1980s

80 Extraordinary Service

Colleen McGee Kavanaugh missed Reunion but was at graduation in May to see her son Gordon Stanton ’15 walk the stage. Gordon joins sister Casey Stanton ’07 as a proud ND alum. Casey is at Duke Divinity School getting her MDiv. Colleen divides her time between DC and Durham, visiting her two grandchildren, and Massachusetts, where her husband Gerry is the senior vice chancellor of U-Mass at Dartmouth. Colleen hires an ND intern most semesters including the summer, so anyone with a son or daughter interested in progressive politics and internet communications or web development should contact Colleen. The secretary of the Army and the US ambassador to NATO have selected Barb DiGangi Sisson to be the next administrative advisor to the US ambassador to the NATO Mission in Brussels. In her new role, Barb will support all aspects of the State and Defense Departments’ important and challenging work at NATO. Leo Latz reunited with Brett Jackson, Dan Hussey and Nick Zagotta for steaks in Chicago the night before the Texas game. Many laughs and stories were shared about their interconnected lives at Notre Dame and beyond. Brett and Dan were classmates at Campion Jesuit High School also; and Nick and Brett played on Notre Dame’s first lacrosse team. Besides running his own architectural firm, Dan is the freshman women’s basketball coach at Fenwick High School and coached Leo’s daughter there. Brett and Leo were roommates in Pangborn Hall; and Nick is Leo’s lawyer, which has forever guaranteed attorney client confidentiality regarding their 1979 spring break trip to Fort Lauderdale with Phil Russo, Paul Lewis, Bart Henderson, Mark Pattridge, Scott Zettek, Tom “Buddah” Long, Tim Lawless, Jim Blaha, Dave Kavanaugh and Bob Titzer ’81. Dr. Joseph Congeni has published his book, Cleveland’s Bitter Pill: A Diagnosis of Injured Title Dreams and Die-Hard Fans. The book is a commentary on the loyalty of Cleveland sports fans and the misery and heartbreak of Cleveland sports as told through injury and set-backs. Dr. Tom Goblirsch is a colonel in the Air Force and the chief of aerospace medicine for the 115th Fighter Wing. He has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Air Force and the Combat Excellence Award by the Navy. The latter was for accompanying Navy SEAL and Army Green Beret teams on blacked-out insertion and extraction missions in Iraq. The Meritorious Service Medal was given in part for saving the lives of 28 Iraqi children during and after a chlorine gas explosion in Baghdad. The British Ambassador made him an honorary member of the Royal Air Force for the care Tom rendered to wounded Royal Marines under fire in Basra, Iraq. The second of his three sons, Matthew, is a junior at ND. Tom’s daughter Elizabeth was accepted into the Summer Scholars program for high school students last summer at Notre Dame. Tom and his wife, Terri, celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. Senior Alumni Director Michelle Reynaldo Ferguson welcomed a new granddaughter, Molly, during Reunion. Tim Higgins welcomed his first grandchild, Michael Joseph Higgins, born to Tim’s son Patrick and wife Anne. Pete Cannon and Cindy Todaro Bolton threw a massive tailgater in the Joyce lot for the USC game. Dillonites Mike Gilroy and Bob Rudy were there. Mike and Carol Rolfs were tailgating nearby under the state flag of Arizona. The ND Glee Club celebrated its 100th Anniversary Oct. 1-4 on campus with 500 returning alumni, including classmates Dave Ciarlone, Dave Cockerill, John Dondanville Chris Fenoglio, Michael Hough, John Jacobs, Jeff Rubenstein, Pat Shaughnessy and John Walsh. The weekend included a concert with 550 singers on stage in their traditional black tails and white tie singing standards and celebrating and singing at Sunday Mass in the Basilica. Our hearts go out to Dr. Mike “Mitch” Mitchell, who lost his dad recently. — Mary Ellen Woods;
mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu; facebook.com/groups/notredame80;

80MBA Class Secretary — Doug Cooper;

