Featured Classmate:  Hugo Luis Ostropolsky

        

When exchange student Hugo Luis Ostropolsky completed his year at U City High, he returned to his hometown of Mendoza, Argentina to complete secondary school.  He then moved on to earn his law degree from La Plata University.  Hugo was proud to enter a law career to follow in the footsteps of his father, who died of cancer in 1969.  Hugo worked as an attorney for a bank for 14 years before becoming what is the equivalent of the Attorney General of Mendoza.  After also working as the Municipal Attorney for Mendoza, Hugo was appointed to represent Mendoza as the Council to the Electrical Energy Department of the Federal Government in Buenos Aires.  In 2008, he cut back on the intensity of his work after a second and successful heart surgery.  He now works occasionally for the Federal Appeals Court of Mendoza.  Hugo married Silvia Teresa Lopez, also an attorney, in 1972 and they have three children.  The eldest son is a Business Administrator living in the Dominican Republic with his wife, a dentist, and their two children.  The younger son is an architect living in Mendoza.  The daughter is a dentist, following in the footsteps of Hugo’s mother, and lives in Mendoza with her husband, an engineer, and their two children.  Hugo has always been a good swimmer and still swims for exercise.  He also became passionate about golf almost two decades ago and plays three times a week—his handicap continues to come down.  Hugo and Silvia love to travel—they have been to Europe ten times, including visits to Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Greece, Morocco, and Turkey.  They also frequently visit their grandchildren in the Dominican Republic.  Although Hugo has not had a chance to return to St. Louis, he would love to do so, and he follows U City classmate e-mails.  He is also happy that over the years, he has seen classmate Phyllis Zweig twice, once in New York and once in Buenos Aires.

 

Featured Classmate:  Joan Smith Stiber

        

 Joan Smith Stiber earned her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from UMSL and her Master’s in Education from Maryville University, albeit 23 years later.  During the time her sons were in elementary school, Joan volunteered at their school and taught preschool at B’nai Amoona.  When the boys were older, she began teaching kindergarten at Captain School in Clayton, completed her Master’s, and went on to teach at Captain for 16 years.  Joan met Jules Stiber at the JCC swimming pool.  He had graduated from Georgia Tech and came to St. Louis to work at McDonnell Aircraft—they have been married for almost 46 years.  Joan and Jules have two sons.  Neil lives with his wife and four children (Aryeh-10, Esther-9, Tamar-7, and Yonah-4) in Silver Spring, MD and is a Director on the Risk Management Staff at the FDA.  Fred lives with his wife and 10-month old Alivia in Portland, Oregon, where he is a stay-at-home dad.  At one time, Fred worked in exhibition design for Gallagher Associates.  His team designed the interior for the New Jewish Museum in Philadelphia and as a result, Joan’s and Jules’s wedding photo hangs in the museum’s 60s Home Living section.  Both boys got their degrees from Duke University, and Joan and Jules remain Duke basketball fans, but also still love the Cardinals.  Although grandchildren on each coast are now the focus of most of their travels, Joan and Jules have been to Israel four times, as well as to London, Rome, Alaska, and many of the US National Parks.  Since retiring, Joan thinks of working out at the Jewish Community Center as her job, enjoying fitness classes, yoga, and exercising on her own.  She also relishes visiting with the classmates she frequently sees at the JCC.  Joan also plays bridge with Jules as her partner and Mah Jongg, which she learned since retiring.  The Stibers are active at Traditional Congregation where she remains close friends with classmate Gail Spritz Tullman.

 

Featured Classmate:  Paula Glovinsky Sigel

        

 

Paula Glovinsky Sigel attended a year at UMSL and two at Webster University, separated by getting married and having her children.  She is ten units shy of her degree (a major in social sciences and a minor in German) and remains committed to return to earn her sheepskin.  Paula’s career has been one of entrepreneurial ventures, both with her family and on her own.  She and Bob (Soldan ’57), a pharmacist and her husband of 46 years, owned as many as three pharmacies, for which Paula did the purchasing and merchandising.  On her own, Paula owned and operated an antique store in the Central West End.  She has been the office manager for her son’s business, “The Ticket Guys,” and has also joined them in their seasonal costume and accessories business, “Halloween Thrills.”  Paula and Bob have three children, all who live nearby in the St. Louis area.  Renee has two boys, Ryan (11) and Zachery (10), and she works in her brother’s business.  Steve and his wife, Martha, have Alexandra (7) and Gabrielle (2).  Randy and his wife, Lori, have Max (4) and Sam (1).  Paula’s interests are wide-ranging.  She collects art, antique silver, and antiques; enjoys cooking creatively; is an oenophile and explores wineries; and has a long-time interest in archeology.  Her prime archeology experience was an eight-week excavation of an 1800s sugar plantation on Montserrat.  In addition, Paula has been on the Board of Miriam School (for children with learning disabilities), and the volunteer coordinator for their fundraising re-sell-it shop; President of “Pioneer Women” (now called NA’AMAT), an organization that supports Israel; joined a mission to Israel as part of a Young Women’s Leadership Development class at Jewish Federation; volunteered at the Art Museum; and was an intern at a women’s self-help center at which she was instrumental in starting the first incest survivor group in the St. Louis area.  Paula and Bob have visited Italy, Austria, England, Turkey, Egypt, Switzerland, most of the Caribbean, and with the children, Greece and other Mediterranean locations.

 

Featured Classmate:  Larry Carafiol

        

 

        

 

        

 

        

 

        

        

A letter to classmates from Larry Carafiol:  Dear classmates, when my first granddaughter was born three years ago, my life changed.  Before Sarah, I thought I had put life changes behind me:  I had spent two years at Washington U., two years at Mizzou and AEPi, six years in the Army Reserve as a crew chief on a Huey helicopter, and 23 years in the furniture retail business working 24/7, weekends and holidays.  When that ended in 1994, I was fortunate that the family owned commercial real estate, and I became the owner-manager of four shopping centers.  Managing commercial real estate took much less time, and I was able to indulge my love of learning with eclectic tastes spanning the reading of Shakespeare to detective novels, visiting studios featuring Renaissance and modern art, and attending live performances of opera and Broadway musicals.  Eleven years ago, I joined Meadowbrook Country Club and became a committed golfer. One can usually find me on weekend afternoons on the club patio with the numerous dear friends I’ve made there (many of whom are U. City graduates).  But most importantly, I finally had the time to be a full-time husband and father.  Susan, my wife of 41 years, taught in the Special School District and after retiring, tutored junior high students.  Julia, our only daughter, is a former Speech Pathologist with degrees from Macalester College and Saint Louis University and lives in Houston with her husband, Ben, a Ph. D. from Washington U. with a degree in mechanical engineering, and our two granddaughters, Sarah (3) and Laura only two months old. We fly to Houston every other month to visit.  So, now the best change of all: Susan and I having the time to enjoy our granddaughters, relishing the miraculous cycles of life.  As Shakespeare said in All’s Well That Ends Well, “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not …”

 

Featured Classmate:  Elliot Atlas

 

        

Elliot Atlas earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Antioch College and his Master’s and Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from Oregon State University.  His scientific career began at Texas A&M University in the Departments of Chemistry and Oceanography as a post-doc/research associate working on various projects in atmospheric and environmental chemistry.  After a stint as a visiting scientist at the University of South Florida, and then at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO, he was hired there on the permanent staff, becoming a Project Leader and then Senior Scientist.  Elliot’s work at NCAR addressed atmospheric chemistry issues such as stratospheric ozone depletion and urban air quality.  In 2003, he left NCAR to join the faculty of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami, where he is a Professor, both teaching and doing research in Atmospheric Chemistry.  Most recently, Elliot’s field work included NASA’s ATTREX project (www.espo.nasa.gov/attrex/) and the NSF HIPPO study (hippo.ucar.edu).  Elliot has two children from a first marriage, twin boy and girl, and gained two sons from his current marriage to April.  He has six grandchildren, 5 girls, including a set of twins, and one boy.  His children and grandchildren are spread around the country; California, Texas, New Mexico, and Indiana.  Along with visiting them, Elliot has traveled widely—his work taking him to Antarctic, Greenland, New Zealand, and various Pacific Islands.  He and April have also enjoyed trips to France, Italy, and Germany.  Elliot still makes occasional visits to St. Louis to see his sister, Marlene, and her family.

 Featured Classmate:  Craig Fleishman

        

Craig Fleishman earned his Bachelor’s in Marketing from the University of Colorado and his Law Degree from the University of Denver before launching a distinguished career, interrupted briefly as Craig served his country, obtaining the rank of Captain and earning a Bronze Star in Vietnam.  His career has included a successful law practice, teaching, lecturing, publishing, and leadership among his peers in law associations.  Craig’s practice spans a number of law and litigation areas, including malpractice for which he was named one of the top 25 attorneys in America, and he is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court.  He has contributed articles to the National Law Journal, The Colorado Lawyer, and the Women’s Business Chronicle among many other publications.  He has taught at the University of Denver as an Adjunct Professor and at Regis College and has lectured widely.  Craig has been involved in and assumed leadership positions in many organizations, including Chairman of the Board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Treasurer of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and Board Member of the Anti-Defamation League, Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado, and Rose Medical Center.  Craig and his wife, Layne, live in Denver and are deeply involved philanthropically.  Craig had four children from a previous marriage.  Despite the extensive time he spends on his profession, his philanthropy, his family, and his organization work, Craig finds time to travel, scuba dive, ski, and play tennis.

Featured Classmate:  Denny Rapport

 

        

Denny Rapport earned his BS in Systems and Automatic Control from Washington University and his MS in System Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.  While at Case Western, he enlisted in the Navy and served a short tour in California and most of the time in Washington, DC as an officer in the Civil Engineer Corps.  Upon leaving the service, Denny went to work for The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, with a focus on Defense-related Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation.  He is currently a member of the Applied Physics Laboratory's Principal Professional Staff. Denny enjoys the variety of work at APL and has worked on submarine systems, missile systems, sonar, counter-mine systems, and ballistic missile defense.  A special benefit of this job is free rides on both US and United Kingdom submarines. Denny and Washington U classmate, Margie Perlberg, have been married for 43 years and have two married children.  Wendy is a family education specialist for the Union of Reform Judaism.  She lives in Fair Lawn, NJ with her husband Michael and two children, Simon and Naomi.  Evan is a professor of ethnomusicology at The New School in Manhattan.  He and his wife, Sarah, and their two children, Alice and Charlie, live in Queens.  Denny, a racquetball player who wore out his shoulder and elbow, now works out on an elliptical trainer and Nautilus machines.  He spends much of his time volunteering in the Jewish community in Columbia, MD, where Margie and he live.  He has been on the boards of the Jewish Community School, the Jewish Federation, and their synagogue, where he chaired the committee that designed and constructed their new building.  Denny and Margie recently revived a tradition of taking their kids to the Maryland beaches when they were growing up.  Now all ten of the immediate family go, albeit to the Jersey Shore.  Denny and Margie have also traveled to Panama, Italy, Israel, Mexico, and Canada.  Denny continues to credit U City High for the great preparation for college and life.

Featured Classmate:  Sandy Miller

        

Sandy Miller earned his degree from Washington University and worked for a couple of years at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis training stock broker applicants to help them pass their securities exams.  Sandy then moved to Boatmen’s National Bank and spent the rest of his career in banking, almost all of it in commercial real estate financing.  About ten years into that career, after also working in St. Louis at the old Mercantile Mortgage Company and Mercantile Trust, Sandy answered a recruiter’s call that lured him to sunny Florida.  Sandy had two previous marriages, both to women he met at work, before marrying Kim, his current wife.  Sandy reports that his second marriage ended when his wife entered a 12-step program that encouraged her to get rid of those things in her life that led to the drinking—and she thought he was one of those things.  Sandy met Kim in Naples, and they were married in 1995.  Kim and he visit extended family in Detroit and Chattanooga, and they have also traveled extensively throughout the US, falling in love with the west.  They have retired in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Over the years, Sandy has volunteered with industry groups, including the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit committed to the best in land use practice and policy.  Sandy has also spent significant time fundraising to fight cancer in honor of his father, who died from the disease.  Sandy walks three miles each day, enjoys reading, and finds himself responsible for keeping Snoopy, their pet beagle, from sleeping all day.  He is looking for volunteer opportunities in Las Cruces, and he and Kim hope to add to their travels, which have also taken them to England, France, Italy, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean.

Featured Classmate:  James H. Cohen

        

James H. (Jim) Cohen was educated at Mizzou, Washington University, and in the Navy in Vietnam, where he was combat-decorated.  Jim’s career has been extensively in executive positions, first working his way up the corporate ladder at the Central Hardware Company in St. Louis, where he spent ten years as President, then Chief Executive Officer of the $350 million, 38-store, 3000-employee firm.  He was the fourth generation of the Cohen family to run Central Hardware.  Since then, Jim has been Principal of the JHC Consulting Company, President and COO of H. B. Sherman Manufacturing, International Accounts Manager for Union Tools in Columbus, Ohio, then for Cepia Sprayers back in St. Louis.  Most recently he has been consulting with the Lawn and Garden Industry and has signed a lease to be opening a Sears Hometown Store in Overland Plaza (Page & 1-70) in  spring, 2012.  During his career, Jim showed his creativity when he initiated and managed the first “front-door greeter” strategy that has now been emulated industry-wide.  Jim has been married for 15 years to Jill Glaser (Clayton ’65).  Jim has three children of his own and a stepson—all live in the St. Louis area.  Jim and Jill have three wonderful grandchildren and enjoy free time with them all—when he does not have a tennis game.  Over the years, Jim has been on the Boards of many organizations, including St. Louis Children’s Hospital, on which he has been President of their Development Board, the St. Louis Arts and Educational Council, Whitfield School, Paraquad (an independent senior living center), the KETC Camelot Auction, and the Jewish Community Center.  He has been a Sponsor and Director for the Senior Olympics, a VP Fair Association Member, and a Campaign Committee Member for John Burroughs School.  And Jim is the proud recipient of AMVETS National Silver Helmet Award.  With all of that, he retains his love of seeing the gang from U City and staying in touch with as many friends as possible.

Featured Classmate:  Mary Jo Gottlieb
In Memoriam

        

Mary Jo Gottlieb’s 1964 Dial quip read, “A lady of fashion is always in love,” and it could not have been more foretelling of her life.  Mary Jo earned her degree from the Washington University School of Art and pursued graduate studies at Mizzou.  She then went on to a long, varied, and acclaimed career in the fashion industry, where she focused on design, executive retail training, and production patternmaking, with a specialization in Technical Design.  Mary Jo was the Director of Technical Design for such labels as Liz Claiborne Lizwear Division, Tommy Hilfiger Children’s, and Liz Kids, and she was the technical designer for numerous other labels.  Considered an expert in the field, she was a frequent reviewer of patternmaking and technical design textbooks.  Mary Jo discovered her passion for teaching and pursued it at the Parsons New School of Design, the Art Institute of New York City, and Kent State New York City Studio.  Mary Jo Gottlieb passed away on November 24, 2011 and is being remembered by family and friends for her generous nature, sharp wit, love of food, lively spirit, keen sense of design, and desire for perfection.  University City High School Class of 1964 classmates remember her for her ever-present and engaging smile, warm friendship, and indomitable spirit.  “A lady of fashion is always in love.”

Featured Classmate:  Susan Mansbacher Brown

        

Susan Mansbacher Brown got married to Ken Brown (U City '63) right after high school.  The Browns moved to California, where Susan attended a small college for two years and had their first son, Elliott.  Susan and Ken moved to Boston for Ken to attend graduate school, and there Susan had her daughter, Trudy.  They moved to Ithaca, New York, where they still live, for Ken’s job at Cornell University in the Department of Mathematics.  Susan returned to school, earned her degree in Social Work from Cornell, and had her second son, David.  She has been a family mediator in private practice for 30 years, working mostly with couples who are separating and divorcing.  Although she still enjoys her work, Susan is thinking of cutting back a bit to have time for some of her favorite hobbies.  She loves to garden in the summer and crochet and knit year-round.  Susan and Ken sing in a large community chorus and in a Gospel choir—“not exactly in my family background, but it’s great music and fun to sing.”  They perform throughout their area and have been invited to sing at the Smithsonian next spring.  Susan and Ken have traveled extensively throughout Europe, to China, and to Australia, and they spent a year living in Paris.  They recently bought a condo on Sanibel Island and spend six weeks there in winter as well as other times each year with family and friends.  Elliott lives in San Francisco and owns a small business.  Trudy, a healthcare consultant and her husband, a chemist working for the Clinton Foundation, have two daughters, Adina (13) and Tillie (10).  David lives in Ithaca, is married, and has a daughter, Fiona (1).  If anyone gets in the vicinity of the Finger Lakes in New York, Susan and Ken love visitors.

Featured Classmate:  Ronnie Light

        

Ronnie Light was destined to be a pawnbroker, as both his grandfathers owned pawnshops as did his father.  After graduating from University City High School, he joined the Armed Forces and served six years in the Army Reserve.  At the age of 22, Ronnie's father met an untimely death, which led Ronnie to make the decision to continue the family legacy.  Ronnie has been married to Barbara (Boobie) Tyner (U City class of '68) for over 43 years, and they are the proud parents of three daughters.  Jennifer is married to Greg Busch, is an elementary school teacher in the Rockwood school district in the St.  Louis area, and has two sons, Jared and Carson.  Melissa is married to John Whipple, is an Acupuncturist and a Chinese Herbalist in Austin, Texas, and has one daughter, Ava Grace and one son, Huck.  Amy Light, after graduating college has pursued her career as a hair stylist in St. Louis.  Ronnie is currently on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center in St. Louis and on the Board of Directors of the Missouri State Pawnbrokers Association.  Ronnie's passions are spending time with his grandchildren, working out at the "J,” playing golf, and attending Cardinals and Rams games.  He and Boobie have travelled extensively, both in the U.S. and outside its borders, and they anticipate many more vacations.  Ronnie wishes his classmates a "Happy 65th Birthday" this year.  He is not at all ready to retire, so come visit him at the pawnshop, Sam Light Loan Co., 2601 Olive St.

Featured Classmate:  Bonnie Gale Cohn

        

Bonnie Gale Cohn earned her Bachelor’s degree from Mizzou.  In her junior year, she added a Speech and Drama minor to follow her childhood passion for the theater and earned her Master’s in Theater.  Bonnie began her career teaching Speech and Theater and then English and Journalism.  She married Alan Cohn while he was in Medical School at Mizzou, and they lived in Seattle, Hanover, NH (Dartmouth) and Eugene, Oregon, where Bonnie still lives.  Bonnie and Alan had three children, one who was born prematurely and died three days later.  Shana is a yoga instructor and lives in Guadalajara, Mexico with her husband Tom, who works for Intel there.  Bonnie has visited them in Mexico and has been studying Spanish for the past year.  Daniel is an IT manager for a company that does educational literacy testing and lives in Eugene with his significant other, April, who has two children and is pregnant with Bonnie’s first biological grandchild.  Bonnie and Alan divorced after 23 years of marriage, but they remain good friends.  She married her second husband, Mark, who passed away almost three years ago after 12 years of marriage.  Bonnie remains close to her stepson (Mark’s son), Robin, a musician who lives in Portland, OR.  Over the years, Bonnie has been a substitute teacher and office manager and recently spent three years teaching a course called “Food, Film, and Literature” at a charter school.  Bonnie loves children, enjoys her role of surrogate and step-grandmother, and has a house full of children every Wednesday after school.  She also enjoys floral and vegetable gardening, hiking in the beautiful forested areas around Eugene, reading, working in her temple gift shop, and tending her seven cats.  She nostalgically recalls her daily tandem bike rides with Mark, who owned bicycle shops and had a bicycle clothing business.

Featured Classmate:  Jules Friedman

        

 Jules Friedman considers himself, thanks to ADHD, a guy without a big picture, but with lots of cute snapshots—always legal, but sometimes questionable.  He never moved too far from his roots, except for numerous left turns that his attention deficit dictated.  Core values from his grandparents and 1950’s U City upbringing are still his life’s theme.  “Do unto others” and do it to the best of your capabilities.  He lives in Minneapolis, where he met his wife Pam.  She had moved there to go to college about the same time Jules got to town while just traveling around.  He had run out of traveling money and stayed—glad that he did, because of Pam and his love of the beauty and cleanliness, refreshing seasons, very liberal political scene, and cultural progressiveness of the area.  His “eclectic” career path has overlapped continually as he morphed from one experience to another.  From factory work to management to bartending to entrepreneurship, he’s learned the basics of personal computing and networking, accounting, consulting, and begging for forgiveness (to buy time to learn something new).  As the token straight guy bartending at a huge Gay bar, the life lesson was about REAL equal rights, which carried over into helping small businesses and non-profits to start-up or to get back on track. His support services have helped grow an HIV/AIDS drop-in center, a women’s organization helping prostitutes get out of the profession, and another organization that distributed clean needles to drug users.  He’s worked with local ad agencies, travel companies, photographers, hair salons, restaurants, art galleries, medical offices, internet companies, franchisors, cooperatives, and more.   Over the decades, Jules has continued to motorcycle, travel, bike, run, and play tennis. He added skiing when his daughter turned five about 20 years ago.  Jules is most proud of his and Pam’s daughter, who is a Title-1 third grade teacher and making the world a better place, which brings him full circle back to what he learned growing up in U City.

Featured Classmate:  Lynn Newport

        

Lynn Newport vividly remembers two events in 1964.  His U City graduation led to a Civil Engineering degree from Mizzou and a successful career, and his beloved St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series leading to a sizeable memorabilia collection honoring that event.  Lynn began his career with a St. Louis engineering firm building large railroad truss bridges across the Arkansas River.  He was planning to go to graduate school when he was recruited to work for United Parcel Service in Omaha.  UPS was just beginning to expand operations, and over the next 34 years, Lynn was an integral part of helping and leading UPS to build a massive transportation infrastructure around the world.  About the time he began with UPS, Lynn married Linda Hummelstein, who he met while at Mizzou—Linda attended Stephens.  Linda taught school in Omaha until they were relocated to Los Angeles by UPS.  Lynn and Linda have two daughters.  Mandy is a teacher and is doing graduate work at George Washington University.  Bari is an actress and director, working at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta.  Lynn’s work with UPS took him to all 50 states and many foreign countries.  He eventually became Coordinator of Engineering and later the Director of R&D at the corporate offices, locating in Greenwich, CT and then Atlanta.  He was closely involved with facilities construction and with the development and introduction of bar-coding technology.  Lynn retired seven years ago—he and Linda split their time at two homes, one in John’s Creek, an Atlanta suburb, and the other in Hilton Head.  Lynn spends his time restoring the many classic cars in his collection, playing bass in several bands, and playing tennis.  He serves on and has been President of a number of nonprofit Boards, including President of Temple Emanu-El in Atlanta and his subdivision’s HOA.  Along with his business travel, Lynn and Linda have traveled to among other places, Europe, Egypt, Kenya, China, and Australia.

Featured Classmate:  Allan Markovitz

                

Allan Markovitz lives in Oceanside, California, about 30 miles north of San Diego, where he has been working as a store manager for Jos. A Bank in nearby Carlsbad for the last four years.  Allan earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Southeast Missouri State with a Marketing major and an Economics minor.  Over the years, Allan spent nearly two decades committed to a photography hobby, including hand coloring black and white photos for which he had a show at the Martin Schweig Gallery in St. Louis; passed through a period of interest in Tai Chi while living in Tucson; and has most recently settled his focus on motorcycles, including his 2005 Harley Fat Boy—custom paint, rims, and front end.  Allan reports that he even has the requisite tattoos.  Nine years ago, Allan married Teresa and has two step-daughters.  Leah recently graduated from Amherst and is a microbiologist for a small pharmaceutical company in Boston.  Hannah is in nursing school at the University of San Francisco.  Allan looks forward to retiring next year, at which time he plans to exercise more, get back to Tai Chi, and continue to volunteer for the Self-Realization Fellowship, which he joined 30 years ago.  He enjoys riding his motorcycle on his days off and plans to take a few road trips with Teresa when he retires.  One destination had been their cabin at Big Bear Lake, but they recently sold it as part of their retirement planning.  Perhaps in retirement Allan will also get back to writing screenplays.  He wrote several while living in Los Angeles, tried to break into the business, came close a few times, “but no cigar.”  He hasn’t completely given up hope on that pursuit.

Featured Classmate:  Richard Wortman

        

Richard Wortman earned his Bachelor’s in Art and Photography from Antioch College, albeit 13 years after he began.  In between, he was a psychiatric aide at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts for three years as his Alternative Service as a Conscientious Objector.  And he trained at the Arica Institute for four years and became an Arica Trainer in Hawaii.  The Arica Institute presents a “…method for the definitive analysis of the human psyche and the attainment of pristine enlightenment.”  Richard also matriculated at the Center for Holistic Studies at Antioch University West in San Francisco for two years.  Since 1977, he has been a self-employed bodyworker, doing shiatsu (acupressure massage) and Trager Psychophysical Integration.  Since 1989, Richard has also worked as a part-time merchant teller at Wells Fargo Bank’s flagship office in San Francisco’s Financial District.  Until his mother passed away in 2009, Richard and his brother and sister made frequent trips to St. Louis.  Much of his travel had centered around his mother, as he and his siblings took her on road trips into her 90s.  Richard fondly recalls taking her to Graceland for her 80th birthday, because she was an Elvis fan.  Richard spends his time visiting with friends, caring for his two cats who crave attention, listening to music, reading, and enjoying San Francisco’s public television channel.  Lately, he has become a Sherlock Holmes fan.  He also relishes the sense of community of his work colleagues at Wells Fargo.  Richard is grateful for having attended the Class of 1964 40th reunion and being able to follow the web activity of the class group, both of which have led to deeper friendships with several classmates, some of whom he barely knew back in the day.

