Class Notes
1950s
Mary Gilhooly ’56 BSN recently published her third book titled Rambunctious, Rogue and Rapscallion. Her first book was The Windmill’s Song, a memoir of a rural childhood in Texas Hill Country, published in 1995. Her second book was When Memories Go Missing, a description of her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, published in 2000. Gilhooly credits her literary efforts to Dick McCracken, retired dean of alumni, and former Incarnate Word President Sr. Margaret Patrice Slattery, who she says “have always been most encouraging of my literary efforts.”
1970s
Elvira Puig Barrera ’71 BA retired in 2005 from Bowden Elementary School in San Antonio as assistant principal after 36 years of service in Texas public schools. She is now a program evaluator for AOC Solutions in Chantilly, Va., traveling the country evaluating National Guard Youth Challenge Programs. She serves as president of the Kappa Beta chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International in San Antonio and was awarded the “Key Woman Educator” award from the chapter in May 2007.
Dr. Blanca “Rosie” Garcia ’73 BSN retired in December 2007 after devoting 32 years to Del Mar College (DMC) in Corpus Christi. She began her career with the institution as an instructor of Registered Nurse Education in 1975. Garcia was promoted to chair of the RN department in 1985. She accepted the position of vice president of instruction in 2003 and served as the chief academic officer. As a founding member of Friends of Music, a DMC-based organization that helps to promote the arts by raising funds for scholarships, she provided leadership and support for the college’s music education program.
Alan M. Craig ’77 BA lives in Weatherford, Texas. He and his wife, Laura, own and operate the successful Weatherford Mortuary Service Inc. Craig has been a licensed funeral director/embalmer since 2000. They have a son who lives in Alaska and a daughter who recently graduated from high school. Craig is also a captain with the Texas Military Forces.
Joan Kelley Fowler Fiorino Esq.,’78 BA is now known as Joan Kelley Fowler Gluys Esq. Her firm’s name will be changed to The Law Offices of Dulske & Gluys, P.C.
1980s
John Gann ’82 BA and his wife, Lucy, are excited to announce the graduation of their daughter, Jessica, 16, from Lone Star College - Tomball. She completed her associate of arts degree one year after graduating from high school in 2007. Her plans are to continue her education at the Art Institute of Houston where she will pursue a degree in graphic design. She graduates with the honor of inclusion on the President’s List and as a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.
Jo-Ann Juchniewicz Stankus ’83 BSN was hired to be the project manager for the 3rd International Women’s Peace Conference held in Dallas. Stankus is teaching classes at Southern Methodist University and Texas Woman’s University in their Woman’s Studies divisions.
Art Anthony ’85 BA recently graduated from TOURO University International in 2006 with an MBA in Military Management. He retired from the U.S. Army as a major. After many years of being away from his hometown, he and his family moved from Atlanta to Schertz, Texas. He serves as a military outreach coordinator for the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County. As such, he gives presentations to military units and community agencies/ organizations to inform them about the 2-1-1 United Way/Texas Military Family Access Project (TMFAP).
Paul A lgueseva ’85 BA lives in Iowa and is operating two galleries at the Bucktown Center for the Arts. You may recognize his work in the Chapel of the Incarnate Word; he helped Sr. Mary Peters Tremonte produce several sculptures including the Last Supper and The Woman at the Well.
Dr. Karén Bleeker ’85 MA was recently named president of the Community College of Denver. She is the former vice president of educational services and chief academic officer for Temple College. Before that, she was the chief academic officer of Barton County Community College for five years.
Veronica Prida ’85 BA Alumna of Distinction, and Kathy Sosa, former IWC director of public relations and wife of Lionel Sosa, lent their artistic talents to “Huipiles,” an exhibit that opened in Washington, D.C. before coming to the Museo Alameda in late 2007. The show featuring interpretations of the traditional Latin American garment has left the Alameda, but gallery owner Lisa Ortiz brought back some of the works for one more show, aptly titled “Otra Vez.”
Francois Tomasoa ’89 BBA is living in Jakarta, Indonesia, with his wife, Valentina, and his children Madeleine, 10, and Michael, 8. He is running three hotels and a family coffee plantation.
Deborah (Hirsch) Wolfgang ’89 MA celebrated as her oldest daughter Darcelle Monique Wolfgang graduated with honors from UIW this spring with a BA in fashion management, with a fashion merchandising minor.
1990s
Kenyon Anderson ’93 BA was promoted in January from senior editor to communications manager for U.S. Central, where she has worked almost three years. She recently had several articles and poems published, and shot a commercial for Belfonte ice cream, which will air for the next three years. Anderson will be returning to school this fall to finish her master’s degree. Her three children, Taege, 13, Keile, 10, and Blane, 5, keep her busy.
Dr. Desiree Kornrum-Byrne ’94 BBA had her article “Service in an Era of Change” published in the Winter 2008 edition of the TASFAA Times, www.tasfaa.org/docs/ newsletters/200801/index.html. She also presented a seminar entitled “Smoothing the Way: Making the Transition from School to College” at the annual conference of the Family Educators Alliance of South Texas in May.
