1980s

80 Letter from Campus

Thank you to Bill McGurn who remembered our classmate Joe Slovenic recently in his column in the Wall Street Journal. ND Magazine editor Kerry Temple also penned a “letter from campus” in memory of our friend. Cindy Lupica writes that her son, Nick ’14, married Emma Wolff ’15 in the Basilica on Dec. 4. The wedding was spiritual, moving, and beautiful. Everything was stunning, including the rehearsal dinner at LaSalle Grill and the reception and Sunday brunch at the Morris Inn. The weather was cold, but they avoided the rain. One of the highlights for the kids was time spent on the stadium field. Her son’s groomsmen included three D1 athletes from rival schools, one from USC and two from BC. One of the BC soccer players kicked a field goal in the stadium. He was beyond ecstatic and recounted the event over and over. Her son, Gregory ’18, was the best man. He is in his third year of medical school. His toast to Nick and Emma was so moving that many were reduced to tears. Annelise ’10 and her husband, Dardan, were also in attendance. They are physicians in Los Angeles. Two of Cindy’s ND roommates attended: Andrea (Andrews) Larkin and her husband, Mike Larkin ’79, and Mara (Hart) Filo ’81. Mara is the daughter of Leon Hart ’50 and sister of Kevin Hart ’79. Cindy continues as general counsel for a national transportation broker, and she is still on the Notre Dame Senior Alumni Board. John McRandal reports that a Mexico sophomore year abroad reunion is being planned for the weekend of June 24 organized by Carol Smith and Rick Landavazo at Carol’s new home in Wisconsin. John and Kevin Brown are onboard for the festivities. John hopes that Dan Stollenwerk, living in New Zealand, will make the trek to Wisconsin after visiting his daughter at Notre Dame. Roommates Mike Mebinger, Norm Mueller and Tim O’Neill will be spending two weeks in February together in the Sarasota/Ana Maria Island area. Cindy Cronin Cahill hosted a party called “Christmas and Community” to celebrate the Christmas season and bring the community together as part of a political campaign. The event was attended by classmates Beth LaRocca, Karen Pierce, Cindy Durley and Leo Latz. We pause to note a loss that is dear to us: Our class treasurer Dom Yocius lost a hard-fought battle against cancer this week. A fond resident of Dillon Hall, Dom was loved by his wife, Mary, and their four children. Our hearts go out to Keith Connor, Pat Lavin Riely, Rae Ann Mense and Donna Sievert, who lost their fathers; Mike Segobiano, Maureen Laughney and Kate Minneman, who lost their mothers; and the families of Ronald Szot, John Scott Donnelly, Chad Klingbeil and Dr. Christopher Seidel. Please remember to contact our Class Angels at 80AngelsonCall@gmail.com if you need a prayer. — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu; facebook.com/groups/notredame80

 

80MBA Great Tradition

In 2023, it will be 50 years since our classmate Mike Colbert graduated from the US Military Academy. COVID protocols permitting, Mike will be back at West Point in January to extend the great tradition of a ring melt ceremony whereby the class of 1973 donates their rings to be melted down to create the rings for the class of 2023, thereby keeping faith from one class to another in the Long Gray Line. Judy and Doug Cooper are enjoying retirement in central Florida near Tampa and are staying busy with service to the church and parish where Judy is a leader in the Woman’s Emmaus Group. Another Florida classmate, Paul Katilas, writes that it’s a great time to be in South Florida, especially if you are a golfer. Considering winter in the north, I would add that Florida is great even if you are not a golfer. Nancy (Zaytoun) Kenna, Mike Traeger and Dave Kavanagh caught up at the North Carolina game on campus last fall. Mike sent a great photo of the three of them and added that Dave kept them laughing over classmate stories that they hadn’t heard before. I’ll have to ask Dave if any of them are printable for the next Class Notes column. Rick Abordo and his wife, Leonore, attended the USC game in October with his four-year Dillon Hall roommate Frank Tombari ’75 and his wife, Shelly. Rick said it was the first time they got together in over 20 years. The Abordos still have 14 Borzois dogs to keep them busy, but they are tentatively planning on attending a game in the fall, possibly Stanford. Speaking of games, I will attend the California game in September and possibly another if enough classmates show interest in getting together. Keep me posted on your plans and I’ll keep the class informed. That way, perhaps there can be smaller class get-togethers like the one described by Mike Traeger, absent a larger gathering. Go Irish. — Joe Kearney; 475-225-1421; jos.w.kearney@gmail.com

 

80JD Congratulations, Congratulations

Congrats to ND Law on its No. 8 overall ranking from the Princeton Review. The rankings included quality of teaching, placement of students and a wide range of categories. Congrats to our own Judy McMorrow, professor at Boston College Law School, who can be heard on a recent podcast about ethics, federal judges, and the stock market. Judy, you always make things happen. Congrats to Wendell Walsh, Dick Waris and others on their new grandchildren in 2021. Anyone else add a new angel to your family? It seems like a lot of us are retired, having fun in the sun, traveling, enjoying family. Some of us are still going full steam ahead. Which are you? Send your news and tell us of your recent news. Love to all. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com

 

