Notes from the Class of 1972

After working for the Chemithon Corporation, an industrial gas supplier in Seattle, Wash., for 38.5 years, Brian W. MacArthur (ChemEngr) retired last August. Following his retirement, he vacationed in Maui.

Gunnison Forever Buffs chapter leader Jim Gelwicks (CommThtr) was elected mayor of Gunnison, Colo. Jim worked as general manager of KWSB, the Western State Colorado University radio station, for 14 years. Previously he worked as a professor at Florida State University. In June, he attended a CU event in Gunnison during the Chancellor's annual road tour. Olympian Emma Coburn (Mktg’13) also attended.

Over Labor Day weekend, the CU Men’s Rugby Club celebrated its 50th anniversary with an alumni reunion in Boulder. The weekend’s highlight was a match pitting alumni against current CU players. About 40 alumni from all five decades played in the match, including David Bennet (DistSt), who played for CU in the spring of 1969. Read more here. Planning for the next rugby reunion, in 2018, has already begun. Email curugby@colorado.edu for details.

Timm Fautsko (MSoc) was inducted into the 2017 Athletic Wall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, for meritorious service by Walsh University. Timm, a four-year varsity basketball letterman from ’63-’67, belongs to Walsh’s 30-point club, was named outstanding alumnus in 1987, and serves as a trustee at the university. 

Jake Shepley (Econ’72) recently celebrated the birth of his third grandchild. He writes that he’s still active as a commercial real estate broker and has started playing paddle tennis. “Life is good!” he writes. Jake lives in St. Louis with wife Carole.

In May 2019, Gail Nelson (MPolSci; PhD’79) lectured to an audience of retired intelligence officers on the importance of geo-political area studies. Over the past four decades, Gail has worked in U.S. national security and intelligence in Europe, South Asia and the Middle East. He lives in Boulder. 

Barbara Valent (Chem; PhD’78) was elected to the National Academy of Sciences for her study of wheat blast disease at Kansas State University. Wheat blast is a fungus capable of destroying entire fields that has been found in low and middle income countries around the world, where wheat is often the primary source of protein. Barbara has led a research team that has studied how the fungus works, which can help with containment and keep it from spreading to the U.S.

In April, Steven Gardner’s (PreMed) book, Jabberwocky: Lessons of Love from a Boy Who Never Spoke, was released on Amazon. His story chronicles the life-changing experience that Steven and his son Graham, who had cerebral palsy and died at age 22, had at a “magical summer camp for kids with disabilities...where hope flourishes and playfulness prevails.” Steven is an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Artist Barbara Takenaga (Art’72; MFA’78) creates swirling, kaleidoscopic abstract paintings through use of acrylic paint. Barbara received a 2020 Guggenheim fellowship and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honors society that promotes excellence in the arts. Both her independent and group work has been exhibited throughout the country, including in New York, Colorado, California and Maine. Her work was last exhibited at the Robischon Gallery in lower downtown Denver. She lives in New York City. 

Tired of observing the expansive litter problem on Oklahoma’s Interstate 40, “Super Doc” Brad Garber (Bio’72) decided to become part of the solution. Every Friday, Garber leaves his city job as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and heads to his family farm in the country. There, he dons his red hat, yellow-and-orange vest, 55-gallon black bag and pincher robotic tool to pick up trash along Interstate 40 and US Highway 75 South. His motto for the area is “The cleanest, greenest exit on eastbound I-40 coast to coast.” He lives in Tulsa.

In the fall of 1968 in the Kittredge Commons, long-lasting friendships developed between Mike McCabe (RealEst’72), Dan Eberhart (Edu’76), Lloyd Davis (Anth’72) and Paul Turner (Soc’74), along with Cory Siegel and Kevin Lee. They banded together in a faux fraternity they dubbed the “WEW” — “West East’s Wing of Arnett Hall.” After a long separation, in the early 2000s they found out that all except Paul (who lives in Portland) once again lived in the Denver-Boulder area. WEW began getting together regularly to rehash campus memories, analyze Buffalo athletics and discuss the state of world affairs.

In the fall of 1968 in the Kittredge Commons, long-lasting friendships developed between Mike McCabe (RealEst’72), Dan Eberhart (Edu’76), Lloyd Davis (Anth’72) and Paul Turner (Soc’74), along with Cory Siegel and Kevin Lee. They banded together in a faux fraternity they dubbed the “WEW” — “West East’s Wing of Arnett Hall.” After a long separation, in the early 2000s they found out that all except Paul (who lives in Portland) once again lived in the Denver-Boulder area. WEW began getting together regularly to rehash campus memories, analyze Buffalo athletics and discuss the state of world affairs.

Distinguished professor of political science at Lehigh University Laura Katz Olson (MPolSci’72; PhD’74) is the author of Ethically Challenged: Private Equity Storms Healthcare, published last year by John Hopkins University Press. Recipient of the 2022 North American Book Award and the 2023 Axiom Best Business Book Award, Ethically Challenged examines the private equity industry’s impact on our health-care system. With a focus on cost and quality of care, Laura investigates the industry’s tactics, including piling debt on investment targets and heavily charging enterprises with fees while collecting dividends for themselves. Laura has been a Social Security administration scholar, a Gerontological Fellow, a Fulbright Scholar and a recipient of the Charles A. McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association.

In September, George Pierce (Psych’72) joined New York-based law firm Zeichner Ellman & Krause as special counsel. He previously served as general counsel and chief legal officer of Toyota Tsusho America and has experience in providing legal services related to complex litigation, corporate governance, labor and employment, bankruptcy, international trade, regulatory compliance and cyber security matters. 

For their 50th wedding anniversary, Robert Taunt (PolSci’72) and Leanna Olson-Taunt (Psych’73) took a nostalgic trip to the CU Boulder campus in May 2023. They visited their old residence, Kittredge Commons, where they met during their time at CU. “There are so many changes, yet the old campus feeling was still there,” Robert wrote. Leanna is retired from teaching psychology and serving as the general studies department head at Western Technical College in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the couple lives. In 2022, Robert published a two-volume book, The War Eagle Years, Steamboating on the Upper Mississippi River 1854-1870, which tells the history of the steamboat “War Eagle," a well-known boat of the 1860s that burned and sank in 1870 and still lies on the river bottom in La Crosse. Robert retired in 2014 as county personnel director with La Crosse County after 30 years.