WESTERNCONNECT - Western Technical College

Classnotes cont.
1981
Kimberly (DeWitt) Pongratz, Radiography, has
been self-employed as a daycare provider for 16 years.
Neldene Rommes, Nursing, celebrated 30 years of
marriage on May 2, 2011 with Paul Rommes.
George Mack, Air Cond, Heat, & Refrig Tech, owner
of Service Plus Heating and has had three children.
Michael Sevallius, Accounting, is planning on retiring
at the end of the year.
Michael Schedivy, Welding, celebrated becoming a
grandfather this year.
Julie (Hanson) Lueck, Dental Asst, and husband,
Robert, have a new grandson, Ethan, by their daughter,
Amber.
Richard Stickler, Environmental Health and Safety
Tech, is the owner of Midwest Environmental Company,
Inc.
Richard Yunk, Police Science, retired in 2004 after
32 years of law enforcement service, 29 years as a
criminal investigator for the Monroe County Sheriff ’s
Department in Sparta.
1982
Ellen (Breuer) Lusk, Data Processing Machine
Operations, has been regional sales manager for 20 years
at Main Street Ingredients.
Todd Munyon, Electrical Power Engineering Tech,
was promoted to Director of Customer Satisfaction
Quality for North America at Square D Company.
Ronald Pietrek, Welding, has been a part of project
management at Ted Mannstedt and Sons Steel for six
years.
Jeffrey Thompson, Electronic Serv, has owned Jtech,
Inc. for two years.
Mary Price, Central Service Tech, has been a night
warehouse worker at McKessor for six years.
Lori Roberge, Operating Room Asst, is celebrating
30th wedding anniversary August 2011.
Patricia (DeNoyer) Wall, Nursing-Technical, retired
in March 2011.
Scott Tweedale, Refrigeration Serv, has been the
division manager at Robinson Heating & Cooling for
14 years.
Sandra (Anderson) Runningen, Health Unit Coord,
is very proud to have six grandchildren in her life.
1983
Peter Marco, Air Cond, Heat, & Refrig Tech, has
been married for 29 years.
Steven Pintz, Mechanical Design Tech, has been
working for the Town of Campbell for 23 years.
Vicki (Oldenberg) Knudsen, Radiography, received
her bachelor’s degree in April through St. Mary’s
University in Minneapolis.
Dianne (Radcliffe) Olson, Nursing, completed a
bachelor of science in nursing degree at Ohio University.
She has four daughters.
Gennean (Strupp) Vetrano, Commercial Art, has
been focusing on the right design solutions for over
eight years.
James Sennes, Electronic Serv, has been employed
with Tri-State Business Machines for over 25 years.
Theresa Sharp, Medical Secretary, is on the board of
directors at Clearwater Farms.
Kurt Pfuhl, Electronics, was honored with a trip to
Puerto Rico and recognized as one of the top five people
in the investment category at Primerica.
Mehrdad Ardalan, Environmental Health and Safety,
worked for a few years after graduation, completed
a B.S. degree in industrial engineering and master’s
degree at Saint Cloud State University (MN), and
continued doctorate education at the University of
Northern Iowa and Ohio State University. He began
working as an industrial engineer primarily in the areas
of manufacturing, quality, reliability, design & system
engineering at large corporations. He continued his
education by taking night classes while working full time
and acquired an MBA (Master of Business Admin),
MIM (Master of International Management), and MMS
(Master of Manufacturing System) at the University of Saint
Thomas in Saint Paul, MN. He obtained a Six Sigma Black
Belt certification and ISO auditor certification. Today, he is
a principal quality engineer for Raytheon and lives in Irvine,
California.
Krissa (Sanden) Hilger, Data Processing, is the employee
benefits and HR manager for the Diocese of Winona and
lives in Plainview, Minnesota.
1984
Karen (Rochelt) Long, Early Childhood Education, was
promoted to manager at Organic Valley Family of Farms
Evelyn Sullivan, Nursing-Technical, retired June 2005
from Great Lake Health Care System, Tomah VA and was
diagnosed with cancer.
Lynn Tschumper, CIS Microcomputer Spec, Supervisory
Mgmt, has been a self-employed vegetable organic farmer
for 12 years.
Brenda (Unnasch) Miller, Office Asst, has been working
at Gundersen Lutheran since 1984.
Betty (Mroch) Staab, Practical Nursing, completed a
bachelor of science in nursing degree in 1996. She retired
Sergeant First Class from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2003.
1985
Kay Ramsbottom, Nursing-Technical, mourns the loss of
her son, Kevin, who passed away May 27, 2010.
David Simpson, Wood Tech, has three children.
Beverly Nofsinger, Radiography, celebrated her 80th
birthday in April.
Edward Pfeffer, Electronic Serv, ’87 Electromechanical
Tech, has been the regional manager at Interstate Battery
Powercare for seven years.
Paul Schams, Industrial Engineering Tech, retired from
Dairyland Power Cooperative on April 14.
Patricia Young, Medical Record Tech, has been working
at Monroe Clinic for 25 years; works in quality management
after working as an analyst for 10 years.
Evelyn Layland, CIS Microcomputer Tech, ’87
Accounting, celebrated her 80th birthday January 19, 2011.
Mike Seebruck, Wood Tech, has a son, Michael.
Kathy (Shwabenbauer) Nichols, Data Processing
Machine Operations, has a grandson, Jordy 2.
