Bruce and Jackie (Kaduce)
Abbe
Julie (Betlach) Aune
Cindy (Hokanson) Chapman
Nancy (Nelson) Clark
Jane Grady
Ed Hacmac
Jane (Pofahl) Hoffmann
Kristi (Steuernagel) Sullivan
Julie (Matchan) Tripp
Steve Ullestad
Pat Wolesky
It was great for us to find out where life took our Nomenclature friends in the past 25 years. Some of you wondered what happened to the bios we turned in - here they are! Other Nomens are welcome to submit bio info. Send it to [email protected] and it will be added to this page.
Jackie (Kaduce) Abbe: I joined Nomenclature in the fall of 1974 and was part of the 1975 national tour group. I had been attending Wartburg College, where I knew many of the original members of the group through the choir. After Nomenclature, I married Bruce Abbe, another member of the group. We have now been married for 22 years and live in Stillwater, MN. Currently, I am an Investment Services Manager working at a real estate investment firm in the World Trade Center in St. Paul.
Bruce Abbe: I was in the 1974 and 1975 groups. After graduating from St. Olaf with a degree in Music Education, I taught elementary music in the Forest Lake, MN school district for approximately 18 years. During that time, I received my Masters of Music Education from St. Thomas with specialization in Orff Schulwerk. During the past school year, I changed venues and am now the Technology Coordinator at Forest View Elementary in Forest Lake. I am also teaching children in the gifted program at the school. I recently received a degree from Hamline in Gifted Education.
Jackie and Bruce: We have a 15 year old daughter named Leah Barbara who plays violin and piano and who also sings. Along with our busy schedules, we share ownership in The Music Connection, a music store in Forest Lake. Summer weekends are spent on our sailboat at Lake Pepin. We also still occasionally perform in a four piece group called, "Second Childhood".
After living out of the state for twenty years, my husband Greg, my daughters Berit (17) and Sonja(14), and I moved to St. Peter, MN. I taught public school vocal music for 20 years and currently direct a children's chorus in Mankato. This fall I am also teaching music methods at Gustavus Adolphus College and I work at a Swedish gift shop. I am working on a Masters degree in Choral Conducting at the University of St. Thomas.
I am so lucky to have had the experience of traveling with Nomenclature! The summer of '73, with its friendships formed, musical and spiritual growth, and connections with congregations around the U.S., had a great impact on who I am as an adult. I am grateful for the chance to reconnect!
In 1976, I graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in music education. That summer, I married Steve Chapman, a classmate, who majored in Political Science and Asian Studies.
From 1977-79, we lived in Shoreview, MN. I continued my music education at the University of Minnesota and graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Vocal Performance.
Steve accepted a position with Green Giant, and we moved to Taipei, Taiwan, living there from 1979-81. While in Taiwan, I taught voice and pipe organ at the Presbyterian and Baptist seminaries and studied Chinese folk song. Steve was transferred to Shanghai, China, and we lived there from 1981-83. During that time, I taught at the Shanghai American School and continued to study Chinese folk song.
We moved back to the States in 1983 shortly before our son, Nathaniel, was born. We lived in New Haven, Connecticut from 1983-85, where Steve completed a Masters degree in Management at Yale University. I continued vocal study there.
After graduating from Yale, Steve accepted a position with Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana. We lived in Columbus from 1985-89. Our daughter, Rebekah, was born in 1987. While in Columbus, I directed children's choirs, sang in church and community choirs, and taught private voice lessons. I also served as chairman of the Indianapolis Symphony Women's Committee in Columbus.
Our family moved to Singapore and lived there from 1990-95, where Steve had responsibility for Cummins business in Southeast Asia and China. I directed adult and children's choirs at a Lutheran church and at the Singapore Bible College, taught private voice lessons, sang in opera productions, and served on the board of the Singapore Symphony Ladies League. Nathaniel and Rebekah became involved in competitive swimming, and both Steve and I served on the board of the community swim team.
