Class of 1975 Career Life Updates - College of Veterinary Medicine

September 3-5, 2010

Hilton Fort Collins

425 West Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

35th Class Reunion

College of Veterinary Medicine

CLASS of 1975

Page Introduction 4 Forward 5 By Former Dean Nick Booth, DVM, PhD Classmate Biographies 7 Notes from Classmates 47 Index 48-49

Table of Contents

Introduction

It has been a pleasure to get to know you through the experience of compiling this book. Thank you so much for sharing with me! These narratives contain only the “facts” provided on the questionnaires. I use the term “facts” loosely because some of you (Rod Lundock and John McManus) were a bit “smart” with some of your answers. ☺ I have only added connecting words to make the information I received flow well. I apologize upfront for any mistakes that are in this book. Based on handwriting alone (from the ones that actu-ally wrote on the paper and snail-mailed it back to me), you are definitely qualified to be doctors! Ha ha! Just kidding. I hope that you will enjoy reading about your classmates as much as I have.

Happy Reading!

Forward July 28, 2010

My wife, Jean, and I appreciate the class of 1975’s invitation to attend it’s 35th reunion. We look forward to the celebration and an opportunity to see Dean Lance Perryman again.

You stated that I should bring some stories to share with the class. There is noth-ing that I enjoy more than reminiscing about the good old days at CSU! Most of my stories relate to the historical aspects of the college during my years on the faculty beginning in 1948 when I was employed to teach pharmacology by Dr. A.D. Rankin, Head of the Department of Physiology and Dr. Floyd Cross, 3rd Dean of the then Colorado A&M College School of Veterinary Medicine. Dean Cross succeeded Dr. I.E. Newsom who had been the 2nd Dean and became the Interim President. I had the honor and privilege of knowing him while he was writing his classic book on sheep diseases.

The 1st Dean, Dr. George Glover, was the founder of the School of Veterinary Medicine in 1907; he had long been deceased when I joined the faculty. How-ever, I have been privileged to know all of the deans of CSU beginning with Dr. Newsom to the present Dean, Dr. Lance Perryman. I wish that I could also ex-pound on the terrific faculty members whom I knew at CSU over the years. Eve-ryone on the entire campus knew each other. This information would run into volumes!

Dean Cross was an outstanding dean who expanded and advanced all of the col-lege departments. He served as a distinguished President of the American Veteri-nary medical Association. On an occasion when I was getting a haircut (when I had hair) in Ft. Collins, I met a friend of Dean Cross’ in the barbershop. He told me that soon after Dr. Cross had been appointed dean, he asked him “What does a dean do?” Cross, in his usual, witty and quick replay, said, “A dean is a profes-sor who has written a book and sits in his office all day twiddling his Phi Beta Kappa Key!”

Dr. Rue Jensen, 4th Dean, succeeded Dr. Cross; like Dr. Cross he was an excel-lent mentor and my boss. He was instrumental in the encouragement and devel-opment of the biomedical graduate programs at the B.S., M.S., and Ph. D. levels. He fostered multidisciplinary cooperation within and outside the college. The unfortunate “moat with castle syndrome” that was prevalent among departments became essentially non-existent.

In 1966, I was appointed Dean after Dr. Jensen was promoted to the new position of Vice President for Research. Soon after my appointment, President William E. Morgan, informed me that the Glover Veterinary Hospital which was located adjacent to CSU Student Center needed to be moved from the center of campus. At that time, the only possibility would be to relocate the hospital to the CSU Foothills Campus. However, with research on various animal diseases and exis-tence of the high security disease isolation laboratory out there, such a location did not appear to be too favorable.

Moreover, the long distance for students to travel from the main CSU Campus was another disadvantage for locating the hospital at the Foothills Campus. For-tunately, the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, Charles (Chuck) Terrell, informed me that the Colorado State University Research Foundation (CSURF) was purchasing the 200 acre Bay Farm south of Prospect Avenue (then the south-ern edge of the City of Ft. Collins). Since it was necessary to relocate the veteri-nary hospital, we decided to apply for matching funds through the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to increase the student enrollment from 65 to 130 of each class. Consequently, other buildings in the basic sciences of the college were planned to accommodate the increase in student enrollment such as anat-omy, physiology, pathology, and microbiology. Inasmuch as CSURF held a mortgage on the Bay Farm, NIH required that land for construction of the new hospital would have to be mortgage free. Since a large amount of the mortgage had been paid by CSURF, Chuck Terrell asked the mortgage firm if they would not give CSU free title or a deed for 30 to 35 acres of land for the hospital. The mortgage firm gave CSU the deed so that we would qualify for NIH funding. The college is indebted to Mr. Terrell, now deceased, and State Board of Agricul-ture for helping us obtain the land for the new hospital.

Insofar as my career at CSU, a significant event that I am particularly proud of was obtaining the approval of the CSU Faculty Council and State Board of Agri-culture to add the name of Biomedical Sciences, in 1967, to the name of the Col-lege of Veterinary medicine. Biomedical sciences unequivocally serves an im-portant bridge between veterinary medicine and human medicine. As Sir Wil-liam Osler, M.D., (a founder of John Hopkins Medical School) pointed out in the 19th century, veterinary and human medicine mutually benefit each other and should be considered as one medicine! He was well ahead of his time!

I have been fortunate to be able to teach many outstanding students at CSU who have blazed many excellent trails of accomplishments. In my opinion, the best assignment in a university is teaching and the satisfaction of seeing students earn the coveted D.V.M. degree. Hopefully, I was more of a mentor than tormentor in the classroom and teaching laboratory for my students.

In conclusion, I was fortunate to have been able to stand tall on the shoulders of outstanding individuals such as Deans Cross and Jensen. This enabled me to, “See everything there is to see and think what no one else has thought in looking down the long road to solve the tough problems that were encountered!” Also, my successful tenure at CSU would not have been possible without the support of my family and elite faculty of CSU.

I apologize for the lengthiness of this historical account as I recall and remember it at CSU. You or the M.C., Dr. Guy Pidgeon, are more than welcome to refer (or not refer) to any of the contents of my letter depending upon the allotted time available.

Again, my wife and I appreciate your kind invitation to your class reunion.

With best wishes for continued success in your future endeavors, I remain

Cordially yours, Nicholas H. Booth, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Classmate Biographies

Richard Bagley is in private practice in Cedar City, Utah. He has three children, Kendall – 37, Kelley – 35, and Shelley – 32, and he also has 8 grandchildren.

Richard was an employee from 1975 to 1978. Then he was an owner/partner from 1978 to 1981. He has owned his mixed animal practice since 1981, and works primarily with cow/calf operations, equine, alpacas, and small ani-mals.

Richard’s best memories of vet school are the very good associations that he has with his fellow classmates. “It was a great four years with great people.” Richard’s most valued career accomplishment is that he is able to be in pri-vate practice, and his most valued personal accomplishment is that he has some property, cattle, and sheep.

Richard is unsure of his plans for retirement. However, he is sure that he would like to find someone to buy his practice. He would still like to work at least part-time.

Bob Barr is retired. His wife, Barbara, is a seamstress. They have four children, Shawn – a high school counselor, Heather – a fitness instructor and animal nutritionist, Justin – who is in construction management and agricul-ture management, and Tiffany – a veterinarian. They have three grandchil-dren, Maranatha – 4 ½, Austin – 2 ½, and Sam – 1.

Bob started practice in Lusk, Wyoming upon graduation. He moved to Pueblo, Colorado in 1976 and built a mixed practice, which he co-owned until January 2010. He sold his half of the 6 person practice to his daughter, Tiffany, who is a 2008 CSU graduate. Bob now works for Tiffany and her partner one day a week. “Now I’m just living the dream – farming, ranching, and chasing the grandkids and their grandma!!”

Bob loves raising good livestock and traveling with his wife, kids, and grand-kids. “My wife and I were both very active in the 4-H program locally and on the state level.”

Bob’s most memorable event from vet school is surviving Dr Kainer’s and Dr. Benjamin’s exams. “I knew that if I could leap that hurdle, I’d realize my dream. It would be hard to pick out one event. Vet school was simply a blast!”

“All of my professional accomplishments pale in comparison to the pride my wife and I have in raising four great kids. All three of the girls graduated from CSU, and our son graduated from Fort Hays State in Kansas. It’s been so much fun to watch them and their families grow.”

Bob semi-retired on January 1, 2010. Their first vacation trip is planned for August 15 through September 5, 2010. They plan to start in Dutch Harbor, Alaska and fly out from Fairbanks. Their future plans are to take one major trip annually, continue to farm and ranch, and spend as much time as they can with friends and family.

Bill Bennett is the Director of Homeland Security for the Colorado Depart-ment of Agriculture. He is still married to Nancy, who is a bronze sculptor and works with Bill on their farm, Diamond B Farm Equine Enterprises. Together, they have one daughter (34) and three grandchildren aged 8, 5, and 2.

Bill describes his professional career as the “Five Year Career”. He worked in private practice, and then was Veterinarian and Feed Manager for Farr Feedlots. Next, he was an Assistant Professor with the CSU School of Vet-erinary Medicine, and then onto Herd Health Manager of the Feedlots Divi-sion of Monfort of Colorado. He has also worked as the QA Superintendent for Monfort/ConAgra Beef Division, as well as for Monfort/ConAgra/Swift Lamb Plant. Then he finally moved into his position with the State of Colo-rado, while at the same time running his farm of forage crops and quarter horses.

Some interesting facts about Bill include:

being a firefighter

being HAZMAT certified

being an EMT

being a Terrorism Liaison Officer

being an Emergency Management/Wildland Fire Liaison Officer and Medical Unit Leader

In his free time in the fall, Bill still likes to chase elk.

Bill’s most memorable event from vet school was graduation. Of graduation, he says “Okay, dude, you made it. Now what the hell are you going to do with it?” He’s still not sure he’s decided the answer to that question yet!

Bill’s most valued professional accomplishment came when he was awarded the “Consultant of the Year” award by the Academy of Veterinary Consult-ants in 1987. The Academy is an international group of primarily feedlot consultants. He earned this award for organizational and educational leader-ship within the organization and the profession.

His most valued personal accomplishment is that “Nancy and I have “tolerated” each other through all these years and just recently celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary.”

Bill says he doesn’t really plan on retiring. “I have a four year plan to poten-tially step down from my current state position, and I plan on continuing to farm and work with the emergency management teams of which I am a mem-ber. I might even consider continuing emergency management work on a local or county basis a bit closer to home.” Debbie Bernreuter is a Clinical Pathologist with IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. Debbie has two children, Lisa, 24, and Paul, 22.

After graduation, Debbie tried general small animal practice in Chicago, only to realize that she wanted to see more cool diagnostic challenges and fewer surgeries and routine patients. “I called Dr. Benjamin, took her advice, and went to Cornell for a Visiting Fellowship in Clinical Pathology. Then I went to the University of Illinois for an MS in Clinical Pathology,” Debbie says of the next few years. Then she moved to California, where the jobs were, and joined Dr. Rich at Veterinary Reference Laboratory. Debbie worked there for 12 years until it closed. Then she and her husband moved to Tempe, Arizona and raised two children while being the world’s first free-lance clini-cal pathologist working for various labs on contract. Later she got divorced and moved back to California to work at SierraLab. IDEXX bout SierraLab, and that’s where she’s been the last 10 years.

Now that Debbie’s children are both starting grad school, she hopes to be able to finally take up her previous hobbies that she had in the years B.C. (Before Children!), and to spend more time with her very good friends.

Debbie says she has too many memorable events from vet school, and she couldn’t possibly list them all.

Of her professional accomplishments, Debbie values her vet school gradua-tion the most. “I do love being a clinical pathologist.” As for her personal accomplishments, Debbie says “I have two happy, fulfilled children who have successfully ‘launched’!”

Debbie is the youngest person of the class, and has no plans to retire just yet. “I’ll continue working full to part time at IDEXX for many years until my eyesight fails, mostly because I just finished raising two children through college by myself, and my house still needs new landscaping. Now I can save for retirement, if I actually do. I already live in the place with the best weather on the continent and world-class performing arts; six miles from the beach, and a two hour drive from skiing. However, I would like to do some traveling. My children are now in Minnesota and New York City, and my son is a classical pianist who plans a world-wide career. Perhaps I’ll tag along.”

