Class Notes

Displaying page 1 of 6 for  113 total matches found.

Joseph Comaty (1971)
Joseph Comaty (1971) writes, "Dr. Joseph Comaty, Ph.D., M.P. is a clinical and medical psychologist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is the Chief Psychologist/Medical Psychologist for the Louisiana State Office of Mental Health in the State Department of Health and Hospitals. He holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University where his wife, Dr. Claire Advokat, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology. Together with Dr. Robert Julien, M.D., Ph.D., Drs. Comaty and Advokat recently co-authored a textbook of Clinical Psychopharmacology, "The Primer of Drug Action"."  
Submitted on Sep 20 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Jacqueline Kesicki (2009)
Jacqueline Kesicki (2009) writes,
Suzanne Thompson '09, Paul Parisi '09, Jacqueline Kesicki '09  
Submitted on Sep 10 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Colleen (Sullivan) Burt (1996)
Colleen (Sullivan) Burt (1996) and Eric Burt (1995) are proud to announce the birth of their first child, a boy. Brendan Michael was born on May 28th, 2008 at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ and weighed 7lbs. 4oz.

Eric and Colleen married on October 4, 2003 in Cape Cod. They currently reside in Cedar Knolls, NJ.

Colleen is a CPA and worked for several years as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York. She is currently a manager of financial reporting for Sun Chemical Corp. in Parsippany, NJ.  
Submitted on Jun 4 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Salvatore Pietrofitta (1959)
Salvatore (Sam) Pietrofitta (EE1959) writes, "After 4 years as an extracurricular activities major (Villanovan, Belle Air and WVIL) I began my career at RCA in Camden NJ as a real Electrical Engineer. I had worked there as a summer student for 3 years. It seems I always knew what I wanted to be when I grew up and actually wound up doing just that.
In the summer of 1958 I met a beautiful Fräuline that recently immigrated from Germany and moved into the house next door with her family. Rose and I married in 1961 and have two daughters, Anita and Theresa. Anita graduated from Rutgers with a BS in Industrial Engineering and from Arizona State University with a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering. Theresa graduated from Trenton State College (now Rowan University) with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science. She worked for Computer Sciences Corporation for a few years till she started her family. She has a son Eric and a daughter Rachael. Unlike their grandfather they are serious students.
In my career I was fortunate to have very interesting assignments designing military and space communications systems. These included UHF Data Link receivers for the Air Force, the VHF Transmitter – Receivers for the Lunar and Command Modules for the Apollo mission, the ARC-143 UHF Transmitter – Receiver for the Navy P3-C aircraft and S Band Instrumentation for the Trident Missile System. One of my last assignments was responsibility for the Ku Band Transmitter- Receiver for the International Space Station. All the video and High Data Rate Payload data from the Space Station goes through this unit. It can be seen on external pictures of the Space station. On this last job I had the pleasure of working with fellow '59 EE Chris Miedzius.

In 1999 after 43 years in essentially the same office with 5 different companies (RCA, GE, Martin Marietta, Lockheed Martin and L-3 Communications) I decided to take an early buy out. In 2001 we decided to move from our home of 35 years in Cherry Hill, NJ to Sedona AZ. We built a home here and are enjoying retirement. It’s a beautiful area to hike and enjoy the Red Rock formations.
We miss our close friends Jim Rafferty, Jim Minger and Gerry Kerwin who have passed on. After getting back to the dorm late at night I can still remember Gerry asking me when I was going to start studying for tomorrows test. As my grades will attest; it never happened.

"  
Submitted on May 16 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Joseph McGrath (1959)
Joseph McGrath (1959) writes, "Jerry" McGrath ’59 VBS

"A 20 year career in the Navy began with Officer Candidate School, in Newport, RI, and Supply Corp School in Athens, GA, followed by many wonderful duty stations. The best was Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego [Coronado Island], where I met Carol Louise Anderson (Syracuse ’60 BS Nursing) a Navy Nurse. We met on December 8, 1967 – engaged on January 26, 1968, married on April 20th – son Sean born in Keflavik, Iceland April ‘69, daughter Kelly born in Orange County California in March ‘71.

