himself. They also enjoyed a special appearance by Jenny’s hula-hoop, and a last-minute cameo by Pat O’Donohue who arrived around 9:30 pm for what must have been 8 hours of round-trip driving to spend less than 12 hours of actual time at reunion. Speaking of driving, thankful recognition goes to Brendan Gamb and Jen Cole Gamb for their generous shuttle service. This saved them at least 10 minutes of walking, and most likely a night’s sleep on the golf course for several. Sunday morning was mostly spent searching for Jeremy’s brand-new Talladega hat in the various sorority houses and trying to jump-start his parents’ truck, which they had abandoned on Whitnall Field somewhere along the way. Also, Pete made a last-minute stop by the house, claiming to be looking for a nametag, in what was actually a poorly veiled attempt to scavenge leftover beers and any scraps of food that Jeff may have inadvertently missed. As they made their way out of town and toward the Syracuse airport, Jeremy reflected on the amazing time they had and dealt with a bit of despair that it would be another 5 years until much of the group gets together again. He will be returning every year and challenges any and all to do the same. Alas, he’s afraid that it will be difficult to top the 20th! Jeremy thanks the whole gang for the fond memories. Meg Boisseau Allison, along with close friends Beth Pontari, Abigail Doolittle, Annabrooke Temple, Sarah Billipp Barrett, Amy Hunsinger Merickel, and Dina Shapiro Glassman all rented a beautiful house on Lake Moraine for reunion where they were delighted to spend the long weekend together and take advantage of all the fun things on and off campus — including the Old Stone Jug, which they were particularly pleased to see hadn’t changed one lick. Outside of reunion, Meg recently accepted a new job as department head of the library at U32 Middle and High School in Montpelier, VT. A former Vermont Teacher of the Year and Global Teacher Fellow, Meg hopes to bring a new level of colleagueship, rigor, and relevance to an already strong library program. She lives in the Mad River Valley of VT, so if you’re ever skiing or riding at Sugarbush or Stowe, give her a ring. She happens to know the location of all the good powder stashes (and might be willing to share…) as well as the good swimming holes for summer visits. Sarah (Billipp) Barrett had a blast at reunion. She and her husband live in Moscow, ID — home to the U of Idaho. It’s been a great small-town chapter for the couple, and they’re shooting to move back east next year. Sarah is wrapping up an MFA in creative writing and teaching firstyear English. She and her husband, a scientist with a penchant for golf and fly-fishing, have a daughter named Eleanor (2). Sarah comments that life is sweet! Melissa Klika moved to Madison, NJ, in early 2014. She actually purchased the house of another Colgate alum, Madeline Paske Baulig ’92. Melissa had a blast at reunion and enjoyed rooming again with Esta Georgia Amedeo, although Bryan Complex is apparently in serious need of remodeling! She also had a chance to catch up with old friends like Danny Walker, Jeff Wall, Mike Boorman, Matt McDonald, Ned Keliher, and Bill Gellman. A few weeks prior to reunion, Melissa hosted a BBQ at her house where she had fun catching up with Carrie Friedman Craig and Jason Craig, as well as Brad Dexter ’96 and his wife, Rhea. After living in the greater NYC area (NJ to Manhattan to Westchester) for the past 15+ years, Esta Georgia Amedeo and her husband moved to West Hartford, CT, 3 years ago. She never 68
scene: Autumn 2015
expected to live in CT, but loves it there. She and her husband, Tom (Binghamton ’00), were married in January 2013 and bought a home that same July. It’s an old home with a lot of “charm” so they’ve spent a lot of time making it theirs. Following a fabulous reunion weekend, where Esta was thrilled to catch up with several good friends (a lot like 20 years ago, only now she gets tired at 10 pm, can’t drink more than 2 beers, and can’t fall asleep in a dorm bed), she and Tom decided to add another member to their family and brought home a 10-week-old chocolate lab named Abby. She is absolutely adorable — sweet 90% of the time and a raging lunatic the other 10%. She’s only been with them for 3 weeks, but they already can’t imagine life without her. On the