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, Marie Antunes, at marieantunes@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.
January
2009 edition of The Grapevine Online
Class
Notes / Calendar of Events / Links
to Stories / Prior
issues
Class
notes
Jennifer
(Timmerman) Sherman ('97) married Matthew Sherman,
a high-school classmate, in February 2003 and presently resides
in Ft. Loramie, Ohio. She has obtained her BSN and works as
a Telemetry Nurse on the open heart surgery team at St. Rita's
Hospital. Her husband is owner of MJS Lawncare in Ft. Loramie,
Ohio. They would like to announce the birth of their fourth
child, Conner Orion, who was born on November 12, 2007. He
is pictured here with his three siblings: Jacob (5 yrs), Ethan
(3 yrs), and Kateri (2 yrs). To contact Jenny, please e-mail
her at: relativelysmall@yahoo.com.
Congratulations
are in order for Emily Griswold ('07)! The day after
Thanksgiving, instead of the usual day of shopping, she
became engaged to Joe Sparks! The newly engaged couple
are pictured on the right. They will be married this coming
June at St. John's in Front Royal, VA.
2nd
Lt Joseph "Ambrose" Mazzara, USMC ('08),
married to Jennifer (Poston) Mazzara, will finish training
on Jan 16 at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Afterward he will
report April 4 to Fort Sill, OK for Field Artillery Officer's
Course. Upon finishing the Artillery Course, he and Jennifer,
will be living at Camp Lejeune, NC. They will be assigned
to 3d Battalion, 10th Marines.
A
few weeks ago a reunion of Christendom grads took place in
Los Angeles, CA. Bethany Sargis ('03) went out to visit
Theresa Fer ('03), and the two met up wth Therese
Peters ('02). They spent the evening at an outdoor mall,
where, because it is Christmas in California, they pump fake
snow into the air! Only in LA!
Ann
Schneible ('04) has just about completed her first semester
at The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where
she is studying Social Communications, following in the footsteps
of the likes of Niall O'Donnell, Joseph Kosten, and
Adrienne Alessandro. Her classes are fantastic, and
her Italian is getting there (even though Italians have started
increasingly to inform her that she speaks Italian with a
Spanish accent . . . perchè?). At the moment she is
living in a lovely Monte Verde (Trestevere) with Christina
Denton ('04) and Adrienne Alessandro ('04). Prayers
and visitors are welcome anytime.
Jacob
and Jessica Meza ('05) were blessed to welcome Samuel
Louis Meza into their family on November 26, 2008 (the day
before Thanksgiving!) He weighed a surprising 9 lbs, 1 ounce.
Rose Marie is enjoying her status as big sister and is quick
to tell everyone all about her new role in the family. They
hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas season and that
God will bless all during this New Year!
Paul
Provencher ('08), has recently become 2nd Lieutenant Paul
Provencher, United States Army. Commissioned an officer in
the Army on Dec 4, Paul is currently waiting at Fort Benning,
GA to attend the Army's Infantry Officer's Basic Course.
Susan
(Erwin) McGuire ('03), pictured on the right, stands in
the kitchen of her parents home in Ohio on New Year's Eve.
Young Joseph McGuire was helping his Mom make the meal by
taste-testing all of the dishes.
Meanwhile,
on that same night in the Erwin household, a fierce game of
Euchre errupted. The picture has been blurred so that faces
could not be recognized, but we have it on good authority
that the compatents were none other than Bill Erwin ('00),
Jennifer Erwin, Katie Erwin (a current Christendom student),
and Brendan McGuire ('03) one of Christendom's own
Professors. This picture was given as evidence that the men
were the winners of the game.
Sarah
Berger ('08) has sent in this photo of the Christmas project
that she and all six of her siblings worked on over Christmas
and "Boxing" day. The project took two days to complete,
and by the end of it the fort was 11’ feet to the floor
on top, and 14’ feet to the top of the “battlements.”
The young gentleman at the foot of this “colossal structure”
is over 6’, just to give some perspective. The catalyst
for this building project came in the form of a crazy snow
storm in Enumclaw (45 min. SE of Seattle) Christmas week,
which provided for a lovely white Christmas, the first that
area has had in nearly twenty years. It was a great Christmas
for the whole Berger family, with everyone getting involved
in building the fort together; pushing snowballs until they
couldn’t move them anymore and laughing the whole time.
On
December 27th, 2008, Larry Henson & Kelly Mulhern ('06)
were married by Fr. John Heisler at Holy Trinity
Catholic Church in Gainesville, VA! It was a gorgeous ceremony
followed by a fun reception and a relaxing honeymoon in the
Caribbean. Kelly was blessed to see some of her Christendom
friends at the wedding--thanks for coming! Now the happy couple
will be living in Raleigh, NC, where Kelly teaches high school
English at St. Thomas More Academy and Larry manages In His
Name, a large Catholic bookstore. Please remember them in
your prayers as they start their new life together!
Adrienne
Smith ('03) and her fiance Richard Stravitsch spent Christmas
dividing their time between their respective parents and soon-to-be
in-laws. Adrienne is currently teaching and is continuing
to plan her February 21, 2009 wedding, and having a blast.
