These people have been honored as Outstanding Alumni of Richland Center High School.

1997 Carletta Moerer Heide, Class of 1967 2000 Connie Winterburg-Shireman, Class of 1965 John Poole, Class of 1966 Ann Walsh-Bradley, Class of 1968 Ron Fruit, Class of 1974 Gail Halink, Class of 1989 Chris Durst, Class of 1990 (posthumous) Merrill Brunson, Class of 1996 2001 David Thompson, Class of 1965 Jane Nee, Class of 1967 Ben Koelsch, Class of 1977 Jarrett McDonald, Class of 1987 2002 Linda McKee, Class of 1960 Dr. Jerry Fry, Class of 1965 Lynn Breininger-Beasley, Class of 1975 Eugene Dorgan, Class of 1975 Bill Troxel, Class of 1978 Sheila Strang Troxel, Class of 1978 Ken Garden, Jr., Class of 1986 2003 Dr. Richard Edwards, Class of 1948 Dr. Randy Nanstad, Class of 1960 Dr. Barry Beaty, Class of 1962 Charles Anderson, Class of 1966 Dorothy Turner Thompson, Class of 1971 Trinda Strang Wells, Class of 1976 Jeff Hilleshiem, Class of 1985 2004 Roland Richardson, Class of 1965 Rick Unbehaun, Class of 1967 Deb Keller Fontana, Class of 1978 Robert Shoemaker, Class of 1978 Dale Schmidt, Class of 1983 Nick Grob, Class of 1991 Chris Molek, Class of 1996 2005 Rita Keegan, Class of 1952 Dr. Robert Parke, Class of 1965 Erik Olson, Class of 1968 Ed Wells, Class of 1977 Dorothy Breininger, Class of 1981 Brad Anderson, Class of 1985 2006 Wilmer Moser, Class of 1952 Michael Nee, Class of 1965 Bernie Coy, Class of 1967 Norlene Emerson, Class of 1976 Robert Blust, Class of 1978 Angela Durst-Larse, Class of 1991 2007 Allen Unbehaun, Class of 1953 Judy Shireman, Class of 1961 Larry Fowler, Class of 1968 Lorin Walter, Class of 1974 2008 George Durnford, Class of 1941 Larry Jewell, Class of 1966 Sharyn Wisniewski, Class of 1968 Dirk Boelman, Class of 1973 Ariel Ducey, Class of 1989 Brett Smith, Class of 1989 Kaye Voyce, Class of 1989 Andrew Hitt, Class of 1996 2009 Gene Markley, Class of 1952 Dennis Schoville, Class of 1963 Loretta Gillingham McCarthy, Class of 1957 Edith Davis Shannon, Class of 1958 2010 Sherry Schoonover Quamme, Class of 1961 Sheila Taft Fitzgerald, Class of 1964 Dale Lawton, Class of 1966 Darlo Wentz, Class of 1967 Jeremy Clark, Class of 1989 Dundee McNair, Class of 1991 2011 Mary Gies Grimm, Class of 1947 Evan Lance Myers, Class of 1963 Gary Peckham, Class of 1967 Connie Jewell Vlasak, Class of 1986 2012 Ariel Truesdale Ferguson, Class of 1946 Richard Kay, Class of 1949 Mary Holo Adix, Class of 1954 Sarah Fowell, Class of 1983

