1930s

Former football All-American Mel Hein (’31 Phys. Ed.) was inducted posthumously into the new WIAA Washington State High School Hall of Fame April 21, 2004, at Seattle’s Seahawk Stadium Club Restaurant. He came to WSU from Burlington and led the Cougars to the 1931 Rose Bowl. During 15 seasons with the New York Giants, he was named first-team All-NFL center eight straight years, 1933-40.

1940s

Katherine P. Grigg (’45 Home Ec.), Shoreline, retired in 1986 after 24 years as chief clinical dietitian at Northwest Hospital in Seattle, and has been a volunteer there for 16 years.

John M. Kuhlman (’48 Econ.) taught at the universities of Richmond, Cincinnati, and Missouri-Columbia. He retired from Missouri in 1985 and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1988, and to Weaverville, North Carolina, in 2001. He writes, “Thanks to the GI Bill and those wonderful teachers at WSC after the war, I have lived a life of adventure and enjoyed every minute of it.”

1950s

Clifford A. Gillies (’51 Phys. Ed.), Washington Interscholastic Activities Association director (1982-93), was inducted into the new WIAA Washington State High School Hall of Fame April 21, 2004. He began his career in education as a teacher/coach at Monroe High School in 1951, and later served as principal at Monroe, Snohomish, and Mariner high schools. He lives in South Bend.

Since retiring as a school librarian in 1985, Bernice Utal Levine (’51 Psych.) has returned to her original quest to be an actress. “Small successes, lots of rejection, but at least one great accomplishment every year keeps me going,” she writes from Cliffside Park, New Jersey.

Charles C. Parsons (’51 Hort.) is considered the dean of Spokane gardening. He bought Coldwell Greenhouses in 1954, and later Garland Florists, operating the business 18 years. He joined Spokane Community College in 1972, established the three greenhouses that continue to be the mainstay of the program, and retired in 1987 as Teacher of the Year.

Bill Britton (’53 Ag. Mech.) and Betty Eccles Britton (x’54) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary August 17, 2003, in Walla Walla. He farmed dry-land wheat (1956-67) and was a graduate research assistant at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (1967-68) and a technical writer for John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa (1969-87).

Retired architect Orville G. Lee (’53 Arch. Engr.) and his wife, LaLaoie, reside in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The surgical suite at the Los Angeles Zoo Hospital has been named for Charles Sedgwick (’56 Vet. Med, ’57 D.V.M.). He was also honored March 2004 at the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Wildlife Clinic, which he started at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. He developed and taught the curriculum, as well. He now serves on the Animal Welfare Commission at the Monterey (California) Bay Aquarium.

1960s

Paul N. Laufman (’61 Mech. Engr.), co-founder and chair of United Paradyne Corp. in Santa Maria, California, was honored at the December 11, 2003 dedication of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C. His name was engraved on the “Wall of Honor” entry lane to the museum. Laufman’s aerospace career has spanned more than 40 years, mainly in the design and development of large rocket systems. He retired as company president and CEO in September 2003.

Marilyn Sontag (’61 Home Ec.) retired as an advisor for the Upward Bound program at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc after five years. She previously taught in the Cambridge, Madison, and Manitowoc school districts, as well as at Lakeshore Technical College, and worked for University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Richard F. Barry (’62 Political Sci.), San Rafael, California, is president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the nation’s top 1,600 divorce and family law attorneys. He has more than 35 years of experience in matrimonial law, has lectured extensively on family law issues in the U.S. and Europe, and is a past president and director of the Marin County Bar Association.

Rich Gustafson (’62 Phys. Educ., ’68 M.A. Phys. Educ.) was re-elected to the Shoreline City Council in fall 2003.

Paul Roger Spencer (’63 Physics) retired in 1999 after working for Hewlett-Packard’s Laser Printer Division in Boise, Idaho. He and his wife Susan moved back to his hometown⁠—Pullman. They enjoy the WSU Libraries and living near relatives. He continues his membership on the U.S. Office Equipment Standards Committee, and consults part-time in imaging, pattern recognition, and print quality measurements.

