Miss-Delectable
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http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/living/13435230.htm
Patrick Schloss met his first wife, Cindy, "right outside Room 102, the Home Economics Room, at Crete-Monee High School" in Crete, Ill.
He and Cindy were both 16. They married at 19.
She was "the only girl I ever dated, the only girl I ever kissed," remembers the Northern State president. They were married for 30 years.
"And then very, very, very sadly she passed away a year and a half ago," Schloss says. Cindy was a victim of colon cancer in 2003, on the day she would have turned 50.
"It was horrible, just the worst thing in the world," Schloss says. "And extra tough because it came at the same time that all the kids left."
Their oldest child, Patrick, went off to the University of Wisconsin to be a research scientist. The middle child, Becca, moved to Washington, D.C., to be an accountant. The youngest, Tarah, was still in college.
Difficult time
Schloss felt as if he'd lost everyone.
"And then, lo and behold, we through our life had one very dear friend who had never been married and she was in fact the godmother of our youngest daughter," he said.
Maureen Smith had been a doctoral student of Schloss' and a fellow faculty See FAMILY, Page 5 C
Family
Thankful for blessings
member. "She and I had written four or five books together." Cindy and Maureen had co-written several books. The three of them also collaborated on three books.
When Cindy was receiving hospice care, Maureen spent many hours caring for her. After Cindy's death, Maureen delivered the eulogy at two funerals and wrote a salute to her in a professional journal. After Cindy passed away, "the kids gathered around and they said, 'Well, Mom would let you marry only one person, and it would be Maureen.'"
At the time, Maureen was a full professor and special assistant to the chair of the Department of Exceptional Education at Buffalo State College, part of the State University of New York system.
He and Maureen, a Buffalo native, married just before Schloss became Northern's president on June 1, 2004.
"Now I can clearly say I've only dated two people, and only kissed two people. And if God had a plan it would probably be that I'd be so lucky as to have two people that were as patient and tolerant and had similar values and all of that as I would have."
Works in Sioux Falls
Maureen, 51, is now superintendent of the South Dakota School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls. Because she makes it to so many activities in Aberdeen, a lot of people don't realize she spends the week in Sioux Falls, said NSU director of university relations Brenda Dreyer. Maureen not only attends many Northern State functions, she organizes them, Dreyer said.
Maureen leaves Aberdeen early Mondays, at about 6 a.m. Then on Fridays, she leaves Sioux Falls at 2 or 3 p.m., typically arriving in Aberdeen by about 7.
Like her husband, Maureen Schloss holds a doctorate. She is "trained at the highest level of her craft," he noted. She uses sign language as well as if she were deaf, he noted.
Although she enjoys her Aberdeen duties, Schloss said he admires his wife because her dual roles create stress. But "she really doesn't want to be my anything," he said. "She embraces the role as the wife of the president and those duties. But she doesn't want to do it as a host. She wants to contribute to the state of South Dakota in a way that she's uniquely qualified to do that.
"She was asked to serve as a leadership position for the School for the Deaf and she really didn't have a choice. She had to say yes just because of her own background and upbringing. And now we're trying to make it work as best as we can."
Used to golf
When Patrick Schloss' kids were growing up, he golfed a lot with them. During times of heavy play, he could get his handicap down to about 2.
The three kids all lettered in golf. Patrick, 29, just accepted a position on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has a doctorate in biological engineering from Cornell University. Before transferring to Cornell, he played golf at Lindenwood University in Missouri.
Becca, 25, played golf at the University of Notre Dame. She is now a managing accountant with Price Waterhouse Coopers in Washington, D.C., and is engaged to be married.
Tarah, 21, qualified for the NCAA golf championships three times in four years, and has a zero handicap. After a year at Wake Forest, she transferred to St. Francis University of Pennsylvania. The owner of a degree in computer science, she is working as a computer network operator in Pennsylvania.
Since moving to Aberdeen, Schloss has not played a full round of golf. "This university president is really needed on campus," he says.
Now hunting
However, he's found a new hobby. "We've taken up hunting in a big way." Unlike a round of golf, which can take several hours, you can go out hunting for 15 or 20 minutes in any weather at any time of day, he said.
"Maureen is thrilled that this year she shot a goose, a pheasant, a prairie dog" and a duck, said Schloss, who used to hunt for deer in Pennsylvania.
"Thus far we haven't connected on a deer," he said. "But it might happen."
