Welcome to Christendom's Alumni E-Zine. If you have information that you would like to share with your fellow alumni, send it to Tom McFadden at tmcfadden@christendom.edu.

The Grapevine Online will be uploaded, depending on the amount of information sent to the editor, every month. It will have a couple of sections (when information is available), namely, Class Notes (your basic information on alumni babies, weddings, jobs, etc.), Calendar of Events, and Links to various recent stories about Christendom College and/or the Alumni of Christendom.

September 2004 edition of The Grapevine Online

Class Notes / Calendar of Events / Links to Stories / Prior issues

Click here for the NEW Print Edition - for spouses at home to read

Class notes

A picture is worth a thousand words. So, without further adieu, here is the latest from the International Man of Leisure, Marc-Pierre Jansen '02.

Collin and Andrea (Flagg '92) Stewart have now made it an even number 6 with the birth of their new daughter, Marian Zita Stewart. She was born early morning on August 18th and everyone is doing great! As you can see, the other wee Stewart's are just as elated with the new recruit. For more pictures and news on the Clan Stewart, check out the Stewart's web-log at http://clanstewart.blogspot.com.

Once again the Blackmaster of Disaster, aka Michael Blackmer '91, would like to announce that he will be returning to the land of good and plenty and will be attending Homecoming on Oct. 2, 2004. He plans to hoop it up with the youngsters at the Alumni vs Crusaders Bball game as well. Bring it on, says he.

Kirk Kuykendall '90 married Tamara Marziani (a UD graduate) in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, July 31, 2004. They are living in Irving, TX and can be reached at cufdallas@juno.com

This spring Andrew and Clare Cole went househunting and finally closed on a 2 years old 4 bedroom house on June 18, the feast of the Sacred Heart. They got moved in and unpacked just in time, for Thomas More was born a week early, on July 23, weighing in at 7 lbs., 11 oz, boasting a full head of black hair, and a well developed pair of lungs! He joins his siblings Miriam Rose, 16 months old, Joseph, 3, and Harry, age 4. The busyness goes on, for Andrew recently changed positions at his work, where he is now director of government and community relations. He is also taking over the religion program at our parish this fall, so he is definitely keeping out of trouble! As for Clare, she keeps busy chasing 3 fun-loving mischievous toddlers, and in her spare time, writes poetry celebrating motherhood (or just blowing off steam!) By the way, their new address and phone number are: 3074 Cattail Cove Lane / Burlington, KY 41005. Tel.: (859) 689-4334.

Former Computer Hacker and Christendom College Computer Services Department Assistant Nat Lloyd married alumna Mary Elizabeth (Liz) Hendricks '04 this past June 19.

Denver Schafer reports that he is now "free and single." He had spent the last year (or two) in a seminary, seeing if the priesthood was for him. Apparently, it was not.

Michael and Mary (Boever) Blum (both '03) were married this summer on June 19th, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Lincoln, Nebraska. They are living in Lincoln right now and enjoying the good life of the Midwest and Bishop Bruskwwitz. They are also very excited and blessed to be expecting their first child in early April.

To the right is a picture of Madeleine Marie Hain, at five months (she's now six months). She was born on February 23, 2004, during a hectic semester of graduate school at Notre Dame. Raymond Hain '02, her father, has now finished his first full year, passed the written doctoral comprehensive exams, and has commenced his third semester studying philosophy. The whole Hain family is enjoying South Bend, despite its lack of mountains, foothills, or bumps, and they invite anyone interested in studying at Notre Dame to send them an email at rhain@nd.edu.

Sarah Webster ('03) was married to William Vitellaro back in May and they are expecting.

Matt Coffey '03 and Patricia Thompson '04 are now married and living happily ever after. They were hitched on August 14 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lincoln, NE.

After spending about three weeks getting settled in, finding an apartment, getting furniture, buying food, etc, Maria Brake '04 had her first day of class on Monday, August 23rd. She is teaching at a high school in Illinois. She spent a considerable amount of time before-hand trying to picture herself in front of 25 high school freshmen and sophomores, teaching them theology, but she just wasn't able to do it. So when the day finally came, she decided to simply hand it all over to God, dubbing herself His humble servant, and just giving it all she had. For the most part it worked out. The first day was basically just introductions and handing out her classroom norms (not rules, they are meant to be broken) and keeping the kids in line. This was fairly easy because the freshman were just as scared as she was on the first day, so they didn't say much. She actually had to work to get anything out of them at all. The next Wednesday was her first day of real teaching, and of course the enforcement of discipline will continue on a regular basis until they figure out exactly what it is that she meant about respect and responsibility. She thanks everyone for their prayers and advice and to all those new teachers out there that will be starting teaching soon, they are in her prayers. "Just give it to God," says Maria. "If I can do it, so can you!"

Mark Schwerdt '02 and Emily Pie Syski '03 are engaged. Although you can't always believe everything you read or hear, this is actually true. They are getting married on August 20, 2005.

On September 7, David E. McBee (1983) starts a new job as a Reference Librarian with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in Washington, DC. For the past 16 years David has been on the staff of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Library. He eventually earned his Masters in Library Science from the University of Maryland in 2000. Since then he has worked as Librarian. The OCC is the agency that charters and regulates national banks. It is a division of the Department of Treasury.

