Class of 1965 Notes for 2021 Autumn edition of Alumni magazine
Our information comes from emails we received from classmates in 2021 and entries made by classmates to the Memory Book compiled for our 55/56th reunion in June, 2021. It focuses on classmates’ work and volunteer activities.
Jill Karatinos MD, was working 4 days a week during the pandemic as a neuropsychiatrist seeing patients by telehealth and in office. Her website, www.jillkaratinosmd.com, has information about her work and the video of the women’s presentation at the 50th reunion.
Frank Richeson, MD, was forced to practice outpatient cardiology and teach remotely and didn’t like it; so he retired from practicing medicine last September but continued to teach. He is now vaccinated and working weekly in person at a free clinic for the uninsured.
Barb Kurz works part-time as a Mission Consultant with Providence Presbytery in South Carolina.
Judy McBurney Richards continues to work as a clinical therapist through the use of teletherapy. Her clients are high school and college students who are on the Autism Spectrum.
Mike Stott wrote and published a novel called Too Much Loft which consists of three novellas that “follow a young man’s journey as a caddie, grounds crew member, and golf shop attendant at a suburban Chicago country club in the early 1960s.” You can find it in print or on Kindle.
Betty Limkemann continued to teach piano lessons and play the organ at a Catholic Church with some differences. The lessons were on Zoom, and she played in an empty church where the services were being live streamed. She published a book entitled Surviving a Biblical Childhood: How I came to love God in spite of the Bible.
Dick Robertson volunteered as a Certified Mediator for Small Claims Court in San Diego via Zoom. When the vaccine became available, he volunteered at the Tri-City Medical Center Vaccine Clinic.
Elizabeth (Betsy Byers) Roghair completed a term as board chair of the School for Advanced Research and served as treasurer and board member of their local water district in New Mexico.
As soon as she was able, Peg Osburne went back to volunteering for Community Volunteers in Medicine, a free medical clinic for the working poor in Chester County, PA. and being a volunteer at the local library in Exton, PA.
Tom Welty and his wife, Edie, are heavily involved in various volunteer projects. Two are community efforts to preserve the environment and public access to state lands in his area of Idaho. In addition, they continue to support their Cameroonian colleagues and the work they are doing to improve health in Cameroon. See http;//ijgc.bmj.com/content/29/9/1446. Tom, Edie, and Ben Huffford are on the Board of the Cameroon Health and Education Fund which raises money to support the work in Cameroon. See http://cameroonhealthandeducationfund.com/chef/
Arlene (Dingilian) Hinkemeyer was actively involved in the League of Women Voters last year in setting up/publicizing Zoom library programs to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the League AND the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote as well as setting up/publicizing Zoom candidate debates for state and congressional offices in the primary/general elections. She is the publicist for the Hamptons documentary film festival, Hampton Doc Fest, writing news releases highlighting its many online film offerings, such as a 10 day film festival in December 2020 and its Earth Day films and forums in April of 2021.
Rocky Rockenstein is active in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area having served as Moderator for a year, Chair of its Leadership Team for a year, and as part of its pro bono legal counsel.
Bill Vodra is a member of the Board of the American Battlefield Trust and lives in Virginia where the controversy over Confederate monuments has persisted since the protest and violence in Charlottesville in 2017. After the death of George Floyd, he has been studying Reconstruction, the rise of Jim Crow segregation, the myth of the Lost Cause, and the role the Confederate Monuments played in that story.
Nick (Allen) Vaala and his wife worked at their church’s food cupboard. A major activity for him was finishing the development of a week-long lesson plan for Haitian high school seniors or recent grads. He is working with Junior Achievement America to see if they can come into Haiti to teach their program
Karelisa Voelker Hartigan, as a volunteer, offered two classes in improv at her Senior Center three times a week via Zoom.
Mary Jo Weaver MacCracken has spent time during the pandemic with volunteer work on FABU (Finding a Better U), a project funded by a 2 year demonstration grant from The Ohio Commission on Minority Health. Initially, the instructors met twice weekly with the participants, elderly underserved residents living in public housing in Akron, OH. During COVID, her University of Akron colleagues and she adapted the project by creating exercises and healthy menus for the participants to view online. The project ended in June.
Posted in on August 12, 2021.
