SAINTTHE MAGAZINE OF SAINT MARY’SMARY’S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA VOLUME 32 • NUMBER 3 • SUMMER 2012 PUBLISHER Michael Beseda ’79 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

EXECUTIVE EDITOR J. Elizabeth Smith

EDITOR Jo Shroyer WHO AMONG US HASN’T CRIED OUT FOR

ASSISTANT EDITOR “A LITTLE PEACE AND QUIET, IF YOU DON’T MIND?” Teresa Castle

CREATIVE DIRECTOR In the ceaseless bath of news, opinion, messaging and media, personal pressures Bob Ciano of every kind, not to mention the relentless spinning of our own weary minds,

ART DIRECTOR we struggle to find our own island of calm and serenity. Karen Kemp Many of us mothers (come on, admit it) have resorted to shutting ourselves

GRAPHIC DESIGNER in the bathroom for a few minutes with a beloved book just to get away from the Beth Brann din and demands of family life.

POETRY EDITOR I once knew a fellow whose mother — the wife of a prominent architect who Graham Foust was often away — sent her several kids outside to play, locking herself in her

CONTRIBUTORS bedroom for one hour every afternoon. My friend said he and his siblings tried Chris Carter ‘97, MA ‘02 to pry her loose by calling up the stairs to report this or that infraction or urgent Kathryn Geraghty hunger. She would serenely inquire, “Are you bleeding?” J.G. Preston Ginny Prior “No,” they’d answer. Susan Sward “Then go away.” Of course, I don’t necessarily recommend this as a best practice in parenting. But I understand it. The Saint Mary’s College of California experience Given how difficult it is to define and create our own personal peace, or even inspires learning that lasts keep peace in our families, consider the size and complexity of the problem of a lifetime. The College’s bringing peace to our communities and the brawling wider world? rigorous education engages intellect and spirit while It is a brain numbingly difficult job done by hardy humans bent on action and awakening the desire to determined to effect change. Their work defies a cultural perception that peace is transform society. We are essentially passive. Not to impugn the power of passive resistance championed by all learners here — together, working to understand some of our greatest heroes, but as a dear colleague pointed out to me: You can’t and shape the world. be a bystander in a peace movement; you have to be all in and willing to put others’ For more information, see needs ahead of your own if you’re going to make any difference at all. stmarys-ca.edu. A few years back I was in Los Alamos, New Mexico, working on a book about the national laboratory that created the world’s first atomic bombs. I noticed a Saint Mary’s magazine is published three times a year. bumper sticker on one of the battered pickups favored by a particular breed of Please send comments to rugged engineer. It read ACTUATING PEACE — intended, I thought, to trump the [email protected] more prevalent bumper stickers that urged us to ENVISION PEACE, as if the latter or call (925) 631-4278. Please submit name and were just wishful thinking. address changes to In planning this issue of the Saint Mary’s magazine, I couldn’t stop thinking Donna Foster at about the difficult job of actuating peace. Not through developing the technology [email protected] or write Saint Mary’s College, of mutually assured destruction, but through exercising the range of activity that P.O. Box 4300, Moraga, CA begins with envisioning peace and continues through hard work and self-sacrifice. 94575-4300. Peacemakers and peacekeepers are heroes; they should be celebrated for the many ways they throw themselves into the difficult job of making this planet a tolerable, maybe even wonderful, place to live. We celebrate some of them in our magazine.

JO SHROYER EDITOR 45 44 36 32 4 3 2

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SAINTTHE MAGAZINE OF SAINT MARY’SMARY’S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA Volume 32 • Number 3 • summer 2012 rights reserved. All Mantaoni. ©Tim world. the in commercially used four only are there which of device, ahuge camera, Polaroid 20X24 a with taken was him of photo This Teresa. Mother friend his of portrait his with photographed ’82 Collopy Michael photo: Cover INGANGLAND

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VOLUME 32 • NUMBER 3 • SUMMER 2012 EVENTS

JUNE 20 CONTINUES THROUGH JULY 22 tasting, delicious appetizers and fun! Tickets are $45 21 CONTINUES THROUGH JUNE 23 Alumni Reunion 2012 per person until August 3 ($60 thereafter); designated KSOE Summer Leadership Institute: What are your fondest Saint Mary’s memories? The driver rate is $15 per person. Proceeds benefit student Equity and Inclusion Great Books? The Chapel? Jan Term? Painting the scholarships. Learn more at stmarys-ca.edu/alumni- Through a Leadership Lens SMC? The Brothers? Your classmates? Come back to events. campus July 20 – 22 for the biggest and best alumni Soda Center 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. 20 10th Annual Golf & Bocce Tournament event of the year. Celebrate those days with friends Enjoy a thought-provoking multimedia presentation for Graduate Business Alumni & Students and family and see what’s new. Learn more and from the New Wilderness Project and presentations Join Graduate Business alumni and students at the RSVP at stmarys-ca.edu/reunion-weekend. on testing, cultural competency and diversity by Juan 10th Annual Golf and Bocce Tournament for a day of Carlos Arauz, Tarah Fleming, Kathy Moore and Carol fun, sun, laughter and prizes. This event is not limited Loftin. Learn more at stmarys-ca.edu/summer- to experienced players, but rather brings together leadership-institute-equity-and-inclusion- individuals of all skill levels. Afterward, enjoy an through-a-leadership-lens. exciting raffle and delicious dinner. Learn more at smcbusinessalumni.com/golf. JULY 8 CONTINUES THROUGH SEPTEMBER 16 SEPTEMBER The Nature of Collecting: 5 Mass of the Holy Spirit The Early 20th Century Fine Art Chapel 12:45 p.m. Collection of Roger Epperson The Mass is the traditional celebration of the beginning Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art of the academic year and an opportunity for the entire Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. SMC community to gather together. Roger Epperson, an East Bay Regional Parks ranger, amassed a large collection of early California art, wood block prints and lithographs, including works

Frances Gearhart; “Above the Trail”; color block print on woven Japanese paper; 1929; 12 x 10; collection of Hannah Kully, courtesy of Catherine E. Burns Fine Prints.

28 5th Quarter Family Picnic The SMC Football Alumni Chapter invites alumni, family and friends to gather for a family picnic featuring live music, great food and special guests. Tickets are William Posey Silva; “Sunset Hour, Point Lobos”; $25/person ($10/children 12 and under). Learn more at 5 oil on board; ca. 1935; 9 1/2 x 11 ∕8; collection of stmarys-ca.edu/5th-quarter-family-picnic. Roger Epperson.

William S. Rice; “The Glacier Sierra”; color AUGUST 12 MFA Sesquicentennial Celebration woodcut with hand coloring on laid Japanese paper; ca. 1920; 9 x 12; collection of Hannah Kully, 11 11th Annual Soda Center 7 p.m. courtesy of Catherine E. Burns Fine Prints. Women’s Soccer Inter-squad Celebrate the sesquicentennial with your fellow Game & Kick-Off MFA alumni, current students and faculty, and our by Maynard Dixon, William S. Rice, Mary DeNeale Save the date! Meet the 2012 Women’s Soccer Team guest speakers — SMC basketball great-turned-poet Morgan and Lorenzo Latimer, among others. Also on players and coaches, learn more about the upcoming Tom Meschery ’61 and former U.S. Poet Laureate display: Richard Gayton: One Square Mile with season and help support Gael Athletics as we kick Robert Hass ’63. To RSVP, contact Sara Mumolo, exquisite drawings and watercolors by California off the Women’s Soccer season. Event proceeds [email protected]. College of the Arts professor emeritus Richard Gayton benefit the Women’s Soccer Team Fund. Learn more 15 Sesquicentennial Mass that will transport viewers to the hills, canyons and at stmarys-ca.edu/womens-soccer-inter-squad- Chapel 5 p.m. wooded trails of Mount Diablo State Park; and Beyond game-kick-off. The Mass is the official kick-off of the year of Saint California, oil paintings from William Keith’s sojourns Mary’s sesquicentennial celebrations. Join us for a through the Northwest, Alaska, New England and 12 8th Annual Summer Wine Festival wonderful Mass and the grand reception that follows Germany. Admission: $5; SMC community, museum 2 – 5 p.m. on the Chapel lawn. members and K–12, free. Saint Mary’s College and the Alumni Association invite you to join in the Soda Center for an afternoon of wine

2 SUMMER 2012 FEEDBACK

20 CONTINUES THROUGH DECEMBER 13 Callot, Hans Burkhardt, Marc Chagall, Oskar Kokoshka career paths. For more information, contact Leadership Coaching Program and Sadao Watanabe. Admission: $5; SMC community, Courtney Lohmann at [email protected] Online, with two in-person sessions museum members and K–12, free. or (925) 631-4577. A values-based coaching program to help you identify 17 Dine with Alums For more information on all alumni events, see your highest values and priorities and then design Soda Center 5:30 p.m. stmarys-ca.edu/alumni events. Questions? specific goals and plans to move forward. Ideal for In this annual event, SMC alumni share their career Email [email protected] or alumni who want to reconnect to the action-learning experience with students who are exploring potential call (925) 631-8744. orientation and support available from SMC. Learn more at stmarys-ca.edu/leadership-center/ leadership-coaching-program.

OCTOBER 6 Gaelebration — A Bay Area celebration of Saint Mary’s 150th Anniversary 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. An event for the entire Bay Area! Alumni, family, friends and the Bay Area community are invited to Saint Mary’s campus for an unprecedented day of fun and learning about the College. A carnival will include rides and attractions, plus interactive programs. Performances from music, theater and dance groups, live bands and athletic demonstrations. Gourmet food trucks will be on hand along with carnival fare. A true GAELEBRATION! Learn more at stmarys-ca.edu/year-of-the-gael.

All Present and Accounted For Thank You, Scholarship Donors

Thank you for including the photo of me with This spring nearly 200 students wrote personal the Salesian Award from St. Mary’s High School notes to 142 donors thanking them for their in Stockton. Unfortunately the two who were private scholarships. Their letters expressed with me were not identified. And they are very eloquent, heartfelt thanks for the opportunities important people! And I know it was an their Saint Mary’s education provides. Now honest error. these students are off to study law or medicine, They are, from left to right, with me in the do forensic work or build careers in service, all middle, Peter D. Morelli, ’73, the principal of thanks to the generous donors who believed in St. Mary’s High School and an NFL referee, and them. Their generosity truly changes lives. Read Rev. John P. Fallon, OSFS, the president of the students’ letters at stmarys-ca.edu/than- St. Mary’s High School. kyoustories. Here’s an excerpt from Another thing. You are doing a good job. one of them: Hiroshi Yoshida, El Capitan; 1925; color woodcut; Congratulations! “Words cannot express how truly grateful collection of Roger Epperson. Go Gaels! I am for your generosity. I hope that I can George M. Clark ’66 give to others what you have given to me, an Stockton opportunity to grow as a person and serve all 6 CONTINUES THROUGH DECEMBER 16 those in need. After volunteering [for the next Cross Purpose two years], I plan on attending graduate school Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art and look forward to giving back to Saint Mary’s Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. to make the College the best it can be.” Figurative, abstract, expressionist, realist and Alex Ballew ’12 conceptual art of the cross by such masters as Jacques

STMARYS-CA.EDU 3 S ership in new learning technologies for more than a decade. adecade. than more for technologies learning new in ership lead providing been has but he spring, Year this award of the Professor the seats. adding without Pavilion of McKeon ability profit the ways toincrease to test project of aclass part as website, reality avirtual Life, Second it on created who students, of his several and house Unlikely Techno Prophet —An Eckhouse Barry 4 ARCADE Recognition Award four times. times. four Award Recognition ning the U.S. Scholars Presidential Teacher win teaching, and poetry to life his of rest the devoted and course changed he 10 years, After poetry. of love his for man” “Renaissance as him knew also teammates his but play, tive asser his for Russian” Mad “The nickname the earned he There, NBA. the in a career 1958 students history College in seniors graduating this year. ceremonies commencement Mary’s Saint at man Fruchter Jim founder Benetech and ’61 Meschery Thomas educator and poet legend, leaders Two fascinating Commencement Ceremonies Tech at Social Speak Pioneer Man” and “Renaissance He founded the successful Hybrid Executive MBA program, which which program, MBA Executive Hybrid successful the founded He received Eckhouse that teaching of innovative kind of this It’s because Meschery addressed the largest class of of class largest the addressed Meschery — – version of McKeon Pavilion, and people can fly. can people and Pavilion, of McKeon version 3-D scaled aperfectly with island, an is college the world, this In exists. College Mary’s Saint alternate an cyberspace, in omewhere 59 “Elite Eight” team and went on to to on went and team Eight” “Elite 59 shared life lessons with the audience audience the with lessons life shared — The alternate SMC is the brainchild of Professor Barry Eck Barry of Professor brainchild the is SMC alternate The on May 19. He played for the Gaels’ Gaels’ the for played He 19. May on SUMMER 2012 — SMC basketball basketball SMC — 684 684 - - - 10 percent.” richest the just not humanity, of all benefit to “technology develops that company nonprofit agroundbreaking Benetech, founded he when mission life’s his on hit finally and boundaries pushing kept he But failed. which of five panies, com high-tech seven create to on went He up. blew design helped he arocket when ended tist teaches real lessons,” he explained. failure But hard. worked just or smart, or lucky, were you if clear always not it’s succeed, you “When karma. and networks personal of power the as well as failure, of power the embrace to them advising by commencement programs professional and graduate the at students 456 they do. everything in creativity their embrace to students the advised he as said, he my life,” nurtured has poetry and mylife, inspired has Fruchterman’s first career as a rocket scien rocket as a career first Fruchterman’s the surprised day, Fruchterman next The teaching mylife, sustained has “Sport - - -