In 1980 I retired and we moved to the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, [Buffalo Grove IL], where Carol was a supervisor for the Chicago area major blood bank and I worked for Defense Systems Division Northrop Corp in Rolling Meadows, IL. Worked on any number of interesting programs including the F-15 [Eagle], AV8B/C [Harrier] and my two favorites, support equipment for the B-2 [Spirit] and reactivation program for the SR-71 [Blackbird] in ’97-’98.

Sean [UofAz] married Beth – with Ryan, Meghan and Erin they live in Chandler AZ. Kelly [UofW, Madison] married Greg Pellathy and they, with Claire [8 mos.] live in Blue Bell, PA.

Carol and I retired in 2000. After searching the Carolinas we settled on Cypress Landing in Chocowinity, NC. Like many others who are here, we drove into the Weyerhaeuser development and we knew we were home. Our children have our address. Carol’s brother and family are in Charlotte and my sister and family are in New Jersey. We are blessed with good health; keep active in Cypress Landing and surrounding communities. Carol is busy in our parish with RCIA, Catholics Returning Home and the Pastoral Council. I have my golf, Habitat for Humanity and K of C [Grand Knight for Council 9364, Washington, NC for 2009/10].
"  
Submitted on May 14 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Daniel McFadden (1959)
Daniel McFadden (1959) writes, "WOW! Who can believe it? Fifty wonderful years full of memories. I've been retired 14 years and my career was fulfilling. The most fulfilling part of my life is my wife Marietta and out 4 children and 10 grandchildren. Sadly, Marietta died suddenly on October 23, 2007, but I am eternally grateful to God for the 47 years of marriage we were blessed with each other. If your spouse is deceased, you may know what I mean. If your spouse is not deceased, cherish each day as a gift. The following says it all.
October 2007
Our marriage was great because of the four words “love is a decision”. Every day we tried to live that phrase. Love is a feeling. Yes, but many marriages have failed when these wonderful feelings subside. That’s when, because Jesus first loved us and calls us to love one another, we can decide to love each other even when we do not feel like loving. But it isn’t always lovey-dovey. Just last week when Marietta was away for the day, I puréed 22 lbs. of plum tomatoes for Tomato Sauce. Marietta came home and was “put out” that I did not wait for her to help as she had suggested. She was also unhappy that I had done them differently than she had for many years. She “knew” I would not wait for her and she knew I would do it “my” way sometimes called, the-know-it-all McFadden way. We had a discussion, as in “an argument”. After a couple of hours of alienation and hurt feelings, we came to our senses and decided to love one another and kiss and make up.
The next day we both had a laugh when I said we should go to a marriage counselor. I described it.
The counselor would ask us, “Is it about your love life?”
I would reply, “No our love life is wonderful.”
The counselor would ask, “Is it about money?” “Family?”
“No, we never even discuss money & the kids are great.”
“Well, what is your problem?”
“It is about making tomato sauce.” We both laughed as we once again realized, life is not about making the sauce. It is about how you make up after making the sauce. We love you, Marietta.
Written by Marietta’s husband Dan McFadden
Delivered by Dan McFadden (husband) at Marietta’s funeral mass
"  
Submitted on May 3 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Richard Szatkowski (1959)
Richard Szatkowski (1959) writes, "I retired from the NJ division of Taxation as a supervising auditor after 32 years of service. "  
Submitted on Apr 24 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Donald DeGrave (1959)
Donald DeGrave (1959) writes, "Seven days after Villanova graduation in 1959, I began working for Public Service Electric & Gas Company in New Jersey. I spent my entire working career of 41 years with this company in various engineering and management positions involving the construction, operation and maintenance of the electric distribution system. My life stabilized in 1962 when I married Pat Cunningham and we moved to Cinnaminson, New Jersey where we still reside. We have three children, Scott, Amy and Eric. Eric is a 1989 Villanova Electrical Engineering graduate. In 1963, I obtained a MSEE degree from Drexel. Since retiring at the end of 1999, I am enjoying travel (eight cruises and fifteen other trips), playing golf, attending Villanova basketball games and just being able to get out of bed each morning."  
Submitted on Apr 22 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

