2012 - Alumni News

Transcription

2012 - Alumni News

Williams
PEOPLE
SEPTEMBER 2012
REUNION
2012
FO R
TH E
LOV E
O F
The Ephlats of my era got together again
at reunion, singing at my class’s dinner before
putting on an all-comers show down at The Log.
They’ve still got it. Man, do they ever!
They’ve been doing this for years, by the
way. Singers from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s
come back to campus every June. They spend
a day or two rehearsing. Then they wow yet
another Williams crowd.
This year, one of them flew in from China.
And this wasn’t even his reunion!
They come back, essentially, for love.
Love for music, love for each other, love for
Williams, love for the opportunity to do something wonderful for classmates and friends.
Love for the special bond that unites all of us
who spent four years (some more, some less)
in a very special community.
A few days after reunion, back here in
Baltimore, a Williams student needed to make
money to live on while helping refugees from
Burma and Bhutan get settled. She is devoted
to that work, but this was an unpaid summer
internship, and, well, she had to eat too. The
word went out to local Ephs. Almost immediately, she had not only the baby sitting and
housecleaning assignments she was looking
for, but also a part-time restaurant job.
This, too, is love. For Williams, and for the students who have followed us there. For the good
they can do and for the promise they represent.
There is a special bond among Williams
people. I’m not saying there aren’t other great
colleges with alumni bodies devoted to alma
mater and each other. Of course there are. But
there is something not-quite-definable but undeniably unique about the Williams experience.
We went to Williams in different decades.
And we went, in many cases, to somewhat
different versions of Williams: Greek or not,
co-educational or not, more or less diverse,
more or less embroiled in the issues of the
day. More or less … whatever.
But none of that seems to matter much
to that shared Williams experience, to that
W I L LI A M S
special bond with each other and with today’s
students. None of that stops us from, say,
running into a stranger in a purple T-shirt at
the airport and getting deep into conversation
as if we’ve known each other for years. None
of that stops us from singing at reunions or
helping out a student who needs a few dollars
to get through the summer.
Your Society of Alumni exists to keep us
connected with each other, with the college,
and with today’s students. While I’m president
for the next two years, the society’s Executive
Committee, Vice President Leila Jere ’91 and
I want to be sure we’re giving you every
opportunity to do just that. I’ll report on some
of our activities in this space, but, hey, let’s
make this a conversation. I want to hear from
you too. Email me at [email protected]
with your observations, comments, complaints
and suggestions.
Or maybe I’ll run into you at the airport. I’ll
be the stranger in the purple T-shirt.
Dennis M. O’Shea ‘77
President, Society of Alumni
[email protected]
Brooks L. Foehl ’88, Director of Alumni Relations,
talks about what reunions ask of us
On the Cover
Bruce Grinnell ’62 and his wife
Judith at reunion in June.
CONTENT S
4 Reunion Scrapbook
Click on text and photos to jump to the corresponding page
1936 • ‘37 • ‘38 • ‘39
1940 • ‘41 • ‘42 • ‘43 • ‘44 • ‘45 • ‘46 • ‘47 • ‘48 • ‘49
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 • ‘09
2010 • ‘11 • ‘12
15
18 Class Notes
130 Wedding
Album
134 Births &
Adoptions
Williams
132
PEOPLE
September 2012
135 Obituaries
Editors
Jennifer E. Grow
Amy T. Lovett
Student Assistant
Sophie Montgomery ’14
Design & Production
David Edge
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
Williamstown, MA 01267-0676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
e-mail: [email protected]
http://alumni.williams.edu/alumnireview
Address Changes/Updates
Bio Records
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88
Williams magazine
(USPS No. 684-580) is published in
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and September and distributed free
of charge by Williams College for the
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Volume 106 Number 8
2012
reunion
SCRAPBOOK
More than 1,600 alumni and their families and friends
converged on Williamstown June 7-10 for a glorious
weekend filled with activities. Check out the highlights on
the following pages.
For even more reunion photos visit: http:bit.ly/EphReunion2012
4 | Williams People | September 2012
September 2012 | Williams People | 5
2012
reunion
SCRAPBOOK
The Class of 1962 capped off five days
of festivities with a gala event hosted
by Herbert Allen at the ’62 Center for
Theatre and Dance on Saturday night.
The evening featured a performance by the renowned John Pizzarelli
Quartet with Jessica Molaskey. Another highlight of the weekend was
seminars on topics including international affairs, health care, public
education and life after retirement, with class speakers Steve Clarey, Toby
Cosgrove, Wif Floyd, Fin Fogg, Tom Payzant, Mike Scott, Steve Telkins, Jay
Tompkins and Sel Whitaker. Meanwhile, Class Secretary Bill “Buddha”
Ryan shared stories of his road trip attempting to personally visit every member of the Class of ’62 in the five
years before their 50th. He managed to get together with 155 classmates and six surviving spouses.
50th
The Class of ’62 welcomed back 126 members (setting a new record for the 50th reunion and winning the
Reunion Trophy for attendance) and gave more than $12.7 million for their 50th reunion class gift, providing
support for the Class of 1962 Memorial Scholarship, the 1962 Global Initiatives Fund (which will strengthen
Williams’ international connections) and the Alumni Fund (for which the class set a 50th reunion record).
Mike Keating received the Kellogg Award for his distinguished legal career, and Reunion Chair Dick McCauley
won the Rogerson Cup, the college’s highest award for alumni service.
