Winter_Magazine2015_BOOK

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class notes
st. lawrence university magazine | WINTER 2015
Petersburg. He is hoping to write
a book on “this most fabulous and
fascinating life” and truly credits
his experience at St. Lawrence as
laying the groundwork for most
of his successes.
1973
Linda Tirelli
Herrmann ’73
60 Crosman Avenue
Swampscott, MA 01907
914-656-7471
Next Reunion: 45th, 2018
(cluster with ’72, ’74)
Unfortunately, the only news I
have to report is the death of Jim
Rudd. Jim was not able to attend
our 40th reunion, but did send
me an update on his career which
I reported in an earlier issue. The
following is adapted from Jim’s
induction into the North Dakota
Athletic Trainers Association Hall
of Fame:
“(Within) the athletic training
profession, Jim served on the
North Dakota Board of Licensure,
was a state and district officer,
and served as a national commit-
tee chair. During his tenure, the
Licensure Board began pursuing
the development of formal rules
and regulations for the profession.
He has promoted the profession
to medical students and residents
in his role as a sports medicine
preceptor at the University of
North Dakota; to students in
the curriculum program at UND;
and during lectures at area high
schools and other organiza-
tions. Jim chaired the 2000 state
symposium, served on a physical
therapy/athletic training task
force, and was a speaker at state
meetings.
“However, Jim’s greatest gift to
the profession of athletic training
is the number of students he
was instrumental in developing
at UND (and) in developing the
Bachelor of Science in athletic
training degree in the School of
Medicine and Health Sciences in
the early 1990s. He remained an
active professor and academic
adviser in the program.”
yearly to the Dominican Republic
to work with their surgeons,
teaching vascular surgery and
particularly establishing access
for their dialysis patients.”
David Hebert continues as propri-
etor of a small cleaning business
in Florence, Mass. “I will try to
continue working as long as my
health will permit," he wrote.
Longtime Ogdensburg (N.Y.)
Journal and Advance News
Sports Editor Dave Shea has
been honored by the Ogdensburg
City School District for providing
42 years of sports coverage, with
the naming in his honor of the
district’s new press box. The facil-
ity was dedicated in September,
at which time Superintendent
Timothy M. Vernsey said, “Prob-
ably no one has had a more posi-
tive influence on the reporting of
North Country high school sports
than Dave Shea, a one-of-a-kind
North Country legend.” “He puts
the kids first,” added Tony Bjork
’89, who became acquainted with
Shea as a track and field athlete in
Ogdensburg and at St. Lawrence
University, and is now athletics
director at Ogdensburg Free
Academy.
1972
Barbarajean Schaefer
Blodgett ’72
6763 25th Street North
Arlington, VA 22213
315-771-3261
Next Reunion: 45th, 2018
(cluster with ’73, ’74)
I got an email from Peter
“Boomer” Brennan with photos
of the party he had in August for
Arnie Edelberg that brought out
continued his involvement with
many of music industry's most
gifted people. He relates, "Ever
since I finished the Grateful Dead
book I’ve been working on a new
one, one that traces the deepest
roots of the ’60s and of rock ‘n’
roll, a book that studies what
white people have learned from
black music from the minstrel
era to Bob Dylan. I’m glad to
say it’s done.” On Highway 61/
Music, Race, and the Evolution of
Cultural Freedom was scheduled
for release October 14 from Coun-
terpoint Press.
“Since it’s 2014 and I’ve decided
to admit that fact, I’ve got a
website, .
com,” Dennis continued. “It’s got
a sample of the new book, some
portions of the Dead and Kerouac
books, and other information
about me and my work, including
a blog. I sincerely hope that all will
go there, sign up for the newslet-
ter I’ll be sending out monthly
from now on, and even – what
a good idea! – pre-order the book.
“It’s been a long haul to research,
write and sell the book to a pub-
lisher,” Dennis concluded, saying
that now is “the fun part." Dennis
hopes his friends from SLU will
enjoy the book.
Ann Massey surprised husband
Tom Massey with a 65th-birthday
golf outing at Pebble Beach
with their son. She said Tom “still
greatly enjoys working for GE
Health and often travels to China.
