1980s
1980s
80 Badin on Broadway
Brava to Theresa Rebeck on her brilliant one-act Broadway show I Need That, which features Danny DeVito, his daughter Lucy DeVito and Ray Anthony Thomas. Brava also to Mary Ryan Amato and Suzy Leyes Butler who organized an extraordinary adventure and reunion for 35 in New York City in December. Honored to join the group, we met Friday evening and again Saturday for dinners. An amazing group sat in rapt attention to see Theresa’s show at the Roundabout Theater. The Badinites included Ann Gleason, Anne McInerney Politisky, Carolyn Best, Ellen Dorney Colyer, Erin O’Keefe Hedge, Frances Ortega Lukeman, Kristine Kunesh-Part, Layne Salazar Roetzel, Lisa Hartenberger Hogan, Marcy Weigle Beck, Mary Ryan Amato, Patty Montrie Jannotta, Susie Meyers Driscoll, Suzy Leyes Butler, Theresa Rebeck and Tracy Miner. Interlopers included Jim Lukeman, Beth Larocca, Rosemary Mills Russell, Janet Wolff, Mary Ellen Woods and Michelle Simon — who went to high school with Theresa and has been to all of her plays! Several Morrissey Manor classmates couldn’t wait until 2025 for their next reunion. So, they gathered on campus for two days of camaraderie that included a pizza dinner at Rocco’s, two days of golf at the Warren Golf Course and an outdoor barbecue. Those Manorites who participated in the event included Mark Lewis ’79, Doug Almeida, Bret Beegle, Don Condit, Tracy Finn, Herman Jorgensen, Ken Kadleck, Dan Korczyk, Larry Turner, Eddie Loughery, Mark Lucas ’77, Bob Meckes, Chris Muhlenkamp, Tom Nilsson, Tom Olsen, Greg Sebasky, Martin Sheehan, Dan Short, Rick Stanley, Mike Sullivan, Dan Tokarz and Ed Zier. The group had so much fun that they all vowed to do it again next year. For those who didn’t participate and want to join the fun in 2024, reach out to Ken Kadleck or Bob Meckes. In 2022, I joined the board of the Chicago Poetry Center. I was tickled to learn that the chair of our governance committee is our own Liz Bathon’s daughter-in-law. Mark McNally sent me some wonderful vintage photos. The best thing to do with your own “blasts from the past” is to post them to our Class Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/notredame80/. Mike Rolfs will be retiring after almost 39 years at Hamilton Partners. Mike and his wife, Carol, relocated to the South Bend area about two years ago to be closer to their four grandkids. With a recent addition in Chicago, they are up to seven grandkids total! Mike plans to spend more time with them, traveling with Carol and working on his golf game. Our hearts go out to Lucy (Maloney) and Bob Jones on the loss of Bob’s father; to Ken Kadleck, who lost his mother; to Josephine Lucey, who lost her dad; to Karen Dudek, who lost her husband and our classmate, Ken Dudek; and to the family of Pete Cannon. May all the families find peace. — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu; facebook.com/groups/notredame80/
80MBA Hemingway Lives
Larry Sellars sent me a picture of himself steering a sailboat simply titled “the old man and the sea” and explained that the photo was taken last summer off Port Washington WI on Lake Michigan. Larry is skipper of a 32-foot sailboat in the Port Washington Yacht Club’s Wednesday evening racing series. He adds that for what it’s worth they’ve won the series twice when they competed. Larry took his annual trip out West to see his folks who are 96 and 97, respectively. It was their 75th anniversary and both are doing well. On his drive back from CA to Milwaukee he stopped to see Pete King in Minneapolis. They sent a picture to Dave Kavanagh and me with both sporting white beards, and looked like they were having a blast. Also taking to the road recently was Rich Walker, who drove from Dallas to El Paso for the Sun Bowl game. Afterward he drove to Tucson and then headed to Las Vegas where he said he hoped to make his fortune. He also had time to stop at Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park and said he had a great time touring the country. Besides being ecstatic over another Army win against Navy, Mike Colbert sent in a link to a YouTube video taken by Mike’s son Andrew of Walt Zukowski on the Warren Golf Course. The video is captioned “WZ smashing one at Warren 18” and has more than 1,000 views already. That might be a Class record. My wife, Azian, and I recently returned from a trip to Malaysia with our son Torin to visit her family. It’s a beautiful country and the people are very friendly. The only downside is the seemingly endless number of motorbikes on the road as well as numerous traffic jams, but it was well worth it, especially our two days in Malacca over Christmas. The recent Notre Dame Magazine contained a wonderful obituary of Dr. William Sexton’s recent passing. He was certainly one of our favorite teachers, and I still remember writing and submitting those required reflective summaries. Mike Previte also has a nice remembrance and recalled that when Dr. Sexton was the vice president of development, he ran into him on a campus visit. He said that Dr. Sexton asked him when he was going to get into teaching. Mike credits his kind words and how he ran his Organizational Development class in our program with providing a role model of how Mike ran his own leadership classes. Finally, Mike Traeger wrote about two great memories of Bill Sexton. He said Sexton used his own personal experiences when teaching management skills. During one lecture he shared that despite being a lead foot, and being pulled over on many occasions, he was never issued a warning, much less a speeding ticket. He claimed he used management skills such as clear communication, accountability, coaching, active listening, problem-solving and conflict resolution to convince the trooper his speeding was not intentional, and with a heartfelt, sincere promise, he would not let it happen again. Over the years Mike said he’s tried the same approach when pulled over, with limited success. The other great memory is special: A generation later his daughter Colleen (Traeger) Terschluse ’05 took Sexton’s management class. During her senior year, Sexton asked her to TA his class. What an honor for her, and a delight for Dad. I suspect that he left that kind of lasting impression on just about everyone he met. Wishing everyone a great start to 2024. Go Irish. — Joe Kearney; 475-225-1421; jos.w.kearney@gmail.com
80JD Time Is Flyin’
