2010s
2010s
10 Lots to Celebrate
Lou Marach married Mallory Blanchard on April 1, 2017 in Iowa. Chris Savino, Michael Bryan, and Chris Barron were groomsmen in the wedding. Congratulations to the happy couple. 2017 was a busy year for Lindsay (Johnson) and Tom Pappas. In May, Lindsay graduated with a master’s degree in teaching Latin and is gainfully employed teaching Latin and English in southern Indiana. Lindsay and Tom also celebrated the adoption of their foster daughters, Anne, 4, and Taylor, 1, in November. They are glad to be officially a family of six, along with their two sons. Molly (Smith) Molloy started a new job at the Maryland Department of Health. Please send me your updates. — Matt Molloy; ndclass2010@gmail.com
10MBA Class Secretary — John Gerberich;
cell 847-331-4707; jgerberi@alumni.nd.edu
10JD Baby Fever
The NDLS family is growing. Some very excited NDLSers welcomed their newest additions to the family. Stacy (Greiner) and Michael Chambliss ’05, ’10JD became parents Aug. 8 to a very handsome little guy named James Alexander Chambliss. Much like his parents, he is happy, always smiling and already loves his four-legged brother, Midas. The second couple on our list, Lindsey Brazys Pianowski and husband Eric met precious baby number two, Cora Suzanne Pianowski, on Jan. 26. Big brother Luke seems thrilled and mom and dad cannot wait for the sleepless nights to come. Welcome to the NDLS family little ones. I hear a good lullaby goes something like, “Cheer, Cheer, for old Notre Dame.” Please send me updates for my next column; my social media “research” needs help. — Jennifer (Hernandez) Laffitte; 10310 Southwest 128th Ave., Miami FL 33186; res 305-322-7154; bus 786-762-3815; jherna11@alumni.nd.edu
11 Updates Galore
Austin Gilbertson ’19MBA and Heidi Grossman got married at St. Luke’s Church in Barrington RI on Sept. 3. The wedding party included fellow Domers Jena Doom, Jamie Rhinesmith, Erin Hoffer, Caitlin Casey, Kelly Pierson, Emily Maner, and Brian Brooke. Julie (Bujnowski) O’Brochta married Andrew O'Brochta in June 2017. The couple relocated to Chicago where they work as architects. Many Cavanaugh and 2012 Arkies were in attendance. Matthew Balkey ’12Arch married Maria de los Ángeles Sánchez León in her hometown of Quito, Ecuador, July 14 with a number of Arkie classmates in attendance. The nuptial Mass was celebrated in the 15th-century Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus, part of the colonial-era city recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. The newlyweds reside in Silver Spring MD where Matthew works at Torti Gallas + Partners, a leading new urbanist firm. Jordan Higgins married Patrick Higgins at the Basilica on Nov. 5, 2016. The bridal party included Patrick Mahoney ’07, Sofia Iturbe, Melissa Kaduck, and Blair Chemidlin. Guests included many alumni and the bride’s friends Amy DiJospeh, Eliza Gedney, Meredith Andrews, Meredith McGregor, Patrick Crofton, Matthew Oleniczak, Daniel and Cassie Kirkonnell, and Billy Maloney. Paige (White) married Jason Cromwell on Aug. 12 in Philadelphia. They split residence between Naples, Italy, where Jason is stationed with the Navy, and Zurich, Switzerland, where Paige works for Cardinal Health. They like guests, and a traveling Domer is always welcome. Jennifer Henzler married Zachary Salcich on Oct. 14. Kristen Andree, the bride’s roommate from Welsh Fam, was the maid of honor. Domers from classes ranging from 1976 to 2020 were in attendance. Tom Banasiak and Anne Flinchbaugh had an excellent time getting together with Ellen Banasiak ’76, Becky Code ’76, Jim Freeman ’74, Susan Flanagan ’76, John Flinchbaugh ’08, Andy Stulc, Brent Kelly, Aryelle Emison, Casey Cockerham, Katie Cockerham, Barbara Maurer, Rob Maurer, Shawn Steurer ’13, Mimi Huang ’13, Tessa Plaschke, Charlie Landis, Katie Pietrucha, Tony Ayala, Caitlin Ayala, Yiting Zheng ’12, Katie Valko, Meredith Figg, Jenny Dahm, and Liz Perone to celebrate their marriage in Dallas last September. A group of 2011 Lewis ladies had several reunions this year. Sarah Ceponis married August Kunkel ’14 in July. Bethany Freeburg married Joshua Howard in September. Katie Veasey married Jack Gilette in October. Mary McKeever married Erik Walker in December. Nicky Balduf will marry Matt Libel ’12 in June. Kristen Wall will marry Brendan Lloyd in August. In September, this Lewis crew, now double in size, will