Insights Spring/Summer 2013 - Saint Martin's University

NOTES
1960s
Richard J. Vernetti HS’60, ’66 retired April 30, 2013, after
31 years of federal service. At the time of his retirement,
Richard was working for the Department of Defense’s
Missile Defense Agency in a supervisory position. He was
retired by his boss, Maj. Gen. Heidi V. Brown, and was
awarded the Missile Defense Agency Director’s Career
Achievement Award.
1970s
Ralph Osgood ’79, mayor of Tumwater, received The Life
Saving Award from the Olympia Police Department in May
2013. Osgood was honored for helping a woman who tried
to jump off the Capitol Way Bridge onto Interstate 5.
1980s
1 Nasr Al-Sahhaf ’81 traveled from Saudi Arabia to
attend the dedication celebration for the new Cebula
Hall on April 22, 2013. His mentor from the University
of Washington, Dr. James Wise, joined him. Nasr has
been nominated for membership in the prestigious
International Academy of Astronautics in Paris.
Janice McGrath ’81 is employed as a psychiatric nurse
for the Nevada Department of Corrections in Carson City,
Nevada.
E. Richard Patterson ’85 is the associate vice president
of AECOM in Seattle.
Jerry Wilkins MBA ’88 has served the Thurston County
area for 15 years with the Multiple Listing Service, most
recently with the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Wilkins, who served 32 years in the military, holds
leadership roles in numerous community organizations,
including treasurer of the Gateway Rotary Club, chairman
of the Gateway Rotary Foundation and commissioner of
the City of Lacey’s Civil Service Commission.
Andrew Oczkewicz ’89 is the manager of the USO
Northwest Shali Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,
which recently was honored as the Top Domestic Large
Installation Center. Having served more than 53,000
guests in 2012, the Shali Center was selected from over
100 other USO centers nationwide.
1990s
Helen Miller ’93 is employed as a SQL database
administrator for the Washington State Office of Attorney
General.
Todd Snider ’94 and his wife, Zahra, welcomed Sameena
Masako Snider into the world on Dec. 12, 2012.
Angie DeAguiar ’95 has been named principal of
Meadows Elementary School in the North Thurston
School District.
Sean Kochaniewicz ’95 and his wife, Carrie, welcomed
daughter Finley Maura on Dec. 13, 2012.
Russell Olsen ’97 was appointed to the Thurston Public
Utility District Commission. Olsen, a Department of
Ecology employee, now holds the PUD’s District 2 seat.
2000s
Julie (Thielan) Wyatt ’00 was named Washington State
Science Teacher of the Year.
Jonathan Sprouffske ’04 and his wife, Shelly, welcomed a
third “WeeSki,” Alexander Xavier, on Dec. 3, 2012.
Zac Vawter ’04 made headlines last fall when he climbed
103 flights of stairs to the top of Chicago’s Willis Tower
with a bionic prosthetic leg. After Vawter, a software
engineer, lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident, he
volunteered to help test a robotic leg designed to respond
to electrical impulses from muscles in the hamstring.
The experimental prosthetic, called the “world’s first
neural-controlled bionic leg,” moves when the brain
sends a signal to the leg. The stair-climb was part the
annual “SkyRise Chicago” charity event hosted by the
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where Vawter was
receiving treatment. Vawter’s story was featured on several
media outlets, including CNN, NPR and CBS This Morning.
Joe Avalos ’05, MAC’10 welcomed daughter Maya Jae Lucia
on March 30, 2013.
Michelle Ramsaur Muth ’05 and husband, Matthew
Muth, celebrated the arrival of daughter Kinley May on
Oct. 18, 2012.
Mark Stead ’05 is head of molecular biology for the New
York Structural Genomics Research Consortium at the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
48 | www.stmartin.edu