- -

SHOMARI CARTER ‘13 PHOTOS BY DANIEL ROSENTRAUCH The SMC undergraduate commencement was a festive affair. Students gave their caps a personal touch (left) and SMC basketball legend and poet Thomas Meschery ’61 (bottom left) delivered the commencement speech before the new grads received their diplomas and erupted in hugs and cheers. Later, they let loose even more at “plot parties” that spilled onto lawns all over campus (top right). At the graduate and professional programs ceremony the next day, social entrepreneur Jim Fruchterman (center right) addressed the crowd and many graduates celebrated the big day with their families.

combines online and in-person learning, and was recently named director steel” — a reference to his passion for steel writing instruments and also, of technology and online programs for the School of Economics and Busi- no doubt, to the determination he brings to his crusade to meld the college’s ness Administration. His charge is to extend to the undergraduate curricu- traditional hands-on learning model with digital technologies. lum the mix of digital and personal learning that has enlivened the school’s Eckhouse has also brought national recognition to Saint Mary’s by graduate programs. launching EMBA-Tech, a forum that draws educators and administrators However, Eckhouse, who came to Saint Mary’s in 1989, is not your from some of the top executive MBA programs in the nation to explore the average technophile. He is a man of many contradictions: His office is a cutting edge of educational technology. This year’s forum in San Francisco computer geek’s dream — a cool, dark, ultramodern cave with an array of focused on ways to engage students by using the hugely popular tablet com- high-end computer screens stretching along two walls — but he writes with puters, such as the iPad. Its keynote speaker was Matt MacInness, founder a fountain pen and has a growing collection of vintage writing instruments. of Inkling, a pioneering digital textbook company, and author of “The And although he’s a nationally recognized leader in online learning, he Death of the Page and the Dawn of the Digital.” delights in teaching the occasional low-tech Seminar class and is seldom For Eckhouse, digital education is all about engaging students in their seen without his decidedly unhip bow tie. own language. At the Professor of the Year award ceremony, Eckhouse was lauded “Today’s students are digital natives,” he said. “There’s never been a as “a tremendous scholar, teacher and innovative thinker for Saint Mary’s time when they weren’t connected.” College.” Provost Beth Dobkin referred to him as Saint Mary’s “man of – TERESA CASTLE

STMARYS-CA.EDU 5 ARCADE

New Seminar Approach Aims to Help Students Succeed

reshmen entering Saint Mary’s in the next academic year will encoun- ter a first-year Seminar class in the spring that has been redesigned to give them a jump start on mastering the core reading, writing, criti- cal thinking and speaking skills at the heart of the Seminar program. FThe new class is part of a revised sequence of four Seminar classes that will be unveiled over the next few years. The impetus for the change was a thorough reevaluation of the College’s educational goals that began in 2006 and resulted in a new Core Curriculum designed to deliver a more holistic approach to education based on the skills, knowledge and values we want our students to take away from their Saint Mary’s experience. The four-year sequence of classes will begin in the freshman year with “Critical Strategies and Great Questions” and then proceed to “Western Tra- dition I” and “Western Tradition II,” which will take sophomores and juniors WYLIE ALLYSON from the Greek period through the 20th century. The final course, known of students. For example, as they begin their first Seminar course, they as “The Global Conversation of the 20th and 21st Centuries,” will engage will have enhanced support for their development in interpretive reading, students in texts from around the world to prepare them for life in today’s analytic writing and critical thinking.” global community. The ultimate goal is to enhance students’ chances of succeeding at Saint The reading list for the first-year class forms a fascinating counterpoint, Mary’s and prepare them for life beyond the College. in which classical texts play off modern ones to emphasize the relevance of The Seminar program has been a key part of Saint Mary’s curriculum the ancient works to our modern concerns. Plato, Sophocles, Homer and since 1942, but it has undergone many changes over the years. The first SMC Galileo rub shoulders with Virginia Woolf, Ursula LeGuin, Bruno Bettel- “Great Books of the World” class debuted in 1941, and Seminar Studies, a heim and Rachel Carson. then-radical educational reform based on a program at St. John’s College in Provost Beth Dobkin said the revisions in Collegiate Seminar preserve Annapolis, Md., began a year later. The program was greatly reduced in 1946 its most important characteristics: as the College moved to accommodate a post-WWII surge in enrollment and • Shared inquiry and student-driven discussion was further simplified to four courses in 1983. • Close reading of primary texts Despite the recent changes, the goal has remained the same, as • A common reading list inspired by the Great Books tradition, and expressed in the vision statement: to give students “a solid grounding in the • Examination of the essential ideas and perennial questions of world of ideas” and develop them as “curious, thoughtful members of an human existence. intellectual community.” – TERESA CASTLE

At the same time, she added, the four-year approach provides “greater READING LIST FOR NEW FRESHMAN SEMINAR: connections with the overall academic, social and spiritual development stmarys-ca.edu/collegiate-seminar/critical-strategies-great-questions

LIVE SIMPLY, Get Your Copy of PRAY DEEPLY, Brother Mel Anderson’s TEACH PASSIONATELY Memoir FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE BROTHERS’ VOCATION AND LASALLIAN Read about the societal, academic VOLUNTEERS, PLEASE VISIT: and financial complexities of 1967–97 at Saint Mary’s in former SMC President WWW. Brother Mel Anderson’s memoir BROTHERSVOCATION.ORG Years of Yearning. or LASALLIANVOLUNTEERS.ORG Order a copy today: tinyurl.com/6umvs2t

6 SUMMER 2012 ANDREW NGUYEN ‘14 the strong bond uniting the participants. the uniting bond strong the him upon impressed that events numerous and Masses attended had Sanchez, Camillus Brother is godparent whose Mitchell, eucharist. first and confirmation of baptism, sacraments the of faith. journey personal their for preparation sacramental in participate they (RCIA) Adults of Initiative Christian of Rite the Through Church. Catholic of the members full tobecome prepare community Mary’s Saint the in people afew year Each the Sacraments Journey to – thing. isn’t abad questions having that I now realize God. and faith regarding my questions to answers the have all Iwould end by the that believing program RCIA the into I went up. them pick to strived and responded quickly rest the down, was member one When a family. like alot works Church Catholic The attitude. aselfless had and other each for In April, Mitchell Allan ’14 received ’14 received Allan Mitchell April, In Mitchell Allan ’14 Allan Mitchell I noticed how much everybody cared cared everybody how much I noticed stmarys-ca.edu/baptism-2012 MORE PHOTOS ONLINE

STMARYS-CA.EDU 7 ARCADE

player than a golfer, and at 6'0" he looks like Golf Team Walk-on one. He decided to seriously pursue golf a little late, so he didn’t catch the eye of Division Goes for the Win I recruiters. Despite scholarship offers at less competitive schools, he was determined to play t the 18th hole of the West Coast Con- for a Division I team. He chose Saint Mary’s ference golf championships in April, because of Hardy’s reputation as a top amateur Saint Mary’s junior walk-on Ben Geyer and his talent for developing players, along with finally had a shot at his first win in a the campus environment. Acollege tournament. With the ball on the back In his first year, though, Geyer only played in right fringe, 20 feet from the hole, Geyer had to three tournaments and had a 76.9 stroke average. sink the putt to earn the victory. “I probably came in a little too confident Still, his initial reaction was to defer his own in myself,” he said. “Once I was here … I realized success for the sake of his team’s — a reaction that became only the fourth Saint Mary’s player ever that it wasn’t going to be that easy, and that defi- says a lot about Geyer’s character. to win medalist honors and the first since 2005. nitely kept me humble.” He consulted his coach, Scott Hardy. “I Hardy, who was a walk-on himself in 1994, It was training with a team that helped asked him what he wanted me to do: Did he want has had his eye on the team title since his days as Geyer develop his game. “I think it has a lot to me to go at it? Or, team-wise, did he want me a college player. do with being surrounded by talent,” he said. “I to hit a little left of the flag and make it an easy “It was super clutch,” said Hardy, who was spent my freshman year learning from the people par?” Geyer recalls. Hardy told him to go for the named WCC Coach of the Year. “You know, golf who were older than me. When you see how they win, and Geyer delivered. is an individual sport. This is the only time that practice and when you repeat that, it is going to “When it fell, I was pretty stoked about it,” you are really on a team. But he really is.” All the make you much better.” he said somewhat matter-of-factly. team members have the same goal, he said: “To With his first collegiate win under his belt, His top finish, along with strong perfor- make it to nationals.” Geyer is looking forward to a strong senior sea- mances from the rest of the team, helped secure the While Geyer has had an incredible sea- son and has even set his sights on a professional SMC golf program’s first WCC title and an invita- son — finishing in the top 20 in 11 tournaments golf career after graduation. tion to the NCAA Division 1 regional tournament. and recording a 72.5 average — he has come a “I know it’s not easy,” he said, “but I am And Geyer, who wasn’t even a scholarship player long way since his freshman year. definitely going to give it a shot.”

but earned his place on the team as a walk-on, In high school, he was more of a basketball – CAITLIN GRAVESON ’11 WCC PHOTO / KYLE TERADA

SMC Baseball Great Former major seating capacity of Opens Saint Mary’s leaguer, Tom 1,500, compared Candiotti, New “Field of Dreams” ready to with 500 in the old On a warm, sunny winter day, throw out the facility. It will also Major League Baseball great Tom first pitch. boast a state-of- Donors Ken Candiotti ’78 threw out the first and Patricia the-art press box, pitch as the Saint Mary’s baseball Vincent (left), concession stands team opened the 2012 season in join other and an SMC Base- alumni and the new Louis Guisto Baseball Field. friends to ball Wall of Fame “This is a top-notch field,” said cheer him on. in the stadium con- Candiotti, who was known — and course. The ball- feared — for his knuckleball when park is part of a planned $30 million he played in the majors. “It will Athletics and Recreation Corridor. A really help the baseball program. Athletics. He retired in 1999 with The K.H. Hoffman Foundation, led new 52,000-square-foot recreation Having a great field makes you work a 152-164 record and 3.73 career by Kenneth Hoffman ’45 and his and aquatics center is expected to be a little harder.” ERA and is now a TV-Radio ana- daughter, Lisa Hoffman Morgan completed by the end of 2013. Candiotti, or “The Candy lyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks. ’81, was the lead donor for the ball- “All of the SMC alumni from Man” as he was called, is the big- Coach Jedd Soto looked on park. Among the other donors pres- the last 30 years have been wait- gest star to come out of the Saint with pride as his team took the field ent at the Opening Day ceremony ing for this field,” Soto said. “We’re Mary’s baseball program. Through- against Southern Utah University. were Don (’51) and Marlene DeLong, playing not just for us, but for them.” out the 1980s and ’90s, he played He called the new ballpark his “field Ken (’52) and Patricia Vincent, with the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleve- of dreams.” and Neil and Kathy Norton. LEARN MORE AND land Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Many donors made the dream of When construction is com- CONTRIBUTE Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland a new baseball field become a reality. pleted, the new stadium will have a stmarys-ca.edu/arc

8 SUMMER 2012 became the first male athlete at Saint Mary’s to earn first-team Capital One® That Championship Season Academic All-America honors. During the recent spring season, Scott Hardy ’98 guided the Gaels’ golf hat an unbelievable year for Saint Mary’s athletics! team to the program’s first-ever WCC title, and junior Ben Geyer became just With three conference championships to their credit the fourth Saint Mary’s player to take home medalist honors in the tourna- this season, the Gaels achieved success at a rate never before ment’s 41-year history. A native of Arbuckle, Calif., Geyer made a long birdie seen on the beautiful Moraga campus. In the first 55 seasons putt from just off the 18th green on the final hole of the tournament to clinch Wof the West Coast Conference, Saint Mary’s won a total of eight league the title in one of the more dramatic moments in the school’s athletic history. titles. In the last three years, Gaels sports teams have won five WCC cham- The Gael rugby team also had a sterling year. After beating No.1 pionships, including three this year. ranked Cal 20 –18 in Moraga in April, the team went on to finish the regular “It has been a great year for Saint Mary’s athletics,” said Director of season undefeated in the Pacific Coast Conference and ranked No. 2 in the Athletics Mark Orr. “It is extremely satisfying to see the hard work, dedica- country. In May, they defeated Utah 25 –15 in the D1-A quarterfinals before tion and commitment of our student-athletes, coaches and staff rewarded falling to Arkansas State in the semifinals, which were held at Saint Mary’s. with success. The trophy cases in McKeon Pavilion are filling up quickly!” SMC’s women’s sports teams also had a strong year. Although none Last fall, the SMC men’s soccer team went on an historic run to the won their conference championships, the softball team earned a spot in the program’s first-ever West Coast Conference title and the NCAA Elite Eight, Pacific Coast Softball Conference championships, the women’s basketball winning more NCAA Tournament games than any team in school history. team appeared in the WNIT, and the women’s tennis team earned a spot Four months later, the men’s basketball team earned both the WCC in the NCAA, becoming only the second team in Saint Mary’s history to regular-season and tournament championships for the first time in program advance to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. history and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time since COURTESY OF SMC ATHLETICS AND RECREATIONAL SPORTS 2005. Junior Matthew Dellavedova was named WCC Player of the Year and

Top row: The men’s basketball team, led by Player of the Year Matthew Dellavedova, celebrated after winning the West Coast Conference championship. Bottom row (left to right): women’s tennis competed in its third straight NCAA tournament; coach Scott Hardy ’98 led the golf team to its first WCC title; the men’s soccer team captured the WCC title and made it to the NCAA Elite Eight; and rugby competed in the D-1A semifinals. SMC ATHLETICS / TOD FIERNER

