Class notes

Spark readers: We are no longer printing newcomers and marriages in the Class Notes section of Spark. This section will emphasize the service, vocational and Calvin reunion stories of graduates, along with “In Memoriam” notices. We have found over the past few years that Facebook and other social media sources have increasingly become the primary place where friends share personal celebrations.

However, the alumni association remains interested in knowing about these important family milestones. Please continue to send them to alumni@calvin.edu, and in return, we’ll send you a whimsical Calvin bib (for babies) or a beautiful Calvin chapel window nightlight (for marriages).

Heritage

(graduated more than 50 years ago)

Marion Bouma Tiemeyer ’48 writes that she and all five of her sisters attended Calvin. Daughters of Louis Bouma BD’38, the six meet once a year. The sisters include Anita Bouma Schoonveld ’62, Esther Bouma Nawyn ’52, Bea Bouma Bloemhof ’50, Carolyn Bouma Koekkoek ’55, Rayda Bouma ’63 and Marion.

Thomas Newhof ’58 has been inducted into the Michigan Water Industry Hall of Fame. This award is to preserve the memory of those who have made the most significant contributions to the field of public water supply in the state of Michigan. In 1969, Newhof co-founded Prein & Newhof, a Grand Rapids-based civil and environmental engineering company. His experience includes the planning and design of water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities, intakes, pipelines, pumping stations, storm drainage and flood control projects, water and sewer systems, airport improvements, industrial parks, residential plat and condominiums.

Frank De Haan ’57 has continued to serve in many ways after his retirement as a professor of chemistry at Occidental College in Los Angeles. His first post-retirement engagement was in ministry to prisoners through Crossroad Bible Institute; he has been an instructor for more than 20 years now. He also volunteered to be part of an eff ort to advance racial reconciliation through the Greater Los Angeles Classis of the Christian Reformed Church and worked with another group loosely connected with Jim Skillen’s Center for Public Justice in Washington, D.C. De Haan’s training in racial reconciliation was providential, as his next endeavor was to be part of a team that moved his home church, Bethel Christian Reformed in Sun Valley, Calif., from a predominately white congregation to a multicultural faith family. In 2003 a number of Bethel members, including De Haan and alumnus Jim Hooyenga ’61, set up Sun Valley CARE Development Inc., an umbrella organization to help supply funds and facilities for their church affiliated school and community center. They secured a matching grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to develop a satellite campus for training LVNs and RNs as part of a job-growth strategy. The facilities for this program are in process of construction. " It is interesting how the Lord blesses when you follow him," said De Haan. He is fond of this Bible verse: "They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green" (Psalm 92:14).

1960s

Anthon "Tony" Houtsma ’67 graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1970 and was intending to be a pastor when a deepening depression ended that vocational direction. Instead, he spent many years working for the U.S. Postal Service. Now, 42 years later, Houtsma has put his theological training to direct use in writing and publishing the book Love Liberates, You Win (West Bow Press). The book is in response to Rob Bell’s well-known book Love Wins. While Houtsma finds some merit in Bell’s volume, he disagrees with a number of Bell’s conclusions and offers his own thinking on salvation.

A magnificent (and reminiscent) seven at Manistee: In September 2016, seven former Calvin dorm buddies or housemates reprised, roughly a half century later, their Calvin-era getaway at a Lake Michigan cottage near Manistee. While this was actually the sixth such reunion spread over recent years, it was the first time the entire group could manage to get together. The group included Tony Namkung ’67, Jon Stielstra ex’68, Joel Bruinooge ’69, Mike Bruinooge ’68, Bob Meyering ’68, Philip Stielstra ex’68, and Hans Bynagle ’68.

Allen Schipper ’67 is serving for four months as interim pastor for an English speaking church in Bali, Indonesia. With him is his wife, Ann Steensma Schipper ’67.

1970s

David Bruins ex’79 is the author of Reformation Riches for the Contemporary Church: Liberation for Both Skeptics and Burned-Out Evangelicals (Wipf & Stock, 2016). The book coincides with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. David practices law in New Jersey. He and his wife have four grown children, including Calvin alum Emily Bruins ’14.

Peter Lagerwey ’74 was recently invited to the White House to be honored for a lifetime achievement award as a "Champion of Change." Eleven individuals, selected by U.S. transportation secretary Anthony Foxx and the White House, were honored for their achievement, leadership and innovation in transportation. Peter has spent more than 30 years managing pedestrian/bicycle planning and design projects with the city of Seattle and as a consultant to more than 240 communities throughout the country.

While on a 36-day motorcycle trip to Alaska, traveling more than 11,600 miles, Bill Alphenaar ’78 stopped to visit friends from Calvin days, Frank deWalle ’77 and Anne Dekens deWalle ’77 in Lethbridge, Alberta. "The Calvin bond remains strong even when separated by thousands of miles and many decades," wrote Bill.

J.M. van der Laan ’76 is the author of Narratives of Technology (Palgrave McMillan, 2016). The book documents and investigates the stories we have told and continue to tell about technology— now the dominant feature of our civilization–in fiction, nonfiction, fi lm and advertising. J.M. is professor of languages, literatures, and cultures at Illinois State University.

