Ben Rich has been busy riding his electric motorcycle to promote electric vehicles for the past 3 summers and was the cover story on American Motorcyclist Magazine. “My journey took me from NJ to Mexico, then to Canada and back home. Also, I was interviewed by Long Riders Radio about that trip and am planning an even longer journey this summer. It would be great to see fellow Colgate grads along the way. I can be found on Facebook at Ben Rich – Electric Biker and would love to hear from any ’gate grads who ride. Also, last Aug, I was in a swing dance troupe that won the team division of the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington, DC. This is the top competition in swing dance so it was quite an honor! I live in Montclair and go swing dancing in NYC frequently.” (For more on Ben’s three-country adventure, see pg 58.) Tara Lyons Morley and her family recently wrapped up 2 years of living in El Salvador this June. Their adventures in Latin America aren’t over yet as Tara, her husband, Scott (West Point ’00), and 2 children head to Bogota, Colombia, in July for the next 2–3 years. “If you find yourself headed to Bogota, keep me posted; we’d love to see some friendly ’gate faces down our way!” Jen Crane married Lee Thompson (NJIT) on Oct 10, 2015, in a beautiful seaside ceremony on Long Beach Island, NJ, with Kristin Rinaldi and Alex Alton ’97 serving as bridesmaids and other Colgate ’99ers Emily Martin Potts, Eric Potts, and Kathy Stromsem in attendance. “Jen was a stunning bride, and it was a fabulous reunion!” And welcome to all the recent Class of ’99 babies! Martha Clawson Townsend and her husband, Chris, welcomed their 1st child, a girl named Vivian, on Feb 2. Jamie Morelli gave birth to Vaughn Alexander on Feb 16. He joins his big sister, Greta, who is 2 1/2. They now live in Chicago. Lauren Bello Okerman and her husband, Kyle, had a baby girl, Poppy Miles, on Nov 23 in Truckee, CA. And, Matt Lipson and his wife, Kari, welcomed a baby boy, Beau! That’s it for now — thanks again for all the updates! Katie: kabstoss@gmail.com
2000 Katie Tone Brock 11209 Crossland Drive Austin, TX 78726 Greetings, class. We have a brief, but special edition column for this issue of the Scene. As you may remember, Rory Macleod spent most of the past year pedaling across the country and back, raising money for World Bicycle Relief and experiencing American life and beauty firsthand. For this column, Rory shares a synopsis of his journey, and by publication, he will be off on his next adventure. Rory writes: “On April 2, after 9 months on the road, I returned home to San Francisco having biked a total of 14,455 miles through 35 states and 447,359 feet of elevation. Along the way, I got to visit with many Colgate friends, and we raised more than $20,000 for World Bicycle Relief. The adventure doesn’t end here; in early May I’ll be hopping on a plane to Europe to begin the next leg of my journey. You can follow along on Facebook, Find My Friends, or roryrides.com.” Here’s to new and great adventures, Rory! You inspire many. To the rest of the class, please continue to email or message me with news and updates for future columns. I look forward to hearing from you. Take care and be well. Katie: 615-417-9727; kptone@gmail.com
20 01 Paul Kuhne 1901 South Hawksmoore Drive Bloomington, IN 47401-7156 Paul: 617-817-4967; paulkuhne@gmail.com
20 02 Kimberly Malecka 2439 Meredith Street Philadelphia, PA 19130 Kimberly: kamalecka@gmail.com
20 03 Scott Adams 922 Kearns Avenue Winston-Salem, NC 27106 I’m compiling the summer news column while traveling for business from NC where it has been 75 degrees (in April) to Montreal where it is 19 degrees. The weather this year has been crazy, but craziness is part of this season of life. Our updates this quarter demonstrate that our lives are full and busy: Erin (Kozaczuk) Lall reports that she and Ashwin Lall welcomed a new baby and that their family is doing well. Ashwin is a professor at Denison U near Columbus, OH, and recently got tenure. Brad Tisdale is getting married in Aug to Elizabeth “Liz” Maxwell (Syracuse ’06) in the Napa Valley town of Calistoga. Several Colgate folks will be attending, including Tyler Constantine ’04, Celin Wittman Constantine ’05, Andrew Dunmore, Dan Wolfe, Matt