NEED TITLE The Century High Sch

The Century High School Class of 1984 monthly update
September, 2004

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone has enjoyed there summer! I want to thank those folks who responded to my emails and sent pictures. I have sent out about 125 emails and heard back from 38 people. I am now compiling a list of all the classmates and their addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. There is a lot of out of date information and of the email addresses I have there were a lot that came back to me undeliverable. So if you are reading this please email me with your latest information.

I've added to the missing category on the website. If your name is on the where are you or missing page please email me. Soon I will be mailing out letters for the folks I don't have email addresses for or haven't heard a reply from my first email.

I am compiling a list of email addresses of the classmates I have. I will email them to you shortly. I don't want to post them because there crawlers out there harvesting email addresses. Then everyone will start getting spam.

So far everyone has enjoyed the website and I have enjoyed your emails. So I am going to share some comments:

...GREAT job on the website... Wish I could've made it back for that (reunion), looked like you guys had fun...

...WOW, great job on the web site!... Sorry I couldn't make the reunion... But it's great to see and hear about it from the web site...

...It is fun to see everyone even though it is hard to recognize some. lol...

...Thanks again!! I appreciate all of your hard work. It's a cool looking site!...

I have also been searching for folks on the internet. I did find Darrin Cowley that way. Though at first I didn't think it was him, Darrin Cowley, PH-D. But after tracking down his sister he got in touch with me. And it was him, a scientist! I found some of his published research and didn't understand what it meant (sorry Mr. King), so I emailed him back. And here is some of what he said.

    ...After high school I didn't really know what I wanted to do until I started school at NDSU where I met my Advisor and mentor and friend Mark Sheridan, he was an inspiration to me and really got me excited about pursuing an advanced degree in science. I completed my M.S. in 1992 and moved to Omaha to work on my PhD at Creighton University. I was again very fortunate to have another great mentor and friend Robert Mackin. In Dr. Mackin's lab we worked on the expression of human proteins in different cell types (i.e. bacteria, yeast, drosophila, and mammalian). We were interested in the mechanism of how an enzyme interacts with a protein (pro-hormone, inactive precursor to a functional hormone such as the conversion of proinsulin to insulin) to cause cleavage and activation/maturation to an active molecule. Two of the people that I admire were pioneers in this field, Dr. Ron Chance (Eli Lilly) and Dr. David Goeddel (Genentech) were two of the first people to take a piece of human DNA sequence that codes for a human protein (insulin) and insert that genetic material into a bacterial cell and have the bacteria express a human protein. I also had the opportunity to meet Dr. Chance and found out that we had a mutual friend (a collogue of Mark Sheridan's from NDSU). Interestingly, Dr. Goeddel's company he founded after leaving Genentech (Tularik) was recently bought by Amgen so there may be a chance for me to meet him as well. During this time I met my wife and got married just a couple of months prior to completing my Ph.D.
     Once I completed my dissertation, we packed up and moved to Louisville, Kentucky where I received a National Institute of Science Post-Doctoral Fellowship to work in the field of cell biology. In Kentucky, under the mentorship of Dr. Sven-Ulrik Gorr, we studied the mechanism of cellular sorting. Within a cell proteins are continuously made and some are used to maintain cellular function (kinda general housekeeping type proteins) where other are modified (again like the conversion of proinsulin to insulin) and stored for later use. Insulin, like many proteins, is made as an inactive precursor and must undergo modification and storage prior to use. We studied the mechanism of how the cell transported proteins and what the mechanisms were that told the proteins what to do (i.e. which proteins would get modified and which proteins would not). During the two years in Kentucky our first daughter Abby was born.
    Once I completed my two year fellowship I was offered a job with Abbott Laboratories in the Chicago land area. I worked there for four years and had some good times (second daughter Jill was born) but it was time to move on. I was offered a job with Amgen (Sherry Ellingson (Henrickson)) brother worked for Amgen and told me how great a company it was so we packed up the family and headed west. I am currently working as a project manager for new product introduction. So once a drug candidate makes it into phase 2 clinical trials it becomes my responsibility to get the drug through phase 3 clinical and approved by the FDA for commercial use.
     Hope I didn't bore you with all the detail.

