Reunion 2008

1977

Bonnie Steuart Taylor

9823 Fosbak Drive

Vienna, VA 22182

bonstay@hotmail.com

Reunion was a fun weekend, with a great turnout and enough North Country weather changes to keep everyone on their toes (and briefly under an umbrella!). Friday was crystal clear and warm, Saturday’s parade was held in a deluge but the afternoon was bright and breezy. Sunday’s class breakfast at the Sullivan’s was chilly and a bit gray – thank goodness for those wonderful heated tents. A great time was had by all! If you missed it, we missed you. Here’s an attempt at capturing the news: if I missed anything (and I know I did) please write!

Our class had the most attendees of our cluster Reunion which drew 173 alumni (you could double the number if counting spouses and guests!) and there was a rumor that a 30^th Reunion attendance record was set!

The first two people I saw at Registration were Jim Brush and Russ Beyer. Russ is enjoying living and working in Miami; Jim had just come from the pool and mentioned it was his second visit to Canton in May, having just attended his youngest son’s graduation from SLU two weeks prior to Reunion; his two older kids graduated from Middlebury.

It was great to see Jill Scott Jablonski after many years. She’s in Rochester working at RIT; her twins Laura and Paige will be seniors at Marywood College near Scranton. Both are specializing in Nutrition.

Karen Conley came from Kansas City with her husband, Dick, and 15 year old daughter, Anna. Anna became one of the official photographers of Reunion, kindly snapping photos on everyone’s cameras at the all the events, including an alumni visit to KDS – and we think that is where she decided we were all crazy!

Jeff Swarr, our Reunion co-chair, had a busy few weeks leading up to Reunion. He and his wife Claire had just returned from their son’s graduation from Lehigh University and a week in Bermuda to celebrate! Claire, a Colgate alum, was a lot of fun and a big help in taking photos during the weekend. Jeff says he’ll do payback at her Reunion next year!

The Swarrs traveled to Canton with Dekkers and Barb Shea Davidson. Barb recently joined Dynisco, a worldwide leader in pressure and temperature sensors and other analytical instruments in Franklin, MA as VP of Finance. Barb and Dekkers’ daughter, Tara is at Colby college and son Kyle, SLU ’06, works for Fidelity.

Bill Drake writes, “Reunion was really fun. It was fun to see you and everyone. Including the 1978s and 1979s, I counted 17 SAEs, which shows our good enthusiasm. The Student Center and the Johnson Science building were very impressive.

We live in Riverside Connecticut, part of Greenwich, about 2 miles from where we lived when I was at SLU. For 20 years, I’ve worked in a private investment company. Our two primary companies own coal reserves in Montana and provide air pollution systems for coal-burning power plants. My wife Annie teaches English at Greenwich High School, and we have a daughter Louisa (entering 12^th grade) and a son Teddy (entering 10^th). To keep busy, we do lots of sailing and tennis (and old-man-hockey for me.) For several years we vacationed at Camp Canaras on Saranac Lake with Kevin McElroy’s family, which was a lot of fun. Canaras is beautiful and Bob Sheldon does a great job as camp director. I see a good bit of Don Kyle , John Reinman and Larry Jerome, especially at SLU/Yale hockey games - about 320 miles closer to us than Canton! Reunion reminded me of our sophomore year with SLU’s program in France. We had 26 students there in 1974-1975. Where did we all go?”

I really appreciated Bill’s post-Reunion note, since I was (pretty unsuccessfully) trying to memorize material for this column without taking notes: I chatted with Don Kyle who traveled with Bill to Reunion; his son is a rising sophomore at SLU. Kevin McElroy teaches chemistry and was grading finals until just a few hours before arriving on campus. Also saw Amy Kane Phelps, living near Boston and Debbie Black Coldwell who was at Reunion with her husband Chuck. We talked a lot of about college – as in where our kids are enrolled or headed. Debbie and Chuck have two of their children at Bucknell.

Jim Yellen wins the award for “The best excuse for missing Reunion,” though he is vying for a different award at our next reunion (read on), “So sorry I missed the 30^th - I had a great opportunity to spend the weekend in Paris at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO. It took an extraordinary event for me to miss another trip to Canton, and I am afraid this was it. SLU was, however, repeatedly toasted.

“So here is a brief recap of my last ten years. Most significant, my wife and I are expecting twin boys in late July - my first time down this road, and I am very excited. My wife and I married three years ago - I guess we each have our own time frame for settling down. While many friends and classmates tell me of the relief and joy of getting their children through college and into the world, we seem to be starting a bit late. I am vying for the ‘oldest parent award’ at the next reunion. Is anyone else competing? Of course this all means I'll have to keep working for a while, particularly since we are living in Manhattan, the most expensive place this side of Paris to raise kids.

