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Class Notes Archive 1931-2014: Fall 2009

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• Walter Newman was featured in the 2009 fall edition. Walter Newman By Elizabeth Stitt Last June 6 marked the 65th anniversary of D-Day, and one UC Davis alum who led a company of the 35th Infantry on the beaches of Normandy was honored by the French government in a star-studded event. Walter Newman ’42, who commanded C Company at the age of 22, was named a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour and was presented with the medal by the commanding general of the French army. “It was very emotional for me to be seated very close to the president of France, the prime minister of Canada, the prime minister of Britain, the prince of Wales and President Obama,” Newman said. Also in attendance were Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, former Senator Tom Dole and Barbara Eisenhower. Newman was among 18 WWII vets from the Allied Nations to be honored. He had known since 2008 that France planned to award him the prestigious medal, but he expected to receive it at the French consulate in San Francisco. A week before the anniversary, Newman received a call from the French ambassador telling him to pack his bags for France. “I told my wife to drop everything,” Newman said. “They had a beautiful ceremony. When we came into this huge courtyard, there was a company of French infantry, a detachment of the navy, a detachment of the air force, a group of 30 French vets each with a French flag and a large uniform band.” Newman and the other honorees were also taken to Omaha beach to commemorate the D-Day anniversary. During his time at UC Davis, Newman was the commanding officer of the ROTC, and after graduation, he went straight into the Army. “World War II was something that our country asked us to do, and we didn’t give it a second thought,” he said. While fighting in Normandy in 1944, he was severely wounded, forcing him to leave the war early. By the time the war ended in 1945, he was a major in the Infantry. For now, Newman keeps his medal at home in San Francisco, along with his Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Medal. “It was a great, great thrill and a supreme honor to be thanked by France,” he said. For pictures and video of the event, visit , which was created by Newman’s son.

