Miriam Shangle Hill, ’36
Olympia, married and raised five children after graduation. She enjoyed her career in nursing, working in hospitals and public health. She retired in 1980 after several years working at a Veterans Affairs hospital. She encourages friends from her class to write to her at in Olympia.
Rollin L. Hurd, ’52
Kirkland, writes, “I’m looking forward to my new book being published in late spring: a WWII nonfiction titled Minefield Connection, a story of a combat medic’s meeting with a sergeant who has stepped on a mine and later years of family friendship.”
James G. Newbill, ’53, ’60
Yakima, is part-time teaching as an adjunct history instructor since retiring from Yakima Valley Community College. He has been teaching for 52 years.
Attention Class of 1956
Your 50th reunion will be held during the spring of 2006. If you are interested in serving on the Class of 1956 reunion committee, contact Andrea Fleming at 1-800-AUW-ALUM.
Fred Jesset, ’56
Sammamish, sold his book Remembering Grace to Forward Movement Publications. It’s a collection of 13 true short stories due out in paperback in late 2005.
Doug Ramsey, ’56
Yakima, is receiving praise from major jazz authorities and musicians for his book Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond (Parkside Publications). Dan Morgenstern, director of the Inst. of Jazz Studies at Rutgers Univ., called Take Five “the finest biography we’ve had of an important jazz figure.” Dave Brubeck, Desmond’s musical partner for 25 years, wrote the book’s foreward. While at the UW, Ramsey was jazz critic for the Daily and president of the class of ’56.
Carroll LaTurner, ’57X
Seattle, was accepted into the General Society of Mayflower Descendants in 2004.
Kjell Holmes, ’59
San Diego, plays piano accordion for many Sons of Norway events in San Diego, Los Angeles and Palm Springs. She is also president of the local San Diego accordion club—Accordion Lovers Society International.
The “X” after a class year denotes the year of graduation if the member had completed a UW degree.
You must be a member of the UW Alumni Association to be listed in the Alumnotes section. To join, call (206) 543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM, or visit UWalum.com on the Web.
Lee Folkins, ’61
Las Vegas, is director of project administration for Station Casinos, Inc.
Shirley Ruble, ’61
Seattle, traveled with a group to Copper Canyon, Mexico. They visited the cave dwellings of the Tarahumara Indians and contributed to their education by hookup to satellite television.
Jeffrey Brotman, ’64, ’67
Seattle, and his wife, Susan, have been named the 2005 Seattle-King County First Citizens for their outstanding support of numerous local civic and cultural organizations. The award was created by the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors in 1939 to honor the icons of philanthropy and community involvement. The couple was cited for many contributions to the community, including a major gift for the construction of McCaw Hall in Seattle Center, a major lead-off gift for the UW South Lake Union Medical Campus, and establishing two UW awards—the Brotman Diversity Award and the Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence. In addition, Jeffrey Brotman serves as chair of the Million Dollar Roundtable for United Way of King County, heading that group’s 1997 fund-raising campaign, and is chair of the UW Board of Regents. Susan Brotman serves as board president for the Seattle Art Museum and as board chair for the Pacific Northwest Ballet Foundation.
Terry French, ’64, ’65
Chicago, is a manager partner and portfolio manager of large capital core and value equity portfolios at Fiduciary Management Associates.
Chuck Blumenfeld, ’66, ’69
Seattle, has been chosen to lead the national environment and natural resources practice for the law firm Perkins Coie, where he is a partner. Blumenfeld will lead a team of lawyers across the country who counsel clients on aspects of environmental regulation, resource development and energy law. He is president-elect of the UW Alumni Association’s Board of Trustees.
Daisy Arredondo Rucinski, ’70, ’73, ’83
Bellevue, has been named a Senior Faculty Fulbright Fellow for her prolific work in education reform and curriculum development. She is the director of the educational leadership doctoral program in the College of Education at Seattle Univ.
Karolyn K. Graves-Rhodes, ’72
Las Vegas, is the director of sales and marketing for Steve Wynn’s new $2.6-billion resort, Wynn Las Vegas. She is married to Dusty Rhodes and is living in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Seattle.
