1980s
1980s
80 Memories
The weekend of Oct. 1-2 was a special one for the Class of 1980. On Friday, a group of some 50 friends bade a final goodbye to Joe Slovenic, who will forever rest under Mary’s watchful gaze. Rev. Monk Malloy, CSC, ’63, ’67, ’69MA presided over the graveside memorial to Joe in Cedar Grove Cemetery. Thank you to all who cared for Joe over the years. Bright and early Saturday morning, we dedicated our new class bench and tree. Rev. Joe Carey, CSC, blessed our work and all those who joined us on a fine football morning. You will find the bench and tree when entering campus from the main gate. We hold pride of place as the first bench on a diagonal path in the Irish Green. Thank you to all who helped support our efforts with raising funds for the bench and the tree. And we raised a cold one in thanks to Beth LaRocca, who with Karen Pierce and a cast of thousands, hosted our first ever class tailgate before the Cincinnati game. About 100 friends enjoyed great food, a selection of adult and soft beverages and shared one another’s good company. We were grateful for the tents as Mother Nature attempted to dampen our spirits. Even the outcome of the game could not shake us. See our class Facebook page for pictures. Julie Rohling Connor ’80SMC and Keith Connor celebrated their daughter Kelly’s first anniversary of her COVID wedding to Patrick Calleo at Camp Hale/ Bachelor Gulch near Beaver Creek CO. ND ’80 friends in attendance included Steve Miller, Mike Egan, Jim Belknap and Charlie Ydoate. Other family member Domers making the trip to the mountains included Polly Hudak Magrini ’83, Tom Rohling ’85, Tom Hudak ’87 and Mike Reidy ’91. The Connors’ first grandchild, Christopher Connor Calleo, served as a swaddled ring bearer. Keith also reports that Steve Miller had an article in National Catholic Reporter about the passing of ND trustee John McMeel ’57. Gene Triozzi transitioned to retirement this year, while his wife (of 37 years) Debbie Reddish continues to work, running her LLC. Gene and Debbie have managed to elude COVID, but Gene is struggling with nostalgia. From Carrie Seringer: Just as Chicago opened up, Mara Quinn Devitt and Paul Devitt hosted the wedding of the century for their daughter Clare and her new husband, Sven. Happy to attend and finally see each other after a year of video calls were Anne Nachazel Toal, Donna Lorenzen Barker, Michelle Simon, Sue Callahan, Mary Lou Batt, Becky Lee, Maureen Loughney and Carrie. The Greater Philadelphia YMCA recently honored Philip Jaurigue, as one of its three “Y Honors” awardees for 2021. Phil is on the boards of the historic Free Library of Philadelphia, the Kimmel Center of the Performing Arts, Temple U’s Fox School of Business and Neumann U, where he advocates for literacy and STEM/STEAM education. He also advocates for various civic, children’s, veterans’ and cancer support causes. Our hearts go out to Dr. Matthen Dubois and Loretta Hoch Rietsema, who lost their mothers, and to Mary Jean Schmitt and Pat Henehan, who lost their fathers. We also note the loss of Rita Murphy, mother of Kevin Murphy. Rita was the mother of six other ND alumni. Sadly, Rita suffered one of life’s greatest tragedies, the deaths of her college daughters, Michelle and Rita, in a Nebraska blizzard as they returned to Notre Dame from Christmas break. As always, if you need a prayer or shoulder to lean on, please contact our Angels at 80AngelsonCall@gmail.com. — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu; facebook.com/groups/notredame80/
80MBA Werewolves of London
Several classmates attended the Purdue game and afterwards stopped by a tailgater at the Ivy Court hosted by our friends from the MBA class of 1979, including Dan Buck ’79MBA, Len Morris ’79MBA, Tom Brogan ’79MBA, John Hurley ’79MBA, Rob Pfeifer ’79MBA and special guests Doug Wetmore ’79 and Brian Furio ’78. However, as usual, Dan’s brother Mike was the star of the show since he sets the stage by bringing an entire bar setup that continues to grow every year. This year, he added artificial turf to go along with the tiki umbrella with lights, barstools, tables, chairs and an inflatable sofa. The addition of a full moon that night was not Mike’s doing, but he did lead a chorus of singing Werewolves of London at midnight. The tailgate setup had the same effect as bringing moths to a flame and showing up were Mike Maloney and his son Thomas, Mike Colbert and his son Andrew and Vic Yaendel. Especially glad to see Vic was John Hurley who spoke about Vic’s late father Frank’s influence on John’s attending Notre Dame by writing him a heartfelt personal note on his acceptance letter. I also have fond memories of Frank Yaendel as I was invited to their family home for dinner one night. Walt Zukowski also attended the game and said he had a great time playing golf with Mike and Andrew Colbert the day before. Also staying at the Ivy Court and stopping by to say hello were Patty and Bill Kerr ’79MBAs, and their son Ryan, who is a seminarian. Earlier at the stadium, we ran into Barb Flynn and shared some good memories of her husband and our late classmate Mike Flynn. Mike’s brother Pat Flynn ’78 was a gracious host at his tailgater that had a decidedly Guinness influence complete with a life-size cardboard cutout of Joe Montana. Mike Previte wrote recently to say that he was chosen to be on his parish council. He says that the main objective is to get everyone back into the pews at church since many had left during the pandemic. I’m sure Mike will make a big difference in that regard. Just when I thought I could retire the Joe Bowers golf references, he writes to tell me that he recently got a hole in one at a charity golf tournament on a hole where you win a car. Congratulations, Joe. He had the choice of a Jeep Renegade or cash. Ever the CPA, Joe took the cash. A contribution to the graduate business school is to follow. Finally, on a sad note, my mother, Mary, passed away Oct. 18 at the age of 93. In 1980, just before my graduation, my father developed a serious blood infection requiring an emergency operation to save his life from the wounds he received in the Korean War, so he was devastated that he couldn’t attend. Instead, my mother drove my sisters 11 straight hours from Syracuse to South Bend, stopping only for bathroom breaks. She knew how important it was to be there for me and I’ll never forget that, and so many other acts of kindness and selflessness from this good woman. We brought her back to Notre Dame 37 years later via sleeper car on a train and she had a great time. She loved the University and we loved her. May she rest in peace. — Joe Kearney; 475-225-1421; jos.w.kearney@gmail.com
80JD Time is Flyin’
Where did 2021 go? As I write this, Halloween is around the corner and Christmas is not far behind. Let’s hope the Irish take us to a bowl game to ring in 2022. The Law School Homecoming of Oct. 2 was a success even with COVID limits on the number who could attend. It coincided with the meeting of the Notre Dame Law Association, which met in person, gratefully. Thank you, Tammye Raster, director of alumni relations at the Law School, for making it all happen. Great work. Congratulations to Joe Donnelly ’77, ’81JD on his nomination to be ambassador to the Holy See. Joe served honorably as a US Senator from Indiana and has long supported NDLS. Congratulations to Judge Terry Springman, who retired from the federal bench in Indiana after an illustrious career. Judge Dan Buckley was in South Bend teaching at the intensive trial advocacy course before the start of the semester. The ND Alumni Association has wonderful podcasts for your listening pleasure on ThinkND. It is full of professors from around the world, great thinkers and interesting subjects. It is great for those long, quiet walks. Surely, you are exhausted from the last two years. We all are, but please send your news. I bet you have lots of great news to share. Love to all. Go Irish. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com
81 Reunion and Notes Deadline Clashed
