1980s
1980s
80 Pulitzer Prize Nomination
Kansas City Star editorialist Melinda Henneberger is a 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist in commentary for “examining, in spare and courageous writing, institutional sexism and misogyny within her hometown NFL team, her former governor’s office and the Catholic Church.” Roy Bixby recently retired from MillerCoors as senior director labor relations after 32-plus years. Roy and his wife Lisa met up with fellow Domers Mike Budd, Mike Heilman, and Frank Corbett and spouses at a high school minireunion in Pittsburgh, and with Matt Neff and Brad Van Auken in Cleveland. I ran into James E. Murray at the St. Ignatius College Fair with his son, John, who is a sophomore there and will apply to ND for fall of 2025 admission. Jim graduated from John Marshall Law School in 1983 after receiving a faculty scholarship and awards on the National Moot Court and Mock Trial teams. Jim has been practicing law in Chicago for 35 years, concentrating on workers' compensation with his own firm and is also managing partner of McAndrews & Norgle LLC. Jim was married to Lynn McAvoy in September 1996 and they had one son. Lynn passed away unexpectedly from heart failure in November 2007. In addition to raising his son, Jim is an active musician in Chicago and the Midwest playing in several bands with nine CD releases to his credit that include two solo albums available online: “This Love of Mine” and “O M'anam,” Irish music, skiptowne.com. He and his son attend most ND home football games and enjoy summers water skiing and boating at their lake house in Michigan. He told me one of his fondest college memories was his performance with his ND band, Nightflight, when he sang Billy Joel's “Only the Good Die Young” to 3,500 from a stage in front of Le Mans Hall at Saint Mary's in 1979. That band included Harvey Newquist and Tim Scully ’79. Cindy Lupica wrote that her mother passed away after struggling with a tough cancer diagnosis. Cindy’s brother is a Capuchin Franciscan who said a moving Mass and rosary. Her brother Drew ’84 and daughter Annelise ’10 were eulogists. The family is focusing on her dad, 90. We share the memory of Cindy’s late daughter, Marisa. Her parents’ cemetery plot is next to Marisa’s grave and marker. Cindy notes that being there was lovely and cathartic. Brian Bret PhD sent a note to Dom Yocious to say that they had just moved to north Texas to be closer to their daughter in Plano. They are renting an apartment while looking for a house. Brian is still working with Dow AgroSciences which just became Corteva Agriscience as Dow and DuPont spin off from the DowDuPont merger, leaving the ag division as a standalone company. Receiving my award for the most spectacular 60th birthday celebration, Bob Hillstrom reports that he chose to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa for his 60th birthday. It took eight days and 82 miles to reach the summit (19,341 feet), but it was worth the view. Congratulations to Beth Towne on her first grandchild. Our hearts go out to Jim Murray who lost his wife, Lynn, to the the families of Berand Jansen Jr., and Carol DesLauriers Cieri, and to Lou Bridges, who lost his dad. Please visit facebook.com/groups/notredame80. — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu
80MBA Getting Closer
Paul Katilas writes that all is well and he is just working to be sure that he can pay for the Medicare he qualifies for on May 1. Happy birthday, Paul. Maureen (Eyres) and husband Michael Staub ’78 sold their Avis Budget franchise to the Avis Budget Group. She says she won’t say she’s officially retired now as she is still renting some commercial properties that they own and will figure out what comes after that later. Sounds like a good plan. Their eldest son, Tim ’12, took a job in Key West so they expect to be southbound quite a bit in the future. Scott Jessup is retiring from the Notre Dame development department on July 1 and is looking forward to his next challenge. Scott has been great in helping us out with our minireunions over the years. Congratulations Scott and thank you. I have booked my flight for the Virginia game this fall where Dan Buck ’79MBA, Rob Pfeifer ’79MBA, Tom Brogan ’79MBA, Len Morris ’79MBA, and John Hurley ’79MBA will be celebrating their 40th reunion. We are staying at the Ivy Court which is the closest we could get to duplicating the Campus View Apartments where I was fortunate to meet these guys, so anyone else attending the game is encouraged to stop by. I suspect we will be easy to find if you listen carefully for 1970s music coming from the hotel. Otherwise, we will probably be at the Linebacker across the street. Our 40th is fast approaching, and Mike Previte is already looking forward to attending as he writes that he is in for a 40th reunion, and adds, yikes. My sentiments exactly. Go Irish. — Joe Kearney; 203-364-0346; jos.w.kearney@gmail.com