Ben Albrecht, ’73
Liberty Lake, is moving back to the Pacific Northwest with his wife Nancy after 30 years in the California sun. “I’ll be in Cougar country, though,” he writes, “so pray for me!”
Gary Graf, ’74
Seattle, has just published his first book—And God Said, “Play Ball!” Graf draws parallels between the Bible and baseball by dividing his book into 18 chapters, each relating to a half-inning in a regulation baseball game. “The Jews wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. That’s nothing when compared to how long some baseball teams have been waiting to reach the Promised Land of a World Series crown,” he writes. Graf is also a partner at the Seattle ad agency McFarland, Richards and Graf.
James Hirsh, ’74, ’78
Dunwoody, Ga., won the 2004 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Book Award for Shakespeare and the History of Soliloquies, published by Farleigh Dickinson Univ. Press.
Dennis K. Ruff, ’74, ’76
Surprise, Ariz., is working on a novel and/or play entitled Three Wise Men Go West, about a Hun-Mongol hierarchy helping three shamans to beat the Nazis.
Michael Hutchins, ’75, ’84
Silver Spring, Md., served as primary series editor for the complete rewrite of Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, a 17-volume compendium covering the entire animal kingdom. The publication has received three national awards. Hutchins is a senior fellow at the Ctr. for Conservation and Behavior, Georgia Inst. of Technology, and an adjunct associate professor in the Graduate Program in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development at the Univ. of Maryland, College Park.
Estelle Simons, ’75
Winnipeg, Manitoba, was elected president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology on March 21. She is professor and head of the Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in the Dept. of Pediatrics and Child Health at the Univ. of Manitoba.
Richard E. T. White, ’75
Seattle, is chair of the theater department at Cornish College of the Arts. His recent free-lance directing work includes Slow Fire with the Paul Dresher Ensemble and The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia? at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.
Richard T. Kennedy, ’76
Normandy Park, has been selected as the representative of the Boeing Company to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Quality Assurance Working Group. The W3C creates the technical specifications regarded by the Web community at large as “Web standards.” The working group gathers and formalizes quality-assurance efforts for the various languages and protocols developed by W3C.
Jeff Laband, ’76
Seattle, has been executive director of NorthWest Student Exchange and the Ctr. for International Career Development since 1995. On Oct. 29, he and his wife, Iris, welcomed their second child, Carlyn Dina, who like her older sister Annika has indicated “her intent” to attend the UW. She will matriculate in 2022.
David D. Horowitz, ’77, ’81
Seattle, celebrates his publishing company’s 10th anniversary. Founded in 1995, Rose Alley Press has published ten titles, primarily books of rhymed, metrical poetry by Seattle-area poets.
Greg Fellman, ’79
Pocatello, Idaho, is the new store manager of the JCPenney in Pocatello.
You must be a member of the UW Alumni Association to be listed in the Alumnotes section. To join, call (206) 543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM, or visit UWalum.com on the Web.
Katherine “Katacha” Diaz, ’80, ’81
Davis, Calif., has written over 40 fiction and nonfiction books for young readers. Her stories have a multicultural focus and incorporate concepts such as science, social studies and simple math. Her new picture book, Badger at Sandy Ridge Road, was published this spring as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Backyard Series. She lives with her Yorkshire terrier, Mister Keeper.
Amy Johnson Doughty, ’80
Bellevue, is vice president of EB Management Company—a pension administration firm in Seattle specializing in union 401(K) plans.
David Quintero, ’80, ’90
Seattle, heads the Spanish and literatures department at Seattle Central Community College, where he is a tenured professor. “Besides my professional research on ‘transculturation,’ ” he writes, “I keep busy with community boards, international conferences and workshops.”
Mary Bejarano Sitterley, ’80, ’99
Seahurst, is director of licensed practical nursing and LPN-to-RN transition programs at North Seattle Community College.
