1920s

Mildred Sotola (’25 Ed.), Port St. Lucie, Florida, celebrated her 102nd birthday March 30.

Stanley W. Allegeier (’29 Elec. Engr., Hydrol.), Carmichael, California, is 97 years old and has served the Masonic Lodge for 75 years.

1940s

Howard Kittel (’43 Mat. Engr.) retired to Bellingham after more than 40 years of research and development of nuclear power for electricity generation.

1950s

Donald W. Bangs (’53 Geol.) is a retired educator living in Seattle.

Robert and Geraldine Haynes x’57 celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary in June.

Helen-Joanne Olson (’57 Phys. Ed.) retired from the Boeing Company June 2005 after 17 years. Olson worked as an airline representative with Middle East Airlines, Korean Airlines, and many domestic airlines.

1960s

Robert William Large (’60 Elec. Engr.) shifted from full-time to part-time last November at Tybrin Corp. at Edwards Air Force Base, in part to make time for more volunteer activities. Large is president of the Lakes Town Council and serves as chair of the board of Edwards Federal Credit Union in Lake Hughes, California.

Rita Grandgenett (’62 Home Ec.) retired July 2004 after four decades of working as a nutritionist/dietitian, college instructor, and manager of nutrition services at ConAgra and then Kellogg Company. She now serves as a nutrition consultant for Kellogg. So much for retirement!

Daniel Wallace Gregg (’66 Hist.) has established 60 partner schools between Connecticut and Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China. In April 2005 he was invited to deliver the keynote address for the first provincial institute on international education sponsored by The Ministry of Education in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. He was the first foreigner to participate in an internal policy-making conference on international education by the ministry.

M. Ruth Vesber (’68 Ed.), Washougal, retired June 2004 after teaching for 29 years.

1970s

James Clark (’72 Ag.), Lodi, California, retired from teaching agriculture after 25 years. Now he’s working with Home Depot part-time and is ready to enjoy more golf and fishing.

Gerald (Jerry) Brong (’73 Ed.) is on the faculty of Walden University and City University and works as a commissioned writer and fee-based speaker. He lives in Kittitas Valley with his wife Marlene.

Mike Hinz (’73 An. Sci., Bus. Admin.) recently coached the Pullman High School Greyhounds to a 2A girls state track championship. This is Hinz’s fourth state title in his 13 years as head coach. He also coaches a summer track and field club open to all ages.

Lawrence Wiberg (’74 Const. Mgt.) has been hired as president in the Spokane office of Graham Construction and Management Inc.

Diane Stone Wherley (’75 Pol. Sci.) is a detective and has been with the Seattle Police Department since 1979. Since 1997 she has been investigating cases of elder/dependent adult abuse. She has also been involved with training on this issue to raise awareness of the vulnerability of the fastest growing segment of the population in the country.

Camille S. Keefe (’76 Soc.) has run her own consulting company, HR Insight, in Woodinville, for the last 10 years. She is known statewide as a workplace management expert specializing in higher education.

Marilyn (Pfeifer) Santangelo (’76 B.A., ’78 M.B.A.) works for PACCAR Inc. Information Technology Division as senior director, ITD Europe. She and her family⁠—husband Michael and daughter Maggie⁠—have been living in Eindhoven, Netherlands, for the past three years.

Dan Berentson (’77 Comm.) is the Skagit County communications director. He recently received a Project of the Year award from the Washington State Chapter of the American Public Works Association for his compilation of historical newspaper articles on the Skagit River floods. The archive he created is now available online and in book form. Prior to joining Skagit County, Berentson published the Skagit Argus for 18 years.

David A. Somers (’77 M.S., ’83 Ph.D. Agron.) joined Monsanto Company last February as Agracetus biotechnology research lead in Wisconsin. He was previously a professor at the University of Minnesota.

Cyril Matthews (’79 Psych.) is director of strategic marketing for DST Innovis, Inc. He and his wife Janice live in the California wine country.

1980s

Scott Sampson (’81 Bus.) has been named Kitsap County assessor employee of the year. Scott is a commercial real estate appraiser, employed by the county since 1997.

Carl Click (’83 Comm.) left KGW-TV, an NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon, after 22 years as a reporter and news anchor. Click will be moving to KATU, Portland’s ABC affiliate, to anchor early morning news and co-host AM Northwest, the station’s one-hour morning talk show.

Rebecca Ask Gaudina (’83 Int. Des.), Formica Corporation, has received the North America “Logan Award” for her outstanding achievement within the architectural and design community servicing the Northwest.

Deborah Glass (’83 Elec. Engr.) was promoted to the Senior Foreign Service. She is the first female security engineer to enter the senior ranks of diplomatic security at the Department of State.

Steve Edmiston (’84 Econ.), Seattle, wrote and co-produced the independent feature film, A Relative Thing, which has screened at film festivals in Seattle, Palm Springs, Ft. Lauderdale, Newport Beach, and Ashland. Most recently, the film won the Copper Wing Award for best ensemble at the 2005 Phoenix Film Festival.

