and Dick Conway writes from Redlands, CA. Walt Mahoney is in St. Petersburg, FL, and Kemp Hannon writes from Garden City, NY. • Elaine Gallahue Schembari, an RN, is leaving the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and moving back to Scituate. • Patricia Lakusta Bianco says she recently attended husband Charlie’s 50th reunion at BC and is now looking forward to ours. • Carolyn Snow Blumit is in Phoenix. John Boyle lives in West Redding, CT, and has a winter address in Naples, FL. • Mark Branon is a physician. He hosted Ray Sarno and Ray’s granddaughter in Princeton, NJ, on their way from Colorado to New York City. • James, MA’69, and Jeanne (Supple) Cavanaugh, MEd’87, write from Somerville. Jim retired as headmaster of Watertown High, and Jeanne retired as manager of training and publication services at MIT Information Services. • Joe Catanzano Jr. sold his dental practice and is now “administering” the new dental office with the proviso that he and wife Pam spend three months each year in Maine. • Speaking of dentists: I had a nice conversation with Mike Equi in Cohasset and heard from Arthur Daniels in Andover. • Sadly we report the passing of Natalie Mara. An RN, Natalie received her MS from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her CNP from UMass. She was a supervisor for the Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association in Pittsfield. The class extends its condolences to her family and friends. • The class has arranged a cruise from Boston to Bermuda and back, departing on June 6. You should have received an email notice of same, provided BC has a current email address for you. Contact us at the address below if you would like any information.
Correspondents: Charles and Mary-Anne Benedict chasbenedict@aol.com 84 Rockland Place Newton Upper Falls, MA 02464
NC 1967 Would that we all had the energy of Donna Shelton! She spends a lot of time traveling with her husband, Frank. Last May they drove through Portugal and northern Spain for two weeks, particularly enjoying Santiago de Compostela. September found them in Minneapolis and along Lake Superior with their daughter’s family, including the newest family member, a six-month-old grandson. Her other three active “grands” are close by her in northern Virginia. In fact, I may have to watch out: The oldest is in eighth grade at the school where I work as a substitute, with the current sixth-grader ready to follow next year. (I promise I won’t embarrass them if I end up in their class.) In October Donna and Frank headed to eastern Turkey for three weeks to see the ancient ruins. Come January they expect to be in Vietnam and Cambodia. In between, Donna occasionally works as a consultant for General Dynamics. As a couple, she and Frank have assumed the additional challenge of raising funds to support the building projects of Pro Vita Orphanage in Romania. Through private donations and visiting volunteers, it serves more than 400 children, battered women, the intellectually challenged, and mentally ill adults in that community. Donna and Frank were volunteers there in 2012 and committed to do more. • Kathy Hurd Ohm writes that she was reminiscing about the pleasure of
seeing so many at our last reunion, and she later had a memorable time visiting with Betsy Becherer Minnar in the Napa Valley near her home in San Rafael. Kathy still works as a coach for start-up companies and facilitates strategic planning, and she also teaches a confirmation class at a Newman Center in San Francisco. And she is often looking for more adventures—all to, as she states, “put off building my own stone wall.” She is very grateful for her Newton days and contacts, especially as they still endure these 50 years later. Her youngest daughter is a Sacred Heart alumna also, having graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco—but, alas, she didn’t go to Massachusetts for college. • That’s it for now. As I write, we are heading into the holiday season; perhaps when you read this, as spring approaches, I will also get news from you, directly or through BC. For now, God bless you and your families.
