Response Online

Departments

Footnotes: News

To submit a Footnotes item, visit Response Contact or email response@spu.edu. We print items we receive in the first available issue.

1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s

1950

ROBERT “BOB” HASLAM says his latest “escapade” is writing and publishing PK: A Preacher's Kid Comes of Age During the Great Depression and World War II (Xulon Press), available on amazon.com. During his active life he has served as a pastor, missionary educator, missions executive, editor of the Free Methodist Church Light and Life magazine, book editor, and online mentor for hundreds of writing students. Bob and his wife, Fran, live in Nashville, Tennessee, and are involved in the ministries of their local church.

1964

ROBERT HENRY has retired from 34 years in private dental practice in Forks, Washington, his boyhood home. He fought on the rivers and beaches of Vietnam, logged the forests around Forks, dove into a sunken Roman ship off the coast of Turkey, and graduated from the University of Washington Dental School. Robert and his wife continue to live in Forks.

GARY NEWBILL, MED '70, EDD '99, has retired from a 47-year career in educational leadership that includes training U.S. Marines, teaching high school history, providing legal counsel, school administration, and 11 years as a superintendent of schools. He was a member of SPU's graduate faculty and prepared principal, superintendent, and master's degree and doctoral degree candidates. After 13 years as dean of the Northwest University School of Education, the “unabashed Falcon” retired this spring and became the new chair of the SPU Alumni Association Board. Gary and his wife, KAREN JACOBSON NEWBILL '67, adjunct professor of education at Northwest University, live in Issaquah, Washington.

1965

PRISCILLA DAVIS WOOD, has retired from 38 years as the statistician for Auburn High School girls basketball after being with the team since its inception in 1974. The retired AHS teacher has stood by the Trojans through 16 league titles, three district titles, 22 state appearances, and two Washington state titles. As a student at Seattle Pacific she tutored some of the players on the Falcon men's basketball team, who went on to compete at nationals. “I'm completely unathletic,” she says, “but I know all the rules and love to watch any sport.” She has also retired, as of October 2012, from nearly 30 years of AHS volleyball scorekeeping. Priscilla lives in Kent, Washington.

1972

CHARLES “CHIP” ARN lives in Southern California and is professor of outreach and Christian ministry at the new Wesley Seminary in Marion, Indiana. He manages the “commute” by teaching his courses online. Chip's 10th book, What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Rules for Effective Ministry and Leadership (Baker Books), is scheduled for publication this winter. He lives in Glendora, California.

ANN TOLLESHAUG SPINGATH taught in a private preschool where, she says, she was “well respected” for her degree from SPU. For health reasons, she has been retired two years but during this last school year she taught arts and crafts one day a week. She says she enjoys that God uses her to be a light in the school. Her husband, Craig, is a retired Navy chief. The Spingaths live in Edmonds, Washington.

1976

DEBRA MCKENNA BLEWS graduated this year with a master of laws degree in international law and human rights from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. Debra, an attorney with practice expertise in tax-exempt organizations, is a visiting professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, and serves as a trustee for Spring Arbor University and Asbury Theological Seminary. Her husband, EDWARD O. BLEWS JR., is president-elect of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities representing 170 institutions around the world, including SPU. He is currently concluding his 28-year presidency of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan. Edward was ASSP president at SPU and earned his juris doctorate at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Debra and Edward live in DeWitt, Michigan.

ALAN SHELTON and SHARON FLORIAN SHELTON have five sons and a daughter, all highly competitive athletes. Last year, four of the boys (Aubrey, Austin, BEN SHELTON MED '09, and Kaleb) won the “over 6-foot elite” division of Spokane Hoopfest, the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world. Alan and Sharon reckon they have attended more than a thousand games. Alan, the son of seminary teachers, passed on the basketball gene. He was a shooting guard at his high school, Christian Academy in Japan. He and his team won the Far East championship for U.S. private and military schools in the Japan islands. Now a family physician with the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Alan says he was “smitten” by Sharon when he first saw her at SPU freshman orientation. The Sheltons live in Tacoma, Washington.

