Association news & class notes
1990
Ken Hammann writes to say that the close of the spring 2023 semester brought his teaching career total to 30 years. Ken also finished his 19th year as the director of bands and as the Performing Arts chair at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C. In 2022, he took his Regimental Marching Band to Hawaii to represent D.C. in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade held in Waikiki on Dec. 7. It was quite a privilege, Ken says. He and the students also visited the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, performed on the pier, and took a tour of the U.S.S. Missouri. They visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and climbed the Diamond Head crater. Ken says “hello” to all his old suitemates and fellow musicians from WMC, especially Steve Bowser ’89, Eleanor Wilson, Eric Byrd ’93, and Jamie Davis ’89.
Lisa Diffenbaugh Maher, M.S. ’93 writes that she and her husband celebrated their 33rd anniversary with a 12-day land-and-sea cruise adventure in Alaska that set sail in late June. They had planned this trip for their 30th anniversary back in 2020 — but, you know, COVID-19. In September 2023, Lisa kicks off year number 14 as an elementary counselor with Carroll County Public Schools. Lisa adds that she keeps in touch with Julie Biddinger Jones, Sandy Metz Borns ’89, M.S. ’93, and Carrie Schuster Oddis ’95.
And now, a few highlights from your locally brewed class reporter. The first bit is quite unbelievable — I have to pinch my wife every morning just to make sure at least one of us is not dreaming. For 25 years, my one-man Christian band, moron, has flown under the music industry radar. Understandably so, as a single sputtering propeller has powered the craft along. But somehow, defying all reason and decency, a well-known producer took a shining to moron. From February to July, including a trip to his Nashville studio, we worked on a seven-song album — basically a best of moron, consisting of my original recordings that he then played on and otherwise touched up. Sadly, it’s still me singing. “Liar, Lunatic, or Loud” should be available at a super-low price on streaming platforms ere too long. I could say that if I break even financially, I’ll be happy — but I’m already happy. In 2022, I traveled to Jackson, Tennessee, to attend a weeklong course/conference in the how-to’s of local journalism. I also made two more two-week trips to northern Uganda with a pastor friend to teach theology classes to 40 Ugandan and Sudanese pastors — too expensive, too far from home for them to attend a formal seminary. My two oldest boys are attending Community College of Baltimore County, where this fall semester ushers in my 28th year teaching math there. My two other boys are in 10th and seventh grade, and my daughter is in fourth grade. For our 20th anniversary in June, Lisa (of course I don’t really pinch her) and I visited Ponce, Puerto Rico, after going to San Juan the year before. It doesn’t seem to have dawned on her that she’s living with a rock star. I guess I’ll have to keep reminding her. Our family “vacation” this summer was a six-day trip through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia to visit four colleges that our boys might transfer to. It was my first time to Virginia Beach. No offense to loyal VB’ers, but it’s got nothing on OCMD.
I continue to serve on the boards of two right-to-life organizations, and I still write movie reviews for World magazine.
Bob Brown1990 Class Reportermoronmusic@yahoo.com