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those in Willmar and Kandiyohi County. He and his
wife, Sharon, have five children and one
granddaughter. He is a member of the Minnesota
Peace and Police Officer’s Association, the Sons of
the American Legion and Willmar Development
Corporation… David Ambers (’72) and Betty
Ambers (’71) live and work in North Branch and
have two grown children, Kelli, 22, and Casey, 20.
David is a social studies teacher and golf coach and
Betty serves as a parent educator with ECFE…
Connie Dahl Nelson (’72) of Roseau is currently
working a combined position of superintendent and
elementary principal at the Lake of the Woods School
at Baudette. She and her husband, Bruce, have two
children, Chad, 30, and Kellie, 27… Richard Lyttle
(’72) has retired but is teaching a community college
class at CNCC covering the history of northwestern
Colorado. He and his wife, Mary Beth, live in
Meeker, CO… Sharon Botelle-Sherman (’74) of
Woodbury, CT, is semi-retired from a career in
marketing and advertising and is tutoring seventhgraders.
She and her husband, Norman, have three
grown children, Leslie Koliha, Kathy Wolhart and
Brett Sherman… Julia Sullivan (’76) of Moorhead
sings in two choirs and volunteers at her church. She
retired from 44 years of teaching in 1997… Tom
Swanson (’70) has taught for 32 years in the Brainerd
elementary schools and his wife, Helen, has taught
elementary classes in the same school district for 25
years. They live in Brainerd and have three children,
Angie, 23, Sara, 19, and Maria, 16… James
Toensing (’70) lives in Burnsville and helps care for
his mother who lives in the Apple Valley Health care
Center. He sings with the Bemidji Alumni Choir and
is a deputy grand knight with Council 2400 in
Roy C. Booth
Of all the plays he’s written, Roy
C. Booth has two favorites:
Beanie and the Bamboozling Book
Machine and Café a la Ionesco.
He has a lot to choose from, with
more than 40 to his credit and 25
in print. But these two stand out
for the Bemidji State University
graduate for a variety of reasons.
They may be his favorites because
they are dramatically different.
Beanie is a children’s play and
Ionesco an absurdist farce.
Or the appeal may be the settings.
The first is about the adventures
of a boy who doesn’t like to read,
so he invents a book-reading
machine that conjures up the mischievous
witches from fairy tales
when it is turned on. The latter is
about a hellish romantic encounter
in a fancy restaurant located in
Nymore – yes Nymore.
Then again, it might be that
Beanie was the first play published,
with co writers Bob May
and Christopher Tibbetts, while
Ionesco was the latest.
“One is for kids, the other for
freethinkers,” Booth said. “Beanie
is produced a lot due to its cast size,
fantasy elements, and heart.
Ionesco because it’s straight to the
jugular humor.”
That the plays come to audiences
from different points of the theatrical
compass is no surprise. In
addition to farce and children’s
genre, his credits include science
fiction, comedy, horror, and satire.
Where We Are ... What We’re Doing
Farmington… Judith Riggles (’70) lives in Cass
Lake with her husband, Bill, and has retired from a
32-year career of teaching at Cass Lake Elementary
School... Wayne Gartland (’77) and his wife,
Susan, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in
August. He works for Experior Assessments in St.
Paul… Georgia Siers Press (’78) works as an
assistant in an elementary school media center. She
and her husband, Mike, live in Cary, IL, and have two
children, Jeff, 21, and Greg, 18… Joe Vene (’74)
filed as a mayoral candidate in Bemidji… Stanley
Ostrowski (’71) and his wife, Connie, are retired
and living in Melrose, FL. They have two grown
children, Susan and Dennis. He is currently building
an airplane to replace the Cessna 172 that he flew for
more than 21 years. Stanley spent 26 years as a
teacher and principal with St. Lucie County School
System and served 22 years in the U.S. Army, both
active and reserve… Alyce Larson Thureen (’75)
and her husband, Carroll, live in International Falls
and have three grown children… Stephen Menart
Stephen Menart
Stages Life
“I write plays from stories that I
feel need to be told, and let them
find their own audience from
there,” he said. “I start with a sound
premise that has a certain desired
theatrical effect or message in
mind. I like to skew certain notions
and theatrical conventions as well.
“The success, I strongly feel,
comes from my experience not only
as a writer, but as a theatre person
who has directed, played around
with lighting theory, and all of the
other wonderful aspects of the art
of live suspension of disbelief.”
He has directed his plays and his
collaborations in productions across
northern Minnesota, most recently
with the Grand Rapids Players.
“I prefer to direct my solo works
after they’ve been published, not
before,” he commented. “Sometimes
I have to for convenience
sake and then I use a pseudonym
if I can get away with it.
“In contrast I love directing
works I’ve co-written, especially
those I’ve done with my wife,
Cynthia, in order to see what I’ve
added to the works or not, and to
bring out my collaborator’s
strength even more.”
A graduate of Pillager High
School, Booth came to Bemidji
State via Brainerd Community
College, where his interest in theater
was ignited. He graduated from
BSU twice, first with a bachelor’s
degree and later with a master’s.
Booth has also been published as
a poet, journalist, essayist, short story
Terry Mejdrich
(’73) and his wife,
Merline, live in
Gilbert where he
creates metal
sculptures including
“fire fish.” He’d
previously worked
at LTV Steel in Hoyt
Lakes… Glennis
Olson (’71) teaches
fifth grade at Frazee
Elementary and is
anticipating
becoming a
grandmother for the
first time in March.
