REUNION 2009 - Alumni News

Transcription

PEOPLE
August 2009
Reunion
2009
Society of Alumni
Officers
President
Sarah Mollman Underhill ’80
Vice President
Christopher F. Giglio ’89
Secretary
Brooks L. Foehl ’88
Assistant Secretaries
Juan G. Baena ’07
Rex M. Lybrand
Robert Swann ’90
Paula Moore Tabor ’76
Executive Committee
Retiring 2010
Cesar J. Alvarez ’84*
H. Mercer Blanchard ’55
Kendall Eugene James ’84
Stephen Alexander Martin ’91
Rebecca D. Salazar ’89
Marcia Toll ’89
Jonathan Vipond III ’67
Retiring 2011
Walter S. Bernheimer II ’61
David C. Bowen ’83*
Thomas Peter Kimbis ’93
Bernard Lau ’85
Gregg C. Peterson ’72
Kate Boyle Ramsdell ’97
Sarah Barger Ranney ’02
RETIRING 2012
Jennifer C. Bees ’08
James Gerard Christian ’82
Beth-Anne C. Flynn ’81
Aaron R. Jenkins ’03
Laura Moberg Lavoie ’99
Frederick M. Lawrence ’77*
Norma Lopez ’95
Williams magazine
(USPS No. 684-580) is published in
August, September, December, January,
March, April and June and distributed
free of charge by Williams College for the
Society of Alumni. Opinions expressed
in this publication may not necessarily
reflect those of Williams College or of the
Society of Alumni.
Periodical postage paid at
Williamstown, MA 01267 and
additional mailing offices.
Postmaster:
Send address changes to
Williams magazine
75 Park St.
Williamstown, MA 01267-2114
RETIRING 2013
Kate L. Queeney ’92*
RETIRING 2014
Joey Shaista Horn ’87
*Ex Officio as Alumni Trustee
Alumni Fund ChairS
Katie Chatas ’88
Ted Plonsker ’86
Alumni Offices
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4151
fax: 413.458.9808
e-mail: [email protected]
http://alumni.williams.edu
The Williams College Society of
Alumni was established in 1821 and
is the oldest continuously operating
alumni organization in the U.S. The
Executive Committee is its governing
board, charged with representing and
building closer bonds among alumni,
advancing the interests and reputation
of Williams College and furthering
meaningful relationships between
the two. The Executive Committee
conducts the business of the Society
of Alumni between annual meetings,
held on campus each June during
Reunion Weekend.
On the Cover
Reunion 2009. Photo by Scott
Barrow.
CONTENT S
2 Reunion
Scrapbook
18 Class Notes
Click on text and photos to jump to the
corresponding page
1932 • ’36 • ’37 • ’38 • ’39
1940 • ’41 • ’42 • ’43 • ’44 • ’45 • ’46 • ’47 • ’48 • ’49
8
1950 • ’51 • ’52 • ’53 • ’54 • ’55 • ’56 • ’57 • ’58 • ’59
1960 • ’61 • ’62 • ’63 • ’64 • ’65 • ’66 • ’67 • ’68 • ’69
1970 • ’71 • ’72 • ’73 • ’74 • ’75 • ’76 • ’77 • ’78 • ’79
1980 • ’81 • ’82 • ’83 • ’84 • ’85 • ’86 • ’87 • ’88 • ’89
1990 • ’91 • ’92 • ’93 • ’94 • ’95 • ’96 • ’97 • ’98 • ’99
2000 • ’01 • ’02 • ’03 • ’04 • ’05 • ’06 • ’07 • ’08
34
78
125 W
edding
Album
Editor
Amy T. Lovett
130 Births &
Adoptions
132
Obituaries
Assistant Editor
Jennifer E. Grow
Student Assistant
Amanda Korman ’10
Design & Production
Steve Parrish
Jane Firor & Associates
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
http://alumni.williams.edu/alumnireview
PEOPLE
August 2009
Address Changes/Updates
Bio Records
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4399
fax: 413.458.9808
126
Volume 104 Number 1
On the Back Cover
Bagpipers in the alumni parade.
Photo by Scott Barrow.
Society of Alumni
Officers
President
Sarah Mollman Underhill ’80
Vice President
Christopher F. Giglio ’89
Secretary
Brooks L. Foehl ’88
Assistant Secretaries
Juan G. Baena ’07
Rex M. Lybrand
Robert Swann ’90
Paula Moore Tabor ’76
Executive Committee
Retiring 2010
Cesar J. Alvarez ’84*
H. Mercer Blanchard ’55
Kendall Eugene James ’84
Stephen Alexander Martin ’91
Rebecca D. Salazar ’89
Marcia Toll ’89
Jonathan Vipond III ’67
Retiring 2011
Walter S. Bernheimer II ’61
David C. Bowen ’83*
Thomas Peter Kimbis ’93
Bernard Lau ’85
Gregg C. Peterson ’72
Kate Boyle Ramsdell ’97
Sarah Barger Ranney ’02
RETIRING 2012
Jennifer C. Bees ’08
James Gerard Christian ’82
Beth-Anne C. Flynn ’81
Aaron R. Jenkins ’03
Laura Moberg Lavoie ’99
Frederick M. Lawrence ’77*
Norma Lopez ’95
RETIRING 2013
Kate L. Queeney ’92*
RETIRING 2014
Joey Shaista Horn ’87
*Ex Officio as Alumni Trustee
Alumni Fund ChairS
Katie Chatas ’88
Ted Plonsker ’86
Alumni Offices
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4151
fax: 413.458.9808
The Williams College Society of
Alumni was established in 1821 and
is the oldest continuously operating
alumni organization in the U.S. The
Executive Committee is its governing
board, charged with representing and
building closer bonds among alumni,
advancing the interests and reputation
of Williams College and furthering
meaningful relationships between
the two. The Executive Committee
conducts the business of the Society
of Alumni between annual meetings,
held on campus each June during
Reunion Weekend.
On the Cover
Barrow.
CONTENT S
2 Reunion
Scrapbook
18 Class Notes
78
8
34
125 W
edding
Album
130 Births &
Adoptions
132
Obituaries
Editor
Amy T. Lovett
Assistant Editor
Jennifer E. Grow
Student Assistant
Amanda Korman ’10
Design & Production
Steve Parrish
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
PEOPLE
August 2009
Bio Records
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4399
fax: 413.458.9808
126
Williams magazine
Society of Alumni.
Postmaster:
Williams magazine
75 Park St.
Volume 104 Number 1
On the Back Cover
On the Cover
Barrow.
CONTENT S
2 Reunion
Scrapbook
18 Class Notes
78
8
34
125 W
edding
Album
130 Births &
Adoptions
132
Obituaries
Editor
Amy T. Lovett
Assistant Editor
Jennifer E. Grow
Student Assistant
Amanda Korman ’10
Design & Production
Steve Parrish
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
PEOPLE
August 2009
Bio Records
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4399
fax: 413.458.9808
126
Williams magazine
Society of Alumni.
Postmaster:
Williams magazine
75 Park St.
Volume 104 Number 1
On the Back Cover
2009
Reunion
o
b
p
a
Scr
From fireworks (courtesy of
the Class of ’59) to fishing
to frisbee, fun was the
name of the game during
Art Evans
Reunion Weekend, held
June 11-14. Nearly 1,500
alumni returned with their
families and friends.
Photos by Scott Barrow unless noted.
2 | Williams People | August 2009
Art Evans
Art Evans
ook
For more reunion photos, visit
http://bit.ly/1kHn16
August 2009 | Williams People | 3
Art Evans
Sue Rankin
Art Evans
Art Evans
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
50th
Reunion Class
1959 celebrated in style with 200 classmates and their guests.
In addition to Outrageous Purple Night (with some of the best
photo ops of the weekend), the class hosted an art show and
reception at the ’62 Center and a book exhibition at the Center
for Development Economics that featured 19 authors and 30
published works. Other highlights included a surprise purple and
gold fireworks display at the Clark Art Institute, two showings of
David Earle’s The Movie Movie at Images Cinema and a campuswide seminar by Bill Moomaw on the
challenges of creating a sustainable future.
The class presented the College with
$10.5 million to support the Alumni Fund,
the Class of 1959 Great Teachers Initiative
Sue Rankin
Art Evans
and the Class of 1959 Scholarship.
Sue Rankin
Art Evans
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Art Evans
50th
Reunion Class
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Photos by Art Evans unless noted.
25th
Reunion Class
The Class of ’84 welcomed back 229 alumni and 331 family
members and friends. A highlight of the weekend was the
25th reunion panel discussion “Sustainability at Williams
Log,” featuring Mara Bún, CEO of Green Cross Australia; Bill
Edmonds, director of environmental policy and sustainability
for NW Natural in Portland, Ore; Jim Neumann, environmental
Scott Barrow
and Around the World: How Best to Use Mark Hopkins’
economist with Industrial Economics of Cambridge, Mass.; and
Peg Stevenson, city services auditor for San Francisco, Calif. In
keeping with the theme, the class presented the College with a
$7.3 million 25th reunion gift, including more than $1 million
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
for the Class of 1984 Sustainability Fund.
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Photos by Art Evans.
25th
Reunion Class
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Awards &
Honors
1
2
4
5
3
For a list of Alumni Fund trophy winners, visit
alumni.williams.edu/af0809report
Ephs bid adieu to Williams’ first family at
the annual meeting by honoring President
Morty Schapiro (4) and Mimi Schapiro
(6), who received the Ephraim Williams
Medal for exceptional service and loyalty to
the College. Also recognized were retiring VP
of Alumni Relations & Development Steve
Birrell ’64 (5) and Joseph’s Coat winner
Alex Carroll ’39. Other awardees were:
1 William A. Finn ’74, Kellogg Award for
career achievement
2 Pete Wilmott ’59, Rogerson Cup, the
highest award for alumni service
3 Nat White ’99, Thurston Bowl for
exceptional service as class secretary
(shown with Dave Thurston ’44, son of the
award’s namesake)
7 Donna Ching ’84, Copeland Award for
effectively representing Williams to high
schoolers
6
7
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Art Evans
Art Evans
Art Evans
CL ASS
NOTES
1932
John P. English
3226 Heatherwood
Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
[email protected]
Did you folks of 1932 who,
like me, survived the four-yearsof-Latin entrance requirement
back in 1928 experience a quiver
when you read that the College
Board recently decided that
preparatory schools no longer
even have to offer Catullus,
Cicero, Horace or Ovid (Virgil
did survive)? I did!
Another of us, Jim Goodwin,
celebrated his 99th birthday
with a gathering of 20 at the
home of his son Tony ’71 in the
Adirondacks. There were many
testimonials, and the birthday
boy responded that he was too
old to compose a speech. Instead
he recited the rather lengthy
Adirondack classic “Allen’s Bear
Fight Up in Keene” verbatim.
1936
Richard U. Sherman Jr.
Friendship Village Dublin
6000 Riverside Drive, Apt. A109
Dublin, OH 43017
[email protected]
Class President Dar Wales wrote
a letter to each of the 14 living
members of the Class of 1936
concerning the feasibility of a
75th reunion in 2011 and other
matters: “I do not see planning
for another reunion. Attendance
at the last one was two or three.
The biggest reason for nonattendance was driving; few of us
drive anymore (myself included).
Many of us need walkers to
move from room to room. I
use my walker constantly. I
walk with it every day at a local
supermarket. I go around the
perimeter three times. This is my
exercise.”
Dar continued, “I also have
had the good fortune and good
health enabling me to continue
the practice of law, nothing controversial and no court appearances except Surrogate’s Court.
There are 100 lawyers in the firm
of Hinman, Howard & Kattell,
LLP, where I am an associate.”
In his letter Dar also thanked
Jerry Langeler, Jim Laubach,
Stan Strauss, Win Robart and
Dick Sherman for their help in
handling class and College affairs
over the years. Dar also reported
having a delightful lunch recently
with Elima and Paul Higgins at
their home in Cortland, N.Y.
Jim Goodwin ’32 (left) met up with his former Kingswood School student
Peyton Mead ’50 in Keene Valley, N.Y., in September 2008.
Lev Davis wrote from his home
in Damariscotta, Maine, “Am
now recuperating from a fall
on the eve of my 95th birthday
(April 5), broke no bones but
landed a nasty blood bug, which
kept me on IV in Maine Medical
Hospital, then in rehab. Didn’t
make it out to Harbor Island last
summer but hope to for a few
days this [summer]. My children
all well. Lost a wonderful sonin-law (Andrew Janover) in
November ’08 to a nasty cancer.
Have a new great-grandson,
Wyatt Andrew Janover, born
on his deceased grandfather’s
birthday. Son Sandy and daughters Ann and Caroline have
all relocated to Damariscotta.
Wonderful to have my family
close by.”
Jerry Langeler, always a faithful
correspondent, reported, “It took
six years to get patent approval
for ‘Pill Down,’ a gadget I
invented to facilitate pill taking
for young and old. Estimated
sales of 20 million a year have
been projected. Williams surely
did give me a superb education!
A high school graduate, I was
one of the youngest in our ’36
class; I turned 93 last December.”
I am sorry to have to report the
deaths of Russ Stoddard and Edith
Karelis. Russ died on March 17;
he was a close friend of mine and
was married to my wife Jinny’s
sister Janet Stanley, the mother
of his only child, Sarah Stoddard
McKay. Edith Karelis died on
Jan. 4 and was the widow of our
long-serving class treasurer Saul
Karelis, who died in 2007.
1937
Edwin B. Heyes Jr.
448A Heritage Hills
Somers, NY 10589
[email protected]
A little late, but Happy New
Year to all. While Sonnie and
Bun Dawson are braving out
winter in St. Paul, they are still
undecided whether to settle in
La Jolla, Calif., or Scottsdale,
Ariz., for the remaining “Golden
Years.” Meanwhile New York
Times crossword puzzle, bridge,
occasional trips to Boston and a
physical trainer who visits home
on a regular basis keep them
both in good shape.
Farney Fowle is keeping house
OK as his legs are doing well.
(Thanks to his many years of
soccer?) Gave up his car in
2000 but doing well with public
transportation. Visited at his
sister’s and brother’s home for
Thanksgiving in Princeton. Still
enjoys music of Fats Waller
and Hazel Scott. Regrets he
can no longer celebrate mutual
birthdays in person with Mary
and John Reeves. The latter are
celebrating their sixth year at
Farmingdale, Conn. Visits not
only from nearby friends but
also the many far-flung members
of the Moore and Reeves families help keep spirits up.
Judge Irv Goldman is carrying
on volunteer activities “in good
shape for the shape he’s in.”
Jack Selvage passed his 94th in
good style, keeps check on the
“market,” enjoys many hours of
bridge and once in a while visits
his chalet in Manchester, Vt.,
where he still retains membership in the country club.
On the Cover
Barrow.
CONTENT S
2 Reunion
Scrapbook
18 Class Notes
78
8
34
125 W
edding
Album
130 Births &
Adoptions
132
Obituaries
Editor
Amy T. Lovett
Assistant Editor
Jennifer E. Grow
Student Assistant
Amanda Korman ’10
Design & Production
Steve Parrish
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
PEOPLE
August 2009
Bio Records
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4399
fax: 413.458.9808
126
Williams magazine
Society of Alumni.
Postmaster:
Williams magazine
75 Park St.
Volume 104 Number 1
On the Back Cover
2009
Reunion
o
b
p
a
Scr
From fireworks (courtesy of
the Class of ’59) to fishing
to frisbee, fun was the
name of the game during
Art Evans
Reunion Weekend, held
June 11-14. Nearly 1,500
alumni returned with their
families and friends.
Art Evans
Art Evans
ook
For more reunion photos, visit
http://bit.ly/1kHn16
Art Evans
Sue Rankin
Art Evans
Art Evans
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
50th
Reunion Class
1959 celebrated in style with 200 classmates and their guests.
In addition to Outrageous Purple Night (with some of the best
photo ops of the weekend), the class hosted an art show and
reception at the ’62 Center and a book exhibition at the Center
for Development Economics that featured 19 authors and 30
published works. Other highlights included a surprise purple and
gold fireworks display at the Clark Art Institute, two showings of
David Earle’s The Movie Movie at Images Cinema and a campuswide seminar by Bill Moomaw on the
challenges of creating a sustainable future.
The class presented the College with
$10.5 million to support the Alumni Fund,
the Class of 1959 Great Teachers Initiative
Sue Rankin
Art Evans
and the Class of 1959 Scholarship.
Sue Rankin
Art Evans
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Art Evans
50th
Reunion Class
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
25th
Reunion Class
The Class of ’84 welcomed back 229 alumni and 331 family
members and friends. A highlight of the weekend was the
25th reunion panel discussion “Sustainability at Williams
Log,” featuring Mara Bún, CEO of Green Cross Australia; Bill
Edmonds, director of environmental policy and sustainability
for NW Natural in Portland, Ore; Jim Neumann, environmental
Scott Barrow
and Around the World: How Best to Use Mark Hopkins’
economist with Industrial Economics of Cambridge, Mass.; and
Peg Stevenson, city services auditor for San Francisco, Calif. In
keeping with the theme, the class presented the College with a
$7.3 million 25th reunion gift, including more than $1 million
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
for the Class of 1984 Sustainability Fund.
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
25th
Reunion Class
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Awards &
Honors
1
2
4
5
3
For a list of Alumni Fund trophy winners, visit
alumni.williams.edu/af0809report
Ephs bid adieu to Williams’ first family at
the annual meeting by honoring President
Morty Schapiro (4) and Mimi Schapiro
(6), who received the Ephraim Williams
Medal for exceptional service and loyalty to
the College. Also recognized were retiring VP
of Alumni Relations & Development Steve
Birrell ’64 (5) and Joseph’s Coat winner
Alex Carroll ’39. Other awardees were:
1 William A. Finn ’74, Kellogg Award for
career achievement
2 Pete Wilmott ’59, Rogerson Cup, the
highest award for alumni service
3 Nat White ’99, Thurston Bowl for
exceptional service as class secretary
(shown with Dave Thurston ’44, son of the
award’s namesake)
7 Donna Ching ’84, Copeland Award for
effectively representing Williams to high
schoolers
6
7
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
Scott Barrow
2009
Reunion
Scrapbook
Art Evans
Art Evans
Art Evans
CL ASS
NOTES
1932
John P. English
3226 Heatherwood
Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
[email protected]
Did you folks of 1932 who,
like me, survived the four-yearsof-Latin entrance requirement
back in 1928 experience a quiver
when you read that the College
Board recently decided that
preparatory schools no longer
even have to offer Catullus,
Cicero, Horace or Ovid (Virgil
did survive)? I did!
Another of us, Jim Goodwin,
celebrated his 99th birthday
with a gathering of 20 at the
home of his son Tony ’71 in the
Adirondacks. There were many
testimonials, and the birthday
boy responded that he was too
old to compose a speech. Instead
he recited the rather lengthy
Adirondack classic “Allen’s Bear
Fight Up in Keene” verbatim.
1936
Richard U. Sherman Jr.
Friendship Village Dublin
6000 Riverside Drive, Apt. A109
Dublin, OH 43017
[email protected]
Class President Dar Wales wrote
a letter to each of the 14 living
members of the Class of 1936
concerning the feasibility of a
75th reunion in 2011 and other
matters: “I do not see planning
for another reunion. Attendance
at the last one was two or three.
The biggest reason for nonattendance was driving; few of us
drive anymore (myself included).
Many of us need walkers to
move from room to room. I
use my walker constantly. I
walk with it every day at a local
supermarket. I go around the
perimeter three times. This is my
exercise.”
Dar continued, “I also have
had the good fortune and good
health enabling me to continue
the practice of law, nothing controversial and no court appearances except Surrogate’s Court.
There are 100 lawyers in the firm
of Hinman, Howard & Kattell,
LLP, where I am an associate.”
In his letter Dar also thanked
Jerry Langeler, Jim Laubach,
Stan Strauss, Win Robart and
Dick Sherman for their help in
handling class and College affairs
over the years. Dar also reported
having a delightful lunch recently
with Elima and Paul Higgins at
their home in Cortland, N.Y.
Jim Goodwin ’32 (left) met up with his former Kingswood School student
Peyton Mead ’50 in Keene Valley, N.Y., in September 2008.
Lev Davis wrote from his home
in Damariscotta, Maine, “Am
now recuperating from a fall
on the eve of my 95th birthday
(April 5), broke no bones but
landed a nasty blood bug, which
kept me on IV in Maine Medical
Hospital, then in rehab. Didn’t
make it out to Harbor Island last
summer but hope to for a few
days this [summer]. My children
all well. Lost a wonderful sonin-law (Andrew Janover) in
November ’08 to a nasty cancer.
Have a new great-grandson,
Wyatt Andrew Janover, born
on his deceased grandfather’s
birthday. Son Sandy and daughters Ann and Caroline have
all relocated to Damariscotta.
Wonderful to have my family
close by.”
Jerry Langeler, always a faithful
correspondent, reported, “It took
six years to get patent approval
for ‘Pill Down,’ a gadget I
invented to facilitate pill taking
for young and old. Estimated
sales of 20 million a year have
been projected. Williams surely
did give me a superb education!
A high school graduate, I was
one of the youngest in our ’36
class; I turned 93 last December.”
I am sorry to have to report the
deaths of Russ Stoddard and Edith
Karelis. Russ died on March 17;
he was a close friend of mine and
was married to my wife Jinny’s
sister Janet Stanley, the mother
of his only child, Sarah Stoddard
McKay. Edith Karelis died on
Jan. 4 and was the widow of our
long-serving class treasurer Saul
Karelis, who died in 2007.
1937
Edwin B. Heyes Jr.
448A Heritage Hills
Somers, NY 10589
[email protected]
A little late, but Happy New
Year to all. While Sonnie and
Bun Dawson are braving out
winter in St. Paul, they are still
undecided whether to settle in
La Jolla, Calif., or Scottsdale,
Ariz., for the remaining “Golden
Years.” Meanwhile New York
Times crossword puzzle, bridge,
occasional trips to Boston and a
physical trainer who visits home
on a regular basis keep them
both in good shape.
Farney Fowle is keeping house
OK as his legs are doing well.
(Thanks to his many years of
soccer?) Gave up his car in
2000 but doing well with public
transportation. Visited at his
sister’s and brother’s home for
Thanksgiving in Princeton. Still
enjoys music of Fats Waller
and Hazel Scott. Regrets he
can no longer celebrate mutual
birthdays in person with Mary
and John Reeves. The latter are
celebrating their sixth year at
Farmingdale, Conn. Visits not
only from nearby friends but
also the many far-flung members
of the Moore and Reeves families help keep spirits up.
Judge Irv Goldman is carrying
on volunteer activities “in good
shape for the shape he’s in.”
Jack Selvage passed his 94th in
good style, keeps check on the
“market,” enjoys many hours of
bridge and once in a while visits
his chalet in Manchester, Vt.,
where he still retains membership in the country club.
n 1 9 3 2 –4 0
Ed Heyes has not heard
from Bob Meyersburg and Phil
Mantius. All other 16 accounted
for.
We are sorry to have to report
the passing Betty and Bob Lord,
Rev. Frank Sayre, Charlie Russell,
Jane Whitehead and Betsy Hawn.
In closing, Ed appreciates seasons greetings from the Selvages
and the Guttersons. Ad hog
Volantes.
1938
George McKay
2833 Wind Pump Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
[email protected]
A phone call to Doug Johnston
found him still in Houston quite
healthy, happy and surrounded
by three of his four sons and
their families, including two new
great-grandchildren.
In another call to Salt Lake
City, Ted Noehren reported that
he had lost his wife Madeleine
a year ago but has remained in
the same assisted living facility
there. He said he had been
back to Williamstown last fall
and watched our team defeat
Amherst.
In addition to Ted’s loss, I
regret to report the deaths of
two more classmates, William B.
Dayton III and Dr. George Carter.
Our condolences go out to their
families.
1939
Roger Moore
39 Boland Road
Sharon, CT 06069
A recent telephone conversation with Doug Surgeoner’s
wife Lois tells about their living
in Peterborough, N.H. Doug
unfortunately is in a senior
Rivermead Retirement Home
with Alzheimer’s disease. Lois
thought that Doug would not
recognize my name. She was
impressed with the Class of
1939’s recognition in recent
fundraising.
A communication from the
Gottleibs was entertaining
enough that I will attempt to
record it verbatim. “Several
years ago my wife and I founded
a mythical organization called
the Sidewalk Diver’s Club. My
credentials include a broken arm
on a tennis court, an international dive on a street in France
on the way to a laundromat and
a double dive with Jean in the
Atlanta airport. The ultimate is
a dive into an empty swimming
pool. Jean and I are the only
members, and we came up with
this motto for the club: DON’T!
Be sure to hang on to stair railings and to each other, but if
you thought it might be a good
idea to join the Sidewalk Diver’s
Club, don’t.” Signed: Harry
Gottleib, Fort Myer’s Beach.
This is a note from Karl Mertz.
“Dear brother Roger: This
change of address, not to mention person, had me phoning
[Larry] Whittemore and [Alex]
Carroll to see if you were OK or
had a stroke or something. Potty
said it is probably a foul-up
in the Alumni Office. (More
explanation anon.) Contrary to
wide speculation Barack has not
called me east for a briefing, nor
has Arnold. Did find out something that might interest you.
If you ever want to know what
our weather is out here in Aptos
(which is on the sunny north
side of Monterey Bay) look for
Monterey, Calif., which is 35
miles or 45 minutes around the
Bay from us, and the center of
Carmel and Pebble Beach. You
know when you’re ice bound or
hot and humid.”
From Alex Carroll: Alex
encourages me to try to do
something about the Alumni
Office. (See above for references to the mistaken return
of my query for news.) Alex
and Marion were, according to
plan, to fly from Indianapolis to
Hartford, rent a car and come
here for overnight and then drive
up to Williamstown at the beginning of our reunion. He added,
“If I somehow don’t make it,
you may understand.”
Larry Whittemore adds congratulations on straightening out
the communications, or lack of,
in getting this column done. His
only news is about their trips to
medical personnel and playing a
lot of bridge.
Bruce Burnham reports good
health although he walks with a
slight tilt toward the ground. His
tennis continues notable having
made the semi-finals of a lawn
tennis match held in the area of
Longmeadow near Springfield,
Mass. Bruce recalls close associations in the past with Howie
Bushman and Gaynor Calister.
Bruce states that he wins all of
his tennis matches from his easy
chair in front of the TV.
1940
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Martin Brown
7926 Sand Ridge Road
Barneveld, NY 13304
Bill Egelhoff
1500 Westbrook Court, Apt. 1104
Richmond, VA 23227
[email protected]
Bill Egelhoff writes that he
interrupted Bill Brown as he was
about to go out and feed the
horses on their Far Hills, N.J.,
farm. Bill seems to enjoy farm
life over Wall Street, especially
these days! Bill received a nice
e-mail from Win Todd, who with
his wife Mary Lou has wintered
in the Florida Keys for the past
25 years. Now they stay in
Kalamazoo, where they enjoy
flights of migratory birds that
use their lake as a refuge. Win
says his good friend Pete Parish
’41, who was a WWII pilot, has
established a fascinating Air Zoo
there featuring WWII planes—all
in flying condition. Steve Cobb
and Frances enjoyed a barge trip
along the Texas coast entertained
by lots of whooping cranes along
the way. He adds that they joined
the ranks of retirement-home
living about a dozen years ago.
He and Bill enjoyed reminiscing about their Elderhostel
experiences.
Bill also writes that he and
Dorothy enjoyed a spring cruise
crossing the Atlantic to Europe.
One of the highlights was a visit
to the fascinating Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao, Spain, created by Frank Gehry. Bill says
he also managed to get in some
skiing on his 91st birthday.
A call from Bill Budington
brought the news of another
of us moving into a retirement
complex. (It would be interesting
to know how many of us are still
living independently.) Back in
WWII Bill was one of the soldiers
working at Oak Ridge, Tenn.,
under the supervision of atomic
physicist Werner Von Braun on
that world-shaking Manhattan
Project. Impressive! Ted Hoffman
and his wife Polly have moved
into cottage with life care in
Peterborough, N.H. Ted says he’s
recovering from a four-brokenrib fall. Other than that he says
life is fine.
John Tomb e-mailed Bill that
he and Helen are looking
into Westminster Canterbury,
Richmond, the same complex
CL ASS
NOTES
where Bill and Dot have been
living for the past two years and
where the CEO is Don Lecky ’72.
Bill says if a few more alumni
move in, we’ll start a Williams
Alumni Club of Richmond.
Brooks Hoffman notes that failing
eyesight may soon mean giving
up driving. But, thank goodness,
it doesn’t keep him from his
generosity to Chapin Library.
Brooks has established a fund to
add to and protect the collection.
Bill also received a letter from
Ben Kauffman’s widow Anne telling of Ben’s death last December.
Ben was president of National
Wholesale Drug Co. and, Anne
writes, was very proud of his life
at Williams. Steve Cobb says he
and Frances don’t travel much
anymore, especially after a barge
trip on the Mississippi was
canceled because of the economy.
They have moved into a life care
retirement community outside
Hartford. Steve also remembered
the Rev. Doug Burgoyne ’50, now
retired and living in Richmond,
Va. Steve and Doug both
attended Trinity School in NYC.
John Tiebout says he’s recovering from a fall last September,
resulting in a fractured femur.
After lengthy physical therapy,
John is now able to get around
with the help of a walker but
isn’t able to go outside. In good
weather he and Ruth enjoy
sitting on the patio in their retirement community.
Charlie Price and Nancy
maintain a fairly active life in
his native Jamestown, N.Y. He
works out at the Y several times
a week, as he has for the past
30 years. It’s one way to keep
his arthritis from taking over. As
he and Nancy have done over
the years, they spend two weeks
at nearby Chautauqua, staying
in the old hotel and enjoying the symphony and opera.
Sounds like a great way to enjoy
retirement.
Finally we regret to note the
passing since the last People of
one-time classmate Eliot Asinof as
well as Oz Coates, Al Hopkins and
John Hubbell. How mighty are
the fallen.
1941
Kim Loring
173 Lakeview Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
In the order of things, this
opening paragraph of the August
People is ideally positioned.
It serves as a reminder of the
1941 minireunion Oct. 9-11. If
you haven’t already decided to
attend, it leaves enough time to
come to that richly rewarding
decision. Seriously though, the
last few have been well worth
the effort of getting there. This
one will help tune you up for
the 70th, a mere year and a half
away.
After having to report on the
loss of so many classmates in
the previous People, it seemed
prudent to request an updated
class list from the Alumni Office
before venturing further. With
two painful losses in this period,
we are now down to 53. A look
at the attrition evident in reports
from older classes in People
makes one realize how precious
this time is. Come spend some of
it in Williamstown in October.
Meantime these notes will be
focusing on classmates too often
missing from them in recent
years. One comes to mind via a
personal history of five years as
a Marine Corps pilot, 1941-46,
which somehow found its way
to your secretary. Written by
John Hardy Clark at the behest of
his daughter, it is a vivid evocation of those years. Imagine
barely a year after entering flight
training (and our graduation)
finding yourself flying wing on
Joe Foss on your first mission
after arrival at Guadalcanal.
(Foss, in case you don’t
remember, shot down 26 Zeros
and was awarded the Medal
of Honor.) After surviving the
Solomons, John was allowed
a year in the States instructing
instrument flying. Then it was
overseas again, flying all over the
Pacific before eventual discharge
as major, USMCR. It is fascinating stuff, even the inevitable
breaks in the action, and recalls
in many ways what life was like
in those times.
Thereafter, John never quite
got away from airplanes.
After five years with Eddie
Rickenbacker’s Eastern Air Lines
in sales and traffic, he left for
a brief stint at Olin Corp. He
left to buy part of a manufacturer’s rep outfit, where again
he put aviation to work. They
bought three airplanes to cover
eastern U.S. John left in 1958
to form Rader Cos., with major
customers in the pulp and paper
industry, again with dependence
on aircraft to support Rader’s
worldwide growth. In a terrible
year in 1967 his son was killed
in an auto accident. John was
divorced. He remarried Marjorie
Miller in 1970. They had a
daughter in 1971. Rader was
bought by Beloit Corp. in 1984,
and John retired but continued
consulting, which he enjoyed.
Now fully retired, he and
Marjorie would like to move out
of their large house in Memphis
but not in this real estate market.
His main contact with Williams
in recent years has been bird
hunting with Craig Huff ’42, but
now he thinks his footwork is not
up to that. Prospects of getting
the Clarks to a minireunion are
dim.
Another we have missed for far
too long is Tom Tenney. Perhaps
that is partly because after the
war he and Maggie were so
disenchanted with New England
weather they bought a 30-foot
house trailer, packed up their
two boys and decamped for
California. With their shared love
of music, high fidelity the coming
thing and Tom’s electronics experience in the Navy, they bought
a record store in Berkeley. The
business grew, and they entered
the musical scene there. Both
were musicians, Tom clarinet,
Maggie piano, although Tom says
they no longer play. But in Tom’s
philosophical view, nothing
lasts forever, and they closed the
business in 1964. Tom went full
time into photography, combining magazine work and special
projects of his own, including
museums. He got a start doing
pictures for The New York
Times Magazine through Pierce
Fredericks, who edited our 25th
reunion class book. Tom and
Maggie went all over the country,
photographing as they went but
always returning to Berkeley.
Eventually the escalating technology became too much to keep up
with, and Tom retired. They are
in reasonably good health and
happy where they are.
Unfortunately the next phone
call was not so positive. George
Prince announced at the outset
that he has Alzheimer’s. Until
recently he has been active in his
chosen field of exploration into
the creative process and its relation to thinking and learning. The
Alzheimer’s began about three
years ago. Dealing with that has
taken its toll.
One of the rare classmates still
engaged in his profession, Edgar
Nathan carries on in the law practice he started in 1951. He and
Ruth still live in the apartment
they bought about that time overlooking Central Park and have
no plans to move. They have a
country house in northwestern
Connecticut, where they often
n 1 9 4 0 –4 2
Members of the Classes of 1941 to 1971 enjoyed a Williams travel-study
trip to Tunisia, where they donned native garb and took a camel trek in
the Sahara Desert.
spend weekends. Their son and
daughter are also lawyers. Over
the years Edgar has been active
in political life, including work
on Eisenhower’s campaign staff
and a run for State Assembly,
losing narrowly as a Republican
in a Democratic district. His
other pursuits included service
on the State Board of Mediation
and many years as president of
Congregation Shearith Israel, the
Spanish and Portuguese synagogue founded by his ancestors
in 1654.
Possibly because he has been
flying under the radar, so to
speak, all these years Win Pike
is making a rare appearance in
these pages. Win spent the war
years working mostly on radar
in the Army Signal Corps. In
1946 he began a 40-year career
at RCA’s David Sarnoff Research
Center in Princeton, N.J., working on circuit and system design
for TV. He and Nancy Peakes
married in 1954 and have six
children and nine grandchildren.
Aside from his work at RCA,
which encompassed 20 issued
patents, Win had an important
role in local politics which
included 14 years on the school
board, president of it for six, and
four-and-a-half years as mayor of
Princeton Township. Since suffering a stroke in 2001, he has been
using a walker and occasionally
a wheelchair, but there’s no sign
his spirits have been dampened
any. With abundant local family
support he recently celebrated
his 89th birthday with a trip to
Manhattan to see the revival
of South Pacific. That brought
to mind his experience with
the open air performances of
Oklahoma’s road company in
Hollandia, where the Japanese
came out of the jungle to sit in
the back rows.
On successive months over the
winter ’41 lost two of its stars
with the deaths of Bill Sebring
and Oz Tower. William M. Sebring
Jr. died Feb. 16 in Naples,
Fla. Bill climaxed his Williams
career in the spring of 1941
as class marshal (paired with
Wayne Wilkins) and co-captain
of lacrosse with Oz Tower. After
four years of heavy cruiser duty
in the Navy aboard the USS
Baltimore, he returned to work
for Inland Steel in Chicago. While
in the Navy he met and married
Theodate (Teddy) Belcher of New
London, Conn. After a short stay
with Inland, Bill joined Columbia
Mills in NYC as labor relations
director and later as division
manager in Kansas City. In 1956
he resigned to launch Sebring &
Co. in Kansas City, a wholesale
distributing company. Bill and
Teddy settled at Lake Quivera,
Kan., where they raised their
three children and were active
in building the community on a
small Kansas lake. In 1988 they
retired to Naples, Fla., where Bill
continued in community activity.
Living at a golf resort, but insisting he was still not old enough
to play, Bill instead continued
his inveterate walking, becoming
known for the number of golf
balls he contributed to charity.
The class extends its sympathy
to his three children and their
families.
Oswald Tower died March 24
in Williamstown. After a college
career distinguished in athletics
and helping others, Ozzie enlisted
in the Army. In 1942 a courtship, which began in the fifth
grade in Andover, where he grew
up, culminated in his marriage
to Eleanor Daniels. After four
years of service as a captain in
the Pacific with the 10th Army,
he returned to civilian life. Oz
began a career in the copper
business with Chase Brass &
Copper Co. in Waterbury, Conn.
After seven years he moved to
Bridgeport Brass. When that
company was bought out after
two years, he decided there was
a better future in steel and began
a 19-year career with Michigan
Seamless Tube in Birmingham,
Mich. Faced with a move of
headquarters to Houston in
1974, Oz opted for early retirement. The family moved to his
beloved Williamstown. Befitting
his moving man nature he bought
Connors Brothers Moving and
Storage Co. By that time they
had lived in nine different towns
and owned 15 different houses.
The essence of Oz can be drawn
from the 50th reunion class
book, though it was by no means
intended as a memorial at the
time. When it seemed possible we
might not hear from Oz in time
for the publishing deadline, Craig
Lewis wrote a capsule biography
as a substitute. It begins, “If you
remember Cabe Prindle, Chief
Royal and other Williamstown
characters of our day, the word
around town is that Oz Tower
may be equally memorable for
making his effervescent presence
felt at virtually every level of
local affairs. He came here as a
moving man … and moving and
shaking have been his happy
pastimes ever since. He shook
out one town manager, but most
of his civic energies have given
a positive charge to the Board
of Trade, the Youth Center, The
Sideline Quarterbacks and almost
any sidewalk group on Spring
Street. Williamstown wouldn’t
be the same without the Wizard
of Oz.” A memorial service was
to be held in Williamstown May
31. The class sends its sympathy
to the many generations of Oz’s
loving family.
1942
Bruce Sundlun
Carlotti Admin. Bldg., 001
75 Lower College Road
Kingston, RI 02881
[email protected]
I started my telephone
conversation with John Wolf
by asking him whether he was
CL ASS
NOTES
able to graduate from Williams
or whether he dropped out to
enlist in military service at the
commencement of WWII. He
explained that as a student of
history, he felt certain that the
events in Europe were leading up
to a war in which the U.S. would
be engaged. Therefore, in the
summer of 1940, he volunteered
for the first V-7 Naval Training
Course. After a monthlong cruise
to Guantanamo and Panama, he
returned to Williams to complete
his junior year. When he was
later called to active duty, he
was medically discharged due to
asthma.
John decided he was ready
to leave Williams and attend
Harvard Business School. He
arranged through Williams’
administration to take comprehensive exams and write a thesis.
He successfully completed the
comprehensive tests at Williams.
At Harvard, he joined the Army
Quartermasters Service and after
Pearl Harbor tried to once again
to join the armed services but
failed due to a service medical
discharge.
After graduation from Harvard
Business School, he returned to
Pittsburgh to work for Dravo,
a company that manufactured
LST and destroyer escort vessels.
He worked there as an industrial
engineer for a year and a half.
At the end of WWII, John
went to work for Kaufmann’s
Department Store in the city
of Pittsburgh, which was his
family’s business and one of
the premier and most innovative department stores in
America. He worked there as
the menswear merchandising
manager for 19 years. In 1963
he left Kaufmann’s and bought
a company called NAPCO,
which manufactured specialty
aluminum and vinyl products
for the building industry, such as
aluminum and vinyl siding, and
windows. The business was a
great success and was eventually
taken over by his youngest son
until it was sold in 1998.
While working at Dravo, John
married Gene Gottlieb (her
father was expecting a boy) and
they had two boys and two girls.
Unfortunately, Gene died in
1980, and John married Leatrice
Kagan, “a great addition” to
his life. She has two children, a
boy and a girl, and presently the
Wolfs have 11 grandchildren.
They have been married for “27
happy, fulfilling years.”
John and Leatrice spend their
winters in Palm Beach, Fla., and
he knows some longtime friends
of mine from Providence, R.I.
John’s Providence ties go even
deeper. Leatrice, two daughters,
a stepson and his wife, and four
grandchildren have all graduated
from Brown University. This fall,
another grandson will be entering the Class of 2013 at Brown.
In Pittsburgh, John headed the
Jewish Community Center and
held executive positions in the
United Jewish Federation and
was generally very active in the
community. He has been the
recipient of the most prestigious
Jewish philanthropic awards in
Pittsburgh and has also received
the Community Builder’s Award,
which is the highest award proffered by the Jewish Community
Centers of America (formerly
the Jewish Welfare Board). John
served on the National Board of
the JCCA for many years.
Thomas Hedley Reynolds lives
at Cape Porpoise, Maine, and
has a very superior academic
distinction that exceeds anyone
else in the Class of 1942. He has
been president of two colleges
and taught at a third one for 18
years. He first taught history at
Middlebury in Vermont for 18
years, followed by the presidency of Bates in Maine from
1967 to 1989, retiring at age
70. Following that, Hedley was
invited to be president of the
University of New England at
Biddeford, Maine, for four years.
In 1943, Hedley married Jean
Lytle, a Smith graduate, and
they had three boys and one girl.
They divorced after 33 years, and
Hedley married Mary Bartlett.
Hedley and Mary are sailors and
keep a 30-foot sailboat at South
Freeport, Maine. His children
run farms, one son at Stannard,
Vt.; his daughter owns a farm
in Randolph, Vt.; and another
son is a ski instructor at Aspen,
Colo., in the winter, and runs a
farm on Martha’s Vineyard in
the summer.
F. Thomas Ward Jr. lives in
Sedona, Ariz., and when I
telephoned him, I caught him
just about as he was going to go
swimming in his pool, where the
weather was warm and hot.
Tom left Williams after
sophomore year and entered the
V-7 Officer’s Training Course
at Northwestern University in
Chicago. After 90 days, he was
commissioned an ensign and
spent three years in the Pacific,
serving as a fighter director on
the battleship Pennsylvania and
the command ship Appalachian.
When he left military service,
Tom went back to Williams for
one year and got his degree.
Tom entered the banking business with National City Bank
and First National CITI Bank,
both in New York. He spent his
entire career in banking. He is a
friend of Fred Rudolph and spent
reunion three years ago with the
Rudolphs.
Tom has been married twice,
first to a lady named Ruth, with
whom he had three children, and
subsequently to Cornelia Futrel,
to whom he is now and still
married.
The high point of Tom’s life
at present is painting, an art he
acquired and developed after he
retired and settled in Arizona.
His principal subjects are
landscapes of the Southwest U.S.
He sells his paintings through
Osprey Originals, 150 Eagle
Lane, Sedona, Ariz.
The latest Biographic Summary
Report from the Williams
College Alumni Office showed
the class now has 53 male
members still living and active.
Of those currently listed, I was
unable to contact six members
by telephone due to absence of a
listed phone number or existence
of a number, but “disconnected,”
so I wrote each of them a letter
asking them to call my office
“so we can talk about what
you’ve been doing with your life
since you left Williams.” The
members I was unable to contact
either by telephone or letter
are: Robert B. Barnet III from
Champaign, Ill.; David L. Hart
from Oak Bluffs, Mass.; Joseph
Lintz Jr. from Reno, Nev.; William
B. Robinson of Friendswood,
Texas; and George Worthington
IV of Charlottesville, Va. If any
other member of the class knows
these people and is in contact
with them, I would appreciate
your calling them and asking
them to get in touch with me at
401.874.4000.
I found out on May 11 that
Henry C. Ely from Palo Alto,
Calif., regretfully died on March
27, after I had already failed to
contact him by phone and letter.
When I first became class secretary, I was trying to get educated
on the class, and I read the report
the Alumni Review sent me. It
showed a total of 141 active
members of the class and four
“lost” classmates. Today’s checking shows a loss of 88 members
in the class in three years, or a
reduction of 62 percent. So far
I have reported on 94 members
of the class or their widows, and
the only living members that I
n 1 9 4 2 –4 3
have not reported on are those
listed above. In the future, it is
my intention to report on all the
widows and many members of
the class, because I know that
most of the class is now entering
a new stage of life where they are
retired from employment and are
trying to develop new interests.
Right after I sent the draft
of this class review, I received
a telephone call from Barbara
Swane Barnet, the wife of Robert
B. Barnet III, one of the group I
could not reach by telephone.
She said WWII prevented Bob
from graduating, but he went
into the Navy and served on
three aircraft carriers as a communications officer. He was
being discharged as a lieutenant
at the end of the war. Shortly
thereafter, he married a woman
named Dede Thaten, and they
had three boys and a girl. After
the war he went back to school
and obtained college degrees
from both Columbia and
Rutgers. Bob spent most of his
life working as a personnel officer at the University of Illinois.
He developed Alzheimer’s and
is now in the medical residence
Carle Court in Savoy, Ill., near
his home in Champaign. In
1980 he divorced Dede, and he
married Barbara four years later.
She resides in the home that she
shared with Bob.
1943
Fred Nathan
180 East End Ave., Apt. 22G
New York, NY 10128
[email protected]
Among those opting for various types of senior citizens’ communities or considering doing so
are Mimi and Murray Cole, who
have just taken the plunge “and
are slowly getting acclimated.”
Betty and Ken Moore went to
Santa Barbara and “applied to
an elite funny farm.” They are
still “on hold” five years later
and are “thinking about the
alternatives” (don’t). Pauline
“Polly” Kosar moved into the
Dunlacter Retirement Home in
Bloomfield, Conn., after Walter
died. She was happy to find congenial Williams folks there.
Nick Fellner reports: “Shirl and
I considered moving to Essex
Meadows, but we failed the
cognitive tests. Alec Robertson
’52 and Mary Lee moved there
last fall. We are happy to be
remaining here in our great
town, New Canaan.” Nick adds:
“Forty years ago I played golf in
California with the West Coast
head of A&P. He shot his age,
87. Now I have difficulty shooting my age in 9 holes—must be
that the A&P food is not so good
as it was 40 years ago.” Now we
know why Nick can still afford
the green fees.
Our classmates who have not
already downsized will be interested to know that the College
archivist needs “Williamsiana,”
especially from our period,
including “unique items which
help illuminate our college days
in a vibrant and personal way.
For example, correspondence
with family and friends, course
notes and papers, photographs,
films, scrapbooks and albums.”
These items are said to be “of
interest not only to undergraduates, alumni and their families
but also will support a multitude of projects undertaken by
undergraduates and outside
researchers focusing on things
such as classroom teaching
methods, religious movements
and student responses to WWII.”
Contact Sylvia Kennick Brown,
College archivist, Southworth
Schoolhouse, 96 School St.,
Apt. 3, Williamstown, Mass.
01267; tel 413.597.2596; fax
413.597.2929; e-mail Sylvia.
[email protected].
Fran and I discovered the
archives’ temporary home
during a family reunion in
Williamstown last June. Our
three young grandchildren’s
mother discovered a magnificent playground at the new
Williamstown Elementary School
on Southworth Street. (We
understand that construction of
both the school and the playground were partially supported
by the College.) The inevitable
bathroom search took us to the
former school building, which
is now a living space for faculty
and staff and houses the Chapin
Library and College Archives
until the new library building is
finished. Among the exhibits was
a July 8, 1859, newspaper headlining the first collegiate baseball
game—between Amherst and
Williams. Amherst prevailed 73
to 32 (under the original rules
of the game). An equally large
headline reported the simultaneous victory of the Amherst chess
team over Williams. Times have
changed.
Bob Crane and Alex Westfried
both are living in Heritage
Village in Southbury, Conn. (not
an “assisted living” community).
Alex writes that he was to give
a talk on “The New Militant
Brazilian and American Women”
at a conference in Rio de Janeiro
in June. Any classmates who
happened to be in Rio during
that period might confirm that
Alex has remained the discreet
person we knew and did not
refer to any of our “militant”
wives.
Nip Wilson reports that he and
Topper and Bill Schram are enjoying the Fort Myers, Fla., region.
Nip mixes tennis with being a
useful member of the community,
e.g., as a “Big Brother” for a
Hispanic youngster and a sharer
of “what we can spare” with
the local food bank. A daughter
will keep her eye on Nip at their
Ontario Island retreat during
July and August, to be followed
by Nip’s retirement community’s Thanksgiving cruise to the
Caribbean. He was sorry to miss
our 65th reunion and will “try to
stay awake for our 70th.”
Your secretary’s phone
conversation with Doc Phillips
confirmed that, thanks to the
ministrations of Nurse Marty,
he has recovered from a minor
but annoying ailment. The Doc
is still applying his many diverse
talents to needlepoint and other
things.
Len Eaton, with Ann’s help, has
figured out what plants survive
the salt winds of Depoe Bay, Ore.
Their garden now consists of
several hardy perennials.
Al James and Marjorie have an
easier time keeping the gardens
surrounding their Bethesda, Md.,
home up to a high standard.
The Nathans look forward to
visits from Al when he comes
to the New York area to attend
Hackley School board meetings.
Tex Smith writes that when
they met at a wake in Houston,
Jeffrey Hines ’77 offered to fly
him to Williams to watch Jeff’s
son Adam ’11 play lacrosse
against RPI. Williams won, but
Tex has never been so cold,
“even during the past 15 winters
in Colorado.” Tex’s visit to the
Clark with Ralph Renzi warmed
him up. He enjoyed “every minute” in Williamstown, including
a tour of a couple of the new
college buildings. Tex concluded
that “Williams College is a
special place, and I was lucky to
go there, even if only for three
years.”
Bill Wilson checked in from
Palo Alto. He again spent a week
skiing at Jackson Hole, Wyo., in
February with his eldest daughter
Linn and family and generally
keeps in shape at a fitness center
called “Vivre.” Viva Vivre.
CL ASS
NOTES
Malcolm MacGruer writes,
“It seems that now being a
bachelor I am in demand for
various functions, dinners,
luncheons, making motions at
annual meetings, lecturing on
U.S. wars to the astonishment of
audiences who are ignorant of
U.S. history, and making plans
to go to Williamstown in June
for Reunion Weekend.” We are
glad that McGurk continues
to be hyperactive, although we
have no indication that he has
started his third novel (the first
two raised the bar too high for
any of his classmates to hurdle).
The Class of 1944 was “kind
enough” to invite McGurk
to their 65th reunion in June.
His dominant presence there
may have caused some of that
younger class to think that they
had showed up at the wrong
reunion.
Bernie Boykin sold his 42-foot
sailboat to his daughter Bobbie
and her husband Jim Holland
’85. “Maybe we’ll get a smaller
one, as we love being on the
water,” he writes. The word
“maybe” suggests that the
Boykins are waiting to see
whether they will be welcome
onboard the big boat as “crew”
after they have off loaded the
upkeep duty by the sale.
Carter Hall writes from
Aspen, Colo., that he is looking
forward to publishing a book,
On My Life Experiences As An
Educator and A Human Being.
He is optimistic that it will be
more legible than his handwriting (no problem). He also hopes
that other classmates will fess
up to having written or planning
to write their memoirs. (Your
secretary must fess up to a brief
one—as a postscript to a book
on public service which is about
to be published. Free copies are
available to classmates who
promise to send me theirs—if
and when written.)
Sadly, three of our classmates
have died since the last edition
of our class notes. Two of them
were among the many who
went directly from Williams
graduation into Navy officers’
training: Edward F. Engle and
Leonard “Larry” C. Thompson.
Ed, a junior Phi Bete, earned six
Battle Stars commanding a landing craft during island invasions
in the South Pacific, including
Iwo Jima and Okinawa. His first
postwar career was in advertising and sales promotion. He
served as head of the National
Retail Merchants Association.
In mid-life, Ed changed careers.
After obtaining a master’s
from New York University, he
became associate headmaster
and teacher of government and
constitutional law at the Dwight
School in Manhattan. He is
survived by his wife of 60 years,
Eugenie, and sons David and
John.
Larry Thompson grew up in
Ithaca, N.Y. After the war he
graduated from Cornell Law
School and worked for the
Glens Falls Insurance Co. in
Glens Falls, N.Y., Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh before moving to
Kansas City in 1961. He was an
active Sunday school teacher for
more than 45 years and engaged
in many other community activities. Larry and Marge had three
children, four grandchildren and
two great-grandchildren.
Murray Cole has shared
his reminiscences of the
Thompsons: “After Williams,
we were in the same Navy
midshipman class. Then we each
received orders to our first ships,
which were berthed on opposite
sides of the same pier. We constantly crossed paths and after
the war were in the same class
at Cornell Law School, where
I babysat for Larry and Marge
so they could get out on occasion. After that we remained
in constant communication by
correspondence and telephone
as well as infrequent visits. And
there were other personal episodes that further cemented our
relationship. Larry and Marge
were two of the finest people I
have known, and they will be
greatly missed.”
Linc Allan of West Chester, Pa.,
is survived by his wife Nita, six
children and 13 grandchildren.
Linc was a member of the large
and outstanding group of our
classmates who had graduated from Walnut Hills High
School in Cincinnati, and he
was president of the Williams
news bureau and a member of
the editorial staff of the Record.
Despite this promising start,
Linc eschewed a career in journalism and became a corporate
executive after the war.
In addition to Polly Kosar, we
have received nice letters from
Jean Dickinson, Genie Engle and
Martha Tolles. Martha was kind
enough to send us an obituary/
news article about Roy from the
Los Angeles Times of Feb. 1,
2008. Fran and I remember with
pleasure a dinner with Martha
and Roy at the home of neighbors whom they were visiting
in NYC. Roy was a founder of
the famed LA law firm Munger
Tolles & Olson, counsel to
Berkshire Hathaway and Warren
Buffett, among others. Roy was
a Marine pilot in the Pacific in
WWII and a graduate cum laude
of Harvard Law School. Thanks
also to Genie Engle for her report
on Ed’s post-Williams career.
1944
Hudson Mead
8 Stratford Place
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
[email protected]
“The Last Hurrah” is over
but not so fast: The Class of ’39
had about a dozen stalwarts at
reunion, so if they can do it, so
can we. Those of us extant in
2014 can give the situation an
agonizing appraisal at that time.
The weekend was rainy and
foggy but the good Lord lifted the
curtain for the moment, that of
the parade of classes on Saturday
morning. Needless to say ’44 was
the most sartorially resplendent
with our blazers and hats from
as far back as 1954, our 10th.
Remember the hard straw with
the caption inside reading “Stolen
from Phinney Baxter”? Hud Mead
had his, thus proving his wife
Mary’s adage, “Hudson never
throws anything away.”
There were 16 of us on hand
plus assorted wives, S.O.’s, a
widow or two plus one son who
appears to have adopted us:
Mike Berdan. Notwithstanding
the braggadocio registered in
my most recent newsletter as
to which of us would be redblooded and walk, only one of
us did: Jim “Strongman” Lester.
The rest of us rode in an open
walk-in vehicle dragged by a
truck. Ignominious but greatly
relieved were (from West to
East) Nancy Schlosser from Santa
Barbara, Phoebe and Jack Talbot
from La Jolla, and Emily and
Dave Thurston from Tucson; from
east of the Mississippi, Mary
and Hud Mead, Marty and Gerry
Oberrender, Irene and Bill Koegal,
Monk Stanley, Dick Acker, Bobbie
and Dave Bradley, Elaine and
Gene Connally, Mary and Hank
Flynt, Gloria and Don Hammond,
Irene and Jim Lester, Toni and
Percy Nelson, Jack Reed, Nancy
Hart and Elaine Schwartz. The
Meads brought guests Jack and
Nancy Renick, who reciprocated
their first-time visit by taking us
to Portsmouth, N.H., and Maine,
a historic and welcome first.
The College meeting after the
parade saw the 50th reunion
n 1 9 4 3 –4 5
In October, Ephs from the Class of 1992 visited Bob Stone ’44 (center)
and his wife Sheila at their home in Williamstown. Also pictured, from
left, Chenoweth (Stites) Allen, Ashley (Edgar) Milliken, Bissell (Gioia)
Duffett and Heidi Sandreuter. Stone passed away in Februray.
class come up with 10 mil, a tidy
sum, one which I do not think
’44 equaled when Joe Stiegman
led us. Numerous farewells
to Morty Schapiro were well
received, as was his final address.
What a bright mind and engaging personality we are losing
to Northwestern. Other events
included some very interesting
lectures, the jazz band concert
in Chapin Hall, the Ephlats
concert in the Log and a closing
service on Sunday at Thompson
Memorial Chapel.
Alas it was all too quick, but
memories of the parade and the
“Last Hurrah” at the top of the
Clark linger. This latter event
was really nifty: We had the
Clark penthouse, the view from
which is unsurpassed. We were
served the usual libations and
a catered dinner. Dave Bradley
entertained us with his timeless
assortment of jokes with the
Maine accent. Hud Mead read
one of those “remember when”
pieces. He also played a DVD of
slides from 1940-43 with voiceover. They include graduation
in October 1943. Hud has some
left, should anyone be interested.
Gerry Oberrender’s “Farewell to
the Troops” was, of course, well
received.
Hud Mead had planned on
reading the names of those of our
class who had died since the 60th
reunion and making a comment
or two by way of reflection. It
turns out that 53 left during that
period; thus ended that plan.
Incidentally, we started out with
about 240 in the class, of which
we lost 18 in the war. We now
have less than 80 left. Grim, but
thus is the way of the world.
My letter bag includes one from
Al See, who laments not only his
absence but the health of Klippy,
the lack thereof occasioned his
absence. Carolyn Bridgewater
responded to my recent plea for
memorabilia by sending some
class reunion pictures, which
I think makes the collection
complete. She also sent a photo
of needlepoint of the Williams
seal, which, after John’s death,
she had given to Sinc Hart. He
had sent her a photo of it hanging in his living room, and that
is what Carolyn sent to me. We
will have to leave it to Nancy Hart
to tell us “the rest of the story.”
I thank Nancy for ushering your
keepsakes into the hands of the
College archivist. You folks were
most gracious in donating them.
They were displayed at the Clark,
not exactly on the same floor as
its Renoirs, but they made the top
of the mark.
Bob Benson sent regrets and
a couple of cartoons. Too bad
we can’t print ’em. Shep Poor
sent his regrets, noting that he is
battling raccoons—something,
incidentally, which your author
is about to do courtesy of his
local police department, which
lends out traps but does not
dispose of the contents, if any.
Any ideas, nature lovers? Helen
Coroon has a son, Peter, who has
just been reelected mayor of Salt
Lake County (wherever that is)
and a daughter, Holly, who has
climbed to the top of Mount
Kilimanjaro: the height of power
(kind of), and the latter feat
speaks for itself. Likewise Percy
Nelson, himself justly proud,
gave me a photo of his wife and
two daughters. His family bios
read like a who’s who, with his
wife graduating from Wellesley
and Simmons, one daughter
from Wellesley and another from
Lake Forest, and two boys from
Williams.
Katie and Gil McCurdy sent
regrets, as they attended the
graduation of a granddaughter,
Katie, from Williams the week
before reunion. Congrats, Katies,
and you too, Gil.
Losses detected since the first of
the year have been John Copley,
Larry VanDoren, Bryan Bostwick,
John Sharpe, Bill Brewer, Bob
Stone, Ray Kirkpatrick, Matt
Williams, Charles Allis and Irv Day.
Regrets to family and friends.
1945
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Submitted by Gil Lefferts:
Ev Gidley has had to resign as
class secretary after a fall and
a broken hip. His recovery
has not been as kind to him as
anticipated. We thank Gid for his
services and wish him a speedy
recovery. In the meantime, the
position is open if there are any
volunteers out there.
You should have all received
a report on our ’08 mini. Rick
Spalding, College chaplain,
presided over a discussion with
assembled students on “Religion
at Williams Today.” Their
personal experiences were as
diverse as the students. This was
followed by presentations of
the ’08 recipients of the Class of
’45 World Fellowship Awards.
Included in the presentation was
one by Emily Button ’07, a recipient of the Florence Chandler
Fellowship, a yearlong study
program, also underwritten by
the Class of ’45. Ms. Button’s
subject was on “Ships & Sagas
from Greece to Greenland”
and investigated countries with
similar maritime and archeological heritage but very different
modern cultures, exploring how
things differ in their uses and
interpretations of the past and
SENDNEWS!
Y
our class secretary is
waiting to hear from you!
Send news to your secretary at
the address at the top of your
class notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
what role they have in their
identities today.
We are planning similar discussions for our 2009 mini, Sept.
26-27. We trust that many of you
will be able to attend. And don’t
forget June 10-13, 2010, when
we will be celebrating the class’s
65th reunion.
The years 2008 and 2009 have
not been kind to the great Class
of ’45. We lost a number of
distinguished classmates. Among
them was Hank Toll on Oct.
14, 2008. Hank was our class
planned-giving chairman. We
are grateful to Art Stevenson for
taking over that position. Hank’s
service was attended by Gil
Lefferts and John Tyler, representing the class. John, a resident of
Denver, also served as host to
Gil. Presenters at Hank’s service
included his brother Giles Toll ’48
and his daughter Ellen Toll ’77
and her husband David Blanchet
’72. Henry’s career combined
both a practice in medicine and
law. He served at the Denver
coroner’s office and was associated with the law firm of his late
father, Henry Toll, Class of 1909.
Bruce McClellan died in
Peterborough, N.H., on Oct.
31, 2008. He was an educator “extraordinaire,” having
served as headmaster of The
Lawrenceville School from 1959
to 1986. He was a former class
officer and was instrumental,
together with Jim Hill, who predeceased him, and John Chandler,
honorary member of the class,
in establishing the Class of 1945
World Fellowship Program
for both students and faculty.
Art Stevenson attended Bruce’s
memorial service, representing
the class.
Andy Knox died of congestive
heart failure on Nov. 13, 2008.
After working as a chemist at
the DuPont Co. for 27 years,
Andy served in the Delaware
State Legislature for 28 years
and as U.S. senator for 20 years.
His wife Cas reports that the
Delaware flags were lowered
across the state in his honor.
Dick Marshall was a VP of our
class. He and Chrissie attended
our mini in September ’08. It was
a shock to hear that he died on
Dec. 1 of congestive heart failure.
Lynn Waller represented the class
at Dick’s memorial service. Dick
had been active in recruiting high
school students from the Seattle
area on behalf of the Williams
admission office. He was a avid
aviator and sailor, inventing a
special life jacket after the near
fatal accident of a fellow sailor.
He was active in the Museum of
Flight, where he was a docent.
Another class VP, Jake Winant,
died on Jan. 13. The service
was held at St. John’s Parish in
Williamstown and included a
Marine Honor Guard, which
presented Katey with a U.S.
flag in honor of Jake’s heroic
conduct in the battle of Okinawa
in WWII. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal
and Presidential Unit Citation.
“Remembrances” were presented
at the service by Carl Vogt ’58.
Representing the class were Gil
Lefferts, Stu Coan, Ed Bloch and
Gay and Fred Scarborough. After
working at Sprague Electric Co.
in North Adams for 18 years
(1953 to 1971), Jake Winant
embarked on a long career in
aviation, receiving an honorary
Doctor of Aviation Management.
Despite ’45’s sad loss of a
number of classmates in recent
months, there is still plenty of life
left in our Old Guard:
Hal Edwards (Maine) is still
imbued with his rigorous Navy
training and maintains a strenuous physical program, keeping
his mind alert at the same time by
watching Teaching Co. videos.
Charlie Pinkerton (Maine) keeps
healthy and strong shoveling all
that snow.
Stu King (California) is recovering from a lung cancer operation
and swims nearly every day.
Dave Nash (North Carolina)
plays lots of golf.
Art Dodge (Pennsylvania) is
stronger every day after a heart
operation.
Joe Varley (Illinois) is fine and
working on a book about his passion for fishing.
Fritz Henry (Vermont) has a
great collection of old farm and
hand tools and loves his beautiful
town, St. Johnsbury, where his
wife is active in the art scene.
Stu Coan (Connecticut) plays
tennis often, splits his firewood
and copes with snow in the driveway the old-fashioned way—with
his Armstrong Engine.
Keep us posted on your own
news of events. And don’t forget
to note June 10-13, 2010, for our
65th reunion. Cheers.
1946
Gates McG. Helms
5 Troon Court
Maplewood, NJ 07040
[email protected]
I have been very fortunate to
have seen a number of Ephs
during the last few weeks. To be
sure, they were not all members
of the great Class of 1946, but,
hey, at this stage of the game, one
can’t be too choosey.
Alberta and I caught up with
Morgan Murray ’50 not long
ago at the Morristown Club,
where he very kindly hosted
a delicious luncheon for Toni
and Jerv Brinton and us. Jerv
and Toni—Antonia MarottaBrinton—were honored by
Partnership in Philanthropy at
a dinner at the famed Baltusrol
Golf Club for their many years
of community service. We were
invited, but previous obligations
prevented our attending. Toni is
co-chair of PIP.
The news from our classmates
isn’t great these days. Brayton
Wood’s son Mark Williams
Wood very kindly sent me word
of his passing, together with an
obit in English from what must
have been the English-language
Guadalajara Colony Reporter
for which Brayt wrote. Now you
may think that Mark’s middle
name was a tribute to Brayt’s
alma mater. Not so. Mark’s
great grandfather was named
Williams. After the war and a
stint with Kemper Insurance
in Boston and Chicago, Brayt
heeded the call of JFK’s “Alliance
for Progress” and left the U.S. in
1962 for Latin America, where
he served the U.S. Information
Agency (USIA) for more than 10
years as the director general of
the Bi-National Cultural Centers
in Lima and Trujillio, Peru,
San Salvador and Guadalajara.
In Lima he met and married
Graciela (Chela) Caballero. At
the end of his tour of duty with
USIA in Guadalajara, he and
Chela decided to stay there and
raise their two sons, Mathew and
Mark. He returned to the insurance business as an agent for a
Mexican company.
In the interest of generating some additional interest in
our fall minireunion, I want to
let you know that the turnout
looks pretty good so far: We
expect to see in Williamstown
on the weekend of Sept. 25-26
the following stalwarts: Norman
Birnbaum and Mrs. Terry
Flood, Jerv Brinton and Antonia
Marotta-Brinton, Trina and Dick
Debevoise, Sam Fuller and maybe
Mary Crary, Alberta and yours
truly, Nancy and Andy Hunter
are a possibility, Mary and Tom
Hyndman, Lois and Bob Lesser,
Bunny Lothrop and her daughter
Louisa Affleck, Helen and Rich
Schneller, Joyce and Lew Scheffey
and last but not least Barbara
n 1 9 4 5 –4 9
and Bill Schellenberger.
Welles Adams, Bud Morrow,
Gene Detmer, Wally Thompson
and Jack Fitzpatrick have sent
their regrets. Bobby Earle sent
warm greetings; Jan Jeffcoat
wished us a successful reunion
and said: “I enjoy reading the
class notes by Gates Helms.” (I
couldn’t resist putting that in!)
Jean Magnusson wrote: “Glad to
hear ’46ers are going strong—
since Phil died, I have sold villa
Florida, bought on Cape Cod
and sold my favorite house in
Rhode Island. Missing all of the
pleasant people and events at
Williams but moseying along.”
Speaking of moseying along,
that’s what I shall do now, but
not until I wish you all good
health. Your devoted classmate,
Gates.
1947
John C. Speaks III
33 Heathwood Road
Williamsville, NY 14221
[email protected]
Finally, a bit of correspondence
interrupting the obituaries I
have been receiving. Norm Singer
(V-12) is looking for information on other V-12s. Although
not listed as members of our
class, he remembers Frank Scott,
Bob Shertzer and Jimmy Dean.
Anybody with information on
any of them can reach Norm
at [email protected]. I had a
pleasant afternoon with Mike
McKay recently. He and his wife
finally decided to escape from the
Florida hurricanes and moved to
Harrisonburg, Pa.
1948
John A. Peterson Jr.
5811 Glencove Drive, Apt. 1005
Naples, FL 34108
[email protected]
“Slim pickins” as far as class
news goes. Sorry about that. As
you have read from letters from
our prexy George Kennedy and
Jerry Teran (who graciously has
taken over from Noel Melvin re
the Alumni Fund), 1948 not only
went over its participation and
dollar goals but now ranks in the
top 12 percent of all Williams
classes. Congratulations and
many thanks to all who made
this possible.
We’re down to 124 living
members with the death last
November of Wilder Pickard. And
Herb Chisholm sent me a touching printed memoriam upon the
passing of his wife Norma. To
both families we send our deepest sympathy.
Recently, I addressed a group
of juniors at a local private
school here in Naples. In my
files I’d found a quote from the
1939 class notes of some years
back. Since it seemed pertinent, I
closed my remarks with it: “With
a liberal arts education you are
qualified for nothing, but you are
prepared for anything.”
1949
Chuck Utley
1835 Van Buren Circle
Mountain View, CA 94040
[email protected]
Since the Alumni Review’s
deadline is only hours away
and Reunion Weekend has just
concluded, this notes column will
be an amalgam of contributions
from outgoing Secretary Pedro
Stites, Class Agent Dick Wells
and this humble scribe, your new
class secretary-in-training.
As scheduled, 26 members of
the Class of 1949 began arriving
in Williamstown on June 11 for
our 60th quinquennial reunion,
ready to connect again with old
friends, greet classmates long
unseen and fondly remember those no longer with us.
Including all attendees, both families and friends, 45 of us made it
a wonderful weekend. Weather
in the Purple Valley was not
ideal, but Saturday was a warm
and sunny New England delight,
both for the morning parade to
the Alumni Society meeting and
for the afternoon’s discretionary activities. The alums and
their spouses/companions that
gathered included: Janice Adkins,
Wally Barnes, Cynthia Blandy,
John Brown, Carolyn and Alec
Clement and son Kirk, Donna
and Herb Cole, Sheila and Joe
Dorsey, Patricia and Jim Geer and
daughter Suzanne, Pete Geier
and Lib Stone, Aggie and Gene
Harling, John Herndon, Emily
and Charlie Jarrett, Lisa and Ed
Maynard, Jane and Bob Messimer,
Constance and Jerry Page,
Anita and Oren Pollock, Carolyn
Reynolds, Michael Robbins, Joan
and Jim Smith, Tay and John
Thoman, Chuck Utley, Dick Warner
and Jane Sturges, Mari Wells, Ann
and Dick Wells, Dick Whitney and
Barbara McKinney and June and
Bob Worley.
We learned that our eternally
upbeat and innovative class secretary, the aforementioned Señor
Stites, would not be present and
had also decided to withdraw
from that position after 20 years
of service coaxing news from
’49ers.
At our Saturday evening class
dinner and business meeting,
retiring President Herb Cole
gracefully handled the transition
to a new set of officers: Charlie
Jarrett, president; Wally Barnes,
VP; Bob Worley, treasurer; Oren
Hatch, class agent; Chuck Utley,
secretary.
When Pedro’s resignation
as secretary was formally
announced, he received the
resounding thanks of the class
for his 20 years of happy diligence and dedication to covering
the world of ’49. He had a zest
for wordplay, and there wasn’t
an acronym he wouldn’t create if
it might help bring in more class
news. Thanks, Pete. We missed
seeing you at reunion this time
around.
After 14 years, Dick Wells also
stepped down from his challenging position as class agent. By
living in Williamstown, he had a
close connections with Williams
and the local community that
I’m sure helped our class/college relationship far beyond his
work as chief ’49er fundraiser. At
Saturday night’s dinner, and with
deep appreciation for his service,
the class presented Dick with a
handsome wall mirror incorporating a hand-painted picture of
West College as seen through the
“Climb High, Climb Far” gates.
His energy and commitment to
Williams will surely carry on.
Dick sent his own submission
after Reunion Weekend: “Dear
friends of the Class of 1949, for
the past 14 years I have been
telling you what a great class
you are. On Friday evening, June
12, at our class dinner celebrating our 60th reunion, you were
beyond ‘great’ in my eyes. The
gift that was presented to me that
evening for my 14 years as your
class agent was overwhelming. I
was brought to tears and almost
speechless. The mirror with an
’Eglomise design of the Mark
and Albert Memorial Stairs and
gate with West College in the
background will be cherished
forever in the Wells family. I wish
I could thank you all personally
but know that is impossible,
so I’m using our class notes to
convey my deepest thanks for a
beautiful thought and gift.”
All news did not come out
of Williamstown, of course.
Other classmates were in touch
with Pedro prior to Reunion
Weekend: Theodore F. Brigham
CL ASS
NOTES
died March 18. His wife Olga
can be contacted at 476 Abbot
Hill Road, Wilton, N.H. 030865910; 603.654.2055.
John Dalton: “Betty and I are
surviving the current economic
malaise in good shape physically
and fiscally—so no complaints.
… Oldest daughter and son-inlaw moved from a small condo
in Chicago to a 23-acre farm 50
miles from Akron, Ohio. The
good neWs: They’re only an
hour’s drive away. The bad neWs:
They’ve put us to work!”
Dominick Dunne wrote in
February: “I’m temporarily
living at my country house in
Connecticut full time in order
to finish my new novel called A
Solo Act. Almost there. Great
strain. I have been diagnosed
with bladder cancer. I covered
the O.J. Simpson armed robbery
trial in Las Vegas for Vanity Fair.
Collapsed in courtroom. Have
had a close call or two, one on
Christmas night which sort of
rooked things for the holiday
spirit. I have declined chemotherapy. All that vomiting! At my age
(83), people die of the chemo, not
the cancer. I have gotten interested in stem cells. I have twice
gone for treatments at a stem-cell
clinic in the Dominican Republic.
I am fascinated, and I feel so
well.” When he wrote, Dominick
was about to leave for the
Academy Awards, which he has
attended “for the last 27 years
or so.” He continued, “Then I
am going to a stem-cell clinic in
Germany, in the forest on a lake
outside Munich, for a three-week
stem cell treatment. Very Thomas
(Magic Mountain) Mann. I’m
going to keep a diary of the experience. I still fill up halls when I
speak in public about the murder
trials among the rich and famous
I have covered for Vanity Fair for
25 years. I’m giving myself a few
treats these days. After all, I’ve
worked hard for the money. I’ve
had to give up driving—failing
eyes—and now have a driver
who takes me back and forth
from New York to Connecticut
and also takes me about in the
city when I have a lot of doctor appointments or parties to
attend. I’m really enjoying my
80s, except for the cancer.”
Samuel H. Graybill: “Following
a stroke in 2003 I was largely
incapacitated, but a lot of P.T.
has made me more mobile, not
yet with much grace—no Boston
Marathon, but getting about
with a cane.” (Pedro: Join the
’49 Class Cane Reign with me,
Sam). “Still running a guest
house, with help.”
Mrs. Charlotte Lynch wrote:
“Brad Lynch was really looking
forward to his 60th class reunion.
The four years at Williams
College meant a lot to him. But,
sadly, he died mid-September
2008 of lung cancer. He’d been
fighting other ailments too—
particularly Parkinson’s. The big
bad C finally got him. Williams
People April 2009 printed his
obituary—p. 132.” (Pedro: Please
review the other ’49 Class obituaries printed on this page: Robert
W. Herbert, Richard I. Hornbeck,
Richard N. LoPresti and Thomas I.
Webb Sr.)
Douglas (Sandy) Shaw: “Since I
lost my two buddies Jack Mason
and Bob Stanley much too early,
I’ve been remiss in my relations
with Williams College (other
than donating to Alumni Fund
as best I could). My wife (she
passed away three years ago
after 53 years of putting up with
me) and I , however, drove up
to those lovely hills many times,
and I just recently had, with a
daughter who skis, an excellent
dinner at the old ’96 House. (It
was nice to see that the bar hasn’t
changed with the glasses still on
the ceiling.) My career was varied
and interesting, if not successful. I
ran a weekly newspaper for some
years, among other ventures, and
ended up in the banking field
when you could safely advertise
‘full-service banking.’ I have no
sympathy for that industry—they
brought it on themselves. Blessed
with three fine children, all of
whom live within an hour’s drive,
who keep an eye on me and are
a big help as my health is a little
shaky with a triple bypass and
two bouts with angioplasty (six
stents) as my major accomplishments. All three children
were married, but all resulted
in divorces. They didn’t learn
anything from my wife and me,
although, to their credit, two
were married for more than 10
years and one for more than 20
years, so they hardly were fly-bynight or one-night stands. Thank
you for keeping me informed all
these years thru class notes. I do
appreciate it and have a warm
spot in my heart for Williams
and the Purple Hills. Actually I
lived in South Williamstown for
several years.” Sandy sent his best
to all classmates and said he’d be
thinking of ’49 during Reunion
Weekend even though he wasn’t
able to make it to Williamstown.
He concluded, “My warmest
regards and my sincere thanks
again to all those who have
served and will now serve as class
agents and in other capacities.”
Nevill Smythe by way of Ann
Smythe: “The last five years have
been something else. Nevill has
had three right-hip replacements
and six pop out along with the
falls that go with his current situation. He now has dementia and
lives in the health center but still
gets up to the apartment and to
dinner with friends when I have
the strength to get him there—not
the way we thought retirement
would be! So glad we got to our
50th—that was wonderful!” And
concluded, “We’ll be thinking of
you all at your 60th wonderful
Williams weekend!”
That’s all from your old ’49
class secretary, who noW asks
ALL Williams College ’49 Class
graduates to PLEASE support
your neW class officers.
1950
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Sidney C. Moody Jr.
220 Chestnut Ave.
Bernardsville, NJ 07924
[email protected]
If you have passed a hearing
test lately, the sound you are
hearing is the band striking up.
The Williams Alumni Jazz Band,
with whom Mrs. Moody and I
passed a most enjoyable riverboat
passage into the deepest precincts
of the American southland. The
fact that the cornetist is a graduate of Amherst Class of 1952
should be no deterrent. John
Bucher also serenaded me on the
occasion of my 80th birthday,
a milestone we all have passed
with the exception of a couple of
Class Babies whose anniversaries
must be just around the corner.
Anyway, Class President Doug
Colman has contracted with the
musicians to play at our fete.
Kibitzers welcome.
Incidentally, one of the tasks
that awaits us is to find a worthy
to replace Mr. Colman, whose
term in office will have expired.
Mr. Colman is no relation to
the Colman of the same name
who engaged in an effort to win
a contested U.S. Senate seat in
Minnesota, where both happen
to come from. Our Colman will
go quietly and with our blessing
for a job well done.
Andrew Heineman also tells
me that he has confirmed our
agreement with Professor
Michael Lewis, former head of
the College art department and a
n 1 9 4 9 –5 1
noted architecture critic, to take
a no-holds-barred tour of what
the school has been up to in our
absence building-wise. From
remarks he has uttered on a number of trips we have taken with
the good professor to Europe, he
has not always been pleased with
the construction.
The College informed me
that Bill Ward passed away in
Baltimore just shy of his 81st
birthday Jan. 7. He had been
living in Westminster, Md., after
a long career as an analyst for
the National Security Agency.
He was long an aficionado of
mental puzzles and was unbeaten
at two-handed canasta. He
and his second wife leave three
children. His ashes will be spread
in Chesapeake Bay, the Grand
Tetons and the Cayman Islands.
We also lost Dr. Peter Nielsen,
who died at age 82 in Trumbull,
Conn., March 11. Dr. Nielsen,
a native if Evanston, Ill., was a
graduate of Columbia University,
where he received his MA. He
retired as a biologist with Procter
& Gamble. He leaves his wife
Barbara and two children. Dr.
Nielsen had been head of the
Housatonic Power Squadron.
I received an aggrieved note
from Fred Lanes addressed to
“a big fat moo from Newton,
Mass., where three more inches
of mucky slush” was falling. Fred
forecast spring would eventually
arrive so that we might board a
bus to the Mill on The Floss so
as to avoid gendarmes en route.
This comes at the suggestion
of Tom Leous, who prefers that
eatery (as do I) over more local
dispensaries.
Tom, incidentally, is being honored by his former high school
with a plaque for Sportsman of
the Year on the school’s Wall of
Fame, and not just because it will
be his first visit to Lafayette High
School since he graduated in June
1944. The Mill on the Floss will
not be present.
Without anyone’s permission
I enlarged my staff with the
addition of Jan Meagher, wife of
Henry, who noted that a lot of
class doings in Florida were unreported. Since Jan and her husband winter in Eastern Florida
I’ve unilaterally expanded my
domain. She provided a program
from Chick Brashear’s funeral.
In violation of not including
class wives in these notes I must
note the passing of Nan Alberti,
who was a sort of class mother
throughout our years as alumni.
Her house was our house as she
entertained from year to year
as wife of Charley Alberti, our
treasurer more often than not.
She died in May just as she was
to undergo surgery for stomach
cancer. Nan and Charley were
married after she graduated
from Bennington. Nan was an
uncomplaining hostess time and
time again as her home was made
available during reunion times to
the class of invaders. It was Nan
who drove Charley to the mountaintop village on a class trip to
Sicily to hunt for kinfolk, if any
remained, of the Alberti clan.
They found a distant cousin who
happened to be a Communist
party member. Nan took it in
stride as she did most else. Our
sympathies to the family.
1951
Dick Siegel
229 Golf Edge
Westfield, NJ 07090
[email protected]
Hold the presses! The latest
news from the White House
is not about the economy,
the banks, a Supreme Court
nominee or Pakistan. It’s that
the Obama’s new dog Bo is
related to the Whitehead family, being a nephew of Peggy
Whitehead’s recently deceased
Mr Big Boy. Peg says, “It is the
first good choice Obama has
made. Always knew a Whitehead
relation would make the White
House sooner or later. Just never
thought it would be a dog. … I
now have ties with Ted Kennedy
and Barack Obama.”
At the suggestion of Don Gregg,
I asked Dave Ruder if he would be
willing to give our class the benefit of his thoughts on the current
financial crisis and the underlying
reasons therefore. Dave most
graciously agreed, and the following are his comments: “In a very
brief period we have witnessed a
crisis in the U.S. banking system,
a rapidly declining economy and
large declines in stock market
values. In 1987, when I was
chairman of the S.E.C., the Dow
Jones Industrial Average dropped
23 percent in one day. Today’s
crisis is different and much more
serious. The problems in today’s
financial markets began with
major defaults in home loan
mortgages and were followed
by the collapse of the values of
collateralized debt obligations
secured by those mortgages, and
the prospect that issuers of credit
default swap insurance policies
on those debt obligations would
be unable to meet demands for
payment. We saw the bankruptcy
of Lehman Brothers, the fire
sales of Bear Stearns and Merrill
Lynch, and the conversion of
Morgan Stanley and Goldman
Sachs to investment banks. We
witnessed government takeovers
of Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac and the sale of Wachovia
and other banks. Fears of bank
and counterparty insolvencies
created a crisis of confidence in
our banking system, and lending
came to a standstill. As credit
became unavailable, business
and consumer spending declined
dramatically. A potential depression similar to the 1930s became
a real possibility. The resulting
stock market decline was not a
sudden revision of market values
as occurred in 1987 but a reflection of negative attitudes about
the future of the U.S. economy.
“Blame for the financial collapse extends to the many market
participants and government
agencies who failed to anticipate the tremendous risks in the
home loan mortgage market and
related structured debt obligations. Home loan mortgage
originators, investment banks,
commercial banks, insurers and
banking and security regulators
in the U.S. and worldwide failed
to understand the risks involved
in the widespread sale of collateralized debt obligations whose values depended upon an overpriced
housing market. Other factors
also contributed to the breakdown in the financial system.
Growth of a lavish compensation system encouraged financial
firm executives and traders to
make risky bets, sometimes using
excessive leverage. National and
international financial markets
were closely interlinked, and
computers allowed almost instantaneous transmission of market
orders. Complicated opaque
derivative instruments were sold
to both retail and institutional
investors. The likelihood that our
credit markets would fail has led
the federal government to invest
massive sums in U.S. banks and
to guarantee commercial paper,
money market funds, and to
expand levels of bank deposits.
Efforts are being made to reduce
the number of home mortgage
foreclosures. The Obama administration seeks to increase government spending dramatically in
order to stimulate the economy
and avoid a severe depression.
We also are seeing legislative proposals for reform of our financial
regulatory system. A ‘systemic
risk regulator’ will probably have
CL ASS
NOTES
power to impose limits on the
risk activities of banks, broker
dealers, hedge funds and other
pools of private capital. Closer
supervision of risk management systems can be expected.
Regulation of derivative instruments will be increased.”
Dave concluded, “Hopefully
the efforts to save our economy
will be successful so that in
2011, when we celebrate our
60th reunion, we will all feel
happy and prosperous.” Dave
is professor of law emeritus at
Northwestern University School
of Law and remains active
teaching one seminar each year
and participating in numerous
conferences. This past fall he
testified on hedge funds before
Congress, appearing on the panel
that preceded the five billionaires’
panel.
By the time you read this, Wally
Bortz will have competed in the
San Francisco Marathon on July
26. Perhaps he will have set a
record for an 80-year-old.
Gordie Clark has done some
research on marathon records
and found that Australian Robert
Horman set one for an 80-yearold with a time of 3:39:18 in
Brisbane in 1998. All of which
leads Gordie to the conclusion
that “the important result is not
one’s time; rather, it is finishing
the race.” Gordie adds, “I now
use the aches in my ankles, legs
and hips (plus shoulders and
wrists) for forecasting the Maine
weather. However, in honor of
Wally’s effort, I pledge to cut,
split, haul and stack one full cord
of oak by July 26. As I approach
80, among other changes, I
find that tasks take longer than
they used to. This will keep me
moving.”
Bob Griffin writes, “My very
dear wife Jamie and I live in
Sarasota on Lido Key. It is an
attractive place to live, with
Sarasota Bay and St. Armands
Circle nearby. I stay in touch
with Paul Shorb, Chuck Halleck
and Jack Horner as well as Jack
Cremeans ’50. Despite numerous
diseases and illnesses and replacement of worn-out parts, I am
very well, except for some neuropathy in the feet from chemo
treatment. Still, I play golf and
like to write, to argue politics,
to meet strangers and play some
with my grandchildren. I did not
enjoy Williams very much—
especially its ingrown fraternity
structure—but I liked the students and very much appreciate
the broad liberal arts education that it gave me. After I left
Former members of the Williams lacrosse team attended the NCAA
lacrosse championships at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., in May.
From left: Tim Blodgett ’51, Gordon McWilliams ’51, Doug Foster ’52,
Gordon Clarke ’51, Brad Purcell ’51 and Jack French ’51.
Williams, I had a misadventure
at Yale Law School, worked for
a New York magazine and then
CBS TV, became an urban planner, ran an urban research center
in Florida, and later a PhD at
the University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, served on the faculty
at Penn State and did research in
social epidemiology. I also ran the
Florida chapter of the Concord
Coalition, a grassroots deficit-reduction organization, for a while
under Paul Tsongas and Warren
Rudman, who to me are models
of bipartisanship.”
Tim Blodgett and Howie Smith
invited themselves to lunch at
Linda and Bob Cremins’ home in
Stamford. “Linda served up delicious frittatas and sozzled tomatoes while Bob told fascinating
stories about their neighbors. A
good time was had by all.” Bob,
unfortunately, has been struggling
with health issues for some time.
Don Gregg had another speaking engagement in Williamstown.
