Bios Since LHS (A-F) (G-M) (N-Z)

Stan E and Elaine (Longseth) Oetkin

After graduation from LHS, I attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I received a B, S. degree in Mathematics in 1970. Elaine Longseth and I were married in September 1969, just before my senior year at Wake Forest. She deferred her senior year at University of Northern Colorado and worked at various jobs in Winston-Salem while I
finished. After graduation from Wake Forest in 1970, we decided to move to Greeley so she could finish her degree. She graduated with a degree in Elementary Education in August 1971. I waited for the draft board to make up its mind and in March 1972, I was classified as 2-H and would only be drafted in the event of a national emergency. So – I went looking for a career. As only insurance companies seemed to be hiring, I was offered a position as a commercial underwriter trainee at the Insurance Company of North America in their Denver Branch. I started there in April 1972 and was with them for four years. In 1976, I joined an
insurance brokerage in Denver and have been involved in various insurance related positions ever since. In 2005, I achieved my Master’s Degree online from Boston University and Elaine and I went to Boston for Commencement. Currently, I am a Senior Vice president at Marsh USA Inc. in Denver and service a variety of large commercial clients including Auschwitz Company, Kaiser-Hill Company, City & County of Denver, and Wild Oats among others.
Elaine received her Bachelor’s Degree in elementary education from UNC in August 1971. She taught school in Greeley for a short time before we moved to Denver, then held a variety of jobs until our first son, Colin, was born in January 1974. Our second son, Kirk was born in November 1976 and our daughter, Kristin, was born in May 1981. Colin received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas and now is a Field Application Engineer with Avnet, living in Phoenix. He and his wife, Sarah, have one daughter, Bronwyn, who was born in May 2004. Kirk received his bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies from Azusa Pacific University and did attend seminary for a period of time. However, he is now involved in a start-up company that provide payroll services to small
employers in Brea, California. His wife, Rachel, is a curriculum specialist with the Anaheim School District and they have two children, Joe, born in January 1999, and Kara, born in
April 2000. Kristin received her B.A. in Psychology from UNC in 2003 and now is a
Teaching Assistant at Flatiron Charter School working with teenagers that have special needs. She is planning to be married on October 7th in Longmont. My folks sold the Longmont Dairy Queen in 1974 and moved to Estes Park, where they lived for 20 years. They then moved to Sun City, Arizona, where they lived until my dad died in June 2002. My mom stayed there until she moved to Greeley in April 2006 to be closer to my brother, Larry and my sister, Melody.
Elaine and I currently live in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Linda (Olivas) Mosness

Graduated from University of Colorado in 1971 with a BS in Medical Technology. Lived in Denver from 1971-1983. Worked as a Bench Tech, then Supervisor, then Lab Manager at the Rocky Mountain Hospital for 12 years. In 1983 moved to Eaton, CO where I still live. Worked as a Bench Tech then Chief Tech at Greeley Memorial Hospital for 4 years. In 1987 went to work at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley where I worked as a Medical
Technologist in the Emergency Room Stat Lab. I have two children, a son, Lance M. Mosness, Sr., and a daughter, Dusty Lynne Mosness, and four grandchildren. Lance teaches math and science at a prep school in Greeley. He also coaches football for his youngest son, Lance, Jr.
Dusty Lynne is a Certified Flight Instructor, instrument & commercial rated helicopter Pilot, Attorney, and Engineer…
I’ve own a management company since 1998 (Mordor Management), and have managed finances for an Investment Company since 1975. I am in partnership with my daughter, Dusty. We own and operate Zenobia Helicopters, LLC and Zenobia Infrared which are both based in Greeley, CO.

