These classmates have posted Brief Bios and/or Remember When Stories, listed alphabetically by current last name. Submit your stories and brief bio here.
I married Ron Johnson just before our senior year. Ron had one year pro basketball, four years at William Mitchell law school, and we graduated with three children. I did teach fourth grade for a year in Bloomington, on the "early shift." We went to St. Cloud in '65 and raised our family there. I taught swimming, substitute teaching, tutoring, took classes at SCSU, and got certified in Special Education. I taught children with learning disabilities for 20 years.
Yes, our three children played basketball. Kris's college team came in third in the N.I.J., Jennie rewrote the record books at South Dakota State, and Phil had an amazing career. He went to a Minnesota state basketball tournament, in spite of a knee injury followed by a dislocated foot that sidelined him for a couple of years. He played for Jim Smith at St. Johns University. We have a picture of the three of them as adults and that is my trophy. We currently have eight grandchildren, four of whom play varsity sports. So we leave sunny Florida for Minnesota in February to watch more high school basketball.
After receiving a degree in geology, I went to medical school at the University Of Minnesota and have spent the last 43 years doing family practice in rural Litchfield, Minnesota. It was, and still is, very satisfying to me. Mac's well-rounded atmosphere has served extremely well.
After graduating from Mac, Maureen and I moved to Amery, Wis. where I began my teaching career. I taught English and P.E. and coached football and wrestling. One year later I was hired by the St. Paul public schools where I taught for 34 years. I was at Longfellow Grade School for two years, Monroe High School for 20 years, Jefferson Alternative School for 10 years and Central High School for my last years. I taught English, health and P.E. I retired in 1994 and have been engaged in building contracting the past 14 years. I still work, mainly building home additions and decks.
I was married for eight years to Maureen until her death from a heart defect in 1965. We had no children. I was re-married to Jan and we were married for 30 years and had three children. Bob is a teacher and coach in Eau Claire, Wis. Lori is a teacher at Rahn Elementary School in Eagan, and Dana is an administrative assistant for the College of St. Scholastica, St. Paul campus. Jan passed away from breast cancer in 1997. At my age, my dating has been limited, and my time is mostly taken up with my children and five grandchildren and by carpentry. I have been somewhat remiss in my contact with the Macalester community except for an occasional contact with some of the alumni who live in the twin city area. This is the first time I have been online at this website and it has been great to check up on the classmates who have submitted bios.
I married Dan Jones, class of '56, and we have been blessed with three children and five grandchildren. My career was teaching kindergarten and first grade for 25 years. We are now retired and living on Green Lake in Chisago City, Minn.
I began my career by teaching high school English and Spanish in the South St. Paul school district from 1959 to1965. In 1961 I married Phillip Katzung and we had a daughter in 1965 and a son in 1966.
I received my Master of Arts degree in library science from the University of Minnesota in 1967. I returned to full time work as a high school librarian in the South St. Paul and West St. Paul school districts from 1967 to 1972. I began my job as Chief Librarian at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch in 1972 and left in 1987. That year we moved to Crofton, Maryland, and I began work at U. S. News & World Report magazine in Washington D.C. as a librarian with supervisory duties and remained there until 2003 when I retired.
We have two grandsons in St. Paul who are the children of daughter Emily and her husband. Andrew lives in Minneapolis. We love retirement and take advantage of this area’s cultural events and nearby historic sites and activities.
I’ve been married to Nicholas Klak for 49 years. He was a high school teacher, and I taught 20 years in early elementary school. We have two sons who are also teachers and four grandchildren. We retired to Florida and since then have been busy serving on the board at church and working on the worship committee. We have sung and played the piano for our park chorus and have been very active in doing hospitality kinds of things in the park. I also volunteer in a kindergarten class one day a week. I've been with the same teacher for 15 years.
I came from Itasca, Ill., to attend Macalester in 1955 and the spring of my senior year I enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard. Served in the Guard for six years, with weekly meetings and two weeks active duty each summer.
Following my six-month active duty, I returned to Illinois where I worked at the local bank until September 1960 when I entered Law School at the University of Minnesota. Graduated and was admitted to practice in Minnesota in 1964.
I worked for 3M in St. Paul from 1964-1975. Was hired as General Counsel for United Power Association in Elk River, Minn., in '75 and retired from the company (now Great River Energy) in 1999.
