T H E B R IDGE
1968 Send notes to: Shannon McDowell
3 South Cherry Grove Ave. Annapolis, MD 21401 shannonmcdowell2006@comcast. net
Bruce Hunter writes: Had three more granddaughters come into the world in 2008. Sallie Gooss born 4/23, Abbie Kimble born 8/14 and Rainie Hunter born 9/13. That brings me up to 12 grandchildren. Christmas will break my budget!
1969 Send notes to: Nick Codd
P.O. Box 843 Severna Park, MD 21146 nickcodd@verizon.net
1972 Send notes to: John Norton
13 Botany Court Emerald Hills, CA 94062 650-361-8062 john@declarity.com
Lots of news from John Norton: “September 2008 was tough for Cliff Carr and his family. During that month, his wife Linda lost her father, and afterward, while they were driving home from Maryland, a storm destroyed their Texas beach condominium. ‘On the way back to Dallas we learned that Hurricane Ike changed its path, and the eye went right over our property in Galveston. The building is still standing, but there was a lot of damage. We had to strip it down to the studs. I am trying to rebuild it as we speak. I hope to have it open maybe in August or September. 2009 is proving to be somewhat kinder. Our property management company is holding its own. Dallas did not have the downturn in real estate like the most of the country; of course, we did not have run up 36
in price either. I am now working on my fifth start-up technology company, which is proving to be harder then expected due to the economy. My children are all doing well. I have to chuckle, I have three boys and one girl, and my girl gets the sports scholarship to play soccer in college.’ n Jim Green retired as a master sergeant in February 2003 from the Army National Guard.“I had a total of 29 years in the Guard, with over 21 of them being active duty. I was extremely lucky and ended up in the Field Artillery. I worked most of my career in a Brigade Tactical Operations Center as a Targeting NCO. Since retirement, I have been playing Mr. Mom, with occasional employment with the Guard. I’ve gone back to work for them in various capacities due to deployments. Dawn, my wife of 28 years, and I have three children. Jennifer, 19, just completed her sophomore year in college. Jessica, 13, is in 7th grade, and John, 12, is in 6th grade. Jessie and John keep me running between softball, football, soccer, wrestling, volleyball, and baseball. I have figured out that the only reason I let my girls play softball, is that I do not have a life of my own.” (There seems to be a trend developing here in these notes about attitudes towards daughters and
sports. I will keep my head down out of the line of fire.) Jim and his family live in Hixson, TN, just north of Chattanooga In the accompanying photo of Jim and his family, you will see his mother, Carol. As the daughter of Carol and Robert Hill, she had the pleasure of living with her parents in an apartment above the Severn Dining Hall. Bob Hill was a math and science teacher at Severn from 1944 until 1963. She lived there for just over a year before escaping to college. Jim says: “Mother still tells my kids about growing up there, especially her stories about the Dining Hall and about how her mom would take care of the “sick boys”, when needed. My dad was in the Naval Academy at the time. Although Dad passed away in March, Mom is doing well.” n Geoff Guttmann writes: “My wife, Mary, and I have two boys, 14 and 11-years-old. Mary is a RN at the Community Medical Center on the telemetry unit and is finishing her BSN at Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada, via distance education. My oldest boy, David, just finished his first year in competitive swimming and has improved his times throughout the season. He starts high school next year! My youngest boy, John, is in fifth grade and doing well. He hopes
Green Family Christmas 2008. From left to right, Jesse, Dawn, Mother Carol, Jim ’72, John and Jennie
to be a lawyer some day as he says he has the gift of gab!” Geoff is one of the founding members of the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, PA. “I am in the process of working on two books, one related to Craniofacial Embryogenetics and Development, and the other is a chapter on vascularembryology in Rutherford’s Textbook of Vascular Surgery. And Mr. John Meskow, our biology and chemistry teacher, said I couldn’t get the biology correct.” Take that, Mr. Meskow. “I am also very busy helping set up the Masters of Biomedical Science program, a one year technical advanced biology program, with my fellow faculty. I serve as chair of the Admissions Committee for the MBS program. I saw the writeup in the last Bridge. It is good to see the other alums of 1972 doing well and enjoying what they do. Cheers!” n David Gehrdes is a teacher, athletic director and coach of the varsity women’s lacrosse team at Annapolis High School. Two of his daughters, Katie who is finishing her freshman year at the high school, and Emily, who will be attending Stonehill College next year in Easton, MA where she’ll be playing Div II lacrosse, are members of his team. David is married to Mary Alice Gehrdes, Digital Film and Video and AP Computer Science teacher at Severn. They have two more children. Erin, is in sixth grade at St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park and Brian is finishing his first year at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA where he is a member of the Div III Ursinus Men’s Lacrosse team. (Read more in Mary Alice’s article pg. 37)