Mark Lamberson, Welding, has one son and one daughter.
Kevin Schmitz, Foods-Institutional, ’81 Welding, is
married to Kristine and has two sons, Sam and Jake.
1986
Mary Marshall, Police Science, continued schooling at
UW-La Crosse for a degree in social work. “Western was
a great way to get my feet wet. It really opened the door to
education and helped me realize it wasn’t all that scary.”
Loren Schleusener, Auto Body, has been attending
training for new technology in the automotive field.
Ilidio Sacramento, Electronic Serv, has two children,
Jenny, 25, and Jared, 24, who is married to Diana.
Carol Russell, Nursing, retired June 1, 2011.
William Lutterman, Radiography, celebrated 25th
anniversary on May 31, 2011 by going on a Caribbean cruise.
Wade Welper, Police Science, is the director of supervision
and quality assurance at Chileda Institute.
Mary Novak, Graphic Design, took a two week trip to
Scotland to visit relatives.
Mark Murphy, Marketing, took a trip to the 2011
Superbowl.
Lynn (Luxford) Walters, Health Unit Coord, has been
a health unit coordinator for Mayo Clinic Health System -
Franciscan Healthcare in Sparta for 25 years.
Gayle Nielsen, Electromechanical Tech, received a
bachelor’s degree in digital communication and is working on
a PhD in clinical hypnotherapy.
Robert Lawrence, Police Science, was promoted to police
captain for the La Crosse Police Department.
Matthew Hegge, Commercial Art, is a systems
administrator at Sat Creative, Inc. He is an Apple Certified
Support Professional for MAC operating system 10.6.
Kevin Farley, Bio-Medical Electronics, is a bio-medical
electronics technician at St. Vincent Hospital. He and his
wife, Vicki, live in Green Bay.
1972 1973
WWTI awarded accreditation by the North Central Association. WWTI secures lease from Vernon County and begins offering classes in Viroqua.
8
1987
Mary (Wells) Leis, Early Childhood Education, has
been working in childcare for 24 years.
David Tollefsrud, Wood Tech, will be married for 20
years in October.
Blake Young, Diesel & Heavy Equip Tech, has been
working at FABCO Caterpiller for 10 years, three years
as a service manager.
Robin Wilson, Mechanical Design Tech, graduated
from Viterbo University with a BAA in management of
information systems in December 2010.
Craig Dunnum, Marketing-Retail, Marketing, worked
in the building products industry from 1988-2010 for
three large manufacturers and distributors and has now
started his own sales and marketing agency, Dunn-Hill
Marketing LLC. They direct market a line of animal feeds
through Prince Corporation to organizations that sell for
fundraisers. They are establishing a consumer marketing
channel for smaller producers to introduce products
into a marketplace through fundraisers. They also own
and manage Dunn-Hill farms which is a certified
organic family farm and direct market beef and crops
to consumers and other organic producers. In addition,
they market and specify wood building products to code
officials and builders for large manufacturers. He and his
wife, Victoria, who also works with the business, live in
Westby. They can be reached at Dunn-Hill@mwt.net
Ken Tran, Bio-Medical Electronics, continued his
education at Wentworth Institute of Technology,
completing a B.S.E.E. degree in 1992, then an M.S.E.E
degree at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in
1999. Today he is sr. engineering manager - power for
MKS Instruments and lives in Massachusetts.
1988
Thomas Neary, Auto Body, is enjoying retirement.
Karla (Barclay) Young, Printing & Publishing, has
been self-employed at Sew Kountry for 12 years.
Jason Slavicek, Refrigeration Serv, received a degree
from Viterbo and hopes to come back to teach at
Western.
Angela Moen, Food Production Spec/Institutional
Foods, daughter, Megan Hovre, will be attending
Western this fall in occupational therapy.
Laura (Olson) , Health Information Technology, and
Michael Pfaff were married October 23, 2010 and live in
Bangor. Laura is a coding specialist at Franciscan Skemp
Healthcare.
1989
Michael Peeso, Nursing, has a granddaughter, Lily 1.
Thomas Lynch, Machine Tooling Tech, welcomed first
grandchild in March.
Thomas Malson, Bio-Medical Electronics, is a
manufacturer’s rep at BioQuest Medical.
Edward Pretasky, Wood Tech, has been self-employed
for 20 years with Ed’s Plastering and Drywall.
Michael Dewitt, Wood Tech, is retired and lives in
Sandalwood, FL.
1990
James Page, Police Science Tech, is a police officer for
the City of Onalaska. He received the Medal of Honor
award in 2010 for his involvement in a shooting earlier
that year.
Keith Schaefer, Welding, owns his own business, Blue
Sky Investing, LLC.
Kellie (Summerfeld) Lehouillier, Early Childhood
Education, is a foster parent for a 1 year old.
Mike Wagoner, Marketing, was deployed from Iraq in
2006.
Aline (Stilwell) Trussoni, Medical Record Tech, has
been working at the Madison air traffic control tower for
13 years and has been a supervisor there for two years.
Pamela Overby, Nursing-Technical, took a trip to
Canada last September.
Patty (Peterson) Netwal, Paralegal, celebrated her
19th wedding anniversary on July 7.
Debra (Limberg) Lash, Marketing-Retail, owner
of The Wedding Tree, recently opened the Upstairs
Couture at her downtown La Crosse location. Visit www.
theweddingtree.com to read more about her business.