STMARYS-CA.EDU 9 ARCADE

Guarneri is a popular figure around the College. “It doesn’t feel natural Professor Carl A Love Affair He won the Professor of the Year Award in 1995 to talk about your own Guarneri’s fascination and was given the Research Scholar Award at the biography as if you with the Civil War has led to a reenactment With the Past: 2011 Scholars’ Reception. were a history subject on campus and He is also widely recognized in his field. He yourself.” inspired his current Carl Guarneri received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his 1994 He is currently work on Lincoln’s assistant secretary book on Fourierism, an American utopian move- working on a biogra- of war Charles Dana. ome people believe that your destiny is ment, and his 2007 textbook, America in the phy of President Lin- determined before you are born. Oth- World: United States History in Global Context, coln’s assistant secretary of war, Charles Dana, ers believe that you make your own fate. is used in classrooms across the country. which he hopes to release by the sesquicentennial For Carl Guarneri, his fate was sealed “Carl is a brilliant and prolific historian,” of the end of the Civil War in 2015. Swhen he was a newborn in the cradle of his New said History Professor Gretchen Lemke-Santan- Dana is best known for his postwar career York walkup. gelo. “He gives his all and brings out the best in as the editor of the popular New York Sun. Little The Italian patriarch of the apartment build- others. He is one of the scholars who puts Saint has been written about his behind-the-scenes role ing declared, pointing down at Guarneri in his Mary’s on the national academic map.” during the Civil War. But he witnessed many cradle, “This one is the professor and that one,” he Guarneri spearheaded an elaborate Civil important events and had close relationships said, pointing at his twin brother, “is the clown.” War reenactment on campus last year, complete with the key players of the war. He was even right “As a historian, I’m not supposed to believe in with a cannon and musket-wielding soldiers, and there after Lincoln’s assassination, at the Petersen determinism,” said Guarneri, a history professor helped to organize a Lee and Grant exhibit at the House where the dying president was carried at Saint Mary’s since 1979. “But there it is right in Hearst Art Gallery. Because of his expertise, he from Ford’s Theater, and sent out urgent warn- the cradle that he had us pegged, and we kind of has become the go-to guy for the local media, such ings by telegram to General Ulysses S. Grant. grew into the roles.” as the Contra Costa Times and NBC “Dana was present for so many different It was a far-fetched prophecy at FACULTY Bay Area, about all things Civil War. events that it gives me a chance to tell the story of the time. No one in Guarneri’s fam- PROFILE As an undergraduate during the the war through his eyes,” he said. “And it gives me ily had even graduated from high tumultuous era of the Vietnam War, the chance to take a fresh look at endlessly fascinat- school, much less taught at a college. Growing up Guarneri saw the chaos and antiwar protests tak- ing figures like Lincoln, Secretary of War (Edwin) in a working class Italian family, he never even ing place around him and it awakened his unique Stanton and General Grant. It’s fascinating to see went on vacations. Instead, he immersed himself view of history. He realized that he was living them through the eyes of someone who had daily in historical novels, encyclopedias and geography. through a momentous era and that history was interactions with them but whose impressions He was able to feed his hunger for travel through not restricted to the distant past. haven’t been fully recorded in history.” the books he read. “It got me more interested in finding out Just like history, he explains that we live our “The past was a kind of foreign country about my own time and using historical methods lives forward but can only really see the turning where I could explore without leaving home,” he about the near past,” he said. points by looking backward. said. “It was a kind of time travel for a kid.” He has tried to pass that passion for “There are so many junctures that are only In fact, the bespectacled, silver-haired Guar- history — the “lump in your throat, chill down in retrospect very visible as turning points,” he neri looks a little like a grown-up version of his your spine, swooning feeling,” as he calls it — to said. “We can see later that they were crucial epi- favorite cartoon character as a child — Sherman, his students. sodes or lucky escapes.” the curious student who followed the dog-pro- “Touching the past by being in the place One of those lucky escapes for Guarneri was fessor, Mr. Peabody, on his travels through fas- where something important happened or han- his battle with recurrent cancer when he was in cinating moments in history in the Rocky and dling a document that was signed by someone his mid-30s. Bullwinkle series. like Lincoln gives you a feeling of connection to “I was not supposed to live,” he said, “so I Interestingly, it would be his scholarship in people in the past,” he said. “It can show you the feel very lucky to be here and keep my explora- history that would later become his ticket to travel similarity of basic human experiences and ties tions going.” to those distant lands he had only read about as a between the generations.” Some people have a life-changing epiphany child. His unique focus on United States history His characteristic enthusiasm and infec- once they go through a near-death experience, in a global perspective has led to invitations to tious laugh win over students, with whom he has but Guarneri just knew he had to continue to do lecture in such faraway locales as France, Italy, worked closely to decipher important documents what he loved — to teach. And continue to fulfill the Netherlands, Brazil and Turkey. from the past. Students in his History Thesis class the prophecy that the wise Italian oracle made as With his buttoned-up collar and constant have even transcribed diaries from Civil War sol- he looked down on Guarneri in his cradle more appendage of a briefcase filled with graded essays, diers that were donated to the College. than 60 years ago. Guarneri is rather shy and modest when – KATHRYN GERAGHTY it comes to speaking about his own life and accomplishments, preferring to keep the spotlight on icons of the past. “The funny thing about history is that you are losing yourself in your subject in a way,” he said.

10 SUMMER 2012 LORI BARRA STMARYS-CA.EDU 11 Peace can be made in many ways. Some people make peace with their voices, by speaking out. Some make it with their hands, by building bridges or helping victims of natural disasters. Michael Collopy ’82 has made his contribution to peace with his camera, and his heart. A nationally known portrait photographer, he has captured the thro ugh A Vision the of PEACE Camera Lens images of an unlikely mix of celebrities, politi- cians and human rights activists over the years. The Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bono, Bill Clinton and hundreds of the most notable people of our time have all sat before Collopy’s camera. But he is probably best known as the creator of Works of Love Are Works of Peace, a pho- tographic journal that grew out of his 15-year friendship with Mother Teresa, and Architects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and Images, a collection of 75 of his portraits of “peacemak- Frank Sinatra (left) ers,” including 16 Nobel Peace Prize winners and helped to launch BY TERESA CASTLE dozens of others who have contributed in some Collopy’s career, and the two remained PHOTOGRAPHS BY way to a more peaceful and just world. friends throughout MICHAEL COLLOPY Collopy didn’t set out to photograph the singer’s life. From the time Collopy met Mother Teresa (right) in 1982, she was an inspiration to the photographer, who was impressed with her willingness to accept all people for who they are.

12 SUMMER 2012 STMARYS-CA.EDU 13 peacemakers. Instead, he was initially drawn to pop stars. In fact, he was so “star-struck,” in his own words, that while he was still a student he took a job as an usher at the Circle Star Theatre in San Carlos just to be around the hottest pop and Motown singers of the day. And it was there that he met one of the two people who would most strongly shape his career — Frank Sinatra. Collopy, who was just a kid, really, was competing with a more experi- enced photographer to take pictures of Sinatra before he went onstage. The singer’s advisers told him to go with the pro, but Sinatra said, in his nonchalant style, “Give the kid a chance.” Over the next 10 years, Collopy photo- graphed Sinatra dozens of times, and the two became friends. “He either loved you or he hated you. There was no gray area with Mr. S.,” Col- Maya lopy said. He added, jokingly: “We had a great Angelou became relationship, but I always felt like I was one bad a close picture away from ending up in the bay with friend of cement shoes.” Collopy’s family Through Sinatra and the Circle Star Theatre, and has Collopy met and photographed many of the big mentored stars of the day and built an impressive portfolio: one of his sons John Lee Hooker, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, who is an B.B. King, Fats Domino. More importantly, he aspiring said, “as a shy 20-year-old, I learned to adapt writer. to all sorts of personalities — including some Hollywood big egos.” celebrities By the time he was a senior at Saint Mary’s, often commis- he had already mounted his first photo exhibi- sion tion — at the College’s library — with portraits portraits of Ansel Adams, Michael Douglas, O.J. Simpson from Collopy. and Sophia Loren, among others. Being around He and such big stars at a young age prepared him well George for a career photographing some of the most Clooney have a recognizable people of our age, including five friendly U.S. presidents. rivalry “I’ve never been intimidated by any- on the basketball body — not even Sinatra or the president — and I court and hope that comes through in the photos,” he said. make time It does. In fact, the most remarkable thing about for hoops whenever Collopy’s portraits is the way they seem to allow they meet. the viewer to see right into the person’s soul. “I want to give the viewer the sense of being there with them, looking into their eyes,” he said. Collopy’s fascination with people and his desire to capture their essence on film began early, even before he graduated from Saint Mary’s Col- lege in 1982, when he fell in love with the stark black-and-white photography of Ansel Adams and Richard Avedon. What he did next says a lot about how Collopy has become such a success. “I called 411 to see if Ansel Adams was listed in the phone directory,” he recalled. Sure

14 SUMMER 2012 Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and farm- workers’ rights advocate Cesar Chavez are among the world leaders and activ- ists who have posed for the photog­ rapher.

Children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman (right) inspired Collopy to photograph Nobel peace laureates around the world, such as South African anti- apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela, who told Collopy he learned in prison to forgive his enemies.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 15 enough, he was, and the photographic legend the world who would The Dalai Lama (above and right) writes in invited the young student to his home. Not long mention Sinatra and Collopy’s “Architects afterward, Collopy flew to New York to meet with Mother Teresa in the of Peace” book that Avedon, who told him: “Look through the camera, same breath, but Col- “love and compassion and a sense of univer- not from behind the camera. It forces you to have a lopy had his reasons. sal responsibility are conversation with the person you’re photographing.” “I miss Frank the sources of peace Collopy emerged from the meeting inspired Sinatra because he had and happiness.” to build a career as a portrait photographer. “I so many great stories,” he said, “and Mother Teresa would never have been happy being a ‘fly on the had a great sense of humor” and would be helpful wall’ photographer,” said Collopy. “I wanted to around camp because “she was extremely handy.” be one-on-one and get to know my subjects.” It was a chance meeting with Mother Teresa These days, the gregarious Collopy is com- in 1982 that turned out to be the other pivotal pletely at home in the world of celebrity. He hangs event in Collopy’s life. out with Paul McCartney whenever the former He had gone to Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Beatle is in town. And he has a running basketball San Francisco to hear her speak and was making match going with George Clooney. They’ve even his way through the basement up to his seat at the put up their homes as collateral. “If I win, I get his front of the church when he turned a corner and home in Lake Como,” Collopy said with a laugh. saw Mother Teresa directly in front of him. She He doesn’t take himself too seriously, and approached him and handed him a business card he values people for who they are, not for their with her name on it that said: “The fruit of love outward fame. is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of In fact, when he was asked at a recent faith is love and the fruit of love is service.” speaking engagement who he’d most like to So began their long, close friendship. Over go on a camping trip with, he chose Frank the next 15 years, he “traveled around the world Sinatra and, after a moment’s thought, Mother with her a couple of times,” photographing her Teresa. No doubt, there are very few people in as she carried out her work. Although she didn’t

16 SUMMER 2012 STMARYS-CA.EDU 17 care a bit about fame, she recognized that a cer- Teresa, he said. One day, as they were driving his father, George Collopy, a well-known graphic tain amount would promote her efforts to help around, he mentioned that she never seemed to artist who was a 1946 graduate of Saint Mary’s. the poor. “She joked that she had a deal with judge anyone. She replied: “I never judge anybody He was inspired to act on that impulse after God: For every picture taken, a soul was released because it doesn’t allow the time to love them.” hearing a speech by Marian Wright Edelman, from purgatory.” While he continued to photograph the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. Speaking In 1996, Collopy published a selection famous — and does to this day — over time Col- at a State of the World Forum in San Francisco in of the photos in Works of Love Are Works of lopy began to turn his lens on a different kind of 1996, she asked, “How can we leave our children Peace — Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Mis- subject: superstars of peace, you might say. a better world?” sionaries of Charity. He had always had an interest in social justice, Collopy, who has two sons with his wife, Over the years, he learned a lot from Mother which was cultivated, he said, by his mother and Alma, took the message to heart. He asked himself:

Maya Lin (left) is a true “architect of peace”; she designed the iconic Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. Carlos Santana (right) and Collopy were friends from childhood, and he has photographed the musician throughout his life. In his book, he includes this quote from Santana: “The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.”

18 SUMMER 2012 STMARYS-CA.EDU 19 20 SUMMER 2012 Collopy began How can I make a difference with my work? And photographing he conceived of an ambitious project to photograph musicians like B.B. King (left) even Nobel Peace Prize laureates and others around the before he graduated world who were paving the way for peace. from Saint Mary’s. He was tireless in his pursuit of peacemak- His portrait of the blues guitarist’s ers. One year, he said, he logged 200,000 miles hands (far left) is as he traveled the globe photographing his sub- one of Collopy’s jects. Remarkably, he never had any trouble get- studies of hands that speak volumes. ting access. Rock musician “These celebrated people are just like us,” he Bono (below), who said. “They don’t see themselves as heroes.” has been nominated three times for the The project culminated in the book, Archi- Nobel Peace Prize, tects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and is quoted in the Images, which was published in 2000. Photos book saying, “Distance does from the project are now permanently exhibited not decide who at the National Civil Rights Museum, the Hoover is your brother Institution at Stanford and Santa Clara Univer- and who is not.” sity, among other places. Along the way, he met some remarkable people, including such well-known Nobel peace laureates as Nelson Mandela, Shimon Peres, Des- mond Tutu and Jimmy Carter and less well-known ones like Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingshen. The book also includes some less obvious choices, such as Colin Powell and Carlos Santana. The only person he was a little daunted by was the Dalai Lama. But the Buddhist monk quickly put Collopy at ease by pretending to primp for the camera, playfully stroking his bald head and asking, with that famous twinkle in his eye, “How does my hair look?” For the book, Collopy asked each of his sub- jects to contribute a statement about peace. The result is a book of great beauty and wisdom. Collopy, who co-founded the Architects of Peace Foundation in 2008 to promote peace studies, is now working on a second volume in the series. Among others, it will include 33 Nobel Peace Prize winners, but not everyone in it will be famous. “I’m interested in people who are making a mark and leaving a legacy,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a celebrity. Each of us can do some- thing. Each of us is of incredible worth.” After all the miles and all the photo sessions, Collopy learned a lot from staring through the lens into the eyes and souls of these visionaries. The common bond in all their writings and their conversations is “the virtue of forgiveness,” Collopy said. But for him, the greatest lesson he has learned is that: “it’s important to recognize the face of God in each of us.”

