Class of 1988

Class Secretary: Mary Capaldi Carr, 5778 First Landing Way, Burke, VA, 22015
Class President: Darius Shahinfar, 151 S. Lake Ave., Albany, NY 12208

Next Reunion in 2003. Got news? Tap out a note to magazine@bates.edu! Jonathan Aranow has a busy general surgery and obesity surgery (“stomach stapling”) practice and was recently named “Top Doc” in Connecticut Magazine…. Lisa Beck Rogers is working on certification to become an elementary school teacher. She subs at her children’s school often. She is a jewelry designer and makes her own glass beads. “Business is thriving and it is a wonderful creative outlet,” she says…. Kaja Beenhouwer Reynolds lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., with husband David ’86. They live and work at a private coeducational boarding school, The Fountain Valley School. “David is a full-time English teacher and tennis coach, as well as a dorm parent. I taught jewelry for a semester and then began my own pottery business, Mountain Clayworks. I now sell my pottery locally at galleries and the Commonwheel Artist Cooperative.” They have two daughters, Emma (8) and Sage (3)…. Ellen Besse Susman is busy trying to keep up with her two girls (3 1/2 and 21 months) and organizing a women’s ministry at her church. She says her family loves Colorado and its wildlife (even the bear in the backyard)…. Laura Blair lives in Portland and works as a kitchen designer for Castle Kitchens in Scarborough. “Very creative, and every project is different.” One of her favorite recent projects was slated to appear in Better Homes and Gardens…. Elissa M. Brooks now works with Self Help for Hard of Hearing People. SHHH’s focus is on late-deafened adults rather than children, but the issues and advocacy work remain fairly similar to her experiences at her previous job at Alexander Graham Bell Assn. for the Deaf. She does development and marketing work…. Tracy Camenisch-Smith continues to work for Coca-Cola Beverages in Switzerland, but in a different capacity. “I am responsible for the system maintenance and development,” she writes, “mostly in the finance and controlling sides, but quite a bit in materials management and production. It’s a lot of fun to be working with such a bird’s-eye view of all the processes.”… Jeff Caron is an emergency room physician in a very busy community hospital in Florida. He’s in a long-term relationship and has Miss Kitty and Sara the cocker spaniel to fuss over. “I love what I do,” he says, “but am not thrilled over the lack of continuity of care in HMO-infested south Florida.” He grows coconuts in his backyard and rides waves on his Wave Runner…. Mary Capaldi Carr had a wonderful summer visit with Laura Young Connelly and Tracy Camenisch-Smith. She spent a relaxing Mother’s Day weekend with Barbara Leahey Sullivan and her daughter Maggie in Virginia Beach, Va…. Kerry Chiarello Thomas vacationed in England and Ireland this summer. She continues to work as a teacher with hearing-impaired preschoolers in the Stoneham, Mass., school system, which she finds very rewarding…. Peter Collins (Buffy Aakaash) lives in a community of 20 people, mostly gay men: healers, artists, and craftspeople. He recently finished training to be a practitioner of plant spirit medicine and has begun a practice. The community is called Short Mountain Sanctuary. His primary work is as a steward of 200 mostly wooded acres. He’s been writing short stories, poems, and essays…. Andrea Combes and her family recently moved to New York after spending a year in Paris for Eric’s post-residency fellowship. She returned to work as a middle-school guidance counselor in October in Armonk, N.Y…. Doug Damberg and his wife Carol Burns watch the antelope, moose, trumpeter swans, and sage grouse when they’re not fly fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing, or just floating down the river. Doug continues his work with the National Wildlife Refuge system in Wyoming, doing everything from wildlife surveys to reasoning with “anti-government types.” Stop by anytime, he says, but “bring beer and a gallon of milk, as it’s a long way to town.”… Astrid Delfino-Bernard has been promoted to head of the flute department at the Suzuki Music School of Westport, Conn. She and Chris will begin construction on their house this year…. Scott Dickey lives, golfs, and surfs in La Jolla, Calif. He manages a souvenir and promotional products company (Fotoball USA; Nasdaq: FUSA) which services sports and entertainment clientele…. Lynn Dolberg Barendsen and John Rossi had their second child, Luca Barendson Rossi, in July. The family was planning to move to Newburyport, Mass., in late September. Lynn planned to resume her position at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education in December. After working for several years for a large architectural firm in Boston, John is starting his own design firm. The design and renovations to the new house have been the first big project…. Amy Dowd Bartholomew and Richard have a large-animal veterinary practice in Enosburg Falls, Vt., working mainly on dairy cows. The practice is based out of the house. She writes, “With two kids, two beepers, the phone and farmers stopping in all the time the house is crazy!”