After graduation, I earned a BS and MS from UW-La Crosse in Physical Education/Exercise Physiology.  I continued to date my high school sweetheart, Donna Gruett '62, and we have been happily married for forty five years.


In 2001, I retired from my position at Carroll College (now Carroll University) after working there for twenty-seven years.  I was a professor in Physical Education and during my first years coached football and baseball.  I later changed to coaching women's basketball and volleyball.


We have two daughters, one in Michigan and one in Illinois, and four grandchildren.


Since retirement, we've spent much of our time enjoying our grandkids and all their activities.  We love Wisconsin, but do enjoy leaving each winter for a warmer climate.  Some of my most satisfying times during retirement have also been reconnecting with some of the special people that had influenced me during my life.  Most recently, I have experienced great pleasure working with Mike Galles founding the Blackshirt Breakfast Group that began over a year ago and continues each Friday.  Blackshirts from several classes gather to greet former coaches, teachers and classmates to reminisce.


I'm looking forward to our 50th !!!

I attended UW-Madison in ILS and Elem Education after high school. Met and married John while there. After teaching grade school in Waukesha and Hartland, I earned an MS at UWM in Except. Education. When John joined the faculty at UW-Whitewater, we moved to Whitewater. I taught part time at the university while staying home with our two daughters. Then, in 1977, I was hired by the Kettle MoraineSchool District where I taught until I retired

In a weak moment, during a 1986 political battle over replacing our old city library, I ran for the city council and won. Two years and one new library later, I was still on the council, chairing a BID group, serving on the Planning/Architectural Review Board, heading a committee to save a historic building, and on a commission to improve our schools. It was a surprising education in how communities and coalitions work and provided an opportunity to make many new and lasting friends.

Our daughters graduated from UW-Madison after taking the “scenic tour” through college, studying and doing internships abroad. So, as empty nesters in the ’90’s, John and I followed their lead, attending EU conferences in higher education, teaching and learning while getting to know interesting people, visiting university campuses, and also spending time with our exchange students’ families. We traveled all over and came to especially love the Alps above the Lautenbrunnen Valley in Switzerland.

Our daughter, Liz, is an attorney and started a Montessori charter schooll. Her sister, Sara, develops and runs trade shows for a national trade association. Both live in Wisconsin with their terrific husbands and our four delightful grandchildren - 2 boys and 2 girls - with whom I have lots of fun. Will, 11, and I just returned from our engineering classes at UW’s Grandparent’s University - our third year together taking a different “major” each year. Grace can’t wait to start next year.

John’s avocation as a sports official took him to Fort Myers with UW-W baseball and softball teams each March to officiate during colleges’ spring training. After I retired and went along, we bought a condo there where we’ve spent the last seven winters - a joke at our house since I swore I’d never live in Florida like our parents did. My brother, Dewey, and wife Jan are 20 minutes away. We’re really enjoying life on the Gulf Coast and love to have Northerners visit when they escape the cold. Still, I’m just as happy to return to Wisconsin each summer and fall, to hang out with family and friends and relearn how to play golf on northern turf.

I attended Marquette, Milwaukee Area Technical College, and Wisconsin Institute of Mortuary Science and became a Funeral Director and Embalmer. I worked in an area Funeral Home till 1970. I  married  Jean Deuel of Chippewa Falls in 1965.  In 1970 we bought a Funeral Home in Mukwonago and operated that till 1994, when we retired the first time and moved onto our boat. During the next year we took the boat down to Louisiana and Florida. We ran out of money so we started a shipping business called PakMail in Citrus County Florida, which we ran for 10 years. We have been fully retired since 2005. Since retiring we have enjoyed many great trips and try to get back to the Midwest to see our three sons, one daughter (their spouses) and our four grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Jean and I have been blessed with good health so we hope it continues.  In 2013 we moved to 37 Brightmore Dr. Greer, South Carolina.  Since moving we have enjoyed all the great things that the Greenville-Greer has to offer such the arts, adult education at Furman and the many trails in the nearby mountains.  If you are ever in the area looks us up.