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Dear Classmates,
It seems the second half of 2014 and first half of 2015 were extremely busy for everyone, and in a very good way. So, let’s just jump into the updates.
A fellow weekend college classmate, Jean Gossman, is still doing pro bono work for the World War I Centennial Commission. Earlier this year Jean organized a panel of Lusitania experts for a National Press Club discussion held on the centennial of the sinking, which anyone can watch via the C-SPAN.org video archives. Jean visited her youngest brother and family last Thanksgiving in Friday Harbor, WA, on San Juan Island. After several years of visiting the area, Jean finally got to meet Mona the Camel, a farm-dwelling fixture on the island. As you can see, we bonded! (see the picture to follow). Jean also went to Friday Harbor for the week of July 4th and beautiful Victoria, B.C., for an afternoon. In Friday Harbor, Jean swam, fished (caught nothing), enjoyed the views, did her first-ever kayaking on Neal Bay and loved it! She is still an education journalist and working hard in the pool and at the gym. She would love to hear from Trinity friends and she can be reached at jkgossman@yahoo.com.
Up in Maine, Bethany Gibbs Hanley and Jennifer Dunbar Lenardson get to see each other and their respective families every so often. Last July/early August, Bethany and Jennifer were able to get together with their respective husband’s (Jim and Jason) for the first time in 14 years. Bethany reported that she is busy finishing her term serving on the local school board and coaching youth sports all the while finding it hard to believe that her eldest daughter, Evelyn, is heading to high school.
Adria Estrada sends her greetings from the five star island of Puerto Rico where she continues promoting San Juan, Puerto Rico’s exclusive Condado District though her website CONDADOINSIDER.COM. Her son Christian is following his mom’s footsteps working in the Tourism industry as he’s now attending college in Florida pursuing a degree in Hospitality. Officially an empty nester, she’s more focused on her business and spending time with her husband Carlos.
Mary Catherine Doyle French is still living in Northern Virginia with her wonderful husband Dan and their three children, Ally, Abby, and Andrew. She reports that she is finding it hard to believe Andrew started kindergarten. Mary Catherine spends a lot of her time volunteering at the kids school and as a cheer coach for her girls. She hopes to become a substitute at the kids school since they will all be together. She sends sad news as well: She lost her mom last July and found the rest of the summer to be quite rough.
Lisa Snyder Alexander sent word that not much has changed since last year as she and her family ended up staying in Coronado, CA as her husband received follow orders to remain there three more years. They have already been in CA for four years which beats the amount of time they have spent anywhere – three years was our longest. Lisa notes that they do love it in CA, that their families visit from the east and that they go east at times, and they love the East Coast too. Last year, Lisa met up with friends from Trinity, Monica Daly Darnell, Liz Vittori and Kirsten, in DC.
Yvette Moy had some exciting news to share: She said that once she got over the whole “cancer” thing, life began to take a turn for the better. Yvette’s “lovely, if not slightly insane boyfriend,” (Jack Callahan proposed marriage last May while overlooking the Caribbean Ocean, and, she said “yes”.) By the way, Yvette suggested that one of us brilliant Trinity women comes up with a better title than “boyfriend” when it comes to dating in our 40’s. I happen to agree, so if anyone has a suggestion, please send it or share it via, email or the Trinity scribe email and I will share. Yvette said that Trinity prepared her well for this man as Trinity introduced me to many people from Boston, his stomping grounds (Quincy, to be exact); and she learned that no- that’s not a speech impediment. They really DO talk that way. Apparently Yvette’s soon-to-be mother-in-law exclaimed her excitement at her “Mawduhn Family” last Fourth of July holiday. The wedding is to take place September 2016 somewhere on Cape Cod. An evite will be forthcoming. Yvette also noted that she and Jack bought a house in Seattle’s arboretum neighborhood and that a new puppy, (a black labradoodle) was scheduled to be delivered in the next couple of weeks. Yvette’s two boys are pretty excited; or, as she says, as well as excited as puberty will allow; as they really love Jack and the puppy certainly sweetened the deal tremendously. Yvette exclaimed, “He’s no dummy”. Amidst all of this, Yvette was granted a lovely six month sabbatical from the UW. It looks like that will happen sometime in spring 2017, and she hopes to take the kids out of this very privileged country and expose them to how the rest of the world lives. That’s right- Yvette and her boys are going to go off the grid and live internet free someplace in the world for 90 whole days. In the meantime, her boys will head back to school and finish up their 3rd and 8th grade year.
Yvette exclaimed that this summer has dealt up wonderful treats, ranging from her engagement to celebrating her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. While she knows she won’t get to claim that milestone, she has a lot of other great ones coming my way! And, that life is pretty great right now and she is truly humbled to be here to experience it all.
Kathryn Nalevanko Austin ‛94 that her family is keeping her crazy busy! Her oldest son, Thomas, is in high school. He’s driving & still rowing crew at school. The Austins are beginning to look at colleges for him as well. Her middle child, Andrew, entered high school. He is very into computers & video game design. Caroline started middle school. She is still taking many dance classes & doing basketball & lacrosse! My husband, Tom, is still at EMC in Hopkinton, MA. Kathryn is still playing tennis year round & loving being a stay at home Mom. The Austins were looking to purchase a house on Cape Cod & vacationed again in Turks & Caicos this last April (with the kids)! Last fall they were planning to go Napa for the first time with two other couples.
Elizabeth Murray Vittori sent word that she and her husband John and still live in Fairfax, VA with their three children, JP, Michael and Annie. When they aren’t driving them to college, sport camps or practice, they spend their summers in mid-coast Maine where they ran into Jen Dunbar Leonardson and her family out of the blue a couple of years ago. Liz remains in touch with a lot of Trinity classmates. She had a fun trip to Cape May with Trinity friends: Monica Daly Darnell, Mary Buttarazzi Clark, Carole FitzGerald Lohmeier, Megan Sweeney, Susie Duffy Wollard (transferred junior year, but a true Trinity girl) and Maureen Ryan O’Brien ’90. Liz reports that they had a great time on the front porch of their rented house there. In fact, Liz noted, even the elderly full-time resident next door said she enjoyed hearing their overnight laughter. A very special part of that trip was attending Mass with all those young ladies. Liz reported that she keeps up with Lisa Snyder Alexander and Monica Daly Darnell. And, that they lucked out this year b/c Lisa made two trips “home” from San Diego and they were able to get most of our kids together at her parent’s home in Purcellville with Meg Shroder Nolan ’93.
As for me, I am currently staying at home full-time with my three children Emily, Max and Anna-Lena. My husband continues to work for WeddingWire.com as the VP of Data Science and seems to enjoy it. We visit Germany each year to see Matthias’ family and we visit my Dad and family up in Massachusetts in the summer. I miss New England very much, but DC is good for us.
Thank you all for sending news about your respective lives. It is always so wonderful to hear how you are all doing and be able to share the news. I hope that you all had a wonderful rest of 2015 and had a good start to 2016.
Warmest Regards,
Erin Carriere-Kretschmer
Red Class of 1992