28 minute read
THE VOICE
SHARE YOUR STORIES WITH US.
Send your memories and photos to:
Email:
gilmourvoice@gilmour.org
Phone:
(440) 473-8011
Mail:
Gilmour Academy Attn: Gilmour Voice 34001 Cedar Road Gates Mills, OH 44040
In anticipation of Gilmour’s 70 th anniversary
celebration next year, we are working to build and organize our archives collection. If you have any memorabilia from your Gilmour days (letter jackets, trophies, etc.) that you’d be willing to donate, we would love to have it. Please contact our campus archivist Br. Ken Kane, C.S.C. at kanek@gilmour.org about any
donations. Thanks!
Where is She Now? Emily Stay
In her 20 years on staff at Gilmour, Emily Stay’s reach extended into all aspects of fine arts education at the school.
By the time Mrs. Stay retired in 2007, she had served as the longtime fine arts chair (1992-2007), taught music and been counted among Gilmour’s most preeminent photography teachers. After she retired, she returned to Gilmour as a substitute teacher for seven more years. She stops to reflect on her time at Gilmour and tell us what she’s up to now.
Q: What were your early days on campus like?
A: I began at Gilmour as a substitute teacher in 1986. When Mrs. Duval left that year, Br. Robert asked me to take over her two photo classes. I kept growing the program, and my role at Gilmour grew quickly, too.
Q: We mentioned all your roles at Gilmour. How did you juggle it all?
A: When my son Allen ’87 started at Gilmour in 1982, it was a really hard time for me because it involved a lot of death in my family. And those Brothers held out a proverbial hand to me – Br. Michael Flanagan, Br. Robert Lavelle, also Gay Janis and Nickie Emerson. I don’t know where I would be without those four people at the school, so there is never enough that I can do for Gilmour.
Q: It sounds like Gilmour means a lot to you.
A: When I look back on my Gilmour years, I loved it. It was the hardest thing I ever did to retire. I loved the people. I loved the faculty members. I loved the kids. I loved the campus. I loved the administration. I was comfortable. I was appreciated. There were only two places in my life that I felt that way, where I was accepted for me, at face value. One was at Gilmour and the other was Converse College.
Q: Why did you retire?
A: I could not manage the school calendar much more. I had to be in the mountains of North Carolina. I spent the first six years of my life in North Carolina, so that’s home for me. My grandfather built a house there in 1940, and I own it now. I spend about five months of the year there.
Q: Which do you prefer, music or photography?
A: With music, I never had a choice. That’s who I am. Photography I chose, as something different to do.
Q: What did you love about teaching?
A: The sheer enjoyment of watching kids get it. I loved to see other people love and appreciate the things I love and appreciate, and if I can help them do that, so much the better. You never know what it is you’re saying that’s going to make it better for someone.
Q: How do you spend your time these days?
A: This is my 15 th year being Class of ’63 representative for Petrie School of Music at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C. I am very active with my alma mater. I also still play the piano. I performed at my 50 th college reunion. It was exactly 50 years and 20 hours since I last performed in a large venue – and that was at my senior recital on April 12, 1963. I figured I’d come full circle. Quilting is fun, too. I took that up in retirement. I can listen to music. And when I smell popcorn I know I have to go down and fix dinner. My husband doesn’t cook.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Courage to Lead
As Kathy Kenny takes the helm as Head of School, she lays out a bold vision for a united Gilmour. All the while, she draws on the Holy Cross mission, using it to inspire her own.
It’s just a stone’s throw from the quaint confines of the Reading Cottage to the fabled halls of Tudor House, but for new Head of School Kathleen Coffey Kenny, it was a journey 37 years in the making. “My dad always said, ‘Remember from whence you came,’” says Kenny. At Gilmour, it was the Reading Cottage that gave Kenny her start, her first chance to show what she, a recent college grad, could do. “The Reading Cottage was my first classroom, and I spent many good years there, teaching Greek Mythology and English, and tutoring students who had some learning challenges,” Kenny says. “Will seeing the Reading Cottage every day keep me grounded? Absolutely.” With her strong Gilmour roots, longtime passion for the school’s mission, and compassion for its students, Kenny makes for a unique leader. Her institutional knowledge runs deep, and it informs her decision making now.
