Class Notes

These are the unedited class notes as submitted by class agents and other alumni. Edited notes appear in the print edition.

If you prefer to submit Class Notes by mail, send to:

UMW Magazine – Class Notes
1301 College Ave.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401

1990s

1990

Susan Crytzer Marchant
march66358@verizon.net

Joan Bullock Renner says hello!  She recently went back to UMW with her son for the Fall Open House event.  She said it was great to be back on campus and it looked beautiful. The day made her think back to all the wonderful people she met at MWC.

I also made a trip back to UMW (in Spring 2016) with my family for the Women’s Soccer Alumni game. I thought I would get to see some friends, but I ended up being the only senior alum at the game — by more than 20 years!  It’s a reality check when you realize you are old enough to be a current player’s mom. It was a fun day and my boys got to see me play on the field for a change.  Classmates, let us know what you’re up to these days.  Share in the news!

1991

Shannon Eadie Niemeyer
sfniemeyer@comcast.net

1992

Courtney Hall Harjung
charjung@hotmail.com

In July my husband Tom and I drove to The King & Prince Resort on Saint Simons Island, Georgia, where Tom had his annual engineering conference. Our favorite day was spent on Jekyll Island’s Driftwood Beach. In August we moved from our West Mobile rental home to an apartment closer to downtown. We haven’t lived in an apartment for over 20 years and downsizing from our four-bedroom home was tough. We’re mostly settled now, but we still have to assemble our pool table.

In October we had a car accident, and my car was totaled. Tom and I are okay after two months of chiropractic appointments and physical therapy. We’re still a one car couple. Hopefully I’ll have a vehicle by the new year.

We continue to get to know Mobile and enjoy going to minor league baseball games and college football games, exploring the bay and beaches, and experiencing local culture. The warm Southern hospitality, abundant fresh seafood, and proximity to Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores (about an hour away) are some of the highlights of living here. Come for a visit and let us welcome you to the city where Mardi Gras originated and where the festivities last for a month.

Chena Stoner Anderson – Chena resides on a small farmstead in Ruckersville, Virginia where she and husband, Steven raise their ten children, ranging in age from 3 to 22. In 1996 Chena completed her doctorate in Naturopathy and currently practices as both a Naturopath and a Brain Integration therapist assisting those she serves in recovering from PTSD, Concussion, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Stroke, Learning difficulties, Autism and brain injury. She completed her first book in 2012 detailing how to successfully raise a family from birth and beyond without traditional medical care. Authentic Health, The Unauthorized Guide to Family Wellness is available through Amazon and on Kindle. She welcomes reconnecting with alumni.

Tevin Chaney – Tevin lives in McLean, Virginia and is still enjoying his job as a Data Scientist for the Federal Government. He has had a great time catching up with old friends lately, meeting many at gigs in Ashburn when Steve Wohleking’s band, Mandatory Recess, plays. Anne (Thompson) Mendez, Barb (Elwell) Carmichael, Andy Dunlop, Rene Rios, Dave Sanders, Megan Donnelly, Deb (Petruska) Street, Billy Germelman, and others, along with their spouses and significant others, have come to hear the band and catch up with old MWC friends. The finale of each performance is Steve’s double back tuck from the stage. Tevin also recently met his MWC roommate, Steve Lee, for dinner. Steve married Lindsay Mast, and they have two children. The oldest is a freshman in the engineering program at Virginia Tech.

Thanks to Chena and Tevin for sending me their news. I hope to see many more updates in the future. Some of us keep in touch through means like email and Facebook, but this magazine’s format is a wonderful way to stay connected with Mary Washington and one another. Please touch base and let me – and other alum – know what’s new with you!

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From Debbie Krauth Dail: Randy Dail and Debbie Krauth Dail live in Virginia Beach and recently celebrated their 23rd anniversary. Their daughter, Sarah, is a sophomore at UMW, majoring in Geography and working on a certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She is currently participating in an independent study to produce maps for a book and plans to start an internship at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency this summer.

1993

Cheryl Roberts Heuser
chatatcha@yahoo.com

Rob Whitt and wife Dodie Denison Whitt ’95 live in the West End of Richmond with their two daughters.  Rob is the Corporate Controller of Markel Corporation and mentors current UMW business students despite his busy travel schedule for work. He recently joined the advisory board for the UMW business college.  Dodie works part-time as a Math Interventionist after almost 20 years of full-time classroom teaching with Henrico County Public Schools.  Their oldest daughter, Abigail, is a senior at Deep Run High School and will attend Longwood University in the fall.  She plans to become an elementary school teacher.  Their youngest daughter, Emily, is a sophomore at Deep Run High School and hopes to attend UMW to study business on her road to Law School.