“On the work front, after many years as a senior attorney at Morgan Stanley, I left when the going got a bit crazy two years ago and started my own arbitration and mediation practice. I specialize in mediation of securities law and employment disputes in the financial services industry. It's refreshing and rewarding to make peace instead of wage war in the business world. My practice is nation-wide and I am hoping to expand to the UK and Japan for international private disputes. I also continue to teach in the first year law program at Fordham Law School. This year will be my twentieth: interesting to walk into a new class each August, another year older while the recent college grads are still the same age. I ask for their earliest political memories the first class each year, and the responses are beginning to make me feel like a history professor.

“I am somewhat in touch with SLU through the NYC network. I am in regular contact with my SLU Government advisor, Sandy Hinchman, and her husband Lew. That has occasioned many trips back to Canton over the years and a few great vacations together. I am still trying to get my old friend Jonathon Miller, an accomplished attorney in New York, to return my calls. Doug Dempster, now the dean of liberal arts at UT, and I are in email contact. Anyone coming to NYC should feel free to look me up. See you at the next Reunion if not sooner.”

Terry Sullivan wrote in advance of Reunion, “Chris Noonan and I reconnected this past winter (roommates in Rebert Hall and on 3 Gouveneur St.) to climb Mt. Washington as a celebration of our 30th reunion (as well as my extended midlife crisis). We tried to climb last March but were blown off the mountain by high winds and bitter weather. Chris lives in North Conway, NH working as an antique rug dealer as well as serving the local volunteer mountain rescue service. I live in Philadelphia working as a vascular/trauma surgeon looking forward to my first trip back to Europe this November (since my junior year in Vienna) for two weeks to help provide much needed civilian surgical support to injured soldiers evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan arriving at the Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

“I see Mike Soule with some regularity as he lives near Philly working as an attorney and playing bass occasionally with Rip Westmoreland (78) and his merry band descended from the old Miner Street Band. My brother Peter Sullivan (79) is going to fly in from Seattle and meet us in Bolton Landing the weekend of the reunion and we are all working hard to get to Canton. If the planets align we'll see you there!”

Susie Nye did make it to Reunion – and joined her Carnegie freshman roommates, Candy Collins Murphy, Laura Hansen Pedersen and Barb Burnett Criss for the first time in 30 years! They win “The only freshman quad to reunite at Reunion” award!

Prior to Reunion, Susie wrote, “I fell off the grid in the mid-eighties and lost touch with most of you. I moved to Switzerland for an eight week internship to complete my MBA and somehow or other I forgot to come back. After the internship, one thing led to another and I stayed in Switzerland until 2000. Then after a few years on the west coast, I moved to New Hampshire in 2003.

“I keep busy and try to pay the mortgage with freelance writing, a small consulting practice (strategy, sales and marketing) and a cooking business. I like living in NH and with my own business I have flexibility for skiing, running, walking, hiking, kayaking and volunteering. I live close to Mount Sunapee and Ragged Mountain, if any skiers are headed this direction, you are welcome to come by!” By the way, Susie has appeared in television cooking segments in New England. You can sign up for her free newsletter “Around the Table” by emailing her at aroundthetable@tds.net or checking out her website, www.susannye.com. As for her reunited roommates, Candy Collins Murphy is Sr. VP of 1^st Mariner Mortgage in Baltimore, has two sons and a 12 year old daughter, Grace. Barb Burnett Criss and her husband Doug Criss live in Old Forge, NY with their 2 children. Laura Hansen Pedersen has been running a family farm since 1983 with her husband Rick in the Finger Lakes region. They have over 400 ‘certified organic’ acres and supply restaurants and grocery stores in NYC and upstate NY.

Check out the SLU Reunion website for our ’77 classmates who were well-represented on the picture page! Check it out – in addition to our 30^th Reunion picture you’ll see:

• Gayle Viebranz Welch – representing the Alumni Council and chatting with [I think, and I’m going for extra points, here!] Steve Barlow’s dad;
• Paul Gallegher chatting with Wendy Anderson Mittlefehldt;
  
• Scott Conroe – signing his book, “I Take Just Pride: How a Fraternity Reinvented Itself, Why a Professor Joined” at the Brewer Book Store;
• Kent ‘Chip’ Gandy – checking out the ‘Archival’ photos at Registration. Chip mentioned that his wife Donna Sulat Gandy was unable to join him because their daughter, a Dartmouth student, was preparing for an overseas internship. Their son will be playing Lacrosse at Hotchkiss in the fall.

In the storm that tried to trample the Alumni Parade I spotted Calvin Carr with his wife Jennifer. They traveled to Reunion from Palo Alto, CA where Calvin has a publishing business.