Featured Classmate:  Jim Resnick

        

Jim Resnick earned his Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Science and his Master’s of Architecture degree from Washington University and then worked for a firm designing school buildings, including several in Parkway.  Jim moved to HBE Corporation, where in his 32 years with them (retired in 2007), he designed more than 130 financial buildings in 28 different states.  While still in college, Jim married Linda Lewis (Ladue class of 1966), who is retired from a teaching career.  They have been married for 42 years and have three children, all who live in the St. Louis area.  Kimberly is a veterinarian, is married to Devin Davis, CIO of the Clayton School District, and has two boys, Paden (10) and Collin (8).  Kerri is a special education teacher at Parkway North High School, is married to Mark Hanis, an executive with MasterCard, and has two children, Carson (7) and Camryn (2).  Drew is a software engineer and recently married Lucy, who works as a biochemist at the Washington University Medical School.  Classmate Richard Gimpelson was the best man at Jim and Linda’s wedding and these many years later officiated at Drew and Lucy’s wedding.  Jim and Linda own a condo in South Florida, where they spend four months each year.  They have traveled around the US and to Italy twice and are frequent cruisers, including the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Hawaii.  Jim is a passionate reader of history, and he has become a WWII and a Civil War buff, including visiting many battlefields.  Jim collects movie DVDs (over 600 from all eras) and chess sets and is an avid photographer.  He has been and is a devoted sportsman, having played amateur ice hockey, slow and fast pitch softball until age 45, Indian ball into his mid-50s, and racquetball, and he now plays golf twice per week.  He is also a diehard Rams and Cardinals fan and has season tickets to the Blues.  Jim relishes the class of ’64 friends he has maintained and renewed through the decades.

Featured Classmate:  Mike Suessmann

        

Mike Suessmann earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and joined the Army.  Four years later, while still on active duty, Mike returned to Mizzou and earned his law degree.  He then served with an armored division in Germany and completed his military service in St. Louis.  Mike moved to Washington, DC where he had a series of civilian posts at the Pentagon and in the Department of Justice.  Mike, a member of the government’s Senior Executive Service, retired in 1996.  After an on-and-off fifteen year relationship, Mike married Susan, an attorney who had recently retired as an Air Force JAG Colonel.  They live in Leonardtown, Maryland, about 70 miles from Washington, with Lucky 3, a rescued Shepherd-Husky mix.  Mike has traveled widely both in the United States and overseas.  His memorable experiences include water-skiing in the South China Sea, taking a three-week trip to Hawaii in the middle of his final semester of law school, spending a week in the lighthouse at Sitka, Alaska and fishing for salmon and halibut, and flying in an Egyptian Air Force helicopter to see the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids after spending time in the desert.  In retirement, Mike has done pro bono legal work for the American Bar Association and for individual clients.  Each winter, Susan and he travel to Anguilla.  Since moving to Leonardtown, Mike has learned to use a chain saw and a log splitter and to drive a tractor and a front-loader, skills that he does not recall being taught at U City.

Featured Classmate:  Carolyn Hyatt Silverstein

        

Carolyn Hyatt Silverstein earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Washington University, where she also attended graduate school on a teaching assistantship in the department of Art History.  She then began working for the Social Security Administration as a claims representative in south St. Louis.  During her 35-year career with the federal government, from which she retired in 2007, Carolyn worked and lived in three states, Missouri, Michigan (Detroit), and Colorado (Boulder), and in eight offices, holding both technical and supervisory positions.  She most enjoyed interacting with different people and helping them get their benefits.  Carolyn and her husband Barry (U City class of 1963) celebrated their 40th anniversary in July. Barry, who worked in management positions for Unisys, also retired in 2007—he is working to bring and organic Farmers’ Market to their area, Franklin, Michigan.  Carolyn and Barry have two children.  Craig lives in Studio City, California, is a screenwriter and TV producer, and he and his wife have two children.  Kathryn is a graphic designer and administrator for the Oriental Institute, part of the University of Chicago—she is engaged to be married next year.  Carolyn is busy in retirement—bicycle touring, yoga, gardening, knitting, sewing, quilting, beading, reading, and walking her dog, Copper, going five miles most days.  Last year she graduated from a two-year Melton Jewish Education program.  Over the years, she has volunteered as a Brownie leader, been active in her Temple Sisterhood, serving as president, vice-president, and board member, and recently has been a docent at the Detroit Institute of Art.  Carolyn and Barry support and have been yearly season ticket holders in both the St. Louis and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.  Until recently, their travel has been in the U.S., mostly visiting their children, grandchildren, and friends.  They have now traveled to Spain, England, France, Canada, and Italy.  Carolyn continues to appreciate her U City education and still regards her longtime U City friends as her dearest and best throughout the years.

Featured Classmate:  Dick Levy

        

Dick Levy earned his undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry from St. Louis University and his degree from Optometry school at Indiana.  He was in private optometry practice in St. Louis with Jay Cohen (classmate Richard’s older brother) until 2001, when he sold his part of the practice and semi-retired.  Although he began working part-time for another practice, Dick is back to almost full time with the intent retiring over the next several years.  Dick had been single since 1993 with the intent of “NEVER GETTING MARRIED AGAIN,” when he met Anne, who convinced him otherwise.  Dick and Anne raised Anne’s two children, Sam and Molly.  Sam graduated from DeSmet and starts at Mizzou in the fall; Molly is a sophomore at Ursuline Academy.  Dick is still looking for the “raising children instruction manual” and would love a copy from any classmate who has one.  Dick believes he holds the distinction of paying more in Catholic school tuition than any other member of the St. Louis Jewish community.  Dick and Anne enjoy a camping and fishing trip every June and try to add an additional trip each year.  They recently returned from London and Paris and are planning a trip to Italy next.  Dick pursues both photography and reading and is an avid runner and cyclist.  He has run seven marathons, still runs three to four mornings each week, and continues to compete, albeit in half-marathons.  He also rides the 100 miles of the Tour de Cure to benefit diabetes research.  Dick’s best friends from U City ’64 are Jim Bright, who he “misses terribly,” and Jerry Spector, with whom he still hangs out.  He has learned that there is great value in friends and family and in good health—everything else is just stuff.

Featured Classmate:  Beth Rashbaum

        

Beth Rashbaum went to the University of Chicago for her B.A., and from there to the University of Iowa to pursue a doctorate in English. But after three years, she took a leave of absence to travel– and never went back.  Circling the globe from England east she went overland through Asia, ending up after six months in Hong Kong, where she lived and worked for six more months while saving up money for another year of travel. Life had other plans, however, as her mother became ill, and she returned to St. Louis, where she stayed until her mother died eight months later, after which all thoughts of returning either to school or to travelling days ended. In 1972, she moved to New York and got a job in publishing, starting out as an editorial assistant, and eventually becoming an editor. She has remained in publishing and in New York ever since, except for one year-long interlude at Little, Brown in Boston, after which she went freelance and later spent one year in Los Angeles, with her husband, Frank Rose, who was researching a book there. Following a 13-year stint as a freelance editor, she returned to corporate life, working at Bantam Books for eleven years until being laid off last July, whereupon she resumed her freelance career. Beth and Frank have been together for over thirty-five years, and married for twenty. Frank is a journalist and most recently, author of The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation is Changing Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories. Promoting that book took Frank (and therefore Beth) to the London Book Fair in April, followed by travels to Madrid and throughout Portugal. Apart from family, friends, food, work, hiking, travel, and all the glories offered up by life in New York City, Beth’s one other great love is yoga.

Featured Classmate:  Harvey Loomstein

        

Harvey Loomstein’s education was on the decade plan—he earned his Bachelor’s in Psychology and then a Master’s in Counseling and a Master’s in Social Work from Washington University in 1974, his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Columbia Pacific University in 1984, and his post-doctoral degree in Biomechanical Trauma from Lynn University and the University of Miami School of Medicine and School of Engineering in 1994.  Harvey lives in Dallas with his wife, Ellen Ukman (U City 1966).  They have a son, James, who owns an internet marketing services company and also lives in Dallas with his wife, Shelley, and their son, two-year old Brennen.  Harvey and Ellen refer to Brennen as “Mr. Cutie,” who they don’t spoil—much.  Ellen is a Senior Consultant for an outplacement firm.  Harvey began his career working for Jewish Family Services and since then has been in private practice, Clinical Director at The Learning Resource Center helping learning disabled and brain-injured children and adults, Clinical Director at Biotech Institute focusing on rehabilitation of those with minor to mild head injuries and those with chronic pain, and Director of a medical/legal consulting company.  Over the last decade, he has been a stock and option trader; also presenting seminars on the psychology of the market and an introduction to the market.  Harvey is a sports fan, following baseball and having season tickets to the Dallas Stars hockey team.  He is also a model train enthusiast and does volunteer work, including having been the Vice President of Programming for the Association of Technical Analysis.  Harvey and Ellen enjoy travel to their favorite cities, San Diego, Phoenix, where they do family vacations with James, Shelley, and Brennen, and Las Vegas, an annual trip that includes an extended stay in Sedona on their way home.  Harvey also often joins Ellen, whose job includes extended travel to cities like New Orleans and San Antonio.

Featured Classmate:  Bruce Gutnik

        

Bruce Gutnik earned his Bachelor’s from Washington University and his medical degree from Mizzou.  After serving in the US Public Health Service for two years, Bruce went to the Duke University Medical Center, where he did his Psychiatry Residency.  He began his career at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Director of Residency Training.  Bruce opened a private practice in 1983, and although he has reduced his hours, continues in that practice.  He is also active in forensic psychiatry, providing expert testimony in legal cases throughout Nebraska.  Bruce is married to Margie Eisenkramer (Clayton 1967), who is the Program Director of Beth El Synagogue in Omaha.  They have three daughters.  Julie is married and has twin four year old daughters in Kansas City.  Allison is married, lives in Dallas, and recently graduated from law school.  Andi lives in Chicago and is Director of the Jewish Student Union for the Chicago area.  Bruce is very active in the Omaha Jewish community, having been President of Jewish Family Services, Vice President of the Jewish Federation, and Chairman of United Talmud Torah.   Bruce and Margie love to travel and manage three to four big trips each year, enjoying both land-based travel and cruises—most recently cruising Southeast Asia.  They have been to all continents except Antarctica and Australia, but are planning those trips.  Bruce remains passionate about photography and admits to still being a car buff.

Featured Classmate:  Bob Middleton

        

Bob Middleton became a classmate in our senior year when his father became the University City Planning Director, and the family needed to reside in the community.  That being said, Bob made some great new friends and met his future wife, Barbara Rogers (class of 1965).  They are approaching their 43rd anniversary.  Bob earned his undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University and began his graduate work at the University of Washington (Seattle), but that was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army.  Bob spent a year in Vietnam, some of it as a rifleman in an infantry unit of the 101st Airborne Division, spending time in the A Shau Valley, on Hamburger Hill, in Hue, in Laos, and in what he refers to as “other lovely spots.”  Bob also refers to that as his “wasted year.”  He went back to earn his Master’s of Urban Planning, worked for a regional planning and economic development agency, as the Director of State Economic Development in the Arkansas Governor’s Office, and as the Director of Community Development in Governor Bill Clinton’s administration.  Bob has worked on his own since leaving state employment in 1993, specializing in small town planning—along the way, picking up skills with digital mapping, e-911 mapping, and political redistricting.  Bob and Barbara, who live in Sherwood, Arkansas, have two sons.  Robert is in marketing in the Tampa Bay area and has Bob and Barbara’s two grandsons (ages 12 and 8).  Owen is a forensic pathologist and assistant medical examiner for Hennepin County, Minnesota—he and his wife, April, gave Bob and Barbara their granddaughter (age 5).  Bob is into genealogy and woodworking, having made a fair amount of one-of-a-kind furniture for his boys’ homes.  He has been to all 50 states, all but two of the Canadian provinces, Japan, and, of course, Southeast Asia.  Bob and Barbara enjoy taking the old two-lane roads around the country whenever they can.

Featured Classmate:  Shelby Lycans Thomson

        

Shelby Lycans Thomson earned her BS in Accounting from Mizzou, went to work for Price Waterhouse, and got married; all in 1968.  In 1970 she and her husband moved to Long Beach, California, where he was stationed in the Navy.  This was a superb base for touring the Southwest, so it was with some reluctance they returned to St. Louis for his job with the Army Corps of Engineers in 1974.  Shelby began working at the now defunct Chromalloy American Corporation in Clayton and became a Consolidation Specialist.  Some years later they divorced and Shelby did a bit of traveling.  A trip to the Bahamas led to a trip to Toronto, and while there, she met Steve Thomson.  After a few months of expensive commuting to see each other, they decided Shelby would sell her house and move to Oakville, Ontario, where they were married on the Fourth of July!  Shelby started her career anew working for Northern Telecom of Canada as a Consolidation Specialist but “retired” after the birth of Mary and Leah to be a stay-at-home mom.  After a few years, the family moved back to St. Louis to be near Shelby’s family and escape the long Ontario winters.  They moved to and still live in Jefferson County.  Shelby believes that classmates might remember her mother, Helen Lycans, who taught at University Forest, and her father, Glenn Lycans, who taught at McKnight.   Shelby re-entered the work force part time as the girls got older but kept it her main goal to have her time available for her children.  Now, daughter Mary is a “world adventurer” and is a mechanical engineer with the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in Everett, Washington.  Leah is married and is an award-winning stylist and salon manager at Mastercuts in St. Louis.  Shelby works as a staff accountant for a bulk trucking company, and Steve is Parts Manager for a Ford dealership.  Shelby and Steve love to visit beautiful beaches—northern Florida, Cancun, and Hawaii are among their favorite places and are also destinations the family visited when the children were young.  They look forward to retirement in the next couple of years with more time to visit Mary in Seattle and to doing some “pipe and slipper” traveling around the world.

Featured Classmate:  Ellen Holtzman Langston

        

Ellen Holtzman Langston attended Mizzou and UMSL before leaving after her junior year when her husband was drafted and stationed in Washington, DC.  Since then she has had a diverse career.  While in Washington, Ellen worked for the Assistant Chief of Staff for Logistics, then became a full time Mom, during which time she jumped on every volunteer opportunity in sight.  She has since owned and operated an aerobics studio and been an Office Manager for a large telecommunications company.  In 2003, when she moved back to St. Louis, she convinced her husband to settle in University City so she could be active in and give back to the community.  She began volunteering at Kids’ Place, an afterschool mentoring and literacy program for at-risk children attending Delmar-Harvard School.  Ellen now serves as the President of the Kids’ Place Board of Directors.  She has been married to Randy Langston for 17 years.  Ellen has two daughters, Janie and Betsy, from her first marriage and Randy has one daughter, Jillian, in their blended family.  Her daughters' families live in Clayton and Creve Coeur, respectively, and Randy’s daughter lives in Dallas—grandchildren Eva and Evan are “God’s gift for not having killed my own children.”  Ellen is a voracious reader, attends Torah and Hebrew classes, loves getting really dirty in her garden, and is an active cyclist, having participated in a 150-mile ride to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.  In between living in Washington, DC and U City, Ellen lived in Chesterfield and Memphis and has had the opportunity to travel extensively, including international business travel with Randy, who has had global responsibilities in a medical device business—throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Australia, as well as throughout the US—but always home to University City.

Featured Classmate:  Gary Oxenhandler

        

Gary Oxenhandler earned his Bachelor’s in English from Mizzou in 1968 and began Law School that same year.  But like many classmates, he got snagged by Draft Board 101.  After basic training, Gary married Kansas Citian Janet Sobol, who he met on her first day of college.  While Gary was in the service, Janet taught at Fort Leonard Wood.  Within a week of leaving the military, Gary and Janet returned to Columbia where he finished Law School and hung out his law shingle with best friend Marvin Tofle—“Tofle & Oxenhandler, Attorneys At Law.”  Twenty-nine years later, Missouri Governor Bob Holden appointed Gary to serve as Circuit Judge of Division II of the 13th Judicial Circuit.  Gary was elected and reelected in 2004 and 2010, respectively.  He will mandatorily retire at age 70.  Gary and Janet’s pride is their son, Josh, who is married to Kim, a tall, beautiful CPA.  Gary looks forward to a next generation of Oxenhandlers being populated with tall people.  Josh is also an attorney, and before Gary became a judge, Marvin, Josh, and he practiced together.  The name of the law firm has changed over the years, but now reads as did the first shingle, “Tofle & Oxenhandler,” as Godfather Tofle and Godson Josh are partners.  In 2010, Gary was elected by his fellow judges as Presiding Judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit.  Gary continues to play competitive handball, plays golf, loves to read, can cut a straight line with a circular saw, and dabbles in magic.  Gary also continues to party with Marvin, Hank Schneider, Dick Jacobs, Randy Goldenhersh, and Neal Handler, and he recognizes with great love and respect that all of the good things that have come of his life were the result of the incredible Indians that grew him up right.

Featured Classmate:  Mark Feldman

        

Mark Feldman has spent a lifetime overcoming a near-fatal head injury resulting from a California vacation auto accident before the second grade and living up to his personal commitment to help others as he was helped through the incident.  Mark earned his Bachelor’s with high honors in biology with a minor in chemistry from Tulane University, during which time he played drums in campus bands, continuing the love of percussion he developed at U City.  He went on to Louisiana State University Medical Center where he designed and proposed a new combined M.D./Ph.D. program in Tropical Medicine and Medical Parasitology and became the first candidate to pursue and earn both degrees.  During his training, Mark spent four months in Central America (he is fluent in Spanish) setting up clinics in the rain forests to treat indigenous people for American sleeping sickness and other tropical parasitic diseases.  He also conducted research on medications at the Middle American Research Institute in both Panama and Costa Rica.  Since then, Mark returned to St. Louis, shifted his career to earn his certification as an OB/GYN and was in private practice in the area for 17 years.  He then moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he continued to practice and to teach as a professor at Indiana University.  Mark currently practices in Iowa, where he is the Medical Director of Women’s Health Services in Clinton, Iowa.  Mark is in his fourth marriage “and holding.”  He has two children—Sidni has a Master’s in elementary education and lives in Chicago and Jeffrey has a Bachelor’s in finance and lives in Los Angeles.  Mark is a brown belt 3rd degree in Tae Kwon Do, has a private pilot’s license and flies his own plane, loves to travel, refuses to get old, and remains a diehard Cardinals fan.

Featured Classmate:  Linda Bixhorn Freedman

        

Linda Bixhorn Freedman earned her Bachelor’s in elementary education from Washington University and moved to Chicago to teach fifth grade, which she did for five years before retiring from teaching to start her family.  She had married Richard, a real estate attorney, and they had two children, Amy and Joey.  While the children were young, Linda was an active volunteer at their temple, in ORT, and at the elementary school.  She returned to work part time for a structural engineer and then full time for a premium promotion company.  Her work as an account executive included some travel, learning a lot about the import/export business, attending trade shows, and working with major corporations across the country.  Linda retired after spending the last part of her career working for a small direct marketing advertising firm.  Retirement is busy, especially with her family; both children living in nearby Chicago suburbs.  Amy is a web designer/developer and has two sons, Nathan (8) and Justin (almost 5).  Joey is an analyst for Motorola and also has two children, Seth (5) and Maya (2).  The four grandchildren are “the loves of my life” keeping her young and active.  Linda and Richard have traveled to Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, Israel, Canada, and much of the U. S.  They enjoy theater and musical performances around Chicago.  Linda reads extensively, exercises regularly, plays bridge and is happy to help her 92-year-old father-in-law, who lives nearby.  She still comes “home” to St. Louis on occasion to visit family and holds fond memories of Flynn Park, Hanley Jr. High, and U City High!

Featured Classmate:  Irene Langfeld Hirschfield

        

Irene Langfeld Hirschfield earned her Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis after spending three semesters at Memphis State University.  Irene taught pre-school for several years, worked in a designer flooring and wall-covering showroom for several more years, and spent a decade at RJR Nabisco (now Kraft Foods).  She has been married to Jim Hirschfield (U City class of 1960) for nearly 42 years.  Jim worked in Monsanto’s International Agriculture Company, and as a result, Irene and he traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Australia.  They also lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil for several years when their children, Leigh and Jordan, were young.  Both children graduated from Ladue and from the University of Wisconsin.  Leigh and her husband Scott live in Dallas and have two children, Sydney (9) and Lindsey (6).  Jordan and his wife Jodi live in Atlanta and also have two children, Noah (6) and Emmy (4).  Irene and Jim visit Dallas and Atlanta frequently and the children/grandchildren visit St. Louis, especially during the grandchildren’s summer vacations.  Irene was an avid tennis player, but has more recently become passionate about golf and last summer was the “Low-Net” winner of the St. Louis Women’s District Golf Association’s Tournament of a Lifetime.  She volunteers for the Senior Olympics, the J-Associates, and the Miriam Foundation.  Irene can frequently be found at a bridge or Mah Jongg table and on the golf course.

Featured Classmate:  Allen Brockman

        

Allen Brockman wears a bracelet that reads, “Pay It Forward.”  After earning his Bachelor’s in Banking and Finance from Mizzou, Allen began a career focused on sales and sales management with a number of companies.  Just after college, Allen married his high school sweetheart, Ronnie Goldberg (U City ’66).  Allen and Ronnie have two children.  Lisa, a teacher, and her husband Dave, an Olivette police sergeant, have two children, Hayden (8) and Sydney (6).  Steve, a U City firefighter and paramedic, and his wife Jenn, a teacher, also have two children, Teagan (2) and Keenan (6 months).  A focus of Allen’s life, for which he thanks his father, is to do everything he can to help others, especially children.  Allen has served on the Boards of Washington U’s Hillel, the Jewish National Fund, the St. Louis Holocaust Center, Congregation Shaare Emeth, where he was also a Vice President, Friends of Kids with Cancer, where he current serves as President, and the Dream Factory, where he was also Chairman of the Board for three years.  The Dream Factory is a non-profit, all volunteer organization whose mission is fulfilling dreams of seriously and chronically ill children.  Perhaps Allen’s most meaningful achievement is the founding of The Camp Rainbow Foundation.  Allen founded the camp in 1988, and it has provided 2625 (and counting) children with cancer and other blood-related diseases an enjoyable weeklong overnight camping experience at no cost to their families.  Allen is the Foundation Chairman and Ronnie and he are the Camp Rainbow Co-Directors.  Allen’s philosophy is “How can you not help a sick child?”  Allen has won the St. Louis Rams Georgia Frontiere Community Quarterback Award, was inducted into the University City High School Hall of Fame, and was selected by the U. S. Olympic Committee to be a Torch Relay Runner for the 2004 Athens Olympics.  Allen and Ronnie have traveled internationally and have visited about 15 national parks and other locations where they love to hike and climb.

Featured Classmate:  Neal Neuman

        

Neal Neuman earned his M.D. degree from St. Louis University.  Thanks to the Berry Plan, a draft deferment plan, he was able to complete his surgical internship, residency, and urology training before serving two years of active duty at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California.  He returned to St. Louis to join Urology Consultants Ltd., where he worked for 32 years.  Neal now works independently, providing urologic care two days a week for two rural community hospitals.  Neal’s experience tells him, “the Rx for this country’s health care problems—a single-payer system as a first step to eliminate bureaucratic waste.”  Neal and his wife, Pam, enjoy the urban scene.  For the past 15 years, they have lived in the University City Loop area.  They are planning to sell their home, downsize, and move to a condominium they have purchased in the Central West End.  Neal has three sons from a previous marriage.  One son works for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. and another is a bankruptcy attorney in Chicago.  The youngest is a rabbinical student who lives in Jerusalem with his wife and Neal and Pam’s grandchild.  Neal has visited Israel several times since the 1960s and has a strong passion for Middle East peace and Israel’s security.  Neal and Pam’s favorite getaway beach retreat is South Beach in Miami, and they have also traveled through Eastern Europe and China.  Their D.C. daughter-in-law is from Columbia, and they are planning a family trip to Cartagena this year.  Neal enjoys cycling and has ridden in RAGBRAI, the annual bike ride across Iowa, 13 times.   Neal and Pam care for two dogs they have adopted from dog-rescue organizations and Neal is an NPR junkie; he can be seen walking the neighborhood listening to the radio station.

Featured Classmate:  Larry Abrams

        

Larry Abrams earned his Bachelor’s cum laude in Economics from Amherst College and began work as a seventh grade math teacher in East St. Louis.  He returned to his own education at Washington University and earned his Ph.D. in Economics.  His dissertation was “Operational Use of Corrective Taxes for Pollution Control.”  Larry served in a MASH Unit in the Army Reserves throughout his Washington U experience and even for awhile when he moved to California to become an Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Santa Cruz.  Since then, Larry has been a senior accountant at a variety of small high tech companies in the San Jose area and for the past six years has been a financial analyst for a large company in Monterey.  He is married to Devorah Harris, a St. Paul native, who is fluent in both Hebrew and Spanish and is a lay-leader at their congregation.  Larry and Devorah rent a house on 380 acres in the Elkhorn Slough area, about 40 minutes north of Monterey, which they consider their home town.  They have three daughters, all who live in California.  Sasha is married and is an attorney for a non-profit.  Miriam is married, is a consultant for non-profits, and has given Larry and Devorah a granddaughter, one-year old Zoe.  Diana is married and is a financial analyst.  Larry runs a web site (www.nu-retail.com) that is a critic to pharmacy benefit managers.  He is also interested in mod fashions from the early to mid 1960s, authentic Madras plaid, and applying the aesthetics of architect Robert Venturi to fashion.  Larry is the president of his congregation and has been the director for local youth and high school volleyball tournaments.  He has traveled to Israel twice, visiting Devorah’s cousins, and they went to Vera Cruz, Mexico for daughter Diana’s wedding.  Larry wants classmates to know he is proud of his 87-year old mother, who lives in St. Louis, is an avid crossword puzzler, teaches Mah Jongg to the younger generation, and plays bridge internationally on-line.