Barry Bjornsen is a private practitioner in Parker, Colorado. His wife, Holly, is a writer. Together they have two children: Jason, 36, and Sara, 34; and three grandchildren: Briston, 4, Aspen, 2, and Slater, 2.

Barry has been a small animal practitioner and practice owner since gradua-tion, except for taking care of an Arabian ranch in the early years.

“Live since vet school has been great. I have been married to Holly for 37 years. She is like a guy’s best friend but in a beautiful woman’s body,” Barry says. They enjoy hiking, biking, off-roading, riding ATV’s, being in the mountains, and traveling. They live on five acres covered in Ponderosa Pines in a now semi-rural area, and have been there for 27 years. Pike’s Peak can be seen to the south, and the lights of Denver to the west. When Barry’s kids got older, they got rid of the horses, and now the barn is filled with wood-working tools. Barry comments, “I told people that I made custom sawdust and am ‘board’ certified.” Barry has slowed down to “normal” peo-ple’s working hours, and spends a majority of the time spoiling his grand-kids. His current passion in photography, “Like everyone else with a digital SLR.”

Barry’s daughter is able to stay at home with her two kids, Briston and As-pen, and is an artist. He husband is also an artist. They live in the Highlands Ranch area of Denver. Barry’s son is an IT guy for an engineering firm in Leesburg, Virginia where he lives with his wife (a professional photographer and stay-at-home mom) and son, Slater.

“Looking at the big picture, we have really been blessed.”

Barry’s most memorable event from vet school comes from working with Dr. Morris – Mercury Morris, that is. “We called him Mercury Morris because he was sooo sloooow at everything. We were doing bladder surgery on a 2000-pound bull with a bladder the size of a beach ball, when the beast began to wake up. I thought we were all going to die before Mercury got done with the surgery!”

Of his professional accomplishments, Barry believes that his greatest accom-plishment has been to be the best veterinarian possible in the situation he was ultimately designed to occupy. “I still love my work.” As far as personal accomplishments go, Barry wants to leave a personal, spiritual, and financial legacy to my children and grandchildren – “So far, so good.”

Barry expects to retire in the next few years, with plans to do more of the same things he’s currently doing, as long as body, mind, and soul remain intact. He and Holly would like to stay in their house as long as possible and live life one day at a time.

Kathleen Brown owns her own practice in Franktown, Colorado where she lives with her husband, Brant Dennis. Brant is a hydrologist. Kathleen and Brand have one son.

After graduation, Kathleen worked for 2 practices, then started a practice and sold it after 4 years. She then started a house-call practice and sold it after 12 years and began selling Ford trucks. “That was a fun job – no patients die and you make lots of money! It takes a toll on the family life, though.” Af-ter that she went back to work for other people as a veterinarian for a while and got tired of the corporate crap, so 5 years ago she bought the practice she has now and does things her way. “I love my clients and my job, most days. My son is my business manager so he gets most of the real stress of having a practice – I just kiss puppies!”

Kathleen is still married to “the same great guy”. She even has him trained to pick up dog poop! They live on 35 acres, so she is able to garden as much as she wants. “We used to have horses, but not any more. Now it’s slowly turning into a wildlife habitat from my planting of native species.”

They have 4 rescued dogs from Chihuahua to Borzoi – “the big ones protect the little ones from the owls and coyotes”. They also have 2 “owned” cats in the house and an unknown number of “un-owned” cats in the barn and field, as well as 2 macaws that rule the trees in good weather and shout “hello” every time someone comes down the lane from the road. “Strangers are of-ten a little confused at first when they think we are on the roof and on the porch at the same time.” Kathleen does antique and collectible valuations as a volunteer for the county non-profit group that provides emergency funds for families in crisis. “Otherwise, I mostly just veg – getting older and lazier, I guess.”

Kathleen’s most memorable events from vet school include Bev Loo on a rotation where she had to TPR a Belgian horse and couldn’t even reach the tail without a booster chair; and the second was a dog in which someone has begun to insert an IV catheter and then withdrawn it, cutting off the catheter with the stylet and allowing the plastic catheter piece to enter the vein untethered. “There were more interns close to panic than I had ever seen before – I was impressed students could cause that!”

Kathleen feels that her most valued accomplishment is earning and keeping the love and respect of her family and friends. “I’m currently enjoying my life just as it is, so I don’t want to retire any time soon, since it would mean I would have to give up too much of what I love about my life. When I get too old/stiff/sick to do what I like, I guess I’ll have to make plans based on what I enjoy at that time best.”

Lee Coffman considers himself semi-retired, while his wife, Carol Ann, is retired. Together they have four children, and six grandchildren.

After graduation, Lee was in private practice in Colorado for 15 years before becoming the Oregon State Veterinarian from 1990 to 1996, and then the Florida State Veterinarian from 1996 to 2004. Lee has been in private prac-tice in Florida for the last six years.

In his spare time, Lee likes to fish and play all sports on a pleasure level. His most memorable event from vet school was “Graduation, I have to be hon-est!”

Lee’s most valued professional accomplishment is helping good farmers and ranchers succeed. – watching the pleasures of healing and caring for client’s animals. He has led to states from opposite sides of the country to the high-est status in the U.S. for all the USDA program diseases, as well as having led Florida to the showcase of animal emergency programs. He also helped to adapt technology to better meet the needs of industry and pet owners. He has built professional and personal relationships of a lifetime.

Lee’s only plans for retirement are to try to enjoy it.

Chuck Coleman has a private practice in Pasco, Washington, and his wife, Julie, is the office manager and is in charge of keeping him on track. Chuck and Julie have two boys (Andy (married to Michelle) and Todd (married to Abby)), and six grandchildren (Kelsey – 18, Jake – 17, Kami – 10, Keegan and Drew – 6, and Kennedy – 3).

Chuck worked as an associate practitioner in two private practices for the first 3 years out of school. In 1978, he opened his own small animal practice in Pasco where he and Julie worked in the same location for 29 years. His practice involved dogs, cats, pet birds, and exotics. Later, alternative and complimentary therapies were added after much training and research. In 2007, Chuck was able to move his practice to a new facility that was the cul-mination of many years of dreaming, scheming, and planning. This new facility allows Chuck to offer a one-stop natural pet care center that includes the clinic, dog daycare, pet health food and supplies, espresso (for humans and pets, too), dog deli, grooming, and self-service pet wash.

Chuck and Julie feel that their greatest accomplishment in life has been the creation of their sons and the additions of their daughters by marriage to give them their 6 grandchildren. “What a joy they are to have, and they are all within 50 miles. We are able to be involved with them and watch them grow up. We are especially blessed to have Todd and Abby as a part of our prac-tice.” Todd graduated from vet school as WSU in 2004 and joined their practice. Todd’s wife, Abby, does all the books for the office – “Hurray!”

Of his and Julie’s working relationship, Chuck says “It is truly amazing that Julie and I are still working together and are on speaking terms most of the time.” Over the years, they have been involved with community, church, and friends, and count it both a privilege and a blessing to be in the same commu-nity for over 32 years.

Chuck’s favorite memory from vet school is Ben Brezin, Dave Larsen, and himself sitting around a table in the student union, telling jokes, grousing about teachers, and teasing fellow classmates. “What a great stress reliever.”

Chuck feels that his most valued career accomplishment is having become a Certified Animal Chiropractor by the American Veterinary Chiropractic As-sociation. “It has allowed me credibility in what I do, and to bring healing to so many more of my patients.” Also a valued career accomplishment is building a complete natural health care center where my clients can get any pet care service they want under one roof. “This was by far the hardest and most stressful project that Julie and I have ever, or will ever, undertake, but it turned out even better than I anticipated.”

Chuck currently has no plans to retire – as he puts it, “I believe true retire-ment is lying 6 feet under with a daisy in your hand! I enjoy practice so much since I have changed how I practice, and now I have built the center that we have and I can work into retirement years. I do plan on reducing slowly the number of days I work each week so I can spend more time with family and doing what July and I want to do.”

Mark Dewhirst is currently the Gustavo S. Montana Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University. His wife, Nancy is a nurse, vascular clinician, and managing editor of the International Journal of Hyperthermia. Together they have 3 children.

After completing a PhD in Radiation Biology at CSU in 1979, Mark joined the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Over the next 5 years, he established strong research interests in hyperthermia (heat) as an adjuvant treatment modality for cancer therapeutics and the study of tumor physiology. These two interests have never faded, as he still works in both and have had long-standing NIH funding for it. He was recruited to Duke University in 1984 to start a clinical program to study hy-perthermia. In addition to being involved in the conduct of several human clinical trials, he has collaborated with Don Thrall, Ed Gillette, and Susan LaRue to utilize canine tumors as models for human cane. In particular, their use of canine sarcomas over the years has been consistently recognized by the NIH as being a valuable and unique resource. At the same time, they have helped countless owners and their pets by providing them state of the art treatment and care. Mark has been fortunate to receive a number of awards for his research efforts, including an endowed professorship from Duke in 2002, the Failla Lecture and Award from the Radiation Research

Society in 2008, and Fellow of the American Society of Therapeutic Radia-tion Oncology in 2009. “The greatest joy in my career, though, has been the students that I have had the honor of mentoring. To date, this is more than 25 graduate students, and nearly 20 post-doctoral fellows. Along the way, I have mentored a few notable veterinarians, including Mary Kay Klein, Deb-orah Prescott, and Jeanne Poulson, all of whom are boarded in Veterinary Radiation Oncology.”

Mark and Nancy met at a coffee shop in Chapel Hill in early 1988 and were married later that year. “It has been a wonderful partnership.” They have a passion for traveling together and have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world to places including China, Japan, New Zealand, France, Eng-land, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. Of all these places, none has beckoned so heartily as Hawaii. Nancy spent some of her childhood in Hawaii, and the islands beckon to her often. “We have been there more times than I can remember and will be going again this coming fall.” In ad-dition to travel, they own a condo at Carolina Beach and go there as often as they can. They are both exercise fanatics, and it has become a passion wher-ever they go. They also share a passion for sports, particularly football and basketball. They cheer for Duke and the University of North Carolina, where Nancy graduated.

Mark’s most memorable event from vet school was the discovery of his in-tense interest in oncology.

“I can attribute this to Edward Gillette who was kind enough to take me in as a part-time employee during my time in vet school, and who had the confi-dence in me to let me explore this interest, at his expense.” The second on the list of memories would be the friendships that were forged during those years. Maybe the third would be having the honor of co-chairing the annual open house.

Mark doesn’t have any plans for retirement at this time. “I still like what I am doing and will continue to do it as long as I still enjoy it. At the same time, though, I take more personal time to be with Nancy and to enjoy life more than I did when I was younger.” Erick Egger is an Associate Professor of Small Animal Orthopedic Surgery at CSU, and owns a private Veterinary Orthopedic Consulting service. His wife, Sue, is currently in training to become a registered nurse. Erick’s step-son, Brad, is 18.

After graduation, Erick did an internship at Purdue, a surgical residency at the University of Missouri, and then was an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University from 1978 to 1982. He has been at CSU sing 1982, with a 6 year hiatus in private specialty practice in the Fort Collins/Loveland area. He currently spends 3 weeks at CSU and 1 week a month traveling to Jackson, WY, Steamboat Springs, and Aspen with a few students providing a novel “Orthopedic Field Service.”

Erick says that he keeps trying marriage, and believes that he finally got it right (the third time’s a charm)! He has learned that a prostate is an unneces-sary organ, and that friends come to us from unexpected places. He has pur-chased 6 acres of beetle-killed pine near Steamboat, and is becoming a log-ger/sawyer for fun. He has also learned the hard way that he’s too old to snowboard, but can still enjoy skiing at less than racing speeds.

Erick’s most memorable event from vet school is picking porcupine quills out of the same young dog 3 times over Memorial Day weekend. “Sometimes we don’t learn from OUR MISTAKES, but can learn from oth-ers.”