81 Reunion Glow

Let’s meet up at our annual tailgater and game: ND vs. Stanford on Oct. 15. Details to come. Now, here are notes from our 40th reunion in October. Joan McCurdy Roberts ran into former roommates Alice Gallagher Schulze, Deb Smith Borden and Annmarie Storz Crowley in her first campus visit since 1993. Joan retired after 30 years as the CEO/owner and career coach with CareerCounseling.com. Now she is a baker and business manager at Simply Macarons by Jaelin, a thriving bakery her daughter started five years ago in Bangor ME. Here are more memories of the 40th reunion: Mary Ahern: “Getting the Lewis girls back together.” Erin O’Connor French: “catching up with roomies Donna Leary Smith, Sue O’Laughlin Kelly, Karen J. Marley and roomie-by-choice Anne Conradt Wilson. Friends for 40 years and still love them.” Stephen Hoey: “Seeing and spending time with lacrosse teammates, roommates and friends from our college years and ‘reunion’ friends who I didn’t know very well during ’77-’81 but who I have gotten to know since graduation.” Michael Molinelli: “I enjoyed reuniting and meeting new classmates and how joyful everyone was to be back at Notre Dame together.” Gilbert Salinas: “I enjoyed seeing my fellow bookstore basketball teammates of Green Popcorn, Ralph Jaccodine, Kevin Hawkins and Steve Notaro. Great reminiscing with the fellas.” And from Carl Lundblad: “The magical ability to melt away four decades of time in just a single weekend. The opportunity to go to our favorite breakfast places and sit for two hours over coffee and just reminisce with my old dorm mate Mark Razzano. As always being able to reconnect with my lacrosse brothers and teammates like Dan Charhut, Steve Hoey, Jack Murphy, Bob Stewart and Joe Gladue. Visiting with my Minnesota crew Janet Bergeron and Mike Sexton. And the surprise of reconnecting with people like Mary Ahern, Sharon Virostek Wolford, Amy Olin Mathes, Mary Beth Sterling and Anne Fink Roy, and my old buddy Mike Vanic from Keenan Hall. Seeing my dorm mates Peter Paganelli and Jeff Lousteau. Time with Kevin Hawkins, Tim Coonan, being rescued at O’Hare by Steve Burgoon and laughing all the way across the toll road to South Bend with Bob Van Hoomissen.” Peggy Osberger Wilder was recently promoted to full professor at the U of Arizona where she teaches about water justice, climate equity, immigration, poverty and environment in Mexico and the arid US-Mexico borderlands. She is married to Joe Wilder ’86PhD, who retired after 34 years as editor and director of a southwest studies research center at the U of Arizona. In July 2022, they will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. As a consulting civil engineer, Brian McMorrow has worked on the site design and construction of Flaherty, Dunne, Baumer and Corby residence halls on campus. Now he is consulting on the redevelopment of the former Campus View (Turtle Creek) Apartments which will deliver about 800 new beds and over 300 units of awesome new off-campus student housing, ready in summer 2024. Keith Melaragno, Kathleen McManus de Groot, Steve de Groot, Sharon Virostek Wolford and her husband, Steve, attended the wedding of Amy (Olin) Mathes’ son, Jay ’12, to Maggie Niehaus in Atlanta. Many Class of 2012 alumni in attendance reminded the ’81ers of how we were back in the day. Rev. Ralph Haag, CSC, officiated. Please join the Class of ’81 Facebook page where 425 classmates reminisce, entertain, pray and opine. Please email updates before our April 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 Heading Into Spring

Something about that Fiesta Bowl and the Irish … maybe we’ll figure it out some day. Nonetheless, I think the season was a successful one, and I’m anxious to see the “Freeman Era” unfold. It’s so good to hear from several of you. If you are reading this column, please send me your current email address. Several classmates have retired or simply changed their primary email address. If you are in touch with MBA classmates, please ask them to send me their email address. Mark Toth writes, “Here’s a quick update on our family. After 38 years, I retired from the biopharmaceutical industry. I really enjoyed my time in the industry in various sales and marketing positions, but sales management was my favorite. Getting to build and lead high performance teams in the field, and not dealing with office politics, was a blast. After initially adjusting to a slower pace of life, I’m enjoying retirement, but I do miss the people and customers I worked with. After 40 years with the same organization, my wife, Ann, retired as an HR director. Once this pandemic subsides, we hope to do some real traveling. For now, it’s trips to Iowa to see my daughter and son-in-law, who are expecting their first child in February. We also get to see our son more often since he and his wife moved back to our area, Libertyville IL, from South Carolina after her graduation from dental school. My son and I try to attend three or four home games a year. Last year I made it to the Toledo, Purdue, Cincy and USC games. We usually do our pre-game tailgating in the Burke lot, the old golf course on the west side of campus. If you or any of our classmates are attending a home game, you’re invited to join us for some grilled food and beverages before the game. It would be fantastic to catch up.” Mark’s email is tothmb315@gmail.com. Susan Leopold wrote this update: “Happy New Year to you and your family. May it be blessed with good health, happiness and peace. The Leopolds are well. I am happy to say that our company, Single Point Capital, has continued its tradition of hiring ND MBAs. Yesterday, we welcomed Terry O’Connor ’19MBA as our new VP corporate development. For more information about Single Point Capital, check out our website or download our new app. Tim and I are excited to join the Traveling Irish when we depart this Saturday on a tour titled The Wolves and Wildlife of Yellowstone. We have never been to Yellowstone nor traveled with the Irish so we are looking forward to both. We only got to the home opener this past football season but hope for more next year.” Margie Ward Pettibone also checked in with an update: “I live in Northern California, wine country. I retired from AT&T in 1995 when our third child was born. We have four. After 20 years, we moved from Rhode Island to California and I went to work for Catholic Charities. I love my work and learn more and more every day about the issues facing our society. Our focus is on housing and immigration. We are one of the largest immigration service providers in the country, given that we are an agricultural area with grapes and more grapes. We are not yet grandparents. Three kids are still in school, none married. My dad was 81 when his first grandchild was born. Hopefully I beat that stat. Chip is in AI with no intention of retiring anytime soon. Please anyone, let me know if you are ever in Northern California. I’d love to see you.” Remember, please send me your email address so I can update the class list. I look forward to sharing more news from our classmates. Go Irish. — Steve Simmerman; 3126 E. Desert Broom Way, Phoenix AZ 85048; cell 602-524-7662; srsimmerman@gmail.com

