Class Notes 1990s
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1990
Shannon Reynolds Torbett
8165 Scruggs Drive
Germantown, TN 38138
storbett@sco.edu
1991
Shannon Eadie Niemeyer
36 Scotland Circle
Stafford, VA 22554
sfniemeyer@adelphia.net
Thank you for taking the time to write, and I know there are still many more of you out there with news to report. Please send me a quick note or email and let me know what you’ve been up to. I’d love to hear from you!
Paul Walters and his wife, Brandy, enjoy living in the Fredericksburg area and keeping up with their sons Nicholas, 7; Nathan, 3; and Joshua, 1. Paul is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is starting a new church, Grace Lutheran Church, south of Fredericksburg. Recently, he published his second book, Christ Before Your Marriage, Christ in Your Marriage, a series of devotions for the first year of marriage.
Jennifer Bryant Langdale and her husband, Jay, are thrilled to be the parents of their son, Alex, whom they brought home from Russia in April 2006, when he was only 15 months old. He is adapting beautifully.
Pamela Richardson Jones and her husband, Jason, welcomed their daughter, Sylvia Camille, in January 2006. After Sylvia’s birth, Pamela resigned from her job at the State Department and is a freelance museum registrar in Baltimore, Md.
Leigh Wafle Stoffel and Sarah Hamblin enjoyed attending a tennis match together in August at the Legg-Mason Tournament in Washington, D.C. Sarah is a patent attorney in D.C., and Leigh stays busy with her two children in Fredericksburg. Julia Weddle Ritterbusch lives in Abingdon, Va., with her husband, Eddie, and son Ben, a fourth-grader. After taking several years off from work, she teaches English as a Second Language at a middle school and tutors adults learning English.
All of Billy Germelman’s children are doing well in school, and his career as a nonprofit director is an endless kaleidoscope of fundraising, marketing, social work, and networking. Billy sees Arty Vogt, as well as Martha Bently, and Terri Carden. Billy’s freshman roommate, George “Brad” Fry, is doing well in New York, where he recently graduated from a culinary arts institute.
Lynne Yankosky Barner’s daughter began preschool this year; big brother is 3. Lynne enjoyed seeing a bunch of Mary Washington moms and their little ones back in mid-August, and all are doing well, including Karen Clegg Blocker, Karen Troiano Connell, Susan Wise Whittle, Laurie Johnson Chidlow, and Amy Larsen DeCarlo.
Evan and Kim Cosgriff Hart live in Tennessee. Evan is in his fifth year teaching geography at Tennessee Tech. He says that he owes his interest in geography to Mary Washington professors Palmeri, Bowen, and Gouger. Those of you who had them know what Evan means! He enjoys outdoor activities of all kinds and serves as scoutmaster with the troop at their church. Above all, his favorite words are, “Daddy I’m so glad you’re home,” spoken by Hannah, 7, and Maura, 5. Kim volunteers at Hannah’s school and at church. She runs and won a local 10k last year.
Ben Kramer recently returned from a tour of duty with his National Guard unit. He served a year-and-a-half in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in a light infantry battalion. He went on many missions in the area of Ghazni, Afghanistan and is glad to be home again. His wife, Sherry, is working as a CASA volunteer coordinator, and Ben is working at New River Community College in student activities. Their 12-year-old son, Charles, loves skateboarding. Candace, 9, enjoys soccer. Ben is also studying at Old Dominion University toward a doctorate in community college leadership.
Lisa Williamson Dargay lives in Forest, Va., with husband Jeff; Kayla, 8; and Luke, 6. She co-owns a women’s clothing shop, La Li D’s Boutique, which keeps her busy. Lisa enjoyed visiting with Michelle Howe Pearson and her husband, Kirk, when she was in Boulder, Colo., on business. Michelle and Kirk have three boys – Connor, Alex, and Drew.