Correspondent: M. Adrienne Tarr Free thefrees@cox.net 3627 Great Laurel Lane Fairfax, VA 22033-1212; 703-709-0896
1968 Lots of news in our BC’68 mailbag this time. Bob Ketels and his wife, Kathy, traveled to BC from their home in North Carolina last September for Pops on the Heights and the Colorado State game. They enjoyed a fun visit and dinner in the North End with Bob’s former roommate, Barry Gilman, and his wife, Tammy. At home, Bob serves as a volunteer and board president of the Bald Head Island Conservancy—and he is a truly loyal BC fan. • Paul Deschenes, MEd’69, is a retired school psychologist who teaches part-time at Cambridge College. Recently, he and his former BC carpoolers gathered for a lobster feast, in memory of their late commuting member Ed Kenney. The group included Tom Mahoney, Bill Dolan, and Larry Maguire. Larry retired last year after teaching English at a women’s university in Seoul, South Korea, for many years. Paul reminded us that about 120 members of our original BC’68 class hailed from BC High. • We are proud of our BC High classmate John Normant, who is the recipient of this year’s St. Ignatius Award, the highest honor bestowed on a graduate of BC High who exemplifies high moral character and selfless service to the community. John has been an outstanding track coach and teacher for over 30 years at BC High, where he had a profound impact on his students. He also served nearly two decades as president of the Needham Track Club. John is a member of the Parish Pastoral Council and a Eucharistic minister at St. Bartholomew in Needham. We salute you, John! Thanks to my friend Charlie Anderson, MEd’71, for sharing this good news. • Our illustrious class scribes continue generating honors. Check out Bryan Curtis’s October 10 article in Grantland, titled “The Commissioner,” highlighting the career of Bob Ryan. It begins: “No one—no one ever—wrote an NBA gamer like Bob Ryan.” The article is sheer pleasure.
Correspondent: Judith Anderson Day jnjday@aol.com The Brentwood 323 11500 San Vicente Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90049
NC 1968 Years and years ago, the three Rs were associated with reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic. In 2014 the three Rs morphed into meaning reunions (50th from high school), retirement, and river cruises for Newton ’68 classmates. • Polly Kayser Hober writes that she finally retired from teaching AMI Montessori Primary after 41 years, although she still does administrative work. In November she and Steve took a Rhine River cruise with a stop in Bruges. The Hobers have seven grandchildren, ranging in age from 14 to 1. Four reside in San Jose, CA, and three in Coeur d’Alene, ID. Polly’s 98-year-old mother lives in Vermont. • Suzanne Parillo Shetler called Gingi Donahue Donohue, her Newton roommate, while making plans to return to New Jersey for her high school reunion. Although the trip did not materialize, Suzanne and Gingi did reconnect via email. Suzanne lives in Westerville, OH, a suburb of Columbus, with husband Wayne. They have two children: Lori, a stay-at-home mother, and Brian, a graduate student at Drew University. Andrew is their adorable six-year-old grandson. Suzanne recently retired from McGraw-Hill, where she was editorial director of World Languages for K–12 Spanish, French, and Latin programs. Upon “retirement,” Suzanne created a consulting firm, Literary Graphics, and is presently involved in elementary remedial programs for language arts and Spanish and volunteering at a local school, helping struggling readers. Gingi returned to CSH in Greenwich, CT, for her reunion. • Jeanne Daley and Linda Carroll reconnected after almost 20 years and had a wonderful time together at their Holy Child reunion in Rye, NY. Linda lives in Bend, OR, and is an MD specializing in physical medicine. She and her partner, Ann, raise horses. • Marcy McPhee Kenah reports that she recently attended a BC football game with Susie Derry Hughes. Susie retired in June from her position as a social worker dealing with elder abuse. Marcy and her husband, Larry ’68, completed a 14-day Danube River cruise that began in Budapest and ended, after an additional three-hour bus ride, in Prague. • Kathy Hastings Miller, Ellen Mooney Mello, and Judy Vetter have plans for a Rhine River cruise in May, embarking in Amsterdam and finishing in Switzerland. By the way, Judy is a member of the Council for Women of Boston College. • From Colorado, Marge Gaynor Palmer flew to New York to attend a reunion at White Plains High School. There she caught up with our freshman class president, Sally Perreault Darney, who lives in North Carolina. Sally earned her PhD in anatomy and reproductive biology from the University of Hawaii and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Among her many achievements, Sally has worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as president of the Society for the Study of Reproduction. Her research in reproductive toxicology and epidemiology has been published in over 100 research papers and review articles. • The Ursuline School in New Rochelle, NY, was the June reunion site for Anne Mulligan Hartmere, Catharine Murray Ryan, Ellen Meehan Murray, and me, while Kathy Hogan Mullaney enjoyed seeing Alicia Guedes Franzosa again at the Newton Country Day reunion.
Correspondent: Jane Sullivan Burke janeburke17@gmail.com
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