 

81JD Reaching Out

Nancy Helling Gargula received a message from Professor Tria Le’s granddaughter, Claudia Tran ’17JD, that Professor Le would love to hear from her former students and colleagues. Email her at traichau@gmail.com. Nancy also reminds that nominations for the NDLA Board are open. Current openings are for: Region 4 (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin), Region 5 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska) and Region 15 (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina), as well as the Hispanic Alumni affinity representative. Anyone interested in serving should complete a self-nomination form, included with the Law School’s email to all alums. Questions regarding service on the NDLA Board can be posed to Nancy Gargula or Maureen O’Connor Hurley. With regret we note the passing of August (Gus) Cifelli in October 2021. Gus was a Double Domer, having received his undergraduate degree in 1977. He was the primary organizer of the extremely popular Annual Law School Talent Show. Gus’s love for his alma mater never waned. He hosted an annual picnic for incoming students each summer and returned to teach a popular law school seminar for many years. Gus practiced trial law in Seattle. He was awarded Super Lawyer multiple years, was a pro-tem judge and served on the faculty of NITA. He leaves behind his wife, Christa, and children August and Angeline. Reacting to the news of Gus’ passing, TJ Hostomsky stated: “I can confidently say that I enjoyed every minute I spent with him. My absolute favorite course in our three years of law school was Professor Bob Blakey’s seminar on organized crime, not least because of Gus. It was really fun. We would watch the Three Stooges together in the lounge before class. I am happy for anyone who knew Gus. The world is less enjoyable without his incarnate presence among us.” Jim Blase wrote, “Oh my gosh. I am so sorry to hear this. Gus wrote the law school follies songs, right, like ‘Dean Link’? A rare talent, and rare man.” RIP, Gus. I hope all are well. Go Irish. — Michael Palumbo; 3799 East Peachtree Drive, Chandler AZ 85249; res 480-284-4004; bus 602-262-5931; mpalumbo@jsslaw.com

 

82 Business Success

John Ebert (BBA accounting) owns one of the largest McDonald’s franchises in West Virginia. John operates 40 restaurants in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland and employs more than 2,500 employees, who collectively serve about 15 million customers each year. He is one of the largest employers in West Virginia. John recently spoke at the Mendoza College of Business to over 200 students. Professor Chris Stevens ’74, founder of the Keurig Coffee System, invited John to speak to the students on how to become better leaders. John was honored to attend. This was John’s second presentation. He gave a lecture on the impact COVID has had on businesses. His daughter, Grace, attended his first lecture, which made it special for him. John chairs the Fortune 100 national profit team and is also the recipient of the Al Golin Brand Trust Award, McDonald’s highest honor for outstanding commitment to community, employees and customers. John serves as a director of MVB Financial Corporation, is a member of the board of trustees of Alderson Broaddus U and acts as co-chairman of the Bridgeport 1-K Committee. John has sponsored and taught a free math ACT preparation class that has helped thousands of West Virginia high school students improve their math scores to qualify for the state’s Promise scholarship. John played four years of varsity baseball on scholarship at ND and has completed two marathons and nine triathlons. Well done, friend. Lupe Eichelberger is co-founder of Snoozeenie LLC in Atlanta GA. Snoozeenie is a product that allows you to block light, stifle sound and reduce the spread of germs without interfering with your normal sleeping position. Lupe is also part of the advisory council for the Institute of Latino Studies at ND. As a member of this distinguished group, she serves as ambassador for the Institute and the University in Atlanta. Karen Kiley’s son, Casey J. Toohill, is an American football defensive end for the Washington Football Team. Casey played college football for Stanford U and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft. I want to take this opportunity to wish all our classmates a happy birthday. Reaching the sixth floor is a major accomplishment and I hope we can celebrate together at a football game this fall. Do not forget to send us updates. Inquiring minds want to know. — 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 Requiescat in Pace

Unfortunately, I have three deaths to report in this column. Larry Sanders passed away in August. Larry lived in Grand Haven MI. He was an avid diver who enjoyed diving in the Straits of Mackinac and in the Caribbean. Larry served in the Army during the Vietnam era. He is survived by his wife, Joylyne, three daughters, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Diana Lewis passed away on Oct. 19 after a long illness. Diana lived in West Palm Beach FL, where she was a circuit court judge for many years. Diana served on the ND Board of Trustees for 27 years and served as a Fellow of the University (ND’s ultimate governing body) from 2009 through 2019. Diana also served on the Law School Advisory Council prior to being elected to the Board of Trustees. Dean Emeritus Rev. David Link ’58, ’61JD died on Oct. 28. He was 85. Dave was dean of the Law School from 1975 through 1999. During his tenure as dean, he coined the phrase “Educating a Different Kind of Lawyer,” which stands as the Law School’s motto today. Dave took leave from ND from 1990 to 1992 to serve as the founding president of the U of Notre Dame Australia. Dave was also the founding dean of the U of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota and served for a time as the deputy vice chancellor and provost of St. Augustine College in South Africa. Dave was one of the founders of the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. Dave’s wife, Barbara, died in 2003. Five years after her death, Dave entered the seminary and was ordained in the Diocese of Gary in 2008. Dave’s primary responsibility as a priest was ministering to prison inmates in the Indiana State Penitentiary. Carol and I were in the near capacity crowd at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for Dave’s funeral Mass. Congratulations to Kath and Greg Kruzel on becoming grandparents for the first time. Their granddaughter, Brielle, was born to Greg’s son Mark and daughter-in-law Kelly last summer. Tim Rooney, Anita and Tom Veldman, Sheila and Perry Vieth and Carol and I were on campus the weekend of the North Carolina football game for the meeting of the Law School Advisory Council. Jim “Gator” Gates recently retired after serving for many years as the librarian of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Jim and his wife, Vicki, relocated from Cooperstown NY to Gainesville FL. — Frank Julian; ndlaw82@gmail.com

