2003 Fall Edition

Toledo

Mysteries of University Hall

Fall 2003Alumni Magazine

The University of

The University of ToledoAlumni AssociationOfficers and Trustees

PresidentKaren L. Fraker ’84

First Vice PresidentTheodore T. Hahn ’65, ’67

Second Vice PresidentBirdel F. Jackson ’68 SecretaryBarbara Berebitsky ’91

TreasurerConstance D. Zouhary ’81

Past PresidentRobert A. Robinson ’74

Associate Vice PresidentDan Saevig ’84, ’89

One-Year TrusteesMichelle Amato ’97Norman A. Bell Sr. ’76, ’88David D. Dobrzykowski* ’95, ’99Gregg A. Dodd** ’96Maria M. Villagomez ’73Rodney B. Walton ’83

Two-Year TrusteesRomualdo Brown ’92Mary Hills ’53, ’79Richard N. Longenecker** ’86, ’88Mark A. Urrutia* ’88James W. White Jr. ’76, ’79Sally M. Wisner ’89

Three-Year TrusteesWalter “Chip” Carstensen ’72, ’74Dr. Jon R. Dvorak ’80Lynn L. Logsdon ’95Dr. Robert J. Schlembach ’49

Student RepresentativeLavender Ayres (appointed by Student Alumni Association)

*Appointed by the affiliate committee** Chapter representative

from your Alumni Association presidentDear fellow alumni and other friends,

The lucky number was seven. That’s how many years it took at least one alumna to graduate from The University of Toledo. I’m not sure if I was a slow learner or not. I’d prefer to think that it had something to do with being married, raising two teenage boys and working two part-time jobs while going to school at the same time. The lessons learned were many. Most were very enjoyable, but a few were painful. One summer quarter, I enrolled in Sy Mah’s jogging class. It took two months before our family could

make the annual trip to Cedar Point because my ankles were so swollen. I no longer run, but since that first class some 25 years ago, I have been working out five days a week. Sy’s gone, but his message lives on. Being a thirty-something student does have its advantages. While rushing to put dinner on the table before heading to class, I was hungry, too. I couldn’t wait to learn. Besides, there aren’t many parents who can say that they graduated from college the same year as one of their children graduated from high school! I hated to leave U Hall at the end of my last class. I knew it was the end of an era and my life would take a new direction. I just didn’t know where. Little did I know that it would eventually lead back to the University and our Alumni Association. It’s quite an honor for me to serve as elected president of our 11,000-member organization this year. As senior vice president of marketing at Fifth Third Bank, I am fortunate to be in daily contact with other alumni who share similar stories about their time at UT. There is one common thread to each conversation — lives that have been touched in a positive way by our alma mater. That’s why I feel fortunate to be able, in some small way, to give back to an institution that has given so much to others and myself. Oh, and there’s one other commonality: our Alumni Association. After juggling work, family and school, involvement in the Alumni Association gives me the camara-derie I missed during my college years. Our Association is active and engaged. I hope you will be, too.

Karen Fraker ’84President, The University of Toledo Alumni Association

ToledoThe University of

Alumni Magazine

contents

ToledoVolume 51, Number 1FALL 2003

EditorCynthia Nowak ’78, ’80

Editorial InternMike Saccone

Contributing WritersPaul HelgrenTobin KlingerVicki Kroll ’88Sherry Stanfa-Stanley ’83

DesignerLiz Allen

PhotographersTerry FellBill Hartough

Toledo Alumni is published three times a year in Fall, Winter and Spring by The University of Toledo Office of Alumni Relations.

Associate Vice President/PublisherDan Saevig ’84, ’89

Director, Alumni ProgrammingJeff Huffman ’89

Assistant DirectorEric Slough ’95

Outreach CoordinatorBrian Weinblatt ’02

Send change of address information to: Toledo Alumni, Office of Alumni Relations, Driscoll Alumni Center, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3395. Telephone 419.530.ALUM (2586) or 800.235.6766. Fax 419.530.4994.

The University of Toledo is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in educa-tion, employment, memberships and contracts, and no differentiation will be made based on race, color, reli-gion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or the presence of a disability. The University will take affirmative action as required by federal or state law.

cover storyUniversity Hall uncovered ..... page 16

featuresmedical music ........................ page 10

carry on designing.................. page 12

beyond Beatrix Potter ............ page 14

othersUT news ................................. page 2

sports ...................................... page 5

alumni news ........................... page 6

development........................... page 8

class notes .............................. page 22

on the cover: University Hall Tower (detail)

Recent AwardsCommunicator AwardsAwards of Distinction: writing/magazine magazine/educational institution

C RECYCLED PAPER

totes as tonicFEATURE

lapin chroniclesFEATURE

satisfactionUT NEWS

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SGutteridge Naganathan

Student satisfaction with UT on the rise, survey reveals

tudents at The University of Toledo are generally happier with their educational experience than they

were two years ago, according to the results of the latest Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI). This national biannual survey, according to Dr. John Nutter, director of institutional research, “allows

us to measure ourselves against four-year public educational institutions we con-sider our peers. It also permits us to mea-sure ourselves against our own past per-formance.” The SSI asks students to rate their level of satisfaction with all areas of their college experience, ranging from the approachability of faculty members to the condition of the campus grounds. More than 2,500 UT undergraduate students participated in the latest SSI. According Nutter, the University increased on 61 of the 73 standard satis-faction items, remained the same on 10, and declined on two items compared to the 2001 results. Of the “top 10” most important items, areas where the University improved its score include preparing students for a successful career, having valuable course content within students’ declared majors, and excellence of instruction within those majors. The only decrease was in the stu-

dents’ level of satisfaction with parking. “I am very excited and encouraged by these results,” said President Dan Johnson. “We are a student-centered uni-versity, and the level of satisfaction of our students is extremely important. While we will continue to strive to make the changes needed to make our students’

educational experience the best it can be, I know that we are heading in the right direction.” Dr. Robert Sheehan, vice provost of assessment and strategic planning, noted, “The satisfaction of African American students increased at substantially higher rate than that of whites, in 63 of 73 items. We see this as significant because an appreciation of human diversity is part of the University’s mission statement. It’s also one of the six objectives of UT’s strategic plan.” Sheehan also pointed out how the SSI results seemed to validate UT’s success in retaining first-year students. “When it comes to retention rates from first- to second-year students at Ohio open-admis-sions public campuses, UT is at top,” he said. “We had 70 percent in 2002 and 74 percent in 2003. The way that this fits in with overall student satisfaction indicates that those percentages don’t represent an isolated spike.”

Measure for measure. SSI permits examination of student perceptions.

wo high-profile searches ended in May when Dr. Thomas Gutteridge, emeritus dean and distinguished

professor of management at the Univer-sity of Connecticut, was named dean of UT’s College of Business Administration, and Dr. Nagi Naganathan, interim dean of the College of Engineering, was selected to serve in that role on a permanent basis. Gutteridge earned both his master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial admin-istration from Purdue University. Over the course of his academic career he has twice served as a dean, first for nine years at Southern Illinois University at Carbon-dale, then for 10 years at Connecticut. “Dr. Gutterridge has impeccable cre-dentials for this position,” said Dr. Alan Goodridge, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “I believe he will pro-vide strong leadership to the College of Business Administration, with a collab-orative style honed during his many years of administrative experience.” Naganathan emerged as the top choice following a national search. The professor of mechanical, industrial and manufacturing engineering has been serv-ing as interim dean since November 2000, and has been with the University for 17 years. “Under the interim leadership of Dr. Naganathan, the College of Engineering has made great strides in community engagement,” Goodridge said. “I antici-pate that we will see great things in the future with Nagi at the helm.”

— Tobin Klinger, office of public relations

Business, engineering deans named


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pril saw a new contin-gent of UT’s finest at

the annual awards banquet honoring the very best in teaching, research and advis-ing. Each award recipient received a certificate and $1,500. Honored as Outstanding Teachers were: • Dr. Maria Coleman, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering. She joined the College of Engineering in 1998. She is a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow. “Dr. Coleman loves her profession and the individuals she instructs. She is willing to be your friend, mentor and adviser. She understands students’ needs and will bend over backwards to assist the education process,” wrote one nomi-nator. Another wrote, “She is known for walking down to our student lounge just to offer her assistance on homework because she cares that much about the success of our students.” Another noted, “She has a unique, high-energy teaching style that enables her to hold the stu-dents’ attention while communicating the course content in an effective, under-standable manner.” • Dr. Ruthie Kucharewski, associate professor of public health and rehabilita-

Annual honors bring more outstanding UT talent to fore

tive services. She started teaching full time at UT in 1997. She is the project administrator for the University’s National Youth Sports Program and received an Outstanding Women Award from the University Women’s Commis-sion last month. “When Dr. Kucharewski is teaching, she puts forth 110 percent effort whether it is the first time she’s delivered the lec-ture or the 50th time. Most importantly, she captivates her audience,” wrote one nominator. Another wrote, “One of the most amazing qualities about her is that she attempts to get to know every stu-dent and colleague on an equal level. Due to this specific characteristic, she earns respect almost instantaneously. In addition, Dr. Kucharewski proves herself to her students by being prepared, fair and reasonable.” • Dr. Tim Messer-Kruse, associate professor of history. He joined the fac-ulty in the history department in 1995. He recently completed a book that ana-lyzes the local causes of the Great Depression in Toledo and is working on a study of Chicago’s Haymarket Bomb-ing of 1886. “Dr. Messer-Kruse is one of the best teachers at UT. He led an incredibly informative, challenging and interesting class,” one nominator wrote. Another noted, “I have observed scores of profes-sors in the classroom over the years, but only rarely have I come across one as excellent as he. His classroom manner is relaxed, and this attitude sets a tone or a

mood, which makes for an enjoyable environment, conducive to paying atten-tion and learning. He can be at ease because of his absolute mastery of his material.” • Dr. Douglas Oliver, associate professor of mechanical, industrial and manufacturing engineering. He has been teaching at the University since 1985 and plans to develop an engineering-law course. “There is one professor for whom our students literally try to alter their schedules in order to get into his classes. The professor is Doug Oliver. Doug makes difficult subjects understandable, meaningful and, would you believe, sometimes fun,” wrote one nominator. Another wrote, “The teaching style he uses requires you to be active in the classroom instead of daydreaming or playing games on a calculator.” Outstanding Researchers were Dr. H. Lamar Bentley, professor of math-ematics; Dr. James LeSage, professor of economics; Dr. Russell Reising, profes-sor of English; and Dr. Mark Vonder-embse, professor of management. Outstanding Advisers: Marie Johnson-Ham, academic adviser in the Student Success Center; Nancy Lapp, coordinator of undergraduate advising in the College of Business Administra-tion; and Sharon Schnarre, adviser and adjunct professor in the College of Arts and Sciences.

— Vicki Kroll, office of public relations

Coleman Kucharewski Messer-Kruse


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W ith cuts for higher education an all but inevitable part of Ohio’s state budget for some

years to come, UT President Dan Johnson has gone proactive. In the spring, he initi-ated moves as part of an overall plan to reduce base budget spending by nearly $5.2 million, with further reductions possible to meet potential state cuts down the line. He began with the streamlining of his executive staff. Using the report of a con-sultant, Johnson created a plan that will save the University more than $620,000 in administrative costs by reducing the number of vice presidents, eliminating two executive-level positions and incor-porating government/community relations into other areas.

Economic realities behind UT restructuring, staff reductions

Thirty students — 26 musicians and four dancers — traveled to Nagasaki, Japan, in March to perform at Huis Ten Bosch, an elaborate theme park designed to replicate life in 16th-cen-tury Holland, which serves as a tribute to the historic relation-ship between the two countries. Dr. Brant Karrick, then the UT band director and associate professor of music, was initially contacted about the opportu-nity in November. “They were looking for an American marching band to perform three shows a day for 10 days,” he said. “They found out about the UT Marching Band via the Internet.” Following the performances, evenings were left free for the Toledo travelers to explore Nagasaki or to enjoy the theme park where they were housed.

Ambassadors of brass

Delivering on the advance notices. The UT Marching Band’s appearance was well adver-tised by event organizers in Japan, who must have been pleased with the energy displayed by band members.

“To the extent possible and practical, I want to put our resources into academic programs and services for students,” Johnson said. “It is necessary to reduce the cost of administration and reallocate these resources to academic priorities and essential services. This is something we must do.” Admitting that the changes involved tough decisions, he noted, “The members of the executive staff have become my friends. These friendships, however, must be secondary to what is in the institution’s best interest at this time. [These changes] have come about as a result of the state’s diminishing support for higher education as well as my belief that we need a much leaner, more cost-effective and better integrated University of Toledo.”

Restructuring and reductions extended across campus, as the Universi-ty’s divisional leadership identified ways to reduce base budget spending by nearly $5.2 million. Some staff positions were eliminated, others had their hours reduced. Some vacant positions will be left unfilled. William Decatur, vice president for finance and administration, said, “As dif-ficult and painful as it will be, we believe that these eliminations are unavoidable given the budget scenarios under discus-sion in Columbus. The president has established a program prioritization task force, charged with finding ways to save $5 million, $10 million and $15 million annually.”