The deadline for these notes was Oct. 20; our reunion was Oct. 29-31. Our next class notes should be chock-full of news, reminiscing and promises to get together soon. Thank you to the volunteers who helped take the reunion from vision to reality: cajoling old dorm-mates to join, welcoming everyone, making name tags, sourcing scarves, creating centerpieces, finding a band, offering up parking passes for the tailgater, coming up with a playlist from back in the day, planning and celebrating the Mass and music, working with the NDAA staff on everything from venues to food to COVID protocols and keeping us all up on plans as they evolved. Thank you to these classmates: Dave Austgen, Joe Babington, Bob Battle, Janet Bergeron, Amanda Bernheim Buckley, Charlie Brown, Steve Burgoon, Mike “Pro” Burke, Tim Coonan, Mike Domagalo, Bob Durgin, Andy Entwistle, Anne Fink Roy, Kerry Furlong, RJ Gerth, Anne Giffels, John Gschwind, Francine Gomes, Kevin Hawkins, Christine Hayes Burgoon, Steve Hoey, Ralph Jaccodine, Bob Kelly, Donna Leary Smith, Carl Lundblad, Marybeth Marx, JT McDonald, Brian McMorrow, Lisa McNelis, Keith Melaragno, Brian Murphy, Mary Murphy, Erin O’Connor French, Amy Olin, Jana Patchen, Karen Ramey, Steve Reifenberg, Keith Sherin, Colleen Short Lucke, Mary Beth Sterling, Bob Stewart, Jane Stoffel, Mark Thesing, Peter Urbain, Jim Veraldi, Sharon Wolford, Michael Wood. There were also scores of classmates on Facebook, sharing ideas and getting everyone excited for the big weekend. More than 360 classmates and guests registered to join. How did this all come together? With two leaders who put their hearts and a whole lot of time and energy into the event: Keith Melaragno and Janet Bergeron. The first planning meeting was March 6. Since then, Keith and Janet Zoomed, emailed and texted their way from, “What should this weekend look like?” to “We have to move to a new venue? No problem.” For their leadership and creativity and efforts, we are all grateful. In other news, Andrew Segovia is the city attorney for San Antonio. The 50 lawyers in his organization share a mission to render the highest quality legal service with fidelity to professional standards and conduct. In this role, Andy recently received a Diversity and Inclusion Award from the International Municipal Law Association at their annual conference in Minneapolis. Father Sorin suggested Notre Dame could be a “force for good” and Andrew lives that ideal. Bill McGuinness organized a multiclass reunion for Pangborn’s Skid Row section at the Cincinnati game. Fifteen Skidders attended, including Lou Moran, Bob Durgin and Kevin Smith from our class. Another reunion in Chicago after the Wisconsin game: Tom and Lexi Gibbons, Mike Domagola, Bob Stewart, Mike Gies, Kevin Hawkins, Anne Giffels and Keith Melaragno. Shaun McAuley Corry’s son, Patrick Corry ’16, married Mary-Kate Burns ’16 in South Bend. Our classmates Beth Toomey and Liz Boo provided much-needed emotional support to the mother of the groom. The wedding Mass was at St. Therese Little Flower, where Rev. Zachary Burns, Franciscan priest and brother to Mary-Kate, presided. A gorgeous farm, 12 miles outside of town, provided a memorable backdrop for the tented reception. Please join the Class of ’81 Facebook page where 425 classmates reminisce, entertain, pray, and opine. Please email updates before our Jan. 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 who are now inspired. — Mary Murphy; marymurphy81@alumni.nd.edu
81MBA Football Games to Remember
As I write this in October, it’s hard to believe that we are halfway through the football season. The Irish have kept it interesting going into the fourth quarter in most games. Let’s hope the luck of the Irish continues. I have been fortunate to be at the Toledo, Purdue and Cincinnati games, as well as the fantastic romp of Wisconsin at Soldier Field. What a thrill it was to take my six-year-old grandson to his first ND home football game vs. Cincy. He didn’t really care about the score, and I decided to adopt that frame of mind and enjoy watching him explore campus, the Grotto, the Golden Dome, the Basilica. He even got his picture taken with the drum majors, who let him hold their baton. Next season, I’ll take him and his younger twin brothers back for a game. I’ll be back in South Bend for USC and UNC and hope some of us can get together. It was good to hear from several of you. Please send me your current email address. The class email list is a bit of a mess and I’m trying to clean it up. Please ask other classmates to send me their email addresses as well. Chris Grant wrote that he visited his son, Christopher ’14, in Chicago for the weekend of the Purdue game. Chris, his son and a group of his ND friends took a van from Chicago back and forth to the game. Everyone had a great time, superb tailgate and perfect weather. Chris is looking for Bob Radocaj’s email address. If anyone has it, please send it to Chris and me. His email is cjgrant611@gmail.com. Mike Zmachinski wrote to say hello to the class. Mike will be going to the UNC game. He also went to the Shamrock game in Chicago. Ann Courtmanche checked in and gives her best to the class. Ann said it’s nice to read updates from everyone. She keeps up with Anna Burgo Leatherow, Margie Ward Pettibone and Gail Bradley ’82, who started with us. Like many of us, she has fond memories of our semester in London. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Ann has been back to London a couple times since then and has walked down our old streets remembering simpler (poorer) times. I, too, have been to London a few times and walked past our classroom building on Albemarle St., as well as the flat we shared in the Queen’s Gate area. As Ann said, “It is hard to believe it’s been so long since we’ve all been together.” Gary Eggleston wrote a nice note saying that he enjoyed reading the latest Class Notes. After years in Anguilla, British West Indies, he returned to the States a few years ago. While in the islands he did not receive the Notre Dame Magazine, as it would take months and months if it ever came. It was common to get mail that first had gone to Angola. He would from time to time get news on classmates, but nothing consistent, so he feels he missed a lot. Welcome back, Gary. Like many of us, Gary said it is hard to believe that all these years have gone by. The last time he was on campus was for the dedication of the new stadium in 1997, but he is coming for the North Carolina game. Gary, Mike “Z-Man” and I will all try to connect at the Morris Inn prior to kick off. Gary lives in South Carolina and said that a couple nights in the big city (Chicago) prior to game day is an interesting change from the low country and it avoids the Sunday morning push to O’Hare from South Bend. Having spent his career in the hospitality industry, he said he developed no hobbies so he is dabbling in a very large development: 20,000 acres with a five-star resort property. It’s his retirement phase. Gary says he’s just having fun, enjoying the guests and residents’ incredible life stories. The pandemic has been a boom — 214 homes are under construction. Please send me your email address so I can update the class list. Go Irish. — Steve Simmerman; 3126 E. Desert Broom Way, Phoenix AZ 85048; cell 602-524-7662; srsimmerman@gmail.com
81JD Life Changes
