1980s
1980s
80 Reunion Planning
Save the date: Reunion 2015 will be May 28 to 31. Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, has recognized Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center, as the 2013 recipient of the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award. Mary Meg works to uphold the human rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in the United States. Cathy (Hackman) ‘81SMC and Jim Blaha have a daughter heading to ND. Lucy Jones Maloney reports that husband Bob was appointed associate dean for experiential learning at the Law School and is establishing a teaching facility in downtown Chicago for students in the school’s extern program. Their son Alex will be a frosh, living in Zahm House, helping the Maloneys learn to love North Quad. John Scully and Jim Tullio are releasing a new University-licensed CD, Here Come the Irish — the Collection. It will contain arrangements of the song, including their own that features Cathy Richardson on vocals, along with additional arrangements by the Notre Dame Men’s Glee Club and the Notre Dame Band. According to Layne Roetzel, Mary Ryan Amato has organized a Badin minireunion Labor Day weekend in Chicago. Chris Lampione wrote saying that Stanford Hall, fourth floor, had its second minireunion in Florida in late April. The reunion featured members of two classes, 1980 and ’81. It took place in Cape Coral in adjacent houses owned by hosts Mark “Boston” Cristoforo and his better half, the amazing Jules. Participating members of the Class of ’80 included Jim “Brutzy” Brutz, Dave Clarke, Jay Ferreiro, Chris “Lamps” Lampione, Tim “Squeak” McIntyre, Brian McMerty, Mike “Oli” Quinlivan and Matt “Horn Dog” Schumacher. Tom Desloge is celebrating two years at St. Louis Metallizing as the director of sales and marketing. He has been married to Terrie for 21 years and has three kids: Jeffrey, Faith and George. Dominic Mancuso, Tom’s roommate at Grace Hall, just told us that his daughter was accepted to Notre Dame. Mary Ryan Amato had lunch with Frances Ortega Lukeman and her daughter, Mary Ann Miller ’07, at Ditka’s. Jim Lukeman is a brigadier general in the Marines and the commanding general for the 2nd Marine Division. Frances got her master’s in education but is fulfilling her role as the first lady of the 2nd Marine Division, which requires her presence at multiple formal occasions. They live in North Carolina. Their daughter Mary Ann married another ND grad, Andrew Miller, and they are expecting a baby in October. Maureen Loughney married her long-term partner Shannon Watson on July 5 in California. Deb and George Quill see the circle of life in that their middle daughter, Jenna, just graduated Indiana U School of Nursing with her BSN, passed her nursing board exam, and will start a cardiac critical care job at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the hospital where her parents first met. Their eldest daughter, Kari, works from Nashville as an integrated media manager for Journal Communications Inc. Their youngest, Candace, is a sophomore at IU pursuing degrees in informatics and Spanish. The Quill’s first trip last fall as empty nesters was to the Navy game in Dublin; the game was played on their ding anniversary. Jim Hofman posted an update and picture of his dad, Emil T. Hofman, on our class Facebook page. It’s an open group, so all you need do is ask to become a member. notredame80@groups.facebook.com — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu
80MBA Class Secretary — Doug Cooper;
80JD Doing Great
Steve Barclay is doing great in Phoenix and reports that he spent a nice weekend with Steve Kruis and his wife, Kitty, in San Diego, where they’ve been living for years. Steve Kruis practices almost exclusively in mediation and has his own company, Kruis Mediation steve@kruismediation.com. Andy Bury is busy with weddings. Their daughter Susan was married last October and son Drew was married in July 2012 in Austria. Drew is in the Foreign Service, Department of State, and assigned to the US Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine. Andy took his parents to a family wedding in Slovakia and visited his son and daughter-in-law in Kiev.
