Class Notes

Notices received as of Aug. 2, 2022

1975

Bill Allee came out of retirement to coach the Alleman High School boys tennis team last spring and saw his No. 1 player, Nicholas Patrick, win the Illinois state tennis title. 

1977

Darlene Holst Link volunteers for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra in Davenport, Iowa, as a member of the Board of Trustees and president of the Volunteers for Symphony. She also serves as secretary and zone chair of the Eldridge Lions Club.

1979

Teresa Parkinson retired after 40 years with Economy/St. Paul/MetLife/Farmers Insurance Company.

Sue Fleischman Rector from the Rotary Club of Rock Island was named Rotary District 6420's club level “Rotarian of the Year.” She single-handedly completed a yearlong service project called “Keeping Them Engaged." It involved an ongoing partnership with Earl Hanson Elementary School in Rock Island. The service project assisted in keeping 300 students engaged during the summer in a fun and creative way.

1981

Paul Osman retired after 35 years as the State of Illinois Floodplain programs chief. He now owns P. Oz Consulting, a floodplain management and flood insurance consulting group.

1984

Beth Ellman Rokaitis retired from the Sylvan School District in Modesto, Calif., after a 36-year career as a speech-language pathologist. During that time, she supervised more than 20 student teachers/interns and SLP graduates completing their clinical fellowship year. She was also a member of the district’s negotiating team for 15 years, representing special education.

Jane Birtch Vatchev was named the 2022 Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Member at the College of DuPage. She is an assistant professor and co-chair of the Physical Education, Fitness, and Sports Studies Department and has been teaching at the college for 22 years. She retired from coaching track and field after 30 years and was instrumental in leading to the creation of the college's Athletic Hall of Fame.

1985

Pamela Hosler Krasinski retired in May after 34 years as a school psychologist (32 years in West Aurora District 129). She continues to maintain a private practice, Irlen Clinic of Illinois, as clinic director and Irlen diagnostician.

1988

Desiree Grace was named president, Americas, for Cembre, Inc., in May. Cembre is an Italian manufacturer of electrical products, listed on the Milan stock exchange.

1990

Scott Hansen and Brian Korbel earned Presidents Club Honors with the Schwab Investment Group for the 3rd consecutive year.

1991    

Mark Johnson was promoted to vice president, Government Affairs for Toyota.

1995

Chris Simmons is the manager of system planning for Community Transit in Everett, Wash.

1997

Malik Khaliq was recognized as one of the Top 5 financial advisors by Forbes for the fifth consecutive year.

1998

Chad Johnson was named chief operating officer of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team.

2003

Scott Lemke married Dana Ferguson '10 on May 1, 2021. They had a daughter, Sophia Marie, on May 27, 2022.

2004

Braxton Showalter married Courtney Howe in March 2022.

2010

Dana Ferguson married Scott Lemke '03 on May 1, 2021. They had a daughter, Sophia Marie, on May 27, 2022.

Megan Sabin is a new sales representative for the Le Mars (Iowa) Sentinel.

2011

Rachel Shipley-Wagner is the manager of business development at Greystone
Realty, Chicago.

2013

Katherine Golas was promoted to assistant branch manager at the First Savings Bank of Hegewisch in Crown Point, Ind.

2013    

Jennifer Schroder married Dan Dankert on June 25, 2022.

2014    

Matthew Osman earned his Ph.D. in climate science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2019 and recently accepted a professorship at Cambridge University in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

2015

Blaire Theuerkauf is an attorney II at Metra Commuter Rail, Chicago.

2016

Nelly Cheboi was named a CNN Global Hero for her work as co-founder of TechLit Africa, an organization that redistributes recycled technology and builds computer labs in schools in Africa. 

Brian Lovejoy won the Quick Bix, two-mile course race in Davenport on July 30.

2018

Joseph Cross is an Inspector at RS&H Engineering in Novi, Mich.

Alyssa Reuter is a staff accountant for Caterpillar Inc.

Tammy (Tamara) Zapata was selected as a Crowley Scholar at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham University School of Law.

2019

Fiona Bowers is a program coordinator at Nathan Benderson Park.

2021

Jacob Busby is a certified district sales leader in the Frito-Lay Greater Chicagoland Zone.

Melaine Diep will pursue a master's in genetic counseling at Northwestern University this fall.

Megan Hoppe spent the last academic year in France with TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program in France). Since her return stateside, she has moved to Chicago, and in the fall, will pursue her master's in information and library science at Dominican University. She is also doing freelance costuming at theatres around the area.

AJ Householder is a cloud software engineer at U.S. Bank.

Michael Tirabasso is an assistant manager at Enterprise.

2022

Berenice Campos is an admissions counselor at the University of Chicago.

Alec Mager is a medical laboratory technician in the Rush University Medical Center Surgical Pathology Unit.

Dina Marin is a specialized tax services associate at PwC.

Tyler Markell is a biofuels consultant at PF Engineers, Berthoud, Colo.

Gaurav Patwal is a data scientist/analyst in risk and financial advisory at Deloitte.

Kendall Schmidt is a demand planner at US Foods.

Deaths

Notices received as of Aug. 2, 2022

*Robert Beck ’50 on May 10, 2022.

Ralph Cram ’51 on Jan. 31, 2022.    

Robert Liljegren ’52 on May 10, 2022.

Therese Hammar ’54 Wahlstrom on July 1, 2022.

*Joanne Fude ’55 Cook on Jan. 9, 2022.

Jerry Pearson ’56 on April 27, 2022.

David Wetzel ’56 on July 11, 2022.

Courtney Cook ’60 on July 3, 2022.

*Ingrid Carlson ’60 Hines on Feb. 27, 2022.

Norman Redelsheimer ’60 on July 7, 2022.

Barbara Matsen ’61 Larsen on Jan. 25, 2022. 

Ruth Hansen ’62 Guldenzopf on July 7, 2022.

Joan Lindstrom ’63 on June 29, 2022.

Virginia Monroe ’64 Soper on Jan. 10, 2022.

*Richard Litt ’68 on July 17, 2022.

Beverly Ellison ’76 Johnson on July 1, 2022.

Kristin Hansen ’92 on July 7, 2022.

*attendee