Walton James McLeod V (Jay), the son of Catherine and Tad McLeod ’97, is already in training for the EHS football team – Class of 2029.
group is aptly titled “EHS Class of 1997,” so please plug in if you deem that to be a desirable thing to do. Perhaps I should also point out that, in the off chance that I leave something out of the alumni magazine, this group could turn into a good place to add good fodder. Speaking of good fodder, I didn’t get a whole lot of feedback this time, but I do have some pretty cool updates. Back in March, Jessica and I had some friends over for dinner, and one of them happened to use a coolie-cup from Garrett Schulten Schreeder’s wedding to keep his beverage cool. Coincidentally, he was using said coolie-cup on Garrett’s and Marshall’s anniversary. This prompted me to wish Garrett a happy anniversary, and hopefully coerce an update out of her on the recent happenings in Alabama. My email of wellwishes proved to be timely, as Garrett informed me that she and Marshall are expecting their second child! When she gave me the news, she pointed out the due date vaguely as “the end of the summer,” which, as of the time of this writing, is right now. As I’m typing this, Garrett could be in labor. Consequently, once you read this, you can send her a congratulatory email. In other big baby news, Courtney and Jim Goodwin welcomed baby James in the spring. There is no doubt the little guy will be laughing, clapping, and coming up with painfully
class
notes
obvious nicknames for his closest buddies in no time! In other Jim Goodwin news, he has made a pretty major career change this spring. Jim recently left a job in executive search – he was working with his brother, Bill – to enroll in “Hamburger University.” To the uninitiated, that means that Jim has entered the highly intense training program to become a McDonald’s franchisee. This is a major personal and professional step, but Jim is very excited about it. The work is extremely intense in the beginning, but if you happen to be in the Fayetteville, N.C., area, please head to a McDonald’s near you and witness Jim doing his best impression of Louis Anderson from “Coming to America.” Joe Segrave sent me a note from Asheville not too long ago as well. Things continue to move along well in the North Carolina mountains for Joe and family. He recently opened his own car dealership out there and despite a relatively weak economy, he says things are going quite well. Shriti Patel is back in Virginia, working as a geriatric psychiatrist and faculty member at Eastern Virginia Medical School. She lives in Norfolk within walking distance of the water and is also close to Virginia Beach. She had a great time running into David Bickford at a festival in town. A chance encounter that can only be explained by poor compass bearings. She hopes to run into more EHS folks now that she’s back in the South. See you next June, Shriti! Early in the summer, I had a miniature EHS reunion in Raleigh. A band called Phish – some of you may have heard of them (kind of a local act, really) – came through Raleigh back in June, and I had a chance to catch up with a couple of other alumni. Shep Rose, Garland Lynn ’96, Randy Shelley ’96 (fellow class notes scribe), Kent Lowry ’96, and Brooks Dubose ’94 all made the trip to the Oak City for the big show. The show was okay, but it was pretty weird that we were pretty much the only people there – us and three guys selling grilled cheese sandwiches and hacky-sacks. It was great to catch up with all of those guys, as it has been several years in most
cases since I had seen any of them. Good things are taking place for Tad McLeod these days as well. He and Catherine are adjusting to parenthood as their son, Jay, was born on May 15. In other news, he ran into Nick Carosi at a Widespread Panic concert. Yes, you read that correctly. They were not at a Kenny Loggins concert, but a Widespread Panic noodle-fest. Those two guys. Right, well, anyway, Nick relayed to Tad that he’s doing awesome and that the architectural precast concrete business is totally cool. Tad’s words, not mine. In another “Twilight Zone” occurrence, they both intend to meet up with Bryan Pinckney ’98 at the House of Blues for a show when Bryan gets back from Bahrain. I also had an opportunity to catch up with Devie and J.W. Perry for a few days. They came to North Carolina for a couple of weeks of well-earned vacation from the grind in New York. J.W. is still practicing high-level credit/finance law at Davis Polk, and after a week on Bald Head Island with family, the Perrys made a pit stop in Raleigh for a few days. It was great to catch up with my old roommate for a few days and meet his 7-monthold son, Jack (or Tennessee Jed as his Uncle Bill insists on calling him, an inside joke funny to exactly one person). Also writing in from New York is Lucy Whittle Goldstein (quite a segue, right?). She spent her summer working on a master’s in independent school leadership through the Klingenstein Center at Columbia. She says that she loved the program and loved living in the city, too. Now that the summer is over, she is back in Newport, R.I., teaching English and serving as the 10th grade dean at St. George’s School. It’s also hard to believe that Jane is already 3 years old! Carter Hancock married Claiborne Johnston (Woodberry Class of ’96) on Feb. 26. They live in New York City. Lucas Tomlinson is serving in Afghanistan with a human terrain team, working out of Kandahar Province, which is Mullah Omar’s old district. Stay safe, Lucas.
Class Notes Now Online! View the latest notes submitted by your classmates, and submit your news, on the EHS website. Just go to the homepage and click on “Alumni” and then “Class Notes.” For help with passwords or login, please contact the Alumni Office.
72