Celebrating Lasting Connections

Students come to Iowa State University for a variety of reasons: innovative majors, top-ranking faculty, a gorgeous campus. No matter the personal draw, one aspect alumni often credit their ISU journey with is lasting relationships. In 2024, a number of ISU groups celebrated 50 years of friendship; this is the story of three that reunited on campus recently to celebrate their Cyclone connections.

Supportive Sisterhood

On a warm weekend in May, nine women returned to Iowa State, excited for the weekend ahead.

“It feels like we just left the dorm, like no time has elapsed,” says Joyce Bahrenfus (’74).

The group of women (plus two who joined the festivities virtually) have been friends ever since they met on the fifth floor of Maple Hall –– a floor dubbed the Knowles House –– in 1970, with the majority continuing to live together until graduation. Back then, free time was about having fun: roller-skating, going on picnics, hiking at Ledges, gathering in the communal room to watch TV or attend house meetings, visiting Boyd’s Dairy for an ice cream cone (even in the winter), and sitting in a circle for the candle-passing tradition to celebrate a new engagement.

“We did a lot of things together and that’s what carries us through for today,” says Killeen Jensen (’74).

Shared traditions, experiences, and life lessons built a foundation that lasts more than half a century later.

“Most of us were raised in small Iowa towns, and we were a bit naive. We grew together sharing our life experiences,” says Jan Webber (’73).

The group recalls their time in the Knowles House as filled with lots of joy. After graduation, the joy continued, as did the support, as the women progressed through single life, marriages, children, careers, divorces, health concerns, and losses.

Following their time at ISU, the women kept in touch with round-robin letters (which could sometimes take a whole year to get around). Then came email, and when the pandemic hit in 2020, the group turned to Zoom and now hosts virtual calls to keep up to date with one another.

No matter the medium, the women know they can turn to one another in times of need.

“We have a constant companion in one another,” Jensen says. “As we get older, our relationship only gets stronger. It’s a very special relationship; I don’t know if many people have that.”

Committed Connections

In 1973, a group of students from across majors and grad years came together to plan and organize events for the following year’s VEISHEA, which was no small undertaking.

“It was a sobering thought when we realized we had to pull this off,” says Dee Reinhart Vandeventer (’75).

The VEISHEA Central Committee quickly realized they had good chemistry, and found themselves getting together quite often, though at the time they didn’t anticipate how impactful their friendships would be with one another.

“We didn’t know or think of that when we graduated,” says Becky Murphy Stadlman (’74). “We didn’t think that far ahead.”

Meaning, the group of students who joined a committee to gain work experience before graduation, didn’t know that 50 years later over a dozen of them would still be keeping in touch and even returning to campus together to celebrate.

Two of the committee members, Peter (’75) and Janet Booth (’74) Gerdom, dated and then married after meeting through the committee.

“It got us together and we kept these friends for 50 years,” says Peter. “We’re so lucky, these are some of the closest friends we have.”

The group remembers their time on the committee fondly: members were required to wear business attire to meetings, they quickly learned how to lead and manage risk, and they bonded, in part, because of their united goal together.

“The more you’re involved, the more an organization means to you,” Vandeventer says. “What you put into it, you get out tenfold, and I think that’s how all of us felt; for at least a year, year and a half, we were inseparable.”

Foundational Friendship

On a Saturday afternoon this past summer, lyrics from “Cabaret,” “Man of LaMancha,” and more rang out from the Maintenance Shop. The singers? ISU alumni and performers who made the M-Shop their home 50 years ago as part of the Memorial Union Resident Summer Theatre (MURST).

“We were all in our 20s,” says Kathleen McKern Verigin (’74). “Full of drama and promises, on stage and off.”

Spouses John Lee (’76) and Susan Thomas Lee (’74), Paul Douroumis, and Verigin all worked together to launch MURST in the summer of 1974.

“The summers were really intense experiences,” John Lee says. “Everyone lived together in close quarters. We fought like brothers and sisters but we all supported one another.”

Part of the magic of MURST was that there were no stars because all were stars, a true ensemble, says John Lee. The goal was to provide a great participatory experience, entertaining the ISU and broader Ames community. MURST alumni ended up in a variety of careers, all across the country.

“One of my closest friends is Kathy [Taylor] (’80) who I met in a show my freshman year,” says Penny Wright Allen (’80). “We lived together for two summers of MURST, and even though we’ve never lived in the same city since, we have maintained a close friendship.”

John Lee says he spent some of the greatest hours of his life in the M-Shop; during his visit this past summer he was able to appreciate what it was that made the space so special.

“When my theater family isn’t there, it is just an empty facility,” he says. “Standing in the M-Shop this summer for the reunion, suddenly the room was alive again because of the people in it.”

For Susan Lee, MURST’s 50th reunion was about celebrating the legacy that started in the ’70s and has since touched the lives of many.

“Our friendships were/are forever,” she says. “Some have passed and we honor them annually. The disciplines and life teachings we learned then, we have now. Each and every one of us will tell you, we learned it growing up in the theater together doing what we loved most right there at ISU in Ames, Iowa.”

Iowa Staters share their stories of lifelong friendships

Kathy Siperly (’73): “I transferred to Iowa State at the beginning of my junior year in 1971 and soon met a group of six friends and that friendship has lasted more than 50 years. I love them like sisters, and when we’re together, it’s like no time has passed. I will always treasure my time at Iowa State, and these women are a big part of why.”

Ike Harris (’74): “I was an ISU student-athlete from September 1970 to May 1974. In early winter 1970, I saw and met a beautiful young lady as I walked to class. After some convincing, Charlene went on a date with me and, as they say, the rest is history. We have been married 51 years! Charlene was the best ‘catch’ of my ISU career.”

Carolyn Parry Weir (’69): “In the fall of 1965, I started attending Iowa State University; a year later, Linda Pinneo (’69) came to ISU and we became classmates in pursuit of our degrees in physical education for women. A few years after graduation, I accepted a teaching and coaching position at Marshalltown High School, only to realize after a phone call, that my former classmate, Linda, was also teaching at MHS. We were reunited! We taught together for eight years, and have continued to keep in contact with one another through weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas cards, written letters, texts, emails, and visits. Our friendship has lasted from 1966 to present, 58 years. We have had so many memories.”

Linda Leier Thomason (’82, ’84): “Decades-long friendships that formed in the former Fisher-Nickell House have endured through time. Fisher-Nickell was a small house with residents who cared for and supported one another while students at Iowa State. The environment lent itself to lasting relationships and valued, treasured friendships.”

Mike Heverly (’58): “My decades-long ISU relationship started on Nov. 5, 1954. It was Iowa State College then, but still the same beloved institution that it is today. This was my freshman year and my first quarter at Iowa State. I was eager to start my education process, but also anxious to check out the social life. I kept seeing this cute co-ed on campus and was trying to get up enough courage to make contact and learn her name, when I had the opportunity to meet her at a Theta Xi Fraternity mixer on Nov. 5. I asked if I might walk her back to the dorm after the mixer. She said yes. With a stop at the Union for a coke, we agreed on a real ‘date’ on the 7th.

Many dates later, we kissed at midnight under the campanile in order to seal the deal. Jane and I have been married now for ‘only 65 years.’ Hopefully, there will be a few more years added to this beautiful relationship.”