Spring - University of Central Missouri

SPRING 2011, VOL. 10 NO. 4 

university of central missouri 

A JAckpot with A 

SmAll-town twiSt

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theatre. 

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is refurbishing the Alumni 

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contact: 

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emaiL: carDer@ucmo.eDu 

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SPRING 2011, VOL. 10 NO. 4 

Published by the Office of Alumni 

Relations and Development. 

© 2011 by University of Central Missouri. 

All rights reserved. Contact the editor 

at today@ucmo.edu or 660-543-4545. 

Send your address updates to 

alumni@ucmo.edu or telephone, 

660-543-8000 or toll-free, 1-866-752-7257. 

EdItOR 

Dalene Abner ’09 

dESIGN 

Erin Livengood 

Annakje Vanlandingham ’12 

PhOtOGRaPhER 

Bryan Tebbenkamp ’03 

CLaSS NOtES 

Jody Ritter 

Today (USPS 019-888) is published 

quarterly by the University of Central 

Missouri, Warrensburg, MO 64093. Printed 

in USA. Periodicals postage paid at 

Warrensburg, MO, and additional offices. 

POSTMASTER: Send address changes 

to Today, Smiser Alumni Center, University 

of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO 

64093. 

3 A JACKpOT WITH A SMALL-TOWN TWIST 

In the billion-dollar gambling industry, known for its glitz and high stakes, two 

University of Central Missouri graduates hit a jackpot, not at a poker table or slot 

machine but in their careers. In becoming successful executives with Ameristar 

Casinos, they discovered a common bond to a small-town high school teacher, who 

despite the odds, happens also to be a UCM grad and, incredibly enough, also found 

inspiration from another alumna who had taught her at the same school. 

features 

6 A TRUE CRIME JUNKIE 

Meisberger Finds Niche in Jackson County Cold Case Unit 

9 THRILL OF THE CHASE 

Ryan Brown and His Inseparable Companion 

14 NEW RECREATION CENTER MIxES OLD WITH NEW 

Facility Receives University’s First LEED Rating for Energy Efficiency 

17 THE BIG BEAR HUNT 

Alumnus Unearths Ancient Biggest, Baddest Bear 

22 FUTURE THINKING NOW 

Eugenia Crain Funds Accounting Scholarship through Annuity 

sections 

6 

3 14 17 

12 CAMpUS CURRENTS 

16 CENTRAL YESTERDAY 

20 pHILANTHROpY 

24 CLASS NOTES 

27 AWARDS & HONORS 

28 IN MEMORIAM 

9 

22 

University of Central Missouri | today 1

“I couldn’t have been who I was without her. 

There is always someone who influences somebody.” 

2 SPRING 2011

Grads Share high School mentor, Career Success 

By Matt Bird-Meyer ’97 

When the conversation 

turned to mentors, the 

two Ameristar executives 

realized the same teacher, 

Mrs. E., had shaped their 

young academic lives. 

A JAckpot with A 

SmAll-town twiSt 

In the billion-dollar gambling industry, known for its glitz and high 

stakes, two University of Central Missouri graduates hit a jackpot, 

not at a poker table or slot machine but in their careers. In becoming 

successful executives with Ameristar Casinos, they discovered a common 

bond to a small-town high school teacher, who despite the odds, happens 

also to be a UCM grad and, incredibly enough, also found inspiration 

from another alumna who had taught her at the same school. 

This story begins with two Central 

Missouri alumnae separated by hundreds 

of miles. Roxann Kinkade is director of 

communications for Ameristar and works 

from the Kansas City casino. Cynthia 

Mercer was chief human resources 

officer and operated from Las Vegas. The 

high school teacher they both credit 

for influencing their success is Frances 

Engelbrecht, or “Mrs. E.” as her former 

students know her. 

“It’s like something that’s so personal to 

you, something you hold in your heart, but 

then you realize someone else has that,” 

says Kinkade, drawing laughter from all 

three women who reunited at the Kansas 

City casino. 

Kinkade graduated from UCM in 1981 

with a degree in public relations. She has 

worked at Ameristar for six years, moving 

up the corporate ladder from public 

relations manager at the Kansas City casino 

to managing all communications for the 

corporation. With eight properties in seven 

markets and annual revenues around 

$1.2 billion, Ameristar is a major player 

in the casino industry. Kinkade monitors 

its public image, including what other 

organizations are saying or writing about it, 

coordinating interviews with newspapers, 

television and other media, and finding the 

right people to speak for the company. 

(continued next page) 


4 SPRING 2011 

thESE hIStORIC PhOtOS Of ERNa RaIthEL ’45, fRaNCES ENGELbRECht ’58, ROxaNN 

KINKadE ’81 aNd CyNthIa MERCER ’88 COME fROM a VaRIEty Of SOuRCES, INCLudING thE 

RuSSELLVILLE bICENtENNIaL bOOK, hIGh SChOOL yEaRbOOK aNd uCM rhetor. 

(continued from previous page) 

Mercer graduated from UCM in 1988 with 

a degree in broadcasting and film. After 

school, she worked in commercial real 

estate, which triggered her passion for 

business. At the Koll Company, a real estate 

firm in southern California, Mercer moved 

through the ranks until she held the top 

HR position. Next came The Cheesecake 

Factory, then Ameristar. As Ameristar’s 

chief human resources officer, she oversaw 

hiring, training and “succession planning,” 

where she helped position the right people 

to move up the corporate ladder. 

Business is in Mercer’s blood. She believes 

people are the catalyst to making a business 

successful. She recently started a new 

position with even greater responsibility 

for the Sisters of Mercy Health System 

in St. Louis. As senior vice president of 

human resources, she is responsible for 

a substantially larger workforce, going 

from some 7,000 at Ameristar to 35,000 

co-workers and 4,000 physicians. The 

health system has hospitals, acute care and 

assisted living facilities in seven states. 

Yet, it was as Ameristar executives that 

Mercer and Kinkade discovered a common 

bond. Four years ago, when Mercer was 

in Kansas City for a banquet honoring the 

team member of the year, the two began 

talking about their UCM experiences. 

When the conversation turned to mentors, 

they realized the same teacher, Mrs. E., had 

shaped their young academic lives. 

The pieces fell firmly in place when they 

connected Mrs. E. to a high school in 

Russellville, MO, where Kinkade graduated 

in 1978 and Mercer in 1985. Their classes 

were certainly small enough for them to 

know everyone with 78 in Kinkade’s and 

43 in Mercer’s. Yet, time separated the two 

until they met as Ameristar co-workers. 

Kinkade says her surprise was great because 

she couldn’t imagine the cosmopolitan 

Mercer mingling in the small farming 

town of Russellville, population 758. 

“She seemed very sophisticated and from 

a big city,” she adds. “I see myself as a 

farm kid.” Her impression wasn’t too 

far off the mark. Mercer was a southern 

California transplant in the seventh grade 

while Kinkade’s family had deep roots in 

the community. Several of her aunts and 

uncles, as well as her husband, Mark, and 

other family members, attended school in 

Russellville through the years, and many of 

them had Mrs. E. as a teacher. 

ROxaNN KINKadE, LEft, aNd CyNthIa MERCER, RIGht, REMINISCE wIth MRS. E.

Engelbrecht inspired Kinkade to go to 

college and break out from a future that 

seemed inevitable in farming or factory 

work. Only three of her classmates went to 

college after high school, Kinkade notes. 

“I don’t think Mrs. E. realizes the impact 

she had on so many of us farm kids. I was 

driven, but I didn’t see [academic awards] 

as a path to a career. I couldn’t see beyond 

high school.” 

Mrs. E. had that foresight. She helped 

Kinkade apply for and earn a college 

scholarship. “I didn’t really see a path to 

that,” says Kinkade. “Mrs. E. saw something 

in me that I don’t think I could see.” 

Kinkade says Mrs. E. helped her realize the 

power people have in influencing others. 

“It’s a huge power. I try to live my life 

mindful of that power,” she says, tearing 

up as she looked toward a fourth woman 

who organized the reunion, Celeste 

Burks, another UCM graduate. Kinkade 

recommended the 2005 alumna be hired as 

her successor at Kansas City Ameristar and 

became Burks’ mentor in the process. 

So continues the influence of Mrs. E., who 

has lived in Eugene, MO, just south of 

Russellville, since 1959, one year after her 

graduation from UCM. She retired after 

spending 30 of her 37 years teaching at 

Russellville High School. 

Teaching the classics and requiring her 

students to read pivotal authors were 

natural for Engelbrecht. That’s what she 

was taught by Erna Raithel, who taught 

English when she attended and graduated 

from Russellville High School. Kinkade 

notes that Miss Raithel, a 1945 Central 

Missouri alumna, was her mother’s English 

teacher as well as the town’s historian. She 

taught language arts for 31 years, mostly 

in Jefferson City, before she retired in 1985. 

She died in 2008. 

Engelbrecht inspired 

Kinkade to go to 

college and break out 

from a future that 

seemed inevitable in 

farming or factory work. 

Mercer remembers she 

was tough, never giving 

away easy grades. 

CyNthIa MERCER, CENtER IN PINK, LEd thE aMERIStaR tEaM SERVING aS SPOKESwOMaN fOR 

thE KaNSaS CIty SuSaN G. KOMEN RaCE fOR thE CuRE. 

“I couldn’t have been who I was without 

her,” says Mrs. E. “There is always someone 

who influences somebody.” 

Kinkade and Mercer took Mrs. E.’s drama 

class, had lead roles in plays and worked on 

the yearbook and school newspaper. That’s 

about the extent of their similarities as 

students. Mercer was more sports-oriented, 

and Kinkade, who described herself as 

“painfully uncoordinated,” focused more 

on academics, band and choir. 