If you’re reading this in spring 2024, our 45th Reunion is only 14 months away, so start planning your trip to South Bend in fall 2024 for the Law Homecoming, June 2025 for the all-University Reunion or fall 2025 for the Law Homecoming. Dates for the Law School Homecomings will be announced closer to football season. This year will be busy with national elections and lots of retirements as well. All-time wonderful person and professor Judy McMorrow will transition to private life from teaching, most recently at Boston College Law School. Congratulations, Judy. Retired judge Sue Zwick is across the country helping with grandchildren and loving every minute. Dillon and Tom Costa’s grandchildren have moved closer to home — their daughter Ellen is still in our prayers after her Domer husband passed away suddenly. Retired CA judge Dan Buckley is a new grandpa and loving it. Nancy and Wendell Walsh love, love, love being grandparents, as do Lisa and John Hendrickson. Send your grandparent stories and loves. It’s way more fun than becoming partner or trying a case (although more exhausting). Please remember contributing to/joining the Order of St. Thomas More — the fund helps students with their needs and comes with some perks for you. And, wanna reach out to classmates? Look on the Alumni Directory online and find the info. Please send your news! Love to all. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com
81 Class Secretary— Mary Murphy;
marymurphy81@alumni.nd.edu
81MBA Springing Forward
Welcome to 2024!!! I wish each and every one of you and your families a very Happy, Healthy New Year! It was nice to see the Irish end the season with a strong win over Oregon State (albeit a portal/NFL bound weakened OSU team). I was fortunate to attend nearly every home game and will try to do so again in 2024. Sheila and I are glad to move forward in 2024. Very, very sadly, Sheila’s one and only brother passed away in early November due to a very, very rare disease. Then we had one of my undergrad friends and his wife lose their oldest daughter (an ND grad) in late November. Terribly sad times, but we were blessed to have had them both in our lives. I’m still in the supply chain world running our Global Partner Program and looking forward to a stronger 2024 with our business partners. Margie (Ward) Pettibone provided the following news – thank you Margie quite some fantastic events with your family!! “My husband Chip (works for a software company based in FL?!) and I moved to Northern CA 10 years ago from RI. He is from the Bay Area and wanted to find a place with a country feel but close to the city and airport. After 20 years raising our four kids, I went back to work, this time for a nonprofit, Catholic Charities. Can’t tear myself away. And the kids: Our firstborn is at UCLA getting his PhD in Neuroscience, eldest daughter is finishing up medical residency also at UCLA, next daughter is headed to Fontainebleau France to get her MBA at INSEAD and will return to work at Zipline, and our youngest is working for a SF based consulting firm but he is currently based in Indianapolis. Chip and I have been blessed with great travel this past year. Istanbul, Rwanda (to see daughters work site), Kauai with our boys, safari in Tanzania, our lake house in WI, NYC, Packers game in Green Bay, Everglades, Moms moving van from CA to Indy and my first open water swim race in 56 degree water in Alaska. Don’t ask what place I came in. But I did win my age group in my last 15K (running) with over 12,000 entrants. We’ll be in Maui for Easter week. Hope to see some of you sometime soon. Now that we have a child in Indy maybe we’ll make it to a game. Know anybody who has tickets?? We are halfway between Napa wine country and the coast. If anyone is in our area, I’d love to see you. We are four miles from the nearest winery! Give me a call for a delicious wine tasting!” Mike Zmachinski wrote with the following news – always good to hear from Z Man!! “Hey there Steve. Hope all is well. My wife Betty and I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary recently with a trip to Alaska. Absolutely awesome. I went to Ohio State and USC games So many changes since we were there. The MBA section looks fantastic.” We look forward to updates from all of you – please take a moment to send me news, events, trips, etc. As always, PLEASE let me know if you see any incorrect email addresses – I am trying to update the accuracy of the class email. All the best, please send me your news/updates. Thank you and Go Irish! — Steve Simmerman; 3126 E. Desert Broom Way, Phoenix AZ 85048; cell 602-524-7662; srsimmerman@gmail.com
81JD Class Secretary — Robert Allen;
ballen@robertallenlaw.com
82 Lacrosse and a Wedding
Inspired by our 2023 lacrosse national champions, the 60-year and older HouNDs Lacrosse Team won the 2024 FL Lacrosse Classic B Group Division in Weston FL in January. The HouNDs were represented by former Notre Dame lacrosse captains Mike Lynch and Dave Lewis, as well as teammates Steve Linehan, Robert Cozzie, Kevin Campion ’81, Jack Murphy ’81, Robert Durgin ’81 (who is retired and lives in the Charlotte area), Chuck Neff ’81 and Dave “Tino” Tarantino, who is retired and lives in Hilton Head SC. Supporting the team included Victoria Hutson, Annie Maimonea and one of the original fans of the varsity lacrosse team, yours truly. It was a great weekend of seeing friends and meeting new people. I was honored to have married former Irish lacrosse goalie Alan Pinado and his new wife, Patricia Martinez, after a great victory. The ceremony took place on the field in front of the lacrosse goal. The teammates served as groomsmen and the happy couple walked under a tunnel of lacrosse sticks. It was an affair to remember. More information can be found on HouNDs Facebook page, facebook.com/houndslaxclub. Jason S. Tullai, a senior executive sales representative for Xylem, lives in CA. His daughter, a USC graduate, received her first Emmy Award as the associate producer for FOX NFL Sunday. Jason’s wife, Gaelle, is still working as the chief of staff to the first lady of Liberia. Jason still loves working security for both the sports and entertainment industries. Jason, we love it when our children thrive. We are proud of her accomplishments. PJ Uritis retired from General Motors and American Honda after 36 years. However, playing golf every day wasn’t as rewarding as he anticipated, so PJ joined NCM Associates, an employee-owned consulting and training firm based out of