When Lynnie's Happy, I'm Happy...

 

Ice Cold

Thursday February 3, 2022 was a stay-at-home day in Saint Louis. It was seven degrees outside our Creve Coeur apartment. I was expected to teach special education classes remotely. Lynn cleared with her employers at Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and Colleen’s Cookies. The weather, staffing issues and Covid-19 would mean no work on this icy Thursday. Ice was everywhere and blanketed by snow. Plows only made parking lots and streets marginally passible. It didn’t surprise me that Lynn didn’t get out of bed. Even as I peaked into our room she seemed to be getting much needed rest. I checked more carefully by mid-afternoon. I touched her leg. She was ice cold. The shadow over her face was a purple hue. The 9-1-1 voice instructed me to get her to lie flat and do chest compressions until the response team from Police and EMT could arrive.

I went through the first three stages of grief in about sixty seconds. “This cannot be happening” (Denial). “Come on Lynn, you gotta get up” (Anger). “Please God, give us a miracle recovery…” (Bargaining).

“I’m sorry for your loss.” What? “She’s gone.” The horrible news is delivered. I am stunned. Now they want to know if there is anyone they can call for me. They want to know if I needed a priest or a rabbi or clergy. Shaare Emeth is just down the street on Ballas. The Canter Seth Warner was in the neighborhood and arrived quickly. I was pacing and in a fog. Canter Warner says, “I’m here to support you and I am not leaving until you SIT DOWN.” It was some minutes before I could sit down. Lynn’s cell phone rings and it is my wonderful mother-in-law. (Lynn had been preparing biscotti and treats for her mom’s 91^st birthday in 11 days - Saint Valentine’s Day Feb 14). I picked up the phone and knew I had to break this news to her. She was the first person in our family network to know. Toby was moved to tears but her strong character prevailed. She immediately offered a final resting place at Temple Beth Miriam Cemetery next to Lynn's beloved father Dr. Samuel Stevens.

Bopp Funeral Chapel was called to handle the body in Saint Louis and arrange to fly my wife to New Jersey. Toby was on the case for funeral service arrangements at Bloomfield-Cooper Chapel. Meanwhile Canter Seth Warner invited me to a youth service at Shaare Emeth on Friday Night in Saint Louis. Lynn Morgan was honored with mentions at the beginning and end of the service. Our kids (Lindsey and Ben) were able to use Zoom to view the service.  I was there live. Shabat Shalom.

Fire + Ice

Some say the world will end in fire

Some say in ice

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire

But if it had to perish twice

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice is also great

and would suffice.

Upon hearing of Lynn’s passing my brother and his wife drove from Cleveland to St. Louis (about 650 miles) to be with me on Saturday night. Dan and Annette arrived after 7:00 pm at which time we settled by the comfort of the fireplace at the Cheshire Inn lobby. It was here in the cozy old English tutor surroundings that we appreciated the warmth of the fireplace. Dan and Netti and I agreed stay on that setting and ordered food from the hotel restaurant. We had our picture taken with a cell phone in front of three Andy Warhol silk screen portraits of Queen Elizabeth. She has been Queen since 1952 – 70 years. I noted later that it was 1952 when the Queen of our family Toby (a.k.a.TR and Toto) married Dr. Samuel Stevens.

Dan and Netti invited me to join them on Sunday at the Cathedral Basilica for mass at 10:00 a.m. This was a mass celebrating the consecrated life with the Archbishop of Saint Louis Mitchell T Rozanski.

After mass, I tricked Dan and Netti into following my car to breakfast at Art Hill and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Here the snow and ice was perfect for sledding Saint Louisans.

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost. 

Lynn with her mother (the matriarch, Toby Stevens) and her sisters Debra and Randy in November 2021

Lambert Airport to Newark Liberty International

The Intrepid, The Met and The Great Lawn in Central Park with Ben

I got the VIP treatment. Flight arrangements on United Express with and a Group A boarding pass. I had a window seat number 3 on the plane this Wednesday morning, February 9, 2022. My son Ben confirmed that I would be at Gate A Baggage Claim. Ben suggests that a quick trip to New York City and a museum might be do-able. I loved that idea. We settle on The Met as our destination. Traveling in his BMW comfortably, in spite of traffic, it is a thrill to see Skyscraper National Park again and pass midtown to the upper west side and the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum on the pier and make our way past his old neighborhood on Amsterdam Avenue. He artfully pulls into a parking garage on 83^rd Street and we walk enthusiastically a couple of short blocks to the Met, climb the steps to the doors that clearly spell out that the museum is closed on Wednesday. No worries, we admire a sculpture, Unidentified Object 1979, by Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) one of the twentieth century’s most important and critically acclaimed sculptors. We walked to the Great Lawn in Central Park where I was able to confirm Ben and Allison (and James) address to Sayed’s wife. Sayed, the owner of the Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and one of Lynn’s employers wanted to send flowers. “She was one of the restaurant’s best employees” his wife offered. That little side trip was such a joy.

