Latest Alumni News......

Fifties
1958
Ross “Bud” Hoffman Jr. recently spent time touring Spain, where he visited Madrid, Seville, and the ancient university at Salamanca.

Sixties
1967
Stan Jorgensen retired in January 2008 from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after accumulating almost 39 years of federal government service. Jorgensen was presented with a ceremonial flag that had been flown over Washington, D.C., at his retirement ceremony. He worked as a manager at the Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center in Houston, Texas. Jorgensen’s FAA career began in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1974. Previously he spent six years as a decorated Marine Corps pilot, serving and being wounded in Vietnam in 1969. Mixed in the middle of his federal service were 2.5 years where he piloted B-727s for now defunct Braniff Airlines in Dallas, Texas, in the late 1970s. Stan and his wife, Loweta, plan to continue residing in their present location in Kingwood, Texas.

Seventies
1972

Donna (Tack) Ricks lives in Hudson, Iowa, with her husband, Al Ricks 1973. Donna teaches English and speech at Dike-New Hartford High School.

1973

Lynn (Burke) Monroy, formerly married to Byron Bennett 1973, has been teaching adaptive physical education for 21 years and currently teaches for the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona. Adaptive P.E. is for students who are unable to be successful in the general P.E. classes. The majority of these students are physically and/or mentally challenged. Incorporating music therapy into most lessons, "Miss Lynn" sings little ditties to teach new vocabulary - as well as movement - to the students. She was recently named the 2008 Arizona Adaptive P.E. Teacher of the Year and the 2008 Southwest District Adaptive P.E. Teacher of the Year. These are state- and district-level honors from the National Association for Sport & Physical Education's American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). Monroy was one of six finalists in the national teacher of the year competition, and she will receive her regional award at an AAHPERD conference this summer in Kona, Hawaii. Her family moved to Arizona more than 20 years ago with their three children: Grant, 35; Lance, 33; and Miranda, 26.

Eighties
1988
The Rev. Tom LoVan, associate pastor of Morningside Lutheran Church, received the 2007 War Eagle Human Rights Award for positively impacting the civil rights climate in Sioux City. LoVan, a native of Laos, was cited for being “a tireless advocate for Asians in the Sioux City community.” LoVan organizes an annual Asian dinner at Morningside Lutheran Church to help support members with daily needs and medical bills, and he also supports the victims of domestic violence. The award was presented by the Human Rights Commission.

Nineties
1996
Josh Dickinson became a partner with the law firm of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, LLP, in Omaha, Neb., in January 2008.

Lynn Kogelmann was recently interviewed by NBC's "Today" show and ABC's "20/20" about one of her students at Courtland Elementary School in Spotsylvania, Va., who suffers from selective mutism.

Two Thousand
2006
Kyle Ortegren accepted a position as an account manager for Terra Industries Inc. in Sioux City.

2007
Vanessa (Hasley) Forristall is a first-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

DEATHS - In Loving Memory

1938
Elwood Olsen, Naples, Fla., died Feb. 25, 2008. Olsen served Morningside as business manager and later vice president for more than 30 years. Morningside recognized Olsen and his late wife, Grace, for their many years of service to the college by renaming the Commons the Elwood and Grace Olsen Student Center in 1998. The college renamed Roberts Stadium as Elwood Olsen Stadium in 2005 in honor of Olsen, whose generous gift made the stadium’s renovation possible.

BIRTHS - Future Morningsiders

1996
Jason Lauritsen and his wife, Angie, Omaha, Neb., a daughter, Bailey Ann, Jan. 9, 2008.

None reported this month.