Kansas City MO. PJ and his wife, Patti, are celebrating 40 years of marital bliss this year and are expecting their seventh grandchild. Congrats, PJ, on this new chapter. We are sad to report the passing of our classmate Megan Boyle. She passed away last November surrounded by her family in Evanston IL, where she lived for over 35 years. A devoted mother to Devin, Derek, Marina and Marcus Schmitz, Megan was a pillar of the St. Athanasius Church and School community. She dedicated her life to the service of others, including volunteer work at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Megan earned her BA in American studies and a master’s degree from Northwestern U Medill School of Journalism. She went on to become a news producer in South Bend IN and Rockford IL. She was also a news writer at WGN-TV in Chicago and an adjunct journalism professor at Northwestern U. Our deepest sympathies to her family and friends. We also lost James C. McGillivray JD on Aug. 2. Jim graduated with a degree in English literature and met his wife, Martha, while studying abroad in Dublin. They married at Notre Dame. After graduating from Indiana U Law, Jim was commissioned into the US Navy as an active-duty judge advocate, beginning his lifelong career in public service. After his Navy service, Jim transferred to the Indiana Army National Guard and worked full-time in Bloomington IN for Indiana U’s Student Legal Services, mentoring law students and serving as a staff attorney. In 2005, he deployed with the XVIII Airborne Corps as the chief of the Administrative Law Division in Baghdad, Iraq. He later mobilized from 2010 through 2013 with the Office of Soldier’s Counsel, representing disabled soldiers at Physical Evaluation Board formal hearings. Jim retired as lieutenant colonel judge advocate, USAR in February 2015 after 28 years of combined military service. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, two awards of the Meritorious Service Medal and many others. He is survived by his wife, Martha, and two children, Catherine and James. Thank you for your service, Jim. You will be missed. — Tess Lewis; 30 Battle Ridge Road, Morris Plains NJ 07950; cell 973-219-4050; tess@lewislegal.com; dave@lewislegal.com
82MBA Class Secretary — Renee (Amirkanian) Sutherland;
mobile 630-846-2707; reneemsr@aol.com
82JD A Prayerful Gathering
Anita and Tom Veldman hosted a brunch for several of our classmates at their home the morning after ND’s big victory over USC last fall. Rev. Dexter Brewer celebrated Mass prior to the brunch. Harriett and Monty Bottom, Betsy (Wolfe) and Brad Friestedt, Lisa and John Klebba, Madonna and Mark Spitler, and Carol and I were there to share in the celebration, along with Prof. Ken Ripple and his wife, Mary. Monty informed me that he recently joined the ranks of us retired lawyers — congratulations, Monty. I saw Jean Gorman on campus the weekend of the Pitt game. Jean is still living in Northern CA and is a development officer for the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, which is the fundraising body for the Children’s Hospital at Stanford U. Tim Nickels retired Dec. 31 from the Swanson, Martin & Bell firm in Chicago, where he served as managing partner for 16 years. In his final jury trial in December, Tim secured a defense verdict for his client in a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice suit. Tim’s youngest daughter, Grace ’17, ’20JD, attended Tim’s last closing argument. Condolences to Mike Rowe, whose wife, Susan, passed away in November. — Frank Julian; ndlaw82@gmail.com
83 Remembrances, Football and Mini-Reunions
Please remember Robert Gagnon, his wife, Jill, and their family in your thoughts and prayers. Bob passed away Nov. 13. Also remember Michele Thomas and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Michele’s uncle, Rev. David Burrell, CSC, who was a professor of philosophy and theology at the University, passed away Oct. 11. Brian Murray provided an update to his news from last quarter. He reports that his daughters’ proposal that their dog, Chief, replace Jack the Bulldog as the Georgetown mascot was not successful. Brian also reports that he attended a stupendous Zahm Hall dinner held at Carmine’s in New York City. The dinner was attended by Brian, Tim Bozik, Tony DiSpigno, Wally Chambers, Mike Sullivan and Lisa Keely. The event also served as a mini-reunion for some members of the London Program. Brian also was able to get together in San Francisco with Drew Burns. Brian describes Drew as a C-suite-level person at a software enterprise management company who also does not look to have aged much since graduation. Ken Berumen reported that he was attending the Sun Bowl in El Paso TX and that he had been invited to help tour some of the football players through the Hospitals of Providence Memorial Campus. Pat Berrigan and Pat Kelly both reported a Stanford Hall mini-reunion. For the past 26 years, 12 to 15 Stanford Hall alumni, including spouses and children, have held a biennial reunion. These reunions alternate between East Coast, West Coast and Midwest locations. This year the group met in Carmel CA and was attended by Tammy and Pat Kelly, Jeannette and Greg Miller, Summer and Bill Baroody, Nancy and Pat Berrigan, Natalie and Steve Brown, Kathy and Tim Gervais, Nancy and John Greer, Steve Ilnitzki, Diane and Tom McGrath, Lenore and Dave Milla, Christine and Mike Mulligan, and Peggy (Williams) and Rich Reiger ’84. Other Stanford Hall members of the Class who want to participate in the future should contact Pat Berrigan. Chris Davis was able to watch the Sun Bowl game with Mary O’Connor and Suzanne Tremblay Anderson. Dan Wrappe’s daughter, Megan, was featured in the University’s Advent video series. Hannah Storm hosted the Rose Bowl Parade television coverage on ABC. There were also many other football get-togethers that members of the Class have reported on the Class Facebook page. You can see the pictures and expressed memories posted there. If you aren’t a member of the Class Facebook page, you may be wondering how to join. It’s simple! On Facebook, search for “Notre Dame Class of 1983” and select join. That’s all there is to it. The page is limited to members of the Class of ’83. We currently have more than 575 members and would be very happy to add many more. You’ll be able to reconnect with classmates, see pictures and get news of who will be attending various Notre Dame and non-Notre Dame events. If you have any news you’d like to share with the class, send me a note or email and I’ll be happy to include it in the next column. — Louis J. (“Chip”) Denkovic; 111 Centre Ave., Unit 523, New Rochelle NY 10801; res 917-399-8784; bus 212-537-1781; ldenkovic@gmail.com
