MERCERSBURG MAGAZINE SPRING 2007
he serves as a vice president of retail channels with Benevolink, an Atlantabased organization that works to improve local communities.
’76
Anna Bierce was unable to make it to the 30th reunion due to foot surgery, but hopes someone can send her pictures. “I got out the old yearbook to refresh my mind of all your faces and names,” she writes. “I couldn’t believe how the faces and names came right back as if no time had passed.” Dr. Anthony “Tony” Furnary, a cardiacthoracic surgeon with the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and the Providence Heart and Vascular Institute in Portland, Oregon, has earned a Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award. Tony and his research team developed the Portland Protocol, an insulin drip therapy for diabetic patients in need of open-heart surgery. David McQueeney, vice president of technology and strategy and chief technology officer for IBM U.S. Federal, spoke at the April 2006 Federal CTO Summit in Washington. The theme was “Is America Ready?: Partnering for Preparedness.” David spoke on the topic, “How Can We Improve Communications Systems in Crisis?”
’77
After nearly 30 years, Bruce J. Findlay confesses, “My roommate, Brad Baumgardner, and I are solely responsible for painting a giant ‘‘77’ on the hill portion of East Seminary in front of Main Hall. It had never been done before, but it does seem to have evolved into a tradition. Garrit V. Wamelink ’79 can vouch for this astounding hack.” On a more practical note, Bruce has had five patents registered in the U.S. Patent office, mostly on methods and systems for communicating a software-generated pulse waveform between two servers in a network. He lives in Santa Clara, California; his brother, Andrew ’79, is in Canton, Ohio, and his sister, Lois ’80, is in Arnold, Maryland. Bruce is glad to hear that Jim Smith and Jay Quinn are still involved with Mercersburg, as he has fond memories of his time here with them.
’78
Pilar Diaz Bennassi is an occasional substitute teacher in the Baltimore area. She has a daughter in the second grade and a son in fifth grade, and is still into sports; she tries to get to Lakeland, Florida, for Detroit Tigers spring training as often as possible.
Ceci Bennett is living with her family in Boise, Idaho, after relocating from Maryland. Inspired by the western landscape and the “big sky,” she has been painting more and more. She encourages classmates and friends to visit; email her at cecibennett@msn.com. Dan Dougherty lives in the New York City area and loves all the city has to offer. He remembers chicken fights on the lower Ford patio, and also caught up recently with Heidi Kaul Krutek. They reminisced about how fun and full of life the late Nancy Cromwell was. Marie Furnary is living in Idaho and loves the rugged beauty there. Before the move, her family lived in Ojai, California. Both her children applied and were accepted at Mercersburg, but chose to stay on the West Coast. Marie’s son is now at the Naval Academy, and her daughter is at The Thacher School in California. Marie owns a private school that offers an academically intensive humanities program. Her sister, Carol ’79, is often on campus as she drops her kids off at Mercersburg Adventure Camps and for Alumni Council meetings. Marie has a niece, Alicia ’09, at Mercersburg. Dave Holzwarth, who teaches physics and astronomy at Mercersburg, has been busy coaching the kickers on the football team and serving as coach of the ski team. He still hears from Walter “Ernie” McGhee occasionally. Dave’s daughter, Wynn ’10, is in her first year at Mercersburg, and son, Zack, is in the sixth grade. Raymond Kiess is still in Asheville, North Carolina, and has kept pretty busy the last couple of years. While continuing to work for the Air Force, he is pursuing a master’s of divinity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte. He has about three more years to finish the remaining coursework, and is a part-time church pastor. Heidi Kaul Krutek moved last summer to Asheville, North Carolina. She enjoys that it’s a nice small city in the mountains, and is an account manager for an electronic components company. Mercersburg asked her to join the Alumni Council. Her oldest daughter, Jordan ’10, is at Mercersburg, and Heidi has been busy getting her sixth-grade daughter adjusted to her new school. Her next big project is starting a girls’ lacrosse league in Asheville. Her girls found her yearbook this past summer, and she doesn’t remember doing half the things her classmates wrote about. She apologizes to any of you she may have passed notes to. She has no memory of this; however, for some reason she kept some of those notes. If she affected your quest for education, she is truly sorry. William Laingen spent many years in the Navy, and most of that time on carrier ships. He now works for