suntubi@aol.com

80JD A Door Opened

Our wonderful classmate Mike Laak sent terrific news. “In August, I finally finished my master of science in regulatory affairs and services degree from St. Cloud State U. This degree focuses on developing professionals who manage the regulatory approval processes in the medical device industry. You may remember my job as senior counsel with Carlson Companies was eliminated back in September of 2008, which was not a good time to be looking for work. Through the job search process, I decided I needed new skills, so I started this master’s program in September 2010 with the hope of being able to leverage my legal experience with an understanding of the regulations governing the medical device industry. Shortly after I started going to graduate school, I was hired as a contractor in the legal department at Medtronic, which has its operational headquarters in Minneapolis. (Since it acquired Covidien this year, there are 85,000 employees operating in 160 countries.) Just about the time I was finishing my classroom work in June 2012 (10 classes over six semesters), I was hired as a permanent employee in the legal department. However, to finish my degree, I needed to do a culminating project. About a year ago, I finally started on my project, and after putting in about 300 hours, including taking a final exam, I met the requirements for graduation in August. Earning a master’s degree at age 60 was not on my bucket list, but starting the master’s program opened the door to having a job that I love, at least 95 percent of the time. I am legal counsel in the corporate legal regulatory group at Medtronic, where I have an opportunity to use my legal skills and what I learned in graduate school. Part of my enjoyment comes from working at a company whose mission is to alleviate pain, restore health and extend the lives of patients around the world. Medtronic is a great company to work for. I have been truly blessed beyond measure to have my career work out as it has. On a more personal note: I attended our 35th class reunion in June. While only a few of us were there, visiting with them, sharing stories, attending the alumni Mass and just spending time walking around the beautiful Notre Dame campus reaffirmed my love for the law school and our classmates. I consider having graduated from the Notre Dame Law School as one of the best things that happened in my life. I know this a long way off, but I am hoping that before time thins our ranks much further, that we have a great turnout for our 40th. The 2020 reunion dates are already marked on my calendar.” Lucille Del Tufo Davy is a new grandmother and many of us were present for the birth. If that has piqued your interest, send your news and the rest of Lucille’s story will be revealed in the next issue. Love to all. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com

81 Reunion Plans

A BP minireunion took place at the UVA game. Annette Lang, Kathleen Ward, Treci (Keating) Dimas and Michelle (Fey) Pullano all live in Virginia. Eva (Stuber) Selep and Maureen (Finnegan) O’Brien flew in for the game. Treci, Michelle and Maureen have children who graduated from UVA. Maureen’s husband, Mike, is also a UVA graduate. They tailgated in the UVA parking lot, proudly wearing green in a sea of orange. Mark A. Kelley, Mike Kiefer, Mark Rust, Mike Onufrak, Dan Ryan, Dave Brassard, Dave Mandolini, Dave Wood, Paul Turgeon and Mark Amstock held a reunion at Soldier Field in Chicago over the July 4th weekend in conjunction with the Grateful Dead’s final concerts. Mark Kelley and his wife, Michelle, live in his hometown of Ann Arbor, where he is an orthopedic surgeon. All five of their sons are graduates of universities in the Midwest. Their son Brendan ’10 is a physician in New York. Paul runs his own contracting firm in southern California. Mark Rust hosted a barbecue at his home in Wilmette IL. Mark is the managing partner for the Chicago office of Barnes and Thornburgh. Mike Kiefer and his wife, Bridget, live in Hinsdale IL. Mike has worked for ArcelorMittal since graduation. Their son Ryan ’08 is a consultant for Deloitte. Tyler ’14 is an engineer at Walsh Construction, and Audrey works in retail fashion. Dave Wood is an ENT surgeon in his home town of Sharon PA. Mark Amstock retired from Toyota after 35 years. He and his wife, Kathy, live in LA. They have three boys. Dan Ryan lives in Wilmette IL with his wife, Julie (Wise) Ryan. Dan is a partner at the law firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson in its Chicago office, and Julie is an architect. They have four children. Dave Mandolini and wife Dana Michel see many music shows in and around Chicago. They have three children. (Robin graduated from ND.) And they have one grandchild. Dave Brassard made a rare appearance in the Midwest accompanied by his wife, Sara. They live in Dave’s hometown of Nashua NH. Dave owns a granite countertop company. They have two children. Mike Onufrak is a lawyer with White and Williams in Philadelphia. He has three sons and two granddaughters. Reunion 2016 planning is under way. Mark your calendar for June 2-5. We likely will be electing new class officers to some or all slots. If you are interested in serving or wish to nominate someone, let me know. Email Jana (Schutt) Patchen at jpatchen@columbus.rr.com if you would like to be a reader, server, musician, etc. for the Friday afternoon Class Mass. Mike “Pro” Burke and Tom McCarthy are the coordinators for our Saturday morning 9-hole golf outing on the Burke Course. If you are interested in golfing, please contact proburke@gmail.com or tmac@pga.com. Additional details associated with the weekend will be emailed as they become available. — Lee Ann McLaughlin; 1120 Georgiana St., South Bend IN 46617; 847-636-1964; leeannmclaughlin@alumni.nd.edu