83MBA Class Secretary — John Hilbrich;
630-677-2725; john.hilbrich@gmail.com
83JD Continuing Reunion Updates
I wanted to provide a few updates on classmates who were not able to attend our 40th Reunion, but did send me emails. Gary Peters is senior counsel, pharmacy law operations and services at Walgreen Co. Michael Sommer got married Aug. 12. His sister, the Honorable Mary E. Sommer ’75JD, officiated. Michael and his new wife celebrated their wedding and Mike’s 70th birthday with a two-week trip to France in September. John Cadarette is the chairman/ managing director of The Claro Group LLC. The Claro Group was one of the top privately owned financial, economic and management consulting firms in the nation, helping executives and management teams analyze, control and resolve difficult business challenges related to high-stakes litigation, insurance claims, corporate recovery and other economic and financial matters. In fall 2022, Claro was purchased by Stout, which is a global advisory firm specializing in corporate finance, accounting and transaction advisory, valuation, financial disputes, claims, and investigations in numerous industries. About 10 years ago, Jack Hammel retired from his 30-year career as general counsel for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Subsequent life in CA’s Sonoma Valley wine country has mostly involved golfing, traveling and babysitting grandchildren. This past year Jack was busy writing a book — The Best of All Things Golf: An Exploration of the Best Travel, Courses, Architects, Players, Books, Movies & Hobbies. Included in the book is an excerpt from a journal he kept that shares the details of a London Law Program excursion to St. Andrews with Paul Lewis and Haig Kalbian. Elsewhere in the book Paul makes another cameo appearance in connection with a description of experiences surrounding ND’s Burke and Warren courses. The book is available on Amazon, but email me for the secret discount Jack is offering to classmates. Please send me an email with an update on you or a fellow classmate for this column. — Ann E. Merchlewitz; cell 507-450-6609; bus 507-457-1587; amerchle@smumn.edu
84 40th Reunion in 2024
Our 40th Reunion will be May 30 to June 2. Mark your calendars now and register at reunion.nd.edu! John Lewandowski is now Saginaw Valley State U’s director of athletics. John has had a long career in collegiate athletic departments, with long tenures at the U of Louisiana-Monroe and Michigan State U. Unfortunately, I have to share the news of two classmates’ deaths. Condolences to the family and friends of Sorinite Frank Hardart, who passed away in January. Brendan Cullinan commented that Frank knew the power of a simple act of kindness and believed deeply in helping his fellow man. Keep the family and friends of John Harron in your prayers. John passed away in November, surrounded by his loving family, who will greatly miss him. — Martha (Burns) Avery; mayoravery@comcast.net
84MBA Upcoming 40 Year Reunion
Wishing everyone a very happy new year! I managed to connect with Rian Gorey from our batch after nearly over a year of exchanging messages on LinkedIn. We scheduled a video call keeping in mind the time difference between the USA and India. It was largely due to Rian’s efforts that we got connected. Rian has been in touch with several of our batch mates and has been organizing reunions. Please connect with Rian at his email: rgorey@opentext.com. It was wonderful catching up with Rian after nearly 40 years. We recollected names of many of our batchmates and exchanged whatever information we had about them. We talked about how we could get as many of our classmates networked on email or Whatsapp and the possibilities of meeting up in India or USA in the near future! Rian lives in FL with his family and is working with software solutions company Opentext. A note from our new class president, Mike “Shep” Shepardson: “Please join us for our 40th Reunion slated for May 30-June 2 … can you believe it has been 40 years already! Visit reunion.nd.edu to register.” — Dhanraj Bhagat; dbhagat1960@gmail.com
84JD 40th Reunion Countdown
Happy new year and welcome to the countdown to our 40th Reunion, which will be held on campus in conjunction with the Law School homecoming on the Stanford football weekend, Oct. 11 and 12. Plans are to hold a dinner on Friday night and then enjoy the Law School homecoming on gameday, a catered event on the quad just east of the Law School and a three-minute walk to the stadium. A committee led by Jim Slattery has sent emails to 118 of us who have an email address on file with the Law School. If you have not received any of those messages, please update your registration with the Law School Alumni Association, or contact me. If you have not been back to campus in a while, you will be amazed at the growth, but feel instantly welcomed and at home. I hope to see you in October. Rick DeFeo has shared this update: “We are ex-pats — having retired to Lisbon, Portugal, in 2019 — and visit the US a few weeks each year. If any of our classmates are traveling to Portugal (or considering an ex-pat experience), we are happy to provide travel advice and would enjoy lunch or dinner with them when they are in Lisbon. The Lisbon restaurant experience is amazing and we have a ready list of great choices that travelers would not find.” In December, Chip Cavanaugh and Peter Reilly ran the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Well done, men. Please send any updates to my attention. — Matthew J. Dunn; 19834 Timbered Estates Lane, Carlinville IL 62626; 773-294-6851; mdunn19834@gmail.com
85 Spreading the Gospel