Congrats to Walter Zukowski of Zukowski Law Offices in Peru IL, who was recently appointed as chair of the Education Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association. The Section Council is 15 attorneys appointed by the bar president and is responsible for the education section of the ISBA and continuing education and legislative services to its 700 education section members. Walt is the first two-term chair of the Education Section Council, and he also served as chair of the Trusts and Estates Section Council in 1999-00. Best wishes to Antonia Greenman Chambers, who was married to Dennis O’Brien on May 25. Please remember the Order of St. Thomas More at the Law School, headed by our own Maureen Reidy Witt, and the Bainbridge Scholarship. And, please send your news; you are important. Go Irish. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com: sobrien368@aol.com
81 Work, Celebrations, Reunions
Finally, news you want to share. David Walker is president and CEO of a nonprofit organization, Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, which helps the catastrophically combat-wounded veteran returning home from the war. Check out their Facebook page. Prior to joining this nonprofit, David was with the National Glass Association, and before that at the National Association of Manufacturers. He and his wife, Catherine, celebrate 30 years together in October and likely will attend the OK game to kick off their month-long celebration. Kelly (Gaffney) Emling has been promoted to chief deputy public defender in the office of Los Angeles County Public Defender. Barry Phillips, a CPA in southern California, made the cross-country journey to enroll his daughter, Andrea, as a freshman. Frank Browne’s daughter, Marissa, attended ND Vision this summer. Frank met up with Nick Matich and Paul Roney in Arlington VA. Two sets of classmates have determined reunions don’t have to wait for years ending in 1 or 6. Carol (Rademacher) Wieck, Nancy (Ryan) Gray, Cindy (Yochum) Meegan and Susie (McEntee) Saxer met on Cape Cod and spent a wonderful long weekend filled with laughs and memories while they relaxed at the beach. On a February weekend, Jim Veraldi, Tom Langan, Kevin Cleary, Ralph Jaccodine, Peter Paganelli, Pat Glennon, Cam Clitheroe, Michael Wood, John Solari, Mike Gies, Keith Melaragno, Steve deGroot, Ray Schmidt and Gerry Garcia toured the campus and watched the hockey team beat Michigan on Friday evening. On Saturday, they had a memorial Mass said for Father Thomas Tallarida in Zahm Hall. Tim Comerford joined them Saturday evening, and they had the pleasure of watching a historic basketball game: the five OT thriller in which ND beat Louisville. Bring back memories of the Maryland game during the blizzard freshman year? Keep sending news. — Lee Ann McLaughlin; 849 Douglas Ave., Elgin IL 60120; 847-636-1964; LeeAnnMcLaughlin@alumni.nd.edu
81MBA Class Secretary — E.J. Fleming;
4836 Tarrington Drive, Barrington IL, 60010, 847.934.7423, flemingiv@aol.com
81JD Supreme Success
In the last issue, we reported about Tom Byrnes’ oral argument before the US Supreme Court. Tom reports that the court ruled unanimously for his client. Congratulations, Tom.
Mike Ridgeway has been appointed as the new bankruptcy judge in Minneapolis. His investiture was Aug. 16. Nancy (Helling) Gargula, US trustee for the region, was invited to speak. Please join me in congratulating Mike Ridgway on his appointment. Nancy Gargula and Maureen (O’Connell) Hurley attended the spring meeting of the Notre Dame Law Association. Nancy is the board’s representative for Region 8, which includes Kentucky and most of Indiana, and Maureen is the board’s representative for Region 18, which includes northern New York and Toronto. Maureen, Nancy and Mark Gargula had time to get caught up during the dinner. The Gargula daughter, Jenni Gargula Chesnick ’09, is a CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit and is married to Tom Chesnick ’07. Maureen and John Hurley are about to become empty nesters as their youngest, Millie, is set to graduate from high school and head to college. Nancy and Mark’s youngest returned home from California about a year ago and is looking for a place to live while he finishes up his college education. Sadly, Norma Reyes died of a massive stroke on May 6. She was 56 years old. Mike Borders, Tim Kapshandy and Carol Dorgeattended Norma’s memorial service at the Harris Theater at Millennium Park in Chicago. Letters were read from Mayor Emmanuel and former Mayor Daley. Norma started her career in the state’s attorney office, where she worked principally in the juvenile courts. She later became Daley’s deputy chief of staff and the commissioner of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, along with other roles. She left the city government