1980s
1980s
80 Congratulations
Father Joe Uhen received the prestigious Dr. Thomas A. Dooley Award conferred on an alumnus/alumna who has exhibited outstanding service to humankind. Padre Joe has been the pastor and only priest serving at Santisimo Sacremento Parish in Piura, Peru for more than 20 years. Padre Joe is also our Class chaplain. Reunion 2015 will be June 4-7. Please let us know if you want to help in any way. Joe Carey is reprising his role as chair, and Ellen Dorney Colyer, Paul D’Alessandro and Leo Latz will be helping with our Class gift. Kevin Shaughnessy, a partner at BakerHostetler, has received the Tom Ahlers System Building Award from the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals for his work rebuilding CareerSource Central Florida. Martha McLean Whittaker accepted a new English teaching position in Boca Raton FL. Husband Brent is working as a PGA Golf Pro in South Florida. They will travel to Cascade CO to see son John Whittaker ’13 make his initial vows to the Holy Cross Order. John plans to return to ND to obtain his master’s in divinity. Paul Stauder’s daughter Lauren graduated in May and will go to work at Whirlpool in Benton Harbor. She’s getting married in the Basilica Oct. 3, 2015. Sue Barry and daughter Julia Kohn ’13 made a service trip to Haiti. They spent a day with the Notre Dame Haiti Program, which is working to eradicate lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis). Sue visited with Beth Schweitzer in San Francisco. They didn’t meet while at ND but bonded when serving as Peace Corps volunteers in Togo, West Africa. Beth is a doctor and lives in Oakland CA with one daughter in her freshman year at Mount Holyoke College. Husband Gary Kohn and Sue attended their daughter’s graduation in 2013. Classmates with children in the class of 2013 included Susan (Sebold) Geraghty, Barb and Tom Maurath, Paula Shea, Tara Begley, and Bob Navarre. Sue thinks we had more than 40 classmates with graduates in the Class of ’13. She ran into Caroline and Bill Wetterer and Steve Carew at a game last fall, and she sees Sheli and Peter Sullivan often. Sue went to her first-ever away game in Dallas for the Shamrock Series against Arizona State, with Mary (Massman) and Tim Rooney, Mary (Ryan) and Jim O’Hare, Kate McGuire, MaryClare (Heraty) and Pat Birmingham, and Ellen (Schenkel) and Allen Rupple. Mike Decker retired from the Department of Defense after 31 years. Mike is on the adjunct faculty at Georgetown.
Horizon Pharma has named Bob Carey executive VP and chief business officer. Bob does deals. Lynn Joyce Hunter sends greetings from Leuven, Belgium. Her husband, David Hunter ’86 PhD (theology), was granted an extended sabbatical leave from his faculty position at the U of Kentucky, which has enabled the empty-nesters to spend a year in Leuven after a shorter one-semester stay in Budapest, Hungary. They will be in Belgium the rest of the 2014 calendar year. Their adult sons, Greg and Bobby, joined them for a wonderful Christmas holiday in Budapest. Although Lynn left her job as a clinical social worker (psychotherapist) in Lexington, she expects to return to work in 2015. In the meantime, she’s been a contributor to the Washington Post blog She the People, which was developed and originally anchored by Melinda Henneberger. Lynn and David planned to spend time in Rome in June, and retrace the steps from the Hotel Tiziano to the Via Argentina and raise a glass to Lynn’s Rome Program cohorts of 1977-78. John Hoffman says that having had all three sons graduate from ND (Patrick ’07, Bryan ’10 and Mike ’10) prompted him and wife Polly (Wiegand) to publish a book, Thank You For Notre Dame. The book is a collection of traditions, customs and memories associated with the student experience at ND. It is published by Mascot Books. — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu; www.notredame80@groups.facebook.com
80MBA Class Secretary — Doug Cooper; SuntUbi@aol.com;
80JD Ready for Next Year
Our 35th Reunion is June 4 to 7, 2015. Mark your calendars now. Should we consider a hotel with blocks of rooms? I hope you can make it, although many of you will have family events and be elsewhere. There is another high school graduation for me. How about a “Reunion Captain” to help make it terrific? We are looking for volunteers. Please send your news and volunteer for our 35th reunion. Love to all. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com
81 Class Secretary — Lee Ann McLaughlin;
849 Douglas Ave., Elgin IL 60120; 847-636-1964; LeeAnnMcLaughlin@alumni.ND.edu
81MBA Cleaning Out the Nests
Thanks to those who dropped notes for the column. The rest of you, please remember that people want to know what you’re up to, so let us know. Tim and Susan (Barbacane) Leopold are still in Kingwood TX running their trucking logistics company in their big, empty house. Susan is on the Career Advisory Board and was in Chicago in May for a meeting, where she has personally taken on the mantle of improving the B-school’s rankings. Mary and Chris Grant checked in from Philadelphia and will be on campus for son Christopher’s graduation. He’s off to Textron in Augusta GA in a marketing position in either the EZ Go Golf Cart or Bad Boy ATV division. Daughter April is teaching in Philadelphia, Anne is working on a PhD, and Claire is a sophomore in college. Mary and Chris celebrated 25 years of marriage last year. Chris is a principals investment analyst with Exelon, overseeing $6 billion in pension investment assets for ComEd and Philadelphia Electric. Mary and Lorne Leichty are in Heath TX, outside Dallas, where Lorne was just elected to his second term as mayor and is a partner in the law firm Liechty & McGinnis PC, in Dallas. They are officially empty-nesters and just welcomed their sixth grandchild. Janice and Jay Milendar are south of Boston in Foxboro where he is the director of sales for Lampin Corp. Sheila ’80SMC and Steve Simmerman are in the Phoenix area where Steve golfs with his working and married children and runs marketing for a logistics software company out of Boston. He’s on the road every week but made time to attend