80JD Law Homecoming and Virginia Game
Our 40th Reunion! Shall we kick off the fun with the Law School Homecoming on September 27, 28 and 29 for the Virginia v. ND football game? Yes! Let’s do it. Our new Dean—Marcus Cole—will be introduced at the Friday night reception and more fun will ensue during the weekend. RATS—you are needed to set the tone of non-felonious behavior. Pat Gallagher, everyone is counting on you to leave Hawaii and trek to South Bend to set the spirit. So, make your plans to head to South Bend for fun, frolic, frivolity and a win over the Cavaliers. Enjoy your summer and send your news. Love to all and Go Irish. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com
81 Here Come the Irish
The Class of ’81 is getting together for the Bowling Green game Oct. 5. Questions? Please reach out to Mike “Pro” Burke at proburke@gmail.com. Please find our tailgater and let’s reunite. On that same weekend, Betsy Shadley Bernard, Sue Manzi and their Farley crowd are arranging a memorial Mass for Patti Craig, along with a celebration of their collective 60th birthdays. These gatherings become more poignant as time passes. I had fun meeting Ann Smith Miller for coffee (OK, chai lattes) a few months ago in San Francisco. Ann was based here while her husband Bill took a short-term assignment to turn around a company in Silicon Valley. Mission accomplished, company sold, and now they are off on their next adventure. Ann and Bill are a great model of living light, not bogged down by the maintenance of too many things. Refreshing. Dan Gonzalez received the Professional Lawyer of the Year Award from the Santa Clara County Bar Association at its 2018 Judges’ Night Dinner last winter. He was honored for “extraordinary contributions to professionalism.” Mickey Turzai (now called the more formal, “Mike”) was re-elected in January to his third term as the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Last November, Mike was elected to his tenth term as the representative for the 28th District, Allegheny County. In his legal career, Mike has worked as a prosecutor in the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office and in private practice. As I am on deadline for this column, Lynn Van Housen and I are looking forward to seeing Tom Rosshirt during his swing through the West Coast for work. Tom has been working as a writer and strategist since he left his position as a White House speechwriter in 2001. Lynn is the EVP of a nonprofit in San Francisco, TechSoup. Through TechSoup's Global Network, over $7 billion in technology donations and grants have been delivered to the world's nonprofits thanks to partnerships with over 100 corporations and foundations. The TechSoup Global Network connects more than a million NGOs in 236 countries to technology solutions, financial resources and human capital. Anne Fink Roy, Amanda Buckley, Rosemary Abowd Schwendler, and Keith Melaragno represented the Class of ’81 at the spring Alumni Leadership Conference at Notre Dame. Thanks to these and all of the ’81ers who volunteer in service to our Notre Dame community. Please join the Class of ’81 Facebook page where about 400 classmates reminisce, entertain, criticize coaches, pray, and opine with surprising civility. And please email updates before our July 20 deadline. You are loved members of the Class of ’81 and we want to know how you are doing. Thanks to everyone who has already shared updates and those of you who are now inspired. —Mary Murphy; marymurphy81@alumni.nd.edu
81MBA Class Secretary — E.J. Fleming;
600 Hall Hill Road, Somers CT 06071; flemingiv@aol.com
81JD Summer Notes
Jim Carlsen reports that he failed at retirement, so he accepted a position as the executive director of The Veterans Consortium in Washington DC. The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program (TVC) is the leading national 501(c)(3) charity providing free legal services in federal venues for veterans in need. TVC operates a global federal veterans pro bono program on behalf of the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to represent pro se veterans unjustly denied care, benefits, or compensation earned from military service. The TVC National Volunteer Corps attorneys also litigate cases that are appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the US Supreme Court. The TVC Discharge Upgrade Program represents service men and women before military Discharge Review Boards and Boards of Correction for Military Records. Jim indicates the work is good and the outcomes are rewarding. John Fitzpatrick took two of his sons to Wales for the Ireland v. Wales Six Nations