William Christman (1959)
William Christman (1959) writes, "Following my graduation from Villanova, I worked for ITT on some very interesting jobs – including assignments in the Washington DC area, and also in Germany. One required a high level security classification. But something in the business world held a fascination for me, and after returning to the US, I entered graduate school at NYU. In 1969, I received an MBA in Finance.
1969 was a very big year, since later that year, in November, Lorraine and I were married. (Tradition? Lorraine's father, Joseph Winterberger, VUEE, '33 married her mother in the VU Chapel in 1939) The birth of our daughter, Susan (VU ’92), followed in 1970, and then Brian (VU ’94) in 1972 and Will in 1974. After graduation, I worked at Teller Environmental Systems in NYC, which had a challenging contract to develop a system to incinerate nerve gas! But as a newly minted MBA, I stayed in the office and didn’t get the opportunity (fortunately) to go anywhere near the nerve gas.
From Teller Environmental, I went on to Ebasco Business Consulting, spending 10 years with them on primarily public utility business consulting. This work included many travel assignments that took me to many states, and also some locations in Canada, and Melbourne, Australia.
In 1982, I had the opportunity to work for Moody’s, assigning ratings to natural gas company debt issues. As the natural gas industry includes companies from very small to very large, from totally regulated to very aggressively unregulated, these years were both interesting and challenging.
I retired in May 2001, just missing the NYC disaster that fortunately did not directly damage Moody’s building, but seriously disrupted operations.
As I look back, the work I was doing was interesting, but the most interesting and important activity was going on at home. Under Lorraine’s watchful eye, the kids were doing well. Except for the (usually short) trips I had to take, I could usually get home for dinner, and even found time to spend many years with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Both were sponsored at the Presbyterian Church, and I feel like I became an honorary Presbyterian!
Our first grandchild, Liam, was born about eight months before I retired, and our kids have kept us busy since with one after another – so we now have five grandsons and three granddaughters. The youngest is two and they are all great!
The Lord has blessed us and we give Him thanks.  
Submitted on Apr 21 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

George Mitchell (1959)
George Mitchell (1959) writes, "After graduating, I married Reggie Boylan and received a commission in the Marine Corps, serving actively until 1962. We have three kids, 10 grandchildren, and two grand-dogs.

My worklife started with Owens Corning and eventually doing stints with Keene, Redland, and Certainteed. My jobs were in general management and related primarily to building materials We moved to Philadelphia in 1975 in conjunction with the move to Certainteed.

I started my own business in 1984 building commercial office furniture. It was called CenterCore. It was expanded into security systems and clean rooms, subsequently being renamed Cote Technologies. I retired in 2000, and still do some consulting to CEOs, as well as volunteering with SCORE.

Reggie and I love to play golf, visit grandchildren, and winter in Florida."  
Submitted on Apr 19 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

James McElhenny (1959)
James McElhenny (1959) writes, "James P. McElhenny (1959)
Following graduation and commissioning Ensign,USN,entered flight training in Pensacola, FL. Married Suzanne LaRose (1960 BSN) in November, 1960 and next year we will celebrate 50 wonderful years together. 27 year Naval career as a P-3 pilot, instructor, squadron and air wing commander were most enjoyable, satisfying and fulfilling. Retired as a Captain in 1986. Following that retirement, was employed as a division manager for a defense contractor in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1994 when we retired again, this time for good. We then and moved/traveled to Florida for a couple of years before finally relocating to the Phoenix AZ area (Goodyear).
Sue and I have three children and eight grandchildren. Two of them live within 10 minutes of us with 6 of the grandkids, allowing for many good times as we watch them grow up. We have been blessed with good health and manage to keep very busy with parish ministries, family times, golf and travel.
Sue and I look forward to returning to the campus in June for the reunion and renewing contact with many classmates we havent seen, in many cases, for 50 years.. "  
Submitted on Apr 15 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Joanne (Zaremba) Walker (1959)
Joanne (Zaremba) Walker (1959) writes, "Joanne Zaremba Walker,'59 BSN recently retired after 18 years as Manager of Laurel House Antiques at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross, CA"  
Submitted on Apr 15 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Lawrence O'Rourke (1959)
Having spent most of my time a half-century ago at Villanova working on The Villanovan, as well as the late, lamented Philadelphia Bulletin on nights and weekends, I committed a good deal of my professional life to afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, in journalism, law, politics and government, holding jobs until people caught up with me. It was a wonderful journey, plunging me into a dozen presidential campaigns, reporting from 65 foreign nations, and offering my opinions to readers, oft-times infuriating them, but on occasion, I hope, provoking them to thought and action. I still remember walking onto the campus that bright September morning in 1955 and being startled by the question, "What do we eat? Bear meat, " followed by blue beanies and rolled-up trouser legs.
A half-century later, I can still reminisce about superb teachers named Bedard and Rongione, Logue, and O'Shea, splendid administrators like Sullivan and Ruane, and many more of each, animated discussions in the Pie Shoppe (starting when it was still a leftover barracks), spirited games in the Palestra and stadiums, Ron Delaney's come-from-behind victories in the Garden, long nights typing papers and cramming enough to get through the next morning's exams, building enduring strong friendships, and developing treasured values and memories. Naturally, I was delighted when one of our daughters picked Villanova, met her future husband on campus, and now they have three kids who are getting strong suggestions about attending a wonderful school on the Main Line.

