June 08, 2022

Class Notes

Find out what your Beloit friends have been doing over the past several months.

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Submit your news and photos to classnotes@beloit.edu. Submissions will appear in Beloit College Magazine’s printed and online editions. The deadline for our fall edition is August 1.

1950-1959

Carl Pope’53, Dacula, Ga., retired in 2011 from his position as regional sales manager with Seasafe, a manufacturer of fiberglass reinforced plastic products.
Bob Virgil’56 and Gerry Sylte Virgil’57, Ballwin, Mo., received Washington University’s premier recognition for alumni and friends, the Robert S. Brookings Award. This award is selected and conferred by the university’s chancellor and board of trustees and recognizes Washington University alumni and benefactors who have exhibited a strong commitment to the institution both through their volunteer engagement and extraordinary generosity.

1960-1969

Peter Gorham’67 has just published his eighth book, Galesburg, Illinois: Growing Up in an All-American City. It is a lovely remembrance of growing up in a small Midwestern town in the 1940s and ’50's, a time which will never come again. In addition to this book, he has published two novels, two books of poetry, a book of short stories, a book of wisdom, and a book about his father. Peter says he is “still looking for his métier, and time is running out.” This book and the others can be purchased on Amazon or by writing the author at peterauthorpjg@gmail.com.

In November 2021, Bill Putnam Jr.’65, Carthage, Mo., became the first person inducted into the Hall of Carthage Heroes, both as a citizen of distinction and as an athlete (swimming). In June 2021, Bill won three gold medals at the Missouri Senior Games for the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle swim and qualified for the National Senior Games in all three events.
Jon Hershman’68 retired in 1998 as a stockbroker and moved to Florida. Jon says, “I owe a big debt of gratitude to econ professors Les McAllister and Jerry Gustafson. Together they lighted a passion for economics that lasted a lifetime. One of my goals was to retire early so my wife and I could spend time reading, gardening, cooking, enjoying wine and wineries, and traveling to museums to visit art exhibitions, including some Paris museums.” Jon and his wife of 39 years reside near Sarasota.

1970-1979

Laura (Laurie) MacKenzie’74, shown fourth from the left with her Celtic big band Brass Lassie, has enjoyed a diverse, full-time musical career grounded in traditional music for 37 years. She has numerous projects spinning at all times. Brass Lassie is the realization of Laura's long-held dream, combining traditional Scottish and Irish music with a four-piece horn section, plus a rhythm section. More on the band is at brasslassie.com, and more about Laura's solo projects is at lauramackenzie.com.

David Spackman’70, West Newton, Mass., at far left, rolled out the welcome mat for Beloit friends Zak’73 and Wendy Avra Nimer Gordon’76, their son, Lukas Gordon, and Luke's cast and crew from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The group, shown in Royalston, Mass., in January, was working on Luke's senior film project at RISD. David generously provided accommodations for the entire group at his home, which made it into some of the filmed scenes. From left, David stands next to Luke, Zak, and Wendy.

Erik Gunn’78 was promoted to deputy editor at the Wisconsin Examiner in February. He joined the news site when it was launched in 2019 as part of States Newsroom, a growing nonprofit news organization based in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., and established to revitalize coverage of state government, statewide issues, and their impact on people's everyday lives. Erik last served in newsroom management when he was editor of the Beloit College Round Table in the winter term of 1978.
Credit: Greg Anderson

Melanie Kananen Woodworth’70 and Douglas Woodworth’72 have relocated from Oregon, Wis., to Cincinnati, Ohio, to be closer to their daughter’s family after they both retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dick Boisvert’72 and Deb Denig Boisvert’73, Deerfield, N.H., were in residence at Beloit as visiting curators of archaeology at the Logan Museum of Anthropology. Their appointment lasted for five weeks during the spring semester. Both retired in July 2018: Dick as state archaeologist of New Hampshire and Deb from work as a technology educator with long-term involvement in archaeology in the field and in the lab. Dick and Deb are sharing their time and expertise to catalog previously uncatalogued faunal material from the 1930 Logan-Saharan Expedition to Algeria conducted by Alonzo Pond (1918). They say they were delighted to return to find that the college community remains “vibrant and exciting.”
Michael Rosen’74, Skokie, Ill., and Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is managing director of Chicago’s Rosalind Franklin University’s Innovation and Research Park and Helix 51 biomedical incubator, which was featured in the business section of the Chicago Tribune in March 2022. The story was about the large biocluster in Lake County, Ill., with 122 bioscience companies and 33,000 bioscience jobs. RFU’s new science park along the Wisconsin border is the only such park between northern Illinois and Milwaukee, Wis. It has two industry tenants and six RFU disease-based research centers, while the incubator has eight early-stage biotech companies.
Kim Huckstadt’77, Maquoketa, Iowa, has been an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Northern Iowa since 2014. Kim says, “I have always been thankful for the experiences I had and the education I received at Beloit College.”
After 35 years in special education, Sue Gallaghar’78, Olympia, Wash., is now running a program for low-income seniors in the South Puget Sound region of Washington State, which provides resources for a variety of needs within the organization and in the wider community.
Mark Moffett’79, Greenport, N.Y., one of the world’s foremost ant experts who has been featured everywhere from National Geographic to Conan on TBS, wrote a moving tribute for The Skeptics Society about his Harvard graduate school mentor, the legendary biologist Edward O. Wilson, who died in December 2021.