the Blue-Gold Game and ran the Pat Tillman 4.2 race with son Kip and daughter Stefanie ’12SMC. He and Sheila are off for a couple of weeks in Carlsbad CA in July. Steve asked to let everyone know to get in touch if you’ll be at the ASU game so he can plan a massive tailgate. Stacy and Joe Sopcich are in Overland Park KS where Dr. Joe is president of Johnson County Community College. Poor Stacy had some pretty crappy spinal fusion therapy, is working through the PT and is thankfully feeling better. Son Eli is in Manhattan working as an experiential web designer and daughter Kate is finishing at Kansas U in three years with degrees in Latin American Studies and Gender Studies. She’s off for summer classes at Universidad de Chile. Last summer she spent six weeks on the Miskito Coast in Nicaragua learning and speaking Miskito and studying the culture. Grad school beckons. Joe was in Chicago in April and got together with Brother Leo Ryan, who he reports is doing very well. Kathy and Bob Weidner just celebrated a quarter century in Barrington IL and will celebrate their 29th anniversary in August. Daughter Lauren is a senior paralegal at Winston & Strawn in Chicago, Rob graduated from DePauw University in May with a computer science major and media arts minor, and Matt finished his first year at the U of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is returning to the states to find a college here in the spring. Barb and I have settled into the Connecticut house, which thankfully Abby loves. She’s doing great herding her cats and chatting with her pals. Ted’s on the way to Iowa Law in the fall, and Colin transferred from Boston U School of Music to Berkeley College of Music in Boston and is doing great. Girlfriend Christa Gniadek and Colin are touring with her new CD and will be in NYC, DC and the Philadelphia area, so go see ’em. Keep those emails coming, please. — E.J. Fleming; 600 Hall Hill Road, Somers CT 06071; 860-749-7261; flemingiv@aol.com
81JD Notes for Summer
In April, John Fitzpatrick gave a presentation titled, “Taking Down Plaintiff’s Experts,” at the DRI conference in Phoenix. Jean and I had dinner with Fitz while he was in Phoenix. Fitz reports that fellow Denver resident Brian Donovan is retired from the Denver School Department and is playing a lot of golf. Brian’s wife, Indrani, is getting her PhD in London, giving Brian an excuse to go to England. Fitz also says that Ed and Diane Blieszner’s daughter, Ann Marie ’14, graduated from ND in May. Speaking of being retired and visiting a spouse who is working overseas, Bill Fearnow had the chance to visit his wife, Betsy, who has been working in New Delhi, India, on an assignment for IBM. Next up for Bill is a trip to London, while Betsy is there attending meetings relating to her possibly working for IBM in London for a year or two.
Lorie Masters has switched law firms. She recently joined Perkins Coie’s Washington DC office as partner in the firm’s insurance recovery group. Lorie was mentioned in the Jan. 6, National Law Journal “Pro Bono Hot List” article. Lorie and other lawyers at Jenner & Block successfully represented, obtained and collected a $1 million judgment against a Tanzanian diplomat in a human-trafficking case. Bob Allen has opened a second office in Palm Beach FL to go along with his office in Miami, which is “going full bore.” Also relating to classmates who are practicing in Florida, Brian McDonough’s daughter, Morgan, just accepted a federal clerkship offer from the Honorable Robert Scola in the southern district of Florida. His daughter, Jane, who recently graduated from Barnard, will be attending graduate school at Parsons School of Design in New York City. And, daughter number three, Madison, just signed a professional ballet contract with Los Angeles Ballet. Brian still works at Stearns Weaver Miller in Miami, where he sits on the executive committee and chairs the firm’s real estate practice group. Jim Blasé already has his tickets for the FSU game in Tallahassee in October, and he looks forward to seeing classmates there, especially those living in Georgia and Florida. Nancy (Helling) Gargula (Region 8) and Maureen Hurley (Region 18) met at the Law School on April 11 for the spring meeting of the Notre Dame Law Association. Both serve on the newly created Alumni Outreach Committee with the objective of facilitating the formation of the Notre Dame Lawyer Committees across the county. The Notre Dame Lawyer Committees are being established under the umbrellas of the Notre Dame Clubs across the country. The ND Lawyer Committees have the dual purpose of providing local support for ND, Saint Mary’s and ND Law School alums in the legal profession and cultivate a spirit of cooperation and camaraderie among them; and to provide an organized and accessible legal network for programming, employment opportunities and support. If you are interested in helping with this in your community, please contact Nancy or Maureen who will pass along your interest to your NDLA Representative. If you’ve heard about a ND Lawyer Committee being formed in your community, please get involved. And if you live in a community that does not have a ND Club but you would like to learn of events being held by the ND Lawyer Committees in other communities near you, please let Nancy or Maureen know of your interest. Personally, in keeping with my long-time retirement dream of spending the fall in South Bend attending all ND home football games, Jean and I purchased a home in Mishawaka only 10 minutes from the football stadium. I finally get to use all of the season tickets that I have been buying (and giving away) the past 10 years. Lastly, I am proud to announce that my daughter, Katie ’09, was married to Tim Shinnick ’09 in March. Tim and Katie live in Chicago, and Jean will say the new house is so we can be close to them (and future grandkids). God bless and Go Irish. — Michael Palumbo; 3799 East Peachtree Drive, Chandler AZ 85249; res 480-284-4004; bus 602-262-5931; mpalumbo@jsslaw.com
82 Memorable Character
I would like to dedicate this column to our friend and classmate, Lt. Cmdr. Rand McNally.
