Class Notes

NEWS OF 2003

From Regina Lacombe:

Updates from some of our classmates. Meredith Vance will start work as a researcher at Ceridian Corp. in Plymouth Meeting. Lisa Gorman has a new job at Enterprise Car Rentals, and Shannon Kowalczuk is working at U.S. Liability Insurance Group. Nikki Bonfanti teaches second grade at Franklin Elementary School in Westfield, N.J., Allison Kranchalk first grade at Upper Freehold Regional, and Karen Larsen second grade at a charter school in Chester.

Drew Hinkel is working at NBC Sports in Washington, D.C. Keith Ferrier is an underwriter for Hartford Insurance Co.

Shelly Levulis attends Temple University’s School of Podiatric Medicine, Lori Paro is pursuing a master’s degree in education at Long Island University, and Jeff Meila is taking classes at Moravian for his teacher’s certification in elementary education. Joshua Reichert works for Argus Research at its Charles River Laboratories in Horsham.

From the Alumni House:

Jennifer Burkholder is a fifth-grade teacher at St. Michael’s Indian School in Arizona. She says she is enjoying her time there and learning a great deal about the culture. She has gone to several Navajo ceremonies.

Anthony Mack has accepted a staff accountant position with Nisivoccia & Co., based in northern New Jersey.

NEWS OF 2002

From Brienne Wilson:

I had a great time catching up with our class at the 2003 Commencement. So many of us are doing well and enjoying life beyond Moravian!

I’ve begun my second year of teaching third grade at Cedar Hill School in Basking Ridge, N.J. This winter I’ll begin working toward my master’s degree in elementary education. Matt Gray teaches third grade at Southard School in Howell Township, N.J. He lives in Point Pleasant, N.J., and is earning his master’s degree in administration, supervision, and curriculum planning. This year, Matt’s students will be pen pals with my third graders.

Beth Nastasee, also a third grade teacher, is at Williams Township Elementary School in the Wilson Area School District. Rebecca Jabier teaches kindergarten in the same school. Allison Kuntz has begun her second year teaching at Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem. She lives in Slatington.

Lisa Tejeda and her husband, Carlos, became parents to Ethan Carlos on July 4. Lisa and family live in the Bronx, where she teaches kindergarten at P.S. 29.

Brandy Stahler is teaching seventh-grade life science in the Boyertown School District. She’ll be getting married July 3 to her high school sweetheart, Adam Solomon. They’ve bought a home in Fleetwood. Amanda Rissmiller married Bryce Williams on November 15. They’ve bought a home in Bethlehem.

Kristy Bredin performed at the Museum of the American Piano in Manhattan. She also accompanied Katie Bedard on the English horn. Kristy has completed a piano-tuning course, which she plans to turn into a part-time career.

Scott Heydt placed third in the Louisville (Ky.) Marathon, with a time of 2 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds. He’ll run the Boston Marathon in April.

Becky Copes became engaged to Jeff Dommel in August.

Jenny Lohn married Wes Zimmerman ’03 on March 22, and they bought a house in Boyertown. She works for Longstreth Women’s Sports as a buyer and assistant manager, and Wes will take a job with Reinsel & Co. as an accountant in June—right after he finishes a second degree at Villanova University.

From the Alumni House:

Ryan Boyle accepted a position with ICI Americas Inc. as a tax accountant.

Susan Carr moved to the Tampa Bay area over the summer and is teaching math to sixth and eighth graders.

Julie Jones says she spent two months studying for the hardest test she will ever have to take. She had to write a research proposal for her Ph.D. project and present it to three faculty members, who questioned her about it for an hour. She is happy to be finished with her master’s degree and will stay in the Ph.D. program at Princeton University.

Carol Lenig teaches third grade at F. A. March Elementary School in Easton.

NEWS OF 2001

From the Alumni House:

Courtney Rice teaches German at Pittsgrove (N.J.) Township School District.

Norri Symonds is a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, teaching English as a foreign language, and will extend her two-year service for another year. She works in a secondary school in a small town, teaching English to fourth through eighth and 11th-grade students. She also runs English clubs for her students, where they discuss American culture, life, and music. Norri holds seminars for local English teachers, acquainting them with different methods of teaching English.

Lara Mammana is in her final year at Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle.

Ellen Charnick married Scott Grau in August. Sarita Garg, Kristie Mulieri, and Shannon Barger were bridesmaids. Kristen Dunlap was Ellen’s reader, and Don Gebhard ’99 was there, too. Ellen loves teaching fifth grade. She and Scott live in Frederick, Md

NEWS OF 2000

From the Alumni House:

Maura McGowan and Mark Domashinski were married in August. In September, she started a job as an elementary instrumental music teacher.

Solita Twomey works for the U.S. Educational Advisory Service, which is part of the U.S./U.K. Fulbright Commission, based in London. She will be getting married in Scotland in April.