in 2011 and accepted a position as senior executive vp of Taxi Affiliation Services. Rest in peace, Norma. Steve Cordill provided the following poignant comments on the news of Norma’s passing: “I remember all too well receiving a similar message in the summer of the mid 1990s informing me Fred Miller had died, just as I remember too soon after our graduation Mike Borders informing us that Kim Conness had died. We may get on in years, but I remember you, each of you, like it was yesterday. We will relish the time we had together and find it too cruel when any of us passes. Norma reminds us that we are all closer to being yet another news item. People in our class have done great things and any passing harkened back to our hopeful beginnings. I still miss Father Mike and Fred as part of my meaningful ND experience. I hope with any sad passing we realize how lucky we have been and celebrate our blessings.” On a lighter note Heidi (Betz) Masano suggests our class coordinate something for those going to the ASU game in Dallas on Oct. 5. Lorne Lichty says he would be happy to co-sponsor a Texas minireunion, and Allen Pennington suggests a trip to Billy Bob’s in the Fort Worth Stockyards “with the Lone Star Longnecks on me.” So far, in addition to Heidi, Lorne and Allen, I am aware that the Gargula family and my family are going to the game. Any others attending, please email me. Go, Irish. – Michael Palumbo; 3799 East Peachtree Drive, Chandler AZ 85249; res 480-284-4004; bus 602-262-5931; mpalumbo@jsslaw.com
82 Empty Nests
Martha (Frey) and Kevin Hart are owners of Kevin Hart Associates AIA Architecture in the Detroit area. They have three children: Brendan ’04 is married to Jaci Lesko ’04, Jenna is working for Elle Magazine in midtown Manhattan, and son Conor is a junior at Vanderbilt. It’s an empty nest for Tara (Carney) and Del Runnals. Tara is an advisor for KPMG and Del is on assignment in Washington, building a data center for Microsoft. They are enjoying their time alone going kayaking, hiking and, of course, checking out the local vineyards. They have three children. The eldest, Brian, is director of sales and business development for Umbie Health and married to Jess, who just launched Lovage Baby Blends, an organic baby food producer and distributor in Boston. Dan is a performance analyst for New England Pension Consulting, and Kelly works in event marketing at Boston Children’s Hospital. Thirteen ND and SMC grads met at Cape Ann MA recently for a minireunion. They had a ball and plan to get together again soon. Among those in attendance were Rose Hardart Wylie, Maura Welch Abernethy, Lisa Collins Anderson from Chicago, Patty Jacques Emmanuel from Tampa, Melanie Murray Schane, Clare Twist from San Francisco, Carolyn Elliott Farina from Atlanta, Rachael Scherer Imholte from Minneapolis, and Martie Frye Hart and Julie Stenger Ryckman from Detroit. They were hosted by Tara Carney Runnals, Nancy Kelly Connelly and Tara Kenney Grassey from Boston. Tara and Gary Grassey have an incoming freshman who will be living in Alumni Hall. Kathy Cannon Laurini, now representing NASA to the European Space Agency in The Hague, was in Boston on a college tour with her family. Barb (Mitchell) and Mike Favret had twin boys, Brendan and Kevin, graduate from our alma mater in May. Marybeth Faccenda Hough’s son, Jack, also graduated. Pete Crowe and wife Alexa have twins, Marika at Vanderbilt and Matthew at Fordham. Pete is a senior VP for Sovereign Bank in the Boston area. Shery (Bradley) ’83 and Tom Zavertnik have daughter Kristen attending Notre Dame this fall. Mike Lynch met Eileen Heidkamp Parker ’82SMC and her family in Telluride in May for dinner. A great time was had by all. Eileen had just completed a trip to the Mt. Everest base camp. Some women our age get a sports car or a divorce. Ida climbs a mountain. Mike and Victoria are planning a trip to Tuscany in the fall and will be meeting Steve Spano. Please, we are desperate to hear your updates. Keep them coming. — 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 Congratulations
Congratulations are in order for the children of four of our classmates. Lauren Imhoff ’13, daughter of Liz (Medina) and Greg Imhoff, and Nora Nickels ’13, daughter of Tim Nickels, graduated from ND this spring. Julie Veldman, daughter of Tom Veldman, was elected to the NDLA Board of Directors as an at-large member. Bob Clemens was recently designated as an Emeritus Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, which, according to Bob, is a fancy way of saying, “Bob has retired to Hilton Head to golf and kayak.” Please send me news. Otherwise, I will be forced to write about John Smith in future columns, and we all know how boring that would be. — Frank Julian; 7 W. Seventh St., Cincinnati OH 45202; 513-579-7337; frank.julian@macys.com
