| Dear Fellow classmates:Wow it is so hard to believe that it has been 30 years. I have been living in the Boston area since graduating DHS. I went to Bentley college, got a degree in marketing, worked in the insurance industry for 11 years, took time off to be with the kids - do the volunteer bit at the schools and I am now in my 7th year of teaching pre-school. I keep telling my 17 year old son that most of us don't know what we want as seniors in High school and may change our mind a few times, I am proof. My son Jacob is a senior at Needham High School, and we are actively looking for a college for him, many visits in the New England area. He is on the High School swim team and runs track as well as referees soccer games. My daughter, Emma is a sophomore in high school, constantly on the go, Field hockey, ice hockey, softball, soccer referee, babysitting, .....Her passion is ice hockey where she is goalie for the High School team. My youngest Jared is a 7th grader. Loves all sports, plays trumpet, but mainly the social life is becoming a priority. We are all huge Red Sox fans. Donnie and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary in November and love following the kids in all their activities. I look forward to catching up with everyone at the Reunion weekend. Mary Sue Doughman Cotton (Picture of family at right) |
| Hey Y'all! Looks like I won't be making it up there for the big bash......life, you know, it gets in the way sometimes. But I am sending along a photo of me and my guys, and a big kiss for laughs. My sons are Michael (23) and Mathew (21). The joy and pride of my life. It's hard to sum up the past 30 years. Let's just say it went like this. College..Marriage...Kids...Graduations...Divorce...and the rest is still being written. I wish you all well, and hope that you have found peace and happiness in your lives. Always, Polly Smith |
| News, Business, Photos, Blog If you dare, if you care to communicate with other classmates, post by emailing darienhighclassof78@yahoo.com and your blog will be posted here... |
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| Lynne (Price) Montesanto: Hi '78 Classmates! I'm very excited to catch up with all of you at our October 2008 reunion. My husband Pete (from Madison, CT and a fellow class of '78er) and I have two children, Whitney (15), a freshman in high school, and Jack (11), a 5th grader. We live in Lynnfield, MA, which is north of Boston. I work full time at The Wall Street Journal, in Boston, as a Multimedia Sales Director, which is a fancy way of saying I sell advertisements for them. My parents retired to York, ME about 15 years ago, my brother Bobby lives nearby in Andover, MA and my brother John is in Manchester, NH, so we are all within an hour of each other. Unfortunately, that means we don't get to Darien all that much anymore, so I'm excited for the excuse to "come home" this fall. See you then! lynne.montesanto@wsj.com |
| Classmates Websites to peruse... |
| Kent Callahan writes: I have been in Atlanta since 1982. I graduated from Ohio Wesleyan and had a job lined up in Atlanta. I have 5 kids representing a new demographic with 2 in diapers, 2 in college and 1 a junior in HS. I have been with the same company (Transamerica Retirement Services, LA,CA) for 21 years. I was named Pres/CEO 5 years ago. We manage 15,000 corporate 401k plans throughout the USA. (Readers digest version) |
| John Tibbetts writes: I’m still living in Darien and have been on Salt Box Lane for the last 11 years. (Our house is famous – Matt Maley used to live here! We also bought it from Ken Anderson, who was the “shop” teacher at Mather.) My wife is Caroline (Haydock), who grew up in New Canaan and Darien, but only went to school here for 9th grade at Mather. We were married in 1987 (Jim MacKenzie was an usher) and now have a daughter,Laura, a freshman at DHS and son,Parker, 7th grade at Middlesex. Laura’s focused mostly on her studies, but this spring is also running sprints for the track team. She enjoys Irish dancing and was fortunate to perform with her group throughout Ireland two summers ago. She plays the piano and is also working on a photo book of Darien. In addition to his studies, Parker enjoys music (singing, guitar, and piano) and sports, especially baseball. He’s looking forward to playing someday on the fabulous new field at DHS. We get both kids out on the tennis and paddle courts, and have actually started to play some enjoyable mixed doubles. Caroline tries to keep us all on track, while I’m busy with my own real estate brokerage (www. CTWaterfrontProperties.com), which covers not only all of Darien, but also waterfront properties from Greenwich to Fairfield. Most of my career has revolved around real estate, including mortgages and building a “spec” house in Darien on Gracie Lane, but I also had a three-year stint working for the WTA Tour (women’s professional tennis). Family, tennis, and church take up most of the rest of my time. I enjoy seeing several DHS classmates around town and am really looking forward to the reunion this fall. I’m hoping for a big turnout and would love to hear from any classmates (John@CTWaterfrontProperties.com). Please post your blogs/email addresses on this website! |
