1940s
Donna (Sinclair) Johnson ’48 (Mable, Minn.) turned 90 years old in April 2018, and continues to work as a librarian at the Mabel Public Library. She has worked there since 1994 and says she has no plans to retire. She previously worked for the local school system for 28 years as an elementary school teacher and librarian.
1960s
Gary Anderson ’64, ’72 (Apple Valley, Minn.) has been retired since 2000. After teaching elementary school for 17 years, he then worked as a media specialist in two different elementary schools for the next 17. One of the many programs he was involved in was a two-camera television studio that he ran with 6th grade students to broadcast the morning news and announcements each day. He has three children and five grandchildren.
1970s
David Urness ’76 (North Mankato, Minn.) retired from the Mankato Area Public School District at the end of the 2017-18 school year. He led the orchestra programs at multiple east-side schools for nearly 40 years.
Ronald Pollworth ’77 (Fort Smith, Ariz.) has retired from a 40-plus year career in marketing and public relations. He makes his home in Fort Smith, Arkansas and, last fall, published his first novel, “Heartache Along the Cannonball,” which is available at Amazon.com/books. He is currently working on a sequel.
Barb Bickford ’79 (Stillwater, Minn.) married Mike McCarthy ’78 in October 2017. Both geology majors, they met while at WSU in 1976 but went their separate ways. They reconnected in 2014 thanks to LinkedIn and classmate
Mark Baumbach ’78. In April 2018, they travelled to Hawaii to see an active volcano. Although Kilauea’s current eruption began a few days after they left, they did manage to see red hot lava before the main crater dropped 1,000 ft. The couple lives in Stillwater, Minnesota, on a glacial outwash overlooking a lake, and would love to hear from WSU classmates.
1980s
Ron Andro ’81 (Gibsonia, Pa.) is president and CEO of West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. Holding his BSN, RN, MS and HSM, he has been a nurse and healthcare administrator for the past 37 years. He is married and the father of two daughters, currently in college. He sends his best to his fellow classmates, friends and the University.
Rita (Hughes) Buehler ’82 (Kasson, Minn.) was named Kasson-Mantorville’s Teacher of the Year. She was honored with a surprise parade through the elementary school – not only for the award, but for her 30-year career in teaching as well. Buehler has taught kindergarten at the school for more than 25 years, retiring at the end of the 2017-18 school year.
Ross Evavold ’82 (Saint Augusta, Minn.) has joined the Echo Press as its editor in Alexandria, Minnesota. He previously served as the editor of the Chippewa Herald for more than two decades, which was named best daily in its circulation class four times by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
Timothy Glowczewski ’83 (Winona, Minn.), owner of Winona’s Lakeview Drive Inn, was honored with Visit Winona’s 2018 Partner in Excellence Award. The restaurant celebrated 80 years of serving Winona in spring 2018.
Robert Gardner ‘85 (St. Paul, Minn.) has joined the law firm of Price, McCluer & Plachecki in Winona. As an associate, Gardner practices in the areas of employment law, family law, personal injury and civil litigation matters.
Theresa (Gartner) Nunemacher ’86 (St. Charles, Minn.) has been working as a school social worker for St. Charles Public Schools since 2012.
Eric Kerska ’87 (Rochester, Minn.) was named fire chief of the City of Rochester, Minnesota. He has been with the Rochester Fire Department since 1994, serving as battalion chief since 2009.
James Mingus ’87 (Fort Leavenworth, Kan.) was announced as the next commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division. He is currently the director of the Mission Command Center of Excellence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Katherine (Anderson) Reller ’89 (Rochester, Minn.) was appointed senior vice president of quality and interim services for Parisi Healthcare Management in Tempe, Arizona. Reller is a nurse with over 20 years’ experience in quality and performance improvement and has served in multiple interim quality leadership and executive roles.
1990s
Chris Fink ’90 (Circle Pines, Minn.) has been named the new athletic director for Irondale High School, part of the Mounds View school district in Minnesota.
Luther Washington ’92 (Beckley, W.Va.) was named president of Kalamazoo Valley Community College. He is only the third president in the college’s existence. Washington most recently served as president of New River Community and Technical College in Beckley, West Virginia.
Thomas Brown ’93 (Canyon, Texas), head men’s basketball coach at West Texas A&M University, was named the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year and South Central Region Coach of the Year.