Giving Freely

Jordan Crouch's Family Invests in Students

Jordan CrouchJuly 14, 2012, marked the third annual Jordan Crouch Memorial Scholarship 5K Run/Walk in Vancouver, Washington. The event drew more than 100 participants and raised $4,000 to celebrate Jordan's life and to provide scholarships for students who require financial assistance, as he did, to attend Seattle Pacific University.

Jordan Crouch '04, a business administration major at SPU, died on January 1, 2010, at the age of 28, but his influence lives on. Four months after his death, Jordan's parents, Jeffrey and Sharon Crouch, established the Jordan L. Crouch Scholarship Endowment at Seattle Pacific. The endowment is designed to support students, like Jordan, who are studying business or theology with an interest in youth ministry.

While he was an SPU student, Jordan participated in several ministry and business programs, including Fourth Hill Brother, Centurions, Mission LA, SPU Business Abroad Europe, Kiros, and the Associated Undergraduate Students of Business and Economics. After graduation, he was an active member of the Seattle Pacific Young Alumni Council.

His wife, Staci Goerz Crouch '04, was six months pregnant when they packed their car and began a cross-country road trip to visit 24 states in 24 days. “It was epic,” she remembers. “It was one of my favorite things I ever did with him, and includes our wedding.” DANI ZORN

1981

KARL ALSIN, senior pastor of Hope Community Church in Olympia, Washington, earned a doctor of ministry degree from Denver Theological Seminary this spring. He and his wife, Julie, have been married 26 years and have three children. They reside in Olympia.

1985

GWEN GARRISON is the senior vice president for educational research and analysis at the American Dental Education Association. She oversees the national dental education research agenda and supports various analyses regarding the dental education pipeline, dental student debt, and the dental work force. Gwen resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.

1986

MARY LARSEN WOHLERS, formerly a public health nurse and tuberculosis case manager for Fairfax County, Virginia, is married to Paul Wohlers, U.S. ambassador to Macedonia. They have been in the Foreign Service for 27 years and also served in Romania, Russia, and Cyprus. The Wohlers have three grown daughters and one son-in-law.

STEVE RABB, principal of Enumclaw Middle School, is the new vice president of the Association of Washington Middle Level principals (AWMLP). Next year, he will be president-elect, and in 2014–15, he will become president. The AWMLP represents nearly 700 middle and junior high school principals and assistant principals from around the state. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction named Steve's school, where he has been principal for 14 years, a “School of Distinction” in 2011. Steve lives in Enumclaw, Washington, with his wife, also an educator, LINDA COATE RABB '83.

Ending Domestic Violence

Alumna Takes Fight to the White House

JAlumna Takes Fight to the White House"Stop and take in where you are right now," Kelsey Ryland '08 told herself as she entered the White House for the first time. This summer, Kelsey was a policy intern with the National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, D.C.

At Seattle Pacific University, where she earned a degree in sociology and a minor in both women's studies and global and urban ministry, Kelsey (above, far right) became interested in ending violence against women. She was part of the club Sophia, which focused on women's issues within the Christian faith, and she helped plan SPU's first Violence Against Women Awareness Week. After graduating, Kelsey worked with Americorps as a follow- up advocate in the Domestic Violence Unit of the Seattle Police Department and is now in her second year of law school at Seattle University.

“It was a baptism by fire,” says Kelsey of her D.C. internship. Her days were filled with meetings with coalitions and letter writing to members of Congress.

“One day,” says Kelsey, “my boss gets off the phone and says to me and the rest of the interns, ‘We're going to the White House.’” Their team had been invited to a showing of “1 is 2 Many,” a White House Public Service Announcement on dating violence, featuring Vice President Joe Biden.

