DEVER LAMKIN (BAC) and Kelly Murphy were married on Oct. 3, 2009, at the Dana Hotel on Mission Bay in San Diego. Attendees included fellow alumni Chris Bradish, Zack Olmstead, Paulo Elias, Blake Stockstad, Mike Reid, Tyler and Erica (Klein) Huebner, Matt Moye, Ben Schafer, Chad Iafrate, Cordell Hansen and Bobby Donnelly. Dever and Kelly live in San Diego and are in the process of buying a home.

TOM TARANTINO (BA) married Summer Sassen, his high school sweetheart, on April 25, 2009, at the historic Rancho Camulos in Piru, Calif. Among the 16 attendants were alumni Dara Greaney, Dave Lazo and Ronnie Zuccaro. Tom and Summer got a special dispensation from the bishop to have a Catholic ceremony at the chapel on the ranch grounds. They live in Camarillo with a puppy named Pete. Summer completed her teaching credential at California Lutheran University, and Tom continues to manage at Emergent Game Technologies, where they are developing software engines for next-generation gaming consoles.

[2001]
BRIANNA BARR (BA) is in her second year of dental school at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Brianna and her husband, Troy, were married recently. Troy is an engineer at Black and Veatch.

JIM BRITT (BA) and his wife, Cari, celebrated the birth of their son, Colin, on July 24, 2009, just two days after their three-year anniversary. The family lives in Seattle, where Jim recently became a gang detective with the Seattle Police Department after seven years of patrol work.

ELISA (WIECH) CADWELL (BA, MEd ‘03) is the training manager at the regional office of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Mission Valley. In her spare time, she volunteers as an English language instructor for the Van Hahn Temple in Santee. Elisa presented a paper and slideshow at the 11th annual Sakyadhita Conference in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

ELIZABETH (COTTER) DONAHUE (BSN, MSN ‘02) is the mother of “two beautiful boys” and a nurse practitioner in a busy primary care office in Reading, Mass.

PAULA (CHAPMAN) ISHAM (BA) and her husband, Jeff, joyfully welcomed their first son, Eli, on Jan. 21, 2009. “Eli loves playing with all of his USD aunties,” Paula says.

LISA PETERSON (BBA) married Matthew Willmon on May 16, 2009, at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley. Serving as bridesmaids were fellow USD graduates and Gamma Phi Beta sorority sisters Denise (Ryan) Peek, Heather (Cole) Brinkley, Liza (Osbun) Pinard, Paige (Patterson) Kratz and Colleen (Martin) McGuinness. Lisa and Matthew live in Carlsbad and both work at Life Technologies, the biotechnology company where they met three years ago.

MICHELLE (RICHMAN) SU (BA) and her husband, Kevin, welcomed a baby boy, Sean, on May 27, 2009. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 20 inches long. The Su family lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

[2002]
REBECCA VARDA CONDON (BA) and her husband, Matt, were married on July 3, 2009, in Chicago. In the wedding party were fellow USD alumnae and Alpha Phi members Meghan Kain and Sara Ford. Also in the bridal party were USD alumni Marissa Ontiveros and Victor Ramos. Rebecca and Matt moved back to Chicago and will be teaching middle school in the city.

ILEA DORSEY (BBA) has been living in East Africa since 2006. She started in Uganda with Restore International, serving vulnerable youth in Kampala and the war-torn northern towns of Gulu and Atiak. In January 2008, she moved to Rwanda to work for Keza, a luxury fashion label in the Unites States representing African-made products. “We are a business consulting and development firm, developing the small locally owned businesses that create our products,” Ilea says. More information is available at www.keza.com. (See story on page 32.)

MALTE FARNAES (JD) opened his own firm, The Law Office of Malte L.L. Farnaes, in Solana Beach on Jan. 1, 2010. His practice focuses on trademark and trade secret management and protection for medium and small businesses. His secondary focus is commercial litigation and commercial landlord/tenant disputes.

DANIEL LICKEL (JD) and Clinton Rooney started a San Diego law practice in January 2009 focusing on bankruptcy, auto fraud and consumer finance litigation.

ERIK NAGEL (BA) recently returned from his second combat tour of duty in Iraq as the battalion surgeon for the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Erik moved back to California to begin a new job as general medical officer for the Maritime Expeditionary Security Group One in Imperial Beach.

NATASHA (RADWAN) RAHEL (BBA) became a real estate broker in California and Florida after graduating from USD. She then attended Whittier Law School, became an attorney in 2007 and started her own practice in real estate and business law. Natasha and her husband, Akbar, were recently married, after reuniting at their 10-year high school reunion. Natasha is also active in the community working with Muslim youth.

ANNA SALUSKY (JD) and her husband, Kevin, welcomed their daughter, Leah, into the world on June 3, 2009. She weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and measured 18.5 inches long. Anna is an associate attorney in the litigation department at Woodruff Spradlin & Smart in Costa Mesa, Calif.

KELLY (GLASER) SCHREINER (BBA) and her husband, Mark, were married on Oct. 11, 2008, in Portland, Ore. The wedding party included USD alumni Jen (Nelson) Nichols, Samantha (Cannon) Burton and Anjelica Durazo.

MARVIN SERHAN (MSGL) has more than 40 years of leadership and management experience in the military and private sector. He left active duty as a Naval flight officer in 1997 and has since worked in the utility, telematics and security industries at such firms as Motorola and IBM. In addition to his master’s degree from USD, Marv holds two other post-graduate degrees. Marv and his family live in Camas, Wash.

KAYE STAMBAUGH (MSEL) and her team from HD Supply Facilities Maintenance captured the gold award at the 24th International Team Excellence Awards competition held at the 2009 American Society for Quality Conference on Quality and Improvement. The competition featured 27 companies from around the world.

AUBREANNE (SPEAR) VALENTINO (BBA) and her husband, Scott, were married on May 2, 2009, at Founders Chapel.

[2003]
ELISABETH BIEBL (BA) lives in Vail, Colo., where she is the communications manager for Vail Mountain. In her free time, she enjoys skiing Vail’s 5,289 acres of terrain, mountain biking and traveling. She went to Machu Picchu in June 2009. “As always, can’t wait for my next adventure!” she says.

ROBERT BITONTE (LLMG) was elected president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, with his term beginning on July 1, 2009.

CRISTINA CHIRIBOGA-HAHN (MEd) retired as interim president of Cuyamaca College, part of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, in August 2009. This position culminated a 35-year career in teaching and administration in California community colleges. Today, Cristina teaches at National University and continues to volunteer on projects for the Association of California Community College Administrators.

CORRIE (VAN DEN AKKER) COLEMAN (BA) is attending The Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate School. She is working toward an MBA with a marketing emphasis and continues to work full time for an advertising agency.

JOSE DALPRAT (BA) and his wife welcomed their first child, Ilan Alcalá, on Nov. 3, 2009. Ilan weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. Jose expected to graduate from medical school in May 2010.

JESSE FARRIS (BBA) and Patricia Hafner were married on June 13, 2009. Jesse recently accepted a position at Haskins and Associates practicing real estate law and litigation. Jesse and Patricia, who is from Bayville, N.Y., plan to move to Panama in the next few years.

CAROLINE (TAYLOR) FLOREA (BA) and her husband, Colby ‘03, were married in October 2007 in Malibu. They live in Charlotte, N.C., where Caroline works in event management. Caroline and Colby and have a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

CHRISTINA (MUSCARELLA) GOOCH (BA) earned a JD degree from the University of New Mexico in 2008 and practices law with the firm of Keleher & McLeod in Albuquerque, N.M.

