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Dedication of High-Tech Conference Room Honors Couple’s Longtime Support of SPU

Robert Dixon

In Seattle Pacific University’s state-of-the-art Science Building, a crowd formed. On the lengthy guest list were SPU President Philip Eaton, Vice President for Academic Affairs Les Steele, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Bruce Congdon — and four members of one alumni family.

With guest of honor Robert “Bob” Dixon ’49, they had gathered on the third floor to dedicate the Robert T. and Marian E. Dixon Conference Room, the building’s high-tech meeting space made possible by a gift from Bob and his wife, Marian Gau Dixon ’50, who died in 2001.

Married for more than 50 years, the Dixons devoted their lives to education, church, and civic involvement. Bob had spent 25 years as a professor and director of the planetarium at California’s Riverside Community College (RCC), also authoring nine textbooks. RCC’s planetarium was named in his honor in 1999. Marian was a skilled gardener, orchid expert, and European tour guide.

The conference room, explains Bob, honors two of the greatest influences in his life: Marian, whom he met in front of Alexander Hall during his first day on campus, and the university that gave them “some of the best years of our lives.”

Adds Marlon Sandlin, Seattle Pacific senior gift specialist: “Bob has always had a soft spot in his heart for SPU. The naming of the conference room was a way for us to acknowledge his gift and to express our appreciation for his years of support for the University and our students.”

At the dedication ceremony were three of the Dixons’ four children: Eleanor Dixon Harvey ’74, Kristen Dixon Rognaldson ’81, and Brian Dixon ’82.

EVELYN HOFSTETTER FREEMAN and her husband, William, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June 2006. In 1956, soon after they had married, William went on active duty in the U.S. Air Force while Evelyn worked to complete her degree at SPC. They both continued on to earn graduate degrees at the University of Washington. William rose to the rank of colonel in the Air Force, and the couple served on military bases in Texas, Georgia, Washington, and Illinois. William also worked at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., for eight years. Evelyn conducted and coordinated nationwide training for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and U.S. Department of the Interior, as well as for the U.S. Army. The Freemans retired to Port Townsend, Washington, in 1998.

FRANK OGDEN and his wife, CAROL WATSON OGDEN ’71, reside at Lake Cavanaugh near Mount Vernon, Washington. A physician, Frank served as a medical missionary for the Free Methodist Mission and medical director of Kibuye Hospital in Burundi, Africa. Following the death of his first wife, MAXINE HARER OGDEN ’56, he returned to Africa alone. He and Carol, a missionary colleague, married in 1997. The granddaughter of SPC’s third president, C. HOYT WATSON, Carol had served the Free Methodist Mission in Indianapolis and Rwanda. Together, Frank and Carol served in Rwanda, Burundi, and Malawi, retiring in June 2005. They speak to various groups, and Frank writes, “We are really not ready yet for ‘rocking chair’ retirement. Now we’re leading short-term mission trips, and Carol is promoting missions around the world through the Free Methodist churches in the Pacific Northwest.”

PALMER STANGVIK was honored by his alma mater, Seattle’s Ballard High School, on its “Wall of Recognition” for achievement as an elementary teacher from 1968 to 1998 at Coe Elementary School, also in Seattle. During his career, Palmer received such awards as the Washington State P.T.A. Golden Acorn Award; “Top Teacher” honors from KING-5 Television; and the Golden Apple Award (twice) from KCTS-9 Television and PEMCO Financial Services. Now Palmer is associated with the Education Department at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California, serving as a field supervisor of student teachers. He also conducts seminars for teachers on geography and poetry for children, and he is involved with the Napa Literacy Program to teach English to adult learners. Palmer lives in Napa, California.

ROGER SCHOENHALS is founder and former CEO of Planned Giving Today, a publishing enterprise launched 16 years ago. The company, sold in December 2006 to a New York publishing house, is best known for three monthly publications geared for development officers engaged in charitable gift planning. Roger continues as editor of Planned Giving Today and Planned Giving Mentor. Active in the American and Canadian planned giving communities, he received the 2006 Friend of CAGP-ACPDP Award for his service to the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP). Before launching his publishing career, Roger served as SPU’s chief planned giving officer and director of the Seattle Pacific Foundation. Roger and his wife, SANDRA QUANTRELL SCHOENHALS ’67, make their home in Leavenworth,
Washington.