The Brooklyn Rat ('98) recently arranged a little reunion of some old Christendom friends in his old neighborhood of Bay Ridge in a little town called Brooklyn. This picture was taken on Coney Island by a friendly passerby who happened to be one of New York's Bravest. From left: Chuck and Anita Shunk with kids Teresa and Damian, Katie and Dan Dancause holding Claire and Annemarie, respectively, Dominic Luckey, Chris Mirus, and the one and only Rat. As you can see, New York is happy place full of rainbows where the streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to see. And everyone's your friend in New York City.

Isabel Marie was born on August 5, 2004 to Mark and Danielle Rohlena. She weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 20 inches long. Mom, Dad and baby are all doing great!!

This is an update from John and Michelle (Dawson) Charba '88: We had our 7th baby on April 7th, 2004. His name is Josef Michael and he was 8 pounds, 1 1\2 ounces. He is our second son. David, his older brother is so happy to have a brother to go along with his five sisters! Our address has changed too--we moved to a larger house to fit our growing family! Our new address is: 1816 Allegro Dr. S.E. Olympia, WA 98501. Our phone has stayed the same: (360) 456-1504. Our children's names and ages are: Therese Marie 14 1/2 yrs, Marilyn Colleen 13 yrs, David Lawrence 10 yrs, Katrina Michelle 7 yrs, Anya Christine 5 1/2 yrs, Halyna Anezka 2 yrs, Josef Michael 4 months. Also, my sister Monica (Dawson) Brewster and family have just moved to Ft. Leavenworth, KS. (Her husband Jeff is Ann Brewster's(alumni)brother.) Are there any Christendom alumni living there, especially those who attended the college in 1985 through 87? Monica doesn't know anyone out there and it would be great if any alunmi were close. Monica and Jeff have 4 children ages 5,4,2 and 1. They will be stationed there for a year.

Quinn Beekwilder '04 and Lisa Ferri were married on July 10th in Pembroke Ontario. This celebration took place in Canada (aka the Great White North). It was a gorgeous and sunny day. Many recent Christendom Allumni attended the event. The bridesmaids included Angela Ferri, Lauren McCool, Moria Stanton, Patricia Thompson, Mary Theresa Mead and five of Lisa's sisters rounded out the bridesmaids. The Groomsmen were Glen Aitken, Joe Sayler, Marc Perrington, Bryan Hadro, Mike Eidem, Eric Wolpert, Sergio Yona, and Quinn's Borther and a Brother-in-law rounded out the Groomsmen. Everyone had a blast and good times were had by all. After a relaxing honeymoon in Hawaii, Quinn and Lisa are living a happy married life in Pembroke.

Claire Jensen '03 (pictured to the right with a member of NYS finest K-9 unit) wanted to report on her latest world traveling escapade. This time it was to the land of whiskey and men in skirts (Scotland). It was technically for business...A week later she returned to the US with a fuller understanding of why UK beer is darker than American brews and she learned how to make haggis. She is now so glad to be back in NYC for the mad GOP convention.

Ron Klassen '01 and Alex Doylend '04 were married on June 4.

Alumni Ben & Theresa (Ford) Fisher are expecting a baby boy sometime in late January, unless he decides to arrive early like his big brother Nicholas (who, at 9 mos, is doing great!!).

Recent grad Marc Perrington '04 announces that he is the Customer Service Co-ordinator at U.S. Inspect, in Chantilly, VA.In other news, he has also purchased a little pick-up truck to go fishing with!

Alumnus Chris Kopeck '90 was recently banned from all access to the alumni news and information superhighway. Due to his numerous cynical and humorous remarks to alumni newsgroup moderator Tom McFadden, all of his privileges and rights as an alumnus have been taken away and will be returned only upon his complete and utter submission to the will of McFadden.

Jennifer Coleman '04 married Brian Kelly on August 6. They are now happy as can be seen from the pic on teh right.

Jim & Michelle (McCoy '95) Hoeper are happy to announce they are expecting Baby #2 in February '05. Coincidentally, Michelle is due on her brother Greg McCoy's birthday - February 23rd (send your cards early). Cecelia (Baby #1) is 19 months old now and is beginning to suspect something. A very active and independent little girl, she suddently needs more "Mommy attention". Cecelia has a favorite movie too - "The Sound of Music". Now she runs (or, shall we say, marches as the VonTrapp children do) around the house singing phrases such as "Do A Deer", "Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Goodbye", "Sew Do", etc. Michelle was excited as well to have Anna Schmitt and her sister Cecilia visit back in July. Michelle hadn't seen Anna since she & Jim visited Hawaii in 2001, so needless to say, it was great to see her & her sister.

 

Calendar of events

October 2, 2004: Homecoming

October 9, 2004: Library Dedication

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Press Releases and Campus News: http://www.christendom.edu/news/releases.shtml

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Stories

Alumnus John Cuddeback Goes European

In August, alumnus and associate professor of Philosophy at Christendom, John Cuddeback traveled to Austria to teach a one-week course in ethics to fifty students from all over eastern and central Europe. The course, part of a four-course seminar led by Cuddeback and three other American philosophy professors, was sponsored by the Educational Initiative for Central and Eastern Europe (EICEE). The seminar took place at a castle in Vienna. EICEE sponsors various projects aimed at promoting a greater understanding of the principles that underpin a truly just social order. Professor Cuddeback reports that the students, primarily doctoral students or young professors in various disciplines in their own countries, were very interested to consider the ethical positions of the great western tradition. Many of the participants related that they had not been exposed to this tradition. Others have worked within this tradition and are currently involved in the reformation of higher education in their countries. One example is a participant who is a philosophy professor at a Catholic university in the largely Catholic state of Slovakia. He related that Catholic higher education faces unique challenges in states still suffering from the effects of communism.