Featured Classmate:  Jim Turpiano

        

Jim Turpiano had a long and distinguished career, both in the military and in the St. Charles, Missouri Police Department.  Jim earned his Bachelor’s in Business and his Master’s in Psychology from the University of Missouri in St. Louis, interrupted by seven years active duty in the Army.  While in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, Jim earned a Bronze Star, four Service Stars, and other recognition.  Following active duty, he spent 30 years in the Reserves and was very active in the first Gulf War.  He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.  During his 34 years with the Police Department, Jim was a Lieutenant and spent substantial time as a K-9 Officer, the Chief of Detectives, and Head of the SWAT Team.  He also spent time in Special Operations, including many Presidential protection details.  A few years ago, Jim was second of nearly 100 applicants for the job of Chief of Police.  Jim and Pat, his wife of 41 years, live on 13 acres in Augusta, Missouri, about 45 miles west of St. Louis, where they have peacocks, mini-horses, chickens, and other animals. Jim met Pat at UMSL where she earned her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education.  Jim and Pat have four birth sons (all Eagle Scouts) and four adopted daughters (three are siblings).  In May, they traveled to China to adopt 13-year old Mia (pictured with Jim and Pat).  They are proud of all of their children and report that four have been in the Air Force traveling the world: Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Germany, Philippines, Switzerland, France, Japan, and Korea.  Jim and Pat have also sponsored 11 foreign exchange students and been Foster Parents to 190 children.  Jim’s major hobby is trout fishing at Montauk State Park. He also enjoys fresh water angling in Canada and deep water fishing in the Gulf and Atlantic.  Jim is a Life Member of the Reserve Officers Association (ROA), the Military Officers Association of America  (MOAA), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).  He is also a member of Ebenezer United Church of Christ and Missouri Foster/Adoptive Parents Association.  Jim and Pat are enjoying their retirement and their seven grandchildren.

Featured Classmate:  Don Pearline

        

Don Pearline has focused his education and professional life on science and technology, working in quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and product and process development in food, pharmaceuticals, and medical device businesses.  Don received his Bachelor’s in biology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  While at UMSL, Don was the photographer and photo editor for the school’s yearbook and newspaper, and he has continued to be interested in photography ever since.  He began his career as a chemist with Coca-Cola where he received extensive training in Quality Assurance.  Also during his Coke career, Don married his first wife, Carol.  Don and Carol had two daughters, Rachel and Sarah, before Carol died of breast cancer at age 47.  Don is very proud of his daughters, who now both live in New York City.  Rachel received her MD and MPH from Tulane, and Sarah, who is a set designer, finished her graduate work in theater and drama at Yale.  After leaving Coca-Cola, Don did new product development for Ralston-Purina, working on sugar drinks and foods.  During his time at Ralston, he earned his MBA from St. Louis University in the field of management science and operations research.  Don went on to work for Vitex America, which was purchased by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, who appointed him as the Acting Director of Research and Development.  Since then, Don has spent time in Sales, realized that he much prefers the lab/science part of business, started his own consulting company, considered retirement, and worked for a company developing a therapeutic drug that prevents viral infections from spreading.  Don was recently recruited by a company to help them reestablish their business that was shut down by the FDA.  Don lives with his second wife, Sharongay, in St. Louis, where he is active at Brith Shalom Knesset Israel, having held offices at the synagogue and is currently Men’s Club President.  Don loves to read, to cook, and to walk for exercise, which has helped him recently lose 45 pounds.

Featured Classmate:  Marilyn Freund

        

Marilyn Freund graduated from Barnard College and is a thesis short of her MA in Broadcasting at San Francisco State.  She interrupted her graduate work in 1975, when she and her husband, Robert Bloomberg, founded All Night Media, Inc., a graphics rubber stamp company.  Over the next 24 years, they built the business into one of the largest rubber stamp companies in the country, selling to national chains as well as independent gift, craft, and stationery stores.  They also started a business in England for distribution throughout Europe.  They held a variety of licenses, including Winnie-the-Pooh and Mary Engelbreit.  Marilyn and Bob sold the business and “retired” in 1999.  Marilyn has always loved to travel and has been to over forty countries.  Her travel highlights have been petting wild whales in Baja California, seeing tigers in the wild in India, exploring the hundreds of temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia, and attending an Indian wedding in Delhi with 3000 other guests.  Her most recent trip was to Roatan, Honduras, for snorkeling, riding a zipline through the jungle, and swimming with dolphins.  Marilyn has also served on the board of WildCare, a local wildlife rehabilitation hospital and nature education nonprofit.  Marilyn and Robert live in a small wooded valley in Forest Knolls, California, just north of San Francisco, adjacent to a salmon creek.  Bob is an award-winning stereo photographer and musician, and Marilyn says he is “the cleverest person I’ve ever known.” Together they have scripted and edited numerous 3D shows for public presentations.  She is grateful for her fascinating life and is always looking forward to the next adventure.

Featured Classmate:  Dick Jacobs

        

Dick Jacobs earned his Bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College before entering a six-year program at the Washington University Medical School.  Dick earned both his MD and PhD (in Biological Chemistry).  The intense laboratory work of the PhD degree crystallized Dick’s career choice—he knew that job happiness would derive from caring for patients and not from doing basic science research.  Dick did his house staff training in San Francisco at the University of California and fell in love with the city, which, after living there for 37 years, he still appreciates as “the most beautiful city in the world.”  Dick was in private practice in Infectious Diseases for six years before joining the faculty of the University of California San Francisco, where he became a Professor and most recently an Emeritus Professor when he semi-retired in 2008.  He continues to work part time caring for patients and teaching, but has relinquished his administrative and publication responsibilities.  Dick is focusing his retirement time on tennis, playing and/or taking lessons five days a week, which he added to his workout regimen of six days per week of aerobic and weight training.  Dick and Cheryl, his wife of 34 years, have two children.  Twenty-nine year old Rachel graduated from UCLA, recently completed her Master’s Degree in Nursing at Columbia, and is working in the epilepsy center at Columbia University.  David, 25 years old, graduated from McAllister College in St. Paul, recently earned his Masters in Fine Arts from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and is pursuing and acting career in New York.  With both children in New York, Dick and Cheryl visit frequently.  After taking about five years to change baseball fan allegiance from the Cardinals to the Giants, Dick has become a big fan and was excited with last year’s World Series win.  Dick enjoys keeping track of and in touch with classmates, especially Myron Levinson, who was influential in Dick and Cheryl getting married.

Featured Classmate:  Marc Golubock

        

Marc Golubock earned his Bachelor’s in political science from Western Michigan University, began his graduate work at Thunderbird School of Global Management, and expected to be drafted.  In the summer after his junior year at Western Michigan, Marc joined a group of students and faculty on an Asian Humanities seminar which took them to Japan, Hong Kong, India, and other Asian countries.  The bad news is that Marc contracted a nasty bug in India that took years from which to recover.  The good news is that he failed three draft physicals.  The even better news is that Marc met his wife Susan on the trip, and they recently celebrated their 43rd anniversary.  Susan, an Occupational Therapist by degree, is a renowned expert on autism, works with autistic individuals, and will be completing her book on the subject this summer.  Marc retired in 2002 from a fulfilling 30-year career with the Drug Enforcement Administration.  During his career, Marc and Susan transferred seven times, including spending seven years in Europe; in Bonn, when it was the capital of Germany, Frankfurt, and Paris, where he was stationed at Interpol.  Before his German and French assignments, Marc received 20 weeks each of intensive language training.  When he returned to DEA Headquarters in Northern Virginia, he was Chief of the Chemical Control Section, a job that also included extensive worldwide travel.  In retirement, Marc has been consulting and attending to his three primary interests, tennis, tennis, and tennis.  Marc and Susan live in Phoenix, but “escape” for a month each summer to avoid the heat.  Over the years, they have spent that time in Stowe, Vermont and Vail Valley, Colorado.  Next year, the plan is Flagstaff.  They have also made several trips back to Europe.

Featured Classmate:  Deann Zvibleman Rubin

        

Deann Zvibleman Rubin—Artist in many different places. Deann earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from The University of Kansas, and began working as an illustrator and graphic designer for a Clayton fashion shoe company.  During this period, she married classmate Mike Rubin.  While living in St. Louis, Deann worked as a full-time apprentice to tapestry artist Muriel Nezhnie, pursued a studio career as a handwoven tapestry artist, was an artist-in-residence at the Missouri State Fair, appeared on KETC, won an award for a TV commercial, and was president of Missouri Fiber Artists. Deann and Mike moved to Silicon Valley from which Deann continued to exhibit nationally and internationally, including having a tapestry exhibited in the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. She also worked as an artist for the City of Sunnyvale, CA. When Deann and Mike moved from the West Coast to Boston, to Dallas, then back to Boston, Deann was the editor of the Journal for ITNET, an international tapestry organization, returned to college to get a two-year certificate in computer graphics and another in illustration, took classes in London, England, created a floral exhibit for Art in Bloom at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, exhibited in Canada and Australia and won several awards/honors for both her tapestries and graphic design.  Deann and Mike moved back to St. Louis after being gone 18 years.  Since being back, Deann has been curator of a tapestry exhibit at the Craft Alliance, held a one-person exhibition at the U City Public Library, and shown her computer illustrations in several St. Louis art fairs. Deann and Mike reside in the Central West End and will be celebrating their fortieth anniversary in June.

Featured Classmate:  Howard Danzig

        

Howard Danzig earned his Bachelor’s in Business and Accounting from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  He went onto a varied work career and is now the Principal of Employers Committed to Control Health Insurance Costs (ECCHIC).  He is proud that he and his staff have helped small and intermediate size companies throughout the Midwest stabilize their costs while still maintaining good benefits for their employees.  Howard has been married to Myrna (Sachs, Clayton ’64) for 43 years, and they live in St. Louis.  They have two children.  Dana is married, has two daughters and a son, and lives in Chesterfield.  Joel is a Pharmacist and lives with his wife in Cleveland.  Howard enjoys collecting sports, music, TV, and movie memorabilia as evidenced by the walls, shelves, and floors of his company offices.  He and Myrna have recently traveled to Tahiti, Rome, Grand Cayman, and Cancun.   Howard is proud that he once partnered in a business with former Cardinals centerfielder Curt Flood to create baseball instructional clinics led by 15 former major leaguers for children 8 to 16.  He is also proud of his “near claim to fame,” when he had a date with Lesley Gore and one with Melinda Marx (Groucho’s daughter) while at Lehigh.  Howard quickly retorts, “If given a choice, I choose Lesley over Al Gore.”  He maintains a quick and frequent wit as well as having a contagious and frequent laugh.  When asked to consider being a Featured Classmate, Howard replied, “Should I send you my schedule of fees that I charge to be a featured classmate?  I’ve been offered a tidy sum from Ladue, Clayton, Normandy and even Chaminade.”

Featured Classmate:  Margo Cytron Cooper-Miskit

        

Margo Cytron Cooper-Miskit developed secretarial skills and worked as an Executive Secretary for Wohl Shoe Company.  When she married and had her first son, Michael, in 1971, Margo became a stay-at-home Mom.  Michael, having graduated from Indiana University and having earned his Master’s in Business and Computer Science from the University of Illinois, lives in Washington, D.C. and develops software security for large corporations.  Mark was born two years later.  He attended Mizzou and UMSL and is now a loan officer in St. Louis and is married to Leighann.  They have blessed Margo with three grandchildren, Jacob (12), Zachary (6), and Peyton (1).  When she divorced in 1985, Margo returned to work, having a number of sales jobs, including five years as a Sales Representative for Ladue News.  During that time, she was approached by Playbill Magazine to sell advertising for their programs at the Fox Theatre Broadway Series.  She still works there 15 years later and now also sells ads for the Saint Louis Symphony, the Municipal Auditorium Theatre in Kansas City, Stages St. Louis, Opera Theatre St. Louis, and KETC’s Channel 9 Program Guide.  Over the years, Margo has also worked with other theatres throughout the Region, including some in Chicago.  In 1993, Margo married Frank Miskit, a furniture and accessories representative.  They love going to grandchildren’s events and spending time with the kids.  Margo beams when she says, “Motherhood was great, but Grandmotherhood is even better.”

Featured Classmate:  Deborah Goodman Kasdan

        

Deborah Goodman Kasdan went to the University of Michigan for five semesters, but met her husband-to-be at Camp Hawthorne after her sophomore year.  She transferred to Washington U to be near Barry and there earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s in English Literature.  While her two daughters were in nursery school, Deborah taught part-time at the college level and then went back to graduate school where she earned her special education teaching certificate.  At the same time however, she began doing editing at a trade publication, Modern Brewery Age, and that changed her career.  She went on to do copywriting and promotion for a number of trade publications and a conference management company in Fairfield County, Connecticut, worked in creative services at Ziff-Davis publications in New York City, and at age 52, went to work for IBM.  Deborah has had a number of communications roles for IBM, including managing internal web sites and currently, research and "ghost writing" for consultants in their business consulting division.  She and Barry now live on Long Island Sound, where she mostly works from home.  One daughter lives only two blocks away; the other an hour away in Park Slope in Brooklyn.  Deborah has two grandsons and a granddaughter, helps care for them, and is proud to be fit enough to still throw them into the air.  One daughter is an MSW (as is Barry), working in Quality Assurance at a hospital; the other is an attorney for ACLU Reproductive Freedom, both having graduated from Washington U.   Deborah is an avid reader, loves her electronic gadgets, and enjoys walking in her neighborhood, which is surrounded on three sides by water.  Deborah and Barry go on occasional getaways and spend a lot of time visiting with family—her mom still lives in her U City house, and she has a sister in Halifax and a brother in Seattle.  Deborah’s hope is that she can play a role in making a smarter planet for her grandchildren.

Featured Classmate:  Burton Newman

        

Burton Newman has had a distinguished legal career, has a wonderful family, and other than in college, has never lived more than ten miles from his present home in Richmond Heights.  Burt earned his B.S. and J.D. with honors from Mizzou, where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review and was selected to join the Order of the Coif, the national legal honorary.  His primary legal practice is in Clayton, but he also was counsel for five years with the St. Louis office of the national firm formed by Johnnie Cochran, Jr.  Burt has done considerable pro bono work, including arguing in the Missouri Supreme Court on the unconstitutionality of voter identification legislation, which was struck down.  He has been involved with many other constitutional issues, in cases ultimately decided in the United States Supreme Court, and with a case in which his client, a female attorney, claimed and won a sex discrimination suit against all 21 Circuit Court judges in St. Louis County.  Burt, among other professional activities, was General Council for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri for five years, has been admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, has attained a “preeminent rating,” the highest awarded by the international lawyer directory, is on the Board of Directors of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, is an Adjunct Professor at Washington University Law School, and in 2003 was named Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers Weekly Magazine.  Burt and his wife, Stacey, who is the elected State Representative for Clayton, Richmond Heights, and Maplewood, have a daughter, Sophie, who will graduate from Clayton this year.  Burt also has a son from a previous marriage.  In 2010, Drew and his wife, Margo, blessed Burt with a granddaughter, Maya.  Burt and Stacey have traveled extensively, taking advantage of Stacey being a former TWA employee.  He is an avid photographer and at one time had a gallery in Clayton.  The Missouri Bar Association has begun to use Burt’s photographs of Missouri country courthouses on the cover of their monthly magazine.  Burt also loves to read novels, ride his bicycle, and watch sports—he is a true Mizzou football and basketball fan, regularly traveling to both home and away games, tournaments, and bowl games.

Featured Classmate:  Neal Handler

        

Neal Handler attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, was accepted to dental school after finishing three years, and went to Washington University where he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery.  Neal served two years in the Air Force, during which he was stationed in Kansas and in Guam.  He continued to serve in the Missouri Air National Guard as an active member from 1976 through 1998.  Neal followed in his father’s footprints to build a dental practice from which he retired after thirty years.  Since then, he has been involved with real estate sales in the St. Louis area.  Neal was married to Lucy for 20 years and has been divorced from Lucy for 20 years—they are still friends, and when Neal called her to wish her a happy 40th anniversary, she told him he was crazy.  Neal has three children.  Rachael has a 13-year old son, Noah, and lives in the St. Louis area.  Eunice, who also lives in the St. Louis area, has two-year-old twins, Everette and Norah.  Zachary is single and lives in Boston.  As the children were growing up, Neal was involved in the Parkway School District’s Citizens Advisory Council and chaired their Committee on Student Success.  While he used to play a lot of sports, Neal says he is too out of shape now, but enjoys playing golf.  He feels he has been lucky in life—as he says, “I’ve only served one day in jail, and so far I’ve managed to get out of all of the trouble I’ve been in.”  Maybe Lucy is right.

Featured Classmate: Cheryl Robin Goldenberg

        

For some time, Cheryl Robin Goldenberg and her husband Ed lived cross country, spending part of each year in St. Louis and the other part in Las Vegas.  They have recently taken up permanent residence in Las Vegas.  Cheryl and Ed, who before he retired co-owned and was the Chief Financial Officer for a St. Louis construction company, have been married for 43 years.  They have two married daughters who have given them four grandchildren.  Stacey lives in Denver with her husband and two children, Sydney (5 years old) and Charlie (3).  Jamie lives in Chicago with her husband, who is classmate Sandy Cytron Komen’s son, and two sons, Max (5) and Sammy (4).  Cheryl reports that the grandchildren keep her “young and active.”  Cheryl attended the University of Missouri at Columbia and worked part-time at a religious preschool for many years.  She finds it very rewarding to volunteer two days a week at a local hospital in Las Vegas.  In her spare time, Cheryl enjoys reading, especially biographies and mysteries, exercising, going to the movies, and traveling, which she has done extensively.  Cheryl and Ed have visited several islands in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Canada, Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, Russia, and Asia.  Her message to classmates is that she hopes everyone is happy and healthy as is she.

Featured Classmate:  Mike Rubin

        

Mike Rubin began his college program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis when it was a two-year school with the intent of finishing at Mizzou.  Each year, UMSL added another year’s curriculum, allowing Mike to earn his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in four years without transferring.  His graduate studies spanned more time, beginning in technology management at Washington University, deciding to switch to an MBA program at Maryville University, completing course work at Santa Clara University, then transferring the hours back to Maryville, who awarded Mike his MBA in 1991.  Just after his UMSL graduation, Mike ran into classmate Deann Zvibleman at a party.  Deann had just completed her BFA in Design at Kansas.  A pizza date was all it took—they were married in June 1971.  Mike first worked for the Department of Defense, programming IBM mainframe computers in St. Louis.  He then worked for McDonnell Douglas doing database software engineering and was soon asked to manage the data base engineering team.  Since then, he has been managing IT organizations and projects for many companies, including MasterCard, Nestle, Thomson Reuters and now, Charter Communications.  His career highlight was being Senior VP at Fidelity Investments, managing 200 people in eight cities and supporting 18,000 customers.  His work has taken him to the Netherlands and Sweden, and Mike and Deann have lived in Silicon Valley, Dallas, and Boston.  They are back in St. Louis, living in the Central West End.  When living in Boston, Mike discovered the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America.  When he moved back to St. Louis, he joined the then-reigning international champions, the Ambassadors of Harmony, who won the championship again in 2009.  Mike attends Concours d’Elegance auto shows every chance he gets, still enjoying the lure of a distinctive car, and takes artistic photographs of cars to combine his car and photography pastimes.  He also uses the photographs as trompe l’oeil (a style of painting in which objects are depicted with photographically realistic detail) exercises.

Featured Classmate:  Mark Tucker

        

Mark Tucker has had a diverse work and retirement life.  He earned his Bachelor’s in Political Science from Washington University and attended Northwestern University’s Graduate School of Journalism.  His first two jobs were in journalism, first for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, where he was a reporter, investigating frauds in the 1968-69 City elections.  Mark was then a reporter and news editor for KMOX-CBS radio, covering crime, politics, and the courts.  In between those two jobs, Mark was an Intelligence Officer in the Army, spending one year as an analyst in the U.S. and another in Vietnam interrogating Viet Cong/North Vietnamese prisoners, during which time he earned two Bronze Stars for meritorious service.  Mark left KMOX to work for Maritz Inc. and did so for 30 years.  During that time, Mark wrote and produced films, videos, and live theater performances for corporate clients.  As he progressed with Maritz, he headed up the company’s large creative and production operations, he started up and then ran a new company dealing with corporate training, and then was promoted to Corporate Vice-President and Director of Operations. Mark has been married to Jane (Clayton grad) for 34 years—Jane volunteers at Children’s Hospital, Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis Art Museum, and Temple Israel.  They have two children.  Jenny, a former television producer, is now a full-time mother of two, Sam (2) and Tucker (going on 1).  Her husband, Zach Abeles, is an attorney.  Their son, Jeff, is also an attorney, working for the Bryan Cave firm.  In retirement, Mark was appointed by Governor Holden to be the Public Member of the Missouri Board of Healing Arts. He served a five-year term, including two years as Board President.  He also served as an advisor at Washington U’s Career Center and taught Public Speaking at the university for seven years.  He has taken up golf in retirement and has currently an 11 handicap.  Mark and Jane travel extensively; China, South America, South Pacific, Europe and the Middle East; something he also did when working.  He also enjoys reading and chasing his grandchildren around.

Featured Classmate:  Lisa Rosen

        

At age 14, Lisa Rosen read Sinclair Lewis’s Ann Vickers, about an enlightened woman who ran a prison.  The book made corrections sound interesting and influenced Lisa’s professional life.  Lisa spent a year at The Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa before earning her BA in Psychology from Cal State-Long Beach, after which she went to work for the LA County Probation Department, working with dependant and abused children.  She was promoted and began supervising offenders, working in a unit with ex-priests and ministers.  Lisa transferred to Orange County Probation, working in Juvenile Hall and in Juvenile and Adult Supervision.  During her tenure there, Lisa earned her Master’s in Criminal Justice from Long Beach.  She retired from full-time work in 2003 and has been working part-time in probation and for her sons businesses since then.  She would love to have the time to write about her criminal justice experiences.  Lisa and her husband, Douglas Korthof, have two sons.  Ed married Ikuko in Tokyo—they live in San Francisco, have two children, Hannah (3) and Kei (1), and speak Japanese at home, a language Lisa has not yet learned.  Bill is an electrical and solar contractor, running several businesses, and engaging in environmental actions.  Lisa and Douglas have a shared passion for environmental issues, including operating a fleet of electric cars.  Lisa is doing well physically, despite having to overcome multiple surgeries, some to repair both shoulders that were dislocated in a boating accident and some after being hit by a car, shattering her leg.  Yoga has helped when physical therapy could not.  Although Lisa loves to be home in Seal Beach, California with a good book and her garden, where she grows a fair amount of food, she traveled to Israel twice to visit her parents who were living there, to the Czech Republic to visit the family of a student they had hosted, to Mexico to visit friends who ran a language institute, and to Italy to travel with a landscape architecture class.  Lisa became a vegan in 2005. She loves to cook and does so for seniors at her temple and at a coop.

Featured Classmate:  Alan Ziglin

        

Alan Ziglin is Papa Z.  He earned his Bachelor’s in Business/Accounting from Mizzou and started his career in a big eight accounting firm.  He soon left public accounting to become a controller and eventually Vice President/Chief Financial Officer for a screen printing company, Diversified Graphics, in St. Louis.  In 1990, Alan joined Fiberlok, Inc. and continues as their CFO.  The company uses patent-protected technology that prints with fibers instead of ink and sells to global companies like Nike, Under Armour, UPS, and Motorola with products used by the NFL, MLB, MLS, and soccer clubs worldwide.  Alan and his company also work with museums around the world to license reproductions from their collection for “MouseRug” computer mouse pads with fringes printed with different rug patterns.  When the company moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado in 1991, so did Alan, and although he still thinks of St. Louis as home and visits several times each year, he does not regret the move.  He and his wife of 23 years, Peggy (Parkway ’73), take full advantage of the area.  Alan plays golf virtually year round, and Peggy and he work out almost every day.  Alan has volunteered with his technical trade association, including being on the Board of Directors and an officer, prompting a number of speaking engagements at trade shows.  Alan is proud of Peggy, who is the Fashion Advisor and Regional Public Relations & Tourism Director for the Outlets of Colorado and who is frequently on TV in the area.  Peggy was honored this year at the Governors conference for her contributions to state tourism.  He is also proud of his two children from a previous marriage.  Ben lives in Washington, Missouri and owns “Ziglin Signs,” and Stephanie, who graduated from St. Louis University, settled in Fort Collins, where she is a Physician’s Assistant.  Ben, Stephanie, and their spouses have given Alan five grandchildren, with one on the way.  With everything else Alan is thankful for in his life, he says, “my biggest joy now is time with my grandchildren – and I have grown to love my new name – Papa Z.”

Featured Classmate:  Herb Lugger

        

Herb Lugger and his wife, Terry (Eisenberg, U City ’65), moved frequently to follow his career and now live in Aliso Viejo (Orange County), California.  Herb earned his Bachelor of Journalism degree from Mizzou.  After a couple of sales jobs in St. Louis, Herb began working for the Chrysler Corporation, from which he retired in 2001—his first, but not last, retirement.  At Chrysler, Herb held a number of sales management positions in Springfield, Illinois, Detroit, Portland, Los Angeles, and St. Louis (twice).  Herb reports that after “driving Terry crazy for a few months” after his retirement from Chrysler, he went back to work, opening a Customer Development Center for a car dealer in St. Louis.  In 2003, they moved back to California where Herb worked for a dealership in Long Beach as a fleet manager.  He retired again, but was recently recruited by a Mercedes dealership and is back at work.  Through their 42 years of marriage, Herb and Terry have had three children and five grandchildren.  Scott and his family live in Hillsboro, Oregon, Jodi and her family live in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, and Jamie lives in LA.  All are close enough to ensure Herb and Terry are deeply involved with their grandchildren.  Herb is a voracious reader, enjoys but has “never mastered” golf, and used to play a lot of softball.  He follows and roots for the Cardinals, Rams, and Blues as well as Mizzou and, outside his St. Louis connection, the Oregon Ducks.  He also ensures he gets to the gym four days each week.  Herb has belonged to and been on the Board of Directors of the Execs of Long Beach and belonged to the Signal Hill, California Chamber of Commerce.  Herb and Terry have been to Europe three times, enjoyed trips to Puerto Vallarta and San Juan, have been on two cruises, and have made several trips to Hawaii.  They also enjoy staying connected with classmates and have gotten together several times with the Southern California U City ’64 contingent.  This coming May, they will be back in St. Louis for a family event.