Kinkade won numerous speech awards 

and a trip to Washington, D.C., in an 

essay contest. “I remember I hated speech 

and [Mrs. E.] was like, ‘You can do this,’” 

she says. Now part of her job involves 

preparing others to speak in public. 

Mercer remembers Engelbrecht was tough, 

never giving away easy grades. She recalls 

her excitement after earning a B+ on a 

report she wrote on George Bernard Shaw. 

“Truly, I think Mrs. E. just held me to a 

higher standard,” she says. “I think she was 

tough in a caring and compassionate way. 

She inspired you to reach your potential.” 

Mercer carried over her experiences with 

Mrs. E. to her corporate life, specifically, to 

a leadership class she taught at Ameristar. 

One exercise involved writing your “Life’s 

Board of Directors” and sharing that with 

the people on your list. Mrs. E. was on 

Mercer’s. 

“I taught the class and decided to take 

my own advice,” she says. She wrote to 

Engelbrecht. That letter started a penpal 

relationship between the two, which 

solidified into the reunion in Kansas City. 

Engelbrecht was thrilled to see her former 

students. Mercer was in town for another 

purpose; she was spokeswoman for the 

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. 

Mercer is in her second cancer-free year 

and, as spokeswoman, gave interviews 

on television about her battle with breast 

cancer. She addressed a crowd of 27,000 

participants to kick off the race. Ameristar 

had some 370 team members, including 

workers and their family members, 

participate in the race. 

“It’s a huge honor. Thank goodness I had 

good training,” Mercer says, grabbing Mrs. 

E.’s hand. Mercer notes that early detection 

saved her life. “You can definitely fight it 

and win if you learn about it early enough. 

I was very fortunate I worked throughout 

my battle and maintained as much 

normalcy as possible.” 

Engelbrecht says Kinkade and Mercer 

haven’t changed much; they still have 

the bubbling, energetic and enthusiastic 

personalities she remembers. She didn’t 

have much trouble recognizing them. 

“They’re who they were pretty much… 

very much, in fact,” Mrs. E. says. “I am so 

proud of them. I just rejoice at their success 

as I do for all of my students.” 

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A true crime junkie 

Meisberger finds Niche in 

Jackson County Cold Case unit 

By Matt Bird-Meyer ’97 

“every day when i get notice 

there’s been a new [Dna] hit, 

just knowing we’re going to be 

able to do something about 

a case where the offender 

thinks they’ve gotten away 

with it after all these years and 

saying, ‘nope, we got ya.’” 

6 SPRING 2011 

At the center of operations for a DNA 

Cold Case Unit in Jackson County, MO, is 

a University of Central Missouri graduate 

who is helping to snare sex offenders from 

as far back as 1979. 

The work is right up Jennifer Meisberger’s 

alley. Criminal justice runs in the family as 

both her father, John B. Boyd, and brother, 

John R. Boyd, are attorneys. 

She got her first taste of the justice system 

as a volunteer for the Court Appointed 

Special Advocates program in Jackson 

County prior to starting her master’s 

degree at UCM. She volunteered two years 

with CASA, helping to support children 

who were victims of abuse and other crimes 

as they navigated the court system. 

Her taste for the justice system runs even 

deeper. She calls it a “lifelong obsession.” 

Meisberger says she remembers when 

Kansas City serial killer Bob Berdella was 

arrested when she was 4 or 5 years old. She 

recalls when she asked at the breakfast 

table what a serial killer was, her brother’s 

response. “He kills by choking someone 

with cereal, of course.” 

Serious about pursuing a career in criminal 

justice, she finished a two-year master’s 

degree in about a year, graduating in 

2008. Four months later she was hired as a 

paralegal with the newly formed unit. 

“When this job came up, I said, ‘Wow, this is 

made for me to do,’” she says. “It’s exciting. 

Every day when I get notice there’s been a 

new [DNA] hit, just knowing we’re going 

to be able to do something about a case 

where the offender thinks they’ve gotten 

away with it after all these years and saying, 

‘Nope, we got ya.’” 

Her work touches every aspect of the unit. 

During its startup, she worked with three 

others for a month in the Kansas City 

Crime Lab to catalog the evidence they 

saved from 1972 to 1992. Next, they plowed 

through the handwritten notebooks 

from trace analysts and requested the 

corresponding reports from the Kansas 

City Police Department. 

“It was very tedious work,” she says. But it 

was compelling work for the crime junkie. 

“You’re holding physical evidence – you’re 

touching history of true crime.” 

In that month, they identified more than 

2,000 cases from 1979 to 1992 that fell 

within the statute of limitations and had 

sufficient evidence. Meisberger notes a case 

becomes “cold” if all leads are exhausted, 

no offender is identified or the investigating 

detective leaves for another unit. 

Meisberger maintains the unit’s databases 

and keeps track of the charges they’ve filed. 

She assigns cases to analysts and notifies the

lab if a case is approved for DNA testing. 

If a sample comes back with a positive 

DNA hit, she helps with investigative 

activities, such as tracking down suspects, 

victims, witnesses, investigative officers and 

hospital personnel. She notes that it can be 

frustrating to work on a case only to have 

the DNA return with no matches or if the 

DNA was too degraded to test. 

“But there are those certain ones that just 

stand out to you for certain reasons, like 

when there’s a child victim,” she says. “It 

kind of brings you down, but there are 

those that give you satisfaction. There’s a 

lot of resolution and you feel really good 

when you get those hits.” 

“it was very tedious work.” But it was compelling work 

for the crime junkie. “You’re holding physical evidence 

— you’re touching history of true crime.” 

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T hrill of the Chase 

8 SPRING 2011

As a bald eagle soars overhead and swoops down for a 

fish, Ryan Brown forgets about tying a fly on his line. 

More important is the camera in his car’s backseat and 

the picture unfolding 30 yards away. Luckily the bird 

drops the fish and when it snatches the fish again in its 

claws, Brown is ready, firing 10 frames per second. 

“That’s kind of the thrill of the chase, like hunting, 

only with a camera,” he says. That’s also why he always 

carries a camera, even if it’s just his cell phone. 




Life is a delicate balancing act 

for this 2003 UCM graduate. The 

award-winning photographer 

juggles new fatherhood, a freelance 

business in Lee’s Summit, 

MO, and a full-time job managing 

the design and lab department of a 

high-end wedding album maker in 

Santa Ana, CA. 

Wedding photography pays the 

bills, but Brown has a passion for 

all photography. He’s endured 

cold to capture the sun rising 

over the Grand Tetons on a crisp 

morning and traveled south for 

the rich scenery around the Gulf 

of Mexico. He describes his distinct 

style as romantic. He says others 

call it pure, classic or timeless 

because it relies on ambient light. 

“I like to show the emotion in the 

relationship. I don’t go with the 

trends. I try to keep my own style.” 

As an artist, Brown likes to try 

different things. “My style is 

always changing. You have to 

keep up with the times and do 

your own thing.” 

10 SPRING 2011

PhOtOS PROVIdEd & REPRINtEd by 

PERMISSION Of RyaN bROwN 

Whatever Brown is doing, it’s 

paying off in terms of recognition. 

In 2010, he pulled down several 

prestigious awards while 

staying active in six professional 

organizations. He was named the 

2010 Heart of America Regional 

Master Photographer of the Year, 

Missouri Master Photographer 

of the Year and International 

Photographer of the Year. He won 

a Golden Bellows Award from 

the Professional Photographers 

Association of Greater Kansas City 

and Fuji Masterpiece and Kodak 

Gallery awards. 

He also earned the 2010 Canon Par 

Excellence Award, which came 

with an extra bonus in addition 

to the sparkling crystal trophy – a 

$3,500 lens. 

“Canon is the largest camera 

manufacturer in the world,” 

he notes, “and my work was 

considered worthy of winning this 

honor? What it meant for me is 

that I did something correct this 

year, and next year I need to do 

something different.” 

Brown says UCM gave him the 

dedication, motivation and 

perseverance to pursue success. 

“I wanted to be the best and 

insisted on doing whatever I had 

to do to make it. The university 

gave me the intangible education 

to keep going.” 

— By Matt Bird-Meyer ’97 


campus currents 

12 SPRING 2011 

track and field add 

More National titles 

Two more national athletic titles entered the 

University of Central Missouri record book this 

spring when pentathlete Lindsay Lettow was 

named the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country 

Coaches Association’s Women’s National Field 

Athlete of the Year, and heptathlete Shane Boss 

was selected for the NCAA Elite 88 Award. 

Lettow of Urbandale, IA, smashed track and 

field records all season long. Not only did the 

junior repeat as MIAA champion in the 60-meter 

hurdles, 600-yard run and pentathlon, she also 

broke two building, three meet and four school 

records. Her point total of 39.5 was also a meethigh 

for the second straight year. 

At the NCAA national championships in 

Albuquerque, NM, she stood on three podiums, 

adding a fourth-place long jump (19’00”) and 

sixth-place 60-meter hurdles to go with her 

first-place pentathlon finish. The 4,064 points 

she totaled were an NCAA championship’s 

meet high and the 

most ever scored 

by a Division II 

pentathlete. In 2011, 

across all divisions, 

she was only bested 

by nine others in 

the country for the 

event. 

Boss of Oak Grove, 

MO, is a computer 

information systems 

major with a 4.0 

grade point average. 

He competed nationally this spring in the 

heptathlon, finishing in third place. The Elite 88 

embodies the true spirit of the student-athlete. It 

is given to a male and female participant at each 

of the 88 national championships recognized by 

the NCAA. 