The VIP treatment continued at 28 Dorset, Ocean, NJ compound and Ben and Allison opened their house to cousins, kids, and soon a contingent of Morgans (My brother Greg and his boys, Wes and Matt and my youngest brother Rob). James came home from school to a variety of play and eventually dinner that included Ben’s special Mac and Cheese. My daughter Lindsey, her husband Chris and their remarkable 5 ½ year old Lawton would be my ride to dinner at the Deal Lake Bar + Co. The Morgan posse joined us so that we could monopolize the table. Uncle Greg was quick to pick up the check that included three orders of Deep Fried Oreos. A rented SUV with Five Morgans driven by Uber Greg was my shuttle back to 28 Dorset before they headed back to their hotel.

The moveable-feast continued on Thursday as more family descended on the compound at 28 Dorset in anticipation of services at Bloomfield-Cooper Chapel and Internment beginning at 11 a.m. the next day, Friday February 11, 2022.

"

Note: "When Lynnie's Happy I'm Happy. When Lynnie's Mad...I'm Scared." is a quote from David P. Drimer when he shared a rented house with Lynn Stevens and Rickie Rose in Miami. I loved that quote and the memory of a time before we were married. Married in 1980, we shared a lot. I know I was happy most of the time during our marriage which was going on 42 years. Now. she is buried next to her father in Neptune, NJ, Dr. Samuel Stevens who died in August of 1993. (She lit a yahrzeit candle in his memory every August since). 

I cannot say enough about the overwhelming love and support I feel from our kids (Lindsey and Ben) and their respective spouses and, of course, the generation of Lawton and James)

Perrenial AMA

 

The Saint Louis Chapter of the American Marketing Association agreed to celebrate our shared committment to the study and practice of Marketing at Perrennial on Lockwood in Webster Groves this year. This was a small but mighty collection of individuals.  

Brandon Towl is a principal at Words Have Impact (WHI) and he enjoys the challenge of taking technical topics and making them more interesting. Brandon has a PhD in Neuroscience and a Washington University professor. He finds himself enjoying appetizers with American Marketing Association Chapter President Nick Niehaus and Webster University Marketing professor Eric Rhiney and Ben Muehleisen from AMA Board. The dialog ranging from course evaluations, 360 assessment of educators, and the unique challenges of engaging students from China (in person or via Zoom). Jim Varney is a lifelong resident of Webster Groves and printing expert who reflects on a career of marketing communications with Dave Cox of Sandbox Creative over appetizers and a craft brew at my table. Mark Denk describes his career evolution from ad-man to Insurance broker with New York Life.                              
Our group is treated to the eclectic sounds of the three member Benbow City Shuffle of which our AMA chapter treasurer, Dave Shogren, is a member. He and band mates Rich and Al treated us to music selections from seasonal to classic holiday tunes. Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Thelonius Monk and more. Dave is on base and his wife Linda looks on as treasurer Dave provides vocals to Deep Ellum Blues.

If you go down to Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoes
The women in Deep Ellem, they give you the Deep Ellum blues
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Ellum blues

The gathering was a pleasant holiday social event and a perfect way to consider the coming new year 2022 as I reflected on my own perrenial membership in this association for more than 25 years.

Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) - American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire. A quote from Monk was posted on my door when I was an account manager at an advertising firm in Raleigh, NC. "The only cats worth anything are the cats who take chances."  