Erick feels that his most valued accomplishment is having become an effec-tive educator, “Much to my surprise.” He hopes that some of his experi-ences, observations, and philosophies have helped and will continue to help others, both human and non, to make the most of life.

Erick is in his last year at CSU, and is planning on moving to Steamboat next summer to expand his mobile consulting and surgery service to other Colo-rado and Wyoming western slope towns. He would like to be able to take a limited number of interested senior students on these “road trips” until his liver gives out. He also hopes to build a house of the woods, in the woods, as a final liver resting place. He hopes that you all will come visit him and share some of those sunsets.

Mike Finley is a Public Health Veterinarian with USDA/FSIS. His wife, Pat, is a retired nurse. They have two children, Philip – 38, and JR – 24.

Mike worked in an equine practice in California and New Mexico, and then at a large animal ambulatory practice in Cheyenne, Wyoming for 6 years. He ran the horse division of the Shelton Ranch Corporation in Texas for 8 years. He joined USDA/FSIS as a public health veterinarian about 19 years ago when he was living in Bismarck, North Dakota. His job has moved him to Sterling, Colorado, and finally Brush, Colorado where he’s been for the past 12 years. He was the inspector-in-charge at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan for about 10 years, and then spent a couple of years overseeing in-spection activities in small meat and poultry plants in northeastern Colorado for a couple of years, and is now back at Fort Morgan.

Mike and Pat’s youngest son, JR, played football and they enjoyed watching him play, traveling to most all of his games in college. There were able to see Tom and Polly Venard, as well as Bob and Barb Barr at some of the games, and really enjoyed visiting with them. “I continue to enjoy fly fish-ing, but sadly don’t seem to have enough time to spend much time on a quiet stream or a high mountain lake. I’m also very slowly working on restoring an old Packard that has been in our family for decades. I think it would help if I knew more about what I was doing and again had more time, but I guess that’s what retirement is for.”

Graduation is Mike’s most memorable event from vet school. It is closely followed by the parties they had at the Whitcomb house during senior year.

“I enjoyed private practice and the opportunity to interface with clients and treat their animals. Overseeing a horse large breeding and training operation in Texas was the most challenging. Public practice has also been rewarding in a different way, and I continue to enjoy the opportunity to mentor less experienced public health veterinarians.”

Planned retirement is still a few years away, but as we all know, those plans can change. In retirement, Mike would like to finish those projects that he has been putting of, get in a little more fishing, do a little traveling, spend more time in Alaska fishing, and stay busy doing what Pat and he want to do, at their own pace. Dean Goeldner is the Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee. His wife, Jean Carter, is a psychologist. “What can I say? The third time really is the charm for me. Most of you met Jean in Tucson. We were mar-ried in October, 2008. I am a very lucky and happy man.” They do not have children, but have two grandchildren. “Skipping parenting and going straight to grand parenting has worked out well for me.”

Dean has had seventeen jobs in 35 years – not your traditional career path. His jobs have included mostly-equine-private practice in California, equine medicine residency at UC Davis, regulatory work in Northern California Thoroughbred racing, state level health policy work in South Dakota, envi-ronmental assessment work in Colorado, an AVMA congressional fellowship in the U.S. House of Representatives, government relations work for the AVMA in Washington, disease program management – Chronic Wasting Disease – for USDA-APHIS, and subcommittee staff director for the House Agriculture Committee. “If you choose not to have a family and are no good at making money, you might as well try to have an interesting life.”

Dean’s professional passion remains with wildlife health and disease issues. He is a long time member of the American Association of Wildlife Veteri-narians and the Wildlife Disease Association, and has served on advisory committees for both groups. He has also taught a “Vets in Federal Govern-ment” workshop for the Envirovet Summer Institute for the past 8 years. In his spare time, he enjoys walking, bird watching, and following one miser-able National league baseball team after another. He also escapes to the arts through choral music. He has been singing with various groups for 48 of his 64 years, and has just completed his 13th season with the Washington Men’s Camerata. “Check us out online (www.Camerata.com) and buy some CDs!”

When asked about his most memorable event from vet school, Dean replied, “Best not to go there.”

Dean’s most valued career accomplishments include: facilitating an inter-agency agreement between USDA-APHIS and the BLM to bring APHIS’ veterinary expertise to the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, helping to implement and then save a postmortem program in California Thoroughbred racing in which every horse that dies at a Northern California race track for any reason is necropsied at UC Davis, helping to save the AVMA Environ-mental Issues Committee from being sunsetted, instituting a program of fed-eral cooperative agreement funding to state and tribal wildlife agencies to address CWD (while trying to keep the federal regulatory process for CWD in farmed cervids out of the ditch!)., mentoring scores of veterinary students and early career veterinarians on non-traditional career options in the policy arena, and any small part he may have had in alleviating animal suffering. “This really is a great profession!”

“Retirement doesn’t’ feel like a real option yet. Stay tuned for further devel-opments!”

Brian Golden is in private practice in La Mesa, California, and his wife, Sunny, works for the Children’s Hospital Auxiliary. They have two boys, Brad (28), and Rory (25). Brian is begging his boys for grandchildren. Brian worked in a companion animal practice before opening his first clinic in 1975. He then opened another clinic in 1980. He has worked as a marine mammal veterinary consultant at Sea World – San Diego, and has done some other marine mammal consultant work. He has specialized in internal medi-cine.

Brian and Sunny got married in 1980, and recently celebrated their 30th anni-versary in April. Their son Brad is an Electrical Engineer at Solar Turbines in San Diego, and their son Rory is an Aerospace Engineer with a master’s degree – he works for General Atomic, designing the new Predator B. Sunny has been working with Children’s Hospital for over 25 years. Their pug, Bella, is a therapy dog at Children’s Hospital. Last October (2009) Brian and Sunny were in Kona, cheering Brad on at the Ford Championship Iron-man. Brad finished well. Brian tries to keep up with his boys by riding his road bike 30-40 miles, and swimming miles at La Jolla shores without the sharks. Brian went to the summit of Mount Whitney a couple of summers ago. “What a great view on life up there!” Brian has plans to do Rim to Rim to Rim at the Grand Canyon this fall.

Brian’s most memorable event from vet school is the lecture given by Dr. Jim Voss and how he told Sonny Nunn to “Go suck an egg!”

Brian considers his most valued career accomplishment to be opening two veterinary hospitals and consulting at Sea World’s marine mammal collec-tion. His personal accomplishments include raising his two great sons and celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary to Sunny.

Brian’s plans for retirement are to enjoy his family, get outdoors, and to be active. He may even compete in an Ironman. Enjoying his health is also on the list.

Greg Hayes is a private practitioner in Boulder, Colorado. His wife, Becky, is a teacher. They have 2 children.

After graduation, Greg became an associate, and then owner, of two Boulder veterinary hospitals. His interest in birds of prey led to the breeding and reintroduction of the peregrine falcon to the front range of Colorado. He also followed up this program by producing several documentaries on the efforts, as well as episodes on Wild America for PBS. He primarily focuses on or-thopedic surgery, as well as exotics. Presently, he is attempting a feature film which is in pre-production on a highly speculative action/drama involv-ing Iceland, the Middle East, and Medieval Europe.

Greg’s most memorable event from vet school was the vet school rodeo – including bull riding. “To this day, I can’t believe that Sonny Nunn told the three or four of us signing up for bull riding that it was not that hard. Really! We all assumed that he would ride as well, as he was the only real cowboy to help the class win. Then on the day of the event, we find out after investing three years in vet school, that Sonny said there was no way in hell he would ever get on a bull again.” Greg had, up to that point, never been afraid of much, but mounting a very angry steer with untrimmed horns was horrific, especially knowing that the class Zen master for bull riding was opting out for all the right reasons. Anyway, no one died. “Sonny, if you’re interested, I think we should all now travel to Spain for the Running of the bulls, and we will put you out first just to ‘test the water’.”

“There are the times when clients know deep down in their hearts that you saved their companion,” comments Greg. We all get a certain gratification knowing all the work and training helped accomplish this. But for Greg, the work with certain endangered species of wildlife will probably outlive all the other accomplishments.

Greg’s retirement plans entail going full tilt until all the wheels come off. John Hess is a practitioner and the owner of Pine Grove animal Hospital in Parker, Colorado. John is currently divorced from his ex-wife, Magi (a para-legal), but they are on the road to reuniting. They have two children. Milan Hess is a 1998 graduate of CSU vet school. She works as a small animal theriogenologist in Littleton, Colorado, and raises and shows Curly Coated Retrievers and one Papillion. She is either at a dog show or agility trial most weekends. Erin Hess is also in Littleton and works at Water 2 Wine, a cus-tom winery. She is a tri-athlete, marathoner, and John’s bicycling partner. Erin ran the Boston Marathon for the first time this year.

John entered the Air Force upon graduation, and left after two years. He did a small animal internship at Oklahoma State University and was then on their faculty for a few months. He then returned to the Air Force and served as a veterinary officer and then as an environmental (public) health officer until he retired in 1993. He then worked for Smoky Hill Veterinary Clinic in Aurora, Colorado until 1998 when he started Pine Grove Animal Hospital in Parker. He relocated his practice to a new building this year. “I try to stay current with developments in the profession, attending CE through ACVIM, AAHA, NAVC, AVMA, WVC, and courses on VIN.”

“I’m not sure how to describe my relationship with Magi, but it’s working out well. I do a lot of cycling alone and with Erin. We ride several centuries (100 mile events) every year, and have also ridden the Triple Bypass for the past three years. The girls, Magi, and I often get together for family dinners and holidays.” John does a little photography, and enjoys cooking, reading, and attending Broncos games.

John has several memorable events from vet school: YZ Abdelbaki demon-strating the anatomy of a sheep’s leg by describing how to carve out the fe-mur, then fill the cavity full of peppers, potatoes, garlic, and spices, and then cook it; Dr. Bay talking about “representing our profession well”. “I recall Dr. Adams asking Carl Henderson if he wanted to shave his goatee or trans-fer out. Carl thought he meant transfer to Dr. Stashak’s equine surgery rota-tion so he said ‘Transfer.’ O.R. replied, ‘Fine. Gather your things and tell the registrar you’re leaving school.’ Carl gulped and quickly shaved his beard.” The best memories, though, are those that his family spent with friends, particularly Phil, Shirley, and Peter Crabtree, Carl Henderson – God rest his soul – his wife, Sandy, and son, Phillip, and Erick and Linae Egger.

“Unlike some of our colleagues, I can’t point to any outstanding professional accomplishments, but my practice is well regarded by clients and peers, and I’ve enjoyed getting up and going to work most days. I think my profes-sional legacy will be that I built a solid, good quality small animal practice, and have been able to keep it modern in order to enable whoever takes it over to keep it growing and take it to the ‘next level’.” On a personal level, John’s most valued accomplishments are his children. “They are both out-standing, upstanding, strong women of high character, each accomplished in her own way. Magi and I were and still are active, involved, but not interfer-ing parents, and can justly claim come credit for helping them to become the people they are.

John’s plans for retirement include working about three more years, and then to do a lot more cycling. He hopes to still be able to do a 5-hour century ride and to ride the Triple Bypass when he’s 70. “I’d love to see the Tour de France. Magi and I would like to travel and make up for lost time, going to Italy, Scotland, and Germany. There’s a possibility of going to Kosovo with a veterinary assistance group.” He hopes to get involved with volunteer/community service organizations in some capacity.

Ken Hill is the owner and practitioner of Waterways Veterinary Clinic in Petersburg, Alaska.

Ken started his career as a small animal clinician at a clinic in Anchorage, Alaska. He then shifted to bush practice all over Alaska – Bethel, Cordova, Yakutat, and Kuskokwim communities. He then settled into Cordova and Valdez as more or less a full time practitioner when he wasn’t commercial fishing for salmon and herring. In 2002 he started a floating veterinary prac-tice on the V/V (veterinary vessel) Hallie, practicing mostly in southeastern Alaska – Haines, Skagway, Hoonah, Wrangell, and Prince of Wales Island. When a friend and colleague in Petersburg lost a fight to cancer, Ken took over her practice where he still is today. “We still use the boat (with Page, my partner in life) as a small animal clinic in the regional communities around Petersburg and still travel – by air – to Cordova to do practice once every couple of months. It has been, and still is, an amazing run – never dull and always full of the world’s most interesting characters, I think. I could tell you stories.”

