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CLASS NOTES

Class Notes

1940s

'47 BA Jane (Laflin) McKinney received first place in the Society of Southwestern Authors 2006 National Writing Contest. Entries came from 29 states and two foreign countries. Her winning work has been published in a number of magazines, and she has published a children's book.

1950s

'59 IWHS, '80 BA, Charmaine Reininger Williams, 1998 Alumna of Distinction, retired at a ceremony last November. Williams has received many awards over the years including the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators 2002 Vision Award. She was honored for her work to foster lay leadership within the church, building participative and collaborative church systems and processes. Williams was the director of pastoral planning and human resources for the Diocese of Fort Worth. Bishop Joseph Delaney of Fort Worth expressed gratitude for her more than 30 years of ministry at the parish and then the diocesan level.

'59 BM Anastasia Thibodeaux will be visiting Alaska in June as a birthday gift from 200 of her former students who organized to give her this gift, knowing she had always wanted to go there.

1960s

'63 BSN Marge Flowers retired from the Irving Independent School District after 22 years as a school nurse. She is currently a member of the Church of the Incarnation at the University of Dallas where she sings in the choir.

'67 BA, '85 MA Sr. Louise Delisi, CCVI is proud to share that her niece '76 BA, '82 BBA Lisa M. Floyd Leith was awarded a PhD in Educational Leadership and Innovation from the University of Colorado in Denver in November. Leith is vice president of member services for the National Association of Street Schools, promoting equal access to high quality education for underserved populations. Leith's two children and three grandchildren live in Texas.

'68 BA Ludmilla Hamilton Oestreich became a grandmother in March.

1970s

’72 IWHS, ’76 BA, ’90 BBA Joan Moody was selected to be the 2007 Irishman of the Year of the Harp and Shamrock Society of Texas. Moody received the Sash and Statue of Cuchulain at the annual awards banquet in February. She is a graduate of Incarnate Word High School where she played Shamrock basketball and went on to receive two degrees in English and business administration. Moody’s great grandmothers were natives of Ireland.

'73 BA, '96 HON Sr. Yolanda Tarango, CCVI faculty and UIW trustee, was presented a 2006 Phoenix Award in October for her work with Visitation House Ministries serving women and children in need of assistance.

'75 BSN Justice Phylis Jacobs Speedlin won her bid for local re-election to the Texas Supreme Court.

'76 BA Laurie Fitzpatrick won the Best Supporting Actress in a Drama award for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at this year's Globe Awards, the Alamo Theatre Arts Council's annual ceremony honoring achievement on San Antonio stages.

'79 BA Roger Alvarez won the Best Lead Actor in a Drama award for The Road to Mecca at this year's Alamo Theatre Arts Council Globe Awards honoring achievement on San Antonio stages.

1980s

'82 BA, '85 MA Laura Shaw was installed as chair of the Library Foundation Board in Florida.

’83 IWHS, ’87 BA Eileen Burke Faught was honored by the Harp and Shamrock Society of Texas for outstanding service. Faught received a “Cusack Plaque” at the annual awards banquet in February.

'83 IWHS, '88 BA Catherine Ciarrocchi recently obtained her Master's in International Education from the School for International Training in Vermont.

'87 BBA Betty Ruth Gonzales Campbell is deputy administrator of the Dallas Regional Office of the Department of Labor.

'87 BA Clark Stevens participated in the Churchill High School October production of Twelfth Night or What You Will, a “then and now” adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy. Stevens created and directed the music.

'87 MBA Theresa Tiggeman, UIW professor of finance, was selected by the Texas Society of CPAs to receive the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award. The award and $1,000 were presented at the Accounting Education Conference on Oct. 20-21 in Austin.

1990s

'91 BBA, '94 MBA John Anderson began his company Dream Decks four years ago. Today it is one of the largest deck building companies in Texas. Dream Decks builds about 100 decks each month in San Antonio and Corpus Christi.

'91 BA Mary Bolin Brand won the Best Lead Actress in a Comedy award for London Suite for the Harlequin Dinner Theatre at this year's Globe Awards, the Alamo Theatre Arts Council's annual ceremony honoring achievement on San Antonio stages.

'91 BA, '04 MBA Yvonne De La Rosa was named vice president of San Antonio Federal Credit Union in December.

