Dan's Class of 1975 feted at Fordham reunion

Class of 1975 group photo. Dan is 3 rows back, 3rd from left.

Dan and Julie attended Fordham University's Jubilee 2025, its annual class-reunion celebration. At a dinner in the Rose Hill campus center on May 30, Dan and the rest of the Class of 1975 were welcomed as the newest members of the Golden (50-year-plus) Rams Alumni Society. More than 40 of Dan's classmates attended, including a handful of old friends he was happy to see.

The event included a brief address by the university's president, Tania Tetlow.

Dan and Julie are seated just outside the right margin of the photo!

Dan decided to go back to campus the next day for a tour of the studios of WFUV - much modernized since his tenure there - plus a "picnic" lunch held in the athletic center due to rain, and a nostalgic walking tour of the campus.

Stephanie receives Masters from Towson University

Stephanie received her Masters degree from the College of Liberal Arts at Towson University at a commencement ceremony last week.

Her undergraduate ceremony was canceled due to the Covid pandemic, so "it was rewarding for her to be able to attend this ceremony in person," says her mom, Cathy. 

"Her MS degree is in Professional Writing with a concentration on writing for the non-profit sector. With this degree, along with her work and internship experience, she should be well prepared to obtain a grant-writing position."

Stephanie with brother, Chris, and mom, Cathy, before the ceremony.

Xander graduates high school, heads to university

Xander graduated from Courtland High School in Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va., on May 17. 

Entering to "Pomp and Circumstance"

Nearly 400 graduating seniors walked across the stage during the commencement ceremony on the high school's football field. 

Xander was among the Distinguished Honor Graduates wearing gold cords over their graduation gowns, signifying that they achieved a 4.00 or higher cumulative grade-point average.  

Xander's parents, Marie and Brian, and grandparents Dan and Julie; Anne Marie and Os; and Barbara and Steve were among the crowd of family and friends that jammed the bleachers on either side of the field.

After the ceremony, Marie and Brian hosted a lunch at their home, and later a dinner at a nearby restaurant, giving the grandparents ample opportunity for conversation - and for quizzing Xander on his plans.

Xander is joining the Class of 2029 at University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. He'll commute to the campus, about a 15-minute drive, and initially plans to major in philosophy.

MORE PHOTOS - CLICK HERE

Catching up with Mary and her family

Editor's note: At Brien's St. Patrick's Day Parade party last month, Mary shared several pieces of news - and agreed to write them up for The Birch Street Web. Here is her account.

So much has changed, so I’ll just dive right in and start with myself. I decided to sell the townhouse I was living in, that I inherited from my mother, and I bought a house on Sacandaga Lake - 15 minutes from my son’s house, so, closer to the grandkids. I’m directly across the street from the lake and have lakefront rights.

I moved in last spring (2022) and spent a lot of time kayaking and then snowshoeing this past winter. It’s a cozy 3-bedroom, 1½ bath ranch with den and full basement on half an acre, perfect for me and my dog, Luna.

I rescued this little hound last March and she has been amazing so far - loves kayaking and going snowshoeing with me. (I had to put the Big Guy / the great dane down.) Roger and I have parted ways so it was perfect timing buying the house. I have incredible neighbors and the Sacandaga Brewery is less than 3 miles away (nice bike ride LOL).

I am switching positions at my job within my organization, the Boys and Girls Club of the Capital Area, which operates Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs at public schools in the area. I am currently the UPK Director for the Cohoes City School District. I oversee 8 classrooms and have 21 employees. But I will be transitioning to the role of Director of Operations and will be overseeing all 24 of our UPK classrooms in 3 different school districts (Albany, Watervliet, and Cohoes), with a staff of 56. I also will be overseeing the directors that run after-school programming and aquatics -- so, exciting times, venturing a bit outside of the Early Childhood world.

I am also starting a consulting company: WOO Consulting (Wise Old Owl), offering life coaching, spiritual life coaching and holistic healing. During the pandemic I became certified in all three areas. I have been running a free 6-week pilot program with 6 clients to get feedback on their experiences and overall impression of the coaching and goal-setting. So far, the follow up conversations have been incredible and so helpful. I am meeting with a business consultant to file a DBA and set up web-site and social-media platforms -- so more to come on that once I am up and officially running.

Now, updates on my children:

Brienna is still living in Saratoga with her boyfriend, Tommy, and is currently attending art school. She is concentrating on graphic design and seems to be loving it. (Photo: Brienna and Tommy with Barkley, a Christmas gift from Mary.)

Brienna's son, Cash, is turning 12 in August and is in middle school -- crazy how time goes by. He lives in Lexington, Ky., with his dad and stepmother, and has a baby brother who is now 6 months old. Brienna still sees Cash often throughout the year and every day on FaceTime -- thank goodness for social media.

Brennan and Shauna Rae and their kiddos, Brooklyn (11) and Brennan (8), are doing amazing. My son and his wife have both completed their Masters degrees. Brennan is currently a physical education teacher for Fulton/Montgomery Elementary School and Shauna-Rae is teaching special-education high school math in Broadalbin, as well as pursuing her administration degree. The kids are busy playing basketball, soccer, baseball and softball.