finally try to get to the same football game. Kyle Nieman and Nicki Allen became engaged in June 2017. Ellen (Costa) Duncan lives in Atlanta with her husband, Paul Duncan ’09, and their daughter, Dillon, 2. The Duncans expected their second daughter in the winter. Liam and Hannah Rhatigan welcomed their new daughter, Margaret Marie Rhatigan, on Oct. 4. John and Kelly Kramb welcomed their second son, Charles, on July 7. James ’08 and Melissa (Nolan) Greenwood welcomed their second child, Matthias Stanley Greenwood, on Aug. 17. Matty attended his first ND football game at age 6 weeks with his parents and big sister, Roslyn. He was lifted for many push-ups as he cheered the Irish to victory over Miami. Marine Capt. Rory Kelly is stationed in Champaign IL where he oversees Marine officer recruiting and selection for Illinois colleges and universities. Jorge Ortiz graduated from Army Officer Candidate School as his class’s distinguished honor graduate and was commissioned as an Army officer. He is a platoon leader in the Indiana Army National Guard. Nick Civetta is playing professional rugby in the English Premiership and for the US National Team. — Evan James; ndclass2011@gmail.com
12 Wedding News
Suzi Spitzer and Drew Webster got married Oct. 21. The wedding featured limericks spun by the stepfather of the bride, Mark Magee ’80. Many Notre Dame friends, including several marching band alums, brought the best of the Backer to the reception. Included were Anel Terron, Caela and Nik Cleber, Dan Ampon, Christina Shelley, Hillary Ott, Tylor Mondragon, Linnea Fechtner, Brittany Ockenfels, and groomsman Adam Wojcik. A bagpiper played the Victory March and Notre Dame beat USC. What's not to love? Amanda Meza and Eugene Staples II, the quintessential Notre Dame couple who met at Domerfest during their freshman year, were married Nov. 26 in Los Angeles surrounded by their ND friends and family. If you have any updates, please feel free to send them. — Tyler Harmsen;
Ricardo Lyon 361, Santiago, Chile; tharmsen@alumni.nd.edu
12MBA Class Secretary — Chris Villani;
christopher.villani@gmail.com
12JD Babies and Other Business
Hello, classmates. Let’s get down to business. Specifically, baby business: Monica (Bordas) Schmucker and her husband Dustin welcomed a baby boy, Silas Grey, on Jan. 6. Their daughter, Tessa, is super excited to be a big sister, and recently adopted a potato chip as a pet. As Monica puts it, there’s never a dull moment. Also in the baby business are Mike Crowley and his wife, Grace. Their daughter, Elizabeth, made her debut in May 2017. This isn't their first rodeo, as they already have two sons, James and Declan. I'm told that they're excited to even out the numbers and improve their odds on future Family Feud auditions. Moving away from babies and into jobs, Amanda Dworak started a new gig in Houston at the new year. She'll be in-house counsel for Brookfield Properties, where she’ll be working with Houston-based real estate assets under the umbrella of the second-largest commercial real estate company in the world. So if you're looking to move to Texas and need a lead on an apartment, maybe ask Amanda? Jonathan Hwang, his wife, and their two children have also moved from Chicago to Charleston. Jonathan left the Cook County State's Attorney to work for Wagenmaker & Oberly, a firm that specializes in working with non-profits. He's been working in their Chicago office for a bit, and just got the go-ahead to move to a warmer climate. I can't say I blame him. Brittany Hunt-Jassey recently accepted a job as the executive director of South Central CASA of Oklahoma, where she will be advocating for abused and neglected children as they navigate the foster and legal systems. Brittany also married Mark Jassey in November. She got super-great emotional photos of a very happy Joey. In her spare time, Brittany enjoys listening to Mark make dad jokes and observing his first read-through of the Harry Potter books. Into miscellany, Sharon Lim reports in that she visited Nicole Vachon in New York in December. Nicole took Sharon to her first (and last) soul cycle class, which reportedly made Sharon “want to die.” No comment from Nicole, who must enjoy soul cycle. Sharon also recently met up with me, Jimmy Champlin (in case you forgot), and my wife Sarah in Roswell GA during Thanksgiving. We had ceviche and beers, because I don't have the motivation