Alumni Tidbits

Dennis "Doc" and Brenda (Jans) Darling welcomed their second son, Rowan, on November 30, 2006, who joins brother, Soren, age 3. Doc concluded his longstanding role as program director at the end of the 25th Summer Tour.

Scott Baxley ('83) sings with the Berkshire Hillsmen, a barbershop chorus in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.

Karena Marshek ('83) lives in her hometown of Muscatine where she sings for weddings and other events. She is a member of a Civic Chorale that performs at concerts, events, and corporate functions in the area.

Neal Tucker ('83) works in public relations at the Cancer Treatment Center of America based at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Zion, IL.

Jim Head ('83, '84), is employed by Raytheon, as Chief Scientist for Integrated Space Exploration in Tucson, AZ. He still plays music, but spends more time ballroom dancing with his wife, Molly, of 8 years.

Mike Schnack ('83, '84) graduated from Yale, and has been in Vienna, Austria, since 1990 building his music career. He is also a music director at a performing arts school and wrote a musical that was performed in Vienna

Alicia Wessendorg Bohlke ('84) is a Health Reporter/Anchor for the ABC affiliate in Gainsville, FL. She is active with church music as a keyboardist and regular soloist with the church's 3 choirs. She is the mother of two sons, Danny and Trevor.

Ann (Monson) Schoenecker ('84) is pursuing her DMA in Voice at the University of Minnesota.

Kim Sidwell-Frame ('84, '85) is an elementary music teacher in Ankeny, Iowa. She is married to Bill Frame and has four children - Daniel, Jordan, Emily, and Christopher.

Robb Cromer ('84, '85, '86, '87) graduated Summa Kum Latte from UNI in Fall 2004, and is an Industrial Engineer at Rockwell Collins. He has been married to Tina for 5 years. They have two beautiful little boys, Tyler James, 3 1/2 and Devin Lane, 1 1/2. They plan on breaking ground on 19 acres this spring on land north of Shellsburg.

Nick Bowling ('85), hometown Sumner, and is now living in Chicago. Nick works as a theatre director with his own company. Life is Great!

Steve Lawler ('85) works in family practice medicine and sings with a community chamber choir, I Cantanti. He is married and has three children - Louisa, Sebastian, and Elias.

Brian Dellinger ('85, '86) lives in the Milwaukee area and has been working for Harley-Davidson for 9 years. His oldest (Grace, 6) started kindergarten this year and his youngest, Cole, is definitely two.

Karin (Olson) Schmitt ('85, '86) is a speech pathologist at the University of Iowa Hospital School. She has a daughter, Peyton Noel.

Duane Havard ('86) works for Boy Scouts of America as a district coordinator involved in raising money. He is married and has one son.

Gary White ('86) lives in Indianola, Iowa and is the Director of Data Center Operations at Mediacom. He is married to Becky and they have two children.

Heather (Fischer) Murphy ('86, '87) lives in Delafield, Wisconsin, with her husband, Mike. She is an otolaryngologist with Aurora Health Care Systems in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

Michelle (Kuethe) Carter ('87) lives in the Minneapolis area, and is a Music Therapist. She also works with the Children's Theatre and still performs.

Scott Myers ('87) married Shawna Doty February 5, 2000. He lives in Richmond, Texas, and teaches eighth grade world history.

Andy Schneider ('87) is a bassist who currently plays and 8 string guitar, sings and plays drums with his feet! He is currently living in Manhattan, but tours around much of the country.

Spence Ver Meer ('87) is currently working as an AudioVisual Specialist for Vermeer Manufacturing Company in Pella, IA. He also is a board member, recent director and active participant in Pella's community theatre organization, Union Street Players. He showed off his harmony skills this year in USP's summer musical "The Music Man", where he played the bass in the barbershop quartet. And yes, he struggled to not sing "Thanks for giving Iowa", instead of "Ought to give Iowa", in the Iowa Stubborn.

Amy Jo Patten-Placke ('87, '88) is in media relations and publicity for Random House. She met Sting at a cocktail party while promoting his memoirs, Behind Broken Music.

Maura Stevenson ('87, '89) is an Organization Development Officer at Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, WA, where she lives with her husband, Keith, and daughter Allison.

Deborah Buchholz Knabe ('88) lives in the Boston area with her huband, James, and son, Jay. She is a full-time mother and teaches piano out of her home.

