Class Knox was terrifying!” —Mitch Baker ’76 Chicago. He is now the medical director for pain management for Aurora Health Care in eastern Wisconsin. Mike lives in the Kettle Moraine area of Wisconsin, has a daughter and granddaughter, and notes that, even after living in Seymour, he has thrived in his vocational decisions. ❯ I also received notes from Ann Murray Smith, Fran Ott Colby, Mike (Fritz) Fricilone, Harriet Luden Menachem, Ron Woodruff, and a few others, too. I’ll share those notes in my next column! Thanks to all for writing. Class Correspondent: George M. Pearce 1114 Forest Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091-1655, george.pearce@hklaw.com
1977 Hi, everyone! Congrats to all turning 60 or thereabouts this year and just a reminder to start planning for our gala 40th Reunion in 2017. Let’s all be there! ❯ Dean Anderson visited Knox in February for the first time in 20 years, and “it was about -10 degrees. The College looked great, the library a lot bigger, and the Gizmo looked like still a fun place to hang out.” ❯ Mitch Baker ’76 recently spent three weeks in Laos with son David Baker ’14. “Trying to keep up with my kid on a motorbike was terrifying!” ❯ Dennis Gilbert lives with wife Gwen in Sun City in Palm Desert, California. Their home has recently chewed up most of their attention, but they now face retirement from their Marriott sales jobs. “I missed Dave Koester ’76’s March Madness golf event in Las Vegas this year, but I often see Dave, Steve Fraser ’78, and Jon Klem. Jim Tiernan ’76 often attends as well. Speaking of Jim, he and his companion were houseguests of ours last spring. Jim is exactly the same, although his hair is suspiciously darker. Tommy Deets and I met in Las Vegas last year for cocktails.” ❯ Mary Fatora-Tumbaga was in Boston in May to attend the graduation of youngest daughter Tiffany from the master’s program in education at Harvard. She reports Tiffany enjoyed the snow armageddon this winter, a stark contrast from her native Hawaii. ❯ Jon Klem reported that he saw Steve Fraser ’78 and Dave Koester ’76 at their annual March Madness golf outing in Vegas, followed by more golf in Newport Beach with Steve. His youngest son gets married on Halloween to his girlfriend of eight years—they met when they were juniors at Northwestern. ❯ Amy Eichengreen Andrews (married to Steve Andrews ’76) writes: “Oldest daughter Melissa is a lawyer at R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a brokerage firm in Chicago. Younger daughter Rachel, a soccer player, now works for the Soccer Federation. Rachel married last May and expects our first grandchild in October! I still teach middle school and love working with the students.” ❯ Kirk ’76 and Melanie Potter King have a new granddaughter, whose sister just turned four. They enjoy the sunny climate and their “retired” job of flipping houses. They have remodeled more than 30 houses since moving to the Phoenix area.
They met up with Les Hunter and his wife during spring training to watch his son pitch for Seattle. ❯ Jim Dimas has been appointed by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner as the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services. He writes: “I was just at the point of thinking about winding down my career when the Governor’s office called. Decision time: with the support of amazing wife Mary Beth, I’ve decided life is too short to spend it coasting.” Jim has a stellar record of public service, and I put big money on him to clean up the mess in that branch of the Illinois government. Congratulations, Jim! ❯ Doug Hill and his 26-year-old daughter will race on the U.S. team at the World Age Group Triathlon Championships on the Chicago waterfront on September 20. In last year’s championships, they finished second and fourth in their respective age groups. Doug also promised to make a chocolate truffle for the next Mandatory Ghetto reunion. ❯ Missy Mueller reports that she and her husband of 29 years, Mike Rogers, are retired. She worked for 32 years at Northern Trust Bank, mostly downtown but also in the suburbs, heading up the disaster recovery center it built post-9/11. Missy also spent time in Limerick, Ireland, opening up a new Northern Trust operations center. Mike and Missy have one daughter, Mary Elizabeth (27), who married last summer and teaches second grade in Milwaukee. “I see Jan Schlichting Junk all the time—we are still the best of friends. Jan