Kevin Conneely was ordained as a permanent deacon at Saint Paul MN’s Cathedral of Saint Paul in December. Kevin and his wife, Katie (Lunzer) Conneely ’85SMC, were joined in celebrating both the Ordination Mass and his first Mass as a deacon (which took place the next day) by Katie’s twin sister, Maureen (Lunzer) Quist ’85SMC; Kevin’s older brother, Mark Conneely ’74; Kevin’s sister-in-law Leslie (Astoria) Conneely ’90; Kathy (Burke) ’85SMC and Tom Kruse; Patti (Buchanan) Barniskis ’85SMC; Katie (Collins) and Dan Walsh ’86; Kevin’s fellow Cavanaugh Hall roommates Mark McNally and Pat Murphy; Pat’s wife, Tonia (Hap) Murphy ’84; and Kevin’s MN friends TJ Conley ’83 and Greg Barth ’83. Kevin also reports that he and Katie became grandparents in July. Katie is retired and Kevin plans to transition away from his law practice over the next year. Two-time Grammy-nominated Robert Marovich was interviewed and became an adviser for Gospel, a four-episode documentary by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. about the interplay of this African American music form and the African American worship experience. The program was scheduled to be aired on PBS in mid-February. Also, in the fall of 2023, Bob was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on the preservation of African American gospel music history. He received the honor from the Prayze Factor Awards in Atlanta. Bob is the founder and editor-in-chief of Journal of Gospel Music with offices in Chicago. Please email soon! — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; yanzlaw@comcast.net
85JD Class Secretary — Kelly Kiernan Largey;
kellyjd1985@alumni.nd.edu
86 World Record Holder Among Us
We learned that John Cooney, technically ’87 (he spent four years with the ’86 Grace crew and roomed with Armando Martinez and Mike Gerend) nailed a world record last September. He now holds the All Tackle (Length) World Record for Albacore. Congratulations! Janice Englehart produced a film, All Static and Noise, about human rights atrocities in China. The film has won numerous accolades, and several Domers attended its premiere in DC (Maura Lee, Patty Curran, Kathy and Conrad Rehill, Mike Brogioli, John Dettling, Liz Kenney, Michael O’Keefe, Mimi and Mark Toner). Many others — to include Peter McManus, Mark Herkert, Beth Bisignano and Mike Carroll — contributed funds toward production of the film. Janice is currently stationed in Jordan with her husband, Paul, on a State Department assignment. Werner “Rip” Graf recently announced his retirement from corporate America after 38 years working for some of the greatest companies in the world. From P&G in 1986 to IBM, Wipro and Tata through to his final role at Visionet, he said he was blessed to have been with great people to learn from. He moves on to an exciting next phase where he will be renovating the old Scholl’s Dairy Factory in his hometown of Michigan City IN. The project will take several years, during which time he will develop the business models for several enterprises that will operate out of the new “Graf Dairy Complex” and hopefully contribute to the re-emerging vibrancy of downtown MC. In addition, he will be the proud steward, along with a world-class board, of the Graf Dairy Hero Foundation, a charity established to promote and propagate virtues in our youth such as responsibility, courage, chivalry and service leadership. These two endeavors will be his life’s work going forward and, God willing, will yield great benefits to the community they serve. John “Newg” Robinson was promoted to rear admiral in the Navy Reserve. He joined the Navy at a relatively late age (33), unlike most of our classmates who affiliated through ROTC or OCS, so he may be one of the last ones in the Class with an active military connection. Is anyone else out there still active? None of his friends from Morrissey could attend, but classmate JC Coffey (retired Navy CDR) as well as his father, John Robinson II, MD ’60, and son, John “Jay” Robinson ’21, kept the Irish connection strong at the ceremony. Leslie (Heidenreich) Krohn was recently appointed executive vice president and chief brand and communications officer for the Joint Commission Enterprise, Oakbrook Terrace IL. She had recently been the chief communications officer at Argonne National Laboratory and before that held leadership positions in communications and marketing at Nielsen, Tyson Foods and GE Healthcare Financial Services. Indianapolis-based consultancy TPMA, formerly Thomas P. Miller and Associates, gained a new CEO in January when Mark Gramelspacher succeeded founder Tom Miller. Mark recently served as an executive director and entrepreneur-in-residence at Indianapolis-based venture firm Elevate Ventures. He also serves on the board of directors for the IN Chamber of Commerce and the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Ivy Tech Community College. Miller started the firm in 1989, but he won’t be stepping away completely. He will remain in a part-time role, focusing on generating major business development ideas for the firm. With sadness we write that we lost classmate Theresa J. “Teri” Murphy-Pennington last August. We had a candle lit at the Grotto on behalf of the Class for her and her family. Please keep her family in your prayers. Take care and God bless. — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john@jjscb.com
86MBA Commemorating 40 Years
2024 marks 40 years since most of us started the MBA program. Where did the time go? Marc Shirley and his wife, Carol, are inching closer to being empty nesters. The last of their six kids is at home attending college. Marc “retired” from P&G 10 years ago and joined consulting firm B2B CFO. The company serves owners of privately held businesses to help meet goals, improve cash and increase profitability. He says it is very different from corporate life — more personal, but urgent and highly satisfying. He and Carol will celebrate their 40th anniversary this summer. Erwin Tantoco, Atsushi Nagai and Thongchai Ananthothai got together in December for a mini reunion in Nagoya, Japan. They forwarded a photo and they all look great! Atchi is president/CEO of Sintokogio Ltd. in Nagoya; Erwin is director/CEO at Wexham Medical Resources Inc., based in the Philippines; and Thongchai is president of Bangkok Bank in Thailand and also sits on the board of Laguna Resorts and Hotels. Carl Bastien enjoyed ND’s victory over Wake Forest in November during his first visit to the University in eight years. I’m issuing a challenge to those of you who live in the Midwest. Send me a quick update. West Coast and international classmates will be challenged next. I didn’t hear much from the East Coast last quarter, but your information is always welcome! It’ll only take two minutes to tell me what you’re up to — so do it now. We all want to hear from you. — Maureen (Mullan) Decker; 21231 Lilac Lane, Clinton Twp., MI 48036; bus 586-741-4305; mobile 586-817-1317; maureen.decker@mclaren.org
