Select Page

The following Class Notes were received recently in the UW Oshkosh Alumni Office.

’64 Marie (Schnitzler) Peterson (BME), of Escanaba, Michigan, retired 12 years ago as director of music at her parish.  She returns as a substitute pianist a few times each month and serves as a volunteer accompanist for the local theater’s spring musicals.

’66 Beth Ziarnik (BS) and ’69 (BS), of Oshkosh, won the Selah Award for Fiction: First Novel at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference for her book Her Deadly Inheritance.

’68 William Heins (BS) and ’76 (MSE), of Winchester, and his wife Jan are retired from teaching.  He also worked 20 years as an American Express financial adviser in Fond du Lac.

’68 Margaret “Maggie” Jones (BSSE) and ’71 Joseph Jones (BS), of Iola, received Wisconsin’s Family-Owned Small Business Award for 2017 from the Small Business Association.  They have owned Jones Publishing Inc. of Iola for more than 30 years.

’70 Carol (Alpert) O’Neil (BSE), of Johnson Creek, who has been retired for eight years, serves on 10 boards and is a professional volunteer.

’71 Patricia Jones (BS) and ’79 (MSE), of Arkdale, is retiring after more than 30 years in education.  She served the last 16 years as principal of Bonduel Elementary School.

’72 Don Nielson (MSE), of Racine, was inducted into the Racine Park High School Hall of Fame. His career in education was spent as a guidance counselor, where he worked specifically with students who had truancy issues and credit deficiencies.  He recently served 11 years on the Racine Unified School Board.

’72 Linda Rondeau (BA), of Phoenix, Arizona, retired after 18 years with The Tech Group in Tempe, Arizona.  She is looking forward to a trip to Australia with fellow UWO grad, Donna Schober’72 (BS).

’73 Pat Dobberke (MST), of Appleton, has been an active painter and teacher for 16 years. Coventry Glassworks & Gallery in Appleton will present “Star Light: A series of celestial paintings by Pat Dobberke” through July 17. Her abstracts in oil are inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope.

’75 Janet Perry (BS) and ’76 (MBA), of Moore, Oklahoma, is celebrating 12 years of employment at the Oklahoma City Community College, where she is the institutional effectiveness director.  She and her husband Terry have been married for 34 years.

 

 

’76 David Wilfert (BBA), of Two Rivers, and his wife Teri own Wilfert Farms, a fresh vegetable and produce farm, which celebrates 140 years in 2017. Wilfert Farms was named Manitowoc Chamber’s 2016 Small Business of the Year.

’77 Paul Swanson (B), of Oshkosh, is the 62nd president of the State Bar of Wisconsin.  He has a tenure of nearly 40 years in law practice.  He has served in numerous State Bar leadership roles, including State Bar treasurer, chair of the Board of Governors and various committee positions.

’79 Dionne (Kagerbauer) Kelm (BAE), of Watertown, has published her first book in her Grandma Hearts Series, Hearts: Bedtime!  These picture books explore the bond between grandparents and their grandchildren.

’80 Karla Wynboom Blair (BBA), of Kaukauna, will help lead the 81st Kaukauna High School Alumni Rally. She is retired after a 37-year career at Schenck, where she became the first female shareholder in 1988.

’83 Steven Fude (BBA), of Canton, Michigan, is the planning and logistics director for Tenneco in Monroe, Michigan.

’84 Frank Cumberbatch (BBA), of Milwaukee, is the project manager for Badger Philanthropies Inc., where he prioritizes hiring and developing African American workers and companies.

’84 David Kelly (BS), of Alpharetta, Georgia, is a professional motivational speaker, author and trainer. He has taken part in more than 300 professional speaking engagements.

’88 Dan Schmidt (BS) and ’88 Angie Schmidt (BS), of Lake Geneva, have two sons at UW Oshkosh.  Joshua graduated in 2017, and Braden will graduate in 2018.

’91 Stacy (Schnabel) Schilling (BBA), of Granton, will host the annual Granton FFA Alumni breakfast at Schilling Farms.

’92 Kathy (Hoffman) Fandrey (BBA), of Menasha, is vice president of administration and human resources at BLC Community Bank.

’92 Ron Lindberg (BSE), of Appleton, has been performing as a professional magician and stage hypnotist since 1977.  He hosted Rondini’s Weird Science Show at the Abbotsford Public Library in June.

’97 Tammy (Bauer) Rowlands (BBA), of Omro, was recently promoted to compliance analyst at Thomson Reuters, where she has been employed for 17 years.  She is the mother of two children, ages 9 and 12.

’97 Amy (Goebel) Thomas (BBA), of Brownsville, works for Grande Cheese Company in Fond du Lac.  She has been there for 17 years in the accounting and human resource departments.

’98 Chad Bauer (BBA), of Somerset, is a financial adviser with Edward Jones and opened a new office in Somerset.  He received the 2016 Ambassador of the Year Award from the Somerset Chamber of Commerce.

’98 Tammy Laborde (MPA), of New Berlin, is the finance director and economic development director for the City of Stoughton.  She was previously the City of Pewaukee’s administrator for nearly a decade.

’98 Kelly (Risner) Heroux (BBA), of Peshtigo, was promoted to president and CEO of Peshtigo National Bank.  She joined the bank in 2004 and has 25 years of banking experience.

’99 Travis Pamenter (BA), of Universal City, Texas, is currently the School of Medical Logistics director at the U.S. Army Medical Department Center in San Antonio, Texas.  He is a lieutenant colonel in the Army.