In 1996, Steve relocated the Cummins area headquarters to Beijing, China, and our family has lived there since that time. Church is an important part of our life, with both Steve and I taking active roles in our international congregation. I serve on the church board, chair the worship committee, and direct the adult choir. I have also continued my community involvement in music by singing with the Beijing International Choir and recently performing an operatic duet recital. Because of the children's interest in swimming, and the lack of a program in the relatively new international community in Beijing, I have devoted much of my time to the development of a swimming program, serving as coordinator and translator during the daily practices.
Our family will likely remain in China for another three years.
I have very fond memories of Nomenclature. Being part of this group allowed me to do what I love most - share my Christian faith and love of music with others. Through Nomenclature travels, we sang at churches of many denominations and met Christians throughout the U.S. This gave me an understanding for diversity within the church, an aspect of Christianity that I've continued to appreciate in Asia. What a joy to be reunited with the friends who shared these wonderful experiences during the Nomenclature years!
I am currently the Elementary Product/Market Manager at Wenger Corporation in Owatonna. My charge at Wenger has been to develop an innovative, new line of classroom furniture and equipment designed to outfit the elementary general music classroom of the '90s.
My thoughts about Nomenclature - I was the youngest member of the group when I was asked to join Nomenclature. I remember having to do a lot of talking to my father prior to getting approval to travel the country by bus with 21 high school and college students for the summer tour. It was an unforgettable experience and I will forever treasure those memories.
My family and I live in a small beach community of approximately 700 people. It is a quiet village made up of families, seniors and aging surfers! Lots of dogs, too. Everyone pretty much knows everyone else...which makes it a fairly safe place to raise children, to let them get on their bikes and explore, take their change to "Mike's Store" for candy, skateboard in the local streets. The community gets together to plan wonderful Christmas, Halloween and 4th of July celebrations.
I serve a small United Church of Christ as pastor, called La Selva Community Church (naturally!), which is the only church in the village, though obviously people worship at other churches in the immediate vicinity. It is more of a community church than a UCC church, with people from Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Catholic backgrounds - a wonderful group of people. It has been a joy and a privilege to watch children in the church grow up, get married, have children! It has been hard to have to do the funerals of so many old, dear friends...
My husband Ashley commutes 15-20 minutes to Santa Cruz (if you haven't heard of LSB, you may have heard of Santa Cruz!) where he has a law practice specializing in business litigation. He's a sweet guy...! Santa Cruz is a funky beach town, full of skateboarders and surfers. My nightmare is that my kids will decide this is their future!!
My son Grady (not Grady Grady, but Grady Winn) is 12, going into 7th grade - loves animals, the beach, skateboarding, biking. My redhead is Rory, age 10, who loves life, people, and soccer. My newest "boy" is Will, a beautiful, active (high-strung) Brittany whom we adore, and who adores us.
Nomenclature remains one of the most wonderful, powerful experiences of my life, which I know shaped my decision to go into the ministry. It was an experience in the power of prayer, in community, in forgiveness, in the sheer joy of singing sacred music. Remember Norman? The big blue bus with personality plus! I think of how young we were and some of the challenges we had to face...how we worked our way through some difficult group dynamics, not through our experience or training (we were too young for that!), but kind of by the seat of our pants, by grace, by prayer, by intuition...
How I even became involved in Nomenclature was such a fluke - I had the very least vocal training (and ability!), but Ben, I believe, asked me if I wanted to be treasurer of the group. It was surely GRACE that brought me into the Nomenclature fold, and for such grace, I am exceedingly grateful!!
This is a short bio on me since Nomenclature. In 1976 after the last tour ended, I finished up school at Simpson before moving west to graduate school. I rebuilt Norman, our old bus, into a mobile bachelor pad and drove out to Oregon with my black cat, Habit. I lived in the foothills of the coastal mountain range and commuted in to Pacific University to their Optometry School. I found that a poor professional choice for me, and transferred to Western States Chiropractic College in Portland the following fall. I fell in love with the art, science and philosophy of Chiropractic and graduated in June 1981. Extending my college years was mostly great, but working some of the odd jobs you get when you are a student can get interesting, too!
