Gemma Cabardo Anderson

9-26-07 I’ve heard it all my life, but never sensed the gravity of it until last Saturday night when I engaged in a furious one-on-one B-ball with my 10-year old son. It really happens like they say: Your mind is stealing, rebounding, and shooting the ball, but your body goes in this horrid slow motion—like in nightmares when you are trying to outrun the half-duck-half-man creature—you are running with all your might, but you are going SO S-L-O-W! I limped off the court gasping for air and thought “Aahhh! The joy of getting older-- isn’t it great!

I graduated from AU in ’88 with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. In the same year, I married Landon Anderson. We settled in the Chicago-land area, where I worked at Hinsdale Hospital for 10 years. In 1997, I traded my nurse’s cap for a full-time job as a home schooling mom. It is the most humbling, yet gratifying job ever. I spend a lot of time on my knees (asking for patience, forgiveness, and mercy) and countless hours at ball games, music lessons, rehearsals, co-op classes and grading papers. At present, I still homeschool my 17-year-old daughter Elyssa and 10-year old son Evan, but I also work full-time as a Triage Nurse for a company called Hospice On Call. When I can, I volunteer for my home church, the Northern IL Conference Women’s Ministries, and the Eunice Wavomba Foundation (I wanna be like Eunice when I grow up). I sing in a ladies group and also do some free-lance writing for the adult and children magazine markets. We’re presently looking everywhere for a country home to get away from the rat-race of Chicago, so moving in with Susan and Eric O. in their 400 acres sounds great right about now.

Landon graduated in 1986 from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York with a BA degree in Printing Management. He has spent almost 30 years in the print and film industry. However, he has spent the last 5 years growing his own custom-home construction company. He is busy in church and music ministry, but spends a lot of time putting us in stitches with his great sense of humor and soothing us with his smooth mellow singing voice.

Elyssa Nalani is a senior in high-school taking college level classes so by the time she graduates HS she will be half-way through her college years. She is an aspiring author, musician, and speaker and will be preaching her first sermon for the main worship service for church in October. She is a delight and a real sweetheart.


Evan Zachary is in fifth grade and loves to tell me the stats of all these new basketball players I don’t care anything about (after Michael Jordan, who is there to watch?) He actually is pretty good in most sports—especially basketball, and his fingers do a pretty good job on the piano keys. He plays the keyboard and percussion for a youth band. He is so cool and I truly enjoy his company.

Reunions are special. In July of '06, we had a "20-Something Reunion" (a group that was started after the deaths of Randy Bauer, John Tingzon and Randy Schultz) in Hinsdale, IL honoring our sponsors Dave and Marilyn Bauer, Roland and Priscilla Lonser and Judy and (BJ) Christiansen for their love and support for us when we were in our 20's. In the same weekend, we had very successful musical concert fund-raiser for the Eunice Wavomba Foundation. Many people came from all over the country to celebrate a spirit-filled community event. People were touched and blessed.


One of best things we did this year was to travel and visit with some of our dearest friends: Elvin and Alana Gonzalez (AU Alumni) and Sue and Mark-Erik DiBiase (AA ’82). We met up in Banff in Alberta, Canada and then traveled to Idaho where the DiBiases live. It was wonderful to reunite and watch our children play together. (Picture of Lake Louise is courtesy of Mark-Erik-- photographer extraordinaire)

Some of us may not be looking forward to this Class of ’83 Reunion. I, for one, am not too proud of everything I did or pleased with everything while at AA. One verse that helps me is Ps 25: 6.7—“Overlook my youthful sins, Oh Lord! Look at me through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness.” Also, these past 25 years may not have been always good to us, and we may be hesitant to share our experiences. We’ve all had some bad years, I’m sure. But reunions can be a time of second changes; a time to laugh and remember; a time to forgive and forget; a time to encourage and edify. So, buy that plane ticket or gas up the car, and join a kinder and wiser circle of folks with forgetfulness, gray hairs, wider middles and aching joints. Relish in the blessing of many-years-received. Let’s spend some time together and in the end I hope we all can say, “Ahhh! The joy of getting older--isn’t it great!”

