USD Magazine Spring 2021

in the hospital and the rest of the spring semester in rehabilitation. Initially, her doctors couldn’t persuade her to relax, but her former resident assistant, John Trifiletti ’78 (BA), connected her with all of her professors. They kept in touch and encouraged her to take as much time as she needed to recover. “All of my teachers sent notes saying, ‘Don’t worry about your finals. You’ll have plenty of time to make them up.’ My teachers were amaz- ing,” she recalls. “I just felt indebted to the campus, and it’s still that way today.” Both she and her husband, Marco, who met at USD but didn’t start dating until later, are part of a three-generation USD family. After Marco grad- uated in 1984, his father, Frank Alessio, served on the Board of Trustees for 31 years from 1986 to 2017 and was the vice chair of the board for eight years be- tween 2009 and 2016. While Kim’s mother, Marcie Amory, didn’t attend USD, she was raised in Sacred Heart schools, the order to which the university’s co- founder, Mother Rosalie Clif- ton Hill, belonged. Raised in Arizona, Kim spent her sum- mers in San Diego. “USD was the only place I wanted to go,” she recalls. “I can’t imagine what would have happened if they turned me down.” Today, daughter Ally ’21 (pictured with her parents) is majoring in international business and marketing at USD, while son Matthew chose to go to the University of Oregon. The couple were thrilled to see Ally follow in their footsteps. “It’s a perfect school for her because it’s just big enough where she

B A R B A R A F E R G U S O N

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Alessio family’s ties to USD span three generations T E R M S O F E N D E A R M E N T

by Liz Harman im Alessio ’87 (BA) looks back fondly on Greek Life, the Alcalá Club and other great memories of her K

Just before fall semester finals, she become so ill with Guillain-Barre syndrome that she had to go home to Arizona and spent two months

collegiate experience at USD. But it was an illness during her junior year that cemented her connection with the university.

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