  
Submitted on Apr 14 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Michael Kavcak (1959)
The years at VU were a challenging and enjoyable part of the foundation for a wonder-filled life. My vision of the future at graduation was far too narrow. I was happy to get out of school and never anticipated later graduate work at Lehigh or earning an MBA in ’70 at Temple. I didn’t dream of a career that included world travel (more than 10 countries) and having to move my family to more than 10 locations in the US. Along the way, Liz and I furthered our personal growth working with Marriage Encounter and Marriage Retorno. We went back to school again in a pastoral ministry program. We’ve taken advantage of “retiring” in 1998 to invest energies in a number of volunteer activities including my adventures in SCORE. Thanks to all the good people who taught me and made life delicious.  
Submitted on Apr 14 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Gerald Cechony (1959)
Gerry Cechony (1959) writes, "After I flunked out in the middle of senior year, I was fortunate to be hired by IBM as a Field Engineer and to get educated in the inner workings of digital computers. In those early days of “electronic brains”, aptitude overrode lack of a degree (which I did go back and finish) and I progressed into logic design, and gravitated into software.
In the late '70s I was working at RCA Camden (on "spook" contracts from NSA); Rutgers had had the foresight to put a law school right up the street, so I stopped in there in the evenings and got a J.D. in '82. I mounted a second career in patent law (a natural fit with my engineering background), specializing in computer-related and communications technologies.
I raised two sons, and have three grandsons and a granddaughter.
I'm now semi-retired, handling a few clients out of my home. I love the life; read, walk, listen to music, go to the theater, contemplate, and loaf. I am fortunate to have found a dear lady to walk down the home stretch with."  
Submitted on Apr 14 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Sue (Zhu) Franz (1989)
Sue (Zhu) Franz (1989) writes, "It just has been too long for me not connecting with Villanova. I am very shame of it! However, I would like you to know that I have not forgotten about Villanova. I have been searching everything about Villanova in the past few years. I bet on our Basketball team to win all the way to the championship. Needless to say I was very sad that they lost to NC.

Loosing connection with Villanova over these years has a lot to do the death of my Professor Peter Keliher. His premature departure shocked me so much that for a while connecting with Villanova almost meant a reminder of his death. I did not do it on purpose, but now looking back, I think I took the easy route of disconnecting with that part of memory to cope with the loss. I wish I had taken a different route. I wish I had kept in touch with Villanova and Peter’s family.

I am now glad that I am back and promise to keep in touch. When I left Villanova, I was a single and care free. Now I am a mother of 4 children. Two of them are biological children of me and my husband and two of them we adopted from China. My older son Tobias will be 18 years old in May. He will be studying biomedical engineering in the fall at University of Michigan. My second child Joshua is 16 and a computer geek. He wants to study computer science and engineering. Anna is 8. We adopted her when she was 20 months old. Our youngest one Jenny is 7. We just adopted her last year. Kids keep me busy and staying young.

After leaving Villanova, I had worked for a German company in Massachusetts for 8 years where I met my husband. We then moved to Michigan because of his job. Now he works for Leco Corporation as Spectrometer Service Manager. I work for Gentex Corporation as Director of Analytical Chemistry. We are an automotive supplier of Electrochromic Autodimming mirrors. We are suffering from the current economic situation as everyone else in the automotive industry. We hope things will get better soon.