MARY BOWERMAN GUNHUS, ARLENE NORDLUND BRUMM, MYRTLE BOWERMAN ISAAK HINTZ, and MARY ANN LECOMPTE WEST ’65 organized a reunion of the Carillon Trio, an SPC ensemble that performed between 1963 and 1964. Held at Lake Spokane in Eastern Washington, it was the group’s first reunion in 42 years. The alumnae were joined by their husbands, Richard Brumm, Roger West, Helmut Hintz, and HELMER GUNHUS ’64.

EDWARD GOMOLL taught in Guam, an island country in the northern Pacific Ocean, for 15 years after graduating from SPC. He then worked with an oil company in Saudi Arabia from 1981 to 2000. After five years of retirement, he accepted a full-time biology teaching position at Stone Child College, a small tribal two-year college in northern Montana. Edward and his wife, MERRILEE ADAMS GOMOLL ’65, live in Great Falls, Montana.

JUDY HICKS LANG has completed 25 years of teaching, nine of them at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, where she taught English as a Second Language. She also taught in Whitworth’s Worldview Studies program, lecturing and facilitating discussion groups around themes of the Judeo-Christian worldview. Beginning in Autumn 2006, Judy became a master of divinity student at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She lives in Vancouver.

DALE SPERLING won the 2006 Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance BetterBricks Award in the “Business Owner/ Decision-Maker” category. President and CEO of Unico Properties LLC, Dale was honored for his commitment to integrating energy efficiency into building and design operations. He and his wife, Carol, make their home on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

GLORIA MANN BUTZ received her principal’s certificate in 2006 from SPU. She is in her fourth year as principal of Valley Christian School (VCS) in Auburn, Washington. Before becoming principal, she taught various grades from fifth through eighth at VCS over 19 years. Gloria and her husband, LOREN BUTZ ’70, reside in Auburn.

LUCIA GREEN DELAMARTER has been elected superintendent of the Gateway Conference of the Free Metho-dist Church. She is the first woman to hold the position of conference superintendent in American Free Methodism. Her husband, GREG DELAMARTER ’70, works as a health actuary for Anthem Missouri Blue Cross Blue Shield in St. Louis, Missouri. The Delamarters live in Greenville, Illinois.

KEITH GOEHNER was elected in 2006 to his second term as Chelan (Washington) County commissioner. He and his wife, LISA NEWELL GOEHNER ’76, live in Dryden, Washington.

KAREN STRAND WINSLOW is associate professor of Old Testament and director of the Free Methodist Center at the Haggard Graduate School of
Theology (HGST) at Azusa Pacific University (APU). Her husband, DALE WINSLOW ’73, is senior pastor of the Foothill Community Free Methodist Church, near the campus of APU. He also teaches field-education courses for the master of divinity program at HGST. The couple lives
in Upland, California, and has three children, including KARMELLE
WINSLOW MEISS ’00, and a grandson.

JANICE MORRISON PALM lives in Seattle, where she is the executive director of a small, nonprofit counseling service called Shepherd’s Counseling Services, which provides therapy for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. She writes, “Shepherd’s is in the process of recruiting board members, and we’re happy to consider SPU alumni for the open positions.”

ALAN SHELTON has released the book Transforming Burnout: A Simple Guide to Self-Renewal. The volume is based on presentations about recovering from workplace burnout. A family physician for 22 years, Alan serves as medical director at the Puyallup (Washington) Tribal Health Authority, a faculty member at Tacoma (Washington) Family Medicine Residency Program at Multicare Hospital, and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington. He is also a trained acupuncturist. Alan and his wife, Sharon, have six children, two of whom are in high school and live at home with the couple in Tacoma.

Theatre Alumnus Honored by the Carnegie Foundation as Iowa’s “Professor of the Year”

Jeff Barker

Jeff Barker ’76, a theatre professor at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, knows what it’s like to win awards. In 2003, he received the Gold Medallion Award from the John F. Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The organization’s highest honor, the Gold Medallion recognized his contributions to theatre, including plays such as “Unspoken for Time,” which had its West Coast premiere in 1998 at Seattle Pacific University.

But being named Iowa Professor of the Year for 2006 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching? That is an entirely different matter, says Jeff: “You don’t win such awards. You simply get placed in the spotlight for a while — and you stand there as a reflection of your own teachers, your colleagues, and your students.”

Yet the award, which recognizes outstanding professors for their dedication to teaching, is special. In fact, it is considered one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for college and university faculty members.

“I knew from the moment I met him that I was going to learn from someone who cared,” says Megan Hodgin, one of Jeff’s former students. “His energy and passion make him easy to relate to, but his willingness to listen to and learn from his students is amazing.”

