send your class notes to: 

meldridge@iowatelecom.net. 

The Rev. Nancy Leonard serves as pastor of 

Macon and Franklin First United Methodist 

Churches in Nebraska. 

Zivanai Mutize is a global operations leader 

at General Electric in Atlanta, Ga. 

Erin (Olson) Schuetz is a first-grade teacher 

for the Sergeant Bluff-Luton Community 

School District. She received her master’s 

degree from Morningside College in 2005. 

Erin and her husband, Jon, live in Sioux City 

with their sons, Hudson and Lawson. 

2003 

Amanda (Van Meeteren) Haverhals is an 

instructor of nursing at Northwest Iowa 

Community College in Sheldon, Iowa. She 

earned a master’s degree in nursing with an 

emphasis in education from Grand Canyon 

University in January 2012. 

John Leigh of Sioux City is a member service 

representative at Siouxland Federal Credit 

Union. 

2004 


Erin Mulvany earned a master's degree in 

theatre with an emphasis in directing from 

the University of Nebraska at Omaha in May 

2007. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, where 

she is working as team lead for the patient 

access department at the University of Texas 

25

26 

Health Science Center. 

Send your notes to: mulvany.e@gmail.com. 

Reann (Richtermeier) Jaminet is an 

elementary reading teacher with the South 

Sioux City Community Schools in Nebraska. 

2005 

Lacey Niceswanger is pursuing a master’s 

degree in social work from the University of 

Iowa. 

Sheila Partridge is a multimedia researcher/ 

editor with the Creative Collections group at 

Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Mo. She was 

previously the assistant director of the media 

center for the Kansas City Art Institute. While 

a student at Morningside, Partridge and Darija 

(Ljubibratic) Vladisavljev 2005 created the 

documentary film “Flight 232: Siouxland 

Comes Together” about the Siouxland pride 

for the relief efforts during the United 

Airlines Flight 232 disaster. Parts of the audio 

from their documentary are on permanent 

display at the Sioux City Public Museum. 

Darija (Ljubibratic) Vladisavljev is art 

director for an advertising agency called 

Sensis in downtown Los Angeles. 

2006 

Jill (Kienast) Arp lives in Manning, Iowa, and 

works as a registered nurse for the home care 

agency Carroll Area Nursing Service and for 

Manning Regional Healthcare Center. Jill and 

her husband, Kyle, have two daughters, 

Karlee and Kendra. 

2007 


Brian Hamilton is working at Walmart in 

Spencer, Iowa. He enjoys the outdoors and 

watching the Kansas City Chiefs play every 

football season. 


hamilton.bham@gmail.com. 

Corey Jorgensen, a CPA with Marsh & 

Company Certified Public Accountants in 

Overland Park, Kan., was chosen to be part of 

the “20 up to 40” Leadership Program 

through the Kansas Society of CPAs. The 

program recognizes the top 20 CPAs in the 

state of Kansas who are under the age of 40. 

The group met with Kansas Gov. Sam 

Brownback at the Kansas State Capitol. Corey 

and his wife, Kristin, live in Olathe, Kan. 

Rachel (Lenhardt) Morehead is an annual 

fund and special events coordinator for Iowa 

Western Community College in Council Bluffs. 

Heather (Huntley) Vogt is a math and reading 

teacher at Charter Oak-Ute Junior-Senior 

High School in Charter Oak, Iowa. 

2008 

Samantha Wenger joined the business 

litigation department at Husch Blackwell LLP, 

a full-service litigation and business law firm 

Arizona 

James '69 & Carol '72 Hanthorne 

Dr. Edward A. Johnson '73 

Verne Luther '47 

Dr. Alan '64 & Jonieta Stone 

Muriel B. Stone '64 

Arkansas 

Wal-Mart Foundation 

California 

Mike '72 & Linda '72 Alexander 

W. Roger Curry '61 

W. Bruce Lindsay '41 

Terry M. Muldowney '68 

Donald J. Urban '63 

Curt White '76 

Colorado 

Dr. Richard L. Ducommun '68 

David L. Lageschulte '73 

Ervin S. Miller 

Monticello Associates, Inc. 

Lowry & LeIla Smith 

The Verdoorn Foundation 

District of Columbia 

Dr. Esther M. Mackintosh '69 

Carol Pencook Werner '69 

Florida 

Don '62 & Virginia '74 Antonette 

Donald P. Ducommun '61 

Diane L. Elsen '77 

Connie J. Hawthorn 

Stephen Haywood 

Marjorie A. Morrell '70 

Illinois 

Jim '79 & Darlene '77 Kloeppel 

John J. Prast '65 

Scott & Kim Rager 

Randal '77 & Julie '81 Richardson 

E.R. Salty '49 & Betty '45 Saltwell 

Iowa 

Aalfs Manufacturing, Inc. 

Gene O. Ambroson 

American Pop Corn Co. 

Argosy Casino - Sioux City 

Bacon Creek Construction & Design 

Robert E. Barks '51 

in Kansas City, Mo. She graduated cum laude 

in 2011 from the University of Missouri- 

Kansas City School of Law, where she received 

the trial practice award and served as 

president of the student bar association. 

2009 


Trey K. Blackburn is pursuing a Master of 

Fine Arts degree in acting from The New 

School for Drama in New York City. 


treykblackburn@gmail.com. 