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If coaching savant Yogi Berra were asked for his evaluation of the 2003 Toledo football team, there’s no doubt

what ol’ Yogi would say: “It feels like deja vu all over again.” Tom Amstutz, another coaching sage with a proclivity for homespun wisdom, would certainly agree. As he looks at his football team on the eve of the 2003 spring practice season, Amstutz can’t help but feel like he’s been here before. A year ago, the Rockets came into spring drills high off MAC and Motor City Bowl championships, but wondering how they would replace the likes of run-ning back Chester Taylor and quarterback Tavares Bolden. This spring, UT is coming off a MAC West title and Motor City Bowl appearance, but again needs to replace its quarterback and other key skill players. “It is very familiar,” said Amstutz. “Once again we have to replace some big-time players: Tom Ward, David Gardner, Chris Tuminello, Brian Jones, Carl Ford, Dontà Greene. Those are guys who were very important players on two champion-ship teams.” Despite the challenge similar to last year’s, Amstutz pointed out that he doesn’t have quite so many starters to replace this year.

Deja vu all over again for Amstutz and Rockets

“It wasn’t quite as traumatic as last year,” said Amstutz, whose teams have gone 10-2 and 9-5 in his first two seasons as head coach. “This year, after taking off the senior names, there was still a football team up on that board. How we will be is still up in the air depending on how hard we work and how the team chemistry develops. So it’s a football team with some unanswered questions.” The first and most important question remains the same as 2002: who will line up as Toledo’s quarterback? “Everything starts with the quarter-back,” Amstutz agreed. “We need to find out who will fill the leadership role at quarterback. Our candidates are [junior] Cedric Stevens and [sophomore] Bruce Gradkowski. The good news is that both have been around for a couple of years running our plays and learning the offense. Both are athletically gifted. Both have leadership personalities. I would feel good with either one of those players as our starting quarterback.” Just to whom the new quarterback will be throwing is another important question. Toledo lost three wide receivers who had started a combined118 games in their careers. Questions on the defensive side of the ball mostly surround the departure of the Rockets’ bookend inside

What about bobble? Perhaps hoping to

predict the 2003 season, Coach Tom

Amstutz consults his version of the Magic

Eight Ball — the Amstutz bobblehead.

UT’s first foray into action-figuredom was

a promotional item given to season ticket

holders to help increase sales.

linebackers, Ward and Gardner. “We do have a lot of work to do,” said Amstutz. “At the same time, we are optimistic. We have young players who have contributed that have a chance to step into new roles.” And while Amstutz agrees there is a degree of familiarity between this year’s team and last year’s team entering spring drills, he emphasized that the same suc-cess in the fall cannot be taken for granted. “We will approach this season the same as we did last year,” said Amstutz. “Each season is unique. Once again we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us. Each team has its own chemistry and we will have to work to find this team’s chemistry. And that starts with spring football. It’s the time when we get to evaluate our personnel, figure out where players can best help the team and what style of football we will play in the fall.” In other words, Amstutz and his staff spent the spring following the advice of another famous Yogism: “You can observe a lot by watching.”

— Paul Helgren, athletic media relations office


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The good, the excellent and the honored

he Minority Alumni Affiliate Recog-nition of Excellence Dinner, the annual showcase for talent and

achievement, honored five singular UT grads who received the Outstanding Alumni Award. Emerson Cole went from professional football player with the Cleveland Browns to a state agency executive officer. After completing his education degree at The University of Toledo on a full athletic scholarship while holding a full-time job, he filled director-level positions with the Economic Opportunity Planning Associa-tion (EOPA) before spending 18 years with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, retir-ing as chief of compliance and regional operations. Education played a critical part in the life of Equilla Gibson-Roach. She worked several jobs in the 1950s to save enough money for college. Armed with her degree, she was hired as a first-grade teacher by Toledo Public Schools in 1955. She stayed with the schools — and with the children — until her retirement in 1987. Along the way she earned two advanced degrees from The University of Toledo. She is the widow of Arthur Lee Roach, with whom she founded student scholarships. A man whose service in Toledo’s city government has extended more than 20 years, Jimmy L. Gaines Sr. holds the office of city commissioner, assigned to the department of public utilities. The first African American to oversee Toledo’s

water plant operations, he has participated in many of the city’s most important proj-ects, including the $93 million Toledo Cor-rectional Facility. Author and Newbery Medal winner Mildred Taylor was also honored. Her books, which include Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, Gold Cadillac, Mississippi Bridge and The Well: David’s Story, have brought her many awards and accolades. What remains most important to her, though, is the his-tory. As she said, “I have attempted to present a true picture of life in America as older members of my family remember it, and as I remember it in the days before the civil rights movement.” Clarence J. Walker Jr., longtime exec-utive director of the Frederick Douglass Community Association, has been a leader of the Criminal Justice Training and Education Center, and served as the Michigan state supervisor and specialist of the Community Relations Services, part of the U.S. Department of Justice. He was also a regional director of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. A U.S. Navy veteran, he studied law at UT, and was trained in urban ministry and commu-nity development at Chicago’s Urban Training Center.

Gentle art of communication. Having way too much fun, director of alumni programming and Art on the Mall chair-man Jeff Huffman (who with Brian Weinblatt, outreach coordinator in the Office of Alumni Relations, scopes out Centennial Mall for arrangement of art-ists’ tables) finds job of planning easier with pocket communicator. His cell phone is one of those with a special discounted rate, courtesy of Alltel. Art patrons could stop at Alltel’s table at the event; readers can check out the Winter 2004 issue of Toledo Alumni Magazine for Art on the Mall highlights.

he cost of driving just went down for UT alumni and students, who can start saving on gasoline imme-

diately. The new Speedway SuperAmer-ica (SSA) program offers prepaid fuel and a gift card for drivers, and a fleet fueling program for commercial customers. UT alumni and students can purchase the pre-paid fuel cards from SSA at a 4 percent

Alumni, students — get pumped!

Up and coming. Minority Alumni Affiliate Scholarship awardees for 2003 are, left to right, Antonio Davis (exercise science), Leti-cia Arrington (pharmacy), Sheila Doles (inter-disciplinary studies/technical writing) and Arthur Lee Roach Scholarship recipient Chneyce Barker (pharmacy).

discount — that’s an average savings of 6 cents per gallon! SSA also offers a prepaid gift card, which can be used to purchase both fuel and mer-chandise. Both make great stu-dent gifts. Cards are accepted at Rich Oil, Speedway and SuperAmerica. For details, visit www.speedway.com/utoledo or call 1.888.297.8112 ext. 7535. For businesses, SAA’s fleet fueling credit card pro-gram (through SuperFleet) offers commercial consumers a way to control fuel costs with driver ID numbers, card pur-

chase restrictions (fuel only), monthly usage reports, and up to 3 percent/gallon fuel and 15 percent oil change discounts. SuperFleet cards are accepted at Mara-thon, Pilot Travel Centers and Valvoline Instant Oil Change in addition to the out-lets listed above. Call 1.800.482.7755 ext. 5511 for details.


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New venue, same alumni fellow-ship. The Alumni Association’s Annual Meeting moved to the Sylva-nia Country Club this year, providing an elegant backdrop for its ceremo-nies and its Blue-and-Gold mingling. Clockwise, Dan Saevig, associate vice president of Alumni Relations, parlays the thunderous“ Welcome back” he received from guests into a chance to share his plans for the association’s future — Rob Robinson, departing after his term as trustee president, passes the gavel to new president, Karen Fraker — University College, multi-honored Alumni Affili-ate of the Year — proud scholarship awardees Marie Mikolajczyk and James Rice are flanked by UT Presi-dent Dan Johnson and Fraker.

Three men on a swing (to say nothing of the hot dog). The Los Angeles chapter of the Alumni Association enjoyed their annual Tony Packo’s party at the home of Paul and Carolyn Mabie — and basked in typically sunny California weather as well. Just swingin’ around, left to right, are Glen Zielke, Paul Mabie and Jatinder Singh.

Hen of distinction. Sidney Grant, daugh-ter of alums Brenda and Greg Grant, shares a Muddy moment at University College Alumni Affili-ate baseball outing at Fifth Third Field in June. Traditional sta-dium food was an equal draw for adults.


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There’s no advancing without advancement

niversity advancement. Every-body knows what it is — or says they do, anyway. In reality,

there’s a good deal more to advancement than is usually understood by the people it reaches, said Vern Snyder, who ought to know. As vice president for institutional advancement, he encounters questions about his division every week. “Because we do have such a strong community presence, getting the facts straight and complete is important for both the sake of the University and for the sake of UT’s friends,” he said.

Toward that end, he offered a quick and painless primer for UT friends, fami-lies and supporters, beginning with a simple definition: “Advancement does just that — advances the goals of a uni-versity, be they financial goals or public relations goals. “Advancement areas deal with exter-nal audiences — with the community, government and the general public. Because of this, advancement sometimes includes the public relations and market-ing departments of a university. At UT, advancement is understood to be the Offices of Alumni Relations and Develop-ment, who are under a single umbrella but work in cooperation with public relations.” This multi-layered approach becomes imperative in today’s climate of giving, Snyder said. “But the need hasn’t always

been recognized. In the past 15 years, the advancement model has become more professional as its strategic importance was realized. For instance, it’s no longer common practice to have retired staffers head up the alumni association or join the development department because of the people they know.” As donors have increased in sophisti-cation, so has advancement. “Donors want a level of comfort in knowing that the University has refined a set of priori-ties. The University can take those priori-ties to donors and say, ‘We believe these

will make us a better university, and we would like your support.’” Snyder pointed to his own staff. “They’re professionals who have made a career of understanding why people give, and why people get engaged in the Uni-versity after graduation. They recognize why the Alumni Association is so impor-tant for making lifelong UT friends. They know that public relations must support the University for the sake of recruitment and to get the overall message out. And they know how this combined effort improves the public’s perception of the University.” The cooperative model is also a model of engagement. University advancement does more than sell UT; it listens to the feedback and adjusts accord-ingly. Potential UT donors have their own interests and priorities, Snyder said. “It’s

Donor’s choice. Whether a donor’s interest is in furthering UT’s offerings in the classroom or the research laboratory, Institutional Advance-ment provides many opportunities for giving.

the job of the development officer to find places where those interests intersect with what UT needs.” Engagement can also affect the very structure of an advancement division, given today’s economic realities. As Snyder said, “Public universities have begun to look at their budgets the way private universities do, for sheer survival. That makes it necessary that they listen more closely to their alumni and potential donors. It makes for a closer relationship, ultimately. Nowadays, one thing donors demand is accountability. They’re pleased when they see that we run our non-profit the way they run their companies. They like leanness and efficiency.” In one way, an advancement division is fortunate in being able to easily mea-

sure its success. When the donations are coming in, advancement professionals are doing their job. However, they never forget the correct hierarchy of priorities. In the end, Snyder noted, “Advancement is a partnership between the donor’s inter-ests and the University’s needs. And the donor’s interests come first.” A Web site contains more complete information on opportunities for potential donors: utdevelopment.utoledo.edu/develop/default.asp.


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Honoring UT’s bridge builders. This May’s annual Donor Recognition may have been somewhat scaled down to reflect the University’s commitment to putting its dollars where they can do the most good. Still, the gratitude was no less heartfelt and the honors remained the highest. A poem in the event program compared UT’s donors — members of the Founder’s Circle, the Jesup Scott Society, the Henry J. Doermann Society, the Presidents Club and the Heritage Society — to those who build bridges for future generations. And in a less meta-phorical vein, the evening relied on its usual mix of food and festiveness to cel-ebrate the work of UT’s stron-gest supporters. President Dan Johnson was on hand to person-ally thank honor-ees. Heidi Jen-kins and Jon-David Heilman (right) were two of the year’s three Presidents Club scholars whose scholar-ships are made possible by donors.

Story behind the scholarship: paving way for pharmacy students

ilbert Siegel Sr., who graduated from UT’s College of Pharmacy in 1928, didn’t come from a wealthy

family. Nor did he seem a likely candi-date for a college degree when he was a teenager working in a Toledo drug store. Yet today, the fund that he and his wife founded — the Gilbert and Janiece Siegel Scholarship and Leadership Award Fund — is a gift that will keep his name and his educational ideals fresh for genera-tions to come. “My father worked for a small drug store owned by a childless couple,” recalled Nancy Rhine, one of Siegel’s three daughters. “The husband told him, ‘If you go to Toledo University and study pharmacy, I’ll help you buy your own drugstore when you graduate.’ Siegel achieved the goal and his mentor kept his promise. The store, Fairmont Pharmacy, was on the corner of Dorr Street and Upton Avenue. “And my father paid him back in four years,” Rhine added. When the Depression hit, Rhine said, Gilbert and his wife, Janiece (who was a fellow student at Waite High School and

whom he first asked out at a University dance), came back from their honeymoon to find that “they had basically 25 cents to their name. But they persevered and kept the business running. And they helped others.” In time, there were three Fair-mont Pharmacies whose operations spanned 41 years. In 1968, the stores merged with the Lane’s chain and Siegel was made director of pharmacies, later vice president for professional relations. “His whole life revolved around the pharmacy,” said Siegel’s son, Gilbert Jr. “All of us kids worked in the stores at one time or another. It used to be a family joke that during working hours we all had to pay like any other customer if we wanted a candy bar or a soft drink. As soon as the store closed, though, we ran

through it like bulls in a china shop.” Siegel’s years in the profession and his managerial know-how became assets for the University’s College of Pharmacy. “A UT professor asked him to talk to his class about pharmacy management,” his son said. “This was in the days before the big chains, when pharmacists had to manage their own stores. He did those classroom talks again and again. After he had been lecturing for some time, the col-lege established courses in pharmacy management and pharmaceutical jurispru-dence — my father taught them for more than 20 years.” In fact, in 1978 the elder Siegel became the first UT pharmacy graduate to receive an honorary doctorate from his alma mater. He died in 1979; Janiece died in 2002. “Dad enjoyed his time with young people,” Siegel recalled. “As a teacher, he always got wonderful evaluations. He’d show them to me and tell me how important his teaching was to him.” The son put down his parents’ belief in the homely virtues of loyalty and honesty as the main reason they established the fund that created scholarships. “They epito-mized the Golden Rule,” he said. “And they wanted students to take that rule into the same profession that had been so good to them.” Opportunities for similar long-lasting gifts are always available, in every col-lege and department of the University. For more information, call Janet Krzy-minski, director of major and special gifts, at 419.530.2713.

