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The 1970s
1970
Karen Nystrom Meyer is tagging alligators for conservancy research while spending winters in the South Carolina Low Country. She says it’s important to keep busy and keep learning! See a photo – with an alligator! – here. Ken O'Connor's wife Joan wrote with the sad news of his passing in October 2025. For Jean O'Donnell, her biggest achievement as a teacher was teaching the Holocaust, which she had learned about from studying with Professor Harry Kahn. She offers yearly presentations at the Greater Lowell German Club, using YouTube to encourage members to listen to stories, radio plays and poems. Richard Ph.D. '75 and Lorraine Parent Racusen ’70, M.D. ’75 are enjoying retirement and their fond memories of UVM. They divide their time between homes in Maryland and Vermont, and visiting their sons on the West Coast. Darren '11 has a thriving business and family in Petaluma, Calif. Eldest son Chris and his wife are rocket engineers in Seattle, with Richard and Elaine’s two lovely granddaughters.
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Mr. Douglas McDonald Arnold
1971
Class Secretary Sarah Sprayregen writes, "In October, I had the good fortune of bumping into Jim Lampman ’72 at Lake Champlain Chocolates (where else?). He was hosting Jim Wellington ’72, whom I remember because we’re both from Long Island, and I called him on occasion with my UVM alumni work. I was shopping for ingredients for my partner's and son-in-law’s birthdays coming up — which we try to celebrate together each year. I had the recipe, but Jim helped me get the ingredients which included a taste test. It was fun to meet up with two former hockey players and reminisce about our UVM days. Besides, I came away with great ingredients and a new recipe for chocolate cake! I also heard from Milo Shelly with a holiday message. His kids and grandchildren are thriving, and Kaylin who graduated from UVM’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences is heading back to California to pursue a doctorate in Nurse Anesthesiology. Milo plans on skiing in Vermont in the new year — hopefully we can catch up then. Bill Allard has been in touch with his new comedy show, King of the World. He sent me the link and it’s all Bill Allard/Duck Spots routine. So he’s clearly writing and enjoying the world of comedy, albeit with a current-affairs lens. (Searching for his name and ‘Duck Spots' should let you find him online.) Liz Mead Foster and I had lunch after the holidays — she was about to head to Florida after enjoying being home in Vermont. It was great to catch up. With 2025 behind us, thankfully, Richard and I will be heading to Spain and France in March. We’ll do another self-guided walking tour (Sierra de Aracena), stay in Seville for a week (a recommendation from Wendy Reilly Jenkins ’74!), and then to France to see Richard's son and granddaughter.” Sharp-eyed 1976 Class Secretary Pete Beekman ’76 spotted that St. Lawrence University named Wally Johnson to their 2026 Athletics Hall of Fame roster. A 2013 CoSIDA Hall of Fame inductee, he is the only professional to win the organization’s three major honors and was a longtime member of the ECAC-SIDA board. Jonathan Gryckiewicz wrote to share more details of the life of his dad, Jules F. Gryckiewicz G’71, Ph.D, who passed away in February 2025. After his years of studies and teaching, he went on to receive a doctorate from the University of Connecticut. He worked for many years in public schools in Putnam, Connecticut as an administrator and guidance counselor. He was also an accomplished pianist who especially enjoyed performing the works of Chopin, a photographer, a hiker, and lifelong student of philosophy, theology, and history - and chess. Hank Smith writes: "Sadly, my lifelong buddy Vic Derks passed away in November 2025. RIP. Miss you, my friend!"
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Ms. Sarah Wilbur Sprayregen
1972
At the request of the last colleagues with whom he worked at the federal government, Richard Carl Nelson has written a set of true stories about his highly improbable but true life that took him from a farm in Vermont to UVM, to a career in counterintelligence, on to the White House, and finally to another career peak before retiring early because his wife needed him around more. The book, called "On A Different Path," is free on Apple Books.
