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THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SAINT MARY FALL 2012 Harmony USM’s Music Faculty Work Together to Restore the Music Major FALL 2012 Administrative Council a letter from Sr. Diane Steele, SCL, Ph.D., C’83 President Bryan Le Beau, Ph.D. the president Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Dale L. Culver Dear Alumni and Friends, Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services Music has always been part of our heritage. Among the many bags and Jennifer L. Daly bundles the sisters carted up the Missouri to our new home in Leavenworth over Vice President for Development 154 years ago were two guitars and a harp. The harp is still with us, a permanent and Alumni Affairs reminder of how music feeds the spirit, particularly, our spirit. Whenever the Laura Davis sisters gather—whether for prayer, celebration or fun—you can be assured that Vice President of Marketing and music will be involved. The sisters’ love of music has been institutionalized in their Communications founding mission, Saint Mary. Wendi Santee, Ed.D. Vice President for Student Life The halls of Saint Mary are often echoing with music as the bell choir, the chorale, the band, and individual students develop their God-given potential as Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth musicians. We who were not given the gifts of music are the grateful recipients Corporation Members of their music. Over the years, our students have been blessed with outstanding Sr. Maureen Hall, SCL, C’70 faculty—Sr. Rose Tomlin, C’34, Sr. Anne Callahan, C’59, and Sr. Dominique Community Director Long, C’47 among others. The tradition of helping students realize their Sr. Nancy Bauman, SCL, C’70 God-given talent continues under the devoted care of Dr. William Krusemark Sr. Eileen Haynes, SCL, C’77 and Professor Freda Proctor. Sr. Eileen Hurley, SCL, C’71 Both Bill and Freda are celebrating major milestones this year. Bill has taught Sr. Jean Anne Panisko, SCL, C’69 at Saint Mary for 35 years, and Freda for 25. Together, they have 60 years of Sr. Peg Johnson, SCL, C’71 teaching, mentoring, and training musicians. With their passion and dedication, Saint Mary has been able to re-launch the music major. Board of Trustees This reinstatement of the music major and our McGilley Endowed Chair in *Charles Berkel *Mary Alice Bramming, C’65 Liberal Studies underscores USM’s commitment to the liberal arts. Yes, we are *Ken Karr educating more nurses, physical therapists, and health information managers, but Joseph Snyder, Chair all of our students leave here able to think and write creatively and critically with John Baker an expansive vision of what is possible and a deep compassion for what is. For the Sr. Nancy Bauman, SCL, C’70 noble task of forming the human spirit and training the human mind still remains Kenneth Blum best done in the liberal arts. Gideon Brown L. Joseph Contrucci, C’94 Rolland Dessert Col. (Ret.) Stanley Evans Peace and blessings to you, Kathleen Fogarty, C’82 Sr. Maureen Hall, SCL, C’70 John Kornitzer Susanna Laundy Ken Mellard Diane Steele, SCL, Ph.D., C’83 Cathy Newton, C’70 Sr. Jean Ann Panisko, SCL, C’69 Michelle Piranio, C’81 On the Cover: Sr. Diane Steele, SCL, C’83 This edition’s cover focuses on Saint Mary John Starr faculty members Dr. Bill Krusemark and Freda William Trenkle Frederick Tromans Proctor, the driving forces behind the USM music Dr. Peter Wong program. And in the background? The Saint Mary School Song, of course! *Trustees Emeritus contents 2 2 | ‘She Taught us How to Care’ Friends and Students of Sr. Mary Erwin Baker Remember the Beloved and Brave Teacher 4 | View from the Spire ‘Best Midwestern’ and ‘Military-Friendly’ 4 Honors • DPT Dedication • New Trustees • 2012 Spires Athletic Hall of Fame Induction • Winter Sports Schedule 8 | Reviving a Classic USM Re-Launches the Music Major • Saint Mary Music Alums Offer Reflections 8 14 | Alumni Corner Class Notes • In Memoriam • Alumni Chapter News • Homecoming • A Call for Class Ambassadors • Events Calendar for your reference Class Codes A - Academy U - University The Aspire is published for the friends and alumni of the C - College M - Master’s Degree University of Saint Mary in the spring, summer, fall, and winter, including the Honor Roll of Donors, by the office of Marketing, 4100 South 4th Street, Leavenworth, KS 66048, (913) 758-6165. Please send all alumni news items, MISSION STATEMENT such as a marriage, birth, death, new job, promotion, award, The University of Saint Mary educates students of diverse additional degree, etc., to the attention