Featured Classmate:  Don Singer

        

Don Singer graduated from Pattonville High School, but will forever be a U City ’64 classmate.  In the summer of 1963, Don went on month-long youth conclave and returned to find his parents had moved out of U City.  Don attended Mizzou and was active in campus politics. As an elected student officer, he required campus organizations to drive race and religious discrimination from their charters.  Later he dealt with the turmoil of academic freedom in the backdrop of the Vietnam War.  He was also one of two students on a university committee of 30 faculty members that adjudicated a free speech issue that went to the US Supreme Court.  During law school at Mizzou, Don clerked at Boone County's Public Defenders Office and for the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office.  More importantly, while in law school, Don met Joanne, his wife of now 38 years.  Don opened his own practice, and during his career, he has focused on families and their concerns.  He has also worked with the Nader Center for Auto Safety, was a lobbyist for Common Cause, and was invited to testify before a House Committee on Product Liability Reform.  Don suffered a stroke in 2000.  Advised to leave the litigation area, he returned to law school earning a Masters of Law in Taxation from Washington University.  Don has restricted his practice to the areas of Trusts, Asset Protection, and Estate Planning in which he has a multistate clientele.  Don and Joanne have four children: Elizabeth is the education outreach director for St. Louis Jewish Family and Children’s Services; Matt practices law in St. Louis and has a daughter; David began and runs an office furniture and equipment business (partially owned by Joanne, who has been named by the St. Louis Business Monthly as one of the top ten women business owners in the area); and John is a senior at Mizzou looking forward to a clinical psychology career.  Don’s hobbies are folk guitar, mentoring startup businesses and dabbling in real estate, and he is active at Shaare Zedek Synagogue.  Don considers U City ’64 as his class, and we are glad of it.

Featured Classmate:  Susie Schechter
In Memoriam

        

Susie Schechter earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois in Chicago.  She built a career in which her capability, compassion, and tireless efforts led to many meaningful contributions to the cause of ending violence against women and children.  Susie was widely recognized for her program development, expertise, and writing.  She founded the first program in the country to address child abuse in families that were also affected by partner violence and called it AWAKE, Advocacy for Women & Kids in Emergencies.  The program is still active at Children’s Hospital in Boston as well as having been implemented in other states.  During President Clinton’s administration, Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala appointed Susie to the National Council on Violence Against Women.  Susie wrote two respected books, Women and Male Violence: The Visions and Struggles of the Battered Women’s Movement and When Love Goes Wrong (co-authored with Ann Jones).  She also co-authored Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice (known as the “Greenbook”).  It provides a roadmap for child abuse and domestic violence professionals throughout the country who develop programs that serve children and their mothers.  Susie joined the University of Iowa faculty in 1991 as Clinical Professor in the School of Social Work.  She lived in Iowa City with her husband, Allen Steinberg, Professor of History at Iowa, and their son, Zachary.  In 2002, the University of Iowa, as part of its Celebration of Excellence Among Women, chose Susie to receive its Distinguished Achievement Award.  In 2003, Susie received the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administration Award for Leadership, given to the person who best serves as a national leader to help child welfare agencies improve outcomes for children and their families.  When Susie passed away from cancer in 2004, the Family Violence and Prevention Fund established the Susan Schechter Leadership Development Fellowship to “honor the rich history of dedication, ingenuity, and compassion that are the hallmarks of the movement to end violence against women and children.”  A fitting legacy.

Featured Classmate:  Jane Rathert Kley

        

Jane Rathert Kley—performer, artist, humorist, and grandmother.  Jane’s mother and father were both professional pianists, and Jane first performed on stage when she was five at the Alhambra Grotto in St. Louis.  She performed through high school and continues to do so today.  Jane graduated with honors from Washington University with a Bachelor’s in Graphic Communications.  Over the years, she has won four national art awards and one international art award.  Jane currently lives in Hermann, Missouri—at one time she lived in Little Jo, Arkansas with Native Americans while researching The Complete Book of Natural Shamanism by Robert Titus, which she illustrated.  Jane’s artwork has also been published in a variety of magazines, newspapers, and periodicals.  She is retired, thereby reducing her previous profession to a hobby, but it still brings her a great deal of pleasure.  Jane was voted the funniest senior girl and has retained her wonderful sense of humor.  When asked to be a Featured Classmate, Jane’s response was, “Once I am a featured classmate, what are my responsibilities?  Sign autographs?  Receive emails?  Issue loans?”  Jane has one son, Paul, who with Jane’s “wonderful daughter-in-law,” Amie, has given Jane two granddaughters, Kara and Ashley.  Jane’s companions are Bitsy, a Yorkshire Terrier, and six caged birds.  Jane once wrote that an instructor of hers used to say, “When you see something in your artwork that doesn’t seem right, don’t respond by saying, ‘Oh well, good enough!’  Instead, listen to that little voice that says ‘not good enough!’ and change it.”  Jane adds, “So if your little voice says, “That doesn’t look right,” your obligation is to take the time to make it right.”  Jane Rathert Kley—pianist, artist, humorist, and grandmother—and insightful.

Featured Classmate:  Debby Poore Storch
In Memoriam

        
      

                     

When Debby Poore Storch passed away in September 2006, she left behind a loving and close-knit family, a broad circle of friends, a profound connection with Harvard University, and a legacy of community activity.  Debby graduated from Mizzou with a degree in education, which led to a teaching career, early in which she was teaching second graders in a poor area outside of Boston.  Debby attended summer school at Harvard, where she met Harvard graduate Greg Storch, her husband-to-be.  They began married life in New York where Greg attended NYU Medical School.  They moved to St. Louis, where Greg did his internship and residency at Jewish Hospital.  The family stayed in St. Louis, and Greg is now on staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.  From 1972 through 1981, Debby and Greg had four children, Rachel, Nate, Emily, and Thomas.  While the children were growing, Debby was a full-time mother and homemaker, becoming a master of motherhood and culinary arts.  As the children left the nest, all to earn degrees from Harvard, Debby partnered with her two sisters in a family business, “Clothes Quarters,” a unique women’s clothing boutique that was founded by Debby’s mother.  Debby proved to be a super sales person and astute businesswoman.  While working, Debby was on the Board of Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Synagogue and Cemetery, was a member of the Advisory Board of Friends of Music at Washington University, and was very active in the community in a number of other ways.  Her extended family, her friends, and her classmates miss her.

 

Featured Classmate:  Sallie Cohn Craig

        

Sallie Cohn Craig worked as a dental assistant for several years after high school.  She also got married, had a daughter, and subsequently divorced.  Sally then moved to live with a cousin in Boston, where she taught “four handed dentistry” to dental students at Tufts while on a waiting list for the Dental Hygiene program at Forest Park Community College, from which she earned her Associates Degree.  Sallie then worked while attending UMSL and the UMKC dental school, where she earned her BS in Vocational Education.  While in Kansas City, Sallie began a 36-year dental hygiene career from which she retired last year.  She spent ten years in Decatur, Illinois before returning to St. Louis where she met her current husband, Lowell, who is a corporate pilot for the CEO of GAP.  A job opportunity for Lowell moved the family to Minden, Nevada, where they live today.  Sallie’s daughter, Amy, and Lowell’s two sons have given them seven grandchildren from the age of 16 down to twins less then one.  Sallie’s daughter is a freelance PR person and writes frequently in the weekend St. Louis Post-Dispatch Style Section.  Sallie and Lowell frequently visit their children and grandchildren in Texas, California, and St. Louis.  Sallie’s hobbies include throwing pottery, gardening, biking, hiking, gourmet cooking, and trying to learn jazz harmonica.  Since retiring, Sallie spends a lot of time as a senior companion through her local senior center and also volunteers for Hospice.  At one time, she owned a paint-your-own-pottery business, but let that go when she found herself spread too thin.  While she has traveled extensively, Sallie loves staying home and enjoying the beautiful scenery with Lake Tahoe in her backyard.  She particularly likes the small town lifestyle, the nearby Sierra Mountains, and the ranches and open space in the area.

Featured Classmates:  Nancy Rosenberg and Morrie Mayer

                

Nancy Rosenberg and Morrie Mayer were friends in high school, dated in college, and have now been married for 42 years.  Nancy and Morrie have lived in The Woodlands, Texas for almost 20 years; before that living in Kansas City, Terre Haute, and Green Bay.  Their time in Green Bay turned them into lifelong Green Bay Packers fans, and they will support Bret Favre forever.  Nancy and Morrie have two children.  Rikki is a University of Wisconsin graduate and teaches Special Education in Middle School.  She is married and has two children.  Harrison graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Business degree and is a District Manager for a snack food company.  He is married and has three children.  Both families and, therefore, all five grandchildren live in the Houston area.  Nancy and Morrie’s greatest enjoyment is anything having to do with the children and grandchildren.  Nancy, however, finds time to enjoy home decorating and fashion styling.  Until retiring in 2010, Nancy worked as a pharmaceutical technician and now works as the office administrator in Morrie’s video business.  Morrie earned is BS in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and his MBA at Indiana State University.  He has also completed postgraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin and Vanderbilt University.  He has executive level marketing and operations experience with Western Electric Company, General Housewares Corp., and W. R. Grace & Co., as well as a number of mid-sized businesses.  He is currently President and Founder of “Bytes of Life Studios,” a video and digital media production company that provides video production, creative editing, motion graphics, and streaming web video.  Morrie produced the marvelous video that was presented at our 40^th reunion and given to everyone as gifts.  He is an author, public speaker, and patent holder; volunteers his time with a number of not-for-profits and is on the Board of Directors of the Magnolia Area Chamber of Commerce; and is interested in photography, golf, and physical fitness (although he is currently rehabbing a double knee replacement).  Nancy and Morrie have traveled extensively throughout the US and abroad, both for pleasure and for business.  Nancy and Morrie Mayer—sweethearts in the 60s and sweethearts in their 60s.

Featured Classmate:  Alan Spetner

        

Alan Spetner began his college experience at the University of Colorado, but earned his BS in Business Administration from UMSL.  In between, he “majored in drinking,” took safe haven with the hippies in Boulder, protested the Vietnam War by chaining himself to a gate on campus where he was cut loose and arrested by the police, and developed his life philosophy—“Keep a clean nose, watch for plain clothes, and you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”  Alan was drafted in 1969 and trained as an operating room technician.  Expecting to go to Vietnam, Alan asked Helene Kaplan (U City ’68) to marry him.  They have been married for over 40 years, and he never went to Vietnam.    Alan and Helene have two children.  Amy is married and has given them two grandchildren, Lilly and Caleb.  Rob is a computer networking and web expert.  Alan began a small business printing bowling shirts for the St. Louis area that has grown into a full-fledged screen printing and embroidery business.  BowlingShirt.com is now a digital business which is located in University City.  His next project is to develop a world tour of his 3000-piece early 1960s rock and roll art collection.  Alan loves fishing and hiking with classmate, best friend, and fellow Eagle scout, Dr. Ralph Orlovick.  He has become an avid golfer, playing with classmates Neil Davis and Marc Tenzer.  Alan served two years as President of Shaare Zedek Synagogue—his grandchildren are sixth-generation congregants.  His rebellious nature resurfaced in the early 70s when he led a fan rebellion against the St. Louis football Cardinals.  The “Shuffle the Cards” campaign was covered nationwide, and Alan was interviewed on numerous TV shows.  Alan is very laid back, is glad that Helene puts up with all of his imperfections, and is proud of his recent home renovation during which they did “many crazy things.”  Alan would be glad to show you around.

Featured Classmate:  William Poe

        

Bill Poe has worked for only one company his entire career; working for Walgreens for over three decades.  He graduated from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, worked as a Registered Pharmacist and in management, but most of the time as a Pharmacy Supervisor.  At one time in his career, Bill was responsible for Walgreens stores in three Midwest states.  He has also been an Adjunct Clinical Instructor at the College of Pharmacy, giving classes in Chain Store Pharmacy and placing college students in training assignments.  A highlight of Bill’s career occurred during the 1980s, when the Governor of Missouri appointed him to a four-year term on the State Board of Health.  He has been active in local and state Pharmacy associations, having chaired numerous committees and being given the State Pharmacy Association President’s Award for Pharmacist of the Year.  All that being said, Bill’s greatest joy comes from his family and his faith.  Bill lives in St. Louis with his wife, Sylvia, and until four years ago, the apple of his eye was his daughter, Stephanie, who is a real estate attorney.  Stephanie married and four years ago gave Bill and Sylvia their first granddaughter, Sophie.  Lila followed two years later, and the two granddaughters compete with Stephanie and Sylvia for Bill’s attention.  For the last two decades, Bill has become religiously more observant and moved back to University City so he could walk to synagogue on the Sabbath and holidays and be close enough to attend services twice daily.  He has been President and a Board member of his shul, is very involved in the Jewish community, and was awarded Volunteer of the Year by Aish HaTorah this past year.  When Bill has time, he enjoys going to the theater, walking with his wife and puppy, travelling (especially to Israel), and reading.

Featured Classmate:  Becky Pearl Cohen

        

Becky Pearl Cohen earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Speech Pathology/Audiology from Mizzou.  Her teaching career took her to St. Louis and Boulder—she has taught grades one through three in many different kinds of classroom settings; was a special education substitute teacher; taught English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) to Kindergarten through fifth grade, helping students from 11 different countries; and tutored adults in ESL.  Recently, Becky opted for a change of pace, moving from Boulder to Denver with her husband, Nissan, and changing careers to be an office administrator for seven attorneys.  Becky’s performance skills and creativity have always been a part of her life.  While living in rural Missouri, she performed on stage as a singer and actress in various productions, including taking second place in a vocal competition in Branson, Missouri.  She also opened a licensed daycare center in Missouri that is still in existence today.  She orchestrated fundraisers, including a fashion show that benefitted a shelter for unwed mothers and community auctions for Jewish organizations.  To fill her little spare time, Becky also became a certified make-up artist and color analyst.  She is proud of her children—her daughter, Eve, lives with her husband in Brooklyn and made Becky a grandmother for the first time in July, when Tava Rose was born.  Becky taught Eve to make beaded jewelry, and Eve now has a line of original jewelry.  Becky’s son, Rob, lives in Los Angeles and is a film and television music composer, having written most of the original score of 500 Days of Summer, and has worked on other films.  She also has a stepdaughter studying international law and a stepson studying business development, both in Denver.  Becky is busy working full time, singing at fundraisers, designing and creating one-of-a-kind jewelry, writing song lyrics, and considering taking on the writing of a novel or a “how-to” book about elder care, describing what she learned during the last five years of her mother’s life, which were spent with Becky in Colorado.  She also loves yoga, dancing, cooking and entertaining, home decorating using Feng Shui, and the world of alternative health care.

Featured Classmate:  Tom Norman

        

Tom Norman has had and is still having diverse life experiences.  He earned is BS in Electrical Engineering from Mizzou and moved to San Francisco, where he did engineering work at both the San Francisco Naval Bay and the Mare Island Naval Shipyards.  Tom’s life then headed in two new directions.  Over the course of the next eight years, he involved himself in the Peace Corps and in filmmaking.  Tom was a Peace Corps Volunteer math/science teacher in Nepal and later returned to that country to be a course developer and teacher trainer for Peace Corps Volunteers.  In between these two stints, Tom attended the Chicago Community Film workshop, became an instructor there a year later, and went on to several film projects, including writing, directing, co-producing, and editing an educational film for Down’s Syndrome girls.  In the midst of all of that, Tom also founded Norman Brokerage Company, which he continues to operate today as its president.  In the mid-80s, Tom also became a property rehabber and landlord in St. Louis and Kansas City, training and employing inner-city unskilled and semi-skilled labor.  Tom’s current interests are as diverse has his work history.  He is a lifelong learner with a focus on metaphysics, philosophy, and comparative study of religions.  He is also an option trader, an Introduction Leader for Landmark Forum, and a student of Anthroposophy, a spiritual philosophy founded by Rudolph Steiner.  Tom has traveled extensively—he has been to every country in Europe, except Greece, and to Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.  Perhaps his greatest passion, other than his “beautiful, exotic, artistic, and perfect” wife, is his study and thought development of the Human Economy, about which he is writing a book that he intends to appeal to those across the political spectrum.

Featured Classmate:  Carol Haseltine Bergman

        

Carol Haseltine Bergman built a family, stayed close to athletics, and went on a quest.  Carol and her husband, Ira, a C.P.A from the University City class of 1965, have been married for 41 years and live in St. Louis.  Carol and Ira have three daughters.  Dawn is a social worker living in St. Louis and is engaged to be married.  Kim, who also lives in St. Louis, is a firefighter/paramedic, as is her husband.  They have given Carol three grandchildren, Kali (15), Luke (12), and Payton (2).  Carol frequently helps take care of her St. Louis grandchildren.   Cindy and her husband, who is a History Research Archivist, live in New Mexico and have two children, Chris (5) and Hailey (3).  Carol was active in the PTA as her daughters were growing up.  Carol is now retired, but during her career, stayed close to athletics.  She worked at both the Creve Coeur golf course/ice skating facility and at bowling alleys.  She also continued to play sports until injuries interceded.  Carol has been a longtime bowler, frequently participating in two leagues at once and winning an occasional tournament.  She was also an active ice skater until an injury caused her to stop.  She played softball until recently when another injury occurred.  At one time, Carol was on the Advisory Board of the Illusions Softball Association, associated with girls fast-pitch softball.  In more recent years, Carol took up golf.  She enjoys knitting, working on plastic canvas projects in her spare time, and making the occasional visit to the local casino to play Keno.  Carol also plays the lottery and recently hit a $200,000 jackpot.  Carol was adopted as a baby—at age 31, she searched for and was able to locate and meet her biological mother.  A few years later, she found and met her biological father.  Carol found the search and meetings great experiences and very interesting.

Featured Classmate:  Aaron Shatzman

        

Aaron Shatzman stays mentally and physically fit.  Aaron earned his Bachelor’s from Washington University (Phi Beta Kappa), then his Master’s and PhD in American History from Stanford University.  Aaron’s career has been in academic administration.  He began as an Assistant Dean at Washington University’s College of Arts and Sciences, held other Assistant Dean positions as Washington U, was the Program and Associate Director of Hillel at the Atlanta Hillel Foundation, and became Associate Dean and then Dean of Student Programs at Franklin & Marshall College.  Aaron then became Dean at Hobart College and is currently Dean of Social Sciences at Montgomery County Community College.  Over his long academic career, Aaron is widely published and has received numerous honors and awards.  His publications include Servants into Planters, a book about seventeenth century South Carolina, and articles on topics ranging from Early American History to Postwar European Art to Undergraduate Education.  Two of his articles have been anthologized: “The Sound of Minimalism: Philip Glass in Concert and on Record,” was originally published in Fanfare and “When Learning Hurts” is one of the essays included in the Blair Reader, a widely used college text.   He lives with his wife, Karen, a pediatrician who works for Johnson & Johnson, in Ambler, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia.  They have two children.  Aliza is a sophomore at Williams College.  Ben is a junior at Upper Dublin High School.  In 1981, Aaron began to run each day and has not missed a day in almost 29 years, logging over 55,000 miles.  He has been a competitive triathlete, having won a number of age-group races in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.  Aaron, who played #1 on U City’s golf team, took up golf again to spend more time with his daughter, who had become involved in the sport.  Aaron has had his handicap down to 5, has had three holes-in-one, and recently shot a 72 at a local tournament.  Aliza’s handicap has been as low as 2.  Since 1975, Aaron has been collecting postwar European art, specifically the CoBrA (Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam) artists.

Featured Classmate:  Phyllis Zweig Serfaty

        

Phyllis Zweig Serfaty lives in Forest Hills, New York with her husband, Abraham.  They met at the Washington University Hillel while she was an undergraduate and he was pursuing a Ph.D. in economics.  They were married in 1968, and moved to New York.  Phyllis earned her Bachelor’s at Washington U, her MA from Hunter College in New York, and in 2005, her MS in Education from Baruch College.  Phyllis began her research career as a laboratory technician and became a senior electron microscopist.  After she had her children, Phyllis switched to a teaching career, both at the college and high school levels.  She taught at The Spence School, an elite private girls school, and at colleges of both the City University and the State University of New York.  Over the past decade, Phyllis has coached high school students and teams to more than 30 awards in science and engineering competitions.  She is semi-retired and does consulting in the area of science research.  Phyllis and Abraham have two children.  Leon is a risk officer for a hedge fund, is married, lives in Connecticut, and has two boys, ages five and two.  Claire lives in Israel, teaches English as a second language in high school, is married and has two boys (eight and two) and a girl (five).  Phyllis views her grandchildren as her “greatest joy.”  Phyllis is on the Boards of the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair and the Research Association Foundation.  She loves to ice skate, knit, sew, and travel.  She and Abraham, whose siblings live on four continents, have traveled extensively— Europe, Spanish North Africa, Hawaii, South America, the Caribbean as well as throughout Canada and the US.  Phyllis tries to visit with classmates on her travels and looks forward to those coming to New York to get in touch.

Featured Classmate:  Mike Muccigrosso
In Memoriam

        Mike and Lisa

Mike Muccigrosso was a great man who served his country and his family.  Mike enlisted in the Navy right after graduating from University City and served for seven years, five of which were aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, including tours of duty to the Mediterranean.  Mike returned to St. Louis to attend two years at Bailey Technical Institute and then worked in St. Louis and Effingham, Illinois.  In 1980, Mike married Kristi in Wausau, Wisconsin and moved there.  Mike and Kristi had a daughter, Lisa.  He owned and operated Mike’s Auto Accessories, and in his spare time, enjoyed reading, computers, and radio-controlled planes.  Mike was the President of the Wisconsin Giant Aerosquadron Radio-Controlled Airplane Club.  He was also a fan and rider of recumbent bicycles.  Mike sold his business in 1995 when he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in April, 2000.  Mike’s brother-in-law wrote the following:  “My brother-in-law died recently.  His name is John Muccigrosso, but everyone knew him as Mike.  There will not be a large state funeral for him, so I guess he was not a great man.  Mike was a good and decent man.  He loved his family and was loyal to his friends.  He owned a business for many years and worked very hard.  Mike was honest and trustworthy.  He served his country.  He paid his bills and he paid his taxes.  Before he died, Mike was very sick for a long time.  Throughout his illness, I never knew a person who suffered so much and yet complained so little.  On second thought, maybe he was a great man.”

Featured Classmate:  Janet Lever

        

Janet Lever lives in Hollywood during the week to be close to Cal State Los Angeles, where she is Professor of Sociology; weekends find her sharing a mobile home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in sociology at Washington University, Janet went to Yale for her Ph.D. in sociology. As graduate students, she and Pepper Schwartz wrote Women at Yale, a book documenting the first year of coeducation after Yale’s 257-year all-male tradition. Later, after Janet co-hosted a 1980s Playboy Channel show and collaborated again with Schwartz in the 1990s on Glamour magazine’s “Sex and Health” column, they published The Great Sex Weekend: A 48-Hour Guide to Rekindling Sparks for Bold, Busy, or Bored Lovers, and are currently revising it for a second edition. Janet’s third book, Soccer Madness--about Brazil’s and the world’s passion for “the beautiful game”-- has been in print since 1983 in several languages.  Janet initially became intrigued with fanaticism about soccer when she got a job in London, England in 1966, the only year England ever won the World Cup.  Soon after, Janet joined a student-exchange program in Southern Brazil for which she needed to write a paper—she wrote about soccer’s being a route to upward mobility for its players.  The paper was published and led to a Ford Foundation grant to research soccer fandom and to Janet’s living in Brazil for a year in 1973.  Janet returned to Brazil in September for the first time since then to help the matriarch of the family with whom she stayed over four decades ago celebrate her 80^th birthday.  Janet never married or had children (no dogs or cats either, and just one surviving plant), but loves her three god-daughters and their children. She enjoys films, rock concerts, and exploring the array of ethnic restaurants in L.A. In addition to teaching, Janet writes and analyzes annual surveys about sex and gender for ELLE and msnbc.com. She hopes in upcoming retirement years to work less and have more fun with friends, old and new.

Featured Classmate:  Susanne Light

        

Susanne Light lives in San Rafael, California with her husband, Bob, who she met in 1989 after a divorce and 15 years of dating.  Susanne and Bob were engaged after five dates and married five months after meeting, making Susanne step-mother to two teenagers.  Emily is now 35 and was married over Labor Day.  Stacy is 39 and mother of seven-year-old Colton.  Susanne and Bob also have a 20-year-old son, Justin, who attends the University of Oregon.  Susanne earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University.  She has lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Denver, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland.  On the West Coast, she focused on exploring the arts, took dancing and acting classes, and discovered a passion for the theater.  While attending graduate school in Sacramento, Susanne performed in local plays.  She earned her Master’s in Social Work, got her license, and began a private practice, which she continues to love.  More recently, she became a certified life coach and now wears both hats.  Bob, a professor and researcher at UCSF, took a sabbatical in France in 1995—Justin attended a bi-lingual pre-school and Susanne studied French at the Alliance Francaise.  Since then, Susanne and Bob have continued to travel, having been to Greece, much of Europe, the Galapagos Islands, Machu Pichu, Zimbabwe on a safari, Mexico, Canada, Bora Bora, Bali and many of the Caribbean Islands.  They are regular theater, ballet, and symphony goers, and Susanne has returned to acting, recently performing in a one-act comedy.  She enjoys her book group of 11 years, loves cooking, studies Ikebana flower arranging, volunteers at Image for Success as a personal shopper for clients with limited funds.  Mostly, Susanne appreciates her wonderful family and friends.