Rand grew up in Northbrook IL the sixth of 10 children of Margaret and Dr. Randall McNally, a prominent plastic surgeon. He graduated from Glenbrook North High School in 1978, where he was captain of the track team and played varsity hockey. Four years later, he graduated with honors with a degree in government after living in Alumni Hall. It was no surprise that the Marines recruited McNally in college and trained him at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia as a pilot. He was commissioned in Indianapolis, one day after his graduation. His radio moniker was a takeoff on the name he shares with the popular map company: Atlas. For six years, including an 18-month tour of the Persian Gulf, he got to know the Intruder, an all-weather attack plane based on aircraft carriers. In 1987, he had a near death experience and was forced to make an emergency landing. He survived, in his mind, because he knew his family was behind him. In 1987, Rand got a job as a co-pilot of 727s and 737s for Delta Airlines, flying out of O’Hare before moving to LA. As a reserve pilot for the Navy, he won several awards for flying and leadership abilities. A few years later, McNally met PJ McShane, former Ice Capades skater, and fell in love immediately, proposing to her a few years later on a family ski vacation. Later that year he won a bet (a one-time event for him) and used the proceeds to set up a trust fund for his nephew who had been diagnosed with leukemia. On April 5, 1994, Rand’s life was soaring. As he climbed into the cockpit on an A-6E Intruder near the San Francisco Bay, he was on top of the world. As he taxied his jet on Runway 31 at Alameda Naval Air Station, he was unaware that he’d achieved yet another goal: A letter notifying him that he had passed the state bar exam was in the mail. As the sun struggled to break through the clouds, two Navy jets zooming overhead drew the attention of dozens of ironworkers eating lunch beside the bay. Suddenly Rand’s two-seater seemed to fly out of control and became obscured in huge walls of water as it crashed into the bay. Observers say that his last heroic act was to delay ejecting in order to steer his stricken jet away from a sailboat on the bay. He was six weeks away from being married. A tree grows in his honor in front of Alumni Hall. Rand, we are in awe of your accomplishments. At 33, you left us at the pinnacle of your career. We are proud to call you our classmate and a friend. Keep an eye on us and cheer for Old Notre Dame. Leslie Murphy ’82SMC has a connection with Randy. Leslie thanks Randy for introducing her to her husband, Steve Murphy, a high school friend of Randy’s. She says, “Randy had an amazing ability to generate excitement in just about anything he did including, among others, exotic ways to order a hot dog at the Great American Hot Dog Stand. He will always be remembered for his zest for life, his strong work ethic and his ability to consistently surprise and confound those who were fortunate enough to know him.” PJ McShane said, “He was just so good to me. There was no one else like him. He was perfect.” Mark Rader, teacher, said, “He was one of the best. Always the life and the energy of the squadron and that overflowed to others. Losing him is devastating.” — Dave and Tess Lewis; 30 Battle Ridge Road, Morris Plains NJ 07950; cell 973-219-4050; bloomie711@gmail.com or dave@lewislegal.com
82MBA Class Secretary — Renee S. Cooper;
630-850-9707; reneemsr@aol.com
82JD Mr. Smith Goes to Minnesota
Tim Abeska, Tim Nickels and John Smith taught their semiannual Trial Ad class at the Law School in March. John took Dick Goehler’s place on this team and paid a very nice tribute to Dick as he has done every year since Dick’s death in 2011. The trio enjoyed a dinner at the Carriage House after the class, accompanied by Tim’s daughter, Grace, and John’s son, Patrick, who are ND undergrads. I saw Cele (Glacy) and Bruce Baty, Liz (Medina) Imhoff and Tim Nickels at the NDLA Board meeting in April. John Smith attended Jane Lynch’s son’s wedding in Minneapolis in January. He said it was a grand affair despite the brisk Minnesota weather. Professor Bob Rhodes was due to retire from the Law School at the end of the 2014 school year. Professor Rhodes taught at the Law School since 1956. As many of you know, 20 years ago Ed McNally’s younger brother, Lt. Cmdr. Rand McNally ’82, gave his life for our country when his Navy A-6 Intruder went down off the coast of San Francisco while deploying on aircraft carrier duty. Rand had recently graduated from Stanford Law School, and was six weeks from being married. A column about Rand’s life and sacrifice is included in the notes for the Class of ’82, above. Condolences to Tom Veldman whose father Pete passed away in March. Pete Veldman founded Tire Rack in South Bend in 1979, a business that Tom now runs. — Frank Julian; 7 W. Seventh St., Cincinnati OH 45249; 513-579-7337; frank.julian@macys.com
83 Accomplishments, Congratulations