 

83 Fondly Remembered

It has been a sad quarter for the Class of 1983. We unfortunately lost several of our classmates. Please keep the following classmates and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Daniel Crimmins was lost to COVID on Aug. 20. He is deeply missed and fondly remembered by his friends and family. James Pridmore passed away on Oct. 10. He is survived by his two children and his mother. Also in October, Mike Esparza passed away. He is survived by his wife, Mary (Link) Esparza, three children and two grandchildren. A memorial service was held in November and Tom Melsheimer attended. We also note that Mary’s father, former Law School dean Rev. David Link ’58, ’61JD passed away shortly after Mike. On Dec. 18, Mark Myhra passed away from pancreatic cancer. Mark is survived by his wife, Lynn (Rukavina) Myhra, and five children. Our collective sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends and loved ones of Dan, James, Mike and Mark. In happier news, Amy Guarino has published an article titled “Top Five Things That I Learned as a Serial Entrepreneur.” It is available at my.nd.edu. The article contains advice for work and life in general. Christopher Temple Davis announced that the Class of 1983 has stepped up with generosity this year. Twenty-five members of the class, representing 11 different dorms (some of which are no longer dorms) have contributed to his non-profit organization, Building Trust Americas. If you would like to donate, Chris has posted a link on the class Facebook page. More than 530 class members 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 class Facebook 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 news you’d like to share, send a note or email and I’ll be happy to include it in the next column. — Louis J. (“Chip”) Denkovic; 520 West 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 Just a Few Tidbits

I hope this new year funds you all well. My Indiana correspondent, Eric Diamond, shared an article featuring our own Mariann Lafferty Vorhees, judge in the Delaware Circuit Court. She will be one of five judges in Indiana piloting news broadcasting from the courtroom. Imagine my delight when I discovered that a work colleague knew our classmate John Sullivan. John is the executive vice president and general counsel at Carlson, Inc., in Minneapolis. John serves on the board of directors for the Matthew Shepard Foundation. He also serves on the community advisory boards for Theatre Latte Da and Frank Theater. John served as the chair of the board of trustees for the Minneapolis Foundation and is also the immediate past chair of the board of directors for the Regions Hospital Foundation. John was an adjunct faculty member of the U of Minnesota Law School for three years. We are so proud of his community involvement. Please send me an email with an update on you or a classmate for this column. — Ann E. Merchlewitz; cell 507-450-6609; bus 507-457-1587; amerchle@smumn.edu 

 

84 60, Really? 

For many of us, this is the year. The big 6-0. It doesn’t seem possible. Happy birthday to all. Check out Jamie (Kimmel) Eiffert’s post on our class Facebook page about how she is making her milestone birthday into a year of giving. Please keep the family of James Calcagnini in your prayers. He passed away in December after a lengthy battle with ALS. James and his twin, Tom, were proud Grace Hall men. Linda Legault Quinn is the leader of the ND ALS Walk, held annually on campus, and leads a second walk through the ND Club of Hudson Valley NY. If anyone is interested in joining the ND battle against ALS, contact Linda at llquinn@hotmail.com. Mike Kelly and Louis Glunz made a quick trip to NYC to see the Army-Navy game. Mike’s son is a senior at West Point. They met Marie Devlin and me for dinner. It was nice to catch up. — Martha (Burns) Avery; mayoravery@comcast.net 

 

84MBA Class Secretary — Dhanraj Bhagat;

dbhagat1960@gmail.com

 

84JD Dedicated

In December, De La Salle North High School in Portland OR dedicated the new Michael Kelley Gymnasium and Kelley Court for our dear classmate who died in October 2020. Mike had long supported De La Salle, including serving on its board of directors, spearheading the search for a new school site and leading the campaign to fund the construction of the new gymnasium. Joining his wife, Laurie Cuffe Kelley ’83, ’84MBA, and children Ross, Erin, Catherine and Caroline, were classmates Peter Burrell, Chip Cavanaugh, Mark Carney with his son Nolan, Jim Carr ’79, Don Cleary ’80, Kelly and Pat Galvin, Jerry Hanrahan, Adam Katz, Jane and Kevin Luby, Casey and Jim Molloy, Peter Reilly, Mary Monnat ’80 and Mike Polacek ’85JD. Condolences and prayers to the family of law school Dean Emeritus Rev. David Link ’58,’61JD. Father Link joined the Law School faculty in 1970 and Rev. Ted Hesburgh, CSC, ’39 appointed him dean five years later. He served 24 years as dean, during which time he greatly advanced the reputation and ranking of our law school. Father Link was ordained in 2008 and ministered to Indiana prison inmates. May he rest in peace. Kevin Luby has published his second novel, Murder in Bridge City. Set in Portland, the main character is named Mike Kelley. Greg Cozad ’85JD/MBA hosted me for a splendid evening (despite the ND loss) from his near courtside seats at the Notre Dame-Illinois basketball game in Champaign. During the game, we learned of the many online reports that Brian Kelly was leaving Notre Dame for LSU. Greg is CEO of Cozad Asset Management in Champaign, a full-service financial services firm. Please send me updates. — Matthew Dunn; mdunn19834@gmail.com

