Alumni Appreciation Award

This award honors an alum of the university, who by their consistent and continuous volunteer efforts have given their personal time and energies to further the goals and objectives of Saint Mary's University and the alumni association.

2023 Recipient: Jerry Papenfuss B'62

Jerry Papenfuss B’62 is embedded in the community. He offers to help others rather than waiting for someone to ask for his help. Jerry has held leadership positions in community organizations at the local, state and national level. As part of his work in radio broadcasting he provided community organizations with live interviews, news stories, remote broadcasts and public service announcements at no cost.

Jerry was a co-developer of Knopp Valley. The residential development featured homes in a variety of price ranges and integrated parks and greenways and preserved the hillsides in their natural state.

Jerry was the local developer of the AmericInn of Winona. In retirement he continues as a volunteer, philanthropist, and fundraiser. Recognition in the community includes President’s Award from the Association of Fundraisers Upper Midwest Chapter, Ben-Adith Miller Community Service award, Member of the MN Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Lifetime membership in the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce, Winona State University Distinguished Service Award and Benedictine Horizon Award.

Pat and Jerry have been married for 60 years. They have three married children and four outstanding grandchildren. For 57 years starting from scratch and working with their staff, Pat & Jerry worked as a team developing 14 radio stations in five outstate Minnesota markets. They are active Republicans serving at the local, state and national level. Last July, Jerry reached his 91st birthday

Awardee Video:

Eligibility:

This award is presented to a degreed alumnus/a of SMUMN who by their consistent and continuous volunteer efforts has given their personal time and energies to further the goals and objectives of the university and the Alumni Association. The awardee must show personal commitment involving time and effort in any or all of the following areas involving university functions supported by the Alumni Association.

The awardee must have achieved the following:

Served as a life-long ambassador of SMUMN.
Remained engaged with fellow alumni to encourage and attend reunion events or local opportunities to engage current/future students.
Be recognized as an active volunteer in their region, a "go-to" person to support alumni activities.
Demonstrated commitment of time as a volunteer on a specific alumni activity or event.
Encourages future students to attend SMUMN.

Past Recipients:

D. Tracy Rumford B'55 – 1980	Ralph J. Zito B'67 – 1980	Michael J. Dooley B'66 – 1981
Br. I. Basil Rothweiler, FSC B'38 – 1981	Terry (Malloy) Chism B'71 – 1982	Charles N. Marron B'57 – 1982
Donald H. Whaley B'58 – 1983	Jeffrey C. Yourell B'70 – 1983	Joseph A. Caruso B'64 – 1984
Julius E. Gernes B'61 – 1984	John P. Soucheray B'74 – 1985	Daniel E. Lucas B'47 – 1986
Loras H. Sieve B'60 – 1987	Richard B’74 and Mary Ann (Gay) B'76 Stringham – 1988	David R. Thies B'59 – 1989
William J. Boulger, Jr. B'60 – 1990	Douglas W. Johnson B'63 – 1990	James J. Casimir B'61 – 1991
John F. Phelan B'72 – 1992	C. William Biesanz B'38 – 1993	James D. Lorr B'58 – 1993
Robert J. Scurio B'57 – 1994	Paul Libera B'40 – 1995	Leonard J. Canning B'51 – 1996
Raymond 'Skip' Stringham B'71 – 1996	Oscar H. Straub B'52 – 1997	Dr. Samuel J. Cascio B'48 – 1998
Charles Lentz B'37 – 1999	John F. McDonough B'75 – 2000	Carl J. Calabrese B'41 – 2001
Joseph E. La Belle, Ph.D. B'51 – 2001	Richard B. Willett B'57 – 2002	Keith Klausner B'73 – 2003
Roger Laven B'54 – 2004	Tom C. Callen B'70 – 2005	Richard Reedy B'76 – 2006
Walter Jungbauer B'87 – 2007	Tim Burchill B'68, M'00 – 2008	James E. Hoey B'74 – 2009
Kenneth J. Ortman B'59 – 2009	Harry A. Plotke B'59 – 2009	Timothy Horan B'70 – 2010
Rob Figliulo B'76 – 2011	Robert "Bo" Rettig B'77 – 2012	Thomas Baryl B'58 – 2014
William Herzog B’70 – 2015	Dr. Renée Garpestad B’81 D’03 – 2016	Molly (Murphy) O'Keefe B'97 - 2017
Judy (Mullins) Lucas B'83 - 2018	John Domanico B'77 - 2019	Michael Cannon '73 - 2021
Sue Fangel M’09, B’19 - 2022