81MBA Tailgates and Babies

It seems that more of us are juggling babysitting responsibilities as we enjoy football games all over the country while navigating the “grandparent zone,” which is wonderful. Sheila ’80SMC and Steve Simmerman are in the Phoenix area, but Steve still managed to get to U-Mass, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, USC and the BC game at Fenway Park in Boston even though they’re enjoying grandson Keagan James McGinnis, born in March. Keagan’s parents are Stefanie ’05SMC and Seann McGinnis, who was allowed into the family despite being a Michigan fan. Steve is the senior director of supply chain software sales and marketing for JDA Global in Scottsdale. Steve’s son Casey graduated from Dominican U in finance, and Kip graduated from Arizona State. Tim and Susan (Barbacane) Leopold also welcomed a grandson, Theodore James Kapnick, in February. He is named for Father Ted and President Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy is the son of Natalie ’13 and Dan Kapnick, who live in Chicago. She works for Barclays Capital. Teddy made his first visit to campus in the fall for a photo below his namesake’s Hesburgh Library. Susan and Tim tailgated the Clemson game with Mike Zmachinski. Both their sons attended Clemson. Mike and Betty reside in Morristown NJ. Mike is SVP commercial real estate for Sovereign Bank and very active with his local ND Club. He was at the Texas game and at Pitt with Chris Grant, Jim Connolly and Mike Langnecker, though Mike claimed they needed assistance, and oxygen, to get to their seats. I heard from Jim, who lives in Haddon Township NJ where he reports enjoying being a “lifer” as engineering manager at L-3 Communications. He and Irene are officially empty-nesters since older son Jim is graduating from Rutgers and Ryan is a freshman at the U of Richmond. Chris and Amy are near Philadelphia, where he is VP investment advisor with PNC Asset Management. Mike and Jan are in Gibsonia PA, where Mike works for Mellon. Daughter Amy and Eric Hersom were married in October, and son Sean teaches middle school science at Allegheny Traditional Academy, a magnet school in Pittsburgh. No grandchildren yet, but Mike reports they have “two grand dogs and grand cat.” Mark Toth, who is in the Chicago suburbs running marketing for Roche Labs, got together with Bill and Mary (Mulholland) Upjohn in Minneapolis during a fall business trip. Bill and Mary are on Lake Minnetonka outside Minneapolis. Their son Andrew married Denghui in the fall, a few days before he began the master’s of public health program at Arizona State. Son David ’11 graduated from the same program in 2013 and has a fellowship with the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. Son Christopher is running a startup transportation app in San Francisco. Bill and Mary managed to attend a couple of games during their wedding and travel gigs, and I was lucky enough to meet up with them for the Navy game. There’s still nothing better than a Mulholland/Upjohn tailgate. Our son Teddy is staying with Bill and Mary during the week while he attends U of Minnesota Law. He and Annabelle live in St. Cloud and gifted us with our first grandchild, the sixth “E.J.,” in March. Barb is planning on kidnapping Little E and their daughter Clara when the time is right. Abby is still here in Connecticut with us taking care of her cats, and Colin is at Berklee College of Music in Boston and touring with his singer/songwriter girlfriend. Barb is busy with her work as a therapist, and I’m busy with book stuff. My ninth book dropped a few weeks ago, and The Fixers is being made into a TV movie for HBO. Please drop me a line and let me know what’s going on. — E.J. Fleming; 600 Hall Hill Road, Somers CT 06071; 860-749-7261; flemingiv@aol.com

81JD Gatherings

Fritz Shadley has been named one of six attorneys at his law firm, Ulmer & Berne, as benchmark litigation stars. Barbara and Jack Nugent have sold their Connecticut house and moved to their retirement home in Maine. The new address is 6 Rollins Lane, Kennebunk ME 04043. Jack comments: “If anyone wonders why we did not move to Florida, the reason is that old people retire to Florida.” Carolyn and Steve Cordill report they attended the Texas game with their four children (daughter at UT), Ellen (McLaughlin) and Bob Cimala and their boys and Patti and Allen Pennington. That group will be together again at SMU parents weekend, where the Cimala’s daughter and two of the Cordill boys attend. Jean and I had dinner with Claire (Corson) and Jim Skinner and also with former Dean Patty O’Hara ’74JD this fall. Several members of our class attended the USC game: Jim Blasé, Ellen (McLaughlin) and Bob Cimala, Tim Rastello and John Fitzpatrick with two of four sons. I enjoyed seeing Tim and Jim at Law School receptions but missed Ellen and Bob when I left to march into the Stadium with the band. Fitz and I spent some time together at my place, where my brother, Tony ʼ73JD, gave Fitz some lessons on the right side of medical malpractice work. I also saw former Deans Father Dave Link ’58, ’61JD and Patty O’Hara at the USC weekend law school reception. Bob Allen spoke on the subject of “Structuring Yacht Ownership for Foreign Buyers” at the annual Yacht Sales and the Law seminar presented by the Florida Yacht Brokers Association in October in Fort Lauderdale. Bob’s firm recently opened an office in New York City at 125 Park Ave. There are now 15 lawyers on the Robert Allen Law team. Melanie Barbera, on behalf of herself and Vince, reports: In typical Barbera fashion, good news comes in threes. Last year three of our children got married and this year, three of our children have had or are having babies. Our daughter-in-law and son, Carla (Sanchez) ʼ07 and Nathaniel Barbera ʼ07, had a beautiful baby girl, Isabel Rose, on Aug. 29. Our daughter, Regina, and her husband, Andy, had a handsome baby boy, Nicholas Paul on Oct. 12. And our daughter-in-law and son, Katie (Jenkins) ʼ08 and Stephen Barbera ʼ08, are due in mid-December. So many blessings. 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 Catching Up

