Class Notes
AMY KREMEN ’94 and her husband Boz Wing welcomed
Luc Benjamin last October.
ASUMAN and baby Amar, sons of Nora Bucke and Ali Smith ’94.
1995. Trevor Soponis tsoponis@gmail.com Mazel tovs are in order this year as the Class of 1995 seems to be knee-deep in advanced degrees, bold business plans and a slew of bouncing babies. Taylor Smith gushes, “Ana and I welcomed our second daughter, Lucia Elizabeth Smith, on November 6, 2011. Our older daughter Natalie turned 2 last October. She is enjoying life as a big sister (so far) and as the boss of our household.” Sujay Pathak, in addition to his medical endeavors, has also been singing and posting a series of songs on YouTube, including versions of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and a devastatingly beautiful French piece, “Les Feuilles Mortes.” Check it out! Paul Rubinson (Sujay’s Friends School bandmate circa ‘90), with his Ph.D. finished, is now in Massachusetts with his wife Kristin and daughter Harper, working at Bridgewater State University. Heath Shapiro and wife Tosca welcomed a son, Val, late last year, who has already received his first Ravens jersey. Adam Dougherty and wife Melissa are also experiencing the joys of parenthood with their young boy, Dodge. The family is running Brooklyn-based Paw Paw Pet Care, assisted by their English Bulldog Albert. Trevor Coe is busy lawyering in the Baltimore area and
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crib-building after the February birth of his first child, Evelyn. Whitney Manger and husband Mike Fine are back in New York, living in Williamsburg, just two blocks away from Mike’s newly engaged sister Laura Fine ‘99. Aviva Gray, going on Year 13 in New York City, received a master’s degree from Columbia University in art history, and then took “the next natural step” and found a job at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She’s also been spending time with her brother Owen Gray ‘93 and his new baby boy. Sarah Scott explains, “I’m taking a break from chasing the elusive three-hour marathon and teaching philosophy by going to Georgetown Law and by having a baby. Don’t know which is scarier: being responsible for another human or being in class with people who were born after I bought some of the clothing in my closet.” In a whirlwind of a year, Allison Eden had a daughter, Hazel, received her Ph.D. in communication from Michigan State and moved with her husband, baby, dog and two cats to the Netherlands, where in September she’ll start as a professor in media psychology. In our nation’s capital, Jennifer D’Agostino is getting ready to remodel the kitchen in her Adams Morgan apartment and asks for “the good contractor gods to watch over me.” In New York City, Sherene Strausberg and her husband Todd Drucker welcomed a baby boy, Yuri Bronson Drucker, on November 11,
www.friendsbalt.org
2011. Congratulations, Sherene. Out in Denver, Annie Holder Campbell has founded a bold new business venture in tippybob, a digital network that connects investors with financial advisors. Leila Khan reports, “We welcomed our first kiddo into our family in August — Olivia — and my husband, Jerome, and I are living in snowy Cleveland. Friends alumni are welcome to contact me if they travel to the area.” And according to nothing more than the hearsay of Facebook, Jon Bailey is still making music and touring in the Jon Bailey Band and should have a new album out by press time, Will Sieck is now living in Redondo Beach, Calif., and Geoff Sanders is still sporting the Joe Flacco Fu Manchu. As for me, Trevor, I’m hoping to visit Sara Pfaff at her vineyard estate this summer while I finish my dissertation writing in Florence, Italy.
1996.
The wedding was filled with Quaker attendees. My fiancée at the time (I’ll get there), Lauren, and I went, as did, Edith Dietz, Cary Pirone, Susannah Gust Holmberg, Sara Hubbard, Kathleen Cusack Lyon ’97, Janelle Milam Schmidt, Heath Shapiro ‘95, Ryan Bader ‘94, Emily Santos Fisher, and Anjana Prasad Jindal. It was an incredibly fun wedding. The Franklins threw a bash reminiscent of the old Thanksgiving parties back in the day, and it also had subtle undertones of Maddie’s Sweet 16 party. A great time was had by all, especially so, when Heath and Bader told us about how they tried to go to the casino in jeans and were forced by hotel staff to put on “loaner pants” to enter. OK, next wedding … Dan Muñoz married Kelly Schledorf in Baltimore in July. I had the honor of being Dan’s best man and got to deliver a toast I had been preparing for roughly 20 years. David Schummers ’95 was in the wedding too, along with Garrett Fittizzi and Leif Dormsjo (neither of whom went to Friends but equally deserve their names in lights). We celebrated with Ana Muñoz, Maddie and Kai, Edith and all of Dan’s Princeton buddies who made
Andy Dale atdale@gmail.com I was remiss and did not get an update together for the last issue of Collection. As a result, this will be an encompassing hodgepodge of stories, anecdotes and other tidbits gathered over the last year. As is commonplace for the early 30s crowd, this update is rife with weddings, babies and the overall continued dominance of the world by the Class of ’96. Madeline Franklin married Kai Gross on March 26, 2011 at the Greenbrier. Maddie met Kai at Columbia Grammar and Prep School, where they are both music teachers.
SHERENE STRAUSBERG ’95 and Todd Drucker’s little boy, Yuri, born on November 11, 2011.