1977 Classnotes
2024
Frederick (Fred) Patt is excited to announce the launch of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, our latest scientific mission at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. PACE was launched on February 8, and the first science data sets were publicly released on April 11 after a two-month commissioning period. PACE will provide unprecedented information about Earth's ocean ecosystem with hyperspectral global imaging from the near-UV to near-IR spectrum. I gave a talk about PACE to the Moravian chapter of the Society of Physics Students in 2018.
Bruce Weaknecht retired in June 2023 after serving as a Moravian pastor in seven different Moravian congregations for 42 years. They moved back to PA in July 2023.
Andrew Sawran is still working for an enterprise software company - BlackLine helping large public global companies close their books accurately. He is still traveling often for both work and pleasure and has resided in Hershey PA since 1982.
2023
Bruce Weaknecht retired in June 2023 after serving 42 years as a Moravian Church pastor. 20 years at the Egg Harbor City Moravian congregation in NJ. They moved back to PA and are enjoying their grandchildren.
Kathryn Elizabeth Ozzard Chism -passed away on June 16, 2023
Judge John M. Morganell Northampton County Judge John M. Morganelli, Class of 1977, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Janet Johnston Housenick and William D. Housenick Memorial Foundation. The Foundation is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation that exists in part to preserve land that contains a historic mansion built by Archibald Johnston, the first mayor of Bethlehem and the first president of Bethlehem Steel Company
John Fauerbach has been living in Florida. He was diagnosed and treated for life-threatening Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and associated Immunological Thrombocytopenia. Their home is 20 minutes from the Florida Cancer Institute. Non-Hodgkin’s is in remission after intensive Chemo. Blood numbers (ITP) out of the danger zone and slowly improving with Chemo. (pills) twice daily. Still alive (Yay!) and feeling much improved. May never be "healed, " but so far so good. God is great! Go Greyhounds! He is living the good life 11 minutes from the ocean here in the Daytona Beach Area of Florida. Have cancer controlled by daily Chemotherapy (Pills 2X. Praise God for the Florida Cancer Institute just 20 minutes from our home. He has his cancer controlled by daily Chemotherapy (Pills 2X. Praise God for the Florida Cancer Institute just 20 minutes from his home.
2022
Douglas Learn retired after 23 years and 157 days at Charles River Laboratories in Horsham, PA as the Director of Toxicology. Previous to that he worked for ten years at Schering-Plough HealthCare Products in Memphis, TN, before it was acquired by Merck.
2021
Kathy Chism's third book is now available on Amazon in both paperback and e-book! "The Story Of My Life - By Sunday, an Amazing Little Rescue Dog" tells the true-life story of Kathy's dog Sunday, named for the day he was rescued, told in his own words.
Patricia Miller was elected to the Connecticut State Senate in a historic special election on March 2, 2021 after serving 12 years as a State Representative. It was historic because she is the first person of color and woman to serve my district. She is also, the 4th Black woman to be elected to the State Senate and this is the first time two Black women have served in the Senate at the same time. She is so very grateful to Moravian for investing in me and laying the foundation that has afforded me the opportunity to pursue my careers.
A. Lee Baker passed away on Sunday, August 22, 2021.
In March 2020, Terry Rinker and his wife Mary retired and moved to Colonial Beach, VA. After 9 months, during the COVID pandemic, he returned to the government contract workforce sector with BCF Solutions. Terry is currently working as an Acquisition Analyst for the Missile Defense Agency. Terry and his wife Mary are proud to have launched all 3 of our children into gainful employment. Also, his 7th grandchild was born in July 2020.
Roy Seiple retired from being the chief of the Colonial Regional Police Department.
Edwin Yeakel is officially retired from Lehigh’s faculty, but he volunteers to stay involved with the project, pro bono. He was an adjunct in the Computer Science and Business (CSB) program, mainly mentor/advisor for the students’ capstone projects. He is also busy doing grandparent stuff, doing or managing projects at home, and getting ready for his summer gig as pool boy and innkeeper. He is looking forward to getting back to a less-constrained life now that people are getting vaccinated.
Albert Bittle passed away on January 31, 2021.
Rodney Altorfer passed away on February 1, 2021.
October 2020
The Rev. Dr. Gene Handwerk '77 S'85 passed away on October 2, 2020.
September 2020
Desiree Jaworski Bieltz has been in Arlington, Virginia for many years and enjoys the dynamics of living near the nation's capital. She progressed from being an accountant to eventually working as the director of finance, database, and operations for a mid-size association and then becoming the executive director of a non-profit. She loves to travel with her family, and she had planned a trip to Thailand this year but had to cancel it because of the pandemic. They will look forward to it in the future. In the meantime, they did get to enjoy the ocean at Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week. Another week was spent in Cambridge, Maryland where they went shark fishing and caught 3 different species of sharks and a Spanish mackerel. All the sharks were put back into the Chesapeake Bay to live another day, and the mackerel became lunch for the captain of the boat. Desiree looks forward to the post-pandemic days so that they can get back to their normal lives.
May 2020
Gwen Thomas Bolger is still working hard running HR for a company in Trenton, NJ that provides integrated marketing solutions for large corporations. She is spending her time between Newtown, PA and Stone Harbor, NJ and watching her husband relax as he is retired. She loves the fact that she has reconnected with old MoMo friends via Facebook and hopes to see everyone again soon.
Cleo Cululi Millheim and her husband, Gary, welcomed their first grandchild, James Andrew Vassa, in March 2018.
January 2020
Gary Savoth passed away on January 7, 2020.
In November 2019, John Morganelli ’77 was elected to a 10-year term as judge in the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas.
Connecticut State Representative Patricia Billie Miller, along with Kathryn Emmett, Corporation Counsel of the City of Stamford, and Fran Pastore, CEO of the Women's Business Development Council, will be the honorees at the Stamford History Center's 2019 Gala on April 18, 2019. The event title is "Forging the Future: Honoring Women's Leadership.”