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 McGraw, at tvmcgraw@yahoo.com.
The editor reserves the right to include or exclude any information
submitted for publication in The Grapevine.
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.
January/February
2008 edition of The
Grapevine Online
Class
Notes / Calendar of Events / Links
to Stories / Prior
issues
Class
notes
Michele
(La Palm) Velasco and her husband, M.J., recently went
on a two week adventure to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador
and Machu Picchu in Peru. Here they are overlooking the Incan
city ruins on Machu Picchu on their 7th wedding anniversary.
The next day, they climbed the mountain behind them called
WaynaPicchu.
Sightings
of 24 Christendomonians took place in Grapevine, Texas at
the FOCUS National Student Leadership Conference in early
January. (It’s no small wonder the alumni newsletter
is named after this town). FOCUS – The Fellowship of
Catholic University Students – commemorated its 10th
year by hosting a conference with over 3000 participants from
over 200 universities, with students representing the United
States, Canada and Australia. Highlights from the Conference
were several keynote speakers: Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Jeff
Cavins, Deacon Alex Jones, and FOCUS founder, Curtis Martin.
Also, over 60 priests, many religious and 5 bishops were present.
Christendom attendees were: 
Dr.
John Cuddeback, Dr. J. Reyes, Joe & Megan Wurtz,
Mary Claire (Almeter) Hayes, Elisabeth (Boever) Gideon,
Sarah Akers, Christine (Wright) McAdam, Marie Antunes, Anne
Wolpert, Trish Metzger, Helen Almeter, Andy Day, Megan Mead,
Kelly Mulhern, Danni Ampi, Adam Marchand, Trena Pilegaard,
Mary Bergida, Meghan Beller, Mary Beth Baker, Jessica Kuznia,
Mary Kate Hunt and Tambi Spitz. It was reportedly overheard
that Dr. John Cuddeback commented, “It was a whiz bang
event.” As a side note, it is rumored that Curtis Martin
has offered as an incentive free dress socks and tie clips
to any men from Christendom who apply for staff. Check out
the webpage for applications. http://focusonline.org/
Also, check out the Conference highlights video on youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sP0xGsMyu_8
Paul
and Meg Jalsevac are pleased to announce the birth of
Joseph Stephen who was born on January 13th. Baby Choe' as
their daughter Colette calls him, was born at 2:41 am on January
13th missing his godfather's (JP Jansen) birthday by only
2 hours and 41 minutes! All went well, lazing around a hospital
with the baby. Colette being babysat by my Mom was a great
little vacation and now they are home and can only dream of
a nursery staffed with nurses who are paid to babysit while
they sleep! Despite that, he's a good baby for the most part,
and Colette seems relatively satisfied with her new brother
and is obsessed with feeding him plastic food. Paul's starting
to look for new jobs again as his current job ends in August
so any prayers that anyone could spare would be great! Meg
is entering her last semester of classes (thank God!) and
has been working part time for LifeSiteNews.com
as they incorporate and establish themselves as a non-profit
in the US. Life is busy but good!
Peter
Gray (93-94) and Megan Anderson '03 were married
last September at St. Mary's Church in Alexandria, VA. After
a wonderful two week trip through Italy, they are now happily
residing in Alexandria.
Maggie
McGlynn would like to announce her engagement to Corporal
Garrett DeMarco (brother of Ashley DeMarco '07). They
got engaged on December 28th and are planning on gettting
married in Maryland sometime in August when Garrett returns
from his duty station in Okinawa.
Mark
Riddle III (son of Shalon and Mark Riddle) and Jude
O'Donnell (son of Niall and Sherry O'Donnell), cousins
and best buddies, wearing outfits that Grandma Spring gave
to them. Jude is now over 4 months old and enjoyed a recent
trip to Texas to see his cowboy-side of the family, and then
to Memphis were he saw his second cousin Scotty Kay wed Margaret
Ginski.
Ken
Furlong ('05) and Alaina ('04) took their son,
Kenny. on a familial pilgrimage before and after Christmas
to Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he was spoiled by his grandparents
(of course!). Their house has succumbed to the baby toy invasion.
You can still find them in Virginia, if you look real hard.
