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something “fun.” My son, Nicholas, works for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, managing the St. Catherine Parish Center. He and his wife and three children still provide lots of activity in our home, and it keeps me young. And speaking of grandchildren, my stepson also has three girls, ages 14, 11, and 8. We see them often and love it when all six cousins are together. My daughter, Noel, is not yet married and spends a lot of her free time with the family. She works in the political accounting field and the upcoming election season is shaping up to be an exciting and challenging time. This past summer my husband and I went on a cruise to Europe and had a grand time visiting many wonderful cities in Spain, France, Italy, Sicily, Greece, and Turkey. Margie Helm: Chip and I are both pretty completely retired. We just returned from three months in San Cristóbal de las Casas and Oaxaca studying Spanish. We enjoyed our adventure and are happy to be back home. I have completely retired from my work in social work education and private practice. I am still working with Hospice of Petaluma and Memorial Hospice to support parents whose children have died. It is a privilege and blessing that my role lets me weave that work around other community involvement and time away! Have been in touch with Susan Lloyd since her mom’s death last year. Chip and I are planning to head to Florida for a visit as she and Glenn have been so generous with their trips to California! Warm wishes for a bright new year. Mary Sweetland Laver: My 2015 headline news is that Lance and I are now grandparents! Nell Rosina was born to our daughter, Claire, and her husband, Alex, in October. Fortunately for us, they live nearby, in the Philadelphia area. Son Nathan and his singer-songwriter wife, Michelle Lewis, moved from Boston to L.A. last year, and most of the Sweetlands are still in the west, so we are frequent CA visitors. I’m enjoying my consultant work—internationally with Catholic Relief Services and their collaboration with Catholic higher education and locally with the PICO National Network’s outreach to parishes, inspired by Pope Francis. One Catalina-related highlight of 2015 for me was having a long, wonderful lunch visit with Rose Teichert Grimm in March. Cathy Quarre Alexander: Been a busy time for Scott and myself—new drugs but trying to keep him on track so he can do what he loves! His business is in Mexico, and with our son John’s help the company
is doing well. We deal with essential oils from citrus, which is used for drink bases and cosmetics. We celebrated in Hawaii at the Disney resort, The Aulani. Pretty much a hoot but definitely all for the kids and not so much for the parents. Also a new member of the family coming in June. My mom is having a bit of a challenge, but we are hoping she will come out fighting. Still making the effort to drive from S.F. to Lodi to drive horses. I just hope I have her spirit at 89! Joan Seamster: Just back from an exercise class that played a David Bowie retrospective during the work out. And everyone in the class knew who he was. A good day! Best to all and a shout out to Brenda on her pending nuptials! Melinda Bowman Manlin: My news is that I’m retiring in February! It’s a leap of faith in a leap year! Melinda tells us that David (29) is going to Africa end of January; Kathryn (32) loves working at the Monterey Credit Union and sends her love and good wishes to all. She writes, “Kudos to Laurie Bechtel Dachs for her heartfelt words at the dedication of the Sister Claire and Sister Christine Mathematics and Science building.” She watched the streaming video from her desk, with such joy for being part of this Santa Catalina community and is really enjoying catching up with all of us. Terry Cashill Juhola: Bruce and I downsized into a townhouse last spring, but we still have plenty of room for our children. My stepchildren, Keith and Ilona, and their spouses live in Holland, MI and Portland, OR respectively. Neither have children, but have wonderful marriages and careers. Our daughter, Alex, and husband, Matt, have Cashill (5) and Beau (2) and live in Boulder. Alex left Google after nine years to join Bitsbox, a start-up which teaches children how to code. Our youngest, Tyler, also just joined an internet marketing startup, SteadyBudget, here in Bend. Bruce is an executive business coach and runs several executive peer mentorship groups here. I have a part-time business working with elderly individuals. I handle finances, insurance, act as medical liaison, etc.; it’s a good use of my HR, finance, and coaching experience. Cooking and skiing are my passions, although back issues kept me off the mountain last year. Hope to get up there soon! Carolyn Layton GarnerReagan: I continue to enjoy retirement. My husband, Michael, and I take care of our grandson, Logan (19 months), two days a week. We had a Baltic cruise
planned for June, which included three days in St. Petersburg, but we have postponed it for a year because Logan is going to become a big brother in July! (I never lost my love of Russian history thanks to Miss Hoetmer and our Junior year Russian history class.) I like to work in our yard and the front is now totally drought tolerant. I also continue to volunteer at All Saints Episcopal Church here in Pasadena and serve as secretary for our neighborhood association. It was a joy to meet up with Melissa Bowman in Denver recently. Logan and I had dinner with Melissa, her son, Evan, and his girlfriend, Jill, while my daughter had a business meeting. Michelle La Mothe: This was a fairly challenging year for us, beginning with my near Argentineandeath-by-motorcycle, followed by equestrian Anne-France’s broken pelvis, continued with other downs throughout the year. Now all are recovered and at year’s beginning. Eve and Guillaume are safe in Paris. Anne-France is thriving in grad school in London. Claire is deep in Nairobi. Jean is immersed in his new philanthropy. Trina Smith Overlock: (We are lucky to hear from Trina, who’s been incommunicado for some time, but now she is found and we are thrilled!) It is wonderful to hear so many of your voices and to learn a little about your full and fulfilling lives! I don’t get to California often but hope to make it to our 50th reunion in 2017. With luck, many of you will be there and it will be fun to finally re-connect. Warmest regards to you all. Katy Lewis: I must admit, it looks like I’ve missed the memo—I am still working full time and enjoying it. I have no grandchildren. Nothing new to report here. I still enjoy helping and getting to know fascinating clients all over the world get into top business schools. Although I work for a N.Y. firm, my job is virtual so I can pretty much work anywhere. My daughters are flourishing: Claire still does lighting design for big events and corporations in the Bay Area; Rosemary runs operations at an ed tech company in Palo Alto; Katharine is getting her master’s degree in foreign policy at Georgetown and is interning for Facebook. Only Rosemary is married and no grandchildren yet! We have all put our names into the Yosemite High Sierra Camps lottery and hope to do the 5-camp trek this summer, but it depends on my having my second hip replaced this month! Speaking of which, if any of you need hip replacements, get in touch with