Classmate Bios (A-B-C)

This page contains biographies provided by classmates whose last name (maiden name for the gals)  begin with A-B-C, who wanted to share with you what has been going on in their lives.

Last updated:  8/7/19

A

Carole Aebischer Shand   (added 7/8/19)  

After high school, I got a B.A. from Saint Olaf college And a B from the University of Wisconsin. Then I (got a) job in the viola section of the New Orleans symphony. I still play there, although we’ve been the player-owned Louisiana Philharmonic since 1991
This season is 36 weeks September to May, and then I’m home in Minneapolis during the summer, where we’ve lived since 1981. My husband works in computer software in Minneapolis.

 

DICK ANDERSON

Graduated from Comm School at UW in 62. Married Sherry Barnes from class of 60. Went in service- got divorced and remarried in 70 to Kathy.  She passed away from cancer in 2015.  Ran The Neckerman Insurance Agency and lived on the west side my entire life.  Still don’t recognize the East side of town.

B

Suzanne Baird (provided by Phyllis Mintz Eisenberg 6/10/19)

Retired

Her favorite job was working at a mystery bookshop.

She has two great grandchildren that keep her busy. And she still lives in Boulder Colorado.

Victoria Beld  Acker (added 7/8/19)

I’m feeling fit and healthy for my age. I’ve been married over 50 years to the same nice man. We have three great children.
To stay healthy I exercise in classes and for my brain I play scramble and do crossword puzzles. A simple life but a good one.

HELEN BERNSTEIN NAGUSKY

Graduated Univ.Wisc. 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts major in Psychology

Married David Nagusky in 1962

Raised three terrific kids

Blessed with 9 beautiful grandchildren

Live in Cleveland Ohio where I have been for 55 yrs

MEd-counseling

MSSA social work

Worked as a medical social worker at Mt Sinai Hospital and Rainbow Babies and Children’s  Hospital in Cleveland until retired in 2005.

Volunteer doing Reiki with people experiencing Effects of cancer at The Gathering Place

Hobbies include hiking, biking, traveling, gardening, golf, bridge, photography …..

Blessed to have two of my three kids and 7 of my nine grandkids living in Cleveland

Happy….healthy….lucky!

MIKE BIGNELL

While most “58ers” continued in the halls of higher education I avoided the draft by joining an Army program that guaranteed being stationed in Europe. I spent 3+ years in Germany, including time with Evert Helms family in Gottingen. Meanwhile my broadcasting father bought a radio station midway between Ann Arbor and Lansing, MI where I joined the family upon discharge in 1961.  Enrolled at the U of MI as a psych major, met a librarian grad student, got engaged and followed her to Detroit transferring to Wayne State U. Changed major to sociology, worked on the city’s War on Poverty program while organizing a union of fellow workers. My anti Vietnam war belief and an indulgent wife allowed me to leave school and working for the city (Hatch Act) and I become press secretary for Gene McCarthy’s MI presidential campaign efforts from post NH through the convention in Chicago. Continued in politics and other indulgences, fathered 2 sons and, upon my father’s death moved to a condo in Brighton, MI to work at the family radio stations until we sold them toward the end of the century. Wife got a divorce and returned to the Detroit area. Our lads got their degrees, the younger one now an attorney in Brooklyn, NY while his big brother married and now has his family in the IT valley of CA near San Jose; his now retired mother looking after our 2  grade school granddaughters there. And since early this century I’ve worked as a field interviewer on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an ongoing job in research which continues to take me throughout SE MI. Sorry to be so long winded but hard to compress 60 years; has it really been that long since leaving West High?!

