Lewis & Clark College

Keith Woodard graduated in 1989 with a degree in history. He started in 1968 at Lewis & Clark, took an extended leave of absence to pursue his athletic career at the professional level, and eventually returned to finish his degree. Keith is very interested in Northwest American history partly because his grandfather wrote a history on Native Americans in the Northwest. Although he was born in Washington, Keith moved to Portland when he was six and grew up in the area. Despite the fact that many colleges were eager to recruit him in high school, Keith ultimately choose Lewis & Clark for its small class size among other factors. At Lewis & Clark, he was a track and field athlete, and this passion for running helped to nurture his future career: coaching. Although he enjoyed both positions immensely, Keith remarked that he feels that he has had more success as a coach than as an athlete. Keith worked as a coach and later director of the Cross Country and Track & Field programs at Lewis & Clark, his alma mater, until he retired in 2019.

2017-03-02

Scott Wolff grew up in SE Portland, Oregon. Mr. Wolff's father was a professor of Elementary Education at Lewis & Clark College, influencing Scott's own decision to attend the school in the years between 1978-82, except for one year in which he attended the University of Oregon (1979-1980). In the second semester of his freshman year, Mr. Wolff took Historical Materials with Stephen Dow Beckham, which eventually led him to become a history major. While at Lewis & Clark, Mr. Wolff was involved with the Pioneer Log newspaper, serving as the editor-in-chief for his senior year, and was also a member of KLC radio. After graduating, he briefly worked at a newspaper before attending art school in San Francisco, in order to pursue his interests in graphic design. He now works in corporate marketing, living in Lake Oswego, Oregon, with his wife Concetta, a fellow L&C alum that he met during his time here.

2016-10-27

Steve West is originally from Seattle, Washington but moved to Portland to attend Lewis & Clark where he met his wife; he has lived here ever since excluding extended stays abroad. Steve was attracted to the overseas studies programs at Lewis & Clark and went to Greece his sophomore year. Despite his love for the beautiful campus, Steve did mention that the school was somewhat isolated during his time spent here. Steve was a History major at Lewis & Clark with a focus on modern Chinese history. His favorite history class was Czarist Russia and discussed the excellence of the department and its professors. After college Steve worked in the Peace Corps and then moved to Greece to teach for a living before moving back to Portland. Steve is also a graduate of the Lewis & Clark Law School where he took evening classes later on in his life. Despite how much the physical appearance of the college has changed over the years, Steve still enjoys walking around the campus grounds with his wife on the weekends.

2017-03-11

Randel Webb was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up primarily in Long Beach
California, but moved around frequently because his father was in the Marine Corps. After high
school Randel joined the National Guard and he completed his six-year obligation to the Guard
in 1969. Following his time with the Guard, Randel attended Mt. Angel College in Oregon,
where he met his wife, Jan. However, Randel left Mt. Angel for his last year and went to Lewis
& Clark College because Mt. Angel was losing its accreditation. Randel studied music at Mt.
Angel and Lewis & Clark. He graduated from Lewis & Clark in April, 1973. Randel was
recruited to the Marine Corps while at Lewis & Clark, and he served in the Marine Corps from
1972 to 1993. He continued to serve as a US Marine Corps civilian from 1993 to 2014. While he
was never deployed, he was involved in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the war in
Afghanistan. He and his family lived in many beautiful coastal locations around the world and
eventually settled in Quantico, Virginia. He and Jan are still happily married.

2018-03-20

"Violet Watson was born in Honolulu, HI during the Second World War. Violet’s father was from
Portland, OR and her mother was of Japanese descent but native to Hawaii. Violet grew up on
multiple military bases, attending a total of nine schools before graduating from high school,
though her family often relocated back to Honolulu. Her father served in WWII and the Korean
War, and his military career was a large influence on Violet’s life. She came to the mainland to
leave Hawaii permanently, and enrolled at Lewis & Clark to be close to her father’s family. In the
“little pink bubble,” Violet was a Theatre and Art double major, taking six years to complete her
Bachelor’s. Often in a scramble to pay tuition at Lewis & Clark, she worked up to three jobs at
once, while also performing in Theatre Department productions and being active in Theta Kappa,
a service sorority she belonged to. Shortly after graduation, Violet married a Lewis & Clark
graduate, and they attended the University of Oregon to pursue Master’s Degrees in theatre. Due
to an “uninformed” marriage, the two divorced and returned to Portland. Violet, to help pay her
student loans and continue her education, began working at Marshall High School while also
continuing her Master’s in theatre at Lewis & Clark. Obtaining her degree in 1972, she continued
teaching at Marshall before taking a year off. Violet then began teaching at Barlow High School
in Gresham, where she would teach theatre for twenty-one years. Bringing a progressive
perspective into a conservative community, Violet directed thought-provoking shows in a
sometimes hostile environment. After retiring, she tried her hand at small-scale farming in Sandy,
which did not work out. Now, she is active in the theatre community in Oregon, often judging
competitions and seeing performances of students she taught twenty years before."