The family is thinking about relocating to Tampa, Fla., after the school year ends; their house just went on the market to see if this might be feasible. They might not be 15 minutes around the corner from me for long! But I reassured them that I will just book more frequent-flyer miles -- and the kiddos can still enjoy snow on their winter break, as they can spend it with me in NY!

Shannon and Mary

Shannon is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. She has been married for 3 years -- and she and her husband, Frederick, are expecting their first baby, a girl, in mid-July. 

The couple met when both were stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. (Their wedding was simple, with no reception; a friend of theirs married them. Young military, haha!) They later transferred to Eglin AFB in the Florida Panhandle, and bought a house in Crestwood, Fla. Frederick, who was a staff sergeant and medic in the Air Force, just separated from the service and is pursuing his degree in medicine through the GI Bill. Shannon works as a pharmaceutical technician at Eglin.

Shannon and Frederick

Brienna and Mary at the Terrapin Brewery in Athens Georgia - a pit stop on the way to see Shannon in Florida 

An April gathering in Virginia

Dan and Julie spent the second weekend of April in Virginia, visiting Marie, Brian and Xander, plus Brian's parents. 

Steve (pictured at right) and Barbara (behind the camera) moved about two years ago to a house not far from their son's family in Spotsylvania County, Va. They extensively renovated the house, including converting the garage into a studio for Steve's music, and spruced up the roughly one-acre property, where Barbara enjoys flower-gardening and raising vegetables. In the photo above, the group had just finished a board game in the dining room. 

Before visiting Barbara and Steve, D&J and M&B&X enjoyed a lovely dinner cooked by Marie and a walk around their suburban Fredericksburg neighborhood. The following day, Marie and Brian took Dan and Julie to lunch and a stroll in downtown Fredericksburg, which is full of antique shops and other stores and restaurants. Meanwhile that afternoon, Xander and his friends were competing against other teams in an online game called Valorant (which happens to be made by Riot Games, where Jamie now works).

Xander is a high school freshman who splits his days between his local high school and the Commonwealth Governor's School, part of Virginia's program of accelerated learning for advanced students.

Stephanie on field with Towson U. Marching Band

The Towson University Marching Band performed in the annual Collegiate Marching Band Festival at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, Pa., on Sept. 29.

Stephanie is now in her second year playing clarinet in the band. Her mom, Cathy, as well as her Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan were among the crowd in the stands. (Dan and Julie had been to the stadium many times before to watch Christine and Andy in high school band competitions.)

The Towson band's 2019 show, "Driven," ends with band members running in from the field to dance in front of the crowd.

Stephanie marches in July 4 parade

Stephanie performed with the Towson University Marching Band in the Independence Day parade in Towson, Md., on Thursday. Fortunately, the marchers weren't in full band uniform in the 90+ degree heat.

It won't be long before the band starts preparing for the fall season. TU band camp starts in mid-August.

Family, friends celebrate Liz's master's degree

Liz celebrated her completion of graduate school with a party at a craft brewery in Brooklyn, Circa Brewing. She was joined by a crowd of friends, and by family members including her parents, Doug and Lisa; grandparents Hugh and Dolores; aunts Julie and Cathy; and cousins Christopher and Stephanie.

With her master's degree in transportation engineering and planning from New York University, Liz plans to return to Baltimore. She continues to work for WSP | Parsons Brinckerhof and will transfer back from its New York to its Baltimore office.

Julie returns to Friends School for reunion

Friends School of Baltimore held its annual alumni weekend in early May, and Julie joined in a reunion of her Class of 1974. Julie attended the school from first through 12th grade, so she has known some of her classmates since early childhood. Dan joined Julie at the on-campus reception and the class party that followed at one alumnus' home.

Andy sharing his web-coding knowledge

After completing a web-coding "bootcamp" through Rutgers University, Andy has now returned to the program - this time as a teaching assistant.

The six-month program trained Andy in "full stack" web development, encompassing a wide range of programming languages and tools. In addition to mastering the course materials, achieving a final grade of A+, he impressed his instructors with his ability to assist fellow students. Upon completing the course in October, he was offered a teaching-assistant job. He started in his new role in mid-January.

In between class sessions, Andy is interviewing for web-developer positions and working on independent projects to further build his portfolio (viewable here).

Towson U Marching Band in NYC Vet's Day Parade

--- Updated 11/13 with more photos ---

Stephanie took part in the New York City Veterans Day Parade on Sunday 11/11, marching and performing with the Towson University Marching Band.



Proud mom Cathy, along with Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan, were on hand to see the band parade up Fifth Avenue. In the video above, taken on Dan's phone, you'll see Stephanie 2nd from the right just behind the tubas and saxophones.

Here are a couple of photos taken by Cathy as Stephanie marched by:

And a couple more, taken by another band parent at a different point on the route:

There's also a brief glimpse of Stephanie in a clip from the WPIX-TV live telecast of the parade that's now posted on the TUMB Facebook page.

The previous day, the band performed twice in exhibition during a high school band competition at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. Cathy was in the stands for the daytime show. "It was cold and VERY windy," Cathy said. "TUMB was still great!" (Cathy flew from Ohio to New Jersey and stayed with Julie & Dan for the weekend to be able to get to both of the weekend's events.)