The national titles capped off a great spring 

season for the Mules and Jennies. The Jennies 

bowling team made its eighth consecutive 

appearance at the national championship. Player 

Natalie Jimenez was tabbed the Division II/III 

Player of the Year while teammate Kara Richard 

was named the D-II/III Rookie of the Year. 

The Mules golf team reached the NCAA 

Tournament as the automatic bid from the MIAA. 

They made a perfect run through conference 

competition winning the MIAA tournament title 

by 29 shots. Honors included Matt Miller as MIAA 

Player of the Year and Tim Poe as Coach of the 

Year. It is their second straight MIAA title and 

national appearance. It is their third consecutive 

regular season crown. 

Not just with current players did athletics make a 

splash this spring. Central Missouri is sending four 

individuals and two teams to the 2011 MIAA Hall 

of Fame. Inductees include Jorja Hoehn, Jennies 

basketball coach from 1980-85; Carla Eades, 

Jennies basketball player from 1980-84; Lynn 

Nance, Mules basketball coach from 1980-85; 

and Ron Nunnelly, Mules basketball player from 

1981-85. The four will be inducted, along with 

UCM’s 1984 national championship men’s and 

women’s basketball teams, at the annual MIAA 

Awards Dinner June 9 in Kansas City.

aMbROSE PaRtICIPatES IN 

NatIONaL SECuRIty dISCuSSION 

Central Missouri President Charles 

Ambrose participated in two special 

events this spring at the invitation of 

the U.S. Air Force and Department of 

Defense. He was selected to observe and 

engage with the military and exchange 

ideas related to national security at 

the DoD’s Joint Civilian Orientation 

Conference 81 in Washington, D.C. and 

the USAF’s Annual National Security 

Forum at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL. 

“It’s an honor to be selected to 

participate in these events, particularly 

as UCM continues building strong 

relationships with the men and women 

who serve at Whiteman Air Force Base,” 

Ambrose says. 

“These were unique opportunities that 

gave me an insider’s look at what it 

means to serve our country and to learn 

more about issues affecting the safety 

and well being of all U.S. citizens.” 

bhattaRaI, StaLLMaNN NaMEd 

2011 ChaRNO RECIPIENtS 

Jackie Bhattarai, a psychology and 

Spanish major from Warrensburg, 

and Andrew Stallmann, an actuarial 

science and mathematics major from 

Washington, MO, received the 2011 

Charno Award. 

The honor for Central Missouri’s top male 

and female senior students is named 

for George Charno Sr., who established 

the award in 1940 to recognize the 

outstanding male member of the 

graduating class. The award for the 

outstanding female was created one 

year later. 

GRab a bIKE, SaVE ON GaS 

Parking the car and jumping on a bicycle 

to navigate campus became easier this 

spring with a program that gives “recycling” 

new meaning. 

The Re-Cycles Program for students 

and staff continues to expand UCM’s 

commitment to sustainability. The 

program started out with bikes rescued 

from UCM surplus, rebuilt by a local bike 

shop owner and painted emerald green 

by a local body shop. 

“We recycled 15 bicycles that had 

been discarded as useless,” says 

Manny Abarca, the graduate student 

coordinating the campus’ sustainability 

efforts. “We’re encouraging people to 

look to alternatives for fossil fuels for 

local transportation while reducing each 

individual’s carbon footprint.” 

POPuLaR aVIatION PROfESSOR 

RECEIVES NatIONaL hONOR 

Jack Horine, professor emeritus of 

aviation, received the 2010 President’s 

Award from the University Aviation 

Association, a nonprofit organization 

representing high schools and 

universities that offer aviation degrees. 

Horine started with Central Missouri’s 

aviation program in 1961 and became 

department chair in 1990. Although he 

retired a few years ago, he continues to 

teach as an adjunct faculty member and 

advise students in the aviation safety 

graduate program. 

In the UAA, he is widely respected for his 

support of the group’s DC Seminar on 

Establishing Aviation Policy, to which he 

has recruited one of the largest student 

contingents for the past 20 years. 

uNIVERSIty RECOGNIzEd fOR 

aLCOhOL PREVENtION EffORtS 

Central Missouri received the top 

award for its student-directed alcohol 

prevention initiatives at the National 

Association of Student Personnel 

Administrators annual meeting. The 

2011 Prevention Excellence Awards were 

announced by Outside the Classroom; 

UCM received the Highest Honors of 

Distinction and a $5,000 prize for the 

quality of its prevention programming. 

One campus program contributing to 

the national recognition is Encouraging 

Positive Interventions in Chapters, which 

aims to reduce high-risk drinking and 

negative consequences among Greekaffiliated 

students. The program was 

implemented at UCM in spring 2010. 

tOP uCM faCuLty hONOR 

GOES tO MCKEE 

Rhonda McKee, a professor whose work 

includes dedication to helping young 

women pursue mathematics careers, 

has earned the University of Central 

Missouri’s highest faculty honor as 

recipient of the 2011 Byler Award. 

Colleagues in the Department of 

Mathematics and Computer Science 

note that McKee exemplifies the type 

of individual for whom the award 

is intended. They describe her as 

exemplary, passionate and professional. 

Terry Goodman, 

professor of 

mathematics 

education, 

called McKee 

an “enthusiastic 

and gifted 

teacher. 

Students 

consistently 

‘sing her 

praises,’” he 

said in his letter of support. “While 

her courses are demanding and push 

students to excel, she works hard to 

create a learning environment that is 

challenging, yet safe and supportive.” 

The award is named for William H. Byler, 

an inventor, author and teacher who 

graduated from UCM in 1927 with a 

major in chemistry and physics. 


Bits of the old — like the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair mirror, 

tiles from the 1939 swimming pool, even the original 

gymnasium hardwood floors — combined with state-ofthe-art 

green technology and fitness equipment that rivals 

an NFL team make us proud to show off the campus’ first 

LEED-certified building. Plus it’s available for alumni to use. 

The new Student Recreation and Wellness 

Center is open, completing a $36-million 

project that included renovation of both 

Morrow and Garrison gymnasiums. It is 

the largest construction project on campus 

since Kirkpatrick Library was built in 2000. 


Covering 69,000 square feet, the center 

houses six basketball/volleyball courts, 

three fitness rooms, three cardio-fitness 

areas, indoor walking track, weight room, 

climbing tower, bouldering area, conference 

room and an Einstein Brothers Bagels. 

It’s the university’s first LEED-certified 

building, earning a gold rating for its 

environmentally friendly design. Features 

include automatic sinks and hand driers, 

recycled carpet, energy-efficient light bulbs 

and motion sensor lighting.

There are elements of the original Morrow 

and Garrison buildings that make the 

center historically unique, such as the 

gyms’ hardwood floors in the ceiling and 

the swimming pool tiles that surround the 

Einstein eating area. 

The original swimming pool sits 

underneath Einstein’s. It’s being used to 

collect rain water to irrigate the grounds. 

Garrison’s original stone walls are again 

exposed. The old wrestling room was 

converted into the athletic training area. 

Also impressive is the 36-foot-tall climbing 

wall. The university hired a professional 

climber to set routes on the climbing and 

bouldering wall. Each path is marked by 

different colors of tape to indicate the 

degrees of difficulty. 


central yesterday 


Remember the dolphins 

and their 1939 debut 

Green-tiled swimming depths stretch 

across the front entry to Einstein 

Brothers Bagels and continue around 

the restaurant, symbolizing much 

more than a retro recycle from one 

of the campus’ oldest buildings. When 

Central Missouri students finally got a 

swimming pool in 1939, it was big news. 

The day was Dec. 13, 1939, when the university 

celebrated the dedication of the Walter E. 

Morrow Physical Education and Health 

Building. At that point, the campus had 15 

buildings and 1,631 students. Its largest annual 

enrollment had been the previous year at 2,590. 

There were 96 faculty members, and so far, 

100,000 students had attended with some 20,000 

earning certificates or diplomas. 

Students had waited quite awhile to get a pool. 

It didn’t happen when Dockery Gymnasium 

was constructed in 1904. It happened in 1939, 

thanks to the Works Projects Administration. 

The Depression era, New-Deal program 

provided $90,000 toward the $270,000 used to 

build the 36,000-square-foot facility. It featured 

two gymnasiums, one for men and another 

for women; a basketball arena with seating for 

2,000 spectators; a health center; locker rooms; 

showers, classrooms and special purpose rooms; 

offices, laundry and other special facilities. Its 

Gothic design was considered modern. 

The swimming pool held center stage in the 

new building and became home for a new 

athletics and entertainment tradition, men’s 

and women’s swim teams. Reading about 

the Dolphins swim team and its high school 

companion, the Dolphinettes, and seeing their 

old photos bring back some colorful moments. 

Call it a carnival or circus, for the building’s 

dedication, the teams presented their first 

public show March 28, 1940 — 16 water skits 

for the 250 people lucky enough to get tickets, 

since seating in the balcony above the pool was 

limited. Think what the evening was like by 

the titles of some of the acts alone: Fish Antics, 

Snake Charmer, Water Pyramids, Trained Seals. 

The Student reported, “The girls have obtained 

new suits of velvet, lastex, scarlet in color, with 

a black dolphin on the front. A red ‘W’ is on the 

dolphin which has a red eye.” 

The teams continued to perform and compete 

until around 1980, garnering collective and 

individual titles at conference, state and national 

levels. Other than swim records of wins and 

losses, history, though, is somewhat sketchy 

about the teams and how they ended, but in the 

new recreation center, their legacy lives on.

the big bear hunt 

Alumnus Unearths Ancient Biggest, Baddest Bear 

By Dalene Abner ’09 

Most people try to avoid bears, especially big ones with bad 

attitudes, but not Blaine Schubert. It’s his lifetime work. It 

helps that the bears he tracks are not alive but millions of 

years old. The paleontologist’s discovery of the largest known 

bear species made the Journal of Paleontology and some of 

the nation’s most renowned media, including National 





Geographic, Discovery, CBS and others. 

