Class Notes - 1990s

Class Notes - 1990s

1990

Sara Bowersox ‘90 and Morgan Beller ‘91 live in Portland with daughter Annastasia and son Xavier. Bowersox does trade compliance work for Dr. Martens AirWair USA and is a licensed U.S. customs broker. 

Brian DeMarco JD ‘90 has been appointed legal counsel with the Oregon Judicial Department’s Office of the State Court Administrator. Previously, he worked at the State of Oregon Real Estate Agency and was in private practice in Portland and McMinnville.

Amy Lerich-Masterson ‘90 works for Starbucks and lives in Seattle with her husband, Don, and 9-year-old daughter, Madeleine. They would love to see anyone who happens to make it up their way–“Seattle has had more sun this year!”

Kristin Rogers-Lennarz ‘90 left her job at Colgate-Palmolive in New York after nine great years and made the leap to a more bucolic lifestyle upstate in October. Her husband, Matt, got a new job in Rochester, and the lifestyle of the area (all except the weather, of course) looked appealing–especially now that they have two small children. She works for an advertising firm in New York City but is based out of the couple’s 1882 Folk Victorian in Pittsford village.

1991

Arts & Sciences 15th Reunion Oct. 5-8, 2006

Matthew Mintier ‘91 taught in Hungary for four years with his wife, Eszter, whom he met while on his overseas study program. They moved to Portland in 1995. For the last 10 years, he has been working as a supervisor, first for a nonprofit and then for a high-tech semiconductor manufacturer. He recently got his master’s degree in business administration and plans to work for himself as a general appraiser. They have two beautiful daughters, Alma, 3, and ZsoZso, 1. They make every effort to ensure the girls know their Hungarian roots. To that end, they’ve already taken Alma to Hungary three times and have taught her Hungarian and Russian. (They’ll work on her English later.)

Eli Stutsman JD ‘91, coauthor of the physician-assisted suicide law, has been in the legal and political trenches defending the landmark legislation since Oregon voters first approved it in 1994. He has been at the forefront of Oregon’s right-to-die movement, from the passage of the Death With Dignity Act to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the law against a Bush administration challenge.

1992

Joe Condy ‘92 is executive vice president for VCOM Solutions, which was just ranked the fastest-growing company in the San Francisco Bay Area by the San Francisco Bay Business Times. 

Craig Coss ‘92 and his wife, Michelle Moore, recently landed in Sausalito, California, where he teaches middle school at Willow Creek Academy. He has been working as a freelance illustrator, storyteller, curriculum designer, and teacher (sometimes all simultaneously) since 1994. Visit his website at Coss Design

Ruthe Farmer ‘92 works at the Girl Scouts’ national headquarters in Manhattan, where she manages a national engineering initiative for middle school girls. She lives on the Upper East Side and loves the city. She is a board member for the Learning Innovation & Technology Consortium, the National Girls Collaborative Project Champions, and the Girls FIRST Advisory Council.

Alan Stuart Graf JD ‘92 has rejoined Swanson, Thomas & Coon as of counsel for the Portland firm’s Social Security practice. He will consult on hearing-level cases and handle federal court appeals.

Coby Holley ‘92 lives in Portland with his wife of 12 years, Kirsti, and their two sons, Callum, 9, and Carson, 7. When not spending time with his family, Holley is vice president of Pacific Northwest real estate for PS Business Parks, a real estate investment trust based in Glendale, California.

Walter Ledesma JD ‘92 has joined the Woodburn law firm of Klein, Hand & Ledesma as a partner. He is a former deputy public defender for the Office of Public Defense Services in Salem, where he practiced appellate law. In private practice he focuses on criminal defense, personal injury, appeals of all kinds, and intellectual property law. 

Charlotte Nytzen ‘92 is an international opera singer. She earned her master’s degree in vocal performance from Indiana University and teaches private music lessons to children and young adults in and around Marin County, California.

Jen Castle Rotar ‘92 relocated with her family to Berthoud, Colorado. She started her own Web design business and works from home so she can care for 2-year-old son Tyler and newborn daughter Sara.

