Alumni News
Mariah Welke was named recre-
ation coordinator for the City of
Coldwater, Mich., in December 2018.
In her full-time role, she will help
provide community programs and
special events.
NOTABLES
2013
Dr. Brandon Bowers served as an
NFL injury analyst for CBSSports.com
during the 2018 season. Bowers, a
Doctor of Physical Therapy, currently
practices outpatient orthopedics for
Athletico Physical Therapy in the
Columbus, Ohio, area. He treats
many high school and collegiate
athletes in the clinical setting.
2014
Damien Ross completed his first
season as head football coach in fall
2018 at Bangor (Mich.) High School.
He previously served as an assistant
coach there and also coached at
Midland (Neb.) University and
MacMurray (Ill.) College. He was a
former wide receiver for the Saints.
2015
Joey Mravec and Demi Fry ’14
were married Sept. 16, 2017. The
bridegroom was a member of the
inaugural Siena Heights football
team who currently is employed as
a Michigan State Trooper at the
Brighton post. The bride is currently
employed as an agent relationship
specialist at the Gleaner Life Insur-
ance Society. The couple resides in
Dundee, Mich.
2016
RaShawn Calvert was named the
Coach of the Year by the Maricopa,
Ariz., Unified School District. She
is the head varsity girls basketball
coach at the school.
2017
Lesley Ducat was hired as a police
officer in Bluffton, Ohio, in August
2018. She previously interned with
the McComb (Ohio) Police Depart-
ment.
Alyssa Fausneaucht began a new
position as an account manager
at the Eaton Corp. She resides in
Jackson, Mich.
Madeline Smith is employed as a
financial analyst with the Kapnick
Insurance Group. In January 2018
she bought her first home. She
resides in Adrian, Mich.
38 | Reflections Summer ’19
Kenneth DeGraaf ’16 (above) was
named the Northeast Conference
Coach of the Year for the first-year
Mount St. Mary’s (Md.) women’s
bowling team. The NCAA Division
1 program finished second in the
conference tournament in its first
season and was nationally ranked
despite having a lineup of all
freshmen.
Sean Huddle-
ston ’05 (South-
field) was named
the new presi-
dent at Martin
University, a liber-
al arts college in
Indianapolis,
Ind. He previously served as the vice
president for inclusion and equity at
the University of Indianapolis. He
formerly worked at Framingham
State University in the Boston area,
where he served as chief officer of
diversity, inclusion and community
engagement from 2016-17, and
chief diversity and inclusion officer
from 2015-16. He held similar
positions at Grand Valley State
University from 2011-14. Huddle-
ston, 51, started his new position
on March 25, 2019.
confers upon him all the faculties
of the ordained diaconate with an
eye toward his hopeful ordination
as a priest next year. Fricke will serve
an internship assignment in summer
2019 at parishes throughout the
Archdiocese of Detroit. The 32-year-
old former Catholic school math
teacher will serve at St. Fabian
Parish in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Elizabeth Connors ’10 (above,
Southfield) was honored with an
Occupational Studies Outstanding
Educator Award at the Trends in
Occupational Studies Conference
Oct. 24-26 in Troy, Mich. Connors
is the program director for Wash-
tenaw Community College’s Surgical
Technology and Sterile Process-
ing programs. In 2016, Connors
took over a WCC Surgical Tech
program that had struggled to
attract students. Within one year,
Connors had led the program to a
successful national accreditation
by ARC/STCA and within two years,
the program was filled to capacity.
In fall 2018, Connors launched the
college’s new Sterile Processing
certificate program, the first in
Washtenaw County. She started a
career in healthcare as a sterile
processing technician at St. Joseph
Mercy Hospital in 1997. Connors
also worked for St. John Health
System and Henry Ford Health
System in Southeastern Michigan
before joining the WCC faculty in
2014. The Outstanding Educator
Award is presented to up to three
faculty members annually who
demonstrate excellence in the class-
room, professional achievements
and service/contributions to areas
of the college that are beyond the
individual’s area of teaching.
Col. John Detro
’85 of the U.S.
Army moved to
Fort Knox in Au-
gust 2018 to be-
come director of
the Leader Devel-
opment Branch.
He will be the director for two years
and has been selected for BDE Com-
mand. He supports the Talent Man-
agement of Army Medical Officers
for the Army Surgeon General. He
began his career at Fort Knox with
basic training in November 1987. Alumni
Colin Fricke ’09
was ordained a
deacon at the
Sacred Heart
Major Seminary
in spring 2019,
taking the final
step in his dis-
cernment journey toward priesthood.
Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Fisher
presided at the ordination. Fricke is
entering his final year of theological
studies at Sacred Heart and is now
a “transitional” deacon for the Arch-
diocese of Detroit. His ordination Sister Irma Gerber, OP ’42
Sister Marie O’Donnell, OP ’43
Sister Mary Duwelius, OP ’45
Cecilia Lambert ’45AS
Ruth Sitzmann Morrissey ’46
Sister Charles Christine Uhnavy,
OP ’47
Sister Anne Stein, OP ’48
Joan (Gardzinski) Bartoszewicz ’50
Sister Jean Birney, OP ’50
Sister Dorothy Burns, OP ’50, ’73MA
Sister Cecilia Marie Brown, OP ’51
Sister Irene Kerich, OP ’51
Sister Therese Foote, OP ’52
Sister Mary Ellen Brodeur, OP ’53
Sister Grace Flowers, OP ’53
DEATHS
Sister Beverly McEachin, OP ’54
Sister Patricia DeMay, OP ’56, ’65MA
Sister Mary Saynay, OP ’56
Sister Nora Brady, OP ’57
Sister Andrea Broutin, OP ’57
Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, OP ’58
Sister Mary Herbella, OP ’59
Sister Sean Morley, OP ’59
Sister Ann Rozalia Szabo, OP ’59
Sister Monica Kim, OP ’60, ’66MA
Evelyn (Christensen) Louwers ’60
Sister Patricia Spangler, OP ’60
Sister Ellen Murphy, OP ’61
Sister Lorraine Pepin, OP ’61
Sister Mary Assenmacher, OP ’62
Sister Therese Reynolds, OP ’64
Bruce Stephens ’65MA
Sister Mary Diane McMeekin, OP ’67
Bernadine Potts ’68
Sister Hilda Sheehan, OP ’68
Sister Margaret Exworthy, OP ’69
Sister Maureen Fenlon, OP ’69
JoAnne Ruth Ryan ’69
Sister Marie Gonzales, OP ’71
Sister Lorraine Morin, OP ’71
Sister Mary Ellen Plummer, OP ’71
Janet Huvaere ’72
Sister Virginia O’Reilly, OP ’73MA
Thomas Rudd ’74
John Hartley ’75
Claudia (Snyder) Scott ’77
Sister Janet Capone, OP ’80MA
Margaret Goble ’86—former
Advancement staff member.
Marita “Rose” (Cook) Cremeans ’93
Don Leibel ’94, ’98MA
Robert “Bobby” Hoffman ’98
Janet Rodgers ’99
Danielle Martinique Durrah ’00
Fred Butler ’04, ’08MA
Susanne Smith ’13 (Benton Harbor)
Jesse Melot ’15 (Lansing)
Fred Butler ’04, ’08MA was killed
in a car accident Sept. 23, 2018 in
the Detroit area. Butler was a stand-
out on SHU’s first football team as
a defensive back and also worked
in the Admissions Office at Siena
Heights. His family has established
a scholarship fund in his honor.
Friends
Robert Brady—former Graduate
College faculty member.
Kelley Merillat—former Upward
Bound staff member.
Jim O’Flynn—former College of
Professional Studies faculty
member.
Donna Roe—former Library staff
member.
Jim O'Flynn,
retired assistant
professor of Man-
agement and
coordinator of
Distance Learn-
ing passed away
Dec. 4, 2018,
after a battle with cancer. O’Flynn
made significant and foundational
contributions to Siena's nationally
award-winning online program.
He was responsible for developing
detailed written guidelines for
course development, recruiting
and mentoring new faculty, and
providing faculty education and
professional development in online
learning. Jim diligently sought to
enhance the student experience
for students taking online classes.
These efforts greatly reduced student
drop rates. As a founding member
of Siena's Distance Learning Com-
mittee, Jim had an impact on the
shape and success of the online
program including the effort to
secure HLC accreditation for our
online programs. He was recognized
by his peers for his commitment to
quality teaching and received the
Jack Bologna Innovative Teaching
Award in 2004-05.
Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, OP ’58
passed away June 18, 2019, at age
90. A very close friend of SHU Pres-
ident Sister Peg Albert, Sister Jeanne
was a former Siena Heights board
member and familiar face on the
Adrian campus for many years. As a
board member, she led the effort to
create the current Siena Heights
Mission Statement. O’Laughlin
Stadium was dedicated in her honor
in 2011; she was a regular visitor
to the President’s Box during Saints
home football games. She served as
President of Barry University from
1981-2004 as well as Chancellor
from 2004-09. Sister Jeanne has
served as chair of the Council of
Independent Colleges and the Asso-
ciation of Catholic Colleges and
Universities. She also was president
of the Florida Association of Col-
leges and Universities and chair
of the Independent Colleges and
Universities of Florida. She was
inducted into the Florida Women’s
Hall of Fame and received the Siena
Medal in 1997 for her Christian
commitment and efforts to trans-
form the world.