Class Bulletin Board – Page 21 – Iowa City West High Class of 1973

Don Rinehart NAIA News

Hi Dave : Greetings from frosty Cedar Rapids! Now I know why I live in Arizona! Brrr! Cross Country kids finished 6th in the nation for men and 7th for women at the NAIA National meet here on the 16th! We were also recognized for having the 3rd best combined men/women program in the NAIA (over 300 colleges). Quite an honor. Now the old coach will retire a happy man after track season! Hope everyone has a warm winter!!!

Best,

Don Rinehart

Don Rinehart Update – Embry Riddle University to Cross Country Nationals!

Hi Dave :

Well, my kids made it to NAIA Cross Country Nationals again this year. The meet will be held at Seminole Valley Park on November 16, in Cedar Rapids. Our girls team is ranked 6^th in the Nation! Boys are 16^th!

Anyone interested in going to the meet can email me at wscdon1@gmail.com for starting time, directions etc or log onto Mt Mercy University (they are hosting the meet) for more information. This will most likely be my last year of coaching, so would be nice to get a couple of top ten finishes there.

Hoping to have some 50 degree weather too!!!

Don Rinehart

Update: Judy (Becker) Bryant shared this link to Don’s web page on the Embry-Riddle site. There is a lot for Don to be proud of there!

Mark Ferguson / Julie (Kent) Larson News

Mark shared news about classmate Julie:

Last night Susan and I went to the ISU vs West Virginia football game, which we WON over an undefeated team rated 6th in the nation. We saw Julie Kent Larson at Alumni Hall. She was unable to make it to the reunion since she had just retired and went on a cruise with her husband John. She asked about the reunion and was disappointed she missed it. What she didn’t tell me was she and her family were honored as Cy’s favorite Alum at Half Time on the Jumbotron. It was a nice tribute to her dedicated work in the Alumni Association at Iowa State. Congrats to Julie again. It was a GREAT night.

In Memory of James Searls

James C. “Jim” Searls, 92, of Iowa City, died Sunday, August 26, 2018 at his home.

Born August 22, 1926 in Mitchell, South Dakota, the son of Cluett “C.C.” and Leona (Collier) Searls, Jim grew up in Postville, Iowa, graduating from Postville High School. After high school, he worked for the Milwaukee Railroad before entering the US Army serving as a sergeant in the Western Pacific Command, during WWII on Okinawa. Following his discharge from the military, Jim married his longtime sweetheart, Mary Eberling, December 22, 1947 in Evanston, Illinois.

Jim later received his BS degree from Cornell College, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After his graduation from Cornell in 1950, he attended the University of Iowa where he received his D.D.S. He then moved his young family to Grinnell, Iowa, where he practiced dentistry for the next seven years. In 1962, he returned to Iowa city, where he received his PhD in Anatomy from the University of Iowa and joined the faculties in the colleges of Dentistry and Medicine.

Jim is survived by his wife of over 70 years, Mary; children, Trish Campanelli (Joe) of Iowa City, Jim Searls (Carol) of Iowa City, Tom Searls (Dan Mears) of Iowa City and Bill Searls of Coralville and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A Mark Ferguson Family Update

As most of the class knows From the class reunion, my mother has been in skilled rehab for about three weeks now. The good news is that she will be discharged on Friday, August 30, just in time for us to take her with us to Kansas City for my son Brian‘s wedding.

The day after the wedding, Labor Day, we will be driving back to Des Moines with our daughter Valerie and her daughter Ellie. Bright and early the next morning we will be up and off to Bozeman, MT with mother’s car, Since she can no longer drive.

Three days later Susan and I are flying to Philadelphia for the birth of our third grandson from our daughter Krista. He will be born on September 10th. We are fortunate to see all three kids within the same week, has spread out as they are. Once we are back in Polk City, Susan has chosen to take a sabbatical from work to stay home with Norma. Although she has improved, they are still recommending 24 hour care.

Thanks,

Mark Ferguson

Nancy (Masbruch) Olinger Update

I retired in February from a career in communications and marketing. Following a series of medical maladies, my husband has joined me in retirement two years earlier than planned. We decided to leave the cold winters of Iowa, sold our farm, and have purchased a home in The Villages in central Florida. It’s a large gated retirement community and we have friends who live there. We look forward to getting back to many of the past times we haven’t been able to enjoy due to busy work schedules. We depart Iowa in late September and will travel via our RV, so taking our time to get there. I’ll be sure Dave gets our new address. We’re just an hour from Disneyworld and about 90 minutes from Tampa and the beautiful beaches of Clearwater, so keep us in mind for a visit if you’re in the area.