Derek
and Bethany Rodgers continue to freeze in their renovated
hotel wing outside of Buffalo, NY. This was Bethany's first
"Official White Christmas" and they spent time with
as much family as possible. Derek is currently looking at
grad school options and Bethany can't help being excited about
the possibility of making a move to warmer climates (perhaps
near her family in California?). They continue to trust God's
timing for their lives and love keeping busy with music and
youth ministry in the mean time.
Jim
and Ellen Kelly would like to announce the birth of Mark
Augustine Kelly Born December 20, 2007 8 lbs, 12 oz and 21
inches. Brothers Joseph and Peter are thrilled and Mom and
Dad are doing fine!
Jeremy
and Mary Sheiko ('05) celebrated the first birthday of
their daughter Colette Frances Mary on January 2. It's hard
to believe that one year ago she was a tiny 5 pounds 13 ounces
and in the NICU. Now she has three teeth, is close to walking,
and says all sorts of words! Jeremy and Mary are doing well,
too. They're living in Lafayette, Indiana. Jeremy is working
at Purdue and Mary stays at home with Colette and writes free-lance.
They'd love to hear from anyone who wishes to write: mary.sheiko@gmail.com.
Adrienne
Smith '07 is half-way through her first year of teaching
in Texas. She teaches Theology and English at Holy Trinity
Catholic High School and is absolutely in love with her job.
During the Christmas Season, her whole family was together
for the first time in awhile. Her sister, Emily ('09), had
just arrived back from her Rome semester and brother Justin
('03) and sister-in-law Molly ('03) visited with Lucy
(future alumni) for a week. They had a big Christmas dinner,
with siblings, spouses, and significant others crowded around
one festive table. It was a Christmas (and mini-Christendom
reunion) to remember!
Nicholas
Elliott, age 9 months, son of Kristy (Hibl) '97 and
Jeffrey Elliott '96 enjoyed his first Christmas immensely
- especially the carols. He even sang with the choir at Midnight
Mass on Christmas. The Hibls expect him to start directing
the choir once he gets a bit more steady on his feet. The
Elliott family sends Merry and Blessed Christmas prayers and
wishes for a grace filled New Year to all of the Christendom
family from their home just outside of Baltimore.
2008
is a big year for the Hoeper family - they will be celebrating
Cecelia's 5th birthday, Jim's 40th birthday, Kolbe's
1st birthday, Michelle's 35th birthday, and Jim &
Michelle's 10th wedding anniversary. (Of course, Victoria's
3rd birthday as well)! Oh yes, they'll begin the homeschooling
journey in the Fall as well. Michelle (McCoy '95) would love
to hear from anyone else who's oldest might be starting kindergarten
through Seton this year: michellehoeper@yahoo.com
2008
kicked off with a flurry of activity for the Ross family.
James and Laura (Williams) Ross '05 welcomed Grace
Elizabeth to their family December 21st. She weighed 8lbs
5oz, the same as her older brother at birth, and was 20 inches
long. 16 month old Jax (James Alexander) is very excited to
be a big brother and alerts his parents whenever Gracie cries,
even before they can hear it. The Ross' also just bought their
first home (bungalow built in 1900) and plan on moving in
at the end of the month. They are looking forward to small
town living!
Jennifer
(O'Gorman) Flippen '98 can contain her pride no longer.
Here is an oil painting she did of her daughter, Genevieve,
from a photo she took with Ken Baltrinic's '93 camera.
Unfortunately the photo does not do it justice. She is currently
working on a painting of her son, Sebastian, and will probably
eventually post that one too being unable to contain her pride
concerning it as well. If anyone is interested she is taking
her classes from a sweet woman in Stephens City. She holds
public classes and her price is very reasonable. Her name
is Jackie Bray.
Jim
'93-'96 and Valerie (Kelly) Clark '93-'95 Clark
had a baby boy William Bruce Kelly Clark on November 14th.
He weighed 9 lbs. 5 oz. and was 22 in. long. Liam joins his
older sisters Gracie (5), Laine (3), and Jackie (1).
Felix
and Kathleen (Kelly) Sternfels '89-'92 had a baby boy
Donald Isidore on August 30th. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and
was 21 in. long. He joins his older siblings Roland Joseph
(almost 3) and Eleanor Marie (4).
Two
Thomas Aquinas College girls, Mary Ann and Elizabeth, joined
Kateri Schmidt as roomates this Fall and they have a lovely
little pad in Falls Church. They'll both be singing Christendom's
praises by the time Kateri is through with them!
