ALUMNI NEWS
1965 Tami Fox Brau Austin, Texas tazmazan@gmail.com I received a great update from Tommy O’Dowd. His oldest daughter Katie (24) is getting married to a wonderful guy in May 2013. His daughter Stephanie (22) is graduating from college next month and is in the process of selecting a Law School following in her mother’s footsteps. Tommy’s “baby” Connor, 21 and 6’2”, is a junior at The University of California Santa Barbara with a double major, PreMed & Religious Studies. Tommy’s wife Vivian, Stanford University & UC Berkeley Law School grad, is busier than ever. Tommy is still in Real Estate. He brokers, invests and is building houses in Menlo Park and Atherton, CA. He says “with kids in Law School and Medical School it’s gonna be awhile before I consider retirement which I’m in no hurry to do because I love what I’m doing.” Craig Rutten has some wonderful news to report. “With the work of my wife and that of his, I’ve been reunited with my son, Chester C. Erwin. He is a project manager. His wife is a very successful real estate sales person. And they have two children, one girl and one boy.” Susan Davis Johnson and her daughter Kerry Johnson Anthony ’91 are doing weekly podcasts on everything from moms and daughters, the generation gap, family business and other perceptions of the world. You can find them on iTunes at “The Susan and Kerry Show” or at www. susanandkerryshow.com. The variety of topics is amazing as is the idea of having a Gen Xer and Boomer perspective on the same program. Susan Fantle writes that she is sorry she couldn’t be with us for our latest reunion. Susan lives in California and says the most exciting thing in her life is the purchase of a smoker that
they are using to smoke a holiday turkey. She adds “the excitement in life comes from small pleasures.” In November, several of us got together for a Thursday night dinner at Chez Zee in Austin. Ross Rommel and his lovely wife, Deborah Warren Rommel ’67, Madeline Maxwell, and Gordon Phillips ’63 had a great time catching up on the twists and turns of our lives. Ross is dividing his time between his Austin law office and their place in Hunt where he is growing olive trees. Madeline Maxwell is still Professor of Communication Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, where she’s the director of the UT Project on Conflict Resolution and chairs both graduate and undergraduate programs in conflict and disputes. One of the project activities is a summer program for high school students and any level teachers called the UT Global Ethics and Conflict Resolution Summer Symposium. Participants come to the campus for two weeks in June to learn about ethical conflict management in different societies and different situations. As part of the workshop, they also work with musicians and artists, make videos, and have fun. Lots of folks were doing fall travelling. Carol Cain Bates and husband Robert, were in France on a huge trip. They returned about the time Roy Flukinger headed out for Spain. I received a nice note from Anna Horton, wife of the late George Horton. She was in the process of sorting, packing and staging an estate sale in preparation for her December move from Central Texas to Maryland where their daughter Campbell, a doctor at Johns Hopkins, and her granddaughter live. Chez Zee has become our go-to place for Austin gatherings. When Richard Low and his wife Susan came into town earlier in the year, we had a wonderful brunch there.
Richard is a pediatrician in Houston and quite a storyteller. His grown children keep him well supplied with adventures that make for entertaining stories. Georgia Hinkle Akers sent her latest “Bull Report.” Georgia’s young bull, Earl, came in fifth out of 67 bulls in a competition in Las Vegas. Georgia says, “He travels more than we do!” Jonathan Phillips sent me a great list of Kinkaid snippets that he remembers. Here are a few Football bus trips, playing bridge in the senior courtyard (with Suzanne, Dallas, and Tommy Lee), Model A and the parking lot, the costume loft in the auditorium, the senior lounge, and all the wonderful school plays. Speaking of school plays. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that G’ann Boyd, former Kinkaid teacher, lives a few blocks away from me in Austin. As it happens, she is in a retirement center where I go to vote. On Election Day, I met her in the lobby. Gordon Phillips and I took over our yearbooks and had a great time recalling our drama days, especially “Archie and Mehitabel.” That was the quirky show we did in the spring of 1963 that showcased G’Ann’s ability to make awkward high school students look like seasoned dancers. It makes me want to break out singing, “Cherio my deario.” Does anyone recall who played the cockroach? Here’s a hint. He’s a Shakespeare pro and well-known Houston actor. In early November, Susan Underwood Merriman and her husband Bill were visiting Virginia Brown in Galveston. They wondered if they saw Ruddy Cravens on the TV series Nashville as the attorney and did a web search. The three discovered that in addition to all his stage work, Ruddy has been in many movies and TV shows. Marcia Murphey sent a great update. “65 years alive just blew me way… phew!...it’s been some work…dog, Delilah, just turned 15….Olive, the turtle, she’s hibernating.” I received some sad news from Tommy Lee about our classmate, Suzanne Boyle Varner, who passed away on October 17th in South Carolina. Suzanne and her family were a big part of Kinkaid. It was Suzanne’s father who selected the land for the current location for the school. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family during this difficult time, especially during the holiday season. As for me, Tami Fox Brau, Austin jumped on the world stage with the F1 races the same week my fiveyear old grandson crashed the Girls
WINTER 2013
School of Austin monthly reading event at Book People, wowing everyone with his impromptu reading of his newly-acquired super hero book. To say we were all stunned is an understatement.
1966 Pat Kidson Cavanagh Houston, Texas pat.cavanagh@kinkaid.org Tua Smith Burke is still a funny girl! She writes, “I will have to think about this. My life is just boring...lol! But I did go to Boise, Idaho, to see my daughter Nina. She has three children. Her youngest, Cash, will be a year old in December. Grandson Preston is then years old, and granddaughter Blake is six. Natalie, my youngest daughter, lives in Houston. She has two children. Grandson Miles is seven and granddaughter Reese is eight. Gayl Ware Carlberg and husband Chuck are still at the helm of their Houston ad agency, Richards/ Carlberg. They love it! Never a dull moment and always exciting challenges out there to solve. Their son Chris Carlberg ’01 is doing great in Austin in the ad business and daughter Kirby Carlberg ’04 has her eye on moving back to Texas after five wonderful years in NYC, also in the ad biz. Gayl and Chuck are excited at the prospect of having both kids back in Texas! John Diffey and Martha are busy in Pennsylvania. He writes, “son Matt and his fiancé Theodora (Teddie) will be married after he receives his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. Matt will be joining the London office of a consulting firm after graduation, a move that will make it easy for us, and for Teddie’s family in Athens, to see them fairly often. Louisa is back at the University of Denver for her senior year. She spent her junior year in France and is taking Hindi and Tibetan in preparation for a winter course in India. She will graduate next June. Martha and I continue to enjoy our work and so many other dimensions of this stage of life.” David Boldrick is happy to report that youngest son Zach and wife Lauren, who live in Anchorage, were down recently with grandson Sam to visit for a week. David and Susan just bought a new place near uptown Dallas where “all the cool places and young people hang out. Way cooler than the quiet suburbs of 28 years.” Middle son Ryan and Anne Marie are having a matched set of baby girls. “I do not even remember
Class of 1964 Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter’s grandson Kyle (left), granddaughter Delaney (middle), grandson Justin (right) and friends 27