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Mrs. Debra Koslow Stern
1973
Michael Shane Elmore fondly remembers his undergraduate years at UVM, studying philosophy, a major that he really enjoyed and had wonderful professors. He later went on for degrees in education and engineering, and spent many years working in industry and finally retiring in 2022 from a professorship at Binghamton University. Barry Skidelsky was in Burlington in early December to help long-time friends Jeremy Bond '72, Nancy Kirby Bond and family and friends, help celebrate the 50th anniversary of their downtown Burlington business Champlain Leather. Among the celebrants was Nancy and Jeremy’s granddaughter, Nora — a 7th generation Vermonter. During his brief visit, Barry (who graduated from Vermont Law School in 1980 and currently is in private practice in New York City focused on entertainment and media) had a serendipitous meeting over-the-air with a fellow ham radio operator and VLS alum Zach Manganello in Shelburne, suggesting that there may be less than six degrees of separation between any of us. Barry welcomes contact from anyone in the UVM and/or VLS communities.
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Ms. Deborah Layne Mesce
1974
Christopher Aldrich Brown writes that he’s still at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he is still using what he learned working with UVM the ski injury research group to develop a horizontally-split shoe sole that could reduce ACL injuries in field and court sports without diminishing performance. Three Catamount Couples got together in September: Charles Guyette and Nancy Valerio, Bill and Sherry (Handy) Moore, and Ed and Shelley (Handy) Cymerys. All three couples are celebrating both their year of graduation and 50th wedding anniversary! They discovered that, upon graduation, Charles, Nancy and Sherry filled the three open jobs for French teachers in Vermont upon graduation. They also stopped by the card room in the state capitol building to see the painting of Charlie’s that hangs there. Paul Kenny writes from winter early in the year, "It's 2026 and it's dumping snow on Sun Valley Ski Resort in Idaho. We're already pushing 100 inches of snow as we open the new year. The skiing is as good as it gets. I'm aiming at another 100 ski days on the mountain to earn another 100-day pin."
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Mrs. Emily Schnaper Manders
1975
Class Secretary Dina Child wrote as she was looking forward to seeing "a lot of you at our 50th ‘Cluster Reunion' with the Class of ’76, the first weekend in June. It looks to be fun-filled with activities that should appeal to most. It’s a great time to reconnect with old friends." Susan Frazier Blum has got her train ticket for the 1975 reunion and is hoping to see fellow PT classmates. She says she's still practicing, 50 years out. See westphillywellness.com to learn more about her practice. Paula Cope wrote as she was looking forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming 50th reunion, and shares that she has "been unsuccessfully retired from consulting, but still very active volunteering and keeping up with our growing family. I've been working with Stacey Lazarus to do an oral history project of UVM Rescue which may launch this spring. Stay tuned!" Carolyn Gorham Guest obtained her Vermont teaching license in June after graduation in 1975. After teaching all those years, she chose not to renew it this year and instead is doing more with her family, her paper cutting art (see beautiful examples of it with online Class Notes) and volunteering at the Lyndon Historical Society's Shores Museum. Joe Luffred and wife Heidi relocated in 2024 from Avon, Ohio to Dallas, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. Joe retired after forty years with Energizer Battery in 2015, and from his “secondary employment” as operations director with Nippon Paint Automotive in 2021.. Now he has a fun part-time job where he is a club fitter at Golf Galaxy and plays golf up to four times per week at Bentwater Golf Club in Acworth, Ga.
