PSU Magazine Fall 2003

Compi led by Myrna Duray George Gornick retired from Supercargoes and Checkers Local 40, part of the Interna– tional Longshore and Ware– house Workers Union. He lives in Portland. Bill Drapeau writes, "l worked for lBM Corporation for 30 years, retiring in 1987. My wife, Joann, and l moved to Salem, where I worked for the Oregon Department of Revenue, retiring in 2000. We then moved to Gresham, where we are just tak– ing it easy! l'd like to hear from any of you who remember me N O T E S and let me know what's up with you." Robert "Bob" Hormel has joined the PSU Alumni Board of Directors. Hormel is a retired certified public accountant. He and his wife, Linda, live in Portland. Carol Colfer, who went on to earn an MA and PhD from Uni– versity of Washington (and her MPH from University of Hawaii), works for the Center for lnternational Forestry Research in Bogar, lndonesia. She is currently on sabbatical at Cornel l University as a visiting fellow in the department of nat– ural resources. Colfer has wriuen two books on forest manage– ment published by Resources for the Future, Washington , D.C. David Ligon has taught govern– ment and history at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, for 35 years. He is social sciences department chair, was faculty senate president twice, and serves on various state and local boards. He and his wife, Robertta Douglas Wood , whom he meL at PSU, have three daughters, 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. He writes, "Robertta and I look forward to our annual summer trips back to Lake Oswego. Thank you, Portland State, for the wonderful education and start of my professional life." Jay Stirling is vice president of construction administration at M & T Mortgage Corporation in Lake Oswego. Sandra Barker MAT owns Stu– dio 152, an interior design busi– ness in Seattle. She writes , 'This is a new career focus . presently in school for interior design and recently awarded professor emerita status at Seattle University." Jim Franzen is vice president al Wells Fargo Bank in Portland. Franzen has been elected presi – dent of the 2002-03 Portland Rose Festival. Helping at the sites of terrorism IKE MANY PEOPLE ON THE WEST COAST, Chuck Wright '70 was awakened with a phone call the morn– ing of Sept. 11, 2001. The caller told him to turn on his television and watch what was happening at the World Trade Center fhey Cam~ e qf They Did11 1 ' in New York. Ten days later the Red Cross put him to work at the Pentagon and even– tually sent him to New York City for most of December. Wright has been a volunteer mental health counselor with the Red Cross National Disaster Team since his retirement in 1999 following 30 years as a Washington state probation and parole officer. At the Pentagon, Wright supervised a team of mental health professionals. He also counseled families of 20 PSU MAGAZINE FALL 2002 Pentagon burn victims being treated at area hospitals. In New York City, he worked 15- to 19-hour days, six days a week, in a center set up to help traumatized families who had lost or were still searching for family members. "My job," he explains, ''was to help people identify their trauma and their strengths to get through it. Watching people get back to some normality in their lives and begin setting goals-that gave me hope." Wright had nightmares, but he kept in touch with his family by phone, and says he "lived on hugs from people. They were so grateful to us." Wright's commitment to give to others goes back to his years at PSU, where he majored in sociology: A professor's comment that students had a responsibility to give back to the community made a lasting impression, he says. Wright later received a master's degree in human sexual– ity from New York University. During his career, he earned credentials as a family therapist, became a specialist in sex– ual deviancy and sex offenses, and worked on the Green River Task Force. IL was exposure to serial killers, he says, that made him especially empathic toward families with losses and led to an interest in the bereavement process. In August, he returned to New York City to work with police officers who are still experiencing Oashbacks to when their peers or family members died in the terrorist attack. -Martha Wagner