AlumniBulletin-Fall24

58 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES grandson Patrick Colahan (5), wearing oversized football jerseys provided by Eileen. The kids were fantastic. Mike Actis-Grande, Bob Goldich, Norm Liedtke, Gus and I did the initial planning for our skit, but McQuilken characteristically took charge of the play, working with Liedtke. With the radio voices of 1973 Lehigh football, Actis-Grande and Steve Klasko, providing fantastic commentary, the players lined up and fended off the fierce Lafayette pass rush so McQuilken could fire a pass to Schlegel, who lateraled to a streaking Liedtke for the winning touchdown. It was flawless, as the judges confirmed by awarding us the Petty Flag. The football players on hand with McQuilken, Liedtke and Schlegel were Don Gallo, Jim Abeltin, Bob Mulholland, Nick Noel, Mike Bowers, John Rhoads, Paul Schmitt, Rich Stucky and Dave Mancosh. The great day was capped with dinner at the Homewood Suites in Center Valley, distribution of really excellent yearbooks, and Gus in his usual top form with entertaining and touching remarks. Special thanks to Jim Galletly, whose leadership as our reunion chair was a big factor in our success. What’s more, Gus strong-armed him into agreeing to reprise that role in five years, if not for life. Other members of the Reunion Steering Committee, in addition to Gus, Eileen, Nick, Vince and me, were Rick Ross, John Lindberg and Bob Mulholland. On a personal note, it was a thrill to spend time with my Phi Delta Theta brothers Tony DeScipio and Bob Saydah. Our frat has not been well represented at past reunions, and we had a lot of fun reminiscing. It also was great to reconnect with some of my more faithful correspondents over the years, including Eric Wallace and Jay Buckley. Ohioan Eric got to reconnect with Taylor Pork Roll, and he sent me photos of the different ways he prepared it. He also shared a photo from a Sigma Nu dinner over reunion weekend, attended among others by classmates Bruce Kiefer, Paul Stavrou, Rick Nolte, Ed Hickey, Allen Wroe, Jack Sanders and Bob Millinghausen. Several of you promised over the weekend to send me reports about yourselves so I can share them in future issues. Do it now, before the reunion glow fades! ’75 Thom Hirsch, 139 McHenny Court, Chester, MD 21619, ThomasHirsch44@Outlook.com Fall semester of senior year, President Nixon resigned, and President Ford granted him a full pardon. The Rubik’s Cube was invented. In late 1974, hit songs were “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John and “The Way We Were” by Barbra Streisand, and popular movies were “Godfather II” starring Al Pacino and “The Longest Yard” starring Burt Reynolds. Our 50th reunion will be on June 12-15, 2025. Our reunion committee has been meeting monthly to plan. Anyone who wants to know more about—or better yet help with—reunion planning, please contact me and I will forward your questions or expressions of interest to our class co-presidents, Jeff Sherman and Mardi Blacher-Reich. More details to come. Jeff Sherman is now president of the Lehigh University Alumni Association. We know that leadership of the Alumni Association is in good hands. Our class came in third in the recent Giving Day-March Mania fundraiser! Our best finish ever. Six percent of our class participated in the fundraiser. I know we can do even better supporting our 50th Reunion Gift. For that gift, we are raising money to name a meeting room in the renovated Clayton University Center after our class. I was fortunate to hear from Bill Parker, one of my freshmen hallmates in Richards House. Bill relayed that, last fall, he and wife Laura visited Art Rosenbaum (another Richards hallmate) and Ellen, his wife, spending a wonderful day together in Manhattan. Bill and Laura live in Houston. Bill is retired after a career in the chemical industry. They have three adult children and a grandchild who also live in the Houston area. I also heard from Jack Davenport. Jack is an ordained Anglican minister. In June, Jack published the book he has been writing for almost 20 years—“For the Love of Truth: A Rational Approach to Belief in a Creator.” Jack states that in his book he invites both the skeptic and the scholar on a discovery of the reality of truth and the truth about reality—as well as the limitations of human reason and experience in establishing those truths. Sounds like an impressive achievement. Gina Hanna and Bob live in suburban Philadelphia and spend much time during the summer at the Jersey Shore. They are proud parents of two daughters and three granddaughters. The youngest granddaughter is getting married to a 2017 Lehigh graduate. Gina went to graduate school in Pittsburgh to study planning and public policy and then moved on to D.C., spending almost a decade there before moving to Philadelphia. Gina spent almost 25 years in the health care product and strategic development business. She retired a few years ago. They spend winters in Naples, Fla. There, Gina meets up with her former Lehigh roommates, Anne (McGregor) Fries and Debbie (Crislip) Lovelett, and recently invited Robin Nemery, all from the Class of ’76, for their own mini-reunion. This past fall, Gina and Debbie and their spouses joined classmate Janet Scagnelli and traveled to the Greek Islands and had a blast sightseeing, eating wonderful meals and reminiscing about the good old days. Gina and Janet hope to make it to our 50th. Steve Lord spent three years with Colgate-Palmolive doing accounting at its Jersey City, N.J., manufacturing plant. While there, a co-worker set Steve up on a blind date with his future wife; they married in 1977. Steve then worked at Warner-Lambert in Morris Plains, N.J., 1978-2002 doing finance and IT. He owned a business in 2002-2008 called “Lord Knows!” where he was an executive coach of speaking and presentations for technical professionals. Steve retired in 2008 and moved to Raleigh, N.C. Steve and his wife have five children (the eldest graduated from Lehigh in 2004) and four grandchildren, located in New Hampshire, New Jersey and Texas. Steve volunteers as a reader for the blind at the North Carolina Reading Service, and as a tour guide at the 260-yearold Historic Yates Grist Mill in Raleigh. His main hobbies are genealogy (he’s a Mayflower descendant!) and gardening. Especially as we approach our milestone reunion, please do send me an email about your journey after Lehigh and what you are doing these days, so I can include you in the next column. Your classmates would love to hear about you. Don’t forget to like our Class Facebook page run by Jeff Sherman. It can be found at: facebook.com/lehighseventyfive?fref=ts. Post some pictures! ’76 Paul Laschiavo and Jamie Holbrook, Lehigh76correspondents@ gmail.com. After graduation, Phoebe Lam earned her MBA at the University of Toronto. Soon after, her father suddenly passed away and she returned to Hong Kong, where she joined her brother in running the family business, Lam Geotechnics. Phoebe was responsible for “the geotechnical side of the business.” Though her formal training did not pre-

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