She is counting down the days! Her brother Justin ('03)
and Molly ('03) Smith will be coming down as will her
sister Emily Smith ('09) and her fiance Dan Henson
('08). Adrienne is so thrilled and can't wait for her
big day!
John
and Michelle Charba ('87&'88) just celebrated
their 20th wedding anniversary in November! As for their seven
children - Therese is in her second year at Wyoming Catholic
College, and the day after returning from her first semester
she was able to see The Nutcracker ballet. Marilyn
is in her senior year of high school, and is looking forward
to college next year. David is in 9th grade, and for the first
time is now at least as tall as his father and still growing!
Katrina is in 6th grade and is becoming very responsible.
Anya has finally discovered that reading is fun! She likes
to stay up and read awhile in bed each night, which is a huge
milestone! Halyna is in 1st grade and is a joy to have around.
Little Josef is 4½ and an avid learner. The Charba
family wishes God's blessings on all!
Elizabeth
Black visited the indomitable Emma Fritcher in
the sunny north of Texas this past Thanksgiving. Emma took
her on a grand sweep of Texas culture, everything from the
opera to watching Long Horn stampedes. Luckily it was different
from it's Spanish counterpart, so no lives were in jeopardy
at the front of the pack. Lizzie is still up north working
at Thomas More College in Nashua, NH. She is enjoying her
organ lessons in Boston, hiking the White Mountains and otherwise
having a fine time.
Trish
Metzger ('05) is living in "The Heart of Dixie"
this year as she continues to serve as FOCUS Missionary (The
Fellowship of Catholic University Students) for a fourth year,
at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. This is the first
year for FOCUS at Auburn. Here is a recent photo when Mara
(Mirus) Vaughan ('05) came down with her (and Brandon
Vaughan's '05) son, Nicholas to visit Trish at Auburn.
There are currently 8 Christendom Alumni serving on FOCUS
staff: Mary Bergida ('07), Danni Ampi ('07), Megan Mead
('06), Andy Day ('06), Helen Almeter ('05), Christine (Wright)
McAdam ('01), Sarah Akers ('00), and Trish Metzger ('05).
For more information on FOCUS or to support a missionary,
please visit: www.focusonline.org
Jim
and Laurie Grumblatt just welcomed their newest arrival,
Sean Michael Leo, into the family on December 1, 2008. He
is the 8th Grumblatt, and he balances the mix at 4 boys and
4 girls. His 2 year-old sister and the others are so very
proud of baby brother.
Family
Christmas Photos 2008
Ryan
and Lori (Omann) Meyer ('03), Claire (2 1/2), Sebastian
(1)
Daniel
and Agnes (Curley) Penny, (both '97) and
family
Justin
and Molly (Becker) Smith (both '03) Alex (10 mo), Lucy
(2)
Children
of Francois and Jennifer (O'Gorman) Flippen ('98,'99)
Sebastian (6), Genevieve (4), Nadia (2), (plus one due in
February)
Children
of David and Mary (Accettulo) Hambleton ('05)
Theresa (2 1/2), Beth (1)
Ben
& Theresa Fisher,
Nicholas (5), Zach (3), Nate (2), Abigail (3mos)
Children
of Matt and Jan (Kuznia) Akers ('03)
Mark
and Shalon (Spring) Riddle,
Miriam (2 1/2), Mark III (1 1/2), Joseph (8 months) and baby
#4 pictured but hidden due in May!
Merry
Christmas from Hope and Bill Johnson and Family!
Santa, Benjamin, Olivia, William, Marguerite
John
and Bridget (McKenna) McCardell's ('92) clan
in Virginia:
Celia (10), Aidan (11 months), Moira (3), Erin (4), Megan
(13) Brendan (8), Claire (4), Lizzy (6), Sean (11)
Jonathan
and Mary (McFadden) Brand ('98)
Michael (11 mos), Caroline (6 days)
Children
of Deo and Ann Marie (Popielarz) Read
Charlotte, Kieran and Deo
Niall
and Sherry (Spring) O'Donnell,
Jude and Patrick
Tim
and Leah (Stephens) Coffey,
James (4), Maureen (2), and Emma (8 mo.)
Merry
Christmas from Tim, Karla (Kuykendall '99) & Benedict
Hester
Children
of Tim and Jill (Lucas) Cook ('92)
Merry
Christmas from Sean, Mary Lou, Maureen, Caitlin and
Colleen Loftus
Children
of Chris ('98) and Sarah (Stafki) Muro
Isabella, Katalina and Gianna
Children
of Michael and Alysha (Cimprich) Chambers, Abigail
(2), Zachary (1 mo.)
Calendar of events
January
18, 2009: Students return to Campus
January
22, 2009: March for Life, Washington, D.C.
January
25, 2009: Schubertiade
January
29, 2009: “Have you Scene It” Library Event
Januray
30, 2009: Cup O’ Coeli
January
31, 2009: Saint Genesius Night
February
5, 2009: College Holy Hour
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Releases and Campus News: http://www.christendom.edu/news/releases.shtml
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