the doctor - providence high

DOCTOR THE

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THE VIS ION | PROVIDENCE JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 2

“The human heart directs the way, but the Lord plans our steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

Whenever I get the chance to talk to our recent graduates, I ask each of them the same question: “Did PHS prepare you well for college?” Inevitably, I get a smile and an affirming, “Yes.”

In December and January, we see many of our recent graduates return to campus to attend girls’ and boys’ basketball games during their winter break. Whether to see former teammates or to see their siblings play ball, our recent graduates don their favorite piece of Blue Pride swag and cheer on their Pioneers before returning to their college campus.

Another opportunity to have our recent alums back home is when they volunteer to lead Senior Retreats. Each year, our seniors spend four days at Saint Meinrad on retreat and embrace a Christian Awakening. Leah (Cissell) Kelly ’05, PHS campus minister, leads our four-year retreat program, assisted closely by Chaplain Father Adam Ahern.

This truly unique PHS faith formation program resonates deeply with our seniors because our recent alumni return to share their faith journey. Seeing God’s plan fulfilled through the lives of college students just a few years older than our seniors packs a punch. The retreat experience is an integral part of our Pioneer tradition that every graduating class shares and pays forward.

Prepared for college. Prepared for life. Bound for heaven. Our young alumni remind us that Our Lady of Providence High School is a good place to grow spiritually, emotionally, and academically.

The PHS faith formation activities are a clear differentiator. No other Southern Indiana high school offers such an extensive array of faith formation activities. Daily Mass and prayer, weekly reconciliation, service learning programs, adoration, Stations of the Cross, the Rosary and collaboration with parish youth ministries enrich the lives and souls of every Pioneer. We are blessed to have Leah Kelly, Father Adam, and the network of faculty, staff, students, and alumni who serve in this ministry.

The idea for this issue has been six years in the making. It started with a conversation with Zach Ernstberger ’08, who shared the news with me that he and several of his classmates had been accepted into medical school. We were both impressed that so many from our small school had earned this level of achievement. As he and his former classmates finished medical school and began their residency programs, we began looking at other alumni in medical fields. It is quite impressive how many of our alumni are serving in some capacity, from nurses and physicians to dentists and orthodontists.

This issue focuses on physicians who have an interesting story. One was among our first alumnae to become a doctor. Another never let a hearing deficit stop him. Another was forward thinking enough to pursue a master’s in business administration to help his medical practice grow. And another switched careers

completely to start over in the medical field. Next, we caught up with as many young

alumni as we could, from those in medical school to those in the midst of residency. We found one family, the Garners, that has several branches in various aspects of the medical field. (Ernstberger is now a family medicine resident at UCLA but was unavailable for comment.)

As we researched the alumni for these profiles, the Advancement Office staff continues to be impressed with the commitment to excellence and service so evident in our alumni. This commitment is present in many fields, not just medicine. We want to tell those stories, too. So please share your good news with us so that we can share it with others.

Happy Reading!

Christa (Payne) Hoyland ’84Director of Communications

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Preparing Students for College, Life, and Heaven Steve Williamson, President

FROM THE EDITORChrista (Payne) Hoyland ’84

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MANAGING EDITOR/WRITERChrista (Payne) Hoyland ’[email protected]

[email protected]

DESIGN/LAYOUT’98

School News ...........................................................3

Winter Sports Highlights ..................................... 4

Golden Reunion Spotlight: John Fitzgerald ’68 ............................................5

The Doctor Is In..............................................6-13

Class Notes & More .....................................14-15


SENIOR RECEIVES LILLY ENDOWMENT COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIP

SPRING MUSICAL HAS FAMILY CONNECTION FOR SENIOR, ALUMNA

THREE RECEIVE NATIONAL MERIT HONORS

Senior Ethan Furnish is one of four area recipients of the prestigious Lilly

Endowment Community Scholarship, which is administered through the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana. The scholarship includes four years’ tuition to an Indiana college of his choice plus a $900 stipend for books and equipment each year.

The scholarships are the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment Inc. initiative to help Indiana students reach higher

levels of education. There were more than 200 applications submitted this year from students in public and private high schools in Clark and Floyd counties.

Ethan said he is thankful and feels blessed to have received the scholarship. He plans to attend Indiana University Bloomington and its Kelley School of Business to study finance or business analytics with a possible minor in political science. He said he is grateful for the generosity of the Lilly Endowment for offering this program each year and for the generosity and the work of the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana in administering the program each year in Clark and Floyd counties.

Ethan is an AP Scholar, having scored a 3 or higher on a five-point scale on three or more AP exams taken in May 2017. In June 2017, he was one of five local youth who represented Clark County in the annual Indiana Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. As a junior, he served as an unpaid intern for the Todd Young for U.S. Senate campaign and placed second in the Clarksville Rotary Club speech competition for his speech on service and leadership. His freshman year, he won the Right to Life of Southern Indiana 2015 Value of Life Contest oratory competition and this year received the Right to Life Scholarship.

Playing the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar has a special meaning for senior Eli Lucas. Watching the 1973 film starring Ted Neeley has been an annual tradition for him and his stepmother, Meredith (Beeler) Lucas ’96, since he was in grade school. She shared with him her love for the show, not only for the film but memories of her own performance in the ensemble on the Providence stage her junior year.

Eli loved the music and has wanted PHS Theatre to reprise its production of the rock opera since his freshman year. When he learned he was cast in the role of Jesus, his stepmother was the first person he called.

Meredith pulled out her old VHS copy of the Providence production, and the two watched some of it together.

“Even in the ensemble, she was very animated, just like she is now,” Eli said. “So it was kind of cool to see her out of her element and performing on stage.”

Meredith said she is eagerly awaiting seeing Eli and his friends in the 2018 Providence production.

“I had such an incredible experience all those years ago and to be able to see it again on the PHS stage is thrilling,” she said. “This musical is definitely something special. I can’t wait to end my Lenten-Easter experience with

it and the powerful message it brings.”

The Providence Players will present Jesus Christ Superstar beginning with Premiere Night on April 13 at 8:00 p.m. Regular evening performances will

be April 14, 19, and 20 at 7:00 p.m. The two matinee performances will be April 15 and 22 at 2:00 p.m. For tickets, see the Providence website or call (812) 945-2538 ext. 301.

Senior Kaleb Dunn is a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. He is one of approximately 16,000 semifinalists across the country - representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors -- and the only one at Providence. Kaleb is applying to several colleges and plans to major in mechanical engineering and theater.

Kaleb is highly involved in the Providence Performing Arts program and has had lead roles in many theatre productions, including the fall show Peter and the Starcatcher, in which he played Alf. He plays the chief priest Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar this April. Additionally, he played the role of Javert in Sacred Heart Academy’s production of Les Misérables in March.

Kaleb has been named an AP Scholar with Distinction based on his having an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken in 2017 and a 3 or higher on five or more exams. Last summer, he received a scholarship to

participate in the Pre-college: Rising Star program at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia. He also participated in Hoosier Boys State.

Seniors Adam Garcia and Brogan Welch were named 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Students. This is the second highest national academic honor a high school student can receive and is based on results of the PSAT test they took last fall as juniors.

Adam also received the National Hispanic

Recognition Program Scholar for excellence in academic achievement, which recognizes the top 2 percent of the high scores of all of the Hispanic students in the United States and its territories taking the PSAT in their junior year. The students also have to carry a 3.5 GPA and have one-quarter Hispanic heritage. Last fall, he earned his Eagle Scout rank, the highest rank in Boy Scouts. He is active in Providence theatre and played Bill Slank in the fall show Peter and the Starcatcher and plays Pilate in the spring musical Jesus Christ Superstar. He plans to attend the University of Kentucky and major in linguistics.