Mike O’Rorke just returned from three years in Uiwang and Busan, South Korea, where he was an English teacher. He writes: “I worked at the English Children’s Center in Uiwang, about 50 minutes from downtown Seoul, and the Little Campus English Institute in Busan, a port city on the southeast coast of the peninsula. When people ask me what it’s like to live in Korea, I tell them it would be best to experience it firsthand! There were aspects and behaviors associated with Korean life that I found fascinating, absurd, practical, and downright disgusting. There are many opportunities to learn, travel, and explore. I like to think that I learned plenty.

“ I suppose I took the ‘final exam’ during my last month there. I visited a beautiful temple in the hills of Kyoungju. I was able to communicate in Korean (albeit not fluently) with the monks, observe their customs, and not offend them. At least I think I didn’t offend them!

“ Learning goes well beyond what you learn about Korean society. You learn about American society as well. You learn that there is more than just our view of the world. Traveling is great, but kicking back, living in, and absorbing the surroundings of a foreign place—it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Mike is living in Colonia, N.J., and is thinking about joining the Air Force.

NEWS OF 1998

From the Alumni House:

South Whitehall Township Police and Parkland School District appointed Jason Negron resource officer for Parkland High School.

Aymee DiDomenico has started grad school at Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Jill Steiner Meixell and Christopher Meixell have relocated to Richlands, N.C., from Oceanside, Calif., because of Chris’s transfer. He’s in the Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Lejeune. Jill is a fourth grade teacher at Richlands Elementary, and they plan on being there for a couple of years.

Eric Apjohn is a counselor for Rutland Mental Health, Rutland, Vt., where he lives with his wife, Tanya. She is a sales representative for Chittenden Bank. They have two children: Jake, 3, and McKenzie, 5.

Julianna Lockney married Michael Wyne in August. For their honeymoon, they went to Gran Canaria Island in Spain. They’re house-hunting.

Laura Dombrosky is a special education teacher at Wallenpaupack Area School District in Hawley. She is engaged to a teacher in the same district, and they will be married August 6. They bought their first home in April.

Sean Carroll has become engaged to Tanya Rapp ’00, and they plan to be married July 3, 2005, in Philadelphia.

In October, Bob Thear ran a marathon in Baltimore. Afterward, Bob, Patrick Egan ’97, Tara Wertman McClimmon, and Caroline Smith ’96 met up with Heather Whary ’97 and her fiancé, Dave, for a night on the town.

Jen Stickney got married in mid-July in Peru to Enrique Torres. He is a family medicine technician. When they returned from their honeymoon, they had another ceremony in Connecticut. They now live in Willimantic, Conn.

Jen Lentz Mugridge and her husband, Jay, expect their first child in February. They live in a farmhouse outside Quakertown.

Barbara Mulligan Mitchell and her husband, Dave, live in Baltimore and enjoy the company of their cats.

From Jen Kastle:

Lots of news about babies!

Joelle and Tino Monti had a girl, Alyssa, this past spring. She and her parents, along with some other alums, attended the first birthday party for Terri Flowers Seifert’s son, Benjamin, in October.

Laura Sortino and Craig Neiman are expecting a girl in January. Bob and Tracy Asper Wolak are expecting a boy in February. Katrina Blake and Brian McKee ’98 are expecting a girl in February, who will have an older brother named Jackson.

In other news, Royce Jacomen has relocated to the Blacksburg area of southwest Virginia after three years in Washington, D.C. He’ll be getting married in the next two years and teaches third grade in Roanoke.

In July, Gina and Joe Martin moved into a new house in Point Pleasant, N.J. And Susan Hosterman has bought a house in Hoboken, N.J.

On September 30, Moravian College held a memorial service for Christopher Seifert, who was killed in Kuwait in March. The college dedicated a plaque on the gates in front of Colonial Hall to his memory. More than 100 alumni, Moravian faculty and students, and his family attended. Several of you asked what you could do to honor Chris. Delta Tau Delta fraternity has established a college fund for Chris and Terri Flowers Seifert’s year-old son, Benjamin. To contribute to the fund, please e-mail me.

Please continue to send your updates. I look forward to hearing from you and hope everyone is doing well!

From the Alumni House:

Heather Whary got a new job editing American Heart Association journals for Cadmus Professional Communications in Maryland. She continues freelance editing projects on the side. Her other exciting news is her recent engagement to Dave Boughter. Also, her new 7-year-old dachshund, Pumpkin, whom she got from Dachshund Rescue of North America, keeps her busy.

Kris McGurrin Rooney scored in the 98th percentile on her medical boards and will graduate from Penn State Hershey on May 16 with her M.D.

Celeste Wells and Owen Zimmerman got married in July at a small lake in the Adirondack Mountains outside Lake Placid, N.Y. Moravian graduates who attended include Ryan Hindricks and Sean Higgins, both ’96, and Barb Mullikin Mitchell, Jen Stickney, and Jen Lentz Mugridge, all ’98. After a summer of travel, Celeste and Owen moved to Stratford, Conn., where she is an associate vet at Trumbull Animal Hospital. Owen has gone back to graduate school at the University of New Haven.