Congratulations to Michele (Dietz) Chynojweth on the arrival of her granddaughter. Best wishes for the entire family. Congratulations also go out to Maureen (Burns) Zappala for taking first place for the speech and evaluation contests in her area. Maureen was also officially notified that she is a member of the National Speakers Association. Even more congratulations go to Laura (Cuffe) Kelley on being appointed the first woman to serve as a full-time vice president at the U of Portland (OR). Laura has been appointed as vice president for university relations. In other news, Mary O’Connor and Laura Larkner were part of the medical teams in Leogane, Haiti. The program is looking to raise money for research and irradiation of filariasis and the salt program. Iodine can boost IQ by 10 points if received as a nutrient in utero and in early childhood. Donations may be sent to the Notre Dame Haiti Program at 305 Brownson Hall, Notre Dame IN 46556 and may be earmarked for the filariasis and salt programs. The law firm of Fish & Richardson has announced that Tom Melsheimer has been included in Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” an annual guide to the best in the profession. Tom is the managing principal in the firm’s Dallas office, which he opened in 2001. His courtroom victories have been recognized five times among the nation’s top verdicts of the year. In 2013, he was lead trial counsel for Mark Cuban’s insider trading case brought by the SEC. The jury cleared Cuban of any wrong-doing following a three week trial. Other recent high profile cases that Tom has been involved with include winning a take-nothing defense verdict for a group of airlines and on-line ticketing companies that were targeted for more than $285 million in alleged existing and future damages. Inclusion in Lawdragon’s “most elite guide in the legal profession” is based primarily on editorial research and online voting. On Feb. 7, Matthew Blakey passed away in Washington DC. Please keep Matt’s family in your prayers. Memorial donations may be made to Burners Without Borders at burnerswithoutborders.org. Please also keep Nina (DeLeone) Mazuzan in your thoughts and prayers. Nina is fighting cancer and is undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. This is a long process that unfortunately too many of us have gone through. We wish Nina all the best, positive thoughts and hope that she is successful in her fight. Nina has posted information about the radiation and chemotherapy processes she is undergoing on the class Facebook page. On Facebook, search “University of Notre Dame Class of 1983” to join the group. We have 369 members of the class as part of the Facebook group. As always, please drop me a line with any news you’d like to share with the class, and I’ll be sure to include it in the next class column. — Louis (Chip) Denkovic; 520 West 43 St., Apt. 32G, New York NY 10036; res 212-564-4264; cell 917-399-8784; bus 212-762-6674; ldenkovic@gmail.com
83MBA Class Secretary — John Hilbrich;
630-677-2725; hilbrich@hotmail.com
83JD Class Secretary — Ann E. Merchlewitz;
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 700 Terrace Heights No. 30, Winona MN 55987; res 507-454-4774; bus 507-457-1587; amerchle@smumn.edu
84 A Giving Group
Many of our classmates are donating their time and resources to make the world a better place. I will highlight some of them here and will add more in future columns. Bob Hickey Solis and his wife have been running an orphanage for AIDS orphans in South Africa since 2006, openarmshome.com/index.cfm. Amy and Mark Rolfes are currently in Africa serving as executive directors at Open Arms. Sheila (Shunick) Burton founded the Join Hands East St. Louis program, joinhandsesl.org, to serve children living in one of the poorest communities in the US. Lynn (Hamilton) O’Connell helps raise funds for the Terence J. Hildner Memorial Fund at ND, which will be used for a scholarship for an Army ROTC cadet. Our classmate, Brigadier Gen. Terry Hildner, passed away in Afghanistan. Trish (Romano) and Pat Barry are actively involved in the Holy Family Surgery Center in Honduras, holyfamilysurgerycenter.org. Peggy (Rodgers) Kalas is coordinator of the High Seas Alliance, highseasalliance.org, a coalition of environmental NGOs. Patrick Gusman started a grass roots movement called Startup Middle School with a mission of developing the talent in American middle school classrooms to create global technology leaders. Rob Snyder works with HOPE to prevent animal euthanasia in Ft. Wayne IN, hope-for-animals.org. Kevin Killilea is president of Sleepyhead Beds, sleepyheadbeds.org, an organization that recycles beds that are in good shape for needy children in the Kansas City area. Dan Meakin cares for homeless animals through his Friends Of Noah program. Dan Coonan serves on the board of InnVision, a Santa Clara homeless shelter. Bill O’Toole and his family work with FriendsNE.org, which helps poor artisans in Nicaragua. Mike and Sharon (Shay) Koehler are actively involved in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Linda Legault Quinn, through the ND Club of Mid-Hudson Valley, works to raise awareness and funds for ALS by sponsoring a Walk to Defeat ALS. Teresa Williams is on the board of the St. Francis Center of Los Angeles, sfcla.org, which serves the poor in the spirit of St. Francis. Finally, please keep the family of Matthew Menard Blakey, in your prayers. He lost his courageous battle with cancer. — Martha Avery; mayoravery@aol.com
84MBA Class Secretary — Tom Phillips;
bus 407-629-4420; fax 407-629-4480; mobile 407-580-8757; taprealtor@earthlink.net
84JD Hope You Were There
I have not received any updates from our class since my last note. My next submission will include updates from our 30th reunion. I hope you were there. — Matthew J. Dunn; 19834 Timbered Estates Lane, Carlinville IL 62626; 773-294-6851; mdunn@atg.state.il.us