John Fitzpatrick announced, “I’m actually going to retire next year. Trying cases for 40 years has finally caught up with me.” He and Barb plan on relocating from Denver to Lakewood Ranch FL, which is about 10 minutes from Sarasota. Fitz’ last hurrah will be a three-week asbestos trial in Chicago beginning Sept. 26. Brian McDonough hosted his 17th annual Give Kids A Chance charity event. He says the effort is “just trying to make a little dent on the divide between the haves and have-nots. Our slogan is ‘Education is Power.’” If you are curious about the charity, please check out gkac.org. Jack Sawyer has been selected by Best Lawyers in America as the 2022 Georgia Lawyer of the Year in the category of nonprofits/charities. Jim Blase published the third volume in his Theodore Roosevelt’s US travels trilogy. The title is Reunion: Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 Southern Trips. It’s available on Amazon. Jim also reports that the eldest ND daughter recently married a Michigan grad. Jim gleefully stated, “You can imagine what my father of the bride talk was all about.” We received separate “out of the office” replies from Doug Schaff, Peter Durand and Ed Bleisner. I wonder what kind of boondoggle they were on. Ellen McLaughlin reports that she and Robert Cimala met Patti and Allen Pennington and Carolyn and Stephen Cordill for their own law school minireunion in Cabo San Lucas in early April. Ellen says there were a lot of late nights spent reminiscing about law school days and the good times had by all, not to mention a good number of margaritas and cerveza being consumed. Bob Allen reports that he successfully assisted a father of two in obtaining a full presidential pardon for a non-violent offense. Bob’s son, Ryan, is one of the top nine-year-old tennis players in the nation. Bob also submitted a selfie with Mount Rushmore in the background. I received an email from Kent Conness, brother of our late classmate Kim Conness. The email read: “You may not remember it, but eight years ago you wrote the ’81JD Class Notes in the Autumn 2013 issue of Notre Dame Magazine. Near the end you wrote, in reference to Norma Reyes’ too-soon death, “Steve Cordill provided the following poignant comments on the news of Norma’s passing: ‘I remember all too well receiving a similar message in the summer of the mid 1990s informing me Fred Miller had died, just as I remember too soon after our graduation Mike Borders informing us that Kim Conness had died. We may get on in years, but I remember you, each of you, like it was yesterday. We will relish the time we had together and find it too cruel when any of us passes.’ At the time, it warmed my heart to see my brother’s name mentioned in the magazine. Thank you for including those thoughtful comments from Steve Cordill.” Let us remember Kim, Norma and Fred as well as the other of our classmates who have left us for a greater place. Lorie Masters has been appointed co-chair of the ABA Federal Practice Task Force of the Section of Litigation. The task force analyzes issues relating to the Federal Rules and responds to requests for recommendations on changes to the rules from the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules. Lorie encourages all in the class who have thoughts on improvements that could be made to the Federal Rules to contact her. On a personal note, Lorie reports the birth of a second grandchild born April 14, James Kai Countryman. — Michael Palumbo; 3799 East Peachtree Drive, Chandler AZ 85249; res 480-284-4004; bus 602-262-5931; mpalumbo@jsslaw.com
82 Warmly Remembered
Jean Marie McGinnis Massie lost her husband, Dale, last October to a rare autoimmune lung disease. Dale, a Wake Forest grad, was a true Notre Dame fan. He converted into the Catholic faith in 2004. Jean and Dale met at UVA graduate school. We are so sorry for your loss, Jean. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. We also lost our classmate Stephen Savarese to a heart attack in August. Stephen, a South Bend native, went onto law school at American U after graduating from ND. He practiced law in Middlebury and Newtown CT for over 35 years. He lived out his calling to serve others through his professional work as an attorney. His devotion to his clients mirrored his devotion to family, friends, and his faith community. Stephen was an active parishioner and deacon for St. John of the Cross Church since 1971. He was ordained to the diaconate of the Archdiocese of Hartford in June 2012 and celebrated his ninth anniversary as a deacon this past year. He had a passion for music and belonged to several organizations. However, his biggest joy was his family. He was married for 34 years to Margaret. Their children are William, AnnMarie and Elizabeth. Stephen was part of Notre Dame’s France SUNEF abroad program and stayed in touch with his classmates. Scott Thomas, a classmate, attended the funeral and represented the SUNEF group. Andrea Carroll Weber passed away in July. She was part of the Ireland abroad group and developed a deep affection for the country, which she visited often. After graduating from ND, Andrea received her MBA from Miami U. She loved the ocean and was a sports enthusiast. She is survived by her father, Ronald, and her sisters, Elizabeth and Kathryn. Andrea is buried next to her mother at the Cedar Grove Cemetery at ND. Our deepest sympathies. Jim McClure has been promoted to lieutenant commander in the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, where he has served since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Commander McClure attended Navy ROTC at ND on a Marine Corps scholarship. A medical discharge just five months prior to becoming a Marine officer prevented Jim from service, but he spent two decades as a television news reporter and PR executive, including a stint as a freelance reporter for CNN and the Today show. He spent all those years requesting medical and age waivers until returning to uniform at the age of 42. Congratulations, Jim. Please know we are proud of you and honored to be your classmate. Thank you all who stopped by our class tailgate in September. Go Irish. — 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) Sutherland;
mobile 630-846-2707; reneemsr@aol.com
82JD Quizzing Mass
It was great returning to campus and seeing classmates and friends this football season, after missing last year due to the COVID lockdown. Anita and Tom Veldman hosted a brunch at their house near ND the Sunday after the Purdue game. Rev. Dexter Brewer, Betsy (Wolf) and Bruce Friestedt, Mark Spitler, Pam (Radike) and Paul Wyzgoski, and Carol and I shared many fond memories and very funny stories about our Law School years. Dexter is a parish priest in Nashville and is the vicar general of the Nashville Diocese. Betsy, Mark and Pam recently retired from their practices in Chicago, Buffalo and Detroit, respectively. Dexter said Mass for the group prior to brunch. During Mass he started quizzing us on the meaning of the readings that day, and on the significance of the vestments worn by priests. I am chagrined to report that the Veldmans’ dog, Daisy, answered as many questions as the rest of us good Catholics. Carol and I had dinner with Wendy and Tim Nickels and with Liz (Medina) and Greg Imhoff in Chicago the weekend of the Wisconsin game. Cele (Glacy) and Bruce Baty, Liz and Greg Imhoff, Tim Nickels, and John Smith were on campus the weekend of the Cincinnati game for the NDLA Board meeting. We also saw Rob Neate at the Law School Homecoming event that weekend. Rob is still practicing in Bellevue WA. Please plan to attend our 40th class reunion June 2-5, 2022. For more information, visit reunion.nd.edu. — Frank Julian; ndlaw82@gmail.com
83 Updates
Please keep the following classmates and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Ralph DiVietro passed away on June 12. Sheila Roesler’s father, Max ’55, passed away at home on Aug. 25. Please remember Ralph, Sheila and their families during this sad time. Terry McFadden has been living in South Bend since graduation. In fact, he’s lived his entire life in South Bend. His youngest son, Charlie, is in the Class of ’22, and his eldest son, Michael, was in the Class of ’16. Terry’s middle child, Sean ’19, and Keenan White ’19 are to be married in the Basilica in May 2022. Terry’s wife, Laurie Plan McFadden, is celebrating 21 years at Notre Dame and is the director of student media, headquartered in the Duncan Student Center. Terry majored in history and earned his MA in communication arts in 1989. He began working at WNDU-TV in 1982 and has been the main anchor there since 1999. Todd Hooper and his family, including his daughter Sophia ’17, renewed their annual tailgater for the Cincinnati game. Tom Griffin, John Gallo, Mark Greifenkamp and Kevin O’Brien competed with a throng of the younger generation to get to the fried chicken and adult beverages. Jean Collier was on campus for the Purdue game. She was able to get a picture on campus with Joe Theismann ’71, Keith Kriegshauser, Jim Catalino and her friend from Denver, Jennifer Garner – not that Jennifer Garner. Jean was also able to find a seersucker suit that she may or may not decide to purchase for her husband, Gary. Steve Fox, Jim Valente, T.J. Conley, Mike Joyce and Mike Rigali were on hand in Chicago to cheer the Irish to victory over Wisconsin. Mary Malone had the Clare and Galway flags flying at a recent tailgate, which drew the attention of the Irish Ambassador to the United States. Mary’s husband, Kevin Schuck, and Tom P. Keller ’92JD were able to get a picture with him. Michele Dietz Chynoweth has been celebrating the opportunity to enjoy another season of Irish football with her dad. Clare Padgett, Sarah McGrath and Chris Temple Davis got together this summer for an evening of dinner, catching up and laughing. Chris’s non-profit, Building Trust Americas, is still working to raise funds to provide education, emergency food, and housing and water in Ciudadela Sucre, Colombia. There is a link to the giving site on the class Facebook page if you wish to donate. Speaking of Facebook, we now have over 530 class members who have joined the page. It is the quickest and easiest way to stay up to date with what our classmates are doing. As a member of the page, you’ll also get an advance look at this column. The page is restricted to members of the Class of ’83. To join, search for “Notre Dame Class of 1983” on Facebook and click “join.” If you have any news you’d like to share with the class, send a note or email and I’ll be happy to include it in the next column. — Louis J. (“Chip”) Denkovic; 520 W. 43 St., no. 32G, New York NY 10036; res. 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;
