My dear class of 1984, it is with the saddest of hearts that I realize I must apologize to you for missing the last two months. But it is with the gladdest of hearts that I tell you that the work that kept me from you has come to fruition. Grab the kids, wake die neighbors, run to your local WalMart or computer store, and look for Microsoft's new line of Magic Schoolbus CD- ROM multimedia titles. This is what my time has been going to for the last nine months. By the way, my husband, Ralph Barton, is working down the hall from me, also producing multimedia titles. I can't talk about his yet.
I left you with a bit of a cliff-hanger a few months ago, wondering if Peter Murphy was raising hamsters, if Mollie Hale had given birth to triplets, if Mary Meeker was indeed back in the U.S.
Well, Peter is actually working at Disney. He was promoted to vice president almost a year ago. His son Alex is three; Zach is going to be one. Peter tells me that they are "terrors of the house and we spend all our time chasing them." I actually found all this out and more (lots of fun travel you're not getting to hear about) through voice-mail exchanges.
Mary Meeker is working in San Francisco, and Mollie Hale is not only engaged to be married, but, since I missed two months, she is married. She married Larry Carter in Colorado during the summer. Congratulations! (Rather than attending the wedding, I was creating the above mentioned product, so you really have to see it!)
Sometime in the past few months I was over at the home of Lisa Eisenberg Merrill '85, and she showed me a baby picture. I dreamed I was talking to that baby's parents the next night, and, lo and behold, the next day I received an announcement. William Angelo Rossi 111 is proud to announce that he gained Lisen Stromberg and Bill Rossi as parents back in January. Lisen is in marketing at Nestle, and she pulled a new and really phenomenal trick: she got promoted while on maternity leave. Bill has joined a startup networking company called Grand Junction Networks. To top all that off they bought a new house this past year; 1995 is never going to be able to live up to that.
I received more news on Jeff Walker, but since he's already graced these pages I won't tell you that he has been appointed associate director, business affairs, of Sony Music. (Does this mean you can get me free CDs? What if I trade you for...(insert third mention of Amy's product here).
I also received a terrific letter from Lauren Andersen Lintott. Excerpts follow: "I had lunch with Susie Huang last week, who has been living here about a year and a half doing the investment-banking thing with Morgan Stanley. Susie got her J.D./M.B.A. from Columbia. She married Daniel Mintz, who works in a different division of Morgan Stanley.... Susie looks and sounds terrific.
"Chris McDonald is working here for ESPN. He also plays pro (yes, you read it right, people pay to watch him play) basketball. Chris is Mr. Sports. I saw him interviewed. He seemed very knowledgeable; I was impressed.
"Ben Wiley, who has been living here for a few years, working in venture capital, has a wife and child.... Finally, news from yours truly. I gave birth to my first child in January. My husband, Jonathan, and I met in business school in France, moved to London, and were married in 1991. We moved to Hong Kong when Jonathan was sent here on a consulting assignment.... A year later he quit consulting to join me in a new venture. We are bringing American infection-control technology to the hospitals of the Asia-Pacific region, and at the same time doing our part to reduce the U.S. trade deficit."
Lauren, thanks for your kind words and for helping me fill a column!
It was nice to hear from you. More letters would be quite welcome. In fact, I'll try a full column's worth of information for one of the aforementioned children's titles. Those of you with children and a PC owe it to your children to write to me.
8612 N.E. 10th Street, Bellevue, WA 98004-3915
Lisen Stromberg pulled a really phenomenal trick: she got promoted at Nestle while on maternity leave. AMY IORIO '84