FOR MORE PORTRAITS, SEE michaelcollopyphotography.com

STMARYS-CA.EDU 21 22 SUMMER 2012 THE THE KEEP TO WAYS NEW PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOBY BURDITT

BY TERESA CASTLE BY TERESA that emphasizes influence and collaboration. collaboration. and influence emphasizes that leadership of astyle have learned They graduates. 540 its among officers probation or 100 police nearly trained has program Leadership in Arts of College. Mary’s Saint at a program to part large in thanks Department, Police Pleasanton the to leadership of brand new awhole But he’s hip. bringing his on holstered is ahandgun and uniform, navy-blue crisp, his of sleeve left the on bars four and collar each on stars four are There chief: police stereotypical the of trappings the all wears Dave Spiller Chief And he’s not alone. In 10 years the Master Master the 10 In years he’s alone. not And Peace It’s a far cry from the traditional law enforce- in-person weekend meetings. “The cohort model Chief Dave Spiller ’04, ment model — a top-down, very regimented com- creates a learning community that models how Pleasanton Police Department mand-and-control approach. “That’s great in people should relate in their everyday work,” said a crisis, but as standard operating procedure it Otter. “They learn from each other.” Just in case anyone wonders what Chief doesn’t serve the well-being of the organization or Among the lessons they learn: nonviolent Dave Spiller stands for, a large plaque in his office the community,” said Ken Otter, director of Lead- communication; techniques for building prob- spells out “Chief Spiller’s Vision for the Pleasan- ership Programs at Saint Mary’s. “Nobody wants lem-solving teams; how to work your sphere ton Police Department.” to be dictated to on a daily basis.” of influence; and ways to bridge differences. Many of the tenets are inspired by the les- Students in the 19-month Saint Mary’s pro- But the central lesson is to replace the concept sonsJ he learned in the Saint Mary’s program. gram move in cohorts through 11 courses, from of “authority” with the idea of “leadership.” They include working together with “a greater values development and cross-cultural stud- Along the way, most graduates come to level of connectedness,” “remaining prideful but ies to organizational change and the future of embrace this new leadership style, and some gain not arrogant,” and “recognizing that our author- leadership, employing both online learning and something more — a new outlook on life. ity comes from the public we serve.”

STMARYS-CA.EDU 23 It helps to have people around who know “I can be the guy with four stars on boss, you can do good work,” he said as he joked this new language of leadership. One of his cap- my collar but it’s really the credibility and trust with her in the office. tains was so impressed by Spiller’s performance I’ve developed over the years that matters,” These days, she passes along what that he signed up for the Saint Mary’s leadership he said. “What I’m trying to instill in this she learned at Saint Mary’s by teaching at program and is now a graduate. Two other offi- department is that we all have the capacity the San Jose Leadership Academy, a program cers are currently enrolled in the program. to be leaders.” for high school juniors. She also credits the That pattern has played out in police depart- program for giving her more than new leader- ments throughout the Bay Area. The program ship skills. has now trained more than five officers in both Sergeant Janna Munk ’09, “My character has changed,” she said. the San Francisco and San Jose police depart- San Jose Police Department “When I enrolled in the leadership program, I ments and seven in Pittsburg. “It’s having a ripple wanted to get promoted. Now, I want to be ful- effect,” Otter said, particularly since many grad- After graduating from college filled in my work. I feel really successful.” uates, both in the Bay Area and beyond, step into with a degree in economics, Janna Munk drifted high-ranking leadership positions. through a number of jobs but never felt really ful- For Spiller, policing is a true calling. filled, so she sat down and took stock of what she LaDonna Harris ’05, Acting Alameda He started thinking about becoming a police truly loved in life: being outside, working inde- County Chief Probation Officer officer after a childhood friend, Mark Stall, was pendently, and doing something for a cause, not kidnapped from home at gunpoint. He managed Ajust for money. Plus two more things — “adrena- When LaDonna to escape, but the experience pushed both young line and drama.” Harris retired in 2010 after more than 30 years men toward law enforcement. The two remained Not surprisingly, she decided to go into of service with the Alameda County Sheriff’s close friends through the years. Then, around law enforcement. This July, she’ll celebrate two Department, she thought she’d have time to the time that Stiller joined the Pleasanton force decades with the San Jose Police Department. relax. But in March, the county reached out to in 2002, Stall decided he wanted to live “some- Over the years, she has served in the violent her to take over as interim chief probation offi- where safer” and moved to Boise, Idaho. A few crime and gang units, field training, community cerW when the head of the department stepped years later, he was shot and killed in a routine policing, and as a pilot in the helicopter unit. aside amid allegations of sexual harassment. traffic stop. She’s even been called on to pose as a “prostitute It’s a huge responsibility. The office super- “I carry that with me,” Stiller said with emo- for a day” to help with stings. vises 18,000 probationers, and she oversees tion. “He never had the opportunity to be a chief. “I tried really hard to be the stereotypi- 700 employees and a $90 million budget. But I’ve been blessed in my career. I celebrate my suc- cal police person,” she said. But over time she she comes to the job with serious credentials. cesses in his memory.” realized that although she loved her work, she She was the first female commander of the Sher- Since he took over as chief of police in didn’t quite fit the tough-as-nails mold. “In the iff’s Department and the first African American Pleasanton, Spiller has instituted regular meet- Saint Mary’s program,” she said, “I learned to female to be named a division commander. ings called “The Leadership Track” to share his embrace my uniqueness and be more comfortable Although she had served in many positions philosophy with officers from the ranks. And he with it.” of responsibility before coming to SMC, she said makes a point of being open to new ideas. She was promoted to sergeant halfway “I wouldn’t have had the view of leadership I have “Before, ideas would move up the ranks and through the leadership program, and not long if it weren’t for Saint Mary’s.” The most impor- get killed at the lieutenant level because people ago she took over the Court Liaison Department. tant lesson for her was that “leadership is a rela- would say, ‘The top brass will never accept that.’ It wasn’t an easy management task. Among her tionship of influence,” not authority. It stifled the potential for innovation. Now, every- staff are both civilians and police officers, includ- “I can say, ‘This is how it’s going to be’ and it thing makes it here,” he said. ing a fair number in “special circumstances,” will be — as long as I’m looking!” she joked. “So Although Spiller is a convert to the more col- such as cops recovering from injuries, dealing often we don’t get the best result because people laborative style, he is quick to point out that, as a with disciplinary problems, or counting the days are afraid. We have to make room for failure. It peace officer, you need to know when to practice to retirement. To top it all off, morale was poor has to be a safe place.” this brand of leadership. because of severe budget cutbacks that reduced Harris’ mantra is “holding people account- “When you’re dealing with budgets and staffing levels. able and supporting them,” and she extends personnel issues, that’s a great opportunity “Without Saint Mary’s, I would have that philosophy to the parolees her depart- to practice the 21st-century leadership model drowned,” she said with a laugh. But a year and ment supervises. She has supported a number of of collaboration,” he said. “When you’re set- a half later, the office has become “a really posi- innovative programs aimed at cutting Alameda ting up a command post on the hood of a car tive unit,” and officers who struggled elsewhere County’s recidivism rate, which stands at about and coming up with an attack plan for a have thrived. 52 percent, slightly lower than the state average hostage situation, you fall back on hierarchical “I’m warm and embracing, but I hold them of 58 percent. structures.” accountable. People feel entrusted and they pro- Among them is MOMS (Maximizing The key — and the big challenge for law duce in a whole new way,” she said. Even one Opportunities for Mothers to Succeed), which enforcement officers — is to know when to shut policeman on the verge of retirement who came she co-founded. Along with several others from off the “emergency” mode and return to a more to the department with the nickname “Officer the SMC leadership program, she teaches com- humane management style. Grumpy” has warmed to her. “If you have a good munications and leadership skills to mothers and

24 SUMMER 2012 STMARYS-CA.EDU 25 pregnant inmates who are serving time in Santa out. But her cohort said, “You can’t quit. We’ll missed a total of 45 days.” Now, free of cancer Rita Jail or have recently been released. help you.” At the graduation ceremony, they all and in her new position at the probation office, Harris said she learned more than leadership wore pink ribbons to support her fight against she no longer feels she has to be a tough cop all skills at Saint Mary’s; she also learned an impor- breast cancer. “I never felt so loved in my whole the time. tant personal lesson. life,” she said. “I’m more willing to acknowledge the She was diagnosed with breast cancer about The experience changed her. “I used to value of the heart in the workplace,” she said. six months into the M.A. program. The chemo- think I had to be able to endure all things,” she “We have to put the heart and soul back into therapy took its toll and she considered dropping said. “In seven months of cancer treatment, I the workplace.”

26 SUMMER 2012 back to the moment of trauma. Even without from the mob — the wrong kind of leader- A Helping such triggers, sustained or suppressed psychologi- ship,” he said. “I wanted to understand it from cal distress can lead to erratic behavior, violence an academic perspective.” Hand for and even suicide. The program helped him to become more “It’s common among those who wear uni- tolerant and also more reflective, he said, add- Peacekeepers forms. They think they can leap tall buildings ing, “I wish I had done it at 26 instead of 56.” and handle anything, but it takes a toll,” Del- It also helped him to make the transi- Under Pressure aney said. “Trauma is like an earthquake. It’s tion to the next stage of his life. While still felt strongly at the epicenter; then the aftershocks in the master’s program, he was recruited as an Bob Delaney, a 2010 graduate of rock you for days or weeks or months.” NBA Cares ambassador to provide post-trau- the M.A. in Leadership program, is one former To relieve the stress, Delaney turned to one matic stress education, prevention and aware- police officer who knows a bit about stress. of his passions — basketball. He had played on ness training to the military, law enforcement As a young state trooper in New Jersey, the State Police basketball team, and in the early and firefighters. In 2009, he traveled to Iraq to he infiltrated the mob in 1975 as part of an 1980s, he began refereeing at Jersey Shore League work with soldiers in the 25th Infantry Divi- organized crime investigation called Proj- games just to unwind. At one game, Darell Gar- sion, and after four Oakland policemen were Bect Alpha. For a year and a half, he lived a retson, then the National Basketball Association’s killed in a shootout with a suspect, he was called double life as trucking company execu- General in to offer his counsel. tive Bobby Covert, often wearing a wire Raymond He has a special to record conversations with gangsters. Odierno feeling for police officers presents the It was nerve-racking work. “I would U.S. Army because his father was a leave a meeting and pull over to the side Outstanding cop. Quoting Matthew of the road to throw up,” he recalled. Civilian Service 5:9, he said: “Blessed are Award to Despite his alias, the mobsters Delaney on the peacemakers, for they welcomed him into their fold, and the May 23 at shall be called the children evidence he gathered helped convict Fort Myer, Va. of God. Every time I hear more than 30 members of the notorious that, I think of my dad. Genovese and Bruno crime families. He was a peacemaker.” Afterward, instead of breathing a He shares his experience with the offi- sigh of relief that he had escaped detec- cers, and it helps them to open up and express tion — and certain death — he found emotions they have kept bottled up inside. himself spiraling out of control, caught in a head of officiating, happened to see the young ref. “People breathe a sigh of relief when they real- maelstrom of emotions and behaviors that And that’s how Delaney ended up spending 24 ize: I’m not crazy. I’m not the only one here he couldn’t understand, including isolation, years as one of the top referees in the NBA, from that’s experiencing this,” he said. “Having avoidance, anger and paranoia. 1987 to 2011. the courage to speak up is not only freeing for “My personality was chipped away,” he If there’s anything almost as stressful as infil- yourself, it’s freeing for others.” said. “Bob Delaney was in the rear-view mir- trating the mob, it might be refereeing an NBA Since retiring last year, he has thrown ror. Bobby Covert was who I believed I was.” game, where a disputed call can bring you face-to- himself into this work and he has released a Years later, he would co-author a book with face with a seven-footer like Shaquille O’Neal or a new book, “Surviving the Shadows: A Jour- journalist Dave Scheiber about the experi- coach with anger management issues. But Delaney ney of Hope into Post-Traumatic Stress.” ence called “Covert: My Years Infiltrating the didn’t see it that way. For him, it was relaxing. Logging thousands of miles, he has trav- Mob.” But at the time, he was in turmoil, and It was during his years in the pressure-cooker eled to Afghanistan with the U.S. Embassy unsure how to handle it. world of the NBA, that he started dreaming of Sports Diplomacy Program and has visited One day, after he’d given a speech about attending the Saint Mary’s leadership program. nine different military institutions. He’s been his undercover work to a local group, a psy- He carried an ad for the program around in to Iraq several times and to Landstuhl, Ger- chology professor approached him and said: his briefcase for years, and finally, at the age of many, working with America’s “wounded “You’re going through post-traumatic stress.” 56, he enrolled. Because much of the instruction warriors,” including soldiers recovering after That’s how Delaney began to learn even is online, he was able to continue officiating, fly- IED attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. more about stress, and especially about Post- ing in for the bimonthly meetings from wherever Post-traumatic stress is “a human condi- traumatic stress, a syndrome that haunts peo- he was on the road. tion, experienced by many people. We have to ple who have experienced severe or prolonged Like a lot of students in the program, he look at it as a human condition, not a disor- trauma. For those who suffer from it, random already had quite a bit of leadership experience. der,” he said, adding “Those who serve us are events like a car backfiring can remind them “I saw it in action first. I learned leadership being put at risk and we have an obligation to of gunfire, for instance, and send them right around the kitchen table, in the community, even take care of them.” – TERESA CASTLE

