13 minute read
CLASS NOTES
Joann Talbot Lumino ’53 is still enjoying life in Hampden. Muriel Dinsmore Munz ’54 celebrated her 65th wedding anniversary and has three sons, five grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Gail Trefethen Juber ’57 is married with six children, eleven grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. She is a retired accounting manager with her BS degree from the University of New Haven in 1979.
Katherine McHale Powell ’60 sends her greetings to fellow alumni. She still enjoys her part-time government contract playing music for Masses at nearby Eglin Air Force Base. She has been a church musician since she was 15!
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Laurie Hoffer Chavira ’64 and her husband, Oscar, stay busy. They are healthy, happy, love each other, and love God. They are grateful for their faith and continue to minister to others in whatever way is needed. Paul McGuire ’64 is finally retired at the age of 74 2/3. He is now able to sleep in EVERY morning! Jim Soucie ’65 is still curious about how things are made, how they work, get repaired, and why they break. He is a mechanical engineer who put himself through college working construction during the summers. He stayed working construction through the recession and finally got to use his degree in 1979 and retired in 2018. If anyone wants to know anything about old 3-cylinder Saabs, ask Jim. His favorite show is “How It’s Made”.
Edward Stover ’66 is a retired Senior Project Engineer (electrical). He and his wife Mary have three daughters, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. He is also retired from the US Navy. Peggy Ann Caron Whitson ’71 has retired from the radiation oncology profession and enjoys living in the mountains of Tennessee. Michael Lamson ’73 is retired, but still consulting. And golfing! Bill ’75 and Susan White Baker ’76 welcomed their second grandson, Cohen William Baker, in May 2021. Mary Alice Boyd White ’95 wanted to share that she was married on October 2, 2021, and is now Mary White!
Megan McBurnie ’06 did a Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship at Mass General Hospital in Boston. Zac LaPierre ’08 owns and operates ‘This Lil Piggy’ food truck with his wife Anna. The truck features barbecue and can be found around the Bangor/Brewer area. Nikki Holland Atkins ’10 is a Pharmacy Manager in Skowhegan. She and her husband, Dylan, married in 2018, and welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Finnegan, to their family in January, 2021. They reside in Pittsfield.
Jason McBurnie ’10 is an optometrist in Crown Point, Indiana.
Morgan Rublee ’10 and Dillon Jordan ’10 reunited in 2019 while both were working in Europe. Morgan was an English teacher and department chair at Foxcroft Academy and Dillon is a Captain in the U.S. Army. The John Bapst “sweethearts” had an October 2021 wedding. They will reside in El Paso, Texas, where Dillon is stationed.
Marissa Rublee ’11 is a registered dietician nutritionist and is currently working as a counselor at Kaleidoscope Eating Disorders & Diet Recovery Center in Portland. She was married to Cameron Campbell in September 2021, and they reside in southern Maine. Amber Oakes ‘12 graduated from the University of Maine with a BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders, an MA in Human Development, and a certificate in Special Education. She has done work in human services as an ed tech, and was a coach for Orono field hockey and Brewer middle school softball. She serves on the The Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing board in Falmouth. Currently an American Sign Language teacher at Brewer High School, she lives in Brewer.
Madeline Branch ‘12 graduated from American University in 2016 and lives in Washington, DC., working at the U.S. Department of State.