Alex Arguello ’95 BA and his wife, Natalie, are living in Austin. Arguello is the director of the Texas Association of Future Educators, an organization of high school students who want to become educators. Their daughter, Alexis Niles Arguello, will celebrate her first birthday on July 20.
Gypsy Pantoja ’95 BA is an adjunct lecturer of drama at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. She is teaching, directing and co-teaching a community outreach theatre class that partners with a local community (Por Vida Academy).
John Ramirez ’95 MA and Sonia Cuellar Ramirez ’90 BS are living in San Antonio. He is an assistant professor of military science at both St. Mary’s University and UIW. He is also a major in the U.S. Army Reserve with more than 22 years in the military both active duty and reserve. She has worked as a speech pathologist in San Antonio since 1993. She earned her master’s degree in communication disorders from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. They have been married since 1993 and have three children: Bobby, 11, and twin girls, Cassandra and Cristina, 9.
David L. Taylor III ’96 BSN, ’04 MSN is a major in the Army Nurse Corps with more than 19 years of service. Taylor recently was reassigned to Evans Army Community Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., and serves as chief of the operating room and central material services. His opinion article “Should the Entry into Nursing Practice be the Baccalaureate Degree?” was published in the March 2008 edition of the AORN Journal. He deployed to Iraq with the 115th Combat Support Hospital this spring. Upon his return, he plans to retire from active federal service and return to South Central Texas to pursue a civilian career.
Edward Benavides ’98 BA was appointed executive assistant to San Antonio’s city manager in February 2006. In this position, he provides a wide variety of professional support to the Office of the City Manager. He supervises the administrative activities of the City Council, the City Council agenda process and the Council Action Team, which works closely with the City Council offices to respond to public concerns regarding city services and resolve issues expressed by residents and neighborhood associations. Additionally, he coordinates activities of the Office of the City Manager with other city departments, coordinates the resolution of issues raised by City Council and residents working in tandem with city departments, and oversees various special projects.
Lourdes Rosas Martinez ’98 BA is working for the Special Olympics in Mexico as the sports national director. She lives in Mexico with her husband, Armando, and their son, Santiago Terroba.
2000s
Samantha K. Mangum ’06 BA is riding with three of her colleagues in a seven-week, more than 3,000 mile bike ride from Yorktown, Va., to San Francisco. They are trying to raise $50,000 for the Living Waters Children Center in Arusha, Tanzania. Every dollar will go directly to the Living Waters Children Center. For more information, and to read about her journey, as well as see pictures and track her progress, go to her Web page on the UIW alumni online community at www.uiwalumni.org/sammysride. She posts blogs daily about her experiences on the ride.
Josie Cavazos ’01 BA recently became certified and is now a teacher. Christina Janis Gonzalez ’02 BBA started a new business, F & G Rite Temp, with her husband, Frank. They handle refrigeration/HVAC service calls for commercial restaurants. They recently acquired the account for a large chain of fast food restaurants in San Antonio and the surrounding area, which is keeping them busy.
Dennise Keller ’02 BS is living in Orange County, Calif. After years of working in Hispanic advertising as a vice president, she is now a marketing manager at a financial institution.
Lonnie Roberts ’02 BBA has joined Allen Austin Executive Search Consultants as a partner of the San Antonio firm. The retained search firm specializes in top level executive and management recruitment in a variety of industries throughout the United States and worldwide. Roberts’ practice will focus on the area’s fast-growing financial services, technology and retail industries. She has more than 15 years’ combined experience in those sectors.
Ya’Ke Smith ’03 BA was featured as part of an advertising campaign in Texas Monthly to increase tourism to San Antonio. Claudia Zacarias ’03 BA received her Master of Education in guidance and counseling from the University of Texas- Pan American.
Mark Stringham ‘04 BA performed in the play “Bellwether” at the Public Theatre in New York City. The play was directed by Sean Daniels and was written by Steve Yockey.
Amy Safranek ’05 BA plays a waitress in Universal Pictures 2008 release “Definitely, Maybe.”
Diana Aguirre Martinez ’06 BA is the administrative assistant to Fr. David Garcia, director of Old Spanish Missions of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Old Spanish Missions is the home of the capital campaign “Las Misiones,” which is preserving the 18th century Old Spanish Mission churches of San Antonio, keeping their 300-year tradition of spirituality, culture and celebration for generations to come. The four mission churches are Missions Concepción, San Jose, San Juan and Espada. They are the oldest buildings in this region and represent the largest concentration of Spanish colonial structures and Catholic Missions in the U.S. The goal of the project is to restore the church buildings to their original vitality by funding and partially endowing the regular and scientific care of the native limestone walls and structures and to restore the aesthetic and liturgical enhancement of the worship spaces inside the churches, while respecting the historic integrity of the interiors and exteriors of the churches.
