Celebrating Father Biondi's Anniversary - Saint Louis University

classnotes
Photos by Steve Dolan
John schweitzer (A&S) is the CEO of
SkyDev Technologies in St. Louis.
martin (Parks) is
a chief test pilot for
’68marvin
Northrop Gumman Integrated
Systems, west region, in Palmdale,
Calif.
robb scoular (Law) was listed in the Los
Angeles Business Journal’s “Who’s Who in
L.A. Law.” He was named one of Southern
California’s “Super Lawyers” by Los
Angeles Magazine and Law & Politics
Management and is a member of the “Billionaire’s
Club,” according to California
Law Business. He is the founding managing
partner of the Los Angeles office of
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. He
also is president and chair of the board of
directors of the Los Angeles Area Council
of the Boy Scouts of America.
robert Telfer (A&S) is a partner in a law
firm Cianfrogna, Telfer, Reda, Faherty,
and Anderson in Titusville, Fla.
Joe robustelli (A&S),
director of the educa-
’69dr.
tional opportunity program
at SUNY-Cobleskill, received
the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence
in Professional Service in May. He has
worked there since 1984.
Chaplin (A&S) is
the president of the North
’70kenneth
Jefferson County Catholic
Credit Union, a Quickbooks pro adviser
and a certified management accountant.
He lives in Arnold, Mo.
Janet folkl, C.d.P. (A&S, Grad ’75) is
general superior of the Sisters of Divine
Providence, an international congregation
of women religious. She lives
in St. Louis.
William hall (Cook) and his wife of 37
years, rose (failoni) hall (A&S), live in
Fort Worth, Texas. They have three sons
and four grandchildren. William previously
was the director of accounting at
Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth.
mary (higgins) klein (SW) practices
psychotherapy in Costa Mesa, Calif.
She is married to dr. david klein (Med
’71), who practices oncology and hematology
in Newport Beach, Calif.
dr. richard koesterer (A&S ’70, Grad
’75) retired from the biology department
at Coastal Carolina University after 28
years of service. He lives in Conway, S.C.,
but plans to move to Trinidad.
dr. Theresa (nangle) obermeyer (Grad ’70,
’76) and her husband, Thomas s. obermeyer
(Grad Cook ’76), live in Anchorage,
Alaska. They have four children: Thomas
Jr. and Jimmy are pursuing careers as
medical doctors, and twins Margaret
and Matt are at Rockhurst University.
Warren sazama, s.J. (A&S ’70, Grad
’73) has completed his first year as president
of Marquette University High
School in Milwaukee.
sharen selleck rice (Nurs) is a clinical
nurse specialist at the VA outpatient clinic
in Columbus, Ohio, where she works
with veterans who have post-traumatic
stress disorder. She and her husband have
four children and two grandchildren.
ron simmons (A&S) is retired after
36 years in the information technology
field, the last 25 with TTX Co. in
Chicago. He and his wife, Mary Ellyn,
spend their time hiking, biking, traveling
and seeing their four children and
six grandchildren.
forgue (Grad) retired
this year after 12
’71Joseph
years as a chaplain at the
federal correctional institution in El
Reno, Okla.
michael W. forster (A&S ’71, Law ’74)
is the managing partner of the firm
Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard in
St. Louis.
2007 hoMecoMing highLightS
G. Tracy mehan III (A&S ’71, Law ’74), a
principal of the Cadmus Group Inc. and
former assistant administrator for water
at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, has been appointed to the Water
Science and Technology Board of the
National Academies’ National Research
Council in Washington, D.C.
dr. daysi mejia (Grad SW) is chair of
the Catholic Charities board of directors
in the Diocese of Venice, Fla. She
is on the faculty of Florida Gulf Coast
University.
Cheatham (Pub
Ser) wrote a book titled
’72Gwendolyn
Give Your Teacher This
Note – Parents Say the Funniest Things.
She lives in Fayetteville, Ga.
ruth (onsum) kraushaar (Nurs) was
a nursing educator and developer of
new community programs. She lives
in Springfield, Ore., near her two children
and two grandchildren.
lou mcCabe, s.J. (Grad) is the assistant
to the provincial for vocations for the
Jesuits of the Missouri Province. He is
happy to be back in St. Louis.
otis miller (Grad) has been retired for
nine years and works part time. He
lives in Belleville, Ill.
dr. Janet I. Pisaneschi (Grad) is the provost
and vice president for academic
affairs at Western Michigan University
and received the 2007 Distinguished
Woman in Higher Education Leadership
Award. She was dean of WMU’s
College of Health and Human Services
for 17 years prior to her current
position.
david Podeschi (A&S) is Blockbuster’s
senior vice president for merchandising,
distribution and logistics. He lives
in Dallas.