83 Reunion Memories
It is hard to believe that our 30th reunion has already come and gone. More than 200 classmates joined us for the weekend on campus. It was nice to renew old friendships, make new friendships and to catch up with everyone who was able to attend. For those of you who couldn’t make it, we all know that you were in attendance in spirit. Bill Scala has been continuing the after-reunion reminiscing by posting pictures and announcements of events from our time under the Dome. An Tostal games anyone? A huge thank you to all who helped make Reunion 2013 a complete success for the class. I won’t be sending any more class-wide emails about Reunion for the next four years. Special thanks go out to Clare Padgett, Bill Bastedo, Mike Power and Jean Collier for the organizational work they did. Also, thanks to Patty Perry Geiger, Father Mike Belinski, Father Carlos (Kid) Quintana, Russ Wyborski, Michelle Schneider Tiller, and Patty and Tony Scott for the beautiful Class Mass held in the Pasquerilla West Chapel. Don’t miss all the photos that were posted from Reunion on the class Facebook page, which I hope you will join. The class group is strictly for members of the Class of 1983. To join, search on Facebook for Notre Dame Class of 1983. We have 346 class members in the group. It’s a great way to reconnect with classmates you may have lost touch with over the years and a great way to stay in touch with everyone you reconnected with at Reunion. On a sad note, please remember John Riedl and his family in your prayers. John battled melanoma for several years. He suffered a stroke on July 3 and passed away on July 15. John’s funeral was held at St. Cecilia’s Church in St. Paul and his family has indicated that memorial donations may be made to the Melanoma Research Foundation (melanoma.org). — 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 Reunion Highlights
We had a wonderful turnout for our 30-year class reunion: Leslie (Allard) and Rick Donahue, Susan Cisle and Mark Goodman, Michelle (Wendling) and Matt Feeney, Jan Sloan, Marianne (Lafferty) Vorhees, Bill Hittler and Donna Watz, Cindy (Konczalski) Wotila, Sue (Hawks) McClintic, Rene (Arriaga) Reimer, Ken Poirier, and Kathleen and Jim Lynch. I was unable to attend, but Reunion correspondent Bill Hittler advised that there was very little talk about the law and a great deal of talk about families, careers, the Affordable Care Act and lessons learned from a Notre Dame education. Saturday several classmates attended Dean David Link’s presentation on To Kill a Mockingbird at the Law School lecture hall. He walked through some vignettes of the movie and then reprised his role as the ethics professor to a packed house of alums. A large group of classmates met at Macri’s for dinner Saturday night. The passage of 30 years hasn’t changed the bonds we formed as the Class of ’83. After the reunion, Jim Lynch shared with me pictures of his adorable new grandson, Robert James Dubitsky. Proud parents are Jim’s daughter, Mary ’10JD, and her husband, Warren Dubitsky ’10JD. Congratulations Jim and Kathleen. Please send me an email with an update on you or a classmate. — 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 Dear Friends After all these Years
Once again, I was able to spend a great weekend with dear ND friends, this time in Park City UT. Since Brian Callaghan always loves to hear the details of these annual trips, here goes. Mary Jo (Conradt) Francis worked her magic to get us a beautiful condo, Teresa Williams organized the Deer Valley Music Festival night and Maureen Canavan acted as overall trip director. Enjoying the festivities with them were *Marie*“I am not scared of seat four in the bobsled” Devlin; Anne “I like yurts” (Wernimont) Krtizmire; Ellen “car 2 rules” (Banovetz) Kaiser; Sheila “I love river rafting” (Dresser) Novak; and me. While we were in Salt Lake City, we were able to visit the Head Start program that Sue Carroll supported. They are building a new facility and will name a classroom after her. The endowment fund also will be named after her to remember all her work with this great organization. If you are interested in supporting the Susan E. Carroll Salt Lake CAP Head Start Endowment Fund, contact Joni Clark jclark@slcap.org for more information. Ray Riehle is working with the ND Club in Sacramento to hand out lifesaving materials to raise prostate cancer awareness. Robert McNamara joined Swanson, Martin & Bell Chicago in the product liability group. Robert Slota and Mark Himsworth were named 2013 PA Super Lawyers. They are with the Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin Maxwell & Lupin firm. — Martha Avery; mayoravery@aol.com
84MBA Class Secretary — Tom Phillips;
bus 407-629-4420; fax 407-629-4480; cell 407-580-8757; taprealtor@earthlink.net