1940George Madsen died at his Fremont home in March. An Air Force veteran, he was a Fillmore High School agriculture teacher and principal. After retiring in 1974, he and his wife, Esther, volunteered with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. In addition to his wife of more than 66 years, survivors include their children, Nick, Karen and Linda.
1942Walter Newman was featured in the 2009 fall edition. Walter Newman By Elizabeth Stitt Last June 6 marked the 65th anniversary of D-Day, and one UC Davis alum who led a company of the 35th Infantry on the beaches of Normandy was honored by the French government in a star-studded event. Walter Newman ’42, who commanded C Company at the age of 22, was named a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour and was presented with the medal by the commanding general of the French army. “It was very emotional for me to be seated very close to the president of France, the prime minister of Canada, the prime minister of Britain, the prince of Wales and President Obama,” Newman said. Also in attendance were Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, former Senator Tom Dole and Barbara Eisenhower. Newman was among 18 WWII vets from the Allied Nations to be honored. He had known since 2008 that France planned to award him the prestigious medal, but he expected to receive it at the French consulate in San Francisco. A week before the anniversary, Newman received a call from the French ambassador telling him to pack his bags for France. “I told my wife to drop everything,” Newman said. “They had a beautiful ceremony. When we came into this huge courtyard, there was a company of French infantry, a detachment of the navy, a detachment of the air force, a group of 30 French vets each with a French flag and a large uniform band.” Newman and the other honorees were also taken to Omaha beach to commemorate the D-Day anniversary. During his time at UC Davis, Newman was the commanding officer of the ROTC, and after graduation, he went straight into the Army. “World War II was something that our country asked us to do, and we didn’t give it a second thought,” he said. While fighting in Normandy in 1944, he was severely wounded, forcing him to leave the war early. By the time the war ended in 1945, he was a major in the Infantry. For now, Newman keeps his medal at home in San Francisco, along with his Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Medal. “It was a great, great thrill and a supreme honor to be thanked by France,” he said. For pictures and video of the event, visit www.youtube.com/user/NewmanMedical, which was created by Newman’s son.
1947George “Tim” Wilson, who attended UC Davis in 1946–47 and co-founded the flying club, died in March after a battle with cancer. He lived in Walnut Grove. During Word War II, he served in the Army’s Signal Corps, attended paratrooper school and received his pilot’s license, which he kept active for 61 years. On top of guiding three family businesses, he was a judo instructor, volunteer firefighter, a Scoutmaster and a Rotarian. He is survived by his wife , Dixie; sons Darrell ’73, Chiles ’76 and Daniel ’77; and grandchildren Isaac ’01, Noel ’03, Patrick ’03, Caroline Sacuso, Paul, Elizabeth, Alex and Chiles Jr.
1949Saul Barret has been retired from the produce brokerage business since 1986. He lives in West Covina. While attending UC Davis, he met his wife, Lieba, and was the captain of the 1949 swim team.
1952Richard Schein, Ph.D., died in January at age 82. He was a part of the first Ph.D. graduating class in plant biology. In 1955, he joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University, where he developed the plant growth chamber, was the lead researcher in developing awnless barley and served as an associate dean. After retiring in the mid-1980s, he learned to fly and became a commercial apple grower. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia; and sons Jim, Chris and Rich.
1954Edward Ryder, Ph.D., recently wrote the novel The Departments (Two Harbors Press), a tale of intrigue set in a plant sciences department. He retired in 2003 after 46 years of working in lettuce breeding and genetics for the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service in Salinas.
1962Viola Hildebrand, M. A., Cred. ’64, died of congestive heart failure at a Davis retirement center in July after her health declined from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 89. After receiving her master’s degree, she taught art at Sacramento and Davis high schools. When her husband, zoology professor Milton Hildebrand, began teaching human sexuality courses, she studied to become a professional sex therapist. She counseled people in family planning and problem pregnancy, conducted therapy groups for UC Davis women at her home and taught summer-session sexuality courses. In addition to her husband of more than 65 years, survivors include three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
1967Barbara Rice, a noted plant ecology researcher in Australia, died at age 64 from ovarian cancer in June in Sydney. Rice, who grew up on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley, began her career with plants as a UC Davis student working for the herbarium. She later earned her masters and doctorate degrees from Utah State University, where she met her husband, Mark Westoby. In 1975, the couple moved to Australia, where she became an honorary associate of biological sciences at Macquarie University. She published research papers on vegetation diversity in Australia, how ants disperse seeds and about Australian grasses—and one of those grass species is named after her, Hibiscus riceae. She is survived by her husband and her siblings, Dick and Bette.
1970Karen Miner retired in June from her teaching career with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District. She taught at Sierra House Elementary from 1990 to 2005 and South Tahoe Middle School since 2005.
1971Cassandra “Sandy” Howard, Cred. ’72, retired in June from Lake Tahoe Unified School District after teaching middle school home economics in 1972–78 and high school history, geography, health, English and home economics since 1978. • Steve Williamson recently climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro with his daughter, Stephanie. He was introduced to backpacking by classmates at UC Davis in 1970. He is currently the business architect at Trinity Technology Group in Sacramento. • Francis Sousa, M.A. ’74, died in Davis from a heart attack in June. He was 92. During World War II, he was sent to Hawaii as a trained welder to fix the ships and aircraft that had been attacked at Pearl Harbor. After the war, he successfully developed residential and commercial real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area and retired in 1963 at age 45. Sousa and his former wife, Mary, then attended UC Davis, where he studied geology. In addition to his former wife, survivors include his children, Lynda Fletcher and Francis Sousa, M.D ’74, eight grandchildren and siblings Al, Lee, and Betty.
1973The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine presented an Alumni Achievement Award to Linda Lowenstine, D.V.M., Ph.D. ’83, in June for her contributions to the advancement of comparative pathology in nondomestic animal species. A professor in the school’s department of pathology, immunology and microbiology, she is one of the world’s leading experts on diseases in zoo animals and wildlife. • Andrew Kluger has been appointed a visiting senior research scientist for the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering. He is also the founder and CEO of Early Bird Alert Inc., which manufactures a home healthcare communications device; chair of the board and former CEO of Hawaii Air Ambulance; president of Kluger & Associates medical management company; and president of Book Bank USA, a nonprofit that donates books and computers to schools and libraries worldwide. • Patricia Cowings By Elizabeth Stitt Occupation: Research psychologist and principle investigator for the NASA/Ames Research Center. Beam me up, Aggie: Since the age of 9, Patricia Cowings, M.S. ’73, Ph.D. ’73, has been fascinated with space travel. A self-proclaimed science geek, she grew up reading science fiction novels and visiting space museums. “I was a member of the Star Trek generation after all,” she said. “In the psychology department I was known as the space cadet because I always watched the launches and talked about space travel.” At UC Davis, Cowings took a class on designing features for a space shuttle, which was dominated by male engineering majors. “No on talked about the life science aspect of space travel,” she said. The teacher frequently stopped the class to make sure Cowings was keeping up with the physics. “But for some reason, I understood everything he was saying,” she said. She received an A in the course. Trained for space: When Cowings first visited the Ames Research Center in the Silicon Valley, she said it was like arriving at Disneyland. At Ames, she began a postdoctorate fellowship in 1973, and in 1977 she entered an international competition for the best experiments to be conducted in space. Out of 4000 entries, Cowing’s experiment about space motion sickness came in second, giving it a ticket to leave the planet. Because there was a possibility she needed to perform her experiment, she became the first female trained to exit Earth’s atmosphere. Though she didn’t end up going, her experiment did, paving the way for psychophysiological research in space. Survival of the species: For the past 30 years, Cowings has been working full time at NASA, performing experiments on the biological and psychological effects of space, as well as preparing people for space travel. “I really am concerned with the health of astronauts,” she said. “It’s what I live for.” NASA has received less funding over the years, which has worried Cowings about the future of the space program. “I’ll go so far as to say it’s important for the survival of our species,” she said. “We have to cut off the apron strings. I love Mama Earth, but come on, I’m a grown-up now—it’s time to explore and see what’s out there." Cowings lives in Saratoga with her husband of 29 years, William Toscano, and their son Christopher Michael Cowings Toscano, who is a certified personal trainer. “I had to train astronauts how to put on underwear in space. If you’ve never done that, you’ve never lived.”
1975Richard Campbell was appointed last summer as vice president of engineering technology for CH2M HILL. He previously managed the technical and engineering services division for The Industrial Co. Campbell is also a director and past president of the Geothermal Resources Council. • Ahmad Faruqui, M.A., Ph.D. ’79, Stephen George, M.A. ’76, Ph. D. ’79, and Gregory Wikler ’82 recently wrote a report for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to submit to Congress. “The National Assessment of Demand Response Potential” explores ways to reduce peak electricity demand. Their report can be downloaded from http://www.ferc.gov/ • Douglas Dodge became the Santa Barbara District ranger in Los Padres National Forest in August, after five years as the Harlowton District ranger of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana. He previously worked 22 years for the Bureau of Land Management, holding the positions of archaeologist, assistant field manager and outdoor recreation planner. • Steven Holmes and Sherri Reese ’80 have been married since 2005. Holmes is a math and computers teacher at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, and he recently published the workbooks Learn Algebra Through Graphing Vol. 1 & 2 (Lulu Press). Reese is a critical care epidemiologist in the epidemiology and infection prevention department at the UC Davis Medical Center.