Artist Ian Baxter (’64 M.A. Fine Arts) was one of seven winners of the fifth annual Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts last March in Ottawa. He was cited for having had “a profound and original influence as an artist and educator.” He is professor emeritus in the School of Visual Arts at the University of Windsor, where he began teaching in 1988.

William R. Graber (’65 Math.), Orinda, California, is an executive officer of McKesson Corp., a $57 billion healthcare services and information technology company.

Since retiring as president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America in 2003, Jerald V. Halvorsen (’66 Bact.) has been named a vice president of the Entergy Corp. in Washington, D.C., where he heads the federal government relations office.

Roy H. Johnson (’66 Phys. Educ.) and Geraldine Jandl Johnson (’65 English) retired March 1, 2004, to Everett from Torrance, California. His 37-year teaching career took him to Ephrata, Basin City, Kirkland, Germany, and Gardena, California. Her 14-year teaching career included assignments in Aberdeen, Seattle, and Quilcene. Both taught middle- and high-school levels.

Gordon C. “Mick” McLean (’67 Ag. Econ, ’73 M.A. Speech) is CEO of Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville. This is his third turnaround effort, after taking administrative posts at financially troubled North Valley Hospital in Tonasket (1984) and Whitman County Hospital and Medical Center in Colfax (1987) and putting them on a sound footing.

Jon Whitmore (’67 Speech, ’68 M.A. Speech) was invested as a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in April at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Since its founding, 182 men and women have been recognized for their distinguished service and accomplishments in the field of theater.

Russ Mager (’68 Industrial Tech. Educ., ’71 M.A. Guidance & Counseling), Seward, Alaska, owns Major Marine Tours. He was cited as one of Alaska’s top operators of day cruises in Kenai Fjords National Park and Prince William Sound in 2003. The tour company also was honored as the 2003 “Outstanding Business in Tourism on the Kenai Peninsula.”

Ammon McWashington (’68 Phys. Ed.) is high school director of the Seattle School District.

Since retiring from Kaiser Aluminum in 2001, Thomas B. Brattebo (’69 Political Sci.) spends his time as a substitute teacher and fishing in the Spokane Valley, near his Liberty Lake home.

1970s

Jon Eliassen (’70 Bus. Adm.) is the interim president and CEO of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council. He retired from Avista in early 2003 after more than 30 years as vice president and chief financial officer.

John Ted Sanders (’70 M.A. Math.), Denver, is one of five appointees to a new five-member advisory board for the Teacher Support Network. The Princeton, New Jersey-based company provides schools and teachers with tools, techniques, and processes that focus on recruiting, developing, and ultimately training highly qualified teachers. He is president of the Education Commission of the States.

Charles A. Simpson (’70 Engl.) has joined Complementary Healthcare. The founding member of the organization has had a private clinical chiropractic practice in Cornelius since 1979. He lives near Forest Grove.

Peter John D. Smith (’71 Hotel & Rest. Adm.), Seattle, has been named president and CEO of the AFM Hospitality Management Division. Earlier, he spent 20 years with Westin Hotels & Resorts, rising to executive vice president of operations.

Paul J. Fletcher (’72 Civil Engr.) has been promoted to the rank of major general in the U.S. Air Force and awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service at Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Now he is deputy for Air Force Plans and Programs at the Pentagon.

At age 29, John McGrath (’72 Hotel & Rest. Adm.) opened McGrath’s Fish House in Salem, Oregon, in 1980. He now owns 13 restaurants in the Northwest, including two in Salem. During the summer of 2004 he plans to open a restaurant in Phoenix.

Robert Berg (’73 Police Sci.) was named the chief of the Centralia Police Department in January 2004 after 32 years as a reserve police officer there. He is the former deputy director of the Washington State Gambling Commission.

Wes Ward (’73 Geology), Tucson, is the western regional geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. He joined the USGS permanently in 1979. A surficial geologist, he works on the USGS astrogeology team. His primary work has been on mapping and surficial processes in the San Juan Basin, the Mohon Mountains Volcanic Field in southern California, and on Mars.