Kari Hansen just finished her third year as a 

kindergarten through third-grade special 

education teacher at Hoover Elementary 

School in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She helped start 

the district’s Extended Learning Program and 

was recognized as Hoover’s Certified Staff 

Member of the Month for October 2011. 

Carlos Hurtado is a personal banker and 

manager of Hispanic banking services at 

PRESIDENT’S SOCIETY 

Adam '97 & Lynn '97 Baumgartner 

Lin Benchun 

Mike '75 & Margie Bennett 

Birkhofer Family 

Bomgaars Supply, Inc. 

Larry & Jeanene Book 

Dr. J. Robert '70 & Christine Burkhart 

Dr. Randall L. Burnight '72 

Cable One, Inc. 

Michael '69 & Linda '69 Cadwell 

Cannon Moss Brygger & Assoc., P.C. 

Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust 

Dennis A. Chapman '70 

Chesterman Company 

Crary Huff Inkster Sheehan P.C. 

C. W. Suter & Son, Inc. 

Lt. Gen. Ron Dardis '65 

Dr. David '76 & Diane '76 Davidson 

J. Doug Davis 

Dr. William Deeds & Pamla Hoadley 

Dennis Supply Company 

Michael W. Ellwanger '72 

Emerald Hills LLC 

Richard & Marilyn Engle 

Fred Erbes '62 

Scott '75 & Brenda '74 Ernst 

Kenneth File '52 

Tom '68 & Kris '70 Flynn 

Fred '59 & Floanne Frey 

GELITA North America 

Jan '77 & Ted George 

Gerkin Windows & Doors 

Dr. Jeanne M. Giddings '80 

Gleeson Family Foundation 

Mr. John W. Gleeson 

Linda L. Graff '86 

Greenberg Foundation of Sioux City 

Tom '81 & Regina '81 Grimsley 

Michael & Mary Gay Gunsch 

Rev. James F. Hanke '69 

Michael D. Hanna '66 

Randy '72 & Becky Hansen 

Vonley & Claris Hanson 

Dan '71 & Suzane '72 Henderson 

Henjes, Conner & Williams P.C. 

Interstate Mechanical Corp. 

Iowa Annual Conference 

Iowa College Foundation 

Irving & Elizabeth Jensen Foundation 

JEBRO, Inc. 

Gary Jager 

Dr. Irving F. & Carolyn Jensen 

Wayne P. Johnson '68 

Gary '68 & Judy '70 Jones 

Ron '79 & Kathy Jorgensen 

Robert E. Josten '64 

Roland '59 & Carol Junck 

Mina Karcher '42 

Richard '71 & Frances '71 Keith 

King, Reinsch, Prosser & Co. 

Klinger Companies, Inc. 

Robert G. Knowler 

Rose Legler Morningside Trust 

Dr. David C. Lohr '58 

Long Lines, Ltd. 

Mahoney-Hill Charit. Fund Trust 

JJ '04 & Nick '03 Marlow 

Larry Mason '73 

Doris M. Mauer '58 

John '52 & Janice '51 Mechem 

Eleanore Metz 

MidAmerican Energy Foundation 

Darlene Miller ‘58 

Missouri River Historical Dev., Inc. 

Dr. Earl & Joyce Moore 

Morningside College Alumni Association 

Cindy & Dan Moser 

Dr. Thomas '70 & Carol '71 Narak 

Verne D. Nelson '75 

Joan C. Nielsen 

Novelty Machine & Supply Co. 

Dr. Sharon & Donna Ocker 

Russ '76 & Robyn '76 Olson 

Pacific City Graphics 

Palmer Candy Co. 

Doug E. Palmer 

Marty B. Palmer 

David & Marta '72 Patee 

Dennis '72 & Cheryl '72 Pederson 

Skip & Cathy Perley 

Pinnacle Bank of Sioux City 

Pioneer Bank 

Lloyd A. Pippett '47 

Ben '53 & Carol Ploof 

Thomas '72 & Patricia '75 Pohlman 

Prestige Collision Repair Center 

Security National Bank’s downtown location 

in Sioux City. 

Wyeth Lynch of Sioux Falls, S.D., won first 

place in the Things & Still Life division at the 

2011 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. He 

also took the top prize in two categories in the 

professional division of the photo contest at 

the South Dakota State Fair. In the fall, he will 

begin work on a Master of Fine Arts in 

integrated visual arts from Iowa State 

University in Ames. 

2010 


Cassie Dickerson is a residential counselor at 

Boys and Girls Home and Family Services in 

Sioux City. She is pursuing a master's degree 

in school counseling from Capella University. 


cassie.marie10@gmail.com.

The President’s Society recognizes those who have given $1,000 or more to 

Morningside College during the fiscal year. This list recognizes President’s 

Society members for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2012. 

LaDonna E. Preston '53 

Project HOPE 

John & Robin Reynders 

D. Douglas Rice '75 

Tom & Paula Rice 

David Roederer 

Stephen '69 & Carol '67 Rohr 

Dan '00 & Anne '00 Ryan 

Steven C. Schmidt '73 

Bob & Karen Scott 

Security National Bank 

Kenneth W. Seiling '67 

Marilyn F. Setzler '66 

Sioux City Woman's Club 

Siouxland Community Foundation 

Garrett K. Smith 

Sodexo, Inc & Affiliates 

John K. Spies 

State Steel Supply Co. 

