Milestones

37

Wesley and June (Austin '40) Churchill celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve. Wesley taught high school science for 30 years, retiring in 1980 from Pioneer Central in Arcade, NY. He and his wife also operated Churchill's Hardware in West Valley, NY, where they are longtime members of St. Paul's United Methodist Church. The Churchills also made missions trips to Haiti from 1974 until 1997, helping establish several churches and a clinic. The couple has two married daughters—including Judy (Churchill '61) Lawton—and five grandchildren—including Holly Lawton '87 and Julie Neudeck '92—and seven great-grandchildren.

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Victoria LaBombarde was the feature of a recent story in literature published by Christopher Newport University (CNU) in Virginia. The story highlights LaBombarde's volunteer work in CNU's music library and her endowment of scholarships both at Houghton and CNU.

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Merle Baer and Timothy Sidebothom '87 (pictured at the console of the four-manual Aeolian Skinner organ in the First Presbyterian Church, Lancaster, PA, with Baer in the background) recently collaborated on the production of a 68-page book of organ and choral music for the Lancaster (PA) chapter of the American Guild of Organists, of which both are members. Click here for more on this story.

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On December 9, 2007, Robert Aldrich celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a Baptist minister with a special worship service at the First Baptist Church of Naples, NY, where Aldrich has served as pastor for the last six years. Paul Shea '69, associate professor of missions at Houghton College, was the special guest speaker.

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Donald Housley, professor emeritus of history at Susquehanna University, has published a book on the school's roots, entitled Susquehanna University 1858- 2000: A Goodly Heritage. The book is being published by the Susquehanna University Press.

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Ralph and Barb (Loveless '65) Olsen are moving from Walnut Creek, CA, to Redmond, WA. Ralph retired from his position, but then accepted a new, three-year job as resident engineer on a construction project for a sewage treatment plant. Barb is finishing up her contract with the school district and will join him in April. Friends are invited to contact them at olsenrnb2@comcast.net.

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Brenda (Rhoad) Brokaw won the title Ms. Virginia Senior America in June 2007. The Alexandria, VA, resident owns Brenda Brokaw Interiors and enjoys singing, painting, ice dancing, collecting and selling antiques, entertaining friends and traveling. Brokaw sings opera— which she did for her talent at the pageant—and will perform throughout Virginia during the year of her reign. In November she competed for the national crown in Las Vegas, finishing in the top 10.

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Elwin Stillman was named as a recipient of a president's award from the SUNY Upstate Medical University. The award went to “outstanding voluntary faculty.”

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Jeffrey Prinsell has been elected chair of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons' clinical interest group on snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. He has also been elected to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's task force to update the standards of practice parameters for obstructive sleep apnea surgery. Prinsell is president of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. He and his wife and two sons live in Marietta, GA, where he maintains a private practice. Friends are invited to contact him at drprinsell@mindspring.com. 

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Patty Mondore has published To Love, Honor, and Oh Boy!, subtitled “30 Ways for Couples to Say They're Wild about Each Other.” The book tells the true story of 30 couples whose partnerships have stood the test of time and how they have applied the wisdom of I Corinthians 13 to the situations they encountered in their marriages. Mondore is the pediatric residency program coordinator for the SUNY Health Science Center (Syracuse, NY) and the author of three other books.

Pictured are alumni children and grandchildren of Eileen (Griffen '52) Spear who were in Scotland on a family adventure in the summer of 2007. From left: Rachel Spear '11, Erin (Spear '03) Gorham, Scott Spear '08 (behind Erin), Jessica Spear '05, Jeffrey Spear '79 (behind Jessica), Peter Spear '77, Jeremy Gorham '03, Scottish highlander, Penny (Spear '80) Williams, Eileen (Griffen '52) Spear, Marc Williams '10, Christine (Spear '91) Lee, Ryan Spear '07, Janine (Filmer '81) Spear, Molly (Mann '77) Spear, Matthias Williams '09 and Jonathan Spear '11. Do you have a photo of a group of Houghton alumni (preferably wearing Houghton College apparel!) in an interesting locale? Send it to Milieu for inclusion in a future issue.

