Jul/Aug 2002

Given that you're reading this during prime wedding season, I figured I would begin with wedding news: Congratulations to Geoff Teillon, who married Anne Losey, a U. of Virginia grad, on June 16, '01, in Chappaqua, NY. The couple lives in Manhattan, where Geoff works for Pouschine Cook Capital Management, a private equity firm. Manisha Gupta (manisha-ashok@yahoo.com) got married in June 2001 in Palo Alto, CA. She planned to move to Scottsdale, AZ, after finishing up her dental residency at U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Sarah Graves Hines got hitched as well.

Richard Thoms married Allyson Crooks in Nutley, NJ. Richard is a securities trader at Lehman Brothers, while Allyson teaches second grade in Chatham. Eushiuan Tran married Eric Tsung in August 2001. Mei Lee Gallagher was a bridesmaid. Other Cornellians included Cherilyn Nadal, Mike Gaslin, Sarah Shieh, MS E '98, Hanako Tokunaga, Thai Pham, Bayan Takizawa, Payal Batra, and John Handy. The couple lives in Waltham, MA, where Eushiuan works at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

After meeting on the first day of school in Class of '18 Hall, where they lived next door to each other, Julie Williams and Darren Thomas (darren.r.thomas@us.pwcglobal.com) got married on July 21, '01 in NYC. Cornellians attending the event included Maureen Connelly, Susie Farhandi, Karyn Anderer, Tom Damratoski, Daniel MacDonald, Jennifer Williams '93, Derek Thomas '90, David Thomas Sr. '62, David Jr. '87 and Alex Murray Thomas '89, Carmen Norris, Katie Crist, Kevin Bersofsky, Molly Swift, Lauren Feinstein, Brent Wofsey, and Meghan Brasley.

Another pair of classmates, Matthew Karp and Melinda Mechur, tied the knot on Aug. 5, '01, at the Plantations. T.R. Kubach and Adam McClure, DVM '00, were groomsmen; other Cornellians at the wedding included the bride's parents, Sally Shoolman Mechur '67 and Robert Mechur '65, Nicole Beaumont '98, Carlos Rodriguez '98, Sam Youngman, Matthew Faris '98, Jim Monagle '98, Julie Pranikoff '00, Kevin Pranikoff '67, Eric Schlackman '96, Eric Stevens, and Drew Rietbergen. Cornell professors Stephen and Mary Agnes Hamilton also participated in the event. Melinda is working on a PhD in sociology and education at Columbia and doing research at the Inst. on Education and the Economy. Matt is an associate partner at Savanna Partners, a real estate private equity fund.

Staci Harris (stacidharris@yahoo.com) has worked at Citigroup in Manhattan for more than two years, most recently in the treasury group. She's seen Carly Berfas, Lisa Drayer '96, Jana Miller, Jodi Zalewitz, Danielle Grundleger, and Howie Frauwirth '96. Kathryn Wilson Friedrich (kfriedrich@foodandwine.com) and husband Robert, JD '95, moved from NYC to a home in Summit, NJ. Robert works at White & Case LLP, and Kathryn works in the advertising sales department at Food & Wine magazine. In an effort to reduce her heart rate, Nicole Cuda Perez (ncuda@yahoo.com) changed law firms last year and is enjoying her job as an associate at Spivak Lipton Watanabe Spivak & Moss in NYC, where she practices union-side labor, employment, and benefits law.

Dong Woo Kim, ME EP '99 (dongwoo17@hotmail.com) has about a year of training left at Westminster Theological Seminary near Philadelphia and has been working as a youth pastor at a local church. "It's not easy," he writes. After relocating from San Francisco, Jerad Crave (jjcrave@hotmail.com) is enjoying his time at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and is running professionally with the Greater Boston Track Club. He's seen Justin Chapman '98, Neal Gottlieb '99, Carl Gottlieb '99, Vivian Kwok '96, Aravind Swaminathan, and Rich Montgomery '99. Last year, Neeral Shah began his residency in internal medicine at George Washington U. Mineko Matsuno, ME AE '99, and Kenn Scott paid him visits from the West Coast. Chad Sparks (csdsparks@aol.com) is in medical school at the U. of Hawaii. Tawa Seabrook received a second bachelor's degree in pharmacology from SUNY-Stony Brook and was accepted to MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine on an army scholarship. Tawa has worked as a case manager and volunteered at the African American Museum of Nassau County, NY. She spent the fall 2001 semester in Manchester, England.

Heather Slowik (hls3@cornell.edu) returned to Cornell's Johnson School of Management in 2000 and was pleasantly surprised to find that nearly one-third of the Class of 2002 are former Cornell undergrads, including Christine Hewitt. Heather says attending Cornell again has been a terrific experience. Megan Fairleigh (mafairleigh@aol.com) is pursuing a master's in landscape architecture at Cal Poly Pomona and proudly notes that husband Dave is a US Marine fighter pilot who served in Afghanistan this year. In January, Megan visited Brett Prince '98, who is working for a software company, and Josh Lobel '99, who is working for an architecture firm there.

Robert Lifford (Rlifford@hotmail.com) has relocated to Austin, TX, after teaching English at a small private institute in Taejon City and a large university in Kwangju City, Korea. While overseas, he also edited English-language documents for the Korean National Statistical Office. Kim Mashak Messeri, MMH '97 (kimmesseri@hotmail.com; home.austin.rr.com/kimron) was also living in Austin, where she was working for CEO Consulting Inc. at client IMB as a Web editor/developer. Kim's done a lot of traveling in the past year, visiting Ottawa, Santa Fe, Tampa, and Minneapolis, as well as Bismark, ND, for her grandfather's 100th birthday celebration. She's attended monthly dinners at the local Cornell Club and has seen Pat Ko '91, ME E '92, the late Irwin Spear '45, BS Ag '47, and Joel Sumner '93.

Have you found yourself thinking fondly of the whirlwind that was reunion? A great way to show Cornell is in your thoughts is to pay your class dues, which helps ensure fantastic reunions in years to come. While you're at it, consider contributing to the university; you can specify whether you would like your gift to go to athletics, the libraries, our Class Scholarship, or another worthy area. Please remember that every gift counts: your contribution will help the Class of '97 continue to break participation records! Call 1-800-279-3099 or go to www.classof97.cornell.edu to give on-line.--Erica Broennle Nelson, 303 Vine St. #308, Philadelphia, PA 19106; e-mail, ejb4@cornell.edu.