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Mrs. Christine Dwyer Child
1976
Class Secretary Peter Beekman wrote while looking forward to seeing classmates in Burlington for the joint '75-'76 50th reunion in June. He especially notes the volunteers who made hundreds of phone calls to classmates encouraging them to return for a great weekend. Jerry Daly, Bob Cleverdon, and Don Smith worked to get former soccer players and coaches from the '75-'76 era together at the class dinner during reunion weekend. K. Rogers Simmons reached out to get fellow ROTC classmates to the celebration and, at the time of writing, had reached Glenn Monrad, Tom Shanahan, and Alan Moloff and heard of their life adventures in the last fifty years. All served their nation with distinction and are enjoying their retirement. Annalee Ash, retired from careers in design and hospitality, is continuing to pursue her passion for painting serene landscapes — mountains, meadows, sea, and skies of the places she visits and her adopted home state of North Carolina. This is the sixth year she is the community liaison with the Plein Air Art Festival in New Bern, N.C. featuring 37 internationally-renowned artists. Excited for her 50th reunion, she is donating her award-winning photo, “CowWash,” to the UVM Dairy Barn and CALS. She is following the careers of alumni who have gone on to become Vermont veterinarians, as well as alums who are Ayrshire cow breeders. She noted that her world got even smaller when she learned that the father and the grandfather of classmate D. Scott Gibson were the breeders who brought the first Ayrshire cows to the USA from Ayer, Scotland. Annalee was especially looking forward to seeing former friends from Patterson Hall, Redstone Campus, Harris-Millis and Morrill Hall at the reunion. Mark Auriemma writes with excitement about the coming 50th reunion: "A bunch of 1976 & 1975 alumni will be getting together in Burlington this June to celebrate our 50th. A group including Jon Parker, Tim Fenton, Gary Faigen, Steve Bradley, Jan Carlee, Bruce Peel '75, Chuck Tauck, Stewart Yaguda '77, Chris Aumock '75, Ted Pickering '77, Dan Wilcox, Dave Demers '77, and Tim Donahue '77 will be renting a hotel on Willard St., so if you see 14 old guys rambling around the North End looking for Tut's, say hello!" Averill Hamilton Cook says all is good with him and invites alumni to stop by and see him. In mid-December Jan D'Angelo and fiancée Gypsy celebrated the holiday season at the 16th annual Coogan Christmas Party at their beautiful home in Manakin-Sabot, Va. Glenn Fay has published a fourth book on Vermont history, “The Tempestuous Life of Levi Allen: His Poetry and Autobiography.” Levi was a brother of Ethan and Ira, a Green Mountain Boy, and a British loyalist. David Iannone wrote while looking forward to seeing fellow former UVM football players at the June 2026 50th reunion. See a photo of the group here.. Andrea Mastrocinque-Martone writes: "Every year for the past 25 years, eight spirited women from UVM class of ’76 have descended upon Stowe Mountain Lodge like it’s their private reunion headquarters. Long before the plush robes and mountain views, these lifelong Catamounts rented cozy homes around town — armed with crockpots, college photos, and stories that (thankfully) never made it to social media. This annual getaway has become an art form. There’s laughter that echoes louder than ski boots clomping through the lobby, debates over who’s aged “least,” and frequent toasts to UVM glory days (and to the fact that everyone still remembers them). Days are spent exploring Stowe’s shops and trails; nights are reserved for reminiscing over Proctor Hall pranks and disco-era fashion missteps.Though the hairstyles and ski techniques may have evolved since ’76, the friendship hasn’t budged an inch. These women have raised families, built careers, and conquered life’s moguls — but every year, Stowe brings them right back to where it all began: together, unstoppable, and laughing a little too loudly at breakfast. And as for UVM's 50th in June, the plan is simple: a different mountain view (Burlington), different hotel (Marriott downtown Burlington), same eight women, even louder laughter — and maybe, finally, figuring out how to take a group selfie where everyone’s eyes are open." Claudia Velletri retired in the summer of 2024 after 32 years of teaching and private tutoring. Her husband Steve retired in 2020 after 32 years at Mattel, Inc. as a display specialist and coordinator for the Hot Wheels brand. The couple still resides in Southern California.
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Mr. Peter Andrew Beekman
1977
Pat Boera sends greetings to UVM alumni, especially members of the class of '77! She continues to support Champlain College students and alumni in all-things-career in her role as co-director of the Career Collaborative. You'll also find her enthusiastically volunteering with Lyric Theatre Company (presenting Disney's “Frozen” in April at The Flynn) and the Middlebury Summer Festival on-the-Green.