Brogan will attend the U.S. Naval Academy and plans to major in cyber warfare. He will join USNA juniors Charmaine Solis ’14 and Patricia Mattingly ’15, a USNA volleyball player. Brogan is a member of the National Honor Society as well as the PHS football and swimming teams, Math Team and Pro-Life Club.


BOYS BASKETBALL: 9-15 season record under interim head coach Rob Murawski.

WRESTLING: Juniors Sam Hudlin and

Nathan Grantz SIWC conference champs in their respective weight classes. Sam a semi-state qualifier and

Nathan a regional qualifier. Sophomore Chase Aldridge placed second at regional and qualified for Indiana Freshman/Sophomore Wrestling Championships.

GIRLS SWIM & DIVE: 6-12 in dual meets. Advanced to swim sectional finals in seven events; sophomore Meg LaMaster 16th in

200-yard IM and 12th in 100-yard breaststroke in preliminaries; junior Abby Glotzbach placed 10th in 100-yard backstroke. Senior Madison Roehrs third in diving sectional and 14th in regional.

BOYS SWIM & DIVE: 8-6 in dual meets. Advanced to swim sectional finals in six events; senior Nick Katchur 11th in 200 IM and 14th in 500-yard freestyle and freshman Kieran Kelly 16th in 100 breaststroke in prelims. Junior Tanner Carver third in diving sectional and 16th in regional.

GIRLS BASKETBALL: 13-12 season record. Advanced to sectional finals. Senior Hannah Wolford ICGSA and IBCA First Team Academic

All-State; IBCA All-State Second Team; IBCA Senior/Small School All-State first team; and District 4 All-Star for the HBCA. Second Providence basketball all-time leading scorer with

1,389 career points.Seniors Sierra Brooks and Brinley Prather

ICGSA Academic All State honorable mention.

CHEERLEADING: Eighth in intermediate varsity division at

NCA Senior & Junior High School National Championship in Dallas.

SPORTSH I G H L I G H T S

Winter


When John Fitzgerald ’68 graduated from Providence, he had no solid career goals. College was not

an option, not with his being the second of seven children going through Catholic schools. Instead he chose to enter the U.S. Navy, enlisting a year after graduation and signing up for the new job description of hospital corpsman.

“I didn’t even know what a hospital corpsman was at the time, so I didn’t know what I was getting into,” he said. “But after I got into it, I really enjoyed it. I loved my Navy career. At that time in my life, joining the Navy was just the best thing for me.”

He spent his tour of duty at Naval Hospital Great Lakes in Chicago and Chelsea Naval Hospital in Boston providing medical support for injured servicemen and women returning from Vietnam. The atmosphere was hectic and the work fulfilling. But upon his discharge in 1973, he again was unsure of his career plans.

Shortly after his return home, he was at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Louisville, when someone suggested he take a job there. That invitation spawned a 37-year career in VA environmental services that took him from coast to coast and as far north as Madison, Wisc.

“I hadn’t really any aspirations about working in the VA, but they offered me a job, and I thought well, it might not be a bad way to get started and move my way up,” Fitzgerald said.

And he did move up. As he was transferred from the Louisville VA to Madison to Long Beach, Calif., and then to Los Angeles, he advanced into management, serving

as director of the Facilities Management Program Office for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System for seven years. He met his wife, Beverly, in Los Angeles, where the two returned to college, attending UCLA at the same time.

Fitzgerald had enrolled at what was then Sullivan Business College in Louisville when he first started working at the VA. He had taken classes at other colleges as he was transferred but never completed his degree. At UCLA, he earned a certificate in management and administration of health care organizations.

In 1990, Fitzgerald was promoted to director of environmental management service for the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. That department had about 10,000 employees in more than 170 medical centers and 130 nursing homes as well as numerous clinics across the country.

He and his wife enjoyed their six years in D.C., he said, with her working for the VA secretary during the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, including nine months working in the White House. They enjoyed living, working, and sightseeing in the seat of the country’s government with its historical and national significance, especially prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the subsequent shift to heightened security.

“It was fun for us,” Fitzgerald said. “We had a lot of flexibility to do a lot of neat things.”

In the late 1990s, they moved back to Los Angeles, where Fitzgerald was later appointed acting associate director of administration

and support for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in 2002. Two years later, he was co-coordinator of the Continuous Readiness Program for the VA Desert Pacific Healthcare Network.

Carving a new nicheIn 2005 at age 55, he retired from the VA and cofounded a consulting firm using his career expertise, AF&S Products & Services, Inc., selling janitorial and housekeeping supplies and equipment primarily to VA hospitals and military posts. His new career provides him the opportunity to keep working but at his own pace – which means fitting work around his golf game and travel plans. Fitzgerald and his wife enjoy traveling and have visited England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, China, and Bora Bora.

“I always tell people the nice thing about having your own business is you can get up in the morning when you want to, you can take the day off when you want to, and you do have a lot of flexibility,” he said.

Although he does like to return to Southern Indiana to visit family and friends, Fitzgerald now calls Palm Desert, Calif., home. Except for the exceptionally hot summers, the weather is perfect for golf and enjoying the outdoors, he said.

He also keeps Providence and the friends he made there in his connections. He is pleased that his nephews have excelled in Pioneer athletics (Luke Fitgerald ’07) and coached (Mike Fitzgerald ’07) and taught (Shane Fitzgerald ’99) there. And he also supports the Providence Booster Club Scholarship, providing $1,000 each to a graduating girl and boy athlete. It’s all about

paying forward the opportunity his parents gave him by sacrificing to send him to Providence.

“I always knew how difficult it was for my dad to put together $250 to send me to Providence,” Fitzgerald said. “So when I got to the point where I thought I could help, I thought it was important for me to give back and give somebody an opportunity to kind of defray some of the cost.”

CAREER BY HAPPENSTANCEInvitation parlays into VA management tenure for ’68 gradBy Christa (Payne) Hoyland ’84

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SAVE THE DATEClass of 1968

Golden Graduation Ceremony and Dinner

April 14, 2018

50th Reunion WeekendSeptember 21-22, 2018


THE DOCTOR IS IN

By Christa (Payne) Hoyland ’84

When Angie (Burke) Rearick ’83, M.D., was at Providence, she thought about becoming a doctor

like one of her uncles and a cousin. After all, she loved biology and health class. But she wondered if she could successfully navigate the rigors of medical school. She was involved in many activities, from volleyball and softball to theatre and singing groups, and her grades were good, but not stellar.

So at Ball State University, her goal was to major in nursing. She set aside her love for sports and theatre and focused solely on academics. She ended her first year with all As and realized that she actually was well prepared for college, thanks to teachers like Fred Geswein ’65. She switched her major to microbiology and pre-medicine with a minor in chemistry and made her way into the Indiana University School of Medicine, becoming one of the first female Providence graduates to become a physician.

Initially, Rearick considered a career in pediatrics, but her first clinical rotation was in anesthesiology, and she immediately knew it was the specialty for her. Always an active person, she liked being able to work

with her hands and thrived in the fast-paced environment. And she was enthralled by the science of anesthesia.

“It was everything that biology was to me in high school because it was live,” she said. “I give a drug, I see the effect; I can change all the heart rate, blood pressure, that kind of stuff – it was just really cool.”