Bless Us Oh Lord and These Thy Gifts

Dave and Joyce were kind enough to have me as a guest in their home for Thanksgiving this year. (Lynn can’t resist a chance to take some time to visit her family in New Jersey and I’m fine with staying put in Saint Louis.) It is a rare pleasure to see the Cox girls (Sammy, Dannie and Nicole) together. Dave often brags on his daughters chronologically with Samantha working as event marketing specialist based in Ann Arbor, MI; Dannie prospering in digital marketing in Saint Louis; Nicole as a budding broadcast producer at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Clearly, they are on their way in the world with business acumen and finesse inherited from the founder of Sandbox Creative. Dave never misses an opportunity to boast about his girls. (He always does it in a diplomatic way that spreads kudos evenly). He recognizes the effort each invests into their endeavors.

One only needs to examine the three pre-stretched canvases hanging adjacent to the family television viewing area to note they are different individuals. They indulged their father who asked that each create a painting with decorator palette sure to complement the room. Nicole signs with a boldness in gold that is the mark of a confident Drake University freshman. Dannie goes for a geometric abstraction and Sammy’s composition features three circular elements that suggest unlimited possibilities in the universe.

Dave’s mom and mother-in-law (Marilyn) are delightful people to talk to. Uncle Mike (Dave’s brother) and Aunt Heather arrive with crock pot of mashed potatoes. (I showed up with two cans of Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce.) Already the young generation includes cellular technology exchanges with Robbie Cox (an animator/artist) in LA; A quick portrait of the sisters three (with Danny’s boyfriend Adam photobombing in the background); and Mike and Heather’s daughter and Robbie's sister, Emilee marveling at her “cuteness” (while her boyfriend Jared patiently endures before they split to be a part of friends' wedding planning prior to a weekend ceremony).

Well I know Dave and Joyce are Thankful. I am too. Bless us Oh Lord and these Thy Gifts…   

College Students Thinking about Marketing

 

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Marketing Study and Marketing Students 2021

I am honored to have an opportunity to speak to marketing students at the University of Missouri Saint Louis (UMSL) and Saint Louis University (SLU) this week. My ongoing affiliation with the American Marketing Association/Saint Louis Chapter (for 24+ years) and the Marketing Advisory Panel at UMSL (8+ years) and my genuine interest in the study and practice of the profession of Marketing add up to a number of recurring themes. My commitments this week are for  Wednesday November 17, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. and Anheuser-Busch Hall at UMSL College of Business Administration and Thursday night at 6:00 at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business room DSH 274.

The UMSL event is the latest edition of Speed Networking that allows a relatively small group of students an opportunity to test drive their elevator speeches and get comfortable being uncomfortable in interview situations. I expect to repeat a brushed up version of my advice to anyone looking to get started on their career quest. In the speed networking format the advice needs to be consumable, relevant and compelling.

1.      Think about how you will answer the open-ended question “So, what to you want to do?”

2.      Seek courtesy interviews with individuals and/or companies you admire.

3.      Establish your own “board” of advisors who can help guide your journey.

4.      Follow up and set yourself apart from the crowd.

The SLU event is a more formal classroom sort of presentation hosted by the school’s Marketing Club. These students are also interested in learning a bit about the benefits of membership in the American Marketing Association. They want to know how to get in to advertising or marketing as a career.  

In both cases, I hope the marketing students will rally around the notion of bonding at collegiate chapters of the AMA and be among the 300+ active chapters in the United States. In all cases, I wish the best for future marketers.

Thank You FSK from MO S&T

 

Wayne Zimmerman (wmz1942@gmail.com)To:you + 5 more Details

 

On Fri, Oct 8, 2021, 10:21 AM Wayne Zimmerman <wmz@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

I thought you might be interested in this article.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

 

----- Forwarded Message -----Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday – and Happy Homecoming Weekend to Miners everywhere!

“Elevate Missouri S&T, Establish Broad STEM Outreach, and Ensure Economic Impact.”

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the transformational gift that Fred and June Kummer bestowed on S&T. At about 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, from his kitchen table, in presence of June Kummer, Joe Lehrer and myself, and with all other members of the Kummer Institute Foundation board on Zoom, Fred called his accountants and bestowed the largest gift in the history of the state of Missouri to S&T.

