CLASS NOTES | SUMMER 2023 | 59 Award from the Women’s Business Council of the Chamber of Commerce, and finally, on Dec. 15, Judge Yamin was feted at a gala retirement dinner, for her preeminent 32 years of services as a jurist.” Dianne, congratulations on your retirement and on all your many accomplishments! Also announcing retirement is Kira (Cauwels) Mendez. Kira was director of the Iacocca Institute and, with her efforts, ensured that the Iacocca Institute is well positioned for future growth and innovation. Kira and her team expanded the institute’s global reach, created new programs and innovations and increased scholarship funding for program participants. I saw Kira recently, and she mentioned that she will be staying at Lehigh to teach a few classes. Kira, congratulations on your retirement. Enjoy the freedom! Viv (Hanes) Monroe shared some sad news that Bruce Winick passed away in January 2022. Bruce was a Theta Xi brother and was a small-business owner in Elizabeth, N.J. Viv shared a fond memory of Bruce: “My first encounter with Bruce was as the victim of a prank he did on Yom Kippur freshman year at Lehigh. He was out to meet people and have fun, which became his continued mode of operation throughout college and through his life. Bruce always made himself available to help friends, bringing flowers, videotapes and teddy bears but, above all, the desire to be helpful. Bruce always bragged about the various nieces and nephews in his life and loved finding connections between his friends, even when they lived far away. Bruce, you will be missed by those who knew you.” Please keep sending me your news. As you are reading this, it’s football season again, so come join us at our tailgate in the reserved lot. ’84 Thomas Keating, 250 Carillon Parkway #421, St. Petersburg, FL 33716; thomaskeating@ yahoo.com One of the good consequences of living and working in Florida is that you will come across old friends, old neighbors and classmates from time to time. The attractions of Florida are many: a famous mouse, beautiful beaches and wildlife areas and … baseball. And so, we came to find ourselves sitting in Steinbrenner Field with Laura Gill, Lehigh volunteer and unshakable Yankee fan, on a beautiful March Wednesday watching the Yankees-Phillies game. I really enjoyed it. I felt like a kid again, and it was good to see Laura in her element as a baseball expert. So, classmates, if you are down in Florida, especially in the Tampa/St. Pete area, drop me a line and let’s get together. It is with sadness that I have to report the passing of two of our own: Evan L. Marcus and Kenneth Peoples. Evan lived a beautiful life as a beloved father and son. He was president of his synagogue and had a successful career beyond Lehigh. Those of you who knew him best know that his life is celebrated every time you think of him and you will remember him always. Ken Peoples was one of the class of forty 1984 civil engineers, a group whose praises I have sung before. As typical with the “famous 40,” he was highly successful in his career, culminating in founding his own business, Lehigh Valley Technical Associates. He was a beloved son, brother, husband and father. One of my favorite memories of Ken goes back to 1985. We had graduated from Lehigh, and I was living as an unemployed newlywed with my bride in south Allentown. Ken was working at Pidcock, a local engineering firm with close ties to Lehigh, and he had a place down the street from us. We were scraping to make ends meet, so Ken took pity on us and invited us to his annual fish fry. I never ate so much perch in my life, and with the addition to the company of some fine beverages, we left the party full and happy, a night and a kindness that I will never forget. ’85 Jennifer Sheehan, (240) 401-3724, jksheehan@aol.com It was lovely connecting recently with my friend and roommate Linda (Barrett) Gassert. After many corporate moves, she and husband Brian have been living in Peachtree City, Ga., for a while now. She has two children: Rob, an anesthesiologist in Tennessee, and Mikela, an attorney in Georgia. Linda and her family are headed shortly to Rob’s wedding in Tennessee, which is kind of amazing because it seems like Linda’s wedding was just yesterday! As I’ve gotten older, I’ve taken more classes in art history, which I’ve always been interested in. Technology makes this a lot easier since my freshman year, when we had to use slide carousels to study slides of artworks. In order to study for tests, we had to sign up to use the carousel and slide projector to memorize paintings and sculptures! Last fall, I took a class in Spanish art history, and I’m headed this month to Spain to see as many of the works as I can in person. I met up with my post-Lehigh, New York City roommate Unchu (Lee) Tobia ’86 in Philadelphia (our geographic halfway point) for the day at the Barnes Foundation. She also loves art, and we’re taking a class together this spring. She is living in New York with her husband, Alfred, and has three children, who are living in Texas, Maine and New York. I will be at the Lehigh reunion in June (it’s Mike’s year). Hope to have seen some of you there! ’86 Dave Polakoff, 400 E. 71st St., #3K, New York, NY 10021. david@ dpolakoff.com. Look for “Lehigh University Class of 1986” on both Facebook and LinkedIn. “And it’s knowin’ I’m not shackled by forgotten words and bonds. And the ink stains that have dried upon some lines, that keeps you in the back roads by the rivers of my memory, and keeps you ever gentle on my mind.” (Glen Campbell) David Wertheim, chair of Optum Long Island’s division of allergy and immunology plus its assistant medical director, got his own booster shot when son, Sam, was admitted as a Lehigh 2027! “…Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” (Winston Churchill) Chris Bubser was elected to the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Town Council. Pennsylvania-based Susan (Kotek) Sprague is active in party politics, as in the inaugural gala kind of party, following her sister Tina’s election as governor of Oregon. Susan was able to stay over in the governor’s residence in Salem. (I wonder if there’s a Courtney Love bedroom in Mahonia Hall.) Susan is semi-retired from Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc. but remains active in the National Society of Professional Engineers. Virginia’s governor appointed Gary Pan as commissioner of the state’s Department of Labor and Industry. After serving as a Boy Scouts of America Scoutmaster for 11 years, Gary founded an all-female BSA unit. His eldest son, Garrett ’16, is now working as a consultant; his middle son graduated from Virginia Tech and is now in medical school; and his youngest son graduated from Penn State and is now a surface warfare U.S. naval officer with the Pacific Fleet.
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