cell 507-450-6609; bus 507-457-1587; amerchle@smumn.edu
84 More News
Mary (Schmid) Runger, John Runger and Tim Van Kirk are on the Chicago Advisory Board of the Women’s Care Center, an organization started in South Bend in 1984 by Notre Dame professor Janet Smith. The center’s mission is to provide non-judgmental, unconditional love to young women who are pregnant. The center now has 33 locations across 13 states. Lynn Malooly, executive director of Water for South Sudan, recently discussed the importance of access to clean water with Emanate International, a platform that promotes nonprofits, NGOs and social enterprises that are using best practices in the international development sphere. Sheila (Shunick) Burton stepped down as executive director of Join Hands ESL but remains heavily involved in the organization as a board member. In honor of Sheila’s service, Join Hands is doing a fundraiser. Go to their website, joinhandsesl.org, to learn more. By the time you get this, Dan Coonan will have done his book signing for Presidential Spirits during the USC weekend at the Hammes ND Bookstore. How cool is that? Dave McAvoy’s son Kyle, an ND junior, completed a summer service learning program in Indianapolis this summer. Please keep the family of Paul O’Hop Jr. in your prayers. Paul passed away in August. For 15 years, Paul was on the advisory board for Andean Health. Donations can be made in Paul’s memory to andeanhealth.org/donate-to-ahd. — Martha (Burns) Avery; mayoravery@comcast.net
84MBA New Secretary
Hi everyone, this is Dhanraj Bhagat. I have volunteered to become the class secretary for our 1984MBA Class. I am still in the process of establishing contacts with our colleagues. Hence, at this stage, I have nothing much to report. As for myself, I am based in Mumbai, India, and live with my family, which includes my wife Kanan, daughter Jagruti and son Harsh. I am working with the accounting firm Grant Thornton in Mumbai. There will be more from me in the next issue. — Dhanraj Bhagat; dbhagat1960@gmail.com
84JD Happy News
Congratulations to the Honorable Thomas Schroeder on his selection as the new president of the Notre Dame Law Association. I encourage you to review his letter (on the Law School alumni website) inviting members of the ND Law Association to become active in the furtherance of the Law School mission, to, as Tom writes, “proudly educate a ‘different kind of lawyer — one who sees the law as more than just a profession and endeavors to explore the moral and ethical dimensions of the law while furthering the cause of justice.’” Joe Gilbert and his wife Mary live in Wake Forest. Since 2016, Joe has “mostly retired” from a career in the Federal Defender Services. Joe continues to represent indigent clients upon appointment from the judges of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Joe and Mary enjoy spending time with their children who live nearby and in their home art studio. Michael Guinan is continuing service with the US State Department in Morocco. Mike reports, “Morocco is an exceptionally nice place to live and work. I am doing a tour as Morocco Country Director for our International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau: police; prisons; justice.” My wife, Jackie, and I had the pleasure of spending five days on and around campus as we moved our daughter Brigid to Notre Dame to begin her freshman year. She arrived early to successfully audition for the marching band. We enjoyed seeing Ann and John Firth, who provided Brigid with a personal welcome to Notre Dame. I am very impressed with the detailed approach that Notre Dame has taken to address COVID, most significantly, requiring vaccination of all students, faculty and staff, with limited specified exceptions. Please share updates. — Matthew Dunn; 773-294-6851; mdunn19834@gmail.com
85 News from St. Ed’s
As the deadline for this column approached, and I realized that I had no news, I emailed class president Dean Christy. He reached out to the guys from St. Ed’s and, fortunately, Tom Reidy responded. He revealed that St. Ed’s All-Star/MVP RA Dave Gaudreau turned 60 in September. Tom’s former roomie, Ed Roohan, is focusing on golf after conquering the business world. Tom reported that Ed dropped his handicap by 17 strokes in 2021 alone. Also, Chuck Greene’s eldest, Charlie, got married in October. Now that we have news from St. Ed’s, let’s hear from former residents of another dorm such as Flanner or Grace. Our class held the unofficial, unsanctioned, glorious and untamed Class of ’85 Bad Ass Class Tailgater (BACT) the weekend of the USC game. This year’s hosts were Erika and Jerry Judd, Anne (Parigi) and Bob Michels, Julie and Casey Newell, Brian Milligan, Meghan (Flattery) Allen, Joanne (Madden) Finger, Nancy Walsh and Alison Yurko. If you were there, write to me with an account of the festivities or any updates on classmates who attended. I look forward to hearing from you soon. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; yanzlaw@comcast.net
85MBA Class Secretary — Dom Yocius;
dyocius@ameritech.net
85JD Bad News, Good News
Staying connected means sharing life’s blessings and sorrows, and we have sad news: Dennis Cusack died in July, leaving behind his wife, Nancy Montroy ’86JD and three children. Dennis was a partner with Johnson & Bell in Chicago, where he was co-chair of the firm’s general negligence practice group. An avid runner and enthusiastic basketball and softball player, Dennis is remembered as a loyal friend, devoted family man and terrific lawyer. Please keep Nancy and her children in your prayers. Linda Bricketto Conway recently started a new business venture. After working as in-house counsel in health care in the Chicago area for over 20 years, she has put her insider knowledge and experience to use solely on behalf of patients. Along with a colleague who was a chief nursing officer, Linda formed The Navocate Group, which provides guidance and support to empower patients to make the best health care decisions for themselves and their families. Navocate’s services include helping clients with complex medical issues (research, diagnosis and treatment options, communications with providers, review of medical records, etc.), billing and insurance issues, advance care planning, transition of care environments, legal and fiduciary issues, and travel companion services. In October, I traveled from Boston to enjoy a minireunion at the New Jersey shore with Karen Kiley Toohill, in from San Diego, Molly Murphy and Madeleine Murphy, who traveled from Chicago, and Deb Hennigan Knapp, our Jersey girl. We got to that place where we really wanted to go and we walked in the sun. (B. Springsteen, anyone?) Please send greetings from Asbury Park, or wherever you happen to be. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; kellyjd1985@alumni.nd.edu
86 Cold Drinks and Anniversaries
