Class Notes

1948

Betty Lou JEFFREY Wright retired as parish secretary after 42 years, at Blessed Trinity Church Ocala, FL in 2012. Betty reports she is still upright and on the right side of the grass, thanks be to God!

1955

Katherine TREACY Batesky still stays in contact with Maureen Brophy, Alma Varvarro, Kay Cavanagh, and Suella Greco. Katherine lives in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Illinois. She retired from nursing after 20 years with the VA, where she directed an outpatient psychology program. She has four children: an ER doctor, an attorney, a son in the NYC business world, and a daughter raising her family. Katherine was widowed this year after 61 years of marriage. She made great friends at Notre Dame, and she flew to New York a few years ago and met all the above gals whom she had not seen for 50 years.

1959

Toni LEQUIRE-Schott and her family have had a surprisingly eventful year. Last fall her husband, Newt, had his shoulder replaced at the Hospital for Special Surgery, in New York. Now, for the first time in many years, his shoulder is pain free. He recommends that anyone hesitant to do this repair act sooner rather than later. He experienced an almost immediate relief with no pain since! On 02/02/22, Phoebe Brooke Auerbach burst onto the family scene. Her journey to earth was fraught with misadventure. Toni’s Daughter, April, an “elderly” new mom, was hospitalized with COVID 6 weeks before her due date, with further delivery complications to follow. However, Phoebe appears fine, and a Korean friend assures Toni that hers is a lucky date for a birthday, especially as it is the Year of the Tiger; Phoebe will be “ambitious, confident, and adventurous”! She joins her beautiful big sister, Lilly, who has turned 12 and has started 7th grade, pictured here.

Toni notes that most of her class turned 80 this past year. Quelle Horreur! Newt gave her a party and invited many local friends and out-of-town relatives. The evening was especially enjoyable in view of all the time they have spent hunkered down at home, avoiding the COVID catastrophe.

In June, the couple will drive to la belle Chautauqua, in western New York State, for their 30th summer of enlightenment.

1960

Arlene DENINGER Prendergast and her husband, Tom, took a trip to Iceland, which was a wonderful adventure. They enjoyed miles of snow covered mountains, a waterfall amid frozen hills (and a rainbow), a geyser, a hydroponic tomato farm, and a demonstration of Icelandic horses, a unique breed. They bathed in the Blue Lagoon, which boasts 93 degree water even in 32 degree air temperatures, while watching the sun rise. The highlight for them was a walk through a glacier in a man-made tunnel—amazing!!! They were even able to watch the Northern Lights, an unforgettable experience! On July 8th Arlene celebrated her 80th birthday with a lovely backyard party. Pictured, the family at the celebration.

1961

Mary Susan KING Delahunty has continued to travel throughout the Pandemic without difficulty. In fact, she noted that things were gloriously uncrowded! At Christmas the Delahuntys did a Panama Canal cruise with friends and then a lovely three-week train trip through Spain in the spring. Mary hopes everyone is well and safe. “God bless all our Chez Nous family.”

1965

Eileen O’DONOHUE Adkins is so pleased to hear how well Notre Dame is thriving and notes that although it has been a long time since she was at West 79th Street, her memories are very special. The years have blessed her with 52 years with her husband, Charlie, and with 5 children and 11 grandchildren. The Adkins enjoy living near them and are lucky to be able to spend much time with them. One of Eileen’s dearest memories of ND are the wonderful stories Mother Genevieve would tell of France and its history, which fostered in her an interest and fondness for Paris. She has visited there many times and always thinks of Mother Genevieve. She hopes and prays that ND will continue its calling to nurture and educate the next generations.

A special stop at the altar of St. Genevieve at Saint Sulpice, May 2022

1968

As Artist-in-Residence and Director Of Education Jeanne BRESCIANI, Ph.D. has been busy at home and traveling for two missions at the Isadora Duncan International Institute (www.idii.org). The Institute has taught over 1,000 hours via Zoom to the US, Europe and Asia since the start of the pandemic. IDII has continued its lecture and dance theatre performance schedule in Northern Italy (www.idiivenice.com) with three tours on mythological and historical themes within the past year. Jeanne has journeyed with the Institute to Delphi, Greece for the staging of a scholarship and artistic creation toward the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games (www.thedelphicgames.com) since 2004, co-chaired by IDII with Harvard University’s Director of Hellenic Studies, Zoie Lafis, since 2019. Jeanne writes that her life’s course has been directed by the invaluable classical education that was given to her, her sister, and their cousins a long time ago at the then Notre Dame Convent School. “It was bestowed with love, wisdom and devotion by the Sisters of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgin Mary and lives in all of us touched by the profound influence that we treasure today and hold close always as a most sacred trust.”

Jeanne shared two photographs that hearken to the classical world. The first shows Jeanne photographed by Roberto Sisini at the Temple of Hercules in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Sicily, Italy, a vital part of Magna Graecia. In the second she is standing with the company of The Isadora Duncan International Institute Dancers, with members also of the Skidmore College Duncan Dancers at the Tholos Temple of Athena Pronoia in Delphi, Greece. The photograph was taken by Jeanne’s son, Stuart Orenstein. Usually no one is allowed to be photographed in the temples in Greece, but the Mayor of Delphi gave the organization very special permission from the municipality. That morning the mayor brought them each a branch of fresh bay laurel from his garden. Bay laurel is sacred to the god, Apollo, and is a main ingredient in dried form of the herbs used to produce the original vapors that entrained the oracle to prophecies thousands of years ago and was a lasting practice for almost one thousand years.

