CLASS NOTES
spr ing 2013 | st. Lawrence Universit y Magazine 43
Dennis has been married for nearing 30 years
to a cornell graduate, “a brilliant photographer”
named susana Millman. t hey have two grand-
sons (Julian, 8, and elias, 6) – “delightful and still
very sweet and satisfying.”
He notes that his spiritual history seems appro-
priate for the son of a Unitarian minister: about
four years ago Dennis finally followed up on a life-
time of reading interest in zen Buddhism by get-
ting involved with the san Francisco zen center,
which is really the mothership of zen in america.
now’s he really involved – in January he joined
the Board of Directors.
a few years ago your class reporter took up
whitewater kayaking. One afternoon, while i was
playing in some rapids and practicing my eskimo
roll, a very trim fellow grabbed a wave next to me.
Much to my surprise, it was
Griffi Affel
.
He of-
ten kayaks with his two sons, and recently took
a whitewater river course in canada so he could
keep up with them. He’s glad he took up the sport
after college, because two knee replacements
have kept him from playing hockey for several
years.
griffi is still a consultant in insurance and rein-
surance. He and Deirdre are looking to downsize
and, perhaps someday, move to Mexico or singa-
pore.
i learned via the alumni office that
Anne Jellinek
passed away last March 30. no further informa-
tion was available.
1972
Barbarajean schaefer Blodgett ’72
6763 25
th
Street North
Arlington, VA 22213
315-771-3261
Barbarajeanious@gmail.com
next r eunion: 45
th
, 2018 (
cluster with ’73, ’74)
t hose of you who scrutinize this column will no-
tice a huge change in the header this time. after
44
years in the north country, i sold my house and
moved to arlington,va., in late October. i am living
on the third floor of my daughter’s 1899 victorian
vernacular farmhouse, for the time being. i’mhop-
ing to havemy own place by late spring/early sum-
mer, but i’m really enjoying life here with my two
young grandsons. My days of below-zero weather
are finally ver. yes!
Holiday cards, emails and Facebook messages
abound. Let us begin….
in our last episode,
Preston Smith
had survived
Hurricane irene, a broadside car accident and a
move to Jersey city, in addition to taking course-
work for a new career. Fast forward a few short
months: superstorm sandy washed out his entire
ground-floor Jersey city apartment, “about 10
blocks from the Hudson r iver, which was literally
inmy living room.” He saved his laptop, file cabinet
contents, “my car and my sanity,” he wrote. “i need
to look at thiswitha littlehumor because that anda
fewpossessions are prettymuchwhat i’m left with.
i guess the biggest thing is the really irreplaceable
items i lost, like pictures of my son, his schoolwork,
awards, etc., (and) the yearbooks and a lot of pho-
tos coveringmy four years at st Lawrence.”
Flood insurance, support of family and friends,
and a surprising grant fromthe screen actors guild
have helped to get him back on his feet. surely all
of us watched tv with horror at the devastation
this storm brought to the northeast; knowing
what preston and many others went through cer-
tainly creates a stark reality.
(
Margaret) Lee Brunger Webber
and husband
Dave, whoboth attended r eunion last spring, have
found great fulfillme t through helping those in
need. t hey have been volunteering for the r ed
cross, helping victims of fi es and of floods from
Hurricanes irene, Lee and (in Mississippi) isaac.“af-
ter sandy, she wrote, “Dave was deployed to Long
island to work at a shelter with 200 clients while
i was sent to a bulk distribution project in staten
island. volunteering for the r ed cross has been a
great learning experience. it is amazing to watch
how resilient people are in disasters.”
i’m certain there are many such Laurentians who
were interconnected by sandy and its impact.
How fortunate that Lee and preston have encour-
aging stories to tell!
Long-time carmel, calif., resident and profes-
sional golf caddy
Geoff Johnston
has moved to
r ichmond, va. His wife, Janet, got a job transfer
and they figu ed three to fi e more years of work
should equate to a move back to california for“the
good life.” Meanwhile, they are renting their cali-
fornia home.
Pat Welch Schulze
had a lengthy note in her
holiday card, mentioning the career successes of
her two daughters, alex and Katie, as well as the
successful entrepreneurship program husband Bill
has developed at the University of Utah. pat con-
tinues to work at her consulting fi m, but manages
to spend a great deal of time at their cabin in Mon-
tana, where they fl -fish, raft the local rivers and
explore the backcountry on four-wheelers. she vol-
unteers for Ballet west, which performed
The Nut-
cracker Suite
at the Kennedy center in D.c. last year
“(
a real coup,” pat said) and for a homeless shelter.
tennis is still important, “although the aches and
pains are more noticeable after matches!”