DANIELLE HARWAY (BBA) writes, “Nov. 16, 2008, was the happiest day of my life! I married my soul mate, Rick Harway, at the Grand Del Mar. There were many USD alumni in attendance at the wedding, which made the day even better!” Danielle’s best friend and fellow alumna, Marissa (Martin) Holdorf, was the matron of honor. Danielle says she has the two most beautiful stepdaughters — Ashley, 10, and Hailee, 7 — who loved attending homecoming at USD. Ashley is now looking forward to attending USD herself, Danielle reports.

DEBRA JOHNSON (MEd) is a PhD student at USD’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences. She defended her proposal and received approval to move forward on her dissertation. Debra traveled to Mondragon, Spain, with SOLES Global in July 2009, teaches part time for Southwestern College and works one day a week in clinical practice.

MARIA KELLY (BA) works at the Community Coaching Center, a community-based socialization program for children with autism. During the summers and winters, Maria conducts research and observes nonhuman primates. Most recently, she conducted research on the island of Ometepe, Nicaragua, and on Broke Island, Equatorial Guinea. Maria is also enrolled in a master’s program at USD for teaching history and social sciences. (See story on page 34.)

ASHLEY KILLIN (BA) graduated from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in May and has entered a two-year residency in pediatric dentistry at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.

DAVID LEATHERBERRY (JD) is counsel for the San Diego Psychological Association. He is a regular contributor to the “California Psychologist Magazine” and this year published the “2009 California Laws for Counselors and Psychotherapists.”

ANTONIO LOPEZ (BA) manages $65 million in clients’ assets at Merrill Lynch. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were married on Sept. 27, 2009, and they honeymooned in Venice, Croatia and on the Greek Islands. They live in Santa Fe, N.M., which he says is “an optimal place to live and grow.” Antonio has run in seven marathons in the past five years with times ranging from 2:32 to 3:04. Antonio and Elizabeth have run in five marathons together, including the Boston Marathon in 2009. Antonio won the New Mexico marathon in 2009.

WILLIAM MONCHER (BBA) married Raluca Chiriac in November 2008, and they celebrated the arrival of a son, Timothy, in April 2009.

JULIA (SMITH) RICE (MA) graduated from Willamette University College of Law with a JD degree in 2007. She and her husband, Daniel, were married on Nov. 23, 2008, and they welcomed a daughter, Autumn, on April 1, 2009.

ELIZABETH RUNYEN (BA) and Colin Gilbert ‘03 were married on May 10, 2008, in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. They met during a USD study abroad program at St. Clare’s, Oxford. The couple lives in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

CATHRYN (BRUEN) SANTAMBROGIO (BA) and her husband, Michael, were married on June 20, 2009, in Vail, Colo., where they live. She also completed a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Regis University.

DEAN SHORT (JD) and Kathleen Jean Clancy were married on Nov. 7, 2009, in Indian Wells, Calif.

JAMES SMEDLEY (JD) opened his own law firm, Law Offices of James J. Smedley, Esq., in Las Vegas. His areas of practice include criminal defense, personal injury and family law. More information is available at www.smedlaw.com.

KRISTIE SOARES (BA) has been a fourth-grade teacher for five years in the Solana Beach School District.

ANTHONY SOLINA (MEd) and his wife, DeAnna, celebrated the birth of their son, Ricky, on March 21, 2009.

FRANK TODDRE (BA, BA) graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a JD and MBA in December 2008. He passed the Nevada bar exam and is working as the judicial clerk for the chief criminal judge in Las Vegas until September.

[2004]
LEA PARVEEN ARCE (MEd) is a high school biology teacher on the Kapalama campus of Kamehameha Schools on the island of Oahu. She also coaches girls cross country and girls track and field for Kamehameha. In 2008, the girls track and field program won its first state title. Lea established the KS Surfers Give Back Club in September 2008, and she is establishing the school’s first competitive surf team in the hopes of competing for the national title in Dana Point, Calif.

GEORGE CHAMMAS is the divisional vice president of the San Diego branch of AXA Advisors, a financial services firm with offices in 60 countries. George oversees employees in San Diego and helps clients build and protect their wealth through estate planning tools. “I often recruit associates from USD and continue to be involved when time permits,” he says. “I look forward to greater things to come for USD graduates and love being involved.”

ALICIA (GETCHELL) DEARN (JD) and her husband, Simon, were married on Dec. 20, 2008, and they quickly started two businesses. GoodSharks.com is a Web site that helps match clients with attorneys; it has a resource center, articles and a blog. Dearn Law Group opened its doors on June 15, 2009, specializing in business and employment law.

JIM ELLIS (EdD) and his wife, Julie, recently returned from a year in Hanoi, Vietnam, where they served as humanitarian missionaries. During the year, they provided 1,750 wheelchairs to needy individuals, upgraded two hospitals that serve patients with eye maladies, and arranged for an eye surgeon from Salt Lake City to come demonstrate the most current eye surgical procedures. The doctor also performed more than 40 eye surgeries on patients who had been previously screened out.

BROOKE MARADA (BA) was married in March 2009.

SEAN McCLINTON (BBA) and his wife, Yuri, announced the birth of their first daughter, Mia Lily, on March 19, 2009. Sean works for a small business in Seattle that sells Aloe Cure, an aloe vera juice. The family lives in Kirkland, Wash.

KELLY (BLAGOF) MEINECKE (BA) and her husband, David Meinecke ‘03, were married in August 2005. They live in Dana Point, Calif., and have a son, Wyatt, who is 2.

DAVID ORTIZ (MSEL) was recently promoted to senior vice president, sales and marketing, for Orange County Container Group. He has been with the company for 10 years and now has sales and marketing responsibilities for nine corrugated and packaging plants in Southern California and Mexico. OCCG produces 100 percent recycled linerboard, industrial and retail packaging for many industries.

KARA RICKS (BA, BA) is in an accelerated bachelor of nursing science program at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. Kara and her husband, Jason, have a child, Jakar.

SALVADOR RIVAS (MA) is the director of the Office of Industry and Outreach Relations in the electrical engineering department at the University of California, Los Angeles. His position includes marketing, creating industry research partnerships, alumni outreach, faculty support and strengthening industry relations. He received an EdD in college administration from the University of Southern California in 2008.

MASASHI YAMAZAKI (MA) is on a three-year overseas assignment with a U.S. government agency.

[2005]
MERIDITH MILLER (BA) graduated from the University of San Francisco Law School in 2008 and passed the California bar exam on her first try. She is an attorney with the Morgan Lewis law firm in San Francisco, specializing in corporate litigation.

CHAD MURPHY (BA) spent a year teaching English in Thailand and then graduated from Gonzaga University in May 2009 with a master’s degree in organizational leadership. He joined the Army ROTC at Gonzaga and is now a second lieutenant in the Army.

DEREK WATTENBARGER (BBA) started Surfside Developers Inc., a full-service construction company that focuses on new construction, home remodels, room additions, commercial tenant improvements, and more. He is a third-generation contractor and comes from a legacy of homebuilders in central and Southern California for more than 75 years.

[2006]
ERIC BENSON (BBA) passed the Colorado bar exam in July 2009 and will begin practicing law in the Denver metropolitan area.