On April 30 he spoke to the
Class of ’61, which was having
a pre-50th reunion dinner at
Mount Hope Farm, and urged
them to support the Center for
Development Economics with
part of their reunion gift. Don
told them how much he enjoyed
speaking to a younger audience.
Dick Chinman reports that all
is well. Their grandson Nicholas
won the 2009 NCAA foil fencing
championship, and his Penn State
fencing team won the NCAA
title for the second time in the
last three years. The semi-final
and final bouts can be seen on
YouTube.
Betsy and Bob Bergen went
on the Williams trip led by Meg
MacDonald ’80, “Insiders’ New
York City: Through the Eyes of
Williams Alumni.” Bob states
“five days in NYC in art galleries and museums and walking
around viewing all the great
art deco buildings, which we
New Yorkers usually walk by
without looking up. We were
the senior alums on the trip
followed by Jerry Schauffler ’54,
one of the original founders of
Outward Bound, and his wife
Barbara; Ted Cobden ’57 and
his wife Nancy, who brought us
greetings from Howie Smith; and
Susan and Stuart Crampton ’58
of Williamstown, he a retired
physics professor and dean, and
she a retired pastor. … Many
years ago if you had ever suggested to us that we should go
on a group trip we would have
said that you must be smoking
something! Then we went on
a trip to Northern Italy led by
E.J. Johnson ’59 and have been
hooked ever since. Last year
we went to Holland for the
tulip season and were joined
by Sheila and Stan Hazen.” The
Bergens met Jean and Michael
Luther at the Hawthorne Inn
in Connecticut in April to help
Michael celebrate his birthday,
and they continue to be in touch
with Janet and Dick Wood. Bob is
president of the Loomis Village
Residents’ Association and chairman of its finance and budget
committee. Betsy is the volunteer
chaplain of Loomis Village. The
Bergens expect to become greatgrandparents for the third time in
September, all by the children of
their daughter Alice. Like most
n 1 9 5 1 –5 2
of us Bob could go on at great
length about medical matters, but
since both he and Betsy did very
well walking in NYC he believes
they remain in reasonably good
shape.
Jackie and Alfred Schlosser had
a great time on the Elbe River
cruise with visits to Prague and
Berlin. Claire and Ted Curtis were
scheduled to go but had to cancel
because of a health problem
Claire was having. Alfred advises
that fortunately Claire is recovering. Also aboard were Tucker
and Jack Harris ’52 and Priscilla
and Jack Taylor ’52. Lectures
were given by Dan O’Connor,
retired professor of philosophy
and dean. The Schlossers traveled
to some rebuilt cities, notably
Dresden and Berlin, and it
seemed to them that the Germans
have gone a long way to attempt
to expiate their sins of WWII and
the Holocaust. Berlin in particular has many monuments to murdered victims of the Nazi regime.
Jackie and Alfred had to cancel
a planned vacation in Florida
when their daughter-in-law, wife
of their son Andrew ’83, suffered
a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Fortunately, a prompt airlift and
surgery at Hartford Hospital
saved her life, and happily she
is on the road to recovery. The
Schlossers will be attending the
graduation of their grandson
Evan from the Westminster
School. Although not accepted at
Williams, Evan will be attending
the other Williams, the one with
Mary appended to its name.
George Dorion writes that he
is looking forward to seeing
everyone in October at the mini.
He met Fred Goldstein ’52, Doug
Coleman ’50 and Doug Foster ’52
in Williamstown while attending the meeting of the Alumni
Fund Vice Chairs Committee.
In February Dottie and George
hosted a lunch for the Williams
Jacksonville regional association at the Ponte Vedra Inn and
Club. George reports that the
event was well attended “in
part because of the presentation
by Will Dudley ’89 entitled ‘Big
Games—The Huge Significance
of Sport in America.’” The
Dorion’s daughter Lisanne ’87
was in the area at that time and
joined them at the event.
Brad Clarey, having married off
all of his daughters, will be off to
San Diego in June to give away
in marriage his granddaughter
Hannah Louise Vyse. Except
for a few of his six grandchildren and one grandchild, the
Clarey clan will be attending the
wedding en masse. Brad reports
he is in good health and remains
active in condominium affairs.
Our class president Tom Kent
played in his first 80-plus tennis
tournament in his old stomping
ground of Morristown, N.J., the
home of his former employer
and payor of his pension, Allied
Signal Co. Tom suffered from
my malady and got knocked out
in the first round, but Rich Allen
did much better, winning his
first-round match before losing
to the number-one seed, who was
a former national champion in
the 75s. Tom and Rich may play
doubles together in the National
Grass 80s in September.
Pete deLisser hopes to complete
a second book before his 80th.
He has the pleasure of having as
his co-author his son Michael,
who is executive education
faculty member at the University
of Utah School of Business.
Pete sings in a choir called the
Christianaires twice a month
at celebration events at local
churches. He spoke with Bill
Rodie and Gordie Clark but promised not to say anything about
their political views on current
matters in Washington. Pete has
taken up writing poetry while
sitting at the edge of the Hudson
River, and if classmates do not
send me enough news for class
notes in the future, I threaten to
fill up the space with some of the
poems.
Not much new with the
Hazens other than their daughter
Ellen ’90 giving birth to their
third grandchild, Lila Jane.
On a sad note, Ted Childs’
wife Suzi died in January. Ted
is very grateful for the support
given by Hospice when it was
most needed. Ted is selling his
condo in Naples and planning
to move back to Maine, where
he will be closer to his children
and where he can keep a better
eye on the Red Sox and Patriots
and “beat Dean Webster in
golf.” Betsy Edgeworth sent a
note advising of the death of
Ernie May’s son Tom on May
5 at the age of 50 after a long
illness. Betsy attended the service
in Wilmington, and she said it
was a beautiful celebration in a
family chapel and cemetery. An
e-mail from Ted Garver advised
of the death of Fritz Zeller after
a long illness. Harry Sheehy died
on July 2 after a long struggle
with Parkinson’s disease. The
class sends its condolences to Ted
Childs, Betty and Ernie May, Suz
Zeller and Florence Sheehy, and
their respective families.
Do not forget our mini in
Williamstown the second weekend in October. Let’s have a big
turnout.
1952
Alec Robertson
3 Essex Meadows
Essex, CT 06426
[email protected]
After an exceptionally cold
and lengthy winter, spring
sprang, and our classmates
responded with some enthusiasm, in spite of the poor
economic times in which we are
now living. A new administration is in place, and perhaps a
mitigation of this bad period is
under way. Time will tell.
Prexy Fred Goldstein reported
he had just returned from a
May weekend in Williamstown.
Accompanied by Marigold and
Bob Bischoff and John Hyde,
Fred represented the class at the
College Scholarship Luncheon.
“Met the young woman who is
the freshman who received the
’52 class scholarship (as a result
of our 50th reunion gift). The
scholarship students really are
outstanding.” Fred attended the
Alumni Fund Leadership Dinner
with Ann and Doug Foster on
Saturday night. “Unfortunately,
’52 came in third for participation this year behind the classes
of ’39 (100 percent) and ’49,
who just edged us out for second
place. However, this is the fourth
year in a row that we have gone
over 90 percent participation. Ed
and I had a wonderful threeweek trip to Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos this past February and
early March. It was fascinating
to see bustling Vietnam, meet
hardworking young people and
view the temples that have been
uncovered in Cambodia. Will see
Nicki and Paige L’Hommedieu
… for our regular Lyrics and
Lyricists series at the 92nd Street
Y in New York. Finally, the
minireunion weekend is all set
for Oct. 10-11. The Class of ’51
will join us for dinner on Friday
night at the Williams Inn and
lunch at the Log on Saturday.
John Hyde will host cocktails
at his house for ’52 on Friday
night again before dinner, and
the Fosters will host ’52 at dinner on Saturday night. Rooms
are scarce, so everyone should
make arrangements as soon as
possible.” Fred also commented
that Pete Gurney’s new play
Children opened at the Westport
Playhouse at the end of May
CL ASS
NOTES
and was the opening play at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival
this summer.
Bob Huddleston reported:
“Vicki is completing her stint
with Brookings as co-director of
the project on U.S. policy toward
a Cuba in transition, following the very successful launch
of the report entitled ‘Cuba:
A New Policy of Critical and
Constructive Engagement’ in
April. After Memorial Day she
began work as deputy assistant
secretary of defense for Africa in
Secretary Gates’ foreign policy
office, where she will attempt
to balance the relationship
between development, defense
and diplomacy. As ambassador
to Mali and Ethiopia she worked
closely with the military on these
issues. To that end we’ve rented
an apartment in Washington.
At least initially, I’ll continue to
reside in Santa Fe and commute
while we determine her travel
schedule.”
Pat and Bill Hatch had a good
winter and headed for Cleveland
in mid-May. Bill has been working for United Way, allocating
resources in the Ft. Pierce area.
Their families visited them in
Harbour Ridge last winter.
With a list of international
heavy breathers, including
Warren Buffet, Philip Glass
and Emanuel Ax, Pete Gurney
was elected a member of The
American Philosophical Society,
the oldest learned society in the
U.S. It was founded in 1743
by Benjamin Franklin for the
purpose of “promoting useful
knowledge.” Today the Society
has 987 elected members, 821
resident members and 166
international members from
more than two dozen foreign
countries. Since 1900, more than
260 members have received the
Nobel Prize. Congratulations
from the class to Pete!
“Now that we live in North
Beach (the Italian section of
San Francisco), we have access
to amazing restaurants,” wrote
Kent Barber. “Once a week I
volunteer at a K-5 public school.
I am in a classroom of fourth
and fifth graders, helping the
teacher wherever she needs me.
I continue to be involved in our
Episcopal church, where we have
been members for 38 years. Most
Sundays my wife sings in the
choir and I usher. Once a month
I take blood pressure readings at
the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood
Center. There is a group of older
Chinese men and women who
come regularly for different
activities. This is part of the
service that is offered to them. I
am close enough to Chinatown
to walk there and get dim sum. It
is delicious and made fresh each
day.” (Kent sounds active!)
Peter Ochs reported, “Never
thought I’d get this old. Vegetate
most of the year in Vienna,
Austria. Will spend summer in
Gay Head (now Aquinnah) on
Martha’s Vineyard. Sold my
house there (Ochsmark, à la
Chilmark) before the giant market drop, thank God, or I would
not be eating now. A million
dollars ain’t what it used to be. It
was really the beach rights that
did it, unbelievable what those
are priced at these days. And
goodbye to the floor-to-ceiling
glass looking out over 15 acres
of wild land and a bit of Atlantic
blue. Never no mind. Never
look back. At the minireunion
last fall that Fred Goldstein
masterminded. Quite a deal.
Clark museum great. Bob Aliber,
my old Emile Dupres seminarmate, did a drop-in think-tank
talk about the eco situation. (I
always thought Bob would end
up as a Mr. Tutt-type lawyer in
Vermont, instead of the eco bigwig of our time, but apparently
Prof. Dupres turned him the
eco way.) Wish brother Aliber
had talked to me before Sept.
24 when Lehman Bros dragged
the Reserve Fund to semi-Drano
status. Seventy-seven years! Too
much?”
Bob Kimberly and Nancy are
fine in Kirkland, Wash. Bob is
writing upbeat poetry.
“I just want to tell you about
a delightful experience I had this
past February/March when a
friend and I traveled to Jordan,
Egypt, Israel and Cyprus,”
wrote Marlene Rice, wife of
Kingsley L.”Jim” Rice. “On our
first full day at Le Meridian
Hotel in Amman, I noticed a
lovely couple in the lobby. We
were not five minutes into our
meeting when we discovered
the Williams connection. Bill
Moore ’54 and his wife Sue
quickly became good friends for
the duration of our travels. We
visited Amman, Jerash, Mount
Nebo, Madaba, Petra, the Wadi
Rum and joined our small ship,
Monet, in Aqaba. We sailed from
Aqaba to Sharm El Sheikh on the
Sinai Peninsula, traveling to St.
Catherine’s Monastery at Mount
Sinai, among other places, and
across the Red Sea to Safaga.
Then Luxor for a night’s stay. We
started up the Red Sea, crossing
the Suez Canal before heading
to Israel where we visited Jaffa
and Tel Aviv, the Mount of
Olives and Jerusalem, Haifa,
Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee.
Trip ended in Limmasol. A great
time.”
Hank Norton reported that he
and several classmates traveled to
Columbus, Ohio, to bid farewell
to Peter Mykrantz, who died
after a two-month struggle with
cancer. “John Montgomery, Paul
Doyle, Ted Taylor and I were the
contingent. Also Chuck Hebble
’53 gave a moving and amusing
eulogy. Peter’s cousin Tad Jeffrey
’51 gave Mimi and I a ride to the
airport, for which we were grateful, as our cab driver could not
find the club where the reception
was held. Great to see everybody,
but not the preferred circumstance for a reunion.” (Pete’s
obituary is in this issue.)
Ray George said he played golf
with Bob White in an event at the
Country Club of Florida. They
won some money, but it did little
to offset losses in the market.
The good news from the
Jay McElroys is that they are
well. They went on a Viking
River cruise from Budapest
to Nuremberg for a week in
May and will be going to New
Zealand and Australia in early
2010. “Other than that, Mary
keeps playing tennis and I work
out six days a week.”
“Talk with John Hyde, John
Chandler and others at lunch
regularly,” reported Sam Humes,
“so am catching up on the interesting history of Williams over
the last decades. Recommend
John as a speaker at our next
fifth reunion. One year after
moving from Brussels (after 24
years) Lynne and I are adjusting
to Williamstown—even though
she has kept her Brussels-based
job and consequently spends
a few weeks in Europe several
times a year. Enjoy playing with
grandchildren. I hope that at
least one of the five make it to
Williams. Looking forward to
seeing many of you at the fall
minireunion.”
Gus Campbell had some sage
and positive advice for us all:
“Everybody fusses and frets
about the market. Let’s be
realistic—I have been investing in
stocks since I was 15 years old.
I am now 79. While the market
goes up and down, in the 64
years that I have been investing, it ALWAYS comes back and
ALWAYS continues an upward
movement, although the speed
of moving upward may vary. So
tell the naysayers to stop their
n 1952
whining and invest in common
stocks. They will be ahead in the
long run. (Go Gus!)
Judy and Roger Corwin visited
the Tutankhamun display at the
Dallas Museum of Art before its
May closing. “This tomb collection from about 5,000 years ago
is amazing.”
Bob Riegel says of the current
gloom: “Yes, a lot of gloom.
Some people have said to me,
‘You have always preached
that we are too connected with
money and try to get our happiness from it. Now I believe you.’
My dad lost several million in
1929. Instead of jumping out of
a window my parents decided
on two things. First, to have a
child that turned out to be me.
Second, that whatever happened
in the future they would tithe. I
think that how my Dad related
to money and connected it to
faith influenced me in becoming a priest. For a moment this
month I did have some glee
about money. I received back a
lot of money from prepaid taxes.
I was about to celebrate until I
realized that the reason for the
refund was that I had lost about
40 percent of my savings. I am
really happy to be working full
time at a great cathedral with
over 4,400 members. We are
in the middle of a $7 million
restoration. My wife Keren has
retired from 20 years work as
a counselor in one of South
Carolina’s poorest schools. Now
set free, but with less money, she
wants to travel. We are doing a
tour of the western parks in June
and hopefully next year a couple
of weeks in Egypt.”
Emerson Stone wrote, “This
may be of interest to … those my
late brother Jon Stone knew in
his college years or later. A new
book, Street Gang, by Michael
Davis (Viking) is the best and
fullest account yet of the making
of the TV broadcast Sesame
Street. Page after page, Street
Gang cites Jon as a—perhaps
even the—vital spark of Sesame
Street. The book tells of his
imagining and making that revolution in children’s broadcasting
and of his battles against those
who would degrade it. He went
on to guide the revolution’s evolution until his death, some 30
years later. As you may know,
Williams conferred an honorary
degree on Jon in recognition
of his centrality to the creative
uniqueness of Sesame Street, to
which his education there surely
contributed.”
“Just had successful cataract
surgery—first, right eye. Two
weeks later, left eye,” chimed in
Bob Bischoff. “To me that qualifies as good, upbeat news. Even
better, our grandson Michael
Ormsbee has been accepted in
the Class of 2013 at Williams.
He’s excited, and so are his
parents (’83 Williams graduates),
and so are we. Marigold and I
are doing well.” Bob was looking forward to a major family
reunion in the Adirondacks in
August.
Don Wyman chimed in: “Not
much going on here. We are
doing our usual activities: Florida
in January at the Hillsboro Club,
Virgin Gorda for 10 days in
March with friends in a rental
villa, and platform tennis this
winter at our club here on Cape
Cod, morphing into tennis this
summer. Cape Cod is now our
year-round residence and very
satisfying, with a busy summer
social season at both The Beach
Club and The Wianno Club. We
have cut back on some expenses
that in retrospect seemed
extravagant in light of current
economic conditions. Condos in
Brookline and Osterville that we
occasionally used as secondary
residences are now rented. It
reminds me of the ’30s. Hard
to believe that I was born at the
start of the Great Depression and
am experiencing another one at
the other end.”
Dave Peck wrote: “Ginny and I
live in Boynton Beach in winter
and northern Michigan in the
summer. I see Frank Weeks in
Florida. We roomed together in
reading the class notes.”
Jack Brody: “Celebrated my
78th birthday going scuba
diving with my son. We have
been doing this for the last 25
years. My big dive is next month
on the Turks and Caicos with
my ancient buddy. This is our
50th annual dive. I am now an
emeritus professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at
Chicago and retain a few small
grants and graduate students.
I’ve been also fielding lots of
questions about the swine flu.
I too am flunking retirement,
although I have noticed that
all the phone calls and e-mails
that I used to complain about
are diminishing. I am hoping
the get Arthur Levitt to go to the
Penn Relays next April where
we found fields of glory while at
Poly Prep in ’47 and ’48.”
Betty and Howie Martin
reported: “If you haven’t visited
an Islamic country, Morocco
is an intriguing (and safe) one.
Lacking oil money, they are
eager for hard-currency tourists
are friendly to Americans (a
new university teaches only
in English) and the country’s
infrastructure is surprisingly
good. Besides interesting sights in
Marrakech, Fez and Casablanca,
we visited their film capital (site
of Lawrence of Arabia and 100
subsequent films), rode camels
on the northwest corner of the
Sahara and crossed a 7,500-foothigh mountain pass with nearby
ski resorts.”
Spoke to Dave Evans in New
Jersey. He and Debbie are
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
In April playwright and novelist A.R. “Pete” Gurney ’52 was elected a
member of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society
in the U.S., founded by Benjamin Franklin to promote research and
discussion in the sciences and humanities.
Williams Hall his freshman year
and, regrettably, my only year
at Williams. Had lunch with
Dick Whitney ’49 last month.
He lives in Stuart. We grew up
together and played high school
sports. He reminded me of the
time the football coach came
to him before a game and told
him he was to play quarterback
even though he’d never played
quarterback. Said he did OK. We
won the game 14 to 13. And he
threw four touchdown passes.
How so, you ask? Well, two of
the passes were intercepted and
run back for touchdowns. I enjoy
considering a move to a CCRC.
Of course they want to sell their
home first. Dave’s brother Jack
lives in Essex Meadows with us.
Jack’s daughter Wendy Knight ’80
is very active in High Hopes, a
riding facility for people needing
assistance.
I am sorry to report that Walt
Palmer passed away in February
in Edmond, Okla., after a brief
illness. Born in China, Walt
graduated from Williams and
achieved a BS in petroleum
engineering at UC Berkeley.
Walt retired as a captain in the
Air Force Reserve, became a
CL ASS
NOTES
petroleum engineer and real
estate operator and was active
in the church and aiding kids to
better their math. He is survived
by a brother, Mike Palmer
(Amherst ’53), a son, son-in-law,
and three grandchildren. Walt’s
obituary is in this issue. We will
miss him.
I am sorry to report that
after a brief illness Steve Gribi
passed away on June 6. He was
born in Berlin, spent his early
years in Bern, Switzerland, and
immigrated with his family to
Rye, N.Y., in his early teens.
Steve went into the Navy shortly
after graduation and became a
lieutenant. After a long and distinguished career at Wells Fargo
Bank, he retired in 1984. An
avid RV enthusiast, he enjoyed
cruising the back roads of the
U.S. and Canada. We will miss
him greatly. Our condolences
go out to his sister Madi and his
four sons and five grandchildren.
Steve’s obituary will be in the
next issue.
1953
Stephen W. Klein
378 Thornden St.
South Orange, NJ 07079
[email protected]
Stan Miller happily conveyed
the news that his oldest granddaughter, Hollis Miller, has
been accepted at Williams as a
freshman for the class of 2013.
Hollis’ dad is the celebrated
dermatologist Stanley J. Miller
’78. Marge and Slim Harkins
decided to downsize their home.
After considering moves to South
Carolina, Florida or Texas, they
decided on a condo approximately 10 miles from their home
of 38 years. Unpacking, Slim was
astonished at all the things they
still have that he believes he’d
never seen before. John Beard and
Sandra Clark Sisk were married
May 24 at Emmanuel Church
in Greenwood, Va. Many had
a chance to meet Sandy at our
55th reunion. Bob Howard was
in Williamstown June 12 on the
occasion of the 25th reunion of
youngest daughter Kathryn Curtis
’84. George Hartnett suffered
a line fracture in the odentoid
vertebra (top of the spine and
just below the skull) as the result
of a freak accident on Feb. 19
and was consigned to a neck
and head brace—the original
design dating from the Spanish
Inquisition where it served a
different purpose—until May 5.
Now on the road to full recovery,
Hollis Miller (third from left), who will be attending Williams this fall,
celebrated her high school graduation with, from left, Stanley Miller
Jr. ’53, Peter Miller ’80, Stanley Miller III ’78, Howard Simpson ’50 and
Howard’s wife Kitty in Baltimore, Md.
he will be able to repay some of
Marianne’s nursing as she will be
having hip-replacement surgery.
And then back to Illinois. Bob
Howard noted a reference in
The New York Times to a book
found some years ago in the late
John Larson’s New Hampshire
book store. Mention of this led
Boine Johnson to remember his
one-time Theta Delt roommate’s
Halcyon days as an attorney in
Paris, France. John subsequently
returned to the U.S. and opened
the bookstore called Ephemera.
Bob Howard visited John there in
1997, possibly being the last Eph
to call at Ephemera.
Soapy Symington, well remembered at Williams for many reasons, including his outstanding
squash and tennis and as one of
the stellar ’53 cheerleaders, died
on March 4. Soapy’s survivors
include his wife Bailey, three
children, including daughter
Gaye Symington ’76, and five
grandchildren. Among classmates attending a Celebration of
Life service in New York were
Charlie Mott, Art Murray and John
Allan.
Seth Schapiro, a pillar of our
class, died March 11. Seth was
a longtime active associate class
agent, a former class president
and, as our beloved Minister
of Culture, was the initiator
and organizer of the annual
midwinter in New York theater,
telethon, cocktail party and dinner. A memorial service for Seth
played to a standing-room-only
audience, including Mike Lazor,
Susan and Peter Connolly, Joy
and Walter Flaherty, Kathleen
and Boine Johnson, and John
Allan and Jim Tompkins. Seth
is survived by wife Jill, four
children—including son Joshua
Schapiro ’83, who drew high
praise as Master of Ceremonies
at Seth’s service—and seven
grandchildren.
Paul Clifford died April 9.
Paul was an executive of the
Baltimore-based Monumental
Life Insurance Co., a venerable
family business. Paul is survived
by wife Carol, four children,
two stepchildren and seven
grandchildren.
1954
Al Horne
7214 Rebecca Drive
Alexandria, VA 22307
[email protected]
For those who missed our
55th, here are some highlights:
The occasion inspired Bob
Seaman to create yet another
of his memorable reunion
logos, a gracefully aging purple
cow peering over half-glasses,
and his latest class motto, Nil
Desperandum, roughly translatable from the Latin as “Never
Despair.” Some of us, of course,
are still Semper Ludendi.
At our ’54 headquarters next
to Dodd House, the Williams
Inn of our college days, arriving classmates coming in out
of the rain picked up gift bags
that included straw hats with
the Seaman-designed reunion
buttons and coasters, plus yet
another reunion-inspired labor
of love: Dan Tritter’s entertaining
history of our era, from 1929 to
2009.
n 1 9 5 2 –5 5
Five emeritus trustees hang out with a familiar purple friend. From left:
Paul Neely ’68, Ray Henze ’74, Allan Fulkerson ’54, former president Carl
Vogt ’58 and Joe Rice ’54.
Under the Nil Desperandum
banner, about 50 of us accompanied by wives and significant
others took advantage of a
rain-free Saturday morning to
follow our elders in the reunion
parade down Main Street to
Spring Street and the Chandler
Gymnasium. There our Class
Agent Guy Verney accepted the
Sawyer Trophy, awarded to 1954
for the fifth year in a row as the
post-50th-reunion class with the
highest Alumni Fund performance (total gifts multiplied by
rate of participation, in this case
more than $135,000 and 82
percent).
By Saturday night it was raining again, but that didn’t spoil
our closing dinner, at which Russ
Carpenter stepped down as class
president to a standing ovation,
and an unopposed slate of class
officers was chosen democratically without objection. Our new
president is Hugh Germanetti;
Bob Murdock takes over Hugh’s
spot as VP; and Guy Verney and
I continue as class agent and secretary, respectively. Our reunion
chairman, Jim Carpenter, also
received a well-earned ovation,
as did his wife Shirley and Russ’
wife Mary Jo.
The following is, I hope, a
complete list of reunion attendees. It includes three California
couples in a virtual tie for the
long-distance record and one
returning veteran (sorry, no
more clues): P.J. Adolph; Janet
and Rit Ames; Sue and Don
Bayer; Molly and John Beard;
Ada and Rob Brandegee; Dianne
and Jack Brennan; Nancy and
John Brownell; Shirley and Jim
Carpenter; Mary Jo and Russ
Carpenter; Stu Chase; Buzz Eichel;
Wendell Elmendorf; Janet and
Dana Fearon; Joe Foote; Joanne
and Charlie Foster; Lois and Reed
Foster; Judy and Allan Fulkerson;
Nancy and Hugh Germanetti;
Sally and Dick Hollington; Ann
and Al Horne; Beth and Graham
Humes; Miriam and Ted Irwin;
Pokey Kalker; Mal Kane with
Barbara Denney; Dorothy and
John Lewy; Elisabeth and Pete
Loizeaux; Daphne and Bob McGill;
Susanne and Ed Miller; Emily
and John Miller; Barry and Jim
Moltz; Harry Montgomery; Sonnie
and Bob Murdock; Connie and
Jack O’Kieffe; Peyton Pinkerton;
Patsy and Hal Pratt; Barbara
and Jerry Schauffler; Myrtle and
Marv Schiff; Joan and Steve Selig;
Charlie Sheldon with Brenda
Hoffman; Ken Sperling with
two granddaughters and Adele
Bildersee; Gail and David St. Clair;
Tom Stephens; Bill Stott; Dan
Tritter; Julie and Guy Verney; John
Walsh; Doris and Dick Whitehead;
Madalene and Tom Woodbury;
and Siju and Hal Zimmerman.
A couple of footnotes: The golf
tournament was rained out, but
the all-star wives’ team of Molly
Beard and Patsy Pratt won an
abbreviated tennis tournament.
In the real world, meanwhile,
Bob McGill has been working with a northern Berkshire
County charter high school and
reports that all of this year’s
graduates received college acceptances. Reed Foster’s current
project is as an adviser to Vino
Volo, a growing chain of airport
wine bars. And Elisabeth and
Pete Loizeaux are moving from
New Jersey to Boston.
Reminiscing a bit, the June
issue of South County Living, a
Rhode Island magazine, includes
an interview with John Miller
about his college summers as a
Narragansett Beach lifeguard,
with a photo of our John guarding a bathing beauty. Back in
February, the South County
Independent newspaper had
included Emily and John Miller
in a Valentine’s Day feature headlined “Still Sweethearts: Four
couples give their recipes for
love.” John’s advice, after nearly
49 years of marriage, stressed the
art of compromise. “We don’t
insist on victories,” John said. “I
accept the defeats.”
One more look back: Phil Smith
’55 sent Russ Carpenter a final
report on the scholarships established in honor of Taylor Briggs
by a Williams group including
Jane Briggs that traveled to
Nepal in 2000. The WilliamsNepal connection dates back to
the 1970s, and one of the first
Briggs Scholars, in the Williams
class of 2004, was a nephew of
the first Nepali Williams graduate in 1975. The Briggs fund
helped put talented students
through Nepal’s best secondary
schools and enabled them to go
to Williams and other top U.S.
colleges. At least six of the Briggs
Scholars are now in American
PhD programs, and Williams
continues to be enriched by
applicants from Nepal, the former admission chief reported.
We’ve lost two more classmates
since my last report. In June Dick
(Lumpy) Miles died in Amelia
Island, Fla., after a long illness.
His freshman and sophomore
roommate Harry Montgomery
recalls, “We shared good talk
but did not see a great deal
of each other, in part because
he slept in even later in the
mornings than I did.” In April,
Worthington Flowers, briefly a
member of our freshman class,
died in Buckingham County, Va.
1955
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Charley Bradley
103 Meadow Road
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
[email protected]
One of our most reliable correspondents, Chuck Morey, writes
that he has five great-grandchildren, three from grandchild
Roxanne Bill and two from
grandchild Ryan Morey.
A lengthy e-mail from Ted
CL ASS
NOTES
Oviatt (also a very reliable correspondent) says, in part, “My
track kids did well again this
year. We set a bunch of school
records—especially a distance
runner who also served as
captain of the basketball team
competing during the same
season. Fun to hear from my
son Pete, just turning 40, who
is coaching in Washington after
a few state championships in
Connecticut. Since my school has
taken me out of the classroom,
I have more work and less fun
than in the classroom. Sixty percent of our school is Korean, and
it poses some special challenges.
My daughter Angel has had a
beautiful experience at Brent,
starting with no English at age 5
and now is definitely one of the
best fifth-grade students. She also
runs on my track team, winning
the 800 at this elementary invitational in Manila for the third
straight year. She got a second
in the long jump and ran on two
super-passing relay teams (all
gold!)—two fourth graders and
two fifth graders. Looking forward to a rest—broke two bones
in my back in a fall in January,
but they were small and healed
by themselves—a bummer after
almost a year of spasms from
the fall I took when I tripped
being chased by wild dogs in the
province the year before! Wife
Marilyn has made it through two
years of law school in Baguio
five hours away, and I’ve made it
through two more years of single
fatherhood!”
Tom Stark wrote that he is
“moving to Selma, Ore., to live
with my daughter Jody and her
two children.” Tom suggests that
we all be prepared to manage our
own care when we become ill.
“Easter Sunday, after a week in
the hospital, the docs were offering me intubation or hospice,
both of which I declined.” He
made a deal with the night nurse
regarding his medication, and,
somewhat cynically, he says his
condition improved overnight:
“Having risen again, the stigmata
having also disappeared, I walk
among you once again.”
Jeff Henriques sent a Bradley
Byte to say, “Spent a delightful
week in San Francisco (my favorite city) in early April. Stayed
with Frank Rosenbach for three
days and then shared a wonderful father/daughter weekend with
Laura ’85. The weather cooperated, too. Kate and I are doing
well and plan to be at the 55th
next year.”
Mark Cluett wrote that he and
Libbie “spent three wonderful weeks in November in
Madagascar. Fascinating (and
very poor) country. All the
mammals and 90 percent of
the reptiles and amphibians are
endemic, i.e., found nowhere
else. In January we cruised
for three weeks visiting the
Falklands, South Georgia and
Antarctica. We made 18 landings. This trip was breathtakingly
beautiful. It’s difficult to describe
the majesty and enormity of
it all. One particular highlight
was hiking part of Ernest
Shackleton’s crossing of South
Georgia to the whaling station of
Stromress. Of course we did it in
Antarctica’s summer while he did
it in the winter.”
John Newhall reported that
he “had a pleasant visit with
Betsy and Whitey Perrott in
Vero Beach, Fla., in March. Saw
Sandy and Ted Bowers, Pinky
and Bill Regan, Cherry and Don
Everett and Ronnie and Bob
Wilkes. All are thriving in varying
degrees in spite of health and
financial issues endemic to aging
and tough times. Also had a
nice visit with Laurie and Freddy
Towers at their beautiful home
in Naples, Fla. I survived a ski
trip to Jackson Hole, Wyo., also
in March.” (I hope John realizes
that John D. Rockefeller Jr.
fought with the U.S. Congress for
over 30 years to get Congress to
accept his gift of 55,000 acres in
Jackson Hole to complete Grand
Teton National Park.)
Bill Prime also used a Byte to
say: “Just finished bringing Prime
Time (my 37-foot catamaran)
up from San Juan to Turks and
Caicos with Mel Bearns where we
were met by honorary classmate
Fifi Prime for a little R&R, this
after cruising from Chesapeake
to Grenada via Bermuda over
last three years. Still playing as
hard as we can.”
George Rounds wrote a Byte
to report: “In April I returned
to ‘the mother country’ of
Connecticut and Vermont
and Massachusetts to lead a
men’s workshop weekend (very
powerful experience) and spend
time with daughter Heather in
Stamford, Conn., and sister Sal
and her husband Frank. Felt
good to be back in New England
where I grew up (that’s an
assumption)! The hills filled my
heart with the sound of music
and sweet memories. On a more
immediate note: We are expecting grandchild number seven in
May. And I’m launching a new
career in commercial voice-over
this month! It’s never too late!”
Tom White sent Bytes:
“Greetings from Charlotte, N.C.
All goes well here. Have been
retired from a thriving OB-GYN
practice for 10 years and enjoying every minute. Do lots of volunteer work, run a free women’s
clinic for Hispanics monthly and
play much tennis and golf. My
heart attack and stroke in 2004
have left no residual damages.
Five grandchildren in town keep
me active in sports. My oldest
grandson is considering Williams
and made a recent trip there with
his mother. Sue, my wife, is doing
well (Skidmore graduate), and
we spend a lot of the summer at
a home in Brandon, Vt. … I am
working hard for the conservative movement in hopes of restoring sanity, fiscal responsibility
and free enterprise to DC. I am
fearful of the direction the U.S. is
taking here and abroad.”
Ed Wilkens, one of my Psi U
brothers, wrote, “With great sadness, I write to report the recent
death (1.26.09) of my dear wife
and best friend Joy; we were
married for 16 years but together
for over 25.” I did speak to Ed,
and he said he was doing fairly
well, but that it has been a very
difficult adjustment.
J.J. DuBois e-mailed me with
two pieces of news: “One, we
have a new e-mail address. It
is [email protected]. Long
story, but we had a home invader
that entered our house while we
were asleep. Both my dog and I
awoke at the same time and he
fled the house, but not without
my laptop computer. Our e-mail
ended up somewhere over
Africa! Second, I will no longer
be totally retired! I am going to
join an internist in Lenox, Mass.,
and help him during his busy
summer season. We will stay in
Tyringham, and I will be working June 15 to Sept. 15. I plan
to catch up with Marty Deely
in Lee and Terry White and Bob
Behr in Williamstown. Our life
in Panama continues to be good.
We are living in a volcano crater,
which is cool and quiet. I now
have two dogs that spend their
day barking at our 10 Cochin
chickens. This is a nice place to
retire to!”
Gene Latham also e-mailed:
“After 50 years in Mexico,
Gloria and I have decided to
leave the country and become
U.S. residents. This decision
was motivated principally by
wanting to be closer to our seven
children and 11 grandchildren
living in the U.S. For Gloria, who
n 1955
Class of ’55 President Merce Blanchard (second from right) outside
Harper House, the new home of Williams’ Center for Environmental
Studies. With him are (left to right) Doug Gollin, economics professor;
Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa, the first Class of 1955 Visiting Professor
of International Studies; and William Lynn, visiting professor of
environmental studies.
was born here, the move will
be especially difficult, however
we did not want to wait until
nearness to our children, when
one of us had passed away,
became a necessity rather than
a desire. There is much to be
done before we can move, and
this will take some time. I have
resigned my position at our
orphanage, Nuestros Pequeños
Hermanos, but we will continue
to remain close to its growth
and progress as the years pass.
We intend to spend about half
our time in Rhode Island and
half in Centennial, Colo., where
we have bought an apartment.
Hopefully we can catch up
with some Williams friends and
activities once we have gotten
settled. The last few months in
Mexico have been exciting. An
economic crash; the devaluation
of the currency by 40 percent;
a rather large earthquake; and
now the influenza scare. We are
holding our breath (behind our
face masks), awaiting the arrival
of locusts. We look forward to
being closer to old friends as we
leave the country and friends we
have come to love and admire.
Viva Mexico!”
Phil Smith, who always comes
through with news, e-mailed:
“Maureen Sze spent the night
with us on the way down and
back to see her new grandson,
Julian Savadove, in Pennsylvania,
son of Tom Savadove ’93. Bill
Savadove ’91 and his wife also
presented Maureen with a grandson in China, so she became a
grandmother (for the first time)
twice in the same month. I put
together a lunch meeting for
Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa,
the Class of ’55 visiting professor for the spring term, with
Williams students from East
Africa, and we had a great
time over an Indian buffet on
Spring Street. The undergraduates included six Kenyans, two
Ethiopians, one Ugandan and
one from Burundi. We had two
CDE students from Rwanda with
us as well as my neighbor Kenda
Mutongi from Kenya, who is
history professor at Williams and
chair of African studies. Speaking
of Africa, Susie and I are just
back from a two-week trip to
South Africa, Swaziland and
Mozambique with our youngest
daughter Holly and family. The
parks and animal sightings were
first rate, and we survived the
fact that Mozambique is the only
country in the world without
paved roads. I’ve just finished
reading the international applications to Williams for the 50th
year, and I’m happy to say that
the Class of 2013 came in right
on target.” Two minutes later,
he e-mailed “a couple of other
tidbits I forgot. Bill Montgomery
was in town in April bringing his
granddaughter to visit Williams.
He stayed with Alleson and Terry
White, and we had a great dinner
with our Williams sophomore
granddaughter. That same day,
Tom White’s son was in town
looking at Williams with his
mother.”
Mel Bearns had written in
January for the spring issue of
People, but I forgot to include it.
My apologies to Mel, who wrote:
“I’d been looking for some nine
months for a specific light plane
I wanted to buy after I sold the
Kitfox. Finally found it in Santa
Paula, just north of LA, got it
checked out and made the deal.
Meanwhile, I’d gotten Bill Prime
into the project (he’s always had
a burning desire to learn to fly).
Once the deal was sealed, I flew
commercial out to LA at the
beginning of April and picked
up the plane—a classic 1946
Ercoupe 415-C in mint condition.
Left Santa Paula after lunch and
made it to Kingman, Ariz., where
I overnighted. Next day over the
continental divide just north of
Albuquerque, managing to get
the coupe up to over 10,000 feet
to clear, and on to Borger, Texas,
in the Panhandle. Overnight
there, then the next day made
it to the southern tip of Illinois.
Home to Warrenton on the final
day, arriving around 4 p.m. after
a major hassle scud running to
get over the Blue Ridge mountains. All in all, some 2,300 miles
in 22 hours flight time without
a single problem. Not bad for a
62-year-old plane with an 85 hp
engine. Bill started taking lessons
and progressed in short order to
solo with an almost perfect first
solo landing. … We’re sort of
shut down now with winter, but
are taking to the skies when we
can. Bill and Fifi wisely headed
south last week to spend a couple
of weeks bringing Prime Time
up from St. Croix to San Juan,
first leg of getting her back to the
Bahamas, of which we may be
writing you later. No plans to go
back to Bermuda, for sure!”
Rick Smith wrote that his and
Susan’s “great environmental
adventure came to a climax in
April with the broadcast on
PBS Frontline of our two-hour
documentary on Puget Sound
and Chesapeake Bay—‘Poisoned
Waters.’ It’s been great fun out
with the NOAA teams sampling
Orca whales off the San Juan
Islands, boating with watermen working the crab pots on
the Chesapeake, working with
scuba divers in Seattle’s Elliot
Bay, watching USGS scientists
dice up the smallmouth bass on
the Upper Potomac, etc. Lots of
outdoor filming. Great people,
terrible news. The whole project
left me seriously worried that our
grandchildren or their children
will not be able to survive on this
earth if we keep ravaging our
natural resources at the present
rate. I never understood how bad
CL ASS
NOTES
the situation is, and I don’t think
most people do, even those of us
who thought we cared about the
environment. And it’s a shock to
find out what is in the drinking
water systems of most places
around the country. If anyone
has an interest, you can see the
whole documentary online at
your leisure at pbs.org/frontline/
poisonedwaters. It’s not all bad
news. There are some successes.
But it’s an eye opener—at least it
was to me, going through all that
reporting.”
President Merce Blanchard sent
me copies of correspondence he
had between February and June
with Dr. Wilberforce KisambaMugerwa, the Class of 1955
Visiting Professor of International
Studies. Merce met with him
when Merce attended the
spring meeting of the Executive
Committee of the Society of
Alumni. In the professor’s letter
to Merce on April 22 he said
he “had met Phil Smith and two
other members of the 1955
class at the welcome reception,
but little did I know that I will
have an opportunity to meet the
president of the class.” He also
asked that Merce “please pass my
sincere appreciations to the 1955
class and your wife.”
REMEMBER: The 55th of 55
is in 2010! Plan to be there.
1956
Vern Squires
727 Ardsley Road
Winnetka, IL 60093
[email protected]
Hopefully everyone received
and took to heart Buster
Grossman’s letter, which included
the news about the Class of ’56
minireunion in Williamstown
Oct. 9-11. Sig Balka has been
working hard to make this a
memorable event, and it would
be great to see a large turnout.
Sig has lined up: a class dinner
on Friday night; a symposium
and then a tailgate lunch before
the football game on Saturday;
a class dinner on Saturday night;
and a spectacular brunch on
Sunday at the home of Carol
Adler (a WCMA Fellow). More
information will be coming out
as we get closer to the event.
My article in the April Williams
People noted the passing of Fred
Sabin, but the date of his death
and the deadline for the article
did not allow for much reflection
on Fred’s life. Tink Campbell
and Bob Bethune, both roommates and fraternity brothers
at Williams and close friends
thereafter, provided additional
information. Fred was plenty
smart: summa cum laude, Phi
Beta Kappa, with highest honors,
while (according to his daughter
Robin) “playing golf for most
of his senior year.” Fred joined
the Marines after one year in
law school and then went on to
serve with distinction in the CIA
for more than 25 years, nine of
which were in the Middle East.
He retired in 1989, although he
continued to work part time on
contract for the agency. He loved
golf, and he and Tink played
many a round at the Taconic in
Williamstown. Both Tink and
Bob were mentioned in Robin’s
eulogy at the memorial service.
Besides his comments regarding
Fred, Bob Bethune added some
interesting personal details. He
is now fully retired and in the
course of having two cataracts
removed. The goal: so “I can see
the golf ball again both before
and after is struck!” Bob and
Tink got together on Bob’s visit
to Hilton Head Island, and Bob
looked forward to his annual
reunion with Bill Jenks and Kirt
Gardner and their families in
the beautiful cottage country of
Ontario, Canada.
Another of Tink’s roommates
was Pete Zentay. Tink and Pete
were in each other’s weddings in
the late 1950s and were together
from time to time in St. Louis and
Chicago after Pete’s tour of duty
in the Air Force and remained
in contact for many years. Pete
is now fully retired and can be
contacted, care of his son Tim, at
5630 Pershing Ave., St. Louis.
Honors continue to descend
on Sig Balka in recognition of
his many contributions in the
world of art. He has had a long
relationship with the Queens
Museum of Art in Queens, N.Y.,
and in June his support for the
museum was recognized in a
ceremony in which Williams
President Morty Schapiro provided an introduction.
It was good to hear from
Tim Hanan. Unlike many of his
classmates, Tim says: “Retire,
never.” After retiring from Mobil,
he went into the real estate
business in the DC area, selling
both residential and commercial
properties. If you are looking
for property for investment or
otherwise in or near Washington,
call Tim. He reported—and I was
very glad to hear this—that the
Washington area is currently one
of the few markets not hit by the
country’s economic problems.
Nick Sperling has been retired
since 1998. But that hardly
translates to inactivity. He and
Mickey live in Pine Island, Fla.,
where they spend the winters
on and in the water, fishing and
beaching, kayaking and keeping
fit, volunteering for charitable
organizations and environmental
outfits. When summer arrives,
it is off to Blowing Rock, N.C.,
in the mountains along the Blue
Ridge trail. There, they climb the
mountains and listen to some of
the best country and blues music,
bar none. With their eldest
daughter and family nearby,
they can enjoy watching their
two grandsons play soccer. It is
always a joy to read a closing
line in a note like Nick’s: “Life
is good!”
Bob Spaeth is another veteran
retiree. He retired from corporate
life in 1990, and he and Linda
settled in Amelia Island, Fla., on
property they purchased in 1980.
Life remains very busy for both
of them: travel, tennis, aerobics,
volunteer work and staying in
touch with three children in
Dallas, Greenwich and Lyon
(France). Bob complimented the
Williams development staff for a
dinner they hosted in the Amelia
Island area for local alumni.
Noni and Jock Duncan are fellow
residents of Amelia Island, so the
couples see each other frequently.
The ability to recollect may
be fading for some (including
me on too many occasions),
but not everyone is experiencing this frustration. Witness
this note from Gates Helms ’46,
who with his wife was attending a fundraiser in New Jersey
when he spotted Mark Saulnier.
Gates wrote: “As we neared one
another, I stuck out my hand
silently to share [Mark’s hand]
because I could not remember his
name. As soon as he saw me, he
greeted me by name. That’s what
I call having a great memory and
being 100 percent on the ball.”
John Mattice is also retired
with, he said, nothing of special
interest to report. However, he
said that he liked class notes,
so I viewed that as definitely of
special interest.
Williams alumni in the Chicago
area are singularly fortunate in
having access to the Peter and
Alicia Pond Lecture Series, an
annual event usually in May.
Each lecture features a member
of the Williams faculty who gives
a brief report on the College and
then moves to his or her sphere
of interest. This year’s lecturer
was Ed Burger, mathematics
n 1 9 5 5 –5 7
professor and Gaudino Scholar.
His presentation was absolutely
fascinating. He proved mathematically that if you had enough
monkeys pounding typewriters
and no time limits were imposed,
one of the monkeys would
eventually emulate Shakespeare’s
composition of Hamlet. If this
proposition seems preposterous,
go to Wikipedia and look up the
“infinite monkey theorem.” In
the audience were Laurie and Bill
Troyer, Toni and Ken Harkness
and Judy and Vern Squires.
I received a nice letter from
Dick Perry that included an amazing “small world” observation.
Dick lives in Harwich on Cape
Cod with wife Pat, daughter
Tana and grandson Chase. Cape
Cod has long been the subject of
concern and scientific inquiry due
to the relatively high incidence
of breast cancer among women
on the Cape. The statistics show
a 20 percent higher rate than
the rest of the country. Dick is
about to start writing a book
on the relationship between
a large radar installation and
cancer on the Cape. He notes,
“My experience in mapping the
sea floor gives me some unique
insight into what may be causing
the problem.” As to the “small
world” observation, Dick noted
from the December 2008 issue of
Williams People that Dana Kelly
had been able trace his family
lineage all the way back to the
arrival of a Kelly at Yarmouth
1637. It turns out that Dick is
descended from the same person,
an Irishman who settled on the
headwaters of the Bass River in
what is now Dennis, Mass., less
than 10 miles from where Dick
lives. As Dick said: “It is indeed
a small world, since Dana was a
close friend at both Deerfield and
Williams, and I never knew that
we were related.”
Remember the minireunion in
October. And thanks to those
who contributed to this article.
1957
John S. Pritchard
150 Candlewood Drive
Williamstown, MA 01267
[email protected]
The end of May produced
some welcome sunny and warm
weather at long last. I just
read news of another national
championship women’s tennis
team who beat Amherst 5-4 in
the final match. And our undefeated women’s crew repeated as
national champs, which wrapped
up another Director’s Cup for
the 24 men’s and women’s teams
competing for this top athletic
slot. We are proud of student
achievements in Billsville, not
only in sports and academics
but in music, where we heard
fabulous violin, cello and flute
concerts last spring. Nearly
50 percent of the Berkshire
Symphony is composed of undergrads, and we witnessed the first
Williams opera featuring Act I of
Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte in front
of a full house in Chapin Hall.
What a performance!
President Obama is not the
only one with a new dog as Pete
Fleming, after a decade without
one, was to be the proud owner
of a Golden Retriever puppy by
mid-July. “It has taken me this
long to convince Cary that I will
share 50-50 in the care and training. During my working years,
complete with travel, most of
the ‘heavy lifting’ of pet care fell
on her shoulders. If you return
for the ’57 Scholars and Interns
Weekend Oct. 10, you will be
able to judge for yourself if I am
upholding my end of the bargain.
Speaking of the ’57 October
mini, I hope you will return for
lectures, activities and opportunities to reconnect. We will return
to the Taconic Golf Club for our
dinner on Saturday. The ‘Late
Night Jazz’ at the Faculty House
sounds compelling if I can find a
dog sitter! Prior to the WilliamsBates football game, the classes
graduating during the decade of
the ’50s will enjoy lunch and the
Reunion Jazz Band at a ‘Tent
Gate’ on Weston Field. The
’59-’64 minireunion classes will
join us with more information
to follow. In the meantime, don’t
delay your motel reservations.”
News from Steve Bullock,
whom I see for breakfast several
times each month: “I’ve been
cleaning out a lifetime of stuff
that’s accumulated in our family
home in South Williamstown.
I was making progress when I
happened across a cardboard
box filled with the Williams
Record from 1936 to 1942. I had
a moment or two, so I started to
read a few of them … and then
a few more … and a few more
… and by then I was hooked
and read these wonderful old
issues for the days that followed,
completely derailing me from my
cleaning task. While at Williams
I was not a Record subscriber;
generally I read it to catch up on
the sports and to see when the
movies Bomba the Jungle Boy
and One Summer of Happiness
were returning to the Walden.
But from these old copies I
learned a lot about the College
and its legacy. These copies
covered the controversial era of
President Tyler Dennett, Class of
1904, and arrival of President
Phinney Baxter, Class of 1914.
They covered the reactions of the
trustees to campus activities, the
annual fall fraternity issues and
Williams’ role in the national
scene. The impending entrance
of WWII was getting increasing
commentary from Fred Schuman
as well as increased anxiety
everywhere on campus. The
advertisements were also of interest. Williams students must have
spent a fortune on trips to NYC
to hear Guy Lombardo and several more fortunes on cigarettes.
There was a full-page testimony
by some charming operatic
soprano who (pictured exhaling), said, ‘As a professional,
take it from me, Chesterfields,
unlike other brands, really help
your throat.’ I’ve given a stack
of copies to some local friends,
to Nick Wright, who has been
following the life of a member
of the Class of ’37, one of a very
few who became involved in the
war in Spain, to Sheila Mason in
the College’s 50th reunion office
for placement in the older class’s
reunion HQ, and to our fearless
Class Secretary John Pritchard
for his review and enjoyment.
Next time you are in town, drop
by the library and read through
a few of them. They are hard
to put down. Maybe at first the
names are not familiar, but the
setting and the culture are.
“According to the Record,
Williams was a national player in
the events leading up to WWII.
The College faculty, alumni and
trustees had the ear of those in
power. And as a cultural center,
it is wonderful to read about the
visitors, lecturers and artists that
frequented the campus. Williams
was a vital force of reason,
thought and action. Maybe a
lack of cars, TV and the Internet
helped support these extraordinary activities, and certainly
from these editions one can
see Williams enjoyed national
focus.”
Steve continues: “First, I
wonder if Williams today is as
involved nationally and internationally as it was in the years
leading up to WWII. Second,
because the Record’s early-warning awareness of events leading
up to the war was impressive, I
wondered if the Record had the
same early-warning awareness
CL ASS
NOTES
about economic threats to
America prior to the Great
Depression. Reading 1928
through 1930 Records I looked
for similar warnings that the
country was headed to economic
meltdown but never found
mention of the possibility of the
depression. I’ve since learned
from Nick Wright that even The
New York Times missed the ’29
collapse, so one can’t be too
critical of the Record. Maybe
the Record was more inward
looking in that era, and the idea
of a depression was so new no
one saw a growing threat. People
seem better at understanding
a physical threat from a Hitler
than recognizing exuberant
speculation as a harbinger of
economic disaster. I enjoyed the
review of the old Records. The
only downside to this is that I
have made zero progress cleaning
out the house.”
Peggy and Dick Towne visited
Williamstown May 2 to celebrate
his 74th birthday with a round
of golf at Taconic. Kathy and
I were treated to breakfast at
the Orchards and an update on
their busy lives. They had been
in Florida and briefly ran into Ed
Hines at the Hillsboro Club. He
and wife Marsha were enjoying life away from the Chicago
winter. The Townes were there
“thanks to a nice lady Peggy
and I befriended on a Williams
alumni society tour to Holland.
We stayed at the club located
near Ft. Lauderdale and ran into
the Hines at the manager’s cocktail party, where they are regular
members.” Incidentally, Dick and
I are working on genealogy projects, which for me has evolved
into our meanderings over 50
years of marriage and before.
Hard work but enjoyable, and I
encourage all of you to consider
such an effort.
Dick Marr has not retired or
missed a beat for years with
his multiple involvements.
Lefty wrote to me regarding his
deceased brother Jack ’54 and
the establishment of the John
Daniel Marr Educational Fund,
which Dick has overseen since
the 1990s. Ten members of ’57
supported this fund last year
which now exceeds $100,000
and annually selects an outstanding scholar-athlete for financial
support during their undergraduate college education. The Marrs
split their time between Pittsboro,
N.C., where he coaches the U.
North Carolina hockey team, and
Cape Cod, where he has among
other projects administrated the
Summer College Baseball League.
Lefty devoted 46 years to teaching, coaching and administrating and since “retirement,” he
has been a lawyer, educational
consultant, mediator, board
director, ice hockey coach and
independent school trustee.
“Ginny and I remain fortunate
and thrive both on the Cape
and outside Chapel Hill despite
a new hip and major rotatorcuff surgery last spring. She has
been active as a doula and is
exploring hospice work. One of
the enjoyments of being involved
with the John Marr Educational
Foundation is the number of
past associations that have been
rekindled.” Contact Dick via cell
phone (508.560.9379) if you
are interested or have questions.
Continued success and good
health to the Marrs!
Brad Tips left beautiful southern
Florida last May for their home
in Chicago, where the weather
was the worst spring in 68 years
with rain and cold. They were
“taking a Kalos Golf Cruise with
our golf pro and wife up the
Danube River from Budapest
to Prague in June. In August,
we are coming your way with
family from California and
Massachusetts to Marblehead
and then to the Cape. Staying in
a neat place that Libby Motter
found for us near Chatham. We
then may head to Montreal to see
our good Canadian friends from
Florida. We do hope to attend the
… minireunion in October.”
Sad news to report, as Rupe
Lowe died on April 21 in
Englewood, Fla. In addition to
his wife Penni, Rupe leaves his
daughters Amy Nooden and
Carolyn Lowe, his son Charles
Lowe and three grandchildren.
Penni can be contacted at 10
Dover Drive, Englewood, Fla.
34227, and Pete Fleming has
contacted Penni on behalf of the
class. I refer all of you to our
50th Reunion Book and Rupe’s
terrific essay and reflections on
his unique life. His good friend
Bob Fishback was kind enough
to refresh my memory of our
recently departed classmate and
his special contributions.
During early May, the Cobdens’
enjoyed a weeklong program
entitled “New York City for
Williams Travel” coordinated by
Meg McDonald ’91. The experience included tours of landmarks,
museums, theaters, etc., and
meetings with Arthur Levitt ’52,
David Tunick ’66, Max Davidson
’61 and E.J. Johnson ’59, among
others. They were delighted by
the insights and impressions from
Williams people.
I trust you have seen the March
article in the Williams Alumni
Review featuring Phil Fradkin and
his research into the writings of
Wallace Stegner. Phil is an awardwinning journalist, author of 11
books and an environmentalist.
The Applefords are fine and
continue to enjoy their unique
home on Lake Michigan, where
we have visited several times over
the years. Bob is still playing tennis after rotator-cuff surgery, and
he and Molly bought a condo in
nearby Frankfurt, where part of
their family lives. Hoping to lure
them to Williamstown in August.
Nina and Tom Slonaker visited
the campus in April with their
California granddaughter
and her parents to check out
Williams and other New England
prospects. We hope she enrolls
so we will get to see more of the
Slonakers.
Dick Towne e-mailed Skip Cole
following the May wildfires in
and around Santa Barbara and
here is his reply: “Thanks for
your concern re: the recent fire,
now more than 80 percent contained but scary, as they always
are. Our old house was within
a half mile of the fire, and our
tenants had to evacuate. Our new
one is near the water, on what
is called the ‘Mesa’—probably
always will be safe except if some
careless old man like me leaves
the stove on and a fire ensues!
Yates Satterlee lives near Cottage
Hospital, and I believe this to be
a very safe area. Probabilities are
rash where fire is concerned but
so much of the foothill tinder has
burnt in the last year from three
different fires that we ought to be
safe for a few years to come, at
least. Let’s hope that is the case.”
Looking forward to seeing
those of you returning for the
’57 Scholars/Interns Weekend
Oct. 10!
1958
Dick Davis
5732 East Woodridge Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
[email protected]
Bill Dudley has completed
his book Maritime Maryland:
A History, now at the Johns
Hopkins Press. Bill hopes for
publication this year. Bill’s
daughter Jennifer Bee was
married in February to Michael
Fiore. Jennifer is a three-year
Tonga Peace Corps veteran
with a master’s from Columbia,
n 1 9 5 7 –5 8
working in New York. Bill
and Donna are sailing on the
Chesapeake this summer while
the economy recovers.
Prof. Charley Dew and a stellar
group of other scholars presented
a strictly 1859 perspective on
the nation about to split and
the regional economies in April
at the University of Richmond.
This format, with the blinders
on here to anything after the
raid at Harper’s Ferry, is gaining
currency.
Sandy Fetter reports starting to
teach his last course to honors
students at Stanford. Sandy’s
note bespeaks a very active and
vibrant Eph and ’58 presence
around the Bay Area. For one
thing, kids are apt to go and live
there. Ask, just for example, the
Carl Vogts and the Chip Wrights.
Dave Phillips reports that the
Wrights planned to host a
Williams-oriented party in July.
Carl Vogt strongly endorses the
contingency plan announced
for an interim president and
provost, pending selection of
the next Williams president. He
knows the territory. Carl was
in Williamstown recently to
celebrate the splendid overgoal results of The Williams
Campaign.
Chet Lasell reports that the
contingent of ’58ers in and
around Vero Beach was active in
Eph events last winter despite the
economic malaise! In the 14th
alumni golf tournament featuring
members of the Williams men’s
team, no fewer than one-third
of the 24 alumni players were
our classmates—John Hutchins,
Ed Hughes, Joel Greeley, Bob
Kingsbury, Jim Kolster, Walt
Kasten, David Sims and Skip
Martin. Chet, who runs the tournament, says, “It was great to see
everyone, and I much appreciate their strong support!” Chet
added that Bob Kingsbury and
Fred Clifford again led the local
performance by the Williams
Reunion Jazz Band attended
by 60 people from Williams,
Amherst and UVA. “Thanks to
Bob and Fred, this terrific group
just gets better with age.” Chet,
wearing his class president’s hat,
reminds us that the annual ’58
minireunion will be held Oct.
9-11 in the Purple Valley.
In April Jim Bowers and Walt
Kasten went fishing with Chet.
Chet’s craft has an electronic fish
locator; however, opinions seem
to vary somewhat as to the consistent efficacy of this New Age
device. Sounds good to me!
Becky and Sam Jones traveled
to Texas to the LBJ Ranch and
Library, the Big Bend National
Park and the west Texas mountains and observatory. Sam had
a good conversation with Lucy
Baines Johnson, who is restoring
the White House West. Sam
was a part of the LBJ administration. Sam and Becky’s next
trip is with their church choir
to Ecuador. They are handling
the Spanish but find the native
dialects challenging. Maine and
Ecuador make an interesting
contrast.
Sam sent me photographs via
Facebook. I am now a Facebook
member. Feel free to share any
thoughts you have on these
growing social networks. Our
alumni office says recent grads
make use of them, but not so
much classes nearer our vintage.
Vintage. It was news to me, via
Sandy Fetter, that George Vare
sells much of his Ribolla Gialla
production to the great restaurants, The French Laundry and
Per Se. These are 500 ml bottles.
I’ve heard that if you get reservations to one of those, you can be
in for a wait. Gourmet!
Dave Cook, Tom Shulman and
Ollie Stafford were out here in
January savaging the local links
with Larry Nilsen. Tom will be
here again next April but maybe
even sooner if the Buckeyes keep
monopolizing one side of the
Fiesta Bowl. How about you, Bill
Moore? Do you go to the bowls?
Phyllis and Bob Young mightily
enjoyed touring Israel with Bill
Harter’s 43rd tour of the country
in March. As a part of the tour,
Bill re-baptized tour members
who so chose in the Jordan and
held a Communion service at
the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.
I have a picture of Bill and Bob
boating on the Sea of Galilee.
Bill retired as a principal
pastor in January and will
spend much of his time heading
tours to Israel, Greece, Turkey
and Egypt. He has a new
residence: 1551 Alexander Ave.,
Chambersburg, Pa. 17201-1337.
Phones: 717.264.3828 (home);
717.816.4914. E-mail: [email protected].
I had an exchange with Dave
Wood (and others) over the Super
Bowl. I had a severe case of
Migrant’s Dilemma and opted
for our local Cardinals over
my longtime favorite Steelers.
Woody could not see rhyme
or reason for this and offered
vigorous counseling, including
directions to one or more of our
local Steelers bars.
At least I had great company.
Roger Headrick was in the
Cardinals corner not because
of the franchise but to see Kurt
Warner ice the Hall and, mostly,
because Larry Fitzgerald learned
to pull in those aerials while
he was a ball boy for Roger’s
Vikings in the ’90s. Jim Kolster
was a Cardinals rooter, too.
Tim Smith had a heart attack in
April. He was quickly back home
after repair at Yale New Haven.
A line from Hank Dimlich strikes
a chord: “Tim just needed a
breather. Can’t keep the irrepressible down for long.” Tim says it’s
great to be home with Dica.
Ira Kowal was down for a spell
with a gall bladder removal.
He’ll wind down his cardiology
practice, but he’s up and skiing
and especially looking forward to
spring creek fishing in Montana
this summer, Nelson Spring
Creek to be exact. Ira was at Phil
Wilcox’s lecture in Denver.
Denny Doucette informs that
Gretchen’s recovery has progressed well, and he is making
plans to take her home. Denny’s
sons are there a lot. Denny also
keeps busy with the Suncook
Valley Chorale.
Down the seasonally hardfrozen Merrimack, Jock Purcell
has striven to help his neighbor
Lowell’s Boat Shop Est. 1793
win a National Preservation
Trust grant. 1793 as we all know
was a great year! Jock is on the
board of a very active women’s
crisis center and is compiling a
curriculum for education on the
subject.
Joe Young visited Barbara and
Ron Anderson in Boston. Ron is
still very active in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital. Joe and Betsy also
visited Judy and Matt Donner
and Minkie and Bruno Quinson
in New York. Matt is still
very much full time at Credit
Suisse. Bruno paints three to
four days a week, and Minkie
runs the Barrington Stage Co.
in Pittsfield. They attended
the Eudora Welty centennial
in Jackson, where Governor
Barbour cut the cake.
Zay and Ben Foster play a lot
of tennis and rhapsodize (I wish I
could quote, it’s beautiful) about
the floral glories of Jekyll Island,
where Ben paints. They will be
back in Litchfield for a more
“austere” spring.
Lil and Bill Taggert enjoyed
Puerto Vallarta and will return
to Mexico next year. They
plan to fly rather than drive.
Bill says that if you stay in the
tourist areas it feels quite safe.
CL ASS
NOTES
Bill and Lil also visit folks in
Green Valley, south of Tucson.
Poppy and Karl Hirschman live
in Tucson, about a mile from
the landmark Arizona Inn,
a Howard Hughes hangout.
Karl doesn’t favor the traffic in
Phoenix.
Jack Kent’s daughter Katie—
Kathryn Ruth Kent ’88—became
a full professor of English at the
alma mater, effective July 1. We
know how good she has to be.
Jack and his partner Mary drove
cross-country and back to visit
kids and grandkids, other family
and friends.
Jack Platt’s daughter Leigh Platt
Rogers has written a book of
fiction titled Sticky Situations,
about teenage Americans growing up in foreign countries.
Present-day teenagers like it—the
acid test. As Jack says it’s a
“steal” on Amazon.com.
Connie and Dave Allan did the
two-week Williams-sponsored
tour of the Czech Republic and
Germany. They greatly enjoyed
the company of Suzie and Jim
Bowers. Probably the Vltava
and the Spree were a little too
cool for Manatee activities.
It’s got to be good to have a
classmate aboard one of these
tours. Strong thumbs up from
Dave and Connie, who went
Northwest this summer.
Bob Kingsbury says he doesn’t
sweat the three squares but
savors every moment of the
breaks between the sets.
Jim Conlan and son Matthew
’91 took in the second home
game at the new Yankee
Stadium (had he gone to the first
I might not have heard about
that). Jim and Virginia spent the
week before Easter in Puerto
Rico with their son JP and family. JP is a professor at UPR. Jim
doesn’t think Virginia will ever
retire from teaching kindergarten. She was introducing biology
to the class and awaiting a
bunch of chicks to hatch.
I understand John Ross’ son is a
Mets season-ticket holder at the
new stadium. We’ve got some
Mets fans, too.
Some more important history:
Carl Smith is to present a paper
at Oxford on the American
position in the 1967 Middle
Eastern war. Carl was doing
research on Robert Anderson,
our commencement speaker,
father of our late classmate Jim
and President Johnson’s envoy
to Egypt’s General Nasser. Jim
passed away in Austin in 2001.
Carl’s address at Oxford will be
published later in the year.
Tom Connolly attends the games
of four grandchildren in three
sports. He says he goes back to
the office to rest up. Tom says
Whitey Kaufmann will be off to
Russia for a U of Arctic convocation. We’ll hope to hear about it.
Jim Becket is into rowing “8s”
on Lake Casitas and swimming
competitively—he copped seven
first places in a recent masters
meet! Jim saw Sheela and Dave
Plater again on a second business
foray to New Orleans. Bruno
reported that Dave and Sheela
were to be in Virginia for some
of this summer.
I understand that Csilla and
Don Morse’s publication of
Hungarian plays in English is
going well. This has been a major
project, and I need to catch up
on details.
Trice and Bill Booth have
hopped around points south and,
to some extent environmentally
speaking, will be glad to be back
in Seattle. Some of our metro
areas need work. Bill particularly
enjoyed fishing in the San Juan
River in New Mexico and viewing Anasazi ruins. I’m wondering if Bill or any of us will be
going to the Vancouver-Whistler
Winter Olympics in 2010. Wow,
the time flies!
Jack Talmadge spends the summer (May through September
here in the Southwest) in the
Carmel Valley area of San Diego
in the Signature Point complex
on Del Mar Heights Road. Karen
and I hope to see Jack and Zeke
Knight this summer. Zeke hopes
California can do something
about its acute fiscal crisis.
Terry Carney lives in Indian
Wells, and Dick Gladson lives in
Fairfield, Calif. Terry’s address
is 75326 Purple Hills Road, #R,
Indian Wells 92210. Dick’s is
4159 Rowland Drive, Fairfield
94533-7742.
To the many, many who
recently have or will soon celebrate your 50th anniversaries,
the heartiest of congratulations,
and keep on collecting those
many happy returns.
If your name hasn’t been in
these pages for a while, you can
bet that there are plenty who
would like to hear from and
about you and yours.
Sadly, I have to report the
death of Karl Schoeller in Vero
Beach on April 28. Marcia’s
address is 312 W. Lyon Farm
Drive, Greenwich, Conn. 068314361. Memorial donations can
be made to the Williams Class of
1958 Scholarship Fund in Karl’s
honor.
1959
Norm Walker
15 Vin Mar Court
Rye, NH 03870
[email protected]
At the 50th reunion of the
Class of 1959 we embraced our
classmates, our college and our
universe! Our leaders—President
Jerry Tipper, VP Dan Rankin
and reunion co-chairman Geoff
Morton established a good crowd
and a good time.
Just prior to reunion Dan
wrote, “The gala is almost here,
and we have a terrific crew
gathering in Williamstown for
the 50th.” He was right. We also
had some terrific individuals. The
Class of ’59 appreciated Williams
honoring Pete Wilmott with the
highest award for alumni service,
the Rogerson Cup.
Tony Volpe, Bart Robinson
and Tom Hayne (Tom, a kind
treasurer, but more a music
than money man in his key role
in the Williams Reunion Jazz
Band) have been work-horses
in a culture where dealing with
money has become a tough job;
yet they’ve all essentially come
through. (At $10,539,514 the
Class of ’59 gift is now the fifthhighest 50th reunion class gift in
Williams history.) Tony’s communication with classmates was a
lot of work up until the reunion.
Then he said, “Reunion is not
the time to be asking people for
money.” Good attitude, Tony.
By the way, Hayne’s Williams
Reunion Jazz Band (along with
John Halsey and Bob Kingsbury
’58 and Freddy Clifford ’58) did
some major playing throughout reunion, particularly at
the annual meeting, where in
Chandler Gymnasium they stood
and swung out mightily, blasting
Dixieland style on the second
chorus of “Yard By Yard.”
Another major moment was
a beautiful talk at the Alumni
Memorial Service by a profound
minister in our class, Robert
Gould.
Pete Wilmott chaired the
attendance committee while Jack
Dietze arranged the splendid
meals, Jim Richardson supervised
the reunion HQ, Pim Goodbody
organized our website, John
Mangel contributed the special
large chocolate Williams seal
found among our check-in
materials, and our now-deceased
classmate, the thoughtful and
organized Bruce Listerman,
planned our uniform.
Jim Reynolds and Chip Ide
n 1 9 5 8 –5 9
created a first-rate biography
book where most of our classmates have in a short space given
us a good look at their lives. The
book is readable because it gives
images from the youth and also
the older years of our classmates.
Fortunately, some 59ers have
also written bios of many of the
classmates we have lost during
the past 50 years. Sadly, just
prior to reunion we lost Bruce
Listerman and Tom Longstreth.
An added positive aspect to
this reunion book includes the
effort of Ernie Imhoff, a first-class
reporter who covered many
events from our four years in
Williamstown. Reading Ernie is
always meaningful.
Our leaders and alumni
development leaders (Emily
Bourguignon, Lew Fisher ’89 and
Sheila Mason) created a basic
schedule that enabled ’59ers
and many wives to reach out to
friends and classmates we have
not seen for years.
One of the nicest parts of the
reunion was the appearance of
many relatives of classmates
we have lost over the years:
Charles Jankey’s son Doug,
Dave Batchelder’s wife Sian,
Bill Hedeman’s wife Peggy and
daughter Holly Hedeman Lovvik
’92, Woody Burgert’s wife Judy
with Aimee and Acacia Burgert
Savage, Bruce Listerman’s wife
Beth and daughter Lisa ’91, Geff
Fisher’s wife Lonnie, and Bruce
McEldowney’s son Bruce Jr. ’84.
Emily Bourguignon spoke with
John Szufnarowski’s wife Emily
the week before reunion; Emily
wasn’t able to make it, but she
said she would be thinking of the
class and be there in spirit. She’s
sure John wouldn’t have missed
reunion for the world if he were
still with us.
On the first day, Wednesday
afternoon, from 3:30 to 5:30,
Tom Davidson ran informal conversation on our 1950 Williams
days in extracurricular activities
and athletics. After Geoff Morton
placed some top-notch athletic
pics on the blackboard and Chip
Ide shared a chock full of ’50s
sports scrapbook, much was said
about the influence of coaches in
our years at Williams. Naturally,
we talked about teachers and
parents, especially Tom about
his dad in the military. Much
more emphasis was placed on
the strength and noble influence
of adults in our lives than on our
own accomplishments.
It didn’t hurt throughout the
reunion to get an occasional
statement by Geoff Morton,
master story-teller, who would
often make us smile over our
own loopiness as adolescents or
young adults in the ’50s. Henry
Foltz and Chip were smart to
stay overnight at Geoff’s abode,
getting a night’s full of Geoff’s
endless, humorous tales about
our years at Williams.
Thursday was a great morning
to take part in a seminar with
key educators Ernie Fleishman,
Ted Oppenheimer and Stu
Wallace. They focused on the
tough new world where the
education of children may be the
most significant challenge facing
us as we tackle economic, environmental and deep worldwide
spiritual battles. It’s clear why
Ernie and Hank Cole have made
the The Great Teacher’s Initiative
the class gift.
In the afternoon watching Bill
Moomaw’s seminar (“A Legacy
for the Next Half Century;
What Will it Take to Create a
Truly Sustainable Future?”), for
sure we were seeing first-rate
teaching. Bill stayed away from
sweeping generalities about the
environment and offered countless specifics to demonstrate
significant changes over the
centuries. A trip to his home in
Williamstown offered even more
striking economic, environmental and, perhaps, even spiritual
specifics.
The next focus group occurred
on Friday at 9:30, a 1959 class
discussion: “Where Have We
Been, Where Are We Going?”
in Bronfman Auditorium. Dan
Rankin ran another discussion in
which we looked at what we’ve
done in the past and what the
odds are in the future. Dan does
a good job at these discussions.
At 4 p.m. a dialogue occurred
with President Morty Schapiro
in the ’62 Center for Theatre
and Dance MainStage, followed
by a 1959 reception and dinner
with the president as guest of
honor on the Clark Art Institute
Lawn. To listen to President
Schapiro was to again witness an
excellent teacher who has offered
to students, faculty and alums
intelligence, humor and directness over the past 20 years, nine
as president.
It’s a bit of a mistake for me
to focus on the big events and
the big folks, for there were a
number of small events that
were meaningful: fishing with
Barry Mayer and Alex Reeves; a
book exhibit organized by David
Earle with books by countless classmates (Peter Bradley,
Richard Crews, Kirk Emmert,
Robert Gould, Harry Gratwick,
Jack Hyland, Ernest Imhoff,
E.J. Johnson, Raymond Klein,
Richard Moe, William Moomaw,
Joe Prendergast, Peter Tacy,
Victor Van Valin, Stephen Webb,
Richard Wydick, two wives—Dale
O’Leary and Marilyn Webster—
and the class secretary); an art
show by E.J. Johnson —art by
Bill Yankus, by children of Terry
O’Leary (Kevin), David Earle
(Sasha) and Tony Harwood
(Sarah), and by the wives of Dave
Thun (Barbara), Steve Bachand
(Phyllis) and Pim Goodbody
(Pandy); Tom Haynes’ and John
Halsey’s band playing grand ’30s
through ’50s music; Dave Earle’s
deeply moving emotional film
Movie Movie; a ladies’ lunch at
the Clark Institute’s new Stone
Hill Center; much golf with
Dan Fanning, who organized
30 people: his wife Sue, Dan
Rorke, Chuck Dunkel, Sheila and
Tim Enos, Adair and Kearny
Hibbard, Terry O’Leary, Chip Ide,
Al Benton, Hank Foltz, Ingela and
Bart Robinson, Hanse Halligan,
Denise and John Palmer, Frank
Read, Phyllis and Steve Bachand,
Bob Lowden, Jerry Tipper, Kate
and Bill Miller, Joe Turner, Jack
Dietz, Dick Klein, Fred Webster,
Tom Christopher and pre-reunion
Sam Parkhill, Bob McAlaine;
tennis with Cliff Colwell; hiking;
and, finally, a gathering in front
of reunion HQ, thanks to Dave
Sack and Bob Greenspan’s effort
to urge Dorothy Kagan to bring
in on Friday a much admired and
loved classmate, Richard Kagan,
who is wrestling with a tough
family disease, Huntington’s.
Rich still has a subtle sense of
humor and a caring spirit.
Another event that has to be
mentioned is Outrageous Purple
and Gold night at Thursday’s
dinner. Fun and funny. Winners:
“Most Purple”—1st Betsy
Tipper, 2nd Nancy Read, 3rd
Bob O’Neill; “Most Williams”—
1st Vic Van Valin, 2nd Tony Volpe,
3rd Pete Willmott; “Wildest”—
1st Frank Read, 2nd Bob Gould,
3rd Dave Moore. At this Purple
Night about 10 wives, “The
Berkshire Babes,” sang “Deep
Purple” and then led us in “Yard
by Yard.”
The dinner in the tent at Clark
was striking, concluded by a
magnificent fireworks display in
the southern sky. Like children
we rushed out of the tent to
watch the night sky fill with
spectacular, brightly colored
starbursts. The next morning at
Norm Cram’s memorial service
we saw on the front cover that
CL ASS
NOTES
the fireworks splashing across
the night sky had in a way given
us a preview of the Gustave
Dore painting of the Empyrean.
We had been watching our lost
friends return, angels rising
above our tent to join us on that
ethereal Friday night. The final
boom of the fireworks captured
a deep beat in our hearts; we
now knew that our friends had
spiritually risen, thanks to Pete
Wilmott’s generosity.
Though only able to offer a
half-hour service prior to the
alumni parade, Norm Cram may
have in that brief time captured
the essence of the 50th reunion.
After witness of our angelic
friends in Dore’s Empyrean on
the cover, Norm Walker read
a poem he had written about
the Empyrean here in the
valley; Ernie Fleishman, in his
deep, powerful voice, read the
dynamic poem “Ithaca”; then
the words of four verbally gifted
ministers—Norm Cram, Jerry
Rardin, Robert Gould and Donald
Hart—lifted us to the spiritual
world; as they spoke, clearly
the valley and mountains were
again embracing us and calling
us home.
After the deeply spiritual
memorial observance, we began
our slow-moving parade around
campus and down Main Street
behind the Scottish Pipe Band,
en route to the annual meeting, a grand entrance for us in
Chandler Gymnasium as the last
class to be seated, to the enthusiastic applause of the rest of the
reunion classes.
Saturday flew by after that:
Earle’s emotional movies in
the afternoon; the grand meal,
fireworks and dancing in the
evening. If we did not hug goodbye that night, on Sunday many,
having heard the beautiful talk
by the profound minister Robert
Gould at the Alumni Memorial
Service, did so and headed home,
finally coming to grips with the
fact that for the past five days
we had been living in the valley
of dreams more than we had
realized.
Before closing I must mention
the grand guests at Sunday’s
brunch: John Chandler, Fred
Greene, Frank Oakley, Fred
Rudolph ’42 and Irwin Shainman.
Except for Oakley all were teachers when we attended Williams;
Oakley came soon after us and
was also president of the College.
It’s important to let you know
who attended this wonderful
50th reunion; yet if someone
has been mentioned in the class
notes above, they will not be on
this list: Yseldah, Becki and Bill
Applegate; Sherri Benton; David
Boothby; Anne and John Coffin;
Marian, Cameron and Bev
Compton; Deirdre Cram; Sean
’89 and Peter Culman; Margaret
and George Dangerfield;
Maureen Dietze; Suzanne
Cassell; Alix Earle; Elizabeth and
Kirk Emmert; Amy Fleishman;
Elizabeth and Jack Foster; Patty
and Nick Frost; Sheila Gould;
Tita and Henry Gratwick; Jane
and Tony Harwood; Elizabeth
and Don Hart; Elaine Halsey;
Martha Hayne; Jay Hodgson;
Hilda Imhoff; Doc Johnson; Dick
Jackson; Terry and Jed Honigfield;
Leslie Johnson; Marion and John
Kimberly; Janet Kirschen; Sally
and Dick Lee; Heidi Mangel;
Anne Mc Alaine; Sue and Grey
Mc Gown; Julia Moe; Margot
Moomaw; Pris Moore; Diana
and Hugh Morton; Ruth and Marc
Newberg; Bill Norris; Susan and
George Northrup; Ingrid Cronin;
Judy Parkhill; Susan Rankin;
Sue Rardin; Nancy Read; Janet
Reynolds; Barbara Richardson;
David Rodgers; Mary Ann Rorke;
Kurt Rosen with Guido and
Christina Schilling; Bea, Jay ’05
and Steve Ross; Happy and Nick
Smith; Averil and Ty Smith; David
and Scotty Taylor; Betsy Tipper;
Pat Turner; Jule and Buzz Van
Sant; Liz Van Valin; Amy Volpe;
Phyllis Walker; Jennie Wallace;
Margaret and Steve Webb;
Marilyn Webster; Shannon and
Steve Weidemann; Kuhrt Wieneke;
Ron Williams and son Mike;
Michele Willmott with Audrey
Prieboy, Matthew Willmott and
Catherine and David Willmott
’92; Slate Wilson; El and Fred
Winston; and Jean and Bill
Yankus.
A word from the secretary of
the last 14 years, Bo Kirschen,
who helped me with this report.
Bo wrote, “The campus is
truly impressive, a far cry from
the somewhat seedy and run
down place we entered in 1955.
However, one nit to pick. I’m
sure the new academic buildings will function admirably,
but they are a true blight on the
landscape. They look like they
had been built by a quarrelsome
group of demented children
with a defective erector set. As
a quick fix I’d suggest covering them with termite tents or
surrounding them with a lot of
very fast growing trees. Long
term the exteriors will have to be
redone, next time, hopefully, by
someone who actually studied
architecture.” As always, Bo is
straightforward and clear; there,
we are hearing a real secretary’s
voice.
1960
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Ron Stegall
50th
102 Old Place Road
Deer Isle, ME 04627
[email protected]
I was in Williamstown for the
beginning of the 50th reunion
of the Class of ’59. Along with
seeing some friends in that class,
the draw for me was the chance
to learn how their art show has
been organized and displayed as
we prepare for our own show,
“The Creative Side of the Class
of 1960,” which will open next
June. We anticipate that we can
handle up to three or four submissions from each of you and/
or from your partner. Please communicate with me about your
willingness to consider participating. This kind of event has been a
highly successful feature of recent
reunions. Books, poetry and creative projects as well as sculpture,
painting, drawing, photography
and other products of your craftsmanship are welcome.
Earl Anderson was in the
process of mentally outlining
his biographical statement for
the website when I reached him
in his Vermont home. He and
Barrie blended families for a
total of seven sons spread across
the U.S. with a concentration in
Vermont. Earl graduated from
Yale Divinity School in the same
class as Newell Bishop and served
for several years as a parish
minister for the Methodists. He
then began a 30-year career in
the vocational rehabilitation field
with the Vermont state agency
dealing with the disabled. He
retired more than a dozen years
ago and spends part of the year
at their home in Naples, Fla. The
Rotary Club and the Council
on World Affairs have kept him
involved in global issues both
in Naples and Hinesburg, and
he is particularly engaged in an
international men’s discussion
group in Naples. He asks for help
from you in collecting a variety
of dispassionate opinion pieces
on the legalization of recreational
drugs as a focus topic for the
group. Barrie followed a career in
early childhood education with
a master’s in counseling that she
used professionally before retiring. They plan to join us for the
n 1 9 5 9 –6 0
50th if the date can be shielded
from competing events from their
widely scattered family.
The Anderson conversation
led me to a lovely half hour
with Newell Bishop and Seya,
whose name I can almost put in
bold letters, because she grew
up in Williamstown during our
time there. Seya is the one of
the famous “Harper Girls,” the
daughters of Professor Harper.
The Bishops live in North
Stonington, Conn., in the house
that served as the manse while he
was a UCC minister there. About
three years ago Newell received a
diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease,
and his life now reflects the
realities of this unwelcome visitor.
He retains considerable mobility
and was headed out to help Seya
plant peas after our conversation. Their daughter is married
with two children, and Newell
Jr. is a track and cross-country
coach, and both kids are not far
away. Years ago, Seya fulfilled
a childhood ambition to own a
horse, which she uses to offer
riding lessons as a home-based
business. Seya’s wit and humor
and Newell’s wry and knowing
chuckle (which I still remember from Williams days) have
kept perspective alive, I sensed,
through a number of challenges.
Although their lives in the parish
ministry have not left them with
a lot of time or energy to focus
on relationships from the past,
they will join us for the 50th if
possible.
Cotton Fite is spending more
time in Israel/Palestine and has
continued organizing in this
country to try to “bend” our
foreign policy in the Middle East
in a more enlightened direction. “The more time I spend
there, the more impressed I am
with the courage of Israelis and
Palestinians working for a just
peace!” This spring, he and
Diane spent 11 wonderful days
birding Costa Rica with a small
Elderhostel group and recording
312 species! Cotton now wonders why he waited until May
to have two cataracts removed,
since birding vision is now greatly
improved and the world looks
much brighter.
With his usual acute insight
and generally improved eyesight, Cotton reports on recent
conversations with others in the
class: “I reached Tony Doughty in
Minnesota who reported enjoying grandchildren (with whom he
had just been playing kickball)
and spending the winter months
in Arizona, where he tinkers with
old cars. He reminded me that
we had bought a fine old Ford
complete with running boards
when we worked together at a
summer camp in Maine and tried
to drive it back to Williamstown
in the fall. The tires didn’t make
it, and we were forced to leave
it at a salvage place on the way.
Tony told me he got a letter from
the salvage company several
years later asking for $1 a day
boarding for our car. He sent
them the title. Because Tony is
now on the board of the PierceArrow Society, which will be
holding their annual convention
in Minnesota next June, he’ll not
be able to join us at the reunion.
Cotton also reached Ed Eggers,
who, with Lynne, had just
arrived and was unpacking at
their summer home on top of
a mountain in Hendersonville.
“Ed reminded me of his tendency
toward excess, which now means
he has become an avid fan of the
Carolina Hurricanes, located in
his hometown, Raleigh. Quite
proudly he noted they were 2008
Stanley Cup winners and [were]
in the semi-final playoffs. …
Ed described getting a standing
ovation when, at an Elks Club
karaoke event, he sang Frank
Sinatra’s ‘My Way.’ Can you just
imagine Ed performing that for
us at our 50th?”
For the first time in four years,
two of your correspondents
interviewed the same person
for news for these class notes.
Cotton and I both contacted
Paul Galvani at his home in
Winchester, Mass. “Patient Paul”
waited until near the end of our
most enjoyable conversation to
say that I might have a more
detailed answer to a question
I had asked when I received
Cotton’s notes! Paul also has
completed his assignment to
submit a biography with pictures
for the website. When you read
it, scroll down to see the picture
of a Purple Cow weather vane on
his summer house in Wolfeboro,
N.H. I caught him as he arrived
home from picking up his
6-year-old granddaughter from
school. He confessed that he had
just had a conversation with her
about going to Williams! Add
these two pieces of evidence to
the fact that both of his daughters went to Williams over an
eight-year period, and you have
a new standard of Old School
loyalty. Paul and Sheila spend
the winter in Charleston and are
in touch with classmates in that
area such as Hal McCann and
Becky. Golf has become a big
part of Paul’s retirement years,
and he hopes to play with some
of the other Williams retirees
in the Charleston area. He is a
member of the U.S Senior Golf
Association. Paul still does some
work for Ropes & Gray, where
he was a partner for many years.
They had 90 lawyers when he
joined the firm after serving as
an assistant U.S. attorney, and
there are now more than 1,000
in the firm. As a trial lawyer, Paul
worked on both corporate and
civil cases and sometimes misses
the intensity of that activity. He
serves on hospital and foundation boards in more than one
community. Paul recalled to both
Cotton and me his participation in a 25th reunion activity
in New York, when the group
was at Yankee Stadium. A game
ball found its way to the box,
and Paul had everyone sign it.