Costello, and April Havranek ’11. Brad and Liz have been living together in NYC’s West Village, and he reports that they are incredibly excited to call each other husband and wife! Sara Magill Krawll and Jordan Krawll welcomed their daughter, Ella Grace Krawll, on March 1, 2016. Sara’s father and Ella’s grandfather Doug Magill ’67 passed along the exciting news! Meg Hengerer Gabriele provided an update on her growing and busy family: “Joe Gabriele and I welcomed another baby girl, Vivi, last June. She joins big sister Gigi and the girls are giving Joe a run for his money. In the new year, our family also made the big step of leaving city life in NYC and moving to the suburbs in Summit, NJ. Erika Gunderson Ascher and Brian Ascher live here as well so we hang out with them and their kids often. I’ve also been able to reconnect with my old field hockey teammate and Theta sister Courtney Reilly Stafford, because she has also moved to Summit with her family recently and lives a few streets away. Ben and Ali Shirley live one town over with their 2 kids, and we plan on seeing them often; we even ran into them our 1st night out after the move. Even though we miss the city, NJ has welcomed us with open arms, and we feel right at home with lots of Colgate connections literally around the corner. In other news, I’m still an interior designer in the tri-state area (and beyond) and loving it, and Joe recently left law firm life for an in-house law job in the pharmaceutical industry, which he’s excited about.” From out west, Dan Kaslovsky writes: “My wife, Alex, and I welcomed our daughter, Kara Lily, on May 30, 2015. We live just outside of Boulder, CO, and are already enjoying chasing Kara around the house.” Julia Shackford Wilson sent in this update: “After working for a number of years as a geologist in NY, I moved to TX to work on a PhD in
geological oceanography at Texas A&M. While there, I met Bear Wilson (Tarleton State, 2001), and we got married in 2013. Amy Rawson Tristan and Cynthia Chin were both in my wedding and it was wonderful to have them there! I graduated from Texas A&M in Dec 2014 with my PhD, and we relocated to Houston for my job. I’m currently working as a geologist at a small consulting firm in north Houston.” Ari Vigoda wrote that he was married to Miro Gordon in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 17 with Rabbi Josh Strom ’02 officiating. April-Lyn Caouette reports: “Last spring, I moved across the country from MA to southern CA. I drove across the country for 2 weeks with a carload of belongings and now work as a missionary to video gamers and board gamers. Also, I took a trip to Boston on Easter weekend to attend Anime Boston!” From OR, Atha Mansoory writes that he “and Rob Cohen ’94 partnered, along with 4 others, to bring Falling Sky Brewing to Eugene. Now in its 4th year, and having just completed a major brewery expansion, Falling Sky is preparing to open its 3rd restaurant in June of this year.” Check them out at www.FallingSkyBrewing.com. Andrew Wellner provided this update: “At the end of Jan, my wife, Amber (U of AK Anchorage), and I had our 1st daughter. Avery Lynden Wellner had a tough 1st week, but she is happy and healthy now. Her brother, Ivan, 4, is a great helper and her half-brother, Gabe, 14, thinks she’s awesome, and he’s right. We kind of hit the easy-baby jackpot for a 2nd time. She spends her waking hours cooing and smiling, and she only gets up once at night. Also, this summer, I finally jumped like a polar bear on a melting ice floe from the world of journalism to the much more solid footing found in the mental health field. I work with teenage girls with emotional problems, and even though people look at me funny when I tell them this, I really do enjoy the work. Sure, they call you terrible names and play petty power-struggle-y games, and it can get really dark sometimes, but for most of them their default setting is hilarious, youthful exuberance, which is to say that 90% of the time you’re essentially a camp counselor. But, actually, I only work there 2 days a week. The rest of the week I’m a stay-at-home dad. And that has been truly amazing. I’d probably suck as an actual preschool teacher, but as a preschool teacher to one 4-year-old whose personality is almost entirely