Graduates leave their respective colleges with the degrees and knowledge necessary to open many doors in life. The very fortunate ones take something else just as important with them out into the world—dear friendships that stand the test of time.
Class of 1965
In the late summer of 1961, Teddi (Nelson) Ahrens stepped aboard a Union Pacific train bound for La Crosse. She was leaving her hometown of Provo, Utah, to attend Viterbo, a small women’s college that offered her a scholarship. She had graduated as valedictorian that spring from a small Catholic high school taught by FSPA Sisters.
“I was yearning to get as far away from home as possible,” Ahrens laughed. “I was 17 going on 18, and I couldn’t wait to get out into the world.”
While she had chosen a college in a new city four states away, the size of Viterbo appealed to her. Three hundred fifty-seven students were enrolled that fall semester, and tuition for the year was $1,100.
Arriving in La Crosse, Ahrens was greeted at the train depot by Sr. Verda Kraemer, her former piano teacher in Provo and another first-year student who had arrived at college early, Mariangel (Gil) Flynt of Havana, Cuba. Ahrens had just met one of the members of what would turn out to be a very special group of lifelong friends.
“Those were the best four years of my life, full of discovery, fun, and some mischief that made me who I am in many ways,” Ahrens said. “The Sisters prized their subjects in the classroom. They were also unique personalities and strong women. They inspired us, and they could also make us laugh. We knew they cared about us, and we loved them.”
Ahrens would make countless memories during her time as a Viterbo student, including polka dancing at the very first La Crosse Oktoberfest, hootenannies, and the 1965 Selma sympathy march for civil rights in La Crosse which she and a friend organized when their families said “no” to actually going to Selma.
As a resident of Marian Hall and later St. Agnes Hall, Ahrens would soon meet Karen Greer. Hailing from the tiny farm community of Kilkenny, Minn., Greer had chosen to attend Viterbo because she received a $300 scholarship and was ready for a “new adventure.”
Originally pursuing a degree in medical records, Greer changed her major to sociology after taking the class Psychology of Personality with Sr. Mary Roderick. A theatrical reading class with Sr. Marie Leon LaCroix led to the beloved faculty member encouraging Greer to get involved with theatre. She would go on to have at least one role in a Viterbo production each year as a student.
Moving with others from Marian Hall to St. Agnes Hall honors dorm after their sophomore year “because we were such good girls,” Greer, Ahrens, and others were able to further bond over cooking their own meals, telling each other’s fortunes, and other fun activities such as visiting Third Street and local festivals. Seeing big band leader Stan Kenton perform is a favorite memory.
The group members would go their separate ways after graduation in 1965, but vowed to stay in touch. Greer went on to work as a social worker and earn a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Minnesota. She later became a career coach, retirement coach, and today is a certified grief educator.
Ahrens started out as a sociologist with her master’s degree, and later taught at her former high school and then at Holy Cross College in Washington, D.C. She worked at The Children’s Museum in Boston, wrote for the Massachusetts League of Women Voters, and volunteers in El Salvador with Co-Partners of Campesinas. She recently published the book Painting Joy: The Art and Life of Fernando Llort. Both Greer and Ahrens married and raised families.
Greer remembers seeing the new Viterbo Fine Arts Center at a reunion in 1975.
“I just stood there in awe of the beauty,” she said. “There it was, Sr. Marie Leon LaCroix’s dream come true.”
In recent times, technology has made it easier to connect much more frequently, first via phone and then Zoom. At their 40th class reunion in 2005, Greer suggested the group discuss the book Too Young to Retire. This led to more consistent connections, and now the group of seven catches up regularly every two months. Over the years, some of their in-person reunions have taken the form of trips to Colorado, Phoenix, and even Ireland.
“I feel very pleased to have these friends in my life, and not everyone has this,” Greer said. “But it’s based on an effort to be authentic and support each other through the years.”
The friends have indeed been there for each other through the sad times of the passing of husbands to the joys of celebrating life’s happy milestones.
“When we get together it’s like we never left,” Ahrens said. “There is still that relationship and understanding and affection for one another. The jokes and warmth are still there. It’s better than a sisterhood because we’re glued together in so many ways. We grew up together. Those were our formative years, and we laughed and have such wonderful memories.”
Class of 1998
The women of second floor Marian Hall South were well represented at the men’s basketball conference championship game in 1995. Dressed alike in their Viterbo College T-shirts, they were there to cheer the V-Hawks on to victory. Like perhaps for many in the large Varsity Athletics Center crowd that day, for four of them, the game turned out to be something they never forgot.
“We had so much fun going to the game and showing our school spirit,” said Amy Jo Preisler of she and her friends Brigid Burns, Kristen (Gougè) Davis, and Kelly (Weinberger) Jakes, all members of the Class of 1998. “We love this memory because we feel it was the moment when we really all became close and knew we were friends for life.”
Living on the same floor, the foursome quickly discovered they had a great deal in common and shared similar senses of humor. They became fast friends and would share a campus apartment their sophomore year. Whether it was attending college parties, shopping, or having lunch, laughter was the common theme.
After graduating, the group would reunite each year in La Crosse for Oktoberfest, Homecoming, or Alumni Weekend.
“We can sit for hours looking through old college pictures and laugh at everything that happened,” Preisler said.
Today, Preisler is senior vice president, account director with Grey Group advertising agency in New York City. She lives on the upper west side of Manhattan next to Central Park, in which she loves to walk each morning. Advertising is what is she always wanted to do.
“I loved my education at Viterbo,” she said. “It really prepared me to have conversations with many different people and connect with them. All our professors had real life experience and gave us a good sense of what the professional world was like.”
The friendships made, however, are Preisler’s most valued asset from her Viterbo experience.
“Our whole floor came up with the phrase ‘2 South Love,’” she said. “It meant we’re all in this together and have each other’s backs. We still say that to each other.”
Class of 2017
Arriving on campus several weeks before other students each fall and long bus rides to away soccer matches result in plenty of quality time together for student-athletes. That was certainly the case for men’s soccer players Christopher Gosselin, Monkontee Slobert, Derek Fuchsberger, Jonathan Locast, and Paul Convery.
“The challenges we faced on and off the field built our friendship and trust in one another,” Gosselin said. “To this day we can always rely on each other for support. Each of us have a lot in common but also bring a lot of unique views and life experiences to the group.”
From studying together in the library to fun activities such as visits to Taco Bell, car trips to visit friends or Wisconsin Dells, playing video games, summer days at the beach, to playing paint ball with the rest of the team, the five friends have many great memories of their time at Viterbo. The soccer team even played in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Since graduation, the friends have regularly gotten together for weddings and other major life events, the Major League Soccer All Stars vs. Real Madrid game in Chicago, and additional sporting events and concerts.
“We find other times to get together or take trips to Minneapolis and Rochester to meet at each other’s homes,” said Gosselin, a nurse manager at Mayo Clinic, who lives in Rochester with his wife, Taylor, and their daughters, Lillian and Brynley.