Christmas 1994

David is still designing and testing robots for NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. This year he was the coordinator of the International Mobile Robotics Competition in Seattle; the same competition that he won in 1992. Some of us visited David last summer, and he showed us the sights of the Houston/Galveston area. Of course we got an insider’s tour of JSC, including a chance to sit in the Flight Director’s chair at Mission Control! David enjoys running, working out, camping, traveling, and keeping up with the latest computer technology. In fact, he and some friends have started an artificial intelligence and robotics consulting firm called METRICA.

Suzie and Jerry became parents of a baby girl on Dec. 9, at 7:44 pm. Mother and baby are doing fine. They named her Kaitlyn Elizabeth. She is the first in a new generation of the Oelwein Kortenkamps (and Dubuque Langs). She was due Dec. 4, and so was a little late -- causing Jerry to cancel his plans for deer season. Betsy was the winner of the baby pool, having picked 11:11 pm. Betsy (i.e., Mary Elizabeth) also happened to be at home and answered the phone when Sue called about 10:45 pm announcing Kaitlyn’s birth. After some maternity leave, Suzie will return to work as a tax attorney, in fact she worked until 4:00 pm the day before the baby was born.

Steve is in his third year of graduate school in astronomy at the U. of Florida. He has completed all the comprehensive exams for the Ph.D., and is now deeply involved in research. This past year he presented his first paper at a conference in Washington, D.C., traveled to Italy (Sicily) for an astronomy conference, and is scheduled to participate in a conference in Heidelberg, Germany. He also enjoys running, and trains with the U. of Florida track and cross country teams. He competes in road races, and this past April had his picture in Runner’s World magazine. We visited Steve last summer too, for a tour of the very lovely U-Florida campus and beautiful Gainesville area, and a trip to St. Augustine for some body surfing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Nancy graduated in May with her masters degree in audiology from the University of Northern Iowa. She took a job working at the U. of Florida Hospitals where she interned last year. Nancy also trains with the track and cross country teams, and ran her second marathon last June. She does so well in her road races that she was offered a coaching position at Central Florida U., which she turned down because she hopes to find work back here in the Midwest. Now that she is no longer a student she has more spare time and enjoys traveling, particularly driving Steve’s car to visit the sites of Florida, but also flying to Dubuque to visit her boyfriend.

Peter is a senior at the UW-Madison. He has almost completed his major in music (French horn), and is working on a major in physics. Last summer he played horn in the American Institute for Musical Studies Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria. Members of the orchestra were chosen by national audition and received full room and board. The orchestra traveled and performed in various places such as cathedrals, castles, and outdoor amptheatres. He reports “playing a kickass rendition of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture for the U.S. Ambassador to Austria.” This past summer he also played in the three-week Sarasota Music Festival in Florida. Peter is also a recreational runner, and ran his first marathon this summer finishing with a very good time of 3 hrs 7 mins.

Sarah graduated with high honors from the U. of Minnesota with a psychology major, however she is taking a year off before going to graduate school in neuropsychology. She is working for the UM Psychology Dept. in their Psychophysiology Research Lab, collecting brain-wave data and other psychophysiological data from twins. UM is world famous for research on twins. She enjoys traveling -- for spring break she went to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, and this summer she went to Colorado to visit a boy friend at the Air Force Academy. While there she was also able to spend some time with her Aunt Miriam and Uncle Gary and her cousins who live in Colorado Springs. Sarah is another active runner, completing her second marathon this year.

Betsy is a sophomore at the UW-Milwaukee majoring in psychology. She wanted to attend a large university in a large city, but not where her brothers or sisters had gone. She enjoys keeping in touch with her brothers and sisters through e-mail. During spring break she went to Florida, flying for the first time. This past summer she worked on a ginseng farm (Central Wisconsin is the ginseng capital of the world). She also went with us this summer to visit David and Steve, taking in along the way the St. Louis Gateway Arch, Elvis’ Graceland home in Memphis, the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, the French Quarter in New Orleans, and the Atlantic Ocean at St. Augustine, Florida.

Katy, a senior in high school, still has her straight "A" average. She ran on the track and cross country teams (Captain of cross-country), is in Math League, French Club, and writes articles for the school page in the local newspaper. This fall she flew to Washington to participate in the Princeton Model Congress as a member of the Press Corp. Katy has been accepted in the Honors Program at the UW-Madison, but has not decided on a major. This summer she worked at Fenders, a custard/fast food restaurant; and this Christmas season she works taking phone orders for Figi’s, a mail-order gift business. Oh yes, she, Betsy, and Steve got their`first tattoos this year -- small images of earth as seen from space.

Kayla is a high school foreign exchange student living with us. She is from Andros Island in the Bahamas, and is experiencing cold, snow and ice for the first time (among other things); and we are experiencing for the first time a teenager from a somewhat different culture. In school she is active in Quest, which conducts religious retreats for high school students; and is on the liturgy committee. Next spring she plans to run as a sprinter on the track team.

Tony is a sophomore in high school. He ran cross country and is now playing basketball as a starter on the Junior Varsity team. Basketball is his first love. He also practices with the Varsity, and could play if they would ever need him. Last summer he worked for St. Stephen’s parish doing routine cleaning and maintenance. Tony went with us on our trip this summer. Before coming home we stopped for a visit to Jan’s brother John and his family in Dayton, Ohio, and her brother Paul and his family in Indianapolis. Tony enjoyed spending some time with his cousins. And since Jan’s mother is living with John it was a nice family visit all around.