Alumni Share Sheltering Stories

During the pandemic, alumni share how they are sheltering.

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For two months, alumni have been sheltering in place all over the world to help flatten the COVID-19 curve. Many shared photos and stories of how they are coping and caring for others during this challenging time while still brandishing the Block M.

Brian Johnston, ’87, spends much of his quarantine time in his Auburn Hills, Michigan, home office surrounded by all things U-M. Among the paraphernalia on his bookshelf are Bo Schembechler and Jim Harbaugh bobbleheads, a bottle of Bo Merlot, a cereal box of Wheaties Breakfast of Champions, a U-M helmet, and a decorative plate of Angell Hall.

Kristy Newman, ’06, turned her office into a schoolroom for her children, now in sixth and third grade. “I have gained fascinating insights into how my own children are now learning,” says the K-12 director of curriculum and instruction in Plainwell, Michigan. “Watching them take on this new challenge so bravely has been incredibly inspiring. They have helped my career evolution process tremendously as we move into this new realm leading through crisis and supporting distance education with attention to mental and emotional health as well as balance and equity.”

Howard Iwrey, ’83, JD’86, wears his COVID-19 mask while getting some exercise at Indian Springs Metropark in White Lake, Michigan. His wife, Carolyn, ’83, designed and created the U-M mask out of a Maize and Blue cotton quilting fabric.

A group of alumni and current and former C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital faculty members and fellows came together for a Zoom photo session to shout, “Go Blue!” Top row from left to right are Marji Schermer, MA’70, and husband Marc Schermer, ’77; Steven Leber, ’76; and Stewart Gisser, ’76, JD’78. (The three men met their freshman year in Mary Markley Hall.) Bottom row from left to right are Hilary Haftel, an emeritus U-M faculty member; Payal Kenia Gu, MDRES’18; and Beata Ruprecht, MDRES’09. Leber, who arranged the Zoom meetup, is the division director of pediatric neurology at Mott, where the entire 12th floor is now treating adult COVID-19 patients. “I cannot tell you how relieved we are that the peak has been much, much lower than we feared.” Gu now works at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Ruprecht at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit.

Bruno Piperno, MBA’84, is quarantining in Rome with his multigenerational family. “We can’t go out, but we have a terrace where the grandchildren can play,” he writes. “In Italy, we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Go Blue!”

(Left) This is a favorite quarantine spot for Jane McClellan, ’71, who lives in Florida near an 18-mile stretch of beach in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. McCellan writes, “It is the largest sea turtle nesting beach in North America, averaging 30,000 to 40,000 nests per year, and has remained open. We are very diligent about social distancing. Today, we all stood in the sand 6 feet apart and watched the latest SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral 30 miles north.” (Right): The current president of the U of M Club of Philadelphia, Ben Wanger, ’05, is now working as a lawyer remotely from home. Son Blaine, age 4, enjoys playing in his father’s office in the evenings while he works. One night, Wanger returned to his office to find Blaine fell asleep dressed in Maize and Blue. “My son has always been a huge lover of Michigan,” he writes.

At 7 p.m. most evenings, Liz Kelman, MPH’17, can be found applauding New York City health care and essential workers from her window in Harlem. Kelman knows firsthand how hard they are working. She is a project coordinator for Health Data for New York City.

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Alumni Share Sheltering Stories

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