RCHS Outstanding Alumni

Outstanding Alumni Honorees

Karen Brindley Christenson
Class of 1961

RICHLAND CENTER HIGH SCHOOL

2013

Karen was born and lived in Richland Center until she attended the University of Wisconsin. She has fond memories of roaming the hills, crawling through caves, driving the county roads, eating apples fresh from the orchards, and inventing entertainment with friends, as kids in small towns do. Her paternal grandmothers family lived in Richland Center since the 1850s, and she is proud of the fact that Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, because her great-grandfather, a state senator, brought the document on the train from Madison to Washington, D.C., arriving before the representative from Illinois. At the University Karen majored in English and was active in student government and her sorority. She spent two summers working in Hyannis, Massachusetts, and while clerking in a toy store, once waited on President John F. Kennedy, who bought a PT 109 model kit. Because her father believed that a woman should pursue teaching, nursing, or secretarial work, she earned an M.A. in English Education, but taught for only one year, finding that teaching was not her talent. She obtained a job at the University of Wisconsin Press to support herself and her husband, Richard, a medical student, whom she married in 1966. Karen and Richard moved to Los Angeles following his graduation from medical school. She worked as an editor for Goodyear Publishing Co., a spinoff of Prentice Hall, while he did his internship. Their son, Nathan, was born in Los Angeles in 1970. Having a few months of leisure, the three traveled around Europe in a VW bus. Upon returning to the U.S. the family moved to Phoenix, where Richard joined the Indian Health Service, and Karen decided to attend law school, when the time was right. Their daughter, Rachel, was born in May, 1972, shortly before the family moved to Anchorage, because a doctor was needed at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Karen still claims that pre-pipeline Alaska was so beautiful that it was impossible to take a bad photograph. She particularly enjoyed cross country skiing, picking wild berries, and watching moose step over the fence in the familys backyard. Karen acknowledges that her Alaska experience may have been enhanced by the certain knowledge that it was just for one year. From Anchorage the family moved to Nashville for Richards training in radiology and Karens subsequent entrance into Vanderbilt Law School on a part-time basis. Upon completion of Richards training, he and Karen returned to Wisconsin to be closer to family. They moved to Milwaukee and Karen transferred to Marquette Law School. Upon graduation from law school in 1978, Karen joined a private law firm. At that time there were no attorneys working part-time in law firms and there were few female lawyers. After she left that firm, she practiced law out of her home. When she had volunteered at Legal Services of Central Tennessee, she decided she was not meant to be a defense attorney, but she found the courtroom both fascinating and intimidating. Her grandfather had been the Richland County district attorney and it seemed natural to apply for a position in the Milwaukee County District Attorneys office. Karen served as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County for 13 years, prosecuting armed robberies, burglaries, homicides, complicated white collar crimes, termination of parental rights, child abuse, and sexual assault. She discovered that she loved being in court and being a prosecutor, helping victims, persuading juries of the credibility of the states witnesses and the truth of the states case. Pursuing justice. Her peers awarded her the highest rating, AV. It is common for prosecutors to seek judicial office. In Wisconsin judges are elected so Karen ran for a judicial vacancy in Milwaukee County in 1998. It was a contested election, and both candidates spent the better part of a year introducing themselves at festivals, parades, fish fries, senior center meals, any event where potential voters from one of the 19 municipalities in Milwaukee County might gather. She was elected and has since been re-elected twice, and has three years remaining on her third term. Judges in larger Wisconsin counties are required to rotate among various assignments. Karen has served in the juvenile division twice, the felony division, family division, and has recently moved to a civil-probate calendar. She found it difficult to leave the juvenile division this time, because she spent three years working to create and preside over Wisconsins first Family Drug Treatment Court, to help reunite parents and children who were removed because the parents addictions made the children unsafe. With retirement approaching, Karen is taking stock, trying to assimilate her experiences and envision what comes next. Every time she watches the TV program, Mad Men, she is reminded of how much things have changed for women during her adult life and how fortunate she was in not having been born sooner. She acknowledges the tremendous importance of good health and supportive family and is grateful for the opportunities she has had to make a contribution.