 

85 The Sound of Music

Robert Marovich, founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gospel Music, has written a new book, Peace Be Still: How James Cleveland and the Angelic Choir Created a Gospel Classic, U of Illinois Press. The book explores the recording of Cleveland’s famous 1963 live LP, Peace Be Still, and the album’s influence on church life, the music industry, and the Civil Rights Movement. Marovich, who also wrote A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music, has been referred to by music critics as “one of the foremost authorities on Chicago Gospel.” Marovich has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Album Notes for The King of Gospel Music: The Life and Music of Rev. James Cleveland (Malaco Music Group). It is his second nomination. Michael Agostino MD attended the graduation of his daughter, Julia ’21. He met up with classmate and fellow IU Med School graduate, Bryan Bognar MD ’85, whose son Levi ’21 also graduated last May. Michael wrote, “The campus has expanded over the last 36 years, but it remains a beautiful place to visit.” I look forward to hearing from more of you. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; yanzlaw@comcast.net

 

85JD Second Generation

Michelle Gilbert Garcia welcomed her third grandchild, James, last spring. James joins Mary Anne, 4, and Thomas, 2. All are the children of Michelle’s eldest daughter, Andrea. Michelle has five other children and hopes that her daughter Mary ’16JD will eventually take over Michelle’s busy Tampa FL law practice at the Gilbert Garcia Group. As forecast last April, Barb and Dave Scheper’s son Tom ’21JD, is Dave’s boss at Winston & Strawn, with Tom operating out of the Chicago office, soon to be renamed the Lou Weber Chicago office. Tom emulated his mother last May by graduating from NDLS magna cum laude, with Dave remaining just loud. (Yes, Dave wrote that.) It’s always fun to see our classmates’ work recognized by others. Those receiving accolades recently include Walter Brown, who was on the San Francisco Daily Journal’s list of Top White-Collar Lawyers of 2021 and Terry Brady, who received the 2021 Distinguished Leadership Award from The Ireland Funds, a global philanthropic network supporting peace, culture, education, and community development across Ireland and among Irish communities around the world. Tom Ajamie may get the award for most interesting case. Tom is handling a case in the court of Versailles, France, in which he is representing Jean-Paul Guerlain and his long-time partner Christina Kragh. The 85-year-old Guerlain is the multi-millionaire scion of iconic luxury perfumer The House of Guerlain and has been subjected to elder abuse by his adult son, who is his legal guardian (and an intellectual-property lawyer). This Shakespearean-level family drama includes willful violence, moral harassment, making death threats and subjecting a vulnerable person to “housing conditions incompatible with human dignity.” The case is being followed across Europe and here in the US and makes for some compelling reading. Please send news about the interesting things that are happening in your world. It would be great to hear from you. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; kellyjd1985@alumni.nd.edu

 

86 The Gang Had a Great Time 

The 35th Reunion (fall edition) was a blast. For those able to make it, you made it awesome. For all those who could not, you were in our thoughts when we raised a glass to you. A special thanks to Pam Fox for QB’ing what turned out to be massive logistics for the 350 football tickets our class had at the game. We want to thank Erin Thornton at the Alumni Office for all her help. We could not have pulled off this special weekend without her suggestions, assistance, and guidance. Thanks again to Nick and Susie Schilling for providing their lovely home to host the Friday night dinner. Special thanks also go out to: John Gleason and Rich Cramer for their early morning heavy lifting and help with the tailgate; Allison Caron and her daughter for their assistance in helping the class at the refreshment bar; Kathleen Burke and Allison Caron for organizing a beautiful class Mass to remember those we have lost; Rev. Dan Groody, CSC, for celebrating our Mass and for your beautiful homily; and Rev. Robert Lisowski, CSC, ’20MDiv for your help in concelebrating. We’ll be celebrating our 37th annual minireunion tailgater this fall and will be communicating with you via class email with the details. If you are not receiving our emails, please call the Alumni Office (574-631-6000) to provide or update your email address. Joan Choudary was telling me how she connected with Suzanne Dunbar Wolter at the UNC tailgate. They had been in London during the fall ’84 semester and Suzanne put Joan in touch with a few other fall ’84 Londoners. We learned that Jill (Baugher) Baldwin, another from that group, after retiring as the former VP of finance business partnership at Marriot International, was elected to serve as president of the DC-based Foods & Friends Board of Directors. After graduating from ND, George Tong did grad school for four years before coming back to work in his family’s grocery import business in California. He lives in Fremont CA with his wife and two sons. His younger son will be graduating from ND this spring. George has been coming to a home game every year with Greg Ehrman, David Epping, KC Culum and Richard Enderle. They started this tradition quite by accident in 2012 but plan to keep rolling every year going forward. Bob Musselman hosted the “Flanner 3A Hole in the Wall Gang” at the Florida State game in Tallahassee last year. Present were Tom Carnesi, Mark Gess, Bill Kenny, Jeff McGowan and Paul Zimmer. Pat Magri and Jay Tutchton couldn’t make it, but the minireunion has prompted them all to stay in better touch. Dea and John Zufelt had a big summer with their families despite all the challenges presented by the pandemic. Dea and John celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary last June. Luckily ND opened campus back up last spring and allowed in-person attendance on commencement weekend. They were able to watch their middle son, Kevin ‘21MBA, walk and receive his diploma. They also welcomed their second granddaughter last May. To top everything off, Kevin got married the UNC weekend, otherwise they would have been at the 35th. Mark and Patty McDermott (and two of their daughters) came to town for the wedding. We heard that John Geelan has been at the same law firm since he started practicing. He started at Kaye Scholer, which merged with Arnold and Porter several years ago and is now Arnold & Porter. For those not in the class group email, we shared sad news last November: we lost Karl “Chuck” Roesler II on Nov. 9, 2021. On behalf of the class, we had a candle lit at the Grotto for Chuck, his wife, Lora, and their children, Karl III and Nikole. Please keep them in your prayers. Please take a moment and let us know what you have been up to and who you might have met up with lately. Take care and God bless. — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john@jjscb.com