85 Connecting
Connie O’Brien chairs her local Notre Dame Women Connect group in Birmingham AL. Her group has focused on supporting Pathways, a shelter for homeless women and children. They cook and serve dinner quarterly to its residents. Robert V. Jones, president and CEO of PreSafe Technologies, was awarded Small Business Member of the Year by the Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC). GTSC is an organization for small and mid-sized companies in homeland and national security. PreSafe Technologies, located in Somerset NJ, supports homeland and national security by focusing on cybersecurity and the protection of global digital assets. Prior to forming PreSafe Technologies, Rob held the position of staff director, IT infrastructure & operations at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). After Notre Dame, Rob earned an MSEE at Polytechnic U, Brooklyn NY as a fellow of the GEM Foundation. He has also attended executive education programs at Harvard and Yale. He has been designated a Certified Information Systems Security Professional by (ISC)2, a leading consortium in cybersecurity education and certification. Rob and his wife Tracey have two daughters. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; PO Box 6192, Harrisburg PA 17112; yanzlaw@comcast.net
85MBA Who is Reading?
I’ve gotten worried that many of our classmates may not be reading ND Magazine regularly.
I saw Shari Athey Cloghessy on a walk home from the train. She enjoyed seeing the spring issue with news about quite a few of our classmates. Eileen O’Brien’s copy of the MBA Resume Book is back on its way to her. Her reply to my shipping notice email indicates she reads the Class Notes. Since the last issue, I spoke to Scott Kamieneski, catching up on networking activities. We realized we had lost track of Buffalo Joe Burden. Texts to Dirk McMahon revealed Dirk did not have Joe’s current status or stay current with Class Notes. Frank Budde reported he would be raising funds though Cincinnati Golfers for Charity by attempting to play 100 holes of golf in 12 hours on May 30. Joe Macdonell forwarded a picture of Bob Flaig vacationing in Hawaii with Bob’s parents. Bob is still living large, collecting toys and experiences. Joe and I attended the ND Club of Chicago 56th annual Rockne Dinner, which raises scholarship money for Chicago area undergraduates. We have been to about five of these dinners since Joe moved to the Chicago area. Joe has gotten to know a number of my undergrad roommates and friends. A more recent graduate shared that Professor Ken Milani is retiring. All of us in the Tax Concentrate had the pleasure of learning from Professor Milani. Many of us also took his cost accounting or tax courses as undergraduates. The ND Club of Chicago Rockne Dinner is always an interesting evening. Joe and Frank remain committed to getting classmates together for 2014 football games. Please let us know your football game plans by sending me an email which I will share with Joe and Frank. Please send me information for Class Notes. — Dom Yocius; dyocius@ameritech.net
85JD Checking In
John O’Brien checked in from Denver, where he is a partner at Snell & Wilmer and leads the firm’s agri-finance group. You may have seen John quoted recently on CNBC about the Farm Bill. In addition to practicing law full time, John owns and operates a 2,000-acre farm and cattle operation, located 90 miles outside of Denver. John Polster sent news from Chicago, where he is senior vice president and general counsel at Bridgeview Bank Group, which runs 14 full-service community banking facilities. John keeps in touch with Peter Haleas, Ed Rolwes, Bob Disilvestro, and Paul McMeniman. I received a wonderful update from Karen and Arthur Aylward, who settled in Richmond in 1990 after Art completed active duty with the Army JAG Corps. Art is the managing director of Midkiff, Muncie and Ross PC, a 33-attorney firm in Richmond with additional Virginia offices in Fairfax County, Roanoke, and Bristol, and also Raleigh NC. Karen is the deputy director of the Office of Economic Development in Chesterfield County VA. The eldest Aylward daughter, Kim, was 2 years old when we started law school. (She was the one dressed in a pink ballerina costume with Goose Gibbons in the talent show). Kim is now an executive with SAS Software and lives in Richmond with her husband and son Wyatt, who is now the age Kim was when we started law school. Art and Karen will be busy the next couple of months. Their youngest daughter, Jessica, is graduating from Virginia Commonwealth U Dental School and getting married, and her older sister, Jennifer, a second-grade teacher in Chesterfield County, will be getting married in November. Karen and Steve ’84JD Toohill spent Easter at Notre Dame, where they visited their son Conner ’14. They also saw Kate and Matt Barrett and Denise and Walter Brown while in South Bend. Back home in San Diego, the Toohills visited with Steve Cavellier. Steve’s son Jack is a freshman football player at Cathedral Catholic High School, where Casey Toohill is a junior and also a football player. Those of you who have helped navigate high school seniors through the college application process will join me in breathing a sigh of relief that May 1 has passed and college choices have been made. My son Tommy will be a freshman at Fordham U this fall. Also heading off to college are Walter and Denise Brown’s twin daughters. Hannah will be a freshman at the U of Kansas, and Sophie will join the ranks of several other ’85JD progeny at Notre Dame. Matt and Kate Barrett’s son Wilson will be one of Sophie’s classmates. I also share some sad news from Matt. His father Richard “Dick” Barrett passed away on May 1. Dick lived a life that was committed to “faith, family, friends, and service.” Dick is remembered as a man who touched an incredible number of lives and made the world a better place. Please remember in your prayers Matt’s family, especially his mother, Nancy. Continue to send me news. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; largey@fr.com
