Varnums demonstrate heartfelt dedication

Jeanette and Jennison Varnum are Los Angeles "angels."

Jeanette Gustafson Varnum, '36, and her husband Jennison Varnum were featured in the Los Angeles Times' "Personal Best" column in January after they were named Angels of the Year by a group of charitable organizations in L.A.'s East Valley area. The Varnums have worked as volunteers for 22 years at the Burbank Temporary Aid Center. "Jeanette and Jennison have a genuine heart to give to the less fortunate," Sherry Combs, former executive director of the aid center, was quoted as saying. The two have been such stalwart volunteers that part of the center is named the Varnum Clothing House in their honor.

Jeanette's brother, J. Henry Gustafson, '40, of Las Cruces, shared a copy of the Times article with Panorama. It starts out this way: "Jeanette Varnum's big heart has been known to get her into trouble on occasion."

The article explains, for example, that a colleague at the center once brought a change of clothes and shoes for a post-work meeting "and Varnum accidentally gave the fancy footwear away to a needy patron."

Backpacks are packed with projects

Martinez

When second-grade teacher Lynn Rivera Martinez, '91, '97, designed a Backpack Reading Program for students, she didn't know she'd be packing her own bags for a trip to Japan. Martinez was chosen for the Fulbright Memorial Fund's teacher program June 13-July 3. The program exposes U.S. teachers to Japan's culture and educational system. In the spring, she won the Excellence in Education award for elementary teachers from the New Mexico Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Martinez teaches at Cimarron Elementary School in Cimarron, N.M. In the last three years she received $5,300 in grants to develop new teaching methods. "We're a remote town of 900," she says. "If you want things to happen in the school, you have to go out and get them."

Martinez came up with the idea of filling backpacks with educational materials. Kids in grades K-2 can take the backpacks home. One backpack, for example, contains books about bees along with a tape recorder, tapes and instructions for making bees out of pipe cleaners and sopapillas to eat with honey. Other backpacks contain materials about sign language, the seasons, our planet, poetry, the rain forest and reptiles. After her trip, Martinez plans to fill a backpack with items from Japan.

Rita A. Popp, '93

Whodunit author

Aileen Schumacher, '71, '77, is pictured at the NMSU Bookstore with her latest mystery, Framework for Death. The whodunit follows Schumacher's first novel, Engineered for Murder. Both books feature Las Cruces engineer Tory Travers and El Paso detective David Alvarez. Publisher's Weekly says in Framework for Death "...the twosome, romantic sparks flying, work through conflict with drug dealers, media figures and other powers-that-be to a surprise conclusion." Schumacher, who earned a master's degree in civil engineering, has an engineering consulting firm with her husband in Gainesville, Fla. Her mysteries, produced by

Photo by Michael Kiernan

Write Way Publishing, can be ordered through the NMSU Bookstore at (505) 646-1427. Engineered for Murder is available in paperback for $5.95, and Framework for Death is sold in hardcover for $23.95.

Aggies provide horsepower

Hey, hey, where's the hay? The hay is at Reins for Life, a therapeutic horseback riding program that aids handicapped people, and the hay is coming from Pug Thigpen, '63, car dealer, farm owner and very generous man. Thigpen also has donated a car to help with the program's transportation needs. He replaces the car with a new one every year.

Reins for Life is directed by Terry Bogle and her husband, Don Bogle, '77, in Dexter, N.M. The nonprofit organization relies on the generous donations of people like Pug, Terry said. Therapeutic horseback riding helps people learn multiple tasks and offers relaxation, focus and independence. "We have approximately 80 children and 20 adults every week," Terry said.

Thigpen gives all the credit to the Bogles. "Terry and Don are the heroes to me. They work with kids and adults and do more good than anything I've ever seen."

Thigpen, who has a daughter with multiple sclerosis, hopes his willingness to give will encourage others.

Kim Krogh

Alumna catches piece of history

By Barb Reichert, '85

For a brief moment, I felt Sammy Sosa's magic. Camped out in the far corner of the right field bleachers I could see Sammy's every move. What I didn't expect was to be caught up in that magic, but Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1998, I found myself in the center of it. I was the one who caught No. 56, the home run ball that tied Hack Wilson's National League record. Something happens when you catch a Sammy Sosa home run. A tingle, a numbness, a sensation of lost time. Next thing you know, I'm in the bowels of Wrigley Field explaining to a Cubs security guard that I really wanted to give the ball to Sammy - no strings attached. Then I'm back up top, besieged by media - New York Times, CNN, ABC, WGN, CLTV and yes, even People magazine.

The wish of Barb Reichert, right, is granted at Wrigley.

When I got back to my seat, there were reporters waiting. I told them my humble story, shook hands, signed autographs and passed the famous ball to anyone with an honest face.

As the ninth inning opened, I met with security people, who then ushered me to a roped-off area where I would meet Sammy.

People passed and some recognized my face and more notably the sign I held throughout the game. It stated simply "Sammy, hit us #56 and we'll give it back FREE!"

Finally, after all the fans had left, I was face to face with Sammy Sosa.

"Congratulations, Sammy," I said as I approached him and his entourage. "I'm the one who caught your home run."

I handed him the ball. He began to sign it. "No," I said as I touched his arm. "It's for you. You keep it."

He smiled, autographed it and said "You give it to me, I give it to you." And now the magic rests in my hands.

Barb Reichert, a Chicago Tribune copy editor, played softball for the Roadrunners from 1981-85. She caught Sosa's historic ball with the same glove she used as an NMSU All-Conference 3rd baseman. Although she has been offered as much as $10,000 for the ball, it remains in her possession. (Story used with permission of Chicago Tribune.)