Carter Bowden ’71 closed his beloved business, Carter Bowden Antiques and Fine Art after 26 years on Camp Bowie Boulevard. You can now find his treasures at Benny Jack on Riverfront in Dallas and @carter_bowden_antiques on Instagram.
As the Mayfest Fun Friday chair, Karen McKenzie ’79 recruits high school volunteers every year. She loves that she can always depend on Falcons to come through! This year the FWCD volunteers danced with, high-fived, and pushed the swings of the students. The students feel so special when high school students acknowledge and interact with them. In the 43 years she’s volunteered for Mayfest, beginning when Mrs. Tilley asked Country Day to serve cold drinks, she’s never seen such big smiles! Pictured are Elizabeth Dike ’25, Ellie Cady ’25, Karen McKenzie ’79, Chappell Carter ’25, and Joseph Brunson ’25
John Brookman ’80 received the Tarrant County Bar Association and Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association’s Outstanding Mentor Award. This award is given annually as part of Law Day to an attorney or judge who has demonstrated a commitment to mentoring young lawyers in the legal community.
Shannon Marlow du Plessis ’81 is protecting critically endangered African penguins and restoring the marine ecosystems essential to their survival through the nonprofit KruShan Foundation, which she co-founded with her South African husband, Kruger du Plessis. By partnering with organizations in South Africa, they have rescued abandoned penguin chicks, funded an X-ray room to allow a seabird sanctuary to immediately diagnose injured birds, sponsored local underprivileged students in a three-year marine science program, and protected the Dyer Island African penguin colony (2,800 African penguins) by covering the salary of a dedicated Seabird Ranger. Learn more at krushanfoundation.org.
Alan Cross ’86 helped country star Brad Paisley bring his new signature guitar to life. In 1968, Fender released a Telecaster with a red paisley finish. With the last name Paisley, you can bet that Brad has a few of those original guitars. They were made with an embossed aluminum decorative self-stick paper called Cling-Foil, a product that went off the market in 1973. Guitar geeks have been searching for Cling-Foil for decades to no avail. Alan found some in blue paisley covering a Vietnam-era ammo box that some grandparents gave to their 6-year-old granddaughter, probably as a colorful place to store her Barbies. After carefully removing the old paper with his wife’s hair dryer, Alan set about having someone make him a guitar with it, but found no takers. “I had just about given up when Brad contacted me in response to a post I left on a guitar blog,” he said. “That started a year and a half quest which culminated with the blue ‘Lost Paisley’ Telecaster made by Fender.”
Carlo Papini ’86 competed as an alpine skier in the World Winter Master Games in January 2024 and is competing on the Italian National Team in the World Games for Racquetball in Chengdu, China, in August 2025.
Elyse Stoltz Dickerson ’93 and her company, Eosera, were recently featured in The New York Times. The article, titled “Trade Brought Them Together. What Happens Now?” is a multimedia feature that details the important relationships between three U.S.-based manufacturers and their partners in China and how the current administration’s tariffs are impacting business in both countries.
Brandon Tierney ’09, Chase Caraway ’09, David Miles ’08, Ben Sexton ’08, Stephen Goodwin ’09, and Marshall Jones ’09 are celebrating winning the 2025 Fort Worth Indoor Soccer League Championship. Not pictured but also on the winning team are Marshall Mays ’08 and Joshua Martinez ’11.
Julie Stevens Kettman ’94 wrote and produced the series Base Bites for AFLive.TV, a streaming platform dedicated to content about the U.S. Air Force and Space Force. Base Bites offers an unprecedented look behind the gates of nine U.S. Air and Space Force bases, where host Rudy Jay meets the culinary teams fueling the force. From bold flavors to base culture, every episode is a fresh take on military life – and the people who keep it cooking. The series was produced by Dall House Pictures and is now being considered for an Emmy nomination.
Dr. Patrice Rankine ’01 recently completed a Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She is moving to Oklahoma City, where she will work as an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Palliative Medicine at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital.
