Classmate Updates
 

John Anderson
My family moved to Northbrook in the Summer of 1977 following my Sophomore year at SFHS. I was not happy at all about leaving a friends and a school that I had grown to really appreciate, for a new school.  I graduated from Loyola Academy in 1979 and went to Indiana University that fall.  I ran into Marge Mulcahy once or twice there and it was nice to have a St. Francis connection in Bloomington.  I wore out my welcome and academic probation at IU in 1981 and transferred to and later graduated from Loyola University. Along the way I met my future wife and we were married in 1985. Our first child, John, was born in 1989 and his sister Katherine came along in 1992. The years from 1989 to today are a bit of a blur, but there have been many, many great times with friends and family.  Our son is now a freshman at Libertyville High School and a standout hockey and lacrosse player. Academically, he's a chip off the old block(head). It's fun to look at him during his freshman year and remember how I felt at his age roaming the halls of St. Francis.  God, it seems like such a short time ago. Our daughter Katie is a 6th grader and excellent student at Highland Middle School in Libertyville.  She is also a fine soccer and tennis player. Recently, Rane and I purchased a vacation home in Green Lake, Wisconsin and we are looking forward to entertaining lots of family and friends there. So much time has passed since 1979 it's almost frightening.  God willing, though, there are many more good time on the way.  Let's drink to the journey!

Renee Bieniek
Currently residing in Tampa Florida with daughters Meghan (16 yrs) and Stacy 14 yrs). Received Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics from DePaul University, Chicago, Il. Employed by IBM for 20 years, current position Executive Project Manager.

Mike Bliss
After college and four years of seminary I was ordained a Catholic priest for the diocese of Peoria in Central Illinois. This May I will be ordained 13 years. I have served in three different assignments including aparish in Moline Illinois, University of Illinois in Champaign and currently in the city of Peoria. I have been Chaplain at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center for seven years. All of my immediate family still live in the Chicago area. Although I understand many of our classmates still live in the suburbs, I never run into anyone. It will be nice to see some of you at the upcoming reunion.

Bill Chalifoux
Graduated from St. Norbert college in 1983, I survived rooming with Rob Sorenson ('80) and living above the Irish Pub with him my junior and senior years. We founded the Pub Club, a very popular night spot after the bars closed in beautiful downtown DePere, WI. CAREER Began selling national advertising for Dallas Morning News in Chicago for a couple of years after graduation. For the last 15 years have been selling Printing and highly personalized direct mail to ad agencies, and anyone else that will buy it! FAMILY I married a North side chicago girl. She attended Oberlin College, and finished at Loyalo in Chicago. She said at the time we began dating that she was never going to get married, or live in the suburbs - I thought I had met the perfect women. We married in July of '88 and moved to the suburbs... We adopted Gracie in April of 1991. Sue then gave birth to Adam in October of 1991. And last, but certainly not least, Maria was born in August of 1997. We are very blessed.

Sandy (Dierking) Ferrebbee
Two years at College of DuPage. Many assorted jobs including Police dispatcher, Cake decorator, resturant manager, and Teachers assistant. After leaving Illinois, lived in Ohio before moving to New Jersey. Married to Michael since 1986. Two daughters who are now a freshman and a junior in High School.

Michelle (Danaher) Blair
I'm still living in a suburb of Madison, WI.  I work in my husband's dental office as a hygienist, lab tech and whatever is needed.  I have two teenagers, Danny, 17 and Katie, 15.  I love to travel and spend a lot of time in the Phoenix area as well as get to Chicago as much as possible.

Mike Dreisilker
Kathy Kimball and I were married in 1984 and will celebrate our 20th anniversary this May. I work in the electric motor industry and Kathy has her own business as a hair stylist. We have two wonderful daughters. Jill is 16 years old and a sophomore at SFHS. Mary Kay is 13 years old and is in eighth grade at St. Michaels. Both of our girls are involved in sports. Jill plays volleyball at SFHS and at a VB club. Mary Kay is a level 10 gymnast. We enjoy the many, many volleyball tournaments and gymnastics meets that take us all over the midwest and occasionally as far as California, Florida and Massachusetts.

John Duggan
Midlife crisis has got me into trying to make my body act like it's 18 again - Lately I've been spending my free time training for triathlons.  When I'm not training, I'm busy with family stuff - three kids Brigid - 12, Declan -10, Fiona-8. Did a little bit of Foster care last year - great experience.

