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1980-89

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1980

Neil L. Abramson was promoted to director of customer service at F4W Inc. in Lake Mary, FL, in January 2011.

81

Joe Coomer’s 1992 novel, The Loop, is now a feature film. “A Bird of the Air” premiered in Dallas in October.
John D. Duncan is vice president of development for The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce. He and the former Melanie Swanson ’84 have been married 25 years and have two daughters.
Paul Koning announces the opening of Koning Rubarts LLP and his concentration in professional liability defense and complex commercial litigation. He was with Hughes & Luce/K&L Gates for 29 years.

82

Caralyn Wehlitz Bushey is an ESL instructor and student services coordinator at the Maryland English Institute at the University of Maryland.

83

J. Alan Davis is a theatre producer in London’s West End and last summer co-produced “Being Shakespeare.”
Louis Murad is the owner of Murad Auction Group in Richardson and a full-time professional, licensed auctioneer. He helps nonprofit organizations raise money by holding live and silent auctions and educates development directors and auction chairs on how to have a successful event. He and his wife, Claire, own a subsidiary company, Auction & Event Solutions, providing turnkey solutions for auctions.
Col. Mike Schwamm retired from the U.S. Air Force after serving 26 years. Now a pilot for Southwest Airlines, he lives in Las Vegas.

84

Tyrone Gordon is senior pastor of the 6,000-member St. Luke Community United Methodist Church, one of the oldest of Dallas’ mega-churches.
Paulara Hawkins has a new ebook available on Amazon, Talk That Talk, under the name P.R. Hawkins.

85

Anthony Helm became head of digital media and library technologies at the Dartmouth College Library in March 2011.
ArLena Richardson gave the graduate commencement address to the Class of 2011 at Western International University in Phoenix.
Elena Rohweder is on the board of the Dallas International Association of Business Communicators and co-chairs the Quill Awards.
Patty Sullivan joined MoneyGram International in January 2011 as senior vice president of communications.
Rick Whittlesey runs a nonprofit organization, Go Nigeria, that provides food, care and education to orphans, widows and others in need in Nigeria. As reported by Carrie Slaughter-Whittlesey ’98, the organization held a fundraiser in Dallas last June to build a school for Nigerian orphans.

86

Todd Boulanger is back in the U.S. after managing Alta Planning & Design’s pedestrian safety action plan for the Abu Dhabi Department of Transportation. Now he works with small cities in Oregon on their streets and transportation plans and continues his longtime work as a board director of Bikestation, which provides and designs bicycle parking hubs throughout the U.S. He is celebrating his 23rd year without owning a car.
Dorree Remont Colson and her husband, Michael, have two sons: Walker Rheed, born May 12, 2009, and Daniel, 7. The Colsons live in Houston.
Michael Hudak is a private wealth advisor for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Phoenix, listed on “America’s Top 1,000 Advisors” in the Feb. 21, 2011, issue of Barron’s magazine. He ranked fourth among the 25 advisors in Barron’s Arizona Top Advisor list. This is the third consecutive year he has been so recognized.
Amy Martin is founder and creative director of Winter SolstiCelebration, a fusion of seasonal service, performing arts and musical theater. In her online newsletter Moonlady News, she reports on nonmainstream spirituality; environment; holistic, metaphysic mind-body movement; personal growth; and progressive causes in North Texas.
Jeffrey L. Weinstein of Athens, TX, is a new member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, trial lawyers who have won million- and multimillion-dollar verdicts, awards and settlements. He represents victims of drunk driving, distracted driving and texting and cell phone usage.

87

Brant Bernet is co-founder and managing director of Lincoln Rackhouse. On June 14, 2011, he posted a blog at realpoints.dmagazine.com on the maturation of the data center business.
Brad D’Amico practices securities and oil and gas law at the Fort Worth and Dallas law firm Cantey Hanger LLP.
Kimberly Nelson-Olszewski is a partner and branch manager of RPM Mortgage Inc. in Santa Monica, CA.
The Rev. Rita Sims conducted her first service June 12, 2011, as pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Rockdale, TX. She is enrolled in the doctoral program at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

88

Rod Pipinich (D.Eng. ’92) and his wife, Missy, celebrated the birth of a third daughter, Alexandra.

89

The Rev. Elaine Bussey has been appointed pastor of Friendship United Methodist Church in Sherman, TX. She has two daughters and five grandchildren.
D’Ann Delp Mateer, writing under the name Anne Mateer, has written a fifth novel, Wings of a Dream (Bethany House Publishers, 2011), and is working on a second historical novel. She and her husband, Jeff Mateer ’90, have three children and live in Rockwall, TX.

2 replies on “1980-89”

Submitted on 2012/04/29 at 10:42 pm
Paul Carney, ’80, received the 2012 Educator of the Year Award from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. Carney, a college English instructor, is nationally recognized for his work on college readiness for writing. He is the developer and coordinator of Ready or Not Writing, an online writing assessment program that invites high school students to submit their writing electronically to college English instructors for feedback and support. He also is the creator of Roadside Poetry, a public arts project that celebrates the personal pulse of poetry in the rural landscape. He lives on an 8-acre hobby farm in Underwood, MN, population 361.
– Ready or Not Writing: https://www.centerforcollegereadiness.org/readyornotwriting/
– Roadside Poetry: http://www.roadsidepoetry.org
PS. I loved my SMU experience!

Submitted on 2012/04/09 at 11:56 am
I received my SMU Reunion letter today. We will be attending the 2102, 30 year reunion; and look
forward to being there. I haven’t been to Dallas in a long time, and haven’t actually seen my friends since
1987. Look forward to seeing my classmates.
Sincerely,
Bob Cheek

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