Mimi and Mark Toner celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary in October. They have four daughters: Katie and Clare who graduated from Virginia Tech and Syracuse, respectively, and now live in the DC metro area; Meg, a freshman at ND; and Grace, a seventh grader at Marymount School. The Toners reside in Paris, France, where Mark works at the US Embassy and Mimi works with a construction management consulting firm. They spent more than a decade in DC, where they hung out with Janice Englehart, Kathy and Conrad Rehill, Mike Brigioli, Jackie and John Dettling, Rosemary Dettling, Tom Ryder and other DC Domers. Since moving, they have met up with other alumni in Europe, including Matt Kineen, who lives with his wife Nuria Hernandez-Mora in Madrid; Michael Foy, who they know from a previous tour in Brussels; and Julie Hassenmiller Fischer, a Farley section mate who Mimi has recently re-connected with in Paris. Alaska-based Anne Wilkas also just visited the Toners for a long weekend. They asked to let them know if you’re passing through France. Susie (Miller) Schilling ’86SMC and Nick Schilling celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in June at home in South Bend with three of their parents, their five children (three with spouses) and five grandchildren. In 2016 after 30 years in Kansas City, the Schillings moved just 10 minutes from campus when their youngest, Christopher, joined the ND football team. Schillings just finished 14 consecutive years with children at Notre Dame: Katherine ’10, ’20MA, Nicholas ’14, ’17JD, Megan ’16, ’18MA, and Christopher ’20. Their eldest son, Patrick, played football at the U of Kansas. In 2019, Nick joined Thibaut Design as CFO in the New York City area where Nick and Susie spend most of their time. However, they consider their house near ND to be their forever home and love gathering with friends and family when in town. For our 35-year reunion over the UNC weekend, Schillings opened their home for our Friday night class party. We all loved our gathering with our classmates last fall and missed those of you who couldn’t be there. Jean and I just celebrated our 31st anniversary. Are we all getting old out there? Nah. Chip and Judith Windhorst Cahill are doing great in New Orleans and just welcomed their first grandchild, Harry Cahill V or “Quinn” for five. Bill Donnelly’s son Charlie ’20 graduated from ND last spring. Charlie was on the cheer team, so Bill got to attend several games and meet up with Paul Mazelin and Mike Speranza. A while back, Bill got to participate in a “cold drinks” band minireunion, accompanying Kate Rose Marquez (Murphy) for a song at a club in Cincinnati. Bill said his guitar playing needs work, but Kate still sings beautifully. How about you guys think about getting the band together for our 40th? Many have reached out to express their deep loss and love for our classmate Jeanie Poole O’Shaughnessy, who unexpectedly passed on Sept. 7. Those on our class group email list heard from Jeanie’s sister-in-law Lucy O’Shaughnessy when she reached out and shared Jeanie’s obituary. A candle was lit at the Grotto from our class for Jeanie. Please continue to keep her husband Patrick ’87, their children Patrick and Lillian, Lucy and the entire family in your prayers. Jenny Stepan Beqaj wrote that Jeanie will forever be Notre Dame. She continued to visit the campus frequently for football games and cheering on her niece, Kathleen Roe, who played for the Irish women’s lacrosse team. We are all gutted, and there are no words to express our sorrow. Nell Boland Fredella, Kathy Murdock Doyle, Jenny and Jeanie planned to travel together in mid-October. Jeanie hosted a gathering of a dozen ND women in 2019 at her beautiful Park City UT home. She was an incredibly gracious hostess, and nothing made her happier than bringing all of us together. She was an incredible friend, mother and wife. On an administrative front, we noticed some of your emails have bounced back. Please update your email address with the University if you would like to receive communications from your class officers about the events we have planned and other class-related items. You can call the ND Alumni Association at 574-631-6000 and they’ll be happy to make the changes. Take care. God bless. — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john@jjscb.com
86MBA Lots of News
Congratulations to J.R. Reid MD, who will be married in April. Rick Roberts and Sam Poulos will be attending. J.R. and Dan Kerrigan caught up in Chicago and watched the Irish victory over Wisconsin. J.R. works in the emergency department on the Tohono Oodham Indian Reservation outside of Tucson and Dan and his family reside in Japan. Dick Connor is spending the winter at his Vero Beach home and, when spring comes, he’ll return to Washington CT where he volunteers with the Congregational Church. He is looking forward to getting back to traveling. He had to cancel trips to Amsterdam and Chile last year due to the pandemic. He is wondering whatever happened to Jerry Bryce. Contact Dick at dickconnor03@aol.com. Lynnette (Pascal) Dallas has been enjoying retirement from Eli Lilly and Co. since 2015. She and her husband, Jimmie, spend time bicycling and traveling in the Velocity airplane that he built. They recently traveled to Falls of the Rough Kentucky State Park and to Jekyll Island GA with other experimental aircraft friends. Lynnette and Jimmy spend their winters in Florida to escape the cold. Her new hobby is turning wood bowls on a lathe; she’s made 40 so far. Seth Mason lives in Belmont MI and is VP of wealth management for Morgan Stanley. He has two daughters, Gretchen, 26, and Allison, 28, and hopes to be married again one day. Page and Dave Sobek visited Tallahassee over Labor Day weekend for the Florida State game and attended Jeff Fiocchi’s gameday tailgate. Dan Kerrigan joined in. Dave retired from AT&T and Page from Delta Air Lines. Their son David is a junior at U of South Carolina; they also traveled to the UNC game. In 2014, Beth Leon started IN!, a 501(c)3 non-profit in Colorado to build pathways to college for students with intellectual disabilities. In 2016, IN! started fully inclusive programs at two universities and one community college. Today they have over 75 students attending college, with the opportunity to live in the dorms like their typical classmates. Learn more about IN! at inclusivehighered.org. Ramona and Jorge Valencia celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary; daughter Cecilia will marry in Santa Monica in July and is a teacher at Corpus Christi in Pacific Palisades. Her twin sister, Isabella, is in New York in the fashion industry. Their son, Aidan, is enjoying all things Notre Dame and every sport imaginable. Their youngest, Sophie, is a member of ND Class of 2025 and lives in Walsh Hall. Jorge is grateful for his ND education and the great friends he’s made along the way. Steve Gouletas is living in Charlotte, helping his sister with some serious medical issues. He spent his life’s work in real estate, including working at ERA’s world headquarters in charge of ERA products, in addition to condominium development for 15 years, 11 years in property management including owning and asset managing an apartment building in Huntsville AL. He’s now partially retired, a big Tesla investor, disc golfer and advocate for the environment. His two kids are in their late 20s, both married and having children of their own. As I write this column, Carolyn (Anderson) Wells is on her way to Moab UT for a biking adventure, and Jamie Maguire is training in Santa Barbara for a 100-mile ride, likely uphill both ways. Keep rolling. My next deadline is Jan. 20. — Maureen (Mullan) Decker; 21855 Town Gate, Macomb MI 48044; bus 586-741-4305; mobile 586-817-1317; maureen.decker@mclaren.org
86JD Fall Football Meetups