Rebecca (Leathers) Severance ‘12 graduated from Maine Maritime Academy with her BS in International Business & Logistics in 2016 and then went to graduate school, earning a Master of Science in Global Logistics & Maritime Management. She went on to work with Pepsi Beverages in Stratford, CT before leaving to join Ahold Delhaize USA (parent company of Hannaford) where she is now managing freight transportation. She lives with her husband, Wade, in Raymond, ME. Maria Ullo, Ph.D. ‘12 earned her Bachelors of Science at Rensselaer Polytech for Biology in 2016. She next pursued her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science at Albany Medical College and is currently a postdoctoral research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a lab where she’s studying the biochemistry of proteins implicated in cancer. Sian Douglas ‘13 graduated from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, with a degree in economics in 2017. She went on to graduate school at UMass Boston in 2019 with a degree in Applied Economics. Originally an international student herself, Sian would be happy to share advice _ especially for international students” Casey McGuire ‘13 graduated from Oberlin College in 2017, with a major in Geology and minors in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. She has worked as a park guide, a hydrologic technician for the USGS in Augusta, and now work as a consultant hydrogeologist for an environmental consulting company in Scotland. Christina Long ‘13 is a veterinarian near Denver, CO. She graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in June 2021 with a degree in veterinary medicine, and from UC Davis in 2017 with a degree in animal science. She continues to enjoy music, having sung with the London Symphony Chorus during vet school. One of their albums was nominated for a Grammy last year. Ashton Ortiz ‘13 studied Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Biomechanics at the University of Arizona, graduating in 2017. She is now working for the biotech consulting firm, Verista, as a senior project engineer and is in management and execution at Abbott Rapid Diagnostics, doing validation on their Covid test production lines. Lauren Tribuzio ’14 graduated from EMCC and is employed by the Bangor Fire Department as a Paramedic Firefighter. Jiazheng (Bob) Sun ‘15 graduated from Georgia Tech in 2018 and Carnegie Mellon University for graduate study, earning computer science degrees. Currently in the greater Seattle area, he works as a software engineer and is now about to join Niantic as a software engineer. G. Owen Leaden ‘15 graduated from Marist College in 2019. Following research with IBM, he interned at a data backup company, before moving to ConEd (NYC Utility) and risk management in their Information Security Department. He is currently
at Flashpoint Intelligence as a security engineer. He enjoys life in New York City, hopping around Queens and Brooklyn. Rongcan “Phoenix” Sun ‘16 graduated from Case Western with a BS in Biochemistry in January 2020. She started her Master of Public Health at Yale in August 2020 and will be graduating with a MPH in Environmental Health Sciences. Next up, a move to Greensboro, NC and work as an associate consultant in the R&D advisory team for Syneos Health. Megan Tribuzio ’17 attends Husson University and is employed as a police officer for the Belfast Police department. Chuong “Peter” Dong ‘18 has been engaged in the malware reverse engineering field (analyzing ransomware). His work has been recognized by major groups in the field, including the FBI. Peter has been interviewed by international news outlets, including Reuters, regarding the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. He went on to earn an internship at FireEye/ Mandiant, a reverse engineering team, where he will continue in a fulltime position. Peter is quick to “dedicate [his] success” to John Bapst Engineering and Technology Department Chair Mike Murphy.
LET US CONNECT YOU!
Current students always welcome the opportunity to be in contact with alums to learn about your professional path, experience, and expertise. If you are willing to chat in-person or via Zoom, offer a shadow, or lend insight in another way, we’d love to hear from you! Please let us know by emailing info@johnbapst.org and typing “Connect with an Alum” in the subject line. Thank you!
A SPECIAL TRIBUTE: John F. MacKay
John Bapst sadly notes the passing of one of our “re-founding fathers.” John F. MacKay, LTC, U.S. Army Retired, died April 16, 2022. In 1980, those closely connected with John Bapst High School faced an important decision. The school had just been closed by the Catholic Diocese of Portland, and the challenge faced was whether a private school could reopen in its place in time for fall classes. Ever the public servant, John refused to believe John Bapst High School should be closed. Within three months, he and three others (Bill Lindsay, Earle Hannigan, Joe Sekera), along with the support of countless others, petitioned the diocese, worked with the former staff, and incorporated a new school. John Bapst Memorial High School reopened in September of 1980 as a private school. Thanks to the commitment of John, John Bapst has become one of the top private schools in New England, serving students from Bangor and its many surrounding communities, as well as students from around the world. As John himself said: “We had a dream the school would survive; it is now very much alive.” John will be dearly missed and forever in our hearts. Our condolences to his dear wife, Ann, and his entire family.
