Steve Dutch

Profile Updated: January 5, 2017
Steve Dutch
Residing In: Green Bay, WI USA
Spouse/Partner: Shawn M. Dutch
Homepage: www.uwgb.edu/dutchs
Occupation: Professor (Geology - now retired)
Children: Chris, born 1977, lives in Phoenix area
Brendan, born 1979. Died February 27, 2016. 3 children: More…Aleyna, Alik and Abby.
Military Service: Army  
Yes! Attending Reunion
Comments:

I lived in Maine until I was 13, then my family moved to California (towing a house trailer - it took three weeks). I finished eighth grade and half my freshman year in Livermore and then entered Sunset in the spring of 1962.

After graduation, I went to Berkeley (1965-1969, no less - the height of the Sixties), majored in geology, and graduated in 1969. After a summer job working in the Klamath Mountains, I went to Columbia University in New York City. I was in the first draft lottery and drew #64, so I knew beyond doubt I was going. I completed a year in grad school and got drafted.

I went to basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington, advanced training in Albuquerque, then was assigned to Turkey at a base just outside Istanbul. I had opportunities to visit Greece, Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany and Italy during my tour, as well as many places in Turkey. Due to the winding down of Vietnam, I was released in February, 1972 after 19 months.

I returned to Columbia, did my thesis research in Canada (I went to Canada after getting drafted - was that doing it wrong?). I also had an opportunity to participate in a research expedition to Antarctica, visiting Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama on the way down and back. While finishing up my research, I met my wife and we were married in August, 1975. We had a unique and never to be repeated chance to watch the Bicentennial Parade of Ships from the World Trade Center on July 4, 1976. I went to work at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in 1976 and got my Ph.D. shortly afterward.

Although I went to two great universities, I came to realize that my time in Turkey had been the greatest educational experience of my life. I had vowed that I was done forever with military Mickey-Mouse, but I found that civilian Mickey-Mouse can be every bit as bad. So after thinking it over for several years, I joined the Army Reserve in 1982. My annual training stints included two visits to Hawaii, ten to Germany, and one to Bulgaria (That freaked me out. I never expected even to see a Bulgarian except in battle, and there I was walking around in Sofia in uniform.)

In 1991 my unit, the 432d Civil Affairs Battalion, was called up for the Gulf War. We went first to Saudi Arabia, then, immediately after the cease fire, to Kuwait. After five weeks we returned to Saudi Arabia and prepared to go home, only to be reassigned to the relief efforts in Kurdistan. We finally got home in June, 1991 after six months. (Compared to what troops, including my unit, have gone through in Iraq and Afghanistan, Desert Storm was a walk in the park). In 1996 we were called up again for six months in the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. While in Bosnia, I got four days R&R in Budapest. For someone who can remember seeing the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 on television, going to Budapest as a member of the U.S. Army was unbelievable. I retired from the Army in 2001 as a master sergeant with 21 years' service. Who'd 'a' thunk it?

I've been at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay since 1976, where I teach various geology courses as well as general education courses on science and society. In 1989 and 1990 I helped co-lead trips to Italy and Greece and in 2007 I assisted with a two week environmental science class in Costa Rica. My wife went with me. The very first night we went on a night hike and she spotted a fer de lance, a very dangerous snake. She was very excited. Okay, maybe not quite the right word. Costa Rica was a great chance to meet all kinds of critters with entirely too many (or too few) legs.

Beginning in 2002 I taught summer courses at the Wheaton College Science Station in the Black Hills and returned in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010. Shawn loves it there - her favorite activity is driving the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park and watching the buffalo. A couple of times we have ended up right in the middle of herds as they cross the road around us. Thrilling, if a bit scary.

I retired from the University in June, 2012.

My wife majored in Spanish but taught deaf sign language for quite a few years. For a long time there was almost nobody for her to speak Spanish to, but the Spanish-speaking population in Green Bay has exploded in the last ten years and she was very busy teaching Spanish classes until she retired. We have a number of close Spanish-speaking friends and some days I've spoken more Spanish than English. (Mine is okay, hers is close to native fluency.)

Of course we're Packer fans. Texas college towns may get fired up but you haven't seen football crazy until you've lived in Green Bay. It was a real thrill coming out to watch the team parade through town after winning Super Bowl XXXI. When they won, we could hear the screaming downtown from our back yard, a mile away. Shawn is actually a bigger fan than I am. We saw Super Bowl XLV with friends and then went downtown to see the celebration. Green Bay has a reputation for being a very sportsmanlike town, and a Super Bowl win in Green Bay means a handful of drunk and disorderlies. (In Oakland or Philadelphia, the riots would still be going on a week later.)

We just finished a pretty ambitious trip, even for us. We went to Florida to see the last shuttle launch. But we got there by way of San Francisco and Los Angeles. We put on over 9000 miles. Here's a link: http://blog.uwgb.edu/inside/index.php/log-news/events/07/11/dutch-photos-space-shuttle/

And another first. I just went to my first ever Sunset reunion. I missed the 5-year reunion because I was in the Army. 10 years came the day I got married (flimsy excuse, I know). The rest I missed because September just didn't work to be away from my job. But now I can finally come. I saw some folks I recognized, and a few who turned out to be different from whom I thought they were. But it was a great time. Also, I checked off a bucket list item by walking the Golden Gate Bridge (for every one I check off, I add several more, so I'm nowhere near the end of the list!)

School Story:

No specific funny stories, but I have fond memories of Stan Miller (math and physics), Jerry Hogerheide (Latin) and Brigitte Ostwald (German). Also salutes to Mr. Shettler (biology), Mr. Turek (Chemistry) and Mr. Kilgore (math). And who can forget the inimitable Mr. Frye in Senior Lit?

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Steve Dutch updated profile. View.
Jan 05, 2017 at 1:17 PM
Steve Dutch added a photo to profile gallery.
Jul 09, 2016 at 2:36 PM
Chilling with some friends, 1975. I'd have dressed nicer if I'd known everyone else would be wearing a tux.
Steve Dutch added a photo to profile gallery.
Jul 09, 2016 at 2:36 PM
My wife Shawn.
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Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:06 AM
Waging the Cold War, Turkey, 1971. Somehow we managed to win anyway.
Posted: Jul 09, 2016 at 2:36 PM
Chilling with some friends, 1975. I'd have dressed nicer if I'd known everyone else would be wearing a tux.
Posted: Jul 09, 2016 at 2:36 PM
My wife Shawn.
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:06 AM
Shawn had a bit of a split personality in 2011. In December 2010 she helped out an an orphanage in Uganda for three weeks. Here she is straddling the equator.
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:06 AM
In August 2011 we went to Europe and she also got to straddle zero longitude in Greenwich.
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:06 AM
Here we are just after the last shuttle launch, with the exhaust plume still in the background.