Paul Mazzarella is working as senior director for K12 Inc. He is living in Simi Valley CA and was recently inducted in the Seville High School Baseball Hall of Fame. Paul is married to Shohreh and has two children: Amir, 13, and Darius, 6. He has two older children: Danielle, 23, a graduate of Purdue who is working for a marketing firm in Irvine CA, and Jordan, 20, who is attending Cal State Fullerton. Dave and I have tried to get to most football games this season. Those in attendance from our class at the USC game were John Richards, Kevin Kenny, Richard Wickel and Todd Krzyskowski among others. Please plan on attending our 35th Reunion in 2017. Please save the date and join us. — 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 — Renée (Amirkanian) Cooper;

reneemsr@aol.com

82JD Football Sightings

Tim Rooney, Sheila and Perry Vieth and Carol and I were on campus during the Texas weekend for the Law School Advisory Council meetings. It was a special weekend for Sheila and Perry, as they were also celebrating the engagement of their daughter, Megan ’09. Liz (Medina) and Greg Imhoff were also in for the Texas game, along with a large family contingent from the Lone Star State. I saw Bob Homchick at the Georgia Tech game. Bob is still practicing in Seattle. Cele (Glacy) and Bruce Baty, Liz Imhoff, Wendy and Tim Nickels, John Smith and I were on campus for the NDLA Board meeting the weekend of the UMass game. We had a fun dinner at the Carriage House the night before the meeting. I ran into Mike Daugherty and Tom Veldman at the Law School on the day of the game. Chuck Gallagher was on campus as well visiting his daughter, who is a student at Saint Mary’s. Bob Clemens was in for the Navy and USC games. Bob is enjoying his retirement in Hilton Head. Congratulations to Greg Moore on becoming a grandfather. Greg’s stepson, Chris, and his wife had a baby girl in October. Chris is following in Greg’s footsteps by making a career in the Army. I had lunch with Greg Kruzel while on a business trip to Phoenix in October. John Smith and his trial ad partner, Jane Lynch, reunited for real this summer as they represented co-defendants at a trial in Chicago. John neglected to tell me the outcome of the trial. Our condolences to Tim Rooney, whose father passed away in September. — Frank Julian; 7 W. Seventh St., Cincinnati OH 45202; 513-579-7337; frank.julian@macys.com

83 Sad and Happy News

It is with sadness that I report that Dan Wrappe passed away in August after a long battle with lung cancer. Please keep Dan, his wife Barbara, his daughter Megan and all his family and friends in your prayers. Dan’s family has asked for memorial donations to the American Cancer Society, Cancer Services, Inc. 3175 Maplewood Ave., Winston-Salem NC 27103 or the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem NC 27103. Members of the Class of ’83 have been busy this quarter. Michele Dietz Chynoweth did a book signing at the Barnes & Noble in downtown Philadelphia during the Pope’s visit this summer. Chris Beem just published a book, Democratic Humility: Reinhold Niebuhr, Neuroscience and America’s Political Crisis. Several classmates have posted pictures on the class Facebook page while they dropped off children to begin or continue their lives as Domers. Among those whose children are new students are Steve Fox, Bob Karnes, Greg Barth, Jim Leonard and Joseph Gildner. Others whose children are attending the University include Rose Mueller Miller and Michele Thomas. This past quarter, our class discussions and postings on our Facebook page have been (predictably) skewed to football and the Pope’s visit. We’ve also had a lot of pictures posted of various tailgating celebrations, including Steve Fox, Bob Karnes, Jim Leonard, Tad Nachef, Bill Mateja, Dan Hammer, Mary Malone, Rich O’Connor, Andrea Perino, Chris Hatfield, Paul Ritter and Dan Krach. I’ve mentioned the Class Facebook page several times now. For those who still aren’t members but wish to join, simply search for “Notre Dame Class of 1983” on Facebook and click “join.” As always, if you have any information you’d like to share with our classmates, please drop me a line and I’ll be sure to include the information in an upcoming column. — Louis J. (“Chip”) Denkovic; 520 West 43 Street, No. 32G, New York NY 10036; cell 917-399-8784; bus 212-762-6674; ldenkovic@gmail.com