We commute between our home
in San Diego and Milwaukee, Wis.,
where GE is located. We love
being in San Diego to be near our
three married children and six
very fun grandchildren, all under
6 years!” They have remained in
touch with Dan Bloomer and his
family.
Ted Higgins writes that he’s still
actively practicing vascular and
general surgery in Kansas City.
He’d just finished a 150-mile bike
ride in support of MS research, his
team’s 22nd year of involvement.
“After many years in the Domini-
can Republic with a surgical mis-
sion team, I have focused atten-
tion on Haiti, where we operate
in a clinic,” he said. “I still return
last year, we touched base often,
and her passion for St. Lawrence
and the many friends she'd made
over the years was a thread run-
ning through every conversation.
I will miss her many attempts to
recruit me for SLU projects. In
fact, that is how I came to be your
class reporter.
1971
James P. Snedeker ’71
5 Linden Tree Road
Wilton, CT 06897
203-761-7793
Next Reunion: 45th, May 28-31,
2015 (cluster with ’69, ’70)
It's great that Dennis McNally has
child, a baby boy.
You will note in “In Memory” the
death of our classmate and dear
friend Katy MacKay. Dating back
to our undergraduate days, Katy
always had a special bond with
our group of Sigma Pi's and,
later, our significant others. Over
the decades, she traveled with
us to get-togethers all over the
East and to our memorable 60th
birthday celebration in Atlantic
City. She was always in the middle
of things, celebrating and retelling
old stories. (She never got the
hang of embellishing, but we can
forgive her.) She couldn't travel to
our recent adventure in Maine, but
we did manage to Facetime her
and have some laughs. Over her
grandchildren upon whom to dote.
Chris writes, "Grandchildren are
such a blessing. They really bring a
smile to my heart every visit."
Ron Hayden is playing more golf
as he adjusts to retirement. More
important, he and Winnie Madden
'69 welcomed a new grandson
within an hour of his birth!
Paul Henderson continues to be
among our most well-traveled
classmates. Paul and Wendy's
daughter Laura spent eight years
in Australia and recently moved
to Vancouver Island, “only a five
hour flight vs. nineteen to Austra-
lia," Paul points out. Their other
daughter, Jenny, lives in Toronto,
and delivered their first grand-
as "Berf") and Charlie Kreitler '69,
who live in Austin, Texas. She’s
"been exchanging Christmas
cards with Berf and Diane Reyn-
olds Armbruster '69 for decades. I
also hear occasionally from Nancy
Ivers Osterwise. My attorney and
friend is Mahlon Perkins.”
Chris added, “I have very fond
memories of St. Lawrence al-
though I doubt I would recognize
the campus now! Our generation
and our class really had a lot of
special things going for it and
I think that’s part of the reason
why the friendships made at SLU
have endured."
Chris's son, Tim, and his family
live in Maryland, and she has two
Habari Gani?
Swahili for
“What’s the News?”
Constance Scharff ’94 (KSP fall ’92) writes,
“I had the good fortune to speak at grand
rounds at Lentegeur Hospital, a township
hospital near Cape Town, and at the World
Congress for Psychotherapy, which convened
in Durban. Both times, I spoke with experts
about the advances in addiction treatment
and how we can bring better addiction treat-
ment therapies to South Africa and other
nations where access to care is limited.”
Trustee Jay Ireland ’77 was profiled in an
AugustAlbany Times Union article discussing
General Electric’s investment in power genera-
tion in Africa. Ireland is the president and CEO
of GE Africa.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del., KSP spring
’84), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on African Affairs, was a pan-
elist at the U.N. Climate Summit in New York
City in September.
Along similar lines, The BOMA Project, whose
founder and CEO is Kathleen Colson ’79 (KSP
spring ’78), is one of nine stories featured in a
new U.N. documentary about people taking
action on climate change. Climate Heroes:
Stories of Change features BOMA’s work
enabling vulnerable women in northern Kenya
to adapt through creation of small businesses.
View the film at
watch?v=nozdbgeZFxQ.
Julia Huber and Addie Peterson (both ’14
and KSP spring ’13) led community service
programs in Tanzania last summer for Putney
Student Travel.