Barbara Smythe JD ‘92 is president of the 2006 Queen’s Bench board in Oregon.

1993

Margaret Coker ‘93 is the Middle East correspondent for Cox Newspapers, whose flagship is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For the past five years, she has lived in Central Asia and the Middle East, where she covered the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She married fellow foreign correspondent Craig Nelson in May 2005.

Monya Lemery ‘93 was promoted to regional director, Mexico and Central America, for the IE3 Global Internship Program, part of the Oregon University System. She arranges international internships for students from Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Utah. She lives in Corvallis and works on the Oregon State University campus.

Michelle MacCready ‘93 is the winemaker at Sierra Vista Vineyards & Winery in Placerville, California. Her winemaking experience comes from working in the lab and cellar at Cardinale Winery in Oakdale, California, and working in research and development for Neocork, a synthetic cork company. She also studied viticulture and enology at the University of California at Davis. 

Andrea Meyer JD ‘93, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, was a panelist for The Future of National Security: Civil Liberties, Immigration, and Racial Profiling, a discussion presented by Pacific University, the Hillsboro Police Department, and Washington County. When the Oregon legislature is in session, Meyer lobbies full time in Salem, tracking hundreds of bills that have civil liberties implications. In the interim, she works on local and statewide initiatives, ballot measures, and coalition efforts, including the successful repeal of Portland’s participation in the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. 

Amy Wagner ‘93 is a mother of two and an aspiring artist. She won second place for her painting Muley Grazing at Angel Farm Valley in a juried art show at the Chemeketa Community College art gallery.

Patrick Widmer JD ‘93 and Steve Mensing JD ‘93 have formed Widmer Mensing Law Group in Bend. Widmer, formerly of Edwards Widmer in Bend, practices business law focusing on entity formation and transactions, as well as commercial and contract law, employment law, real estate, creditor-side bankruptcy, and estate planning. Mensing, formerly of Doyle-Mensing in Scottsdale, Arizona, specializes in business and general civil litigation, construction litigation, civil rights, product liability and insurance law, and real estate law.

1994

Michael Falchini ‘94 has managed the family winery with his brother in San Gimignano, Italy, for more than 10 years. Recent successes include a gold medal from the 2004 London International Wine Challenge and a three-year run as Wine Spectator’s Best Buy white wine producer. In 1999, he married Eleonora Tsoumas from Portland and moved to Florence, Italy. They have two children who fill their days (and nights!): Gabriele, 4, and Elektra, 2.

Susan Felstiner JD ‘94 is president of the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association.

Brian Humphreys ‘94 has been an officer in the Marines for three years. He recently returned from Afghanistan, where he served as an adviser to the Afghan National Army. He spent six months working with the Afghans to build up an infantry company. They were deployed on the Afghan-Pakistani frontier, and had many adventures together, both good and bad.

Jacqueline Strong Moss JD ‘94 heads the new city department of multicultural affairs in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she will develop and implement programs and activities to serve the needs of diverse social, cultural, and economic groups. Previously, she was an adjunct professor for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Criminal Justice, the site manager for the Chattanooga Area Urban League, and a staff attorney for Legal Aid of East Tennessee.

1995

Nancy Cooper JD ‘95 has been named a new shareholder with Bullivant Houser Bailey’s Portland office. She counsels employers on best practices to avoid litigation in employment law. Cooper regularly conducts in-house training on issues such as discrimination, wage and hour issues, and harassment.

Joy Ellis JD ‘95, of Garvey Schubert Barer’s Portland office, has been promoted to owner of the firm. She joined the firm as an associate in 2003 and practices in the areas of labor and employment law, litigation, and sustainable business.

Susan Miller JD ‘95 has been appointed assistant attorney general in the Civil Recovery Section of the Oregon Department of Justice’s Civil Enforcement Division.