Even after more than 20 years in practice, Rearick is still in love with her work.

“I love taking care of patients and helping them get through difficult surgeries,” she said.

Rearick has spent nearly all of her career with an anesthesiology group at Franciscan Health Hospital in Indianapolis. In her first 10 years, she focused on general operating room procedures and obstetric anesthesia. While she loved being part of the process as babies were born, she enjoys even more working in cardiothoracic anesthesia. She still does general OR cases, but providing anesthesia to open heart or lung procedures is now her specialty.

“It’s intense, it’s challenging, it’s exciting, but it’s complex,” Rearick said. “It’s some of the toughest cases that we do, but I really enjoy being part of that team and having patients who are really, really sick do well.”

Focusing on patients, familyThose high-energy cases do take their toll, however, especially since the physicians in her group are on call one to two days a week. On those days, she could be at work 12 hours or more. To stay fit, Rearick makes sure to work out daily to build her strength and endurance. Still, as she ages she finds it harder to recover physically from the long days on which she is on call.

She also has scaled back from the administrative work she was doing. As she built her career at Franciscan Healthcare, she added more and more responsibilities in addition to her clinical practice. She has served on a variety of committees and as director of anesthesia, medical director of perioperative services, and

cardiac team leader. But a health scare last year led her to reprioritize, and she let those duties go to others in her medical group.

“I enjoyed that part of it, but now I just enjoy going in and doing my cases,” Rearick said. “Even though it’s still hard work, I don’t have to do all the meetings that I used to have to do.”

She does continue to teach respiratory therapists, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians in emergency airway management. And she often has high school students shadow her in the OR and said she loves teaching and helping youth discover a love for working in medicine.

Letting go of the administrative duties also gives her more time with her family – husband Mike and their three children ages 14-26. Rearick has been able to balance her long work hours with motherhood thanks to her husband, who has been a stay-at-home dad for more than 20 years. Her schedule was flexible enough, though, that she could still volunteer at her children’s Catholic grade school and attend all their special events like class Masses.

She made her career in Indianapolis in part because she met her husband there and at the time it was where he worked as an engineer. They found they had a lot in common, including being raised in small towns and

attending Catholic high schools. They both enjoyed their

Catholic school experience and have given the same to

their children, she said.Looking toward the future,

Rearick plans to retire before age 60, thanks to her long-term savings and investment plan. For now, she continues to give her all to her patients.

“I’ve had a wonderful career, and I wouldn’t change it,” she said. “It’s

been fantastic. It’s provided very well for my family.”

FASCINATED WITH SCIENCE’83 grad’s love of biology leads to career as anesthesiologist

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Paul Garner ’80, M.D., grew up wanting to be like his father, the late Dr. William Garner Jr., former chief of

staff and chief of surgery at the old Floyd Memorial Hospital. As a child, Paul Garner

would go to the hospital with his father as he did rounds and prepared for surgery.

“When I saw how much the nurses, fellow physicians, and his

patients appreciated and respected him, I knew this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “It was a natural progression. I really didn’t think about doing anything else.”

His father followed in his father’s footsteps, and two of Paul Garner’s siblings became doctors, including Dr. Kathryn “Kitty” Garner ’78, an OB-GYN in Fort Wayne, Ind. (And two went into dentistry, Dr. Thomas Garner ’92, a Louisville orthodontist, and Dr. Lisbeth (Garner) Shewmaker ex-’72, a Fairfax, Va., dentist.)

In a family where practicing medicine wasn’t the family business, his goal to become a surgeon may have been met with doubt. Paul Garner has high frequency hearing loss, a condition that developed shortly after birth. But his parents helped him realize his hearing deficit was merely part of who he is and not a handicap. They supported his dream and helped him believe in himself.

“No one ever challenged or questioned whether I could become a physician, and as a matter of fact I was overly encouraged to do so by my parents,” Garner said. “They believed in me more than I did growing up and knew I could do it if I applied myself.”

Excelling in school and facing the rigors of medical school meant working harder to account for his hearing loss. He made sure to sit in the front row in class but even then

couldn’t rely on his class notes, so he learned mostly from reading textbooks and manuals. Additionally, he sometimes wore hearing aids during his medical training.

He developed the discipline to prepare, organize, and make that extra effort at Providence, learning from teachers who continue to influence him. One was the late Ron Mann, the woodshop teacher, who taught him skills Garner still uses in woodworking and doing home repairs. His most influential teacher, however, was the late Norma Reynolds, his chemistry teacher, one who never let her hearing loss affect her work either. He benefitted from her high level of discipline and course structure, which prepared him well for college.

“This unassuming, small-statured woman (had) a commanding control of her classroom,” he said. “It got my respect immediately, and when I noticed she had a tender heart and wanted me to excel, I knew I could do it because she knew I could to it.”

He also thought highly of the late Robert Larkin (Hon. ’88), who was principal at the time. Garner was the first recipient of the Robert I. Larkin Award, an honor occasionally bestowed on a graduating senior who excels despite physical or mental limitations. As much as he learned from his favorite teachers, receiving that award was one of the highlights of his high school years, he said.

Finding his callingAfter Providence, Garner graduated from Bellarmine University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and attended the Indiana University School of Medicine in the same class as his sister Kitty, and they graduated together in 1988. By the time of his residency at University of Louisville Hospital, he was preparing for work in the operating room, not as a surgeon but as an anesthesiologist. He found he enjoyed the procedures of preparing patients for surgery, he said – and he hoped to return to New Albany and work in the operating room with his father and his brother, Dr. Bill Garner, a general surgeon.

“I really thought I would go into surgery,

but I think I made a good choice,” Paul Garner said. “I’m content.”

He never has worked with his family, though. In 1992 he started practicing in Elizabethtown, where he met his wife, Debra, who was working as an operating room nurse. In 2001, an anesthesiologist he met during his residency recruited Garner to join his growing anesthesiology group in Owensboro.

Garner said he has enjoyed his practice at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, including revamping the anesthesia department and starting his own anesthesia group in 2005. But the daily interactions with patients, learning their needs and condition, and performing procedures to help them through surgery give him the greatest satisfaction.

“That’s what it’s all about – using your training and using it correctly and building on that over the years,” he said. “I enjoy taking care of people and helping alleviate their pain from surgery.”

Just as he made accommodations in the classroom, Garner makes sure to adjust for his hearing loss when working with patients. He sometimes wears hearing aids, but mainly he is attentive and focuses on the patient, including watching their lips. He also turns down loud music in the operating room.

Still, there are challenges, the same as many physicians face as healthcare undergoes changes, from the shortage of providers to adapting to cost-cutting measures and restructuring. Overall, Garner said he is deeply satisfied with his career and wouldn’t change anything, even this hearing loss.

“I would again choose to have my hearing deficit as I think this has made me a better person overall,” he said. “It’s hard to explain, but it is who I am.”

Dr. Paul Garner ’80 lives in Owensboro with his wife, Debra. He has three stepchildren and two sons as well as two grandsons. He is glad to see the family tradition of medicine continue with his niece Rebecca Garner ’12 (daughter of James ’81), who is in medical school (see page 12), and a nephew (son of Dr. Kathryn Garner ’78) in an orthopedic residency, and a niece (daughter of Kathryn) admitted to medical school.

IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPSHearing loss doesn’t stop ’80 grad from working in operating room

By Christa (Payne) Hoyland ’84

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Providence alumni are well represented in the medical field. This issue features some of our alumni serving as physicians. This tradition began with the Class of 1955, with Dan MacDougall going on to a 50-plus-year career as an anesthesiologist in Mesa, Ariz. The four physicians profiled here have a unique slant to their story, followed by profiles of our youngest alumni heading into medical practice. Read on!


