48 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES greater D.C. Bill and I enjoyed a round of golf here at the Governors Club, while Amy and Viv shopped and hung at the pool before we all had dinner poolside. While I expressed my disappointment that Viv did not wear her ‘Miss Lehigh Valley’ sash at the pool, it was great to see her and meet Bill, and we North Carolinians look forward to more good times together. In other news, my oldest daughter, Carly ’15, will be married in October, and I’m sure some of my dear Lehigh friends will join— among them, Michelle (Dumon) Valigursky and husband Ed, whom I just visited/golfed and boated with at their home in Reynolds Lake Oconee, Ga., before they move to greater Dallas. Tom Di Piazza and I enjoyed lunch together. These relationships go beyond LU, as Tom and I have been dear friends since kindergarten and Michelle since high school. In addition to Tom and Michelle, upcoming wedding attendees will likely be Dave Andreychik, Marc Paley and Stew Fisher. Commencement: Congratulations to Drew Freed and Clem Palevich! Drew’s daughter, Abigail, received her master’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research. Drew’s son, Russell, graduated in 2017, so both kids are now Lehigh alums. Clem’s son, Clem Jr., graduated with a degree in logistics, materials and supply chain management. Reunion: At the Reunion, Val (Smith) Hirsch attended Brown & White awards night to cheer on her husband, Thom ’75, who received the Eugene G. Grace Award in recognition of distinguished services encouraging support of Lehigh. I saw Jennifer (Peoples) Stegers and Maris Stegers at the ’85 dinner reception. Sandy Denton and I hung out at ReunionFest and the block party. Dave Yannarell joined me in the Pace the Prez run. Enjoy your winter, and please send me your news. I began my term as president of the LUAA Alumni Board and will be attending many Lehigh events. Hope to see you at an event! ’84 Thomas Keating, 2343 15th Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33713; thomaskeating@yahoo.com Hello, Class of 1984! What a difference a year makes. Last year’s column was chock full of our 40th reunion goodness. This year has been, in all fairness, a quiet period (Hello? Hello?). I visited the campus in June, along with my son’s family (Alexander Keating ’15), to push a little engagement and search high and low for ’84s. We have always enjoyed the off years, with the easygoing vibe, no commitments and serendipitous strolls throughout the campus. We made a point of checking out the Clayton University Center at Packer Hall, while carrying a baby stroller like a royal Egyptian barge up the UC steps. We ordered from Goosey’s, dodged a few raindrops, saw a few old friends in passing and ended up with an auto tour of the Hill and Goodman Campus. We took advantage of the opening of the fraternity houses to visit Psi Upsilon. There were alumni from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and later—a very nice gathering. There I met my brother and great friend Phil Gauffreau, who had big news. Phil started up a new business, Square PEG Consulting, LLC. He is offering geotechnical engineering expertise related to sitework, foundations and constructability, with an emphasis on sinkhole risk mitigation and stabilization. Give him a call if your building site has sinkholes! Phil also continues to serve as the vice chair of the Northampton County (Pa.) Industrial Development Authority (NCIDA), providing public financing for job retention and creation projects. His passion remains the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, an outdoor music venue at the foot of the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces, for which he’s served on the board of directors for the last 10 years. Presenting 50 concerts each summer, Levitt Pavilion’s mission is “bringing communities together through free, live music.” I have attended concerts at the Levitt Pavilion, and I can tell you that it is very special to have them in Bethlehem. Check them out when you come for a summer visit! Those of you who know Phil know what a great person he is, and he is a true son of Lehigh. He is originally from New Jersey, but I think you will agree that he has made the Lehigh Valley his home and legacy. Call him “Mr. Lehigh Valley.” As always, I want to hear from you, as your contribution makes the column. Just drop a couple of lines, and I will do the rest. ’85 Jennifer Sheehan, (240) 401-3724, jksheehan@aol.com How do I not remember that our class had a “tuck-in service” that was started by Rich Mansfeld and the crew of guys who were freshmen living on Dravo D-4? I would almost believe this wasn’t true, but, sure enough, there is an article about it in the Brown and White, dated Oct. 30, 1981. Rich and Thom Healy were both in attendance at the Reunion, along with Andy Bergdoll, Lisa Paparone, Norma (Castillo) Condra, Lisa (Broder) Hurwitz, Phil Koppenhofer, Bonnie (Peters) Nugent, Stephanie (Hosfeld) Olsen, Mary Swatek, Gary Emig and many others. Ned Bancroft sent a wonderful update on his family. I think it’s probably best that I share this in Ned’s own eloquent words: “‘We did it’” were the words my youngest son exclaimed when he got into Lehigh. The ‘we’ struck me deeply. His mother had recently passed away from pancreatic cancer, and during that difficult time, neither of us—much to the chagrin of his high school advisers—were especially focused on the college process. Lehigh holds a special place in our family’s story. I met my wife, Bonnie (Winokur) Bancroft, at Lehigh in the fall of 1981. We were just good friends for three years, but we fell in love before graduating in 1985. After a few years working in Chicago, we returned to Lehigh in 1989 to pursue our MBAs. The lessons we learned from professors like Ken Sinclair, Jim Greenleaf and Nicholas Balabkins shaped our lives and careers over the next 30-plus years. Those teachings didn’t just influence our professional paths; they helped us raise four kids in Old Greenwich, Conn. ‘Goal congruence’ wasn’t just a concept to optimize internal transfer pricing in our house—it became a family motto for keeping the train on the rails. All three of my sons have attended Lehigh. Auggie ’25 represents the seventh Lehigh degree in our family. Beyond the exceptional education, Lehigh gave us lifelong friendships that continue to enrich and give meaning to our lives. To Lehigh and to the entire Lehigh community, thank you for being such an integral part of our journey. And to Bonnie ’85 MBA’91—wherever you are—we did it!” Back in my own voice: Writing this column for so many years, I’ve often pondered how people might feel pressure to share only good news in this space, and while I’ve been open to including any sort of news at all, people really only let me know about the good stuff that’s happening in their lives. Some of you may have wondered why I didn’t attend the reunion after writing in my last column that I would be there. I am sharing sad news of my own. Our son Jack, 30, passed away suddenly at the end of April. We held a service for him in the beginning of June, just prior to the Reunion, and I got sick following the service. So, the Reunion became impossible for me. Our family—which includes Mike Sheehan ’83 and Matthew Sheehan ’19—plus our daughter Julia, is grieving the loss of our kind and gentle son and brother and is grateful for the incredible support and love from our Lehigh family and beyond. I felt it would be inauthentic of me to omit this from the column. ’86 Dave Polakoff, 400 E. 71st St., #3K, New York, NY 10021, david@dpolakoff.com.
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