THE KINKAID SCHOOL
watching The View.” Stacey and James Thompson had their second on November 27, 2014. His name is Graham Scardino Thompson (Stacey’s maiden name is Scardino). His sister Taylor is two years old. Ashley Morgan Hanna and her husband Michael are still living in Houston. Their son William is currently at Kinkaid in pre-K, and their daughter Catherine will start Kinkaid next year in pre-K. Kim Field Baldwin: “Did I mention I have a third child? Jane just turned one in January, which means that I now drive a minivan… Yep. Anson is six, and Lucy is three. We’re still in LA, and I’m working from home for a company that manages clinical research projects. And as for me Courtney Dreyer Beauchamp I’m still living in San Antonio with my hubby John and two girls, Emily (9) and Grace (7). My store, The Tiny Finch, will be celebrating its second year this September, and we just launched our website: www.thetinyfinch.com – so check it out! Happy summer to everyone!
1994 Courtney Domercq Daily Houston, Texas cdomercq@hotmail.com As we embark on the year that Ellie Bullard Essalih likes to refer to as “This is 40,” we can all reflect on how 40 sounded so much older when it was our parents’ age instead of ours, and we can comfort ourselves by insisting that 40 is the new 30. I will look forward to reporting next year on who had the most over-the-top birthday celebration. If anyone gets Madonna or Motley Crue to perform, I’m crashing. For now, here is our news at 39…. Mark Adam continues to work at Baker Hughes in Houston. His three children, age seven and twins, age five, will be getting a puppy in July, adding to the “Kaos.” Joe Branch moved over to the basketball division within Roc Nation Sports. He is “blessed to have a great 2015 draft class” including national champion (and former Rebel, excuse me, Maverick) Justise Winslow who is Joe’s client. In addition, Joe has been teaching Sports Management as an adjunct professor at Long Island University, Brooklyn, for the last four years. Demetri Dale reports that “all is great” and his two boys, John (5) and Vasili (3) are a “constant riot.” He also congratulates David Hornsby for his Distinguished Young Alum honor. Stephanie Friedman Evans ended her update to me with one word, “BORING!!!”, but with her son Henry (5),
daughter Eloise (3) and daughter Frances (1) keeping her busy, it sounds anything but boring. Also, Henry is a Lil’ Falcon and will be entering Kindergarten at Kinkaid this fall. She is looking forward to travelling this summer. “Everything is great!” Definitely not boring. Leigh Farris has been kicking butt in New York. After five years at GE, she switched jobs last fall and joined Goldman Sachs as VP, Global Communications. Congratulations Lee-hee! My second cousin in-law Brooke Herzstein Feather has two beautiful daughters, Lily (8) and Brette (2), and a fabulous new boutique. The eponymous clothing store, Brooke Feather, is based on Brooke’s love of SoCal fashion. If you have not visited it yet, go check it out on West Gray in Houston. Elise Schudy Ferreira lives in Austin and is expecting her second baby boy on July 21. He will join older brother Noah. George S. Gayle, IV, D.D.S. has three children, “Little” George (6) and twins Pierce and Kate (3.5). Little George is going into first grade at Kinkaid. As his title implies, George continues to practice dentistry. He is looking forward to “the 40s” and enjoys golf and hunting. Doug George has two girls (ages 8 and 6) at Kinkaid and a little boy (2). He is enjoying coaching their softball teams. Chris Graf is in his third year as Director of Business Development at Kanaly Trust. He spends a lot of time coaching baseball, football and basketball for his three boys, Charlie (9), Austin (7.5) and Tyler (2). While the Class of ’94 has been distinguished in its own ways – an airplane at graduation, setting records with our fund-raising and being three-time Little Brown Jug losers – we are now officially distinguished by Kinkaid standards thanks to our class’s Distinguished Young Alumni award recipient, David Hornsby. David was honored for his incredible talent in acting, producing and writing, and in particular, his work writing for the comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It begs the question for me, if David is winning an award for being a talented and funny writer, why am I the one still writing this newsletter? We have a professional! Christine Lawhon James reports that her family is loving life in Austin which has been a very eventful three years for them including a new baby Loralee (2) who joined older brother Elis (8) and older sister Gigi (6), two moves, one home purchase, one new business, three schools and two new jobs. Christine is working part time at Rehab Without Walls, dealing with people who have suffered traumat-