Visitors to his home sometimes
examine the ball and wonder
what team this was. “The best
team,” he proudly says! He
notes sadly that two of the team,
Dick Gallup and Fred Ducey,
are no longer with us. Paul
and Sheila will definitely be in
Williamstown for the 50th.
Several of you have noted how
much you appreciated reading Lester Thurow’s bio on the
website and learning something about his challenges and
triumphs. Please, please complete
your biographical statement, and
include a picture if possible, and
forward them to Win and John.
I can assure you that there are
people waiting to read it and to
refresh a connection to you. To
learn how to access the website
and forward your information
contact Win Healy at 1921 Route
2, Mohawk Trail, Shelburne
Falls, Mass. 01370 or HailWin@
alumni.williams.edu. John Klem
can be reached at 43 North Lake
Road, Armonk, N.Y. 10594 or
[email protected].
Finally, Jim Briggs has asked
me to reiterate a commitment
that has been made by the Class
of 1960 to all its members. We
want everyone who is physically able to be at the reunion.
Adequate funding is available
to assist anyone who needs to
draw on it for transportation
or other reunion expenses in
these difficult economic times.
Transport by car, from airport or
home is available for those who
cannot drive or need assistance
for other reasons. You are all
part of our Williams experience,
and we need you to be part of
the 50th celebration of that
CL ASS
NOTES
experience. Jim can be reached
by phone at 413.458.4310. He
will be the only person with
knowledge about recipients of
this assistance.
You will find the website a
delight to use and an easy way to
contact old friends by commenting on their bios and stories.
Please remember my need for
recent news of you for these
notes! [email protected].
1961
Bob Gormley
P.O. Box 3922
Westport, MA 02790
[email protected]
In my e-mail plea to you this
time, I made reference to the ’61
diaspora. Gil Kerr jumped all over
that and sent the following poetic
response:
Reading class notes e-mails
Dictionary close at hand,
The eruditional use of
diaspora,
Really sounds quite grand.
A sesquipedalian tactic,
By a publisher of fame
Makes me feel quite challenged
To reciprocate in same.
If I didn’t know the author
Was a Williams grad
“Poseur,” I’d loudly holler,
“just a euphemistic fad.”
’Twas this or a limerick, doggone it!
A common English sonnet.
Gil’s wife says he has too
much time on his hands, and I
believe it. He did send me to the
dictionary for “sesquipedalian.”
But let’s give him credit—it’s not
easy to get bad poetry published
these days.
Two fine reports on the ’61
mini-reunion gathering in Boca
Raton, Fla., Feb 20-22, from
Wally Bernheimer and Dave
Whittemore. Bob Sleeper organized and hosted the group at his
Boca golf club where all stayed.
Eleven classmates, some with
spouses, made the trip. Sheila
and Jim Hodges drove down
from S.C., while Sam Weaver
came over from Jupiter one day.
He and Lou Guzzetti joshed about
going one-on-one but ultimately
couldn’t decide whether it be
on the bocce or shuffleboard
courts so they passed. Ellen and
Steve Lazarus were down from
Cleveland, where Steve teaches
con law at Cleveland State. Wally
got him to concur that Obama
was actually quite good on the
subject.
Linda and Bill Whiteford made
a dinner appearance. Whitey has
retired from his Baltimore law
practice and now spends more
time with the grandkids. Paul
Mersereau still dabbles in his law
practice but golf is his passion
and he lost no time playing every
day down South. Clyde Buck
(Houston) and Walt Henrion
(Dallas) represented Texas. Clyde
has retired from his investment
banking career but remains an
expert consultant on family
limited partnerships and is still
active with the Young Presidents
Organization. We know of
Walt Henrion’s entrepreneurial
successes, but in Florida he
was devising crazy golf games
(“Thomasville game of threes”
and “pig/wolf”). Williams
philosophy professor Will Dudley
’89 was on hand to share a light
talk with the group. They vow to
do it again in some warm clime
next year.
Back in the frozen Northeast,
Tom Fox checked in from DC,
where his work in the international development field has been
buoyed by the Obama election.
Tom serves on several nonprofit
boards and chairs one on African
children’s challenges. He and
wife Elizabeth have converted
their “empty nest” into a joyful
three-generational household.
Daughter Adair ’89 and her
partner (both Williams grads, as
is Tom’s son) and their two boys,
6 and 4, share the space.
Ralph Epstein wrote from
Danvers, Mass., where he
still practices medicine, “but
more slowly.” He and his twin
(“wombmate”) Ruthie were
planning their joint 70th for
May 30, with attendees from 5
months in age to 95. Son Stephen
was due in from New Zealand
with wife Mi-Young and their
daughter Sonia, 3. Sonia already
carries three passports (N.Z., U.S.
and Korea) to show how life’s
changing. Daughter Lisa (NYC)
and son Jeremy (just finished
graduate studies in environmental
science at Wash State) will also be
on tap. Ralph is mentoring two
16-year-olds, getting challenged
by fifth graders in Scrabble and
is involved with KIPP Academy
(www.Kipp.org, which Bill
Gates evidently hails as the best
schooling in the country). Ralph
is living life to the fullest!
Anyone else on their 70th?
My brother turned 75 this
year and with my 70th coming up in October I’ll be taking
him to Ireland in September,
accompanied by a nephew and a
“niecelet.” I have the coordinates
on the location of the Gormley
family farm in the mid-19th century in County Tyrone, so we’ll
do a roots thing and see what’s
around. Probably a strip mall.
Recession be damned; we only go
around once.
John Logie was awarded an
honorary Doctor of Public
Service at Central Michigan
University in May. John was an
outstanding longtime mayor of
Grand Rapids, Mich. He and I
wonder how many others in our
ranks have been granted honorary degrees over the years? I’ve
noted several.
Dick Beckler caught the
mention in our last notes that
Paul Mersereau had a first-year
granddaughter at Trinity. Dick
has two daughters at Trinity now,
plus three who are out of college
and one who’s a high school
freshman. Many daughters, many
tuitions, never mind the weddings! Dick is still practicing law
in DC and plans to be at it for
quite awhile.
Al Nugent sent word that Brian
O’Leary, our former astronaut,
is putting the finishing touches
on his retreat center in Ecuador.
Check it out at www.montesuenos.org. Need a head/heart
clearing retreat? Only $25/night
once you get there.
Maine’s Eliot Coleman was
cited in a Boston Globe piece on
vegetable gardening for his yearround “cool house” methodology. He has a new book out,
The Winter Harvest Handbook
(Chelsea Green Publishers). Eliot
continues to be one of America’s
leading gardening innovators.
The piece noted Martha Stewart
as one of his acolytes with her
“cool house” in Bedford, N.Y.
Bob Marrin has become a regular correspondent. He sent on a
copy of a poetic tribute he had
done for former Lawrenceville
headmaster Bruce McLellan
and a Kansas City Star cartoon
playing off Chuck Webb’s The
Graduate facing today’s non-job
market. Not even in plastics!
From April 30-May 2, some 25
of us were in Williamstown for
a run-up to our 50th in the form
of a presidential colloquium at
Mount Hope farm. We received
“Williams Today” kind of briefings from College officials and
bittersweet farewell remarks
from Morty Schapiro, and we
continued our planning for June
2011. In addition to committee
members were several guys we
hadn’t seen in a while—notably
Gardy Brown, Pete Hager, Clyde
Buck, Dorrie and Bruce Hopper,
Judy and Bill Ryan, and Marcy
n 1 9 6 0 –6 2
and Bruce Shilling. I took the
opportunity to zero in on Bill and
Bruce, two guys I hadn’t known
well in college, since they were
science whizzes while I stuck
with the non-lab, word-oriented
courses. One of the great discoveries of these later-life gatherings
is that we get the chance to spend
time with interesting people we
never really knew.
Bill had been a College trustee
for several years until ’89. He is
still active as an eminent senior
scientist at Columbia’s LamontDoherty Earth Observatories,
and he served Williams primarily
as a science adviser in the expansion years for science on campus.
Bill is a dedicated teacher and
devotee of lifelong learning, and
he’s proud of the advanced high
school and select college students
who study summers with a
discovery learning method that
employs “virtual ocean” computer graphics and application
data sets for discoveries on the
ocean floors. He’s all for online
learning. He did a widely read
book on Noah’s flood (Simon &
Schuster ’97) that reflects Black
Sea discoveries and is in the best
style of cross-disciplinary science
writing. He’s also very proud of
daughter Sarah ’89, who teaches
math.
Bruce was a tougher interview
since he resists the spotlight,
though wife Marcy promised to work on him for a bio
sketch. Bruce is the archetypal
Midwestern nice guy, laid back
and placid. He has had quite
a career as a pediatric plastic
surgeon in Minnesota. Not the
kind of plastic surgeon who
specialized in cosmetic stuff for
the well-to-do, but one who
tackled the challenges with often
badly deformed kids. One has
to be calm and collected for that
sort of work. It was fun getting to
know him.
Tom Millington and I spent a
Boston weekend together in late
May. Tom is emeritus professor
of political science at Hobart/
William Smith Colleges and has
three remarkable sons I’ve had
the pleasure of watching grow
up. His middle son Ken is an
accomplished artist, a graduate of Rhode Island School of
Design, now married to another
budding artist and working out
of Brooklyn. Ken specializes in
large murals of social significance. Tom’s youngest, Greg, is a
Syracuse graduate and computer
ace working in Ithaca, N.Y. The
oldest, young Tom, is director
of international programs at
Emmanuel College in Boston, on
sacred turf near Fenway Park.
With so many college students
spending study time abroad these
days, that’s an exciting field to be
in. Muz himself is in the process
of completing a book he’s had in
him for some time on “Hispanic
Race, Culture and Politics in
America.” His charming wife
Rosario is Bolivian, and Tom has
specialized in Latin American
politics so he has been immersed
in the topic.
I also had brief responses from
Dave McCabe and Frank Gluck.
Dave has found a comfort zone
in life, enjoying his grandkids and
kicking back; Frank is getting
closer to retirement, giving up
patient care this summer but still
doing some teaching.
Two sad announcements:
Wes Wong of Honolulu died in
November ’07. He had been
librarian at the Library of
Economic Botany at Harvard.
And Dick Smith passed away
March 23 in Philadelphia of
heart failure related to lung
disease. He was living in Garnet
Valley, Pa., and leaves his beloved
wife of 46 years, Judy, two sons
and a daughter. He and Judy
were active in Covenant United
Methodist Church, the church in
which he grew up. He received
an MBA from Wharton in 1965,
worked in sales/marketing with
Procter & Gamble and Benton &
Bowles advertising and had been
a VP, marketing, at both Lorillard
and American Tobacco. At
Williams he had been president
of Phi Gam. Dick will be missed
by all, and our condolences go
out to Judy.
Hope to see many of you Oct.
9-11 at the fall minireunion,
where we join classes ’60-’64 for
a football game and festivities.
Last year we drew 60 classmates
and were blessed with perfect
weather. Let’s keep it going.
1962
William M. Ryan
112 Beech Mountain Road
Mansfield Center, CT 06250
[email protected]
Road work: Bonnie and I
completed our California swing
in October ’07 with visits to
Sally and Steve Huffman and
John Hengesbach. Steve began
his Williams tenure with the
Class of ’61, dropped out for a
year (“too much partying”) and
joined us in September 1960.
He enrolled in OCS with Bob
Nevin and spent six months on
a destroyer in Vietnam. In ’66,
Steve joined the family business,
Huffman Manufacturing (Huffy
bicycles) and spent five years in
their manufacturing operation
in Laverne, Calif., and attended
night school at Claremont,
where he obtained a master’s in
economics. He wanted to move
to Sacramento, home of Sally
(his wife since ’64), and joined
the Blue Diamond Growers, the
largest producer of almonds in
the world. He ran their gift-pack
division for a while and eventually took over most of the administrative duties in the company.
He retired in ’95 but remains
busy in strategic planning,
consulting for the private sector
and a host of volunteer duties.
He served as executive director
of the Historic Old Sacramento
Foundation for five years and
as trustee and chairman of the
board of the Episcopal Seminary
in Berkeley. Sally and Steve have
four children, one of whom,
Mark, is Williams ’88, and five
grandchildren. Why did he go
to Williams? “It came down
to Williams and Dartmouth.
Dartmouth was 111 miles from
Smith and Williams was 52.1
miles.” Memories of Williams
include Psi U brother Rick
Seidenwurm’s response to the
question: Why do you Jews work
so hard? Rick’s answer: “It’s the
Protestant ethic.”
Rick lost his wife Carol in
December 2008 to cancer, a
disease she had been battling
courageously for several years.
Carol was an esteemed family
therapist with a passion and a
great talent for stone sculpture. I
know that Rick and his children
miss her greatly and that you join
me in expressing our sadness and
sympathy.
Our class speaker at graduation, John Calhoun, died on
March 22 of metastatic cancer.
His wife Claudia Cupp wrote,
“Mercifully, his battle was brief.
He chose not to pursue aggressive
treatment, which would not have
cured the cancer and would have
had terrible side effects. He maintained his dignity and character
through the whole ordeal.” John
and Claudia attended our 2008
mini-reunion. Claudia reported,
“He greatly enjoyed being there,
and I am so grateful that he got
to spend time in a place and with
people who were very important
to him.” And we greatly enjoyed
him, Claudia, and will miss him
dearly. Our condolences. John
is the 36th member of our class
who has passed away.
CL ASS
NOTES
Back on the road, it was a
delight to see Jon Hengesbach
again after 45 years. He has never
returned to Williams but promises an appearance at our 50th.
He and his friend Astrid Gehrke
were wonderful hosts, putting us
up in his marvelous self-designed
and self-built home on 20 acres in
California wine country. (Aside:
I’m rooting for Jon and Astrid
to marry, which will break a tie
and put him into the lead for
most wives.) Jon claims to have
graduated last in our class, but
his life has been a series of major
successes since college. After
stints with three manufacturers
of containers, he moved to San
Francisco to join Kidder Peabody
in 1972. In ’77 he became an
independent financial adviser and
began teaching security analysis
and financial management and
public speaking. He attracted a
large and diverse clientele and
hosted his own TV show on
investment strategies on CNBC
in LA for 13 years. He learned
about his dyslexia late in life (à la
Toby Cosgrove) when building his
home in Glen Ellen with his son.
He taught himself how to live
with it, largely through becoming
an accomplished oil paint artist,
and is now semi-retired, handling
the portfolios of a few long-term
clients. He has three children and
six grandchildren. Williams was
a tough road for him (because of
dyslexia), but he feels the preparation he received was outstanding. He maintains contact with
his best man Jim Dufty and would
love to see Jimmy Bell again.
I enjoyed very much my meeting with Jim Gordon, because,
despite my college nickname, I
had never met a practicing Zen
Buddhist before. Jim spends
a minimum of two hours a
day in meditation at his home
in Roxbury, N.Y., “seeking
enlightenment.” His religion has
helped him understand himself
and “cope with the difficulties in
life.” He began going down this
path as a result of a Winter Study
course he took in 1970 from
John Eusden at Williams. By that
time he had studied at Harvard
Medical School and Duke
University Hospital and was
headed for a service commitment
at Walter Reed. He decided to
fight this requirement because of
his conversion to Buddhism, and,
after six weeks locked up as an
AWOL at Fort Dix, he prevailed.
He then attended Columbia as
a psychiatric resident and spent
the next 30 years in that profession in the Bronx and Long
Island. Jim developed a course
for doctors on how to interact
with patients and continues to
teach this class three days each
week but spends most of his
time learning about himself in
Roxbury. He has been married
twice and has three children and
two grandchildren with Robin
Gramlich (sister of Ned ’61).
Two of his kids (Caleb ’91 and
Jed ’99) are Williams alums. He
thinks he would like Williams
now better than then but has no
regrets. “If you see Bob Fayfield,
tell him there is a hearts game
brewing.” His advice to a current
graduate: “Learn to breathe
abdominally; it makes all the
difference.”
Jill and Henry Sachs maintain a lovely second home in
Shokan, N.Y., not far from Jim
Gordon. Their primary residence
is NYC, where Henry works
at the Mount Sinai School of
Medicine as the director of the
Thomas Chalmers Research
Lab. After Williams (where he
was the youngest person in our
class), he went to Tufts Medical
School (where he was the youngest person in that class). He
left after two years to help run
the family business, the Sachs
Lodge in Woodstock, N.Y. His
lodge served as the HQ for the
’94 Woodstock Festival 25th
reunion. Henry finally finished
his med school work at Albany
(where he was the oldest person
in his class). He has been at
Mount Sinai since ’79, engaged
in clinical research and teaching.
Most of his work has involved
analyzing treatments for HIV
infection (he has a postdoc in
biostatistics from Stanford). For
the past several years he has been
examining, treating and learning about 9/11 responders, i.e.,
studying the most effective means
to treat their pulmonary and
psychological disorders. He and
Jill (maiden name, Wachs—I’m
not making this up) were married in ’65 and have no children.
Jill has served as an administrative law judge in Albany. Henry
found Williams a tough place for
a 16-year-old and felt socially
inept. He values the education he
received but thinks he might have
been better off at a larger school
like Columbia. He has fond
memories of a cross-country trip
with Steve Brumberg in a Peugot
with reclining seats, trips to see
the Mets with Dave Goldberg
and hearing Martin Luther King
speak in the chapel.
January ’08. Heading south.
Lucy and Charlie Iliff live in
Charlie’s childhood home in
Arnold, Md., overlooking the
Severn River close to Annapolis.
Boating on the Chesapeake has
been a lifelong avocation, and
Charlie was featured in an article
in Proptalk (published by daughter Mary and edited by Lucy)
describing the very famous Wye
Island Electric Boat Race. He
sailed in the 1960 Bermuda Race
(with Tovi Kratovil and against
Dick Pierce), held a private pilot’s
license and helped his brother
race cars on the Bonneville Salt
Flats. His vocation is the law,
and after three-year stints in
both the Army and UVA law
school he joined the Baltimore
law firm of Semmes, Bowen
& Semmes. Most of his work
involved defense in civil actions
and medical malpractice. Burned
out with the administrative
duties in a large law firm, he
formed his own practice, Iliff
& Meredith, first in Baltimore
and now in Pasadena, Md. He
continues to work almost full
time, defending lawyers in legal
malpractice suits. (“Still paying
off college tuitions.”) Three of
these tuitions went to Williams
(Mary Ewenson ’89, Elizabeth ’93
and Charles ’96.) Their fourth
child went to Princeton. The Iliffs
have three grandchildren. After
excellent preparation at Gilman,
Charlie found Williams too easy
and “goofed off” and wishes he
had taken some time off before
entering. “I enjoyed it a lot but I
should have worked harder.” His
Williams recollections include
“wondering why Andy Hess
always got different results in his
chemistry labs than I did” and
“traveling to Vassar with Tony
Way with our shotguns in the car
and inviting girls to come shoot
with us.”
On to the Eastern Shore,
where Janey and Dick McCauley
have retired to a lovely home
on Peach Blossom Creek. They
have renovated it to hold their
entire family, which makes it
of considerable size, as they
have three daughters and seven
grandchildren, all of whom
live within easy weekend travel
distance. Like Charlie, Mac
also matriculated at Williams
from Gilman and “had no real
problems with the adjustment.
I was terrified, however, that I’d
lose my scholarship, so I spent
most of my first year studying
in the library.” Janey attended
Bennington and did most of
her studying at Williams. They
were married immediately after
graduation. Like Charlie, Mac
n 1 9 6 2 –6 3
a visit to Williamstown, she
told them: “All the interesting
people are drunk, and the sober
people are not very interesting.”
Fenner thinks the College made a
mistake in disbanding fraternities and applauds the move to a
more fraternity-similar residential
system.
Ned Dougherty has created
a new 1962 class website for
all of us at www.tinyurl.com/
williams1962. This will keep us
posted on upcoming class events
and news. Thank you, Ned!
Hope to see many of you at our
October minireunion. Second
weekend of the month.
The wedding of Michelle Froning to Thomas Darwin Wales (third from
left) brought together (from left) Bob Nevin ’62, Ellen Wales, Roger
Wales ’62, Linda Nevin and Bill Ryan ’62 in Dayton, Ohio, in October 2008.
attended UVA law school and
joined the large Baltimore firm
Piper, Marbury. He served a twoyear stint as assistant attorney
general of Maryland. “It was
a very exciting time. I was part
of the team that sent our Gov.
Marvin Mandel to jail.” They
moved to Columbia, a Rouse &
Co. development, and he joined
that firm in 1971. He remained
there until his retirement in
’95 and participated in some
of the most renowned urban
developments in the world,
including Faneuil Hall in Boston,
Harbor Place in Baltimore and
the planned communities of
Columbia and Reston, Va. Janey
taught at a private school in
the area. After retirement, Mac
took on a number of demanding
civic duties, including serving as
the founding president for 10
years of the Howard County
Community Health Foundation.
“We help with health care for
those who can’t afford it, including free clinics and allowing
the elderly to age in dignity in
their own homes. It has been
a very rewarding time for us.”
Dick served as president of the
Williams Society of Alumni from
’90 to ’92 and introduced the
Bicentennial Medals during his
term. He’d very much like to
renew friendships with Robin
Reyes, John Randolph, George
Rogers, Jon Hengesbach and Dick
Pierce. His advice to an entering
freshman: “Try everything in the
College, particularly stuff you are
not familiar with.”
On to DC to meet with my
college physics guru Fenner
Milton and his wife Ina. Fenner
is one of several who made their
college major in physics into a
lifetime career (Jim Dufty, Jeff
Rosendhal, Dave Hamblen and
Mike Yessick are others). Fenner
went to Harvard from ’62-’68
and obtained his PhD in solid
state physics. “Others were better
prepared technically, but none
were as well prepared conceptually. I’m a big fan of the Williams
education.” Indeed, Fenner has
lectured to Williams students
about what they should know
about a physics career. He has
spent most of the remainder of
his career, except for a six-year
stint at GE, in Syracuse as an
employee of the federal government in technical positions. He
served for eight years in the
Pentagon as director of technology for the U.S. Army, a “very
high pressure job.” Currently, he
is director of the Army’s Night
Vision Lab in Belvoir, Va. He
describes his work as “standing between technology and
‘the system.’ Lots of conferences, papers and congressional
briefings. I enjoy it very much,
and my Williams background
has enabled me to become very
good at it.” He and Ina have
involved themselves very much
in the theater and art scene in
Washington. They collect Russian
art of the 1920s and Alexander
Calder mobiles (six of them in
their home). Elaine Swainton, wife
of our deceased classmate Ollie
Banks, serves as their art consultant. Ina and Fenner serve on
the board of the Studio Theater
and as trustees of the Phillips
Art Collection. They have one
child, Lisa, whom Fenner very
much wanted to go to Williams
but who chose Columbia. After
1963
Jim Blume
1708 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94709
[email protected]
I begin this issue with a few
comments on some of our classmates, some former classmates
and some “new” classmates, who
have either appeared infrequently
or not at all in our class notes.
Let me start with Bob Frasier,
who sent a lengthy and informative note. Bob is a retired VP
of the Bayer Corp., where he
worked for 38 years. He and
his second wife Joan (whom he
married in 1990) each have two
children from their previous
marriages. His two daughters,
who are 40 (plus or minus),
both live in the Bay Area, and
between them they have four
children with one on the way.
Joan and Bob together have seven
grandchildren.
Feeling somewhat at sea
after he retired, he and Joan
purchased two houses—
one in Florida and one in
Bridgehampton, N.Y. “In the
midst of this terrible real-estate
market,” Bob decided to try
his hand at real-estate sales in
Bridgehampton and in Florida.
Bob exchanges occasional
e-mails with Bob Taylor, his
freshman-year roommate. He
also expressed a desire to reconnect with some of his Phi Delt
fraternity brothers—particularly
Art Faris, John Durocher, George
Hardy, Frank Warfield and Ed
Warren ’62.
In response to my inquiry
about the election, Bob enthusiastically endorsed the presidency
of Barack Obama, adding, “I
really did not think I would
see the day that the American
people would elect anyone other
than a white male. … I am
CL ASS
NOTES
impressed with Obama’s intellect
and his vision for the country.”
Thanks, Bob, for such a
lengthy and revealing response. I
hope it encourages other “lost”
or “partially lost” classmates to
write to me about their lives.
Speaking of lost classmates,
Bruce Buck wrote, “Forty six
years down the road, it is
A.P. and ABC in NYC” until
he married his wife Melissa and
moved to Silicon Valley, where he
“started a few small companies
by virtue of luck and low overhead.” Peter now lives in Santa
Fe with his five children and five
grandchildren.
Peter is writing a “shoot em
up” about how global economic
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
Allen Mondell’s ’63 award-winning documentary A Fair to Remember,
which chronicles the history of the Great State Fair of Texas, was
recognized as one of 30 films in the 2009 American Documentary
Showcase, a touring program of the U.S. Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs that debuted in April in the Czech Republic and Poland.
certainly great to read about my
Williams classmates.”
Bruce added, “Five years ago
we moved from Connecticut
to The Villages in Florida. It is
sort of a retirement community
on steroids. I divide my time
between hunting, clay shooting,
fishing, golf and kayaking, plus I
continue to write my columns for
a couple of outdoor magazines. I
retired from the NY bar on moving to Florida, but the magazines
have kept me busy, with shooting
trips on four continents. My first
wife (well, OK, my only wife)
joins me on the fancy trips and
manages to avoid the ones where
I have to sleep in muddy ditches.”
Bucky included a whole series
of photos showing his polo club,
golf courses with 513 holes, a
recreation center and three golf
driving ranges in his community.
Ah, the good life! I sent Bruce
an e-mail asking for additional details, but I received no
response. Let’s hope we do not
have to wait another 46 years to
make contact with him.
While reading the Alumni
Review, I noticed a quote from
Howard A. “Chip” Knight ’09 (the
son of deceased classmate Woody
and his wife Bonnie), who at
33, having spent 14 years as a
Williams student, is expected to
graduate in June. Evidently Chip
was an Olympic Alpine skier,
hence his long tenure at our alma
mater.
Peter Hayes, formerly a
member of the Class of ’62,
wrote to thank Andy Hero ’62
and Admiral Steve Cleary ’62
“for their grace and kindness in
recently remembering an unexceptional classmate.”
Peter reports that he lived “at
warp speed, first with the Peace
Corps in Peru and then with the
interdependency advances the
liberal cause.
In response to an e-mail from
your ever-diligent scribe, Mark
Campaigne wrote a long and
engrossing e-mail describing
his doings. Mark, who was
originally in our class, left in
the second semester of our
sophomore year and joined
the Marine Reserves. After
six months of active duty, he
elected to take an appointment
to the U.S. Naval Academy. He
graduated from USNA in 1966
and after four years as Marine
Corps officer, he began a career
in education that culminated
in his serving as headmaster of
St. Margaret’s Episcopal School
in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
Mark retired in 2003 with many
accomplishments, including
increasing the enrollment by 85
percent to 1,200 students and
enlarging the school’s annual
fund from $80,000 to more than
$1 million. Mark is active as a
consultant and board member in
his community.
Mark and his wife Mary Anne
have two sons and two daughters. They have four grandchildren, with one on the way. His
two younger children, Sarah and
Deborah, are in their 20s and
unmarried.
Mark indicated that he is “not
a great ‘keep in touch’ person,
and that is too bad. I have a lot
of fond memories of Williams
and my classmates—particularly
those who lived in Williams or
Morgan Halls.” He sees Bill
Wishard from time to time, but
he expressed regret at not staying
in contact, particularly with Dan
Voorhees (echoing the sentiments
of many) and Wally Arakawa.
Mark, in the Campaigne tradition, maintains his conservative
political posture but expressed
dissatisfaction with the choices in
the last election.
The former dynamic duo—
roommates for two years, Brooks
Goddard and Reece Bader—are at
it again, but this time separately.
The ever-itinerant Goddard
returned from a week in Cuba,
saying, “Suffice it to say that we
had a great time, that we were
well-received and that we felt
completely safe.” Brooks was
ecstatic about the omnipresent
music, the tasty food, the health
care system and the friendliness
of the Cubans.
Reece, who left the Bay Area
in 2005 to move to Clearwater,
Fla., is now in Frankfurt, where
he is responsible for his law
firm’s (Orrick, Herrington &
Sutcliffe) German offices in
Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Berlin.
Prior to that, he had similar
responsibilities in Paris and DC.
He and his second wife, Alicia,
also purchased a pied á terre in
the Marais District in Paris to go
along with their Florida home.
Reece has been with Orrick
for 41 years and is the firm’s
longest-serving partner. He
recently returned to Florida for
two weeks of sun and to watch
spring training with his sons
Lawson and Cole and his oldest
grandson, Philip.
Reece added, “One nice feature
of being in Europe is that places
are close so we try to visit other
countries as often as possible.
The drawback about being here
is that I do not get to see the boys
and grandchildren (numbering
five) as often as I would like.”
Hobby and David Jeffrey and
Kathryn and I had a splendid holiday in Vietnam and
Cambodia in February. Our
guides were terrific, because we
relied on the recommendation of
the well-traveled but never jaded
E. Brooks Goddard.
Hobby and David have four
children, all of whom waited a
while to wed but then did so in a
rush. Well, these four children—
Pat, Joel, Silas and Zoe—also
“decided” to each have children
in rapid succession with the
result that the Jeffreys now have
four grandchildren (with one
on the way) under the age of
5. Hobby and David are both
thrilled by the cornucopia of
little ones. They recently moved
to South Dartmouth, Mass.,
but still maintain their house in
Tenafly, N.J. In addition, they
have a condominium on Captiva
Island in Florida. David still
works but only several weeks
n 1 9 6 3 –6 4
per year for the consulting firm
he founded, David Jeffrey &
Associates.
David and Hobby had a
delightful dinner with his former
roommate Bob Critchell and
Bob’s wife Carol. Bob, who also
commutes between his homes in
Massachusetts and Florida, has
two grown children, including
Dana ’97, a doctor.
I noted in a recent “Report
from Williams” an interview and
photograph of Shirley and Harry
Hagey, who endowed a professorship in mathematics. Harry stated
ironically, “The only course I
dropped out of at Williams was
calculus.” Harry was quoted as
follows: “The tutorial program is
a real plus, and that has created
the need for more professors and
a large endowment to support
that.”
Two of Harry’s and Shirley’s
eight children attended
Williams—Daisy Hagey ’88 and
Paul Crittenden ’03. Harry retired
at age 65 from Dodge & Cox, a
prominent investment firm where
he was chairman and CEO.
In 2008, Allen Mondell and his
wife Cynthia Salzman Mondell
completed a documentary
entitled The Monster Among Us
about the rise of anti-Semitism
in Europe. It has received many
accolades after being presented
in film forums throughout the
U.S. Another film that Allen
and Cynthia made, A Fair to
Remember, was selected as one
of 30 included in the prestigious
2009 American Documentary
Showcase. The film, which won
many awards, was about a grand
Dallas tradition, the Great State
Fair of Texas.
But the most impressive thing
about “Shot” is that he still stars
as a quarterback in a weekly
touch football game.
I had originally intended to
include news of each of our class
officers, who were elected (in
a veritable landslide) late June
2008, to lead us as we approach
our BIG 50th reunion. However,
space is limited, so I will give
voice to a brief update on our
peerless leader, Bill McDaniels.
Know short bios will be forthcoming in the next issue about
50th Reunion Gift Chair Lenny
Bernheimer; Alumni Fund Chair
Clay Davenport; Treasurer Gordy
Prichett; Planned Giving Chair
Rick Berry; VP Stu Jones; 50th
Reunion Chair Bill Burnett; and,
finally, your ever-faithful scribe.
Mac, though widely known and
respected in our class, is modestly
making his first contribution to
the class notes (due largely to my
gentle prodding). After Williams,
Mac attended Georgetown
Law, where, inspired by Fred
Schuman, he prepared to study
international law. In law school,
he shifted direction to criminal
law. Upon graduation, Mac
spent two years in a program
in criminal law and litigation at
University of Pennsylvania, where
he worked as a public defender
and taught at Penn. In 1968, he
joined Williams & Connolly in
Washington, where he remains
today. His practice involves civil
and criminal trial work, for
which he has traveled widely and
attained prominence. He married Kathe, a private secondary
school teacher, in 1966, and they
have two children—daughter
Christine, who teaches in DC,
and son Michael, who lives in
Albuquerque. Kathe and Bill live
in the house they purchased in
DC in 1966, but they also maintain a house on the eastern shore
of the Chesapeake Bay.
The former PSA from the
G.B.A. sees Lenny Bernheimer and
E.B. Goddard when he visits his
sister in Maine during the summer. As for healthy endeavors,
Kathe and he jog and play tennis,
but Bill admits that his foray into
golf has been less than satisfying.
Bill concluded his submission
with a statement about Obama’s
election, “Our town is excited
about the new administration.
We (Williams & Connelly) have
lost some folks to it, including
the new White House counsel.
Our president is taking our many
challenges head on and doing his
best to remake our image around
the world.”
It’s comforting that Mac is leading our class.
Finally, in a late flash, Lenny
Bernheimer and his partner, a
feckless Amherst alum, Tom
Poor, won both the U.S. and
Canadian Doubles Squash
Championship in the 65-year-old
division. Kudos to Lenny!
1964
Martin P. Wasserman
13200 Triadelphia Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042
[email protected]
Classmates, what a joy it was
seeing over 50 of our classmates
and many wives during our 45th
Reunion Weekend June 11-14.
The weather held up nicely, and
the planned events and conversations were outstanding. To coin a
phrase from Vince Farley, we have
become “mellow-ambitious”
since entering the Purple Valley
nearly 50 years ago. Vince is
still very active consulting on
African issues and adding his
expertise from a career with the
Foreign Service. He spends time
with family and grandchildren
at a second home on St. Simon’s
Island. Everyone from our class
seemed comfortable and at peace
despite whatever challenges life
has brought, but the grit and
determination has not faltered
during these many years. Life has
changed aplenty since we arrived
as boys in the fall of 1960 and
graduated in near summer of
1964. During that time period
you could mail a letter or buy
a Hershey Bar for less than a
nickel. Gas cost a quarter and
a gallon of milk was less than
a dollar. A Mustang was under
$2,500 and a new home just over
$20,000. The Dow was under
900 and the first 7-11s and WalMarts were open. Exxon was
Esso and their tiger was “in your
tank.” Chubby Checker covered
the “Twist,” and the Beatles
came to America with five of
the top 10 songs in 1964. Liston
K.O.’d Patterson, and Clay in
turn knocked out Liston. We witnessed shrink wrap, touch-tone
telephones, “Buffalo Wings,”
G.I. Joe Action Figure dolls and a
demo cassette tape recorder. We
still “typed” our term papers and
honors theses. Classes might have
been small, but there were not the
tutorial programs of today, nor
did so many manage to spend a
semester or a year abroad. We
weathered the Bay of Pigs and the
Cuban missile crisis and still with
vivid memory recall the exact
moment on that most tragic day,
Nov. 22, 1963. We remember
the importance of the March
on Washington and the major
advances of the Civil Rights
movement that began during our
blissful time on campus. While
we prepared for graduation and
the beginning of the next stage of
our lives, the rest of the country
watched Bonanza, Gomer Pyle,
Lucy and The Fugitive. Much
has changed in the world, but
Williams is as beautiful as ever as
SENDNEWS!
Y
class notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
we returned to an enlarged campus, a student center with Baxter
Hall situated in part within the
new and more functional Paresky
Center, improvements to our
athletic facilities, science quad
and music center, and an architectural gem in the new multi-venue
theater replacing the AMT. It
was great to be back and let the
memories of bygone days flood
as we dusted off the years and
recalled experiences shared nearly
two generations ago.
Luckiest of our group, both
Bill Frado and Dave MacPherson
live year round in Williamstown,
while Jack Leingang occasionally
crosses the “pond” and visits his
new home while traveling from
his London residence. We missed
Jack and hope that he will return
to spend the 50th with the rest
of us here in the valley. Spending
the summers in Williamstown,
Peter Buttenheim enjoys the area
heart of DC. Peter Johannsen is
happily cheering for his Red Sox.
They had a good week against
the Yankees. Jim Titus was very
pleased that the Penguins won
the Stanley Cup. He had Bruce
Birgbauer to thank for arranging
with the folks at Paresky to tune
in the TV. It was very exciting.
Late in the third period Dave
Appelbaum returned as did Bob
Warner for the first times. Dave
has been teaching philosophy
for 40 years at New Paltz, N.Y.,
and Bob has managed a small
business in Portsmouth, N.H.
He brought some of his own
maple syrup, tapped from his
own trees … yum! Lisle Baker
returned briefly to see old friends
before returning to Boston for
another educational activity.
John Foehl, when not playing
golf, is very proud of his son
Brooks ’88, who works for the
alumni association and presented
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
In April Jon Fielding ’64 received the UCLA Medal, the university’s highest
honor, for his work as director of the L.A. County Department of Public
Health, county health officer and professor at the UCLA School of Public
Health. He is chairman of Healthy People 2020 and the Task Force on
Community Preventive Services and is credited with implementing a
letter-grading system in local restaurants to reduce foodborne illness.
and brings his daughters and
their families to visit for weeks at
a time. He remains as ebullient
as ever and flows over when
discussing his grandchildren!
Bruce Birgbauer still practices law
and plays championship tennis
although his knees no longer can
take the abuse of an exhausting
squash tournament. Bill Chapman,
when he not biking or running up the mountains of New
Hampshire with his son, still
litigates the law and was heard
engaging in a conversation with
many of our “members of the
bar” discussing a question posed
by Professor James MacGregor
Burns ’39 at our Friday luncheon
seminar on the meaning and
impact of Chief Justice Marshall’s
wresting “Judicial Review” from
the Constitution in his Madison
vs. Marbury decision. Articulate
and provocative, and author
of a new book on the Supreme
Court, Packing the Court, which
received an excellent review
in The New York Times. Prof.
Burns spoke and dined with
us while celebrating his 70th
reunion. Dick Hubbard had some
thoughts on this as well since
his office is not far from the
awards on Saturday morning.
Joe Barsky and Jack Beecham still
practice medicine. Linn Draper
and Mike Doyle were engaged in
a heavy conversation, discussing
the current economic situation
and the impact of energy on our
future outcomes. I think they
were optimistic, although I must
admit they are a lot more familiar
with the details than I. Mike also
brought along a few cases of ’64
champagne—a very nice gift for
all of us. Two people who could
have rounded out the economics discussion, John Wilson and
Hank Terrell—both of whom have
worked for the International
Monetary Fund and the Federal
Reserve Board—were enjoying
conversations elsewhere on the
campus and did not add their
two cents ($2 trillion?) to the
dialogue!
Two former Ephlats, Bob Furey
and John Romans, were back but
did not do any stand-up for us,
although Skip Gwiazda and Leo
Murray were quick to describe
some of their trips on horses in
Mongolia to selected members
of the group. Judge Chris Hagy
told me that he writes more
than 2,000 pages each year in
deciding cases from the bench
and that cases can become pretty
complex and require a fine degree
of analytic detail. Tim Goodwin
and Jack Beebe did a great job in
keeping the events moving along
during the entire weekend and
particularly during Friday night’s
dinner. President Jay Freedman
served as emcee during Saturday
evening’s festivities in the art
center. Great job by all! We all
acknowledged with a standing
ovation Jay’s announcement that
Diane Keller has established a
scholarship in memory of Gary.
What a legacy! Paul Kritzer is
continuing to provide consulting services while spending
time between Milwaukee and
his second home just outside of
Charleston, S.C. Al Hageman,
Alex McCloskey, Quentin Murphy,
Tommy Todd and Ben Wagner all
look good enough to go right
back on the football field (joining Chappy), and the amazing
thing is how well preserved and
“young” we all looked despite
the number of us who have
undergone joint replacements or
had heart attacks, strokes and
bouts of cancer. Craig Schelter
helps developers get through
the legal and zoning process in
Philadelphia and often joins Bob
Summersgill and spouses on the
Cape. Al Sachtleben also made
a smart move to the Cape a few
years back, and the sea air seems
to agree with him.
During Saturday’s parade, we
all wore yellow 45th reunion
Williams polo shirts and purple
cow caps, but only Biff Steel was
able to march with three generations, including his dad William
’37 and his son Anim ’94, and
wear three class pins on his shirt.
Bob Stine looks great and has
kept active despite the fact that
he has retired from his practice
in emergency medicine! Gay
Mayer arrived a day later than
anticipated because of a client’s
needs (and demands and perhaps
some extra time cleaning up the
hiking trails of New Jersey? He
and Dennis Helms recently had
occasion to work together—one
of those times when it is good to
know and call upon a lawyer!
Jack McWhorter is now a grandfather and continues to maintain
his solo practice in rheumatology.
Graham Covington has retired
from Boise Cascade and now
runs Minds Matter in Portland,
a volunteer mentoring program
for economically disadvantaged
high school students. He also participates in a jazz trio and does
executive coaching. So for those
n 1 9 6 4 –6 5
of us still working, we should
stay relaxed before we have to
retire and face the kind of hectic
schedule that Graham has laid
out for himself!
Gary Ratner remains active
trying to improve local education and has been working
closely with the new administration on this effort (see
CitizensforEffectiveSchools.org).
George Boultres brought his son
Mark, and together they played
the Taconic Golf Course, which is
a fine way to see Williamstown!
Terry Finn is about to publish
his second novel and enjoys
the Eastern Shore of Maryland
immensely. (Is he the new Tom
Clancy?) Jack Kuehn was just
in from yet another round of
trade shows. Still smiling, he
seems to have found a way not
to gain weight. He and Nick
Goodhue, who recently moved
to Milwaukee, stay in regular
contact. Larry Modesitt was in
from Denver and is working very
hard as a consultant for suppliers
to the auto industry.
Skip Gwaizda led a discussion
Saturday afternoon during which
many of us gave opinions, vented
frustrations and offered suggestions on how to save the world.
Felt like we were back b.s.ing in
the dorms during the 1960s! Joel
Reingold arrived from Saratoga
on Saturday and was quickly
engulfed in conversation over a
wide range of topics and memories. We also learned about a new
group—the Eph Sharps—the
Class of ’64 Book Club. A reading list will be forthcoming. And I
have been advised there will be a
“pop quiz” to follow.
We all enjoyed a wonderful
several days back “home” at
Williams. But we missed many of
our classmates and friends who
were unable to join us during this
most happy and festive occasion.
Some of you who were not at
Williams were caught up in other
important activities. There are
work obligations and travel,
family crises and distances to
overcome. For some, there is even
a forgetfulness of the carefree
days (some of them were …
even for a pre-med student) and
perhaps some aspects of the experience that were disagreeable.
But having now been at most of
our nine reunions, I can tell each
of you that as a class we have
matured, we have an ease within
ourselves and a willingness to
share the happy and the sad with
a special group of special people
who shared a very special time in
their lives at a very special place
… Williams College. I hope that
during our 50th reunion each of
us will make a special effort to
attend. It will occur the weekend
of June 12-15, 2014, and I have
already marked my calendar for
the event. My goal during the
next five years is to make every
attempt to engage every single
person in the class and be certain
that his story is described in these
pages. I will enlist others from the
class to “hunt you down” and
bring you into our gentle circle
of members of the Class of 1964.
I guess the “healer” in me really
wants to engage everyone and see
each of you for another visit to
the valley.
I focused this issue’s remarks
primarily on the 45th reunion,
the people who joined in, the
years that were represented during our time here at Williams, the
activities held during the weekend
and also include a note of encouragement to get everyone to start
thinking about our 50th coming
up in under five years.
But I must close with two
special stories. Jon Fielding was
unable to join us, but he was
recently awarded the UCLA
Medal, the university’s highest honor. Jon is an innovator, leader and public health
visionary. In addition to his
work in LA, he is the chairman
of two major national health
committees, Healthy People
2020 and the Task Force on
Community Preventive Services.
And, closer to home, Steve
Birrell retired after more than 20
years of service, most recently
as VP of Alumni Relations and
Development at Williams. He
was saluted and recognized on
several occasions during his closing days at the College, including
our own Saturday evening
dinner. Jay Freedman asked Peter
Buttenheim, who had worked
in the alumni office with Steve
for a period of time, to offer
comments. Peter mentioned some
of the specific accomplishments
of Steve’s tenure, including the
audacious sums of money raised
and the more than tripling of
the office’s staff to provide more
services to Williams graduates. Most notably, however,
Peter took issue with the title of
the article about Steve, which
appeared in the June Alumni
Review, entitled “Measurable
Results.” Peter argued that
Steve’s impact on the College has
been “inestimable” and therefore
unable to be quantified! Steve,
your classmates would agree.
This year’s Alumni Fund gift has
been dedicated in Steve’s honor,
and we also gave him a gift of
12 Williams plates—each one
marking a particular highlight of
his career. Thanks for your years
of service; enjoy Polly and the
kids and grandchildren in your
retirement. You have offered the
same calm leadership in this job
as you exercised as president of
DU during the fractious times
during the implementation of the
Angevine Commission report.
And to the Class of 1964,
let’s look ahead and begin the
planning for our next reunion
… our 50th. Hold June 12-15,
2014; it will be even better than
this one! And in the meantime,
reserve time for our minireunion
this Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Plans are for
a post-football game thrashing of
Hamilton Halloween party. Stay
tuned for more news from the
Purple Valley.
Be well—Marty.
P.S. For those of you who
wanted a follow-up on Barbara’s
and my early departure from
our wonderful 45th weekend,
let me tell you about this year’s
Bay Swim. We had a beautiful
day with water temperatures of
74 degrees. The beginning of the
swim was a dream with expectations of our best-ever swim! But
then, at about the 2¼-mile mark,
the currents became unbearable. It was like swimming in
molasses! During the fourth mile
I actually began to sing “Yard
by Yard” (at the suggestion of
Paul Kritzer for “when the going
got tough”). Nevertheless, I got
to the other side and completed
all of the 4.4 miles. I was the
fifth oldest out of the 600 who
started the event. I am hoping
for an “easier” race next year as
we go for #15. I thank everyone
for their comments and support
during the reunion. What a great
family of friends!
1965
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Tom Burnett
175 Riverside Drive, #2H
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
Secretary Burnett reports:
While the final totals are not yet
available, it appears that class
agent Jim Worrall has performed
another financial miracle during
these difficult economic times.
With a class roster of 244
members, we received donations from 215 (including 13
CL ASS
NOTES
who did not give last year)—an
88 percent participation rate.
Congratulations to Jim for yet
another job well done.
Larry Alexander has published a
book entitled Demystifying Legal
Reasoning through Cambridge
University Press, 2008.
Mike Annison has also published recently as part of his role
as president of The Westrend
Group in Denver, Colo. Mike’s
work focuses on social and
organizational change. He
can be reached in Denver at
303.810.9085, and his company
website is www.westrendgroup.
com, which provides current
contact information.
Thanks to Jim Worrall, who
passed along an e-mail, we
have learned what Steve Strauss
has been up to. Steve lives in
Albania, where he is the CEO of
Tirana Business Park, which is
bringing German investors to a
“green” project near the Tirana
Int’l Airport. Steve’s focus is on
financing the project, which has
proved quite challenging in the
current economic environment.
Steve Robinson is still working at SAIF Corp., where he
does strategic planning and
performance measurement. He
lives in Eugene, Ore., where his
wife Nancy has been elected to
a second term as state representative from North Eugene.
Their daughter Sierra lives in
Hollywood, where she is pursuing a career in film acting and
theater design.
I was very pleased to hear
again from Dave Murphy, who
received two healthy kidneys
from the same donor and is
doing really well. His wife
Martha is a retired nurse and has
helped Dave recover and benefit
from his transplants.
In late January, the National
Gallery in Washington opened
its “Pride of Place” exhibition
to rave notices in The Wall
Street Journal, The Washington
Post and The New York Times.
The show centers on “Dutch
Cityscapes of the Golden Age”
and was organized by Arthur
Wheelock Jr. Fred Ohly and Dan
Plaine, along with Perry and Art
Wheelock, organized a special
weekend May 1-3 in Washington
to give classmates a behind-thescenes look at the exhibition.
The event was a rousing success.
Some 20 classmates attended.
The weekend began with a
dinner at the home of Sun and
Dan Plaine in nearby Maryland.
Saturday events included a tour
of the Mall led by Perry, who is
Members of the Class of ’65 gathered in May at the McLean, Va., home of
Fred Ohly (back row, second from left) after a tour of “Pride of Place,” a
National Gallery exhibition organized by Art Wheelock (far right).
the National Park Service chief
for the cultural resources on the
National Mall. In the afternoon,
Art gave a lecture on the background of the exhibition at the
Madeira School in Virginia. That
event was followed by dinner at
the home of Tina and Fred Ohly.
On Sunday morning, the class
met at the National Gallery for
a private tour of the exhibition
led by Art, where he picked up
on his lecture points from the
evening before. My only disappointment was that a kidney
stone (since treated) laid me low
and prevented our attending. But
hats off to Art, Dan and Fred for
organizing and executing such
a unique experience for the 40
people who were able to attend.
1966
Palmer Q. Bessey
1320 York Ave., #32H
New York, NY 10021
John Gould
19 Nahant Place
Lynn, MA 01902
[email protected]
We begin with the sad news of
the death of Doug Schwab last
March. At Williams he was a
member of Spencer House and
went on to Harvard Law School
and a law practice in California.
As Secretary Bessey noted, “At
the time of the 25th, he considered himself blessed.”
On the other hand, a joyful
note came from Roger Ruckman
that he married Sarah Hall
(Hollins ’71 and UVA Law ’74)
on April 18. After the honeymoon at Sea Island, Ga., they
returned to work in the DC area.
The biggest event of the Class
of 1966 was the inauguration of the Jeffrey Owen Jones
Fellowship in Journalism, which
awards funding to a graduating
Williams student who is planning
a career in journalism. The organizers—Bob Krefting, Steve Atlas,
Peter Koenig, David Tobis, Peter
Richardson and Bill Bowden—put
together a reception and
symposium in Williamstown to
celebrate the event and honor
the first recipient, Molly Hunter
’09, who will use the fellowship
to support herself in Jordan
and neighboring countries this
summer, writing about girls and
women there, their access to
education and health care and
other issues.
The Bowdens hosted a massive
dinner before the symposium,
which included family and
friends of Jeff and Joe Swayze,
Doug Stevens, Chip Malcolm,
Peter Allen, Willard Speigelman,
Peter Hassinger, Mike Katz, Jack
Vroom, Andy Burr, Ned Davis and
John Gould.
The symposium was a forum
on the future of journalism,
which looks, frankly, quite
bleak at the moment. It was
moderated by Jeff’s brother
Christopher “Kit” Jones ’62,
a former commentator and
senior correspondent with Fox
Television News in NYC. Also
participating were Thomas B.
Edsall, professor of journalism at
the Columbia Journalism School;
John Kifner ’63, a national and
foreign correspondent for The
New York Times; Elizabeth
Kolbert, a staff writer for The
New Yorker; and Shayla Harris
n 1 9 6 5 –6 7
’97, a video producer with The
New York Times. According to
the panelists, print journalism, at
least as far as the big newspapers
are concerned, is in big trouble;
John Kifner ’63 remarked that as
a dinosaur, he felt he had “three
hooves in the tar pit.”
In April Dave Kollendar, his
wife Linda and son Adam ’05
traveled to LA to see daughter Linda perform a lead role
in Mauritius at the Pasadena
Playhouse. Congratulations to
her!
Michael Katz received a
Fulbright Lecturer Fellowship
and will be teaching at the
University of Santa Catarina
in Florianopolis, Brazil, from
March to June 2010. He and
his wife are busy learning
Portuguese, but he is grateful to
be teaching in English.
The economic downturn
affects lots of us in different
ways. Ron Worland writes that
“plastic surgery is the Chrysler
of medicine,” and his practice is
down 66 percent. The good news
is that his fourth grandchild
arrived recently—a girl after
three boys—and he is heading on
a surgical mission to Wenzhou,
China, to repair cleft palates and
such.
On April 28, Farrar, Straus
& Giroux published Willard
Spiegelman’s Seven Pleasures:
Essays on Ordinary Happiness.
He reports, “Some classmates
will find themselves in the book,
none by name, none unfavorably.” He was booked into the
Williams Club in New York
on July 28 for a reading. In the
April 30 Wall Street Journal, Wes
Davis wrote, “[John] Updike
believed there was value in catching sight of happiness out of the
corner of the eye. Looking at his
pleasures, Mr. Spiegelman does
just that, seven times. The eighth
pleasure the book provides is
in the intelligence and grace he
brings to the job.”
Arthur Benson offered a suggestion. What about a Facebook
page for our class? Apparently
the Class of ’83 has one. He
points to Willard’s book as
being a perfect topic for such a
page. Not being a Facebooker
myself, I referred this question to
president Wink Willett. If anyone
wants to second the motion or
otherwise weigh in, write to
Wink at [email protected].
Graham Cole has finally decided
to retire as headmaster of
Westminster School in Simsbury,
Conn., after the 2009-10
academic year. It’s clearly been
a difficult decision; he and his
wife Carol have been very happy
there. They have bought a house
in Lawrenceville, N.J., where
they have friends and associations. He would love to hear
from others about how to deal
with retirement, which can look
a bit forboding, as I can testify.
Roger Kubarych wrote (a bit
nervously) of upcoming joys.
His oldest son Kevin is expecting
Roger’s first grandchild, and his
middle son Greg is graduating
from the University of Chicago.
In the excitement of these
upcoming events, he clearly was
knocking on wood as he wrote:
“I get more superstitious as time
goes by!”
Lavinia and Dan Cohn-Sherbok
continue to live in an old coach
house in wild Wales, where
Dan is professor of Judaism at
the University of Wales. In the
holidays they live in their flat in
Kensington in London, where
they see Sheila and Peter Koenig.
Lavinia has published the final
novel of a trilogy of comic campus novels (all anonymously): A
Campus Conspiracy; “Degrees
R’Us; and The Whistleblower—
all available on Amazon.co.uk.
our patients have no means to
speak of anyway, our financial
picture (which has never been
very good) has not deteriorated
further. We look forward to
health care reform.
“Morty Schapiro held his last
out-of-town public event in NYC
last week. About 200 alums,
parents and friends showed up.
The event was at the University
Club in Midtown and was
preceded by many reminders to
wear a tie and no flip-flops. This
was the University Club after all.
He spoke positively about how
Williams had developed during
his tenure, what areas he had not
been able to develop as much
as he wished, and reassured us
that the future seemed bright.
It was sobering for me to think
that he is the sixth president of
Williams to finish his tenure on
our watch.”
Finally, the Second Annual ’66
Dinner of the Boston Ephs met
in May at The Country Club in
Brookline. Organized by Budge
Upton (who couldn’t make it),
Bob Bradley and Steve O’Brien
(who did), attendees included
Peter Allen, Rob Cunningham,
David Dapice, Alan Fincke,
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
Peter Allen ’66 was elected to the United States Tennis Association New
England Tennis Hall of Fame in January. A native of Framingham, Mass.,
he has been a player for more than 57 years and a tennis advocate.
Larry Stone has retired from ski
jump coaching and, perhaps to
celebrate, has released his first
recording of music in more than
20 years. Called Dreams Die
Hard, it contains mostly original
material written and sung by
Larry. For samples go to his
website, www.littleblackbrook.
com. In response to Speigelman’s
book, he writes, “End the
recession and order my CD and
Willard’s book today.” Both are
available on Amazon.com.
Norman Urmy wrote that his
son Matt organized a two-day
benefit for the Music Therapy
Program at Vanderbilt Children’s
Hospital. The program was
titled “Nashville City Nights,”
scheduled for June 5-6 in East
Nashville, Tenn.
Co-secretary Joe Bessey was
organizing a dinner at the
Williams Club after Willard
Spiegleman’s reading. He adds,
“In contrast to Ron Worland’s
situation, our business has been
fairly steady, and since many of
John Gould, Dick Pingree and
Marty Shulkin. Dessert was
“Purple Cow Frozen Yogurt.”
Conversation ranged from the
atrocities of Bernie Madoff to
the joys of Bob Mitchell’s sports
books, especially A Match Made
in Heaven, Bob’s golf novel.
One special highlight: Peter Allen
revealed, to much applause, that
in June he would be inducted
into the New England Tennis
Hall of Fame, where he will of
course join his (and everyone
else’s) beloved coach, Clarence
“Chafe” Chaffee.
1967
Kenneth A. Willcox
178 Westwood Lane
Wayzata, MN 55391
[email protected]
Bob Conway reports a flurry
of activity in his family. His
daughter Satya is running
unopposed for her second term
on the Madison, Wis., City
CL ASS
NOTES
Council. His wife Tyrell had her
first solo exhibit of paintings in
NYC at the Katherine Markel
gallery in Chelsea. Friends and
relations from all over, including
Burke Moody and Annie Taylor,
converged for the opening. Bob
then went to DC for discussions
with the National Gallery about
curating a major exhibition there
in 2012. While there, he stayed
with Buddy Karelis and Heidi
Hatfield. Then he was off to
Savannah to speak at the opening of his Bellows drawings exhibition at the Telfair Academy.
Kirk Varnedoe took his first art
classes there, so Bob started
his talk with slides of Kirk and
a tribute to his character and
accomplishments. Bob is now
back in Oakland, where he is
starting a new project managing
the estate of artist Bruce Conner,
one of the initial members of the
San Francisco Beat scene.
Jeff Bowen and Hillary took
their spring break in Mexico this
year. They wanted a getaway
from the shared pressures of
school administration and the
fanciful challenge of “spending
federal stimulus aid wisely but
fast to preserve jobs that can’t
last but will have an audit-ready
impact on kids at risk.” Lots of
luck on that one, of course. The
miracle they opted for instead
was a warm-weather resort spa
without snow days to worry
about.
Paul Lipof spent quite a lot of
time over the past six months
with Gregg Meister. Paul says
Gregg has put together a truly
excellent personal video in support of the State of Israel from his
Christian perspective. Paul has
helped him with its distribution.
One of the shots is one Gregg
took of Paul’s grandson’s bar
mitzvah in Jerusalem. The Lipofs
are awaiting the arrival of their
third grandchild. In addition,
their daughter was planning a
May wedding. And they went
back to Israel in June to attend a
niece’s wedding. They count their
blessings.
Fred Sleezer has relocated from
San Antonio to Exton, Pa. This
was his first winter on the East
Coast in 29 years, and he really
enjoyed it. He is working for
Stewart, Cooper & Coon in corporate and individual outplacement. As you can imagine, he
says they are VERY busy in this
economy. Fred had dinner with
Dennis Helms ’64 and his wife
Meg in mid-April. He hoped to
make it back to the Purple Valley
this summer to have another go
at Taconic. Fred encourages classmates seeking job change assistance to contact him via e-mail.
He would be happy to help.
Bill McClung and Hannah
Jo are finally empty nesters.
Son Charles is a freshman at
Macalester College (St. Paul),
and their other son is a junior at
Carleton. To foot the bills Bill is
continuing as computer science
chair at Nebraska Wesleyan
University and organist for their
Catholic College. Hannah Jo is
choir director there and teaches
voice at nearby Doana College.
Recently Henry Walker ’69, computer science chair at Grinnell,
provided their department with
an excellent external evaluation.
Bill says he is post-bypass surgery,
a vegetarian and inveterate
stationary bicycle rider. He hopes
to return for our 50th.
Jeff Kelleher has been teaching
law in San Diego. He plans
to teach the fall term at the
University of Tennessee in
Knoxville.
Hank Grass is content with his
life and work. Fortunately his
athletic injuries are healing, so he
can remain active. He views that
as an important antidote for the
professional stress he feels. His
family members are all healthy,
“which is also a great joy.” He
has no plans to retire from his
psychiatric practice in the near
future.
In contrast with Hank, Bill
Woodward did, in fact, take the
big leap and retired last March.
He says he will now see what
he can do managing his own
retirement fund (what’s left of
it) after having managed others’
investments for the past 21 years.
Bill and his wife look forward
to traveling and maybe even
running into some Williams folks
along the way. As an aside, he
said that he and his wife were
at Longwood Gardens recently.
They were wearing their reunion
headgear. A nice gentleman asked
where they had gotten “those
great hats.” When Bill replied
“at my college reunion,” he
asked “William & Mary?” Bill
writes, “I haven’t heard that one
in years.”
Ted McPherson sent in his
obligatory report on the
January Alumni vs. Williams
JV basketball results. It was the
10th consecutive alumni victory
96-70 (not much defense there).
Ted was the sole ’67 participant, and he did score a basket,
though clearly not a game
clincher. Gordie Gee is usually
on the team as well. It’s hard to
imagine, but he claims to have
had more important obligations
this year.
Your secretary had a nice
conversation with Steve Kiechel.
He and Julie are still living in
the Toledo, Ohio, area, where
Steve is an orthopedic surgeon.
They are building a (retirement?)
house down the coast from
Boston, where they will be closer
to the rest of their family.
That’s it for this edition. Enjoy
the rest of the summer, and I’ll
see you in the fall.
1968
Paul Neely
P.O. Box 11526
Chattanooga, TN 37401
[email protected]
Just before the Williams
graduation in June, Paul Marquis
wrote: “In a couple of weeks I
will finish a seven-year second
chance to enjoy Williams and its
unique offerings. Our daughter
Willa Marquis ’09 will graduate
as her sister Estalyn ’06 had a
few years earlier. My memories
of my four years at Williams are
of too many hours grinding out
premed courses during the week
and binge drinking on weekends.
This time around, my memories
are richer ones of a Mountain
Day hike up Greylock, lunches
with my daughter’s professors,
visiting their locales abroad
(Spain and China) and hosting
fabulous volunteer groups to
our home city, New Orleans,
post-Katrina. I have been blessed
to have this second chance to get
it right.”
Peter Abrahams keeps churning
out the books, but the newest
one has a twist: “I wrote a book
called Dog On It under a pen
name (Spencer Quinn). It’s the
first in the Chet and Bernie mystery series, detective novels told
from Chet’s point of view. He’s a
dog, not a talking dog, just a narrating one. The book hit number
seven on The New York Times
fiction list. Under my own name
I have a new YA novel out called
Reality Check.” You can see the
whole career at peterabrahams.
com, but for real fun, take a look
at chetthedog.com, Chet’s blog.
Chris Dornin has retired, at least
from his one-man news service
covering the New Hampshire
Statehouse. But, he adds, “I
still write magazine articles
and poems, sing in choirs, play
pickup basketball four times a
week, cross-country ski, sail a
Laser and hang out with our
n 1 9 6 7 –6 9
first grandchild. I’m also doing
some research on the dubious
national war on sex offenders.”
He encourages anyone coming to
New Hampshire to drop by.
Also still playing basketball
is Bill Perttula, “to try to fulfill
the required exercise old people
should have.” Bill has been at
San Francisco State University
since 1975 and this fall returns
to being chair of the marketing
department. He’s counting on
two more years, then retirement.
Susette and Peter Naylor
shared a lunch with the Perttulas
last winter, which led to these
thoughts from Peter: “The fact
that Bill and I are both professors
of business got me to thinking
about how valuable a small,
highly focused management
program would have been to us
as undergraduates. Certainly, I
would have been better prepared
for graduate work in economics
if I’d learned some management
practices earlier. Wouldn’t a barebones management program
integrated with the economics
program strengthen both the
economics program and prepare
the Williams graduates to turn
their passions into careers?
“Also, shouldn’t Williams be
offering a small general engineering program, so that our liberal
arts graduates are technologically literate as they go forth to
save the world? Just a few ideas
following a terrific weekend—
how great to connect with the
Perttulas after 40 years!” Your
secretary has a few contrary
thoughts on those ideas, but in
the current budgetary situation
adding any programs is a fairly
hypothetical exercise anyhow.
Jeff Brinn reports on fallout
from the financial situation:
“Myra and I have taken up fulltime residence in Monroe, N.C.
(near Charlotte). We had bought
this big house just before our
35th reunion. We gave up our
apartment on Long Island Dec.
1, as I had been an early casualty
of the recession/depression/
mess that had befallen the business world and could not find
anything to justify maintaining
a second residence, particularly
while out of work. After several
increasingly desperate months,
I secured a part-time consulting telecommuting gig doing
QC work for a NYC CPA firm,
which has kept me busy about
one-half the time, with fill-ins
from old consulting CPA firm
clients. I expect to work until
they surgically remove my laptop
from my dead body, but that had
always been my plan.”
Bob Chambers endured some
acute pancreatic attacks last
spring, which now seem under
control: “I’m still having to take
things slowly and gradually.
The best part of this unpleasant
experience has been the loss of
28 pounds and a more svelte
look in the mirror, but I can’t
recommend the process that got
me here.”
Bob Stanton, perhaps our classmate with the longest record of
continuing service to the College,
took me up on the request for
comments about the Schapiro
years: “We will all miss Morty.
He has been an exemplary
president. He was able to work
well with alums, faculty and
students. All truly loved him as
a person and for what he did for
our college. He is leaving large
shoes to fill. I trust that Greg Avis
’80 and the search committee
will find another great leader to
guide the College through these
current challenging times to even
a higher level of achievement.
“I will also miss Steve Birrell
’64. He has been an outstanding
VP for Alumni Relations and
Development. I still remember,
when that job last came open,
calling Hank Payne and telling
him in no uncertain terms that
he needed to hire Steve back
from the defectors (Amherst)
immediately and without wasting
any effort on a search. To Hank’s
credit and to the betterment of
Williams, that is what occurred.”
Absolutely right on both
counts, Bob.
I will mention less momentously that in June, after 14
years, I rotated off the Williams
Board of Trustees (and on to the
board of the Clark Art Institute).
I have always felt that I got more
out of that service than I put in,
and I have tried to put in a lot.
Trustees serve many constituencies, but I always considered
our wonderful class to be one of
the most significant for me. The
College is in good hands, with a
strikingly good senior staff and
trustees that bring great wisdom
and judgment to governance.
Among them is Bob Scott, whose
term on the board will continue
until 2016.
I am also becoming chair of
the Smithsonian National Board,
a pan-institutional board that
works with the professional
staff and the Regents of the
Smithsonian. That is one complex organization. Governing
Williams is simple by comparison, but the College remains
number one in my heart. Many
thanks to those of you who have
offered support and kind words
during my time on the board.
One of the nicest events during that time was a celebration
in April of the success of the
recently concluded Williams
Campaign. Among the panels
was one on the future of liberal
arts education. I had the pleasure
of chairing it—the panelists
were just superb, and among
them was Tony Kronman. Tony
now teaches humanities at Yale,
following his highly successful decade as dean of the law
school. John Oppenheimer and
Bill Shapiro were also here for the
weekend.
Finally, a plaintive cry from
Class Agent Larry Levien: “Just
concluded three years as a vice
chair of the Alumni Fund—
which has seen both the best and
worst of times in those years.
The job is a tremendous opportunity to stay connected and one
for which alumni of our experience (age) are especially valued.
There are 20-plus vice chairs
ranging from the Class of 2009
to the Class of 1951. The discussions are anything but dull. If
anyone is interested, send me an
e-mail and I can describe further.
The chairs of the fund, currently
Bill Sprague ’80 and Katie Chatas
’88, devote enormous time and
energy to making the College a
better place. “If anyone is interested in becoming class agent,
you don’t have to e-mail. The job
is yours. At the very least, I’m
begging for a co-head. You have
the opportunity to work with
Betsy Howard of the fund staff,
who is wonderful, and to spend
some fascinating weekends on
campus.”
1969
Richard P. Gulla
287 Grove St.
Melrose, MA 02176
[email protected]
Congratulations and thanks
to Reunion Co-Chairs Bob
Grace and Fred Vinick and their
committee for an absolutely
terrific 40th reunion. Nearly
50 classmates with spouses and
partners attended, and camaraderie, reconnecting with friends
and reliving many and good
memories filled the long weekend. Kudos to reunion committee members Rick Corwin, Alan
Dittrich, Bob Kandel (who organized a ’69 alum tour of MASS
MoCA, led by Museum Director
CL ASS
NOTES
Joe Thompson ’81), Dick Peinert,
Rudy Spraycar and Craig Walker
as well as John Kitchen, who put
together a festival of Korean
films and one of the seminars
(aptly titled “How to Feed Your
Mind”) for all returning alums.
Ever the gentlemen, Mr. Grace
wanted to make sure I gave Mr.
Vinick the lion’s share of the
credit, and Mr. Vinick wanted
to make sure I recognized Mr.
Grace’s efforts, particularly those
that kept Fred within budget. So
here’s to you both!
A special note of thanks goes to
Mike Himowitz, who once again
(he did it for our 35th, too) took
and posted on the web for all
to see more than 100 photos of
Reunion Weekend. (Visit winkflash.com; user name eph1969;
password Williams).
Distance was no barrier for
some, as Gordy Bryson from
Hawaii, Bob Hallem from
California, Jorge Tristani from
New Mexico, Dorsey Lynch from
Arizona, Johan Hinderlie from
Minnesota, Wes Howard from
Colorado, Fletcher Clark from
Texas, Elrick Williams from Illinois
and Gary Robinson from Ohio
all appeared. (As space is limited
in these notes, a separate e-mail
with more details of Reunion
Weekend including all attendees,
was distributed earlier.)
Some of the best (and funniest) moments of the weekend
occurred at Saturday evening’s
dinner, as Johan Hinderlie
presented the idea of “creating
some community spirit among
the class” by inviting spouses
to describe (and giving them
the microphone to do so) “that
endearing moment that made
them say ‘yes’ to partnering with
their Williams man.’” Nearly 10
came forward, with all recounting more than just one moment. I
can find no words to adequately
describe this wonderful part of
the weekend and give it justice.
You had to be there, and some
of us are still laughing. Thanks
to Paul Harsch’s bride Joyce, the
event was recorded for posterity.
New class officers come with
reunions, and after a decade of
service Bob Grace has stepped
down as president. From my
viewpoint, Bob did a great job
in bringing us closer, and he
deserves much credit as well as
our thanks for his energy and
efforts. Alan Dittrich, who served
as VP, succeeds Bob as president,
and Wes Howard has agreed
to serve as VP. Rick Corwin,
treasurer, and yours truly, as
secretary, will proudly continue
to serve in those respective
capacities.
To recap the reunion, suffice
it to say that Fred’s goal—“to
renew old friendships and make
some new ones”—was fulfilled
to the utmost and to the pleasure
of all.
In other news, Chuck Collins
is in his fifth year as president
and CEO of the YMCA of San
Francisco and wonders “why
it took me so long to find this
career and path of life. Working
for the Y has many benefits,
including unlimited yoga passes.”
Chuck’s daughter Julia graduated
from Stanford Business School
last spring, and his older daughter Sara is nearing completion of
her fellowship in interventional
cardiology. Spouse Paula was
scheduled for a 180-mile bike
ride in June from the northern part of California to San
Francisco. Chuck has fun “keeping up with Liz and Gordy Bryson
and Mike West on Facebook,
but I realize that only a few of
our classmates are Facebookoriented. To our other classmates,
get on with it. We can look and
be as stupid as we want at this
stage in life.” He invites classmates to visit: “Planes go both
ways. For all of you people east
of here, plan a trip to visit the
Brysons in Hawaii and drop off
in California to visit Mike in the
South and me in San Francisco.
Bob Kandel makes a regular practice of it. September and October
are our best months.”
Dick Tobin continues as college
counseling director at Greenhills
School in Ann Arbor, “something
I’ve been doing so long that I
can hardly call it news. With
the competitiveness of college
admissions and the looming
impact of the economy, this job
hasn’t gotten any easier, but it has
many satisfactions and I’m still
enjoying it. I’ve been joined this
year by Kevin Brown ’90, who
serves as associate director, and
this pairing has been a success
from every point of view. A few
of this year’s graduates are heading to Williams next fall, which
is a particular pleasure for both
of us.” Dick also teaches a class
of grade-11 English. Wife Peggy
Wilson is finishing her second
year as second in command at
an independent K-8 school in the
city, and oldest daughter Emily
Wilson-Tobin joined Greenhills
as theater director, making father
and daughter colleagues. Son
Peter is currently in San Francisco
along with his sister Laura, who
works at a Montessori school as
a teacher’s assistant. Peter heads
to the New School in New York
this fall to begin an MFA in
creative writing. Dick, a former
class president, sends his regards
to all classmates.
Tom Sipkins, after 36 years as
a trial lawyer, was appointed a
judge on the Hennepin County
Minnesota District Court bench
by Gov. Pawlenty. “I will be handling criminal and civil matters
and trials in Minneapolis and its
suburbs until my 70th birthday,
if I get through one election cycle.
It is a great gig and a wonderful way to end my career in the
law.” Tom closed his notes with
a threat to be a partner with Dick
Peinert at the alumni golf tournament in 2010.
Paul Harsch and his new bride
Joyce finished building a new
home on Bee Hill Road, just a
short way from the center of
Williamstown. While pursuing
nursing degrees, Joyce is also
working in marketing at Paul’s
real estate firm, which was
selected to be the exclusive representative for the new Cable Mills
Condominiums on Water Street.
Paul advises any classmates who
are interested in retiring to the
Purple Valley to contact him.
“Williams parents, alums and
retired faculty are among our top
prospect pool.” Paul, who’s in
his 34th year of business in town,
welcomes visitors. Just call ahead.
Lanny Maxwell has been
consulting for the last five years
to smaller companies as an outsource CFO in the Philadelphia
area. Lanny, who is particularly
interested in renewable energy
companies, welcomes contact
from alumni working in that
arena.
Chris Kinnell, pastor of
the Bellevue Heights United
Methodist Church in Syracuse,
returned to full-time pastoral
ministry in July after a year’s
sabbatical and did a short-term
mission at the Mutambara
Hospital in Zimbabwe. Chris
also sponsored two Grandpa
Camps in Syracuse this year with
his grandchildren living in North
Carolina. Henry Walker continues his
teaching at Grinnell College
in Iowa and this year marked
his 28th of grading Advanced
Placement exams, 22 in computer science, six in calculus.
Henry will join the development
committee for AP Computer
Science, the body that makes
up the course outline and
exam. “Wife Terry works at
Aviva Insurance as a software
n 1 9 6 9 –7 0
Ephs hosted a lunch in April at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong
Kong for Tom Krens ’69 (fourth from left), former WCMA director and
Williams art professor and senior adviser to the Guggenheim Foundation.
developer and tester. Daughter
Donna and son-in-law Jeff,
who have a 2-year-old, are in
San Jose, Calif., both working
at Symantec. Younger daughter Barbara lives in Newark,
Ohio, and works for the Ohio
Environmental Protection
Agency. Terry and I are still
caught up in our work and family connections, and it likely will
be some time before we think of
retirement.” If you ever wanted
to know where Grinnell is,
Henry provides some perspective: “I live four blocks north
of the mid-cape highway—U.S.
Route 6, about 1,250 miles west
of Provincetown, Mass.”
Bob Grace reports his son Rob
(Vassar ’00) was married in
March and was to earn his master’s in political science in August
from New York University. He
and bride Shanna will then move
to Providence, where Shanna will
attend Brown to get her master’s.
Bob’s daughter Holly Grace ’97 is
planning a December wedding to
Kris Kahn ’97. “By the end of the
year my entire family will have
moved on to the next level. In
the meantime, my grand-twins
(children of my daughter Heather
’93) are approaching 5 and living
in Manhattan.
Mike Himowitz is now the deputy managing editor of MedPage
Today, a national news service
for physicians, after working at
the Baltimore Sun for more than
three decades. Mike continues
his personal technology column,
which he’s written for 20 years,
at mikepluggedin.com.
Jim Barns, librarian at JeffersonMadison Regional Library in
Charlottesville, Va., started a
documentary film series at his
library, “an eclectic selection of
films which suits me well, from
Roy Rogers to the Iditarod.”
One of Jim’s guest experts was
Caroline Kettlewell ’84, “an
intrepid, engaged journalist,”
says Jim, and author of Electric
Dreams.
Finally, belated thanks go to
Head Class Agent Rob Brokaw
and Co-Agents Rick Corwin and
Dick Peinert and the associate
agents for their continuing efforts
with the Alumni Fund. Rob’s
team recorded 54 percent participation, an admirable achievement
in such a tough economy. That’s
it for this edition. Keep the news
and notes coming, and stay well
and in touch.
1970
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Jeffrey R. Krull
3017 Oak Borough Run
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
[email protected]
I got a nice update from Bill
Lawson. Bill enjoys spending
time at the family’s home in
Charlevoix, Mich. They have a
place on Lake Charlevoix with
all the toys—Sea Doo, sailboat
and powerboat. Retirement has
been good for Bill. Early on
he went to Indiana University
and graduated with a master’s
in social work, spent a year
working with people with
chemical addictions—alcohol,
crack, cocaine, marijuana—
and saw how devastating these
illnesses are. He also worked in
an elementary school in a very
poor area of Indianapolis that
had a number of homeless and
Latino children and found it
difficult not to get emotionally
involved with their situations.
He was able to use the Spanish
he learned at Williams with the
children and their families. Of
recent activities, Bill reports,
“We traveled to St. Bart’s for
10 days in 2008 and returned
for two weeks this year. We also
traveled to Palm Desert and La
Jolla. My grad school roommate from University of Virginia
Business School (Darden) 1972
has a second home in Lake
Toxaway, N.C. We visited him
and his family several times last
year and fell in love with the
area. We are now the proud
owners of Lake Toxaway
mountain property with a great
view into South Carolina with
the hopes of maybe someday building a home there. I
continue to serve on the boards
of the Crossroads Council of
the Boy Scouts of America and
the Indianapolis Civic Theatre.
We have become empty nesters
except for two dogs and a kitty.
Fortunately both of our sons live
in Indianapolis as well as my
wife’s parents. We are all able
to see one another on a regular
basis.”
Carri and Gerry Stoltz spent a
very nice weekend in Al Twaits’
house in Ponte Vedra, Fla.,
even though he was only there
for a short while. Buckets also
had a great time at a lunch
with Harvey Levin, Rob Hershey,
Charlie Ebinger, Paul Miller and
Pat Bassett. All appear to have
“barely” aged. Our venerable
veep also had breakfast with
Bob Bearman, who is now the
managing partner of the Denver
office of Patton Boggs.
Hill Hastings is still enjoying
the practice of hand and upper
extremity surgery and teaching.
Last September he and Bettie
celebrated their 30th anniversary
with a two-and-a-half-week
trip to Mongolia with friends,
where they experienced “lots
of incredible photography,
fermented mare’s milk, dried
cheese and goat! Spent a few
days with Kazakh Eagle hunters
in the northwest and took in a
great Nadam festival near the
Siberian Border. As travel goes
in Mongolia—great hospitality,
long days and lots of unexpected
‘happenings’ (flight delays,
vehicle breakdowns, etc.) all
part of normal life. Our younger
daughter, Laurel, will be heading
CL ASS
NOTES
to DC to begin medical school
next August. She and we are
excited! Peiper continues with
her pilates studio in Telluride,
Colo.”
Margie Ware wants to tell
us about her granddaughters:
“David and Jenny Ware produced two gorgeous ‘sororal’
twins on Feb. 4 at Sibley
Hospital in DC. For those of
you who have never had twins
in the family, it is quite the
logistical challenge. Bob and
I went down to DC in March
after Jenny’s mom had left. Bob
did all the grocery shopping and
cooking and an amazing share
of diaper changing and soothing. I hung around and read
books, LOL. Of course they
are the most beautiful children
ever born and definitely above
average. The battle of collegiate
wearing apparel has already
started among Bob, Margie
and Aunt Kristi Hansen Smith
’95, Margie (Mount Holyoke
’71), David (Dartmouth ’98)
and Jenny (Duke ’98). Probably
the elder Hansens will weigh
in with something from their
alma mater in Boulder soon. In
retaliation they’ll probably go to
Amherst, Brown or UNC.”
I received word from the
Alumni Office of the deaths
of two classmates. This is not
exactly the latest information,
as you will see from the dates.
Apparently the College just
recently learned of these deaths.
Robin Whittlesey, Aug. 15, 1999;
Benson Platt, April 8, 2006.
Ty Tuttle was back in the States
for a week in March to celebrate
the 90th birthday of his father
John Tuttle ’42. Otherwise, Ty
says he’s working harder than
ever trying to compensate for
Wall Street doing its best to
demolish all thoughts of an
eventual retirement and getting
away to Normandy as often
as possible. The Tuttles’ son
Jean-Philippe just got engaged;
marriage planned for 2011.
Reports of retirements are not
making Bruce Michelson envious.
Far from it, as he reports, “Me,
I’m hoping to stay in this game
for a while longer, not because
we’re broke (well, there’s that
too) but also because I’m finally
reaching a point where I think
I know what I’m doing as a
teacher and a scholar. Also, next
year will be the centennial of
Mark Twain’s demise, and as the
president of that author-society
I’m getting too many gigs to
allow impure thoughts about
kicking back. Our daughter
In March, (from left) Rob Brokaw ’69, Joe McCurdy III ’04 and Joe
McCurdy ’70 gathered for a round of golf at the European Club in
Wicklow, Ireland.
Hope is getting married in July
in Ithaca—a classic Cornell
Rebel Alliance—and showing up
there, and doing exactly what
I’m told, will provide most of
the real fun this summer.”
A business trip took Jay Nelson
to Austin, so he arranged to
have lunch with Mark Lyon.
“Nothing much to report,” he
says, “we just caught up on
careers and family. We agreed
that we’d had a good time
and to get together again the
first chance we have. Teaching
Winter Study with Tom Sweeney
and Bob Groban was fun, as
always, and we had a talented
group of students. But the
Obama administration’s shift
in policy on ‘enemy combatant’
status mooted the case that was
the subject of the course, so for
the second time in four years,
we missed the opportunity to see
how close to the real outcome
the student ‘court’ came. We
hope to do it again in ’11.”
I got word from the Alumni
Office that Randy Knispel is on
the “lost list.” So if anybody has
heard from Randy or knows his
whereabouts, let me know and
I’ll turn him in to the authorities. Rod Titcomb is not lost, but
you might think he is if you try
to reach him at his old e-mail
address. Here’s his new one:
[email protected].
Lee Own is a proud new
grandpa! Samuel Ernest Perry
was born March 20 to Lee’s
younger daughter Abbie. He’ll
no doubt get considerable pressure from the get-go to head for
Brown (Abbie and her husband
are both graduates), but Lee
and Aunt Jessie Owen Kostelnik
’99, will make their case for
Williams when the time is right.
Young Sam reportedly demonstrates remarkable brilliance
and athletic ability already. His
uncle, Lee’s son Sam (Colby ’04)
happened to be in Providence
at the time of little Sam’s birth,
unexpectedly.
After reading the last installment of class notes, Skip Kotkins
felt compelled to write and add
something. Skip writes: “Pat
Bassett indicated that he wanted
to work three more years, and
his board talked him into five.
Lemme give it to you from the
standpoint of his board, on
which it is my honor to serve.
Pat has become the proverbial
‘force to be reckoned with’
in independent pre-collegiate
education. He always was
such a force, but as president
of the National Association of
Independent Schools, he has
become that rare beacon that is
universally respected, admired
and listened to. Despite telecommuting from Colorado four
months a year, Pat is virtually
everywhere at once. I had the
pleasure of introducing him one
time and said, ‘If you want to
hear it from the horse’s mouth,
when it comes to independent
education, this is the horse.’ It
is impossible to overstate the
impact he has had on the association he leads and the ‘industry’
he champions. The good news is
that my term on the board will
be over before it becomes necessary to find his successor. While
nothing is impossible, I am really
glad that someone else will have
to tackle that task.”
Well, my virtual mailbag was
n 1 9 7 0 –7 1
a little “light” this time, so that’s
it for now. Keep those newsy
updates coming, friends.
1971
Scott Simundza
579 Sagamore Ave., Unit 102
Portsmouth, NH 03801
[email protected]
A few classmates nudged me
further into the 21st century by
sending Facebook inquiries, so I
signed up. It’s sobering to log-on
and be told that “You have
two friends,” but now I know
that George Ebright is a fellow
long-suffering Cubs fan, and he
teaches English at the high school
where my parents met. And
George has lots of friends.
Kent Rude has friends, too, and
is good to his mother: “I went
to Guatemala this February with
my mother in honor of her 80th.
She wanted to go, so I said, ‘Why
not?’ I met her in Houston, we
flew to Guatemala City and had
a big time touring various Mayan
sites (Copan, Tikal, Quirigua,
pronounced kitty-wa according to our guide,) Lake Atitlan,
colonial capital of Antigua, etc.
It was inexpensive (cheaper
to fly to Guatemala than to
STL), interesting, great weather.
Amazing old rum … wish I
could get some here. I also met
old (truly) high school friends
in PHX for the NCAA Western
Regionals (UCONN, Mizzou,
Memphis State, Purdue), plus a
Cactus League game (Rockies
vs. Mariners) in honor of our
collective 60th birthdays. I voted
for the new Dodgertown (not
for Mannywood!) but was overruled. I’m originally from CO as
those with long memories may
recall. I also saw Roger Widmer
and family for dinner this spring.
Tom Jones and wife and daughter
were in Boston cementing
Kailin’s choice for high school in
the US of A, and we met them
for dinner.”
Another gathering of ancient
Ephs was reported by John
Chambers: “Three from ’71
(totaling nearly 180 years of
age) lit up a Westchester County
restaurant on an early spring
night—Peter Clarke got out his
guitar, Paul Lieberman took notes
for his next screenplay, John
Chambers served as witness and
sing-along leader. Peter forgot
to leave his open guitar case
on the floor to collect tips, but
otherwise it was a delight not
only to your classmates, but
(most of) the other patrons as
well. Oh, and we spent some
time over dinner, before the
guitar came out, puzzling over
the same age-appropriate issues
that must preoccupy most of our
classmates—tending to aging
parents or energetic grandchildren, our own or our partners’
ailments, and how to sustain
ourselves in this economy while
simultaneously justifying our
places on the planet. Flanked
by two religion majors, I took
some comfort in the springtime
of Obama, and the Captain
Lawrence Ale (locally brewed
by my son’s only middle school
classmate now doing what he
vowed back in seventh grade).
So we beat on, boats against the
current.
One of the above revelers, Paul
Lieberman, wrote some verse to
sum up a potential concern of
many of us this year: “Many
people I know/ Are turning 60/
Between you and me/ It ain’t
nifty.” Not exactly a haiku, but I
can’t disagree with the content.
Jim Lavine is at it again,
racking up more accolades as
an attorney in Houston. In
February Jim was elected first
VP of the National Association
of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Jim has prior experience as
a prosecutor in Chicago and
Houston and is a member of
the bar in Illinois and Texas. He
holds degrees from Williams,
Illinois Institute of Technology
and Kent College of Law.
Congratulations to Jim for
adding this appointment to his
numerous awards for professional excellence!
A quick note from the
still-gainfully-employed Wally
Schlech: “I saw Steve Brown in
Philly for a drink and hope[d] to
golf with him in June. Wally was
dealing with swine flu … at one
of our local schools—hopefully
no further spread but doubt it!”
In the previous edition of
class notes, Denman Maroney
discussed his productive year
of CD releases, and he said he
would be in an upcoming issue
of Downbeat. I happen to be a
subscriber and can report that
Denman was profiled in the
May issue. In the article, he
explains his unusual technique
of playing the inside of the
piano, and he previews upcoming projects, including a song
cycle based on William Butler
Yeats’ lyric poems. There is
also a nice picture of Denman,
although the magazine put
Diana Krall on the cover for
some reason.