“During its time, this bear was the largest 

and most powerful meat-eater in the 

world,” Schubert notes. “It’s always 

extremely exciting to find something that’s 

the largest of its class and not just a little bit 

larger, but quite a bit larger.” 

Schubert, a 1994 Central Missouri 

alumnus, is a professor at East Tennessee 

State University, director of its Center of 

Excellence in Paleontology and curator 

of its Natural History Museum. He 

has published more than 20 articles on 

paleontology and has appeared multiple 

times on national television to talk about 

short-faced prehistoric bears, his specialty. 

For more than 14 years, Schubert and 

Leopoldo Soibelzon, a researcher in 

Argentina, have studied fossil collections 

for prehistoric South American, North 

American and European mammals. 

Schubert is only one of a handful of 

people who specialize in bear fossils in 

North America; Soibelzon is the only such 

specialist in South America. 

They recently analyzed the fossil remains 

of a bear unearthed during a hospital 

construction project in 1935 at La Plata City 

in the Buenos Aires Province and donated 

to the La Plata Museum. They describe the 

remains of this gigantic extinct creature 

called Artotherium angustidens in the 

January issue of the Journal of Paleontology. 

The bear stood at least 11 feet tall on its 

hind legs and weighed about 3,500 pounds. 

“It just blew my mind how big it was,” 

Schubert says, adding that as meat-eaters 

go, “nothing else even comes close.” He 

explains that, in comparison, “the largest 

record for a living bear is a male polar bear 

that weighed about 2,200 pounds.” 

The scientists calculated the giant bear’s 

size using bone measurements along with 

equations for estimating body mass. Most 

telling was its elephant-size humerus or 

upper arm bone, which had once been 

injured and infected. “This would have 

been a very large bear that probably had a 

bad attitude,” Schubert says. 

The researchers aren’t certain what caused 

the bear’s physical damage, but speculated 

it could have been from male-to-male 

fighting, from hunting giant ground sloths 

or other megafauna, or from getting into 

disputes with other carnivores, such as a 

saber-toothed cat, over food. 

“We think that these bears were 

omnivores, which means that they ate 

both plants and animals, but they probably 

ate a lot of meat,” Schubert says. “Based on 

their size, they were probably dominating 

carcasses and scaring other animals away 

from carcasses, even if they weren’t doing a 

lot of their own hunting.” 

He says that scientists don’t really know 

why South American bears became so 

large, but some attribute it to both a glut in 

prey and a lack of competition. The bears 

prospered after their ancestors traveled 

over the land bridge that developed 

between North and South America about 

2.6 million years ago. Even the sabertoothed 

cat was much smaller than the 

giant South American short-faced bear. 

Over time more carnivores appeared on 

the South American landscape, and the 

giant bears became extinct. Other related 

large bears lived on though; some survived 

up until the end of the last Ice Age. 

The closest living relative of the extinct 

short-faced bears is the South American 

spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), a 

relatively small species. 

The giant bear isn’t Schubert’s only recent 

discovery. He is part of an ETSU team 

that confirmed a venomous lizard called 

Heloderma, today found only in the hot 

deserts of Arizona and the tropical forests 

of western Mexico, roamed North America 

some five to seven million years ago from 

Working as a paleontologist has been all that Blaine Schubert 

hoped it would be. His work has taken him around the world, 

from his first excavation of a buffalo skull in Warrensburg in 

1993 to a trip for his Ph.D. dissertation that took him to some 

of the most important sites of human ancestry in Africa.

The bear stood at least 11 feet tall on its hind legs and weighed 

about 3,500 pounds. “It just blew my mind how big it was.” 

Florida to Tennessee. Their findings are 

discussed in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, a 

leading paleontology journal. 

Finding the remains of such extinct 

monster lizards and bears continues to 

affirm what Schubert realized almost 20 

years ago when he was a student at UCM 

— that digging around in the dirt could 

become an exciting career. 

Schubert and his two brothers grew up 

between Lowry City and Osceola, MO, 

on a farm owned since the mid-1800s by 

his mother’s family. “The country living 

provided the perfect environment for my 

brothers and me to explore nature,” he 

says. Both of his brothers became scientists, 

and when Schubert came to Central 

Missouri in 1989, he wanted to do the same. 

“At first I was undecided. I originally was 

leaning toward biology, but I took Dr. 

[John] Sheets’ class, and I became hooked 

on the fossil record instead.” 

Schubert attributes his career success to 

Sheets, professor emeritus of anthropology 

and history, and three other faculty 

members: John Emerson and John Nold, 

both in earth science, and Oz Hawksley, a 

retired biology professor. 

“They all served as my mentors and to this 

day, they are the best teachers I had ever 

had — and that’s after 11 years of college 

courses,” he says. “In fact, when I teach, I 

emulate their methods.” 

He says that Sheets and Emerson helped 

him discover his true interests. “They 

continually encouraged my research and 

helped set me on the path to graduate 

school.” Sheets introduced Schubert to 

Hawksley, who took him on a dig in an 

Ozark cave. “I first realized in Dr. Sheet’s 

and Dr. Emerson’s classes that you could 

do paleontology as an actual job,” says 

Schubert. “Before that, it was just sort of a 

hobby. Then Dr. Hawksley took me under 

his wing, and I developed a passion for 

bears and cave paleontology.” 

After he graduated from UCM in 1994, 

Schubert went to Northern Arizona to 

pursue a master’s degree. Next he went to 

the Illinois State Museum for three years, 

worked on fossil from Ozark caves, and 

completed a book titled Ice Age Cave Faunas 

in North America. He then pursued a Ph.D at 

the University of Arkansas on vertebrate 

paleoecology. He began working at East 

Tennessee State in 2004 and two years later, 

joined the faculty. 

Working as a paleontologist has been all 

that Schubert hoped it would be. “I love 

teaching and going on digs,” he says. His 

work has taken him around the world, 

from his first excavation of a buffalo skull 

in Warrensburg in 1993 to a trip for his 

Ph.D. dissertation that took him to some 

of the most important sites of human 

ancestry in Africa. 

He’s written articles published in academic 

journals such as Proceedings of the National 

Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Zoology. 

He’s also appeared on two of The History 

Channel’s most popular shows, “Monster 

Quest” and “Jurassic Fight Club,” because 

of his expertise. 

“I get to travel a lot,” he says. “Last year 

I went to England to talk about the bear 

specimens that I’ve researched, and before 

that, I went to Argentina to investigate a 

wide variety of fossil bears. The traveling is 

definitely one of the best parts of the job.” 

As much as he likes the exploration and 

teaching part, he also has responsibility for 

getting external funding and supervising 

a university department. While Schubert 

loves digs and traveling, he also is content 

writing articles. 

“I really do love what I do,” he says. 

“Teaching students is one of the most 

fulfilling parts.” The challenges of being a 

paleontologist are balanced by the rewards. 

With his colleague Steven Wallace, 

Schubert recently received a $320,000 

grant to excavate and study fossils at the 

Gray Fossil Site, a massive fossil site in the 

Appalachians of eastern Tennessee. 

“This site is one of the most remarkable 

fossil collections in the world,” he says. “It 

represents one of the only Miocene and 

early Pliocene forested ecosystems in the 

Americas and preserves a multitude of 

species and biological communities new to 

science. It’s a massive site with less than one 

percent sampled.” 

Schubert says his job comes close to being 

perfect. “I just want to keep doing what I 

am doing,” he says. “This is what I love to 

do.” He adds that Central Missouri helped 

him on his way to his career and passion. 

“The university was great, my teachers 

were great, and they helped me pick this as 

something that I would love to do.” 

reaD it. 

rate it. 





philanthropy 


a New Clubhouse for Pertle 

As Central Missouri’s golf team earned its way to 

a second consecutive national NCAA tournament, 

the university started construction of a new 

clubhouse for their home course at Pertle Springs, 

thanks to a $1.5 million gift from philanthropist, 

Audrey Walton. 

“We’re very grateful to Mrs. Walton for making this 

new facility possible,” says UCM President Charles 

Ambrose during a groundbreaking March 30. “Our 

golf course has undergone many renovations 

since 2008, and we’re excited about what a new 

clubhouse can mean for this outstanding facility. 

We expect it to become a focal point for Pertle 

Springs and a hub for golfing events and many 

other activities not necessarily related to the sport.” 

Construction of the 5,000-square-foot clubhouse 

began in April. It will feature men’s and women’s 

locker rooms, a banquet room that can seat up 

to 150 people, professional kitchen facilities, a pro 

shop, staff offices and a patio that overlooks the 

18th green and that can seat about 60 people. 

“The clubhouse will meet many university needs, 

but we also look forward to finding new ways to 

share it with the community,” says Athletic Director 

Jerry Hughes. He adds that the facility will become 

a great venue for such special events as weddings, 

family reunions and fundraisers. 

PaRtICIPatING IN thE GROuNdbREaKING wERE 

PRESIdENt ChaRLES aMbROSE; PhILaNthROPISt audREy 

waLtON, hER dauGhtER, aNN KROENKE aNd GRaNdSON, 

JOSh KROENKE; aNd athLEtIC dIRECtOR JERRy huGhES. 

The UCM golf team attended the ceremony and 

helped Walton officially break the ground where 

the facility will stand. Afterward Ambrose and 

Hughes presented Walton with a shadow box, 

which held a UCM golf ball and artist renderings 

of the clubhouse, in recognition of her generosity. 