86 It’s Time for One Line
There are many of you who we have not heard from in a long time. Come on, you know who you are. It only takes two minutes to let us know what is up in your life. Fire up those emails. For our 29th annual minireunion on Michigan weekend, Lori and Kirk Bush and I are planning to be in the Stadium Lot in the same area just off the northeast corner of Legends right near where Allen Pinkett does the pre-game. We welcome each of you. Text me if you have trouble finding our tent. From the left coast, we heard that Mike Allegretti sees Tony Haske and Brian Kaufman occasionally. He saw Janice Englehart when she was back from China last year. He also keeps in touch with Barbara Hardin and Linda Gase through Facebook. David Delahanty is still living in Minneapolis and getting to about three ND games each year. His folks live in Mishawaka in the summers, so he stays with them and attends their tailgater behind Legends. Last season Rich Vanthournout stopped by the tailgater a few times to say hi. We hear that Dick Vitale also usually stops by. Dave’s son Finnigan attends the U of St. Thomas and his daughter Avery is working hard at the College of St. Catherine. Dave married a great lady in 2006 and by the time these notes reach us, he will have a 2-month-old in the house. Since we all intimately know that 50 is the new 35, we look forward to hearing over the next few years how he is running down ground balls on the Lax field or skating rings around his kid on the ice. Outside of changing diapers, Dave’s newest hobby is driving his 1951 Studebaker Champion back and forth to the mechanic. The car has spent more time in his mechanic’s garage, but he’s having a blast driving it. There’s also some history worth sharing. Delahanty’s grandfather was probably the last Studebaker employee because he was the accountant who closed the books when they went out of business in the 1960s. Brian Donley MD was promoted to president of Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers. He is responsible for leading eight community hospitals and 16 family health centers which are part of the Cleveland Clinic Health System. In addition, he is still practicing orthopedic surgery. We have two very happy parents as Bryan and Christine Dedrick’s son Kyle is beginning studies at ND this fall and playing soccer for the Irish. Their son Sean, a junior in high school, has also committed to join his brother on the team after he graduates next year. Laura and Ron Plantz are living in Frankfort IL; sons Tyler ’14 and Zac ’15 are at ND. They enjoyed being out at JPW. Leslie Krohn wrote that this past March, she and her Breen-Phillips crew spent a long weekend in Hilton Head celebrating their 50th birthdays. On hand were Mary Eileen Kenney Baltes (Philly), Kathy McCarthy Walsh (Boston), Karen Moritz Simons (Long Island), Angie VanLear Whitesell (Virginia), Donna Callis Broussard (Maryland), Valerie Weis Herbert (Louisville) and Julie Heslin Pokat (Albany). They had an awesome weekend sharing stories of the families (together, they have 23 kids from college grads to kindergarten), the challenges of the last decade and the joys of their 32-year friendship. How about a few folks make time for one line? Take care and God bless — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john.spatz@rbccm.com
86MBA Class Secretary — Maureen Decker;
21855 Town Gate, Macomb MI 48044; res 586-468-7713; bus 586-741-4305; mobile 586-817-1317; maureen.decker@mclaren.org
86JD High Achievements
Joan (Flood) and John Mauel were excited for their daughter’s graduation in May from ND. While at ND, their daughter Margaret Mauel ’14 became great friends with Joan and Bob Comfort’s daughter Julie Comfort ’14, carrying acquaintances to yet another generation. Laura Hollis continues to teach at Mendoza School of Business and enjoys teaching one class a year at the law school on entrepreneurship and public policy. She has been syndicated as a columnist with Creators Syndicate, so watch for her articles near you soon. Gaby Sheehan, Heather and Bellew McManus and Mary O’Brien got together to see Notre Dame football take on Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28. Tickets were courtesy of Mary’s son Connor, a junior on the team. The Notre Dame ’86JD referral line is alive and well with various classmates reaching out to others around the country for local counsel assistance. Tom Burger of Wood Herron & Evans (Cincinnati), Jeff Thompson and Mary O’Brien of Meagher & Geer (Minneapolis), Mike Mulhern of Winston & Strawn (Chicago) and Joe Chapelle of Barnes and Thornburg (Indianapolis) have had the opportunity to work together or be a