Gael Glimpses, 1970-1979
1979
| Claudia (Garvey) Curran and her husband now live in Parker, Colo., a suburb of Denver. It’s absolutely gorgeous and this San Francisco city girl survived the harsh winter, apparently the worst in 20 years. Summer was absolutely beautiful. Their children are all out of the house. The oldest is finishing a year tour in Iraq and will return to Germany for two years to finish his four-year Army ROTC commitment. He then will apply to med school to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a doctor. The next son graduated in May from Brown University with a master’s in biomedical engineering and is seeking research work for a year at UCSF before med school. Their youngest is in her fourth year at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and is studying for a semester abroad in Morocco to become fluent in Arabic. After graduation, she will go to pilot school. |
1978
| Mark Job has two sons ages 17 and 15. The 17-year-old may enter the dark side next fall as a member of the Santa Clara or Loyola Marymount Class of 2012. Mark has been lucky to see many of his old classmates this year, including those present at Michael Murphy’s 50th and those featured on various wanted posters throughout the U.S. Postal system. |
1977
| Dean Filer, who worked for 40 years as a fire chief, and his wife, Caroll, began working as missionaries in the Mexican state of Chiapas, located along the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Their work takes them to the remote area outside of San Cristobal de Las Casas, where they work with the Chamula Indians. They have constructed 16 small chapels and organized women’s co-ops, worked for human rights and helped translate the Bible from Spanish to Tzotzil (the native language). They work closely with the Mexican Order of Dominicans and Dominicans from the Western Province. After traveling and working in San Cristobal de Las Casas for more than 11 years, it seems like their second home. |
1976
| Rita Spillane is a deputy district attorney in Sacramento, in charge of the county’s community prosecution program which handles quality of life issues including graffiti, garbage and chronic alcoholics. She’s working on a master’s in theology. Her husband is a federal prosecutor with a Ph.D. in mathematics. Their son, Andrew, graduated from Dartmouth University, and Ted from Notre Dame. |
1975
| Mark Bechelli attended Saint Mary’s with brothers Mike ’74 and Greg ’77. He met his wife, Jan (Pierce) ’77, in 1974. Mark opened his first restaurant, Bechelli’s in San Francisco’s Marina District in January 1977. Eleven months later, he and Jan married. In 1988, Mark opened Bechelli’s Flower Market Cafe in the San Francisco Flower Market. Bechelli’s on Chestnut Street recently celebrated 30 years and was recognized by the mayor with “Bechelli’s Day in San Francisco,” a formal proclamation. Bechelli’s Flower Market Cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, specializing in private parties. Mark and Jan have four daughters: Erin, Katie, Sarah and Jackie. Erin, 28, is a resident nurse, Katie, 26, a grammar school teacher, Sarah ’06 is finishing her master’s degree at Saint Mary’s and working at Dodge and Cox Investment Company and Jackie, 19, is an SMC freshman. Jan has taught for 10 years at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco. Mark played tennis at SMC and stays involved in both the tennis and basketball programs. |
| Stephanie Lee, who returned to the United States after working as fitness director aboard the Royal Princess, has completed her massage program and is licensed in Oregon. She works at Cannon Beach Spa on the beautiful Oregon coast providing massage, facial and nail services in addition to teaching group fitness classes and Pilates personal training. On your next visit to Cannon Beach, stop in and say hello. |
| Randy Nelson ECR is married and has three stepchildren and 10 grandchildren. He is a member of the International Society of Appraisers and owns a personal property appraisal business with his wife of seven years, Randeen (Randy). He previously spent 23 years in the restaurant service industry in locations ranging from the Bay Area to Sisters, Ore., with many diverse stops along the way. Randy’s appraisal specialty is sports memorabilia and he has many referrals from baseball’s Hall of Fame. |
| Tom Torriglia and his Italiano band, Bella Ciao, performed “The Star Spangled Banner” during Italian Heritage Night at AT&T Park before the game where Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record. Coincidence? |
1973
 Jaime Roman was appointed to the Superior Court of California in Sacramento County on May 23. On June 10, he retired as a judge advocate general’s corps colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve. Before his Superior Court appointment, he had been the presiding administrative law judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings since 1994. Previously, he was a deputy state attorney general from 1992 to 1994. Roman earned his J.D. from UC’s Hastings College of the Law and a master’s of law from Boston University. He is an adjunct faculty member at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. |
| Don Papa, who has coached more than half a dozen sports at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology in San Francisco for the past 15 years, was inducted into the Galileo Hall of Fame in April. |
1972
| Richard G. Palacios retired in June 2007 after 28 years as an FBI special agent. During his career, he worked in the San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Los Angeles field offices. He investigated just about every type of crime over which the FBI has jurisdiction and traveled to Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia. During the last 11 years, he was a full-time polygraph examiner. In retirement, he works for the Los Angeles Police Department as a polygrapher. He looks forward to spending more time with his wife of 28 years, Linda, their three children, a son-in-law and granddaughter. |
1971
| Tom Bremer retired this summer after 32 years as a high-school English teacher. In addition to teaching, his 2001 book of poems, Just Once, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards. An excerpt from his poem “Dream of Portland” was selected for Poetry in Motion, a national project. Tom lives in Portland. |
1970
| George Doerr was promoted to deputy regional director for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), San Francisco region. George has been with the FDIC for 37 years, and shows no signs of slowing down. He and his wife, Kathie, live in Hercules. The Doerrs have a son and three daughters, all grown and off the payroll. |
| Tom Donato recently retired after teaching 36 years at Jesuit High School in Sacramento. He is looking forward to celebrating his 34th wedding anniversary with his wonderful wife, Terri. Tom and Terri have one son, Alan, who is attending McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. They reside in Sacramento, and Tom is looking forward to resuming his pastimes of golfing and traveling. |
| Jim Granata is the general manager for John Mullen & Company in Honolulu, the largest third-party insurance-adjusting firm in Hawaii, which has done business in the islands and the south Pacific for 48 years. Jim received his master’s from Cal State University–Hayward in 1976. |
 Jim Wood is in his 31st year with the same law firm (Oakland-based Crosby Heafey, which merged with the 1,500-lawyer international law firm Reed Smith in 2003). He recently led a team in settling a class-action suit against the state Department of Education to ensure that California students with diabetes are safe at school and have the same educational opportunities as their peers. Reed Smith donated legal services that exceeded $2 million. Jim’s youngest daughter, Ruth, was married to Adam Yagiz in July. Jim lives with his wife, Cynde, in Berkeley. |
