Fall 2010
Hello Luther Class of ’71,
After years of good and faithful service, Jeri and Nancy have passed on to us the privilege of serving as your class agents. We are also privileged to be retired and living in Decorah at 731 Ridge Rd., just above the campus. In fact, our property adjoins the Luther woods, and now that enough leaves have fallen, we can see the campus through the trees. After 38 years in San Diego, we’re enjoying small town life. Not surprisingly, there are several from our class who have made Decorah home.
We are writing this shortly after Homecoming at Luther. The last event of the weekend we attended was the homecoming concert featuring the Symphony Orchestra, Nordic Choir—with new conductor Allen Hightower, and Concert Band. What amazing talent and wonderful music! We were also honored to witness classmate Dean Anderson receiving the Weston Noble Award for his accomplishments in choral music. So many of our class of ’71 have distinguished themselves in so many areas of accomplishment and service.
Speaking of homecoming, next year is our 40th, and apparently Luther is celebrating our gathering by deciding to celebrate its sesquicentennial year of existence (that’s 150). The celebration theme: Transformed by the Journey. Wouldn’t it be cool if all 449 of us showed up for our reunion on Saturday, October 15th. (Make your hotel reservations today!) Luther would have to scramble to find a place to hold us all! We hope you all make early plans to come celebrate our forty years of “life after Luther,” to reminisce how well equipped we were to handle those forty years, and to rekindle old friendships. The archives department at Luther may help us put together some photos for our reunion, but if you would scan and email to us interesting photos of our four years at Luther, we might be able to creatively display some of them at our gathering. ([email protected]) There really is something magic about homecoming weekend at Luther. I think you’ll love the new Bentdahl Commons in the center of campus that provides an outdoor venue for performance and gathering and really completes the campus. The only other planned building for Luther is the new Aquatic Center, a state of the art facility for competition diving and swimming.
What a different place Luther has become in the last forty years, and yet amazingly similar: like walking across a beautiful campus with chimes from the bell tower, professors that still call students by their first names, sunsets over the Oneota River Valley, morning chapel, and students forging lifelong friendships. Remember CORE? It’s still a part of the freshman experience, only now it’s called Paideia. This year students were assigned to read Oneota Flow by Luther Professor David Faldet. (All first-year students were provided a “river walk” down the Upper Iowa River to view some of the places Dr. Faldet described in his book.) I think I would have preferred that to some of our CORE lectures, as good as they were.
Luther continues to attract the highest caliber of high school students because of its reputation of academic rigor, award-winning departments, sustainability infrastructure, athletic programs, scholarships (thanks to your contributions to a growing endowment), and its goal of transforming students through personal attention, relationships with professors, and opportunities for service. Luther is among the top fifty national liberal arts colleges as recommended by high school guidance counselors.
You’ll be hearing more about our 40th reunion in our Spring 2011 newsletter. Start planning now for October 14, 15, and 16, 2011! Send pictures! We’d love to see you!
Jim and Diane (Vlahovich) Hinrichs
1971 Class Agents
[email protected]
Don't forget your Annual Fund giving!
Each year nearly 10,000 alumni, parents, and friends support the Annual Fund with gifts from $3 to $25,000. Strong support from alumni helps Luther secure significant funds from foundations and corporations, and your gift each year helps us reach our goal of 30% alumni giving to the Annual Fund. Here's how our class—and surrounding classes—did in 2009:
Class of 1970 Total giving in 2009: $96,541 from 31% of the class
CLASS OF 1971 TOTAL GIVING IN 2009: $89,276 FROM 26% OF THE CLASS
Class of 1972 Total giving in 2009: $49,660 from 28% of the class
Your gift can boost our class impact on current students! Visit givenow.luther.edu to show your support.
Thank you!
Class Notes
NANCY (JACKSON) BICHA-DALE writes plays for Feral Princess Productions and premiered their first play last Christmas. She teaches theatre at the University Lake School in Hartland, Wis.
JEAN (PETERSON) HERRON is an office manager at a software firm in Denver and sings in Community Chorale, Praise Band, and choir.
JON PALKS is a recreational therapist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore.
MARJORIE (OLIEN) WATTS retired after 27 years of teaching music at Wilkins Elementary School in Marion, Iowa.
Comments
is the CEO for a substance abuse and mental health clinic in Germantown, Maryland.