Scott Phillips ('88) is a music professor at Translvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He is married to Kristi and has three children, Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Sean Thomas ('88, '89) is currently living in Prior Lake, Minnesota. He was working at the University of Minnesota and is now attending Wisconsin-LaCrosse, studying to be a Physicians assistant. He will graduate in June 2007.

Jeff Griffin ('89) is currently the band director at Clear Lake High School, directing grades 6, and 9-12. One of his students played tenor sax in the 2006 CI jazz band.

Dr. Jeff Hoepfner ('89) is a chiropractor with two children, Ryley and Joseph.

Kevin Kriegel ('89) teaches voice at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.

Sara Sorenson ('89, '90) married Sean Chambers in October of 2000. She has a master's degree in music education and teaches junior high in Wichita, Kansas.

Sara Chambers ('89, '90, staff '93) is the mother of two children, Julianna and Logan.

Chip Spolar ('90) and his wife welcomed their second son, Andrew, November 9, 2003.

Matt Huddleston ('90, '91) performs with the highly respected Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, starting in 1999.

Gary Kilmer ('90, '91) lives in New Jersey. He is performing in "Chicago" on Broadway. He was recently a choreographer for the 2005 Celebration Iowa Americana Set.

Lyn Krueger ('90, '91) is currently residing in New York. She is the Assistant Dean for Residence Life at Douglass College, the women's college of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Andrea Schwarte ('90, '91) lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and works at Froydert Hospital. She is pursuing her doctorate in clinical neural psychology.

Zach Durlam ('90, '91, '92, Staff '93, '94, '96) lives in North Liberty, Iowa and is a vocal director at Iowa City West. Three of his students were members of the 2006 CI cast. He recently completed his Master's Degree in Choral Conducting (Summer 2005) at the University of Iowa. He is married to Eryn, and they have 2 sons, Noah, 4, and Micah, 2.

Gregory Eichelzer ('90, '91, '92) is pursuing professional acting. He has completed national tours with Grease and Annie, a European cruise production of Crazy For You, and a 10-month European tour of Grease and Evita.

Steve Anton ('91) is an Engineer for John Deere. He is the father of twins, Megan and Carson.

Aaron Durst ('91, '92) married to Amanda and live in Athens, Georgai with their two little girls, Sarah & Rebecca. Aaron is in his third year pursuing his doctor's degree in Music Performance at the University of Georgian and hopes to graduate spring of 2008!

Suzanne (Marshman) Hocker ('91, '92) recently returned from mission work in Ukraine.

Brenden Petersen ('91, '92) is a worship pastor. He lives in Little Elm, Texas, with his wife, Jennifer (Tow - '92, '93, '94), and their son, Aiden. Jennifer recently released her first worship CD.

Erin (Blagsvedt) Johnson ('92), is a managing editor for Rental Management magazine and lives in Taylor Ridge, IL with her husband, Kori, and their two sons, Grant, age 5 and Noah, age 2.

Tony Larsen ('92) is a Police officer in Mobridge, South Dakota. He and his wife, Amy, live in Mobridge and have children, son, Tyler and daughter, Elsy.

Sheila (Knott) Lomonte ('92) works at Lowes and resides in Kansas City, MO. She is married to Anthony and they have three children that are 9, 6, and 1.

Nicole Winke ('92) graduated May, 2006 from law school in Jacksonville, Florida.

Tiffany (Bengtson) Bilharz ('93) is a radiologic technologist at the hospital in Charles City, IA. She and her husband, Eric, have 3 children: Morgan, 10, Madelyn, 8, and McCoy, 2..

Emily O'Banion ('93) received her master of health administration degree from University of Iowa. She lives in Milwaukee and works at Columbia-St. Mary's in hospital administration.

Courtney (Heilskov) Schlichte ('93) is a demand manager at John Deere in North Carolina. Courtney is married to Jason and they have two children, Conner and Caleigh.

Justin Martin ('93, '94) serves in the Peace Corps in Honduras.

Sean Petersen ('93, '94) is a record producer and writer in Los Angeles. Sean and his partner, Joe Hogue (Grammy/Emmy Award winning producer/composer) own and operate their production company, HitPlay Productions LLC. Together, they create music for television, movies & records. In 2002, Sean & Joe composed the News Package for CBS2 Chicago, which was nominate for an Emmy Award. The two also wrote and produced "ALL Night" for Korean artist SE7EN. Released in 2006, the album had sold over 100,000 copies by the year end. Upcoming releases include Nemsis Rising, Kelly King and Ari Gold. Sean received a Commerical Music degree from Belmont University in 2000, where he regularly performed with Melinda Doolittle, and since then has had her sing on many projects, both lead and background. Currently, Sean and Joe are preparing to write and record their debut producer/artist album as HitPlay!