Rugby Cup championship match on March 16. It was played in a torrential downpour with the Welsh defeating Ireland 25 to 7. They had a great time listening to the victorious Welsh sing their team songs for over two hours. Also, Fitz, my wife Jean and I went out to dinner at the end of March when Fitz was in town consulting with a local lawyer on a med-mal case that is going to trial in Phoenix next spring. Apparently, Ray Carey is no longer with Foley & Lardner LLP, as I got a bounce back email response. Ray let us know what you are up to. Tim Rastello’s son, Reilly, graduated from ND in May. Reilly made the Dean's List every semester so far and hopes to continue the streak this semester. Tim’s daughter, Mackenzie, has accepted admission to ND Law School and will start as a 1L this autumn. Donna and Jim Blase had the trip of a lifetime, visiting the Holy Land during Holy Week. They saw most of the classic sites, including the birth place of Jesus in Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and the site of the Last Supper. They also went to Bethany where Jim laid in Lazarus’ tomb, and then stood outside it, where Jesus stood. On Holy Thursday, Donna and Jim observed the washing of the feet in the Room of the Last Supper (Upper Room). On Good Friday morning they attended Mass at the site where Jesus was buried. They finished up their trip in Rome where they participated in several events led by Pope Francis. Nancy Helling Gargula will be the incoming president of the NDLA Board starting July 1. She hopes everyone will join in celebrating several the Law School’s milestones that occur during 2019, the Law School’s sesquicentennial. Happy 150th anniversary. 2019 will also feature the Law School’s Third Annual Tailgate during the weekend of the Fighting Irish - Virginia game, Sept. 28. — Michael Palumbo; 3799 E. Peachtree Drive, Chandler AZ 85249; res 480-284-4004; bus 602-262-5931; mpalumbo@jsslaw.com
82 Minireunion Coming Up
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Nov. 2 as ND battles Virginia Tech. This will be our minireunion for the year, so watch for updates and opportunities to purchase tickets. As always, please send us your news. Dave and I are happy to announce the birth of our second grandchild, Rafael Antonio (Rafi) Lewis who joins sister Ceciliana. We are thrilled as our family continues to grow. — Dave and Tess Lewis; 30 Battle Ridge Road, Morris Plains NJ 07950; cell 973-219-4050; tess@lewislegal.com; dave@lewislegal.com
82MBA Class Secretary — Renée (Amirkanian) Cooper;
reneemsr@aol.com
82JD A Huge Loss
I am sad to report that our friend and classmate, Greg Moore, died on March 11. Greg dedicated his life to serving our country. Greg graduated from West Point in 1974 and came to Law School after spending five years in the Army. A few years after Law School, Greg gave up the practice of law to rejoin the Army on a fulltime basis as a field artillery officer. During his career Greg also taught ROTC at Florida State U. Greg retired from the Army in the early 2000s as a lieutenant colonel and became the chief historian for the Florida National Guard. Greg described this job as a hobby for which he got paid. Five years after his retirement, Greg was called back to active duty for a year, which he spent serving in Afghanistan. In 2009, Greg was diagnosed with scleroderma. True to his nature, Greg always looked on the bright side. Not once did I hear Greg complain about the pain and misery this debilitating disease caused him. The parties that Greg and his roommates hosted at the “Back Row Bar” during our three years in Law School bring back many fond memories to this day. For 34 years, Greg and I attended a New Year’s bowl game together, a tradition that began with a trip to the 1980 Sugar Bowl during our second year of Law School and ended in 2015 when Greg’s illness prevented him from attending. Greg is survived by his wife Nancy, his stepson Chris, who has spent his career in the Army, and two step-grandchildren. Requiescat in pace. Chuck Gallagher, Paul Mattaini and Carol and I attended a memorial service in Maryland for Tim Abeska’s wife, Maryann, in March. Maryann served in the Air Force for six years prior to her marriage to Tim. The memorial service concluded with a very moving tribute from the Dover Air Force Base Honor Guard. Greg Kruzel tells me that he and Kath spent New Year’s with Pam and Paul Mattaini at their home in Lancaster PA. Tim Abeska, Cele (Glacy) and Bruce Baty, Liz (Medina) Imhoff, John Smith, Tom Veldman and Carol and I were on campus in March for the NDLA Board meeting and a farewell dinner for retiring Law School Dean Nell Newton. Tim and John also taught a Trial Ad class at the Law School the same week. Condolences to Kim (Ptak) Rooney, whose mother passed away in February. — Frank Julian; ndlaw82@gmail.com
