Spring 2003 - Fenwick High School

ALUMNI/AE NEWS
16
SPRING 2003
Bill Cullerton ’41
Receives New
Outdoor Honor
Recognizing a commitment to
conservation that spans more
than 50 years, the Illinois
Conservation Foundation has
honored Bill Cullerton by naming
him to the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame. Bill may be best
known as longtime host of the popular WGN radio show,
“Great Outdoors,” but his work continues. As a founder
and current member of the Board of the Illinois
Conservation Foundation, Bill is involved in a project that
brings elementary school teachers to a state park in
Peoria to help them learn the biology of the outdoors.
He also serves on Mayor Richard Daley’s Sports
Development Committee. Bill was instrumental in
establishing an artificial reef located off the downtown
shoreline of Lake Michigan, creating a habitat that, as it
matures, will attract small mouth bass, perch and other
fish to the lakefront. Bill first learned to fish with his
grandfather in the lakes around the Chicago area.
Protecting Presidents
and Popes
Richard Griffin ’67 spent 26
years in the U.S. Secret Service,
protecting Presidents and making
security arrangements visits from
dignitaries, including the Pope.
Starting as an agent fresh out of
Xavier University in Cincinnati,
Dick rose to the position of
Deputy Director. Along the way he graduated from the
National War College and earned an MBA from
Marymount University. On the day President Ronald
Reagan was shot, Dick was off-duty, but his friend and
colleague, Tim McCarthy, was wounded by the would-be
assassin’s bullet. Dick has great respect for the Secret
Service as “a ‘can-do’ organization that treats its
employees like family.”
In 1997, he left the Secret Service to become Inspector
General of the Department of Veterans Affairs. He now
heads up a force of 400 employees, including criminal
investigators, auditors, and healthcare inspectors, who
review VA programs to identify waste, fraud, and other
criminal conduct.
Dick made “countless friends at Fenwick that continue to
have a positive impact on me to this day,” and he
remembers “the tremendous school spirit at the pep
rallies and athletic contests.”
“Greetings from Tucson”
Aimee Garcia ’96 – a member of
Fenwick’s first coeds, one of the
originators of Friars’ Pom Pons, and a
dancer in many Blackfriars Guild
productions -- is starring in a television
sitcom. Greetings from Tucson runs Friday
nights on the WB network and can be
seen at 8:30 p.m. on WGN Channel 9 in
the Chicago area. Aimee plays Maria
Taint, the older sister in a multi-ethnic
family. Maria is a lively and sometimes
sarcastic high school cheerleader.
Aimee graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in
communication and economics. After establishing herself as a
mutual fund analyst on Wall Street, she turned to her other love
and went to Hollywood to pursue acting.
The role of Maria has brought Aimee praise and fame, which is
nothing really new. She was appearing in professional productions
of The Nutcracker and other shows by the age of seven. Now in
her early 20s, Aimee also is featured in magazine articles about her
make-up, fashion, career choices, and work ethic. She even writes
an advice column, “Ask Aimee,” on the WB web site. A new role
model for young Latino women Aimee has beauty, brains, and
describes herself as “a grounded earthy kind of person.”
The Next Generation
of Caregiver
A recent
publication from
Northwestern
University’s
Feinberg School
of Medicine
featured the
photo and story of
Marin Mannix ’97.
Marin is a second-year medical
student who graduated with honors
in neuroscience from Amherst
College. While at Amherst, she
chaired Amherst’s Hunger Action
Committee, which raised $12,000 to
fight hunger in local communities.