66 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES the old and many new sites! On our homefronts, Melissa’s son, Max, is nicely settled into his first year at University of Denver. What’s not to love—all-things-outdoors plus the best skiing in one of the most livable cities in the U.S. Now, Melissa is looking toward round two of the college process with a younger son, Ryan, who is looking for a warmer campus, so dreams of a Lehigh legacy are likely lost. Melissa is also gearing up for her 24th Pan-Mass Challenge this summer; she will ride this one in memory of her dad, Bernard Gitlin ’62, who passed away last summer. She is always looking for new recruits and donors, so be in touch or help support this amazing cause at pmc.org/ ML0078. Rachel’s youngest, Justin, is off to University of Virginia in the fall, and she’s thankful for her fellow ’92ers—Bena (Spiegel) Blakeslee, Rachel (Dubow) Mendelson and Meredith Brozost Strassburger—who’ve shared their best advice on Hoos life in Charlottesville as their kids finish out their time there. Rachel and husband Jason Diamond ’89 hosted a great pre-holidays reunion with Theta Xi friends, including ’92ers Nick Kaplan and Matt DeNicola (more on them in an upcoming column!). Also in attendance were Darren Saks ’93 and Kristan (Atwell) Saks ’93, John Sharko ’93, David Providenti ’91 and Donna (Corrado) Providenti ’93, Andrew Schwartz ’91, Mitch Friedel ’90, Chris Porrino ’89 and Steve Siegel ’89. Lots of catching up on old times! We look forward to hearing more from the Class of 1992! ’93 Darren Saks, Dksaksinc@yahoo. com, 201-310-8460 Hello, Class of ’93. Congrats to all of those ’93ers whose kids will be attending Lehigh in the fall. I received some great updates! Don Steele III did not miss a single Lehigh field hockey home game this season watching his daughter, Erica Steele ’24, play a great final season. Joining Don to watch some of these exciting games were Eric Kirchberger, Kurt Wetzel, Michael Spillane and Gregory Saunders. Glenn Smith ’92 also joined Don and others to cheer on the field hockey team. Walt Piekarski and Greg Saunders played the proud parent role in 2023. Walt cheered his daughter, Sage (Harvard ’27), during her freshman field hockey season, while Greg was rooting for his daughter during her final high school lacrosse and crew seasons. Greg was able to join Walt at Harvard to catch one of Sage’s games. Walt was happy to re-connect on calls with Chris Read ’94, Andrew Hodson ’95, Brian Wightman ’95 and Jeremy Brandwein ’92. MJ Forrest and Walt Piekarski kept one another and others from the Class of 1993 up to date on Lehigh sports throughout the year with unrivaled monitoring of ESPN and ESPN+! Greg Saunders, William Rossi, Stewart Wessel ’92, Jason Deeble and Jim Kennedy each had busy years visiting college campuses with their junior and senior high schoolaged kids. The Class of 1993 is not short on coaches! Michael Spillane coached a girls’ club softball team to a state championship, while Kurt Wetzel coached the Germantown Academy boys’ soccer team to another winning and playoff-bound season. Congrats to Michael and Kurt! Sonny Rutkowski hosted the 18th Annual Beta Chi Golf Outing in October 2023. The outing brought Matt Goodrich, Ron Meixell ’94, Chris Barry ’88, Glenn Smith, Jeremy Brandwein, Kent Zambelli ’91, Michael Cari ’95, Doug Gier ’95 and many others together for a fun weekend of golf and catching up. Plenty of phone calls and text messages brought the fun-filled weekend experience into the homes of those who could not make it, including MJ Forrest and DJ Viola ’95. The Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas served as a reunion epicenter for a brief period of time in 2023. Sonny Rutowski, Chuck Wiltraut and Stewart Wessel met in July in Fort Worth for a hootin’ good time touring the Stockyards and enjoying authentic Texas BBQ. Thanks to business trips putting them both in Dallas in November, Keith Cenicola and Chuck Wiltraut held a Lower Cents dorm reunion and were able to meet and share fun memories of Rathbone Hall, which arguably served the best scrambled eggs on campus and was home to several grilled cheese sandwich-eating contests. Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers paid their respects to fellow brother, Daniel F. Pratt ’96, in May of 2023. Dan died of complications of a rare bone infection. Dan graduated with honors, earning a degree in electrical engineering. Dan enjoyed tinkering with and using computers and technology of all sorts. He was an avid lover of music, movies and books. Dan and his wife, Suzanne (Shriver) Pratt ’96, met as students at Lehigh and were married in 2008. They joyfully welcomed their daughter Ella in 2012, making their family dreams complete. For more than 25 years, Dan dedicated his career to Lockheed Martin, contributing to the security and defense of our nation. Dan will be missed by all of us. Anyone who frequents the Jersey shore, make sure to hit me up as Kristan ’93, Jake ’22, Ryan ’22, Maddy ’27 and I spend nearly every summer weekend in Long Branch. It would be great to reminisce if anyone is heading to the Sea. STAY IN STEP! Follow @LehighAlumni on Instagram for news, networking, and nostalgia.* * note: social media consumption will not build calf muscles.
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