to do anything much more active than that. Speaking of myself, my wife and I will have moved by the date this is published. We decided that the time was right to shift down to Atlanta, where we can be closer to Sharon. Also closer to family, but mostly Sharon. Neither of us have jobs lined up, so come May, you should be able to find us by requesting an Uber anywhere in metro-Atlanta. And in our final update, Alvin Adjei traveled to Chile in December for the wedding of a friend from college. While there, Alvin challenged the brother of the groom to a series of early morning footraces. In case you're wondering, yes, they were still wearing formal attire. Alvin claims that he won the first two races, but the only one we have video proof of is the third. In this race, Alvin takes an early lead before suffering a catastrophic hamstring pull, causing him to pull up, hop a few feet, and demand that the camera be turned off. Before you ask: yes, I have the tape. Thanks everyone. Have a nice quarter. — James Champlin; james.c.champlin@gmail.com
13 Class Secretary — Chris Champlin;
Cincinnati OH; nd2013updates@gmail.com
13MBA More Births
I’m always happy to pass along news about bundles of joy. Erin and Rob Vetere welcomed Hailey Josephine on Feb. 3. Mom and baby are doing great. In addition to parenthood, Erin and Rob started new jobs recently and are still in New York. Pamela and Brett Murphy welcomed their second child. Penelope Murphy was born on Nov. 27 and all are doing well, even son Connor, who has been the only one getting decent sleep lately. Brett says they still live in Chicago but probably are headed out to the suburbs soon. The deadline for the next notes is April 29. Send anything newsworthy my way. — Nick Imgrund; 314-775-7364; daimgrund@yahoo.com
13JD New and Old Profs
As many of you know, Courtlyn Roser-Jones will be Professor Roser-Jones of the Ohio State U Moritz College of Law starting in the fall. Courtlyn is wrapping up a stint as the William H. Hastie Fellow at the U of Wisconsin Law School, and her article on the constitutionality of agency shop agreements between labor unions and public-sector employers was recently published in volume 112 of the Northwestern U Law Review. I asked Courtlyn, a diehard Nittany Lion, how it feels to be joining THE Ohio State U faculty, and she drove to Chicago and beat me with a baseball bat. One of you asked me to check in on Professor Blakey because you had a bad dream. On a whim, I emailed him and received the following response. “I am living happily in Paradise Valley AZ…The weather is 62. The sun is out. The sky is blue, not overcast and gray, as some place we both know, but shall remain nameless, usually at the end of January.” He further wrote that he is in excellent health, is using Amazon instead of the bookstore to order books so he can read “what I want, whenever I want.” As he wrote me, a copy of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War had just arrived. So, dear reader, if you’re having a bad day, just remember that somewhere our beloved retired professor is sitting in the sun, reading ancient Greek history. Our five-year reunion will be Sept. 15, the weekend of the Vanderbilt game. Some classmates and I are working to organize a great weekend, so please consider this your personal invitation to join us back on the old sod. It would be wonderful to see you. Please consult the class Facebook page for more information or email me directly. — Alex Blair; apblair@gmail.com
14 Class Secretary — Michael Nichols;
miketnicholsii@gmail.com
14MBA Class Secretary — Jessica Bonanno;
407-808-7148; jbonanno@alumni.nd.edu; Krick Cahill; 518-598-4222; kcahill1@alumni.nd.edu
14JD Shout Out
It has been half a year since I gave an update. I missed one entry and then Notre Dame overlooked one of my entries. I’m sorry for the delay. As a quick catch-up on what was missed, I want to give a shout out to Angela Johnson, who made Michiana’s 40 under 40 list. If you want to read more, Google gives you this little treat: southbendtribune.com/angela-johnson/article_a6f2be0e-3756-11e7-a396-f3a7cf6adeb0.html. You look great, Angela, and we're proud of you. Moving forward to the past quarter, congratulations to Lauren Mogavero Grindall and her husband C.J. Grindall (and Uncle Mikey) on the birth of their daughter Amelia, who has a smile that will melt your heart. (See Lauren’s Facebook pics.)