resource for each other over the years. It is nice to have a nationwide network. Philomena and Charles Ashdown report that their eldest, Marygrace, just graduated cum laude from Ohio State U and was outstanding senior and homecoming court member. Her OSU Club, The Boo Radley Society, which is devoted to doing random acts of kindness, was one of the outstanding clubs for the year. She was accepted to serve with Teach for America and will start this fall in inner city Detroit teaching high school Spanish. Their second daughter, Helen, an animal lover, works for a vet and is devoted to her horse, stray animals in the neighborhood and Philomena’s mother, 87, who has lived with them for 10 years. Charles and Philomena are still at Strauss Troy, with the same secretary. She is off to visit Turkey and Greece with Marygrace as she pen’s this update. Kevin Griffith left Porter Wright Morris & Arthur after 25 wonderful years and joined the Columbus office of San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson as a shareholder. Littler is the nation’s largest labor and employment law firm with over 1,000 lawyers and 60 offices throughout the United States and in Mexico and South America. He claims he’s following some inner compass. Sharon Christie reports that she and her husband welcomed their first grandchildren, Alina and Markus, in February. My staff and I have started a street outreach court here in Grand Rapids, taking an actual court session to a local mission on a regular schedule where we try “circle sentencing” and “quasi” probations supervised by community advocates rather than court probation staff. It seems to be making a difference in some lives of people who have difficulty fitting in the traditional mold, while still looking to reform their lives. Much speculation on why pulling news is like pulling teeth around here. One clever classmate suggests that we try theme issues. Best theme submitted might get a try. — Don Passenger; 61st District Court, 180 Ottawa NW, Ste. 8500, Grand Rapids MI 49503, 616-632-5678, dpasseng@iserv.net
87 New Domers
There are quite a few new Domers entering their freshman year in the fall. Mary Carol (Creadon) and Dan ’86 Murphy’s triplets, Dan, Martha and Kate Murphy, are beginning their freshman year. Others entering include: Marisa Brigati, daughter of Allison (Fahrenkopf) and Dave Brigati; Nicolas Izzo, son of Frank Izzo; Grace Gallo, daughter of Regina and Steve Gallo; Jack Walsh, son of Laura ’87SMC and John Walsh; Neil Lewis, son of Cecily ’89SMC and Hardy Lewis. — Katherine Bull; 14 E. 41st St., Savannah GA 31401; kmbull47@gmail.com
87MBA Gearing up for New Season
Hello everyone. I hope this note finds everyone doing well and enjoying the warmer weather. There hasn’t been much information from our classmates since the end of football season, so please send us a note. I have been in contact with Kevin “Wally” Bridges. He is doing very well. He recently left Blackberry Inc., and he is now the CFO of a cheese co-operative called Pine River Cheese and Butter Co-op in Ripley, Ontario. Every time we get together, he brings me a box of cheese. Perhaps he will supply some to our tailgaters next year. We have heard from Nick Panepinto. Jim Makowski and he are delighted to be in year 25 as faculty members at Nick’s undergraduate alma mater, Flagler College. I have asked on numerous occasions, and they never seem to want to disclose exactly what they teach. In the prior Class Notes, I forgot to mention that Susan Collier had attended one of our tailgaters. My apologies. Susan is married to Daniel Cox, and they have two children: Daniel, 10, and daughter Erin, 9. They live in Stratford CT, and she is the finance director of the Town of Stratford. Susan’s email address is scollier@townofstratford.com. Finally, I will be hosting four tailgaters in 2014. Look for the Canadian flag near Legends (Senior Bar) at the Michigan, Stanford, Northwestern and Louisville games. All are invited. My wife Sue and our children, Taylor and Nicholas, will be at the Stanford game. Please feel free to invite your friends and family as well. Please stay in touch. As always, my information is below. — Perry N. Dellelce; Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, Suite 800, Wildeboer Dellelce Place, 365 Bay St., Toronto, Ontario M5H 2V1; 416-361-5899; fax 416-361-1790; perry@wildlaw.ca
87JD Class Secretary — Tim Borchers;
38 Gannett Court, Wayne NJ 07470; bus 212-404-5507; tim.borchers62@gmail.com
88 Here’s a Cozy Mystery
Looking for a mid-summer read? Classmate Jeanne Quigley has written one for you. Her debut cozy mystery, All Things Murder, was released by Five Star Publishing on May 21 and can be found, among other places, at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. (True confessions: I had to google cozy mystery to find out that such a story tends to be a “gentle” mystery, generally one of a series, which takes place in a small town and has a crime-solver who is a likable amateur sleuth.) Here is a brief introduction: when soap star Veronica Walsh returns to her hometown after her career abruptly ends, she inadvertently finds herself in real-life turmoil that reads like a soap opera script. Before she has had time to ponder her future, she discovers the body of her new neighbor and launches into amateur sleuth mode as she sets about chasing leads. To quote the inside flap, “Will Veronica solve the case, or