Jeff is the first to admit that learning happens both ways. “Teachers know that the act of teaching teaches them,” he explains. “The questions students ask and the work they do inspire us. Or, as Jesus put it, ’Give, and it will be given to you.’”

SONIA JORDETH SHAW and her husband, Bill, have returned to Central Africa after an extended furlough during which Bill was the missionary-in-residence at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, for two years. They have been serving as missionaries since 1985.

NANCY LUDEMAN LURKER is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in East Hanover, New
Jersey. As the company’s second highest executive, Nancy has responsibility for several business franchises, including cardiovascular and neuroscience. Nancy previously served as president and chief executive officer of ImpactRx. She and her husband, Dean, and their two daughters live in Peapack, New Jersey.

DANIEL CEDERBORG is the assistant county counsel of Yolo County, California. Daniel has been an attorney for 20 years, handling cases that include litigation in contract disputes, banking, and insurance defense. He received his law degree from University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. Prior to this appointment, he was deputy defense counsel in San Joaquin County, California.

BARB LIEBI CROPP describes herself as “a stay-at-home mom who loves to knit, teaches Sunday school, jazzercises, and continues to appreciate coffee as learned in Seattle!” Her husband, STEVE CROPP ’84, is on the chief engineer’s staff at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo, California. He is also a trustee at their church and a scoutmaster. The Cropps have been married 21 years, have three sons, and live in Long Beach, California.

JEAN VAUGHAN has retired from a 36-year career teaching in the English Language Learners (ELL) program of the Federal Way (Washington) School District. When she began teaching ELL in Federal Way, only eight students, all refugees from Vietnam, were in the program. Last year, the school district served 2,289 ELL students speaking more than 80 different languages, reported the Federal Way Mirror in a feature about Jean. She was the first student to graduate from SPU with an ELL teaching endorsement in 1984.

KAREN ASP was named to the 2005–06 edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, the second year in a row she received that honor. Karen teaches first grade at Conway Elementary School in Mount Vernon, Washington, where she makes her home.

SYLVIA GREYBECK BURNS, M.ED., works in sports medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Washington Medical Center. In July 2006, she accompanied the U.S.A. springboard and platform Diving National Team to the FINA World Cup in Changshu, China. Says Sylvia, “The team has two Olympians and a promising team of younger divers who showed well with three silver and three bronze medals in this international competition.” Sylvia resides in Seattle.

JIM MUNN has his Washington state real estate broker’s license. After selling real estate in the Green Lake and University District areas of Seattle, he returned to Lake Leland in Jefferson County, Washington, in 1990. He is an associate broker with Windermere Hood Canal.

RACHELLE MILLER-PARSONS is the executive director of Human Response Network, a social justice organization that assists those affected by domestic and sexual violence. Rachelle lives in Chehalis, Washington.

ROBERT ENLOW is executive director at the Rose and Milton Friedman Foundation, an organization that promotes universal school choice. Author and co-author of numerous books, including Ranking America’s School Choice Programs, his articles and quotes have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and National Review. Before joining the Friedman Foundation, Robert lived in England where, after attending Oxford University to study for a post-graduate degree in theology, he was a social worker and served on the school board of two inner-city London schools. He has also been private-sector chairman of the Education Task Force for the American Legislative Exchange Council, which honored him as Private Sector Member of the Year in 2006. He is a board member for School Choice Ohio, and advisory board member of Children First: School Choice Trust. Robert and his wife, Wendy, and their two children live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

HOLLY BERGEN FREITAS and her husband, Tony, live in Arusha, Tanzania, Africa, where they work as missionaries for Medical Ambassadors International (MAI). They are community development trainers in their specialty areas of HIV/AIDS. Also with them are their two children and a niece who is the daughter of WENDI BERGEN BOND ’85 and LOUIS BOND ’87. Their niece is serving as an intern with MAI.

ADOLF MAAS is a veterinarian at Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital in Bothell, Washington, a clinic he opened in early 2006. He treats exotic animals and was featured in a September 2006 article in the Bothell Reporter. Adolf lives in Kenmore, Washington.

RILEY LIVINGSTON is the owner and chief operating officer of Zipfizz Corp., which created and markets the energy drink ZipFizz. Riley developed ZipFizz through work in his other company, BioGenesis Nutraceuticals, which has been selling products to doctors, dieticians, and other health care practitioners since 2000. An electrolyte replacement drink mix developed by the company was Zipfizz’s inspiration, Riley said in an Everett Herald article in June 2006. Riley lives in Mill Creek, Washington.

