FallMagazine2014_FB96_2

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class notes
st. lawrence university magazine | fall 2014
became an ’02) on September
15, 2013, at The Old Lantern in
Charlotte, Vt.
Karen Fyten has been very,
very busy. She writes: “I’ve had
an exciting few years, met an
amazing man and married him,
did lots of travel, embarked upon
a new career path...that’s enough,
right?! In 2011, I eloped in Quebec
City, celebrated with our loved
ones in Rye, N.H., and honey-
mooned in Paris.
“In 2012, I quit my cushy execu-
tive assistant job and went back
to school full-time to become a
nurse. I graduated in May, and
am studying for my boards this
summer. After that exam, I will
start work at Catholic Medical
Center in Manchester, N.H., on the
cardiovascular surgical unit as
an RN. It’s been voted one of the
top 50 hospitals for cardiac care
in the country! I’m so thrilled and
excited to have found this way for
me to join my sociology studies
at St. Lawrence with my new
passion for nursing and making a
difference on a personal level.”
Karen says she was “inspired by
this career change back in 2005
when I traveled to Louisiana and
Mississippi to volunteer after
Hurricane Katrina. It just took me
a while to make it happen! What’s
funny is that I used to think that
I hated science—I guess I just
hadn’t found the right science!”
Writing about herself in the
third person, as always, we find
Kelly Thayer : “After spending
three years in the Peace Corps in
Tanzania, Kelly is back stateside
and has decided to go back to
school! She is pursuing a master’s
on March 28. He’s now the proud
recipient of a Ph.D., in information
science from the University of
North Texas. Nathan is a librarian
and assistant processer at Virginia
Tech. “My family and I love living
in Blacksburg,” he says.
Karen Ladd wrote in to say that
in March, at the annual National
Education Association of New
Hampshire delegate assembly, she
was presented the Christa McAu-
liffe Leadership Award, which she
said “is presented each year to
commemorate Christa McAuliffe
and her dedication to education.
It is awarded to an NEA-New
Hampshire teacher who has
shown the greatest contribution to
the improvement of the education
atmosphere through leadership.
I was incredibly humbled and
honored. I have been active on
local, state and regional levels with
NEA-NH since 2004, including five
years as my local president and
three years as chief negotiator
for our professional and support
staff contracts.” She’s now in her
14th year teaching art at Sanborn
Regional High School in Kingston,
N.H., “where I am proud of all I
have achieved in furthering the
cause of a great public school for
every child.”
Cross country ski fanatic (if
“fanatic” is not a strong enough
adjective, I apologize) Liz
Hollenbach ’00, M.Ed ’03
married Eric Tremble ’02 (who
started as ’00 but did 3+2, so
to bring the whole fam up to
SLU sometime.”
Joelle Ouimet, writing from
north of Montreal “in the Lau-
rentians (it’s an actual region up
here, yes I know, funny that)”
says she moved there three
years after graduation because
she missed Quebec too much.
“I’m an executive chef in a small
Italian restaurant,” she said. “I’ve
been working in the kitchen for 10
years; it’s my passion. I wouldn’t
trade my SLU days for anything. I
have two boys, Julien and James,
6 and 3, and they are just the best
boys ever, and so is my partner
Stephanie. We have a great life in
the great, white frozen north (last
winter was brutal.)”
Joining older brothers William
and Olin is Fisher, born in March,
son to Booth Platt. Booth re-
ports that Fisher’s older brothers
are excited to have a new play
pal. “I spoke to Steve Kohn, and
he reported becoming engaged
after proposing from a scenic
overlook of the Hudson River Val-
ley. A wedding was in the works
for July,” said Booth.
Zach Green and Kate were
“incredibly excited to celebrate
our fifth wedding anniversary,
and recently our daughter Zoey’s
second birthday. It’s amazing how
fast these two years have flown by.
On the work front, I’m still based in
Los Angeles with Kinetic Content,
producing television series for Dis-
covery Channel, History Channel,
National Geographic, the Travel
Channel, etc. All in all, life is good.”
Nathan Hall successfully de-
fended his doctoral dissertation
2000
Joe Kerper
8156 Centaur Drive
Evergreen, CO 80439
303-674-3181
Next Reunion: 15th, 2016
(Cluster with '01, '02)
“Foxes on the Trampoline” is
Charlotte Boulay’s first book
of poetry. It was published on
April 1—“not a joke” she says. My
research staff tells me that the
title refers to YouTube videos in
which foxes jump on trampolines
in suburban neighborhoods. The
book is available on amazon.com
and according to her amazon
author page, Charlotte lives in
Philadelphia with her husband;
she earned her MFA from the
University of Michigan (where
she taught for five years) and her
work has appeared in Slate, The
New Yorker, The Boston Review
and Crazyhorse.
Britta Waters Pemberton is
living in “New Canaan, Conn., with
my husband and two boys. Betsy
Bahrenburg Hendrickson, Jen
Bayer Farnum ’98 and Ashley
Jones live nearby and we get
together often.”
Living a waffle-themed dream in
Ballston Spa, N.Y., we find Greg-
ory Myers. They celebrated “a
baby girl named Charlee Evelyn
Myers on 12/4/13. My better half
owns a waffle-themed restaurant
in our hometown of Ballston Spa,
so I get to eat quite well.... Hoping
fund. Thank you to everyone who
has already donated.
On a happier note, we were lucky
to have a visit from Kati Smith
Calvo and her family during their
recent Washington, D.C., vacation.
Kati and her husband, Jose, work
together in their law practice,
Calvo & Calvo in Fort Myers, Fla.