83 Condolences and Congratulations
Please keep Charlie Fletchinger and his family in your thoughts and prayers; Charlie passed away suddenly in August 2018. Please also keep Sheila Prindiville and her family in your thoughts and prayers; Sheila’s father passed away recently. Thank you to Nina DeLeone Mazuzan, Clare Padgett and Russ Wyborski for providing these updates so that the class can remain informed of these sad events. In happier news, Russ Wyborski was recently promoted to the position of assistant director, technical development at BioMotiv in Cleveland. He is the project operations director for Koutif Therapeutics, a subsidiary of BioMotiv. Koutif recently received approval from the FDA to begin clinical trials for a drug targeted at Crohn’s Disease. Russ and his wife, Diane, are also looking forward to the wedding of their eldest son in January. Congratulations to Michael Johnston on joining Taylor English Duma LLP as a partner in the intellectual property practice group where he focuses on patent prosecution. Mike was previously a member of the firm, Moore & Van Allen PLLC. Mike is a member of several organizations, including the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law, the North Carolina Bar Association Intellectual Property Section and the Carolina Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law Association. Tom Melsheimer has been admitted to the American College of Trial Lawyers. Tom is a trial attorney and managing partner of the Dallas office of Winston & Strawn. He has tried cases for over 30 years, first as an Assistant US Attorney in the Northern District of Texas and then moving into private practice. He is co-author of the bestselling book, On the Jury Trial: Principles and Practice for Effective Advocacy. The book spent more than a year on the University of North Texas Press bestsellers list and remains among the UNT Press top 10 bestsellers. Tom was the youngest trial attorney to be honored as trial lawyer of the year by the Texas chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Dallas Bar Association. He is also a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and an advocate with the American Board of Trial Lawyers. Congratulations also to Michele Dietz Chynoweth on winning a New Apple Book Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing - Cross Genre, for her thriller The Runaway Prophet. Michele has written three suspense novels that re-imagine Old Testament stories in a contemporary setting. A fourth book is due to be published in July. She has delivered keynote addresses, including at the Gospel Rescue Mission Fellowship in Wilmington DE and will be a featured author at the Showcase of Christian Authors and a workshop presenter at the Maryland Writers Association, Baltimore Chapter. Be sure to join the Class Facebook page if you have not done so already. Search for “Notre Dame Class of 1983” on Facebook and click “join.” We have more than 450 members on the Facebook page and it provides a great opportunity for you to reconnect with class members and get information on what everyone is doing. As always, a big thank you to all who have reached out with news to share about themselves or classmates. Please continue to reach out with updates. — Louis J. “Chip” Denkovic; 520 West 43 St., Apt. 32G, New York NY 10036; cell 917-399-8784; bus 212-537-1781; ldenkovic@gmail.com
83MBA Class Secretary — John Hilbrich;
630-677-2725; john.hilbrich@gmail.com
83JD Class Secretary — Ann E. Merchlewitz;
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 700 Terrace Heights, No. 30, Winona MN 55987; cell 507-450-6609; bus 507-457-1587; amerchle@smumn.edu
84 Reunion
After many delays, Tracy (Reimer) Neis is happy to announce that her first novel has been published. Mr. R: A Rock and Roll Romance, a contemporary reimagining of Jane Eyre, is available for purchase on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, and by request at your favorite independent bookstore. Please keep the family of Arthur (Jack) Arends in your prayers. Jack passed away in December 2018. We are 35 years out of our great University, and by the time you read this, will have celebrated our class reunion. Rejoice in your classmates and all we have done. — Martha Avery; mayoravery@comcast.net
84JD Class Secretary — Matthew J. Dunn;
19834 Timbered Estates Lane, Carlinville IL 62626; 773-294-6851; mdunn19834@gmail.com
85 Some Good News