The full title Lt. Cmdr. (Ret.) Dr. Chris Day ’80, M.B.A., is an incredibly interesting combination of positions,

titles and degrees, but it only begins to tell the radiologist’s story.

For Day, the seeds for a career in medicine were planted by the late Norma Reynolds, his chemistry and physics teacher at Providence, who saw in him something he’d yet to see in himself. He was focused on becoming a Navy pilot, but from time to time she would suggest he consider medicine.

Day followed his dream of becoming a Navy pilot by accepting a U.S. Navy scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame, but those seeds of a medical career began to sprout in South Bend. He not only began to consider medicine seriously as a career option, he made the bold move of forfeiting his scholarship in order to transfer to Indiana University-Bloomington, where he could be pre-med and get a degree in chemistry.

Upon receipt of his bachelor’s degree in 1983, he applied to and was accepted into the IU School of Medicine on a new Navy scholarship.

After receiving his medical degree in 1988, he began his residency in Oakland, Calif., in internal medicine and was offered another opportunity to return to his first love of flying. As part of his Naval service, the offer gave him the ability to serve as physician for the Navy flight school, where he would get to practice medicine and fly with the pilots.

It was a tempting offer that would have further delayed his medical practice. His wife, Ann (Kaiser ’80), “provided the voice of reason,” Day said, and he chose a four-year training program to become a diagnostic radiologist. The decision to become a radiologist proved critical to his career in medicine and his recent decision to add the MBA to his other titles.

He and Ann started their family while in California and enjoyed weekend trips to Yosemite, Napa, Carmel, and Lake Tahoe—and reaffirming his decision to be a radiology resident in the Navy.

“In the military, you treat everyone like a family,” he said.

He spent the next two years as the department head and staff radiologist at the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa in Japan. The experience provided many memories and valuable experience. The I Marine

Expeditionary Force was stationed in Okinawa, where they conducted jungle training in preparation for any conflicts that may arise in China or Korea. It was a chance to help the men and women of the U.S Marines through the many injuries they sustain in preparation for combat. The location also offered memorable sightseeing for his family, including witnessing the unforgettable 50th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa, Day said.

In 1995, as his time in Okinawa was coming to a close, Day was given the choice of his next station. This time he chose to be where the pilots were: Pensacola, Fla., home of the Blue Angels.

“It was a chance to return to my first love,” he said. “I really enjoyed that environment and am glad I was able to act in my role, helping these guys in their mission.”

Returning home to serveWith two children and another to follow in another year’s time, Day was offered yet another choice in 1997 as his military requirements were coming to a close. He could either take a promotion to commander and choose his next destination—Iceland, Cuba, and Spain were in the running—or he could retire to civilian practice and return to Southern Indiana.

He chose the latter, moving to Sellersburg

and starting a private radiology practice with Dr. Bill Johnson where he faced a new set of challenges.

“In the military there’s clear rank and file. You could be outranked by a nurse who could refuse to do something the doctor said, but you never had to worry about whether a patient could pay for a procedure,” he said. “In private practice, there’s a different pecking order, but there’s also a lack of care coordination.”

In the Navy when Day saw a patient, he had access to all of their medical records, regardless of where they were treated and when. In his private practice in Sellersburg, this was not the case. A patient could have X-rays in Floyd, Clark, or Harrison county, but Day wouldn’t necessarily know this or have access to those records.

This lack of care coordination was a source of frustration for Day as he cared for the residents of Southern Indiana. In 2010, he merged his practice with other radiology practices in Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties to form Radiology Associates of Southern Indiana to address the problem.

“I wanted to set up an imaging center to enable shared information between these hospitals to create a better patient experience, improve outcomes, and lower the cost of treatment,” he said.

But to really make this work, Day realized he needed a stronger background in the business side of things. In 2014 he began work on his master’s in business administration in a program exclusively for physicians through the IU Kelley School of Business at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He was in the second program offered and took classes online and attended monthly weekend residencies at IUPUI.

Day completed his M.B.A. in 2016 and now acts as the radiology center’s chief financial officer while still seeing patients. It’s a balance he finds rewarding, even if there are no planes to fly.

Chris ’80 and Ann (Kaiser ’80) Day have three children, all also Providence alumni: Alex ’07, a chemical engineer in Houston and Purdue University alumnus; Erich ’14, a senior studying arts management at Indiana University-Bloomington, and Morgan ’17, a freshman health care management major at IUB.

PHYSICIAN MBA’80 grad pursues business degree to strengthen medical practice

By Jeff Taylor ’94

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Will Hargis ’02, a doctor in his first year of residency at the University of Louisville, is finally doing what

he’s always wanted to do, after taking a slight detour.

While fulfilling his volunteer requirement at Providence, Hargis got his first introduction to life as a doctor, working in a doctor’s office, shadowing the doctor, and doing his fair share of filing. Upon graduation, he headed north to Indiana University-Bloomington on a scholarship to the Kelley School of Business, where he planned to study both business and pre-med. Trying to balance the course load for both programs simultaneously proved to be a challenge, and he decided to focus on his business courses, leaving medicine behind. At least for the time being.

Following an internship with Monroe Shine at the accounting firm’s Bedford location his sophomore year, he found himself with the opportunity to work there during tax season. Three tax seasons later, with degree in hand, he went right into a full- time position at the New Albany office.

“I had a job offer to work for them after my junior year,” he said. “It was a no-brainer to go work for them after graduation.”

Hargis worked as an auditor for Monroe Shine for five years and achieved his CPA certification, but the feeling that he should have taken more pre-med classes in college never left him. He applied for a post-baccalaureate pre-med program at U of L and was accepted into its full-time program, which meant he would need to leave his position at Monroe Shine.

“One of the benefits of the program was that if you met the requirements, you automatically got into med school,” he said.

It was a program designed for people making a career change, and geared to address the doctor shortage in Kentucky. Among his classmates were an animator and a pilot.

On the day he gave notice at Monroe Shine, two weeks before his life as a pre-med student was about to begin, he was offered a position in the Audit Services office at U of L, a position that not only allowed him to work full time and complete his coursework on time but also provided tuition reimbursement.

Adjusting to med schoolIt took four semesters and a summer to finish, but by 2013 he had fulfilled the pre-med requirements and was ready to start med school at U of L.

Soon he found that despite the benefits of his job in the audit office, working a full-time job while taking pre-med courses at night is one thing, but med school was something else entirely. Hargis quit his auditor job to focus full time on his studies, the only real option.

“Only go to medical school if you can’t see yourself doing anything else,” he said. “The pre-med classes came back to me pretty easily [from undergrad], but med school was a different deal. It was a culture shock.”

After a semester of finding his legs in the classroom, Hargis began to adjust to the demands of med school, especially once he started seeing patients.

“This is when having life experience starts making a big difference,” he said, noting how much easier it is to handle the challenging aspects of medicine in your late 20s and 30s than it would be right out of college.

Through the rigors of med school, Hargis settled on emergency medicine as his

specialty. “It’s like the coolest 15 minutes of every specialty,” a

mentor once told him. One year into his residency affirmed that statement for Hargis.