'93 BA Kenyon Anderson is senior editor for U.S. Central in the Kansas City metro area. In 2006, she received an Award of Excellence in the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Southern Region Silver Quill Awards competition. The judges, communications experts from IABC chapters around the globe, cited Anderson's entry of U.S. Central's 2005 Annual Report for its creativity and well-developed approach. When not working, Anderson's children, Taege, age 11, Keile, age 8, and Blane, age 3, keep her busy with school and extracurricular activities. Anderson also freelances in commercial acting, is web editor for Heartland Community Church and provides occasional post-adoption counseling for birth mothers.

'94 BBA Desiree Kornrum Byrne successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in November. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in December with a PhD in Educational Administration and Leadership with a focus on higher education.

'94 BA Deborah Stover is in Washington, DC, working at the new Westin City Center as the director of human resources.

'97 BA Mary Lou Hymel and her husband Don joined other theatre alumni at a gathering in December. Hymel performs as a singer with The Tim and Bob Show (www.thetimandbobshow.com) comprised of her husband and friends Steve and Kathy Feinstein. They perform amplified acoustic rock music at venues around San Antonio and the Hill Country.

'99 MAA Cynthia Demonbren is director of Our Lady of the Lake University Weekend College Programs.

'99 MA Julenne Deitrick Barshop serves as director of development for the School of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

'99 BA Shellie Eagan was named curator of collections at the Institute of Texan Cultures. She loved attending UIW and said, “Good things happen at UIW.” Eagan graduated cum laude and attended Texas Tech University where she earned a MA in Museum Science in 2005.

'99 BS Lety Villarreal has been selected for the 2006 Ernst & Young International Fellows Program. She will travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to assist Globant, a rapidly growing information technology outsourcing company in streamlining its facilities expansion process.

'99 MBA Jason Wright is manager of product marketing for TippingPoint, a division of 3Com. Prior to this, Wright led the security technologies practice at Frost & Sullivan market research and consulting firm.

2000s

'01 BA Mariana Reyes-Cook, husband Jason Frank Cook, and their daughter Kateri, who is now age three, say hello.

'01 BA Monica Velasquez McIlwain recently launched a nonprofit corporation: TYME (Teaching Young Mothers to Excel) to Empower. Having mentored teen parents, McIlwain wanted to take her efforts to a new level. She has partnered with North Side Teen Parenting Program with hopes of working with other school districts as well. TYME to Empower assists teen parents in need of motivational and financial assistance and encourages teens to achieve their educational and personal goals. McIlwain hopes that by encouraging young adults to set goals and remain focused that TYME to Empower can help reduce the teen pregnancy rate in San Antonio.

'01 BA Nicole Ochoa is senior editor for NSIDE SA Business Journal, spotlighting the achievements and stories of San Antonio's leading professionals. She credits her diverse experiences at UIW and important mentors such as professor of English Dr. John Perry and assistant professor of communications Dr. Valerie Greenberg with providing her tools to become successful. She was one of ten students from around the world selected to intern with CNN News and worked with a representative of the Texas House on the Mexican American Legislative Leadership foundation. Her current editor's role places her in a lead position with San Antonio's first business content-driven magazine.

'02 BA Richard Farias earned his MA in English at the University of Texas at San Antonio and is now an instructor of composition and literature at San Antonio College. In October, he served as poetry editor for the San Antonio Express-News Sunday poetry column.

'02 MA Rebecca Minjarez Villarreal was recently hired by Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District as its new public information officer. She is responsible for the internal and external communications of the organization and is official spokesperson for the district. Before joining the district office, Villarreal was public affairs coordinator for Time Warner Cable in San Antonio.

'03 BA Kelly Thurmond will present two papers at conferences this spring. In March, she will present "The Philosophical and Sociological Implications of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder" at the College Music Society's Southcentral Chapter Conference at the University of Arkansas in Jonesboro. In April, she will present "A Comparative Study of African Tribal Music and African-American Spirituals” at the American Popular Culture Conference in Boston.

'04 BA Justin Bennett won the Scene Design award for Royal Hunt of the Sun at St. Philip’s College. The award was presented at the Globe Awards of the Alamo Theatre Arts Council, an annual ceremony honoring achievement on San Antonio stages.

'04 BA Katy Squyres Caskey teaches children's classes at LanDance Conservatory. In addition to her degree from UIW, she has a Master's Degree in Dance from West Texas A&M University.

'04 BA Justin Sachtleben and '02 BBA Vanessa Jupe won three first- place prizes in the H-E-B/Kellogg Show Your Texas Pride photo contest. They also won a grand prize mentioned in a promotional calendar that was available in H-E-B stores in late 2006. Jupe is employed with Jet Blue airlines in New York City as web production coordinator.