During Reunion a soccer game was held at Sandy MacAllaster Field to pay tribute to those that have passed from the classes of 1977, 1978 and 1979. The field was named for Sandy ’78 who passed away in December 1979, shortly after graduating. Sadly, 16 members of 1977 have passed away: Daniel Allen, Sam Caulkins, Judy Couffer, Pat Daley, Andy Dellon, Tim Egbert, Kathy Mackay, Katy Nesbit, Clifton Northrup, Darby Stull Ottoway, Sarah Plachta, Peggy Slahor, Randall Smithers, John Stevenson, Gerald Strong and Tom Weatherup.

Warren and Lynn Ruane Tuttle did a great job and served our class well as the Reunion Development Chairs, helping secure a wonderful 1977 class gift of over $2,000,000!

Lynn has worked 17 years in advertising for People Magazine and has enjoyed some interaction with numerous celebrities at red carpet events (she says her favorites are Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe and Willem Dafoe); Warren is a partner in a marketing firm which launches housewares, such as the ‘misto’ olive oil sprayer and the ‘smart spin’ storage organizer - I’m sure we’re among the millions with those items! Lynn and Warren have 3 girls, the oldest at Colgate and the younger two in New Canaan High.

Prior to the Class Gifts ceremony, Warren entertained me with a story from his first week as a freshman (or should we say, ‘felon’) which involved some 151s, Steve Nato, a parking meter and an unusual introduction to law enforcement. As Warren tells it, “We were trying to carry the meter up Park Street when a man in a truck stopped to ask if we needed help. Steve and I proudly told him we were SLU freshman and were taking it back to Sykes. He asked if we wanted a ride; we said, “Sure!” When we got in with the parking meter he said we’d only made one mistake. “No,” I said (or slurred), “we haven’t made any mistakes.” But in fact, we had, the man said, as he introduced himself as Canton’s Chief of Police!”

From the ‘I missed Reunion but I had a good excuse’ Department:

Kim Linker Stebbings emailed that she’d miss Reunion: “due to both of our sons graduating from college that week. I am really bummed as I would love to see you all! I have been married for 27 years this month. My first marriage lasted 3 years (remember the engagement party at KDS?!), but the second one was a charm. George has 2 sons from a prior marriage: one son is getting his MBA, the other has been taking the long route to graduation, but has finally made it and will be a Respiratory Therapist. We have 3 lovely grandkids with one more on the way – and one is graduating from HIGH SCHOOL in June! We’ve lived in Phoenix, Indianapolis, Colorado and now Florida where I am VP of Sales & Marketing for Anodyne Therapy in Tampa. Life has been good. By the way, I saw Kathy Fitch Davis and her husband Bill when they visited her mom in Florida. Considering it has been 20 years since I had seen them, they both looked fabulous.” Laurie Hoffend Dwyer was busy Reunion weekend attending her daughter Abby’s graduation from Princeton! Laurie is a professor in the business school at RIT (marketing and organizational behavior). She says, “I actually like it a lot. I wish I had gotten my PhD way back when I could still study!” Candice Sherman emailed with a reasonable excuse to miss Reunion – she was moving to Sarasota, FL. Candice is a management consultant specializing in starting up, turning around and growing business initiatives, primarily in the Internet and information services sectors…Pamela Stringer tossed her plans to attend Reunion aside to meet a proposal deadline. She works for Lockheed Martin on radars in Syracuse as part of LM’s International proposals group coordinating the provision of radar systems to our friends and allies all over the world. She reports that Libby Gretz recently married Randy Blank a Charlottesville, VA MD. Marjorie Throop Veazey writes that she is in her 4^th year of teaching 6^th grade science and loves it. Her oldest son, Joe is a senior majoring in graphic art at Savannah College of Art; her younger son Mark completed his plebe year in Annapolis and at 6’11” is the Navy’s basketball team’s center: he broke David Robinson’s freshman block record!

Trudy Hall is headmistress of Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. She wrote, “our graduation is the same weekend as Reunion. They might miss me if I headed to Canton! By the way, we send one or two students to SLU every year and several of them have joined KDS! Very small world.” Ellie Dribben Alexander wrote from Albany that she “usually sees some ‘Saints’ when I attend the SLU/RPI hockey games. I always loved watching hockey, but over the past two years, I decided to actual try playing it! My women's team, ‘The Frozen Assets,’ is now one of my real passions!” Webb Thomsen was unable to make it but kindly sent a CD of pictures used for the fabulous 30^th Reunion DVD compiled by Holly Steuart Robertson, VP with Meredith Broadcasting and General Manager of KVVU – Fox 5 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

As for that very entertaining dvd, go to https://alumni.stlawu.edu/node/266 and click on 30th Reunion Movie to view this special presentation. Thanks to everyone who sent pictures and a HUGE thank you to Holly for producing this incredible trip down memory lane!

This news represents just a portion of those who attended (or hoped to). Please help me avoid the humiliation of an empty column in the issue after this one! Everyone would love to hear from all who attended that I missed chatting with. It’s a long list! My email remains, bonstay@hotmail.com THANKS!