83MBA Class Secretary — John Hilbrich;

630-677-2725; john.hilbrich@gmail.com

83JD No News Is Not Good News

I know many of you check out this column first when you open your Notre Dame Magazine. So, please send me an email with an update on you or a classmate for this column. No news is definitely not good news. — 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 Class Secretary — 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 BOB House, Holy Father

All ’84JD roommates from the famed BOB House returned to campus for the USC football weekend. Kate and Chip Cavanaugh, Mike Kelley, Brian Moynihan, Peter Burrell and son Bjorn and Jerry Hanrahan and son Quinn set up BOB House II in a rental house near campus. Others in attendance included: Ann (Stockmann) and John Firth; Kelly and Pat Galvin and daughter Karina ’12; Adam Katz; Don Cleary; Mark Carney and son Nolan; Kristie and Greg Cozad; Peter Reilly and daughter Emma; Stan and Judy (Murtagh) Schulz, daughter Katie Rose and son Peter; Therese and Jim Carr; Mark Byrne and son Aiden; Dana Eismeier and son Eric; Jim Slattery; and Jackie and me. Ann and John hosted a pre-game dinner on Friday night at their home. Jerry reports this was his first return to campus since our graduation. The Fighting Irish came back to beat the Trojans on a cold October night. Ann Firth attended three of Pope Francis’ Washington DC events as she accompanied University President Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, ’76, ’78MA, while Susan and Brian Moynihan met the Pope at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Jim Slattery met up with Jack McCormick and Don Hubbard for lunch at the Black Rose in Boston. Congratulations to Don Hubbard on his induction into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame as an author. Don has many books to his credit, but two in particular led to his induction: 100 Things Celtics Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, and Then Russell Said to Bird: The Greatest Celtics Stories Ever Told. — Matthew J. Dunn; 19834 Timbered Estates Lane, Carlinville IL 62626; 773-294-6851; mdunn19834@gmail.com

85 Presidential Selection

Brian Casey has been selected to serve as Colgate U’s next president. He will assume his new post at the school in Hamilton NY in July. Brian is currently president of DePauw U. He previously worked as an associate dean for academic affairs for Harvard U and as an assistant provost at Brown U. He is a graduate of Stanford U Law School and of Harvard U. Please send news for this column. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; yanzlaw@comcast.net

85MBA Names at the Games

Joe MacDonell saw Frank Budde at the Texas game. Joe also went to the USC game and as of this writing planned to attend the Wake Forest game. Dirk McMahon attended the Texas and USC games, visiting his daughter. Trading messages with Dirk, we were relieved to establish that VW spokesperson Mike Horn is not our Mike Horne. Bob Flaig checked in with new Fighting Irish themed crew shirts for his boat. Bob had the goal of collecting the most toys. Bob carried the nautical theme to his Gilligan’s Island Halloween party. Plan ahead; June 2020 is our next reunion. Please send me information for class notes. — Dom Yocius; dyocius@ameritech.net

85JD Seeing the Pope

Bill Short checked in from Ojai CA to say he’s been averaging one trial a year in his “family friendly” commercial and employment litigation practice. All but the last two of his nine children are in or have graduated from college. Bill’s wife, Katie, is lead counsel defending the Center for Medical Progress in California litigation in various places. Bill said that “CMP has been in the news for obtaining and slowly releasing the undercover videos displaying Planned Parenthood’s practice of selling fetal tissue.” Michon Hinz and her daughters, aged 10 and 14, traveled from their home in Southern California to Washington DC to see Pope Francis celebrate a canonization Mass for Junipero Serra, a California Franciscan friar, at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The girls got within four or five feet of Pope Francis as he entered the area to say Mass, and he smiled and waved to them. Michon reports, “He is such an amazing presence. We were all impressed at the sense of love and peace he exudes.” Michon and the girls also toured Congress, the White House, the Smithsonian and all the major monuments and memorials and were fortunate to have an insider’s tour through the Supreme Court. My son Aidan saw Pope Francis in Philadelphia, along with 400 other students from Jesuit high schools across the country. As a Boston College High School Eagle, Aidan is proud of our first Jesuit pope. Please continue to send your news to me. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; largey@fr.com