Gilmour’s new Head of School brings to Tudor House her own plans for a bright future for Gilmour. It’s an Academy she has helped shepherd and shape in countless ways since her arrival here in 1978.
Look back at Gilmour over the last 37 years, and you’ll see the fingerprints of Kenny’s steadfast efforts everywhere. It’s in scholarships and new construction,
Gilmour’ s New Head of School Kathy Kenny
service projects and publications. It’s in relationships with trustees, donors, parents, faculty, staff and alumni.
Most of all, it’s in her students. And as Kenny takes up the mantle of Head of School and lays Gilmour’s foundation according to her own vision, it’s her 34 years in the classroom she uses as her compass most.
“I began as a teacher, and like so many heads of schools, I am a teacher at heart,” she says. “Teaching is not a job, it is a vocation, a profession that is inspired by the energy and commitment to help children and adolescents develop academically, emotionally, spiritually and socially.”
In the classroom, Kenny gleaned an understanding of students’ needs and an appreciation for her colleagues. She helped redesign curriculum and lived the Holy Cross mission. All of these things “will guide and inform her decisions as Head of School,” she says.
We Are GA
Being Head of School is a responsibility Kenny embraces, for all its challenges and rewards.
“The biggest challenge is balancing the demands of the day, trying to be in so many places at the exact same time. I have not yet figured this all out. But I will!” Kenny says.
She says it with the confidence of one who long has learned by doing. But as the Gilmour community welcomes Kenny to Tudor House, some people wonder what they can expect from the school’s first female, lay leader.
Three areas have emerged as initial priorities under Kenny’s direction: establishing a community of excellence, promoting a philosophy of shared leadership and maintaining a positive school culture.
“I kept returning to these three facets each time I reflected – before, during and after the application process,” she says of their staying power. “These tenets are the foundation I believe are most important and applicable to our academic focus and our Holy Cross mission.”
For Gilmour to reach its maximum potential, Kenny can’t do it alone. Far from it. “Many must join together in taking ownership and sharing leadership,” Kenny says. That includes everyone on campus, from trustees and administrators to hourly staff and faculty. And it includes the Gilmour community off campus –
families, alumni and donors. “Together, we all represent Gilmour, and together we can all raise the level of excellence for our students and families,” she says.
The school has a different look now, no doubt, she says, than it did in earlier days on campus when men and Brothers were the dominant presence here. Yet while she brings a new perspective (and a new gender) to Tudor House, there is one important constant: Gilmour’s leaders today “are passionate advocates of a Catholic, Holy Cross foundation,” just as they always have been, she emphasizes. “Our mission remains to provide students with the competence to see and the courage to lead.” To do that, Kenny draws on her experience as a student advisor in days past. “I would always explain our mission anecdotally to my students. It involves the competence to see what is right and just and the courage to bring about that justice,” she says. “They had so many questions. How? Why? All the what ifs. It reminds me to personalize my approach with students and faculty. Nothing resonates more clearly than a story of a current student or an alum who is truly living our Gilmour mission.” Kenny, who herself was educated in Catholic schools from elementary school onward, is most impacted by the Holy Cross charisms of hospitality, inclusiveness, zeal and service to the poor. “Those charisms drive me,” she says. “They inspire my approach to students, families, and our wider Gilmour community.”
Appreciate That...
In assembling her leadership team, Kenny strove to “hire smart, really smart,” as alumni parent Jenniffer Deckard wisely advised her. “The leadership team is awesome. They are out-of-the-box thinkers, energetic and impassioned,” Kenny says. “I am motivated by them and truly believe God put them in my path on behalf of Gilmour.” To put Gilmour on strong footing for the future, Kenny’s leadership team is following “a strength-based approach that explores the root causes of success,” Kenny says. It’s a research-based model for organizational change championed by David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University. At its core, Appreciative Inquiry, as it is called, provides solutions through asking important questions. “How do we build on what we do really well?” Kenny says. “Rather than
only focus on problem solving, it looks at the ‘positive core,’ those components that give vitality and life to an effective organization.”