| Clay & Julie Colbath's photo album of twins, Baxter & Lydia Hi everyone, Can't wait to see you all, Julie and I live in Rowayton, CT I'm at Northwestern Mutual, and Julie is on sabatical from the YWCA as program director. |
| I am living outside of Los Angeles in Santa Clarita, where for the last 10-plus years I have been Sports Director for a radio station and a TV station. For the last four years I have been named as one of the Top 10 play-by-play men in Southern California sports, behind the likes of Vin Scully and another Hall of Famer, Bob Miller. I am married (25 years in May) and have a son, Chris, who is a sophomore in high school. Not sure I can make it out to the reunion because that is in the middle of football season, but if I can I will certainly get there. Dave Caldwell dkcaldwell@ca.rr.com |
| Rudy Klaas - Did time at Miami Univ (Ohio), working as a paramedic to pay tuition. Graduated and got married. If my wife was Catholic, the Pope would have made her a saint by now. Still married to the same gal. Moved on to Univ of Cincinnati medical school. Worked in a local hospital for 5 years. Went back to school (Univ Oregon and then Univ Texas, Arlington) to study linguistics. (Are you laughing?) We lived in a small jungle village in the Ituri Rain Forst, Zaire (now DRC) for 8 years. Hunted and ate endangered species with the locals (including many varieties of snake for which I didn't even have to leave my 'house' to catch), made an alphabet for the language (Mangbetu) and launched a literacy program. Was sick a lot. Spent many sleepless nights under the mosquitoe net listening to things much larger than mosquitoes bump and wriggle about in the dark. Prayed a lot that the kids' nets would be a faithful force field between them and whatever. Lost everything when the Ruwandan refugees and those persuing them swept through our area. The latter were very cruel but felt they were entitled to it for cruelties done to them earlier by the former. Two years in Kenya to recooperate. Moved to Dakar, Senegal, where I work as a literacy/education consultant training Senegalese to run literacy programs and do multilingual education for the first years of school in their own languages. It works so much better than starting directly in French, which they don't really speak anyway. I do a lot of fishing as I travel around the country. So, you're like really sure you're not going to ask me to send the dead fish pictures? I'd really like to be there. I don't think I'll be on that side of the pond come reunion time. I don't get home much. |
| Rudy Klaas with family, above, fishing with son, left, and right, Serer Literacy Class (Where's Waldo?) |
| Jeff Kerby in service, right, with family, below left, and as Physician Assistant, bottom two. Thanks, Jeff, for your service to our country. |
| Tesa Van Munching. 30 Years! Amazing! I’ ve been living on the North Shore of Boston for over 15 years, and in Boston before that. I had a career with Tiffany & Co., handling PR & Special Events. Since then, I have been volunteering for many non-profit organizations in and around Boston. I kept moving towards the bigger picture in my fundraising, from institutions (aquarium, museums) to community and health foundations, and have now found my niche in Kenya. I am opening a school there for orphans and extremely impoverished children there later this year. It is truly the big picture! My daughter, Mia, is 21 and a junior in college. She is also involved in Kenya, and will teach at a tribal school there for her fall semester. I’ve indulged my passion for architecture by designing and building/renovating two houses now, the one in Hamilton, MA and one in Newport, RI, which I will move into full- time when my house in Hamilton sells (anyone looking for a house?) Looking forward to catching up with everyone in the fall! TesaVM@aol.com |
| Tesa Van Munching's daughter, Mia, at a school in Kenya. (can you say spitting image?) |
| I've basically stayed around town since graduation. I worked at General Electric Credit for 7 years and have been with the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier in Darien since 1986. I've got married in 1990 and have lived in Norwalk since that time. I am involved with the letter carrier's union as a steward. I still hang around race cars from time to time including a stint working with Scott Nickel as a photographer at the Thompson Speedway. Scott also got me into cycling. I also enjoy hockey and spend as much of my free time as possible in Orlando, Florida. Look forward to seeing everyone! You can reach me by e-mail : Route12eddie@aol.com Eddie Friend |