Alan Gannon
After graduation I attended College of DuPage for two years and swam for them. Then, I went to Arizona State University and graduated with a degree in Computer Science.  I started working for Singer/Link in 1984,in Arizona. I married Kristi March 16, 1985.  Our daughter, Brenda, was born in August of 1988 and our son, Thomas, in May of 1990.  We moved to Clear Lake, TX, where I worked on the Space Station program.  In 1997, we made a grave error and moved to St. Louis, MO. where I currently work for Boeing building flight simulators for the Longbow Apache Helicoptor.  Life has been good.

Liz (Gajcak) Glanville
I can't believe that it has been 25 years!  So much  has happened! I had an exciting career in retail with Lord & Taylor, Kenneth J. Lane and Cartier, and a fast paced  move to the Internet world with Ashford.com. I am currently managing our growing family with a great husband of 4 years-Tom Glanville, 16 year old daughter Ali, 2 1/2 year old Mackenzie and 11 month old Pierce!  We live in Houston, Texas and enjoy working out, travel, mountain climbing (we climbed Kilimanjaro on our honeymoon) and all of our kids activities! I look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion!

Don Henry
I graduated from Illinois Benedictine College in 1983. I got married in 1984, had my first daughter in 1988, had my twin daughters in 1990.  I work as a Project Manager for Walsh Construction Company of Illinois.

Paul Huntley
Paul has been married to Stephanie since March 1987. They have 2 children: Erin (10) and Kyle (5). Paul is now Vice President, Branch Manager for SouthTrust Bank in Boca Raton. He still plays ice hockey 2-3 times weekly.

Colleen (Kelly) Phillip
Steve and I have been married for 20 years in October. We have four children: Stephanie (18); Dan (15); Emily (13); and John (8). I am currently a Financial Analysts for Ameritech. Needless to say we live a hectic life. It will be nice to get out for a night. (Edited from 20th reunion bio.)

Kathy (Kimball) Dreisilker
Mike Dreisilker and I were married in 1984 and will celebrate our 20th anniversary this May. I have my own business as a hair stylist and Mike works in the electric motor industry. We have two wonderful daughters. Jill is 16 years old and a sophomore at SFHS. Mary Kay is 13 years old and is in eighth grade at St. Michaels. Both of our girls are involved in sports. Jill plays volleyball at SFHS and at a VB club. Mary Kay is a level 10 gymnast. We enjoy the many, many volleyball tournaments and gymnastics meets that take us all over the midwest and occasionally as far as California, Florida and Massachusetts.

Nancy (Friedel) Sitton
Well I went to college and got an accounting degree which I used that for 8 years.  I got married in 1986 to Craig.  We have four children: Laurel 17, Corbin 15, Dennis 13, Kelcie 10.  We moved to AZ 11 years ago.  I started my own cleaning bussiness.  My husband still works at the post office.  We are always busy with the kids.  We love to hike, bike, swim, and we do alot of out door activities.

Sue (Glaser) Vierling
After graduating from Augustana College, I worked for awhile, then went to medical school (University of Illinois). Tim and I were married in 1986. He is an OB/GYN at Elmhurst Hospital. I did a residency in ophthalmology at University of Missouri and a fellowship in retinal surgery at LSU in New Orleans (that was fun!). I had been working with a group practice mainly in Oak Park until last month, but am at home for now with our two boys, Will (age 9) and Jack (7). 

Colleen (Kelly) Phillip
Steve and I have been married for 20 years and we have 4 children. Our oldest, Stephanie is attending St. Francis she will be a junior.Our son is 13; our other daughter is 10 and our other son is 5. Life is very hectic in the Phillip household. I work full time at Nalco Chemical co. as a Senior Manager. Steve is busy as a General Manager at Aramark.

Pete Ladesic
In a nutshell...After graduating from St. Pets I attended Marmion Military Academy (by choice) where I lived for a year before begging my parents to let me come back home. Due to the fact that that Benet Academy was our arch rival and that I was a stubborn kid, my parents gave in to sending me to St. Francis instead of Benet where my brothers and sisters had been going. Three wonderful years later I graduated and attended College of Dupage for two years before getting into sales. I had been working since I was twelve and thought nothing of continuing with that m.o. instead of going away to school. I knew that I made the right choice when my M.D. and C.P.A. older brother and sister came to me for money to get a start on their journey into the working world. Along with my sales position for a real estate services company I had been buying and rehabbing houses. When my company was bought out I thought it was time that I cut the cord and go out on my own. I continued to rehab houses and eventually fulfilled my dream of building custom homes in the western suburbs, which is what I am still up to today. My company, Ladesic & Scott Builders, is still based in Glen Ellyn and has grown into a fairly respected company specializing in period reproduction homes and renovations (www.ladesicandscott.com). I am married to Lori and have three children, including twins.