… Pediatrician Steve Feder was awarded the Nobleboro (Maine) Citizenship Award last May. In June, he was named Young Physician of the Year by the Maine Osteopathic Assn. He was also nominated for two other awards: the national version of the Young Physician award and The Maine Children’s Alliance Giraffe Award (for those who “stick their neck out” for children). Steve is affiliated with Salt Bay Pediatrics in Damariscotta…. Jennifer Galbraith has taken on a new job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, in Atlanta as a health scientist in charge of sex-risk behavior. George will be a stay-at-home dad for their twin 3-year-olds for the next year. She hopes to finish her Ph.D. this year…. Jacqueline Grannis-Phoenix is taking a break after teaching in Montessori schools for 10 years. She plans to home school 5-year-old Jack Henry while 1-year-old Finn tags along. ” Now on those sunny days when I’d rather be at the beach than in the classroom, away we’ll go!”… Bob Greene and Joan Edwards live in Bethel, Conn., where he works as a personal chef to several clients in the Fairfield County area. Joan continues at Orchid Biosciences as a supervisor of quality control…. Jennifer Guckel claims she is never leaving Boston. “I just love this city and its proximity to family in Rhode Island, to Bates, and to the coast of Maine.” She’s left her job as chief operating offices of Circles, a corporate concierge company. She’ll take a little time off to think about what comes next…. Chris Briggs-Hale, principal of Cresson Elementary School in the Cripple Creek-Victor School District of Colorado, has helped his community and school district zero in on character education, developing a rubric for healthy student behavior that’s becoming recognized nationally. “While others bandy about value words such as responsibility, trust, respect, caring, and family, the Cripple Creek community took those and ran,” wrote the Ute Pass Courier. “I emphasized that the model shouldn’t just come from the schools,” Chris told the paper. “But what if we as a group talk about healthy behaviors.” Working with the entire community as well as students, Chris and others developed a behavior rubric, or rating scale. “The system helps up stay positive and yet makes kids super accountable,” he said. This summer, Chris travels to Washington, D.C., to speak about his work to the National Community of Caring Conference. Emily Heller Segal, husband Meny, and son
s Lior (4) and Itai (15 months) live in New Rochelle, N.Y…. Linnea Hensley Van Hercke enjoys being a stay-at-home mom, teaching 4-year-old Hensley and 20-month-old Annalina about life. She also skis and mountain bikes in beautiful Colorado…. Matthew Hall joined the law firm of Fazzone Baillie Ryan and Seadale, LLC, in Cheshire, Conn., specializing in commercial and residential real estate law, business acquisition and dispositions, and real estate planning…. Christina Hummel Grenier and Rob work on their three-family house in Somerville, Mass., and are happy Nick Wharton is living upstairs. She still works part time at Harvard, and is working on her dissertation for Emory…. Dennis Gromelski no longer lives in an ambulance and is busy finding things to found in Albuquerque, N.M. These include The Cell Theatre, FUSION (a professional not-for-profit theater company), the Flicks on 66 Film-Making Festival, and Zygote Pro-Creations Inc., an event-management company…. Vanessa Ince works as the clinical director of a community mental health program in the Northern Mariana Islands. She’s still an avid triathlete and takes in sick and homeless animals, which makes her think she might like being a vet as well…. Liz Kimball Williams and her family live in Newburyport, Mass., in the house she grew up in, with a nice addition for her mother, Edith-Ellen Greene Kimball ’55. Early in 2003, they expect their fourth son, joining Owen (10), Graham (7), and Lawrence (5)…. Laurie King Johnson enjoys living in Bucks County, Penn., raising active sons Matthew (7), Andrew (6), and Samuel (2)…. Despite the technology bust, Sue Luedee managed to stay employed in northern Virginia, with three jobs in the past year. Her big news is that she was expecting twins (a boy and a girl) in October. She welcomes your help changing diapers. She joins other Batesies for annual hikes in the Shenandoahs…. David McEvoy earned a master’s in biology from the Univ. of Montana and works part time as a fisheries biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. “I also work as a paramedic on an ambulance in Missoula, Mont., and own my own business teaching first aid skills to people who spend a considerable amount of time outdoors.” He and his wife, Andrea Stephens, live in Missoula with their two children…. Courtnay Malcolm is a field producer for the PBS series Antiques Roadshow. “I am responsible for all the interstitial segments in the show, including researching and writing the opening scripts. I have been able to observe first-hand both the personal and geographical diversity of our country and discover what our material culture tells us about our history and ourselves.”… Kathleen Manley manages the production of math texts for Addison-Wesley. She spends her spare time keeping up and improving her 112-year-old home and garden…. Shawn and Kearstin Anderson McNamara have managed to get things back to normal following the birth of their twins, Alisyn and Keelyn. They join big brother Liam (4)…. Anna Megyesi is back teaching after several years working for non-profit community organizations. She teaches Spanish at Nitro High School and at Marshall Univ. She lives in Milton, W.Va., “not a booming metropolis but a lot bigger than most places in Vermont.”