In October 2017, Bob Mahoney underwent a successful experimental bone marrow transplant at the National Institutes of Health following his second lymphoma. This makes him the oldest-ever Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome curative transplant by two-to-three decades. Bob thanks everyone for their prayers. Classmates Lisa Guerra and John Verfurth provided Bob and his wife Margie with much-appreciated support and assistance during the four-month stay in the DC area. At his 18-month check-up, Bob learned that all his medical test results were “good or great.” Bob writes that he “continues to enjoy every moment of his life with Margie and their five children, including James, now in his third year at Old College.” He adds that while his bone marrow donor was an 18-year-old German, he still doesn’t care much for beer. Best wishes to Bob for continued good health. I look forward to receiving your news. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; yanzlaw@comcast.net
85MBA Class Secretary — Dom Yocius;
dyocius@ameritech.net
Michelle Garcia Gilbert wrote in to share news that her fifth child, Sarah Castillo, is graduating from ND this May with a degree in mechanical engineering. Michelle’s grandchild, Mary Anne, turned 1 on Feb. 26 and the family celebrated the occasion in Pensacola where Michelle’s daughter lives. Michelle is managing partner of her firm, Gilbert Garcia Group PA and runs Sapphire Title & Escrow Co., both in Tampa. Tom Lupo moved from Chicago to New Buffalo MI and continues as a partner at Hinshaw Culbertson LLP. Mark Engel flew in from Shanghai to visit Tom on the Final Four weekend and they enjoyed dinner and game watches. Karen Kiley Toohill, her husband Steve ’84JD and son Connor ’14 joined Dave Scheper in LA for an event to celebrate South Bend’s own Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Connor worked with Mayor Pete while he was a student at ND. The event was hosted by Paul Salvaty ’89. Our classmates are always ahead of the curve. The event preceded Mayor Pete’s presidential announcement. Nancy Townsend has joined Krieg DeVault LLP in the labor and employment and creditors’ rights and bankruptcy practice groups, where she represents employers in every aspect of state and federal employment law. Nancy counsels clients from the firm’s Merrillville IN and Chicago offices. Congratulations to John “Goose” Gibbons, who was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The ACTL is a highly selective, invitation-only fellowship of exceptional trial lawyers. Membership is limited to those who have demonstrated the very highest standards of trial advocacy, ethical conduct, integrity, professionalism and collegiality. Goose’s wife Sue and daughter Delaney attended the induction ceremony and celebration, along with Dave (also an ACTL fellow) and Judge Barb Scheper. Speaking of the judge, she was recently profiled in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Barb was appointed judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2001 and presides over a variety of complex cases. Attorneys who practice before Barb call her smart, hardworking, fair, well-versed in the issues, and impressively thorough. We already knew that. Please send me your news to my new email address. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; kellyjd1985@alumni.nd.edu
86 In Our Prayers
We lost two classmates. Michael “Q” Michaux of St. Paul passed away on Feb. 20 after a valiant battle with cancer. Please keep his wife Lisa and their children Sam and Maria in your prayers. Katherine (Balane) McKinney passed away on Feb. 10 in Houston. Please keep her family in your prayers. I had candles lit at the Grotto for Michael and Katherine on behalf of our class. Andre Hutchinson recently became the U of San Diego’s assistant vice president for facilities management. He had been the U of Portland’s director of physical plant for the past seven years. He has already been in touch with Matt Johnson and Kevin Mickey. Andre also received his private pilot’s license in February and has loved getting up in the wild blue. Speaking of the U of Portland, we learned that Keena and Linda Turner’s son Miles is playing hoops for the Pilots as a guard. Our very own Lev Chapelsky was featured in an article in Travel & Leisure magazine’s hotel issue March 2019. There’s a great article on the Sunset Tower Hotel that highlighted the Tower Bar. “One thing that stunned me is how many people live in the area and come here,” a source quoted in the artcle says. “We have one guest, Lev, who’s been coming for 12 years, maybe a number of times a week. He stands in the exact same place at the bar and he knows all our staff. He will even start telling guests about the history of the hotel. He’s a neighbor, that’s it.” Tony Haske got married to Sunita Puri in Palos Verdes last fall. I finally got all the names of the ’86ers who were there for the bash: Susan (Hamilton) Brin, Kathy (Nemsick) and Conrad Rehill, Linda Gase, Holly Becker SMC, Tom Ryder (aka Rom), Mark Oberlies and Julie Haske Oberlies SMC, Mike Lochhead, Peter McManus, Cletus Blum, Lev Chapelsky and Mike Normant (aka Nork). Oddly enough, Susan and Peter ran into Mark Herkert on the Redondo Beach bike path right before the wedding. He happened to be in town for the World Series. He is a Boston fan, not a Dodger fan. Go figure. We also learned that Linda Gase is up in Portland, or running a show for Netflix, called Trinkets. Nick Bognanno recently moved back to the states after living/working in Shanghai for three years. We would love to hear what some folks have been doing that haven’t graced these pages before. Take care and God bless. — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john@jjscb.com