Julie King Sturt and Sam Sturt ’92 welcomed their son, Samuel, in January. Julie owns Classic Custom Framing in Fredericksburg, and Sam works for Nationwide Insurance. Denise Mickelson and Todd Campbell just moved into a new house in Fredericksburg with sons Cody, 9, and Jonathan, 5. Denise works in the library at the Department of Defense, and Todd is a high school football coach.
Selina Lewis Coulbourne lives on the Eastern Shore with husband Mark; daughter Hannah, 10; and twins Samantha and Sawyer, 6. George Asiello and his wife, Beth, are proud parents of their first child, Rylee. Liz Baumgarten Heagy married two years ago, is living in Leesburg, Va., and runs a national nonprofit focused on nonprofit public policy engagement.
Kirsten Mau had her second child, Sarah, and lives in Denver with her husband and Sarah’s big sister, Jane. Kathy Guthrie Merzena and her husband have two girls. They bought a 300-year-old farm in Lambertsville, N.J., on which they keep a dozen sheep! Meg Feely Wallace recently welcomed her first child, Alex. Meg and family moved to Monterey, Calif., where her husband got a job with HSBC bank. Millie Edwards Winstead is in Charlottesville, Va., with her husband, Rob, and two children, Hannah and Gage.
Jacqueline Hargest lives in Arlington, Va., and has started a job with MITRE Corp. Raelin Story Lohse gave birth to her second son and lives in Hollywood, Fla., where both she and her husband are reporters. Lisa Greene has relocated to D.C. after 12 years in Atlanta, and she continues to work in human resources.
Laura Hilton English runs a part-time photography business. She has two children, and the family moved to Seattle where her husband took a job with Microsoft. Amy Goulstone Gronlund, her husband, and two boys enjoy being back in Lewisburg, Pa., after years in Boston and San Diego. Julie Booth Burkett, her husband, and daughter Olivia, just moved to Roanoke and opened a new store called Chocolate Paper. Andria Kushan is in Dallas and is a copywriter for The Richards Group. She does ad campaigns for companies like Home Depot. Andria managed to meet and start dating someone she believes to be the only other Mary Washington grad in Dallas: Lindsay Graham ’96.
Paige Burger Highsmith lives in Santa Clarita, Calif., with husband Dolan, daughter Holly, 4, and son Ewan, 15 months. In September, she became a stay-at-home mom. Over the past three years, she has raised more than $4,000 and completed three triathlons with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. Paige’s husband works for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Mars programs, and they are all enjoying life in Southern California.
Thanks again for all of the updates. I hope to hear from many more of you between now and the next issue of TODAY. Please send me your updates as soon as possible.
1992
Kate Stanford McCown
2571 Greyfield Court, NE
Marietta, GA 30062
Kate.s.mccown@ssa.gov
We have had such a great outpouring of news! I really appreciate everyone’s submissions. Please keep them coming.
As a result of alumni contact for UMW TODAY, Evelina Weidman Sterling and I are now friends here in Georgia. We live about a mile from each other and are glad to have formed a UMW friendship, since we never even knew each other at school. My husband, John, daughter Mary Ella, 3, son Jack, 2, and I recently had a great dinner at Evelina’s home with her husband, Dan, and their two children, Ben and Ellie. John and I are expecting our new au pair from Thailand and hope for happy kids and lots of homemade basil rolls and pad thai. We plan to go to Northern Virginia over the holidays to see my family and my best friend forever, Hilary Holmes Anderson, her husband, John, son Ryan, 4, and daughter Natalie, 2.
Jennifer Gavin Miller is a registered nurse, newly trained to work with cardiac patients, at INOVA Fairfax Hospital. She’s married to husband Des, and they live with their two Labs. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys doing wine tastings and helping in the vineyard at Unicorn Winery, in Amissville, Va.