Tari Stage-Harvey and her family are doing great in Juneau, Alaska. She sees Whitney Hall at least once a year. Whitney joined the Stage-Harvey family on a service trip to Whitehorse, YT and is going to Germany with them this summer.

Cheryl Roberts Heuser and her husband have had a great year and enjoyed a great visit from Lela “Lejai” Baldwin during which they visited Weeki Wachi to see the mermaids and had a great time hanging out.

1994

No Class Agent
classnotes@umw.edu

1995

It has been a while since I have written Class Notes and I’m happy to be back at it. Reflecting on Mary Washington and its beautiful community of people (still very much present in my life) always fills me with tremendous gratitude. For the past year plus I have been teaching design and illustration at Pratt Institute while also continuing my design and illustration business–10 years strong this past fall. One recent project close to my heart was to design the cover for my dear friend Kristen Green’s New York Times bestselling book Something Must be Done about Prince Edward County, published by Harper in 2015 and adopted as a UMW common read for incoming freshman in 2016. In the fall of 2016 Kristen Green’s book won two awards: the Library of Virginia’s People’s Choice Award for Nonfiction and the library’s Literary Award for Nonfiction.

In October, Kristen and I returned to the Mary Washington’s gorgeous new campus together to speak to a bright group of UMW design and journalism students about our respective roles in the cover design process while also reminiscing about our early days working alongside each other in the Bullet office! Inspiring full circle moment.

Another ’95 alum also published by Harper is Sarah Walpole Gray, who published her book, A Life Everlasting: The Extraordinary Story of One Boy’s Gift to Medical Science, in the fall of 2016.

Donald Rowe is yet another author who has been busy! He just published his third novel, Kashan Kashmeerithe final novel of his Tessera Trilogy, set in Arabia and he is working on a sequel to the trilogy, The Next One, featuring offspring of major characters in the trilogy.

Mike Charnoff married Katie Valentine ’04 on Memorial Day Weekend 2016. The wedding party included an all-star UMW Alum lineup including Katie’s bridesmaids: Bevin Reinen ’04, Katie Fry Charnoff ’00, Mike’s Best Man Steve Charnoff ’99, groomsmen Jason Chipman ’95, Jim Murray ’95, and Tim Landis ’93. Mary Washington alumni wedding guests included Donna Sheehan Gladis ’68, Patti Kemp ’69, Gayle Petro ’79, Jenifer Blair ’82, Dan Hudson ’82, Colette Crabill Chipman ’94, Mark McClure ’96, Travis Russell ’96, Lee Ann Reaser ’98, Mark Thaden ’02, and Jay Sinha ’07. Mike and Katie reside in Arlington, Virginia where Katie teaches 4th grade and Mike practices civil litigation with Perry Charnoff PLLC. Mike became Immediate Past President of the Alumni Association on July 1, 2016.

Brendan Kelly and his wife Corrie Kelly ’96 are excited to share that their daughter, Elizabeth Kelly, has been accepted Early Decision to UMW and is thrilled to be part of the class of 2021! She was the first committer to the 2021 class of the UMW swim team after an exciting recruitment process. Their son Jack is now a high school freshman and avid golf and baseball athlete. Brendan enjoys his job as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency and Corrie is in her second year of employment as an assistant professor of education at Longwood University.

1996

Jennifer Rudalf Gates
jeni17@me.com

Jill McDaniel
jillmcdaniel215@gmail.com

Classmates, it was so lovely to hear from you!

In November 2016, Geoffrey Hart started a new position as a civilian IT Specialist with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in Fort Meade, MD. He’s been working to make this type of transition in his career and is pleased to take this next step. Our congrats to Geoff and we wish you continued success! Congratulations are also in order for Derek Bottcher and wife, Alice, who had an extra special Halloween this year, welcoming twins to their family! Coincidentally, Summer Joan and Benjamin Galileo made their appearance on Derek’s birthday, and no, that was not planned. Welcome to the joys of parenthood, doubled, and we hope you and Alice are getting some rest too.