2012
reunion
SCRAPBOOK
50th
8 | Williams People | April 2012
2012
reunion
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25th
The Class of 1987 welcomed 229
classmates back to campus for their
milestone reunion. With a gift to
the college of $7.3 million, the class
supported three major initiatives:
the Alumni Fund, creation of the Class of 1987 Scholarship for
Excellence in Teaching and the new Stetson-Sawyer project. They won
two Alumni Fund trophies for the largest gift and the largest dollar
increase over the previous year. Among other highlights were a talk
by Amy Jeffress on “Fighting Terrorism with a Liberal Arts Education” and a roundtable discussion led by Gail
Henderson-Belsito and Steve Belsito on “Living in the Valley: Surviving the Shadowlands of Life” on breaking
down barriers and being truthful with one another.
2012
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SCRAPBOOK
25th
April 2012 | Williams People | 13
2012
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SCRAPBOOK
AWARDS
and
honors
At this year’s annual meeting, Chris Giglio ’89 (3, left) completed his
two-year term as president of the Society of Alumni and handed the reins
over to incoming president Dennis O’Shea ’77 (4). Fred Goldstein
’52 (1) was honored with Joseph’s Coat as a post-50th reunion alumnus
held in high esteem by alumni and the college. Dick McCauley ’62 (2,
right) received the Rogerson Cup, the highest award for alumni service.
Will Layman ’82 (3, right) and Kolleen Rask (not pictured) shared the
Thurston Bowl for exceptional service as class secretaries. The Class of ’07,
represented by Sarah Jenks (5, left) and Liz Lee (right) won the Reunion
Bowl for largest number of classmates attending (267). Head Agent Doug
Foster ’52 (6) received Alumni Fund honors. Joey Horn ’87 (7) took the
Copeland Award for admission volunteerism. And Mike Keating ’62 (8)
received the Kellogg Award for lifetime career achievement.
1
3
2
4
5
6
7
8
For a list of Alumni Fund trophy winners,
visit http://tinyurl.com/TrophyRace.
2012
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SCRAPBOOK
CL ASS
NOTES
S U B M I T T I N G N OT E S H E A D E R
If there is no secretary listed for your class, please submit notes
to Williams People, P.O. Box 676, Williamstown, Mass. 01267 or
[email protected].
1936
Richard U. Sherman
Friendship Village Dublin
6000 Riverside Drive, Apt. A109
Dublin, OH 43017
[email protected]
1938
REUNION JUNE 6–9
George McKay
2833 Wind Pump Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
[email protected]
Sadly I must report the deaths
of Fletcher Brown, Jim O’Sullivan,
Ken Rood and Joe Hatch.
Fletcher was the key man of
five generations of Williams
graduates. He had a grandfather,
father, son and grandson at Williams. Jim had reported recently
that he had once more won the
super senior golf championship
at his country club. Joe had been
playing singles tennis well into his
nineties. Our class membership
now stands at an even dozen.
Additionally I report the following deaths of our ladies: Pert
Carter, widow of George; Liz
McLean, wife of John McLean;
Marie Rolfing, widow of Bill;
Jean Dunham, widow of Henry;
and Mary Braman, widow of
Dandridge.
1939
Submitted by longtime class
secretary Roger Moore, who
passed away in June. An obituary
will appear in the next issue.
Art Weil has a new address: c/o
Avery Health Care, 705 New Britain Ave., Hartford, Conn. 06106.
Congratulations to Jean and
Harry Gottlieb for their 70th
anniversary on May 23. Rockets
and firecrackers to you both!
Bruce Burnham lost his car to
a fallen tree. His doctor said to
stop driving at 95 (his age, that
is). Now he has more time to finish his grandfather clock.
I have discontinued driving for
more glamorous reasons such
as colliding with an illegally
parked truck. The police prefer
to blame me.
Marilyn and Alex Carroll: In
regards to ages and birthdays
my immediate though soulful
reply is a four letter word—
STOP. You both know well some
eventualities. I view firsthand
some of them. It’s not worth it
for damn sure. I look forward
to your wise judgment on these
points.
Mertz, you are a charmer. I, too,
love to leave my signature in the
sand. Just because you have me
by the short hairs you owe a good
portion to Lady Luck. I am in
favor of the up-to-date class list.
Jim Burns writes an erudite
account covering some of his
physical features. Ninety-four
isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
1941
Wayne Wilkins
240 South St.
Williamstown, MA 01267
Pete Parish
350 East Michigan Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49060
[email protected]
Our latest story begins with
two college celebrations in June.
Barbara and Pete Parish were on
campus for commencement and
brought news of Pete’s induction
into the Michigan Aviation Hall of
Fame on May 19. Eight aviators
were so honored; the program
details the history and honors
of Pete’s flying background. The
Parishes also brought with them a
copy of Pete’s Reflections, his life
story written in 2004 and dedicated
to his children and grandchildren.
The following weekend brought
alumni reunions. After our 70th a
year ago, this was very quiet. Frank
Bush and Wilk, our only representatives at the annual meeting, were
recognized as the oldest alums
attending. No great feat, but the
’41 flame burns brightly.
In the graduating Class of ’12
was Jim Fowle’s granddaughter
Claire Huntley Lafave, cum laude.