Janice and Gilbert Siegel

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10 TOLEDO Alumni Magazine / Fall 2003 TOLEDO Alumni Magazine / Fall 2003 11

o you’ve written this book — The

Classical Music Experience (Source-

books Inc. 2003) — on composers

from Giovanni da Palestrina to Leon-

ard Bernstein. And your publisher tells

you that you need to collect a few

promotional blurbs from prominent

names in classical music, right?

Not quite. “ The publisher wanted rock stars,” admitted the author, Julius Jacobson (A/S ’47). As it happened, Adam Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows, was happy to oblige. “We met on a plane coming back from London. He’s one of these young people who dress outrageously and wear dreadlocks, but a few minutes of con-versation showed him to be cultured and charming. His mother and father are physicians and we hit it off well,” Jacobson recalled. Apparently some sort of personal chemistry is going on here, the kind that bridges both generations and professions. A perusal of the book bears that out. After all, any guide to classical music can deconstruct the Baroque period, but how many include a vignette of Johann Sebastian Bach scuffling on the floor with a pupil who was insulted when the com-poser called him a Zippelfaggotist, “a bassoonist who produced sounds like a nanny goat”? More to the point, how many such guidebooks contain engaging digressions on medical topics ranging from “Boilermaker’s Disease” to the evolution of that ubiquitous hospital accessory, the kidney basin? Obviously The Classical Music Experience isn’t your run-of-the-mill music text. But then Julius H. Jacobson II M.D. isn’t your average classi-cal music enthusiast. For one thing, his daytime job title is director emeri-tus of vascular surgery and Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. For another, he’s credited as being the father of microsurgery — a technique that now accounts for half of all neurosurgeries performed in the United States, has made limb reimplantation a common occurrence, and is used in all surgical specialties. And the chemistry that permits him to connect with both the class-ical cognoscenti and progressive rockers? Turns out it’s old-fashioned enthusiasm. Jacobson’s familial background was heavier on medicine than on Mozart. “My grandfather was a surgeon and I’m named after him,” he said. “My grandmother graduated from Montreal’s McGill Medical School, in the first graduating class to include women.” He attended New York City’s Townsend Harris High School, a three-year institution where classes were taught by college professors from

OF SURGERY AND SYMPHONIES, OR THE WELL-TEMPERED CLAVICLE

City University. As he told it, “I graduated at 15, but I had no money to go to college, so I worked for a year as a photogra-pher. A cousin in Toledo who was attending TU wrote to me about it. A municipal university with a low cost sounded attractive, so I hitch-hiked out to Toledo and enrolled there at 16. Because the war was going on, you could take as many courses as you wanted if you passed the final exam. At 17, I had three years of credit, but I couldn’t bear to stay out of the war any longer. I enlisted in the Navy. I came back after the war and fin-ished my last year at TU.” Subsequent applications to 23 different medical schools brought the same number of rejection let-ters. “One of my TU professors, Dr. Floyd Brinley, had confidence in me and sent me to the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania to start work on a PhD in cell physiology. That meant that I was working with a microscope day in and day out. I was there for less than three months before I applied to medical school again. Well, by now I had done some research the school was excited about, and I had some let-ters from nationally known men in the field. This time I was accepted by every medical school to which I applied.” Four years at Johns Hopkins were followed by seven at Colum-bia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, where Jacobson finished his residency in general and thoracic surgery. He continued the story:


“I was offered the job of asso-ciate professor and director of surgical research at the Uni-versity of Vermont. That was a time when the when the Public Health Service could afford to be extravagantly generous to small schools. My first project at Vermont involved denervat-ing the carotid artery. The sur-gery was done in small ani-mals, and the only way you could be certain you had inter-rupted all the nerves was to divide the vessel and rejoin it. The teaching at that time was that you couldn’t operate on vessels that small.” Jacobson experienced an epiphany: “The problem with the surgery was that the eye couldn’t tell the hand what to do in so small a working area. So I brought a microscope into the operating room.” The rest is medical history. “And the only reason I had that idea was because I couldn’t get into medical school and had spent so much time in front of a microscope,” he added. The decision to write a book for classical music neophytes wasn’t quite as dramatic, rather the result of long obser-vation: “I was disturbed to see how audiences for classical music are graying, and that all the country’s cultural insti-tutions are in trouble. When I was in grade school and high school, there were music appreciation courses, and those have fallen by the wayside. I wanted to do something to stimulate an interest in classical music — but I claim no expertise.” What Jacobson can claim is a long and lively relationship with the musical classics, and a desire to share his ebullience with others. “Music has been one of the great pleasures of my life, and I wanted to write a book for people with little or no knowledge of classical music,” he said. The book’s scope is generous; Jacobson chose 42 composers, devoting not only a chapter to each but providing the reader with a brief audio sampling of repre-

sentative works on two CDs included with the book. Jacobson’s neighbor, actor Kevin Kline, got involved in the project when the two men discovered a common interest. Jacobson said, “We were on the elevator one morning, talking about the upcoming book and he said, ‘Did you know I was a music major in college?’ So he was a natural to do the narration between the musical selections.” With appreciative reviews, the book is well on its way to finding its audience. Jacobson, though, isn’t resting on any laurels and is already immersed in a new project, one he termed “ the most important proj-ect of my medical life.” It involves patient monitoring equipment. “As you go into intensive care unit of any hospital, you see a screen with 15 different squiggles — all the vital signs,” Jacobson explained. “They go across the screen and are lost. They’re valuable while someone is there to read them. Now say I receive a call in the middle of the night from an intern or a nurse, with information about a patient I’ve operated on, one who’s still critical. I often don’t know whether to come into the hospital and see for myself or not. “What we’ve done — and we have a prototype unit being delivered today for testing — is to install a camera in the hospital room, plus a microphone for the patient, and all the data on the monitor screen is saved. So anywhere in the world, a physician can go in with a computer, see the patient, talk to him, speak to the staff and review the data, no matter when it was collected. We’re calling it ‘24/7 medicine.’” Another sea change for the practice of medicine? Jacobson calls it helping where help is needed. That’s why he’s established a scholar-ship fund at UT, and professor-ships in vascular surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medi-cine, at Johns Hopkins, and at the Hadassah Hospital in Jeru-salem. “In the professorships, I wanted some interaction, so each one is set up with A/V equipment. Once a month they share rounds via the Internet. It’s an extremely valuable teaching tool to participate in such conferences.” Reviewing this roster of accomplishments, one’s tempted to call Jacobson a Renaissance man, but he has a simpler explanation for his actions: “I strongly feel that one should leave the world better than one finds it. Giving back really is important.” And the composer who’s given the most to him? “One musical canon on a desert island? That’s an easy one. Bach. He offers the most for listening.”


s. Sullivan, do I do the clear coating now?” It was 9:15 a.m. and Jean Sul-livan (Ed ’95) was juggling an inter-view and photo session with the demands of 20 boisterously enthusias-

tic pre-teens. Sullivan, who teaches art at Timberstone Junior High School in Sylvania, Ohio, stopped in mid-sentence to field a question from a budding graphic artist in a “Run Monkey Boy Run” t-shirt, and offered several ideas for his project without missing a beat or losing the thread of the previous conversation. This was repeated at least a half-dozen times with different stu-dents, each of whom received concise answers based as much on each student’s interests as on technical advice. Two fellow teachers with also dropped in with questions or information. Was she frazzled? She laughed at the idea as she reminded another student that a base coat of neutral-colored paint was necessary for his project. “Once, a vice principal asked me, ‘Tell me how you learned to teach teens.’ I told him that I used to manage a coffee shop, with 18-year-olds as the staff. This is nothing after that.” Although Sullivan’s original teaching plans were for older students, a field experience with junior high schoolers convinced

is in

the

her that she had found her calling. “I love teaching this age! They’re getting more sophisticated, and there’s a special chal-lenge for art teachers. Up until fifth grade, kids have their art-work up on the family refrigerator. Then all of a sudden, they decide they can’t do art, so they stop. And the way educational programs are funded, many kids don’t take another art class until they’re sophomores in high school, then maybe they’re offered one elective in senior year.” So far, so good. An enthusiastic, student-connected teacher in a comfortable suburban classroom. But that wouldn’t be enough to explain Sullivan’s appearance on NBC’s Today Show, or the attention she’s received from educators on the other side of the globe. To understand fully what makes Sullivan tick, it’s neces-sary to talk about the 500,000 children nationwide who are in foster care. They share similar stories of families in emotional and economic upheaval. Sometimes, though, it’s the small humiliations that sap the spirits of kids in the system. When Sul-livan read how such children often use trash bags or cardboard boxes to transport their possessions from one foster home to another because they don’t own anything better, she saw a place where a touch of the same personal attention she gives her own

“Mby Cynthia Nowak


students could be spread further. “The story was in Chicken Soup for the Pre-Teenage Soul,” she recalled. “A teenage girl told how she collected used pieces of luggage for the kids.” Sullivan knew that she could take a good idea a step further. She became the driving force behind Love Luggage — boldly colorful carry-alls individually crafted for each foster child. From the beginning, Sullivan knew that students would play the central role in the program. Her own students became the second catalyst for the project in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. “After 9/11, the kids were so stressed out, so frozen emotionally that they were looking for some kind of physical release. They wanted adults to give them answers or at least provide them with something constructive they could do. I looked at my seventh-graders and thought that they could find comfort in giving their time and their talents to helping others. Love Luggage grew out of their needs and the needs of foster kids.” The first 15 pieces of Love Luggage created in the spring of 2001 weren’t a haphazard or one-time-feel-good project. Mindful of the need to consider larger issues, Sullivan contacted Rod Brandt, public information officer at Lucas County Chil-dren Services, with her idea. Together, they devised a way to both help foster care children and create empathy between them and Sullivan’s students. Kids from Sylvania — the very model of a prosperous Ohio suburb — able to understand the experience of being in foster care? Stereotypes need refuting in more ways than one, Sullivan said. “Issues relating to families have surfaced as part of this project. We’ve talked about how it would feel to be taken from your home, about what foster children face. Rod Brandt has been helpful in sharing his knowledge as a professional at Chil-dren Services. We’ve met kids in foster care; they shared their stories of abuse and neglect, which broke down stereotypes. “And we talk a lot in class about the power of the word. Like the word ‘homeless.’ One student here came into class and said, ‘Are you still talking to those homeless kids?’ I told her that they weren’t homeless. They had a home; they’d be moving

to a new home soon. I pulled her out into the hall and said, ‘Did you know that two girls in your love luggage team are foster kids? They’re making a suitcase for another foster care kid and you just called them homeless.’ Well, she had just become friends with those two girls, and she was really upset when she realized what she had said. “The seventh graders have adopted love luggage as their own. A lot of people think that kids at this age are egocentric,

but they really understand the big picture. They’re at a transi-tional age, one where they’re often self-conscious about reveal-ing personal things through art. But you know, they took this project over, and I think there’s something about the very per-sonal aspect of the luggage that they respond to. When Rod Brandt gives them names and information about the kids they’ll be designing for, they just have a natural feel for matching the child with the lug-gage. They do a great job.” In 2001, partly because of Love Lug-gage, she was chosen as the National Barbie Arts Teacher of the Year by the Enter-tainment Industry Foundation National Arts Education Initiative, a group created to raise awareness of arts education and to fund arts pro-grams. She won a trip to New York City (and that face time on the Today Show) plus a grant of $15,000. The publicity helped, but Brandt noted that Love Luggage has taken off in a big way because Sullivan has created a blue-print so others can replicate the program. “If you call her and tell her you’d like to do the same project at your own school, she’s got a folder of material that outlines the process step by step. “It caught on quickly, not only in Sylvania but across the country. In fact, she’s gotten inquiries from as far away as China.” Honored this past May by The University of Toledo College of Education as Outstanding Young Educator, Sullivan uses a wide-ranging course content and doesn’t place all her Faberge eggs in one basket. “True vernacular art is as important as the old masters,” said the teacher whose own artistic specialty is illustration. She pointed out one of her students as being “a very creative kid whose creativity probably wouldn’t have gotten noticed in other classes if he hadn’t been able to tap into it through art. I believe in holistic teaching that uses hands-on experiences in addition to mental. Even penmanship is impor-tant. It’s a kind of education that’s becoming more common, I’m glad to see. When you have some students who have never finger-painted before, what kind of education is that?” At the end of her third teaching year at Timberstone, Sul-livan knew that she’d soon be seeing the last of her first Sylva-nia students. “I’m going to really miss them when they go. I ask them to do three things: take at least one art class in high school, remember to use art to help them when they’re stressed — and take something that they’ve learned in class and use it in the world. “You know, it’s written into Timberstone’s mission that we’re trying to educate global citizens. That’s a great idea.” If ideas are the currency of all teachers, Sullivan seems to possess a Bill Gates-sized treasury.

