Copyright @ 1998 by The University of Montan![]() FALL 1998 Volume 16, Number 1 Class Notes: UM Grad Shoots to the Top A photo of children on a trampoline appeared in the spring 1998 Montanan, alongside the announcement that Ely would be one of six finalists competing in this years William Randolph Hearst Foundations National Photojournalism Championships. In May, after a long weekend of on-the-spot assignments in San Francisco, Ely emerged as the top college photojournalist in the United States. I was pretty excited about winning the award, he said, but the best part was the experience of taking part in the competition. The rules allowed Ely only ten rolls of film to cover three different stories: life on the San Francisco waterfront, 70,000 costume-clad runners in the Bay to Breakers footrace and a natural-gas explosion he heard about from a San Francisco cab driver. Ely was introduced to photography while growing up in Spokane, Wash. It was a hobby of my fathers, he said. This summer, after Ely spent two weeks as an intern for Indianas Evansville Courier, the paper hired him as a staff photographer. Ely is pleased that his first-place finish will bring national attention to UMs School of Journalism. Its a good reflection of whats being done here, he said. Garfield County Attorney Profiled for Courage When Garfield County Attorney Nickolas C. Murnion, J.D. 78, stepped up to the podium at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston on May 29, his entire family and eleven of his closest friends watched as
Named for President Kennedys 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, the award was established in 1989 by the Kennedy Library Foundation to honor elected officers who make decisions based on principle and the national good, despite opposition from special-interest groups or adversaries. Previous winners have included a Georgia school superintendent, several U. S. Congressmen, an Alabama circuit judge and two governors. In accepting the award, Murnion, who has served as Garfield County Attorney since 1979, said, I am not sure I did anything in this situation that any other prosecutor in America wouldnt have done. Every day all across the country men and women in law enforcement put their lives on the line to enforce the law to that the rest of us can live in peace. They are the true unsung heroes. Murnions acceptance speech was later entered into the Congressional Record by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Murnion noted that, unlike many of the heroes in Kennedys book who became isolated after performing acts of heroism, Murnion said, I was never alone. In my community I had my own support group the whole time. Class Notes were compiled by Joyce H. Brusin, M.F.A. 85. If you would like to submit information, please drop a line to the Alumni Association, Brantly Hall, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812-0013. Or e-mail your news to: alumnote@selway.umt.edu Pat MacDonald Donlin x 52 retired from Boeing Computer Services after 26 years. She lives in Kirkland, Wash., and spends late fall in Maui, Hawaii. She was president of Seattle Co-Arts and remains active in Quilceda Carvers and the National Wood Carvers Association. Donald C. Orlich 53, Ed. D. 63, teaches at Washington State University in Pullman. The fifth edition of his book, Teaching Strategies: A Guide to Better Instruction, has been published by Houghton Mifflin and includes an instructors resource manual. Alex McDonald x 55 retired from the Missoula Fire Department and lives in Hamilton. He volunteered his time by carving on A Carousel for Missoula and remains active in its care. Kathy Lindeman Bremicker 56 retired as a psychiatric social worker at the Mental Health Institute in Cherokee, Iowa. She and her husband, Gilbert T. Bremicker 56, have two children and five grandchildren. Gilbert retired in December 1997 after 21 years as Cherokees city administrator. Gilbert spent a total of 33 years in the city management profession, with positions in Normandy Park, Wash., and Bloomington and Blaine, Minn. He earlier worked as a methods analyst for the Boeing Company in Seattle and Renton, Wash. Ralph DeLange 59 retired from Syntex Corporation. He and his wife live in San Jose, Calif., and welcome visitors. Lawrence K. Larry Pettit 59 was chosen an outstanding alumnus by the Beta Delta Chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity at UM last winter. Larry has been president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pa. since 1992. David Dale 62 was pleased to see his name in the Winter 1998 Class Notes but called to correct his 1969 graduate degree to an M.A. and to add his most recent UM degree, an M.F.A. in 1991. He lives on the west shore of Flathead Lake and teaches Spanish at Ronan High School. Roger Stromberg 62 and his wife, Ann, live in Missoula, where Roger has established an independent investment firm. Corporate Securities Group, Inc. is affiliated with J.W. Charles, and member NASD & SIPC. Roger also serves as alumni chapter adviser for Phi Delta Theta. Jim Johnston 63 retired in June 1997 after 30 years of teaching and coaching at Orofino High School in Orofino, Idaho. He often travels to Troy, Mont., where he was raised. He farms, hunts, fishes and travels to see his two children and two grandchildren. Hes quick to reassure his classmates about where his loyalty lies. Throughout my career in Idaho, he writes, I have remained a true