CLASS NOTES
WINTER 2013 | ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE 47
1978
Joel Collamer ’78
29
Hassake Road
Old Greenwich, CT 06870-1329
203-698-0677 (
home)
203-820-4523 (
cell)
jcollame@aol.com
Next Reunion: 35
th
,
May 30-June 2, 2013
(
cluster with ’77, ’79)
Very hard to believe, but our 35
th
Reunion
is coming up at the end of May. Get it on your
calendar! I’ve volunteered to be co-chair with
the very capable
Darcy Rieman MacClaren,
so
you know it’s going to be a very enjoyable time
catching up with classmates from ’77, ’78 and
’79.
We’ve already begun reaching out and are
very confident of a good turnout. For further
information, go to alumni.stlawu.edu/reunion.
Last summer I had a long-overdue dinner catch-
up in Boston with Kevin Eagan ’77 and his lovely
wife, Karen. We had a very enjoyable evening,
discussing memorable St. Lawrence personalities.
Kevin and Karen reside in Amherst, N.H., where
Kevin is the co-owner of Souhegan Light, a
commercial lighting products company.
Bonnie Steuart Taylor ’77 and I received an email
and accompanying photo from Pat Wadsworth
’77.
For more, check out Bonnie’s class of ’77
column, where you’ll also find a note about
Denise Fasano McDermott
.
I received an update from our North Country re-
porter,
Mike Quinn
(
aka Bongo): “With sadness I
heard from
Sue Shepherd Kochinskas
that
Dave
Parker
passed away June 28, 2012, after a battle
with multiple myeloma.” Bongo had lost touch
with Dave but fondly recalled that they had had
some outstanding adventures in the Adirondacks
during their time at St. Lawrence.
Later, Bongo sent a photo with the caption,
“
Look who stopped in for an all-too-brief visit: the
elusive Dr.
Doug Hornick
”!
Doug is a professor at
the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, spe-
cializing in critical care and pulmonology.
Elizabeth Schwartz Riccio
would like to
reconnect with her SLU classmates. After
graduation in 1978, she went to SUNY Buffalo
dental school and in 1986 moved to Albany,
N.Y. She is in her 26th year at Hudson Valley
Community College, as faculty director of the
dental hygiene clinic. Along the way, two
sons arrived. The older son lives in Manhattan
and works for Leslie Garfield real estate firm;
the younger is a high school senior. Elizabeth
concluded with,“Soon to be an empty-nester and
would love to hear from some classmates”! She is
reachable at
ericcio@nycap.rr.com.
1979
KimHoffmann Amoroso ’79
35
Cedar Street
Marblehead, MA 01945
781-639-4945
SLU79KA@comcast.net
Next Reunion: 35
th
,
May 30-June 2, 2013 (cluster
with ’77, ’78)
Everyone get ready to come to Reunion
this year! We are again with ‘77 and ‘78. Make
plans now and join the ‘79 page to see who
else is coming. Chairs
Maureen Leonard
Missert
and
Meg Friske Montgomery
are hard at work planning a great time for
us, but they can use our help as well. Anyone who
wants to help with the planning or by calling 8-10
classmates to encourage them to come should
please contact the alumni office.
My daughter Megan ‘14 will spend this spring
semester in Rome. As an anthropology major, this
should be an amazing adventure for her.
1980
Fran Russo-Cress ’80
273
Converse Street
Longmeadow, MA 01106
413-565-2620
mfcress@comcast.net
Next Reunion: 35
th
, 2016 (
cluster with ’81, ’82)
Since our 30
th
Reunion, I think everyone has
faded back into their life’s routines, and lack of
contact has been the result. I am hoping that a
reminder of my presence here will encourage
people to again reach out and share a little of
themselves with us.
Charles H. McLaughlin IV
,
Esq., known to us as
Chuck, wrote from Portland, Maine, that he and
his family enjoy their camp onMooselookmegun-
tic Lake in Rangeley, Maine, with “the best neigh-
bors of all time,”Tracy Knapp Cabanis ’68, her hus-
band, Francois, and their son, Craig ’91.
As a recent empty-nester, I can attest to feeling
only slightly miffed about where the time has
gone.
Roger Brandt
and Mary Jo’s son Ryan ’09
was married last summer in Rochester, N.Y., and
his cousin, Jamie Curley, daughter of Gerry and
Laurie Boardman Curley
(
Mary Jo and Laurie are
sisters) was married in September. The fact that I
vividly recall Jamie exercising her lungs as a tod-
dler as if it were yesterday attests to the time warp
that I am feeling. Congratulations to both Roger
and Laurie on the growth of their families in 2012.
I must conclude with profoundly sad news. On
August 28, 2012, our classmate and friend,
Rob-
ert Arthur Van Etten Jr
.,
passed away. Many of
youmay remember him as a Sigma Alpha Epsilon
brother, a skier and qualifier for the 1979 NCAA
Ski Championships, a factor on the men’s soccer
team or as a major in the psychology depart-
ment. Most of us, however, will simply remember
Rob as a wonderful guy with a quick wit, who en-
joyed life and lived it to the fullest. Our sympathy
goes out to his family: his wife, Ann; his children
Robert III, Victoria and Carly; and his stepson, An-
drew Long; and his parents and siblings. Perhaps
we can honor his memory by living our lives as
positively as he did and seeing the world as full
of possibility and joy.
An email tree was started by
BrianDesrosier
be-
fore Rob’s passing. It captures the essence of the
man we will miss through the compelling out-
pouring of support he received from SLU friends
in the time before his passing. Here is an excerpt
from Brian’s letter:
“
Mike Reisman
and I visited and hung a
commemorative T-shirt on Robby’s hospital room
wall from a great 1979 soccer reunion weekend
we shared with Rob in Springfield Mass., during
the first round of the NCAA Tourney in November
of last year. Frank Owens ’81,
Steve Bate
and
Heidi and
Jon Elwyn
have been to see Robby.
Frank has been tireless in reaching out to people
for support, and in getting a patient advocate
for Rob. And now we are pulling out the heavy
guns:
Skip Chandler
reports, ‘I ordered a rubber
chicken and I have the Sharpie and string ready to
make it authentic.’”
Members of the 1979 men’s soccer team took advantage of the 2011 NCAA tournament in Springfield, Mass., for
an impromptu reunion. From left are
Mark Patriquin ’80, Mike Reisman ’79
,
current men’s head coach
Bob Du-
rocher M’94, Don Goodwin ’78n, Tom Porter ’80, Vince Tersegno ’80, RobVan Etten ’80
and
Brian Desrosier
’80
.
Shortly after this picture was taken, according to unnamed observers, “a wicked game of old-school short
goal broke out.”Rob Van Etten passed away in August 2012, as the 1980 class column notes.