Randy Petersen

1966- 1971 University of Wyoming and Colorado Aero-Tech
1971- 1979 owned and operated P&H Aviation – aircraft maintenance and
modification facility, Boulder, CO
1973 Married Kathy Kellogg – Omaha, NE
Two children: Amy – Married - two children (Shawn and Ashlyn) living in
Cary, NC Jennifer and partner Jen – living in Raleigh, NC
1979- Metropolitan State College BS Aviation Sciences
1980 - President - Aeronautical Technologies Incorporated – aircraft
modification engineering consulting firm. Merged Company with Air Methods
Corporation Centennial Airport, Denver 1992. Left Air Methods in 1995 to join the FAA.
Divorced – Kathy 1997.
Presently working for the Policy and Procedures Branch, Aircraft
Certification Division Federal Aviation Administration, Washington DC. as
Program Manager – Aerospace Engineer.
Living happily in Reston, Virginia with significant other - Ellen Arthur.

I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone during the reunion.

Gary Pickett

I worked for the Longmont Fire Department where I retired April 6th 2003, after 31 years. My wife, Lee and I sold our home in Longmont and moved to Florida in May of 2003. Lee works for two sales representatives at The Villages and I work part=time for one of the 8 country clubs as an ambassador. In our spare time we play a lot of golf, bowl, and I am playing softball again after not playing for 25 years. Either the game has changed or I have slowed down, I don’t know which it is. We spend a lot of time at one of the two town squares where they have live entertainment every night of the year. In June of 2005 our daughter gave birth to our first grandchild, Grayson Anthony Gomez. What a trip. Our daughter and her husband still live in
Longmont. Our son Michael lives close to us in Tampa, Florida. The one thing Lee and I have been impressed with, since we have been down here, is going through our first hurricane. I never knew the wind could blow so hard and I was also impressed with watching the rain go “sideways”. We won’t be able to make the reunion, but wish everyone good health…Gary

Lucinda Pierpont

has spent her life in broadcasting and print on-air and in sales. Upon graduation from college she moved to San Francisco, took a crummy job on Union Square, saved every penny then went to Austria and taught skiing. From there she attempted to work her way around the world. She worked in Honolulu in broadcasting where she learned to sail, eventually sailing to Pago-Pago
in the South Seas on a ’25 boat and lived to tell it. Lucinda was offered a position in Taipei as a news anchor and hosted a radio and tv show in Taipei. Taipei was under martial law then. She returned to the states and headed for the Great Northwest working in Seattle in the early 90’s in
broadcasting and high end lifestyle/tourism magazines. She now resides in Portland and is a docent at the Chinese Scholar’s Garden and on the board of the Portland Baroque Orchestra. She has one son, Tyson who lives in Ansbach, Germany.

Randy Plowman

WHERE DID THE LAST 40 YEARS GO?
Went to college in Idaho for a year. Did missionary work in California and Arizona for 2 ½ years. Back to college in Idaho and met Virginia Norris. Married Virginia in 1970 and moved to Boulder, Colorado and did carpentry work. Moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming in 1971 to work for Utah Power and Light/Pacificorp at the Naughton Power Generation Station. Spent 32 years in maintenance and operation management. Retired in 2002 and moved to Bedford, in Star Valley, Wy (45 miles from Jackson Hole) to pursue the good life of fishing, hunting, golfing, camping, boating, snowmobiling, and entertaining the grandkids.