Some of Sullivan’s students —

— and the teacher at work.


[1]When I was ten I got a rabbit for Easter. It was tiny and white and the lady next door gave it to me. The lady was old and smelled like bandages when you first take them out of the box. She said her rabbit had a litter and I could have one of her “little babies” if I wanted it. I kept it in a cardboard box lined with shredded newspaper. It was kittenlike and fun to play with. I named it Booju and fed it out of a toy bottle my sister used for her dolls. Then it got bigger and bigger and my father built a hutch for it from two-by-fours and chicken wire out in back of the house. I kept it for a year, until it got fat and sluggish on its water-and-wilted-lettuce diet. Then it was Easter again and the lady next door said she would trade me Booju for another little baby. I was glad to be rid of the old sleepy rabbit, for the tiny toylike one. I named the new rabbit Jimbo. The lady made the same trade with me four years in a row. By then I was old enough to figure out what was going on — I broke into a cold sweat the day it hit me. The fifth year when she came over, the cute little bunny in the palm of her hand, I said no, I liked the old one just fine.

[2]In one town we lived in, we rented a hundred-year-old farmhouse. The landlord, who was a great-grandson of one of the original settlers of the area, lived next door. He had an old Labrador mutt named Cinder. Cinder was nearly blind from the bluish-white cataracts that covered each eye, and hard

of hearing, but she was nimble enough for her age.

One day she flushed two rabbits out of the landlord’s

vegetable garden. They tore hell-for-bunnytail out of the

back yard and through the side yard, heading for

the road, Cinder lumbering behind. Just when it looked

like they were safely out of her reach, one suddenly came to a dead halt. The other kept moving, throwing in a few extra zigs and zags and high kicks for effect. Cinder ran right past the stalled rabbit, which must’ve stopped its heart so its blood vessels wouldn’t pulse. As the other rabbit reached the road, it made a 180-degree hop like an Olympic swimmer doing a flip turn and ran right between Cin-der’s legs. The dog changed direction about as well as an ocean liner, and by then the two rabbits had joined up again and were half-way back to the garden. Cinder closed the distance, but just as it seemed she might have them, they slipped through the fence at the back of the yard and she had to screech to a four-paw

Rabbits, Live and DressedFACULTY ESSAY

by Paul Many

stop to avoid mashing her muzzle on the wire. To save his garden, our landlord had to start letting out the cat.

[3]

Rabbits run across the road a lot here. It must be partly sport. Sometimes they lose their nerve halfway across, though, and try to run back. That’s usually when, despite some fancy driving, you hear a thud and somehow through all that vinyl and carpeting and steel and rubber you feel them squirm as you roll over them. Then you get a feeling in your stomach, like you’ve just swal-lowed a ball of fur. A friend of mine told me what to do for peace of mind in such cases. When you get home, he said, find a quiet spot to sit. Then close your eyes and call up the rabbit’s spirit — soul is actually the word he used. Tell it you certainly didn’t mean for this to happen, that it was just one of those things and you are sorry. Then release the spirit so it can go wherever rabbit spirits go. In its rush it will take along its hot, furry guilt.

[4]When I lived in the city, I had a friend whose family was from Malta. They ate strange foods, compared to our pork chops and mashed pota-toes. One day while my friend and I were hanging around his house, his mother gave him a few dollars and told him to go to the market and buy a rabbit for stew. The market, whose main business was selling live chick-ens, had a musty, hot feather-and-dung smell. In the cloudy

Illustrations by Craig Saffran


shop windows over the wooden cages of squawking chickens hung small steel cages, each containing a rabbit. My friend pointed to one of the cages, and the butcher — a short, balding man in a blood-stained apron — reached in, took out the rabbit, and held it up by its hind legs. It struggled slightly, then was still. We stared blankly. Then, not waiting for us to say anything, he took the rabbit into the back room. A wooden wedge propped open the door allowing us to see in. The room’s walls were of white tile and at its center stood a couple of sinks, a row of stainless steel hooks run-ning above them. The butcher tied the rab-bit’s hind legs together, then slipped them up over one of the hooks so the rabbit hung by the intervening bit of twine. As before, the rabbit struggled slightly, then was still. Then the butcher picked up a slat of wood the size and thickness of a ruler and quickly and sharply smacked the rabbit a glancing blow off the base of its skull. The rabbit went completely limp and blood dripped out of its nose and mouth and into the sink. A few deft cuts with a razor-sharp knife and the blue guts plopped in the sink; another few cuts and the butcher peeled off the skin and fur the way you might pull off a sweater in a steam-heated room. He next tore a length of white paper from a large roll, neatly wrapped the carcass in a crisp bundle, and handed it to my friend. We walked out the front door past the cages, one of which now swung empty in the sun-etched window. The whole process had taken less than five minutes.

When we got out in the street, my friend handed me the package: “Here, feel this,” he said. The flesh was still warm beneath the stiff paper. We were very careful crossing streets on the way home.

[5]My wife and I were visiting a childhood friend and his wife back East. I had been his best man the year before and now we were getting together at what was to be a quieter time when we could really talk. My friend believes in being a perfect host, and (I suspect) the demands he placed on himself in that regard, along with the other complications of modern living, conspired to give him a migraine. A bad one. He told me a story he’d heard on the radio about a waitress who was taking an order in a restaurant when a workman, renovating a shop next door, acci-dentally shot a nail out of a nail gun clean through the wall and into her skull. My friend said he knew exactly how she felt. So he had to lie flat in a dimmed room, while the rest of us sat out in the back yard. We got to talking about how nice and secluded the yard was and my friend’s wife said it was so quiet that they would often see a rabbit out there sunning himself. This was fascinating to them, having grown up city folks, and they would peek out the window and marvel at him peaceful and calm, legs stretched out in front and in back, eyes blissfully closed, drinking in the sun. She told us how my friend’s father — a gentle man who would walk me home by the hand when my friend and I were children and I had stayed playing late — came out for a birthday dinner my friend and his wife had prepared for him. They told him about this rabbit and he was very interested, and talked about how he and my friend’s mother had kept pet rabbits and how he held onto them after my friend’s mother died — so he couldn’t ignore, he said with a wink, how life went on. At one point they left him sitting out on the patio, drink in hand, while they went in to tend the meal. When they looked out the window, there was the rabbit, sitting under the old man’s chair, quiet and blissful as usual. “It was a miracle,” said my friend’s wife. They tiptoed around trying to keep quiet so they wouldn’t scare the rabbit away while they finished their kitchen chores.

When they went back out, however, the rabbit was gone. When they asked if he’d seen the rabbit, the old man said no. “But it’s funny,” he added, “with all of your talk, you got me to thinking, and I’m sure I was humming the little tune your mother used to calm the rabbits when she handled them.” They still see the rabbit from time to time. “But he seems uneasy or something,” said my friend’s wife. “He hops around sniffing and twitching. He can’t seem to get settled.”

“Rabbits, Live and Dressed” first appeared in The Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, Fall/Winter, 1986-1987. It was reprinted in different form in Spe-cial Report: Fiction, Vol. 3, No. 4, November, 1990-January, 1991 and in Ohio Short Fiction, ed. by Jon Saari, Northmont Publishing (West Bloomfield, Mich., 1995). Paul Many is a professor in the Department of Communica-tion at The University of Toledo and also teaches in the department of English. He is the author of three books for teens, most recently Walk Away Home. His picture book, The Great Pancake Escape, was named one of the “Best Books of 2002” by the Los Angeles Times.


S uncovered



SSo you think you know University Hall? Yeah, so maybe you’ve heard that all those hand-painted seals on the walls of the third floor rep-resent the alma maters of the Uni-versity’s first faculty members. And maybe it’s no news to you that from the ground level of the build-ing there’s a tunnel leading to the old Field House. Heck, you may even know the answer to one of the great mysteries of Doermann Theater — how actors access those little balconies on either side of the stage.

But The University of Toledo’s first and best-loved building still contains plenty of largely unknown history among its warren of offices, classrooms and storage spaces. Whether you’re a veteran alum who walked that tunnel on your way to commencement or have just received your UT diploma at Savage Hall, chances are you’ll find something surprising in this look at the lesser visited sights of the most beloved 72-year-old on campus.

uncovered



U HALL OBSERVATORY. Now occupied mainly by paint chips and the occasional arboreal rodent, the observatory housed UT’s first telescope, which was constructed in 1906 and donated to the University by three individuals. The facility (part of its roof shown below) was in use up into the 1970s, although frequent unauthorized visits by non-astronomers made it neces-sary to padlock the entry door. Late in that decade, a determined thief scaled the wall of U Hall (right), broke into the dome’s trap door (far right) and made off with the telescope’s optics. The department of astronomy and physics put out tracers and placed the news in professional journals, hoping to catch the perpetrator if the optics — manufactured at the turn of the century by Alvin Clark and historically significant — were sold. No leads resulted. In the meantime, the telescope housing was removed, renovated, fitted with new optics and installed in McMaster Hall. The story took another twist about three years ago, when the astronomy department heard from a mysterious and anonymous caller. He said that he was repre-senting the thief, who wished to return the optics if no questions were asked. When department heads agreed and arrived at the agreed-upon meet-ing place, they found only a box containing the optics — which now reside in a locked safe, location under-standably undisclosed.

IN THE BEGINNING. “To the right and to the left and all around it stretches the 114 acres of gently rolling ground that form its setting. From Bancroft Street the ground slopes away softly to a wooded ravine rods behind the University Hall. Through the middle of the campus the diminutive Ottawa River winds slowly.”

— Blade reporter Joseph A. Gelyn, waxing eloquent in 1931



THE ELEVATED HALLWAY. Several legends have sprung up over the origin of this hallway — visible but not accessible from U Hall’s fifth-floor central stairwell — connecting two now-unused doors. Some ascribe it to the close relation-ship between an early administrator and his secretary, others to a curmudgeonly profes-sor who wanted a private route to another part of his domain. The truth comes out in the original U Hall blueprints: the hallway connected a more public section of the old University library with its librarians-only stacks.

TOWER. Anyone who’s made even the most cursory tour of campus knows the Tower. Fewer have climbed its series of staircases — only the brave attempt the final ascent on the spiral with the most built-in sway (right). Every level has its treasures, from defunct clock work-ings (right, below) to a model clock hand and part of the UT carillon, displayed by Mark Yeary, UT Web master, networking specialist and a former electrical engineering employee who assisted in the renovation of the Tower clock. Two former UT employees, however — Guenther Buenning and John Georgia — pro-vided the skills that brought timeliness back to the Tower in the late ’60s. Buenning, then working in the physics department, wondered why the Tower clock didn’t function. He asked for permission to examine the mechanism and found the old brass components completely worn out. He replaced all four mechanisms (one on each side of the Tower) with stainless steel parts, and added the Westminster-style chimes to sound every 30 minutes “as a reminder for students that they are here to learn.” Georgia built all the electrical systems necessary for the effort. Pictured is the center mechanism in the Tower (called “the eighth floor” by Buenning and Georgia), which gets its signal from the main clock housed on U Hall’s third floor, then relays it to outdoor Tower clocks.



THE STABLES. Housing for many years offices of the English department’s graduate students, this well-known suite at the center of the fifth floor harkens back to the University’s earliest days, when the area was intended as a “men’s and women’s social room.” A visit reveals the original cork floor that also can be found across the hall in areas that were once the library.

OCTAGON ROOMS. A mere nine feet at their widest, the three offices that run down the east side of the Tower are still in demand. On the fifth floor, a lucky graduate student calls one of the rooms home (below). The fourth floor room, once a kitchenette, now serves as an auxiliary faculty office, and in the provost’s office on the third floor (right), the room has been cleaned of its old files and turned into a conference room — for circular arguments, perhaps.

FOSSIL WATCH. UT’s presidents have to remain mindful of history, but normally not pre-history. However, embedded on either side of the fireplace in the president’s office are two 175-million-year-old cephalopods, each nearly two feet long, excavated during U Hall’s construction, maybe by some of the crew shown here.

WHIMSICAL PLEA. Not a message from The Man in the Iron Mask, the inscrip-tion seemingly left by former UT President Glen Driscoll commemorates the fact that what is now a wall was once a doorway leading to the president’s lavatory. “Help me. I’m trapped behind this wall — Glen Driscoll,” runs the communication that now shares the room with office supplies and a microwave.



TGREENHOUSE. Clearly a feature of U Hall from the beginning (right), the greenhouse was initially the province of Dr. Howard Bowman, chairman of the biology department for 38 years. When the department moved to the then-new Bowman-Oddy facility in the mid-1960s, the greenhouse passed to the College of Pharmacy and was used by Dr. Joseph Schradie to establish an outpost for pharmacognosy — the study of medicinal substances derived from natural sources. The photograph shown below dates from that time, when all the plants used in the field of study were grown in the greenhouse. Schradie also used the greenhouse to start all the seed-lings that formed the basis of the annuals collection at UT’s Stra-nahan Arboretum. Plant genet-ics became the new focus of the structure when Schradie partially retired and Dr. Ste-phen Goldman took over the facility. Since Goldman’s work moved to Wolfe Hall in 1998, the irrigation pipes at the U Hall greenhouse have been dry, the plant benches bare.