“Of course, everyone wants to meet the vice president,” says Kelsey. She almost lost her chance when Biden's assistants urged him to leave the PSA screening to get to his lunch with President Obama. Luckily, Kelsey's boss, a former colleague of Biden's, jumped in and yelled, “One more! Joe, these are my girls!” The vice president's response? “Well, if these are your girls, then come here!” Biden embraced the team from NNEDV, creating a picture-perfect moment. Kelsey's brush with political prominence left her star-struck. “We walked out of the room and started crying.”

Watch “1 is 2 Many,” featuring the president, vice president, and sports leaders at whitehouse.gov/1is2many. ALLIE FRALEY

1990

AMY SHULTZ WRIGHT is principal of Opstad Elementary School in North Bend, Washington, where she enjoys the daily interaction with children. “All of us in public education have become really good at delivering quality products to students with fewer and fewer resources,” she told the Snoqualmie Valley Star. “Not the optimal way, but keeping the students' needs at the center, we do what it takes to make it happen.”

1992

CHRISTINE “CHRISTY” LE SHANA GARDNER this summer received faculty tenure from Wheaton College, where she has been teaching in the Communication Department since 2004. Last year, Christy published Making Chastity Sexy: The Rhetoric of Evangelical Abstinence Campaigns (University of California Press, 2011). In an interview with Christianity Today about the book, Christy said, “I'm concerned that we may be raising a generation of abstinent teens but setting them up for divorce.” Her husband, BRIAN GARDNER MBA '97 is the new vice president for university advancement at George Fox University. Her father, former SPU president DAVID LE SHANA, earlier this year completed his tenure as chair of the Azusa Pacific University board of trustees. He was conferred with the title of chair emeritus and will remain on the board in a voting capacity. Christy and Brian and their son, Daniel, live in Newberg, Oregon. David and his wife, Becky, live in Scottsdale, Arizona.

LARS ROOD is associate pastor of children and families at First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. At"rst a computer science major at SPU, he worked with students at a juvenile detention center during his sophomore year and got hooked, he says, on youth work and teaching. He earned a political science degree and his teaching credential from SPU, a master's degree in divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a doctor of ministry degree from George Fox Evangelical Seminary. He has since worked with a handful of churches, including a Texas church where he served the last five years as director of student ministries. He is also the author of Youth Ministry on a Shoestring (Zondervan, 2011). Lars, his wife, Danielle, and their three children live in Redmond, Washington.

1995

PAUL HUBER is the executive director of the Jessamine County Food Pantry near Lexington, Kentucky. The food bank serves 400–500 households per month. A graduate of Asbury  Theological Seminary, he has served as a staff pastor in a number of churches and is an adjunct faculty member at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. Paul and his wife, Janice, live in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

1996

HOLLY BECK WEBB, a record-setting mountain climber and CPA, is newly married and newly moved from Yosemite National Park to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Her husband, Jeff, is the North Rim district ranger. Both participate in search and rescue within the parks and, she says, “are looking forward to getting snowed in during winters at the North Rim, where our commute to town starts with a 50-mile snowmobile drive.” The Webbs live 100 miles away from the nearest town of Fredonia, Arizona.

VINCE SANTO PIETRO MA, a science teacher at Shorecrest High School, is the Shoreline Teacher of the Year. He is also the science club advisor, the school's webmaster, and handled many of the organizational logistics for a recent band trip of 160 people to Ireland. Recipient of a two-year Murdock grant to do astronomy research at the University of Washington, Vince organizes a popular annual astronomy night open to the public. He is a hardworking member of the University Congregational United Church of Christ, where he created a program series exploring faith and science. He also plays clarinet in Around the Sound Community Band. Vince and his wife, Nadine, live in Seattle.

1997

TRACY JOHNSON, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, received on behalf of his congregation the Live United Volunteer Award from the United Way of Pioneer Valley. The church members were honored for their work organizing volunteers and in establishing volunteer villages in response to the tornado that hit Springfield on June 1, 2011. A Seattle Mariners fan and graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological seminary, Tracy lives in Springfield with his family.