Scholarship does run in the family. Jim had an earlier tale of near
coincidence back in his beautiful
winter digs in Sicily. Although
alerted in “a cryptic note” from
Bob Behr ’55, the college’s travel
study director, in March he
happened upon the cruise ship
Aegean Odyssey at the dock—
and thus Carolyn and Bob Behr.
From both Jim and the Behrs we
know their lunch together in Siracusa was a happy occasion. Yet
another Williams alum has now
described the glorious setting and
views from the Fowle abode.
An email from Stu Sheedy
brought on a newsy update on his
life. His opening comment allowed
that he was initially enrolled in the
Class of ’40 but a summer bout of
rheumatic fever delayed his arrival
to our class. For any remaining
doctors in our class we know how
fortunate he was to survive. His
string of lifetime jobs ran from
advertising at Newsweek to software at Bank of America, a classic
example of changing employment
in our historical era. Stu’s comments about life are worthy of
report. Politics: a shift from indifferent conservatism to his present
stance that “all those Republican
wannabes look like a scurvy crew
of bottom-feeding rascals.” His
worry: a skin problem takes some
of the “joie out of vivre.” Sadly a
later email from Stu reported the
death of Tom Tenney on May 24;
Tom had been hospitalized with
pneumonia, spending his last few
days under hospice care.
A continuing handwritten correspondence with Shorty Farrell
reveals, despite his successful and
happy career at Lafayette, his
pride at still being a member of
’41. “Shorty” was a name given
him by Pete Annable and Bill
Sebring (Westminster Prep) when
they played against Kingswood.
The name dogged him through
our great freshman football year
but not to Lafayette. He was
Scrapper there. He is also in the
Lafayette Hall of Fame. Shorty
keeps in touch with Charlie
Ferguson and Beverly Eaton, who
reside in his retirement village in
Bloomfield, Conn. By the way,
Shorty never played in a losing
football or baseball game as a
Williams first-year.
Our story began with celebrations. Now sadly come our days
of sorrow. We have lost four
more. George W. Blossom III died
on March 12, “suddenly and
unexpectedly.” Although he
did not graduate with our class
because of illness, he was very
loyal to it and to the college. His
monetary gifts were substantial:
his original Audubon folios to
the Chapin Library, a magnificent
gift. His business career was in
insurance brokerages in Chicago.
He interests were always with
institutes in the cultural world,
among them the Lyric Opera of
Chicago, the Art Institute and the
Field Museum. He was an avid
sportsman with special interests
and skill in skiing and trout fishing. He never married.
n 1 9 3 6 –4 2
Henry H. Kimberly Jr. passed
away on Dec. 22, 2011, in
Oshkosh, Wis., his lifelong abode.
Hank was with us at Williams
his first two years, getting his BA
from Lawrence University. He
had a career in the U.S. Army,
earning five battle stars as a
second lieutenant in the European
theater, highlighted by a Bronze
Star Medal for action in December
1944 in the Battle of the Bulge. He
became president of the Morgan
Co. in Oshkosh and later president
of the Oshkosh Home Building
Center. He was involved in several
business directorships, chairman
of most. He was a trustee of
Lawrence University. His hobbies
included sailing and ice boating.
His wife Patricia died in 1989.
There were seven children.
Thomas H. Lenagh died on Dec.
8, 2011. He attending almost
all reunions, quinquennial and
mini, as recently as June 2010.
We have no account of his
terminal illness. He earned his
ensign commission in September 1941 and served five years
on various ships in WWII,
including aircraft, destroyer
and minesweep (commander)
duties. He earned his law degree
at Columbia Law School, only
to be recalled to Navy duty in
the Korean War. He served eight
years in the active Navy, retiring
in the 1960s as a captain. His
active civilian interests were
largely in the investment world.
He was with the Ford Foundation for 18 years. In his 50th
reunion essay he reported being
“a flaming liberal while at Williams” but by the 1970s was “a
staunch Republican.” His point
of view at his visits to Williams
was decidedly conservative. He
is survived by wife Leila and four
children, including daughter
Jessie ’83.
Thomas W. Tenney died May
24, as we were informed by Stu
Sheedy. At the time of writing these notes, we did not yet
have our usual obituary report
from the alumni office. Tom will
always be remembered, however,
as the guy tired of the “terrible
winters and roasting summers”
in the Connecticut Valley who
just took off via trailer with wife
Maggie and two young sons
for Berkeley, Calif. There he
established a successful record
store business: Thos. Tenney,
Music on Records. Earthquakes
for a hot eastern summer, what a
trade! But he lived out his 90-odd
years there.
Our deepest sympathies go out
to all the families.
1942
Thurston Holt
4902 Willowood Way
Norman, OK 73026
[email protected]
Remember fountain pens?
My Shaeffer and Parker 61,
both stainless steel with gold
tips, are such fine instruments
that I sometimes use them, but
not as often as their splendor
deserves. Parker 61 received a
design award from the Museum
of Modern Art in NYC, where
John Gibson’s wife June is on
the board. John said, “I don’t
understand modern art.” But
I’m sure he is open-minded, and
June is an excellent guide. She
is also on the board of Lincoln
Center. The couple enjoy a
wide variety of music there.
John praised the Lincoln Center
Jazz Orchestra. Asked what his
favorite big band is, he said,
“Benny Goodman.” John and
June have an apartment in NYC.
A daughter of Irving Berlin lives
above them. They also have
a house in Greenwich, Conn.
