Class of 70

Meryle Sachs of Monterey, Calif., wrote that she has “a super great daughter, Simone Sachs Hubbard, who is a science major at the University of Washington in Seattle.” She is a software documentation consultant who writes software manuals and online help systems and works on the Web. Meryle, a member of the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club and the Monterey Ski and Sports Club, spends most of her non-computer time outdoors, “a habit perfected in Vermont.” Douglas Arnold is owner of Arnold & Company Communications, which was selected to receive the first Medical Mutual of Ohio Pillar Award for community service. Mary Jane “MJ” Wickham purchased a five-acre ranch with a large barn and converted the barn into a large photo studio. She continues to do photography for the food and wine industry in northern California. MJ lives with her husband, Kirby Wilkerson, and their daughter Zandra, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Tom Varricchione of Lakeville, Mass., was named vice president for clinical and regulatory affairs at Photoelectron Corporation, a company that produces miniature therapeutic x-ray devices for minimally-invasive treatment of cancerous tumors. He and his wife, Judi, have two children: Damon, who is in the workforce, and Justin, a UMass student. Bob Schumacher of Shelburne, Vt., and a partner set a world speed record at the North American Land Sailing Champ- ionships at Ivanpah Dry Lake in California. Their success this year came after attempts in 1994, 1995, 1997, and 1998. Their boat, “The Iron Duck,” raced at 116.7 mph, more than 15 mph faster than any land yacht had ever gone before. After attempts in their boat, “The Wooden Duck,” they decided to switch to a tubular steel boat construction, which proved to be safer and stronger.

Class of '71

Katherine Herzog of Newton, Mass., has seen how far the women’s ski team has come since the days when they used to practice on the Burlington Country Club Golf Course in 1970. Jeffrey Rovell of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., wrote that his business is devoted to change management and creativity in corporations. Ron Dufresne was named Volunteer of the Year by Baltimore Gas & Electric Corporation and by the Corporate Volunteer Council of Central Maryland. Jeffrey Bernstein was appointed chair of the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants’ personal financial planning committee in 1998-99. Ellen Kandel of Metuchen, N.J., has been a speech-language pathologist for twenty-six years. She earned her master’s degree in 1972 from the University of Illinois and directed a speech and hearing department in a children’s hospital for seventeen years. Ellen recently started her own rehabilitation company, Vista Rehab Services, offering clinical, occupational, and speech support. George and Doris Cota Bergeron of Essex Junction, Vt., wrote that their oldest daughter, Karen, is a biology major at UVM. Daughter Julie, a high school junior, is narrowing down her college options. Kathleen Hibbert works in the hematology lab at Fletcher Allen Healthcare, and Steve Goodkind ’74 is public works director for the city of Burlington.

 

Class of '72

Robert McNergney was appointed the 1999-2000 chair of the technology committee of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. He is a professor in the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education. Robert Miller, a guidance counselor at Mount Mansfield High School, was selected the Vermont School Counselor of the Year in 1998 by the New England Association of College Admission Counseling. He has been a counselor at Mount Mansfield since 1983. Robert lives in South Burlington with his wife, Jane, and children: Marian, a student at Hamilton College, and Nicholas, a high school student. Ken and Margaret Miller (’73) Whittaker and their three daughters returned to the Boston area after 13 years away from New England. They spent the last ten years living in the Syracuse, N.Y., area. Margaret accepted a position on the faculty of a private high school in Hamilton, Mass. After earning a PhD and spending nearly twenty years as an environmental engineering consultant, Ken completed law school last May. He now works in Boston’s largest environmental law practice, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, LLP. The Whittakers’ eldest daughter is a college student in New York, and daughters Meg and Anne are both in high school. Ken and Margie hope to see old friends who live in the Boston area.

Class of '73

Steve Goodkind is public works director for the city of Burlington. Kathleen Hibbert (’71) Goodkind works in the hematology lab at the Fletcher Allen Hospital. John Sundberg, PhD, was promoted to senior staff scientist at the Jackson Laboratory in 1998. His wife, Beth Wheelock (’74) Sundberg, works summers as a naturalist for the Mount Desert Oceanarium. Classmates, let us know how you and your family are doing. We’d love to hear from you. Special thanks to class president Miles Susskind for helping write the class column over the past months.

Class of '74

Nancy Sturtevant Wolfe wrote that her son, Nick, will enter UVM in September as a member of the class of 2003. J. Philip Kirchner was appointed managing shareholder of the Cherry Hill, N.J.-based law offices of Flaster/Greenberg. He manages the firm’s daily business operations, affairs, policies, and procedures. Patricia Fournier Sottile and family moved to Rochester, Mich. She has three children, Peter, Stephanie, and Melanie, and they return to Vermont yearly to visit family and friends. Jan Murray joined the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, as a counsel in their Cleveland, Ohio, corporate practice. She will focus on the health care industry with specific emphasis on corporate and regulatory compliance, health care ventures, physician contracts, and multi-specialty practice issues.