Erica Alfaro ’07 BA & BS has been accepted into a graduate program at the University of Houston. The first two years are an O.D. program and the next four years are a Ph.D. program. She will graduate with an O.D./Ph.D.
Jacob Rodriguez Call ’07 BFA will be an assistant language teacher in the Japan Exchange and Teaching program starting in June. His love for Japan and Japanese culture was fostered during his UIW study abroad in Japan. It has been his dream to return to Japan. Now, his previous experience and his fluency in Japanese (thanks to UIW language courses) have made that possible. He’ll be in Japan for two to three years. He also was a photographer for NSIDE M.D. for a couple of months and had the cover shot for the April/May 2008 issue as well as photos in three stories and an advertisement.
Daniel Rodriguez ’07 BA received the Karen H. Hixon Contributor Award at the 78th annual San Antonio Artists Exhibition presented by the San Antonio Art League and Museum.
Sean Vasichko ’07 BFA has a new position as a facility designer with the firm Maintenance Design Group (.com). He has relocated from California to west Houston and will be traveling frequently. The position entails a bit of architecture and some engineering. He will be hand-drawing design concepts for buildings and sites and then drawing the finalized plans on a computer using AutoCAD.
IN MEMORIAM
Dorothy Rogers McGlothlin ’33 BM, ’58 MEd
Jacqueline Fleming Nelson ’34 IWHS, spouse of late Prof. Emeritus Robert L. Nelson and benefactor
June Edith Pike James ’41 BA, ’65 MA
Maude Ellen Brite Boggess ’42 BA
Sr. Marie de Lourdes Romagosa ’45 BA
Clara Leedy Shovlin ’47, benefactor
Jurleen A lblinger Finger, Santa Rosa School ’49
Joan Ellen Schriewer ’49 IWHS, ’53 BSN
Diannah Weaver Parker ’56 BM
Susan Marie Greenberg ’57 BA, ’60 MA, former faculty
Frances Eileen Malone Furzi ’59 BA
Elizabeth Jane Jennings ’60 BA
Barbara Tollen Vallance ’61 BS
Aline Roberts ’64 BA
Kathryn Loftin Scheer ’66 BA, ’99 MA
The Rev. David Gordon Tarlizzo OMI ’69 BA
Caroline Olson Flannery ’75 MA
Lt. Col. Rita Elizabeth Dobson ’78 BSN
Beatrice Becerra Navarro ’80 BBA
Virginia Wild Hansen, UIW Professor Emerita of Home Economics
Louise Burnham Jones ’73 BA
Opal Louise Bagwell Dordelon ’73 BA
Gertrude Geraine Callahan ’83 BS
Dr. David E. Redman, retired member of business faculty
Mary L. Douglas, benefactor
Frances L. Kaspar, benefactor
Dan H. Laurence, benefactor
Clara Leedy Shovlin, benefactor
Viola B Barrios, IWHS benefactor, Los Barrios
WEDDING BELLES AND BEAUX
Joan K. Fowler Fiorino Esq. ’78 BA and Gary William Gluys were married Feb. 16
Jennifer Balleza ’05 BA and Jason Anthony Gonzalez, a UIW student in the ADCaP program, were married at St. Matthew Catholic Church on Nov. 24.
Christina Villa ’04 BS married Michael Cantu in Phoenix on Feb. 2.
Rebecca Echavarria ’05 MA and Gabriel Castillo were married June 7.
Angela Marie Morales ’99 BA, ’02 MEd. married Jason Ryan Turner on April 24.
Ashly A . Stanchak, ’04 BBA and Kurt Randal Unger were married March 29.
FUTURE ALUMNI
Alex Arguello ’95 BA and
his wife, Natalie, welcomed
their second daughter,
Natalia Alexis, on July 20,
2007.
Lourdes Rosas Martinez ’98 BA and her husband, Armando welcomed their son Santiago Terroba on Nov. 3.
Susan Chung Baltzer ’00 BS and David Baltzer welcomed Audrey Elizabeth on March 6. She was born just after midnight and weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches long.
Stacy Belluardo Berry ’00 BBA and Brian C. Berry, along with big brother, Blake, welcomed Melia Ann Berry on Jan. 29.
Bryan Miranda ’00 BBA and wife, Denise, had a daughter, Samantha Anabella, on Aug. 9, 2005.
Roberto C. Casados ’01 BBA, ’05 MBA and Salena Casados welcomed daughter Desirae Elena Casados on Jan. 14.
Bryan Miranda ’02 BBA and wife, Denise, had another daughter, Penelope Carolina, on May 18, 2007.
Yvette Reyes Reyna ’03 BA and her husband, David Reyna, welcomed their son Deveraux in January.
Elida Perez ’06 BA welcomed daughter Daniella Cecilia Barerra on Dec. 24 at 12:48 p.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 7½ ounces and was 19½ inches long.