Bob Totten graduated from RCHS in 1966. He was born January 1, 1948 in R.C. to Bob and Delight Totten and has one wonderful sibling, Connie. Connie is married to Mark Dunn and they both have been active citizens in the R.C. community for many years. Bob resides in Neenah, WI with the love of his life, wife Sandy (Paulson), a 1967 RCHS graduate. He says that without her love, his life would have seemed meaningless. They celebrated 45 years of marriage this past June 21st. He has many fond memories of growing up in R.C. His family moved from Boaz when he was two, and lived on Fourth St., until they moved across town to the top of Stewart St. on the edge of Cairns farm when he was eight. His school years began in the old West Side School kindergarten building and then was the first afternoon kindergarten student through the west doors of Jefferson School when it opened. His fifth grade year was also spent in two schools as the first part was in the basement of the old Normal School and the last part in the new Lincoln School. When the time capsule for Lincoln School is opened, there will be something in it that he wrote at that time. His summers were spent playing ball at Krouskop Park, swimming at the pool, shooting archery, fishing with his dad and by himself, catching bullheads below the dam. As a family they visited his many aunts, uncles and cousins for family reunions. His falls were spent hunting the many ridges in the county for squirrels. He says that nothing can erase the wonderful memories of growing up in R.C. As he entered junior high he became very active in student council, the Baby Hornet, forensics, and sports. In high school he served as student council treasurer and class president his junior and senior years. He was a multi-letter winner in football, basketball, and baseball. He was lucky enough to be part of the state baseball team in 1963. Bob also had a paper route (his dad helped a lot), worked at Krouskops Lumber Yard, the park, and Elm Grove Dairy. Most of these high school years were spent with his best friend, Tom Wunnicke, who passed away in 1985. They could be seen all over town riding their black and silver Hondas. Bob credits his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles for their influence on his life. Their love and guidance have been very important to him. He is also grateful to the great teachers he had at the elementary and high school levels. After graduation Bob attend UW-Platteville where he attained a Bachelors degree in education, majoring in history and political science. He put himself through school by working for Steiner Brothers Construction (where he helped build the new library) and the Richland Foundry. His first teaching job came in January of 1971 at Mineral Point High School. He graduated on a Sunday and began teaching on Monday. He taught history and coached freshman and JV football, freshman basketball, junior high track, and varsity baseball. After a year and a half Bob was hired by the Neenah Joint School District. He taught and coached there from 1972 to June 2003, when he retired. He does continue to coach three sports, however. Over the years has taught lots of history, written curriculum for the district, and attained a Masters degree in administration from UW-Oshkosh. He and Sandy have raised four daughters, Lisa, Julie, Paige, and Molly. They have five grandchildren, Anna, Evan, Kenrick, Miles, and Gabriella. Bob worked summers at a dairy in Appleton to get extra money to buy a house and help put all four girls through college. In order to get the job he had to start work in April or May, long before school was out. This meant after school he worked from 4:00 to midnight until school was out. Bob has coached baseball, football, basketball, and track as a head coach and as an assistant at all levels throughout his career. In all he has coached 115 seasons up to this point. He was honored as the Fox Valley Conference Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 1989 and also helped coach the Division I All-Stars that year. In 1997 the Wisconsin High School Football Coaches Association voted him District Ten Assistant Coach of the Year, and a co-recipient of Assistant Coach of the Year for the state. He has also been honored by this organization for 40 years of coaching football in Wisconsin. For his contributions to the student athletes of the Neenah School District, Bob was recognized with the Red Smith Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010. This was given at a program that honors individuals from all over N.E. Wisconsin. The award was presented by Donald Driver and former major league manager, Whitey Herzog. Bobs most treasured honors, however, are the letters and cards he has received over the years from former students and parents who have said thank you for his caring and the teaching of good values. Bob continues to coach at the age of 65. He coaches freshman football, basketball, and varsity girls track. He has been very active in his church serving as lay leader, chairing and serving on various committees, and doing some speaking. He has done volunteer work for the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity. Bob has been a steady contributor to the Red Cross Blood Bank, UW-Platteville Community Scholarship Fund (for Neenah High and RCHS), the local food pantry, plus Neenah city projects. As a coach his teams have been active in the community through Adopt a Highway, spreading wood chips for local playgrounds, and collecting money for cancer. His 2009 freshman football team was honored as the Wisconsin Prep Team of the Week for making a surprise contribution to a cancer fund in memory of a football player from another conference team who had recently lost his battle to cancer. Bob has always put the things that really matter in life ahead of winning. He has attempted to expose his students to the strong hometown values of caring for others, working hard, love of family, honesty, and integrity, all things that he learned growing up in R.C. Bob is humbled by this honor and knows many others in his call that deserve recognition. He accepts this award on behalf of his fellow classmates, especially in memory of a wonderful man, Tom Wunnicke.

