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 tmcgraw@christendom.edu.
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.
July/August
2007 edition of The
Grapevine Online
Class
Notes / Calendar of Events / Links
to Stories / Prior
issues
Class
notes
Rita
Traugott '05 and Elizabeth Stephens '05 survived an Alaskan
highway trip this summer, although Rita's Ford Ranger did
not. They drove across the country, sightseeeing along the
way, until they reached Toad River, British Colombia and did
some 4 a.m. off roading. Fortunately only the truck was injured
when it rolled over, but with a smashed windshield, a crunched
cab and a roll of duct tape, the truck was still drivable
for another 1,000 miles, even after the starter went out in
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (this is when they learned how
to roll start a truck). That is, until they hit the moose
in Palmer, Alaska, still 6 hours from their destination. The
poor truck was completely finished this time. The whole trip
was a blast from start to finish, and even with 2 wrecks and
numerous other derailments, they saw a lot and had lots of
fun. Rita never did like Fords anyway.
Cinco
de Mayo was especially festive this year for Matt Ley
'99 and his beautiful bride Crystal Cruz, who were wed that
day in their home parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Bremerton,
Washington. Though it was a West Coast wedding, Christendom
was well represented at the nuptials. Among the witnesses
were celebrant Fr. Tony Stevens '99, best man Benoit
Flippen '99, groomsman Tim Clark '99, and maid
of honor Mollie Tschida '05. Even the ghost of the
wallflower made an appearance at thereception: Fr. Tony brought
a 9' photo taken of when the members of the groom's party
captured the wallflower in their senior year.
Claire
Beller has been all over the place since graduation last
year (upstate NY last summer, trekking all over Europe in
the fall, home in MD in the spring) and is currently living
with Ariel Lynch out in Portland, OR for the summer.
While she's really enjoying life in the city, she misses family
and friends and will be back in the DC area for good (or so
she thinks) in September. She's been working at a nursing
home for alzheimer's patients and would like to continue a
similar line of work when she returns. To everyone in the
class of '06 she says: "I've been keeping you guys in
my prayers, and hope to run into some of you all soon!"
The
brother's Fed have just completed the work on their
brand new album "Immigrant Road Show" and are looking
to hit the road to promote the CD. The summer has been amazing
so far with Scythian landing an opening slot for Guster at
Summerfest and sharing the stage with Peter from Peter, Paul
& Mary. Now the fellas are looking west as they start
their August Tour. They'll have 19 shows in 26 days with stops
that include Cleveland, Dublin OH, Philadelphia, Bethlehem
PA, Lacross WI, Milwaukee WI, St. Paul MN, Chicago, Pittsburgh
and Buffalo. You can find more information on these dates
at www.scythianmusic.com.
You can listen to clips of the new CD at www.myspace.com/scythian.
So check your calendar and swing by a show and say hey to
the fellas.
Gwen
Adams saw Trena Pilegaard in Pontremoli, Italy,
near where Gwen lived in Spring 2007. Gwen came back from
Italy, finished her M.A. in Catholic Studies at the U. of
St. Thomas and starts work at Trinity School in Minnesota
this fall, teaching 7-12 grade in Ancient History, Science,
Catholic Doctrine, and Humane Letters, a senior Great Books
seminar.
Jim
& Michelle (McCoy) Hoeper along with their daughters
Cecelia (4-1/2) and Victoria (2-1/2) are happy to announce
the birth of their son & brother, Kolbe James. Kolbe arrived
on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 8:36 PM, 7 lbs., 7 oz. and 20"
in length.
Ryan
Ostendorf and Maria Schmitt just got back from their honeymoon
in the Outer Banks and Florida. They've settled in Front Royal.
The wedding was on June 23rd. Ryan promises he'll have pictures
available online at some later date.
Michael
and Heather Hambleton ('05) are happy to announce the
birth of their daughter. Audrey Christine Hambleton joined
their family on July 24, at 1:38 am. She was 8 pounds, 1 ounce
and 21 inches long, with a full head of hair. Audrey took
her time to enter the world, putting mom and dad through a
marathon 50 hours of labor -- but good things are definitely
worth waiting for!
Blanca
and Ken Baltrinic are happy to announce the arrival
of Andrew Thomas Baltrinic at 8:37 am on the morning of February
3, 2007. He weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz at birth and is a touch over
20 lbs as of this writing. It appears he will be taking after
his great grandfather, a star linebacker in his day. He also
seems to look quite a bit like Ken, who was a veteran of the
Christendom volleyball court, and was known for mile high
serves that were virtually unreturnable.
Sean
and Jessica (Murphy) Gordon have a new addition!! Michael
Joseph Aloysius was born Thursday, June 21 (the Feast of St.
Aloysius) at 10:37 PM, weighing a healthy 8 lbs 5oz (OVER
a pound MORE than the last two!). He joins his older siblings,
James (6), John (5), Catherine (3) and Clare (2). Michael
was baptized on July 1st by his Uncle, Father Terrence Gordon,
FSSP. Grandpa & Grandma stood in as proxies for his Godparents
Jamie and Mark Hudson, who were unable to make it out
from Virginia.
Cybele
(Vinet) Harris, class of '86, and her husband P.J., have
four daughters, Clare, now 11 years old, Bridget, now 8 yrs.,
Margaret, now 6 yrs. and Mary Isabella, who will be 2 in August.
