Class Notes

Alpha Phi alumni from the class of 1961 reunited at Redondo Beach in November. Now near 80 years old, these women have been friends for more than 50 years and meet annually. Pictured, top, left to right: Margie Lininger, BA '61 (English), Connie Gutowsky, BA '61 (sociology), Carol Hedwall, BA '61 (sociology), Susan Dietsche, BA '61 (sociology), Kathy Farr, BA '61 (sociology), and Jackie Lowthian, BA '61 (journalism); and bottom, left to right, Judy Hendershott, BA '61 (foreign language), Donna Dorsey, BS '61 (leisure studies and services), MS '63 (physical education), and Sue Henningsen, BA '61 (sociology). They even have a poem:


REDONDO BEACH, 2018

We squeeze into taxis from LAX,
enjambed in casual clothes and easy banter.
Morning fog lifts as we leave the freeway.

Seated side by side around a long table,
we're fresh faced, a year or two under eighty—
Nine of us size up the lunch menu—
Small turquoise vases hold sprigs of rosemary.

We meet each year, friends now more than half a century
as deeply rooted as Birds of Paradise, sunrise orange.

We agree among ourselves, the past is present—
take a backward look at good health and bad.
Our cheeks blush red, foreheads frown.

Memory reminds us of our college years—
times of innocence and promise.
Those were the years, the years that were those—
I have photos.

We walk, split off, share intimacies and secrets
with friendly concerns about the others,
the cat's meow of sorority.

Some pop into small, too expensive shops.
"Does this come in a large?"

Some visit the Getty.
Van Gogh's watercolor Irises, 1889,
bloom here all year—kaleidoscopic blues.
Each one exquisite, unique.

We all meet up at a designated corner,
stroll by the ocean on the Venice Beach Boardwalk,
breathe the sea air, watch people, vendors, performers.
Young people stare at the row of white hair
as we rest on park benches, chat about
each other's families, a sister's appetizers,
our children, grandchildren, partners.
Affection compliments the indignities of old age.

Purple and pink, gold and silver, even green
ripple over the Pacific to blond sand at sunset.
Three days give shape to new memories.

Two seagulls fly high above the horizon
soon joined by another, then another.
They disappear gliding into the distant sky.

Goodbye! Take care, good luck, all the best to you—

—by Connie Gutowsky, BA '61 (sociology)

Judith Stoeser, '68, reports that her former husband, Doug Stoeser, '73 Ph.D. Geology, died suddenly on August 18, 2018, in Gwynedd, Wales, where he had moved just six months earlier with his wife, Jill Lemon. Judy still lives in Evergreen, Colorado.

Go Ducks from the Great Wall of China.
On my journey to all of the continents.
Continent 6 of 7 #QuestTo7

I'm please to announce that my fourth book, Fjord Land, a sequel to Cape Decision was published June 4, 2024.

Mike Ritchey, BS '80 (finance), MBA '81 (marketing), and his wife Deb, MS '95 (geography), rode these stout horses of Iceland during their weeklong visit to the country in December.

Kevin Hardman, BS '00 (economics) MBA '00 (general business), rested in a "portaledge" at 1,400 feet after a long day on Zodiac, an 1,800-foot-tall rock-climbing route on Yosemite National Park's El Capitan.

The first time Stephanie Heisler, BS '85 (physical education), summited Mount St. Helens, she forgot her UO gear. But for her second trek to the top of the mountain, she remembered to wear one of her best Duck shirts!

During a recent trip, Jill (Guckenberger) Waldron, BS '91 (psychology), and her husband, Rick, went on a run to Heroes' Square in Budapest, Hungary, where they found these statues symbolizing war, peace, work, welfare, knowledge, and glory.

Scott Eanes, BS '05 (political science), a sea turtle biologist, recently presented his research on juvenile hawksbill sea turtle sites and hurricanes at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in South Carolina.

On a trip to see the northern lights in Norway, Grace LeBlanc, BS '69 (journalism), MS '73 (English), stopped at the Russian border near Kirkenes, 250 miles above the Arctic Circle.

Jan Johnson, MS '76 (communication disorders and sciences), and her husband, Marty, shared Duck spirit with students from Makindu Advanced Training College, the vocational school they founded in Kenya.

Victoria Edwards, BA '90 (speech: rhetoric and communication), visited Obidos, Portugal, a walled city settled by the Romans, while attending the European Congress of Speech and Language Therapy in Cascais last May.

On their recent trip to Uzbekistan, Kip Knight, MEd '66 (education), DEd '68 (curriculum and instruction), and his wife, Eileen, stopped by the Tashkent Museum of Railroad Techniques.

Mike Mellum, BS '69, DMD '72 (dentistry), came face-to-face with the famous stone figures known as moai ("statue") when he visited Easter Island in February.

Grace LeBlanc, BS '69 (journalism), MA '73 (English), left teaching in Salem after 23 years in 1991, but continued in staff development. She retired in 2001, lives in Portland, works as an educational consultant, and travels as often as possible.

Sandra Smith Gangle, MA '68 (French), a retired Oregon lawyer and labor arbitrator, received the "Maggie" Emerita Award from the Oregon Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association for a career in labor relations of more than 30 years.

HARLEN SPRINGER, BA ’70 (management), appointed to the Oregon Arts Commission in 2019, was named vice chair.

Jacob Werner, BS '00 (political science), was named to the chairman's council of D.A. Davidson Companies, a financial planning firm in Bozeman, Montana.

Michelle Penaloza, MFA '11 (creative writing), was the national winner of the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk Prize for her full-length collection, Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire, which will be published this fall.

Sadie Concepcion, BA '11 (psychology), has joined Portland law firm Tonkon Torp as an associate.