1999

NAOMI KINSMAN DOWNING, once a theatre arts major at SPU, is the author of the popular children's series Sadie's Sketchbook (Zonderkidz). She has written and directed more than 50 plays for young audiences and published articles in children's magazines such as Spider, Devozine, and Highlights for Children. She is assistant regional advisor for the San Francisco South chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and founder of the Society of Young Inklings. Naomi holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University and resides in San Jose, California, with her husband, a tuxedo cat, and a Portuguese water dog.

2000

MATTHEW BROUWER is a poet and not only knows it, but also has a new chapbook brimming with 13 poems. At its core, Men Who Walk With Canes is about Matthew's struggle with severe chronic pain and the healing that he eventually experienced. The former high school athlete has worked for a regional food bank in Washington, D.C., trained workers at nonprofit agencies, and managed a food bank in downtown Seattle. Today he presents poetry workshops in public schools. Matthew lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Hope in a Harsh World

Playwright Disquiets His Audience

Josh HornbeckPlaywright Josh Hornbeck '99 says he is compelled to portray the world as it really is. He believes this is the task of all Christians. “It is only by confronting the world in all of its ugliness that we can truly do something about it.”

And so he wrote “A Time for Butterflies,” which was performed this summer at Seattle's Broadway Performance Hall. In it, an immigrant living in the U.S. for 20 years has lost his job and cannot support his family. His interactions with a neighborhood drug dealer, a racist police force, and the characters from a children's story bring him to a place of crisis in his struggle to reach the American dream.

“I love telling stories and bringing them to life,” says Josh. Until recently, he thought that meant writing everything from novels and poetry to essays and film scripts. But when he recently completed a full-length play about a soldier returning home from war, he realized that to his core he is a writer of plays.

A former actor with Taproot Theatre's Road Company and director of the Seattle Pacific University Players, today Josh writes and directs productions for Life Center, a church in Tacoma, Washington. He is also artistic director for Quiet, a multidisciplinary arts community he founded to create dialogue about issues of social justice and personal transformation.

“I am especially drawn to tragedy right now,” says Josh. “With seeing the harsh world comes the motivation to change it for the better.” CLINT KELLY

2009

DAVID HASLAM MDIV '12, is assistant to the pastor and youth pastor at Seattle Lakeview Free Methodist Church and a member of the first graduating class of Seattle Pacific Seminary. A fifth generation ordained minister in the FMC, he is married to JESSICA WHITEHEAD HASLAM '06, who is the daughter of MATTHEW “MATT” WHITEHEAD '79, superintendent of the Pacific Northwest Conference of the FMC and a member of the SPU Board of Trustees. Her mother, MELANIE BUCK WHITEHEAD '79, is coordinator of planning/development in the Office of Facility and Project Management at SPU. Preceding David at SPU are his greatgrandfather, OLIVER HASLAM '23; grandfather, ROBERT HASLAM '50; father, DANIEL HASLAM '78; and mother, CYNTHIA COX HASLAM '77. David and Jessica live in Lynnwood, Washington, with their toddler, Micah.

JAMI JONGEWARD is the area director of the Austin, Minnesota, Youth for Christ. An Educational ministry major at SPU, she is a seasoned church volunteer who works with high school and middle school youth, especially those not connected to any church. Jami lives in Austin, Minnesota.

Back to the top

2011

OLIVIA LENZ received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the NASA Space Technology Research Fellow ship. Because an individual can only hold one federally funded fellowship at a time, she chose to accept the NASA fellowship, which includes a $36,000 per year stipend, with additional money awarded for supplies, travel, and a 10-week off-campus research experience at a NASA lab. An SPU University Scholar and chemistry major, Olivia is now putting her fellowship funds to use as a graduate student in the University of Washington's Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Back to the top