1983
Class correspondent:
Karen Skoyles
skoyles@lakesnet.net
Posted 6/1/18
We are sad to report that Michael DePaola passed away on May 5, 2018.
Posted 2/28/18
We are sad to report that William Certo passed away on June 1, 2016.
Posted 1-31-17
We are sad to report that Rev. Canon Jane Teter passed away on January 21, 2017.
Posted 11/30/16
We are sad to report that Karen Link Martini passed away on October 27, 2016.
Posted 7/29/16
We are sad to report that Louise Zimmer Darlington passed away on July 12, 2016
Posted May 31, 2016
Peter Falco writes that he has been living happily near the beaches of Southern California for the last 32 years. He has a wonderful wife and two grown great children. He says, “Life in Southern California has been good to me and my family”.
Posted 11/25/15
We are sad to report Joseph Buragino passed away on November 1, 2015.
Posted 6/24/15
Ronald Semanick, a certified public accountant, was elected president of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
Posted 1/29/15
Regina Frejer Yorke writes that although the company she works for is located in Provence, she works from home. In the nine years she has been with the company she has had the pleasure of traveling to France four times. She trains French professionals to use English in business contexts and she also helps manage a team of over 80 distance language trainers located all over the world. The job has been rewarding not only professionally but personally as well. She has fallen in love with the French who manage to put a smile on her face every day. Also, putting a smile on her face is here teenage son – even though he possesses a driver’s license.
Posted 5/21/13
Patrice Starner Amin and Keene Jabbour ’74 have been serving the youth of Easton through their work with the Easton Area Community Center. The center provides programs, resources and role models in a safe haven for children. They were honored by the center as “Saints” at their 17th annual testimonial and roast for their years of commitment and devotion to the community center.
Posted 10/25/12
Connie Challingsworth has been appointed president of the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Business Women Networking Involving Charity and Education. Connie is a certified life coach, recareer coach, retirement coach and “Too Young to Retire” facilitator.
Posted 2/29/12
From the Alumni House:
Ken Dempsey has over 25 years of coaching experience at the Division 1 level. Before becoming the Wildcat’s new associate head coach at the University of New Hampshire, Dempsey spent six seasons at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Posted 1/31/12
From the Alumni House:
Jon Burcaw, an award winning writer, has had his first book, The Sidecar Kings, published. The inspirational book, written for young adults, challenges commonly held stereotypes of bikers and the handicapped; Jon is an avid motorcycle enthusiast and the father of a profoundly disabled child. At the conclusion of the book is a list “Questions to Ponder” that will provide group discussion opportunities. Burcaw’s first piece was published for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Quest magazine in 2008. It earned the 2009 Communicator Award of Distinction presented by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. He has raised over $120,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and is pledging a portion of the proceeds of each book to MDA research. He resides in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.
Posted 12/22/10
From the Alumni House:
Leanne Kimmel Toth writes:
“With the new year comes a new career opportunity for me, a position as a technology specialist at the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit in Schnecksville, PA. I will be working with the 90 IU classrooms scattered throughout the Carbon and Lehigh county areas, assisting their staff and special needs students with educational technology. I am excited by the possibilities of this challenging position. My son, Nicholas, is a sophomore at Lebanon Valley College (go Dutchmen!) majoring in Digital Communications. He is a Dean's List student and disc jockey for the college radio station. His show, "The Vinyl Variety Hour", features music of all ages played exclusively on vinyl (what we called records!). My husband, Craig, was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in August. He continues to recover at home, and it will likely be two years before he can walk again unassisted. Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to all!”
Posted 10/29/10
From the Alumni House:
Linda Wambold Kant wrote :
"My husband Dennis and I have recently moved from Rochester, N.Y. to Clearwater, Fla. and are loving the warm weather. We have three daughters who are still in school. Our oldest daughter will be graduating from University of Pittsburgh law school in May, our second daughter graduated in May from the University of Notre Dame and is currently working with the Americorp in Jacksonville, Fla. while applying to medical school. Our youngest daughter is a sophmore at Xavier University in Ohio. My husband is now the CFO for a healthcare company in St. Petersburg and I am a CPA now looking for a job! It's not hard to enjoy being unemployed here is Florida. I can't believe it is 27 years since we graduated and it is the first time I am sending in any class notes! I look forward to catching up with old friends on Facebook!"