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Sheila (Bentley) Bower received her master's degree in special education from Northern Arizona University. Bower teaches special education students at Arizona Desert Elementary School in the Tolleson Elementary School District in Tolleson, AZ. She earned Teacher of the Year honors during the 2006/2007 school year.

Joseph Hupp received the David Grahame Award from the Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division of the International Electrochemistry Society at its annual meeting last May. Hupp is a Morrison professor of chemistry at Northwestern University. For his award address, Hupp spoke on “Nanostructured dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Beyond Nanoparticulate Cells.” He has published over 225 peer-reviewed papers and served as research advisor for 36 doctoral graduates. Hupp is also a long-distance runner and has completed seven marathons, among them the 2003 Boston race.

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Ken Dunn was promoted to bond manager at Ohio Casualty Bonds, a member of Liberty Mutual Insurance Companies, in Charlotte, NC. He is also the director of European ministries with Word on the Street Ministries in Charlotte.

Olean General Hospital has appointed William Mills vice president for medical affairs. Mills previously held the same position at Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital in Cape May Court House, NJ.

Harriett Olson has taken a new position as the chief executive of the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, which serves as UMW's administrative arm. Olson was unanimously elected to the position on August 17 by the division's board

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Carol (Hommel) Morse has held various teaching positions within Head Start and at several Christian schools in New York state since her graduation. She is a librarian assistant at Gloversville Public Library, in the children's section. She and her husband Ray are in the process of adopting a little girl from China.

Glenn Rutland ran the Marine Corp Marathon, his first, on October 28, 2007, as a member of Fred's Team to raise money for pediatric cancer research. His personal inspiration was the son of a business colleague who has retinoblastoma. Glenn and his wife Deborah hope to run the 2008 New York City Marathon for Fred's Team.

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Patty (Reicherter) Slaughter is an assistant professor of psychology and the director of the master's of science in professional counseling program at Southeastern University, in Lakeland, FL. She and her husband Dane have two children: Jadyn, 8 and Kaelyn, 5. Friends can reach her at lakelandrunners@verizon.net.

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D'Youville College has named Rand Bellavia director of the Montante Family Library. He will be responsible for operations, planning and future development for the college library and supervise a staff of 18. The library has 100,000 volumes and an annual budget of $600,000.

Melissa (Macdonald) Ersing is a legislative aid and media contact for a New York state assemblyman. She is training to run a marathon in June to raise money for the Leukemia Society. She invites friends to contact her to support her effort.

93

Jim Hilliard completed his doctorate in finance at the University of Connecticut in December 2007 and accepted a faculty position in insurance and risk management at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia in Athens.

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Tamara (Marshall) Gaffney (far right in picture) is a legal assistant at The Sonnesyn Law Firm and recently finished up a competitive triathlon season in which she took first place in the women's 35-39 age group at the Table Mountain Triathlon. Her husband Mike '94 is the chief financial officer for Wiland Direct, a cooperative database that partners with catalogers and list professionals. He stays active in both indoor and outdoor soccer, basketball, road races and triathlons. The Gaffneys reside outside of Boulder, CO, with their three children, who also participate in soccer and compete in 5K and 10K road races.

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Noelle (Gurley'95) Winkens and her husband Christopher welcomed their first baby girl (see Future Alumni) three weeks before her due date—she has been “healthy and beautiful since,” Noelle writes. She continues to be a stay-athome mom with the baby and their three boys: Joshua, Jared and Samuel. Christopher continues his work at the Houghton College library. Friends are invited to contact them at thewinkens@yahoo.com.

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Karin Davidson is moving to Tajikistan, where she hopes to use medical work in partnership with the local Christian church. She will work with Brian and Jennifer (Nelson) Zerbe and their three children.