2018-03-06

Jean Ward was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. She received an Undergraduate and Master’s Degree from the University of Oregon and was an active debater and debate coach. In 1964, she began teaching in the Speech Department at Lewis and Clark College, remaining true to the renamed Communications and Rhetoric and Media Studies Department until 2006. She also coached the forensics program at Lewis and Clark College and helped to found and direct the Gender Studies Symposium and Gender Studies Interdisciplinary Program. She gained her Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in the 1980s and then taught in Eugene for two years before returning to Lewis and Clark College. She was married and has two sons and is a lover of birds.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark Professor Jean Ward, conducted by Hannah Swernoff on October 14, 2014. History Department, Fall Semester, 2014.

20141014

Serena Cruz Walsh was born in Seattle, Washington, and moved to California temporarily before moving to Eugene, Oregon. She graduated from North Eugene High School and enrolled in Lewis & Clark in 1985. During her first term, she lived in Stewart before moving to Copeland, and during the first term of her senior year, she lived with Ray and Sheryl Warren prior to moving into an apartment with friends. Mrs. Cruz Walsh was involved in a variety of committees at Lewis & Clark, including acting as the SAAB vice-president during her freshman year, and participating in the SUACA. After graduating from Lewis & Clark with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and a minor in economics, Mrs. Cruz Walsh remained involved at Lewis & Clark, working as the dean of admissions in 1989. Mrs. Cruz Walsh attended graduate school and law school at the University of California, Berkeley as well as at Harvard. In 1997, she acted as the commissioner’s assistant in Portland, and later went on to become the Multnomah County Commissioner. Currently, Mrs. Cruz Walsh is working as executive director at the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation.

20150309

Jan Vlahos was born in Yakima, Washington, and moved to Spokane, Washington, when she started grammar/primary school. Before attending Lewis & Clark, she went to secretarial school, Whitworth College, for a year. She transferred in as a sophomore in 1960, and went on the school’s first ever overseas program to Japan in 1962. In addition, she also worked as an R.A., and worked in the admissions office as a student secretary. She met her husband Peter (a former associate dean of students) here, and has been active in the community throughout her life. After graduating, she worked for U.S. Bank, Clackamas Community College, and also for an engineering firm. Both of her children attended Lewis & Clark, and she considers the school to be a second home.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Jan Vlahos, conducted by Cade Brewster on March 5, 2015. History Department, Spring Semester, 2015.

20150305

Jack Venables was born in Port Angeles, Washington. He spent much of his childhood living with his father, who worked, and his mother, who stayed at home to raise the children. Before his senior of high school, Mr. Venables and his family moved to Oswego, Oregon, on account of his father’s job. He graduated from Oswego High School in 1951, and began attending Lewis & Clark College in 1952. He played on the football team and sang in the college choir. During his first three years at college, Mr. Venables lived at home in Oswego, commuting to school each day, and for his final year, he resided in Platt Hall. After he graduated, he spent a year in the military.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Jack Venables, conducted by Claire Manny on March 16, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140316

Kathleen Todd was born into a small family in Tacoma, Washington. She came to Lewis & Clark determined to study abroad and to become the first person in her family to earn a degree. She studied education with the goals of teaching grade school humanities subjects, while incorporating the literature, geography, and history she learned in her studies abroad in Iran and Mexico. Her trip to Iran in 1968 provided lifelong friendships and developed interpersonal skills that she’s used throughout her life and career. She worked as the director of the Office of Citizen Involvement for Multnomah County for almost 20 years before her retirement in February 2015, and found the problem-solving abilities and social skills she gained at Lewis & Clark and abroad extremely valuable. Currently, she works with the Center for the Arts Foundation in Gresham and serves as a chair of the Vital Aging Network for Multnomah County.