Posted 5/4/10
From the Alumni House:
We regret to inform you that on March 17, Nancy Thomas-Roman passed away.
Posted 1/7/10
From the Alumni House:
Dawn Bullaro Stawiarski writes, “John ’84 and I are about to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, Talk about time flying fast! Our oldest son Christopher graduates in June from Drexel University and will be going to Pensacola, Florida to learn how to fly jets in the US Navy. We are proud and excited for him. Anthony is a sophomore at community college and Alex is a junior in high school. We are a busy family. I am working as a nurse at a nearby hospital and love it. John is still in Philly doing his computer thing. He flies to San Fran all the time so we're racking up the frequent flier miles, so much that we're planning a trip to France and Germany for our anniversary.”
Posted 11/2/09
Michele Young Battista wrote, “Karen, what a fantastic job you did with the class notes this past time! About our next reunion, having just celebrated my 30th high school reunion this summer, we got a lot of activity online on Facebook. Bill Certo created a Yahoo Group page for us this past time, but it didn't get a lot of traffic. I am thinking maybe we want to start getting folks engaged on Facebook? Post some photos of last reunion, but even better are scanned photos of our times at Momo.”
Susan Guthrie Mancinelli was awarded a NOVA award, from her employer, Lockheed Martin in Morrestown, NJ. This is the corporation’s highest recognition, which is received annually by less than one-half of one percent of the corporation’s employees. The award was presented at ceremony at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Posted 6/29/09
It’s the end of March, and those of us in the middle of the continent are facing 14 inches of snow and a river that swelled well beyond its 18 foot flood stage to 41 plus feet. It is an interesting thing to fight a swollen river in the middle of a winter storm. I live 45 miles from the Red River and Fargo, North Dakota, but in this part of the country, 45 miles is rather like the blink of an eye. The city of Detroit Lakes sent busloads of volunteer sandbaggers to Fargo and Moorhead over the course of the week to help keep back the river. The high school excused students to help with the fight too. Both my husband and son heaved sandbags and did their part. As I write, it looks like the efforts appear to have been successful.
Winter has been wonderful in the middle of the continent. My sophomore son qualified for the state cross country ski meet. It was the first time two members of the Detroit Lakes boys team qualified for the event. Dylan would have preferred to have skied faster, but it was a fabulous experience and I had to keep reminding him that qualifying for the event made him one of the fastest 120 boys in the state. His seventh grade sister skied Varsity all season and was the fastest girl on the team. Mother Skoyles is most proud. They are both crazed fools running distance on the varsity track squad now. My seventh exchange student is also running track (he’s a high jumper), so I’m excited about having them all in one sport. Jakob is from Sweden and is a lot of fun so far. We are headed out on a ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado at the end of the week – I’m almost as excited as the kids.
It has been an AWESOME Boy Scout year. We have two new recruits already, with two more on the horizon. Four of my boys have earned Eagle rank, including my son Dylan. On my watch as Scout mistress, ten boys have earned the rank of Eagle, and I am extremely proud of all of them.
Fritzie Helfrich is keeping busy with his now not so new job, and he tells me that the Eastern side of the continent has been blessed with a snowy winter too – Fritz still enjoys his machines and is doing his best to infect his girls with the same love of motors, grease, and gasoline.
Michael Dougherty “Doberman” is excited that he is still employed in the financial industry, that it was springtime near the Brooklyn Bridge at the end of February (it is stinking WINTER at the end of March in Minnesota!!), that the Phillies are playing baseball again, and that his daughter (who I am told is a very nice girl) is playing guitar on You Tube. He is slightly less excited about the newest addition to the Dougherty household. Tilly, a beagle-mix rescued from an Arkansas kill shelter recently deposited a gift which caused him to celebrate the joys of owning four cats.
Near as I can tell, all is well with those in the class of 1983 who choose to communicate with me. I hope that the rest of you find yourselves in similarly wonderful boats – drop me a line and share the joy!