They have lived in Las Vegas for 13 years and P.J. is a supervisor
at the State of Nevada Child and Family Services. Their three
oldest daughters go to St. Joseph's School which was built
in 1948 in the old part of downtown Las Vegas. Cybele has
a special message for some particular alumni: "Congratulations
and God bless you to all the new alumni of alumni. I knew
you when you were just babies. Boy time flies!!"
Kilian
Thomas O'Hare joined his father, Thomas Joseph, and mother,
Mary Anne Murray O'Hare, and siblings, Kateri Josephine,
Kevin Dominic, Kieran Augustine, Kerry Maria and Kristianna
Elise in England on June 5, 2007. The Parents are taking an
extended work tour to live in formerly Catholic England, as
well as visiting still Catholic Spain, Germany and Italy.
Luckily, Catholicism will be the dominant religion in England
in 2008, due to God's plan. Here's the 'dreaded Papist Irish-American'
family in Norfolk, ruled by the still-Catholic Duke of Norfolk,
benefactor of many Churches surviving in England.
Kevin
Patrick O'Brien joined his parents John and Maria O'Brien
and brother Jack and sister Megan on St. Patrick's Day, March
17, 2007. Kevin Patrick was born at 11:35 pm (right on his
due date!) weighing 9 lbs. 2 oz., 20.5 inches. His parent's
say, "He is a joy."
Michael
and Leslie Hofbauer were blessed with a new baby girl,
Clare Mercedes on the eve of Divine Mercy, April 14, 2007.
She weighed in at 7 lbs, 4 ozs. She is the fifth girl among
six children. Her godparents are fellow alumni, Frank and
Angelique O'Reilly.
Cara
Whitaker married Jesse Kurtz on June, 8, 2007. Jesse is
a recent graduate of our new arch-enemy, Thomas More College,
which recently stole Professors Fahey and Blum. Cara met Jesse
after her freshmen year of college, when she did crossroads.
Their wedding made the news as "innovative" because
they had a Tridentine mass one month before the motu proprio.
Ben
Hatke
perhaps got a bit carried away when he was asked to portray
Smaug, the firebreathing dragon from The Hobbit, at
a private get together of Lord of the Rings enthusiasts
in Front Royal recently. After the stunt was performed, Hatke
was able to avoid capture by locals, who apparently were upset
by the demonstration. Hatke is the founder and president of
the Front Royal Human Flamethrowers. "We can't understand
why anyone was upset about this incident," said Charles
J. Bak III, a spokesman for the group. "We did the
demo quote close to the Shenandoah Shores Fire Department.
No animals were harmed. What's the problem?"
Tom
and Amanda (Farinholt) McFadden '90 are proud to announce
the birth of James Dismas McFadden, born on July 25 at 2:06pm
and weighing in at 8 lbs even. He
is baby #8 for the McFaddens and is their third son. The Grapevine's
Special "Alumni Babies" Correspondent, Christian
Finn, learned abut an unusual story associated with this birth.
Amanda, who has delivered 7 other children, normally has babies
prior to her due date. In fact, all prior seven were born
anywhere from two weeks early to five weeks early. At around
7 weeks prior to her due date, Amanda was having pre-term
labor pains and went to the hospital a couple of times thinking
that the baby might want to be born early. At one point, Tom
looked at the calendar and noticed that Friday, June 22, was
the Feast of St. Thomas More. Their last baby was going to
be called Thomas More McFadden if it was a boy, but they had
a girl so Thomas More kinda got the shaft. Then, when thinking
of names for their new little guy, they settled on James Dismas,
once again, forgetting all about their previous conviction
to name their next boy Thomas More. So, Tom looks at Amanda
and says, "You know, if the baby is born tomorrow, we
have to name him Thomas More because it will be a sign to
us that he is meant to be called Thomas More..a sign from
Heaven." Amanda replies, "But the kids already call
him James and say 'Good morning James' and the like so we
have to call him James." But Tom says, "Well then,
you'd better pray that he's not born tomorrow." Amanda
replies, "OK St. James, unless you want him named after
Thomas More, you'd better help him not be born prematurely."
And so it happened. Amazingly and totally unlike any other
pregnancy, Amanda carried the baby to one day shy of her due
date (which was July 26) and delivered the baby on the Feast
of St. James 
the
Greater. One could only imagine St. James fighting it out
with Thomas More with St. James saying, "His name shall
be James!!!" Baby James was baptized by Fr. James O'Kielty
at St. John the Baptist church in Front Royal the following
day with Mary McFadden Brand and her husband Jonathan
as Godparents. Oh yeah, and one last thing, Fr. O'Kielty baptized
the baby "James Dismas Colmcille" so now that's
his name before God. Dismas, of course, is the name given
to the Good Thief.
Calendar
of events
August
31, 2007: Life on Tap (St. Kilian's Cafe)
October
5-7, 2007: Homecoming Weekend
November
30, 2007: Life on Tap (St. Kilian's Cafe)
February
8-10, 2008: Discernment Weekend
March
1, 2008: Alumni Career Mentoring Reception
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Press
Releases and Campus News: http://www.christendom.edu/news/releases.shtml
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