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Class Notes NEWS OF 1995 Reunion Homecoming
2005 NEWS OF 1994 From Denise Bradley: Ann Schlottman has been our class correspondent for more than 10 years, and on behalf of our class, I’d like to thank her for her service. Beginning with this issue of the Moravian College Magazine, I become the correspondent for the Class of 1994. It’s always nice to hear what others in our class are doing. There were reasons we all chose to go to Moravian—and for most of us, the reason was size. The point of having gone to a small private college is to make the most of the sense of community through these periodic updates on our classmates. Even if you didn’t “know” someone at the College, you still “know” who they are. At Homecoming 2004, many of you lamented that you hadn’t written to the magazine to share what you’ve been doing over the last 10 years. This is your chance! Plan on hearing from me soon—I’ll be writing to you. My e-mail address is above, and I’d love it if you sent me your update before I have to hunt you down! Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year! From the Alumni House: Melissa Young married Yves Crozet on September 4. Tracy Harrington Fernandez ’95 and Scott Young ’92 were both in the wedding party. Melissa and Yves live in Switzerland but plan to return to New Jersey in two years. NEWS OF 1993 From the Alumni House: Lisa Krisak is in the final year of her residency in emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins University. (She earned her M.D., with a Ph.D. in biochemistry with a focus in cell biology, in a highly demanding eight-year program at Thomas Jefferson University.) She plans to return to Philadelphia to practice, teach, and do clinical research in a medical facility and university. Kathryn Schaar Burke created the illustrations for the book Mule Boy by Joan Gilbert, which describes the history and operation of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh and Delaware canals through the fictional adventures of a boat family. NEWS OF 1992 From the Alumni House: Peter Vogt was ordained in the Moravian Church, European Continental Province, in December. NEWS OF 1991 From Melissa dePamphilis Jarman: Hey, everyone! I finally have some information to pass on to you. Hope everyone is doing well. An e-mail came this summer from Karen Gummo, who married Ken Kirst ’92 on September 15, 2001 (four days after 9/11). They have a daughter, Abigail Grace, who was born last April 23. They had been living in Bethlehem near the College for quite a few years but just built a home in the Northampton area and moved into it at the end of October. They attend Westside Moravian Church. Karen has been a sales director with Mary Kay Cosmetics for 12 years. Ken works for TH Properties in Harleysville, building new residential developments. Karen and Ken have been to visit many Moravian historic sites in Germany and the Czech Republic. They enjoyed meeting other Moravians there. I just heard from Christy Wickmann, who married Tom Scarborough on December 31, 2003, in the Old Chapel. The reception was at the Hotel Bethlehem, and Christy said Main Street was beautiful right after Christmas. Dori Brown Ahart was her maid of honor, and Dori’s daughter Erin was the flower girl. Christy was expecting their first child, due January 8. They have not asked whether it’s a boy or girl, and when she wrote to me, they were very anxious to know. Dori and her husband, Greg, live in Gilbertsville and have two daughters, Erin, 4½, and Jess, 17 months. Dori works part-time in Warminster for CRC Industries as marketing manager for its Marine Products division. She and Greg have started a small coffee business on the side. You can check it out at www.caffeinatedcyclists.com. Dori sent word on a few classmates. She and Christy went to see Lisa Bodnar’s band play at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia back in April. Lisa has a CD out called Maybe I Did, and she was chosen as one of WXPN’s featured local artists. She has appeared at the Singer-Songwriter Festival and at the Grape Street Pub in Philadelphia. Dori also said that Sherry Paul Bychkowski and her husband were expecting their first child last November. She turned out to be a girl, Julia Elena. I received an e-mail from Beth Strelecky Williams, who has been living in northern Virginia (Reston/Tyson’s Corner area) for six years. She and Brett married in May 2002 and were blessed with the arrival of Adam Christopher in November 2003. She is staying at home with Adam and loving every minute of it. I’m excited to say that I got married to Ed Jarman on September 18 in Greenville, S.C., where we live. We had a beautiful outdoor wedding, which fell (amazingly) right between two hurricanes! I was a nervous wreck the two days before the wedding because of the torrential downpours, but on the day itself we awoke to blue skies. Julie Bower Fawbush was able to make it up from Fort Myers, Fla., for the ceremony. I’m enjoying married life! From the Alumni House: David Zinczenko, editor of Rodale’s Men’s Health magazine, has written The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life. It was published in June 2004 and was No. 3 on the New York Times best-seller list in November. David was the model for the exercise illustrations, too. Renate Wildermuth lives in Lake George, N.Y., with her husband. He is a professor, and she is a freelance writer. She wrote an article about Bethlehem for her local newspaper, which praises the history and beauty of the city, especially during the holiday season. NEWS OF 1990 Reunion Homecoming