Pat McLaughlin ’05 (KSP fall ’04) led a
National Geographic Student Expeditions
(NGSE) program last summer in the Pacific
Northwest that explored the Olympic Penin-
sula and San Juan Islands. Haley Burrowes ’14
(KSP spring ’13) and I also traveled with NGSE,
leading a group of high school students in
northern Tanzania. Haley is now an admissions
counselor at Colby College.
With the suspension of the fall 2014 Kenya
Program, Directors Wairimu Ndirangu and
Abdelwahab Sinnary traveled to Canton
to teach short courses in African studies.
Wairimu taught Healthcare in Developing
Countries: Challenges and Solutions, while
Sinnary taught Philosophy and Practice of
Conservation in East Africa. Wairimu’s son
Ndirangu, who many KSP alumni remember
from their days at the Karen center, has
begun at St. Lawrence as a member of
the Class of 2018.
Sajana Blank ’08 (KSP spring ’06) writes,
“Over the summer I had the chance to catch
up with Katie Gauthier Donnelly ’04 (KSP fall
’02) and Wairimu at the NAFSA conference in
San Diego, and then headed to Canton for the
40th anniversary of the KSP. I'm still living in
Brooklyn, and I get my KSP/SLU fix by hang-
ing out with my good friends Dan Shafer and
Brittany Goss (both ’08 and KSP fall ’06), as
well as my roommate, Trevor Lowell ’08 (KSP
spring ’07).
“Dan got married in September in beautiful
Stoddard, N.H., with many alums in atten-
dance. His office at Crop to Cup is around the
block from my apartment! Trevor is in his sec-
ond year of grad school at NYU, and Brittany
also lives in Brooklyn. She's an editorial as-
sistant in a division of Penguin Random House
and does some freelance writing as well."
Sajana says she’s “back into higher educa-
tion after working at AFS-USA for almost
three years. My role at AFS was specifically
related to youth development, education and
diplomacy, and focused on countries in the
Arab world (including very direct work with
my former colleagues in Kenya). This was an
enriching experience, but I'm very happy to
be back in academia, working in the study
abroad office at Fordham University and
taking graduate classes.”
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out
(and join!) the KSP Facebook page, https://
Your news and photos are welcome. I look
forward to hearing from you. Tutaonana!
In September, Julia Hall '14 (KSP spring '13)
hosted her urban host mother, Rose Mbula,
and sister, Prisca Ojwang, at her hometown
in the Adirondacks. They enjoyed watching
fireworks, seeing the leaves change, and taking
a boat ride on the clear waters of Lake George.
100 guests. Boomer has stayed
connected to his SLU buddies
for many decades and says, “You
have to work at staying friends
and staying in touch. But when
you spent most of four years
with these people at a time in life
when you are able to do things
spontaneously, it is nothing but
good memories.” Boomer was
hoping to travel to Chicago for a
visit with his ailing buddy John
Hutzenlaub in November.
Perry Vockrodt lives in Loveland,
Col., and remains very active as
an Honor Flight Guardian for
distinguished members of the
military. Perry served in the Navy
and was an officer on the Intrepid.
Last summer, he was privileged
to be a guardian for a Korean War
veteran and accompanied him to
a banquet reception in Baltimore
for World War II and Korean
veterans. As the number of these
veterans dwindles, Perry has
stepped up his efforts at helping
them attend ceremonies in their
honor.
Judy Howe displayed some
outstanding photos on Facebook
of her week-long trip to Ireland
last July. She wrote of “Dublin's
culture and fun, Trinity Col-
lege library, Riverdance, parks,
statues, pubs, music, Eniskerry
with Powerscourt gardens and
beautiful country walks. I will go
back!” Judy stays in contact with
longtime friend Karen Benson
Smedley, still working at Loyola
University Maryland in Baltimore.
Whenever I receive a text mes-
sage at an odd hour, it can
only be from one person, Mike
Keenan. “Greetings from Rus-
sia!” was the message. Mike will
attempt to duplicate his success
coaching Metallurg Magnitogorsk,
the Russian hockey team that
won the Gagarin Cup last season.
Mike’s wife, Nola, has especially
enjoyed her time in Russia as she
has studied Russian history and
is fascinated by the rich cultural
treasures of its people. Mike has
enjoyed VIP tours to many of
the museums and historical
buildings in both Moscow and St.