Richland School District Foundation Board of Directors

Gregg Gochenaur, President Dawn Horter, Vice-President Carletta Heide, Secretary Brian Moore, Treasurer Rachel Schultz, Director Christopher Shannon, Director Jane Williams, Director Richland School District Foundation 1996 Highway 14 West Richland Center, WI 53581 www.richlandschooldistrictfoundation.org

The mission of the Richland School District Foundation is to enhance the educational opportunities provided by the Richland School District, and to recognize and promote successes throughout all the schools in the district.

CHLAN I R

Robert Totten
Class of 1966

SCHOOL
TR DIS ICT
Goals

FOUNDATION

Mission Statement

To provide enhancements throughout the district. To provide opportunities to all schools and all students in the district. To create an endowment fund for each school building. To support the districts strategic plan. To continue providing scholarships and fine arts opportunities. To expand on additional academic areas by providing resources. To increase operating funds. To increase efforts to reach out to alumni.

Jeff Leyda
Class of 1989
After high school, I attended college at Milwaukee School of Engineering to pursue a career in computer science and engineering. I didnt know what that meant at the time. I knew I liked computers, but didnt know if I would be programming them, designing them, or building systems with them. I discovered I needed additional time to find out exactly where I fit into the world of technology. Within six months, I left Milwaukee for Minneapolis. My good friend, Jeremy Clark, had gone there after graduation, and he needed a roommate. One of the first people I met was Neil McKay. We formed a band, which eventually signed with a small independent record label from California. We released a couple CDs and toured most of the U.S. by the end of the decade. I found my first real job in January of 1991 at Zeos International. It was assembly work on a factory floor, but I was building computers. The early 1990s were a fast paced time in the computer industry. Prices were dropping. Software was more user friendly. The machines were getting faster and more powerful. My company was expanding, so within a few months I was promoted to inspector. Because of my childhood computer background, I worked on the repair line, diagnosing common problems. In my spare time I developed software to assist with the diagnostic work. I wrote software which could examine the internal memory and the hard drive, test the floppy drive, etc. and then report findings to the user. This software lead to a job in the engineering department. In engineering I worked full-time on developing software to assist the production floor. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life, and that was write software. Ive landed a job doing exactly that. I love going to work every day. Over several years, I was in charge of a wide range of software solutions that helped track an order from the time it was placed by the customer, through the shipping department, including real time information gathered from the first time the computer powered on, to when it finished the 48 hours burn in diagnostics. Through this work, I was granted six patents for streamlining production assembly and quality assurance. Today I am still working for the same company. It has changed names and owners, but my employee ID number is still the same. I work for Micron Technology, Inc. and I write software for a group of engineers who are responsible for some of the things you use in your computer. My coworkers and I helped develop and achieve industry adoption of a new memory technology called Double Data Rate RAM (DDR-RAM) which is used in nearly every computer and game console available. In the last years I have been working on a new type of permanent storage device, called a Solid State Disk (SSD). SSDs are now starting to become common in the industry, and my group has produced what is currently the fastest SSD in the world. In my personal life, I enjoy bicycling, music, and of course, computers and video games. I bicycled solo from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, and across many states. Since the summer of 2000, I put enough miles on my touring bicycle alone to circle the globe at the equator. During the summers of 2011 and 2012 I made a brief attempt at bicycle racing, but all those miles traveled on lonely roads at my own pace never gave me the skills needed to be competitive in the sport. On my final race in 2012 I let the guy who was drafting behind me take the line ahead of me, for 17th place, and I knew my career needed to be over. I have also participated in two week-long, group bicycle touring events that serve as fundraisers for Bolder Options. Bolder Options helps mentor at-risk youth by focusing their energies towards athletic endeavors and healthy pastimes. Through training and setting goals such as running a 10K, the kids realize that once they put their minds and bodies onto the right track, anything is possible. I live in a townhome complex close to downtown Minneapolis. I recently finished my second term on the associations board of directors as vice-president and security subcommittee chair. In 2007 I helped the police arrest a neighborhood thief, who was burglarizing homes as well as stealing packages and mail. I placed bait packages on my front porch for several weeks with motion activated computer cameras. After delivering the video evidence to the police, they made an arrest the same day and even managed to return a few of my neighbors stolen items to them. The story was on the local TV news and my townhome association received a community service award.

