R Connections

Living in Eagle Colorado for 22 years now and still loving it.  I’m finishing up my fourth year of teaching 5^th grade (career #4!) and I think I’ve finally found what I want to do when I grow up.  I do still work part-time for Vail Resorts as well, and just hit my 25^th anniversary with them which means a lifetime ski pass!  My oldest son, Ben, graduates from the US Naval Academy this May, and is commissioning into the Marines as a 2^nd Lieutenant, heading to Flight School in Pensacola.  My middle son David is finishing his second year at the US Military Academy at West Point, and will be playing with tanks and armored vehicles this summer.  Youngest son Sebastian (currently a sophomore in high school) has been named to the AAU National Karate team, and will be heading to Budapest and Slovakia to compete in June, before heading off on a service trip to Nepal in July.  If anyone ever gets up to the Vail / Beaver Creek area, let me know!

Submitted by: Paul Witt

I am alive and well living in Pasadena California, still working in Estate Planning Law and managing wealth for clients.

Submitted by: Randall Bishop

Douglas R. Cole of Ohio, to serve as Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Doug Cole is a Partner at Organ Cole LLP in Columbus, Ohio, representing clients in complex litigation and intellectual property matters.  From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Cole served as State Solicitor of Ohio in the Office of the Ohio Attorney General.  In that role, Mr. Cole briefed and argued cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, the Ohio Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on behalf of the State of Ohio.  Before serving as State Solicitor, Mr. Cole was a Professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he taught courses in Corporations, Contracts, and Law & Economics.  Mr. Cole continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor at the law school.  Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Cole served as a law clerk to Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  Mr. Cole earned his B.A. from Ripon College; his B.S.E.E., with honors, from the University of Wisconsin; and his J.D., with high honors, from the University of Chicago Law School.

Submitted by: Jaye Alderson

My degree in philosophy prepared me for a career as a a worker priest: ordained in 1965, parish ministry 1965 to 1966. Associate Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University, 1966 to 1968, Sears Management training program 1969 while taking a Sunday Ministry position. Advanced in Sears to the position of Regional Personnel Director covering five states of Human Resource management including EEOC, Policy Administration and Labor Contract Administration while working as a Interim Ministry Specialist in three parishes while living in Minnesota. Returned to full time ministry in Minnesota as full time Interim Specialist. I was called from a my Interim assignment to a parish LaGrange, Illinois where I served as rhe full time Rector for twenty years. In my final six years I completed  Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Theology followed by a Master’s in Counseling and Human Services.I passed my State Qualifying Exams 2004 and was hired as a full time therapists by Psych Associates of Hinsdale. I worked under the supervision of a Psychiatrist for six years and eventually began my own business in 2010 where i continue to practice as a counselor during the week and take on frequent in invitations to preach and preside in many Chicago and suburban parishes.

Submitted by: David Weaver

I have changed industries once since I held my first full-time professional job.  In many ways what I do remains similar, in others it is radically different.  My entire career has been focused on social science work using a long list of knowledge and skills I’ve acquired since middle school (starting wih computer science and a strong command of written and spoken English).  However, my career started out in international education and now I do global applied research. The biggest change has been the advent of digital data.  I have always worked with information and the rise of the digital has dramatically changed the speed, accuracy and range of my work.  For example, I remember spending hours printing out and analyzing reams of statistical analysis on the dot matrix printers in the Ripon computer lab for a PoGo methods class.  Today, I run the same analyses, but in seconds on my desktop without a sheet of paper in sight.   Similarly, in one of my first positions overseas I spent hours writing emails on the earliest government internet system on a PC with a green screen.  Emais had to be bundled into packets before they could be sent over telephone lines.  Phone calls were minimized because of cost.  Today I bounce emails and calls off a satellite using a handheld device instantly from almost anywhere in the world.  Cultural and geographic distances have also shrunk.  I have always specialized in inter-cultural communication working with teams of people from or in other countries.  In my first job this required deep knowledge of languages and cultural context and infrequent, prolonged travel.  Today, almost everyone I work with speaks English, we communicate instantly worldwide via audio and video over the internet, I can roughly translate documents in a flash with online tools, there is a (mostly) shared global culture of the workplace and I get on planes to other countries like they are buses.  There is a constant need to change skills and knowledge in the workplace, and the trick to success is to keep up.

Submitted by: Karl Feld

Michael J. Brose practices civil litigation with an emphasis on plaintiff’s personal injury at Doar, Drill & Skow, S.C. in New Richmond. He received his B.A. from Ripon College in 1987, and his J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law.  Brose is a contributing author to The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook.

Click here for full article.

Submitted by: Jaye Alderson

1. While Born in Pittsburgh, Bennett Grew Up in Wisconsin

2. He Worked His Way up the High School & NAIA Coaching Ranks

3. Alongside Tony, He Helped Build Wisconsin-Green Bay Into a Division I Mid-Major Power

4. With Tony as an Assistant, He Helped Resurrect Wisconsin & Washington State With the Pack-Line Defense

5. The Rest of the Family is Accomplished

Link to full article. 

Submitted by: Jaye Alderson

Gerald passed away in February 2017. Gerald was a resident of San Diego, California at the time of passing. He graduated from Ripon College in 1955 with a B.A. in Economics.

Submitted by: Kimberly Scanlon

Constance D. Lindsey, 73, of Wake Forest, NC, passed away Friday, May 26, 2017.  Services will be private. Constance received her B.A. from Ripon College in 1965 with a major in German. She then received her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Library Science.