If you have an update and it’s not listed here, please email me. Thanks. — Rachel Hanley; rachelrhanley@gmail.com
15 Back Again
After a quick break from this column, I have returned. Some of these updates are a little backlogged, while some are very recent. It should be fun to guess which are which. Joe Casino competed in the Ironman World Championship in Kona HI and James Mancino finished all 13 episodes of The Punisher in a single day. Congrats to you both. Caitlin Doyle and her cat, Winston, may become the next Instagram-famous owner/pet combo. Follow @winstondoyleofficial for more. Matti and Duncan Campbell welcomed a beautiful daughter, Quinn Marie Campbell, into the world on Jan. 8. Amanda Schockling has started working with the Madison Water Utility as an engineer to help rework their water systems and improve existing infrastructure. Colleen Furey is trying to spread awareness of parasitic infections in our country after a close call of her own. She encourages you all to wear shoes on the beach. Malorie Nowak and RJ Thornton were married on May 27, 2017 with Brittany Hark ’14 as a bridesmaid. Ellie Reynolds and I have purchased Juicy Couture tracksuits and will soon be adding second sets. Lindsay Logan has declared that 2018 will be her year for a comeback, starting with a fresh Instagram presence. CJ Von Bargen has been working his way through dental school at UNC at Chapel Hill. David Lenz and Ashley Currey are to be married at Notre Dame on July 7, 2018. Emma Terhaar is a spin instructor at LA Fitness in the Chicago area and is operating her own blog (emmafauxfemma.com) to keep the spirit of “Her Campus” writings alive. Eric Palutsis and Alex Westby are engaged. Also, Alex is on a poster at my gym, the Bucktown Athletic Club, lifting a kettle bell. As always, continue to send me your updates. I promise to be better with my consistency. — Robert Reed; cell 847-691-0666; rreed1@alumni.nd.edu
15JD Effort to Communicate
I posted last time about seeking another author for the Class Notes and I get one response, one. And it wasn’t even to take over the Class Notes. It wasn’t even to express that they enjoyed the column every quarter. It was to express that their husband, whom I don’t know, thinks “I am hilarious,” their words, not mine. Although, in my humble opinion, I don’t disagree. Krista (Pikus) McDonald in honor of your sole effort to communicate with me, I will honor your husband, Bradley McDonald, who obviously is intelligent and has extremely good taste. If you will remember from the Monday Morning Updates in the “Get to Know” section, let’s Get to Know Bradley. Please note all information is sourced from Facebook or Google as I don’t know Bradley and he and Krista have restricted access to their profiles, at least for me. Luckily Bradley McDonald isn’t that common. Bradley is proud to be from Ryan IA. And let us begin with our rendition of “Old McDonald Had a Farm.” Cool Ryan IA facts: population 361 (360 without Bradley). Ryan has one notable site, a Happy Chef restaurant statue (think Big Boy except less cool) that was purchased, outfitted with a baseball umpire’s mask, and put in the outfield of their local baseball park. Completely true. Thus ends the cool Ryan IA facts. Bradley mentions being an O’Neill Hall alumnus, so I am guessing he went to ND. He is a Cubs fan and lives in Chicago. Of course, there is a “chicken and egg” issue that hasn’t been cleared up yet. Krista got Brad tickets to game 5 of the World Series in 2016, so yeah, he was kinda forced to ask her to marry him, but they are happy, and it’s cool. Finally, Bradley (Can I call you Brad? I feel like I’ve gotten to know you.) is the managing director and co-founder of Agroy Inc. or as he describes it, “Amazon for farmers.” Sounds cool, all joking aside. Krista is an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago where she focuses on commercial litigation and apparently had an oversight when obtaining World Series tickets; this lifelong Cubs fan was not offered one and was unable to go. I harbor no ill will and you are forgiven. Please continue to post political thoughts and positions on Facebook, said no one, ever. I am looking at our class’s two guiltiest parties of this Facebook offense, Dalton Patterson and Lander Baiamonte. Speaking of Lander and politics, she is running for chair of the Democratic Party in Nueces County TX. She also seems to post pictures of her fashion quite frequently. Fashionista or politician? Lander, you can’t be both. I do this at the end of every column: please email me updates on life, kids, marriages, divorces, broken engagements, moves, professional changes, hobbies taken up and trips to other countries. Disclaimer: I have been writing this for three years. Do you know how many people have emailed me a life update, of any kind? Are you as agitated as I am that there is no symbol that adequately ends a sentence to express a rhetorical question? There I did it again. I lose sleep over this. — Matthew Wine; mwine@alumni.nd.edu
16 Class Secretary — Bridget Doyle;
bdoyle3@alumni.nd.edu