Getting away from it all.

I'm lucky to live here in the Keweenaw and have many great places into which I can escape. My favorite (secret) place, however, is close to town, but seems like another world.

There, I cross old farm fields once used for strawberries and other crops. Then, I move into stands of hardwood and conifers. I've seen deer, bear, coyotes, partridge, and, as I move downhill toward a river, I've scared up a couple of eagles.

From the riverbank, I've caught brook trout (and I really don't know how to fish) and enjoyed some small waterfalls, including one created by a beaver dam.

Old fence lines cross a ridge above the river, and they were there to keep cows and horses from going down to the water. I always think about the generations before me who walked those same hills and paths to the river and back.

They'd appreciate the fact, I believe, that new generations still enjoy the woods, fields, and river—just as they left it many years ago.

Dennis '92, '09

***

Tell us about your favorite Keweenaw places. You can do so via the 125th anniversary website or the Alumni Association Facebook page. You can send me your memories, too.

Midway up Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, just south of tiny Phoenix, the cliffs rise precipitously above the tableland. Years ago, a company town, a mining operation, and two cemeteries were tucked in, on, and around the bluff—all of it providing the needs of a lifetime: a place to live, work and die. More

SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers) has named Jeffrey D. Naber, associate professor of mechanical engineering, winner of the 2010 Forest R. McFarland Award. Naber is director of the Advanced Power Systems Research Center at Michigan Tech. More

Teddy bears bring joy and comfort to children, especially when they experience trauma. For this reason, the Department of Public Safety and Police Services at Michigan Tech is starting a program to give teddy bears to children who are involved in a house fire, a car crash or similar event. Says Deputy Chief Brian Cadwell, "Police, fire and rescue personnel have found that teddy bears provide welcome, on-site and in-transit comfort to children involved in these situations." More

Featured classes will be the Golden Ms (those who graduated 50 plus years ago), the classes of ’60, ’70, ’80, ’85, ’90 and ’00. Other special alumni group reunions being planned are Huskies Hockey, Air Force ROTC, Chemistry, several engineering departments, Alpha Delta Alpha, Delta Zeta, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Rho Lawn Party 2010, 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Pavement Design, Construction and Materials Enterprise and the Thompson Scholars Program and more.

Request a Reunion Registration Packet to be mailed to your home or view online!

Register ONLINE or print the 2010 TICKET FORM.

Don't forget! Share your alumni stories. Login to HuskyLink, click on My Class Notes, choose the category Alumni Stories and share your favorite memories from Tech. Remember to include pictures!

If you haven't made your 2009-10 Annual Fund gift yet, there is still time. Michigan Tech's fiscal year comes to a close on June 30, 2010, so you have until the end of this month to reserve your spot on the annual Honor Roll of Donors. Your options for making your-end gift include:

Phone the Michigan Tech Fund office at 1-877-386-3688 (toll free) or 1-906-487-2310. You can make a credit card gift over the phone.

Mail your gift to:
Michigan Tech Fund
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931

Make your gift online with a credit card by going to www.mtu.edu/giving

Your phone or mail gift must be received by June 30 at 3:00 pm (EST) to be included for the 2009-10 year. Online credit card gifts can be made up until midnight (EST) on the 30th.

This Dillman Hall lab was busy in June 2006. It's clickable. Recognize anyone? Email me.

Another parade on the bridge, this one for Homecoming 1968. Any memories? Email me.

Kim Cameron has been promoted to Michigan Tech’s head women’s basketball coach position it was announced today by athletic director Suzanne Sanregret. Cameron, who spent the last five years as assistant coach helping the Huskies to 119 wins and two NCAA Elite Eight appearances, becomes the eighth head coach in the program’s 35-year history. More

For the second straight year, Michigan Tech senior Ken Gilkerson was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Cross Country and Track Field Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He finished 10th in the 800-meter run in a school record time of 1:51.08 at the 2010 NCAA Div. II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Gilkerson recently graduated with a 3.94 GPA in mechanical engineering. More

Michigan Tech soccer coach Michelle Jacob has announced that seven players have signed National Letters of Intent to join the team for its inaugural season. Ariana Peterson and Amanda Whiting are a pair of high scoring forwards at Ashland (Wis.) High School. The duo helped the Oredockers to a perfect 22-0 record while not allowing a single goal during the regular season. More

The Summer Edition of the Huskies Club Newsletter is now available online.

A larger-than-life fireworks show lit up the night sky Saturday, rounding out a day full of family fun and celebration. The Jon Davis Fireworks Tribute was just one of the many events that took place Friday and Saturday as part of Bridgefest in Houghton and Hancock. More

When Stephenie Strieff first walked in the Relay for Life in Houghton in honor of family members in 2000, she had no idea that 10 years later she'd be walking as a survivor of ovarian cancer. "Before I had it, I was walking," she said. More

It's been years in the planning, but work to turn the Union Building into a visitor center and exhibit display location began Monday. Workers from Yalmer Mattila Contracting began preparation work to start the renovation of the building interior to house a visitor center for the Calumet Unit of Keweenaw National Historical Park and housing for an exhibit about what life was like for workers and other residents, mostly in the Calumet area, during the copper mining era. More

In the photo, Forestry from when, The person in the upper left, (the only face visible) is that of Thomas Marshall Smith, Forestry Grad in 1958. He was my uncle from Newberry, MI. I baby sat for him and his wife Shirley in the temporary housing when I was a student from 1955 to 1959. Damn it was cold in that small trailer. Used to kill the time studying, listening to the Red Wing Games and the local Finnish station. I got to the point that I could fake speaking Finnish and made the most of it with Pasty the cop, a distant relative. Anyone remember Pasty.