Walton is one of UCM’s largest individual donors. 

She contributed funds to help build the football 

stadium that bears her name and annually gives 

major items, such as her suite at the St. Louis Rams 

stadium, to the UCM Athletic Auction. 

Keth Memorial Golf Course has held a unique 

place in UCM history since it opened in 1964. Earl 

Keth, the first UCM basketball player to make All- 

American, was its original architect. After serving 

as head basketball coach from 1946 through 1961, 

he coached the golf team until he died in 1972. 

Since its start as a nine-hole sand course, the 

facility has been continually improved. It was 

expanded to 18 holes and coverted to grass greens 

in 1972, the same year that the university also 

named the course in honor of Keth. Improvements 

since then have included cart paths, an automatic 

irrigation system and even its designation as an 

Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary preserving the 

ecology of its wildlife setting. 

In 2008, the university opened a new 300+ yard 

driving range with multiple tees and target greens, 

an all-weather turf tee, a four-bay indoor hitting 

facility and two short game practice areas.

PRINCIPaL tRuMPEt ChaIR 

thaNKS PadGEt 

fOR SChOLaRShIP 

Alex Caselman loves to play the trumpet. 

He’s been interested in music his entire 

life but something happened as a high 

school junior. He realized music could be 

a career. 

“I always knew that Central Missouri was 

a fantastic educational school, and the 

music department was attractive,” he 

says. His family also had strong UCM ties. 

Both his parents 

have music 

degrees from 

UCM, and his 

brother, Adam, 

is currently a 

photography 

major. 

For Caselman, 

the choice to 

attend UCM 

happened as 

a high school senior when he heard 

performances by the Marching Band and 

the Wind Ensemble. “I decided then that 

I wanted to be part of that,” he adds. 

He’s now a senior music education major 

and for two years, has been principal 

trumpet chair for the Wind Ensemble. As 

such, he receives the Douglas E. Padget 

Principal Trumpet Chair Scholarship. 

“This scholarship has made many things 

possible for me,” he says. “For starters, 

I was able to purchase numerous 

recordings of famous trumpeters and 

buy sheet music to add to my music 

library. I was able to get things like 

valve oil, mutes and other items that 

are essential for trumpet players. The 

scholarship has made a tremendous 

impact on my education.” 

That was the intent of Padget when 

he established the scholarship in 1993 

when he graduated with a bachelor of 

music in education and signed his first 

teaching contract. He saw his gift as an 

opportunity to give back to help other 

deserving students. 

As a student, Padget participated in 

University Concert Band for five years, 

and he received scholarships, often to his 

surprise. He since has finished a master 

of arts in music and is teaching at a 

middle school in Blue Springs, married to 

another UCM music alum, Robin Rolf. 

Caselman is grateful for his UCM 

education. “My favorite experience to 

date has to be performing with the Wind 

Ensemble in New York last year at the 

world-famous Carnegie Hall. We were 

in New York five days. We had a very 

successful performance and received a 

standing ovation. It was amazing.” 

EStatE GIft ENhaNCES 

SChOLaRShIP hONORING SIStER 

A gift from the estate of Hazel Nance 

of Lakewood, WA, will increase a 

scholarship originally established by 

her husband, the late Lt. Col. E. James 

Nance, in honor of his sister, Corinna. 

The Corinna Harte Nance Memorial 

AT THE SpRING CAREER ExpO, BLACK AND VEATCH pRESENTED A $2,500 CHECK TO THE UCM SCHOOL OF 

TECHNOLOGY TO SUppORT ITS COMpUTER-AIDED DRAFTING AND DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 

AND ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY AREAS. WITH UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS ALICE GREIFE, DEAN; KYLE pALMER, 

pROFESSOR, AND JOHN SUTTON, SCHOOL CHAIR, ARE BLACK AND VEATCH EMpLOYEES, FROM RIGHT: 

MIKE WAGGONER, STEVE ROBINSON, TERRA GARDEN, TREY BUIST AND MELISSA ALLCORN. ALLCORN, 

BUIST AND WAGGONER ARE UCM GRADUATES. 

Scholarship helps students who graduate 

from Osceola High School or are from 

St. Clair County, MO. They must be a 

full-time student at UCM pursuing a 

degree in teacher education; have a 

minimum 3.0 grade point average; and 

show good character, leadership and 

service. 

When he established the scholarship 

in 1999, Nance praised his sister’s 

intelligence and her penmanship, which 

he described as “a thing of beauty.” 

She was a graduate of Osceola and 

was Nance’s first-grade teacher. While 

attending UCM in 1927, she became ill 

and died two years later at age 22. 

Nance attended UCM from 1938 through 

1940, when he volunteered for flight 

training in the Army Air Corps upon the 

outbreak of World War II. During his 

military career, he and Hazel lived in Iran, 

Germany and the Canary Islands. They 

built La Florida Tennis Club on the island 

of Tenerife and operated it for 17 years 

before returning to Tacoma, WA. They 

were married 44 years. He passed away 

in 2007; Hazel died in 2010. 

NEw SChOLaRShIP fOR OdESSa 

hIGh SChOOL GRaduatES 

Most people got to know Martha 

Johnson as a grade school teacher in the 

Odessa R-VII school district in Missouri. 

She taught for 33 years, primarily in the 

second and fourth grades. So respected 

were her abilities as a teacher that she 

was inducted into the Odessa R-VII 

Public Foundation Hall of Fame. 

Johnson received a bachelor’s degree 

in education from UCM in 1957, followed 

by a master’s in 1972. 

When she died in 2010, her family 

wanted to do something special to 

remember her so they created a 

scholarship they knew Johnson had 

talked about doing herself. 

The Martha L. Johnson Education 

Scholarship will help a graduating senior 

from Odessa High School planning to 

pursue a degree in teacher education 

at UCM. They must rank in the upper 

25 percent of their high school 

graduating class; be actively involved in 

school, church or community activities; 

and show financial need. 


Future Thinking Now 

By Mike Greife ’74 

Eugenia Crain established a 

scholarship through a charitable 

annuity with the UCM Foundation. 

Dale Carder, interim executive 

director, notes that annuities are 

a venue that friends and alumni 

should consider. “For people tired 

of getting a one percent return on 

their investments, a charitable gift 

annuity pays five percent or better 

guaranteed. And you help more 

students become UCM graduates,” 

he says. 

A charitable gift annuity works 

simply, starting with a minimum gift 

of $25,000. “Based on the ages of 

you and your spouse, a return rate is 

locked in for the remainder of both 

of your lives. You draw a guaranteed 

quarterly payment,” Carder 

says. “Upon death, you can have 

predetermined what the remainder 

of your annuity funds, such as an 

academic program or scholarship. 

Depending on your tax bracket, 

about 50% of your donation is tax 

deductible and in some cases, even 

the first two or three years of your 

quarterly payments are tax free.” 


Eugenia Crain’s career as an educator 

provided her with opportunities to meet 

interesting people who encouraged her 

to explore new challenges. Now retired, 

the professor emeritus of accounting has 

made those same opportunities available 

to new generations of University of 

Central Missouri students by establishing a 

charitable gift annuity that eventually will 

provide a $100,000 gift through the UCM 

Foundation for scholarships. 

A native of Sturgeon, MO, Crain graduated 

from Northeast Missouri State Teachers 

College in 1942. After working for the state 

family services agency, she began teaching 

high school business classes in 1946 in New 

Franklin, MO. She soon moved across the 

river to Boonville, where she and her first 

husband, the late Aven Roberts, taught 

at Kemper Military Academy. While 

teaching at Kemper, she obtained her 

master’s and specialist’s degrees from the 

University of Missouri. 

Following Roberts’ death in 1969, Crain 

taught briefly at Northeast Missouri State 

before accepting an opportunity to come 

to UCM as an accountant in the financial 

affairs office working with sponsored 

programs. She had remarried, and she 

and her husband, Stanley Crain, took 

advantage of the opportunity to move to 

Warrensburg in 1972. 

“Dr. Wyss was the vice president for 

financial affairs at the time, and I had 

known him when he lived Boonville,” 

Crain says. “I saw him one day when I 

was visiting in Boonville, and he asked me 

if I would consider coming to CMSU. It 

sounded like a wonderful opportunity. 

It seems so many of the wonderful 

experiences in my life have come from 

generous offers from people I know.” 

While serving as an accountant in 

financial affairs, she also taught a class in 

accounting. Wyss encouraged her to begin 

teaching accounting courses in the College 

of Business. That opportunity turned into 

a career preparing UCM students for the 

business world. 

Following Mr. Crain’s death in 2000, she 

retired in 2001, but not before making 

the decision to establish the Stanley 

and Eugenia R. Crain Scholarship for 

undergraduate students in accounting 

through the UCM Foundation. 

Crain is enjoying her retirement, where 

she remains active in the Columbia 

community. She recalls her years at 

UCM and in the Warrensburg community 

with fondness. 

“My years at UCM were filled with 

wonderful friendships on campus and 

in Warrensburg,” she says. “I wanted to 

enable future students to share the same 

benefits I received at UCM. Those benefits 

included the counsel of fellow teachers 

and administrators who worked hard to 

provide the leadership and service that 

produced the quality education enjoyed by 

UCM students.” 

She still finds time to interact with young 

people, maintaining her season tickets 

for the University of Missouri women’s 

basketball games. She stays in touch with 

friends in Warrensburg and still hears from 

former students. 

“Education is important,” she says. “It’s 

important to support the schools that 

educate the American public. The 

success of our democracy depends on 

an educated public.”

