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March,
2002 Notes of Interest to COE Alumni and Friends
Archived
Alumni Notes
March
25, 2002
Loretta
Grimes was recently featured in the Ann Arbor News for her work,
with her husband, in Redbud Productions, a local theater company.
Grimes uses her EMU degree in early childhood education in her day
job, which is as a teacher at Huron Hills Nursery.
The
Ann Arbor school district recently recognized seven district employees
with the "Celebrating the Excellence" award. Five of these
are EMU alums. These were: Helen Oliver '76, a teacher at Clague
Middle School; Donna Kolokithas '90, '96, a teacher consultant
at Haisley Elementary; Don Packard '94, a teacher at Pioneer
High School; Waleed Samaha, assistant principal at Huron High
School; and Patty Tracey '73, teacher at Angell Elementary
School.
A
recent issue of Monday Report reported on the efforts of the
eighth grade students in the interdisciplinary science class taught
by Jeff Bradley '90 at Slauson Middle School to get the mastodon
declared as the state fossil. Through the efforts of the students
and their parents, the bill to accomplish this passed the Senate in
February. The bill passed the House, with Bradley listening in, last
Wednesday. It now lacks only the Governor's signature and efforts
are being made to have the Governor sign this matter into law at the
school.
March
18, 2002
Edith
Dorothy Blackhurst,
age 100, of Mayfield and Chelsea, died recently in Chelsea. After
receiving her Life Certificate from The Normal, she taught for 37
years in the Traverse City and Flint areas. She retired from Cherry
Knoll School in 1967 and helped start a Head Start Day Care Center
in Traverse City.
Monday
Report has learned of the deaths of Bernice M. Ries '30, of
Blissfield; Lois E. Firtzharris '36, of Ypsilanti; Ada W.
Fritz '42, of West Branch; Helen Oltmanns '54, '56, '61, '83
of Naples, FL; Dorthea V. Burger, '56, '60, of Cleveland, OH;
and Barbara Hiser Andrews '57, of Dearborn.
Jim
Carras '58 has retired after a long career as a golf coach, culminating
in serving as head golf coach at the University of Michigan. Earlier
he had taught for the Allen Park school district.
Mary
Jo Kramer '72 was recently appointed superintendent of Darien
schools in Connecticut. She previously served as superintendent of
the Milford schools.
Robin
Raymond '73 has left his position as assistant principal of Chelsea
High School to serve the district as interim assistant to the executive
director of business operations.
Tom
Fahlstrom '76, '82 was recently featured in the Milan News for
his many accomplishments as a teacher at Milan High School, where
he has worked for 25 years. He teaches an array of classes, including
AP English, radio broadcasting, video film, and public speaking.
Bill
Wescott '78 is retiring after 26 years with the Chelsea school
district. In recent times, he has been principal of Beach Middle School.
Mazie
Brewer Wilmer '80, '81 received a 2001 Crystal Apple Award from
the Saginaw News- one of 10 teachers that it says exemplify what is
right in education. She teaches seventh grade.
Rollie
William Hopgood '81, age 62, died recently while vacationing in
Hawaii. He was the retired president of the Michigan Federation of
Teachers and School-Related Personnel. His first teaching job was
in Taylor, where he quickly became president of the local union. He
spent two years as treasurer of the State Board of Education before
going to work for the state federation.
Ed
Richardson '84, '87 is retiring from education and from his position
as superintendent of the Chelsea schools. He was formerly superintendent
of the Olivet Community Schools, having worked earlier in the Adrian-Madison
and Onsted-Morenci districts.
Walter
Miller '86 has been appointed associate vice president for student
development at the University of New Mexico.
Gene
C. Skidmore '89 received the Region 2 Assistant Coach of the Year
award from the Michigan High School Coaches Association for the 2001
football season. He is a middle school girls track and head field
coach in Wyandotte.
Amy
Joy Wedge '89 '96, who teaches at Leesville High School in Raleigh,
NC, recently earned certification from the National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards.
Lorene
Reed '91, '97 was featured in the Guardian newspaper recently.
She teaches social studies and language arts at Custer I Elementary
School in Monroe.
Julie
Deppner '94 is now the interim assistant principal for Chelsea
High School. She was named the Chelsea district's exemplary employee
for 1999-2000.
March
11, 2002
LINDSAY
NAMED OUTSTANDING SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
Andrew
Lindsey '94, '97, who teaches eighth-grade social studies at the
Van Buren district's South Middle School, received the Outstanding
Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award from the Michigan Council
for Social Studies. The award is open to elementary, middle school,
high school, and university educators who promote excellent social
studies in the classroom, school, and community.
According
to South Middle School principal William Houston '66, '92, Lindsey
"not only has a very, very good handle on how to work with adolescents,
he is very innovative." He is a student in the EMU master's program
in middle level education and is the author of a chapter in a forthcoming
book edited by Pat Williams-Boyd.
Lindsey
received the state's Outstanding First Year Teacher of the Year Award
in 1998.
Joyce
E. Kenne '59, age 64, died recently in Amherst, New Hampshire.
She was a former elementary school librarian and had at one time served
as a lecturer in the EMU College of Education.
Thomas
W. Porter II '68, age 76, died recently in Texas. He was a former
science teacher in the Ann Arbor and Willow Run schools.
James
Panzenhagen, age 29, of Grosse Pointe Park, died recently of cancer.
He was a physical education teacher and basketball coach at Clark
Elementary School. Formerly, he had taught and coached at Lake Shore
and Pioneer High School.
March
4, 2002
Lewis
Edwin Profit, age 77, died recently in Winter Haven FL. He spent
most of his career as the chief financial officer of educational organizations,
including service as Vice President for Business and Finance at EMU.
Cheney
Math and Science Academy in the Willow Run school district was recently
featured in a story in the Ann Arbor News, particularly in connection
with the school's strategy for achieving high scores on the MEAP and
the two consecutive years of receiving the Governor's Golden Apple
Award. More recently, the school was the subject of a positive editorial
in the same paper. Several EMU affiliated persons are involved in
school leadership, including Principal Teresa Wilson and teacher Debbie
Swanson.
Last
Modified on
May 4, 2002
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