May/Jun 2005

Spring has finally sprung--and with it comes high season for weddings. As you'll see, we're still catching up on wedding news from last year, so if you've sent in a wedding update, please continue to watch for it in a future column. And if you've got plans to be a bride or groom in the coming months, please send in word of your event once the leftover cake is stashed in the freezer and the dust has settled on the dance floor. But first, some non-wedding updates (they do exist!).

David Hollman writes that he took 2004 off and traveled--mostly hiking--in Costa Rica, New Zealand, England, Scotland,Wales, and France, as well as San Francisco, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree National Park in California. Afterwards, Dave returned to work at Sapient and moved to London. Last summer, he saw Beckie Rawlinson, Grainne O'Neill, and others at Sharmila Murthy's wedding. Jason Friedman traveled to Portland, OR, with Seattle resident Aravind Swaminathan and other friends to run the Hood-to-Coast relay race, which stretches 197 miles from the top of Mt. Hood to the Pacific in Seaside, OR. Jason attended Adam Levine's wedding last July and caught up with former roommates Josh Sullivan and Tony Caravella. Jason notes that Tony and wife Christina are proud parents of a daughter born last summer. Barbara S. Lee, who works for UPS as an investor relations analyst in Atlanta, has kept busy traveling to London, Paris, Barcelona, Shannon, Dublin, Costa Brava, and Durham, NH, and training for marathons (she's completed two already).

Heidi Straub Henderson and her family relocated last fall to the Boston area from Jacksonville, FL, where they visited with several Pi Phis and their families, including Jeannette Brady Townsend, Amy Barbato Martin, and Heather Mulcahy '96. Heidi also recounted a reunion with ROTC families from the Class of '96, including the Stantons, Gelstons, and Chevines, as well as Eric Anderson '98 and Mark Sweeney '96. The event brought together four future Cornellians born within six months of each other.

Steven Froeschl is a chiropractor in Aquebogue, NY. Jennifer Personius-Zipoy offered a general update on major events in her life over the last few years, including obtaining an MA from the U. of Nevada, Las Vegas in August 2001, getting married in May 2004, and beginning a PhD program in sociology last September. Mark Harrahy collected an MBA from NYU and is working for Unilever HPC as a demand planning process manager in Trumbull, CT.

Rebecca Soffer married Joshua Grossman on November 13, 2004 in Waltham,MA. In attendance were many Cornellians, including classmates Amanda Berke, Cathy Heinzelman Hill, Christina Anton Benamati, Kenny '99 and Jami Gorman Schultz, John '96 and Donna Viggiano Wilson, Alanna Gelbwasser Updegraff, Tanya Axenson Macallair, Kenneth Todd, Hani Aldulaimi, and Reuben Rosof. Josh and Rebecca met as undergrads at Cornell, but lost touch after graduation, only to reconnect when Josh moved to Boston to get his MBA at Babson. Rebecca is a marketing manager at Bose Corporation, and Josh recently cofounded an online flower delivery company, Beyond Blossoms (www.beyondblossoms.com), which aims to improve on the online floral experience by offering fewer products and price points and a more elegant, minimalist interface to avoid overwhelming consumers. They live in Bedford, MA.

Jennifer Ohrenberger Holder got married last year and honeymooned in Italy. Christie Trotter Post served as maid of honor. Jennifer practices broker-dealer defense litigation in Los Angeles at Bingham McCutchen. Scott Hatherley married Stephanie Licht of Newtown, CT, last September in Westerly, RI; Brad Hopper and wife Laura attended the festivities.

Donell Hicks married Dawn Denise Rhodes at Walt Disney World on October 9, 2004. Steve Kinsey and Sama Habibi tied the knot September 10, 2004 in Morris Plains, NJ, after being introduced four years earlier by fellow Cornellian Mike Keeley '95, ME '96. A host of classmates attended the event, including Scott Christensen, MBA '04, Alex LePage, Tyler and Erika Pluhar Tatum, Amy Lyttle, Dave Grannis, Andy Miner, and Linley Grandison, MBA '97. Sean Blake checked in with news of his marriage to Lori Ponzo on November 1, 2003 in Norwich, CT. Cornellians attending included Giancarlo Zuliani, Jay Nath, Ash Jhaveri, Greg Boudewijn, Tom Arsenlis, and Matt and Kelli Stauffer.

Several classmates tied the knot last May. Cori Altshuler married Daniel Galpern in Lenox, MA. They work in NYC, where Cori is the international fashion director at Vogue and Daniel is executive vice president of Curtco Media Labs, a publishing business developer and parent company of the Robb Report publications.Maureen Connelly married Mark McGrath in NYC.Maureen and Mark collected law degrees from Fordham and both work as attorneys,Maureen at Cohen,Weiss & Simon and Mark at Kelley Drye & Warren.

Leonor Tomero married Douglas Shaw at Georgetown U. Leonore works for Washington, DC, consulting firm Liebman & Associates as a consultant on environmental protection and renewable energy. Douglas is manager of policy and issues analysis in the office of the president of Georgetown and is a doctoral candidate and international relations instructor. Thatcher Bell exchanged vows with Victoria Weil, an opera singer, in the Bronx on May 22, 2004.

Please note that in the January/February issue, we misspelled Stefan Marcus Lehmann's name. Our thanks to Stefan's partner, Jonas Karp, for pointing it out and also letting us know that Stefan is graduating from Columbia Business School this spring and plans to work as an associate at Lehman Brothers in New York after graduation.

Submit your news online! Visit http://classof97.alumni.cornell.edu/. -- Erica Broennle Nelson, ejb4@cornell.edu; Sarah Deardorff Carter, sjd5@cornell.edu.