86 Sacrifice, Rings and Tears

We look forward to seeing everyone at the 30th. Mark Herkert ran the NYC Marathon to raise money for the battle against Multiple Myeloma. I am writing this the day after the marathon but am very happy to report that Mark raised $9,000 about a week and half before he ran. You read about Mark in this column several months back when he did a triathlon for the cause and to celebrate his own victory against cancer. Tom “Beaver” McDonald sent me the following story, and I had to print it in his own words. To set the stage, Tom’s daughters are Mia and Lourdes. His wife is Gina. “Right after the 4th of July, per Mia’s persistent prodding, Gina, Lourdes and I accompanied her on what was to be a search for a great hot dog on the Notre Dame campus. After ‘bs-ing’ our way onto campus and illegally parking behind Badin, we made our way, amidst the raindrops, to the dining hall for lunch. I was fired up when Mia asked to head to the bookstore before heading back to the beach, as I’m always curious what kind of shelf space ND rugby is getting. (Sad to report, it is still not much.) As soon as we walked in, she grabbed my hand and told me she wanted to take me somewhere. We proceeded upstairs to the jewelry and class ring counter. Perplexed, I asked her what was up and she proceeded to tell me that since last season’s Syracuse game at which she saw Joe Hart, Bigman and Eddie Roohan proudly wearing their class rings, she was curious why I didn’t have one. When I explained to her, months ago, that when I graduated, my parents nor I, had the means to buy one, she took it upon herself to begin to save her allowance and other dough she’s made via other ventures. She proudly said, ‘Papa, I want to buy you your class ring.’ I was speechless and must say, tears flow now as I write these words. We had to wait 45 minutes for the proper attendant to assist us, but I must say, a wait has never been more welcome. Once she arrived, she said she had to check the book to make sure I was a graduate. Ironically, she couldn’t find the book, yet she said we seemed like honest folk and that we could proceed. After going through the selection process, with Mia’s assistance of course, she was impressed with our teamwork. When I told her that the ring was a gift from my 10 year-old daughter, she said that was the first time she had ever seen or heard of something so sweet, so pure. I just said, ‘well, that’s Mia.’” Thanks, Tom, for sharing and thanks to Mia for adding a very special ring story to the Notre Dame collection. Last June, eight members of the Class of ’86, along with various family members, celebrated the 30th anniversary of spending spring semester junior year in London. They toured the beautiful Notre Dame London Gateway Center, visited their old Maida Vale neighborhood, which has gone considerably upscale since 1985, and dined in The Eagle pub just down the road from Cedar Lodge. They enjoyed various tourist attractions together including touring Cambridge and punting on the River Cam there, as well as seeing a play at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. It was an incredibly wonderful time together both to reminisce and to make new memories. Members of the class attending were John Affleck, Christine (Harrington) Ginsburg, Ted Kelleher, John Meyer, John Powers, Beth (Rooney) Powers, Tom Small and Laura Temple. Peter Pranica joined fellow Domers Bob Fitzgerald and Pete Weber on the IMG Notre Dame football pregame show prior to the Texas game live from the broadcast booth. It was an alumni roundtable with some of ND’s broadcasting alums. Peter got to fly with the Air Force Thunderbirds at the Memphis Air Show. Word is he flew the entire profile of one of the solo pilots, including a 9-G turn (which is the max G-force load for an F-16) without losing his lunch. He is starting on his 12th season with the Memphis Grizzlies as their TV play-by-play voice and 23rd season of covering the NBA. He also branched out into soccer in a big way, calling ACC matches for Fox South and SEC matches for the SEC/ESPN Network. We learned that Brian Donley was named chief of staff and chief of medical operations for the Cleveland Clinic Health System. We lost a wonderful friend and classmate with the tragic passing of Anne Marie Finch in August. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her husband, Lloyd, and her family and friends. 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 Money and Other Matters