Their practice focuses on criminal
and family law. They live with their
two children, Bennett and Anna-
belle, in Cape Coral. Rob Larrabee
’97 also happened to be in town
on the same evening, so we all
had dinner at our house and
caught up over beer and wine
while our kids ran wild. Some
things never change!
Please catch up with our class on
Facebook and LinkedIn. I look
forward to hearing from you with
your updates on family, work, and
life in general!
1999
Genevieve Shaw Brown
177 East 77th Street, Apt 3B
New York, NY 10075
646-275-0016
Next Reunion: 20th, 2018
(Cluster with '97, '98)
Neil Chatterjee writes that our
class is well represented on the
Alumni Executive Council, as both
he and Cortney Terrillion hold
leadership positions. Neil chairs
the Membership and Honors Com-
mittee and Cort the Committee on
Student Services and Recruitment.
“If you’re interested in being nomi-
nated for AEC, or want to support
St. Lawrence more informally,
please reach out to me at Neil_
gov or Cort at Cortney.terrillion@
waters.nestle.com,” he wrote.
I was thrilled to learn that Mark
Cutler and Melanie purchased
their first house in Kennebunk,
Maine. They continue to live in
Andover, Mass., with their two
daughters, Emmie and Sophia.
Mark teaches Spanish at Phillips
Academy and Melanie teaches
science at Andover High School.
They plan to spend lots of week-
ends and summer in Maine with
family and friends! I’m hoping that
we will be able to get up there to
visit them soon.
Anne Campbell Dudro gave
birth to her third daughter, El-
lie, on April 17. Anne and her
husband, Chris, live in Pittsburgh
with Megan, Kate and Ellie. Chris
is a pediatrician and Anne is an
associate at HCM Strategists, a
Washington-based public policy
and advocacy firm focused on
education and health issues.
We were all saddened to hear
that Abi Howe Hastillo lost her
husband, Mike, in a tragic motor-
cycle accident on Easter Sunday.
Our hearts go out to Abi and
children Gunnar and Adella. Katy
Foley, Megan Williams, Tracy
Hatch Giordano, Mark Cutler
and Jennifer Strandberg
Stockwell were all able to attend
the funeral and reported that it
was a beautiful ceremony. Several
classmates set up a fund for Abi’s
family, which you can access here:
z0h4/mike-hastillo-memorial-
news, and I personally know that
some of you have some really ex-
citing news to share. SO PLEASE
SEND TO ME.
So now I am forced to update you
on my life! My husband, Wade
Skidmore '98, and I are living in
Hudson, N.Y., where we are raising
our three children. Our daughter
Wynslet is 7, son Pike will be 4 by
the time you read this, and daugh-
ter Lauder turns 2 this fall. Wade
continues to build his aggregate
business, shipping stone down the
Hudson River to jobs in the City.
When I am not running all over
with my children, or trying to run
5Ks, I am building my business.
I am an independent associate
(director) with an energy supply
company, Viridian; check www.
viridian.com/kerriskidmore. Wade
and I have also started farming
the majority of our food. We raise
chickens for meat and eggs, and
turkeys, lamb and pig. We grow
all of our vegetables, just started
with fruits, and hope to raise cattle
in the future. It’s pretty rewarding
knowing where your food comes
from, and sharing this all with our
children is healthy and fun.
I hope to hear more from my
classmates, so I can share with all.
1998
Melissa Wilson
MacGregor
4648 N. 23rd Road
Arlington, VA 22207
703-527-7525
.
com
Next Reunion: 20th , 2018
(Cluster with '97, '99)
1996
Tanya R. Parrott
9712 Handerson Place, #405
Manassas Park, VA 20111
571-292-1072
Next Reunion: 20th, May 28-31,
2015 (Cluster with '94, '95)
No news this time, classmates.
Drop me a line and let everyone
know what you're up to these
days, and maybe we can fill this
empty space.
1997
Kerri Williams
400 Fingar Rd.
Hudson, NY 12534
(h) 518-828-0842
(c) 518-567-9940
Next Reunion: 20th, 2018
(Cluster with '98, '99)
Hello, Class of '97. Well, you were
warned. No one submitted any
1: The Awards Ceremony was a chance for everyone to break into
some familiar college songs. 2: Flanked by new Alumni Executive
Council President Ed Forbes ’02, left, and President William L. Fox ’75 ,
awardees were, from left, Cynthia Arcate '77, president and CEO of
PowerOptions; Ken Okoth '01, member of Kenya’s National Assembly
and chair of the Children of Kibera Foundation; Nancy Current Martin
'64, an activist dedicated to saving the planet and its species; Paul
Gilbert ’72 and Pat Romeo-Gilbert ’74; and Ned Breslin '88, CEO
of Water for People, (for his thoughts on Reunion, turn to page 26).
Arcate, Martin and Breslin received Alumni Citations; the Gilberts
were presented the G. Atwood Manley Society Achievement Award,
symbolic of generous and thoughtful estate planning; Okoth received
the University's Sol Feinstone Award for Humanitarian Service.
Reunion Recap
m ay 2 9 - j u n e 1 , 2 0 1 4
More than 1,250 alumni — a record
turnout — found sunny and mild skies
for Reunion 2014, May 29-June 1.
Highlights included observances of the
50th anniversary of St. Lawrence’s first
international program, in France, and the
40th anniversary of the Kenya Program.
1
2
67
There was a strong St. Lawrence pres-
ence at a May real estate networking
event in New York City, where members
of Stribling & Associates, New York, and
Houlihan Lawrence, Greenwich, Conn.,
gathered on the Upper East Side. From
left are Byron Anderson ’06, Lindsay
Clauss Sheehy ’99, Caleb Loftus ’06,
Sarah True ’99 and David Haffenreffer
’90. Anderson and Loftus are with Strib-
ling, the rest with Houlihan Lawrence.