“It’s very rewarding, and I’ve seen a lot this first year,” he said. “I’ve had my first patient (to) die, delivered babies,

had to deliver really terrible news to people. I get to help people through a

very bad day.”With two years left in his residency,

Hargis has started thinking about what comes next—wilderness medicine perhaps? He and his wife, Erika (Etheridge ’02), love the outdoors and take regular trips to national parks—but right now emergency medicine is exactly where he wants to be.

FROM CPA TO MD’02 grad opts to switch careers to medicine

By Jeff Taylor ’94

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Help a student in need fulfill a Pioneer dream ...

Give to the Annual Student Assistance Program today.

Go to www.providencehigh.net and click Give Now.


Lehanna Sanders ’06, Ph.D., isn’t practicing medicine on patients, but she is working with a technology that

will one day assist doctors with testing and screening and possibly even wound care and other medical uses.

As the business development manager at Advanced Solutions Life Sciences in Louisville, Sanders said her job is to find research efforts that could make use of the company’s technologies. One such development is the world’s first robotic-arm-based bio printer system.

For most 3D printing, plastic and other similar materials are used. However, with bio printing, cells themselves are loaded into the printer to try to recapitulate small environments that are more similar to what would be found in the human body.

“The long-term goal for us is certainly to actually re-build organs, to eliminate the need for transplants,” Sanders said.

Advanced Solutions began the process of creating and working with the 3D bio printer just over seven years ago, Sanders said. She thinks the technology will be implemented at some point during her lifetime.

“So, one day in the future, we can even be patching up maybe damaged tissue in the person by depositing different cell populations directly to the injured area, for example,” she said. “So that’s something that

we’re uniquely poised for, and in general, the field of 3D bio printing also provides a lot of advantages for direct testing and direct screening.”

Sanders said a lot of research is still being done on how these improvements could become a reality. Because there are a lot of materials bio printers use that have not yet been designed to be in 3D printers, Sanders said, there are groups focusing specifically on making what’s called a bio ink.

“So, I think once that field matures, then we’re probably going to start seeing more real-life applications of this kind of technology,” she said.

Getting the most of scienceSanders first fell in love with biology as a senior taking AP Biology at Providence. At Purdue University she majored in the subject and then attended the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, not for a medical degree but a doctoral degree in cell and developmental biology, which she earned in 2016.

“I did always know I wanted to be a scientist,” she said. “That started out when I was a kid watching things like Jurassic Park and even the dinosaur sequences of Fantasia.”

Although Sanders initially thought she would pursue a research career, she quickly realized she wanted to take a different path. While at Purdue, she began to focus on cell

and molecular biology and did internships in industrial settings instead of working in a lab.

“It was those experiences that made me really like being in an industrial setting,” she said.

Sanders also said she thought she would be better able to help more people from a more industrial setting, which led her to Advanced Solutions – and a more direct path to helping others by getting the technology in the hands of researchers.

“I felt like having the ability to provide different researchers and institutions with this type of technology is a more direct way of helping people than being in a lab and [merely] hoping that one day things I discover could help people in the future,” she said.

The need to improve people’s lives is what inspired her to get involved in bio medical sciences in the first place. Sanders

said unexpected losses and other personal experiences ultimately strengthened that passion.

“When I got started doing bio medical sciences–this is going to sound cliché–but I wanted to make a difference,” Sanders said. “And I felt like my skill set and my desire to do that was what got me started into the field of biomedical research.”

Lehanna Sanders ’06 is married to Andrew Williams ’05, who received his master’s degree in cancer biology from Vanderbilt University and is attending the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. The couple resides in Jeffersonville.

HELPING TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR DOCTORS’06 grad uses Ph.D. in bioscience in work with 3D bio printer, other technology

By Katie Chrisco ’14

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Three former Pioneer football

teammates each learned recently they have been accepted into medical school. Trey Embrey ’14, Nathan Banet ’14 and Conner Johnson ’14 all have been accepted into the Indiana University School of Medicine. Embrey and Banet are seniors at IU and leaning toward continuing their

education with IU, with Embrey considering physical medicine and rehabilitation and Banet looking at orthopedic medicine. Johnson received his bachelor’s

in biology from the University of Louisville in December 2017 and will be attending its medical school. He plans to focus on general surgery and is engaged to marry Molly Ueding ’15.

FORMER TEAMMATES LATEST MEDICAL SCHOOL PROSPECTS


Megan Brinkworth Vissing ’08,

M.D., has wanted to be a doctor most of her life and began working toward that goal even in high school. She studied chemistry as an

undergrad at Indiana University-Bloomington and followed up at the IU School of Medicine, earning her medical degree in 2016.

Initially, she considered anesthesia as her specialty but by the time of her clinical rotations had switched to dermatology because it better fit her personality and allowed her more direct patient care, she said.

She also liked that dermatology is a diverse field that covers medicine, cosmetics, surgery, and pathology.

Brinkworth Vissing started her residency match at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2016 and will complete her training in two years. She also is required to spend month-long rotations at the two other Mayo sites, in Rochester, Minn., where she will focus on inpatient dermatology, and in Scottsdale, Ariz., focusing on pediatrics.

She said she feels “unbelievably fortunate to get one of my top choices for residency” at the Mayo Clinic, a world-renowned medical institution. Working at a world leader in patient care, research, and education also offers her the chance to treat a variety of

conditions, including more complex and rare cases, as well as care for patients from across the country and around the world. Her work is challenging and rewarding, from the social aspect of interacting with patients and other care providers to the dynamic nature of her field, which means staying up with new information and learning new skills throughout her career.

“My favorite part is I am given the opportunity to use my skills to not only help others, but also bring them empathy and support,” she said.

Brinkworth Vissing is married to Jake Vissing ’08, who is assistant vice president and claims counsel at Fidelity National Financial in Jacksonville.

Travis Jones ’08, M.D., started Indiana

University as a business major but soon decided he wanted to pursue a career in medicine. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and

then went on to the IU School of Medicine, where his research entailed post-operative total hip arthroplasty infections and vacuum-assisted wound-closure therapy.

But his true interest was in orthopedic

surgery because he has always enjoyed working with his hands, he said. He finds his field of expertise exciting as well as physically demanding. The technical advancements offer the opportunity to perform a wide range of surgeries, from the delicate microsurgery on a spine or hand one day to a total joint replacement the next.

Jones is in his second year of five of his surgery residency at Cleveland Clinic-Akron General Medical Center and has completed sub-internships at Emory University, the University of Texas San Antonio and the University of Florida. He plans to specialize

in orthopedic spine and trauma surgery when he finishes his training in 2022, which also includes a year of fellowship. Despite the lengthy academic and training commitment, he already is experiencing the rewards of being a surgeon.

“I am challenged every day,” Jones said. “I work with phenomenal, highly motivated people. Above all, however, it’s all about the patients in the end. We often meet people at the most traumatic and vulnerable moments of their life. Restoring an individual’s function and mobility is the most satisfying part of my job. It is truly an honor.”

MEGAN BRINKWORTH VISSING ’08: DERMATOLOGY RESIDENT

DR. TRAVIS JONES ’08: ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY RESIDENT

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Maria Solis-Colegate ’07, M.D.,

knew she wanted a career in medicine and first considered a nursing major at Marian University, where she was a San Damiano

Scholar. She chose biology instead with a minor in pastoral leadership with plans to attend medical school so she could serve others while being the one to make primary decisions for patients – without comprising her Catholic beliefs.

She earned her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine with help from a primary care scholarship from the state of Indiana, requiring her to work in

a rural, underserved area of the state for four years following her residency. Now in her last year of residency in family medicine, she will soon be working at IU Arnett Medical Offices in Franklin, Ind.