To put things in perspective, consider that according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, 146 charitable gifts exceeding $100 million have been given to benefit higher education worldwide since the Chronicle began keeping record in 1967. Of those, 117 benefit a single university in the U.S. Fred and June Kummer’s gift of $300 million to S&T in 2020 is not only the largest in Missouri history, it also is the fifth-largest gift to a public university in the history of charitable gifts in the U.S. Missouri S&T is one of only 15 unique universities to receive a gift of $300 million or more. Today the monetary value of the gift is above $400 million, thanks to the generosity of many of our alumni who were inspired by Fred and June and who have contributed to our ambitious plans, which will cost significantly more than the total. We are well on our way to achieving our North Star goals of growing enrollment to 12,000, attaining Carnegie R-1 research university status and becoming a top 100 doctoral-granting university as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

I met Fred shortly after joining S&T. I met with him weekly, with June frequently joining us, and over the course of the next 14 months, we hammered out a “Kummer Plan” to build on our foundation of academic excellence to have an even greater impact on S&T and beyond. And on Oct. 9, 2020, the Kummer mandate was established: Elevate S&T, Establish Broad STEM Outreach and Ensure Economic Impact.

We have made significant progress in each of these areas over the past 12 months. Tomorrow morning, we will gather in Leach Theatre to celebrate the Kummer gift and the progress we’ve made.

About 460 freshmen on our campus this fall are Kummer Vanguard Scholars. These students benefit from scholarships and programming to help them become the tech-savvy innovators our country needs. In addition, 100 Ph.D. students (10 are already enrolled) will enroll as Kummer Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Doctoral Fellows, each of them focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in their studies. You’ll hear from some of these Vanguard Scholars and I&E Fellows during tomorrow’s event. In addition, we will have 20 endowed chairs and professors who will advance our research and technology development functions.

We are broadening STEM outreach through our new Kummer Center for STEM Education, which is creating opportunities for educators to learn more about teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics topics to elementary, middle school and high school students throughout our state.

We are elevating S&T through our new Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development, which our provost, Dr. Colin Potts, describes as “the business school for the mid-21st century.” It is much more than a business school, however, as its emphasis will be true to our enduring legacy of discovery and innovation.

Through their generosity, the Kummers inspired many others to step forward with significant donations to S&T. They include donors like Anthony Steinmeyer and Rosemary Kilker, who were inspired by the Kummer gift to contribute to our cause in the form of an endowed chair position in economics and scholarships for chemical, mechanical and aerospace engineering students; Bipin and Linda Doshi, who endowed the Doshi Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering shortly before the Kummers announced their gift; and several donors to our Arrival District, including Tim and Kay Bradley, Mike and Joyce Bytnar, Gary and Judy Havener, Jeff and Pat Sheets, Steve and Betty Suellentrop, and Tom and Carol Voss. In addition, Gary and Judy Havener donated funds to establish an endowed chair in Gary’s home department of mathematics. We are grateful to all of these generous and dedicated alumni, and to countless others who have contributed small and large amounts or have supported us in many non-monetary ways.

As many of our alumni and friends return to campus this weekend to connect with our students and re-connect with each other, I’m once again reminded of how important these connections are. Fred Kummer was a stellar example of the importance of these connections, and I’m looking forward to celebrating the impact he and June have made on our university during our first Kummer Day celebration tomorrow morning, when I will read the very first Chancellor’s Letter to Fred and June. Kummer Day will become an annual event, as will the reading of the Kummer Letter. Our first letter will be placed in our sesquicentennial time capsule to be opened in the year 2071, when many of our first cohort of Kummer Vanguard Scholars and Kummer I&E Fellows will be at hand as senior alums to speak about this first celebration event. I encourage all of you to attend this event, in person if possible or virtually. Please join us to get “the rest of the story,” as radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say.

I hope to “see” you tomorrow at the inaugural Kummer Day celebration!

Have a great homecoming weekend.

-Mo.

BTW, check out the latest, coolest headlines:

·        S&T honors distinguished alumni, faculty during Homecoming 2021

·        S&T sends two teams to ROTC Ranger Challenge

·        Dr. Nancy Stone elected fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

·        Dr. Henry Pernicka named Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116
Message archive: chancellor.mst.edu/emails
Share your thoughts: chancellor.mst.edu/emails/feedback

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
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HBE Memorial Alumni Golf 2021

October 2 is the first Saturday in October 2021. It is the traditional window of opportunity for the annual celebration that started as a way to memorialize Ted Brown a year after his passing in 2009. We gather as a random collection of former HBE employees. Anyone who has done time in the Big House on Olive Boulevard is welcome. As other colleagues passed (Jack Kennedy, Greg Beck, Ed Regelen, George Ryll, Clarence Steele, Glenn Seitz, Harolds Allen, Doug Adrian and John Paulaskis to name just a few) we began to rethink the annual event a bit. Yes, it is to be a memorial, but more importantly it is a way for alumni to gather and reflect. This year, our fearless leader, Fred S. Kummer passed away at age 92. I am certain his passing caught many by surprise since he always seemed invincible. The great man passes and he is memorialized each week in a unique celebration of HBE league golf on Thursday nights from May until the snow flies. Certainly, the Maestro is a part of conversations and reminiscences even now. (And often with smiles and laughter of recognition about circumstances and recollections.)