Leediafastje Bailey, ’81
Tacoma, is vice president of escrow operations at Lawyers Title Agency. She spent five years after graduation representing the state of Alaska on the World’s Fair circuit, then returned to Seattle and worked at KCTS/9. She is married and has two children and two grandchildren.
Jana Kalda Silva, ’82
Kaneohe, Hawaii, married Marvin V. Silva in June 1984 and has four children: Natassia, Gavin, Colin and Alana. She graduated from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the Univ. of Hawaii in 1991. She has been dually appointed assistant professor of the OB/GYN and Native Hawaiian health depts. at the Univ. of Hawaii School of Medicine.
Marcus N. Peha, ’82
Seattle, has volunteered to teach American language and culture in England and Mexico, where he lived for several years. He continues to return to the UW as an ACCESS student.
Michael D. Homans, ’86
Swarthmore, Pa., has been elected partner at Flaster/Greenberg, and practices labor and employment law. Michael and Tien Phan Homans, ’86, celebrated their 14th anniversary recently. They have two future Huskies: Anne, 7, and Maxwell, 4.
Emilia Cargill, ’89
Las Vegas, was recently made partner in the business law department of Lionel Sawyer & Collins, the largest private law firm in Nevada.
You must be a member of the UW Alumni Association to be listed in the Alumnotes section. To join, call (206) 543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM, or visit UWalum.com on the Web.
Charles Kelly Creso, ’91
Tacoma, the first graduate of UW Tacoma, was named chairman of the Tacoma Arts Commission. A strong supporter of health, education and the arts, he actively promotes these issues at the city, county and state levels.
Jennifer Hadley Dioguardi, ’91
Phoenix, was elected partner at Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix. Her legal practice is in business litigation with an emphasis on banking, consumer financial services and securities litigation. She has also been appointed to the board of trustees of the Arizona Theatre Company and was on the cover of Arizona Woman magazine in April.
Ericka A. Grinna, ’94
Redmond, is now a licensed marriage and family therapist in California. She graduated from San Jose State Univ. in 2000 with an M.S. in clinical psychology.
Jeannie Tucker Jacques, ’94
Phoenix, delivered twins, Taylor Portia and Colin Anthony, on Aug. 26. She will be moving back to Seattle in 2006 or 2007 with the twins and her husband, Chris, to be closer to her family—and Husky football.
Karen T. Lee, ’94
Covington, was appointed commissioner of the state Department of Employment Security by Gov. Christine Gregoire, ’69, ’71. As commissioner, Lee will oversee the department’s efforts to help people in times of unemployment and assist businesses in meeting their employment requirements. She left her position as director of gas operations with Puget Sound Energy but will finish her term as president of the UW Alumni Association’s Board of Trustees.
Rita Smilkstein, ’94
Seattle, has won the Educator’s Award from the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for her book We’re Born to Learn: Using the Brain’s Natural Learning Process to Create Today’s Curriculum. She is retired from teaching at North Seattle Community College but still does part-time work at Western Washington Univ.’s Wooding College of Education.
Julie Olsen Florendo, ’98
Chandler, Ariz., was recently promoted to assistant director of development for the College of Education at Arizona State Univ.
Renee E. Grandi, ’99
Enterprise, Ore., is practicing family medicine. Her daughter Margaret is 6. Her husband Craig is a stay-at-home dad.
Kathy D. Sheehan, ’99
Bellingham, has been appointed managing editor of PRWeb, one of the largest distributors of online news releases. She is a former newspaper reporter, journalism instructor and publications editor.
Nic Pacholski, ’00
North Bend, and April Pacholski, ’00, just had their first child, Helaina, on March 4. April and Nic met in their CLAS 424 class at the UW and hope that Helaina will continue the Pacholski/Husky tradition.
Michael C. Foley, ’02
Tampa, Fla., is assistant professor of dance at the Univ. of South Florida. Research projects have taken Foley to Cuba, Panama, Ireland, France and Italy over the past two years.
You must be a member of the UW Alumni Association to be listed in the Alumnotes section. To join, call (206) 543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM, or visit UWalum.com on the Web.