Summer 2001 - Wayne State College

Donna M. Gross ’70 (61),Denison, Iowa; April 24. Donnataught school in Neb. and Iowa for41 years until retiring in 1999.Ronald Kimble ’72 (50),Brunswick; April 17. Ronald wasengaged in farming and served onthe board of education forCreighton Community Schools. Hewas active with the CreightonBaseball Association and theCreighton Youth WrestlingProgram.Friends we will missAmy L. Morey (96), Shelton;March 6. She served as housemother at Morey Hall from 1954-58.The residence hall was named forher husband, Victor P. Morey,president of Wayne State College1946-51. Memorials may bedirected to the Victor MoreyScholarship at Wayne StateCollege.Marie (Pugsley) Miller (95), BendOre.; Feb. 27. Marie served ashouse mother at Neihardt Hall from1958-64.Make Plans to Come Home in October!HOMECOMING 2001October 5 & 6, 2001For more information, please contact the WSC AlumniOffice at 402-375-7209 or 800-228-9972, ext. 7209.ALUMNI MINI-FEATUREConnie Petersen ‘74 & Carol North ‘74Connie Petersen ‘73 andCarol North ‘74 first met asopponents in a WSCintramural basketball gamebetween Pile Hall second floorand Neihardt Hall third floorin the winter of 1972. Itwasn’t a particularly pleasantmeeting. Carol, who stood ameager 5’0,” decided sheneeded a secret weaponagainst 6’3” Connie. “Thenext time Connie went up fora rebound, I decided to standon her foot,” Carol said. “Itseemed like a funny thing todo at the time until Connie’sleft elbow came around andhit me in the mouth. I’m aquick study, so I didn’t try itagain!” After they got toknow each other, the twobecame friends. Today, theyown a video business, P.M.S.(Photographs, Memories,Sentimentalities), Etc. inCarroll, Iowa.In January 1994, it wasdiscovered that Connie hadinherited polycystic kidneydisease from her father. Uponhearing of Connie’s diagnosis,Carol told her that if herkidneys failed she would justgive her one of hers andConnie could get on with herlife.In March 2000, Connie’skidneys failed. After being26hospitalized for ten days inOmaha, she returned home toCarroll to go on dialysis. InJune, the two went to ClarksonHospital in Omaha to talk tothe kidney transplant team.Blood tests revealed they werea match. Several days later,they found out that three of sixantigens in their bloodmatched. This was significantbecause it meant that Conniewouldn’t have to take as muchanti-rejection medication afterthe transplant.The successful transplantsurgery took place onSeptember 27, 2000. “I’m nohero,” said Carol. “Conniecould have stayed on dialysis,her restrictive renal diet andlifestyle. I didn’t save her life.All I did was give her a betterquality of life. I know she willtake better care of hersomewhat-used, newer-thanshe-hadkidney than I did!Connie thanks me every dayfor her renewed life. I thankher for the opportunity to beable to do what I did. I didn’thave to die and I can see what adifference it made. By givingher a kidney, I actually helpedtwo people--Connie andanother person who will orwho already has received thecadaver kidney she didn’tneed.”Carol North and Connie Petersen.Connie will have to takeanti-rejection medication for therest of her life unless researchcan find a way to isolatetransplanted organs from thebody’s natural reaction to rejecta foreign substance.“There are good people inthis world,” said Connie. “Wesometimes get so caught up inthe negativism of life that weforget to see the good people.Carol is one of those! Toundergo this surgery with noconcern for herself, to give lifeto me so I could resume anormal life, is the mostwonderful thing anyone couldhave done.”“We are both doing welland are still in awe of the entireprocess and the fact that twopeople so totally different canactually share this experience ofa lifetime,” said Carol. “It justproves that ordinary people cando extraordinary things giventhe right circumstances andthose chance meetings.”Former WSC softballteam members, both Carol andConnie are looking forward tothe next WSC alumni softballgame versus current teammembers. “I’ve played in thelast two and, despite being no‘spring chicken,’ about 30pounds overweight andwearing bifocals, have provedthat I can still chase down andcatch a fly ball in the outfieldseveral times, get some basehits, and lose my legs halfwaybetween second and third andslide head-first into thirdbase,” said Carol. “I fullyintend to play in the nextgame this year.”If any former softballplayers would like aninvitation to the alumni game(at presstime, the date has notbeen set), contact JonMisfeldt, WSC softball coach,at 402-375-7520, or e-mailhim at jomisfe1@wsc.edu.WSC Magazine Summer 012610/2/01, 2:49 PM