1986

Thanks to the many holiday cards I receive, this is one of the easier updates to write. John and Karen Coons finished a massive home remodeling project, including removing a very old, but ugly tree. The result is more and better living space and more daylight in the afternoons. They also don't have to live in fear of a tree appearing in the kid's playroom some stormy night. Next time you visit Chicago, don't waste money on a hotel room, just call the Coons. You might have to baby-sit a night, but it's worth it.

Speaking of tree damage, Ada Koch reported that a 100-year-old oak dropped tree limbs the size of small cars in her yard and that her family was without power for six days. The children make the honor roll every quarter, speak five languages and volunteer at the retirement home. Unfortunately, those are the neighbors kids. Ada's aren't too bad either. Daughter Gwen is in seventh grade and is ranked in the top 100 Irish dancers in her age group in the United States. RJ is in fifth grade and is busy designing and building things in the basement workshop. Megan is a freshman in high school and is also involved in Irish dance. She is also becoming a world traveler. She has been or is going to visit Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Peru. While in Peru, she will visit the Amazon. She loves playing the violin and is looking for a bargain on a new (to her) one. Her price range is well under $850,000, the current price on a Guadanini, which, I'm guessing, is a fairly old violin. Ada is getting her chauffeurs license, starting a new arts group called the Arts Incubator and Gallery, co-leads a Boy Scout den, teaches Sunday School, volunteers at three schools and teaches art to children at the Nelson Art Museum. I get exhausted just raking a few leaves.

	Brad Kime ’86 has been promoted to the position of president of Irwin Union Bank.

Brad Kime has been promoted to the position of president of Irwin Union Bank (IUB). Brad joined the Irwin companies in 1986, and has held a variety of positions, ranging from planning officer for Irwin Financial Corp. to executive vice president and chief operating officer for IUB. Congratulations, Brad!

David Vogdes reports he has been living in Singapore for the last six months with his wife Christina and daughter Isabella, 14 months. He is the corporate director of planning for Dell Computer Corp.'s Asia Pacific/Japan operations. David reports, "Been at Dell since 1997, after spending a fantastic nine years in a bunch of cool management jobs at Abbott Laboratories near Chicago. We are loving life in Asia, and plan to spend a few years out here before returning to our permanent home in Austin, Texas.

The report from Minnesota includes updates from Ron Leaf and Mark Schwartz. Ron and Mary's daughters (Jessica and Alison) are in the seventh and tenth grades. They are very active in playing soccer and Jessica is playing volleyball. Alison is driving and Ron's hair is grayer. The family took vacations to Steamboat Springs, Colo. (March), the Black Hills of South Dakota and Boston. Mark and Mary Schwartz '85 had a busy year. They also traveled to Steamboat Springs, Colo. (February), Boston (April), as well as Cancun, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, South Bend, Las Vegas, Phoenix and the Bahamas. And they found time for a Disney Cruise. They also experienced the joys of a quick two-month remodeling project (adding an apartment above the garage, backyard shed and "finishing" the storage room). They were still finishing the project five months later. Alexandra (third grade) and Kyle (kindergarten) are out-cooking mommy and out-driving (golf) daddy.

Sally and Tony Mann, Jim and Lauren Schreiner and David and Judy Seldin and families are all doing well. The kids are all good looking (apparently the United States has great looking UPS drivers). They all had great vacations and the children's studies are going well.

Cindi Bigelow reported big news out of Connecticut. Bigelow Tea won the Family Business of the Year for 2002 in Connecticut out of more than 1,500 entries. They also won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2002 for their region. They also were runner-up in a national contest for Family Business of the Year from Mass Mutual. The awards were mostly based on family business values, innovation and leadership in the marketplace, philanthropic efforts and general involvement in the community.

Nikki Pope is thinking of getting married. I'm not sure she is dating anyone, but she is thinking about getting married. Nothing will happen on that front for at least 18 months. She is still in law school and is spending most of her time studying and writing papers about the law. She does keep in touch with a few friends and passed along this information. Janet Sedlock has written a screenplay and has worked on (in a production capacity) on an independent film. Tom Moore is a doting father. Charlie Baker attended a Bruce Springsteen concert. The news there is that he bought a ticket rather than crawling under the fence like the old days. Fred Rubin has joined USA Interactive as the vice president, treasurer. The big attraction of this company is that it makes money, unlike some of the corporations a few of us have joined over the years. He was able to spend some quality time with his children this summer.

John Timms is enjoying the America's Cup trials in New Zealand. Go Kiwis go! John has been ahead of the rest of us for 14 years now.

Lori Samuels and family and Greg Pomerantz and family spent time skiing in Park City, Utah in December. They only overlapped one day, but they were able to get together. Kevin Damon, who lives in Park City (some people live where everybody else is trying to get), is taking his family on a vacation to Houston for the Livestock Show and to visit his family. I assume he can tell the two groups apart. Sorry Kevin, I couldn't resist.

I visited Deer Valley in February and for the second year in a row; Kevin was out of town during my visit. Should I be concerned? I have been working for a POS start-up company since November. We produce illuminated wall signs and all kinds of promotional items. I still am teaching at UW-Milwaukee. This semester it is marketing management. My goals for the summer are to see the Brewers win a game and for golf ó to break 100 (clubs, not score). To wrap it up, Eugene Van Kamarasay would like to know what is going on with Bob Terifay, Nathan Troutman, Renu Garg, John Clomax and Ken Cotner. I'll add it would be fun to hear from Ken Flint (especially his NCAA picks). I'd like to encourage everyone to send in some stories or lies. No matter how dull the story, we'll spice it up!