20151014

Mary Jean Schrunk Thompson was born Mary Jean Schrunk in 1935 in Salem, Oregon. She is a fourth generation Oregonian, and the first in her family to graduate from college. Her first cousin is Terry Schrunk, the former mayor of Portland. Ms. Thompson came to Lewis & Clark College in 1953, and graduated in 1957 with a Music degree. She lived in Akin dorm all four years at Lewis & Clark, and spent her time studying, playing the piano, skiing, or with her sorority sisters. She met her first husband her spring semester of senior year, and married him shortly after. She had two children with him, before divorcing him. Ms. Thompson later started her own national interior design company, and remarried several years later and had two more children. Today she is an active alumnus to Lewis & Clark, and is also an Honorary Consul to Lichtenstein.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Mary Jean Schrunk Thompson, conducted by Lindsay Mulcahy on March 16, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140316

John Tess graduated in 1977 with a degree in History and went on to found his own historic preservation consulting firm. John transferred from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukie after his sophomore year to Lewis & Clark. He chose Lewis & Clark because of its beautiful campus and the scholarship money that he received for attendance. An avid bike racer from the Midwest, John enjoyed Lewis & Clark's vicinity to prime cycling territory, often training on what is now the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. While still a student at Lewis & Clark, John interned at the Mcloughlin House in Oregon City, which sparked his interest in historic preservation. John mentioned that Historical Materials as well as the incredible support of the professors gave him the tools necessary to succeed in his field.

2017-03-23

Mike Teskey was born and raised in Beaverton, Oregon. His mother emigrated from
Germany, and Mike grew up speaking German as his first language. Mike graduated
from Lewis & Clark in 1985 with degree in History and German, as well as a teaching
certificate in Secondary Education. During his junior year, Mike studied abroad in
Munich and travelled to parts of West and East Germany. Following graduation, Mike
worked at Beaverton Public Schools before moving to Boston to work for an
international publishing company and pursue his Master’s in History. He served as the
Alumni Director at Lewis & Clark from 1997 to 2001 before moving to Reed College to
work as Alumni Director. He continues to work there today and manages to integrate his
loves of history, education, and travel.

2017-03-07

Eric Taussig grew up near Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area. He
decided he wanted to go to a small, liberal arts college and chose Lewis & Clark
after visiting the Pacific Northwest. Eric entered Lewis & Clark with a strong
desire to travel and intended to major in history, english, or international affairs.
He decided on a history major after an influential study abroad trip to India during
his sophomore year. His participation in study abroad fostered a strong interest in
Asian history. Eric graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 1991 and went on to
graduate school at the University of Chicago. After studying Chinese and more
traveling to Asia, Eric attended the Wharton School of the University of
Philadelphia for business. Eric now owns and operates a global technology
services business, running at the international level. Eric currently resides in Lake
Oswego, Oregon with his family but travels often for business.

2017-03-09

Herb Swett was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, where he attended local elementary, middle, and high schools. Though originally attending Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, he decided to transfer to L&C in the beginning of his sophomore year. At Lewis & Clark, Mr. Swett pursued a degree in history in hopes of pursing a career as a lawyer. After graduating in 1965, he attended Willamette Law School for a year until he decided to leave for a brief stint in the army, travelling to New Jersey and Georgia for training. Mr. Swett eventually returned to Oregon, attending Univeristy of Oregon in Eugene in order to earn a bachelor's degree in journalism. Mr. Swett worked for local Portland newspapers after leaving U of O, and currently works part time doing medical transcribing and writing occasionally for the local newspaper.

2016-10-28

Peggy Swafford (born Mary Jakku) received her Bachelor of Music from the college in 1956. Raised in Oregon, Peggy's passion for music lead her to follow her childhood music tutor to Lewis & Clark in 1952. While at school Mary lived in Akin Hall until she moved off during the last semester of her senior year. While at Lewis & Clark, Peggy met her husband playing in the school symphony. In this interview Peggy speaks largely about her experiences in classes and music groups, but also talks about dating, social experiences and practical jokes. After her time at Lewis & Clark she played in the Oregon Symphony and eventually became a music educator, remaining in the Portland area.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Mary "Peggy" Swaford, conducted by Tyler Wayne Patterson on March 13, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140313

Ann Stuller, formerly Ann Baudin, was born and raised in Portland, OR, and lives
in the area to this day. She grew up visiting the Lewis and Clark campus for church
picnics and fell in love with the college. She started going to school here in 1957 and
graduated in 1961 with a Foreign Languages degree, with a focus in French. She chose to
continue her education at Lewis and Clark and received a Masters Degree from the
graduate school in education, specifically teaching Foreign Languages. She married Ed
Stuller in 1967 and became the mother of his two daughters. In the mid-1990s, she
became involved in disability activism regarding the closing of the Fairview Training
Center, a state-run facility for people with disabilities, where her elder daughter, Mary,
was housed. During the process of closing Fairview, she continued to be active in the
disabled community, serving on a committee to ensure quality control for people leaving
Fairview, and seeing the benefits and drawbacks of new ideologies coming to the
forefront of care for the mentally-handicapped. She and Ed now live in King City, OR.