Their son Douglas takes care of
the farm in Drumore, Pa., where
John had a long farming career
featuring dairy cattle, corn
and soy beans. June, a former
chairwoman of Sarah Lawrence
College and Juilliard School
of Music, where she is on the
board, inherited St. Catherine’s
Island off the coast of Georgia,
which is approximately the same
size and shape as Manhattan.
The nonprofit foundation she
established takes care of endangered species there and does
archeological digging into the
history of early Indians.
John bought a new Buick
convertible in 1941, indigo blue,
tan top. He gave it to his mother
when he left for WWII service.
She had it until her death in
1967. Later it was restored and
was a distinguished presence in
the Williams Alumni/ae Parade at
our 65th and 70th reunions.
Phil Hammerslough married
Edith Kreisler on Dec. 21, 1941.
Phil, by email, recounts their 70
years: “I spent the war running a
direction finder (a primitive version of what is standard in every
control tower). I worked my way
up the islands from Australia to
the Philippines, and after three
years I came home, never having
shot the rifle I lugged around. I
went to work for Kreisler Co.,
who created the expansion watch
band before Speidel was ever
heard of.
“After five years, however, it
turned out that my boss’ son was
the heir apparent, and I left to
buy into a strange business called
Michigan Peat. I had a friend
from Hartford who was looking
for something new, and he agreed
to run the place while I ran sales.
This was the ’50s, and everyone
was buying a new house and
fixing the lawn. Peat is a mulch,
and there were days when we
shipped as many as 10 50-ton
railroad cars. However, we found
we couldn’t protect our name.
It was deemed generic, and two
of our neighbors began shipping
Michigan peat at discount prices.
“I sold out to my partner and
decided I would like to teach. I left
my office that day and ran smack
into Charlie Johnson, our director
of admission. With one phone
call he got me into the graduate
English department [at Williams].
After one semester I was able to
take the graduate record exam
and get into Yale. I graduated
with an MA at age 45 and took a
job teaching English 9 and 10 at a
school near where we lived.
“Two years later through a
friend I was offered a job with
the Peace Corps as deputy
director of public affairs. I was
recruited myself by a program
called School to School started
by Sargent Shriver [founder of
the Peace Corps]. The idea was
to get student councils to raise
$100 and send it to a volunteer
abroad who would use it to buy
materials for a sister school [in
the U.S.]. [After establishing two
sister schools], we got a little publicity, which tickled the pres [Lyndon Baines Johnson], who told
my boss, ‘Build me a thousand.’
By bringing volunteers home to
talk to councils we finally built
about 400.
“My two years were up, and
we returned to a new home,
and I got a job teaching and
being money raiser for a private
school. I stayed two years and
was recruited by a small public
firm just starting up to sell their
kindergarten-first grade program
called the Letter People. It
followed Sesame Street but
was a phonetic approach. We
imported polyester letter figures
36 inches high. Each one had its
own characteristic. (Examples:
M=Munching; N=Noisy Nose.)
I became president, and by the
time I left we were in about
36,000 schools. We also joined
forces with KETC, the PBS channel in St. Louis, and made 26
films that were broadcast by 36
PBS channels.
CL ASS
NOTES
“By now with my partner (a
neighbor and friend teaching
politics) we bought the majority
of the stock. I retired for about
four years, when the program
was sold to Simon & Schuster in
a package. They had their own
program. They offered it back
to us at 10 cents on the dollar
and threw in a warehouse and
office space for free. We bought
it back and ran it for three more
years. By now I was in my late
60s and retired again. For the
next five years I volunteered
for a program that with the aid
of the comprehensive training
act sought to get jobs for justreleased prisoners from Sing Sing.
My boss was the ex-prison priest,
recently married, who saw this
as his mission. After leaving this
program, I volunteered to tutor
in a school with many Japanese. I
was amazed at their tenacity and
enthusiasm for learning English.
On Saturday they all went to a
Japanese class to practice their
own language. From 1982 until
2004 we spent our winters in a
marvelous Mexican village called
San Miguel de Allende, because
Edith is a painter and sculptor
in clay. … I ended up writing a
weekly book review, of which
I still have almost 300 in my
computer. There were approximately 800 gringos when we
arrived and more than 12,000
when we left. Edith had built a
house, which we filled with art
from local painters and sculptors.
We sold the house in one sale and
auctioned off the art in another.
“For the last six years we have
been renting a house in Rancho
Mirage, Calif. There are courses
run by various branches of
UCLA, and then there is always
golf. I gave up tennis when I
couldn’t help my partner.
“The most important thing in
my life is that marriage I made
with Edith in our senior year.
We are about to celebrate our
70th anniversary with our three
sons (we lost one) and friends,
of which a few are left. Ten days
later I will be 91. Yes, I feel old,
even though I am in fair shape.”
The couple enjoys travel, such
as a packet boat trip up the
northern Norway coast and two
European barge trips in one year.
Phil has been a Williams class
agent. His grandson Ira has participated in Teach for America.
The soon-to-take-place
milestone for ’42 honoree Mary
Timberlake is when her 1-year-old
great-granddaughter Lunabella
Steueber, in the staggering walk
of a 1-year-old, rushes across
the room to Mary’s outstretched
arms—and a hug.
Sadly, I must now report some
deaths, first those for whom I do
not have obituary details: John
H. Busser, Philip B. Cole, Emlen L.
Cresson, Kenneth J. Sorace and
Arthur Wright Jr.
