Bob ’07 and Trisha ’08 Evans welcomed baby Jasper Grit on October 19, 2017. Jasper weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches long.

-Congrats Bob and Trisha! -SW

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Troy ’12 and Andrea ’11 (Taglione) Bouman are excited to announce the birth of their daughter, Harper Kay. She was born on November 11, 2017 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Hi Sarah, My daughter, Allison married a Tech alum that she met while he was going to school at Michigan Tech. We like to tease him and tell him he came to the University to get an education and got an added bonus, a wife. The day of their wedding was heavy rain and wind all day. So what do you do when you have a rainy day and still need to get some beautiful wedding photos? You head on over to the GLRC on campus to get out of the rain and take some pictures. Tim Richmond ’13 is the groom and he works at Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw. pc/penrose lyn photography.

–Laurie Buschell

I remember Christmas 1985. Just before the Christmas break. I had to go to an afternoon class. You know that there had to be one professor who had an assignment due right before the break. It was snowing when I left for class, but nothing out of the ordinary about that. By the time I got back, the little snow fall had turned into a big snow fall. But that too was not out of the ordinary. I picked up my rider for the trip to Escanaba and off we went. The snow got worse and worse. We decided to go through Marquette since that would run it through areas where, if we broke down, we wouldn’t be really far from someone. We tried to pick up a Marquette radio station on my ’68 Impala’s old AM radio, but we couldn’t find one. We found many stations – from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas – but nothing from Marquette. I guess AM radio signals do bounce off storms well. South of Marquette, the only way I knew that I was still on the road
was that was the place where there was no trees.  We couldn’t see the road and the snow plows had clipped most of the mile markers off. At Rapid River, the roads were plowed (since there’s where the truck garage was located).  It was smooth sailing from there to Escanaba. But for some reason, my high-beams wouldn’t work. I didn’t figure out until I got to Escanaba: the lights were completely caked with snow.

Randy Vugteveen PS ’73

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I’m thankful for being part of Portland St. Patrick’s 8-man football team, who were Division 2 State Finalists this past weekend. I’m also thankful for having attended Michigan Tech, and for the professors that believed in me. If not for them, I would not be where I am today.

Ross Schneider CNSA ’07

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The Thanksgiving break of 1966 was memorable. I don’t remember how I got home to Indiana but the break and the return trip were unusual because of two events. On Thanksgiving day just before diner I fell playing basketball in the driveway. I landed on my chin and broke six teeth. Two molars were shattered exposing nerves and four more had various sized pieces cracked off. No Thanksgiving diner for me. My dentist made some emergency repairs including root canals before I had to head back to school.

The trip back by bus was scheduled to be a thirteen hour trip but the blizzard that we collided with had us stranded in a parking lot in some rural town along Hwy 41 for more than a day. I spent 42 hours on that bus without even a book to read.

That was in my freshman year and I never went home for Thanksgiving again.

In the recent newsletter you asked for stories of Thanksgiving return trips to MTU.  5 of the 6 years I attended Tech, the weekend after Thanksgiving was one of the worst blizzards of the winter.

1. The first year I returned in a 1963 Olds 98, when the heater stopped working before we hit the bridge.  We had to drive thru the UP with no heat.  Worse yet, our breath would frost the inside, so we eventually had to keep the windows open. That 10-hour trip took 16, with lots of stops to get warm.
2. The next year Big Mac was closed.
3. The 3rd year, there was so much snow on an un-plowed Seney Stretch; that you couldn’t see the road.  It was dark, so thank God for reflectors.
4. My 4th year was just as bad.  M-98 was so deep that the snow was forced up over the hood.
5. The one year we stayed in Hancock; Tech actually closed.  Visitors couldn’t get home; so we went bar-hopping in waist-deep snow.

Needless to say, I don’t miss that drive.

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I returned in a fierce snowstorm in 1958 or 1959. The snow covered the highways so it was hard to stay on the road. My defroster could only keep a four inch patch of windshield open all the way from the bridge. So much snow blew into the engine compartment that the car would not start the next day.

Joe Jenney ‘60

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Yes there was always snow at Tech on the way back. It would have been surprising not to have snow before leaving. Usually 2 to 3 feet worth

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Was there always snow when you came back?

Yes, we had 200″ or more of snow every winter between 1975-1979, including the record 355.9″ received the winter of ’78-’79.

We received a major storm every year in November, generally starting during Finals week.  But when we returned after Thanksgiving, the snow each year was more than the biggest snowfall I’d ever seen prior to my years in Houghton.

I don’t think that we had less than 20″ on the ground by the time we returned in any of the four years, but those last seven miles between Chassell and Houghton made Munising and Marquette look like they had a drizzle and it made Detroit snowfall look like a decoration!

One year the wind at the Straights of Mackinaw was severe.  Our traveling caravan crossed the bridge at speeds hovering around 15 MPH.

Shortly thereafter the bridge was closed entirely to through traffic for safety!

Brian Masinick ‘79