CSC to honor several alumni during homecoming

Distinguished Service Awards will be presented to the two couples who were the co-leaders of the Vision 2011 Campaign that was a major endeavor as the college was celebrating its 100^th anniversary and preparing for its second century of service. Those recipients are Randy and Lorrie Bauer of Chadron and Chad and Cheryl Emanuel of Waukee, Iowa.

Distinguished Alumni Awards also will be presented to John Jacox of Indianapolis, Dick Kettlewell of Rapid City, South Dakota, and Ronn Jeffrey of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Beginning in 2006, the Bauers and the Emanuels worked with college personnel and consultants in setting the $11 million campaign goal for Vision 2011. They were among those who were elated five years later when the contributions exceed $17 million even at a time when the economy was depressed.

The proceeds have been used to create endowments to strengthen the college’s scholarship program and to support the construction of both the Rangeland Center and Coffee Agriculture Pavilion and the Vern Chicoine Events Center that is the focal point of the renovation and expansion of the Armstrong Building. 

Randy Bauer and Chad Emanuel have numerous similarities. They grew up on farms about 25 miles apart in eastern Nebraska and came to Chadron State after the late Bill Giles, then the CSC football coach, visited their high schools. Randy attended North Bend Central and Chad went to Dodge High.

After graduating, both enrolled and played football for the Eagles. Both set school records, earned all-district honors, were inducted into the Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 and were among the 58 players selected to the Eagles’ All-Century Football Team this summer. Both also were Chadron State Foundation officers and received the college’s Distinguished Alumni Awards before they and their wives accepted the leadership responsibilities for Vision 2011. 

Both couples met at Chadron State. Lorrie (Johnson) Bauer is from Chadron and Cheryl (Ziska) Emanuel came to CSC from Atkinson. Both women raised their families, have been extremely supportive of their husband’s careers and were involved in the Vision 2011 process from start to finish.

After graduating from CSC in 1974, Randy worked at the college for nine years, the last five as director of admissions. During the past 31 years he has been a State Farm Insurance agent in Chadron. Lorrie has taught family and consumer science at Chadron High School for more than 30 years. He was president of the Eagles Booster Club for 27 years before becoming the vice president recently.

Most of the time since Chad graduated in 1978, he has supervised large construction projects. In 2011, Chad and Cheryl launched their own firm, CFE Solutions. It provides consulting services and constructs industrial and agricultural facilities throughout the Midwest. She is the office manager. While they live nine hours by automobile from Chadron, they frequently attend activities on campus. 

Jacox and Kettlewell were slated to receive Distinguished Alumni Awards at last year’s Homecoming. But a blizzard forced cancellation of the luncheon where they were to be honored and they are returning this year.

Jacox is a native of Scottsbluff who became fascinated with flight as a child and spent 33 years in the design, development, testing and fielding of engines for weapons the military has available to defend the nation. He earned his degree in math and physics from CSC in 1971 and earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University in 1974.

Jacox was involved in developing the engines for six Cruise missiles and worked with every branch of the military except the Coast Guard. He continues to work nearly full-time as a consultant for Major Tool and Machine, an Indianapolis-based firm that provides engineering, fabrication, machining, and assembly services for an array of industries. His wife, the former Karyn Foster, is an Alliance native and also graduated from CSC.

Kettlewell’s father was a Central Intelligence Agency employee. The family had moved often and was living in Germany when he enrolled at CSC sight unseen because he was engrossed with the prairies, mountains and especially the wildlife in the American West. He said Chadron soon became the hometown he previously never had. He graduated in 1974.

After spending 28 years as a photojournalist for the Albuquerque Journal and Rapid City Journal, he began devoting full-time to nature photography, mostly in the Black Hills.

Kettlewell has signed the contract to publish his fifth book featuring images he had taken while spending hundreds of hours in the outdoors. Many of his photos have been printed by major newspapers and the Smithsonian, Discovery and Natural History magazines.

Jeffrey began helping youths become productive, law-abiding citizens in his hometown of Cheyenne before graduating from CSC in 1972. Through the Youth Alternatives program he directed for 42 years prior to his retirement in May, he was entrusted with developing programs designed to correct the behavior of juveniles appearing in court and also to prevent other youths from entering the juvenile justice system.

In 2006, the mayor of Cheyenne, citing Jeffrey’s "many years of steering juveniles straight," appointed him the Juvenile Judge for the Cheyenne Municipal Court. He was the first African-American appointed to a judgeship in Wyoming and continues in that position. He has been widely recognized and asked to share his experiences and expertise many times, both statewide and nationally.

While attending Chadron State, Jeffrey was the starting center on the basketball team three years and still ranks among the Eagles’ all-time leading rebounders. He also was a member of the CSC speech team and placed first or second in oratory at every tournament he entered before sharing third place among 133 entries at the National Forensics Tournament in Houston in 1972. Jeffrey and his wife Marilyn have been married more than 35 years.