David L. Hart grew up in New
Britain, Conn. After Kent School
and a year at Radney College
in England, he joined the U.S.
Army Air Corps. During WWII
as a communications officer he
served mostly in China. While
in India waiting to be sent to
China, David read C.G. Jung’s
book Man and His Symbols.
Greatly impressed, he sensed
the importance of the symbolic
life. After the war David settled
in Cambridge, Mass., where
he met his first wife, Barbara.
A few years later they left for
Zurich, Switzerland, where David
intended to study German and
become a German professor.
Walking on a Zurich street
one day, David ran into a former
classmate at Kent and a student
at the newly created Jung Institute in Zurich. At lunch together
his friend exuded enthusiasm
over the institute and persuaded
David to look at it. After studying seven years there, David
obtained his Diplomate in 1955.
That same year he obtained his
PhD in clinical psychology magna
cum laude from the University
of Zurich. His thesis for the Jung
Institute was on the role of anima
(the unconscious or inner self of
an individual as opposed to the
outer aspect of the personality)
in fairy tales. His dissertation
was on the role of compensation
in depth psychology. With their
children Tessa and Steve, who
were born in Zurich, the family
returned to the U.S. and settled in
Gladwyne, Pa., where David set
up a practice as a Jungian analyst. He was the only practicing
Jungian analyst in the mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast.
From his obit: “David had
many interesting and some
well-known clients, all of whom
enhanced his life as well as he
theirs. David had a magical,
graceful air about him.”
A gentle man who mastered
the art of deep listening, he knew
how to give others their own
space and help them find themselves within that space.
David loved fairy tales. He
read them sometimes in treating
his clients. He published his
own book, The Water of Life:
Spiritual Renewal in the Fairy
Tale (2001), and gave many talks
and workshops, including on
Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts when he and his third wife,
Demaris Wehr, moved to their
house at Farm Neck in 2000.
David was a founding member
of the Pennsylvania Association of Jungian Analysts and a
member of the New England
Society of Jungian Analysts and
the International Association of
Analytical Psychology.
“There could not have been
a gentler, kinder man, nor one
with a twinklier smile,” concludes his obit.
Joseph Santry grew up in Brookline, Mass., and spent summers
in Marblehead. After graduating
from Williams he joined the Army
Air Corps and navigated B-24
bombers during WWII. He flew
more than 35 missions, earning
the Air Medal with five oak leaf
clusters and the Distinguished
Flying Cross. (Jack Larned piloted
B-24s and said it felt like sitting
on your front porch and flying
your house.)
Joe’s professional career was
mainly with Combustion Engineering Inc., working closely with
paper and power companies.
He married Janet Brown. They
enjoyed 47 years together. She
died in 2000. The couple had two
daughters, Janet and Dorothy.
From his obituary: “A yearround resident of Marblehead
for more than 55 years, Joe had
many interests, but his real passion centered around the sea. He
was a lifelong sailor, with decades
of ocean racing and cruising
experience, starting as a child
in Brutal Beasts, moving on to
Q-boats and then to a variety of
one-design cruising yachts, where
he often served as navigator.
Carol Joy Blaney Tully was born
in Los Angeles. As she grew up,
camping and hiking in Yosemite
gave her a fondness for adventure.
She became an accomplished
violinist, piano player, singer and
dancer. She met her first husband,
George Blaney, during a high
school dance lesson. They had
two sons, Roger and Jeff. Following her BA degree in psychology
from UCLA she worked as a
speech therapist and later as office
manager at Whittier. One of her
many community contributions
was singing in her crystal-clear
and powerful soprano voice in
church choirs. Carol lost George
in an automobile accident in
1982. Later, she met witty and
charming Bob Tully. That led to
marriage and enjoying camping,
dancing and long trips together.
Referring to his stepfather, Carol’s
n 1 9 4 2 –4 3
son Roger Blaney told me, “Bob
was a great debater and an intellectual.” First Bob and Carol lived
in Big Bear City, Calif., in the San
Bernardino Mountains, then on
large, gorgeous Orcas Island, an
hour’s ferry ride from the northern
coast of Washington. For the Williams Class of 1942 65th reunion,
Carol and Bob drove about 7,000
miles round-trip.
1943
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Malcolm MacGruer
63 Hotchkiss Lane, P.O. Box 1069
Madison, CT 06443
[email protected]
Most important, I must report
that Fred Nathan will relinquish
his class secretarial chores. He
has asked McGurk to step in,
which he is now doing. Not
realizing the importance of class
notes, Fred’s lack of ability on the
computer, and his former secretary’s singular ability to decipher
his dictation on tape, Fred’s law
firm reassigned his secretary to
three other partners. Fred has had
to cut back dictation of intensive
matters, including his favorite:
writing class notes.
Fred adds: “To make matters
worse, I took a bad fall on the
tennis court and was laid up for
a short time with a concussion
(apparently you don’t have to
play football to get one!). I have
now completely recovered. Fran
and I are off to San Francisco
to celebrate my 90th birthday
and our granddaughter’s 11th
with Freddy and his family. My
brother Edgar, who will be 93 the
week I turn 90, has retired from
his law firm. I have no intention
of following his example. The
youngest of Edgar’s and Ruth’s
six grandsons has just entered
Williams. We hope that our
11-year-old granddaughter will
be next. Fran and I are holding on to the date for our 70th
reunion next June.” Please do the
same, says McGurk.
