“Other” Class Notes

Lesia Scholey (Col ’91) has written her debut novel, Forty One (Matador, 2015). Before writing full time, she was a journalist in the U.S. and overseas, reporting for the Financial Times, among other publications. She completed a master’s degree at the London School of Economics in 1999 and has two children, Sophia, 12; and Konstantin, 10; as well as three college-age stepchildren. She is married to Michael Scholey and lives outside of London.

Sarah Bruss (Com ’04 CM) and Matthew Walsh were married at the UVA Chapel on June 20, 2015. The couple lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, and both earned MBA degrees from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Alison Brosnan (Col ’03) and Patrick McKenna were married on Jan. 31, 2015, in Brooklyn, New York. The couple lives in Brooklyn, where Ms. McKenna works at Covenant House International and Mr. McKenna works at Hunter College.

Christopher Spillman (Col ’03 CM) has established Spillman & Partners, a law firm with offices in Phoenix and Chicago serving small and midsize businesses, family offices and individuals across all practice areas. He and his wife, Allison Vick Spillman (Col ’03 L/M), live in Scottsdale, Arizona, with their three sons.

Alexandra Guest (Col ’09 CM) and Robert B. Guest (Com ’10 L/M) welcomed a daughter, Everly Cynthia, on Aug. 22, 2015. Mr. Guest recently graduated from Harvard Law School and the family is relocating to Virginia.

Jeremy Branch (Col ’07 CM) and Melissa DeMott Branch (Col ’08, Educ ’08) welcomed a son, Henry Emerson, on March 15, 2015. Henry joins big brother Jeremiah Edwards. The family lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Christina Polenta (Com ’09 CM) and Christina Marie Polenta (Com ’09 L/M) were married in Charlottesville on Aug. 29, 2015. The couple lives in Chicago, where Ms. Polenta works as a senior analyst for a Chicago-based hedge fund and Mr. Magenheimer is pursuing an MBA degree at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Alexandra Ross (Col ’12 CM) and Ryan A. Cunningham (Engr ’10) were married Sept. 20, 2014, in Potomac Falls, Virginia. Ms. Cunningham is the daughter of Mark Ross (Col ’77 L/M) and the niece of Michael Ross (Col ’70, Law ’77 L/M), Donald Barnes (Law ’75), Gerald Barnes (Col ’73 L/M), Pamela Barnes Sweeney (Col ’79 L/M), Mark Sweeney (Col ’79 L/M) and Maria Kurowski (Engr ’87 L/M). The ceremony was performed by the bride’s cousin, the Rev. Nicholas Barnes (Col ’07 L/M). The couple lives in Charlottesville.

Kurren Gill (Col ’12 CM) has received a research fellowship in otolaryngology to attend the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he will participate in the otolaryngology—head and neck surgery—research program for the 2015-16 academic year. Mr. Gill is a third-year student at The Commonwealth Medical College.

S. McKinney (Col ’07 CM) and T. Henry Clarke V (Col ’07 L/M) were married June 28, 2014, at Ladue Chapel in St. Louis. The couple lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Ms. Clarke is a trusts and estates attorney and Mr. Clarke is director of major gifts for Virginia Episcopal School. The wedding party included bridesmaids Mary Ashton Burgh (Col ’07), Caroline Batchelor McLean (Col ’07 L/M), Victoria Lockhart Katz (Col ’07), groomsmen Stuart Farrell (Com ’07 L/M), Peter Goodwin (Col ’07), Davar Irvani (Col ’07 L/M), and William McLean (Col ’07). Gretchen Nygaard (Col ’06, Law ’11 L/M) served as a reader

Anthony Holbrook (Com ’01) and Rebecca Brocato Holbrook (Nurs ’05 L/M) welcomed twins, Patrick Miles and Emma Kate, on Jan. 13, 2015. They join big brother Ben, 7, and big sister Claire, 5. The family lives in Temecula, California.

Jeanette Peabody (Col ’99) is now head chef at the Oakhurst Inn, a boutique hotel and café next to the University’s South Lawn. She had been chef de cuisine at Hamiltons’ at First & Main in downtown Charlottesville.

Mark Angle-Hobson (Educ ’98, Educ ’02) was appointed superintendent of Douglas County School District 15 in Days Creek, Oregon.

Stephanie Scherpf (Col ’97) is co-founder and executive director of Jean Appolon Expressions, a Haitian dance nonprofit based in Boston. Each summer, she travels to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to help conduct the Jean Appolon Summer Dance Institute, a free intensive dance program for 60 young Haitian dancers without financial resources. JAE also has a Haitian contemporary dance company in Boston.

Andrew McCoy (Arch ’97) , associate professor and assistant director of the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech, has been reappointed a Preston and Catherine White Fellow. Mr. McCoy also directs the Virginia Center for Housing Research, a center in Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies that is the official housing research center for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Ian McGuire (Grad ’96) has published Richard Ford and the Ends of Realism (University of Iowa Press), which examines the work of American novelist and short story writer Richard Ford. He argues that Ford’s work is best understood as a form of pragmatic realism and that Ford is part of a deeply rooted and ongoing American debate about the nature of realism and pragmatism. Mr. McGuire is the co-director of the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester. He writes both fiction and literary criticism and has published essays and short stories in the Paris Review, the Chicago Review and other publications. He lives in Manchester, England, with his wife and two daughters.

Kirsten Kahle (Col ’95) and R. Neal Kahle (Engr ’96 L/M) welcomed a daughter, Elsbeth Mattea, on Feb. 26, 2014. Elsbeth joins siblings Maxwell Murphy, 8; Annika Marie, 7; and Theodore Neal, 4. The family lives in Indianapolis, where Dr. Kahle is a hospice and palliative medicine physician and Mr. Kahle is a software engineer.