Solis-Colegate said she enjoys family medicine because the continuity of care allows her to work with patients over time and help “sow the seeds for long-term change.” Some of the work is mundane, such as checking patients’ blood sugar levels, but she looks forward to seeing patients through all stages of life, from delivering babies to caring for their parents or grandparents.

She hopes one day to work in public health policy to ease crises such as the obesity epidemic. At the St. Vincent Primary Care Center in Indianapolis, where she is completing her residency, she implemented a

project to help non-English speaking patients whose primary language is Spanish or Arabic to make an online request for a medical appointment and a translator.

At IU Arnett, which is in an area with a large Spanish-speaking population, Solis-Colegate anticipates she will be helping with the language barrier as the only provider who speaks some Spanish. She said being a good doctor has its challenges especially because there is so much information to know, “but at end of day you do feel like you’ve done something worthwhile.”

Solis-Colegate and her husband, Joshua Colegate, have a daughter, Ava Hope, born in November 2017. She is a cantor at her parish, St. Monica, and was the cantor at the installation Mass for Archbishop Charles Thompson.

MARIA SOLIS-COLEGATE ’07: FAMILY PHYSICIAN


For Mary (Garner) Casey ’07, a physician assistant,

having a career in medicine is the family business. Her father, grandfather, uncle (Dr. Paul Garner ’80, anesthesiology p. 7, and aunt (Dr. Kathryn

Garner ’78, OB-GYN and likely the first PHS alumna physician) are all physicians. Casey’s cousin Rebecca Garner ’12 is a medical

student and also featured on this page. Casey’s desire to pursue a career in

medicine started in her childhood. She remembers visiting her father in his doctor’s office after school and being impressed that he was helping people. She knew she wanted to help people, too, in her future.

Casey said she chose the PA path over a medical degree because it requires less schooling and would enable her to start working with patients sooner. She also liked that PAs can change their specialties easily and that they work in a team setting, working

closely with doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and technicians.

Casey received her undergraduate degree in biology from Bellarmine University followed by her master’s in biology from the University of Louisville. She recently earned her second master’s degree from the physician assistant program at the University of North Carolina and just started working as a neurosurgery physician assistant with Baptist Healthcare in Lexington, Ky. Casey is married to Brian Casey, a fourth-year psychiatry resident at UNC.

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Many physicians start by having a dream of

becoming a doctor, but for John Martin ’08, M.D., an orthopedic surgery resident physician, it wasn’t

until his senior year at Providence when he was considering a major to study at Indiana University-Bloomington that he decided to pursue medicine.

After being a patient of Dr. Troy Coker, a Jeffersonville optometrist, Martin saw how much Coker liked being a doctor and how he provided great care to his patients. After

doing a job shadow and volunteer work with Coker, he made up his mind to study optometry. Martin gained more exposure to the medical field while majoring in biology at IU and felt optometry would provide many future opportunities.

But as he began medical school at the IU School of Medicine, he was involved with a team that did total joint reconstruction, specializing in hip and knee arthroplasty. He cared for patients that had debilitating hip and knee pain due to osteoarthritis. He was amazed by some of the patients’ recovery after surgery, with many able to return to former favorite activities and to a better quality of life.

So his field of study changed to orthopedic surgery, a decision reinforced by witnessing the profound impact such surgeries can have on patients’ quality of life. He earned his medical degree in cellular and integrative physiology in May 2017.

As Martin continues his orthopedic residency and works through rotations in various sub-specialties, he is open to the one he will eventually choose. He is about half way through his first year of residency at the University of Arizona in Phoenix and living in Scottsdale. After he completes his residency in 2022, he will move on to a year-long fellowship in a sub-specialty of orthopedic surgery.

Rebecca Garner ’12 has always been interested in medicine, but pursuing a career in it, much less attending

medical school, was far from her plans. At Providence, she developed an interest in science and chose physics for her major at Davidson College.

It wasn’t until she started experiencing her own medical issues that Garner knew she wanted to pursue a medical career. After being a patient of compassionate and caring doctors, she realized she wanted a career where she could help patients who were scared and struggling.

Garner also was inspired and encouraged to go to medical school by her many family members in medicine, including cousin Mary (Garner) Casey ’07 (see story above). She said she loves the science and research aspect of medicine but most enjoys working with patients. She might get busy and

overwhelmed with her studies, but then she interacts with a patient, and the experience reaffirms her desire to pursue this career.

Garner is in her second year

at Wake Forest Medical School in Winston Salem, N.C. She will take her board exams in April and then start her clinical rotations. She hopes to have a career in surgery but has yet to declare a specific type. Following the completion of her medical degree, she will have a year of intern residency followed by one to six years of residency.

JOHN MARTIN ’08: ORTHOPEDIC RESIDENT

REBECCA GARNER ’12: MEDICAL STUDENT

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DID YOU KNOW?Medical school graduates aren’t guaranteed a medical residency and undergo a highly competitive application, interview and match process, with more medical students than residency spots. Applicants may apply to as many programs as desired. Residency programs review and then invite applicants to interview, followed by applicants ranking the programs at which they interviewed. The residency program also ranks each applicant against the other interviewees. These rank lists are submitted to a central system that uses a computer-generated algorithm to match applicants with a residency program.

Rebecca Garner ’12 poses with her father, James Garner ’81, at her white coat ceremony.


Since childhood, Kristin (Mooney) Day ’07 knew she

wanted to have a career in medicine. She grew up watching medical shows like ER and shows on cable’s Animal Planet. At

first, she wanted to be a veterinarian, but after the death of her grandfather when she was 9 years old, that changed. She knew she wanted to help people like her grandfather, and her interest turned to human medicine.

Day also was inspired seeing her father, Tom Mooney ’79, a physical therapist, work with his patients when she visited his office after school. Her desire to work with younger

children stemmed from her babysitting jobs during her junior high and high school.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Purdue University in 2011, Day began work in pediatrics at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Shortly after her marriage to Alex Day ’07 in 2012 (son of radiologist Chris Day ’80 p. 8), the couple moved to Houston. She first worked in the newborn nursery at The Women’s Hospital of Texas then switched to the pediatric intermediate care unit at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.

While working in the pediatrics ICU, she treated patients with chronic illnesses, including transplant and trauma patients. In caring for them, she grew close to many of

them and strengthened her own love for life. She also realized she wanted more control over her patients’ care and decided to go ahead with her plan to go to graduate school to become a family nurse practitioner.

Day now works part-time in the acute pediatric respiratory inpatient unit at Texas Children’s Hospital while she is in graduate school at Texas Women’s University working toward her master’s degree. She will finish in August and still plans to work in pediatrics, which is her passion. She will be able to assess, diagnose, and order medicines for her own patients on an outpatient basis. In Texas, she will still work under a doctor, but in 22 other U.S. states, nurse practitioners can have their own practice.

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Lexie (Very) Murphy ’10 found her career choice

after having a minor medical procedure in high school and meeting a certified registered nurse anesthetist. She did her research on the

profession (learning that she could provide anesthesia care to patients without having to go to medical school and an additional four years of residency) and did a job shadow, and her mind was made up.

Murphy started her path to her career

with a bachelor’s in nursing from Ball State University in 2013. Next, she got her required critical care nursing experience in the ICU at the University of Louisville, where she met her future husband, Cody Murphy, M.D., a San Antonio, Texas, native who was doing his medical residency. They later discovered their Providence connection: Cody is the grandson of the late Pete Murphy, one of the first coaches at PHS. They were married in October 2016 and reside in Nashville, Tenn.