1980-1989

Gary Cox’89 and Michelle Carlin’24 crossed paths unexpectedly last summer in Chicago where Gary is pastor of Santa Teresa de Avila Episcopal Church and Calvary Lutheran Church. Youth Guidance offered Gary's church an intern, Michelle, who had completed their program but was returning to college soon. Gary first thought it wouldn't be worthwhile to bring Michelle onboard for such a short time, then found out she was a Beloiter. He writes, “I thought to myself, ‘A Beloit student?! I'll take her for as short or long a time as we can get her!'” And sure enough, in the waning days of August, Michelle did a lot, distributing flyers for the church's Covid vaccine clinic, then returning during winter break to do many other tasks. “She was wonderful to work with, renewed my faith in the high quality of Beloit students, and made me even prouder of my alma mater!” Gary writes.

Michael Tarabulski’81, Alden Solovy’79, and Howard Park’81 met up in St. Louis, Mo., on March 6, 2022. Alden, who has lived in Israel for many years, was in St. Louis for a six-week stint as Liturgist-in-Residence at the United Hebrew Congregation.

Enjoying good wine spans all generations. While Anne Wood Wandler’83, right, was meeting a new employee at Spring City Wine House in Waukesha, Wis., the conversation turned to colleges. She discovered the person sitting next to her, Alicia Halvensleben’11, had also attended Beloit.

Cameron Murray’80 and Renee Heideman Murray’80 moved to New Zealand in May of this year to be close to their daughter, Rachel, and their grandson, Jay, born in 2020 in the city of Rotorua on the North Island.
Melita Schaechter Tunnicliff’83, Bettendorf, Iowa, is director of the LeClaire Community Library in LeClaire, Iowa.
Caroline Frankovich Ronten’84 retired and moved from Massachusetts to Spruce Head, Maine.
In February 2020, Eric Klusman’85, Los Angeles, Calif., started working as a senior architect at Scopely, a game developer and entertainment company.
Karen Frederick’86, Evanston, Ill., is super excited about Homecoming this year and notes that she also started a new gig in late April as director of customer advocacy at Icertis, a software company.
Joe Breiter’89, Brainerd, Minn., a marketing executive with Widseth Architects and Engineers, has been elected chairman of the board of public television station Lakeland PBS, based in Bemidji, Minn.

1990-1999

Justin Weisberg’93 has been practicing law for more than 20 years and handles criminal defense, traffic, and personal injury law. Justin is also co-host of the podcast and radio show Sips, Suds, and Smokes.

Erin McCluskey’97, Richmond, Calif., has been named the 2022 World Collage Day Poster and Cover Artist for Kolaj Magazine. World Collage Day is an annual, international celebration of collage held on the second Saturday of May. The magazine was published in May 2022. As an artist, Erin uses the name Erin McCluskey Wheeler.
Lauren Lambertson Leeds’98, Lansing, Mich., has accepted the position of director of communications for the Michigan State Budget Office.

2000-2009

Over the past few years, Heather Seabury Brown’02 has explored a variety of interests, turning some of them into entrepreneurial opportunities. She hosts live online yoga classes at earthsongyoga.com and sells unique and handmade items at dancingsparkcreations.com.

Erin Hanson Heist’06 released her debut album “From the Land of Rusted Dreams” on April 8, 2022. Inspired by bluegrass and string band music, the original songs on the album approach the common urban/rural divide found in traditional American music from a distinctly Southeast Alaskan perspective. Erin started digging into the history of bluegrass music while exploring WBCR's bluegrass vinyl collection.

