St. Catherine Alumnae Awards for 2008

Six Alumnae Selected by Colleagues for Prestigious Award

The College of St. Catherine Alumnae Association honored six outstanding alumnae for their lives of service and leadership on Thursday June 19, as part of Reunion 2008 celebrations: Debora Brown ’91, Mary Madigan Gibbs ’53, Tamara Kittelson-Aldred ’75, Catherine Murray Mamer ’61, Barbara Probst Wollan ’58 and Kristina Thalhammer ’80.

The St. Catherine Alumnae Award is not a lifetime achievement award but rather a formal recognition that these Katies have embodied with their past and present achievements, the ideals and values of St. Catherine's in extraordinary and inspiring ways -- and we're proud of them! These women were nominated by colleagues, classmates, friends, and family members for their leadership, service, professional excellence, dedication to spiritual growth and ideals, influence, and support of the College’s ideals, image, and fellow alumnae. We see them as shining examples who light the way for others, each in her own way.

Each winner receives from the Alumnae Association Board an award certificate that contains a specific set of citations for why she was selected and a sterling silver St. Catherine Alumnae Award pin, engraved with her name on the back.

Consider nominating someone you know next year! For nomination details...

(Winner photos below by Wayne Martin.)


Debora Brown ’91, DVM

An adventure-seeker, Brown has studied in Mexico, gone cave diving at night, interned at SeaWorld in Florida, evacuated animals in the path of a Mississippi hurricane and provided free medical care to animals in Haiti. Her guiding principle has been to give of herself to care for injured animals and the humans who care for them.

Brown designed her own biology/pre-vet degree at St. Kate’s and then completed her veterinary medicine degree and studied alternative health therapies in China.

She launched a veterinary practice, Pequot Lakes Animal Practice, where she employs traditional Western medicine and alternative healing methods. “I want to be able to heal the whole pet, not just treat the symptoms,” she said.

“Going above and beyond her work duties and service with such a caring attitude, she is making a difference in the lives not only of these pets but for the people who care for them,” said Jolie Davis, certified vet technician and colleague of Brown.

Brown is a business leader in her northern Minnesota community, mentoring women, serving on the Jaycees, treating police dogs for free and making educational presentations at area schools.

She is an advocate for St. Kate’s, supporting recruitment and marketing efforts and being active in the Alumnae Association’s Brainerd chapter.

“Giving back to her community and her world is just part of the fabric of her life. She is a true Katie, through and through: a leader, a mentor, a thought provoker, a compassionate, spiritual searcher on Life’s journey,” said Teri Parker-Brown ’88, Brown’s sister.


Mary Madigan Gibbs ’53

Growing up, one of the daughters of Mary Madigan Gibbs thought St. Catherine’s was a “friend” of her mother’s because she was always going over to “St. Catherine’s.”

Madigan Gibbs graduated in 1953 with a major in home economics and a minor in education. She taught before marrying and raising five children.

Despite the demands of family, she made time for numerous volunteer activities. Volunteering for 55 years at St. Kate’s, she has helped organize alumnae activities, served on the alumnae board, chaired her class committee and the reunion committee, and raised funds for the association.

Her three daughters, (Colleen ’82, Katherine ’88 and Maura ’83), learned from an early age that St. Catherine’s is a community where women can develop their true potential. Her sister, Char Madigan ’59, CSJ and granddaughter Elizabeth Tschida ’07, also are alumnae.

“Simply put, Mary Gibbs brings her spirit of giving, along with her gift of connecting others together, to those she touches everyday. This is her core,” said a fellow alumna.


Barbara Probst Wollan ’58

A nurse, community volunteer, and mother, Barbara Probst Wollan “has been my role model in demonstrating true Christ-centered leadership,” said her daughter, Susan Wollan Fan ’84.

Probst Wollan raised eight children (including two sets of twins) and was the primary breadwinner while sending them all to Catholic schools.

“The only way my mother was able to maintain this balance was through tremendous organizational skills and a willingness to sacrifice short-term goals for long-term results,” said her son, Tom Wollan. ”She worked nights so she could be home with us when we went to and returned home from school.”

As a nurse, Barbara progressed from patient care to staff management and patient advocacy, gaining a reputation as a professional who went beyond the ordinary in caring for others. She also earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership at St. Kate’s.

“She was one of the most highly respected people at HealthEast, and not just within nursing, but across departments,” said Cindy Bultena, a former colleague.

“Her impact will surely be felt on the countless lives who have benefited from her compassion, dedication to family and faith and unwavering commitment to serving others,” said Wollan’s friends and family.


Catherine Murray Mamer ’61

Catherine Murray Mamer is “the heart and soul of Peace House” said Ward Brennan, her co-director of this hospitality house for homeless persons in Minneapolis.

“Although extremely compassionate, she is also a serious administrator,” he added. “She writes grants, gives talks, makes videos, organizes events and celebrations, listens to, prays with and helps the visitors of Peace House to better learn how to govern themselves.”

Murray Mamer grew into this position while volunteering full time there for 22 years, following the path of Peace House’s founder, Rose Tillemans, CSJ.