2018-10-08

Brian Street works as a Foreign Service Officer in Belgium as the refugee liaison for the United States, specifically, he works in communications and public policy. Growing up, his father was also a Foreign Service Officer, so Brian moved around the United States and abroad many times before coming to college. When he first came to Lewis & Clark, he struggled to fit in with the popular culture because he had been abroad for so long but also did not feel at home with the international students. After time though he joined the track team, met his future wife, decided to major in International Affairs, and felt more at home in Oregon. After graduating in 2001, Brian got his law degree and worked on many two-to-three year Foreign Service Officer jobs.

2022-03-30

Karolina Stepkowski was born in the town of Pułtusk, near Warsaw, Poland, in 1975. Her family
soon left for the Netherlands, where she lived until the age of sixteen, to escape the Communist
regime. The Stepkowskis then moved to the United States and spent six months in New York
before settling in Boise, Idaho and then finally Portland, Oregon. While in Boise, Ms.
Stepkowski attended Capital High School and Boise State University, and then transferred to
Lewis & Clark when her family moved to Portland. While attending Lewis & Clark as a
commuter student, Ms. Stepkowski contributed to the Lewis & Clark Literary Review and
majored in English. After graduating in December of 1998, Ms. Stepkowski began working for a
health insurance company, where she still works today. She also met her partner, Chris, in
Portland, and they are engaged to be married next year.

2017-10-28

Jim Stell grew up in Milwaukie before enrolling at Lewis & Clark in 1956. As an undergraduate, He lived off-campus with his family, commuting to school in his black 1949 Ford. He pledged a fraternity as a freshman, where he worked as secretary and record-keeper, met older GI’s from the Korean War and made lifelong friends. Over the summer, he gave tours through the Oregon Caves, along with 60 students from colleges across the nation. Just after the creation of the Associated Students of Lewis & Clark, Stell represented the senior class as one of its two senators. During senior year, he met a blonde, incoming freshman who became his wife. Stell majored in education, and his student teaching experience landed him a job in the Milwaukee school district for 32 years as a teacher, and later principal. He recently retired.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Jim Stell, conducted by Caleb Diehl on April 3, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140403

Brent Soo Hoo was raised in Arizone and Hawaii before coming to Lewis & Clark in 1982. Going into college, his mother encouraged him to study what he loved, so Brent decided to pursue a double major in history and Sociology/Anthropology. He did two thesehis senior year, one on British naval policies during the interwar period, while the other was on heavy metal music. During his time at college he worked extensively in the library. His proudest accomplishment was his senior year when he manned the 11pm-8am shift, making sure that students ad access to Watzek before it became a 24-hour library. After college, he spent twenty years working at a research company until starting his own business, Soo hoo Inc.

2016-10-20

Professor Emeritus of Health from 1967-1991& 1998-2004.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Dell Smith, conducted by Jeremy Biskind on October 21, 2014. History Department, Fall Semester, 2014. TRANSCRIPTION PENDING

20141021

Betty Bachimont grew up in University Place, WA, where her parents taught foreign language: her mother taught Latin at the high school level and her father was a professor of German, French, and Spanish at the University of Puget Sound. After graduating from Curtis High School, Betty Bachimont enrolled in Lewis & Clark College in 1963. In the fall of 1965, Betty along with twenty-one other students traveled with Professor George Sinclair and Margaret Cooley to study abroad in both West Berlin and Munich, Germany. She was involved with the Delta Phi Gamma sorority. After graduating from Lewis & Clark with a German Studies degree, she got a job teaching for the Portland Public Schools. In 1968, Betty was back on campus and through her roommate Romona, met her future husband Hans Siebenmorgen. Betty taught German at a number of Portland public and private schools until retiring in 2000 at the age of 55. Her husband was a mechanic and retired five years later, in 2005. Betty and Hans live in Portland, OR and have two daughters, Anni and Karin, as well as one granddaughter, Mia.

20151002

David Sellers grew up all over the continental United States as his father often moved for better business opportunities. He attended Lewis and Clark College beginning in 1951 for three years until he was drafted into the Army in 1954. After basic training he was assigned to be a clerk-typist, and because of his ability to speak French, was assigned a position in Europe instead of in Korea or Japan. He was assigned to a position in Germany, where he spent the majority of his two years of service in the army. After being discharged he returned to Lewis and Clark to receive his degree in Psychology in 1957. He then worked with the Central Intelligence Agency until his retirement. He now lives in Whidbey Island, Washington.

2018-03-09

Ben Scully grew up in New Jersey and London, England. He applied to Lewis & Clark at
the suggestion of his father. His experience living abroad, and travels with his parents sparked
an interest in other cultures early in life, and study abroad was a defining feature of his Lewis &
Clark experience. In his first year of college, Ben participated in a Lewis & Clark semester
program in Russia. As a Junior, he spent a year in Egypt, one semester through a program
associated with Lewis & Clark, and the second at the American University in Cairo. Ben
graduated in 1986 with a degree in History and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. He currently
works for Converse at their offices in Zhongshan, China.