Sondi Thomas has finished her post-doctoral studies at Kennedy Space Center and now works for TBE Group as a senior scientist in Everglades restoration. She and husband Chris are doing well in West Palm Beach, Fla. After 12 years in Richmond, Ralene Jensen Haeberle is now a lawyer in New Bern, N.C. Husband Robert designs major appliances for Electrolux/Frigidaire. Ralene and Chris welcomed their second child, Samantha Reagan-Marie, last April. Big brother Alex has enjoyed showing her off and teaching her about lizards and frogs – very common backyard creatures where they live on the Neuse River.
Russell Cate and his partner, John, were planning their first trip to Italy. Russell enjoys work with the Western N.C. HIV/AIDS Consortium, helping low-income residents with HIV. Russell and John keep expanding their organic garden and spend time helping Russell’s grandmother, who lives nearby. Brady Chapman went to Myrtle Beach for a fall golf weekend with Scott Ross, Brian Bodson, Drew White, Mike Smith ’91, Thomas Brophy ’94, and Blake Parker. All the guys are doing great, and all are married with kids except for bachelor Brian. Thomas, Drew, Brian, Mike, and Scott live in Northern Virginia; Blake lives in Boston; Brady is in southwest Florida. He and his wife were happily expecting their third child and it sounds like they spend a lot of time attending various “Wiggles” shows with their preschoolers.
Elisabeth “Libby” Johnston Ross sent me a newspaper article with the exciting news that Robert “Bob” Lunger has been named as city attorney of Waynesboro, Va., his hometown. Bob graduated from George Mason Law School; he’s married and has two children.
1993
Cheryl Roberts
1022 Winona Ave., SW
Roanoke, VA 24015
chatatcha@yahoo.com
Bethany Zecher Sutton
2416-C South Walter Reed Drive
Arlington, VA 22206
sutton@aacu.org
1994
Jennifer Moss Bober
450 Grasmere Lane
Aberdeen, MD 21001
jmbober@harfordcountymd.gov
Lesley Stewart St. James
6197 Pond Grass Road
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
lesleyrenee27@hotmail.com
1995
Jane Archer
54 Highwood Terrace, Apt 2
Weehawken, NJ 07086
janearcher95@gmail.com
Megan Concannon Richardson
13150 Tuckaway Drive
Oak Hill, VA 20171
tucked_away@cox.net
1996
Jennifer Rudalf Gates
129 Duff Drive
Yorktown, VA 23692
MWC96@cox.net
Jill McDaniel
5808 Chase Commons Court, #204
Burke, VA 22015
jill.mcdaniel@fcps.edu
1997
Amy Szczepanski Evanego
12229 Wye Oak Commons Circle
Burke, VA 22015
amyszc@aol.com
Michelle Trombetta
3109 Atwater St.
Minnetonka, MN 55305
blondebombchelle@yahoo.com
From Amy:
As I write this, I’m officially one week away from the due date of our son. Please keep the updates coming, and don’t forget to join us for our 10th reunion, June 1-3, 2007, back in the ’Burg!
From Chelle:
It never ceases to amaze me how many wonderful experiences our classmates report issue after issue. In less than 10 years, our class has accumulated various advanced degrees, achieved high rungs on the corporate ladder, visited every corner of the earth, and populated it with future Mary Washington grads.
Robin Kozic returned to Africa last summer and spent a month camping through Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa. Now she’s spending her free time fixing up her house in Atlantic Highlands, N.J. In August 2006, Peter Sullivan traveled to Idaho with his girlfriend to an Indian reservation. He participated in the “Sho-Ban,” an Indian celebration that supports safe air quality consistent with protection of treaty rights, including the health and welfare of people of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Alanna Weaver vacationed in Ecuador in the Amazon rain forest and continues to work at Merck.
