Alumni Class Notes

from PARK Pioneer: Winter 2020/21

Our Adventure With Children Continues

1952 - Joan Plumb Reeves writes, “Relieved to be in Canada but still voting in Buffalo. Park is obviously needed more than ever in this frightening time...be well!”

1955 - Judy Cochran Glenn writes, “After living in California for 40 years I have moved to Burlington, VT to live with my son Christopher Glenn, son of Sturgen Glenn (Park ‘54). I am sad to report that his sister, Tennant Glenn Davitian, also a 1955 graduate of Park, passed away in June 2020. She will be remembered for her performances in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.”

1956 - Doug Johnston writes, “Retired in 2014; 53 years teaching secondary and collegiate English classes. Winter in Florida, summer at Keuka Lake.”

1970 - Rhonda Bachmann sang a recital as Marie-Antoinette to inaugurate the Versailles exhibit “New Look” on October 7, 2020 with official permission to have a socially distanced audience including city dignitaries. The Queen’s songs and arias by Grétry and Paisiello were arranged for her by her late husband the music director Arthur Hammond.

Rhonda Bachmann ’70

1974 - Cynthia Bradley Crippen

writes, “I’m very proud to say that my experience at Park was so rewarding for me. I recently retired from Bank of America in Charlotte, NC after over 27 years in the mortgage industry.” Cynthia Pearce LeMay has completed her Ph.D. in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA, and will be teaching in the business school at Kennesaw beginning in the spring of 2021. 1975 - Cheryl Skuller Wald reports, “In June, my husband Joe and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. Also at the end of that month we both retired. Enjoying our time exercising, traveling, walking, golfing, and spending time in Northern Michigan. Lastly, but most importantly, we love being grandparents to our three grandchildren. Life is good!”

1981 - Carolyn Hoyt Stevens joined Gurney Becker & Bourne as a licensed real estate salesperson and is excited to help people in WNY find happiness in their homes. She encourages Buffalo ex-pats to move home and enjoy all that Buffalo has to offer! Pioneers can reach Carolyn at choytstevens@ gurneyrealestate.com.

Carolyn Hoyt Stevens ‘81

1990 - Christopher Spitzmiller’s new book, A Year at Clove Brook Farm, will be released in March 2021. “Three years in the making, I wrote the book to educate and encourage people to grow their own flowers, tend to flocks, keep bees and to entertain. I truly hope that the book will help you to find some inspiration to try some - or all - of the things I share from my life at the farm. My good friend Martha Stewart wrote the forward, and the book is filled with all the joys of farm life throughout the year.” 1991 - Dan Meeker is celebrating 11 years in Portland, OR where he moved with his wife Katie, and kids, Margaret and John, in 2009. “For the past year I have been designing scenery for Laika, the stop motion animation studio responsible for last year’s Golden Globe winning film The Missing Link,” he reports.

1995 - Amy Hezel has recently been promoted to Associate Professor at Regis University in Denver, CO where she lives with her husband, Graham Foust, a poet and professor at the University of Denver, and children Merle (13) and Mavis (9) Hezel.

1996 - Preeti Shastri welcomed Noah Ganesh Spence on February 13, 2020. She and her husband live in Boston where she is a sports medicine physician and Instructor of Orthopedics at Harvard Medical School.

1998 - D. Cameron Hartney is the lighting director for the show Love at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

2000 - E. Matthew Hartney is a digital lighting programmer working with major studios world-wide.

2002 - Devin Lipsitz is teaching a class of autistic kindergarteners at Buffalo’s Herman Badillo School. Sara Schmitt moved to Seattle in 2019 to start a position at Amazon focused on launching grocery delivery for the company’s new supermarket chain (Fresh). Rashida DaCosta Dowell was selected as one of Buffalo Business First’s “40 Under 40” award recipients for 2020. She is a business risk manager at M&T Bank and holds a BS, business, SUNY Buffalo State; MBA, University of Buffalo.

Rashida DaCosta Dowell ‘02

2003 - Chris Berardi and wife Christie welcomed their second son, Valentino, in March 2020. Big brother Roman is a member of Park’s Class of 2033.

Valentino Berardi

2004 - Jarret Izzo and wife Rebecca welcomed a daughter named Josephine on October 26, 2020. Baby Josie joins big sister Cecily.

Jarret Izzo ‘04 and baby Josie

2005 - Dalphne Buckley Bell was named Director of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives in the Buffalo Public Schools system. She had previously served as the Supervisor of Mathematics for several years. Leslie Rosenberg and Christopher Mikus were married in Waterville Valley, NH on August 31, 2019. They were joined by close family and friends, including several members of the Park School community: parents Cheryl and Gary Rosenberg, brother Ben Rosenberg ‘98, and friends Evan Smith ‘05, AJ Birtch ‘05, Kathryn Manning ‘05, Jonna Sakowski ‘09, Fung Eng and Carol Hasegawa, and Missy Baumgart. The couple met during business school at Boston University and live in Boston, MA.

From left: Kathryn Manning ‘05, Jonna Sakowski ‘09, AJ Birtch ‘05, Leslie Rosenberg ‘05, Christopher Mikus, and Evan Smith ’05

2008 - Courtney O’Brien was promoted to Associate Marketing Manager at Reichert, Inc. Reichert is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality diagnostic instruments and equipment for ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians, retail eye centers, life science researchers, and analytical testing.

2010 - Harry Lipsitz was credited as casting associate for The True Adventures of Wolfboy, a feature film starring John Turturro which debuted in Buffalo recently. He also cast extras for Coldbrook starring William Fichtner.

2011 - Natalie Gerich Brabson earned her MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence in May 2019. She is now living in Philadelphia, working at UPenn and writing in her spare time.

2014 - Willem Cohen graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2018 and has since been working at a content marketing startup in Chicago, IL. Nicholas Constantinou was an officer for a student group at The University of Scranton that garnered national recognition. The Institute of Management Accountants recognized Scranton’s student chapter as one of just five outstanding student chapters in the nation for the 20182019 academic year. Nicholas was the treasurer for the University’s student chapter for 2018-2019.

2015 - Trevor Cornish is working at National Fuel as an Associate Engineer in the Engineering Services – Air Quality department. “We provide the air emissions management/support to the National Fuel Supply Corporation, Empire Pipeline, and Midstream LLCs.” Trevor reports. Liana Ellegate graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Empire State while living in the Czech Republic and is now attending Charles University in Prague for graduate school.

Liana Ellegate ‘15 during a past adventure.

2016 - Jordan Nwora was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Draft on November 18!

2018 - James Ellegate is attending SUNY at Buffalo and completed his sophomore year on the Dean’s list. He was the recipient of two scholarships in his sophomore year: 2020 Grace W. Capen Academic Award for outstanding academic achievement and 2020 Sophomore Organic Chemistry Award for Academic Excellence, based on his being in the top 1% of his grade level.

2020 - Nicole Ellegate is a sophomore at Clarkson University, majoring in innovation and entrepreneurship. She was named a Presidential Scholar for the fall 2020 semester at Clarkson. Presidential Scholars must achieve a minimum 3.80 grade-point average and carry at least 14 credit hours.