stay connected... 1998 Zoe Niarchos Anetakis P.O. Box 384 Westport Point MA 02791 781-475-9772 zbniarchos@yahoo.com
I excel at excuses. I was planning to go for a run, but it it looked like it was going to rain (I felt a drop!). I was late to work because of traffic (I walk). As you know, I missed our last column. But I’ve got the very best excuse I’ve ever had. My daughter, Theodora, was born in November. She came out eager and determined, and is a lovely and spirited, albeit sleepless, girl. She has brought truth to every parenting cliché in the manual that no one gives you but is universally known. The CliffsNotes: We are in love. Now, on to our column! Many of these updates are belated, but let’s pretend everything is timely...mmmk? Nnamdi Okike delivered me a bounty of good updates on several classmates, making him once again one of my favorite people. Nnamdi’s fund, 645 Ventures, recently sold one of his investments to Google (woot woot!). Kyle O’Brien was named director of player personnel for the Detroit Lions. He, wife Alexis, and son Finn will make the move up to the Motor City from Jacksonville, FL, where Kyle previously served as head scout for the Jaguars. Malick Fall is executive director of Boys Hope Girls Hope, an intensive collegeprep program based in Brooklyn. John Tarantino has successfully launched his e-commerce watch company, Martenero. Made in New York, Martenero watches are designed and customized by customers online. I want one! Dario Collado is the new director of strategic development for the Hispanic Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. Nnamdi’s last bit of news is the sweetest: Pete Karlen and wife Meg welcomed their daughter, Layla, in September 2015. While we’re at it, let’s move on to even more baby news. Amelia Stoj and wife Cat welcomed daughter Parker Dial Clem-Stoj in January. Parker has cheeks for days and a smile that would warm a Grinch’s heart. Abigail Gardner Athanasopoulos and husband Vasilios welcomed their second son, Sevastianos Keon, in October; he joins big brother Niko, who is still warming up to the idea of brotherhood. Erin C. Dougherty O’Connor and husband John added baby Rory to their roost in December. Together with Adair and Jeremiah, the siblings O’Connor are poised to take New York by storm. Taking a brief detour from babies, Erin, along with Happy Menocal, Lindsey Heller Lohwater, Samar Jamali, Helen Struck, and Jackie Bliss, convened the Smith House squad in April for Anna Larson’s marriage to Dave Thomas. The happy couple wed in Sausalito at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Smiles were wide, and Anna looked simply perfect. Another wedding for the books: Gillian
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Andover | Reunion 2016
Goldberg married Jason Tower in November. Fun fact: The couple met on a Southwest Airlines flight! Gillian, Kathleen Burke Colbath, and Leah Willis Basche reunited in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival in January. Getting back to babies, Leah welcomed her son, Willis Andrew, in October. The last (but never least!) of the wedding news is that Amse Hammershaimb married John Heck at the Union League in Philadelphia in December. Michael Nardy, Winnie Chan Wang, Austin Ownbey ’99, and Nikki Salva ’00 all attended the celebration. Whenever I get a note about a mini reunion of our classmates, I have a particular sense of pride unique to my station. In addition to the ones I noted above, Lia Welsch McNeely caught up with Chrissie Cloonan over a fun girls’ weekend in New York. Our brethren in Singapore held an Andover-Exeter barbeque organized by Sung Nam and attended by Sarah Corbin and Hieu Nguyen, among others from various years and classes. Hieu has worked for the past five years at Diageo, the world’s largest spirits company, handling its acquisitions in Asia and its commercial strategy in Southeast Asia. Sarah has been in Singapore for 10 years. She works in business development for Marriot Vacation Club, the perks for which involve business trips to places like Phuket, Thailand, and Australia. This past New Year’s Eve, Moses Kagan, Max Ventilla, Greg Chase, and Danny Addison, along with their families, convened in LA for the umpteenth time. Thank you, gentlemen, for your steadfast determination to keep that party going. It must be said, however, that the MVP of reunions goes to the Christodoulo duo (Amy Mueller-Christodoulo and Peter Christodoulo), who hosted brunch for a gaggle of Andoverites at their home in San Francisco in May. Attendees included Anna Larson, Peter Karlen, Ish Harshawat, Emma Soichet, Max Ventilla, and Helen Struck. Now for a few career notes, to keep us all motivated. Amelia Tseng earned her doctorate in linguistics from Georgetown University and began her second year as faculty and director of bilingual education at American University. Fred Papali completed 16 years (not a typo) of formal education and is now a member of the pulmonary/critical-care faculty at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Ali Ghaffari and family were transferred to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where Ali is a professor, teaching freshmen leadership. As I write, summer is upon us and I have unilaterally crowned Anne Martinez the winner of the season. She bought a boat! Annie will be hitting the waters on Skirt, a beautiful J/22. To Annie and to all of you near and far, may the wind be always at your back. Be well and stay in touch.
1999 Marisa Connors Hoyt marisahoyt2@gmail.com
It is with deep sadness that I begin the notes with news about the passing of our classmate Victoria Taylor. As a psychotherapist in New York, Victoria devoted her life to helping people in distress, especially young women and LGBT youth who had suffered trauma or abuse. If you would like information about contributing to a fund in Victoria’s name, please e-mail me for details. She was still very close with a few of our classmates, and my thoughts and prayers are with you all. After working as an architect in New York, Paris, and Philadelphia, Nick Risteen is back in school to begin work on a PhD degree in architectural history and theory at Princeton. He received a 2016–2017 Fulbright Scholarship to Japan, where he will focus on archival research for a dissertation on post-disaster reconstruction. Over the past six years, Nick has also been on the board of Ugly Duckling Presse in Brooklyn, an independent small press. Jess Ellis has been teaching in Boston public schools for the past 12 years and is currently working at an inclusion school, teaching kindergarten. She wrote, “[I] will be taking a sabbatical, traveling around South America and hopefully visiting Antarctica. I will also be attending Burning Man for the first time this year! I have been fully exploring my photography and hope to parlay it into some sort of travel or wildlife photography career.” Kristy Wiehe is also taking a sabbatical of sorts from the practice of law to spend two years studying business at Wharton. She is planning to move to Philadelphia this summer and hopes to connect with Congressman Seth Moulton ’97 while he is in Philadelphia for the Democratic Convention. Lindsay Hoopes treated Claire Coffey to a visit to Dallas. Lindsay and Claire stayed with Liza Darnell in Dallas, drank frozen margaritas with Heather Gotha ’98, and ate dinner with Grancis Santana. Sounds like a great trip all around, and I hope some Hoopes Vineyard wine was consumed, too! Rob Ramsey moved to Charlottesville, VA, two years ago and enjoys life there with his growing family. He and wife Tricia welcomed a daughter, Anna Ruth Ramsey, last November. She joins older brother George, who is 2 1/2. Morgan Madera Baroni and her husband, Roland, also welcomed their second child, Francesca Adele Baroni, in March. She joins Isabella, who is thrilled to be a big sister—most days, at least! Matt Kalin and his wife, Rachel, recently bought a house just down the street from Morgan in Walpole, MA. Paul Penta and Marlena Montanez Penta are expecting their first baby, a boy, in September.