Class Notes

I had a great summer in Atlanta, watched friends get married, traveled to Kiawah, S.C., drove a front loader at Ryan Klesko’s tree farm, visited friends in Washington, D.C., hung out at the dog park, and read. I began my fifth year at the Trinity School and continue to teach fourth grade. It was great to hear from all of you. Keep me informed.

Brian Straight was a civilian with the Department of Defense from 2006 to 2010, was in Iraq from 2007 to 2008, and did some work in Central America when he got back, “most awesomely in Honduras during the coup in 2009.” He was in Colombia from 2009 to 2010 and traveled all over that country and throughout South America. He returned at the end of the year to join the Foreign Service/ State Department, trained in Washington, D.C., for three months, and was shipped in April to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where he planned to be through mid-2013. He is a diplomat beginning his first two-year tour. Brian has no wife nor children and wasn’t interested in either as he turned 35 this November.

Martha Smith said, “The problem with the movie business is that you have to keep on working or else you are out of the loop!” Since February, she has worked on the same project, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock and slated to come out in December. (Martha got to talk with Sandy Bullock about her mom – for all the Helga Bullock UMW students out there!) Kristin Ruhl Bergstrom, Flora Adams Mays, and Jeff Seaman attended Jenny Moss’ June wedding to Chad Van Riper in Kinsale in Virginia’s Northern Neck. Her sister, Beth Moss Burke ’98, was matron of honor.

Flora Adams Mays of Birmingham, Ala., an elementary school teacher, and husband Keith welcomed their first son, Porter Emory, in March. Erin Murphy Thorp moved from Washington State back to the East Coast in the Norfolk, Va., area. In January, Amanda McLennan MacDonald and Matthew MacDonald of Richmond welcomed twin girls, Evelyn and Harper, joining 4-year-old son Deacon. Steve Charnoff and Katherine Fry Charnoff ’00 welcomed son Samuel in November 2010. Steve still works for a law firm in Tysons Corner, and Katie takes care of Sam full time.

Ashley DeNegre of Piscataway, N.J., married Ryan in May 2009, with Julie Spessard Ebersole as matron of honor and Cindy Rollo in attendance. Ashley is a third-year doctoral student, studying evolutionary biology with a specialization in behavioral epidemiology at Rutgers. Hien Truong married Johnny Lyons in June at the Allan House in Austin, Texas, with Julie McPhilomy as maid of honor and Supapan Kanti, Caritta Lee, Lindsey Morgan Grinnell ’02, and Orrin Marcella ’02 in attendance. The couple honeymooned in Greece and Turkey and lives in Chicago.

Laura Reilly Lewis continues to conduct background investigations part time. She and husband Sam of Fairfax, Va., welcomed daughter Reilly Cate in January. Jimmy Rhodes introduced John Thibodeau to Natasha Linn and traveled with Jim Archy to Germany, where he met up with Alex Panek to attend John and Natasha’s wedding. Lots of good meat and beer! The Thibodeaus planned to host members of the Class of 1999 at an August reception in the U.S.