 

86MBA New Year’s News

Armin Broger and his son attended the Georgia Tech game in November; it was his son’s first visit to campus. Armin serves as CEO of Arper, an Italian furniture brand. He and his family had a challenging year after a fire destroyed their home, but thankfully no one was injured. Congratulations to Kathleen Reidy, who began a new job as parish administrator with the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest IL after seven years with the Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart. Jorge Valencia’s eldest daughter, Cecelia, was married in a beautiful ceremony in California along the Pacific Coast Hwy. Condolences to the family of Bob Teets, who passed away peacefully on Dec. 17 in Cartersville GA after battling an aggressive infection. He was surrounded by his five children (Robert, William, Danyell, Katlyn and Rebecca), and had nine grandchildren.
Bob will be remembered throughout the halls of the Atlanta VA Medical Center, where he volunteered for nearly 20 years as an advocate and mentor for his fellow veterans and their families. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Semper Fi, Bob. My husband, Matt, passed away on Nov. 11. For the past two years, he struggled with complications from a spinal cord injury he endured 20 years ago. We were blessed with 19 years of happiness together and I miss him dearly. As we get to the time in our lives where our parents, spouses, siblings and friends are suffering from age-related diseases, let’s remember to keep each other in our thoughts and prayers for strength and comfort. — Maureen (Mullan) Decker; 21855 Town Gate, Macomb MI 48044; bus 586-741-4305; mobile 586-817-1317; maureen.decker@mclaren.org

 

86JD Brave Classmates 

Tom Evans sent me an update the day after he grabbed a beer with Mike Mulhern. I’m skeptical that it was just “a” beer. Tom reports that he continues in his role as general counsel and corporate secretary of Kemper Corp., serves on the Illinois Board for the American Cancer Society (Tom is a cancer survivor) and still lives the urban life in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood, where he counsels his two children that perseverance is the key to being a Cubs fan. Fun fact: when we celebrate our 50th anniversary of our NDLS graduation, Tom and Kathy’s youngest, Tripp, will be celebrating his college graduation with the Class of 2036. For those looking for a loan, Jim Landenberger is now president and GC of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago. On the Mulhern front, Mike and Beth joined Sherry and me at our place in Denver for a relaxed dinner following their family ski trip to Beaver Creek. Their children, Kevin, Matthew (both college grads working in Chicago) and Clare (senior at U Illinois) flew home from the mountains; Mike and Beth drove, apparently wanting to see all of the sites of Nebraska. Tony Monaco wrote that John Gurganus and his gal pal visited the Monacos before the holidays where they enjoyed food, drink and the ND beatdown of UVA. John is now the “acting” US Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. (We hope by the time you read this, the appointment will have gone permanent.) Tony continues to keep Rochester NY warm in winter through his work as CEO of a window and door manufacturer. The Monacos win the “travel award.” Tony and Vicky will return to southern Italy this year to scout out their future retirement home. Their twin sons (one living in London, the other in San Francisco) both became engaged recently, one in Greece, the other in Antarctica. Laura Hollis checked in from ND where she has joint appointments at the Law School and the Mendoza College of Business. Her eldest child, Jason, is the father of three and living in Peoria. Laura’s younger children, Alistair, 18, and Celeste, 16, are on the swim team at Riley HS. Laura attended the memorial service for Rev. Dave Link, ’58, ’61JD where, in addition to Susan and Dave Link, she ran into Pete Agostino, who practices in South Bend. Laura remarked that her own father, John Hirschfeld, ’58, ’61JD, was a classmate of Father Dave. The Link-Hirschfeld family connection goes back 65 years. Mike Seghetti continues as a “name partner” in the Peoria firm he co-founded 25 years ago, Elias, Meginnes & Seghetti. He and Jeannie have four children: Anna ’10, Billy, Tony and Gina. Anna and her husband, Sean, are expecting their first child, which will be Mike’s and Jeannie’s first grandchild. Steve Gouletas wrote from Charlotte NC where he is a new grandfather, and partially retired from a career in real estate development and property management. Another fun fact: Steve recently finished seventh in the world amateur disc golf championships. On a pre-Christmas Chicago visit, Paul Kenny and his daughters, Karter, 15, and Harper, 13, dined with Nancy Wilder ’87 and Jerome Frazel at The Berghoff. Nancy and Jerome’s son, Michael, will marry Dr. Heron Baumgarten on Cape Cod this summer. Their son, Paul, is getting his PhD in neuroscience from NYU. By my count, Ms. Hollis has two in high school, Mr. Kenny has one in high school and one in grade school, Mr. Evans has two in grade school. Pete Lutz in Syracuse “wins.” He has two high schoolers and one in grade school. What brave classmates we have. — Brian Bates; bbates@abblaw.com 