Todd Trimpe ('93, '94) is currently a loan officer in Blair, Nebraska. He is married to Sarah, and they have a one year old, Spencer Michael.

David Arnold ('93, '94, '95) and his wife, Sarah, have a daughter, Emma.

Matthew Sobaski ('93, '94, '95) has a wedding dress line, Matthew Christopher. Twenty-five new stores have just picked up his line.

Andrew Britten ('94) is the Assistive Technology/Alternative Media Program Manager in the Disability Resources for Students Department at the University of Washington. He has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and creates technology for students who have physical needs.

Amy (Bakewell) Henn ('94, '95) is married to husband Grant and welcomed their son, Garrett, on December 29th, 2006. Amy is a teacher in Dubuque.

Jarad Gatton ('95) works at Ed Roman Guitars, the "World's Largest Guitar Store", in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is one of the store's busiest pro musicians, gigging almost every night of the week. Known there as "Jez", they say he is a top flight bass player, who was in great demand shortly after arriving in Las Vegas. He was married to Sara Davenport in Januaray of 2005.

Jayson White ('95) is in public relations for World Food Prize Foundations.

Chad McWilliams ('95, '96) his wife Veronica McWilliams and their two children Clayton Johnnie and Melody Lyle, live near Knoxville, Tennessee. He works as a singer for Country Tonite.

Andy Baerg ('96) married his wife, Laura, December 27, 2003. He works at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Minneapolis as a mortgage processor.

Dan Gerrietts ('96) is a pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in LeMars, Iowa. He and his wife, Molly, have a one year old daughter, Maggie Grace.

Dusty McKinney ('96) is a teacher. He also plays trumpet in West Coast Enigma, Pacific Brass Ensemble, and World Ambient Symphony.

Mark Phillips ('96) is a private banker for First Western Trust Bank in Boulder, CO. His wife, Jen, is a 6th grade math and science teacher completing her masters in administration at the University of Northern Colorado.

Ethan Snedigar ('96) teaches private lessons. He became the proud father of Adia Snedigar on July 3, 2000.

Deyhdra Dennis-Weiss ('96, '97) is a member of the Minnesota Chorale in Minneapolis, MN. The Chorale is the Principle Chorus of the Minnesota Orchestra and ranks among the foremost professional choruses in the United States. She married Nate Petersen-Kidem in October of 2006.

Melissa Lyons ('96, '97) has been acting in California. She graduated from college in 2001 and will soon go to law school.

Brandon Martin ('96, '97) married Leah Cronin on September 17, 2005. They currently live in Waukee, Iowa, where he is a supervisor at Wells Fargo in Des Moines.

Jeremy Jorgenson ('97) has returned to teaching and is finishing his first year with Des Moines Public Schools as a K-8 vocal music teacher at Moulton Extended Learning Center. He is getting married on June 9, 2007 to Sarah Kouma, who is returning to school for her Bachelor of Music Education.

Ann Bradfield ('97, '98, Staff '05, '06, '07) attends the University of Northern Texas pursuing her DMA in Saxophone Performance. Summer 2005 and 2006, she served as a guest lecturer for the Celebration Iowa jazz band during camp. Ann was part of the touring staff for 2007! She is married to JR Byrd.

Suzanne Emanuel ('97, '98) has lived in many locations across the world. Most recently, she moved from Copenhagen, Denmark to Iceland, where her husband purchased a business.

Karl Smith ('97, '98) graduated from Ithaca College in New York with a music major and now teaches band in Vinton, Iowa. His marching band will perform in America's 2005 Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

Gerritt ('97, '98) and Maren (Blom, '97) Van Otterloo reside in Minneapolis, MN. Gerritt is a vocal and instrumental teacher at a Christian high school and Maren is pursuing a PhD in Medical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Andrew Ryker ('97, '98, '99) is a student at Millikin University where he sings in the University Choir. Recently, Andrew completed a summer opera workshop in Italy.