Wayne Malecha reports that he and his son, Patrick, met up with Peter Lutz and Peter’s two boys and brother, Harry, for the Purdue game. I was in for the Cincinnati game and had dinner at Sunny Italy with Lucetta and Ed Murphy. Also in for the Cincinnati game were Tom Burger, Mike Walker and Mike Mulhern, who were each sporting “Catholics v. Coneys” (a Cincinnati thing) T-shirts. That game was the law school homecoming and Susan (Lindbloom) and Dave Link and several members of their extended families were there, as was John Glowacki and his daughter, Elizabeth ’17JD, Heather (Ribar) and Bellew McManus, and Janet (Scoles) and Vincent Nadile ’87JD. Janet is senior counsel at Milbank in NYC and chairs the commercial law and uniform state laws committee for the NYC Bar. Their children: Jacqueline is a USC film school grad, Victoria is finishing up at NYU Med School, and Henry is an ND freshman and member of the fencing team. Paul Peralta wrote that he and Liz (Donovan) ’79 married off eldest daughter Kate ’10 to Jesse Soloff in Montana last spring, and that he and Liz sold their Charlotte home and relocated to Black Mountain NC, where their next-door neighbors (when they’re not in Kansas) are Eileen (Beadling) and Pat Doran. Perhaps a minireunion in the North Carolina mountains? Jeff Thompson, who retired from practice before the pandemic, has undertaken formal sommelier training. Now there’s a second career. Also moving on is Felecia Rotellini, who, after 10 years of activism in the Arizona Democratic Party (including as an AZ AG candidate twice and former chair of the state party), and six years as director of compliance for DriveTime, has relocated to DC where she is pursuing a high-level opportunity with a (so far) unnamed agency. Felecia’s dad passed away this summer, 11 days short of his 106th birthday. Patti ’86 and Tom Hinchey’s daughter Madeline is finishing her master’s degree in applied behavioral analysis at St. Joe’s U in Philly, and younger daughter is an intern at Duckhorn Wines in Hopland CA before starting nursing school in the spring. Interestingly, Tom’s niece, Natalie, was drafted by the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. (We hope she didn’t inherit Tom’s vertical leap.) Anna (Moore) Carulas checked in from Cleveland where she is practice group manager of Roetzel’s Medical Defense and Health Care Litigation group. She and husband Jim have two daughters in NYC. Catherine, 28, a Georgetown Law Center grad, practices with Covington & Burling. Caroline, 25, works for AlphaSights. During the lockdown, Anna and Jim have been renovating Anna’s grandparents’ cabin outside Traverse City MI. Nearby in Traverse City is Tim Tompkins who reported that he and Mike Mulhern spent some time fly fishing in northern Michigan this summer. I know that Rob Kurnick and Tim Reynolds also have places not far away from Traverse City, so if a North Carolina reunion doesn’t work out, perhaps northern Michigan? Kim Reid is spending her retirement taking piano lessons, genealogy classes, volunteering at her parish, and at the League of Women Voters. Kim heard from Ernie Dominguez of McAllen TX, who, like many of us, is still actively practicing law. Finally, as you know, Nancy Montroy’s husband, Dennis Cusack ’85JD, passed away unexpectedly in August. Nancy was overwhelmed by your support through Masses, enrollments, intentions, prayers and beautiful notes and cards from so many of you, including many from folks she hadn’t had contact with since our graduation. She asked that I acknowledge and thank all of you for the tremendous support that was a real source of comfort to her and her children. — Brian Bates; bbates@abblaw.com
87 Renewal
Happy 2022 to the Class of ’87. I hope you had a merry Christmas and that the new year finds you healthy and with a sense of renewal and joy for the upcoming year. I was delighted to hear from Kevin Sullivan, brother of our classmate Dan Sullivan, who passed away 13 years ago. Kevin wrote, “Friends and family have created a scholarship for students attending ND from Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina in honor of Dan Sullivan, Mechanical Engineering, who died in 2008 after an 11-year battle with cancer. A four-year resident of Alumni Hall, Dan was an An Tostal volunteer and campus eucharistic minister. He provided a Gospel reading on stage at the ’87 commencement with Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, ’39 in his 35th and final year as president of the University. Dan later received a master’s degree in business from Northwestern U’s Kellogg School of Management and pursued a successful career in marketing. He raised a family of three children with his wife, Andrea, in Cincinnati. Several classmates contributed to the Daniel J. Sullivan Scholarship Fund, which has exceeded its goal of $100,000 and will now begin awarding scholarships to students from the CCHS class of ’22.” Please contact Charlotte Catholic High School at 704-543-1127 for more information on the fund. Less than a week later, I received the sad news from Kay Wigton McBrearty ’85, sister of our classmate, Christine Wigton Klee, that Chris passed away from ALS earlier this year. Kay wrote, “Chris was driven, determined, kind and generous, with a clever sense of humor. She was most passionate about spending time with her family. She enjoyed teaching the kids’ catechism classes, visiting the family cabin in Flagstaff, and watching movies as a family. Chris was no stranger to lively conversation, spontaneously dancing to any Prince song that came on the radio, and going out of her way to help others. Her bright light will be deeply missed by all who were fortunate enough to meet her.” Chris was married to Dan Klee ’86 and tragically, his father, Dr. Gerald Klee ’52, also suffered from ALS. In honor of both, the family organized a walk to support the Arizona chapter of the ALS Association this past November. Supporting either of these causes would be a wonderful way to honor our classmates. The walk is complete, but donations are still being accepted. Visit webaz.alsa.org and search for Klee’s Krusaders. I joked with Kay that the coincidence of hearing from her and Kevin in the same week is rather remarkable and leads me to believe that Chris and Dan watched the Irish this season from adjoining seats in heaven’s stadium, which is wider, one hopes, than the bench seats in South Bend. Additionally, Chris Niezgodzki wrote to let us know that he moved back to Phoenix after graduation to work in public accounting and is CFO for a nutraceutical company. He’s happy and proud to have celebrated his 30th anniversary with his wife this year. They have two children at ND: a daughter in her junior year, majoring in computer science, and a freshman son in the Mendoza College of Business. Finally, my dad is a member of the Class of ’59 and they are meeting in spirit once a week to pray the rosary together. No Zoom, no FaceTime, just quietly praying and knowing that others in the class are doing the same at the same hour. I love this idea and would like to propose Tuesdays at 9 a.m. eastern time. Please join when possible if the idea appeals to you. And keep the news coming our way. — Meg Brennan Hamilton; meghamilton@yahoo.com
87MBA Remembering Prof. Reilly
It is with great sadness that I inform you that our dean, Prof. Frank Reilly ’57, passed away on Sept. 23. Over time, he became a friend and mentor to many of us. I was fortunate to maintain contact with Frank over the years and almost every time we spoke, he repeated that the MBA Class of 1987 was his favorite and the best class that he ever taught. May God bless Frank Reilly, we will miss him. Rick Hans and I attended Frank’s funeral service and offered his family condolences on behalf of the MBA Class of 1987. It was a beautiful celebration of his life. Rev. Oliver Williams, CSC, ’61 did a wonderful job memorializing Frank with his eulogy. Revs. John Jenkins, CSC, ’76, ’78MA and Edward “Monk” Malloy, CSC, ’67, ’69MA, were celebrants of the Mass for Professor Reilly. It was truly a wonderful and moving tribute to him and his life. Jake Frego and I met up on Oct. 8 as Jake and his wife, Janet, were in town to attend the inauguration of the new president of Saint Mary’s. Jake and I caught up, and he and his family are doing well. Sadly, Jake’s father, Jacob, passed away on Oct. 10. Our condolences to the Frego family. Many of life’s moments allow for reunions and celebration. Welcome Week is another one of these moments. During Welcome Week in August, my daughter Taylor joined the Notre Dame family, along with Anya Dalal as freshmen. Chris Murphy, my wife, Sue, and I hosted several of our children that are or were students at Notre Dame for dinner during Welcome Week. Joining us for dinner were Anya (whose dad, Sanjay Dalal, joined us by FaceTime from India), Ian Brostowski (Mark Brostowski’s son and a senior at Notre Dame), Kaitlyn Murphy ’12 (Chris’ daughter and a Notre Dame alum) and my daughter Taylor. It was a