On another subject, I went to the NCAA playoffs in 1956? in Colorado Spring, with the band and Jon Davis. This is the only time on the way out that this train had to stop in the middle of the night for more beer in Nebraska. John was a hellofa trumpet player and I played the trombone. We couldn't believe the size of the hamburgers in Colorado or how easy it was to get beer...John and I got into a beer brawl one night and the fight ended when we broke a lamp in the motel.

Bill Kincaide, ME 1959

Bill: I made the photo clickable, so it can be enlarged a bit.

***

Hi Dennis,
I'm not sure that's a forestry photo, but I suppose it could be from some class.

The fellow squatting to the left of the log looks like Pem (Frederic) Andresen '61 (Chem Eng) who was an H & T. The fellow on the right looking at the camera in the light shirt with his arms folded looks like he could be Jim McBride '60 (ME) who was Mu Kappa Mu.

I don't know if it's still done but a couple of the fraternities used to have a tug of war across a small river to the east, I think, of Houghton. Possibly it had something to do with that. I went to watch one of them. About all I remember is that it was back in the woods someplace, and mostly just the participants and a few spectators. The man on the right on the saw looks familiar, a prof I think. I don't think I ever had a class with him, tho. Possibly, he could have been an advisor to one of the fraternities.

There was one girl in my class (Elaine Mosher) who was in Forestry and one or a couple upper classmen also, but I didn't know the upperclassmen then. Ken Walch '60 was a photographer for the Lode back then. I have no idea if he has any records, tho. Last I heard he was in Anchorage, AK.

Gail Richter (Phi Lambda Beta :-) '61

Dennis,
I regularly read the "Car Talk" Puzzler (http://cartalk.com/content/puzzler/) and send in my answer. This week's winner happens to be from Houghton, MI! Congratulations to Jim Foss! I'm not sure if he's an Alumni Newsletter subscriber, but if he is, I hope he sees this. I wonder how he'll spend his $26 prize. :-)

David Clark '84

Dennis - This is the Hancock fire I was referring to in my e-mail just in case I didn't send it to you before. It was taken in 1959 from just west of the lift bridge.

The colored lines in the foreground are the lights of a road grader which just happened to be doing the M26 highway in front of the house we (my wife and I) were living in when I was working on my Master's degree in mechanical engineering.

Don Barkel

Dennis: your tour brings back old memories and some frustration. I remember Brockway Mountain fondly. Problem is, my wife who didn’t go to Tech and I get back up that way every few years. I’ve brought her up Brockway Mountain at least five times. You guessed it, fogged in every time. She’s yet to see Lake Superior from the top.

Martin Vonk

Martin: I know just the cure: come up again! For Reunion!

Dennis,
In case you missed it, here is a link to an article in the June 24 Free Press about the Terry Woychowski family foundation / MTU student project to provide simple grain mills for Africa.

Larry Doyle
Class of 1964
Proud to be a Tech grad and GM retiree

Dennis,
I received the spring edition of the Michigan Tech Magazine yesterday and found my memory of the campus in the 50s was not completely correct. The names of the buildings I remembered as McNair Hall and Sperr Hall were reversed. I attended classes in all the buildings shown in the Magazine, except McNair Hall, while I was attending classes from '51 to '55. None of them are standing now.

Art Brookman, '55 EE

Art: My memory is reversed, and worse, many times!

Dennis,
Just read the article about Julius Nachazel. You mentioned that the Frisbee trophy is named after him. Mr. Nachazel lived two doors from the Sig Ep House on Blanche Street and I was asked to give him a ride to the first tournament so he could present the trophy with his name on it.
I remember him telling me all kinds of stories about battles he was in during World War I.

I can not remember the year but it had to be 1970 or 71.

Bob Mark
Class of '72

Bob: If it was Calumet, it was 1970, and we'll be flinging it again this next weekend in West Hancock at the Driving Park. Wish me luck! I've included a photo of the trophy, which also has a huge carrying case/base below it.

In a previous newsletter Les Reid mentioned boarding at Mrs. Beck's on W. Douglass.
I roomed across the street at John and Anna Paquette's and boarded at Mrs. Beck's. John and Anna owned a duplex and rented rooms in one side to Tech students. I married Barbara Paquette, one of their daughters, but not in time to save room rent. Initially there were 7 of us, all on the GI Bill. I'm sure we were a cultural shock but we managed to win them over. We had our own little group and called it the 605 Club. I believe all of us graduated in "49" or "50". Another daughter, Catherine married Bill Ashmore, one of the group. I don't think Anna was too thrilled with having her daughters marrying and moving away but as long as she and John lived I got to visit Tech nearly every year and our children and grandchildren all got to experience the Copper Country.

Graduation in 49 was on the lawn in front of the Hubble building. After graduation, with jobs scarce I attended grad school at MSU and then worked for the U S Forest Service for 32 years in several places in the south. After retiring from the FS I went into consulting and I'm now considering retiring again. I thank Tech for providing me with an opportunity to work in the south, on national committees and the Caribbean.

Bill Balmer
Forestry 49

Just a quick note about the snowfall. My first year started in Sept '56. That school year the total snow was about 300+in. No winner based on later years. The worst thing was that Houghton did not plow the snow, so downtown streets became higher than the sidewalks. Heaven forbid sliding off the road with the right rear tire on the sidewalk. It took many hefty guys to manhandle my '53 Ford back onto the street.

I'm looking forward to my 50th class reunion this August.

Jim Carroll, PE '60

Jim: The fiftieth ceremonies up here are spectacular!

***

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