1960–1969 / 1970–1979 / 1980–1989 / 1990–1999

1960

John Bakke is a retired communication consultant in Memphis, Tenn.

Gary Berkland is a retired pastor in Morgan Hill, Calif.

1964

David Blockhus of Richmond, Texas, is a retired independent investment advisor.

Gloria (Flugstad) Jacobson is a retired piano teacher in Ridgeland, Wis.

Laura (Oppermann) Johnson is a retired clinical social worker in Tiffin, Ohio.

Lana (Bluske) and Hans Peterson ’61 live in Roseville, Minn. Lana is a retired director of guidance at Mahtomedi Senior High School. Hans is a retired athletic director at Roseville Area High School.

David Senjem of Rochester, Minn., was reelected to the Minnesota Senate, where he has served for 18 years. He will now serve as chair of the Senate Energy Committee.

1965

Wayne Paulson of Chandler, Ariz., is retired from the nanotechnology laboratory at Arizona State University.

1966

Nancy (Hunter) Adamus is a retired teacher in Penfield, N.Y.

John Bodensteiner of Scottsdale, Ariz., is a consultant at Northern Arizona Health Care.

Glenn Borreson is author of the book Take Another Look: Grace and Truth in Ordinary Places, a compilation of his reflections on a variety of themes from life and ministry.

Connie Kronlokken of San Rafael, Calif., is author of a fiction series including Fit Company for Oneself, featuring a fictional college largely based on Luther in the mid-1960s.

1968

Myron Heaton is director of the Myron Heaton Chorale in Las Vegas, which celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2020.

1969

Barry Bishop is a retired district underwriting manager at Federated Mutual in Owatonna, Minn.

Jeff Casper retired from the northeast marketing division of Cuna Mutual Company in Emerald Isle, N.C.

Shari (Kiely) Nelson is a retired teacher in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

Rich Rima of Summerville, S.C., is a retired principal systems engineer at SI International and a retired colonel in the US Air Force.

1970

Kathy (Klawiter) Elgethun of St. Louis Park, Minn., is a retired English teacher.

Billie Jean (Winger) Freemore is a retired marketing representative in De Pere, Wis.

Steve Glantz is a retired manager for Quaker Oats and Pepsico in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

John Hougen is a retired pastor in Elkins Park, Pa.

Judith Johnson Olsen of Newtown Square, Pa., is a retired adjunct English faculty member at Villanova University.

Janell (Masden) Rosenberg of Henderson, Nev., is a retired special education consultant.

1971

Harold Leroy Bradway is the cataloging librarian at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Michael Forde is an attorney, shareholder, and former president of Aafedt, Forde, Gray, Monson, and Hager in Minneapolis. He is listed in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America and was named to the 2020 Minnesota Super Lawyers list.

Alan Mersch of Medford, Ore., is a retired physician.

Mark Stengel of Atascadero, Calif., is a retired director of libraries and distance education at Cuesta College.

1972

Paul Aasen Jr. of Beloit, Wis., is a retired field biologist at Dow AgroSciences.

Barbara Fuller of Chicago is a retired physician/oncologist.

1973

Patricia (Shefveland) Jordahl retired as a fine arts division chair at Eastern Arizona College in Tucson.

Barbara (Grawe) Wedge is a retired physical therapist in Clinton, Iowa.

1974

Marilyn (Morse) Christiansen of Edina, Minn., is the education department student teaching supervisor at Gustavus Adolphus College.

W.D. Foster-Graham of Mounds View, Minn., is author of Never Give Up, the fifth novel in his series about the Christopher family.

Margi Preus of Duluth, Minn., recently published The Silver Box: An Enchantment Lake Mystery. She is a New York Times bestselling author and winner of a Newbery Honor.

Robert Schultz of Salem, Va., recently published Into the New World: Poems.

Angie (Geilfuss) Swetland of Eagan, Minn., is author of I Know You by Heart: Navigating the Dementia Journey.

Robert Yant of Muscatine, Iowa, retired after 43 years in law enforcement, 21 of them as director of public safety for the city of Marshall, Minn.

1975

Karen (Gesme) Brunssen, past president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, teaches voice at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. She also published a comprehensive reference volume, The Evolving Singing Voice: Changes across the Lifespan.

Alan Jacobsen of Bothell, Wash., retired as a technical fellow after more than 33 years at Boeing.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, was appointed to President-Elect Joe Biden’s new coronavirus advisory board. Mike also serves on Luther’s Board of Regents.