Patrick Schloss met his first wife, Cindy, "right outside Room 102, the Home Economics Room, at Crete-Monee High School" in Crete, Ill.
He and Cindy were both 16. They married at 19.
She was "the only girl I ever dated, the only girl I ever kissed," remembers the Northern State president. They were married for 30 years.
"And then very, very, very sadly she passed away a year and a half ago," Schloss says. Cindy was a victim of colon cancer in 2003, on the day she would have turned 50.
"It was horrible, just the worst thing in the world," Schloss says. "And extra tough because it came at the same time that all the kids left."
Their oldest child, Patrick, went off to the University of Wisconsin to be a research scientist. The middle child, Becca, moved to Washington, D.C., to be an accountant. The youngest, Tarah, was still in college.
Difficult time
Schloss felt as if he'd lost everyone.
"And then, lo and behold, we through our life had one very dear friend who had never been married and she was in fact the godmother of our youngest daughter," he said.
Maureen Smith had been a doctoral student of Schloss' and a fellow faculty See FAMILY, Page 5 C
Family
Thankful for blessings
member. "She and I had written four or five books together." Cindy and Maureen had co-written several books. The three of them also collaborated on three books.
When Cindy was receiving hospice care, Maureen spent many hours caring for her. After Cindy's death, Maureen delivered the eulogy at two funerals and wrote a salute to her in a professional journal. After Cindy passed away, "the kids gathered around and they said, 'Well, Mom would let you marry only one person, and it would be Maureen.'"
At the time, Maureen was a full professor and special assistant to the chair of the Department of Exceptional Education at Buffalo State College, part of the State University of New York system.
He and Maureen, a Buffalo native, married just before Schloss became Northern's president on June 1, 2004.
"Now I can clearly say I've only dated two people, and only kissed two people. And if God had a plan it would probably be that I'd be so lucky as to have two people that were as patient and tolerant and had similar values and all of that as I would have."
Works in Sioux Falls
Maureen, 51, is now superintendent of the South Dakota School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls. Because she makes it to so many activities in Aberdeen, a lot of people don't realize she spends the week in Sioux Falls, said NSU director of university relations Brenda Dreyer. Maureen not only attends many Northern State functions, she organizes them, Dreyer said.
Maureen leaves Aberdeen early Mondays, at about 6 a.m. Then on Fridays, she leaves Sioux Falls at 2 or 3 p.m., typically arriving in Aberdeen by about 7.
Like her husband, Maureen Schloss holds a doctorate. She is "trained at the highest level of her craft," he noted. She uses sign language as well as if she were deaf, he noted.
Although she enjoys her Aberdeen duties, Schloss said he admires his wife because her dual roles create stress. But "she really doesn't want to be my anything," he said. "She embraces the role as the wife of the president and those duties. But she doesn't want to do it as a host. She wants to contribute to the state of South Dakota in a way that she's uniquely qualified to do that.
"She was asked to serve as a leadership position for the School for the Deaf and she really didn't have a choice. She had to say yes just because of her own background and upbringing. And now we're trying to make it work as best as we can."
Used to golf
When Patrick Schloss' kids were growing up, he golfed a lot with them. During times of heavy play, he could get his handicap down to about 2.
The three kids all lettered in golf. Patrick, 29, just accepted a position on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has a doctorate in biological engineering from Cornell University. Before transferring to Cornell, he played golf at Lindenwood University in Missouri.
Becca, 25, played golf at the University of Notre Dame. She is now a managing accountant with Price Waterhouse Coopers in Washington, D.C., and is engaged to be married.
Tarah, 21, qualified for the NCAA golf championships three times in four years, and has a zero handicap. After a year at Wake Forest, she transferred to St. Francis University of Pennsylvania. The owner of a degree in computer science, she is working as a computer network operator in Pennsylvania.
Since moving to Aberdeen, Schloss has not played a full round of golf. "This university president is really needed on campus," he says.
Now hunting
However, he's found a new hobby. "We've taken up hunting in a big way." Unlike a round of golf, which can take several hours, you can go out hunting for 15 or 20 minutes in any weather at any time of day, he said.
"Maureen is thrilled that this year she shot a goose, a pheasant, a prairie dog" and a duck, said Schloss, who used to hunt for deer in Pennsylvania.
"Thus far we haven't connected on a deer," he said. "But it might happen."