While most “58ers” continued in the halls of higher education I avoided the draft by joining an Army program that guaranteed being stationed in Europe. I spent 3+ years in Germany, including time with Evert Helms family in Gottingen. Meanwhile my broadcasting father bought a radio station midway between Ann Arbor and Lansing, MI where I joined the family upon discharge in 1961.  Enrolled at the U of MI as a psych major, met a librarian grad student, got engaged and followed her to Detroit transferring to Wayne State U. Changed major to sociology, worked on the city’s War on Poverty program while press secretary for Gene McCarthy’s MI presidential campaign efforts from post NH through the convention in Chicago.

Continued in politics and other indulgences, fathered 2 sons and, upon my father’s death moved to a condo in Brighton, MI to work at the family radio stations until we sold them toward the end of the century. Wife got a divorce and returned to the Detroit area. Our lads got their degrees, the younger one now an attorney in Brooklyn, NY while his big brother married and now has his family in the IT valley of CA near San Jose; his now retired mother looking after our 2  grade school granddaughters there. And since early this century I’ve worked as a field interviewer on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an ongoing job in research which continues to take me throughout SE MI.

Sorry to be so long winded but hard to compress 60 years; has it really been that long since leaving West High?!

Larry Blachman   (added 6/15/19)

Here is my bio:

“I hope you don’t fall asleep before you finish reading my exciting bio. Please don’t worry if you do. I fell asleep two times while writing it.  After graduating from Madison West, I attended the University of Wisconsin for 2 years. I then attended the University of Arizona majoring in Spanish and Portuguese. After that, I moved to Los Angeles and taught Spanish, Portuguese and ESL (English as a Second Language) at the high school level for around 12 years. Hang in there! I’m almost finished.

In 1978, I got my real estate license and left high school teaching. I have been selling and investing in real estate ever since, specializing in foreclosures and flipping properties.

My wonderful wife and I have been living in Palm Desert, California, for the past 15 years.

I wish all of you good health and happiness.”

Larry Blachman

David Black  (added 8/1/19

There have been no major changes in my life since the 50th reunion. I have however lost interest in international travel. Still love crazy San Francisco but sorry that it has become a city only for the rich or homeless and those of us that bought here long ago. Never thought I would live within a block of a billionaire or two. My involvement in gay rights continues for the causes mentioned in 2008.

When I hear about what it takes to get a college education today I realize how lucky I was to grow up on the west side of Madison in the 40’s and 50’s where I got a great preparation in public schools for an engineering degree at UW and later an architectural degree at the University of Washington (all with no debt) that then allowed me to do so many interesting and challenging things through the years.

David Black

Donald Blom   (added 6/15/19)

Worked 35 years at state of wi. dept. of transportation in the bridge office. Retired for 20 years. Married 55 years.   Widower 4 years.   4 children   11 grand children 9 great grand children Live in Madison and   Lake Tomahawk Wi.

Chuck Brictson (added 6/10/19)

It’s a daunting task to recap the years since my days at West High School. It’s a lifetime! But I’ll do my best to make it short.

Following graduation, I enlisted in the US Coast Guard in their 6X8 program – 6 months of active duty followed by 7 ½ years of reserves. This allowed me to serve my military duty and still start college without too much delay.

In 1969 I enrolled at UW – River Falls with plans to go back to UW – Madison to finish my degree. Fate had other ideas, and I ended up graduating from River Falls with a major in speech and a minor in sociology. Little did I know at the time how my ties to River Falls would run throughout my lifetime.

I started working at 3M as a salesman in the governmental reflective products division with the state of Missouri (my birth state) as my territory. I was on the road five days a week for three weeks out of the month. After three years, I made a decision to change jobs so that I could spend more time with my family.

I got a job with St. Louis University as assistant director of the Medical Center capital campaign. Following the campaign I moved to the main campus and worked in the annual fundraising and alumni relations field for three years.

At about that time, UW – River Falls started raising funds from alumni with their first annual fund appeal. I wrote the person in charge of the program and began a relationship with him. He ended up hiring me as their first alumni director, and we moved back to River Falls. I ran alumni relations and fundraising programs for four years, and then got a job offer to run the fundraising program at Regis College in Denver. So we packed up and headed for the Rocky Mountains.