Ron Popenhagen recently published Modernist Disguise: Masquerade in Modern Performance and Visual Culture.

Diane (Njus) Valade of Ruckersville, Va., is a retired assistant professor emeritus of mathematics at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

1976

Brad Braley retired in June as a Presbyterian minister after 40 years of service to churches in Ida Grove, Nevada, and Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Shelley Bruce of Fitchburg, Wis., retired from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Kim (Taylor) and Jon Jordan live in Atlantic, Iowa. Kim is the owner of Anita Engraving and Awards. Jon is the health and wellness director at Heritage House.

Phyllis (Hardtke) Logan of Wild Rose, Wis., retired as registrar at Marquette University High School.

Julia Natvig is a retired occupational health nurse in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Tom Stark of San Diego, Calif., is a physician with the Department of Defense at the Naval Branch Health Clinic.

Luther Thoresen is a retired Lutheran pastor in Grundy Center, Iowa.

1977

Rebecca Boyd of Bellevue, Neb., is a retired archaeologist.

Steve Brauer of Coronado, Calif., is chairman and CEO of Flambeau Diagnostics, a life science micro-engineering company focused on infectious diseases.

Jerry Jahn is a retired systems support manager at American General in Houston.

Brian Rude of Coon Valley, Wis., retired after 20 years as vice president of government and community relations at Dairyland Power Cooperative.

1978

Becky (Essmann) Hamilos of Johnson City, Tenn., retired after more than 30 years of service as a registered nurse.

Nancy (Hawbaker) Harms of Sun Prairie, Wis., is a retired aquatics facility director.

Lori Knutson is a retired reading teacher in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Jim Pech ran the 2019 London Marathon. It was his eighth and (he says) final marathon.

1979

Phyllis (Zylstra) Comstock of Stillwater, Minn., retired from 3M.

Rebecca (Jessen) Lang is founder of LifeStrategies in Johnston, Iowa. She is a certified life coach and a trainer in motivational interviewing and patient-centered conversations.

Paul Moen is CFO of Crown Bank in Minneapolis and was honored as a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal CFO of the Year.

Martha (Gesme) Nielsen of Cary, Ill., retired as key account manager for SAS-Scandinavian Airlines.

1980

Mark Bailey of Palos Park, Ill., is a retired band director.

Jeffrey Dotseth of Coralville, Iowa, is a retired software engineer.

Jim Jackson retired as head wrestling coach at Shakopee (Minn.) High School. He previously coached at Apple Valley for 32 years. His career coaching record is 868-64-4.

Greg Vanney retired as director of marketing and communications at Valley City (N.D.) State University. He now makes his home in Decorah.

1981

Paul Ohlrogge of Black Earth, Wis., is an area extension director with the University of Wisconsin.

Jeff Paulson is president of Technical Solutions Holdings in Des Moines, Iowa.

Curt Tryggestad is superintendent of the Pine City (Minn.) School District.

1982

Karen DeBauche retired as band director at Urbana (Ill.) Middle School after teaching for 30 years. She was selected to represent Illinois for the 2019 School Band and Orchestra magazine’s Annual Directors Who Make a Difference Award. She also received the Illinois Grade School Music Association’s 2020 Cloyd Myers Memorial Award.

Carol Hagen, clinical social worker, retired from Luther College Counseling Service last spring. She is author of a new children’s book, What’s in the Rommegrot?!, available in the Luther Book Shop.

Michael Hahn of West Des Moines, Iowa, retired as budget systems administrator at the Iowa Department of Management.
Stephanie (Moard) Hansen is senior vice president, chief deposit, and cash management officer at Choice Bank in Eagan, Minn.

Cheri (Jeans) Holterman of Reedsburg, Wis., is the HR director at Dental Associates of Baraboo.

Julie (Jensen) McGowan is senior accountant at Nieminski Robbins and Associates CPAs in Barrington, Ill.

David “Chip” Norris of Champlin, Minn., retired as group president at Alerus Financial. He also serves on Luther’s Board of Regents.

1983

Duane Amhof is first vice president and regional commercial banking manager at Lincoln Savings Bank in Waterloo, Iowa.

Lori Beckman-Koehn of Dove Canyon, Calif., is a retired flight attendant with Delta and American Airlines.

1984

Jeffrey Anderson is an anesthesiologist with Associated Anesthesiologists in West Des Moines, Iowa. He also serves on Luther’s Board of Regents.