Debbie (Frase '92) Deale (left) and Joaquinn Marrero '87 (right) ran and completed the New York City Marathon—the first for Marrero and the second for Deale.

98

Jennifer Christian-Murtie was featured in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal on women executives. The article focused on women in managerial roles and some of the difficulties they may face due to gender bias and a lack of role models and mentors, giving some examples from Murtie's own experiences. If you'd like to see the article, it appeared in the Tuesday, August 28, 2007 issue, on page B5.

Rachel (Cook) Davidson has a new daughter (see Future Alumni) and is living in England with her husband. She had been teaching English as a Foreign Language, but now is staying at home to take care of the baby. Friends can contact her at rachelwdavidson@yahoo.co.uk.

Paul DeHart has published a book with the University of Missouri Press, entitled Uncovering the Constitution's Moral Design, in which he “seeks to reveal, elaborate and then evaluate the Constitution's normative framework to determine whether it is philosophically sound.” DeHart is assistant professor of political science at Lee University.

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Sarah (Stefanski) Lingenfelter completed the New York City Marathon on November 4, 2007, a day after her third daughter turned one. It was her first marathon.

Robert Teague was recently appointed executive director of The Ambassador Foundation in Lancaster, PA. Teague lives in York, PA, with his wife Kirsten (Oldhouser) and their children, Joshua, 9, Kate, 5 and Emma, 4.

00

Randy Fisher teaches math and science to seventh graders in North Carolina. Fisher completed his second bachelor's degree in December 2006. Friends can contact him at rfisher2006@hotmail.com.

01

Nathan Henry plans to complete his nursing degree at North Country Community College in May 2008. He and his wife have two daughters (see Future Alumni).

Jennifer Perry was named an “Outstanding Department of Defense Employee with a Disability” at a December 4, 2007 ceremony by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for her contributions to national security. Perry manages a research program at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency on the application of the social sciences to anticipate and reduce weapons of mass destruction threats. She formulates and selects research projects, advises researchers in academia and industry and briefs government officials.

04

Jeremy Zaborowski just moved to Austin, TX, to work as associate project manager for AngelouEconomics, where he will be creating economic development strategies for cities, states and regions internationally and domestically. Friends are invited to contact him at pearthief@gmail.com.

05

Rachel Moran, currently studying at a Chicago-Kent College of Law, won the Best Advocate Award in the 58th annual National Moot Court Competition— out of 400 students, competing in 189 teams representing 129 U.S. law schools. Besides landing the competition's best oral advocate award in the country's largest appellate advocacy tournament, Moran also teamed up with classmates to win the overall competition for their school. Moran is a member of Chicago-Kent's Moot Court Honor Society, winning the law school's 2006 Ilana Diamond Rovner Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy. A Chicago- Kent Honors Scholar, Moran, 25, is also a member of the Chicago-Kent Law Review and the recipient of the Donald Novotny Scholarship for superior academic achievement.

06

Karis Koett teaches high school English in the Bering Strait School District in Unalakleet, AK. She is also taking distance graduate courses through the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

07

Inti Martínez- Alemán is working for Editorial Hablemos Claro, a prominent editorial house in Central America, as the editor of Come to Honduras, a quarterly bilingual travel magazine that promotes tourism and investment in Honduras (the magazine's cover is shown in the photo).

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Diane Hewitt has been named administrator and CEO of operations at Tanglewood Manor in Jamestown, NY. Tanglewood Manor is an adult living facility with an assisted living program. Hewitt is charged with assisting the owner in moving the organization to better serve the residents and community as a whole while focusing on continued growth.

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Tawny Carle has been promoted twice since completing her degree. Carle is now an auditor for the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmentally Disabled for the New York State Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities Service Office.

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Deborah Urbank is a licensed, long-term-care administrator. Since June 2007 Urbank has been the administrator of ElderWood Health Care at Lakewood in Hamburg, NY. “I am still thankful for my experience with Houghton College and am thoroughly enjoying my career,” she says.