Mary Jean (Pfile) Currier

I have truly enjoyed the things I have done in my life and intend to continue doing so! I agree with Albert Schweitzer who once stated, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” As part of my studies for a degree at Beloit College in Wisconsin, I worked for 8 months at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, studying the bactericidal effects of different soap preparations on dental students’
hands. While there I learned a bit of Irish. I also learned that I don’t care for Guinness, and that I do like Irish coffee, although they only serve it to the tourists. After being awarded my BA in biology, I worked for a year and a half in Ulm, Germany, researching stem cells in the circulating white blood cell population. I found the Germans to be a very gracious people, always
including me in their family spatziergangs. I worked for a while with polypeptides at the CU Med Center in Denver, then went to Berkeley to pursue my doctorate in physiology, studying the
perception of pain. While there I read the works of Knut Schmidt-Nielson, a physiologist who worked with kangaroo rats and camels, met the son of the eco-pioneer Aldo Leopold (A Sand County Almanac) and decided to switch to wildlife biology and transfer to CSU. My college sweetheart and I were married in 1974 in Freeport, Illinois, where my 96-year-old grandmother was living with my aunt. Grammy helped raise me after my mother died when I was ten. She couldn’t travel, so we took the wedding to her. The first project that was offered at CSU was to study the deer damage to the fruit trees on the Western Slope. I gave that one a pass, and the next project to come along was studying mountain lions, both in their wild state for my MS, and known-age captive ones for my PhD. I chased the wild ones with a hounds man and hounds and was the subject of a Wild Kingdom show. I also worked with zoo mountain lions, and raised three lions from the age of three weeks until they were seven years old (one of them went to the zoo in Garden City, Kansas where Bob Halloran, as City Manager was also in charge
of the zoo). I have lots of stories to tell, poignant, scary and funny about those years! I tried writing a book about my experiences with cats and mountain lions. I keep the rejection letter from Harper and Row in my scrapbook. I sent my three mountain lions (actually they belonged to CSU) to zoos after my daughter, Katharine Elisabeth (Kitty), was born and I became a full-time mother. That was 24 years ago. My son, William Sterling, is now 21, and both children are also adventurers. Kitty is on an 84-foot sailboat in the South Pacific studying coral reefs. She graduated from Stanford with a BA in biology with a minor in archaeology two years ago. During her undergraduate years she spent one summer in Washington learning to fight forest fires and gathering data on plant regeneration after forest fires, and two summers in Peru on an archaeology dig. Will is at Digipen Institute of Technology in Seattle, poised to get a BS in Real Time Computer Simulation (computer games) next year. My husband of 32 years, Gray C, is an engineer for CDOT. Those of you who still live in Colorado might be familiar with his latest project, the Berthoud Bypass, or, as those who live in Berthoud prefer to call it, the Berthoud Parkway. Now there’s a project that has had its ups and downs!

Dennis Pyell

.. I graduated from Colorado State University in 1970 majoring in Construction Management. I entered the U. S. Navy Seabees in 1971. I retired from the Navy in 1995 as a Chief Petty Officer. I earned the Legion of Merit, Navy Achievement Medal, and Presidential Service Badge among other awards. After retiring, we moved to Charlottesville Virginia where I am
employed as a construction project manager. I was married to Adelle Thompson from Oceanside California in 1976. We have (4) children; Rachelle, Carrie, Michael and Andrew. We also have (4) grandchildren; Nick, Sam, Adrianna and Ben.

Rita (Palmquist) Rigg

I’ve never been much of a writer so I won’t try to spin this into a story, but I’ll list a few highlights (lowlights!) of the past few years of my life. I did attend the 20th and 25th reunions of our class. Linda Olivas and I rode our motorcycles to the 25th. That was a hoot! Ok, here goes the list:
1969 married and gave birth to my only child, daughter Kim
1971 divorced and moved to Canada with daughter. My mother and her family live in Vancouver area.
1976 marriage #2
1979 divorce #2 and return to Colorado where I have been since, working and raising daughter who married Tim in 1999. I now have a 5-year-old granddaughter Kassie and 5-month-old grandson Kaden.
1986 3rd wedding ceremony. Can’t call it a marriage because he turned out to be a bigamist. Boy, can I pick ‘em. Anyway, that one was annulled. Three strikes! I’m out of that ball game!
1988 After years of floundering spiritually, I was introduced to Nichiren Buddhism and have been practicing ever since.
1991 My first trip off the North American continent – visited Head Temple in Japan.Somewhere around this time I took my first sculpting class. Several “works in progress” in my closet, but I managed to complete my Dancer and have made two castings in bronze. Second dancer is nearly ready for processing. I also “play in clay” making pottery. I work a part time job as a production assistant in my friend’s pottery studio and have a small “studio” at home, but haven’t been doing a lot of my own work recently. I prefer throwing on the wheel and have made vases, tabletop fountains, stake sets, etc.By the way, my full time job is in the Administrative Services department of Red Rocks Community College.
August 2003 diagnosis – breast cancer. Two lumpectomy surgeries, chemo and radiation and a lot of determination through my Buddhist practice (chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo), I am now in great health, if you don’t count a little extra poundage.
June 2004 Finally have hair growing back so take a trip to Italy where I spent 10 days in a fabulous villa in Tuscany taking art classes (water color painting) with day trips to Sienna and Florence (where we saw “The David”!!) Nothing much of note for the last couple years except watching grandchildren grow. Looking forward to the reunion. See you there!

