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Class Notes
1995
1995
Vicki Salemi
c/o Pfenning Alumni Center
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
vicki@bigapplebytes.com
President: Karen L. Hughes
Fund Manager: Meegan E. McVay
Reunion Chair: Siobhan Crann Winograd
Web Page Administrator: Vicki Salemi
The pig book. Pong. Plant Op. The
Courts. Mini refrigerators. Pledge class.
One Hundred Nights. Beirut. Barroom
parties. All-College Day. Pardee 101.
Lafayette–Lehigh. Mad Dog. March
Field. When it comes to Reunion, there
is something downright spectacular
about words unheard in a long time,
classmates you have not seen in just as
long, and that special institution nestled
on College Hill.
Enter Reunion Weekend! How
impressive is this? Steve Ripic traveled
from California, Asela “Zilla”
Gunawardana from Seattle, and
Priscilla Gabilondo Selembo from
Charlotte. How fantastic that you all
made the long-distance trip. The DGs,
Pi Phis, DKEs and engineering majors
rocked it with their solid attendance.
Thanks to Siobhan Crann Winograd,
our class reunion chair, whose devotion
to planning really paid off.
Suffice it to say, revelers seemed to
enjoy each other’s company, whether
it was chatting on the steps of Farinon
College Center after our class photo or
dancing on the Quad to the tunes of
Lady Gaga and oldies like “December
1963 (Oh, What A Night)” by The
Four Seasons. As we nestled into our
tiny dorm rooms on second floor
McKeen Hall, Jen Unterberger and
I reminisced about our RA and weekly
floor meetings in the lounge during our
first year. McKeen was air-conditioned.
Speaking of dorm living, in good,
ol’-fashioned form, the fire alarm
blared at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Ah, memories.
Random classmate’s quote overheard
at dinner on Saturday night: “They’re
selling ping pong balls at Wawa!”
It was great chatting with Evan and
Michelle Weinberg Zuckerman and
meeting their two adorable daughters,
the elder of whom told me she is “6 and
¾ years old.” Kudos to my sorority
sister Heather Martis Hilfiker for
carrying our class banner in the parade.
It was terrific catching up with Heather
and her husband, David ’94, and
meeting their three cute kids, with
their sons being Phillies fans and their
daughter liking the Red Sox.
Deb Zulick O’Donnell has year-old
twins, a girl and a boy, and lives in
Pennsylvania with her family. We
had a nice convo on the Quad, which
illustrates why Reunion is the crown
jewel of alumni events. Though we may
never have crossed paths on campus, it
is never too late to meet cool classmates,
as we swapped funny stories from our
first year. Somehow, the virtue of being
on campus makes memories resurface
and come to life. In a solemn moment
on the Quad, a few of us acknowledged
a classmate no longer with us, David
“Shaggy” DeWolf. We would be remiss
by not remembering Daniel Boone
as well. May they both rest in peace.
Sitting across from Scott Harris
and Zilla during dinner in Kamine
Gymnasium (yep, a new gym built a
few years ago, since Alumni Memorial
Gymnasium has a new name, Oechsle
Hall, and now houses the psychology
department) and amidst the cheers and
howls from Class of ’05ers during their
giant game of flip cup, I recalled their
column from senior year in The
Lafayette: “Skippy and Zilla’s Gripe
of the Week.” Some of the gripes they
reminisced ranting about: the biology
department not allowing students to
have a double major and the debate
over reducing the course load from five
courses each semester to four.
Thanks to Brian Waerig ’94, who
made a cameo at Reunion and snapped
a picture of a group of us packed in a
minivan to capture the moment. It felt
like a combination of our first orientation
and senior week, only 15 years later.
Good times!
J. Bayard Smith says he stays in
contact with his fraternity brothers, who
were fully accounted for at our reunion,
as was Bayard: Scott Harris, Zilla, Dave
Kiefer, and Matt Stauffer. Bayard
continues to serve in the Pennsylvania
Army National Guard. “I am currently a
major and attending the Command and
General Staff College so I can be
promoted to lieutenant colonel.”
Priscilla Gabilondo Selembo of
Charlotte sent a note after our reunion
with her wonderful updates: “Finished
my chemical engineering Ph.D. in
November 2009. Four wonderful and
super-energetic kids and a supportive
husband. Starting a couple of companies,
one in engineering consulting and
research, collaborating with the
University of North Carolina, and
another in real estate. Also, working as
a realtor with licenses in North Carolina
and South Carolina.”
Deb Campbell Ryan lives in
Arlington, Va., with her husband, Sam,
and two daughters. Molly turned 3 this
September, and Catherine will celebrate
her first birthday this December.
Switching gears to non-Reunion
talk, Lafayette is on Twitter! Follow
@LafCol. If you are not a tweeple, no
worries; feel free to check www.twitter.
com/LafCol periodically. For instance,
they tweeted highlights in real time
from Joan Lunden’s inspirational
commencement speech. I tweeted a
little during Reunion, as did a Class of
’05 alum, since we were both psyched
to be back on College Hill. The hashtag
was #LafReun. Twitter is fab for
networking; sharing interesting articles,
blogs, and videos from the web; getting
breaking news by trending topics before
they hit mainstream; and connecting
with ’Pards.
It was fantastic celebrating with
friends and fellow ’Pards at my
book launch party in June: Alison
Shipitofsky ’96, Jeff Wylde, Melissa
Ehmann, Tinabeth Pina ’93, Carrie
Pasternak ’08, Rachel Nelson Moeller
’88, Ed McNally ’65, and Kamaka
Martin ’04. Also, kudos to a few ’Pards
who sent me a note and caught the
Lafayette subliminal message in my
book trailer on my YouTube channel,
www.youtube.com/user/vickisalemi.
In closing, despite losing contact
with each other over the years as lives
forge ahead on divergent paths and time
zones, I have to say how impressive it
was to witness the close bonds of
friendship and camaraderie between
Scott Harris and his lifelong pals from
DKE. After I acknowledged it, he
proclaimed, “At our 45th reunion,
I’ll start planning to make sure we
are in the same nursing home.”
FALL 2010 • lafayette 107