Richard Zhu ('97, '98, '99) received his first Broadway contract with "Thoroughly Modern Millie," awarded Best New Musical at the 2002 Tony Awards. Richard is playing an ensemble track and is understudying two leading roles.

Jennee (Burggraaf) Shaw ('98) lives in Iowa City, Iowa. She and her husband have a 2 year old daughter, Eleanor.

Kristin Stewart ('98) is a professional actress living in New York and has spent the last few years in touring productions of "The Full Monty," "Wonderful Town," "A Christmas Carol," and "Stand By Your Man." She most recently joined the cast of the touring production of "Hairspray", which made an appearance in Cedar Rapids in October, 2007. Kristin plays Velma Von Tussle, the villainous mother of hero Tracy Turnblad's nemesis, Amber Von Tussle.

Erin Thompson ('98) is a student at the Boston Conservatory in Musical Theatre. On a trip to New York City, she actually ran into fellow State Fair Singers and Jazz Band alumnus Richard Zhu ('97, '98, '99).

Melissa (Tometich) Ulrickson ('98) and her husband of three years, John, are expecting their first child in February of 2005.

Sarah Ricks ('99) is an assistant choral director in Ankeny, Iowa, where she works with former Celebration Iowa staff member Brandon Dean. In addition to directing three show choirs and two concert choirs and giving voice lessons, she directs three church choirs in Des Moines. Wedding bells will ring June 4, 2005, when she marries Shane Van Waardhuizen.

Bernadette Garza ('99, '00) is pursuing a Masters in Opera Performance at The Music Conservatory of Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL.

Kara Guy ('99, '00), she has been performing overseas for the last 1 1/2 years with Holland America. This summer Kara will be performing at Little Theatre in the Square in Illinois. She will be in six shows, including Crazy for You as Polly!

Joelle Bourdeaux ('00) is a middle school music teacher for Union County Public Schools in Tennessee.

Andrea (Kuhn) Lind ('00), married to Christopher Lind and lives in Waverly, IA. They have three daughters, Jaedyn Elizabeth, 10/22/01; Margaret Jane, 12/28/05 and Naomi Rose, 01/21/07 along with two stepdaughters, Ryli, 10 and Hannah 7.

Maggie (Karr) Mangold ('00) and husband Jeff Mangold welcomed Hugh Jefferson Mangold into the world on Feb. 16, 2006. Maggie graduates from the University of Iowa Medical School in May 2007 and begins her family medicine residency in Cedar Rapids in July.

Shelby Sievers ('00, Staff '02, '03, '04) is attending graduate school at MSU in Lansing, Michigan.

Betsy Appleton ('00, '01) is attending graduate school in North Carolina for Library and Informational Science.

Jolena (McCloud) Irving ('00, '01) and husband Andy Irving welcomed Kinnick Andrew Irving into the world on March 18, 2007.

Keli Offerman ('00, '01) is a communication and women's studies student at Luther College. This summer she interned at Capella University, an online university based out of Minneapolis.

Eric Neeley ('00, '01) will graduate from Drake University next winter with a double major in music performance and education.

Amber Ling ( '01) teaches 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade music at Lincoln Elementary and Tilford Middle School in Vinton, Iowa.

Whittney Bauer ('02) lives in Peoria, IL and is engaged to Andrew Winkels. Their wedding is set for June 16, 2007.

Lisa Atcher ('02, '03, '04) is a first-year student at Luther College, where she plays second trumpet for the top jazz band.

Nicole Brown ('03), is a graduate of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa with a music education major where she was a member of the Nordic Choir.

Travis Stevick ('03) is a senior mathematics major at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. His wife, Alison, is a senior art major at UNI.

Luke Weyer ('03) is a student at South Dakota State University. He is pursuing a degree in Technical Engineering.

Maggie Hibbs ('03, '04, '05) is a junior political science major at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. She works for the Celebration Iowa office and is currently in charge of the Celebration Iowa website. During the Spring '08 semester, she will be studying in Washington D.C.

Ben Ward ('04) is in the United States Navy specializing in Cryptology.

Meggan Jacobsma ('04, '05) is currently attending South Dakota State University for Nursing. She is on the Dance Team and the Basketball Team.

William (Billy) Beyer ('06) entered his 3 movement sonata, "Portrait Sonata", into the Music Teacher's National Association (MTNA) music composition contest. His composition was the state of Iowa winner.

Send your alumni tidbits to celebrationiowa@luther.edu.