86MBA Celebrating Milestones
Dave Greiner and Jim Conlin celebrated Jim’s 60th birthday last October in his hometown of Champaign IL. They had a great time drinking Old Fashioneds and expensive wines and driving around in Jim’s fleet of Mercedes-Benz autos. I wonder what they will have planned for Dave’s next birthday. Carolyn Wells is training to become a certified patroller with the National Mountain Bike Patrol. She still has boundless energy and enthusiasm for giving back to the community. If you watched The Masters on television in April, perhaps you saw someone familiar in the front row of the 16th green. Yes, that was J.R. Reid with that perfect view of Justin Thomas’ hole-in-one, and Tiger Woods’ near hole-in-one. Congratulations to David Pustinger, who is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of opening his wine store, A Bottle or Two, in Cincinnati. Jorge Valencia and his son Aidan cheered the ND women’s basketball team in Minneapolis during the NCAA finals. They also attended the Men’s Final Four, sitting in a section with Texas Tech and Auburn fans. Since I gather my news now from social media as well as email, friend me on Facebook or LinkedIn and I can share your news in the next issue. Until next time. — Maureen (Mullan) Decker; 21855 Town Gate, Macomb MI 48044; res 586-468-7713; bus 586-741-4305; mobile 586-817-1317; maureen.decker@mclaren.org
86JD Shadow of the Dome
Tom Lange ’81 reports that he and Tami ’81 are well in Tampa. Their eldest, Brian ’06 (born during our 1L year), and his wife Elizabeth ’06 welcomed their third child, Nicolas, in February. He joins Thomas and Francesca. Son Kevin ’15MBA and his wife Kyleigh are relocating to Tampa. They are being pressured to buy a home within parents’ walking distance. Daughter Lauren ’10 is a pediatrician in Chicago and will wed her fiancée, Matt Smith, in July at the Basilica. Tom asked me to remind you about our Law Class of 1986 McCafferty Fellowship Fund, which has a market value in excess of $280,000, thanks to all of you who have contributed. Pete Agostino reports that he and his wife Kathy still live within the shadow of the Golden Dome. They are proud parents of four taxpaying children. Peter trains and supervises counselors working in Chicago public schools. Gabby is the diving coach at U of Toledo, following a successful career as a diver at IU. Jenny is a nutritionist at the South Bend Clinic, and Chris is an astrophysics PhD candidate. He has published several papers that Pete doesn’t understand. Pete and Kathy are blessed with three grandchildren and a fourth on the way. Down the road from me in Colorado Springs is Chris Cipoletti, who launched a small private equity fund last year. Pioneer Fund is focused on acquiring advanced manufacturing companies that add jobs to the economy, create good corporate citizens, and provide strong financial returns to its investors. Bill Brown heads up the environmental law firm Brown & Winters in the San Diego area. Bill reports that his daughter, Pauline, is a sophomore at USC, where she is a Dean’s Scholar attending on a merit scholarship. Harkening to the recent college admissions scandal, Bill wrote, “I remember a simpler time when athletes pretended to be students.” Also at his own firm is David Corrigan at Richmond VA’s 38-lawyer Harmon, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, founded in 1992. He primarily defends local governments and their employees. David and Jean will celebrate 35 years of marriage in June. Their three sons are gainfully employed although David and Jean still pay their cell phone bills. (I can relate.) Conor is at ESPN, Patrick is an assistant basketball coach at a small college, and Jack ’17 is in Boston working in finance. Nick Simeonidis reports that he is into his fifth year of retirement from law practice, and in his fourth year of teaching European history to mostly American high school students at the Taipei American School, where his wife Tara is the elementary school principal. Nick travels a lot and sees Jeff Lowe regularly as Jeff is a “neighbor” in Thailand. Life is good, and an adventure. And finally, some sad news: Dorothy Cusker passed away on Jan. 31. You will recall that she was a graduate of Saint Mary’s, and had a career as a teacher before returning to South Bend to pursue her law degree with the rest of us. She had a career in private practice before going in-house as corporate counsel at Eastman Kodak and general counsel at Kodak Alaris. Please remember Dorothy, her husband, Richard, and their three children and seven grandchildren in your prayers. — Brian Bates; bbates@abblaw.com