The exciting news continues for the Class of ’96 and beyond. Corrie Henson Kelly and husband Brendan Kelly ’95 are pleased to share that their daughter, Beth, was accepted to UMW via the Early Decision process and will be part of the class of 2021. Beth was also the first in her class to commit to the UMW swim team and was announced via SwimSwam, a national online swimming news organization. Son, Jack, is now a high school freshman and continues to enjoy golf and baseball. Brendan continues as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency and Corrie is in her second year as an assistant professor of education at Longwood University.

Jill McDaniel continues to share her love of teaching with her students, recognized in June 2016 for 20 years of service to Fairfax County Public Schools. Congrats Jill!

Jen Rudalf Gates recently celebrated 11 years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and continues to enjoy her role in talent development for Global Wealth and Investment Management. Her son, Connor, is in this 4th year of playing travel soccer for Yorktown FC, where Jen volunteers her time as the team manager and cheered on UMW’s Men’s Soccer team a couple of times during the fall 2016 season. She recently enjoyed catching up with Lee Ann Reaser ’98 and her darling son Peyton, who was all cuddles, snuggles, and smiles.

It is with heavy hearts and great sadness we share news of the untimely passing of classmate Keith Conley, in December of 2016. Many of you will remember Keith for his bright smile, big heart, and gentle spirit, a committed humanitarian who cared deeply for others and the plight of refugees. Our sincerest condolences go out to Keith’s family and friends. [Editor’s note: An incorrect version of this note was published in the print version of the spring 2017 UMW Magazine. We regret the error.]

While many of us are connected on social media, it’s still a wonderful surprise to hear from you via email and have the privilege of sharing your updates. Please keep the news coming!

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From Michelle Trombetta ’97: John Glymph is in his 15th year of teaching, and his 7th year of teaching U.S. History to the students of Washington High School in historic Charles Town, West Virginia.  He recently completed his Masters Degree in Special Education at Fairmont State, and last year was elected to the board of directors for the Jefferson County Historical Society. John recently celebrated his 5 year anniversary with wife Jennifer and has two stepchildren, Zoe and Caleb.

1997

Michelle Trombetta
michelletrombetta@gmail.com

Congratulations to Bob Shelton and his wife, Jennifer Dunn Shelton, who welcomed their first boy, Maverick Mantle, on June 3, 2015. Maverick joins big sisters Alexa, Marley, Brooklyn and Skylar to officially complete the Shelton 7.

Julie Newell Leslie and Nathan Leslie ’94 celebrated their 20th “date-iversary” with a long weekend in Fredericksburg, where they visited their old campus haunts and had one last meal at Sammy T’s before it closed in October. They celebrated Nathan’s birthday with a trip to Tulum, Mexico, where they got to help rescue a batch of newly hatched sea turtles. Julie continued to add stamps to her passport with trips to Colombia and Costa Rica.

Amy Szczepanski Evanego has been in State College, PA, for nearly 10 years. Husband Craig is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Sons Ryan, 10, and Zachary, 7, love baseball, soccer, and basketball. Amy works at Grace Lutheran Preschool, where she once ran into Randolph Hall-mate Brady Wassom when his daughters attended.

Jason Terril spent his 40th year traveling, visiting his seventh continent at Antarctica and his 50th state in Louisiana. Kathleen Gillikin MacCubbin visited Italy in September, staying with a friend whose Navy husband is stationed near Naples. She visited the ruins at Cuma, Pozzuoli, and Positano on the Amalfi Coast. Kathleen even ventured into downtown Naples by herself to tour the National Archaeological Museum.

Myronee Ardean Simpson is still at Ranney School in NJ serving as Co-Director of College Guidance. This year, she is the President of the New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling (NJACAC), on the NACAC Affiliate Presidents Council, and a member of the leadership for ACCIS (Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools). Myronee had a chance to take a group of her students at Ranney to visit UMW in February 2016. Fellow alum and UMW admissions counselor Shelley Hillberry ’11 met with the Ranney students for an information session.

Kate Lulfs Ehrle is busy keeping up with kids, with one now a teenager! Her husband, Richard Ehrle ’85, is still with the Navy. Kate is running the sales group at a consulting firm, and started her MBA at Wharton in the summer. She traveled this year, Orlando (Universal), San Diego, Maine, Boston, Philly, Atlanta, and New York City to see Hamilton. Kate is happy to have connected with a bunch of MWC grads via Facebook this year, and knows she is the last person to join the social network.

