We heard from...

00's
Shayla McDonald, Class of 2004, lives in Arkansas City. She graduated from Wichita State University in May. She was named Cowley’s Ambassador of the Year in 2004 and has fond memories of her time at the school.

Holly Beaty, Class of 2003, lives in Arkansas City. She has two children, Gabriel 2, and Noah six months. She serves as a staff accountant at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center.

Susan Rowl, attended Cowley in 1995 and 2001, lives in Haysville, Kan. She and her husband, David, have four children, Jessica Turner 25, Jason Turner 21, Megan Turner 19, and Mandy Turner 11. Jason played golf at Cowley as a freshman and graduated in 2006. Susan is an administrative assistant at Sunflower Bank, while David is a program manager at Raytheon.

90’s
Richard Tieperman, Class of 1999, lives in Winfield. He is the produce manager at Dillons in Winfield.
Melvin Randle, Class of 1997, lives in Wichita.

Melvin Randle, Class of 1997, lives in Wichita.

Dr. Patrick Blatchford, Class of 1995, and his wife Tricia Thornburgh, live in Roanoke, Va. The couple are expecting their first child this month. Dr. Blatchford works as a chief surgical resident at the Carilion Clinic. Tricia is a psychologist.

Kim McDonald, Class of 1995, and her husband, Scott, live in Mobile, AL. The couple have two sons, Dayne 3, and Brooks eight months old. Kim is a Library Media Specialist for St. Paul’s Episcopal School, while Scott is a history teacher and baseball coach at the school.

Tammy (Roberts) Swingle, Class of 1993, and her husband, Brien, live in Argonia, Kan. The couple have two children, Mallory 10, and Mylee 8. Tammy works in the food service industry for the Argonia Elementary/High School, while Brien works on signal maintenance for BNSF Railroad. She has fond memories of playing volleyball for Deb Nittler and the fun bus trips she shared with her teammates.

Jason Chase, Class of 1993, and his wife, Javelyn, live in Santa Monica, Ca. He is head of artists and representatives for XITRITE Records. Jason is planning a fundraiser concert for the victims of the tornado in Greensburg, KS. The date is tentatively set for Sept. 29-30 at Arkansas City’s Wilson Park.

80’s
Michael Ball, Class of 1987, and his wife, Beth, live in Rose Hill, Kan. The couple have two sons, Sean 24, and Cory 22. They also have a grandson, Michael Sean Skov, that was born earlier this year. Michael is employed as a detective sergeant, while Beth is a customer administrator.

Ben Anderson, Class of 1984, and his wife, Linda, live in Haysville, Kan. The couple have two sons, Travis 14, and Tanner 12. Ben works as a corrections officer for Sedgwick County Youth Services, while Linda is a registered nurse. Ben was a member of Cowley’s last football team and earned all-conference honors as a sophomore. He considers former Tiger coaches Bill Yocum, Jim Meisner and Larry Lauderdale to be the best coaches he ever had in football.

LaReece Danell (Bohannon) Farlow, Class of 1981, and her husband live in Charlotte, N.C. She is an administrative assistant at Macy’s, while her husband owns Farlow Improvements Inc.

Richard Tatum, Class of 1980, and his wife, Kimberly, live in Burden, Kan. Richard serves as a transportation manager for U.S.D. 462, while Kimberly is the Director of Human Resources for the Kansas Commission on Veterans’ Affairs.

Martha (Wilson) Wellman, Class of 1980, and her husband, Loren “Jackson” Wellman, Class of 1999, live in Belle Plaine, Kan. The couple have a son, Andrew 23, and a daughter, Mary 9. Martha has taught fourth grade at Belle Plaine Elementary for the past 25 years, while Loren is a maintenance worker. She fondly recalls being in the Cowley band/jazz band under the direction of Kerry Hart.

70’s
Pamela Whitt, Class of 1973, and her husband, Marcus, live in Edmond, Okla. the couple have one son, Evan 14. Pamela is employed as a manager for the Hertz Corporation, while Marcus is a site security manager for the Perini Corporation.

60’s
Gevena (Helphingstine) Rutkoski, Class of 1968, and her husband, Stan, live in Milpitas, Calif. The couple have three sons, Robert, Adam and Tony. They also have eight grandchildren. Gevena is an administrative assistant at Calvary Assembly, while Stan serves as a senior pastor/minister.

Diana (Brown) Gibson, Class of 1965, and her husband, Tom, Class of 1961, live in Blue Springs, Mo. The couple have a daughter, Kimberly 38. Diana retired in May 2006 after serving 38 years as a flight attendant for TWA and American Airlines. Tom retired in 2001 after spending 28 years as a sales manager for American General Life Insurance. Tom has fond memories of his time playing football at Cowley for coaches Clint Weber and Ben Cleveland. The couple enjoys spending time with their four granddaughters and are actively involved in their church. They also spend a lot of time working in their yard.

50’s
Tom Baird, Class of 1957, and his wife, Joy, live in Montrose, Colo. The couple have six children and eight grandchildren. Tom graduated from Kansas State University in 1961 and retired from the Bureau of Land Management as District Engineer in 1985. He continued to provide engineering consulting with a local firm for four years after his retirement. The couple do volunteer work in several areas, such as Habitat for Humanity and Meals on Wheels. Tom is active in the Montrose Rotary Club with 36 years of membership.