87 Batting a Thousand
Hello, Class of ’87. First, apologies if you sent me information last fall and it’s only now being published. I was unaware there was a word limit for the column, and some of my January submission was shelved for this edition. Keep it coming though; it’s better to have a queue than a boring column, and I’ll limit the jokes and stories. Dan Thompson published a religious book, Little Ways to Sanctity, and it’s focused on daily ways to grow in faith and holiness. Dan is in St. Louis with his wife Rose (McDowell) Thompson, and they’re batting a thousand on children at Notre Dame. Their eldest and only son, Danny ’17, is now in medical school, Madeleine is a senior, Kate is a sophomore, and Annie is a member of the Class of ’23. Speaking of the Class of ’23, it’s shaping up well from what I’ve heard. Bill Kelly’s youngest son, Patrick, will be hitting the links for the Irish and following his dad’s footsteps in Alumni Hall. Bill, an attorney, and his wife Barbie are in Erie PA. I also heard from Jim Gallagher. After attending every ND home football game from Indianapolis for nearly two decades, he and his wife Denise (Knittel) ’89 are thrilled that their eldest son, Tommy, will attend ND this fall. Jim is a VP of engineering for Mercury Systems, while Denise is a software engineer with Aptiv. Andrew Souder, always a guy I love catching up with, sent the following update on Zahm friends. Tom Buckley and his wife Laurie recently moved from Atlanta to South Bend so Tom could take the position of director of startups at Notre Dame’s IDEA Center. He was recruited into this position by fellow Zahm Hall alumnus Chris Walsh, a regional director of development for ND. Tom and Laurie had settled in well enough by August to host Mike Melia, Milt Miyashiro, Fran O’Malley and Andrew for welcome weekend. Mike and Fran have daughters at ND, while Andrew and Milt have sons living in Keenan. Not everyone, Andrew noted with regret, can live in Zahm. Andrew and Mike also made it back to the Pitt game and tailgated with their roommates John Seidensticker and Bob Manning, who has a daughter at Saint Mary’s. Ann Michelle (Girten) Porter wrote me, full of reflections about her time at ND. She has particularly good memories of taking honors theology with Rev. Burchaell, and borrowing a Bible from a good friend, David Hipp. She meant to return it, but didn’t, and has carefully stored it all these years, hoping to see him again. She didn’t include many personal details in her email, but I gleaned that she’s living in Indiana with some delightful kids, including a son in the Army. It was so nice to hear from Paula (Miranda) McKeever, who’s living in Attleboro MA with her husband, Dan McKeever. Paula and Dan have one son, Bryan, a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and over Christmas, they came to ND for the NHL Winter Classic. They showed their son around campus and caught up with two good friends, classmate Pat O’Toole and Mary Kohn ’88. Finally, I learned in a press release that Peter Melsa has joined the Chicago office of Marshall Gerstein as a patent agent. He has extensive knowledge of broadband communications and signal processing and holds 24 US patents himself. It sounds very interesting, and I wish him the best of luck in his new position. Happy summer to all. Keep that news coming. — Meg Hamilton; meghamilton@yahoo.com
87MBA Class Secretary — 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 Minireunions
Shauna Brennan hosted Mary (Ambrose) Gerak, Karen Koster, and Kristin (Tomonto) Jaros in Las Vegas for a minireunion celebrating, in part, Shauna’s birthday. Mary also had a minireunion with Laura Yustak and Karen Morrison in Savannah. Greg Shumaker and I have a minireunion almost every day. It’s like we never left law school. Almost. Amy (Ronayne) Krause recently spent three days on Capitol Hill meeting with legislators and other dignitaries about the importance of legal aid. I sadly report that Kitt Cooper passed away on Jan. 3 at his home in Galena OH. Please send me news to share in this column or in our class email loop. — Mike Gurdak; 202-879-3939; mpgurdak@jonesday.com
88 Meet You at Willie Mays