SHANNON (SULLIVAN) BROWN (BA) is working toward a master’s degree at San Diego State University and will begin work on a PhD soon after graduating.

LINDSAY RHINE (BA) and Adam Petersen were married in San Diego on Aug. 9, 2009. They honeymooned in Hawaii and are living happily in Pacific Beach.

[2007]
MELANIE (McFARLAND) ALLRED (BA) married her high school sweetheart, Tyler, on June 15, 2008, in Fullerton, Calif. They both work in campus ministry: Melanie at USD and Tyler at California State University, San Marcos, Intervarsity. Melanie is still involved with her sorority and is an adviser to the USD chapter.

BRANDON HANCOCK (MSRE) founded GreenShoots Real Estate in October 2009. As president, Brandon oversees development, acquisition and consulting activities for the Texas-based company. The firm offers such services as consulting, financial analysis, market studies and due diligence for developers, investors and property owners. More information is available at www.greenshootsrealestate.com.

KENDRA QUINTANA (BA) and Dave Galante ‘05 were married on July 31, 2009, at Balboa Park. They live in the Washington, D.C., area.

[2008]
JULIA BECHERER (BA) is a dental student at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Dentistry.

LAUREN (GYLLENBORG) GOLDEN (BA) and her husband, Justin, were married on Aug. 1, 2009, in Prairie Village, Kan. Justin is a financial adviser for Edward Jones, and Lauren is an event planner for “The Kansas City Star.” They live in Leawood, Kan.

MELISSA MIRANDA (BA) is a second-year law student at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.

In Memoriam
HILARY (SCHMIT) CEJKA ‘82 (BA, MA ‘89) died on Sept. 20, 2009.

JERRY DOMINELLI ‘69 (BA) passed away on August 2, 2009. His youngest daughter, Jennifer Dominelli ‘98, says he “absolutely loved USD and remained proud his entire life long to have studied here.” She says he gave generously to USD when he could, and laments that “the inner man who was my dad was nothing like the outer image portrayed to the public.” In the end, she says, he “understood deeply what life was really all about.”

WILLIAM McCARTY ‘64 (JD) has passed away.

GAIL (GIULIANI) ZADOW ‘87 (BA) passed away December 27, 2009 after battling cancer. After graduating from USD, Gail moved to Alta, Utah to teach skiing. She and Jeff Zadow then moved to Montana and had two children, Ellie, 10 and Hayden, 8. After attending the Waldorf teacher-training program in Hawaii, they moved to Boulder, Colo., where she joined the Shining Mountain Waldorf School. Gail will be remembered as an amazingly beautiful and loving person who loved life.

So perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a shock when, in 2007, Shelley announced suddenly that he was quitting to travel the world. He wanted to meet new people, see new places, maybe even fall in love. He wasn’t interested in hitting the usual European tourist destinations. He’d set his sights on more exotic locale: Thailand, Cambodia, India, the United Arab Emirates — places a little more National Geographic Explorer than Condé Nast Traveler. For Shelley, the itinerary was more than a bit of a gamble.

He has muscular degenerative disease, a genetic disorder that put him in a wheelchair not long after he finished college. That meant at best, the trip would be difficult. At worst, it would be life threatening. But he pushed that concern far to the back of his mind. After all, he reasoned, even the shower can be a dangerous place for someone with a disability.

Dusty Duprel’s first glimpse of just who Andrew Shelley was came in the Craigslist ad he’d posted looking for a roommate in 2006. It was a fairly typical post, he recalls, except for one thing.

“Instead of showing pictures of the room, he showed pictures of his Jeep,” Duprel says. “I thought that was sort of — odd.”

Shelley described himself as a backpacker, someone who loves wilderness and the outdoors and adventure. The Jeep, he said, represented a small part of who he was and who he wanted to be. He was proud of it. He couldn’t think of a better way to communicate that to a potential roommate.

Duprel was intrigued, and the two arranged to meet at Shelley’s house to talk about living together.

When Duprel rang the bell, Shelley, whose gaunt frame betrays his medical problems, came to the door without his chair. His walk, hampered by weakened muscles, is an uneasy lumber. At first it caught Duprel off guard, but after they sat down and started talking, all that faded away.

“You really see past the chair and everything else fairly quickly,” Duprel says.

Muscular degenerative disease attacks the body’s muscles, causing them to waste away. Shelly was diagnosed as a baby but has been able to walk, albeit not well, for most of his life. While a student at USD, he’d occasionally use a small scooter to help him get around campus, but he always preferred the freedom of using his own legs.

But soon after graduation, walking grew harder. He started falling and injuring himself so often that it eventually became clear he needed a wheelchair, if for nothing else than his own protection.

He wasn’t happy about the idea.

“My thoughts were, ‘This is terrible. I don’t want a chair. I’m not going to be able to do anything; I won’t be able to go anywhere.’ It was kind of a depressing thought,” Shelley says.

Then, in early 2006, he came across a type of chair he’d never seen before. It was made by an Australian company and was specially designed for all-terrain, off-road travel. It had six wheels, two in the back and two in the front for balance, plus two large knobby ones in the center connected to a high-intensity, high torque motor. At top speed it could keep up with an average person running on two legs and could even tackle street curbs, small steps and rough trails without trouble.

Shelly was ecstatic. It seemed like the chair was made just for him.

“I saw this chair and said, ‘Whoa, this is a cool chair. It’s got ATV tires. It’ll take me anywhere. I can go to the beach, go hiking, mountain climbing.’”

Duprel moved in not long after the two first met, just a few months after Shelley had gotten his new chair. Until he asked Duprel and his girlfriend, Rachel Pandza, to join him on his annual trip to Lake Tahoe, neither had really seen Shelley do much more than go to and from work. The trip turned out to be another glimpse of the real Andrew Shelley, one that surprised them both when they saw him take to the wilderness around the lake. Duprel describes it: “He’s just going on these trails, literally climbing mountains with his chair,” he said.

He and Pandza were both film students at San Diego State: They sensed a story.

“There was just something interesting about the kind of character that was trying to escape the body and the chair. It was interesting to actually see that sprit of adventure,” Duprel said.

They didn’t know it at the time, but that zest for new experiences was goading Shelley to make a big life change. He knew there were things he wanted to do and he thought it made sense for him to do them while he still had the strength.

“I wanted more out of life. I wanted to meet more girls; I wanted to see the world while I could … Mainly, I just wasn’t happy with where I was in life. I wasn’t happy with my life where it was,” Shelley recalls.

The chair had a lot to do with it. What he first thought would impose restriction and limitation had turned into something liberating. It was a type of freedom he hadn’t experienced before, one that convinced him he could make a life change, that he could not just travel the world, but go places most able-bodied people would think twice about.

Not everyone was as sure as he was. His parents were absolutely against the idea. They were certain it was too dangerous and that if he went, he would be hurt or even killed. But he’d grown up overseas — only moving to San Diego for college — and he’d already traveled most of Europe with his parents. Shelley wasn’t really that interested in visiting countries he’d already been to or that might be more accessible to someone in a wheelchair. So, despite the potential for problems, he opted for the exotic.

“The last thing it seems like Drew considers when he does anything is his disability. It’s not factored into anything he does. It’s commendable, but at the same time, he puts himself into — what’s the word? — predicaments,” Duprel says.