David S. Sterling '50 

Dick Stone '68 

Craig '70 & Chris Struve 

Tegra Corporation 

Dr. Glenna '70 & Rev. Dennis '69 Tevis 

Thompson Electric Company 

Peter W. Thoreen 

Cliff '70 & Jean '70 Tufty 

U.S. Bank 

Rick R. Vander Berg ‘75 

Donald '55 & Eunice Van Der Weide 

Wells' Blue Bunny 

Connie P. Wimer '54 

Sherman & Susan Wollesen 

Rick & Vicki Wollman 

Robert '74 & Nancy '74 Youngren 

Kansas 

R. Michael & Margaret Sheppard 

Maryland 

Greg '77 & Sandy '77 Schnirring 

Minnesota 

Larry '65 & Joan '67 Arnold 

James & Barbara Gahlon 

Galen G. Johnson '68 

Robert '78 & Lori '78 Parks 

Thomas J. Rosen '70 

Hanna (Simonson) Hanson is a registered 

nurse at Sanford Health in Fargo, N.D. 

2011 


Tennessee Bryant is the technical director at 

Herb Strauss Theater in Sanibel, Fla. 


tennesseebryant@live.com. 

Martha Rose received the Educator of the 

Year Award from the Learning Disabilities 

Association of Iowa at its 2011 annual 

conference in Des Moines. Rose is a teacher at 

Franklin Elementary School in Council Bluffs 

and was recognized for her success working 

with children with learning disabilities in her 

general education classroom. 

In Loving Memory 

Tyrone & Vereen Wacker 

Jim '70 & Sharon '70 Walker 

Mississippi 

Dr. Keith McLarnan 

Missouri 

Dr. Charles R. Franz '63 

Mark '82 & Robin '82 Gambaiana 

Michael V. Montague '76 

Dr. Robert '73 & Marcelene Saylor 

Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. 

Nebraska 

Dan Friedlund '70 

Tom Gehl '75 

Great West Casualty Co. 

Timothy C. Held 

Tim '71 & Betty Jackes 

Gary '62 & Kathy '63 McConnell 

Richard P. Rahn '62 

Jerry L. Schmutte 

Siouxland Federal Credit Union 

Standard Ready Mix Concrete Co. 

Michael T. Tramp '88 

Dick '61 & Marty '62 Wikert 

New Hampshire 

Peggy A. Vagts '76 

New Jersey 

Ron Walk '81 

New Mexico 

The Kind World Foundation 

New York 

Patrick R. Martone '74 

Lisa Robinow 

Ohio 

Carolyn W. Cox '47 

South Carolina 

Ronald L. O'Neal '73 

South Dakota 

Dr. Craig '70 & Sandy '70 Bainbridge 

Dr. Angela Banks 

Chris '94 & Karen '95 Benson 

William H. Burke 

Larry C. Countryman '70 

1917 

Dorothy (Dubel) Pierce, Minneapolis, Minn., 

died Jan. 14, 1996. 

Arlene & Dave Curry 

Terri & Kevin Curry 

FIMCO, Inc. 

Gene '59 & Carla Hagen 

Doug Huitink '72 

Drs. Gene '71 & Debra '73 Knudsen 

Dr. Ryan '95 & Tracy '96 Meis 

Bill & Nancy Metz 

Daniel D. Oakland '74 

Prince Manufacturing Corp. 

Keith A. Roeper '58 

Doug Smith & Pamela Miller-Smith '79 

Stan Houston Equipment Co., Inc. 

Kevin Vaughan 

Dr. Keith A. Vollstedt '83 

Rich & Karleen Waller 

Ron '70 & Jeannette Yockey 

Tennessee 

Andrea Waitt Carlton Family Foundation 

Texas 

Dr. J. Greg '67 & Joan '68 Clark 

Dr. Stephen & Kathleen Davis 

Dr. Cory A. Roberts '90 

Jay '85 & Rhonda '88 Stidham 

Dale E. Tannahill '72 

Don '61 & Diane '63 Taylor 

Virginia 

AMERIGROUP Charitable Foundation 

James G. Carlson '74 

Dr. Craig S. Wansink '84 

Washington 

Dr. Lucy Y. Buhler '56 

Joyce J. DeVaul 

L. Lucille Hakala '41 

Col. Isabelle J. Swartz (Ret) 

Wisconsin 

Dr. Paul Appel '61 

Dale L. Lenderts '76 

1934 

Clyde Johnson, Sloan, Iowa, died Jan. 17, 2012. 

1935 

Lillian (Davis) Holmen, Sioux City, died Dec. 

19, 2011. 

Dr. Maurice Marsh, West Chester, Ohio, died 

Jan. 17, 2012. 

1937 

Martin Fischer, Gillette, N.J., died Dec. 24, 

2011. 

1938 

Dr. Robert Hilker, Vero Beach, Fla., died Aug. 

29, 2011. Hilker served on the Morningside 

College Board of Directors from 1971 to 1980. 

He and his wife, Mary, made the naming gift 

for the Hilker Campus Mall. The college 

presented him with the Distinguished Alumni 

Award in 1977, the Order of Morningside in 

1980 and an honorary doctorate in 2004. The 

college’s board of directors awarded him the 

honor of director emeritus in 2007. 