“Education is important. It’s important to support the 

schools that educate the American public. The success of 

our democracy depends on an educated public.” 


class notes 

1920-1929 

Martha Groner-Fennewald ’33 

turned 100 years old Aug. 24, 2010. 

She attended UCM from 1929-1933 

and received a Regents certificate, 

which gave her the required 

credentials to teach. Her 30-year 

teaching career began in one-room 

schoolhouses in Westphalia, Folk 

and St. Elizabeth. She remembers 

walking four miles one way to 

reach the schools, lighting the 

stoves and sweeping the floors. 

She had five children and when 

they were older, she taught at 

Immaculate Conception School in 

Jefferson City and St. Joseph School 

in Westphalia. After she retired 

from teaching, she sold insurance 

for 25 years, retiring at age 90. 

Her daughter, Joyce Fennewald- 

Springer, was her student for six 

out of eight years in grade school. 

1960 – 1969 

Paul Collier ’61 is retired as a high 

school principal in Ohio. He began 

teaching and coaching in 1961 at 

John Adams High School, then 

became head track and field coach, 

winning several invitationals and 

league championships. In 1973, 

he joined Heath High School as 

assistant principal and served as 

principal from 1961-1992. In 2003-05 

he served as interim principal for 

Utica High School. He has served 

38 years as a registered track and 

field official, volunteers as a Red 

Cross board member, is a lay 

delegate to the annual conference 

for his church, and is active in the 

Licking County Retired Teachers 

Organization where he served as 

president for two terms. He and his 

wife, Nancy, reside in Heath, OH. 

Larry Bossaller ’65 is a broker 

and sales executive for RE/MAX 

Boone Reality in Columbia. He 

won Opportunity and Persistence 

awards from RE/MAX and has been 

involved in more than $163 million 

of real estate sales. He is on the 

board of directors of the Columbia 

Kiwanis Club. 

Marilyn (Fajen) Stafford ’65 and 

husband, Robert, have sold their 

home in Sedona, AZ, and moved to 

Nixa, MO. 

Chris “Moon Dog” Dautreuil 

’69 is an investigator with the 


Louisiana Department of Justice 

Office of the Attorney General. He 

has served in military intelligence 

in Vietnam and as a special agent 

with Southern Pacific Railroad and 

Diamond Offshore. He and his wife, 

Linda, have one son, Christopher, 

who is attending the University of 

Louisiana in Lafayette. 

Bill Hays ’69 is raising Black Angus 

cattle after he retired from General 

Motors. His wife, Karlyn, is raising 

registered miniature horses. They 

reside in Tipton, MO. 

1970-1979 

Jerry Hogan ’71 read his story, 

“Ozark Beats,” originally published 

in the Dead Mule journal for the 

Tales from the South NPR radio 

program on KUAR-FM in Little 

Rock, AR. 

Daniel Huggins ’71 is a branch 

manager with the Scotts Company. 

He and his wife, Mary, have been 

Solving eating Disorders 

married 30 years and have three 

grown children. He has started 

flying again after 30 years. 

Toni Clark-Moulthrop ’73 and 

husband, Mike, have retired to 

Treasure Lake in west central 

Pennsylvania to golf, fish and boat. 

Craig Lowe ’74, ’75 has been 

appointed chief appellate review 

judge for the Washington 

Department of Social and Health 

Services Board of Appeals. 

John Zey ’75, ’76 completed his 

doctorate of education from the 

University of Missouri in Columbia 

in December. He and his wife, Alice 

Greife, who retired from the U.S. 

Public Health Service in 1996, have 

been with the University of Central 

Missouri since 1996. They have two 

daughters, Sarah and Kat. 

Larry Perry ’77 retired as captain 

after 30 years with the Shawnee 

Kansas Police Department last 

June. He served as patrol officer, 

detective, patrol sergeant, 

lieutenant, patrol commander 

and retired as investigations 

commander. He and his wife, 

Beverly, reside in Shawnee. 

Brig. Gen. Arnold N. Gordon- 

Bray ’78 has been named deputy 

director of operations for U.S. 

Africa Command. 

Alfred Lomax ’78 has been 

nominated by President Barack 

Obama as U.S. marshal for the 

western district of Missouri. Lomax 

began his law enforcement career 

with the Kansas City Missouri 

Police Department and after almost 

30 years, became chief of airport 

safety and security at Kansas City 

International Airport. 

1980-1989 

Richard Palmer ’80 is vice 

president of business development 

of Integrity Management 

one of the top national and international researchers in eating disorders traces 

her scholarly roots back to the University of Central missouri. dr. denise E. 

wilfley has the distinction of holding four appointments at the Washington 

University School of medicine in St. Louis – professor of psychiatry, medicine, 

pediatrics and psychology. She is also director of the university’s Weight 

management and eating Disorders Program. 

“She really is quite a renaissance woman,” says research assistant Brooke Genkin. 

Wilfley frequently speaks about eating disorders and obesity at national and 

international scholarly events. She also keeps busy on multiple research studies 

and has nailed down about $25 million in funding throughout her career. 

Wilfley graduated from UCm with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1982. 

She and her husband, robinson Welch, live in Clayton, mo, with their children, 

10-year-old Wil and four-year-old twins, emma and ella. 

not only has Wilfley led groundbreaking research into childhood obesity, 

treatments for anorexia nervosa and family therapy, she’s also a strong mentor to 

her junior researchers. “She’s an excellent role model, especially as she entered 

the field when there weren’t a lot of females doing this research,” Genkin says. 

“She’s the best mentor i’ve ever had.” 

Photo courtesy Robert Boston, Washington University in St. Louis

Consulting, a provider of full lifecycle 

acquisition, contracting and 

program management consulting 

services for federal sector 

customers in McLean, VA. 

Christopher Gentile ’81 is 

president of Honeywell Federal 

Manufacturing & Technologies, 

which manages and operates the 

Kansas City nuclear weapons parts 

plant for the federal government. 

He was previously vice president 

for national security programs 

at the Kansas City plant and vice 

president for the Honeywell 

operation at the Savannah River 

Nuclear Solutions facility in 

South Carolina. 

John Luetkemeyer ’81 was 

appointed director of state audits 

for Missouri. He has been with the 

state auditor’s office for 30 years. 

Mark Magers ’82 has written a 

book, Strategies of a Fantasy Baseball 

Champ, based on his experience 

participating in and winning 

fantasy baseball leagues since the 

1980s. In the past five years, he 

annually has won at least one 

fantasy league, and often he has 

won multiple leagues. 

John Healy ’83 retired from the 

Lenexa Fire Department after 27 

years of service and 30 years as a 

firefighter. 

Jerry Harmison, Jr. ’84 was 

recently elected chair of the 

board of the Springfield Missouri 

Chamber of Commerce. A former 

Mules wrestler, he is a lawyer in 

Springfield. 

Steve Gorman ’85, ’96 was 

featured in a solo exhibit 

at the Nerman Museum of 

Contemporary Art at Johnson 

County Community College. He 

retired from North Kansas City and 

Centerview school districts after 

teaching 25 years. He also studied 

at the Philadelphia University of 

the Arts. His works are included 

in the Waterloo Museum of Art 

in Waterloo, IA, and University 

Art Museum at Southern Illinois 

University in Carbondale. 

Tal Moore ’87 has been named 

chief performance improvement 

officer for the Ft. Defiance Indian 

Hospital at Navajo Nation and 

has been elected president of the 

National Native American Human 

Resources Association. Tal, his 

partner, Darin, and their son, Sean, 

reside in Placitas, NM and Palm 

Springs, CA. 

Jennifer (Deardorff) Malcolm ’88 

completed a teacher certification 

and master of education program. 

Her specialty is general special 

education-learning disabilities. 

Timothy Stewart ’88 has been 

promoted to warden at the 

Federal Correctional Institution 

in Morgantown, WV, after 22 years 

with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. 

1990-1999 

Joe Harlan ’93 has been appointed 

dean of physical education and 

athletic director at Rio Hondo 

College in Whittier, CA. He was 

previously athletic director at the 

University of Wisconsin-Stout. 

Michael McAfee ’93 has been 

named inaugural director of the 

Promise Neighborhoods Institute 

in Oakland, CA. He has spent more 

than 20 years in the government, 

philanthropic and humanservice 

sectors, collaborating 

with government, civic, business, 

nonprofit and faith leaders to 

connect families and children to 

economic and social opportunities. 

Prior to PNI, McAfee was senior 

community planning and 

development representative in the 

Chicago regional office of the U.S. 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development. 

Justin Page ’94 was promoted to 

assistant warden at the Boonville 

Correctional Center for the State 

of Missouri. 

Aaron Barth ’97 has moved to 

Ft. Leavenworth, KS, for a yearlong 

military school after being 

redeployed from Iraq this winter. It 

was his third deployment with the 

U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division. 

Kelly Melies ’98, ’02 works for 

the Department of Health at the 

Marshall Habilitation Center in 

Marshall, MO. She is taking online 

classes at Full Sail University 

pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in 

Creative Writing. 

tackling 

Solutions 

to nuclear 

threats 

how do you become a respected scientist in the field of 

nuclear threat reduction? You heed your professor’s advice to 

apply for a summer internship. 

that’s what doug berning attributes as the start of his career 

at Los alamos national Laboratory in new mexico. he credits 

John hess, retired professor of biology, for encouraging him 

to apply for the internship at the University of missouri in 

radiopharmaceuticals, which, in turn, led to his pursuit of a 

graduate degree in chemistry. 

“radiopharmaceutical chemistry turned out to be good for me 

because it allowed me to use what i had learned from both my 

undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry,” he says. 

the 1991 graduate says his experiences had more hands-on 

opportunities than most universities offer. “UCm provided a 

very solid knowledge basis for my education. Because of the 

low teacher-to-student ratio, the professors can challenge 

their students in ways logistically impossible at large 

universities.” 