TUNNEL. No, this isn’t the one that provided gen-erations of faculty with a cozy, dry walk to the Memo-rial Field House. This tunnel is for all purposes the cellar of University Hall, and the 15-foot walls of concrete that support the heavy load above make for a secure (if sometimes cramped) shelter. The University’s Cold War contingency plans made cer-tain that the tunnel was well stocked with drinking water and food in containers that could, when empty, double as porta-potties. A few such Civil Defense relics from that era remain.

There are many more stories con-nected with Univer-sity Hall, and the building’s many renovations over the years have been the guarantee of further mysteries. Only the Sphinx, perhaps, could answer the riddle of why there are no public restrooms on the third floor. And then there’s The Singular Case of the Revolving Ele-vator, and the Lair of the Fruit Bat — but those are for another installment.

As for how actors access those Doer-mann balconies — with ladders, of course. The doors are facades.


c l a s s n o t e s


c l a s s n o t e s


’35Clara Lukens Parks (Bus) had a 1955 novel, The Mestizo, written by her late husband, Bill Parks, republished by Trafford Publishing (www.trafford.com). A published author in her own right, Clara is readying a collection of her own stories, The Girl Who Said No and Other Stories, for press. She also sends out a request to other ’30s alumni to send their news to Toledo Alumni Magazine so that she’s not the only representative of the decade!

’49Dr. Robert Schlembach (Pharm), professor emeritus of pharmacy at The University of Toledo, was elected to a three-year term on the board of the UT Alumni Association. He serves as the interim director and historian of the College of Pharmacy Alumni Affiliate and on two college commit-tees, in addition to working as a con-tingent pharmacist at the UT Medical Center’s pharmacy department. Robert E. Siegel (Pharm), Toledo, and his wife, Marie, are back in town after wintering on the Gulf Coast.

’50George W. Green (Bus, MBA ’51), Dearborn, Mich., gave a presentation on collecting joke books at Toledo’s Stranahan Manor House in March.Charles F. Mann Sr. (Bus ’50), founder of Toledo’s Chas. F. Mann Painting Co., was made a national honorary life member of the Painting and Decorating Contractors of Amer-ica at its annual meeting in March, acknowledging his more than 50 years of volunteer efforts for the contractor association.

’51Rear Adm. George Gorsuch (A/S), Perrysburg, Ohio, was given the title of Master of the American College of Physicians. Prior to his retirement from the Navy, he held many posi-tions including fleet surgeon to the Seventh Fleet and the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, commanding officer of the Portsmouth Regional Medical Center and deputy surgeon general of the Navy.

’62Larry Rochelle (Ed, Ed Spec ’80), professor of English at Johnson Com-munity College in Overland Park, Kan., had his fifth book in the Palmer Morel Mystery Series, The Mephisto Diary, published in June by ZumayaPublications.

’65Stephen C. Goldman (A/S) retired in April after 37 years as a teacher and administrator in the Dover (N.J.) Public Schools system. He began a new career in June with the New Jersey Department of Education/Division of Evaluation and Assess-ment.

’66Patrick J. Foley (Law), retired exec-utive assistant U.S. attorney, was appointed by Ohio Gov. Bob Taft to the Lucas County Common Pleas Court.Dr. Joyce Van Tassel-Baska (Ed, MEd ’69, PhD ’81), professor of education at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, received the Distinguished Achievement Award from The University of Toledo Col-lege of Education at their Recognition of Excellence Scholarship Dinner in May. She is the developer of a gradu-ate program and a research/development center in gifted education.

’67Jim Traver (Bus, MBA ’70) became president of HR Works LLC, which provides human resource profession-als and services to organizations in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

’69Tom Brown (MEd), mayor of Port Clinton, Ohio, was given an honorary doctor’s degree of public service by the University of Rio Grande, where he took his bachelor’s degree. The longtime educator and local public officeholder gave the Founders Day address at the Ohio university in May. Sue Carter (A/S, MEd ’89), a social worker at the Medical College of Ohio, was honored by the American Civil Liberties Union at the Northwest Ohio ACLU annual dinner in May. She is serving her second year as president of the organization’s state affiliate.

’70Stephan Seagrave (Ed, MEd ’75), principal of McCutchenville and Mel-more (Ohio) Elementary Schools, announced his retirement in May. He has been an elementary principal with the district since 1992 and has been in education for more than 30 years.

’71James A. Hoffman (Bus, MBA ’72), president of KeyBank’s northwest Ohio district, gave the keynote speech at the May commencement of Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio.

’72Art J. Weber (Univ Coll), who retired from the Toledo Area Metroparks after 30 years as public information manager, returned to the parks as director of the National Center for Nature Photography. The facility, located at Secor Metropark, is his creation and is the first of its kind in the country.

’73Alva (Dan) H. Bostick (Pharm) celebrated the 24th anniversary of the opening of Bostick Pharmacy in Piketon, Ohio, in April. He still finds time to fly his Cessna for pleasure.David M. Boyer (Pharm) received the Walter Frazier Award from the Ohio Society of Health System Phar-macists at their annual meeting.Rob Delane (MEd, Ed Spec ’79), Westerville, Ohio, was promoted to director of the Ohio School Boards Association’s Division of School Board Development, with responsibil-ity for assisting in executive adminis-trator searches, delivering in-service training and workshops, and coordi-nating several student organizations.David Jex (A/S), professor of music at The University of Toledo, was awarded a grant from the Arts Com-mission of Greater Toledo to compose music for a multimedia work based on the children’s book, The Great Pan-cake Escape, by Paul Many, UT pro-fessor of communications (and author of the article on Page 14). Jex also received a commission from the Toledo Symphony Orchestra to com-pose a fanfare celebrating its 60th anniversary season.Joe Ludwig (Univ Coll), manager of the Maumee Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, was honored as one of five 2002 Home-town Heroes recognized by the city of Maumee for community service. Thomas (Tim) Malone (Univ Coll, MA ’80), Maumee, Ohio, was hired as the principal of St. John’s Jesuit High School. A teacher at the Toledo school since 1980, he was associate principal since 1999. Risa C. McCray (Law) was appointed judge of the Dayton (Ohio) Municipal Court by Gov. Bob Taft in February. She has run a private prac-tice in Dayton since 1983 and has served as an acting municipal judge for the city since 1981.

’74Richard Martinko (Eng), who has worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation for 17 years, was pro-moted to assistant director for high-way management, working out of ODOT’s Columbus office.

Dr. Ted A. Zigler (Ed, MEd ’77) was named assistant superintendent of the Southwest Local School District in Harrison, Ohio, near Cincinnati. He had been principal of William Henry Harrison High School for the past eight years.

’75Jon Shepard (Ed, MA ’79, Ed Spec ’81, MEd ’85) began his 28th year as a teacher with Toledo Public Schools when he transferred to Rogers High School Library in September. In addi-tion to 18 years with high school libraries, he has also taught English as a second language and special educa-tion for the blind.

Shepard ’75, ’79, ’81, ’85

’76Betty D. Montgomery (Law), Ohio state auditor, received the Distin-guished Alumnus award from the Bowling Green State University Alumni Association in March when she was on campus to give the key-note address for the start of the uni-versity’s Women’s History Month activities. She took her undergraduate degree from BGSU in 1970. Bob Morrissey (Univ Coll) had his book, Humorous Beat: Actual Funny Police Stories, accepted as part of the permanent collection of the Ohioana Library, an archive for the work of Ohio authors, artists and musicians. The book was highlighted in the Winter 2002 issue of Toledo Alumni Magazine. Kim M. Sutkus (Ed), Elmore, Ohio, is a media specialist for K-5 in the Benton Carroll Salem Local School District.Bryan M. Valentine (Bus) joined Management Performance Interna-tional Inc. in Cincinnati as a consul-tant. The 25-year veteran of the human resources field served in exec-utive capacities for various firm, and spent two years in Europe as chief spokesman for labor negotiations.

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“Do you know about the murder on the Miami and Erie

Canal?” asked Fred Folger (Ed ’61), retired teacher and master story-spinner. “And the story of Bloody Bridge?” Who says that Ohio can’t lay claim to nautical drama? Folger, a retired educator who taught social studies at Tole-do’s Washington Local Schools, knows dozens of sto-ries associated with the water-way that was the Concorde of its day. Folger has made it a mission to keep the public mindful of the Ohio canal system, built between 1825 and 1843. “In their day, the canals were projects of stag-gering proportions,” he said. “Ohio was mainly a wilder-ness at the time. You had to send surveying teams in to determine canal routes, and where the water source was going to be. In central Ohio, there are no rivers to follow. There, you had to create man-made lakes to supply the canals. Grand Lake St. Mary’s is one. Lake Loramie near Minster is another. They weren’t dug. The teams would search out low, marshy areas with creeks. They would wall them in so water couldn’t leave, but would fill these low depressions.” The northwest Ohio canal, which was a minimum of five feet deep and 60 feet wide, was dug by hand; the labor was backbreaking. The laborers were locals — farm boys organized into work gangs — and Irish and German immigrants. “They were eager to take any kind of work,” Folger noted. “They had to begin by clearing for-ests. In the summer in the Maumee Valley, work would come to a halt because so many men were sick with malaria or cholera. It’s said there’s one Irishman buried for every mile of canal.” In sum, a hard project and a hard life even after the

Alum devotes time to keeping history afloatcanals were functional. As one woman who grew up on a canal boat wrote in a letter to a local newspaper many years later, “I am trying to forget my canal boat childhood days but they haunt me, live them over every day flies all day mosquitoes at night no one could sleep for the horses stomping at mosquitoes would bite sore shoulders. No ice No tissue No hot running water. No Wash machine used wash board No screens saved dish water to do the dishes all day. At each lock I would fill the jugs to last till the next lock. No springs on bed. A straw tick on bare boards to

sleep two bunks under steering deck. At night would put our clothes on table so if boat leaked our clothes would be dry to put on.” In these more comfortable times, some of the history still remains tangible. Folger, who gives regular canal talks and tours for Toledo Metroparks, said, “I started traveling along the canal’s route to see how much is still identifiable. There’s more than people would think. On State Route 424 between Napoleon and Defiance, the canal is evident because it holds water — that’s near Florida, Ohio. The canal route crossed the Maumee River near Defiance and continued to Cincinnati.” Then there was Providence. “Providence was a little settle-ment where Providence Park is now. It was a rip-roaring, wild spot. There was a Catholic priest in Toledo who thought that all those Irishmen needed spiritual guidance, so he went out there and he founded St. Patrick’s Church. On the cornerstone the date is 1845; it’s a vestige of the canal. “The canal meant more than transportation — people could build mills alongside to grind grain or saw logs for the homes, barns and shops of little canal towns. The first boat came through from Cincinnati in 1845 and the peak year of operation was 1851. After that, it was downhill because of the railroads.

Time tripper. Folger in canal-days togs, right, and above, the real thing, circa 1850 near Waterville, Ohio. Archival photo courtesy of Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.

Trains went faster, and rails didn’t freeze up in the winter. The canals were never a finan-cial success, but they opened up a lot of territory.” But meanwhile, back at Bloody Bridge, where in 1854 canal boat captain Bill Jones decapitated fellow captain Jack Billings with an axe after they fell out over the favors of lovely Minnie Warren, the canal has entered the realm of legend. Folger regularly tells the story to tour groups ’round about Halloween. “When Minnie saw the murder, shescreamed a scream that was heard across the county. She fainted clean away, falling into the dark waters of the canal

where she drowned. Bill ran off into the darkness, throwing himself down the well of a nearby farm. They found his skeleton years later. To this day, that bridge, along State Route 66 down in Auglaize County, is called Bloody Bridge. When the old wooden bridge was there, it was said that the stains of Jack Billings’ blood could never be removed. The spirit of Bill Jones is very restless, and you may encoun-ter him even today. “Was it suicide or was it justice?” asked Folger with a final flourish.

What in the world are you doing?Your UT Alumni Association is interested in what you’ve been up to since graduation. Information about births, marriages, new jobs and recent promotions, and educational or professional accomplishments is published in Toledo Alumni. (Professional news reported directly to your college is automatically forwarded to Toledo Alumni.) If you have a black-and-white or color photograph of yourself, send that along, too! Information that is older than one year cannot be considered for publication. Due to copy deadlines, it may be a few issues before your notice appears.

Please complete the information below and attach a brief description of your news. Mail to: The University of Toledo Alumni Association, Driscoll Alumni Center, Toledo, OH 43606-3395.

Name: Last First Middle Former

Address: Street City State Zip Code

E-mail address: Phone: ( )

Year of UT Graduation Degree College

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James R. Whiteman (MEd) received the Distinguished Service Award from The University of Toledo College of Education at their Recognition of Excellence Scholarship Dinner in May. Now retired, the 21-year super-visory veteran of Fulton County Schools in Ohio still finds time for teaching and training.

’77Doug Daoust (Pharm) opened his second pharmacy in February, at NorthPointe Commons Mall in Defi-ance, Ohio.Michael E. Foley (Law), who has a private law practice in Waynesville, Ohio, was named president of the Warren County Bar Association for 2003-04.Kurt Nordhaus (Eng), an Informa-tion & Electronic Warfare Systems Fellow with BAE Systems, received a 2002 Technical Excellence Award from the New Hampshire-based defense company for his work on a BAE missile warning system.