Lived in Hudson, Wis.; Princeton, Minn., (where our two children went to school); and Las Cruces, N.M. Currently live in the Rice, Minn., area and return to Las Cruces for the winter months.
My wife, Carol, and I have two children: Jonathan, a 1986 Carleton grad, and Susanne, 1989 Macalester. Susanne entered Macalester almost exactly 30 years to the day after I did. Both live in the D.C. area on the East Coast.
After graduation I went to Chicago and entered grad school at the University of Illinois. I received a M.S. in 1961 and was accepted for the Ph.D. program in Microbiology/Pathology. After a year, I decided to pursue at least the first two years of med school before completing the Ph.D and was accepted at the U. of No. Dakota in what then was a B.S. Med. program. Joy (Hedman 1961) and I were married in Aug., 1962. My med school training was interrupted in 1963 by severe family illnesses which required frequent travel to St. Paul from our home in Grand Forks.
I joined a newly awarded NCI-sponsored research program looking at the possible transmission of various leukemia viruses by insects and other arthropods. During this unexpectedly long (and life changing) interval in training, we became proud parents of daughter Gretchen in 1968 and son Hans in 1970. I was able to maintain some research activity while completing my second year of med school in 1973. Having decided that my earlier plans for an MD-PhD were impractical, our family of four moved to Michigan where I received the M.D. from the MSU College of Human Medicine in 1975.
Following an invitation for a two-year fellowship within the NCI on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, MD, we moved to Gaithersburg, MD. During that time I became aware of opportunities available within the NIH for professional growth which would not involve further geographic moves. I received a commission in the U.S. Public Health service in late 1976 and was privileged to serve in multiple capacities in five institutes before retiring from NIH in 2005. Instead of needing to "chase" our children in retirement, they were thoughtful enough to move back to this area. Gretchen, her husband James, Emma (nine), Charlie (six) and Hannah (four) live in Gaithersburg. Emma and Charlie are enrolled in the neighborhood elementary school their mom and uncle attended. After 13 years of studies in California, Hans returned to the area and has joined the NIH as a principal investigator.
Even though we remain midwesterners in heart (and in speech), the mid-Atlantic is home.
I had hoped to be able to join you for our 50th but this plan has been superseded by the need for extensive spine surgery on April 15, which involves implanting new rods and vertebral fusion from the neck (C7 or C6) to the lower lumbar area. Having had a less extensive version in 1994 we know that there will be a long rehab period reaching well into the summer.
I have had the good fortune of marrying Marlene Johnson '59 and enjoying a career in corporate recruiting while living in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Houston, Texas.
After marrying Roland Lund '59 (Rollie - Green Giant), we lived in Le Sueur, Minn., for nine years. We then moved to Omaha, Neb., and then transferred to Houston, Texas. I taught fourth grade there and retired in 2003.
I taught in Red Wing, MN from 1959-1961, and after that I attended the University of Minnesota briefly. From 1962 to 1963 I went to Guatemala to teach in an American School-not a US American School. From there I worked for six months in a Hotel in Honduras until they had a coup d'état. I moved to El Salvador to teach and met my British husband. We were married in 1964. My son Karl was born in 1965, and when he was about a year old we were transferred to northern Panama for six months. From Panama we moved to Venezuela where we lived for seven years, and my daughter was born. In 1972 we went to live in England for a year, and then we were transferred to East Africa, Kenya where we lived for three years. I loved Kenya and really enjoyed the film Out of Africa.
We moved to the US in 1977 and to Arizona in 1978. My husband attended the University of Arizona and obtained all but his dissertation for his Ph.D. before he died in 1991. The family moved to Mauritania in 1985, although by that time Karl was in the Navy, and Kirsten had to attend school in Switzerland. Mark was working on an Agricultural project for USAID. After Mark's death I had a bed and breakfast for a time in Tucson and finally returned to teaching in 2000. Since 2001 I have been a substitute teacher in the Tucson Unified School district where my knowledge in Spanish has served me in good stead.
It has been quite a trip, filled with dreams of "study, work, and play!"
It all began with my birth -- no, we'll move forward to graduating from Mac. First, I started teaching art in White Plains, New York. Then I moved to Highland Park Junior High in St. Paul, Minn., to do the same, and met the "love of my life," Jerry Mansergh.