Ted r. anderson (Grad)
wrote Biology of the Ubi-
’73dr.
quitous House Sparrow:
From Genes to Populations. He is emeritus
professor of biology at McKendree
University and lives in Kingston, Wash.
Bob Johnson (A&S) retired from the
EEOC in St. Louis this spring after 28
years. He is now of counsel to Sedey-
Harper. In April, SLU’s School of Law
gave him the Clarence Darrow Public Interest
Advocate Award. He also is a fellow
of the College of Labor and Employment
Lawyers. He and his wife, sandy Johnson
(A&S), are enjoying being grandparents.
elbert luh (Cook ’73, Law ’88) lives in
De Soto, Mo., and works with church
youth groups.
raymond f. Wacker (A&S), the Emerson
Electric/Charles Groennert Teaching
Excellence Professor at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale, received
the 2007 Outstanding Educator Award
from the Illinois CPA Society in May.
stephen h. daniel (A&S
’74, Grad ’78) has been
’74dr.
appointed to the Murray
and Celeste Fasken Chair in Distinguished
Teaching in the Liberal Arts.
He is a professor of philosophy at Texas
A&M University and a scholar in the
field of modern philosophy.
dr. david f. dinges (Grad) is the chief of
the division of sleep and chronobiology
and director of the unit for experimental
psychiatry in the department of
psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine. He received
the 2007 Distinguished Public Service
Medal from NASA, the agency’s highest
award for nongovernment personnel.
Patricia (Turk) horvath (Nurs) is the
director of health and wellness, health
care solutions and analytics for UnitedHealthcare’s
central region and lives
in Kirtland, Ohio.
don’t miss homecoming 2008, scheduled for Sept. 26-28.
Mark your calendar now and make plans to be there.
david reiser (Parks) is in diaconate formation
for the diocese of Charlotte, N.C.
Boenker (Parks)
is an aerospace engineer
’75matthew
working for Avion Inc.
as a support contractor to the U.S.
Army. He lives in Huntsville, Ala.,
and is trying to start his own vineyard
and winery in St. Louis.
dr. dorothy Corrigan (A&S ’75, Nurs ’03,
Grad ’07) is a board-certified gerontological
nurse practitioner and is a clinical
researcher for the Alzheimer’s Disease
Research Center of the Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Barbara feldman Geffen (Law) is
the managing director of Campus-
CURES, a division of the Agos Group
dedicated to risk management strategies
for higher education.
Janet (newman) hodel (Doisy) moved
from Oregon to Anchorage, Alaska,
in 2005 with her husband, Ron, and
daughter, Heather. She is a physical
therapist at Alaska Regional Hospital.
William schmidt (Cook ’75, Grad ’77)
is executive vice president and regional
director for Momentum and
is responsible for the firm’s St. Louis,
Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee offices.
He lives in St. Louis.
harter (Parks) is a
flight captain for Ameri-
’76mark
can Airlines and lives in
Belleville, Ill.
Cecilia stodd (A&S) is a financial specialist
in the department of population
health sciences at the University
of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
(Beasley) Brown
(SW ’77, ’78) earned her
’77debra
doctorate in ministry
from the Assemblies of God Theological
Seminary in Springfield, Mo. She
lives in Kansas City, Mo.
david eschmann (Cook) is an I.T. data
warehouse specialist for Thermadyne
Corp. in St. Louis.
ann (angie) sellenriek (Grad) lives in
Palm Harbor, Fla., and is a residential
supervisor for a shelter that serves
clients who are 10-17 years old. She
plans to move to Memphis, Tenn.
Pete stabnick (A&S) received the Exemplary
Advocate Award from the
Council for Exceptional Children Division
on Visual Impairments for his
support of teachers and professionals
in the field of blindness. He has been
involved in the printing and distribution
of the Division on Visual Impairment
Quarterly for 17 years. He lives
in Little Rock, Ark.
denise Wondolowski (Parks ’77, Grad
Cook ’80) is a senior portfolio manager
for U.S. Bank private asset management
in St. Louis.
