Class Notes - Sac State Connection - May 2008

1950s                                                                                                                                   
Cordia Chambers Wade, ’55, B.A., Social Work, ’76, M.A., Sociology, is currently serving on the Sacramento County Adult and Aging Commission. She was recently selected as the “Outstanding Woman of Color,” as an educator and advocate for senior and women’s health. The award included recognition from Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Assemblyman Dave Jones. In March, Wade was recognized for leadership and advocacy, and as a “Woman of Inspiration” at the Sacramento Observer’s Black Expo. She was also selected by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health for its Senior Leader’s Project. She and her husband, John, will celebrate 54 years of marriage in June.

1960s
Bill Yurong, ’68, B.S. Physical Education, ’74, M.S., Criminal Justice, Alumni Association Member, spent 35 years as a Sacramento County probation officer working primarily as an armed officer supervising high-risk probationers. He also spent the past 20 years working as a substance abuse counselor with the Bureau of Prisons. He is currently a social worker for St. Francis Home for Children. Yurong is a member of the Sac State Football Hall of Fame. He and his wife live in Sacramento and have four children and five grandchildren.

1970s
Robert Denham, Jr., ’73 B.S., Criminal Justice, Alumni Association Member, has retired after 33 years of service from the Sacramento Sheriff’s office where he attained the rank of chief deputy sheriff. He was elected president of the Northern California Peace Officers Association (NCPOA), an organization of active and retired public safety personnel that provides scholarships to criminal justice majors. Denham now serves as the webmaster of NCPOA (www.NCPOA.net). Sacramento is home for Denham and his wife Sharen Sue.

1980s
Galer Barnes, ’89, M.A., Anthropology, has published her first collection of poetry, Too Deep for Tears, under the pen name of Jane Galer. Barnes signed with a literary agent in 2007 and is working on non-fiction and historical fiction projects. She and her husband, Gene, live in Elk, Calif.

1990s
Surinder Gill-Saeltzer, ’98, B.A. Child Development, ’02, M.A., Multicultural Education, Alumni Association Member, is a clinical supervisor/team leader at the Sacramento Children’s Home. Her Ph.D. is pending with a dissertation titled “My Sikh Mother & I: The Way We Are in America.” She presented it at the Multicultural Oral History Conference held at Sac State in April.

2000s 
Allison Leigh Williams, ’07, B.S., Accountancy and Finance, Alumni Association Member, works for Pacific Ethanol as a cost accountant and will marry on Sept. 25. She is in the middle of leading an initiative with Mothers without Borders to get medical supplies to a neonatal center in Zambia and next year will be traveling to Zambia to assist with the distribution of supplies. Williams resides in Folsom.

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