will the killer be as elusive as an acting job? And will she play the heroine or the damsel in distress?” Consider joining goodreads.com and adding Jeanne’s mystery to your “to-read” shelf. A resident of Rockland County NY, Jeanne is in the process of crafting her second Veronica Walsh page-turner. Meanwhile, in Michigan, Mark Anderson recently joined United Road Services in the capacity of chief operating officer. He is responsible for the daily operations of United Road, the second largest car-hauler in North America. Mark’s energy, leadership style and broad business background make him well-suited for his new position. Back in the spring column, you read about Brian Kelly’s presidential nomination for promotion to the rank of brigadier general in the Air Force. I just heard from Tom Jennings that he met up with Pangborn guys, John Souter, Kevin Dolan, Jeff Craskey and Tom Torter, at the Pentagon to be with Brian as he officially received his promotion. Recently, at my grandmother’s wake, the funeral director comforted us by saying, “She’s not gone; she’s ahead of us.” February, it turns out, was a month when the family members of several classmates went ahead of us. Peggy (FitzGerald) Wood was in touch with the sad news that husband Bill’s mom passed away after a brief illness. I also heard from Andy Barlow, who attended the full honors military funeral of Richard Maher, father of classmate Brian Maher. Andy, along with Brendan Fitzpatrick and Mike Jones, joined Brian at Arlington National Cemetery for this honor. Finally, Brian Owsley requested that we keep Jack Blakey and his family in our prayers due to the death of Jack’s older brother, Matt. Please stay in touch and let us share in your ups and downs. — Laurine Megna-Davis; PO Box 18138, Avon CO 81620; 970-390-9742; magnet@vail.net
88MBA Class Secretary — Margaret M. Lyons; 203-869-7267; meglyons@optionline.net
88JD Class Secretary — Lisa Marie Visingardi;
3389 12th St., Riverside CA 92501; bus 951-248-0315; res 789-6272; lisa.visingardi@jud.ca.gov
89 Notes from Facebook
There was lots of planning going on to get ready for our 25th reunion. I look forward to catching up with all of you and spending time on campus. Hopefully I will have more to share in our Class Notes following reunion as it has been mighty quiet these last few months. I know many have a lot going on with family, children, school and work. So in the absence of cards and letters, I have now become a Facebook stalker, which I never thought I would say. The following folks have been kind enough to allow me to share some of their news. Megan Frigon married Michael Cohen in September. They happily live in Denver. She is busy as a stepmom to Emily, 13, and Sam, 11, while working part time as an HR consultant. Our own talented Greg O’Connor is scoring Joan Rivers’ new animated project, Fashionista and Glamour Girl, with an incredible cast and producers Danny Salles, Patrick W. Ziegler and Teresa Thome. If you want to take a sneak peak, see FashionistaandGlamourGirl.com. Ros Winner Sterling recently joined the e2 education and environment team to work on their global literacy program, “This Is Ours,” which helps students learn to exchange knowledge about their local environment through books they make, using their own photographs, drawings and writing. Her eighth-grade students at St. Stephen of Hungary created “This Is Ours: East 82nd Street.” She travelled to Kenya in March to share it with students at Ngare Ndare Secondary school as they worked on their own book. A highlight of the trip was bringing the finished copies of “This Is Ours: Lepaura” to students and their families in the Maasi village of Leparua, and experiencing the exchange of peer knowledge as they read the book about New York City created by her own students. For those interested in more information, you can go to thisisoursbook.org. Claire Lois Harbeck was recently promoted to project director at MedForce, a medical communications company based in Shrewsbury NJ. Remember, keep in touch or beware I will track you down. Be well. — Noël (Murtha) Di Nome; 326 Melbourne Ave., Mamaroneck NY 10543; res 914-806 3760; Noel.D.DiNome@alumni.nd.edu
89MBA 25 Years
Can it be that 25 years ago we received our MBA diplomas from ND? Sometimes it seems like just yesterday. Most of us were about 25 years old when we started the program; it is interesting to compare those first 25 years to these last 25 years. I visited campus this spring for the first time in close to 20 years and was amazed at the changes. Our humble home of the Hayes-Healy building pales in comparison to all the new facilities in the DeBartolo quad. And our primary tailgating lawn is now classroom space, so that, too, was a shocking discovery. I also had one of those odd coincidences the other day: I was talking to another mom at my daughter’s lacrosse game and she mentioned her Uncle Ollie, a professor at Notre Dame. I inquired if that was Father Ollie Williams, and she confirmed it was. It is a small world. I hope to do a much better job of updating the column for the magazine in the coming editions, but I need your help. There is a new social media feature available through the alumni relations department at ND that might be a great way for us all to reconnect and stay connected. Check it out. mynotredame.nd.edu/MBA1989. Happy 25th anniversary. — Maggie DeVoe; 612-845-9662; maggie.devoe@oracle.com