office in DC where Jeff is Managing Partner. Peggy and Jeff both sent the attached photos of the event. Dave Williams also submitted an update - so great to hear from you, Dave! Dave and his wife, Stephanie will celebrate their 25thwedding anniversary in December 2020. CONGRATS! Dave was recently named a Fellow of the Society for Vascular Ultrasound. The designation of Fellow honors outstanding leadership, contributions and dedication to the profession. Due to Covid19 lockdown, the scheduled bestowing of the honor will wait until June 2021 at the Vascular Annual Meeting in San Diego. What a fabulous honor, Dave – well done! Before I close, I want to acknowledge the sad loss of Chris Wenzler ’90. Many people from our class knew Chris as a student and then as the JCU Sports Information Director for more than 30 years. Chris fought a courageous 2+ year battle with multiple myeloma. He’s survived by his wife, Melissa ’90, children Madeline and Oliver, his parents, a sister and brother and extended family as well as thousands of “Wenzler’s Warriors” who supported Chris throughout his journey. I’ve always known that JCU is a very special place yet witnessing the incredible support and love that Chris, Melissa and their family received from their deep JCU connections has been absolutely amazing. It’s a testament to Chris, to how he engaged with others and how he lived. I’ll leave you with this thought and a challenge. The THOUGHT: during these ‘crazy’ times, authentic and genuine connections with those we love are more meaningful and important than ever. The CHALLENGE:
48 | ONWARD • Fall 2020
reach out to a friend from our class who you have been meaning to catch up with but haven’t made it happen. Now’s the time! All the best and stay well, Sharon
and thanks for the update. Michael ’88 and Michele (Iosue) McGarry checked in from Henrico, VA. They are the parents of three grown children. Mike is currently the Chief Information Officer for Genworth Financial in Richmond, Virginia, in addition to working on a Doctorate in Business Administration at Temple University. Sounds like someone is keeping busy. On a personal note, my 3rd child Dean just graduated from Saint Edward High School and will attend “The Ohio State University” in the fall, best of luck Dean! Finally I was able to enjoy a get together in Naples, FL at the Fox compound in late February right before all this Covid 19 stuff hit. I am sharing a picture of John Fox, Brad Gosser, Dr. Dan Soucie and myself from this trip; great times and great friends! Stay safe and Peace to all. David
1989 | David Gassman dgassmktvp@aol.com
1990* | Ann Margaret Lambo amlambo@att.net
Greetings 89ers! Well we are all dealing with some very challenging times as we try to physically, mentally and socially navigate this coronavirus pandemic. It affects all of us in different ways depending on your age but for my kids I feel the most conflicted as they can no longer enjoy the graduation ceremonies, athletic and scholar events and have to wonder what the upcoming college landscape will look like. With that said, I do have some news from a few of our classmates I want to share. Paul Kantz and his wife Meghan are living in Benbrook, TX and Paul will be teaching elementary special education at a charter school in Fort Worth, TX (starting in August 2020) after spending the past four years as a bilingual (EnglishSpanish) 2nd grade teacher. Meghan is also a certified special education teacher as well. Congrats to the Kantz family
Greetings class of ’90! I hope you are all well and coping as best you can! These last months haven’t been easy, right? I just keep telling myself one day at a time! A couple of notes from classmates….. congratulations to John Heckman who recently accepted a position as Senior Marketing Manager at IIMAK, a global developer and manufacturer of printing and imaging consumables for automatic identification, packaging and graphics. In this new position, John will lead global product management and growth of IIMAK’s thermal transfer ribbon business, and will be responsible for launching channel strategies and sales initiatives, including development of new products, programs and services. I also recently heard from Melissa McGuire, who is living in Grafton, Ohio and working at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Melissa is the chief of the Mission Design and Architecture branch and is the Low Thrust Mission design lead for NASA’s Power and Propulsion Element, the first element of NASA’s Gateway. The Gateway will be launched to and positioned in an orbit near the moon and act as a waypoint to support missions to the Moon and on to Mars. Pretty cool, out-of-this-world stuff, Melissa! It was a treat to hear from David Rastoka, as well. Dave reported that he is well living in Columbus. Dave is the owner/ CEO of several companies geared towards supporting people with developmental disabilities by providing staffing to those in need. He provided a walk down memory