Ken and Page like to travel. They went to Argentina last year, and a couple of years ago they were in Spain and Portugal. That wasn’t enough travel, though – it looks like they may make it to Australia this year.

Ken’s most memorable event from vet school was being chased around a big box stall by a female bison. His most valued career accomplishment is pro-viding veterinary care to communities in Alaska that otherwise wouldn’t have it.

“I don’t have plans for retirement yet. Let me rephrase that – it seems like I’ve been semiretired all along.”

John Hoover is a professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sci-ences at Oklahoma State University. His wife, Linda is the head teacher and administrator at Head Start Academy. They have two children, Scott (31) and Adam (28). They have six grandchildren, Jamison – 8, Aiden – 6, Keira and Logan – 5, Kaylyn – 4, and Delilah – 3 weeks.

John did an internship at the Arizona Human Animal Medical Center from 1975-76 and was then a Zoo Veterinarian from 1976-77. He then had a pri-vate practice in Arizona and California in 1977, and one in Colorado from 1978-1983, with ABVP Board Certification in 1982. He has been at Okla-homa State University in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences from 1983 to the present, with ACVIM Board Certification in 1991. He became a professor in 1994, and was the Coordina-tor for the Zoological medicine Program from 1992-2008. This position led to a residency program with the Oklahoma City Zoo from 1994-2006, and an internship program with the Tulsa Zoo from 2001 to the present. He also supervised the Faculty/Clinician for the Zoo, Exotics, and Wildlife Service from 2001-2008.

John and Linda met at the zoo in Phoenix, Arizona, and were married there in July 1976. They had both of their boys while in Colorado before moving to Oklahoma. John has volunteered and consulted for the Arizona Depart-ment of Game and Fish, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the Denver Zoo, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation from, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2006, John resumed riding motorcycles and ac-quired a 2006 Goldwing. After riding for a year as a bike, John and Linda had it triked and currently enjoy touring the country on their Goldwing trike and matching trailer. They are active in the Gold Wing Road Riders Asso-ciation (GWRRA) activities, and John continues to consult with the Tulsa and Oklahoma City Zoos. Native wildlife remains his first love and passion, and they enjoy visiting historical sites throughout the country.

John’s most memorable event from vet school is the Open House from the second year, although there were several memorable events – some good ones and some not as good.

Contributing to the profession by training over 2500 veterinary students, 69 small animal interns, 14 zoological medicine interns, 13 internal medicine residents, and 6 zoological medicine residents – most of whom are now boarded specialists – is one of John’s professional accomplishments. Other accomplishments include serving on the ABVP Canine & Feline Practice Examination Committee as the Chairman, and developing the certification examination and the Residency Committee. He also has mentored 6 ABVP Canine & Feline Practice Diplomates. He has also authored or co-authored 79 journal publications and 10 book chapters, and given 47 presentations at local, state, regional, and national meetings. On two occasions he served as a wildlife expert witness on behalf of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Personal accomplishments include surviving the trials and tribulations of parenthood with long hours and weekend duty, and raising two sons that they are proud of, Scott, a member of the Air Force, and Adam, with Stillwater Medical Center, who have given them 6 beautiful grandchildren. John has been fortunate to acquire some special friends over the years. He was also able to assist his parents during their final years and somehow remain out of significant debt.

John’s plans for retirement are set to go into effect in the spring of 2011. He and Linda plan to travel on the trike whenever weather permits and see things in the U.S. that they’ve always wanted to see and experience. They want to enjoy the outdoors and wildlife, fishing, and hunting – now with a camera. Spending time with their children and grandchildren whenever possible ranks high on the list. “Although I am disabled now, following a near fatal heart attack on March 1, 2010, I hope my recovery will permit me to continue to do some consulting in internal medicine, zoos, exotics, and wildlife in the coming years.”

Clint Johnson is in private practice in Akron, Colorado. His wife, Mau-reen, is his chief helper, and Bible scholar extraordinaire. Clint’s two sons from his first marriage are Ryan – 31 and Eric – 28. Alyssa – 8, is the prod-uct of his second marriage. Clint claims five grandchildren from Maureen’s two daughters, Tiff and Tam.

Clint served two years as a Captain in the United States Air Force in Kunsan, South Korea, and Omaha, Nebraska. He worked one year at the Carrol Vet-erinary Hospital in Pueblo, Colorado, and 16 years at the Fort Morgan Vet-erinary Clinic. From 1994 to the present he has worked in his own practice – Johnson Veterinary Service, in Akron, Colorado. He primarily treats cow-calf operations, one large dairy, some equine, and low-tech small animals.

In August 1975, Clint married Cheri, and they had two sons – Ryan, now a Veterinarian in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and Eric, with degrees in Civil Engi-neer, Structural Design and Real Estate Development, is now an Onion Bro-ker. Clint was remarried in 1990 to Maureen. They adopted Alyssa, who is keeping them young. In June of 1994, they moved back to the family farm. The practice keeps them busy – as does running 80 pairs, and keeping horses as a hobby and for elk hunting. Clint and Maureen are active in the Four Square Church as they serve their Lord and Savior, and anticipate His soon return. “I pray that you are all ready.” Clint also participates in Christian Vet Missions, and also does some amateur team roping in his spare time. Occasionally he gets to go elk and quail hunting.

Clint’s most memorable event from vet school is the camaraderie with five or six classmates from the little trailer court – Brian, Rusty, Frank, Mike and John.

Having a lucrative and enjoyable beef and dairy practice is Clint’s most val-ued career accomplishment. “I still enjoy practice enough that it doesn’t seem like work.” Service as a leader in church to disciple and having fellow-ship with new believers is Clint’s most valued personal accomplishment. He is planning a mission trip to Israel and Jordan in February 2011.

Clint’s retirement plans include working less and playing more. He intends to continue ranching and practicing veterinary medicine, hunting quail and elk, and team roping. He wants to serve Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior as they raise their youngest daughter.

Dave Larsen is a small town veterinarian in Sweet Home, Oregon. His wife, Sandy, is the office manager and boss of the Sweet Home Veterinary Clinic. They have four children, Brenda King – 43, Amy Baird – 38, De-Laine Larsen (married to Mike Hornsby) – 37, and Derek Larsen – 34. They also have nine grandchildren, Amanda and Alex King – 10 and 7, Gavin and David Baird – 7 and 5, Addison, and Olivia Hornsby – 3 and 1, and Anya, Dane, and Devin Larsen – 6, 5, and 2.

Dave practiced for a year and a half in a dairy practice in Enumclaw, Wash-ington, but quickly tired of the phone ringing every morning at 3 a.m. They moved to Sweet Home, Oregon in 1976 and started a mixed practice, which evolved to mostly a small animal and cow-calf practice. He treated his last horse in 1987, and thoroughly enjoyed that decision. Dave had a partner, Bob Lester, for 7 years, but found that he enjoys solo practice much better. He is currently in practice exclusively for dogs and cats, as arthritis keeps him off the farm. “Not long ago, I had no plans to retire anytime soon, but with Sandy’s current health problems, we may rethink those plans.”

Family, fishing, gold, and a little hunting fills most of Dave’s time. “I have learned, maybe not as soon as I should have, to walk away from the clinic as much as possible.” Since the advent of the emergency clinics in his area, life is much better. “Sweet Home has been a very good place to raise an excel-lent bunch of kids, and Sandy and I have become an integral part of the com-munity.” Jim and Patty Latham are the CEO and CFO of Mill Creek Veterinary Service, PC in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. They have three children, Lara – 37, Jim, III – 34, and Jake – 30. The also have two grandchildren, Will – 5 and Samantha – 2. After leaving Napa Valley Vet, they intended to retire, but have been practic-ing equine only medicine and surgery, with an emphasis on dentistry. “We still work together.”

Jim and Patty published a memoir, “Napa Valley Vets – the Balance of Lives”, a couple of years ago, and “it pretty much describes our wonderful practice and family years in Napa.” Since then, they try to limit work to three days a week, ride as often as they can, work on their 80 acres at 7,500 feet elevation in the curve of the continental divide below Wolf Creek Pass, and keep up professionally.

For the last few years, they have been the pit crew for their son Jake’s D Sports Racer (currently a Stohr), and that finds them at race tracks like Pikes Peak International, High Plains Raceway, and now, Road American in Elk-hart Lake, Wisconsin. The car is exciting and fast, and Jake is one of the most entertaining and generous people they’ve ever met – “We have a great time.”

Jake is a computer programmer for RockySoft in Fort Collins when he isn’t in his Darth Vader fire suit. “So we put miles on our trucks whether working on crewing, and miles on the horses in between.” They live between state school board land and National Forest land, so trails are endless and breath-taking. They lecture frequently to local horse enthusiasts and write for EQUUS magazine, “So we aren’t completely removed from academia.” Jim’s daughter Lara spent three years working in Sydney, Australia, and recently moved back to Colorado. “It’s good to have the grandkids within a day’s drive. We’ve had them both on a horse.” Their son, Jim, is currently in Ecuador after doing a TEFL course down there. He has a master’s in medical anthropology, but it’s “just another excuse for traveling.” He plays a mean bass guitar and writes interesting stories.

Jim’s most memorable event from vet school is Dr. Creed injecting perivas-cular ketamine in a cat that subsequently touched all four walls.

Filling a huge gap in our knowledge in equine dentistry and being able to use their training locally, and making a significant difference to the comfort and health of individual horses are Jim and Patty’s most valued professional ac-complishments. “Personally, sharing our lives, and sharing so much of the growing up years of our boys, as well as still spending treasured time with them now that they are adults,” are Jim and Patty’s most valued personal accomplishments.

As far as retirement goes, “We already tried that. Maybe in two years we’ll move back up towards Fort Collins to be nearer the kids.” Jim Logan is the Wyoming State Veterinarian. His wife, Stephanie, runs a quilt and quilting shop from their home. They have three children, Laura – 33, Betsy – 26, and Heidi – 25. They also have three grandchildren, Brooke – 16, Logan – 2, and Evelyn – 1. Jim worked in private mixed practice that was predominantly large animal, from 1975-98, then was the Wyoming State Veterinarian from 1998-2004, was in private practice again from 2005-07, was the Wyoming Assistant State Veterinarian from 2007-09, and then took over the State Veterinarian position again in 2009. Jim has also been very active in the sheep industry, and therefore has been the Chairman of the American Sheep Industry Asso-ciation. He is currently the Chairman of the USAHA Brucellosis committee, and is active in several other USAHA committees. “I travel more than I like to with my job and get involved with a lot more politics than I ever expected to in my life.”

“My wife, Stephanie, of 29 years this fall, and I have three beautiful, grown daughters, all of whom have husbands we love dearly, and three grandchil-dren who we thoroughly enjoy. Stephanie owns a quilt shop and does long-arm quilting, while I do the short-leg quilting!”

Jim has served on the local hospital board, school board, and group home board, and he and Stephanie have been active in helping with 4-H and FFA at the local and state levels. Jim is also involved in sheep industry organiza-tions at the local, state, and national levels. They are members of the First Baptist Church of Shoshoni, and are very thankful for all the blessings God has provided them.

In regards to his vet school days, Jim says, “I wonder why I didn’t get kicked out – probably because the administration and/or instructors didn’t know all that Lundock and I did!” As he gets older, Jim realizes that the most impor-tant part of the whole experience was learning from each of the instructors and from each classmate, and then maturing and learning to appreciate the value of the friendships and relationships he had and still has. “Thank you all for standing by me through some of the hard times and helping me get through it all – and for not killing me for some of the practical jokes!”