Amanda O’Brien, a research scientist in the field of spinal cord injury, and her husband of more than a year, Scott Milleisen, recently bought their first home in Upper Montclair, N.J. Jackie Curry Todaro and husband Jim opened their own business in Windham, N.Y., last May. Their store, Mountain Munchables, consists of a butcher shop, fish counter, deli, salad bar, and Jim’s home cooking. The ladies from Jackie’s floor in Ball Hall know how good that food can be. Jackie also has been promoted to director of the Children’s Learning Center at Windham Mountain. Their 6-year-old daughter, Courtney, skis the double black diamonds and is joining the mountain’s freestyle team this year. Jim and Jackie are looking forward to building their dream house this spring on the land they purchased overlooking picturesque views of the ski mountain and valley. As if they were not busy enough, Jackie is starting her third year of teaching ballet.
Many baby arrivals to report. Julie Keefe Fusaro and Jason ’98 welcomed their third daughter, Alexis Faith, in August, and then moved into their newly built home in Stone Ridge, Va., in October. Craig Pullen and his wife had their second son, Jacob, also in August. Anne Mason Timberlake and her husband, Jamie, welcomed their third son, Mason Wheary, in September 2006.
Becky Earle Middleton and husband Dennis welcomed their second child, Andrew, in August. Becky enjoyed maternity leave, but was looking forward to returning to her job as vice president of a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. Erica Van Coverden Rule and husband Lance welcomed their second child, Mason Alexander, in September. Erica is enjoying extended maternity leave and making the most of Miami’s winter weather. Beth Shultz Filmanski and husband Tyson had a daughter, Abigail Kaylyn, in September.
Rob Clark and his wife, Melissa, welcomed their first child, Siena Alejandra, into their lives in August. Rob is a school counselor and football coach at George Mason High School in Falls Church. The Mustang football team won the Bull Run District title. Rob and his family are planning to relocate to Pittsburgh, Pa., in the summer of 2007. Shannon Wergley Faure and her husband, Olivier, welcomed their first child, Evan Amory, in October.
Sarah Meyrowitz Meytin and Rachel had their first child, Jacob Micah, in October. Both moms and “Coby” are doing well and are eager for Coby to grow big enough for his first trip to Mary Washington and Carl’s for an ice-cream treat! Bridget Stinger Murray and husband Dan purchased their first home in Wilmington, N.C.. They also welcomed baby Kyle at the end of October. Larry Shutts and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of a baby boy. They are restoring their 100-year-old home in Croom, Md.
Cynthia Owen Seifert and her husband, Eric, were expecting their first child, a girl, in March 2007. Cynthia moved from marketing director to a new-home-sales position with Ryland Homes in Austin, Texas. Brooke Catlett Andriliunis and husband Mike were also expecting their first child this spring. Joyce Hanzlik Cain lives in Chesapeake, Va., with husband Doug and two boys, Josh and Ethan. Last spring, she assisted in the startup of American Funds’ satellite office in Chesapeake, and in November was promoted to senior team manager.
Joyce traveled to Northern Virginia in November to attend Amanda Moore Freel’s baby shower for baby No. 2, who was due on Christmas Day! Amanda and husband Bill were expecting a boy. In August, Dianna Rowell finished her internship in clinical psychology at the Veterans Affairs (VA) System in Boston, defended her dissertation, and received her Ph.D. from SUNY, Albany. She moved in September and began a post-doctoral fellowship with the VA New Jersey Health Care System.
Wedding bells are ringing for Colleen Minion-Pierce, who planned to tie the knot with fiancé Michael Uuereb in Las Vegas in March. Margaret Edder Johnson and husband Brooks moved from Denver to Chicago last summer. While they miss the Rocky Mountains, Lake Michigan is a nice alternative. Carter Berkeley works for a law firm in Columbia, Md., after finishing a two-year job with a Maryland state judge. Stanley Chopski ’99 and Michaux Tayloe Chopski ’98 live in Roanoke.
Aaron Zielinski was promoted to lieutenant commander and looks forward to graduating with his MBA from the College of William & Mary in August. Ally Serio lives in Scranton, Pa., and enjoys teaching at a local college. In August, Stephanie O’Connor Shockley and husband Dan quit their jobs, sold their house in New Jersey, put most of their things in storage, and moved to New York City. They live on the campus of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, where Stephanie is a first-year student training to be an Episcopal priest. Dan is a first-year student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, also in New York City. In the rare moments when they are not buried in homework, Stephanie and Dan enjoy all that living in the Chelsea section of New York has to offer.