1940George Madsen died at his Fremont home in March. An Air Force veteran, he was a Fillmore High School agriculture teacher and principal. After retiring in 1974, he and his wife, Esther, volunteered with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. In addition to his wife of more than 66 years, survivors include their children, Nick, Karen and Linda.

1942Walter Newman was featured in the 2009 fall edition. Walter Newman By Elizabeth Stitt Last June 6 marked the 65th anniversary of D-Day, and one UC Davis alum who led a company of the 35th Infantry on the beaches of Normandy was honored by the French government in a star-studded event. Walter Newman ’42, who commanded C Company at the age of 22, was named a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour and was presented with the medal by the commanding general of the French army. “It was very emotional for me to be seated very close to the president of France, the prime minister of Canada, the prime minister of Britain, the prince of Wales and President Obama,” Newman said. Also in attendance were Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, former Senator Tom Dole and Barbara Eisenhower. Newman was among 18 WWII vets from the Allied Nations to be honored. He had known since 2008 that France planned to award him the prestigious medal, but he expected to receive it at the French consulate in San Francisco. A week before the anniversary, Newman received a call from the French ambassador telling him to pack his bags for France. “I told my wife to drop everything,” Newman said. “They had a beautiful ceremony. When we came into this huge courtyard, there was a company of French infantry, a detachment of the navy, a detachment of the air force, a group of 30 French vets each with a French flag and a large uniform band.” Newman and the other honorees were also taken to Omaha beach to commemorate the D-Day anniversary. During his time at UC Davis, Newman was the commanding officer of the ROTC, and after graduation, he went straight into the Army. “World War II was something that our country asked us to do, and we didn’t give it a second thought,” he said. While fighting in Normandy in 1944, he was severely wounded, forcing him to leave the war early. By the time the war ended in 1945, he was a major in the Infantry. For now, Newman keeps his medal at home in San Francisco, along with his Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Medal. “It was a great, great thrill and a supreme honor to be thanked by France,” he said. For pictures and video of the event, visit www.youtube.com/user/NewmanMedical, which was created by Newman’s son.

