CLASS NOTES | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 45 Burt Hoffman, Tom Hoh, Dave Hunter, Paul Irvine, Don Johnson, Amin Khalifa, Phil Kline, Ted Lenthe, Mike Lieberman, Ken Ludlum, Bill Maier, Ed Mayer, Scott McCarty, Roger McKinney, Rick Mingione, Dave Noble, Roxanne (Kapikian) Panosian, Stew Rauch, Scott Rhoads, Sue (Adam) Richter, Jim Robinson, Nolan Rothkopf, Janet Scagnelli, Curt Schmidt, Ann Schmoyer Story, Lynn (Maurer) Schumacher, Jeff Sherman, Hopper Shoffner, Carl Siegrist, Bob Stein, Mike Stenko, Sybil (Fischman) Stershic, Michele Stoudt-Wright, Bill Sturgis, Rich Swatt, Lynn (Schwinger) Sylvan, Joe Tafaro, Dave Tich, Barb Turanchik and Steve Villas attended. My apologies if I missed someone or listed someone who did not make it to the Reunion after signing up. So many classmates attended, and I regret that I was not able to talk with everyone. Reunion weekend started off on Thursday night at the Brown & White Awards Dinner. Tom Hoh of our class won the Alumni Award recognizing his work with the Alumni Association, supporters of Lehigh wrestling and current students. The award was presented by our own Jeff Sherman, as one of his last official acts as president of the Lehigh Alumni Association. The award is a well-deserved recognition of Tom’s steadfast volunteer efforts. It was also great to meet Tom’s wife and their two sons who attended the dinner. On Friday, many of us attended various on-campus events including a tour of the Special Collections at the Linderman Library, an open house in the Math Department and a tour of the newly renovated Clayton University Center. There are no more mailboxes in the UC, but there is a pub! Friday evening, President Helble held a reception for our class outside his home near the Alumni Memorial Building; Provost Nathan Urban stood in for the president, who was at Dartmouth receiving its highest engineering award for scientific achievement. Following the reception, we all gathered under the big top erected on the lawn in front of Maginnes Hall for dinner, drinking and conversation. Many hugs and backslaps were evident as friendships were renewed. On Saturday, some participated in the Lehigh archives project, where we were interviewed on camera about our time at Lehigh (to the extent we could remember!). Steve Bigach and I participated. We were able to purchase a reunion yearbook, which has many nice stories from our classmates, including some who could not attend the reunion, about their time at Lehigh and life’s journey afterwards. After a nice lunch under the big top, we gathered in the renovated Williams Hall for our part in the reunion parade. Our reunion committee came up with the parade theme of “50 Years Later and Still Rocking.” We were decked out in themed T-shirts; many of us wore wigs and carried blow-up guitars. The rain did not hold us back. At the end of the parade in front of the judges near the flagpole on the lawn below the UC, we stopped and sang “All Night Long” with words adapted to capture our craziness as undergraduates in the ’70s. The judges awarded our class the prestigious Petty Award for best reunion parade presentation. We also won the reunion award for the highest percentage of class members at the reunion—11%. Our class dinner was held in the Wood Dining Hall on the Mountaintop Campus. Julie Griscom McGraw, co-chair of our reunion class gift committee, awarded President Helble a facsimile check for $16.5 million, representing the amount that our class members have donated or committed to Lehigh during the last five years. The amount included a $5 million commitment recently made by Vince Forlenza and his wife, Ellen, toward the endowment of the Lehigh College of Health. Vince is chair of the Lehigh Board of Trustees. Thank you to the Forlenzas for all they have done and are doing for Lehigh and its students. Special thanks should go to our class co-presidents Jeff Sherman and Mardi Blacher-Reich, who headed our reunion committee of Jack Fugett, Doug Henning, Phil Kline, Bill Maier, Scott McCarty, Julie Griscom McGraw, Rick Mingione, Roxanne (Kapikian) Panosian, Sue (Adam) Richter, Nolan Rothkopf, Curt Schmidt and Ann Schmoyer Story. What a fantastic job they did! The next challenge is for us to maintain our friendships and connections with Lehigh and visit the campus and participate in alumni events near us as much as possible. I recently had lunch with two classmates who, I learned at the reunion, lived close by. Recommend you get in touch with your favorite classmates. ’76 Paul Laschiavo and Jamie Holbrook, Lehigh 76correspondents@gmail.com. Paul Loschiavo and I (Jamie Holbrook), your loyal correspondents, continue to keep tabs on our remarkable classmates—and we have some great stories to share. Let’s start with Paul and his wife, Jill, who are navigating America’s Great Loop aboard a 40-foot trawler. The Loop is an epic 6,000-mile journey that circumnavigates the eastern half of the United States via rivers, canals and coastal waterways. They launched from South Florida and, as of this writing, are cruising through the scenic Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario, Canada. Along the way, they crossed Balsam Lake, the highest navigable body of water in North America, at 845 feet above sea level. From here on, as Paul says, “it’s all downhill.” If you’ve ever dreamed of doing the Loop yourself, Paul’s your man for insider tips. Meanwhile, Jamie and wife Christie completed a five-day, 204-mile e-bike trip starting and ending in Spokane, Wash. We followed the eastern shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, pushing through 90-plus degree heat and persistent 12-15 mph headwinds. Without our pedal-assist e-bikes, we might still be out there! What stood out along the way—aside from the scenery—was how many small towns in eastern Washington are still struggling post-COVID, with shuttered stores and quiet streets. Dave Charters, Jamie’s freshman-year roommate, sent a cheerful update about a mini-reunion with fellow Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers Roger Lambert and Bill Ash ’81. Roger, who lives near Chicago, planned a trip east for a family reunion and proposed a pre-reunion get-together. Bill and his wife, Cheryl, kindly hosted everyone at their home in Milton, Del. Roger flew into Philadelphia on June 30 and made his way by bus (yes, there’s one!) to Wilmington. Dave and his wife, Cindy, drove eight hours from Holly Springs, N.C., to join the festivities. Dave and Cindy have been married 49 years, since Cindy’s graduation from Muhlenberg in 1976. The three Sig Ep brothers even managed a beach day at Cape Henlopen State Park. Dave copied Bill on his trip summary, and Bill replied with this disclaimer: “For the record, in front of God and country, with the result of doing unrepairable damage to my karma by lying, the events described were exactly as they occurred and my karma can’t afford the hit.” And then there’s Jim Matthews, who gave us a fascinating look at his post-Lehigh journey. After graduation, he studied international affairs at George Washington University. To cover tuition, Jim took a part-time job on Capitol Hill that turned into a 25-plus year career working for various senators and representatives, focusing on environmental and energy issues. He also spent time at the EPA and with Friends of the National Zoo, where he even hand-raised baby animals as a volunteer. Later, Jim transitioned into lobbying and government affairs for nonprofits and corporations, wrapping up his career with a 15-year run at the Pew Charitable Trusts, working on public lands conservation. He retired
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