Skidmore College - Scope Magazine Fall 2018

45 SKIDMORE COLLEGE acquired her learner’s permit and is a gifted artist. Julie is a writer, storyteller and communicator, whose clients range from nonprofits and schools to pharmaceutical companies; see www. jklwriter.com . She was in Saratoga last summer for the first time since shortly after graduation. “It is an even greater town now,” Julie notes. She loves being in touch with Maria Gomez McEvoy, Greg Rutchik, Laura Shippee Hart, Diane Oxman and Bill Packer . After 30 years, Joellen Harper Austin still loves her job overseeing business and management operations for the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( www.drugabuse.gov) , part of the National Institutes of Health. She and husband David enjoy playing golf regularly; JoEllen made her first hole-in-one in May! The couple enjoyed an amazing eight-day train trip to Seattle and western Canada aboard the Rocky Mountaineer. Stacey Gerrish opened a retreat space in Woodstock, Vt., called Leading Fields, located on her grandparents’ 186-acre farm, which includes a historic home and beautiful gardens. There are wonder- ful pictures on her webpage. Leading Fields has a deep Skidmore history, and Sta- cey would love to host any Skidmore alums interested in retreating to Vermont for a few days. (Stacey’s grand- mother was Barbara Stroock Kaufman ’39 , whose sculp- ture adorns Skidmore’s Alumni Memorial Garden.) Cameron Krainin has been working for the Oakland Raiders for nine years. She used to manage their transportation security and is now running the catering and flight services for away games. She says football season is “fun but challeng- ing!” She hopes to attend the next class reunion. Greg Rutchik says it’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since “our blissful, highly energy-filled reunion.” He and his wife, Erin, have a place in NYC since she is running a company outside the city. Greg is involved in a venture capital fund focused on artificial intel- ligence and sensors (please send prospects), and he is still practicing startup and real-estate law “when neces- sary,” teaching meditation (www.thepanicproject.com ) and training for the NYC marathon. He enjoyed going to Saratoga for Skidmore’s Freirich Business Plan Competition in February. In addition, he got to see Dead & Company in June. Greg has enjoyed visiting with David Harrison, Amy Bonami ’89 and Adam Perlmutter ; playing guitar with Scott Buckley ; and catching sightings of Ana Hernandez Nelson, Michael Eigen, James Tolan and Maria Gomez in New York. Our condolences go to the family of David Albahary , who died of pancreatic can- cer in June. Many Skidmore friends remember him fondly. You can learn more and see a memorial video, and leave a condolence, by visit- ing burnett-white.com and searching for “Albahary.” Melissa Weintraub bleat13@comcast.net ’88 What an amazing time we had celebrating our 30th reunion! It was great to enjoy the company of both old and new friends. Skidmore is thriving, and downtown Saratoga is equally vibrant. Our accommodations in the new Scribner Village (now known as Sussman Village) were ideal — a fabulous place to stay and gather with friends. Seventy of us and our guests shared in the festivities. We missed those of you who couldn’t make it and hope you’ll join us for the next one! Elysa Dauerman enjoyed visiting the Tang Museum. She was delighted to see so many old friends and re- ally appreciated the relaxed atmosphere of the hospitality room. She especially liked seeing a few “friends of friends” from the Class of ’87. Margo Leanna sent in some great pictures that captured good times at Sperry’s and other Saratoga haunts! You can view them at alumni. skidmore.edu/classnotes. Amylou Porter enjoyed seeing everyone at Reunion. This year she celebrated her sixth anniversary working for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra as its operations manager. In addition to her behind-the-scenes produc- tion work for the ICO, she recently became project manager for its weekly radio broadcast.  Margie Ostrove is sad that she missed Reunion. She has been really busy with her son Joey, now in second grade. Victoria King vking5@me.com ’89 REUNION ’19 Daniel Elkin  is celebrating his 20th year of teaching high school English in Grass Valley, Calif. He was inter- viewed by website Comics Bulletin regarding his work with small-press comics. Jackie Goldman Sasloff says she has had “a lot of time in Saratoga the last cou- ple of years, as my daughter, Liana ’20 , is a rising junior there. Reconnecting with psychology professor Shel- don Solomon has been espe- cially fun. My son, Max, will be a high school junior in the fall.” She adds that “spending time with Lee Green and his wonderful girlfriend has been a highlight recently.” Our 30th reunion is May 31–June 2; I hope to see many of you then! Check our Facebook page, Skidmore College Class of 1989, to stay up to date on reunion plans. Cindy Urick Newyearsbaby67@yahoo. com ’90 To cele- brate their 50th birth- days (Re- ally? How is that pos- sible!), Andrea DeMartino Wiepert and Marcy Redford Beach and their families vis- ited Rome and Florence and then cruised the Mediterra- nean, seeing Nice, Monaco, Corsica, Barcelona, Mallorca and Sardinia. Marcy says that Andrea needs to reconsider her career and become a travel agent! It was a dream trip, to travel together and to see in person so many great works of art and architecture studied in our Skidmore art history classes! Caroline Bennett reminds us, “I was the older student in your classes and got my de- gree in philosophy/religion, music and art. I have taught music, life science, biology, chemistry and marine biol- ogy from New York to New Mexico and from Delaware to California. I have been an Outstanding Teacher of America since 2000. I turn 65 this year. I’ve been in Los Angeles for five years but want to move back east — see my gofundme account under Doc Bennett. Love to everyone who remembers me. Get in touch, Russell, Chris, Maria and all my buds! If you haven’t seen the revamped Skidmore website, I recommend that you take a look at skidmore.edu . Finally, it’s not too early to start think- ing about Reunion 2020. We’re looking for volunteers to help organize and plan the weekend, so if you are inter- ested please let me know. Dana Metes danametes@yahoo.com ’94 After 16 years, John Beckman left Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to start his own consulting firm with his partner Faith Griggs. He says their first client “is a little show you may have heard of called Hamilton .” John and Faith will be managing the production of a museum- quality exhibit that delves deeper into the history behind the show, and it will begin its national tour in Chicago in April 2019. The two recently bought a small house and some land in Wisconsin, which allows them to escape the craziness of show business on the weekends and spend more time with their retired racehorse, Marked Tee.  Actor Holter Graham and wife Neela Vaswani ’96 welcomed daughter Kavita this spring. Neela’s