1982 – Fall ’20 Class Letter

PETER HINTZ ’82/P’10 

W844 Lakeside Drive, Green Lake, WI 54941

920-229-4399 / [email protected] 

KRISTEN RASMUSSEN OLSON ’82 

1204 10th Street NW, Austin, MN 55912

507-279-1091 / [email protected]

Dear Class of 1982:

We hope this letter finds you and your families well! 

KRISTEN RASMUSSEN OLSON ’82 and I (PETER HINTZ ’82/P’10) write to kick off our reunion preparations for our 40th Reunion in the summer of 2022. With enough help and interest, we can truly make this 40th a reunion to remember! 

At this time, we are forming a reunion committee to help create an unforgettable weekend, and we are also seeking volunteers to contact hard-to-reach classmates and to help plan events. If any of you would like to volunteer, in any capacity, we would be happy to have your assistance. We look at this reunion as an opportunity to reestablish connections for those who may have fallen away from contact with the College, in addition as a chance to gather with old roommates, dorm mates, living group friends, fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters, and all other classmates and friends!

Some ideas for the Reunion in June of 2022 include the following:

  1. Class Booklet

Since many of us have not been in contact with each other in quite a while, a compilation reunion pamphlet/booklet/digital book would provide an opportunity to share and catch up. Many classes for 40th and 50th reunions have done this. Information included in the booklet could be, among other things,

  1. Majors/living group
  2. Family
  3. Post-Ripon education & careers
  4. What you are up to now
  5. Favorite Ripon memory (class, professor, activity, music, roommate)
  6. Share photos: Green List, graduation, submitted photos

We can also pay homage to members of the class who we have lost. 

  1. Dinner

Normally, for significant reunions like our 40th, a formal dinner has been offered at a location on campus. As with our 35th reunion, which we held in Lane Library, we can have an informal entrée-type hors d’oeuvres dinner. We can also opt for an off-campus location. Another alternative, which Kristen and I find intriguing, is to have a “Springfest” type of event on the lawn outside the reunion with a keg and other beverages and informal music and food, and maybe even a band. Some of you are talented musicians in your own right, and maybe you would consider being part of the entertainment. That would certainly be special.

  1. Other Reunion Activities:

We rented a big boat on Green Lake for our 35th Reunion. As you may know, the Heidel House closed in 2019, but talks are in the works here in Green Lake for a revamped resort. We may be able to avail ourselves to some of the amenities of the lake on this public space by then.

We welcome any of your ideas! 

Assuming and hoping that our current pandemic is resolved in the near future, Kristen and I encourage all of you to try to attend, but if that is not possible, please try to connect in some way. I am reminded of lyrics from The Car’s song, “Just What I Needed,” from their first album from 1978, “It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, as long as it was deep. Yeah.” We’ve all been on our own journeys. Alumni Weekends and Class Reunions are a great opportunity to share these experiences and celebrate our common experience as students.

For those of you who haven’t been to campus in awhile, you will note some things have changed. The road in front of Tri-Dorms and the Commons is closed, creating a nice campus walkway, and there is a campus green where the old gym used to be. There is a newly remodeled gym and fitness center and a new collaborative learning center in the library called the Franzen Center for Academic Success. Many things, however, are much the same. Living in nearby Green Lake and close to Ripon, I have taken advantage of walking the beautiful (and sadly vacant) campus this summer. Recently, on a whim, I tried a door to Scott Hall, and, finding it open, meandered up the 63 stairs (I remember counting them as a freshman) to 4th floor New Scott, to visit my old room, Room 406, which I had not visited since the spring of 1979. The hallway was much smaller and shorter than in my memory. They had painted some of the woodwork in the rooms “Ripon red,” but otherwise the rooms and furniture (and the view- spectacular for a college dorm) were much the same. 

While peeking into JOHN COLLIN ’82’s freshman room, next to mine, facing Lane Library side, I was reminded of the time John and I were in his room, in the spring of 1979, with the windows open, listening to Van Halen’s first album at a rather loud volume on a fine sunny afternoon, when Steve, the RA from Scott Hall (who lived exactly 63 stairs below us), came up to inform us that the library had called him and requested that we turn down our stereo, since it was bothering students in the library studying for exams. What a trip down memory lane.

For many of us, the freshman experience on campus was so profound. It is this residential and community experience that makes Ripon so special. Happily, the College is opening to in-person classes in the fall, with very thoughtful precautions and preparations. You can find this and other news online at https://www.ripon.edu/news/.

Best wishes to all of you and your families. Please submit any ideas you’d like to share to us for the reunion, and let us know if you’d like to help in any capacity. With your help, we can make it a fun and memorable event. Even if you are unable to help, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a note to our emails and we will be happy to pass along any news you wish to share. Don’t forget pictures, too!

News from our classmates:

We recently posted our spring class letter online on the R Connections website (https://www.ripon.edu/rconnections/). Please read news from KRISTIN JANSSEN ’82, MARTI SPITTELL ZIEGELBAUER ’82, KEVIN SHERIDAN ’82, KRISTEN OLSON ’82, and NANCY BUCK HINTZ ’82 and myself. 

Additionally, STEVEN WOODS ’82 of Prescott, Arizona, writes, “As the chief supply chain officer for the northern Arizona VA healthcare system, the COVID-19 emergency has been a trying time, but also rewarding knowing that keeping our medical facilities supplied and equipped enables our clinicians to save veteran lives.” 

Cheers,

PETER HINTZ ’82

Co- Class Agent with KRISTEN RASMUSSEN OLSON ’82

Posted November 6, 2020 in .