Mike Bettasso ‘70 of Princeton, Illinois died Monday October 16, 2023. He was 75. Mike majored in Business Administration and Insurance and was active in Tau Kappa Epsilon Alpha chapter at Illinois Wesleyan University. While attending Wesleyan, Mike lettered in football and track and field. After graduating, Mike worked with his father at Bettasso Insurance Services and eventually became President and owner. Mike was an active member in the community of Princeton and was a member of the Princeton Public Library Board for many years. His favorite pastimes were playing euchre and being with friends and family. He is survived by two daughters, six grandchildren, a sister, and brothers Frank ‘73 and George. You can read more about Michael here.

Susan Krause ’70, age 74, passed away at Richwood Nursing & Rehab, a caring and loving facility, on Friday, September 15, 2023, with family by her side.

Susan was a born nurturer and fiercely loved her family, friends, music students and her church families. Even though Susan never had her own children, she was a mother figure to many kids, starting with her own nieces and nephews as well as her cousins’ children. She taught preschool music in many daycares for years in the Louisville area. She also had thousands of private piano students both young and old. Miss Susan was beloved by all of them.

Susan took great joy in making people feel special and cared for. She loved giving gifts and especially enjoyed sending greeting cards for every occasion. She also enjoyed cooking and loved trying new recipes from her many cookbooks. She had a passion for baking homemade Christmas cookies for her piano students and each student received an entire plate of cookies!

Susan graduated from LaSalle-Peru High School where her music career actually started. She played piano beautifully with the school plays and operettas. She went on to study piano performance at Illinois Wesleyan University. She then finished her university studies in history, philosophy, and music at University of Louisville, where she also studied abroad in England. Click here to view Susan’s full obituary.

Vicki Cox ’70 of East Peoria passed away on March 21st, 2023. Vicki was born to Francis W. “Bill” Cox and Helen Messer Cox on January 22, 1948. She attended East Peoria grade schools and East Peoria Community High School, graduating in 1966, and Illinois Wesleyan, graduating in 1970. While in college, she was an active member of Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity. She taught music in Delavan for eight years before working for Freeman United, P.J. Hoerr, Peoria Black Top, and Mitsubishi from 1998 to 2010 when she retired.

Throughout her life, Vicki’s passion was music. Starting with piano as a child, Vicki was a lifelong musician. She was most recently a percussionist with the Peoria Area Senior Citizen Band in 2022. She was a member of Sweet Adelines International for 52 years, competing with the Pekin Sweet Adeline Chorus, Belles of Harmony, and the Heart of Illinois Chorus. In the Hearts, she performed in the 5th Place International Chorus. Additionally, she competed with Crossroads Quartet, winning Regional 1st Place. She served as Co-Director of the Belles, and Assistant Director of HOI. She sang for four years with Morton Civic Chorus and served as choir director and in the bell chorus for First United Methodist Church in East Peoria directing their Christmas Cantata the day before she was hospitalized.

You can read more here.

George McClure ’70 of Normal, passed away on Friday, March 4, 2022, at Mason City Area Nursing Home. He was born on March 5, 1948, in Dyersburg, TN, to Stephen and Laura (Steele) McClure. He is survived by seven siblings: Mary Skoog, Joe McClure, Stephanie Hayes, Julie Strohmeier, Robin McClure, Patricia Nelms and John McClure. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Paul. George was a 1966 graduate of Trinity High School in Bloomington, and received his bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in English Literature. He owned and operated George L. McClure & Sons Gladiolus in Havana with his brothers. He was an avid reader and enjoyed golfing.

Nancy (Waterman) Price ’70 of Coos Bay, Oregon, died March 12, 2022. She was 73. Nancy studied art at Illinois Wesleyan, and she later earned a master’s degree in art history from Penn State University. After college, Nancy taught art history and served as a research assistant at Cleveland State University. Nancy met her future husband at Penn State, and they relocated to Coos Bay after marrying. Nancy worked for the Coos History Museum, The Coquille Valley Sentinel and Harvest Book Shop before beginning a long career with Coos Bay Public Library, where she worked her way up from library assistant to database administrator. Nancy was a longtime volunteer and past president of the Oregon Coast Music Association. She also volunteered for the Coos County Animal Shelter and Coos History Museum & Maritime Collection. She enjoyed music, travel, literature, history, art, feeding birds in her yard, and her beloved rescue cats. She is survived by her husband, and several nieces and nephews. You can read more about her here.

Mario Mancinelli of Bloomington, Illinois, died March 15, 2022. He was 99. Mario served as a faculty member in Illinois Wesleyan’s School of Music for 35 years. He was hired in 1948 to teach strings and chamber music, and conduct the student orchestra. He retired in 1983 with emeritus status. Mario attended Ohio State University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He was also a faculty member at Brevard Music Center for 25 years. He was a member of the American String Teachers Association, American Federation of Musicians, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and an honorary member of Phi Kappa Phi. Mario was an accomplished violinist and played regularly in Central Illinois orchestras. He enjoyed crossword puzzles, playing and listening to classical music, playing cards, and watching the Indianapolis 500, World Series and the Olympics. He was a longtime member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington-Normal. He is survived by two children and a granddaughter. 