1939 

Florence (Lange) Benshoff, De Witt, Iowa, 

died Oct. 31, 2011. 

1940 

Nelly (DeVries) Straks, Creston, Iowa, died 

Nov. 21, 2011. 

1942 

Albert Haenfler, Satsuma, Fla., died Oct. 28, 

2011. 

Shirleymae (Zechmann) Holdenried, Sioux 

City, died Jan. 26, 2012. 

Leslie Pruehs, Louisville, Ky., died May 12, 

2011. 

Robert Shaffer, Aliso Viejo, Calif., died July 24, 

2010. 

1943 

Kathleen (Schnoor) Garwood, Pocatello, 

Idaho, died Jan. 30, 2012. 

Dorothe (Hantla) Jenks, Waverly, Ohio, died 

May 12, 2009. 

1945 

Jo (Holdcroft) Oliver, West Lafayette, Ind., 

died Feb. 20, 2012. 

Blanche (Linduski) Reinking, Sioux City, died 

Oct. 9, 2011. 

1946 

Kenneth Rollins, Las Cruces, N.M., died Dec. 

3, 2010. 

Priscilla (Crow) Shoemaker, Hawarden, Iowa, 

died Sept. 22, 2011. 

1947 

Lela (Williams) Goodell, Honolulu, Hawaii, 

died April 10, 2011. 

1948 

John Deirup, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, died Jan. 3, 

2012. 

Charlotte (Kingsbury) Held, Sioux City, died 

Feb. 9, 2012. 

Feldman Jones, Sioux City, died Dec. 30, 2011. 

Shirley (Kennaley) Wright, Danbury, Iowa, 

died Oct. 4, 2011. 

1949 

Lewis Keizer, Yankton, S.D., died Oct. 25, 2011. 

Carleton Nagy, Jupiter, Fla., died Aug. 25, 

2011. 

Ernest Parry, Circle Pines, Minn., died Jan. 28, 

2011. 

1950 

class notes 

Stanton Coleman, Sioux City, died Nov. 29, 

2011. 

Robert Hoefer, Urbandale, Iowa, died March 

12, 2012. 

27

28 

Cleo Pottorff, Sioux City, died Oct. 4, 2011. 

Howard Ruisch, Maurice, Iowa, died Sept. 25, 

2011. 

1951 

Duane Black, Lanai City, Hawaii, died May 29, 

2011. 

Joseph Custer, Medford, N.J., died July 13, 

2011. 

Dr. Patricia (Nordstrom) Farnsworth, 

Englewood, N.J., died Sept. 12, 2011. 

Matthew Jenkner, La Grange, Ill., died May 3, 

2011. 

Loyd Straight, Livermore, Calif., died in 

October 2011. 

1952 

Duane Hagedon, Sioux City, died Feb. 22, 

2012. 

Gertrude (Wierenga) Vander Ploeg, Le Mars, 

Iowa, died Jan. 5, 2012. 

1953 

Chester Bryniarski, Sun City, Ariz., died July 

27, 2011. 

Henry Lee, Bellingham, Wash., died Oct. 13, 

2003. 

Irvin Sutherland, Maple City, Mich., died Jan. 

1, 2012. 

1958 

Keith Bell, Milpitas, Calif., died Jan. 5, 2011. 

William Jackson, Sioux City, died Dec. 11, 

2011. 

Virgil Mauer, Cedar Falls, Iowa, died Sept. 15, 

2011. 

Marian (Johnson) Mitchell, Alton, Iowa, died 

Nov. 2, 2011. 

1959 

Gerald Lasensky, Irvine, Calif., died Jan. 22, 

2011. 

Deanna (Olson) Zimmerman, Omaha, Neb., 

died Feb. 8, 2012. 

1960 

Douglas Dimick, Sioux City, died Feb. 18, 2012. 

Herbert Harris, Sioux City, died Jan. 1, 2012. 

Donald McIllece, Smithland, Iowa, died 

March 11, 2012. 

1961 

Dr. John Keshishoglou, Ithaca, N.Y., died Aug. 

26, 2011. 

Eva (Clark) Macklin, Odessa, Texas, died 

March 19, 2012. 

The W.S. Lewis Society 

recognizes individuals and 

families who have placed 

Morningside College in their 

estate plans. They are ensuring 

the future of Morningside and 

providing educational 

opportunities for generations 

of students. The society is 

named in honor of Bishop 

Wilson Seeley Lewis, the second 

president of Morningside 

College, who established the 

college’s endowment in 1903. 

Membership is obtained 

through written confirmation 

of deferred gift arrangements. 

Daryl Roetzel, Mitchell, S.D., died Dec. 19, 

2010. 

1962 

Dr. James McDonald, Loveland, Colo., died 

Feb. 12, 2011. 

1963 

Peter Benson, Sioux City, died Jan. 1, 2012. 

Lila (Foster) Hughes, Ankeny, Iowa, died Jan. 

23, 2012. 

Gene VanNest, Armstrong, Iowa, died Nov. 4, 

2011. 

1964 

Lester Gurdin, Estero, Fla., died Jan. 8, 2012. 

1965 

Earl Beatty, Saint Paul, Minn., died July 1, 

2011. 

Dwight Kirchner, Omaha, Neb., died Jan. 5, 

2011. 