McGurk recalls as a small boy
on Cape Cod he frolicked with
another boy named Daves Rossell. To his delight and surprise
the very person showed up at
Williams in the Class of 1943: B.
Daves Rossell, who writes: “I’m
taking my life pretty easy these
days, spending most of my days
in my green leather chair with my
feet up on the ottoman, reading
and dozing. … I’m helping my
wife pull together the manuscript
of her third collection of poetry
so it can be sent to prospective
publishers.” Good luck, Daves,
says McGurk who has had
some experience with publishers
himself!
Do you remember the
Williams-Princeton football game
at Palmer stadium in October
1942? Williams 19, Princeton 7,
largely due to the fact “Triple R,”
as we called him, tackled most
Princeton ball carriers in their
own backfield. Ralph Renzi sends
best wishes to Fred Nathan.
Tom Fowler, the Texan, writes:
“My daily prayers include Fred,
and I hope the recovery is a
speedy one. As for yours truly,
I can’t complain. I have daily
activity as a member of the
Knights of Columbus, also as a
WWII veteran. How long it lasts
is anybody’s guess. I should not
mention it, but I’m also busy as
an anti-Obama man. All the best
and God bless all living members
of the Class of 1943.”
Nick Fellner says: “In consideration of the passing years and the
travail of snow plowing and grass
cutting, we sold out house in
New Canaan last fall and moved
into a great apartment in Palmers
Hill. It would be interesting to
learn how many of my classmates
have made similar moves.”
From Boothbay Harbor, Maine,
comes word from the dear wife
of our late classmate the Rev.
Halsey DeWolfe Howe. Carol
reports that she is the former
chair of Wellesley’s ’45 record
book and knows what’s happening to her classmates—sick
or gone, alas, but that’s the way
it is. Carol is recovering from
a torn hip tendon but says her
convalescence is brightened by
many helpers. She sends her best
to all ’43ers.
And sad to relate we lost two
more outstanding classmates:
C. Gorham Phillips (Doc) and E.
Mandell deWindt (Del).
Doc Phillips was a great friend
to us all and an involved undergraduate: president of Gargoyle;
chairman Phi Beta Kappa; Class
Day committee; junior advisor
executive committee; Honor
System; chapel committee; Tyng
scholar; Record editor-in-chief;
spring conference vice chairman; Sketch magazine; Purple
Cow associate editor. Following
achievement of his law degree,
Doc joined one of the largest
and finest law firms in NYC. He
became a trustee or director of
many organizations and served as
class officer for years and years.
Del DeWindt was a star athlete
at Williams on the hockey,
football and golf teams. He
further served as president of the
College Council. After college he
became an enormously successful
businessman and class officer,
serving as president for many
years. He set records with his
donations to the Alumni Fund
and with the matching gifts from
his corporation. He and his wife
Mary maintained homes in New
Hampshire and Hobe Sound, Fla.
Del continued to play golf as he
went blind and could shoot par
as Mary gave him instructions
and teed up his drives. He was a
longtime member of the USGA.
Len Eaton, of Depoe Bay, Ore.,
sends a letter of appreciation for
the class notes. He misses the
longtime connections and hopes
for some music to stir his memories. He sent a list of music he
would like to have played on his
audio equipment, and McGurk
is working on locating some of
the songs and performances for
him. He wants not only Williams
music but, naturally, songs from
University of Michigan, where
he was PhD and professor of
architecture and a fine author.
A handsome card of West College (from Santa Barbara, Calif.)
arrived from Ken Moore telling us
some things we otherwise never
would have known. The utility
tunnel ran from West College to
the Adams Memorial Theatre,
and Ken says he used it when
he studied Theater 101. He also
pointed out that at Christmastime
he was the manager of the Christmas morality play. The temptation is to inquire about his morals
currently and send him good luck
and good wishes.
From the same address he’s
had since 1966 (!) another ’43
education guru, Derick Brinkerhoff, tells us, “No matter what,
our insurance company finds
reasons to raise premiums every
year! Still healthy and will be 91
this October. Hope many other
classmates are thriving. Best
wishes to Fred.”
Henry Pennell reports: “Always
sad at the news that others are
struggling. Passed my mini physical, but glaucoma is closing in
on me. I notice the change when
Marion and I have our regular
Russian Bank card game before
dinner. Otherwise I have nothing
to complain about except that
when brother Ed Pennell and I
were drafted in December ’42
we were the last to take the comprehensives. That evening they
were cancelled. Enough! Beat
Amherst!”
CL ASS
NOTES
Ken Moore starts his most recent
note: “Better that you should
learn to read my writing than for
me to learn to write.” McGurk
agrees, and here’s his translation
of Ken’s message: “Kay Black,
Andy Black’s wife, in San Francisco, and Betty Moore (my bride)
play phone tag and are doing
well. My life is in bed with the TV
and three daily newspapers, lots
of magazines. Do a lot of commentary on Aspen affairs. Had a
letter published in the Financial
Times, the local paper and am
trying the Wall Street Journal.
Have had 26 letters in so far.”
Phyllis Blair is “sorry to learn of
Fred Nathan’s setback. Though I
don’t have news from any in ’43,
I was at a party at Ginny and
David Peck’s ’52, in Quail Ridge,
Boynton Beach, where I also
have a villa. Had a pleasant visit
with Ellen and Peter Thurber ’50.