Erik & Susan (Crawford) Oosterwal

9-24-07 It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since we graduated from AA. Erik and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in July. We settled in Sister Lakes (20 miles east of BS). I have always had a love for old houses and Erik renovated a 1800s farm house on one of my family's farms. Our own "Money Pit". It has been a great place to raise our sons, Erik-Philip and Matthew. Two hundred acres of woods and fields. Plenty of room for boys to go dirt biking, snowmobiling, horseback riding, fishing and hunting.

Erik graduated from AU with a BS in Computer Science and is working on his masters. He has worked at Whirlpool Corporation for 20 years. He is active in the company's diversity program and is currently working on a project with the Indian Division. For the last several years he has had a weekend band called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Our sons lovingly refer to it as the old man band. We have great fun going to the local festivals.

I have a BSN from Ferris State University and an am also working on my master's--GO BULLDOGS! I spent three years working on the med-surg floor and also worked at Whirlpool in the corporate nursing department. I eventually settled into public health where I have worked for fourteen years. I supervise the HIV program for Van Buren/Cass District Health Department. I spend too much time writing grant proposals and driving to Lansing. The good news is that I just received my award letters and all my projects are fully funded for the next fiscal year. Anyone who works in public health knows what a miracle that is. My pet project is the local SART Program (Sexual Assault Response Team) operated by forensic nurses. We collect rape kits, provide counseling, and occasionally testify in court. During my free time I volunteer at the Domestic Violence Coalition for St Joseph, VanBuren and Cass Counties. For stress relief I enjoy long walks and am the #1 groupie for WYSIWYG.

When the boys were five and eight we spent a month traveling in Europe. Erik has family in Holland and Germany. His brother Dantar was working in Paris at that time. Now that the kids have a vote our family trips involve bikes, tents and very tall hills. I guess the cruises and cathedrals will have to wait. Some of our favorite destinations have been Yellowstone, the Tetons, Daytona Speedway and countless ball parks and arenas. Erik went with friends to Woodstock '94. I went with Erik to Woodstock '99.

Our sons are our joy. We are very proud of them. Matthew is a sophmore at AA. He enjoys motor sports and hunting. He also plays the guitar. Last summer his favorite past time was working on his 4x4 and taking it to Silver Lake, Michigan.



Erik-Philip is also a graduate from AA, Class of '07. He is a freshman at AU majoring in business. He enjoys anything sports related and is a distance runner. In the Spring he was honored with the Accumen Award on his class night. Congratulations Erik-Philip! Erik and I have been very blessed.

Ruth (Ferguson) Tillman

9-23-07 What a fun thing to have up! I can’t believe we are doing things like celebrating our 40th birthdays, can you?
I left Berrien Springs 7 years ago. Terry and I have our one and only daughter. She is our pride and joy! It seems I have had many jobs over the years. Cosmetology is my first love, after that I got my degree in Graphic Arts from AU. I worked as a CSR for Lithotech at AU for several years.

Raising our daughter has had to be the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken and also the most rewarding.

Since moving to Knoxville Tennessee I have had numerous little jobs so that I could stay at home with Kaitlyn. I home schooled her until 3rd grade. She is now in the 6th grade. Kaitlyn is our artist. She loves drawing, painting and especially beading, and no she is not a big fan of school. She loves to sing, play the piano, and ride horses. Currently I am working as the teacher’s assistant in our school’s K-2 room. This is my second year doing this and I love it! This year I will get to brush up on my Graphic Arts degree by helping with the school’s yearbook. (I didn’t realize that when you volunteered to help out, that meant you would be doing the whole thing ☺)

My husband, Terry, is a Senior Field Technician for Shaw Environmental, Inc. They install and service environmental monitoring equipment for various industries. He also works on weather monitoring towers. Here he is at work. Can you see him at the top waving?

One of the most exciting things I have done would be visiting Russia a couple of years ago. This was my first time traveling over seas and it was the trip of a lifetime. My cousin set up a dental clinic at Zaoksky Adventist University about 14 years ago. He goes over twice a year to do dental work for the students and he asked me to come help him. We spent about 2 ½ -3 weeks in Russia working in the clinic and then took some touring time.

In Russia we went to St. Petersburg and Moscow. From there we went on to England staying at Newbold with a friend while visiting the surrounding area of London and Bath. It was so amazing! Other than one minor little time when we got mugged in St. Petersburg, the trip was perfect! Take my word for it; you do not want to see the inside of a Russian
(Me in Russia) police station. It’s pretty scary! I loved the people, the country, the food, and the music, just everything. So as you can tell that has been a highlight for me for good while. I was absolutely amazed at so much and I can’t wait until I can go again. One of my favorite past-times is photography. I love taking pictures!

