class notes

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In Memoriam | People & projects

1990s

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1994

Victoria (Vicki) Tisch
vickitisch@yahoo.com

John Beckman has been traveling as part of his job at the Museum of Science & Industry, most frequently to the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. He has added trips to exotic locales, including an extended stay in the south of France and the Mexican rain forest. Still, one of his fondest memories is spending a weekend in Skidmore’s new Northwoods Apartments last summer, planning our 15th reunion with Meredith Eastman, Kirstin O’Rielly Drabek, Adam Wald, and me. (Sadly, he will not be able to attend due to travel plans that can’t be altered. He says, “I hope everyone else from 1994 will be there!”) John has discovered he enjoys organic vegetable gardening, and he and partner Denise have also been making improvements to their house and yard. Their black Lab Bella, 2, passed the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen test and is a “complete joy.” Co-chair of the Chicago Skidmore club, John welcomed President Glotzbach back to town at a well-attended reception last year.

Anne Ballou Jennings and family moved to Zambia to work with an NGO partnering with the national government in a malaria-control program. The children, ages 5 and 2, are happy with the move. The family will return to Seattle in two to three years.

On December 21 Townsend Belisle and wife Shoshana welcomed second daughter Devi, who joins sister Tess, 3. T is still in NYC, working at Haystack Needle as an agent and producer for creative companies. He is proud to be involved with the local Skidmore Business Network chapter.

In Westchester County, NY, Jordan and Danielle Charney Dourmashkin welcomed third child Isabel in January. Big sisters Chloe and Leah are in love with her. Jordan works in a Harlem emergency room and is a physician assistant for a spine surgeon. Danielle is a private speech therapist.

Kate Cheney Myhre is Web-site manager for the Boston Consulting Group. For the past three years she has been working closely with Phoebe Smith ’95, owner of a graphic-design firm in Washington, DC. Phoebe’s firm has helped BCG launch a global recruiting campaign on the corporate Web site, and assisted in the redesign of 22 country sites. “Mixing business and friendship has been a blast,” says Kate.

In November, Simon & Schuster published Tyler Coleman’s newest wine book, A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season, which the Chicago Tribune calls “charming…witty, lively, and loaded with common sense.” In it, Tyler encourages people to “get the most out of wine by exploring something new, and changing their wines with the seasons.”

Maxwell Granger Dale “tied the knot” with Laura Szkrybalo on September 6 in Washington, DC, and honeymooned in Kauai, HI. They live in San Francisco, where Max works for Deutsche Bank. For fun, he charters sailboats in the bay. He and Laura plan on making it to Reunion and look forward to seeing classmates there.

Marianne Cook Ratcliffe and husband Robert welcomed their first child, Wil­liam, on July 22.
Alexandre Ferreira loves the snow in Utah’s Wasatch Forest and says, “The mountains are truly magnificent and majestic.”

Loren Freed became a registered architect in the state of Texas and handles institutional projects at Merriman Holt Architects in Houston.

Holter Graham appeared on an episode of FX’s Damages this past fall and has roles in two films, Veronica Decides to Die and Offpsring, slated for release later this year. (For more about Holter, see story on page 19.) His “smaller but better half,” Neela Vaswani ’96, spent October in India, teaching and volunteering. Hol­ter recently took John Sloan ’96 to a Baltimore Ravens game, “where John’s hapless Cleveland Browns were annihilated.”

Sarah Hoffman Pearson had baby Alexandra on October 16. Lexi joins sister Amelia, 3. “All is going well in San Francisco as we plan our next big adventure,” reports Sarah.

Matt Kavet and wife Sabrina welcomed their first child, Jake, on December 28. Matt is “trying to keep pace” with Jon Hoffman, Steve Frohlich ’95, and Glenn Levy ’95, all of whom have kids.

Ian MacDonald is currently in his third year in the doctoral program in English and comparative literature at Columbia University, where he is also teaching. Ian had the “good fortune” to spend some time with Jordan and Danielle Charney Dourmashkin.

Naomi Odes Aytur and husband Turi welcomed son Roman on July 9. The family lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Justin O’Leary married Anna Cairns on November 1 in Thornbury, UK. Justin was introduced to Anna at a Skidmore mini-reunion in NYC in 2006. Other Skiddies at the wedding were Justin’s sister Amy O’Leary ’92, Jill Richardson O’Brien ’92, Tyler Sherwin ’95, and Amy Munichiello and Tony Reidy, who introduced them. The couple lives in NYC. Justin is a real-estate developer and investor based in Greenwich, CT. He is finishing a master’s in real-estate finance at New York Univer­sity. Anna is a VP for human resources at Sotheby’s Auction House in NYC.

After almost seven years in Skidmore’s office of alumni affairs and college events, Kirstin O’Rielly Drabek has moved to a part-time position in the College’s community relations office. She misses working with alumni, but her new schedule allows her more time with daughters Elizabeth, 5, and Charlotte, 1.

Linda Schneiderman Humphrey, husband Noah, and son Miles moved to Charlotte, NC, at the end of the summer when Linda relocated for her job. She is now creative director at AXA Equitable, where she runs the internal design department. She loves the weather and slower pace of life.

Elspeth Seddig had fun running into Courtney Fink at a health-food store in San Francisco, CA. They couldn’t believe it’s been 15 years since we graduated from Skidmore.

Danielle Weiss Stier and husband Oren live in south Florida with daughter Noa, 5, and son Dov, 2, who “adores Elmo almost as much as he adores Noa.” Danielle is a clinical psychologist practicing in Aventura; Oren is an associate professor of religious studies at Florida International University. They spent time with Diana Pesotsky Murray while visiting NYC last summer. Danielle keeps in touch with Kim Saft Rentschler and Lynn Altman ’92 by phone and e-mail.

Holly Stockdale is “still plugging away in Washington, DC, working for Congress on Medicare issues.” She says, “I have high hopes that health-care reform will become a top agenda item for the new President and the 111th Congress.”

On October 8 Beth Trager Kotran and her husband welcomed second son Michael. Jake, 2, loves his role as big brother and can’t wait until Michael is big enough to play with him. Being out on maternity leave has given Beth some time to network online. She is having fun getting back in touch with classmates through Facebook.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Saratoga Springs for our 15th reunion, May 28–31!!