86JD Chicago, South Bend and FL Tidbits
When it was minus 15 degrees in Denver, Jerome Frazel was kind enough to check in from his winter residence in Port Charlotte FL, where he and his spouse, Nancy Wilder ’87, are “wintering.” In addition to gloating that he had an early tee time the following day, he wrote to inform that after 14 years adjusting legal malpractice claims for WR Berkley Corp., and a total of 27 years “cleaning up lawyers’ messes” in total, he retired effective Dec. 31. He also mentioned that two weeks before he retired, Bob Comfort’s wife, Joan, was appointed CFO of Berkley Select, a subsidiary of WR Berkley Corp. Jerome and Nancy’s son Paul is now at Princeton U in a postdoc position after receiving his Ph.D. in neuroscience from NYU, and their son Michael recently moved with his wife to Reno NV, where he is involved in the local theater scene, acting in and writing plays, and his wife practices pediatric surgery in a medical practice there. When not in FL, Jerome can be found wielding a five-iron in the heavy rough along one of the holes of famed Chicago Ridge Country Club. Nancy Montroy, who, interestingly, got Jerome into the business of legal malpractice adjusting when she was with Coregis, wrote to say that she is still with ALAS in Chicago, where she has been director of underwriting for nearly 25 years. Nancy is a new grandmother, noting that her son Patrick had a son, Callum Cusack, born in SC last year. She is sad that her late husband, Denny Cusack ’85, did not make it to experience the joy of being a grandparent. As a new grandmother, Nancy gets to SC as often as she can. Last fall, Nancy had a great trip to London, the Czech Republic and Germany — where daughter Claire ran the Berlin Marathon. Nancy and Denny’s youngest daughter has started PA school in Chicago by the time you read this. Jerry Powers, director of Catholic peacebuilding studies at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute in the Keough School of Global Affairs, has been appointed as an expert adviser on peace issues for the Holy See Mission to the United Nations. (OK, that’s impressive.) Jerry also said he enjoyed catching up separately with both Dave Link and John McGeeney several weeks ago. At my request, Tom Lange sent some updated information about our Law Class of ’86 / McCafferty Fund, which Tami (Tavis) Lange ’81 and Tom formed in Father Mike’s name several years ago with the support of a number of our classmates. Tom wrote: “Our class fund is a unique way to honor our memory of Father Mike, and support the McCafferty Law Fellowships. Over the years, Tami and I have received countless letters of appreciation from students who have benefited from McCafferty Fellowships, including three NDLS students who reached out last spring.” Tom shared those notes with me, and both of us are happy to share them with any of you who would like to read them. Those notes came from a then-3L, a then-2L and a then-1L. The gratitude each one of them expressed for the support they received from the Law Class of ’86 / McCafferty Fund was stunning and heartfelt. The financial support is clearly helping with the education of “A Different Kind of Lawyer.” So, please do not forget to designate your Notre Dame contributions for our Law School fund, which is easily done on the giveto.nd.edu portal. Send news, please. — Brian Bates; bbates@abblaw.com
87 From Paris to Honduras
Hello Class of ’87 and happy 2024. I hope everyone’s new year is off to a good start. Like last year, I have some help writing this quarter’s column — Lisa (Thummess) Kovalik and Leah (Weis) McDonald are visiting me in Park City UT for the Sundance Film Festival. Last night we were surprised and happy to run into Stephen Smith ’02, and a number of his Carroll Hall classmates, here for a ski weekend. Since Lisa knows Stephen from the Development office, we had a nice time getting to know his friends, and I’m so glad to find one of them is my neighbor here in Park City. Tom Ryan decided to take me up on my suggestion that people send in news of happy milestones. He and his wife, Michele (Feick) ’90, married in the Basilica on Nov. 6, 1993, and they realized that their 30th wedding anniversary fell on the day the ND women’s basketball team would play SC in Paris. They decided to celebrate in Paris that week, and not only did they see the game, but they toured all of the important Paris landmarks, and capped the trip off with a dinner cruise on the Seine with the entire team and their families. Sounds like a wonderful trip, and with our own 30th coming up, I think my husband, Jeff, and I are going to have to up our game! Tom and his wife weren’t the only members of the Class of ’87 in Paris to cheer on the Lady Irish — Kim (Wittenberg) Sullivan, Nylce (Prada) Myers, Mary Kate (D’Amore) Donnelly, Maria (Murphy) McCarrick and Miriam Hill took the ultimate girls’ trip and attended the game as well. The former Walsh roommates (along with honorary roommate Nylce) did their best to out-cheer the competition, despite being outnumbered about three to one by Gamecocks fans. The group fell in love with the lightning moves of Hannah Hidalgo and with the city. During a theater performance of How to Become a Parisian in One Hour, they learned exciting new uses for Metro tickets and how to quickly dismiss shopkeepers, and they hit all the sites while doing the hard work of hunting down the city’s best chocolates and getting advice from flirtatious waiters on wine pairings. I also heard from Robert DeBroux, a wonderful update to an earlier email. You may recall that one of Robert’s dreams was to perform the national anthem at an ND hockey game, and he’s done it! He performed Jan. 5 of this year at the Wisconsin game, and dedicated his performance to fellow Alumni Dogs (and hockey players) John Nicodemus and the late Frank O’Brien ’88. Robert and his wife (unfortunately clad in a Badgers hockey sweater, but nobody’s spouse is perfect) attended the game with E. Michael Cassidy and his extended family. They all agreed that hockey is the sport to see — wonderful facility, free parking, hard-hitting action and hotel availability. Sounds like a great new trend, and our Class could lead it. Chris Niezgodzki wrote that he and his wife of 33 years celebrated their daughter’s graduation from ND in May 2023 – a proud “pyro” from PE. She earned a degree in computer science and works for the Navy as a civilian employee in cyber