1962–1969 / 1970–1979 / 1980–1989 / 1990–1999

1962

Tom Odegaard of Sparks, Nev., is retired.

1965

Larry Peterson has worked on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for 30 years. He spent the past four years living at Outlaw Ranch, serving as a full-time volunteer for programs that connect campers with Native American people living on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in North Rapid City, S.D.

1967

Paul Hanson retired after 40 years of teaching history at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

1968 

Stan Kant retired in 2013. His former practice diagnosed and supported clients with dyslexia, attention deficit disorders, language disorders, and learning disorders.

Susan (Kosowski) Keller of Pewaukee, Wis., retired from Westwood Health and Fitness.

John Rollefson is a retired Lutheran pastor who served in San Francisco; Milwaukee; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Los Angeles. He recently published Postils for Preaching, a three-volume commentary on the lectionary texts for worship throughout the ecumenical church. He lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif., with his wife, Ruth (Gordon) ’70, a retired vocal music teacher and church musician.

Mark Wrolstad of Onalaska, Wis., retired as professor emerita of finance at Winona State University.

1969

Cathy (Turner) Boulanger of Highland, Ill., was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Highland Rotary Club for her outstanding service. She was also asked to serve on the Highland Area Community Foundation Board.

1971

Fred Hedberg was named among the most powerful business leaders in Minnesota (Commercial Real Estate Brokers) by Minnesota Monthly magazine. He is cofounder and principal at Paramount Real Estate Corp. in Bloomington, Minn.

Bonnie (Price) Holst Cummings of Center Junction, Iowa, retired from teaching kindergarten.

1972

Frank Andersen is clinical education director of OB/GYN at Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University in Spokane.

Brian Martens of Forestville, Calif., is a full-time poet and creative consultant. His first book of poetry and haiku, Three Raven Gate, came out in December.

1973

Greg Kovaciny retired in 2012 from his job as a personal computer specialist at the Iowa City (Iowa) Public Library.

1974

Susan (Curtis) Bies is director of accessibility and academic support services at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Daniel Dahl is a pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in Mount Pleasant, N.C.

Solveig (Sperati) Korte of Vermillion, S.D., is an instructor emeritus in communication disorders at the University of South Dakota.

1975

Melissa (Pratt) Arthur of Bedford, Texas, retired as an elementary music specialist. She maintains a small flute studio, directs the Flutasia flute choir, and plays in the Brookhaven flute choir while finding time to quilt and enjoy her butterfly garden.

Sandy Berg-Holte of Aitkin, Minn., retired as pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church of Cedarbrook and Bethesda Lutheran of Rossburg. Last fall, to mark the end of her 32 years of ordained ministry, she completed a 567-mile walk across the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain.

Lorenzo Creighton of Oxon Hill, Md., was given the Hester King Award by the Prince George’s County, Md., chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for his efforts to employ minority-owned businesses in the construction of a $1.4 billion casino resort in the Washington, D.C., area. Above, Lorenzo is pictured with his daughter, Loren.

Harriet (Patchin) Parks of Burton, Texas, retired from teaching elementary physical education after a 43-year teaching career.

1976

Dan England of Cape Coral, Fla., is retired.

Dee Gajewsky retired from Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency in Webster City, Iowa, after 32 years as a school social worker.

1978

Diane (Bandel) Padrutt of Marshall, Wis., is a piano accompanist for church, school concerts, solos, and ensemble groups.

Kathy (Jacobson) Ruhser teaches K–6 music at MFL MarMac Elementary School in Monona, Iowa.

1979

Christopher Cudworth held a solo exhibition titled Road Trip at Water Street Studios in Batavia, Ill. It featured a suite of paintings called Decorah Roads. Portions of the show will be exhibited in Luther’s Center for Faith and Life during Homecoming 2019.

Dagfinn Høybråten was appointed general secretary of Norwegian Church Aid. Previously, he served as Norway’s minister of health, minister of labor and social affairs, vice president of Parliament, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and general secretary of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Ken Meyer of Cedar, Minn., is retired after teaching high school biology, English literature, creative writing, and biomedical research.

1980

Peter Hovda retired as postmaster from the U.S. post office in Grand Meadow, Minn.

Jeff Peterson of Eden Prairie, Minn., retired from the Christensen Group.

Chris (Althuis) Schafer is director at the Thomas Tredway Library at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.

Kris (Skoglund) Tjornehoj is director of music and worship at Bethel Lutheran Church in Hudson, Wis., and conductor of the St. Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra in River Falls, Wis.

1981

Deb Olson retired as superintendent for the Clinton (Iowa) Community School District and is academy superintendent at Pangaea International Academy in Clinton.

1982

Charlie Busch is a recruiter for Kaiser Permanente in Denver.

Geoffrey Lauer of Iowa City, Iowa, was selected as chair-elect by the board of directors of the United States Brain Injury Alliance. He is chief executive officer of the Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa.

Gaone Masire of Gaborone, Botswana, retired from the African Union as head of the Division of Human Resources Management.

Lindy Weilgart is an adjunct professor with the Biology Department at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

1983

Gregory Hager was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is professor of computer science in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His research centers on computer vision and robotics. He also directs the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare.

Bonnie (Wilking) Penn is a physical therapist at Minnesota Head and Neck Pain Clinic in St. Paul, Minn.

1984

Kathryn Bader is director of social media in the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dave Baisden is a high school counselor for River Bend Community School District in Fulton, Ill.

Dan Kuester is an outreach specialist for the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C.

Knute Rotto is executive director at Indiana Mentor in Indianapolis.

Donn Sorensen is president of Mercy Health East Region in St. Louis and coauthor of Big-Hearted Leadership: Five Keys to Create Success through Compassion.