2017-03-09

Harold Schleef taught economics at Lewis & Clark College from 1983 to 2013. He grew up in the state of Illinois. After receiving a bachelor’s degree, he was drafted into the army and served in the Panama Canal Zone during the Vietnam War. After his service, he completed his master’s degree, and then a Ph.D. His first teaching position was at the University of Oregon. He came to Lewis & Clark as a member of the Business program, which was then replaced by the Economics department. During his time at Lewis & Clark he served as Dean of the Social Sciences Division in addition to his faculty role. In his retirement, he is currently serving as the school board president of the Portland Lutheran School.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark Professor Harold Schleef, conducted by Jacob Fong-Gurzinsky on October 28, 2014. History Department, Fall Semester, 2014.

20141028

Deborah Sue Schallert grew up in Littleton, Colorado, the daughter of a businessman and a
registered nurse. After attending Arizona State University for her first semester, she transferred
to Lewis & Clark, where she took mostly psychology and biology classes and worked as a
Resident Advisor.. She graduated in spring of 1975, and then moved to Chicago to work at the
National Runaway Hotline. She returned to Lewis & Clark a few months later to become the
Resident Director of Akin Hall, which was then all-female. Deborah went on to work for Oregon
Parks and Recreation and Portland General Electric, and she now sits on Oregon’s State
Advisory Committee for Historical Preservation. She currently lives in Portland with her
husband Michael, the brother of one of her fellow Resident Directors.

2019-10-10

Larry Sams grew up in the Portland, Oregon, area and Connie Sams grew up in Los Angeles, California. Larry attended Clackamas High School while Connie went to school in Eagle Rock. Connie, coming from an Occidental College family, was the rebel for going to Lewis & Clark, where her grandfather, Morgan Samuel Odell had been dean for a number of years. Larry came to Lewis & Clark because he was recruited by the basketball coach, Dean Semper. Larry and Connie met during orientation week their freshmen year and have been together ever since. They have two children together – Julie and Peter. Larry was a biology major and Connie was a sociology major. Larry went on to be a veterinarian and Connie was a secretary for an elementary school.

20150223

Viktoria Salnikova-Leeper was born in 1978 and grew up through the dissolution of the
USSR in Ulan Ude, Siberia, near today’s northern border of Mongolia. Her father was an
engineer at a local car part factory and her mother was a school teacher. Before her
undergraduate education at Lewis and Clark College, at age 15, Viktoria took part in an overseas
program to the U.S., where she lived in Hillsboro with a host family and graduated from Glencoe
high school. Before returning to live with her American host family in Portland, she studied
foreign languages and linguistics for a few years at Buryat State University in her hometown.
Upon visiting the annual Lewis and Clark international fair in the late 90s, she decided to apply
as a transfer to Lewis and Clark, and transferred at the age of 19. Graduating in 2000, she was an
economics major, part-time working student, and RA on the Russian floor of the Copeland
dorms. After LC, Viktoria started her career in healthcare analytics and went to grad school to
get her masters. She and her husband now have three children and live nearby in the greater
Portland area.

2017-10-31

Don Ruff grew up in Tacoma, Washington. Inspired by his mother's German-American heritage, Don chose to pursue a History degree at Lewis & clark, with an emphasis on Eastern Europe. After graduation, he went on to study engineering at Portland State University. He also worked as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War in Portland at an organization called FISH (Friends in Serving Humanity) in the time between his two degrees. He went on the abroad trip to Yugoslavia during his time at L&C, and has since travelled to Malaysia and Costa Rica. Don is now retired after having worked at Bonneville Power Administration. He also married a fellow Lewis & Clark graduate with whom he has raised two children.

2016-10-21

Edgar Reynolds grew up in Oakland, California, and he attended his first two years of higher education at Whittier College. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin for his junior and senior years, as a theatre major. He got his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, though before that he worked as a professor at Stanford. There he taught through the Vietnam War protests of the late 1960s. After receiving his Ph.D., he taught at a number of universities, including the University of Colorado, Northern Arizona University and Oregon State. In 1980 he came to Lewis & Clark to teach Theatre Studies. He stayed for fifteen years, before retiring in 1995. Since retiring, he has directed plays in Vietnam and appeared on television series such as Leverage and Grimm. Professor Reynolds described his time at L&C as the “crown of his career,” and he still keeps in contact with many of his former students.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark Professor Edgar Reynolds, conducted by Julia Hernandez on October 15, 2014. History Department, Fall Semester, 2014.