Berning explains that he works on a variety of threatreduction 

and threat-assessment projects, including chemical, 

radiological and explosives. 

“i am proud to work with people and at an institution that has 

such a rich history and impact on national and international 

decisions,” he says. “from a personal standpoint, i am proud 

and feel privileged to have worked in a wide range of fields 

including biomedical, renewable energy, environmental 

remediation, forensics, emergency response, and global 

security. i believe my ability to quickly adapt to each of these 

areas is a strong testament to the broad education that i 

received at both UCm and UmC.” 

— By Matt Bird-Meyer ’97 

wE waNt yOuR 

Have you moved? Been married? Changed jobs? Retired? 

Gotten a new email? Received an award? We want your news! 

Go online to www.ucmo.edu/alumni 

Email us at alumni@ucmo.edu 

Write us at UCM Alumni Association, 

University of Central Missouri, 

Smiser Alumni Center, 

Warrensburg, MO 64093 


2000-2010 

Andy Ball ’02, ’04 has joined 

the athletic staff at Truman State 

University as defensive line coach 

and co-recruiting coordinator. He 

spent three seasons at Culver- 

Stockton College in Canton, MO. 

He also was at Missouri University 

of Science and Technology, where 

he was in charge of the offensive 

line, strength and conditioning, 

special teams and recruiting. 

Stephanie (Benedict) Coulter 

’03 received a master of art from 

the University of Missouri-Kansas 

City. She is working as a freelance 

photographer and as an adjunct 

You Probably Wear their Stuff 


instructor for the Art Institutes 

International Kansas City. 

Erin vanVoorst ’04 married Nick 

Purifoy in June 2010. They reside in 

Lawrence, KS. 

Laura Faust ’05 is assisting with 

sales and marketing for Pyro 

Novelties, Inc. in Lenexa, KS. She 

will be attending trade shows, 

developing product and editing 

artwork. Pyro Novelties is a 

family-owned business that creates 

customized products. 

David Cook ’06 is releasing a 

second album this year with some 

songs available March 3. The 2008 

American Idol winner recorded 

Simple Minds’ 1985 hit, Don’t You 

Forget About Me, which aired this 

season during the elimination 

segments. 

Sam Flower fs ’06 graduated from 

Moberly Area Community College 

with an associate of arts degree 

and is now a history major at the 

University of Missouri-Columbia. 

Kelly Hemmingsen ’06 is 

marketing manager for the 

National World War I Museum 

at Liberty Memorial in Kansas 

City. Kelly will help the museum 

create and implement a strategic 

Check the label on apparel at college bookstores throughout the country, and 

more than likely, you will see the name, Gear. in addition to universities, their 

clients include major sports leagues, military bases, golf courses and resorts. 

Behind that label, and the apparel designs, are several Central missouri alumni. 

three UCm graduates are managers in the art production and support 

departments at this custom-decorated sportswear company based in Lenexa, 

KS. Stu Lantz ’91 is the screen print art support manager. he was recruited to the 

company by his co-worker of 19 years, Pete Leodler, a 1986 art graduate, who 

manages the screen print graphic artists in Gear’s art production department. 

John foulke graduated in 1992 from UCm with a degree in graphic arts 

technology management. he is a manager in the embroidery design department. 

the company prints and embroiders its designs on Gear for Sports apparel 

as well as garments with the Champion and Under armour labels. Leodler says 

the company ships 60,000 to 100,000 garments each day. their design teams 

produce a raft of custom art designs, churning out 88,000 designs last year. 

“our biggest thing here is the culture and the environment,” Leodler says. “the 

people are the best. We hire the most qualified.” 

the Gear design studio has 65 artists, and 12 claim UCm as their alma mater. 

Lantz credits the university’s art faculty for preparing students for a profession 

in commercial art. “one of the things they continually emphasize today is to 

ensure the student’s portfolio is ready and just to make sure you’re ready for that 

interview when it comes,” Lantz says. 

he adds, “artists are perfectionists, and we want to make sure that portfolio is 

perfect front to back, not just the stuff inside but the presentation as well.” 

— By Matt Bird-Meyer ‘97 

marketing and communications 

plan, including public relations, 

advertising, promotions 

publications, digital media, 

photography and outreach. 

Patrick Nurse ’06 received his 

master of business administration 

degree from Mississippi State 

University and works as a project 

manager for the Nucor Corp. He 

resides in Starkville, MS. 

Bryson LeBlanc ’06, ’09 has been 

named an assistant coach with 

the University of Oregon Ducks 

baseball program. He coaches 

first base and works with the 

outfielders. He has been with the 

Ducks for three years and was 

previously camp coordinator. 

Luke Oyster ’06, ’08 is a tax 

associate for the firm of Eide Bailly 

LLP, one of the top 25 certified 

public accounting firms in the 

nation. He is working from its 

offices in Norman, OK. 

Alicia Givens ’08, ’10 is a staff 

probation officer for the city and 

county of Denver. 

Brett Cavanah ’09 is playing 

arena league football with the 

Nebraska Danger. The four-year 

letterman for the Mules will play 

offensive guard. The Danger, based 

in Grand Island, NE, is one of 22 

teams in the IFL, created in 2009 

through a merger of the Intense 

Football League and United Indoor 

Football League. The team began 

its schedule in March and will play 

throughout the U.S. 

April Hayes ’09 is working for 

The Steritech Group, the largest 

hospitality brand protection service 

provider in the U.S. She received 

her certified professional in food 

safety credential in November. 

Laylan Hecker ’09 is volunteer 

and outreach events coordinator at 

West Central Independent Living 

Solutions in Warrensburg. 

2010 – 2019 

Scott Roddy ’10 is in his 30th year 

in education, teaching in Ohio. He 

is a certified firefighter, nationally 

certified in para-medicine and 

tactical medic, and a certified 

medical death investigator with the 

coroner’s office.

Kathy humphrey believes 

she can improve the world 

— one student at a time. as the vice provost and dean 

of students for one of the nation’s largest universities, 

she acts on that philosophy every day. 

“i am a leader who believes that everything can be 

made better,” she says. “making the world better by 

positively impacting the lives of students is my life’s 

mission.” She does that at the University of Pittsburgh, 

more commonly known as Pitt, with 27,000 students at 

its main campus and another 32,000 at four regional 

locations. 

the 1984 Central missouri graduate got her career start 

as a resident assistant in houts-hosey hall. “i always 

loved working with young people,” she says. “i feel like 

my life’s mission is to make a difference in their lives. 

higher education is a launch pad for young people to 

be what they want to become.” 

humphrey returned to UCm to become associate 

director of university housing from 1991 to 1994. She 

continued to advance her career at St. Louis University 

as director of residence life, associate vice provost 

for student development and then vice president for 

student development before arriving at the University 

of Pittsburgh in 2005. 

there, she developed outside classroom curriculum 

to provide a well-rounded education for students. the 

curriculum has students preparing for their careers 

early through building resumes, visiting job fairs, 

earning credit for leadership positions and public 

speaking experiences. 

— By Matt Bird-Meyer ‘97 

Dick Schromm ’57 received 

Sacramento’s Lasalle Club Coaches 

Hall of Fame award. He was 

honored for his 20+ years of major 

college basketball officiating and 

for serving 12 years as Northern 

California Commissioner of 

Officials, assigning officials for 

all sports for more than 100 high 

schools. He is president of the 

59,000 

Students, 

her Daily 

mission 

Sacramento Valley Chapter of the 

National Football Foundation and 

Hall of Fame. 

Morris Collins ’69 has been 

named a 2011 Icon of Education 

by Ingram’s magazine. The Kansas 

City business publication chose 

nine people for the annual award 

based on their contributions to 

the success of their grade schools 

or universities. Collins, a retired 

K-12 educator, was the first black 

teacher in the Warrensburg school 

district as well as the district’s first 

black school board president. He 

currently is an adjunct professor 

for the UCM Department of Art, 

which is chaired by one of his 

former students, Mick Luehrman. 

He notes that five of the eight art 

instructors in the Warrensburg 

district were his student teachers or 

he was their university supervisor. 

Jane (Luehrman) Hillhouse 

’77 is owner and president of 

Hillhouse Graphic Design in 

Kingsport, TN. The firm won five 

local Addy Awards at the 2011 

annual celebration of the Northeast 

Tennessee Chapter of the America 

Advertising Federation. They 

received best of show overall for 

a campaign produced for the 

Silent Heroes Foundation, which 

raises funds to help veterinarians, 

rangers and conservationists to 

protect animals in Africa as well 

as a gold for the campaign and 

a silver for its stationery. They 

also won silver awards for author 

Barbara Kingsolver’s web site and 

for Eastman Corporation’s history 

and vision wall mural. Hill, a 

1973 graduate of University High, 

started Hillhouse Graphic Design 

in 1984. 

Steven Larson ’80, ’02 is teaching 

and coaching at Warsaw High 

School. His Warsaw Lady Wildcats 

won the 2010-2011 Class 2 State 

Championship in softball, finishing 

the season 25-4 with a 4-0 win 

over Palmyra in the championship 

game. 

Meryl Lin McKean ’80 received 

the Achoth Award at the 2010 

National Delta Zeta Convention 

in recognition of service to the 

Epsilon Gamma chapter. She 

also won a Mid-America Emmy 

for health science news. She is 

the health and medical reporter 

for Kansas City’s Fox 4 News and 

produces the nightly segment, 

“Fox 4 Health.” 