Rich Vanderloo, Sioux City, died Sept. 29, 

2011. 

1966 

Patricia (Brown) Alberts, Sioux City, died 

March 19, 2012. 

Margaret (Armstrong) Fiegel, Lee’s Summit, 

Mo., died Jan. 10, 2012. 

Dexter Little, Fort Myers, Fla., died Feb. 4, 

2011. 

W.S. LEWIS SOCIETY 

Anonymous (3) 

Mr. Gene O. Ambroson 

Mrs. Charlotte Anderson 

Mr. Hobart H. L. Anderson 

Mrs. Odella S. Baak 

Mrs. Sally Bartlett 

Mr. David J. Blair 

Mrs. Dee Gee Blair 

Mrs. Mary Ann Bolton 

Mrs. Muriel M. Briggs '48 

Dr. Lucy Y. Buhler '56 

Mrs. Christine Burkhart 

Dr. J. Robert Burkhart '70 

Mrs. Leola Bushmer '40 

Mr. Charles W. Carlberg '69 

Mr. Warren J. Conner '60 

Mrs. Carolyn W. Cox '47 

Dr. Wilfred D. Crabb '38 

Ms. Barb L. Danger '67 

Mr. Deane L. Davenport '72 

Ms. Judith J. Dirks '59 

Mr. Donald P. Ducommun '61 

Mrs. Marilyn L. Engle 

Mr. Richard C. Engle 

Mrs. Mary L. Enockson '51 

Mr. William E. Enockson '51 

Dr. Dan L. Flanagan '69 

Ms. Carol M. Forbes '70 

Mr. Jerry R. Foxhoven '74 

Mr. Mark A. Freerks '79 

Dr. James H. Fribourgh '48 

Prof. Jim W. Galli '54 

Dr. Janice K. Galli, D.O. '76 

Mr. Mark A. Gambaiana '82 

Mrs. Robin I. Gambaiana '82 

Mrs. Kathryn Gaubatz 

Mrs. Laura L. Gerkin '55 

Ms. Von Dell J. Glaser '53 

Rev. Ivan F. Gossoo '44 

Mr. David A. Gould '75 

Mrs. Janis W. Grant '65 

Mrs. Evelyn Greenlee 

Mr. Richard W. Greenlee '53 

Dr. Mary A. Grefe '43 

Ms. Janet Rayburn Greive 

Dr. Tyrone D. Greive '65 

Mrs. L. Lucille Hakala '41 

Mr. James A. Hamilton '53 

Mrs. Mary C. Hamilton '53 

Mrs. Ruth M. Hamilton '47 

Mr. Gregory A. Hampson '75 

Mrs. Margaret Hancock '54 

Mr. Randall E. Hansen '72 

Mrs. Rebecca Hansen 

Mrs. Claris V. Hanson 

Mr. Vonley K. Hanson 

Mrs. Carol Jean Hanthorne '72 

Mr. Jim E. Hanthorne '69 

Mr. Gary J. Harward '64 

Mrs. Linda Ellyn Harward '81 

Maureen (Morgan) Smith, Lubbock, Texas, 

died Dec. 15, 2011. 

1967 

Winnifred (Rye) Bennett, Sioux City, died 

Dec. 24, 2011. 

Cheryl (McManigal) Huisman, Irving, Texas, 

died Jan. 28, 2012. 

James McDonald, Cherokee, Iowa, died March 

15, 2012. 

Steven Miller, Sioux City, died Sept. 28, 2011. 

1968 

Delores (Rohr) Bahrke, Sioux City, died March 

16, 2012. 

Genevieve (Quintard) Baker, Whiting, Iowa, 

died Feb. 22, 2012. 

Lavonne (Hefner) Volkert, Holstein, Iowa, 

died Dec. 7, 2011. 

Thomas Vosnos, Glenview, Ill., died Oct. 13, 

2011. 

1969 

Richard Christensen, Marshalltown, Iowa, 

died Feb. 22, 2012. 

Lorene (Rahall) David, Omaha, Neb., died 

Sept. 5, 2011. 

Ronald Miller, Sioux City, died Oct. 18, 2011. 

1970 

Robert Benton, Elk River, Minn., died Nov. 12, 

2011.

Rev. Alan Arnold Herbst '76 

Mrs. Mary E. Hilker 

Dr. Carol Israel 

Dr. Jerry M. Israel 

Mrs. Betty Jackes 

Mr. Timothy A. Jackes '71' 