And there are many beautiful pictures to be taken here in Tennessee. We love being so close to the Smokey Mountains. Camping, jet skiing, boating and swimming as well as enjoying mini-biking or motorcycling are some of our favorites. I am hoping to get to our 25th and see you all. I can’t believe it has been 25 years! And Ernie, how can you think of another 25 years? I’m still trying to figure out where the last 25 went?

For more, check out Ruth's blog at: http://tillmanfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/

Michael Constantine

9-19-07: Class of 1983 now is the time to finalize your plans to attend our 25th class reunion this October, now just a month away! Do you remember all the good times….backpack trips….educational tours…bible camps….class trip…come relive your memories and the people you made them with!

Now a little bit about me and my family…

I currently reside in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where I have lived most of my life, with my wife Myrna (AA ’85) and my two children, Jessica 15 and Jonathan 11 and a third member of the family our 4 year old English Springer Spaniel Spencer.

I continue to grow my financial planning practice as a registered representative and personal financial advisor franchised with Ameriprise Financial, Inc since joining the predecessor company American Express Financial Advisors in 1994. In May I purchased a building in downtown Saint Joseph (my new office address will be 1100 Main Street). With the new addition and renovations finally near completion I am looking forward to relocating my office to the new location at the end of this month.

Myrna enjoyed a 10 year career with Whirlpool and Kitchen Aid but has recently chosen to trade in her professional career become a full time stay at home mother. Jessica attended Bella Vista Adventist Academy in Puerto Rico for her freshman year last year and is a sophomore at Andrews Academy. Jonathan is in 6th grade at the Village SDA School. A recent highlight in his life was being part of the Andrews University Gymnic Team as a 10 year old.

Over the years we have enjoyed many family activities one in particular has been travel. Some of our favorite trips and fondest memories have been with some of you and your families.

Last summer we spent 10 days in Italy with Hector & Carol Mastrapa and their two girls, Chelsea and Emily. Our trip was filled with lifelong memories that included being robbed the last day of our trip. Both families lost everything including some personal family possessions that were irreplaceable.

This spring break, we went to Cozumel, Mexico. I was able to get certified to dive by Dan Bacchiocchi (’85) who is now a dive master. I enjoyed my first dives with Kevin, Arlyn and Alyson (eldest daughter) Drew.

In June we traveled to Alaska for 10 days. We enjoyed a glacier cruise in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska, Denali National Park and chartering a plane that treated us to incredible views of Mt. McKinley’s summit. We also enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Kenai Peninsula, and the incredible wild life and scenery.

Welcome Class of '83!

9-18-07 Thanks to our President Michael's idea, I've created this simple blog so that we can share and catch up in cyberspace before we hopefully will all meet in person in Oct.

Since I created this blog, I figured I should put something in it to kick it off, so here's my entry!

Since leaving BS, MI in '89 to come out to Loma Linda, CA for grad school and a wife, I've been here ever since. Graduated with my MPH and DrPH in Preventive Care in '93, and have worked at Beaver Medical Group as a combo nutritionist/exercise physiologist/behavior counselor helping patients overcome lifestyle-related diseases for the last 14 years. (For more info, checkout our Team Medina blog at http://emedinajr.blogspot.com/).

Last year, I helped co-found a family fitness and wellness center utilizing "exergames" called XRtainment Zone. We are now preparing for global expansion, using the "enemy"--videogames, to get kids moving again. (For more pixs and info, check out http://xrtainmentzone.blogspot.com/).

My wife Keri, teaches part-time at the LLU School of Nursing and we homeschool a daughter, Summer, who is 10 years old. (Summer's a budding photographer and you can check out life from her perspective with her own shots--edited by herself, too, on iPhoto--at http://summyspics.blogspot.com/. For those of you who swim, check out her swim team at: http://redlandsswimteam.blogspot.com/)

I look forward to posting more of our classmates here in this blog! Go '83 and hope to see all of you at our 25th next month!

(Re: the picture above...In case you don't remember what I look like, I'm the guy on the left doing the "I luv you" sign with my hands. Taken by Summer at our last Adventurer camping trip to Santa Barbara.)