CLASS NOTES
WINTER 2013 | ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE 43
1971
James P. Snedeker ’71
5
Linden Tree Road
Wilton, CT 06897
203-761-7793
jamespsnedeker@yahoo.com
Next Reunion: 45
th
, 2015 (
cluster with ’69, ’70)
Jim Snedeker
has kindly agreed to serve as
class reporter. Please send him your news at the
contacts above.
The Greater Ogdensburg (N.Y.) Chamber of
Commerce has chosen
Ogdensburg Journal
sports editor Dave Shea as its 2012 Citizen of
the Year. The chamber’s announcement noted
since joining the
Journal
staff in the early 1970s,
Shea has covered many national stories, but his
focus has strongly been on local youth sports.
“
Dave has never [submitted] a negative article.
No matter what the score might be, Dave finds
a positive and highlights that for the readers,”
the announcement said. “Dave Shea is an
unassuming man who avoids the spotlight,
(
but) the Greater Ogdensburg Chamber of
Commerce wishes to put the light squarely on
him as he so richly deserves.”
1972
Barbarajean Schaefer Blodgett ’72
6763 25
th Street North
Arlington, VA 22213
315-771-3261
Barbarajeanious@gmail.com
Next Reunion: 45
th
, 2018 (
cluster with ’74, ’74)
I have more 40
th
Reunion tidbits, since Editor
Neal Burdick
and I had to do some extreme
editing to fit our Class Notes into the fall
magazine. Here are updates on classmates who
contacted the Reunion committee, but could not
make it to Canton:
Preston Smith
wrote about his new digs
in Jersey City, surviving a flooded basement
apartment from Hurricane Irene, having his
vehicle broadsided by someone who was
texting while driving, and starting a new
chapter in his life. Preston last wrote in August
2009,
when he informed me of the passing of
his dear friend
George Lewis
.
At that time,
Preston was a medical editor for advertising and
pharmaceutical companies: “I would be willing
to bet I’ve worked on some brochure that you
ignore in your doctor’s office, or the prescribing
information that you barely read, enclosed in one
of your medications,”he wrote.
While continuing that career, he’s begun
coursework in copywriting at the School of Visual
Arts, with the ultimate goal of becoming an
advertising writer. He wrote,” Lord knows I write
better than the ‘children’ who are copywriters
in my office: what type of English/grammar are
they teaching these days? Yes, I am officially a
curmudgeon. Being in class after 40 years was
a trip, especially when I had more in common
with the instructors than my classmates, most of
whom are younger than my bridgework.”
Preston’s passion will always be acting, but
he said that many of the call-backs are for “age
appropriate” roles in ads: Viagra, Lipitor, etc.
His pride and joy is his son Derek, a junior at
Yale. Preston says, “He is pre-med, interested in
pediatrics, which is a good thing because by the
time he’s in practice I’ll probably be in diapers!”
Ted Crabtree
lives in Palm Coast, Fla. After
obtaining his master’s in industrial relations,
he embarked on a labor relations career,
representing the employer in collective
bargaining, grievance handling, arbitrations and
day-to-day relations with the union. He started
with a manufacturing company, then moved
into the hospital industry, where he stayed until
1999.
Then he went solo as a consultant. Ted
retired in 2008, saying, “I had grown tired of the
conflict resolution business--it was wearing me
down.” He’s completed a novel, and an author
friend has offered to send it to his agent.
Deborah Stevens Matsushima
did an out-
standing job of contacting fellow junior-year
abroad classmates and begging them to come to
Canton, or send news of their lives since college
days.
Lois Fischer Steeves
responded that “Ca-
reers went from retail to teaching to banking to
motherhood to teaching to healthcare and back
to banking. Favorite continues to bemotherhood
(
such a shock!), with three fabulous daughters,
all through school and gainfully employed, one
married who has also given us a granddaughter.”
She’s been taking continuing ed. courses and de-
signing and building costumes for a local com-
munity theater that focuses on youth perform-
ers. “Check out the Perry Awards,” she said. “The
group is called SKIT.”