Featured Classmate:  Judy Garber Ellsley

        

Judy Garber Ellsley and her husband, Jack, live in Davie, Florida.  Judy attended Florissant Valley Junior College and Mizzou before earning her degree in education from UMSL.  While completing her degree, she was a teacher’s aide at Daniel Boone and Blackberry Lane Elementary Schools, both which she had attended.  After graduation from UMSL, she taught second grade at McKelvey School in the Parkway District for 18 months before Jack was transferred to Columbus, Ohio, where they lived for 14 years.  Judy taught in Columbus until their son, Rick, and then their daughter, Stephanie Alise, were born.  Judy was a substitute teacher as the children were growing up.  While in Columbus, she was also president of her Women’s American ORT chapter and helped Jack with his job selling women’s clothing.  Judy and her family decided to move to warmer weather in 1985 and settled in Davie, where Judy has taught both kindergarten and second grade.  She plans to retire in two to three years and looks forward to continuing working with young children, her passion, by becoming a part-time roving pre-school teacher.  Judy spends most of her free time with her grandchildren, three-year old Nathan and15-month old Caroline.  Her 12 year-old granddaughter, Summer, recently moved to Jacksonville, and Judy and Jack plan to visit as often as possible.  Judy also plays mah-jongg, loves going to the beach, and Jack and she love dancing to the oldies and disco. Judy is a fan of the Dolphins, Heat, Marlins, and Panthers, and she still roots for the Cardinals. Judy visits her sister, Mitzi, in St. Louis every year and she has traveled to Hawaii and Las Vegas, her favorite vacation spots,  The Ellsleys were part of the U City ’64 Davie, Florida mini-reunion several years ago, which included Karen Paulsen Bauch and her husband, Dick, from Winnepeg, Barb Glick Koch, who drove in from West Palm Beach, Alan Spector and his wife, Ann, from Cincinnati (at the time), and fellow Davey resident (at the time), Mark Glickman.

Featured Classmate:  Mark Tulper

Mark Tulper did not have a senior picture in the yearbook because while others were getting their picture taken, he was ill and in the hospital for 54 days.  Mark credits classmate Gene Slade’s tutoring with helping him meet his graduation requirements.  Right after high school, Mark went to work for a mortgage banker, worked for 1^st National Bank in Clayton with classmate Jim Bright, and then moved to Pioneer Bank in Maplewood.  Mark, along with Jim and classmate, Jack Becker, began attending St. Louis Junior College while working part time.  After earning his associates degree in Business, Mark went on to Southern Illinois University where he took an overload schedule, and, again with Jim and Jack, completed a Bachelor’s in Business in 1-1/2 years.   Mark took a month off to travel to Mexico, California, and Hawaii before returning to St. Louis and switching careers from banking to insurance.  He began working for a large Eastern insurance company, but went out on his own shortly thereafter, linking with a very successful older insurance broker, who mentored him in the early years.  That same year, 1974, Mark married Karen.  November 3, 1980, Mark had open heart surgery to correct a congenital defect.  While Mark and Karen have no children, they are close to their eight nieces and nephews and two godsons.  They have also had three yorkies; the current one being “smart-but-stubborn” Lucy, who Mark purchased for Karen, a breast cancer survivor.  Mark and Karen have cruised to Norway, Sweden, Russia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and many Caribbean ports.  They have also been known to go to Hawaii for “long weekends.”  In 2001, Mark and Karen bought a second home in Santa Fe and travel there often.  Through the years, Mark’s business has enabled him to meet people like Jorge Baccardi, a founder of Costco, and a founder of Albertsons Foods.  Mark mountain bikes, target shoots, and goes to the gym most days.  But his passion is his work and helping others—for that reason, he will probably never retire.

Featured Classmate:  Dolores Finkelstein Schneider

        

Dolores Finkelstein Schneider and her husband, Barry (U City ’62), live in Ft. Worth, Texas after years of moving around.  Dolores began her education at UMSL with the goal of graduating in three years.  Thirty years later, she earned her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, but has no regrets about the change in plans.  Dolores and Barry met on a blind date in 1963 and knew two months later they would be married, but waited four years until he graduated and received his commission as an officer in the US Air Force.  They were stationed in Turkey, Morocco, and Iceland and traveled extensively from each location.  They also lived in Wichita, Rapid City, and several places in Texas before settling down in Fort Worth in 1981.  Dolores and Barry have two children.  Their daughter, Myla, is married, lives with her husband, Gary, in Marietta, Georgia, and has two sons, 13 and 10.  Their son, Eric is a successful entrepreneur in Seattle, Washington.  Dolores entered corporate life in 1981 in the purchasing department of a local office and was subsequently promoted to Purchasing Manager at corporate headquarters in nearby Arlington.  Seventeen years later, she switched companies to become Purchasing Manager of a plastics firm in Dallas, commuting over 100 miles round trip.  Dolores retired when the company closed five years later.  She and Barry still love to travel and have been on a photographic safari to Tanzania, a riverboat cruise down the Amazon, a trip to Machu Picchu, an Atlanta to Seattle then down the West Coast driving trip, and are planning a trip to New Zealand and Australia.  When not traveling, Dolores is involved in many organizations within the Jewish community and loves cooking, especially preparing recipes from the various places they have lived.  She also loves baking and teaching others, including her youngest grandson.  In 1986, Dolores was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a reoccurrence in 2004.  A heavy round of chemotherapy then has her saying now, “I feel fabulous and look marvelous with the world’s most positive outlook on life.”

Featured Classmate:  Ron Brown

        

Ron Brown earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oklahoma, received his license to practice, and was a practicing architect until 1978.  During this time, Ron worked on many large building types with a focus on medical facilities.  He also was the project manager for what was at the time the largest solar energy facility in the world; located in the Middle East.  In 1978, Ron transitioned to a related field and, for the next 30 years, was Divisional Vice President and Director of Construction of the May Department Stores and then Macys.  During this time, he managed the design and construction process for various projects throughout the country.  For the first half of his career, Ron and his wife, Zelda (Zelda Richman; U City ’67), lived in St. Louis before moving to Cincinnati with Macys.  Ron met Zelda on a blind date orchestrated by classmate, the late Judy Lyner.  They were engaged four weeks later and have been happily married for 41 years.  Ron and Zelda have two sons.  Jeff lives in St. Louis with his wife and the Browns’ two grandsons, ages three and four—Jeff is a manager of Demand Planning for Furniture Brands.  Kevin is married and lives in Chapel Hill, NC.  He is an IT consultant for Deloitte Consulting.  The Browns are frequent travelers including monthly trips to St. Louis to visit the grandsons.  They have also traveled throughout Europe, to Asia, in the French Polynesian Islands, to various Caribbean islands, and across the US, including Hawaii and Alaska.  Much of the travel has been on cruises, which they love.  Since retiring in 2009, Ron has devoted his time to reading, working out, following his favorite sports teams (which remains the Cardinals for baseball; but is the Bengals for football), reconnecting with classmates, and keeping up with current events and politics.  He has also discovered the value of a good nap and Suduko puzzles and, now that he is retired, even more greatly appreciates the value of a strong marriage.  The motto he now lives by is “Every day is Saturday; except Sunday.”

Featured Classmate:  Gary Presley

        

Gary Presley has had a diverse career, built a growing family, and followed his passion.  Gary was not a serious student until his junior year in college, when a favorite professor suggested he consider graduate school.  After earning his Bachelor’s at Southeast Missouri State, he went on to earn a Master’s in Psychology from SIU-Edwardsville and almost finished an MBA.  Gary’s career included both psychology and business management positions.  He worked as a school psychologist in a number of St. Louis area districts and was one of the first 300 to be licensed for private practice in the state of Missouri.  He changed careers to become a Regional Manager for Castrol Oil Company and worked for, and eventually retired from, British Petroleum (as Gary says, “Yes, that company.”) where he developed preventive factory maintenance software and manuals that were adopted by GM, Ford, and others.  Business travel took him around the US and Canada and to Germany.  Gary and his wife, Carol, were married as juniors in college.  While Gary was in graduate school, Carol worked as a teacher and then went on to earn her Master’s in counseling.  Gary and Carol have two daughters, who live nearby in the St. Louis area and have given them five grandchildren, ranging in ages from five months to 11 years.  They are proud that both of their daughters and their husbands have completed graduate programs in their chosen fields.  Gary maintains interests in audio/video recording, technology, construction projects, and politics and is trying to find time to write a book.  He has traveled with the family throughout the US, with frequent trips to Florida, and to Mexico and France.  With all of that, Gary’s sustaining passion is his music.  He started his musical career with classmates Lynn Newport and Mark Feldman as “The Campus Three,” has written pop tunes, played major venues in the St. Louis area, and continues to play throughout the area with his group, “Sound Unlimited.”  He is working on a new band CD and teaching himself to play jazz violin.  Perhaps most relevant to the class, Gary has played at class birthday parties, reunions, and even a classmate’s commitment wedding ceremony.

Featured Classmate:  Hank Schneider

        

Hank Schneider has been helping others all his life and plans to continue to do so.  Hank earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Arizona before joining the Peace Corps in El Salvador.  He returned to St. Louis to earn his Master’s from the School of Social Work at Washington University.  While in the Peace Corps, Hank married Jackie Plattner (Ladue ’64 and Jackson Park attendee).  During graduate school, he committed to a stint in the Army with the stipulation that he could first finish school.  When he received his Master’s, Hank spent over two years in the Army in Okinawa and his remaining time at Ft. Leonard Wood.  Hank and Jackie live in Columbia, Missouri, where they moved when he was discharged.  He worked as a medical Social Worker at University Hospital, used the G. I. Bill to earn his Doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies, and remained in the reserves with a St. Louis hospital unit until he retired as a Lt. Colonel.  Hank has been a Clinical Social Worker, providing psychotherapy for children and maintaining a specialty in the area of child sexual abuse and trauma.  For the last two decades has also worked with adults.  Since 1998, he has been in private practice, helping depressed and anxious people lead fuller lives.  Hank and Jackie have a daughter, Lauren, who lives with them along with her husband, who is finishing law school at Mizzou, and their four-year old daughter.  Hank loves playing racquetball, bicycling, gardening, getting to St. Louis for several Cardinals games each year, and following the Mizzou teams.  He has volunteered with the local Habitat for Humanity, occasionally speaks at his synagogue on the weekly torah portion, and trains residents in the Department of Psychiatry.  Hank and Jackie love to entertain and celebrate holidays with friends, including classmates Gary Oxenhandler and Marvin Tofle and their wives.  His future plans are to continue working, but cutting back on hours to spend more time with family, learn more about art, music, and the world around him, and, not surprisingly, find new ways to give back to his community. 

Featured Classmate:  Kay Kruvand Watts

        

Kay Kruvand Watts is a role model for resiliency and variety of life experiences.  Kay graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a degree in Education.  She taught in the Hazelwood, Germany, and Normandy school districts in St. Louis for 33 years before retiring in 2003.  Kay had begun her work toward a Master’s at Washington University, but discontinued it when her daughter contracted a serious kidney disorder.  That daughter is married and has given Kay a granddaughter, Alison Leigh, who is one year old.  Kay has been involved in a wide variety of activities.  She has bred and shown Dalmatians, which she considers a great breed, and still has one.  Kay loves horseback riding, but has ridden less lately.  She is an avid reader and has belonged to numerous book clubs throughout the years.  Kay volunteered for Oasis, a program dedicated to lifelong learning for seniors, for the three years before her granddaughter was born; her time now taken up with caring for Alison several days each week.  Kay enjoys both flower and vegetable gardening.  She has traveled extensively around the United States and lived in Germany for a year where she taught on an Air Force base.  She is a trustee for her subdivision, is an avid Cardinals fan, frequents dinners with the classmate group that gets together often in St. Louis, enjoys line dancing, and loves getting together with her two brothers and sister; feeling fortunate they enjoy each other’s company so much and so often.  Kay is involved with all of this while also having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.  She got what she calls “the full tour,” Chemo, radiation, and surgery and is in remission.  Kay Kruvand Watts—active and resilient.

Featured Classmate:  Diane Lamberg Cohan

        

Diane Lamberg Cohan is among the classmates who have had the fastest engagements and have made the most geographic moves.  Diane began her college career at the University of Iowa before transferring to Mizzou and, eventually, to UMSL, where she earned her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education.  While teaching fifth grade at Ritneour, she met Steve Cohan, a PhD plant geneticist for Monsanto, on a blind date.  They were engaged one week later and married five months after that.  Subsequent job transfers and career changes for Steve took the couple to Sarasota, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Memphis, and, subsequently, to Maryland, where they have lived for ten years and where Steve is a Professor at the University of Maryland in College Park.  Through her many moves, Diane continued to substitute teach.  Also through this timeframe, she had two sons.  Todd practices optometry in Chicago, where he lives with his wife Carrie and Diane’s two grandchildren, Sammy (6) and Gabrielle (3).  Brad is a marketing manager in Baltimore, where he lives with his new bride, Beth—the couple met on JDate, which Diane calls “today’s version of blind dates.”  Diane has been a volunteer and has flexed her creative side by taking decorating courses, doing calligraphy, knitting, cooking, baking, and being a personal shopper for friends.  Over the past several years, Diane has worked part-time at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, a job that leaves time for her to travel.  She frequently visits her grandchildren in Chicago and her 98-year old mother in St. Louis and plans an annual family trip to Hilton Head.  Diane also enjoys pumping iron, long walks, and reading.  She was an early member of NOW and was determined to rear her two sons as liberated males.  Diane says she has not designed buildings or invested in Broadway shows, but she was determined to give her children a different growing environment than she had and they turned out to be bright, confident, secure, and loving men and contributing members to their Jewish communities.  Diane has enjoyed living in multiple cities, but St. Louis still holds its place as “home.”

Featured Classmate:  Sherry Fishman Resh

        

Sherry Fishman Resh is a proud mother, teacher, traveler, volunteer, and about-to-be retiree.  Sherry earned her Bachelor’s from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (after attending Mizzou for two years) in Early Childhood and Elementary Education.  After teaching for a few years and marrying Bill, her husband of now 39 years, they moved to Los Angeles for his medical internship, then to San Diego for his dermatology residency.  Sherry earned her Master’s in Elementary Education from San Diego State University, and she and Bill have lived in San Diego ever since.  On the West Coast, Sherry has taught elementary school, parent education classes, and classes helping high school students and their parents apply for college.  She is retiring this year.  Sherry and Bill have three daughters.  Keri lives in LA with her husband, Alon, and Sherry’s two grandsons, with whom she spends a lot of special time.  Elana lives in New York City and follows in her mother’s footsteps as a teacher.  Brooke and her husband, Akshay, live in San Diego.  Brooke is a dermatologist and is joining Bill’s practice.  Sherry enjoys entertaining and spending time with friends, cooking, flower arranging, crafts, painting, reading, exercising, and playing mahjongg.  She and Bill love the movies and belong to the San Diego Cinema Society.  Her favorite interest, however, is traveling.  Sherry and Bill have been to over 60 countries, love cruising, and have traveled with classmates Jill Friedman Chapin, Jim Resnick, Linda Thaw Kayland, Fran Fox Cooper, Joel Berick, Carolyn Hyatt Silverstein, and their spouses.  Over the years, Sherry has volunteered at her children’s schools, was a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader, and has been active at her synagogue and Jewish organizations in San Diego.  Sherry feels fortunate to continue to spend time with classmates on the West Coast and still loves getting together with friends in St. Louis.

Featured Classmate:  Mark Wylan

       

Mark Wylan served as a submariner on three different nuclear subs during the Vietnam War.  He vividly recalls being in subs that were not where they were supposed to be during the cold war and being attacked with small depth charges on one mission.  After being discharged, Mark studied Computer Science at the University of Southern Florida before leaving prior to earning his degree, and for a brief time, he helped deliver shrimp boats from Tampa to British Guyana.  His memories of this are also vivid, once being chased by Cuban gun boats and once encountering 20-foot waves on the back end of Hurricane Eloise.  Mark then settled into work in the Telecommunications business with General Dynamics, where he installed and tested routers and fiber-optics switches.  A transfer took Mark to Falls Church, Virginia.  He stayed in Telecommunications and in Virginia throughout his working career, although he moved to a better position at Sprint, from which he retired in 2003.  Mark still does some graphic design work for one client, so he views himself as semiretired.  In 1981, Mark married Mary, who is from Pattonville and who is an office manager for the largest garden center in Virginia.  They have lived in Chantilly, Virginia since 1991 and are very proud of their two sons.  Matt lives in Baltimore and is a fund manager for TRowe Price; Adam is graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in Business this summer.  When the boys were growing up, Mark was the Commissioner of the Chantilly Youth Association basketball leagues, where he also refereed and coached for almost a decade.  Mark is an avid catch-and-release bass fisherman, most enjoying the upper Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.  He attends Veteran’s Day at the Vietnam Wall as often as possible—“there is no day like it in DC.”  He will barbeque anything, summer or winter and grows his own tomatoes for the red sauce he makes from scratch for the Italian cooking he loves.  Mark and the family have enjoyed Caribbean cruises, time in Florida, and a lot of “East Coastin’.”  While in the Navy, Mark was stationed Adak, Alaska on the Aleutians and Yokohama, Japan.

 

Featured Classmate:  David Goodman

        

David Goodman and his wife Louise, (Louise Seigel - U City ’65), live in Cincinnati, where he is both retired and working.  David earned his BSIE (Industrial Engineering) and his MSIE from Purdue, and began working for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati in 1971.  During this time frame, David was the supply clerk in an Army Reserve JAG unit with a local news anchor/lawyer/politician named Jerry Springer, who added plenty of excitement to summer camp each year at Fort Meade.  David left P&G in 1973 when he realized that the corporate structured world did not suit him.  He started an advertising business and at first things went well, but the mid 70's recession was tough, and he ended up selling the business in 1977.  At that time he bought into a retail business of one of his friends, who was also one of his long time advertising customers.  For the next 25 years he owned and operated one of the Kramer’s Sew & Vac stores of Cincinnati.  The business grew and prospered over the years, and in 2002 he sold the business to one of his employees and “retired from retail.”  David has continued to work in retirement by starting a "hobby business" called CinciGolf.com, a golf advertising website and a golf coupon book, now in it's 8th year of operation.  David says, tongue-in-cheek, “The toughest part of the business is having to visit my clients’ courses and play golf with my friends—all comped.”  But his true joy is working for his son, Darren Goodman, an internationally recognized "up and coming" glass blowing artist.  David works for Darren in many ways... assisting with the glass blowing, maintaining the web sites, photographing Darren’s art work, doing all of the packing and shipping, and he also helps Darren with the business side of art.   David's other son Alan lives in San Diego and does website optimization as well as being involved in several entrepreneurial ventures.  David played sax in the high school band and with "Winston and the Aftones", who often played at Wigwam.  He is still playing those same songs today with a local oldies band, "The 4 Hubcaps."   David also volunteers at Cedar Village, the senior living facility where his mother lives.

Featured Classmate:  Barbara Glick Koch

        

Barbara Glick Koch and her husband, Steve, live in Chicago, except in the winter, when they head south to their home in West Palm Beach.  Barb attended the University of Colorado, and then finished her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from San Fernando Valley State College, where she remembers being deeply involved in the campus protests and unrest.  After college, Barb traveled around Europe before returning to Los Angeles, where she stayed and worked only a short time, before she returned to “boring but solid St. Louis”—a decision she is happy to have made.  She was a handbag buyer in the shoe industry, traveling frequently to New York and to stores around the country.  She moved to Chicago, continued her retail career, met Steve and got married in 1976, and had Stuart, who is now 31.  Barb changed careers to real estate, selling homes on the North Shore of Chicago for 27 years.  Steve was a stock broker until 2001, when he had a massive heart attack; from which he recovered but which forced him to retire.  It was a couple of years later they bought the second home in West Palm, where Barb loves to play golf, takes current events classes at the university, has become a yoga devotee, and enjoys her many friends and the laid-back lifestyle.  Barb and Steve have since sold their Glencoe home and bought a condo in downtown Chicago.  Barb has been involved with Jewish Federation in Chicago for many years, serving on the women’s board and traveling to Israel many times.  More recently, she has become devoted to Magan David Adom, an Israeli ambulance service with programs similar to the Red Cross.  Barb also belongs to and has traveled to Washington D.C. with a Jewish woman’s Political Action Committee, helping support candidates who support Israel and being involved with other issues.

Featured Classmate:  Ellen Polinsky Cohen

        

Ellen Polinsky Cohen—proud mother, grandmother and friend.  Ellen earned her Bachelor’s in elementary education from Mizzou and her Master’s in Reading from Washington University.  She taught for five years in the Hazelwood School District then left education to work at E. F. Hutton and Saks Fifth Avenue, before opening her own business in the 1980s.  Ellen sold overruns of California sportswear out of her home and even out of the trunk of her car, doing business with 50 different companies.  She closed her once-lucrative business when she began getting price competition from stores like T. J. Maxx.  She currently works for classmate Howard Danzig.  Ellen has two sons and is proud of the lives and families they have built.  Jeff resides in Northbrook, Illinois with his wife, Dr. Hillary Cohen, and Ellen’s two Chicago grandchildren, Sasha and Jonah.  Jeff, a textbook broker and owner of CampusBooks.com, and Hillary are expecting their third child this fall.  Brad resides in Atlanta with his wife, Nancy, and their newborn baby Dylan.  Brad, who has Tourette Syndrome, is the award winning author of Front of the Class, the book that was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie for television.  Brad, who continues to work in education, started both the Brad Cohen Tourette Syndrome Foundation and the camp for young people with Tourette Syndrome called “Twitch and Shout.”  Ellen pays close attention to her health; both physical, walking for an hour every day, and spiritual.  Ellen is a strong advocate for finding alternatives to giving drugs to children to treat illness, and she spends a great deal of time helping parents figure out other solutions if possible.  She has been an avid traveler all her life, but views her Alaska trip with her son, Brad, as her favorite journey.  Ellen is proud of her family, her activities, and the fact that she is still very close with many of her high school friends.

Featured Classmate:  Gloria Bushman Schwartz

        

   Gloria Bushman Schwartz and Ron, her husband of 26 years, live in St. Louis, where Gloria values friends, family, and work ethic.  She began working right out of high school, spent a year at Mizzou, and returned to the workplace.  Gloria worked for several companies in the early years; building the skills that would prepare her for the cornerstone of her career, being the Office Manager and Rabbi’s Administrative Assistant at Congregation Shaare Emeth, where she works directly for the Senior Rabbi and Executive Director.  That is her official job title, but the congregants and the staff all know that Gloria really runs the place.  Having been there for 33 years, she is often referred to as the “Archives.”  Gloria finds it amusing that while at U City, she “wasn’t so fond” of English, and now her work colleagues look to her to edit their work.  When not “running” Shaare Emeth, Gloria is deeply involved with volunteering, friends, and family, especially her grandchildren.  Gloria’s son, Michael, and his wife, Melissa, live in Laguna Niguel, California and have given Gloria two granddaughters, Natalie (8) and Serena (5).  Gloria’s daughter, Melanie, and her husband, Barry, live in St. Louis and have three children, Emily (10) and fraternal twins, Andrew and Evan (7).  Gloria volunteers each year for the Arthritis Association Walk, to support her granddaughter, Emily, who has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was three.  Gloria also volunteers for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society.  She has been diagnosed with lymphocetic leukemia and found little support available during the scariest of times just after her diagnosis.  Gloria contacts those who are newly diagnosed in a program called “First Connection” to help them get their questions answered and have someone who understands to talk to.  Gloria enjoys gardening, her dog, Mocha, the serenity of her screened porch, and walking during the warmer months.  She loves when the St. Louis grandchildren spend the night and visiting the California grandchildren as often as possible.  Gloria is also passionate about her friendships, many of which she has cherished for more than 50 years.  As one classmate friend said, “Gloria will do absolutely anything for a friend, even before the friend asks for help.”

Featured Classmate:  Mark Gants

        

Mark Gants and his wife, Rebecca, currently live in Kansas City, and have called Missouri home for most of their marriage—that is, when Mark has not been operating on a bear at the Baghdad Zoo in Iraq or tending to food safety for US troops, public health, zoonotic disease control, and oversight of tactical veterinary units in Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and other places around the world.  Mark earned his BA in Biology from UMSL and his Master’s in Microbiology and his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Mizzou.  While at Mizzou, he was commissioned via ROTC and later served as a platoon leader in Vietnam.  While in Vet school, Mark joined a veterinary unit of the Army Reserves, which he left after graduating.  Mark opened a private veterinary practice in Blue Springs, Missouri and later re-joined the reserves.  As a reservist, Mark was deployed to Desert Storm; participated in several medical missions to Central and South America; was part of exercises in Germany, Korea, and Egypt; served in Kosovo; was promoted to Colonel; joined an active unit; and was deployed to Iraq twice as the theater veterinary consultant and helped reconstruct the Baghdad Veterinary College.  While in Iraq, Mark’s translator was an Iraqi veterinarian.  Mark initiated the process to get the Iraqi and his family out of Iraq—they now live in Alexandria, VA.  Mark earned a number of medals while in the service before retiring in 2008.  He now has an emergency veterinary practice in North Kansas City and continues to be amazed at the situations animals and their owners get themselves into.  Mark enjoys reading, a good game of chess, fly fishing, staying in shape, and last but not least, “keeping my wife happy after she’s allowed me to go on my various adventures.”  Mark and Rebecca are proud of their three children—Mark (IV) is a software engineer in Hamburg, Germany and recently married a German national, but they expect to return to the US; Megan is completing her Master’s of Social Work degree and was married in 2009; and Kaitlin is beginning her course work for a nursing degree.

