Fall/Winter 2009

Hello Again.     

Dave and I have been fortunate this fall to make several visits to Luther. Our son, Michael, is a first-year student this year, so in August we went to Decorah to drop him off; in September we returned for Family Weekend; then in November we went to see him in a play, and in December we had tickets for Christmas at Luther.   I think we are seeing our son more often now that he is away at college than we did his senior year when he was living at home!

While at Luther this fall, there were thousands of leaves falling around campus and as I walked across the lawn in front of Preus library, scuffing my feet through the thick carpet of oak and maple leaves, I noticed a large pile of leaves under a tree that was clearly the remains of a great leaf-pile jumping site.  Individually, each leaf in the pile was beautiful, but collectively the large pile of thousands of leaves gave each single leaf added value—the pile was an opportunity for college kids to relieve some stress from writing Paideia papers.

As Luther alumni, when we send Luther a donation, we are like those leaves.  Each of us is one leaf that adds to another leaf and another leaf until we have created a gigantic leaf pile that is irresistible to large corporations or foundations looking at the college. The amount is less important than the act of giving, so it doesn’t matter if we are a large sycamore leaf or a smaller gingko leaf or a medium sized oak leaf; our presence still contributes to the size of the pile. Large granting institutions like to look at Luther and see support from alumni, and hopefully our presence encourages them to jump in. In this season of giving and giving thanks, I hope you will consider sending a donation through the mail or by clicking on this link:  givenow.luther.edu.

Please join me in the leaf pile. It’s a fun place to be.  Luther thanks you and I thank you. 

Now, let’s see what our classmates have been up to lately.

KARI (STOA) BALK is music director at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Weston, Wis.  Her husband, RANDY BALK ’79, is CEO/President of Intercity State Bank in Wasau, Wis.

KAREN DEBAUCHE is now a National Board certified teacher of music.  She is director of bands at Urbana (Ill.) Middle School.

DAWN DEINES-CHRISTENSEN is very busy supplying the Youth and Family Institute with blessing bowls, milestone sets, and prayer PEBBLES ™.

MARTIN DORN had his dissertation, “Selbstzeugnis and Autorität: Untersuchungen zur johanneischen Frage” (Self-Witness and Authority: Studies on the Johannine Question), selected for publication in a book by Schüling Verlag Publishing House. It is the first volume of the academic series Forum Biblicum. Martin is a church historian for the research project “Gregory of Nyssa” at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany.

SUSAN (HENGESH) EARL is a utilization review nurse at Active Health Management in Chantilly, Va.

REBECCA (PRESTEMON) GESING is an advanced practice nurse practitioner (APNP) at Gundersen Lutheran–Waukon (Iowa) Clinic.

NANCY (HERMEIER) HERSHFIELD is vice president for development and alumni relations at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.

ERIC HURLEY is an agriculture instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He also directs a water-quality education program for dairy, grain, and vegetable producers that targets soil fertility and manure and fertilizer management.

MARY (SORENSON) REISETTER is director of career planning at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa.

HARLAN SATROM of Decorah was presented with the Winneshiek County Community Foundation Leadership Award.

RENAE (ARNESON) STAHL is doing public relations for two restaurants in Palm Springs, Calif.

CAROL (OLSEN) SWENSON is a marketing associate at Great Lakes Education Loan Services in St. Paul, Minn.

JULIE VAN ARSDALE-JERVIS and CYRIL JERVIS live in Fort Worth, Texas. Julie is an auditor at Alcon Pharmaceuticals; CJ is president of Jervis Global International.

TOM WAGNER and JEANNIE (CHIEN) ’83 live in Marquette, Mich. Tom is a teacher in the Aspen Ridge School District.

I would love to hear from you so I can update everyone in the spring letter. Remember that notification of the fall letter will come by email like this one, and the spring letter will be a U.S. mail letter. I hope the holidays are restful for you and filled with lots of love and laughter.

Take care.

Sincerely,

Katie Hanson
1982 Class Agent
[email protected]

PS. “Luther College Women and Work Study”
Luther Professor of Accounting Ramona "Mona" (Feller) Nelson ’75 is conducting a research project on the career history, leadership experiences, entrepreneurial pursuits, work/life balance experiences, and general work-related perceptions of Luther alumnae from the graduation years of 1969-94. Women from the 1969-94 grad years are invited to participate in an online survey at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=x_2ff8dDNR8F96f3gdck4Xfw_3d_3d

If you have already completed the survey, thank you.

If you did not receive previous notice of the survey, please go to the web address and complete it before January 5, 2010. Questions can be directed to Mona Nelson at [email protected].