is a realtor in Downers Grove and is quite busy because she’s quite good! Steve Junk ’75 just retired last month for the second time.” ❯ Cindy Watson works in Chicago as an accounting support specialist while taking care of her aging mom. She also coaches young women in achieving inner awareness. ❯ Eileen Larmee Chamberlin shared: “Our big news is that daughter Lillie just committed to Knox! It has been fun getting to know the College again through her eyes and visiting the campus after a 35-year absence. She is a multiple legacy, as my older brother Jay Larmee ’74, my sister-in-law Susan Isono ’69, and Lillie’s cousin Will Gallmeyer ’09, also graduated from Knox.” ❯ Kristie Zamrazil’s painting, Three Girls, was selected to hang in Austin City Hall’s People’s Gallery for 2015. Congrats! ❯ Paul Cimino ’76 recently exhibited some of his ceramic art at Kristie’s Full Moon/Yellow House Art Studio and Gallery in Austin. ❯ Roger Strukhoff spent most of his career in Silicon Valley as a writer, publisher, and conference producer. He got an MBA from California State University, East Bay in 2004, then went to the Philippines for three years. He remarried in Illinois in 2012 and has been in his hometown of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, since then, with an apartment and office in the Philippines as well. His two children, Alexandra (28) and Karl (24), live in the Bay Area and are happily employed and thriving. Roger and his wife will adopt a 2-year-old from the Philippines, Paul, who is one of his wife’s nephews. Roger also heads a small research institute
(www.Taulnstitute.org) and does a lot of work for software companies in Silicon Valley. ❯ From Mike Whitworth: “My band, Open Road, traveled to Hillsboro, Illinois, recently, and Less ’76 and Beth Prough Boucher ’76 came to see us. We had a great time catching up, since we had not seen each other since 1977! The band plays classic and country rock, and we have played 30 dates this year. We toured Colorado in June. This is more fun than the law!” ❯ Jill Reeve Kirk got in touch to report: “Last year we became empty nesters. Somehow the extra space in the house inspired me to consider looking for a new job. So, after almost 23 years with the same company, I became assistant vice president in reinsurance for Lincoln Financial. The icing on the cake is that they allow me to work from home, so I didn’t even have to move.” Class Correspondent: Sarah Kaull 52 Ober Street, Beverly, MA 01915-4733, skaull@icex.com
1978 Susan Haerr Zucker reported that she and Paul recently had dinner in Chicago with Nancy Zajicek and Fernando Lulli ’77, Carol Shaffner and Bob Deitch (Knox Rush Program ’77-78), and Kim Cooper Reese ’79 and husband Jay. There was lively conversation, good food, Monday half-price wine, and a lot of laughs. Nancy and Fernando are the new owners of a small farm with a barn in Delaware. Paul and Susan, always one step ahead of the State Department, took a trip to Cuba in February. They plan a trip to Patagonia early next year. To make us even more jealous, Paul recently retired, although Susan catches him at his desk in their office working from time to time. Meanwhile, Susan was recently re-elected to the Knox Board of Trustees—we are well-represented. ❯ Others in our class have been less forthcoming, so I had to travel once again to the annual Fiji-Phi Delt golf tournament in Glen Ellyn, organized by Norm Hillner ’79 and Bob Szyman ’79. As they always say, what goes on in Glen Ellyn stays in Glen Ellyn, but there were no arrests this year and no life-threatening injuries. It was bigger than ever, with too many names to squeeze into this column. I can say that attendees from our class included Glen Thompson, Paul Brauer, Brent Petersen, Doug Duff, John Pritchard, John “Scott” Luthy, Mike Huck, David Lymberopoulos, Tim Loch, Mike Calhoun, and possibly others, the memory of whose presence has been take from me by senility or exuberance from the celebration of renewing old acquaintances. It was great to see so many old friends (emphasis on old)—it felt like going back in a time machine. Fijis and Phi Delts out there who have not attended, think about it next year (it’s the weekend after Father’s Day), and let Norm, Bob, or me know if you need more information. ❯ Brent Petersen reported that he and wife Cheryl have four children ages 19–29. The older three all live
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