Alumnotes Winter 2018

1970s
Mary Ann Wilkerson ’72/’87 retired from the City of Savannah, Missouri as a class A water plant operator in June 2017.

Carol Hartigan ’73, Certification and Policy Strategist for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and the AACN Certification Corporation, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Credentialing Excellence. This is the Institute’s highest award, recognizing the lifetime achievement of individuals whose vision, efforts, commitment and contributions have advanced the credentialing industry. Since the award began in 1999, Hartigan is just the sixth person and the first women to receive this award.

Dave Scheer ’79 was inducted into the inaugural Union (Missouri) High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a teacher and coach in the Union School District for 35 years and played baseball at Missouri Western from 1977-79.

1980s
Dr. Mark Woodhull ’83 was appointed director of graduate business education at Schreiner

University in Kerrville, Texas. Dr. Woodhull is a professor of business and information technology management and has been with Schreiner University since 2001.

Shawn Malone ’87 was promoted to vice president of sourcing, GE Appliances and is responsible for building and leading a $4.5 billion global sourcing organization that will help drive GE Appliances growth. Prior to joining GE in

1998, Malone taught chemistry at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Maggie (Harris) Degenhardt ’88 earned a specialist degree in education leadership from Columbus State University. She is currently an assistant principal with Rockdale County, Georgia School District.
Darren Thomas ’89 retired from the U.S. Air Force/Texas Air National Guard as a lieutenant colonel with 29 years of service in July 2015. In May 2017, he was promoted to Highway Patrol sergeant in the Longview, Texas office after 15 years of service with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

 1990s

Vickie Clark ’90, MSW, LCSW joined Northwest Health Services. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Missouri Western and a master’s in social work from the University of Kansas.
Christal Bemont ’92, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Small and Medium Business Sales at Concur, was featured in a Fit Small Business article on cash flow management advice.

Kim Vento ’92 is the executive director of the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Christopher Archer ’97 is vice president, Quality Management, for Nestlé Purina PetCare North America. Chris and his wife, Lara Peppers Archer ’97, relocated back to St. Louis from Lausanne, Switzerland, where Chris had been on an expatriate assignment with Nestlé as the Global Quality and Food Safety Director for Cereal Partners Worldwide.
Mary (Schmitz) Porter ’99 and her husband, Jeff, announce the birth of a daughter, JoAnna Marie, born June 27, 2017. Leo ’48 and Mary Ann ’68/’70 are the grandparents.

2000s
Nic (Eveleigh-Wilson) Stevens ’00/’08 is the newspaper operations director at the St. Joseph News-Press and Gazette Company. 

Quinten Lovejoy ’02 joined the Charles L. Crane Agency as a founding member of its Kansas City branch. The Charles L. Crane Agency is the oldest independent insurance agency west of the Mississippi River and insures companies in all 50 states and a number of foreign countries. His wife is Sabrina Lovejoy ’01.

Stacia Studer ’02 was honored as Northwest Missouri Regional Teacher of the Year in July 2017. She is currently an eighth-grade English language arts teacher at Bode Middle School.

Melody (Grier) Shaw ’04 and her husband, Sydney, announce the birth of a son, Sydney Silvester-Ralph, born Aug. 31, 2017. He joins a sister, Melana.

Josie ’05 and William “Jess” ’05 Foster announce the birth of a son, Jon Wesley, born on July 4, 2016. He joined a sister, Evelyn. Josie founded a company, Sight Source, in February 2017. Sight Source

partners with industry-leading eye banks to provide high-quality ocular tissue for surgeons and researchers. She also partnered with a nonprofit and donates a portion of her profits to pay for a surgeon to travel to one of her company’s partner hospitals in another county to perform corneal work gratis.
Elijah Haahr ’05 joined the law firm of Lathrop Gage as part of its product liability, toxic and mass tort team in Springfield, Missouri.

Joey ’08 and Sarah ’09 Harris announce the birth of a daughter, Vivian Leigh, born June 20, 2017. The Harrises also have a son, Everett Joe Harris IV.
Scott Weston ’05 was named head coach for the new intercollegiate women’s volleyball program at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa.

2010s

Jenn Cammann ’10 and Dalton Powers were married April 8, 2017. The couple resides in St. Peters, Missouri.

Elizabeth Bertram ’15 was selected for a one-year clerkship with the North Dakota Supreme Court for the 2018-19 term beginning Aug. 1, 2018. She is expected to receive her Juris Doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, in May 2018.

Alex Atkinson ’16 is the director of expansion for Phi Delta Theta Fraternity general headquarters. He had been serving as expansion consultant.

Crystal Poole ’16 is a conservation agent for Caldwell County in Missouri.

Caitlyn Taylor ’17 and Riley Wilson ’17 were married June 17, 2017 in St. Joseph, Missouri.   Kayla White ’17 earned a perfect score on the physical therapist assistant licensing exam from the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy. She is currently working for the Wathena (Kansas) Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and LaVerna Village of St. Joseph.

In Memory
We remember those who have passed away. If you want to include someone in this listing, please call (816) 271-5651, mail the information to Diane Holtz, Missouri Western State University, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, MO 64507, or email holtz@missouriwestern.edu.
Shelly J. Athay ’94, St. Joseph, Missouri, Sept. 19, 2017.
Judy Botts ’05, Grandview, Missouri, July 27, 2017.
Jeffery M. Brown ’77, St. Joseph, Missouri, Oct. 7, 2017.
Katherine L. Bruns ’09, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sept. 14, 2017.
Vincent Carolus ’48, St. Joseph, Missouri, July 21, 2017.
Lorri Hamm ’00/’02, Faucett, Missouri, Sept. 13, 2017.
James D. Hopkins ’89, Highland, Kansas, July 24, 2017.
Michael J. Huffer, St. Joseph, Missouri, Sept. 22, 2017.
Carol F. (Bowland) Jackson ’73, St. Joseph, Missouri, June 21, 2017.
Pamela M. Lloyd ’81, St. Joseph, Missouri, Aug. 22, 2017.
Bonnie Louise Mathers, Tarkio, Missouri, June 17, 2017. Bonnie retired from Missouri Western’s Purchasing Office in 1991.
Dale G. Meyer ’87, Oregon, Missouri (formerly of Cortez, Colorado), August 11, 2017.
Vera Onkoba ’03, St. Joseph, Missouri, July 26, 2017.
Jaime L. Ramirez ’81, Kansas City, Missouri, Oct. 13, 2017.
Barry L. Reynolds ’72, St. Joseph, Missouri, June 20, 2017.
John R. Steinbrenner ’84, Gold Canyon, Arizona, July 23, 2017.
Carolyn J. Steppe ’75, St. Joseph, Aug. 18, 2017.
Charles Robert Stinson ’52, St. Joseph, Missouri, July 24, 2017.
Michael Henry Stroud ’89/’92, St. Joseph, Missouri, July 21, 2017.
Andrew  Tyhurst ’12, Kansas City, Missouri, July 5, 2017.
Paul H. Von Fischbach ’13, St. Joseph, Missouri, Oct. 11, 2017.
William Waller ’55, Faucett, Missouri, July 13, 2017.
Donna L. Witte ’95, Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 18, 2017.