Dave Loiacono
Went to college and got a degree in pharmacy, became a registered pharmacist and went to work at family's pharmacy. Got married and now have seven children, all from same wife, no twins, five girls and two boys ages 15 to 4. Still happily married to their mother; she is also a nurse who works part-time in Labor and Delivery and CDH. Went back to school, resigned my shares of pharmacy to brother and earned two masters degrees. A masters of Public Health and a masters on management/organizational behavior. Worked full time on overnights at Osco and started teaching part time at National-Louis University. Left Osco to work full time at College of Pharmacy, was there for three years, left to go back to school full time for my doctorate. Work full time managing an Osco pharmacy in Carol Stream, half way finished with doctorate (full-time) work part-time at family's pharmacy, teach part-time and family full-time usually not in this order.

Collette Maher
Since '79 I recieved my AA and then my BA in Art Education and thought I would be done forever with school. However, I found my self receiving my Master's in Counseling August of 1997. I have been blessed to have work with amazing young adults who truly know adversity and how to move beyond exceptional challenges. Currently - I have the dream job of working for an alternative admissions program at Northern Illinois University, recently renamed McKinley "Deacon" Davis CHANCE Program. I am privilleged to work intensely with first year students in a variety of capacities and have learned much from them. I could go on - it has been 25 years but I will save it for the reunion. :-)

Steve McGreevy
1983- Graduated from Illinois State with a B.S. ED, Got Married to my college sweetheart/Algebra tutor Katie. I took a job with the Momence School District as a full time substitute and Varsity girls softball coach, and J.V. girls basketball coach. My wife worked for the Kankakee Co-op as a teacher of the hearing impaired. We lived in beautiful Bourbonnais, IL.

1984 - I took a job with the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller at Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, IL. Since my wife was still teaching in the Kankakee area, we did not relocate, I just did the 60 mile commute.

1988 - We built our first house in Bradley, IL, and later that year we had our first child. Maura.

1991- Child number two comes along, Michael. We also ended the long commute for me by moving to Plainfield, IL. My wife enters semi-retirement, and becomes a full time mom.

1995 - Retirement ends for my wife, she decided once the kids went to school she would head back to work, this time a contractor for Lewis University interpreting for deaf students in their classes.

2000 - As a licensed pilot since 1986 I had always wanted to own my own aircraft, I found the airplane of my dreams in Fairbanks, AK. I flew commercially to Fairbanks in Sept. with my partner and began the 5 day adventure back to Chicago in my Classic 1953 Cessna 170B.

Today - Our daughter Maura is now 15 and is a good student, and an accomplished figure skater, and plays the clarinet, and bass clarinet in the school band, and enjoys playing softball. Our son Michael is 12, he is an excellent student also, and he shares my love of sports, he plays basketball, and baseball. I still play hockey three times a week, and travel with the Chicago Air Traffic Controllers Hockey team all over the world. We have played in Russia, Finland, Canada, and many cities in the U.S. and I have been fortunate enough to be able to take my family along. They enjoy travelling, whether it is by big airplanes to foreign lands, or just exploring our own beautiful country in our little airplane. Wow, 25 years since high school, and it can all be condensed into a few sentences. I hope all is well with the rest of the Class of '79. I would like to thank Steve Milano for giving us this great forum to share the lives of our classmates. In these busy times it's difficult to keep track of our families let alone friends from long ago. I look forward to our 25th reunion, and to checking this site occasionally to see what the rest of you are up to.

Joe Mirabella
Got a job. Got married. Had a son-Joey. Bought a house in Wheaton. Had another son-Jamie. Got a different job-learned computers. Had a daughter-Elise. Got a real job-Networking, Admin, Applications. Got divorced. Started playing guitar again. Brendan asks me if I want to play in a band again. I say yes. We form Binge Crosby. I move to Geneva. Other than that-not much.

Jeanette (Miranda) Williams - (30th reunion update)
Thirty years later, I am a busy mom with 2 children. Miranda Sophie is 11 yrs old, in 6th grade, and Ethan Connor is 9 yrs old in 4th grade. They are busy with soccer, piano, and scouts. They are crazy, they make me crazy but they are a lot of fun! Ed and I will be married 16 yrs on Sept 25--where does the time go??? We have a lot of fun running around with the kids, traveling, skiing, we both play a little ice hockey, I just competed this summer in my first triathlon, and just sitting on the couch with a huge bowl of ice cream laughing at how old we are, although he is slightly younger!! Life is good.

Marge Mulcahy - (30th reunion update)
Three children. Math teacher in Connecticut.