News continues to be sporadic to none. Come on folks. As a group we are doing good things, as Tom Lange reports: “With a total of over $122,000 of contributions from inception, the Class of ’86 McCafferty Fellowship is now distributing over $8,000 annually to one selected law student, while growing the principal base from approximately $137,000 in 2011 to a little over $202,000 as of this summer. With our continued support, we can continue to have a positive impact on at least one of our law students each year, and honor the memory of Father Mike McCafferty. Also, our gifts are credited toward our annual contribution for the football ticket lottery.” Tom continues as the managing director of investment banking with Robt. Baird. Given your lack of updates, here are mine: my daughter Lindsey Passenger Wieck, born our third year, is in her last year of a doctorate (hopefully) in history at ND. My middle daughter, Brittany, got engaged, and my fourth, Joey, got married. As if that was not enough change in life, I retired as a Grand Rapids District Court Judge on Oct. 26. Thankfully unemployment lasted less than two minutes as I began the next day as an assistant city attorney for Grand Rapids, prosecuting as a member of the enforcement division of that office. So far I am enjoying the change of pace. Please note my new contact info including email, and give me something, anything, to report to our classmates and friends, please. — Don Passenger; Grand Rapids Attorney’s Office, 180 Ottawa NW, Suite 1200, Grand Rapids MI 49503; 616-632-5721, dpasseng@gmail.com

87 Celebrating a Milestone

It is great to hear from folks about how they celebrated their big 50th birthday milestone. Former Dillon Hall roommates Mike Culver, Jim Morsch, Bill Pagana, Terry Regan, Pat Tickle, Bill Wagner, Jim Walsh and John Weber met to celebrate their birthdays in Pinehurst NC this past September, proving that great friendships truly do endure. The group played six rounds of golf, watched ND beat Georgia Tech and reflected on the wonderful memories and blessings from ND. Meg (McGlinn) Shields wrote to say that, with their spouses, Karen (Jones) Richelson, Patty (Silk) Fitzgibbons, Linda (Ward) Spingler, Gina (Farabaugh) Ward and she celebrated turning 50 by eating, drinking and biking through Umbria and Rome, Italy. One of the highlights of their trip was a nice visit with Msgr. Tom Powers in his office at the Vatican. In late October, Sean Lennon attended the University’s Global Forum: Asia in Hong Kong. The Global Forum brings together the University’s leadership and global community of alumni and friends to explore global issues with the aim of reinforcing the University’s mission by “creating a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good.” Sean said it was very impressive to see the University’s connections to the region. In particular, he was impressed by the efforts made to recruit top students to attend Notre Dame. Steve Lentz has rejoined Faegre Baker Daniels’ investment management practice as counsel in Minneapolis after serving as general counsel and chief compliance officer of Cornerstone Capital Management, an investment subsidiary of New York Life. Neil O’Flaherty has joined Baker & McKenzie’s North American Healthcare Industry Group as a partner. Neil has been practicing law in DC for 25 years as a healthcare regulatory attorney specializing in medical devices. Neil and his wife, Regina, live in Arlington VA with daughter Reilly, who is a freshman in high school. — Katherine Bull; 14 E. 41st St., Savannah GA 31401; kmbull47@gmail.com

87MBA Prestigious Award

Hello, everyone. On Oct. 16, the University honored me with the Distinguished Alumni Award for the Mendoza College of Business. This award recognizes a graduate business alumnus/alumna who has demonstrated achievement in business and a commitment to the Mendoza College of Business through leadership and service to the graduate business community. In attendance at the award luncheon on campus were classmates Jake Frego, Susan Burke, Connie O’Brien, Rick Hans, Chris Murphy and Mark Brostowski. Also in attendance were our professors, Jeff Bergstrand and Frank Reilly. I was also fortunate to have my family present from Sudbury, Canada. They traveled to Notre Dame for this prestigious award. Thank you to all who attended this celebration. I could not have won this award without the continued support of our classmates and other alumni. My personal gratitude goes out to Jake Frego, who nominated me for this award. The following day everyone in attendance celebrated an Irish victory over USC. Mark Brostowski, Chris Murphy, Jake Frego, Rick Hans and I also met for the Wake Forest game. A great time was had by all. Until next time, keep the news coming‎. All the best to everyone. Go Irish. — 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;

