Class Notes – Summer 2021

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1960s

Pat (Richards ’68) Valenzano and her husband, Joe, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on July 17, 2021. Both are semi-retired. Pat teaches as an adjunct in English at Atlantic Cape Community College and Kean University at Ocean. Their second oldest grandson attends the University of Dayton where his uncle is a professor and department chair. They have 5 sons and 10 grandchildren.

1970s

Bob Swesky ’71 retired in 2012 from fulltime management in sales and marketing in the Pittsburgh beverage industry but remains active as a part-time consultant in the same profession. He and his wife, Joyce, have been married for 43 years. They have two children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandson. Bob says, “Since working part time, I’ve had the opportunity to serve on the board of directors at Resurrection Power, as a committee member and emcee for the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission, and as a guest speaker at various churches, encouraging a relationship with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with weekly visits to the local prison for the same purpose. I’m currently writing my second book, Is Anyone Up There Listening? which deals with the necessity of a daily prayer life and putting our faith in God and not the world.”

Tom Legare ’79, Heart of Jesus Household, reminds everyone, “With sincere humility, if I can be of temporary help for growth in a prayer life, feel free to visit jesusbeadsmaine.com. God’s blessings be upon FUS! This class note kind of seems like ‘preaching to the choir.’”

1980s

John Mihalyo MBA ’83 recently published his second novel, Life Is Amazing, the sequel to Always Living the Dream published in 2017. It continues to follow Jake Million, a retired man respected by all who lives life by the 4 F’s: Faith, Family, Friends, and Fun. It can be found at bookbaby.com and Amazon.

Mary Anne Fox MA ’85 retired and moved from Baltimore to Pawleys Island, S.C., during COVID. She says, “Now, that was interesting! I love my new parish, Precious Blood of Christ, and the ability to attend daily Mass. I am a lector, chair of the Outreach Committee, and member of the parish women’s club. I also joined a local literary lunch group and a women’s beach walking group that’s only five minutes away from my home! I’m missing the summer conferences!”

1990s

Katie Gesto ’91 married Tim Opalenik on the eve of the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Katie says, “I am overjoyed! I work as a nurse practitioner at Sutter Integrative Oncology in Roseville, Calif., and love the challenge of serving people with cancer to help them get healthier and heal from within. Let’s keep shining our light of Christ in this new era!” Alumni families of the Brothers of the Eternal Song and Mother of Love united in pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wis., where Our Lady appeared to Adele Brise with the message to “teach the children what they should know for salvation.” Elton ’00 and Karin (Gustafson ’96) Saunders, Tom and J.C. (Bouquet ’97) Birong, and Phil ’96 and Tara (Reinecker ’96) Foret, prayed the Novena to Our Lady of Good Help: Queen of Families and dedicated their pilgrimage to their families’ domestic church. Please consider a pilgrimage at championshrine.org.

2000s

Deacon Justin Bosl ’02 was ordained to the holy diaconate by His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos on Sunday, April 18, 2021. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law and is a partner in a law firm in Oakland, Calif. Justin and his wife, Diakonissa Annemarie, have four children, Markella, 17, Joseph, 15, Gregory, 13, and Natalia, 12.

It is not uncommon to have three children in five years, but David ’02 MA ’04 and Lynette (Mooney ’03) Cudnik had five children in three years! After four single births, they were blessed with two sets of twins, just 21 months apart. And God decided they needed to have a single baby 19 months after the second set of twins. Lynette says, “It’s surreal to have ‘big’ and ‘little’ twins in the house, but a beautiful blessing!” In addition to parenting, David earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Dallas in 2015. Their children are Francis, 14, Rose, 12, Teresa, 9, Kateri, 7, Gianna and Kolbe, 5, Ignatius and Xavier, 3, and Solanus, 18 months.

David McHugh ’07 says, “2020 was a rough year for us, but it turned out to be a blessing as well. My wife, Noelle, and I had our sixth child, and we started a new company that is selling a patented invention of mine. It’s called “Percoustix,” a device that allows you to play real drum sounds from the body of an acoustic guitar. A local music store in Oklahoma has already begun to sell my invention. We are super excited for this new adventure and await to see what 2021 has in store.”

Captain Jonathan Brattan ’08 has been selected as the first scholar in residence by the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Augusta, Maine.

Holly Wayne ’09 recently joined the Weedsport Central School District in N.Y., as a foreign language teacher. Prior to that, she taught at Union Springs School District, Syracuse University during her master’s work, and at Highland School in Warrenton, Va.

2010s

Mary Angelica Tursi ’14 recently defended her dissertation for her PhD in mathematics at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and is planning to move to Florida with her husband, Dane Ryan MA ’12, and their 2-yearold, Raphael.

Anthony ’16 and Olivia (Policare ’16) Lopez welcomed their first child, Samuel James, on November 10, 2020. Sarah Hull ’17 and Jacob Hough ’19 were married September 26, 2020, in Christ the King Chapel.

Marcus Hummer ’17 graduated with his doctor of chiropractic degree from Life University on March 26, 2021. He plans to return to the Dayton, Ohio, area to begin serving the community and building his private practice.

Eli Perry ’17 says, “In the summer of 2019, I chose to use my BS in biology and took a part-time job as an aquarist at the Indianapolis Zoo. I worked there for seven months and learned a lot about animal behavior and how zoos operate. During that time, I was studying for my securities licenses, and I began working with my dad full time as a financial services professional in the spring of 2020. Although I had no educational background in finances or business, I have greatly enjoyed working in this industry. Being an independent advisor brings its challenges, but it has countless benefits and is a very exciting career.”

Troy Donovan ’18 interned at the Heritage Foundation in the Media Relations Department and now works for Judicial Watch as a broadcast associate. Troy says, “During my time at the Heritage Foundation, I fielded media requests from major news outlets, helped track Heritage mentions in print and digital media, and assisted in researching conservative values.”

Joseph Rall ’18 married Naomi Virnelson, a Hillsdale College graduate, in December 2020. Joseph is a third-year medical student at Ohio University, and Naomi works as an OB nurse. They live in Parma Heights, outside of Cleveland.

In Memoriam

Julietta (Pompa ’56) Sweda died November 8, 2020.

Sam DiMeo ’59, Alpha Phi Delta brother, died April 17, 2021.

Charles Calabrese ’72 died March 25, 2021.

James Welsh ’66, Alpha Phi Delta brother, died April 21, 2021.

Elaine (Lamantia ’68) Hall died April 26, 2021.

Anthony “Bill” Pasquarella ’75 died April 20, 2021.

Clara George ’77 died March 24, 2021.

Cornelius Cardinal Sim MA ’88 died while undergoing cancer treatment on May 29, 2021, six months after being named cardinal of Brunei.

Randall Coates ’06 died March 15, 2021.