1969

Alina PINELLI-Green sends greetings from sunny Miami, La Capital del Sol! She is pleased to announce that her grandson, Aleksandar Aleksej, successfully graduated from Kindergarten! They are pictured together.

Alina also sends love and sunshine from Beauty the Pittie rescue and Bello the Chihuahua puppy.

Irene UHNAK Messina is pleased to congratulate her granddaughter, Millie, on her graduation from Smithtown West High School, NY. Millie has been accepted to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. She has graduated with honors and has received scholarships and grants for her education at this prestigious Institution. Her family is filled with pride at her accomplishments and wish her much success and happiness in her chosen field.

1970

Ann BURKE-Bunting continues to practice as a therapist engaged with high conflict couples and individuals with trauma. Her husband, Craig, retired this year after a long career in finance and accounting. Their time is split between New York and their home in Connecticut. She sends regards to everyone in the class!

1972

Milagros G. WILLIAMS is enjoying her retirement from a career as a Bilingual Special Education Teacher. She serves as an usher for her church and enjoys watching period pieces on Netflix, STARZ and other networks. She is still a voracious reader and has also discovered online shopping :) In 2018, Milagros took her dream trip to Paris, where she enjoyed attending art exhibits with her kids. Her son got engaged as the clock struck 12 on New Year's Eve. “This has been a great year!”

1979

Jeanne HABLITZ Gully’s son Nicholas Gully was married on Oct 17, 2021.

Marcia Zorrilla is the Director of Positive Youth Development and Public Health Specialist at the Stanford REACH Lab, Division of Adolescent Medicine. She is also the Project Director of a pilot study that examines youth perceptions of the racialization of cannabis in their communities. She has a professional Instagram that focuses on youth mental health (for youth and people that care about youth) and her handle is: dr.marcia_zorrilla so give her a follow!

1985

Robin Newman is happy to share that she sold another book. Her picture book, DON’T CALL ME FUZZYBUTT!, illustrated by Susan Batori (Sleeping Bear Press 2021), was selected as a 2022 IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) bronze medalist for picture books (7 & under).

1988

Jane CHEN Firester reports on an achievement by her son Aaron and his middle school robotics team. In March, his team, the Meteorites Squared, won the Long Island championship for FIRST Lego League Challenge (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Aaron was the programmer for the competition. The theme this year was Cargo Connect, concentrating on supply chain issues. In April the team attended Worlds in Houston, competing with 100 teams worldwide. It was a great experience. The Chen family also got to meet up with their high school team, the J-Birds. They were selected to attend the FIRST Robotics Competition, by winning the Chairman’s award for their division. There were 800+ high school level teams present.

1991

Catherine VADASZ Licitra, DNP, RN, received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice–Executive Leadership from Duke University this summer.

1998

Naomi PENA is Co-founder of the Literacy Academy Collective. In May 2022 it was announced that NYC DOE will launch Literacy Academy Collective in the south Bronx. It will be the first NYCDOE public school to help students with dyslexia and language based learning disabilities. It will also be a training hub for teachers to learn what structured literacy is.

2002

Jennifer BIONDO Aquilino gave birth to her third child, Carmine Gennaro, on June 13, 2022. Jennifer has two girls and a boy, and baby is doing well!

2003

Vanessa CASTRO-Rybka proudly welcomed her daughter Apollonia Mae Rybka on February 15, 2022. She continues to live outside of Orlando, FL and can't wait to get back to marathon training, pushing a stroller this time!

2005

Ivette TORRES can’t believe she started in ND 20 years ago. She remembers 9/11 and walking from Saint Marks Place all the way to her home. She also has many pleasant memories and thanks everyone for their contribution to her experience. Ivette recently obtained employment at the non profit YearUp as an Internship Services Manager. Year Up serves young adults from 18-26, giving them an opportunity to learn in either a finance track or an IT track. YearUp also provides professional/ business communication skills to prepare the participants for their internship phase in which they are placed in fortune 500 companies for 6 months. The idea is hopefully they get hired but if not, they nonetheless obtain experience and skills that will allow them to network to then move on to a career in that path. Yvette is a 2009 alum from this program.

2006

Tiffany CRUZ, Andreina (DELGADO) Romero, Josephine MARTINEZ ‘06, and Talisa TORRES went on vacation together to Panama in July 2022. As part of their travels, they toured Casco Antiguo, a World Heritage site (photographed). They also toured the rainforests of El Valle de Anton and the Panama Canal. Their favorite part of the trip was recollecting details from Global History classes at ND and testing their knowledge on the contrasts of buildings the Panama and the Suez Canals!

2012

On April 22,2022, Camila PODOLAK and her fiancé, Charlie Wodicka, tied the knot after nine years of dating! The couple met in college while attending St. John’s University.