CLASS NOTES
Spring 2013 | St. Lawrence UniverSity Magazine 47
’07,
Katherine and Margaret, were educated. She
had a great passion for nature and her love was
working with children.
again, i hope to see you all beginning May 30 on
campus.
1980
Fran Russo-Cress ’80
273
Converse Street
Longmeadow, MA 01106
413-565-2620
mfcress@comcast.net
next reunion: 35th, 2016 (cluster with ’81, ’82)
news came to the University
after this column’s deadline that
Paul Dolan
has been approved
by Major League Baseball as the
“
control person”of the cleveland
indians. He’s the team’s chair-
man and ceO, and as control
person he adds team opera-
tions and compliance with MLB
rules to his responsibilities. He earned a law de-
gree from notre Dame in 1983. the Dolan family
purchased the indians in 2000, and paul was vice
president and general counsel 2000-04 and presi-
dent 2004-11.
Dirk Van Dijk
of Dayton, Ohio, passed away al-
most a year ago. Dirk, who was originally from
Larchmont, n.y., is survived by three children and
his mother, Beverly Harper nalven ’55; for more
about him, see “in Memory.” if anyone wishes to
donate in Dirk’s memory, please send your contri-
bution to Dirk’s Kids’educational Fund, c/o Janice
towers, 93 rockland avenue, Larchmont, n.y.
i am sorry that i wasn’t able to report this in a
timelier manner. Our thoughts are with Dirk’s
family.
i did report last time on
RobVan Etten’s
death. i
have had a wonderful exchange with
Brian Des-
rosier
about a large group of guys from our class,
involving some very poignant memories, tradi-
tions and evidence that the legacy of community
that we all cherish remains strong within our own
class and reaches out to the current St. Lawrence
community in very moving ways. if anyone ever
needs evidence of what makes SLU special, this
story should convey just that.
Over the last few years, a group of former men’s
soccer players from the 1978, 1979 and 1980 sea-
sons have travelled to support the current team in
ncaa tournament play. in 2011, that trip included
rob; in 2012 he was there in spirit as 13 former
players, from as distant as Miami and cleveland,
descended uponwilliams college, site of the first
and second rounds of the tournament in novem-
ber, to share the story of“pyramid power!”
as the story goes, the teams from the late ’70s
and early ’80s would gather under the modern
art installation that once hung over the science
quad to prepare for game play. they believed
they drew strength from the three triangularly ar-
ranged suspended cylinders that, when looked at
from just the right angle, formed a pyramid. they
attributed their success to“pyramid power.”
Most of you probably recall the caliber of play
those soccer teams enjoyed, so perhaps therewas
something to it. while rob was hospitalized after
his accident, an old pyramid power t-shirt was
hung from his wall with the hope that he could
draw strength from it to get well. So, in the spirit
of tradition, atwilliams the“alums”ceremoniously
issued pyramid power t-shirts that replicated the
ones worn 33+ years ago to this year’s team. the
only deviation was an “rav rip” inscription on
each arm. they then awarded austin roney ’15
the Ultimate teammate award for being the play-
er whomost embodied the attributes of“honesty,
reliability, respectfulness, selflessness, support
and commitment”that had characterized rob.
the team went on to win an emotional 2-1 vic-
tory in double overtime. they paraded their pyra-
mid t-shirts on the field in post-game revelry.
after the game, the williams college chaplain
opened the doors of the williams chapel for a
remembrance service for rob.
Tom Porter
read
a letter of gratitude rob had written to his uncle
three weeks before his passing.
Mike Reisman
read rob’s son robert’s eulogy from the funeral
service, and 1978 captain and former Sae presi-
dent Bob Bernatchez ’79 read the Sae true gen-
tleman creed.
Vince Tersegno
shared memories,
and 1979 co-captains Brian Desrosier and
John
Prokos
also offered thoughts. the ceremony
concluded with greg cornell ’81’s guitar and vo-
cal rendition of a Scottish song.
Brian described the ceremony as “meaningful
beyond description” and said others in atten-
dance included george eichman ’79,
Wynne Bar-
rett
,
peter Meyer ’82, John williams ’ 81 and tom
Bolster ’83. george ross ’81 video-recorded the
entire weekend, so be in touch if you want to“feel
pyramid power” and see what “community” actu-
ally looks like.
i’d like to leave you with this thought, which
struck me when i read Brian’s story and subse-
quently received a simple note from Sue inger-
soll Burgess, a classmate who left St. Lawrence
in 1978 but was in search of her “lost” freshman
roommate,
Daryl DeBerto Ferraiolo
,
with whom
i hope she was subsequently reunited. Let’s re-
member and rekindle the wonderful friendships
we share and “…take especially good care of one
another.” Hope to hear from all of you.
1981
Steve Lubrano ’81
30
Goodfellow Road
Hanover, NH 03755
603-275-5736
Steven.d.lubrano@tuck.dartmouth.edu
next reunion: 35th, 2016 (cluster with ’80 ’82)
Shawn Smeallie
crossed fraternal boundaries
by adding a new business partner to his burgeon-
ing advocacy firm in washington, D.c. David
pearce ’85 has joined the american continental
group. Shawn writes,“David is a great guy despite
being a phi Kap.”
By now
Rick Greene
is back from an eight-
country, 18-day trip. He journeyed from ethiopia
to Kyrgyzstan; i’ll send a limited edition Hostess
twinkie to anybody who can quickly list the other
six countries he passed through. rick writes,“Our
youngest son is enjoying clemson and loves the
crew team. Our oldest offspring is an elon 2010
graduate and has an engineering internship at
Bosch international. Deb, as always, is in charge.”
Rick Poormon
is pleased to report that daugh-
ter ricci will be graduating in May from george
washington University, with a bachelor’s de-
gree in public health. ricci will be working near
Hong Kong for one year, after which she intends
to seek a master’s degree, also in public health.
participants on the year abroad program in Spain in 1978-79, and some spouses, enjoyed a
reunion last July in Boston. among them were, left to right,
Marisa and
Ken Krall ‘80
,
Pam Hall
Wilkins ‘81, Michael Salmon ‘80
,
Nanette EppolitoWheeler
‘81
,
Kendall Wehrle Bernier ‘80
,
Jim Howe ’80, Brenna Baringer ‘80
and
Laura Peckham Cooper P’11,
who took part in the
Spain program as a visiting student.
Barb Langston ‘80
organized the gathering, but was not
available when
Jim Bernier P’07,’08
snapped this picture.