Kenneth Ervin ’88 received 

second and third places in the Iowa 

Newspaper Association Better 

Newspaper contest in the Breaking 

News Photo category for weeklies 

under 1,399. His winning entries 

were for his coverage of the floods 

in 2010 and a picture of a fivevehicle 

accident that closed I-35. 

He also received second place in 

the best agricultural advertisement 

for an ad thanking Ag Partners for 

helping DFS after a fire at its feed 

mill. Ervin is editor of the South 

Hamilton Record-News in Jewell, IA. 

Thomas Turner ’90 has been 

promoted to executive director 

for American Bonanza Society Air 

Safety Foundation, which publishes 

Flying Lessons Weekly, a free aviation 

safety eNewsletter. He was honored 

in 2010 as National FAA Safety 

Representative of the Year. In 2008, 

he was named FAA Central Region 

Flight Instructor of the Year. 

Amanda Duffy ’99 was awarded 

the UCM theatre department’s Ed 

See Outstanding Alumnus Award. 

She completed the professional 

internship program in the wig 

program at The Julliard School 

and a master of fine arts degree 

from Case Western Reserve 

University’s Cleveland Play House 

after completing her degree in 

design technology from UCM. She 

has done professional wig work 

on Broadway and has worked 

regionally and in New York as an 

actress in professional productions. 

Jesse Zeugin ’06 won his first 

headlining mixed martial arts 

event. He defeated Chris McDaniel 

for the 155-pound pro title belt 

Feb. 5 at the XCF 14 Super Brawl 

in Springfield, MO. This was 

McDaniel’s 28th career fight and 

Zeugin’s sixth. Zeugin teaches 

and coaches at Logan-Rogersville 

Middle School in Rogersville, MO. 

Eric Czerniewski ’10, former 

Mules quarterback from 

Montgomery City, MO, was 

honored at the state capitol in 

Jefferson City by the Missouri 

House of Representatives and 

Senate with a proclamation, 

recognizing his achievement 

as the 2010 Harlon Hill winner. 

Czerniewski was the first Missouri 

native to win this award. 

University of Central Missouri | today 27 

awards & honors

in memoriam 

1910-1919 

Mary E. Letz ’12 

1930-1939 

Edith B. Lehman ’37 

1940-1949 

Walter A. LePage ’40 

Grace Ferrier ’43 

1950-1959 

Mozelle M. Booth ’50 

Patricia R. Briggs ’51 

Ralph C. Theiss ’52 

Virginia Atwell ’54, ’63 

Elizabeth Mae Irle ’54, 

College High ’57 

1960-1969 

Calvin D. Delozier ’60 

Juanita M. Wood ’60 

Raymond Grossmann 

Raymond Grossmann, 80, a 1952 

Central Missouri alumnus who 

organized a construction labormanagement 

group that became a 

national model, died Jan. 9, 2011. 

For nearly four decades, he headed 

his family-owned Grossmann 

Contracting. It was one of the 

first sheet metal companies in 

St. Louis to automate, and the 

business grew. Customers included 

Famous-Barr, Dillard’s, General 

Motors, Chrysler and the St. Louis 

Post-Dispatch. 

In 1986, a larger contractor, 

Murphy Company bought out 

the firm. Grossmann worked for 

Murphy until he retired in the 

mid-1990s. After retiring, he was 

active in the Lake St. Louis Sailing 

Club, where he twice served as 

commodore. He was co-chair of 

the Peruque Creek Watershed 

Alliance. 

He is most known for starting 

Pride of St. Louis Inc., the 

nation’s first and oldest voluntary 

construction labor-management 

organization. In 1972, he also 

was chair of the local Council of 

Construction Employers. 

thomas hollyman 

Thomas Benton Hollyman, 

89, a nationally published 

photojournalist who was honored 

in 1988 as UCM Distinguished 

Alumnus, died Nov. 14, 2009. 


Marshall E. Smithpeters ’61 

Dora May Craven ’63 

Lois R. Spurgun ’63, ’88 

Verle E. Cornish ’64 

Eugene W. Pike ’65 

Jack A. Roberts ’65 

Rodney P. Dierking ’66 

Linda A. Lewis ’66, ’77 

Christina M. Porter ’66 

Hazel V. Tickemyer ’68 

Leon E. Eppright ’69 

Lanny K. Grosland ’69 

Leon Morris ’69 

1970-1979 

Paul L. Erickson Jr. ’70 

James A. Hardinger ’70 

William C. Hunt ’70 

Christine E. Keefer ’71 

Jack Milton Moore ’71 

John M. Sandy ’72 

He was a 1940 Central Missouri 

graduate who got his start as a 

photojournalist at the The Daily-Star 

Journal in Warrensburg. 

Serving in the Air Force during 

World War II, he helped to establish 

a photography intelligence 

program. He was the official 

photographer at the funeral 

service of President Franklin 

Roosevelt. While a student, one of 

his pictures was published by Life 

magazine. Hollyman later worked 

for The Kansas City Star, St. Louis 

Post-Dispatch and Acme Newspapers, 

the forerunner of the wire service 

photography division of the 

Associated Press, in Chicago. 

For many years, he specialized 

in travel photography, shooting 

for Holiday and Town and Country 

magazines. In the 1960s, he 

moved into television, producing 

educational films, a travel 

documentary and commercials. 

In 1963, British director Peter 

Brook tapped him as director 

of photography for the movie 

adaptation of Lord of the Flies. 

Before retiring, he had produced 

documentaries, short films, photo 

essays, educational television 

series, and a commemorative 

book. He served as president of 

the American Society of Magazine 

Photographers (now the American 

Society of Media Photographers) 

from 1969 to 1971. He was a favorite 

visitor to campus, especially with 

Deborah E. Brewer ’73 

Judith A. Collins ’73 

Linda A. Good ’74 

Stuart E. Gressley ’74 

Joe K. McNay Jr. ’74 

Gary L. Paul ’74 

Gary L. Havrum ’78 

Virgil V. Underwood ’78 

1980-1989 

Robert K. Dempski ’81 

Peggy A. Leibrand ’81 

Marilyn S. Skipper ’83 

Matthew P. Wilson ’83 

William L. Chambers ’84 

1990-1999 

Nyong George Ibok ’90, ’92 

Rose A. Crawford ’91, ’98 

Steven R. Wallen ’92 

2000-2009 

Rosina L. Hicks ’04 

2010-2019 

Lindsey Marie Morris ’10 

College high 

Ethel Hile ’30 

former Students 

Maxine W. Henty 

Samuel B. Merryman Jr. 

friends 

Marvin L. Case 

Bob Coffman 

Vernon D. Croy 

Dale Emery Ek 

Carl E. Elliott 

Jim Foster 

Central Missouri photography 

students. A frequent lecturer, he 

inspired students to see beyond the 

fundamentals. 

With gifts to the UCM Foundation, 

he also maintained a fund, named 

for his favorite food of popcorn, 

to help students pay for photo 

supplies. He was an emeriti 

member of the UCM Foundation 

Board of Directors. In 2001, he 

received an honorary degree from 

the Board of Governors. 

avis tucker 

Avis Green Tucker, 95, former 

owner and publisher of 

The Daily-Star Journal in Warrensburg, 

a philanthropist and pioneer for 

women in the newspaper business, 

died Dec. 17, 2010. 

She was a University of Missouri 

graduate but a tremendous 

friend also to the University of 

Central Missouri. She and her 

late husband, William, both 

loved the newspaper business and 

enjoyed life on their farm near 

Centerview, MO. She succeeded 

her husband in 1966 as publisher 

of the Warrensburg newspaper and 

became involved with the Missouri 

Press Association, Missouri 

Associated Dailies and the National 

Press Association. 

She served not only as one of the 

state’s rare female publishers but in 

other leadership roles. 

Frank F. Haston 

Josephine Henry 

Albert Kreisel 

Merrill Leutung 

John C. Lippincott 

Billie McReynolds 

Donald L. Quibell 

Floyd E. Smith 

Donald R. Stewart 

Herbert R. Stockton 

Julian F. Upton 

James M. Weyer 

Leroy H. Woerner 

Gervase A. Wolf 

She became the first female 

president of Missouri Associated 

Dailies in 1973 and received the 

Missouri School of Journalism’s 

Honor Medal in 1976. 

In 1982, she served as the Missouri 

Press Association’s first female 

president and received the National 

Newspaper Association’s McKinney 

Award, given to a woman who 

“exhibited distinguished service to 

the community press.” 

She became the first woman 

inducted into the Missouri 

Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1992. 

She also was the first woman 

president of the University of 

Missouri Board of Curators. She 

was chair emerita of the Missouri 

Press Association’s Foundation 

Board, which she helped to 

establish and fund. 

She served as chair of UtiliCorp 

United and was a member of the 

board of United Telecom, as well as 

the nonprofit board of Children’s 

Mercy Hospital and a trustee of the 

University of Missouri-Kansas City. 

She was appointed to serve 

on the first Missouri Gaming 

Commission and was active in the 

State Historical Society. In her 

selection to be honored among 

Show Me Missouri Women, it was 

noted that she enriched people and 

community with her character, 

scholarship and presence.

our serve 

“Shuttlecocks have become an iconic representation of our community. 

That connection inspires us. We seek to create a similar bond with you 

by serving as an important cultural resource.” –The KTBG Staff 

your match 

Support our mission at the $100 level and you’ll receive 90.9 the Bridge 

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from exceptional artists. it’s a unique opportunity to be rewarded with 

music donated by artists and songwriters who share your values. Become a 

member with your pledge at www.ktbg.fm

100 W. South St. 

Warrensburg, MO 64093-2324 

Find out about upcoming alumni and other university events at www.ucmo.edu/calendar. 

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after all, education 

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