Valpo alumni are doing amazing things across the country and around the world — in their professional and personal lives. They’re leading industries, contributing knowledge, and serving in a multitude of ways. These class notes offer a glimpse into their activities, accomplishments, and milestones. If you have news to share with your fellow Valpo alumni, please share it below.
Published Fall 2023
Don Soeken
Don Soeken ’64 shares that he is still helping whistleblowers worldwide, as they are speaking out from all work sites.
Rev. Donald Marxhausen ’64
Rev. Donald Marxhausen ’64 recently celebrated his 83rd birthday and 51 years ordained. The best thing that Valpo taught him was to think outside of the rigid doctrinal box of the 16th century, which got him in trouble when he went back into the “system.” It did lead him to the path to a bigger God and many years of service as a social worker and then pastor and chaplain. His daughter, Sarah, graduated from Valpo with magna cum laude honors.
Russell (Rusty) Hilst
Russell (Rusty) Hilst ’64 was inducted into the Kansas Teachers Hall of Fame on June 3, 2023. For 54 years he taught a variety of math courses, from general math to honors precalculus, at Hutchinson High School, his alma mater. In 2010 he was named to the Hutchinson High School Wall of Honor, one of the first teachers to be so honored.
Published Fall 2022
Deanna Hinshaw Graumann
Deanna Hinshaw ’64 Graumann shared that 23 of the 119 women who started Kappa Psi Omega (now Kappa Delta) 60 years ago met in Milwaukee Sept. 28–30, 2021, to celebrate the occasion. They first gathered in 2008 in Valparaiso to celebrate their sisterhood and enjoyed it so much they have been doing so every even-numbered year since. Such gatherings have taken place in Geneva, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; San Diego, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Charleston, South Carolina. They never imagined the bonds they formed at Valpo would be so strong and last so long, and they give thanks to God and Valpo for this blessing.
Published Spring/Summer 2017
Lois Jean and Danley Schumann
Lois Jean ’64 and Danley Schumann ’64 hosted the 2016 reunion of a group of Valpo Pi Kappa Alpha alumni and their wives in Des Moines, Iowa in August 2016. This group of Pi Kappa Alphas are graduates of the 1960s and have been meeting annually throughout the country for more than 20 years. 1