’78Marty Hohenberger (UTCTC, Eng ’81, MBA ’86) was named project manager at the Dayton Development Coalition, a privately funded organi-zation created to promote economic and community development in the Miami Valley region of Ohio.

’79Jeffrey C. Sessler (Pharm) was appointed director of pharmacy services at St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Ohio.

Jon J. Strole (Bus) was promoted to vice president and controller with Hylant Group, a Toledo-based risk management/insurance company with offices in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

’81Gabrielle Reinicke (A/S) joined the Ohio University Credit Union in Athens, Ohio, as human resource manager.Mary Beth (Miller) Shearman (UTCTC, Bus ’82, MEd ’87), Grand Rapids, Ohio, head respiratory thera-pist for the American Lung Associa-tion’s Camp SUPERKIDS, passed the national examination to become a certified asthma educator. Judge Gene A. Zmuda (A/S, Law ’84) joined the Toledo Municipal Court in February following his appointment to the position by Ohio Gov. Bob Taft. He had been an at-large city councilman since 1994.

’82Judge Robert Grillo (Law) was sworn in as Vinton County probate/juvenile court judge in March, at the McArthur, Ohio, courthouse.Michelle Manzo (MEng), a senior engineer in the electrochemistry branch of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, received the first Women in Engineering Achievement Award, sponsored by Design News magazine. The award and a $20,000 educational grant were presented in Chicago in March. Manzo, recognized for her leadership in developing long-life batteries for NASA missions, chose the Ernest B. Yeager Center for Electrochemical Sciences at Case Western Reserve University to receive the grant.

David M. Mohr (Eng) was named assistant chief, Division of Engineer-ing, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, where he has worked for nearly 20 years. He lives in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, with his wife, Karen (Perry) (Ed), and son, John. Cathleen Nelson (MBA), president and CEO of St. Charles Mercy Hospi-tal in Oregon, Ohio, was honored in March for her contributions to the health care field at “Milestones: A Tribute to Women,” sponsored by the YWCA. The 2002 winner of the Accomplished Graduate Award from Bowling Green State University’s Office of Alumni Affairs was also one of the first women elected to the Ohio Hospital Association board.

’83Sr. Ann Francis Klimkowski (PhD), president emerita of Lourdes College in Sylvania, Ohio, was named The University of Toledo College of Edu-cation Distinguished Alumnus at the college’s Recognition of Excellence Scholarship Dinner in May.Stephen Routzahn (Pharm) was inducted into The Medicine Shoppe’s Summit Club for exceptional achieve-ment with his Bucyrus, Ohio, pharmacy. C. Robert Thompson (UTCTC) was named new product introduction man-ager for the tire group of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. He has been with the Findlay, Ohio, company since 1990.

’84Dr. Brent C. Nimeth (A/S), president of the medical staff at Knox Commu-nity Hospital in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps,was the speaker at Mount Vernon’s Memorial Day ceremony in May.Lori L. Snodgrass Woodson (Pharm), director of pharmacy for Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services Inc., received the 2003 Beal Award from the Ohio Pharmacists Association in recognition of her con-tributions to the advancement of the profession. She is currently serving as president of the National Pharmaceu-tical Association.Charles W. Turnwald (Bus) was promoted to vice president/controller at the Ohio Gas Co. in Bryan, Ohio. He has been with the company since 1995.

’85Michael E. Calli (Pharm) presented a continuing education program, “Pharmacist Disaster Preparedness in Ohio,” to the Stark County Academy of Pharmacy.

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Summit on AIDS orphans a personal climb for alumna

he snows of Kilimanjaro may melt within this century, climatologists say, but there was plenty of the frozen pre-cipitation on the mountain to challenge Phyllis Shadwick (A/S ’64) in February when she and eight companions

gathered at the foot of the 19,340-foot peak in Tanzania. Maybe even more of a challenge was the reason they came together: to raise money for the Global Alliance for Africa’s work with the continent’s AIDS orphans. Shadwick’s interest in Africa dates back to when she first read about the 13 million children in Africa whose parents have died of AIDS. (Experts predict 43 million orphans by 2010.) Galvanized into taking action, she began by writing letters to public officials, then took organized a fund-raiser for a Kenyan orphanage. The guest speaker at the event was executive direc-tor and founder of Global Alliance for Africa, Tom Derdak. “That’s how I got involved in my second full-time job,” said Shadwick, whose other career is doing social work with the homeless of Chicago. The Kilimanjaro climb was organized by Global Alliance as part of an overall $100,000 campaign, with each member of the nine-person group hoping to raise $5,000. At 62, Shadick was the oldest climber in the group that included Derdak. As it turned out, he was able to offer encouragement and support to her during the lung-busting climb. “There’s only 50 percent oxygen near the top and we didn’t wear oxygen masks. If I’d have known how hard it was, I might not have tried it — so it’s a good thing I didn’t know!” The ascent took four days. “Our final ascent was begun at midnight, and it’s probably intentional so that you can’t see how terrifyingly steep the last climb is. But we were so slow that the sun came up when we still had two hours to go, so we saw exactly how steep it is. “When I was at the end of my strength, there was some inner resource I was able to call on. I was determined to finish.” At the summit, the view exhilarated her: “It was absolutely stun-ning at the top — you’re way above the clouds, the sun turns the sky pink.” Equally buoying was knowing that she had person-ally brought $8,000 in pledges to Global Alliance. That knowl-edge made the descent easier in spite of the toll the expedition took on her. “My knee gave out on way down, and I had snow

You’re the top. Kilimanjaro from afar (left) and at the summit (above). Shadwick, second from right, with her team, including

Tom Derdak in black jacket.

blindness — it took me a week to recover.” Back home in Chicago, she could consider the impact that Global Alliance has made in the years since its founding. Created by health care profes-sionals and other individuals from Africa, North America and Europe, the organization has funded nursing scholar-ships, nutrition programs and a safe water program, but as

Shadwick explained, the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa gave the alliance a new focus. “The past year the emphasis has been on AIDS orphans. Last year the alliance cared for 100 orphans; this year we’d like to increase it to 600.” Eastern Africa, particu-larly Kenya and Tanzania, is where Global Alliance is tar-geting most of its assistance. Shadwick noted that although AIDS is now being more fully addressed by the governments of the two countries, “There’s still a lot of denial. Part of that denial is because there are no drugs readily available there to treat the disease. When people in Africa are diagnosed with AIDS, it’s a death sen-tence, so they don’t want to know that they have it.”

The children who have lost both parents are often taken in by their grandparents, but given the large number of children in a family, this isn’t always feasible. Global Alli-ance works to place the orphans in foster homes and provide a monthly stipend to support the children into adult-hood. “If not for the foster care, many of the children are left abandoned on the streets

where they die or form gangs to survive,” Shadwick said. She remains upbeat. The Africans she works with have set the example for her. “I’m always struck by the resiliency of the people, their loving natures, their welcoming of strangers. In the midst of all this, they’re so gracious and full of joy at the small plea-sures of life. There seems to be a spiritual foundation in Africa that I don’t see here.” Working to help Global Alliance save “one child at a time,” Shadwick is thinking about the next fund-raiser. “But it’ll be a walk, not a climb!” Note: Information about Global Alliance for Africa can be found at their Web site: www.globalallianceafrica.org/

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orothy Geiger (Ed ’28), who lives at Toledo’s Sunset House, turned 102 in April, quite possibly making her The University of Toledo’s oldest living alumna. Until

any other candidates come forward, the crown will be hers, and best wishes to you, Dorothy!

Senior honors at 102

Geiger, center, with niece, Dorothy Opdycke and great-niece , Helene Opdycke (moonlighting as Easter Bunny), ready for another springtime party.

on Flickinger’s idea of celebrating the degree that he started working

on 75 years ago is likely to be much different from that of his fellow classmates. “At my age, celebrating means getting into bed for a good nap,” Flickinger said. Flickinger was two days shy of his 96th birthday when he got his associate’s degree

in technical studies from The University of Toledo in May. He is the oldest person to have graduated from UT. “I’m ecstatic,” he said from his apartment in a retirement village. Flickinger began taking classes in 1928, the same year Calvin Coolidge was president and Babe Ruth was hitting home runs for the Yankees. When the Depression started, he had to quit school. He took more classes after he returned to UT in 1996 as an employee. Retirement and travel put another gap in his transcript. He returned in 2001 when he took an independent study that led to the degree.

— compiled from Associated Press reports that appeared nationwide

Congrats of a life-time, Don!

UT math teacher’s memories anything but mere numbers

ern Welker Mervos (A/S ’32, MS ’33) remembers well what seemed like a long journey to

The University of Toledo’s new campus in 1932. “I took the Nebraska streetcar in to school, and as we reached the last stop, the driver would always yell, ‘End of the world!’ And we actually felt like we were at the end of the world then,” she recalled with a laugh. The city has grown tremendously through the years, noted Mervos, and UT has progressed with it. “The Uni-

versity is so much stronger now, as is the math department,” said the former UT math professor. The roots of Mervos’ teaching career began long before her days at UT. In her last year of grade school, she was “excused from math” and asked instead to tutor the younger students. By the time she enrolled at UT in 1928, her aptitude in math was even more clearly defined, and by her junior year she was teach-ing night classes. Made an assistant professor in 1943, she taught from 1936-1947. Over the next two decades, she enjoyed working with many talented faculty, including Wayne Dancer, J.B. Brandeberry, June Winslow and Maurice Lemme. She also developed close relationships with a number of her students, including Maurice Wallace, who was later seriously injured at Pearl Harbor. Upon hearing of his injury, she wrote him and he immediately replied. “He told me, ‘The first thing I got in the hospital was a card from you, and I’ll never forget you.’” Wallace recovered and went on to become a successful photographer. She has fond memories, too, of teaching military pilots, before navigators could “simply push buttons” to fly their air-craft. “They had to do a lot of estimating, figuring wind speed, amount of gasoline and other factors,” she said. “This was long before computers and other dashboard instruments. Back then, many of the students relied heavily on their own knowledge and their slide rules. I had a couple students tell me they’d rather have me than a slide rule.” One of her strongest memories of UT is an experience she had while still a student. “I remember another math student who was very bright but couldn’t afford to continue his studies. Prof. Winslow loaned him the money to complete his college educa-tion. I don’t know whatever became of him, but I do know he kept track and paid back every penny he’d borrowed.” That teacher’s personal involvement and dedication to his students sticks with her still and has made the Fern Welker Mervos Scholarship at UT particularly rewarding. The math scholarship was established in 2001 by Mervos’ niece Dr. Nina McClelland (A/S ’51, MS ’62). “My aunt treasures her UT experience,” said McClelland. “This scholarship allows her to be a permanent part of The University of Toledo.”

— Sherry Stanfa-Stanley ’83

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Elaine (Moritz) Nickoli (UTCTC),a 17-year veteran of the Maumee, Ohio,Police Department, was named Officer of the Year in January 2003. She served as a volunteer police offi-cer at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and served three terms on the board of the national Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Officers Association. She’s the mother of two children, Brittany and Brad.

Nickoli ’85

’86Kristine (Pilliod) Hoffman (A/S) began hosting a new local weekly business segment, Business Now, on WGTE-TV (Ch. 30), Toledo’s Public Broadcasting channel. The show, which she also produces, explores regional business initiatives with global impact. She welcomes new programming ideas and invites viewer input at the program’s Web site: www.wgte.org/businessnow.htm.

Hoffman ’86

William J. McLoughlin (Law), a partner in the Columbus-area firm of Metz & Bailey, was certified by the Ohio State Bar Association as a spe-cialist in estate planning, trust and probate law.Mark J. Schoenlein (UTCTC), man-ager of engineering quality systems with the Owens-Illinois Plastics Group in Perrysburg, Ohio, was named a Fellow of the American Soci-ety for Quality in recognition of his professional accomplishments.

’87Harish Krishnamurthy (MEng), director of business planning and strategy for IBM’s Storage Software Division in Somers, N.Y., was elected to a one-year term on the board of ProLiteracy Worldwide, which fosters literacy in developing countries as well as the U.S. via publishing, educa-tion and services.

’88Todd A. Cook (A/S) joined the Columbus law firm of Plunkett & Cooney. Anne Y. Koester (Law) accepted a position as associate director of the Georgetown Center for Liturgy, a Washington, D.C., education, research and consultation center for Roman Catholic worship.Tammy Mansfield (Ed, MEd ’02), special education teacher at the Lucas County Educational Service Center, received the 2003 Howard M. Baker Master Educator Award at the educa-tion board’s annual service recogni-tion dinner.

’89Bob Barbosky (MPA) was hired as parks, recreation and grounds manager of Orange Township in central Ohio.Robert Mahnke (Ed) was hired as varsity boys basketball coach with Tinora Schools near Defiance, Ohio, by the Northeastern Local Board of Education.Frank Zygela (Law), managing attor-ney for Petroff and Associates in Dallas, was honored by Penta Career Center, Perrysburg, Ohio, as one of its 2003 Outstanding Alumni.

