Class Notes - 1950s

Class Notes - 1950s

1950

Rod Downey BS, a member of Lewis & Clark’s 1949 conference championship basketball team, worked for 34 years as a teacher and administrator for Portland Public Schools. Downey and his wife, Suzy, have been married for 63 years. Suzy was a Lewis & Clark staff member for 21 years, working as the office manager for admissions and as the head secretary for the undergraduate education department.

1951

John Fergison BS and the former Lauren Louise Boarday will celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary this year. Fergison, a longtime Portland public relations and advertising executive, was an avid skier in his college days and enjoys a family ski home on Mount Hood.

1952

Frank Lawrence BS and Donna Macklin Lawrence BA live in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where Donna taught elementary school for 30 years and Frank worked in management positions with Crown Zellerbach’s Pulp and Paper Division. They now babysit and chauffeur their grandchildren and are active at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church.

1953

Arts & Sciences Reunion June 20−23, 2013

Don Floren BS and Diane Vinton Floren BA ’55 live in Southwest Portland. After teaching high school, working 20 years in management at Tektronix, and serving as the Oregon director of the National Alliance of Business, Don retired. He enjoys sculpting and wood carving. Diane is an artist and teaches early American decorative painting.

Duane “Dewey” Swanson BA is an award-winning Arizona artist who has sold his watercolors in major galleries throughout the West. He specializes in Western life, including cowboys and Native American subjects. His work has been recognized by the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. After 41 years, he retired as president of U-Haul’s advertising agency. He then moved with his wife, Bobbie, to Happy Jack, Arizona, where he served 17 years as captain and public information officer for the Blue Ridge Volunteer Fire Department. He now lives in Flagstaff and is still producing paintings at age 81.

1954

Jim Cole BS and Eloise Hannah Cole BA met at their class’s 50th reunion in 2004 and married a year later. Jim was a commercial insurance broker and president of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society of Oregon. Eloise taught elementary school in Beaverton, Oregon, where they now live.

1955

Curt Copenhagen BS retired after careers with International Paper (public relations manager) and Longview Fibre (director of public affairs and chief lobbyist) in Longview, Washington. He was honored for his lobbying efforts and leadership in forest advancement work in Oregon and Washington. He is a member of Lewis & Clark’s 2012–13 Board of Alumni. He and his wife, Jane Fish Copenhagen CAS ’56, live
in Longview.

Bill Mangels BS is a business administration graduate and a retired marketing consultant. A master gardener, Mangels volunteers at Portland’s Leach Botanical Garden. He and his wife, Ardis Bowersox Mangels BS ’58, make their home in Northwest Portland.

1956

Barbara Pfau Getty BA, MAT ’78 continues to champion quality cursive handwriting. Getty and longtime collaborator and coauthor, Inga Dubay, were featured in Portland Monthly’s February 2013 issue in “Stick to the Script: Two Portlanders on a Mission to Save Handwriting.”

Jack Venables BS, the voice of Pioneer football and basketball games for more than 30 years, stepped down from his announcer post in 2010. He was honored with the Alumni Pioneer Leadership Award in 2011.

1957

Duane Brady BS was inducted into the Oregon Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame. He spent 27 of his 35 years in public education in Gresham’s Centennial School District. Duane and wife Donna Ellison Brady BS ’58 live in Gresham.

1958

Chuck Charnquist BS is retiring from his 43-year career with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. He’s worked for the Blazers as a statistician, archivist, historian, and media relations representative. Charnquist was the subject of an Oregonian profile by John Canzano on April 14,2013. Chuck and his wife, Carol, live in Beaverton, Oregon.

Carolyn Morrison Cowan BS is enjoying retirement in Kirkland, Washington, after 20 years as a middle school counselor in the Bellevue School District. She and husband Fred enjoy traveling. She looks forward to new connections with Lewis & Clark now that granddaughter Heidi Franz has been accepted for enrollment this fall.

Marlene Motjel Haldors BS recently moved to Summerplace, a senior community in Northeast Portland. Over the years, she and her late husband, Steve Haldors BS ’58, served Lewis & Clark in a variety of capacities. Marlene volunteers with several charitable organizations.