Anniversary

'55 MA Rev. H. Paul Osborne and wife Gladys celebrate 70 years together.

Engagements

'99 BBA Michael L. Cantu and '01 BSN Angela D. McDowell plan to wed this year.

'04 MBA Henry Patrick Drought and Molly Meredith Houser plan to wed in May.

Wedding Belles and Beaux

'89 St. Peter's, '03 BA Yvette Reyna (Reyes) and David Reyna on Aug. 11 at the Dominion Country Club in San Antonio.

'96 IWHS, '00 BA, '02 MA Erika Olivarri and Christopher Michael Bowen, a Texas State Trooper with the Department of Public Safety, on Nov. 25. The couple resides in Houston where Olivarri works at St. Pius X High School as events and public relations director.

'99 BBA Mike R. Serembiczky and Christine Roehl on July 29. Serembiczky is an audit manager for Deloitte & Touche LLP in Milwaukee, WI.

'00 BBA Louis J. Agnese III and Melissa Cheney on Nov. 11.

'00 BA Deanna M. Passamante and Dirk Davis La Fleur on Oct. 22.

'04 BA Christy Granata Pantusa and Charles Pantusa on Sept. 30.

'04 BA Amy Wilcox and Brandon Raymond on Dec. 23. Wilcox is a kindergarten teacher at Villareal Elementary in the Northside Independent School District of San Antonio.

'05 BBA Amy Conti and '06 BBA Stephen Calderon on Oct. 28 at the Chapel of the Incarnate Word.

'05 BBA Rachel Cox and Christopher Daniels on Aug. 12. Daniels is a student at UIW working on his BBA.

Page 25
'06 MA Cassandra Ann Meyer and Jonathan Marcus Russell on Nov. 18.

'06 MBA Tiffany Brooke White and Jon Michael Freiger on Sept. 3.

Future Alumni

'74 BA, '77 MA Linda A. Hufford and Dr. Larry Hufford, a grandson: Ian Larry to daughter Ewa and husband John, born July 23.

'86 BSN Catherine Gannon-Snowden and husband, Tom Snowden: a boy, Matthew Francis Snowden.

'94 BBA, '97 MBA Claudia (Solis) Marshall and husband, John F. Marshall: a daughter, Andrea Leigh Marshall, last March 29.

'98 BS Dennis Bryan and '00 BA Carla Collett Bryan: a son, Caden, on June 8.

'98 BA Heather Reininger Kelley and Lt. Det. Dennis Patrick Kelley: a son, Brayden Patrick Kelley, on May 11. Grandparents are '74 BS, '92 MEd Nancy Stichler Reininger, UIW adjunct instructor in education and fashion management, and husband Peter, HVAC superintendent in facilities management at UIW.

'99 MBA Louis J. Agnese and wife Heather: a daughter, Bridgette Rose, on June 27.

'00 BBA Katherine Schweers-Fell and husband Charlie: a daughter, Katelyn Avery, on July 27. Schweers-Fell is a stay-at-home mom and University of Phoenix online professor. Her husband is a corporate banking officer with Comerica Bank. They reside in Dallas.

'00 BA Judy Garcia: a son, Benjamin Matteo Garcia, on Oct. 11.

'01 BA Christina Rendon Curtis and husband Lt. William Curtis: a son, Tristan Alexander Curtis, on May 25.

'02 BBA Jaime Lopez and wife Rachel: a son, Aiden James, on June 15.

'03 BA Erika Martinez Burt and husband Justin: a girl, Bernadette Genevieve Burt, on Nov.15.

'04 BA Samuel G. Saldana and Gloria: a son, Isaac Joseph Saldana, last March 12.

'05 BS Annette M. Gallego-Hopkins and husband Chris R. Hopkins: a daughter, Hannah Bea Hopkins, on May 31.

Update

Paul Daher spent much of his “retirement career” at UIW as a part-time lecturer of computer literacy. Prior to UIW, Daher was an academic computer lab manager and instructor. He recently moved to California and formed a musical group called 'Music Just for Fun!' that plays different types of music. The group just held its 4th Annual Musical Variety Show.