Jeltje Aukeman Gordon-Lennox ’78 is a psychotherapist living in Geneva, Switzerland, and the author of the newly published book Rediscovering Ritual: The Senses and Sensemaking in Secular Rituals. The book recognizes the essential importance of rituals to the psychological, physical and spiritual health of individuals, families, organizations and society as a whole.

1980s

Tom Medema ’87 is now chief of interpretation, education and volunteers for the National Park Service. He began his career as a Volunteers-In-Parks intern in interpretation at Rocky Mountain National Park in 1989. He has worked in the fields of interpretation and environmental education for more than 25 years—including positions at Rocky Mountain National Park, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Mount Rainier National Park and Cuyahoga Valley National Park—before arriving at Yosemite National Park in 2002. He had been serving as Yosemite’s chief of interpretation and education since 2009.

Robert Laarman ’83 was recently named director of World Renew disaster response services.

Bret Kort ’83 and Marlene Reenders Kort ’83 and music professor emeritus Derald DeYoung reached the summit of Longs Peak, the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park, this past fall. Bret and Marlene live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Derald lives in Estes Park, Colorado, where he and his wife, Marti, volunteer in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Michael Goodrich ’83 is a chancellor’s professor at the University of California, Irvine, where he has been a faculty member in the department of computer science since 2001. His research is directed at the design of high-performance algorithms and data structures with applications to information assurance and security, the internet, machine learning and geometric computing.

Lynn Heemstra ’80 executive director of Our Community’s Children, a partnership of the city of Grand Rapids and the Grand Rapids Public Schools, has been chosen by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University as one of the school’s 100 extraordinary alumni at its Centennial Celebration. The award is given to alumni who embody the centennial theme: Inspiring Hope, Shaping the Future. As the first administrator of Our Community’s Children, she was instrumental in developing the first Grand Rapids Youth Master Plan, engaging young people as leaders and driving better outcomes for children.

1990s

Suzanne Linder ’97 is co-editor of Can I Teach That? Negotiating Taboo Language and Controversial Topics in the Language Arts Classroom (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), a collection of stories, strategies, advice and documents collected for teachers who are using or plan to use materials or implement policies they know may be controversial. She works as a teacher consultant with the Fab Lab, a community makerspace at the University of Illinois.

Gregory DeVries ’98 has joined Quinn Evans Architects in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a senior landscape architect. Greg is dedicated to initiatives that enhance the preservation, sustainability and appreciation of cultural and natural heritage. His work is evident in nearly 100 historic places, which include 22 National Historic Landmarks and 16 National Park Service properties.

John Lumkes ’90 is the recipient of the 2016 Kishida International Award for contributions to student engagement in international development and to the field of mechanization by developing a multifunctional vehicle, the Practical Utility Platform (PUP), for use in tillage operations; transportation of produce, water and people; water pumping; and grain grinding. John is an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering and an associate director of the Global Engineering Program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. There, he teaches courses in global design challenges, mechatronics, process control, and machine design and conducts research in agricultural mechanization and international development.

2000s

Jon Potvin ’02 has been named managing director of the west Michigan office of Colliers International. Prior to joining Colliers, Jon held a number of senior leadership roles, including Midwest Energy Group, where he served as its general manager, and Allied Mechanical Services, where he was appointed vice president. As managing director, Jon has overall strategic and operational responsibility for the entire portfolio of the company’s offerings and oversees the key functions of sales, delivery and business enabling functions.

Bob Nelesen ’04 will be relocating from Grand Rapids to Traverse City, Michigan, where he will continue his career as a senior project manager for Prein&Newhof.

Daniel Meyer ’09 is a 2016 graduate of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Brian Odegaard ’09 graduated from UCLA with a PhD in psychology in 2015 and is now working as a post-doc in the Consciousness and Metacognition Laboratory at the university. He is investigating how to decode perceptual confidence from neuronal activity and studying how attention changes what we see in different parts of the visual field. Brian recently received a Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience and presented his work at its annual meeting in San Diego in November.

Susan Sytsma Bratt ’03 is a pastor at Northridge Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. She has been involved in the refugee resettlement community in the city for the last five years, and her congregation has a strong ministry of hospitality to refugees called Northridge Without Borders. This fall, NBC Nightly News interviewed her for a story on how Dallas welcomes Syrian refugees. She says, "My vocation as a pastor and work in this area was profoundly shaped by the Kuyperian worldview shaped while at Calvin."

Jordan Bush ’02 has joined Alles Law in Grand Rapids with a practice focusing on real property and estate planning. Before joining the firm, Jordan served as district director for U.S. Rep. Justin Amash.

Jessica Bossenbroek Ronne ’00 is the author of Sunlight Burning at Midnight. The book is a memoir, outlining the struggles in Jessica’s life, including the birth of a disabled child and the untimely death of her first husband, leaving her with four young children to raise on her own. Jessica writes of God’s faithfulness and of finding hope amid havoc and of the surprising ways that pain often commingles with joy. Jessica is currently teaching at Columbia State University in Tennessee.

Gerard Van Halsema ’09 completed a certificate in Java programming and now works for the University of Michigan as a web app developer.