After three years at Regis, I decided to go back into sales, and went to work for Commerce Clearing House selling law books that were updated each month with current tax law changes. My territory was Colorado Springs, so we packed up and moved again.

After three years with them, we had an urge to move back to the Midwest, and I got a job as a salesman with Modagraphics Corporation selling truck graphics to companies in southern Wisconsin. We relocated to Fontana which was on Lake Geneva. They later transferred me to the east coast as their representative, so we packed up again and moved to Yardley, PA. We enjoyed our time there, but we decided we were definitely not “easterners”. I was notified by some friends at UW – River Falls that the person that took my job there when a left for Regis, was planning to retire and a search for his replacement had begun. I threw my hat in the ring, and was hired to run what had become the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and the UW – River Falls Foundation.

They say you can never go home, but it ended up to be a great decision. I stayed in that position until retirement in 2001, and saw great growth in the Foundation and the alumni relations program.

Now the personal side of life. I married Jan Wolff in 1960 when I was a sophomore at River Falls. We had a son, Todd, and a daughter Cheri, and dragged them (sometimes kicking and screaming) all around the country as I went from job to job. Although it was hard for them at the time, they now can look back on the experience and count many friends they still are in contact with to this day. My son lives in Quakertown, PA and has two sons, Danny and Cory.

Daughter Cheri had two sons as well, Tyler and Zachery. Tyler lives in Arizona, and a year ago he and his wife brought twin sons into the world. What a delight that was, even though it made Jan and I great grandparents. Yikes! Cheri is a fourth grade teacher in Spring Valley, WI, and will retire after next year.

Reality Checks: becoming great grandparents and having children that are old enough to retire. Thank God growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.

We lived on a 130 acre farm in rural Spring Valley for 28 years. It was mostly woodland for hunting, with only 26 acres of cropland, which we rented out. They used to ask me if I was a  “gentleman farmer”, to which I responded that I was neither. We moved back to River Falls last winter (2019) and have now come full circle.

You pick up quite a few hobbies over the years, and I was no exception.

  • Motorcycling; we had a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle for many years, and rode pretty much all over the east and central states. We accumulated some wonderful memories. I wanted to accomplish two things: give my grandchildren a ride on the bike, and ride until I was 70 years old. Check, and check. My son and I took the bike on a gastronomic tour of Cajun Country that was both fattening and memorable.
  • Native Americans, black powder guns and the “old days”. I developed a great interest in our early ancestors, and early settlers. We erected a tipi on our land (18’ diameter), and I deer hunted with a replica Hawkin .50 caliber black powder rifle that I built. We had some fun times with that hobby.
  • Cooking and baking. I have always loved to cook, and being proud of my Norwegian heritage, went through a cultural skills program through Sons of Norway to become a Specialist in Norwegian Cooking. I still bake all the Christmas goodies associated with Norway.
  • Barbershop Harmony. In 1970 I joined the Barbershop Harmony Society, which changed my life forever. I have always enjoyed music, but Barbershop is something special. I have been singing in choruses and quartets everywhere we lived, and am now singing with the Croix Chordsmen chorus, my original chapter. A lifetime of wonderful memories with more to come.
  • Last year I joined the Giving Voice Chorus in the Twin Cities as a volunteer. This group exists to provide people with Alzheimer disease who love to sing, an opportunity to continue singing, along with their caregivers. What a gratifying activity. We rehearse weekly and perform in a concert once a year. I consider this opportunity a way that I can “pay it forward” and help people share in all the benefits I have found in singing. Music is a powerful thing!

 Gene Brown

I got degrees in mechanical engineering from the UW and the UI and taught at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, until retiring 4 years ago.  We have two sons, one of whom is a professor of applied math at the (other) UW here in Seattle.  My other son is a senior researcher at the RAND corporation in Santa Monica.  We have made connections with campus life here in Seattle and enjoy many University events as well as the pleasure of the company of our 6-year-old grandson in his many adventures: fishing, T-ball, skiing, and hiking.

