Welcome
to Christendom's Alumni E-Zine. If you have information that
you would like to share with your fellow alumni, send it to
the Grapevine Editor, Tom McFadden, at tmcfaddenjr@yahoo.com
The
Grapevine Online is uploaded on the First Friday of 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.
December
2, 2005 edition of The
Grapevine Online
Class
Notes / Calendar of Events / Links
to Stories / Prior
issues
Class
notes
Tom
McGraw's been so busy lately with Career Development,
Alumni and Student Activities, he had to save time somewhere.
Heather suggested he try to save time each morning, and this
is what he came up with.
Is the world ready for Claire Gumbo? Claire Jensen
'03, of the famous Jensens of Jensen fame, and the stretchy
green guy by the name of Gumby are to be wed come August 12
(the feast of St. Claire). Happiness does not fully describe
the feelings that they have right now.
"Sometimes
it's a little hard living in the shadow of my roommate Mollie
Tschida. Every week, she comes home with stories of all
the famous people that "just happened to pop their head
into the office to say hello," and it's made me feel
a little left behind. Therefore, I would like to offer proof
that I occasionally bump into cool people too. Here's a picture
of me and few of my Federalist Society coworkers, taken at
a JPII Institute for 
Psychological
Sciences dinner honoring my boss Leonard Leo. The handsome
fellow in the middle is our new Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, John Roberts. I challenge Mollie to present proof that
those stories she tells me are true . . ." .Adrienne
Alessandro '05 (in the red dress on the left)
"My
roommate Adrienne has thrown down her gauntlet, and
I have no choice but to respond to her challenge. My office
is a hub of activity, and I have been lucky in meeting some
of the top officials of our country, like Donald Runsfeld
who really did come in to say "good morning" and
Vice President Cheney. My favorite meeting, however, was with
the crew of space shuttle Discovery, and, Adrienne, here's
my 
concrete
proof that I've met them." Mollie Tschida '05 (in
the purplish shirt).
MaryAnn
Hester Gaffney '93 checks in: We are enjoying our second
year of home schooling with the three oldest and our favorite
part was taking a 3 week field trip to Ireland in August -
September to visit their grandma. Don't you just love it.
We also had a visit from Sr. Mary Rose, Mary Mother of the
Eucharist, to tell the children about vocations.My two oldest
daughters, Bridget (9yrs old) & Gillian (7yrs old) both
danced for the Coyle School of Irish Dance at the Mid Atlantic
Regional Championships this past weekend (otherwise known
as the "Oireachtas" pronounced - O-rock-tus). They
both danced in the under 9 Eight Hand and placed 4th out of
21 teams. This means that they qualify to got to Nationals
for July 4th. Woohoo!!! Many of my nieces and nephews danced
there as well, in total there were 14 Hester offspring competing
against each other. And one of my nephews (J.J. Hester) actually
was picked to 
dance
for Riverdance in Europe. An injury two days before his flight
canceled those plans, but he will join them on the next run.
Another nephew, Owen Riley, placed 4th out of 101 for boys
under 13. Oh and by the way, the latest G-6 model (as my husband
Brendan likes to call it) will be arriving around May 1st,
2006. We don't know if it's a girl or a boy yet, but I'll
bet money that it's a girl. So for those of you who will be
traveling by Harrisburg/Hershey, PA next summer please stop
by and say hello because I won't feel much like traveling
but I love to have company. Besides my husband gets great
tickets for Hershey Park since he works for Hershey Foods.
We do have a pool now so bring your swim suits. Just ask the
O'Donnell's how much fun it is. That's all I have for now,
enjoy. Merry Christmas everyone.
On September
24, 2005, surrounded by their family and friends, Alysha
(Cimprich) Chambers (pictured on the left) was married
to Mr. Michael Chambers. They have set up house in Falls Church,
VA and continue to thank God daily for their many blessings.
Thank you to all the Christendom alums (and Dr. Keats) who
made their way up to NJ to help the happy couple celebrate
their nuptuals and also to those who have sent their well
wishes.
Emily
Price '99 was married on October 22, 2005 to Adam Diaz.
He is also from CA but they met here two years ago. Fr.
Matthew Zuberbueler witnessed their marriage at The Cathedral
of St. Thomas More in Arlington, VA. They went to Italy for
their honeymoon and visited Rome, Florence and Venice. They
are now living in Arlington, VA.