Ultimately, it will help Gilmour leaders build on current strengths, envision possibilities and innovate accordingly.
Bringing the past to the present
From the Reading Cottage to her current office in Tudor House, Kenny’s rise through the ranks over three decades reflects her commitment to the students and alumni and her vision for Gilmour’s future. The fact that she stands strongly before the Gilmour community now as Head of School can be perceived as an affirmation of her dedication to Gilmour’s students, its academic programs
and the growth of the community.
From the humble surrounds of the Reading Cottage to the august setting of Tudor House, what occurred in the cottage all those years ago embodies the essence of Gilmour, a devotion to students as individuals and a relentless drive to help every last one of them succeed and live the Holy Cross mission.
THE JOURNEY 37 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Kathy with loyal Lancers Bob Heltzel ’65 and Ray Murphy ’65
Kathy with her last class of students – AP Language and Composition – in May 2013
Kathy pinning on one of countless Commencement corsages
Kathy and an alum heading out to deliver food baskets during the 2005 Thanksgiving food drive
Kathy and her mom, Bernadette Coffee, another longtime Gilmour employee, with Michaela ’05, Mary Kate ’07 and Maureen ’10 Kenny
2015
1978
Br. Chester Freel, C.S.C. congratulating Kathy at her Installation Mass
the Kenny family
Kathy with former Gilmour teachers Lisa Forino, Dorothy Coerdt and Bonnie DiCillo
Celebrating the medical school graduation of Billy Navarre ’02 with trustee and close friend, Kathy Pender
Kathy at one of the many alumni weddings she has attended through the years
Kathy and fellow Gilmour legend Vern Weber
To Have and to Hold... Together they made their way from the Senior Prom to the church on time. Now these Gilmour lovebirds are proving once and for all that Lancers can give love a good name. They flirted in class, smooched in the Gilmour parking lot and kindled a spark at the Homecoming dance. They dated throughout college or reconnected over cocktails. Their circumstances are all different, but these six couples (along with countless other Gilmour mergers) have one thing in common: They met as students at Gilmour and married as adults. And whether they dated consistently right from high school or hit it off by chance years later, they’re showing that the Gilmour bond is built to last.
Mike ’86 and Dana (Randazzo) Snelling ’87
You were friends in high school. How did you reconnect after Gilmour?
Dana: I was home for Spring Break my freshman year from American University. My brother was having people over for St. Patrick’s Day. Mike had just transferred to John Carroll from Loyola University, so my brother said, “Why don’t you ask Mike Snelling over?” And I said, “That’s a good idea.”
So Mike went over and you hung out?
Dana: We actually went to The Colony instead. And of course he knew everybody there.
Mike: When I was a senior at Gilmour I wanted to ask Dana out, but she was dating somebody at the time. But on this night, it just clicked. We talked for hours and hours and hours. And I had the opportunity to kiss her goodnight, so I did. We went out every night that week until Dana went back to school.
Did you keep in touch?
Mike: We talked on the phone and wrote letters to each other until she came home for the summer.
Dana: Yes, can you believe it? Handwritten letters. We kept all the letters we wrote to each other, which is probably crazy. We were in a longdistance relationship until we married.
When did you know that you wanted to marry each other?
Dana: After I graduated from American, I made the decision to stay in D.C., but I knew then that Mike was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Mike: I moved to D.C. in January of ’91. That was the first time we were together for more than three months.
Mike, you got a job selling copiers for Ricoh there, and things were going well. What happened?
Mike: After seven months on the job, I became the top sales rep in my division. As soon as that happened, my dad called and said, “I have a job for you in Chicago.” Four weeks later, I was gone. That drive to Chicago was really long. It was tough. That’s when I knew being apart from Dana wasn’t going to work. I finally broke down and bought a ring and asked her to marry me on Dec. 12, 1991.
You got married young.
Dana: Michael was 25 and I was 23. We were married Jan. 2, 1993. We had friends from Chicago, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., and of course Cleveland. It was an amazing night! Mike: We were one of the first in our class to get married. Asking the Randazzos for Dana’s hand was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. They had just finished paying for her education, and there I was asking their permission to marry her.