Another artist continuing to
pursue creative projects is Gordon
Clapp: “I am in negotiations with
Kevin O’Rourke ’78 to participate
in the Williams Summer Theatre
Lab. After 30 years of consideration I’ve finally managed to
bring about a one-man evening
with Robert Frost (Frost himself
is unavailable so it would be I
as Robert Frost) for the stage.
The playwright Andy Dolan and
I will work on it for a few days
prior to an Aug. 7 performance.
Negotiations involve whether
or not I get my own bathroom
in the shared house. Kevin is a
tougher negotiator than Steven
Bochco, but I’m sure it will all
work out. On April 11 I attended
the Red Sox’s thrilling comefrom-behind victory over the
Los Angeles Angels of Santa Ana
Adjacent Anaheim as a guest of
Hilary Barraford ’00, who was
recently appointed Mayor of Red
Sox Nation Los Angeles.”
Sporting events were again the
backdrop of my own encounters
with classmates last spring. The
annual Celtics game with Doug
Pickard, Gene Bauer, Kent Rude
and Roger Widmer took place
in February with the usual pregame dinner, followed this time
by a victory for the first time in
a while. Kent was just back from
Guatemala, Gene was heading
to Paris, and Doug was going
to Middlebury to support the
Williams basketball team in the
NESCAC playoffs. In April, during a brief trip to the homeland,
I met John Caddell and his daughter Katie at Wrigley Field for a
bratwurst and a Cubs victory.
John survived the recent megalayoff at IBM. Katie, who lives
in Chicago, got her MSW from
Loyola a couple of years ago and
is an early childhood specialist.
I got a nice letter from Bob
Edmunds after reporting on his
re-election to the N.C. Supreme
Court: “Since I didn’t graduate
with the class, I feel rather like
the proverbial fish out of water,
SENDPHOTOS
W
illiams People accepts
photographs of alumni
gatherings and events. Please
send photos to Williams
magazine, P.O. Box 676,
Williamstown, Mass.
01267-0676. High-quality
digital photos may be
e-mailed to alumni.review@
williams.edu.
CL ASS
NOTES
but I have an Eph’s heart. I keep
on the credenza in my office a
porcelain purple cow from the
Williams Co-op that I gave my
mother during our freshman
year. When my colleagues visit,
they look at it and then they look
at me, but no one says anything.
There were only three of us from
North Carolina in the class. Rives
Kistler wound up as a justice on
the Oregon Supreme Court, and
Bill Massengale practices law
just down the road in Chapel
Hill. He and I occasionally get
together with my old entrymate,
Steve Demorest (Sage C), and
Bill’s law partner Marilyn Ozer
(Vassar ’69) to eat lunch and tell
lies. We all look like we’re in our
early 30s. I also keep in touch
with my roommate Rod Brown,
who is a commercial litigator in
Manhattan. Williams was a great
place, quite an experience for this
southern boy.”
In the briefest of notes, Dan
Hunt announces a happy family event: He and Jodie are
proud that daughter Lexie ’09
graduated from Williams in June.
Along that line, I’d like to report
that I’m the proud parent of Julia
Simundza, who graduated from
Wheaton in May and will enter a
doctoral program in immunology
at NYU this fall.
Finally, many of you may be
aware of the death of Hamilton
(Toby) Wood ’72 this past winter.
Toby, who was originally in
our class, died in a kayaking
accident near the Isles of Shoals,
just off the New Hampshire
coast. David Sobel delivered a
eulogy at the memorial service,
describing a mutual love of the
outdoors shared throughout a
40-year friendship. In David’s
words, “I will live his kindness,
his generosity, his enthusiasm, his
one-hell-of-a good-dadness, his
love of the cold, ragged edge, and
in that way, he will be with me.”
1972
Jim Armstrong
600 W. 115th St.
New York, NY 10025
David Webster
596 Arbor Vitae Road
Winnetka, IL 60093
[email protected]
Our most recent class notes
were accompanied by Gregg
Peterson’s November 1971
photograph of the origin of “The
Walk” up Spring Street after the
now-customary defeat of the
Amherst football team on Weston
Field. Let the record show that
other classmates whose faces but
not jersey numbers are visible
in the photograph are John Dier,
Les Croland, Jack Curtin and Bob
Rutkowski.
Co-secretary Webster heard
from several classmates, including
Stan Widger, who was in Chicago
for a partners meeting of his law
firm. Stan has practiced with
Nixon Peabody in Rochester,
N.Y., for his entire career, a rare
accomplishment these days. Stan
reports that Mary is well. David
Spadafora is preparing for the
Library of Congress’ Bicentennial
Abraham Lincoln exhibit, “With
Malice Toward None,” scheduled
to be on display this fall at
Chicago’s Newberry Library, of
which he is president. It is one
of only five locations outside
DC where the exhibit will be on
display. Bob Gordon, busy with
his Senate duties in Trenton,
closed on the sale of his longtime
residence in Fair Lawn, N.J., and
is now completing renovations of
his and Gail’s new home, also in
Fair Lawn. Kevin Sweeney is busy
with his duties as chair of the
history department at Amherst,
which of necessity cuts into his
time available for research.
Carol and Will Thorn were in
the U.S. on scheduled leave from
Will’s post in Moscow with
the U.S. Commercial Service.
They attended daughter Julia’s
graduation from Johns Hopkins
(with honors in cognitive science;
she will be applying to medical school while working this
upcoming year at one of the
Hopkins hospitals). Will expected
to return to Russia at the end
of June in time for the Moscow
Embassy’s Independence Day
celebration (which he describes as
an annual highlight for the U.S.
community in Moscow) and also
in time for President Obama’s
visit.
Doug Stiles was in the news
in February as the great-greatgrandson of Jonathan Dillon,
a watchmaker, whose secret
inscription on the inside of a
watch owned by Abraham
Lincoln was finally revealed
at a ceremony at the National
Museum of American History.
The inscription, which reads in
part, “Fort Sumter was attacked
by the rebels” and “thank
God we have a government,”
was made by Dillon on April
13, 1861. Doug contacted the
museum and was the one chosen
to open the watch. The story was
reported in newspapers around
the globe.
The Williams Bisexual, Gay,
Lesbian and Transgender Alumni
association (BiGLATA) presented
an award at its May reunion
in Williamstown to Dan Pinello
“for his work as a student on
campus, through his coming-out
story published in the Williams
Advocate in 1971, and for all
his work and writings on behalf
of the LGBT community since
he graduated.” Current association president Teddy Welsh ’95
reports that it was a joyful occasion and that Dan brought along
a few copies of the Advocate
containing his memorable article.
Dan’s article was included in an
anthology of the College’s most
significant documents over its
first 200 years.
Shortly before the closing date
of the previous class notes, we
received notice of the death of
two members of our class, Toby
Wood and Winston Williams.
Since then we have lost another
classmate, Randy McManus. We
devoted a major portion of the
last edition to the passing of Dave
Shawan. This, alas, is a reality we
will have to come to grips with,
this sudden loss of classmates
while we are all, relatively speaking, still young. It wasn’t easy the
first time it happened many years
ago, and we’re learning the hard
way that it doesn’t get any easier
as the years roll along. Whether
they were close friends or casual
acquaintances or simply names
we recall dimly from a class or
a freshman entry, they were our
classmates, and their absence
creates a void for us, individually
and collectively.
Toby Wood was an English
major and lived in Gladden
House. After Williams he
received his master’s in social
work. At the time of his death he
had been working for a number
of years as a school social worker
in the Kearsarge, N.H., Regional
School District. Prior to that he
was a child and family therapist,
first at a community medical center and then in private
practice. Toby’s obituary in the
Concord Monitor referred to his
“natural exuberance, spontaneity
and outgoing personality.” He
loved all children but especially
his sons, David and Brooks.
He enjoyed music and was an
enthusiastic acoustic guitarist,
notably during summer visits
with his family to Star Island off
the coast of New Hampshire.
His wife Lisa Eberhart wrote to
tell us of Toby’s great love of the
outdoors and of his trips with
friends to wilderness areas of
n 1 9 7 1 –7 2
Labrador, British Columbia and
the Yukon. Toby was a hiker, a
Nordic and alpine skier, a winter
camper, a cyclist and a yearround sea-kayaker. Sadly, he died
while kayaking off his beloved
Isles of Shoals.
Jim Williams ’63, the brother of
Win Williams, provided us with
information about Win, who
matriculated several years ahead
of us but returned to graduate
with our class. When he came
back to finish college, he was
married and lived off campus. He
majored in English and regarded
the late Prof. Clay Hunt as the
quintessence of a teacher. Win
attended Andover and was a star
athlete there; he played lacrosse
at Williams. He lived much of
his life after college in Winthrop,
Mass., and he is survived by his
mother, Jim and another brother.
Jim says that Win’s avocations—
which included art, cartooning
and photography—defined him
with greater clarity than his
vocations. A Williams friend
remembers Win’s great love of
art and has said of him: “He was
the most talented person I ever
met. He chose a more quiet life,
but he was someone who could
do everything, and I miss him
very much.”
Randy McManus died on April
12 while visiting friends in
Florida. Stuart Dornette roomed
with Randy at Bryant House
and was among those who
spoke at his funeral in Corpus
Christi, Texas. Stuart writes:
“Professionally, Randy helped
grow Baker Botts’ DC office
from the handful of attorneys
he joined out of the University
of Houston Law School in
1975 to well over 100 lawyers
today. Randy had been directly
involved in hiring and training
many of them, reflecting his
passion to help develop young
lawyers. A former head of
Baker Botts’ Energy Regulatory
Practice Group, he was a leading
expert in U.S. energy regulatory
policy, appearing often before
the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission and the Public
Utility Commissions of Texas
and California. Chambers, a
London-based evaluator of lawyers around the world, rated him
a top-tier energy lawyer.
“Randy was a gentleman in all
senses of the word. He loved fine
wines, architecture, art, design
and dance. His clothes were
impeccably tailored. He always
had the right words to say. And
he was an inveterate correspondent, sending postcards and
carefully chosen birthday cards
to a great collection of friends.
He was deeply interested in those
around him—not only his many
friends and legal associates but
also his friends’ children. At his
funeral, Paul Isaac and his son
Ben ’07 each spoke about his
own special relationship with
Randy from their travels domestically and around the world.
Besides the Isaac family and my
own, others attending the funeral
were John Brewer, Chris West and
his family, John Knapp ’73 and
Duke Bascom ’73.”
The officers of the class have
asked that president Harry
Kangis’ April 19 e-mail message
to classmates be highlighted in
these notes for any who may
have missed it: “Immediate past
president Gregg Peterson and
I have developed some suggested guidelines for how to deal
with future class deaths to (a)
improve the timeliness of news
about these losses to interested
friends, (b) ensure the surviving
families receive as much support
as possible from the Williams
community, and (c) respond in as
consistent a manner as possible
concerning these events. At a
minimum, the class president will
write a letter of condolence to
the spouse or immediate family
on behalf of the class. Second, if
the information is received soon
enough, we will communicate to
all classmates on the e-mail list
server about details of planned
services and any memorials. We
will send flowers on behalf of
the class, funded by our residual
reunion funds, to the family
unless we learn that classmates
will attend, in which case we
will let them determine the best
response. As in the past, we
will also provide details in the
next class notes. The College
will continue to offer honorary
membership in the Society of
Alumni to surviving spouses and
partners. Accordingly, I have
written on our behalf to Dave
Shawan’s sister, Toby Hamilton’s
wife, and Randy McManus’ parents. Should you wish to contact
any of these families, send me an
e-mail ([email protected]), and I
will provide their address.
“Since speed and accuracy are
so important in situations like
this, please help us by contacting
me immediately if you hear of
a classmate’s death, the ensuing
arrangements, or any contact
information. Getting in touch
with close mutual friends and
former roommates or teammates
has also proved to be valuable in
these recent cases.”
Barnaby Feder recently wrote to
a classmate about his experiences
as a student at Drew Theological
School following his departure
from The New York Times. With
his permission, here are excerpts:
“To my surprise, [daughter]
Mattie ended up choosing
Williams and is very excited
about it. She got so carried
away at the admitted students’
orientation sessions (Michele
took her because I was tied up
at Drew) that she almost signed
up for an a cappella group,
even though she can’t sing; did
sign up for the band, although
she hasn’t touched her clarinet
in four years; and even put her
name on the Young Republicans
list, ‘because the guy looked so
lonely.’
“Anyway, I’ll now have a great
excuse to go up there, even if I
have no time. The only way I’ve
found to handle the maximum
load at Drew (five courses per
semester) is basically to work on
academics nearly all weekend as
well as during the week. It’s been
incredibly stimulating, though,
and I enjoy the interchanges
that result from being the only
Unitarian Universalist among
the Christians (we do have one
Moravian/Buddhist working on
a PhD in my class). I am spending the summer in the clinical
pastoral education program at
Hackensack University Medical
Center—basic chaplaincy
training.”
Kudos to Jerry Carlson for
winning an Emmy. The twicemonthly series Nueva York,
which Jerry produces in Spanish
for CUNY TV (channel 75; the
program has English subtitles)
received the award as the Best
Magazine Show in New York.
Since 2005, the program has
examined the lives and cultures
of Latinos in New York and
has presented information
about events, exhibits, services,
performances and institutions
available to residents, along with
interviews of community and
national leaders.
Each year Williams honors
several of its employees on the
SENDNEWS!
Y
class notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
anniversaries of their starting date with the College. The
incomparable Jim Kolesar was
feted on his 25th anniversary
with the College. Jim’s work at
the Williams Office of Public
Affairs speaks for itself—it
would be hard to find a betterrun operation anywhere. Our
congratulations go to Jim.
In his role as classmate, not
president, Harry Kangis writes:
“Had a delightful dinner with
Chuck Hyle while in Cleveland
in May. Chuck is currently vice
chair for KeyBank; needless to
say that job has been a bit different from what anyone would
have expected a few years back
when he and Charlene came to
Ohio. Chuck’s Obama-like calm
in a crisis will serve him well in
this gig. I was in Cleveland to
attend a board meeting for the
Ohio Nature Conservancy, where
I was elected chair for the next
two years. Our primary focus is
shifting to what we call ‘thriving
waters,’ given that Ohio borders
the Great Lakes (containing 20
percent of the surface fresh water
on the planet) and the Ohio
River, which is the largest feeder
to the Mississippi River system.
We were an important player in
getting the Great Lakes Compact
passed in 2008, which prohibits
anyone from selling Great Lakes
water outside the region (without
approval from all the adjoining
states and Canadian provinces),
which was actually on the
drawing board in a number of
quarters before this legislation.”
The 35th annual softball game
over the Memorial Day weekend
found several classmates, spouses
and others together on Cole Field
and elsewhere in Williamstown.
One source mentions a disturbing trend toward the use of
ringers (typically passed off as
dates of the children or even
grandchildren of our classmates
in attendance) to pummel some
of the ’72 starters, but as always
it appears that a good time was
had by all. Of particular distinction was the play of Eric Reeves,
more than holding his own as a
pitcher and left fielder; Eric has
not missed a single game in all
35 years. The group’s highest
award was renamed the “Ford
Williams Memorial Golden
Glove Award,” which was this
year fittingly awarded to Ford’s
son-in-law Tim Earle. The
group included Dori Jacobson,
Tom Howley, Gil Birnie, Chip and
Michele Moeller Chandler, Pam
McCarthy ’73, Charles “Red”
Jeffrey ’69, Bob Wiley (former
crew coach), John Rosenquest ’71
and Paul Grogan. Paul, a former
trustee of the College, ensured
the presence of a vital and
historically sometimes absent
item at the festivities: a key to the
otherwise locked restrooms.
Co-secretary Webster has
recently spent time looking
into family genealogy, and he
reports that if the rest of the
class does not display more vigor
and creativity in submitting
information for the class notes,
he fully intends to devote large
portions of future class notes to
detailed accounts of his ancestry,
sprinkled with witticisms of
his own creation. For now,
suffice it to say that his seven
times great-grandmother Mary
Perkins Bradbury was convicted
of witchcraft in Salem, Mass.,
in 1692 and sentenced to death,
which will come as no surprise
to former members of Bascom
House. Fortunately—and this
was unusual—she was exonerated on appeal and released.
Presumably, she had one heck of
an appellate lawyer, and David is
now exploring whether ancestors
of John Enteman practiced in
New England in the 1690s.
These notes have mentioned
the Class of 1972 e-mail list
server for receiving and communicating news about classmates.
To gain access, be sure your
e-mail information is up to date
in Williamstown. Please send
it to: bio-records@williams.
edu, or to Sue Anderson at
[email protected].
Be sure to indicate your affiliation with the Class of 1972.
1973
Cole Werble
2540 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Apt. 204
Washington, DC 20008
[email protected]
My brief e-mail solicitation
asking ’73 Ephs for clever uses
of bailout money and reports on
college graduations elicited some
lively responses.
Dede Gottlhelf had the most
“inn-ovative” idea: She quickly
offered her inn on “20 acres on
the waterfront in the town of
Southampton, N.Y., with lots
of job creation, tax ratables,
economic multiplier effect and
good will development” to
anyone with excess TARF or
TARP funds. Dede, who has run
the Southampton Inn since 1998,
asked anyone with excess bailout
funds to “please be in touch.”
She even offers to “dedicate that
book that I haven’t written yet to
Williams ’73.” Dede is doing her
part to introduce the next generation of Ephs to the innkeeping
business. She reports having “an
Eph ’09 joining in June to assist
in running an inn and restaurant.” She also suggests that the
class consider an off-calendar
reunion at some point at the inn.
Dede is clearly good at hospitality and keeping up with Eph
connections. She reports recently
going to the theater with Connie
Rudnick Grayson and lunching
with Steve Huage’s sister.
No news from Steve Hauge
directly, but his family seems
to be playing an important role
holding together ’73. Janet Brown
writes that exiting Starbucks on
a mid-May Sunday morning she
“met a most charming dog waiting for his owner who turned
out to be Steve Hauge’s sisterin-law.” The dog carried the
impressive dog-tag: Marco Polo
Hauge. Janet also keeps up with
two-legged Eph contacts. She
socialized with her roommates
Katie Jacobs Eyre and Ellen Gill
Miller in DC in May. Katie was in
town with her husband Bob Eyre
’71 to see their granddaughter
Zoe, born to two ’00 Ephs (Peter
and Becca Eyre). Zoe is clearly a
Zo-eph with Eph genes on both
sides, two generations back.
Janet also reports the discovery of a trove of photographic
history of ’73 in the effects of
Randy McManus ’72, who passed
away in April. Stuart Dornette
’72, has uncovered the treasures
in the bittersweet experience of
going through Randy’s Williams
materials. Janet says “a photo
from Randy’s 30th birthday
celebration features John Knapp,
Duke Bascom, Stuart and yours
truly, performing a musical
number.” Janet expresses relief
that there were no cyber-postings
in 1980. With that group, I’m
glad there were no recordings:
the sound had to be worse than
the pictures.
Janet and Patricia Demeroff
are starting an effort to resurrect
some languishing forms of civility for younger Ephs. She and Pat
are conducting a “missed manners” tutorial for current students. “I’d finally had it,” Janet
observes, “with e-mails from
19-year-old complete strangers,
even if they are Ephs, asking
for job advice that start ‘Hey.’”
Hey, sounds to me like a good
way to start improving modern
life. (Steve Harty, please note: At
least one of the Class of ’73 who
n 1 9 7 2 –7 4
have served on the Eph board
is good at sending personal
news. That’s a challenge to you:
Send some news for the notes as
writing to your classmates for
annual giving—as worthwhile an
endeavor as that is.)
The Eph ’73 crusading spirit
to improve the quality of dayto-day life also infuses Julie
Kaufman, who reports that her
wardrobe consulting practice
“has been growing, mainly from
seminars that I give to individuals and companies on how to
choose clothes that will make
each of us look our best and on
appropriate attire for various
business situations.” That must
be tough in the current sartorial
era and doubly hard when the
only colors that a true Eph can
recommend are purple and
gold. Julie arrived at her new
counseling through an MBA and
a long career in market research
consulting for medical products
companies. She has probably
seen her share of unwise wardrobe choices during that time.
Julie was also one of several
classmates to take up my request
for graduation news. Her
younger son graduated from
Davidson, where she ran into
Bill Mahoney, who is chair of
the religion department and an
expert on Hinduism, perhaps a
testament to the lasting impact of
the Williams-in-India program.
Di Strickler also answered the
call reporting that her son Will
graduated from the University of
Florida in May and then headed
off to play in the NCAA regional
golf championships. He may
continue his post-graduate golf
competitions: Di says he is preparing to “pursue a professional
golf career.” Di’s older daughter
Maggie is married, living in
Charlottesville and navigating
through the bank merger era as a
Wachovia employee.
Jay Nawrocki’s elder daughter Julia ’09 graduated from
Williams in June—a definite loss
to the athletic department: A
four-year stalwart on the lacrosse
and field hockey teams, Julia
was selected for a Div. III all-star
team after graduation.
Larry Heiges did not have a
graduate this year; but, picking
up on the TARP motif to this
round of notes, he expressed
regret that his son and daughter
will have to wait several more
tuition years. “Haven’t received
TARP funds—but my balance
sheet needs them,” Larry says.
He expects a graduation at
Dartmouth in 2010 (Max) and
2013 at Bates (Jessica). He notes
an Eph connection at Bates,
where Wiley Mitchell is dean of
admission and occasionally overlooks the connection to 1973
Williams to allow in deserving
candidates. Larry left the “Wall
Street treadmill” in 2001 and
has been coaching high school
freshman football in the northern
California area and proving that
aging Ephs don’t go mildly into
advanced years by being a “spin
instructor.” The poor economy is
driving Larry off the stationary
bike and back to the workforce
to open a West Coast office for
Empire Valuations.
Chris Zook also had a graduate
this year, his younger son. Chris
writes from Amsterdam, where
he and his wife Donna are restoring a 1660-built canal house near
the Rijksmuseum. Chris continues to work for Bain & Co. and
“write a business book every
couple of years for Harvard
Press.” In addition to adjusting
to the older housing stock on the
other side of the pond, he is also
adjusting to the different travel
opportunities: “Last weekend
in Istanbul.” Chris graciously
extends an offer: “If anyone is in
the Netherlands, don’t hesitate
to let us know and stop by for a
drink overlooking the canals.”
Field Horne ran into ex-pat
David Hill, who is teaching and
researching tropical diseases at
University College Hospital and
living in St. Albans. Field reports
that David had a daughter graduating at Williams this spring.
Field also reports getting together
with Johnson Howard and Tony
Parisi for a sadder event, the
funeral for Dave Wilder’s mother.
It’s clear that the class remains
connected through the years and
distances.
1974
Jonathan W. Fitch
5 Cedar Hill Road
Dover, MA 02030
[email protected]
Our 35th reunion was a grand
event. If you were not there,
you were missed, and chances
are that you were talked about.
Special recognitions go to Bruce
Beehler, Paul Owens and JoAnne
Talbot Ginsberg, all first-time
reunion attendees. Those other
57 of the Great Class of ’74 who
represented us all, brought great
spouses and kids and comported
themselves, er, pretty well,
included: Mike Adams; Donny
Allison; Gene Berg with Margaret
Post and kids Eli and Ansley;
John Bonn; Mary Lou Boutwell;
Patricia and Hiram Brett; Mark
Brown and Hope Coolidge ’75;
Paula and Steve Broydrick; Steve
Carter-Lovejoy; Cheryl and Chris
Corson; Jack Dill; Kathy and
Tom Douglas; Tom Dunn; Audrey
and Jeff Elliott; William Finn;
me and Debra Fitch; Cynthia
and Stephen Frazier and son
Andrew; Margie Kessler French;
Ray Henze; Dave Holzworth; Peter
and Wendy Hopkins ’72; Jeff
Johnson and Hy Conrad; Bob
Kaus; Janny and Jon Kravetz and
son Jacob ’10; Valerie and Bob
Laidlaw and daughter Grace;
Richard Langlois; Dave Lehman;
Mathew Levine; Carol and Rich
Levy; Ned Miller; Yvonne and
Chuck Mitchell and adorable
toddler Julia; Rob and Nancy
Moore (daughter Sarah ’09 led
us in the parade); Ed Moss; Dick
Nesbitt; Jeff Niese; Mike Parker;
Bob Patterson; Randall Perkins;
Paul Reilly; Jimmy Rodgers; Bob
Rothman; Jim Samenfeld-Specht;
Shaura and Phil Shands and kids
Adam and Rachel; Judy and
Bruce Sheehan; Marty Singer and
Nancy Robertson; Kitty and
Tom Slattery; Grace Paine Terzian;
Jeff Thaler; Rick Unger; Wendy
Whistin; Harvey White; Jann
Williams; David and Iris Wolinsky;
and, not least, Toph Wuthmann
and son Walter. Where to begin?
This year proved that it pays
to be an early arrival. A large
number got into the swing of
the weekend at a barbecue on
Thursday night hosted by Jeff
Johnson and Hy Conrad at their
beautiful hilltop home in Pownal.
Inclement weather did not dull
the enthusiasm of reconnecting
with old (nay, long-standing)
friends, as a record-setting crowd
of about 50 people gathered to
reminisce, exchange current news
and whereabouts, and dine on
the culinary delights prepared by
Chef Peter Hopkins. The Thirsty
Throng regaled President Jeff
Thaler in celebration of his 60th
birthday (as host Jeff Johnson
said: “Someone in our class
had to turn 60 first—it might as
well be you!”) The next morning Bruce Beehler presented a
fascinating and well-attended
lecture, “Thirty Years Exploring
Lost Worlds in New Guinea,”
at the ’62 Center for Theatre
and Dance. Bruce spoke about
experiences from his 40-odd
trips to remote regions of New
Guinea, including the chance
discovery of the world’s first
known poisonous bird and many
new species, and themes from his
CL ASS
NOTES
new book Lost Worlds (Yale).
Friday evening we all rallied
at Tyler, where after cocktails
and dinner, President Jeff Thaler
superintended a trivia contest,
the first part involving a handout
with impossible questions about
our class experiences 1970-74.
Example: Of the 345 freshmen, which wrote in the Oct.
13, 1970, Williams Record the
following statement and what
was he complaining about? “The
royal pimp job of the century
was executed against the freshmen this past weekend.” (It was
Will Luedke, and his complaint
concerned a botched mixer.) The
second part of the contest was an
auditory test (Jeff manipulating
a remote control for his boom
box), challenging our ability to
identify artists and pieces—stuff
we know but can’t remember—
from those years that were (can
it possibly be disputed?) the
Golden Age of Rock and Rock.
We are getting very, very old,
(as confirmed by Jeff Johnson’s
Class Survey discussed below),
a trait confirmed by the Class of
’74’s high level of participation
in the alumni parade and annual
meeting on Saturday. The Class
of ’04, which won a couple of
awards for the highest rate of
attendance for the weekend, was
barely visible Saturday morning.
I won’t dwell on the obvious
reasons for the discrepancy.
Several of our number played
prominent roles and were
honored. Our College trustee Ray
Henze, who led the search committee that hired President Morty
Schapiro, introduced Morty at
a breakfast of alumni leaders.
Ray’s remarks perfectly summed
up Morty’s remarkable record
and the widely shared gratitude
for his service as the College’s
leader over nine years. But we,
of course, couldn’t help but note
Ray’s extremely effective service
in supporting and implementing President Schapiro’s vision
of educational excellence at
Williams. At the annual meeting, it was announced President
Jeff Thaler was elected Tyng
Bequest administrator. Bill Finn,
our celebrated composer and
playwright, Tony Award-winner
and recipient of the Williams
Bicentennial Medal in 1998,
was presented with the Kellogg
Award. According to the College
website, “The award is named
for James C. Kellogg, a member
of the Class of 1937 who made
his mark in financial circles and
became chairman of the New
York Stock Exchange in 1956.
It is presented each year to a
Williams graduate with a similarly distinguished career.” Past
recipients include such luminaries
as lawyer Norman Redlich ’47,
AOL founder Stephen M. Case
’80 and George M. Steinbrenner
III ’52. (When Bill received the
Bicentennial Medal, he joined
the likes of James M. Burns ’39,
John W. Chandler, Pete Gurney
’52 and Whitney S. Stoddard
’35.) Bill, we stand in awe of the
power of your work, thank you
for it and congratulate you again.
Saturday night at MASS
MoCA was a blast. (Let’s do it
again in five years.) The evening
started with an hourlong guided
tour through galleries displaying works of Anselm Kiefer,
Simon Starling and Sol LeWitt.
The new LeWitt exhibition was
painted and installed according
to LeWitt’s design (and under his
direction, though he died before
it was completed) by students
from Williams and Yale. Dave
Lehman took great photographs
of us roaming around the LeWitt
panels that you can see at the
“Williams ’74 Reunion” page on
Facebook. After the gallery stroll,
we retired to dinner, a tasty meal
(not the usual fare of hamburgers and cookies) which was
served in an elegant setting at the
museum. Always the high point,
Jeff Johnson’s quinquennial
report of the latest Class Survey
was over-the-top, belly-aching
hilarious entertainment, and I
can’t do it justice here. A record
number of the class, 178, completed Jeff’s questionnaire. The
results reported by Jeff include
the “facts” that: 78 percent of us
have been married for 20 years
or more (bravo); we drink at
triple the national average (no
relationship); we are wealthier,
but more of us have been fired;
Meryl Streep is still our favorite
actress; we are less likely than in
past years to kill our pet for $1
million; and 96 percent of us are
“still” straight. In regard to the
last point, Jeff confessed that it
had been his goal as an undergraduate to make 100 percent of
us gay; however, as he critically
surveyed the men in the room,
he announced that he’d had a
change of heart!
Shifting gears here, I also report
a quite poignant moment in the
evening, when Jeff Thaler read an
elegy (posted at our Facebook
page) in memory of those 17
dear classmates of ours who have
died. Jeff also recited their names
in alphabetical order and the
dates of their deaths, as follows:
Vic Abnee, July 25, 2008; Mark
Altemus, Jan. 16, 1999; Libby
Bogel, Sept. 8, 1987; Bart Brown,
Dec. 25, 1980; Alex Carroll,
Dec. 20, 1994; Sarah Crampton,
November 2001; Bill Gibson,
May 6, 1981; Joe Goodman, Feb.
10, 1995; Peter Gundlach, July
4, 1987; Leigh Harris, August
1988; Randy Jensen, Nov. 4,
1979; Emmit Johnson, Jan. 25,
1995; Jim Jontz, April 14, 2007;
Eric Monke, Nov. 18, 2003; Otis
Sanders, Dec. 22, 2000; Frank
Smith, Jan. 15, 2001; and Craig
Virden, May 6, 2009. We were
very grateful to Jeff for drawing
our thoughts to these exceptional people while we were all
together. We miss them. Each
of us had different relationships
with these classmates. When I
consider the sheer talent of the
group as a whole, I am inspired
and also can’t help but consider:
“What if?” A stunning loss, of
course, came in Craig’s death
weeks before the reunion. I have
received a raft of e-mails fondly
remembering Craig as a great
man, brilliant, funny and easy
to be with. Ronnie Kraus, Matty
Levine, Margie French, Annie
and Bill Suda, Bob Stern, Jeff
Elliott, Phil DiMauro and Rich
Levy were among the many of
Craig’s friends from Williams
who attended the memorial
service at St. Peter’s Church in
NYC. Jeff was kind to send
me a copy of the order of the
service; it began with a reading
of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s
poem “Dirge Without Music” by
Craig’s children Emily and Sam.
(“Quietly they go, the intelligent,
the witty, the brave. I know. But
I do not approve. And I am not
resigned.”) We extend our deepest sympathies to Craig’s wife
Nancy (Gallt) ’75, Emily and Sam.
Many, many thanks to those
who worked so well in putting
the reunion together: Jeff Thaler,
Margie French, Chuck Mitchell,
Rich Levy, Jack Dill, Skip March
(golf), and the tireless Wizard of
Ephs Jeff Elliott. Thanks also to
Tom Douglas, Chuck Mitchell and
Iris Wolinsky, who labored as our
head class agents and made sure
that the reunion was a resounding success in terms of the
financial support we continue to
provide to Williams. The next
group of class officers, who were
elected at the reunion are: Fran
Doran, president; Hiram Brett,
VP; Margie French, treasurer;
and yours truly for another
term as secretary (isn’t anyone
else interested in the job?). Fran
was not at the reunion this year
n 1 9 7 4 –7 5
and thus a peculiar tradition,
of which we can be proud but
should also be wary, continues.
Jeff Thaler, who was a superb
president for the last five years
and who masterfully led the
proceedings this year, was not
present at the 30th reunion,
when he was elected president.
Therefore, if you think for one
minute that you can avoid the
40th (June 12-15, 2014), think
again: You may be elected our
next president!
Finally, Gates Blodgett could
not make the reunion (nor could
many others who, like Gates,
have been reliable revelers over
the years), but he sent me an
unlocked secret to share with
you: the words sung by Joe
Cocker in “A Little Help From
My Friends” at Woodstock,
www.elwp.com/Joe%20Cocker.
html. It’s too bad that we didn’t
have this for the Music of Our
College Years trivia contest.
Thanks Gates! I hope that you
all had a great summer. Please
drop me a line. Your classmates
always get a kick out of hearing
from you.
1975
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Allan Ruchman
8 Dandy Drive
Cos Cob, CT 06807
[email protected]
Greetings to all! Michael
Doochin is a man of many facets.
In addition to being co-president
of Interstate Packaging, an
author, certified Healing Touch
practitioner and ethnographic
art collector, Mike has become
an abstract painter in recent
years. In a recent show in the
Nashville area, his work was
described as “traveling to that
space of the subconscious for a
journey of awareness, wholeness and healing.” I can’t even
paint the wood trim work in my
house!
Peter Hanson is “reporting
in alive. Goddamn kids are
grown, flying around at various
altitudes. We’re about to lose
our third, Olivia, to the New
York acting scene. All of them in
New York, and Joan and I are
in Boston, where I am rowing in
entrepreneurial waters in coatings, wood pellets, wind, energy
conservation using materials
and devices. Also rowing still
occasionally at the Union Boat
Club.”
From Naples, Fla., Mike
Watkins reports that his daughter
Rhys will be a first year student
at Williams in the fall. Mike
stays in touch with a gang of ’75
folks around the country and
mentioned seeing an article by
Ted Cox in The New York Times
on immigration. “Pretty cool,”
he says.
Speaking of Ted: “My girls
Celeste, 11, and Hanna, 10, are
pressing me to go to reunion (to
keep up with their friends). We
will be there next year; please
bring your kids. Don’t forget to
visit old profs. Our recent visits
with the Parks and Kurt Tauber
were well worth it.”
Paul Skudder moved from
Schenectady, N.Y., to Falmouth,
Mass. He says, “Despite some
people’s speculation, it’s not
a retirement. I am working in
Falmouth, continuing my career
in vascular surgery. Joanne
and I are looking forward to
continuing old friendships as
well as meeting new friends in
the area.”
Our fearless fundraiser Anton
Bestbreurtje wants “to thank
the more than 250 classmates
who were able to continue to
support Williams in the face of
the daunting economy. It has
enabled the College to continue
to fund need-blind admissions.”
Claire Blum was in contact
recently with Rich Zuflacht and
says, “It is hard to think of
myself and fellow classmates as
definitely middle-aged and facing a big reunion next year!”
Dave Clarke tells us: “I am
retiring from my medical
practice in Portland, Ore., to
work full time teaching health
care professionals and the public
about physical illness caused by
life stresses. There has been a lot
of demand since my book came
out in 2007. I miss the fall colors
in Williamstown and decided
to make my first trip back since
graduation in October.”
Also in life transition is Ellen
Davis. She is relocating from
Connecticut to Beaufort, S.C.,
and overseeing construction of
their new home. “Our community with lots of outdoor activities and nature focus is located
midway between Charleston and
Savannah, has lots of friendly
and engaged people from all
over and sort of reminds me of
Williams, come to think of it!
If anyone is going to be in our
vicinity in coming years 2010
on, once the house is completed,
please let us know.” Ellen also
proudly reports that her son
Chris will be starting his legal
career at Paul, Weiss in NYC
after graduating from Penn Law.
Kurt Hofstra says that he is
“feeling mortal as a result of
having a couple of stents put
in the aging ticker. Son Kris is
starting at Univ. of Vermont law
this fall and plans to specialize in
environmental law.”
“I am still at the World Bank,”
reports Olina Jonas, “now
responsible for coordinating the
response to avian and human
pandemic influenzas. This means
quite a bit of travel; the onset
of H1N1 epidemic caught me
in Laos, where flu in poultry is
an ever-present threat. In April
I supported my husband Geert’s
project by sailing the last leg of
a voyage from Haiti to Florida
in a traditional Haitian fishing
boat.”
The February 2009 issue of
Wired magazine carried a long
article on the search by Dr. Hugh
Reinhoff for the diagnosis for
the serious health problems that
have been at the center of his
5-year-old daughter’s life. The
article says: “Families facing this
kind of medical uncertainty are
often paralyzed by their distress.
But rather than give in to his
anguish, Hugh Reinhoff made
an extraordinary decision: He
would dig into Beatrice’s genetic
code and find the answer himself. A biotechnology consultant
by day, Reinhoff has been an
avid student of clinical genetics
since he earned his medical
degree nearly 30 years ago. Now
he has used this expertise to
transform his Bay Area home
into a makeshift genetics lab.
… He keeps hacking his way
through her genome, mostly
because it’s the only way he
has of feeling some measure of
control over an uncontrollable
situation.”
Virginia Drewry met with
several other classmates and
our hardworking class president
Liz Haff to begin planning our
35th reunion next year. All who
would like to help, get involved
or give some input should be in
touch with Liz: liz_haff@alumni.
williams.edu.
Patty Brown Glenn returned
from an exciting safari in
Tanzania. Son Eliot is a financial
analyst at Christies Art Auction
house in London and daughter Ginny ’07 is getting ready
for graduate school in public
policy. “I am busy with my art
appraisal business, writing a bit
on architecture and volunteering
for a literacy organization that
CL ASS
NOTES
teaches adults to read.” Patty
also hopes to come back for our
big reunion.
From Chicago, Rob Pierce
reports: “Since the Board
of Trade has gone mostly
electronic, we (Cathy and I)
have changed gears to accommodate. We now are involved
in a number of small ventures
as principals. Among these are:
a micro-algae project in Central
America, a bio-blended fuel distribution firm in New York and
an export-import financing firm
here in Chicago. May sound
impressive, but there is currently
more work than money. At least
the day is full!”
Ben Strout from Sydney,
Australia, gives us another
work/life transition story. He
“retired” as executive director of the Australia Council of
the Arts, played some golf, did
some gardening, did a one-week
consultancy with the National
Arts Council of South Africa
and unretired to become general
manager of the Sydney Writers
Festival (www.swf.org.au). Ben
feels he has fulfilled his golf
retirement requirements for the
moment.
My post-Williams housemate Mike Pucillo was in
Williamstown in April to assume
the role of chairman of the
board of the Gaudino Memorial
Trust. Hope Coolidge also serves
on the board. “We are planning
a 35th anniversary get-together
of those who were influenced by
Professor Gaudino in the spring
of 2010. Classmates interested
can contact me (mpucillo@
bermandevalario.com) or just
watch for announcements. The
current Gaudino Scholar, Ed
Burger, has done a fantastic job,
and I look forward to working with him and other board
members.”
We hear from John Cordes: “I
have just opened a solo child
and adolescent psychiatry practice in West Hartford, Conn.
after completing my training
at the Yale Child Study Center
in 2005 and working for three
years at the Institute of Living
in Hartford. It’s taken me all
these years to get the courage
to be my own boss! On a sad
note, my ex-wife passed away
in April due to metastatic breast
cancer, and my two sons (Dave,
age 23, and Will, age 18) and I
are struggling to believe that this
actually happened. I’m doing
my best to support them and
to honor my own complicated
grief.” John, our condolences to
you and your sons.
The always-caffeinated Dean
Cycon writes: “What a busy
spring! … I have been getting in
touch with Williams classmates
through Facebook and beyond
having the time of my life.
Dean’s Beans continues to grow
during this economic trouble,
as people seem to want to buy
things that represent real values
not just marketing hype (great
taste and reasonable prices help,
too!). Some of our Ethiopian
coffee was on the captured
Maersk Alabama but is on its
way here after the ship was
freed. More pirates in my life!”
Continuing the retirement
theme, Chuck Chockel reports
on his, including the “dream
house” in Tucson, Ariz. “We
spent our first winter in Tuscon
this year, and the daily high
ranged from 68 to 88 degrees.
The big decision of each day was
what mix of swimming, biking,
running and golf to mix in with
checking on the house construction and meeting with builders,
contractors and architects.”
Fred Dittman tells me how
lousy the money management
business has been. On the
brighter side, he was cast in the
role of the sergeant of police in
Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of
Penzance. This production will
be in the Philadelphia area at
Westchester Univ. Nov. 18-21.
Fred has been quite active as
member of the alumni board
at Episcopal Academy, helping
facilitate their move to a new
campus for the upper school.
From the Trinity Pawling
School, Ned Reade reflects on the
passage of time: “Memories of
some boys when they were ninth
graders sometimes flood my
mind’s eye as they grow older
and head off to college four
years later. I now have taught
several sons of students, whom
I taught in my first year or two
after Williams!”
In closing, we extend our
condolences to Nancy Gault and
her family on the sudden passing
in early May of her husband
Craig Virden ’74. As expressed
by Alicia Kershaw, “Craig was a
brilliant, literate man” who will
be sorely missed.
Thank you all for your help
and be well. Think about coming to our 35th reunion next
June.
1976
Jane Ray Kell
4 Springlake Place NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
Laurie Taylor
435 Grove St.
Upper Montclair, NJ 07043
[email protected]
Greetings, classmates. I hope
this issue finds you all well and
enjoying the weather. When I
thought about writing this issue
of the class news I knew that I
would be laid up at home, and
I was hoping that I would have
tons of e-mails to read and report
on. I didn’t get as many as I was
hoping for, but I was so happy to
receive the ones I did get.
How many of you remember
Nico Ponsen? Ted Cox received
an update that he passed on to
Jane. Nico is happily married
to Mieke. He has three boys,
20, 23 and 26. One is still living at home while he is in med
school, the eldest is working at
a school, and the middle gent is
a courier for car parts. Nico is
working at Triodos Bank as the
legal and compliance officer. He
has been there for almost three
years. Before Triodos he worked
at the Dutch Financial Markets
Authority (similar to the SEC)
and before then at the Dutch
Central Bank. He has been living
in Amersfoort since January;
previously he lived in Harlem
but had to move since work was
too far away (four hours train
and bike each day). Amersfoort
is pretty much in the center of
Holland. His house dates back
to 1540. From 1540-1900 it was
part of the town prison. Brick
walls a yard thick. He wishes
he had it when the boys were
growing up. The last time he was
at Williams was in 2007 when
he was in the U.S. for a vacation.
He promises to keep the 2011
reunion in mind; he thinks it
would be fun and maybe weird
to see how many people would
show up that he still knows
As for Ted, he has an immigration law practice in New York
with six associates. They focus
on mostly Chinese asylum cases,
appeals and detained aliens. He
says that it is all fun, but long
hours and stressful, so he has
taken up the guitar and started
singing lessons, which he thinks
is a sure sign of a midlife crisis
and early dementia. He is also
busy with Girl Scouts with
his daughters Celeste, 11, and
Hanna, 9. They recently visited
n 1 9 7 5 –7 7
the Tenement Museum at 97
Orchard St., which features a
1916 period dressed actress with
a heavy Latino accent talking
about life then. He hopes to see
everyone at our next reunion.
Jane also heard from Robbie
Palmer Hertneky, who received
a Doctor of Philosophy from
Antioch University’s Leadership
and Change Program. The
topic of her dissertation is
“The Leadership Self-identity
of Women College Presidents.”
Robbie is a core faculty
member in the Department of
Organization and Management
at Antioch University New
England in Keene, N.H., and she
lives in Hancock, N.H., with her
husband Paul.
Mary Raz said that one of her
last duties as president of the
Northern California Williams
regional alumni association was
to introduce Morty Schapiro to
a full house of San Francisco Bay
area alumni at the Contemporary
Jewish Museum. She was able to
catch up with Paula Moore Tabor,
Anna Waring ’78, Cora Yang ’80
and Leila Jere ’91. The candle-lit
reception hall was lovely at the
new museum, designed by Daniel
Libeskind. The museum building
has skewed blue-steel structures jutting out of a landmark
20th-century power plant, and
it made a beautiful setting for
saying goodbye to Morty. She
passed the baton to Shannon
Walsh ’03, who is proving to
be a great new president. Her
son Jonathan (Pomona College
’08) will be attending Harvard
Graduate School of Design this
fall after working this past year
in LA as an architectural assistant for Perkins+Will, a design
firm specializing in commercial
building architecture, interior
design and sustainable building
design. Her daughter Danielle
is starting her junior year as an
economics major at UC-Santa
Barbara. Mary works at Cengage
Learning and has recently moved
into a great loft in a converted
warehouse off the Embarcadero
in San Francisco.
It was such a pleasure to
hear from Greg Etter again. He
left Dubai, UAE, last October
when the crash put a halt to his
company’s efforts in neighboring Oman. He was home in
Boston for a short stretch to help
with the Obama campaign but
is now in Kuwait. He travels
often around the Middle East
and hopes to see Damascus and
Isfahan soon if things stay calm.
But he does enjoy working in
the Middle East, learning a new
language, meeting people who
are graciously receptive and do
not fit the stereotype that many
Americans have of the region’s
cultures. It is an especially critical
and opportune moment, with the
Obama administration offering
a possibility to mend scars left
in the region. So besides being
an architect looking for new
models of design, he is also an
amateur ambassador of common
goodwill.
Ramsey “Kippie” Chew let me
know that he is still practicing
dentistry in Philadelphia and
that his son is well and will be a
junior at Howard University in
the fall.
Jeanne Gerulskis was involved
with the opening of the
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery
Center on March 6. It is a
transformation of the original
10,890-square-foot Christa
McAuliffe Planetarium into a
45,223-square-foot air and space
museum for New England, dedicated to New Hampshire’s own
Alan B. Shepard (first American
in space) and Christa McAuliffe
(NASA’s Teacher-in-Space). She
helped build a beautiful new
museum, installed Earth and
space science exhibits funded by
NASA, and is in the process of
fundraising for astronomy and
aviation exhibits. There was a
wonderful luncheon before the
opening ceremonies in which her
Williams roomie Carol Towson
and her husband Ed Siegel
participated, as well as Christa
McAuliffe’s mom, sister, nephew
and friends, and 27 members of
Alan Shepard’s family from all
over the Northeast. She was so
pleased to have Carol and Ed be
a part of what was the biggest
event of her professional life so
far. Next to her son, they were
definitely her favorite people at
the opening! Her other roomies
Anna Crane Ewing and Betsy
Means couldn’t make it but
sent best wishes. Betsy and her
husband Steve Gardner ’75 did
play a role in the museum, as
they put Jeanne up in NYC while
she was at the Christies’ 40 Years
of Star Trek auction in October
2006. On display in the museum
are the items she scored from
that trip—which were put out
right on time for the opening of
the new Star Trek movie (which,
incidentally, Jeanne thinks is
GREAT!). Also on display is
shampoo, a comb and brush
used by Astronaut Pam Melroy
during a space shuttle flight—as
you know, she and Doug Hollett
are married and living in Texas,
where I’m sure they use shampoo
and brushes that don’t come with
Velcro attached!
In the midst of the opening,
while on stage with her governor,
senator, and the chair of the
museum board, her son Jaki
one-upped her while sitting in the
audience—he got accepted into
Americorps with a position in his
place of birth, Ketchikan, Alaska.
He’s working with a nonprofit
that trains people throughout
Southeast Alaska in oil spill
response—his job is to increase
the amount of responders in
small communities throughout
the Alexander Archipelago,
where oil spills can wreak havoc.
A final note from Debbie
Nelson. She wants everyone
to know that our annual class
tailgate has already been scheduled for Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. for
the Bates game. If you plan on
attending and can let her know
she will try to reserve a block
of rooms for those who’d like
to come back. We’ve had good
attendance the last few years, but
the more the merrier for sure!
Well, that’s all for now but
please keep in touch. You can
contact Jane or I via the e-mail
address at the top of this column,
or if you are on Facebook you
can find us there too. No matter
how you find us, we are always
glad to hear from you.
1977
Daiva (Garbus) Gasperetti
401 East 74th St. #5C
New York, NY 10021
[email protected]
Dear classmates, Although it
will be August when you read
these notes, I’m editing them
on a balmy May evening, sitting by an open window and
enjoying the spring weather that
has finally graced NYC. Last
evening, I attended a reception
honoring Morty Schapiro at the
University Club in Manhattan.
Scott Davis and Chet Palmieri
were there, as was my hometown
friend Jay Sullivan ’76 and some
200 assorted alumni, parents and
guests. Morty remarked about
his years at Williams but spent
most of his time at the podium
responding to questions and
comments from the audience. As
I listened, I was filled with pride
to be a member of this special
community. So, on that note, on
with the class news.
Sara (Archibald) Lund is thrilled
that her 26-year-old son, Capt.
CL ASS
NOTES
Nathan Lund, returned home
from Afghanistan, where he
was serving as a dentist with the
Army Special Forces. Second son,
Second Lt. Chris Lund, is also in
the Army dental program and is
in dental school at the U of MN.
Sara and her husband Rob live in
Duluth, Minn., where daughter
Caroline attends the College
of St. Scholastica and daughter
Marian is in high school. Sara
serves as a chaplain in longterm
care, and Rob is a dermatologic
surgeon.
After 20 years as head of the
Division of Colon and Rectal
Surgery at George Washington
University in DC, Bruce Orkin
accepted a position as chief of
colon and rectal surgery at Tufts
Medical Center. He is overseeing
“a new program with a major
academic focus.” Bruce and wife
Ethel moved to a loft apartment
in downtown Boston and hope
to see more of their middle son
Daniel, who will be a senior
at Brandeis this year. Much as
Bruce tried to get their youngest child David interested in
Williams, he chose early decision
at Vassar. Their eldest, Roxanne,
lives in NYC, where she works
for Barclay’s. Now that they’re
back in Massachusetts, Bruce
looks forward to rekindling some
of his Williams friendships.
Last winter, Simon Watson
gave a presentation on emerging
artists at the Williams Club in
NY. The event was attended by
current art students as well as
art-loving members of various
Williams classes.
George Schutzer has been
working at Patton Boggs LLP
law firm for the last 29 years,
where he co-chairs the Tax and
Wealth Preservation Practice.
However, he laments, “With two
children in independent schools,
I have done no wealth preservation.” Daughter Kendall celebrated her bat mitzvah in April.
Dennis O’Shea and Jeff Boscamp
joined in the celebration, as did
George’s “Williams in-laws” Stu
and Mimi Ginsberg, cousin Sarah
’11, who flew from a Williams
crew event, and Shelley Leibowitz
’82. Wife Ellen organized a fantastic party to mark the occasion.
On April 21 the Washington
Labor & Employment Wire
announced that President Barack
Obama intends to nominate
William E. Spriggs as assistant
secretary for policy, Department
of Labor. This organization
provides advice and assistance
to the Department of Labor
regarding policy development,
program evaluation and implementation, budget and performance analysis, and legislation.
Currently, William is a professor
at Howard University and chair
of the Department of Economics.
He also served the administration during President Obama’s
transition to the White House.
During the Clinton administration, William led the staff of
the National Commission for
Employment Policy and served
as a senior economist for the
Democratic staff of the Joint
Economic Committee of the U.S.
Congress.
At 5 feet 4 inches “on a good
day,” Anu Vuorikoski is the
“shrimp” of the family, as her
stepkids tower over her “at 6
feet 3 inches and growing and
5 feet 11 inches and maybe not
growing.” She is still teaching at
SJSU one day a week and getting
lots of exercise and trying to plan
for life sans kids. As the children
get their driver’s licenses, Anu
finds the change “dramatic after
having been in the kid transport
business for six years.” She is
mulling the idea of buying a franchise but is holding out for the
right thing. She is well equipped
to do so, as “running the numbers” is her forte. In class, she
enjoys demonstrating that “if
it seems too good to be true, it
most likely is!”
I’m always thrilled when
classmates send in a note for the
very first time, so Jeff Boscamp,
thank you! Jeff is chief of the
Sanzari Children’s Hospital at
Hackensack University Medical
Center, and his wife Yuki is
a nationally known pediatric
rheumatologist. They sold their
house in suburban NJ and are
moving back to Manhattan. Son
Nick embarks on his junior year
at Penn and loves the urban setting. Daughter Emi, now a high
school senior, toured Williams
last spring, and she and Yuki met
Dennis O’Shea for lunch. Jeff and
Yuki are very excited about this
new phase in their lives, with
both kids off to college.
Andy Sisson writes that he
and wife Karen have had great
careers in the Foreign Service,
most recently in Kenya, where he
was the USAID regional director
for East Africa and she was the
State Department representative
to the UN. They’re now back in
DC, where Andy teaches at the
National War College. Karen
retired and enjoys a wide range
of volunteering, including working on the Obama campaign
and observing the election in
Azerbaijan. This summer they
planned to move to Almaty,
Kazakhstan, where Andy will
head USAID’s regional office for
Central Asia.
St. David’s Upper School
Head Sara Peavy e-mailed Daiva
Gasperetti to ask how her son
Joe (a St. David’s graduate)
had fared in the college search.
Happily, Joe had some wonderful choices and is off to Stanford
in the fall.
Joel Scheiman’s daughter Anne
was accepted to grad school and
will be getting her master’s in
education at Lewis & Clark.
Alan and Lynn (Smyers) Eusden
are still in Taipei, Taiwan, and
plan to stay for at least the next
year. They’re enjoying “the big
city life, sub-tropical weather
and fun people.” Alan has been
president of Corning Display
Technologies Taiwan for twoand-a-half years. This year he
is also serving as the chairman
of the American Chamber of
Commerce in Taipei. Lynn
is studying some Mandarin,
volunteering at Taipei American
School and mostly playing tennis
and having a good time! Their
youngest, Greg, graduates from
TAS this year and will be a
freshman at Williams in the fall.
Daughter Caitlin ’10 was a JA at
Williams last year; son Will ’08
is working for the Exeter Group
in Cambridge, Mass. (This is
terrific—an Eph family through
and through!) Like many of us,
Lynn’s not sure she’s looking
forward to the empty nest but all
in all can’t complain.
Jeff Knisely is still teaching, still
racing the bicycles (albeit with a
mind more willing than a body,
he says) and still looking forward
to his Julys in southern France.
Contact Jeff if you plan to be in
Nice next year so you can dine
or ride together! In August, wife
Joann (Iona ’80) and Jeff will be
going to Colorado or California
(must be great to be a teacher)
and hope to entertain some
friends from Holland at some
point as well.
Jane Lester works as a pediatrician at a clinic outside Seattle,
where a partner in her practice
experienced one of the first
confirmed cases of “swine flu”
in Washington State. That made
for “a very crazy few weeks
with much patient and parent
anxiety, many masks and gowns
and gloves, tracking down and
swabbing and treating everyone
that had been at the clinic the
day of exposure.” Thankfully,
her partner has recovered
n 1977
well. In late June, Jane took a
weeklong medical trip to a tiny
mountain village in El Salvador
to participate in a program run
by the pediatric residents at
Seattle Children’s. Jane studied
medical Spanish for two quarters
at the UW but claims “my brain
is old.” So daughter Lisa got to
come along as an interpreter,
as she is proficient in Spanish,
has completed all her pre-med
classes and now is a junior at the
University of Washington. She’s a
Spanish and international studies
major and in July was to leave
for a year of study in Buenos
Aires. Younger daughter Nina
is a freshman in high school
and splits her time between her
two passions: Ultimate Frisbee
and 4H. She shows chickens
and rabbits, which live on their
12th-of-an-acre lot, at the state
fair every summer. She’s lobbying
for miniature goats, which were
recently permitted by the city of
Seattle. “We’re stalling till she
goes to college,” writes Jane.
This year Nina is showing sheep,
which belong to her 4H leader.
Although she hadn’t seen
Priscilla Brewer in 32 years, Sue
(Waller) Hipple remembered her
vividly: “I ate with her in the
cafeteria, but she preferred the
snack bar. She was a bit of a
wisecracker with a dry sense of
humor. She was Tex in a version
of Chattanooga Choo Choo with
myself and Mary Bergquist. As
such she parted her two shrimpy
companions with her two large
hands [and] said, ‘Step aside
partner, it’s my day.’” During the
summer of ’77, Priscilla worked
at Hancock Shaker Village and
lived with Sue and Tom (Hipple).
Sue laughed to hear that Priscilla
was writing about the social
significance of cook stoves, as
Sue herself was using one at
the time. “She remains in my
memory, a quirky smile, one
hand pushing up her glasses, and
young, young, young. Good bye
Priscilla.”
In the middle of a perfect storm
of recession and technological
change, R.B. Wilson is busy trying
to “reinvent” his little company
and would love to talk to others
in publishing and information
businesses.
Alissa Ballot asked me to point
out that a number of members of
the class now are on Facebook.
In April, Ed Bacher got together
in Lexington for dinner with
some old XC and track runners:
Ken Leinbach, Bert Saul ’76, Bob
Clifford ’76 and Joe Kolb ’78.
Ed claims they’ve all slowed
down a lot, “except for Ken,
who seems to still be running
faster than most 20-year-olds.”
Ed also visited Williamstown
last spring with oldest daughter,
Annie. They grabbed a sandwich
at the deli on Spring Street
and of course stopped by the
Paresky Center for a dessert of
grilled honey buns. They also
visited with physics professor
Kevin Jones, who filled them
in on the tutorial program (he
taught quantum mechanics as a
tutorial last semester) and on his
research, “which deals with confining very cold atoms between
crossed laser beams. Annie was
impressed that he could explain
this to a junior who has not yet
taken physics.” Ed also “ran
over Stone Hill and back through
the pasture behind the Clark
for probably the first time in at
least 25 years. Still as beautiful
as ever, with the addition of nice
gates so us old folks don’t have
to jump over or crawl through
the barbed-wire fences like in the
old days.”
“With sadness but also a bit
of delight,” Patty Thomsson is
reaching the end of her year as
president of the Junior League
of Greater Princeton. Under her
watch, the league instituted a
grant-writing program, which,
given the uncertainty of event
income in this economic downturn, was a brilliant move. Patty
is content to leave the organization in sound financial shape
and is proud of the community
service work the JLGP does in its
focus area of early childhood literacy. She plans to stay active in
the volunteer/nonprofit world in
Greater Princeton, as evidenced
by her continued service to the
Cranbury Public Library Board
and Library Foundation. She is
also thinking ahead to our 35th
reunion. Patty’s husband David’s
wood-veneer importing business
has stayed the course during this
awful recession. He continues to
travel to Europe and Africa in
search of sustainable exotic hardwoods and is optimistic business
will pick up later this year. They
attended his 30th college reunion
at Dartmouth in June. Daughter
Katie turned 9 on May 2 and
is an enthusiastic and relatively
decent swimmer who has set her
sights on the Junior Olympics
(age 10 and under) in Baltimore
over the summer.
Bruce Wilkinson’s wife Amy quit
her job at the Bank of NY Mellon
and moved to the global relief
charity Americares. She is doing
development work for them,
and it seems her network of high
net-worth individuals provides
value. Son David graduated from
Wesleyan and is now thinking
about teaching as a way to put
his math/econ major to work.
Notable achievements include
Dave’s trip to Minneapolis for
the Div. III diving championships
in March. Daughter Ariana is a
bio major with one year to go at
Elon. She took the MCATs and
is doing research over the summer to prepare for med school.
As for Bruce, spring took him
back to the soccer fields, where
he referees teen and high school
games, at which he “frequently
learns new curses and slang.” He
enjoyed a fun ski season with a
week in Alta and Solitude and a
week in Aspen and stayed with
friends in both places.
Reed Zars passed on an
interesting New Yorker article
that contained a historical link
to himself and his sister Belle
’79. The piece describes life in
Hayden and Elkhead, Colo.,
circa 1916, where their grandfather, Farrington Carpenter,
lived and contributed to the local
community. There’s also a love
story or two wrapped in there,
so check out the April 20 issue
for details!
Dan Fox wrote, “By the time
you read this I will be working for a very nice Minnesota
plastics company called RTP.”
He will continue to live in Ohio
just a few hundred yards from
Hamilton Throckmorton and Mark
Chaffee. Dan and wife Mary
Beth are about to become empty
nesters. Their two oldest are
in college, and their youngest,
who just graduated high school,
will participate in CityYear in
Miami, Fla.
So here’s the latest from Mark
Chaffee: Eldest son Macklin ’09
was having a phenomenal track
season, which culminated in a
runner-up spot in the 1,500m
run at NCAA Nationals. He
carried over his spring ’08 track
exploits into the fall crosscountry season, where he was the
number-three Williams harrier
on an amazing team that finished
third in the NCAA National
Cross-Country Championships.
He missed qualifying as an All
American by a mere second.
(Ouch!) Mack was captain of
the Williams track team and led
the indoor team to an exciting
upset win over MIT at the New
England Indoor Championships
last winter. Williams’ track
dominance continued into the
spring outdoor season with wins
CL ASS
NOTES
of NESCAC and NE Div. III
Championships. Macklin once
again qualified for indoor and
outdoor NCAA Nationals and
as of this writing stood to pick
up his sixth All-American award.
Together with his four school
records, Mack’s list of accomplishments places him among the
top three track and field athletes
in Williams College history. Postgraduation, Mack is considering
a job offer as a website developer
at a company in Portland,
Maine. The rest of the family
progeny (five kids) are doing
well: Quinn, #2, will be a senior
at Miami U., Griff, #3, will start
sophomore year at RIT, while the
last two, Rorie and Cathal, are
still in high school. As for Mark,
he’s happy to remain employed,
although his company, Rockwell
Automation, is feeling the recession. He’s enjoying his multisport training routine and feels as
fit as he’s been since college. Wife
Monie (Dartmouth ’81) has been
very busy making extra college
tuition money through her tutoring service. They celebrated their
25th wedding anniversary in July
while vacationing at Moosehead
Lake, Maine.
Ciao for now. Remember to
write!
1978
Jeff “J” DeLisle
538 Bloomingrove Drive
Rensselaer, NY 12144
[email protected]
It is high summer, and many of
our classmates have the jones to
travel, some coming and some
going. And what a difference a
couple of months make in the
PV: bright sunlight, small city!
It is just past Reunion Weekend
as I write this, and it’s gorgeous.
This will no doubt please Don
Wehrs, who expected to return to
Williams this summer for the first
time since graduation. His daughter Sylvia, 15, was attending the
Tanglewood Youth Orchestra
summer program as a violinist,
so after picking her up in Lenox
he and his wife Lorna planned to
show Sylvia and William, 11, the
College. Don was promoted to
professor of English at Auburn
University. In 2008 he had two
books of literary criticism, one
on colonial-era African narratives
and another on West African and
Maghreb Islamic Francophone
postcolonial fiction. Don also
co-edited a collection of essays,
Levinas and 19th-century
Literature, due out this summer.
Brian Harrison attended the
Williams vs. Amherst baseball
game, which was the sesquicentennial of the first intercollegiate baseball contest, played
in Pittsfield, site of the 1859
tilt. There he ran into Lydia and
Mario Chiapetti. Unlike in 1859,
the good guys prevailed.
An uplifting coming-of-age
story (age 50, that is) comes
a tad belatedly from Hans
Giesecke, who wrote about
sublime outdoor adventures with
Wally Chambers. The two get
together every two or three years
for the kind of activities that
would make Teddy Roosevelt
puke. In summer 2006, Wally
and Hans rode bikes 1,000 kilometers along the Danube River
Bicycle Trail from the source
of the river in Germany’s Black
Forest to Vienna, Austria. This
past winter they realized a longstanding dream of participating
in the American Birkebeiner
Cross Country Ski marathon
in Northern Wisconsin. Wally
skied the entire 54-kilometer
classic race, and Hans skied the
half-version. Hans says, “These
irregular get-togethers keep us
motivated and interested in staying in shape even as we turn into
old relics. … They are great ways
to celebrate the friendship that
we forged at Williams.” Wally
was unavailable for comment,
as he was on his way to climb
Mount McKinley (aka Denali).
The romanticized image of
a wide receiver, which was
Herb McCormick’s position as
an undergrad, is of speed. We
picture breaking away from the
pack out into open space, covering the entire field in an instant, a
lightning threat to score on each
play. Yet the receiver’s sporting
life is brutal and dangerous, too:
maneuvering in close spaces,
going across the middle, subjecting oneself to brutal hits coming
from any direction without
warning, focusing on catching
the high velocity pass all the
while. In reality, the wide receiver
is rarely unfettered. Rather, he is
disciplined and observant, running precise routes but alert and
flexible enough to improvise a
new maneuver when conditions
dictate. Such split second instinct
makes the difference between a
touchdown and disastrous injury.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Tad Seder ’79 wrote of the
mother of all road trips. After
taking in three Red Sox games
with Tad and Mary Burton Nelp
’79, Herb McCormick signed in
as a swabbie by the Good Ship
Ocean Watch, whose four sailors
are taking a group of feckless
scientists and teachers on an
expedition to investigate and
document the fragility of the
shorelines of the “islands” of
North and South America. That
is to say, they are sailing around
two continents, 24,000 nautical
miles, in 13 months. I guess this
is where Coach Farley’s two a
days pay off. If Herb and his
buddies can avoid the blitzing icebergs of the Northwest
Passage, the brave crew, eschewing the Panama Canal, will do
a go pattern to the tip of South
America, the hard way, through
the Strait of Magellan, on up the
west coast of South America,
then return to Seattle. All of this
in a 64-foot sailboat. You can
follow their progress at www.
aroundtheamericas.org.
Kate Stone Lombardi’s 30th
reunion speech on the approaching demise of newspapers
proved regrettably prescient,
as the regional sections of The
New York Times, for which she
primarily wrote, closed down
in May. However, she signed a
contract with Penguin to write a
nonfiction book that takes a contemporary look at the motherson relationship. Kate would
love to hear from moms or sons
who have an interest in exploring
this topic.
First-time contributor Pamela
Jennings wrote of a career change
that might be described at the
very least as adventurous. After
graduation, Pam pursued a
PhD in clinical psychology then
braved the rigors of analytic
training to become an honest-toGod psychoanalyst. She has been
heavily involved in forensic work
as well as having a private practice. Having finally completed all
of her training, endured the long
hours of apprenticeship and paid
off all the loans, she chucked
it all in 1994 for a chance as a
career as an artist. The affliction has gradually taken over
more and more of her time. Her
interest in the Rorshach test has
inspired her to do several paintings based upon her emotional
reactions and evocations to ink
blots, which she then works
up into surreal depictions.
Check them out, along with
Dan Perkins’ interview of her, at
www.pamjennings.com. Pam is
relocating from DC to Baltimore
to pursue a baccalaureate in fine
arts at the Maryland Institute of
Contemporary Art.
From her DC base, Pam has
run into Dan Perkins, Jackie Higgs
n 1 9 7 7 –7 8
Caldwell, Debbie Foy, Mario
Chiapetti, Barbara and Chuckles
Sanders, Paula Tabor and Mike
Reed. Pam participated in a
Williams Black Alumni Network
discussion group on the election.
“Met a lot of young whipper
snappers. They put me in my
place a few times for having
outdated ideas about race.”
We can be thankful that John
Hammel is about to begin his
“encore career” as a psychiatrist.
John finished his psychiatry
residency at UVM/Fletcher Allen
last year and took a fellowship in addiction psychiatry at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock, which he
completed in June. He accepted
an impressive academic position
from Dartmouth Medical School,
directing the addiction fellowship program at the VA Hospital,
running the treatment program
as well as teaching students, residents and fellows. The commute
from north-central Vermont is
lengthy but made interesting by
the dangerous curves that John
and his Honda Nighthawk 750
crotch rocket take at high speed.
John’s children all are doing well.
His oldest, Leigh, is on a research
vessel in the South Pacific for her
junior “Stanford at Sea” semester. Emily is graduating from the
ski academy she attends, planning on taking a postgraduate
year to hone her ski racing skills
before entering Middlebury in
the fall of ’10, and his youngest
daughter, Moira, is “scaring the
hell” out of John and his wife
Joyce “as she tries, badly, to
learn how to drive.”
First-time contributor Rob
Carter reports that after
Williams he attended Harvard
Medical School, then “did the
academic shuffle” before landing
in Birmingham, Ala., 14 years
ago. He was director of the
Division of Clinical Immunology
and Rheumatology at UAB until
last October, when he accepted
the position of deputy director of the National Institute of
Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and
Skin Disease at the National
Institutes of Health. He and
his wife bought a house in
Georgetown and now have
daughters at Bowdoin College,
St. Paul’s School and Episcopal
High School.
Anne Youngling reported with
a class notes deadline “buzzer
beater” of the birth of her son
Max Gustav Seufert-Youngling
at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, on
June 3. With “Gus-Gus” on
the way, Anne and long time
partner Renee made it official
in what Anne terms a “shotgun
wedding” on Feb. 14. They have
established their domicile in
Milford, Conn. Anne sent me a
picture of her son. Granted, it’s
early, but he has the build of a
power forward.
Jim Little’s daughter Sarah had
quite a scare. After completing her semester’s studies at
Davidson, she went on a trip
to Africa, working in the local
hospitals during the week and
going on safaris on the weekends.
Then she was hospitalized with
a pulmonary embolism! How do
you imagine you’d feel to have
your daughter’s anticoagulant
medications managed by text
messaging from Nairobi, Kenya?
Oldest daughter Amy is now
attending medical school at UT
Southwestern. Having achieved
success at the T-ball level, Jim and
a fellow church member were
offered and accepted the managerial responsibilities for a team of
9-year-olds, where he believes his
baseball skills might be “maxed
out.” Not so in tennis, though,
is the general counsel and go-to
exec with one of the nation’s
hottest ‘green’ companies—A123
Systems, which makes all kinds
of batteries. Dean Gianakos
continues to provide some of
the ‘old fashioned’ medical
services on the planet, mixing
emotional support and large
orders of French fries in his
holistic approach to medicine.
Steven Rothstein is knocking it
out of the park as the president
of the world’s largest organization devoted to caring for the
blind and deaf blind—Perkins.
He recently hosted a gala that
raised $1.2 million, in excess of
last year’s high-water mark. In
typical Steven Rothstein fashion,
he gave all the credit to everyone
else.”
In news from the Third World,
the legendary outdoorsman,
WOC president, ex-class secretary and man who taught me that
Purple Klister was not a personalcare item—yes, the incomparable
Henry Wittemore—checked in
after too long a spell.
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
In July Hans C. Giesecke ’78 was named 10th president of Anatolia
College in Thessaloniki, Greece. The college was founded in the Ottoman
Empire by Boston Congregationalist missionaries in 1886. Charles Tracy,
Williams Class of 1864, was Anatolia’s first president.
where the Dirty Texan still plays
tough in the 100-degree heat.
Susan Beebe’s art business
is branching off into the mass
market with Blossom the Fairy, a
paper doll book based upon her
paper doll originals. See www.
enchantedislandpaperdolls.com.
Hey, can we have a round
of applause for good works?
Several of our classmates, none
of whom are willing to take
credit, are heavily involved in the
organization Aim High, www.
aimhigh.org. This outfit provides
tuition-free summer programs
to the San Francisco Bay area’s
underserved communities. Selfeffacing David Simpson credits
Glenn Shannon’s leadership in
fundraising efforts that exceeded
last year’s, in spite of the tough
economic times, to the tune of $2
million. David describes his role
as “riding [Glenn’s] coattails.”
Glenn points out that David and
fellow founding board member
Miranda Heller talked him into
joining when he relocated to San
Fran a few years ago.
David spares no praise for
other classmates. “Eric Pyenson
Hank and Darcy still live
in but are scarcely confined
to Readfield, Maine, a town
of about 2,500 surrounded
by lakes and rolling hills, just
west of Augusta. They consider
themselves fortunate these past
25 years to have been able to
live and raise their children Katie
and Sam in a small, supportive
rural community and also to
have interesting travel opportunities. Darcy has been involved
in classroom teaching, environmental education and recently at
the local greenhouse (it’s “that”
time of year). Katie is 21 and
in her junior year at UVM. She
spent a semester in Paris, where
she pursued study in anthropology, linguistics and French, a
language in which she is now
fluent. At 18, Sam appears to be
omnivorous and bit of a prodigy.
He is at the top of his local high
school class, runs cross-country,
skis on the Nordic team (Maine’s
Class B champs this year) and
plays tennis. He and Hank
have done some quaint father
and son projects together, well
beyond the usual boat building,
CL ASS
NOTES
like constructing a theremin (a
musical instrument that plays
notes by detecting the electrical
fields emanating from the player,
who moves his arms before the
machine) and a Vandegraaf
generator (the static electricity
ball that makes your hair stand
out straight). They even built a
trebuchet, which is a medieval
catapult used in castle sieges and
the like. Sam will attend MIT
next year, at which point Henry
and Darcy will face the empty
nest. Henry works for Four
Winds Capital Management,
a UK-based company that is
building a global portfolio of
timber and timber-related assets.
Just as the demands of being an
undergrad took Henry to Smith,
Mount Holyoke and Skidmore,
the demands of his job have
taken him to Nicaragua (Henry
describes the poverty there as
“crushing”), Costa Rica, Serbia,
Romania, Estonia and Latvia. He
is the company’s lead in Eastern
Europe and finds it fascinating.
In Serbia they are building a
plant to manufacture wood pellets using residuals from sawmills
that are otherwise thrown in the
rivers. (I am picturing him with
a cross-cut saw and an adze,
but you guys contract that stuff
out, right Henry?) Ever the sage,
Hank concludes, “Forests are
proving to be good investments
in these terrible economic times:
Trees still grow whether there are
bulls or bears in the understory!”
Perhaps some of you were
amused by my account last
time of heretofore unknown
classmate Fred Strong though
were skeptical of his ancient
Williams connections or perhaps
didn’t believe he even existed.
Well, Fred checked in from north
of the border with news of a
brand-new reference volume, the
Williams Biographical Annals
by Calvin Durfee (1871). The
volume not only confirms our
earlier claim of Fred having two
relatives who attended Williams
in the 18th century but identifies no less than 15 to 20 of his
family who attended Williams.
The book even supports a Strong
Clan connection with Mark
Hopkins, “a black sheep by our
(Strong) standards.” Further, he
offers this resource for any of
us “who prefer your relatives
safely underground.” You can
Google this if you don’t believe
me. If that still doesn’t convince
you, Fred promises to attend our
2013 reunion in the flesh, “God
and Mayan calendars willing.”
Fred, who is a “defector” from
Richard Gray ’48 and his daughter Nancy Gray ’78, last year, outside
Hubbell House at their 60th and 30th reunions, respectively.
the Class of 1979, described its
reunion as “safe, sensible and
well dressed. But they missed
those furniture-tossing freshman
bonding sessions.”
Mary Fish Arango reports that
she and her family were not
endangered by the wildfires in
Santa Barbara, but the night
skies filled with shooting flames
were stunning and humbling.
Mary’s photos of horses and
dogs have been instrumental in
four books in two years, and she
often has a project in the works
collaborating with an author.
Son Bailey, a sophomore at
Whitman College, was nominated for a Truman Scholarship,
is an RA and plans to spend
a semester in New Zealand
next spring. Daughter Grayson
finished high school early and
completed her first year of
college at Santa Barbara City
College. She’ll start exploring
the transfer process next spring.
Mary’s husband Peter is organizing a possible yearlong sabbatical
from teaching in 2010; he hopes
to travel, write stories and
refine his storytelling at national
events. Mary is competing in
agility with her dogs and visiting
patients at the local hospital, and
three Border Collies are almost
constantly trotting alongside on
bicycle rides. Mary’s website is
www.maryfisharangophotography.com.
I can’t resist sharing this
thought: Can you imagine what
John Rainey could have done
with a trebuchet?
Sally Fri moved to North
Carolina and is preparing to
move her infirm mother there.
In spite of falling in love with
the state’s natural beauty, Sally
is having difficulty fitting in, as
the locals don’t understand why
she is not enthusiastic about
basketball—apparently she is
still trying to learn to distinguish
between the round orange and
the oblong brown varieties of
balls. In November, Sally plans
to visit Bhutan to celebrate her
friend’s 60th birthday and for a
three-week stroll “in the lower
altitude Himalayas,” where the
wise king is more concerned
about the GNH (gross national
happiness) than the GDP. In case
you’re keeping score, and Sally
is, Bhutan is the number-one
happiest place in Asia.
Well, all of this travel news has
me itching a bit, and I reckon I
got to light out for the territory
too.
1979
Barbara H. Sanders
3 StratfordRoad
White Plains, NY 10603
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing secretary Kathleen Ruane: Dear classmates, It has been a very fast five
years since I became secretary at
the 25th reunion. I have enjoyed
hearing from you over the years
and want to express my sincerest
appreciation to all who have
shared their news, both personal
and professional, with us.
I am very sorry to begin these
notes with sad news. Dave
Clement passed away on June 12,
just as our reunion was getting
under way. Dave lived in Parker,
Colo., with his wife of 23 years
Gina and their three children,
Elise, Aja and Drew. His sister
Barb wrote that while Dave’s
n 1 9 7 8 –7 9
cancer was aggressive, “it did not
diminish his spirit. He was positive, inspiring, funny and happy
(even singing two days before he
died) right to the end. He asked
me the day before he died to celebrate his life, not to feel bad for
him, he had accepted the plan.”
Subsequently, two celebrations
of Dave’s life were held, one in
Colorado on June 17 and one in
Massachusetts on June 24. Dave
was a master gardener who especially loved trees. To honor Dave,
classmates may make a donation
in his memory to Colorado Tree
Coalition, P.O. Box 270968, Fort
Collins, Colo. 80527-0968. Or
please plant a tree! The reunion: We were very fortunate to have a strong turnout.
Over the course of the weekend
125 Class of ’79ers traveled to
Williamstown to catch up with
friends. Included in that number
were 16 who had never been to a
reunion—Leslie Christoph, Dorea
Ferris, Brenda Flock, Dwayne
Freeman, Martha Hennig, Rob
Hiltzik, Joe Juster, Andrew Kane,
Bob Kanell, John Law, Nancy
Obara, Dev Palmer, Glenn Rogers,
John Simon, Hyla Skudder and
Victor Zerbino. Thank you to
all who worked on pulling the
weekend together—co-chairs
Diane Hughes and Tad Seder,
Elizabeth Emmons, Fred Elia,
Lisa Russell O’Shea, Stan Parese,
Kristin Djorup, Rich Williams,
Bill Webster, Ann McCabe, Stew
Menking, Bill McCalpin and Ken
Hollingsworth. You did a fantastic job! Our HQs for the weekend were Perry and Wood houses
with a tent set up between them.
The campus looked spectacular.
Friday’s dinner was casual, and
the music was organized by
Dwayne Freeman. It was a great
opportunity to get together as
classmates arrived on campus.
Saturday began with the
alumni parade followed by the
meeting of the Society of Alumni
and then an all-College picnic
lunch on the lawn. In typical
fashion, the Class of ’79 distinguished itself by hosting three
community service opportunities over the weekend. The first
was a food drive to benefit the
Williamstown Food Pantry. Fred
Elia oversaw the project, while
Stan Parese made the necessary
arrangements with the local
organization, and Jodi Harrison
offered the Harrison Gallery on
Spring Street as a drop-off point
Thursday through Saturday.
Enough food and paper goods
were collected to fill a large SUV,
and $540 was also donated.
Fred extended gratitude to
everyone from the local and
College communities and alumni
who supported this effort.
The second opportunity was
at check-in when donations
were collected to send class gifts
to enlisted Ephs. The class gift
was a large purple towel with
“W ’79” embroidered in gold.
Stew Menking reports that the
necessary number of towels
were purchased, and there was
enough money left over to buy
the deployed Ephs the most
valued commodity—Charmin
toilet paper.
Then on Saturday afternoon
a group of about 20 classmates,
spouses and children participated in a community service
project at the Mount Greylock
High School, applying a muchneeded coat of paint to brighten
some of the public areas in the
school. Stan reported that their
efforts were in support of an
all-volunteer painting project—
which will eventually repaint the
entire interior of the school—
and which will go on for several
years. It’s an ambitious undertaking, and our large and very
hard working ’79 crew made a
great and greatly appreciated
contribution.
Saturday’s dinner was again
under the tent but more formal.
(I was only able to stay for
the Friday-Saturday afternoon
portion of the reunion, but I am
grateful to several classmates for
the reports they passed along.)
The highlight of the annual
meeting was a presentation by
Kathy Sharpe Jones to Stew. Tad
Seder said that she was great in
her speech presenting a plaque
to Stew, and Betsy Howard,
development officer of the
Alumni Fund, reported that
“the presentation of the plaque
to Stewart Menking was quite
a surprise to him—he almost
skipped the general (Society of
the Alumni) meeting. As you can
imagine, he was overcome with
emotion both at the meeting and
again at the dinner on Saturday
night. He told me that what
meant the most was that it was
his classmates who were honoring him. Tad was absolutely
correct in mentioning that Kathy
Sharpe Jones did a terrific job in
her presentation. It was funny
and poignant.” Kathy said, “It
wasn’t a written speech. I just
talked. … I shared a couple
of anecdotes from when I was
deployed. Stew refused to send
me pastel colored toilet tissue
because he didn’t want me to get
a urinary tract infection. But he
redeemed himself when he sent
me two tubes of my favorite lipstick. There really are no words
to express how grateful I am for
the support of the entire class
and of Stew. I just found out
Friday evening that Stew asked
Paul Shlanta to drive by my
house while I was gone to see if
he could find someone to keep
my lawn mowed!” Kathy’s sentiments were echoed in an e-mail
from Bill Couch that Kathy then
read. It said: “I cannot express
the gratitude and thanks enough
to Stewart for his service and
support to myself and other
deployed alumni. We work hard
under very arduous conditions,
and the support and packages
from Stewart have ‘oftentimes
made our day.’ To receive one
of Stewart’s care packages is a
wonderful remembrance from
home. We don’t need much, just
to remember us is enough. But
his support goes much further
than a simple box of goodies.
He has marshalled (to use a
military term) the entire alumni
community, resulting in many
expressions of support and love
from you all. For that we are
doubly blessed. I will close now,
please ‘hoist’ a glass to Stewart
and toast him for myself and
all veterans—past, present and
future!”
I can’t imagine that there were
too many dry eyes in the house
at that point. Thank you Stew
from all of us.
Mark Tercek also spoke on
Saturday evening. (Tad was
instrumental in passing along
this information.) Mark talked
about his journey after Williams
through Goldman Sachs to the
Nature Conservancy, where he
now serves as president, and
about staying flexible and trying
new things even after age 50. He
quoted a study indicating that
the productive work life of folks
who are 52 is about 30 years,
so we have plenty of time left to
do new and interesting things.
Mark referenced many of the
speakers who had gone before
him at reunion and graduation
for inspiration, although each
was different in his or her own
way. Mark’s speech was funny
and inspiring.
Also announced during the
evening were the new class
officers for the next five years.
Elizabeth Emmons and Tad Seder
will be co-presidents, Barbara
Hunter Sanders will be secretary,
and Bob Kraus has agreed to stay
on as treasurer.
CL ASS
NOTES
Diane Hughes pointed out
that “we were the only tent with
dancing ’til midnight. It’s hard
to get old farts started but even
harder to get them to stop. Morty
stayed with us for at least 45
minutes (no dancing though).
And, in the posted photos so far,
it is obvious what a good time
was had by all.” Photos can
be uploaded and viewed at the
website Rich Williams created for
the reunion: williamsclassof79.
shutterfly.com/18. Password
is Williams79. Diane also is
working on a Facebook group
for the class. If you belong to
Facebook, search Williams ’79
and see how to connect. Also, the
College hired a video professional
to work on a piece on our class,
primarily due to the community
service projects. A documentary
on the Class of ’79 should be
available on the college website in
the near future.
When asked about the weekend, Elizabeth Emmons answered,
“As far as I’m concerned the
entire weekend was one big
highlight. I always have so much
fun, and the first day after is such
a big letdown.” Ann McCabe
reported that Paul Shlanta had
arrived via motorcycle from
Atlanta—18 hours; that Jas
Dembinski rode his bike 100 miles
from his home in Vermont; and
that John Simon is vice provost at
Duke. Ann also heard from Anne
Calcagno, who planned to spend
five weeks in Italy this summer
with her son Lucien. Lucien
wants to study Italian and learn
to make complicated pastas.
While there, Anne hoped to see
Lauren Iossa and her daughter
Vivian. Anne’s daughter Jessamyn
is in college at Reed (Portland,
Ore.). Anne teaches at the School
of the Art Institute’s MFA in writing in Chicago.
Glenn Rogers traveled to
Williams from DC, where he
works at the U.S. Agency for
International Development. He
said, “As a first-time reunion
participant I really enjoyed seeing
and being reintroduced to so
many classmates. What a great
group of individuals in the Class
of ’79! Friday panels were a
chance to hear from individuals
in other classes, as each speaker
reflected on their current passion
and how their Williams education
helped lead them up their current
path. Very inspiring indeed. The
College art museum exhibit on
Lincoln, all drawn from materials
in the Williams archives, was
a peep back in history to when
mass media, photography and
electronic communication first
played a role in presidential
elections. I enjoyed a moment of
quiet at the Haystack Monument,
studying the globe and mulling
the history of American outreach
overseas that led to our current
foreign assistance activities in
which I am now involved. The
reunion was a pleasant mix of
reflection, sharing, laughs and
activity.”
Well, that’s it. I wish all of you
a happy, healthy and safe fall.
Please be sure to send your news,
big or small, to Barbara. You
can reach her at 1979secretary@
williams.edu. Otherwise she says
that she’ll just rely on Stew’s
rumor mill for the class notes.
And remember the tri-state dinner held in NYC in October. It
is a great way to stay connected.
Thank you again.
All the best, Kathy Connolly
Ruane.
1980
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Mimi Dumouchel
71 Rosewell Road
Bedford, NH 03110
[email protected]
Warmest greetings to all classmates, and many thanks to each
one who sent news.
As Sarah Underhill points
out, “It’s hard to believe, but
we’re closing in on our 30th
reunion!” Save the dates,
everyone: June 10-13, 2010.
Sarah will be co-chairing the
event with Nancy Van Duyne and
Bill Sprague. They began with
a fantastic planning session in
Williamstown in early May that
included Bart Mitchell, Kathanne
Wray Fowler, Ruth Hutton
Brainin, Vivian Dorsel, Dan Towle,
Monica Grady, Doug Orr, Gus
Nuzzolese and Lee Shackelford
Szykowny. Please contact one
of them or Susie Laidlaw Camp,
Ruth Wells, Tom Walsh, Betty
Keller, Helen Prakelt Bishop,
Michele Corbeil, Sonia Weil,
Warren Pear or Ronnie Hayden if
you are interested in joining the
planning team!
Stay tuned for messages about
developments throughout the
next year. The team will be
creating a class website for posting plans and ideas and general
reconnecting. They plan to
organize a series of events in various cities to get our classmates
together before the big weekend.
Also during the Williams
leadership retreat in May, Bill
Sprague was honored for his service as chair of the Alumni Fund
for the past two years, and Lee
Szykowny, as one of our head
agents, was awarded trophies
for achieving the largest participation increase and the greatest
dollar amount for a non-reunion
class. Congratulations to both of
them for a job well done!
