CLASS NOTES | FALL 2023 | 57 ner was Thursday evening, and our longtime correspondent Gail (Hart) Reinhart was the recipient of the 1978 Alumni Award honoring her devotion and service to our alma mater. Congratulations, Gail! We kicked off the reunion weekend festivities on Friday with a welcome lunch outside the Rauch Business Center, followed by the Hawktoberfest below the Alumni Memorial Building. The fun continued on Friday evening at the ReunionFest held outside the STEPS building, just above Maginnes Hall. The Alumni Band entertained us with music, with a deejay to follow. On Saturday, the festivities continued with a picnic lunch outside the Rauch Business Center, followed by the historic parade of classes. Rich Rodack, one of my freshman roommates, led our class carrying our class flag. Saturday afternoon, we jumped up to the Sayre Village for a fun time at the block party, with live music and plenty of refreshments and activities. Following the block party, we attended our long-awaited class dinner. There were 18 classmates in attendance, not including their guests. Our dinner was held in the Tower Room of the Iacocca Building at the Mountaintop Campus. The view was spectacular despite the slight haze from the Canadian wildfires. Following our dinner, we headed down to the STEPS building once again, where we took part in the Dessert en Blanc (and Brown), where we had awesome desserts and drinks and more great deejay dancing music. Whether you attended one or all of the activities, it was an amazing time. We hope to see more of you at our 50th reunion. It will be our best one yet! ’79 Lance M. Bell, 952 River Run Dr., Macedonia, OH 44056-2369. (216) 219-3729 (mobile); lanceb344@gmail.com I’m excited about our 45th class reunion, scheduled for June 6-9, 2024. We’ll enjoy a great time together, and I believe we’ll have a good chance of repeating our award-winning parade performance from the last two reunions (because there’s nothing finer than a ’79er hoisting the Petty Flag). If you’ve never come back for reunion weekend, you’re missing a great experience. Be sure to invite other classmates you’d like to connect with! I’ll give a shout-out to Barry Glickman, who encouraged me to help promote our reunion. Barry noted that he is still honing his craft as a commercial litigator at the same law firm he has worked for since 1990. Barry also shared that he was honored to serve as one of the parade of classes judges at the 2023 reunion. He said that it was an excellent event, and the Class of 1973 swept the awards for best presentation, number of attendees and largest percentage of alums in attendance. That’s our mission for the 2029 reunion. Cory Ackerman was also in attendance, pounding the skins and providing the beat for the Lehigh Alumni Band. Rich Earl ’80 checked in to say that he has been semi-retired from pastoral ministry since 2018. He continues to coach ministers and fill in teaching and preaching for various congregations in central Pennsylvania. He and Faith now have three grandchildren, including fraternal twins who are 6 months old. He’s working in sales with Renewal by Anderson and loving it. Barry Hamlette shared that he was invited to sing “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch of a minor league baseball game. The Worcester Red Sox were playing the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. He was singing for the team’s Juneteenth celebration. Barry also sang the national anthem the previous year at Worcester’s ballpark for the Juneteenth/Father’s Day game. Barry said that Worcester was down by two runs when he sang “God Bless America.” Later, the team scored five unanswered runs to win over the IronPigs. That must have been an inspiring rendition! Craig Buhrendorf posted photos from a July 2023 vacation trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG). I asked him what inspired the visit to PNG. Craig replied that he and his wife Jeane had traveled to many exotic places over the years. They had been thinking about a trip to PNG and had spoken with an LA-based tour guide Craig’s been in touch with since 2008. The tour guide announced that he would be leading a trip to PNG for the last time after 40 years in the business. Craig and Jeane decided it was now or never for a trip. The photos of the indigenous people and culture were fascinating! Susan Chodakewitz was promoted to chief growth strategy officer of The Cadmus Group. This firm is a strategic and technical consultancy compelled to help solve the world’s most challenging problems. Susan oversees purpose-driven corporate growth and strategy to support Cadmus’ mission and vision in the United States and globally. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the 2024 reunion. ’80 Mark Hembarsky, Mhembarsky1980@ gmail.com Leading this edition’s updates, Dick Dunne notes that Finn Wentworth is among this year’s inductees to the New Jersey Hall of Fame. As highlighted on http://re-nj.com/, “real estate and business titan Finn Wentworth” will be “joining a who’s who of past and present leaders in industry, culture and sports in the Garden State.” Finn is “an entrepreneur, philanthropist and co-founder of influential former real estate firms such as Gale & Wentworth and Normandy Real Estate Partners.” He joins 11 others who, as Gov. Phil Murphy said, “made great contributions to our state’s history.” Congratulations, Finn! Dick Dunne also highlighted that while his wife, Nancy, is just retiring, he is still gainfully employed as GPI’s National Director of Bridge Preservation. They decided to pull up their New Jersey roots and move to Cape Cod to see if they could lure their kids and four grandkids to visit them. Before leaving New Jersey, Dick joined a mini track and cross-country reunion at this spring’s Patriot League Track and Field championships held at Lehigh. Andy Hubsch came in from California, Dave Rohr came up from North Carolina, Larry Ullrich came down from New Hampshire, while Dick merely crossed the river from Hopewell Valley. They had a great time catching up (more than the obligatory annual Christmas card data). Frank Scattene continues contributing to Lehigh athletics, with this season marking his 35th year on the official football statistics crew in the press box at Goodman Stadium. Frank states that he is “officially old,” after his first grandchild, a little girl, was born in December 2022, and another granddaughter is due this November. Jim Merrill has been with Ernst & Young for 40-plus years and has been to six of the seven continents for work. Guess they don’t need auditors in Antarctica yet. Mike Finley was inducted into the New Hope-Solebury School District Hall of Fame in June. Mike worked at New Hope-Solebury High School in Bucks County for 35 years, before retiring in 2018. During his tenure, Mike served as a special education teacher, mathematics teacher, transition coordinator, Teacher Association president and chief negotiator, girls basketball coach for
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