“In the big scheme of things, nothing I have accomplished compares to the pride I have in my successful marriage and my family.” He and Stephanie have raised three daughters, Laura, Betsy, and Heidi, who have grown up into responsible, dependable, and nice (“in spite of me”) Christian ladies. “If I never accomplished anything else, I would be content with this.” It has been a rewarding to have the privilege to serve as the Wyoming State Veteri-narian and to get to know some very bright and interesting people all over the country, and to be involved in many important issues – and hopefully be part of the solution to some of them.

“What is retirement?!?!?” Jim wants to stay active and involved in veteri-nary medicine and possible even politics. “I’m just as crazy as ever, but I have strong opinions on things, and I don’t like where I see this country go-ing, so maybe someday I can help steer it back on course. I’ll probably just die working instead of retiring, but I plan to enjoy my grandchildren as much as I can while I’m at it.” Rod Lundock’s current position is sitting at a table. He is married to Mar-garet. They have three children, Ramsey, Tori, and Jason. Rod has worked as an equine veterinarian, and a cattle and horse rancher.

Mike Marshall is retired. His wife, Terre, is an insurance adjustor. They have three children aged 30 to 35, and eight grandchildren – four boys and four girls.

Immediately following graduation, Mike did an internship in an Ogden, Utah mixed animal practice. He then purchased a mixed animal practice in Tooele, Utah and hired one other veterinarian to work with him. In Decem-ber 2003, Mike became the Utah State Veterinarian and worked for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. He retired from this position in 2006 due to chronic health problems, and medical disability. In 1986, Mike was the President of the Western States Livestock Health Association, which is comprised of the 19 state veterinarians west of the Mississippi River. In 1996, he was the President of the United States Animal Health Association, which is comprised of all 50 state veterinarians, as well as federal veterinari-ans, university and research veterinarians, allied industry representatives, foreign state and federal veterinarians, and foreign allied industry representa-tives. He has also participated in many state, national, and international committees.

“I’ve been married to the same beautiful girl for 39 years, and we’re still in love. In 2004 we built a new home in a small rural community which we enjoy very much. There are only about 600 residents, and Roddy Sharp is our neighbor. We enjoy golf, xerscape gardening, grandchildren, church, and our many friends and neighbors.”

Mike’s most memorable events from vet school are the summer picnics with the class and making homemade green chili; the association with classmates and a few professors; walking the hallowed halls of ‘B Barn’; studying for national boards with the group at midnight while on clinic duty; reading the Vet Scoop; Horsetooth Reservoir; weekend trips to local points of interest like Estes Park and Central City; and living in a trailer that wasn’t big enough for a lab rat. His most valued accomplishment is trying his best to help people and animals as each different situation came along.

Mike’s plans for retirement are to stay busy, keep his mind alert, be happy, stay out of debt, and to enjoy his family. John Maulsby is a case coordinator at the CSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. His wife, Marna, is also a veterinarian. John has two children, Lee – 32, and Luke – 30. He has two grandchildren, 4 and 1, and one on the way.

John spent thirteen years practicing in a mixed animal practice in Gunnison and Greeley, Colorado. He then spent 20 years at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and two years at the CSU Veterinary Hospital.

Charles McKinney is an “old veterinarian with retirement plans.” He has two children, Ted and Maia.

Following a successful internship at UC Davis, Chuck moved to the bay area to work. By 1991, he started All Seasons Mobile Clinic, with the praise and support of the local AVMA chapter in Alameda. The van he purchased was 24-feet in length and equipped with surgery table, cages, air conditioning, and Isoflurane machine plus oxygen. A staff of skilled AHTs gave him cour-age to practice the best medicine possible and/or refer when necessary and prudent. “The practice has been good to me, professionally and economi-cally. However, the time for retirement has arrived, especially following recent surgery to both my knees.”

Chuck’s most memorable event from vet school was when the class was given the last spring quarter off and away from Veterinary Medicine, to choose an activity worthy of our time and energy. “The Black Angus restau-rant was perfect for me. Bartending was a treat and tips were the perfect complement. Dr. Maxine Benjamin became one of my regulars which thrilled me. Many of you started to show up for drinks and dinner. This was memorable then and now.”

Chuck’s most valued career accomplishment was the opportunity to start his own business. “It was beyond my dreams.” “The retirement train is already leaving the station with my gear on board. It has been a ‘good day’ becoming a veterinarian. I’m going to stay young and healthy.” John McManus’s current position is upright. He is married to Donita. They have two children, Colleen – 37, and Sean – 36.

John worked in Gothenburg, Nebraska for one year, then in Lamar, Colorado for one year, then in Lakewood, Colorado in two practices for 25 years, and has been in Denver since 2002.

“Since I was already married when accepted to school, not much has changed. I’ve had the same wife since 1966. We traveled to Nebraska and then back to Colorado. Lakewood has remained our home since 1977. We have two children, no grandchildren, and are still getting along reasonably well. I had a cardiac problem in 2002, had a stent place, and am doing fair since then. I have a total knee replacement done 4 months ago and am still getting over that. I have a bad back with loss of enervation to my legs, but I can’t complain too much. Donita continues to fight RSD, and has cervical and lumbar spinal cord stimulators. She has her good days and her not-so-good days. We took a month off and went to Alaska in July 2008. It was a great trip – very enjoyable. I had never taken that much time off before.”

John’s most memorable event from vet school is working nights at the vet school between junior and senior year. “That summer was fun. I developed good friendships with many clinicians at that time.”

John’s most valued career accomplishment is having stayed in business for the past 35 years and now having a practice that has outgrown him and re-quires a full time practice manager. “I never thought I would be in that posi-tion.”

“I can’t afford to retire at this time. I would go crazy retired. It would be good fro the short term, but long term is not what I want to think about.” Dawn Metzger is currently working as a relief veterinarian. After gradua-tion, she spent a year at the Arizona Humane Society Animal Medical Center working for Dr. Bay. She then returned to Denver and worked for several years at Queen City, Capitol Hill, and boulder Valley spay and neuter clinics, while beginning a house-call practice. Her practice developed into Washing-ton Park Veterinary Clinic which she owned for over 25 years, and sold in August of 2008. She continued to work there for the new owner for a year and a half before moving to Texas. She works part time and plays with her horse.

Dawn was married to Bruce Clark for 13 years, but has been divorced for 15 years. She likes to help out the Hospice of St. John in Denver, and “Of course, the CSU Vet School.” In her spare time she rides dressage, gardens, and likes the theater, symphony, dancing, movies, gardening, and traveling. She has visited England, Scotland, Wales, France (including a day in the French socialized medical system for a concussion, “It was great!”), Italy, Germany, Austria, and Tahiti. Terry (Markegard) Miller is retired, and is married to Stephen Miller, who is an artistic metal worker. They have two children, Chris – 28, and Dawn – 27.

Terry’s first year out of school was spent in a mixed practice in Bishop, Cali-fornia. Her second year out was spent in an Equine Surgery Internship at UC Davis. The next two years saw her in an equine practice in southern Califor-nia, and the following year she was an Air Force Veterinary Officer. From 1984 to 2008, she was self-employed in a mixed practice in Chino Valley, Arizona. She sold her practice and retired due to ill health. She currently lives in Paulden, Arizona.

Terry has continued to ride horses as her main hobby. She has also volun-teered at a Crisis Pregnancy Center as a counselor. Her daughter, Dawn, is pursuing pre-vet studies. Terry’s husband has introduced her to hunting.

Terry’s most memorable event from vet school is all the help and camarade-rie from her fellow students. Her most valued career accomplishment is es-tablishing and nurturing a private practice for 24 years. Her most valued personal accomplishment is coming to her saving faith in her Lord and Sav-ior, Jesus Christ.

As far as retirement is concerned, Terry is already there. “Due to illness, I am content to spend most of my time on my husband and my property in Paulden, taking care of our own animals – horses, cats, a dog, and some chickens – and enjoying all the wildlife we see.” Ken Montgomery and his wife, Linda, are both retired. They have four children, Lisa – 40, Patrick – 31, Kristi – 29, and Marc – 27. They have one grandchild, Eric – 8.

Ken worked in a private mixed practice in Wellington, Colorado from 1975 to 1989. He then worked with USDA-APHIS-VS until 2010 in Montana, Colorado, California, and Utah. He has been in Utah since 1995. “I have had many national and international travel experiences with USDA.”

Ken and Linda have been together for 20 years, and were married in 1994. They enjoy skiing at the Brian Head, Utah resort, and boating on Lake Pow-ell. Ken takes many rides on his chopper and Harleys, including four trips to the big rally in Sturgis, South Dakota and other rallies in Elko, Nevada and Scottsdale, Arizona. He and Linda have enjoyed a yearly cruise the past several years and look forward to more in the future now that they are retired. They enjoy visiting family in Colorado and California.

Ken has many memorable events from vet school, mostly graduation. There were many fun times with his great classmates. “Trying to please Dr. Adams was a challenge.” He remembers night duty at the Glover Hospital and horri-ble colic cases, trying to stay awake after lunch in anatomy class, watching Old Main burn in 1970 just before entering vet school, and flying with Dr.

Horton to Chamberlain, South Dakota to vasectomize bulls. “I remember shaking uncontrollably while dissecting cadavers in freshman anatomy class – that was before I had surgery for my hyper-thyroidism.”

Traveling to northern England in 2001 to help with their foot and mouth dis-ease outbreak is Ken’s most valued career accomplishment. “Of course, marrying Linda in 1994 is my most valued personal accomplishment.”

Fun, fun, and more fun are on Ken’s list of things to do for retirement. “I may be getting older, but I refuse to grow up!” Riding motorcycles, cruise trips, boating on Lake Powell, ski trips, and hanging out at their 10 acre place in Cedar City, Utah also make the list.

Jim Morrison is the owner of Small Animal Veterinary Hospital in Evans-ville, Wyoming. His wife, Teresa, is a housewife. They have 5 children aged 23-33, and 6 grandchildren aged 6 months to 4 years.

Jim worked in a small animal practice in Casper, Wyoming for about three years, then worked in a mixed practice in Loveland, Colorado. He returned to Casper and started a mixed animal practice in 1980. He stopped doing large animal work in 1990, and has just done small animals since. Three other veterinarians work in his building, including his oldest son, Wade.

“I have been married to Teresa since we were in vet school, and life has been good. All of our children are doing well, and we’ve enjoyed being a part of their lives. The grandkids have been great - I call them ‘little fun machines’. We enjoy the outdoors and go camping when we can. I still enjoy pack trips and hunting. The last five years, I’ve been running some yearling cattle, and enjoy that very much.”

Jim’s most memorable event from vet school was watching Dr. Adams get frustrated with a horse in his sophomore year, and him kicking the horse in the belly. “He looked at me sternly and asked if I was a vet student. I didn’t have my vet student badge on - i.e. my necktie. Remember how he struck fear in all of us?” Staying sane and still enjoying practice is Jim’s most val-ued career accomplishment. His most valued personal accomplishment is having a family that gets along well and that still likes to get together.

Maybe in 8-10 years he’ll retire. “I am now working four days a week and every 4th weekend. I will probably add another veterinarian in the near fu-ture and work fewer days then.”

Doug Murphy is the owner and practicing doctor at Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Vernal, Utah. His wife, Beth, is a retired school teacher. They have four children – two boys and two girls – aged 39, 36, 34, and 32. They also have six grandchildren – five girls and one boy – aged 7, 5, and 2.

After graduation from CSU, Doug practiced at Timpanogos Animal Hospital in Pleasant Grove, Utah for 18 months. Then he and the family moved to Vernal, Utah where he worked a short time at the Ashley Valley Animal Hospital. In 1978 he started Countryside Veterinary Clinic to be his own boss, and he’s been there for the past 32 years. He has three other doctors employed at the clinic, one of them being his son who graduated from CSU in 2004.

Doug not only runs his clinic, he also owns and operates a 200 head cattle ranch. “I’m either at the clinic or at the ranch/farm. My wife says my hobby is ‘work’.”

Doug’s most memorable event from vet school is making the rounds with Dr. Adams, Dr. Voss, Dr. Ingrim, and Dr. Aanes. He also has many fond memo-ries of great classmates. “Being in vet school was a great time of my life.”