In June I joined Ginny and Brad
Tips ’57 with Marsh Hannock’s
’42 widow Liz for lunch at the
Taconic golf club. It was one of
those beautiful days between lots
of rainy ones.”
Lincoln Stevenson writes: “Living in a retirement home in Rye,
N.Y., six months of the year and
in a condo in Key Largo, Fla., six
months. Still playing tennis, but
it’s hard to get four players to
crawl on to the court! Have three
sons all doing well; two in NYC
and one in Tanzania as a builder.
Have lovely second wife for 30
years now. Quite busy reading
books on Kindle and managing
my investments. Am quite well
except for an occasional seizure.
Am 911⁄2.”
McGurk continues to live in
Madison, Conn., on the waters
of the Long Island Sound. He
is involved in a number of local
organizations but keeps his
commitments to a minimum. He
and other widowers manage to
keep the best-looking widows
entertained at dinners and theater
events. He produces a popular
“bawdy old man show” at his
club yearly (limericks about
members to piano accompaniment), entertains family at
Thanksgiving (24 last year) and
Christmas (nine), constructs
weekly crossword puzzles for
email distribution and continues
to write fiction. In the summertime he rejoices with laps in the
clear waters of his swimming
pool above the beach. Best fun
is keeping in touch with our
diminishing class. He urges you
to set aside the first weekend next
June for our 70th reunion! It will
be special!
Percy Nelson ’44 (front row, right, next to his wife Toni) celebrated his
90th birthday in March with family members including (from left) Melissa
and Edward Nelson ’72 and Paul ’76 and Debbie McCarthy Nelson ’76.
1944
Submitted by longtime class
secretary Hudson Mead, who
passed away in June. An obituary
will appear in the next issue. If
you are interested in serving as
class secretary, please contact the
alumni office at 413.597.4399.
Dear classmates of 1944, I dictate these notes to my daughter
Priscilla. I am hors de combat.
Don’t reach age 90. From there
on out it seems to be nothing but
downhill. The reason is that several weeks ago saw me overcome
with a dizzy spell, and while that
has gone away, I am taking intensive occupational therapy.
One of the nice letters that
responded to Jerry Oberrender’s
death in March was from Henry
Flynt. Hank confesses, “Ailments
have reluctantly ended all biking,
hiking and cross-country skiing
as well as curtailed most church
and community service. Some say
I still look quite good (but not in
my mirror).”
From Nancy Schlosser came
another note of condolence
about Jerry Oberrender’s death.
Nancy still travels, having been
to Morocco and Andalusia
(wherever that is). She has four
great-grandchildren.
From Shep Poor: “You nonagenarians have my sympathy, since
I won’t reach that lofty status
until August. I spent a few days
in the local hospital having a
pacemaker installed. As far as I
can tell it hasn’t changed a thing,
except that hospitals are places to
stay out of.”
Percy Nelson and his good wife
Toni send a gorgeous family picture. He has many children who
are graduates of Williams: Edward
’72, Paul ’76 and Debbie McCarthy
Nelson ’76 (Paul’s wife) who was
class president for 2006-11.
A letter from Dave Thurston:
His son Charlie ’80 conferred in
Williamstown with a number of
people, and the consensus was that
the college would very much like
to have a large framed picture containing the text and photographs
of pages 9-13 of The Golden Gul.
They contain the photos of and
biographical material of our 48
classmates killed in WWII. At a
chance meeting in Tucson between
Dave and Adam Falk, president
of Williams, President Falk said
he was stunned by the size of our
loss and appreciative of the gift.
This will become the property of
the equivalent of the Williamsiana
room in the new Sawyer Library,
currently under construction.
1945
Frederick Wardwell
P.O. Box 118
Searsmont, ME 04973
[email protected]
Marc Beem reported that as a
pediatrician he did virus research
at University of Chicago, and in
conversation this led to discussing
the viruses affecting bees and
his fond memories of working,
as a kid, with his father on bees
in Iowa. He also thinks back on
many happy days of sailing and
swimming at their place in Lake
Michigan.
Don Bishop of Sudbury, Mass.,
laments that the tubes carrying
oxygen to his nose don’t perform
when he is working hard and
breathing through the mouth,
n 1 9 4 3 –4 6
hence carrying the oxygen tanks
around when he really needs
them is a wasted effort. Don was
a navigator in WWII, flying in
air troop transports, and ended
up stationed at Hanscomb Field,
near Boston. He has four kids
and five great-grands.
Fielding Brown is living at the
Fox Hill Village retirement community in Westwood, Mass., and
with pleasure noted that Nancy
and Art Nims had moved in close
by. Fielding is still much involved
in wood sculpture and had a
showing in Great Barrington,
Mass., and one scheduled in
Summit, N.J.
Stu Coan and Mary missed a
rendezvous in Kennebunkport,
Maine, with the Scarboroughs,
Goodhearts, Pinkertons and
Wardwells because Mary came
down with shingles, and Stu was
recovering from an inner-ear
infection. All is well at the time
of this writing, and as one who
has had shingles, let me say that
if you haven’t had shingles go get
a vaccination. Stu reported that
Carl Appleby sold his California
ranch and moved into a retirement community, and that Art
Dodge is not feeling very mobile
and questions that he will make
another Williamstown reunion.
Stu also reported that Jay Lawson
is in Honolulu and moved to an
assisted-living facility.