BETH MCDANIEL was named the 2006 Outstanding Member of the Year of the Washington Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. She practices law in the areas of estate planning, probate, guardianship, and elder law, and she has offices in Bellevue and Renton, Washington. Beth’s husband, Tim Siebersma, is an aeronautical lead engineer at Boeing. They are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue and live with their infant in Newcastle, Washington.

ALAN BROZOVICH was appointed director of service delivery for Mercent, a company providing online marketing technology for retail merchants, in December 2006. Before accepting this position, Alan spent six years working for Amazon.com and three years teaching in Kenya, Africa. He also plays in a band called Sorry. He and his wife, JANEY BERRY BROZOVICH ’95, live in Seattle with their two young children.

MELISSA CHRISTOFF BIBLE and her husband, Samuel, have returned to the United States after serving as missionaries in Latvia. Sam has opened a web design business, and Melissa is a stay-at-home mother to their baby daughter. The Bible family lives in Woodburn, Oregon.

SHELLEY COLLINS is assistant professor of music at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, where she now lives. She teaches flute, musicology, and the history of rock and roll. Previously, Shelley taught flute and directed the Flute Ensemble at SPU.

MARILYN MASON-PLUNKETT, M.S., is the chief executive officer of the nonprofit social-service agency, Hopelink, headquartered in Redmond, Washington. She had previously been the CEO of a Yakima, Washington, organization, People for People. Her husband, Richard, is a physician at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Marilyn and Richard make their home in Redmond.

JENNIFER SUMMERS SWARDSTROM left her job at Market Street Pharmacy in Seattle to care for her baby son at home in Edmonds, Washington. Her husband, PETER SWARDSTROM, works for Cascade Controls in Tukwila, Washington, as an account manager.

KYLA MEREDITH-BOUCHER makes her home in Spokane, Washington, with her husband, Jonathon, and their two daughters. Kyla is the business advisor at the Inland Northwest Women’s Business Center, a division of The Inland Northwest Community Access Network. She previously worked as director of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center at the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.

KRISTI RUSSELL MOUTTET is a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed professional counselor in private practice. She is also in the second year of a doctoral program for counseling education and supervision at Regent University (Washington, D.C., campus), where she is also an adjunct faculty member. Her husband, Nate, is assistant vice president for marketing and communications at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, based in Washington, D.C. The couple lives in Reston, Virginia.

STEPHANIE LANDOLT DAY is a program director at Forest Home Ministries, a nonprofit organization that operates three extensive campsites in Southern California. Her husband, Brian, is a youth pastor at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California, where the Days make their home.

MINDY DEJONG NASH and her husband, Rod, live in Tacoma, Washington, with their preschool-age son and daughter.

MELISSA GROENICK KECK is a registered nurse in the Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle. She and her husband, Lance, have two preschool-age sons. The family lives in Bellevue, Washington.

RYAN COLBURN is a U.S. Air Force captain and was named the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Officer of the Year. He has a master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and has been in the Air Force for eight years. He and his wife, MARDI EMARD COLBURN ’98, are now assigned to Seattle.

MATT COOPER earned the Addison Brown Award upon graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School in June 2006. A former SPU track and cross country runner and NCAA Postgraduate Scholar, Matt received the Addison Brown Award of $7,000 for writing the top paper for a third-year law student. His wife, LISA MALMIN COOPER, is a former SPU sprinter and also an NCAA Postgraduate Scholar. Lisa is now an emergency room physician in Houston, Texas. The Coopers reside in Houston.

LYNNE ROBERTS was named head coach for women’s basketball at
University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in 2006. After graduating from SPU, Lynne served as assistant coach for the Falcons. In 2002, she became head coach at Chico State, where she earned an 86-31 record in four years. She received the West Region Coach of the Year award for the 2005–06 season, and she was named the California Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year each of the past two years. Lynne lives in Chico, California.

DARREN SUMNER graduated in May 2006 from Wheaton College with a master’s degree in historical theology. In Autumn 2006, he enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. His wife, CHRISTY GRIFFIN SUMNER ’99, worked for Big Idea, the creators of VeggieTales, until they made the move to Princeton. She is now a stay-at-home mother to their baby son.

JENNIE WALKER ECKSTROM graduated from Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, which is part of the University of Washington School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency network. She and her husband, ANDREW ECKSTROM, have relocated with their baby daughter to Whitefish, Montana, where Jennie has joined Glacier Medical Associates. Andrew continues his network consulting business.