ic brain injuries. Her husband Chip divides his time between a job in IT and his new business Juice Austin that he opened with his brother about a year ago. They are serving juices, smoothies and cleanses and have had a great first year. Check it out next time you’re in town for a Horns game. Still living in Shreveport, Louisiana, Elizabeth Sheedy Johnson continues to work remotely for FedEx doing Global Brand Management. She has been staying busy with three kids under the age of five including newest addition Clare Morgan who is approaching her first birthday. Lizzy loved catching up with everyone at the Alumni BBQ in April. Casey Kaplan welcomed daughter Isla Llewellyn on May 4, and his son Crawford could not be more excited about “Baby Ira.” Casey recently moved to Portland, Oregon, where he began a new job on June 1 as Assistant General Counsel – litigation and investigations for Nike, Inc. As an event director for largescale outdoor events and festivals, Meg Malone is “bringing new life to outdoor events” in the Houston area. She just wrapped up Bayou Greenway Day for the Houston Parks Board that will become an annual event, so “come join us next spring!” The biggest news for Julie Herman Meyer’s family this past year was the birth of her second daughter, Dylan Skye, born on August 29 (aka Evy Pappas’s birthday aka Michael Jackson’s birthday – Dylan is in good company). Julie lives in San Francisco where she serves as the Director of Outreach for Nest, a non-profit with the goal of artists leading communities out of poverty (buildanest.org). Paul Milton welcomed baby boy Kieran last November who joins sister Indie Elise (3). Paul notes that “the four of us are going to London for a couple of weeks, so we’ll need luck although we successfully made it through a week in Cancun earlier this spring.” Nothing like a transatlantic flight with two small children – sounds like a slice of heaven. Mike Minns’s Mr. Dreamhome business continues to do very well as he again was named one of the top residential agents in Austin ranking 16th among 10,000 agents. Congratulations! In non-work related news, he raced in a cannonball run to Vegas where the entrants must buy a $2,000 car, dress in costume, sell the car in Vegas and gamble the money on one bet. Mike and his team, decked out in full Austin Powers gear, took third place in the race. Going for brevity, Dabney Moriniere Moxham reports “status quo here.” “Here” = Austin. Taking the prize
for brevity, Kenny O’Donnell reports, “same.” However, Doug George and Brent Wise insisted I mention that Kenny recently competed in the Greater Houston Men’s Croquet Championship where he placed fifth. According to Brent, he was “very proud of [Kenny’s] effort and competitive spirit, but it was excruciatingly boring to watch Kenny get beat up and down the turf.” Fact or fiction? There’s always Google to confirm. As for Brent, he lives in Dallas and has two-year-old twin boys, Chase and Charlie. He left the consulting world to take a COO position with a start-up health care company. Anjali Nigam opened her own law practice in Houston, The Nigam Law Firm, focused on representing plaintiffs in trucking accidents, dram shop cases and work place injuries. Evy Pappas is expecting her fourth baby this fall – it will be her third girl. She also mentioned, “it was so fun hosting everyone at [our 20-year] Reunion and seeing everyone at Alumni BBQ!” Lewis Pennock is the proud father of Daisy (2.5) and is expecting daughter #2 in August. He continues to enjoy all of the “rapid change the publishing industry is going through at Ingram in Nashville,” where Lewis is currently publishing ebooks, print books, textbooks, regular books, “you name it.” Not to be outdone by Evy, I believe Kim Sweeney Polo is leading the pack for most offspring. On New Year’s Eve she gave birth to her fifth child, a girl named Jessica who she claims is “adorable.” Kim and her clan have been living in Orlando, Florida, for two years enjoying the beautiful weather. Class dummy Sameer Sheth (we all know I’m kidding, right?) is continuing his practice of neurosurgery as an Assistant Professor at Columbia University in New York where he is mostly focusing on brain tumors and the treatment of epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. (As I’m typing this I’ve got Arnold Schwarzenegger from Kindergarten Cop in my head – “It’s not a tu-mah!”) According to Sameer, his research is going well, with an expanding lab and collaborations within and outside of Columbia. He and his family have taken a liking to life in the suburbs and settling into their new house in Scarsdale. His wife Sarita has finished her New York re-credentialing for elementary education; son Ronak (9) is entering fourth grade and “digs his weekly music classes in Manhattan,” and daughter Naina (5) is enjoying ballet classes and will be attending the same school as her brother in the fall. Michael Silva lives in Houston with his wife and three kids and works as a management
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