Cheryl “Pee Wee” Gross
and
Gene Mally
sent
news of their travels, after r eunion, back and forth
to pennsylvania from Hingham, Mass. “you never
know how good your marriage is until you’ve
spent three successive weekends in the car on
1,000-
mile trips to and from pennsylvania,” they
wrote. “we survived, are still in love, and had a
great time!” t hey attended the funeral of
Sandy
Taylor Fletcher,
pee wee’s college roommate, and
Mally and gross family reunions. Both continue to
enjoy their careers as consultants. “we look for-
ward to many more years of applying youthful les-
sons--work hard, play hard, and take time to enjoy
family and friends,”they wrote.
sue and
Tim Pelyk
(
that’s t im on the
right) sent news
about their children
and their participa-
tion in the Ocular
Melanoma
(
OM)
r ace in toronto last fall. t heir daughter amanda,
next to t im, ran with
Mike Keenan
,
left, and Mike’s
daughter gayla, next toMike, who suffers fromOM
and is helping to raise money for research, as ex-
plained last time. sue andt imwere planning a trip
to australia inMarch to visit their oldest son, nicho-
las, who works for an environmental company.
since the film
Lincoln
was nominated for 12 acad-
emy awards, it is safe to say that
Earl“Steamboat”
McElfresh
just might have had a small hand in it.
apparently, earl’s map company answered a bunch
of questions from the production company. “t hey
were going to have Lincoln moving little blocks
around on themaps,”he said. “we said,‘no, no, no!’”
nice to knowHollywoodmakes attempts at histori-
cal accuracy from time to time!
Bill ’70 and
Marcia Kessler Daly
sent a lovely fam-
ily photo of their sonMitch’s wedding on canandai-
gua Lake last august. Both of Marcia’s children are
teachers in the r ochester area, whichmakes it con-
venient to visit from their home in Jamestown, n.y.
Bill and Marcia celebrated their 40th anniversary
later that month. Marcia still enjoys teaching at
the local business college, and since Bill is a “self-
proclaimed workaholic”there are no signs of retire-
ment for these two.
Lynne Barnes Leahy
has a new addition to her
family, making a solo appearance on her annual
christmas card. Lynnewrote, Harry is“our energetic,
large puppy who i saw on tv one random sunday
morning on a pet rescue show. Harry (a golden
doodle, or golden retriever-poodle mix) chose us
with a big hug and a sigh. now our children visit
us more often. Harry has some competition in the
“
cuteness category” from
Neal Burdick’s
Heidi,
another golden doodle, who was prominently fea-
tured on the north country public r adio website
leaping exuberantly to catch snowballs near the
Quad after amajor christmas-time snowstorm.
Lynnewas oneof 24Kappaswhodescendedupon
saratoga springs, n.y., in early november (see the
photo on p. 42). getting together annually since
2000
has strengthened the bond we have not only
in the“sisterhood”but alsowith sLU.
KathyWoods
Cloonan, Marcia Kessler Daly, Karen Murray
Cady, Sue Van Dyke Burdsall, Bonnie Golden
Van Slyke, Joyce DeRosa Kay, Dale Grant Dick
and
Liz Marden Marshall
were there, along with
Kappas from 1971 through 1975. nothing like
the gideon putnam r esort to bring out the ladies!
Kathy is a perpetual world traveler, this time to the
Olympic games in London, to paris with her daugh-
ters and to norway with her father before his pass-
ing. Karen is a salem state administrator not ready
for retirement. Dale and ed and Bonnie are new
grandparents. Joyce is an optical consultant since
she andDavid sold their business, and sue is anoth-
er world traveler and volunteer in portland, Maine.
Eva Nyström
writes that she lives in the university
city of Lund in southern sweden, where she has a
small private practice as a psychotherapist. she
specializes in child psychiatry, having worked with
disabled children and their families before. she still
travels frequently; her last long trip, to southeast
asia, came in January 2012. she was very involved
in theatre in college, and has maintained her inter-
est by studying mime in paris (“which was lovely”),
doing some cabaret and singing. she has an adult
son.
t hanks to pee wee and the alumni office, i have a
completelistofmostclassmates’emailsandcontact
information. should you feel the need to reconnect
with a long-lost roommate or what have you, just
contact me by email, Facebook, or snail mail.