In Memoriam

'29 IWHS Patricia Cecilia Huth Gillis, UIW benefactor
'33 Frances Franki H. Kusenberger, Verbum Society
'36 Myrtle W Dunning, Santa Rosa School of Nursing
'38 BA Margaret Watkins Anderson
'40 Winnie Osborn Barbera, Santa Rosa School of Nursing
'40 BA Sr. Teresa Connors, CCVI (formerly Sr. Teresa Joseph), former IWHS principal
'41 BA Eugenia (Gail) Davis Martin
'42 BA Sr. Finbar Joyce, CCVI
'42 BA Sr. Kathleen Kenny, CCVI (formerly Sr. Ildephonse)
'43 BM Doris Jeanne Golden Roberts
'46 IWHS, '50 Patricia Seewald Byrne, former student
'46 BA Helen Ayleen Herrmann Radke
'47 Phil Healy Anderson, former student
'47 BA Maxine Cameron Engelke
'46 BA Helen Ayleen Herrmann Radke '47 Phil Healy Anderson, former student
'47 BA Maxine Cameron Engelke
'48 RN Elizabeth (Betty) Pugh, Santa Rosa School of Nursing
'49 BA Lee Hage Jamail
'52 BSN Mary Leigh Kilgore Gelder
'53 IWHS Dorothy Gaertner La Hood
'53 BA Joan Moulder McMurray
'56 BA, '68 MA Sr. Mary Jane Kenny
'60 BA Barbara Joyce Brown
'60 BSN Geraldine Stevens Pritchett, nursing professor emerita
'67 BA, '82 MA Elizabeth A Kountz Trudell
'68 MA Rhetta Harper Tatsch
'69 BA Diana Ramirez Middleton
'71 BA Sr. Stephanie Deegan, CSB (formerly Sr. Joseph)
'87 BSN Karla Denise Carter Williams
'88 HON Doctorate Retired Brigadier General Robert F. McDermott, UIW Executive-in- Residence, McDermott Leadership Chair
'99 MBA Louis J. Agnese
'04 BA (ADCaP) Ricardo Raul Castilleja
Arturo G. Torres, former trustee Brandon S. Hassmueller, former student
Dorothy J. Moses, nursing faculty
Elsie Bronikowski, benefactor
Jerome J. O'Brien, benefactor
J.D. Brown, benefactor
Fred A. Turner, benefactor
Heather D. Haley Gorsch, former student, daughter of Peggy Bell Picon and niece of the late Phil Bell
Senator Frank Madla, former faculty

Endnotes

Share Your News!

New job? Newly married? New arrival in the family? Simply send us your email address and recent news so we can share your accomplishments in a future issue of The Word: [email protected], or call the Alumni Office at (800) 584-5322. Visit our web site at www.uiw.edu/alumni regularly to keep up with alumni news and events. You can also participate in our Alumni Online Directory and receive our monthly email newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you.

Alumni Are Everywhere

You are part of a dynamic force growing across the nation. More and more of your fellow alumni are joining the Alumni Online Directory, becoming class agents, getting together for social events and volunteering to help their alma mater in countless ways. You, too, can get involved.

Link with Others

If you're searching for a job or want to locate classmates in your area, you can do it using the UIW Alumni Online Directory. To join, visit uiw.edu/alumni/onlinedirectory and register. You'll receive an email to establish your password once your status has been verified, indicating your registration is complete. Your ID and password will give you access to more than 1,000 former students (so far) and lots of networking resources. Be sure to keep your personal information up-to-date to stay connected.

Get Together!

Help build an Alumni Network in your area by organizing a small social or a larger event. Chances are there are more of you nearby than you realize. Contact the Department of Alumni Relations to link with other graduates and plan a network or get-together. UIW is looking to your help to build Alumni Networks in various locations so fellow classmates can meet, network, and just have fun. Networks have already been formed in some key Texas cities. If you are interested in developing one in your city or state, please let us know: [email protected].

Be a Class Agent

Do you like to organize events, motivate others, and give back for opportunities you've enjoyed? If so, become a Class Agent for your graduating class! Support your school by representing your class. As Class Agent, you'll contact alumni in your area to organize activities in support of UIW and encourage alumni to volunteer, donate, network, and stay involved! Class Agents can be influential in encouraging potential students to consider UIW as their choice for higher education. If you are interested and would like more information, let us know: [email protected].

Help Provide Faculty Development $

Thanks to those who regularly use their MBNA UIW affinity credit card. UIW receives a percentage quarterly on all credit card use without any extra charge to alumni or the university. We are receiving annual revenue of $4,000 from MBNA, which goes directly to the Faculty Development Endowment to continue improving the quality of classroom teaching. And, we receive matching Federal dollars, so it's a win-win.

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