Over the 47 years together, we have raised a family (one daughter and three sons), who have also met their life challenges of "study, work, and play." We enjoy each of our children and their spouses, children (our three wonderful grandchildren) and animals (dogs, cats, etc.). Each is unique with their special interests, work, homes, hopes and dreams.
My "out-of-the-home" work consisted of two years in teaching art, then developing, directing, and teaching at a nursery school in Royal Oak, Mich., which required me to go to Wayne State University for a state teaching certification. After seven years in Michigan, my husband changed professorships from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University to the University of Minnesota, so I moved into another field of opportunity -- designing, developing, directing and counseling at an in-house Employees' Assistance Program (EAP). Research review regarding this line of work, along with a St. Thomas University Master's in adult education and psychology, helped me round out the knowledge and skills needed for this most challenging work. After 15 years of working with this company, which became owned by NCR, I retired as a Director in 1992.
Retirement has given Jerry and I a chance to grow, renew our selves, and redirect our lives as a team in the areas of national and international consulting. We have enjoyed nine years of working with the American International Schools of Central America, Colombia, the Caribbean and Mexico.
We live on a lake between the areas of Luck and Frederic, Wis. Here we volunteer with the schools, the Historical Society, the library, the Shriners, and the First Presbyterian Church of St. Croix Falls.
With time permitting, we travel with friends and relatives and exchange timeshares to see the beauties of the USA and the world. I spend time quilting, painting, reading, and enjoying the natural surroundings in which we live. With God's permission, I hope to continue to do this for some time to come.
After graduation I graduated from Dubuque Theological Seminary with an MDiv Degree. I served as a pastor to three Presbyterian churches in northwest Minnesota for five years. I took a Pastoral Training program in Rochester, Minn. for a year. I continued in a training program at the University of Virginia Medical Center. I became a Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor and remained in that position for 23 years. We moved to Billings, Mont. to begin a new training program for clergy and laypersons in various cities in the state. I am now living in Brainerd, Minn. I have been active in the Presbytery wherever I have been.
I have been married to Marilyn for 53 years. We have four adult children - one minister, one assistant principal, and two lawyers, all living in various parts of the country. We also have 13 grandchildren and one cat.
I married Clare Martin Jr. (class of '58), and had four children. I worked as a delivery room nurse, and I spent the last five years as a mortgage banker. We retired to St. George, Utah (low humidity, no snow). I am busy today playing clarinet in the College Woodwind ensemble, playing violin in the local symphony, doing outdoors activities in beautiful southwest Utah, and spending time with friends and family. My husband is still my best friend and playmate.
I married my high school girlfriend; we have four children and eight grandchildren. We are both active in many organizations in Oklahoma City. I started a company in 1973 and continue to be involved in it each day. We are committed travelers and take several trips each year. We spend about four to five weeks a year in New Mexico.
After graduating in January, I worked for a bit more than a year in a church in Duluth. Then I went on to Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley for an MDiv, after which I worked in the campus ministry at Oberlin College and then on the national staff of the Student YWCA, traveling a nine, then 12 state region out of Chicago.
When that job disappeared through downsizing of the national staff, I came to Cleveland to go to law school. With JD in hand I practiced law for several years before becoming a Magistrate with the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division For more than 10 years before I retired I was Chief Magistrate, hearing and seeking to settle many contested divorces such as child issues, property matters, and support decisions.
Since retirement, I have been somewhat politically active (Code of Judicial Conduct prohibited that previously) and have become involved in Cleveland's Episcopal Cathedral where I currently chair a group of "mature" folk called Third Half of Life.
Much of my time is spent in genealogical pursuits, online and in travel. My family and that of others are major preoccupations. My partner and I live in Cleveland on the shore of Lake Erie and spend endless hours watching the lake as it changes day to day.
I attended seminary for two years after graduating. After deciding that was not my direction, Uncle Sam caught up with me. I served three years in the U.S. Army, including a year at the Army Language School studying Russian, then two years in Berlin. Soon after I was discharged, I married Beverly Lingwall (GAC '60). I returned to Mac to get my teaching credentials in secondary education. I taught ninth grade social studies for 32 years, starting with two years at Mahtomedi High School, then the rest in the West Saint Paul Schools. Bev was an elementary teacher. I retired in '98. Since then I have remained busy enough with various volunteer activities around West Saint Paul and in my church.