Kathy (Norris) Roberts- (Kathy passed away in 2009)
After receiving my Master's degree in Speech Pathology, employment brought me out the Cape Cod for one year.  I married Hank Simpson, (fellow M.U. undergrad, and "a beer-drinker from Wisconsin", as Fr. Gabel warned me I would end up with after choosing M.U. over St. Mary's of Notre Dame) in 1986.  We moved to Northwestern Wisconsin in 1987, where I becoam employed by Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We have lived in Menomonie, Wisconsin since 1990.  I continue to work at Sacred Heart (occasionally).  Hank and I have three kids, Erin, age 11, Daniel, age 9, and Grace, age 6.  Life has brought us several trials which have made me realize what is important in life:  family, friends, and a strong Faith in God. Currently, I am enjoying good health and family time.  I am active in the kids school, and Church (music group) and the community (theatre).  I usually bike a few thousand miles each year, do a little cross country skiing, roller-blading, and basically, chaufeuring the kids here there and everywhere. I am blessed. Life is good.

Ellen Oberhart
Graduated from Loyola-Chicago in 1983. Married in 1985. Worked in Retail Buying from 1983-1989. Moved from Chicago to Dallas(1985) to Columbus, Ohio(1987), back to Chicagoland(1989). Been in Austin, Tx. since 2002. Kids: Sydney 13yrs., Griffin and Sloane 10yrs. (twins) Pets: Two dogs. Haven't worked outside home since 1989...haven't wanted to work outside the home since 1989.

Karen (Smudde) Koenigsman - (Karen passed away in 2005)
I have 3 children.  Joe, who is 16 and at St. Francis. Stephanie, who is 12.  Nicholas, who is 4.  I have been married to Ralph for the past 20 years. I am presently a teacher at St. Walter School in Roselle.  I recently got my Masters in Education.

Clare (Pekarek) Cholewa
Ken and I moved to Michigan in 1989, we have 2 incredible sons.  Our life was like many other families filled with success and failure, pain and joy. All of that changed on July 3, 1996, this is the day that we officially became a family challenged with autism. Ken and I spend our days doing what other spouses and parents do, while trying to balance the responsibility of being educational, medical, and legal advocates that our family requires.  While this is not the challenge I would have chosen for my life, I continue to learn things and met people in all professions that I would never have the opportunity to experience in an "ordinary life". I am extremely lucky that I am gaining this knowledge as I am able to be of service to others who are beginning their own family challenges with autism.  

Mike Power
After graduation, my family moved to New Jersey, and I attended the University of Notre Dame. Left ND in '83 an dreturned to NJ, where I started with Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte & Touche). Sixteen years later, I am still with Deloitte as an audit partner; JoAnn and I have four children: Kaitlyhn (17); Kristen (15); Brendon (13); and  Connor (12). We're living in Belle Mead, New Jersey. Golf has become a passion and I try to fit it in between coaching softball and soccer. I hope to be back one of these days; have a great time at the reunion and give me a call if you like. (Edited from 20th reunion bio.)

Mary Ranahan
I have been living in Seattle (the other Washington) since 1984. I married a Canadian, Keith Galloway  in 1988. We have two lovely girls Morgan age 7 and Mairead age 4. For the past 11 years I have been working for a West Coast Lawn & Garden Maunfacturer.  As a National Account Manager selling to the major retail chains. I have traveled quiet a bit for pleasure and for work.  My personal travel has slowed down quiet a bit with the addition of my new passengers (children).  We enjoy the mild Northwest weather very much and this keeps us firmly planted in Seattle. This winter we taught the girls to snow ski and next winter we look forward to many weekends of good skiing. This summer we will spend exploring the region, boating, riding bikes and camping.

Patty Roberts
Graduated U of I, worked on computers for 7 years, had two kids, ran a small not-for profit, got divorced then remarried 4 years ago. My kids are 10 and 14, two step kids are 19 and 25 (the oldest just got married in August). I've been working as a massage therapist and energy healer for past 5 years (part-time) and I love it. I'm finishing my teachers certification as a yoga instructor this fall, and also learning Hawaiian energy healing.  I've lived in Elmhurst for past 12 years. I can't believe it's been 25 years since SFHS. I don't feel that old.