“Veterinary medicine has been the great career that I envisioned it to be when I applied to vet school. I enjoy doing veterinary work and getting to know good clients and their animals. I am currently the President Elect of the Utah Veterinary Medical Association.” Doug has no plans for retirement.

Terry Nugent is a small grain farmer in Fairfield, Montana. His wife, Jody, is retired. They have six children – Amie, Sara, Beth, Paul, Luke, and Lora. They also have five grandchildren.

Terry practiced for 2 years in Illinois, and owned a practice in miles City, Montana for ten years. He then moved to Fairfield and started farming.

“We really enjoyed raising a family at the clinic and in this small farming community. We have really enjoyed being close to the mountains with hunt-ing, fishing, camping, etc.”

Terry’s most memorable event from vet school is breathing the formaldehyde deep into his lungs for two years. His most valued career accomplishments include establishing his practice in Miles City and building his malt barley farm.

Terry’s plans for retirement include living in the country, fishing a lot, and visiting grandkids.

Bill Oberg is a retired Colonel of the USAF Air National Guard, medically retired from practice, a house-husband, grandfather (‘Papa’), and has a part-time mobile practice. His wife of 33 years, Carmen, is an RN and Peri-Operative Nursing Consultant. They have twin girls, Lisa Yurkanin and Tracy Oberg – 32. They have three grandchildren, John Paul – 5, Isabella Grace – 4, and the soon to be delivered Michael William.

Bill retired from the USAF/ANG in 2003 after thirty years of service. “I was in companion animal and exotic animal practice from 1978 to 2005 with three brick and mortar locations in the Tucson area. I’ve now started a limited scope mobile practice after a medical incident in August 2005.

In a heartbeat… “On August 5, 2005, I became a hit-and-run casualty while commuting home on a bicycle. The incident resulted in a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and virtually changed my life in a heartbeat. If not for a bike helmet, a sharp Pima County Sheriff’s Deputy, a rapid response medical team from northwest Fire Department, and a first-rate emergency department and staff at the University of Arizona Medical Center, I would not be joining you for the 2010 reunion. It has taken the past five years to get to some level of recover – physically, neurologically, and cognitively. I have been seen by at least 70% of physician specialties, though not an OB/GYN. (Although, I am thinking about getting in touch with my feminine side…)

Carmen has been the ‘glue’ that held me together. I also have had tremen-dous support and care from my daughters and my son-in-law. My grandchil-dren have been my best therapists. This process has not been easy for Car-men and my family. I have been a difficult patient. There is a silver lining to this complicated injury and recovery process. I have been given a chance for a ‘second life’. I now have time for my family. I spend real time with my grandchildren. And I enjoy veterinary medicine as a profession once again. I refuse to have a bad day, and I am a ‘thriver’ in this ‘second life.’”

Bill and Carmen have been ‘an item’ since 1975. Lisa and Tracy, their twins, are now 32, and still beautiful. Tracy is an emergency medicine phy-sician and will soon move back to Tucson from Austin, Texas. Lisa and her husband Paul will soon be having their third child. Bill is currently retired from volunteer work – Northwest YMCA Board of Manger, 4-H and FFA, ANG-162 FW retiree activity, etc. He is still in rehabilitative/post-rehab therapy and stays active with physical fitness – masters swimming, Pilates, and strength training.

“The entire four glorious years (of vet school) are indelibly etched in my mind. To be surrounded by such a fabulous group of classmates and profes-sors was a privilege and a pleasure. And, it ‘toughened’ me up to success-fully raise twin daughters with my bride, to do well in practice, to succeed in the USAF/ANG, and to survive – even thrive – the trauma in 2005.”

Bill’s most valued career accomplishment is the measure of respect and ap-preciation give to him by his wonderful veterinary clients and the superb men and women of the 162 Fighter Wing, Tucson Air National Guard. “I will be forever humbled.” On a personal note, “The personal and professional suc-cesses of my daughters, Lisa and Tracy, are valuable to me. Raising children is Job One! Having the good fortune to have Carmen as my partner was 90% of the achievement.”

Bill has retired two times – once from the military and medically from veteri-nary practice. “I am in the process of setting up a limited scope mobile prac-tice.”

Regis Opferman is a part time professor at Colorado Technical University and a part time reptile practitioner. His wife Loretta is also a part time pro-fessor at Colorado Technical University. They have two children, Nicole – 27 and Renee – 25. They have one grandchild, Ethan Brian – 4 months.

Regis spent five years as a greyhound veterinarian, 18 years as a small ani-mal practitioner, and 12 years as a zoo veterinarian. He was also a professor at CSU Pueblo and Pueblo Community College for 23 years. He has been with Colorado Technical University for five years.

Guy Pidgeon is the CEO of Western Veterinary Conference. His wife, Rhoda, is an artist. They have two children, David – 40, and Elizabeth – 38. They are expecting their first grandchild sometime in August, 2010.

Guy is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and has served that organization as Chairman of the Board of Regents. He interned at the Animal Medical Center, NYC and completed a residency in small animal internal medicine at UC Davis in 1978. He was a member of the faculty at Auburn University in Alabama for 12 years. In 1990, he joined Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. as Associate Director of Veterinary Affairs and was later promoted to Director of the Department. Dr. Pidgeon was named CEO of the Animal Medical Center in New York City in 1996 and was elected President of the Center’s Board of Trustees in 1997. He joined the WVC in May of 2006 and was promoted to his current position in November, 2007. Guy received the Norden Pharmaceuticals Distinguished Professor award in 1984 and 1985. He was named the Auburn University Student Government Association Teacher of the Year for Veterinary Medicine in 1984 and 1990. In 2001, he was recognized as Veterinarian of the Year by the New York City Veterinary Medical Association. The Veterinary Specialists in Private Practice recognized Dr. Pidgeon with its inaugural “Spirit of Excellence Award in 2005.

After 32 years of confirmed bachelorhood, Guy met Rhoda Jeffrey during orientation as a new faculty member at the Auburn University Vet School. She was head of medical illustration for the vet school and a very talented artist. Ten months later they were married. “I woke up with a wife, a house, a yard, 4 cars and 2 kids – all things I hadn’t intended to acquire!” David and Elizabeth were 9 and 7 respectively. “I was able to adopt them a year or so later and they have added great joy to my life.” David is a career Marine, currently a Major, assigned to a special ops group at Camp Lejeune. He is married to a lovely young lady and they are expecting Gabrielle within days of this writing.

Elizabeth attended the University of Georgia and graduated with high hon-ors. She went to San Francisco after graduation to play for a while and is still there.

She recently completed a MA in graphic arts and is looking for that perfect job – or any job, whichever comes first. Guy’s vagabond ways have taken them from Auburn to Topeka, KS to New York City and then to Las Vegas. “Like small animal veterinarians who lose a little money on each spay but make up for it in volume – we acquire homes.”

Guy’s most valued career accomplishment is that he has managed to be em-ployed every minute of every day since graduation. The fact that “my dar-ling wife has stayed with me for 31 years despite 3 unpopular moves, at the time I suggested them,” is his most valued personal accomplishment. They just purchased a 3rd facility in Las Vegas and intend to make this retirement HQ.

Rhoda continues to expand her portfolio and currently is passionate about work in colored pencil. Guy still tries to knock the golf ball around when-ever possible and remains a consummate hacker. They love to entertain – “Rhoda remains thin despite a penchant for fine food and wine – I remain ‘stout’!”

Guy’s most memorable event from vet school is “Probably the moment I decided to leave horses and cows behind and focus on small animals. I got a ration of “crap” from all quarters! My Dad still grumbles that he had to call a “real” vet when he needed help.” Secondly, the first day of gross anatomy found me teamed with Raisbeck, Pallaro and Pruyn – the 3 members of the class who were sons of veterinarians. They were to do organ identification by dissecting a feline cadaver. “I had once dissected a frog – they already knew it all!” These guys were ripping and tearing and suggesting we could be out of the lab in less than an hour – “I finally had to yell, “Stop and let me see what the hell you’re doing in there!!!”

“I have enjoyed meeting veterinarians from around the world and truly be-lieve our profession attracts wonderful people. I hold the 4 teaching awards I received from students at Auburn University as the most dear of any profes-sional recognition I’ve received.”

Guy hopes to work through June, 2013 – health and the WVC Directors will-ing! “We may still be trying to downsize our real estate adventures when I hang it up.” Ultimately, Las Vegas will be home base for 8 months of the year. They will need to escape the heat somewhere – but haven’t started to select a location. Golf on weekdays – yea!

Minott Pruyn is the Medical Director and Owner of Pruyn Veterinary Hos-pital. His wife, Jan, is retired from the University of Montana and is cur-rently the Practice Manager of Pruyn Veterinary Hospital. They have three children, Minott M. – 31, Alta – 30, and Raina – 22. They have one grand-daughter, Lana – 4.

After graduation, Minott began practicing in his father’s mixed animal prac-tice. His brother joined the practice five years later.In 2003, his brother and another partner separated, taking the large animal practice with them. Minott and his father owned the small animal practice jointly until his father passed away in June of 2008. Minott is now the sole owner of the practice – a busy 7 veterinarian practice. Jan took over as Practice Manager after his father’s death.

Minott and Jan have been married for 35 years. They enjoy traveling, espe-cially to warm, sunny places close to the beach; and hiking – they have spent at least a long weekend in Glacier National park every year since they honey-mooned there. Minott is an active member of the AAHA and is also a mem-ber of the Veterinary management Group. Outside of the veterinary profes-sion, he serves on a local bank board. He also enjoys woodworking when he has the time.

All of their children are in Montana, the farthest being in Bozeman, and they enjoy the times when they can all get together. “I also have enjoyed my an-nual fishing trip to Alaska at a private fishing camp with a special fishing guide, classmate Jim Tilley.”

Minott’s most memorable events from vet school include winning a crock pot at the Senior Banquet and having O.R. Adams threaten him with castra-tion if he euthanized Adams’ horse with the electric cables. His most valued career accomplishments include serving on the State board of Veterinary Medicine in Montana, being voted “Best Veterinarian” in Missoula (by way of a local newspaper poll) for the past three years, and serving as a member of the Board of directors of the Bitterroot Valley Bank.

Minott’s plans for retirement are to “Die in the saddle!”

Merl Raisbeck is the Professor of Veterinary Toxicology at the University of Wyoming and an affiliate Professor of Biophysics and Physiology at the University of Washington, School of Medicine. He is married to Dianne. They have two children, Bonnie – 21, and Hollie – 19.

“I’m too old to get a real job and too young and broke to retire,” says Merle of his professional career.

Merl is finally past the point of ferrying kids to soccer, barrel-racing, etc., although he still spends a couple of days a month fixing cars, computers, and the like for them.

“I’ve been at a bit of a loss for something useful to do, although my job seems to soak up every free minute that I let it. I’ve started instructing in sail planes and power ships again, and am currently the president of the Colorado Soaring Association. I’ve got a little piece of pasture land on the state line between Wyoming and Colorado that I putter with. Anyone who wants to cut firewood should call me as I’ve got more beetle kill than I can handle myself.”

Merl’s most memorable event from vet school is the first day of Histology when they passed out a list of 500 terms to know “by Monday”. “My medi-cal students bitch if they’re expected to learn 50 by the end of the semester.” His most valued career accomplishment is establishing the Toxicology Ser-vice at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory.

His plans for retirement? “Trying to live long enough to do it.”

Barry Richardson is on the teaching staff at Missionary Training Center. His wife, Carol, is on the child care staff at Missionary Training Center. They have three children, Laura – 30, Mary – 28, and Brian – 25. They have two grandchildren, Stephanie – 7, and Jennifer – 5.

Barry spent the first four years after graduation in private practice. He then spent two years in cross-cultural missionary training with New Tribes Mis-sion, and then six years as part of the Missionary Training staff in Missouri. From 1989 to 2004, Barry served in Liberia and the Ivory Coast of West Africa with New Tribes Mission. He has been back in Missouri at the Mis-sionary Training Center since 2005.