84JD Countdown to Our 30th
Leslie Ann Budewitz received a 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction, for
Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure. Her book “is a comprehensive guide to law to help writers create more realistic characters and storylines, and avoid the mistakes that annoy readers.” Congratulations, Leslie. Matthew T. Miklave, a partner at Epstein, Becker Green in New York City, is running for mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut. Mike has served on the Norwalk Common Council for eight years and seeks to continue his service as mayor. Matt notes, “Running for public office is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it is also one of the most rewarding. Fighting to change the future of a city of 86,000 people is no easy task.” Matt and his wife, Sandra, have been married for 23 years and have called Norwalk their home for 22 years. They have three children, two attending Norwalk High School and one a sophomore in college studying criminal justice. Peter Burrell has announced the formation of his own law firm, Pinales Stachler Young Burrell & Crouse, in Cincinnati. The firm will practice in the areas of civil and criminal litigation, as well as corporate and transactional work. After 20 years teaching part time in the business school at the U of Cincinnati, Peter began work at the first of the year as an assistant professor in the Accounting Department at that university. The flexibility of being in his own firm allows Peter to continue to practice law while fulfilling his duties on the faculty. Congratulations, Peter. The Alumni Association has set the dates for our 30th Reunion, May 29- June 1, 2014. Save the dates. — Matthew J. Dunn; 19834 Timbered Estates Lane, Carlinville IL 62626; 773-294-6851; mdunn@atg.state.il.us
85 Funding the Future
Timothy P. Angelotti, MD, PhD and David M. Angelotti attended the announcement of the establishment of the Endowment for Excellence in Analytical Chemistry last April. The endowment was established in memory of their father, Nicholas C. Angelotti `50, who earned a bachelor of science in chemistry and obtained a master of science degree in analytical chemistry at the Case Institute of Technology in 1952. Nick eventually had a 42-year career with the Dow Corning Corporation, retiring as an associate analytical scientist. As part of the events, Timothy presented portions of his research from Stanford U, where he is an associate professor of medicine. He spoke on “Molecular Pharmacology: A Biochemical Analysis of Receptor and Ion Channel Function.” David gave a brief overview of Nick Angelotti’s life. The first recipient of the endowment is Revathi Kollipara, a chemistry major from Fort Wayne IN, who works in Dr. Marya Lieberman’s laboratory. Dr. Lieberman is working to develop analytical devices to detect fake pharmaceuticals. Funds from the Angelotti Undergraduate Research Fund allowed Revathi to continue her work through the summer as she completed the undergraduate research portion of her honor’s program. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; PO Box 6192, Harrisburg PA 17112; yanzlaw@comcast.net
85MBA Class Secretary — Dom Yocius;
85JD Graduations and Good Works
It has been wonderful to hear from so many of you; please continue to send news. Jenny Eads Anderson checked in from Eagleville PA where she has been raising her two daughters. Jenny’s oldest, Katie, just graduated from Middlebury College. Frank Tantone also celebrated a graduation this spring: his son Nick graduated from ND. Frank and his wife, Claudia, just built a new house in Bayport NY on the south shore of Long Island. Frank has a general law practice on Long Island with one partner and has been very successful in politics. He is the Republican chairman of his town. Frank’s older son, also Frank, graduated from St. John’s U last year and is following in his father’s footsteps: he started law school at St. John’s this fall. Michon Hinz reports from San Diego that her two daughters Alanna, 11, and Michaela, 8, enjoyed our 25th reunion so much they can’t wait to travel to Notre Dame again. Michon volunteers at Casa Cornelia, a San Diego nonprofit public law firm providing pro bono legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations, primarily serving the immigrant community of Southern California. Casa Cornelia was founded by the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. I enjoyed visiting with San Diego-based Karen Kiley Toohill, her husband Steve ‘84JD and their youngest son, Casey, when they were visiting Massachusetts in July. Whether you have never sent news or are a frequent contributor, I would love to hear from you. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; largey@fr.com
86 In Our Prayers
