class notes

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1980s

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1985

Cindy Pendleton
cindyp1@charter.net

Rayona Taylor Bennett and family have settled into small-town life on the eastern shore of Maryland, a pretty big change from life in the OC (Laguna Beach). Now 8 and 10, her kids are great travelers. The family enjoyed sailing the Chesapeake Bay last summer and also made a trip to Upstate New York and NYC to visit family and give Rayona a much-needed dose of city life. “I have jumped into the deep end of stay-at-home-mom surrealism by becoming the PTA president—a fun job with no pay.” She was certified to teach spinning last spring.

Tariq Khorma informs classmates that his brother Mus’ab died last year during the terrorist attacks on three Jordanian hotels. Mus’ab was having dinner at the Hyatt with a few friends when disaster struck. Tariq, who shares custody of daughters Samira, 11, and Celina, 8, is still in the health and fitness industry. He was planning to open a fourth Powerhut gym in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba in March. He welcomes hearing from classmates at powerhut@nets.com.jo.

After winning an “officer of the quarter” award for the Palm Beach County School District police, David “PJ” Rosenthal began “the most dangerous assignment” of his career when 11-year-old daughter Sydney entered the middle school to which he is assigned as a student liaison. Sydney is performing with the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches and was chosen to appear at the Kravitz Center for the Performing Arts in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat with Patrick Cassidy as Joseph. Michael had his bar mitzvah and is still tutoring classmates in math. He has recently completed the manufacture of a functional child car-seat warning system designed to alert parents of a child left in a vehicle. Michael also acts as an associate instructor for Japanese sword at PJ’s dojo Kaze Nami Aikido. Wife Ina completed her probationary period in the teaching field and is certified as a middle-school math teacher.

Scott Levin is evening news anchor for NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, NY. “I still can’t believe I’m doing for a living what I always dreamed of doing!” he says. His family includes wife Lisa, stepdaughter Kayla, 12, and daughter Sophia, 5. Scott stays busy running an Internet business, working out, and “wrestling with the daily activities of two active daughters involved in dance and lots of friends!” He welcomes hearing from Skidmore friends at slevin@wgrz.com.

Elisabeth Huntington James, who left Skidmore with a bachelor’s in geoscience and a minor in music, earned a master’s in geriatric health administration and enjoys a career in health care. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Attorney Nancy Cross Wallrich is a “hockey mom” in Eden Prairie, MN, where she lives with her husband and two boys, ages 11 and 7. She works in the emerging legal field of electronic discovery.
Norwood Creech Watkins (norwoodc@mac.com) exhibited her work in a show titled Delta Perspectives, held last fall at the Crittendon Arts Council’s Lois Wallin Rich Center for the Arts in West Memphis, AR.

Charlie Kaplan is a circuit court judge in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where he earned a JD at Nova Law School. He has authored several appellate opinions. A criminal attorney for the last 18 years, he was a prosecutor for the first six and a defense attorney for the last 12—“all worth it.” Over his career, he tried over 100 felony jury trials, including 40 capital sexual-battery trials. He has served as president of the county criminal defense bar, chair of a state bar grievance committee, and board member of the state criminal bar. He is the father of three children, ages 11, 9, and 8.

I ran into Vinca Jarrett at a holiday party held in Newton this year. She is busy as an entertainment lawyer in Brookline.