Now you’ve been married 22 years and have five kids (Jena ’15, Maria ’16, Anna ’18, Michael and Charlie). How would you describe each other as parents?
Mike: Dana has more patience than I could ever imagine having when it comes to our kids.
Dana: Mike traveled a great deal for the first 19 years of our marriage. When he was home, he didn’t want to miss anything. We would have our family time and he wanted to hear from each child everything that was going on. He loves being home with them.
How do you feel about each other today?
Mike: I love her as my bride, but I still really like her as my friend. She’s my best friend.
Dana: Yeah, we balance each other very well.
Tom and Tawnya (Santoiemmo) Zucker ’87
When did you start dating?
Tom: In 1986, January of our junior year. Our first date, we went out to dinner with a group of friends. That’s the thing, we were friends first. Our class got along so well. We all went to parties and hung out together.
Tawnya: It was always easy being around Tom, even in the very beginning. We were always comfortable around each other. We just had a lot of fun.
What was your favorite dance together?
Tawnya: Senior prom sticks out. It was kind of the culmination of our high school time. We went with John Popovich ’87 and Wendy Kline ’87 and met up with everybody else at the dance.
What traits did you like in each other in the early days?
Tawnya: For me, Tom was an excellent listener and always helped me think through and solve things. He was very easy to talk to. Tom: Tawnya is one of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met. She’s always had a good heart.
What did you do about your relationship after Gilmour graduation?
Tom: I went away to Boston College but transferred to Case Western Reserve University after one semester. It might have had something to do with the fact that Tawnya went to John Carroll University, but I’m not going to admit it.
Tom, how did you propose?
Tom: We were 21 and 22 years old. We went to Disney World. Tawnya was there on vacation with her family, and I flew down and surprised her. I proposed at the Grand Floridian Resort.
Tawnya: I was shocked, because he was originally supposed to vacation with us, then he said he had to work. We went back to the hotel and celebrated with my family.
You’ve been married now for 23 years. How do you feel about each other today?
Tom: We’re a lot closer today than we ever were.
Tawnya: I agree. It’s gone so fast. It all changes once you become parents, because everything is centered around your kids. So you have to be extremely supportive of each other in the face of that.
Tom: I think the key to our longevity is just honesty in everything we do.
Tawnya: And being supportive of each other.
You have three kids (son Colin ’14 and daughters McKenzie ’16 and Gianna ’18). What do you try to instill in them?
Tom: Hard work and honesty.
Tawnya: And also a kind heart and good morals and values.
Mark and Karen (Manfredonia) Wickett ’90
You didn’t date in high school, but you were friends. What was your impression of each other?
Mark: That she was a really nice, intelligent person. She was always friendly to everybody. I used to joke around with her in Mr. Littlefield’s sophomore biology class. I considered her out of my league.
Karen: My first memory of him was sitting behind me in Mr. Littlefield’s class talking to me when he wasn’t supposed to. Mark was just cool. He was a little bit of a mystery, a bit of a charmer.
How did you reconnect after high school?
Karen: In 1994 I was at a Dayton party in Chicago. I tagged along with my friend. I didn’t know anybody at the party. Then I saw Mark and I said, “I know that guy, how do I know that guy?” I hadn’t seen him since high school. He tried to fix me up with his roommate that night.
Mark: I was dating somebody at the time. I didn’t want to go from one relationship to the other. I did anyway, though (laughs).
What was your first date?
Karen: It wasn’t officially a date because he still wanted to fix me up with his friend. We went to Duke of Perth and Jake’s Pub in Chicago. We were out and he said, “Don’t you want to go out with my friend?” And I said, “No, I want to go out with you!” He was like, “Well, OK.”
Mark: I knew that Karen was the one for me. I had a weird feeling that first night when we saw each other at the party. Right from the get-go I knew it was going to happen, I did.
What got your attention about each other when you were dating?
Mark: I always thought Karen had a wonderful heart, a beautiful smile. She’s fun to be around. She is someone who impresses with what she’s able to do with her life in several facets. She can seamlessly manage things in her life. She’s really good at it all.