| Dear Class of 1978, Just wanted to let you know I'm not lost. I am just up the road in Trumbull. Sadly, I won't be at our 30th reunion as we will be attending Family Weekend at Roger Williams University. Our daughter, Amy, will be a freshman at RWU this fall studying in the field of undecided. In addition, we have a son, Jake, who will be a senior at Rider University majoring in communications with the goal of being a sports radio broadcaster. We are hoping he gets a real job (with benefits) next spring. Finally, a daughter, Emma, who will be a sophomore at Trumbull High. Needless to say our lives revolve around high school sports (soccer, cross country and track) and dances, college tours and applications, driving lessons, graduations, college orientations, sweet sixteen parties, moving in and out of dorms and the general chaos of having college and high school age children. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rich and I will have been married 24 years this October. After moving around the first 10+ years of marriage we have been in Trumbull for almost 13 years. Rich is with the New Haven Register where he is a Business Development Account Executive. I will be entering my eighth year of teaching as a 7th grade science teacher in Newtown. I've attached a photo of our children (Emma, Jake and Amy). Best of luck with the reunion! Judy Cleaver Catanese |
| Clay Colbath would like help in finding Mike Clark. If anyone has any information, please email him at clayhamiltoncolbath @gmail.com. |
| Dear fellow '78 Classmates,I'm looking forward to seeing you all at the upcoming 30th Reunion! Since our 1978 graduation, I graduated from Susquehanna University where I met my husband, Bob Hain, during our senior year there. From there, we settled in NJ and have been living in Mountainside since 1994. We have three boys; Trevor (18) who will be a freshman at Susquehanna University this fall, and 15 year-old twins, Dylan & Garrett who will be freshmen at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights, NJ this fall. For many years, I have been a pre-K teacher in the Mountainside public school system and still love every minute of it. My husband, Bob, is Director of Business Development for "Goodwill Industries of Southern NJ & Philadelphia". Below are some photos of me and my family from this past year. See you in October! Kim Bailey Hain |
| Judy Cleaver Catanese's children, Emma, Jake and Amy. |
| Lynne and Peter Montesanto, left, and Lynne with Jack and Whitney, right. |
| New Blog and Picture added October 9th!!! |
| Hey ’78 Grads- Damn!!... Thirty years already. It seems like only yesterday we were all misbehaving at Weed Beach and eating pizza at Post Corner. A great deal has happened to us all in that time. Here’s the Cliff Notes on me: Graduated from Rutgers and am slowly making my way West. Moved to Chicagoland in ’85. Got married to Michelle and moved to MN in ’96. Now we are trying to sell our house in this horrible market so we can move to CO. I am a consultant in marketing and advertising (a long way from a degree in Natural Resource Management). In the meantime we adopted two boys from Russia in ’00 and have been loving life with them ever since. Here is a pic of us canoeing in WI. (left) I do not know if I (we) can make this great celebration being planned. If so, I really look forward to see and reminiscing with everyone. If not, I promise to toast the Blue Wave and the Great Class of ’ 78 that weekend. All the best, Art Wolf mnwolfes@comcast.net |
| Jeff Kerby - Hello fellow classmates! I've been a Physician Assistant in Family Practice for the past 11 years. This is my wife of 25 years, Trish, my son,Cameron, age 19, my daughter ,Kristen, age 21 and our dog Gracie. I am a Major in the South Carolina Army National Guard and just returned from a year-long tour in Afghanistan. We did a number of Civilan Medical Activities and other humanitarian missions. My team and I, stationed at Forward Operating Base Rushmore, 35 Miles from the Pakistan border, treated over 30 critically wounded patients. See you in October! |
| First of all, I have to say after checking out this website, you guys all look amazing! Unfortunately, I won’ t get to see you all in person as we are already expected in two places at the same time that weekend. I know you’ll all have a wonderful time. I haven’t done anything too earth-shattering in 30 years. Twenty-one years ago on Valentine’s day I embarked on my own version of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. For those of you who have seen the movie, it was pretty much like that. We have lived in Stamford the whole time with our three beautiful children. Jess is a sophomore at UCONN in Storrs. She wants to teach high school English so badly she can taste it. Mr. Dahlby would be so proud. Our son Matthew is going to be 18 in Nov. He goes to an amazing special ed program in Trumbull. It has helped us turn him from a non-verbal child in an almost-constant state of tantrum to a funny, independent teenager who seems to never stop talking. All our kids are miracles and I appreciate that more now than ever, but Matt is our really big miracle. He will always have autism, but how far he has come just blows our minds every day. And then we have Rachel who started 7th grade this year. She lights up a room and can sing like an angel. When she was in 3rd grade I went back to work. I’ve been at First County Bank working in Administrative Services for 1 1/2 years now. The rest is just status quo. You all know, the kids keep you busy. It’s all fun. Life is good! I hope it’s the same for all of you. In searching for a picture to send with this, I discovered that I need to make a better effort to get some family shots. Take care, Kim Karl Mihaleas |