1947George “Tim” Wilson, who attended UC Davis in 1946–47 and co-founded the flying club, died in March after a battle with cancer. He lived in Walnut Grove. During Word War II, he served in the Army’s Signal Corps, attended paratrooper school and received his pilot’s license, which he kept active for 61 years. On top of guiding three family businesses, he was a judo instructor, volunteer firefighter, a Scoutmaster and a Rotarian. He is survived by his wife , Dixie; sons Darrell ’73, Chiles ’76 and Daniel ’77; and grandchildren Isaac ’01, Noel ’03, Patrick ’03, Caroline Sacuso, Paul, Elizabeth, Alex and Chiles Jr.

1949Saul Barret has been retired from the produce brokerage business since 1986. He lives in West Covina. While attending UC Davis, he met his wife, Lieba, and was the captain of the 1949 swim team.

1952Richard Schein, Ph.D., died in January at age 82. He was a part of the first Ph.D. graduating class in plant biology. In 1955, he joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University, where he developed the plant growth chamber, was the lead researcher in developing awnless barley and served as an associate dean. After retiring in the mid-1980s, he learned to fly and became a commercial apple grower. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia; and sons Jim, Chris and Rich.

1954Edward Ryder, Ph.D., recently wrote the novel The Departments (Two Harbors Press), a tale of intrigue set in a plant sciences department. He retired in 2003 after 46 years of working in lettuce breeding and genetics for the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service in Salinas.

1962Viola Hildebrand, M. A., Cred. ’64, died of congestive heart failure at a Davis retirement center in July after her health declined from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 89. After receiving her master’s degree, she taught art at Sacramento and Davis high schools. When her husband, zoology professor Milton Hildebrand, began teaching human sexuality courses, she studied to become a professional sex therapist. She counseled people in family planning and problem pregnancy, conducted therapy groups for UC Davis women at her home and taught summer-session sexuality courses. In addition to her husband of more than 65 years, survivors include three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

1967Barbara Rice, a noted plant ecology researcher in Australia, died at age 64 from ovarian cancer in June in Sydney. Rice, who grew up on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley, began her career with plants as a UC Davis student working for the herbarium. She later earned her masters and doctorate degrees from Utah State University, where she met her husband, Mark Westoby. In 1975, the couple moved to Australia, where she became an honorary associate of biological sciences at Macquarie University. She published research papers on vegetation diversity in Australia, how ants disperse seeds and about Australian grasses—and one of those grass species is named after her, Hibiscus riceae. She is survived by her husband and her siblings, Dick and Bette.

1970Karen Miner retired in June from her teaching career with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District. She taught at Sierra House Elementary from 1990 to 2005 and South Tahoe Middle School since 2005.

1971Cassandra “Sandy” Howard, Cred. ’72, retired in June from Lake Tahoe Unified School District after teaching middle school home economics in 1972–78 and high school history, geography, health, English and home economics since 1978. • Steve Williamson recently climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro with his daughter, Stephanie. He was introduced to backpacking by classmates at UC Davis in 1970. He is currently the business architect at Trinity Technology Group in Sacramento. • Francis Sousa, M.A. ’74, died in Davis from a heart attack in June. He was 92. During World War II, he was sent to Hawaii as a trained welder to fix the ships and aircraft that had been attacked at Pearl Harbor. After the war, he successfully developed residential and commercial real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area and retired in 1963 at age 45. Sousa and his former wife, Mary, then attended UC Davis, where he studied geology. In addition to his former wife, survivors include his children, Lynda Fletcher and Francis Sousa, M.D ’74, eight grandchildren and siblings Al, Lee, and Betty.