From the Alumni House:
Lynn Schwarzbach Mastio Rice’s film “Children of Invention” was accepted into this year’s Sundance Film Festival. In her film she played the supporting role of Betty Cardellini. She went to the festival to attend the World Premiere and she writes, “it was pretty awesome!”
Stephen C. Kalamar III ’83 of Hanover Township, Northampton County, has been named by TD Bank as vice president of community banking in Bethlehem. Before joining TD Bank, Kalamar was vice president for business banking for Wachovia Bank. He has 22 years of banking and lending experience.
Christian Giesler was installed as a full-time pastor at Edgeboro Moravian Church in Bethlehem.
He served the Southern Province of the Moravian Church 1986-1993; as chaplain at Moravian College and Moravian Theological Seminary 1994-2001; and as the director of the Eastern District Youth Ministry since 2002. The Rev. Giesler and his wife, Christina, have two children, Andrew and Martha.
Posted 4/20/09
From Karen:
I write this installment having just put up the Christmas tree with my 13-year-old daughter, Beret. As we stood and marveled at our handiwork, I was struck by the number of Moravian stars that have found their way onto my trees over the years. The holiday season at Moravian was always a very special time to me. My tree reminds me of the Thanksgiving dinner I made in the dorm for Scott Cruts, when neither of us had a place to go. I even made pumpkin pie, crust and all. My Beetle refused to start on the cold morning Joe Washko, Bobby Kurtz, and I were supposed to take the LSAT at Lehigh. I was the one elected to wake up Fritzie and beg for a ride in the Javelin (uh, Bobby, you lived with him). I remember serving candles at Vespers that evening. At Central Moravian Church that night, I felt the power of the Vespers service and learned that hairspray really is flammable.
Sadly, the class of 1983 is a little quiet. We had a reunion, but very few of us managed to attend. I saw photos and am happy to report that Michael Dougherty still looks like the Doberman who lives in my head. He tells me that he had a good time at the reunion. He lives with his family in Ridgewood, N.J., and works for J.P. Morgan in Brooklyn. He keeps in touch with Philadelphia attorney Robert Deluca who is married to a woman with a Ph.D. and has two children. (I am certain his wife has a name and vocation, but Doberman did not share that information with me.) Doberman also mentioned that John Cooper Jr. is a dentist in Lancaster, Pa.
From John Horchner: “We had a small group for our reunion—Lori Rogora, Liz Falko, Bill Certo, Doberman, Debbie Brooks, Janet Loprete, Michele Battista, Alison Rothrock—to name a few. But we had nothing to prove, which is one of the blessings (I guess) of reaching middle age. We visited the youngsters at the other tailgates, kept track of the football score, and had more than a few laughs. Of course there were moments of serious sharing—our challenges and a few past disappointments—but on the whole, it was hugs and happiness. My idea for the next reunion is for us to really rock the Hub after the tailgate! Liz mentioned getting our group together for Christmas Vespers service at the Church. Anyone else interested? First drink is on you.”
Last fall found yours truly spending her 22nd wedding anniversary at a Boy Scout high ropes course with another Scout leader and my troop, while my husband attended a regional cross country meet, where my son and daughter both had excellent races. My 13-year-old daughter and I originally were supposed to go to Scout camp, but she was brought up to the varsity team after I committed to leading the camping expedition. She wound up earning a varsity letter, and her mother had an excellent weekend. I found myself climbing a tiny Jacob’s ladder and balancing on wires 45 feet above the ground. Only two of us—I and the camp quartermaster—managed to complete the entire course before heading down on the zip line! The boys all skipped the Devils Triangle … but I didn’t! Yes, I am still terrified of heights. My tenth-grade son completed his Eagle project last summer and was inducted into the National Honor Society in fall.
Like the rest of you, I received a postcard encouraging me to view Moravian’s online annual report during the holiday season. Even though I wasn’t thinking of such things as a student, I am grateful for the lessons learned at an institution that fosters “continuous learning, individual achievement, leadership and service for the common good.” I know that each of you carry this spirit within you too. It would be wonderful to share that joy with your classmates. Drop me a line, or send me an e-mail. Let us know what you are doing. I know that each of you is making a difference in this world everyday—tell us about it, please.