Anne (Mattson) McAnallen is a servicing financial specialist at Homeowners Financial Group USA in Scottsdale, Ariz.

1985

Sonja (Smith) Meyer retired after more than 30 years of teaching English at Glenbrook (Ill.) South High School.

Thomas Rosholt is the owner and principal at Tom Rosholt Consulting in Racine, Wis.

1986

Victoria Hoffman teaches Spanish at Xavier High School and is a medical interpreter for Humble Language Institute in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

1987

Kris Fadness is a teacher and head boys basketball coach at Austin (Minn.) High School. He has achieved 369 wins and six state tournament trips over his eight years of coaching in Austin. The community thanked him for his service to young people by naming their new basketball facility, the Kris Fadness Gym, in his honor.

Kristi (Sprague) Glesne and David Glesne live in Bloomington, Ill. Kristi is the associate director of work ready curriculum development and innovation at Heartland Community College. David is senior pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Carla (Meyer) and Mark Hillman ’86 are both teaching and learning coaches at the Graded American School of São Paulo, Brazil.

Rich Smith of Decorah is an account executive with Ease-E Medical.

Loran Storts of Decorah earned a master’s degree in education, psychology, and coaching from the University of Missouri and is assistant track and field coach at Luther College.

1988

Stuart Arey teaches physics and chemistry and is head of science at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey.

Todd Bransky was awarded the 2020 Employee Owner of the Year Award by the ESOP Association. He is a system integration specialist for Folience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and supports several business units with data integration, reporting, and workflow automation. Todd has been with the company since 1998.

John Nielsen of Hopkins, Minn., works in finance at Source Land Capital.

David Wrightsman is pastor at Ezekiel Lutheran Church in River Falls, Wis.

1989

Liz (Lee) Heinecke of Edina, Minn., is author of Radiant: The Dancer, the Scientist, and a Friendship Forged in Light. She has written six children’s science books, with Radiant being her first science narrative for adults.

Diane Kelly-Riley coedited an essay collection on student writing called Improving Outcomes: Disciplinary Writing, Local Assessment, and the Aim of Fairness. Diane is associate professor of English and interim vice provost for faculty at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

Melissa (Schupbach) and Michael MacGregor ’90 live in Urbandale, Iowa. Melissa is an elementary school counselor in the Urbandale Community School District. Michael is sales leader with Midwest Markets at Wellfleet Workplace.

Christopher Manke is executive director of Outreach for Hope for the Greater Milwaukee Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA).

Jill (Schroeder) Putman is CFO of Jamf Holding Corp. in Minneapolis and was honored as a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal CFO of the Year.

1990

Lisa (Martzke) Deemer is a school social worker for the Marshfield (Wis.) School District.

Kimberly (Saxe) and Brian DeVries ’89 live in Chaska, Minn. Kimberly teaches music at Southwest Christian High School. Brian is area director at Search Ministries.

Bonnie Gunzenhauser is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.

Catherine (Begalske) Koebrick is senior human resources director for the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

James Olson is senior project manager at Blue Origin in Kent, Wash.

Kara (Deckinger) Rudnick is a Law Enforcement Academy administrative assistant at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, Colo.

1991

Deanna (Lindell) Drum is vice president of people and culture at Auction.com in Irvine, Calif.

Duane Thofson is vice president of business operations at Digital River in Minnetonka, Minn.

Elaine Watkins-Miller is director of communications for the Iowa State University Foundation in Ames.

1992

Lars Anderson was appointed the Sixth Judicial District chief judge by Iowa Supreme Court chief justice Susan Christensen.
Kristen (Anderson) Heffern is an occupational medicine nurse practitioner at CentraCare Midwest Occupational Medicine in St. Cloud, Minn.

John Hollman is professor of physical therapy, physical therapy program director, and assistant dean of student and faculty affairs at Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences in Rochester, Minn.

Sarah Peterson is systemwide products director at the Tulsa (Okla.) City-County Library.

David Schneider of Edina, Minn., is vice president and chief marketing officer for the Red Wing Shoe Company.

1993

Britt Andersen is head of the art department at Sussex County Charter School in Denville, N.J.

Michele Davis is founder of Kisses and Wiggles Pet Sitting in Eatontown, N.J.

Lonnie Morken is a physical education teacher, volleyball coach, and athletic director at Mabel-Canton (Minn.) High School. When his school switched to distance learning last March, he started a YouTube channel to spread some laughs and encourage the kids in his mostly rural district to stay active. KIMT-TV and Rochester’s Post-Bulletin covered Lonnie’s project, which features funny workouts with zany characters and themes.