After graduation, I suffered another knee injury and had a similar surgery to the one I had a few days before we recorded that first Nomenclature album in 1973. This time my new girlfriend, Lorelei, nursed me back to health and we became very close. We started travelling, first to the Midwest where we saw a number of Nomens, then overseas to Fiji to visit her mom. We lived there for three tropical months, then went on to New Zealand for a great two month camping and hitchhiking tour and to Australia for a five month stay in the marvelous city of Sydney. When we left together with round trip tickets to the world, we figured that if we came back together, we would easily stay together...forever. So far, so great! We did the engagement thing while in Sydney and returned to Oregon in the summer of 1983. Shortly after getting my practice started in 1984, we came back to the Hacmac farm and were married in the front room on April 28, 1984 with many Nomens present. Back in Portland, we bought our first house. Fourteen years later, we still live in that same house and I practice in a solo fashion about two miles from home. We started the family in 1986 with Alyssa, followed by two more girls, Rachelle in 1988 and Taylor in 1990. Finally, in October 1992, we added our last child, Jared. Our Hacmac Six-pack is thriving in our love for life and each other. It is great now that all the kids are beyond diapers and toddlers yet short of puberty and the teenage years.
We attend to our spiritual needs through Living Enrichment Center, a large New Thought Christian Church in Wilsonville, Oregon. After many years without a church, LEC has truly provided our family with a home for heart and soul. In service, during music or meditation, my thoughts often drift to the Nomenclature experience and how great we really had it.
I stay very active in the community, serving on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and other various leadership positions in our children's schools, professional associations and other business groups. Most of the family sings in an incredible choir that is much like the family Nomenclature was. It is called the Singing Christmas Tree Choir and has been staging holiday productions for 37 years. Ages range from 9 to 90, with over 300 people involved with the adult and children choirs, soloists, actors and actresses, the angel and the orchestra. We start rehearsal after Labor Day and perform nine extremely professional performances in the five days the weekend after Thanksgiving. It's a lot of work, a lot of fun and Christian fellowship. Besides work, singing and being a dad, I enjoy remodeling the home, raising my vegetable garden and disc (Frisbee) golf.
What do I treasure and remember about the Nomenclature experience? I treasure the wonderful music we made, the good and bad times and the sights and sounds of travelling. I treasure the weekends together during the school years, the chili dinners, sleeping on the carpeted altar of another Catholic/Baptist/Protestant church in another small town. I treasure playing the harmonica, rehearsing on hot Minnesota evenings. I remember my first and only cigarette behind the Dallas-area convenience store while we waited for another repair job for Norman. I remember the night we drove the whole night from Wheeling, W.Virginia to Chicago, Illinois on a broken leaf spring. I remember the time the bird flying overhead actually had the audacity to "drop" on poor Cindy's head! I remember the hike up the waterfall in Estes Park with David, and "snuggling" with Rick on another sleep-over in another spare bedroom in another quiet home with another caring host family. I remember the Houston Astrodome, the bell tower in Devil's Lake, the glass chapel of the Air Force Academy, the final concerts at St. Joseph's in Owatonna. I remember the snowy trips across Iowa in winter, the scorching hot trips across Kansas in the summer, and the ferry ride in Galveston Bay. I remember the daily interplay of Norman and Rick's van on the '75 tour, the breakdowns and push starts and the night we surprised the gas thieves in Minneapolis. I remember Brian's back pain, Jane Grady's persistent chatter to keep us awake while driving, Colleen's kind words and caring smiles. I remember the aghast and surprised faces of those who greeted us after a long hot day on the bus, when we piled out of Norman half-dressed, sweaty, hungry, and hippie. I remember the amazed faces on those same people when we appeared on their church's altar in our coordinated costumes and comfortable style with a message that spoke as much for our generation as it did for our declared purpose. I remember the notes and comments from those same people who found we brought to their community at that moment, exactly what they needed to relate better to their family members, their church and their God.
DRIVING is what I remember, always driving the big blue bus. Packing and unpacking and packing again. Norman and I were very close and I held on to him until we left for the South Pacific in 1982. He now likely lives somewhere in the Pacific Northwest forests or eastern deserts. But then, he could be on another great adventure. I wish we were driving him back to Minnesota right now!
I graduated from Luther College with an elementary education degree and will start my Masters degree in the fall of '98 from St. Mary's College. I have performed in the Twin Cities as a member of the Edgewater Eight at the Edgewater Inn; with the Minnesota Chorale in Aspen, Colorado and Mexico City, Mexico: and with various talent agencies for weddings, with the jazz group called the Gadabouts, and Christmas caroling (even got to sing with Ben a few times!)... I have been the professional soloist at St. James Episcopal Church in Minneapolis for eighteen years.
