Alumni News

Class Notes

Please send us your life, family, and career updates and accomplishments so we can share them with your classmates and other alums.

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Congratulations to Jean Hayward ’16 who is part of a new neighborhood family practice in Buffalo, NY.

Congratulations to Kayla Stanko ’12 and Chad Rafferty ’13 who were married in Vermont, July 2023.

Andrea Gibson ’97 named Colorado’s poet laureate. Read more about her impressive career here.

Denise Cilley ’15, a leader at the Sunrise County Economic Council, has been named as a Mainebiz 40 Under 40. You can read her interview here.

Congratulations to Ray Ruby ’05, executive director of the Maine Cancer Foundation, who also received recognition as one of Mainebiz’s 40 Under 40.

Patricia (Brackett) Vona ’17 and Michael Vona were married on June 2, 2023 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The couple now resides in Western Massachusetts.

Elsie Graves ’10 has been named chief nursing officer for the Greensboro, NC market of Cone Health. Graves will oversee nursing operations at Cone Health Behavioral Health Hospital, The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital and Wesley Long Hospital. In this position, she is responsible for continuously elevating the standard of care at Cone Health. Congratulations Elsie!

Ronald Woodard ’03, ’11 has been named the new director of diagnostics at Finger Lakes Health in Geneva, New York. He is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of all diagnostic imaging services, including CT scanning, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, interventional radiology, X-ray, and cardiopulmonary imaging, as well as women’s health diagnostics. Congratulations Ronald!

Gregory Hoffman-Fragale ’14 was named Associate Chief Nursing Officer for Finger Lakes Health in Geneva, New York. Gregory is dual board-certified as an Advanced Nurse Executive and Gerontological Nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Congratulations Gregory!

Matthew A. Wysocki ’13 just received his Ph.D. in Computational Cell Biology, Anatomy, and Pathology from University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Prior to his doctoral work, he received a Master of Science in Biological Sciences from Clemson University. Wysocki earned his Master of Science in Education from Saint Joseph’s College in 2013. Congratulations Matthew!

Maureen Orkwis ’12 has published her sixth book, Ye Ole Vadam Nore Murder Mystery.

Jason O’Toole ’15 has been chosen as the 6th Poet Laureate of North Andover, MA, succeeding Mark Bohrer. As a member of the North Andover Poet Laureate’s Committee, Jason helped found the Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest, named for America’s first published poet, who lived in the area. He is the author of three collections of poetry. His work has recently appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality, and The Lowell Review. By day, he’s the risk manager for a psychiatric hospital and a board member of the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco. Jason is teaching a fall writing workshop for consumers of ILRCSF, along with author and screenwriter Laura Albert.

Danielle M. Somma, PE ’06 was promoted to Vice President at Appledore Marine Engineering.

Deanna St. Germain, DO ’79 has retired after a 40-year career in medicine.  She trained as a general practice/family medicine physician. She was a National Health Service Corps scholar with a 3-year commitment but served in her Anna, Illinois National Health Service Corp site for 12 years. During that time, she worked in Outpatient Medicine, Hospital Medicine (including surgery and obstetrics), Emergency Medicine, Hospice, Substance Use Disorder rehab, and child abuse medicine.

Dr. St. Germain was appointed to the National Advisory Council for the National Health Service Corps under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W Sullivan, MD, in 1991. She was a founding member of the National Association of Clinicians for the Underserved and received numerous awards. She held various positions of leadership in Southern Illinois. She was appointed to Regional Child Death Review in 1995 and served on Child Death Review until her retirement, including being Chairperson of the Illinois State Child Death Review.

In 2000, Dr. St. Germain co-founded Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s (SIUSOM) Children’s Medical Resource Network (CMRN) to address the needs of abused children in rural Southern Illinois as her practice had evolved into full time care of children with concern for child maltreatment. Deanna served as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at SIUSOM. In May of 2000, she received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from her alma mater, St. Joseph’s College of Maine. In 2007, she received the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Commissioner’s Award.

In 2008, Dr. St. Germain became Medical Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center serving Deschutes County, KIDS Center. KIDS Center is located in Bend, Oregon and accredited by the National Children’s Alliance. During her time at KIDS Center, Dr. St. Germain was also appointed Deschutes County Medical Examiner (2010) and she held that position until 2014, improving medical services to law enforcement and families of deceased individuals.

In 2015, Dr. St. Germain moved to the Willamette Valley and became Medical Director at Kids FIRST, another accredited Children’s Advocacy Center—this one serving Lane County, Oregon. She created and grew their first in-house medical program and retired from this position in 2023.

Throughout her career, Dr. St. Germain has presented at regional, statewide, and national conferences on various topics related to care of the underserved and child abuse medicine including the National Health Service Corps, National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and National Children’s Alliance. She is a member of the Helfer Society, an honorary society of physicians seeking to provide medical leadership regarding the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research concerning child abuse and neglect, the primary sub-specialty society for physicians devoted to the problem of maltreated children.

Dr. St. Germain has held clinical appointments and mentored and educated students from undergraduates to residents throughout her career at both allopathic and osteopathic institutions, most recently Western University of Health Sciences in Oregon.

Dr. St. Germain is proud of the legacy she leaves of service to those in need.

Samantha Troegner ’13 has been promoted to Advisory Consultant in the assurance practice at Baker Newman Noyes. Troegner specializes in delivering auditing services to both public and private companies in the biotechnology and life sciences industries. She has a particular focus in the area of internal controls, serving some of our largest internal control compliance engagements, specializing in detailed Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) testing.

Obituaries

The following individuals and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.

Rev. R. Bradley Beaupre, Past Board Member  d. 2/15/2023

Mark Bougoin ’06 d. 7/18/2023

June Irvine ’09, Former Faculty/Staff d. 8/1/2023

Sister Mary Jude Murray, Former Faculty/Staff and Past Board Member  d. 7/14/2023

Rick Jason Dorman ’91 d. 7/9/23

Bishop Joseph J. Gerry, O. S. B. Former Bishop of Portland d. 7/2/2023

Marjorie Kane ’84 d. 7/26/2023

Margaret A. Pratt, Former Staff Member d. 6/24/2023

Blanche Wodka Alexander RN, BSN, MSN, Former Faculty d. 9/4/2023

Pamela Aliberti ’65, Alumni Association Board Member, Distinguished Alum, Monks Spirit Award 2016 d. 9/9/2023

Claire Drew ’75 d. 8/25/2023

Beverly Ellen (Kelly) Farquhar ’81 Past Board Member d. 9/6/2023

Marie (Baker) Gurall ’74 d. 9/3/2023

Barbara M. Plungis ’84, ’97 Former Faculty, Past Board Member d. 9/3/2023

Ryan E. Sullivan ’09, 2018 Monk Spirit Awardee, d. 10/1/23

Helen Martin Brennan ’79 d. 11/5/2023

Phyllis Margaret Dow ’76 d. 11/17/2023