Gael Glimpses, 1960-1969
1969
 Thomas Herget has spent the last four decades as an international tour guide. He is sharing this unique and adventuresome era and through a collection of true short stories, and invites you to visit him at his interactive literary web site, tommymogul.com, and share your own outrageous travel stories. |
| John Newlin, a retired SFPD captain, was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to the Entertainment Commission, which oversees events and regulates nightclubs in the city. His wife, Lucy, owns and operates Don Ramon's restaurant in San Francisco, which serves the finest Mexican food outside Mexico. His grown daughters live in Vail, Colo., and Pittsburgh, Pa. |
 David Sikes has worked his entire career in the chemical technology business. (Thank you Brother Myron Campbell.) His children are doing well. David III lives in Denver and is into advanced technology; William finished his freshman year in college at Shasta and played some summer baseball in Alaska as a catcher; Joanna works for Chihuly and David is visiting S.F. for a new exhibition at the De Young. He wonders if anyone else remembers the “Attack on Santa Clara” and believes if it were done today, the perpetrators would be doing life. |
1968
| Gregory Aloia became on July 1 the 10th president of Concord University in Athens, W.V., a state university founded in 1872 known for its strong liberal arts tradition. It has approximately 3,000 students. Aloia was previously dean of the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. |
| Don Attix celebrated his 40th anniversary with his wife, Karen. They were married in Saint Mary's Chapel on June 29, 1968. |
| Chris Bottino and his wife, Virginia, spent May traveling in Europe to celebrate their 40th anniversary and his recent retirement. Their odyssey included Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Estonia and Sweden. They hope to travel more and spend more time with children and grandchildren. |
1967
| James Morphy completed 20 years of public service after an unsuccessful retirement attempt at age 28. He will try again when his youngest kid finishes college. Jim has avoided bankruptcy and foreclosure throughout the college careers of his two daughters, although his HELOC was frozen due to the real estate decline. No worries. He and Alexandra can still afford season tickets to men's basketball, and what is more important than that? |
| Michael Vernetti is publishing Senator Howard Cannon of Nevada: A Biography (University of Nevada Press) in September. Vernetti, a former public relations director of Saint Mary's (1973-77), was Cannon's press secretary during his final term and began the biography shortly after Cannon's death in 2002. Michael's daughter Amy Vernetti '90 is working on a book about another colorful Las Vegas figure. |
1966
| Bob Cone and his wife, Joan, left for Macedonia in June for the Peace Corps. The volunteers work in schools as English resource teachers and in community development projects. Bob and Joan are living in Skopje for a 2½-year assignment. After Bob retired three years ago as superintendent of the Larkspur School District, he and Joan traveled extensively, mostly in third-world countries. Their most recent adventure was a nine-week overland trip from Cape Town, South Africa, to Kigali, Rwanda. |
1965
| Dick Morosi retired on June 30 after 43 years in secondary education. Dick had been a high school principal since 1996 and principal of Westmoor High School in Daly City since 1998. He was Westmoor's Teacher of the Year in 1993 and a received an Outstanding Administrator's Award from the California Department of Education in 2002. |
1964
| Michael Herr retired in 2000 after 34 years in education, both as a teacher and an administrator, in the San Francisco, Mt. Diablo and Martinez school districts. He has returned to his love of writing, self-publishing five books, including a mystery/thriller series set on the Big Island of Hawaii. His books are available through amazon.com. Mike and his wife, Barbara, have been married for 43 years. They have one son, Anthony, and were expecting their second grandchild in May. Mike is active in Rossmoor, including as president of the Fourth Walnut Creek Mutual. He and Barbara enjoy traveling, particularly to Hawaii. |
1963
| Don Crosby recently retired after 23 years with Nestle and moved from Nestle headquarters in Glendale to El Dorado Hills. He has two children, Michelle (Crosby) Elorduy '90 and Michael '92. Michelle has three children and lives in nearby Folsom; Mike has a daughter and lives in San Pedro where he works for Disney. Don, who worked on the reunion committee, planned to be at Reunion Weekend in July for his 45th reunion. |
| Peter L. Spinetta, who retired from the Contra Costa Superior Court in June 2007, has permanently relocated with his wife, Katrin, to their 150-acre ranch in southwest Montana. You can see the ranch at www.alta-ranch.com, and are invited to visit them and enjoy the fantastic fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing. Spinetta still serves on special assignment, most recently on Chief Justice Ronald George's Special Task Force assisting with the criminal case backlog in Riverside Superior Court. |
1962
 Wayne Phillips and his wife, Katalin, went to Phoenix for the electrochemical society meeting. Katalin is a symposium chair (she's manager of the chip lab at UC Berkeley). After the society meeting, she and he went to Gold Canyon to visit his brother, Bruce, who also attended SMC, albeit not graduating, and his wife, Teressa. They toured the Superstition mountain range, looked unsuccessfully for the Dutchman's Mine (which, of course, is lost) and ate and drank while becoming acquainted with a desert flora and fauna. |
| Paul Van Cleve saw his home in Big Timber, Mt., destroyed in November 2007 by a 20,000-acre wildfire started by two trespassing hunters. Several outbuildings, all his hay, and 10,000 acres of winter cattle grass were also destroyed. He is in a new home now, and the ranch is turning green again. |
1961
| Paul Alvarado traveled on May 1 to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis to watch his son Robert (1st year) run in the Patriot League track meet. Robert placed 4th in his heat despite a fall after hitting a hurdle. |
| Father Patrick Leo LaBelle, O.P., will move to a new position after 13 years as director of the Catholic Chaplaincy at Stanford University. He will direct the Vallombrosa Retreat and Conference Center in Menlo Park and will be director of the Office for Ongoing Formation of the Clergy for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Father Patrick lives in the Dominican Community in Menlo Park and remains a College trustee. |
| Edward Waffen, a.k.a. "Tony," has worked eight years with Royal Caribbean Cruises in Alaska. He has been involved with Alaska's tourist industry since 2001. He and Dolores moved to Alaska in 1995 after many years in California schools. In the winter, they have a small kennel of sled dogs. |