I received the following messages from many regions, both
foreign and domestic: Betsy
(Wood) Brooks: “Jay and I are
in the final stage of becoming
empty nesters up here in far
upstate NY (Plattsburgh). Both
of our children recently graduated from Williams (Ben ’08 and
Sarah ’06). Sarah is in Seattle as
a strategy consultant, and Ben is
about to enter the Peace Corps
and go to Cameroon. I guess we
thought we needed a project, so
we’re in the early stages of building a house, although Jay’s paper
manufacturing engineer/manager
job never seems to leave enough
time. My job as a librarian is not
as demanding, but there’s always
a lot to learn. We don’t run into
many classmates up here but
have been reconnecting with
quite a few via Facebook.”
Carolyn Dye Brougham: “I am
married to Jon Brougham. … We
have been living in Richmond,
Va., for the past nine years but
are moving this summer to
Princeton, N.J. Jon will be the
headmaster of The Hun School
of Princeton. Our older son
Sam will be a freshman this
fall at Hamilton College, and
our younger son Ben will be a
ninth-grader at Hun. I am an
elementary school teacher and
hope to continue teaching in
New Jersey. We still live with
two dogs, two cats, two gerbils,
two guinea pigs and one lizard,
all of whom will make the move
with us!”
Sarah (Austell) ’81 and Ben
Cart are proud to announce the
birth of their granddaughter,
Addison, to son James ’05 and
Ashley (Ulmer) Cart ’05.
Vanessa McCoy Clark: “I am
writing in for the first time since
1980. I’ve reached the point in
life where I just want to say: ‘I’m
still standing.’ Since graduation,
I married, divorced, remarried, worked, had a business,
raised great kids, wrote some,
played some, got sick, got well.
I garden a lot now, and I have
a grandson, Joshua, who is 2.
Playing with him is my great joy.
Shout out to all my friends from
’76-’80.”
n 1 9 7 9 –8 0
Michele Corbeil: “I spend most
of my professional hours writing
about our WoodenBoat Show
at Mystic Seaport and thinking
up ways to get folks to come
to it. … In an effort to channel
my nervous energy about the
economy, I have spent much
of my spare time … getting a
sewing business off the ground
called Three Bags Full. I make
rectangular box bags to contain
knitting projects (or anything
else you want to carry around)
out of cool designer fabrics with
handmade beaded zipper pulls.
I’ve been selling them locally at
two galleries and have a small
online presence as well. I also
have paintings in two shows
this summer and hope to do my
annual week’s retreat to Bear
Island in Penobscot Bay with
fellow artists in September. This
spring I sang a Verdi aria with
our local choral group.”
Anita Cook Gholston: “It’s been
a lot of years since I checked in
with the alumni association. I’ve
got so much good stuff going
on this year that I thought I
would share. My oldest son,
Benjamin, graduated … with
a BA from Purdue University;
my middle son, Malcolm, is
studying computer graphic art
at WCC—SUNY Westchester
Community College—where
I work as an assistant prof/
counselor; my middle daughter,
Avery, is pregnant with our first
grandchild; my youngest daughter, Maya, is graduating from
high school next month and
will be attending University of
Kentucky in the fall. This June,
my husband Felton Gholston
and I … celebrate[d] our 25th
wedding anniversary. Life is full,
busy and gratifying! Please give
my very best to my classmates.”
Jim Holmes: “I am excited to
add the title of P’13 to the end
of my name—my daughter Katie
will be entering the freshman
class at Williams in the fall. She
is thrilled, and my wife and I
couldn’t be more proud. Our
son Davey just finished a great
high school baseball season as
the starting center fielder on the
varsity team as a freshman. Our
other son, Sam, is finishing third
grade and loving everything
about life. I’m still teaching sixth
grade and loving every minute
of it. I go to work and play all
day—at least that’s what my
students think. I don’t bother to
let them know that I slip in some
instruction between the stupid
jokes from time to time.”
Betsy McGean: In March,
“Trudie ten Broeke and Ben
Larrabee came to visit us in
Hanover [N.H.]. … We had
a fun dinner gathering, which
also included Mary Lou Ruch
and husband Tim Frey, who
is currently working at the
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical
Center. Connections: Mary Lou
and I figured out that our fathers
had graduated from Dartmouth
College in … ’49 … and two
of our children are in the same
fourth-grade class at the Ray
Elementary School.”
Ann Oberrender Noyes: “Nick
head[ed] up to his ’79 reunion
this June, which means ours is
only a year away. Log it onto the
calendars! Nick will only have
Ben, our 16-year-old, in tow,
since I inadvertently signed up
for a mother-daughter community service trip to Peru the
same week with our 15-yearold daughter Eliza. Part of my
specific assignment for Peru is to
collect recorders that all of our
elementary children received in
the Concord school system, and
the first recorder was hand delivered to us by Guido (know as
Phil Adams around here). Fun to
catch up with him and his wife
Anne Westcott. Our oldest son,
medical physicals for President
Obama. Eager to work on our
30th reunion! Swing freely!
Down the middle!”
Bernie Oakley: “Rebecca and
I have been well and visiting
the Purple Valley much more
than we used to since we have
a son at Williams. … I have …
enjoyed reacquainting myself
with the many fine hiking trails
in the area, since David ’11 is
also an enthusiastic hiker. We
were treated to a mini blizzard
climbing Mount Greylock when
I brought him back after spring
break and during Family Days
ended up bushwhacking most
of the way up Berlin Mountain
after missing the trail and
starting up an old logging road
that went nowhere. David’s
twin brother James goes to
Dartmouth, which similarly has
many fine recreational opportunities. I am thankful that both
my sons went to schools that are
nice places to visit!”
Chip Oudin: “Not too much to
report from Houston except that
summer is once again upon us.
I’m playing golf regularly and
made a hole-in-one yesterday!
I’m still working for Anadarko,
evaluating a deepwater oil
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
Last spring the fourth issue of Berkshire-based literary magazine upstreet,
edited and published by Vivian Dorsel ’80, received the Independent
Publisher Book Award Bronze Medal in the category of anthologies.
Court, is headed to Dickinson
College after an adventurous
gap year. He spent his first
semester sailing from Australia
to Thailand with Seamester,
and the second semester in
Costa Rica living with a local
family and going to University
of Heredia. He e-mailed us …
and suggested that since the job
opportunities were better down
there, he would stay for the summer, which he is indeed doing.”
Gus Nuzzolese is golfing
regularly with clients, loving
every putt. “Wife Mary is doing
walk-a-thons for charities.
Margaret is working in DC with
Jesuit Volunteers International.
Elizabeth is in LA, working on
a master’s in education. Colleen
is studying nursing at Boston
College. Patrick (6-foot-3, 220
pounds) is a frosh at Chaminade
whose mission in life is ‘to help
Dad and Mike Curran re-live
their days at Chaminade.’ Mike
Curran is A-plus and does the
discovery off of Ghana (West
Africa) and hoping that Obama’s
energy policies don’t drive
domestic oil companies out of
business. Looking forward to
our 30th next year!”
Pano Pliotis: “We are well here
in London, surviving the credit
crunch, not to mention Bank of
America’s takeover of Merrill
Lynch, where I work as a tax
lawyer. My daughter Helena,
16, is developing into a spirited
and independent teenager while
my son George, 13, appears to
be a more gentle citizen, so far.
Please do not hesitate to look us
up if you are in the UK, and by
all means check out my wife’s
website. (Fiona Dunbar—she is
an author of children’s books
for the 10- to 13-year-old set,
but only one has been published
in the U.S.) I am in regular
contact with Richard Robinowitz,
Stephen Hall and Nancy Richman,
among others.”
Christopher Read: “My big
CL ASS
NOTES
news is: CA Supreme Court
upheld the voter initiative that
changed our Constitution to
deny same sex marriage rights
but let stand those marriages
performed before the November
election. So Chris and I remain
legal. Who’d a thunk Iowa
would be ahead of California?
“Was at Christopher Kerby’s
’81 50th birthday party, where
I also caught up with Clinton
Loftman ’79. My niece, born our
sophomore year, got married.
… Oy.”
Rebecca Smith’s son David
was “heading off to a summer
of seismology research in British
Columbia, which will no doubt
be very interesting but will keep
him away from home until midAugust. Our other son, James,
will be staying at Dartmouth
for the summer term, so we’ll
continue to have only one child
at home—we’re getting quite
used to that, and Elizabeth
rather likes being an only child.”
Rebecca went camping with
Elizabeth’s Girl Scout troop,
which was mostly fun but would
have been better without the
girls’ tent giving out in the rain
in the middle of the night.”
Barb von Euler: “I’ve got
Williams on my mind right
now.” Son Natanael ’12 finished
his freshman year, and Malin
finished her junior year at
Harvard. Barb says, “After having lived their entire lives here
on the coast of North Carolina,
they underwent some significant
adjustment to the New England
weather (I got a text message
from Natanael in early October
that informed me, ‘It’s #&$^%
snowing.’), but both are blissfully
happy at their respective colleges.
“As for me, my husband and I
are still practicing law in a small
firm here in Wilmington, N.C.,
concentrating on Social Security
disability law. I’ve reconnected
with a few friends from our
class on Facebook but haven’t
seen any classmates in real life in
many years. Looking forward to
the next reunion.”
Mark Walch: “I am keeping the
purple cow high with climbing still going on out here in
N.M. Got plans this summer
for Mount Rainier, bunch of
14ers including the Ellingwood
Arrete, Colorado River raft and
Aconcagua in January. Talk
with Tom Seldon pretty regularly
while he is on dog walks, and
he keeps me up to date on Taro
Tanaka and government goings
on. Spent some time with Jim
Briggs ’60 in Austria this past
Participating in the Williams Women’s Alumnae Ice Hockey Game in
Lansing Chapman Ice Rink in February were (from left) Shannon Bryant
(head coach of the women’s varsity team at the time), Blythe Miller
Brown ’80, Jeanne Dugan Maritz ’80, Debbie Bernheimer Harris ’86 and
Mallory Young (assistant coach).
summer hiking the Alps as he is
the best on local info for climbing and strudel!” Mark and Jim
were to do the RAGBRAI in July.
“Otherwise all well in the Land
of Enchantment.”
Rob Baker-White: “Tracy and
I are still here in Williamstown,
where I chair the theater department, and Tracy does landscape
painting and works in the
elementary school. Daughter
Emily finishing first year at
Oberlin (College and Music
Conservatory), and son Matthew
heading off to Bates in the fall.”
And there you have it.
Recurring theme: eager
anticipation of our 30th reunion.
THIRTIETH. Yikes! It’ll be a
blast. Until then, y’all keep up
the good work, OK?
1981
Kyle Doherty Hodgkins
8645 Monte Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45242
[email protected]
Greetings! As I write this, it’s
not quite summer, but I sure
can see it from my front porch.
Thanks to all of those who
took time from their madhouse
May schedules to send a quick
update. I’d be remiss if I didn’t
note the calm, clear leadership of
our own Rich Besser during the
recent H1N1 concerns. Many of
you wrote in to send kudos to
him. Well done, Rich.
MJ Dougherty Toms and I had a
chance to catch up over middle
school projects. She gave this
update: “I started working last
year at UVA’s Darden School of
Business with their entrepreneurship programs (funded by the
Batten Endowment). Lots of
energy and new business ideas.
What is most surprising to me
is how many students here are
interested in sustainability and
social entrepreneurship as well as
consulting and investment banking. The students are very inspiring. (But I keep wondering how
will I feel a few years from now
when I keep getting older and the
students don’t age a bit?)”
Speaking of not aging a bit,
how is it that Sarah Austell Cart
can be so young and yet be a
grandmother? She wrote in with
this good news: “Addison Weeks
Cart, granddaughter of Sarah
(Austell) and Ben Cart ’80, was
born in LA on May 18. Proud
parents are James and Ashley
(Ulmer) Cart, both Class of 2005;
her maternal grandfather is Kevin
Ulmer ’72; and great-grandfathers are Theodore W. Cart ’53
and R. Rhett Austell ’48. Yes,
her nursery sports a cow motif
(though it’s pink, not purple!)”
Spiro Rombotis sent a quick
note. As president and CEO of
Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc., he
and a few colleagues “rang the
NASDAQ closing bell on May 8.
Cyclacel has two cancer drugs on
the market and three in clinical
trials with the most advanced in
late-stage trials for acute myeloid
leukemia in elderly patients.”
Nevill Smythe sends an update
from the Purple Valley: “Was
in Williamstown recently for an
annual fund event. Wasn’t going
to go, but Val Colville Nierenberg
n 1 9 8 0 –8 1
Trudie (ten Broeke) Larrabee ’80 (second from left) and Betsy McGean ’80
and their husbands got together in March for the town of Hanover, N.H.,
annual Mud Ball.
said she was going. … Had a
great time. Stayed out far too
late with members of the Class
of 2005 at the Red Herring (the
only place for a drink in town).
Val and I were the only ’81ers
there but also saw several others
from the Class of ’80. Billsville is
still beautiful, and still couldn’t
get in there if I had to apply
today.” Maybe so, but think of
all the company you would have,
sitting at the end of Spring Street.
We could all hang out together
and wonder what might have
been!
Katherine Precht has ventured
once more to Cairo and hopes
that anyone visiting the area will
look her up. “When I was there
in the mid 1980s, I did an MA in
Islamic art and architecture at the
American University in Cairo,
which is where I’ll be working.
I’ll be the AVP for development,
so I’ll be returning home in some
sense. But it’s a great adventure
for my husband Chris and for
our daughter Miranda. Sophie, a
first-year at Smith, is OK about
it, but I wouldn’t say she was
thrilled.”
Closer to home, Tom Resor continues his hot coaching streak,
with The Boston Globe calling
the Noble & Greenough girls’
hockey team “the region’s ice
nobility.” The article goes on to
say: “The Bulldogs recently won
their fifth NESCAC title in eight
years.” No coincidence, Tom has
been coaching the team for the
past nine (having been with the
boys team for 14 years), giving
him the opportunity to coach his
daughters Nina and Carry.
Kathy McCleary took time
away from penning her new
novel. “I always feel that I don’t
have much to say in class notes.
(Another few months of schlepping kids to soccer practice!
Another few months of being a
stunned witness to world-class
eyeball rolling by my adolescent daughters!) I’m currently
working on revising my second
novel, about a woman who gets
so fed up with trying to raise her
kids in an affluent suburb that
she moves them all to a remote
island for a year to live without
shopping malls, cell phones or
even electricity. (Hmm—wonder
how I came up with that idea?)
My first novel, House & Home,
will be released in paperback
on July 7, and I shamelessly beg
everyone to buy it and recommend it to others. (It’s a great
beach/plane read, really.) I’m
a newcomer to the brave new
world of Facebook and Twitter
but love both and love reconnecting with old friends. Larry Platt,
Martin Kohout and Russell Trahan
have all become good Facebook
buddies, and I feel privileged to
get the chance to share little bits
of their lives this way.”
Dan Friesen had a recent
visit with Tom Rizzo, who was
in Denver for a conference.
“Tom was in town, and he, Jim
Christian ’82 and I had a great
five-hour dinner conversation.
We were able to complete 1.8
of Rizzo’s stories. … Christian
and I, along with DJ, Bradley,
Tripler and Spike are doing
the charity bike ride for The
Children’s Hospital in July. The
trash talk has begun and it may
be enough to get Rizzo out for
the ride. Many oarsmen are not
as robust as soccer players, so
he may not make it. Our motto:
‘Let the good times roll.’ … Me
... I’m training for a triathlon,
the Hippo 500, and enjoying my
grown children. The law practice
would be good if clients could
just get some bail-out money and
pay their bills. I have too many
distressed assets.” Oddly enough,
Tom wrote in as well, and has a
different recollection regarding
the likelihood of his participation
and the relative talents of bikers
and oarsmen. Vive la difference.
Lastly, one of the challenges
of assembling this column
is reporting when we lose a
classmate. Many of you received
the e-mail with the news about
Karen DeLong Parles, who passed
away in February. She generously
created Lung Cancer Online and
battled to improve the quality of
care and information provided
to people living with lung cancer.
Our sympathies go out to Jamie
and his family. Chris Gootkind
wrote in, “Karen’s memorial
service was a beautiful, moving,
loving and, in many places,
humorous tribute to an incredible person. All who attended
felt it captured who Karen was
and that she would have enjoyed
it. There were numerous Ephs
in attendance, many of whom
spoke during the service. Lynnie
McCormack, Sherri Nelson, Mark
Aseltine, yours truly, Bill Lohrer
’80 and Warren Feldman ’80 all
spoke. Jamie spoke at the end
and read a short, poignant note
from President Morty Schapiro
that said Karen represented the
best that Williams had to offer.
Others in attendance included
Gloria Prado Braskamp, Phil
Darrow, plus Sarah Mollman
Underhill ’80, Nancy Van Duyne
’80, Bill Sprague ’80 and Dan Katz
’79. Our hearts go out to Jamie,
Karen and Jamie’s children Chris
and Casey, and Karen’s parents
Shirley and Howard DeLong ’57.
I apologize if I missed any other
Ephs. Several of us [were to see]
Jamie and his kids at Martha’s
Vineyard over Memorial Day
weekend.”
Jamie was kind enough to
send his thoughts: “Karen was
a titanic individual, ‘two forces
of nature,’ as someone close to
our family once called her. She
became an internationally prominent figure due to her work in
lung cancer advocacy, but all she
was really doing was expressing
her most basic and prominent
personality traits to a wider audience. In everything Karen did,
she displayed empathy, fearlessness, a thirst for knowledge and
CL ASS
NOTES
a reverence for quality. This combination provided the framework
that made her the kind of mother
that allows me to see and hear
the sparkle of her brilliance, and
the depth of her kindness and
generosity, with each interaction
I have with Chris and Casey. Add
to the list Karen’s piercing sense
of humor—usually self-deprecating, always present, especially
when things got harder—and
it is easy to see how our group
of Williams friends has become
an extended family whose love
and support has stretched across
generations and decades. Mostly
I will continue to count Karen
as my life coach, as the prescient
young woman who, after great
prodding, picked me out of a
large crowd and immediately
set out to make me the person
she knew I could be. Unstinting
and impolitic with both praise
and criticism, Karen never let me
get away with less than my best,
as a husband, as a father, as a
doctor, as a friend, especially as
a driver, LOL. As infuriating as
her impulse never to let me rest
could be, it sits on my shoulder,
whispering in my ear, making me
cry and smile.”
1982
Will Layman
8507 Garfield St.
Bethesda, MD 20817
Kolleen Rask
55 Pine Hill Road
Southborough, MA 01772
[email protected]
OK, campers—does everyone
have a marshmallow and a
good stick? Great! Roast ’em ’til
they’re golden and settle down.
Turn off your flashlights. Because
… it’s time for a creeeeepy campfire story!
Once, in the mystic west of
your imaginations, there was a
place called Lordsburg, N.M. On
a ranch 23 miles to the north,
surrounded by the Gila National
Forest, there lived a woman
named Erin (Sweeney) Evans.
When people visit her there, the
remoteness is so great that driving from the airport “everybody
gets really quiet at about the
AZ-NM state line, thinking, ‘Oh,
my, God, what are they doing
HERE?’” Creeeepy! Erin has that
most haunted of all jobs: substitute teacher! One day, Erin was
walking down the hallway of her
school when she noticed something peeking out just at her: a
Early 80s class members celebrated the 50th birthday of Tim Williams ’81
(center) on the beach in Gloucester, Mass., in September 2008.
poster meant to inspire kids that
contained the quote: “Climb
high, climb far, your goal the sky,
your aim the star,” attributed to
Mark Hopkins of a place called
“Williams College.” “I looked
at it, and the other fourth-grade
teacher came out of his class.
‘That’s where I went to school,’ I
told him. His eyes got pretty big,
and he said, ‘How did you get
from there to Lordsburg, N.M?’”
And this, my little friends will
remain a mystery forever.
At just about the same time,
thousands of miles away in
Boston, Mass., something
uncanny occurred. Jen Jones,
wife of Mike Rosenfelder, ran the
April Boston Marathon with her
ghoulish kin, Ken and Liz. They
were the founding members of
the Toad Hall Track Club, whose
motto is “Don’t Hurl.” And: No
… one … did.
In the very same town at nearly
the very same time, a married couple attended Richard
Goodwin’s play Two Men of
Florence. This couple, Kolleen
Rask and Tim Langella ’80, were,
however, at no ordinary play.
Oh, no! A sudden chill descended
over Kolleen as she turned to her
husband and whispered in heartpalpitating frenzy, “Isn’t that
Diego Arciniegas?” And: Indeed it
was! “He still looks exactly like
he did in college. He was fabulous, playing several roles and
morphing into each one flawlessly.” A man who does not age
and can transform himself into
others! Auuggghhhhhhhhhhh!
Not far to the south, children, is the haunted island
of Manhattan, a place where
Eliza de Sola Mendes can be
found battling something no
less ghoulish than a proposed
solid waste dump on the Upper
East Side at Asphalt Green that
threatens to house 5,280 tons of
garbage per day. While the solid
waste monster rises each night
from the ebony sky, Eliza battles
back with petitions for a bill in
Albany, which she has “gotten
more than 5,000 people to sign
and more than 550 doctors and
scientists from more than 15
hospitals and universities.” The
solid waste monster, we know,
cowers. “I stay in touch with
Jill Diamond Wruble ’83. My
son Daniel will be a senior in
high school next year, working
for Congresswoman Caroline
Maloney and a captain of his
school soccer team, while Ben is
13 and an avid squash player.”
Non-adult creatures are,
friends, actually epidemic.
Witness the scourge reported
by Annabelle Cone, whose
“offspring, Rosalie” has decided
to attend a little school called
“Dartmouth College, just down
the road from where her mommy
just happens to teach French.
‘Will that be weird,’ people ask?
Au contraire. She might even
enroll in one of my classes. It’s
difficult to leave the snow and
the great outdoors.” But weird
it remains, kids. Anybody want
more marshmallows?
Speaking of things that smolder
and catch on fire—do you kids
know about Afghanistan and
Pakistan? Well, our friend Eric
Schmitt writes stories—strange
but very true stories—about
those places for The New York
Times. And his stories, written
as part of a team, won a Pulitzer
Prize last spring. Great news,
Eric! (Actually, the news was
n 1 9 8 1 –8 3
probably not good, but the news
of your prize cheers us. And we
need cheering tonight, sitting
here in the dark.)
Here is something even more
dangerous and mysterious: a
political campaign. Is your skin
crawling yet? Seth Rogovoy
traveled the full width of the continent to visit Mike McGinn in the
damp, cloaked city that is Seattle,
Wash. And there, kids, the bold
truth: Mike is running for mayor.
“On my first visit in late March,
Michael had just earlier that
week declared his candidacy for
mayor of Seattle. By the time
I returned a few weeks later,
Michael’s campaign was in full
swing; he was set up in an office,
had a slew of advisers and volunteers, had raised thousands of
dollars, all for a campaign based
on the principles for which we
all know and love Michael—his
commitment to the environment,
sound economic principles, city
planning that emphasizes mass
transit, and smart land use.
“What’s really fantastic is that
Mike hasn’t become a ‘politician’ in the conventional sense;
frankly, I’m rather surprised
to see him unshaven and as
plainspoken as always—even
on TV, where I saw him while I
was out there on a local Sunday
morning news show. Michael
is running against an incumbent mayor and has very low
name recognition. But, should
Michael prove triumphant, he
could instantly become a figure
on the national political scene
as a visionary change agent and
smart, level-headed leader. Even
if you live outside of Seattle, you
can donate to his campaign. For
more information, and to watch
several videos of McGinn talking
about the campaign, visit www.
mcginnformayor.com.”
If all these tales have not
already shaken you to your very
core, let me tell you one final
story, a chiller that will keep you
from sleeping tonight.
When I was 5 years old, my
mother told me that she had
to go to the store for just few
minutes and that she was leaving
me alone in the house with my
pet iguana, Tim. I heard her
car drive away, and I pulled the
covers up to my chin. Then I saw
Tim, inside his cage, light a cigarette and start talking. He leaned
against the bars of cage, bent one
easily with his forefinger, then
said, “I sure am hungry for some
little boy.”
I screamed. Then he said,
“Nah, I’m just kiddin.’ But it
is frightening to imagine being
married for 22 years ain’t it?”
For that’s the monster-ish duration of the bond between Susan
and Christopher Shields. More
ominously, Susan just “joined
Jamba Juice as their new senior
VP responsible for establishing
a new division for consumer
packaged goods products, taking
the Jamba brand across multiple
categories in the store. Needless
to say my cool factor with the
kids has increased immensely.” I
don’t know about all of you kids,
but I find this juicy enthusiasm
for marketing to be frightening!
“Chris is still at the Academy of
Sciences in San Francisco as their
director of strategic planning. He
know my friends never thought
it would happen, I’ve been the
source of unending entertainment as they watched my dating
follies, but I have met a great
man with whom I share just
enough and not too much! We
will stay here in Seattle, as he
works for Amazon and I have a
private practice in psychology.
No stories about cats yet (I’m
working on him), but we have
traveled much and have much
more to see. In the meantime, I’m
just trying to keep the nuptials
as mellow as possible, given that
my poor mother is frothing at
the mouth as the ‘mother of the
bride.’ I now understand why
people elope. … Cheers and love
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
In May Eric Schmitt ’82 was one of a team of New York Times journalists
that won a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for its coverage
of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
is happily situated in their brand
new building and gets to visit
with the many creatures, including an albino alligator, every
day.”
An albino alligator?! Children!
Run! Run for your liiiiives! (And
if you live to see the light of day,
e-mail us with news of your
latest walks through the dark
woods. Will.K.Layman@gmail.
com or [email protected].)
1983
Bea Fuller
9002 Honeybee Lane
Bethesda, MD 20817
[email protected]
Greetings, all, and thanks
to those who sent me news. I
continue to encourage you to get
on Facebook. You can see photos
of Dan Maynard’s kids skiing
in Switzerland, Chris Tantillo’s
hot air balloons floating over
Kansas (without Toto); Michael
Chambon’s beautiful daughters
laughing at or with him—not
sure which; Erin Bogan and two
gigantic boys (are they hers?);
Nico Howson and his incredible
feats of physical fitness; if you
understand Thai, you can watch
Suranand Vejjajiva’s daily cable
TV show; and much, much
more!
Big news from Kathy Pope:
“Well, lord have mercy, I finally
have something to say! At the
ripe old age of 48, I will be getting married this September. … I
to all my Williams buddies.”
I seem to have a quite a bit of
news from Californians—maybe
I sent my plea ripe for West
Coast time. John Graham writes
from southern California,
“Yesterday, I had lunch at Blue
Plate in Santa Monica with
Bruce Leddy, who’s been working
with MTV on a pilot and is in
fine form. Had just returned
myself from Cannes, where
my last movie was being sold
internationally. It reminded me
of Williams a bit—parties until
4 a.m., lots of hopeful, young
people and a charge of ‘anything
could happen from here’ floating around. Of course, it’s a bit
different being one of the elder
statesmen among our group,
but very enjoyable nonetheless.” Carol O’Day also writes
from southern California: “No
good idea goes un-multiplied. I
launched a speaking and consulting firm, The New Having
It All, last summer and have
been speaking and mentoring
back-to-work moms since. I
am impressed by the amount of
female talent lying fallow out
there and the eagerness with
which educated women embrace
returning to the world of the
mind. In addition, I accepted a
position as a director of marketing and development for Saint
Anne School, a K-8 Catholic
elementary school in Santa
Monica, which I came upon in a
classic fashion. I was a three-year
volunteer on the school’s board
CL ASS
NOTES
when the position was offered
to me. So, ladies, choose your
volunteer jobs (and they ARE
unpaid jobs) wisely. I invite other
Eph development people to contact me, coday@saintanneschool.
com, to share development
ideas.” Becky McIver writes from
northern California, “Rob Kusel
is now training my daughter’s
club team. It has been great
having his energy and passion
for the game instilled in these
young players. The team is a Div.
I under-14 girls. My daughter
Kelsea is also training with him
outside of her team. He has a
beautiful wife and cute baby
boy! I manage Luna Vineyards’
Wine Club among other things.
If anyone needs some world-class
wine, check out our website,
lunavineyards.com. One of the
co-founders is George Vare ’58!”
Karen Lewis Alexander sends
warm greetings from Chicago,
and she regrets that at the last
minute she was unable to attend
the 25th reunion. “All is well
in the Alexander household, if
by well you mean crazy busy.
Scott has been on sabbatical
and traveling (internationally)
quite a bit. I went to work as
VP for development at Loyola
University Health System last
June and after six months was
promoted to a senior officer of
the health system as senior VP
for development and external
affairs. The work has been
extraordinarily rewarding, but
the hours are going to drive me
to an early grave. Most meetings
with physicians need to start
before they make rounds—
meaning I have to be in the
office by 6 a.m. many days.
Most meetings with donors take
place in the evening—meaning I
have to stay in work until 9 p.m.
I’m getting too old for this! Our
son Myles just finished his junior
year at Sarah Lawrence College,
where he is an economics major.
(Yes, hard to believe two liberal
humanities jocks could produce
a hard-core, conservative, budding economist.) Myles headed
to an intensive summer program
at the London School of
Economics for July and August
before beginning his senior
year.” Karen had “two trips on
the docket this summer—a lateJune week in Venice and a lateAugust trip to London to see the
kid.” In between, she hoped to
hear from fellow Ephs visiting
Chicago. “You may have heard,
we have a great modern wing
addition to our art institute!”
Sharon J. Glezen is “writing
from Rochester, where I work
as an internist at the University
Health Service. I have yet to
meet up for coffee with Lis
Bischoff-Ormsbee since her
arrival last fall, but that is on
my to-do list now that many of
the pesky students have gone
(hopefully taking the flu with
them). I’m writing to share
personal news. After 20 years
and two kids, my partner Cara
(Mount Holyoke ’83) and I are
finally, and legally, married. We
were married first in a small
family ceremony in my parents’
living room in Connecticut in
December. My folks have been
incredible advocates for equal
marriage in the state, and all of
their hard work finally paid off
last fall. We then decided to have
a huge celebratory wedding here
in our Unitarian church home
in Rochester in April. We were
surrounded by tons of teens and
tweens, family and local friends.
The ceremony was followed by
champagne and an ice cream
social. What’s not to love? Cara
and I have been moved by the
outpouring of love and support
that we’ve felt during this entire
journey and have been blessed
with the chance that this has provided us to step back and focus
on the relationship that sustains
us in all of the other aspects of
our lives. We are lucky, indeed.”
And from The New York
Times, you should read the
article “On the Bench and Off,
the Eminently Quotable Justice
Scalia” by Adam Liptak. Justice
Scalia said he could think of
one sort-of exception to his rule
favoring the elite law schools:
“One of my former clerks whom
I am the most proud of now
sits on the Sixth Circuit Court
of Appeals” in Cincinnati, the
justice said, referring to the Hon.
Jeffrey S. Sutton. But Justice
Scalia explained that Mr. Sutton
had been hired by Justice Lewis
F. Powell Jr. after his retirement
and then helped out in Justice
Scalia’s chambers. “I wouldn’t
have hired Jeff Sutton,” Justice
Scalia said. “For God’s sake, he
went to Ohio State! And he’s
one of the very best law clerks I
ever had.” Thanks to Mr. New
Yorker himself, Jim Corsiglia, for
sending this my way. Jim is still
balancing secretive corporate
work with his good deeds and
great daddy skills.
As for me, I started a new job
July 1 as the Upper School head
at Severn School in Severna
Park, Md., near Annapolis. I
am thrilled about the move; my
boys are cautiously optimistic—
which means they are not openly
rebelling and they are wearing
their Severn sweatshirts. Of
course it helps that their friends
in Bethesda have heard of the
school because it has a decent
lacrosse program. We are looking
forward to life near the water and
reconnecting with Jeremy Snow,
who has children at Severn! I
have myriad goals for the coming year including more time to
exercise and making time to paint
or draw, but I am grateful that
I can still run in the woods and
play soccer occasionally and that
I have great friends and family.
Hope you all are well, and now
you have a new reason to visit the
capital of Maryland!
1984
Sean M. Crotty
31 Carriage House Lane
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Carrie Bradley Neves
7 Gay St. Apt. 4N
New York, NY 10014
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing
secretaries Christine Harrington
and Kathy Spraitz: Blink. Just
like that, 25 years evaporated.
We awoke in the Purple Valley,
where the rain doesn’t matter,
where everyone “looks exactly
the same!” and where, for an
entire weekend, there were no
homework assignments, exams
or oral reports due. This kind of
time travel is good.
Old friendships, perhaps
having laid dormant for a few
months or a few years, were
instantaneously rekindled.
New friendships were seeded.
All things purple were greatly
revered. And for the oh-so-lucky
denizens of the Berkshire Quad
housing, the bunk beds were still
in working order. (With mighty
flat mattresses, but working
nonetheless.)
Entire freshman entries were
nearly intact. Navjeet Bal helped
take inventory of the Morgan
East ’80-’81 crowd: Robert
McLean, Jose Perez, Richie
Chishty, David Cerrone, Tim
Hinkle, Fran Toler, Julie Klotz,
Evy Douglas, Doug Sparks, Sean
Crotty, Andy Crain, Jay Brodie,
Rory Costello, Gary Selinger and
Tory (Smith) Walsh. Way to go,
Morgan East! So much for the
Minnesotans bringing home the
“Best Attendance” award.
Familiar laughter floated
through the air. We in
n 1 9 8 3 –8 4
Fayerweather (aka “Faye,”
according to those youngish
Reunion Rangers) enjoyed
Melissa George Iserloth’s infectious giggle and tried hard to stay
awake late enough to hear Sara
Griffiths Connell laughing so hard
it was unclear whether she was
still breathing. Merritt Mayher
also reported: “Sitting next to
Scott Brittingham on Friday
afternoon while he chortled at
Morty’s comment about how
lazy we all were in 1980 took me
right back to the myriad times I
heard Scott laugh. (Since Scott
had Morty for Econ 101 freshman year, I’m blaming him.)”
Regarding the speaker on stage,
Steve Johansen remarked, “It
was appropriate to say goodbye
to President Morty Schapiro,
since it was our freshmen class
that welcomed him in the fall of
1980.”
The refrain “You look the
same!” was heard at least 1,984
times. Per outgoing Class VP
Greg Pliska: “Rob McLean and I
were chatting on Friday night,
looking around at our class and
remarking on how well we’ve
entered middle age. Sure, the
signs are there in hairlines and
waistlines and a few wrinkles
around the eyes, but we agreed
the Class of ’84 could say, ‘Hey,
we look GOOD!’”
Greg’s observations continued
the next day as the Class of ’59
filed into the Society of Alumni
annual meeting. He and Rob
hypothesized the 50th reunion
gang had probably been at their
own Friday-night event, looking
around and saying they’d barely
aged. Sure enough, Greg reports:
“When they got up to present
their class gift, they said as much!
So I guess it’s all a matter of
perspective. But I still maintain
we look damn good. And even
if we don’t, well, we FEEL good,
and that’s what counts.”
Linda Brockelman Ogden, Lou
and Amanda Shipley, and Alberto
and Rosanne Luzarraga all felt
plenty good enough to trek up
Pine Cobble. Rosanne confirmed,
“When we reached the top and
could see that, while some things
have changed in the Purple
Valley, from up high it still looks
simply beautiful.”
And the Log, thank goodness,
is still the Log. (Particularly since
its sassier cousin, the Purple Pub,
burned down in our absence.) I
suspect many classmates who initially felt trepidation found their
weekend sea legs at Thursday
night’s Log gathering. Per Sara
Griffiths Connell: “I felt nothing
had changed the moment I
walked in … and saw very
familiar faces. It felt incredibly
comfortable. I talked with people
as if no time had passed.”
It helped having familiar faces
on stage. Thank you, Marc
Hummon, Sean Crotty, Greg
Pliska, Gary Selinger, Suzy Akin,
Matt Kadish and Dave Cole
for so readily transporting us
back to our college days. Sean’s
daughters Molly and Annie gave
him an early Father’s Day gift:
“Singing at the Log and watching my daughters—normally
very shy to get up in front of
people—seem to feel the love in
the room and jump up on stage
to sing, and being backed by
Marc. That will stay with me for
a long time.”
Connections initially forged on
the playing field also remained
contemporary. Jack McGonagle
cites the following reunion
highlight: “Having lunch in the
Paresky Center with Sean Crotty
(and 16-year-old son Ryan), Marc
Hummon (and 16-year-old son
Levi), Jeff Congdon (all the way
from Alaska), John McCarthy,
Ted Leon and Coach Farley. Tim
Curran ’83 and B.J. Connolly
called in, too.” Jack adds:
“Coach Farley was our coach for
four years across multiple sports
and said maybe two words in
that entire time. Now, one lunch
… wow! Let’s just say the verbalcount factor has changed. Great
time. Great man.”
Incoming Class President John
McNicholas echoes the sentiment:
“For me, the best part of the
weekend, and moment you felt
like ‘nothing had changed’ was
when Artie Pidoriano, Ed Schmidt,
John McCarthy, Russ Howard
and I were at dinner reminiscing
about playing basketball and
hanging out together on campus.
It was the first time we’d all been
together since senior year. It was
great being back together.”
Purple sports jerseys. Purple
vests. Purple hair? Though
purple is always big in these
parts (c’mon, the Vikings?
Prince?), it was back in force for
all. Purple fleece vests, thanks
to the reunion committee, were
worn no matter the temperature
at Saturday morning’s parade.
Merritt Mayher, sporting what
she described as a “subdued”
purple and gold coat, stood
next to Tom Harrity on the Clark
terrace, Tom in his dad’s Class
of ’46 purple blazer, purple shirt
and purple bow tie. I thought my
own eyes deceived me at the class
officer breakfast, but Greg Pliska
confirmed it: Val DiFebo was
wearing purple eye shadow. Not
that it stopped after the weekend.
Unsuspecting youth, i.e., those
too young to protest, will return
to their non-Billsville lives in Eph
style. Steve Johansen confirmed,
“I chose to buy a Williams sweat
suit for my 2-year-old son,” as
did, I’m sure, many parents who
were spotted with Spring Street’s
finest shopping bags.
With Goff’s outfitting the
populace, Route 2 under construction and Pappa Charlie’s
catering to an untold number, it
was tempting to think nothing
much had changed. But there
were signs that Williamstown
has entered the 21st century in
spite of our desire to keep it “just
as it was.”
There’s now a working
stoplight on Route 2. I know
it exists, because I almost
ran through it, having been
distracted by the “Wash-nWireless” laundromat sign
across the way. “Wash-nWireless?” Come now. It’s not
like we would’ve seen that cross
promotion back in the ’80s.
No surprise that iPhones,
Blackberries and cell phones
were out in force. It was kind of
fun “texting” our old roommates and deciding where to
meet up, was it not?
The Class of ’84 did take
pause when it came to the
College’s shifting skyline. Maybe
it’s hard to embrace the new,
however well executed, when
it requires we let go of fond
memories. What is Chapin
Lawn, after all, when not in the
shadow of shipshape Baxter
Hall? What will the College do
with those groovy double-decker
study carrels when the library
comes down? Sell them on eBay,
à la seats from the old Yankee
Stadium?
Sara Griffiths Connell joined
many in pondering the issue:
“The newer buildings, while
beautiful in and of themselves,
threw me a bit. Is the campus
charm disappearing? I did
spend time wandering around
the campus and have to say,
it still feels like the Williams
we knew—especially by Dodd
House, Mission Park and
beyond.” Slush wisely concludes, “Maybe at the end of the
day it’s not the buildings that are
the most important thing about
Williams.”
Supporting Sara’s theory that
people make the place, the new
architecture nicely showcased
our very own talent. Val DiFebo,
CL ASS
NOTES
John Berg and award-winning
Donna Ching were critical players
at the Chandler Gymnasium
podium. Scads of our kids—and
a few of their ’rents—enjoyed
swimming in that great big
glorious pool. Jim Neumann,
Mara Bun, Peg Stevenson and Bill
Edmonds entertained, challenged
and raised our collective awareness regarding sustainability, all
while perched in Purple Valleyesque Adirondack chairs on
the ’62 Center for Theatre and
Dance stage.
And didn’t everyone look
splendid out on the terrace of the
Clark’s new Stone Hill Center?
Development guy John Skavlem
can be proud of the work he and
his colleagues did to support that
particular Clark Art Institute
expansion. Did anyone notice
how the pictures from Callie
Lombard Sullivan’s nifty photo
booth got progressively, shall
we say, creative as the night
progressed? If you have time to
review the online summary of
same, be sure to look at the Craig
Lee/Curt Jenson combo shots.
Excellent composition, guys.
Your finance-type jobs belie your
underlying artistic talents.
Let’s not forget a building that
was always there but may have
been discovered for the first
time 25 years later. Goodrich
Hall, anyone? The scene of
what Christine Harrington later
referred to as “crazy dancing”?
Architectural commentator
Sara Griffiths Connell notes, “It
was like the late Saturday night
dancing of yesteryear. Non-stop,
crowded and in a dark room.”
The only difference? “The floor
wasn’t sticky.” Thank goodness
for that.
Given it was a highlight for
many, this scribe passed too
breezily by the 25th reunion
panel discussion titled,
“Sustainability at Williams and
Around the World.” The crowd
listened to Mara, Jim, Peg and
Bill talk about their vocational
passions. Navjeet Bal summarized
it well: “I really appreciated the
different perspectives that each
speaker brought to the topic and
the seriousness that each has
about their life’s work. Very cool
and very impressive.”
You know what’s great about
the Williams DNA (as it was
code-named during Class
President Val DiFebo’s speech)?
Humility. How’s this from a guy
who, with his peers, nailed his
portion of the panel presentation? Jim Neuman was “surprised
it could be more nerve-wracking
to present to 100 of your classmates than to 200 Congressional
staffers or 50 fellow economists.
At least you know why the
staffers and economists MIGHT
be interested. And of course
the Williams ’84 audience is
likely smarter and actually paying attention.” Jim graciously
adds: “Having done it, I highly
recommend it to others—it was
a terrific way to connect with
many. Thanks for all the positive
feedback!”
I’ll resist repeating the welldeserved thanks that were
expressed throughout the weekend and give a shout to some
unsung heroes. I bet we can all
agree: We owe a sincere thanks
to our spouses, mates, partners,
kids—and at least one pet, who
behaved beautifully at the Friday
night dinner—who humored
us by living the great Williams
mythology for an entire (long)
weekend. Talk about good DNA.
It’s a great group of people.
Assembling that crowd of quality
folks may be our best collective
accomplishment yet.
No column wrapping our “silver” reunion would be complete
without acknowledging we are
incomplete as a whole. The Class
of 1984 will always remember
Johnnie Conyers, Tom Dougherty,
Paul (Justin) Johnson, Christian
Minard, Sarah Anne Murphy,
Janet Ricker and Scott Pileggi. We
welcome with open arms their
surviving spouses and partners as
honorary members of our class.
On a lighter but also sincere
subject. Many of you know Class
Book publishing guru Sean Crotty
has agreed to serve as your next
class secretary. In later breaking
news: Carrie Bradley Neves will
join Sean as co-secretary. One
thing’s for sure: Our class will be
in good, lyrical and very musical
hands.
I received a crackling voice
mail from Carrie on June 22
declaring she and her husband
Marc were “sitting on the steps
of Chapin Hall.” Did anyone
tell them that Reunion Weekend
ended? Is she taking the new gig
so seriously as to have opened a
local press office? Carrie, inquiring minds want to know!
Sean got the memo about
Reunion Weekend ending but
not before heading to Boston
and topping it off with an ’80sappropriate Crosby, Stills &
Nash concert with former roommates Tom Graham, Tim Hinkle,
Joe Loturco, Caragh O’Brien and
several of their respective family
members. With reunion over,
Sean writes: “It was great seeing
all of you, and I wish all of you
a great summer. I accept the task
of keeping you all up to date on
one another gladly. I like hearing
about what makes this class tick.
“To my old friends, I will see
you soon. To my new ones, you
better watch out. I do get to
Australia now and then, Mara,
so tell Stu to keep the horses
fed and the beer cold, as you
never know when you might
get a call from Darwin. Jose,
I promise to call when I get to
Paris, even if I’m at one of the
airport hotels for just the night.”
Jose Perez capped his invitation
to Sean with his own summary
of Reunion Weekend: “Truly
a very special moment with an
incomparable group of people.
Much more than a trip to the
past, a great source of strength
and inspiration for the future.”
How elegant. And he didn’t even
say it in French!
Sean finishes with: “There
was a tradition in the Air Force.
When you left a particular
base, you didn’t look in the
rear-view mirror. The idea
was that you should always
look forward. Driving away
from Williamstown, I admit to
looking in the rear-view mirror
and remembering Reunion
Weekend—all of you who came
and those that could not. I
looked back hoping I’d see you
all again in five years, if not in
25 for the 50th. You are a special
group of people. I miss not having you all in my life on a daily
basis. I can’t wait to see what all
of you have in store for me at
our reunion in 25 years.”
No doubt it’ll be here in the
blink of an eye.
1985
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Wendy Webster Coakley
25th
271 Pittsfield Road
Lenox, MA 01240
[email protected]
The nation’s first intercollegiate baseball match was
commemorated this spring in
Pittsfield, Mass., the “neutral
ground” where it all started 150
years ago between Williams and
Amherst. Before the modern-day
teams took to the field to battle
for NESCAC playoff privileges,
a game was held with alumni
from both schools playing
under 1859 rules (no gloves,
for starters). Representing our
n 1 9 8 4 –8 5
Members of the Class of 1985 gathered in Williamstown in May to begin
planning for their 25th reunion.
“vintage” were Mike Coakley,
Brian Rutlege, Rob Coakley ’86
and Kevin Morris ’86, coached by
Jim Briggs ’60, nattily dressed in
top hat and tails.
The players’ hair may have
been grayer than their vintage
uniforms, but ESPN, Sports
Illustrated, USA Today, The
New York Times, The Boston
Globe and other media captured
their irrepressible smiles and
genuine delight. Kudos to
organizers Mike Barbera ’89
and former Red Sox GM Dan
Duquette (Amherst ’80, who
redeemed himself by sending his
daughter to Williams).
Another sport—hockey—
resulted in a more spontaneous
Eph reunion when Greg Masters
bumped into Ted Plonsker ’86 at
a Delaware tournament in which
their sons were playing. As a
hockey dad to three boys, Greg
has taken to playing in a men’s
league on Saturday nights but
would switch to water polo in a
heartbeat if he could just find a
team. If you Philly-based readers
have any leads, contact Greg.
Meanwhile, the sport of soccer
has provided a decent living for
former Eph player and writer
Debbie Wickenden Crisfield,
who’s authored several books on
the subject. Debbie has recently
switched her focus to the game
of bridge, teaching others to
play and improving her game to
the point that she won an event
at the North American Bridge
Championships, “albeit the
least impressive of the national
events,” she wrote modestly,
“but now I have a little street
cred. Then a publisher bribed me
with a book on bridge if I would
write just one more soccer book.
It was absolute torture to write
a sixth soccer book—it’s just
not that interesting a subject—
but the thought of writing a
bridge book made it all worth it
… until I actually had to write
the bridge book, which made
it quite clear to me that I really
just don’t enjoy writing” (except
to her class secretary, fortunately
for me).
At the urging of Susan Knapp
McClements, not to mention the
presence of two teenagers in
the Crisfield household, Debbie
joined Facebook, “which means
that suddenly I’ve renewed
friendships with a number of
classmates … but, since I rarely
get on Facebook, it doesn’t do
me much good, which makes me
look forward to reunion even
more.”
That’s a good thing, and I’m
able to report that reunion planning got off to a great start with
a meeting hosted by the College
and our extremely organized copresidents Sara Harkness Curry
and Meg Holliday Kelly. Thanks
to the classmates who took time
from their busy lives to attend,
including Jonathan Carpenter,
Katherine Boozer Cote, Gillian
Davies, Emily Sneath Jones, Jeff
May and Peter Orphanos. Special
congrats to Emily and her
husband Spencer Jones on their
eldest son Casey’s acceptance
into the Williams Class of 2013.
And welcome back to Jeff, who
recently relocated his family to
Lakeville, Conn., after many
years in London.
Thanks to the many more of
you who weren’t able to attend
the kick-off but have volunteered for various committees.
Our 25th promises to be a very
special event, thanks to the time
and talents of these individuals.
One thing we will be doing is
honoring those members of the
class who have left our earthly
ranks but are never far from our
hearts: Scott Pond, Shelly Traina
Riecke, Dori Dewar Salancy and
Kim Zullo. I hope that those of
you who knew who knew them
at Williams or beyond will be
moved to share your memories
in our Class Book, an effort
headed by the indefatigable
Allison Martin Mertens.
Finally, thanks to a nontraditional member of the class,
Adriana Brown, wife of the late,
great poly sci professor Mac
Brown, who graciously put up a
number of our planning meeting
attendees at her Williamstown
home.
On that note, it always pleases
me to report on our “non-trad”
classmates, so I was delighted to
hear from Lucy Gardner Carson:
“No one knows me because I
lived off campus and worked
five jobs to put myself through
school! I’ve always regretted not
being better connected with my
class—OK, let’s face it, mostly
embarrassed that I haven’t
accomplished more impressive
or glamorous things by now, but
at 47 I’m starting to get over
that—and you keep saying it’s
never too late to speak up!
“After graduation I married
my still-husband—a rock musician and computer guy—and
eventually ended up in Buffalo,
where I spent time in publishing,
had a successful kidney transplant and raised two kids, Nick
and Molly, in a Waldorf school
there. In late 2007 we relocated
back to Bennington, Vt., to be
closer to my aging mother. I
took a publishing job but found
that I couldn’t make enough
doing that to support a family,
especially since my husband
John left his big-time IT job
in Buffalo to join us. So guess
where I ended up finding a good
job with better pay and benefits,
where I can be of service in the
reputable field of higher education while also reveling in my
gorgeous surroundings? Yes! I
work at Williams, supporting
the Africana and Latina/o studies programs and the Classics
department. And the icing on
the cake is that we’ve moved
from Bennington to Billsville.
Nick and Molly [finished] ninth
and eighth grade, respectively,
at their school in Vermont and
[will attend] Mount Greylock
in the fall.” Great to hear from
CL ASS
NOTES
you, Lucy, and I hope other
“non-trads” are inspired to
follow you, Les Johnson and Sue
Wise in writing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had
any entries in the class column,”
wrote another first-time correspondent, Elise Brown. “Once I
graduated I just sort of sailed off
into the horizon.”
Elise sent a wonderful synopsis
of her life since, reporting that
she is happily settled in a small
town in rural Maine with her
partner Martha and their children Rose, 11, and Seth, 4. They
live on a homestead farm where
Elise raises vegetables, layer hens
and dairy goats and also runs
small maple sugaring and apple
cider operations. In addition,
she serves her community as the
emergency service director, having previously held the volunteer
office of fire chief. (No doubt
Elise’s earlier stint as a professional firefighter and EMT for
the city of Portland, Maine, has
served her well!) Other hands-on
adventures since graduation
included wooden boatbuilding
and off-island sheep shearing,
and she is currently engaged in
statewide political activism to
improve the economic security
of women and end racism. As a
former Log luncher, I especially
enjoyed Elise’s closing observation: “Recently, a friend asked
me how I became so adept at
bread baking. I look back on my
senior year as Log lunch cook as
being instrumental to my interest in not just making food, but
growing it, too.”
I also heard from Lisa
Celona, recently promoted to
assistant Spanish professor at
Tunxis Community College in
Farmington, Conn. Lisa loves
her job, especially when it
affords her the opportunity to
take students into NYC for the
day to see Broadway’s bilingual
production of West Side Story,
travel to Spain over spring break
or host a Flamenco guitarist on
campus. “Being a college teacher
is a lot more fulfilling and enjoyable than the 10 years I spent
in bank management, although
that was a good experience
too,” Lisa observed.
Another professor, Laura
Henriques, notes that she’s “been
on the academic calendar my
whole life, going straight from
Williams to teaching K-12, then
grad school and now being a
professor, and I must say I like
the rhythm of it.” Laura chairs
the science education department at Cal State Long Beach
and was looking forward to
an LA alumni group gathering
at Cal Tech featuring Williams
Prof. Jay Pasachoff.
Congratulations to Matthew
Garrity-Janger, the new principal at Mount Desert Island
High School in Bar Harbor,
Maine, a truly pristine spot.
This is Matthew’s return to
New England—he worked at
schools in New Hampshire and
Massachusetts and was at Yale
for his MBA—after many years
in Michigan. After their move,
his wife Cecily will continue her
important work with combat
vets, treating post-traumatic
stress disorder.
In North Carolina’s Research
Triangle, Ted Benson started a
new job as a molecular and cell
biologist with a company called
Talecris. Toner Mitchell is back in
his hometown of Santa Fe with
his wife Cullen and son Gus,
and he runs a fly-fishing business
and does freelance writing and
arboriculture. City planner and
leading New Urbanist Jeff Speck
is helping Grand Rapids, Mich.,
and Oklahoma City create
pedestrian-friendly downtowns.
After many years in Abu
Dhabi, Molly Tennis, husband
Olivier and their four FrancoAmerican sons are relocating to
Aix en Provence, France. “New
job for Olivier and, at long last,
fluency for the boys,” she wrote.
And Dan Blatt reports that Anne
Fetter has become quite the
horsewoman and that we should
all check out her Facebook
page. (That means you, Debbie
Wickenden Crisfield!)
Mireya Calderin D’Angelo
reported on a mini-multi-year
Williams reunion in NYC,
where she attended a party
with my in-laws Rob ’86 and
Catherine Eaton Coakley ’88 as
well as Liz Peay McCreery ’86.
Mireya’s daughter, an aspiring
horsewoman herself, is in the
same grade at the Chapin School
as Liz’s.
The always inspiring Kimerer
LaMothe has written her third
book, What A Body Knows:
Finding Wisdom in Desire,
published by O Books, an upand-coming religion/philosophy
press in the UK. She and her
musician spouse Geoff Gee
celebrated its release by performing “Genesis,” an original music
and dance piece about how we
all participate in the ongoing
act of creation. Appropriately
enough but still astonishing,
Kimerer performed the dance
six months pregnant with their
fifth child! (Astute readers of
this column may recall that she
was tiling their bathroom mere
hours before giving birth to
their fourth.) Check out www.
vitalartsmedia.com for more on
what this truly creative couple
are achieving on their farm in
upstate New York.
I leave you with this cheerful
update from New Hampshirebased Peter Burghardt, who
reported, “Gosh, not much new
here,” and then proceeded to
write about his car being totaled
in a multi-car interstate pileup, a
work trip to Copenhagen, learning about craniofacial trauma as
an EMT and skijoring with his
rescue dogs, Luke and Tess.
My favorite part of Peter’s
account paid tribute to his wife
Pam, data manager by day and
industrious fiber artist at night.
“She spends her free time weaving, spinning, dying and knitting,” he wrote. “At last count,
there were three looms and four
spinning wheels in the house,
along with bags of fleece and
rolls and skeins of yarn. There’s
nothing like a snappy pair of
hand-knit purple socks to make
the airport security check a bit
more cheerful.”
I’m telling you, we class secretaries live for details like that.
Purple socks! I love it. Thank
you, Peter—you should think
about wearing them to reunion!
1986
Greg Heller
178 Rolling Road
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
[email protected]
Tuck Rickards is in the middle
of a trip around the world with
his wife and kids Andrew, 17,
Katie, 15, and Matt, 13. Tuck’s
day job is with Russell Reynolds
Associates, where he leads the
tech sector, doing primarily
CEO searches for private-equity
clients.
K. Bailey Freund is still working in New York as a retinal
surgeon. He and his wife Nina
Yannuzzi Freund just celebrated
their 20th anniversary. They are
enjoying watching kids Avery,
6, and Allegra, 13, grow up
in NYC and in Milan, N.Y., a
town in Dutchess County to
which they escape whenever
possible.
Lee Hatcher is working in
Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur
and has a wonderful son Lucas
Hatcher Jolicoeur, 5. Lee wanted
me to pass along that he is alive,
n 1 9 8 5 –8 7
Bill Reeves Jr. ’98 (left) and Thomas P. Vitale ’86 met up in San Diego in
July 2008 at the Sci Fi Channel cocktail party, an event at the annual
Comic Con gathering for devotees of science fiction, fantasy and horror.
well and available for contact.
J.P. Conlan recently graduated from law school at the
University of Puerto Rico, where
he is a professor of English.
Robin Hoagland and her husband are living on Cape Cod full
time now that their kids are in
college. Son Henry is a freshman
at Bowdoin, and daughter Elissa
is a senior at Brown. Robin is
active in lay ministry with her
church (Christian Science) and
is teaching locally and lecturing
nationally
I had the privilege of spending
some time with Phil Tucher, his
wife Karen Engel, their son
Jamie, 8, and daughter Julia,
11, at their beautiful home in
Piedmont, Calif. Phil is working
for the Bay Area Coalition for
Equitable Schools. Phil dragged
me around the local lake on a
run and is in amazing shape for
someone of our—how should I
put this?—maturity.
Kevin McGonigle recently
joined CornerCap Investment
Counsel, which is a wealth
advisory firm, as an executive
VP. Kevin still lives in Atlanta
with his wife Susan Bratton
McGonigle and their three children (ages 10, 12 and 14). Kevin
still travels around the world for
his client base, but it’s a whole
lot less than the constant travel
that marked his two decades in
management consulting.
1987
Greg Keller
2810 College Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94705
Rob Wieman
11 Jarell Farms Drive
Newark, DE 19711
[email protected]
Greetings from California, the
nation’s bad-debt capital. If you
lend us a few nickels to cover for
our no-money-down mortgages,
our credit-card debt and our
state budget deficit, we’ll pay
you back whenever we get our
groove back.
Drew Steckler, a fellow
California transplant and
Berkeley resident, submitted
news for the first time since graduation. Moreover, he proved that
he’d been paying attention to the
class notes style guide by adding
in the appropriate bold text for
each mention of a classmate.
Drew writes, “Just before turning 30, Annie Winkelstein (Tufts
’87) of San Francisco, Calif.,
agreed to marry me. We now
live in Berkeley with our three
children—Zoe, 11, Tara, 9, and
Sam, 3. I am a public defender
attorney in the Alameda County
office in Oakland. Until recently
I read and discussed books with
John Schafer, formerly of San
Francisco and currently of Menlo
Park. John is upper school director of Craig Breon’s alma mater,
Menlo School. John and his
lovely wife Deborah have a still
more lovely daughter, Lucinda,
3, and they just had another girl,
Marina (in April). Schafes and
I used to play no-limit hold ‘em
with Sam Beltran and Barton
George. A couple years ago
Barton split for Austin, Texas,
with Sun Microsystems along
with his wife Lisa and children
Nicole, Dane and Logan. Sam’s
still around in our Shangri-la,
Oakland, teaching. Sam and his
wife Kristen have a 4-year-old
girl and a 2-year-old boy.”
Drew adds that he still owes
Gary Sheff a wedding present and a new-baby gift and is
working on both but first needs
to track down Gary. According
to Drew, “Last I knew Sheffer
was somewhere in Florida,”
though the alumni directory lists
a potentially more recent Chapel
Hill, N.C., address.
Annie Gilbert Coleman was on
the move this summer to the
University of Notre Dame in
South Bend, Ind. (Do we all live
in college towns, or does it just
seem that way?) In August, she
will become a tenured associate
professor in American studies,
joining her husband Jon, who
teaches in the history department. Annie’s research focuses
on the history of professional
outdoor guides, and she’s working on a book “tentatively called
Brokering Wilderness for Oxford
University Press. That plus new
courses and growing kids (Harry,
8, and Louise, 5) will keep me
busy for quite a while.”
Karin Muller has probably
logged many hours with professional outdoor guides as part
of her work as documentary
filmmaker when she spends three
months each year in “a global
conflict zone” such as Sudan,
Chad and the Gaza in Israel. In
addition to producing films for
National Geographic and PBS,
Karin has created a nonprofit
organization, Take 2 Videos
(www.take2videos.org), which
distributes her raw footage of
these regions mostly to high
schools and colleges for use in
student projects. In exchange
for free access to the video, participating schools and teachers
agree to guide the development
of student films ranging from 30
seconds to 30 minutes. Karin is
currently signing up new schools
for the program and would
enjoy working with anyone from
Williams who is a teacher or
who are the parents of kids at the
right age levels.
I expect that we’ll all be seeing
more video on iPhones and similar devices, especially since all
my TV channels turned to snow
in June. Glenn Bloom is banking on this future and recently
CL ASS
NOTES
set up a company to develop
iPhone applications. A visit
to his website (www.idvance.
com) shows that he’s already
posted a music simulator app
called iTrumpet and has more
applications in development. In
May, Glenn added, “My wife
and I live in NYC, and we have a
daughter now 16 months old. I
suppose being able to use both
the terms ‘wife’ and ‘daughter’ in
a sentence constitutes some good
fortune.” Glenn’s wife Kristin
also writes a blog (tryingtobegreener.wordpress.com/) focused
on green consumer choices.
In preparing the last request for
news, I discovered how many of
our classmates are writing blogs
or are involved in new types of
publishing. During this same
period, I’ve noticed the spread
of information about Williams
and our classmates through the
EphNotes e-mails, Facebook,
LinkedIn and probably a few
other sources that I’m not yet
savvy enough to see. These
new formats are great for many
things, though I have been overloaded by the amount of news,
which ranges from the truly
interesting to the mercilessly
mundane.
One announcement that you’re
almost sure to read in some other
format over the summer is that
Joey Horn has been elected to the
Williams Board of Trustees. This
is a well-deserved honor as Joey
already does so much for the
College and our class. When I
worked with her on 20th reunion
planning, it was not uncommon
for her to send e-mails well after
midnight with ideas for the class
website (www.87ephs.com),
which still steadily counts down
the days to the celebration of
our 25th. In addition, I assume
that she’ll continue to be co-head
agent with Dave Futterman
while making time for her new
responsibilities.
I also enjoyed seeing Seth
Lawry’s speech to the Williams
Annual Scholarship luncheon,
which was part of the May 4
EphNotes e-mail. Seth told a
very entertaining and personal
story about his experiences with
Williams both as a student and
in the years after in explaining
why he and his wife Cindy have
sponsored a scholarship. He referenced the fact that “I now have
lived about the same amount
of time since college as when I
graduated,” another milestone
for each of us that adds to the
appreciation of the educational
opportunity Williams provided.
And if I’m not mistaken, Ned
Patterson has already communicated with most of you by hitting
“Reply All” to my previous
e-mail request for news. Still, I
can understand his enthusiasm
for having his findings published
in Nature Genetics, followed by
a newspaper article in the Times
of London and a radio interview
on BBC Scotland. Ned was
the lead author of the research
article, which presented “our
discovery of a gene mutation that
causes some Labrador retriever
dogs to not be able to use their
rear legs after intense exercise.
It is a recessive disease, and 30
percent of Labradors worldwide
are carriers of the mutant gene.”
Further background in the links
Ned sent indicates that the
University of Minnesota, where
he is a member of the College
of Veterinary Medicine faculty,
now provides a test for the
mutant gene, which is changing
how Labradors are selected for
breeding.
For those of us who aren’t
coming up with scientific breakthroughs or founding companies
or writing books, there is solace
in knowing that even the leading lights of our time still put
their shoes and socks on like
everybody else. For example, Jon
Bon Jovi (not a classmate but
certainly a presence on campus
during our era) drops his kids off
at school most days alongside
a bemused Hans Humes, who’s
doing the same thing. “We’re
both middle-aged parents now,”
Hans e-mails, which is not
“anything profound” yet is not
too bad either.
1988
Britta Bjornlund
3406 Rodman St. NW
Carolyn O’Brien
241 Huron Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
[email protected]
We’re trying not to take this
too personally, but it appears
that many classmates are leaving
the country.
Chris Jones and Cecilia Malm
are moving for a year to Rennes,
France, where Chris will be
teaching math in the Student
Year Abroad program for rising
American 11th- and 12th- graders. He and his wife are excited
about the adventure and hoping
their daughters won’t be cursing
them (in lovely French accents)
for enrolling the kids in the local,
French-only elementary schools.
Having not yet tasted the croissants, Chris and Cecilia intend to
move back to NYC.
Paul Danielson, who provided
perspective on his military
service during our reunion last
year, is once again deployed in
Afghanistan as a surgeon with
the 101st Airborne Division. He
said they’ve been mostly treating
U.S./NATO/Coalition casualties,
but there has been a pretty big
humanitarian mission as well. He
would like to see John “Wiley”
Rahill (we know Wiley as “JR”)
streaking overhead in his F-16 as
close air support, but apparently
JR and the Green Mountain Boys
are stateside.
Kate (Saunders) Hodgson sends
news from Canada. If the swine
flu pandemic is still in full swing
by the time you read this, you
may see her on the nightly news.
Her career involves working with
physicians and veterinarians (at
the University of Toronto and
the College of Veterinarians of
Ontario). Kate’s twins Elize and
Patrick are in grade three and
love it. Her husband Pat Hodgson
’90 is also in academia, “terrifying” undergrads, according
to Kate, with questions like,
“Why are there no polar bears in
Antarctica?” We understand the
terror of his students and hope
Kate writes back next time with
the answer!
Ashok Ashta reports that by
early May temperatures had
already soared to 110 degrees in
Delhi, India, where he lives, and
his favorite flavor of ice cream is
chocolate chip.
In Sydney, Australia, Jo
Bellanca is happily caring for her
own global citizen, son Elias, 6
months, who is a citizen of the
U.S., Germany and Australia.
World traveler Olga Bassinne
spent February and March excavating in Oman, which she calls
an “absolutely amazing place,
being one of the few Gulf States
that has not sold its soul/heritage
along with oil.” When she wrote,
she was in Provençe, digging
and classifying ceramics from an
oppidum (Olga did not provide
a “definitions” section for her
e-mail), and she was pondering
the value of maintaining her
apartment in yet a third location,
Munich.
Elise Friedman was jetting off to
Tarragona, Spain, to present at
the 9th International Conference
of the Association for the Study
of Marble and Other Stones in
Antiquity. Tickets may still be
n 1 9 8 7 –8 8
available. Elise has spent the past
15 years studying the Eastern
Roman Empire (Greece, Turkey
and the Middle East) and was
looking forward to seeing how
the “other half”—the Western
Roman Empire—lives, or at least
hosts a conference. Elise expects
to publish her book soon.
Gail Covington and family also
left the country (on a “wonderful
trip to Rwanda and Uganda in
October”), but she returned, only
to leave the longtime position at
Goldman Sachs we reported on
in a previous issue. Gail accepted
an offer with Morgan Stanley
wealth management services. As
we now know, Gail’s choice of
a Portuguese water dog puppy
preceded the First Family’s. Gail
doesn’t report on whether children Lauren, 11, and Williams,
6, find time to walk and feed the
puppy amidst their basketball
and lacrosse games.
At least a few of our classmates have kept their adventures
domestic for now. Bennett
Lee moved from Atlanta to
Richmond a few years ago,
which he enjoys notwithstanding his Amherst boss. Bennett’s
wife Eun, boys Caton, 4, and
Noah, 2, and daughter Kaija, 6
months, keep him busy. Bennett’s
kids bonded with Steve Holsten’s
kids when they went on a trip to
see the cherry blossoms in DC.
Unfortunately, Bennett and his
wife ended up in the ER with
their youngest (who is now fine)
while Steve and wife Tami kindly
entertained the Lee boys at their
home in Northern Virginia.
The next week, Bennett and his
family played host to Kurt Klebe,
his wife Elizabeth and son Nate
on their trip through Richmond
to a Shenandoah Valley vacation
from Maine.
Fellow Virginian Nat
McCormick was featured in The
Virginian-Pilot for his work as
an architect with the Norfolk
Redevelopment and Housing
Authority. The article provides
enticing details about Nat’s
work since Williams, including
his contributions to Harvard’s
Hasty Pudding Club, a French
monastery, the Salt Lake City
Olympic Village and an outhouse
in Alaska. Nat seems to enjoy
his contributions to developing vibrant, green and livable
communities in Norfolk, where
he lives with wife Thaler and
daughters Maddy, 9, and Ella, 5.
Farther up Route 95 and
inside the Beltway, Blake Robison
gathered with a group of late80s Ephs to celebrate the 40th
birthday of Ellen Chase ’89 with
Kirsten and George Tolley ’89,
Mary Iliff ’89 and Ellen’s husband
Kevin. The meal was followed by
a performance of The Winter’s
Tale at the Folger Shakespeare
Theatre, featuring Blake’s wife
Connan Morrissey as Hermione.
DC resident Nicole Melcher
married John Martin, who serves
in the Army JAG Corps and provides legal assistance at Walter
Reed Hospital in DC. Nicole
and John had a “destination
wedding” in balmy Wisconsin
in January, braving 50-below
temperatures upon arrival.
(Were they put off by the lack of
polar bears in Antarctica?) The
weather warmed to 17 degrees
on their big day, allowing them
to get plenty of outdoor photos.
Lisa Mandl, Carter Zinn, Susan
Becker ’89 and Kate Macko,
Kate’s husband F.R. Dengel ’87
and their baby Abigail joined in
the celebration. For the record,
Nicole notes, their first dance
was to “At Last,” several days
before the Obamas used it at the
inaugural balls.
Lisa Mandl and her daughter
Imogen are pictured modeling
audio guides at the Met in NYC.
Impressive! And in baby admiration, Kim Daboo confirms from
her visit with Kate Macko and
family in March that Abigail is
indeed a beauty.
Mike Sullivan moved from
the Philadelphia suburbs to
Pittsburgh. His wife Megan
and daughters Ellie, Kiki and
Shea were enjoying tips from
Pittsburgh residents Kim Daboo
and Lisa Phillips about their new
city while Mike settled into his
new job as president and COO
of HM Insurance Group, where
he has worked for the last 13
years.
Also in Pennsylvania is Hal
Wells, who wrote in for the first
time. Post Williams, Hal spent
even more time in schools, earning both a PhD in history and a
JD. After spending a few years
practicing law in DC, he “saw
the light” and returned to higher
education—he is now an assistant professor of law at Temple
University in Philadelphia. Hal
teaches corporate law and legal
ethics and writes “thrilling” articles on the history of corporation
law. He lives with his wife Jenny
and two daughters, Margaret,
7, and Emily, 1, adopted from
China last November.
Alicia Bjornson (Mount
Holyoke exchange ’86-’87) is
the site manager for Hancock
House State Historic Site near
“Exit One” off the New Jersey
Turnpike. She lives in a rural
county, where the one stoplight
between her house and work
rarely slows her down. Alicia
remains in touch with many
Williams friends and credits two
art history classes with Whitney
Stoddard ’35 for putting her on
her current career path.
Brian Kornfeld reports from
Westchester in New York that he
is also enjoying his career choice,
working at a nonprofit called
Abbott House on a Medicaid
waiver program called “Bridges
to Health.” He supervises a
volunteer team of 90 folks who
deliver services to the homes of
the children and families enrolled
in the program. While Brian’s
(very young) knees no longer
tolerate soccer, hockey is still on
his agenda as is chasing his kids
during summer vacation.
Because we are hipster
women—and because we do
pretty much anything to fill
this column—we’re turning to
Facebook for information on
you people. (But not to worry,
all stories are pre-approved. We
wouldn’t use something without
your consent!) Esu Anahata (formerly Howie Patlis) is “walkin’
for water.” Starting May 11, he
and other activists walked 500
miles—from the Burkina Faso
U.N. Mission in NYC to the
Unitarian Universalist Society
of Bangor, Maine—crossing
20 cities in 20 days to raise
awareness and funding for clean
drinking water in Burkina Faso.
Passing through the Berkshires,
Esu commented that he hoped
to solidify deeper connections
between BARKA Foundation
and Williams. To start, Adam
Ruderman joined BARKA’s board
of directors and drove up from
Pennsylvania to join in two days’
walking. Esu called Adam a
“tremendous asset.”
Steve Halloran and Rick Barton
were recently reminiscing
about scoring five to 10 albums
(that’s how we listened to music
back in the day) for $25 at
Toonerville Trolley Records on
Water Street. Professor Barton
did some research and learned
that the place is still in business. An associate professor at
UNC Greensboro and with the
academic year coming to a close,
Rick reported that he was looking forward to retreating into the
arcana of medieval history over
the summer.
We also learned from Facebook
that Steve and Jonny Hollenberg
attended the same R.E.M. tribute
CL ASS
NOTES
show at Carnegie Hall in March
but didn’t see each other. One of
them may have even been in the
front row. A missed opportunity.
Jody (Abzug) Irzyk kindly wrote
to us, not knowing we would
also tap into her Facebook postings for an update. She and her
family just completed their first
year in New Rochelle, N.Y., living on the campus of a Christian
Brothers school as the only lay
residents. Having spent 12 years
living on the more rural Choate
Rosemary Hall campus, she says
it has been an adjustment, but a
good one. Jody has found it easier to host Ephs at her location
30 minutes from Manhattan. Lisa
Buxbaum, Nora Harrington, Kate
Gerber Kennedy and Helen Curtis
(and her “very, very adorable
18-month-old son Freddy”) have
all stopped by. Jody planned to
spend the summer driving cross
country from California and
back again with her 10-year-old
twins, visiting many Ephs and
National Parks.
Bill Hilty successfully rowed a
“cataraft” through the Grand
Canyon on a 16-day private
group trip. While he reports no
injuries he’s willing to admit to,
he says there are some “BIG”
rapids in there. Bill also reminds
us that the “dry Southwest (is)
where whisky is for drinking and
water is to be fought over.” Does
this means he’s having a BYOW
party soon?
Via Facebook, we learned
Jody met up with Kim Rich
Lupkin in Manhattan. Kim made
it back to Williams this past
winter to celebrate hockey coach
McCormick’s 80th birthday. Kim
served as manager of the men’s
team while at Williams, and her
father played for McCormick in
the 1960s.
What about class president
Russell Werkman? Russell forgot
to write in this time, but we
learned that he was recently
delivering lambs, feeding cattle
and grooming horses. You’ll have
to ask him why.
And on a sad note, Jim Elliott
informed us that Mark Raisbeck
has officially retired from
competitive darts. So ends a long
chapter of NYC life that included
Jim, Brooks Foehl, Ray George
and others. Mark’s team held
a brief but undoubtedly tearful
ceremony to commemorate his
achievements in the field—incredible come-from-behind wins, too
many high scores to count, the
occasional destruction of a pool
table, and even a quick snooze
during scoring. Cheers Mark!
There were no pool tables, but
there were plastic glasses of beer
and wine at the annual meeting
of the Williams Boston alumni
association, which Carolyn, Lisa
Tenerowicz, Gerry Kirschner and
Dave Kane all attended—providing Carolyn with the opportunity to harass people for notes
in person, which works! Lisa
must have heard about the great
weather at Nicole’s wedding,
as she decided to visit Christine
(Boddicker) and Michael Roach
in Buffalo in March! She was
treated to traditional Western
NY hospitality, which included
a Sabres-Flyers NHL game, a
great hike and Lisa’s first trip
to Niagara Falls. Lisa says she
enjoyed the two-fer of catching
up with friends and knocking
“visit Niagara Falls” off of her
bucket list. Lisa’s making the
rounds of regional alumni association meetings and attended a
Williams Buffalo meeting, where
she caught up with Michael’s
sister Kate Roach ’87.
Gerry reports that he enjoyed
the hospitality of Jeff Brancato
and family while watching
the Boston Marathon last
spring. Gerry found himself
thinking, “I did that before. I
can do it again!” But he says:
“Fortunately, that illness seems
to have passed.” Gerry also
caught up in May with Lisa
Buxbaum at a mutual friend’s
cookout, where they speculated
about which Ephs might attend
their upcoming 25th (must be
a typo!) high school reunion—
possibly Sally Robertson, Claire
Hsiang, Bob Long or Laurie
Bennett.
Dave Kane, author of ephblog,
was gracious enough not to be
hurt that we’re not up-to-date
on our blog reading. He pointed
us to some great pictures of Sean
Logan, Lew Collins and Scott
Garfield playing in last spring’s
re-creation of the first intercollegiate baseball game (played
by Williams and Amherst in
1859). The vintage costumes are
reason enough to Google this!
Dave also reminded us to congratulate Tom Smith, aka Thomas
E. Smith, associate professor of
chemistry at Williams College,
for being named one of only five
professors across the country to
win the Henry Dreyfus TeacherScholar Award for leadership
in original scholarly research
of outstanding quality with
undergraduates and excellence
and dedication in undergraduate
studies. The accompanying press
release says that Tom and his
undergraduate research assistants
are “researching pyran-based
anticancer natural products in
order to formulate an efficient
general strategy for the asymmetric synthesis of these complex
molecular structures.” Well said.
Katie Kent, aka Kathryn R. Kent,
associate professor of English,
became (full) professor of English
in July. Katie became a professor
at Williams in 1996. She’s offering the first interdisciplinary gay/
lesbian/bi/trans/queer studies
course at Williams in spring
2010.
Modest classmate and academic Donna Lisker reported
from Duke University that she
had little to report—other than
her experience with swine flu
contingency planning for the
university and a recent, very
pleasant visit with Mary Lisker
in Seattle, where Mary drove
up from her home in Portland.
Donna failed to mention—but
our intrepid reporting and random luck can’t be stopped!—that
she was the only alumni speaker
among those participating in
this year’s “Claiming Williams”
series of events that also saw
the Congressional Black Caucus
visit to Williams. Donna is the
associate dean of undergraduate
education at Duke.
Carolyn enjoyed a visit from
Joyce Rogers over Memorial
Day (instead of completing the
class notes) where Joyce had
the chance to spend time with
Carolyn’s daughter Audrey and
learn firsthand the joys of eating
dinner in eight minutes or less
with an active toddler.
Thanks to everyone who spent
a leisurely eight minutes or more
to send us their news. Don’t forget, “What I Did Last Summer”
makes for classic reading! We
hope to hear from you soon.
1989
David Bar Katz
138 Watts St., Apt. 4
New York, NY 10013
Shannon Penick Pryor
3630 Prospect St., NW
[email protected]
Submitted by Shannon and
outgoing secretary Tim Shaw:
It was great to see such a great
turnout at the reunion, and many
thanks to all who helped out.
Our committee included Nancy
Hedeman Cleary, Ian Lapey,
Marc McDermott, Laura Richman
Myers, Gordon Pollock, Shannon
n 1 9 8 8 –8 9
Pryor, Seth Rabinowitz, Allison
Wertheim Weiss and Carolyn
Darrow Woodard. Peter DuBois,
aka “recycleman,” gave a great
performance for all of the kids at
the reunion. Dave Willey, editor
in chief of Runner’s World, gave
a talk that got rave reviews. Our
class agents Deborah Snyder Platt
and Dan Pryor accepted two of
the reunion trophies: largest class
gift in the “middle years” classes,
and biggest increase in class gift
year on year. Unfortunately, the
trophies—big silver bowls—had
notes inside indicating that they
were not to be taken home. Dan
also wishes to point out that
Chris Giglio, VP of the Society
of Alumni, was sitting on the
stage during the alumni meeting in shorts, alone among the
leadership in choosing to “show
his lovely legs” (these are my
husband’s words, not mine).
Remarkably, four of our
classmates in attendance at the
reunion have been working for
the same employer ever since
graduation: Doug Gschwind (at
Morgan Stanley), Rich Ward
(at Microsoft and spending
some of his spare time fostering
dogs), Marilyn Germano Trabold
(at Aetna, though her husband
works for the competition) and
Sheila Keady Rawson (the city of
Cambridge, Mass.) Let me know
if I’ve missed anyone!
The highlight of my reunion
was catching up with former
roommate Marilyn Germano
Trabold. Other entrymates in
attendance were James McGill,
who traveled all the way from
Amherst, and at least one of his
five kids; Todd Pelkey, in from
California; Wayne Fritsche, who
launched a career in theater and,
according to Facebook, was due
to open as a dying drag queen
and a recovering sex addict
(though he says his real life is
much more dysfunctional); Mark
McLaughlin and his wife Ninette
Enrique with their two daughters;
and Rob Gotti, still the czar of
advertising at Sam Adams brewery. Mark and Ninette donated
the purple “W” shopping bags
in which the reunion gifts were
distributed. Trey Meckel rescued
my 3-year-old son Tommy, who
had wandered from the freshman
quad over to somewhere near
Sawyer, but we didn’t have a
chance to talk. (I think I was
trying to find my daughters.) I
did learn from David Bentley,
who made the arduous trek
to Billsville from the Boston
suburbs, that he’s working at a
startup and spends a lot of time
at the Ping-Pong table in the
office. Mike Barbera may be one
of the first among us preparing
to send a child to college! He
was one of the organizers of the
150th anniversary WilliamsAmherst baseball and chess
matchup. Williams won both.
Theresa Tejada flew in from
London. She works for Goldman
Sachs. Sarah Ryan was up with
husband Rob Weiner ’87; she is
living in Delaware and teaching
teachers how to teach. Southy
Walton practices trusts and
estates law in Northern Virginia.
Our former neighbors Beth ’90
and Adam Kimberly came with
their two kids from Boulder,
Colo., where Adam runs his own
private equity firm. John Berger
and wife Sarah were moving
their family and their nonprofit, Made by Survivors, from
Massachusetts to Florida but
made time to attend the reunion.
Shirley Kagan and Matt Dubroff
’90 brought their two kids,
Miriam and baby Avi KaganDubroff, born Sept. 18, 2008.
Shirley is still the entire theater
department at Hampden Sydney.
The Kagan-Dubroff family made
a trip in December to visit grandparents in Florida. At Disney
World they ran into Dave Allen
and his lovely boy. Mike O’Malley
moved from Chicago to Boston
to take a new job. Stew Verdery,
who runs his own lobbying shop,
is tremendously busy but was
able to get away from work and
make it to Williamstown at the
last minute. Susie Sullivan wrote,
“Most of the computer science
crew were in attendance—
including Todd Pelkey, Rich Ward,
Doug Gschwind, myself and
Rachel Scales. Professor Tom
Murtagh came by to round out
the picture. But we did miss
seeing Bill Morrison and Jon
Headley, and we hope they can
make it back for the 25th!” John
Dillon is moving to Framingham,
Mass. Asif Jalil lives in Atlanta
and is working for Delta. Mary
Kipp was in from El Paso and
was walking around with Jon
Bank. Ann Carson is still working
at NCQA, planning a move
to Cape Cod. She occasionally
sends me e-mails meant for a
colleague named Shannon, but
they are never interesting enough
to print here. Tim Frechette has
attended two Williams reunions
in two years. Jim McNulty had
one of the youngest attendees
along, James IV. Jack and Jen
Storey Gillis are still in St. Louis;
she teaches at MICDS, where
Jack serves on the board and
their kids attend school. Amy
Heald came over from San Diego,
where she teaches elementary
school. Harriet Honigfeld brought
her husband and 5-year-old
daughter Meredith. Jennifer
Morris Grossman and husband
David ’87 both looked completely unchanged; Jenn is a
rheumatologist at UCLA. Pete
Dahling is living in the Bay Area
and working for Chevron. Our
new class VP and treasurer David
Beischer “completed 10-day
tour of New England culminating in our reunion weekend.
Traveled with my family to
Mystic, Boston—where we
went to Fenway Park for the
first time—then up to the Maine
coast to visit with Eric Mukai and
his family in Portland. Reunion
was great, and Seth Rabinowitz
came through big organizing the
food.”
Kin Ma summarized his news
from the reunion: “My daughter
ShiShi (potential class of 2020)
was play buddies with Beth
Edwards’ oldest daughter, Sarah,
throughout the weekend. Beth’s
husband Bob Morrow ’91 and
their three children and ShiShi
and I all frolicked and cooled
down in the Chandler Pool on
Friday. We had also reminisced
with our appetites by eating
pizza at Colonial’s. Beth is a
homemaker and soccer coach for
her children and lives in western
North Carolina, while Bob is
a general surgeon in a nearby
town. On Friday night, we had
dinner with Juan and Louise
Aponte and their three children.
Juan is a practicing dentist Down
East in Maine, and Louise is
home-schooling her three children and encouraging them to
play violin. It was their first time
back to the Purple Valley, and we
enjoyed renewing our friendship.
“On Saturday morning, we
decorated our hats, batons and
purple balloons for the class
parade with the wonderful
purple help of Nancy Ma ’10, a
very enthusiastic reunion ranger.
Both the Morrow and Ma families really enjoyed the wonderful sunshine for the parade of
purple and gold as we marched
through the campus where the
highlight was 1) Stopping Route
2 traffic, 2) Seeing our beloved
‘walking’ purple cow (not the
ice cream), and 3) Spotting the
tall ‘Ephman.’ At the alumni
meeting, it was great to cheer
when our class won two trophies
for large class gift total and high
participation rates in the Alumni
Fund. I was glad to help as an
CL ASS
NOTES
associate agent, though the deep,
heartfelt thanks goes to the 69
percent (341) of our class members who contributed this past
year. It was fun to chat with John
Nathanson … who is lawyering
in NYC as a U.S. district attorney.” His wife Alison Brown is
doing a postdoc in psychoanalysis and “will likely teach psych at
Columbia in the fall,” Kin says.
“On Saturday evening, chatting
with Will Dudley was fun, though
it was quite entertaining to have
President Morty Schapiro in our
conversations, and Schapiro confided to us that Will had helped
him become a better teacher
in their team-taught course of
philosophy and ethics. Grace
Park and I were alumni weekend
suitemates in Sage C, and she
will be the new magnet coordinator for the performing arts and
medical magnet programs at Van
Nuys High School in California.
She challenged us all by going on
a Saturday morning three-mile
Gale Road run. Jen Krouse flew
back into town on Saturday, and
she entertained Grace, Beth and
me with stories of her Stockholm
Business School days and her
insightful commentary on meeting life’s challenges and growing
in wisdom in our middling years.
Jen is now a North Adams
landlord.”
Kin concludes, “On Saturday
evening, Grace, Jen and I had
dinner with Cassandra Kirk, Ingrid
Scott and Joaquin Campbell.
Ingrid teaches elementary
school in South Carolina, while
Cassandra is working as a lawyer
in Atlanta. … The Reunion
Road Warrior awards should be
given to Joaquin, Cassandra and
Ingrid, since they left Billsville
on Saturday night in the pouring
rain to drive overnight back to
South Carolina and Atlanta.”
A few notes from classmates
who were with us in spirit:
Lynda Gregory writes, “I am
setting my hopes on making our
25th. Hopefully I can make it
happen. I don’t know how to
get the boys there, as they don’t
have school holidays until July,
but we’ll see. All is well here in
Sydney. Coming up to my 20th
anniversary with Gen Re. Still a
good place to be. Heading off to
Queenstown in NZ to ski with
the boys and another family for
a week in August, which should
be really nice. Didn’t realize it
when we booked, but the week
we are there will be the World
Cup games. … Still keeping in
touch with Julia Riecheld and
Amy Ragalis, which is great.”
Laura Tang writes, “I am now at
the stage where I feel ‘settled’ in
Shanghai, though there is always
an underlying sense that I am
not ‘home.’ I continue to study
Mandarin, but I envy my classmates who studied Mandarin at
Williams. I am very sorry to miss
reunion, but we do plan to spend
a month in the States this summer. This past February I traveled to Jingdezhen, the source of
porcelain for two dynasties. I did
not see another foreigner while
I was there and feared for the
safety of the cyclists turning their
heads to get a good look at me.