Tom
Cole '04 checks in with a little story about his pilgrimage
to Rome: This last week, from 21 Nov. to 30 Nov., I had the
opportunity to assist fellow Alumnus Mo Woltering in
leading a pilgrimage to the Eternal City. Our group consisted
of some thirty parents, high school students, and teachers
from Holy Family Academy in Manassas, Virginia. The visit
was a great success: we saw the Holy Father three times (including
solemn vespers to begin Advent), visited numerous churches
and tombs of saints, dropped by Assisi, and even familiarized
our pupils with the coffee and gelato of the city. I, for
my part, have now visited over 100 churches of the city of
Rome -- the 90 I entered by while part of Christendom's inaugural
Rome program obviously gave me a head start. Speaking of which,
I did visit the campus and greet the current Christendomites
in Roma -- and our Italian teacher, Madre Taylor, sends her
best to all of my fellow former Rome students. Also, I ran
into Maria Bissex and I had dinner with Christina
Denton, Niall O'Donnell, Mary Rose Lombard, Jamie (Dresch)
Spiering and her husband Craig.
From
Julia Peterson '05: For all of you up there in the cold
north . . . Veronica Pelster and I are enjoying a year
of missionary work in the tropical town of Banica, Dominican
Republic. We weekly go out to 7 villages in the mountains
to preach the faith, and Veronica is also teaching English
in the Catholic school (I taught last Spring and am content
to be just working to spread the faith right now). Life here
is very tranquilo (a.k.a. laid back), but full of adventure.
We hardly ever enjoy the luxury of electricity, and have to
wash our hair in the river, none the less, we get to enjoy
some great motorcycle rides when we are driven out to the
villages! It's a great experience! So this is what we are
up to now . . . until May. Please keep us and our work in
your prayers!
Alumnus
Johnny Sower is proud to announce his engagement to
the lovely Laura. They got engaged November 15th and are planning
a summer wedding.
As
reported in the last Grapevine, a Wondergirl was born
to Meg (McNeely) and Wonderboy Jalsevac. Here's the
result: Colette. Meg says that she is very happy with the
baby and that she is proud of the fact that she has McNeely
genes instead of Jaslevac ones. Little Colette was born in
a hospital, with plenty of doctors, nurses, drugs, and plenty
of other painkillers. Meg had originally planned on either
a birthing center or an at-home birth with Paul serving as
the deliverer, but at the last second was talked out of that
and into a hospital.
DJ
Corey ('04) is teaching at the Avalon School, an independent
Catholic boy's school in Bethesda, MD, for the second consecutive
year. In addition to his duties as teacher, Mr. Corey (as
his students occasionally refer to him) coaches middle school
baseball and football, drives a school van, and directs the
school's a cappella group. This latter assignment is
interesting, as Mr. Corey has little vocal talent, but hey,
as Chesterton said: "If it is worth doing, it is worth
doing badly." Outside of the school, DJ is taking an
introductory acting class at The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington,
D.C., and he hangs out with old Christendom friends in Northern
Virginia from time to time. Drop him a line at
dcorey@avalonschools.org if you get the chance. Here he
is pictured with his loveable class from last year.
Many
alumni went to the wedding of Emily Meeks '05 and Tom Williams
'05 on August 27, 2005. They are now living happily ever
after in Enfield, CT.
Janet
Purdy (’97) signs as a witness to the betrothal of
Kristy Hibl (‘97) and Jeff Elliott (‘96)
on October 13th, 2005. Fr. Robert Skeris officiated at their
formal betrothal at the Basilica of the National Shrine of
the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Jeff and Kristy
became engaged on September 3rd and are planning a May 2006
wedding in Baltimore.
Dave
and Joan Marra ('88 and '89) welcomed Dominic Joseph into
the family on Oct. 6, 2005. Dominic has the honor of bringing
the Marra head count to an even 10 - five girls and five boys.
He was 2 lbs. 11 oz. at birth. He is thriving, thanks to all
the prayers and masses!
Tom
McFadden '90, editor of the Grapevine, was thinking
about making a general confession for all of the sins he committed
against some of the alumni family in the last Grapevine,
with
the reportedly harshness in certain comments and captions
regarding Homecoming 2005 pictures. He had thought long and
hard about it, then, in a moment of weakness, decided that
it is what it is and that's the way it'll be. What does he
really know about fashionable tops and handbags? Probably
about as much as anyone else, right? And it's not a secret
that Ken Furlong was in the middle of a secret plot
to try and take over the Chapel while a sacristan. And we
know all about Johnny Meng and his little problems.
And who doesn't think that Josh Peterson could get
pictured with any three attractive girls that he wanted? And
of course, we all know that Denver Schafer is available.
In fact, to show you how he has matured over the years, the
Grapevine has located a special photo for your viewing
pleasure.
Mea culpa.
Next
month is the big Christmas pictures Vine. Send either by mail
or email your family Christmas pictures to Tom McFadden tmcfaddenjr@yahoo.com.
top of page
