CLASS NOTES…
JONG LEE writes, “Hope everyone is well. Things are crazy as usual. We continue to work on a couple of startups and some cool new companies. Our lotsofbuttons.com won Startup Arena in Singapore; I could never have imagined that one day we’d be selling 25-cent buttons online from Hong Kong! We are working on expanding our social enterprise, Bonham Strand, which focuses on creating living wage, long-term skilled career opportunities for at-risk youth with substanceabuse challenges.” To read more from Jong and see a video about Bonham Strand, go to blogs.thacher.org/classnotes. SARAH O’BRIEN shares, “After living in San Francisco for 20 years, Aaron and I returned to Santa Barbara in August 2012 to provide our sons, Pierce (age 6) and Ronan (age 4), the same wonderful childhood I enjoyed. Pierce is now in his second year at Crane Country Day School and loves being in first grade. It is thrilling to have Pierce at Crane, where I attended with my siblings: TOM ’79, PAGE ’81, and PETER ’88. We missed the annual class gathering in the city but hope to see our San Francisco classmates in Ojai or Santa Barbara.” JULIAN PRIDMORE-BROWN shares an adventure, “In August, I joined a friend riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. I completed about 500 miles of the 2,700-mile route, so there’s plenty left for next time! I started in Butte, Mont., and rode south into central Wyoming crossing the continental divide several times. We camped the whole way and saw some awesome country!” KATE TWICHELL MASON notes, “Since we moved from SF to Lafayette, Calif., a year ago, my husband, Paul, completed his eMBA, I am still working as a senior manager of organization and employee development at AECOM, and our son, Cole, is busy with Cub Scouts, playing soccer, and everything related to being in first grade.
Europe. Kids will all be in college so the timing is good. Still plan on trying to make the 30-year Reunion though. Anyone wanting to come visit me in Germany is always welcome.” SORAYA MINTY is “entering my eighth year as seniorassociate attorney at Malmquist Fields Camastra in Glendale, Calif., and recent part-time pro-tem judge. I am now a board-certified specialist in workers’ compensation law, and I continue to find the field vibrant and intellectually challenging. Recently I purchased my first house and, after months of remodeling we finally moved in on September 7. Our move coincided with a very exciting trip to New York City to watch the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadow. This has been a busy year! I look forward to many more such years in the wonderful city of Los Angeles.”
JAMES TAYLOR shares that “After a disastrous battle with the State of Montana, I am now out of the land development business and back in education. I am teaching at a college prep boarding school in Utah (read: middle of nowhere...), Wasatch Academy. I teach any math class in the school, but currently AP Stats, Business Math, Intro to Programming, and Pre-Calculus. Pay is low but it is great to have a vacation whenever my kids have vacation! Good luck finding Mount Pleasant, Utah, on a map without the help of Google.... Still married, still have a house full of kids (but two in college— the end is in sight!), still nuts. The only big change is that my hair is all but gone.” CHRIS DIENER notes, “In October 2013, Chris took a position as Senior Vice President, Analytics, at AbsolutData—an international Big Data analytics solutions firm—and started a blog at analyticsleadership.com.” SAMANTHA HARTLEY HEWITT shares, “September brings the warmest weather to San Francisco, just as the kids have to head back to school. Cate has started second grade and is loving soccer and dance. We had a few wonderful adventures in August with a trip to London and Mallorca, and weekends at Echo Lake. We got to spend time with HEIDI and JOHANNES GIRARDONI ’85 in L.A., to see Johannes’s newest light-and-sound exhibition. AMI BECKER-ARONSON and her daughter, Goldie, were also visiting from D.C. for a week. I started a new job at Arkitektura in June—all fine so far.” SARAH LAVENDER SMITH writes, “Last May, CAROLYN REED KIRKPATRICK, MORGAN SMITH ‘85, and I bought an item at the Thacher Parents’ Auction for three nights in August at Golden Trout Camp. We recruited REBECCA (BUCKY) CLYDE TENNANT, ERIC GROSS ‘85 and his wife, Carmen, and several of our kids to join us. We enjoyed a glorious long weekend hiking and hanging out in camp, expertly managed by CAM SPAULDING ‘92, NICK TRANMER ‘92, and several Thacher students. An alumni pilgrimage to Golden Trout is definitely worthwhile!”
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MICHELE BARNETT BERG writes, “This year has made for multiple, mini-Thacher reunions which I really appreciate as, being abroad for the past 11 years, I have not made it to the past couple of Reunions. On New Year’s Eve, we had a great time with ELEANOR WHELAN O’NEILL and her family at the Getty Museum and the Santa Monica Pier. Then, during our spring break it turned out that—thanks to seeing on Facebook that KATIE PARSONS, DAISY MOORE LALWANI, and I were all in NYC with our families—we had a fun time meeting up one afternoon. This summer TOM COLE and his wife, Linda, (who coincidentally used to live three blocks from our house) and their kids came to Stockholm and we spent time out on our boat and visiting one of the nearby horse farms. In November I will be running the NYC marathon with AMI BECKER ARONSON ‘86. Life is good here in Sweden and I am keeping busy with my consulting business, being a soccer and ice hockey mom, and running. I just did my first ultra-marathon in August. Love to see any other