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Class Notes

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1953

12 For their 60th anniversary,

Jerome Finnigan and his wife, Jo Ann, returned to Evergreen Lodge (near Camp Mather) where they first met and eloped from in 1961. The couple was joined by their three children and five of their six grandchildren.

1963

13 Kevin Illia and his wife, Pam, recently visited their son, John Colin Illia, at his present assignment in the US Embassy in London.

1971

After graduation, Gino Francesconi endeavored to become a conductor so he went on to study at Juilliard in 1974. He began working as an usher and later as a backstage artist attendant at Carnegie Hall. He had the pleasure of working with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Leonard Bernstein. After a stint in Italy further pursuing his conducting education, he returned to Carnegie Hall to lead the development of their archives ahead of the hall’s centennial anniversary. Gino and his staff opened Carnegie Hall’s first museum with their findings. Now retired, Gino still assists with research at Carnegie Hall, but aims to live by the old Italian saying, “Dolce far niete” — the sweet enjoyment of doing nothing.

John Schindler retired eight years ago as a supervisor of respiratory services at San Francisco General Hospital.

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1972

Julio Lacayo retired 10 years ago as the Bay Area regional administrator in the California Department of Motor Vehicles after a successful 35-year career.

15 Suzette Martinez Standring

holds the distinction as the first writing instructor hired by The School of American Thanatology, which focuses on the science of death, dying, and grieving.

1975

16 Friends from the Cathedral Class of 1975 recently enjoyed a long weekend in Incline Village, reminiscing of the good old days.

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1977

After 34 years as an attorney, Theodore Cercos retired on June 30, 2021. He also recently relocated from San Diego to Durango, Colorado.

Ronald P. Muriera is the owner/consultant of RPM Consulting, working to support arts and cultural organizations and educational institutions through strategic planning, board development and fundraising. He was recently elected board president of Californians for the Arts — the only comprehensive, multidisciplinary organization focused on advancing and building public awareness of the value and impact of arts, culture and creativity across California. Ron lives in San Jose with his wife, Gina, who serves as an adjunct lecturer at San Jose State University, and their two children, Francesca and Leonardo.

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1979

George Beierly currently lives in Honolulu, Hawai’i. His brother, Joe ’75, passed away this past January from complications due to COVID-19.

Ronald DeMartini checked off a major life goal from his bucket list by performing live at the Silver Legacy in Reno as Elvis Presley. With over 1,000 people present, Randy and a full band performed Elvis's greatest hits. Andre Valentine is seen here with NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Andre recently reached the 20 year mark of an out-of-thisworld career at NASA Television. For the past 10 years he has served as the producer and voice of the space agency's weekly news and events show, This Week @NASA, which you can view at nasa.gov/ twan. He, his wife Eldora, and their daughter, Sydney, reside just outside DC, in Northern Virginia.

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1980

20 Jon Hayward is seen above alongside Mike Gomez, Gregg Kelly, Jeff Piccinini at a mini reunion for the Class of 1980 at a Giants game. The group ended up sitting next to a current Spanish teacher at SHC! Small world. Go Giants and Go Irish!

1981

Richard Ballesteros wishes all his fellow Irish well!

21 The Sacred Heart Class of 1981 recently celebrated their 40th reunion at the United Irish Cultural Center.

1982

22 Michael Rouan recently shared a meal with friend Chuck Nastari ’74 at Parkside Tavern, where they met Don Schmidt ’82 by chance at the bar, and discovered their server, Paul O’Driscoll ’20 was also a fellow alum!

1983

Steven Palmer retired from Masters, Mates & Pilots this past June. Before retirement, he served as master of the container ship M/V APL Saipan on the GSX (Guam Saipan eXpress) with service between Busan, Yokohama, Guam and Saipan. 23 Dominic Solis can be seen above enjoying his 56th birthday with his wife, Ellen Grace, and daughter, Cassie, at a Giants game.