2005 From Mary Beth Sierzega Afflerbach: Leslie Anne TenBroeck married Neil Farrell, older brother of Liza Farrell Sover, her best friend and fellow choir member, on September 11 in Radnor. Their honeymoon was a cruise to Bermuda. My husband, Jeffrey, returned in July from a tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps. We are expecting a baby in May! From the Alumni House: On October 7, Noel Knecht was recognized for her work with the Young Survivor Coalition at the annual “Living in Pink” fundraiser in Manhattan. Based in New York, the coalition is the only international network of breast cancer survivors and supporters. As a two-year survivor, Noel has become very involved in advocacy and education about breast cancer. On October 8, along with six other cyclists, she departed from a cancer center in Boston and rode to the New York Cancer Center in Manhattan. This was the inaugural ride to celebrate the coalition’s fifth anniversary. Noel thanks all her Moravian friends for their support, especially Robert Verrone and Seana Hasson. In addition, Noel
is an active volunteer for the American Cancer Society and is involved with its Reach
to Recovery program, in which she is paired with newly diagnosed women to provide them
with support. Connie Bednar Klepper has been working at the College for 26 years: nine in the development office, 13 in the office of planning and research, and the last four with the registrar. On December 17, friends and colleagues got together at the office to celebrate Connie’s service anniversary of more than a quarter-century! Mark Fielding completed his master’s degree and received tenure from Council Rock School District. Jen Fielding continues to teach preschool music classes. NEWS OF 1989 NEWS OF 1988 From the Alumni House: Renee Bueckner DePinto has a son, Joey, 7, and a daughter, Nicole, 3. Renee continues to keep in touch with her sorority sisters. NEWS OF 1987 From Diane Hvizdak Taylor: I attended Homecoming in October but didn’t run into anyone from the Class of 1987! I was a little conflicted at the football game, at which Moravian played Fairleigh Dickinson University. Though I received my undergraduate degree at Moravian, I earned my M.B.A. at Fairleigh Dickinson, along with Lisa Hellinger Baldwin and Mary Weidmuller Knierim. I’m also an adjunct faculty member at FDU. My allegiance to Moravian won out, and I was happy to see the Greyhounds triumph. I hope to see some Class of ’87 alumni at next year’s Homecoming game. In the meantime, please e-mail me with news or just to say hello. It was nice to see the sisters of Sigma honor Dr. James Ravelle’s 20th anniversary as their faculty advisor at Homecoming by wearing T-shirts marking the event. (For those who don’t remember: Dr. Ravelle was the advisor to Sigma Theta Chi, which later evolved into Tri-Sigma.) From the Alumni House: Joseph Zaia, his wife, and
their three children recently moved from New Jersey to Michigan for his job with Dow
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Child's Play
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Robert Verrone ’90 is seen here with another of his fund-raising projects. He visited with Laura and George, a couple from Washington, D.C., at an event this summer that raised money for the Republican National Convention. The gentleman on the right was nominated for reelection and did pretty well, we heard. Photo: courtesy of Robert Verrone ’90 If you’re on the phone with Robert Verrone ’90, there’s an interruption about every 15 seconds: a call on the other line or his secretary at the door with “Can you take this call?” or “Sam’s on the line.” Sometimes he apologizes: “Gotta take this. I’ll be right back.” “We never really stop working because our cell phones are always on,” admits Robert, a busy real estate investment banker for Wachovia Securities in New York. But when he’s
talking about the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, no interruptions are
allowed. The New York chapter sends clowns, magicians, musicians, and toys to cheer up the children’s ward in hospitals from New Jersey to Connecticut. For kids hospitalized over the holidays, it holds Christmas parties and provides presents. For those who have the misfortune to be sick on their birthdays, Starlight holds a monthly birthday party for all those on the ward whose birthdays fall during that month. For a 10-year-old boy who probably will never leave the New York Foundling Hospital, Starlight has opened his world. “He can’t say a word,” Robert says. “But he can sing.” At last month’s birthday party, Starlight sent a guy who plays the guitar. “When they played certain songs, this boy sang,” he says. Robert’s involvement with Starlight began in 2004, when the foundation named him an honoree at its annual gala after he and his friends raised more than $1.5 million for it. Later that year, he was asked to join the board. In the New York-New Jersey area, Starlight is supported mostly by the local real estate community, which is how Robert got involved with it. And it’s a natural interest for Robert and his wife, Sara, who have four young children of their own: Matthew and Daniel, 3½, and Annie and Joseph, born November 17. Yes, you read that right: two sets of twins make the Verrone home in Short Hills, New Jersey, quite a lively place. When Robert left Moravian, he spent four years with Bear Stearns, a Wall Street investment bank. When he “quit or got fired, depending on who you ask,” he decided o join First Union National Bank (which bought and took the name of Wachovia Bank) in Charlotte, North Carolina. He stayed nine years, until he and his wife decided to move back north. Back in the New York area, Robert has helped rejuvenate the dormant New York Area Alumni Club. (Its first project has been to co-sponsor a concert in February by the Moravian Choir at Kaufman Center for the Arts.) He also keeps an eye out for Moravian alumni—he has hired Robert Austin ’91, Chris Miller ’98, and Borko Milosev ’04—and given several internships to Moravian students. “I had a great time at Moravian,” Rob says. “My goal is to get more involved and get the guys I went to school with involved, too.” —Judith Green |