lane as well with facts about the Blue Streak football team. Did you know that the 1989 football team was the first team to win the OAC Championship, the first team to win 9 games in a season, the first team to beat Mount Union and the first team ever to go to the NCAA Playoffs? Dave also noted that from 1987 to 1989 the team broke 45 football records. Impressive! And finally, a shout out for my husband, Jamie Lambo, who recently accepted a position with the Timken Company, as VP of Internal Audit after 13 years with DieboldNixdorf. If you made it to this point in the alumni magazine then you are aware that the Class of ’90 recently lost the heart and soul of our class. Chris Wenzler passed away in June after a two-and-a-half year battle with multiple myeloma. Chris truly embodied all things John Carroll and his death leaves a deep wound in our class and the campus community. Please keep his wife, Melissa Rettew Wenzler and their children Madeline and Oliver in your thoughts and prayers. Memory eternal. Onward On. Until next time ~ A-M 1991 | Mary Szablowski We hope to see members of the Class of 1991 engaged in this, their 30th Reunion Year. 1992 | Seeking Class Columnist journal@jcu.edu We heard from Dave Grendzynski who received Emmy Awards for his work in television news and is now head of the Video Content Department at Kuno Creative, a digital marketing agency in Avon, Ohio. He and his wife Adrianne have
two boys, Tobin and Noah. Thank you, Jennifer White for contacting the alumni office with this update: “I am now retired from a 25 year law enforcement career. I am proud to have served my state and my community in a law enforcement capacity. I know that there is injustice and racism in the world, but I am blessed to have worked alongside some of the most fair-minded and just people I have ever met. I am now working part-time as a medical secretary for the Lake Health Hospital System. Yes, with Covid patients. It seems I will always be a public servant. I am fat, happy, and trying to remain positive and stress-free during these difficult times. Blessings on all of you”– Jennifer. Congratulations on your retirement and thank you for your service! Please continue to send your updates to journal@jcu.edu. Please also contact us if you are interested in becoming the class columnist for 1992.
‘93 Facebook group, be sure to join and see when our next virtual Happy Hour will be. Catch up with classmates and find out about our plans for our Reunion next year in 2021. We also heard from classmate Larissa Kosmos. She is working with students as a writing consultant at Tri C’s Western campus and she continues to do freelance writing in her spare time. (Please see her published work on larissakosmos.com). Larissa and her husband have a 16-yearold daughter, Sofia, and a 13-yearold son, Alex. They live in Broadview Heights, OH. Michele (Cornely) Brearley was invited by the JCU Office of Alumni Relations to host a virtual yoga session through the online A.C.E.S. program this past June. Michele is a Senior R&D Manager at Hyland Software in addition to being a certified yoga instructor at Cultivate Yoga Space, in Avon, OH. She led a virtual yoga session that was well attended by many JCU alumni, faculty and staff. Stacey (Bill) Brubeck works at Cuyahoga Community College in the president’s office and lives in North Royalton with her husband Eric, a landscape architect and owner of Brubeck Design Studio. Their daughter Madeline, is a rising sophomore at Holy Name High School and plays on the HN Varsity volleyball team. Michele (Cornely) Brearley, Lara (Kannenberg) Kenney, Stacey (Bill) Brubeck, Tracy Naso and Katie (Dougherty) Burbick gathered with their families in December to enjoy the beauty and holiday magic at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, PA. (see photo) Please continue to send updates!
Stay healthy and safe, everyone! 1993 | Bonnie (Waewood) Oskowski theoskowskis@cox.net Hi everyone! I will start by congratulating Doug Ennis, the president of the JCU Chicago Alumni Chapter. Doug was selected as the recipient of the 2020 Rev. William Bichl S.J. Alumni Volunteer Service Award for his work in support of the Alumni Association. Congrats, Doug! Congratulations to Joe Stuczynski who was named Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Hospital Pembroke, FL. We received an update from Vinnie Close informing us that the class of ‘93 has been holding periodic virtual Happy Hours during this COVID-19 time. If you’re not already a member of our class of
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