 

87 Class Secretary — Meg Brennan Hamilton;

meghamilton@yahoo.com

 

87MBA Go, Irish

The last column told of the many classmates who attended multiple Notre Dame football games this past season. It was fun. We enjoyed full attendance at our USC tailgate. In fact, we were fortunate to have former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife, Mila, attend. There are many photos of Mark Brostowski, Bob Krohn, Chris Murphy and our families with the former prime minister. Oh, Canada! Several of us were also at the Georgia Tech game in November. Speaking of getting together, 2022 is the 35th anniversary of our graduation from Notre Dame. Let’s celebrate. The date of our Notre Dame Reunion is June 2-5. I know that many are planning on attending. Committed so far are Ken Kavanaugh, Rick Hans, Jake Frego, Bill McGillicuddy, Mark Brostowski, Chris Murphy, Bernardo Norena, Connie O’Brien, Ellen Crowley, Bob Krohn and yours truly, Perry Dellelce. Please email me and let me know if you will be in attendance. Formal registration details will be available soon. See you on June 2. — 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 Make Your Reunion Plans

Please make sure you’ve marked June 2-5 in your calendars for our 35th reunion. More details will be provided in our class email loop. Tim and Liz VerHey report that their daughter, Madeline ’19, will graduate from Boston College Law School in May and will then become Steve Ryan’s colleague at Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids MI. Tim and Liz are glad to have her nearby. Ed Kelly has retired from government service as an appellate immigration judge. He and his wife, Sara, have moved further outside DC to Winchester VA. Ed is staying busy pursuing his MA in classics online from Villanova while teaching as an adjunct professor at Georgetown U Law Center and George Mason U’s Antonin Scalia Law School. Christina Smith is working for Chubb in Jersey City. She used to walk to her office, but due to COVID now walks to her dining room table. Christina met up with Andy Varga and his wife, Kathy ’83, ’87MBA, when they went to New York to see Springsteen on Broadway. Mike McCarthy and his wife, Deb ’85JD, joined Christina, Andy and Kathy for dinner in Tribeca. Christina and Paul Castiglione met up with Bruce Ortega and his wife, Christine, in San Francisco over the Thanksgiving weekend for the Stanford game. Paul retired from the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Office in June. Jay Brinker missed seeing most of his beloved Cincinnati Bengals’ first playoff win in 31 years. He was on a plane to Phoenix, where he and his wife, Janice, spend much of the winter. If I had a flight scheduled for the evening of October 30, 2019, when the Washington Nationals won the World Series, I would have rescheduled that flight. Just sayin’. Please send me news to share in this column or in our class email loop. — Mike Gurdak; 202-879-3939; mpgurdak@jonesday.com

 

88 The Leprechaun in Your Ear

…has some save-the-dates for the next two years. The first one is for the Lady Irish of ’88. With 2022 marking the 50th year of undergraduate women on campus, the Alumni Association is planning a special celebration on Thursday, June 2, in conjunction with the first day of Reunion ’22. There will be additional events throughout Reunion, June 2-5, and all alumnae are invited. Let’s have an ’88 presence at this “Golden is Thy Fame” celebration. The second calendar heads-up is for everyone. Our 35th reunion is just over a year from now, tentatively scheduled for June 1-4, 2023. It’s an ideal time to start rallying your friends to attend. From the DC area, Bill Curran shared that two of his three kids are out of the house and into the workforce. Finishing up her fourth year at UVA, his youngest is soon to get there as well. Alison Pivonka took advantage of the opportunity that the pandemic provided to put her morning and evening commute time to use by logging lots of martial arts practice. Her efforts paid off as she recently earned her black belt in Shotokan karate. Living in San Diego, Alison is an attorney who offers mentorship and career coaching to young lawyers as they launch their careers. Marc Radi and wife Audrey are pleased to announce two silver linings from 2022. First, Marc’s stepdaughter Savannah graduated from the U of California at Berkeley with an architecture degree in 2021 and is employed by a firm in San Francisco. Second, Marc resolved a heart issue by having a pacemaker inserted in December and, at the time he emailed, was hoping to get back on the tennis court. Here’s hoping he’s serving up some great shots by now. To this day he appreciates that high school buddy Rick DiDonato had an extra ND application for him and that, when they visited campus, two NROTC officers and a memorable party at Grace Hall swayed him to choose an education under the Golden Dome. Thanks to strong friendships forged during two consecutive years in the same section, he stays in touch with many former Grace Hall section-mates. For the USC game, he joined Mark Galis, Chris Jenks ’90, Wally McElroy ’87 and Dr. Mike Hudson ’87 on campus. Courtesy of COVID, Bob Liddy’s family rediscovered the enjoyment of family game nights. He reported that somehow Exploding Kittens became their favorite. With their three wonderful children, Robert, Patrick and Meghan, finding their way in the world, Bob and his wife of 27 years, Dee, are wondering when the empty nest process will truly begin. Youngest Meghan, a student at Kent State, is studying interior design in Florence, Italy. Bob expects to work at AT&T for a few more years before hanging up the laptop. What is the best excuse for missing the Cincy game minireunion back in October? Colleen (Dowd) Kollman has it. She was awaiting a special delivery. That weekend, Colleen and Ken welcomed their first grandchild, Thomas Edward. As of April 2021, the American Board of Orthodontists (ABO) has a new director, classmate Anthony Puntillo. Representing the Great Lakes Association of Orthodontics, he will serve an eight-year term, culminating with the presidency of the ABO in 2028-29. Anthony is president and founder of Puntillo and Crane Orthodontics in Crown Point IN. Now in its 27th year, his practice has four offices in northwest Indiana. — 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 Updates Galore

