EMP-51

	Magnetrol International corporate officers (and members of Delta 7), Jeff Swallow, John Heiser and Marlin Underwood, all EMP-47, celebrate the 10th anniversary of their subsidiary ORION Instruments LLC in Baton Rouge, La.
	Tom van Laar EMP-51 prior to going for the summit

Greetings Alumni! Here’s all the news that’s fit to print: Helen Chionis let us know some GREAT news! She writes: “I went to the doctor and the Halavan chemo is working well for me. I have gained back the 30 pounds that I lost earlier and actually have an appetite (Yeah!). My tumor markers were almost 3,300 in February and are now down in the 200s and have been on a downward trend each month. The normal range is 0 to 40 for the CA 27/29 tumor marker, so I am getting there. Thanks to everyone for their prayers, good wishes, and support over the last few months.

“Also, Bill and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in July and went to San Fran for a few days and had lots of fun! Never thought I’d see this day. Thank God for a GREAT oncologist and the latest chemo drugs that work for me!” Way to go Helen! Keep being AMAZING!

Tom van Laar checked in with some news and a photo to make all of us stuck in the U.S. rust belt a bit jealous. He updates: “I’m now in my seventh year working for Novartis in Switzerland as head of global technical operations (essentially running manufacturing for Novartis). My wife is with me and our two daughters are in the U.S. One daughter is working and the other is getting her master’s at University of Pittsburgh. We have been taking advantage of being here by traveling to many places in Europe including Paris and other parts of France, Barcelona, London, Berlin and the nearby black forest of Germany, Italy, Lisbon and of course much of Switzerland. Not sure if I can get over there for the reunion but if not please say hi for me.” Thanks Tom, be sure to pet some Bernese Mountain Dogs for me!

Gene “Dr. No” McMahon threatened a submission, but is probably still stuck in the days of Guess the BS and can’t find his way out. Send it when it comes to you, Gene!

Rob Sit wins the “hardest working EMP-51 connector” in the class in this submission. He and his beautiful family made the rounds by visiting the Derrick Marris family in Indianapolis, the Clark Johnson family in Bettendorf and the Bob Muhs family in Frazee, Minn., at Bob and Becca’s swanky new digs on Little Toad Lake. He also reports the Sit kids are growing up. Catherine (6), and Daniel (3) & Jessica (3) supervised all the trips. Nice work, Rob!

I’m also happy to report a trifecta while visiting San Francisco for the Dreamforce 2011 event:

1. I actually got Steve “Love Boy” Sullins on the phone to catch up for a bit. He was unable to meet in person because he had to head out of town, but I’ll take what I can get. He reports the married life is agreeing with him and like all of us, he’s busy, busy, busy!

2. I had a lovely breakfast and catch up with Bernie Birt. She’s doing great running the executive MBA program for that “other” school in San Francisco. Catching up with her is like catching up with all of you because of her amazing ability to connect with so many.

3. I tracked down none other than the elusive Chris Keil! He is his usual go-go-go-self and caught me for dinner at the oldest restaurant in San Fran, Tadich Grill, where the original wait staff is still serving. We even got some participation from Elizabeth Crane via text messages, which was great! Keep it rockin’ Chris!

In other career news for me, I’ve been appointed the chair of the education committee for the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association which means I’m responsible for the content of their annual conference, webinars and all other education delivery. I share this because I know many of you might have interesting approaches in the marketing, sales, public relations and communication arenas that might lend themselves to being highlighted in such a venue. If you have any interest in participating, please let me know!

Lastly, I haven’t hear much back on a reunion strategy for our 10-year. The school sponsored event is April 27-29, 2012. The question is there or somewhere/sometime different? Let me know what you think!

That’s it for now. Keep those cards and letters coming!

The families of Rob Sit and Derrick Marris, both EMP-51