Boeing’s carrier stability office, has four girls and two grandchildren, and lives in Missouri. Beth McShane lives south of Asheville, North Carolina, and was most helpful to Heidi Kaul Krutek when she moved to the area. They have been able to get together for lunch and shared some laughs about Beth and Katie Terrell going every morning to feed the cows at the barn. Beth can’t remember why they felt that was something they needed to do. They both agreed that finding Mercersburg was one of the best things that happened to them. Beth has a seventh-grade son who has his own rock band. She has her own business and loves the flexibility it gives her. Jim Owen has a son in film school. Jim Roy has a son, Kyle ’07, at Mercersburg doing a postgraduate year. He has another son who is a high-school junior, and a daughter who is in the seventh grade. Jim is still a golfer, as are both his sons, and his daughter plays lacrosse and basketball. Jim lives in Syracuse, New York, and won the 50th Post-Standard Amateur golf tournament, which is central New York’s most difficult and prized amateur golf tournament. He also captured the title in 1979 and 1981. Marc Strauss has been successful in the commercial real estate business, and loves living in south Florida, where he has been since leaving Mercersburg for Rollins College in Winter Park. Marc has a daughter who is a 10th grader. She applied to Mercersburg, was accepted, and then changed her mind about going away. She has re-applied and hopes to join the upper-middler class next fall. Both of Marc’s children have gone to camp in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and will be there next summer. Marc challenges all to join him as a member of the William Mann Irvine Society. Patty Seltzer Wagoner has a daughter who is a college freshman, a son who is a junior, and another daughter in the sixth grade. Patty’s son is practicing his role as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast.
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’79
Matt Beaver has been promoted to captain in the U.S. Navy. He is stationed in Jacksonville, Florida. Molly Hall has returned to work full time as an assistant city attorney for the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. She is enjoying life with her husband and two children, Ian (9) and Rosemarie (5), in Racine. Molly recently returned from Costa Rica, where she served as an interpreter for a church mission group. Molly welcomes any and all visitors to the southern Wisconsin/Chicago area. Steve Hummel is the executive director of VAST, a para-transit company which specializes in transportation for the elderly and disabled, and an associate pastor for St. Peter’s United Church of Christ. His duties include serving as chaplain for Phoebe House, a faith-based nursing home. Steve and his wife, Dawn, live in Allentown, Pennsylvania, while their daughter, Caitlyn, is in her first year of college at Southeastern Louisiana University, where she is studying to be a lawyer. Steve is “looking forward to seeing everyone at the 30th reunion, where you will all be astonished when you see that I have lost at least one-fifth of myself through Weight Watchers.” Jim Carbone can’t keep himself out of the pool. He and his wife, Gina, live in Brentwood, Tennessee, with their three boys. Jim works for AIG as VP of new venture business development, and is looking forward to the 30th reunion. Rob Johnson writes, “I recently renewed several Mercersburg friendships and picked up with many where we left off in the last century. For those I haven’t caught up with, I’m an IT geek working in Burbank, California. I completed a three-year consulting gig for Warner Music this year and started on a fiveyear contract for Warner Brothers. I’m married with two children, 10-year-old Evan and 6-year-old Erica, and they are the center of my universe. I met my wife in the 1990s when we both worked at Price Waterhouse. I totally enjoyed laughing hysterically while telling stories about high school over the last month or so and looking forward to catching up with others at our 30th reunion.”
Brooke Kinney ’79 and his wife, Lynne, along with Lacy Rice III ’79 and his wife, Lisa, hosted a reunion for several members of the classes of 1979 and 1980. Attendees included Skip Lyshon ’79, Laura Pisano Lyshon ’80, Brooke, Lacy, Rob Johnson ’79, David Dupont ’80, Kevin Williamson ’80, Laurie Emerson ’80, Elise Gery ’80, Tom Beyer ’80, and Bill Carnahan ’79.