Lexie received her master’s degree in nurse anesthesia in November 2017 from the Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia. Now, she works for Anesthesia Medical

Group in Nashville as a nurse anesthetist under the supervision of an anesthesiologist.

Lexie said she loves working in the fast-paced environment of the operating room. Every day there is a different challenge taking care of patients with different illnesses undergoing different procedures. She loves being directly involved in the care of patients and getting them successfully and comfortably through surgery. She hopes to continue this work and improve her skills and knowledge to become the best CRNA she can be.

KRISTIN (MOONEY) DAY ’07: FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONER STUDENT

LEXIE (VERY) MURPHY ’10: NURSE ANESTHETIST

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ell Nick Bell ’09

was on track to earn his

bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Louisville’s Speed School of Engineering when he started

seriously considering the thought he might rather become a doctor. As an undergrad, he completed his engineering co-operative at Brown-Forman and began to question if engineering was for him. He went on to earn his degree in 2013 and started work at chemical company Clariant, working one

year as a production engineer and two as a technical service engineer. By the third year, he was sure engineering wasn’t satisfying enough for a lifelong career.

While at Clariant, he started doing volunteer work at local hospitals and shadowing physicians to bolster his resume. He then applied to medical school and now is back at U of L in his second year at the School of Medicine. Although he has two more years of medical school and several years of residency before he’ll officially start his career, the opportunity “to make a more tangible difference in people’s lives” offsets the delay, he said.

“While I was entertaining the thought of

being a doctor, I had to really think about what I wanted to be doing in 10, 20, 30 years down the road,” Bell said. “Knowing I’d be helping people made the justification much easier.”

He’s still considering his specialty area and is leaning toward fields that would cater to his “inner engineer” and offer hands-on procedures, such as interventional radiology, interventional cardiology, or emergency medicine, he said. Right now, he’s leaning toward interventional radiology because of its pioneering work with cutting edge technology, including Selective Internal Radiation Therapy that delivers radioactive nanoparticles directly to tumors in the liver.

NICK BELL: FROM ENGINEER TO MED STUDENT




Year .................ContributionClass of 1955* ...................5,405Class of 1956* ...................9,201Class of 1957* .............13,144Class of 1958* ............ 34,771Class of 1959* ............ 10,645Class of 1960* ............22,655Class of 1961* ............ 13,625Class of 1962* ............ 10,424Class of 1963* .................5,695Class of 1964 ...................3,821Class of 1965* ...................9,375Class of 1966* ...................5,175Class of 1967* ...................6,565Class of 1968* ...................5,360Class of 1969 * ...........36,423 Class of 1970 ...................1,990Class of 1971 ...................1,120Class of 1972 ...................4,150Class of 1974 .....................1,383Class of 1975 .....................1,000Class of 1976 .....................4,375Class of 1977* ...................6,500Class of 1978 .....................2,235 Class of 1979* ............ 21,526Class of 1980* ...................5,050Class of 1981* ...................8,250Class of 1982* ............ 32,813Class of 1983* ............30,574Class of 1984 .....................3,810Class of 1986 .....................1,608Class of 1987 .....................1,000Class of 1988* ...................5,328Class of 1989 .....................1,050Class of 1990 .....................1,400Class of 1991 .....................3,750Class of 1992* ...................6,400Class of 1993 .....................1,200Class of 1994* ...................5,737Class of 1995* ...................7,704Class of 1997 ........................100Class of 1999 .....................2,365Class of 2003* ...................8,000Class of 2005* ...................7,000Class of 2008* ...................5,165Class of 2011* ...................5,225Class of 2012* ...................5,000Class of 2013 ..........................65Class of 2014 .....................3,172Class of 2015 .....................2,500Class of 2016 .....................2,335Class of 2017 .....................2,550

Total ........................$395,715

*Denotes permanent endowment, with minimum $5,000 balance.

Ten classes have exceeded $10,000 (in bold letters above), with the Class of 1969 remaining in the lead. The Class of 1968 hit the $5,000 permanent endowment mark this quarter, and the Class of 1979 saw the biggest jump with $10,000 in contributions. The Classes of 1973, 1985, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 have yet to start a fund. An anonymous donor will match the first $500 raised by a class to get the total up to $1,000. For more information contact Tony Perito at [email protected].

CLASS ENDOWMENT TOTALS

As of Dec. 8, 2017

1966

Sonny LeMaire (third from left) and fellow Exile band member J.P. Pennington were presented seven ‘Million-Air Awards’ by BMI in recognition of the success of major songs the two songwriters have written.

Sonny’s hits include “Beautiful Mess” performed by Diamond Rio (4 million broadcast performances), “Give Me One More Chance” performed by Exile (1 million broadcast performances), and “She’s A Miracle” performed by Exile (2 million broadcast performances).

Sonny’s crossover hit-making band Exile is celebrating a distinguished career of 55 years as the longest running American self-contained band and has sold more than 8 million records, including three gold records and 11 No. 1 hit songs, along with numerous hits on the pop and country charts. They are known for major hits including “Kiss You All Over,” “Give Me One More Chance,” and “I Don’t Want to Be a Memory.”

1967Sheila (Kron) Noon retired in May 2017 after 47 years at St. Anthony of Padua School in Clarksville, including 10 as principal.

1975Capt. Marty Stengel retired from the Jeffersonville Fire Department in 2017 after more than 35 years of service. He was featured in a Dec. 26, 2017, News & Tribune story.

1980 Nine fellow classmates have made it an annual tradition in the last few

years to take a golf trip to Phoenix to beat the winter cold. They include (front row, left to right) John Naville, Steve Leist, Marc Leuthart, Danny Morris, Eric Happel, and Eddie Schwartz and (back row) Rick Kochert, Chris Day, and Mike Very. The group says it’s a chance to share memories and laughs, not to mention friendly competition.

1983Susan Braitling Bunch has joined Premier Hospice as the clinical director of services (South). She will be opening two branches: Jeffersonville and Bloomington.

1988 Susan Howard spent seven weeks this past winter at the Antarctic McMurdo Station, a

research facility operated by the U.S. Antarctic Program, along with colleagues from around the United States and New Zealand who are part of the ROSETTA-Ice team studying the Ross Ice Shelf. It was her second research trip to the region. She is a research associate with Seattle-based Earth & Space Research, a nonprofit institute specializing in oceanographic research. Her group was invited to be part of the research project because of the members’ expertise in oceanography and the polar regions, to supplement the work of the geologists and glaciologists on the research team. Susan was featured in the Feb. 7, 2018, issue of the eVision email newsletter.

1989On Jan. 30, 2018, Kelli (Thompson) Dattilo received the WHAS11 ExCEL (Excellence in Teaching)

Award from Garry Roedemeier at Doss High School, where she has taught English for 10 years. She is English Department chairperson, National Honor Society sponsor, and academic coordinator at Doss.

1991Lee Ann (Knight) Meixell has started a Jeffersonville non-profit organization to help at-risk youth known as Help Empower Youth Inc. (HEY). The organization’s goals are to empower youth through various programs to help teens improve decision-making skills, coping skills, relationship skills, and planning goals for the future.

1992Tracy Long-Jones is now Realtor/broker at RE/MAX Associates in the Louisville area.

1993Rachel Dreyer is the new co-owner of 6 Pack Volleyball, formerly known as Bernie’s Volleyball, at 1026 S. Third St.

in Louisville, the largest sand volleyball facility in Louisville with four courts. Two of the courts will be enclosed for winter sand volleyball.

