News Archives - 2012

Alums find "Thunder" in the Augsburg Now

For the Spring 2012 issue of the Augsburg Now magazine, photographer Stephen Geffre shared a photo and some interesting factoids about the Augsburg grounds crew student break room. The magazine hit many alumni mailboxes last week, and the "personality of place" piece caught the eye of the family of Ryan Forsberg '01.

Forsberg emailed Geffre:

I recently was made aware that our beloved mannequin has found a home. Though not where we left her (our spot was hidden but alas she was found), I'm glad to see she has been spared a life at the land fill. While [she was] not really my mannequin, but rather my roommate's [Andy Akenson], I ask thee one huge favor. Though gone from our lives, she is remembered in our hearts. Share her real name to those that love her now. Let it be known her name was Thunder!

Forsberg and Akenson asked if they could make a brass name tag to hang on the wall near Thunder, and Geffre kindly passed the email to Bruce Rowe, Augsburg's groundskeeper, and Kyle Koele '12, the grounds crew student supervisor.

Forsberg then provided the full story about Thunder, the mannequin in the corner:

When we left Augsburg college in summer of 2001, we knew that it would be a grave injustice to throw away Thunder. No longer students, she couldn't didn't quite fit the decor of our post college domiciles. So instead we hid her wondering if she would ever be found.

Many months later we shared our story with a fellow Augsburg student by the name of Matt Gregorson, as he knew we left her on campus to be found one day. We never knew if he pulled her from her hiding spot, but we did eventually return to New Hall (now known as Luther Hall). Sure enough she was no longer there, and probably sensing her destruction we took a moment of solace and there the story ended.

Until the latest issue of Augsburg Now [arrived and] friends and family took notice of a mannequin that resembled our lost dorm ornament now enshrined in her new location. We're glad she's found a home and was spared from the fate we thought inevitable.

Andy and I would love to sponsor a plaque for our beloved Thunder. We can cover any and all expenses of said plaque so that her name is known to all.

Thanks guys for sharing that story and for giving the mannequin a name!

Read more about Thunder and the grounds crew student break room on pages 28-29 of the Spring 2012 Augsburg Now.