security. They had many family and friends there to celebrate. It was a special weekend as Chris’s mom, who helped him celebrate his ND graduation, was able to see one of her grandkids carry on the ND legacy. They also have a son (ND ‘25) studying finance and living in “hotel” Baumer. He did a semester in London to start Junior year and loved it. Finally, I got a last-minute submission from Patti (Perez) Sherk, who’s made a fantastic midlife change, along with her husband, Mark. After over two decades at State Farm, she retired and the two of them moved to Utila, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The island is tiny — only 7 miles long and a mile wide — but surrounded by beautiful water and the Meso-American reef. Patti writes that they appreciate the slow pace of life, the genuine people, the delicious food and the tropical weather. They have a guest apartment and this is a direct quote: “Domers are always welcome!” Well, I didn’t plan a travel theme with this column, but it seems that’s what classmates are up to lately. We’re clearly shifting into empty nester status, and I hope everyone is finding ways to make that a satisfying new chapter in life. As always, my prayers and well wishes are with the Class of ’87. Please write soon and let us know how you’re doing. — Meg Brennan Hamilton; meghamilton@yahoo.com
87MBA Tailgate Tales
Hello everyone and welcome to 2024! The 2023 football season was a great one with many of our classmates reconnecting at many football games. Attending various games this year (and attending the Canadian Tailgate) were Mark Brostowski, Bob Krohn, Kevin Bridges, Jake Frego, Bill McGillicuddy, Connie O’Brien, Chris Murphy and me. There may have been others, but all the tailgates and years blur into each other. Please do remind me if and when you attend. We were also fortunate to host Ian and Ginger Brostowski (son and daughter of Mark Brostowski) and Caitlin Murphy (daughter of Chris Murphy) at the USC game, and Rose Kavanagh (daughter of Ken Kavanagh), Jan Jhaveri (son of Jay Jhaveri), and Taylor and Nicholas Dellelce (my daughter and son) at the Ohio State game. The entire Frego family, Krohn family, Murphy family and Dellelce family attended the season home opener! Yes — we are now at a stage in life where our children are joining our classmates’ tailgates. What a positive and fun experience. Go Irish!! By all accounts, all members of the families of our classmates are happy and healthy. The Brostowski family, Cathy and Chris Murphy, and my family traveled together to Dublin for the Navy game. Again, a wonderful ND experience of family and friends being united by our connection to the MBA Class of ’87. Finally, one unique and special experience, I happened to be at the Grotto with my daughter Taylor, who is a junior at ND, during this past fall. After lighting a candle, I turned to exit and to say a quick prayer and who, to my surprise, was immediately beside me … Mr. Jake Frego. From a class connection and reunion perspective, it doesn’t get much better. It was great to see you and to hug you, Jake. It felt like we never left. All my best to all of you. Please keep the information flowing. As always, I am available at perry@wildlaw.ca. 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 More Retirements, More Grandkids
After nearly 20 years as a judge, Mike Gotsch is planning to retire in August. Mike, a decorated Army veteran, was appointed to an eight-year term by the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana as a US magistrate judge in 2016. Prior to that appointment, Mike served as judge of the St. Joseph Circuit Court (60th Judicial Circuit) from 2004 to 2016, and was selected as the outstanding judge in IN on two occasions. Mike’s wife, Sarah, retired from the ND president’s office in 2023. Last July, they welcomed their first granddaughter, Anneliese. Mike and Sarah also have a 14-year-old grandson, Trevor, who is in eighth grade and, like all true Hoosiers, plays on the basketball team. Their youngest daughter, Maggie, was married in February. Lee Cameron and his wife, Pat, have welcomed another grandchild. Thomas Patrick Crowley was born Dec. 19. Also on Dec. 19, Ann Carol (Simons) Nash retired from the practice of law. Ann Carol worked in the public sector for many years, 18 of which were as an assistant city attorney. For the past 10 years she was in private practice with a South Bend firm, Halpin Slagh PC, where she handled family law and estate matters. Ann Carol has also been a volunteer for the Indiana Judges and Lawyers Program for several years, and will continue to devote time to lawyers facing problems. Ann Carol is looking forward to having more time to enjoy family, spoiling her grandkids and telling her husband what he wants to do. Congratulations to Amy (Ronayne) Krause who, after a long hiatus as a judge, won her first trial on the other side of the bench as a litigator. Mary (Ambrose) Gerak and her husband, Jay, with classmates Karen Koster and Shauna Brennan, have founded a 501(c)(3) charity, Operation Veteran Success, an organization providing stopgap funding to our military veterans facing various challenges. If you’d like more information on how to help, you can email Mary at mary@opvetsuccess.org. Brad Purcell and Joanne Matousek work together at Freeman Mathis & Gary in Chicago. Brad defends individuals, public entities and private companies of all types in civil litigation. Joanne’s litigation practice focuses in the areas of professional liability and insurance coverage, and regularly appears before Kevin Costello, an associate judge on the Illinois Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit Court. Joanne’s husband, Paul Matousek, continues to represent US and international insurers at his own firm, Walker Wilcox Matousek. Joanne and Paul have three grown children. Mark is a writer/reporter in New York City; Nicole ’19 works for an investment banking firm in Chicago; and Lindsay works for an advertising agency in Chicago. Finally, Greg Shumaker’s dad, Earl, passed Dec. 19, surrounded by his family. Mr. Shu grew up in Beaver Falls PA and played football at Penn State alongside and against such legendary players as Lenny Moore, Rosie Greer and Jim Brown. He was a proud Marine, a man of strong faith and, above all, a family man. Mr. and Mrs. Shu were blessed with 63 years of marriage, five children, 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In addition to Greg, their son Mike Shumaker ’91JD and grandchildren Nicole ’20, Cara ’20, Elizabeth ’22 and Matthew ’27 are or will be graduates of Our Lady’s University. Please keep Mr. Shu and his loved ones in your prayers. And please send me news to share in this column or in our Class email loop. — Mike Gurdak; 202-879-3939; mpgurdak@jonesday.com