Quinn Phelan (’85 Bus. Admin.) and Mary Harless (’85 Bus. Admin.) recently married. They reside on Mercer Island and work in Seattle.

Steve Kealy (’87 Agron.) received two national awards at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Florida⁠—the 2004 Excellence in Government Relations Award and a President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship.

Boyd Quinn (’87 Bus. Admin.) is celebrating 10 years with Starbucks Company, where he was recently promoted to senior analyst. He lives with family in Snoqualmie.

David John Uselman (’87 Civ. Engr.) was recently promoted to squadron commander of the 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock, Arkansas. He previously held a staff job at the Pentagon.

Carol Blazevich Kowalski (’88 Comm.) was promoted to associate director of development for the Washington State University College of Liberal Arts. She drives the college’s development efforts in the Puget Sound region, working out of WSU West. Carol works closely with area alumni and friends focusing on leadership gifts and visibility for the college’s strategic priorities. Carol directed the WSU Foundation corporate relations office in Seattle for the past five years. Previously she enjoyed a career in Pac-10 athletics as marketing director at Arizona State University and Oregon State University.

1990s

Shannon Redford Burkhalter (’90 Child, Cons., & Fam.) is the owner of Braithburn Academy, a preschool and childcare center in Duvall. She lives with her husband John and their children Emree and Jack in Kirkland.

Dale Fried (’92 Phys.) has a new job designing and fielding laser radar systems at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Drew Bledsoe (x’93 Engl.) has been enshrined in the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame for his ongoing efforts to improve the lives of children by teaching parenting skills through both the Drew Bledsoe Foundation and the Parenting with Dignity curriculum.

Jeff Gehrman (’93 Anthro.), Camano Island, is district sales manager for Oakwood Worldwide and is responsible for sales and marketing efforts in western Canada, Seattle, and Portland. He was previously director of sales and marketing with Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Adam Rimmer (’93 Psych.) is a regional manager for Genie Industries, covering the southeastern United States. He lives in Holly Springs, North Carolina, with his wife Karla and son Colson.

Derek Young (’93 Comm.) is a team manager with T-Mobile USA in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2003 he earned an M.A. in organizational management. 

Krystal Kompkoff (’94 Comm.) was named one of the Alaska Journal of Commerce’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2004 for her work as chair of the STAR (Standing Together Against Rape) board and as the program supervisor of Alaska Job Corps, and for her involvement with the Alaska Native Professional Association.

Nelson Holmberg (’95 Comm.) launched Noslen Communication Services, a Vancouver-based consultancy serving small businesses without the staff or resources to do their own marketing and communication work.

Justin Marquart (’95 Bus. Admin., ’96 M.B.A.) and Lisa (McAndrew) Marquart (’95 Ed., ’98 M.A. Ed.) welcomed baby Jonathan Thomas to the family. Born May 12, he joins big brother William as a future “Gray W.”

Marc Martinez (’95 Comm.) moved to Phoenix, Arizona, June 2002. He is a reporter and fill-in anchor at the local Fox television station.

Ethan Schutt (’95 Math.) was named one of the Alaska Journal of Commerce’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2004 for his community involvement and his work on the general council for the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Aaron Schutt (’96 Civ. Engr.) was named one of the Alaska Journal of Commerce’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2004 for his community involvement and his work as an associate at the law firm of Sonosky Chambers Sachse Miller & Munson LLP, Anchorage, Alaska.

Gerard Bowen, Jr. (’99 Ed.), Metairie, Louisiana, received a Master of Health Administration degree from Tulane University.

DeWayne Growt (’99 Crim. J.), Springfield, Virginia, is a special agent with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, assigned to the protective detail of the secretary of defense.

Gary Kay II (’99 Bus. Admin.), Snohomish, recently started an independent record label called Double Dos Recordings.

Russell Thomas Needham (’99 Bus. Admin.) will be attending the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, in the fall as an M.B.A. candidate, class of 2007.

2000s

Brian John Gates (’00 Pharm.) married Naomi Rohrer (’00 Nurs.) in 2004 and works for WSU training pharmacy students. He is based with the Visiting Nurses Association in Spokane.

Jeremy James Green Hastings (’00 Phil., Hist.) recently left the Army, is opening a winery in Newport, and is going back to school for an M.B.A. at Eastern Washington University.

Jennifer Buren Carson (’02 Phil., Microbiol., ’04 M.S. Plant Path.) and Scott Carson (’03 Mus., ’05 M.A. Mus.) met as orientation counselors at Alive! and were married August 7, 2004, in Pullman. They live in Richland.

Yifen Wang (’02 Ph.D. Engr. and Sci, ’03 M.B.A.), Auburn, Alabama, has been named to an international board that will play a key role in ensuring food safety and security at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Jaime Renee Jones (’03 Gen. and Cell Biol.), Wenatchee, joined Intermountain AmeriCorps for a ten-and-a-half-month service to children, helping to teach them science. She also teaches after-school classes for sixth- and seventh-graders who need extra help outside of the classroom.

Denise Junell (’04 Apparel Merch.) was promoted to assistant manager of women’s active wear at Nordstrom in Bellevue.