1973The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine presented an Alumni Achievement Award to Linda Lowenstine, D.V.M., Ph.D. ’83, in June for her contributions to the advancement of comparative pathology in nondomestic animal species. A professor in the school’s department of pathology, immunology and microbiology, she is one of the world’s leading experts on diseases in zoo animals and wildlife. • Andrew Kluger has been appointed a visiting senior research scientist for the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering. He is also the founder and CEO of Early Bird Alert Inc., which manufactures a home healthcare communications device; chair of the board and former CEO of Hawaii Air Ambulance; president of Kluger & Associates medical management company; and president of Book Bank USA, a nonprofit that donates books and computers to schools and libraries worldwide. • Patricia Cowings By Elizabeth Stitt Occupation: Research psychologist and principle investigator for the NASA/Ames Research Center. Beam me up, Aggie: Since the age of 9, Patricia Cowings, M.S. ’73, Ph.D. ’73, has been fascinated with space travel. A self-proclaimed science geek, she grew up reading science fiction novels and visiting space museums. “I was a member of the Star Trek generation after all,” she said. “In the psychology department I was known as the space cadet because I always watched the launches and talked about space travel.” At UC Davis, Cowings took a class on designing features for a space shuttle, which was dominated by male engineering majors. “No on talked about the life science aspect of space travel,” she said. The teacher frequently stopped the class to make sure Cowings was keeping up with the physics. “But for some reason, I understood everything he was saying,” she said. She received an A in the course. Trained for space: When Cowings first visited the Ames Research Center in the Silicon Valley, she said it was like arriving at Disneyland. At Ames, she began a postdoctorate fellowship in 1973, and in 1977 she entered an international competition for the best experiments to be conducted in space. Out of 4000 entries, Cowing’s experiment about space motion sickness came in second, giving it a ticket to leave the planet. Because there was a possibility she needed to perform her experiment, she became the first female trained to exit Earth’s atmosphere. Though she didn’t end up going, her experiment did, paving the way for psychophysiological research in space. Survival of the species: For the past 30 years, Cowings has been working full time at NASA, performing experiments on the biological and psychological effects of space, as well as preparing people for space travel. “I really am concerned with the health of astronauts,” she said. “It’s what I live for.” NASA has received less funding over the years, which has worried Cowings about the future of the space program. “I’ll go so far as to say it’s important for the survival of our species,” she said. “We have to cut off the apron strings. I love Mama Earth, but come on, I’m a grown-up now—it’s time to explore and see what’s out there." Cowings lives in Saratoga with her husband of 29 years, William Toscano, and their son Christopher Michael Cowings Toscano, who is a certified personal trainer. “I had to train astronauts how to put on underwear in space. If you’ve never done that, you’ve never lived.”

1975Richard Campbell was appointed last summer as vice president of engineering technology for CH2M HILL. He previously managed the technical and engineering services division for The Industrial Co. Campbell is also a director and past president of the Geothermal Resources Council. • Ahmad Faruqui, M.A., Ph.D. ’79, Stephen George, M.A. ’76, Ph. D. ’79, and Gregory Wikler ’82 recently wrote a report for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to submit to Congress. “The National Assessment of Demand Response Potential” explores ways to reduce peak electricity demand. Their report can be downloaded from http://www.ferc.gov/ • Douglas Dodge became the Santa Barbara District ranger in Los Padres National Forest in August, after five years as the Harlowton District ranger of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana. He previously worked 22 years for the Bureau of Land Management, holding the positions of archaeologist, assistant field manager and outdoor recreation planner. • Steven Holmes and Sherri Reese ’80 have been married since 2005. Holmes is a math and computers teacher at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, and he recently published the workbooks Learn Algebra Through Graphing Vol. 1 & 2 (Lulu Press). Reese is a critical care epidemiologist in the epidemiology and infection prevention department at the UC Davis Medical Center.

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