It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of our classmate Tom Gates. Tom fought a courageous battle against brain cancer for six months but left us on July 15. Please keep his wife, Mary, and their children, Tess, Kevin, Juliana, James, Colleen and Paul, in your prayers. Tom served as an officer in the Navy from 1986 to ’94 and was a UPS pilot since 1994. I sent Mary and the family a Mass card from the Basilica on behalf of all of us. We lost a good man. Please keep John Mihalovich IV in your prayers. During the summer he received radiation and chemo for squamous cell carcinoma and at the time of this writing was scheduled to have surgery for a tumor that attached to his heart. John’s brother Robert is battling the same cancer. John lives in Scottsdale AZ, owns his own business (Bits consulting) and has another position in Casa Grande. He had not missed a day of work as he was able to work remotely. John, our prayers are with you and your brother as you both fight this battle. Know that Father Dan Groody, CSC, has lit a candle for the two of you at the Grotto. David Stumpf’s son Eric ’13 just graduated from ND and is planning to attend medical school next fall. Graduation was extra special for the Stumpf family as Eric’s cousin Aaron Stumpf ’13 also graduated and his grandfather, Frank Stumpf ’44, at nearly 91 years of age, was able to attend and see two grandsons receive their degrees. David’s son Jack ’15 is majoring in engineering and is spending the fall semester in Perth Australia. Juli ’87SMC and David continue to live in St. Louis, where he works for Wells Fargo managing a client data and analytics team that supports the brokerage business. He often sees Steve Jegier, who runs strategic planning for the wealth, brokerage and retirement division of Wells Fargo out of Charlotte. Beth Fenner is celebrating her two-year anniversary as editor in chief of Chicago magazine. Earlier this year Chicago magazine was named a finalist in the National Magazine Awards, the Oscars of the magazine industry. Now that Beth is back in the Windy City she is seeing more of her parents and seven nieces and nephews. She is happy to be spending more time hanging out with classmates Kathy Murdock (full-time mom to four kids); Liz Miller (legal assistant and mother of two); Jennifer Payne (mom, lawyer); and Mary Dolan (mom, lawyer). Beth recently joined the board of Horizons for Youth, a nonprofit that focuses on education for at-risk kids, which was founded by former prosecutor Pat Collins. Greg and Helen Jenko’s daughter Kelly graduated from Notre Dame in May 2012 with a double major in accounting and economics. She deferred her job offer from Deloitte to stay one extra year at ND to get her master’s in accounting. So they were back at Notre Dame in May for her graduate school ceremony. She is the first Double Domer in their family. She started at Deloitte in September in Chicago. Kelly also received her ND Monogram Letter for cheerleading in May of 2012. The ceremony was especially cool for Helen because Allen Pinkett happened to be the keynote speaker. Kelly and Helen are not only the first mother-daughter ND graduates to cheer for the Irish but are also the first mother-daughter monogramed cheerleaders. Their other daughter Katie is a junior at Denison U. She is in a sorority, is a drummer in a rock band on campus and is studying abroad in London. Their son Christian is a freshman in high school and plays football. Please let us know what you are doing with a quick email. Take care and God Bless. — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john.spatz@rbccm.com
86MBA Brief Notes
Fred Arthur and Jeff Fiocchi attended the National Championship game with John Kunz ’86BBA and his son Kevin, Tom White ’85BBA, Mike Conley ’85BBA, and subway alum chef William A. Vena. They had a steady flow of people checking in throughout the day, and had 30-plus in their group prior to game time. Sounds like a great party. Erwin Tantoco is keeping busy with ventures in business process outsourcing (ergent.biz), IT services (storm-clouds.com) and straw hat exports (hatsandbags.com). His eldest son just started his first job, while his youngest is in his first year of high school. Jim Mock recently joined Executive Consulting and specializes in the fields of corporate strategy, corporate finance and shared services. He resides in the Cincinnati area. Sadly, Maaike and Paul Kwiatkowski’s youngest son, Taegon, died suddenly in April. Please keep Paul, Maaike and their family in your thoughts and prayers. — Maureen Decker; 21855 Town Gate, Macomb MI 48044; res 586-468-7713; bus 586-741-4305; maureen.decker@mclaren.org
86JD Class Secretary — Don Passenger;
61st District Court, 180 Ottawa NW, Ste. 8500, Grand Rapids MI 49503; 616-632-5678; dpasseng@iserv.net
87 Promotions and Honors