Karen (Browy) Rausch  (added 8/7/19)

We live in Onalaska, Wisconsin. Jim and I have been married 30 years. Between us we have six children (ages 60, 57, 56, 54, 40 and 38), nine grandchildren (ages 40, 34, 32, 29, 27, 23, 16, 9, 5), five great-grandchildren (ages 17, 10, 5, 2, 1). I have been retired from the University of Wisconsin System for 19 years. We enjoy day trips to explore the area, going out for lunch often, and getting together with family when we can. We are very active in our church.

Jan Bruhn Jeffcoat (added 6/10/19)

EDUCATION

BA MA University of Wisconsin Madison

EMPLOYMENT

Media technology Administrator Madison College 1968-1991

President and treasurer Fidelity and Associates 1982-2005

Principal J.B. Jeffcott Associates 1989-2005

CEO Edumetrics 2003-2005

secretary, Treasurer Manistique Manufacturing and Technology 1990-1999

President 1999-2002

Manistique City Council 2006-2018

Mayor 2014-2018

Janet Bruhn Jeffcott Charities 2019

OTHER

Planning and Zoning Commission 2006- Chair 2014-

Prosperity Team Captain Land Policy Institute 2007

Kiwanis 2008-2011 President 2011

Elected Official Academy 2008

Michigan Women in Municipal Government 2008-2018

Michigan Association of Mayors 2014-2018

Strategic Alliance for Health 2009-

RECENT

Wisconsin Legacy Society 2018

Bardeen Fellow, Middleton Society of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health 2018

Ellen Louise Bubeck Laurent (updated 4/25/19)

After 11th grade, I returned to the DC area with my parents.   My dad had taken a job as head trainer for the newly developed CAA, which now is the FAA, and trained air traffic control agents, plus safety and medical personnel, and government investigation agents (for mishaps). 

I finished high school  (Northwestern HS) in our neighborhood a mile from the University of Maryland.   I was a National Merit Finalist, but chose to go to the University of Maryland, because I liked the area and the campus and was only 17. I majored in pre-med, with minors in psychology and sociology, and got a job working in the photo lab near the end of my Freshman year, and learned to develop film, print photos, do photostatic copies of scholastic records, and ID photos, plus light secretarial work.   I could fit in time before, between, and after classes and work weekends if the Campus Photographer needed help..  I joined a sorority (Tri Delt), worked in University Theater, and was on the Student Union Board, becoming chairman the next year, was chairman of the Sophomore Carnival my second year, chairman of the Freshman Orientation Board in my junior year, Rush Chairman for my sorority, and elected president, but I had finished my Pre-med curriculum in three years, so chose to spend my senior year preparing to make a living (if it became necessary) and took secondary ed courses, and did student teacher in my fourth year.

I got married to Bud Laurent the week after I graduated, and represented students of the Land Grant colleges and universities at the 100th anniversary of the Merrill Land Grant Act in Washington, DC, two weeks after I graduated, and began teaching at the high school where I graduated in the Fall.  Meanwhile, my husband finished up his degree, and moved to Atlanta in February.   He worked at Shell Oil Company, in public relations (which included  Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf) and this propelled him into radio work and he worked for an Atlanta CBS affiliated station for a year and a half.   He was offered a job in master scheduling at Lockheed Aircraft Company in Marietta (nearby), and he had worked for them two summers while in college (at that time working as a draftsman and majoring in Aeronautical Engineering.  He was in that job for a year when they asked him to come to International Marketing.    This was apparently what he was born to do, traveling all over the world, taking me along in the Summers.