Robert Watson, Class of 1954, and his wife, Ursula, live in Gainesville, Fla. He went on to earn his PhD from George Washington University and spent 16 years as an administrator at the University of Florida before providing 30 years of service as a medical administrator in the U.S. Army. He retired last year and currently enjoys golfing, tennis, doing yard work and volunteer work at the Retirement Home for Horses, where he does general farm and maintenance chores. He fondly remembers coaches Bunt Speer and Dan Kahler while playing football and participating in track at ACJC. His favorite teachers were Alan Maag, Paul Johnson, Dan Stark and Mary Margaret Williams.

Barbara Tomashoff, Class of 1954, and her husband, Walter, live in Bothell, Wa. Since retiring from teaching several years ago, Barbara enjoys traveling the United States with her husband. Time spent in Kansas is always a highlight and brings back fond memories of her years at ACJC.

Ted Foote, Class of 1954, and his wife, Bernice, live in Charlotte, N.C. The couple have two daughters. After graduation from ACJC, Ted worked in the oil fields and served two years in the Army. After completing his military duty he went to work for a major oil company. He retired from Gulf Oil/BP Oil in 1992 after working for the company for more than 30 years. At retirement he was a Real Estate Site Developer assigned to North and South Carolina. Since retirement he has continued to work as a commercial real estate broker.

Robert Lindly, Class of 1954, and his wife, Shirley, live in Dexter. The couple have two children, Jim and Cheryl Lindly. After graduating from ACJC, Robert went on to graduate from Southwestern College in 1970. He worked for the Internal Revenue Service for 15 years and then ran a mail order business with his wife, Shirley, for 20 years before retiring in 1995.

Helen Bossi, Class of 1954, and her husband, Frank, live in Arkansas City, Kan. The couple enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren. Helen served as President of the Hospital Auxiliary from 2004-2005 and received the Corner Bank’s Cornerstone Award for community service in April 2006. Their son-in-law, Brent Mackey, graduated from Cowley in 1986 and their daughter-in-law, Julie (Priest) Bossi, graduated from Cowley in 1992.

Gary Baker, Class of 1954, and his wife Jeanette, live in So. Charleston, WV. The couple have four children and seven grandchildren. After ACJC, he and Jeanette graduated from Kansas State University in 1959 and were married the same year. Gary worked for Union Carbide Corp. in West Virginia for over 35 years and has been retired for over 10 years. The couple enjoy working in their flower and water gardens, traveling, and spending time with their children and grandchildren. Gary fondly remembers playing lots of table tennis, especially with Linwood Burns and Lafayette Norwood.

Bill Sheldon, Class of 1953, and his wife Jo Ann Sheldon, live in Arkansas City. The couple have two sons, Craig and Arlen, and four grandchildren. After ACJC, Bill served two years in the Army. He then continued his education at the Okmulgee (Okla.) Technical College. He went on to do drafting work for Born Stone at Silverdale before opening Sheldon’s Service, which eventually converted to Sheldon’s Pawnshop. He also has had a successful venture in real estate.

Alan Austin, Class of 1954, lives in Rogers, Ark. He serves as a documentarist at PBS and CBS.

Edgar Scroggins and his wife, Rita, live in Hulbert, Okla. The couple have two daughters. After ACJC, Edgar graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1955 and earned his master’s degree from St. Louis University in 1965. He went on to work 43 years as an electrical engineer.

Clarence Milbourn, and his wife, Carol (Chaplin) Milbourn, live in Roanoke, VA. in the summer and Mesa, AZ. in the winter. The couple has three children and five grandchildren. After ACJC, Clarence served two years in the Army and afterwards, five years employed at Beach Aircraft. In 1962, he worked for NASA in Houston, Texas as a Contract Price Analyst and for the next five years was involved in the development of the nations major space efforts. In 1967, he was reassigned by NASA to its headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1983, he was appointed by NASA to the Senior Executive Service and was involved in the development of the Space Shuttle and later the early development of the Space Station. He retired from NASA in 1989 at which time he was the Director of Contract Pricing and Finance in the Office of Procurement. Carol does research in genealogy. The couple enjoys hiking in their free time.

Irma (Wittenborn) Hinson, Class of 1953, and her husband, James, Class of 1949, live in Arkansas City. The couple enjoyed their time at ACJC and hope all five of their grandchildren that live in Arkansas City graduate from Cowley.

Sallie Heer, Class of 1953, and her husband, John Heer, live in Brownsville, Texas. The couple have three children, nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren. After ACJC, Sallie graduated from Fort Hays Kansas State College with a bachelors in education. She taught in Kansas, South Dakota, Florida and Texas. Since moving to Texas she has taken the required courses at Texas University to become certified in teaching Special Education classes. Now as a retired teacher, she serves as a substitute teacher in the Brownsville school district. John is a minister and educator. The couple enjoys traveling. Sallie also enjoys reading, sewing and embroidering in her Bernina 200 sewing and embroidery machine.

40’s
Wally Laughlin, Class of 1949, and his wife, Mary, live in Los Alamitas, Ca. The couple have seven children and eight grandchildren. Wally worked as an engineer. The couple recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

30’s
Captola (Shelhamer) Yust, Class of 1938, lives in El Paso, Texas. She has three children, Diana 65, Greg 63, and George 57. Her picture appeared in a recent article of the Arkansas City Traveler. The article was about a bathing beauty contest she took part in back in 1936. She keeps busy by going to church, playing bridge, and playing hymns at a local retirement home.

Summer 2007