Meanwhile, Duprel and Pandza had decided to pursue the story they’d first sensed back at Lake Tahoe. They wanted to produce a feature-length documentary about Shelley’s trip. That meant putting together a film crew and traveling with him. This appeased Shelley’s parents somewhat, because they thought — wrongly — that Pandza and Duprel were going along to help Shelley and keep him safe. The reality was they planned to be nothing more than detached observers.

So, in 2007, after months of fundraising to finance the production, Shelley quit his job and Duprel and Pandza took a semester off school. They left the United States a few days after Thanksgiving with little idea what to expect.

In New Zealand, still on the first leg of his trip, the Zorb wrangler asked Shelley to change his shirt. (A Zorb is an inflatable globe big enough for a person to fit inside and roll down a hill — the latest thing overseas, Duprel explains.) Because the inner shell is filled with water, Zorb employees — called wranglers — give riders clothes to wear so they don’t get their own wet.

Changing a shirt, though, isn’t always a simple task for Shelley.

He doesn’t have enough strength in his arms to lift them high enough to pull a shirt over his head. Instead, he swings his arm and uses momentum to reach his collar. On tape, the wrangler, standing tall at a good foot over Shelley, watches in surprise as Shelley starts to swing his arm. The scene unfolds awkwardly as confusion crawls across his face. It’s clear he doesn’t quite understand what Shelley is doing or how he should respond.

The look on that wrangler’s face is one small moment in thousands of hours of footage that Duprel and Pandza captured during the trip. But like so many others in the film, that one moment delivers a visceral impact that could only have been captured as it happened. Duprel credits the scene with a decision they made early on — somewhat naively, he concedes now — to film Shelley nearly all day, every day. While that made editing a monumental task, the vast amount of footage allowed them to pull together a documentary that feels honest and real.

“I think if a larger company did it, they might try and film select things, and they wouldn’t get the whole emotional experience,” Pandza says.

There are plenty of other moments. Shelley talks fondly of the professional rugby player he met in New Zealand, Lucas Gibson. After giving him a place to stay in his home for the night, Gibson took Shelley out on his boat with a group of friends the next day and introduced him to one of the country’s native shellfish, the Greenshell mussel.

The encounter was caught on tape and will likely be in the final cut of the film. “Do you want to eat it Drew, or … ?” Gibson trails off; they stand on the deck of his boat. He shows Shelley the mussel, still in its shell, fresh out of the water — and very raw.

He’d just taken a bite of one himself, but Shelley was hesitant.

“Uh, I’ll eat a cooked one,” he said. “But I don’t know about a raw one … What do they taste like?”

Gibson laughed.

Finally, Shelley acquiesced. He took the mussel and bit down. It tasted awful. A moment later, his face showed it.

“Aww, nice,” Gibson said, laughing.

“Chew it!” one of his friends shouted.

When he planned the trip, Shelley never thought he’d end up eating raw fish just pulled out of the water by a rising New Zealand rugby star, but it was the kind of experience he’d hoped for — a sort of instant kinship with people who viewed the world the way he did. It was, wrapped up in just that small moment, one of the big reasons he decided go in the first place. Duprel and Pandza say that was something they didn’t fully understood until they saw it for themselves.

And despite what they led Shelley’s parents to believe, they intended to be nothing more than neutral observers on Shelley’s journey, there to document but not interfere or help. It was a role they took seriously. Unless Shelley’s life was in danger, they resolved to stay back and out of his way, even to the point that they made the decision mid-trip to start staying in separate hotels and eating meals apart to keep physical and emotional distance between them.

“It allowed him to have his own personal journey without even relying on us simply as friends,” Pandza says.

In the end, the trip lasted about two months. He traveled the entire length of New Zealand, with short layovers in Australia and China on the way to Cambodia, then Thailand, all the way from the north of India to the south and a last-minute stop in Dubai. Then Shelley made the heartwrenching decision to cut the trip short: the physical toll on his body was becoming apparent. He’d lost five pounds in two months, weighing just 95 on a good day.

“He was progressively going to harder and harder countries to navigate. I think he still thought he could go on, but the way things were, physically, it wasn’t going to end well,” Duprel said.

It almost didn’t.

Late one night in Cambodia, Duprel and Pandza were in a rickshaw heading back to their hostel, ahead of Shelley and moving fast. They kept looking back, but in the dark and with the distance between them, they couldn’t see Shelley.

He was still there, keeping up, right up until the moment that the brakes on his chair locked.

“I just went flying out of the chair head first. I woke up in a pool of blood with all these people around me,” Shelley says.

At first, Duprel and Pandza thought that someone had attacked him. All they could see from a distance was the yellow neoprene sleeve that Shelley kept over the back of his chair. When he saw that flash of color, it was a sure sign Shelley wasn’t in the chair; Duprel’s stomach tightened into knots. They doubled-back, found Shelley and took him to a hospital. He was treated and released, but the fall rattled him. He grew despondent and stayed in bed for days.

In the film, Pandza and Duprel call Shelley’s mom to tell her about the accident.

“Can I talk to him? Is he okay, is he conscious?” she asks.

“He’s conscious,” Duprel tells her. “He’s awake, he’s just not getting out of bed. He’s not doing anything.”

“He can’t go on,” his mom tells them. “He’s just in way over his head. Way over his head and you know, I was afraid this was going to happen.”

Shelley, though, had already made up his mind. This was something he had to do. In his bed, lit by a small lamp and in between the mechanical sounds of the respirator he uses for help to breath while he sleeps, he told the camera: “I have to prove that people in wheelchairs can do this. That they can do anything.”

Still, the fall was a bit of a wake-up call.

“He has a seatbelt,” Pandza says. “But he was not wearing it. He wore it after that.”

“For about a week,” Shelley says, with a smile.

Shelley’s been back in the United States now for about two years, and life has changed.

He’s given up his career in electrical engineering entirely and now wants to be a motivational speaker. His last-minute stop in the United Arab Emirates at the end of the trip was so he could talk to students at the American School of Dubai, where he went to high school. He told them that if he could travel the world in a wheelchair, that they could do anything. He told them that there is no adversity they couldn’t overcome, and no dream they couldn’t follow.

It’s a message he hopes Duprel and Pandza’s documentary of his trip, “Beyond the Chair,” can carry for him when the time comes that he can’t. So far it hasn’t been an entirely smooth road. After returning home, the pair worked furiously to complete a rough cut of the film to meet a submission deadline for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. They’d mentioned it in passing to Shelley, who was more excited by the prospect than they’d expected. Later, Duprel realized why.

There is no cure for muscular degenerative disease, and Shelley wanted nothing more than to be able to present his film to an audience while he still had some ability, however meager, to walk on his own legs.

But time wasn’t on their side. The massive amount of footage that made for such a telling and honest story made editing an almost impossible task. The deadline for Sundance passed without a finished product, and Duprel watched tears form in Shelley’s eyes when he told him the film was too incomplete to be accepted.

But the story, of course, isn’t over quite yet. After reading an open letter that Duprel posted on the documentary’s website about Sundance, the International Documentary Association put them in touch with Tina Imahara, an Academy Award-nominated editor who’s managed to rework films to the point that they were not only accepted into Sundance after first being rejected, but have gone on to win awards. She’s agreed to finish the final cut of “Beyond the Chair.” Now they’re looking toward distribution in theaters as early as August.

The prospect brings a smile to Shelley’s face.

“I’ve learned a lot,” he says. “And I want to share my experiences with others.”