Hello, friends. Due to my effective persuasion, we have lots of updates. Paul Lemcke has lived and practiced in Las Vegas since graduation in May 1988. His arrival luckily coincided with the greatest growth in the city’s history. He has been a family lawyer exclusively for 29 years and has worked with a seven-lawyer family law boutique for the last nine. His wife practices criminal law. She was on the local public defender’s murder team for years. Their daughter, Caroline, just committed to Dartmouth as a five-star tennis recruit. Paul said he will morph “Go Irish” into “Go Big Green” starting in the fall of 2023. Jill Rice is still working in beautiful Traverse City MI at the law firm of Alward Fisher Rice Rowe & Graf, PLC, which she helped found in 2013. She has been with the same group of lawyers for over 20 years. She and her husband, Rick Rice ’84JD, moved to Traverse City in 1999 when Rick accepted a call to serve as a pastor for Traverse City Church of the Nazarene. Rick’s transition from lawyer to pastor is a fun story which they laugh about often. No one was more surprised about that change than they were. Jill and Rick have enjoyed traveling many places in the world doing mission work. They have three adult children and an old pug named Jethro. They recently purchased a home in Cortez FL where they hope to spend the winters when they retire. Jill, we can’t wait to hear the story about Rick’s calling. Maybe next edition. Jim Lowery reports the birth of his first grandchild, Kai James Lowery, on Jan. 22, 2021. He and his wife have a second on the way in August. He is saving as fast as he can for the anticipated yearly six-figure tuition at ND when they are ready. Dan Lynch was profiled in the Law360 online magazine in November: “Virus Can’t Mute NYC Atty’s Passion for Live Music.” His son, Alex, just finished his first semester at Fordham Law School with a 3.5 GPA. He is a better student than his dad, says Dan. Daughter Carolyn is a senior at Boston U and is weighing law school options with three acceptances and still waiting to hear from a few other schools. Tom Antonetti is approaching his five-year anniversary as general counsel for the Catholic Diocese of Toledo. He and his wife, Jennifer, are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Tom and Jennifer have three boys in their 20s; two live together in LA and one lives in Chicago and wants to move to LA. Tom keeps in touch with John O’Shea, Joe Karaszewski, Dan Sherman and Tim McLean. (He forgot to mention that he and I exchange Christmas cards each year.) John O’Shea’s wife, Bridget, kindly reported that their son, Patrick ’19, married his ND sweetheart, Lily Kenesy ’19, on June 19, 2021, in the Log Chapel. Patrick and Lily then renewed their vows at Our Lady of Pompeii and had a beautiful celebration on New Year’s Eve in Chicago. Lily’s parents are grads of ND and Saint Mary’s. Russell Waldon reports from the San Francisco Bay Area that, as dean of global learning at Skyline College in San Bruno CA, he is excited and encouraged to welcome their international students back to campus for face-to-face instruction this spring. Just as COVID began, Jim Ganther established a competitive barbecue team (A Room With a Q) with a neighbor and two of his sons. In their first four competitions, 2020-21, Jim and sons placed third, first, second and second. None of their competitions were canceled due to COVID. “This is Florida, baby.” So as the kids leave the nest, Jim keeps luring them back to the dinner table with barbecue off Big Green Egg cookers. He owns three. Maybe you can cook for us at our next reunion? Thanks for answering my request for news. Feel free to share my emails with other classmates. I have a feeling I am missing a lot of emails. Stay healthy. Send updates. — Lori Merlo Coticchia; lcoticchia@aol.com; lcoticchia@ruffingmontessori.org

 

89 Can’t Wait for Spring

Colder temps slowed the news flow, but we have happy and sad things to report. Tom Tisa shared the sad and sudden passing of our classmate James T. (Jim) Harrington in October. Tom and Jim were high school classmates at Loyola Academy in Chicago. After ND where he lived in Zahm Hall and was a member of the marching band playing the falto (mellophone), Jim earned his PhD in philosophy and was a full-time faculty member at Loyola U-Chicago serving as a senior lecturer in philosophy. Our prayers go out to the Harrington family. On the positive side, Brian O’Gara wrote (at the prompting of his proud daughter) that he was the lead producer over the summer for Major League Baseball in its “Field of Dreams” game in Iowa. The game was just named Best New Event in Sports for 2021 by Sports Business Journal and has been nominated for several more awards. Brian said he got to work with Kevin Costner to produce the pregame ceremony and write the script. What made the whole thing especially surreal was the creation of a Major League Baseball game in a cornfield based on a movie that came out in May 1989, a couple weeks before we graduated. Andy Tometich was recently appointed CEO and president as well as a member of the board of directors of Quaker Houghton, the global leader in industrial process fluids headquartered in the Philadelphia area. Andy and his wife, Danielle, are living the city life in Philadelphia as empty nesters. The empty nest is probably becoming familiar to a fair number of us these days. Please keep the news coming, as your stories are heartwarming and meaningful. Warmer temps are around the corner. God bless. Go Irish. — Kerrie (Wagner) Debbs; kwagsnd89@gmail.com

 

89MBA Class Secretary — Margaret DeVoe;

612-845-9662; maggiedevoe@yahoo.com

 

89JD Class Secretary — Jenny O’Leary Smith;

jennyoleary@comcast.net