Marty Shulkies Kaufman
wrote to Debbie from
her new empty-nester townhouse in New Ro-
chelle, N.Y. Her son, Noah, works in climate and
environment consulting, while her daughter, Jen-
na, is a consultant with UBS in Stamford, Conn.,
and lives with her husband in Westport. Last fall
she commissioned
Lynn Barnes Leahy
to paint
a picture of a hole at the golf club where she and
husband Stan are members, for his birthday.
Cheryl Bunk O’Heir
told Debbie she has com-
pleted her Ph.D. through Capella University, in
public service leadership with a major in geron-
tology. She plans to continue working in school
psychology. “I wish I had kept my maiden name,
so I could be called Dr. Bunk!” she wrote with a
smiley face emoticon.
Cheryl lives in Saco, Maine, not far from
Sue
Van Dyke Burdsall
.
Sue was at Reunion and
told me how she was looking forward to a
cruise with her daughter to Copenhagen, St.
Petersburg (with visits to the Hermitage and
the Russian Ballet), Stockholm, Berlin, Hamburg,
Germany, Helsinki and Estonia.
Sue wrote later that“At reunions you end up get-
ting to know some people you didn’t knowmuch
at all when you were younger. I had some great
chats with
Diane Fagan Affleck
,
since we have
some mutual interests with textiles. What an in-
teresting person she is!”
While
Mike Keenan
was instrumental in getting
a good number of classmates back to Canton, he
was unable to attend. Mike has gotten involved
with his daughter Gayla’s recent diagnosis of ocu-
lar melanoma (OM). There are only six cases per
million people each year in the United States and
of that, 5% have a freckle, and only one in 8,000 of
them will turn cancerous. Even excellent special-
ists in ophthalmology cannot accurately identify
it. Gayla underwent radiation therapy in her left
eye, to save it, but she now has a blind spot. Her
other organs are cancer-free, but OM has a ten-
dency to spread 50% of the time.
Since OM is so rare, treatment is highly under-
funded, but to those who develop it, research
for a cure cannot come soon enough. Gayla has
two children under the age of 4. So Mike and
Gayla, along with her husband, Craig Timm, and
other family and friends participated in a 1000
Miles for OM race in the Toronto Scotiabank To-
ronto Waterfront Marathon (half marathon and
5
K races also), with proceeds going to the Kim-
mel Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Mike told me
that for more information classmates can go to
www.1000milesOM.com.
I received a thoughtful thank-you letter from
Gary Ruben
in New Hartford, N.Y., regarding the
Reunion planning and festivities by Cheryl,
Paul
Gilbert
and me. He added, “Inviting Priscilla An-
gelo to speak after our class dinner was a won-
derful idea. Her subject, some of our more sig-
nificant, collective social‘adventures’during those
‘
interesting’ times while at St. Lawrence, brought
back a lot of great memories, and parts of it were
hysterical.” Pris and David Howison, our fresh-
man deans, had sent the Reunion committee a
detailed account of our days at SLU. “1968-1972:
Four Years that Changed SLU Forever”was quite a
compilation of events that most certainly brought
back strong memories.
TerryMoran
has received
accolades from the New
England Fuel Institute and
the Petroleum Marketers
Association of America as
an “Oil Heat Legend” for
outstanding contributions
to the industry. Terry
began his career as owner
of Hugh Duffy Coal & Oil
in Rutland, Vt., in 1981. As
president of the Vermont
Oil Heat Institute, he negotiated its merger
with the Vermont Propane Gas Association to
form the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association.
He helped defeat the Champlain natural gas
pipeline project and was an early advocate for
reining in speculation in the oil market. He has
also served as president of the Rutland Rotary
Club.
Karen Benson Smedley
was recognized last
May as Educator of the Year by Maryland’s Public
Relations Society of America. She was nominated
by students and colleagues at Loyola University,
where she teaches “PR” courses and has been the
faculty advisor to Loyola’s chapter of the Public
Relations Student Society of America. Karen has
many years of professional experience as a mar-
keting and public relations professional in Mary-
land’s higher education and nonprofit sectors.
She has held leadership positions in marketing
communications with the Community College
of Baltimore County, the University of Baltimore
and Baltimore City Community College, as well as
with the local nonprofit TurnAround, Inc., where
she also served as vice president of the board of
directors. She holds an M.S. in journalism from
Syracuse University, and was the first recipient of
this award.