STMARYS-CA.EDU 27 UARDIAN ANGEL IN

BY SUSAN SWARD PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT DURELL 28 GSUMMER 2012 Deputy District Attorney Victoria “Tori” Verber- Salazar ’87 remembers the moaning of the two mothers that day in a San Joaquin County court- room as if it were yesterday. At a sentencing hearing seven years ago, one of the mothers had heard the judge impose a sen- tence of 75 years to life on her 16-year-old son for slaying a member of a rival gang. The other woman was the mother of the victim slain by the defendant. “Outside the courtroom the two moth- ers embraced — they shared the pain of losing a son: The one mother would only get to see her son through Plexiglas and the other would never see her son again,’’ said Verber-Salazar, who has been prosecuting Stockton gang homicides since 2005. “The pain and suffer- Young people ing was overwhelming. It was learn about life behind bars difficult to watch.” by connecting Since 1987, when she with former started out as an intern in gang members during a video­ the San Joaquin County dis- conference trict attorney’s office, Ver- conducted ber-Salazar has dealt with by District At- torney Victoria horrors most people would Verber-Salazar. find unbearable to face: babies beaten to death, brutal rapes, bloody bodies. But the case that made the two mothers cry, which was prosecuted by one of Verber-Salazar’s colleagues, hit her hard. It was then that Verber-Salazar pledged to bring peace to the streets of Stockton by reha- bilitating young gang members before she had to prosecute them and send many to prison for life. Her work since then earned Verber-Salazar a meritorious service award from SMC in 2011. “I understand people’s anger over crime,’’ said the 46-year-old mother of three, in her office in the green and gray walled Stockton court- house. “But what we had been doing wasn’t working; the jails and prisons are maxed out.’’ Over the years, Verber-Salazar has relied on lessons learned from her family and from her edu- cation at Saint Mary’s High School in Stockton and at SMC. “I see the suffering the victims endured,’’ she said. “I hear the screams of their loved ones as they arrive on the scene. I see such agony that some days you feel you cannot take any more, and that’s where Saint Mary’s High School and Saint Mary’s College come into play. They gave ANGLAND me the foundation to believe, to fight for social justice and for those who need it most.’’ Born in Stockton, Verber-Salazar had strong role models. Her grandmother fed and gave a bed to those needing help, and her mother estab- lished a school for homeless young children. G STMARYS-CA.EDU 29 Former gang member Carina Garza refers to Verber- Salazar as her guardian angel.

Several members of her family have worked in classes three nights a week while working dur- she is in a demanding gang trial. law enforcement: her deceased father and an ing the days. She still throws herself into her “In trial, she is very straight-on, sticking to uncle were police officers, her brother is a deputy work, beginning at 5 a.m. on days when she is in the facts, and she can introduce fireworks if it’s sheriff and her great-grandfather was sheriff of trial. Married to attorney Joseph Anthony Sala- called for,’’ said Deputy District Attorney Janet Mokelumne Hill in Calaveras County. zar, who handles the cooking at home, Verber- Smith, who also prosecutes gang homicides. About Verber-Salazar has worked for 25 years Salazar works her schedule around her children’s Verber-Salazar’s role urging young people to leave in the district attorney’s office, having earned sports and school activities as much as she can, gang life, Smith said, “If there is anything to do to her law degree at Patino Law School, attending relying on family and friends for backup when make the community safer and to deter people from

30 SUMMER 2012 The Chowchilla in- That tally is three times the number of mates speak frankly homicides by the same time last year. about how their sen- Verber-Salazar calls the conditions fueling tences are so long that the bleak homicide numbers “a perfect storm.” they will die in prison Methamphetamine ravages families, leaving for their roles in such many children adrift. Unemployment is high — at crimes. The maximum more than 15 percent and the financially stressed penalty under state law city’s foreclosure rate is one of the highest in the for gang-related homi- nation. The poverty rate, too, is high. cides is life in prison Looking back, Verber-Salazar recalls how or death. bad crime was in 1980s Stockton. But police In an effort to increased intelligence gathering and often spot- support young women trying to leave gangs and ted volatile situations before gang violence create a different kind of life, Verber-Salazar co- erupted. They confiscated many guns, and com- founded Girls in Transition with Maria Alacazar. munity policing helped. But with budget cuts, all “The first time I saw Tori speak to kids, I that is mostly gone. Today the number of sworn saw her willingness to give our kids something to officers in Stockton is 320, down from 440 in strive for,’’ Alcazar recalled. “The kids could not 2007– 2008. believe at first that someone like her, being a D.A. “We saw what our work achieved in crime prosecuting gang members, would take an inter- suppression over the years and we have seen it all est in them and want them to succeed.” taken away,’’ Verber-Salazar said. “We have lost Valerie Frazier, a former state prison parole the ability to get ahead of situations, so a lot of officer who also works with Verber-Salazar in young people are losing their lives.” this effort, said, “I have been in law enforcement Still, she reaches out to young women who a long time, and Tori is one rare jewel.’’ Frazier, others might consider beyond the pale. who heads a Stockton-based group called Hope In 2007 Carina Garza, then 24, was picked Ministries, also wonders when Verber-Salazar up by police for her role as the driver of a car finds time to sleep. “She does her prosecutor job speeding away from a robbery-involved shoot- relentlessly, but her heart and passion is to mentor ing that left a man dead. “The police had me in kids and bring them around.’’ custody in the homicide division for 18 hours, After years of prosecuting gang members, and they gave me a choice. I had two little girls. Verber-Salazar knows the labyrinthine struc- I could pick the gang or my kids. I decided to go ture of the Stockton gangs — Flyboys, Spring with my kids,” she recalled. Street, Tiny Rascals, Mixed Team, Smack Garza testified for the prosecution and Team, Northside Gangster Crips and Loctown then, she said, her former gang retaliated against Crips. Gone are the days when fists settled dis- her: “I was jumped, beaten up. Another time putes; now it’s done with guns. Brothers and for- they surrounded my house and banged on the mer close friends are sometimes in rival gangs, windows.’’ Garza and her children moved out and the reason behind the gunfire often seems of the house. inconsequential. Typically, it’s some instance When she and some other girls met Verber- of perceived disrespect or it’s when gang mem- Salazar, Garza was surprised. “She talks to us not bers are caught “slipping” — meaning they are like a D.A. but in our language — she doesn’t talk unarmed and out of their turf — on neutral to us like an authority figure. She told us about or rival gang turf. the positives of living a normal life — it would be Verber-Salazar’s message to her young more calm.’’ audiences is always: Clean up your act now. She As Garza worked with Verber-Salazar, Fra- said, “You don’t want to see me as a prosecutor, zier and Alcazar, she said she began to change. because by then it is too late.’’ She got married and runs a small business stock- coming before her in court, she’s going to do it.’’ On a recent gray spring day in Stockton, a ing vending machines. Much of the time she stays In one such effort to stem the flow of young city of 292,000, the streets do not look particu- with her three girls in the home she and her hus- gang members into prison, Verber-Salazar has larly threatening. There is an old-time, comfort- band bought. moderated 12 videoconferences since 2007 in able feel to many small homes in the tree-dotted “I wouldn’t have made it this far without which inmates at Valley State Prison for Women neighborhoods surrounding the downtown. But Tori, Maria and Valerie,’’ Garza said. “They keep at Chowchilla answer audience questions via there is no true peace here. in constant contact with us — like they fell out of video. So far thousands of students and juvenile Through April 2012, there had been 17 heaven as our guardian angels. At first, I thought offenders have watched these videoconferences. homicides in Stockton — 14 of them gang-related. it was just too good to be true. But it’s true.’’

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Alumni Awards More than 150 alumni, family and friends were on hand Saturday, April 28, for the Alumni Association’s annual awards ceremony. As part of a tradition that goes back to 1959, the Alumni Board of Directors selected five deserving recipients, including the Alumnus of the Year, Joe Crane ’53. The other award recipients were Rev. Caesar Caviglia ’50, Cindy Cooper ’96, Professor Chris Jones and Derek Smead ’02. In

addition, John Arnaudon ’81 and Miles McAfee ROSENTRAUGH DAN (posthumous) were inducted into the Athletic Alumni and friends mingle at the reception before the annual awards ceremony, Hall of Fame. which was held at the new Moraga Country Club.

Alumnus of the Year: town of McGill, Father Caviglia went on to serve G.O.L.D. Award: C. Joseph Crane ’53 as a priest in the Diocese of Las Vegas. Now Derek Smead ’02 Joe Crane ’53, who died Sat- retired, Father Caviglia, who once also served Derek Smead is passionate urday, May 19, gave a lifetime as president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Com- about Saint Mary’s and the to serving Saint Mary’s Col- merce, was named the 2011 Nevadan of the Year College’s mission. As a mem- lege, his community and the by the state’s Board of Regents. He is credited ber of Saint Mary’s Board of church. During more than 50 with founding Henderson Community College Regents and the advisory coun- years in financial services, Joe found time for of Southern Nevada, where the main building on cil for the Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art, leadership on numerous community boards — as campus is named in his honor. Derek has been instrumental in supporting the director of the Business Council, Inc. of San Joa- College’s critical priorities. As president of the quin County; vice chair of the St. Joseph’s Medi- Meritorious Service award: Walker Foundation, Derek has helped identify cal Center Board of Trustees; chair of the Better Cindy Neander Cooper ’96 funding to support conservation and collection Business Bureau; president of the Yosemite Club; While she was serving on Saint activities at the Museum of Art and developed director of Goodwill Industries, Inc.; director of Mary’s Alumni Board of Direc- a robust internship program in honor of Brother the Hanot Foundation and more. tors, Neander made it her busi- Cornelius, who acquired the paintings that now Crane also served as president of the Saint ness to find out what alumni form the core of Saint Mary’s considerable Wil- Mary’s College Board of Regents and dedicated events and activities were most liam Keith collection. Derek’s efforts have also himself to supporting his alma mater, serving on important to Gael graduates. She quickly learned supported marketing and outreach efforts for the the Alumni Board and hosting events. A men- that the Beer and Wine Festival, which had been museum and the funding of student scholarships. tor for Stockton-area students attending Saint discontinued, was something they sincerely The Walker Foundation also supports Mission Mary’s College, he established the C. Joseph missed. Given the Christian Brothers’ rich tradi- and Ministry and was a key sponsor of “Mary Crane Endowed Scholarship Fund in 1996 to tion of winemaking and the notable Saint Mary’s in the Modern World,” a Saint Mary’s confer- help graduates of Saint Mary’s High School in alumni presence in the winemaking industry, ence on the Blessed Mother. Derek is the founder Stockton heading to Moraga. More recently he she thought it was high time to bring back the and principal at Sustaina Beverage Group, LLC, established a second scholarship fund to cover cherished event. With her leadership, the Sum- and co-founder of Apollo Enterprise Solutions, additional financial needs. “I truly believe I owe mer Wine Festival revived the tradition, and the a web-based debt-management company. As a everything I have to Saint Mary’s,” Crane said. annual event has raised more than $100,000 for young alumnus building a successful career, he He generously supported the same opportunity the Alumni Legacy Scholarship Fund over the has always made time to contribute to the future for today’s young Gaels. past seven years. Neander has built the highly of his alma mater. attended Summer Wine Festival into one of the Signum Fidei Award: most successful community events each year, De la Salle Award: Chris Jones Rev. Caesar Caviglia ’50 increasing alumni engagement, building College Since coming to Saint Mary’s Father Caviglia ’50 has been visibility in the community and supporting the in 2003, Professor Chris Jones, described as the most powerful educations of future Gaels. chair of the department of man in Nevada politics. Born mathematics and computer sci- to Italian parents who immi- ence, has made significant con- grated to the Nevada mining tributions to student life and

