Class Notes - 1970s

1970

Donald Johnson ’70, JD ’74 was nominated by President George W. Bush to be U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Johnson most recently served as senior negotiator for the Social Charter for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State. 

1972

Richard Metsger ’72, MAT ’75 is an Oregon state senator. He chairs the Senate Business and Economic Development Committee and is a member of the Revenue Committee, Human Services Committee, and Transportation Committee.

1973

Samuel Wade Jr. ’73 had three poems published by the International Library of Poetry. A poem titled “Mom” was published in Eternal Portraits; “Dialogue I” in The Best Poems and Poets of 2005; and an untitled poem, “Be who you are …” in Twilight Musings. He was also designated Poetry Ambassador for National Poetry Month in April 2006. He is currently in Japan, where he hopes to share some of his poems and invite friends to share some of theirs.

1974

Julie Melver MAT ’74 is principal of Mountain Meadow Elementary School in Buckley, Washington. She was previously Seamount League King Division volleyball coach of the year and was twice named the Lander County (Nevada) teacher of the year.

1975

Thomas Anderson ’75 is a schoolteacher in Seattle for both public and private elementary schools. He got into computers while taking the master in teaching program at Seattle University in 1996, and he loves teaching children how to use them!

Stephen Dodge ’75 lives in Irvine, California, with his wife and two children. He works in commercial real estate. He says that in the words of Jimmy Buffett, “I’m growing older but not up.” He would love to hear from L&C friends and acquaintances.

Gregory Lynch JD ’75 and Stanley Austin JD ’91 formed a partnership with offices in Bend and Prineville and more recently merged with the Miller Nash firm. The new central Oregon offices of Miller Nash focus on business litigation, business formations, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and other business transactions; estate planning; health care; and land use, real estate development, and other complex real estate transactions.

1976

Brian Gavin ’76 joined U.S. Representative John Hostettler’s staff as field representative in his Evansville, Indiana, district office. Gavin previously served on the staffs of representatives Trent Franks in Glendale, Arizona, and JD Hayworth in Mesa and Scottsdale, Arizona, and of former Senator Bob Packwood in Portland. After Lewis & Clark, Gavin finished his degree with the University of San Francisco and later graduated from the Whittier College School of Law in Los Angeles. Please feel welcome to call or write.

Thomas Mason JD ’76, who is currently living in California, is married to Pat Amedeo. His daughter, Jessica Mason, starts graduate school at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music this fall. Mason’s practice is in international government relations.

Douglas Neville ’76 became a noble of the Al Kader Shrine on June 11, 2006, International Shrine Membership Day. He owns Neville Communications & Research, a communications consulting and strategic planning firm for small business.

1977

Betsy Johnson JD ’77, who is an Oregon state senator, was the emcee of Portland State University’s College of Urban and Public Affairs’ fifth annual Urban Pioneer Awards Dinner.

Linda Weimar JD ’77 lives in Beaverton with her husband and teenage daughter. She practices in Washington County and is a President’s Circle Member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. Weimar’s practice includes personal injury, motor vehicle accidents, animal attacks, medical malpractice, nursing home litigation, and wrongful death. 

1978

Judy Fine-Eichner ’78 reports that she and five fabulous women, Mindy Smith Grant ’78, Kristen Rouner Jeide ’78, Jeannie Price Verderame ’78, Mary Clare Susen Kersten ’78, and Gene Robertson ’78, are the best of friends and after all these years, had a reunion. Although most of them had seen some of the others over the years, they had not all been together since they left Lewis & Clark. It was like The Big Chill for women. Since they were all turning 50 this year, they got together to share stories of families, children, aging parents, work–the serious to the inane. They laughed, they cried, and to quote Kristen, “we had a very long drink of very deep friendship.” They have vowed to do it again in five years.

Arlene Platt JD ’78 has changed her practice from Platt & Weinstein to a sole proprietorship. She continues her family law practice in Eugene.

Mark Rosenbaum ’78 is chair of the board of directors for the Portland Development Commission and serves on the boards of Tuality Hospital and Oregon Mentors. He is former president of Jewish Family and Child Services, was previously vice chair of a commission that viewed the state’s public welfare efforts, and chaired the Multnomah County Commission on Children and Families.

Judith Stiegler JD ’78, an attorney in central Oregon, was recently appointed to the state’s Government Standards and Practices Commission. She is director of the Central Oregon Court Appointed Special Advocates, chair of the Child Welfare Advisory Committee to the Department of Human Services, and a board member of the Education Foundation for the Bend–La Pine School District.

Wendy Tayler ’78 has lived in Costa Rica for 16 years. She is administrative director of a private bilingual school in northern Costa Rica. She has five children. Daughter Tayler, 22, is finishing a field biology degree at the University of Costa Rica. Em, 20, beginning her sophomore year at the University of San Diego, is interested in environmental law. AJ, 18, has started at the University of San Diego. Jimmy, 10, and Henry, 8, play soccer, mountain bike, and live on her farm, where she has a small nursery. She raises black Labradors, silk-paints, creates gourd crafts, and swims. She uses her L&C Spanish degree every minute of every day.