… Steve Morin and Pam Oest Morin are both active in sports. Pam runs races of varying lengths and is getting back to running marathons. Steve runs a summer soccer clinic at Lexington Christian Academy, where he works, and coaches sports his daughters play. And they both try to keep us with those daughters, Amy (6) and Allison (3)…. Eileen Moss Bouressa says she has found her dream job as executive director of the Haywood Animal Welfare Assn. in North Carolina. ” I’m thrilled to be in a position to end so much suffering, although it can be as heart wrenching as it is rewarding,” she says. Son Jack celebrated his first birthday recently…. Rob Myers and his band, Thievery Corporation, have toured Turkey, Greece, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and France, all leading up to the release of a new album in October. Following the release, he’s off on a full European tour and then a 20-day tour through the States. His other band, Thunderball, is also gearing up for the fall with a U.K. re-release of their last album, Scorpio Rising. The first single, “Stereotonic,” can be heard buried in a Lincoln-Mercury car commercial, and also features a video that he directed and animated at his motion graphics company, PXL Studios (www.pxlstudios.com)…. Jess Nevins comes right to the point: “I got married, honeymooned in London, and am negotiating a contract to publish four books.”… In Vermont, Susan Otto Goodell teaches third grade part time and works for a therapeutic horseback riding program as an instructor and volunteer coordinator, a passion she has pursued since leaving Bates. “I am thrilled to be able to combine my love of people and of horses,” she says. Son Carter (5) and daughter Eliza (2) also keep her busy…. Kristin Perry Fedorowicz says she is still surviving in the high-tech industry. She was planning an autumn trip to England, taking 3-year-old Kathleen with her…. Halsey Platt‘s construction company was named as one of the 101 best residential construction companies to work for in the nation by one of the leading trade publications. The business celebrated its 10th anniversary last spring. A month on Cape Cod this summer gave Halsey and Julie (Sutherland-Platt) the chance to catch up with a number of Bates friends in a very relaxed atmosphere. Meanwhile, Julie headed up a ‘tool committee’ to rebuild the playground at the school her two children attend. She and Halsey built two playhouses together. “I learned a lot about power tools,” she says…. Craig Prentiss is up for tenure this year at Rockhurst Univ. in Kansas City, Missouri. He regularly attends Missouri football games with Sarah Ross Maguffee and their two families. He writes, “After several years of getting a close look at what college life is like for students at several campuses, I am more convinced than ever that Bates is a remarkable and special place.”… Linda Riccio Francis and her family have moved back to the Boston area from London. While looking for jobs, they keep busy with Sean (2) and Matt (8 months)…. John Rhee is working in Tokyo for Tops Systems as a microprocessor development manager…. Chris Riff is back in Chicago after eight years on Long Island. He teaches high school math and lives less than a mile from Wrigley Field. “I can actually see the stadium from my roof,” he says…. Eric Scharrer and his wife, Johanna Crane, moved to Tacoma, Wash., in 1999 to take jobs at the Univ. of Puget Sound. Both are chemistry professors there…. Michael Schindelman and Susan are eagerly anticipating their first child this holiday season. Michael is now a business consultant focusing on the issues related to new product development and the changes corporations must undertake as their markets shift and mature…. Ron Schneider is a litigator for Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, specializing in ERISA, employment discrimination, professional licensure defense, and criminal law…. Darius Shahinfar heads the Social Committee for the coming 15th Reunion and will be putting the pieces in place over the next few months. He’s looking for volunteers to contact people and help out on that weekend…. Following four years as a psychotherapist in suburban Virginia, Jeffrey Sherwin has relocated to Missoula, Mont., to follow his dream of living in the Rocky Mountains…. Lynn Shiffman Lauridsen finds life in Santa Cruz, Calif., fulfilling, even though she doesn’t play beach volleyball or surf. She takes on part-time, temporary public-health positions to fill up the time between caring for her toddler daughter and preparing for the birth of a second little girl in January…. Laura Smith Richardson loves living off the grid. As domestic goddess, she volunteers in a master gardener program, works on an information line, and assists a disabled family member. She and Gil completed their dream home in fall 2001, but plan to keep tweaking it forever. She encourages others to try living off the grid…. Although she misses her Bates friends back East, Jen Stevens Spatz still enjoys life in Seattle. She works as an export credit manager for Weyerhaeuser and helps Mark with a new business they began last year, which specializes in manufacturing environmental laboratory products (www.sterlitech.com)…. Jim Stern completed a sabbatical in Nantes, France. He recommends a sabbatical for everyone, and says the time away is refreshing, and the perspective gained is invaluable. He is studying French at the Univ. of Nantes…. David Thompson and Molly are expecting their first child in January 2003, but he hopes that “the whole kid thing won’t cut too much into fishing time.”… Piep van Heuven was named assistant athletic director/senior woman administrator at UMaine last year.