I have also enjoyed reading the profiles. Please take a couple of minutes to fill it out. I'm sure others would love to know what you've been up too. You can answer as many questions as you want. I have also been getting a lot of pictures too. And I'm waiting for a couple of more folks to send me more pictures. If you would like to add some from your collection just send them in an email. If you can't email them you can mail them via snail mail. I will scan them in and then mail them back to you.

If you have a personal business website or a personal website you would like to share with others, let me know. I would love to link it on the links page. If you want to add a little description send that too.

If you were in Hurricane Charlie or Frances let me know what you went thru. I'll put your story in the next newsletter. I know there are a couple of folks living in the path of those hurricanes.

Does anyone have any stories they want to add? We would love to read about your happenings. Whether it's a hobby, a vacation, a sport your involved in, your kids, a favorite high school memory. Send me your story and I'll post it in the newsletter. Send me your birthday, anniversary, new marriage, new arrival, upcoming vacation, etc. I'll add those too!

Ruth (Faiman) Lacher writes in...The ND Dept of Commerce – Economic Development Division is looking for ND Ambassadors. They are really looking for individuals who live outside of ND (or those who travel a lot) to tell the good story of ND and why business should locate here.
Click here to add your story.

NEW ARRIVALS

Traci Albers is expecting her first baby any day now. Her due date is 9/12. She was told she couldn't fly which is why she couldn't attend the reunion. She was bummed she couldn't make it. GOOD LUCK!

ON THE MOVE

Darrin Cowley leaves Chicago and heads out west. (see above email)

Another move from Chicago:

Brian Rhode & his wife Suzanne moved from the Chicago area to the Washington area (Arlington). Brian is working as an attorney for the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Suzanne is a Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Transportation. They are really looking forward to the longer sailing season on Chesapeake Bay compared to Lake Michigan near Chicago...

Chanice (Jahner) Scheuerman and her husband Terry are leaving Las Vegas! Chanice has been in Vegas for 16 years. But she writes, "we're ready to go back to the Midwest... we just knew that Vegas wasn't where we really wanted to be. We miss the four seasons, the slower lifestyle, (the people are much nicer), and our son will be be able to experience life in the Midwest like my husband and I did. We don't want to raise him in Vegas' environment. Terry gets to keep his current job, so he'll come back to Vegas every six weeks or so to meet with clients, etc. Most of his work is done over the phone, so it really doesn't matter where we live!!! We're looking forward to moving."

...We drove thru a blizzard to get to the State Boys Basketball Tournament our senior year. I now live in a place where school is closed at the threat of snow.

Andrea (Boone) Schmitz
Barry Coleman
Kurt Dilger
Andrea Johnson
Dave Kinnischtzke

Film crews from Trading Spaces were in Bismarck during August. It's going to be the family version of the show. Instead of just adults like the other version, parents and children work together with a professional decorator to redo one room in the house. The Bismarck episodes will air the end of October and beginning of November. Trading Spaces Family is on TLC Sunday nights.

North Dakota Department of Health officials reported 586 total cases of whooping cough at the end of August. Whooping cough has now been confirmed in 32 counties throughout the state. Health officials have called the cases of whooping cough a "major outbreak". Officials expected to see an increase in cases with the start of school but haven't yet, indicating the outbreak may be waning.

A report says a fourth bridge is needed across the Missouri River to accommodate traffic in the next 20 to 40 years. The Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Planning Organization accepted the report whether a bridge should be built north of Bismarck. They will hear alternatives during a September hearing.

North Dakota was the only state to show both an increase in income and a decline in poverty last year, the Census Bureau says. The state increased its two-year average median household income by 4.3 percent, the highest rate in the country. The number of people in the state living below the poverty level decreased by 2.1 percent.

After 72 years The Elks Pool will be no more. But a new and better pool will take its place in 2006. It was shut down this summer because of mechanical problems.

Three Century golfers finished in the top 10 as the Patriots took first place in the season-opener in the Beulah Invitational high school girls golf tournament.

The Century football team ended West Fargo's 23 game winning streak dating back two seasons. The Patriots beat the Packers 21-18 in Fargo.

If you have anything you would like to add or have a comment, Email tammy@century84.com.

Remember, your input is greatly appreciated!

Until Next Time,
Tammy (Thomson) Forsyth

…In Memoriam…
This edition of our class newsletter is dedicated to the teachers who have passed on. Thanks for your dedication!