Mr. Milford E. Jake Jacobson '40 

Mrs. Kathy A. Jorgensen 

Mr. Ron A. Jorgensen '79 

Mr. Donald D. Kelsey '49 

Dr. Frances S. Kline '95 

Mr. Robert G. Knowler 

Mr. Robert G. Koshkarian '68 

Mr. Wally A. Krone '55 

Mrs. Lillian Kuhler 

Dr. Warren G. Kuhler '46 

Mr. Arthur D. Leiby '73 

Mr. Barry Loughridge 

Mrs. Irene J. Madison '40 

Dr. Charles E. Mason III '67 

Mrs. Patricia Mason 

Mr. Larry Mason '73 

Mrs. Doris M. Mauer '58 

Mr. Gary A. McConnell '62 

Mrs. Katherine E. McConnell '63 

Dr. Bonnie J. Messer '64 

Dr. Donald Messer 

Mr. Robert R. Meyer '50 

Mrs. Darlene M. Miller '58 

Mrs. Pamela A. Miller Smith '79 

Ms. Katherine R. Mills '47 

Dr. Earl J. Moore 

Nancy B. Mounts 

Mrs. Muriel Burgess Nelson '51 

Mr. David J. Nielsen 

Mr. Russell G. Olson '76 

Mrs. Vera B. Olson '40 

Mr. David W. Patch '82 

Ms. Charlotte L. Petty '55 

Mrs. Margaret E. Phelps '55 

Mr. Robert L. Phelps '53 

Mrs. Thora Phelps 

Mrs. Barbara Pitts '70 

Mr. Ben Ploof, Jr. '53 

Mrs. Carol Ploof 

Mrs. Audrey M. Poppen '59 

Mr. John J. Prast '65 

Mr. O. Nelson Price '51 

Mr. John Reynders 

Mr. Thomas M. Rice 

Mrs. Joan Roepke 

Mr. Leo H. Roepke '59 

Mr. Tom J. Rosen '70 

Mr. C.W. Chub Schlichting 

Mrs. Harriet V. Schlichting '45 

Mrs. Ruth M. Schmalenberger '44 

Mrs. Lucille Shaffer 

Mr. Samuel N. Shapiro 

Mr. Edward M. Sibley '65 

Mrs. Jane A. Sibley '70 

Freda (Schoberg) Book, Sioux City, died Jan. 

31, 2012. 

Sharon (Wright) Groepper, Escondido, Calif., 

died Feb. 10, 2012. 

Charles Van Buren, Anaheim, Calif., died May 

25, 2010. 

1971 

David Alfredson, Onawa, Iowa, died Feb. 8, 

2012. 

John Blair, Sioux City, died Nov. 24, 2011. 

Katherine (Block) Wolpert, Sioux City, died 

March 15, 2012. 

1972 

Barbara (Peterson) Burnside, Worthington, 

Minn., died Jan. 16, 2012. 

Dorothy (Rice) Oberlink, Sartell, Minn., died 

March 17, 2012. 

1973 

Laura (Brown) Dickson, Iowa City, Iowa, died 

May 15, 2011. 

Randall Hummel, Homer, Neb., died Dec. 9, 

2011. 

Janet (Oertel) Kelsheimer, Anthon, Iowa, died 

Sept. 19, 2011. 

1974 

Gregory Axelsen, Lee’s Summit, Mo., died Dec. 

20, 2011. 

Ms. Mary E. Sievert '60 

Mr. Jules Smith '62 

Mrs. Dorothy Snyder '39 

Dr. Rosalee Sprout '60 

Rev. Rod J. Stemme '74 

Mrs. Ginger L. Stemme '74 

Dr. Alan J. Stone '64 

Dr. Jonieta Stone 

Mr. Randall I. Stoneking '68 

Mr. Milo J. Thompson '52 

Mrs. Pat M. Thompson '53 

Mrs. Marilyn Tommeraasen 

Mr. Carlton O. Tronvold '61 

Mr. David G. Vail '68 

Mr. James A. Walker '70 

Mrs. Sharon S. Walker '70 

Mr. James E. Weaver '59 

Mrs. Joyce Weaver '61 

Mrs. Esther Webb 

Dr. J. Ellis Webb 

Rev. Philip J. Webb '81 

Mr. Korey A. Willnauer '74 

Dr. Helen Osbey Wolle '40 

Dr. James Yanney 

Mrs. Jeannette Y. Yockey 

Mr. Ronald C. Yockey '70 

1975 

Donald Batten, Rogers, Minn., died Sept. 20, 

2011. 

Michael Pearson, Sioux City, died Jan. 24, 

2012. 

1979 

Frank Tillack, Owatonna, Minn., died 

Sept. 27, 2011. 

1980 

Eleanor Leaverton, Merrill, Iowa, died March 

22, 2012. 

Michael Thompson, Sioux City, died Sept. 27, 

2011. 

1981 

Marjean (Nielsen) Reed, West Des Moines, 

Iowa, died Dec. 28, 2011. 

1982 

Dr. Quincealea Brunk, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 

died Jan. 26, 2012. Brunk was one of five 

featured speakers in Morningside’s 

Distinguished Visiting Alumni Series 

during the college’s 1994-1995 centennial 

celebration events. 

Dianna (Terfone) Burnett, Sioux City, died 

Feb. 17, 2012. 

1985 

Ronald DeMers, Lincoln, Neb., died March 4, 

2012. 

1991 

Norma (Hudson) Mara, Le Mars, Iowa, died 

March 13, 2012. 

1999 

Joe Soukup, Allerton, Iowa, died Sept. 17, 2011. 

2005 

Michael Hackett, Des Moines, Iowa, died 

Jan. 9, 2012. 

2009 

Jeremy Bauer, Vermillion, S.D., died Oct. 14, 

2011. 

Remembering 

Cherished Friends 

Lowell “Bud” Brockman, Fairfield Bay, Ark., 

died Jan. 2, 2012. Brockman was a former 

coach, athletic director and head of the 

health, physical education and recreation 

department at Morningside. 

Dr. Bill Knepper, Dakota Dunes, S.D., died 

Dec. 19, 2011. Knepper was a former professor 

of English at Morningside and served for 

more than 15 years as chair of the English 

department. He also served on the college’s 

board of directors. 

