Debbie Lechner

20th-anniversaryCornell Name: Debbie Lathrop

Current Home City: San Diego, CA

Your College: Arts and Sciences

Email Address: dll48@cornell.edu

Tell us what you’re doing with your life:
After graduation I went into television production and worked in Boston, Chicago and LA. I met my husband, Bob, at the Huntington Library and moved to San Diego after we got married. We’ve had 3 terrific children who are currently in college or graduated and employed (hooray!) I enjoyed volunteering with their schools, sports teams and in scouts as they were growing up. I went to our local community college to learn computer information systems and digital design about 10 years ago and I currently create websites for small businesses and non-profits (including this fine website for the class of ’77!) I’m looking forward to traveling, reading and gardening until some grandchildren come along (which may be quite a while according to my kids).

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
I went to our 35th reunion and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Tri-Delta friends and going to all the amazing lectures and taking tours all over campus.

picture-064

Circa 1975, this was going to be the photo on the back cover of my great American novel.

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Alison Lurie – Children’s Lit
Food Chemistry – Human Ecology class
Carl Sagan – Astronomy
I took a computer class and it was all about punching cards and keeping the deck together till you could drop it off at midnight to run in the computer. I wish I could go back and take some classes in 3-D modeling and graphics!

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Drinking jasmine tea, listening to classical music and reading/studying with rain pouring outside that little cafe in the back of the law school and sitting around the fireplace at Tri-Delta laughing, singing drinking songs and reciting poetry till the wee hours of the morning.

Share any random or surprising encounters with Cornell or
Cornellians since you left.

I love the reunions every few years with the Tri-Deltas of the 70s. We meet in a different area of the country each time and it’s been great to reconnect.

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2019?
Take classes that interest you in other colleges.  Take something for physical education (do they still have that requirement?) that you’ve never tried before like fencing (I did)! Explore all over the campus! Go to poetry readings, apple picking, concerts and hockey games. Have some ice cream at the Cornell Dairy on a regular basis. Keep in touch with friends you make in college.

Donna LaVallee

donna-lavalleeCornell Name: Donna Fulkerson

Current Home City: San Francisco

Your College: Human Ecology

Email Address: dkf7@cornell.edu

Twitter Handle: @LaValleeDonna

Tell us what you’re doing with your life:
Married Corky LaVallee ’77 graduation weekend and toured the world with his Navy Career: high point: 3 years in Yokosuka, Japan. I spent 25 years as a community nutritionist working primarily with families with small children, earning a MS from Syracuse University in the mid-80’s Also, had our daughter, Leslianne, in 1985. Moved to Rhode 01f5aef940f2b073759d56b585f6e50c8a26553c84Island in the late 80’s and managed to stay in one state until 2004! Went back to school at the University of Rhode Island and got a MS in Textile Conservation. Did an internship at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in NYC and an apprenticeship at The Textile Workshop in South Salem, NY. Moved to Connecticut in 2004 and San Francisco in 2006. Worked briefly at the de Young museum in San Francisco and then The Lace Museum in Sunnyvale. Have just changed to volunteering as a Health Navigator at the Community Wellness Center at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Have 3 fun grandsons who live too far away – in Massachusetts.

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and
what was the purpose of your visit?

5 years ago for our 35th Reunion! I try to get to all our class
reunions – I always have such fun and I make sure I’ll see the people
I want to see by reaching out and encouraging them to attend!

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Bronfennbrenner’s child development
all my food science classes
Marge Devine’s intro to nutrition

What are you looking forward to at our 40th reunion in June,
2017?

Seeing Friends and making new ones

Donna is the Class of ’77 Affinity Chair for our 40th Reunion

Geoff Gailey

geoffCurrent Home City: Indianapolis, IN

Your College: Industrial and Labor Relations

Email Address: geoff.gailey@midwest-fertilizer.com

Tell us what you’re doing with your life:
I have been a lifelong HR professional in Chicago (twice), Phx., Buf., Indy (twice) and the UK. Happily married 38 years to Peggy, a nurse from Valpo – three kids (lawyer, realtor, standup comedian – google Megan Gailey and you can see her on Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central, etc.).  Her mother is very funny.   I have been active in food banking and United Way and am in a band called Nucklehead. See us on facebook and see a number of us play and sing at Reunion in June 2017.

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
On campus September 17 and 18, 2016 for Reunion Kickoff Workshops. We all laughed while learning the entire time. I have been to reunion every five years with my bride Peggy. We are really looking forward to June 2017 and are honored to help Cara, Donna, Karen and Halsey as C0-Chairs. C’mon down!

Nuckleheads (Geoff in white t-shirt)

Nuckleheads (Geoff in white t-shirt)down!

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Bronfenbrenner
Milton Konvitz (Western Civ.)
Gardner Clark (Labor History)

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a
student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 40 years?

Follow through on your commitments.

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Enduring friendships from back in the day and now meeting classmates through reunion planning I would not have taken time to get to know. Balling out on the intramural fields like a boss.Read More…

Reconnect with the Class of ’77

As we count down to our 40th reunion in 2017, we’ll be posting profiles of members of the Cornell University class of 1977 one each week until Reunion weekend, June 8-10, 2017.  We hope that seeing our accomplished, engaged, and diverse class will inspire you to reconnect, and especially to join us in Ithaca nearly two years from now.

Any classmate may add her or his information to our Profiles; just fill out the Questionnaire here.

Chuck Ortenberg

img_0635-copy

Current Home City: Menlo Park, California

Your College: Arts and Sciences

Email: cro27@cornell.edu

Tell us what you’re doing with your life:
After graduation My first year out of Cornell was working in beautiful downtown Newark, New Jersey, I left to get my MBA at Wharton.  Straight after graduation, I married my college sweetie, Patty Stone ’78.  We moved to California and I worked in a variety of roles at Hewlett Packard for 27 years, all in Silicon Valley except for a 2.5 years stint in the UK.  Since HP, I have been consulting, mostly.  We moved back to the Valley in May of 2015 after 4.5 years in San Francisco.  It is a mixed bag to be back  in Menlo Park – our house is still great, but in San Francisco every day is a Halloween party.  There is an incredible amount to do and see, and the car can stay in the garage.  Patty and I have two sons, David ’09, who is an attorney, and Richard, who is a software engineer.  They live in SF so we can see them frequently (when they want us). Spare time is mostly volunteer work and rooting for the Giants.

yohann-chuck-daveIn what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
The last time I was at Cornell was in 2011 for the Cornell Sprint (nee Lightweight) Football Varsity Alumni game.

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Econometrics
American History (Pollenberg)

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 40 years?
Keep grinding – TANSTAAFL

What are you looking forward to at our 40th reunion in June, 2017?
I’m hoping a lot of my good friends will attend so we can catch up.  I also look forward to the lectures (and the beer tents!).

Chuck Ortenberg is the Class of ’77 Treasurer