I now write and edit regularly
for Shanghai Courier (expat
assn. magazine). We welcome
visitors!”
Shannon Brennan Olrich wrote:
“Sad to miss our 20th—my dad’s
55th reunion—especially since
I remember how much I used
to love those reunion weekends
as a kid. We were in the midst
of a cross-country move at
the time. After four wonderful years at The Bay School of
San Francisco, we’ve moved
back east to the Brooks School
(North Andover, Mass.) campus,
where my husband Peter will be
director of college counseling,
and I will be home with our two
children, Will, 4, and Eliza, 1.”
Mike DeSenne wrote, “Carmen
(Kenyon ’90) and I have adopted
our daughter Lorena. We first
met Lorena in 2007, when she
was 10 years old, through an
amazing program called Kidsave
Summer Miracles. We spent two
months in Colombia finalizing
the adoption in 2008. Despite
the stereotypes, Colombia
proved to be an incredibly safe
and beautiful country. Like most
big cities Bogota is crowded
and chaotic, but Cartagena is
gorgeous, as is Medellín, and the
people are unbelievably open
and friendly. Going from no kids
to a (now) 12-year-old has been
an educational experience on
many levels. I know more about
the Jonas Brothers than a grown
man should, and I’ve learned that
I know a lot less about middle
school math than a grown man
should. Hats off to anyone who
can tell a rhombus from a hole in
the wall.”
Stephanie Brown wrote, “My
family (husband Cory, identical
twin 13-year-old daughters Jessie
and Clara, and terrier-poodles
Alice and Wendy) and I will be
leaving Châteauneuf de Grasse,
not far from Cannes, and heading back to Chevy Chase, Md.,
in mid July. The girls will start
high school (!) in September, my
husband will go back to his work
with Texas Instruments, and I’ll
be looking to restart my work in
museums. Before we left I was
a curator at Hillwood Estate,
Museum & Gardens in DC;
when we had the opportunity
to live in France for two years, I
turned in my badge. It has been
well worth it—travel, food, wine,
weather, finally figuring out how
to use the French subjunctive—
and now we’re all looking
forward to living in Obama’s
Washington!”
Tim Shaw and I have enjoyed
reading and compiling all of your
news over the past five years! It’s
time for a new slate of officers.
Taking the helm as our new
leader (president) will be Deborah
Snyder Platt. Cooper Campbell
Jackson and Dan Pryor will be the
class agents calling you for contributions, David Beischer will be
VP and treasurer, and David Katz
and Shannon Pryor are the class
secretaries. Please write any time
with news, real or imagined!
1990
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Christina Evans
1 West 64th St., Apt. 7B
New York, NY 10023
[email protected]
Our fantastic former secretary Beth Broadrup Lieberman
wrote with her latest (perfectly
edited) news. “My husband Jim
Lieberman ’90 and I celebrated
our 40th birthdays in 2008 with
our first visit to Spain. We joined
a Williams alumni tour led by art
history professor Zirka Filipczak,
exploring Antonio Gaudi’s
otherworldly architecture and
eating tapas at midnight in
Barcelona. In Basque country, we
discovered the misty, serene town
of San Sebastian and marveled
at the ‘undulating curves’ (thank
you, Art History 101) of the
Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.”
In September, she flew to
Williamstown for a reunion with
Jonna Hooker Whitman, Melissa
Levine Baratta, Lisa Gauthier
Miceli and Holly Kim Price. To
mark their 40th birthdays,
they hiked Stone Hill, feasted
at Mezze, checked out the luxe
Paresky Center “and laughed
at a display in Sawyer Library:
a historical trivia contest about
1990, ‘the year current first-year
students were born!’ We left
the Purple Valley grateful for
n 1 9 8 9 –9 0
the friendships we began in the
days of Baxter flume and paper
Facebooks.” The bit about the
freshman class being born in
1990 is horrifying.
Beth added, “Perhaps Jonna
Hooker Whitman’s days as a
patient at Williams’ infirmary
influenced her more than her
chemistry classes; she now
treats students as a physician for
Vanderbilt University’s health
center in Nashville and takes
piano lessons, practicing quietly
after Meredith, 9, and Reed, 4,
are asleep. Melissa Levine Baratta
returned to social work in suburban Boston after younger daughter Cassidy entered first grade.
She and sister Katie, 10, finally
persuaded Melissa and Mike
Baratta ’89 to adopt a dog. Lisa
Gauthier Miceli finished her term
as suicide prevention counselor
at Connecticut College and now
practices psychology privately
in New London, where she also
pursues watercolor painting. She
and husband Jeff and son Jack,
9, love to escape to the New
Hampshire coast. Holly Kim Price,
a teacher and reading specialist,
is currently at home with kids
Hyun Su, 5, and Sarah, 2, in
Providence. Holly relaxed with a
yoga class in North Adams during our September reunion.”
Beth and Jim toasted Steve
Brody at his 40th birthday
picnic in DC. After leaving the
Department of Justice, Steve
practices law with O’Melveny &
Myers and explores DC with wife
Melanie and daughter Anna.
Jim and Beth moved to
western Michigan 10 years ago,
when he finished his residency
at University of Chicago and
entered private radiology
practice. Two daughters and one
hospital merger later, they remain
among the sand dunes and wild
turkey flocks and take regular
trips back East to see family and
friends. Beth says, “On a drive
through southern Maine last
fall, Jim surprised our former
JA Lorri Williams Sommer ’88
by knocking on her door like a
Ghost of Freshmen Past. Assured
he wasn’t on the lam, she invited
him in to catch up.”
Beth says she is “at-home
librarian” to Helen, 6, and Anna
Ruth, 2, “who pepper me with
unanswerable reference questions
such as, ‘What-inna-world is
dis?’ and ‘WHY?’ Sound familiar, anyone?
There are moments when NYC
seems immense and exhausting,
and there are moments when
it is pretty terrific and even
small-town in feel. I have had a
number of the latter experiences
of late, including running into
Chris Towle on the corner of 86th
Street and Columbus Avenue. He
was in town from St. Louis for a
meeting and was headed to dinner with David Lerner. I was shuffling little girls out of a cab—all
chaos and flying backpacks—and
it was terrific to see an old Jake
House friend after so many years
and in such a random setting. I
also ran into Peter Milliken and
his wife Ashley ’92 and their
kids—in my very building, no
less—who were in town for part
of the kids’ spring break before
heading to DC.
In news from Minneapolis,
Madeleine Lowry reports that
all is well with her family and
that they were looking forward to visiting London this
summer. “I am working on a
manuscript for a young-adult
novel and getting a little use out
of my MBA (sigh), counseling
small businesses for the local
Small Business Development
Center. My husband Phil ’77 is a
gastroenterologist and sings with
VocalEssence, a 130-voice chorus. We have three kids: Nicola,
11, Weston, 9, and William, 3,
and a feisty dachshund named
Pepper.” Madeleine would love
to get in touch with classmates
on Facebook.
Also in Minneapolis, John
and Jill Romans welcomed their
fourth child, Richard, this past
spring. He joins his sisters and
brother and is undoubtedly keeping the whole family delighted
and extremely busy.
Andy Bernheimer wrote with
lots of news from Brooklyn:
“Our son Isaac is tipping 5 years
old, our daughter Alice, 2 and
change. We see several classmates, including Troye Jenkins,
who is bicoastal, has a small
pièd-a-terre about four blocks
away from us and has been
working film shoots in Brooklyn
Bridge Park.” Will Hong (newly
engaged!) is living in Park Slope
with his fiancée Cam and is
getting married in the fall. “Will
and I have started a regular tennis match out in Fort Greene,”
writes Andy, “though we spend
more time chasing the balls we
hit over the fence than actually
playing. Worse, we are now old,
and retrieving the ones we hit out
takes longer than it used to.”
Andy continues, “My
architecture practice has been
productive despite the economic
downturn. We’re working on a
few new projects—a house in
the Hamptons, a wine store in
LA (for my sister Jill Bernheimer
’93), a gallery in the city in
Chelsea, an addition to a house
we previously designed for Andy
and Alison Kaplinsky ’92. We
also recently won an international design competition for
a very small environmentally
friendly house up in Syracuse,
N.Y., and this will be built
starting in September. We also
just completed our two largest
projects, both apartment buildings in Manhattan near the
new High Line Park in Chelsea.
Most notable, a nearly 200-page
book on our work of the last 12
years is about to hit the shelves
called Think/Make, published
by Princeton Architectural Press
(visit www.amazon.com now).
I have been teaching as well
at Syracuse and at Parsons in
NYC.”
It was great to see many Ephs
at the Williams Club in NYC
last spring for a benefit for Gina
Coleman’s “Quest for College”
www.questforcollege.com/, a
fantastic early awareness college
program and game that aims to
educate students as to what lies
ahead on the academic horizon.
After a day spent speaking
to and inspiring the kids at
the Bronx Charter School for
Excellence, where both Deirdre
Flynn and myself are board
members, Gina and her band set
up at the Williams Club to raise
money and awareness for QFC.
Wendy Lipp brought the whole
event together, and it was great
to see attendees such as Hilary
Steinman, David Bank and Jody
Abzug ’88. Gina is associate dean
at Williams, where she has a
role as both mentor/friend and
disciplinarian. I was fascinated
to hear about some of the crazy
stuff these high-achievers are getting into these days.
David J. Bank “had dinner with
Andy Bernheimer, Jeff Friedman
and Chuck Samuelson (at Chuck’s
place) with our wives (thanks to
Francesca for cooking)—a real
treat and chance to catch up
after way to long.” Dave spends
summers in the Hamptons “so
anybody looking for an Eph
kids playdate (Zoe is 8 and Alex
almost 4!), give me a shout.”
Rick Bruner is in LA, where he
works as a health insurance broker and has become more active
in the healthcare reform debate.
“I went to DC in April to speak
to legislators about this issue. I
did the same thing in Sacramento
in May. These experiences
were very rewarding. Now the
CL ASS
NOTES
summer is here, and I’m going to
have some fun by heading to St.
Tropez, France, for a week and
also vacationing with my family
in Lake Geneva, Wis.”
Polly LeBarron had a chance
to spend a day in Williamstown
with Megan King Henderson
and Rob Swann to get started
on plans for reunion 2010.
“In between checking out the
new buildings on campus and
watching Eph victories on the
field, we were able to generate
a lot of ideas … but we’re also
looking for suggestions from the
class. There will be much more
to come, but we wanted to get
people thinking about reunion as
early as possible.”
There have been big changes
for Kevin Confoy, including a
move to the Charlotte, N.C.,
area this year. “I hope this is
the last move for a long time to
come, since between building
houses and changing cities,
this is my fifth house in the last
five years. So far the area has
been great … Will, Class of
2024, just finished first grade,
and Sean, Class of 2026, just
finished pre-K, and we’re looking
forward to some travel this summer. Tricia (my wife) and I will
be getting out to San Francisco,
and we hope to get to NYC.”
Kevin and Andy Bernheimer will
be joining Will Hong in Las Vegas
this summer, so I’m sure that’ll
be a big time.
Bob Santry reports that he is
“working away at Goldman
Sachs while preparing to move
out of Boston to Newton, Mass.,
this summer. We have two children now, Julia, 2-plus, and Jack,
6 months. Played out in Vail with
the 40-plus lacrosse team last
year but will be admiring from
afar this July—too many bruises!
Looking forward to a great summer and hoping to make it out
to the Village Beautiful at some
point soon.”
Carter Brothers reports from
Atlanta about last summers’
Brothers Family Williams Great
American Tour (Northeast
Coastal Leg). “My family got
to catch up with the families of
John Mackie, John McCann and
Craig Gangi during a beautiful
Sunday stopover on our way
back from Maine, where we
spent a week hanging out with
the family of Amy Scott Vaughn.”
He completed the Pacific Islands
leg of the Brothers Family Great
American Tour, where he and Jen
got to spend time with the family of Andy and Miki Bunn. “As
Andy and I headed to the golf
course,” writes Carter, “dark and
ominous clouds came sweeping
in over the mountains. Andy
looked at me and said, ‘Thanks
for bringing the lousy weather.
It never storms in Hawaii.’ To
which I replied, ‘If I brought the
weather, there would be tornados!’ Later that day, at a golf
course nearby, the first tornado
in 20 years touched down on
Oahu. I kid you not.”
And from Maine, Allison Smith
Mitchell got remarried in ’08
and is busy with concerts, Little
League games and spring soccer
matches galore. She is “putting
all of my analytical skills to
good use as we walk through
the school budget process and
also work our way through the
process of creating an entirely
new school district. The state
of Maine imposed a consolidation law last year, and having
created the plan, we’re now in
the process of making it a reality
with the other towns with whom
we’ve agreed to partner. It’s
interesting and a real education
(no pun intended).
“In addition, I’ve taken on a
new role as a trained guardian ad
litem for children in the protective custody of the state. In my
role, I am their ‘voice’ in all court
proceedings. It’s also interesting
and an education into a side of
life I really haven’t had much
experience with (thankfully!). I
enjoy doing it because I feel like I
can make a real difference in the
lives of children who haven’t had
a lot of advantages. And it makes
me incredibly grateful for all the
blessings we have here in our
own lives. Even when my kids
are fighting with each other!”
Amen to all of that...
Thank you all, as ever, for
answering my pleas for your
news. I continue to be amazed by
the interesting paths that everyone has chosen, and I am really
looking forward to catching up
in person next June.
1991
Mary Moule
555 Edgecombe Ave., Apt. 9D
New York, NY 10032
[email protected]
Let’s start off with the new
crop of babies. It seems we
missed the birth of Nick Antoun’s
son, but Nick filed this update:
“He is 26 months old and is a
real chatter-box; I liken him to
a play-by-play announcer as he
narrates all household events:
‘Mommy washes carrots; Daddy
drinks juice (wine).’ Nicole,
William and I live in Hopewell,
N.J., west of Princeton—much
more peaceful and green than
we expected NJ to be. I have
been working at Johnson &
Johnson for about four years as
an in-house counsel handling
acquisitions, divestitures and
joint ventures for the company.”
More recently, John Freedman’s
wife Cecily gave birth to Elio
Nataniel Baskir Freedman on
Feb. 24. Spud said, “The timing
was tricky—Elio had to wait
until dad returned from Ohio
late Monday night before starting to make his way out, then
he had to hurry to make sure he
was born on Mardi Gras (or else
Daddy was going to name him
Ashley Wednesday).” Somehow,
I suspect Cecily might have had
an opinion about that.
Lynn Huddon welcomed her
second son, “sweet baby” James
Theodore Dauer, on March
2. Sarah Gagnon Barbato had
her second daughter, Caroline
Elizabeth Barbato, on April 16
and reported: “Caroline seems
to know she’s a second child
and is settling in nicely—eating
well, sleeping well and generally
fussing a lot less than her older
sister did at the time. Meanwhile,
Samantha, 4, has come into her
own as a big sister and regularly
proclaims Caroline as the ‘cutest
baby of the whole world!’” Erik
Sebesta welcomed his second
red-headed daughter, Lauren
Hayes Sebesta, on May 8.
Chris Mersereau and his wife
and three kids made a spring
trip to the Galapagos Islands:
“It was a remarkable experience. We swam with giant sea
turtles, penguins, sea lions and
sea iguanas on a daily basis. We
even had the rare opportunity
to see a volcanic eruption up
close.” Anna Bardone-Cone took
her family to visit extended family in Quito, Ecuador, over the
winter holidays—her children’s
first visit, “and we did see more
Spanglish emerge as a result. It’s
a start!”
Ramona Liberoff continues
to bounce around the globe
managing accounts for WPP. She
reported: “I had the rare pleasure
of hosting Stacey Baradit ’09,
who interned last summer at
one of our group companies in
London after traveling through
China doing independent work
on the health care system. Kids
today. I am also learning cello,
very slowly, from a 19-year-old
professional cellist … [and] being
bossed around by a whole slew
n 1 9 9 0 –9 1
of experts who are half my age.
… It’s been a great time to feel
old and say things like ‘when
I was your age.’” At least she
gets the expert youngsters. Chris
Cox ’92 teaches math at Illinois
Central College, where he once
had to convince one of his students that getting a D on the final
exam could not possibly bring
her D average to a C—in an algebra class. I would have laughed
harder at the story, except that
I remember asking some rash
questions when Chris was my
calculus tutor sophomore year.
Bevin Cooper Farkas is in
her less busy season at bumbleBdesign.com, since half of
her gift-basket business comes
during the holidays. Her Seattle
home-based business engages
her creative side, and having two
tween-agers keeps her on her
toes. For those of us approaching that stage, she warned, “The
middle school phase is crazy!
Slang speak, slouchy clothes and
cell phones—it’s all about fitting
in. But I’m glad that, despite all
the efforts to be cool, my son
still wants to be tucked in at
night, still has his favorite stuffed
animals.” Cara Schlesinger’s
home-based business, traditional
bookbinding, is in addition to
her day job. She mixes up paste
in her kitchen, uses a hand-operated gold stamping press and
was nominated to the executive
board of the Guild of Book
Workers. Look for her at the fall
fair in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Speaking
of Medieval art, Alexa Sand will
take a break from teaching to do
research in Paris for the fall. She
said, “I’d love to hear from other
Ephs in Paris, since it would be
fun to have a social life.” She’s
already expanded her social
life locally, using Facebook to
reconnect with some of her East
3 entrymates: “Lo and behold,
two of them actually live in the
Beehive State. So, in April, I got
together with Allison Tonkin and
Annabel Sheinberg ’89 (our JA)
at Annabel’s house in Salt Lake
City. It was so great to see them
after a 10- and 20-year hiatus
(respectively), and yet another
confirmation that the more
things change, the more people,
essentially, remain the same.
We’re all foodies, so we had a
great meal, met each others’
spouses and kids, and hung out,
just like old times. Allison and
her husband own a winery in
Hungary, and it was a treat to
get to taste some of their Tokaj
wine.” Alexa also met up with
Soo La Kim during a visit to
Evanston, Ill., for a Medieval
studies conference. Soo and new
son Spencer were also visited by
Soo’s brother Bo Kim ’92 and
Elizabeth Allison.
In recognition of that special
number some of us have reached,
Caleb Gordon created a trivia
contest all about his wife Lisa
Alcala for her 40th birthday bash
in January. Among the exactly
40 guests (by coincidence, they
claim), were Rebecca Sokolovsky
and her husband Franco, visiting
from NYC. The Gordon-Alcala
family is adjusting to life in
Florida, which “includes frogs
in the pool and alligators by the
roadside in the middle of town.”
They also hosted Melissa Fenton
Herrod “and her sweet little boys,
who played non-stop Legos with
our girls.”
Gretchen Piper and Jim Field
keep up their Williams connections as co-presidents of the
Twin Cities Williams Alumni
Association. In addition to
getting to hang out with each
other and other Ephs, they
are organizing a regional allNESCAC event. Charlie Rardin,
Judy Conti and Lisa Kaestner all
met up in DC for a “fabulous
dinner/reunion/pediatric event,”
complete with their three spouses
and eight kids. In Baltimore,
Matt Wyskiel and his family have
frequent visits with neighbors
Jim Higgins and family. Matt also
had lunch with Jim Ryan ’92,
who works for Citi Financial,
and Matt’s wife Christy recently
joined the board of Southwest
Baltimore Charter School, which
was founded and directed by
Erika Brockman ’92.
Michael La Porte changed law
firms, joining Flachsbart &
Greenspoon (their real names!)
in Chicago: “We represent inventors in patent litigation (when we
aren’t discussing poker theory:
One of my partners cashed in
the World Series of Poker Main
Event last time he played two
years ago, and we represent a
tech company that successfully
sued Bodog, Full Tilt and others
over online gaming-related patents).” So if you want a patent
lawyer with a good poker face,
you know who to call.
First time correspondent
Marcangelo Puccio has taught
science at a range of levels in
Oregon and California and also
earned degrees in botany at
the University of Washington
(2006) and education at
Stanford (2009). He reported:
“I’m currently teaching art and
science at Thomas Edison High
School in Portland, an innovative school whose population
consists entirely of students who
have single or multiple learning differences with normal to
high IQ, and who have not been
served well by other private
or public schools. … I’m also
the exceedingly proud dad of a
3-year-old girl.” Just up I-5, Ian
Smith lives in Seattle and got
married last year, attended by
Mark Elefante, Brent Powell and
Bob Santry ’90. Ian summarized:
“I work as a pulmonary/critical
care doctor at Virginia Mason
Hospital, where I do some
teaching of residents in addition
to patient care. My wife Megan
is an OB-GYN at Swedish
Hospital a few blocks away.
… We have two dogs and live
in a small house built in 1906
in Ballard, an old Norwegian
neighborhood near Puget Sound
that has been transformed from
fishing/logging/brothel hub to a
nice combination of restaurants
and local business. Seattle is a
fantastic place to live, with a
great combination of urban and
outdoor options, and we spend
a lot of time up in the mountains
nearby and in British Columbia,
where my family has roots.”
Let me close with a big thank
you to two observant non-local
correspondents, in Peoria (Chris
Cox) and Cairo Karl Galle, for
finding and sharing the New
York Times review of Telephone
at the Foundry Theatre in NYC.
To quote the February review
by theater critic Ben Brantley:
“Such inaudible voices are what
shape the second scene, a bona
fide tour de force for the actress
Birgit Huppuch. She plays Miss
St., a much-written-about patient
of Jung’s who believed she had a
telephone inside her. The twisting
soliloquy that Ms. Huppuch
delivers, with symphonic variety
and deliberateness, weaves
toxic narcissism and paranoia
into slowly emerging patterns
of poetic logic.” I’m sorry I
missed it, because the last time I
saw Birgit was when I bumped
into her last year while I was
shopping for a scarf. She gave
practical fashion advice, with no
hint of “toxic narcissism.” Birgit,
please let us know when we can
catch you on stage again.
And for the rest of you, please
submit a 100-word essay on
“What I did during summer
vacation” or some other piece of
news or sly comment you’d like
to share.
CL ASS
NOTES
1992
Stephanie Phillips
241 Central Park West, Apt. 5A
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
Hello Class of 1992. I hope
you all had a great summer
(although as I write this it’s not
yet Memorial Day, and it has just
gotten warm). Thanks to all for
contributing, though the number
of complaints from Yahoo users
about the multiple e-mails far
exceeded (by nearly 2:1) the
number of people who actually
wrote in. Sorry about the technical glitch—Yahoo apparently
doesn’t like Williams, but we
believe we have resolved the
issue. To the classmate who suggested (and I am not making this
up) that I need only hit “send”
once, not 17 times, thanks for
the tip—I’m on it.
Heidi Sandreuter, who I regularly run into on the Upper West
Side of NYC, wins the prize for
the most comprehensive update.
(Thank you!) She has moved
over to Pepsi International to
manage its international coffee
partnership with Starbucks.
Unfortunately, she needs to
balance the upside of the global
business perspective with the
late night or early morning calls
with China and other corners of
the world craving Frappuccino
in a bottle. Heidi also writes,
“The thing I am most excited
about this spring is the fact that
I am coaching girls lacrosse.
Even though it’s been more than
15 years since I played (with
a wooden stick, no less), I am
thrilled to be teaching and cheering my great eighth graders. It
sure beats anything I do at my
day job.”
Heidi did a great job of collecting scoop on other classmates
and shares that in January she
visited San Francisco during
some West Coast work travel
and got to see Josh Levenberg
and his wife Verna for a quick
visit to Christie Beach with their
children Zander and Vivi. Heidi
also visited with Candace Kelly
and spent a day in the U.S. district attorney’s office. She writes,
“I huddled in the attorney’s
lounge talking DoubleShot while
Candace toiled to put bad guys
behind bars.”
Lastly, Heidi notes that in
October she “saw Ashley (Edgar)
Milliken, Bissell (Gioia) Duffett
and Chen (Stites) Allen when
everyone (that’s code for hubbies
and kids, too) descended on
Williamstown for a minireunion
with our friends Sheila and Bob
Stone ’44. We had an amazing
time, and it was wonderful to
share those October moments
together before Bob passed
away this past February at the
age of 87.” They all planned to
assemble again in Billsville for
the celebration of Bob’s life on
May 30. “It should be a wonderful reminder of the incredible
friendships one makes while at
Williams.”
Eric Matson, whom I have never
seen on the UWS but did once
bump into in Oxford, England,
also sent in a great update about
our musical classmates. Eric
writes, “I just saw a great show
by Fountains of Wayne (featuring Adam Schlesinger ’89 and
Chris Collingwood ’89) and hope
everyone realizes that ‘Stacy’s
Mom’ isn’t their only good song.
I continue to be a huge fan of our
own Kris Delmhorst as well—
anyone who doesn’t have her last
few CDs is really missing out.”
Eric went skiing with his family
and ran into Jen (Plansky) and Bill
McKinley with their daughters.
He also notes that Bill’s skiing
has noticeably improved since
college.
Andrew Everett and wife Elise
Newhall Everett ’94 are still
in Seattle. Andrew has helped
found k-nected, an online career
and social network for professional athletes. He enjoys being
his own boss and loves the
commute down the hall from the
bedroom to his home office. He
also reports that he is coaching
a boys’ fifth/sixth grade lacrosse
team in the spring and enjoys
a weekly ice hockey outing all
winter with Ian Smith ’91.
Jeff Lipp hasn’t been heard
from in a while. He writes,
“After six years in Portland,
Ore., we moved back to LA. It
was a great run in Portland, but
Rachel (wife), the three kids and
I are all happy to be back in the
sunshine. I recently saw Blake
Danforth and am eager to reconnect with other LA-based Ephs.”
Evan Moore shared a great
update about his family. He
writes that his wife Anna and
children Nicholas, 12, Caitlin,
11, Olivia, 8, and Ian, 4, are
doing very well and are living in
Saxtons River, Vt. Evan is working as a senior network engineer
at SoverNet Communications in
Bellows Falls. Evan was “busy
planning our summer vacation
to the DC area, and we will be
participating in a nearby Habitat
for Humanity build later this
summer. The summer’s other
big event is the long-awaited
wedding of my co-worker and
friend, who introduced Anna
and I all these years ago. Anna
will be the matron of honor, so
our house is overflowing with
wedding supplies. Nicholas … is
in seventh grade and has plans
to become a writer/illustrator
of graphic novels, something he
has been interested in since he
learned how to write. Caitlin …
has just completed her fifth grade
basketball season, in which she
led her team in rebounds. Olivia,
our second-grader, mastered
her breaststroke this winter and
hopes to be on the swim team
next year. Ian, who turned 4
last month, is wavering between
growing up to be either a
motorcycle cop or tank guy (his
words). We are all happy and
healthy and encourage anyone
to get in touch if they are in the
area.”
From the alumni office news
clippings comes a report on Hugh
Howards. Hugh is an associate professor of math at Wake
Forest University and won the
2009 Award for Excellence in
Teaching from the Southeastern
section of the Mathematical
Association of America. That
section represents five states
and more than 200 colleges and
universities, and Hugh is the first
Wake Forest professor to ever
win this award. Hugh has been
at Wake Forest since 1997 and
won another teaching award—
Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence
in Teaching—in 2004.
Also from the clippings comes
news of Baird Jarman, assistant professor of art history at
Carleton College. Blair earned an
MA and PhD from Yale, specializing in American art history of
the 18th and 19th centuries. He
then joined the art and art history department at Carleton in
2002. Blair is apparently earning
quite the positive reputation—as
the article notes, “A teacher of
pre-war American and post-war
Modernist art history, architecture and photography, Jarman is
renowned for the breadth of his
intellectual interests, eloquence
in lecturing and innovative
assignments. In addition to his
scholarly writings, Jarman has
served as a guest curator for the
Milwaukee Art Museum and as
an exhibition reviewer for various art and design journals.”
Caroline (Smith) Older was
featured in a March article in the
Grand Rapids Business Journal
about her role as the executive
n 1 9 9 2 –9 3
director of the Arts Council of
Greater Grand Rapids. It’s a
great article that goes into her
role in Grand Rapids and her
background in the art community in New York and Cincinnati.
As we enter our third year
together, I should let you know
that I have made good on my
threat to make stuff up and in
fact have been peppering the
notes with completely fictional
updates and will continue to do
so until called on it. Prizes to
those who can correctly identify
what’s not actually true. Thanks
for all of your contributions, and
have a great fall!
1993
Chad Orzel
1570 Regent St.
Niskayuna, NY 12309
[email protected]
I’m writing this at a restaurant
in Dulles Airport, en route to
the DAMOP meeting—ah, the
glamorous jet-setting life of an
academic. By the way, you may
not know that due to increased
security, the Transportation
Safety Admin—oh, you knew
that? Sorry.
My last e-mail request for news
included a suggestion that desperation might lead me to skim
information from the Facebook
profiles of classmates. Happily,
enough information came in
that I didn’t need to, but just to
prove that it could be done, I’ll
note that Bill McLaren’s Facebook
profile informed me of the birth
of Luke Charles McLaren on
March 20. Congratulations to
Bill, whose later communications indicate that he’s happy
but exhausted by the arrival of a
third child.
While I don’t need to cite
Facebook as a source for Senior
Middle East Correspondent Paul
Schemm’s news about the birth
of baby Ray in March, I can
confirm that the baby pictures
Paul has posted on Facebook
are really cute. Paul is doing the
“usual Cairo thing, with brief
jaunts to Israel and Yemen,”
though he’s planning to go back
to Iraq … right around the time
when I’m typing this, actually.
The expansion of the Class
of 2031 continues, with Pamela
Israel welcoming her second son,
Ethan, in February; Mike and
Nina Pyle Furlanetto writing in
to announce son William’s birth
in January; and two indirect
birth notices, for Holly Phillips’
daughter Olivia in December (via
Nancy Rodriguez, who also had a
pro-Facebook story of using the
site to hastily arrange a meeting
with Jen Weiss); and Allegra
Millan’s son Adrian Francisco
in January (via Nadine Block,
who has “reached a comfortable stasis” working in DC and
enjoys being a mother to her
twin boys). Chris Colburn rounds
out the birth news, casually
slipping in a mention of the
birth of his daughter Erin, only
after mentioning his election as
president of the Illinois Masters
Swimming Association and selection as ILMSA 2009 Coach of
the Year. He may have outdone
Trevor Pound for the stealth birth
announcement—what is it with
these swimming types?
Trevor reports on a family trip
to San Diego, where he visited
Robin Truelove ’96 and attended
the wedding of Ian Eisenmann ’99
and Ariane Verdy, a childhood
friend of Trevor’s wife Catherine.
Greg Bowne has also gotten involved in the masters
swimming scene, encountering
both Chris Colburn and Wendell
Charles ’88, whom he ran into
and beat at a recent meet. Greg
is working with a bunch of other
Williamsfolk, including Matt
Fletcher ’95, Kathleen Mason
’99 and David Wagner ’86, at a
“cutting-edge word-of-mouth
marketing company” called
BzzAgent. How cutting edge is it,
you ask? He just got me to plug
it in the class notes—he’s good.
the shift from classroom teaching
to college advising at the Emery
School in Houston. Tom Kimbis
has spent the last nine years at
the Department of Energy and is
excited to be working for Barack
Obama on “making the world
safe for solar energy.” Tom also
mentions meeting up with Bill
Mowatt, who has spent the last
decade in the NOAA Corps,
“saving harp seals from Russian
clubbers.” Angela Carcia is to be
married in August and then to
follow her husband to Germany
in September in hopes of finding
a job herself. Good luck, Angela.
A couple of classmates are
embracing the agricultural life,
with Matt Smith leaving high
finance to join a company growing vast numbers of organic
tomatoes, and Greg Meyer
starting to raise chickens during
his free time from working to
improve the life of Expedia callcenter workers. Kim Cleland has
less ambitious agricultural news,
writing that she’s “almost pathetically grateful” that things are
growing in the garden she just
planted. You’re doing better than
I am, Kim—I’ve spent the last
several years trying and failing to
grow grass in my backyard. Kim
and her husband Martial are also
trying to raise their son Xavier to
be bilingual and report that while
he mostly speaks English, he
has picked up “oh la la,” which
means that he knows almost as
much French as I do.
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
Chris Colburn ’93 was selected as the Illinois Masters Swimming
Association’s 2009 Coach of the Year and is now president of the
organization’s executive committee. He is the coach of Academy Bullets
Masters in Aurora, Ill., and chair of the U.S. Masters Swimming Coaches
Committee.
We should put Greg to work
for the benefit of some classmates
who are launching new businesses, like Jill Bernheimer, opening a wine shop in LA (also via
Nancy Rodriguez), Pete Kirkwood,
whose brewery Shawnee Craft
Brewing is now in operation (I
detect a possible theme, here)
and Teresa Obin, who left the
spa where she was working as a
massage therapist and struck out
on her own. Best of luck to all of
them, and, Greg, see what you
can do, OK?
Eugene Kim is moving from
Louisville to Greenville, S.C.,
joining a different anesthesiology
practice, and Chris Teel is making
Not in need of Greg Bowne’s
promotional expertise, but
still pretty cool, Matt Aselton’s
directorial debut, Gigantic, was
released last year. I had seen
reviews of it when it came out
but never connected the Matt
Aselton getting praised for his
directing to the one I went to
college with. That’ll teach me to
underestimate our class.
Derek Catsam writes in from
England, where he is a visiting fellow at the David Bruce
Center for American Studies
at the University of Keele, to
report the publication of his new
book, Freedom’s Main Line: The
Journey of Reconciliation and
CL ASS
NOTES
the Freedom Rides (University of
Kentucky Press). In addition to
being cool in its own right, this
gives me a great opportunity to
sneak in some shameless self-promotion, as my own book, How
to Teach Physics to Your Dog,
will be published in December by
Scribner, just in time for all your
holiday gift-giving needs.
Finally, Mike Lapin writes
in from Seattle, where he has
decided to put the lessons learned
from attending our 15th reunion
last summer to work coordinating his 20th high school reunion.
Which is a reminder that my
own 20th high school reunion
will be happening right around
the time this goes to print, and
gosh, that makes me feel old. Or
maybe it’s just that listening to
dorms with Andrew Welch, Joe
Valenzuela and Joe’s son Sam was
a trip. We realized that, like the
old Bill Cosby joke, we traveled
uphill both ways in the snow
for a large part of our college
careers. Despite the changes, the
bucolic setting made the campus
feel familiar. Visit if you have the
opportunity.
All joking aside, the best part
of the reunion was going down
memory lane with friends.
Many thanks to Dave Ruder,
our reunion chair, for doing
a fantastic job. Present at the
festivities were: Jon Aborn,
Elizabeth Culpepper Allan,
Kari Andersson, Erika Bailey,
Janet Bertucci Lynch, Rob Bice,
David Bilik, Kari Bilik, Laurel A.
Blatchford, Melissa Braisted,
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
In June David Ruder ’94 made the first-ever IAM-250, Intellectual Asset
Management magazine’s list of the world’s leading intellectual property
strategists. As VP of business development for RPX Corp., Ruder was
recognized for his skill in helping IP owners increase the value of their
rights portfolios.
airport security announcements
over and over again is breaking
my spirit.
Either way, that’s it for this
edition of the class notes. Tune
in next time for … um … more
class notes. And send any
information you have to me at
[email protected], or I’ll have to
rely on social networking services
and do an entire entry based
around personality quizzes, trivia
games and Scrabble scores.
1994
Elizabeth Randolph Rappaport
45 Pineapple St., Apt. 4A
Brooklyn, NY 11201
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing secretary Cynthia Llamas: I submit
these notes, my last as your class
secretary, with mixed feelings. I
have enjoyed receiving your news
and am grateful for the opportunity this post gave me to reconnect with friends. I will not miss
the deadlines. I pass the mantle
onto Liz Rappaport, elected as
your new class secretary during
our 15th reunion. Thanks to a
last-minute cancellation, I was
able to go for a day. It had been
15 years since I had been to
Williamstown. Incredibly beautiful new buildings share space
with old haunts. Visiting our old
Johanna L. Bruno, Elizabeth B.
Burnett, Mark Bussard, Grace
Kim Caddell, Erin Caddell, Tom
Castiello, Greg Catanzano, Janet
Y. Chen, Kewanna Ard Cigales,
Margaret Cormier, Tobie Cornejo,
Jenny Cotner, Heather Curnutt,
Cathleen Miller Davenport, Peter
H. Davenport, Katherine Becher,
Tara de Souza, Steven Dean, Todd
Ducharme, Elise Everett, Dan
Fasulo, Andrew Ferguson, Kerry
Davenport Fitzgerald, Amelia P.
Fox, Josh Frechette, Alexandra
Garbarini, Wystan Getz, Cory
Wickwire Halaby, Brittany Star
Hampton, Susan Harper, Matt
Harris, Peggy Drucker Headstrom,
Allyson Hightower, Erika Iverson,
Jon Jeffress, Rebecca Kind, Liz
Rosan Kirkwood, Bernie Kluger,
Amy Wallace Koenning, Brad Kroh,
Josh Kussman, Yi-Shiau Leu, Alex
Levering, Jared Levine, Eileen
Luhr, Vikas Lunia, Todd Machnik,
Upacala Mapatuna, Coreen
McCool, Chris McIlraith, Amy
Minnick, Genny Mann Morris,
Heather Morse, Ron Moskovitz,
Dan Neuwirth, Cristin O’Callahan,
Amanda Oberg, Becky OliverRemshifski, Bo Peabody, Amanda
Turner Phillips, Amy R. Radil,
Matt Raffety, Elizabeth Randolph
Rappaport, Rachel Remmel,
Heather Roberts, Keith Roberts,
Dave Ruder, Jacob Russin, Adam
Scheer, Deborah Schein, Mike
Seckler, Micah Singer, Brad
Smith, Eleanor Winston Smith,
Josh Smith, Benny Soffer, Anim
Steel, Mike Strauss, Dave Sullivan,
Joanne Torres, Hillary Twining, Lisa
Uebelacker, Susan Everett Vaill,
Joe Valenzuela, Agatha Donovan
Walker, Kara Weber, Andy Welch,
Richard Whitcomb, Jennifer
Wingate, Heather Moore Wood,
Andrea Wright, Matthew Wright,
Christina Williams Wyskiel and
Mitchell R. Young. A great though
sometimes soggy time was had
by all.
Kara Berklich Weber brought
Guston Weber, “the world’s most
handsome, mellow baby,” to
reunion. He turned 1 on June 14.
Kara writes that Gus is with her
compliments of her pregnancy
acupuncturist Tatiana (Palmer)
Rubio, who helped Kara through
both of her pregnancies. Ah, the
ties that bind. Kara and Co. have
been in Venice, Calif., for eight
years. She runs marketing for the
Rubicon Project, an online advertising infrastructure company.
It is her fifth startup, and she
is hoping it will be the biggest
yet. Of course, the Williamsborn Tripod.com will always be
nearest her heart. Kara trumpets
the greatness of Williams to all
the West Coasters she spends
time with—including an ongoing
debate with a colleague whether
his Middlebury years qualify as
a “proper East Coast” education
relative to her (clearly superior)
Ephdom. Kara has seen Sarah
(Davidson) Richmond in San
Francisco and Peggy (Drucker)
Headstrom in Seattle.
Laurel Blatchford and Bernie
Kluger, with 2-year-old Eleanor
in tow, relocated from NYC
to DC in late February after
Laurel accepted a position in the
Obama administration. Laurel
is serving as chief of staff to
Secretary Shaun Donovan at the
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Bernie is
commuting back and forth to
New York to work at his company Fair Choice Systems. Ellie
adjusted within hours, but her
parents say they miss New York.
On the bright side, they discovered Whole Foods and now have
a backyard. Laurel and Bernie
are planning “lots of barbecues”
and have enjoyed reconnecting
with old friends in DC, including
Brad Smith, Michael Strauss, Jake
Russin, Molly Rauch and Grace
Kim Caddell.
Erik White planned to leave
the Navy in July and has been
offered a job with the anesthesiology group that staffs St.
Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma,
n 1 9 9 3 –9 5
Wash. He was looking forward
to returning to the beautiful
Pacific Northwest. Erik also had
kid number two in May. He and
wife Amy figured that they made
one international move with an
infant before, so it could not be
that much harder with an infant
and a 3-year-old.
After serving as a deputy
director for voter protection of
Barack Obama’s presidential
campaign, the New York State
Senate appointed David Markus
as special counsel to the majority. Dave is splitting his time
between NYC and Albany, a
stone’s throw from the Purple
Valley. Democrats took control
of New York government for
the first time in 45 years, so he
is “especially psyched for this
appointment.” When he is not
negotiating legislation, balancing budgets and telling lobbyists
exactly where they can go, Dave
is drafting a book manuscript on
judicial governance, pounding
the treadmill and sleeping.
Chad Cleveland had his fourth
child—his first son—Nash
Steven on March 20. He joins
Lilly, 7, Isabel, 5, and Tessa,
3. All is good and crazy. Nash
will grow up quickly with four
mothers. Chad is on his eighth
year with GH Phipps, a general
contractor in Denver. He was on
the project team that built the
new Children’s Hospital. Since
then, he is on a project for Sun
Microsystems and is back in the
office in the estimating department. Though it is, “a bit scary
right now for builders,” he is
surviving.
Rhadjena Hilliard got married
over Memorial Day weekend.
Present was Tanya Miller. Tanya
has been in touch with Kim
Thomas and Kila Weaver, who are
both doing well. Also in May,
Rohit Menezes’ wife Vanessa presided at Tanya’s son’s dedication
ceremony. Vanessa has a 100plus-year-old church in Summit,
N.J. Tobie Cornejo and husband
Sam Coffin and their twins
Ella and John also attended the
dedication.
Nicole Vennell Roberts and
husband Brian welcomed their
first baby, daughter Michaela
Elizabeth Vennell Roberts, on
March 25.
Raffaele Bevilacqua, who was
looking forward to sleeping in
the dorms with his kids and
wife Amy Zindell ’95, missed the
reunion but had good reason.
His fourth child, Luciano
Bevilacqua, was born on April 3,
weighing in at over 10 pounds.
Per her normal routine, Amy
“already is primed to race this
season, just after six weeks of
conditioning workouts following
the birth of Baby Luciano.”
They hope to make it to Amy’s
15th.
Last but not least, Laurence
Herman asked me to publish
the following before reunion. I
received this post after the publication deadline but can think of
no better way to end my tenure
as your class secretary than by
submitting this as my last note.
As the years pass, and we come
to reflect on the value we place
on our Williams education,
many of us are looking to give
back. In addition to the Alumni
Fund, a great tribute offered for
your consideration is to advance
the work of Jon Fielder. Many
of you may remember Jon as a
stellar student in both sciences
and the humanities. He graduated Williams Phi Beta Kappa
and chose to learn medicine as
a tool to help those in need. Jon
attended Baylor Medical School
and completed a residency
in internal medicine at Johns
Hopkins (winning the award as
top intern). After finishing his
training, Jon had many options
but chose a different path. He
moved to Kijabe, Kenya, to
serve as a medical missionary. In
his four years there, he trained
many local doctors and built an
AIDS treatment program that
has saved the lives of many. Jon
and his wife Amanda, along
with his children Matthew, 3,
and Aaron, 16 months, moved
to Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, to
continue their work. Malawi
has 7,400 patients with HIV for
every doctor. Jon’s mission over
the coming years is to replicate
the success they had in Kenya,
treating those suffering with
AIDS, training medical professionals and enhancing medical
care in the region. Right now
Jon is hoping to build a small
hospital in Lilongwe, the capital.
Jon’s work literally saves lives.
His commitment in time, effort,
hardship and opportunity cost is
an inspiration to Laurence and
many others who have heard
about and/or supported his
work. If you would like more
information, contact Jon at
[email protected].
I look forward to reading
about you in future editions of
the class notes. Send your news
to [email protected].
Adios, amigos.
1995
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Flo Waldron
442 Nevin St.
Lancaster, PA 17603
Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin
535 Arabella St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
[email protected]
Greetings from sunny Arizona!
As I type this column, it’s a
beautiful day in May and I am
less than 48 hours away from
my Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society fundraising hike in the
Grand Canyon in memory of
Eric Gilbert. From the bottom of
my heart, many thanks to all of
you who donated so generously
to help sponsor my hike; I can’t
tell you how much it means to
me and to all those whose lives
have been touched by blood
cancers.
I begin with a warm welcome
to first-time contributor Julie
Niederer. Personally, having not
seen Julie since Laura Hemmeter’s
wedding to Pete Putnam ’93 the
summer after we graduated, I’ve
wondered from time to time
what Julie has been up to over
the 14 years since then. I am
delighted to report that Julie gets
the honor not only of being the
newest voice to respond to the
secretary’s perpetual plea for
news, but also of being the very
first piece of classmate snail-mail
I’ve received as co-secretary
since Anamaria and I took over
this post! My thanks to Julie for
the lovely, long and newsy letter.
The condensed version goes like
this: Following graduation, Julie
moved back to her home state
of New Jersey, where she landed
what sounds like the dream job
for her: working “in retirement
plan administration 401(k)
plans, profit-sharing plans, etc.,
which was a good match for my
fondness for rules and my attention to detail.” More recently,
she relocated to South Carolina
to be closer to her aging parents
in their retirement.
SENDNEWS!
Y
class notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
While Julie’s communiqué thus
wins awards for Old-Fashioned
Delivery and Longest-Awaited
News, the award for Earliest
Posting this time goes out to
Dedrick (Dunbar) Muhammad.
On the eve of President Obama’s
inauguration, Dedrick wrote
that he and Navin Girishankar
’93 “were the keynote speakers at the Martin Luther
King Jr. brunch at Epworth
United Methodist Church in
Gaithersburg, Md. In attendance were Rachel Watts ’94 and
Ayanleh Dualeh ’93.”
Two updates from the Alumni
Office earn the secretary’s awards
for Most Interesting Update
and Best Story, respectively.
Most interesting to me—in
part because my husband
is from Syracuse and likes
dinosaurs—is news of Chris
Wildrick’s latest project: an
exhibit entitled “Dinosaurs
Had Sharp Teeth!,” which ran
at Syracuse’s Redhouse Arts
Center last March. After earning
his MFA from UW-Madison,
Chris taught in Southern Ill.
University-Carbondale’s School
of Art and Design for five years
before moving to his current
home in the Department of
Foundation at Syracuse. As the
article explained, Chris “has
been working for several years to
become a self-taught professional
paleontologist,” specializing in
“dinosaur aesthetics”—the art/
science of “why scientists think
dinosaurs look the way they
think they looked.” When not
teaching or creating cool-sounding exhibits, Chris works with
two collaborative groups, Earl
and 2funBastards.
The second item, though
actually from the pen—er,
keyboard—of Tripod co-founder
Ethan Zuckerman ’93, concerns
my former entrymate Kate
Krolicki. In a posting on his blog
“My Heart’s in Accra” this
past March, Ethan chronicled
Kate’s impressive rise from
20-something dues-payer after
graduation (working such jobs
as official “porn-sniffer” at
Tripod, where she served as a
sort of Internet police), through
the ranks at Tripod and off into
the world beyond. As Ethan put
it, in 1997 Kate “found herself
hanging out with a group of
Tripod programmers and asked,
‘How hard would it be for me to
learn Perl?’ … Within a couple
of months, Kate was no longer
stomping out porn but writing
the core code that controlled our
mail systems.” Kate subsequently
From left, Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin ’95, Carolyn Thompson ’91, Tim
Lupin ’93 and Emily Sterne ’95 enjoyed the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival in April.
moved on to writing mail code
for another company “and now
geeks for Williams College,
where she’s part of a small team
that helps faculty figure out how
to integrate technology into their
classrooms.” Go, Kate! As someone who’s often on the other side
of that equation, on behalf of
faculty everywhere I thank you
for your service.
Our wedding album for this
issue includes the nuptials of
David Lee, who “married Angela
Tirion on Sept. 28, 2008, out
in Park City on one of the most
spectacular fall weekends of
the year.” Ephs in attendance
included John Thompson III, Alex
“The Rifle” Shawe, Jay “Kaiser
Soze” Ashton, Matt “Governor”
Governali, Gretchen Engster
Howard, Brooks “Leather Pants”
Gibbins, Franklin “Shank” Puleo,
George Lee ’67, Bob Lee ’69,
Nancy Lee ’97 and Andy “Dice”
McDonald ’94. David wrote that
he was “having a blast finishing
up my first full year of teaching
fifth- and sixth-grade math at
Town School, an all-boys’ school
in San Francisco,” where he also
coaches an eighth-grade lacrosse
team that is “one of the top
teams in northern Calif.”
Helen Spande reported that
she “married Simone Amidei
at the Abbey of Cultibuono in
Tuscany, Italy, on April 18. Sacha
Place and Clare (Sibley) Campbell
attended. The happy couple
honeymooned in Singapore and
Malaysia.” Sacha’s posting filled
in some of the dirt on the event
as well as the Ephs involved. The
10th-century abbey in Florence
where the wedding took place
sounds like a perfect fit, as
“Helen is an art conservator
and still works for NYU at their
Villa La Pietra in Florence.”
In response to my follow-up
e-query, Sacha explained that
Clare (who last I knew was still
Sibley and still living in France)
“got married a little over two
years ago. … She’s now living
in Manassas, Va., and has been
doing social work.” Sacha,
meanwhile, is “at home with our
two young kids” these days.
Among future Ephs whose
names appear on this issue’s cradle roll, Sarah Knight and Marc
Johnson welcomed Samuel Millen
Johnson into the world last Sept.
27. Sarah wrote, “We’re now
aswim in his gear, and there is
no question but that he rules
the roost. We are both totally
overwhelmed and very happy.”
On April 15, Laura (Barre) Nadler
and husband David welcomed
son Max Zephyr Nadler into the
world; they are all doing well,
but “early parenthood is pretty
all-consuming, so not much else
to add!” Meanwhile, as an old
pro on the parenting front, Brian
Rooney reported that he and wife
Tiffany “had our third child on
Feb. 6, Blaise Sebastian Rooney,
our second son.”
A number of our classmates
have celebrated major professional milestones. A very happy
(and no doubt relieved) Chris
French learned in late April that
both he and his wife Karen
Shuman had received tenure in
the Department of Mathematics
and Statistics at Grinnell College.
This past spring, according to
the class officer grapevine, Class
Co-President Margaret Coady
graduated from business school
n 1 9 9 5 –9 6
somewhere in the Big Apple
(details not available at press
time, as Margaret herself was
keeping mum on all of this).
Meanwhile Paula Peters, mother
of two and counting, wrote in
that she had “just published my
third book, The Working Mom’s
Survival Guide, and am enjoying
doing publicity for it; it’s a bit
different than running my tech
writing services business!” In
and around the publicity junket,
she and her husband managed
to take advantage of last spring’s
rock-bottom airfares for a quick
trip to London and Wales.
Jeremy Fox, who’s still in
the Department of Biological
Sciences at Calgary University,
had an interesting work-related
trip to Japan last March: “Went
to Japan to speak at an international ecological symposium.
Unbeknownst to the Japanese
organizer, all three ‘international’
invitees (including me) were in
the same lab at Rutgers circa
1997. So it was less an ‘international’ symposium than a New
Jersey one. Had a lot of fun
seeing Japan for the first time;
would love to go back someday.” My co-secretary Anamaria
Villamarin-Lupin “spent three
wonderful weeks in Colombia”
in April then returned home
“just in time for the 40th
anniversary New Orleans Jazz
and Heritage Festival. It was a
glorious celebration that brought
Emily Sterne back to the city
for her annual pilgrimage, and
once again I roped her into
photographing my family. I also
got to see John Fagan and Chris
Hagy. Chris chose New Orleans
as the obvious destination for his
bachelor party, and, of course,
they all had fun.”
Matt Hall reported, “I stay in
close touch with Ari Blum, Todd
Borus, Martin Kurtz and Richard
Williams, among others.” Heather
(Champagne) Penner wrote from
Portland, Ore., where she’s lived
for the past eight years: “Love
it here. My little boys are now
5 and 1½ years old. I recently
left my job managing the web
department of a hospital in town
to join a startup that makes
iPhone apps. Fun times!” Award
for Most Mobile ’95er goes to
Staff Sgt. Rebecca Doucette, who
deserves to be quoted at length,
lest I mess up any of the details.
Becca wrote: “I recently completed a three-year assignment
at the National Guard Bureau,
Arlington, Va., and transferred to
the 142nd Military Intelligence
Battalion, Utah Army National
Guard, as a linguist/human intelligence collector. I am currently
halfway through interrogation
school at Camp Williams, Utah.”
She was to graduate June 13
and move with her husband
to Monterey, Calif., where “I
will be attending the Defense
Language Institute for 64 weeks
of Arabic” followed by “immediate deployment to the Middle
East.”
Our final news item concerns
that little banner you see at the
head of this column, reminding us all of how long it’s been
since our time in lovely Billsville
(and how many children, gray
hairs, etc., ago that was). Hard
to believe the countdown to
Reunion #15 is on. Co-Prez Julia
(Broehl) Hesse represented our
class at the reunion planning
kickoff and asked me to pass on
the following plug: “I am thrilled
to report that the College is
paving our way for a tremendous
weekend for our 15th. While I
know that this is an incredibly
busy time for us all—especially
for the many, many people in
our class who are in the midst
of chasing around babies and
toddlers—reunion is a tremendous opportunity to reconnect
with friends, and from my personal experience nothing is more
fun than watching your kids get
along with your friends’ kids.
My kids (who will be 9 [!] and
12 [!] by … our next reunion)
had a blast at our 10th, and I
genuinely hope that you will all
consider bringing the entire family for the fun. The College has
already organized a jam-packed
slate of family friendly activities
(WAY more than there were for
the last reunion), and they have
committed to me that babysitters
will stay for free (although we’ll
probably need to charge some
small amount for food). For
those of you without children,
not to worry! The reunion
will feature good times, strong
drinks, loud music and plenty
of bad dancing. You will all be
receiving more information from
me as the year progresses. If you
would like to volunteer for the
planning committee, please give
me a shout at juliarhesse@gmail.
com. In the meantime, mark the
dates June 10-13, 2010, on your
calendars, and I’ll look forward
to seeing you then!”
I echo Julie’s plug: Come to
reunion. Eat, drink and be merry
with old friends in old haunts.
You know you want to. Start
planning now to attend. Put it
on your calendar. And to that
end, now’s as good a time as any
to make sure you’ve got all your
contact info—e-mail address
included—up to date with the
College (send updates to alumni.
[email protected]). Looking
forward to seeing you ALL next
June; till then, stay cool and
classy. —Flo 
1996
Lesley Whitcomb Fierst
245 Dale Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20910
[email protected]
Classmates, please join me
in extending our sympathy to
the family and friends of Jay
Edwards. Lana Choi and Heather
Wilkinson wrote with the sad
news of Jay’s sudden passing
in February. He was killed in a
car accident in Prague, where
he lived with his beautiful wife
Steph and daughter Ellie. “Those
of us who heard the awful news
back in February are still pretty
floored, as the news was such a
horrible shock. He was such a
wonderful guy. I think anyone
who was lucky enough to spend
even five minutes with him will
remember his kindness, his sense
of humor and total generosity
of spirit. Along with many other
members of the ’96 Williams
Beer Pong Team, I was incredibly
fortunate to have spent a few
days with ‘Warthog’ just last
October during our annual gathering. Jay wasn’t able to make it
out to the States every year, so
this most recent gathering was
particularly special. Many of
us were heading out to Seattle
in May for a memorial service
and to welcome his daughter
and widow, who are Czech but
thinking of moving to the States
to honor Jay’s wish to come back
home. He made friends wherever
he went and will be sorely
missed. I think it was said best
in one of the many e-mails that
went around among some of his
friends in the days immediately
following his passing: ‘Everyone
dies, but not everyone lives. Jay
definitely lived.’”
From the too-soon departure of
one Eph, let’s start by celebrating
the arrival of some future Ephs.
Michele (Gleason) Gonzalez and
her husband welcomed a baby
boy, Ian Gleason Gonzalez, on
March 18. “We’re doing well
and enjoying the newest member
of the family.” Ian Graham and
family were joined by their second daughter, Virginia, on May
5 in Frankfurt, Germany, “our
CL ASS
NOTES
new home as of April 1. Her first
language is yet to be determined.” Tobias (Toby) Engel
was born to Sarah Greenberger
and Matt Engel on April 19, and
they’ve been enjoying their new
little guy. I ran into Sarah and
Toby on a neighborhood walk,
and I can attest to his adorableness. Dave Long and family
welcomed Fiona Wynn Long on
March 13 in Beverly, Mass. Dave
reported that the entire family
was doing well. Evelyn Claire
Lorentz joined parents Dayna
(Kaufman) ’99 and Jason Lorentz
in Burlington, Vt., on April
5. “Evelyn is big (9 pounds, 4
ounces, at birth) and healthy. So
far, it’s been a joyous and delightful experience all around! Even
the cloth diapering is great.” And
Shing Chi Poon and E-Wen Liao
welcomed a baby boy, Derek
Sau-Chung Poon, on April 27.
Liv Osthus wrote an entertaining and poignant piece about her
experience with breast cancer
that was featured in Portland
Monthly Magazine. Liv wrote to
me, “My goal is for this article to
reach as many women our age as
possible. There isn’t enough print
given to breast cancer amongst
young women.” To paraphrase
Saturday Night Live, I laughed,
I cried, it was way damn better
than Cats, so please read Liv’s
article and pass it on: tinyurl.
com/nmfhn5. An article in
April’s Jewish Woman on hosting
Passover gatherings prominently
featured Rachel Barenblat discussing the haggadah that she wrote
and uses at family seders. Rachel
is a poet and rabbinical student,
and her haggadah is available at
www.velveteenrabbi.com.
Todd Poret wrote, “After 13
years of leaving these e-mails in
my inbox until after the deadline,
I figured I would finally write
in some news.” Todd continued, “I have been back in New
England (Vermont and New
Hampshire) for the past six
years and am currently living
in the small town of Warner,
N.H. Since completing residency
three years ago at the Children’s
Hospital at Dartmouth (where
my co-residents included Liz
(Martin) Richards ’95 and Sarah
Crowley ’93), I have been a
pediatrician at Dartmouth
Hitchcock Medical Center and
am also director of medical
student education in pediatrics
for Dartmouth Medical School.
Last August I got married to my
wonderful wife Sidney in our
backyard; the Williams crowd
included Gist Croft, Tom Rogers,
Dan Polsby, Mike Keim, Wendy
Morris, Sarah (Kaplan) Browne,
Sarah Greenberger and Scudder
Parker ’65. I recently got to spend
another week with Wendy when
she and her husband and two
boys spent their spring break
at our house. We occasionally
pass through Williamstown on
our way here or there, and I’m
always amazed at how much
it has changed. I look forward
to seeing people at our 15-year
reunion in a few!”
Also making up for lost time
was Julie Weed. “My partner Deb
and I adopted a little girl, Janiya,
in April 2008. She is 3 ½-yearsold now and just adorable. It’s
quite something to become a
parent to a walking, talking
child right off the bat. While
we loved the instant rewards of
12-hour nights (and no waking!), smiling and giggling, and
hearing ‘Mommy’ and ‘Mama’
very quickly, there were lots of
other challenges: starting the new
fitness regime with a 30-pound
weight instead of a 7-pounder,
having to learn to argue toddlerstyle with no warm-up debate
classes, figuring out nutritional
meals and when to snack behind
her back, and getting my singing
voice ready for a tot-sized critic.
Still, we love our new addition
and are so thrilled that she’s
joined our family and fashioned us into a new, improved
version. We can’t wait to bring
her up to Williams and start the
indoctrination now! I also just
got a chance to visit DC to see
Emily Eakin ’99, who’s living in
Williamstown; Sarah Altschuler
’97, who is busy traveling with
her job and promising to come
visit me in Charlottesville someday; Cora Ganzglass ’97, who
is battling the foreclosure crisis
with Congress; Tracy Piatkowski
’99, who just had her second
baby, a beautiful boy; and Laura
(Jacobs) Kravis ’99, who is still
enthusiastically tackling middle
school students.”
After 12 years of teaching
math, Bonnie (Macpherson)
Ricci moved out of the classroom. She now is the assistant
director of the Association of
Independent Schools in New
England, where she oversees the
accreditation of independent
elementary schools. Abe Loomis
reported, “The student bluegrass
band I direct —The Academy
Freightshakers—just opened
for The Winterpills! The kids
were, as you might imagine,
quite excited. I’m still fishing
from my kitchen window over
the Deerfield and occasionally
catching trout.” And Willard
Morgan continues to work at
Chewonki in Wiscasset, Maine.
Dan Ebert visits from Boston
from time to time with his wife
Elizabeth and their young son
Ezra. Steven Hufnagel and his
wife Liza had their second child,
Nathaniel, in February. Willard
wrote, “Since they live up the
road in Damariscotta, we get
together as often as we can.”
Steven then chimed in, “To
complete the record, did I mention Nathaniel was an 8 pounds,
10 ounces, baby and born Feb.
12 at Miles Memorial Hospital
in Damariscotta, like his older
sister?”
Ann Dillemuth reported,
“Following Grace Lee’s departure to Alabama, this year we
headed over to Zach Cook’s for
the Academy Awards, where
we won Mamma Mia for being
the least proficient at picking Oscar winners. Next year
we’ll have to study up! We also
joined the ranks of dog owners,
having adopted a retired racing
greyhound. As Megan Farkas can
attest, they are amazing dogs
and are surprisingly well-suited
for city and apartment living
(10 percent sprinter, 90 percent
couch potato). And there’s lots
more who need good homes
(hint to any other Ephs thinking
about getting a dog)!” Ann
also sent a photo captioned,
“Here’s our 91-pound, 2-yearold lovebug Tank! Yes, that is a
very large stuffed toy bone.” It
looked like that dinosaur bone
in the opening credits of The
Flintstones.
Gretchen (von Oesen) and
Andrew Diemer ’97 welcomed
their third child, Katherine
Bennett Diemer, on March 9.
“Brother Marcus and sister
Anna think she is pretty cool
and are a ‘big help.’ I am still
working at Thomas Jefferson
University in Philadelphia as
clerkship director and assistant
program director for the internal
medicine programs there. Makes
being a doctor a little more of a
9 to 5 type job and makes being
a mother of three (gulp) more
feasible.” Soon to be in Philly
are Tina Rosan and family. Tina
got a teaching position at Temple
University in the geography and
urban studies department, so her
family will move to the City of
Brotherly Love in the fall.
Elizabeth Waugh-Stewart
announced the Jan. 24 birth
of daughter Caroline Maeve
Waugh-Stewart. “We are calling
n 1 9 9 6 –9 7
her Callie for short, and she is a
real peach. Stella Rose (age 2½)
is a great big sister, and we are
all adjusting to life with a fuller
house! In November I spent a
fun weekend in Charlottesville
with Jen Rubenstein, who is a
poli sci professor at UVA.” In the
spring Elizabeth and her family
traveled by plane for a wedding
in Boston, where they planned
to see Stella Rose’s godmother
Tiffany Steinwert. Also in Chapel
Hill, Hanna (Kelly) Sanoff is an
associate professor of medicine
at UNC and a member of the
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive
Cancer Center. She presented a
free community workshop on
her research. Heather Wilkinson
departed Hilton Head, S.C., and
is currently “a nomadic soul. I’m
doing locums ER doctor work
in Charlotte for the summer but
working on my California license
and thinking of heading out
there for at least six months or so
later this year!”
New to California, Lauren
Burwell relocated to the Bay
area, where she will be attending
UC Berkeley’s MPH program
starting in July. Lauren’s bigger
news, though, was that she and
David Lee were married March
21 in Charlottesville. Christine
Carter, Amy Prieto, Michael Miller
and Nzinga Kone-Miller ’98 were
all in attendance. Holly (Hodgson)
Stephens had much to report,
including Sean Christopher
Stephens’ arrival on April 10.
“He came out in five pushes, four
of which we got on video—it
only took two minutes total!
Crazy!” Holly said that her older
son Coby is already learning
to be a good big brother. “For
inauguration weekend, I traded
crazy DC for Brian Spitzer’s idyllic log cabin in rustic Forest Falls,
Calif., with Emilie Grossmann,
Bonnie Schulkin and Amy
(Smith) Muise ’97. And locally,
my husband was outside our
apartment with our son, talking
with a family with another little
boy. I went out to join them
wearing my Williams soccer hat.
The boy’s dad, recognizing the
hat at the distance of 100 feet,
said, ‘No way! Your wife went
to Williams?’ Turns out Zack
Wiseman and family are our
neighbors! Even crazier? When
we discovered we were both
’96! (How could we have gotten
through four years without even
once crossing paths?)”
Tiffany Steinwert successfully
defended her dissertation on sexuality and the United Methodist
Church in April, and she kicked
off the newest campaign as
the national field director for
Reconciling Ministries Network
in May. Anna (Cederberg) Heard
reported that since her husband
defended his dissertation and
passed, she hopes she can soon
follow him and also become
Dr. Heard. Meanwhile, she
took a job at BioVentures for
Global Health, where she met
Joanna Lowell ’90. Dan Bolnick’s
big news was his appointment
as a Howard Hughes Medical
Institute Early Career Scientist.
“This means HHMI will pay my
salary and (generously) fund my
research for the next six years
while I stay here at the University
of Texas. It’s a really exciting
opportunity to try some higherrisk research.”
Lawyers, lawyers, everywhere.
Christopher Wheeler joined
Farella Braun & Martel in San
Francisco as an associate in the
business litigation group. Monica
Patel returned to the workforce as a part-time attorney in
Savannah after taking two years
off following son Paawan’s birth,
“and I am enjoying my new
routine!” Tracy Weir and her husband David welcomed daughter
Maria Annette Marek, “born
in the middle of a Poughkeepsie
snowstorm on the morning of
Jan. 18. We truly have been
enjoying her, and now that I have
returned to my lawyering job
after three months of maternity
leave, I am enjoying every minute
with her even more. Before all of
this, I did get the chance to meet
up with Nina Wang ’98 for a nice
lunch in NYC before she flew
back to California.” Henry Shinn
quit his job at Morgan Lewis to
join a startup with his cousin to
develop a computer game. “It
will be a MMORPG (massively
multiplayer online role playing
game) targeted toward teens and
tweens. I’ve come on as senior
VP and general counsel, which
means that in addition to the
legal aspects, I’ll be handling
operational and business
development functions. The
online gaming market is growing
exponentially and appears to be
recession resistant. At least more
recession resistant that the legal
profession. … Look out for a
marketing push toward the end
of the year.”
Jim Heyes and his wife welcomed son Oliver on March
18. Baby Oliver started his trip
on the 17th but must have hit
traffic. New dad Jim wrote,
“Lucky for him he doesn’t have
to put up with green cupcakes
(St. Patrick’s Day) at his birthday
parties for the rest of his life!”
I’m sure Jim’s wife was elated
that the labor lasted that long.
Amy Whitaker’s “still living in
London, though in a very peripatetic phase, since I work for a
company in New York.” (I had
to look up peripatetic—still not
sure how I got into Williams.) “I
am mostly busy finishing my first
book, which is to be published
in September. It’s called Museum
Legs, and it’s loosely about why
people get bored in art museums
and why that matters.” Amy
spent January in Williamstown
teaching a Winter Study called
“Entrepreneurship as an Art
Form.” She said, “Was excellent,
too, to hang out with Jonnie
Cluett and Cornelia Alden (though
they met one of my students at
a basketball game and spent the
whole time explaining that it was
Winter Study, so he didn’t need
to do any work).”
Porter (Harris) May and her
almost-2-year-old daughter
Savannah came to Maryland
for a girls’ weekend with me
and my daughter Aviva. We
headed over to Lydia (Vermilye)
Weiss’ house for a stroll to her
local playground with her and
her son Rex, and as we walked,
I marveled over how the times
have changed. Sigh. Anyhow, by
the time you all get this, summer
will be in full swing. Enjoy, and
keep in touch!
1997
Bahia Ramos Synnott
c/o Ecofin Inc.
630 Fifth Ave., Suite 2452
New York, NY 10111
[email protected]
Hello, Class of ’97. I was
recently sitting at a breakfast
where Queen Latifah was speaking about honoring the women
of our community, because
they are the thread that holds
us together. So in honor of that
sentiment, it’s Ladies First:
Sabrina B. Oei and husband
Chris moved from Denver back
to the East Coast, where she’s
joined the public relations team
at Novartis. It’s been a long time
and fabulous world travels to
return to NJ (let alone living
with the parents again until they
find a home), and Sabrina looks
forward to reconnecting with
East Coast Ephs and tearing up
the triathlon racing scene.
After seven years working as
a freelance sound designer in
Atlanta theater, Mimi Epstein
CL ASS
NOTES
is leaving the field to start law
school at William & Mary
(cue instant Williamstown/
Williamsburg confusion). “It’s a
big change, but I’m pretty excited
about it. And to think it all
started from a chance comment
at Rachel Hoover’s bachelorette
party!” Mimi says. Check out
some of Mimi’s sounds at www.
resoundingechoes.com.
Former secretary Kate Boyle
Ramsdell is just about finished
with a year as the acting dean
of students at Nobles, and while
it’s been fun, she will be happy
to return to the college counseling office and to teaching next
year! Kate says, “My husband
Jamie and I got to spend some
time with Chloe Bland Shaw in
April, which is always good fun,
and we’re looking forward to the
first summer in a long time with
only one weekend absorbed by a
wedding. Otherwise, life is pretty
status quo these days, and I think
I’m the better for it.”
Heidi (Schneider) Summers had
a permaculture work party to get
her backyard ready for a little
urban homesteading over the
spring and summer seasons. She’s
still doing private practice psychiatry in Issaquah, Wash., but
will more often be found with
her 3-year-old, Katie, baking
sourdough or making homemade
soda (yum!).
Becky Baum is still living in
San Francisco and working as
a deputy district attorney for
the San Mateo County District
Attorney’s Office. She writes,
“I will have been there for
eight years this summer, and
I am currently assigned to the
domestic violence unit, which I
find incredibly rewarding. I just
recently returned to work after a
six-month leave due to my most
exciting news: the birth of my
daughter Lucy last September.
Between her and my husband,
our teeny tiny house is quite full,
but we are both enjoying our
animated little girl.”
Alex Steinberg Barrage and
husband Rafic hosted Charles
Imohiosen while he was interviewing in DC (details to unfold
a little later). After a few years
of dreaming, Alex qualified to
run the Boston Marathon. Says
Alex, “It was a terrific feeling,
especially at the end when I got
to hold my son Amir.”
Patricia Porter had the worst
case of spring fever. She planned
out trips and mini-vacations for
practically every weekend until
August. She writes, “I decided
that the theme of this season will
be ‘See Washington!’ Already I’ve
gone up to Skagit Valley for the
much anticipated Tulip Festival.
It was absolutely perfect in every
way—weather, vividly colored
flowers, relaxing. … I’ve also
been Spring Barrel Wine Tasting
in the Yakima Valley. It had
been a couple of years since I’d
been out there. It brought back
memories. It was a time when
I marveled on how blessed we
were. I really appreciated life.”
Upcoming events for Patricia
included the Anacortes
Waterfront Fest and Deception
Pass, visiting the Columbia River
Gorge, a road trip along the
Cascade Loop, and maybe seeing
Larry Marcus again at the end of
July at the Oregon Beer Brewer’s
Festival.
Patricia jumped on the
Facebook bandwagon and has
been excited to get in touch again
with people she hasn’t spoken to
in a while. She writes, “I called
Thien Lam ’98. … She finished
a master of fine arts program in
England, is back in San Francisco
and … landed a new job.”
Shayla Harris traveled up to
the Purple Valley to join other
award-winning Williams alum
journalists on the discussion
“The Future of News: Journalism
in a Post-Print World.”
As for me, I was recently
accepted into the National Urban
Fellows program and will be
spending my summer getting
an MPA. Your contributions
may be the most I hear from the
outside world during most of this
time, so I encourage you to keep
me informed about how you
all are doing. Ian Synnott and I
had the chance to catch up with
Seth Morgan on a great early
summer evening in NYC. Ian
also saw Austin Fagan and Adam
Piatkowski, who are both enjoying fatherhood and doing well.
Now on to the guys… Geoff
Findlay did a ride from Houston
to Austin (approx. 180 miles) to
raise money for multiple sclerosis. The first day was canceled
due to a tropical storm, but the
second day was pretty great, and
he went through a state park.
Jesse Brackenbury is working with UN’s World Food
Programme in Rome for six
months on a leave of absence
from the Boston Consulting
Group. He submits, “With my
wife and son, we’ve moved to
Trastevere and are having a great
time exploring, eating and traveling. We’ve hosted lots of visitors,
including Aleta Angelosante and
Sarah Cottay.”
Benjamin Ergas co-founded a
private equity firm in São Paulo
called NEXPAR that structures
and finances energy projects
(from conversion of biomass into
electricity to onshore gas concessions). It’s a small company with
big ambitions in a fascinating
sector and engaging country.
He’s recently crossed paths with
Caroline Mahon ’96, Jose-Ignacio
Palma ’98 and Dan Shirai ’00.
Issac Pesin has been a
longtime reader but first-time
writer to class notes (welcome,
Issac!). He writes, “Mariana
and I welcomed our third son,
Victor Elliott, to the world Jan.
18. He joins Barnett, 4, and
George, 2. Three boys under
5 is both a wonderful blessing
and a ton of work! Mariana
hosted a Perry girls reunion last
spring at our home in South
Florida—Liz Fishman and Jenny
Keane came down from NYC;
and Julie (Finch) McCaffrey and
Steph (Lindenbaum) Seale made
the cross-country trip from
California.”
Charles Imohiosen reports: “1.
Kirsten and I had daughter no. 2.
Lauren Elise Imohiosen was born
on March 9. Alison, who is now
21 months old, seems generally
happy to have a sister (apart
from the occasional bite and
pinch to her new sister’s leg/arm).
2. I will be starting a new job …
working for the EPA as a special
assistant on climate change in the
administrator’s office in DC.”
While down in DC recently,
I had lunch with Tom Eldert
and stayed with Alex Steinberg
Barrage and her family, both of
whom are still lawyers at MoFo
and are doing well.
Jonathan Levine’s first child was
born on March 17. His name is
Yedidyah Tov Levine, and he is
doing very well.
Ben Partan has moved to
Beijing for at least a year.
Peter Sinclair and his wife
had their second child on April
1. “John Zaia Sinclair is a big
healthy boy and getting bigger by
the day. Sister Mary is keeping
us on our toes. That’s the news
from Pasadena,” writes Peter.
Jonah Wittkamper is still in DC,
going on three years now. “Being
part of the Obama tech team
opened lots of doors. I’m now
the executive director of Search
for Common Ground-USA, a big
conflict-resolution org. I’m doing
a national dialogue on issues
of same-gender couples. Think:
national gay leaders and the
religious right talking about federal civil unions and guarantees
n 1 9 9 7 –9 8
of religious freedom. My kind
of thing—trust in diversity
transcending political divides. …
I’m also talking to White House
people on young donor movement stuff. I saw Josh Solomon
… who was in town with the
Young Non-Profit Professionals
Network. Never a dull moment,
though family remains king,”
submits Jonah.
Every season I get one of
those updates that makes me
remember why I signed up for
this duty. Don’t get me wrong, I
am thoroughly enjoying my role,
but the first-timers really put a
certain spring in my step. I hope
more of you come out of hiding!
I don’t bite, I promise. So, without further ado…
Noah Federman reports, “I am
in LA and doing great. I’m an
assistant professor of pediatric
oncology at UCLA and the director of a very, very busy children’s
bone and soft-tissue cancer
center here. I also got married
a few years ago and just had an
adorable baby girl, Emme, who
is now 5½ months.”
If you feel like submitting
news in the off-season, feel free
to utilize Jeff Zeeman’s blog site
williams97.blogspot.com/. With
this, Facebook and my e-mails,
you literally have no excuse!
Lastly, on a sadder note, I
would like to share news of our
dear classmate Chrissy Clawson.
Liz Fishman has written a beautiful obituary in her honor, which
I would like to share again with
you: It is with deep sadness that
I announce the passing of Chrissy
Clawson Audibert, a dear friend
and classmate. For those who
didn’t know Chrissy well, she
combined a gentle smile and
sweet giggle with an upbeat sense
of adventure and optimism. Her
bravery and grace in battling
cancer has touched the lives of
many people in the Williams
community and beyond. Chrissy
lived in Williams E her freshman year, studied as an econ
major and played on the soccer
and lacrosse teams. She was
involved in many activities,
ranging from Peer Health to the
Gospel Choir. Chrissy studied
abroad in Venezuela her junior
fall and upon her return received
a diagnosis of breast cancer. She
completed the spring semester
at Williams, driving back and
forth to Boston for treatments
and taking on the cancer with
characteristic determination.
After graduation, Chrissy spent
two years in Boston working
at the Monitor Co. (along with
many other ’97s) and then
moved to San Francisco. I was
lucky to share this time with her,
where she worked in a variety
of jobs including a startup called
GetOutdoors.com and a nonprofit environmental organization called Lighthawk. Chrissy
was the kind of person who
encouraged others around her
to take advantage of their surroundings, from organizing hikes
to seeing live music to joining
a softball team with strangers.
After seven years in remission,
in 2002 Chrissy received news
that her cancer had metastasized to other areas of her body.
Although unable to work, she
grew gardens, learned to play
the banjo and wrote poetry. She
fundraised for and participated
in Avon Breast Cancer Walks and
spent summers building houses
on Indian reservations with
other breast cancer survivors
through an organization called
Amazon Heart. The link below
describes this work and includes
a touching personal statement
(written by Chrissy in 2007) that
shows her courageous attitude
throughout her journey: tinyurl.
com/kmfnpw.
On Feb. 13, Chrissy passed
away in her hometown of
Harvard, Mass., at the side of
her parents Dick and Phyllis
Clawson and husband Matt
Audibert.
Her parents and Matt have
announced that contributions
may be made in her memory to
The Healing Garden, P.O. Box
145, Harvard, Mass. 01451. The
Healing Garden (www.healinggarden.net) is an educational
nonprofit dedicated to providing a community of support to
facilitate the healing process
for women experiencing breast
cancer, and it was a place that
was very dear to Chrissy.
1998
Andrea Stanton
145 Luquer St., Apt. 4
Brooklyn, NY 11231
[email protected]
Hello, and happy summer to
all of you. I hope that some of
you were able to make it to this
year’s reunion and that for others June has brought back fond
memories of reunion 2008. We
have a great collection of updates
this season, and I hope you
enjoy reading them as much as I
enjoyed receiving them.
As always, we have a new crop
of babies to welcome. Jasper
Boardman was born to Tristan
Smith and Kate Wearn on Jan.
29; “another baby to add to the
growing ’98 collection,” Tristan
writes. “Visitors are encouraged,
if they don’t mind chaos.” Adam
Borden and wife Meredith added
son Ian Matan to their family
in February. “Big sister Emma
alternates between nuzzling him
and trying to poke out his eye,”
he says. Adam has been busy
expanding his food-focused
venture fund Bradmer Foods
with a new beverage investment in Sambazon, a company
that sells the açai products that
both Oprah and half of my
scam e-mails endorse. He is
also working with a nonprofit
organization, Marylanders for
Better Beer and Wine Laws,
which works for legislation that
would permit direct wine shipment for the state. Adam saw
Carolina Braunschweig promoting her CMB Sweets jams at
the January Fancy Foods Show,
and his family enjoyed seeing
Emily Snell in Baltimore and
playing with her sons Conrad
and Theo. Katie Schultz also
had a February birth: daughter
Beatrice Schultz Martin. The
Martins have seen Erica Bollerud,
Britta (Beenhakker) Mullany
and her family, and Amanda
Holbrook and son Sebastian. In
April, Elise London and husband
Mike were joined by a daughter,
Phoebe Caroline. Susan Stanton
and David Burroughs welcomed
Caitlyn Jane Burroughs, who,
Susan says, “happens to look
adorable in purple.” Jon King
and wife Stephanie Sewell King
’99 became a trio with the May 3
arrival of son Graham Lawrence.
And on May 7 Jed Untereker and
wife Melissa did the same with
daughter Leila Solika.
Others with family news
include Sarah E. Nelson, who
writes that 1-year-old Tate is
now getting big enough to play
with 2½-year-old Finn. “I’m
planning on teaching Finn how
to throw a Frisbee this summer,” Sarah writes. She sees a
lot of Jess (Charland) Shear and
her 1-year-old son Evan. Evan
and Tate attended one another’s
birthday parties and, Sarah adds,
“would be fast friends if Tate
would stop pulling Evan’s hair.”
Kate (Hedden) Vosburg writes that
she and husband Dave ’97 are
still in the process of adopting
foster daughter Isabella and that
son Nate is working on being
a “gentle” older brother. She is
also helping Pam Bromley settle
into the house that Pam bought
CL ASS
NOTES
last spring. Those with slightly
older children will be happy to
know that Danielle (Bahr) Eason’s
company Myself Belts, which
designs toddler-friendly belts,
has been named one of Startup
Nation’s top 200 mom-owned
businesses of 2009. Danielle,
who owns the business with her
sister, writes: “Myself Belts are
now in 700 specialty boutiques
worldwide.” Bohn Vergari writes
that he and family, including son
Bohn III, are well and living in
Bronxville.
Chris Bell writes in with the
latest update on his meals with
Chris Elkington and their respective spouses. “We have begun
having calorie-efficient dinners
of pizza and homemade ice
cream, topped with childhood
favorite Magic Shell,” he writes.
The calories come in handy on
weekdays, since Chris adds:
“I’ve collected some fellow road
bikers to form a pace line for
the 50-mile round-trip work
commute.” In their off-work
hours, the Bells have replaced
their lawn with basil and invite
anyone visiting Portland to stop
in for world-class pesto. While
there have been no other reports
of lawn basil, a number of ’98ers
have food blogs: Annemarie
Cancienne’s divineambrosia.
blogspot.com/, Janee WoodsWeber’s www.revelandfeast.com/,
Dena Zaldua-Hilkene’s denasrecipeexchange.blogspot.com/,
and Lizi Craft’s foodcraftaustin.
blogspot.com/. “Are there others
out there who have the same
love of food and blogging?” Lizi
asks. If you do and are interested
in creating a class cookbook,
please e-mail her at liz.craft@
gmail.com. Lindsay Tucker reports
that the focus of Ned Sahin’s
Kennebunkport bachelor party
was a pig roast, “something
that none of us had done before
and all of us had been advised
against, due to concerns over
food poisoning, E. coli and the
like.” When those with medical
degrees refused to help prep
the pig, John Williams stepped
in to stuff and glaze it, ending,
Lindsay adds, by “sewing it up
with needlework that made my
Italian leather gloves look like
counterfeit dungarees.” (Ned was
married in early May and promises details to come; no bachelor
party attendee was harmed by
John’s pig tailoring.) Lindsay
also saw Rob Wittenmeyer, an
astronomist at the University of
New South Wales, en route home
to Sydney after a “Life on Other
Planets” conference in Baltimore.
Visiting NYC, Nina Wang ’98 (left) had brunch and reminisced with Tracy
(Weir) Marek ’96 in November 2008.
Others currently far afield
include Sam French, who writes
that he has been working on
a film about de-mining efforts
in Afghanistan for the Mine
Action Coordination Center of
Afghanistan. “Got to love the
acronyms,” Sam writes. His
first news piece, a Channel Four
(UK) feature on a match between
the Afghan National Cricket
Team and a team from Sussex,
England, was broadcast last
spring. Our woman in Brazil,
Thais Mariz de Oliveira, writes
that she has made an internal
career change, moving from
Heidrick & Struggles’ marketing division to its executive
search team. She also has a
1½-year-old son, Caique. Thais
sees Nacho Palma and his wife
when their schedules permit but
reports that since her husband
is Nacho’s dentist he sees Nacho
the most frequently. Laura Davis
writes that she is relocating to
London for a few years with
fiancé Jim (Middlebury ’95).
And Nathan Pieplow visited
Dave ’97 and Kate Vosburg in
southern California, carrying the
latest birding devices. His gear
included a “modified remotecontrol model boat”-cum-recording device that scientists use to
get close to otherwise-shy water
birds. “Only Nathan could come
up with such nefarious schemes
for birding,” Kate writes.
Finally, Bevin Hartnett and son
Christopher moved to Santa Fe
for a management position in
the financial planning firm in
which Bevin has worked for the
past few years. “No signs of any
Ephs yet,” Bevin writes, “but
I’m barely moved in so I remain
optimistic.”
The southwestern Ephs may
all be in Arizona, according to
Phoenix native Anjali Abraham,
who is now doing research and
policy work for Arizona’s county
governments. “There are lots of
people in Arizona now,” Anjali
writes, “which is pretty cool.”
Anjali reports that she is taking
cello lessons and riding horses
in her spare time, which also
sounds pretty cool. But the winner of this issue’s class notes is Tui
Sutherland, who writes that she
has followed in James Kossuth’s
footsteps by appearing on
Jeopardy. “Its one of the things
I’ve always wanted to do,” she
says, and as for being the second
’98 alum on the show, she adds:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m
not the last.” A less glamorous
but still impressive report comes
from Mitch Stripling, who is
director of emergency planning
in New York’s Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene. He
writes that his spring was utterly
derailed by swine flu but that he
still found time to take daughters
Emma and Livvy to the Met.
As for me, I had the pleasure of
catching up with several ’98ers
last spring. In Seattle, I shopped
with Jess Mintz and her dog
Pooka for seedlings and soil to
plant in their summer garden
and met up with Jon Burstein
for coffee just before he headed
off from his job at Zillow for an
Australia vacation. In New York,
I had lunch with Jeninne Lee-St.
John, back from Vietnam for a
friend’s wedding, and had drinks
with Bunge Cook, who is starting
a three-year term as head of LA’s
Marine Corps recruiting efforts
and as a result is now studying
Mandarin and Spanish. (Guess
n 1 9 9 8 –9 9
that means we won’t be speaking
Arabic the next time I see him.)
And I enjoyed a delightful dinner
with Veronica Roberts and Evelyn
Spence at the envy-inducing
apartment of one of Veronica’s
friends. Veronica has been putting in long hours at MoMA,
and Evelyn is finishing the first
year of her master’s program in
creative writing, but they have
still been finding time to train for
a half-marathon.
It’s getting warm in New
York—sunny days and just the
hint of humidity in the air at
night. I hope your summers
were full of blue skies and time
to enjoy life with family and
friends.
1999
Erik Holmes
709 Palm Ave., Apt. 6
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Nat White
4476 North Morris Blvd.
Shorewood, WI 53211
[email protected]
Submitted by Nat: I’ll begin
this set of notes with several
thank-yous. First, thank you
to the reunion committee,
chaired by Alex Egan and Katie
Walsh-Gardner. Many others
contributed time and ideas to the
planning of reunion, which was
well attended. I and doubtless
many others enjoyed a wonderful
weekend in Williamstown hanging out, catching up with old
friends and even meeting some
new ones. The next thank-you
goes to the outgoing slate of class
officers for their past five years
of service to our class and the
College: president Alex Egan, VP
Dede Orraca-Cecil and treasurer
Will Slocum. Next, I’d like to
thank the incoming group of officers for their commitment: copresidents Dede and Leigh Winter
Martin, VP Dave Willett, treasurer
Eric Soskin, and Erik Holmes, who
will be helping me by taking on
some of the duties of class secretary. A thank-you also to all of
the class agents, headed by Emily
Eakin and Tyler (Lewis) Perry,
whose work allowed us to win a
trophy for our gifts to Williams.