I went through my midlife crisis in my thirties and became an author, publishing 31 educational resource books for T.S. Denison Publishing Company (no titles on the New York Times Bestseller list, but they paid for the down payment on the house and have kept us solvent more than once). I am looking for an agent for my children's mystery series, Spike and Goggles (who knew I could write?). I teach hormonal sixth graders American History in Apple Valley, MN, where I live with my husband Don, along with Buddy the Wonder Dog and his faithful sidekick, Belle.
My most vivid memory of Nomenclature was when we were camping overnight in some campgrounds somewhere. We pitched our tent on a hilly section. In the middle of the night, it started to rain and the tent slid down the hill. We spent the rest of the night in the women's bathroom. My second most vivid memory was when Kristi Anderson would start to giggle and couldn't stop - she had a great laugh. We all laughed a lot that summer.
I graduated from Concordia (Moorhead) with majors in Music Ed and Psychology. I taught elementary music in Bismarck, and played in the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra I then moved back to MN to attend grad school and got a Masters degree in Counselling and Student Personnel Psychology from the U of M. I have been employed by the South Washington County School District since 1979, first as a junior high counselor and then as a junior high vocal and general music teacher. Since 1985 I have been an instrumental specialist teaching beginning band to 5th and 6th graders at two elementary schools in Cottage Grove.
I met my husband, Tom, playing in a volleyball lague and we have been married since 1991 and live in Inver Grove Heights. I am step-mother to Tina (27), Matt (25) and Kelly (22). I am also Gramma to Keith Thomas (9 mo) and "mommy" to Casey, a Bijon Friese. I performed in musicals and orchestra in college, and in musicals with the Theater Guild of Woodbury, Macalester Festival Chorale, Dakota Valley Civic Chorus, and Minnesota Chorale (1996). My most recent musical "fix" has been at Augustana Lutheran in West St. Paul, where I also serve on the Concert Series Committee (any good ideas?).
I am the biggest fan and "roadie" for my husband, who plays accordian (yes, I knew this before I married him) at Kramarczyk's Deli in Nordeast Minneapolis, and with the Booley Band (traditional Irish music). My short term goals: get back to "fiddling" around with the Mississippi Valley Chamber Orchestra, learn how to use all the "bells and whistles" on my new Clavinova, and to visit Cindy (Chapman) in Beijing in 1999.
Julie: I am currently working as a teacher in a middle school (grades 6-8) in the city of Sartell, MN. I teach 6th grade Language Arts, Social Studies, and an exploratory class, and am advisor to several extra curricular activities including ski club and the speech team. For those of you who have walked through a middle school lately or have parented adolescent kids, you know how eventful this job can be! I truly love teaching and really feel lucky to have found a niche in life that is more than just a "job."
David: David is the Executive Director of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Transit Commission - in other words, he administers the bus system for the cities in our area. We have been married 24 years this August - another blessing in my life! Dave is always busy working on some "project" around the house or at the lake cottage when he is not officially at work. He is definitely one person who will never become bored in his retirement years.
Jonathan: Jon is now 18 years old and is attending a fine arts college located in downtown Chicago. His passion (since he was in 5th grade) is to be a filmmaker/director, so he is pursuing his dreams in the windy city. He hopes to graduate early and then go to graduate school at New York University. I really miss him, but we talk every week on the phone. That MCI 5 cent a minute Sunday deal is great!
Rachel: Rachel is 13 and will be in 8th grade next year. She is involved in school activities and works hard at her studies. Rachel is also a member of a girls' choir that is sponsored through St. Cloud State University, named Cantabile. he expanded her horizons a bit this summer and attended St. John's University Leadership Camp and also flew to California alone to work in a Christian theater production which was written by a cousin of mine.
Nomenclature was an unbelievable experience for all of us. I, for one, think it was one of those few isolated "really hit home" experiences one has in early adulthood that really shape what we become. I am amazed when I hear the record or tapes of our performances and realize that this was not some "throw it together" group. Musically we were pretty good - actually, more than pretty good. But th again, I think our whole sound had as much to do with "connectedness" and the relationships we shared as a whole as it did with musical expertise. When you think about it, we were just a bunch of kids, and we did something together that was truly amazing.