| Leslie, Jerry and Nathaniel Perrone in the Everglades |
| Polly Smith and sons, Michael and Mathew |
| Hi y'all-- Sorry I'm not going to be able to make it to our 30th reunion. It has been fun to look at the reunion website and see how great everyone looks! My husband, Roy Mellor, have lived in Little Rock, Arkansas since 1990. It's his home town, and it definitely feels like home. We have 3 kids. Emily is a junior at Brown (where Roy & I met), Timothy is a senior at the state math and science high school in Hot Springs, and Jesse is a freshman at Central High School. I work in the technical services department of the Central Arkansas Library System where we acquire and catalog all the materials for a 14-branch system. The family photo was taken at Snowbasin, Utah in March. We managed to get everyone together for a visit with Roy's mom and siblings (bonus to have relatives half and hour from the slopes). Roy and I have taken up cycling. I recently completed my second century ride, the Big Dam Bridge 100 here in Little Rock. It's named for the "Big Dam" pedestrial bridge, atop Murray Lock and Dam. I'm also into some serious knitting. And keeping up with our family's crazy schedule. It's all good! Arkansas is a beautiful state. Come visit! Patrice O'Donoghue patriceod@gmail.com |
| I DJ at Sabatiello's in Stamford a couple of nights a month, as well as the Pit Stop in Milford, CT.I am a full time motoring advisor for New Country Motor Cars in Hartford, selling MINI Coopers. I am a DJ. I am a race track photographer. I'm riding bicycles with wounded soldiers from Bethesda to Gettysburg in May. I love camping, cycling, volleyball, canoeing, kayaking and great concerts. Still married. Cheers! Scott Nickel (photo at left) Scott will be our DJ at the Saturday night "gala". Please email song suggestions to: ScotNickel@aol.com |
| Patrice O'Donoghue with family, right, and with husband, Roy, left. |
| Greetings fellow friends from the Comesana-Vila clan -- the shot's a little dated, but we still are: George, Chloe (now 11), Emma (now 16) and Alicia (Sillars). I'm really getting a charge out of checking out fellow classmates' messages & photos, and the ever-changing list of who's going to be at the 30th. Will be missing many who can't attend but looking forward to catching up with those of you who will be there! Alicia Sillars Comesana-Vila |
| Hello out there . . . I don't know where to begin, so I'll make this short . . . after living/working/traveling all over the Western U.S. in my 20s (with stints back to Fairfield County area inbetween!) and two master's degrees under my belt, I ended up moving to Southeastern Mass. (near the Cape) with my husband, who's originally from Ridgefield! I taught for thirteen years (different grades) and was a Reading Specialist for three years before motherhood. We have one son, Nathaniel, who just started kindergarten and is loving it. I am still chasing my lifelong dream of "being a writer"-- working on several children's books and one adult fiction project. We love living on the coast, fishing, boating, kayaking, and sunning! We've "signed on" for the reunion and look forward to seeing you all. Leslie Pendexter Perrone |
| Hi! It's really fun seeing all the photos and stories posted on this site and it encouraged me to send in a photo. I couldn't find one with me and my husband, Barry, (I guess we're always taking the pictures) but these are our kids and dog. At the 20th reunion, we had a one-year old daughter, and within a year of that, we had four kids! Triplet boys (fraternal) were delivered in April of 1999, and life has been pretty crazy since then. I took eight years off from teaching to stay home with the kids and recently started a French program at their school and am now working there full-time. Barry, my husband of 22 years, is busy with his real estate business, golf, and coaching our kids in their sports. We enjoy summers at the lake, watching OU football and basketball, and spending time with family. Oklahoma City has always been our home, and we enjoy traveling whenever we get the chance. I am looking so forward to seeing everyone at the reunion!! Peggy McCay Whittington |
| Sorry I can't make it, as I live in Sonoma County California, with two little daughters, a husband, and a dog.Here's a picture of me and my daughters, Hailey (9) and Madeline (6). We're crushing grapes at Sunce Winery in Sebastopol, near our house. Best to everyone, Kelly Black Windsor |
Art Wolfe and family, right.