1984 Class Notes for 2018

Kathleen Elliott-Birdsall is teaching third graders, and recently did a week-long bike trip through the Finger Lakes. It was rainy but wonderful. Her son, Noah, is in his third year of a four-year tour with the Marine Corps and is stationed in HI, where Kathleen and her daughter Julia had the good fortune to visit him last summer. Julia is a high school senior and has her heart set on the U. of Rochester, where she hopes to study biology, and then go to medical school, following in her grandfather’s steps. Kathleen and Julia were planning a trip to Amsterdam to see the sights and she was looking forward to that.

Betty Mullins Killian and her husband Michael are excited that their son Matthew will graduate from Lawrence Academy this spring. He will be attending Stony Brook U. in the fall and is committed to play baseball for them. Her daughter Meghan is living in the North End in Boston and working for Fidelity Investments. Betty and Michael are looking forward to their “empty nest” as they celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary!

Patty Poirier and her husband Philip have been renovating a third house in their New Orleans neighborhood that will become a rental in the near future. Patty’s sister Lynn (Mary Lynn Poirier, Class of 1977) and her husband, John, came to visit them over Mardi Gras earlier this year. They had a wonderful time together. Patty welcomes any inquiries to all who may visit about the ins and outs of visiting New Orleans, as she has been there for more than 20 years.

Karen Devine O’Brien has had a very difficult year with the loss of her husband Richard on August 5, 2017, as a result of a car accident on their way to see their son in Charlottesville. Karen is grateful for their amazing life together and for the great husband and father he was. Karen is also so grateful for all the classmates that rallied around her while Richard was in the hospital and after the funeral.

She had a wonderful long weekend get-together with Karen Komosa LaCroy of FL, Clara Dufficy-LaRosa and Ellen Flinn Dufficy who flew in from Denver, Mimi Marquet who came up from VA, Kelly McDonnell Varano who came from NJ, and Penny Forbes, Liz Schroder-Ward, and Diane Coogan Baker ’82 of CT. Mary Rosato also attended all the way from Italy. It meant a lot to Karen to have so much love and support of dear friends during this difficult time. Karen’s daughter Katie (24) has been living in Los Angeles for almost three years now working for 3 Arts (a production and management firm). Her son Connor (22) will be graduating in May from Cornell and has already got a job lined up at Deloitte in New York City.

Mary Kate Preziosi is working as a paralegal and is still living in Garden City, Long Island, NY.

Mimi Fitzer Sullivan just returned from Ft. Lauderdale where she ran her “best and biggest” conference ever. She is the VP of operations and events for the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association, where she has been for 12 ½ years. She and her husband Chris have a full house along with dogs Maxwell and Chase. Their son John (26) moved back after graduation from the U. of South Carolina a few years ago and is job hunting. Megan (22) is newly home after graduating from U. of Mississippi in 3 ½ years from their Honors College. Mimi saw Madeline Klein Fleckenstein and her husband, Fleck, in early December. She sees Kathleen Brennan Kren and her husband Jim at St. Ann’s occasionally. The Kren’s son Paul will graduate from the U. of Alabama this spring.

Glorianne Garvin writes that after 20 years in Newtown, CT, they moved to Branford, CT, making for a shorter commute for her husband Xavier to putter on his boat. She saw classmate Madeline Klein Fleckenstein and husband, Fleck, who came with their son Peter in August for a day sail. Glorianne’s son Patrick (24) will soon be starting to hike the Appalachian Trail and is planning on moving out west to find a new nursing job when he finishes. Daughter Ellen (28) lives in Brooklyn with her fiancé, Mike. Glorianne works for Novocure selling Optune, a cancer therapy for glioblastoma from CT up through Buffalo. Her mom, Gloria Hicks Garvin (Class of 1960) turns 80 this year and Glorianne would love to take her to Paris with Cassie Garvin Primavera (Class of 1988) to celebrate.

I, Elissa, am celebrating seven years with Cherry Bekaert LLP (an accounting firm) and continue to love my co-workers and the company. We’ve recently expanded from an East Coast presence to out west with a location in Austin, TX. I’m still hoping for a location in the Caribbean one day. Mark and I still try to get to Hilton Head every year for vacation and visits with Mark’s parents in Bluffon. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma shortened our trip last year but, considering how much suffering occurred in the rest of the world due to hurricanes, we have no complaints.

Elissa Felix Woodall
Elissawoodall925@gmail.com