Laura Schnader

Laura J.
(Schnader)
Van Aken

1980

1981

1982

Laura (Schnader) Van Aken, treasurer of the Chris Malinowski Fan Club

1986

2003

2006

Location:	Email:
Hatboro, PA (moved from near Cherry Hill, NJ to Levittown, PA in 2001; and from Levittown to Hatboro in 2006.)	LVA@bww.com

The Van Aken Family 2006

Husband:

John

Children:

Joshua - adopted from Korea in 2003!

Laura is famous! We have a celebrety in our class! Laura and her son appeared on TLC's "A Baby Story" in 2004. The Van Akens were contacted along with other families who adopted from Korea. The story is actually about another couple and their journey through the process. The rest of the families were extras, but Laura was asked to be interviewed. The interview lasted 5 minutes, but only a small fraction made it onto the show. The show will air once per month for a while, so look for Laura on TV (and then next year on all of the TV awards shows.) ... At least one person in our class happened to see it. Lori (Czarnecki) LaPearl wrote me to say she saw Laura on the show.

The pictures below are from 2006...

Joshua and a cone of vanilla ice cream, 2006

Occupation:

"I have worked in in teaching, counseling and every other human services position you can imagine, but now I'm a full-time mom and loving every minute of it. I also run a web-based business with my husband." Laura says has formal title is "E-Commerce Developer."

Pets:

An African Gray Parrot named Smokey who "squawks, squeaks, talks and burps." Laura says she also has some dust bunnies.

Yearbook Future Career:	In our senior yearbook, Laura listed "Spanish" as her future career path.
HS Nickname:	Lolly

Senior Memories (Copied directly from the Senior Yearbook):

Bruno's '85 ... Val ... Mike ... The Rose ... uh-there ... hit the ball! ... I love MP ... Matta Soo ... Laddy ... CaCa ... f-ball and b-ball games ... hockey's awesome ... Thanks family and friends.

Stuff to Know about Laura as of 1/29/04:

Books she is reading: The Bible, and Love for a Lifetime by James Dobson
Her favorite board game: Pictionary or Songburst
Favorite Sounds: Singing and laughter
First thing she thinks in the moring: "Get your own bottle, kid."
Future child's name: Hailey
What is most important in life?: Jesus Christ
Favorite Foods: Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream, "ethnic" foods of all kinds, chocolate
Does she like to drive fast: No, I have to drive fast because if I don't I'll be late!
First Car: Dodge Omni
Favorite Drink: Strong coffee
If she could have any job, what would it be?: Music ministry
Is the glass half empty or half full?: Half full, even on a bad day
Does she type with her fingers on the right keys?: Yes, and the left
What is under her bed?: A shot gun (and ma paw learned me how ta use it, pardner), box of odd wires, other short, flat junk, and perhaps my missing hamster
Favorite Number: 3
Favorite TV Program: She doesn't watch TV
Which would she prefer: beach, mountains or city?: Mountains
Which does she prefer, comedy or horror?: Comedy

Chris Mal Notes:

I ran into Laura at O'Kelley's around 1990 (before it went out of business, obviously.) She showed me how she can put a cherry stem into her mouth and tie it in a knot with her tongue. Try it, it takes a great deal of talent. According to Laura, "It's all in the teeth. Lower teeth, to hold the stem steady. Then you somehow make it bend around and criss-cross so it's in the position to pull into a knot. Next, (carefully, this is key) use your upper teeth and your tongue to pull the knot tight. The hardest part is holding it in the criss-cross position while adjusting to pull it through. And you must do this while you are sober. Try this at home. I am not an actress. And you need not have parental supervision." (Laura emailed me soon after this was posted to note that her friend Kathleen can also do this. Those are two very talented tongues in Laura and Kathleen!)

Laura was self-proclaimed "Secretary of the Chris Malinowski Fan Club" which was a very popular and exclusive club back in the day. Her job was one of the easier ones since the club had no funding save my lunch money which I would spend on a pair of cheeseburgers from McDonald's every single day. Cori Roboski was the "Incompetent Secretary", and Brendan Kane was "Vice President."

I spoke with Laura on the phone in March of 2001, and she is still one of the cheeriest people that I have ever met.

Laura's step-brother, Steve King, was the manager of the department that I work in (Engineering Services) at GPU Energy, before he left in 2002 to form his own engineering company. He was the best boss I ever had. Small world.

Laura is also Evan Spohn's step-cousin, and Bud LeVan's cousin.

Laura met former classmate Valerie Whalon in second grade, and they have remained best of friends ever since. Laura's husband calls her "Our Pal Val."

Laura admits to being a "Barfophobe", and has vivid memories of Jeff Greene wolfing down baked beans in elementary school onto to have him immediately bring them back. As the story goes, the elementary school heat went out in the middle of the day so they had everyone eat lunch first before sending the kids home. But everyone ate in their homerooms because the lunch room was freezing. Mrs. Latimer told Jeff that he couldn't have the dessert until he tried the beans. Instead of eating a molecule of beans like everyone else, Jeff ate all of them as fast as he could, followed by a chocolate milk chaser - and then would up puking them back up immediately. As the legend goes, Jeff still ate the dessert.