Barry and Carol were married in July of 1975. After practicing for a few years, God gave them the desire of their hearts by allowing them to be in-volved in overseas ministry. They raised their family in West Africa. Their second daughter, Mary, and her husband serve with Greater Europe Mission in Finland, and their son, Brian, and his wife have been serving the Lord in Brazil. Since coming back to the states, Barry has taken quite an interest in politics. “I don’t have any thoughts of running for office, however.”

Barry’s most memorable event from vet school is doing his first abdominal surgery on a dog. “It is my recollection that Dave Shoemaker and I shared that experience as partners.”

Barry’s most valued career accomplishment has been to learn new languages and to enter into a new culture. He and Carol had the privilege of living and sharing their lives with a remote people group of West Africa, known as the Glaro. They are subsistence farmers whose homeland is the border of Libe-ria and the Ivory Coast. “Not only did we live among them, but we helped to develop a literacy program and ministered to their medical needs. A civil war forced us to evacuate Liberia in 1990. Shortly thereafter, we relocated in Ivory Coast and continued our language and culture study.”

Unfortunately, Barry and Carol did not have the privilege of seeing Bible translation completed, as political unrest took them out of Ivory Coast in 2002. Family needs back here in the states have prevented them from return-ing to West Africa, but they are thankful that coworkers were able to resume the work after the civil unrest had subsided. Bible translation is still in pro-gress.

Barry and Carol have recently moved back to Colorado to be near their daughter and two grandchildren, as well as Carol’s mom. Next year they hope to move from Colorado Springs back up to Barry’s home area in Mor-gan County to take care of his mom’s farm. They plan to enjoy their family and the Colorado outdoors, as well as to have a ministry in their local com-munity.

Lynn (Sharman) Ruoff is a clinical associate professor. She and her late husband, Dub, have two children, Brett – 30, and Cathy – 29.

Lynn practiced for three years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then spent two years in Columbus, Ohio while Dub did a residency in equine medicine. They then moved to College Station, Texas, and she has been teaching anat-omy at Texas A&M since 1982.

“I have spent most of my leisure time enjoying my family. I have continued to ride and started playing at dressage, although I have yet to get good at it.”

Lynn’s most memorable event from vet school is the friends she made while going through a tough four year program. Her most valued personal accom-plishment is staying married to one person for 23 years and raising two kids that she enjoys being around. Her most valued career accomplishment is receiving the “Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching” from the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M.

“Given the current economic situation for Texas state employees, retirement is too far off to think about!”

Roddy Sharp is the owner of Brickyard Animal Hospital. His wife, Marylinn, is an R.N. They have 13 children ranging in age from 21 to 41. They also have 41 grandchildren and are expecting two more this year.

Roddy has been in private practice in Salt Lake City since graduation. He is currently the Utah delegate to the house of delegates of the AVMA.

“I am married to Marylinn. Between the two of us, we have 13 children, and since they are in full production, we have 41 grandchildren. We have a bunch of horses, chickens, cats, dogs, and other sundry critters as the neighborhood or children drop them off. We do a lot of riding and used to do a lot of packing, but are getting too stiff for as much now.”

Vet school was so long ago, Roddy can’t remember much except that he loved the associations and friendships fostered there.

He has enjoyed working with clients and their pets over the years. When he sees the joy in a person’s eyes to get their beloved pet back when it might have died has been his reward. “The profession has been good to me.”

The thought of retirement causes Roddy to laugh.

Clarence Sitzman is the owner of Front Range Animal Dental Associates and is working through Peak Veterinary Specialists of Windsor, Colorado. His wife, Phylis, is an administrative assistant for Schafer Veterinary Con-sultants. They have three children, Ryan – 30, Diana, 27, and Paul – 24.

Clarence worked primarily in large animal (dairy) practice for the first 20-25 years after graduation, and gradually worked toward more small animals. He went solely to small animals after 25 years. He became interested in den-tistry about 12 years ago, and got boarded in dentistry five years ago. Now he’s doing only dentistry.

“I really enjoy dentistry, and served as President of the American Veterinary Dental Society for two years, and started the Veterinary Dental Foundation (F4VD) four years ago. I am also involved with the Peter Emily Interna-tional Veterinary Dental Foundation (PEIVDF). The F4VD is concerned with mainly research and education, the PEIVDF is concerned with actually going out and doing work on captive animals. It’s a great kick! I have been married for 35 years now to a great woman, and we have three wonderful children who are now all out of the house and on their own. No grandchil-dren as of yet. My wife and I are involved very much with our church, and church activities consume a lot of our time. We are all fortunate to be in good health, and we all enjoy traveling a lot.”

As for his most memorable events from vet school, Clarence says “Working on the class film was a highlight, and playing with the guys on the basketball team – oh, the blood clots!!” Of college in general, “Rugby was a blast! I enjoyed the college days very much.”

Getting boarded in dentistry, despite it being a long, arduous process, is one of Clarence’s most valued career accomplishments. Other accomplishments include serving as President of AVDS, and getting the Hu-Friedy “Golden Scaler” Award for service to veterinary dentistry just last year. “Being lucky enough to have a wife that put up with me for 35 years and having three really great kids who all seem to have good heads on their shoulders are my most valued personal accomplishments.”

Clarence has no specific plans to retire. He intends to do dentistry for an-other 25 years or so and travel a bunch in between. They are going back to Italy in September, and probably to New Zealand for the World Cup Rugby tournament next year.

Michael Stoskopf is a professor of: Wildlife and Aquatic Medicine; Bio-medical Engineering; Environmental and Molecular Toxicology; Marine and Estuarine Sciences; and Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation, and is the Di-rector of the Environmental Medicine Consortium at North Carolina State University. His wife, Suzanne, is a professor of Wildlife Infectious Disease and Immunology at North Carolina State University.

“Happily my career has not been brief, and promises to continue unabated. After some years as a zoo and aquarium veterinarian, I pursued a research career and then added a strong focus on teaching, primarily at the DVM and post DVM level. My early clinical and field adventures as staff veterinarian and chief of medicine at the Overton Park Zoo and Aquarium in Memphis, the Baltimore Zoo and the National Aquarium in Baltimore provided me with many interesting stories that I still tell in my lectures. I earned my PhD in Environmental and Neurotoxicology at Johns Hopkins University where I was a faculty member in Comparative Medicine and Radiology. My re-search has given me the opportunity to work with some very talented and brilliant scientists on interesting questions throughout my career, including everything from the early development of three dimensional imaging and advanced MRI/MRS applications to some very interesting paleontological work. (thermoregulation of dinosaurs, dinosaur energetics) and much more. After a dozen years I left my tenured faculty position at the JHU Medical School to join the adventure of veterinary education as a department head of the clinical department at the faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. My wife and I arrived in the summer of 1989 and we have become serious geographic cripples, enjoying NC too much to leave. As a team we have had the opportunity to develop the American College of Zoological Medicine, educate some outstanding veterinarians who have gone on to do great things, and build a rather nice marine sciences facility on the coast where we enjoy offices that can see the sun rise and set over the water. My administrative run only lasted to the next dean, and I'm grateful for both the experience and the limited sentence. There is no better position in academia than that of tenured full professor without administrative duties, unless perhaps it is to be a post-doc. My team here in NC manages the health care of a major zoo, three large display aquariums, a very large museum, a sea turtle hospital as well as providing the marine mammal and sea turtle stranding response for the state and a large portion of the wildlife health needs for the state. My research is a bit scat-tered with habitat health risk assessment on one side (I have chaired the red wolf recovery implementation team for a decade and have worked on many endangered species efforts) and what can probably best be described as eco-logical metabonomics, using a variety of very fancy expensive toys, some of which I get to build with my engineering buddies. I do a lot of writing, a lot of teaching and a lot of mentoring. Boredom has not been an issue. I have traveled many places, primarily for work and enjoy friends around the world. I have yet to make it to the Antarctic or Australia which will need to be cor-rected before too long. I have, and continue to, work with the widest range of species, from mountain gorillas and elephants to jellyfish and cock-roaches, I find them all fascinating. I am impressed to see how many of our class have been or are state veterinarians, a tough job I would never be suited to, and I enjoy seeing many of my classmates have discovered the joys of working with wildlife species. If I or my group can be of help to any of you, don't hesitate to ask.”

“Most of you are probably not aware that I have long been involved in art. Prior to vet school I illustrated a biology text and during my time as faculty at Johns Hopkins I was privileged to have 22 masters students in Art as Ap-plied to Medicine complete their thesis with me. They have gone on to great careers as illustrators and fine artists. I haven't created as much creative time as I would have liked over the years at NCSU, but in the past several years have been doing a better job. I have to admit to spending a great deal more time building studios and workshops than actually creating art to date, but that has also been a creative process. I maintain a studio in Apex and work-shops there and at the coast. I do some wood carving, turning and intarsia, which I find both enjoyable and at times challenging. Studio work has been largely pen and ink and watercolors though I am thinking about getting back to oils. My lovely spouse of 29 years is a talented scientist, clinician and rather too good of a cook, which combined with a lack of willpower on my part makes it necessary for me to keep pretty active on our farm just to keep from becoming totally rotund. A farm out east isn't quite the same as we would think of one in Colorado. The scale is much smaller and my crops are timber and fish. It is a far cry from dry land wheat thank goodness. My wife Suzanne is an accomplished singer of opera and musical theater and tries rather diligently to pry me from my studio and insert a modicum of cul-ture into my life.

I always make her performances, even many times when the show has a long run, but there is just too much to do and see in an area where three universi-ties and three cities try to compete for being “cultural centers”. We must be having a great deal of fun because time is flying by. There never seems to be enough of it. If any of you have perfected a means to be at least two places at once, be sure to let me in on the method. My plethora of hobbies , from kayaking to gardening are all neglected to some degree, a situation that will never be corrected, I am sure. Without children of our own, we are regularly surprised by the maturation of those of our friends and we live in a sort of comfortable time warp with only occasional interactions with reality. This is a situation I highly recommend. Clearly it would be good to be there with you all and catch up on your exploits in detail. Unfortunately once the se-mester starts life gets a bit tighter here for me, particularly because most of my lectures and labs are early in the semester. I am glad you are having the reunion back in Fort Collins. I have not been there in a long time and am sure it has changed a great deal. Hopefully if any of you find yourselves in North Carolina you will take advantage of having a classmate here. I'd be happy to give you a tour of the other “CSU” - NCSU, that is!”

“I remember Dr. Bay from Anatomy and much of the life advice he gave us from his years in practice. I pass quite a bit of that on to our next generations of veterinarians. I remember several interactions with Dr. Adams, and one rather arrogant resident, but not really fondly.

My adventures in politics coming up against Dr. Gorman on the issue of live mascots at games were early indications of my unsuitability for academic life as it is traditionally interpreted. I remember the challenging times we gave to the poor first intern class as seniors by having far more clinical experience than they had enjoyed in their own schools. My time with Pat Chase and Bruce Heath and what I learned from both of them, as well as from Terry Spraker and Dr. Hibler and the support for me to try untried approaches to problems, I remember well. Conversations over surgery with Dr. Smith and the hot, uncomfortable classroom over the clinic where we were expected to be rather than in clinics in late afternoons also come to mind.”

“My wife and I share a purpose in life to make the world a better place for wildlife with wildlife defined with a broad brush. Somewhere along the line I signed up on a crusade with her to try to bring environmental and wildlife health issues closer to the center of veterinary medicine and affect veterinary education in a positive way. That has proven even more challenging. We have both won important awards, but perhaps my favorite is when I was duped into thinking that Suzanne was getting the top national/international award for a clinician in our discipline, the Dolensek Award, just to con me into attending the meeting where it was presented. The award was nice of course, but nicer was that my friends went to so much trouble to successfully get me there without the slightest clue I would be the recipient. They got me good.

I'm very proud of the team I have assembled here at NCSU, all very gifted and all committed to our mission, which many have been a part of for over 20 years. Each resident and graduate student successfully finishing is of course exciting and memorable and I find that when they garner honors and awards I am very proud of them and in a little way of myself for helping get them there. Personally, I still am rather challenged at separating my profes-sional and personal lives, but without a doubt I enjoy the puzzlement that people often rudely express as to why a beautiful lady like Suzanne would commit herself to share her life with me. I really enjoy being lucky. Cer-tainly working with endangered and amazing species on a routine basis is wonderful but so are all the other facets of my life. I am probably most valu-able bridging disciplines and paradigms and take pride in being able to do that. The secret to my teaching has been to find brilliant motivated students and that work will certainly make my largest mark on the future.”

