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1960's: Class Notes | Marriages | Deaths
After 16 years as international program director at the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and four years as executive director of MidAmerica Leadership Foundation in Chicago, Gary Nederveld '66 now works as a consultant for nonprofit organizations. His wife, Pat Velzen Nederveld '66, continues as managing editor for Faith Alive Resources (CRC Publications).
Patricia Wolthuis Lind '69 serves as music director at Community Presbyterian Church in Lombard, Ill. Last year she took a handbell choir on a mission trip to the Reformed Churches in Croatia, where they performed in concerts and worship services. Patricia also is finishing work toward a Master of Divinity degree at McCormick Theological Seminary and is in the process of ordination in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Orin Gelderloos '61 recently celebrated the opening of the 200-acre Environmental Interpretive Center at the University of Michigan - Dearborn, where Orin is a professor of biology and environmental studies. Orin is credited with having the vision for the center when he started at the school 30 years ago and with helping to raise funds for the project.
Thomas Werkema ex'69 is vice president of regulatory activities with Atofina Chemicals, Inc., in Philadelphia, Penn.
Bill Lemkuil '69 teaches science at Ripon (Calif.) Christian Elementary School.
Mary Weesies Wasell '69 and her husband, Dan, are an executive couple for Retrouvaille, a ministry for people with troubled marriages.
Thomas Pettinga '69 and his wife, Darlynn Kuipers Pettinga ex'68, are celebrating ten years of ministry at Hope Fellowship CRC, a congregation they planted in Cedar Hill, Texas. Darlynn also serves as a clinical manager and educator at the Children's Medical Center of Dallas.
Carol DeMann Nolten '69 is a resource specialist for the Ontario-Montclair (Calif.) School District. She and her husband, Fred Nolten ex'70, have adopted two children from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Ed Wierenga ex'69 returned to Calvin and earned a teaching degree in 1999, attending at the same time as his daughters, Heather Wierenga Fackler '98 and Kristin Wierenga Hileman '00. He now is a teacher and assistant principal at West Michigan Christian High School, his alma mater. Mary Scott Wierenga ex'72 is an LPN at the Orthopedic Association of Grand Rapids.
Donald Huizenga '61 has been installed for another term as elder at Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, Calif., a church he helped to establish. He is the business manager of Color Streams, Inc.
Jeremiah Whittington '69 offers "Straight Talk" lectures on AIDS and other health or religious topics for teens. He is a physician at Providence Pavilion OB/GYN in Southfield, Mich.
Nina Elswick '69 is the regional training manager for the southwest region of Sprint PCS. She oversees 24 sales trainers in 24 states and Puerto Rico. Nina lives in Plano, Texas.
Susan Burgers Nelsen '68 works as a registered nurse at Scotland Hospital and Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in South Dakota. She also volunteers as a parish nurse at Calvary Baptist Church in Yankton, S.D.
Frans Weits '62 retired from the Michigan Public Schools in 1997 and moved to southern California, where he is principal of San Marcos High School.
Patricia London Walker '69 teaches first grade at Wellington (Fla.) Christian School.
Carol Koll Vandesteeg ex'69 recently had her first book published. When Duty Calls is a guide for military families experiencing duty-imposed separations. Carol's husband, Col. Marinus Vandesteeg '70, is a chaplain at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
The American Translators Association has elected Robert Croese '69 to a three-year term as director. Croese immigrated to the U.S. at 18 to raise flower bulbs but, after a meeting with a linguist, chose to attend college. After Calvin, he earned a master's in linguistics from the University of Texas-Arlington and worked as a Bible translator and linguistics teacher in Chile. He then worked as a translator and test developer for a national testing firm before becoming an independent contractor providing translation services in Dutch, Spanish and English for businesses.
John Messelink '65 is serving a one-year appointment as interim principal at Calgary Christian Secondary School. He had recently retired after 33 years in education, most recently as principal at Pacific Christian School in Victoria, B.C.
Arthur Schaafsma '64 is a social worker for Wisconsin's Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife, Carol Kuiper Schaafsma '64.