I was teaching elementary school by that time, having taken courses to add elementary grades to my certificate at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.   We had two daughters by then.   I launched the “Right to Read” program in the Marietta School System and took a job as a reading specialist in their Title I program.   In 1977, we moved to Paris and spent five years there.   He was Vice-President, then President of Lockheed Europe.   I brushed up my high school French, and then took the Course in French Language and Civilization at the Sorbonne (it  was like a dream).   We convinced the woman who started th Cordon Bleu Culinary School up again after WWII (she was depicted with Julia Childs in the Movie), and she was so French,  but we bribed her with an offer to give her at least 50 American women students for demonstration classes (ladies I had to show around Paris during the Air Show) on a day during the Air Show, and have the classes taught by the French Canadian teacher at the American School who had just completed the full course (with his wife) at the Cordon Bleu.   She agreed to try it, and it was so successful, I asked if she would consider the saee thing for Americans who lived in Paris, and she did  6 Saturdays of Demonstrations, and continued with that after we moved away in 1982.   Bud and I took several of the series, and became pretty comfortable with doing French cooking.  Bud loved doing the pastries.   I specialized in the sauces (so much easier), and (although I knew how to do them, only assisted Bud if her needed me to do so.)   I was asked by the American Women’s Group if I would become the Avon Lady (not up my alley at all, but they begged and said they would come to my house to pick up their items so I wouldn’t have to travel all over Paris and the suburbs.   I agreed…and they kept their promise.   However, the Tupperware lady heard about me and was a friend of the Avon Manager in the area…so I agreed to do one party and let the chips fall where they may.   It was hugely successful…they were happy and I didn’t need to continue with Tupperware, although we became good friends.   I got my “Diplome”from the Sorbonne, then started taking courses in art and architecture from the docents at the Louvre.  When I finished those, I talked to local antique merchants and got them to give courses in English which I would translate for them…like “how to tell if it’s a real antique and what era” and “how to refinish antique furniture properly” (and not destroy its value).   My one regret was not being able to finish the course I had set up for myself as an apprentice to the local candy maker/shop owner.   I had it scheduled for the spring and summer of 1982, but Bud was offered a job of Director of Sales and Marketing back in Lockheed, and left in the early Spring.   Our elder daughter was graduating from The American School of Paris, and going to college, so there was much to do to get ready for all that.

So, Bud moved back in February of 1982, Cheryl went on a train trip with friends to the south of France and Italy, and then flew home to Atlanta, and  Donna and I flew back to Atlanta after Cheryl graduated and we saw her gang off at the train station.   We had bought a rental property before we moved to France (to keep our investment in the real estate market while we were gone), and I decided to take Real Estate Courses because Coldwell Banker had really done a dreadful job of taking care of the  property and I decided to take over managing it and learn the secrets of the universe of realty.   I enjoyed the course, passed the test, then took the two Post courses while it was fresh in my head, and went to work for a Realtor Broker friend of ours from old Jaycees days (the late 60’s and early 70’s, and I helped him to prep his agents for the Post Courses I had just taken and refresh them on the basics again. I did this and returned to work with the Jaycettes, having a monthly radio show telling the community what our charitable efforts would be during that time frame, and cleaning up the house we were renting to get new tenants.

We moved from Atlanta to Canada in 1989, and I sold both houses.   We lived in Ottawa for five years while Bud worked as Corporate Liaison in getting the new company (Lockheed Canada) up and running smoothly.

Our daughters were both married by then, and I continued to travel with Bud when he went somewhere I wanted to go.   He retired in 1993, and we moved to north Florida into our courtyard home we had built in 1991 (and leased back to the builder so he could use it as a model…it was the first courtyard home in north Florida).   Bud began to volunteer in local charities and I joined him, then he started to work the media centers for the Players Championship held at Ponte Vedra (nearby) and the Liberty Mutual Seniors Tournaments held in north Florida, and Palm Coast.    I worked in the Tournament Office, fielding phone calls etc, for 6 years, then took courses to become a Hospice Volunteer.