of: Alumni Relations backgrounds to realize their God-given potential and at 4100 South 4th Street, Leavenworth, KS 66048, prepares them for value-centered lives and careers that (913) 758-6137 or [email protected]. Please remember to contribute to the well being of our global society. include your class year, address, and phone number. We value: community, respect, justice, and excellence. Fall 2012 | 1 For Faculty, Students, and Friends of Saint Mary, the Passing of Sr. Mary Erwin Baker, C’63, Leaves a Great Void in the University Community. But Those Who Knew Her and Worked with Her Are Also Left With Some Remarkable Memories. r. Mary Erwin Baker lived the first decades of her life “She was very good at working with students who were boldly—delving into the latest in technology, always having a hard time with math, and she was ever so patient pushing her students to excel, and traveling to new with them if they would put in the effort to get better,” Sr. locales with gusto. She lived the final few years in the Wood said. “She had no use for someone who wanted you to same spirit, displaying a courage that few may ever know. do the work for them. But she loved to give people confidence Sr. Mary Erwin passed away on Sept. 24 at the age of 77, in themselves to discover their potential and succeed— after a hard-fought struggle with neurodegenerative ataxia, an especially those who at first thought they couldn’t.” incurable condition that relentlessly attacks the brain’s ability Sr. Mary Erwin’s friends remember her as an avid reader to control the body’s motor functions. Despite the grave and lover of classical music. She had a decided taste for the nature of the condition, Sr. Mary Erwin took it on more as a high tech, and helped introduce the first personal computers problem to be solved than a source of fear and despair. to the Saint Mary campus. “She always said that she approached it as a challenge, as a Sr. Mary Erwin, with Sr. Wood at her side, was puzzle,” said Sr. Kathleen Wood, C’70, and a long-time friend diagnosed with ataxia in 2001. What happened in the years of Sr. Mary Erwin. “Her math and science and observation that followed helped cement the popular teacher as a Saint skills served her well in both trying to continue to teach us Mary legend. Following her diagnosis, Sr. Mary Erwin to make things more accessible and to help her be active and became something of a fixture in several of the USM nursing involved much longer than one might have expected... program’s classes, particularly the end-of-life classes—not as a “Each morning, she’d be aware of what skills she might formal instructor, but as the subject. not be able to do quite as quickly or as well, and she’d try to Kathy Ducey, an associate professor in USM’s nursing find a way to work things so she could go about her day.” program and a 1990 Saint Mary grad and former student of Sr. Mary Erwin, born Marlene Anne Baker, answered her Sr. Mary Erwin’s, started the process. religious calling while enrolled at Saint Mary College, making “She was one of the first people I bumped into when I her profession of vows as a Sister of Charity in 1955. She went came back as a faculty member in 2006, and we renewed our on to establish herself as a dynamic, dedicated, and whip- friendship,” Prof. Ducey said. “She had ataxia at that time, smart educator, teaching students at every level from grade and I told her we were starting the nursing program. She told school to high school to college during a career that took her me I want to talk to the students.” from Kansas and Missouri to Colorado and back. Math was Prof. Ducey said Sr. Mary Erwin became the nursing her specialty, and a great love. department’s first patient. 2 | Aspire “Our students would move her, from the “Once her condition of ataxia was diagnosed, she scooter to the chair to the bed… She’d just giggle extensively researched the causes and effects of the condition through the whole thing,” she said. “She’d come for herself and others afflicted,” said friend Sr. Mary Pat and give talks to the classes and give them advice, Lenahan, C’70. “She sought ways to prepare for the personal tell them things to do, what worked, what didn’t. toll the condition would exact by looking at ways that “It was a phenomenal experience for the technology could better serve those who would need ways students, and for me,” Prof. Ducey said. “You to communicate as it would become more difficult with the rarely find people willing to speak so openly.” progression of the condition.” One student, Jackie Asherman, U’08, said Sr.

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