Rosina Dickerson’05 is a bilingual coordinator at Puesta Del Sol Elementary School in Rio Rancho, N.M. She also works at Petco as a guest experience and herpetology specialist.

After a 10-year career as a professor of anthropology, Amy Hubbard’02 made the leap to industry. She is now the director of research at Anthrotech, Inc., a company which provides human dimension data for product design. She lives in Dayton, Ohio, with her husband, Jared, and adorable pup, Olive.
Meredith Hatcher Lagges’02 has been promoted to creative director at Epsilon, a division of the Publicis Groupe advertising agency. This is her fifth promotion with the company, which she joined as a proofreader in 2006. She resides in Oak Park, Ill., with her husband, Mark, and teenager, Jasper.
La-Dreya Givhan’03 has moved to Mableton, Ga.
Joe White’06, Brooklyn, N.Y., remains a musician, sound engineer, and writer, and just released an album of his radio opera “The Wagging Craze” on Brooklyn indie label Gold Bolus Recordings. Joe was scheduled to perform the work at the Prague Fringe Festival in May. During 2020, he was excited to collaborate with his partner, Gelsey Bell, on two sound walks: “Cairns,” which was named one of The New York Times’ “Best of 2020,” and “Meander,” which was commissioned by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Steve Harrison’07, Austin, Texas, and Erin Gurak’09 welcomed their son, Amos Henry Harrison, on Dec. 15, 2021. Amos will be in the Beloit College class of 2039.
Nachiket Karnik’08, Saint Paul, Minn., graduated with an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and began working as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group’s Minneapolis office.

2010-2019

Emily Mingus’16 and Isaac Makos’16 marked their first wedding anniversary with a celebration that several Beloit alumni attended last summer. From left are Aimee Oda’16, Charlotte Giese’17, Grace Adams’17, Isabel Taylor’15, Madalyn McHale’17, Emily, Scott Jones’16, Isaac, Kevin Schreiner’16, John Glennan’16, Ryan Daly’16, Taryn Hansen’17, and Cate Rubin’15. The bride's father, John Mingus’89, was also in attendance.

Kevin Joswiak’18 is a program manager for Fairbanks Morse company. In 2021, he and his college sweetheart, Abby Gessell’19, married and bought a house in Beloit.

Alexis Kosik’19 graduated with her master's degree in social work from Illinois State University in May 2021. In September 2021, she started working as a residential support specialist at a transitional living program for emerging adults with mental illness. In this role, Alexis leads groups, models independent living skills, offers emotional support, and more to the young residents. Alexis says, “I am really enjoying it so far. I am also currently working towards my LCSW.”

Sophia Rogers-Davidson Castaldo’18 and Joey Castaldo were married on Oct. 3, 2021, in Chico, Calif. Shown at the small, intimate wedding, from left, are parents of the bride Rob Davidson’89 and Linda Rogers’87, and the bride and groom. Beloit friend Ryan Jaquemet’19 also attended the celebration.

Atiera Coleman’10, Chicago, Ill., has been hired as one of Rock County’s Equity Managers. In this role, Atiera will work with the county and community to remove systemic barriers that negatively impact residents.
Joe Davis’10, South Pasadena, Calif., was named the lead play-by-play announcer for FOX Sports’ Major League Baseball coverage, which will make him the new voice of the league’s premier events, including the World Series. He is the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After witnessing a terrible tragedy in her community and having the building she called home evacuated due to unsafe conditions, Alicia Halvensleben’11, Waukesha, Wis., decided to run for the Common Council in the City of Waukesha. During this time, she bought a new home and had to have an unexpected surgery. Despite all of these challenges during her campaign, Alicia was elected to the Common Council.
Daniel May’17, Washington, D.C., earned his Juris Doctor from Elon University School of Law in 2019 before becoming an attorney with Kase & Associates, a real estate law firm.
After graduating from Beloit, Farhan Tahir’19 went on to complete his master’s degree at Texas A&M University, then moved back to his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan, to work in his family’s company, Haji Sons Group. Farhan is working to uplift smallholder farmers by giving them access to finance and quality inputs. Farhan has worked with the State Bank of Pakistan to help develop the country’s first electronic warehouse receipt payment system and has implemented it in the ecosystem of smallholder farmers.

2020-2029

DaZha Creal’21 has relocated to Denver, Colo.
Jamie Velasco’21 has moved to St. Louis, Mo.
In January, Rose Williams’21, Whitewater, Wis., started working as a clinical research technician for Labcorp, a pharmaceutical research company.