Class Notes—Spring 2014
Notables:
Carroll (Mont.) College named Siena Heights Athletic Hall-of-Famer Doug Mello ’86/MA the school’s first men’s soccer head coach in March 2014. Mello has coached a national collegiate record 1,154 soccer matches (men’s and women’s combined) and has won over 700 games (712-384-58 overall). Mello helped start both the men’s and women’s programs at Siena Heights as well as at Luther (Iowa) College. In his six years as the Saints’ men’s coach, Mello led Siena Heights to five district titles, one regional championship and their first appear- ance at the NAIA national championship tournament in 1985. After starting the women’s program in 1986, Mello’s team won three district titles and were nationally ranked from 1986-88. In his final season in 1988, the women’s team was ranked first in the country and made its first appearance at the NAIA national tournament, where they placed third.
Former Michigan Lt. Gov. Connie Berube Binsfeld ’45, the first woman to hold leadership posts in Michigan’s House, Senate and executive branch, passed away Jan. 12, 2014. She was 89. Binsfeld was a 1945 Siena Heights graduate who got her start in politics by serving in student government during the war years of 1941-45. According to an Associated Press article, Binsfeld championed chil-dren’s issues during her time in politics, serving in the state House and Senate before becoming a two-term lieutenant governor under John Engler from 1990-98. According to the AP, the former schoolteacher was first elected to the House in 1974 and won a Senate seat in 1982. During her time in politics she led the fight to ban surrogate pregnancy for pay, sponsored bills on domestic violence and protection of environmentally sensitive sand dunes and served 10 years on the Great Lakes Commission, according to the AP. She wrote in the 1945 Siena Heights yearbook, “The Valiant Woman,” that, “We face a chaotic world that has wandered far from standards of Christianity, a world where modern sophistication has supplanted virtuous life. The motive of hate has replaced the driving force of love and a greed for power has caused individual and national strife. Man in the shadow of confusion is groping blindly for security. The security he seeks unknowingly is the priceless gift that we possess. We rise to the challenge that is offered and face the future unafraid. We shall go forth with the torch of truth lifted high.”
From The Sites:
SHU—Benton Harbor
2010
Felix Clarke is currently employed as a mechanical planner with Constellation Energy Nuclear Group. He and his wife, Tamara, and their three children live in Great Mills, Md.
SHU—Monroe
2013
Jeff Evans was promoted from fire marshal to fire chief at the Trenton (Mich.) Fire Department in Novem-ber 2013. Evans has worked as a firefighter more than 20 years at the Trenton and Riverview (Mich.) fire departments, and is certified in fire inspection and investigation. He also is a state certified paramedic.
