Class Notes

The University of Oregon Rowing Team celebrated 50 years of Oregon Crew, welcoming alumni for pub time, visiting with current team members and a meal while checking out the facilities at Dexter Lake. Team President Kelsey Hill and many team members coordinated the event and they even invited some veteran oarsman back on the lake in a shell! Seen below are these alums and some current team members (from left to right or, for them, stern to bow): Kekoa Nakasone ’20, Don Costello (Head Coach ’71-72 & current assistant coach), George Bertram ’71, Gabe Mager ’18, Hank Elder ’71, Tommy Supple ’19, Mike Marsh ’73,Joe Sweeney ’72 and Chuck Neff ’69. Many other former team members attended, including Debbie Knechtel ’77, Ray Hopfer ’77, Frank Joyce ’77 and Gene Brown ’71. It was shock and oar!

Philip Schaeffer is retiring after teaching history at Olympic College for 50 years

When We Were Shadows, a novel by JANET WEES, MEd '90 (talented and gifted program), was published in 2018 as part of the series, Holocaust Remembrance Books for Young Readers, and has been shortlisted for the Rocky Mountain Book Award 2020.

David Rosen, MBA '02, raised funds for Make-A-Wish of Central & Southern Texas by signing up to rappel thirty-two floors down the side of the 600 Congress building in Austin, Texas. The event raised over $560,000 to fund wishes for children.

Howard W. Robertson (B.A. Russian 1970; M.A. Comparative Literature 1978) has published a new novel, LOVE IN THE CRETACEOUS. He is a poet and fiction writer who lives in Eugene, Oregon. He has published ten books of poetry and three books of fiction. For more about him, see www.howardwrobertson.com.

BEN DEJARNETTE, BA '13 (journalism), MA '15 (media studies), launched the new local publication Bridgeliner in Portland.

Rudy Torres, BS ’97 (business management), visited the San Blas islands while in his native Panama to see family. The Guna, an indigenous people, manage the islands in order to preserve their natural beauty.

In October, Julie Stott, BS ’77 (interior architecture), summited Mount Kilimanjaro and proudly held up her banner for the College of Design. At 19,340 feet, Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest peak in Africa and the highest non-technical climb in the world. After just a few oxygen-deprived minutes on top her team descended, running down 3,500 feet of scree with thighs burning and toes jamming into boots.

Chris Bocchicchio, BA ’12 (business), and Lauren Bruhn, BS ’13 (psychology), celebrated their two-week honeymoon in December by snowboarding, dogsledding, and cross-country skiing in Whistler, British Colombia. The pair met in high school and shared involvement in Greek life, ASUO, and Friars while at UO.

Chris Bocchicchio, BA ’12 (business), and Lauren Bruhn, BS ’13 (psychology), celebrated their two-week honeymoon in December by snowboarding, dogsledding, and cross-country skiing in Whistler, British Colombia. The pair met in high school and shared involvement in Greek life, ASUO, and Friars while at UO.

Anitra Tykeson, BA ’86 (leisure studies and services), and her husband, Eric, traveled on the National Geographic Orion to Neko Harbor, Antarctica, which is home to one of the largest Gentoo penguin colonies.

Leah La Faver, BA ’04 (Spanish and political science), attended the NCAA 2017 March Madness tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, during the UO’s Elite Eight matchup against the Kansas Jayhawks. She and her daughter, Miette, cheered on the Ducks as they won and moved on to the Final Four.

Don Chalmers, BS ’71 (political science and psychology), JD ’75, went catamaran-sailing in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. While on the water, he and his sister, Anne, were delighted to view a large pod of 18 dolphins swimming nearby.

Merilee Bengtsson, BS ’70 (community service and public affairs), and her friends visited Tristan Da Cunha, the most remote inhabited archipelago on Earth, in the south Atlantic Ocean. She had been planning this trip since 1989, and during their three-week adventure they were the only tourists among the main island’s resident population of 254.

Bruce Conner, class of 1979, took a photo of his wife, Suzie, showing Oregon pride while on top of Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska. They took a helicopter ride and enjoyed a two-mile dog-mushing experience while in Juneau during an Alaskan cruise.

John Stayner, BS ’71 (business), and his wife, Dee, hiked along the Great Wall of China as part of their retirement celebration. They stayed in Beijing for four days before catching a cruise ship that stopped in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Bali, before ending in Sydney.

Tony Kullen (BA History, '00) recently joined Wright, Finlay & Zak, a California-based, certified women-owned law firm, as Managing Attorney for its new Portland, Oregon office, after serving as Counsel with the Business Transactions Group of Miller Nash Graham & Dunn from 2015 through 2017. Tony focuses his practice on creditors’ rights issues, real estate litigation, and general business transactions. Tony is an active member of the Oregon State Bar Debtor-Creditor Section’s Public Education and Legislative Committees; is a volunteer coach for the We the People Constitutional Law debate program for a De La Salle North Catholic High School; and serves as Chair of the Supervisory Committee and as a Board Member (elect) of Rivermark Community Credit Union.

A. Lynn Ash, BS ’71 (psychology), published her book Eugeneana: Memoir of an Oregon Hometown, a collection of stories about her post—World War II years growing up in Eugene. Two of her stories describe her experiences as a loyal Duck at the UO in the 1960s.

Jane (Bodenweiser) McEldowney, BS ’63 (nursing; medical technology), was named Camp Nurse of the Year by the Association of Camp Nursing at their national symposium. Jane is in her 14th year as a nurse with the Multnomah Education Service District Outdoor School Program.

Walt Hull, BS ’59 (education), has been promoted to executive officer for the Disabled Parking Enforcement unit of the Portland Bureau of Police. He has worked with the bureau for 13 years.