From the Alumni House:

Sean Higgins lives in Venice Beach, Calif., when not traveling the world.

Suzanne Scassellati Verenna and her husband, Tony, have welcomed a daughter, Adison Cadence. They live in Korea, where Tony is stationed. Suzanne has asked Tiffany Shenman ’97 to be Adison’s godmother.

Jennifer McKenna works for the BOC Group, manufacturer of industrial gases, which has sent her to Thailand to update its computer system. She’ll be there about six months. “It’s definitely a challenge, with the culture and language differences,” she says, but she enjoys it, especially the chance to travel in Southeast Asia. She has visited the old capital city of Ayutayah and seen the bridge over the River Kwai. She’s also ridden an elephant! She planned a trip to Cambodia in December to see the ruins of Angkor Wat.

In April, Samir Stewart became engaged to his Peruvian girlfriend of four years.

In addition to enjoying their condo in Avalon, N.J., Mark Ihrie and his wife, Valerie, have spent a lot of time in their home in Jacksonville, Fla., especially in its new game room. They had a fantastic vacation in California and Las Vegas last year.

NEWS OF 1995

From the Alumni House:

Erin Jones married Tom Edwards in July. Those in attendance include: Bridget Heal ’94, Melanie Mackenzie Shapiro ’97, Wally Vidaurre ’96, Erin Healey ’96, and Jamie Shiner Johnson ’98. Erin works for the Boston Public Schools as a technology support specialist.

Edward Roach was promoted by the National Park Service. He was working as the historian at Prince William Forest Park in northern Virginia but now is park historian at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in Ohio.

Marc Theoret and Jeannine Mogavero were married in September. Mickey Thompson was in the wedding party, and his wife, Karin Bengston Thompson ’96, in the congregation.

Melissa Carta Miller and Eli had a wonderful year with their adventurous 2-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Eli is in his fourth year of programming for Planalytics. Melissa has finished her third young-adult novel and is considering self-publishing.

NEWS OF 1994 - Reunion Homecoming 2004

Honnie Spencer ’90 talks a mile a minute. That probably explains how she can fit two lives into each 24-hour day.

Somehow, Honnie runs a full medical practice and an equally full musical life in the same time that the rest of us are barely getting one day’s work done.

She is formally known as Honnie Spencer, M.D., A.T.C.L., F.T.C.L. Everyone knows what the M.D. is, but the other letters? They are her musical credentials.

Honnie was born in Antigua, British West Indies, and her music education is in the British mode, which is defined by a series of graduated examinations issued by any one of a number of elite British musical colleges. Honnie studied as a girl with Elizabeth Keogh, who was an F.T.C.L. (Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London) and has marked her progress within that system. She was a prize-winning student, taking home awards for her exams and her performance juries. She spent the summers of her teen years studying piano and music theory at the Merrywood Music School in Lenox, Massachusetts.

She met Richard and Monica Schantz in 1985 when the Moravian College Choir toured the West Indies, and they helped her audition for a full scholarship to the College, whch she accepted. But she also had medical ambitions. When she came to Moravian, she also declared a major in biology. In 1990, she graduated with a B.A. and a B.S., both cum laude.

She had to put her musical career on hold for her first two years of medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. But in 1992 she accepted a student fellowship in pathology, which allowed her enough free time to study piano with Sandra Shapiro at the Cleveland Institute of Music. At the end of that year, she was able to take the Trinity College of Music exams and was awarded the College’s licentiate, which allows her to use F.T.C.L. after her name in addition to A.T.C.L. (Associate of Trinity College of Music, London).

Because she worked part-time to augment her tuition scholarship, it took Honnie seven years to complete medical school. She is an attending physician with the Cabarrus Family Medicine Residency Program, a county health-care agency in southern North Carolina. In addition to her work with patients, she also teaches and mentors medical residents.

But when she doffs the stethoscope around her neck, it’s to be involved in music. She plays horn with the orchestra of Hickory Grove Baptist Church, near her home, and New Beginnings Moravian Church, and she is alternate pianist for Grace Lutheran Church. She is vice president of the board of the Charlotte (N.C.) Philharmonic and a member of the board of the Cabarrus Arts and Science Council. She studies piano with Paul Nicht at Queens University in Charlotte. In September 2002, she was able to start a music prep program for indigent children and adults, teaching music theory and piano. As of this writing, her program has 45 students.

Though an accomplished player of the standard repertory, Honnie returned to Moravian in February to play a program of music by African-American composers, many of whose works she had to search out in specialty libraries. She played works of R. Nathaniel Dett, John Wesley Work III, Margaret Bonds, and a sonata of daunting difficulty by Florence Price, a prize-winning composer in Chicago in the 1930s. The middle selection of Dett’s “In the Bottoms” suite was a humoresque called “Honey.”

“ I chose it because my name is Honnie,” she said happily.

—Judith Green