20141015

Susan G. Reese was raised in White Salmon, WA. Valedictorian of her high school class, she
chose Lewis & Clark for its beautiful campus, academic rigor, and location in Portland, OR. As a
student here, she was heavily involved on campus through both employment and her work with
student government. Notably, she participated in a takeover of President John Howard’s office in
the Manor House to protest the US involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as some of
President Howard’s actions on campus. She was also an active member of the PPAC and the
NAACP in Portland. After graduating from Lewis & Clark in 1974, Susan pursued a number of
vocations before returning to school to get her Masters in English from Portland State University
and her MFA in Poetry from Pacific University. She teaches in the English department at PSU
and remains politically active. She lives in West Linn, OR.

2018-03-22

Rick Price was born in Valsetz, Oregon in 1949 to a superintendent father and a school teacher mother. They moved to Newport, Oregon shortly after. Rick started taking classes at Lewis & Clark College in the Fall of 1967. After only one semester at Lewis & Clark, Rick took part in the school’s study abroad program in Tehran, Iran in the spring of 1968. When he had finished his second semester on campus in the fall of 1968, Rick decided to transfer to the University of Oregon, where he earned a degree in General Social Science in 1973, and subsequently earned a doctorate in Geography from the University of Oregon. Rick now operates an international bike touring company, Experience Plus, out of Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife, Paola, and daughters Monica and Maria.

20151015

David Poulshock was born in Los Angeles, CA and grew up in Klamath Falls, OR, where his mother and father were both musicians and educators. Poulshock came to Lewis & Clark in the fall of 1966, graduating in the class of 1970 with a degree in history. Poulshock was a varsity swimmer and very involved in politics on campus, leading strikes and teach-ins concerning the Vietnam War. He was the ASLC President his senior year and created and served on the Community Council, advocated for students and professors to be on the Board of Trustees, organized a campus wide referendum, created a new senate constitution, and came to heads with the President of the College John Howard. While at Lewis & Clark, Poulshock had the opportunity to meet President Richard Nixon at a conference in Washington D.C. for college student body presidents. After attending the Vietnam Moratorium in Washington D.C. in 1971, he opened a co-op called the Eleventh Muse in downtown Portland and joined the band UPEPO, which he was in from 1971-1983. He currently lives in Portland, OR with his partner Gini Chin, and owns his own production company Red Door Films where he directs, writes, produces, and edits commercials, corporate films, web videos, and documentaries.

20160318

Bob Phillips was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He attended primary and secondary school here, graduating from David Douglas High School in 1968. Mr. Phillips attended Lewis & Clark College until 1972, when he graduated with a degree in education. While attending he lettered in football all four years, worked as a cook in the cafeteria and worked multiple jobs off campus. Upon graduating, Mr. Phillips worked in the Portland area as an elementary school teacher until his retirement in 2002. He returned to Lewis & Clark to receive his master’s degree in teaching, graduating in 1986. He met his wife of 22 years while attending Lewis & Clark, and has two daughters. Since retirement, Mr. Phillips has enjoyed spending time outdoors, mountain climbing, volunteering at local elementary schools and spending time visiting his children and grandchildren.

20150304

Brendan Peterson grew up in San Francisco to a mother and father who were both writers. The influence of his parents would drive him to pursue writing himself by working for the Wallenberg High School newspaper while he was a student there, writing movie reviews, a hobby he continues to this day. After high school, he continued his academic career and attended Lewis & Clark College. Here, he pursued a communications major and was heavily involved with the KLC radio on campus. During his time at Lewis & Clark College, he participated in the study abroad trip to Hungary in the fall of 1987. He graduated in the year 1989 with a degree in communications, and continued his passion in radio for a little while after graduation. He eventually moved on to pursue his lifelong passion for writing, writing training books, as well as fiction on the side. He currently lives in his hometown of San Francisco with his family.

20151019

Mary Zoe Petrik graduated Lewis & Clark College in 1959. She would commute from NE Portland to school every day with a set of twins (Backstrom) she attended Jefferson High School with. Her grandmother and mother were both teachers. Mary Zoe was an Education major, which has since been discontinued at the undergraduate campus.

Lewis & Clark, according to Mary Zoe, was a “great place” to be—well rounded and personal. She liked having camaraderie with professors, who often stopped her on campus to chat. When asked, Mary Zoe’s favorite professor was Dr. Eugene N. Kozloff of the marine biology department. Mary Zoe was active within the Presbyterian Church (Lewis & Clark was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church at this time).