Lastly, I’d like to thank all of you
who have submitted news to be
included here; you make the job
of secretary an enjoyable one.
I was surprised and thrilled to
win the Thurston Bowl for class
secretaries at reunion this year,
which speaks to the quantity and
quality of the news you submit,
so keep it coming.
Because so many of you were
at reunion and able to catch up
with each other, I will start this
edition with those who were
unable to attend. Farthest away
is Kate Dunlop, who lives and
works in Tokyo. Kate gave birth
on Oct. 1, 2008, to Katharine
Miranda Abbott, who has
already crossed the Pacific several
times but wasn’t quite up to the
trip to Williamstown. She has,
however, already met Kendra
Field and her husband Khary. In
Arlington, Vt., Katie (Westbrook)
Redding, her husband Chad and
3-year-old son JD welcomed Lyla
Olivia Redding into the world
on May 11. While they didn’t
make it to Williamstown, Katie
and Lyla managed a minireunion for lunch in Bennington
with Kate Nolan Joyce, Robyn
(Markham) Harrington, Erik
Holmes and his fiancée Shannon,
Marc Barreda and Adam Nesbit
’97. Katie is loving life as a
full-time mom. Also with a new
baby joining a 3-year-old son
is UC Santa Barbara professor
Zack Grossman. Son Levi joined
the family on June 1, which
precluded a trip to Williamstown
for reunion. He was born at
home in the house Zack and
Amy purchased only two weeks
prior to the birth. Zack was also
wrapping up his first year as an
assistant professor in the economics department and dealing
with final exams.
Becky Logue-Conroy, despite
her proximity in North Adams,
also missed reunion with new
arrivals. Twin girls Maeve and
Meiris turned 2 weeks old as
we all departed Williamstown.
They did have an early lesson
on the importance of Williams
friendships over the weekend,
with visitors including Cara Yoder
Matzen, Karen Hu, Laura and Jon
Kravis, Anazette (Williams) Ray
and her husband Phil, and my
wife Julie Rusczek and me. There
are rumors about other sets of
twins that kept their mothers
away from reunion, but I don’t
have formal confirmation yet.
In a similar vein, Brett Linck
writes that he is the only
pediatrician on the base in
North Dakota, where he is now
stationed. Brett took a humanitarian trip to Ecuador, where
he estimates his group provided
care to about 4,000 kids in 10
days. Despite the crash course
in Spanish and his wish that he
had learned some of it before he
arrived, Brett got interviewed by
a local TV station in Spanish. He
may be fortunate that they edited
the interview to simply include
Brett waving. Greg Albert missed
reunion to attend his own graduation from neurosurgery residency at the University of Iowa.
Greg will stay at the University
of Iowa for another year on a
neurosurgery fellowship, but he
has begun interviewing for pediatric neurosurgery fellowships
for the following year.
A bit farther west, Jen Hurley
and her husband Nick Kujawa
and son moved from San
Francisco, where Jen was clerking for a judge on the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals, to
Nick’s hometown of Butte,
Mont. Jen is quite busy studying
to take the bar exam again as she
looks forward to working with
the Montana public defender’s
office, handling criminal appeals.
Jen and Nick purchased a historical building uptown that they
are converting into commercial
and apartment space, using
green construction techniques
while meeting historic preservation codes. They are loving life
in Montana. LA resident and
writer Rachel Axler was quite
sad to miss reunion, but she was
too busy writing for Parks and
Recreation, which will come
back on NBC on Thursdays,
starting Sept. 27. Rachel is enjoying the change of coasts; she will
have been out of NYC for about
a year by the time you read this.
Thanks to Ian Eisenman
for alerting me to the whereabouts of some of our missing
classmates. Devin Redmond
married Katherine Peterson near
Yosemite on Reunion Weekend;
hopefully he’ll have details for us
in the next issue. Ian himself is a
recent groom; he married Ariane
Verdy on April 11 near Santa
Monica. He was joined for the
weekend by Seth Resnick, Erik
Holmes, Devin Redmond, Andrea
Slate, Dave Cowan, Jan Postma,
Kate Ervin, Kristina Gehrman ’00,
Todd Rogers ’01, Trevor Pound
’93, Chris Lovell ’77 and Jonathan
Lovell ’67.
On to more new members
of the Class of ’99 family. Jon
Servidea ended nearly 10 years
of silence on the class notes front
by writing about the arrival of
twins; Jon’s wife Kathleen gave
birth to Lily and J.J. in February.
Jon is still working at JP Morgan
in NYC, and the family lives
in Darien, Conn. Jack Griffin
Sweeney Benzon was born on
Feb. 21 to Sarah (Sweeney) and
Paul Benzon. Jack is named in
memory of Sarah’s father Jack
Sweeney ’71 and Griffin Hall,
CL ASS
NOTES
where Paul and Sarah were married. Big sister Ellie is now 5 and
is Jack’s number-one entertainer
and babysitter, although she
claims her favorite reunion
activity was “creating mischief
with Jon Pak.” On March 26,
the stork visited another of the
women of Williams C as Lachlan
Jason Kelleher was born to
Robin Paul Kelleher. Robin had
a baby shower that was quite
well attended by many Ephs, and
she’s loving life as a mom.
April was a popular month
for births. On April 5, Evelyn
Claire Lorentz was born to
Dayna Kaufman and Jason
Lorentz ’97 in Burlington, Vt.
Dayna has finished her MFA in
creative writing and literature,
but writing is not her day job;
she’s a clerk in the Chittenden
County Court. Ifie Okwuje and
her husband welcomed son Jan
Kelechi Bruess into the world on
April 12, and Ifie reports that
Jan is awesome. They are still
living in DC, which apparently
has become more staid since
Jodie Hearn moved to NYC for
school. Courtney (Stokes) and
Dave Willett were thrilled to have
Charlotte Stokes Willett join
the family on April 19. Even big
sister Parker is enjoying the new
arrival. Graham Lawrence King,
born May 3 to Stephanie (Sewell)
and Jon King ’98, had a collection
of purple cow toys even before
his arrival at reunion. No formal
announcements yet, but the
rental house shared by Christian
Dankers, Jon Ilgen, Drew Richards
and Julie (Zlotnick) and Justin
Belcher was full of little ones for
Reunion Weekend. With these
and many other children in attendance, there was some debate
as to whether the accessory of
choice was grandparents (Matt
and Kathleen (Higgins) Sigrist,
Sarah (Moline) and Matt Whalin,
and several others brought
grandparent helpers) or the Baby
Bjorn.
In other additions to the class,
Laura (Moberg) Lavoie sent the
details of her February wedding. Bridesmaids included
Emily Palmer, Jennifer Walcott
and Leigh Winter Martin. Will
Slocum, Arlene Spooner, Aaron
DeCamp, Kathleen Mason, Eric
Soskin, Jon Pak, Steve Bennett,
Christian Rubio, Jen Hurley and
Hans Davies also joined in the fun
in San Diego. Laura confesses
to suffering from wedding and
reunion planning withdrawal,
but she’s already looking forward
to our 15th. Rich von Bargen is
engaged to Suela Nako ’00, so
Before leaving for a six-month trip to the Middle East to work on his
dissertation, Peter Krause ’02 visited Rebecca (Krause) Missonis ’99 (left)
and Gisele Pinck ’02 (right) in Newtown, Pa., where both women work at
George School.
he’ll get to go to reunions two
years in a row from now on.
Andrew Henderson brought his
fiancée Gwynne to reunion, and
Zach Niman brought his fiancée
Natalie. The last news about
reunion that I will leave you
with is that I met a husband new
to the class who was friends in
college with one of my elementary school neighbors and soccer
teammates. Yes, Williams is a
small college, but it has a large
reach.
Speaking of that reach, Sarah
Spivack, who started with us
and then transferred, sent in
an update. She has launched
her first creative venture since
leaving NPR; Sarah is collecting
stories by and about the children
of hippies for an anthology
she’s editing. Sounds like a cool
project. Moving away from the
pull of the Purple Valley, Vivian
(Wang) Lin and her family are
moving from NYC to Taiwan.
Vivian will be busy managing her
family’s fashion design business
and raising kids Zachary and
Ally. Adam Schreiber, on the
other hand, is enjoying being
back in Brooklyn after his time
in Austin. Adam works for a
small architecture firm called
Delson or Sherman, concentrating on modern renovations of
aging brownstones. He’s looking
forward to starting the long,
slightly harrowing exam process
that will allow him to officially
call himself an architect. Also in
NYC is Seth Resnick, who should
win an award for making it to
reunion two days before taking
his boards in psychiatry. Maggie
Adler was unable to resist the
draw of Williams; she is leaving her job at an art gallery in
Andover, Mass., to come back
and start a master’s in art history
at Williams.
I leave you with a few thoughts
on staying connected to friends
from our class. First, there are
more than 200 of us in the
Williams Class of 1999 group
on Facebook, and there’s room
for the rest of you. Second, just
because it’s fast and easy to use
Facebook doesn’t mean you
should stop writing to your
secretaries. That’s all for now; I
look forward to lots more news
in the next go-round.
2000
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Jon Pearson
18 Le Pere Drive
Pittsford, NY 14534
[email protected]
I have loved compiling and
writing our class notes for the
past six years or so, but there
are times when I don’t enjoy it
much at all—when I screw up.
Whether it’s replacing the “a”
in your name with an “e” or
omitting one of your bridesmaids from your list of wedding
attendees, I feel like a jerk when
I mess up your news. I made
such an error last time when I
inadvertently left out an update
from two of our distinguished
classmates, and I will now
attempt to make up for it in two
ways. 1) These two classmates
will, in perpetuity, now be
n 1 9 9 9 –2 0 0 0
referred to as “the beautiful”
Amy (Sprengelmeyer) Healy and
“the dashing” Jason Healy. 2)
They get the coveted leadoff spot
this time. Here we go!
The beautiful Amy
(Sprengelmeyer) Healy and the
dashing Jason Healy are doing
very well in Suffield, Conn.,
with their son Seth, who turned
1 the day that these class notes
were due. As it should, most
of their news now consists of
updates about Seth, who has
already accomplished a lot in his
one year of life. He learned to
crawl, walk, run, sort blocks by
shape, say “Uh oh” and, most
importantly, how to direct all
attention in a room to himself.
Plans for swimming lessons
and summer trips were on the
horizon. On a recent visit to see
Cathy Williams and Chris Richards
in Hoboken, N.J., Seth had the
run of their apartment. On the
same trip, they all went to visit
Susie (Fyrberg) and Mike Hacker
in NYC.
Let’s have the Hackers kick off
the MLEs. Susie and Mike are
pleased to announce the birth
of their second child, Amelia
Mehana Hacker, on Jan. 31.
Susie is pulling full-time mom
duty for both Amelia and her
older brother, 2-year-old Sammy,
who was at the time of this writing in the midst of the pressure
cooker known as the NYC preschool admission process. Mike
continues to work in finance and
“took some time off from the pillage” to hang with the kids.
Nell Putnam-Farr and Brendan
Nelson are the proud mommy
and daddy, respectively (in case
that wasn’t clear), of Theodore
Putnam Nelson, known to the
ladies as Teo. Teo was a St.
Patrick’s Day baby, and Nell says,
“We expect him to be a Guinness
fan and to grow up thinking that
all the parades and parties are for
him.” The only vitals I have on
the little guy is that he showed up
weighing 9 pounds, which, I am
told, is a lot.
Meg (Ting) Ryan and her husband Mike ’98 have produced a
beautiful baby boy, Finbar Peter
Ryan, known as Finn. A quick
Google search informs me that
Finbar is the anglicized form of
the Gaelic name Fionnbharr, and
there is probably a 50 percent
chance that is true. Meg reports
that he is fat, bald, beautiful
and on his way to being very
bright. The couple resides in
Philadelphia, where Meg was
finishing an endocrinology
fellowship.
Bob Blackstone receives a Class
Secretary’s Award for Brevity
for reporting the birth of his
son Thomas to him and his wife
Marcie on Nov. 23 in Brussels.
Thomas enjoys giving his parents
big smiles and playing games of
peek-a-boo. Props to Dan Mason
for starting his update, “Well, on
the hot, fresh, Major Life Event
tip, my daughter Julia was born
on Feb. 1 in NYC.” The tale-ofthe-tape on little Julia: 8 pounds,
4 ounces, and lots of pain for her
petite mother, who withstood 18
hours of labor. The family left
New York shortly thereafter and
moved to the north part of the
Jersey Shore to be closer to family, and Dan reports that having
a house and a place to park a car
is pretty nice. Patchen Mortimer,
I am told, frequently threatens to
stop by.
Kat (Oetjen) Jackson hereby
ends her “long period of class
note delinquency” by announcing that she and her husband
David had their first child, Isabel
Anne Jackson. A wee peanut
at 5 pounds, 1 ounce, Isabel is
now, according to her mother,
officially head of the household.
Kat works for Amazon Web
Services as a product manager
and loves Seattle, especially when
the sun is out.
Mike Brown and his wife
welcomed their third daughter,
Khara Alexendria, on April
9. She weighed 6 pounds, 3
ounces, and measured just under
20 inches long. Mike reports
that her older sisters Raelyn
and Elora love their little sister.
Meghan (Cavanaugh) and Ryan
Raveis welcomed their first child,
Eleanor Dillon Raveis, on April
22. There was a play date involving the wife and progeny of Matt
Art as well. Ron Parsons, the pride
of Buffalo, N.Y., reports the
birth of his second child, Charles
Michael Parsons, born March 20
at 7 pounds, 9 ounces. Charles’
older sister Abby apparently
believes that her baby brother is
the newest addition to her doll
collection.
George Anthes and Aida
Avdic became the parents of a
daughter in January. Because
George did not provide the
name of his daughter in his
e-mail (and I failed to follow
up with an inquiry), we can all
use our imaginations and pick a
name for her until the mystery
is solved. I’ve decided on one,
but I’m not telling. Shara Pilch
was an early visitor. George and
Aida also attended an event in
Philadelphia at which they saw
Don and Melissa (Vecchio) Wood
’01, Steve Hibbard, Nat and Jen
(Curley) Bessey, Sabrina Schwager
’04 and Justin Reliford ’03. Aida
frequently sees our distinguished
former class president Erin
Morrissette at work.
It was a pleasure to get a nice
long update from Nick Weiss,
who brings us the joyous news of
the birth of Katherine Jane Weiss
’31 to him and Jocelyn (Riedl)
Weiss. Katherine arrived weighing a “healthy” 9 pounds, 1
ounce, which is a perfect time for
me to interject with a question:
Is it just me, or are we collectively raising the national birth
weight average? Nick reports
that Katherine is a strong eater
and is growing rapidly. Nick
enjoys the sunny weather in LA
and is CFO at a medical equipment company, while Jocelyn
is an attorney with LA County.
They saw Kai Gross in March
and had dinner with Todd and
Jessica (Erickson) Stiefler ’01 and
Joe Sensenbrenner last summer.
Thus concludes a very successful
stretch of miracle production.
Congratulations to all the new
moms and dads out there.
Our only wedding announcement of this MLE section is that
of Drew Sutton, who celebrated
his marriage to Bayliss Camp
on April 25, the culmination of
a decision that the couple made
last year when California briefly
recognized equal marriage rights.
Those lucky enough to attend
the festivities included Jeff Grant,
Mariya Hodge, Rob Trumbull,
Wayne and Becky (Hermes) Wight,
Peter Webb ’02, Anna Frantz,
Matt Levy, Steve Roman, Becky
Iwantsch and Virginia (Pyle) and
Kevin See.
For the rest of our time together
we’re going strictly potpourri/
grab bag/lightning round style.
I’m going to take my hands off
the keyboard for just a moment
to shuffle the printouts of your
e-mails before getting started
… and we’re ready. The leadoff
spot goes to Lauren (Siegel)
Applebaum, who told me that
she had forbidden MLE news
that will have to wait until next
time. Once again, I refer you to
Facebook for your embargoed
news needs. Angela Lankford is
still in China, still raising her
2-year-old daughter and still
leading treks into the highlands.
Business was choppy in the
spring due to political unrest, so
Angela spent some extra time in
the U.S. As of this writing, things
seemed to be getting back to
normal, however, and business
CL ASS
NOTES
was picking up. Nikki Lopez,
who incorrectly worries that she
has “nothing interesting to say,”
works with the Kabbalah Centre
in LA and got to collaborate
with Rav and Karen Berg, the
pair responsible for bringing
Kabbalah to the world. Nikki has
traveled to San Francisco, San
Diego, Las Vegas and New York.
Also, she has not lost her mind
but instead has found her soul.
Let me know if you saw either
of mine while you were looking
around. Speaking of my soul, this
seems like a good time to report
that I was to receive my MBA
from the Tuck School of Business
on June 13. Let’s hope that I do
not find a way to screw that up
before you read this.
to report and who just keep
plugging away.” I like it. Adam
Schuyler was to start a postdoc
this summer at the UConn Health
Center in Farmington, while
his wife Erica was preparing to
start a neurology gig at Hartford
Hospital. Their 2-year-old
son Ari has expressed excitement about living closer to his
grandparents, though his young
mind had not yet reconciled the
idea that their house is not moving with them. Adam bumped
into Bevan Londergan at UConn
but only had enough contact
with him to report that “he was
in scrubs.” This is the kind of
in-depth journalism that we are
known for here at class notes.
Wil Harkey saw Nick Waugh in
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
Writer, actress and slam poet Mayda Del Valle ’00 was a featured
performer at an “Evening of Poetry, Music and Spoken Words,” hosted by
the Obamas at the White House in May.
Gabriela Allen is also a newly
minted MBA, having graduated in May from Duke’s Fuqua
School. She planned to spend
her summer teaching business
strategy at Davidson College to
gifted middle school students
and hoped to return to New
York thereafter. In April, Rebecca
Rehm met up with Liz (Bailey)
Johnson and family for dinner
in Charlotte. Liz and Rebecca
reminisced about rugby while
their daughters threw food. Also,
I am told there were beers and
that said beers were, at times,
chugged. Not by the children.
Elise (Estes) Morgan attended a
barbecue for women’s soccer
alums hosted by Kim (Comeau)
Webster ’98. She was able to
introduce her 7-month-old
daughter Emily to Ann Brophy,
Jill (Caterer) Cotter and Meghan
(Cleary) Hamilton. She also spent
a day in Williamstown in May
starting the preparations for—
brace yourselves—our 10-year
reunion. She was joined by
Nelson Hioe, Heather (May) Eckert,
Albert Naclerio and Amanda
(Leach) Norton. Elise was excited
for a planned early-summer meeting with Becca Parkinson, who is
Emily’s godmother.
Ellie Springer chimed in via
Facebook (you can all feel free to
do that at any time, by the way)
to give a shout-out “to all those
who thought they would have it
all figured out by now and don’t,
those who don’t have any MLEs
New Hampshire in May when
Nick was in town for the Tuck
MBA World Cup soccer tournament. Nick told Wil that New
Haven is lovely, which heartened
Wil given that he was to move
his office there this summer. I can
also proudly report that Wil’s
lovely wife Papri was voted the
“Best Dressed Female” in my
business school class—an honor
she richly deserved. Had there
been an award for “Most Likely
to Show Up to Class Wearing
L.L. Bean Fleece in a Neutral
Color,” I would have surely been
a contender.
Carrie Ryan has become a veritable class celebrity since her first
novel, The Forest of Hands and
Teeth, was released in March.
She sold the film rights for the
book to Seven Star Pictures, and
a press release announced that
the “Seven Star is developing the
project for an as-yet unnamed
A-list starlet.” Carrie is, like
many of her readers, trying to
figure out who the actress is. The
book was, in May, already in its
sixth printing, and Carrie has
also sold the book rights in the
UK, Australia, New Zealand,
Germany, Spain and Latin
America. I read it in one sitting
on a flight from Zurich to Boston
and really enjoyed it. It also
looks like Carrie’s got a franchise
on her hands—she has already
written and revised the sequel
and sold the third book, too.
Sara Caswell Kolbet, who thinks
it is “nice to hear that people
from Williams are makin’ good
and makin’ babies,” made the
traditional class pilgrimage to
Seattle to see Jon and Alicia
(Currier) Kallay. We are told that
Oren Kallay is both adorable and
brilliant, and that he and Sara’s
son Oliver hit it off and loved
hiking while holding hands and
laughing together. Sara related
news of her vegetable garden and
the retirement of her parents, and
she also included a note that she
is redoing her guest room in a
shameless, not-so-subtle attempt
to encourage friends to visit her
in Oregon. Oh, and there was
some forbidden MLE news. All
of this and more in five tidy paragraphs made your class secretary
a happy reader.
Nancy Moeur checked in
with news of some unseasonably warm spring weather in
Syracuse. She is enjoying year
one of home ownership and
had developed an ambitious
list of summer projects that
included installing ceiling fans.
The snobby cast of designers on
Trading Spaces just shuddered—
assuming that show still exists.
Moving to our nation’s capital
we find Alan Fitts, who spent last
year’s presidential campaign season on then-candidate Obama’s
Advance Team. He moved into a
role on the Presidential Inaugural
Committee, in which he helped
to organize five of the inaugural
night events, and now he works
in the White House as trip
director for First Lady Michelle
Obama. This means that he is
her primary channel of communication back to the White
House wherever she travels. Alan
reports that the experience has
been “amazing” so far; he visited
the G8, NATO and EU summits
and was already planning a busy
schedule for the rest of the year.
We leave you this time with
Steve Roman, who, as usual,
provided his update in a neat,
bulleted list. I will do nothing
of the sort in relaying it to you.
First, Steve took a week off at
the beginning of April to enjoy a
visit from Becky Iwantsch. Matt
Levy and Anna Frantz also made
an appearance that same week
for the aforementioned Sutton
wedding celebration. Matt had
yet to see many of the Bay Area’s
most important sites, so Steve
took him to the Golden Gate,
In-N-Out Burger and a Mexican
restaurant.
That’s all folks. See you next
time. Let’s keep pumping out
those chubby babies, OK?
n 2 0 0 0 –0 1
2001
Katie Kelly Gregory
2642 West Cortez St., #3
Chicago, IL 60622
[email protected]
Our class has added several
new children to the pool of
legacy applicants!
Sierra (Smith) Nimitz and her
husband welcomed a third
daughter, Lucy McGregor, to
the family in February. She joins
big sisters Molly and Casey.
Sierra and family moved to
Minneapolis in June.
Amy (Balas) O’Connor gave
birth to a baby girl, Aoife Pearl,
in February. “I managed to give
birth with no drugs in a birth
center, which was a great choice
for us. If anyone is thinking
about going that way please feel
free to e-mail or call me!” Amy
continues to teach early childhood special education and plans
to move to a charter school in
the fall and is looking forward to
teaching in DC again.
Annaliis (Abrego) Canty and
her husband Scott ’98 welcomed
their second son, Malcolm
James, on Aug. 24, 2008. Their
older son Danny turned 2 in
April. The family has settled
into the house they bought in
Alexandria, Va., last summer. Annaliis works for the
Department of Defense.
Samantha (Grant) Riegels
celebrated her son Bryce David
Riegels’ first birthday. She
reported, “For someone who
never really saw herself having
kids, the experience has been
way more fun than I expected,”
though she admits it might be
nice to “sleep in” until 6:30 once
again!
Kivlina (Sheperd) Block and her
husband bought their first house
in October and spent the winter
with their two kids sleeping
in the dining room while the
bedrooms were remodeled downstairs. She does not recommend
this renovation technique! The
family recently adopted a dog.
Kivlina wrote, “She’s a great dog
who shares my love of shoes; we
just have to come to a meeting of
the minds regarding their use!”
Sara (Grote) Custer and her
family moved from Philadelphia
to Memphis for Sara’s work on
a research project at St. Jude’s
Children’s Hospital. They plan to
spend a year in Memphis before
relocating to Indianapolis.
Matt Atwood and his partner Jackie Stein ’00 moved
to Amherst, Mass., over the
summer. Jackie plans to begin a
doctoral program in sociology,
while Matt expects to teach and
pick up some part-time work
farming or gardening.
Zuzana Tothova finished her
MD/PhD program at Harvard in
June and was set to begin residency in internal medicine at the
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
in Boston. Zuzana wrote, “Being
on the residency interview trail
was fun, mainly because it helped
me reconnect with Williams
people along the way, including
… Jessica Bauman ’02 and Karen
Chachu while visiting Penn and
… Jess Leibler at Hopkins. I have
been seeing a lot of Anne Dwyer,
who is one year short of completing her family medicine residency. Betsy Lo is moving back to
Boston and working as a primary
care physician starting this summer. I have seen Chris and Susan
(Levin) Koegel ’02 a few times …
and eagerly await Susan’s return
to Boston in the summer. Liana
Thompson came to visit for a
couple of days. … It was so fun
to reconnect and hear about all
her exciting productions.”
Lloyd Nimetz returned to the
Bay Area and reports that he
has “a huge roof-deck in San
Francisco to entertain and grill
beef for Williams alumni. I’m
also starting up an Internet
platform called GRROUP that
makes it much easier for social
innovators to create meaningful,
positive changes at scale.” Karen Chachu graduated from
Washington University in St.
Louis, where she completed an
MD/PhD program. After eight
years in Missouri, she’s moved
back to Philadelphia to begin a
residency program in internal
medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania. After she completes her residency, she plans
to complete a fellowship in
gastroenterology.
Jeremy Faust reported that
Williams’ Director of Choral
Activities Brad Wells asked
him to serve on the board of
directors for “Roomful of
Teeth,” a new professional
vocal music ensemble based at
MASS MoCA, Williams and in
New York. He has been helping
to run auditions in NYC and
attending board meetings via
video conference. The project
brings young professional singers
and composers (including Judd
Greenstein) together with master
voice teachers from all over the
world who specialize in non-classical singing. Jeremy continues
his medical school studies and is
gearing up for board exams.
Ryan Mayhew finished his MD/
MBA program at Northwestern
in June 2008 and recently
completed his intern year in an
internal medicine residency program at Northwestern Memorial
Hospital in downtown Chicago.
Fumi Tosu plans to enroll in
an international development
graduate program at Columbia
University after spending the
summer in Kenya.
Nate Foster spent the spring
on the academic job market
circuit. He enjoyed hanging out
with Lynn Lim in Chicago and
John Morrison and Lia Amakawa
in Brooklyn. Nate expected to
complete his doctoral program
in computer science over the
summer and will spend the next
year as a postdoctoral fellow
at Princeton before beginning
a faculty job at Cornell next
summer. He also reported
that Scott Moringiello and
Johanna Heinrichs ’02 moved to
Philadelphia in June, and Nate is
looking forward to seeing a lot
more of the couple.
Dan Center spent the month of
April traveling in Peru with his
girlfriend and brother. In May,
he traveled with Hilary Williams,
Grace Rubenstein, Becky Sanborn
and Bailey McCallum to southern
Utah for a camping trip. In addition to camping, Dan’s plans for
the summer included a 50-mile
mountain relay race with Mel
Scheefer ’03 as well as a threeday relay with Joey (Shapiro)
Key and Becca Levine ’03. Hilary
Williams moved to Iowa to begin
teaching graphic design at Drake
University. In the spring she completed an MFA at the University
of Tennessee. Bailey McCallum
moved from Connecticut to
Portland, Ore., in the spring.
In May, we met for lunch in
Chicago with Brian Werner.
Seth Brown freestyle raps about
the news on his weekly podcast
at NewsInRap.com. He also is
pioneering Green and British
fusion cuisine, combining spanakopita with steak and onion pie.
The result, “Gritish Cooking,” is
bound to catch on.
Jess Robbins has been living in
Poland doing research for her
dissertation. She’ll be there until
next spring and has been traveling a lot throughout Europe. She
plans to spend a week in Croatia
with Kristin Wikelius and Danielle
Tarantolo in the fall. Tori (Henrion) Weir reported
from London, where she works
as an attorney. In March she
spent a few days in LA and met
CL ASS
NOTES
up with Susan Lai. She mentioned
that Martha (Myslinksi) Tipton
plans to move to Singapore in
the fall for a marketing professorship, and Gillian Green expects
to move to Atlanta for a postdoc
with Emory University. Tori also
wrote that Maya Kapoor began
hiking the Appalachian Trail in
April is likely still out there! Tori
also reported that Annie Im got
engaged and that she and her
fiancé live in Pittsburgh, where
they are in residency programs.
Hope to hear from all of you
soon!
2002
Jenny Veraldi
5518 Waterman Blvd., Apt. 21
St. Louis, MO 63112
[email protected]
Greetings. So I’ve tried to spice
it up in my submission requests.
And some of you have responded
enthusiastically—I greatly
appreciate those who took the
time to craft their updates in the
form of a question. The theme I
really wanted to go with (“What
movie plot does your life most
resemble?”) didn’t really accomplish much. I still appreciate
those who have chosen to humor
me with attempts. No, really, I
do. Even though the only funny
movie plot-related-response was
from Jonathan Salter: “I’m graduating with a doctor of musical
arts. … With this economy, the
movie plot is probably most like
Failure to Launch.” Good one!
But seriously, congratulations on
your graduation.
Megan Samenfeld-Specht completed her studies at The Fletcher
School (Tufts) with a focus in
international environmental
policy and negotiation. Jeff
McBride couldn’t help his glowing account of the graduation,
where Megan was recognized
for her outstanding work.
They’ll be moving to DC in the
coming months. They celebrated
Megan’s sister Erin’s ’09 Williams
graduation in June. Annie Weiss
was thrilled to have Sarah Barger
come to New Orleans to attend
her graduation festivities. Jon
Weiner will exit LA upon his
graduation from UCLA’s law
school so that he can move to
San Francisco, where he will
work for the Natural Resources
Defense Council.
It’s also important, for posterity, as you will see, that we
review certain events which
transpired during a trip to Las
Vegas. Jon recounts that he,
In May, 2002 classmates Garry Sanders (left) and Eric Moore trekked in
the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon.
John Addorio and Eric Moore had
the incredible fortune to play
blackjack at a table tended by a
dealer who was none other than
“the guy who played shortstop
for the Red Sox AAA affiliate in
the late 1960s.” Actually, of all
the submissions received, that’s
probably the closest to an actual
movie plot. Thanks, Jon.
Garry Sanders and his fiancée
Carly moved to La Grande,
Ore., where Garry works with
the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife since finishing his
master’s in aquatic biology at
Grand Valley State University
in Michigan. They seem to
have found a gorgeous location in the middle of wonderful
scenery, ready for hiking, skiing
and visitors—Eric Moore found
his way there between Boston,
Anchorage, etc. Please contact
Garry with any and all questions
regarding salmon and steelhead
habitat protection and restoration. Eric Powers graduated from
Baruch College, having earned
his MBA—he’s keeping himself
busy with writing business plans
and consulting. Eric saw Karen
Lichtman, who completed her
master’s in linguistics.
Lisa Cohan reports that the
completion of her master’s of
science in foreign service (from
Georgetown) now leaves her
amply qualified to cat-sit for Liz
Hole Knake’s cat. Liz will soon
start her doctorate of psychology
studies at George Washington
University.
Back to those in school who
might be enjoying their summer
vacations. Andrea Lee planned
to spend the first part of her law
school summer break interning
in DC. Then she was to jet off
to Vietnam and Laos to round
out the summer. Jasmine Bradley
continues to love life back on
the West Coast, where she was
keeping her nose to the grindstone this summer as she fills
her days with dissertations and
discussions. And probably some
sunshine. Probably.
Alix Partnow was visited by Erin
Wheeler in Columbia, Mo. Erin
lives in Colorado these days, and
Alix wrapped up her first year
of neurology-neurosurgery residency for veterinary medicine.
Her dogs are bearing the stress
of being left to their own devices
for hours at a time quite well.
Another person who lives in
geographic proximity to me, here
in Saint Louis, is Brian Michener.
Though we no longer live down
the street from each other, it’s
close enough that we’re toying
with the idea of sometime seeing
each other again. Eventually. You
don’t want to rush these things.
Alix and I plan to see each other,
too, but that will be on metric
time, so it doesn’t translate all
that well.
Mike Paarlberg continues
to write about business and
labor issues, and now it’s for
The Guardian. Steele Thomas
Marcoux has been jetting about
the country visiting Williams
friends. I was the lucky hostess
for a weekend visit from Steele
as she made her way westward
in May. She also traveled to New
York, where she visited Kate
Werble, Katherine French, Kurt
Palmer and Niki Cosgrove. Steele,
Casey Matthies Owen and Kate
Forssell had a fabulous weekend in Colorado in June—they
were relieved to see only the
likes of a bunny while hiking
n 2 0 0 1 –0 3
and not the escaped felon they
were worried about. (Again, I
see the potential for somehow
incorporating a movie plot in
this bit—all I’m coming up with
is the rabbit from Monty Python.
I give up on the movie plots.)
Steele and her husband Michel
live in Birmingham, where Steele
expertly serves as design editor
for Coastal Living. Kate Werble
continues to put together exciting shows at her art gallery and
planned to make some time for
traveling of her own this summer. Niki and her dog are finding
ways to console themselves now
that they aren’t wearing their
Cavs jerseys nightly—Lulu, the
dog, sends Niki to work at The
Whitney each day with the Cavs
jersey folded neatly in her bag.
Jess Paar sends in a Windy City
run down—all is well with Mike
and Kelsey Peterson Recht ’04, CC
Ciafone, Richard Bode and Laura
Crum. I saw Richard at brunch in
April when I was in Chicago for
an on the sly surprise birthday
party (you can’t trust anyone
with those kind of secrets)—we
were both moderately confused
by the “It’s a Small World” music
swirling in the background. Jess
worked very hard to raise money
for the Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society in conjunction with her
training for the St. Anthony’s
Olympic-distance triathlon in
St. Petersburg, Fla. No one will
deny that she earned the title of
“triathlete,” despite cancellation
of the swim portion due to rough
seas. Rough seas will always get
you. Still, Jess planned to earn her
stripes in the Chicago Triathlon
this summer. Go get ’em!
There’s really been a minimum
of wedding and baby updates.
Only one of each! Heather Black
Ganitsky and her husband have
a new baby boy, Eli Natan
Ganitsky, who is doing quite
well. He is appropriately outfitted in plenty of Williams gear.
Sarah Knup, Kelly Finn, Molly
Venter and Kristen Samuelson
have been able to visit the
baby. Molly is out on tour this
summer—check for her shows
near you! Nuptial news is limited
to Will Davidson at this juncture.
He’s back from a “phenomenal”
honeymoon in French Polynesia
following his April 18 wedding.
He reports a strong showing
from the Class of ’02 in addition
to cameos from the classes of
’04, ’03 and ’61.
Sadaf Ahmad enjoyed a trip
to Costa Rica with her former
suitemates Enuma Menkiti, Erika
Beltran and Vanea Norris (all ’01).
They celebrated their 30th birthdays. Volcanoes, rainforests and
hot springs made it a fantastic
trip. Really, I have to say Sadaf
wins the prize for most movies
mentioned in her submission—
and, really, that shows the most
effort and attention of any
submission.
Laura Spero took a trip down
memory lane when she was
reunited with an old journal
of hers. She continues running
health and education programs
in Nepal, producing radio in
New York and teaching arts
residencies in the New York
public schools. Eric Olson-Getty
has been working with a project
in Northeast-Central Durham
to develop community gardening as a means to a sustainable
and healthy food source. More
growing is in the works for
Irena Hollowell, who planned
to spend the summer at Acorn
Community in central Virginia.
They own Southern Exposure
Seed Exchange, a seed company
specializing in open-pollinated
and heirloom seeds.
Sarah Hart-Unger and Hilary
Hackman are helping little
children grow like little weeds
as pediatricians. Sarah, at Duke,
plans to specialize in pediatric
endocrinology starting in 2010.
Hilary, in Oregon, will be
working with those particularly
tiny babies as she starts her
neonatology training. Slightly
larger children at McNair
Academic High School in Jersey
City (a magnet school) enjoy
the vocal music teachings of
Ben Isecke. Ben really enjoys his
job and loved spending time at
the Williams choir reunion last
spring. Also busy making music
are Caitlin Bowler, Iris Moon
and Ravi Purushotham ’00, who
have wowed the patrons of Sing
Sing (NYC—not the prison)
with what I have read was a
legendary and genre-defying (?)
medley.
Have a great fall!
2003
Anri Wheeler Brenninkmeyer
280 Riverside Drive, #GB
New York, NY 10025
[email protected]
Lots to report from the Class
of ’03; graduate school seems to
be the main recurring theme in
this issue. Thanks to the many
first-timers who took the time to
write in. As usual, I begin with
weddings and babies.
David Morris married Deanne
Moyer on May 2. Classmates
at the wedding included Aaron
Flink, Nick Suttle, Rob Sawyer,
Luke Hyde, Navin Pal, Richard
Lammert and Max Montgelas.
Charlie Giammattei ’05 and Frank
Giammattei ’76 also attended.
Bethany (Sayles) Yu and her
husband Jonathan welcomed
their first child, Evelyn Byrd
Yu, in December. The three
live in Cambridge, Mass.,
where Bethany just received
an MA from Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary.
Jasmine (Klatt) Belflower had
a girl in March, Willow June
Belflower. Jasmine writes that
Willow is “totally adorable” and
looks just like her dad: red hair,
pale skin and all.
Anastasia (Gilman) Leyden and
her husband James welcomed
a baby boy, Patrick John, in
February.
Kimmie (Kemper) and Angus
Beal are busy “parents” to the
nine new chicks recently added
to their backyard flock. Angus
loves being in the hospital, at
last, for med school rotations.
Jeff Garland stopped by to help
Kimmie and Angus cut down
some trees and buck them up
with their heirloom crosscut
saw. The Beals got together with
Kristin Hunter-Thompson and
Malin Pinsky in Tahoe for some
sunny skiing. Kimmie looked forward to a summer of vegetable
gardening and swimming in Lake
Champlain.
Two classmates will be
teaching Williams students
beginning this fall. Justin Crowe
has accepted a job as assistant
professor of political science.
He headed back to the Purple
Valley this summer with wife
Christen Romanick and son
Everett. He was sad to leave
sunny California and colleagues
he adores but thrilled to be
returning to the Berkshires and
ecstatic to have the chance to
raise Everett in Williamstown.
He is also incredibly excited to
join the Williams faculty and to
have the opportunity to teach
the next generation of Ephs.
Diane Bennett will be teaching
oceanography for the WilliamsMystic program, filling in while
a regular faculty member is on
sabbatical. She is excited to be
associated with Williams again
and to stay in Mystic, Conn.,
for another year. Diane was in
Boston this spring to see Erin
Troy ’01 defend her PhD thesis
in microbiology at Harvard
Medical School.
Three classmates also
CL ASS
NOTES
finished medical school. Sheila
(McMurrich) Greenlaw graduated
from University of Massachusetts
Medical School and is moving
to Charlotte, N.C., to do her
internship in internal medicine.
After that she plans to return to
UMass to do her residency in
dermatology.
Liz Campos graduated from
the University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio
and will be heading to Nashville,
Tenn., to start her surgery intern
year at Vanderbilt. After graduating Williams, Liz spent two years
living the good life in Costa Rica,
Brewster, N.Y., and Connecticut,
working at Paul Newman’s Hole
in the Wall Gang Camp. Liz is
engaged to Russell Pearce, whom
she met at Lake Tahoe in 2005.
The two plan to wed at Disney
World in October.
Emily Siegel graduated from
medical school and is leaving
Philadelphia for DC to start her
emergency medicine residency
at Georgetown. She met up
with Karin Rosenthal, Ryu Yokoi
’01, Nicole Theriault and Anjuli
Lebowitz in NYC for a Martha
Stewart-style brunch, compliments of Nicole in celebration
of Karin’s birthday. Emily also
visited Bethany Yu and her new
baby girl in Boston while interviewing for residencies. Emily
trains for triathlons and is trying
to get on the CBS show Survivor.
Another classmate moving to
DC is Alix Davis. Lindi von Mutius
wrote that Alix won a prestigious Smithsonian Fellowship
for which she will be moving.
Lindi and Alix attended a joint
Amherst-Williams happy hour
and caught up with Emily Siegel.
The two were excited about the
Williams-Amherst baseball game,
hoping for another opportunity
to hang out. Lindi also saw Justin
Reliford, who works at a law firm
in Philadelphia. Lindi is amazed
at how many Williams alums are
lawyers in Philadelphia.
Freeden Oeur is moving to
Philadelphia to begin his dissertation research. He taught sixth
grade there after graduation
and is very excited to reacquaint
himself with the city. Freeden
has been hanging out with Rod
McLeod ’05. The two met up
with Emily Lample ’05 for dinner
in the spring.
Several other classmates are at
work on their PhDs. Jen Doleac is
finishing her third year in the economics PhD program at Stanford
and living in San Francisco with
Matt Webster ’04. They’re both
working hard but manage to take
In April Richard Usatine ’78, a professor at the University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio, inducted Elizabeth Campos ’03, who
graduated from the School of Medicine, into the Gold Humanism Honor
Society. Usatine is a member and faculty adviser to the society.
full advantage of nearby wine
country on weekends. She gets
to see Daniel Klasik and Emma
Herries quite a bit as well as Tony
Iwane, Steve Scroggins ’04 and
Mike Needham ’04.
Kamille Williams finished her
MS at American University
and is now slogging through a
PhD at Georgetown. Last year,
Kamille spent four months in
Japan. During that time she
visited Christopher Calfee ’04
in Thailand and was visited by
Melanie Beeck ’04 and Andrea
Nogales ’04, who were on an
Asian country tour.
Nina Chaopricha is doing
PhD research on soil carbon in
collaboration with the World
Agroforestry Center in Kunming,
China. She is enjoying sharing an
office with three North Koreans.
Brian Katz was excited to
receive his PhD from University
of Texas at Austin in May. He is
joining the faculty at Augustana
College in Rock Island, Ill. Brian
caught up with Jen Barone, Dan
Demoss, Chris Holmes, Alex Lavy,
Joe Lucia, Miranda Routh, Katie
Saxon and Emmy Valet and about
35 alumni from other years at
the Williams choir reunion, in
honor of Brad Wells’ 10th year
at Williams. They performed a
Mass by Frank Martin with the
current concert choir and generally reveled in the traditions of
music at Williams.
Seth Borland received a
master’s in architecture from the
University of Texas and will be
moving to Chicago with his wife
Laura Noel Borland ’06. They
will miss Austin, particularly the
amazing food and weather.
Also moving is Mitchell Green,
who received his MBA at
Wharton and is looking forward
to being back in NYC to work
for a hedge fund.
While Mitchell is finished, four
classmates begin their MBAs
this fall. Bryan Marcovici is living
in Hoboken but is preparing to
leave his management consulting job to move to Philadelphia
to attend Wharton. He sees
Tom Kramer when Tom is in
town to visit. Drew DeMuth will
begin an MBA at the University
of Michigan’s Ross School of
Business. He wrote, “If Rich Rod
doesn’t turn the football program
around in the next two years,
then I quit.” After two years of
environmental strategy consulting work in DC, Liz Mygatt
will be traveling to Europe for
a month before heading up
to Cornell for an MBA. Chris
Durlacher was moving to NYC
this summer to start an MBA at
Columbia.
Joining Chris at Columbia
this fall is Lisa Schulman, who
will be starting at the Mailman
School of Public Health. She
will continue to work full time
for NYC—in communications
for the Office of Emergency
Management—as she matriculates. She’s on the lookout for
fellow Ephs at Mailman.
Also in NYC is Faith Black,
who is an editor at Avalon
Books, taking all the sex (and
fun) out of romance novels. She
still plays basketball and recently
joined a “basketball for book
lovers” league in Brooklyn. Faith
completed her first half-marathon in Frederick, Md., in May.
n 2 0 0 3 –0 4
Dave Brenninkmeyer and I
continue to enjoy NYC life. I
graduated from culinary school
in January and, after completing
an internship in the test kitchen
of the Food Network, am now
a stage at Savoy restaurant in
SoHo. Dave is done with the first
year of his MBA at Columbia
and worked for a hedge fund
over the summer.
Danni Lapin is still working
hard doing therapy with youngsters in Yonkers, N.Y. She has
been taking the intramural sports
community in NYC by storm,
playing kickball, volleyball and
football. Lately, though, the
intramural sports world has
taken her by storm, it seems, and
she will be having knee surgery.
She planned to spend the summer getting to know the new
Yankee Stadium and trying to
forget her first trip there (when
the Yankees lost to Cleveland,
22-4).
Kate Leonard and Abi Jackson
coached a lacrosse team at the
Prague Cup in June. Prague
played host to the Women’s
Lacrosse World Cup this
summer.
Simon Maloy appeared in G
Force, The Boston Globe’s “daily
interview or Q&A with personalities who are in the news.” The
interview detailed Simon’s job
as “a deputy research director
of the left-leaning media criticism website Media Matters for
America, [for which] he writes
the ‘Limbaugh Wire,’ an hourby-hour rebuttal and critique of
the conservative talkmeister.”
The full article appears on
boston.com.
On to our West Coast-dwelling
classmates. David Mihm is still
in Portland, Ore., where he’s
been for just over a year. He
absolutely loves it there. His
Internet marketing company is
faring better than he could have
imagined at this stage, thanks to
a couple of changes at Google in
the past year that have fed right
into his niche of expertise. He
had a great time at the wedding
of Williams B suitemate Graeme
Sanderson and was looking forward to the wedding of his other
suitemate Robbie Kirsher. After
Graeme’s wedding, David left
for a phenomenal trip to Europe
where he hit up nine cities (and
four countries) in nine days. A
highlight from his travels was
one of the best meals of his life:
roast chicken, fries and a pint of
Stella Artois in Brussels.
Perry Kalmus is researching
market trends for margarita
mixes as he is considering entering the market with a fellow
Williams graduate. Perry lives in
Hollywood and is trying to get a
movie made that he wrote with
Marshall Dines.
Stephen “Slim” Oliver is living
in the San Francisco Zoo with
his girlfriend Shilpa Duvoor ’04.
Their apartment is on a small
island in the zoo’s lagoon; the
bald eagle with clipped wings
shares the yard. Ben Cannon ’02
and Azusa Kobayashi ’02 visit
them regularly and toss in bits
of bread.
Lastly, in what has definitely
been my most thoughtful
submission to date, a handwritten note arrived in my mailbox
from Brother Michael Sheehan.
He reports that after two
years of mission work in San
Marcos, Nicaragua, he returned
to Boston with his Franciscan
brothers to make his final vows
on May 16, 2008. Mike was
happy to spend time at his
final vows reception with Peter
Feudo (former Catholic campus
minister), Chris Vaughan ’04, Dan
Burns ’06, Jeff Ossinger ’05 and
the family of Rob MacDougall
’01, who visited Mike in person
with his wife and two kids at
Thanksgiving. In the summer
of 2008, the Franciscans of the
Primitive Order, of which Mike
is a member, moved their house
of studies from Maryland to
East Boston. After the move,
Mike began a four-year program
toward ordination to the priesthood at St. John’s Seminary.
Since moving to Eastie, Mike
has run into Ryan Friend, Nick
Goggans ’01 and Jeff O’Neill ’01.
2004
Editor’s note: At press time
the Class of 2004 was in the
process of choosing a new class
secretary. Please continue to send
news to 2004secretary@williams.
edu. The following notes were
submitted by outgoing secretary
Stephanie Hall:
Tim Patterson did something
very interesting this past spring.
The Kachin Independence Army
is one of the rebel groups that
defy the Myanmar military junta.
In December Tim snuck across
the northern China/Myanmar
border and spent a month with
the KIA in the foothills of the
Himalaya on a journalism grant
from the Pulitzer Center on
Crisis Reporting. Stories from
his trip are in Global Post,
The Kyoto Journal and the
Washington Times.
Matt Hoffman successfully
defended his PhD dissertation
in applied mathematics and
scientific computation in May
and moved to a new apartment
in downtown Baltimore about
three blocks from Oriole Park.
He was selected to receive the
inaugural Cormack Postdoctoral
Fellowship in Global
Change from Johns Hopkins
University and is to start there
in September. This summer
he is continuing research on
the Chesapeake Bay and the
Martian climate and was to get
married in July.
Courtney Tunis has been working at MASS MoCA in North
Adams since January and was
just made the new education
coordinator. Adam Grogg has
been up to visit her, and they
ate at Gramercy Bistro, where
Adam informed their waitress
that we used to love the restaurant in college because they
never carded us. Courtney also
occasionally runs into Mitchell
Baker around Williamstown.
Mark Orlowski continues with
his work as executive director
of the Sustainable Endowments
Institute, a special project
of Rockefeller Philanthropy
Advisors. This summer, he is
leading a 15-person research
team in studying campus
sustainability initiatives and
endowment investment practices
at 333 colleges across the U.S.
and Canada. His research was
featured in May in a front-page
New York Times article. Mark
is also finishing his master’s in
management at Harvard. Mark
is excited about raising capital
and building the leadership
team for his new venture—a
Cambridge-based startup at the
nexus of technology, sustainability and finance.
Claudia Arzeno graduated with
her master’s in arts administration and policy from the
School of the Art Institute of
Chicago. She will be moving
to Milwaukee to intern in the
curatorial departments of both
European and contemporary art
at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
I planned a trip to Austin to visit
Violeta Archilla, her baby Amelia
and Jarod Kidd ’02.
Mary Flynn spent May in
Mumbai doing a medical rotation at KEM hospital—a crazy
experience. Now that she’s safely
back in the U.S., she’s graduating from UMass med school
(with Sheila McMurrich ’03) and
planned to start a residency in
family medicine here in July.
CL ASS
NOTES
Emily Isaacson is finishing her
master’s in choral conducting
in Oregon and is getting ready
to start doctoral work at the
University of Illinois in the fall.
She is very excited to be near
Williams folk in Chicago. Most
exciting, though, she got engaged
to her boyfriend Matt Tzuker.
Carolyn Robbs spent her final
semester of law school working as a judicial extern at the
Southern District of New York
federal courthouse. During her
four months in NYC, she got
to spend time with lots of ’04s,
including Ronni Weinstein, Ashley
Kindergan and Nora Burns. She
also attended a rooftop party
hosted by Sarah Jensen, and she
bumped into Charlie Davidson,
Matt Raid, Michael Graham ’05,
Tucker Kain ’05 and Ned Hole
’05. She graduated from law
school in June.
2005
REUNION JUNE 10-13
Zach McArthur
34 Hancock St., Apt. 3
Cambridge, MA 02139
[email protected]
“I don’t have a girlfriend, but
I do know a woman who’d be
mad at me for saying that.”
—Mitch Hedberg.
Kate Rutledge is engaged to
med school classmate Gene
Schiappa. Kate said “Yes!”
when Gene broke out chocolatecovered strawberries following
the new Star Trek movie. Andrea
Berberian’s also engaged (to a
Middlebury grad), as is Katie
Davisson, who’s tapped Jenn
Campbell and Danner Hickman as
bridesmaids in her nuptials.
Philipp Huy married Caroline
Anderson ’06 in Germany.
Philipp bumped into Sabrina
Wirth at Checkpoint Charlie,
which led to an impromptu
meal at the restaurant White
Trash. Michael Silverstein’s
bachelor party in Atlantic City
included Ashok Pillai, Matt
Resseger, Gailon Ebell ’03 and
Brendan Dougherty ’06. Mikey
was to marry Jess Phillips ’07 in
Thompson Chapel before law
school calls at Yeshiva University.
Kevin Kingman’s hosting Noah
Bell and Jason Davis for Jason’s
bachelor party. Abby Wattley’s
in Portland for the summer,
looking forward to seeing Amy
Dieckmann. Tameka Watler and
Fran Fredane-Fraser are joining
Kevin and Abby at Harvard
business in the fall. Faith Lim
attended two spring weddings.
The first involved a brave foray
to Mexico, where Faith avoided
swine flu by sipping tequila with
boyfriend Michael MatthewMcMurphy McDonough. She
then hit the jackpot by being my
date to Bryan Harmon’s ’04 wedding; the ceremony included the
Korean tradition of the groom
piggybacking his bride around
the room. The Great BH struggling to carry his beautiful bride
Soojin across the dance floor
while adorned in silken pink
robes was an unforgettable sight.
“I was in a casino, and this guy
came up to me and said ‘You’re
gonna have to move. You’re
blocking a fire exit.’ As though if
there was a fire, I wasn’t gonna
run. If you’re flammable and
have legs, you’re never blocking
a fire exit. Unless you’re a table.”
Chuck Soha went to Vegas for
March Madness and hit big 0/00
bet, bringing his lifetime record
to three for four. Giddyup! Kurt
Brumme and I hit the 0/00 as
well, but in life experience. We
camped out in a parking lot with
seven other golf teamers to play
Bethpage (Black), site of the
2009 U.S. Open. Kurt arrived
at 4:30 a.m. Saturday to snag
one of six coveted foursomes
available Sunday morning! After
sleeping three hours in a Camry,
Brummbag’s 84 nosed out my
sick 85 for medalist honors.
In early May, 15 ’05s met in
Williamstown to begin reunion
planning. Saturday night was
capped off in the faculty club
with games including midnight speed candlepin bowling.
The lone blemish? Tara Boyd’s
response for class notes: “I beat
Zach McArthur in Ping-Pong.”
Lucky, Tara. Rematch at reunion.
Soberer this time.
“Alcoholism is a disease, but
it’s the only one you can get
yelled at for having. ‘Damn
it, Otto, you’re an alcoholic!’
‘Damn it, Otto, you have lupus!’
One of those two doesn’t sound
right.”
In March, Matt Resseger
and Noam Yuchtman visited
Alexis Medina in China. The
trio entered into an informal
boat race with an unsuspecting
Chinese family while chanting
“U-S-A, U-S-A!” Stephen Dobay’s
summering in Williamstown,
working for the WTF—he invites
all ’05s to stop by for a BBC with
him at the Herring. Ken Brown’s
up in Burlington, doing research
and growing fresh veggies in a
community garden.
Meg Giuliano has a plot in
Portsmouth’s community garden
and is working for Clean AirCool Planet, building energy efficiency in historic homes. Alexa
Holleran’s running Aloha Camp’s
summer tripping program for
kids in Vermont. Two Eph slayers are moving west: Laura Cavin
to Eugene to start an environmental architecture degree, and
Kendra Totman to Aspen to teach
environmental education. Kendra
writes, “Three years ago I had
lunch with Sarah Meserve, and
she told me all about her job. …
My response then was, ‘I want
your job!’ Well, now I have it!”
“I didn’t go to college but if
I did I would’ve taken all my
tests at a restaurant ’cause the
customer’s always right!”
Emily Bloomenthal, a graduate of NYU Law, is taking the
bar exam before starting work
at the Education Law Center
in Newark; Chris DeNicola’s
following a similar route, with
the bar preceding his move to
NYC. Congratulations to Scott
Pierce, who graduated from GW
with a master’s in history and
acquired a guinea pig named
Sumo! Chelsea Pollen’s starting a
master’s in human development
and psychology at Harvard. Will
Cary did his “best E.J. Johnson
’59 impersonation,” as he gave a
tour of the Brooklyn Museum’s
Gustave Callebotte impressionist
paintings to 35 Ephs, including
Bri O’Brien and Kate Beswick.
Marcos Gouvea presented at a
conference, “a graduate shindig
on the future of the Classics.”
Marcos is in Chicago. “Go
Cubs!” writes Alice Brown,
who’s headed to U-Chicago in
the fall to sit in the back of the
classroom with the cool kids. Eric
Manchester shares my feelings on
the Cubbies—“Did you see our
lineup … against Lincecum? We
had a substitute teacher playing
short! Seriously, that Scales guy
teaches in the winter to ‘supplement his income.’” Chris Tom
“had the great pleasure of visiting Boston again in February and
staying with Zach McArthur. For
the second straight month, I had
to buy Zach toilet paper, which
makes me wonder what Zach is
teaching his seventh graders.”
Chris, I teach them algebra, not
personal hygiene. Becky Allen
warned of a swine flu outbreak
at Amherst! She’s getting her
master’s in school psychology at
UMass and was “trying to stay
away from [Amherst students]
even more than I normally
would.”
n 2 0 0 4 –0 5
Members of the Class of 2005 raised tens of thousands of dollars for the
Crawfish for Cancer benefit they organized in NYC in May.
“I went to a doctor; all he did
was suck blood from my neck.
Don’t go see Dr. Acula.”
Yifan Guo’s starting residency
in plastic surgery at Brown,
where he may run into Kathleen
Carroll. She matched into dermatology there! Dellie Sorel was in
LA to see Ashley and James Cart
before starting at Cambridge
Hospital in June. Phil Enock
begins Harvard’s five-year clinical psychology PhD program
in September. Pam Choi leaves
wonderful Rochester, N.Y., with
one fewer Purple Cow as she’s
off to GW for a general surgery
residency. She’ll be joined there
by internal medicine resident Ju
Kim, who attended the wedding
of Rana Suh ’04 and Krishna
Kannan ’03. Noah Allen showed
Chris Bodnar around Cincinnati’s
gross anatomy lab, which made
Chris yearn to be an anatomist.
“I hope the next time I move
I get a real easy phone number,
like 222-2222. People would say
‘Mitch, how do I get a hold of
you?’ I would say ‘Just press 2
for a while! And when I answer,
you will know that you have
pressed 2 enough.’”
Jeff Delaney’s following
Morty to Northwestern; he’s
beginning his MBA this fall.
Sky Riggs is marketing for a
collectibles manufacturer and
started a band (www.myspace.
com/28mansions). Hao (Nicky)
Chang’s wrapping up work in
Shanghai and heading to Yale
School of Architecture, and Julia
Brown’s starting a master’s in
international affairs at Columbia.
Suzanne Walsh is moving to
Manhattan; her new degrees in
art history and library science
come “just in time for a really
poor job market.” Terry-Ann
Suer’s “80 percent sure” she’s
switching coasts for grad school
on Long Island. Aron Chang’s
graduating from Harvard Design
and is off to New Orleans to
work on housing projects. Good
man, Aron, good man.
“I wanna be a race car
passenger—just a guy who bugs
the driver: ‘Say man—can I turn
on the radio? You should slow
down. Why we gotta keep going
in circles? Can I put my feet out
the window? Man, you really
like Tide.’”
Gavin McCormick visited
dozens of Williams alums over
a six-week span and calculated
the trip required 95.4 miles/
Eph. “No one seems to live near
anyone else anymore!” Jonathan
Landsman passed through my lil’
sister’s hood of Williamsburg as
he circumcycled the East River
in a downpour for the Five Boro
Bike Tour. Katie Stevens and
I explored North Carolina’s
sandhills in March, playing golf,
grilling meat and jumping in icecold pools. As for her dad, Mike
Stevens ’73, only 102 days until
Katie and I run train on him in
our NFL pool. After working
in nine states for Obama, Ari
Schoenholtz is back in DC. He
bumped into Shomik Dutta in
the West Wing of the White
House, as did Marissa Doran,
who’s working on the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“I want to hang a map of the
world in my house, then I’m
gonna put pins into all the locations that I’ve traveled to. But
first I’m gonna have to travel to
the top two corners of the map
so it won’t fall down.”
Scott Moskowitz offers “a futon
of some sort or at least a ragcovered pallet” to Ephs traveling
through Shanghai. Micah Halsey
and Abby Whitbeck had cocktails
in Dubai at the Burj al Arab
Hotel. Lucy Thiboutot’s off to
Syria on a fellowship to study
advanced Arabic. “Visitors welcome! Damascus is the longest
continually inhabited city in the
Western world.” Best wishes
to Chris Mishoe, who’s doing
communications engineering
projects in Afghanistan with the
Air Force.
London, Warsaw, Berlin,
California, Austin, Salt Lake
City, Chicago, DC, NYC and
Maine make up the itinerary
for Annie Snodgrass before she
joins Lindsey Taylor and Danner
Hickman at Tuck. Aaron Helfand’s
off to England to participate
in an urban design project
before returning stateside to
attend “the much anticipated
Gilmore-Saar wedding!” Prague
calls for Wendy Stone, who’s
been tapped to manage the U.S.
Women’s Lacrosse team for the
World Cup! Dan Krass played
in an Ultimate tournament in
Lausanne, and selected to be on
his team was Ryann Hoffman ’08!
They overcame a first game loss
to win the event, making Krass a
two-time defending champ. Ben
Himowitz runs a school in Costa
Rica—visitors have included
Liz Suda, Paul Sonenthal and Lili
Zimmett. Life is good for Zophia
Edwards as she researches globalization trends while “soaking in
some sun in sweet Trinidad and
Tobago!”
“My friend said to me ‘I think
the weather’s trippy.’ And I said
‘No man, it’s not the weather
that’s trippy. Perhaps it is the
way that we perceive it that is
indeed trippy.’ Then I thought,
man, I should have just said
‘yeah.’”
JJ O’Brien’s in sunny Palo Alto
starting b-school at Stanford—a
sharp departure from his
Easter vacation of skiing along
glaciers through the Alps. Grace
(Wells) Tomooka’s in at Azusa
Pacific University for Nursing
(“WHOOHOOO!”). Charlie
Giammattei left Philly to visit Eric
Manchester in Cali—Eric snuck
Terminator onto his flag football
team on the day Tom Brady
dropped by! Deborah Hemel
hosted Samantha Goldman, Kate
Rutledge, Emily Joiner, Leisa
Rothlisberger and Jess Yankura
for a minireunion spent wandering the streets of Philadelphia.
Alana Whitman thoroughly enjoyed a New York
CL ASS
NOTES
spring—“Brooklyn is lovely.”
Alana, Sarah Johnson, Nick Perry
’04 and David Roth attended
a picnic organized by Mariah
Robbins in celebration of the
weather. Dave wrote commenting on the perpetual spring rain
in Brooklyn (does Brooklyn have
micro-climates?!) and noted
Mariah was off to Italy to study
in a villa with E.L. Doctorow
while he begins the JD/MBA
program at Harvard. Joanna
Leathers caught up with “many
Ephs enjoying the arrival of
spring in the city” on Megan
Henze and Sarah Jensen’s ’04
roof-deck.
“Is a hippopotamus just a
really cool opotamous?”
A puppy joins Joanna Lloyd’s
birds, bunny and cat—good
thing Joanna’s starting vet school
at Penn! Lindsey Taylor’s spending
summer weekends horse showing before Tuck business school
calls. Noah Capurso and Steve
Kelleher surprised Brian Saar for
some bachelor fun in Boston:
seeing the Wolverine movie,
paintballing and cooking up a
rack of wild boar ribs! Noah and
Steve are splitting as roommates
for the first time in seven years:
Steve is off to Bolivia while Noah
stays at Yale. Louisa Swain sent
in a stunning picture of her and
Mary Stranghoener at Mary’s
dolphin show at Sea World!
(“So fun to see her in action.”)
Louisa’s settling in NYC, site
of the first annual Crawfish
for Cancer event, organized
by Class of 2005 alums. Led
by Jimmy Crowell, the organizers recaptured the spirit of the
Crawfish Boil. The event raised
tens of thousands of dollars for
multiple myeloma from over 300
attendees, “most of whom had
attended a Boil during their time
at Williams.”
“I had a bag of Fritos, they
were Texas Grilled Fritos. These
Fritos had grill marks on ’em.
Hell yeah! Reminds me of summer, when we used to fire up the
barbecue, and throw down on
some … Fritos. I can still see my
dad with the apron on: ‘You better flip that Frito dad, you know
how I like it.’”
On June 14, Asha Rhodes visited Texas for the first time, performing with the Jamal Jackson
Dance Company in Austin. Emily
Joiner’s halfway through public
policy school at UT-Austin. Jane
Stimpson graduated from Texas
with a master’s in information
studies and is looking for work
at a library near—you guessed
it—Austin. A poetic update from
Paul Skudder: “In school again,
still. Rocks & beer. Montana.
Soon, Texas.”
Jocelyn Gardner’s interning at
Old South Church in Boston; she
and Andra Hibbert hosted Gavin
McCormick for a night of spring
fun fixing twisted street signs.
“Putting those Williams degrees
to use at the service of the good
people of Somerville.” Jenni
Simmons sent in a great picture
of her and Gavin participating in International Pillowfight
Day. Gavin and Nate Pyeatt
visited Jamie Hensel in the ATL;
Jaime took them to a festival
complete with banjos, BBQ and
Confederate soldier re-enactors.
Katie (Marsh) Garvin spent “a
great weekend in Falmouth”
celebrating Susie Theroux’s b-day
with Kali Moody, Andrea Burke
’06 and Chris Garvin ’03. Rumor
is Kate Dineen is looking for
apartments in Cambridge as she
heads to MIT’s urban studies
and planning program. Kate and
Vivian Djen spiced up Boston
nightlife as they attended a Lady
Gaga concert. Kate writes: “In
homage to the ferosh Gaga, I
attended the concert sans pants.
I assumed the majority of Gagalovers would have also left their
pants at home. I was mistaken.”
“I don’t have any children but
if I had a baby I’d have to name
it, so I’d buy a baby naming
book. Or I would invite somebody over who had a cast on.”
James and Ashley Cart
welcomed their first child, a
daughter, into the world on May
18: “Fairly life-altering, amazing
event,” says Ashley. John Harris is
looking forward to “some father/
son trips to play at Taconic Golf
Club in about 2025.” Why? He
and Sarah Jo bore a son named
John Alexander on Feb. 22!
Congratulations, and I pray he is
a long hitter with the crazy new
tees on the back nine.
That’s it, 2005. To close, a final
peek inside Mitch Hedberg’s
head: “My friend asked me if I
wanted a frozen banana, I said
‘No, but I want a regular banana
later, so … yeah.’”
2006
Ariel Peters
414 North Granada St.
Arlington, VA 22203
[email protected]
Everyone’s downsizing, and
I have a new word limit. Here
goes!
When Rachel Segretto wrote in
from Louisville, the dogwoods
were blooming and derby season
was in full swing. (Put it on
your bucket list!) She planned to
spend the summer teaching ESL
and working on DIY projects,
from sewing her own clothes to
riding around on her moped to
making “interesting chutneys
and jams and pickled things”
from whatever popped up in her
community garden.
Sara Beach is teaching ESL to
adult immigrants at a charter
school in DC. She loves it!
Joel Bradley, Elissa Rehm and
Amelia Bishop finished the Boston
Marathon on a chilly Patriots’
Day. Tim Stickney ’04, Peter
Leonard ’04, Sarah Torkelson ’04
and youngster Sam Kapala ’09
also crossed the finish line! Joel
spent the summer in Mendoza,
Argentina, working on a project
in infant malnutrition through
HelpArgentina, an organization
founded by Lloyd Nimetz ’01.
Geri Ottaviano completed
her first marathon last spring.
She and Maggie Carr attended
a Williams happy hour in San
Francisco—or, rather, that was
what they intended. When they
got to the bar, they realized that
the happy hour was actually
scheduled for the following
week, but “that just meant more
cheap margaritas for us, and we
had a great time.”
In April, Blair Coffman ran
the Cherry Blossom 10-miler.
While in DC she had the chance
to catch up with Jaye Gregory.
She and Sarah Hardin are still
living together in their cozy NYC
apartment.
If reading about all of the wonderful things your classmates are
doing makes you feel inadequate,
skip this paragraph. Chris Yorke’s
writing and photographs were
published in Pete Nelson’s New
Treehouses of the World, and
Robin Stewart’s software project,
which he started at Williams,
was acquired by The Omni
Group (his current employer). It’s
called the OmniGraphSketcher,
and it’s available at www.omnigroup.com.
Is your first name Christine?
If so, you’re probably getting
married. Christine Rodriguez’s
salsa-dancing partner Joel
spontaneously proposed; there’s
a video on Facebook! Christine
Hunt is also engaged. She’s heading to UNC for a master’s in
public health and then to Duke
for law school.
Yami MacKenzie’s first name
isn’t Christine, but she’s
engaged, too! In May, she
finished law school at the
n 2 0 0 5 –0 6
University of Georgia then
moved to New York to study for
the bar.
Ellen Crocker and Travis Vachon
got hitched! (Her words, not
mine!) They relocated from
San Francisco to Ithaca, where
she’s starting her PhD in plant
pathology at Cornell. And Matt
Hsieh and Meg McCann are now
husband and wife! Last spring
she was on sabbatical from Bain
and working at a nonprofit in
DC. The two grown-ups plan
on buying a condo in Arlington,
Va. Meg mentioned that Matt
Teschke hosted a few dinner
parties, inviting the newlyweds,
Steve Acton, Yariv Pierce and
Lucy Cox-Chapman, all of whom
live nearby.
Sarah Louise Smith is settling
down in Birmingham, where
she bought a house. She still
works for the nonprofit Impact
Alabama and is lobbying the
state legislature for a bill that
she helped write.
Elissa Klein was on her way to
DC to celebrate Christine Hunt’s
engagement, but before she
left she sent me a quick e-mail
saying that her job and her lease
were both set to end in August.
She was biding her time with
unemployed friends—“it’s the
most fun I’ve ever had.”
Gillian McBride “gave in to
the lure of health insurance”;
she’s putting off a career in the
arts to work as an administrative assistant at the Hair Club
of Rye Brook. “I’m out of the
big city and up to my elbows
in toupees—it’s bizarre and
wonderful,” she says. That, and
she and her coworkers won first
place in the regional “Pirates of
the Hairibbean” competition!
“This is arguably the best job
I’ve ever had.”
Megan O’Malley has been
splitting her time between NYC
and the Jerz while job searching. In addition to taking French
classes, she volunteers at an animal shelter and drinks a “whole
lot of champagne” with Galen
Glaze and Cecilia de la Campa.
Need a lawyer? Take your
pick. Steve Myers graduated
from Penn Law in May; he’s
now clerking for the Southern
District of New York and living
with Hayley Wynn in the West
Village. Bryan LaPlant graduated
from Harvard Law in June. He
planned to spend the summer
studying for the bar before celebrating with a trip to Europe.
He’s living in Boston’s Back Bay
and is to start work at Ropes &
Gray in January.
Tiffany Chao also finished at
Harvard in June with a degree
and a certificate in counseling.
In July, she was to spend a week
in the Hamptons with Christine
Layng, Kristin Moss and Laura
Noel Borland.
Caroline Toy graduated from
Georgia College & State
University with a master’s in outdoor education administration in
May. Now she’s exploring what
to do next.
Here’s the latest from the
O’Rourkes: Devon and Jackie
have moved to Boston to start
grad school at BU. They invited
Wendy Stone ’05 to room with
them and were trying to convince
Rachel Barr to move to Boston,
too! They went to dinner and a
concert with Charles Bellows in
April. (No word yet on whether
he’ll stick around to keep them
company.)
Jackie and Devon were sad to
leave Twink Williams behind in
the Berkshires; however, Twink
is busy. She’s a college counselor,
and in her spare time she’s “leading a struggling softball team to
newfound greatness!” Jackie also
chatted with Elissa Popoff, who
was hoping to move to Maine to
teach at a private school there,
and Melissa Vandermyn, who is
“doing what Moe does best.”
Karl Naden showed James
Brittin and Ashleigh Theberge
around town when both came
through Madison in late March
while looking for places to live
when they finish grad school.
Karl will be long gone—he’s off
to Carnegie Mellon for his PhD.
In March, Jordan Bate, Galen
Glaze, Zach Weisser, Marilyn
Gomez and Cecilia de la Campa
celebrated Marilyn’s 25th at
midtown’s Bamboo52 and The
Park. Zach wore hiking boots,
and Cecilia got her heel stuck
in a grate (and then kept on
walking, grate attached). The
management was not pleased,
and everyone turned up a month
later at Loreley to celebrate
Jordan’s 25th, giant-sized brewskis in hand.
On April 25 and 26, more
than a dozen ’06s got together to
celebrate Adrian Martinez’s birthday. The group played games
and cooked his favorite meal.
It’s hard to believe, but Adro
passed away three years ago this
August. He would have turned
25 on April 30.
Alissa Caron moved to Bangkok
in May; she manages HIV and
primary health care programs
in Thailand, Cambodia and
India through the Population
and Community Development
Association. Wayward travelers,
take note!
Of course, we have our fair
share of those. Jose Marrero and
Ben Angarita ’03 returned to the
States in April after spending
a fun-filled month and a half
in Medellín, Colombia. Jose
substituted free association for
a description of their travels:
“boxed rum, silicone, hot dogs
on everything imaginable,
and myriad applications of
mayonnaise.”
Jonathan Dowse spent the
spring semester in Helsinki,
where he enjoyed clear skies and
lots and lots of daylight. When
the semester ended, he moved to
Barcelona for a summer program
and planned to return to St.
Louis for more school.
Ruxy Paul is working on her
dissertation; she’s studying new
migration patterns in the EU.
She was in Italy and Romania
this summer doing research and
plans to spend the year in Paris
on a Chateaubriand Fellowship.
Before she left, she got together
in Harvard Square with Dan
Gerlanc, Gape Machao, Lisetta
Shah, Alan Cordova (in town for
a conference), Katie Lewkowicz,
Mark Orlowski ’04 and Peter
Tosirisuk ’07.
Meredith Sanger-Katz was sitting on a runway in Hong Kong
when she wrote in. She had just
resigned her post in the Paterson
administration and was heading to Bangkok to meet Adam
Bloch, Adam Ain and Alex Smith.
Meredith starts business school
at Harvard this fall.
This time, fact trumps fiction,
but here’s what Adam Bloch had
to say anyway: Adam spent the
spring in a small town in Maine,
managing a diner and trying to
avoid run-ins with a hostile local
policeman and the town matriarch. “During my time there, I
tried to understand the changing
face of small-town America and
the post-industrial northeast as
well as the mysteries of my own
past.”
Vickie Fernandez finished her
third year in the South Bronx,
where she taught math and
directed The Wiz and Little
Shop of Horrors, the first two
plays ever to be performed at her
school! Then she and Steve Rahl
’05 quit their jobs and booked a
one-way ticket to Tokyo. They
planned to set off at the end of
July knowing “what countries to
visit and what shots to get,” but
that was about it!
Kim Fassler moved to China
CL ASS
NOTES
in June. She’ll spend this year
studying at the Hopkins Nanjing
Center. She learned how to
say “global financial crisis” in
Mandarin before she left, so she’s
all set. In February, she and Mary
Catherine Blanton enjoyed a tour
of the West Wing, courtesy of
Shomik Dutta ’05. In March they
headed to Nicaragua for spring
break. They ate rice and beans
and plantains and visited lots of
“pointy” volcanoes (not to be
confused with the Hawaiian variety, which are “flat and oozing,”
says MC, who learned a lot from
her former roommate).
In May, MC, Sasha Gsovski
and I helped Blake Albohm celebrate the big 2-5 at a Nationals
game. They gave us the improbable gift of a win. ¡Al rojo vivo!
Andres Schabelman is firmly
rooted in LA after some “crazy
travels” in Southeast Asia. He’s
shooting a TV travel show pilot;
he’s the host!
Melissa Paige now lives in Park
Slope. “Oddly enough, I am
just a couple doors down from
Sasha’s parents!” she said. Jon
Russell, Jeanne Lehmann, Emily
Casden and Jesse Schenendorf
paid her and her apartment a
visit in April.
Kate Sauerhoff moved from
Kansas City, the heart of the
Midwest, to Pacific Palisades,
Calif., after school let out in
May. She’ll teach middle school
science at St. Matthew’s Parish
School this fall. She lives close
enough to work that she can
walk, and Jose Bravo ’02 teaches
there, too!
Robin Kim and Gillian McBride
visited Zack Orjuela and Ryan
McNeely in New Orleans for
Mardi Gras. According to Zack,
“Both ladies left with a clear
understanding of what it takes to
earn a lot of beads. Don’t ask.”
This fall, Ryan will be rocking out in Jersey while getting
his master’s in public policy at
Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson
School (on a full scholarship),
and Zack will be starting law
school at NYU (also on a full
scholarship). Alas, says Zack,
“The days of po boys and streetcars in the Big Easy are over—for
now.”
Neal Holtshulte is still working
at Klein Steel in Rochester; he
says he’s “making peace with
the way I pull myself in a million different directions.” And,
finally, Raphael Jeong is reading
Goethe’s Faust. That’s all he had
to say—really!
2007
Matthew Earle
23 West Branch Road
Weston, CT 06883
[email protected]
One way to celebrate being
two years out of Williams is by
getting degrees at other schools.
Myron Min-Thu-Aye finished a
master’s in mathematics at LSU
and plans to return in the fall
to pursue a PhD. He traveled to
NYC to celebrate the simultaneous milestones of Emily Chepiga,
who got into Fordham Law, and
Ren McDermott, on the verge
of finishing her two-year Teach
for America commitment, with
a feast at Centro Vinoteca and
Broadway’s Billy Elliot.
Jess Phillips graduated from
NYU with a master’s in educational theater and English education just before marrying Mike
Silverstein ’05 in Williamstown.
The party took an all-Williams
photo for Williams People
then “broke into an energetic if
slightly inaccurate chorus of ‘The
Mountains.’” Guests included
Greta Wilson, Lauren Hester,
Andrew Lazarow, Spike Friedman,
Annie Smith and Miles Klee.
José Valenzuela graduated
from the Boston Teacher
Residency in July with a master’s
in education and is stoked to
have his own classroom in the
fall at TechBoston Academy in
Dorchester, Mass., where he’ll
be teaching eighth/ninth-grade
civics/U.S. history. “All Ephs are
welcome to collaborate and help
me think about ways of making
my classroom the best place for
history students in Boston!”
Other ’07s have decided
that two years is enough and
are headed back to the classroom. On the Thursday before
Memorial Day, Ali Beswick found
out she got into Cardozo Law
School. Friday, she quit her job.
She spent the weekend preparing for the start of school on
Tuesday—“not exactly a ‘relaxing’ Memorial Day weekend.”
Her roommate Kate Whipple finished her first year of law school
at NYU and is spending the
summer working in the criminal
division at the U.S. attorney’s
office in the eastern district of
New York.
Peter Tosirisuk ran into Noah
Smith-Drelich and Régine Lim at
the Stanford Law School admitted students’ weekend. Peter is
deferring matriculation for a
year, Noah is starting in the fall,
and Régine lives in neighboring
Palo Alto (though she’s starting
the genetic counseling program at Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in the fall). Google’s nearby Mountain
View HQ has imported Matt
Kane from its Boston office.
Matt hopes to find a place in
San Francisco, across the bay
from UC Berkeley, where Michael
Fairhurst is beginning law school
after a summer road trip.
Devin Yagel is moving from
Cambridge (U.K.) to Chicago to
start a PhD in conceptual and
historical studies of science and
is “looking forward to being
able to buy books again without
worrying about how to get them
home.” Over in Pittsburgh,
Dan Aiello started a master’s of
public policy and management
at the Heinz College at Carnegie
Mellon, and Blake Emerson is
beginning the JD/PhD program
at Yale.
Lauren Williamson is working
on a PhD in neuroscience at
Duke. In between finishing her
work at a different Duke lab and
beginning her studies, she went
on a “nomadic journey around
the country,” stopping in New
Jersey for Martha Yepes; NYC
for Juan Pablo Galindo, Sara
Echenique and Martha Rogers;
and Boston for Sarah Chuzi, Jane
Allen, Chris Furlong, Matt Nolan,
et al.
Many of our classmates continue their graduate work. Shea
Chen finished his second year
of grad school at U.C. Berkeley,
which means he’s “now focusing
more on research rather than
classes.” Dan Wollin and Eugenie
Du visited Shea and Merritt Edlind
(TFA; Oakland, Calif.) during
their spring break. Stephanie
Dockery is writing her dissertation for her master’s in art
business from Sotheby’s Institute
in Singapore. She traveled to
Melbourne and Sydney with Jane
Lee in June. Diana Davis finished
her first year of graduate work
in mathematics at Brown and
is spending another summer
teaching math. She is excited
for Megan Bruck to join her at
Brown in the fall.
After taking Step 1 of the
Boards (“along with every other
second-year medical student”),
Andrew Platt is officially a
microbiology grad student,
working toward a PhD as part of
his combined degree program at
Boston University. This summer
he was “looking forward to having actual free time!”
Katie Montgomery finished
her first year of grad school in
n 2 0 0 6 –0 7
English at the U. of Iowa—“I’m
still enjoying it, which I think is a
good sign.” She “did a total food
tour” of NYC with Jessica Chung
during spring break and planned
a week in Glasgow, Scotland, for
herself, because, “Iowa City is
nice, but … I start to miss real
cities.”
Casey Drosehn wrapped up
year one of a PhD program
in comparative literature at
Northwestern. She feels “pretty
much at home at a university
whose winters are astonishingly cold, whose school color
is purple and whose president
is Morton Owen Schapiro.”
(Morty, this one’s for you.)
If Morty needs Eph-support,
Chicago-based Dave Brown,
Cristin Wilson and Conor Quinn
will be there for him. Conor
finished up his time with Teach
for America, and he’s sticking
around to join the TFA staff as
program director, “training and
supporting the high school math
cohort.” Cristin “started a new
career as an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation
Administration. … I never imagined I would be doing this after
college … but I love it.” She’s
currently stationed at Chicago
Midway Airport.
Dave took last winter off from
the city to ski in Breckenridge,
Colo., a couple hours away from
Boulder, where Kate Scheider finished her first year working for
Bikes Belong, the bike industry’s
nonprofit advocacy organization.
She and her boyfriend bought
a house downtown—“there’s a
bedroom open for anyone who
wants to come visit Colorado’s
gorgeous trails (or delicious
breweries).” Michael Fairhurst
swung by in May, and the two
“donned [their] purple and black
cow-spotted Williams spandex
for a bike ride in the foothills.”
Dave’s next planned break from
the Windy City is a few weeks
in Lesotho this fall working on
AIDS prevention education/
treatment 1,000 miles to the
south of Zambia, where Tommy
Day is doing similar work with
Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit
that uses the popularity of soccer
in sub-Saharan Africa to teach
youths about HIV/AIDS prevention. He’s “having a great time
learning about a place so vastly
different from home.”
Fola Folowosele “never imagined that a time would come”
when Tommy Day has lived in
Africa more recently than Fola
has. Fola’s in Costa Rica, where
the U.S. National Soccer Team
played a major World Cup qualifier in June. Before the match,
he said, “I’m tempted to go to
the stadium in stars and stripes,
but if the U.S. wins I may not get
home alive.” They didn’t, and he
did—Dave Senft, Jonathan Earle
’09 and I confirmed it en route to
Nicaragua.
Alison Koppe and Marmalade
(her stuffed Jack Russell terrier
from the David and Joyce Milne
Public Library in Williamstown)
visited Lauren Moscoe and Sara
Jablonski at their Peace Corps
sites in Guatemala. In Aldea
Soledad Grande (Lauren’s site),
Alison became the first person
ever to use the new latrine at
the local women’s association
meeting house. The trio traveled
to nearby Lake Atitlán to swim
in crystal blue waters beneath
towering volcanoes.
Laura Lee spent her third summer in Mexico City directing
InterVarsity Global Urban Trek
trips—“No, earthquakes, drug
lords and global health panic
do not stop us.” Beforehand,
she met up with Jen Menzies in
Bardstown, Ky., in May during
the Kentucky Derby for a thorough orientation in the Bourbon
Capital of the World, then went
quickly down to Holly Springs,
Miss., to see Angela Doyle, “premier teacher in the Mississippi
Teacher Corps (no kidding, she
really got an award for it).”
Kimmy Ulmer ditched a Brown
neuroscience lab for a month on
Craig Venter’s 95-foot sailboat,
Sorcerer II. She joined the crew
for the passage through the
Panama Canal, then sailed to Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla., and Bermuda,
“sampling sea water every 200
miles.” Despite her departure,
the boat managed onward to
the Baltic Sea, sailing past Oslo,
Norway, where Jack Nelson
will be studying public land
preservation on a Fulbright come
September. He’s “a little nervous
about making ends meet in one
of the world’s most expensive cities,” he says, but apparently the
ski trails are accessible by metro,
so it’s a wash.
After the ’08 election, Jack
crashed with Zack Brewer before
flying to Peru for a whirlwind
tour of the Andes with Annie
O’Sullivan (in the middle of an
epic pan-South American quest
from Guatemala to Patagonia),
after which he moved into a
“sweet row house” in DC (which
“might be rivaling Boston as the
Eph go-to city”) with Thomas
Zimmerman ’06. Steve Seigel ’04
took it upon himself to be their
big brother during the move,
providing “furniture and advice
on how to adjust in DC.” Lesson
#1: Do not be fazed when you
witness a stabbing in the Metro,
even if it’s your first night in
town. Jack has been working
on health care and education
issues for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
(D-NH) and crashing free food
receptions on the Hill (like the
National Association of Truck
Stop Operators Pie Reception).
He goes cycling with Tucker
Sawin and runs into freshmanyear roommate Andy Stevenson
a fair bit. Andy returned from
Hong Kong in December and
started working on U.S. foreign
policy on climate change with
Resources for the Future, a think
tank, and Climate Advisers, a
consulting firm—“It’s quite an
exciting time to be in DC.”
Andy joined Sean Hyland,
Bill Ference, Mike Davitian,
Steve Shumsky, Rob Zalkind,
et al. (“yes, a lot of dudes”)
for Memorial Day weekend in
Vegas. Sean assigns superlatives to Andy for “blackjack
dominance” and to Bill for going
“the entire trip on just two hours
of sleep.” Andy explains: “I won
about $500 playing blackjack,
prompting the dealer to ask if I
went to MIT. … I told him my
geology degree from Williams
was much better preparation.”
Sean is living in Cambridge,
Mass., “dangerously close
to Tufts” and working for
Conversion Associates, a
small, digital media company
started by some Ephs. Also in
Cambridge, Morgan Anderson is
managing at Tory Row, Harvard
Square’s newest, sleekest dining
experience—one that includes
the faultless service of Rachel
Williams and me.
In January, Alyssa Mack and
Dominique Mack “braved a frigid
DC day to witness Obama’s
inauguration.” This summer, Dominique is in Rio de
Janeiro—“I majored in English,
but let’s see if I can teach people
to speak it.”
Brett Moody took a trip to
Boston from New Jersey in
April to see Allycia Jones, Jacqui
Miller, Jane Allen and Katie
Stiffler. Jon Hillman joined them
out for an evening—“we were
approached by a man with
a peg leg who handed us his
10-page ‘girlfriend’ application,
with such questions as ‘Do you
like pi?’, ‘Are Euclidean?’ and
‘Would you rather spend the
winter in Argentina or divert
incoming asteroids?’” (I say: Yes,
CL ASS
NOTES
No, Argentina). They all are
“anxiously awaiting callbacks.”
Reconvening a month later on
campus with Lauren Fernandez,
Ian Poirier and Kimmy Ulmer,
they found the Pub “totally
knocked down and non-existent” and had to drown their
sorrows in “too-strong Long
Island Iced Teas from Water
Street Grill and a marathon
Apples to Apples game.”
Reacting to the note from last
time that Alison Davies and Alex
Tanton found her travels for
work glamorous, Tova Meyer
commented, “For me it was
more like just … work.” I think
there’s a life lesson in there. Tova
is “very happy to have made it
through another busy season”
in the Princeton admission
office “in one piece.” She ran
into Phil Wall at the PrincetonHarvard basketball game, and at
press time she was awaiting an
appearance by Rob Streicker in
the role of “non-alum observer
of the crazy party that is the
Princeton reunions.”
Nirmal Deshpande is living in
Fort Greene in Brooklyn and
working at the Ad Council in
Manhattan, “trying to make
Americans healthier, smarter
and cleaner through public
service announcements.”