Julia (Buchanan) Espe ’94 (Clear Lake, Minn.) received the 2018 Kay E. Jacobs Memorial Award from the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. The award recognizes excellent leadership and involvement in MASA and other educational organizations by an administrator who is a woman. Espe is currently superintendent of Princeton Public Schools and previously served as principal of Austin High School.
Scott Mertes ’94 (Midland, Mich.) has been selected as the vice president of outreach and advancement at Mid Michigan Community College. He has been with the college since 2005 when he started in the student services division before becoming the dean of liberal arts in 2015.
Bradley Sawatzke ’94 (Annandale, Minn.) was appointed CEO of Energy Northwest in April 2018, after serving for a brief period as interim CEO. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nuclear Officer.
Jennifer Froh ‘96 (Camp Douglas, Wis.) was selected as a Champion in Women’s Health by the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation. She has worked for the Juneau County Health Department for 20 years, currently coordinating the Wisconsin Well Woman Program and working with the Women, Infants and Children program for Juneau and Adams Counties.
Rebecca Davis ’98 (Eau Claire, Wis.) retired as the Chippewa Falls High School principal after 20 years in administration and nearly three decades in education.
Robert Biesterfeld ’99 (Chanhassen, Minn.) was promoted to Chief Operating Officer with C.H. Robinson Worldwide. He has been with the company for 19 years, previously serving as President of the North American surface transportation, the company’s largest division.
Rocky Peterson ’99 (Winona, Minn.) retired in spring 2018 as a fourth grade teacher at Washington-Kosciusko Elementary School and as the Winona Senior High School varsity basketball coach.
2000s
Jake Peterson ‘02 (Winona, Minn.) joined the Webb Company as the vice president of sales and marketing.
Jill Rollie ‘03 (Austin, Minn.) was named the new principal of Woodson Kindergarten Center in Austin, Minnesota. She previously served as a continuous improvement specialist at IJ Holton Intermediate School and taught language arts at Ellis Middle School.
William Sabel ’05 (Andover, Minn.) joined the sales team at Motion Controls Robotics, Inc (MCRI) as a Sales Estimator and Quote Writer.
Emily (Lorenz) Krowiorz ’07 (Rochester, Minn.) is working at the Area Agency on Aging. She married Matt Krowiorz in 2015 and has two children, Matthew (10) and Ava (8).
Sarah Brechtl ’08 (Milton, Wis.) received the 2018 Educator of the Year award for the Milton School District by Milton Area Chamber of Commerce. She is currently an English teacher at Milton High School.
Kira Stearns ’08 (Brunswick, Ga.) currently works as a sea turtle educator at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
Samantha Pepprock ‘09 (Muskegon, Mich.) joined the law firm of Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge as an associate in their Muskegon, Michigan office. Pepprock practices in the areas of estate planning, business, real estate and immigration law.
Bo Ties ’09 (Iowa City, Iowa) completed a DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa.
2010s
Katherine Boone ’10 (Rochester, Minn.) began working for the Post Bulletin in Rochester as a sales coordinator.
Jillian (Freeman) Larson ’10 (Albert Lea, Minn.) married Randy Larson in January 2018. She is currently a second grade teacher at NRHEG.
Nicholas Antony ’10 (Grand Island, Neb.) has been working at Ingersoll Rand (Trane and Thermo King) since 2014.
Stephanie (Smith) McDonald ’10 (Neenah, Wis.) celebrated the birth of her second son, Benson, on April 1. Big brother Nolan (2 years), couldn’t be more excited!
Eileen Moeller ’10 (Winona, Minn.) is working as the Marketing and Sales Director for the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona.
Molly (McCurdy) McCabe ’11 (Rosemount, Minn.) recently accepted a position as a product marketer for Thompson Reuters in Eagan, Minnesota.
Hannah Rinken ’11 (Waterloo, Iowa) is currently living in Iowa, working with Athletico Physical Therapy as their Athletic Training Manager for Iowa.
Shannon Spahr ’11 (Winona, Minn.) has been promoted to Vice President/Controller at Merchants Bank. She has been with Merchants since 2010, most recently working as the controller since 2015. After graduating from WSU, she received her Master of Accountancy from Stetson University in 2012 and became a CPA in 2015.
Nick Cusick ’12 and Lily Wellenstein ‘12 (St. Paul, Minn.) were married August 4th, 2018 at Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior.
Meredith Dietz ’12 (Arvada, Colo.) married Cody Akason on May 6, 2018. She is currently employed as a Spanish teacher at Ken Caryl Middle School in Littleton, Colorado.