Evelyn Wantland died Feb. 4, 2022, in Urbana, Illinois. She was 104. Evelyn served as a professor of mathematics at Illinois Wesleyan from 1964-76 and maintained emeritus status. Evelyn attended Hollins College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and earned a doctorate in mathematics. In addition to Illinois Wesleyan, she taught at Ferrum Junior College, Kansas State University and the University of Mississippi. Evelyn enjoyed reading, crossword puzzles, playing bridge and Scrabble, and taking long walks in Meadowbrook Park in Urbana. She was a member of Urbana’s First United Methodist Church. She is survived by her daughter, two grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. 

It is with deep sadness that we have learned that our classmate Karen Zander, RN, MS, CMAC, FAAN, and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from IWU, died in her sleep from complications of FTD (Frontotemporal Degeneration) on the morning of August 30th.

Karen was given the IWU Robert Montgomery Outstanding Young Alum award in 1980 and The School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996. The Class of 1970 Reunion Committee had created a special Class of 1970 Lifetime Achievement Award for Karen, to be presented this fall at our Reunion. It will be presented posthumously to her husband, Bernie Metzger, during our Virtual Reunion ZOOM on October 6 at 7:30 Central Time.

Karen was the principal and one of the original founders of The Center for Case Management. Her pioneering work with clinical case management and CareMap(r) systems began at New England Medical Center Hospital in Boston and is internationally recognized. She authored many articles and authored and co-authored many books and was a true icon in the field. She was in demand as a presenter and consultant at healthcare provider organizations around the world. Her work touched hundreds of hospitals and has had a major impact in actually changing the way nurses manage their practices, and care for patients. It can truly be said that her work and sharing her learning helped practicing nurses ease suffering, promote health and save lives.

She was also a certified psychotherapist and held faculty positions at several universities.

Even when she became paralyzed in 2007, after complications from surgery, and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, she continued to travel the world to assist clients and present to meetings, working consistently until selling her company two years ago. Attending the IWU Class of 70 Forty Year Reunion was a major effort for her and prior to her dementia diagnosis, she had been looking forward to our 50th.

At IWU she was involved in as many activities as nursing majors, with their demanding classroom and clinical work, could manage, including holding offices for three years in Sigma Kappa Sorority, where she served as president in 1969-70. Her SK sisters universally recall one quality that they will never forget: her beautiful, oft-heard laugh, a laugh that engaged and inspired all of us. “She had the ability to take a problem or a troubling situation and calmly work through to a solution. She was an ideal president.” In 2016 Karen responded to the University’s need to update Stevenson Hall for the next generation of nursing students and named the Garden Level Recruitment Coordinator Office, Karen S. Zander, RN, MS, CMAC, FAAN ’70 .

Karen is survived by her daughters Elise and Victoria Metzger, sons-in-law Marco Morales and Douglas Johnston, and her tirelessly devoted and exceptionally romantic husband and best friend of 43 years, Bernhard Metzger.  Her daughter Elise wrote; “The beauty and joy that this world had to offer was never lost on her and she never took it for granted. She also understood the pains of this life for both humans and animals and made charitable giving a large priority..

She felt deeply connected to the people and the world around her and often said that it was her relationships with others that made her happiest. If you knew Karen, you could truly feel this. She gave everyone the love and acceptance they might need. We are also so grateful that she held on to witness the marriage of her daughter Victoria to Douglas Johnston on August 22, 2020. “

Her colleagues at the Center for ftd-boston.org Case Management wrote “I think she would want to be remembered for her innovative ideas, pure delight in collaboration, and her gift of encouraging others to feel confidence and worth. Karen’s gift to all of us is not what she taught us in case management, but what she taught us in life . . .love unconditionally, share generously and be true to your good instincts.”

A memorial service will be held in her honor, both with limited in-person capacity, and over ZOOM for anyone who would like to join. Details will be announced later this week.  More information may be found regarding memorials here and here.

We regret to inform you that Robert Bruehl ’70 passed away on August 28,2018. Here is the link to his obituary.

We regret to inform you that Phillip Glotfelty ’70 of Shorewood, Illinois, died Nov. 1, 2019. He was 71. Phil met his future wife Jody (Carlson) Glotfelty ’70 while attending Illinois Wesleyan. He began his career at Kemlite Corporation, where he established the company’s human resources department, and later joined First Midwest Bank Corporation, from which he retired in 2006. He was active in many groups and organizations, including: Sports Car Club, Jaycees, Joliet (Ill.) Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Development Council, Joliet Kiwanis Club, and Plainfield (Ill.) United Methodist Church. He enjoyed golfing, playing cards and Trivial Pursuit, sharing meals with friends, and watching his grandchildren play sports and perform on stage. He is survived by his wife, children Sherry (Glotfelty) Steele ’99 and Jeffrey Glotfelty ’00, seven grandchildren, brother, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.  You can read his full obituary here.