PSU Magazine Fall 2013

Sharon Heisel MS writes, "I have been a middle school sci– ence teacher and a writer of juvenile fiction." Heisel's fourth book, Precious Gold, Precious Jade, received the Western Her– itage Award from the National Cowboy Museum as the Out– standing Juvenile Book of 2000. Heisel lives in Central Point. I Marvin Abts MS, PhD '85 is on the life science faculty at Shasta College, a community college in Redding, California. Roberta McEniry has joined the PSU Alumni Board of Directors. McEniry is deputy executive director of business systems and services with the Housing Authority of Portland. Marsha Parmer is director of career services at Western Culi – nary Institute in Portland. Mary Lou Stewart MA is head of the English department and the talented and gifted program facilitator at Aloha High School. 7 Mehri Gaspeed owns Mehri Wedding Cake & Catering in Gladstone. Gary Purpura has been elected to the PSU Alumni Board of Directors. Purpura is president of Liberty Capital Investment Corporation in Portland. Pur– pura and his wife, Susan (Brickey) '77 live in Portland. John Turchi MA is principal at River Grove Elementary School in Lake Oswego. Richard Lovely is general manager at Grays Harbor Public Utility District in Aberdeen, Washington. Debra "Debi" Meyers is presi– dent of Strategic Companies, a consulting firm. Meyers lives in West Linn. Todd Thomas is a construction manager with Northwest Natural Gas in Portland. '7 Craig Allen is professor of law and director of law and marine affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle. Linda Sprague is a partner at Sprague Agency, an investiga– tions and legal services firm in Sacramento, California. Gene Taylor MST '86 is depart– ment chair for the computers and information systems depart– ment at Central Oregon Com- munity College in Bend. Taylor has been with COCC for 17 years. K.C. "Casey" Nortness writes, "As a political science student, Bonnie Leiser is a financial planner at Lincoln Financial Advisors in Portland. I had superb professors at PSU . . . However, I detoured rather sharply after graduation and became a rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter ... touring and performing from 1981 through 1990." Nortness now works for Gatti, Gatti, Maier, Krueger, Sayer & Associates, a Salem law firm, and is finishing a Washington State Bar Associa– tion program that allows experi– enced legal practitioners without law degrees to study for the bar. Nortness, his wife, daughter, and identical twin sons live in Willamina. What is it worth? Ask an expert! Professional Antique Appraisals Insurance .;. Fair market •!• Estates + Collections Brokers, Consultants Frederick E. Squire Ill 340 First Street, Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034 503-6 75-9002 or fsantiques@uswest.net ERHARD MENG '71 KNEW THE PINK SLIP was coming and his advertising job at the radio station would end. So when his manager suggested that he consider starting a business doing what he loved-bicycle touring-he listened. In the summer of 1974, less than six months after that conversation, Meng was leading two back-to-back, 21-day budget bicycle tours through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Having been born in Germany and exposed to travel from an early age, planning those first trips wasn't hard. He found his first clients through poster advertising and news– paper publicity. "Most of them were young and signed up as a lark," he recalls. "Back then, people didn't know much about bicycle travel." Today Meng, whose degree was in business administration, is in his 28th year as owner and chief tour guide of Portland-based Gerhard's Bicycle Odysseys, one of more than 250 companies worldwide specializing in two– wheel travel. He's on the road six months a year, leading six to 10 small-group tours in Europe and New Zealand, as well as several At the end of a day of bicycle touring, Gerhard Meng and Darlene Lynch sample local wines. non-cycling tours, including two trips every December to Christmas markets in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Today's clients are typically in their 50s, like Meng himself, and they expect fairly luxurious accommodations at the end of the day. Meng attributes his company's longevity to old-fashioned hard work, patience (it took eight years before he could give up a part-time sales job in the travel industry) and repeat customers (as many as 75 percent some years). He's also chosen to keep his business small, employing only an office assistant and a support vehicle driver. "I do what I do," he explains, "because I enjoy it, not to make a lot of money. I enjoy the balance of being on the road as well as in the office." -Martha Wagner FALL 2001 PSU MAGAZINE 23