1994

Sara (McMurry) Dady is an immigration attorney and owner of Dady Law Group in Rockford, Ill.

1995

Jennifer (Christensen) Millspaugh is administrative assistant at the University of Michigan’s LSA Opportunity Hub in Ann Arbor.

Mark Ritter is president, medical director, and a specialist in orthopedic sports medicine and trauma at Methodist Sports Medicine in Indianapolis.

Kristin (Nagel) Rosenfeld of Arlington, Minn., is office manager at Henderson Healing Hub.

Rebecca (Borke) Voss is lead pastor at Wausau (Wis.) First United Methodist Church.

Julie Wold Stone is middle school reading and special education teacher, and gifted and talented advisor, for the Boulder (Colo.) Valley School District.

1996

Josh Byrnes is general manager of the Osage (Iowa) Municipal Utilities. He was recently appointed to serve as a board member to the Iowa Utilities Board by Iowa governor Kim Reynolds.

Jennifer (Molldrem) Fredrick is children’s services specialist at Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook, Ill.

Jill Johnson is on the nursing faculty and is simulation coordinator at Herzing University in St. Louis Park, Minn.

Amy Sproston is the first woman to run the 420-mile Jordan Trail, which typically takes 40 days to walk. Amy holds the current fastest known time on the trail at eight days, nine hours, and 28 minutes, beating—by more than 24 hours—the times of two British men who ran it in 2019. Amy documented the journey on her Instagram account.

Erin VanLaningham is associate professor of English at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.

1997

Erika (Andersen) Billerbeck of Solon, Iowa, is a conservation officer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. She is author of a new book, Wildland Sentinel: Field Notes from an Iowa Conservation Officer.

Kelly (Blough) Cox is a regional representative for the Indiana Association of Home Educators. She also volunteer teaches at a Christian women’s drug rehabilitation center.

Amanda (Alcock) Freese of Marion, Iowa, earned an MA degree in teaching and learning from the University of Iowa. She is the general and vocal music specialist at Francis Marion Intermediate School.

Lars Jensen of Stoughton, Wis., is a captain/pilot for Allstate Insurance Company.

Marsha (Knoke) Jevne teaches English for the LeRoy-Ostrander (Minn.) Public Schools.

Heather (Crowell) Langan earned an MDiv degree from Luther Seminary and is associate pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Claremont, N.C.

Arvind Ramnani is senior research analyst at Piper Sandler in Portland, Ore.

Kirk Severtson is professor of voice at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He was named the 2019–20 recipient of the American Prize in Conducting in the college/university opera division for the world premiere production of Mayo by Tom Cipullo.

1998

Stephanie (Spear) Filigno received the Carolyn and C. Richard Mattingly Leadership in Mental Health Award from the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation, which honors her leadership and commitment to the mental health and well-being of individuals with CF. Stephanie is a pediatric psychologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and a member of the CF Foundation’s Mental Health Advisory Committee.

Joe Grimstad is vice chairman of Decorah Bank and Trust Company in Decorah. The bank recently launched an online bank called greenpenny, which aspires to be a catalyst for positive environmental change. Money deposited in greenpenny is used only to finance renewable-energy projects of all sizes, primarily in the upper Midwest.

April Remfrey of Bülach, Switzerland, is founder of Remfrey Educational Consulting. In May 2020, she was an invited to be a member of the Toddle Future of Learning Panel, which explored the need for more inclusive international schools.

1999

Carryn (Ensrude) Anderson, as leader of the Head and Neck Treatment Team, received the Patient Satisfaction and Service Excellence Award as part of the 2020 University of Iowa Physicians Clinical Awards. Carryn is residency program director in the Department of Radiation Oncology and clinical associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Kate Helgerson is director of the Office of Rental Assistance for the Colorado Division of Housing in Denver.

Kurt Hoover is senior pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church in Joliet, Ill.

Lindsey (Smith) Munson of Rock Island Ill., is an early childhood special education teacher in the Rock Island–Milan School District. She also published two children’s books, Munson Marvels: My Forever Family and Munson Marvels: My Peach Family, which follow the life of a family throughout their adoption journey.

Alyssa Young is executive director of the Deke Slayton Museum in Sparta, Wis.

Jon Zora is customer service manager in industrial metrology for CyberOptics in Seattle.