The summer of 1973 was not only my Nomenclature summer, it was also the summer that Ruth and I were engaged to be married. I had knee surgery in May of that year. That almost prevented me from going on the tour. During the swing through the Midwest, on the way to the East Coast, I statyed in Iowa to get the cast removed. I went over to visit Ruth on the 4th of July. We got engaged that evening. We had our first date two days later. She drove the car (I had a new cast on my leg) and she paid for the tickets (I wasn't getting rich on Nomenclature). In those days it was kind of unusual to be that practical/liberated.
The home concert was on August 20th. I had been looking for a diamond at each stop along the tour. That day I went to downtown Owatonna, found the right ring, borrowed the money from Woker for a down payment and gave the ring to Ruth that night at the picnic before the concert.
We were married (another radical thing in those days) on April 13, 1974. We have lived in Dubuque, IA where I attended seminary and Ruth taught music; Summit, NJ where I took a Clinical Pastoral Education; Guttenberg, IA for my internship; Hudson, IA where I served as the pastor of an ELCA congregation and Ruth taught music at a Roman Catholic school; and now Cedar Falls, IA. Ruth continues to teach at Blessed Sacrament. I served as Assistant to the Bishop of the Northeastern Iowa Synod - ELCA from 1988-1992 and as Bishop from 1992 to the present.
We have three children. Erik is a sophomore music education major at Wartburg College. Krista is a senior at Cedar Falls High School. Kara is a ninth grader at Holmes Junior High. All are active in music, athletics and church activities.
After the summer tour of 1975 with Nomenclature, I completed my education at the College of St. Benedict, and then moved to Minneapolis. I think I counted 15 different places in the Twin Cities where I've lived in the 21 years that I've been here, and they've been in every corner of the Twin Cities. I'm currently living in Bloomington in an apartment that I love, with lots of great places for outdoor enjoyment nearby. I have a special man in my life (Bruce), and a few months ago got a cat (Raleigh) that has been a source of pleasure and companionship for me.
I've been involved in music, mostly Gospel, for most of the past 20 years. One of the main musical vehicles was the music ministry of the People of Praise Christian Community, which I was part of until recently. I've also done some musical outreach in Haiti and Russia, which was a phenomenal experience that really had an impact on my life. I'm not sure I would have considered travelling music ministry if it hadn't been for the joy of my Nomenclature experience. In Russia the first time I went, it was shortly after the Berlin Wall had fallen, and we really didn't know how much Christian witness we'd be able to give. The first concert we gave in a public square, soldiers surrounded us, and we thought they might arrest us or disperse us. However, when we gave an altar call most of the soldiers gave their lives to Christ. I also managed to pass through four countries after losing my passport the night we were to leave ... but that's another story :)
I've written a number of songs, both Christian and secular, and had one published by Integrity Music and several recorded by friends. I also have a small midi recording studio in my home, where I can arrange and record what I write. Music has been like eating and breathing for me throughout my life.
I worked for 17 years at Control Data, doing various types of work. A few years ago I got into Marketing Communications, writing literature, planning promotions, and doing trade shows. I left there two years ago, and am currently an independent contractor doing writing and designing of promotional and training materials, and designing Web sites. I started a long-term contract in June 1998 with Target, and will stay until at least 1/31/99. After that, only God knows.
Nomenclature came into my life at a time when I really needed more of God in my life, and didn't want to admit it. I heard the 1973 group sing (homecoming concert?) and was really touched by it. When my turn to join Nomenclature came, I almost didn't because I really wasn't much of a Christian. However, my involvement with the group brought me closer to God, and gave me a wonderful outlet for sharing his love with others. Besides having an incredible amount of fun, I look on the Nomenclature time as a life-changer. When the reunion came up this year, it seemed like God was working again, because I'd been out of Christian music for about a year, and was feeling a need to get connected again, even though I didn't have a lot of time to commit. I'm so glad we'll be gettting together on an ongoing basis, and feel that once again God is using Nomenclature in my life.