’90Todd Audet (Eng) was promoted to deputy director for District Two with the Ohio Department of Transportation.Beth Ann Kneisley (Univ Coll), Maumee, Ohio, chairwoman of the occupational therapy assistant pro-gram at Owens Community College in Perrysburg, received the Award of Merit from the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association, the highest honor given to an organizational member who demonstrates leadership and professional achievement.Kleia Luckner (Law), administrative director of women and ambulatory services at The Toledo Hospital, was one of those honored in March at “Milestones: A Tribute to Women,” sponsored by the YWCA.Brad Szczecinski (Bus) was named to lead the Investment Advisory Ser-vices group of Ernst & Young at the financial services company’s Chicago and Milwaukee offices.

Szczecinski ’90

’91James K. Gee (A/S, MS ’94) was named general manager of Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) in March. He has been with TARTA since 1992, most recently as director of planning.Doug Pearson (Ed), head football coach at St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo, was one of the featured speakers at the Nike 51st annual Duffy Daugherty Coach of the Year Football Clinic, held in May in Mount Pleas-ant, Mich.

’92Dr. Ivan Dangler (PhD) retired in the spring after 42 years in education, the last 10 of them as principal of Green Springs (Ohio) Elementary School.Antony E. DeMarco (Bus) was appointed vice president, commercial loan officer at Second National Bank, working out of the bank’s North Olm-sted, Ohio, Financial Services Center.Dr. Jodi L. (Lambdin) Devine (Bus) and her husband, Eric, announce the birth of their son, Jackson Matthew, in December. Jodi works in enrollment services at Owens Community Col-lege’s Findlay, Ohio, campus. Timothy F. Ferris (Eng, MEng ’94) was ordained as a Catholic priest in June. The former automotive engineer studied divinity at Sacred Heart Semi-nary in Detroit and served as a deacon and as a pastoral intern. He is assigned to St. Mary Parish in Tiffin, Ohio.Tod Hug (MEd, Ed Spec ’97) was named superintendent of Ayersville (Ohio) Local Schools. He had previ-ously held the position of principal at Edgerton High School.Terri S. Lee (Bus) became a partner in the LublinSussman Group, CPAs, Toledo. She joined the firm in 1998.

Lee ’92

Tara (Dallman) Voelker (A/S) and her husband, Daniel, announce the birth of their twin daughters, Merin Carol and Margaret Marianne, in December 2002. Tara has a private dental practice in Independence, Ky.Kathie S. Weaver (Univ Coll) joined The Collaborative Inc., a Toledo-based architectural/interior design firm, as marketing coordinator. She had previously been with SSOE Inc.

Weaver ’92

’93Ryan Baker (Eng, MEng ’96) is senior research engineer at the Cleve-land Clinic in the department of bio-medical engineering and Orthopaedic Research Center, where he works in tendon and ligament remodeling, overuse injury remodeling, and tendon tissue engineering. His wife, Kelley A. Starr (A/S) has been teaching with Parma Local Schools since 2000. David Ferencik (Eng) joined R.E. Warner & Associates Inc., in Lorain, Ohio, as a senior civil engineer.Anne McCarthy (A/S) switched careers in April, leaving her job with information technology at the Colo-rado Department of Agriculture for a position in career coordination for the Leeds School of Business at the Uni-versity of Colorado at Boulder.Pamela A. Rybka (MEd) accepted the position of director with Bedford Senior Center in Temperance, Mich. Wendy Snodgrass (Bus) was pro-moted to assistant vice president, controller, with Northern Savings & Loan Co. in Elyria, Ohio.Jeff Snyder (Ed) was hired as princi-pal of Edgerton (Ohio) High School in May.

’94Beneth A. Browne (Law) and her husband, Matthew Dodson, announce the birth of their son, Elijah Forrest, in September 2002. Beneth is a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice in Los Angeles.David M. Gardner (Pharm) was named director of pharmacy at Mercy Hospital of Tiffin, Ohio.Janice Gerwick (A/S) married David Nelson in April. She holds a manage-ment position at the Customer Service Division of Ford Motor Co. in Mem-phis, Tenn.

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Philip E. Kessler (A/S), an attorney with the Dayton, Ohio, office of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, was honored by the Dayton Business Journal with a 40 Under 40 Award for his dedication to the legal profession and to the community. In addition to his legal work, he serves as a chair-man for the i-Zone, a volunteer orga-nization that assists technology entre-preneurs. Lance Nofziger (Univ Coll) joined Sky Bank as sales manager for the Montpelier, Ohio, Financial Center.Dr. Erin E. (Halbert) Rinto (UTCTC) received her doctor of medicine from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of medicine in May. She began her residency in emergency medicine at Akron General Medical Center in July.

’95Greg Blausey (A/S) is treasury man-agement officer with the Business Banking Group of Huntington Banks in Indianapolis and was featured in a regional television spot as part of the bank’s latest advertising campaign.Kevin Boyce (A/S) joined Knowl-edgeWorks Foundation in Cincinnati as senior community relations officer.Ed A. Gawell (Ed) and his wife announce the birth of their son in March. Ed works for National City Bank in Cleveland. Dax Kerr (A/S, MA ’97) passed the Ohio State Bar exams in 2002 and began working at the state’s 11th Dis-trict Court of Appeals in January. He and his wife, Melissa, live in Brook-field, Ohio.Dr. Rose Kuceyeski (PhD), professor of information technology at Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio, received the Business Education Distinguished Alumni Award from Bowling Green State University. She was also chosen by the Ohio Distance Learning Association to serve on their board of directors. Lynn M. Logsdon (Bus) is senior auditor with ProMedica Health System in Toledo, and is working on a master’s degree at the University of Findlay.Steve Meyer (Bus), Delphos, Ohio, was hired as the new administrator for Harborside Healthcare/Northwestern Ohio in Bryan.Paul Wittreich (Univ Coll) works as a member of the Euclid (Ohio) SWAT team, and with the Cleveland Police Department was on the scene to con-tain the situation following the May shootings on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

’96Patti M. Driscoll (Bus), Whitehouse, Ohio, was named retail operations and risk manager at Fifth Third Bank. She has been with the bank since 1980.

Driscoll ’96

’97Brian Gorrell (Bus, Law ’02) joined the Defiance, Ohio, law firm of Cook, Troth & Burkard Ltd. as an associate.Matthew P. Michalak (UTCTC, Univ Coll ’00) relocated to Phoenix, Ariz., to accept the position of youth supervisor with Maricopa County Superior Court.Mary J. (Pfaff) Schroeder (Univ Coll), a treasurer/credit analyst with The Andersons Inc. in Maumee, Ohio, was honored as one of the outstanding alumni of Penta Career Center, Per-rysburg, Ohio. She is also serving as president of the board for the San-dusky County Educational Service Center.Tamara Williams (A/S, MEd ’01), associate director of co-op education in The University of Toledo College of Engineering, was one of the 2003 graduates of Community Leadership Toledo, a nine-month program focus-ing on identifying and fulfilling needs of the local area. Kristen H. Wiltanger (A/S), director of market development at Universal Digital Communications in Mansfield, Ohio, was among 23 honorees at the Mansfield Area YWCA’s 19th annual Tribute to Women and Industry Awards in May.

’98Jill Harris (A/S), Holland, Ohio, married Dave Borkowski in October. Jill is special events director for the Toledo Area Humane Society.

Harris ’98

Dr. Abbie Robinson-Armstrong (PhD), assistant to the president for intercultural affairs at Loyola Mary-mount University in Los Angeles, was nominated for honorary membership in Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit Honor Society. The initiation cer-emony took place in April.Darek M. Schmiedebusch (Ed) was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force following his graduation from Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.

’99Christina Dunn (Univ Coll), execu-tive director of the Rotary Club of Toledo, received the Woman of the Year Award from the Ohio Business and Professional Women’s Associa-tion at its regional meeting in March.Matthew Horn (A/S) is enrolled at the Logan College of Chiropractic in Chesterfield, Mo.J. Brad Shotwell (A/S), a graduate student in Yale University’s depart-ment of chemistry, received an Ameri-can Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry pre-doctoral fellowship, sponsored by Pfizer Global Research & Development. Dr. Quentin R. Skrabec Jr. (PhD), professor of business at the University of Findlay, had a book, St. Benedict’s Rule for Business Success, published by Purdue University Press in March. He applies Benedict’s Rule, a 1,500-year-old blueprint for monastic orga-nization, to the problems facing modern entrepreneurs and business-people.

’00Seaman Omar J. Coles (A/S) com-pleted U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.Rick Stano (HHS), a registered nurse with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and his wife, Donna, announce the birth of their son, Andrew, in Septem-ber 2002. The family lives in North Ridgeville, Ohio.

’01Christine N. Kawsky (Eng) married Kevin M. Wickenheiser (Eng ’00) in April. Kevin is the process engi-neering manager at Norplas Industries in Northwood, Ohio, and Christine is attending the University of Michigan for her advanced degree in education.

Kawsky ’01 & Wickenheiser ’00

Allison Zaner (A/S), Toledo, started her own company, Your Moving Solu-tion!, to facilitate the packing and unpacking necessary for residential and commercial clients in the process of moving.

’02Margarita De Leon (MBA) was named by Toledo Mayor Jack Ford to serve as the city’s representative on the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Board. She is the owner and publisher of BRAVO magazine, which highlights Latino services, success stories and related Ohio news.Randy Dupree (Law) opened his own law office in Wellston, Ohio.Megan E. Featzka (Bus) was hired as a financial services professional by the Seymour and Associates Agency in Maumee, Ohio.Mark A. Imwalle (Law) joined the Cincinnati law firm of Rice & Died-richs LLP as an associate.Matthew Kizaur (MEd), a teacher at Rossford High School, was director for the Ms. Rose’s Dinner Theater, Perrysburg, Ohio, presentation of “Damien,” a one-actor show about the “leper priest” of Molokai, Hawaii.

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L uck may have opened the door of opportunity for Walter Martishius (A/S

’82), but those in the film industry can attest that talent has kept that door ajar. As an art major at UT, the Toledo native’s ambition was to do background for animated films. In his last year at UT, however, a couple classes in theatre design broadened his interests and his aptitude. The-atre professor Bill Smith intro-duced him to Doug Kraner, a production designer who was doing the film “Sleeping with the Enemy.” Kraner asked Martishius to do renderings for the movie, and the three-week job turned into more than three months. That soon led to a phone call from the movie’s art director, Joe Lucky, who had begun work on “Terminator 2.” “He told me, ‘If you can get to California in a week, I can get you in the union and get you to work,’” said Mar-tishius. “So my brother and I loaded up my pickup truck and I spent the next few days driving out here.” Martishius, who now lives outside of Los Angeles, has blazed a strong career path since. His other art and design credits include “Patriot Games,” “Super Mario Broth-ers,” “Demolition Man,” “The Specialist” and Disney’s “Dinosaur.” (His Web site at www.waltermartishius.com has samples of his work.) Though his list of credits is a strong enough statement of his talents, his success was formally acknowledged with an Emmy nomination for his production design on “Dinoto-pia,” the Hallmark Entertain-

Alum finds success by design

ment miniseries. “The Emmy nomination was a great thing, especially considering the project was my biggest design chal-lenge.” Martishius put in long days, supervising computer pro-duction and the design/construction of more than 80 sets. Though the Emmy nomination was exciting, Martishius, 44, said one of his most memorable experiences was working on the film “A River Runs Through It.” “It was my first job as an art director, and I spent eight months in Montana. Instead of just walking stages and the back-lot, I’d get on my motorcycle and ride out into the countryside to work.” His family’s involvement made the experience par-ticularly rewarding. His brothers, Mike and Jim, did painting and carpentry work on the film, and their father, Walter (Ed ’58, MEd ’60), came out to visit. “One day, my dad was standing outside the ropes watching. Robert Redford [the film’s director] started walking onto the set, said hi to me, and then stopped, turned around and came back to meet my father. He stood there for about five minutes, just talk-ing about golf and other stuff. That’s the kind of guy Mr. Red-ford is: a really sweet, genuine person.” The last couple of years, Martishius has been working on animated films, including the successful Barbie videos produced for Mattel by Mainframe Entertainment. Last year, “Barbie As Rapunzel” was the top-selling DVD in Europe. The divorced father of four daughters and one son said his children have proven to be a good test audience for the Barbie projects. When his daughters viewed the test versions of the ani-mated prince Ken, which had been already approved by scores of people, they strongly objected to his blonde hair. “Based on my daughters’ recommendations, he was later changed to a bru-nette.” One of his daughters also conceptualized the design of Barbie Rapunzel’s canopy bed, composed of vines, garlands and flowers. “I had already done 10 or 12 designs of a bed and noth-ing was approved. Her idea was approved on the very first try,” Martishius said. His success hasn’t come without its bumps. Early in his

career, his confidence some-times plunged. “I really didn’t have any idea how to do any of this,” he said. “I was com-pletely terrified at times. I remember calling my dad one night and saying, ‘Dad, I have to be honest with these people. I need to tell them I have no capability of doing this job.’” He said his father’s advice has been his own philosophy ever since. “He said, ‘Don’t ever tell anybody you can't do something. Maybe you'll learn how to do it. At least you might get a day's pay out of it. The challenge is what really makes you good," said Martishius. "You won't go anywhere unless you're will-ing to fail."

— Sherry Stanfa-Stanley ’83

Next generation. Martishius and son, Tate.

A Martishius design for “Dinotopia.” Photo courtesy of Hallmark Entertainment.