Jonathan Maxwell
Class of 1997
I was born in Richland Center to Donald and Lorna Maxwell in 1978. I have two older sisters, Melissa Fruit and April Schildgen who are still residents of Richland Center. I was a member of the first graduating class from the new high school building in 1997. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education (grades 1-9) with a mathematics minor. After completing an internship with the McFarland School District, I accepted a position as a 5th grade science and social studies teacher at Nottingham Country Elementary School in the Katy Independent School District (KISD) in Katy, TX (a western suburb of Houston). I went back to school at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005, where I completed a Masters degree in elementary environmental sciences in 2008. I decided to continue my education and was accepted to Texas A&M University into the PhD program for curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in mathematics. I continued to work while I was going through graduate school, but I was looking for more experiences at different grade levels and in different subject areas. In 2009, I accepted the position of 7th grade mathematics teacher at Wood Creek Junior High in KISD. After a great year of working with junior high students, I was contacted by the district office about a position in the technology department. I accepted the position of Technology Integration Specialist in 2010. I was able to work with all the teachers in the district, integrating technology into their classrooms. During this year, I was taking a course at Texas A&M about the history of education. I was given an assignment to research and write a paper about a school building that was more than 50 years old. Instantly the old RCHS building popped into my head, as I attended that building for my freshman through junior years. I worked with Carletta Heide to gather information about the building that existed from 1912-1996. Who else would I contact? Carletta knew more about Richland Center and the high school than any other person. I also conducted interviews with over 50 people, collecting memories of the old high school building and ended up writing a historical story about the old building called High School Spirit: The Story of the Richland Center High School 1912-1996. I was lucky enough to include the stories that my grandmother, Amy Crary, shared with me before she passed away. In 2011, the position of Elementary Math & Science Curriculum Coordinator opened up in KISD and I was lucky to be hired. This is the current position that I hold, and I oversee 35 different elementary schools and work with the staffs of these schools to write, enhance, and deliver mathematics and science curriculum for grades Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade. We have around 35,000 elementary aged students in our district with roughly 2000 elementary teachers. It is a challenging job, but one that I love as education has been my lifes work. That same year, I was also lucky enough to marry my wife, Sally. She is a very beautiful and patient woman. She has to be, to put up with me! I just want to say that it is an honor to be selected as an Outstanding Alumnus of the Richland Center High School for 2013.

100th Anniversary of Agriculture Education at RCHS (2013-2014) 85th Anniversary of FFA at RCHS (2014 - Chartered October 7, 1929) Agriculture education was introduced to Richland Center High School students in the 1913-1914 school year. C. W. Gullickson was the first teacher, a graduate of River Falls Normal. FFA was first organized in Kansas City, Missouri in 1928. October 7, 1929 the first chapters were chartered in Wisconsin and Richland Center High School was one of those first chapters. Fuzz McCauley and Gary Gutknecht interviewed alumni. Those interviews are being broadcast on local Channel 12. Friday, September 27, 2013 Homecoming Parade Float - Any past and present agriculture students are asked to ride a trailer in the parade Meet at the Phoenix Center at 1:45 p.m. to board trailer Snacks and Music 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Center Football Game 7:00 p.m. (visit the FFA brat stand) Social with Music at the Phoenix Center 9:00 - 11:00 p. m. (music by Mounds of Sounds) Save the date! Saturday, October 11, 2014, at the Phoenix Center. A formal banquet will be held as the final event in the celebration year. This banquet is part of Homecoming 2014. If you have pictures and stories to share, contact Carletta Heide at 606 Sunny Lane, Richland Center, WI 53581 or cheide@mwt.net.