a result of either my genetics or my parenting, I’m pretty great. It’s been a blast so far, and we’ve got a whole summer to enjoy before he starts kindergarten.” Also enjoying parenting adventures, “Obie and Conway Bate ’03 welcomed a baby girl, Caroline Waters Bate, to their family on Feb 10. Big sisters Alden and Grayson, 3, are thrilled with their new little sister. The Bate family of 5 is enjoying life in NYC!” Kate Stilwell McDonnell writes that “husband Carter McDonnell and I welcomed our baby boy, Edward Bankson McDonnell, aka Banks, on March 17. We are settling into life as a family of 3 here in Denver.” Keep sending in the good reports, and remember we are now less than 2 years from another reunion — 15 will be here soon! Happy summer! Scott: sadams@spilmanlaw.com
2004 Moira Gillick Duggan My beloved, please forgive me for these very brief notes. The Colgate interwebs failed us! From James M Ralph: “I write a belated update that I married Suzanna Brickman in Brooklyn,
NY, on Oct 25 of last year. Colgate guests included Geoff Allen, Grant Taylor, Ian Hill, Nels Gilbreth, Aaron Baughman, Meredith Mimms, Ian Galloway, Will Lewis, Elizabeth McDermott Crofoot ’05, and Jason Rand ’07.” From Katie Konrad Moore: “I just arrived home from a weekend spent with Lily Dupont Leedom, Emily Wright Luckett, and Rosie Bancroft McMullin. [See a photo on pg 57.] We visited Lily in Bend, OR, where she’s working as a real estate agent and living with her husband, Tim, and their baby Nathaniel, born May 2015. We missed our other roomies Susannah Richardson and Melanie Sloan Cintron. Mel is currently 9 days overdue with her 1st baby so we’re hoping to share her news any day now.” That is all for here and now. Please feel free to drop me a line whenever you do something good in life, rather than waiting for a deadline announcement. I’m always happy to hear from you. Best, Moira. Moira: moiragduggan@gmail.com; mduggan@colgate.edu
2005 Ruthie Kott Lots of ’05ers getting married! In July 2015, Jeremy Wattles married Darline Polanco. Jeremy’s father, Rev Stuart Wattles ’72, performed the ceremony. Several Colgate folks attended, including Travis Brooks ’04, Louie DiNuzzo ’04, Stephanie (Cowles) McDonald ’04, Tracey (Perazone) Henderson ’04, Joe Henderson ’03, and professors Harvey Sindima and Georgia Frank. “Darline and I are now expecting a child any day,” Jeremy wrote in April. “While she’s a Hobart and William Smith grad, and we both work at HWS, I’m hoping our child will be Colgate Class of 2038!” In Dec, Rob Van Brunt married Christy Waninski (Indiana Class of 2007) in Chicago. “While we weren’t aiming for a Colgatethemed wedding, we did get married on the 13th” Rob writes. “Our wedding party of 13 also included Colgate alumni Chris Kinsella, Mike Adams, John Bringewatt, Mike Fishbein, Dan Solomon, and Karla (Yeh) ’06 and Jon Lebedoff ’06. Also in attendance were Betsy (Harbison) Bringewatt, Paul Ridley, Katy (Romano) Solomon, Tom McKinstry, Jenny Meakins, Charlie Liebschutz ’06, Desiree (Abeleda) Adams ’06, Matt Porter ’04, Jesse Berman ’04, Emily (McAuliff) ’06 and Mike Gentithes, Katie Holbrook, Ruthie (Kott) Meister, Anna (Kolich) Johnson, and Kian Dowlatshahi. We honeymooned in St Lucia over Christmas and planned to take as many trips as possible in 2016. We’ve already followed that up with trips to Rio de Janeiro and Aspen, CO.” Lori Mele has had a year of life changes. First she married Matthew Hawke (U of Edinburgh, Class of 2011) in April. Sarah Compter ’04 was her maid of honor, and many Colgate alumni were in attendance: Lauren Schiffer ’02 and Erik Asmussen ’04, Ashley Bedard Laputka and Stephan Laputka ’06, Jasmine V Bailey Epstein, Matthew Brogan, Doug Miller ’02, Jen (Hudler) Kwiatkowski, Whitney Baer ’04, Nancy (Miller) Maynard, Emily Roper-Doten ’02 and Curt Doten ’03, Adam Samtur ’06, and Jason Cason ’04. Lori also recently received a PhD in Hispanic studies from Boston College. JB ’03 and Eve Share Banghart welcomed their 2nd baby girl, Malin Ruth, on Oct 15, 2015. Eve writes: “Big sister Ayla (2 1/2 years) is alternately thrilled and unimpressed.” Vaneskha Hyacinthe Wilson and her husband, Chris, moved to sunny Ocoee, FL.
News and views for the Colgate community
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