Mary (Schauer) Burback

Mary Schauer married Jim Burback a few years after high school. Twins were born within a year of the marriage. Christian and Lesa were the center of my life. The marriage ended within 5 years so I went back to work and life centered around the children. I guess I thought I would get married again but life was so busy it just never happened. So I was stuck with the name of my ex for all of these years! Oh well.I worked at StorageTek for 25 years as an Industrial Engineer and loved the work. But it was one of those jobs that was eliminated because many
other jobs were outsourced. It was very stressful during the times of layoffs. It was stressful also because my son-in-law was sent to Iraq at the start of the war. As it turned out it was a blessing for me to lose the job. I spent almost all of the 15 months I was off work with my Daughter helping her with my granddaughter while her husband was in Iraq. We lost my Daughter to death at age 34 unexpectedly one Sunday morning. My life changed in an instant that day and will never be the same. I have a new job that I love and I see my granddaughter each week. I look at life differently because of my daughter. I do not take anything for granted. When you blow a kiss at your child and say "see you tomorrow for lunch" it does not always turn out the way you intended. I cherish each moment that I have with friends and family. I look for new adventures
that I never would have given a second thought before. I am a different person because of my daughter. I thank her for that. I look forward to seeing everyone again after all of the years. I also look forward to the rest of the adventure of life that I have left. My son is much closer to me now and we enjoy all of the time we spend together. My advice to everyone. Love your family each moment and do not put off until tomorrow telling them what they mean to you. The present is what we get each day and we must appreciate each moment. The stress of a job or
of no job is minor in the big scheme of things; because in the end it is friends and family that give life meaning. Mary Burback

Dave Schey

Married: Candie Dixon in June 1970
Two children: Jennifer Gilmore, Sarah Schey
Two Grand kids: Taylor Gilmore 6, T.J. Gilmore 4
Career: Real Estate: 30 years Retired 1998
Continue to play competitive golf throughout the country and in Mexico. We follow College football games depending on the university my son-in-law is coaching with at the time. Currently, we are Husker fans, as he is the wide-receivers coach in Lincoln!! Continued my acting and directing with Longmont Theater Company Acting highlight: Featured Extra in "Dumb and Dumber"

Sharon (Shields) Dynneson

After graduating Dana college, I married Joe Shields and we had 3 great children.  I was lucky to stay home with them until the youngest was 3.  We had lived in Omaha, Des Moines and a suburb of Minneapolis, when my husband decided to go back to his hometown of Denison, Iowa.  We bought a farm and I went to work as a Child and Family Social Worker.  It took me many years to adjust to farm living and I still am not totally at home here.  One of my more interesting jobs was running the County jail....many stories there.Our children are all married, 2 grandsons and they live within 2 hours of us, and so we have many happy gatherings.  We all take a 1 week family vacation in the summer.  My current obsession  is landscaping and gardening.   I have been lucking to travel to conventions with my husband who is a Medical Equipment salesman... to support our now 2 farms... to most of America.Two years ago my father was ill so I returned to Longmont to care for him.  I love how the city has grown.  I am sorry to be missing this reunion.  Have a great time!