He went across the world to find what he thought he was missing from his life, and to escape what he didn’t like. He went looking for friends, for like-minded individuals, for love, for adventure.

By all accounts, he got it all.

“How many times did you fall in love on the trip, Drew?” Duprel asks Shelley. “I’d say at least twice.”

“At least,” Shelley answers.

For more information on “Beyond the Chair,” or to pre-order a DVD copy of the film, visit btcmovie.com.

JOYCE LAMB (JD) was elected to the board of trustees of her undergraduate alma mater, Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.

[1993]
BRENT HODGES (BAcc) is assistant head of schools for Rancho Solano Private Schools, the largest private K-12 school system in Arizona. Brent received his master’s degree in education from Northern Arizona University. He lives in Phoenix with T.J., his 14-year-old son. Brent and T.J. love to spend weekends in San Diego and visit their friends from USD.

[1994]
ROB BARDIN (BA), his wife, Joanne Pasternack-Bardin, and their daughter, Kira, 2, are thrilled to announce the arrival of Reid Oliver Bardin. Reid was born on Nov. 17, 2009, at 9 pounds, 5 ounces, and 21.5 inches, with red hair and blue eyes. The family lives in Sunnyvale, Calif., where Joanne and Rob both work in sports. Joanne is the community relations director for the San Francisco 49ers, and Rob is the corporate partnership director for FC Gold Pride of the Women’s Professional Soccer League.

SHAWNA (GARBERICH) SUCH (BBA) was named by “San Diego Metropolitan Magazine” as one of the “40 Under 40″ deemed the brightest and most enterprising young people in San Diego County. A wealth management adviser at Merrill Lynch, Shawna is a certified financial planner and a certified financial manager; she manages a Merrill Lynch branch in Del Mar. She also made the list of 2008 five-star advisers in “San Diego Magazine.” Shawna and her husband co-founded the No More SIDS Foundation, and she is a founding member of the Carlsbad Charitable Foundation.

PATRICIA VELEZ-FRANKLIN (MSN) has worked for UCSD Medical Center for more than 30 years and has been a nurse practitioner for 15 years, specializing in HIV/AIDS.

[1995]
CHRISTINA (THEISS) KNIGHT (BBA) and her husband, Mike, welcomed their third child, Tanner, born on May 15, 2009. Christina is an office manager for their architecture firm, Calhoun and Associations, in Escondido.

[1996]
EDWARD BRYANT (BAcc) has been admitted into the partnership of KPMG, the audit, tax and advisory firm. Edward joined KPMG in 1996, after graduating from USD. He also earned an MBA from the University of Southern California and is a certified public accountant. He is on rotation in New York City at KPMG’s Department of Professional Practice, specializing in consumer markets and information, communication and entertainment practices.

[1997]
LISA (BERESFORD) BRIDGMAN (BA, JD ‘01) and her husband, Dan, welcomed their second child, Chase Alexander, on June 18, 2009. Their first child, Dylan, is 4. Lisa continues to work as an attorney at a San Diego law firm.

LORI (SUTHERLAND) DEMIRDJIAN (BA) and her husband, Ryan, were married on April 18, 2009, at an oceanfront location in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Members of the wedding party included alumnae Kathryn (Britt) Kuechle, Chrissy (Measley) Piller, Nikki Graves and Stephanie (Mascott) Mansolino. Lori and Ryan live in San Diego, where Lori is a Realtor with Keller Williams. Ryan is a firefighter for the city of Santa Monica.

STEPHANIE (MASCOTT) MANSOLINO (BBA) married Ray Mansolino on Aug. 1, 2009, in La Jolla. Many of the guests were USD and Gamma Phi Beta alumni, so it was not only a celebration, but also a reunion. Guests included Lauren (Boaz) Jones, Andrea (Callen) Porter, Colleen (Henley) Rodriguez, Sarah (Skibba) Burchetta, Chris Skibba, Jeana (Allen) Jorde, Kacky (Britt) Kuechle, Lori (Sutherland) Demirdjian, Nikki Graves, Amanda Lomont and bridesmaid Kate (Zaia) Sinclair.

[1998]
STACY (MILAZZO) CAMPBELL (BAcc) and her husband, Christopher, welcomed their first child, Emily, on April 23, 2009. Chris, Stacy and Emily live in San Diego.

[1999]
KEITH ALEXIS (MA) is vice president of sales — Americas, SMB and enterprise markets — at SMC Networks in Irvine. He was named a CRN Channel Chief for 2009 and 2008. Channel Chiefs are recognized as influential executives who consistently defend, promote and execute effective partner programs and strategies.

JOHN CU (JD) was elevated to partner at Hanson Bridgett. His practice focuses on business litigation, commercial transactions, intellectual property and product liability in the firm’s San Francisco office.

CARLY (NAEVE) REICH (BA) and her husband, Reuben ‘99, welcomed their second child, Brigitta, into the world on March 12, 2009. She joins big brother Liam, 3. Reuben is a third-year medical student at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., where the family lives. He expects to graduate in 2011.

SUSAN MITCHELL (BSN) became a school nurse in October 2008 at a Title I elementary school with a multiracial population of 350 students in grades one through five. “I thoroughly enjoy giving first aid and teaching the children good health habits,” she says.

[1982]
LAWRENCE CAMPBELL (LLM) retired on Jan. 1, 2010, after more than 25 years at Solar Turbines.

[1984]
TAS PANOS (JD) is general counsel of Affiliated Computer Services in Dallas. ACS provides business process outsourcing and information technology services to businesses and governments worldwide. As executive vice president and general counsel, Tas leads the 100-member legal department and is responsible for the company’s global legal affairs.

THERESA PHILLIPS-THOMPSON (BA) has been teaching in Temecula for 12 of her 25 years in education. Her daughter, Natalie, is a graduate of Biola and was recently married. Theresa is enjoying golfing, going to the lake, reading and being with family and friends. She and her husband continue to visit San Diego as much as possible and recently drove through the USD campus. “It has really changed from 1984!” she says. “I always enjoy my memories of attending USD.”

ELIZABETH SKELDING (BSN) reports that the eldest of her seven grandsons, Kyle Mueller, graduated from high school in 2008 and is now on full scholarship at Miramar College. Her nephew, John Marfield, has been called to Iraq for a second tour of duty with the U.S. Army.

[1986]
RICK PADRNOS (MBA) is a mergers and acquisitions specialist with Business Acquisitions. He packages, markets and sells businesses with valuations between $200,000 and $5 million. He is also a director for First Colorado National Bank.

[1987]
SUE (BURKHALTER) BALDWIN (MA) sums up her 22 years after USD: She worked with handicapped residents of San Diego and Annapolis, Md.; stayed home with her children, homeschooling them through the eighth grade; worked and volunteered at their high school until both graduated; and is now a substitute teacher. “By the time this is printed, my husband, J.D., and I will have traveled to South Africa,” she says. “Our first big adventure as empty-nesters!”

[1988]
ROBERT ROCHELLE (JD) recently joined the American Board of Trial Advocates. He reports that his four children have all graduated from college, each in less than four years.

JOSIE GABLE RODRIGUEZ (MA) and her husband, Al, plan to teach a workshop, “The Open Book and the Moving Pen,” in Cortona, Italy. The session will help participants “make a variety of journals in the morning, then fill them with your own poetry in the afternoon.” Details on the June 19-26, 2010, workshop can be found online at http://toscanaamericana.com/openbookmovingpen.html.