Submitted by: Kimberly Scanlon

BECKY HUSTAD ’91 and BRIAN FREY ’91 — Celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with at trip to Arizona in October including Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona, and many points in between.

Photo from left to right – Dorrie Smith Scranton, Chris Templeton and Michelle Martin

DORRIE SMITH SCRANTON ’87 of Woodstock, Connecticut and MICHELLE MARTIN ’87 of Madison, Wisconsin traveled out to Southwestern Colorado last fall to meet up with CHRIS TEMPLETON ’87 of Chicago, Illinois to spend a long weekend, hiking, off-roading, and fly fishing in the San Juan Mountains near Telluride, Colorado.

Submitted by: Dorrie Smith Scranton

David Mirisch ’59 shown on the flight deck of the USS Aircraft Carrier THE MIDWAY which is permanently docked in the San Diego Harbor. For 10 years David was on its Board of Directors and his family produced the motion picture MIDWAY starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda.

Submitted by: David Mirisch

Florida-Area alumni gather for a night of baseball. Top left: Jean Kirkpatrick Lederer ’73 and Gary Lederer ’72 (second row:) Sue Rewolinski Wiff ’75, Maynard Wiff ’76, Cynthia Sanborn Nyquist ’69and Scott Nyquist ’69 gather together on April 9 for the Ft. Myers Miracle Baseball Game. 

Submitted by: Jean Kirkpatrick Lederer

Elenita Jackson Parker ’72, Linda Brassington Daniels ’72, Karen Teschner Dorn ’72 and Lynne Horn Gasiorek ’72 met for their 15th annual ski trip in Steamboat, Colorado this past March.

Submitted by: Elenita Jackson Parker

Lisa Wollan ’78 visiting Waimangu Volcanic Valley where the world’s youngest geothermal system is located in New Zealand.

Submitted by: Lisa Wollan

Tanya graduated from an endocrinology fellowship at UW Madison in June of 2018 and is currently working as an endocrinologist in the Twin Cities. Tanya and her husband welcomed a daughter named Charli to their family this past December.

Submitted by: Tanya Lisko Blaty

My husband Troy and I welcomed our first baby into the world in April 2019. We are so in love, Ty Edward Risse and family are doing well!

Submitted by: Alison Nowak Risse

On March 7, 2019, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the appointment of 21 members to the Trade Finance Advisory Council (TFAC). Established in 2016, and re-chartered in August 2018, the TFAC serves as the principal advisory body to the Secretary of Commerce on matters relating to access to trade finance for U.S. exporters. TFAC members represent commercial banks and other financial services providers, industry associations, exporters and research institutions.

Trustee David Shogren ’84, President, U.S. International Foods LLC. was appointed by the US Secretary of Commerce to serve a 2 year term on the US Trade Finance Advisory Council.

Submitted by: David Shogren

Janet Gorn ’60 of Montclair, Virginia retired with 40 years of Federal Government service as a Diplomat in the field of civil nuclear energy and nonproliferation.  In honor of her distinguished professional career, on the staff of the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Congressional Research Service, and the Brookings Institution, and civil society contributions, she was named a Life Time Achiever by the Marquis Who’s Who in American.  Having traveled to 38 countries and 49 states she is not planning travel for a while.  However retirement has not slowed her down.  In 2019 she was elected to the office of Program Director on the Virginia State Board of League of Women Voters (LWV), joined the Board of Directors of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Foundation, and is contributing to the George Mason University Women’s Leadership program.  She also is President of the Kings Highway Republican Women’s E Club (the first virtual club in Virginia), Vice Chairman of the National Federated Republican Women’s (NFRW) Literacy Committee, and the NFRW Membership Committee’s Working Group on the Virtual Club concept.

Submitted by: Janet Gorn

Ann Margaret (Jones) Stajich passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 2019.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bert; parents, James A. and Helen Jones; sister,, Janet (Richard Beier); brother, Dr. James D. (Dr. Mary) Jones; and other relatives and friends.

Ann grew up in North Fond du Lac, where she came to appreciate the closeness of a small-town community. Ann had always been someone who got involved, going back to her early days as a Girl Scout leader and camp instructor. She was a social worker in Milwaukee and Madison, and her desire to help others carried over to the family’s move to McFarland where Ann was elected to the Village Board, was a reporter and writer for the McFarland newspaper, and was an active member of the Garden Club. Ann was also an active member and a voice in the church choir at McFarland United Church of Christ.

She was instrumental in helping McFarland build a new public library and in starting its farmers market. In recognition of these efforts, she was honored as Citizen of the Year in McFarland. Ann was clear regarding the achievement of which she was most proud. Chosen by her alma mater, Ripon College, where she also met her husband, for honor as a distinguished alumni, she told the audience at the awards ceremony that she felt her children were her “greatest accomplishment.”

Steve, Sue and Jean survive her with homes in Santa Monica, California, Milwaukee and Madison. All of them will remember Ann as a loving parent, an energetic partner in projects as varied as school activities and decorating bicycles for 4th of July festivities, and as a woman who helped others get things done for her community.

A celebration of life will be held at Maple Tree Supper Club, 6010 Highway 51, McFarland, from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 30, 2019. A private burial was held.

Memorials may be made to Ripon College Student Scholarships in Ann’s name.

The family wishes to thank the staff of St. Mary’s Care Center for the loving care and friendships given to Ann and her family. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Submitted by: Jaye Alderson