SMU Magazine Winter 2001 - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Alumni Class Notes
alive. Thanks to Saint Mary’s
for giving me the foundation
to succeed beyond my wildest
dreams.”
Connie (Mueller) Johnson,
White Bear Lake, Minn., was
featured in the “Upbeat
Alumni” newspaper. Connie is
the coordinator of the
Minnesota SAFE KIDS
Coalition, which strives to
prevent injuries to kids ages 14
and under. She writes that
having a seven-year-old
stepdaughter at home
(Hannah) gives her a very
personal interest in her job.
Eileen (Derse) Norman, Las
Cruces, N.M., after 16 years in
the nuclear medicine field, has
begun working with SunView
Imaging, a diagnostic outpatient
imaging center. Eileen writes
she has more time to enjoy her
children, Patricia, 13 and
Kaitlyn, 10. She invites SMU
alums to contact her.
Scott W. Wright, Shoreview,
Minn., has been appointed
chair of the Minnesota-Dakotas
AILA Chapter of the American
Immigration Lawyers
Association. He is also on the
National Board of Governors
for the AILA.
Class
of
’83
Dr. Raymond Hoffman,
Baltimore, Md., has graduated
from the psychoanalytic training
institute of the New York
Freudian Society and became a
member of the International
Psychoanalytic Association in
May. To celebrate graduating,
he took a week off and got his
certification in hang glider aerotow
launching at Lookout
Mountain Flight Park, where he
took his first mountainlaunched
solo flight.
Don Ivansek, Riverside, Ill.,
is a partner and chair of the
Appellate Practice Group at
Cassiday, Schade & Gloor, an
85-lawyer litigation firm in
Chicago. He and his wife Trish
’95, recently moved into a
1920s-era home in Riverside,
where their children Patrick, 13,
Annie, 10, and Jack, 6 attend
Saint Mary Parish School.
Smalley works to get everyone
involved in Seattle parishes
Her title sounds impressive: Kathy Smalley ’83 is the Director of Inclusion Ministry
for the Archdiocese of Seattle.
Yet, it’s what’s behind the title — the opportunity to work with Seattle’s Catholics
with disabilities — that makes Smalley’s work so special.
“I consider it an honor and a priviledge to work with and for persons with disabilities,”
said Smalley, who has been with the archdiocese of Seattle for six years now.
“I have learned more about spirituality and Jesus from people
society considers worthless than from anyone else.
“Folks with profound disabilities live in their heart and not
their heads, and Jesus is found in the heart.”
Most of Smalley’s time is devoted to helping pastors and
parish staffs find ways to include parishioners with disabilities
and to invite their parishioners to serve in their parish. Through
Smalley’s work, a number of Seattle parishes have parish council
members with significant disabilities — including one who
has a deaf-blind man on its council.
“What I really like about my job is that every day is different from the one before.
One day, I may work with a pastor and his staff to find a way to make the church
accessible and the next, I’ll be trying to find an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter
for someone’s funeral, or designing and implementing a workshop on disability
awareness for a parish’s grade school students,” explained Smalley, who is also a
member of the board of directors for the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities.
“I believe that if we as a church are truly the body of Christ, then we must
work to make sure that all people, irrespective of physical or mental disabilities, are
able to join us at the table.”
Cdr. Christopher J. Kaiser,
McLean, Va., is a Submarine
Enlisted Community Manager
in the U.S. Navy.
Nancy J. Mesenbrink, Glen
Ellyn, Ill., is an entertainment
and leisure guide for Chicago
suburbs.
Matthew K. Phillips,
Northfield, Ill., has been
promoted to senior vice
president of acquisitions and
mergers for Classic Residence
by Hyatt.
Matthew K. Phillips ’83
Matthew Sorensen,
Lancaster, Ohio, started
working for Stonecore, Inc. as
an architectural project
engineer in July.
Class
of
’84
Scott B. Carey, moved to
Naples, Fla. in June, 1999 and
is working as a real estate
appraiser.
Gregory Dick, Wabasha,
Minn., is teaching seventh
grade math at Pine Island
Middle School.
Class
of
’85
John L. Andra, Wichita, Kan.,
has been serving for the past
two years on the central
research staff of the Kansas
Court of Appeals.
Dr. Paul Degallier, Winona,
Minn., was in Romania to
provide volunteer dentistry on
patients who have never seen
a toothbrush, much less an
X-ray machine. Dr. Degallier is
also a forensic odontologist.
Patrick Dewane, Edina,
Minn., is the director of
institutional advancement at
the Children’s Theatre
Company in Minneapolis.
Joseph Lynch, Valparaiso,
Ind., is the production
manager at Cerestar USA, Inc.
Class
of
’86
Elizabeth (Enderle) Reid,
Downers Grove, Ill., has
decided to put teaching
outside of the home on hold
to concentrate on teaching her
three sons. She graduated from
Concordia University with a
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