Caroline Danforth lives with her husband, Scott Hutchison, in Falls Church, Va., and they maintain studios at the Arlington Arts Center, where they paint as much as possible. Caroline is a curator for Arlington’s public art program and works part time with a paper conservator in The Phillips Collection’s conservation lab. Her artwork will be exhibited in Aachen, Germany’s Ludwig Forum fuer Internationale Kunst in August 2007.
I look forward to our reunion in June where we can reminisce about our days at Mary Washington, catch up on the past 10 years, and enjoy all the beautiful things that made Fredericksburg a great place to go to school.
1998
Deacon and Erika Giaimo Chapin
147 High St.
Portland, CT 06480
erika.chapin@cheshireacademy.org
Mike Paolino and wife Diane expected their first child in early December, so by the time this goes to print they should be fairly sleep-deprived. Likewise for Darien Berkowitz Jacobson and husband Andy, who were expecting twins. Sarah Boyer Knaub and her husband have relocated from Hampton to Yorktown, Va. Sarah is expecting her second child, a boy.
In other procreation news, Rob and Kelly Cushing expected their first child in December. Jen Goldman Katz delivered her first child – a girl – in October. Alison Crumling Pavlak and her husband, Steve, welcomed twin girls in August. Erin Rodman hopes to deliver a master’s degree in film and television studies at the University of Glasgow, with her sights set on a Ph.D. program soon after. Back to actual babies: Alison Steele Matunas expected to have her hands full as a new business owner of Battenkill Aquatics and Physical Therapy in Arlington, Vt., and as a mom of two in February.
Caitlin Jenkins was wrapping up a master’s degree in art conservation at the University of Buffalo and planned a spring wedding to Jason Losh. Betsy Maldonado Sauer and husband Bryan report that Costa Rica and Peru are excellent places to visit. Adrien Snedeker has planned his wedding for New Year’s Eve 2007. Adrien’s housemate, Kathleen “KT” Shea, works at the Washington Post Company. She hoped to visit her brother, Tim Shea ’04, in Ireland during spring while he studied under a grant for his MFA in poetry.
Chris Sicuranza and wife Danielle were featured in the Washington Post “Express” section B.I.O. (“By Invitation Only”) the week before their wedding. Brian Graziano planned to marry Collette Yankoupe ’99 around Thanksgiving. Victoria Blevins ran the Marine Corps Marathon this year! Jayme Morris Vanhorn reports that Chris is finishing up his second year at the University of Maryland in pursuit of an MBA. Todd Hamlin is working at Booz Allen Hamilton. Mike Cirami is a Red Sox season-ticket holder, and he cheers on the home team with fellow Bostonian Eric Kloss. During the week, Sean Tuffy is a financial analyst in Dublin, Ireland, and fills in as a docent at the Guinness Museum at St. James Gate on weekends.
Kimberly Barber was planning her marriage to Richard Braendel II (Penn State ’99) in Wrightsville, Pa., close to her roots in Lancaster County. Mary Washington alumnae involved in the celebration are Caralyea Barranco-Landry and Beth Moss-Burke.
Erika and I are long-term house sitters in Portland, Conn., a situation we highly recommend. The house came with two cats with whom our 9-year-old Fredericksburg-bred dog, Pabst, is coming to terms. We both work as high school counselors; I’m at a public school and Erika at a private boarding school. We plan a month-long trip to New Zealand for the summer of 2007 – school counselors, it turns out, get summers off.
Remember to fill us in on the significant or otherwise events of your life and times! If you have not received an email begging for updates, please contact us at the email address listed above and you will likely see your name in print in the next issue of TODAY.
1999
Amanda Goebel
1340 G St., SE
Washington, DC 20003
goebel_amanda@hotmail.com