Patrick Lohmeyer and Suzette McLoone Lohmeyer have been stateside for 2 years now, living in Arlington, Virginia with their two kids, ages 9 and 11, and three dogs. Patrick is still working in international development at Chemonics International and Suzette teaches English and film studies at Marymount University. They recently did a lot of hiking and fishing and more hiking on a trip to visit friends in Denmark and Norway.

Jennifer Wilson Watson is enjoying her new job as the FBI National Academy Associates Member Services Manager at the FBI Academy in Quantico. Jennifer finished her third season playing roller derby on a nationally ranked team. She can’t believe she’s playing a competitive sport at 40+ years old! I am also enjoying my new(ish) job at Code42, where I received a promotion to Director of Product Management in July. My husband, Wade Van House, joins me on business trips when he can. We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in Vegas, where I spent the day delivering presentations and talking to customers for 14 hours; very romantic. To make up for a less than ideal anniversary, we left Vegas to hike Bryce Canyon in Utah, and a month later celebrated at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival and the Magic Kingdom in Disney World.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Fredericksburg in June for our 20th Class Reunion!

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From Jonathan Cordone: Jonathan Cordone is wrapping-up his time in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture who leads all of USDA’s international relations, including the Foreign Agricultural Service.

1998

Erika Giaimo Chapin
erikagchapin@gmail.com

Wes van den Heuvel and his wife Lauren were happy to welcome their first child, Ryker Stark van den Heuvel in July to join them and their two rescue dogs Riley and Luci. Both Wes and Lauren continue to work for Novo Nordisk in Princeton, NJ, and Wes is finally staring his own marketing consulting agency to help local small businesses.

Adrien Snedeker Dickerson‘s son Simon turns 6 in January, right after we wrap up the year of many of our 40th birthdays. Caitlin Jenkins Losh loved celebrating that milestone with fellow newly-turned 40 year olds Betsy Maldonado Sauer, Meg Ellis Storey, Sarah Geiger Luisi, and Alyson Andrews Ramsay in Chicago, the most exciting midway meeting point for their bi-coastal group.

In late September, the “Hanover Mansion” housemates got together in Cape Elizabeth, Maine for a Girls NorthEast Weekend Getaway!  Anne Wenthe Turner came in from Daniels Island, South Carolina, Maureen Southard Townsend came in from Manassas, Virginia, Christie Cavolo Orndorff came in from New York City and Mandy Grandle Freds came in from Fort Sill, OK to meet for a long weekend of lobster rolls, wine, Portland dining, beachcombing and small village exploring! A wonderful reunion…can’t wait for the next one!

Anne recently opened her shop, Blondies Bagels on DI.  Mandy is a military spouse and recently welcomed her husband home from Korea. Maureen is a NoVA librarian in Manassas. Christie is a financial manager for marketing firm in New York City.

Charley Scott graduated from Columbia University Medical School in 2015. After that he did a year of internal medicine at. Mt. Sinai, and now is doing physical medicine and rehabilitation at Columbia/ Cornell.

Deacon Chapin and I happily participated this summer in our 5th-ish annual Meatfest with Darien Berkowitz Jacobson and her husband Andy, along with Dabney Boye Keith, Katie Shea Britton, Adrien Snedeker Dickerson, Todd Hamlin, and Lauren Dwyer Lowther, who made the drive up from Florida with her two boys.  We had a great time celebrating with all our families.

1999

My husband and I welcomed our second son, Benjamin, to the family in May. He’s a complete joy and his big brother, John, loves him dearly.  I continue to teach 5th grade in Atlanta and enjoy lots of professional development opportunities, especially teaching peers and presenting at conferences.  Please continue to send me your updates!

Denee Lonce Tuck and husband, Stephen, had a daughter, Sarah Ann, in February. She joins her 6 year old brother Thomas.

Jennifer Reyes is currently living in New York, NY, where she just opened her dental practice (check it out at www.57dental.com!). She also works part-time at Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine, where she serves as an instructor in clinical dental medicine and works with their Community Oral Health Department.

Joy Spencer and husband, Todd continue to live in Newport News, VA with their two children, Chase, 11, and Summer, 8.  Her husband works for the City of Portsmouth as a Golf Course Assistant Superintendent.  Joy works for a company called Moms In Motion. She helps people with disabilities connect with services through Medicaid.  She’s thrilled to report that after working there for almost 6 years, Joy is being promoted to Chief Executive Officer in January!