Class Notes

Susan (Soffer) Cohn, LA65, wrote and recently self-published The Art of the Mentor: The Superpower That Turns Good into Great, which tells the story of her transformation from a 50-year-old, successful businesswoman to an award-winning artist. Cohn creates original art and prints along with teaching art classes and workshops.

Diana Burchfield, FA65, bested 38 other exhibitors of aquamedia works at the Audubon Artists 78th Annual Exhibit in 2020 to win the Gold Medal of Honor with “A Walk in the Park,” a watercolor of New York City’s Battery Park.

Nancy Kauffman Holder, LA64, SW66, is a tutor with ¡Adelante Latina!, a free after-school academic enrichment and college preparatory program for promising Latina girls attending Baltimore City high schools. The academically selective program also helps students learn about colleges and universities and apply for admission and scholarships.

Beverly Heckart, GR64, GR68, retired from university teaching.

William Dillon, DE63, is first president of the Saxony Lutheran High School (Jackson, Mo.) board of regents. He has served as a dental adviser to Southeast Missouri Head Start and as district governor for Lions International.

Rick Hesse, EN62, SI65, SI68, professor emeritus of decision sciences at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School, received the “Best Learning and Education Research Paper” award at the Decision Sciences Institute 51st Annual Conference (online) in November 2020. The paper, titled “Adjusting Forecasts with Seasonal Data,” represents some of his work with Solver moving averages. Hesse says, “Not bad for an 80-year-old!”

Polly (Crawford) Dozier, LA62, is semiretired after her last senior minister assignment in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, B.C., and is living in Florida to be near her son and granddaughter. She still enjoys speaking on inner peace and relationship harmonics, and is writing a book about her experience as a liaison between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Communist government.

Thomas Spring, GR60, moved from Hawaii to Cupertino, Calif., to help care for his elderly and infirmed Marianist brothers.

Del Schwinke, BU59, in late 2019 was tapped by the Advertising Club of Greater St. Louis for its Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes dedicated leadership and outstanding service to the St. Louis advertising community. Schwinke has taught advertising in University College since 1999.

Alice Helmer, FA58, celebrated her 85th birthday last year. She lives in the Kansas City area near her children, grandchildren and great-grandchild, and enjoys the many opportunities to view and enjoy art. Helmer writes that she is impressed with the many changes and additions to the WashU campus since the ’50s when the school was lovingly referred to as a streetcar university with no dorms.