We were also running the Homeowners Association in our neighborhood, which had been only in Phase II when we built and we continued that until my parents needed most of my attention, and wouldn’t leave their home on the Chesapeake Bay, so I was back and forth until my father passed away and we sold their home and brought my mother down to live with us.  He died in 2010 and she died in 2014 (on Easter Sunday).

I began doing genealogy, and joined the DAR, proving two of my mother’s family members, and became Chaplain of our chapter for two years.    I still belong but am not taking any office.   I joined the Mayflower Society, and was elected Chaplain (called Elder) when I missed a meeting.   I’ll never do that again, but I’m still the chaplain at this point.

We moved to the World Golf Village in 2001, and are now in a retirement community, as of March of 2018).   Bud passed away the end of July (in his sleep).   I’m still busy with genealogy, and crafts, working in the Residents’ Association Office and doing my genealogy again.

Patricia Buck Gonzales   (added 6/15/19)

Patricia Buck Gonzales, married to Dr. Richard Gonzales for 51 years this August.  While the both of us and the world are falling apart our four children, their husbands and wives, our 5 grandchildren and their families are all healthy, smart and amazing.  They are our hope.

  We about to move after 26 years from our lake home in Miller Beach to a community in Munster Indiana that has an HOA and is closer to old friends and family.

MARY BUSBY BUSHNELL

I married Ralph Bushnell in 1960 and we have 2 daughters and 1 son, along with 7 grandchildren. Sadly, Ralph died of cancer last January.  I graduated from MATC in Data Processing in 1979 and finally got a BS degree at age 50.  I worked in Information Processing in WI and CA where we moved in 1989.  After we retired we enjoyed 10 years of traveling all over the world before Ralph got sick.  Some of our favorite trips were Turkey, New Zealand, hiking in the Swiss Alps, and Ralph always loved going to France.  I live in a 55+ village in Orange County, CA. and I still have our cabin near Yosemite.  Our son teaches at UC Davis and our son-in-law at Stanford, so I have 2 children and their families in CA.

C

VICTOR CASSIDY 

EDUCATION

BA English Columbia College, New York City 1958-62;

MA Economics University of Wisconsin 1962-66.

WIVES

Ingrid (dec. 1964) Son: Alexander, now an architect in Boulder, CO.

Naomi (div. 1977) Son: Mark, now a tax lawyer with Social Security Administration.

Donna (mar. 1984—will love forever!)

GRANDCHILDREN: ZERO!!  NADA!!  ZILCH!!

My two nincompoop sons have had many amours and have lived in sin from time to time, but no marriages or offspring resulted. This is a sore subject.

WORK

Was a corporate editor/writer. During the early 1990s, began to write art locally, worked my way up to national publications, and now write art books. My fourth book is at the publisher and will be out soon. (In case you want to buy copies of my books as Christmas presents for fifty of your closest and most personal friends, e-mail me and I will arrange a bulk discount!)

I do look forward to seeing all of you at the Reunion and hope that some of our favorite teachers are waiting to greet us on the West High tour. It would be a real pleasure to chat once more with “Froggy” Koehler or to be chastised for my wild behavior by Mr. Steiner. Make a list of your personal favorites and look for them in the hallways.

Dick Caswell  (added 6/15/19)

“After High school
Entered the US Air Force. Then off to Cal State University in LA.
Worked as a public school teacher then worked at the Denver post and Fed Ex.
Retired in 2001.
Recently celebrated 51 years of marriage to my wonderful wife.”

Sent from my iPhone

Elaine (Cavanaugh) Ninneman  (added 6/10/19)

Ron and I, following our retirements, have been living in South Carolina for the past 20 years. We built a home on beautiful Lake Keowee. We enjoy boating, golf, and in particular visits from our four sons and six grandchildren. They live in Albuquerque, St. Louis, Atlanta and our youngest in Greenville, South Carolina.