Rhonda Bowers ’80 shared the sad news that her sister Debbie Williams Pringle passed away unexpectedly in September 2025. Debbie is survived by husband Paul and children Ryan Pringle and Amanda Pringle. Abby Mandel wrote to make sure the Catamount community is aware that Physical Therapy grad Nicholas San Martino died in April 2025. He was a physical therapist for most of his life, ran 26 Boston Marathons, and is survived and missed by a large and loving family and group of friends. Colleen Morey writes, "Twenty years after graduating from UVM's School of Education at UVM in 1977, I had the opportunity to visit an orphanage in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Bogotá, Colombia. What began as a quest for an outreach project became a visit that would not only change my own life, but the lives of my students and countless others — from Colombia to the USA, and throughout the global community. Hogares Luz y Vida — the Home of Light and Life — is a haven for children with disabilities, who have been orphaned or abandoned, by parents who simply could not provide...or understand. The residents in this orphanage, challenged with birth and developmental anomalies, are part of a steadily growing family of over 215 children and adults who do not consider their challenges as limitations. All of this is a credit to Sister Valeriana Garcia Martin — the founder, originally from Spain — who in 1991 converted a dirt floor garage into a safe, welcoming, and medicinal home, using discarded car and truck tires for cribs. Now, at nearly 85 years of age, she has devoted 35 years to growing and nurturing this home, based on Biblical principles, where both children and staff give and receive empathy, affection, dignity, respect, honor, kindness, love...family. When I stepped foot over the threshold of this humble home in 1997, my life was forever changed. Meeting children who saw themselves through the lens of capability as opposed to disability was beyond inspiring — for me and for my students. The initial intention of establishing and cultivating a relationship between these children and my 60 students went viral, as each of the 15 schools in our community became involved in various capacities through service based learning projects. At the time, I traveled to Bogotá two to three times each year, accompanied by friends and family, students and teachers, and interested others. A few years later, a dear dormitory friend from my freshman year, Linda (Holleran) Johnson, asked to join me on one of my visits. And that's when things really began to take off! Linda involved her own family and friends, and with them came an abundance of devoted involvement, immeasurable enthusiasm, and gracious generosity. In 2009, we founded the Light and Life Foundation. We focused on educational and medical supplies, as well as personal items — clothing, shoes, bedding, etc. But, as the orphanage grew, so did the need for additional facilities and programs such as a sewing center, independent living program and daycare centers for families of need in the neighboring barrio. Since its inception, the Light and Life Foundation has helped to: construct and equip a school; assist in providing staffing salaries for both the school and residence; purchase a farm, refurbish an on-site respiratory center; furnish a physical therapy center; construct both a Champions Club autism center and a solar-lit Fitness and Sports Therapy center; and assist in funding the day-to-day needs of the children living in Hogares Luz y Vida.” Sally Miller Wales ’78 writes, "The family and friends of Jamie (Litner) Rubin are grieving the September 17th loss of her bright light, when Jamie died very suddenly from a brain aneurysm. Just the week before, Jamie and UVM roommates Sally, Deb (Norris) Eddington, Molly McClaskey and Jamie spent four wonderful days hosted by Jamie and her husband at their home on Cape Cod. She leaves a loving extended family, including her six grandsons. Robert Martin Waxman's big news is he is now in three bands. The latest one is Nott The Hoople (a Mott The Hoople tribute band, of course). They are doing a 12-day tour of England including London and Liverpool in October. He will be getting a new socket for his prosthetic, made mostly of fabric which will afford him complete freedom of movement. He is still playing tennis and teaching adults part-time. See Rob’s photo here.
1979
Dr.Thomas Ferlito is proud to announce that his son has purchased his orthodontic practice in his hometown of Haverhill, Mass. He will work alongside his son three days per week as he loves his profession and is excited about the opportunity to work together in the practice. William Carl Miller is enjoying our beautiful Green Mountain state, and appreciating how lucky he is for UVM friends and associates. He's still a contractor for barn restoration and lake homes.
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Mrs. Beth Nutter Gamache