Matthew J. Wanchena (’74 Arch.) has accepted the newly created position of building official for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe near Auburn. 

Karen Keiser Wysaske (’74 Home Ec., ’90 M.Ed.) heads the mathematics department at Wy’East Middle School in the Evergreen School District, Vancouver. Her husband, Ronald Wysaske (’74 Bus. Adm., ’89 M.B.A.), is the new president of Riverview Community Bank in Vancouver.

In 2001 Gregory Pierce (’76 M.A. Police Sci.) retired from teaching criminal justice at Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, Oregon, to implement a new criminal justice program at Bethany College, a 600-student Lutheran school in Kansas. The college’s director of communications is retired Air Force colonel Harold Rothgeb (’65 Political Sci.). In the fall of 2003, Pierce hired Gerald Garrett (’66 M.A. Soc., ’71 Ph.D. Soc.), a retired professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, to teach Bethany’s on-line course in criminal justice from his home in Boston.

Richard K. Rogers (’76 Educ.) became superintendent of schools for the Oakley Union School District in Oakley, California, January 1, 2004. He writes, “This is my first (and hopefully last) superintendent’s job after 20 years as assistant superintendent for human resources, the last two in Oakley.”

Seattle venture capitalist Bob Wolfe (’78 Finance) spent three weeks last November and December in Washington, D.C., helping supervise the reconstruction of Iraq. He worked as a special assistant to the director of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the government agency in charge of rebuilding Iraq. He has worked for Trillium Corp., GT Group Telecom, and currently is employed by Northwest Venture Associates.

Timothy C. Hamilton (’79 Marketing), distribution and contract sales manager for Armstrong Building Products in Sumner, was one of 11 worldwide winners of Armstrong World Industries’ Chairman’s Award. The award is the highest honor an employee can receive. He was cited for superior leadership in the Pacific Northwest Territory. The Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based firm has 58 plants in 14 countries and approximately 15,700 employees. He was president of the Pierce County Cougar Club, 1999-01.

James A. Wells (’79 Ph.D. Biochem.) received the 2003 Hans Neurath Award of the Protein Society for his contribution to the understanding of energetics of protein-protein interfaces and designing molecular mimics for them. He is co-founder, chief scientific officer, and president of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals. An adjunct professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

1980s

William D. Marler (’82 Pre-Law), president of the WSU Board of Regents, delivered the University’s December 2003 commencement address. He said the political leadership in Olympia is failing WSU and higher education and encouraged the new graduates to work on behalf of public education for the next generation of college students. As an undergraduate, Marler was the first student elected to the Pullman City Council. He is a partner in the Seattle law firm of Marler Clark.

Richard Acuff (’83 Acct.), Lewiston, Idaho, has been named executive vice president and chief information officer at FirstBank Northwest. In the newly created position, he oversees data processing, voice mail, e-mail, and the Internet for the bank’s 17 branches in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.

Alexander C. Bennett (’83 Elem. Educ.) is assistant superintendent of the International School of Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. Work has taken him to Taiwan, Hawaii, the Philippines, Thailand, Paraguay, Mexico, and now the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

John Doan (’84 Geol. Engr., ’85 M.S. Civil Engr.) is assistant administrator for community development and parks in Sumner, Washington.

Scott L. Ramsey (’84 Hist., ’85 Educ.), is principal of Quincy Junior High School in Quincy, Washington.

Former football All-American Jack Thompson (’84 Phys. Ed.) was inducted into the new WIAA Washington State High School Hall of Fame April 21, 2004 in Seattle. He passed for 2,905 yards at Evergreen High in Burien, 1971-73. At WSU, he was the first junior in NCAA history to pass for more than 5,000 yards. His career totals were 601 completions, 1,086 attempts, 7,818 yards, and 53 touchdowns. He earned All-America honors in 1978 and was picked third in the NFL draft that year by the Cincinnati Bengals. Thompson lives in Seattle. His jersey and that of Mel Hein (’31 Phys. Educ.) are the only football jerseys retired at WSU.

