2005 Clarence
Beckwith Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
Roger D. Kullenberg
Roger
Kullenberg of
Kalamazoo is a journalist whose career
has included being a reporter, editor, and assistant to the
publisher. He spent 34 years with the Kalamazoo Gazette and
5 years at the Muskegon Chronicle. Though retired from full-time
journalism, he continues to write editorials on almost a daily
basis for the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Roger has been recognized with Associated Press awards and has
co-authored two books about the history of Kalamazoo and the
Kalamazoo County Chamber of Commerce.
He got his start in journalism at age 18 with the Benton Harbor
News-Palladium as an assistant sports editor. This was while
he worked on his Associate of Arts degree at Benton Harbor Junior
College, the predecessor of Lake Michigan College. After graduating
from LMC in 1950, Kullenberg went on to Michigan State University
and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He then
served the United States Army until 1956 when he began with
the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Sam Monte
Sam Monte of Riverside is
president and owner of Monte Package Company, a company that
he has taken from being a local agricultural supplier to a national
provider of produce packaging.
Sam's parents established the company in 1925 and in the early
1960s, passed it on to him and his wife, Connie. Sam expanded
the business in 1969 and again in 1990 by establishing allied
companies to Monte Package Company. In 2001, further growth
led to a distribution center in Lakeland, Florida.
In four decades of management, Monte has diversified the operation
from specializing primarily in wood containers to now handling
America's largest line of produce containers and providing many
agricultural packaging-related services.
Sam graduated from LMC with an Associate in Arts degree in 1954
and went on to Michigan State University to earn a Bachelor
of Arts degree.
Demonstrating their commitment to the future of agriculture
through education, Sam and Connie recently established the Tony
and Rose Monte-Monte Package Company Agricultural Scholarship
to provide recipients with full tuition for two years at LMC
and two years at Michigan State University in an agriculture-related
major.
2005 Alumni Service Award Recipient
Mary Koch Goff
Mary
Goff has
served on the St. Joseph City Commission since 1986. She was
elected by the Commission as the first female mayor of St. Joseph,
a position she has held for seven years.
With a strong commitment to our area's diversity awareness,
Mary has reached out to the residents of Benton Harbor through
her position as mayor, involving not only its governmental units
but by promoting youth activities. Her work has been recognized
by the Twin Cities Area Business and Professional Women's Club,
the Twin Cities Hall of Fame, U.S. Congressman Fred Upton, and
Business Review West Michigan.
Mary's professional career has included being a speech therapist
in the St. Joseph Public School District. In 1993 she earned
her Associate in Applied Science degree from Lake Michigan College
and embarked on a career as a registered nurse. Currently, Mary
co-owns, with her children, the Roy H. Liskey Insurance Agency.
Mary is a board member for St. Joseph Today, the Alliance for
World-Class Communities, and Lory's Place, a division of Hospice.
She is a member of the CWCC Government Domain, and the Berrien
County Solid Waste Committee.
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