’00 Corrin Spiegel (BS), of Davenport, Iowa, was inducted into the Tigerton High School Hall of Fame at the 2017 commencement ceremony.  She is the city administrator for Davenport, Iowa.

’01 Nadalie Walsh (BS), of Logan, Utah, has been named head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini women’s gymnastics program. Previously, she guided the Utah State Aggies to four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances.

’03 April (Williams) Dzierzewski (BA), of Waukesha, is expecting her second child, a son, in July.  She has a daughter and has been married for three years.

’04 Kayte Kaminski (BA), of Bozeman, Montana, is finishing up her doctorate in adult and higher education administration and working on a project designed to spread compassion through education and art.

’04 Allan Stockinger (BS), of Evansville, Indiana, earned a master of science in management degree at Brescia University in Owensboro, Kentucky. He is an analytical chemist at Bioanalytical Systems, Inc.

’05 David Cords (BS), of Canton, Georgia, accepted a promotion with FedEx, which took him from Toledo, Ohio, to Kennesaw, Georgia.  He and his wife welcomed their third son in May.

’06 Megan Lindsey-Schlimm (BA), of Larsen, has been asked by the Institute for Organization Management to serve as class adviser. She is the institute’s director of marketing and events.

’06 Jana Secord (MS), of Omro, owner of Small Business Solutions, is retiring this summer.

’07 Julie Felix (BSN) and ’11 (MSN), of Ripon, is a family nurse practitioner at ThedaCare Physicians-Princeton.

’07 Kristi (Quant) Levy (BSE) and ’16 (MSE), of Oshkosh, is the new principal at Washington Elementary School. She previously taught English at Oshkosh North High School, South Park Middle School and Oshkosh West High School.

’07 Amy Rettler (MSE), of Allenton, will serve as the next principal of Evans Elementary School in the Fond du Lac School District.

’07 Michael Shull (BS), of Madison, completed his law degree at Marquette University in 2011.  He works for the Office of Lawyer Regulation, an agency of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

’08 Vanessa (Madison) Talus (BSE), of Green Bay, has been teaching special education at Parkview Middle School for nine years. Her caseload consists of students who have intellectual impairments, specific learning disabilities and autism. She heads the peer mentor club, which trains peers to assist students with disabilities in the classroom.  She has been married for seven years and has three children.

’08 Jaimy Szymanski (BA), of Davenport, Iowa, is an independent analyst after working several years for Altimeter Group, a prominent tech consulting, marketing and business analysis firm in San Francisco. She has contributed to the new book Content-The Atomic Particle of Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Content Marketing Strategy.

’10 Shane Arman (BA), of Chicago, Illinois, is the senior director of agency relationships and business development for Burns Entertainment. He builds Burns’ business through partnerships with advertising, public relations and digital marketing agencies that are executing campaigns featuring celebrity influence, talent or music licensing.

’11 Andrea Skalmoski (MSE), of Monroe, is employed by the Monroe School District as a special education instructor.  She married Luke Hoenecke in April, 2017.

’11 Jean (Westerhaus) Bartz (BA), of Wisconsin Dells, was recently promoted to area manager with Commonwealth Management Company.  Commonwealth specializes in affordable housing projects that rehabilitate historic buildings into apartments as well as some new housing.

’12 Maren Raab (BS), of Marshfield, is a small animal veterinarian at Marshfield Veterinary Service.

’13 Madeline Meis (BA), of Alexandria, Virginia, just bought a home and became engaged to fellow alumnus, Tim Suess ’12 (BBA).

’14 Douglas Nimke (BLS), of Muscoda, moved back to Wisconsin to work at UW-Platteville after three years working out of state for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

’15 Jason Brown (BA), of Janesville, is a deputy sheriff at the Rock County Sheriff’s Office.  For the past 12 years, he has been a correctional officer. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

’15 Katelyn Wendt (BSN), of Evansville, received the 2017 UW Health Nurse Excellence Award.

’15 Stephanie Wilcott (BA), of Wauwatosa, is the banquet manager at the Harley Davidson Museum.  She was married in June.

’16 Krystin Bartelt (BA), of Jefferson, graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.  She is a U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class.

’16 Jeremiah Hoffmann (BLS), of Fond du Lac, is the new athletic director for the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac Falcons.

’16 Rory Tendore (BSE), of Lander, Wyoming, is the newly-appointed director of the Eastern Shoshone Department of Juvenile Services.

’17 Kevin Dean (BAS), of La Farge, began work as the associate dean of public safety with Western Technical College in La Crosse.

’17 Ashley Millenbah (BS), of Merrill, is teaching wellness classes at Kindhearted Home Care in Merrill.

ABBREVIATION KEY
COLLEGES

• AAS — Associate of Arts and Science Degree
• B — Business
• EHS — Education and Human Services
• LLCE  — Lifelong Learning and Community Engagement
• LS — Letters and Science
• N — Nursing

GRADUATE DEGREES
• DNP — Doctor of Nursing Practice
• GMBA — Global Master of Business Administration
• MA — Master of Arts
• MBA— Master of Business Administration
• MPA — Master of Public Administration
• MS — Master of Science
• MSE — Master of Science in Education
• MSN — Master of Science in Nursing
• MST — Master of Science in Teaching
• MSW — Master of Social Work

Send items for future Class Notes.