BOARD OF REGENTS

Carol Wicklund Enright Board Chair William D. Rauch, JD Board Vice Chair Elizabeth Brown Parents Association President Kase Abusharkh ’00 Sr. Adella Armentrout, DC Stella Bialous, DrPH Kevin Buckley ’13 Courtney Chin ’03 Richard Cutler, PhD Br. Victor Kenneth Curley, FSC Ed Delfs Stefan Gartrell ’02 Sandra Gulli Miguel Guzman ’91 Francois Hechinger Daniel Holland ’79 Janet Holland ’77 Jim Jones Monica Kelly ’06 Eileen Malley, JD ’77 Sister Frances Meyer, DC Joey Nevin ’01 Margaret O’Driscoll Jeffrey Porter ’72 James Ryan, Jr. Sue Sami Stacie Solt, MD ’99 Ed Wang ’90 Harold Wong ’77

EX-OFFICIO

Melinda Lawlor Skrade, PhD President Gary Cannon, EdD Principal John Gumina ’91 VP for Advancement and Enrollment Shani Mahany Director of Finance Mark Pardini ’88 Director of Communications & Marketing John M. Vigo ’81 Director of Stewardship and Future Giving

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1992

24 After 20 years as an educator and director of charter school operations in the East Bay, Kenya Williams is back in San Francisco to join French American and International High School as executive assistant to Head of School. Her son, Aiden, is a seventh grader at Cathedral School for Boys.

1997

25 LyRyan Russell is seen above with his son LyRyan Christopher, hanging out and celebrating the little guy's first birthday.

1998

Alston L. Lew credits his journey toward serving as a civil litigation attorney with Murphy Pearson to the excellent education he received at SHC. He remembers former principal Br. Christopher Brady ’70 FSC, fondly.

2003

Marvel and Myo D’Cerone, children of Nick Cerone and Irene Gardner are pictured above looking adorable in their costumes. Nick owns Raise the Bar Fitness in the Sunset district specializing in home fitness equipment and personal training. Irene is a registered dietitian and sports nutritionist. Both also coach, Nick in basketball and Irene in rugby. They love that their kids will grow up around sports.

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2009

27 Ki-shawna Moore Mitchell

recently married Cleveland Mitchell. The happy couple is now expecting their first child in March 2022. Ronan Nievera and his wife have been married for two years and they are expecting their first child in March 2022.

2010

Lesley Alegria and her husband, Pat, married in 2020 and relocated from San Francisco to Greenville, South Carolina. They bought a house and are happy to have her parents, who are enjoying retirement, nearby. Lesley’s sister, Betsy ’12, moved to New York. Pat serves as an eighth grade math teacher and volleyball coach. Lesley is an HR and recruiting consultant and launched her career coaching business. Eugene Dawydiak was recently hired as a tax associate at the accounting firm BPM, LLP.

Lisa Hipp Alemann and her husband, Nick Alemann, were finally able to celebrate their marriage with family and friends this past August after rescheduling due to the pandemic. Pictured above are Lisa’s parents Karen and Eric, and her siblings, Kaitlin ’05, Tim ’07, Erica ’13, and Emily ’13 as well as their grandpa, Warren Johnston ’48, and his wife Betty.

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2011

30 Ivayana Liggins received an

MBA from California State University, East Bay in July 2021. She plans to continue her career in market research for many years to come.

2016

Alejandro Muñoz recently received a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the University of San Francisco. He also played his final year as a D1 student athlete. Being a student athlete, student, and having a fulltime job wasn’t easy, but Alejandro has learned so much along the way — and he developed a love of coaching. He created VillageSports — a trust focused, on-demand coaching platform that connects student athletes with kids to help them improve their game, while giving back to the community.

Emily Rogers currently serves in the SHC Admissions Office, as Head Varsity Coach for the girls tennis program, and as assistant coach for the boys program.

Keith Ismael recently appeared on Monday Night Football, starting at center for the Washington Football Team in a victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

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2021

34 Stella Merritt can be seen above on move-in day at the University Nevada, Reno. 35 Emily Jones is currently playing college hoops at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. She was recently back in town as her team suited up against the USF Dons.

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