1988

I was really pleased to hear from some of you located in Asia. I'll be pleased to connect up with you folks soon, although frankly, I hope my travel schedule slows down. Spent much of December and January in China and Korea, including a cool Motorola product launch event in Shanghai that you may have read about. I'll tell you more about it, and more ó at our Kellogg 15-year Reunion! Can't believe you old folks have been out of school for 15 years already! Looking forward to seeing you there, where you'll make commitments to getting us all caught up. Please visit online for all the details and to see who's coming!

It would not be an '88 Kellogg Class Notes issue without an update on Hanne and Mark Proudfoot. They're easier to track down, as they've been slowed down lately. For good reason ó they welcomed their fourth child, Kristen Marie, on Dec. 22.

Mike Wapner and Leng Eng just missed a tax deduction with their new addition, Anna Grace Eng Wapner, born Jan. 2. I attended Anna's baby naming, and enjoyed company of wonderful friends and family.

Speaking of exciting milestones ó they did it! Heather Donnelly Annaloro and husband Chas completed the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Chas finished in 1:55, and our Heather completed a half-marathon walk in 3:12. But more importantly, they raised $13,100 (that's $1,000 per mile) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Heather's sister Daria was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and their walk was in her honor (Daria's doing great, auologous stem cell transplant in September has her in remission!).

Susan Ward Underwood sent a beautiful card to us for the holidays, and we got a good view of Alexa, 4, Samantha, 2, and dog Max. Sue is enjoying a sabbatical until the girls get into school.

Forgot to mention this, but last year Bob Baird was named president of Norelco Consumer Products Co., and will also lead Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care Businesses in North America. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, leading all aspects of product innovation, sales, marketing and distribution. Nice going Bob ó we're coming to the reunion with face and leg whisker stubble and we know you'll take care of us, with comfort.

Dennis Sheehan and I are in very related businesses, becoming more related of late. Recently, Marty Malecki forwarded me a news clipping from The Wall Street Journal with Dennis describing the prowess of their new line of wireless chips. In fact, Dennis has been on television in the Sacramento area, enjoying what we can predict will be more than 15 minutes of fame. Dennis is a marketing director for Intel's division that is developing chips for cell phones and other handhelds. Dennis and Mary have their first teen-ager in their house. (At one point there will be three teen-age girls ... at the 20th Reunion. Dennis will be the one with gray white hair.) Nothing new with them, just wearing out tires on minivans shuffling between swim meets and soccer games Ö and golf. I remember golf, I read about it during flights.

Speaking of Intel families, Tom and Diane MacDonald's kids are growing like weeds in Lake Oswego, Ore. Kids of 2, 4, 8 and 10 years of age are doing soccer and swimming, reading, writing and dancing. Tom is still general manager of advanced components in Intel's enterprise products group, which deals in chips for servers/workstations. Diane is busy managing the house, activities and volunteering a bunch. Tom's getting close to one of those Intel sabbaticals. They're looking for awesome resorts to take kids 2 years to 10 years of age. Ping me back with any suggestions and I'll pass them along, or maybe we'll see them at the Reunion.

Brent Koehler connected with me from the hinterlands of Minnesota. Brent and Becky have two boys, Michael, 9, and Matthew, 5. Brent has a consulting firm, Summit Hill Consulting. It's going well, and so is his fly fishing. They went to Yellowstone in October, missing the crowds. Good plan, we've been there in traffic jams ourselves.

Amy Wahlert Principi passes along a hilarious Christmas letter full of great kid and husband quotes. Cool stuff going on for them (Molly in sixth grade, Nick second grade ó piano, soccer and Nintendo filling the time), and Amy's doing plenty of volunteering for ó not one ó but two churches and a school.

Fred Nelson still pursues a consulting profession in health-related fields and also fly fishes (call Brent). And, after 30 years off, Fred's back into taking piano lessons. (Songs to serenade the fish on to the hook?) Fred and Debi's boys are 13 and 10, and they are enjoying music (Erik, 13, first chair in new Jersey Junior High All-State Orchestra Ö cool), and Connor, 10, is a hockey fanatic. If you know the Nelsons, you won't be surprised to know they've renovated their house Ö again. This time it's to get lots more windows, a new deck and cathedral ceilings in a couple of rooms. Normal stuff.

Pat Ciriacks and family wrote from Wisconsin. Pat is general manager with APW in Milwaukee. He's having great fun building awesome teams and finding new customers. The company had an outing at a dude ranch, which had him riding a horse for the first time in 20 years. Daughter Jennifer (fourth grade) reads, sings and dances (like that combo), and Kevin (eighth grade) out-fishes Pat and Kelly and enjoys piano and basketball. A highschooler next year ó gosh, I guess we really are ready for a 15-year Reunion!

As for us, Jamie's really into Anime (Japanese animation) and she's become a cartoonist along with a writer. Strange, complicated storylines, bold animations ó have trouble following it myself, but I have to say, it's really kicking her imagination into high gear. Her dance class leaves her breathless, doing those moves that only a father feels uncomfortable seeing a daughter perform. Rosemary's teaching is going very well and we're looking forward to a busy summer of her family coming through Chicago. Otherwise, I look for all of you when I'm walking through O'Hare or Narita Airport in Tokyo. I predict we'll see each other there, if not sooner ó like at Reunion in May.