Bev and I have been blessed with three children and four grandchildren. Our oldest child, Jonathan, lives and works in Saint Paul. Our oldest daughter, Kathleen, lives in Missoula, Mont., with her husband, Simon, and their two kids, one 8 and the youngest 5. Sarah and her partner Amy live in Saint Paul and have two children, one 5 and the youngest 2.
We have enjoyed traveling in our retirement, to Japan in '98, Israel in 2000, Tanzania in 2003 and again in 2007, Ireland in 2006, Mexico, Hawaii and other destinations in the U.S.
My family includes my husband Larry and son Alexander. I have worked at West Publishing (proofreader); St. Paul Companies (assistant editor of in house publications); Top Temp; Bankers Title; Questar Educational Systems. My volunteer jobs have included: reader for Society for the Blind; sixteen years with University of Minnesota Master Gardeners, staffing plant clinics and doing programs for garden clubs, etc.; volunteering at local elementary school library for 12 years.
My hobbies are gardening and taking care of pets. Exciting experiences include having three complete joint replacements in the past four years (two hips, one shoulder). Is there a prize for being the most bionic woman in the class of 1959? (I plan to stay away from powerful magnets in the future.)
I completed 38 years with Cargill, Incorporated at their world headquarters in Minnetonka, Minn. I retired in 1997 after having served as a senior auditor, and controller of four different business units.
I married my high-school sweetheart, Jeannette and have three children and seven granddaughters.
Retirement is great...summers include continual travel with our 5th wheel and three month winters at a gulf condo near Port St. Joe, Florida.
I continue to reside in our retirement home in Andover, Minn. I serve as an EDA Commissioner in Andover and am busy building my library of WWII history books and adding to my coin collection.
Fifty years ago last fall, September 1958, an incoming freshman from Willmar Minnesota timidly confronted the reality of entering the community of higher education at Macalester College. The succeeding four years proved to be exciting and very enlightening. A German class provided the opportunity to meet a young woman, Lynne Davis, and this was a turning point in my life. We married the following September on a Friday night and our honeymoon was a trip from Fergus Falls to St. Paul. Medical school classes began on Monday. Lynne was in her clinical internship in medical technology that fall so we both were very busy, not too busy to begin our family with the arrival of daughter Deborah in January of the following year.
Lynne began working as a medical technologist and I continued in medical school, we welcomed our first son Bill in the summer of the last year of medical school. Following a year of internship in Duluth, the U. S. Army called and this began 6 and 1/2 years of military service. During this time I enrolled in a pathology residency. I served as a staff pathologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Texas following the residency. Our sons Tom and Rolf were born during this period of Army service.
After leaving the Army in 1972, we moved to Sartell Minnesota where I began work in a clinical testing laboratory and subsequently formed an independent practice covering four hospitals and a surgical center. The practice ultimately consisted of four pathologists. Lynne was very busy taking most of the responsibilities of family life. As many of you probably experienced, the years when our children were growing up passed very rapidly and when the nest became empty, Lynne and I had the chance to reacquaint ourselves, a process that continues. We both have enjoyed the privilege of working on the Mac. Reunion Committee.
After Commencement I began a year of internship for Medical Technology at Miller Hospital Labs in St. Paul, completed the MT coursework and earned a BS degree from Macalester in June of 1960. It was a busy year as Grayson and I had married in September of 1959, just before he began medical school. My career as Med Tech was somewhat brief, working a few months at Miller, a few years at St. Mary's Hospital in Minneapolis and a year at a clinic in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii.
We have four wonderful adult children and their spouses: Deborah Ruth Osteraas, Mac Class of '82, (Larry Broberg); William R., (Lisa); Thomas Lynn, (Kathy); and Rolf Grayson. Our third child, Bruce Davis, died at 6 months of age. We are fortunate to have six grandchildren: Amy, Tierney, Nicole, Delaney, Lauren and Lars.
Since Grayson's retirement, there has been more time for reflection and realization of what a fascinating life we've had together all these many years, starting at dear old Macalester! Currently, some of my favorite things are having our families and grandchildren visit us up north at the lake, playing golf, reading, attending concerts, volunteer work at church, and committee involvement planning for the 50th Reunion Class of '59! Don't miss it!