Post-graduation found Mary Zoe married to Larry Petersen (they dated in college but waited to marry) and teaching elementary school. A transfer through Larry’s job brought them to Seattle, Washington (where they coincidentally ran into Dr. Kozloff every so often)—Mary Zoe stopped teaching officially to focus on her school-age children, although she continued to substitute teach. They are now settled in Gresham, Oregon. Mary Zoe and Larry continue to put their ballroom classes to use—they still love to “cut the rug.”

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Mary Zoe Petersen (nee Petrik), conducted by Jasmine Graze on April 4, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140404

Larry Petersen grew up in Eugene where his mother and father were poultry farmers in a Danish community. After attending University of Oregon for a year and then transferring to Lewis & Clark in 1955, Larry Petersen graduated with the class of 1958 with a major in business and a minor in psychology. He was very active in his fraternity of Theta Chi and was a Resident Advisor in Platt Hall for several years. He and his girlfriend taught dance classes and he played many inter mural sports. After serving several months in the national guard, he and his college girlfriend, Mary Zoe Petrik, were married. After several years of Larry working as a business manager and Mary Zoe as a teacher, they opened an optometry office with Mary Zoe’s brother. Larry and Mary Zoe now live in Gresham, Oregon where Larry coached competitive youth soccer.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Jack Petersen, conducted by Emma Hoch-Schneider on April 4, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140404

Henry Pete was born on a farm in Glendale, Oregon in 1920. Skipping two grades, he graduated High School at 16, and then attended Albany College (later Lewis & Clark) on a half tuition athletic scholarship. While at Albany College he majored in history and government and participated in a variety of sports and athletic activities, especially baseball and basketball. He also witnessed the transfer of Albany College from its campus in Albany, Oregon, to its temporary downtown Portland campus, and attended classes in both locations. Mr. Pete graduated in 1941, and soon after joined the army at the outbreak of the war. Upon his return home, he enrolled in the newly renamed, and again moved, Lewis & Clark College, and received a Masters of Education in 1951. He worked in the educational field for the rest of his life. He started first as a coach, and later was school superintendent in Philomath, Oregon. Finally, Mr. Pete was President of Rogue Community College.

20150224

Henry Pete was born in 1920, in Glendale Oregon. He came to Albany college in 1936 at the age of 16, having skipped the first and sixth grades. The youngest of his brothers, education was stressed to him at an early age from his Finnish parents, where education is a high societal priority. When he came to Albany, it was still down in the city of Albany itself near Corvallis, and when the school began offering classes at their temporary campus in downtown Portland in 1938, he began taking classes and playing football, basketball, and baseball there. He briefly attended night classes after the College purchased the Frank Estate from the Frank family, and after he graduated in 1941, the school made the full jump to the Estate. After college he went to study Russian for the Army in New York, and then was sent to fight in North Africa and Europe in 1944. After the war he went to study in Britain under a U.S. Army initiative that offered soldiers classes, he came back to the Portland area after eight months in Britain to teach history, and went on to become a superintendent of a school district in Phoenix, Oregon. He has always shared a love of reading and sports, and the main thing that he enjoyed the most out of attending Albany College was the lessons of hard work and dedication, as well as always striving to be competitive.

20150309

Rich Peck worked as an Associate Professor of International Affairs at Lewis and Clark from 1974 until 2008. Before this, he attended graduate school at Yale and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California Berkeley. While at Lewis and Clark, Professor Peck was primarily involved with teaching courses on Africa and Southeast Asia. It was during this time that he helped the LC study abroad program expand into East Africa. He led students on trips where they studied African culture and Swahili in Nairobi and other areas in Kenya. Professor Peck still lives close to the Lewis and Clark College campus and he has remained involved with the school by hosting foreign exchange students for the past several years.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark Professor Rich Peck, conducted by John Hanton on October 16, 2014. History Department, Fall Semester, 2014.

20141016

Born in Eugene, Oregon, Euphama Hayes and her family moved to Portland at the beginning of World War II so her father could work. She attended Grant High School and graduated in June of 1948. Initially, she planned to attend Oregon State, but the fees were steep, so her family decided she could attend the then very new Lewis & Clark College. So, she took the entrance exam, passed, and in September of 1948, she started her career at Lewis & Clark College. At the time, no one lived on campus, so she commuted from home every day. She pledged Alpha Gamma sorority her freshman year and her social life was centered around that. She became very close with these girls and they still try to get together every year to this day. During her sophomore year Euphama met her future husband, Bill Partlow (class of 1951), who was a JV football player and discharged veteran. She did not graduate because she wanted to get married and get some real work experience. She became a bank teller and worked her way all the way up to regional manager, the first woman to hold that position. Later, she became very politically involved with the League of Women Voters. In 1996, she became an ordained minister in the Unity faith and is currently the minister of a church in Gresham. She has four children, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Euphama Hayes Partlow, conducted by Cassidy Cook on April 9, 2014. History Department, Spring Semester, 2014.

