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

2000s

2000

Jennifer Burger Thomas
jenntec14@gmail.com

No notes this time

2001

Last year Abby (Porter) Cole welcomed her third child, Tula Coyle in August 2018. Tula also has two brothers, Jack (born in 2013) and Bo (born in 2014). She lives with her family in Hamilton, MA and works in Boston.

Caroline Jarvis Gee and her husband Alex are enjoying parenthood with their son Callum. They can’t believe that you really get used to sleep deprivation and were looking forward to their first Christmas with a little one.

In the summer of 2019, Seth Kennard and his family relocated to Charlottesville Virginia where he is an elementary school principal in Albemarle County and is pursuing his doctorate at UVA.

Joe Petrick and Kelli (Kramer) Petrick still enjoy life in Jackson, WY. They have two daughters, Jade (6) and Amber (4), who love outdoor adventures. Joe is the Vice President of Field Education at Teton Science Schools and Kelli teaches science at Munger Mountain Elementary School, a Spanish-English dual immersion school.

After a 15-year effort, Madelyn Marino finally convinced Jennifer Amore to move back to New York City. Madelyn and Jen both work at American Express: Madelyn in Human Resources and Jen in Employee Relations.

Brian Sabatelli has been promoted to sergeant in the Fairfield Police Department in New Jersey. He and wife Jackie, a police detective, are parents of Gabby and Brayden.

2002

Travis Jones
tljones8@hotmail.com

Carolyn Murray Spencer
turtlecjm@yahoo.com

Rev. Andrew Mertz Sr. (’02) and his wife Annie welcomed their second son, Wesley, in January 2019 and are now settled in Benicia, CA. They just visited Madison, WI and stayed with friends from Framar Hall. Kevin Piper (’02) and Jenn Moore (’03) who welcomed their first child Annie in 2018.

2003

Jessica Brandes
jessbrandes@yahoo.com

Andrew Wright (MWC Class of 2003) and his wife, Maria Yount Wright, welcomed a daughter, Nora, on July 23, 2019.  Nora joins her big brother, Henry, who turned 3 in February.  They live in Richmond, where Andy is the senior legislative and policy specialist for the Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

2004

Sameer Vaswani
sameervaswani@msn.com

No notes this time.

2005

Allyson “Ally” V. Lee
allyvlee@gmail.com

 Brenna McErlean and her husband, Trey Lord, live in Washington DC and welcomed baby Ara Elizabeth on November 11, 2019. She joins older brothers, Kellen, 11, and Langston, 4.  Brenna has been working for 5 years at the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office, where she recently crossed paths with Rene Thomas-Rizzo ‘87. She has been heavily involved in the planning for DC’s first public Montessori middle/high school, Sojourner Truth School, which will open in August 2020, with her oldest attending as a founding 6th grader!

Alumni from the class of 2005 attended the joyful wedding of Bridget Kavanaugh and Randy Hagerman in Portland, Oregon in August 2018. In March 2019, Matt McLaren, wife, Haley McLaren and Elissa Milanowski of Richmond, Virginia visited alumni Erin Connelly Cockayne husband, Jeff Cockayne and their two children, Max and Natalie in their new home in Cary, North Carolina. The friends went on to train for the November 2019 Richmond Marathon together, and Matt McLaren, Erin Cockayne, Elissa Milanowski and Tyler “Boo” Holtzman ‘04 enjoyed a vigorous weekend of  running, beer and friends. Marathon supporters included Richmond resident Chris Dmotsis ‘04. Katie Domitz, husband Rob and daughter Lily of Long Island, participated in the Marathon weekend festivities remotely via the Marco Polo app, remarking that although they were unable to report live from the event, it was good to see everyone’s faces “on here.” The friends look forward to their next reunion, which is planned for the Greek island of Poconos.

Peter Kelley joined JPMorgan Chase as Vice President for Media Relations in March 2019. He is the bank’s regional media spokesperson for Southern California. He is based in Los Angeles. He was previously an Associate Director for Ernst & Young for the firm’s Global Media Relations team first in London and then LA. Peter lives by the beach in Santa Monica with his wife and Australian Shepherd.

Ally Lee Marzan, Kimberly Pittman Gordon, Laura Rawlett Taylor, Caitie Eck ’06, Shana Muhammed ’06, and Nancy-Lauren Raia Buechler ’06 gathered in Chicago in March 2019 to celebrate Megan Anderson’s ’06 baby shower.  The fun filled weekend included a beautiful shower for Megan held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, dining at several popular Chicago restaurants and catching up over drinks with Jacob Kendall-Taylor ’06.  Whether it’s a bachelorette party or a baby shower, nothing stops this Mary Wash crew from bringing the party wherever they go, enjoying plenty of celebrations, cocktails, dancing, laughs and shenanigans throughout the weekend!

2006

Shana A. Muhammad
email.shana@gmail.com

Andrea Keefer Peeks, who studied political science, became director of budget and management for Chesterfield County, Virginia, in January.

2007

Litigation attorney Ellen Ostrow was named the 2018 pro bono attorney of the year by the Utah State Bar Pro Bono Bankruptcy Project, as announced in the September/October 2019 issue of the Utah Bar Journal. She is an associate at Stoel Rives LLP.

2008

Trish Lauck Cerulli
trish.lauck@gmail.com

Alyssa Lee
alyssa.linda.lee@gmail.com

Laura Curzi ’08 married Mark Prokopchak on October 5 in Richmond, Virginia.

In October, Trevor Daubenspeck married Heather Ballentine (UCLA ’06) in Richmond, VA. Brandon Shapiro (’08) was a groomsmen and Jay Sinha (’07) served as the MC. With family and many UMW alums in attendance there was much rejoicing.

Alyssa Lee ’08 will marry Kim Haynes (UT ’04) in April 2020 in Leesburg, Virginia. They planned to go on safari for their honeymoon in South Africa in June.

2009

Elizabeth Jennings
elizabethsjennings@gmail.com

Alexandra Meier
alexandra.m.meier@gmail.com

Stephanie Rzepka has been promoted to Counsel at her firm Tucker Ellis LLP in Cleveland, Ohio.

Charlotte Rowell Sellier welcome baby boy Remy Joseph with husband Joel in January.

Ana Ealley recently accepted a position with Fairfax County Department of Family Services as a Management Analyst II with their Data Analytics Unit.