Class of '75

Phyllis Ahlers Brunner of Falmouth, Maine, joined Woodard & Curran as vice president in the firm’s municipal business center. Susan Winston VanNess was promoted to collections marketing manager at Allied Signal, where she is responsible for building infrastructure and collecting nylon 6 waste carpet to source the world’s first nylon 6 recycling plant.

Class of '76

Congratulations to Gary Wright on being named a Spenser Penrose Award finalist. The award is given annually to the Division one hockey coach of the year. Gary is head coach at American Inter-national College. Kudos to Tom Lenci, who earned membership in the Million Dollar Round Table’s Top of the Table. The Million Dollar Round Table is an international, independent association of life insurance-based financial services sales professionals. Tom has been a member for twenty years and has qualified for Top of the Table nine times. Attention, Mark Auriema, Tim Fenton ’75, Jon Parker, Steve Bradley, Chris Aumock, and Chuck Tauck: This is a formal invitation from Gary Faigen to attend the second annual “Worst Golfers” outing. Gary and his wife, Barbara, have been married for sixteen years, and they have two daughters, Stephanie and Rebecca. He has run in the New York, the Marine Corps, and the Boston marathons over the past two years. After twelve years as a professional stage manager at several Tony Award-winning regional theaters, Ruth Feldman is completing her second year as director of education and community outreach services at the Shubert Performing Arts Center. Ruth oversees a student performance series that annually serves more than 8,000 Connecticut students as well as an outreach program that introduces the performing arts to inner-city families. J. Patrick Taves was appointed deputy county attorney for Fairfax County, Va. He has been with the county attorney’s office for the past 18 years and handles land use and zoning litigation. Christopher Williams wrote from Colorado that he’s looking forward to coming back to Vermont soon. He skis regularly, still plays hockey, and wishes he could watch a few UVM games on television. Chris (and other fans) should visit <ecachockey.com> next fall for the ECAC game of the week schedule. The games are carried by New England Sports Network. Chris’s architectural firm continues to do well. He runs into Sarah Peoples ’72 once in a while. Debra Walsh has opened her own dental office in Salisbury, Md., specializing in periodontics.

Class of '77

Stephen Monroe of New Canaan, Conn., announced the arrival of his fourth child, his first son. He is busy with his health care publications business, specializing in the merger and acquisition market. Joseph Doran recently completed a five-year study of West Castleton, an isolated Vermont community that once was a thriving slate quarrying and slate manufacturing village in the mid-1800s. Edith Abbott is a technical writer for Corporate Manufacturing Solu-tions, a company that manufactures stock option software. She writes product manuals for DOS-based and Windows software. Edith finds her job fun, challenging, and rewarding. Vicki Lawry announced with great joy the arrival on January 14, 1998, of her first grandchild, Cameron Joseph Pease, the son of her oldest daughter, Emily, and her husband, Christopher Pease, of Cushing, Maine. Cintra Hazen and her daughter, Erica, spent April 1998 school break in Florida at Walt Disney World. Kathy Brown Sorkin and daughter Elena from Whippany, N.J., joined them. Lauren Krechevsky Lang lives in West Hartford, Conn., with her husband, Robert, and their children, Adam and Amy. Besides keeping very busy with an active family, Lauren is a systems project manager for Aetna U.S. Health-care. Peter Gordon, M.D., is president of Eye Physicians & Surgeons, P.C., a ten-doctor ophthalmic medical and surgical group in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Allyson Davis Ledoux wrote that after many years as a music educator in Colchester, Vt., she began teaching music at the Charlotte Central School. Allyson married her husband, Bill Ledoux, in 1995, and she now has two daughters and three step-children. Robert Keach of Falmouth, Maine, was inducted into the American College of Bankruptcy as a Fellow last March. He was among those recognized for professional excellence and exceptional contributions to the fields of bankruptcy and insolvency. After having spent nineteen years in Boston radio and television sales and sales management, Kevin Jaibur and his wife, JoAnne, packed up and headed south to Philadelphia, where Kevin accepted a sales position with McGavren Guild Radio, owned by Interep Once there, he was given the opportunity to train for the associate radio marketing specialist position in a division run by Stewart Yaguda. In August 1998, he was promoted to director of sales for a new division of Interep, Specialized Agency Sales, and he now functions in a dual role for both firms. The Jaiburs purchased a home in Bensalem, where their son, Keith, is active in the St. Elizabeth Anne Seton Parish’s children’s choir, Cub Scouts, Valley Athletic Association basketball, CYO basketball, and Bucks County Bears football. Kevin is assistant coach for his baseball and basketball teams. Email has allowed Kevin to keep up with Donna Mercurio, Ellie Holt Regan, Dave Schwartz, and Frank Cioffi. He ran into Leslie Clapp Bagnall and her husband, Paul, on Martha’s Vineyard, and they had a great time. The Jaiburs would love to hear from old friends. Carol Degan teaches physical education in a Seattle, Wash., elementary school. She wrote, “I love my job and living in the Northwest.” She visited China with a group from the National Association of Girls and Women in Sport. Carol also helped promote the first Seattle Kids Marathon, a program which encourages children to run in the weeks leading up to the Seattle Marathon. Christine Niles Tolman is living in Cleveland, Ohio, and working part-time, per diem for the Cleveland Clinic. She has three children, Caroline, Jeffrey, and Johanna, and enjoys playing golf, skiing, and walking.