Ellen (Hanusa Wonderlin) Wilke of Des Moines, Iowa, is author of Claimed: Writings of a Preacher’s Kid, a collection of stories reflecting on her childhood growing up in Waverly, Iowa, where her father served at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

1985

Karen (Wilken) Braun was named one of the top 50 professors in business by Poets & Quants for Undergrads. She is professor of accountancy at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland. Her Managerial Accounting textbook, now in its fifth edition, is used in classrooms at more than 200 universities across the U.S. and Canada.

Gary Fulsaas of Decorah retired as head athletic trainer at State University of New York–Oswego.

1986

Diane (Davis) Barton is associate director of human resources at Cambridge Investment Research in Fairfield, Iowa.

Mark Birchard is director of network development at EHE International in New York City.

Karen (Schmidt) Schlindwein is executive director of Chosen Inc., a fostering and adoption support nonprofit in Waukesha, Wis.

Mary (Sparks) Thompson is market director of Behavioral Health at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

1987

Deborah Hanson-Gerber, master gunnery sergeant, played clarinet as a member of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Chamber Orchestra for President George H. W. Bush’s funeral service at Washington National Cathedral in December.

Scott Lien is CEO and cofounder at GrandPad in Orange, Calif.

Jay Mathis is superintendent of the Allamakee Community School District in Waukon, Iowa.

1988

Brad Capener is superintendent for the Jefferson (Ore.) School District. He recently published a book, Achieving Incredible Results for English Learners.

DeeAnne (Schultz) Marlow is chief human resources officer at Albemarle Corporation in Charlotte, N.C.

Lynn (Everson) Tully is the athletics assistant at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

Leah Vriesman is director of the executive education programs in health policy management and associate adjunct professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She was named 2018 Faculty Member of the Year by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration for her academic leadership.

1989

Eric Tvedt is pharmacy operations manager at UCare in Minneapolis.

1990

Marshall Beckman is associate professor of surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Jennifer (Angell) Green earned an innovative instructional leadership certificate from Winona (Minn.) State University. She is a high school teacher in the Byron (Minn.) Community School District.

Rachel (Kintzinger) Harpham of Redding, Calif., and her family published their first children’s book, 2 Years Old and 3 Feet High: A Toddler’s Take on Family, Fun, and Fowl.

Joan Meldahl Murnan of Bloomington, Minn., is reward solutions director at Thomson Reuters.

Paul Wenz is a biostatistician at Illumina in San Diego.

1991

Steve McArthur was promoted to inspector in the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division and assigned to the Rowley Training Center in Beltsville, Md.

1992

Melinda (Green) Hugdahl is director of development at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid in Minneapolis.

Andrew Mangion of St. Julians, Malta, is the executive chairman at EC, an English-language teaching company. He recently graduated from Harvard Business School’s OPM program.

Cindy (Halom) Sorenson is a neuropsychologist and director of outpatient services and psychology training at Lakeview Neuro Rehab in Waterford, Wis.

Karen (Titus) Trewin is a financial advisor at Thrivent Financial in Decorah.

1993

Ryan Butzman is general manager at Cresswood Shredding Machinery in Cortland, Ill.

Peter Olson operates Fiat Lux Window Cleaning Service in Roseville, Minn.

Kevin West was named Iowa School Social Worker of the Year by the Midwest School Social Work Council. He works for the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools, primarily with students and families at Hoyt and Weeks middle schools.

1994

Peter Strube of Mount Horeb, Wis., is CEO at Trollway Anesthesia and Education Seminars. He is also assistant professor at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago, Ill.

1995

Rebecca Klug is marketing and communications associate at Delaware Community Foundation in Dover.

Matthew Manke is senior associate at Hacin and Associates in Boston.

Karen Ryberg was a featured scientist in a U.S. Geological Survey publication, A Snapshot of Women of the U.S. Geological Survey in STEM and Related Careers. The women portrayed were selected by USGS associate and regional directors as representative of particular fields and to inspire future generations.

1996

Scot Reisinger is assistant director of workforce development and an adjunct faculty instructor at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Jaime Schultz is associate professor of kinesiology at Penn State University. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Australia in 2017–18. She is coeditor of Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader, recently released in its second edition, and author of Women’s Sports: What Everyone Needs to Know.

1997

Dave Coyle is assistant professor of forest health and invasive species extension in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University. He recently won awards for his extension work from the Southeastern Society of American Foresters and Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals.

Sara (Rebischke) Gallegos is a registered nurse at Calvert Health in Prince Frederick, Md.

1998

Gina (Napoletano) Clinger is an administrative associate at Global Telehealth Services in Hudson, Ohio.

Jessica (Peterson) Etten is senior director of alumni engagement and annual giving at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

Constantine Grancharov is senior product manager at IBM in Montreal, Québec, Canada.

Corey Schmidt is a founding partner and wealth advisor with IntentGen Financial Partners and Thrivent Financial in Naperville, Ill.

Angie (Poock) Schmitt earned a master’s degree in human nutrition and functional medicine from the University of Western States. She is a clinical nutritionist with Naturally Better Nutrition and a registered nurse at the Waverly (Iowa) Health Center.

Ann (Bossard) Smith is director of student services and special education for Howard-Winneshiek Community Schools in Cresco, Iowa.

Yer Vang is director of immigration legal services at Catholic Charities of Dubuque in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

1999

Matt Boulanger is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Chris Jacobson is a management consultant at Slalom Consulting in Scottsdale, Ariz. 

SiriAnna Strommen is pastor at Atonement Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Minn.

Maren (Kirkegaard) Walz is executive director of integrated marketing and communications at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse.

Kari (Todnem) Wendroth directed the Buffalo (Minn.) Community Theater’s fall production of the Steven Sondheim musical Company.