Class Notes

Denver chapter member Lula Weeden Jacobs (A&S’42) of The Links — a nonprofit dedicated to the enrichment and sustainment of African-American culture and economic survival by women of color — appeared in The Denver Post with her daughter Yolanda Jacobs when they attended The Links luncheon celebrating its 60th anniversary. The Links chapter provides service to youth, health and human services and the arts. Lula lives in Denver.

Last fall at Coors Events Center Leason McCloud (A&S’42) was inducted into the Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame. Leason was a first-team All-American, the third in CU basketball history and sixth in any sport at the time. He was the Buffs’ leading scorer on the 1941-42 team that reached the Final Four and a member of the 1939-40 team that won the NIT and was invited to the first NCAA tournament. Leason resides in Newton, Kan.

At the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society’s national conference in July Virginia Wheeler Patterson (Jour’46) received the Distinguished Lifetime Membership Award. This annual award is presented to alumni who demonstrate a lifelong devotion to Mortar Board’s ideals of scholarship, leadership and service. After returning from being a guest editor of Mademoiselle in New York, Virginia served as president of the Boulder Valley School board for seven years. She helped create the Pearl Street Mall and found the Downtown Boulder Association.

In 1948 David Bolen (Mktg’50, MS’50) competed in the Olympics in London and was the first CU student to compete in the games. He received fourth place in the 400-meters. “It made me feel good to be the first CU student as an Olympian,” he told the Daily Camera in July. David resides in Scottsdale, Ariz. Read about him on pages 26-27 in this issue.

CU couple Oluf Nielsen (ArchEngr’50) and Barbara Rauch Nielsen (ArchEngr’50) appeared in The Denver Post in September showcasing their home in Denver’s Harvey Park. Oluf and Barbara have lived in the home for 56 years where they raised five kids.

Kerrville, Texas, resident Thomas Alexander (PolSci’53) is co-author of Faded Glory: A Century of Forgotten Texas Military Sites, Then and Now(Texas A&M University Press). In this guide the authors recount the full story of 29 sites they visited, comparing historic sketches, paintings and period photographs with recent photos and highlighting the need for preservation for future generations. A retired executive vice president with Neiman Marcus, Thomas served as an officer in the Strategic Air Command and is author of four books on Texas military history.

Former CU football and baseball player Frank Bernardi (Mktg’56) received recognition as part of the 2012 Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Class ceremony in November. Frank rushed for 1,235 yards in his career, fifth-most by a Buff at the time, with his 6.33 average per carry still the fifth-best number by any of the school’s 49 players who have gained 1,000 career yards. He resides in Broomfield, Colo.

Astronomy lover Robert Bruner (PolSci’60, MBA’63) writes he prepared the exhibit, “Life on Mars in a Box” for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and educated the public about the Mars Curiosity Rover. An amateur scientist, Robert has studied Mars for 60 years, given more than 230 astronomy talks and has volunteered at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for 24 years.

In 1958 Boyd Dowler (PE’61) earned honorable mention All-American and first-team All-Big 7 honors as a senior CU football player. He caught 41 passes for 628 yards and six touchdowns in his CU career. In 1989 he was named member of CU’s All-Century Football Team. Green Bay selected him in the third round in the 1959 NFL draft and later named him Rookie of the Year. For these accomplishments Boyd was inducted in the Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame at Coors Events Center last fall. Boyd lives in Midlothian, Va.

In the December Coloradan, we incorrectly characterized The True Story of Catch- 22, The Real Men and Missions of Joseph Heller’s 340th Bomb Group in World War II (Casemate) by Patricia Chapman Meder (A&S’62) as a novel. It is a three-part book comparing real-life people to the main characters depicted in Joseph Heller’s bestselling novel, Catch-22.

Architectural historian Richard Wilson (Hist’63) reveals Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edith Wharton’s effect on design in his book Edith Wharton at Home: Life at The Mount (The Monacelli Press). Richard is a professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture with focus on American design and art of the 18th to 20th centuries. He resides in Charlottesville, Va.

Couple Arlan Gadeken (EngrPhys’64) and Mary Stevens Gadeken (Edu’64) returned from a two-week Rotaplast Mission to Karikal, India. Rotaplast is a Rotary International organization with the goal of “saving smiles and changing lives.” They were among eight volunteers who assisted 15 medical personnel in performing 67 free cleft palate, lip revision and burn release surgeries. Arlan sterilized instruments while Mary assisted the post-anesthesia care nurses working with patients and parents. The Gadekens are retired and live in Kennewick, Wash.

A lawyer in Steamboat Springs, Colo., John Grassby (Phil, PolSci’64) has a focus on corporate and international law. John taught U.S.-Mexico relations at CU Denver in the ’90s and wrote many columns on related subjects. His first novel, Calcutta Sunrise (Nebbadoon Press), was published in June and was submitted to the Annual Awards Program of the “Colorado Humanities Center for the Book.” The novel follows a freighter during India’s independence from England in 1947 and partition into India and Pakistan.

“The 40-Year-Retrospective of Art” by Carole Katchen (Psych’65) was featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Hot Springs, Ark., where Carole resides. Carole wrote and illustrated her first book,I Was a LonelyTeenager (Scholastic), as a senior in 1964. It sold 700,000 copies. Since then she has written 17 books, shown art in galleries internationally and has been included in Who’s Who in American Art for 26 years.

At the Murie Conservation Center in Moose, Wyo., H. Robert Krear (PhDZool’65) and his former expedition member received the Murie Center Spirit of Conservation Award. This award is given to those who have made a major contribution to the creation or preservation of wilderness areas and the protection of wildlife. Robert has done research in arctic Alaska and the Bering Sea, was a professor of biology at four universities and retired from Michigan Technology University. He lives in Estes Park, Colo.

New York City artist Cheryl Wright Green (Art’69) published a full-color cacti guidebook featuring the prickly pear species. She has been creating mural-sized field paintings featuring the prickly pears’ rose-like flowers, flat pads and dramatic spines since 2005. Cheryl’s book project involved six years of travel photography and research on prickly pears to untangle the names, data and photos of 93 variations. Her book can be found at www.exoticplantbooks.com.

Duane Morris energy partner and chair of the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, Sheila Slocum Hollis (Jour’71) was elected to be a 2012 Fellow of The American College of Environmental Lawyers. Sheila practices in the areas of energy transactional and regulatory law and international and administrative law before government agencies, Congress and other entities. She was named one of 50 Key Women in energy worldwide and received the 2011 Lifetime Achievement in energy in Platt’s Global Energy Awards. Sheila lives in Washington, D.C.

Bayfield, Colo., resident Bruce Ehlenbeck (Engl’73) published his first novel, Some Time Till Knowing(CreateSpace). It was released through Amazon and is available at local bookstores in Colorado. The novel is set in Boulder and has the familiar Flatirons on its cover.

As three-time, first-team All-American, former CU skier Vidar Nilsgard (CivEngr’74, MS’76) was the 1971 and 1973 NCAA jumping champion. He was a three-time Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association champion and a four-time member of the All-RMISA Jumping Team. He earned eight consecutive national titles in the 1970s. Vidar was part of the 2012 Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Class and received recognition, along with 11 others, at the ceremony last fall. He lives in Hamar, Norway.

At the Leeds School of Business Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards Ceremony in November Dee Engdahl Perry* (Span’74, MAcct’81) received recognition for service to the school and exceptional achievements in business. Dee lives in Boulder.

*Directors Club member