1987

Greetings everyone. Just a short column this time. Not very many notes from you. I KNOW you're out there and that you have things to share with your classmates. Come on, get with the program! You only have one Kellogg alumni class in this life. Don't waste it.

It's been raining a whole lot here in Chicago this spring. So much so that Cate, my 11-year-old, was able to boogey board on the playground at her school nearby last weekend. Fortunately, our house is on higher ground than the playground and our basement remains dry.

Hope you all are dry and safe wherever you might be. Dave Foster wrote to catch up. He's been moving around a lot over the years since Evanston. From Chicago, he and his family moved to Minneapolis, then they went to Hong Kong, then back to Chicago, and now they're settled (for a while) in Dallas. Dave is the CFO for a tech firm there named IntegraSys. He's been there for a year or so. Prior to that, he was running the strategic financial group with a telecom concern in Dallas that ultimately was purchased. All told, Dave and his family have been in Dallas for about four years. Someday, he and his wife Jen would like to get back to Chicago. (If it keeps raining like this, Dave, you will need to bring your houseboat with you.)

Jen is busy running her design firm and keeping up with Kate, 8, who is into sports, dance and horseback riding, and wants to be an artist or a vet when she grows up. Sounds very familiar. My boogey-boarding Cate is on a similar horses/drawing/vet track. Must be something about the name. Dave keeps in touch with some of the old FFQ group like Peter Myhre, Kris Denton and Kipp Lykins ... mostly golfing together when travel schedules overlap. Dave and Jen also see Tamara Mattison and her husband Mark Floyd occasionally. Dave ran the Chicago Marathon last fall with Mark and really enjoyed being back in the Windy (Wet!) City.

Let's see ... moving on to the East Coast now ... Lexi Van de Walle dropped me a line with some very happy news. She is getting ... make that she WAS married on May 29. She and her groom, Henry Owsley, exchanged vows at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York and held their reception at the New York Palace. I certainly hope the weather was better in New York than it was here! Henry is from Metairie, La., and is the founder, CEO and president of Gordian Group LLC, an investment banking firm, specializing in distressed and complex transactions. Congratulations, Lexi, and may you and Henry share many happy years together!

It seems that some of our classmates are pursuing side careers in politics. Michael Beck wrote that last fall he was elected to the township committee in his town of Union Township, N.J. There are about 3,000 residents in this, as Michael puts it, "...rural area of horse-farms and hot air balloons." An interesting mix! I guess they both need a lot of space. Michael's political career continued its ascent in January, when he was also named deputy mayor. Part of the job includes performing an occasional marriage, which he likes very much. Michael still has his "day job" with Novartis Pharmaceuticals and, in spite of his new political career, he and his wife remain married for 12 years. Michaels's two daughters, who are 11 and 9 now, will most assuredly be heading up his fund-raising efforts in 2012.

That's all the news for now. Please drop me a line at coulsontony@hotmail.com soon! 'Til next time, Tony.