Jo Ann Ellis Iquinto '65

 

Jo Ann Ellis Iquinto of Bridgeport attended All Saints and St Mary’s Grade Schools and graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1965.  Jo Ann is the daughter of the late Joseph and Frances (Benincosa) Ellis.  Both her brothers, Joseph (‘67) and Jim (‘80) are Notre Dame graduates. Her sister-in- law, Patricia Quinn Ellis (‘81) is currently on faculty at St. Mary’s. Jo Ann graduated from Fairmont State College with a degree in Business Administration and Sociology.  She began her career at the Veterans Administration and then completed her federal employment at the Social Security Administration as a technical expert.  She values her forty years’ service to those who paid into the program and earned the rights to their benefits. Jo Ann married Pete Iquinto in 1972 and they have two daughters, Jacqueline Susann (’94) and Cynthia Marie. Jacqueline is currently a school counselor at Notre Dame. Cynthia is a financial planner and the high school tennis coach for the Fighting Irish. Jacqueline also had the honor of being the Distinguished Young Alumnus in 2013. Jacqueline is married to Jim Reed and they have two daughters, Francesca and Amelia, both students at St Mary’s Grade School. Jo Ann was fortunate to attend Notre Dame with her brother and several cousins. She is proud to say she was in the largest graduating class at Notre Dame; they continue to enjoy each other’s company whenever they can. Jo Ann is an avid supporter of Catholic education and is honored and humbled to be chosen as an Irish Legend.

 

 

Theresa Cody White '66

 

Theresa White is a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame High School and obtained her BSN from West Virginia University in 1972 and her MSN in Nursing Education and Management from Bellarmine University in 1996. Her early career included Critical Care and Home Health Nursing before spending 32 years serving the nation’s Veterans as a Med-Surg staff nurse, ICU Nurse Manager, Quality Assurance, Associate Chief Nurse of Critical Care and Associate Hospital Director for Patient Care. She received the local VA 1989 Excellence in Nursing Award and chaired  committees in writing policy. After retirement in 2012, she became a charter member of the Immaculate Conception’s Parish Nurse Ministry. This group conducts several Health related programs including health fairs, a bereavement support group and an annual Bonnie’s Bus mammogram screening. The Group was honored with the Diocese Salt and Light Community Service Group Award in 2016. White works one day a month at the local Mustard Seed Store which serves the needy with distribution of clothing and household goods. She serves on the Board of the Life Choice Pregnancy Resource Center which provides classes for expectant and new mothers that covers pre and postnatal care as well as parenting and life skills classes, and volunteers at the Center working with the clients. Her proudest achievement is her family. She has been married to her husband Douglas for almost 49 years and they have 3 children, Doug Jr. who works for the Postal Service and his wife Dottie, Richard, who is a City Policeman and his wife, Wendy, and Beth, who works for a tutoring company in Virginia. They also have three ”perfect” grandchildren: Brian, who is an Air Force Veteran and still works for the Air Force, Kayla who is a counselor, and Alexandra, who is a Fitness instructor.

 

Frank Aucremanne '76

 

Frank Aucremanne graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1976. Aucremanne is an Executive Director at Cleveland Clinic, reporting to the Chief of Operations, and is responsible for all real estate, planning, design, construction, and facilities operations and maintenance across the Cleveland Clinic system. The system encompasses over 32 million square feet of facilities consisting of more than 200 buildings located across three states and four countries. Frank joined the Cleveland Clinic in 2010 from Naples, Italy, after retiring as a Navy Captain with over 28 years of service. While in Naples, Italy he was responsible for all U.S. Navy facility operations and maintenance across Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia. He is a registered professional engineer with over 30 years of experience in all facets of facility design, construction, operations and maintenance, a Certified Healthcare Facility Manager and a Certified Healthcare Constructor. Frank graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering then later went on to receive his Master of Science in Civil Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1986.

 

 

Clara Basile '76

 

Clara Basile graduated valedictorian from Notre Dame in 1976. She is the daughter of the delightful Rafaella“ Folly” (Romano) Basile and the late Tom Basile, both former Irish legends. Clara’s two siblings, Tom and Mark were also Notre graduates. Basile, Romano, Arco and Scott have a proud heritage and deep ties to local Catholic schools. Among them are 

