CLASS NOTES
balancing motherhood and work. The show is April 22nd.”
’96
Luke Zehner (H) 571-338-1389 zehnerlj@gmail.com Temple Forsyth Basham (H) 804-447-4238 templefbasham@gmail.com 25th Reunion: June 2021
Happy 2017, my esteemed classmates. I — like most of you — have officially entered my final year as a thirty-something. My hope is for peace, happiness, and all things good although I’m not sure that’s a realistic expectation given the fact that we elected an Internet troll as our president. But, if I learned anything from the Women’s March on Saturday, it’s to stay positive, energized, and committed to ensuring that our country operates with love, tolerance, and inclusion rather than hate, fear, and narcissism. Speaking of narcissists, Luke Zehner (Head Cheerleader) just launched a great ad campaign for Power Bar: powerbarcleanstart.com. The basic message is that anyone (even Ryan Lochte) can make a fresh start with healthy eating and fitness. Great news, Garland Lynn!! Thank you to Nena and Tyler Meurlin for hosting the young alumni Christmas Cocktail Party in their lovely home. The food, drinks, and tagged swan were unbeatable. I enjoyed catching up with Gretchen Byrd, who told me she attended The Rev. Becky McDaniel’s ordination to the priesthood at Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton. Becky now serves as Chaplain for Stuart Hall School. Congratulations! And congrats to Rev. Willis Logan, who recently moved from Charlottesville to be the new Rector at St. Mark’s in Fincastle. He’ll return to his Star City roots with his wife, Ashley, and their three children. (In contrast, I am currently en route to Hot Springs for a weekend sure to be rife with myriad sins. Hampton Moore Eubanks will be there so you get the picture.) Court and Laura Morton Michau livened up our holidays with a day-long visit just after Christmas. Laura’s two girls, Caper and 72
Patricia Kinser ’97, Shriti Patel Moore ’97, Jack Moores ’97, Lesley Sztan Hicks ’97, Carolyn Wright Kessler ’97, and Lissa Williams Gupton ’96 were reunited last summer.
Millie, are funny and smart like their mother (and ahem, godmother), and I look forward to visiting them in early February on a solo trip out to Santa Barbara. Andrew’s really looking forward to playing Mr. Mom.
at the reunion! I hope you had as much fun catching up with your friends as I did. Can you believe what old so-and-so has been up to lately? Crazy. I’m really glad he or she made the effort to get there from wherever.
Another excited Mr. and Mrs. Mom, Brian and Sarah Akridge Knutson, are proud parents of their third son, Bodie, born December 14th. Sarah Pugh Kadish was one of the first to meet him; I plan to follow closely behind! Rumor has it he looks like his Mama but already shows the quirky restlessness and picky eating habits of his father. He’ll be eating WAWA custom sandwiches with Bud Light by 4 months.
Everyone must have been preoccupied with their travel plans for the reunion, or they’re all saving up their updates to use as conversation pieces at the reunion. That’s cool; I can always count on my man Finny Akers dropping science on me. Finny has been traveling for work to such remote, boring locations as Miami Beach and London, and he’s so high class that he managed to get snapped by a tabloid photog — AGAIN — with Kendall Jenner. They were wearing the same fur coat, which was super awkward. He didn’t explain how both of them fit into one fur coat though, nor did he send me a pic. In beefcake news, Finny also completed a video shoot with Men’s Health and Reebok/CrossFit as part of their “Be More Human” campaign, and he’s looking forward to shotgunning silver bullets in a Coors Light commercial being filmed in Cold One City, USA. Nice work, bud!
I wish you and your families the absolute best. I’m both deeply concerned and curious about what our country will look like when this magazine lands on your kitchen island in a few months. Here’s to hoping for harmony, peace, and unity.
’97
Bill Allen (H) 919-781-0805 (O) 919-784-8371 williamwallen@gmail.com 20th Reunion: June 9-10, 2017
Twenty years! It’s hard to believe that it has already been twenty years since we were on our way rejoicing from this special place. I’ve been looking forward to this reunion for a long time, and I look forward to seeing so many of you in June. I always forget when the spring/summer issue of the alumni magazine comes out, so it’s possible that you guys won’t even see this until after the reunion. If that’s the case, it was great to see all of you
Kristen Edwards Marquardt has been quite busy lately also. Last time she reached out to me, she had packed up and moved from San Francisco back east to Washington, DC. For the last two years, she’s served as a senior advisor to the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, covering counter-terrorism policy as well as Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan for the Chairman and Republican committee members. She had a front row seat during that kooky election last year, which I’m sure was quite spectacular to view from the inside. She gets to travel quite a bit, and manages to
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