Matthew Kollmer ’12 (Afton, Minn.) graduated in May of 2017 from UNLV with an MFA in Creative Writing. His is teaching at UNLV and employed as a sales representative for Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas.
Bryan Lindquist ’12 (Carlton, Minn.) competed in the Boston Marathon in April 2018.
Richard Maki ’12 (Baraboo, Wis.) joined the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a conservation warden for Sauk County. He previously worked as a patrol officer in Lewiston, Minnesota, and as a boat patrol officer for Winona County, where he also provided search and rescue response.
Aaron Repinski ’12 (Winona, Minn.) received the People’s Choice Award and the Tourism Rock Star Award for his Winona Tour Boat Company during Visit Winona’s 2018 Tourism Celebration.
Lauren Barker ’13 (Madison, Wis.) is directing a feature film, a thriller titled Cohabitation, about a former paramedic coping with PTSD and a roommate with a long-held vendetta against medical personnel. Barker wrote the screenplay and will be producing it independently. Updates on the film’s progress can be found at facebook.com/cohabitation18 and twitter.com/cohabitation18.
Lindsey (Mitchener) Klindworth ’13 (Red Wing, Minn.) married Jacob Klindworth in June 2018. She is currently employed by Winona County Community Services.
Lauren (Nelson) Lau ’13 (Albert Lea, Minn.) married Dennis Lau III in October 2017, in Albert Lea, Minnesota. She currently works as an English as a Second Language teacher.
Lior Shragg ’13 (Chicago, Ill.) is engaged to Rebecca Leah Singer. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from WSU, he earned a Master of Music from the University of Arizona and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at Ohio University. An October 2018 wedding is planned.
Parker Ask ‘14 (Rochester, Minn.) joined the Post Bulletin in Rochester, Minnesota as a systems administrator in June 2018.
Kaley Jacobson ’14 (Watertown, Wis.) has been teaching English at Jefferson High School in Jefferson, Wisconsin for the past year. She will now take on head coaching duties for both the girls soccer and volleyball programs.
Heather (Johnson) Lammers ’14 (New Prague, Minn.) married Beau Gerard Lammers in June 2018. She is currently employed at Heather Anne Photography.
Melissa (Femrite) Toso ’14 (Duluth, Minn.) recently married Samuel Toso. She graduated from The College of St. Scholastica’s Master of Science Occupational Therapy program. She is currently working at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota focusing on acute care and inpatient rehab.
Gabriel Velez ’14 (Sunnyvale, Calif.), now an MD/PhD student at the University of Iowa, was lead author on a paper recently published which demonstrated the potential of treating rare and complex eye conditions by matching existing drugs with proteins that are abnormally expressed in the eyes of individual patients.
Derek Berggren ’15 (Browerville, Minn.) joined the Coon Rapids Police Department as its newest officer in May 2018. He had been hired by the department in late December 2017 as a trainee officer and since then has completed the department’s field training program.
Alex ’15 and Kourtney (Kavajecz) Hoff ’15 (Rochester, Minn.) were married in March 2018.
Connor Meers ’15 (Cold Spring, Minn.) received a Master of Social Work from St. Cloud State University in 2017. He was accepted into the Peace Corps in January 2018, and is currently on a two-year assignment in Colombia.
Ashley Walker ’15 (Shakopee, Minn.) was inducted into the Minnesota Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June 2018.
Derek Bodmer ’16 (Caledonia, Minn.) attended Oklahoma State University working on his master’s in International Trade and Development. In September 2017 he started a 27-month volunteer program with the Peace Corps in Senegal, Africa, as an agricultural specialist.
Shane Carlson ’16 (Bethel, Minn.) started as a reporter for the Union-Times in Princeton, Minnesota. He most recently worked as a columnist and story writer for the Midwest Racing Connection. He also serves as an Army reservist and chaplain’s assistant, reporting to Battle Assembly once a month at Fort Snelling.
Samantha Stokes ’16 (Red Wing, Minn.) is engaged to David Bronson Keller. Having received her bachelor’s degree in nursing, Stokes is currently employed at Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing. An August 2018 wedding was planned.
Grant Bodmer ’17 (Eden Prairie, Minn.) is currently working for LA Fitness in the Twin Cities as an operations manager.
Alivia Lind ’17 (Hampton, Minn.) is engaged to Kegan Markwardt. She currently works as a registered nurse at United Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. An October 2018 wedding is planned.