1996

Arts & Sciences 10th Reunion Oct. 5-8, 2006

Law School 10th Reunion  Aug. 18-19, 2006

Shareefah Abdullah JD ‘96, president and owner of Hot Ovations Communications Coaching & Training Company, has been honored with the Clark County Chamber of Commerce Best in County Award for Innovation in Networking in recognition of her work creating the organization Black Entrepreneurs of Clark County. Abdullah also earned a spot among the Vancouver Business Journal’s “Accomplished and Under 40” of 2005, which honors entrepreneurs and other professionals for business and community achievements.

Mary Casey ‘96 and Thomas “Kevin” Casey ‘96 moved to North Carolina, where Mary earned a master’s degree in recreation administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2005, the couple moved to Colorado and opened the Boulder Quest Center, their own martial arts school.

Robin Kundis Craig JD ‘96 is the Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund Professor of Law at Florida State University College of Law. She is excited about her new job, which will give her a chance to concentrate on “all things water” and make it much easier to pursue her interests in ocean and coastal law. Craig teaches environmental law, water law, an environmental law seminar, and civil procedure.

Tanya Durkee JD ‘96 has returned to Portland to rejoin the law firm of Lane Powell as a shareholder in the litigation department. She focuses on commercial litigation and consumer defense. Durkee joined Lane Powell in May 2000 and left in August 2004 to accept the position of deputy commissioner of securities for the Vermont State Securities Division, a part of the state’s Banking, Insurance, Securities, and Health Care Administration.

Sonia Montalbano JD ‘96 has merged her law practice with Elliott, Ostrander & Preston. She specializes in the areas of employment and business law, with an emphasis on litigation in these and other areas. Before joining the firm, Montalbano was a partner in Cobb, Bosse & Montalbano and was also a solo practitioner.

Doug Morris JD ‘96 has been named a partner at Ater Wynne. A member of the firm’s business department, he focuses on mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and general corporate representation of technology and high-growth companies.

Andrea Williams ‘96 is a natural resource specialist for the San Francisco Area Network of National Parks Inventory and Monitoring Program. She monitors vegetation issues in Golden Gate, Point Reyes, and other parks in the area. She has a place in Marin, so if folks are in the area they should feel free to contact her. 

1997

Greg Baxter ‘97 lived until 2002 in San Francisco, where he worked on visual effects for films such as Star Wars Episode 1, The Mummy, The Perfect Storm, and 13 Ghosts. He then moved to Los Angeles to shoot the movie The Rundown. Baxter now lives in Venice Beach, California, and is a visual effects producer. He recently completed\ work on the films Blade Trinity, Zathura, and Final Destination 3.

Victoria Blachly JD ‘97 has been elected shareholder at Lane Powell’s Portland office. She is a civil trial attorney who works on a wide range of litigation issues, including employment, insurance, personal injury premises liability, professional liability, trust and fiduciary litigation, and will contests.

Paul Conable JD ‘97 has been elected a partner at Tonkon Torp. He focuses primarily on commercial litigation for companies, directors, and officers in the technology and energy industries.

Jerry Holoway ‘97 is nearing the end of his film school experience at Columbia University. His thesis film is a 27-minute character study about a promising young composer entangling himself in a love triangle during a weekend visit with some friends in their country cottage. He’s drawn more from his Lewis & Clark adventures than from his five years at Columbia–particularly in terms of classical music (thank you, Nora and Gil!), Bill Shakespeare (thank you, Lyell!), and those big juicy novels from Mother Russia (thank you, Tatiana!). He and his priceless girlfriend, Hope, have been living on lentils and air for the past few months, because the amount they’d allotted for the movie was overly optimistic. The finished movie showed at Columbia University’s Film Festival, and he would love to give a DVD copy of the film to anyone interested.

Sara Lewis ‘97 is a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama.

Jason Ludeman ‘97 is pursuing a master’s in business administration at the University of Montana.

Jason Mokrovich ‘97 lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with his partner, John Dawson, and two Dalmatians, Tessa and Emma. He emigrated in 1997 and works for the local government as a senior social researcher. He was recently recommended by a committee of examiners for a doctoral degree in sociology at the University of Glasgow. His doctoral thesis is titled “On a Discursive Conversation between Queer Theory and Sociology.” 