Dr. Michael Muchisky, St. Louis, Mo., died Jan. 

25, 2004. Muchisky was a former professor at 

Morningside. 

Future Morningsiders 

1988 

Michael Tramp and his wife, Megan, South 

Sioux City, Neb., a daughter, Maria Elizabeth, 

Dec. 2, 2011. 

1990 

Stacy (Johnson) Karrer and her husband, 

Dennis, Lawton, Iowa, a daughter, Sienna 

Rose, Nov. 2, 2011. 

1996 

Kristin Johnson and Dan Brock, Iowa City, 

Iowa, a daughter, Aisling Kendall, Sept. 29, 

2011. 

Deanne (Muller) Ryan and her husband, 

Robert, Sioux City, a daughter, Lillian Mae, 

Sept. 30, 2011. 

Stephanie (Erwin) Staehr and her husband, 

Joel, Omaha, Neb., a daughter, Presley Grace, 

Feb. 10, 2011. 

1998 

Stephanie (Buettner) Miller and her husband, 

Dennis, Council Bluffs, Iowa, adopted their 

daughters, Delaney Grace Miller and Chloe 

Emerson Miller, on National Adoption Day on 

Nov. 19, 2011. The girls had lived with 

Stephanie and Dennis since Oct. 26, 2010. 

Delaney celebrated her third birthday on Jan. 

29 

class notes

30 

14 and Chloe celebrated her second birthday 

on Jan. 22. 

Jeff Rice and his wife, Shannon, Liberty, Mo., a 

daughter, Madelyn Belle, Oct. 7, 2011. 

Shannon (Newman) Spanel and her husband, 

Toby, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, a son, Aidan 

Michael, March 2, 2012. 

1999 

Cameron and Nicole (Blessing) Scott 2000, 

Sioux City, a son, William John, Sept. 22, 2011. 

2000 

Jill (Berkenpas) Heller and her husband, 

Kevin, Council Bluffs, Iowa, a son, Kobe 

Berlin, Aug. 27, 2011. 

Jennifer (Protexter) Schwebach and her 

husband, Scott, Sioux City, a son, Bennett 

Harper, Oct. 1, 2011. 

Jaclyn (Kellen) Sitzmann and her husband, 

Jeremy, Le Mars, Iowa, a son, Levi Anthony, 

Dec. 7, 2011. 

2001 

Charles Brommer and his wife, Jennifer, 

Rochester, Minn., a son, Maxton Scott, July 19, 

2011. 

David Buchheit and his wife, Lindsey, 

Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, a son, Kendal Nash, Nov. 

22, 2011. 

2002 

Nicole (Simons) Busch and her husband, 

Andy, Marcus, Iowa, a daughter, Peyton 

Renee, April 6, 2010. 

Hope (Nulle) DeLuca and her husband, Dan, 

Omaha, Neb., two sons, Daniel Edward, Aug. 

13, 2010, and Frank Thomas, Feb. 2, 2012. 

Daniel was born premature at 25 weeks and 

was 2 pounds, 3 ounces and 14 inches long. He 

underwent four surgeries and was in 

intensive care until his release from the 

hospital on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, 2010. 

Mara (Cook) Jorgensen and her husband, 

Nicholas, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, a son, Jack 

Nicholas, Feb. 16, 2012. 

Heather (Laver) Pals and her husband, Cory, 

Marshalltown, Iowa, twins, a son, Quinlan 

Fredrick, and a daughter, Zoey Grace, July 24, 

2011. 

2003 

Jennifer (Rose) Bass and her husband, 

Austin, Dakota Dunes, S.D., a daughter, 

Adelaide Rosa, Dec. 30, 2011. 

Tom and Crista (Rustwick) Limoges 2004, 

Sioux City, a son, Logan Edward, Oct. 22, 2011. 

Angie (Turner) Ricklefs and her husband, 

Ben, Sioux City, a daughter, Addison Helen, 

March 8, 2011. 

Kari (Bull) and Mike Winklepleck 2007, 

Sioux City, a daughter, Paysen Jae, Feb. 28, 

2012. 

2004 

Kara (Coleman) Obbink and her husband, 

Nicholas, Sioux City, a son, Miles Coleman, 

Oct. 20, 2011. 

2006 

Katrina (Phetteplace) Aesoph and her 

husband, Mark, Sioux City, a son, Collin 

James, Oct. 7, 2011. 

Jenna (Rehnstrom) Liberto and her husband, 

Chris, Sioux City, a son, Hunter Michael, Sept. 

8, 2011. 

2007 

Megan (Hinds) Pratt and her husband, Jamey, 

Sioux City, a daughter, Finleigh JoAnn, Nov. 8, 

2011. 

Heather (Huntley) Vogt and her husband, 

Dustin, Charter Oak, Iowa, a daughter, 

Cheyenne, August 26, 2010. 

Amber (Lemkau) and Ryne Young, Denison, 

Iowa, a daughter, Aubrey Marie, March 7, 

2011. 

2008 

Stephanie (Mastne) Casotti and her husband, 

Luke, Sioux City, a son, Benjamin Luke, Oct. 

27, 2011. 

2011 

Courtney (Merchant) Roder and her husband, 

Luke, Sioux City, a son, Noah Brayden, Oct. 26, 

2011. 