Following our marriage in 1959, a tour in the military took us to Honolulu, Hawaii and Rapid City, South Dakota. Ron had a career in law enforcement which moved us from Madison, to Baraboo, to Eau Claire and back to Madison. I received an associate degree in accounting and in my final position was with a nonprofit firm in Madison.

We are in good health and loving life in the south.

ANN CLARK JOHNSON

In Dec ‘64 I married Byron class of 57.We have two children born in 65 and 66 and they each have three children all grown up almost. 3 are 23 and the girls are 16, 18 and 20. I worked as an Occupational Therapist for 33 yrs and loved Rehabilitation. As my email states my hobbies are kayaking hiking and skiing and recently enjoy  pickleball. Summers are spent at our cabin near West Yellowstone and the rest of the year we are in Spokane in our same home 12 miles in the country. We have acquired a new chocolate lab puppy named Abbey. Cannot wait to catch up on the news from all of you looking forward to the reunion.

Joan Clifford Indermark

Schooling and Careers:  Graduated from Carroll College, now Carroll University, with a degree in Elementary Education.  Taught for 4 years in Brookfield, where I had been a student teacher, and 1 year in Milwaukee.  When our children were small, I was nudged by a neighbor to take a teaching assistant’s job in the Madison Schools, which ended up being a career for 25 years, mostly ESL/LEP.

Family:  Met and married Jerry in 1963.  We have a daughter Joanne and a son Jim.  Our daughter has a “Garden of Angels” near Portage, WI.  It’s purpose is to help people who are suffering losses of relatives and friends.  We are not always known by our names, but as “Joanne’s parents”.  She has given us a grandson and a granddaughter (died at 1 year old). Joanne’s husband Scott passed away 4 years ago.  Our son Jim and his wife Kristi have given us 3 grandsons and a granddaughter.  They also have a foster child.  They live in Florida.

Hobbies:  Reading and genealogy.  Researching family has brought me many adventures.  In 1990 we attended the reburial at Wounded Knee, SD of a young Native American girl who was originally found by my great-great aunt Clara’s husband after the Massacre at Wounded Knee. This is an experience I will never forget.  My great-great aunt worked for Women’s Rights with Susan B. Anthony.  She was the first woman to go to the University of Wisconsin’s men’s university.  Because of her I have had a few invitations for attendance at special events.  During U. W. graduation Spring 2019, she will be featured.  I was asked to attend and told I do not have to speak, just wave.

Travel: We have taken many cruises which are favorite trips of ours.  Our Alaskan cruise ended up being 2 weeks long, instead of 1 week during 911.  I love traveling in the U. S., my favorite spot being the Black Hills, SD, since I was 9 years old.

Currently:  We live in Portage, WI.  I have had a small business, “Giggles for Kids”, for 12 years in a building with other small businesses.  My favorite recent volunteer work:  I have been active on the Friends of the Portage Library Board, especially involved with preparing the huge annual book sale for several years.

Marsha Clinard Boast

For the past 50 plus years I have lived in Champaign, Illinois and am fortunate that my two sons came back to live here, too.  I arrived in 1967with my then husband (we divorced in 1989) and in 1994 met Charlie Boast on a blind date.  We married in 1996.  Charlie and I both have two sons and so my family doubled, now including 8 grandchildren.

After high school, I went to Vassar College (after a year with my parents in India), graduated in 1963 and received my MSW from Columbia University School of Social work two years later.  I worked as a psychiatric social worker, later in medical care and ended as a hospital social work director for a number of years.  More recently, until two years ago, I worked as a research interviewer for the University of Illinois.

Music has been my main hobby over the years and I sing in two groups, one of which is at the University.  Other hobbies including photography, volunteering, reading (mostly history), biking (though a year ago I had a bad accident with a number of broken bones) working out, theater and concerts, grandchildren and traveling.  Charlie and I travel a great deal both within the country (most often out west with Amtrak), and abroad (favorites include Patagonia, India and Turkey.)