Her dedication to Christ-like hospitality began when she was 13. Her mother died, her father went into treatment for alcoholism and she found herself in the home of a family who welcomed her and treated her as one of their own.

Following graduation from St. Kate’s, Murray Mamer volunteered to teach at a high school in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). There she “adopted” a 19-year-old orphaned student, Maria Nhambu, provided her with her first home and arranged a full scholarship at St. Kate’s for her. Nhambu ’67 later married and had two children of her own.

Murray Mamer returned to Minnesota, married John Mamer and turned to raising a daughter and her “career of volunteering.”

In addition to Peace House, she volunteered with the South Minneapolis Neighborhood Involvement Program to help struggling families, rape victims and troubled children. She has also served St. Kate’s as an alumnae board representative, capital campaign worker and reunion committee member.

“The values I learned from the Sisters of St. Joseph for the love of the dear neighbor have helped me to see the beauty of those who frequent Peace House,” said Murray Mamer. “They are not my clients but my friends.”


Tamara Kittelson-Aldred ’75

“Tamara Kittelson-Aldred deserves to be held up as an example of what one woman graduating from the College of St. Catherine can accomplish,” said Sharon Stoffel, professor emeritus of occupational therapy.

Kittelson-Aldred has led the way for a better life for many children with disabilities through her professional work, extensive community volunteerism and creation of “Eleanore’s Project,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting families in extremely resource-limited areas of the world with mobility equipment, education and support.

The organization was named for Eleanore, the youngest of Kittelson-Aldred’s three children who struggled with cerebral palsy and profound deafness until her death at age 12. Tamara, along with her husband Rick and daughters Julian ’07 and Arwin, created Eleanore’s Project to honor her.

Kittelson-Aldred’s work led to St. Catherine's Occupational Therapy faculty and students traveling to Jordan and Peru to gain hands-on experience in the challenges and rewards of this cross-cultural project.


Kristina Thalhammer ’80, Ph.D.

The work of Kristina Thalhammer has revolved around the question: How can ordinary people fight to make this often unjust, violent, and repressive world a better place?

After graduating with majors in political science and journalism, Thalhammer traveled to Africa, where she dedicated herself to human rights for all.

She pursued a doctorate from the University of Minnesota, learned Spanish, and traveled to Argentina to interview members Mothers de la Plaza de Mayo, nonviolent resisters to the 1970s terroristic Argentinean government.

A faculty member at St. Olaf College since 1991, she now chairs the Political Science department and is coordinator of peace studies and the Kloeck-Jenson Endowment for Peace and Justice. She brings to campus an array of human rights speakers and organizes service projects around the globe.

Thalhammer is one of the authors of Courageous Resistance: The Power of Ordinary People. A Phi Beta Kappa member, she has been honored as a Humphrey Policy Fellow and MacArthur Interdisciplinary Grant Winner.

With her husband David, she is active in Northfield’s St. Dominic Parish, Amnesty International and the Center Victims of Torture. The couple has two children.

“Kris is truly an alumna whose life is a tribute to the very best of what the College of St. Catherine tries to inspire in its graduates,” said a friend.


An Additional 2008 St. Catherine Alumnae Award,
Presented in Winter 2008 in San Diego

Marie A. Proulx '39

For Oceanside resident Marie A. Proulx '39, the Marine motto, Semper Fidelis, has special meaning. As she puts it, “I never married, but I am married to the Marine Corps through the Women Marines Association.”
One of the First Woman Marines

When she enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II (on June 18, 1943), women Marines were reservists and not allowed overseas, so Marie made good use of her business degree from St. Kate’s, working in the civilian payroll department at El Toro Marine Corps base.

After the war ended, she returned to civilian life. Then in 1948, when the federal government authorized women as regulars in the military, she returned to active duty and eventually rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant. Marie was one of the original 15 enlisted women and four officers to open a recruit training program for women Marines at Parris Island, South Carolina.

In 1952, she transferred to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California where she was later diagnosed with an arthritic hip. Although Marie volunteered for a then-newly developed hip replacement so she could remain a Marine, the replacement didn’t take and she was forced to retire from the Marine Corps.

Nevertheless she continued to work for the Marine Corps as a civilian -- first at Marine Corps headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and then back at Camp Pendleton, where in 1964 she became the accounting supervisor for Camp Pendleton’s Naval Hospital. She remained at Pendleton until her second retirement nearly thirty years ago, on June 30, 1977. (Never one to be idle, before she retired Marie obtained her realtor’s license, and later her broker’s license. Until 1985, she kept busy in the real estate business.)

An Active WMA Member

When the Women Marines Association was organized in Los Angeles in 1960, Marie became a charter member. Still active in WMA today, she served as treasurer of the national organization from 1972-1974 and as WMA’s area director for Western states from 1974-1976. Since 1984 she has been the treasurer of the Oceanside chapter, which she helped organize in 1972. In 2004, when the Oceanside chapter chaired the Women Marines Association’s national convention, eighty-seven-year-old Marie handled all the finances.