Featured Classmate:  Judy Becker Plocker

        

Judy Becker Plocker lives in St. Louis with Stan, her husband of over four decades—as Judy says, “Can you believe it—42 years?”  She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Washington University.  After graduating, Judy taught at the Cerebral Palsy Association until she had her first child, Sara, who was followed two years later by Andy.  When the children were young, Judy taught pre-school part time at the Temple Israel Nursery School.  When they were older, Judy got her real estate license and has worked as a residential real estate agent ever since.  Sara and Andy live in the Chicago area.  In 2005, Andy and his wife, Amy, blessed Judy and Stan with twin grandchildren, Jordan and Gracie.  Judy has been physically active all her life—for many years she was a runner and now loves to walk every day, hike when she can, and take exercise classes at the Jewish Community Center.  Judy also loves movies, plays, reading, and gardening.  She has been active in the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival for many years, and this year is its chairperson.  Judy also makes time to volunteer at the Jewish Food Pantry each week and is on a committee at her synagogue to plan programming about Israel—it is helpful that she has been to Israel twice.  Judy has also traveled to Costa Rica, London, Paris, and Italy as well as having traveled extensively around the United States.  Judy wants all of her classmates to know how much she enjoys getting together with them as frequently as possible—renewing old friendships and making new friends.

Featured Classmate:  Carol Enger Canis

        

Carol Enger Canis and her husband, Bruce, work together, travel together, and grandparent together.  Carol majored in Psychology and earned her Bachelor’s in Education from Mizzou.  She has also earned her Agent and Broker’s licenses for both life and health insurance.  Carol began her work career teaching third and fourth grades, moved to substitute teaching, and did private tutoring with children from all grades.  She began selling insurance 25 years ago, working for the same company as Bruce.  She specializes in long term care insurance and medicare supplements.  Carol and Bruce were fixed up by classmate Helene London Rothman.  They have two children, Rachel and Randy, and Carol loves to babysit for their three grandchildren, Halley, Evan, and Erin, ranging in ages from nine down to two.  Along with working and helping with the grandchildren, Carols stays busy with other activities.  At one time she was a high-level tennis player, but now stays fit by walking or taking water aerobic classes almost every day.  As her friends and family know, Carol also frequently exercises her sense of humor.  She loves art and art museums, and she and Bruce love classical music and attending symphony performances.  They are supporters of both the St. Louis Art Museum and St. Louis Symphony.  Carol and Bruce travel extensively—the list of destinations throughout Europe and North America is long and growing, and they have been on eight cruises.  Her travel dreams are to visit Israel and see the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Carol is looking forward to cutting back on her work hours in the near future—it is time to “smell the roses,” but it seems she does a pretty good job of that already.

Featured Classmate:  Susan Dulsky Hammer

        

Susan Dulsky Hammer and her husband, Steve, live in Kansas City, where Susan has been since being based there as a TWA flight attendant in the late 60s.  She attended Florissant Valley Junior College for a year before starting training with TWA and earned her Bachelor’s in Business (Marketing) with a minor in Psychology in 1984 from Avila College.  Between Florissant Valley and Avila, Susan met and married Steve, worked for IBM in their Accounts Receivable Department, and gave birth to and reared Brian, Marc, and Daniel.  When she graduated and the children were older, Susan worked for a couple of Kansas City marketing firms, then worked in her in-laws’ business, where Steve has worked since 1962.  She now enjoys the flexibility of part-time work at Halls, a luxury department store owned by the family that founded Hallmark cards; allowing her to spend time with her many friends, who form a combination of book club and social club.  Susan’s three sons are married and have given her six grandchildren, four girls and two boys, with whom she spends as much time as possible—trips to the library, zoo, puppet shows, the park, and any number of children’s events around town.  She is looking forward to getting involved in her grand-twin’s Hebrew Day School when they start kindergarten next year.  An avid reader, Susan frequently has one book she is reading and one audio book that she is listening to while doing things around the house or driving.  Susan has a passion for cooking and trying new recipes—she has even put together a collection of her favorites in a cookbook titled “Nonnie’s Favorites,” a labor of love that took three years to complete—she is working on a second cookbook.  Over the past year, Susan has been taking classes to learn how to create great memory books for family and friends and has made over 20 books.  Three generations of the Hammer family enjoy their lake house in the Ozarks and the skiing, boating, fishing, and general revelry that come with it.  Susan and Steve love to cruise and have been to the Mediterranean, the Bahamas, Canada, Tahiti, and throughout Asia.  They are looking forward to an Israeli trip next year.  Susan enjoys reaching out to classmates, recognizing that life is precious, and she wants to miss no opportunities to connect with those she cares about.

Featured Classmate:  Gary Fischer

        

Dr. Gary Fischer calls Greensboro, North Carolina home, or does he?  Gary earned his Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and his MD from the University of Missouri.  After a two-year internal medicine residency at Mizzou, Gary spent four years in a Radiology residency at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  He and his wife, Ellen (Ellen Levey, Clayton), who have now been married more than four decades, fell in love with North Carolina and decided to stay.  Gary joined a small radiology practice that has grown in size, geography, and technology.  He is now semi-retired, working two to three days per week.  Gary and Ellen celebrate their children and grandchildren.  Their daughter, Jeanne, has a doctorate in music and a faculty position at her alma mater, UNC.  She and her husband, Mike, have a one-year old, Will, and live close-by in Chapel Hill.  Their daughter, Liz, practices acupuncture and Chinese medicine and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, David, and their four-year old, Ezra.  Their son, Scott, is in graduate school in psychology in San Francisco.  Gary and Ellen visit their West Coast family often.  While working part-time, Gary is also busy, and has been for 14 years, with his passion—he is a glass artist, specializing in Judaic glass, mainly Mezzuzot and challah and seder plates.  He and Ellen are also passionate Tar Heel basketball fans, having attended virtually every home game and three final four’s over 30 years; one of the tournaments was in St. Louis.  Gary volunteers, especially in the Jewish community and is currently President of the Greensboro Jewish Federation.  Despite being well-established in Greensboro, Gary remains a die-hard Cardinals fan and finds when he gets off of a plane at Lambert Field, he knows he is back “home.”

Featured Classmate:  M. J. Savoy
In Memoriam


 On June 17, 1966, 44 years ago this week, classmate M. J. Savoy was killed in a plane crash on his first day in Vietnam.  To remember and feature M. J. I have included what I wrote about him in Hail Hail to U City High.    “At a time when most of us were in the middle of our college careers and beginning to form a vision of our futures, classmate M.J. Savoy was deployed to Vietnam.  He went for the shortest of tours; killed in a mysterious plane crash on his first day.  M.J.’s body was never recovered.  MIA means something.  “Classmate David Pactor wrote to me, ‘MJ was a quiet boy, not active in sports or clubs or groups or cliques.  He was a quiet boy in a noisy school.  He did not stand out in school—perhaps he will stand out now in your book.  Perhaps we can remember him now.  A son and a friend and a soldier taken away never to be returned for a decent burial.  It saddens me greatly to recall his short life.’“David continued, ‘As a tribute, I went to the Vietnam Wall, traced his name, and gave the framed piece to the high school as a remembrance, lest we forget and not thank him and acknowledge him for this sacrifice.’  “David captured how we feel about M.J.  But, perhaps no words can tell M.J.’s all-too-brief story more simply and profoundly than those that appear on the Vietnam Memorial Website.” 

 

M J SAVOY

AN - E3 - Navy - Reserve Length of service 0 years His tour began on Jun 17, 1966 Casualty was on Jun 17, 1966 In OFFSHORE, MILITARY REGION 2, SOUTH VIETNAM Non-Hostile, died missing, FIXED WING - CREW AIR LOSS, CRASH AT SEA Body was not recovered   Panel 08E - Line 58

Featured Classmate:  David Nemon

          

David Nemon builds buildings, but more importantly, has built a family and a career.  David started college at Mizzou, before transferring to the University of Kansas for its architectural program.  He earned his Architecture degree in 1971 and worked for several firms in St. Louis before 1974, when two important things happened.  He married Suzie and they moved to Houston, where they still live.  David worked for several architectural firms in Houston until 1997, when he started his own firm that specializes in designing tenant spaces for franchises.  He has designed over 450 Marble Slab Creamery stores around the country and over 60 Quiznos stores around Texas.  At one time, David was registered as an architect in 26 states.  In addition, he is now doing design work for Dunkin Donuts.  David and Suzie, who is a real estate broker who owns her own company, have two children.  Lisa was recently married to Justin, and they live in Chicago.  Jeffrey lives in Los Angeles and is working for an agency and writing a screenplay, having graduated from the film school at USC.  When not building stores, David is building model cars, a boyhood hobby that he rediscovered when introducing it to Jeffrey as he was growing up.  David also “plays” with his larger model car, a fully-restored 1957 2-door Chevy hardtop.  David is an avid Kansas Jayhawk basketball fan and is trying to get tickets to next year’s Final Four, which will be in Houston, hoping Kansas will be there.  But like many who leave St. Louis, David also remains an avid Cardinals fan, rehashing games and stats daily with fellow Houston classmate, Lenny Koblenz, classmate Mark Glickman, and classmate Arleen Bly’s husband, Howard.  David has also reestablished close connections with other classmates through the Yahoo Group, went on the first class cruise, and is grateful that Suzie feels accepted as an honorary classmate.  In his spare time, David volunteers for the University of Kansas prospective student recruitment and loves to listen to and sing along with the oldies—David is not bashful in front of a karaoke microphone.

Featured Classmate:  Rick Golubock

          

Rick Golubock is never too old to play the game.  Rick earned his Bachelor’s in Marketing and his Masters in Business Administration, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  He began work with Famous-Barr in St. Louis, then moved to Kansas City to take a job with Wilson Sporting Goods, where he held a number of positions, including national accounts manager for their golf division and national sales manager.  After working for another company after Wilson, Rick started up his own company, a direct mail advertising business, which he sold in the late 90s.  He moved to the commercial floor-covering business and still works in that industry today.  Rick still lives in Kansas City, with his wife, Pam.  His two sons are both computer engineers and live in Northern California.  Scott and his wife, Traci, have given Rick two grandchildren, three-year old Mia and two-year old Caden.  Rick’s second son, Jason, has returned to school to get his PhD in cognitive science.  Rick has been playing baseball since the very beginnings of senior baseball in 1988.  He plays in a local league in Kansas City and travels to Fort Myers, Florida every November to play in a tournament that draws teams from all over the country.  Rick and Pam have a house and boat on Lake Pomme de Terre, about tw0 hours from Kansas City.  They spend summer weekends there relaxing, reading, and listening to the oldies.  Rick visits his grandchildren a couple of times each year and also joins his sons in an annual skiing trip, usually in the Lake Tahoe area.  Playing baseball and enjoying life—Rick will never be too old to play the game.

Featured Classmate:  Barbara Rostenberg Sandmel

          

Barbara Rostenberg Sandmel’s e-mail address, not surprisingly, is FrenchTchr@aol.com.  Barbara earned her Bachelor’s in Education, majoring in English and French, from the University of Missouri-Columbia; graduating in 3-1/2 years.  After a semester of graduate school at Mizzou, she transferred to Washington University, where she earned her Master’s in French.  Barbara taught French for seven years at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and French and English at Hazelwood Central High School for 24 years, before retiring in 2000.  She continues to teach French—for 15 years, she has taught a basic conversational class through the St. Louis Community College Continuing Education program, which, by the way, meets at University City High School.  In 1968, Barbara married Harold Sandmel, twin brother of Sheldon, husband of classmate Michele Leon Sandmel.  Harold passed away in 1998.  Barbara and Harold had two sons.  Jeremy is a senior programming manager for Apple and helped direct the graphic software development for the iPhone and new iPad.  Jonathan, who owns his own software repair and computer sales company, lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Katie, and Barbara’s granddaughter, Ariel.  Barbara visits Ariel and her family frequently.  She has also traveled extensively outside the country—her French teaching resulted in 20 trips to France, many guiding students and adults, with side trips throughout Europe.  She and her companion, Frank Enger, classmate Carol Enger Canis’ cousin, traveled to Israel in 2006.  Barbara has been involved with the St. Louis-Lyon Sister City program, and has hosted visiting adults from Lyon.  For the past several years, she has worked at classmate Allan Feinberg’s gift shop, Ambiance.  In her spare time, Barbara enjoys gardening, reading, and playing mah jongg.  Barbara Sandmel—French Teacher and more.

Featured Classmate:  Mike Fleischmann

        

Many of us see Mike Fleischmann’s work every day.  Mike earned both his Bachelor’s in Journalism and his Master of Arts in Design from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  During graduate school he worked at the Mizzou Medical Center in lieu of being drafted, having been granted conscientious objector status.  He also worked at Mizzou’s University Theater, helping build and paint sets as well as appearing in a few productions.  Mike worked for a short time at a Clayton public relations firm, doing graphic design for ads and animation for promotional films before moving to New York City to work for an animation studio.  When business fell off and Mike was let go, it turned out to be a great opportunity—shortly thereafter, he was hired as a graphic designer for NBC and has been there for 25 years.  Mike started doing graphics on Nightly News, did an animated gag for Conan O’Brien, and has worked on the Today Show ever since (see his recent photo with Ann Curry).  He has developed animated weather graphics for Al Roker and other graphics for the show, including map animations, over-the-shoulder news graphics, and animations for books, CDs, and magazines among other things.  In 1988, Mike met Gaby Katz from Mexico City and they were married a year later.  They have two daughters, Hannah, a sophomore at Macalester College and Laura, a high school senior who will attend Clark University in the fall.  Mike’s hobbies also display his creative side.  He loves photography, especially stereo, and what are called “anaglyphs,” 3D photos viewed through red-green glasses—visit abdownload.free.fr to see his anaglyph work, identified by his nickname, “Flash.”  Mike also enjoys music, collects 78’s, mostly old jazz, and plays the piano, ukulele, guitar, recorder, and mandolin.  He is a member of Mensa, which Gaby thinks is funny, given that “mensa” in Spanish means “stupid.”  Mike has traveled extensively—most recently making frequent trips to Mexico City to visit with his wife’s family.

Featured Classmate:  Harold Sanger

        

Harold Sanger has been active with his family, in the business community, and in local government.  Harold and his wife, Diane, are understandably proud of the family they have built.  Their three children, Whitney, Stefanie, and Bryan share four undergraduate degrees and four post-graduate degrees.  Whitney, who manages construction projects for the U.S. Government, and her husband live in Arlington, Virginia and, last fall, gave Diane and Harold their first grandchild, Toby.  Bryan is an Assistant Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, and Stefanie has built a successful Chiropractic practice in St. Louis.  Stefanie recently became engaged to Bryce Woollen, nephew of our late classmate, Deborah Poore Storch.  After a short time at Mizzou, working for the original McDonnell Aircraft Co., and a stint in the Missouri Air National Guard, Harold earned his Bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State, where he roomed much of the time with classmate, Allan Markovitz. He went from SEMO to Memphis State University for an MBA in Marketing.  Between college and beginning to build a career, Harold lived on a kibbutz and spent a spring and summer backpacking around Israel and motorcycling through Italy.  When he returned to St. Louis, Harold went to work in Sales for the Chrysler Corporation.  After moving several times and marrying Diane in 1976, Harold and she decided that frequent moves and being in Detroit for the long-term was not for them.  They returned to St. Louis, where Harold joined Diane’s father and brother in their flooring business.  When the successful business was sold in 2002, Harold stayed on as the President through 2008, when he semi-retired.  Harold and his family enjoy their second home in Naples, Florida; he enjoys his ’79 Corvette T-Top; and he enjoys government service.  Harold has been active in Clayton City Government since 1988, first as a Committee Member on the Board of Adjustments and then as an Alderman from 1993 to 2002.  Since then, Harold has been Chairman of the Clayton Planning and Zoning Commission.  He has pursued getting involved in Missouri State politics and may do so again.  Harold sums up his life experiences with the Frank Sinatra lyrics, “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.”

Featured Classmate:  Ilene Weinstein Novack

        

Ilene Weinstein Novack has dedicated her life to her family and her community.  She has been married to classmate Steve Novack for 42 years; and, this year, they will be celebrating 50 years of togetherness.  Ilene has been baking Steve the same valentine cookies since they were 14 years old.  Ilene earned her Bachelor’s in Education degree from the University of Missouri at St. Louis before moving on to a six-year teaching career, five of which were in the Chicago area.  She moved to Chicago in 1969 when Steve entered law school and has lived there ever since.  When she had her first of four children, Ilene moved from full-time teaching to full-time child rearing and full-time volunteering.  Most of her extensive volunteer efforts have been focused on the Jewish Community.  As part of her work with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Ilene served on its board for eight years and was President and Campaign Vice President of the Women’s Division.  Presently, Ilene is a member of the National Women’s Philanthropy Board.  She is also a trans-generational trustee of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Chicago.  Over the years she has participated on many other boards and has served as president of the local PTA.  Ilene has much to be proud of with regards to her philanthropy, but her pride in her family is far greater.  She and Steve have four children and six grandchildren, ages five and under.  She considers herself lucky that all of their children have settled in the Chicago area and are exceptionally close.  Ilene and Steve have a second home in Frisco Colorado – a very casual and laid-back mountain town.  They spend a few weeks there in the winter, but Ilene’s greatest joy is living there in the summer months where they enjoy hiking, biking, and the many summer festivals.  They recently hosted a Novack, Tenzer, Golubock, Spector mini reunion, where these activities were enjoyed by all.  Ilene has traveled extensively; frequently to Israel, but also to Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and many other countries in western and eastern Europe.  Ilene Weinstein Novack, mother, philanthropist, traveler.

Featured Classmate:  Debbie Brownstein Pulley

        

Debbie Brownstein Pulley’s life in St. Louis is one of family, creativity, and friends.  Debbie attended classes at the University of Missouri of St. Louis and Washington University, actually sharing a psychology professor with her daughter, Stephanie, albeit 20-plus years apart.  Debbie comes from a very creative family and applies her creativity to her needle pointing, calligraphy, raising orchids, and cooking, in which she highly values presentation.  Debbie is also an avid gardener, an interest she shares with her husband, Dave.  Despite all of these creative outlets, Debbie is justifiably most proud of the family she built, rearing five exceptional daughters to be fine women.  Her oldest four daughters, Stephanie (43), Jennifer (39), Kimberlie (37), and Emilie (34) have made Debbie a grandmother of 12, ranging in ages from two to 15.  Her youngest daughter, Jessica (29) is studying to be a teacher.  Debbie began a career in banking when she was 50, now working with PNC Bank Wealth Management Group, and is proud to have received a promotion at 63 years young.  Debbie has traveled extensively across America and beyond, including having been on the class cruise to Canada.  She and Dave recently returned from a trip to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.  When at home, Debbie is surrounded and cherished by good friends, many whose friendships have been for a lifetime.  Debbie’s spirit is captured in her belief in the future, “The best is yet to come.”  Debbie Brownstein Pulley—family, creativity, and friends.

Featured Classmate:  Ellen Smith Rich

        

Ellen Smith Rich delayed her education, working as a secretary and executive secretary for many years.  She had lost both of her parents at age 19 and was unable to attend college immediately.  But that did not keep her from eventually earning both graduate and post-graduate degrees.  Ellen met her husband, Bill, when on a date with someone else.  They were married in 1969 and proudly celebrated anniversary 41 in March.  They moved to Minneapolis shortly after being married, where Ellen worked in sales for Texas Instruments.  They moved to Dallas and, with the exception of an 18-month stint in Wichita, Kansas, have been there ever since.  Ellen and Bill have two children, Beth, 31, who is Senior Registered Client Associate for Wells Fargo Advisors in Beverly Hills, and Jason, 27, who is a software engineer in Dallas.  Ellen began college when the children were young, earning her Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Human Development and Early Childhood Disorders from the University of Texas at Dallas.  She worked as an Early Intervention Specialist with babies 0-3 and their families, and then she taught preschool children with developmental delays and/or health issues.  Ellen also helped start a respite program for children, so their parents could have some time alone without having to worry about the children having competent, loving care.  Ellen is retired, but has not gone far from her working roots—she volunteers at a new organization that works with parents and children of at-risk families.  She also volunteers as the Service Chair of her local decorative painting chapter.  Her painting hobby has helped her make new friends all over the country as she travels for seminars, workshops, and conferences.  Ellen and Bill also travel to the West Coast every couple of months to visit with Beth, who moved to Los Angeles last year.

Featured Classmate:  Judy Elbom Cameron

            

Judy Elbom Cameron describes herself as a “free-spirit,” and has a motto to match her spontaneous personality, “never buy green bananas.”  She values living each day as it were to be her last.  Judy has had too many jobs to list them all—one year her W-2’s “looked like the Yellow Pages.”  She has, for example; waitressed in a sports bar, serving beers to Sybil Shepard and Peter Bogdanovitch; done female birth control pill research work for Masters and Johnson; was a receptionist for Site Oil Company; and was the Assistant Property Manager for several large St. Louis apartment complexes, including Beau Jardin and Canterbury Gardens.  In the previous ten years, Judy sold massage chairs and other innovative health products at trade shows all over the country, a job that was a wonderful and interesting life experience.  Family is vitally important to Judy.  She feels blessed that her parents will celebrate their 65th anniversary this May.  Judy also feels blessed that her children (son Mitch, daughter-in-law Heather, and daughter Jaime) and grandchildren (Kai and Angie) live near her in San Diego.  Judy is an avid photographer, seldom leaving home without her digital camera in her purse.  She also loves movies, gardening, gambling, beach walks, flea markets, traveling, and her dogs (lab Mokie and pug Kobe).  In retirement, Judy also volunteers at a Senior Retirement Residence, where her “good friends are 92 to 96 years young,” and at a thrift shop.  Judy has traveled extensively for both business and pleasure, and she has been a frequenter of U City ’64 mini-reunions in Las Vegas, Dallas, New York, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Dana Point, and St. Louis—and looks forward to many more.  Judy says she has a guest room waiting for any classmate wanting to visit San Diego.

Featured Classmate:  Marc Tenzer

        

Marc Tenzer lives in St. Louis, where he is a business owner and active community member.  Marc earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Missouri-St Louis, where he played college basketball with classmate Steve Novack.  Marc also joined ROTC on campus, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, and joined the Army.  He spent one of his two years in the service in Vietnam, where he procured construction materials, school supplies, and other supplies needed for local development.  Since returning from the service, Marc has owned Leader Manufacturing Company, which manufactures headwear for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Postal Workers, among others.  Marc’s community activities have included being on the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Jewish Community Center and Chairman of the St. Louis Senior Olympics.  He is currently the Chairman of the St. Louis Jewish Sports Hall of Fame event.  Marc is an avid reader and an even more avid sports fan.  He is also active physically, working out virtually every day, either at the JCC or running outdoors.  Marc and his wife, Elaine, enjoy traveling as evidenced by a recent trip to Israel, which followed closely behind a U City ’64 mini-reunion in Colorado with Steve Novack, Ilene Weinstein Novack, Marc Golubock, and Alan Spector with respective spouses.  Marc also enjoys his children, Lindsay and Michael, and his stepchildren, Meredith and Andrew.  One other family connection—Marc is classmate Alan Spector’s stepbrother.

Featured Classmate:  Channah Yaffe Sauer

        

Channah Yaffe Sauer, known as Anna in high school, has had a diverse life with regards to where she has lived, what she has done for a living, and how her family has grown.  Channah attended the University of Missouri-St. Louis before transferring to Brooklyn College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree.  When she married her husband, Moshe, they first lived in Baltimore, where Moshe joined the Army as a chaplain.  The Army stationed the Sauers in Fort Hamilton, New York, Fort Riley, Kansas, Baumholder, Germany, and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  After the service, they lived in St. Louis, Cincinnati, St. Louis again, and finally returned to Baltimore, where they have now been for 33 years.  Along the way, Channah worked for the Social Security Administration doing claims authorization, taught Talmud Torah in St. Louis, started a successful construction site cleaning service with a partner, and, most recently helped her son in his alarm business.  She is now retired.  Channah and Moshe traveled the world and built their careers.  They also built a family—a big family—six children (four who live nearby in Baltimore, one in New York and one in Detroit) and 32 grandchildren (the oldest who is 17; the youngest who is seven months).  Channah has also found time to chair many fundraisers at her children’s schools.  Channah and Moshe frequently travel to Israel, and in recent years, have also been to Rome, Venice, Madrid, London, Moscow, and Alaska.

Featured Classmate:  Lynne Marshak Schrum

        

Lynne Marshak Schrum has spent her career making a difference in education.  She earned her BS in Elementary Education from Southern Illinois University, her Masters in Special Education (Learning Disabilities) from the University of Evansville, and her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Technology from the University of Oregon.  Lynne earned the PhD after teaching special education in California for ten years, during which time she became hooked on educational technology.  Over the last 20 years, she has been a Professor at the University of Georgia, the University of Utah, and now George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she teaches research classes and is Coordinator of the Elementary and Secondary Education Programs at GMU.  Over the 20 years, Lynne has written a number of books, among them being Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools and Leading 21st Century Schools.  In her rare spare professional time, Lynne edits The Journal of Research on Technology in Education for her professional organization, for which she is also a past-president.  Lynne’s two daughters and their families are as close and as far from her as they can get.  Her daughter, Marcy, and husband live in Saudi Arabia, where they are international teachers.  Daughter Kelly lives nearby and is also a Professor at George Mason.  Happily, Lynne’s two granddaughters, Cassie and Josie, are in Fairfax.  Lynne is no stranger to travel, some for pleasure, some for lecturing and consulting—she has been to all the continents except Antarctica, but still dreams of cruising there.  Her most exciting trips have been to Kathmandu, Abu Dhabi, and the USSR (where she actually accosted Soviet police; but that is a story for another time).  She loves sailing, kayaking, walking, swimming, supporting liberal politics, attending live theater and concerts, and volunteering for social organizations.  Lynne looks forward to a time when she can attend a class reunion, but for now would love to have a mini-reunion with classmates in the D.C. area; just get in touch with her.

