Class Year: 1960

Gail Friesema ’61 Farnham

Gail Friesema ’61 Farnham of Ithaca, New York, attended the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, in April. Members of the volunteer National Response Team and National Volunteer Team gathered to expand the teams’ knowledge of disaster ministries and response. She started volunteering in 2005 with hurricane Katrina recovery with her local presbytery… Continue Reading →

Carl Vermeulen ’61

Carl Vermeulen ’61 of Williamsburg, Virginia, and his students at Paul D. Camp Community College (Suffolk, Virginia) reported their peer-reviewed “Heat-Proofing Vaccines” to an international meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans in June. Non-live vaccines such as DPT, meningococcus and Salk polio along with many for livestock were stabilized in dried… Continue Reading →

Mary Wiersema ’61 Vermeulen

Mary Wiersema ’61 Vermeulen of Waynesboro, Virginia, died on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. She was 77. Mary was born a farmer’s daughter on the 15th of November, 1939, in Morrison, Illinois, and lived on the family farm in Whiteside County with her parents Peter and Alice (Aggen) Wiersema and her older brother Robert. She attended a one-room… Continue Reading →

William Vandenberg III ’62

William Vandenberg III ’62 of Holland, Michigan, died on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017 peacefully in his sleep at the Vista Springs in Wyoming on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017.  He was 83 Bill graduated from Culver Military Academy. After a year at Southern Methodist University he enlisted in the Marine Corp. He graduated from Hope College and was… Continue Reading →

Sally Tellman ’62 Wallace

Word has been received of the death of Sally Tellman ’62 Wallace of Lake Lansing, Michigan, on Monday, April 18, 2016, due to leukemia. She had a love of the outdoors especially walking her dogs on the North Trails. Please adopt an animal in her honor. Sally made her family promise that they wouldn’t embellish this obituary,… Continue Reading →

Kenneth Sebens ’63

Kenneth Sebens ’63 of Oak Harbor, Washington, died on Monday, June 5, 2017. He was 75.  Ken was born in Bellingham in 1941. He was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from Hope College, Western Michigan University and the University of Michigan. He spent the majority of his working life as a clinical social… Continue Reading →

Franklin Spoolstra ’63

Franklin Spoolstra ’63 of Rockford, Michigan, died on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. He was 85. He was born the tenth of eleven children to Martin and Ella (Beckering) Spoolstra on August 2, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois. Franklin graduated from Hope College with a BA in Psychology in 1963, a BD and M. of Div. from Western Theological Seminary in 1971,… Continue Reading →

Terry Mc Gilvra ’65

Terry Mc Gilvra ’65 of Des Moines, Iowa, died on Friday, Aug. 18, 2017 at Taylor House Hospice from complications of a bleeding ulcer.  He was 74. Terry married Debbie Cosner on May 17, 1968 in Princeton, Missouri. Terry attended Hope College and Iowa State University where he graduated with a BA in accounting. He was an auditor for… Continue Reading →

John Buteyn Jr. ’66

John Buteyn Jr. ’66 of Plano, Texas, died on Thursday, July 20, 2017. He was 73.  lost his battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on July 20th at 1:55 PM, surrounded by his family. Jack was preceded in death by his mother, Margaret Skeels Buteyn; father, Reverend John Edward Buteyn, Sr.; and sister, Carol Berberian. He is survived by… Continue Reading →

Gail Bumford ’68 Paterik

Gail Bumford ’68 Paterik of Detroit, Michigan, died on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. She was a full-time and substitute teacher for many years in the Chicago area.  Since moving back to Detroit she has been a care-giver for the elderly.  Survivors include her husband of 48 years, David Paterik ’69; sister Janet Bumford ’70 Flier, brother James Bumford, mother… Continue Reading →

Sheryl Medendorp ’69 Styf

Sheryl Medendorp ’69 Styf of Sarasota, Florida, died on Wednesday, July 5, 2017. She was 70. She was known by many as Sherry, was born and raised in Muskegon. She raised her family in Hastings and retired to Sarasota, FL and Wyoming, MI. Sheryl was born on March 25, 1947 in Muskegon to John and Doris Medendorp.… Continue Reading →

Anne Wiegerink ’60 Anderson

Anne Wiegerink ’60 Anderson of Sandwich, Illinois, has published a memoir, My Griefcase. The “Griefcase” looks deep into the heart of grief, and through a personal narrative provides a list of tips for survival. The tips enable the grieving and their support systems to learn to make the most of each day and to cope… Continue Reading →

Kathryn Kurth ’60 Scudder

Kathryn Kurth ’60 Scudder of Dearborn, Michigan, recently had her fourth book on faith and prayer, Looking to Jesus, published. Her other books, Everyday Prayers and More (2014), Prayer Thoughts for Every Day (2015) and Prayers, Praise, and People (2016), are all available online. Although retired from elementary teaching, she continues to be an active… Continue Reading →

George Boerigter ’61

George Boerigter ’61 has been elected to the board of the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus, making him the only person to serve on the boards of the three major New Mexico music organizations: NM Symphony Orchestra, Opera Southwest, and now the NM Symphonic Chorus. This past October, George’s company SoundOff Signal had a two-day celeberation… Continue Reading →

Clark Matthews ’61

Amy Henrickson ’78, Clark Matthews ’61 and Steve Maas ’81 have come together to create the Grandville Community Choir. The choir of more than 50 area singers performs at various community events in addition to holding two special concerts each year, in December and April. Keep up with the choir on its Facebook page (search… Continue Reading →

Vicki VanEck ’66 Hill

Vicki VanEck ’66 Hill and Louis Quondamatteo Jr. were married on July 9, 2017, in Jenison, Michigan. They honeymooned via a hot-red Mustang, from the Badlands to Paradise, Michigan. She reports: “no longer a widow with a cat, be encouraged, youthful folk!” Continue Reading →

David Weddle ’66

David Weddle ’66 retired from Colorado College in 2014 as professor emeritus of religion. He has pursued his work in comparative religion that began with the book Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions (New York University Press, 2010) and continues with Sacrifice in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (New York University Press, 2017). He and… Continue Reading →

Alan Jones ’69

Alan Jones ’69 of Burr Ridge, Illinois, had his latest book, The First 100 Days in the Main Office: Transforming School Culture, published. Further information on the book, and others he has written, can be found on his web page. Continue Reading →

Wayne Platzer ’60

Wayne D. Platzer, born at Albany Medical Center in 1939, died on Saturday, October 14, 2017. He taught biology at Niskayuna High School for 26 years. A graduate ofHope College, Holland, Mich., he completed a master’s degree at Syracuse University in 1961 and was awarded three NSF graduate study awards in bacteriology, genetics and cytology,… Continue Reading →