Valene (Parks) lives
outside of Memphis, Tenn.,
’78larry
and is an MD-11 captain
with FedEx as a line check airman.
Bobrowski (A&S)
is a music specialist at
’79leonard
St. Charles Borromeo
School in St. Charles, Mo., and director
of music at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Church in Ferguson, Mo. He
will also have two choral pieces published
by World Library Publications.
When crisis struck the crew
of Space Shuttle Atlantis on
a mission to the international
Space Station, it was kelly (bond) beck (Parks ’88)
— feet planted firmly on the ground, as usual — who
helped to bring order to the seven-person crew
millions of miles away from home.
When news broke that Atlantis had a torn heat-shield
blanket, space observers could not help but think of
the tragedy that struck Space Shuttle Columbia on
re-entry four years earlier.
it was on the mind of beck — the mission commander
— and the rest of the nASA staff,
as well. Since the Columbia
tragedy, no one takes chances
at Mission Control — every
precaution is implemented,
beck said. Whenever an
anomaly arises, there is a team
led by its own flight director
that begins looking at solutions
from every conceivable angle,
and those possible solutions
are then tested on the ground.
The tests concluded that
sewing the blanket with stainless-steel wire was the
best option over other choices, such as duct tape
that didn’t hold up to the vacuum of space. After a
successful space walk under the guidance of beck,
Atlantis returned safely to earth on June 22.
even as the eyes of the world focused on Atlantis and
Mission Control in Houston, beck and the crew kept
their calm and resolve.
“We’re so well trained we’re not under pressure or
stress. it’s how our training programs have geared us
to respond,” beck said in a telephone interview. “i think
it’s similar to an air traffic controller: you just do it.”
dr. George dolson (Med) is on the faculty
of Baylor College of Medicine
and is chief of the renal section of the
VA Medical Center in Houston.
dixon (Law) is a
deputy district attorney
’80ronnie
in the Fulton County district
attorney’s office and the head of the
trial division. He lives in Lithonia, Ga.
Joseph T. eckelkamp (Cook ’80, Grad
Cook ’93), owner of Eckelkamp &
Associates CPAs in St. Louis, has received
the Personal Financial Specialist
credential from the American Institute
of Certified Public Accountants.
He also has been interviewed several
times on St. Louis’ KTVI-TV.
KELLy BECK
dr. nancy lindo-drusch (Med) has a
two-person family practice and is the
director of the ThedaCare Hospice.
She lives in Appleton, Wis.
marjorie soffer-Wood (PS) and her husband,
Charles, are retired and live in
St. Louis. Marjorie was an army journalist.
She has one son, Charlee.
mcGarrahan (A&S)
and his wife, Holly, have
’81kenneth
two daughters and live in
Fenton, Mo. Kenneth has worked at
AT&T for 25 years.
Charlann Winking (A&S) has retired
after 20 years as a public defender in
Minnesota and has moved to Victoria,
B.C., Canada, with her husband.
beck’s journey to nASA seemed
destined to make a pit stop at
Saint Louis University. When
she was growing up in Cahokia, ill., her grandmother
worked in the cafeteria at Parks College of
engineering, Aviation and Technology, and beck was
always drawn to the science and math classes she
would eventually need to be a successful engineer.
“i think it’s the purity of mathematics and being able
to solve the problems and move to a higher level that
i like about math,” beck said. “And a lot of my math
and science teachers would get you interested. i also
can think of my biology and physics teachers that
made it interesting — same with
my chemistry teachers.”
in those classes, as in her
career, beck was one of the
few women in the room. but it’s
something that’s never really
mattered to her.
“i never perceived it to be a
problem or a hindrance,” she
said. “i know i have to go do
my job very well no matter what.
Maybe it was just that i wasn’t
paying attention to feel intimidated because i was
woman.”
Her recent work as mission commander is not the final
frontier for beck. She sees her career continuing up
the ladder at nASA. She already is the deputy chief of
flight directors and thinks an opportunity for chief of
flight directors might be in her future. but there is one
goal she thinks is out of her reach.
“i’d love to see a manned mission to Mars,” she said.
“i really think that eventually we will be like Star Trek,
with easy access to space. it’s just a matter of when,
but probably not in my lifetime.” — Nick Sargent
24 UNIVERSITAS www.slu.edu UNIVERSITAS FALL 2007 25
photo courtesy of NASA