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1970s

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1974

Reggie Carbon Tihan
rctihane@comcast.net

At Skidmore in February our class won the prize for the most participants in this year’s Junior Admissions Workshop, with seven classmates and their daughters attending. Fran Silbert Hewitt and Sarah, Steffenie Oliver Kirkpatrick and Fiona, Molly Bennett Lane and Jocelyn, Lora Macri Schilder and Nicole, Patti Brennan and Laura, Paula Voight-Jause and Beth Anne, and Karen Bedford Williamson and Elyse enjoyed meeting up with each other, while the kids learned about the college admissions process.

Teri Ceraso, assistant dean of arts and sciences at LaSalle University, loves working in Philadelphia. Son Carl, 17—an active, straight-A high-school junior—has begun his college search, and Skidmore is on his list. Daughter Kirsten, 20, completed her sophomore year at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. Teri enjoyed seeing old friends at last year’s reunion—including Kaye Taft Timmerman, a realtor in Naples, FL; and Sue Andrews O’Brien, a retailer in Hingham, MA.

Laurie Dodge Ingersoll took a spring vacation in the rainforests of Costa Rica. As an artist in Massachusetts, she designs jewelry and recently held a solo gallery show of oil paintings. Daughter Meg is graduating from Bucknell; Jenny will be a freshman at Denison in September.

After 26 years as assistant dean in the University of Rhode Island’s undergraduate admissions office, Cathy Zeiser Taggart joined her husband in retirement in June. Daughter Anne is a second-year PhD student at RPI, and daughter Mary completed her junior year at Harvard.

With both children on their own and a separated marriage, Meg Tipper has a very empty nest. Despite that, she has new joy in her life with swing dancing and playing the saxophone. She still teaches and loves running the Writing Center at Gilman School in Baltimore.

Gordon Nelson has led a “fulfilling life,” including a year working in finance in London, hitting the campaign trail with John and Teresa Heinz Kerry, marketing for IBM, attending business school, and building a career in advertising that culminated with the successful sale of his own agency in 2000. Now a consultant and private investor, his favorite pastime is raising beef cattle, sheep, and horses on a farm he owns in Ligonier, PA. He and wife Kenny just celebrated their 25th anniversary. They have three daughters—including Lizzie, who attends the Taft School with the children of Gordon’s buddies Jamie Widdoes ’75 and Chub Bailly ’75. Gordon has been in touch with Lisa Lee Siu, a public relations director in Hong Kong, to help him plan a vacation in China.

Valerie Burns Winningham happily reports that daughter Mary Beth is a member of Skidmore’s incoming class of 2009. Valerie loves living in Naples, FL, and has met many Skidmore alums in the area. Her new e-mail address is vbwinwin@aol.com.

Erin McHugh recently signed on Denise Marcil as her literary agent; they’ve just completed their first deal: Erin’s book, The Little Road Trip Handbook.

Eileen Argulewicz Berilla’s son Michael plans to study engineering at Lehigh University in the fall. Daughter Elizabeth, a junior at Bryn Mawr College, has been accepted into a Williams College museum program based at Mystic Seaport.

Patricia Brennan’s younger daughter Kathy, 15, competed in her first fencing tournament in March, placing second in the novice women’s division. Both girls are active in their Girl Scout troop. Patti is transforming her law practice into a mediation practice. After almost 25 years “at the bar,” she believes she can better serve her clients by keeping them out of litigation. Patti’s husband, Lou Sirico, is a law professor at Villanova University. He is nine years post-heart-transplant and doing well.

Debbie Silberstein and husband had a wonderful time visiting Cheryl Kempinsky and her husband at their beautiful home overlooking the Pacific south of Los Angeles, CA. One of the highlights of their stay was spotting Bob Dylan at the art deco-style Pantages Theatre in Hollywood—while sitting next to Lainie Kazan and across the aisle from Ben Kingsley and Bruce Willis! Cheryl is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University.