I have over the years been very fortunate to have four grandchildren living nearby and have delighted in the times spent with them and taking them on trips.  It’s hard to believe that the oldest one is a senior in college and the next one just left for her freshman year at Notre Dame.  And a  step grandson is a sophomore here at Illinois which is a treat.

Friends from high school have remained in my life over the years and I have kept in touch, in part, through FaceBook.  Nancy Thielen and I play Words with Friends every day. Charlie and I  have spent time, over the years, visiting Maria Messina and her husband, Vince, who now are in Florida and we have been frequently visited Marilyn Metz and her husband, Larry who are in Washington, DC.  More than almost any other friends my life, those I knew in grade school and high school have been closest to my heart.

Ellen Cline Sperling (updated 6/20/19)

Born in Ames, IA and lived in 4 TX cities before the Cline family moved to Madison during war, peace and polio in 1945.

Attended Nakoma School K-8, West High 9-12 and UW-Madison.
Graduated with honors, married Keith Sperling (East High ‘58)
and taught in the Madison school system while Keith attended UW medical school.

Daughter, Ginny, was born in Denver and is now a physical therapist in Chicago.
Daughter, Sheryl, was born in Minneapolis and is now a teacher and reading consultant in Green Bay.
Son, Dan, was born in Seoul, Korea and is now in business in Santa Barbara.

Bonus for us is 6 grandchildren, all talented, of course!

From Denver we moved to Minneapolis and the Naval Air Station, then back to Madison where Keith joined the UW faculty.

My passion has been teaching school and patriotism in the primary grades. I have had that opportunity through schools and churches. I also have enjoyed volunteerism in schools, scouts and hospital settings and participated on various boards, including Navy Wives and Friends of the UW Hospital.

Family tree at UW-MADISON includes my parents, my sibs, Keith’s sib, I grand child and 7 through marriage. Both my father and my husband have served as chairmen of their departments-geology
and medicine. The tradition continues!

I have stayed in touch with many of you over the years and moves.

Memories of classmates and music are still vivid.

Let’s keep on ‘Rockin and ‘Rollin as long as we are able!
Ellen Cline Sperling

PATRICK T. COFFEY

I interrupted my  UW education with three years in the U.S. Army where I studied The Romanian language and spent a year and a half in Turkey.  When I finished my enlistment I returned to the UW and graduated in 1968 with a degree in Romance languages.  After two years in Graduate school I went to Italy to spend the summer and remained there for two and a half years teaching English.  I met my wife to be, and we married in 1972 in San Francisco.  Shortly thereafter I found a job as a college textbook representative. I worked one year in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky then three in Columbus Ohio, after that two years living in San Diego and working in Mexico and Central America.   We moved to Los Angeles and I traveled for two years to medical and nursing schools in the western half of the nation, and finally a few years to colleges and universities in Los Angeles and environs.  Tired of travelling, I started teaching ESL to immigrants at Hollywood adult school in the Los Angeles Unified School District and went back to school at UCLA in the Applied Linguistics Dept..  I earned an M.A. in  Teaching English as a second language (TESL)  I continued to that both at Hollywood and at Santa Monica College for about 15 years.  Meanwhile my wife Giovanna with a partner opened a skin care boutique on Melrose Place in L.A called Giovanna and Jutta.  After her partner Jutta, died Giovanna sold the business and we retired to Turin (Torino)  Italy to be near Giovanna’s family.  We travelled around Italy and Europe, but after six years there she died from a rare form of melanoma, and I remained in Italy for another four years until November 2016 when I came to Houston Texas and married an old friend from my teaching days in Los Angeles.  Yolanda Gomez is from El Salvador and has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. Now I walk the dog, do phone banking for Lizzie Pannill Fletcher the Democratic candidate for Congress in our district and  try to figure out what to do when I grow up.   Sorry to have left out all the interesting bits.