32 SUMMER 2012 learning. In the best Saint Mary’s tradition, Chris devotes himself to a student-centered approach to Obituary: Stan Gilliam ’45 Celebrated teaching and mentorship, serving as a student res- ident director for more than eight years and devel- Average Sacramento Residents oping learning communities to enhance students’ academic success. He founded and directs the Sci- in Bee Column ence Living-Learning Community, which, in con- 1924 – 2011 cert with the Honors Community in Assumption Hall, has made great strides in student retention BY ROBERT DAVILA rate. Chris also created and directed the Stu- dent Math Center, an evening tutorial program tan Gilliam, a veteran journalist who designed to help students succeed in lower divi- extolled everyday life in his native Sacra- sion math courses, and last year he and Professor mento in a popular column in The Sac- Wewei Pan launched the College’s first summer ramento Bee, died December 18, 2011. math camp for gifted high school students. Mean- SHe was 87 and had colon cancer, his family said. while, he also finds time to coach the women’s club Gilliam joined The Bee as a part-time copy soccer team. editor while teaching high school and became a full-time employee by 1965. He went on to write Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee: restaurant reviews with a chatty, witty style before John Arnaudon ’81, Football taking over a daily lifestyle column in 1978. John Arnaudon lettered in For almost 11 years, he wrote “Stan’s Sac- football from 1978 to 1981 and ramento,” a genial glimpse of ordinary people is sixth all-time at Saint Mary’s and happenings around town. Items that didn’t in reception yards (1,522) with qualify as “news” — from high school reunions to 90 career receptions. In his 60th wedding anniversaries, from back-fence gos- senior season he had 39 receptions for a total of sip to legends about local sports heroes — found 552 yards and four touchdowns. In 1980 against a welcome home under his byline. Santa Clara in the Little Big Game, Arnaudon Gilliam said he found purpose in celebrating had his best game, catching eight passes for a people, traditions and small-town values in his col- paper until 2007. He received distinguished ser- total of 92 yards. He also combined with Terry umn as the capital grew into a metropolis. vice awards from Saint Mary’s College and CSU, Cottle on the longest pass reception in school “It’s easy to write about the movers and Sacramento. He was active in many civic and history at the time. He finished his college career shakers,” he said in 1989. “I tried to get in as social groups. with 10 touchdowns. many names as I could of the lesser-known peo- He was predeceased in 2008 by his wife, ple. It meant a lot to them to get their names in Joan, who was known to his readers as “the Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee the paper. You could say that I never wrote for my Independent and Argumentative Joan Jonen- (posthumous): Miles McAfee, editors, but for my readers.” Gilliam.” Married in 1950, they had three chil- Baseball Coach 1973–80 Charles Stanley Gilliam was born to Flora dren and lived in the River Park neighborhood Miles McAfee, who coached and Charles Gilliam in 1924. He graduated from for 52 years before moving to Mercy McMahon the Gaels from 1973 to 1980, Christian Brothers High School in 1941. Terrace in east Sacramento in 2004. He moved to was one of the first African He earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint a Carmichael assisted-living center after he was Americans to serve as a Divi- Mary’s College and a master’s degree from Cali- diagnosed with cancer in December 2010. sion I head baseball coach and remains the all- fornia State University, Sacramento. He spent a A gifted storyteller and historian, Gilliam time leader in wins for the Saint Mary’s baseball total of 17 years as a teacher at Grant Union High often claimed — partly in jest — that he was program. He coached five players who went on to School and Sacramento High School. responsible for accidentally burning down the majors. His career record in eight seasons at He was an old-school journalist who Edmonds Field in 1948. He recalled dropping a Saint Mary’s was 215 –188 –7 including a North- smoked, drank copious cups of coffee from a lit cigarette on peanut shells under the wooden ern California Baseball Association (NCBA) and Thermos he toted from home and continued to bleachers during a Sacramento Solons game West Coast Conference record of 104–107–1. pound out his column on an electric typewriter hours before a raging fire reduced the structure McAfee coached the 1977 squad to the best pro- after computers entered the newsroom. He was to ashes. gram record in history at 41–13, ultimately fin- scrupulous about grammar and gregarious with “I was going to pour some beer down there ishing second in the NCBA. readers and colleagues. and put it out,” he told The Bee in 2000. “But – CHRIS CARTER “Stan had no pretensions about him,” for- beer was 15 cents a bottle, and I didn’t want to mer Bee ombudsman Art Nauman said. “It waste too much. So I poured a little down there sounds clichéd, but he was a regular guy.” and thought that would do the trick.” After retiring from he Bee in 1989, Gilliam wrote a column for the weekly Senior Spectrum Copyright, The Sacramento Bee, 2011

STMARYS-CA.EDU 33 QUAD

matches before he went out for the team and to France was to get to learn a second language,” Rugby Pro Kevin didn’t know the rules. But by the time he gradu- Swiryn said. “I knew no French. None. Zero. My ated in 2008 with a degree in kinesiology he was team was in Agen, which is a smaller town. It’s Swiryn ‘08 Retires a three-time All-American, had led the Gaels to not like Paris where everyone speaks English. In college rugby’s Final Four and had earned a pres- Agen no one speaks English. The coaches spoke With No Regrets tigious United States Rugby Football Foundation no English. We had translators, but that’s tough. grant to take part in a three-week international “By my second season I didn’t need a transla- evin Swiryn ’08 retired from playing com- training academy in New Zealand. tor with the coaches. I can speak French now. I’m petitive rugby earlier this year after an out- “It wasn’t until my last season at Saint not fluent by any means but I can hold a conversa- standing career that saw him play in one Mary’s that I started realizing my potential as a tion and get around town.” of the world’s premier professional rugby rugby player,” Swiryn said. “Before that I wasn’t Swiryn’s second season in France, which Kleagues in France and represent the U.S. as a mem- dreaming of being a national team member. began last fall, was marred by injuries: a broken ber of the national team in World Cup competition. I didn’t think that was possible, but Tim and collarbone, a broken nose, then a strained calf It’s a career that never would have happened Johnny (SMC head rugby coach Tim O’Brien that was traced to herniation in his back. “I’d also if Saint Mary’s hadn’t discontinued its football and assistant Johnny Everett) kind of forced that been playing with a torn labrum in my hip that program. was going to need sur- Swiryn came to gery, and I was looking Saint Mary’s on a foot- at either surgery on my ball scholarship in 2003 back or a long period and worked his way of rest,” he said. “I had into the Gaels’ starting to decide what’s worth lineup as a wide receiver more, a couple more early in his freshman years of rugby after season. Then the Col- heavy rehab just to get lege dropped football in back, or having a better March 2004. quality of life after.” “At the time, it was Swiryn decided devastating,” Swiryn on the better quality of said. “I’d worked so life, so he was bought hard to play Division out of the remainder of I college football, and his contract in France now everything was just and returned to the crumbling. I thought it U.S. this spring. He was the worst thing that and his fiancée, Lau- could have happened to me.” belief onto me. Tim applied for me to go to New ren Shaughnessy ’08, have settled in a suburb Dozens of his football teammates trans- Zealand, and when I went down there and did of Seattle, her hometown. Shaughnessy played ferred immediately, but Swiryn decided to stay really well, that was kind of the catalyst for me to point guard for the Gaels basketball team and through his sophomore year to accumulate say, I can do this.” also played rugby while at Saint Mary’s; she enough credits to transfer to UC Davis and try to After earning most valuable player honors at went on to play for the national women’s 7’s resume his football career there. It was during his the academy, Swiryn was invited to try out for the team and now works as a financial adviser. sophomore year that he found rugby — or, rather, national 7’s team and made the squad, eventu- Swiryn proposed to her on the field at the end of rugby found him. ally becoming the captain. He also earned a spot one of his national team’s matches and they will “A couple of rugby guys came to me and on the national 15’s team the following summer. be married at Saint Mary’s on June 30. said, ‘Dude, just come out for rugby, it’s fun,’” (Rugby is played in two versions, using the same Looking back, Swiryn realized he learned a Swiryn recalled. “I was thinking I would just use field and rules, one with seven players on a side valuable lesson from how he dealt with the end it to stay in shape to go back to football eventu- and the other with 15 on a side.) of football at Saint Mary’s. “I don’t feel it was ally. But I just fell in love with rugby. By March Then after a good performance during his fate that led me to rugby; it’s just my life turned, of my sophomore year I decided to stay at Saint first season on the national 15’s team, Swiryn drastically, and I tried to do what I could with Mary’s. Academics were more important to me took the next step and in 2010 signed a two-year it. What I realized was, if you stay positive, by then. I figured sports comes and goes but aca- contract with a professional team in the French most people will make good of any situation. demics is for life. I really enjoyed the academics “Top 14” league. There he faced two disadvan- My life wasn’t what I had dreamt it to be, but I’m at Saint Mary’s, and I decided rugby could fill tages: he was an American in a sport that few still really happy with it. I have no regrets.” the athletic void. Even though I love football and Americans are able to play at the highest profes- – J.G. PRESTON wished I could have played longer, it ended up sional level, and he didn’t speak French. being a really good thing for me.” “I had a choice between going to France and VIDEO OF KEVIN’S PROPOSAL TO LAUREN tinyurl.com/boo58fv Swiryn had seen only a couple of rugby England, and that was a big reason why I went

34 SUMMER 2012 Scholarship Fund Honors SMC Rugby Alumnus Dan Otter ‘82

BY GINNY PRIOR

ugby players are known for their cama- raderie — on and off the field. But what alumni players at Saint Mary’s College are doing in the wake of teammate Dan ROtter’s death goes far beyond friendship. They’re raising funds at a furious pace for an endowment in Otter’s honor. It takes $50,000 to set up a permanent endowment and the Saint Mary’s College Rugby Alumni Association showed its commitment early by donating $22,000 in proceeds from its annual Pat Vincent Dinner and Fundraiser last fall. “It’s very difficult to raise the money with- Left to out a ‘big money’ guy behind it,” said Tom Car- right: David roll, Saint Mary’s Assistant Athletic Director for Starkey Development. “But the way Dan passed away, the ‘85, Bob people behind him, we knew there would be sup- Lenz ‘86 and Dan port for him.” Otter Otter died unexpectedly last July at the ‘82, at age of 51. The news touched his teammates and the Las Vegas friends in a profound way. Masters “You know, he was just such a good guy,” Rugby said Rugby Alumni Board member Mike Wise, Tourna- ment. who played football with Otter in the early 1980s. “There’s a very strong alumni community of guys who played for Saint Mary’s,” he said, “and Dan Boy Scouts and coached Little League and was 30 years in a successful commercial real estate was a big supporter of the Alumni Association. known as a deeply devoted husband and father. career, winning numerous awards for his designs He said it also hit home that Otter died so Otter was also an Academic All-American and development. suddenly. “He was close to my age,” said Wise. when he played rugby and football at Saint Through it all, he was never far from his “Fifties is a little young. We thought, ‘We ought Mary’s. He graduated with honors in 1982. roots at Saint Mary’s. Otter played with the Dia- to do something to memorialize this guy.’” “After his death — the next week — a whole blo Gaels Rugby Football Club until a year ago, Wise said Otter packed a lot into his time string of guys was contributing stories by email traveling with the team to tournaments around here on earth. “When he passed away in Lake about Dan,” said Wise, who shared his own story the state. His passion for rugby was the cata- Tahoe on a bike ride, he was actually there for a about Gaels football camp back in 1980. “There lyst for the Dan Otter Rugby Scholarship Fund, nonprofit board meeting for Alzheimer’s.” Otter was rookie hazing at the camps and Dan had to which will help rugby players with tuition assis- was a leader when it came to raising money and get up and sing. He sang ‘Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown’ tance at SMC. awareness for the fight against neurologic disease. by Jim Croce. It was unbelievable. He just nailed “I think he’d be thrilled to help a student ath- He was just 12 when his father died of Alzheim- it.” Wise said Otter was always comfortable in lete in need,” said Wise. “Dan wouldn’t want his er’s, and in later years his mother succumbed to his own skin. name out there — he’s not that kind of guy — but the same illness. His friends say he dedicated his After graduating magna cum laude, Otter I think he’d be honored.” life to finding a cure. went on to earn his MBA from UCLA. He set Otter was also an avid outdoorsman who up his first company in Palmdale, California, where he built shopping centers and business MORE PHOTOS AND STORIES ABOUT loved fishing and cycling and camping with his DAN OTTER: wife and three young children. He was active in parks. By the time he turned 50, he’d spent almost stmarys-ca.edu/otterscholarship

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1 2

3 2011 [1] After aspiring to be a math teacher throughout his undergraduate career, DJ Bowen, center, with Chris Jones, Math Department chair, left, and Desiree Lopez ’10, right, has been hired as a full-time math teacher at Pittsburg High School, teaching Algebra 1 and 2. [2] Matt and Sara (Cardoso) Beutner met during their freshmen year at Saint Mary’s and were married on June 19, 2011. They were married in the Saint Mary’s chapel, with family members and fellow alums Karl Beutner ‘71, Karl Beutner ‘06 and Katherine Beutner AS ‘07 in attendance. Their reception was held at the Hacienda de las Flores in Moraga. Sara is in the Multiple Subject Teaching Credential program in the Kalmanovitz School of Education and Matt is pursuing a post-baccalaureate degree in Health Professions at UC Berkeley.

36 SUMMER 2012 political campaigns. He recently relocated to Santa Fe, N.M., to work as the assistant to the chief strategist and campaign coordinator for a state House of Representatives campaign. 2009 [4] Eleanor Eldredge MA (Kinesiology) was proposed to live on the QVC shopping network by Adam Mills ’05 (BS Business) and she said yes! Eleanor, a QVC fan, was beyond surprised by this thoughtful and creative proposal. The couple, pictured on the QVC set, plan to marry in summer 2013. [5] Taline Kuyumjian, pictured with gallery visitors, announces that after working first at the Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art and then at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento she will begin the Museology Graduate Studies program at the University of Washington, Seattle, this fall. Taline considers herself lucky to have discovered her passion for museum adminis- tration while a student at SMC and is excited to see where it takes her. 2008 Delaney Diskin is currently working as an adoptive parent intake counselor for the Independent Adoption Center in Pleasant Hill, Calif. She also is in her first of three years at 4 Cal State East Bay working toward a master’s degree in social work. If you or anyone you 5 7 know is interested in domestic, open adoption, feel free to contact her at the IAC. [6] Marilyn Drobenaire started her own local CPA business in September 2009. In January 2011, Marilyn incorporated her business and hired her first half-time employee. She continues to grow her business by using local independent contractors to serve her clients and is looking forward to bringing on interns from Saint Mary’s as soon as it’s practical. sfbayaccounting.com 2006 A short story by Rashaan Alexis Meneses MFA, “Like Fish to Ginger,” published by UC Riverside’s Coachella Review, was recently nominated for a Sundress Best of the Net Prize. [4] Adam Mills was recently engaged to Eleanor Eldredge MA ’09 (Kinesiology) on QVC, where they were photographed, on Feb. 24. He started a new job as a senior analyst for Episcopal Senior 6 Communities (ESC) in Walnut Creek, Calif. [3] Lauren Rose O’Leary, shown ESC is a nonprofit that provides upscale with Tori Verber-Salazar ’87, left, organized living and care facilities for seniors. Eleanor and directed a charity concert — A NIGHT is the executive assistant to the VP at 24 Hour FOR OUR KIDS — for the Stockton Boys & Fitness in San Ramon. Girls Club. The event raised over $20,000, [7] Jonathan Morales and Mary which will allow inner-city children a safe place Barnes were married March 5, 2011, at Saint to play, learn and grow in the art of dance. Mary’s College. They met at Saint Mary’s in 2004 as cast members of the musical “Joseph 2010 and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Elizabeth Patterson, currently a student Among the bridal party were maid of honor at the McGeorge School of Law, wowed the Amanda Travale, bridesmaid Leah Merced City Council and many in attendance Wright and groomsman Aman Mahal. when she spoke for residents fighting a contro- Mary is an associate at the Dolan Law Firm in versial real estate development. Read more San Francisco and Jonathan is a publicist at about her in the Feb. 9 Merced County Times San Francisco State University. tinyurl.com/8xvcmhx Jake Murray has been hired as Politics major Jordan Tenedora a consultant with HFS Consultants in is putting his education to use working on reimbursement practice. Murray joins the