Fidelity to St. Catherine's

Marie’s fidelity is not confined to the Corps. She has amply demonstrated her faithfulness to St. Kate’s and to its goal of educating women. She organized the San Diego chapter of the alumnae association in the
early 1990s and has served as its president ever since. Each year she has prepared and mailed out a chapter newsletter and membership renewal at her own expense so the roughly $500 in dues collected could be contributed to the scholarship fund organized by our neighboring chapter in Orange County.

Lifelong Leadership and Service

Over the years, Marie has demonstrated the leadership qualities St. Kate’s strives to nurture in its students. In addition to the Women Marines Association, she has served as an officer for a number of professional and charitable organizations. Marie was president and later district secretary of the Business and Professional Women’s Club in Oceanside. She served for eight years on the board of the Idyllwild Institute Fiesta, which conducted a one-week leadership school for girls in the summer; for six years, she was the organization’s treasurer. In the 1980s, she was president and treasurer of the Girls Club of Oceanside. Marie’s work with the Idyllwild Institute and the Girls Club reflects her concern for the development of capable, confident and useful young women.

With her positive attitude, Marie has refused to let her macular degeneration slow her down — at least not very much. When she could no longer drive, she donated her car to the Brother Benno Foundation, an organization named after a local Benedictine monk who baked and bartered bread to feed the poor. As Marie describes it, the Prince of Peace Abbey to which Brother Benno belonged, is the “closest thing to heaven on earth.”

Previous St. Catherine Alumnae Award Winners

2006-07
Eileen Welch Donahue '26
Mary Alice Dietz Schabarum '57
Katherine Egan, CSJ, '56
Joan E. Madden '67
Margaret Marrinan '69
Cerila Matias Rapadas '54
Patricia Simms Gries '69 '89
Carol Svihel Michalke '62

2005-06
Sonia Daleki Helton '59
Catherine Foely Quigley '42
Eileen McMahon '73
Nancy Parlin '56

2004-05
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
Mary Elizabeth Dempsey '50, Ph.D.
Alexis Meancon '49
Mary Treacy O'Keefe '74

2003-04
Patricia Carroll Byrne '64

2002-03
Marjorie Mathison Hance '70
Elizabeth Delmore, CSJ., '43
Mary Virginia Micka, CSJ, '43

2001-02
Lael Dudley Grathwol '53

2000-01
Janet Dolan '71
Catherine Jungkunz O'Keefe '42
Joan McKee Fabian '66
Joan Mitchell, CSJ, '62
Therese Sherlock, CSJ, '62

1999-00
Mary Meko Hinze '45

1998-99
Eraine Ste. Marie Schmit '46
Mary Lou Bunting Eoloff '53

1997-98
Laura Lee Geraghty '66
Ann Barbara DeGree '58
John Christine Wolkerstorfer, CSJ, '61

1996-97
Irene M. Muhvich '62
Sara Ann Sexton '59
Mary Madonna Ashton, CSJ, '44

1995-96
Grace Mary Ederer
Kathleen Rea Hanousek '85
Pauline Fox Sullivan '62

1994-95
Barbara Sitzmann Bowman '57
Eleanor Mayne Donovan '45
Elizabeth Rivers '72
Jane Zagaria Stern '37
Verna Budde White '50

1993-94
Mara Baun '65
Mary McFarlan Ritten '59
Katia Stavrou Petersen '79
Constance Pollnow Brown '90

1992-93
Jane Keefe Clifford '45
Teresa glass '84
Ruey Archambeau Limerick '32
Mary St. Anthony Miller '53

1991-92
Alice Dailey de Araujo '42
Alberta Huber, CSJ, '37
Marguerite Hessian '49
Helen Pribyl Latterell '27

1990-91
Mary William Brady, CSJ, '31
Nadia Saad Bettendorf '65
ReBecca Koenig Roloff '76

1989-90
Betty McKeever Key '35
Marie de Paul Rochester, CSJ, '34
Teresa Hennes '78

1988-89
Marie Inez Johnson, CSJ, '29
Mary Louise May Klas '52
Margaret Ann Mayers Wolters '60
Joan Gregoryk '66

1987-88
Maureen Kelly Neerland '62
Dorothy Oedbauer Klick '38
Angelita Martinez Rodriquez '34

1986-87
Antonius Kennelly, CSJ, '22
Anne Dolan Kelly '43
Abigail Quigley McCarthy '36

1985-86
Grace Holmes Carlson '29
Kay Sullivan Bendel '56

1984-85
Anna Koop, SI, '60
Margaret Mary McGuire '33
Mary Palcich Sinclair '40

1983-84
Joanne Rau Floersch '56
Margaret Storkan '41

1982-83
Patricia Connolly Durkin '55
Alice Shea Hoolihan '36

1981-82
Sandra Kamman Butler '56
Charlotte Madigan, CSJ, '59

1980-81
Clara Glenn '20
Betty Hodgins Hubbard '36
Viola Lang Campion '34

1979-80
Mary Joan Ryan Richardson '52
Isabel Schmitz Dumont '32

1978-79
Mabel Kathryn Powers '25
Margaret Mary O'Sullivan O'Connor '19