#RedbirdProud

What have our alumni been up to since graduation? With nearly 200,000 alumni, our Redbirds are everywhere in the world doing amazing things!
234 Pins
·
5y
Gladly he serves
Army Captain Will Konovsky ’13 was commissioned by the ROTC upon his graduation from Illinois State. He was a member of the Redbird Battalion while completing a degree in criminal justice sciences. Konovsky, third from left, is now serving in Afghanistan. He enlisted the help of his military brothers to display his pride in his alma mater.
Nine young women met while settling in on the fourth floor of Dunn Hall in 2007. The bond they formed strengthened through the years. They returned to Homecoming last year to celebrate a decade of friendship. They are, seated from left, Alicia Ferraris ’11, Charlene (Triplitt) Lawinger ’11, Taryn (Cap) Moraga ’11, and Cass (Lobb) Fisher ’11. Standing from left are, Heather Curtin ’10, M.A. ’13; Liz (Reed) Kearney; Katie (Straub) Jacob ’11; Amy Cranston ’11; and Caitlin Plaza ’11.
Decades of adventure
Mary (Korte) Frost Bondioli, Linda (Goodrich) Henkel, and Rebecca (Page) Beckmann are 1970 graduates. Beckmann and Bondioli were childhood friends and roommates in Barton Hall in the fall of 1966. Henkel’s room was across from them. The three have remained close for more than 50 years, and still connect at least once annually. They traveled to Ireland to celebrate their 70th birthdays in 2018. They are, from left, Bondioli of Herrin, Henkel of Warrensburg, and Beckmann of Germantown.
Cherry Street sisterhood
Ten women started their freshman year living in a Haynie Hall lounge in 1970 and moved together to 110 Cherry Street in Normal, where their bond strengthened further. They are, front row from left, Bernadette (Pehanich) Jones; Sheila (Finnegan) Rainbolt; Linda (Schlesinger) Poznansky; and Shelley (Barillaro) Brockman; Back row, from left, Rose (Baumann) Fredericks; Marybeth (Harkness) Amerson; Mary Jane (Fleming) Wagner; Sally (Ragains) Monroe; Marcy (Kelly) Irvin; and Nancy (Powell) Benton.
Roaming Redbirds
A friendship that formed on the 12th floor of Hewitt Hall in 1970 has remained strong for three 1974 graduates. The ladies have shared their experiences through love and loss, babies, adult children, and grandchildren. Now retired, the trio enjoys adventures around the world, including a trip to Paris in 2018. They are, from left, Peggy (Johnson) Romba ’74, M.S. ’89, of Bloomington; Elaine (Moats) Curran ’74, of San Jose, California; and Claudia (Connery) Krueger ’74, of Darien.
Unbroken bond
As former student-athletes, the Redbird flag was a part of every competition for the “G-Girls.” The name came from them living together at 709 Dale, Apartment G. Cindy Harris ’84, left, was on the volleyball team and works as an ISU senior associate athletic director. Ellen McWilliams-Wood ’84, center, played softball and is an associate superintendent of schools in Kent, Ohio. Lisa Lindesmith ’83, right, was on the soccer team. A veterinarian, she owns All Paws Animal Clinic in Minneapolis.
Unique Redbird victory
Decades after attending ISU, three graduates found each other through the love of tennis. Mary Lou (Kamykowski) Dressel ’70 of Lamont; Rhonda (Rohrsen) Wasinger ’74 of St. Charles; and Lois (Harris) Harris ’69 of Plano are members of the Oak Lawn Park District tennis program. They joined with seven others to win the U.S. Tennis Association’s 2017 national championship for ages 65 and o. Dressel, the team captain, is shown fifth from left. Wasinger and Harris are seventh and eighth from left.
Connected and caring
It’s been three decades since four ladies found each other as students. Their friendship has endured the test of time, with an “ISU Girls’ Night” scheduled monthly since they graduated in the 1980s. This summer they worked at a Feed My Starving Children event, helping to prepare more than 10,000 packaged meals for shipment around the world. They are, from left, Pam (Schell) Boland ’86, Laura (Shehee) Hester ’85, Ellen (Santiago) Williams ’85, and Dawn (Bacino) Pope ’85.
Collegiate camaraderie
There is a strong Redbird presence at Madison Elementary School in Lombard. Alumni proudly shared their ISU connection with students before the academic year ended in the spring. The teachers and staff include, front row, from left, Joanne (Raucci) Oberg ’01, M.S. ’03; Ryan Kuehne ’07; Tony Melton ’93; and Allison (Ellena) Quirke ’02. Back row, from left, are Kim Lally ’91, Diana DeAnda ’14, Christy (Kral) Grossmann ’10, Michelle (LeDuc) Miksanek ’88, Michelle (Materazzo) Frankenbach ’07, Michel
Richard Wisner ’59, M.S. ’64, has had the thrill of sinking a hole-in-one five separate times. He remembers each one, starting in Bloomington in 1968. The most recent was in Petersburg in 2010. He confesses that the repeated feat is “98 percent luck.” A retired school administrator, Wisner served 16 years with the Illinois Association of School Boards. His wife, Arline (Nelson) ’57, is also a retired educator. They reside in Springfield.
There are six Illinois State alumni on the teaching and administrative staff at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview. They connected to show their Redbird pride by posing at the school during Homecoming last fall. They are, from left, Mark Knoeppel ’14, Mark Dec ’92, Caitlin Reichert ’13, Leah Maskin ’16, Matthew Lucchetti ’15, and Stacey (Friedman) Wolfe ’99.
Homecoming 2017 was the perfect opportunity for five sisters of the Pi Beta Phi sorority to reunite. They appreciated the opportunity to reminisce about the years they shared as students. They are, from left, Samantha (Hooker) Blake ’09, Shannon (Murray) Sundberg ’08, Lauren (Foerster) Platt ’09, Tricia (Berryhill) Banach ’08, and Nicole (Rousakis) Felke ’08.
Eight women met as freshmen in 1965 and reunited last year to celebrate their 70th birthdays and friendship. Front row from left, Penny Clodfelter ’86 of Overland Park, KS; Kathy (Nerad) Van Eyndhoven ’69 of Motueka, New Zealand; and Holly (Treadway) Rabbe ’69 of Normal. Back row from left are, Shirley (Hall) Hill ’69 of Zion; Paula (Chodakowski) Smith ’69, M.S. ’71 of Nokomis; Penny (Nix) Pelkey ’69 of Crystal Lake; Maggie (Paine) Thompson ’69 of Normal. Cynthia (Osborne) Tar died in 2002.
After 40 years apart, three friends who met during their collegiate days reconnected and rekindled Illinois State memories last October. The ladies toured campus to take in the many changes, and visited each place they had lived while students. They are, from left, Patty (Tobias) Rolleri ’74 of North Carolina; Mary Cay (Lammers) Hahn ’73, M.S. ’74, of Illinois; and Karla (Schaer) Withrow ’73 of Washington.
Three Redbirds have formed a friendship as a result of teaching for many years in the same school district in Davenport, Iowa, where each resides. They have a combined total of nearly 100 years of coaching in the Davenport school system. The men enjoy golfing and sharing memories of their time at ISU in the late 1960s. They are, from left, Jerry Zinn ’68, M.S. ’69; Tom Souhrada ’69, M.S. ’73; and Bill Churchill ’71.