Class Notes

NEWS OF 1983

From Dawn Bullaro Stawiarski:

It’s been a long time since you received any correspondence from the Class of 1983, but here it is.

Jennifer Seamans Collins reports that she received a master’s degree in social work from Rutgers University. She lives in Lynchburg, Va., and is on leave from her job to raise two sons and a daughter.

Amy Daly-Donovan lives in Seattle with her husband, Jim, and children Connor, 6, and Shea, 3. She has an independent organizational-development consulting practice.

Cindy Bowerman-Deshler also lives in Seattle with her husband, Tad, and children Kira and Kian.

Sean Diviny is a children’s-book author published by HarperCollins. His first book, Snow Inside the House, was published in 1998. His second, Halloween Motel, was released last fall. Sean moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and lives there with his partner of
61/2 years.

As for John ’84 and me, we are finally recovering from the adventures (or misadventures) of building a new home. We’re settled, and our sons—CJ, 14, Tony, 11, and Alex, 8—are looking forward to their new schools. I’m a registered nurse, and John has become director of network technologies at his job in Philadelphia.

From the Alumni House:

George Valente is the editor and publisher of Jersey Shore Publications. He recently published Volume II of To the Shore Once More.

Terence R. McConlogue, formerly a counselor with the New Jersey Department of Corrections, has moved to Valley Youth House, a Lehigh Valley resource agency for at-risk students. His areas of responsibility are Wilson High School, Philip Lauer Junior High School and Williams Township Elementary School. He also is working on a Ph.D. in educational psychology at Temple University and is an adjunct member of its teaching faculty. Terence is married to Amy Singel ’89, and they have two children, Kevyn, 4 and Coleman, 2, and six cats.

NEWS OF 1982 - Reunion Homecoming 2002

From Joanne Belletti Molle:

Michael Rimikis is general manager of the Athens office of Serono, a pharmaceutical company based in Spain and Switzerland that specializes in infertility drugs.

NEWS OF 1981

From Craig “Kegger” Bartlett:

Wow, did we have a big turnout for our 20th reunion during Alumni Weekend! (It hasn’t been 20 years, has it?) There were seven of us Friday night. Ken Hanna was there with his wife, Pat Murray Hanna ’82, who works for the Alumni Office. So were Mike Castles, Walt Wehof, Mark Babich ’80, Robin Drake, Cindy Lynn, and Nancy Duckworth. We made a gallant effort at the Bethlehem Brew Pub but couldn’t duplicate our college days, thank goodness.

Michael Castles lives in Carlisle and owns Castles Lumber and Homecenter. He is married with a son and daughter. Walt Wehof owns Summit Systems and lives in Martinsville, N.J., with his wife, two daughters, and a son.

Joe Kubrak is moving back to New Jersey after several years in Texas and Ohio. He works for NCR and will be living in Hillsboro. Joe is married and has a son and two daughters. Mike, Joe, and I have been meeting in Carlisle when Joe passes through.

Anne Ritter Parola is a teacher in Irvine, Calif., and has two children.

Fred Merrill and Laurie Onofer Merrill ’83 live in Augusta, Ga. Fred is a physician in private practice, and they are raising three children.

Peter Leffler is back in Allentown working as an editor for the Morning Call.

Stephanie Dalena Akers lives in New Jersey and owns several Jazzercise gyms. She is married and has a son.

Margan Sztuk Mulvaney lives in Chatham, N.J. She is married with two children.

Joe Sebia and Gayle Scheetz Mateayak both work in the environmental group of Air Products & Chemicals in Hometown.

Mike Scapata works for BASF in Singapore.

Robert Ferdinand is a police officer in Hazelton.

Jeffrey Gumina and Deborah Diehl Gumina ’83 had their annual pool party. The 1245 Otis Place gang and Beta Brothers were there as usual. Among them were Harry Beisswenger, who lives in Tampa, Fla., and is married with two children. He works for Changepoint Corp. Harry spends a couple of weeks in Avalon, N.J., each summer at his parents’ house, which is next door to that of Frank and Melissa Rauscher ’80. Hugh Richards has a summer house in Avalon as well.

More Betas: J. P. Miele has a custom-blind business and lives with his two sons in Bound Brook, N.J. Jim Geosits works for Merrill Lynch in Reading. He and his wife have two kids. And Crist “the Seal” Smith lives with his 17-year-old son in Harrisburg and works for the U.S. Postal Service.

Since graduation, I’ve worked for Allentown Valve & Fitting and live in Harrisburg as well.

I’d like to hear from more of you. E-mail me with updates, and we can let our classmates know what’s going on with you. How about the rest of the Dirty Dozen, a.k.a. the SPO pledge class of 1978?

Until next time, Kegger and the ghostwriter.

From the Alumni House:

Kris Dragotta married Gordon Yerry, a mechanical engineer for Pennsylvania Power & Light, in 1998. They live in Bethlehem, where Kris works in the federal court clerk’s office processing cases and doing computer work.

NEWS OF 1980

From Molly Donaldson Brown:

It’s an interesting time in our lives. Some of us are chasing our careers, others toddlers. A few of us even have kids heading to college. Please let me know if any of yours are headed to Moravian.