proud moment for all of us to see our children and the children of our classmates. As for ND football games, as new parents of a ND freshman, Sue and I have made the trip to ND a few times. We attended the Toledo game and in attendance were the Brostowskis, the Murphys and the Fregos and all our children. We had a minireunion in Chicago for the Shamrock Series game against Wisconsin. Also attending were Rick Hans and his wife, Michelle, the Murphys and the Brostowskis. In addition, Chris’ two daughters, Kaitlyn and Alaina, Mark’s daughter and son, Ginger and Ian, and my daughter and son, Taylor and Nicholas, were with us cheering the Irish on to victory. At the Cincinnati game, there was a group of us at the Canadian Tailgater. Mark Brostowski, Chris Murphy, Bob Krohn, and Rose Kavanagh ’13 (daughter of Ken Kavanagh) enjoyed Canadian hospitality together. Finally, there is the USC game the weekend of Oct. 23. Our classmate Bernardo Norena and his wife, Anna Marie, will be attending along with the normal group of characters as listed above. Hopefully many of you will join us as the season unfolds. Remember to look for the Canadian flag to the east of Legends. If you don’t make it to a game, take note that 2022 is our 35-year reunion, June 2-5. Registration will open in early 2022. Mark it in your calendars. Let’s get a gang to attend. I will be there. Peter Dolan and Kristin recently returned from their “two-year assignment” to Munich, which began in 2014. Peter and Kristin have returned to Philadelphia, where he started with KPMG and was admitted to the partnership in 1997, but he hasn’t worked in Philly since 1998. His career has come full circle and he’s glad to be home. They maintained their home outside of Philly while they were abroad. Until next time, 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 Eight Is Enough
Dan Ryan is staying busy with his alternative dispute resolution business, MI-JADR, which he founded in 2015 with two other business court judges. They have offices in Michigan, Texas and Colorado. Dan is also an American Arbitration Association arbitrator, but is most proud of his role as a father and grandfather. Dan and his wife, Mary, have been blessed with eight children, ranging in age from 15 to 32. Three of Dan’s sons are serving our country as Navy lieutenants. Dan also has nine grandchildren in California, Washington and Texas. When he’s not working, Dan and Mary are keeping Delta afloat, traveling to visit their kids and grandkids. Congratulations to Amy (Ronayne) Krause on her election as a commissioner on the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. While it will entail a significant amount of work, Amy is honored to serve. Mary (Robertson) Wittenberg is moving on to a new challenge as president of League One Volleyball, launched in 2019. LOVB’s goal is to establish a season-long, city-based, women’s professional indoor volleyball league, filling a void in the female sports landscape. Mary and her husband, Derek, have two sons. Alex is a junior at Xavier and Cary is a freshman at Fordham. Condolences go out to Steve Ryan and his wife, Renae, on the sudden passing of Renae’s dad. Please keep Steve, Renae and their family in your prayers. After a long delay due to COVID, Laurie (Giunti) McKeon’s son Jack ’15 married Haley Bellis ’15 at the Basilica in October. Jack is an orthopedic surgery resident at Ohio State. Two days after Jack’s wedding, Laurie’s son Nate ’17 got engaged to Kristen Zavertnik ’17. A Notre Dame wedding is planned for 2023. Nate is a 3L and will start with McDermott, Will and Emery in Chicago upon graduation. Laurie’s daughter, Posey, is an undergrad senior. For the first time since 2008, Laurie and her husband, Dave, will not have any of their kids on campus next fall. Her children will have earned nine undergrad and three law degrees from Notre Dame. Also in October, my wife and I visited our third child, Jackson, at the U of Texas where he is majoring in arts and animation entertainment technology, focusing on animation and graphic design. It was only coincidental that I happened to be in the same state where only two years earlier, in October 2019, the Washington Nationals won the World Series. Please send me news to share in this column or in our class email loop. — Mike Gurdak; 202-879-3939; mpgurdak@jonesday.com
88 Unifying Achievements
As demonstrated by a pair of successes this fall, the Class of ’88 is nothing if not motivated and engaged. First off, in conjunction with National Hunger Action Month in September, we joined the ND Meals with Muffet food drive. Our goal was an ambitious one, an 88 percent increase over last year’s total. We hoped to amass 4,927 pounds in donations. Well, ’88 classmates nearly doubled that target amount, collectively donating the equivalent of 9,578 pounds to food banks in their communities. Thanks to Barbara (Byrne) Denham, Pam (Walker) Sipes, Chris Lucey, Kelly Harris, Sean Doyle, Patrick Rowley, William Hayes, Monica Imbriaco, Peggy (Fitzgerald) Wood, Bill Gartland, Annemarie Reilly, Lori (Zapf) Heller, Lisa Young, Rachel McCaffrey, Jill (Kunath) Lies, Bill Milon, Joan (Anderson) Rataczak, Laurine Megna, Norm Campbell, Chris Hunsing, Lori Shemanski, Mary Marley, Dave Hughes, Cece (Mast) McTigue, Matt “Bingo” Hanley, Bill Curran, Joanne (Dunphy) Brannen, Jeff Mayer, Kate (Mather) Hermann, Shannon (Walsh) Rivers, Jane Weldon and Sheila Kennedy for contributing. Heads up that an annual food drive in September is our plan. Our second resounding success was our ND vs. Cincy minireunion and tailgater. While it’s difficult to generate an exact attendee count, suffice it to say that we enjoyed our largest turnout ever. Thanks to Mike Henn ’90, husband of the beloved late Katie (Pampel) Henn, we had a sprawling area near Legends in which to connect, savor delicious BBQ and generally relish one another’s company. The combined efforts of Patty (Chopp) Keegan and her son Jack, Mike Kurowski and his wife, MJ, Anne (Brown) Johnson, Matt Hanley and Tracy (Schindele) Dorsey enabled us to throw a memorable bash, one to which many classmates returned, sans tents and food, after the game. From Ohio, Kathy Martin sent a good news trifecta: her first grandchild has arrived; her daughter made the dean’s list at ND; and her parents have remained healthy. Trey Gordon devotes much energy to committee work, sitting on the boards of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, Texas 4-H and Fort Worth Stockyards and serving as the chairman of the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate through ’21. The syndicate raises money for the junior exhibitors through the stock show’s Sale of Champions (steers, lambs, goats and barrows). In February 2020, the sale broke every record, with highlights being the $300,000 fetched for the grand champion steer and the total $4.8 million raised for the kids, who get every penny. Then, in ’21, despite the COVID-driven cancellation of the stock show and rodeo, another $1.1million was added to the scholarship fund. From this fund, they award 24 $10,000 scholarships per year. An added note is that Trey and Dan Murphy are now partners with West Point Thoroughbreds. They randomly connected at an OBS sale in March and, so far, share an interest in one horse, Dripping Gold. Kathleen Ramos, who, incidentally, traveled all the way from Hawaii for the Cincy game, summarized her experience of the pandemic by observing that 2020 forced her to slow down and do as Psalm 46 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” She played bingo and other games with her family, spent time with her ailing mom who has since passed (“I treasure all of the days I was able to spend with her since I was working from home.”), Zoomed with classmates in lieu of a football weekend and, most importantly, spent time in prayer and reflection on the blessings the Lord has given her. — Laurine Megna; PO Box 6847, Avon CO 81620; 970-390-9742; classof1988@alumni.nd.edu
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 Friendly Wager