Grizzly. I have won my share of bets on Montana-Idaho games. Julia Conaway Bondanella 65 teaches French and Italian at Indiana University- Bloomington. Her publications, with Peter Bondanella, of Renaissance classics include translations of Vasaris The Lives of the Artists and Machiavellis Discourses on Livy. She co-edited the Dictionary of Italian Literature and The Italian Renaissance Reader. Michael Oke 65, M.A. 70, is vice principal of Vallivue High School in Caldwell, Idaho. Boh Dickey 66 has been named Alumnus of the Year by his former employer, the Seattle office of Deloitte & Touche, who selected him for his professional success and long-standing commitment to the community. Now president and chief operating officer of SAFECO Corp., Boh is active in several nonprofit organizations, including the Accounting Career Awareness Program for minority high school students, Junior Achievement, the Pacific Science Center and United Way of King County. Jim Schaefer 66 represents New Yorks Schenectady County on the Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor Commission, where he works on economic revitalization and tourism development issues for the area along the Erie Canal. Jim also teaches anthropology at Union College and has consulting grants and contracts for drunk driving prevention and to study young adult gambling behaviors. Berl E. Butch Stallard 66 retired from the Air Force in 1987 to become a school counselor. He is now in Tacoma, Wash., where he teaches science at Jason Lee Middle School. Butch accompanied his eighth grade class on a field trip to Costa Rica in May. My wife, Carol, and I love the Pacific Northwest, he writes, and travel extensively in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean every year. David G. Dave Armstrong, M.A. 67, enjoys reading Class Notes to find out what people he hasnt seen for years are doing. I thought Id send along a contribution of my own, he writes. I taught in Spokane for five years, headed to the coast and completed a Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1973. I worked for Western Washington University for two years, then headed to Texas A&M University in 1975. Dave was a professor and administrator there until 1997, when he became dean of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is married to Nancy Halvorson Armstrong x65 who teaches English as a second language. We enjoy this area, he writes, particularly the easy five-hour drive to Washington, D.C., where our son, Tim, is an attorney. George H. Peck 68 is director of public affairs for the Medical Center of Aurora in Colorado. He is responsible for community relations and internal communications and serves as senior spokesman. He was formerly director of community relations at Presbyterian/St. Lukes Medical Center in Denver. Diana L. Barrett Moon 69 left her job as an elementary school principal in Spokane, Wash., in 1994 to pursue a position as assistant superintendent for instruction in Rio Rancho, N.M. In 1996 she joined Apple Computer, Inc. as its educational development executive for the mountain states. This year she moved to Apples Chicago offices, where she directs strategic relations for the central United States. B. Tim Stark 70 writes, Just a short note to let you know I finally made captain at United Airlines. He still lives in Tacoma, Wash., with his wife, Nancy Fleet Stark 70. Tim captains the Boeing 767 to the east coast and Hawaii from his base in Los Angeles. He was hired by United in 1979, after 10 years in the Air Force. We still make a trip to Polson and Great Falls to see relatives each year. Bruce A. Sneddon 73, J.D. 96, retired in 1993 as a lieutenant colonel from the Army Infantry, after more than 20 years of service. He is a self-employed legal research attorney and this summer will move his practice to Whitefish. Mark Swanson 73, M.S. 76, says reading Class Notes gives him a chuckle. Some of those back room brawlers and neer do wells seem to have come around, he writes. Mark lives among the Great Lakes in coastal Manistee, Mich., where he is employed as county recreation director. He and his wife, Julie, are expecting their third child in September. Debra Diederichs 75 has been promoted to assistant vice president of OLDE Discount Corporation, a discount stock brokerage firm with headquarters in Detroit, Mich. Her primary job responsibilities are broker and street-side commissions. Debra is active in the group Montanans in Michigan, organized to celebrate Montana and raise funds for various Montana projects. L. Thomas Winfree Jr., Ph. D. 76, just published his fourth book, Contemporary Corrections. He has authored over 60 research articles and book chapters. He is currently working on a study of the New Zealand police, based on his 1996 sabbatical leave there. He lives in Las Cruces, N.M., with his wife, Eileen, and teaches at New Mexico State University, where he is academic department head for the criminal justice department. Susan Bayne Coyle Churchill 77 founded ACC Environmental Consultants, Inc. in 1986. This year the San Francisco Business Times included it in the Top 100 Women-Owned Businesses in the greater San Francisco Bay area. Deborah Doyle McWhinney 77 has been elected to a three-year term on the Berkeley Repertory Theatres board of trustees in Berkeley, Calif. Deborah is executive vice president of business planning and strategy for Visa International and also serves on the UM Foundations board