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company from Toyon Associates where he decades, including: Matron of Honor Megan 12 held a similar role. He is a graduate of Saint (Walling) ’05 and husband Phillip Mary’s College of California with a B.S. degree Goldsby ’05, Maid of Honor Mariana in business administration and holds an MBA Ramos-Rodrigues ’05, Bridesmaid with a concentration in finance from California Therese Pietsch ’05, Bridesmaid State University, East Bay. Melissa (Beck) ’05 and husband Patrick Young ’05, Marc Dominguez ’96, 2005 ECR ’04, MC ’05; Kate Koens ’01; [8] Emma (Arellano) ME ’06 and Jose Milad Sarkis ’04; Natalie Wilson Flores ‘04 married in 2006 and welcomed ’04; Teohn ’03, ML ’11 and Lyone their daughter Naima Itzel Flores on June 1, 2011. Conner ’04, ML ’11; Rebecca [9] Courtney Carmignani ’05, ML (Adam) Teames ’02; Chris Swain ’08 and Christoph Lohmann MS ’05 ’04, ECR ’07; Franny Little ’11; Rob were married by Father Thomas McElligott in Walters ’96; Mark Chiarucci ’91; the Saint Mary’s Chapel on New Year’s Eve. Jeff Walling ’08; Ron Turner ’79; Brother Martin Yribarren ’71 played Michael Viola ’99, MC ’04; Sean the organ, Ron Willet ’05, MBA ’07 Park MS ’05; Louie Senador MS played the piano, and Michelle Batista ’05; Molly Matles ’10; Dominic ’02, ECR ’05 served as the cantor. The Villa ’09; Ryan ’97 and Kim (Filipas) happy couple rang in the New Year in the Soda Thompson ’97, ECR ’06; Chris ’97, Center with fellow Gaels from across the MS ’02 and Katie (Kelso) Carter ’97,

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38 SUMMER 2012 10 ECR ’04; Lloyd Schine III ’98, ME ’04, ECR ’10; Scott ’05 and Heather (Showalter) Martinez ’05; Geoff ’95 and Christine (Hauser) Reimer ’95; and Tom ’04, MS ’07 and Stacey (Coleman) Carroll ’03. Allyson Wiley ’02 photographed the wedding, and Andrew Verducci ’07, ECR ’08 was the DJ. They may now hold the record for most Saint Mary’s alumni at a wedding. 13 [10] MonaLisa and Jay Como 11 MBA and SEBA Advisory Board member welcomed Sofia Isabella (7 lb., 4 oz., 20.5 in.) on Dec. 20, 2011. 2004 [11] After graduating Gina Damiano worked as an executive assistant, project manager and event planner in San Jose, Calif.. She recently decided to attend law school, and relocated to San Diego to attend California Western School of Law. Her adventure began in January 2012, and she is enjoying the challenges of being a first-year law student, as well as the opportunity to be able to live the life of a student again. Gina hopes to have a career in family law, practicing in either San Diego or the Bay Area. Keri Martin EE works at the Pinole branch of Bank of the West. She prides herself on using the skills she learned at Saint Mary’s 15 to encourage and motivate the team in Pinole. Keri also helps with community projects at the 8 Richmond-Pinole Lions Club. Her last project, in conjunction with Rebuild Richmond and Lions District 4C3, helped refurbish six houses in a low-income area of Richmond. 2003 Denny Bulcao is in Warwick, R.I., working as a senior writer/editor for MetLife.com while closely following SMC Athletics. [12] Stacey (Coleman) and Tom Carroll ‘04, MS ‘07 welcomed daughter Aubrey Leigh Carroll on Sept. 9, 2011.Aubrey rarely misses a basketball game and was on hand in Las Vegas to cheer her Gaels on to victory in the WCC Tournament. Stacey recently returned to work at Williams-Sonoma, Inc., in San Francisco while Tom continues as the assistant athletic director for development at Saint Mary’s College. [13] Julia Chapman ECR ‘04 is Teacher of the Year 2012 at Discovery Bay School in California. From a young age I was in love with education. After eight years of teaching I have experienced many changes, challenges and moments that have allowed me to become the teacher I am today. I enjoy what I do and appreciate the opportunities that education has afforded me and strive to give that back to those students in my classrooms. [14] Corinne Devin was crowned Ms. Texas and will compete in July for the title of Ms. United States. 2002 [15] Meagan (Salmon) and Brian Houle welcomed their second child, Landon Scott, on Jan. 16, 2012. Big sister Madison, 4, adores him. Brian was officially sworn in as a correctional officer for the Solano County Sheriff’s Department and Meagan operates a small baking business, Wine Country

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Confections, while staying home with their 1996 children. The Houles live in Napa, Calif. [20] Scott Murrow, wife Maria, and Mike Sotelo is now the director of daughter Liliana recently welcomed Vaughn residuals in programming finance at Showtime Webb to the family. Born on Sept. 29, 2011, Networks. His kickball team, Balls Deep, has won Vaughn hopes to one day gallop with the Gaels. back-to-back Venice League championships. In other news, Scott’s band, Grill Sergeants, released an album on iTunes called “When 2001 the Evening Comes.” [16] Natalie (Wilson) and Matthew Medeiros were married on Oct. 29, 2011, 1994 at Tehama Golf Club in Carmel, Calif. Fellow [21] Patrick Rabelo is vice chairman of Gaels Nikki Ferraiolo ‘02 served as a the 2012 governing board of Doctor’s Hospital, bridesmaid and Ross Dielissen ‘02 served Manteca (DHM). Patrick has been serving on as a groomsman. Matthew is the co-founder the DHM governing board since January 2011. and technical director of Performance Technic, a BMW auto boutique in Pleasanton, which 1993 recently received the 2011 Best of the Bay Jay Jasper earned his MS in school and Award. The couple lives in San Ramon. career counseling from Sacramento State in 2003. He works as a counselor at Pleasant 2000 Grove High School in Elk Grove, Calif. Jay and [17] Peter Sousa ’00, MS ’11 and his wife have two sons: Mason, 3, and Micah, Jacquelyn Cammaroto were married 1. They are active members in the church among family and friends in the Chapel at where they first met, Living Stones Christian Saint Mary’s College on Sept. 10, 2011, fifteen Reformed Church. Jay enjoys snow skiing, years after they met as freshmen at Saint golf and fantasy football. Mary’s. The bridal party included alumni John Antonini, John Newell, 1991 Erik Dokken, Luigi Di Ruocco Since November 2011, Ron Susa EMBA ’99, Chris Trenholm ‘99, Liz was assigned the role of senior compliance (Larussa) Mechelke ‘95, De Anna and internal controls analyst with Chevron Federico and Jen (Hallmark) Rhudy. Corporate Business Development. July 2012 Lauren Lovett is in her ninth year will mark his 32nd anniversary with Chevron. teaching as an inclusion specialist at Berkeley Ron is married to Connie, with three children: 20 High School. In August 2011 she was engaged to Sean, 22, Tyler, 19, and Cameron, 17. 19 Brendan Illingworth; they are pictured at their engagement party in October; they are planning 1990 an August 2012 wedding in Monterey, Calif. [22] Mike and Lauren (Ford) ‘99 Recupero are living in Orange County, Calif. 1999 with their two daughters: Sofia, 6, and Sadie, 4. Jennie Durant MFA ‘06 was just accepted into a Ph.D. program at U.C. 1989 Berkeley, where she will study and write about Arturo Jacobo remembers his freshman sustainable agriculture in the Environmental year and being awakened to climb the SMC Science and Policy Management program. hill and slide down the letters with wet paint, [18] Frank Knight III ‘99, his wife, staying out pretty late and then having to get up Allyson, and big brothers Shane and TJ early for class. welcomed another little boy, Josiah S. Knight, [23] Tim Oswald, wife Mary Ann on June 7, 2011. Josiah weighed 6 lb. 12 oz. and (Notre Dame ‘91) and their children: Sam, 13, was 21.5 in. long. Grace, 11, and Molly, 8, attended the Saint Mary’s game in Denver the night before 1997 Thanksgiving. The outcome wasn’t what they Erika (Chan) Moore resides in her hoped for, but Coach Bennett appreciated hometown of Visalia, Calif., with her husband, seeing the support in Denver. Molly, Grace Billy, and their three daughters, ages 8, 5 and 3. and Sam Oswald posed for a photo with Coach Since her time at SMC, she has taught 4th, Bennett. Tim owns Accounting & Business 6th, 7th and 8th grades, served as the School of the Rockies; Mary Ann is a part-time executive director of ImagineU Interactive substitute teacher; and the kids go to a Catholic Children’s Museum in Visalia, and even worked grade school. Sam will be attending a Christian as a bartender at a local sushi joint. Currently, Brothers high school next year. Erika is a freelance grant writer for various Carolyn West EE is president of East 22 18 nonprofits in Tulare County and co-owner of Bay Trusts and Estates Lawyers. EBTEL creates Moore Electric. In her spare time, Erika enjoys and sustains educational and social opportu- playing upright bass, reading from her book nities to benefit lawyers who practice estate club list, and most recently, cooking. She looks planning, trust and probate law in the East San forward to a reunion with fellow Gael alumni. Francisco Bay area. It supports and assists the [19] In preparation for his upcoming function of the probate courts in the East Bay, wedding, Tony Galletti spent five and it supports local nonprofit organizations that days in Puerto Vallarta with his brother facilitate public access to the probate courts. Terry ‘03 and friends Brett Fuiks, Trigger Reital, Ryan Thompson, 1985 Chris Carter ’97 MS ‘02, Brian [24] Brenda McDermott Baldacci and Corrick, Scott Kinsey ‘97 MBA ‘00, girls from the SMC class of 1985 love their yearly Travis Calabio ‘97 MBA ‘02 and mini reunions! From left to right: Debbie K.C. Sheipe. (Garaventa) Ternan, Tessie (Wagner)

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Pease, Gaby (Asfour) Thompson, performance of “The 39 Steps” in February. Rosanne (Parodi) Maloney, Siobhan [26] Jeanne (Risso) Sellgren has 17 (Reilly) Riehl, Carmel (Mahoney) been married for 26 years and has a 21-year-old Karczewski, Margaret (Leatham) son studying at Purdue University. Jeanne Doyle and Brenda. lives and enjoys life in central Oregon. She is Ronald Southwick EE retired from pictured here with friends from the class of Pacific Bell in 1991 and went on to become ’83 — De Deterding, Therese Louk, Jeanne general manager of Mosler Inc. in San Sellgren, Sharon Healey, MaryAnn daSilva Francisco. He left there and became general and Teri Ferem — who recently enjoyed a girls’ manager for Sonitrol Corp. He retired for good weekend together. in 2000 and moved to Hot Springs Village in Cres (Saintiago) Salonga ME, Arkansas. He became very active in the VFW ECR had three children who graduated from there. He has been post commander and the U.S. Naval Academy. Cres retired as a district vice commander. He works regularly captain of California Department of Corrections with the committee to assist homeless vets and Rehabilitation, teacher, CEO of group in Little Rock. He loves to travel, play golf and homes, and real estate investor. She enjoys tennis and is very thankful to Saint Mary’s for visiting her two grandsons and traveling with making all of this possible. family during her retirement. Bruce Slater EE recently became 1986 a partner with Crawford Group-Merger & [25] Scott Peralta is married to Jodi and Acquisition firm, in Portland, Ore. Bruce will has three boys: Maxwell, age 11, Jake, 10, and direct all marketing communications, business Charlie, 7. development and technical writing. Bruce 23 21 and his fiancée, Paulette Dockter, recently 1984 traveled to Oahu, Hawaii, with excursions to John Hemmenway and Pearl Harbor, catamaran sailing, snorkeling and classmates — Chris Peters, Jim Ghelfi, diving to see turtles. Both of Bruce’s daughters Kevin Mills, Brian Riordan, Joe and their families also live in Portland. Holly, Motta, John Krpan, Tony Carda and Bruce’s eldest granddaughter, recently flew Mark Giovanetti — celebrated the release solo in a glider-plane on her way to earning of Brother Mel’s new book by having dinner and her glider pilot’s license. She hopes to be a book signing with him prior to the SMC-Santa a pilot in the U.S. Navy or Air Force. Bruce’s Clara basketball game. two grandsons and two granddaughters are Terri (Shreve) Pope, after seven “A” students. Are they SMC bound? Bruce years as a stay-at-home mom, has taken on a reports that his education at Saint Mary’s new venture. She is the membership director College has been a guiding light to his success. at Meadowood, Napa Valley. She and her When in the Bay Area on business, Bruce husband and two children, Michael, 16, and always takes time out for a visit to the SMC Jamie, 7, have lived in Napa for seven years. campus. In 2011 Bruce and classmate Bruce Andrade EE reunited for lunch for the 1983 first time in 28 years. Relationships are Louis Lotorto was cast in the Santa important, no matter how long it takes to Barbara Ensemble Theatre Company’s shake the hand of a fellow classmate.