Erika Soublet JD ‘97, formerly a deputy district attorney for Multnomah and Yamhill counties, has accepted a position as deputy prosecuting attorney for Skagit County, Washington.

Selim Star ‘97 works for Legal Services of New Jersey as a family law attorney. His wife works for the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia. They live seven miles from Center City, Philadelphia. “If in town, give us a shout.”

1998

Kevin Finkle ‘98 and Kathy Carlson ‘00 got married and bought their first home in Portland. Both still perform locally with White Rhino Marimba, and Finkle also plays with Fools in Paradise.

Jeff Flowers ‘98 traveled to Malaysia last fall with Brooks Meek ‘98, Men’s Basketball Head Coach Bob Gaillard, and Women’s Basketball Head Coach Juli Fulks. They were promoting sports diplomacy and cultural exchange as part of the Understand the Game program.

Eric Johnson ‘98 is in the fourth year of his doctoral program in comparative education at Columbia University. While waiting for his comparative political economy class to start, he ran into the newest member of the Columbia political science faculty and his old friend, Justin Phillips ‘98. Both speak well of their Lewis & Clark educations, particularly their economics classes with Eban Goodstein.

Dawny “D.J.” Lancaster ‘98 is currently on sabbatical from her passions of advertising and wedding photography to pursue the role of stay-at-home mom in Honolulu. Her 1-year-old son, Noa Andrew Frasco, is so busy she has a hard time keeping up with him. But by the end of the day, she sighs a happy sigh because it’s all worth it. “Aloha friends!”

Tiffany Palafox ‘98 does freelance public relations work in Portland, where she lives with her husband of four years, Bryan Garvin; son Tage Thomas, 2; 11-year-old lab Teton; and cat Aruba.

Samuel Panarella JD ‘98 has been named a partner with Stoel Rives. He practices in the areas of land use, natural resources, real estate development, and environmental law. He has particular expertise in legal issues related to utility and energy facilities.

1999

Alicia Gibert ‘99 lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, “the man of my dreams.” She is director of residence life at Peace College and teaches communication courses there. She loves the Southeast.

Jill Long JD ‘99 has joined Lane Powell’s real estate and land use practice group. She came to Lane Powell from C&J Partners. Previously, Long was an associate with Foster Pepper Tooze for six years. Her practice emphasizes land use, real estate, and business law, including a focus on obtaining entitlements for developers and property owners.

Chad “Dan” Meliza ‘99 earned his doctorate in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley and began his postdoctorate work at the University of Chicago in spring 2006.

Jessica Pisano ‘99 opened Belushi Pisano Gallery, a contemporary fine art gallery on Martha’s Vineyard. The gallery is a subsidiary of the Second Chance Foundation, and net profits of all art sales are funneled back into the Vineyard community. The gallery exhibits paintings, sculptures, mixed media, glass, handcrafted furniture, and jewelry. Adam Wiedmann ‘01 is a represented artist at the gallery. Because Lewis & Clark is located at the epicenter of coffee culture, Pisano was inspired to include an espresso bar within the art gallery. For more information, click here.

Jessica Robins ‘99 teaches in the David Douglas School District in Portland. She reports that she’s never lost a game of dominoes.

Kymberli “Zeenie” Scholz ‘99 is the new full-time director of development and operations at the Cougar Fund, where she works with a motivated, dynamic, and diverse board of directors to promote science, education, and the cougar. If you’re ever in Jackson Hole, Wymoming, don’t hesitate to look her up!

Matthew Singer JD ‘99 has joined Harrang Long Gary Rudnick’s Eugene office as an associate in the firm’s government practice group. Before joining the firm, he represented diverse clients, including businesses, municipalities, school districts, and individuals, in all aspects of civil litigation in state and federal courts.

Jenni Sutherland ‘99 earned a master’s degree in psychology, with a concentration in counseling, and works as a marriage and family therapist.