Tom Russo
In a nutshell, the main things that I've done since 1979 would be: received a B.A, two M.A.'s, and a Ph.D.; got married and now have two sons age 10 and 7.  Currently, I am chair of the Dept. of Art and Art History and director of Study Abroad Programs at Drury University in Springfield, MO.  I remember when Fagan came to SFHS from Kirkwood, MO and I thought..."frickin' MO, that's a long way off".  My main area of teaching and research is medieval sculpture which gets me to England every year; in 2000 the whole family moved to England for my sabbatical year off...what a blast.  I'm a Cub Scout leader and (jocks like Brendan don't laugh!) have coached baseball and soccer during the summer for the boys' YMCA teamns.  Actually, it IS quite funny because I've coached soccer twice now and still don't know how many players are supposed to be on the field!  And not to disappoint Milano, I'm still jammin' on the guitar everyday and (though the substances have changed to the ! purely liquid type) partying (but, not everyday); keeps one young and so I may just make it to the 25th, 30th, 35th and the 50th reunions Steve!  Rock on!  

Jackie (Skryd) Kaminski
Undergraduate and grad work at SIU Carbondale in Phys Ed. I worked at University of Florida for 4 years as Asst Director of Intramural Sports, Special Olympics as Games Coordnator for the State of Florida for 4-1/2 years and insurance (family business) for the remainder. Now I work for our family business in Naperville, Skryd Group, as a Financial Professional with MONY/AXA. I got married in 2000 to Mike Kaminski from Georgia and we have one daughter born 7/19/03, Barbara Kaminski. For fun I participate in as many sport events as I can. I currently officiate for high school, club and collegiate volleyball. I am the back-up offical for Northwestern University Vollleyball. I also assign all the officials for 18 schools in the Surbuban Prairie Conference for the girls and boys volleyball programs. I really do enjoy seeing classmates who have children now playing volleyball at the high school and club level programs. I find it the best way to catch up with people.

Sue (Stark) Florian
Married 12/29/79 - so we'll be celebrating our 25 year anniversary this year! Graduated from Lewis University, Business Administration degree. We live on the Kankakee River. Still love boating, jet skiing, water skiing, and swimming. We've lost control / power because there are now three teenagers in the house. Dana 17, Joseph 16, and Carly 13. Dana and Carly play volleyball - just got back from the Junior Olympics in Houston where Dana's club team played. Joe wakeboards and participates in any extreme, unorganized "sport". I work for Elkay in Oak Brook as an IT Manager. Kerry works for Concrete Structures downtown Chicago as a Construction Superintendent. Our commutes are ridiculous, but worth the quality of life in a house on the water.

Jeannie (Walsh) Dugan
I went to Loras College in Dubuque Iowa,moved into the city of Chicago for a couple of years and worked in Property Mngmt, met my husband, married for 19 years, moved to Wheaton, then to Winfield in between had 4 kids, Meggan 18, Michael 16, Molly 14, and Jack 11, moved to Arizona 6 years ago.

Joe Walsh
I attended IBC, earned a B.S. in Mathematics, then worked in the computer field since then. First I did computer-aided design in Downers Grove, then was Operations Manager for Meyercord in Carol Stream. In 1985, I moved to Charleston IL, where I cleaned churches for a year, then became a banking-computer guy, at the local bank. 13 years later, I took some time off, and when the severence pay ran out, I started in at Eastern Illinois University, where I am today. We're finally replacing all the 20-year-old network equipment with all new stuff, and the resultant speed and reliability increases should make my last-second bids on eBay much more rewarding. I also golf, play badminton, drive my boat around, and just began a work-out regiment that should allow me to continue my trips to Portillos and White Castle unabated.

Judi (Wild) Pottle
I am married and we have three daughters.

Melissa (Winiecke) Freund
In the fall of 79 I left Illinois for Missouri where I earned an Associates Degree.  Once completed, I returned to the state, worked a variety of jobs including construction for a few years with my dad, Harry Kuhn.  I was married in the 80's, earned Paralegal certification and we moved to Ohio for a few years while I worked in the profession.  Today, I am employed as the Contract Specialist for a health insurance company in Rockford. George and I currently reside in Belvidere with the 2 youngest of our 5 girls (4 & 10), a dog and a mouse. 

Kathy (Zimmerman) Kozlowski
Frank and I have been married since 1981.  We have two children, Adam, who is 22 yrs old and Sage who is 12 yrs. We own a 5-acre farm (non-working) in Maple Park. I have an undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology from UIC (1985). I have a masters degree in Organizational Communications from UIC (1987). I am the Manager of the Data Processing Department for a commercial printer in the western suburbs.  I have been here for 14 yrs. I have done all the fun things Moms do - Coach soccer at the Jr High and High School level for my son's teams for 5 yrs. I coached for my daughter's soccer team at the grade school level for 2 yrs.  I was on the library board in our town for 7 yrs and president for 2 yrs.  And I get to do all the fun running to 4-H, piano lessons, choir practice,..... I have been singing with our Church choir for about 6 yrs now and have been a Cantor for 3 yrs.