ALUMNI NEWS
of starting a new business, which will launch in June of 2013. Scott is also doing some amazing work abroad, building a Christian school and dorm in the heart of French Muslim Africa. His group saves children from prostitution rings and guerrilla armies and houses them in a secure location where the teachers provide them life skills training and education, all based upon Christian doctrine. WOW! They have already built one school with about 300 kids there and are trying to raise funds to complete the next one. They have raised $100k of the $225k needed so if anyone out there would like to help, donations would be greatly appreciated. You can email Scott at sowens@kosystemsllc.com. And Scott, if you ever find the answer to life, let me know. Melissa O’Toole-Smith does some amazing work as well as a breast radiologist. She feels lucky to have such a rewarding career that helps women and she plays an important part of the process that many women go through with cancer. We all know that early detection saves lives. So, first go get your colonoscopy from Cole and then your mammogram from Melissa. Ok, sorry just trying to add a little humor. When Melissa is not working, she is busy being a mom, wife and doctor. Her oldest son Ryan Smith ’16 is 15 and a freshman at Kinkaid. He loves being in high school finally with NO uniform. I definitely remember that feeling and I actually think I remember what I wore on the first day of 9th grade! Melissa’s youngest son Kyle is ten and in fourth grade at Presbyterian School. Both boys play baseball, which will make her life even busier this spring. With a house full of men, the Smith home is full of sports year round; even cheering for Melissa’s college team, Stanford, in the Rose Bowl this year. While in LA, they had fun being tourists and doing the Hollywood thing. Melissa and her husband Paul love to travel and last summer visited Italy. They enjoyed the beaches of Capri and the Amalfi coast before touring Rome and the Vatican. She said it was quite amazing! In July, Melissa and Paul will celebrate their 20th anniversary and are planning a vacation worthy of that accomplishment. Congratulations you two lovebirds! Someone who just celebrated his first wedding anniversary and also deserves big congratulations is Greg Kung. Elva Weatherford Riley passed along that news with the reminder that Heidi Balser Budaj recently took a new position as the Regional Director at ADL (Anti Defa-
mation League) so congrats to Heidi as well! Laura Wynne Cale also emailed me with news about yet another classmate, Waverly White Gage, who deserves kudos. Waverly not only still has her very successful food blog (peaceandloveinthekitchen. com), but she has also won many impressive recipe contests on a web site called Food52. So, if you haven’t checked out her blog yet, you need to. I just did and found lots of great new recipes and cooking tips for my family to use. Ania Battlestein Bender emailed from Beaumont, Texas that she and husband are officially empty nesters with daughter Hannah a freshman at the University of Texas. Hannah loves college life and stays busy as a pledge for Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. Ania’s son Aaron just graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Business/Real Estate. Aaron is actively looking for a job, so if anyone is hiring, Aaron would love an interview. Hey, never hurts to put the word out, right? Besides, if he doesn’t get a job then Ania may not be an empty nester for long, so at least help her out! Good News! Our WANTED list from the last issue is now a little shorter. We found Jennifer McKay Petro and Katy Bohnert Orsack. Katy, who now goes by Cate, is a doctor and lives in Dallas with her husband Geoffrey and their two kids. Mary is in seventh grade at Hockaday and Peter is in third grade at St. Mark’s. Cate says she always thinks of Kinkaid when she sees the Kinkaid banner hanging in their gyms during SPC time. Jennifer is still living in the frozen Alaskan Tundra with her husband Chris and three boys who keep them busy and on their toes. She’s only been able to visit Texas once, when her niece got married last July, but she’s hoping to make it to the next reunion.
Kinkaid Alumni Event
SPRING 2013
January 31
Austin Area Alumni Party
Jeanette Hughes, Headmaster Don North and James Hughes ‘56
John Bell ‘04, Will Thanheiser ‘05, Nicole Weitz ‘04 and Nelson Monteith ‘07
Lindsey Jones Roberson ‘96 and Lewis Leavitt ‘96
And finally, the news everyone has been waiting on. Did Dewey Gaedcke take a Salsa class? Hahaha Yes, he did! Only one class, but hey it still counts. However, he is currently enrolled in Improv and Flying Trapeze and loves both classes. He promises to send a picture of him flying through the air with the greatest of ease, because he is now the daring young man on the flying trapeze (y’all know that song, right?). As for me? One day I was surprised by a phone call from Emily Wynne Bolin, who works in the Kinkaid Alumni office. It was fun to talk and
Shaun Elizabeth Hopson Dickerson ‘00, Elizabeth Topper Nash ‘68 and Chris Shannon ‘99
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