  

 

Alan Friedman, Paul Tchoukaleff, Jim Resnick, Jeff Boock, Jerry Ornellas, Greg Miles, Pete Conant, Mitch Miller (busy helping his son relocate in Saint Augustine, Florida for a new job at Flagler Hospital), Jerry Petry (vacation at Gulf Shores Alabama), Don Pickens, Bill Wagner, Tony Augustine Jim Moore, Suki Majesky (working at Shaeffer’s), Scott Florini (driving back from Ohio business trip), Steve Hunter, Kerry Deacon (family gathering in Chesterfield) and Bob Coleman were among those who might have shown up had the weather not seemed threatening or because of a schedule conflict.

Nevertheless several die-hard golfers enjoyed box lunches and waited for the skies to clear up and the rain to subside. Wes Morgan, Charlie Lee, George Robin, Fred Scott, Joe Voss and his brother Andy, Darryl Vandever, Dave Cox. A couple of special guests appeared as we were loitering around the clubhouse deck. Scott Menkes and Dave Gilroy (who was watching his son on the ice tending the goal). Frank Cipolla was on the phone from his place in Florida (The tradition continues).

 

Parker is Back

Parker Millsap has earned a reputation as a priritually-minded, if not outright spiritual singer/songwriter. His new album Be Here Instead includes some curiously relevant messages consistent with the past couple of years of global pandemic and self reflection. 

It's always fun to see Parker and it is always amazing to see him perform. His return to the Off Broadway stage in Saint Louis last night was no exception. You really feel the notion of be here instead (a kind of mindfulness). Now with new bandmates on keyboards and guitar and drums the sound is bigger. Some highlights for me: Parker showing his vocal range (again) with you got to be vulnerable; the band belting out the message It's in your eyes; the emphatic Other Arrangements; the power and almost psychodelic feeling of The Very Last Day; and a sweet dedication to "wife Meg" It was you.

“Stop looking ahead/be here instead/this is the prayer,” Millsap sings in the hypnotic album track “Now, Here,” a song he wrote before the pandemic. When he revisited the lyrics during pre-production for Be Here Instead, it revealed a new meaning. “Why is that jumping out at me?” Millsap says. “And then I realized, ‘Oh, quarantine!’ Be here instead — instead of going to work, instead of going on vacation, or whatever it was you’re going to do. You’re going to be here now for a while.

Violinist Dan Foulks spent a bit of pre show time with us outside the venue at the fire pit area in the cool air of the first days of Fall in our town. He admits that life on the road is a change from his more recent efforts at gentleman farmer in Tennessee. But he is also happy to revisit this part of his life and livelihood. Next stop: Louisville.

Above: Parker Millsap, Wes Morgan and Daniel Foulks in front of LEMP mural at Off Broadway in Saint Louis, MO about an hour before the band went on stage this early Fall evening.

A little bit about the historic neighborhood:

The Lemp brewery and the historic Lemp mansion (rumored to be haunted) and the cemetery grounds that reside nearby: An 1859 St. Louis Directory lists "Baptist Cemetery, Lemp avenue, between Cherokee and Utah. William J. Lemp succeeded his father as the head of the brewery and he soon built it into an industrial giant. In 1864 a new plant was erected at Cherokee Street and Carondolet Avenue. The size of the brewery grew with the demand for its product and it soon covered five city blocks. In 1870 Lemp was by far the largest brewery in St. Louis and the Lemp family symbolized the city's wealth and power. All within a few blocks of Off Broadway.

Dave and Joyce Cox - Sorry you were not able to see my set of elephant jokes and witty banter. I went on stage at midnight. (Ha)

Parker in STL:

Off Broadway September 23, 2021

Off Broadway August 15, 2019

Old Rock House September 26, 2018

The Pageant November 23, 2016

Off Broadway May 13, 2016

Old Rock House April 2, 2014