Karen: Mark was always very thoughtful and well spoken. I thought he was so smart. I would think, “I’m going to go home and look that word up.”
How did Mark propose?
Karen: We went out to a bunch of bars that were special to us. We went to Duke of Perth, Jake’s Pub and Kelly’s on the Green (the site of our first kiss). When we left there Mark proposed on the sidewalk just walking down the street going to get a cab.
Mark: I was nervous as hell. I retraced the steps of all our favorite places over the years, the fabric of those milestone moments. That’s what I wanted. I didn’t want to do some flashy thing. It was a cool way to have a special night together.
You were married in September 1999. What’s life been like for you since then?
Karen: It’s gone by super fast. We just moved to Minneapolis for my job with Room & Board. We have three sons, Colin, 6, and twins Cameron and Henry, 4. I say I have four kids because Mark plays right alongside them all the time. As a husband, he’s very supportive of everything I do, always has been.
Mark: She’s extremely supportive and tremendously giving. She puts others around her before herself. She makes our home a good place to be, for all of us. I wouldn’t change a minute of our life together.
Mel (Deogracias) and Ray Fernando ’88
Mel, you transfered into Gilmour sophomore year. How did you and Ray start dating?
Mel: We started out as friends. I thought he was hilarious. He seemed genuine. Junior year, I started liking him. But Ray started asking me advice about another girl in the class.
Ray: I thought Mel was dating Dino Peralta ’87, who was a year ahead of us. Dino was always driving Mel around in a Saab convertible on campus. I couldn’t compete with that! I didn’t realize they were just good friends.
Mel: Fall of senior year I told my roommate Roz Seigal I had a crush on Ray and swore her to secrecy.
Ray: Roz came up to me in Br. Kane’s physics class and said, “I know who likes you!” and made me guess. So, if it wasn’t for her, we might not be sitting here right now. I went up to Mel that day and asked for her number.
When was your first date?
Ray: It was Oct. 2, 1987. We went to TGI Friday’s at
Golden Gate. Mel (laughing): Our second date was at Red Lobster. I was so nervous I wore my skirt backwards.
Ray: Yeah, she wore her skirt backwards.
Where was your first kiss?
Mel: The Gilmour parking lot.
What was your first dance together?
Ray: The winter formal senior year.
Mel: My parents were so strict, you have no idea. They sat Ray down in the living room. We were both so nervous.
Ray: My heart was pounding out of my chest.
Did you date in college?
Ray: We dated about 75 percent of our college years. Mel went to Loyola University in Chicago and I went to Marquette University in Milwaukee. That was before cell phones. We had about $300 in phone bills every month.
At Gilmour, you were voted Most Likely to Get Married, and you did, in May 1998. Ray, how did you propose?
Ray: On Christmas Day, I had asked her parents for their blessing, so once I had it, I didn’t want to wait too much longer.
Mel: Too much longer? Ray proposed the very next day! While at his mom’s house, I turned around and he was on his knee, and I said, ‘”Can you just get up, let’s go!” And then he started talking about how much he loved me over the years and he pulls this ring out. I was shocked!
What are you like as parents?
Mel: We have two kids, Alexis, 13, and Elyse, 10. I like the fact that Ray is able to get down on the kids’ level. He coached Alexis in soccer and basketball up until last year. He is like a giant kid. The kids can really relate to him.
Ray: Mel is so structured as a parent. You have every conceivable activity on the kids’ plates. Mel balances all their schedules. How do you manage all that? It’s remarkable. Mel also is also the kindest person I know. She is an oncology nurse. I am so proud of the impact she has on people.
Any closing thoughts?
Ray: We’re still kids at heart. When you start off a relationship at such an early point in your life you get to share so many memories and early feelings together for the first time. That was unique. We never lost those feelings.
Marilyn (Havel) and Alex Somers ’01
How did you meet?
Marilyn: I transfered to Gilmour sophomore year. We had a few classes together, but we didn’t know each other that well. Then senior year we just started talking. We went to the Senior Homecoming separately with friends but ended up connecting at the dance.
When did you start dating?
