Class Notes

Simin Nikbin Meydani (PhD '81 Food Sci.) became the fourth director of the Jean Meyer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University on March 16, 2009, after serving as associate director for the last four years. She arrived at Tufts in 1984 to conduct research on the effects of nutrients on aging, immune system response and infection and to teach at The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. She will also continue to serve as a professor at The Friedman School and The Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University. Simin has received numerous grants from the USDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and served from 2005-2006 as president of the American Aging Association. She has also received awards from professional organizations and has served on several governmental committees and editorial boards of scientific journals.

Richard Dillman began his career at North Carolina State University in 1974, when he he joined the Veterinary Science Department, which was formed in anticipation of the new College of Veterinary Medicine. He worked with six other veterinarians and architects under contract to design the new College of Veterinary Medicine, which opened and accepted students beginning in the fall of 1981. His role was designing the pathology curriculum and facilities for the new school. He taught pathology from 1981-1994 and retired as Alumni Distinguished Professor in January 1994.

Duard Lee Pruitt graduated in March, 1949, with a degree in electrical engineering. While at Iowa state, he lived in Welch and Friley residence halls. After graduating, he worked for RCA / GE in New Jersey for 40 years, retiring from GE in 1989. He married Alice Elizabeth Bennett in 1953 and received a Master's Degree in electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1957. A son, Donald, also graduated from Iowa State, earning his degree in chemical engineering in 1979.

Ken Sweeney, Landscape Architecture 1959, was recently presented the Conservation Award by the Michael Trebert Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The award is in recognition of Sweeney's work as a board member of the North Olympic Land Trust in protecting the natural resources of the North Olympic Peninsula of Washington state.

Barbara received her degree in Home Economics Education in 1948 and later earned an M.A. at Stanford. She was employed for 30 years at Anaheim (CA) Union High School and says, "Always my Iowa State University education held great esteem!" She is presently a manager of real estate in Orange County, CA.

Tracy and I met my freshmen year, she was a sophomore. About a month into school, she was the homecoming co-chair for Yell Like Hell....we started dating shortly after and never looked back. We love Iowa State, and enjoy all of the memories made there. 10 years together now!

We met at Iowa State in our freshman year. It actually began the summer before when we were both state officer candidates for Iowa State 4-H and I saw her picture in the Des Moines Register. Jan was one of the 6 candidates (out of 8) who were going to attend Iowa State. It was not until the Registration Dance of the winter quarter of our junior year that we really began serious dating! We were married in June 1963 and have celebrated many good years since!!

Kristyn Cassidy Tjaden (Sp Com 85) and Kurt Tjaden (Bus 86) are living in Bettendorf, IA, where Kurt is the CFO/Vice President of HNI Corp, located in Muscatine, IA. Kurt and Kristyn have five children.

My husband, Sean Claycamp and I welcomed our first child, a daughter, Sutton Rose on November 23, 2008. She was 8lbs. 1oz. and 20 inches long.

Roddy (Rosalind) and I met at Wesley Foundation at the start of our Sophomore year of college during a dance that the church used to hold at the start of the fall quarter. We were both from southeast/east central Iowa (West Liberty & Wapello) and pretty much hit it off from the start. I lived in Baker House at Storms Hall (Towers) and she lived in Busse House. We were married in Wapello February 28th 1971 and moved into Pammel Court unit 108A 3 days later. She graduated in the spring of 1971 and I graduated winter quarter of 1973 (I was out of school for a year to await and attend basic training & AIT for the Armty Reserves). We had our first son, Russell while we lived there. Since the train tracks were only about 50 yards from our door it did take a little getting use to, but after awhile you paid very little attention to them. The Pammel unit wasn't fancy, but it was cheap and kept us warm and dry.

Beverly Walk and I attended a Sunday evening meal at the Wesley Foundation on the first weekend of Fall Quarter 1951. We knew each other but not well. I walked her back to the Alpha Delta Pi house afterward and we've been walking together every since. We've lived in Ames and Des Moines, Falls Church, Va., Oberusel, Germany, San Jose, Costa Rica, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Bogor, Indonesia,, and Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas. We have three fine daughters who live in San Jose, Costa Rica, West Point, Ind., and St. Paul, Minn.

Three Iowa State graduates attended the Randy Hundley Chicago Cubs Baseball Fantasy Camp Jan. 25 - Feb. 1 in Mesa, Ariz. The campers were placed on eight teams, practiced, and played 10 games in five days with former Chicago Cubs players as coaches at the Chicago Cubs minor league spring training facility. On the second to last day of camp, the campers played a game against the former Cubs players at Hohokam Park, the spring training home of the Cubs. Phil Santos* (’97 civil engr.), Streamwood, Ill.; Matt Schwab* (’96 statistics), McKinney, Texas; and Joel Jess (’82 an. sci., DVM ’86), Pekin, Ill. were the participating ISU alums. Phil writes, “Matt and Joel were wearing Iowa State shirts in the clubhouse and I introduced myself as an Iowa State graduate. Matt and I were actually involved in one play. I was playing centerfield and Matt hit a sinking line drive and I made an attempt at a diving catch. As I dove and caught the ball, I landed on the ground and the baseball jarred loose from my glove. Matt ended up on second base with a double.”

Kimberly Erusha** (’82 hort.) marched in the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Kim is director of Education for the U.S. Golf Association. She lives in Basking Ridge, N.J.

Steve Cox** (’86 bus. admin.) marched in the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Steve is a member of the ISUAA Board of Directors and works for Maritz Learning in Philadelphia, Pa.