We now have a Class of ’80 contingent in Alberta, Canada, where Denise Heil Ford and her family have been living for several years. Julia Cranford Folk and her husband, Terry Folk ’78, moved there recently to accept the call to serve the Millwoods Community Moravian Church in Edmonton.

Before heading north, Julie enjoyed participating in the enrollment and freshman orientation of her stepdaughter Lisa, an incoming Moravian student.

Bob Scardina lives in Hightstown, N.J., and works on Staten Island. Last summer he celebrated 25 years with Merrill Lynch, where he’s an assistant vice president. It really has been 21 years, Bob points out, but “they counted those four summers I worked for them during our college years.” Bob has been divorced for more than four years now and says his three children—Bianca, 13, Anthony, 10, and Michael, 8—keep him busy.

He’s been in touch with Steve Vanya ’79, Liz Thomas Van Idersteine ’81 and June Nuzzo Koch ’79. He’s also spoken to classmate Vito Guarino, who recently remarried.

Who can doubt that Renee Sullivan James and Leslie Kachure Scott remain among Bruce Springsteen’s biggest fans? But last summer the two branched out to attend a U2 concert at the Continental Arena. Renee says their husbands went along to be sure she and Les “behaved.” And guess who also is a fan and was in the crowd that evening? The Boss. “ Les and I agreed that Bono is no Bruce. But he’s pretty darn close,” Renee says. Did they run into Springsteen that night, as they did after one of his concerts 20 years ago? No luck this time. “His group must have had better seats!”

At our 20th reunion last year, Nina Richardson Daise, Katy Farrell McDonald, and Margi Ancmon-Hawkins decided to make the event an annual outing. So last spring they were back on campus to participate in another Alumni Weekend. Nina also traveled to Katy’s house in Binghamton, N.Y., to celebrate the high school graduation of Katy’s daughter, Cory.

Julie LaBarre Webster and her husband, Geoff, were so impressed that their son, Tristan, acquired a green belt in karate that they’ve taken up the martial art themselves.

On a visit to the Lehigh Valley from their home in western Pennsylvania earlier this year, Julie ran into Ken Pohlidal ’79 and his wife, Kerri. They all were invited to a pool party at Julie’s cousin’s home, where the Pohlidals’ two young daughters hit it off with the Webster children.

Jane Paluda moved to Vermont in 1998 when she became marketing manager in continuing education at the University of Vermont. She’s now enrolled in the university’s graduate program in public administration. Since moving north, Jane’s significant other has embarked on a second career as a watercolor artist and has had several works in juried shows in Vermont and New York.

As a result of some planning at our 20th reunion, several classmates already have decided how they’ll mark the year we turn 50. Lisa Swallier Rogers writes from Colorado: “Way back in the spring of 1979, Chris Citrano, Deb Tisdale, Margaret Couch, and Cindy Flick trotted off to Paris for a semester. Not much French was learned (at least not in my case), but we had a smashing good time of it.” Members of that original group decided to do a return tour in 2008. Lisa says they will extend an honorary invitation to Cindy Knauf and Judy Lovett, since they were there in spirit the first time. The ladies plan to rent apartments for a week and live it up.

It has been a busy year for Michelle Tillander, who traveled to Spain for spring break and participated in Maine Photographic Workshops in the summer, thanks to a grant. Michelle continues as chair of the visual arts department at the Governor’s School for the Arts in Virginia. She has exhibited at a sculpture invitational at Christallo Gallery in Williamsburg, Va., and in an alumni exhibition at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. Michelle expects to curate an exhibit of digital art in Suffolk, Va., in the spring. In her spare time, and as weather permits, she enjoys the beach, her garden and her home.

Over the summer, my family took a two-week Southern road trip. With one daughter a teenager and the other a pre-teen, we figured it was now or never. We put almost 3,000 miles on the van. In addition to the standard Orlando offerings, we enjoyed beaches, historical sites, visits with relatives, and, of course, shopping.

Our deepest sympathies to Gail Perry Olson and Tim, whose 12-year-old son, Eric Jon, lost his life May 6 in an accident at the county fairgrounds near his home in Jacksonville, Ill. Eric and his brothers—Justin, 18, Jason, 14, and Patrick, 10—all played or continue to play roller hockey with a local league, and the city donated space at one of its parks for the Eric Olson Memorial Hockey Rink, which will open next summer.

NEWS OF 1979

From Steve Vanya:

I received an update from Lori Kenney Cline, who lives with her husband and their two boys in a lovely historic home in Mullica Hill, N.J. Lori received a teaching degree from Rowan University in 1994 and has been teaching art at Pennsville Middle School. Her husband, George, owns Quality Elevator Co. of Camden, N.J. Their son George works in the casino industry in Atlantic City, and his younger brother, Doug, is a junior at Delsea Regional High School, where he captains the soccer team. She would love to hear from old friends Sue Weaver Lushinsky, Carol Sagnip Mishinski, and Mary Kirsch. Lori’s e-mail is lcline39@aol.com.

From the Alumni House:

John Snyder placed second in the Flying Junior Masters sailing race and won a master’s trophy.