OA-Spring 2023

C L A S S N O T E S one, including a divorce, but I am grateful for so much good in my life and excited about Reunion.

Karleen McNeal, MD and her husband, Erlandas, are still working in Champaign, Illinois. She works with hospice and nursing home patients. Her four children, Joseph, Matthew, David and Camille, keep her busy with cross country, track, swimming, gymnastics and scouts. Her family will finally be getting back to Lithuania this summer. Vickie Dennison Murphy lives in Kentucky after moving to take care of her mother, who sadly passed away last September. Vickie is a cancer survivor and works in short sales negotiating between banks and borrowers. Leigh Lingenfelter Westergren and her husband Matt are settled back in Georgia near her family after being gone for 28 years. Leigh works remotely as a mental health counselor. Her oldest son, Zach, lives in Colorado, her middle son Benjamin was married in February, and her youngest son Sam is in the Navy. Leigh spends some of her free time in the pottery studio! Laura Myron Ohania n is scheduled to take the Security+ certification test in February and should start an apprenticeship in cybersecurity soon after. Her son, Bearj, 16, is doing well after receiving chemo and a bone marrow transplant in July 2022. Her older son, Antranik, 19, is doing well. She misses Heather Tetzlaff Smith ! Providence Never Fails. Regina Zielinski Portugal and her husband Jonathan just celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in September. She is currently working in the Financial Aid office at Valparaiso University. Her daughter Isabella works as an ICU nurse in Santa Fe and her other daughter Sofia is a freshman studying kinesiology at Vincennes University. Jennifer “Jenna” Roenitz Brech and her husband Kenny will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in June. They are happy to be Tennessee residents now and recently celebrated their oldest daughter’s wedding. Life is wonderful! Julie Ward Wagner sends a hello to everyone from Beaverton, Oregon. Mark and Julie celebrated their 22nd Anniversary this year. They have four teens in high school, and their “baby” is in Middle School. Laura Kestner had a chance to return to SMWC last year to attend a wedding and was encouraged by the growth of the campus and the energy in the atmosphere. She continues to ride horses as often as possible and even had a chance to compete locally in the past year. She wishes our class a year of fun travel, great seats at concerts and performances of all kinds, strength in hard times and continued health and love. Maureen “Megan” Galvin Pershing married her long-time love Bill Pershing on October 8, 2022. “I am still enjoying my job greeting patients as Front Desk Coordinator at Dr. McKenzie’s office. I have added being a Health Coach and love helping my clients get healthy.” I still live in Parke County. My youngest will graduate from ISU this May. I am still in education, serving as principal of a Vigo County middle school. ’92 Jayne Ann McMullen Virostko 2474 W Lambert Ave Rosedale, IN 47874-7010 (812) 239-2566 jaynevirostko@gmail.com ’93 Susan “Sue” Yochum 7510 W Lawrence Ave Apt Ga Harwood Heights, IL 60706-3482 (423) 617-2897 sueyo71@gmail.com Wendy Fries Brown - I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since we graduated. Todd and I will celebrate our 30th anniversary in June. Levi (son) is finishing his chemical engineering degree at Rose-Hulman next