Featured Classmate:  Mark Glickman

        

Mark Glickman recently moved to Orlando, Florida to be close to Jeff, who is both Mark’s son and best friend, and Jeff’s family, including grandson, Zack, who like his grandfather, loves baseball and hockey.  Mark earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  He went to work for J.C. Penney out of college, but soon left to become a partner with a St. Louis textiles agent.  In 1973, Mark jumped at an opportunity to move to Miami, where he started his own textile and trimming firm.  He has lived in Florida and owned his own business ever since.  Between Miami and Orlando, Mark lived in Davie, Florida, where he hosted a class mini-reunion in January 2009.  Mark loves to travel, especially to Italy, where he and his wife, Jean, go every other year.  Mark also travels on business to Columbia, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic.  He is still an avid sports fan and has taken up swimming to take the pressure off bad knees, which have confined him to being a spectator for most sports.  Mark is an active member of the class Yahoo! Group and can offer insights in Spanish when appropriate.  Although Mark has lived in Florida for so long, he is still a prominent member of the Cardinals nation and would be glad to talk Cardinal baseball with anyone who will join him.

Featured Classmate:  Nina Brewer

        

Nina Brewer lives in St. Louis and has done so several times.  In between, she has lived all over the country, in Brazil, and on a special ship.  While still in high school, Nina began her long history of helping others, participating in numerous service projects through the Girl Scouts.  After taking the one-semester psychology course offered at U City, she volunteered to be a candy-striper at St. Louis State Hospital, convincing the volunteer coordinator to accept her, even though she was not yet the required 16 years old.  Nina earned her degree from St. Louis University, double-majoring in psychology and special education.  While at SLU, she worked part-time as a receptionist at a nearby convent and traveled to rural Mexico to do projects for the American Field Service.  Nina joined the Peace Corps after college, adding Portuguese to her language skills and went to Brazil to teach public health in small communities.  She also worked at a maternity hospital and became a mid-wife and surgical nurse.  When Nina returned to St. Louis, she became a special education teacher in Wentzville.  A Peace Corps friend recruited Nina away from teaching to become a crew member of the hospital ship HOPE, where she returned to Brazil as Director of the Shore Clinic.  Nina returned to St. Louis for a short time before moving to Albuquerque to help a friend who was ill.  While there, she worked for the State, met and married her husband, earned her Master’s degree, and began work on her Doctorate.  She and her husband subsequently moved to Washington, D.C., Alameda, California, and back to Albuquerque.  Through this period, Nina worked as a Project Director at Goodwill Industries, a Clinical Program Manager at a residential brain injury facility, and a training specialist for a rehab business.  In 2001, Nina suffered a minor stroke, retired on disability, and moved back to St. Louis to be closer to a family support system.  Since then, she has struggled with a series of medical issues, but has maintained an indomitable spirit and good humor.  She still spends her time helping others—volunteering at a downtown soup kitchen and at other places where there are people in need.  She also helps classmate Barbara Romero in her picture framing business.

Featured Classmate:  Ron Unell

        

Ron Unell retired in 2008 from a long and successful career as a Certified Public Accountant.  After earning his degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Ron began working with a Big-8 firm, but soon decided corporate politics were not for him.  He moved to a smaller firm, but soon decided working for someone else was not for him.  Ron hung out his own shingle and grew his firm for 30 years; enjoying and nurturing the personal relationships he built with his clients, some of whom were high school classmates.  Ron continues to support the firm’s partners, providing consulting advice, but the bulk of his time is spent in non-business retirement pursuits.  Ron is an avid Cardinals fan, attending as many games each year as he can.  He is a prolific reader; mostly using his Kindle e-book reader.  He has three passions, however, that he pursues most intently.  One is playing golf, which he has done seemingly all of his life, following in his father’s footsteps.  Ron is also passionate about children and has recently joined the Board of Directors of the St. Louis non-profit “Caring for Kids.”  Ron is married to his third and greatest passion, classmate Elaine Levin Unell, who joins him at Cardinals games, on the golf course, and at frequent social activities with friends and family.  Ron’s son, Aaron, lives in St. Louis and with wife, Gwen, has blessed Ron with two grandchildren, Sallie and Lindy.  Ron’s daughter, Amy, lives and works in Chicago.  Ron is also a great father to Elaine’s daughters, Angela and Robin.  Family, friends, golf, children, grandchildren, Cardinals—Ron Unell.

Featured Classmate:  Marsha Weltman Field
In Memoriam

        

When Marsha Weltman Field passed away in February 2009, she had created a legacy of family, friends, and caring.  Marsha earned a Master’s of Arts in Education from Washington University, a second Master’s in Dance/Movement Therapy from the University of California at Los Angeles, and her PhD in Psychology from the University of Southern California.  After working as a dance/movement therapist at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, Marsha opened a private practice.  Former patients attended Marsha’s funeral and could not tell the family enough about how Marsha had helped them through tough times, changing the course of their lives.  Marsha and her husband, Mick, a self-employed computer programmer, have a daughter, Jennifer, who is studying at the University of Michigan and is planning to spend next semester in Perth, Australia.  Jennifer fondly remembers her mom as a completely self-sacrificing mother.  As examples, Marsha initiated a book fair at Jennifer’s elementary school that continues to be an annual event—run just as Marsha had originally organized it.  She also organized a college fair at Jennifer’s high school and grew it to the point it needed to be held in the city’s civic center instead of at the school.  Marsha also meant so much to her classmates, with whom she reconnected, after attending our U City ‘64 class 40th reunion.  Marsha joined high school classmates on the West Coast, who hosted dinners in each others’ homes.  The dinner mates recall how events at her home were a reflection of Marsha herself, elegant, yet relaxed, and full of laughter and great conversation. Although there is a hole in Mick’s, Jennifer’s, her friend’s and classmate’s, and her patient’s lives, Marsha left behind a legacy of family, friends, and caring. 

Featured Classmates: Dee Leabman and Lenny Koblenz
A Valentine's Day Love Story

                

Dee Leabman and Lenny Koblenz were early childhood neighbors and classmates at Hawthorne School.  Lenny’s crush on Dee began in the third grade.  They moved on to Brittany, then U. City High together, but shared only a couple of classes.  Dee transferred to Ladue during her junior year, and Dee and Lenny did not see each other again until U City ‘64’s 30-year reunion.  Lenny began college at the University of Missouri at Rolla; served in Korea during the Vietnam era; returned to marry; became a father; finished his degree at the University of Houston; earned his CPA certification; joined Mensa; and founded his own CPA firm.  Dee went to Drake; married; became a mother and avid volunteer; was named one of the Top 10 Young Women in her community; wrote featured stories for the Columbia Daily Tribune; returned to Mizzou to earn her degree as a 35-year-old single mom; became Assistant Director of Alumni Relations; and years later, became the Fairbanks, Alaska Director for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.  Although Dee and Lenny casually saw each other at high school reunions, it was a Hawthorne school friend who really brought them together.  Johnny Yonker was in Columbia and saw Dee after she had attended the 40-year reunion.  Dee was showing Johnny her reunion booklets.  When he saw Lenny’s photo, Johnny stated that Lenny was his best friend at Hawthorne.  Dee asked Johnny to call Lenny and, with her listening on the extension phone, Johnny asked Lenny if he remembered Dee.  Lenny replied, “The first love of my life!”  Thus, with Lenny in Houston and Dee in Columbia, they began a daily multiple hour phone calls filled with memories, laughter, and new love.  They met in St. Louis exactly two weeks later, June 30, 2005, for their first-ever real date (having shared their first kiss at  Hawthorne), and 12 hours later, while saying goodbye, Lenny suddenly began laughing.  Quite embarrassed, Dee asked him why, and he said, “I’m making out with Dee Leabman!  I wanted to do that 50 years ago!”  Dee visited Lenny in Houston four weeks later for her birthday, and during the visit, Lenny surprised Dee with a drop-to-one-knee proposal.  On December 10, 2005, as his son and her two sons stood with them, these two childhood friends and classmates became husband and wife, married by the Reverend John Yonker!  Dee and Lenny live in Houston and enjoy their sons, daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren—and each other.

Featured Classmate: Hari (Harry) Bunn

        

  
Harry Bunn earned his BA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, with a major in accounting and worked as a CPA in a St. Louis firm and for a Kansas City CPA firm for about a year, during which time he took 30 hours toward a Fine Arts degree.  Harry spent three years in the military, including one in Vietnam.  He continued in private industry, working as a CPA for a freight company.  From there, he began working for the Federal Government as an internal auditor for the IRS, then on to stints with the US Army at Fort Riley and the US Finance and Accounting Center.  He transferred to US Customs in 1985 and retired from US Customs and Border Protection in May 2007 after 35 years of Federal service—he had been their  Chief of Payroll and then Chief of Travel at the time of his retirement.  When Harry retired, he and his wife, Marsha (U City ’67; sister of our classmate, Helene London), lived in Indianapolis.  They have a son, Brian, a daughter, Jessica, and a miniature Schnauzer, Gus.  Since Harry retired, Marsha and he moved to Sedona, Arizona, where Harry has started his own business as a Medium/Clairvoyant, in which he does readings, numerology charts, and flame messages, as well as providing Vortex tours (www.hari-medium.com).  He has also changed his name to Hari.  Hari became interested in numerology, Astrology, and the I Ching when he was in college.  In the mid-1990s, he began seriously considering becoming a medium/psychic and spiritual advisor when having a conversation with a clairvoyant friend.  In Sedona, Hari continues his hobbies of bowling and oil painting, but has added hiking to his interests list.  He has also applied to be a volunteer policeman with the Sedona Police Department.

Featured Classmate:  Barry Levin

        

Barry Levin currently lives in Virginia, but since leaving University City, he has lived and worked far and wide.  Barry began playing guitar in high school, thanks to Alan Resnick, and spent time in Los Angeles with the goal of becoming a “rock star,” before returning to St. Louis to earn his BA and MA, majoring in British History, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  Barry also met his wife, Marcia, at UMSL.  Their first date was at Bob Kuban’s nightclub because Kuban had asked Barry to join his band—Barry was one of Kuban’s “In-Men” for two years.  In 1976, Barry took the State Department Foreign Service Exam, moved to Washington DC, and started his career as a diplomat.  He has had assignments in Tokyo, Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, New Delhi, London, the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, Athens, and Paris.  Along the way, Barry also worked at the Pentagon and is currently the State Department Chair at the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia.  Barry reports that he almost flunked French at U City, but now speaks varying degrees of Japanese, Thai, Serbo-Croatian, French, and Greek.  While in Thailand, Marcia and Barry adopted a baby girl, then a toddler boy in Yugoslavia.  Shortly thereafter, Marcia became pregnant, and they had a red-haired son.  Barry says his family, which now includes a five-year-old grandson, looks like the United Nations.  Barry looks forward to retirement to devote more time to family, friends, and hobbies, which include piano lessons and learning Spanish.  He has continued to play guitar in bands where he has lived throughout the world and is still in close contact with Alan Resnick, with whom he argues regularly about politics and music via the internet.

Featured Classmate:  Rick Patterson

        

Rick Patterson built a life out of a tragedy.  On December 26, 1969, Rick was the co-pilot on a crew in Vietnam delivering ammunition to an army Special Forces camp.  During landing, they took ground fire and the pilot was hit and disabled.  Rick took the yoke and attempted to land the disabled plane, but the engines would not respond.  The crash killed two fellow crewmen and pinned Rick under the plane.  A helicopter, diverted to the scene, lifted the plane—Rick was rescued and taken to a hospital in Vietnam where a top-notch neurosurgeon removed pieces of his skull from his brain.  Rick spent a lot of time in hospitals in both Japan and the US recovering.  Rick had earned his BS in Electrical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy before going on active duty.  He returned to the States, stayed in the Air Force, and earned his MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico.  Rick served in Brunssum, The Netherlands and Wiesbaden, Germany; retiring in 1988.  He worked for a number of firms before starting his own consulting company, RJP Consultants, Ltd to manage the design and installation of commercial and government information systems projects and programs.  Rick and his wife, Antoinette, were married in Amsterdam in 1981, and now live near Winchester, Virginia.   Rick loves to travel, considers himself “almost a computer geek,” and is a fireman for the Stephens City (Virginia) Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company. 

Featured Classmate:  Ed Friedman

        

Eddie Friedman attended UMSL and Drake before receiving his Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts from Washington University.  Eddie then married, moved to Chicago, where he still lives, worked in a full time day job at Blue Cross Blue Shield, and attended the John Marshall Law School evening division. When he earned his law degree, Eddie was awarded the West Publishing Prize for attaining the best grades for all John Marshall law students in the senior year day and evening combined.  Eddie has had a varied career, working as an Assistant State Attorney, running a private law practice, working as an Insurance Claims Adjustor, being a Chief Financial Officer of a major manufacturing company, starting his own Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Service, and qualifying as a Quickbooks 11 Pro Advisor, advising those who need help with the software.  In 2002, Ed took two years off of work to become a full-time Caregiver for his daughter, Jenny, who became ill with congestive heart failure. After Jenny passed away, Ed wrote a book about her life, I Can Help You! The Jenny Friedman Story.  The inspirational book can be found at www.cafepress.com (key words “Jenny Friedman”).  Eddie is involved and supportive of the charitable foundation that friends organized to honor Jenny—Jenny B. Friedman, Foundation, Inc. (JBFF), whose mission is to help people with special needs become the best they can be.   The Foundation makes spot grants to individuals for immediate needs, and on a larger scale is negotiating purchase of a 40-bed building to become the JBFF Residential Facility. You can help by donating at www.jennyfriedmanfoundation.org.  In the evenings, Eddie learns Talmud with Rabbi Shia Keller and is looking forward to the huge party to celebrate the seven and a half year “Daf,” the completion of the cycle of Talmud study, to be held in Giant's Stadium.  Eddie’s philosophy is, “The best is yet to come; and a smile costs nothing!”

Featured Classmate:  Arleen Inger
In Memoriam

                  

Arleen Inger earned her Accounting Degree from Xavier University and went on to a career in finance.  She was the Director of Finance at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati and then the Chief Financial Officer for the Association of Quality and Participation.  Through these jobs, Arleen developed a deep expertise in not-for-profit finances and eventually began her own consulting firm, H.I.E Consulting.  H.I.E. stands for Hannah, Isabella, and Evan, her three cherished grandchildren.  She also cherished Bob Nave, her life partner, who was the keyboardist for The Lemon Pipers and, thereby, owner of a gold record for “Green Tambourine.”   When not working or being with her daughter, Lauren, and her grandchildren, Arleen loved and was good at needlepoint, knitting, and crocheting; frequently making clothes for Lauren and for Hannah, Isabella, and Evan.  Arleen also volunteered for her political candidates and was active with Peter Block’s “A Small Group,” committed to creating conversations among disparate groups to help restore and reconcile Cincinnati.  Arleen was dedicated to her family, including her sister Lois and brother Ivan, her friends, and her causes.  On January 11, 2009, the University City High School Class of 1964 lost our classmate, cheerleader, and friend; Lois and Ivan lost their sweet sister; Lauren lost her beloved mother; Hannah, Isabella, and Evan lost their proud “bubbe;” and Bob Nave lost his love.

Featured Classmate:  Kenny Brown

           

Kenny Brown retired as the Director of Information Technology at CH2M HILL, a leading global engineering and construction company, where he was managing a world-wide computer network and global support/ infrastructure activities.  After graduating from Mizzou with a Business degree, Kenny worked for a short time with Procter & Gamble and then owned his own businesses in the Midwest.  When he sold his last business, he and his second wife moved to Seattle.  There he went to work for CH2M HILL and worked there for 23 years, during which time he was transferred to Denver for 11 years.  Kenny then moved back to Seattle four years ago, after he retired for health reasons.  During his tenure at CH2M HILL Kenny met and married Ann, his third wife—they have been married for over 20 years.  Kenny has two stepdaughters and a grandson, Aaron.  In his retirement/disability, Kenny’s major health problems (diabetes and a leg lost to that disease) have caused him to lose neither his identity nor his positive attitude.   As Kenny wrote in the piece he contributed to Hail Hail to U City High, “…although I lost my leg, they did not get either my soul nor spirit.”  Kenny is busy writing, reading, and working on his computer.  He is also busy with the very time-consuming management of his diabetes.  He will forever be thankful to Ann for being his “angel” during his year-long transition of learning to live with only one leg.  Kenny also wrote, “…the human spirit can endure and adjust to almost anything.  You have to laugh at your own situation, as laughter heals the heart as well as the body…you must persevere, even if the journey is long and hard.”  And, Kenny HAS persevered!  Although Kenny is retired from his primary career, it is clear that he is now a teacher from whom we all can learn.

Featured Classmate:  Jim Katzman

        

Jim Katzman may be the earliest classmate retiree (1993), and Jim’s retirement life has been full and fulfilling.  He has served on a number of non-profit Boards and has presided over several: Hospice of the Valley, Congregation Shir Hadash, and University of California-Santa Cruz Dean’s Council.  Jim loves playing the piano and does so every day, plays golf as often as he can, and is into Alpine Skiing, made convenient from his second home at Deer Valley resort in Park City, Utah.  Jim continues a longtime interest in astronomy, has worked with some of the top astrophysicists in the world, and, with his wife, Sylvia (Blitz, U City ’65), has sponsored the Katzman Automated Imaging Telescope atop Mount Hamilton in San Jose.  Sylvia and Jim, who live in Saratoga, California, are also active investors in the production of Broadway plays including In the Heights, The Color Purple and Legally Blonde-The Musical.  Jim earned his diverse retirement life through hard work, innovation, and business sense.  He received his BS-Electrical Engineering from Purdue and his MS-Electrical Engineering from Stanford.  Jim went on to a career in computer design, being one of the principle architects for Hewlett Packard and Amdahl computers.  In 1974, Jim co-founded and became Vice-President of Engineering for Tandem Computers, helping lead Tandem, in only their seventh year, to the Fortune 500.  Jim then moved on to join a venture capital firm, where he focused on investing in high tech companies, sitting on many of their Boards of Directors.  Among the companies Jim was involved with before they went public were Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Google, and TIVO.  Despite Jim’s impressive career and his active retirement, his favorite activity is hanging around with their “kids,” who are both getting their MBA’s at the University of Michigan.

Featured Classmate:  Irene Goldschmidt Mescheloff

            

Irene Goldschmidt Mescheloff and her husband, David, a university lecturer and rabbi, live in Moshav Hemed, an Israeli community of 120 families (about to almost double) five miles from Tel Aviv.  Irene, David, and their first two children made aliya six weeks before the Yom Kippur War in 1973.  The early years of their moshav life they spent raising rounds of 700 chicks from day one to egg laying, raising a flock of goats, and growing flowers and a variety of vegetables for export.  They lived on a kibbutz in the 1990s.  Irene took advantage of the free time on the kibbutz, made available by community-shared chores, to study for and earn her MSW in clinical-psychiatric social work and later a diploma in analytic psychotherapy.  Irene does her work and lives her life in Hebrew, where they know her as Adina.  She began professionally working in a government health clinic, and then moved on to directing a sheltered housing hostel for women upon their leaving psychiatric hospitalization.  Irene is now in private practice, treating primarily ultra-Orthodox women who work outside the home and have an average of six children—many of whom have 10 or more. On a lighter side, Irene spent several years as a freelance writer for English language Israeli publications.  Irene enjoys volunteering to meet new immigrants from North America at the airport when they arrive to settle in Israel.   In her spare time, Irene tries to figure out how to display the photos of her five children, their spouses, and 22 grandchildren, who live throughout the country and whom she sees as often as she can. 

Featured Classmate:  Judy Mange

        

Judy Mange has spent her adult life dedicated to helping those who are in the midst of a profound transition in their lives.  She does this because she is good at it and because, as childhood playmate, lifelong friend, and classmate, Marsha Klibansky Soshnik, says, “Judy has a heart as big as all outdoors.”  Judy earned a degree in physical therapy from Washington University and a business degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  She began her professional career as a physical therapist at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, and has stayed close to her physical therapy roots ever since; including being Director of Physical Therapy Services at Washington University and Vice-President of Regional Operations for some national rehab companies.  Along the way, Judy became interested in issues related to death and dying and started the first free-standing Hospice program in St. Louis, which later merged with the Visiting Nurse Association.  Building on her combined physical therapy and Hospice expertise, Judy later started her own business doing Geriatric Care Management.  It has become her passion to help advocate for the elderly and help assure they remain in control over their environment and their lives.  In doing this, Judy has been blessed with helping many families and friends of our class and has enjoyed reconnecting with her classmates.  In addition to working as a Geriatric Care Manager, Judy has been committed to community service and has been on the Boards of many not-for-profit organizations.  She has also been active nationally and locally in the professional organizations for care managers and physical therapy. Judy never tires of making a difference in people’s lives. 

Featured Classmate:  Robin Segal Lent

          

 Robin Segal Lent lives in Durham, New Hampshire where she teaches Composition and Creative Nonfiction at the University of New Hampshire and, before that, was the Collection Development Librarian at the UNH Library.  Robin’s three children and four stepchildren are spread around North America. She stays in close touch, especially now that she has two grandchildren, one in Savannah and one in Bangor.  Her youngest daughter is in college in Montreal. Robin not only teaches writing; she also has a number of her own writing projects in various stages of completion.  She has published a short story and a number of pieces in scholarly journals and encyclopedias.  She has also written, but not yet completed the editing, of a novel loosely based on life in a small college town—with personal experience having lived in Lewiston, Maine (home of Bates College) for four years.  She has another novel in the works as well as working on a memoir.  Robin has recently discovered the world of contemporary art quilting, has taken some workshops, and now has an enormous (and growing) stash of fabrics. Robin Segal Lent—teacher, writer, grandmother, quilter, not necessarily in that order.

Featured Classmate:  Ron Gould

        

Classmate Ronnie Gould is now Judge Ron Gould, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, appointed by President Clinton.  Ron earned a BA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania before earning his JD from the University of Michigan.  He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, then moved to Seattle to join its largest law firm.  In Seattle, Ron has been President of the Washington State Bar Association, Visiting Professor at the University of Washington School of Law, and a Board Member of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.  While still in University City, Ronnie became an Eagle Scout and has continued his passion for scouting; serving on the Executive Board of and having held several Vice President positions on the Chief Seattle Council since 1984.  Ron has received the Silver Beaver Award, the highest award a scouting council may give to a volunteer leader, and the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the National Boy Scouts of America.  In recent years, the King County Bar Association gave Ron its Professionalism Award, and the Washington State Bar Association gave him its Outstanding Jurist Award.  Ron’s pride in his awards pales to the pride he has in his children—Daniel is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Law School and is an attorney in New York City.  Rebecca is a graduate of Hampshire College, lives in Washington, and has an alternative medicine, massage, and Qigong business (www.elementalharmony.info).  While still remaining active on the bench and in his civic pursuits, Ron deals daily with multiple sclerosis, which was diagnosed in the 1990s.  He is confined to a motorized wheelchair, but dedicates himself to maintaining a full case load, continuing to be involved in his community, and enjoying Seattle with his wife, Suzanne.  As classmate and friend Tom Norman said about Ron in Hail Hail to U City High, “…you know that you are an example for any of us who are physically challenged, and in my book, a hero.”

Featured Classmate:  Janice Goldberg White

        

Janice Goldberg White lives in Saranac Lake, New York with her husband, Rabbi Kenneth White.  Jan and her family have lived in a number of locations around the country (Cincinnati, Ohio; Lincoln, Nebraska; Monroe, Louisiana; and several places in New York State), but have also spent two years living in Israel.  Their first year was spent in Kiryat Shemone (3 months) learning Hebrew and then five months in Jerusalem, where Jan volunteered  for the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, an organization for new immigrants to Israel.  The second year they returned to Israel for Kenneth to begin his rabbinic education in Jerusalem, and Jan returned to the Association for Americans and Canadians.  Jan has committed her life to her family and is proud of her two children.  Joshua has a Masters Degree in Philosophy and is hoping to make a difference in the lives of children as an elementary school teacher.  He has also given Jan a granddaughter, Ryan.  Jan’s daughter, Rachel, followed her dream of becoming an actress, moved to LA, had small parts on ER and Heroes, and decided she needed a more solid existence.  Rachel is back in school working toward her Masters in Psychology with a goal of going on to a PhD.  Through all of her travels, volunteering, and attention to her family, Jan has also found time to work as a legal secretary and assistant.  Jan stays closely connected to the class electronically and provided what, perhaps, was the simplest yet most profound statement that was included in Hail Hail to U City High.  Recognizing how our class came together to help a classmate in need, Jan shared, “We are us and we care about each other.”   Perhaps that is why Jan is looking forward to a time when she can return “home” to St. Louis.