Chris Lucey, a San Francisco Giants season ticket holder, has attended every home opener since PacBell/Oracle Park was built in 2000. His wife, Teresa, gets the first shot at joining him of course, and his next go-to is classmate Brian Mast. They meet in front of the Willie Mays statue and then head into the stadium for an afternoon beer and, hopefully, a Giants’ win. Incidentally, this is not a new tradition for Brian and Chris. Their co-attendance at baseball games extends back to childhood when they would journey from South Bend to Chicago to watch a Cubs game as part of the annual Sacred Heart Parish altar server trip. What’s more, the duo grew up as next-door neighbors. Another contingent of classmates that has regular reunions hails from Lyons and just keeps growing. This past March, these Lyonites gathered in Nashville: Theresa (Kiolbasa) Campbell, Liz (Bolt) Hackett, Annie McGlinn-Work, Mary (Grimes) Trotter, Sue (Mahony) Welch, Monique (Hesburgh) Watts, Nancy (Wehner) Kelly, Adele Kittredge, Molly (Crooks) McGee, Elizabeth (Kennedy) McCarthy, Maura (Callahan) McCarthy, Colleen (Dowd) Kollman and Joelle (Bafik) Chapman. Out and about on Saturday night, they ran into Angie (Teeples) ’88SMC and Mick “Nuggets” Connors, a testament to the seemingly ubiquitous Domer network. Annie noted that they were sad to be without a few friends who could not attend due to kid commitments and family emergencies. Next time. In Rochester NY, birthplace of film, that of the celluloid variety, Kate (Mather) Herrmann has been taking on an expanding role with the High Falls Women’s Film Festival for almost a decade and a half. After 10 years as a community volunteer for the festival and a two-year stint as its director of development, Kate became executive director in 2017. The festival, which began in 2001, seeks to celebrate and advance the work of women in film. Featured on the Alumni Association’s “We Are ND” website, Kate was quoted as stating, “We like to say that our films are made by women, but for everyone.” The festival screens an array of films including some that have gone on to garner Oscars and Golden Globes. It also gives young women from nearby Rochester Institute of Technology a forum for screening their short films. Prior to her career shift to the festival, Kate worked for health care and arts and culture non-profits. For the full text of the University’s piece about Kate, go to weare.nd.edu. The other-centered efforts of numerous classmates are highlighted there. It is with deep sadness that I share that fellow Farleyite, Kate (Pampel) Henn, passed away on March 21 in Wilmette IL. Kate radiated faith, joy, compassion and generosity. She cherished her husband, Mike ’90, and her four children, Charlie ’18, Annie, Michael and Patrick, and was fond of planning exuberant celebrations and varied travel adventures for them. And whether it was her work at IBM where she had a successful 25-year career or her hobbies including antiquing and bourbon-making and tasting, she pursued her endeavors with gusto. Significantly, one of her greatest legacies will be her philanthropic efforts on behalf of numerous organizations. St. Francis Xavier Church and School, Immaculée Concepción Parish and School of Gallette Chambon in Haiti, Camp Kesem and various ND-related initiatives were beneficiaries of Kate’s good will and support. The depth and breadth of her impact on many is immeasurable and recalls the truth that those who give of themselves to others live forever in the hearts of all those they touch. — Laurine Megna; PO Box 6847, Avon CO 81620; 970-390-9742; magnet@vail.net
88MBA Class Secretary — Ron Linczer;
1251 N. Eddy St., Suite 300, South Bend, IN 46617; mobile 574-302-2832; bus 574-631-3591; rlinczer@nd.edu
88JD Class Secretary — Lisa Marie Visingardi;
lisa.visingardi@jud.ca.gov
89 Summer Notes
In a blink of an eye, 30 years have passed and lots of living has been done since our time on campus. Reunion is just around the corner and I hope to see many of you there. I reached out to Jim Grace after seeing some beautiful Facebook pictures of his new baby girl. He shared that he and his wife Veronica Garcia adopted Eliana in October through the wonderful folks at the Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth. Although this is Veronica’s first child, Eliana is fatherhood 3.0 for him. His eldest, Connor, (third-generation Domer) is going to be a senior at Notre Dame, and his daughter Isabelle is going to be a junior in high school. I look forward to many reunion stories from all of you. Please share as part of our next set of Class Notes. (Wink, wink.) Be well. — Noel (Murtha) DiNome; noel.d.dinome@live.com
89MBA Class Secretary — Maggie DeVoe;
612-845-9662; maggiedevoe@yahoo.com
89JD Class Secretary — Jenny O’Leary Smith;
701 Big Sky Trail, Cary IL 60013; 312-504-2298; jennyoleary@comcast.net