Marilyn: Senior year Homecoming was our first “date” and our first kiss. On Homecoming night, he asked me to senior prom. That impressed me. His confidence stood out. I said, “Are you sure?” Alex: I knew all along she was the one. I knew immediately. When you know, you know. This July we’ll have been married nine years, Marilyn: But we’ll have been together for 15 years.
Marilyn, when did you know Alex was the one for you?
I think it was when we were studying at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, our junior year of college and I thought he was a good travel companion. You get to know someone well when you travel with them.
Did you date throughout college then?
Alex: Yes, I went to college at Tulane University in New Orleans. Marilyn started out at a college in Ohio, then transferred to Loyola of New Orleans, right next to Tulane. Marilyn: No. I like to tell my friends I’ve never had my heart broken. Alex: I planned for us to go on a surprise trip to Anguilla in the Caribbean but before that, I had to go back to Ohio to ask for her parents’ permission. Her dad said yes, which was good, and he handed me Marilyn’s passport. I took her to the airport and didn’t tell her where we were going. I proposed on the beach at sunset.
Marilyn: I was shocked. I really was. I didn’t think he was going to propose. He’s very good at planning surprises.
What can you say about each other today?
Alex: I feel like I married my best friend. It’s kind of impossible to imagine a world without us together. She also is a fantastic mother to our two boys,
Did you ever date anyone else besides each other?
Alex, how did you propose?
Tripp, 5, and Charles, 3.
Marilyn: He’s a wonderful father. He makes time for the boys. He hasn’t changed much, either. He’s still always thinking about the future. And he’s still making me laugh.
Kaitlin (Gill ) and Ryan Teknipp ’09
How did you meet?
Kaitlin: I went to the first football game freshman year. He was really good at football, so he got my attention. I asked him if I could wear his jersey to the football games. It didn’t matter how cold or snowy it was, I sat in the stands.
Ryan: I loved coming out of the locker room after the games. She was always there waiting for me. Football played a big role in our relationship.
When did you start dating?
Kaitlin: We dated a little bit freshman year and then broke up. At the beginning of senior year we started dating again.
Ryan: I was pretty persistent. I always had a little bit of hope. Finally, senior year I asked her to Homecoming with me. I definitely wanted to pursue it further after the Homecoming dance.
Kaitlin: On the way to the dance, we were talking about colleges. Ryan was talking about colleges in Georgia and Colorado, and I remember thinking I didn’t want him to go that far.
What did you like about each other?
Ryan: She was really cute. She had that smile that brightened up the room. I was very attracted to that.
Kaitlin: He was fun to be around. He was somebody everybody wanted to be around, and I wanted to be around him too.
When was your first kiss?
Kaitlin: Freshman year, one day before class we met in one of the tunnels under Tudor House before school and I just decided to kiss him.
Did you date through college?
Kaitlin: Yes, we both went to college at John Carroll. We hadn’t talked about going to the same school, but by the end of senior year at Gilmour we were pretty serious and thinking very long-term. We knew by end of senior year that we wanted to be together.
Ryan: We heard all the stories, everybody says don’t pick your college based on your girlfriend or boyfriend. But I really liked the football coaches at John Carroll.
Kaitlin: It was pretty much like, “This is it.”
Where did you get engaged?
Ryan: We went to Hocking Hills for the weekend.
Kaitlin: We went there for our six-year dating anniversary. He proposed to me while we were hiking.
Ryan: I tried to find a place that was secluded. I told her to stand up on the rock and pretended I was going to take her picture. Then I popped the question.
You recently got married, on September 5.
Kaitlin: We had 100 people at the wedding. It was in Cleveland, just immediate family from both sides.
Ryan: It was the beginning of a journey. For seven years, it has been a journey together, but now we’re starting a new path in our journey together. Kaitlin: We’re more like one instead of two. We’ve achieved a lot already, and it can be attributed to the support we give each other.
What’s it been like being together all this time?
Ryan: There’s never a dull moment. It’s always fun to go out with her, to be around her.
Kaitlin: We were just kids when we started dating. It’s really neat to go from dating as kids to growing into adulthood together. We’ve always grown together, never apart.