Mace Barron (’86 Ph.D. Pharmacology/Toxicology) is the new chief of the Biological Effects and Population Response Branch of the EPA National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He conducted post-doctoral research on chemical bioaccumulation and biotransformation in crustaceans and fish at the University of Florida.

Carrie E. Byles (’86 Arch. St., ’86 Arch.) is a managing partner with the San Francisco architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP. During the past 17 years with the company, she has been a computer application specialist, IT manager and project designer, and project manager.

Leslie A. Miller (’86 Biol.) has joined the Central Florida YMCA in Orlando as vice president of leadership development and human resources.

Sherry Nelson Reichert (’86 Comm.) is director of communications and marketing for Highline Community College in Burien. The first community college in King County, founded in 1961, now has 10,000 students. Previously, she was director of student outreach and admissions at South Seattle Community College.

Les Wong (’86 Ph.D. Educ. Psych.) was named president of Northern Michigan University in Marquette last spring, after serving as vice president for academic affairs at Valley City State University in North Dakota.

Shad L. Pruitt (’88 Bus. Adm.) is director of debt administration at the Washington State Treasurer’s Office in Olympia. He and his wife, Kathleen (’88 Clothing & Textiles), live in Tumwater.

Julie Reed (’88 Elect. Engr.) teaches intellectual property management at Portland State University, where she is an adjunct associate professor in the Engineering and Technology Management Department. She is employed by Marger Johnson & McCollom, PC, a Portland patent law firm.

Holly Trujillo (’88 Human Nutrition), Puyallup, was selected Young Dietitian of the Year for 2003 in the state by the Washington State Dietetic Association. She is an outpatient dietitian at Valley Medical Center in Renton.

1990s

After spending five and half years with an Internet company in Bellevue as a webmaster, designer, and eventually creative director, Kevin Brockschmidt (’90 Fine Arts) has returned to freelancing full-time as a cartoonist and humorous illustrator.

Matt Templeman (’90 Comm.) joined KMTR-TV (NBC) in Eugene, Oregon, as news anchor last October, after four years in a similar position with KXLY-TV in Spokane.

Leah Kerrick (’92 Rec. & Leisure Studies) married Chad Endres October 11, 2003, in Coachella, California. She is a fitness director at Big Horn Golf Club. He owns Water Pro Pool Service.

Paul Twedt (’92 Bus. Adm.) qualified for 2003 membership in the Million Dollar Roundtable, an international independent association of nearly 19,000 leading life insurance producers. He is a field director for Northwestern Financial Network in Bellingham.

Travis Earl (’93 Bus. Adm.) was named budget director for the City of Everett after working nearly five years as a financial analyst and internal auditor.

Tim Rozell (’93 Ph.D. Animal Sci.) received the 2003 Commerce Bank Award and $2,500 for outstanding undergraduate teaching. He is an associate professor of animal sciences and industry at Kansas State University.

Bonita Bell (’94 Comm.), a Northwest Mutual Financial Network employee, has transferred to Spokane from St. George, Utah.

Kellie Cox (’96 Interior Design) is new director of catering at The Golf Club at Newcastle, Washington. She previously was director of food and beverage at the Sorrento Hotel in downtown Seattle and director of catering at Ray’s Boathouse in Ballard.

Damian Kunko (’96 Political Sci.), co-founder and CEO of the Rural Broadband Coalition, has joined the Washington, D.C., government relations firm of Strategic Marketing Innovations, Inc. as a senior consultant. The Alexandria, Virginia, resident spent six years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including service in Korea as part of a counterintelligence team.

Tim Osborn (’97 Political Sci. & Hist.) returned to WSU in August 2003 as assistant program director for the Construction Division of Facilities Operations.

Joshua Tripp (’97 Landscape Arch.) has joined the Spokane architecture firm of Adams and Clark, Inc., as a landscape architect.

2000s

Carolyn Ford (’00 M.F.A.) shares her teaching talents in ceramics, graphics, and art appreciation at Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina, and at the University of South Carolina in Spartanburg.