1978 – Fall ’20 Class Letter
Gregg Petersen ’78
10829 Hilltop Lane, Columbia, MD 21044
410-884-0407 / [email protected]
Dear Classmates:
Happy fall classmates! My most fervent wish for you and your families is that this letter finds you in good health and spirits as we wait for the COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed. This letter will be much shorter than the one you did not have sent to you from the spring due to the interruption of the academic year with COVID-19. However, your spring class letter is uploaded to the R Connections webpage (ripon.edu/rconnections), and I will include it after this letter. In news since the spring, we led the #OneDayRally participation for the third straight year, we became aware that our classmate LIZ PECHA-POELKER ’78 is one of Ripon’s newest Trustees, and sadly we lost two of our classmates.
HEADLINES FOR THIS LETTER:
- Sad News
- ’78 Classmate Updates
- #OneDayRally-Class of ‘78 Again Tops Participation
- Class Letter Updates Needed for the Spring
Sad News:
THÈRÉSE DES LAURIERS FOX ’78 of Golden Valley, Minnesota, died May 15, 2020. At Ripon, she majored in French and business management and participated in Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She worked for the Robbinsdale School District for 20 years. Survivors include her husband, Chuck; two sons and three daughters.
NANCY SCHNEIDERS KREJCI ’78 of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, died June 5, 2020. At Ripon, she majored in economics and politics and government, and participated in Alpha Delta Pi sorority. She received a law degree from Marquette University Law School and was an administrative law judge for the State of Wisconsin for 38 years. She enjoyed attending sporting events and theatre and taking summer road trips. Survivors include her husband, GREG KREJCI ’78.
Some of you asked about a memorial fund for Nancy.
While I am not aware of a specific fund that was set up in Therese’s or Nancy’s memory, you can send a donation in their memory to Ripon: You can make a donation to the Ripon Fund, for instance. You do this by noting the purpose on the online gift form or send a note if you mail in a gift.
’78 Classmate Updates:
DAVE HANUS ’78 of Salem, Oregon, writes, “Surviving our stay at home order, working on the “honey do” list (amazing how the list grows while staring at the walls for months). Dreaming of trips to take and family to visit. Drove the Indian Ocean Drive, Hwy 1, Perth to Broome then to Horizontal Falls last November.”
LIZ PECHA-POELKER ’78 of Saint Louis, Missouri was elected to the Ripon Board of Trustees last fall! Liz was officially elected a Trustee in October of 2019 and her first meeting was in early February. She reports that the current staff – the VPs are doing a great job. “Enrollment is looking so good for the fall, if they can, of course, keep it up.”
#OneDayRally April 29th-Class of ’78 Leads Participation for the 3rd Straight Year!:
We did it again!!! Thanks to our 63 donors! Thanks to you, we broke the 2018 participation record of 48 donations set by our class in the inaugural year of the #OneDayRally! Our impressive show of support during #OneDayRally helped the College exceed the donor goal of 1,851 donors in 20 hours and 20 minutes. Special thanks to those who gave a second time to add to our number. And I do appreciate all of you that had the will but not the ability to be a part of this record this year. Finally, very special thanks to LOUISA GEBELEIN JONES ’78, LISA WOLLAN ’78, LIZ PECHA-POELKER ’78, and SUE FEITH SHANNON ’78 for their support reaching out by email and phone during the Rally.
So….what is our goal for next year? Since we hit 63 this year, I think we can hit 78 next year…and the name of our 2021 #OneDayRally Campaign?: “78 for ‘78” of course! We will need 15 more of you to give on the #OneDayRally date. I know we can do it. Please consider timing your Ripon Fund gift to Ripon for the last week of April next year.
I am very proud to be a part of this very spirited, charitable, and warm group of friends and classmates bound together by our Ripon experience that continues to endure 42 years later. Our list of donors follows. From JEANNE LIETZAN and ROB MEYERS’ initial advanced donations to JOHN ZINDAR’s in the final minutes before midnight central time, everyone’s support was needed to distance ourselves from the classes of 2000 and 2019 that tied for second at 52.
#OneDayRally Supporters (some were anonymous-thanks to you too!): Jose Aleman, Denise Baird, Leslie Balestracci, Beth Benezra, Danni Caldwell, Julie Sharon Chovan, Ginny McGehee Condon, Danny Davis, Catherine Depew, Barb Doerrer-Peacock, Erika Doss, John Ehrhardt, Rebecca Galloway, Patricia Gardner, Bryan Habeck, Mark Hebda, Susan Hedman, Alan Hodkiewicz, Helen Holter, Mary Holtrop, Erica Hill, Meredith Valentine Johnson, Louisa Gebelein Jones, Terry Jones, Melanie Civin Kenion, In Memory Of Tim Kingston, Greg Krejci, Sharon Raupp Langley, Carla Olsen Larsen, Karen Leahy, Kevin Leavitt, Bryan Lemmenes, Jeanne Lietzan (Game Changer), Karl Loucks, Beverly Spittell-Lehman, Jonathan Loew, Rob Meyer, Ann Miller, Paul Nancarrow, Justin Niebank, Jeff Orear, Liz Pecha-Poelker, Gregg Petersen (Game Changer), Barbara Janssen Pugh, Mike Rainey, Linda Brown Remick, Tom Ritsch, Sue Feith Shannon, Eddie Smith, Mary Sweeney, Geoff Thrumston, Kathryn Vermoch, Jon & Joan Verson, Laurie Wagner, Anita Wallace, Jim Wilkes, Lisa Wollan, Lud Wurtz (Game Changer), and John Zindar.
Class Letter Updates:
For the next letter, please send me your thoughts about Ripon or what you and your family are doing and include a picture. Do you have any new hobbies or experiences as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic? Send me a note about those! In the meantime, have a happy, healthy fall!
Best wishes and warm regards,
Gregg