many “Irish Legends,” most notable is Clara’s uncle, the late Coach Angelo Basile, for whom the basketball court is named. Clara had many honors and successes during her time at Notre Dame. She had the distinction of being chosen the school’s first Governor of Girl’s State. Classmate Sam Spenia immediately followed with a win at Boy’s State. It was the first time in WV history that two students from the same class took the state-wide honor in the same year. In true Irish spirit, Clara attended the University of  Notre Dame in Indiana accompanying her brother Tom and Carmin Grandinetti, who were accepted in the prior two years. She was proud to be among one of the first classes to be admitted during a time when most women attended St Mary’s across the lake. Clara left Notre Dame for San Francisco where she still lives today. She studied to be an opera singer and ran a very successful restaurant and bookstore for 7 years. With some prompting by Clara’s father, who ran his own financial services firm, she changed course mid-stream to work as a floor trader on the option trading floor at the Pacific Stock Exchange. The timing was fortuitous. The combination of affordable home PCs, the advent of option trading and the proliferation of business news and data helped launch a successful career in finance. After one year at the Pacific stock exchange, Clara was hired by the prestigious San Francisco investment firm Bailard, Biehl and Kaiser. There she quickly rose from international research assistant to VP of foreign currency trading. In 1992, after four years at Bailard, Clara and three senior partners left to start Avalon Capital Management, a comprehensive wealth management firm in Redwood City, CA. Today, Clara is the senior portfolio manager at Avalon and the company’s CEO. She has spent 30 years counseling clients and developing models for managing global diversified investment portfolios. Her quantitative analytical model, Avalon Dynamic Allocation, is recognized for its ability to both capture upside return while cushioning assets during turbulent markets. 

 

Chuck Thayer '80 

 

Charles O. “Chuck” Thayer IV ‘80 resides in Melbourne, FL with his wife Kathy.  They are the parents of Ashley Thayer Schmid of Winter Garden, FL and the late Chad Thayer. He is the son of the late Charlie and Jerry Thayer. Chuck’s sister Pam Thayer ’74 and niece Whitney Martino Price ’05 have also graduated from Notre Dame while niece Taylor Martino ’19 and nephews Kobe and Clay Martino ’21 will soon join that list.  Chuck graduated magna cum laude with a B. S. in Computer Science in 1984 and a M. S. in Computer Science in 1988 from WVU. Upon graduation, Chuck went to work for Harris Corporation in Melbourne, FL. In 1991, Chuck took a job at Northrop Grumman where he remains as a Staff Engineer. Chuck has had significant contributions to some of the most advanced defense, communications, and space systems over his 35-year career as a software engineer. Known for his gift of gab, Chuck regularly gives key customer presentations during formal reviews. Two experiences from his years at Notre Dame have played a significant role in Chuck’s adult life. He was a 3-year letterman on NDHS’s baseball team that went 60-15. A highlight was pitching back-to-back no-hitters during his senior season. Chuck was able to continue to successfully play and manage amateur baseball for over 25 years, twice being selected as Manager of the Year as well as being inducted into the Florida Space Coast Baseball Hall of Fame. Another influence came as a member of the Blue Haze Band with other NDHS students, a band that evolved into the popular local band Amici. Chuck continued what had started as a guitarist during school mass to becoming a vocalist for a couple of popular Space Coast classic rock bands, leading to twice being nominated as favorite vocalist for the Brevard Music Awards.  Chuck is a member of Holy Name of Jesus in Indialantic, FL.

 

Distinguished Young Alumnus Award - Matthew Lehosit '99

 

When Mathew Lehosit was a teenager attending Notre Dame High School, his biggest passion lied in the fantasy worlds of the novels, comic books, and cartoons that he consumed, where superheroes would battle injustices of the world, vampires and mutants could be seen as more than the sum of their circumstance, and wizards would cast spells in his imagination. Little did he know at the time that this passion would lead him to work as a key stakeholder in the global entertainment industry, helping to usher a new era of cartoon heroes into the lives of children and fans. Matthew is the son of Roger Lehosit- NDHS Class of ‘71 & Irish Legends Recipient -and Suzi Lehosit, founders of MCM Business Systems in Nutter Fort, WV.  The youngest of 3, all NDHS graduates - Michael Lehosit, Class of ‘96 and Cyndi Lehosit, Class of ’97 – Matthew attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and graduated Salutatorian from Notre Dame High School in 1999, where he was active in Student Body Government, National Honors Society, Key Club, and attended Governor’s Honors Academy. He went on to study Advertising at West Virginia University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and as the Top Scholar of his graduating class in 2004. Unsure of how his post-college life would unfold, Matthew decided to search the job listings at Turner Entertainment while watching Cartoon Network (his favorite channel) one evening, where he sought out an internship opportunity that would bring him to Atlanta in 2005 to work for the famed brand. 14 years later, Matthew still works at Cartoon Network as Director of Marketing where he leads strategic planning across a wide array of emerging and beloved brands including The PowerPuff Girls, Steven Universe, Ben 10, and Adventure Time. Together with his team, they work across all areas of business as the arrow to ensure everyone is working toward the same strategic bull's-eye. In his tenure, Lehosit has worked on global campaigns, executed events such as Comic Cons, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, SXSW, Pop-Up shops and more, been published as a writer for DC Comics, and been honored as a Rising Brand Star by AdWeek. 2019 marks 20 years since graduating from Notre Dame High School.  He is humbled and honored to return as a distinguished alumnus, joining the ranks of others he deeply admires for their achievements.  He dedicates this honor to the memory of his brother Michael Lehosit, and the rest of his family Roger, Suzi, and Cyndi, whose love and support he credits to his achievements.