Creel Family Philanthropies, founded by Whitney Baggett Creel ’04 and her husband, Todd, hosted the 2025 Cowtown Summer Soirée and raised over $500,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Dare to Dream Pediatric Fund. Pictured are FWCD parents Lindsey Rosenstein, J Mack Slaughter ’02, Kate Strickland Jennings ’04, Todd and Whitney Creel ’04 and Lisa Slaughter Stovall ’99
Travis Newman ’02, Co-Founder and President/CEO of MODO-LIVE, one of Canada’s largest independent concert promoters, was recently named one of Billboard Canada's 2025 Power Players. Since co-founding the company in 2021, Newman has led the company to produce over 1,400 events across North America and Europe, with 700+ shows in 2024 alone and over 1,000 projected for 2025.
Kate Strickland Jennings ’04 was named in the inaugural 360 West Magazine Top 25 Women of Impact List. Those women recognized have had a significant impact in both their careers and philanthropic endeavors in Fort Worth.
At the beginning of the year, Andrew Kennemer ’04 was promoted to Chief of Staff for Texas State Representative Keresa Richardson of McKinney.
Class of 2004 friends Keri DeVos Hickman, Kate Thompson Crane, Kate Strickland Jennings, Samantha Siegel, Frances Benoist Compton, and Whitney Baggett Creel have been taking an annual vacation together since 1991 when they traveled with their families. This year they visited Sonoma!
Robby Lebus ’10 was named to the 2025 Fort Worth Inc. 40 under 40 list, which celebrates dynamic young leaders in the Fort Worth community. He works as a real estate agent with the John Zimmerman Group.
Elizabeth Vance ’10 started a new position as Investment Banking Associate in the Chief Underwriting Office at Goldman Sachs in Dallas, TX.
In May, William Baumgardner ’11 graduated from the University of Virginia with a Ph.D. in Constructed Environment. This fall, William will start as an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Hong Kong.
Class of 2013 friends Alikhan Karimi, Nitthin Reddy, and Sid Gutta attended their classmate Hamza Malik’s wedding in April.
Seven years after graduating from SMU and entering religious life with the Dominican Friars of the Province of Saint Joseph, Father Titus Mary Sanchez ’14 (formerly Adam Sanchez) was ordained a Catholic priest in June 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Jack McConnell ’17 started a new position as Senior Analyst at Clarion Partners LLC.
Emily Lynn ’21 completed her BBA at TCU and started her master of accounting program.
Reese Nelson ’21 graduated magna cum laude from Washington and Lee University with a B.S. in Engineering and Computer Science. While attending W&L, Reese was a decorated member of the men’s swim team and was actively involved in the University’s Rocketry Club, among other things. He will attend the University of Virginia in the fall to pursue a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering.
In March, Associate Director of College Counseling Sarah Casarez traveled to Scotland at the invitation of Abertay University in Dundee. While in the greater Edinburgh area, she also toured the University of Dundee, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of St Andrews. A highlight of the trip was reconnecting with Falcons Banner Robinson ’22 and Carolina Murrin ’24, who attend the University of St Andrews. They shared information about their “Academic Families,” a program in which older St. Andrews students mentor first-year students.
Rocco ’23 and Frankie ’26 Leoni released their first single in May, titled “Yourself Again.” The song is on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major music platforms. It received over 100,000 streams in its first month on Spotify. The brothers started writing the song a year ago, and it was recorded in Dallas, Geneva, Boston, and Burleson and was mixed and mastered in Nashville and Dallas. Rocco and Frankie perform all vocals and play the guitar, bass and keyboard. Additionally, Aidan Kane plays drums, and Remington Rafael adds a guitar. The song was produced by Remington, Rocco and Frankie. While Frankie was finishing high school in Switzerland and Rocco was attending Berklee College of Music, they flew around the world, writing and recording a soonto-be-released album. Follow them on Instagram @roccoandfrankieofficial.