Dale Smith

I live in Pine and am in my 30th year of teaching currently at Kennedy High School in Denver. I’ve also taught in Bailey and Ovid, Colorado as well as 10 years in Nebraska. I have a lovely wife, Sandra, three stepdaughters and three grandchildren. I served in the army from 1969-71 and don’t recall much of the late 60’s because well…I was there. Next thing I knew I received my degree from UNC in 1977 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Ron Stewart

I live in Southwest Longmont with my wife Dottie who is now the Librarian at Niwot High School. Our daughter, Kara, is a senior at C.U. majoring in anthropology and women's studies and our son, Sean, is a freshman at C.S.U. I am now the Director of Parks and Open Space for Boulder County having ended my term as County Commissioner in 2005. I'm very committed to
continuing efforts to preserve the open land around Longmont, preserving ouragricultural heritage and maintaining a high quality of life.

Nancy (Swisher) Drake

Married James Drake July of 1967 making our home in Longmont. We have two sons that we are very proud very proud of and they have added 5 quite active grandsons to our close-knit family. December 1977 we moved to Greeley Colorado so that we were close to Jims Job. I worked with the Greeley police department, and then worked for 10 years with Clarkson Land LLC. Our sons and their families also made their homes in Greeley. In December 2003 we
retired and moved to Lake McConaughy buying our home there with 10.33 acres. The view of the lake is fantastic! Retirement is great (twice the husband and half the money ! HA! ) We are blessed to have both of our mothers with us, and every day brings a new adventure! Jim loves his space here and his new barn, and as the saying goes "A plump wife and a big barn never did any man harm." Life is great thanks to God!

James Taylor

Thanks for all the work you have put in to coordinate the reunion. I unfortunatly will not be able to attend. It would certainly be nice to see Colorado in the fall again. Tell all the classmates hello.

Kerby (Thompson) Chase

After leaving high school I attended Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. There I received a degree in elementary education in 1970. I took a job at Abilene, Ks. teaching second grade. During my second year there one of my students introduced me to my husband John C . We were married in 1972. We live on a farm near Abilene. The farm has been in the Chase family since 1856. We have two grown children. Katie is married and has two children and Kody is engaged and will marry in December. I taught second and third grade in Abilene for 33 years and retired in 2003. I then took a part-time job with Bethany and supervised their student teachers for 3 years. I am presently working part-time for a financial planner and I also try to keep up with the secretarial duties for our farming and trucking business. We follow K-State sporting events and have done some traveling plus keeping track of the grandkids.

Mike Tipton

Graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in Animal Science.
Married Belinda K from Saratoga, Wy
We have 3 children
Rindy - 4-H agent in Gillette, Wy
Tad - Veterinarian in Lexington, Ky
Kinsey- Physical Therapy Assistant in Douglas, Wy
Worked on several different cattle operations in Colo. And Wyo. We lived
near Walden, Co until 1985 when we bought a place in the sand hills of Nebraska.
We moved here and raised our kids while building a diversified Ranch, Farm and Feeding business.

Charlene (Triplett) Stetson

Years have passed since we all threw up our caps. There were many streets and intersections that each and every one of us crossed; colleges, trade schools, military services, special educations, etc. Other classmates married high school sweethearts and started their adventure in the world…where the streets and intersections let them to their success. I feel that everyone was successful at what they set out to do. The class of ’66 had many, many talented people. Myself, I married my high school sweetheart, Larry S. I worked at the Daily Times Call part time for 17 years while our kids were in school. After that, I worked at Neodata Services for 12 years as a supervisor and then as an administrative assistant. I am now employed with Valleylab as a Coordinator in the Copy Center. We print the instruction manuals for all the products made at Valleylab. I have enjoyed bowling, fishing, camping, ATVing, boating, showing my Arabian horse in competition, and traveling throughout the western states. I have been marred to my wonderful husband, Larry for 41 years. We have the perfect family, a son and a daughter. Ron and Christine are both very successful at where their streets and intersections have lead them.