88 From Deacon to Priest
On Dec. 17, Anthony “Tony” Simon was ordained to the priesthood at St. Raymond Maronite Cathedral in St. Louis. This joyous sacrament was witnessed by the Simon family, the Maronite community and classmates Steve Clark, Andy Cross and Matt Himich. St. Raymond is one of two cathedrals in the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, an Eastern-Catholic Maronite diocese that is based in St. Louis and that serves Maronite Catholics from CA to OH. Along with ministering to his parishioners, Tony continues to practice law. He specializes in the realms of business litigation and intellectual property. In fact, he is the founding attorney of the Intellectual Property Group at Simon Law Firm. Back in the day, Tony was a Morrissey Manor guy who studied engineering, so his focus on patent law makes sense. Now while we’d like to forget the ending of the Ohio State game, that weekend in September was the catalyst for numerous gatherings of classmates and, thus, a net positive and memorable experience. Such was the case for members of the ND baseball team from our era. Twelve former players gathered on Thursday night at O’Rourke’s to kick off the mini-reunion. They then enjoyed a round of golf at the Warren course on Friday morning. A tailgater on Saturday completed the ideal pre-football game trifecta. The Class of ’88 was represented by former baseball players Mike Harmon, Steve Skupien, Chris Flynn, Craig Pavlina and Tim Hutson. Fellow ’88er Marty DeVita also joined in on the festivities for the weekend. From other classes were players Mike Moshier ’89, John Flanagan ’89, Dave Yawman ’90, Ed Lund ’90, Dave Legus ’90 and Mike Coss ’91. The weekend was such a hit that plans are already confirmed to repeat the itinerary this fall for the Louisville home football game. In August in Chicago, Tracey (Heinbecker) and Paul Irving witnessed the wedding of their daughter, Katie ’16, to Shamus MacDougall of Nova Scotia. They appreciate that many ND ’88 friends provided guidance regarding the venue and wedding vendors since they were planning from out of town. Katie, a proud former Pangborn Phox, loves life in Chicago. Paul is currently the co-president of the Orange County ND Club and has long been active in the club’s leadership. Please keep the updates flowing! While you can always send a message to the Class email address at the end of this column, I welcome texts as well — whatever is more preferable to you! My cell number is also provided. — 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 Class Secretary — Lori Merlo Coticchia;
lcoticchia@aol.com; lcoticchia@ruffingmontessori.org
89 Last Blast Before Reunion 2024
As scary as it sounds, the Class of ’89 is nearing its 35th Reunion this summer! To register, visit reunion.nd.edu. In conversations with a handful of classmates, plans are in the works for lots of us to be in attendance. Mike O’Connell is one who will definitely be there as his band, Catholics in Bad Standing, will be performing for their third time at a reunion. Their ability to revive ’80s favorites should bring back many an SYR memory. Mike said this past summer, in a small-world story, he was in Briarcliff Manor NY at a pizzeria where he ran into Laurie (Bain) Casieri, whom he hadn’t seen since graduation. Plenty of us ran into each other on campus at football tailgaters including Erin (Daly) Krestinski and Liz and Dan Masciopinto, both of whose sons are seniors at ND. Erin said it has been fun over the past three-plus years returning to campus and bumping into classmates such as Val Lamanna and others. Lots of us made it to the USC game including Terry Lally, who sends a “hey” from Park City UT, and plenty of us ventured to NC for one or both games on the road at NC State and Duke. I heard from Anne Kelly, who is a vice president at Netflix, when she was in NJ for a Netflix-hosted event. Patrick (Creads) Creadon wrote that Brian McGuckin fired off a 158-yard, into-the-wind hole-in-one recently. Brian swung his six-iron and was playing a Notre Dame golf ball, of course. The scene was the eighth hole at the Marsh Course at Bonita Bay Country Club near Naples FL, and was Brian’s first ace. Joining him afterward at the 19th hole were his wife, Leslie (Snook) McGuckin, fellow Dillonite Chris “Leo” Saenger and Leo’s wife, Maryellen. Congrats, Brian! We will all be looking to cash in on the free drink at Reunion. Kathleen (Berger) Dilenschneider says she and Kathleen (Maglicic) Gund have stayed in touch along with eight other ladies from our Class. Kathleen D. thought it could be fun to try to match the “fun fact” of each person with her name and reveal the answers in the next magazine. Here is the group of ladies: Bridget (O’Brien) Swartz, Chrissy (Rivaldo) Kohrt, Gretchen (Reis) Funk, Kathleen Gund, Lisa (Marz) Mojica, Margaret (Kemper) Schrimpf, Mary (Berger) Dilenschneider, Ros (Winner) Sterling, Theresa (Henley) Doerfler and Tina (Chou) Harrison. Here are the fun facts to match with one of the ladies: Who has just gone back to grad school? Who is a Spanish citizen? Who is a grandmother? Who is a new teacher with a bearded dragon class pet? Who has a Class of 2025 daughter at ND living in Lewis Hall? Who is reliving her undergrad music experience listening to Peter Gabriel’s i/o album? Who just created an 8-foot-tall 3D head of the Wizard of Oz for a school musical? Who is planning to visit her daughter who will be in the same university in Angers, France, where she also attended 37 years ago? Who feels almost like a native Nashvillian having lived in Music City for almost a quarter of a century? Who hosted the old gang at her childhood home for the U of L football game and a weekend of tailgates and late-night talks — including planning for a 60th birthday gathering in 2027? Finally, two of our classmates very sadly passed away this past fall: Aaron Robb and Dan Weber. May their souls rest in peace, and may as many of us as can make the trip gather at Reunion this June in joy and remembrance. 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;
312-504-2298; jennyoleary@comcast.net