professional front, Esta works at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, where she’s been for 11 years in the marketing department. She’s currently responsible for marketing to individual insurance purchasers and has been responsible for leading the company’s marketing efforts through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Never a dull moment, it’s an industry that continues to change and keep things interesting. Anna Lawler Stein and her husband, Jake Stein (Ithaca ’96), had a great time catching up with friends at reunion. The couple continues to live in Yardley, PA, just outside of Philly, with their 2 kids, Rachel (10) and Will (6). Anna is still in private practice as a forensic and clinical psychologist in NJ and PA, doing evaluations for the courts as well as for nuclear security clearance. She really enjoys her job and the flexibility with her hours and the different areas her career has pulled her in. She’s always learning from the people she evaluates and gets to talk to people from all walks of life and with so many diverse experiences — sometimes she can’t believe she gets paid to talk to people all day! Juggling work with parenthood is tough, however, and she wishes she had more time for both endeavors. Their family has been enjoying the summer — they went to Disney World in June, as well as a week at their Poconos, PA, home. They’ll be road-tripping down south in August to visit Williamsburg, VA, Savannah, GA, and Tybee Island, GA. Also returning for reunion was James Elkus who, after living in Dallas for 6 years, moved to Fairfield, CT, in the fall of 2013 with his family. He is enjoying being back in the area and reconnecting with old friends on the Eastern Seaboard. After many years in investing and real estate, James co-founded a private placement advisory firm, Longstone Capital Advisors, to assist alternative asset managers with capital raising. James recently golfed in south Florida with Brett Langbert, who is thriving under the sun, enjoying life with his family, and making way in his new position as a wealth adviser with Bernstein Global Wealth Management. Jason Corrigan and his wife, Marion, had a great Independence Day weekend with Dave Keyt ’97 and his wife, Jenny; Mike Markowitz ’94 and his wife, Kathy; and all their families. With 8 children among the 3 couples, they celebrated with a festive gathering, beachfront at the Jersey Shore. Jason followed that up with some quality time with Adam Graev over a fun weekend, also at the Jersey Shore. Jason is VP and general counsel at the Estee Lauder Companies in NYC, while Adam is a managing director with Deutsche Bank Private Equity, also in NYC. Stacey May Wierzba sent greetings from Alexandria, VA, and was very sorry to miss reunion, but she and her husband, Eric Wierzba (Wisconsin ’95), were in Napa Valley celebrating wine and their 10th wedding anniversary. They,
and their 2 children — Hayden (9) and Kate (6) — are busy with summer activities including swim team, tennis lessons, and spending time with their grandparents (Brenda and Jack May ’65) in Annapolis, MD. Christian Teeter recently relocated to southern CA from the Bay Area to assume a professorship at Mount St Mary’s U. He served as program chair for reunion and sends a hearty “hello” to all of his good friends who were unable to attend. He will be actively planning alumni events in the Orange County region, including a 2016 talk by Professor Andrew Rotter on the Vietnam War, set to take place at the Richard Nixon Library. Adrian Hanley married Amy Horner Hanley (Middlebury ’97) on Aug 23, 2014, in Forest City, PA, featuring an intimate ceremony with Elk Mtn in the background. A larger celebration occurred during November in Arlington, VA, with fellow alumni Chris Day, Ryan Riley, John Lichstein, Brian Appel ’96, and Rob Stine ’96 in attendance. They honeymooned in the Azores, and the couple resides in Arlington, VA. It was great to see so many of you back for reunion. I want to give a shout-out to a few other classmates back for the weekend including Karen Block Morse, Bridget Klein Curry, Kathleen Galligan Bennett, Tiffany Binder Fehrenbach, Chris Herman, Dan Glassman, Tara Hunt de Vries, Kevin Krasinski, Jen Thibeau, Brandon Himoff, Eric Von Stroh, Celia Gerard, Finley Shaw, and Chris Wilson. Would love to hear from you guys with updates