Alumni Class Notes

1963

Mark Staples ’63 has published a new book, Neighbors Revisited: A church journalist’s life lessons learned from people of other cultures. He tells us, “In a nutshell, my book details life lessons learned from people of other cultures as I traveled on assignment as a church journalist to South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea were emerging democracies at the time. The people I met along the way really impacted my worldview. I wanted very much, in today’s rising climate of hatred, to humanize and write about people who don’t look like me, people who had so much to contribute. The book, filled with rich photographs, contains allusions of value to our time as well as a study guide with questions to reflect upon. It is available both as an e-book and in paperback on Amazon.”

1975

Keith Mueller ’75 recently left the United States and moved to Bangkok, Thailand. He is the founder of ThailandTV.tv, Thailand’s only 24/7 English-language streaming video channel. Keith’s love of ice hockey continues as he produces live game broadcasts of Hockey Night in Thailand on the channel. He also launched ThailandTV.news, Thailand’s English-language news aggregator, translating all of Thailand’s news coverage into English. In his free time, he travels and enjoys the beauty and culture of Thailand and southeast Asia.

1983

Ainslie Wallace ’83 writes, “So happy to have completed a year-long fellowship at Mass. General Hospital as a social worker in their Integrated Substance Use Disorder Training Program. Looking forward to transitioning to working at Mass. General’s outpatient clinic at the Charlestown Community Health Center as a full-time social worker. Would be delighted to talk to Lawrence grads anytime about the field of social work!

“Always trying to connect with the Lawrence crew. Happy to be in close proximity to classmates Denise Korn, Darren Messina, Chris Rogers, Scott Sloan, and Fred Hays ’84.”

1985

Tom McCuin ’85 writes: “After nearly seven years in my most recent stint at the Pentagon, five of it as the contract program manager supporting the U.S. Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, I’ve moved over to the Association of the United States Army — a nonprofit that serves as the Army’s official military association — where I’m now the deputy director of media operations and deputy editor of Army magazine. I still get to support the Army, just from outside the funny five-sided building. Hope all is well in Groton!”

From Bryan Smith ’85: “This September Beth, my wife of 21 years, and I will officially be ’empty nesters.’ Our daughter Sofi will be a sophomore at UCSB, and our son Laird will start his first year at UVM. Can’t be much farther apart and still be in the U.S.! Our home in Boulder sits close to the middle. Currently I’m working for a hot Australian company called Atlassian, continuing my career helping software teams build better software faster. It’s rewarding to work with many iconic brands. When we can, we spend time in Costa del Sol, Spain. We lived there for four years with the kids (2015-2019) and consider it another home. In other news, I broke my L1 vertebra in a botched paragliding landing in Columbia last February. I’ll have the two rods and nine screws removed July 29. Hope to return to normal activity in the fall.

Have a note to share in the Spring 2025 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

“Hope to make it back for our (gulp) 40th next year!”

1988

Karen McCann McClelland ’88 says, “Still living in the Washington, D.C., area and enjoying our empty nest! Spent some time at the end of May in New England with my youngest graduating from Bowdoin College and moving to Boston as well as celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary. I am still playing soccer and welcome any O50 LA players to join me at my annual tournament in Mexico around the Day of the Dead!”

1990

Ginger Wade ’90 sent this note and photo: “I wanted to share that this happened in Medford at the end of May! I played a solo gig at The Porch restaurant, and saw for the first time in many years these alums shown below. A fun night was had by all!”

1998

Allison Clear Fastow ’98 has returned to her passion: singing. Since she was invited to join The Choral Arts Society of Washington this past fall, Allison has performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., nearly a dozen times, most recently performing Carmina Burana with the symphonic chorus. Next up: Verdi’s Otello with the National Symphony Orchestra, to be conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.

1999

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association has announced that Michelle McAteer ’99 will begin serving as its commissioner. Michelle joins the WCHA from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, where she served as the women’s hockey head coach for the past 14 seasons, coaching the team to eight consecutive MIAC playoff appearances. She also recruited and coached multiple All-Americans during her tenure.

2004

Recently, DeAnna DeForest ’04 and classmate Yaminah Jackson got together for FlavorFest in Chicago, Ill. DeAnna is the executive director of a nonprofit ministry in Cleveland, Ohio, and working in two area high schools helping with post-secondary attainment. She has received support from former student Lauren Sastre ’07 and college counselor Amy Selinger. Yaminah has been working in education for over ten years as a middle school math and science teacher.

Have a note to share in the Spring 2025 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.