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’20sDr. John L. Ulmer, Sylvania, Ohio, who attended UT from 1926 to 1928 and from 1930 to 1931, died March 12 at age 94.Gaylord T. Howard (Pharm ’27), Perrysburg, Ohio, died April 29 at age 99. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.Dr. Sam Friedmar, Toledo, who attended UT from 1928 to 1930, died April 15 at age 92.

’30sWilliam E. Girkins, Tampa, Fla., who attended UT from 1931 to 1933, died May 2 at age 89.Walter B. Sohocki (Pharm ’33), Toledo, died May 7 at age 91. Eleanor (Horn) Gardiner (Ed ’37), Ellsworth, Maine, died March 17 at age 87.John P. Jones, Toledo, who attended UT from 1937 to 1940, died March 17 at age 84. William F. Butler (Law ’38), Sun City Center, Fla., died March 4 at age 89. He was a member of the UT Alumni Association.Sylvester T. “Bud” Frankowski (A/S ’38), Sylvania, Ohio, died May 17 at age 86.Eugene L. Jordan (Ed ’38), Plym-outh, Mich., died Oct. 23 at age 86. C. Fred Wachter (Bus ’38), Toledo, died April 8 at age 87. Helen M. (Swaya) Damas (Bus ’39), Toledo, died March 3 at age 84.William O. Fields (Ed ’39), Toledo, died March 17 at age 88.Virginia I. (Digman) McCafferty, Ottawa Hills, Ohio, who attended UT from 1939 to 1943, died April 30 at age 82. She was a member of Beta Tau Delta.Marvin D. Rupp (Bus ’39), Fostoria, Ohio, died May 26 at age 88.

’40sS. Hosmer Compton (A/S ’40), Coral Gables, Fla., died May 21 at age 85. The longtime air pilot learned to fly in UT’s civilian pilot training program and later organized a flying club at the University. He also taught aeronauti-cal subjects in the College of Engi-neering. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.Dorothy Shannon (Ed ’40), Middle-ton, Wis., died March 19 at age 85. The longtime Democratic activist was profiled in the Spring 2001 issue of Toledo Alumni Magazine.Norman M. Dolgin, Toledo, who attended UT from 1941 to 1943 and from 1946 to 1948, died March 14 at age 80. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.Dr. Neil B. Kimerer (A/S ’41), Okla-homa City, died March 21 at age 85. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.

Richard M. Hyman Sr. (Bus ’43), Iowa City, Iowa, died June 1 at age 82. He was a member of the UT Alumni Association.Howard E. Mitchell, Ottawa Hills, Ohio, who attended UT from 1941 to 1942 and from 1945 to 1947, died May 26. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.Jane Shinavar (Ed ’44, MEd ’68, A/S ’90), Toledo, died April 23 at age 80.William J. Ahrns, Deshler, Ohio, who attended UT from 1945 to 1948, died April 4 at age 84. Marilyn H. (Shuey) Yark (A/S ’45), Toledo, died May 25 at age 79. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.H. Douglas White (Pharm ’46), Indian Lake Estates, Fla., died April 28 at age 80. He was a member of the UT Alumni Association.Joseph Lipinski, Toledo, who attended UT from 1947 to 1949, died May 20 at age 80.Corlene A. “Corky” (Bohnert) Taberner, who attended UT from 1947 to 1949, died April 13 at age 74. Richard W. “Bud” Boldt (Bus ’48, Law ’51), Toledo, died April 11 at age 83. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.Marvin H. Bortz, Perrysburg, Ohio, who attended UT from 1948 to 1950, died March 18 at age 75. Eleanor A. (Jones) Mook (Ed ’48) Toledo, died May 18 at age 78. She was a past officer of Alpha Delta Kappa and a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.Dr. Rolland E. Scherbarth (A/S ’48), Sylvania, Ohio, died April 30 at age 82. He served as president of Alpha Epsilon Delta and was a life-time member of the UT Alumni Asso-ciation. Marvin M. Bergman (Bus ’49, Ed ’50, MEd ’57), Toledo, died June 12 at age 77. George Bowland (Law ’49), Genoa, Ohio, died March 24 at age 86.Richard J. Delbecq (Eng ’49), Brevard, N.C., died Oct. 23 at age 79. He was a member of Alpha Epsilon Omega.F. Meredith Parker, Toledo, who attended evening classes at UT from 1949 to 1956, died March 2 at age 81.Bertram A. Ramlow (Bus ’49), Toledo, died April 24 at age 80. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association. Dr. Leslie E. Whitmire (A/S ’49), Palm Beach, Fla., died March 31 at age 85. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.

’50sWalter M. Goeckerman (Bus ’50), Burbank, Calif., died May 23 at age 78. He was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.

Phyllis “Jo” (Sutton) Busick (A/S ’51), Toledo, died April 14 at age 74. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi and a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.Nancy (Boyer) Feindt (Ed ’51), Toledo, died March 22.John R. Gallagher (Pharm ’51), Naples, Fla., died April 27 at age 78.Dr. LeRoy Eulberg (A/S ’52), Bowling Green, Ohio, died March 24 at age 80.Paul J. Hart (Bus ’52), Toledo, died April 1 at age 75. He was a member of the UT Alumni Association. Kenneth G. Shaw (Ed ’52), Toledo, died April 1 at age 84. Harriet Swanson (UTCTC ’52), Livonia, Mich., died April 17 at age 70. She was a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.G. Paul Oberst (Eng ’52), Fremont, Ohio, died June 7 at age 78.Richard J. Chesney, Quincy, Mich., who attended UT from 1953 to 1957 and in the 1960s, died May 14 at age 69.Merritt R. Schaeffer Jr. (Ed ’53), Scottsdale, Ariz., died Dec. 12 at age 71. Roman G. Kondalski (Ed ’54, MEd ’57), Toledo, died May 28 at age 82.Vincent A. Contrada (MEd ’56), Naples, Fla., died April 5 at age 78.Walter T. Bonkowski (MEd ’57), Holland, Ohio, died April 22 at age 77. Charles H. “Bud” Felhaber (Ed ’57, MEd ’69), Northwood, Ohio, died April 29 at age 70. Captain of the UT men’s basketball team in 1957, he played from 1955.Shirley M. (Hilborn) Hudkins (Bus ’57), Pine Island, Fla., died May 4 at age 68. She was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and worked in UT’s engi-neering physics department from 1956 to 1957.Donald L. Dubuc (Bus ’58), Spring Lake, Mich., died April 24 at age 66. He was a member of Theta Chi.

’60sShirley J. (Strobel) Fulghum (MEd ’60), Westerville, Ohio, died March 28 at age 78. She was a member of Chi Omega.Thomas A. Gudehus (Pharm ’65), Silverton, Ore., died March 25 at age 61.Paul L. “Bob” Harman (Bus ’62), Maumee, Ohio, died April 14 at age 76. John T. Perry (Ed ’64, MA ’90), Ottawa Hills, Ohio, died March 10 at age 60.Robert D. Corcoran (Ed ’67, MEd ’71), Toledo, died June 9 at age 58. He was a member of Tau Kappa Epsi-lon and a member of the UT Alumni Association.

Silas Tarver (Eng ’67), Toledo, died June 12 at age 59. A lifetime member of both the UT Alumni Association and Alpha Phi Alpha, he was serving as the president of the fraternity’s Alpha Xi Lambda chapter.Martin J. Bogue (A/S ’69), Toledo, died March 3 at age 56.Mary Ellen “Maralyn” (Pfaender) Cannan (A/S ’69), Toledo, died May 31 at age 86. She was a member of Chi Omega.Susan J. (Key) McIlvain (Ed ’69), Toledo, died March 31 at age 66. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma and a lifetime member of the UT Alumni Association.

’70sRev. Gary R. Miller (Bus ’70), Huron, Ohio, died April 7 at age 65.Gary W. Driftmyer (Eng ’71), Toledo, died May 22 at age 53. He was captain of the UT tennis team and a member of the UT Alumni Association. Rick W. Lindsay (UTCTC ’71), Westminster, S.C., died April 17 at age 52.Flora B. Hague, Sylvania, Ohio, who attended UT from 1970 to 1973, died April 29 at age 68. Robert W. Mills Jr. (Ed ’73), Perrys-burg, Ohio, died April 17 at age 56.John P. Wolf (Bus ’75), Toledo, died April 26 at age 86.Michael E. Conrad, Toledo, who attended UT from 1976 to 1983, died May 31 at age 47. Shirley A. (Armstrong) Craig, Toledo, who attended UT from 1976 to 1987, died March 22 at age 56.James I. Hetrick (Bus ’75), Wal-bridge, Ohio, died June 23 at age 63.Beatrice (Scott) Faison (MEd ’76), Toledo, died March 21 at age 74. She was a member of Phi Delta Kappa.Michael J. O’Connell (Law ’77), Toledo, died April 8 at age 52. Mary E. Ide (Univ Coll ’78), Bowling Green, Ohio, died June 1 at age 63.Charles A. Noworyta (UTCTC ’79), Toledo, died April 5 at age 89.

’80sDr. Sandra (Kisala) DeBenedetti (A/S ’80), Toledo, died April 19 at age 59. Frances M. (Fall) Linenkugel (MEd ’80), Toledo, died March 17 at age 81.Ronald W. Braithwaite (UTCTC ’83, UTCTC ’83), Findlay, Ohio, died May 24 at age 41.Dale M. Nelson (Eng ’81), Bethalto, Ill., died June 17 at age 51. Barbara L. McConnell (UTCTC ’83), Toledo, died June 7 at age 52.James L. Rawlins (UTCTC ’83), Palm Bay, Fla., died March 25 at age 60.Bruce A. Williamson (A/S ’84), Toledo, died April 3 at age 41.


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Steven D. Ansted (UTCTC ’87), Swanton, Ohio, died May 29 at age 36. Molly E. (Nassr) Leonard (UTCTC ’88), Maumee, Ohio, died March 13 at age 54.

’90sCharles J. Minor (UTCTC ’90, Univ Coll ’91), Toledo, who also did extensive work on a master’s degree, died May 14 at age 71. John Dikovicky Jr. (A/S ’91), Toledo, died May 10 at age 56. Carol Hedler (MEd ’91), Toledo, died April 17 at age 56. She served as president of the Toledo chapter of Pi Lambda Theta International Honor Society and Professional Association in Education.

Faculty, staff & friendsRobert J. Achter, Oregon, Ohio, a plumber in UT’s Physical Plant for 16years, died June 1 at age 71. He joined the staff in 1983 and retired asplumber 2 in 1999.

George E. Becker, Reading, Mich., who worked as a storekeeper in UT’s Athletics department from 1976 to 1982, died March 31 at age 87.Paul L. “PD” DiModica, Toledo, who was the official scorer for UT men’s basketball in the 1970s, died May 30 at age 61.John J. Gardiner Jr. (MEd ’85, Ed Spec ’89), Maumee, Ohio, who taught in the military science department and worked with UT international stu-dents, died May 14 at age 65. In 1976, the U.S. Army major was assigned to UT as an assistant professor of mili-tary science. After retiring from the Army, he joined the UT staff as an international student counselor in 1980 and in 1982 was named assistant dean of the International Students Program. He resigned from UT in 1984. Charles R. Johnson (Pharm ’51), Toledo, died March 30 at age 78. He worked as a pharmacist in UT’s Student Health Services from 1982 to 1986.

Ah, Homecoming. The unity, the energy, the UT spirit. Your UT Alumni Association can give you that Home-coming feeling all year long. We pro-vide activities, events and programs that promote our alumni and The University of Toledo. Homecoming — Art on the Mall — student scholar-ships. Your membership makes it all possible.

Call to join or renew today — be part of the year-long celebration of UT: your Alumni Association.

You belong!

Keep that UT Momentum moving!

Ruby M. McKenzie, Toledo, who worked at UT for 20 years, died April 16 at age 72. She joined UT in 1970 as a clerk typist in the Student Union and became a secretary in 1976. Paul H. Muntz (MEd ’67), Toledo, who taught vocational education at UT for 26 years, died May 24 at age 89. He joined UT as a lecturer in 1958 and became assistant professor and chair of vocational education in 1967. He served as chair of the department for eight years and was promoted to associate professor in 1971. Muntz was named professor emeritus when he retired in 1984. The lifelong member of Iota Lambda Sigma was also a member of the UT Alumni Association.Mildred K. Schultz, Toledo, who worked in the UT Finance Office, died March 16 at age 96. She was hired as a clerk in 1961 and retired as a clerk 3 in 1973.Wayne C. Short, Ottawa Lake, Mich., died April 20 at age 62. He was hired as a custodial worker in 1990 and retired in 2002 as a building life safety system tech 2.Janice M. Wery, Toledo, a staff nurse in UT’s Student Health Services from 1974 to 1986, died May 25 at age 78.

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8. T-shirtShort sleeve in grey cotton, with UT Tower logo screened onfront. $17. S-3XL.

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A. University Hall and UT logo hand-painted in Poland. 6" diameter $22. Special shipping/handling $8. B. 4" diameter $12. Special shipping/handling $6. C. Stands available: large $7, small $5. D. Set of six 2" diameter ornaments in blue and gold w/logo $12. Special shipping/handling $5. Ordering procedure for ornaments only: send orders and check made out to Ornaments with Class, 1957 Heatherlawn Drive, Toledo OH 43614.

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Documents

2003 Fall Edition