Uptown, Hannah Gray finished
her time with TFA and is
moving on to teach at Harlem
Village Academies, a charter
school described by The New
York Observer as a model for
“Obama’s vision for the future
of American education” and
where “the homerooms are
named after their teachers’
alma maters, so next year there
will be a class of East Harlem
sixth graders called ‘Williams
College!’” Nick Yukich is “still
kicking it in NYC and did not
get swine flu,” though he did
help build a small cabin in the
Adirondacks. He recently moved
out of CDO structuring at
Morgan Stanley and into global
macro sales as well as a new loft.
Chris Furlong hollered at us
from Croatia, halfway through
a two-week tour of Eastern
Europe—“It’s too nice here
to waste time catching up on
e-mails,” but it’s “very cheap”
and there’s lots of “tasty beer.”
At press time, Emily Bruce’s
exciting news was her upcoming departure for Germany to
research “18th-century German
books for girls.” She also saw
“lots of wonderful folks at the
first Williams choir reunion” in
April, including Steve Spinelli
and Liz Spragins, who spent
a week at the University of
Salamanca in Spain “learning
how to read old books” and
hopped the Strait of Gibraltar
“to spend six weeks at Arabic
school” in Fez, Morocco. Jeff
Castiglione is training Iraqi
police officers with the Marines.
Ridhima Raina has been working in Credit Suisse’s London
office with the tastiest possible
industry focus: beer and confectionery goods. Despite being
“perpetually sleep deprived,”
she’s feels lucky for the “cool
projects” that have sent her to
Dubai, Amsterdam, Switzerland
and “most recently back home
to India.” She’s “looking
forward to travel buddy Pam
Vachatimanont moving back
to Europe.” (Pam just earned
a master’s from the Harvard
Graduate School of Education.)
After returning from Turkey,
Brian Van Wyck “spent a blissful spring in Berlin, learning
German” and getting mistaken
for mentally challenged. He’s
spending the summer back
in Boston reconnecting with
classmates and then “it’s off to
Germany again, this time on
a Fulbright.” If any ’07s find
themselves in western Europe,
he’s got “a couch, futon or half
of a cardboard box (the nice
half, too) available anytime.”
Auyon Mukharji is excited that
the other members of his and
Dave Senft’s band (Sam Kapala
’09, Harris Paseltiner ’09 and
Don Mitchell ’06) are joining
them in Northampton, Mass.
Auyon is spending the bulk of
his summer working on a book
about his “travels/thoughts from
last year abroad on the Watson
[Fellowship], with reflections/
vignettes about [his] Indian
upbringing in Kansas”—“New
York Times Bestseller List, here
I come!”
Bethany Lorge is in San
Antonio “and loving it,” spending the summer off from teaching “with pools, cookouts, sleep
and tubing down the nearby
rivers.” In a stroke of inadvertent awesomeness (because she
was feeling “like an old fart”),
she bought a motorcycle to
make her “feel young again.” It’s
working—“The students think
I’m cool.”
Daniel-McKenna Foster
rounded out his 24 months of
Peace Corps life preparing for a
world-by-bus tour. Spring turned
him into “some kind of wild and
dirty animal” whose only stimulation in the “cultural morass”
is spending money, though a
couple of potted basil plants in
his home help keep his spirits
generally elevated.
Kai Assauov gets the last word:
“I just love Williams College.
This is all I have to say this
month.” (In the voice of Rick
Spalding, Amen!)
2008
Julie Van Deusen
61 Brighton Ave., Apt. 2
Allston, MA 02134
[email protected]
It’s hard to believe we’ve been
out of Williams for a full year
now. But a lot has happened
in our first year in the “real
world,” from Obama being
elected president, the economy
tanking and swine flu causing
a nationwide panic to Michael
Phelps sweeping gold in Beijing
and Jim and Pam finally getting engaged (and apparently
pregnant) on The Office. Beyond
those noteworthy headlines, our
class too has established itself
across the country and around
the world.
Jarrad Wood is in Guinea, West
Africa, with the Peace Corps,
teaching chemistry and English.
He only gets access to electricity
and Internet (not simultaneously every time) about once
or twice a month, so we should
consider ourselves lucky to have
gotten an update on him! Jared
Oubre states that “life in Peace
Corps Dominican Republic has
brought fresh perspective and
fresh food to my life. Mangos
are in season and drop from the
trees nightly!” He and Daniel
Golub (also serving in Peace
Corps Dominican Republic)
got together and ran a road
race in the late spring in Santo
Domingo. Dan shares Jared’s
excitement over the mango
surplus, claiming to eat six daily.
They certainly aren’t lacking for
vitamin C! Samra Brouk will be
in Guatemala until April 2011,
serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. Her title is healthy schools
municipal coordinator. She
notes, “It’s a beautiful country.
Everyone should come down
and visit!”
In Mexico, Jose Pacas has been
volunteering with underprivileged children in San Cristobal
de las Casas with Martha
Rogers ’07. In the spring,
they visited Cancun and Isla
Cozumel, where they got to
try their hands at scuba diving.
Fortunately, Jose managed to
n 2 0 0 7 –0 8
avoid contracting swine flu.
For the summer, he is researching with a professor from the
University of Minnesota and
will begin his master’s in public
policy there in September. Sarah
Bonn, along with her younger
sister, flew to Geneva in May to
visit Ryann Hoffman. The three
of them spent two weeks traveling around Switzerland and
the south of France and hiking
Cinque Terre, Italy.
Catie Warren is living in
Vietnam but has been accepted
into medical school for next
year. In Ho Chi Minh City, she
is doing private tutoring lessons
about 20 hours a week. She has
been traveling a lot, gone to a
couple of Vietnamese weddings,
been a part of a Lunar New
Year’s special on TV and spent
Tet (same as Chinese New
Year) in the countryside with a
Vietnamese family.
Sara Carian has been working
as a legal assistant at Gay &
Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
since October. GLAD is a
nonprofit legal advocacy group
fighting for equal rights for
LGBT people and all people
regardless of HIV status. GLAD
was the primary legal counsel
in the cases that brought marriage equality to Massachusetts
and Connecticut. Sara lives
in Jamaica Plain, Mass., with
roommate Adam Banasiak.
Gordon Crabtree is working at
the Joslin Center for Diabetes,
where he has taken over as the
senior study coordinator and
is in the process of applying
to med school. In the spring
he started volunteering with
me at Horizons for Homeless
Children. We get to play with
kids for two hours each week,
which really just gives us an
excuse to finger-paint and make
various Play-Doh creations and
Lego constructions.
Katie Powers survived an entire
year of vet school at Tufts and
is working over the summer at
the school’s program for middle
school, high school and college
students interested in veterinary
medicine. Molly Olsen is living
in the North End in Boston
with Lauren Kennedy, Annie
Schneidman and Allie Rottkamp
and working as a clinical
counselor at McLean Hospital
in a residential program for
the treatment of borderline
personality disorder. Will Parker
and Matt McClure visited Will
Eusden, Tyler Hull and Ben Byrne
in Boston in early May, and I
was lucky enough to run into
them at Beacon Hill Pub, a common hangout among NESCAC
alums.
Joining the extensive Eph
contingent in Boston, Scott
Hertrick is moving in August to
begin a master’s in education at
the Harvard Graduate School
of Education. Greg Schultz says
that life in Beantown is much
better now that the weather
has warmed up. He’s still living with five other Williams
guys, but now Hugo St. John
has joined their army barracks
apartment in Back Bay. He and
his band had lots of gigs up in
Williamstown in the spring,
which he definitely enjoyed but
describes as “bittersweet.” Ariel
Heyman went to a choir reunion
at Williams, where she ran in
to Daniel Rosensweig and Matt
Allen. They sang the “Martin
Mass for Double Choir” with
choir alums from the last 10
years, which “was a blast!” She
and Lizzy Koltai ’07 moved into
a new apartment and note that
their cat is not happy about it.
Kate Sortun will be attending
the Boston College Master’s
Entry Program in nursing
this fall. She is working at the
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
and training to run a marathon
for the Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society. Speaking of marathons,
Allison Morrow ran her first
in Providence this past spring
and qualified for the Boston
Marathon with a time of 3 hours
and 36 minutes! It seems like the
warmer weather has brought the
urge to run out of quite a few of
us. In May, Annie Ferguson ran
in the Broad Street 10-mile run
in Philly, where she came across
Michelle Kurkul, Dan Meyer
and Steve Spinelli ’07. Annie’s
spending the summer coaching
her country club’s swim team in
New Jersey before heading off to
Robert Wood Johnson Medical
School in August. I even got the
quick chance to see Margaret
Ryan when we passed each other
while running along the Charles.
Margaret and Mary Burr flew
out to California to see Deborah
Bialis in the spring. Deborah
spent a couple of months
in Jordan working with the
nonprofit that she, Katie Krieg
and Anouk Dey ’09 started called
Reclaim Childhood (www.
reclaimchildhood.com), where
they run sports camps for Iraqi
refugee girls.
Zoe Fonseca finished up year
one of Teach for America in the
South Bronx, saying goodbye to
her very first class and getting
excited about next year and a
new adventure. Dominique de la
Torre has been working in NYC
for Barclays Wealth in private
investment management and
living on the Upper East Side.
In late March she hosted the
first annual NYC Drink Pink
event. All proceeds went to the
Kay Yow Foundation for Breast
Cancer Research. The event had
a great turnout from Williams
alumni this first year, and she
looks forward to doing it again!
Jonathan Prigoff is working at
a hedge fund run by Williams
alums and has learned an amazing amount in the past year. He
recently returned from a business trip to Hong Kong, which
was very exciting; unfortunately
he was too busy working to get
a chance to see the Big Buddha
like he had wanted. He’s living
with Bagna Braestrup and Chris
Rose in Hell’s Kitchen and loves
being in NYC.
Taryn Pritchard has accepted
a five-year teaching fellowship
called Math for America and
will be getting her master’s in
math education at Columbia
next year. She is living on the
Upper West Side with Eve
Woodin and Marina Harnik.
The three of them videotaped
their lives for a week with Kate
Peterson as a guest star and sent
it over to Eric Ballon-Landa in
Spain to thank him for sending
a care package of delicious
Spanish food and gifts. Jenn Sit
is working for the cookbook
publisher Lake Isle Press, writing the “50 State Pizza Tour”
column for SeriousEats.com,
attempting to fit in recipe testing
and embarking on a European
Eph adventure over the summer.
Taryn Rathbone is loving vet
school at Cornell and survived
her first winter in Ithaca (which
was even worse than winter
in Williamstown, seeing as
it snowed on Easter). Even
though it’s hard to think about
snow now that summer’s here,
in mid-March Eugene Berson
and Will Ford took a couple
of days off work and went to
visit Ryan Dunfee, Justin Vassar,
Kit Fuderich, Alex Horne and
Louisa Berky for a long weekend
in Aspen, Colo. Highlights
included getting a bottle’s-worth
of free samples of expensive
champagne at an après-ski bar,
a possible cameo on a TV show
about cougars and a lot of fresh
powder.
In DC, Caroline Goodbody is
working for a Maryland senator
as a legislative correspondent,
CL ASS
NOTES
focusing on environmental and
energy issues. She absolutely
loves it, claiming “living in
DC is fast paced, exciting and
never a dull moment.” Andrew
Douglas is looking forward
to a one-year college reunion
in our nation’s capital with
Carynne McIver, Henry Burton,
Mike Reynolds and Terry Tamm.
Angela Crudele is living in DC,
where she has been working for
a neurologist for the year. She’s
spending her summer traveling and then plans to move to
Philadelphia for medical school
at Jefferson. Lexy Letvin is
moving to Baltimore in August
to begin a PhD program in art
history at Johns Hopkins. She’s
excited to go back to school and
to be closer to everyone on the
East Coast!
Jeremy Doernberger finished his first year at George
Washington Law and was
interning with a judge in DC this
summer, working on prostitution cases. He’s living with Ben
Bullitt in downtown DC. Ben’s
consulting at Kaiser Associates
and is spending most of his
free time getting mentally and
physically prepared for the next
Harry Potter movie. Jeremy
is engaged to Liz Upton, who
finished her first year of med
school at UNC. They don’t plan
on getting married for over a
year but are both very excited
about the engagement. Speaking
of which, Don Wieczorek is now
happily engaged to Christina
Stockwell and will be moving
(and relocating his company
Purple Valley Capital Inc.) to
Atlanta, where they will live
while Christina attends medical
school at Emory University.
Teaching high school math
was one of the most challenging experiences of Matthew
Simonson’s life, learning as he
went. After eight months, he
states, “I almost know what I’m
doing, but the kids are amazing,
and I love it.” He returned to
Seeds of Peace International
Camp for his fourth summer
as a counselor and planned
to start a new teaching job in
DC in the fall. Jessica Rosten
finished her school year teaching
at Fay School and was at Tabor
Academy Summer Program for
a couple of months while doing
a little traveling. In the spring
she went back to Williams
with Nicolette Savageau for the
Williams/Amherst game in celebration of the 150th anniversary
of the first collegiate baseball
game, and they ran into Bagna
Braestrup and James DiCosmo.
Nicolette is also part of the Eph
teaching contingent, teaching PE
and health education at Ashland
High School in Ashland, Mass.
Additionally, she’s the assistant
girls’ basketball and lacrosse
coach there. She’s been playing
in a few basketball leagues but
“misses college hoops big time!”
In the next year or two she plans
to embark on the ever-daunting
task of getting her master’s.
Other than that, she’s just being
a dedicated Boston sports fan
and playing her guitar in her free
time. Soon to join the teaching
ranks, Katie Quinn graduated
from Northwestern with her
master’s in elementary education. She’s very excited about
summer in Chicago, especially
for visits from Jon Chow and Liz
Pierce (and maybe more) for
Lollapalooza!
Whitney Livermore left Taiwan
in June and moved to San
Francisco, where she and Eric
Ballon-Landa were planning to
room together. She was looking
forward to lots of delicious
meals and getting back to
the good, strong California
sunshine. For the summer,
Will Jacobson is interning at
Nelson Davis LLP, a Hollywood
entertainment law firm in Santa
Monica. In the fall, he plans to
attend Stanford Law School.
Also in the Golden State, Kyle
Frederick spent most of her
time this past year playing the
networking game to nab various
production jobs in LA. So far
she’s worked on two independent feature films and, most
recently, a TV pilot episode.
Next year she’ll be starting to
work toward her MFA in film
and TV production at USC’s
School of Cinematic Arts. She
and Davern Wright happened to
be in the same USC production
class. In December, Kyle went on
a ski trip to Steamboat Springs
with Riley Maddox, Zack Brewer
’07 and Will Parker. She also
traveled to London in February/
March and met up with Jae
Bogges, who has been living and
working there.
Jenny Campbell is in Pensacola,
Fla., as the assistant curator at
the Pensacola Museum of Art.
She has been installing shows,
planning future exhibitions, giving gallery talks, writing gallery
guides and wall text, training
docents, learning to sail and
going to the beach. Jesse Levitt
ran into Sesh Sundararaman at
the Philadelphia Orchestra and
has been training future Ephs
Justin Mangope and Michael
Brofft, both Class of ’13, in the
art of roofing. Lily Li finished
her first year at Duke University
School of Law and interned
at the Asian American Justice
Center in DC this summer. Some
of the highlights of her first postWilliams year include maintaining her sanity, finishing her first
half-marathon at Virginia Beach
and going on a spring break
trip to England with Michael
Reynolds. While in England,
they visited Zoia Alexanian in
Cambridge and toured the town,
admiring architecture, a painting
of elephants and duck ponds.
All and all, it looks like our
first year out of Williams has
been a success! We have dozens
of classmates volunteering their
time and effort in the places
where it’s most needed. Many
’08s are already imparting their
knowledge through teaching,
writing, consulting and business.
And plenty of others are striving
to further their education as they
study medicine, art, law and
more. And luckily, most of us
are able to find the time to travel
and explore the world while still
keeping in touch with each other
and staying connected to our
Williams roots.
2009
Mijon Zulu
18 Sheldon St.
Providence, RI 02906
[email protected]
SENDPHOTOS
W
illiams People accepts
photographs of alumni
gatherings and events. Please
send photos to Williams
magazine, P.O. Box 676,
Williamstown, Mass. 012670676. High-quality digital
photos may be e-mailed to
[email protected].
SENDNEWS!
Y
class notes column.
W e dd i n g
a l bu m
All dates 2008 unless noted
01 Coady ’98 • Freitas:
Sept. 13, Scituate, Mass.
All ’98 unless noted, left to right: Amy Sechooler,
Katie Schultz, Erica Bollerud, Micaela Coady,
Nathaniel Freitas (groom), Liz (Mills) Little, Chris
Little, Kate (Genung) Taylor, Britta (Beenhakker)
Mullany
01
05
02
06
03
07
02 Craig • Bostick ’97:
Oct. 4, Washington, D.C.
All ’97 unless noted, left to right: (front row)
Silas Lum, Pamela (Phillips) Lum, Matt Bostick,
Amy Craig (bride), Isaac Pesin, Amy (MacDonald)
Buck ’99, Matt Buck; (second row) Sam Coxe,
Mariana (Santiesteban) Pesin, Nick Bath; (third
row) Dan DeSnyder, Nick O’Donnell, Gardner
Gillespie ’67; (fourth row) Minnie Tai-Sangani,
Poorab Sangani; (back row) Sarah (Wood) Almy,
Clay Almy, Dan Shaw
03 Dahl • Scott ’04:
Nov. 8, Waltham, Mass.
All ’04 unless noted, left to right: Josh Earn,
Jamaal Mobley, Drew Newman, Neil Hoffman,
Chris Vaughan, David Riskin, Jacob Scott, Allison
Dahl (bride), Mark Gundersen, Jamie O’Leary,
Ariel Peters ’06
04 Kiselewich ’04 • Haciski:
Aug. 9, Baltimore, Md.
All ’04 unless noted, left to right: (front) Sarah
Wilson, Maura Commito, Lindsay Holland, Stas
Haciski (groom), Becca Kiselewich; (middle)
Wendy Stone ’05, Jess Graham ’06, Emily
Grannon ’06, Maggie Lee, John Schneider, Julie
Allen, Leanne McManama ’03, Tori Scott; (back)
Sarah Dickens, Molly Jennings, Baemen Vertovez,
Bryan McCoy, Leo Salinger, Dan Gittes
Williams People publishes
photographs of weddings,
commitment ceremonies and civil
unions. Photos must be received
within six months of the ceremony
and may not be altered digitally.
08
04
W e dd i n g
a l bu m
05 Hausner-Levine ’02 • Clendaniel ’01:
Sept. 6, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Left to right: (front) Carol (Shirai) Ergas ’01,
Alexis Sien ’02, Sara Hausner-Levine ’02, Lizzie
Jacobs ’01, Ryan (Grimaldi) Pickard ’01; (middle)
Devin Becker ’02, Janna Rearick ’02, Sebastien
Ergas ’98, Shawn Song ’01, John CrowleyDelman ’01, Clare Newman ’02, Cameron
Clendaniel ’01, Bill Clendaniel ’67, Rishaad
Currimjee ’01, Natalie Marchant ’01, Kaitlin
(Rahl) Brandt ’02, Nick Brandt ’02; (back) Joe
Seavey ’01, Emmett Tracy ’02, Chris Durlacher
’03, Abi Griffith ’01, Stephen Taylor ’01, John
Pickard ’99, David Noe ’01
06 Kleinert • Bader ’85:
Jan. 18, 2009, Los Angeles, Calif.
All ’85 unless noted, left to right: (front) Sam
Broeksmit (with daughter Kate), Chris Sayler,
Stephanie (Creth) Kilbride, Joan Becker Kelsch,
Lesley Feltman Rogers, Michelle Kleinert, Jeffrey
Bader, Brenda (Favreau) Lawson, Lewis Epstein
’60, David Bader ’84; (back) David Fairris (former
Williams faculty), Randy Rogers, Thomas Feist
07 Montez • Gratian ’98:
Nov. 29, Isla Mujeres, Mexico
All ’98 unless noted, left to right: (front) Kelly
Montez (bride), Tom Gratian; (back) Conrad
Oakey, Lauren Guth Barnes, Tony Barnes, Aran
Degenhardt, Jed Untereker, Bill Kelsey, Jade Van
Doren, Sam French
08 Rosenthal ’03 • Yokoi ’01:
Nov. 15, Dover, Fla.
All ’03 unless noted, left to right: Freeden Oeur,
Katy (Austell) Elortegui, Emily Siegel, Emily
Martin, Jennifer Nierman ’02, Karin Rosenthal,
Ryu Yokoi ’01, Anjuli Lebowitz, Jasmine Mitchell,
Nicole Theriault, Jennifer Roizen, Matthew
Shafeek ’01
05
01
06
02
07
03
08
04
09 Touger ’04 • Olsen ’04:
Sept. 6, Canandaigua, N.Y.
All ’04 unless noted, left to right: Emily
Olsen ’09, Joe Buccina, Zan Armstrong, Charlie
Wittenberg, Elliot Morrison, Maggie Popkin ’03,
Zach Yeskel, Ohm Deshpande, Adam Grogg,
Joanna Touger, Keith Olsen, Jeff Nelson, Emily
Isaacson, Ashley English, Steve Seigel, Heather
Foran, Loren Silvertrust
09
05
10
06
10 Trautmann ’03 • Chaopricha:
Aug. 8, Ithaca, N.Y.
Left to right: (front) Jeremy Wilmer ’98, Chris
Holmes ’03, Patrick Chaopricha, Nina Trautmann
’03, Kristin Bohnhorst ’03, David Cooperman
’02; (back) Bill Sacks ’03, Kristen Wilmer ’04,
Vivian Schoung ’05
11 Ebert ’00 • Bloss:
July 26, Guilford, Conn.
All ’00 unless noted, left to right: Katie Sullivan,
Matt Levy, Anna Frantz, Jeff Grant, Becky
Iwantsch, Mariya Hodge, Michael Ebert ’62,
Kevin Bloss (groom), Debbie Ebert, David Fuchs,
Benjamin Ebert ’92, Daniel Ebert ’96, Jon
Kallay, Alicia Kallay, Cristina Santiestevan, Erin
Morrissette Ney, Torie Gorges
12 Shevinsky ’01 • Etzion:
Oct. 26, Woodbury, N.Y.
Left to right: Kate Abbott ’00, Seth Brown ’01,
Ben Isecke ’02, Josh Burson ’01, Reuven Etzion,
Elissa Beth Shevinsky ’01, Ethan Zuckerman
’93, Rachel Barenblat ’96, Amy Johns ’98, Chris
Warren ’96
11
07
08
12
W e dd i n g
a l bu m
13 Ulmer ’05 • Cart ’05:
Sept. 6, Williamstown, Mass.
Left to right: (front, kneeling) Peter Rowland
’79, Dan Chapman ’80, Jim Nail ’78, Theodore
Cart ’53, Benjamin Cart ’80, Nicole DeCesare
’05, Sarah Austell Cart ’81, Ashley Ulmer ’05,
Adam Zamora ’05, Eugenie Du ’07, Alexis
Machabanski ’07, Morgan Cronin ’07; (middle,
kneeling) Jon Hammon ’80, Jay Halleck ’05,
Meghan Bossong ’05, Christopher Tom ’05,
Joanna Leathers ’05, Kimberly Ulmer ’07, Kendra
Totman ’05, Marie-Adele Sorel ’05, Amy Shapiro
Sosne ’05; (back) Nathaniel Basch-Gould ’11,
Aroop Mukharji ’09, Chaz Lee ’11, Tim Lengel
’11, Tommy Nelson ’11, Evan Maltby ’11, Gary
Jin ’10, Eric Phillips ’09, John Chatlos ’07, John
Leathers ’61, Matt Allen ’08, Chuck Shafer ’10,
Mijon Zulu ’09, Creston Herold ’06, Courtney
Adkinson ’05, James Cart ’05, Harris Paseltiner
’09, Jamiyl Peters ’02, David Senft ’07, Israel
Mirsky ’03, Leroy Lindsey ’07, Zophia Edwards
’05, Andy St. Louis ’09, Marisa Cabrera ’07,
Matt Earle ’07, Daniel Wollin ’07, Jack Nelson
’07, Katharine Josephson ’07, Jennifer Danzi
’09, Christopher Lee ’07, Olufunmilayo Olosunde
’06, Elizabeth Dill ’07, Barbara Allen Austell ’75,
R. Rhett Austell III ’75, R. Rhett Austell Jr. ’48,
Kevin Ulmer ’72
14 Becher ’94 • de Mul:
Sept. 6, Marion, Mass.
All ’94 unless noted, left to right: Jose Marquez
’95, Richard Stamelman (Williams professor of
comparative literature, emeritus), David Barker
’50, Kate Becher, Marc de Mul (groom), Rohit
Menezes, Erin Caddell, Tanya Schneider
13
14
15
15 Kim • Song ’95:
March 15, 2009, Brooklyn, N.Y.
All ’95 unless noted, left to right: Patty Oey, Vy
Bui Rossi ’97, M. Adrian Rossi, Heesung Kim
(bride), Christopher Song, YeWon Min, Chris
Kim, Rajiv Doshi
16 Read ’80 • Vein:
Sept. 29, San Francisco, Calif.
Left to right: Chris Vein, San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom, Christopher Read ’80
16
17
17 Lee-St. John ’98 • O’Connor ’98:
Aug. 9, Williamstown, Mass.
All ’98 unless noted, left to right: (front) Ed Yu,
Tina Song, Andrew Jawa, Donel Courtney ’99,
Katie Golden Kelter, Jennie Lockhart Przybilla,
Adena Herskovitz, June Kim, Candice Myers,
Jeninne Lee-St. John, Keirn O’Connor, Ben
McAnaney ’01, Tracy Saylor Piatkowski ’99,
Adam Piatkowski ’97; (back) Bill Kelsey, Jason
Mitrakos, Agapito Morgan ’96, Ian Synnott ’97,
Jacinto Pico, Bahia Ramos Synnott ’97, Will
O’Connor ’11, Tom O’Connor ’79, Claire (Scholz)
O’Connor ’78, Kirstin Thomas, Jocelyn Gibbon
18 Verdy • Eisenman ’99:
April 11, 2009, Los Angeles, Calif.
All ’99 unless noted, left to right: (front) Trevor
Pound ’93, Erik Holmes, Andrea (Slate) Daily,
Ian Eisenman, Ariane Verdy (bride), Kate Ervin,
Kristina Gehrman ’00, Todd Rogers ’01; (back)
Seth Resnick, Devin Redmond, Dave Cowan, Jan
Postma, Chris Lovell ’77, Jonathan Lovell ’67
18
19
19 Moberg ’99 • Lavoie:
Feb. 15, 2009, San Diego, Calif.
All ’99 unless noted, left to right: (front)
Brian Lavoie (groom), Laura Moberg; (middle)
Eric Soskin, Rachel Allyn ’96, Jenny (Orr)
Sensenbrenner ’01, Leigh Winter Martin, Ben
McAnaney ’01, Devon DiClerico ’01, Jennifer
Walcott, Hans Davies, Arlene Spooner, Kathleen
Mason, Jennifer Hurley, Emily Palmer; (back)
Steve Bennett, Joe Sensenbrenner ’00, Will
Slocum, Jonathan Pak, Aaron DeCamp
20 Tirion • Lee ’95:
Sept. 28, Park City, Utah
All ’95 unless noted, left to right: (front) Nancy
Lee ’97, Angela Tirion (bride), David Lee, George
Lee ’67; (back) John Thompson III, Alex Shawe,
Bob Lee ’69, Jay Ashton, Andy McDonald ’94,
Matt Governali, Gretchen Engster Howard,
Brooks Gibbins, Frank Puleo
20
W e d di ng
A l bu m
1981
1996
Karen E. Friedman & William
Albright, May 31
Agapito E. Morgan & Jennifer
Lukemeyer, June 7
Doris A. Quintanilla &
Thomas E. Forteith, Dec. 27
1983
Jennifer Catlin & Joshua
Malcolm Davis, Nov. 8
1997
1984
Susan Lindfors & Eric Taylor,
Aug. 5
1985
Jeffrey D. Bader & Michelle
Kleinert, Jan. 18, 2009
Stephen J. Farley & Kelly
Paisley, April 25, 2009
1988
Daniel S. Caplan & MaryLiz
Ager, March 16
1991
Heidi Beebe & Doug
Skidmore, April 5
Stephanie K. Kampf &
Michael A. Lefsky, Aug. 2
2002
Cristin Brennan & Michael
Kazarnowicz, Sept. 4
2003
D’Arcy T. Robb & Todd
Borek, Aug. 8
Adrienne M. Ellman & April
Barton, Aug. 16
Laurel A. Hensley & David M.
Fedor, Aug. 31
2004
1999
John H. Cavanaugh & Jaclyn
Garber Cavanaugh, Nov. 9
Laura Moberg & Brian
Lavoie, Feb. 15, 2009
Rebecca Cover & Jason
Moses, Oct. 26
Chris Pare & Courtney
McDonald, Nov. 8
Daniel S. Knup & Emily
George, Aug. 9
Matthew J. Winkler & Maya
E. Kessler ’05, Aug. 9
Steven T. Scroggins & Lina
Sestokas, Sept. 6
Kameron R. Shahid &
Charlotte-Louise Booth,
Sept. 6
Jacob Scott & Allison Dahl,
Nov. 8
2001
Keith Yi Chu & Sharon Chu,
July 12
Cameron Clendaniel & Sara
Hausner-Levine ’02, Sept. 6
Elizabeth Smith & Nicholas
Barrie Pratt, Oct. 11
1994
Brian Y. Kim & Sophie
Devignon, June 7
&
1998
2000
1992
b i rths
Bob Feit & Preethy
Kolinjivadi, Aug. 24
John J. D’Agostino & Sharon
Abramzon, Aug. 30
Matthew Ellis Bostick & Amy
Craig, Oct. 4
Craig R. MacDonald &
Courtney MacDonald, Nov. 15
Elissa Beth Shevinsky &
Reuven Etzion, Oct. 26
Ryu A. Yokoi & Karin
Rosenthal ’03, Nov. 15
Richard R. Sarkis &
Stephanie Carol Autran ’02,
Feb. 14, 2009
a d o p ti o ns
1975
1981
1987
Chloe Kittredge to Robert
Kittredge, Sept. 27
Tyquan Lamont Davis to
Alison Gregg Corcoran,
March 10, 2001
Hudson Christopher Via to
Mark C. Via, Jan. 17, 2009
1980
Sydney Allen Walsh to Thomas
Stephen Walsh, Aug. 26
Owen Englund Lefferts to
Nicholas E. Lefferts, Jan. 14,
2009
1983
Phoebe Lan & Kathryn
Xiang Burbank to Kelton M.
Burbank, Dec. 25, 2006
1988
Solomon Ori Caplan to Daniel
S. Caplan, Oct. 9
Elias A. Bellanca Dullin to Jo
Bellanca, Oct. 29
Clementine Perrott to Jeffrey
H. Perrott, Dec. 26
1989
Christopher M. Scales Broyles
to Rachel A. Scales, May 1
Andrew Schaub to Jill
(Applebaum) Schaub, June 4
Jae Hyun Richard Reiss to
David J. Reiss, Aug. 3
Katherine Joy Woodard to
Carolyn (Darrow) Woodard,
Aug. 20
Avi Kagan-Dubroff to Shirley
Kagan & Matthew R.
Dubroff ’90, Sept. 18
Isaac S. Rabinowitz to Seth D.
Rabinowitz, Sept. 23
Thomas John O’Connor
to Daniel F. O’Connor &
Christina E. Coughlin ’91,
Oct. 18
Leonard Arun & Samson
Thanit Viner to Naree
(Wongse Sanit) Viner, Dec. 11
Logan Tilghman McInnis to
Brittain (Shaw) McInnis,
Feb. 19, 2009
Anne Dayvault Hooper to
William L. Hooper,
March 17, 2009
1990
Sofia Naomi Hoff Igharo to
Geoffrey Osamede Igharo,
April 27
Kate Komaroff to Andrew
Komaroff, May 28
Elijah Gillies Levin to Matt
Levin, Feb. 28, 2009
1991
Zoe Johnson Kerf to Hilary
(Knowles) Johnson, Aug. 22
Zoe Eden Schwager to L. Scott
Schwager, Sept. 2
Linnea Post to Linda M. Puth,
Nov. 3
Thomas Charles Kidd to
Michael R. Kidd, Nov. 11
1992
Patrick Joseph O’Hara to Liz
(Gibbons) O’Hara, July 26
Rose Ilse Toder to Dave &
Colleen Boland Toder, Aug. 1
Courtney Paige Green to Scott
D. Green, Aug. 5
Jared Michael Graham to
Frank Parrott Graham Jr.,
Sept. 29
1993
Elias Anderson Levinson to
Eileen M. Anderson,
Oct. 19, 2007
Cole Kassis Shullenberger to
Luke J. Shullenberger,
March 13
Camille Pearl Cranston to
David B. Young, May 30
Adelaide V. Merriam
Bohannon to Deborah
Merriam, Aug. 6
Claire Nepveu Orzel to Chad
R. Orzel, Aug. 7
John Sawyer O’Connor to
Rosamond Moxon O’Connor,
Aug. 16
Graham Charles Eggena to
Cheryl Ann Liechty, Aug. 24
Austin Barker to David A.
Barker & Heather I. Rieff,
Sept. 18
Mary Polyna Koltis to Tom
Koltis, Sept. 20
Miles Emerson Kirkwood
to Peter S. & Liz (Rosan)
Kirkwood ’94, Oct. 31
Alexandre Pound to Trevor W.
Pound, Nov. 7
Henry Glasser to Jennifer Gray
Glasser, Nov. 16
William Collings Furlanetto to
Michael Richard & Nina Pyle
Furlanetto, Jan. 28, 2009
Ethan Robert Gredler to
Pamela Gail Israel,
Feb. 20, 2009
1994
Ellis Anthony Nicholson
Miller to Tanya (Nicholson)
Miller, Aug. 18
Ariadne Aletheia Wright to
Jason & Heather (Weston)
Wright ’95, Nov. 7
Nash Steven Cleveland to
Chad Cleveland,
March 20, 2009
1995
John Robert & Anne Elizabeth
Milligan-Wells to Christopher
W. Wells, Oct. 29
Luke Bieheller Werwaiss to
John A.W. Werwaiss, Oct. 30
Owen Melville Huang to
Jeffrey S. Huang, Jan. 3, 2009
Henry Allred to Gretchen
Aguiar & Jeff B. Allred,
January 2009
Quintana Rose Reidinger to
Melinda (Hough) Reidinger,
Feb. 9, 2009
Max Zephyr Nadler to Laura
Barre Nadler, April 15, 2009
1996
Zachary Bing-Aun Wong to
Michael Y. & Jennifer (Alpert)
Wong ’97, May 22
Paige Hae-Sol Raleigh to
Nikos Raleigh, Aug. 5
Teresa Anne Horner to Kasia
Sullivan Horner, Aug. 20
Nathaniel Warren Frey to
Gregg Frey, Aug. 30
Miles Caffrey Rosenberg to
Jasper M. Rosenberg, Sept. 2
Cooper Ridder Dwight to
Griz K. & Mary (Booth)
Dwight ’97, Oct. 15
Alice H. Rowley to Sarah J.
Heidel, Oct. 28
Teagan Rose Dougherty to Sean
D. Dougherty, Oct. 30
Grayson Bohane to Christopher
R. Bohane, Oct. 31
Calvin Preben Vestergaard to
Marjorie (Hirsch) Vestergaard,
Nov. 28
Josephine Eliot Happel to
Rachel (Clark) Happel,
Dec. 21
Ian Roland Brenninkmeyer
to Mary Liz Brenninkmeyer,
Dec. 27
Rex Tilden Weiss to Lydia
(Vermilye) Weiss, Dec. 30
Sean Christopher Stephens to
Holly (Hodgson) Stephens,
April 10, 2009
1997
Iris Zoe Vainieri to Christian
M. Vainieri & Emily A.
Piendak ’99, May 22
Jason Chang to Daniel K.
Chang, June 18
Sasha Andreas Giese to Alyssa
Trzeszkowski-Giese, Aug. 29
Sofia Evangeline Heinz to
Luisa (Rios) Heinz, Oct. 19
b i rths
&
a d o p ti o ns
Adelia Asbury Libbey
to Margaret (Asbury) &
Matthew D. Libbey ’98,
Oct. 27
Eliot Ames Fritz to Chandler
(Dewing) Fritz, Nov. 2
Leo Simon Elieson to Brian
Elieson, Nov. 3
Elizabeth Corrine Pulling to
Michele C. Pulling, Nov. 20
Kaitlyn Natalie Carroll to
Alexandra (Bodner) Carroll,
Dec. 7
Soren Christopher Abel to
Susan (Gurgel) Abel, Dec. 26
1998
Chloe Yoonseul Koo to Grant
T. Koo, June 19
Jude Alexander Cornett to
Linden (Minnick) Cornett,
Aug. 22
Malcolm James Canty to Scott
& Annaliis Abrego Canty ’01,
Aug. 24
Jonathan Elias Houk to Laura
N. Del Borgo & Justin S.
Houk, Aug. 28
Nina Groskin Sly to Anna J.
Groskin & Matthew F. Sly ’99,
Sept. 25
Elisabeth Adelaide
Oppenheimer to Cyd
(Fremmer) Oppenheimer,
Nov. 25
Vivian June Herrick to Sharon
Rackow Herrick, Dec. 28
Beatrice Schultz Martin to
Catherine Schultz,
Feb. 8, 2009
Mairi Helena Schilling to
Maggie (Macdonald) Schilling,
Feb. 12, 2009
Caitlyn Jane Burroughs to
Susan E. Stanton & David P.
Burroughs Jr., April 2, 2009
Graham Lawrence King to
Jonathan David & Stephanie
Sewell King ’99, May 3, 2009
1999
William Michael McAdam to
Michael James & Kelly (Shinn)
McAdam, July 11
Nayeli Jasmine Rivera to
Miguel A. Rivera, Aug. 22
Maya Sophia Hennessey to
Brian S. Hennessey & Verena
Arnabal ’01, Aug. 30
Katharine Miranda Abbott to
Kate Dunlop, Oct. 1
Hailey Walker Richards to
Edward A. Richards, Nov. 15
Adam Samuel Lewis to Joshua
M. Lewis, Jan. 14, 2009
Liam Piotr Dworak to
Maureen E. Brudzinski,
Jan. 31, 2009
Jack Griffin Sweeney Benzon
to Sarah E. Sweeney & Paul J.
Benzon, Feb. 21, 2009
Alex Frew to Kelly (Becker)
& James G. Frew,
April 15, 2009
Charlotte Stokes Willett to
David P. & Courtney Stokes
Willett, April 19, 2009
2000
Sahil Mahajan Bonthala to
Vineeta (Mahajan) Bonthala,
Sept. 23
Zachary Hale Lehman to
Rebecca (Kummer) & Aaron I.
Lehman, Sept. 23
OBITU A RIES
1929
Synthetic Organic Chemical
Manufacturer’s Association
in NYC. He spent 2½ years
at Williams and belonged
to Zeta Psi. He received a
bachelor’s (1930) and a law
degree (1936) from Harvard.
He was a U.S. Army Air
Corps captain (WWII). He
wrote many nonfiction books
S. STEWART GRAFF of
Monroe Township, N.J., Feb.
10. Graff was a longtime
resident of Irvington-onHudson, N.Y. He was an
attorney with Brown, Cross
& Hamilton before becoming
executive secretary of the
Linnaea Engler See to Virginia
Pyle & Kevin Engler See,
Oct. 10
Emily Estes Morgan to Elise
(Estes) Morgan, Oct. 13
Jacob Edward Macey to
Jeffrey A. & Erin (Dempsey)
Macey ’01, Dec. 10
Julia Lester Mason to Daniel
Mark Mason, Feb. 1, 2009
2001
Deacon Alexandros Evriviades
to Alexi Andreas Evriviades,
June 19
2002
Alexandre Jerome Bradley
to Sebastien Jerome Bradley,
Nov. 16
Isaiah Kingston Blake to
Trisha (Barbosa) & Alex S.K.
Blake ’03, Dec. 18
Eli Natan Ganitsky to Heather
Black Ganitsky,
March 8, 2009
2003
Evelyn Byrd Yu to Bethany
Sayles Yu, Dec. 1
Patrick John Leyden to
Anastasia (Gilman) Leyden,
Feb. 6, 2009
Willow June Belflower to
Jasmine Klatt Belflower,
March 5, 2009
2005
Erin Sophia Tomooka to Grace
(Wells) Tomooka, Aug. 13
for children, including The
History of World War II and,
with his wife Polly Anne,
Helen Keller Toward the
Light (1965). He served on
the scholarship committee of
Irvington High School, was a
director of the Donald Reed
Speech Center and member
of the Irvington Narcotics
Guidance Council. Among
his survivors are a daughter, a
stepson, three grandchildren
and four great-grandchildren.
to the Ephraim Williams
Society. Among his survivors
are his partner Linda Lees,
two children and two
grandchildren.
MacMillen III ’68, a stepson,
seven grandchildren and 11
1933
PAUL R. REYNOLDS of
Kentfield, Calif., Oct. 3,
2008. Reynolds was an
insurance salesman with
National Life of Vermont in
Rhode Island and California.
At Williams he was a JA and
belonged to the football and
wrestling teams and Alpha
Delta Phi. He served in the
U.S. Army (1942-45) and
received a Bronze Star Medal.
He was a director of the Life
Underwriters Association. He
was an accomplished painter
of watercolor landscapes
and oil portraits. Among his
survivors are two children,
four grandchildren and one
great-grandchild.
rEynolds
1934
DONALD CLAYTON
HAMILTON of Monmouth
Beach, N.J., March 7.
Hamilton was VP of
business affairs at CBS
News. Previously he was
programming head at WORMutual and a consultant to
Sony Music Entertainment.
He also worked in Broadway
theater. At Williams he was
manager of the track team,
VP of Commons Club and
belonged to forum board and
Little Theater. He belonged
macmillen
hamilton
1935
THEODORE L. LUDLOW
of Wareham, Mass., May 16,
2008. Ludlow was rector of
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
in Newark, Del. Previously
he was rector of St. Mark’s
Episcopal Church in New
Britain, Conn., and St. Agnes
Episcopal Church in East
Orange, N.J. He received a
bachelor’s in divinity from
Episcopal Divinity School
(1938). Among his survivors
are two children and four
grandchildren.
WILLIAM C. MACMILLEN
JR. of Lawrence, N.Y., Jan.
8. MacMillen practiced law
before beginning a career in
the film industry. He later
was an investment banker.
He spent three years at
Williams and belonged to
the soccer team and Phi
Gamma Delta. He received
a law degree from Albany
Law School (1937). He was
a U.S. Army Air Force major
(1942-45) and received the
Legion of Merit Award. He
belonged to the Ephraim
Williams Society. Among
his survivors are his wife
Barbara, three children,
including William C.
1936
RUSSELL B. STODDARD
of Woodbridge, Conn.,
March 17. Stoddard was a
general contractor and land
developer. He spent four
terms as Woodbridge first
selectman. At Williams he
belonged to Theta Delta
Chi. He was a U.S. Marine
Corps major (WWII). He was
president of the Connecticut
Conference of Municipalities,
chairman of the Board of Tax
Review and board member
of Woodbridge Club Inc.
As a Williams alumnus he
belonged to his 50th reunion
committee and the Ephraim
Williams Society. Among his
survivors are a daughter, two
grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.
1937
PHILIP O. GEIER JR. of
Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 24.
Geier spent his career at
machine-tool company
Cincinnati Milacron Inc.,
eventually becoming
president and CEO. At
Williams he was a JA,
manager of the ice hockey
team and belonged to the
baseball and football teams
and Zeta Psi. He received an
MBA from Harvard (1939)
and honorary degrees from
OBITU A RIES
Xavier University (1970)
and University of Cincinnati
(1971). He was a U.S. Navy
lieutenant (1942-45) and
received the Bronze Star
Medal. He was named a
Great Living Cincinnatian by
the Cincinnati Chamber of
Commerce (1980). He was
a director at Armco Steel,
Cincinnati Bell, Goodyear
Tire & Rubber Co., Xavier
University, Procter & Gamble
Co. and others. Among his
civic activities he was a board
member of Family Services,
Boy Scouts and Cincinnati
Country Day School. He
was chairman of the United
Way. As a Williams alumnus
he was an admission
representative, class VP,
president, associate agent,
agent and member of his 50th
reunion committee and the
Cincinnati regional special
gifts committee. He belonged
to the Ephraim Williams
are his wife Susanne, four
children, including Philip
O. Geier ’70 and Richard E.
Geier ’75, brother Eugene
Geier ’49, nine grandchildren,
including Katherine D. Geier
’00, nephew Rodney P. Geier
’75 and cousins Henry N.
Flynt Jr. ’44 and Gilbert G.
McCurdy ’44.
for Forbes Magazine and a
contributor to many trade
publications. He covered the
Massachusetts congressional
delegation for Massachusetts
newspapers, including the
Boston Herald-Traveler and
the Berkshire Eagle. He was
a U.S. Army private (WWII).
He was a member of the
White House Press Corps, the
National Press Club and the
Cosmos Club. As a Williams
alumnus he belonged to his
50th reunion committee.
Among his survivors are three
children, five grandchildren
and four great-grandchildren.
geier
EDWARD J. MICHELSON
of Vero Beach, Fla.,
March 23. Michelson
was Washington, D.C.,
correspondent and editor
1938
GEORGE H. CARTER of
Duxbury, Mass., Feb. 23.
Carter was a psychiatrist in
private practice and director
of family therapy at E.N.
Rogers Memorial Veterans
Medical Center. Previously
he was associate professor of
psychology and supervisor
of residency training at
Boston University School
of Medicine. At Williams
he belonged to the soccer
team, Kappa Alpha and Phi
Beta Kappa. He received
a medical degree from
Harvard (1943). He was a
U.S. Army Medical Corps
captain (1944-46). He was
a board member of South
Country (R.I.) Conservancy.
Among his survivors are
his wife Persis, two sons,
including Richard C. Carter
’70, four stepchildren, five
grandchildren, eight stepgrandchildren, two greatgrandchildren and cousin
Herbert L. Gutterson ’37.
WILLIAM B. DAYTON III
of Stonington, Maine, Sept.
21, 2008. Dayton worked
in business management
at preparatory schools
and colleges, including
Moore College of Art in
Philadelphia. He spent
two years at Williams and
belonged to the tennis team
and Theta Delta Chi. He
was a U.S. Army corporal
(WWII). He belonged to the
Ephraim Williams Society.
Among his survivors are his
wife Ruth and a daughter.
1939
HOWARD C. BUSCHMAN
JR. of Hackettstown, N.J.,
March 5. Buschman was a
clerk for U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Robert Jackson and
subsequently general counsel
for Abex Corp. He then
maintained a private law
practice in Mountain Lakes.
At Williams he belonged
to Undergraduate Council,
All-Campus Entertainment,
Classical Society, the ice
hockey team, Delta Phi and
Phi Beta Kappa. He was a
U.S. Army captain (194146). He received a law
degree from Albany Law
School (1949). As a Williams
alumnus he belonged to his
50th reunion committee and
50th reunion fund committee
and the Ephraim Williams
are his wife Hildegard, three
children, including Charles
G. Buschman ’68 and
Stephen M. Buschman ’93,
six grandchildren, including
Mary L. Buschman-Kelly
’99, and two greatgrandchildren.
GAYNOR P. COLLESTER
of Mount Pleasant, S.C.,
March 7. Collester worked in
public relations for General
Electric Co. Previously he
worked at the New York
Daily News. At Williams
he belonged to the tennis
team and Delta Upsilon.
He was a U.S. Army first
lieutenant (1941-46), writing
the column “A Villager in
Khaki” for the Bronxville
News. He was involved
with United Way and East
Cooper Meals on Wheels,
among other community
organizations. Among
his professional activities
he belonged to the Public
Relations Society of America
and GE’s Elfin Society.
Among his survivors are two
children, one granddaughter
and two great-grandchildren.
JOHN C. WHITING II of
Springfield, Mo., Jan. 23.
Whiting worked in data
processing, most recently as
assistant director of computer
services for the state of
Kansas. Subsequently he
worked in the supply depot
of the Forbes Air Force Base
in Topeka, Kan. He spent two
years at Williams. He served
in the U.S. Army (1941-46).
He was a director of the
Lions Club and an officer of
the American Legion. Among
Harriet, five children, nine
grandchildren and 12 greatgrandchildren.
1940
BENTON F. KAUFFMAN
of Columbus, Ohio, Dec.
29, 2008. Kauffman was VP
of sales and marketing and
then president of Kauffman
Latimer Co. wholesale drug
company. He was a director
of K-L Investment Corp.
and Vorys Bros. Inc., and
president and chairman of
the National Wholesale
Drug Association. Among
Anne, three children, nine
grandchildren, two stepgrandchildren, 10 greatgrandchildren and four stepgreat-grandchildren.
1941
WILLIAM M. SEBRING
of Naples, Fla., Feb. 16.
Sebring was founder of
Sebring & Co. in Kansas
City, a wholesale distributor
of decorative window
products. Previously he
was labor relations director
and division manager of
Columbia Mills Inc. At
Williams he was manager
of the basketball team, cocaptain of the lacrosse team
and a JA and belonged to
the football team, Gargoyle
Society, Purple Key and
Alpha Delta Phi. He was
a U.S. Navy lieutenant
(WWII). As a Williams
alumnus he belonged to
his 50th reunion fund
survivors are three children,
six grandchildren and three
OZ TOWER of
Williamstown, Mass.,
March 24. Tower worked
at Chase Brass & Copper
Co. and Bridgeport Brass
before becoming VP and
sales manager of Michigan
Seamless Tube. He then
owned Connors Brothers
Moving & Storage Co. in
Williamstown. At Williams
he was a JA, captain of the
lacrosse team and belonged
to Gargoyle Society,
Outing Club, the wrestling
and football teams and
Kappa Alpha. He was a
U.S. Army captain (194246). He was president of
the Williamstown Youth
Center and director of the
Williamstown Lions Club,
Boys Club and Board of
Trade. He also was active
with Big Brothers, Special
Olympics and Fresh Air
Children’s Program. As a
Williams alumnus he was a
class agent, associate agent
and president, chair of the
nominating committee for
alumni trustee/Tyng Bequest
administrator and belonged
to his 50th reunion fund
seven grandchildren,
including Trevor J. Bayliss
’99, and nephews David S.
Tower ’69 and Christopher
P. Tower ’75.
1942
RICHARD B. SNYDER
of St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 11,
2008. Snyder was a sales
manager for several brewing
companies, including
Carling and Falstaff. At
Williams he belonged to
Delta Upsilon. He was a U.S.
Navy lieutenant (1942-46).
belonged to the Ephraim
his survivors are two sons,
two grandchildren, two
stepchildren, seven stepgrandchildren, brother John
B. Snyder ’51 and nephew
Daniel B. Snyder ’90.
THOMAS W. ST. JOHN of
Wilton, Conn., Feb. 5. St.
John worked in marketing
and sales, was a principal
with Albee-Campbell Co. and
previously was coordinator
of the National Catholic
Welfare Conference’s War
Relief Services in the Middle
East and its director in
Switzerland. At Williams
he belonged to Phi Gamma
Delta. He was a U.S.
Naval Air Corps lieutenant
(1942-46), receiving the Air
Medal, and served in the
Naval Reserves until 1958.
He received a master’s in
social work from Columbia
University (1948). Among
Alice, five children and eight
grandchildren.
1943
LINCOLN W. ALLAN of
West Chester, Pa., Feb. 26.
Allan worked in advertising
for several companies,
including C. Schmidt &
Sons Brewery, where he was
director of advertising, and
Lee Keeler Inc., where he
was executive VP. He later
ran his own marketing firm
and then worked in real
estate. He served in the U.S.
Army (1943-46). At Williams
he was manager of the ice
OBITU A RIES
hockey team and belonged to
the soccer team, Purple Key,
the Record and Psi Upsilon.
He was a director of Fairfield
Fund Inc., National Cash
Reserve Inc. and National
Federal Securities Inc., among
others. Among his survivors
are his wife Nita, six children
and 13 grandchildren.
1944
EDWARD F. ENGLE of New
York, N.Y., Feb. 7. Engle
was associate headmaster
and teacher of government
and constitutional law
at the Dwight School in
Manhattan. Previously he
worked in advertising and
sales promotion and was
head of the National Retail
Merchants Association. At
Cap & Bells, Purple Key,
the tennis team and Phi Beta
Kappa. He was a U.S. Navy
lieutenant (WWII), earning
six Battle Stars. He received a
master’s in American history
from NYU (1972). Among
Eugenie and two sons.
LEONARD C. THOMPSON
of Prairie Village, Kan.,
Feb. 19. Thompson was a
claims attorney with several
insurance companies, retiring
as VP with Commonwealth
General Insurance Co.
At Williams he was a JA,
captain of the soccer team
and belonged to Gargoyle
Society, Outing Club,
WCFM, WCA and Psi
Upsilon. He was a U.S. Navy
lieutenant (1943-46). He
received a law degree from
Cornell (1948). He was
a director of Kansas City
Rehabilitation Institute and
Citizens Advisory Board of
the Missouri Department
of Probation and Parole.
He was a volunteer with
Kansas City Meals on Wheels
and the Spurs soccer team.
Among his survivors are two
daughters, four grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren.
CHARLES D. ALLIS of
Wilsonville, Ore., March
19. Allis was a stockbroker
at Paine Webber. Previously
he worked in sales and
management with A.O.
Smith Co, was VP of sales
at McCulloch Motors, was
president of Sunriver Inc. and
was a vegetable oil broker at
Continental Grain Corp. He
spent one year at Williams
and belonged to Outing
Club and Alpha Delta Phi.
He was a U.S. Army Air
Corps captain (1942-45).
He received an MBA from
University of Wisconsin. He
was chairman and trustee
of Oregon Health Services
University foundation.
Among his civic activities, he
was involved with Goodwill
Industries, CARE and the
International Relief & Rehab
Agency. He belonged to the
Among his survivors are three
sons and five grandchildren.
WILLIAM D. BREWER of
Hingham, Mass., Feb. 10.
Brewer served in the Office
of War Information in DC
and in the American Field
Service (1944-45). He spent
more than 30 years with the
U.S. Foreign Service, serving
in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia,
Syria and Afghanistan. He
was ambassador to Mauritius
and to Sudan. Later, he was
Stuart Chevalier Professor
of Diplomacy and World
Affairs and department
chair at Occidental College.
At Williams he was editor
of the Gul and Purple
Cow, president of News
Bureau and belonged to
the soccer and ice hockey
teams and Theta Delta Chi.
He received a master’s in
international relations from
Fletcher School of Law
and Diplomacy at Tufts
are two sons, including
John V.E. Brewer ’72, five
grandchildren, nephew
Christopher B. Williamson
’70 and niece Abby Chaisson
Fisher Williamson ’98.
JOHN O. COPLEY of
Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.,
Nov. 18, 2008. Copley
served 34 years with the
U.S. Air Force, working
for the U.S. Space Defense
Program and retiring as
colonel. He later was on the
technical staff of Rockwell
International Corp. He
spent three years at Williams
and belonged to the band
and WCFM. He received
a bachelor’s in electrical
engineering from the Air
Force Institute of Technology
(1955). He received the
National Reconnaissance
Pioneer Award as one of
40 founders of U.S. Space
Defense Operations. Among
Theresa, two daughters and a
grandson.
JOHN S. SHARPE of
San Jose, Calif., Oct. 4,
2008. Sharpe worked in
merchandising for Crystal
Creamery. At Williams he
belonged to the Record and
Cap & Bells. He received
an MBA from Stanford
are two children and seven
grandchildren.
ROBERT L. STONE of
Williamstown, Mass., Jan. 28.
Stone left Williams after two
years to serve as a U.S. Air
Force lieutenant, receiving the
Distinguished Flying Cross
and the Air Medal. He was
chairman and CEO of Hertz
and, later, executive VP and
COO of Columbia Pictures.
Previously he held executive
positions with NBC and ABC.
At Williams he belonged to
the tennis team. Among his
professional activities he was
a board member of John Blair
& Co. Among his survivors
are his wife Sheila, four
children, two stepchildren,
Wendy L. Stone ’05, brother
Donald Stone ’46, nieces
Amy Stone ’75, Suzanne
Stone ’76, Margaret Stone
’82, Kate Stone Lombardi
’78, Emily Stone Tucker
’03, Alexandra Lee ’04 and
Elizabeth G. Lee ’12, nephews
Gregory K. Marks ’69, James
B. Lee Jr. ’75, Thomas A.
Stone ’80 and James B. Lee
III ’06, and cousin David S.
Greenbaum ’45.
stone
LAWRENCE N. VAN
DOREN of South Orange,
N.J., Jan. 9. Van Doren was
director of the advertising
department at the American
Bankers Association. At
Williams he belonged
to Delta Phi. He was a
director of the American
Bankers Association. He
was a volunteer with the
Advertising Club of New
York, the Guggenheim
Museum and the Frick
Collection, among other
organizations. He belonged
to the Williams Club. Among
Barbara, three children and
10 grandchildren.
1945
JAMES A. COOPER of
Summit, N.J., March 18.
Cooper was an investment
banker, retiring as VP of First
Boston Corp. of New York.
to Delta Kappa Epsilon.
He served in the U.S. Army
Air Corps (WWII). Among
Anne, two children and two
granddaughters.
WILLARD HALL
PEARSALL JR. of
Jacksonville, Fla., April 6.
Pearsall spent 45 years with
Florida Machine & Foundry
Co., rising to chairman and
CEO. He later was managing
partner with FM&F
Properties. At Williams he
was managing editor of the
Gul and belonged to the
soccer team and Theta Delta
Chi. He was a U.S. Army
Air Force sergeant, serving
with the Weather Service
(1942-46). He received an
MBA from Harvard (1949).
He was a board member
of SunTrust Bank of North
Florida. As a Williams
alumnus he was a member
of his class’s 50th reunion
fund committee. Among his
survivors are his wife Paula,
three children, including
Marilla H. Pearsall ’79 and
Katharine P. Pearsall ’81, and
brother Otis P. Pearsall ’53.
ROBERT V. POOLE of
Middlefield, Conn., March
18. Poole was superintendent
at Mount Higby Reservoir.
to Cap & Bells and the
swimming & diving team. He
served in the U.S. Army Air
Force (WWII). He was active
in the New Haven Hiking
Club, the Green Mountain
Club and the Appalachian
Trail Conference. Among
Eleanor, three children and
three granddaughters.
JOHN H. WINANT of
Williamstown, Mass.,
Jan. 13. Winant was VP
of industrial relations and
facilities for Sprague Electric
Co. in North Adams before
becoming president of the
National Business Aircraft
Association in DC. He was
named by the Secretary of
Transportation to the 1983
Airport Task Force and
served on the Special Task
Force on Airport Capacity.
Early in his career he was a
reporter for the New York
bureau of the Associated
Press. At Williams he was
editorial chairman of the
Record and belonged to the
golf team, News Bureau, the
Honor System Committee
and Delta Kappa Epsilon.
He was a U.S. Marine Corps
captain (1943-46; 195152), receiving a Bronze Star
Medal and a Presidential
Citation. He received an
honorary degree from
Embry-Riddle University
(1985). Among his civic and
professional activities, he
was secretary of the board
of International Business
Aviation Council Ltd.,
president of the Aviation
Research & Education
Foundation, director of
the Williamstown Rural
Lands Foundation and
corporator of North
Adams Regional Hospital.
He also was chairman
of the NASA Committee
overseeing aviation safety
reporting and a technical
adviser to the Radio
Technical Commission
for Aeronautics. He was
president of the Northern
Berkshire Community
Fund and a member of
the Northern Berkshire
Health Systems Planning
Committee. Among his
many awards, he received
the Gilbert Trophy (1991)
from the Air Traffic Control
Association. He was a
member of the International
Arthurian Society. As
a Williams alumnus he
was class secretary, VP,
president, chairman of
his 60th reunion and a
member of the Executive
Committee of the Society
of Alumni and the Ephraim
survivors are his wife Katey,
OBITU A RIES
two children, including
Peter B. Winant ’74, five
grandchildren and three
great-grandsons.
worked as an insurance
underwriter and salesman. At
Williams he belonged to the
Gul and the debate team. He
was a U.S. Navy lieutenant
(WWII), receiving a Purple
Heart. He studied music
theory at the New England
Conservatory of Music.
wife Chela, two sons and five
grandchildren.
winant
1946
JOHN E. HAMMEL of
Wilton, Conn., March 12.
Hammel worked with GTE/
Sylvania, retiring as VP
of investor relations. He
later operated the financial
planning firm Jack Hammel
Associates. At Williams he
belonged to choir, Outing
Club, Gul, the lacrosse team
and Phi Sigma Kappa. He
was a U.S. Navy lieutenant,
junior grade (WWII). He
received an MBA from the
Wharton School at University
of Pennsylvania (1950).
He served on the ski patrol
at Stratton and Okemo
mountains in Vermont and
was an adviser to the Darien,
Conn., Explorer Post 53.
belonged to his 50th reunion
fund committee. Among his
survivors are seven children,
including John Hammel
’78, two stepdaughters, 12
grandchildren and niece Ellin
Goetz ’76.
F. BRAYTON WOOD JR.
of Guadalajara, Mexico,
April 3. Wood was a
reporter for the Guadalajara
Reporter. Previously he was
director general and foreign
service officer of the U.S.
Information Agency and
wood
1947
RALPH ALLEN KILBY of
Reno, Nev., Sept. 20, 2008.
Kilby was a physician in
private practice. He served
in the U.S. Navy (WWII
and Korean War) and in the
medical corps of the U.S.
Army (1960-69), retiring
as colonel. He later was on
staff at the Mayo Clinic. He
spent two years at Williams
and belonged to the lacrosse
and wrestling teams. He
received a bachelor’s (1946)
and medical degree (1948)
from the State University of
New York at Buffalo. He
received a master of science
in medicine from University
of Minnesota (1956) and
a master’s in public health
from Harvard (1963). He
was a diplomate of the
National Board of Medical
Examiners (1949) and a
member of the Alpha
Omega Alpha medical
honor society. As a
Williams alumnus he was
class secretary. Among his
survivors are three children
and two grandsons.
DENHAM C. LUNT JR. of
Greenfield, Mass., Feb. 11.
Lunt left Williams to serve
in the U.S. Navy (1943-46)
and received his degree in
1948. He spent his career
with Lunt Silversmiths, rising
to president and chairman.
At Williams he was a JA,
co-captain of the lacrosse
team, captain of the soccer
team and belonged to the ice
hockey team, WCFM and
Alpha Delta Phi. Among
his professional activities
he spent 30 years on the
Executive Committee of the
Silver Users Association of
DC and was board president
of Boston Jewelers Club and
24 Karat Club of the City of
New York. Among his civic
activities he was president of
the United Way of Franklin
County, director of Berkshire
Life Insurance Co. and
Franklin Medical Center and
trustee of Northeast Utilities
and Deerfield Academy.
belonged to his class’s 50th
reunion fund committee.
two sons, three stepchildren,
several grandchildren and
step-grandchildren and a
great-grandchild.
1949
THEODORE F. BRIGHAM
of Wilton, N.H., March
18. Brigham was owner of
Sebec Marine and worked
in business administration
at Digital Equipment Corp.,
Sanders Associates Inc. and
Datasec Corp. Most recently
he was a self-employed
contractor. At Williams he
belonged to WCFM, Cap &
Bells and the squash team.
his wife Olga, two children,
three granddaughters,
brother Richard T. Brigham
’47 and cousin Peter E.
Driscoll ’61.
JOHN HENDEE JR. of
Hartland, Wis., Jan. 4.
Hendee served in the U.S.
Navy (1944-46) prior to
entering Williams. He spent
more than 40 years with
U.S. Bank, starting as a teller
and rising to president and
chairman. At Williams he
belonged to the basketball
and sailing teams and
Sigma Phi. He received an
MBA from University of
Wisconsin-Madison (1956).
He was on the board of
the Greater Milwaukee
Committee and a trustee of
Froedtert Memorial Lutheran
Hospital Trust. He also was
a board member of United
Way, Goodwill Industries
and the Milwaukee Boys
& Girls Club Inc., among
others. As a Williams
alumnus he was Milwaukee
regional secretary, member
of the Milwaukee regional
major gifts committee and
special gifts committee,
admission representative
and associate class agent.
wife Kathleen, three children,
two stepchildren, six
granddaughters and brother
Thomas R. Hendee ’51.
1950
PETER A. NIELSEN of
Trumbull, Conn., March 11.
Nielsen was a microbiologist
for Procter & Gamble and
later worked as a consultant.
to News Bureau and Beta
Theta Pi. He was a U.S. Navy
seaman, 1st class (194446). He received a master’s
(1956) and PhD (1960),
both in microbiology, from
Columbia. He was a member
of the National Publications
Committee for the National
Power Squadron and
commander in chief for
the Housatonic River
Power Squadron. He was a
Eucharistic Minister at Christ
Episcopal Church Tashua.
was an associate class agent.
wife Barbara, two children
and two grandchildren.
WILLIAM H. WARD of
Westminster, Md., Jan. 7.
Ward was a communications
security analyst for the
National Security Agency.
Previously he was industrial
relations supervisor for
Westinghouse Electric and
worked at the Social Security
Administration. At Williams
he belonged to the sailing
team and Theta Delta Chi.
He served in the U.S. Coast
Guard (1951-53). He received
a master of science (1954) and
PhD in industrial psychology
(1956), both from Purdue. He
belonged to the Midwestern,
Eastern and American
psychological associations.
wife Anita, three children and
six grandchildren.
1951
BERKELEY C. BIDGOOD
of Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 3.
Bidgood worked for Dibrell
Brothers Inc., promoting the
sale of U.S. tobacco abroad
and retiring as senior VP and
director. He spent one year
at Williams and belonged to
the freshman football team
and the squash and track
teams. He served in the U.S.
Marine Corps (1943-45). He
attended Babson College. He
was a director of American
National Bank and Trust
Co. and Danville Regional
Health Center, trustee
of Danville Community
College and the Wayles R.
Harrison Memorial Fund
and president of the Danville
YMCA. Among his survivors
are his wife Pocahontas, four
children, three stepchildren,
nine grandchildren, six
stepgrandchildren and one
great-grandchild.
H.M. BAIRD VOORHIS
of New York, N.Y., Jan. 3.
Voorhis was a partner with
Grigsby, Voorhis & Co.
investment counselors. At
Outing Club, the Record
and Chi Psi. He was a U.S.
Air Force first lieutenant
(1951-53). He received
an MBA from Harvard
(1955). He was president
of Pelham Family Service
and Greenburgh-Graham
Union Free School District
Board and trustee of Graham
Windham Child Caring
Services and the Collegiate
School of New York. As a
an admission representative
and associate class agent.
wife Doffy, four children,
including Marcia Voorhis
Andrew ’84, cousin Richard
I. Johannesen Jr. ’56 and
niece Cornelia B. Mason ’77.
1952
IHOR KAMENETSKY
of Mount Pleasant, Mich.,
July 29, 2008. Kamenetsky
fled Ukraine during WWII
and studied history at the
University of Graz, Austria,
before coming to Williams.
He was professor of
political science at Central
Michigan University and was
chairman of the university’s
Interdisciplinary Committee
on Developing Nations. He
received a master’s (1955)
and PhD (1957), both
in political science, from
University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. He published
numerous articles and five
scholarly books, including
Hitler’s Occupation of
Ukraine, 1941-1944: A Study
in Totalitarian Imperialism
are his wife Christa, a son
and two grandchildren.
PETER S. MYKRANTZ of
Columbus, Ohio, April 2.
Mykrantz was a stockbroker
with A.G. Edwards & Sons
Inc. and previously Paine
OBITU A RIES
Webber Jackson & Curtis.
Chi Psi. He was a U.S. Navy
lieutenant (1953-56). He was
on the board of Buckeye Boys
Ranch, Gladden Community
House and GTE Corp. As
a Williams alumnus he was
an admission representative,
Central Ohio regional
president, an alumni career
counseling representative and
a member of the Ephraim
Jane, two sons, including
Donald M. Mykrantz ’82,
Lauren E. Mykrantz ’12,
cousins S. Noel Melvin ’48,
Timothy B. Blodgett ’51,
Robert H. Jeffrey ’51, John
C. Harris ’52, Walter Jeffrey
Jr. ’59, David L.K. Jeffrey ’63,
Seton J. Melvin ’82 and Anne
T. Melvin ’85, and niece
Catherine Kessler Chatas ’88.
Army (1946-48) and the Air
Force Reserve (1952-67). He
was a foster grandparent in
the Burns Mid Elementary
School in Saco, Maine, and
a library volunteer. Among
his survivors are three sons,
several grandchildren and
cousin Arthur V. Lewis Jr. ’48.
WALTER V. PALMER of
Guthrie, Okla., Feb. 18.
Palmer was a petroleum
engineer with Union Oil and
Tenneco. He later became
involved in real estate
and was owner of Palmer
Properties. At Williams he
belonged to the lacrosse
team, glee club and Phi
Gamma Delta. He was a U.S.
Air Force lieutenant (Korean
War), retiring from the Air
Force Reserves as a captain.
He received a bachelor’s in
petroleum engineering from
University of CaliforniaBerkeley. He was president
of Edmond (Okla.) Family
Services. Among his
survivors are a son and three
grandchildren.
STEPHEN T. WHITTIER
II of Scarborough, Maine,
Nov. 29, 2008. Whittier was
assistant VP of Mount Vernon
Mills Inc. At Williams he was
manager of the football team
and belonged to the lacrosse
team, news bureau, Cap &
Bells, Purple Key and Delta
Psi. He served in the U.S.
1953
PAUL B. CLIFFORD of
Ocean City, Md., April
9. Clifford worked at
Monumental Life Insurance
Corp., retiring as second VP.
the wrestling team and Zeta
Psi. He was a U.S. Navy
lieutenant (1953-57) and
served in the Navy Reserves
(1957-63). He received an
MBA from Harvard (1959).
He was board president of
Florence Crittenton Services
of Baltimore and Young
Audiences of Maryland,
which honored him in 1997.
wife Carol, four children,
two stepchildren, seven
grandchildren, brother
Frederic M. Clifford ’58,
nieces Cornelia C.
Wareham ’74 and Haley J.
Clifford ’87 and nephew
Barry S. Clifford ’91.
ALAN G. EDDY of
Scarborough, Maine, Dec.
11, 2008. Eddy was an
applied mathematician. His
varied career included work
on Eniac, the first room-sized
computer; helping to design
a nuclear reactor shield
for the nuclear submarine
Skate; participation in
seeding clouds to create
clear spaces over airports;
and as a computer analyst
for the National Institutes
of Health coordinating
the effort to compile HIV/
AIDS research data. He also
was a manager of financial
systems development for the
U.S. Railway Association.
He received a master’s
degree from University of
Pennsylvania (1955).
He was the first solo
circumnavigator to sail the
globe in a fiberglass boat
(1963-68). Among his
survivors are a sister and
several nieces and nephews.
SETH L. SCHAPIRO of
New York, N.Y., March
12. Schapiro was a partner
with the law firm Schapiro,
Wisan & Krassner and then
practiced privately. Previously
he was theatrical manager,
lawyer and executive for
Frank Music Corp. At
Williams he belonged to Cap
& Bells, the football team
and Delta Sigma Rho. He
was a U.S. Army Medical
Corps private (1953-55).
He received a law degree
from Columbia (1958). He
was a trustee of Elisabeth
Irwin High School, The
Little Red Schoolhouse and
the Altschul Foundation.
was an associate class agent,
class agent, president and
co-chair of his 50th reunion
fund committee, a member
of the Manhattan regional
special gifts committee, N.Y.
Metropolitan Association
regional VP and VP of
the Williams Club Board
of Governors. Among his
survivors are his wife Jill,
four children, including
Joshua L. Schapiro ’83, and
nine grandchildren.
1954
MALCOLM D. JEFFREY
of Bexley, Ohio, Jan. 19.
Jeffrey was VP and resident
manager of Dynamic Funds
Management Inc. Previously
he worked for the Chicago
Corp. and was in sales for
Jeffrey Corp. At Williams
he belonged to Chi Psi. He
served in the U.S. Army
(1954-56) and U.S. Army
Reserves. He was a board
member of The Players
Theater, the Mount Carmel
School of Nursing, the
Phoenix Theatre for Children
and the Bexley Education
Foundation. He received the
Mighty Oak Award from the
Trees for Bexley Commission.
He was a trustee of Planned
Parenthood. He was
president of Chi Psi National
fraternity. As a Williams
alumnus he was Columbus
regional special gifts
chairman and belonged to the
Williams Club. Among his
including Scott W. Inboden
’77, four grandchildren,
brother Walter Jeffrey Jr. ’59,
cousins S. Noel Melvin ’48,
Timothy B. Blodgett ’51,
Robert H. Jeffrey ’51, Joseph
A. Jeffrey Jr. ’57 and David
L.K. Jeffrey ’63 and nephew
Andrew D. Jeffrey ’86.
CHARLES H.
SYMINGTON JR. of Spring
Island, S.C., March 4.
Symington was an investment
banker and executive director
of S.G. Warburg & Co. At
squash and tennis teams and
Alpha Delta Phi. He received
a law degree from Harvard
(1956). He was a director of
3i Corp., Camping World
and INA Life Ins. Co. of NY
and board vice chairman of
NASD Board of Governors.
He was a trustee of Princeton
Day School and Columbia
Presbyterian Hospital. As a
an associate class agent.
wife Bailey, three children,
including Gaye R. Symington
’76, and five grandchildren.
PAUL WESLEY
ZECKHAUSEN JR. of
Wilbraham, Mass., Feb.
25. Zeckhausen was senior
minister of Wilbraham
United Church and the
August minister at Union
Chapel in Hyannisport,
Mass. He also served as
interim or part-time minister
for several other parishes
in Massachusetts and
Connecticut. At Williams he
belonged to WCA, marching
band, Theta Delta Chi
and the baseball team. He
played semi-professional
baseball with the Cape
Cod League. He received
a master’s in divinity from
Union Theological Seminary
(1957), master’s in sacred
theology from Yale Divinity
School (1961) and a PhD
in ministry from Andover
Newton Theological School
(1977). He founded and was
president of the Wilbraham
Counseling Center and was
active in many civic and
interfaith organizations. A
book of his sermons, When
Things Don’t Go Your Way,
was published in 1996. As a
an associate class agent.
his wife Suzanne, two
children, three grandchildren,
brother William A.
Zeckhausen ’56 and niece
Dina Zeckhausen ’84.
Phi Beta Kappa. Among his
survivors is his daughter
Brooke Sabin ’90.
sabin
1957
COLEMAN F. CHURCH
3RD of Bishopville, Md.,
Dec. 6, 2008. Church
worked in the insurance
industry before becoming
president of International
Conduit Corp. He later
was VP of investments for
Prudential Bache Securities
and a stockbroker with Dean
Witter Reynolds Inc. He
spent one year at Williams
and belonged to the soccer
and lacrosse teams. He
graduated from Rollins
University (1957). He was a
U.S. Navy lieutenant (195861). He received an MBA
in banking from Rutgers
University (1967). He was a
director of the Palm Beach
County (Fla.) Salvation Army,
advisory trustee of the U.S.S.
zeckhausen
1956
FREDERIC H. SABIN III
of Springfield, Va., Feb.
11. Sabin was a Middle
East specialist for the
Central Intelligence Agency,
spending nine years in the
Middle East. He served
in the U.S. Marine Corps
(1957-1961). At Williams
he was a junior advisor and
belonged to Sigma Phi and
church
OBITU A RIES
Constitution Foundation
and an economics teacher
at the American Institute
of Banking. Among his
survivors are his wife Claire,
two children and four
grandchildren.
was president of the Cleveland
and Shaker Heights Rotary
Clubs and was a Paul Harris
Fellow. He was a member
of the U.S. Rotary Club
curling team and president
of the Great Lakes Curling
Association. As a Williams
alumnus he was regional
admission representative
and chair, a member of the
Cleveland regional special
gifts committee, associate
class agent and member of
his 50th reunion fund and
reunion committees. Among
Elizabeth, two daughters,
including Lisa Listerman ’91,
a granddaughter and nephews
Frank H. Carpenter ’92 and
John G. Howland ’72.
1958
ROBERT H. BUCHER of
Denver, Colo., Nov. 23, 2008.
Bucher was an investment
banker, most recently VP of
RBC/Dain. At Williams he
belonged to the baseball team
and Phi Gamma Delta. He
received a master’s in history
from Columbia (1959).
He was a president of the
Lincoln Club of Colorado
and commissioner of
Denver Soccer Club. Among
Judy, a daughter and two
grandchildren.
1959
BRUCE M. LISTERMAN
of Chagrin Falls, Ohio,
March 17. Listerman spent
his career in international
management, including as
general marketing manager
for Corning Glass Works,
Anderson International and
Picker International. He
later was director of business
development and then
consultant with Traveline.
At Williams he was a junior
advisor and belonged to
College Council, the Record,
Gul, the football team and
Alpha Delta Phi. He served in
the U.S. Marine Corps (195763). He received a degree in
international management
from the American Graduate
School of International
Management (1964) and
an MBA in marketing from
Wharton School of Finance
(1966). He was a trustee of
University School and Urban
Community School, board
member of Shaker Lakes
Nature Center and was
president of the University
School Alumni Council. He
1961
RICHARD EVANS SMITH
of Garnet Valley, Pa., March
23. Smith worked in sales
for Procter & Gamble
before working in marketing
positions with Benton
& Bowles, Marschalk,
Lorillard, International
Paper and American
Tobacco. He retired as
VP of marketing and sales
from John Middleton Inc.
to Purple Key and Gul,
received a Tyng Scholarship
and was president of Phi
Gamma Delta. He was a U.S.
Army private. He received
an MBA from University
of Pennsylvania. Among
Judy, three children and six
grandchildren.
1962
JOHN T. CALHOUN of
Silver Plume, Colo., March
22. Calhoun was a selfemployed theater director
and designer. Previously he
was a teacher at Fort Lewis
College in Durango. At
Williams he was a junior
advisor and belonged to Cap
& Bells, Gargoyle Society,
Outing Club, Phi Beta Kappa
and Beta Theta Pi and was a
Tyng Scholarship recipient.
He received a PhD in theater
from University of Colorado
at Boulder (1972). Among his
survivors is his wife Claudia.
KIMBALL C. HART of Oslo,
Norway, March 10. Hart was
a self-employed photographer
specializing in outdoor
images in places that were
hard to get to. At Williams he
belonged to Outing Club, the
Nordic ski and rugby teams
and Delta Psi. He received
a master’s in German from
Middlebury College (1963).
He was an avid outdoorsman
and led an expedition across
the Baltic from Helsinki to
Stockholm, among other
pursuits. He belonged to the
wife Randi, two children, a
granddaughter and a brother.
1964
RICHARD C. MAGNUSON
of White Bear Lake, Minn.,
Jan. 2. Magnuson was
chairman of BioMedix Inc.
Previously he was owner
and president of Operating
Managements Inc. At
AMT production council,
the rugby and ice hockey
teams and Kappa Alpha.
He was a trustee of the
Minnesota Museum of
Art; director, treasurer and
finance committee chairman
of Minnesota Landmarks
Inc.; and director of Spartan
Manufacturing Co. Among
his civic activities he
belonged to the St. Paul Drug
Advisory Board, Chamber
of Commerce Industrial
Development Committee and
Community Development
Corp. and was a member
of the St. Paul Academy
and Summit School alumni
boards. As a Williams
alumnus he was president
of the North Central
Alumni Association and
belonged to the Minneapolis/
St. Paul regional special
gifts committee and his
class’s 25th reunion fund
committee. Among his
survivors are his wife Ginny,
three children, including
Anne Hartnett ’88 and Sarah
M. Romans ’90, and eight
grandchildren.
1965
STANTON P. COERR of
Chapel Hill, N.C., March
12. Coerr was founder
and president of Coerr
Environmental Corp.,
specializing in environmental
science and policy consulting
for the natural gas industry.
Previously he was president
of Maudarin Systems
Inc. and held positions
at NASA, Radian Corp.,
Wachovia Bank and the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency. At Williams he
belonged to the soccer and
sailing teams and Zeta
Psi. He served in the U.S.
Marine Corps. He received
a master’s in economics and
public policy from Princeton
(1968). He held several
national records in the sport
of soarplaning. Among his
survivors are his wife Linda,
three children and five
grandchildren.
1966
DOUGLAS B. SCHWAB of
Los Angeles, Calif., March
26. Schwab was an attorney
for 35 years, most recently in
private practice. At Williams
he belonged to the Alpine
ski and tennis teams, Outing
Club, the Record, Chi Psi and
Phi Beta Kappa. He received
a law degree from Harvard
(1969). He was a member
of the Massachusetts and
California bar associations,
co-chairman of the antitrust
section of the Barrister’s Club
and an alternate delegate
to the California State Bar
Convention. Among his
survivors are his wife Lisa,
five children, including
Eric Schwab ’92, and a
granddaughter.
1967
ROBERT P. HAMMELL
of Alexandria, Va., Dec.
11, 2008. Hammell was
an architect, most recently
with Boggs & Partners in
Annapolis. At Williams he
was co-captain of the soccer
team and belonged to the
track team and WCFM.
He served in the U.S. Army
(1969-71). He received
a master’s in architecture
from Yale (1975). He was
a member of the American
Institute of Architects
(AIA) Government Affairs
Committee. Among his
professional activities he
was a member of Lambda
Alpha National Honorary
Land Economics Society.
He managed projects that
won numerous AIA Design
Awards, including renovations
of the Library of Congress,
the Lincoln Memorial and
the Jefferson Memorial. As
a Williams alumnus he was
an associate class agent and
member of the Williams Club.
wife Ginny and two children.
THOMAS R. MAHLER
of Edina, Minn., Dec. 16,
2008. Mahler was secretary
and general counsel for
mahler
Analysts International Corp.
Previously he was a partner
with the law firm Wright
West & Diessner. He received
a law degree from University
of Minnesota (1970).
wife Barb, three children,
two stepdaughters and 12
grandchildren.
1969
MAJOK AYUEN of Bor,
Sudan, date unknown. Ayuen
was lieutenant to Col. John
Garang, the leader of the
Sudan People’s Liberation
Army. Previously he was
assistant secretary general of
the High Executive Council
of Southern Sudan. He began
his career as a lecturer at
Khartom Polytechnic and
worked for the Ministry
of Finance. He received a
master’s in economics from
the School of Advanced
International Studies at Johns
Hopkins University (1971).
Among his survivors is cousin
Mom K.N. Arou ’73.
1972
RANDOLPH Q.
MCMANUS of Washington,
D.C., April 12. McManus
was a senior partner
with the law firm Baker
Botts, specializing in
energy regulatory matters,
transactions and litigation.
College Council, the Record,
Young Republicans and Zeta
Psi. He received a law degree
from University of Houston
Law School (1975). Among
his professional activities he
was editor of the American
Bar Association Energy
Litigation Subcommittee
newsletter and chairman of
the Electric Utility Litigation
Subcommittee. As a Williams
alumnus he was DC regional
association VP, special gifts
vice chairman, admission
representative and chair of
the DC executive committee
OBITU A RIES
as well as member of his
class’s 25th reunion fund
committee. He belonged to
the Williams Club. Among
his survivors are his parents
and a brother.
as a research assistant at
the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and in publishing.
At Williams she belonged
to the squash team. She
received a master’s in library
and information science
from Long Island University
(1995). She was a consultant
to Three Village Historical
Society and board member
and development volunteer
with Planned Parenthood of
Suffolk County. She received
the Catherine Logan Award
for Service to Survivorship
by the National Coalition
for Cancer Survivorship
(2004). As a Williams
alumna she received the
College’s Bicentennial
Medal in recognition of her
achievements in lung cancer
awareness (2001). Among
her survivors are her husband
Jamie ’81, two children,
her mother and her father
Howard DeLong ’57 and a
brother.
DAVID H. SHAWAN JR.
of Columbus, Ohio, Dec.
15, 2008. Shawan was
general manager of Advance
Graphics. Previously he was
an administrative officer at
Bank One of Columbus. At
football team. As an alumnus
he was an associate class
agent. Among his survivors
are cousins John B. McCoy
’65, John C. Vorys ’75 and
Jeanny Vorys Simaitis ’82
and nephew John Taylor
McCoy ’01.
HAMILTON B. WOOD
of Contoocook, N.H., Feb.
27. Wood was a clinical
social worker at Warren
Street Family Counseling
Association and a counselor
at Kearsarge Regional Middle
School. Previously he worked
as a psychotherapist at Twin
Rivers Counseling Center.
He received a master’s
in teaching elementary
education from The Prospect
School Teacher Education
Program (1974) and a
master’s in clinical social
work from Smith (1985).
He led an after-school guitar
club at Kearsarge Regional
Middle School. Among
Lisa, two sons and cousins
Michael B. Wood ’74 and
Robert L. Wood ’74.
1981
KAREN DELONG PARLES
of Setauket, N.Y., Feb.
16. Parles was founder
and executive director
of Lung Cancer Online
Foundation and editor
of lungcanceronline.org.
Previously she was a librarian
at Frick Art Reference
Library. She also worked
1984
J. SCOTT PILEGGI of
Queens, N.Y., March 21,
2008. Pileggi was a gym
manager and personal trainer.
Previously he was a legal
assistant for several firms.
the marching band and Phi
Beta Kappa. He studied law
at UCLA School of Law
and planned to enroll in the
CUNY College of Law in
2009. Among his survivors
are his partner Jim Joyce and
a sister.
1997
CHRISSY (CLAWSON)
AUDIBERT of Arlington,
Mass., Feb. 13. Audibert
worked for several firms in
San Francisco, including the
startup Getoutdoors.com
and nonprofit environmental
organization Lighthawk.
Previously she was a
consultant at Monitor Co.
in Cambridge, Mass. She
also was a park ranger at
Yellowstone National Park.
At Williams she belonged
to the soccer, lacrosse and
basketball teams, peer health
and gospel choir and was
a teaching assistant. She
was affiliated with Student
Conservation Association
and was an Urban Youth
Corps crew leader. Among
her survivors are her husband
Matthew, her parents and a
brother.
Other Deaths
DALLAS HURD, Grad
Art ’40, of Port Townsend,
Wash., April 11, 2008
JOHN L. HALEY JR. ’42
of Marietta, N.Y., May 31,
2008
ROBERT J. GUTELIUS ’43
of Manning, S.C.,
Nov. 29, 2007
IRVING M. DAY JR. ’44
of Deep Creek Lake, Md.,
April 7
EDWARD T.
BROADHURST JR. ’45 of
White Plains, N.Y.,
Dec. 27, 2003
WILDER A. PICKARD II
’48 of Evanston, Ill., Nov. 27,
2008
T. PETER PLUMB ’50 of
Fort Pierce, Fla., June 30,
2008
DON STUART MASHBIR
’53 of Tahoma, Calif.,
Nov. 16, 2008
GEOFFREY S. COVERT ’59
of Lakeway, Texas,
June 28, 2008
WESLEY Y.Y. WONG ’61 of
Honolulu, Hawaii,
Nov. 22, 2007
WINSTON R. WILLIAMS
’72 of Winthrop, Mass.,
April 22, 2008
Obituaries are written based
on information that alumni
and their families have supplied
to the College over the years.
01267-0676
Williamstown, MA
P.O. Box 676
Editorial Offices

REUNION 2009 - Alumni News

Transcription

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