[1989]
MONICA (FOLTZ) PARSONS (BBA, MBA ‘03) has been busy with her newest bundle of joy, Dillon Slater, born on Jan. 11, 2008. Dillon joins big brother Devon, and big sister Savannah. Monica is an information technology project manager at Solar Turbines and recently celebrated 20 years with the company. She volunteers at her children’s school and serves on the PTA executive board. The family is looking forward to traveling to China soon and to opening their new business, Parsons’ Palace of Memories.

CLAUDIA SLUIS STEVENS (MA) is retired and living in a very active senior citizen mobile park. She plays cards two days a week, bingo four times a month and serves on the board of the recreation committee for the park. She and her husband, Ken Powers, have a dog named Maggie who has been in several ads for Petco.

EDWARD SMITH (BBA) is retired and “enjoying the slow, quiet moments and company of acquaintances, along with senior moments that I call fun times.” He recently had open-heart surgery to replace a valve and reports that he has a new lease on life.

[1971]
MARIAN KELLY DONOVAN (BA) lives in Hartford, Conn. Her husband, John ‘71, is deceased, and Marian raised two children by herself. Her son, John, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a computer engineer. Her daughter, Frances, is an information technology professional for Partners Health in Boston.

[1972]
MYRON CAGAN (BA) has spent most of his career in the microelectronics industry. Between 2002 and 2008, he taught chemistry part time at Foothill College. Myron now works at a microelectronics start-up in Goleta, Calif. In 2010, Myron’s daughter expects to graduate from Macalester College and his son from high school. Myron and his wife hope to do some traveling soon.

MARGARET CARDWELL retired in 2007 from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, where she was the director of the library. Still active in the community, she works with the Memphis Literary Council and various other projects. Her husband, Craig, is the president of Allen & O’Hara Education Services, a student-housing corporation. Both of their daughters work in education: one teaches seventh-graders in Memphis City Schools and the other is the associate dean of students at Connecticut College.

GARY GRAMLING (JD) is chairman of the board of trustees for Meals on Wheels in Greater San Diego, and he is a commissioner on the city of San Diego’s Housing Commission.

[1973]
JIM BOSTWICK (JD) was certified as a specialist in appellate law by the California State Bar in 2004. He has been representing defendants in criminal appeals for more than 20 years. His wife, Yoko, is a ceramic artist and has exhibited pieces at the L.A. County Fair, at the Japanese Museum of Art in Los Angeles during Nisei Week and at the American Museum of Ceramic Art. Jim became a grandfather with the birth of his grandson, Matthew Bostwick II, on June 10, 2009.

TIMOTHY HERMSEN (BA) and his wife, Mary Deirdre (Kennedy) ‘72, live in Kennewick, Wash., where she works for Washington State University and Timothy is retired from private practice as a licensed mental health counselor.

TERESA MAHER (BA) has been a Sister of the Precious Blood since 1980. She ministers as associate manager of the spiritual care department at St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif.

THOMAS STUBBS (BA, MBA ‘75) is retired from the U.S. Navy, Secondary Education. He is an adjunct professor at National University and volunteers as an administrative assistant in the Phoenix V.A. Health Care System. Thomas also is enjoying his grandchildren and creative hobbies.

[1974]
DONALD STARCHMAN (JD) practices real property and estate planning law half-time with his daughter, Anita Starchman Bryant. Anita received her JD degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2001.

JOSEPH VECCHIO (MA) retired from the oil industry at age 55, about six years ago. “Love it, don’t miss it,” he writes.

[1975]
JACK DOHERTY (JD) is the police lieutenant in charge of field operations for the San Diego Community College District Police Department. He also was recently named the president of the Supervisory and Professional Administrator’s Association, representing 165 college administrators in the district.

BRUCE GINSBURG (JD) writes, “It has been an amazing year for me. I became a grandfather recently to a great little baby boy, Jacob. What could be better than this?” Bruce continues to represent injured plaintiffs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey courts. He visits Los Angeles, where his son manages actors, writers and directors. Bruce’s daughter is completing her senior year in the business school at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

[1976]
DAVID ROSSI (BA) and his wife, Penny (Dingman) ‘76, have two grandsons from their eldest daughter.

RUSSELL WATTS (BA) is an accredited sign language interpreter and works with deaf students in Melbourne, Australia. He also recently coached the Australian deaf tennis team in the Deaf Olympics in Taipei. “I have wonderful memories of my days in San Diego on a tennis scholarship, and I am always happy to hear from my ex-classmates,” he writes.

[1977]
KATHERINE FORTINASH (BSN, MSN ‘80) left teaching about three years ago to write and update two psychiatric nursing textbooks. She is now consulting with colleagues and lecturing on tapes regarding mental health. Last year, Katherine delivered lectures to a national insurance women’s group on empowerment and stress reduction during a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. She recently had knee surgery and plans to travel with her husband now that her knee has improved.

VIRGINIA GRIMES KINZER (MA) and her husband, John, were married in 1978. They have three children: Nicole, who is married and enrolled in the doctor of pharmacy program at Shenandoah University; Catherine, a doctoral candidate at West Virginia University; and John, who is married and a graduate of Virginia Tech. Virginia and John also have a grandson, Johny, born on Oct. 31, 1999. Virginia has a master’s degree in nursing and a post-master’s degree as an adult nurse practitioner. She works at Kaiser Permanente in the internal medicine and nephrology department.

MARY PATRICIA (DOUGAN) SHINSKY (MEd) retired from the Vista Unified School District in 2003. She writes, “Life is good! Fourteen grandchildren, one great grandson and one more on the way. We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Greece, Croatia, Turkey and an unexpected overnight in Munich. Lots more traveling in our future.”

[1978]
VIRGINIA (AUSTIN) FELLOWS (BBA) recently celebrated 31 years of marriage to her husband, Jeffrey, whom she met when he was a USD campus policeman. Jeffrey retired from the San Diego Police Department in June 2009, after nearly 35 years in law enforcement. Their daughter, Jessica, is a biology major at Stonybrook University in Long Island, N.Y. Virginia and Jeffrey live in Alpine, in San Diego County, with their sons, Jeffrey Jr. and Christopher. “Other good news is that Christopher (diagnosed with cancer at 3 1/2 years old) has passed his 10-year survival mark,” she writes.

FRANCES GALLIANI (JD) has served in Los Angeles as an assembly fellow, deputy city attorney, criminal defense attorney and executive director of alternative defense counsel. She returned to San Diego briefly to start up a conflict dependency panel and then back to Los Angeles in 1996 to commence private practice in criminal defense and family law.

DAVID NEWLON (BS) moved to Palm Springs after selling his Hollywood Hills home. He starts his days with three hours of tennis before work.

BERNADETTE PROBUS (JD) is the lead housing attorney for the Legal Aid Society of San Diego. She assists homeowners and tenants facing foreclosure, and tenants facing eviction, utility shut-offs or the loss or transfer of subsidized housing. “I’m at it over 20 years now and no nearer retirement, although my husband is retired from the county now,” she says. “Enjoying our 10-year-old granddaughter very much.”

[1979]
FLORENCE LUTZ (MEd) is a middle school teacher in Rialto, Calif., for a special day class with 24 students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

JIM DELANEY (BA) retired in January 2010 after 48 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, half on active duty followed by 24 years as the chief operating officer of the Air Force Aid Society in Arlington, Va. “Barbara and I plan to remain in our Springfield, Va., home,” he says.

