The American Overseas Schools Historical Society is managed by a volunteer board of directors. Our current board is as follows:
Frank Roehl
President (Executive Committee)
Frank E. Roehl received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education & Coaching from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1970) and his Masters in Human Services Delivery in Education Administration from Boston University (1983). Frank retired from DoDEA in July 2018 after 48 years of Federal Service. He served as the Superintendent of Schools for the DoDEA Europe West District, Superintendent of the Isles District and Heidelberg District, Assistant Superintendent of the Bavaria District, Assistant Superintendent and Acting Superintendent of the Heidelberg District, DoDDS Middle Level Coordinator, and a principal, assistant principal, classroom teacher, and coach at elementary through high school levels with assignments in Germany and Turkey. Frank served as the Germany Vice President and DoDDS Worldwide President of the Federal Managers Association, Chapter 135, for four years.
Mr. Roehl is a “military brat,” attending 13 different schools in grades K–12 and experiencing his father’s two unaccompanied tours while his father served in Korea and Vietnam. He served as a US Army commissioned field artillery officer on active duty and in the reserve forces in Germany prior to and during his teaching career. He was a member of the United States Reserve Europe Marksmanship Team representing the US in competitions throughout Europe.
Frank and his wife, Margy, a retired DoDEA teacher and Information Specialist for 46 years, live in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Together, they raised two children who attended DoDEA schools K–12, and both graduated from Heidelberg High School. Brian is working as a government civilian employee at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Aileen, recently with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City, is in Stuttgart, Germany with her Navy helicopter pilot husband.
Frank’s hobbies are traveling, “tinkering” with his 1995 BMW M3 and 1966 Austin Healey 3000 Mark III and enjoying his free time!
Jamey Hansen
Secretary (Executive Committee)
Jamey graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in NAS Sigonella, Sicily in 1992. He and his wife Julie, who also graduated from Sigonella, went to Iowa State University. With a degree in elementary education, Jamey’s career focused on technology and innovation in K12 and higher education. He is a graduate of University of Minnesota’s Management of Technology (MOT) masters program, with its emphasis in strategic technological leadership and studies in forecasting, innovation management, new product development and analysis of cultural, socioeconomic, and political structures as they relate to international business. Currently he is the Chief Strategic Innovation Officer for the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota where he leads a team of research consultants, instructional designers, digital media specialists, business analysts, technologists, and strategic planners. Jamey has integrated a study of participatory leadership and facilitation to lead change initiatives in complex higher education cultures.
Jamey comes from a family of educators. His father is former DoDEA teacher and administrator and AOSHS Board member Joel Hansen. His mother managed the DoDEA budget. His sister Andy, after time in the Air Force, is a head teacher in Waterloo, Iowa. His other sister Abby is a philosophy professor at Wartburg College. His veterinarian wife is an instructor and director of a veterinary technician program at Northwood Technical College. Both his grandmothers were elementary teachers and perhaps his kids (Ella, 19, and Ben, 16) will continue the trend.
Jamey facilitated the AOSHS Board’s September strategic retreat in 2021 and was invited to join the board in January 2023. He took on the role of Secretary in June 2023.
Ron Harrison
Treasurer (Executive Committee)
Ron was raised in Kansas and graduated from Kansas State University in 1968. He joined the Air Force and his first assignment was in Berlin, Germany. He and his wife, Glenna, were stationed there for 3 years before returning to the states in 1972. Glenna taught for 2½ years in the Berlin American High School and Ron was assistant basketball coach for the 1971-72 season.
After returning to the states, Ron worked in Missouri and Illinois before returning to Wichita, Kansas. After retiring in 2011 Ron was called to work at the AOSHS office as an Archivist and has improved both the physical appearance of the building and accomplished the daunting task of organizing the storage of many AOSHS archive boxes. Glenna also volunteered her time to assist in the inventorying of the boxes.
Ron and Glenna now reside in Manhattan, Kansas, and Ron serves as Treasurer for the organization. He also works remotely to input box inventories into AOSHS office records.
Linda L. Connelly
Linda was raised in Granite City, Illinois, a town just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. After high school, she attended Eastern Illinois University. In 1977, she backpacked through Europe and met several DoDDS teachers. Upon returning home, she immediately applied to DoDDS. At that time, Linda was an active member of the Granite City Business and Professional Women’s Club (BPW). An avid speaker, Linda won the organization’s “Speak Off” and went on to win the Illinois BPW “Speak Off” competition. Shortly before departing for Germany and being hired by DoDDS, Linda won the National BPW Speak Off in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Linda worked with DoDDS from 1978–2010. During her three decades of work with DoDDS, she worked in Germany, Bahrain, mainland Japan, Okinawa, and Guam. Linda earned a master’s degree from the University of South Florida, taught English and Social Studies, and served as a Library/Information Specialist, Assistant Principal, and Principal. In the early 1990s, Linda was actively involved with PTA, serving locally on PTA boards, and as European PTSA (ECAPTS) President. She also served on the National PTA Board of Directors.
In 2004, Linda was recognized by the National Association of Secondary School Principals as DoDEA Principal of the Year. In 2017, Linda was asked to help with updating the AOSHS Membership records.
Linda met and married Michael Connelly while working in Germany. They are now retired in Honolulu, Hawaii. One of their annual travel highlights is attending the DoDDS Reunion, where they reconnect with friends…and make new ones!
Mary VanDeventer
AOSHS Quarterly Publication
Mary began her DoDEA career as a substitute teacher at Kaiserslautern American High School in 1979. The next two school years found her at Baumholder American High School and Sembach Elementary / Junior High School. She made her way back to Kaiserslautern High School, then transferred to Naples High School when her active-duty husband retired. She was fortunate enough to also spend time in the Pacific region, teaching at Lester Middle School and Nile C. Kinnick High School. She eventually made her way back to Germany, spending the last thirteen of her thirty-eight years in DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity) at Vilseck High School. She has taught English, music, drama, yearbook, journalism, and social studies.
Mary attended Ball State University, earned her Bachelor of Art in English at Trenton State College, and her Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at National Louis University.
Since her retirement in 2021, Mary and her husband (also a retired DoDEA teacher) have spent time travelling to visit family and friends, returning to Europe several times. Their daughter, son, and daughter in law are all Kinnick High School graduates. One granddaughter is currently a DoDEA “Brat” enrolled at Vicenza Elementary.
Mary and her husband Steve currently reside in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Amy Zender
BRAT Membership
Amy, a proud Army Brat, had three tours in Germany before ultimately graduating from Stuttgart American High School in 1991, also attending Ludwigsburg Middle School. In her first eighteen years, Amy attended nine schools, moving eleven times.
She studied German and International Studies at San Diego State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1999.
She currently serves as Vice President for the Stuttgart American Schools Alumni Association (SASAA) and is head of the regional Brats group for the Pacific Northwest. She brings with her an eagerness to celebrate the military and third culture child.
Currently, Amy lives just south of the Canadian border with her husband, a former Marine fighter pilot turned commercial airline pilot, of nearly thirty years; she’s adjusting to a new empty nest with her two large dogs. Amy is underway in writing her first book, about her veteran father and is creating a podcast on the loss of the military parent, exploring the depths of the accompanying grief. In her spare time, you’ll find Amy gardening, playing the piano, planning her next European vacation, journaling, decorating, or trying new recipes.