Newlyweds 

1963 

Joyce (Giehm) Brown and David Halmers, 

April 9, 2011, Emanuel Lutheran Church, 

Manchester, Conn. At home in Vernon 

Rockville, Conn. 

1975 

Howard Staber and Laura (Rhinehart) 

Lindgren 1984, Oct. 1, 2011, Blessed 

Sacrament Church, Sioux City. At home in 

Sioux City. 

1996 

Stephanie Erwin and Joel Staehr, Feb. 26, 

2010. At home in Omaha, Neb. 

Lt. Cmdr. Scott Moseman and Paula 

Neihouse, July 29, 2011, St. Lawrence Catholic 

Campus Center, Lawrence, Kan. At home in 

Bellevue, Neb. 

2003 

Brenna Larsen and Craig Rueschhoff, July 15, 

2011, Masonic Temple, Des Moines, Iowa. At 

home in Des Moines. 

Nick Parrish and Melanie Stocks 2006, 

April 9, 2011, Oelwein, Iowa. At home in 

Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

2004 

Reann Richtermeier and Cody Jaminet 2007, 

July 16, 2011, Sunnybrook Community 

Church, Sioux City. At home in Sioux City. 

2006 

Mindy Book and Nathaniel Foulk, July 30, 

2011, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 

Sioux City. At home in Sioux City. 

2007 

Heather Huntley and Dustin Vogt, July 19, 

2008, Charter Oak, Iowa. At home in Charter 

Oak. 

Rachel Lenhardt and Brandon Morehead 

2009, Aug. 13, 2011, Broadway Christian 

Church, Council Bluffs, Iowa. At home in 

Council Bluffs. 

Dawn Phelps and Ian Ball, June 11, 2011, 

Amana, Iowa. At home in Iowa City, Iowa. 

Jim Schmidt and Elizabeth Babcock 2010, 

April 16, 2011, Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church, 

Omaha, Neb. At home in Omaha. 

Kari Skalisky and Nicholas Varner 2009, 

Aug. 6, 2011, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Spirit 

Lake, Iowa. At home in Sioux City. 

2008 

Clint Little and Miranda Heyer Stroh, Aug. 

13, 2011, Orpheum Theatre, Sioux City. At 

home in Overton, Neb. 

2009 

Laura Gildemeister and Ben Gano, Sept. 10, 

2011, First Lutheran Church, Milford, Iowa. At 

home in Omaha, Neb. 

Stephanie Swalve and Joseph Johnson 2010, 

Oct. 16, 2010, Sioux City. At home in Sioux City. 

David Terry and Brianna Paulsen 2010, 

Aug. 6, 2011, Sunnybrook Community Church, 

Sioux City. At home in McCook Lake, S.D. 

2010 

Benjamin Nashleanas and Keshia 

DeRocher 2011, June 18, 2011, St. Michael’s 

Catholic Church, Sioux City. At home in 

Iowa City, Iowa. 

Jason Magill and Saraphia Orke, December 

2010, Rochester, Minn. At home in Rochester. 

Hanna Simonson and Kevin Hanson, July 23, 

2011. At home in Fargo, N.D. 

Jordan Widholm and Meggie Mitchell 2011, 

July 16, 2011, Lake Park, Iowa. At home in 

Sioux City. 

2011 

Megan Mosher and Marshall Tuttle, July 9, 

2011, Morningside Lutheran Church, Sioux 

City. At home in Sioux City.

Have you been to a show? 

The Betty Ling Tsang Summer Fine Arts Series brings quality music and theatre 

performances to the people of Sioux City and the surrounding area at no cost to 

them. We have a great lineup this summer, so come relax on the benches or bring a 

lawn chair and enjoy the shows! 

Holiday Pops Concert 

with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra 

8:15 p.m. June 30, followed by fireworks 

A 4th of July celebration with a very special tribute to military veterans 

and active duty personnel. Rain location: Eppley Auditorium. 

Cinderella 

10 a.m. and 7 p.m. July 20, and 10 a.m. July 21 

A production of the well-known fairy tale tailored for the whole family. 

Fiddler on the Roof 

7 p.m. Aug. 10 and 11 

A classic featuring songs like “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” 

“Matchmaker” and “Sunrise, Sunset.” 

Performances will be held in the Buhler Outdoor Performance Center at 3625 Garretson Ave. on the Morningside College campus. All events will take place rain 

or shine, with the rain location being Klinger-Neal Theatre on the Morningside campus, unless otherwise noted.


Change Service Requested 

Make some 

memories! 

HOMECOMING 

2012 

Oct. 12-14 

A Taste of Morningside 

CLASS REUNIONS 

1952, 1962, 1972, 1982, 1987, 

1992, 2002, 2011 

OTHER REUNION GROUPS 

Theatre/Speech/Drama 

ALL ALUMNI AND 

FRIENDS ARE INVITED! 

For more information, call the alumni 

relations office at 712-274-5107 or 

800-831-0806, ext. 5107, or visit 

www.morningside.edu/alumni. 

Are you moving? Do you have an e-mail address? 

Please let us know! Just send an e-mail to 

alumni@morningside.edu or write to the Alumni 

Office, Morningside College, 1501 Morningside Ave., 

Sioux City, IA 51106. 

NONPROFIT 

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