CLASS NOTES | FALL 2023 | 61 leverages his metallurgy degree, specializing in metallurgy and failure analysis. Steve’s son is Rochester ’21. Steve runs the Lehigh Valley Old-Timers Soccer League’s over-40 and over-50 summer seasons and plays goalkeeper. Jennifer (Moore) Benn retired from teaching in Warren, N.J. Jennifer and Rennie Benn continue to live in Summit and Stone Harbor, N.J., and enjoy the company of a grandson, Jack. The Benns may have run into Gayle (Fay) Higgins ’88 and TJ Higgins, who spent the summer in Stone Harbor. TJ, one of my frosh roommates, is global chief sustainability officer, global chief business strategic officer and global chief digital strategic officer at Bridgestone in Nashville (try reading TJ’s title on a tire sidewall … you’ll need some Dramamine). TJ, Gayle, daughter Shannon and husband Chandler and sons Luke and Cole went on safari in South Africa. Ronni (Levine) Aronow is a certified somatic movement (an alternative to traditional talk therapy, focusing on tuning into the physical body to heal stored emotions) therapist/educator and a Shake Your Soul (a movement practice that relaxes the nervous system, energizes the body and awakens the soul through a fluid dance repertoire set to world music) teacher/facilitator. “I’ll keep holding on. Holding, holding, holding. That’s all I have today. It’s all I have to say.” (Simply Red) ’87 Laura M. D’Orsi, 26 Falcon Ridge Circle, Holmdel, NJ 07733. (732) 241-5229 (H); lauramdorsi@yahoo.com So happy to hear from Brad McGowan about his nuptials! In February 2023, Brad married his bride, Melissa, in a gorgeous ceremony on Siesta Key Beach in Siesta Key, Fla., and then had his reception on the rooftop of the Art Ovation Hotel (one of the nicest rooftops in Sarasota), with a full spread of top foods, drinks with a champagne bar and dessert table, etc. According to Brad, it was not a large wedding, but it took place over three nights of planned events. Rehearsal dinner for family night No. 1, pre-wedding early arrival party night No. 2, transportation to and from the restaurants and the beach to back and forth to the hotel and then the after wedding big reception night No. 3. They hosted about 75 people. The guests were from the McGowans’ joint high school (West Essex in North Caldwell), Lehigh University, Brad’s NYU MBA class and Melissa’s University of Lynchburg class, along with family on both sides. From Lehigh, a few were able to actually take the trip down south to Sarasota to make a short week or a long weekend out of it as a mini-destination wedding. In attendance were Mark McGowan ’89 and his wife, Jen; Meredith McGowan ’94 and her husband, Christian; Mark Kavulich (aka Clooney); Greg Ehrlich and his wife, Sue; Gregg Wolfson ’89; David DiBrigida ’88 and Mary (McConnell) DiBrigida ’86; and Raj Bhatia and Jill Sloane Bhatia. Anyone down in Siesta Key Beach area, be sure to reach out and say hello. Brad is still managing director (head of PE sponsor coverage) with Pickwick Capital in NYC, working remotely and traveling from Florida, going back and forth when needed. Hope to see you at a Lehigh game this fall. My daughter is a freshman and will be cheering on the Mountain Hawks as a Lehigh cheerleader. ’88 GUEST COLUMNIST: Jillian (Spitalnik) Winoker, jkwinoker@gmail.com Hard to believe we just celebrated our 35th reunion! Thanks to the reunion committee and all their efforts to make the weekend a success. A special shout-out to Kellie Fisher and Jaime (Sorcher) Pitzer, who spearheaded the effort. I think we can all agree that the campus looks amazing and that stepping on to campus is like walking through a time warp. It was so fun connecting with fellow class of ’88 alums, as well as some of my sorority sisters, Liz (Carr) Murphy, Patti Steadman, Weld Royal, Caroline (Kelly) Lonergan, Cecile (Rottenberg) Smith, Kierston Timmons, Linda (Harkrader) Powers, Leslie Howard, Renee (Ross) Coyle and Shari (Sitkoff) Rosenberg. Friday pub night at Seven Sirens included lots of dancing and reminiscing with Barb (Beyer) Merrigan, Marina (Longenecker) Quintana, Janet (Pickens) Cole, Heidi (Lynn) Cohen, Maureen (Jones) Culhane, Dirk Friedkin, Liza Kahn-Garber, Sean Kelly, Gretchen (Gindlesperger) Kirby, Elaine (Thomson) Miller, Jill (Koslowsky) Neff, Sean Pitzer, Amy (Sugarman) Zuckerman, Jeff Enslin, Craig Stansbury and many others. Among the weekend festivities was an opportunity for couples to renew their vows. Those who renewed their vows include Aimee (Politziner) Jalazo and Brian Jalazo, Shari (Sitkoff) Rosenberg and Eric Rosenberg, Mike Beattie and Laurel (Casten) Beattie, John Gabriele and Suzanne (Vranka) Gabriele and Sheri (Bevan) Comisac and Glenn Comisac ’89. An honorable mention goes out to Andy Horning, who has now been a groomsman and witness at two Politziner-Jalazo weddings! Jim Stone was busy planning the reunion golf festivities. The members of the class who attended were Griff Welton, Dave Jacey, Jeff Senior, Jim Mongillo, Dave Feeser, Jim Barbour, Eric Maurer, Gregg Paster, Amy (Kantrowitz) Frei, Karen (Kornheiser) Farber, Kerry (Loughman) O’Hearen, Sharon Seigel Voelzke and Donna (Benedek) Levitz. The award for the longest drives and closest to the pin goes to Griff and David DiBrigida, but it was Gregg Paster who got a lot of kudos on Friday for rocking a T-shirt from a 1986 DG formal! Festivities on Saturday continued with the parade, and Saturday evening was a blast and was attended by Ed Adams, Bill Bahlke, Jeff Bosland, Ted James, Liz (Pulvar) Castleman, Mark Davis, David Finkle, Gregg Gibson, Jim Harris, Julia Leek, Larry Maitlin, Mike Mattia, Matt Russo, Eric Sejourne and Kathy (Zilligen) Sejourne and many others. On a personal note, a highlight for me was driving around The Hill with my Alpha Phi roommate, Donna Levitz, in her convertible and reminiscing about one late night during Greek Week when we “drove” an Alpha Sig “bed” down to Alpha Phi and hid it on the side of our house. I guess it is also time that we ’fess up that it was our dynamic duo who used shaving cream to “decorate” another sorority’s windows. We are lucky to be able to go back and enjoy our friends, our memories, our classmates and the beauty of Lehigh. Thanks again to all who worked hard to make it happen. ’89 Jocelyn (Gitlin) Deutsch, 9 Vincent Lane, Armonl, NY 10504; jocelyndeutsch@hotmail.com Jim McVey and Kelly (Eckbreth) McVey and Sondra (Gross) Mansfield have daughters starting their freshmen year at Tufts University. Kelly and Jim bumped into Sondra at the Tufts Accepted Students Day! As most of us are becoming empty nesters, we are excited to announce that Pierce Cohalan and his wife welcomed their second child to the world. Judy Bernstein decided to go back to her maiden name
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