year. Kaylee (daughter) will be entering college this Fall. This past year Todd’s dad and our dog, Tiffie, passed. I’ve spent a lot of time in Florida helping my mother-in-law. I do love the warm weather and seeing Lisa King Miller ’94 frequently. Dr. Valencia Williams lives in Oak Park, Illinois. She has a daughter, 28, a son, 11, and a husky, 3, Draper. She is the Behavioral Health Director for the American Indian Health Service of Chicago. With that, she knows Heather Tetzlaff Smith ’92 is smiling down on her. Dr. Williams owns a private practice in Oak Park named Championz Korner, PLLC. She provides therapy services, training and consultations. And to her ‘93 Woodsies, she still enjoys dancing! I’m doing well in the Chicago area. It feels good to be finally staffed enough to take some well-needed time off. Since my last update, I’ve become a member of the Unitarian Church of Evanston. And in October 2022, I made my first commitment as a Providence Associate! I’m looking forward to this year’s Reunion and am having a fundraiser auction for class gifts to SMWC! Erica Simel Stevens and her partner took part in the 2022 Rebelle Rally. They were the fourth overall rookie team and winning the award for Team Spirit. The Rebelle Rally covers 2,500 kilometers of stunning terrain across the Nevada and California desert. Blending the love of driving with the ultimate challenge of precise navigation, the Rebelle tests teams’ skills over eight days of competition. It is not a race for speed but a unique and demanding event based on the elements of headings, hidden checkpoints, time, and distance using maps, compass and roadbook. ’01 Gail Baker Zwaska 839 Newberry Dr Batavia, IL 60510-3278 (630) 730-7967 gail.addison@gmail.com Greetings! Thank you for sharing your news with us! You can also find our class on Facebook at “SMWC Class of 2001”. Kathleen “Kate” Richardson Pattee works part-time for a non-profit, Youth Service Alliance, assisting with their programming and education in the community. The Alliance serves schools, churches, and jails and organizes community programs. Kate also runs her own business, The Deepest Well, instructing TRE (tension, stress and trauma release), along with self-regulation strategies, to children and adults. Kate still lives in Logansport, Indiana, with her husband, Jeremy, and two boys, Seth, 17, and Richard, nine. Sandra “Sandy” Bohmeier reports that she celebrated being cancer-free for five years! She says from 2011 to 2020 she had two lumbar back surgeries, two knee replacements, and two mastectomies. She’s “celebrating being alive and well.” Sandy works part time for the Vincennes, Indiana YMCA as a lifeguard, and she travels and visits children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She thanks God for his many blessings and Gloria Memering, SP ’62 for her prayers, support, and guidance throughout the years. Paulette Campana stated, “I want to say how happy I am that our beloved Alma Mater seems to be thriving and continuing to adapt to provide excellent educational opportunities for its students.” In 2022, Paulette traveled to her ancestral lands in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Her10th great grandfather was Grand-Council Chief of the Mi’kmaq ’96 Rory Gillingham 1692 W 13th St Erie, PA 16505-5104 (317) 403-8480 roryeg@yahoo.com

’90 Jane Abbott

113 Prairie Ave Apt 1S Highwood, IL 60040-1700 (847) 687-9559 jmasmwc@joimail.com

Carolyn Alexander Nelson writes: My biggest update is Deron! Reunited with my high school sweetheart and we’re engaged! We enjoy singing together in the choir at church and going to concerts, the symphony and musicals. Celebrated my 28th year with the State of Illinois. Margaret Clement Slawin and husband Mike attended Lauren’s (oldest daughter) college graduation in December from Michigan State University. Ellen (their youngest daughter) is a freshman at the College of St. Scholastica in Minnesota. Margaret and Mike are officially empty nesters and are enjoying travel and home projects. Leslie Lanigan reports: I work for VanTrust Real Estate and got a new position as “Project Controls Manager”. I relocated back to Kansas City to be near my family. Sharon Langworthy DesHotels here! This past October, after avoiding Covid for two years, my husband and I finally got it three days before we were to go to Paris! We will go in April, and so all is well. My stepdaughter had our first granddaughter in March, and we love Eloise and all the joy she has brought to our lives. Jamie Hunt Kauff writes that the family expanded by two grandsons, Judah Ryan and Dominic Bryce. She and George are planning a 10-day Caribbean cruise in March/April this year with their youngest son and wife. They celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Jamie says she still misses her Mom greatly, who passed in Jan 2022. Erika Hoover Aker writes that her father passed away in October after being in the hospital since Mid-August. She and her brothers are sorting through the family treasures, sharing lots of memories, tears and laughter. She and Joe are hopeful of some big changes. Joe selling his business, and both of them retiring to travel, do home repair and then see what the wind blows in. Kelley Reichert Ross writes that they became grandparents for the first time, Everlee Cecilia, and she has them wrapped around her pinky! Kelley is still an online business teacher and loves it. She was able to visit Michelle Garcia Coleman in October while in Florida and has dinner once a month with Jennifer DeVoss Winklejohn . Kelley says she loves meeting and reconnecting with everyone at the Indy area alumni events. Carolyn Miller says that she had a busy year visiting her daughter, who worked in Colorado for most of 2022 and got to see Angela Roads Leonard and Katherine “Kathie” Butler while there. She is very happy that her daughter is back in Fort Wayne. She saw State Representative Tonya Nation Pfaff officiate Carolyn’s niece’s wedding. I am still in the Chicago Area, doing home health physical therapy (PT). After more than 25 years doing PT, I still love the challenges and meeting new people. I am really looking forward to going to Tennessee this spring with my niece Amanda and her family.

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