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1982 article at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnnaMaria_ 27 [27] Vito LoGrasso announces that Cardinalli. AnnaMaria’s upcoming book about the newest event in his life is his volunteer Afghanistan has just been signed with a major service to the SMC Alumni Class of ’82 literary agent, and the YouTube video gives a reunion. Working with Duke Powers, hint to its content. Tim Desmond, Mario Alioto, Joe John Moffat retired as the director Wright, Mary Hassett and Karrie of labor contracts after a 39-year career with Hagedorn ’08 is a great experience! Please PG&E. He continues to reside with his wife, join us July 20–23 and RSVP today. Nancy, in Pleasanton, Calif. 1978 1971 Henry Sroka feels fortunate to continue [30] Raymond DeLea has been married working for the Dallas Cowboys. His wife, for 40 years to his wonderful wife, Pattie. They Linn, is the center of their family; their oldest have one daughter, Daniella-Rachel, who daughter, Pilar, will graduate this winter; son graduated magna cum laude in Chinese and Dominic, will be a senior at Notre Dame de Asian Studies from California State University, Namur in Belmont, where he plays soccer; and Long Beach and is completing her master’s the youngest, Mikael, (all-district punter/PK) degree there in linguistics. Ray and Pattie will be a senior at Liberty Christian High School founded Rivers in the Desert Ministries in 1992 in Argyle, Texas. Coach MAC and Coach and have just completed publishing a series Mannini had much to do with where I am. of books, Wisdom for Young Hearts, to teach 30 God bless you. Bible-based wisdom to young children through 6th grade. Ray continues to enjoy gardening, 1976 hiking, singing and guitar playing in addition Kathryn (O’Neill) Maurer’s eldest to landscape photography. Since his graduation son, Brian Maurer, was married to Tanya at SMC, he has worked as an aerospace Novak in October on the beach in San Diego. engineer for Hughes Aircraft Co./Raytheon Kathryn is pleased that they plan to settle in in El Segundo, Calif. Pacific Grove. [31] James R. Quandt, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Saint 1973 Mary’s College, announced the signing [28] John Kukulica started working for 33 Saga Food Service in the cafeteria at Saint Mary’s College in September 1969. After 31 graduation, he stayed with Saga, serving first as a food service manager at Fairchild Semiconductor in Mountain View and then as district manager of the Business & Industry Division of the San Francisco Bay Area through 1979. He went on to spend much of his career in the culinary, hospitality and restaurant industries. He bought the venerable Iron Horse Restaurant on San Francisco’s famed Maiden Lane in December of 1979 and met his wife, Ghyslaine, there, marrying her in 1988. They have one child, Dominic. John went on to own and manage a number of San Francisco and other California eateries. After moving to Reno, Nev., he managed a number of hospitality businesses there, served as regional director for German crystal stemware manufacturer Stolzle USA, and now is an independent insurance agent with Aflac. He continues to serve with a number of hospitality industry groups encouraging young people to consider careers in the hospitality and restaurant industry. 1972 [29] Jayne (Crow) Cardinalli announces that her daughter, AnnaMaria Cardinalli ‘97, Ph.D. (winner of the Louis LeFevre award for outstanding graduate in Performing Arts and SMC “Woman of Influence” award) was the first SMC student with two Gael parents. After returning from work in Iraq and Afghanistan, she was recently cast in a principal role in an opera in Rome. Combining these two divergent aspects of her life, she recently posted a video on YouTube which has gone “viral,” at youtube. come/watch?v=14tuxDqlvQ. Her research in current wars has been groundbreaking to the point that it’s warranted a Wikipedia

42 SUMMER 2012 McNalis, a freelance artist and one-time art director with the Walt Disney Company, has focused much of his artistic and activist efforts over the past 15 years on the democracy movement in Burma. Many of McNalis’ sculptures depict key figures in the country’s fight for democracy and raise the profiles of some of Burma’s renowned political prisoners. According to McNalis, his sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi is his most well-known artwork, especially among the global community of Burmese exiles, expatriates and refugees. James ‘61 and Mary Ellen Bahan, Aung San Suu Kyi and McNalis will Dr. William MBA ’93 and Sandra set a date in the coming months when he Feaster MBA ‘89 will deliver the original sculpture to her in Rangoon. “The sculpture has always belonged to her,” McNalis said, “but because of the political situation in Burma for the past 20 At the President’s years, it has been impossible to get it to her. Circle Dinner The current easing of tensions there has On April 14, Saint Mary’s and created an opportunity to finally bring it Brother President Ronald Gal- home where it belongs.” lagher, FSC, honored the College’s most generous benefactors. The 1949 event at the Claremont Hotel in Walt deFaria writes that he keeps Berkeley celebrated the many retirement at bay by being active in theatre, donors who make possible something he first experienced at Christian student scholarships, library Brothers High School in Sacramento with resources, Gael athletics, mission Brothers Jerome and Walter. Then at Saint and service projects, and faculty Mary’s, Yale Meyers kept his interest alive development and research. and now, after a 50-plus year career in 29 movies, television and theatre, he is still 32 busy. This summer he directs Disney’s MORE PHOTOS of Tim Tebow for a significant advertising Beauty and the Beast for Pacific Repertory FROM THE EVENT endorsement contract for the FRS Company, Theatre at Carmel’s historic outdoor theatre. stmarys-ca.edu/ headquartered in Foster City. Quandt serves Meanwhile on the film front, he executive pcircle2012 as chairman of the board of the FRS Company produced the recently released Disney as well as managing partner of Thomas James animation “The Secret World of Arrietty.” For Capital, Inc., headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Christmas 2012 he is executive producing a new BBC/Working Title movie for television, 1967 “The Borrowers,” set for ABC-TV. [32] When he’s not out designing trails, Mark Flint has added backpacking to his recreational 1947 DEGREE KEY pursuits, squeezing in multi-day trips into the Jerry Murphy, 88, retired in 1991 from UC ECR Education Credential Grand Canyon when he’s not riding a horse or Davis, where he was a professor in the rhetoric EdD Doctor of Education mountain bike. He is pictured here riding a horse and communication and English departments. EE Extended Education named Wyatt in Saguaro National Park. The After graduating from Saint Mary’s, he EMBA Executive MBA author of a manual on designing and building earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. at HON Honorary trails in the desert, he continues to do some Stanford, where he taught for six years. MBA Graduate Business writing and editing, but has gradually shifted After six years at Princeton, he and his MC Counseling most of his work into his passion for trails. family moved in 1965 to Davis, where he ME Graduate Education founded the rhetoric and communication MFA Fine Arts 1963 department at UC Davis. In this essay ML Leadership Brother Brendan Madden has in the Davis Enterprise, Jerry recalls six MLS Liberal Studies been appointed to assist in recruiting miracles in his life, beginning with a MS Science 28 undergraduates from Lasallian high schools harrowing landing of his sqadron’s N Nursing in Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila. He also B-24 during WWII: tinyurl.com/7tjxv7t helps students as a scholarship counselor P Paralegal Certificate and has helped five SMC students acquire 1941 Fulbright Awards. Alumnus Lionel Holmes grew up Saint Mary’s magazine will [33] Jim McNalis has just returned in the Pocket neighborhood of Sacramento, publish two Glimpses per year from Burma (Myanmar) where he visited where he was raised by his grandparents, for any graduate of the College. Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. McNalis who lived on a 40-acre ranch that sold Please post more frequent updates created a sculpture of the world’s most produce at the public market. He edited at stmarys-ca.edu/glimpses. renowned dissident. Since Suu Kyi has the Collegian during his junior and senior spent most of the past 20 years under arrest year at SMC and went on to work as by the military dictatorship, the sculpture a copy editor at the Oakland Tribune has stood in for her at tributes, birthday before being drafted into the Army. He celebrations and other events honoring served with the medical complement of the famed democracy advocate. While the Transportation Corps during WW II traveling in Southeast Asia, McNalis received and after discharge in 1944, Lionel an invitation to visit with Suu Kyi at her went on to a career in advertising residence in Rangoon. and publishing.

STMARYS-CA.EDU 43 I N MEMO R I AM

ALUMNI FAMILY AND FRIENDS Charles V. Amaral ’78 Dario A. Baciocco Renee Gayhardt-Bell ’81 Lucille Boero James R. Blair ’42 Douglas A. Boyett ’89 Victor J. Cabasso William Breitholle, Jr. ’27 Agnes C. Conrad George Cantwell ’39 Andrew Carey ’53 Thomas J. Cordoni, Parent of Robert F. Carlson ’49 Mrs. Nicole A. Wallingford ’97 Eugene V. Cattolica ’60 Thomas George Croda Daniel J. Clark ’63 Gregory Cole ’75 John C. Cronin III C. Joseph Crane ’53 Howard Daschbach Louis N. Desmond ’49 Suzanne (Sammi) Laura Destruel ’81 James E. Delehanty Thomas A. Donato ’70 Francis B. Dillon David T. Fritz ’50 C. Stanley Gilliam ’45 Patricia A. Disney, Kennerth H. Guice ’87 Former Regent Susan M. Hall ’89 Annette Euphrat Herbert M. Hauser ’40 Randy L. Haves, ECR Shizuko Nishiyama Fujita Raymond A. James ’67 John M. Headley William J. Jefferds, Ed.D ’50 Suzanne C. Jehik ’84 Jim (Coach Mac) McDonald ELAINE MCKEON 1926 – 2012 Carl J. Johnson ’43 Ron Moschel When former Saint Mary’s President Brother Mel Anderson first met Susan L. Lam ’86, ECR Elaine McKeon, who passed away earlier this year at age 86, she was Robert G. Lamp ’50 William E. Perkins, the shy, retiring wife of George McKeon, a construction company Lynne A. Leroy ’89 Professor Emeritus executive and major College donor. After she lost her husband, who Velma J. Linscheid, ECR Richard C. Perry died at age 51, Elaine transformed her life and became one of the most Robert L. Lippert ’50 remarkable people Brother Mel has ever known. Albert Maggio, Sr., THO James M. Ryken Elaine McKeon served on Saint Mary’s Board of Trustees from Robert J. McAndrews ’32 Jean E. Seban 1980 to 1990 and was chair of the board from 1983 to 1985. In 1996 Blythe E. McCool ’99 she was chosen to help chart the College’s future as a New Century George McDermott ’32 Dale Wendling Committee member. Elaine A. McKeon, Former President Brother Mel sang the praises of Elaine’s distinguished service as of Board of Regents / Former Chair chair of the Saint Mary’s Board of Trustees. “She was always upbeat, of Board of Trustees but firm, and knew how to get things done,” he said. “She didn’t rush Guido J. Mei ’49 to make judgments, but was very thoughtful about what she did.” Lyman M. Munson ’93 She cared deeply about everyone and on one occasion hosted a Gary V. Nelson ’70 surprise party at her Hillsborough home for Brother Mel’s 25th anni- Thomas F. Purtill ’49 versary as SMC president. On another, she invited the entire basketball Philip G. Ratton ’79 team to celebrate their success at a sport of which she and George, Thomas A. Remus ’77 the owner of the Sacramento Kings, were very fond. Theresa Marie Smallen Shields ’80 Although neither of them attended Saint Mary’s — George’s older Alabert E. Silva ’44 brother did, but he was killed in Europe in World War II — the McKeons Frank R. Soares ’40 Saint Mary’s magazine prints became some of the school’s most generous donors, funding many Margaret A. Spaugh ’01 the names of recently deceased projects, including McKeon Pavilion. Alfred J. Speckens ’41 alumni, Christian Brothers Elaine’s other passion, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Lois V. Tooker ’89 and friends who have given to consumed nearly three decades of her life. She served as board presi- Robert E. Von Burkleo ’62 Saint Mary’s. Names of other dent from 1989 to 1995 and chair of the board from 1995 to 2004, guiding Edward Waffen ’61 friends of the College, as well the institution during a major move and expansion. The museum closed Walter E. Weber ’41 as family members of alumni, early one afternoon in January so her friends and family could honor a Brother Raphael W. Willeke, FSC ’66 faculty and staff, appear in the woman who touched the lives of everyone she met. – JUDY JACOBS Gabriel H. Wilson ’50 online version of the magazine.

Ronald N. Yamaguchi ’90 COURTESY SF MOMA

44 SUMMER 2012 ENDNOT E

IT MAY BE ABSURD TO HAVE HOPE BUT WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU DO

Children waltz down the street with shouts And wave toward points of light on tangerines and bottles Spilling into the noisy cloud of business hours But I am behind the cloud’s glory With dense sensations of distance I still check newspaper dispensers for stuck quarters to buy a pack of gum Where’s my pill and where’s my mother I can’t see her mind float away from my warehouse loft A fat face is just a different kind of sadness That tethers a person to your pity and your memory In her living room grandfather clock splits The known hours into fair portions I live on the edge of the only world I’ve breathed in And so it’s a corner Newborn crying under a full moon, Beautiful things in waves that mean The moon a rock without light that we all revere Watches broken brothers breaking bread And the cloud now parting rears back to show his face

– SARAH LOUISE GREEN Sarah Louise Green graduated from Saint Mary’s with an MFA in Poetry in 2010. Her manuscript, The Birds Have Never Failed Me, was a finalist for the 2012 Yale Younger Poets award.

OLIVIA WISE OLIVIA She lives and writes in Oakland. NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID OAKLAND, CA PERMIT NO. 1788

P.O. Box 4300 Moraga, CA 94575-4300 www.stmarys-ca.edu

Address Service Requested

In honor of our 150 Gaelorious years, Saint Mary’s is having a yearlong celebration. Invitees include:

THOMAS MESCHERY ’61

HERE ARE JUST A FEW WAYS TO JOIN THE PARTY

yearofthegael.com