I hope to get in touch more of Villanova professors and former students. I am hoping for a visit in the near future. If there is any reunion, please let me know. Meanwhile, feel free to check out my blog at www.franzthecrazybunch.blogspot.com.

Stay in touch,
Sue Franz (formerly Sue Zhu or Feng Zhu), Ph.D. Chem VU. ‘89
"  
Submitted on Apr 13 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Joseph Bawduniak (1959)
Joseph Bawduniak (1959) writes, "Joe retired 21 years ago from a Biotech company which he and his wife, Cherie, helped start up and take public. Previous to that he was a pulse radar engineer with projects in the Mojave Desert and as site radar engineer at Ballistic Missile Early Warning at Clear, Alaska. Our main avocation in retirement is maintaining and travelling with our Cessna 185 bush-type aircraft to visit our four children in southeastern PA. Joe has received 3 awards from the FAA for his safety efforts in general aviation. "  
Submitted on Apr 7 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Damian Falcone (2000)
Damian Falcone (2000) writes, "Just wanted to let everyone know that Villanova Alumni, Fans and Friends located in Las Vegas are meeting at JR's Place (5745 S. Durango Las Vegas, NV 89148 • 702-312-2180) for the Final Four Game. You can see the tv advertisement locally or at
http://falconcreditmanagement.com/press.html
"  
Submitted on Apr 3 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Richard Kerr (1959)
Richard Kerr (1959) writes, "I wish I could join all of you for the 50th, but family obligations prevent it.After graduatin and 3 years in the Navby, I joined Marriott International. 32 years and numerous positions in Health Care Services I retired to the Jacksonville, Fl area. I'm happily married to Sally for 45 years. We met while in the service, as she was a Navy nurse. We have 3 children and 4 grandchildren, presently scattered thrughout the country.

"  
Submitted on Apr 2 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)

Joseph Driscoll (1959)
Joseph Driscoll (1959) writes, "
Having survived being born in Brooklyn,NY in 1937 and subsequently spending my teenage years at the No. Jersey shore (Fair Haven), the high points reached were being a teammate on two State Championship teams at Red Bank Catholic High,baseball and football in ’54, then graduation in June ’55 and acceptance at Villanova.
I chased Betty Shanley until she caught me; after our wedding on June 25th,
1960 in Rumson,NJ, attended by a number of Villanovans, we lived in Bryn Mawr,Villanova and West Chester.
During this time, I finished up my MBA at Drexel.Joseph IV(VU ‘87), Elliott John(Fairfield’88) and Elizabeth Shanley (Washington College-‘92) made our lives complete and we're blessed with grandchildren India Grace,Liam and Lucy. We've lived in Monkton, Md since Dec ’66.
My career began in June 1959 with Worthington Air Conditioning Co, E. Orange NJ (at the prompting of Prof. Joe Greyson of VU), till '73. I established Envirocon Associates Inc, a manufacturer’s representative for HVAC manufacturers in the commercial and industrial market, currently in its 36th year in Md.After the sale of the firm to the employees in 2001, I started Driscoll Marketing Inc and I hope to continue in the rep business for a few years.We spend summers at the Jersey shore in Avalon,where we’ve had a home for 32 years.
Hobbies included interest in sports of all types,from running marathons(Phila,Md and NYC), to competitive softball, playing baseball at the Baltimore Orioles Dream week in Fla, tennis,golf and skiing. An avid interest in WWII history led me to Australia/NZ in ‘00, Pearl Harbor in ’05 and Normandie/Paris over Memorial Day Week in ’07. As an astronomy novice, I enjoy courses sponsored by Johns Hopkins at the Space Telescope facilities in Baltimore.
From my happy years at VU, my most vivid memories involve mostly social activities: Phi Kappa Pi frat parties at VFW,Conshohocken and LAM Club in Norristown, Saturday activities for on-campus football games,taking the P&W in to the Palestra for Big Five banner-ball games,track meets in MSG starring Ron Delany, marveling in the performance of VU teams at the Penn Relays,the Physics Final Picnic, the “ bumpy road” out to IC for mixers. Best of all, though, I treasure the lifelong friendships with the Third Floor Sullivanites & Friends, started when we realized how great it was to come back for campus reunions. The 50th portends to be the best of them all….ain’t the beer cold!
  
Submitted on Apr 2 2009
Add Comment | Comments (0)