Congratulations to Byron Spruell on his promotion to three new positions at Deloitte LLP. He is now the vice chairman of Deloitte LLP, managing principal of Deloitte’s Central region and managing principal of Deloitte’s Chicago office. Byron certainly has a big challenge as he will help drive Deloitte’s national strategy for client and business growth, as well as the firm’s strategic positioning in local markets across 17 states in the Central region. That region is comprised of 31 offices with 14,000 employees. Of that 14,000, about 4,000 work in Deloitte’s Chicago office. Diane (Emard) Haleas won the prestigious Singer Prize for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching from the U of Rochester. Diane is a teacher, Social Studies Department chair and director of the Model United Nations team at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago. Congratulations, Diane. Liza (McAndrews) Conces wrote to say that she and Mark have lived in Wilmington DE for 15 years. One of their daughters is attending Tufts School at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and their other daughter is at Emory U in Atlanta. Congratulations to Liza and Mark as they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this year. — Katherine Bull; 14 E. 41st Street, Savannah GA 31401; kmbull47@gmail.com
87MBA Tailgater Invitation
Hello everyone. Not a lot of news is flowing these days. Please send me information. Here are the updates we have. Rick Hans (Rick.Hans@walgreens.com) and his family recently visited Toronto. We had a wonderful visit, and they experienced our great Canadian hospitality. Mark Brostowski (mbrostowski@regimentcapital.com) and I met in Washington DC for a Notre Dame-related meeting. Preparations for his daughter’s freshman year at Notre Dame were under way. Ken Kavanagh (Kavanagh@fgcu.edu) is the recipient of the Under Armor Athletics Director of the Year Award. Congratulations, Ken. That is terrific news and a well-deserved honor. On a personal note, I celebrated two milestones. My firm, Wildeboer Dellelce LLP celebrated its 20th anniversary and I celebrated my 50th birthday this year. I am blessed to have a great career and a supportive and loving family. Finally, I will be hosting tailgaters for the Oklahoma, USC, Navy and BYU games. You are all welcome to my tailgater. Look for the Canadian flag near “Senior Bar” (Legends as it is called now) or email me on game day. That’s it for now. Please send any and all updates to me. — Perry N. Dellelce; Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, Suite 800, Wildeboer Dellelce Place, 365 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2V1; 416-361-5899; fax 416-361-1790; perry@wildlaw.ca: perry@wildlaw.ca
87JD Class Secretary — Jay Brinker;
88 Reunion Recap Part 1
Before I get to the not-to-be-forgotten 25th Reunion, here’s news related to something I savor almost as much as time with ND classmates: chocolate. Matthew Ryan has been promoted from security director to chief information security officer at the Hershey Company. New responsibilities include worldwide strategic planning and implementation of security protocols to detect and prevent cyber-crime. Any position related to keeping the world of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and KitKats secure is critical in my book. Judging by the overwhelming response to the call for Reunion highlights, scores of classmates thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and left campus, many reluctantly, with priceless new memories, re-lived old ones (in some cases revised in the retelling), deepened and/or rekindled friendships and, even new connections. Because responses were so numerous, some of a heart-warming nature and others with a humorous or slightly confessional tone, they will be included in this column and the next. To start off, Kevin Riley observed, “It’s amazing that no matter how much time goes by, everyone just picks up where we left off when we last saw each other.” In another overarching tribute, John Omernik shared, “It’s unbelievable; we have such a loving group of classmates.” Similarly, Noeline Morrissey noted, “I was struck again by how compelling ND people are. Everyone is so bright, interesting, fun and accomplished. (The Reunion) gave me a real boost as I came back to my own life.” A Reunion newbie, Sean Pieriadmitted to hesitancy about attending. Now a convert he said, “In reflection, I am never going to miss another Reunion. We are a group that came of age together. While we may have been dorm rivals, or we passed in the night, we have an incredible bond. It was great to see everyone, and the conversations were beyond small talk. I found myself spending time with folks I wish I had spent more time with back in the day. While we all have gone different ways, our classmates are making a