Advance

FALL 2012

Advance, Cornell ILR School's publication for alumni and friends.

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Photo: Rachel Philipson One Scholarship Brings Three Generations to ILR Catherine Rieflin '15 I t all began in 1955, when Kathleen Fenley Rieflin '59, a 17-year-old from Long Island whose father was an electrician, won a Father Kelley scholarship from IBEW Local 3 to attend ILR, becoming one of about 10 women in her class. "I won that scholarship, and off I went. I had no idea where Ithaca even was," Kathy says. "At the time, women were mostly secretaries. If you went to college, it was to become a teacher or a nurse. This was just so different ... at ILR, we were writing the book on labor unions and labor history." Her first year there, Kathy met a CALS senior, William Lewis Rieflin '56, through the Newman Club. Once she graduated and he returned from Korea after serving in the Army, the two married and had four children. They relocated several times, and Kathy put her ILR education to good use — first at the YMCA in Rochester and then at Trinity College, where she retired as associate director of human resources. The couple planted the Cornell seed early with their children, taking them to visit campus in the 1960s. At the CALS barn, young Bill and his brother Ed were fascinated by the fistulated cows. "You ILR ALUMNI MAGAZINE could watch food being digested," Bill says. "I was 7 or 8, but that certainly got my attention and introduced me to the wonders of college." Bill went on to attend ILR, graduating in 1982. Ed Rieflin '83 enrolled in CALS and met his future wife, Debi Andersen Rieflin '83, who was studying engineering. "Our family has a very deep Cornell connection," Kathy says. Although Bill would tell you his claim to fame was working alongside Michelle Obama at Sidley & Austin in Chicago, in his first job out of Stanford Law School, he's had some impressive jobs of his own. He currently is CEO of NGM Biopharmaceuticals, which is working to cure Type 2 diabetes. Fifty-six years after Kathy first set foot on campus, Bill's daughter, Catherine Rieflin '15, who recalls drinking from a plastic Cornell cup as she was growing up, became the third generation of Rieflins to attend ILR. Catherine, who sang all-girls a cappella in high school, joined The Class Notes soon after arriving on campus. The coed a cappella group performs throughout the Northeast, and this year won the Mid-Atlantic quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. "My grandfather sang in the Glee Club and the Cornellaires — I get my love of singing from him," Catherine says. "He died when I was young, so "Our family has a very deep Cornell connection" says Kathy Fenley Rieflin '59. this has helped me reconnect with him." This past spring, Catherine also joined the Melodramatics Theatre Company, where she snagged a role in "Spring Awakening," one of her favorite musicals. And like her father, who had been a brother at Sigma Chi, she went Greek, joining Pi Beta Phi. Although it's difficult for the three generations to meet on campus at the same time, both father and grandmother visited separately during Catherine's freshman year — Bill attended Parents Weekend, and Kathy visited in April for a Class Notes concert. "It was so great when Bill went to ILR. My husband was so proud," Kathy says. "And to have my granddaughter there, now — I was not prepared for that," she says, choking up a bit. 5

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