BRET OLSON was a 2006 Republican candidate for the Washington State House of Representatives in the 48th District, which includes Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland, Washington. A former aide to U.S. Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn, Bret lost the election to Deborah Eddy. He is married to his “first-grade sweetheart,” Dagney, and they have a son. The Olsons live in Kirkland, Washington.

DAN RANDALL has completed a year in Paris, France, where he served as the youth and young adult pastor for the American Church in Paris, an English-speaking congregation located near the Eiffel Tower. He and his wife, Courtney, now reside in Durham, North Carolina, while both complete the final year of the master of divinity program at Duke Divinity School.

STEPHANIE SUEN CHANG graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2003. She now practices law at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, advising and representing students in the area of landlord-tenant law. She also recently joined the boards of American Citizens for Justice as well as the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor. She and her husband, Michael, live in Ann Arbor.

LISA MOY lives in Seattle. She was accepted into the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, where she began her master’s degree program in epidemiology in Autumn 2006.

SHAWN SMITH graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in June 2005 with a master of divinity degree. He was ordained in September 2006 in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is now the pastor of
Hartwood Presbyterian Church in Hartwood, Virginia. He and his wife, ELIZABETH SHAFER SMITH ’00, have two young daughters. The Smiths
live in Hartwood.

NATHAN WOODWARD earned a master of music degree in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and he now serves as music director at Crossroads United Methodist Church in Belton, Missouri. His wife, SARAH FRUTCHEY WOODWARD, is the director of data management and reporting for Newton Learning, a national tutoring company. The Woodwards and their baby son make their home in Kansas City.

QUYEN VEGO lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a member of the New Hope Canoe Club on the island of Oahu. In early June 2006, she and five other women took first place in their race in the King Kamehameha Regatta, held in Kailua, Hawaii.

JONATHAN HALL works as a research assistant for the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden. A resident of Uppsala, he is also the contact for the Swedish Network of Peace, Conflict, and Development Research. Besides conducting research, he is responsible for planning seminars, workshops, and conferences for the Network. He also planned the annual conference “Globalization and Peace-building,” as well as the policy seminar “Challenges to Peace-building in the Developing World.” His current research focuses on “the role of diasporas in conflict resolution, evaluating the ’new wars’ hypothesis, and analyzing the relationship between democracy and global terrorism.”

JACLIN SPRINGER graduated from New York University School of Medicine, and she has begun a three-year residency in pediatrics at New York Hospital Cornell University. Jaclin resides in New York City.

P. SHAWN ADGIE is a school counselor in the Puyallup (Washington) School District. He is also a Young Life leader in Puyallup, where he makes his home.

PAUL KAWABORI is a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. In late 2006, his song “Don’t Stop Now” hit No. 19 on the Adult Contemporary Billboard Top 40, surpassing hits by such favorites as Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, and Kelly Clarkson. Paul lives in Los Angeles.

HELEN ONO GENTZ is completing her third and final year at Trinity
Evangelical Divinity School, where she is earning a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Her husband, Joel Gentz, received his master of divinity degree in 2006. The couple resides in Vernon Hills, Illinois.

REBECCA NEMNICH TAGUMA and her husband, Shelton, work in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa with an indigenous Christian organization called Family Impact, which focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention, life-skills education, and young-adult leadership courses for children and youth. The Tagumas live in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

JEN MONTZINGO was part of the cast for “Radio City Christmas Spectacular,” a Broadway musical during the 2006 holiday season. Jen, who resides in Portland, Oregon, writes, “Opening night went fabulously, we performed to a sold-out crowd of 3,500 and received a four-star review in the paper the next morning.”

ERIN COOK lives in Tillamook, Oregon. She is a community outreach coordinator for Volunteers In Service to America (VISTA) with the Northwest Regional Education Service District Tillamook Service Center. The program facilitates education and health screenings for preschool children.

KRISTEN EDDINGS was crowned Miss Washington in July 2006 and then competed for the Miss America title in January 2007. She was the first Miss Washington to finish among the top 10 in the competition. Kristen plans to join the Peace Corps and would ultimately like to become the first female U.S. ambassador to Japan. She lives in Seattle.

MICHAEL HICKMAN, who earned a principal’s certificate from SPU in 2006, is now principal of Orchard Heights Elementary in the South Kitsap (Washington) School District. Previously, he had worked at Central
Kitsap (Washington) School District since 1996. Michael has served as an elementary school principal intern, literacy coach, staff development specialist, and teacher.

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