Featured Classmate:  Stephen Kowarsky

        

Classmate Stephen Kowarsky and his wife, Jiya, live on Long Island, New York, where Steve is co-founder of and head of worldwide marketing efforts for CosmoCom, a firm that helps companies connect with their customers more efficiently.  Steve has helped CosmoCom grow from a friend’s living room business to a global leader in the field with offices around the world.  Steve is not new to the world of business startups.  After graduating with honors from Harvard, he jumped into a career in software and was the second US employee hired by Comverse Technology, an Israeli/US startup that he helped shepherd to a $300 million a year business.  Despite many hours dedicated to his career, Steve’s heart has remained with his music.  Steve composed our class of 1964 Senior Song; played his bassoon at Carnegie Hall with Brazilian pianist/composer Luiz Simas (CD of that program is available on CD Baby);  and recorded an LP called Knight of the Blue Communion with composer, blues "harp" virtuoso, and late Harvard '68 classmate, Peter Ivers in 1969, soon after their graduation.  Steve contributed to Hail Hail to U City High, albeit 45 years ago, when he wrote a sensitive race-related article for the Tom-Tom.  Steve is appropriately proud of his business career and his music, but he is most quick to share his pride in his son, David, a 2005 Harvard graduate and a freelance video producer.  Beyond his accomplishments, beyond even his music, a theme has run through Steve's life since 1973. He calls it "the journey of my heart" - his "passionate admiration" for peace "activist" Prem Rawat, expressed in Steve’s blog and in his most recent report to his Harvard class.  Steve welcomes further catching up with classmates via his Google Profile.

Featured Classmate:  Harry Ringermacher

        

Classmate Harry Ringermacher, or “Doc Harry” as some of his Mensa (joined  the "high IQ society" in 1981) friends know him, moved to the United States at age two from a displaced persons camp near Ulm, Germany, the birthplace of his hero, Albert Einstein.  Both of Harry’s parents were holocaust survivors.  Ignoring the advice of his U City High School guidance counselor to pursue clerical work, he instead pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Physics at Washington University.  Harry began an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, from which he was recruited by West Point faculty, as a U.S. Army draftee, to join a military research team.  After an honorable discharge, Harry resumed his graduate studies at Washington University, where he earned his PhD in physics in 1980. He went on to do a post doctoral fellowship at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.  In 1981, Harry joined the United Technologies Research Center where he worked until he was recruited away by General Electric in 1997 and continues to work at the GE Research Center in Schenectady, NY, conducting research in laser technology and infrared imaging.  Harry has nearly 100 publications in his area of research as well as in the fields of General Relativity and Astrophysics and a dozen patents.  He speaks frequently at regional and national Mensa events and is the only Mensan (of 55,000 members) to have received two American Mensa “Copper Black Awards” for creative achievement; in 2003 and 2007.  Harry has a son, Jeremy, and daughter, Jennifer.  Contrary to his expectations, his daughter is the computer scientist while his son is the artist.  These days his passions include enjoying life near Schenectady, New York with his wife, Judy, maintaining his observatory where he does astrophotography, playing bluegrass banjo, working on general relativity and astrophysics problems, and sipping an occasional margarita, while their Shiba Inu,  “Uncas” and bobtail cat “Tail“ provide endless entertainment.

Featured Classmate:  Richard Gimpelson

         

Dr. Richard Gimpelson is a respected obstetrician/gynecologist with a curriculum vitae that is 43 pages long, filled with authorship of papers, speaking engagements, professional affiliations, clinical investigations, patents for the invention of medical implements, faculty appointments, book and other professional publications, and even awards for submissions of medical humor, including having collaborated with an artist to publish four medical cartoons.  Richard’s honors include a term as the President of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists.  Although he has taught on university faculties and in innumerable seminars, perhaps Richard’s greatest lesson was for his classmates.  In 2003, he suffered a life-threatening heart attack.  Richard significantly changed his life habits, lost nearly 100 pounds, began exercising daily, and shared his experience with classmates for our consideration.  Along with his professional accomplishments and his fitness routine, Richard finds time to engage in community service and has even mounted campaigns for the US Senate and House of Representatives.  Richard lives in St. Louis with Nancy, his wife of nearly 35 years.  Richard and Nancy enjoy their children and granddaughter, Charlotte Jane, although she lives far away in Missoula, Montana.

Featured Classmate:  Ted Gest

        

Ted Gest has had a long and respected journalism career.  He received his undergraduate degree from Oberlin College before earning his Masters from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.  Ted returned to his native St. Louis to begin his career as a reporter and editor for the Post-Dispatch.  He then moved on to a 23-year career at U.S. News & World Report, where he covered the White House, Justice Department, Supreme Court and legal/justice news.  In 1997, Ted co-founded and is now the President of Criminal Justice Journalists, a national organization associated with the University of Pennsylvania and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.  In 2001, Oxford University Press published Ted’s book, Crime and Politics: Big Government’s Erratic Campaign for Law and Order.  Ted is currently a Distinguished Senior Scholar at the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College, where he helps run http://thecrimereport.org.  In his spare time, Ted pursues his passion for Scrabble, competing in experts tournaments around the country and gets to a major league baseball game in Washington and Baltimore as often as possible.  Ted lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Kathy, who is a communications director for the National Democratic Institute, an international democracy-building organization.  Their son, David, a law student at Columbia University, and his wife, Kira, a student at Mt. Sinai Medical School, have given Ted and Kathy a granddaughter, Maya, one year old.

Featured Classmate:  John "Jackie" Mercurio
In Memoriam

                 

It is not surprising that John “Jackie” Mercurio’s obituary highlighted him being an avid baseball fan his whole life, nor is it surprising that his children’s fond memories include Jackie taking them to Cardinals games as they were growing up and then them taking him more recently.  Jackie was our shortstop and point guard and his yearbook quip was so appropriate—“There was ease in Jackie’s manner as he stepped into his place.  There was pride in Jackie’s bearing, and a smile lit Jackie’s face.”  Jackie was drafted into the military right after high school and was stationed in Korea, where he taught locals to speak English and Korean children to play baseball.  He also continued to play the game, but did not make the base team, as he was cut from the roster by Coach Lou Piniella.  After his discharge, Jackie spent most of his working career managing warehouses and doing building maintenance.  He had a broad range of interests—he coached his children’s sports teams; was an avid model train enthusiast; fancied himself a gourmet cook (his children agree and fondly remember the Christmas tradition of shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta); was an accomplished, yet informal, artist; loved music and the gadgets that played it; and, most of all, loved his children (Michelle, Melanie, Tiffany, and Jake).  When the new Busch Stadium was being built, Jackie’s children honored him with a father’s day gift of a brick-paver that will forever be on the sidewalk outside the stadium.  It reads, “Father, Coach, Fan and Friend Jack Mercurio.”  The same saying graces the top of Jackie’s cremation urn.  Jack Mercurio died of a heart attack on July 2, 2009.  

Featured Classmate:  Sue Corman Slater

        

Sue Corman Slater, who lives in St. Louis, with her husband, Larry, is one of the classmates who did not actually graduate with us, but we are proud she is still closely connected.  Sue moved to and graduated from a neighboring school district, but her heart has always been with U City ’64.  Sue earned degrees in court reporting, marketing, and social work, before beginning her career.  Sue currently plans destination weddings, working closely with whom she refers to as “my brides.”  Sue also escorts groups of up to 100 visually impaired persons on cruises and Caribbean vacations.  As challenging as her work sounds, add the fact that Sue, herself, is blind.  She was born with a hereditary eye disease, lost her sight over time, and has been totally blind since 35.  Sue not only spends ten hours each day working with her brides; she also has a long list of hobbies and interests, including listening to mystery and suspense books and to music, going to trivia contests, doing recreational travel (Sue has been on 23 cruises, including the class cruise), and visiting old mansions and museums.  Both of her children graduated from U City.  Chelsy is as student in St. Louis, and Sean is an actuary, who lives in San Antonio with his wife and their son, Logan, the love of Sue’s life.

Featured Classmate:  Ronna Katz Levy

        

Ronna Katz Levy and her husband, Gary, live in Deerfield, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, but escape during the winter to be snowbirds in Delray Beach, Florida.  At the time of our 40-year reunion, Ronna described herself as a "professional consumer."  Since then, her life has totally changed.  The lovely young lady gracing the recent photo with Ronna is her daughter, Angie, who tragically lost a nine-year battle with breast cancer in 2008, at age 36.  Ronna, inspired by Angie's courage, has since dedicated herself to making a difference for others.  Ronna actively supports an organization called, "Angie's Spa," which was founded in Angie's memory.  It provides free spa services to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.  The organization goal is to "open Angie's Spa programs at cancer facilities throughout the country to provide a silver lining on an otherwise dark and cloudy chemo day."  (visit www.angiesspa.org)  Ronna has also become membership chairperson for the Cancer Unit organization in her Delray Beach community.  In addition, Ronna dedicates herself to her son, Todd, and his wife, Dana, who have given Ronna two "glorious" granddaughters, the lights of her life.  While Ronna has not attended class reunions because of personal and family conflicts with each one, she has remained interested in the class and looks forward to reconnecting with and hearing from classmates. 

Featured Classmate:  Donna Heicher Conom

        

Dr. Donna Heicher Conom is a neonatologist, who has been working 24-hour shifts for 30 years saving the lives of premature infants.  Yet, Donna says her best accomplishment is her family.  She and husband, former Chief of Police and pilot, Tom, live in Monte Sereno, California.  They are proud of their children; Stavros, who is in the computer industry, and Christa, who is working toward her Masters in Nursing and coaching college volleyball teams, having played herself.  Donna always valued education and many classmates remember her mother, who was a fifth-grade teacher at Daniel Boone.  Donna did her premed at Drake, finishing in only three years.  She was one of only four women in her class at the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine, going on to become the Chief Resident in Pediatrics at the Kaukeolani Children’s Hospital in Honolulu.  She has worked for Stanford and other hospitals, but highly values the fulfillment of private practice.  While managing her private neonatology practice, Donna has also found the time to be involved in medical politics.  She was the first woman president in the then 152-year history of the Santa Clara County Medical Association and served on the California Governor’s Task Force on Managed Care.  She is widely published in her field and has become an acknowledged expert in the ethical issues involved.  Classmates knew Donna as an excellent flautist, and she has played with the San Jose Gilbert and Sullivan Society Orchestra.  She and Tom have a condo in Hawaii, near Kona, but do not get there as often as they would like.

Featured Classmate:  Marshall Faintich

        

Marshall Faintich and his wife, Alice, live in the bucolic Wintergreen Resort community in Nellysford, VA, where he takes full advantage of the surrounding nature to pursue his wildlife photography hobby.  Marshall’s new book, A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Wintergreen, will be available in mid-November.  Details are available at his web site www.symbolicmessengers.com, which he created to share another of his passions, ancient and medieval coins—this hobby led to more than 15 years of research for his first book, Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins.  Marshall earned his undergraduate degree in 3-1/2 years from the University of Missouri-Rolla before moving on to the University of Illinois, where he earned his MS and PhD in Astronomy (orbital mechanics), with minors in math and physics—finishing his PhD work before the age of 24.  Marshall’s career was no less exemplary—he worked on the early stages of GPS development, was Chief of Advanced Technology at the Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center, worked with several NASA astronauts, co-founded a company that developed Google Earth-like visuals a decade before Google’s version, and was involved in many other high-technology projects for both private industry and the government.  Marshall’s work led to his publishing a multitude of articles and papers throughout his career.  In retirement, Marshall has pursued his hobbies as well as teaching digital photography, staying closely connected to his three sons as well as his two stepsons, and being a grandfather.

Featured Classmate:  Anne O'Brien

        

Since graduation, Anne O’Brien has traveled and lived far and wide, and, for a time, was a “lost Indian” to the reunion planning committee.  She had, however, never lost contact with best-friend, classmate Arleen Inger.  Anne traveled to Europe in 1970, where she met and married a Scotsman and stayed in Scotland to live and teach.  That was only the beginning of her wanderlust and teaching passion.  Over the years she has traveled extensively and lived in Spain, Greece, Chicago, Las Vegas, Bodega Bay (California), St. Louis, and Sebastopol (California)—developing many close personal relationships along the way.  She has also followed her passion for teaching; leading to Anne, at one time, owning and operating a Montessori Pre-School and Kindergarten in Sebastopol.  She has now settled down to be near her children, David and Julia, who are doing well.  Ann is busy operating her own counseling and educational center (“Insights Learning Center”) for physically and educationally challenged children, pre-school through college; working as the Education Coordinator of The Children’s Village, a new foster care concept; and riding and working her horse, Breezy, on a daily basis.  Anne is not so busy, however, to think of her friend, Arleen Inger, who we lost earlier this year.  We all miss Arleen—perhaps Anne misses her most.

Featured Classmate:  Kelley Moseley

        

Kelley Moseley lives in Houston, Texas, where he says, “It is Hot and Wet and then Wet and Hot.  But you can play golf in January in shorts.”  Kelley not only plays golf—he is also a triathlete.  Kelley went on from University City to attain his Masters in Hospital Administration and his PhD in Public Health.  He then entered a career in Health Care Administration, while also serving as a consultant and educator along the way.  Kelley has worked for the Indian Health Service, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the World Bank.  His work has taken him to Europe, Egypt, South America, and the Caribbean.  Kelley is now Professor and Director of the Texas Woman’s University Health Care Administration Program.  Kelley is thankful for having transferred to U City for his junior year, after previously attending two other high schools.  He is convinced that it was the faculty, fellow students, and culture, along with his parents, that gave him the “right tools and skills to succeed.”  Kelley also believes his sports experience at U City taught him long-lasting lessons—“every person on a team makes a contribution and every member of that team must study and practice hard.”

Featured Classmate:  Mickey Leon Sandmel

        

Mickey Leon Sandmel and her husband, Shelley (U City ’59) live in Chesterfield, Missouri, where Mickey may be one of the busiest people we know.  She goes through life doing what she calls “big things,” with a dedication to family, education, and our class.  Mickey’s valuing of education has shown up in many ways.  She persisted over 11 years, while working full or part time, to earn her Sociology degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  Her education included a stint at Kansas State when Shelley and she moved to Ft. Riley while he was in the service.  She continued to work part time (sometimes three or four part time jobs at a time) over the years while rearing three highly educated and accomplished children, volunteering as an ESL teacher, attaining a teaching certificate so she could be a substitute teacher, studying Hebrew to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah in her 50s, taking every additional class she could find time for, and, by the way, leading the planning of all but our first every-decade class reunions.  While Mickey has faced some serious health challenges over the years, she has managed them the same way she manages the rest of her life—with the philosophy, “Nothing’s stopping me.”  Mickey’s extended personal profile can be found in the “Characters” chapter of Hail Hail to U City High.

Featured Classmate:  Karen Paulsen Bauch

        

While Karen Paulsen Bauch lives over 1000 miles and a country away from St. Louis, she stays very close to our University City High School Class of 1964.  Karen and her husband, Richard, live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where they are each in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.  Karen plays the violin—Richard the viola.  Together with their two children, Kristina (violin) and Jonathan (cello), they are the Bauch String Quartet, which performs as often as possible. Karen is a thoughtful participant in the class Yahoo! Group and, while it is much more difficult, seeks out ways to connect with classmates.  She learned that classmate Don Platt and his wife and son were passing through Winnipeg, so she invited the Platts for supper and, even though they didn’t even know each other in high school, Karen reported, “We had so much fun.”  Karen and Richard planned a vacation to Florida that included seeing their daughter, Kristina, perform with her group called “Barrage.”  Search “Barrage Violin” on YouTube and look for the blond—that’s Kristina.  On their Florida vacation, Karen made arrangements to connect with classmates at a mini-reunion hosted by Mark Glickman in Davie, Florida.  Karen Paulsen Bauch—accomplished and connected.

Featured Classmate:  Steve Novack

        

Steve Novack’s quip from the yearbook was “U. City’s spirit of cooperation through competitiveness and amiability.”  That phrase has defined Steve’s life.  He was a great competitor and teammate through high school basketball and baseball, then on into playing college basketball at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  He then went on to earn his Law Degree from Northwestern (magna cum laude) and has developed a successful career as an attorney.  He is a founding partner of the Chicago law firm of Novack and Macey, which the Chicago Tribune called, “A high-powered litigation boutique,” and which the National Law Journal described as “a law firm’s law firm.”  Steve lives in Glencoe, Illinois with childhood sweetheart, classmate, and wife, Ilene Weinstein Novack.  Steve and Ilene have four children and six grandchildren.  They have a second home in Frisco, Colorado, where they hosted a class mini-reunion in July 2008, with classmates Marc Golubock, Marc Tenzer, Alan Spector and their spouses.  Steve also showed his continuing connection to U City High when he organized a reunion of the school’s 1963 state championship baseball team, which was held the same weekend as our class 30-year reunion. 

Featured Classmate:  Michele (Shellie) Klevens Ritterman

        

Dr. Michele (Shellie) Klevens Ritterman is an innovative psychotherapist, writer, and lecturer living in Berkeley, California.  As an example of her creativity and the respect she commands within her profession, Shellie pioneered the integration of hypnosis and family therapy and has trained thousands of psychotherapists on her approach to working with couples and families.  Shellie wrote her first book in 1983, Using Hypnosis in Family Therapy, and has gone on to write two more.  Her second book is about human rights, dignity, and social justice—Hope Under Siege:  Terror and Family Support in Chile; foreword written by Isabel Allende.  Her third is The Tao of a Woman, a book Shellie describes as “…helping the reader shift from a troubled to a useful state of mind.”  Her three books were also published in Spanish and Italian, German, and Spanish, respectively.   Shellie is understandably proud of her children, her daughter, Miranda, is a doctoral candidate in Public Health at UC Berkley and her son, Judah, is getting his degree in sound technology while also singing spiritual music in synagogues across the country.  In her spare time, Shellie is pursuing a singing hobby (search Michele Ritterman on YouTube).  Learn more about Shellie and her work at www.micheleritterman.com.  Though longer ago, Shellie co-authored, with classmate Judy Fortus Growe, a poem that graced the final page of the Dial, the yearbook for the University City High School Class of 1964.  Shellie and Judy agreed for the poem, entitled "Care for the World," to also grace the final pages of Hail Hail to U City High.  

Featured Classmate:  Jill Friedman Chapin

        

Jill Friedman Chapin lives in Santa Monica, California and is a retired middle school guidance assistant.  Jill is a social observer and writer.  While a guidance assistant, she authored a bilingual book entitled If You Have Kids, Then Be A Parent!   She has also written My Magic Bubble, a children’s book to help young people deal with bullying, and co-authored Fly on the Wall (yet to be published).  Jill regularly applies her skills as social observer and commentator as she writes for The Fog City Journal.  She contributed one of her earlier articles to Hail Hail to U City High.  “A Classic, Classy, Class Reunion” revealed how and why many of our classmates enjoy being so closely connected.  Jill is also happily connected to Terry, her terrific husband of nearly 40 years, her daughter and son-in-law, who are consistently entertaining and just about the nicest people she knows, and her two granddaughters, who light up her life.

Featured Classmate:  Joanna Slotkin Baymiller

        

Joanna Slotkin Baymiller has lived in Minnesota and Manhattan for equal periods since graduating from Washington University in St. Louis.  She works in New York three days a week, but has loved living in the historic New England village (replete with Town Green) of Guilford, Ct.  for the past four years, even though it has meant a really long commute.  On her business days in New York, she is Minister of Propaganda (aka Vice-President of Strategic Planning)  for a theater design and planning firm where she has worked for 20 years. As a writer and critic for over 25 years, she has contributed to a dozen magazines and newspapers, writing principally on architecture and design.  A '15 minutes of fame' moment came when Joanna's story, "Carpe Diem" was read in front of a live audience at "Selected Shorts" in New York, and later broadcast on NPR.  Joanna was a   contributor to Hail Hail to U City High, authoring a profile of now 100-year old former teacher, Miss Wanda Bowers, whom she visited in 2004.   She looks forward to  writing and volunteering as she eases out of full time work,  and hopes to spend more time on her creative pursuits as well as on traveling, visiting her mother, Sylvia, who lives in St. Louis and was also a book contributor, and enjoying her relationship with life partner Robert Berkowitz and their retinue of demanding cats.

Featured Classmate:  Alan Resnick

        

Alan Resnick attended the University of Missouri-St. Louis twice, surrounding a stint in the Army and Vietnam.  But before returning to school after his discharge, Alan attended meetings and marches with a group from a local St. Louis Peace Center.  His activities there ended when the group began asking for volunteers to help Castro harvest the Cuban sugar crop.  Alan’s return to college was short-lived--he was drawn away by the urge to play his guitar in the Missouri/Illinois rock scene, which he did until his band broke up in 1974 in the face of Disco and their refusal to play “Proud Mary” at their gigs.  Alan went to work for the family of a classmate managing movie theaters, was hired away to become a District Manager for Landmark Theaters, and transferred with Landmark to Los Angeles as their District Manager there.  Alan retired in September 2008, declaring, “Happy Days are here again.”  He met his wife, Kathy, when she was a “wee lass” just out of the University of Denver.  They were together for 17 years before eloping without telling anyone.  Alan keeps himself well occupied in retirement—he loves to travel, cook, eat, see movies, read, play the guitar, garden, enjoy music, and as he says, “I get to play all the time now.”  He does view himself as having one job; however, that is to help remove some Democrats in 2010.

Featured Classmate:  Leslie Berger

        

Leslie Berger and Judy (his wife of 42 years) live in St. Louis.   He is retired from a successful sales and customer resource management career.  While, like many others, Leslie was not happy in high school, he is motivated to show those who shared his experiences how different and closely knit the Class of '64 has become.  This puts Leslie at the center of connectedness for the University City High School Class of 1964.  He initiated the Yahoo! Group that enables daily communications among classmates, planned the first annual class cruise, has been an active member of reunion planning committees, and taken leadership to plan the 45th reunion.  With Judy, Leslie also travels the country to participate in mini-reunions with classmates.  In many instances, some of these classmates were unaware of the “U. City Indians” living in their vicinity.  A large part of his day is spent keeping up with the movements of classmates and updating his database.  "I don't want to lose track of any more members of the class.  We already have about 40 lost Indians."  As dedicated as Leslie is to his classmates, he is even more committed to Judy, their two sons, wonderful daughters-in-law and soon-to-be four grandchildren.  Leslie looks forward to Judy’s retirement in 2010 so that they can spend more time together.

Featured Classmate:  Laya Firestone Seghi

        

Laya Firestone Seghi earned her BA in History and her Masters in Social from Washington University.  She now lives in Miami Beach, where she is a licensed psychotherapist.  Her professional experience includes advanced training in Jungian analysis, hypnosis, Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Psych-K, and the BodyTalk System.  As a certified BodyTalk ACCESS trainer and a provider of continuing education for other health professionals, she enjoys sharing a variety of energy medicine techniques and methods to help anyone reduce stress, improve health, and shift consciousness.  Before settling into professional life, she worked on a kibbutz in Israel, participated in the newly-founded Women’s Liberation movement in the late 60’s, and lived for several years in a log cabin where she and her husband Tom had a sustainable organic farm and animals.  She has written and published poetry and essays, in addition to translating poetry from Hebrew.  Laya was an important contributor to Hail Hail to U City High, writing a moving essay entitled "A Minority Voice," which relates her high school experiences seeking and finding a place to belong, albeit, as she describes, "out of the mainstream.”  In her spare time, Laya now enjoys swimming, sailing, yoga and dancing.  She and her husband Tom also enjoy their three children and five granddaughters, all of whom live nearby in South Florida.  See more about Laya at http://www.layaseghi.com and about her artist husband, Tom, at www.seghi.com.

Featured Classmate:  Elaine Levin Unell

        

Elaine Levin Unell lives in St. Louis with husband and classmate, Ron Unell.  In 2002, she retired from a 33-year teaching career; her last position was teaching her school’s gifted student program.  She spends her retirement time doing art work, singing (has been performing with her local group for 36 years), volunteering for Gifted Resource Council, playing golf, enjoying games and socializing with friends, and pursuing many other projects and activities.   Recently, she has focused on creating and showing pottery.    Elaine is a key figure in keeping our class connected—she regularly participates in reunion planning, co-emcees (with Ron) the reunion events, and applied her artistic talent to draw the logo for our joint class 50^th birthday party.  Elaine and Ron believe relationships are important and keep their children, grandchildren, and extensive circle of friends very close. 

Featured Classmate:  Tim Arnold

        

Tim Arnold, a 35-year ad man, moved to New York City from St. Louis 25 years ago and now resides with his wife and high school crush, Diane Gebben (U City Class of ’62; Homecoming Queen, Prettiest Senior), in Yorktown Heights.  After earning his Masters from the University of Missouri School of Journalism (where he’s a visiting lecturer), Tim spent ten years at D’Arcy Advertising, where he ran the Budweiser account and launched “This Bud’s for You.”  In New York, he’s held management and board positions for top multi-national advertising agencies, and most recently produced the notorious first Super Bowl commercial for GoDaddy.  Tim is a writer (three-year columnist for AdWeek magazine) and musician (played with Journey, performed in St. Louis and New York City clubs, and jammed on Beale Street).  Now semi-retired, Tim is currently producing a movie and marketing a syndicated television special and web series.  Tim wrote the foreword for Hail Hail to U City High and contributed other pieces to the book.  When he writes his own book, it will be titled Getting Away With It (do it long enough and it gets real).  See his website at www.possible20.com.

Featured Classmate:  Arleen White Bly

        

Arleen White Bly, who lives in St. Louis with her husband Howard, has utilized her four degrees in the field of education throughout her career to coach teachers on the best strategies and techniques for teaching reading and writing.  She is passionate about the theater, both as a performer and a member of the audience, thriving on diversity of productions.  Arleen is an avid reader of memoirs and historical fiction, a frequent traveler, and is committed to exercise, including dance.  She plans to follow her passions even more when she retires at the end of this year, including volunteering in community service to give back as much as she can.  Retirement will also give Arleen more time to follow her greatest passion–visiting, playing with, passing along wisdom to, showing pictures of, and bragging about her children and grandchildren.  Her sincere love of people can be measured by the long list who count Arleen as a close and loyal friend.  While there has never been an accounting, Arleen White Bly may have the greatest number of close friends of anyone in our class.