206-384-6178; tim.borchers62@gmail.com

88 At Nature’s Mercy

Patrick McKnight is not easily deterred. After weather craziness at Everest Base Camp preempted summit attempts in April 2014 and again in May 2015, he shook off expedition woes by turning his attention to swimming — as in swimming the English Channel. In September he journeyed to Dover but was unable to set off for France due to wind and waves. Instead of throwing in the towel, he has expanded his plan and has set his sights on a swimming trifecta for the summer of 2016. To find out about this plan, check out his blog: climbingonpurpose.com. Proud fellow Dillonite Andrew Gurtis wrote to nominate not only Pat, but also John Walters for class column coverage. John has landed a position as senior sports writer for Newsweek. This gig follows a 15-year stint at Sports Illustrated and a turn at NBC Sports, where he won two Sports Emmys for his writing during the Athens and the Beijing Olympics. John’s Twitter handle is jubs88. Andrew, by the way, is vice president of operations at Daytona International Speedway. In this role, he oversees the operations department of the 480-acre Daytona International Speedway, including maintenance, security and emergency services. Andrew has been an employee of International Speedway Corporation for 25 years. Byron Stevens recently relocated to the San Jose area, where he teaches high school history at The Harker School. He has taught and served as a department leader in independent schools for more than two decades. From Austin TX, Khalil Shalabi emailed to say that he has relocated there with his family to take a position at Austin Energy. He has been getting together regularly with Alison Macor and Joellen ’87SMC and Brian Peters ’87. The locale of their gatherings is Brian’s popular brewery, ABGB. In fact, Alison featured Brian and ABGB in an article that she wrote for the spring 2015 edition of ND Magazine. That article, called, “Failure Is Not an Ending,” can be found at the ND Magazine website. J.J. McCabe ’88Arch is in remission after traveling down the long bumpy road of cancer. In 2014, he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. He endured isolation for four months, before and after an intensive week of chemotherapy. As of May ’15, the cancerous white blood cells have been eradicated, and, since August, his blood counts have been climbing up to a healthy range. He wishes to express gratitude to his fellow ’88 architects and their family members who lit candles in the Grotto during his treatment and helped give him courage to keep on fighting. Julia Merkel shared the sad news that her teenage son Jack took his life in August 2014 after being discharged from psychiatric care. ND was well represented at his celebration of life. Classmates Margo Kirchner, Alison Macor, Cathy Nonnenkamp Lindner, Suzy Pusek and Kathleen Lehman drove and flew to Virginia from as far away as Seattle. Other Domers in attendance were sisters Susan (Merkel) Hayden ’92 and Heather (Merkel) Cammarata ’86, brother-in-law Mark Cammarata ’86 and Bidinger cousins Dave ’84, Mary ’85, Mark ’86, Chuck ’87 and Tom ’93. Julia appreciates all who have helped to remember Jack. His brain worked a mile a minute, with alternating dreams of becoming an attorney, an architect or a scientist. An endowed scholarship has been established. Gifts can be made by donating at jmu.edu/give and writing “Jack Merkel Williams Scholarship” in the special instructions box. — Laurine Megna; 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 Class Secretary — Noël (Murtha) Di Nome;

326 Melbourne Ave., Mamaroneck NY 10543; home 914-806 3760; noel.d.dinome@live.com

89MBA Class Secretary — Maggie DeVoe;

612-845-9662; maggie.devoe@oracle.com

89JD News to Share

It has been a year of happy changes and very sad passings for our class. First, it is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of our friend and classmate, Ann Marie Finch. Ann Marie was a double Domer who practiced labor and employment law in Houston for many years. She was a director and shareholder in the firm, Zimmerman, Axelrad, Meyer, Stern, & Wise. She also was a member of the Notre Dame Law School Association Board. She had a great love of horses and was a board member of Habitat for Horses. Ann Marie died tragically in a fire at her horse farm in Kentucky. George Bernhard, who practices law and lives with his family in the Houston area, tells me that Ann Marie left behind her husband, Lloyd Schwing. Our condolences to Lloyd on his profound loss. As time seems to pass so quickly, it has been wonderful to see so many of our classmates on campus this year on football weekends, including Trish and Gary Glass, Perry Napolitano, Cindy and Sean Gleason, Matt Haney, Barb and Mike Luzum, Patty and Tom Griffin, Ann and Gene Feeney and others who I did not have the good fortune of seeing. Gary Glass reports that he tailgated with Charlie Mustell at the Clemson game. Trish and Gary’s daughter is a student at Clemson, so they make the rounds between college campuses. Several of our classmates have children carrying on the Notre Dame tradition. Our son, Luke, is a freshman, as is Megan, the youngest daughter of Monica (Harder) ’90 and Ed Gibbons. Paula and Matt Haney’s daughter is a senior. Diane and Greg Evans’ son is a sophomore. Gene Feeney’s son is a sophomore, and Tom Griffin’s daughter is a junior. Jennifer Walecki Gollison reports that one of her daughters was accepted and considered ND but took a different route through New England, where she attends Tufts. Rumor has it that Ashok Lalwani was in Chicago recently and met up with Kim (O’Hanlon) and Dan Griffin, Jeannine Cordero and Sue (MaGee) McColgan. Ashok is a partner at Baker McKenzie in Singapore, where he lives with his wife, Garima. Their children both are in college in the States. I know there is much more news to report; I just don’t know what it is. Please shoot me an email or message me on Facebook with any news or updates on your lives. — Jenny O’Leary Smith; jennyoleary@comcast.net