Golden Bear Celebration

Shelley Dieterichs, BFA ’72, designed and illustrated the children’s book Fun ABC Flipbook (Fox Chapel Publishing, April 2024). The book uses six of her illustrated alphabet letters — boys, girls, sports, cats, dogs and zoo animal letters.

Mark Edelman, AB ’72, publishes a monthly theater column in several Washington, D.C.– area newspapers and hosts a podcast on the subject titled “Onstage DMV.” His play Four Children was published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide. The organization he founded in Kansas City — Theater League — provides funding for Shakespeare festivals and children’s theater programs around the country.

Jerry Pruce, BFA ’72, MFA ’74, had a retrospective of his abstract art at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, California, which ran August through October 2024.

Sharon (Sutker) McGowan, AB ’72, was inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame, Nov. 1, 2019. The founding editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, which launched in 2011, McGowan left the organization in January 2019 and joined the Institute for Nonprofit News, in Los Angeles.

Andrew Vogel Ettin, MA ’67, PhD ’72, penned The Five Biblical Scrolls (Cascade Press, 2025). The book is an introduction and guide to Ecclesiastes, Esther, Song of Songs, Ruth and Lamentations. Ettin retired from teaching English at Wake Forest University and is now an adjunct in religion at High Point University, as well as an ordained rabbi serving a congregation in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Jan Degenshein, BSAS ’67, became the oldest first-time elected city council member in the history of Norwalk, Connecticut. Degenshein also received the Community Beacon Award from the Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for 50 years of leadership, advocacy and commitment.

Perci Chester, BFA ’67, created the sculpture “Spiralitious” using repurposed spiral-shaped farm implements. Inspired by Chester’s love of slinky toys, the playful sculpture remains kinetic despite being 20 feet tall, bouncing slightly while anchored to heavy steel plate bases. The sculpture is available for collection.

Gordon L. Ankney, BSBA ’67, came out of retirement in 2023, returning to the courtroom as a pro bono prosecutor for the City of St. Louis when the city faced a staffing crisis. He has concluded 25 homicide cases in this role, half by trial, and mentored younger prosecutors. Ankney is a senior counsel with Thompson Coburn.

Lawrence Millman, AB ’67, published another book, Outsider: My Boyhood with Thoreau (Coyote Arts LLC, March 2024), his 22nd title.

Ron Fischer, BS ’62, retired in January 2024 as owner of Professional Engineering Co. Patron Services, Inc. and is living in Summerville of St. Andrew’s retirement community in Eureka, Missouri.

Vicki Sharp, AB ’62, professor emeritus at California State University, Northridge, wrote more than 55 books on statistics, medicine and the use of computers in schools as a computer consultant and trainer for publishers such as Little Brown and McGraw-Hill and for school districts. As a creative departure, Sharp wrote “When Retirement Equals Eviction,” for Academe, the magazine of the American Association of University Professors.

Reinhard A. “Bud” Wobus, AB ’62, retired in 2022 after 55 years teaching geology at Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. A group of former students honored him by organizing a daylong technical session at the Geological Society of America’s 2021 annual meeting in Portland, Ore., in October.

Marilyn Levin Brown, AB ’62, is an artist and author whose 18th book was published in 2022. A couple of others, Brown writes, “went to a landfill.” Digital Clay and Digital Clay 2 are among her books that survived.

Mary “Jane” Ayer Mantini, DN ’57, lives in Tampa and recently had a reunion with classmates Georgette Hartner, BSN ’57, and Carolyn Steiner Johnson, BSN ’57. Mantini invites other classmates to get in touch. Mantini’s husband, Emil L. Mantini, MD ’58, died Aug. 16, 2023.

Richard W. Furlong, SI ’57, and his wife, Helen Prince Furlong, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary Sept. 7, 2021. Richard, who began his teaching career at WashU, is a retired emeritus professor from the University of Texas at Austin. The couple lives in Plano, Texas.

Frank S. Thomas III’s, EN ’52, career included 30 years at Universal Match and McDonnell Douglas, then 28 years at First Financial Planners. Along the way, he sang with the Washington University Civic Chorus for about a dozen years, performing in Washington, D.C., and in New York City at Carnegie Hall. He and his wife live with their adult son, who is their caregiver.