Class of '78

Linda Cady Ballou is operations technology division manager with AT&T Solutions in Research Triangle Park in Durham, N.C. Douglas Teschner decided not to run for re-election after ten years in the New Hampshire legislature. He continues to live in the western White Mountains with his wife, Marte, and sons Ben and Luke. Douglas is director of development and public affairs at Riverbend Community Mental Health in Concord, N.H. Patricia Osborne Shafer has been married for twelve years and has a son, Tommy. She is a clinical nurse specialist in the comprehensive epilepsy center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is very active nationally in the Epilepsy Foundation. She would love to hear from other nursing alumni. Craig Gibson wrote from Andover, Mass., “Gelhaar, give me a call.” Andrew James was promoted to vice president of MIS at Saucony, Inc. Miner “Chuck” Clark, brother Marshall, and sister Brenda ’79 were named Vermont Retailer of the Year by the Vermont Grocers Association. They operate IGA stores in Ludlow and Londonderry. Chuck lives in Londonderry, Vt., with Debbie, his wife of seventeen years, and their three growing children. Brenda makes her home in Ludlow, Vt., with her three children. Susan Street Peterson enjoyed seeing friends at Reunion’97. She works in Savannah College of Art and Design, directing event services for more than 2,000 special events and enjoying life on Tybee Island in Savannah, Ga. Dr. Martin Greenberg practices pulmonary and critical care medicine at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J. He and his wife, Essie, recently celebrated fourteen years of marriage. They and their two sons, Sean and Max, are a big ice hockey family. In 1998, Alan Sickbert completed his doctorate in educational leadership at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Rick Katz sent regards to old friends and classmates. Rick, his wife, Kari, and their two sons are enjoying life in Green Bay, Wisc. Lori Chandler Benson became director of major gifts and planned giving at Andover Newton Theological School. She lives in Holliston, Mass., with her husband, Tim, and son Jordan. Tim is senior pastor at the First Congregational Church of Holliston. Karen Hildebrandt Mailey lives in Gloucester, Mass., with her husband, Tom, and son Kyle. Karen is a food technologist at Gorton’s Seafood. Geoff Smith is associate dean for admissions and financial aid at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vt. Charlie Trapani lives on the shoreline in Madison, Conn., with his family. In addition to career pursuits, he coaches youth basketball. In 1998, Sherry Russell received an award for agricultural journalism from the Northeast Farm Communicators Association. Sherry is a staff reporter for New England Country Folks, a weekly agricultural trade paper. David Shapiro, a professor of communication disorders at Western Carolina University, was recognized recently as one of the best teachers in the University of North Carolina system. A faculty member at Western Carolina University since 1984, he also has won awards for his scholarly research, including the University Scholar Award in 1997. David is the author of a new book, Stuttering Intervention: A Collaborative Journey to Fluency Freedom, which dispels common myths about stuttering by sharing true stories about people who have overcome the condition.

Class of '79

Jean Papalia recently became director of career services at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. Craig and Louise Lewis (’78) Buscemi are living in Winter Springs, Fla. Craig is with Siemens/Westinghouse. James Lamb wrote to share news of his recent engagement to Abha Patel, formerly of Nairobi, Kenya, and London, England. A summer 2000 wedding is planned. Lori Brandon Rennels sent greetings to all of her friends from her home in Boiling Springs, Pa. Michael Winstanley announced his appointment as vice president and director of design at Leo Daley, an architectural and engineering firm in Washington, D.C. Nancy Orben Small has been named vice president and publishing director of Organic Living at Rodale Press, which is the nation’s leading source for healthy active living ideas and information. Bruce Shulan has been promoted to partner in the law firm of Lord, Bissell and Brook in New York. Frank Belock wrote that he, Cliff Eardensohn and Paul Eardenson ’78 temporarily went into the chips business but have returned to their jobs in San Diego and Burlington. Samuel Howard of Utah has been named one of the 50 best skiers in North America in the December 1998 issue of Powder Magazine. Recognized by peers and CEOs for his accomplishments and love of skiing, Samuel works at Alta Ski Co. Dorothy Meyer Storrow of Gill, Mass., was appointed as a new member of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Kim Borsavage represented UVM at the inauguration of C.D. Mote as president of the University of Maryland in College Park on April 23, 1999. Barbara Bergman was recently remarried. She and her new husband, Norman Marshall, were wed on February 13, 1999, in Carmel, Calif., at Mission Ranch, which is owned by Clint Eastwood. Barbara retired from San Jose Unified School district after eighteen years of teaching. Norman retired after thirty-three years as a United Airlines pilot.