20140409

Jack Parr grew up in Eugene, Oregon, where he went to college at University of Oregon until transferring to Lewis & Clark, graduating in 1965 as a history major. He participated in the first study abroad program to Austria, and founded the men's soccer team. Post-grad, Mr. Parr became a small business owner in addition to working in the lumber and timber industry.

2016-10-14

Susan Olson was born in 1953 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until age thirteen when she moved to Eugene, Oregon. She began her freshman year at Lewis & Clark in 1971. She was the team manager for the men’s track team, a recreational piano player, and an enthusiastic French student. In 1974 she participated in a Lewis & Clark overseas trip to the UK. After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology and graduating Lewis & Clark in 1975, she entered the medical school graduate program at Oregon Health and Science University (1978- 1984) to pursue cytogenetics. She married her husband, Bill Nelson, in 1988 and they have three daughters. She is currently a professor and director of two labs at Oregon Health and Science University. One of her roommates from Lewis & Clark has been working with her in the lab for more than two decades. Susan is certified in scuba diving, does international folk dancing for fun, likes going to the symphony with friends, and is currently working on practicing piano again.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark alumnus Susan Olson, conducted by Aubrie Rakus on February 27, 2015. History Department, Spring Semester, 2015.

20150227

A.J. O'Connor graduated from Lewis and Clark College in 1987. He double majored in Political
Science and History. After working in an organization for some time, he returned to Lewis and
Clark to earn his Master’s degree in Public Administration. He was in the last class of Public
Administration. Mr. O’Connor is currently working as a Director Intelligent Transportation
Systems in Trimet, Portland, OR.

20220407

Diane Norwood-Watson was born in Chester, Chestershire, England in 1956, and attended a
private grade school, followed by an all-girls high school where she participated in a German
Exchange Program. She and her parents immigrated to the U.S. in September 1974. Upon
moving to the U.S., Diane immediately started her freshman year at Lewis & Clark College.
Diane majored in German, took education classes, and was always involved in the international
student scene during her time at Lewis & Clark. She participated in Lewis & Clark’s Munich
Study Abroad program during her sophomore year. Diane got her Master of Arts in Teaching at
the Lewis & Clark Graduate School in 1980, and taught German for five years in Oregon before
moving to Germany and staying there for forty years. When she moved back to Portland in 2011,
she got married, and has since been taking classes in interior design. She got her American
citizenship in August 2017. Diane continues to stay in touch with many international student
friends from places such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

2017-10-25

Roger Nelsen was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended DePauw University in Indiana where he majored in math before going to graduate school at Duke University. While working on his dissertation, he lived in France for a year, from November of 1967 to November of 1968. He began as a math professor at Lewis & Clark in the fall of 1969, where he continued to teach until he retired in 2009. He was married once and has no children. While teaching at Lewis & Clark, he led overseas programs to Denmark, France, and Spain. He has also traveled extensively for overseas math conferences and PhD committees. He lives just a few blocks away from Lewis & Clark and keeps an office on campus in the math department where he makes the coffee, works on math problems, and writes math textbooks.

Oral history interview of Lewis & Clark Professor Roger Nelson, conducted by Nora Sackett on October 17, 2014. History Department, Fall Semester, 2014.

20141017

Nancy Winfield Muller was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, but spent many of her childhood sumers in Tillamook, Oregon. It was because of this connection to her childhood that she decided to pursue an education in Oregon, attending Lewis & Clark College from 1958 to 1962, graduating with a bachelor's degree in history. She then set about getting her teaching credentials and moved back to Southern California to teach in the Orange County School District, as well as others in the L.A. area. She retired from teaching at the age of 55 and moved back to Oregon, settling in Lake Oswego.

2016-10-26

Sally Mudiamu was born and raised in Northeast Portland, Oregon to a working-class family. Though originally attending Reed College, Ms. Mudiamu transferred to L&C and graduated in 1989 with honors. Ms. Mudiamu was drawn to Lewis & Clark for its International Affairs Symposium and its abroad programs. She studied for two terms in the Unite Kingdom,and attended graduate school at the London School of Economics. Post-graduation, Sally worked as a research intern at the Library of Congress and even lived in Germany for a time after the Berlin Wall came down. Ms Mudiamu currently works at Portland State University as the director of Transnational Programs and as the associate director for the Office of International Partnerships.

2016-11-04

John Moshofsky was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, within walking distance from the University of Oregon. John eventualy left Eugene to to attend Lewis & Clark, where he studied history and education, skills he would go on to utilize in his current career as a seventh grade Social Studies teacher. he also studied abroad in the Soviet Union while studying at Lewis & Clark.

2016-11-01