on yourselves and friends, as well as those of you who weren’t able to make the weekend! In personal news, Jen (Armstrong) Schreiber and I moved in early June from Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood just a little farther north to the Lakeview neighborhood (Blaine/ Southport corridor for those of you familiar with Chicago). Still unpacking, argh, but our family is enjoying the new house and neighborhood. Our new address is above. Thanks to all of you who responded to my post-reunion plea for news! Really appreciate it. Apologies for any omissions or errors with respect to attendance, spellings or otherwise… Please send updates. Take care and stay well! David: 773-281-8152; daschreiber13@gmail.com
1996 Monique Rucker Monique: monique.rucker@sinai.org, text or call 410-207-6701, or Facebook Monique Glover Rucker
Reunion June 2–5, 2016
1 9 97 Amy McKnight Fazen 68 Pine Crest Road Newton Center, MA 02459-2118 Hi, everyone. Rachel Schifter Thebault writes, “Over Memorial Day weekend, we were out in San Fran visiting, and we went over to Mac McConnell’s house for a barbecue. While there, Jon Bloomberg had the idea that we should definitely send this in for Colgate news! The BBQ included Thys Heyneker, me and Robin Thebault ’99, Mac and Amy Carlson McConnell, Megan Ochampaugh Frank, Jon, and Mike Russell (as well as many spouses, girlfriends, kids, and dogs).” Please keep the news coming! Best, Amy Amy: colgate1997news@hotmail.com
19 9 8 Carmella Alvaro 611 Valley Drive Durham, NC 27704 Carm: colgate1998@gmail.com
19 9 9 Katie Raisio Abstoss Katie: kabstoss@gmail.com
2000 Katie Tone Brock 11209 Crossland Drive Austin, TX 78726 Greetings, all! This is Devon Skerritt, guest reporting this issue. I am psyched to report that we had more than 75 classmates attend our 15th Reunion at Colgate at the end of May. Ainslie Ellis, Colgate’s director of special events and leadership gift officer, was there to greet me, along with an amazing sun-filled campus for much of our time. First, a huge shout-out to Courtney Bellomo, Amanda Lubit, and Sharon Secor for representing at pretty much every single class activity we had, including holding our banner at the all-class parade (which ended downtown, where there was a thriving farmers’ market and kids playing at our still-standing if modestly rusted over Class of 2000 fountain). Courtney is a successful doctor in CA, Amanda is in quality improvement and program development at Central City Concern in Portland, OR, and Sharon is a lawyer extraordinaire in SoCal. Tracy Tanner Beasley was also there with her family enjoying the sights and taking a break from the same job she’s had since graduating, at Towers Watson, where she is a senior consultant. Also, my old roommates came out, including my brother Matt Marucci (also a banner holder), who just celebrated the birth of his 2nd adorable daughter, Nora Mae Marucci, 6 lbs, 8 oz. The one-and-only Doug Wolfson and Vicky Ashworth Wolfson brought the family all the way from Hong Kong and we held court on the Hour Glass pool table like back in the day. Ron Varnum and Steph Scott Varnum were there and are doing great, with Ron still doing environmental law at Ballard Spahr while living in south Jersey. Nick Sun and his wife were there, in the process of moving to Chicago where Nick will be working for the Airport Disability Compliance Program at the Federal Aviation Administration. Silvio DiSisto and Mrs were there. Sil is still a corporate VP at New York Life. What a pleasure seeing Kiwanda Austin Stansbury, currently a strategic HR business partner and manager, diversity and inclusion at Family Dollar. Also, Dr Dionne Dixon, who was an interim medical director at Pasqua South Medical Center and just moved to ATL to assume an administrative post. Chi Chi Obichere Roxo is the manager in the government and public sector at EY. And, Francie Stewart is working at a law firm in Houston. Lisa Bank Beekman, now doing events marketing at Forrester Research, was there with her husband and adorable baby. I saw Julie Dubitsky Lazarus and Dave Lazarus, who recently moved to FL where Dave is an assistant US attorney and Julie fundraises at the Nature Conservancy; Dr Erin Mahoney, who is a pediatrician at Belmont Cambridge Health Care; Alli McGrath; and Jamie Moore, who teaches in Newton, MA. I ran into the always-delightful