Colby Eagles Alumni Association
Copyright Colby Eagles Alumni Association @ 2014
The following CHS Alumni have submitted life updates.  Please contact us to add your own information.
Dana Lupton Hemminger - Class of 2000    
I graduated in 2000, and I have recently published a book entitled "Reflections from Holland:  A New Mother's Journey with Down Syndrome".  It is available on amazon.com.  My husband and I have two children, and our first-born, Benjamin, was born with Down Syndrome and numerous health complications.  We have learned and grown so much since having him, and I wanted to share our story to encourage other families facing similar challenges.

News on Colby Alumni 
Copyright Colby Eagles Alumni Association @ 2014
Gary Chaffin - Class of 1955

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I decided to let you know how my life was blessed to be in the right place at the right time.  

My first year in college I attended Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.  I then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.  In Minneapolis I attended a large church which had a choir that had an ongoing TV program.  I was asked to sing in the choir that performed on a regular basis.

I also enrolled at North Central University.  While attending college, I went to work for Westinghouse.  I started at the lowest position in the company and worked my way up to become a department manager.  I finally worked in their power systems sales group.  We were involved in the sales of major power generation at two large facilities.

The church where I was a member elected me to the board.  I was the youngest person ever elected to the board of that church.  Then for four years I traveled throughout the U.S. doing fund raising and public relations for two large missionary organizations.  I was asked to serve on the board of various ministries and was chairman of the board of two of those.  

The accomplishment that is most recent is this.  A friend asked me to help fill up a small truck with food products which we used to begin a food shelf.  In less than 10 years we were able to see the food shelf grow to where we now distribute one million pounds of grocery products each month in rural Minnesota and Wisconsin.  It's impressive to see long lines of people in the dead of winter waiting to get their portion from the food shelf.

Samuel Ramey - Class of 1960

Sam Ramey is appearing in La Boheme beginning on March 15th in a cameo role with the Dallas Opera.
Submitted in 2019

​James and Winona Townsend - Faculty

Thank you for continuing to invite us to the Colby reunion - it was our first 2 years of marriage that we were with you.  Jim went back to KU the summer of 1951, finishing his masters in 1952.  He was principal in Burlington and Caney, and we moved in 1955 to Overland Park where he worked the remainder of his career for the Shawnee Mission school district and retired in 1984.  We are now in a retirement complex in Lenexa and aging as "gracefully" as possible.  One of our daughters lives about 60 miles south and the other is in St. Louis.  There are 2 grandchildren there in St. Louis.  The granddaughter there is married.  Here in the KC area, our grandson is being married in January.  

We have celebrated 70 years of marriage, with our daughters holding an open house party in August.  This is a lovely place to live with 3 high rises and many cottages with apartments where we are.  We have had trips with our girls as they were young, enjoying many national parks, went through the Panama Canal, and one trip to Europe in our older years and are settled here.  I was 79 when we came, and Jim was 82.  We've graduated to 91 & 94 - living our best but, of course, slowing down.  We have wonderful busing on campus & use it for many activities, including our main meal in the evening.  

Thank you again for letting us know about your reunions.  We did attend Jim's 25th and my 25th through 59th in Coffeyville.  

Sincerely, Winona Townsend 
Submitted in 2019


Annette Hutfles Boardman - Class of 1979
Annette had her artwork on display at the Prairie Museum of Art & History during the summer of 2020.
Ella Jane McLean-Hafer - Class of 1939
Our mother, Ella Jane McLean-Hafer, celebrated her 100th birthday this past April 16th.  She was a member of the Colby High School Class of 1938; but before the graduation took place, she got a ride to Twin Falls, Idaho to visit her sister and husband and decided to stay in Idaho.  She completed her studies and graduated from the Jerome High School in 1939.  To this day, she still treasures her 2 yearbooks and her many friends from both schools.  Her picture appears in both yearbooks.  Her sister, Vivian, graduated from Colby around 1934 and her brother, Gilbert, from Colby in 1937 or 1938.  During WW2, Gilbert survived the sinking of the USS Lexington and lived a long and wonderful life.  Vivian and her husband lived and retired in Boise, Idaho.  They were a wonderful family and often traveled to Colby to visit family and friends.  In 1939 just after graduation, Jane married George E Hafer in Twin Falls and they were married 66 years.  Since his passing, she has chosen to live in the Valley View Retirement Community in Boise.  She is going strong, and despite a few health issues is looking forward to her future.  She really wanted to attend the reunion, but decided it probably wasn't the best idea.  Submitted in May, 2021.