Report of the AMHS Nominating Committee
Elections To Be Held at November Meeting
The Nominating Committee is pleased to announce three exceptional candidates for the AMHS Board of Directors: John Dunkle, Christopher Renneker, and Joseph “Sonny” Scafetta Jr (please see their bios, below). If elected, these candidates will replace Jeff Clark, Helen Free, and Albert Paolantonio, whose terms on the board expire at the end of this year.
The Committee is also pleased to announce that the 5 current officers have agreed to be candidates to serve an additional 2-year term: Ray LaVerghetta, President; Nancy DeSanti, 1st Vice President-Programs; Lynn Sorbara, 2nd Vice President-Membership; Carmine James Spellane, Secretary; and Peter Bell, Treasurer. The election shall take place during the general Society meeting on November 17. Additional nominations for office may be made in writing to the Nominating Committee, prior to the meeting, or from the floor during the meeting, after which the nominations will be closed, and the election will be held.
The elected board members shall assume office on January 1, 2020, and they shall be installed at the January 2020 general membership meeting. Their term of office is for three years. (Submitted by the AMHS Nominating Committee: Maria D’Andrea-Yothers, Lucio D’Andrea, and Lynn Sorbara)
John Dunkle is of German and Irish heritage. However, 56 years ago he married a beautiful Italian lady named Alice Riccadonna. Therefore, he became an “IBM” — Italian By Marriage. Excellent Italian food and wine and a welcoming family made their marriage quite special. John received a degree in physics from Syracuse University and a Masters’ Degree in engineering physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Alice completed a PhD in biology from Cornell. They were in the Air Force for twenty years and then John worked in industry for 18 more years.
When John and Alice moved to Great Falls, Virginia, they helped build the church that is now St. Catherine of Siena. There he served as a lector and as a Eucharistic minister. Alice wanted to be involved with the Italian community so, after a call to Father Cesare at Holy Rosary, John and Alice joined the parish. Over the years they have participated in parish activities and more recently, John became a member of the Holy Name Society and the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society (AMHS). John looks forward to contributing to the AMHS mission and to support the parishioners of Holy Rosary Church.
Christopher John Renneker is a recent graduate (2017) from the George Washington University Law School.
He also holds an MBA from the Sungkyunkwan University Global School of Business (2017) and a B.S. from the Florida State University (2011) with majors in political science and history, focused on European Union integration and Renaissance Italy respectively, and minors in Classical Civilization, focused on Etruscan studies, and philosophy.
He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia (2017). He currently works at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as an Examining Attorney. He previously worked as an Attorney Advisor in the Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance. Between undergrad and law school Chris taught overseas, including one year of English in Shanghai, China and one year of English, Social Studies, and Math in Mexico City, Mexico.
Chris studied abroad for a semester in Italy while at Florida State. He has since visited Italy twice, including six weeks earlier this year. He has family from Abruzzo and Foggia. He has been a member of the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society of Washington, D.C. since 2017 and a member of the National Italian American Foundation since 2016.
Joseph “Sonny” Scafetta Jr. is the son of Giuseppe Scafetta (1896-1975) who emigrated from the city of Vasto in Abruzzo to Washington in April 1915.
Sonny earned a B.S. from Penn State U. in aerospace engineering in 1969, a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1972, a masters in patent law from Georgetown U. in 1973, and an M.B.A. in the administration of science and technology from George Washington University in 1983. Before entering the private practice of law in 1975, he served as a law clerk for two years for a federal trial judge in Columbia, South Carolina.
He is admitted to practice before the state courts in Pennsylvania (1972), the District of Columbia (1978), and Virginia (1979). He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (1973), the U.S. District Courts in D.C. (1998) and the Eastern District of Virginia (1982), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (1982), and the U.S. Supreme Court (1980). He has worked for several law firms in the District and Northern Virginia. Over the years, he has published ten articles in various legal journals and won the prestigious Robert C Watson Award from the American Intellectual Property Law Association in 1976. He is now semi-retired, but still works part time four days a week as Senior Counsel for Ditthavong & Steiner in Old Town Alexandria.
He has been employed there since 2011. He has been a member of the Abruzzo-Molise Heritage Society since 2008. He is also a member of the National Christopher Columbus Association and the Italian Heritage Lodge which is a branch of the Order Sons & Daughters of Italy in America which he joined in 1979. He served as the president of the Avanti Italiani Lodge (1981- 83) and was the state president of the Grand Lodge of Virginia (1993-95). He served on the Grand Lodge Council for 24 continuous years from 1984 to 2007
He wrote an article about the Jacuzzi brothers for the Italian-American Review in 1994 and articles about engraving artists Anthony DeFrancisci (1999) and Frank Gasparro (2002) in The Numismatist. He also had biographies about five Italian Americans published in the American National Biography series in 1999. In the Fall 2005 issue of the Italian America Magazine, he had published a lead article entitled “Columbus & the Indians: Friend of Foe?”
His last publication was a book entitled “The True & Complete Story of Christopher Columbus” which was released by the Columbia Press Co. in 2007 and sold out. Sonny has visited Italy four times and spent 11 weeks there. He is fluent in Italian. He studied French for two years in high school and is now studying Spanish. He has also visited his Italian cousins living in Canada, Australia and Argentina. Currently, he resides in Falls Church with his wife of 33 years, Teresa Talierco, whose paternal grandparents emigrated from the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples. They have one son, Joseph Scafetta III, who is a junior majoring in math and computer science at Marymount University in Arlington. ❚