of trustees. Larry M. Elkin 78 spent eight years with the Associated Press before becoming a certified public accountant and financial planner in the New York suburbs. In 1995 Doubleday published his book, Financial Self-Defense for Unmarried Couples. Larry publishes his own financial newsletter, Sentinel, which is named for the mountain in Missoula. William Finnegan, M.F.A. 78, lives in New York City, where he is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His fourth book, Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country, was published in May. Kent A. Borglum 79 has been a certified public accountant since 1980. He is president and general manager of American Benefits Consulting Group, the largest independent third-party employee benefits administration firm in Montana that serves the midwestern and western United States from Great Falls. Kent recently received the Qualified Pension Administrator designation from the American Society of Pension Actuaries. Steven Majstorovic 85, M.A. 87, teaches political science at Duguesne University in Pittsburgh. Douglas James DiRe 87, J.D. 93, joined the Dayton Law Firm in Anaconda. William F. Bill Borchers 88 of Polson worked this past winter with his wife, Teri, at Ross Medical University on the island of Dominica in the West Indies. We are administrators for a medical test review program for graduates that assists them in passing the U.S. Medical Boards, he writes. A fun gig that keeps us out of the cold. Todd Kelly 88 is an assistant professor of jazz studies and trumpet at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He and his wife, Kirsten, expect a second child in October to join their son, Connor. Mary Thea Tiki Stringfellow Levinson 88 writes from Naknek, Alaska, I was chosen as the 1998 School Librarian of the Year for the state of Alaska. Thanks UM for preparing me for success. Geneva Van Horne taught me nearly everything I know! Patricia Parobeck 88 obtained her masters in special education from Hunter College in New York City. Pam Hillery, M.S. 88, works as the public affairs specialist for the Environmental Protection Agencys Superfund Program in Montana. She and Paul have one son, Dolan. Leslie Lucas 89 transferred from Long Island, N.Y., to Palo Alto, Calif., where she manages the new Crate & Barrel Furniture store at Stanford. Steve Nemeth 89 received a masters in athletic administration from Idaho State University in Pocatello and is now assistant director of campus recreation there. He has been a womens basketball assistant for the Bengals for the past two seasons. Shawn O. Henry, M.S. 91, teaches exercise physiology at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore. Rhonda Malek McCarty, M.Ed. 91, is principal at Valley View School in Great Falls. Thomas B. Merritt 91 has been commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, following his graduation from Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va. Brian Bizzano 92 e-mailed from Washington, D.C., where he is enrolled in the Georgetown University M.B.A. program. My summer internship is in project development at the U.S. Generating Company in Bethesda, Md. I graduated from UM in finance and went on active duty in the Marine Corps prior to coming to Georgetown. Traci Stromberg Beighle 93 recently completed requirements for licensing in the securities industry. She is an investment executive with her father, Roger Stromberg 62, for Corporate Securities Group, Inc. Traci and her husband, Jackson K. Beighle 94, live in Missoula. Casey J. Fatz 94 received his M.D. in May from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He will serve a transitional residency in the University of Texas at Houston program. Christina M. Tina Parrott 94 writes after completing her stint with the Peace Corps in Botswana, in south central Africa, My assignment as a development officer for the Department of Wildlife and National Parks was rewarding and frustrating. After two years of Peace Corps, I was ready for a break and packed a backpack for five months of traveling in Africa (Zimbabwe to Ethiopia and back). I returned home briefly and am returning to Africa for more travels and in search of work. Having fun and enjoying life for now! Dawn Barron Walle 95 noticed the Montanan covering UM at home with and exploring the world. She wrote with some international news of her own. My husband, Craig, and I recently accepted overseas teaching positions for fall 1998 at the American School of Doha in Doha, Qatar (a small country north of the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian peninsula). ASD is an international school with a diverse English-speaking population, and we are very excited! Craig will teach elementary physical education, and Ill teach first grade. Ive spent the last two years teaching at an inner-city school in Fresno, Calif., while my husband worked for and received his masters degree from Fresno State. We have a daughter, Jaden, and a son, Tucker. We miss Montana and plan to spend the summer at Flathead Lake before we go overseas. Bridget Grosser, M.S. 97, lives in Duluth, Minn., where she is an assistant managing editor of New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams and a contributing editor to New Moon Network: For Adults Who Care About Girls. The Alumni Office extends sympathy to the families of the following alumni, friends and faculty. |
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