difference in the world for the better. Our time under the Dome really shaped us as a group into a positive force in society.” If these observations are not powerful enough to guarantee Sean’s attendance in 2018, he related that he ran into his favorite professor, Bob Schmul, who threatened to amend the grades on his transcript if he doesn’t come. I sincerely believe many of us would echo the sentiments of Kevin, John, Noeline and Sean. On a light-hearted, hall of fame/shame note, Kevin McCloskey reported that his highlight was the fact that our esteemed class president Mike Kurowski had to arrange for a beer run on Saturday morning because we finished the entire weekend’s allotment in one evening. Coincidentally, having recovered from the shock, Mike himself responded that the memorable event at the top of his list was “experiencing fellow classmates rally to contribute over $1,500 in four hours to the class hospitality tent beer fund. Such overachievers.” However, to prove that we weren’t just about beverage consumption (more about that topic to come though), the most-oft noted Reunion highlight was more like a skylight. Carol Spils, Kyle Olinger, Margo Kirchner, Kathleen Lehman, Grace (Giorgio) Dyleski, Cora Wahl and Brian Stark all mentioned the view from the Press Box. As Brian described, “Dinner in the Press Box was pretty cool, especially with that remarkable sunset out the west windows and storm clouds and a huge (double) rainbow over the stadium out the east windows.” Kyle had a wonderful way of looking at this skylight as a “celestial stamp on the weekend — not that we needed reminding who drew us there in the first place — God’s way of saying ‘welcome home!’” Photos of the view that Brian and Kathleen sent can be found on our Facebook page. Further telling of the spirit of ND ’88 were highlight submissions by classmates who weren’t even in attendance. Bill Webb wanted to set the record straight with a note that he was sadly absent because he was in trial, “as a lawyer, not as a criminal defendant as Molly Reuscher may have inferred and then broadcast to all who would listen.” Mike Naughton’s highlight was a “late-night message with a photo of many happy people coupled with a message calling (him) a terrible name for missing the Reunion. Next time, please God.” — Laurine Megna-Davis; PO Box 18138, Avon CO 81620; 970-748-9933; 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 Reunion in Our Sights
Today I received the invitation to our 25th reunion. Wow, has it really been that long? I don’t know about you, but while we may have done lots of living since we left campus, it still feels like yesterday that I was sitting in North Dining Hall with my roommate Kim having our 50th cup of coffee while pondering life. I want to thank all who reached out to me during the last few months. I heard from Norma Ada, who is advertising on behalf of her local Catholic school on Saipan that is hosting a student from Notre Dame’s ACE program this upcoming school year. She asked that I spread the word that if anyone knows an ACE graduate who would be interested in teaching overseas on a tropical and under-resourced island to please give her a shout. Also I heard from Patrick Michael Griffin of Wabash IN. Over the last few years, he has worked with the Knights of Columbus to raise money for sonogram machines; recently, one was placed in Wabash at The Life Center, see: todayscatholicnews.org/2011/12/knights-support-life-with-sonogram-machines/. His other passion is reading and writing. His poem “To Those With Hope” made the longlist in the 2013 Fish Poetry Prize (for the Fish Anthology, judged by Paul Durcan). Amy (Keusal) Girardot shared that in 2011 she married John Girardot ’69, ’70. She says and her former husband, *Mike Vanthournout ’89, remain good friends as they raise their sons. Their eldest son, Alec, is a junior at ND, studying physics and English, and he is co-president of the ND improv comedy group. Ben, 19, is a freshman at the U of Illinois, and Andy, 15, is a sophomore in high school. Over the last 10 years, she has worked for CASA Kane County and was named director of advocate supervision there. CASA is a nonprofit organization that trains volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the juvenile court system. Last but certainly not least, a big shout out to Jim Doerfler, who has been promoted to counsel at Reed Smith LLP. Jim is a member of the Energy & Natural Resources Industry Group in the firm’s Pittsburgh office. I hope to see some of you in the fall at a game. Keep the information coming and make those Reunion reservations. Go Irish. — Noël (Murtha) Di Nome; 326 Melbourne Ave., Mamaroneck NY 10543; home 914-806 3760; Noel.D.DiNome@alumni.nd.edu
89MBA Class Secretary — Maggie (McJoynt) DeVoe;
612-845-9662; maggie.devoe@oracle.com