Rick Brimeyer* (’82 mech. engr.) has written a book about the Chicago Cubs’ 2008 season – with a fictional postseason. Every Hundred Years…A Typical Cubs Fan Chronicles an Atypical Season includes daily entries that are a mix of fact and opinion regarding each game. On scheduled off days, he recounts stories from Cubs lore or his own baseball experiences growing up in Dubuque, Iowa. Rick now lives in Ames, Iowa.

Des Moines attorney Steven E. Zumbach** (’73 ag. bus.) of the Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn firm was named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in the United States by Worth magazine. He was recognized for his finance and estate planning in the December/January 2009 edition. Besides the magazine’s top attorney nod, Zumbach has been named as a Star Individual for Corporate/Merger and Acquisitions for the State of Iowa by the world-renowned legal research organization, Chambers and Partners. The Chambers USA Guide also went on to rank the Belin Law Firm its highest designation as a “Band 1” firm in corporate merger and acquisitions, litigation, and real estate.

Lovebirds- We met at ISU during our first few years at ISU. Greg was on the ISU football team and deciding on a major. He changed 3 o4 times throughout his first three years. He sang in a barbershop quartet for fun and was invited to join choir when his quartet sang for a group that included the ISU choir director. He joined and within 3 days declared his final major- music education. Two years later (six total) he graduated in Music Ed with a coaching endorsement. Norma was a Home Economics Education major who also enjoyed singing in choir. We actually met at a campus ministry group- back then called BSU. We attended this group regularly and participated in some road trips with the group over spring break. We started attending some barbershop quartet and other music events together and before we knew it- decided we enjoyed each other's company enough to make it a permanent relationship. We were married in 1976. Norma graduated in 1977 and Greg followed in 1978. We took teaching jobs near Ames the first 10 years and then moved to Iowa City to pursue master's degrees and Greg- his doctorate. We've resided here for 20years and still stand firm Cyclone fans- with 3 of our 4 children attending ISU as well! Our license plates read "Six4Cy" and "6ForCy". Go Cyclones!

Yes, it's true, I met my husband, Jeff, of nearly 27 years at ISU. My roommate my junior year was a Civil Engineering student and new Jeff from some classes. He was a Construction Engineering student. He lived on Boyd in Storms Hall at the Towers and I lived on Vollmer in Freeman Hall at the RCA. His floor and my floor won the 'rowdiest guys and girls floor contest' at Grand Daddy's (a local bar). The prize was a keg. The 2 floors decided to have a FAC (Friday Afternoon Club) to share the keg. It was at the FAC that we first 'officially' met. Since my roommate new him from some classes, we had encountered each other a time or 2 previously. He still teases me that the VERY first time we met was on his birthday and he got kisses from my roommate and the other 2 girls I was with for his birthday but not one from me! I just keep reminding him that it just shows I didn't go around kissing guys I'd never met before. We starting talking at the FAC. We ended up making a bet about whether I'd make it to the 3 parties I had on my agenda for that evening. The deal was I had to have a witness and the witness had to call him the next day to confirm that I did/didn't make it to the 3 parties. The loser had to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey. Needless to say, that was expensive whiskey for a student on a budget in those days. I made sure I got to my 3 parties and that he had to buy. To this day, there is about 3/4" of whiskey in the bottle. He continues to threaten me with the phrase 'when it's empty, it's over'. I'm not too concerned and bought him a new bottle as part of our 25th anniversary nearly 2 years ago. He is the greatest thing that ever happened to me and I love him more today than I did all those many days ago!

Tyler and I met while working in media relations for the Athletcis Department. We also had several classes together because we were both Journalism and Mass Communication majors. We ended up dating and had a lot of fun together in college. After graduation, we both got jobs with Iowa State and a few months later, Tyler popped the question in the Lago Courtyard. Nearly a year and a half after getting married, ISU is still a huge part of our lives. He spends his time running www.cyclones.com for the Athletics Department and I work for ISU's Department of Residence. We live across the street from the new Alumni Center.

Helen Gardner and Chris Colvin met fall semester of 1999 -- Helen's first at ISU; Chris was starting his third year. She was eating with a friend from her floor, Rowe House of Helser in the "dungeons" cafeteria of Friley. Chris's best friend (later their best man) was dating another woman on Rowe and had introduced Chris to the friend since "she's into computers too." He sat with them and talked about this mutual interest -- and found Helen's Linux-running, SCSI hard drive-containing computer to be more compatible with his interest than the friend's Mac. Chris graduated in 2003 with his bachelor's in MIS, and stuck around to get his MS in Information Assurance. At Homecoming in 2003 he proposed under the campanile at midnight, having arranged for the his fellow ISUCF"V"MB members to play "Hey Baby" after the traditional sneak-up-on-the-campanilers playing of Fights. Helen and Chris married three weeks after she graduated with her degree in Computer Engineering in 2004, with a small ceremony at the MU chapel and a big reception at Emma McCarthy Lee Park, just a few blocks from where Helen's mother had grown up, the daughter of an ISU professor. Chris finished his MS in 2005, and Helen also continued at ISU for graduate school, earning her MBA in 2006 and completing her PhD in Human Computer Interaction in 2008.

Jon and I met during the summer prior to our Senior year at Iowa State. We were married in August of 2006 and had our first future Cyclone on December 5th of this year.

Jennifer (Thiede) Theneman married Ross Theneman in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, October 27, 2007.

Gavin and Katie Yager

Jeff Blum, Industrial Engineering '07 & Jamie (Irlbeck) Blum, Biology '05 Married 8/12/06 - This picture was taken in the same spot Jeff proposed to me - on the bench in front of the campanille.

Michelle Treloar & James Hassebrock, class of 1983, married 9/3/1983. The photo was taken by Pete Tekippe of Story City. Two of our children are current ISU students.