Lisa (Lynn) Thomas is now working at Expedia CruiseshipCenters in New Albany. She said she enjoys helping friends book cruises and can book a group cruise for various occasions, including class reunions and weddings.

1996Chris Weber has been promoted to global product manager at Flint Group in Elizabethtown, Ky.

1998Jacquelyn Scanlan in the last two years has launched her business BeautyByJ.com featuring Younique beauty products.

1999John Lenfert was born in June 2017. He is welcomed by parents Brian and Audra Lenfert, big sisters Lexie and Annie, and big brother Samuel.

2000Jeffrey Barrett is now senior manager of business development at the University of Colorado.

Cindy (Stumler) Ferree is now consultant - proactive messaging & analytics at Humana in Louisville. She was previously consultant - consumer engagement for the same company.

Lindsay (Vaught) Fouts, CPA, CMA, is now controller at Kentucky Society Of CPAs.

2002Hazel Catherine Booker was born in December 2017. She was 8 pounds and 21 inches long. Mommy Catherine (Conder) Booker, Daddy,

and big brother Everett (age 3) are all in love, Catherine says.

2003Amanda (Gibson) Mulvene, owner of Dress and Dwell in New Albany, was nominated as

CLASS NOTES


In honor of Jerome Bischof (Hon. ’96)Robert & Diana (Bischof ’86) Chase

In memory of Earl F. Cartrette, Jr. ’92John Selent

In memory of Anna Mae CookHon. J. Terrence ’67 & Peggy Cody

In memory of Everett DayDr. & Mrs. Melvin BaumannAnn BeisemannDon ’57 & Joyce DayJerry ’70 & Linda DayRon & Rhonda (Osborne ’75) DenmanJerome & Charlotte (King ’61) DidatJohn Sr. ’63 & Llyn (Haehl ’65) GrantzJoseph E. Kaiser ’84Ruth (Uhl) Kaiser ’59Darris & Beverly (Geswein ’77) KnearEugene ’65 & Barbara (Jackson ’65) KochertGeorgia (Radcliff) Leonard ’60Robert & Mandy (Himmelheber ’96) MastersonThomas & Ingrid MeadorJames & JoAnn MorrisThomas C. ’84 & Angela (Mathews ’86) MurphyEllen M. Schueler ’85Joan SchuelerRosemary SchuelerRonald & Rita (Oster ’57) SmithJames David ’66 & Patricia StillerLawrence (Hon. ’09) and Barbara VeryWolfgang & Judith VonBuchlerJ. Page (Hon. ’93) & Karen (Day ’65) WalkerRebecca (Kaiser ’86) Wenning

In memory of R. Bruce Harbeson ’72Robert & Claudia (McCurdy ’70) Alles

In memory of George Harris ’64Hon. J. Terrence ’67 & Peggy Cody

In memory of Jaime Leon HigdonEdward Agnew

In memory of Lloyd Jack SinkhornGE Foundation

In memory of Charles StaserHomer A. Jr., M.D. (Hon. ’04) & Marilyn Ferree

In memory of Betty Ann StemleTerry & Debra (Jarboe ’83) ReasMargaret Smith In memory of Robert J. StemleShirley Risinger

Birthday memorial for Brandon Tevis ex-’16Michael & Kathleen Dicken

In memory of Jerry TylerCarl & Mary Kay Wolford

In memory of Donald Wheatley ’57Class of 1957

In memory of Susan L. Williams ’79Ann BostockTom & Cheryl FentonHomer A. Jr., M.D. (Hon. ’04) & Marilyn FerreeDavid ’56 & Marilyn (Stemle ’56) JarboeMr. & Mrs. John KauchakCarole J. MahaffeyWilliam & Kim SchoeningVictor & Donna (Andres ’79) Swartz

In memory of Therese ‘Timmie’ WilliamsonRuth (Uhl) Kaiser ’59

Christmas gift in honor of Victor ’72 & Jeannie (Schmidt ’72) Unruh

Chad ’97 & Lori UnruhTravis ’95 & Cammie UnruhVictor ’72 & Jeannie (Schmidt ’72) Unruh

MEMORIAL AND HONORARY GIFTSGifts received between Dec. 8, 2017 and March 30, 2018

If a loved one, friend or classmate has passed away recently and Providence has not been notified, please contact us at [email protected].

Chad E. Book ’90Jackie (Zipp) Goeller ’98Bill Knotts ex-’56Chris Kokojan ’79Dorothy (Voignier) Lawrence ’59Randall Lynch ’61Eileen (Glotzbach) Mason ’73Catherine (Falkenstein) Meiman ’65Jim Osborn ’59Norma (Stewart) Parks ’58George Stanley Renn ex-’58George C. Smith Jr. ’85Donald Wheatley ’57Susan L. Williams ’79Diana (Miller) Witt ’60

Former staff member:Lue “Jean” Collier, custodial

employee 1972-2007

a most admired woman in the fashion category by Today’s Woman magazine. The winners will be featured in the June issue.

2005Kevin Pickerrell (on right), a patrolman with the Louisville Metro

Police Department, recently was awarded the Medal of Valor and the Distinguished Life Saving Award by the department for saving a drowning woman in the Ohio River last summer. His brother Ryan ’13 (on left) recently became an LMPD patrolman, having been inducted last summer. Kevin was featured in the March 7, 2018, issue of the eVision email newsletter.

2006 Keevan Miller, co-founder of Voiceflow Music, co-wrote and produced singer Connor Muermit’s single “Never Letting Go,” which was featured on an episode of The Bachelor.

2008Jacob Vissing is now assistant vice president and claims counsel at Fidelity National Financial in Jacksonville, Fla.

2009Marc LaPilusa is an industrial designer at Sunvilla in Pensacola, Fla. He received his master’s of industrial design from Auburn University in December 2017.

2010Matt Duncan, J.D., is now the Utica Town Council attorney for the town of Utica, Ind.

2011Christian Betz is the owner of premium detailing and specialty car sales business HyperCars, which moved to a new location at 1212 E. Spring St., New Albany.

Hillary Ernstberger is now assistant sourcing manager for Chicos FAS and lives in Ft. Meyers, Fla.

Jennifer McCallister is golf shop lead at Dick’s Sporting Goods and also part-time building supervisor at the Floyd County YMCA while attending Ivy Tech’s nursing program. She was recently engaged to Zach Lowery ’12, who works full time at UPS.

2012Morgan Huber married Ryan Schmidt ’11 in December 2017. Alumni in the wedding party included Alex Boone ’11, Joe

Clements ’11, Michael Griffith ’11, David Cissell ’11, Ryan Huber ’17, Taylor Huber ’15, Marcella (Huber) Hawk ’06, Allie Huber ’09,

Demi Zoeller, McKenzy Stilger and Amber Hublar. Ryan is a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Morgan is studying to become an esthetician.

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In MemoriamSince the last publication of The Vision, the Advancement Office has received word of the following deaths:

NON-PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAID LOUISVILLE KYPERMIT #1225

Our Lady of ProvidenceJunior-Senior High School

Office of Institutional Advancement707 Providence Way, Clarksville, IN 47129-1534Phone (812) 945-3350 / Fax (812) [email protected]

PRovidence

20TH ANNUAL PIONEER GOLF SCRAMBLE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, AT CHAMPIONS POINTE

FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES, PLEASE CONTACT RONDA (MILLER) STUMLER ’83 AT 812-945-3350 OR [email protected].

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