Nancy (Masbruch) Olinger

Don Rinehart Update

Hi Dave :

Quick update from Arizona. Cannot make the reunion as I start pre-season workouts for my cross country kids at Embry Riddle University in Prescott, AZ on August 6. Beginning my 3^rd season here with our boys finishing 21^st and girls 14^th in the nation last year. Both teams shooting for Top Ten finishes at Nationals this November in Cedar Rapids! Really exciting to have also coached the school’s first ever All American in Cross Country and Track in 2017-18!

Tami (Thompson ’74) and I looking forward to traveling some in the future as this likely will be my last season of everyday coaching (getting too old to keep up with 20 year old distance runners…even on a bike) and she has had both of her knees replaced.

We both were appointed to the Wayne State College (Neb) Board of Trustees this summer and have started an annual Track/Cross Country scholarship at our old Alma Mater. Our new challenge will be traveling back and forth to Nebraska for meetings and helping with the College’s $31 million Capital Campaign drive over the next 3-5 years. Should keep us busy.

Family all doing well. Having a great time spoiling our 4 year old grand daughter.

Do get back to Iowa City area a couple times a year, but just can’t make it for the reunion. Hope everyone has a great time. See you at the 50^th!!!

Don and Tami Rinehart

A Ruth (Jurgens) Noth Update

Hi Dave. I’ve been busier than all get out and cannot make it to the reunion this year. I’m sad, but at the same time, will be doing what I need to be doing.

As you know, I moved my parents in with me after Thanksgiving last year. Dad has had several things go on – was diagnosed with 4 new things in in the course of about 5 weeks. My sister flew home to help me out, as mom’s hip replacement surgery was coming up and it was just too much for one daughter to handle. She came for nearly 6 weeks and we’ve gotten through it all. She has since left, but we are still trying to get a good routine going here with everyone.

Have in home health care for both parents now – dad for PT to help with his dementia related gait – it’s coming along great, and also for a new diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica – very delibitating – Prednisone is the cure – can take 18 months to 3 years to get rid of it and wean off the steroids. The first day on steroids my sister and I laughed our guts out watching dad – he was the energizer bunny and even got a little frisky with mom, well, for how well an 88 and 84 year old can be frisky. LOL

He’s doing very well – mind still is in a fog quite often, but his health is so much better and he’s eating us out of house and home nearly. He’s gaining about 3 pounds each week now, eating 3 meals and 3 snacks a day and sometimes asking for 2nds on the snacks. Have gone pretty much organic on most things and he loves his new cereal – oatmeal with ground walnuts, chia seeds, organic pure maple sugar for sweetening and heat that up – I make it for the week and pull out what he’ll eat for each morning. Saves me time.

Mom had her surgery and is doing well. I hope to have her back into her own bed within the next week. She can now get into and out on her own, but not adjust her pillows, so working on that next. She sees the surgeon post surgery this Wednesday and we’ll see what PT she orders up. That will all be done in home as well to save us time. My weekday calendar is loaded to the gills each week – never have I ever had every inch of the calendar square used up nearly every day. For a while, we had 4 different people coming for each for each of them. It was crazy for a while.

Anyway, just too much going on with dad yet and mom not weaned off the walker, to leave them alone. I could hire someone to come in, but I’m not comfortable with that yet. The day is coming though, because I need to get back to my life and know the importance of that. Please give my best to everyone. I will surely miss not being there- the last one was so great!!! You can share any of my news with the group.

Ruth

A Mark Ferguson Special Update

Dave,

This (article) came today in our Iowa State Visions magazine. Julie was featured and honored for her 34 years of service to the Iowa State Alumni Association. She will retire from Iowa State on July 5th, according to the article.

We have had the pleasure of seeing Julie and her husband John several times over the years at Homecoming or other football tailgates. She will leave a legacy and a void in the Alumni Association staff. Congratulations, Julie on your retirement. Hope we still see you from time to time in Ames for football games.

[Webmaster’s note – we have kept a PDF version of the article <A True Passion for Iowa State Alumni > for when, not if, the online link changes]

A Words and Music Offering from Dave Gerlits

You are seeing a humble offering of words and music from your webmaster, because he is participating in the Apple Teacher program. Bobbi and I justified this free signup because we hold a very educational “Nana Camp” each year. Bobbi handles all the heavy lifting in terms of reading and writing, and Opa is in charge of fostering productivity and creativity on the iPad.

One of the Badges I worked on was the GarageBand for iPad badge. A key resource for this was the GarageBand for iPad Starter Guide, and this book gave me step by step instructions on how to create this music enhanced short story.

Here is a link to the piece on SoundCloud. I hope you enjoy it.