class notes You’ll always be
counted for the class of
NC 1970
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
NC 1971
Correspondent: Fran Dubrowski dubrowski@aol.com
Correspondent: Melissa Robbins melrob49@sbcglobal.net
December brought sad news. Christine Degener (Spicher) York passed away after a lifetime in social work, including serving as Keene, NH’s human services director and as president of the New Hampshire Local Welfare Administrators Association. She helped create the In from the Cold homeless shelter and Keene’s SHARE New England low-cost food/volunteer service exchange program. In 2005, Gov. John Lynch cited her for outstanding service to flood victims. Please remember Christine in your prayers. • Maureen Soucy of Portland, OR, passed away in December 2010. Originally from Hartford, CT, she worked for the Social Security Administration after graduation and later became a licensed massage therapist. I extend our deepest sympathies to her twin and our classmate, Charleen Soucy; please remember both in your prayers. • On a happier note, Barbara Warner Zapp retired in January 2010 from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service National Program staff. She and Brian ’70 relocated to Lake Keowee, SC: “We are loving retirement—traveling, golf, and trips to nearby mountains.” • Lynne McCarthy couldn’t wait for retirement—and didn’t. She moved her retirement up in time to pack and head to the Sunshine State this fall. Expect news of beach conditions soon! She reports that Anne McDermott and Nancy Riley Kriz enjoyed a visit to Japan. • Lanie Odlum, new American Association for Justice HR director, takes seriously the maxim “It’s never too late” to try something new, but adds her own twist: do it on a grand scale. Her latest adventure (besides her new job): performing as an extra in Washington National Opera’s production of Nabucco. She “played an Austrian arts patron in an extremely uncomfortable dress—thank God for modern times!” • In a previous column, I commended classmates’ public service careers. Email indicates another “honor list” name: Joanne Wortman, who served as special education teacher at public Classical High School in Lynn. • I now chair Strategic Communications for the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, which has the initials SWC—a wry twist of fate. SWC has raised $9 million for innovative Smithsonian education and research projects—projects we select from highly competitive grant applications. The grants extend Smithsonian learning to many who, lacking proximity, mobility, or resources, cannot visit DC museums; the grants help build a “seriously amazing” world of knowledge on-site and online. I hope you visit our upcoming Craft2Wear show (October 26–28) and Craft Show (April 24–28), which fund these grants and keep those magic initials working!
As I write, summer approaches, and the Newton Class of ’71 is on the move! At 4:30 this morning, I drove my husband, Mike Lombardo, to the airport for his four-month fishing trip to Idaho. I’ll join him for the months of July and August. In the meantime, conversations with various classmates have yielded some interesting news. • Marie Robey Wood was spotted at the Potomac Hunt Races with injured service members from the Walter Reed Hospital. • Mary-Jo Dolliver Taddie sent an update from Florida. She is currently doing some volunteer work helping an elderly (that means much older than we are!) woman care for her dog. Mary-Jo visits her twice a day to walk the dog and help out in any way she can. This autumn, Mary-Jo will return to Maine for a month’s visit and will possibly pick me up in Connecticut for a jaunt back to Niagara Falls, where she’ll attend her 45th high school reunion. MaryJo shared news that Jane Maguire enjoyed a cultural and educational trip to Cuba in the spring. • Kate Foley has been staying close to home in 2012, but she and her husband, David Wright, will be taking a bit of time this summer to visit New Hampshire, where David has relatives. • Mary Ryan Dean is looking forward to seeing some of us in Rehoboth Beach, DE, in September. • Now, I know more classmates are reading this than are providing information about their lives. Please email me so I can include you in the next column!
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1971
Correspondent: James R. Macho jmacho71@bc.edu
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1972
Correspondent: Lawrence Edgar ledgar72@gmail.com I wasn’t able to attend the reunion, but I understand that there was a turnout of 80 members of the class. The one who traveled the farthest was Patrick Stoute, who is a social worker in Oakland, CA—and my fellow Gold Key Society officer. Among others who came in from other states were Dave and Barbara Ann Smith Costigan from St. Louis, where he is a gastroenterologist, and she works for a Lutheran service organization; Judy Trombino Marten, from Lisle, IL, who has raised five children (one of them a BC graduate), along with husband John ’71; Mary Cincotta Reed, from Richmond, VA, (wife of Austin ’73), several of whose children are graduates of Harvard; my double classmate Connie Voldstad, CEO of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association in New Jersey; and Pete and Pat Sherbondy Accinno and Gene McLaughlin, all from Connecticut. Pete is the CFO of the Environmental Defense Fund, and Pat is a nurse. Gene continues to work as the assistant town attorney of Greenwich. • There are at least two other class members who planned to attend from out of state, but had to cancel at the last minute. John Doherty, who works as a consultant in the Chicago office of 15 15 class class notes notes
PricewaterhouseCoopers, was sent to Saudi Arabia on an assignment just before the event, and Pat McGovern, still a surgeon in Bayonne, NJ, had to help his son Chris, who is an investment banker in New York, move into his new home there. • Congratulations to Tony Taccone, who received the 2012 Alumni Award at BC’s annual Arts Festival in April for his work as artistic director of the Berkeley (CA) Repertory Theatre. • I exchanged birthday phone calls with Orange County money manager John Coll, MBA’74, and learned that he had two visitors from our class last summer: John Sacco, who is retired and living in France, and Jon Sidoli, who is in charge of the theatre arts department at Independence (KS) Community College. • This is another quarter in which there are no obituaries of class members to report, thank God. But I wish condolences to the family of Howard Bernstein ’73. Howie was an attorney in Frederick, MD. He was a regular at the McElroy dining table that was headquarters for the most intense sports fans at the Heights (including numerous members of our class) throughout the early 1970s.
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
NC 1972
Correspondent: Nancy Brouillard McKenzie newton885@bc.edu Our 40th Reunion Weekend renewed our Sacred Heart spirit with all Newton alumnae, especially those celebrating their reunions on or off campus. We were abuzz with recurring themes of reaching milestones in our lives. Shelly Noone Connolly and Lisa Griessing’s husband, Ed, noted that we are a remarkable group of women, taught by the remarkable RSCJs. The kickoff dinner at Mary-Catherine Deibel’s UpStairs on the Square began with hugs and kisses, lots of conversation, and heavenly food. Maureen Kelly, Penny Price Nachtman, and Connie McConville Peirce arrived from California for the reunion. Kelly, newly retired from the corporate world, teased me that Maureen Harrington will be joining the annual January Newton Beach tea. After stints with Time magazine in Denver and People magazine in Los Angeles, Maureen opened Harrington Media Inc. She spends a good deal of time on the road with clients. Maureen helps both nonprofit and for-profit businesses strategize new and traditional media and produce websites and other Internet tools, and she also consults on marketing and PR campaigns. Penny teaches and coaches aspiring teachers and principals at the Graduate School of Education at Touro University. While her daughter was in China working as an autism specialist, Penny visited her and enjoyed the trip of a lifetime, with the Terracotta Warriors at the top of her highlight list. Penny’s son Daniel is a firefighter in a neighboring community. Although they had very tight schedules, Jane Hartley and Margot Dinneen Wilson attended the dinner. Congratulations to Jane, CEO of the Observatory Group, who was confirmed by the Senate to be a member of the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Margot, a member of our Reunion Committee, continues her successful realty career with Washington Fine Properties in DC. • Shelly and Michael