DICK WILBUR (BA) retired after spending almost 40 years in the printing industry. He retired again after three years as the dean of students at a small Catholic school in Concord, Calif. “Keeping busy traveling and being a very active member of the Knights of Columbus,” he says. “I’d like to hear from my old friends from USD.”

[1963]
VICTOR BIANCHINI (JD) is a retired San Diego County Superior Court judge, a retired U.S. magistrate judge and a retired colonel of the U.S. Marine Corps. Recalled to work, today he serves the western and northern districts of New York as a U.S. magistrate judge and the central district of California on a special settlement project. During his 31 years of service in the Marine Corps, Victor earned 24 military decorations. His judicial honors included Judge of the Year by the San Diego Trial Lawyers. Victor is the vice chair of the Veterans Village of San Diego, and he has served in numerous adjunct professor positions.

ART WICAL (BBA) and his wife, Carol, have traveled to 58 countries so far. Last year, they revisited mainland Greece, then visited five Greek islands and also Turkey. They still hope to visit southern Africa and Antarctica soon. “Geography has always been a pet subject, and my studies at the University of San Diego further fueled my desire to travel,” he says.

[1964]
LARRY CAMPBELL (JD) is a published poet, with his poem, “Appetizers,” included in the “2009 Osher Learning Institute Journal.” He also is proofreading his personal/family memoir, “G-Man’s Journey,” a legacy to his children and grandchildren.

ATILANA RAMBAYON (BA) raised three kids, worked as a teacher and volunteered with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Habitat for Humanity in Guam and Gawad Kalinga (which means “giving care”) in the Philippines. She retired from Guam Community College in 1989. In 2006, she donated one hectare of land in Moncada, Tarlac, Philippines, to Gawad Kalinga to honor her late son-in-law, Cmdr. Willie McCool, who perished with his crewmembers in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident on Feb. 1, 2003. The GK McCool village is for the poorest of the poor in Moncada, Tarlac.

[1965]
JO ANN FRITSCHEL (BA) retired from San Diego City Schools in 2003 after 38 years. She still teaches on request at the American Language Institute at San Diego State University, volunteers in the visitor center gift shop at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, and has been on the board of the park’s interpretive association, which furthers the mission of the park. Jo Ann plans to move to Descanso, in San Diego County’s backcountry, this year.

[1966]
BENTON BECKLEY (BA, JD ‘76) spends summers at his house at Lake Arrowhead, Calif., where he sails. He’s also been active in the local Corvette Club and has been showing his V-8 Boss Hoss Cycle at statewide shows. “Everything is great,” he says.

RICARDO GRAY (BA) and his wife, Marli, returned to La Quinta, Calif., in January. “The Foreign Service still mandates retirement at 65, so we will begin our new life looking for new things to do: politics, home business, teaching, maybe even golf,” he says. “After 11 years living overseas, it will be a challenge and a lot of fun to live again in sunny Southern California. And we’ll finally have time to get to know our grandchildren!”

[1968]
DONALD CLINE (JD) has a law practice in San Diego, where he represents injured parties in workers’ compensation, personal injury and Social Security disability appeals.

MIKE STRADA (BA) sailed his 50-foot trimaran from Lake Ontario, Canada, through the Erie Canal (with 30 locks), down the Hudson River and into the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. During one storm, he was surfing down waves at 20-plus knots. He planned a stop in St. Lucia, West Indies, after hurricane season. Mike lives in Kailua, Hawaii; he is a senior vice president with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

[1969]
MARY ERIN WALSHE HERRON (BA) is finishing her last year as a special education teacher for the Orange County Department of Education. She plans to retire in October. She lives in Dana Point with her husband of 40 years, J.R. Their oldest son, Tom, is a fourth-year medical student at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; their middle son, Taylor, is a photographer and graphic artist; and their youngest son, John, just graduated from USD and is preparing for the LSAT.

EDWARD MILLER (JD) writes, “After recently selling most of our businesses, I’m beginning a partial retirement and enjoying spending more time with my wife, three daughters and grandchildren.”

LAUREEN GRAY REID (JD) retired in 2001 after 29 years as a senior attorney with the Orange County Public Defender’s Office. “A wonderful career where I helped many people improve their lives,” she says. Her husband, Ron Reid, is a retired Santa Ana homicide detective. They have 10 grandchildren, with two more on the way and all are “gifted, witty and beautiful,” she says. “I do miss friends who have passed away, but I know they are happy on the other side.”

After earning her BA in business administration from USD in 2002, Dorsey found practical employment: she worked in residential real estate. But she’d always had a twin hankering for travel and service, inspired in part by her faith. “I felt I was called to be doing more to give back,” she says. “I wanted to serve, but didn’t know what skills I had that could be of help to anyone.”

She confided her yearnings to a friend, “half expecting her to laugh and tell me how lame that sounded.” Instead, she was invited to come along on an upcoming trip to Africa. It took a year and a half for Dorsey to save up enough money for the three-month journey, which included a stint volunteering at an orphanage. When she got home, she couldn’t wait to do it again. She felt as if she had to continue to travel and to help others. But go where? And help whom?

After trying out new destinations for a few years, in 2006, she partnered with Restore International, an organization that works to free young women from sex slavery in India and Southeast Asia. After volunteering with them for just over a month, she accepted a post opening a new field office in Uganda, and off she went. This, she found, was the population that she’d been seeking to help. This was where she felt she could do the most good.

At the same time, a young entrepreneur named Jared Miller was starting Keza, a company whose goal was to pull women out of poverty by training them to be high-end artisans, setting them up in independent businesses and creating economically independent entrepreneurs who could then sell their wares — such as one-of-a-kind jewelry assembled from hand-crafted beads — to the high-end fashion market in the United States. When the pair met through mutual friends, sparks flew. Their passions meshed perfectly; before long, Dorsey began working with Keza. She’s now the chief operations officer to Miller’s CEO. The two were wed late last year.

They spend nine months a year in Africa, where they have a house, and camp out with family when they’re in the States making connections in the fashion industry. They’ve slowly built up a consortium of 37 women artisans in Rwanda whose creations are sold in boutiques in New York and Nashville, with more soon to come in Los Angeles, San Diego and Chicago. They did a stint with QVC last year, with Dorsey as guest host. It was a rousing success, with their first show selling out in four minutes and their second show, within days.

Growth is purposely slow, so they can be sure their businesses are up and running before moving into new areas. Keza brings in interns — fashion designers from the Rhode Island School of Design and business development interns from the University of Colorado — to help the artisans create marketable designs and create realistic business models. The current “Umoja” jewelry is a high-end version of a local craft known as paper-bead rolling.

“Paper-bead rolling has been growing all over East Africa for the last few years,” Dorsey says. “I brought it to Jared, saying ‘this is a great craft, and it sells well in the States.’ He said, ‘run with it.’” RISD students spent a year improving on the craft, bringing it up to a new level — no longer a craft, but an artisanal product that could legitimately compete in the couture fashion world. “We hone the design process and institute quality control systems, then teach them how to run their own businesses in a way that lets it grow and become profitable. Then we buy them back and sell them under the Keza label.”