Cheryl Thompson

1 Child-Angie D. Married to Brad
1 Absolutely wonderful granddaughter-Sydney-6 years old
Live in Arvada, Co close to me
I still live in Arvada, since 1968
I have had 4 jobs since 92-an allergy clinic, ear, nose & throat clinic,
urology clinic and the best one where I’m now-Intermountain Neurosurgery.
I’ve been here for over 5 years and love it. I schedule the surgeries for
2, sometimes 4 doctors who work out of St Anthony Central Hospital. It’s
always challenging and I’ve even gone in to watch a brain surgery!!Cool!!
I am still volunteering for Rocky Mountain Riding Therapy Center west of Louisville
I’ve been there 8 ½ years and it’s a wonderful and rewarding part of my life.
Over the years, I’ve shared my abode with numerous animals and now I have a
14 lb cat living with me. She’s LARGE and sometimes bites, but we work it out. I don’t have mice, that’s for sure!
I’m into stamping and make my own cards for friends and family. It’s a great stress buster.
It will be fun to catch up with everyone!!

Carol (Voake) Chase

Anyway, I realize this is very late and probably won't make the "cut", but here is an extremely abbreviated version of my life since high school just in case.I graduated from Colorado State University in 1970 with a B.S. in Business Administration and taught business education for 27 years in Colorado, Texas, California and Arizona.  During that time, I married and had two
children, a boy and girl, who both graduated from Arizona State University.  Both are on their own and doing fantastic.  My son and family (yes, I'm a grandmother of two) live north of Chicago, and my daughter and new husband live in the Sacramento area.  I am married to a wonderful man, Ronn Chase, and currently live in Phoenix, AZ.  We recently bought a mountain lot in Strawberry Hollow near Pine, Arizona,  and plan to build our retirement home
there next year.  I retired from teaching a year ago in May and am enjoying life immensely!  That's it in a nutshell.  Hope  everybody is well and that you all have a good time at the reunion.    I AM going to make the next one!   If anybody wants to get in touch, my email is cjchase66@aol.com Take care and drink one for me!

Norma (Zimmerman) Krans

After moving to California in 1970, I worked at Garrett Corporation. In 1972 Burroughs Corporation bought the company. Ralph and I were married in 1977. We had met a few years earlier at Burroughs Corporation in Rancho Bernardo. Ralph says, “She used to work for me but now I work for her. J” Then Burroughs merged with Sperry and became Unisys, then Cadence bought Unisys, then Cadence changed our division to Tality, then back to Cadence.
So, I worked at the “same desk” for 31 years but worked for 5 companies as a Test/Software Engineer. We are both retired and don’t miss “those times” a bit. My current interests include teaching Sunday School, reading, traveling, water aerobics, machine embroidery, sewing and quilting. We have been blessed with good health and have been able to enjoy many fun
vacations. We are spending our children’s inheritance and lunch money J”. Really we don’t have any children, so we have been able to travel a lot. We also have traveled in a motor home for about 10 years and enjoy seeing the good ole USA. The motor home was “home” last year for our 8,000 mile two month trip to Alaska. We have a dog, Shadow, who enjoys traveling with us.
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Bob and I were married in April of 1968. We have lived in Longmont the entire time. We have 2 children. Bob works at Bestop and I work in a doctor’s office. We enjoy going to the mountains and spending time with family.
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Synopsis of life after Longmont High:

Attended Philips University in Oklahoma
Married 37 years
2 Children
5 grandchildren
2 great danes (are all I am allowed at one time)
Owned & drove alcohol funny car 3 yrs. (NHRA drag racing)
Lived in Oklahoma, California, Oklahoma, California and now Nevada.
Lived in Las Vegas for 18 years.
Spent 6 months in Nevada prison. (I had a key to the doors though, I worked for Carol Shelby building AC Cobra’s)
Reformed workaholic
Ready to retire and get in our motorhome and go away. (anywhere)
And it only took 40 years to do all that.