Mother and daughter Lois Ackerman Raap '68 and Rachel Raap Bouman '98 both graduated from law school last spring - Lois from Northwestern California University and Rachel from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Rachel also achieved membership in the Traynor Honor Society. The women sat at the same table while taking the California Bar Exam and, after both passing, were sworn into the California Bar together. Rachel now works for Porter, Scott, Weiberg & Delehant, a litigation firm in Sacramento, Calif., where she lives with her husband, Mike Bouman '98. Lois practices family law and small business law while caring for six medically fragile foster children and her mother with her husband, Peter Raap '68.
Jeannette Vos-Groenendal '66 is co-author of The Learning Revolution, an international best seller that addresses multiple intelligences and helps readers find "brain-compatible learning methods." As president and CEO of The Learning Revolution International, she also serves as a corporate education consultant. She lives in Spring Valley, Calif.
After a long career in the computer industry, Mark Vande Riet ex'69 now is a coachman for the Regional Transportation District in Denver. He had worked for Cray Research, Inc., and at Los Alamos National Labs, and was once posted at the South Pole to maintain computers and meteorological equipment.
The Arizona State University College of Engineering and Applied Science presented Ronald Bengelink '64 with the Distinguished Service Award at its graduation ceremonies last spring. Ronald is Director of International and Technical Support with Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group.
Paul and Barbara DeRoos Bergsma, both '65, have completed 32 years of mission service in Latin America with Christian Reformed World Missions. Paul currently is academic vice president and vice president for university development at Evangelical University of the Americas in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Michael Hagedorn '66 was awarded the Minnesota State Bar Association's Bernard P. Becker Award in 1999 for his dedication to helping poor people. He is litigation director for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul. In 1976, he won a U.S. Supreme Court case (Bryan v. Itasca County, Minnesota) he co-counseled on behalf of local Native Americans. Michael's wife, Jane Vander Kooi Hagedorn '66, is retired from the Minnesota Office of Attorney General.
John Kooiker '68 writes: "On Monday, October 29, I underwent surgery to replace my right knee. By Tuesday afternoon, it became abundantly clear from my actions and speech that there was something else drastically wrong with me. After a couple of days, a 6-centimeter meningioma benign tumor was discovered behind my left eye pressing against my brain, where it had been slowly growing for the last 25 or 30 years. On Friday, November 2, the tumor was successfully removed, and through God's loving providence, I have been given a new lease on this life." John is a rural letter carrier in Boyden, Iowa.
Hank Pott '64 and his wife, Catherine, taught three courses last fall at the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa. He works on the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship staff at McGill University in Montreal.
George Vander Weit '64 is pastor of Fuller Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids and writes the "Q & A" column for The Banner, the denominational magazine.
Donald Ringnalda '67 is a professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. and is author of the book Fighting and Writing the VietNam War, published by the University of Mississippi in 1994.
Theodore Mejan '65 works for Boeing as a cost analyst on the international space station program and serves on the Southern California Calvin Alumni Board. His wife, Tena Hettinga Mejan '63, teaches U.S. history and geography at Ontario Christian Middle School.
Robert Koops '65 is a translation consultant for the American Bible Society in Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and Gambia, where he lives with his wife, Esther Timmer Koops '66.
Ronald Polinder '68 is executive director of Rehoboth (N.M.) Christian School. His wife, Colleen Haak Polinder '68, works as his secretary.
Janice Vanden Bosch Fischer '67 is a professor of English at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. Her husband, William Fischer '67, is an administrator at Traverse City Christian High School.
Lynn Vander Gies Likkel '68 is pastor of congregational life at Seattle's Mill Creek Christian Reformed Church, the only CRC with two ordained women pastors. Her husband, Allen Likkel '66, is a new church development specialist for Christian Reformed Home Missions.
David
Janke '67 of South Holland, Ill., on 2/28/02.
Charles Ransford '67 of Hillsdale, Mich., on 11/8/01.
Charlene Myroup Sytsma '67 of Palos Heights, Ill., on 3/19/02.
Edward Tuit '67 of Santa Monica, Calif., on 2/28/01.