Their next step is to move their base of operations from Rwanda to Kenya, where they’ll have access to more materials and a central port, which will open up a larger swath of eastern Africa. Developing their own business is the priority now, though in the future, when things are running smoothly, they both intend to return to more hands-on charitable work. Nonetheless, deliberately placing Keza offices in locations where sex tourism has a stranglehold on the local economy tends to have a positive impact. Dorsey has found her niche and honed in on the population she needs to serve.

“America wants beautiful products; these people want a way to support themselves,” Dorsey says. “We bring those two groups together to create a dignified path out of poverty. There’s too much news about Africa as a place of corruption or AIDS or child soldiers. There’s not enough about the strength and beauty that is Africa. Keza means ‘beautiful’ in the native language of Africa. That’s what we want to bring to the world.”

Kelly, 29, knows what she’s talking about. She’s traveled repeatedly to the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Equatorial New Guinea and South Africa, often to destinations so remote that they aren’t even on most maps.

“In New Guinea, we had to hike in to the camp,” she says. “You could bring 25 pounds of stuff. That’s two changes of clothing and raingear, not much more.” These expeditions aren’t fancy safaris or stays at cushy resorts — they’re working trips to pursue Kelly’s interest in physical and biological anthropology. At each destination, she’s participated in a research project, doing everything from underwater archeology to helping count mammals for a biodiversity census. She usually stays in makeshift accommodations, without electricity or most creature comforts.

“There are very tough conditions,” she admits. “Everyone is out of their comfort zone, and some are better suited to it than others. I just happen to really like it.”

Kelly went on her first expedition as an undergraduate, when she traveled to the north coast of the Dominican Republic to work with Professor Jerome Hall of the USD Anthropology Department on his excavation of the Monte Cristi Pipe Wreck. (The site gets its name because the ship had a large cargo of clay pipes, and is located in Monte Cristi Bay.)

“I had taken Professor Hall’s Nautical Archeology and Caribbean Cultures classes and I was hooked,” she says. “Learning about other cultures is endlessly interesting.” It was Kelly’s first trip out of the country on her own, and despite an experience she describes as “manual labor on a deserted island,” she promptly switched her major to anthropology.

“I found the experience of underwater archeology fascinating,” she says. “You are retrieving artifacts from a very unstable and unfamiliar environment, and then categorizing, assessing and preserving them on shore. It’s very difficult and puzzling.”

Since graduating, Kelly has worked at the Community Coaching Center in San Diego, an after-school skills development program for children on the autism spectrum. “We take the kids out into the community and work with them on behavior, communication, and independence,” she says. “They go shopping, or go to museums, and volunteer and food banks. It’s a totally innovative program, the only one of its kind in San Diego.”

The job has allowed her to stay near USD, where she’s working toward a master’s degree, and provides flexible time off for her increasing interest in fieldwork. “I knew I wanted to go back to school for biological anthropology, but I needed more experience, so I’ve been volunteering or interning on these expeditions.”

Turns out, she’s a natural.

“I’ve always been an animal person,” she says. “I find watching monkeys in the wild all day to be a peaceful experience.”

This year, she will be applying to PhD programs, following in the footsteps of her hero, primatologist Diane Fossey. “She was a bit radical but she did great things,” says Kelly. “And her hair was always a mess in the field, just like mine.”

Now that’s reality.

That is, right up until the moment he met Ayda.

After graduating from the University of San Diego with a business degree in 1989, the college tennis star “bounced around for a couple years,” working mostly in sales. Unfulfilled, he backpacked through Europe and played in a few professional tournaments before a back injury ended his tennis career, after which he began studying to become a physical therapist. Then his life took an abrupt turn.

Dadian was leaving church one day in March of 1993 when the cleric’s wife, Araxie Tatoulian, asked if he’d like to meet a young woman visiting from Syria. He agreed, albeit with some reluctance.

“I had very low expectations,” Dadian recalls. “I walked in, looked around and thought ‘Man, what am I doing here?’”

He turned to leave — just as Ayda stepped through the door.

“I was immediately captivated,” Dadian says.

He credits Tatoulian as matchmaker and facilitator for the whirlwind courtship that ensued. Eleven days after their first encounter, he floated the prospect of marriage. Soon after, the couple was engaged.

“It sounds crazy — and maybe it was crazy — but it didn’t seem crazy at the time,” Dadian says. “I thought that was it. She’d go home, come back, we’d get married and ride off into the sunset, right?”

Not quite. Ayda returned to Syria, only to call a week later to report that her family had no intention of allowing her to marry a man they didn’t know and she’d just met.

“The only thing I had going for me was my Armenian background,” Dadian says, “but I couldn’t have been more American. I was a long-haired tennis player from L.A.”

Realizing he wasn’t making headway waiting for something to happen in San Diego, Dadian decided to jump on a plane to Syria so that he could meet his would-be in-laws in person. He flew to Damascus before taking a rickety five-hour bus ride to Aleppo, an ancient city with roots dating back to 5000 B.C. When he stepped off the bus, it was like entering a whole other world.

“It was complete culture shock,” Dadian says, “but I was young and stupid enough to think, ‘Wow, this is exciting.’”

Ayda’s family welcomed him graciously, but it soon became clear that Dadian — who had wistfully packed a tuxedo and wedding dress for the journey — faced an uphill battle earning their trust. After several days, they arranged for him to play a local pro who turned out to be Dawood Dawoodian, one of Syria’s most prodigious tennis stars. It wasn’t easy, but Dadian prevailed.

“Of all the tennis matches in my life, I look at that as one of my most critical wins,” he laughs. “My friends joke about me playing for the hand of my wife — it wasn’t that literal — but it was part of the process that validated I was who I said I was.”

Dadian eventually began to gain acceptance, if not approval, from Ayda’s family, only to dis-cover there were a lot more hurdles standing in his way.

“I went there thinking that I needed to sell myself to her mom and dad and be accepted by them,” Dadian says. “That was true, but it was also her brother, sister, aunt, uncle, neighbor and priest. It was very much a community decision.”

In addition to gaining family and community approval, the couple faced a dizzying array of bureaucratic red tape. But despite the glaring differences between their two cultures, the relationship continued to blossom.

“Things seemed so easy for the two of us,” Dadian says. “It was the storm around us that was difficult.”

After four weeks in Aleppo, it was decided Dadian would return to San Diego to make wedding preparations — with or without universal consent. Everything finally seemed to be going their way.

But, the day before Ayda’s scheduled arrival, the wedding was called off again. Weeks went by before the union was finally sanctioned. They were married on Sept. 25, 1993, six long months — and four wedding cancellations — after they had first met.

“We had to move a mountain to make it happen,” Dadian says. “But I was so drawn to this person. For us to click the way we did despite all odds was really amazing.”

Time passed, as it tends to do. After earning a master’s degree in executive leadership from USD in 2001, Dadian became owner and president of Filefax, a company that provides filing services for storing everything from athletic equipment at the Jenny Craig Pavilion to whale bones at the San Diego Natural History Museum to M-16 machine guns at Camp Pendleton.

Now, 16 years after they first met, Curtis and Ayda are still happily married and living on a large estate in Poway with their three children. And when it comes time for his two daughters to wed, Dadian knows precisely how he’ll handle the courtship.

“We look forward to impressing a similar level of pain and discomfort on anyone interested in marrying our daughters,” he says with a slight chuckle. “While it drove me crazy at the time, in hindsight it’s something we understand and appreciate. It helped define us. I wouldn’t change a thing.”