IN MEMORIAM
Our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the following John Bapst alumni and friends who have passed on. Alumni
Sophie Shaboski Wood ’37 Richard “Dick” Martin ’46 Francis W. Boyle ’48 William C. Hughes ’49 Kenneth J. Harvey ’51 John “Tim” Timothy Smith ’52 Denise “Dee Dee” Hachey Ketchen ’55 Margaret “Anne” McManus Sage ’55 Brian F. Murray ’56 Robert “Bob” W. Reynolds ’58 Joseph E. Brooks ’60 Ernest L. Gray, III ’61 Robert John Cota ’62 John A. Leeman, Jr. ’62 Michael J. McInnis ’64 Peter Thomas Bosse ’65 John M. Samways ’65 Robert D. Cochrane ’68 William J. Leeman ’68 John “Tom” Thomas Tennett, Sr. ’68 Ellen Andrle Breindel ’75 Michael F. Dionne ’77 Jacob “Jay” Munson ’86
Friends
Joseph C. Alex Rhonda J. Bickmore Mary S. Boyd Larry E. Bragg Anthony “Tony” Joseph Brasslett, Sr. William A. Charpentier, Sr. Margaret “Marge” Cecelia Hunt John F. MacKay, LTC, U.S. Army Retired Coco Pacholski John “Randy” Perry II Helen Placella Beverly Ann Rogers Larry R. Smith Sophia L. Wirta
Sherry Lowe ‘62
Sherry Lowe lives an interesting, busy and productive life, including being recently awarded the Key to the City of Bangor. She visited her alma mater as she made plans for her upcoming 60th reunion. In her words:
My father left when I was eight years old and my mother struggled to support me and my three sisters. We moved a lot, sometimes staying with relatives, and the five of us even hitch-hiked from Oklahoma City to Bangor, thinking that our father wanted to take care of us – but he didn’t. I had a wonderful experience at John Bapst High School. It started when I became Catholic while living at St. Michael’s Children’s Home. My divorced mother took an extra job at St. Michael’s to help support us and they offered housing for my sisters and me during the week. I was a scholarship student at Bapst. Two of my sisters also went to John Bapst. Teachers who influenced me were Sister Mary Jerome, who taught English including Shakespeare; Sister Mary Luke, who was the principal; and Sister Mary Raymond, who taught history. She was the first person to tell me I was smart and I needed to work harder. I know they were all as surprised as I was when I won the Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow award for my class, a national exam given to senior girls. In short, John Bapst helped instill in me the confidence to go on and do some pretty great things! Victoria Caesar Greeley, Bapst Class of 1951, encouraged me to enter the Miss Bangor Pageant my senior year. She taught me how to walk in high heels, discuss current events, and even made the clothing I wore in the pageants. I competed in 1962 with Anna Capparelli ‘61, Patty Kinney Knowles ‘62, and Lorna Perry Capparelli ‘62. (In 1962 our apartment burned and Lorna loaned me a beautiful gold dress for prom.) Anna won that year. I decided to keep trying, and won the third year. Being Miss Bangor served as a springboard for many exciting things in my life. I went to the WLBZ-TV station to do a promo for the Miss Maine Pageant. They asked if I would be interested in applying for the Weather Girl job, so I spent my year doing the weather, Monday through Friday evenings. I also participated in the show Weird on Saturday nights with Eddie Driscoll. I made a lot of appearances and met many wonderful people. I worked for Hertz Car Rental, renting cars to passengers arriving at the airport, where I became interested in becoming a stewardess. I was hired by United, went to Chicago for training, and was based there. As Miss Bangor, I was invited to christen a B-52 Bomber that Dow Air Force Base named “The City of Bangor.” The bomber made many missions. When the Cold War ended, Russia and the United States agreed to “cut apart” the B52s. Last year, the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon received the cockpit of that bomber to refurbish and display in their museum, which is seven football fields long. (Youtube The Tillamook Air Museum An Introduction). The museum director, who contacted me through Facebook and Linkedin, has been interested in my stories about the day of the christening. The exhibit will be ready in June or July and I plan to attend the opening. In Chicago I met a University of Illinois Ph.D. candidate in speech and hearing science, John Lowe III, and we have been married 55 years. We have two sons and three grandsons. I was the Illinois coordinator for an art project for peace in 1985 using skills learned at Bapst and various jobs. The Peace Ribbon was a grassroots project with participation worldwide. (YouTube “The Peace Ribbon 1985” or see youtube.com/watch?v=9cqDjA7ueqM). People depicted what they couldn’t bear to lose in nuclear war on 18 x 36-inch fabric panels. The panels were joined to form a ribbon intended to circle the Pentagon on the 40th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The number of panels received was so large that it circled Washington, D.C. from the capital to the Pentagon and back, about 15 miles. Aside from my family, I am most proud of my participation in this project. I went to college and studied nursing, graduating at 46 years of age – just in time to help pay for the five college degrees our sons completed. After graduating 60 years ago, I am still proud of John Bapst and glad it continues to educate young people. If any of them have the blessed life I have had, they will be happy.
Bangor’s Madisson Higgins ‘24, Miss Maine Teen USA 2022, met Miss Bangor 1964 Sherry Lowe ‘62 as Sherry was presented the Key to the City of Bangor recently. Inset: As Miss Bangor, 1964.
–Sherry Lowe ‘62
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Student research on Mount Desert Island Rock, part of Dr. Tanya Lubansky’s Field Biology class.
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Jen Tower Development Associate jtower@johnbapst.org Eric Zelz ‘78 Director of Communications and Alumni Relations ezelz@johnbapst.org