She lives in Frazee
and has four grown children ranging in age from 20
to 29… Terry Mejdrich (’70) of Swatara recently
completed a mystery-adventure-suspense novel set
in northern Minnesota entitled A Mammoth
Resurrection. He and his wife, Darlene, have two
grown children, Eric, 29, and Angie, 26… John
Skradski (’77) and Jana (Gearman) Skradski
(’72) live in Fort Collins, CO, where John works as a
publisher and Jana as a payroll accountant. They’ve
been married 28 years and have two sons, Ryan, 18,
and David, 16… Tom O’Brien (’71) and Stephanie
(Araskog) O’Brien (’71) live in Richville and have
two grown children, Staci, 32, and Keely, 27. Tom
retired from teaching at New York Mills High School
in 2000 and Stephanie works as a math teacher in the
Fergus Falls School District… Terri (Simmerman)
Simons (’76) and her husband, Doug, live in the
Pillager area and have two sons, Nick, 16, and Zak,
writer, and a writer of comic gags.
He is currently writing a scholarly
work on Norse mythology that
could become the foundation for a
series of novels. If he musters
enough courage in the future, he
would like to write comic books.
But plays, primarily short ones,
have brought him some degree of
notoriety. His works have been
staged more than 350 times, from
Los Angeles to New York City;
from Vancouver, BC, to Houston;
from London to Perth; from New
Delhi to Brasila. His AIDS play,
Vicious Circle, was performed at
the 1995 International Aids Conference
and won seven awards.
He tries to write at least two
hours, or six good pages, a day,
five days a week. While it takes
discipline to be productive, he
finds it therapeutic and cathartic.
He then has time to spend with
Roy C. Booth
his three-year-old son Riordan.
While the impetus for writing
comes from within, the motivation
comes from the outside. He noted
that he patterns most of his
children’s plays on a study done in
Boston in the 1970s where urban
kids were exposed to a series of
plays based on other cultures. Ten
years later, it was discovered that
the same group had a significantly
smaller chance to be involved in
hate crimes, racism, theft and other
social problems.
He noted that it was, “Proof positive
of the true power of the stage
and how it can directly improve the
quality of life in our society.”
This is the second in a series of article on
authors who graduated from BSU. If you know
of such an author, contact the News and
Publications office at 1-888-234-7794,
218-755-2041, or news@bemidjistate.edu.
21. She’s in her 25th year of working with the same 1980s
employment and training agency… Jack Plattner
Mona Carter (’82) filed as a candidate in
(’70) of Gary began teaching industrial arts this fall at
November’s Bemidji School Board election… Dave
the Ulen-Hitterdal School District. He and his wife,
Evenson (’84) and Jess Ward (’96), both of
Susan, have three grown children. She is a special
Bemidji, are planning a May wedding. Dave is a
education instructor… Jeff Galle Sr. (’78) is the new
physical education and health teacher at Ponemah
instrumental music instructor for fifth- through
Elementary School and Jess is an agency specialist
eighth-grade bands, junior varsity band, varsity
with State Farm Insurance… Jack Vizecky (’86)
band, jazz bands and solos and small ensembles at
filed for re-election to his office of Lincoln County
Warroad. He spent the past 24 years teaching at
sheriff for a third term. He’s lived in Lincoln County
Heron Lake-Okabena School District and has also
ever since he was honorably discharged from the
been active in coaching softball, football and golf…
military in 1969 and served as police chief in
Jeanne Randall (’77) is teaching first grade at
Hendricks for 11 years, a Lincoln County deputy
Centerville Elementary School. She and her
sheriff for four years and has been Lincoln County
husband, Dave, live in Lino Lakes and have two sons,
sheriff for two terms. He’s married with four
Michael, 19, and Jeff, 17… Nancy (Hagen) Staiger
children, lives in rural Ivanhoe and is a member of
(’76) of Moorhead is currently a stay-at-home
the Shaokatan Sportsmen’s Club, Ivanhoe
mother and foster parent. She and her husband,
Community Club, Minnesota Sheriff’s Association
Doug, have five children, Greta, 25, Marissa, 22,
and the National Sheriff’s Association… Robin
Tony, 16, Stephanie, 16, and Alicia, 15… Nancy
Finke (’88) filed as a candidate for Swift County
Ainswork Flynn (’76) works for the Red Cross and
Attorney, having served in that post for the past two
is involved with historical neighborhood issues. She
years, filling a vacancy created when the previous
and her husband, Bill, live in Brookings, SD, and
county attorney was appointed as a district court
have four children, Kayla, 20, Susan, 17, BJ, 14, and
judge. He worked for seven years as a staff attorney
Mike, 10… Sherry Heaton (’77) recently accepted a
for Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota in
new position as assistant principal at Simle Middle
its Virginia office and is currently the treasurer and a
School in Bismarck, ND, after having taught middle
member of the board of directors of the Humane
school science for 21 years. She and her husband,
Society of Swift County. He and his wife, Lisa, live
Lewis, live in McKenzie, ND, and have an eight-
in Benson… Paul Tschida (’85) filed for re-election
year-old daughter, Ellie… Joyce Rideout (’79) lives
as Morrison County Sheriff. He is a lifelong resident
in Brainerd and enjoys doing volunteer work…
of Morrison County and he and his wife, Lila, have
Roger Reierson (’73) is owner and CEO of Flint
two grown children, Mike and Becky. Tschida, a
Communication in Fargo, Grand Forks and Duluth.
Navy veteran, began his law enforcement career 27
He and his wife, Arlene, live in Moorhead and have
years ago as a special deputy and then worked as a
two children, Andy, 23, and Alissa, 19.