“We suffer no set age limit for retirement as ordinary faculty at NCSU and enjoy considerable freedom to order our own lives, so I really do not expect to ever retire. I enjoy what I do and am not obligated to do much that I don't enjoy and I certainly determine myself what I want to do. I have reached a point in life where basically something has to be very important or likely very enjoyable for me to take it on. That is a nice place to be. Many friends are retiring and I miss them. We have recently renovated our house here in Apex to better accommodate our future increptitude.

Happily that is still a theoretical state but we know it is coming. We have developed a plan where we will stay here, continue to warp the minds of young veterinarians, and visit our many friends in the many wonderful places where they are retiring to take advantage of their hospitality and see interest-ing places without the obligation of moving there. Hopefully they and you will visit us as well.”

Bob Thompson is a small animal practitioner. His wife of 46 years, Sue, is a medical transcriptionist. They have three daughters, aged 30 to 45, and five grandchildren, aged 2 to 22.

Bob spent 15 years as a mixed animal practitioner, and then 20 years as a small animal practitioner with some occasional transgression to horses or ruminants. He has served over 15 years on the executive board of the state association and four years through the officer chairs. He has served ten years on the local humane society board.

Bob was a soccer referee and coach for 20 years (with two artificial knees from chasing high school kids all over the fields). He has a HAM radio li-cense. His family still enjoys family camping trips. His hobby is photogra-phy.

Bob’s most memorable events from vet school come from working in sur-gery with OR Adams and Ted Stashek. “Lots of stories…” He also remem-bers having small animal reception call him out of class to receive a bottle of Cold Duck Wine from a client whose duck he had “saved” the previous night.

Bob’s most valued career accomplishment is being a part of the State Asso-ciation (Washington State VMA), and it’s political action committee.

“Since all three of my children’s families are local, I will retire in We-natchee. My oldest grandson is a mechanical engineer and my youngest just turned two. Lots of grand parenting yet to do.”

Jim Tilley is a relief veterinarian and a fishing guide. Spouse: “Not a chance.” Children: “Zero”. Grandchildren: “Frightening thought!”

Jim’s hobbies are fly fishing and geocaching. His most memorable event from vet school is the time spent on the Vet Floor at Ellis Hall. His most valued career accomplishment is building a successful practice from the ground up, after that, serving in the AAHA leadership for many years.

“What is the greatest accomplishment outside the profession? Getting a Coast Guard Captain’s license and guiding fishermen in the Alaskan bush at a wilderness fishing tent camp, which I have done for 8 summers.”

Tom Venard is the owner and slave of the Gunnison Veterinary Clinic. His wife, Polly, is a house slave. They have five children: Dusty, Brooke, Jamee, Hud, and Sur. They have eight grandchildren aged 12, 11, 10, 8, 8, 6, and1.

Tom retired from the Vet Corp in the army in June of 1991 and bought the GVC, which has a 70 dog boarding kennel. His daughter runs the kennel, the office, a small retail business in the small animal clinic, and Tom himself! “I work in the clinic four days a week and do family practice. I don’t have an x-ray machine. J”

Tom and Polly shared their 40th wedding anniversary this June. They are active in church activities, enjoy rafting, fishing, 4-wheeling, and camping either just the two “of us codgers” or with their grandchildren. “Polly says that I also watch too much sports on TV.”

Tom’s most memorable event from vet school was that he was able to gradu-ate. His most valued accomplishments are being able to live and play in one of the most beautiful places in the world after having traveled all over the world, having three of five children and seven of eight grandchildren living and working in Gunnison and being just as proud of his sons and their fami-lies living in Denver and Montana.

“Retirement is a state of mind. I retired from the U.S. Army 20 years ago. I get up in the morning and do what I feel like – work as a veterinarian, build a garden plot, go rafting, go fishing, or walk the dogs. Maybe even design and build our dream home. I’ve been retired my entire life!” Jeff Warren is a mostly equine large animal practitioner.. He has three children, Sarah – 35, Rachel – 33, and Molly – 29.

Jeff runs a busy large animal practice with a lot of good friends in a beautiful environment. “That in itself makes daily life very enjoyable.”

“Carol and I got a divorce in 2006. We had to sell our place, which had a nice little large animal clinic. I’m happily poor now. My significant other is Jennifer Kowalski. She is also an equine veterinarian. We share calls with one other veterinarian, so we get to spend one weekend out of three playing together.” Jeff and Jennifer are both enthusiastic bicycle riders. They have done numerous century rides, raced in several events, and ridden together in Italy. They also pack and ride mules in some of the most beautiful country there is. They have packed in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. “My three daughters live in the Durango area, and I make dinner for them and their boyfriends every Sunday that Jen and I do not have off together. We have lots of good times together. I still bike ride with my daughters, and occasion-ally Jen and I take them and their boyfriends on pack trips.”

Jeff’s most memorable event from vet school was having Dr. Kainer refer to one of his answers to a test question as “gobbledygook”. Also, Dr. Park woke him up from a nap during a 2x2 slide presentation on cartilage matura-tion and saying, “This is not that important, but it is so interesting.” Another memory is having Dr. Adams tell him he was trying to make a circus of the school, when he was trying to give a stallion his 35th injection of penicillin. “All of vet school was huge for me.”

“I am happy that I have served a community, provided useful help in both good and difficult conditions, and am relied on to continue to do so for many years.” Jeff’s most valued personal accomplishment is having won his age group in the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.

“I’ll have maintenance and mortgage payment for forever, so I’m not sure if retirement will come before death. But I do have a goal. I would like to own a small piece of land free and clear, and build a very small cabin by myself, and liver there to the end. I would like my daughters to continue to come over for as many Sunday dinners as they can, and I would like to continue to ride a bicycle and mules with Jen.”

Elayne Williams is a small animal veterinarian in Fort Collins, Colorado. She has three daughters, Torie – 33, and Mindy and Shelby – 31. She also has four grand-daughters, Samantha – 4, Avery – 4, Addison – 2, and Kend-all – 1.

Elayne owns her practice. About 10 years ago, she added “holistic” treat-ments such as acupuncture and chiropractics. Elayne summarizes her life as married, work, kids, work, divorced, work, mom, work, work, grandma, and more work.

Elayne was married in vet school, had Torie in 1977 and twins, Mindy and Shelby, in 1979. She was divorced in 1983 and has stayed that way. Besides her family, Elayne enjoys scuba diving, golf, and badminton.

“I’m a bad girl – bad memory and don’t write stuff down. All the guys still talk about Dr. Benjamin’s pathology class when we were learning to do uri-nalysis and they put horse semen in my urine when my back was turned!!”

Elayne’s most valued career accomplishment is the fact that after 35 years, she still enjoys what she does – helping folks with their critters. “I’m an old fashioned critter general practitioner. I’m a ‘dinosaur’ in some ways, but feel like I keep up with current medicine and try to educate clients and give them choices.”

Elayne plans to work until she physically has problems. “I may decrease hours, but I need to work to keep out of trouble, and it’s fun! I know, I’m weird!”

Gary Yocham is a practitioner in Phoenix, Arizona. His wife, Bonnie, is a retired school teacher. They have two children, Sean – 42, who works for the Finance Department of CVS, and Amanda – 32, who is an attorney in Austin, Texas. They have three grandchildren, Jake – 19, Cecilia – 18, and Marissa – 15.

After vet school, Gary worked in Tucson with Sonny Nunn for two years, and then returned home to Phoenix where he’s been for the past 33 years. Gary’s professional career consists of 35 uninterrupted years of small animal medicine and surgery. “Whew!” Gary and Bonnie just celebrated their 45th anniversary. They’ve done some traveling and hope to do more in the com-ing years.

Gary’s best memories of vet school are the friendships made and the good times spent together. “I remember the hayrides we had when we lived on that ranch out east of town. There were also some trips to Cheyenne and Bruce’s Bar and Grill.” Gary’s most valued accomplishment is the fact that Bonnie says she still loves him.

There are no plans for retirement. “I plan on traveling and waiting for the little men in the white coats.” Darwin Yoder was in private practice for 19 years after graduation. He then went to work as a Technical Services DVM for Pfizer Animal Health from 1994 to 2001. He has been a Professor at Sul Ross State University in the Department of Animal Science since 2001. He will retire in 2011. “I have ranches in Nebraska and Idaho, and will be managing those after retire-ment. Additionally, I will continue my consulting business.”

Notes from Classmates

I am unable to attend this reunion because all my brothers and sons had already planned a fish-ing trip to Kodiak, Alaska. We are in search of Halibut, Salmon, and Bears, in that order. I would like to extend warm wishes to all for a safe and fun reunion. Hope to see you all in 2015! God bless all of you!

Brian Golden

The most recent ‘total knee’ is slow to recover and will prevent his attending the reunion. Please forgive me. I’ll miss the encounter mo-ment on Friday evening when the ‘reality show’ begins. I’m forwarding some left over copies of our “Hang in There Baby” yearbook. These items of history and memories could be sold to the highest classmate “bidders”. The funds then do-nated to a deserving pre-vet student with eco-nomic “woes”. The Friday night MC, Guy Pidgeon, would be great at raising the most money. Look-ing forward to post reunion reports. Again, forgive me.

Chuck McKinney

Index

A

B Bagley, Richard Barr, Robert Bennett, Bill Bernreuter, Deborah Bjornsen, Barry Black, David Brown, Kathleen Brown, Kenneth

C Coffman, Leroy Coleman, Charles Crabtree, Philip

D Diegmann, Beverly Dewhirst, Mark

E Egger, Erick

F Finley, Michael Friend, William

G Goeldner, Dean Golden, Brian Green, David

H Hayes, Gregory Hess, John Hill, Tom Hill, Douglas Hill, Kenneth Hoge, Michael Holechek, Tommy Hoover, John

Page

8 8 9

10 11

12

13 13

14

15

16

17 18

19 19

21

21

Page

23

24 24 24 25 26

27 27 28 28

29 29 30 31 31

32

32 33

34 35

I

J Johnson, Clinton

K

L Larsen, David Latham, James Latham, Patricia Logan, Jim Lundock, Rodney

M Marrinan, Michael Marshall, Michael Maulsby, John McKinney, Charles McManus, John Meikle, Russell Metzger, Dawn Miller, Theresa Montgomery, Ken Morrison, Jim Murphy, Douglas

N Nugent, Terry Nunn, James

O Oberg, Carl “Bill” Opferman, Regis Orton, Charles Otto, Art

P Pallaoro, Gary Pidgeon, Guy Pruyn, Minott

Q

R Raisbeck, Merl Ratterree, Jerry Richardson, Barry Ruoff, Lynn S Schneberger, Don Sharp, Roddy Shoemaker, David Sievers, David Sitzman, Clarence Smialek, Dennis Smith, William Stoskopf, Michael Sylwester, John T Thompson, Robert Tilley, James U V Venard, Thomas W Walpole, Kent Warren, Jeffrey Williams, Elayne Wonderlich, Lyle X Y Yocham, Gary Yoder, Darwin Z Zoellner, Steven

Page

36

37 38

38

39

39

43 43

44

44 45

46 46

Index

Betsy Milek is the daughter of Jim and Stephanie Logan. She is an administrative assistant for the Wyoming Livestock Board in Riverton, Wyoming. Her husband, Josh, is the shop foreman for the Wyoming State Parks and Trails Snowmobile Program. They have two children, Logan – 2, and Evelyn – 1.

Betsy doesn’t get much free time between babies, work, and school, but when she does get time to herself, she enjoys reading, playing the piano, and designing her dream home. Betsy is studying Business Administration through the University of Wyoming. She would ultimately like to get her MBA.

Class of 1975 Career Life Updates - College of Veterinary Medicine

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Transcript of Class of 1975 Career Life Updates - College of Veterinary Medicine