{"id":635,"date":"2013-09-03T14:59:21","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T14:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamp1.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/?p=635"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:22:16","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:22:16","slug":"alumni-profiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/2013\/09\/03\/alumni-profiles\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Profiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alumna remembers Missouri Western <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Charlene \u201cChuck\u201d (Riemen) Bunten \u201952 said she had a great college experience at the St. Joseph Junior College but never really thought too much about it after she went on to earn her bachelor\u2019s degree from Baker University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stayed at an arm\u2019s length from Missouri Western and I shouldn\u2019t have,\u201d Bunten said recently. When she saw in 2007 that her high school classmate, Wes Remington, had donated $5 million to the University, \u201cit occurred to me that it was time to give a little. I suddenly realized what an important part the junior college played in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next year, she and her husband, Bill, became members of the Missouri Western League for Excellence donor society, and this year, they joined the Clock Tower Society, an honorary society of donors who have made the Missouri Western Foundation a beneficiary of their estate and financial planning. \u201cI need to thank Missouri Western, and I hope that\u2019s what I have done by helping students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The week before she graduated from Baker University, she got married and moved to Topeka, Kan., where her husband was in law school. She and Bill, who still live in Topeka, raised three daughters, which meant a lot of volunteering in schools, Girl Scouts, for their church, and for her sorority\u2019s alumni group.<\/p>\n

Bunten said she was very excited to see an article in the Missouri Western Magazine a few years back about Dr. Frances Flanagan \u201935, who taught at the junior college and Missouri Western and wrote the institution\u2019s history through 1983. Dr. Flanagan had been Bunten\u2019s first-grade teacher, and she was thrilled to reconnect with her. She and her husband visited Dr. Flanagan the last time they were in St. Joseph.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely amazed by her, and was so glad to have had her as a teacher,\u201d Bunten said. \u201cI just remember her as a big bundle of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bunten said she was pleased to reconnect with her alma mater, and hopes to visit campus next time she is in St. Joseph. \u201cJunior college was a special place. I really enjoyed my time there.\u201d<\/p>\n

JC chemistry leads to romance<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the first day of classes at the St. Joseph Junior College in the fall of 1968, Allen Iske \u201972, and Mary Margaret Trapp \u201972, showed up at the same time for their first class of the day and took the two open seats next to each other in the front row. The class was chemistry, and yes, there was.<\/p>\n

The two started dating during their sophomore year and have been together ever since. They were married in 1973 and have four children.<\/p>\n

Both from St. Joseph and on full scholarships at the junior college, Allen planned to major in chemistry from the start of his college career. Mary Margaret started out as an elementary education major, but switched to chemistry by the second semester.<\/p>\n

And guess who picked each other for lab partners in subsequent chemistry classes? \u201cYou \u00a0needed a good, reliable lab partner,\u201d Mary Margaret said. \u201cAllen was very exacting, and I was, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

After one year at the downtown campus, Allen remembers helping the chemistry department move lab equipment and building shelves in what was then called the Agenstein Science and Math Building on the new campus. Both he and Mary Margaret were happy that they could now earn a four-year degree in St. Joseph, and they were part of the second graduating class from the four-year Missouri Western College.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we came from a very small college, we were readily accepted at top graduate schools,\u201d Allen said. \u201cGraduates coming out of Missouri Western could do what they wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Margaret taught physical science one year in the Kansas City area before they were married and she moved to Lincoln, Neb., where Allen was working on his graduate degree. She worked as a chemistry research librarian in the university library until their first child was born.<\/p>\n

Some of their best memories of Missouri Western, Allen and Mary Margaret say, were socializing with their friends in the student union (then a trailer) and the great teachers, both in the chemistry department and other academic areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think back, I realize how much I owe those people for the great education,\u201d Mary Margaret said.<\/p>\n

Allen said the small class sizes led to a lot of personal interaction with the professors, and their classmates have become long-time friends. \u201cWe were all motivated and good workers. We took it seriously, but we had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen enjoyed a career in research, industrial hygiene and pharmaceuticals. He spent almost 22 years working for MoBay and Bayer in the Kansas City area. He joined the faculty at the University of Central Missouri in 2005, and today teaches graduate courses in safety science, toxicology and industrial hygiene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud of my career, and I think I represent Missouri Western well. I never pass up an opportunity to praise it,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n

Faithful, proud and true \u2013 Leo and Mary Ann Schmitz
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether it is a play, dinner or special event at Missouri Western, you can be sure that Leo \u201948 and Mary Ann (Wertin) \u201968 & \u201970 Schmitz will be there to support it. They began their relationship with Missouri Western as students at the St. Joseph Junior College, and they have been loyal supporters ever since.
\nLeo enrolled in 1946 and remembers the hallways filled with veterans returning home from World War II and going to college on the GI Bill. After graduating from the junior college, he went on to earn a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree in mathematics education and returned to the area to teach high school students. He was on leave from the school district working on his doctoratal degree in 1965 when Evan Agenstein called to offer him a position at the junior college.
\n\u201cI liked working with some of the teachers who had taught me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a nice group and a wonderful way to make a living.\u201d
\nMary Ann graduated from high school in 1953, attended Gard Business College for a year and started working at various offices in the community. When the Swift plant closed and she was laid off, her parents told her it was a good time to go to college. \u201cIt was a wonderful experience; people didn\u2019t know what they were missing,\u201d Mary Ann said.
\nShe met Leo when he was teaching her calculus class at the junior college. \u201cSomeone else was supposed to teach it, but they hired Leo over the summer, so that\u2019s who I got. And I stuck with him,\u201d Mary Ann said with a smile. They were married in 1972.<\/p>\n

Mary Ann earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Missouri Western and taught at area high schools until 1982. Leo taught at the junior college and at Missouri Western until 1995, and continued teaching part time until 2000.
\nLeo and Mary Ann had two daughters. Mary Beth \u201999, is a pharmacist in the Kansas City area. Anne Marie passed away in an automobile accident in 1999 while she was a student at Missouri Western, and Leo and Mary Ann created an endowed scholarship in her memory.<\/p>\n

Both Leo and Mary Ann say they have enjoyed watching the University grow and change over the years and are pleased to support it. They are also members of the Missouri Western League for Excellence.
\n\u201cMissouri Western is extremely valuable to this city,\u201d Leo said. \u00a0\u201cIt benefits St. Joseph in so many ways.\u201d
\n\u201cAlong with the Pony Express, Missouri Western put us on the map,\u201d added Mary Ann.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alumna remembers Missouri Western \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Charlene \u201cChuck\u201d (Riemen) Bunten \u201952 said she had a great college experience at the St. Joseph Junior College but never really thought too much about it after she went on to earn her bachelor\u2019s degree from Baker University. \u201cI stayed at an arm\u2019s length from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4162,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/4162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}