Sheri Gronhovd Schrock has a colleague who was a quarterback at Wisconsin several years ago. In advance of the Shamrock Series game, she and the colleague made a friendly bet that the person whose alma mater lost would have to wear the winning team’s apparel at the next divisional meeting. Fortunately, Notre Dame’s strong fourth quarter ensured that she did not have to wear Wisconsin red. She and her colleague will likely have a rematch in 2026 when the two teams meet at Lambeau Field. Mark Ryan reports that he is living in Middletown CT and continues to practice with Reid and Riege PC in Hartford, where he has been for 33 years. Mark is a senior partner in the business services group, chairing their M&A practice. Mark’s three kids are grown and off on their own and he welcomed his first grandson back in May. Sidney Kilgore has quite a bit to share: “My vainglorious attempts at legal pantology over the past 35 years of practice have left me pretty well dead tired. The circuitous, if not tangled, path that I have pursued finally led to my second wife, Laurel, and I relocating from the Tampa Bay area to Raleigh NC where I have been telecommuting to my Florida patent practice and dreaming of a law-free future. … Laurel is much more interesting than I. Apart from serving for a couple of years as the executive director of the Wake County Democratic Party — all the more fascinating because she was a political appointee in the second Reagan administration — she has been preoccupied with finding us a historic home to relocate to some raw land in Hillsborough NC. … Oh, the other thing about Laurel is that she holds a PhD in cultural anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, was attached to St. Andrews U in Scotland, and has procured for the British Museum and the Smithsonian Museum pots and masks of the Nyau society of the Chewa people in Malawi. … I have three sons by my first marriage: William, 31, who is a community organizer in St. Petersburg FL; Desmond, 24, who is severely mentally challenged and lives with his mother in Florida; and David, 21, who lives here in Raleigh and sells roofing services door to door. I have not ridden a bicycle in 25 years. I was thinking of getting one, as I figured one never forgets how to ride a bicycle, right? My wife strenuously objects, both because I am a bit of a spendthrift (surely a mental illness issue) and because I could hurt myself. I thought to myself, I will go look at one and test ride it and we’ll just see about that. So I drove to the home of a guy about my age who is selling this very nice but basic bicycle ... [and] he asks if I would like to test-drive it. I should have suspected trouble when I had a hard time lifting my stiff old man’s leg over the seat. Undeterred, I proceeded out the driveway, whereupon turning to the right, I tumbled down to the street in what seemed like slo-mo, tearing my red flannel shirt and taking a few rocks to the elbow. I got up, brushed myself off, pretending mightily not to be embarrassed, and walked the bike with the owner to a flatter part of the street where I was able to successfully ride about 20 meters and back with only two near-falls. ... When I confessed to my wife the next morning as to what had transpired, she almost spit out her coffee.” Sharon O’Keefe Newlon received the honor of being named Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation in Detroit this year. But, she prefers to spend time with her granddaughter Noelle, age 3. Sharon’s son, Brian, is teaching music at St. Mary and Queen of the Miraculous Medal schools in Jackson MI. Sharon continues to sing at church, where her husband, Mark, is the music director. Sharon is correct; we are all quite blessed. Keep the news coming. — Lori Merlo Coticchia; lcoticchia@aol.com
89 The Meaning of Life
As may be the case forever, Notre Dame home football games, despite the final score, will be a place of reunion, camaraderie, renewal of friendships and, yes, joy. In that spirit, Jim Winkler passed along that for the Purdue game, a group of Class of ’89 grads and their significant others gathered for the weekend. The group included Jim and Kerstin (White) Winkler, Dave and Kathleen (Hannon) Gullott, Karen (Lynch) and John Conway ’87, Brian and Kate (Monahan) O’Gara ’91, Mike Napier, David Cayce, Kris Kennedy, Phil Faccenda and Theresa (Barnhart) Sedlack. The group took advantage of the fact that the Faccendas and Conways live in the South Bend area and so crammed into one of their two houses. Friday through Sunday they had a great time reconnecting during dinners, campus walks/runs, tailgating, an Irish win, a lot of laughs, discussions of how close we are to retirement and the foundation of a plan to travel together next year as all will turn 55. As Brian O’Gara put it to his adult son, “We basically spent the weekend with our lifelong best friends.” Jim says it was a thrill to all be under the Dome together. Along similar lines, a group of Class of ’89 Alumni Hall guys met up to tailgate at Soldier Field for the ND-Wisconsin game in late September. Pictures tell 1,000 words. Thank you to Fran (Sweeney) Weichart for sending a photo. The guys all looked happy and well. The group included Jim MacDonald, Tom Proost, Kevin Ubelhart, Dave Kidder, John Wiechart, Mark Gibbs, Will Redmond (son of Chris Redmond) and Rich Gund. Kathleen (Maglicic) Gund says she recently ran into Barb Sinclair, Dan Sinclair’s wife, at a high school field hockey game in Columbus OH. A shout-out to Dan and his Grace Hall buddies to send in some updates. Here’s to keeping the ball rolling and hearing regular news and goings-on from our awesome classmates. God bless. Go Irish. — Kerrie (Wagner) Debbs; kwagsnd89@gmail.com
89MBA Class Secretary — Margaret DeVoe;
612-845-9662; maggiedevoe@yahoo.com
89JD Minireunion
Happily, there have been a lot of classmate sightings this season. We saw Gary Glass at the Toledo game, fresh from being the officiant at his daughter’s wedding. Congratulations to Erin, her new husband, Dave, and all of the Glass family. It also was great to see Kelly Daly and her family that same weekend. Gina and Joe Jennings were in attendance, as well. Many of our classmates made the trip for the Cincinnati game. Despite the outcome, it was wonderful to see Mary (Vallace) and Jim Krumsiek and their three sons; Sue (MaGee) and Arthur McColgan; Barb and Mike Luzum; Ann and Gene Feeney; Beverly (Bailey) Wittekind and her daughter, Erin; Audra and Bob Schultz and their children and daughter-in-law; Kim (O’Hanlon) and Dan Griffin; Ann (David) and Tom O’Neill; Martha (Michael) and Ray Gates; Deanne (Kopkas) Calvert and her son John; Patty and Tom Griffin; Joe Jennings; and, as always, Monica (Harder) ’90JD and Ed Gibbons. Mike Luzum reports that he left Thomson Reuters in July and now works at United Health in enterprise sourcing and procurement. Deanne (Kopkas) Calvert is VP of state government relations for the French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi. She has been with Sanofi for 21years after a stint as chief counsel for the Washington State Senate. In her current role, she oversees a team charged with Sanofi’s efforts with state legislators, regulators and other stakeholders in all 50 states. She is married to Phil and they have one son, John, who was in attendance on a college visit. The Calverts love to sail the waters of the Salish Sea in their sailboat and are active in the Seattle Yacht Club, where Phil is vice-commodore. Deanne invites her class friends to Seattle and promises a cruise for those who make the trek. Bev (Bailey) Wittekind is VP and general counsel for Ensign Group in California and has rung the bell at the NYSE on two occasions. Tom O’Neill left Exelon after 20 years to rejoin the law firm of Jenner & Block. Tom is working in the firm’s energy practice and is very excited for the challenges presented by this burgeoning field. Kim and Dan Griffin have relocated back to Chicago. After raising their five daughters in the suburbs, they were thrilled to move back to the city and all it has to offer. It was great to see so many old friends. I hope to see more of you in the next several months. It has come to my attention that some classmates (Neil Maune) are recycling their alumni magazines without consulting my column because of my spotty track record. Neil missed the article where I mentioned his marriage to his lovely wife, Diana, because of his hasty recycling. I’m on something of a roll now, so please remember to check the column, and send news. — Jenny O’Leary Smith; jennyoleary@comcast.net