Mystery Classmate 117

Congratulations to Marc Schanfarber, Dave Holmes, Pam Matthews, Tabitha Husted Riggio, and Jeff Buchanan, all of whom correctly identified Ed Pogozelski (’84) as Mystery Classmate #117 and are listed in the order that their responses were received.

In case you were wondering, Ed is a physics professor at the State University of New York – Geneseo, where he is known as Dr. Pogo. After completing his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon in 1988, Ed was employed at Westinghouse Electric Corp. for two years, where he worked on the design and manufacture of U.S. Navy nuclear refueling equipment. In 1990, he left Westinghouse for graduate school and earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in 1996. Before coming full time to SUNY-Geneseo, Ed taught at several colleges in the Rochester area, including SUNY-Geneseo, RIT, and Houghton College. While not teaching, Ed has done consulting work with Delphi Automotive and HydroAcoustics, Inc., both in Henrietta, New York. You can find more information and another picture on his web page at http://www.geneseo.edu/%7Epogo/.

Several classmates shared fond and unique memories of Ed. Jeff Buchanan and Marc Schanfarber both pointed out that Ed finished out his high school time at Turtle Creek, after the Woodland Hills merger sent Eastmont and other Wilkins Township residents to the Crick.

Dave Holmes and Pam Matthews remembered that Ed was Pam’s prom date, and offered to share a picture of Ed with a rubber chicken on his head and his hand between two pillows, but only if Ed agrees.

Tabitha Husted Riggio also remembered Ed and the rubber chicken, and bowling. We need details, people!

Later, Tabitha elaborated, “The four of us went to the prom together, Dave (Holmes), Pam (Matthews), Ed, and me. After the prom we went bowling and up to my cottage in Ligonier (God rest its soul). We were so tired from staying up so long that absolutely everything was hysterically funny. (Just for the record, there were no sex, drugs, or alcohol involved.) I remember someone throwing a deck of cards in the air and thinking it was the funniest thing in the world. Pam had probably brought the rubber chicken and that too seemed very funny at the time - and somehow still does! Some of the best memories I have are from high school...wonderful friends and wonderful times...”

Amy Petrina guessed Matt Myers. Steve Falvo guessed Greg Germ. Dave Weidenhamer guessed either Kevin Germ, Charlie (David) Kotler, or Ben Williams.

Donna Andreas Copley and Karen Campbell Ricci agreed that Mystery Classmate #117 looked like Jeff Spaeder, but it couldn’t have been Jeff Spaeder, because Karen saw Jeff in church and he looked nothing like that today. Anyway, he went to Central Catholic. His younger brother Tim is a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins.

On a related note, Jennifer Taylor Brandeis considered guessing Tim Spaeder but decided not to. Jerry Koutavas guessed Mike Zanic, noting that he is of Greek descent.