Frank Davies in Sarasota, Fla.,
felt poorly on May 2, having
shortly before broken his hip. For
all that, he is apparently in pretty
good shape.
Dave Goodheart and wife Lib
motored up to Kennebunkport,
Maine, from home in Wellesley,
Mass., to join the Scarboroughs,
Wardwells and Pinkertons for a
dandy lunch and social afternoon
in mid-May. Over the course of
time, Dave has been in several
businesses, and I suspect strongly
that he will vote Republican.
Luther Hill’s wife Sara delivers
him to his law office to work
from 0800 to 1400, five days a
week. Apparently the insurance
industry in Des Moines, Iowa, is
demanding his talents, and their
garden is suffering.
Joan Jobson, widow of Ted,
wrote that at last she is a grandmother, but it will be a long time
before she is a great-grandmother.
Son Mark ’71, has come up with
a daughter, now in kindergarten,
who is already an avid skier,
roller blader and bike rider. Joan
thinks she will make the Class
of 2034.
Jean Kirk, as loyal a Williams
supporter as there ever was, died
while playing bridge in Bryn
Mawr, Pa. I doubt she ever missed
a reunion or a chance to offer to
help. Gil Lefferts, Gay and Fred
Scarborough, and Mary and Stu
Coan were able to attend her
funeral in Bryn Mawr.
Fran Lathrop’s wife Betty caught
the phone while Fran was off
on some mission and reported
that their half-year home in
a retirement community in
Peterborough, N.H., also had as
residents Arthur Stevenson and
Mary Elizabeth McClellan, widow
of Bruce. Mission over, Fran came
on the line to say that he and
Betty would soon move to Fran’s
old family farm in N.H., and stay
until the heating system required
too much wood. Fran’s kids
and grandkids are, it seems, all
athletes, and that includes among
other honors the U.S. Ski Team.
Fran says of himself that his tennis is poor, which is unlikely, and
that he is eagerly awaiting snow
to slide on.
Dick Morrill’s annual physical discovered no problem but
maybe 40 pounds of blubber to
be lost. He had stayed at the St.
Botolph’s Club in Boston, a reciprocal of the Williams-Princeton
Club in New York, and said it
was great. He was in Boston
to attend the annual George
Washington birthday reception
and dinner of the Massachusetts
Society of the Cincinnati, his eligibility stemming from one Amos
Morrill of New Hampshire, a
major in the revolution. While in
town he discovered, at the New
England Historical Society, that
through a 1715 connection his
wife is closely related to Lilyan
Durkee, widow of Bob Durkee
’46. Dick also sent a fine and
interesting write-up of our college
founder, Col. Eph Williams.
Class Secretary Fred Wardwell
reports the last week of May
that his nine colonies of bees are
booming and should produce a
meaningful amount of honey this
year. Last winter brought a lot
of good iceboating, there being
about 18 inches of ice on the
local lakes and ponds, and very
little snow. In April he hosted a
cookout for iceboaters who sailed
in the area over the winter, and
drew sailors from Canada, N.H.,
Vt., Mass. and Conn., a reflection
of good ice locally and poor ice in
most other areas.
Some of the mail from Williamstown is quite unwelcome,
but the facts being what they
are, I list the news of deaths
as received, some of which are
expanded in the last section of
this publication: Jay Buckley,
Mrs. Harry DePan, Bill Fox, Mrs.
Ed Gasperini, Mrs. Dick Hole, Stu
King, Mrs. Tim Tyler.
1946
Gates McG. Helms
5 Troon Court
Maplewood, NJ 07040
[email protected]
My dear fellow survivors of
the great Class of ’46: It pains
me to report that our president,
Dick Debevoise, has immune
thrombocytopenia, a deficiency
of platelets in his blood. He
is receiving treatment for this
malady, which also goes by the
name of ITP, and it has prevented
his driving to Williamstown for
our minireunion in September.
Not wishing to be autocratic, he
consulted with Shelly and Bud
Morrow and decided to cancel the
arrangements he had made with
the Williams Inn and the college
food service. So as far as I know,
there will be no minireunion for
us in September.
One of my faithful classmate
correspondents has been Larry
Heely, who kindly mailed me a
special double issue of the Call
Board for June, put out by the
Amateur Comedy Club, founded
in 1884. This issue is noteworthy because a portrait of Larry
appears on page 1 along with a
headline that reads “Larry Heely
Elected Honorary Member,”
the highest honor the ACC can
bestow.
Dick Debevoise sent a letter he
received from Rita Brown, honorary member of the great Class
of ’46 and widow of Dr. Earle
O. Brown Jr., our distinguished
psychiatrist. She was to move to a
retirement community in Illinois
in August.
Dick also sent a letter dated
April 6 from Ollie Lothrop’s
daughter Louisa Lothrop Affleck,
in which she thanks him for
inviting her mother, Bunny, to our
minireunion, adding that there is
nothing her mother would rather
do than attend but that she is
now in assisted living near Louisa
and that it is difficult for her to
write or travel. “She cherished
the friendship of you and the
other regulars at the ’46 reunions.
I have heard many of the stories
of all the fun you had. You and
your group were so welcoming to
me and my sister when we came
with my mother in 2007.”
Bud Morrow writes on April 23
that he “has been sidelined for
some weeks with a few COPD
CL ASS
NOTES
varieties plus pneumonia.” That’s
the bad part. He goes on to say:
“But at least seem to be over the
hump on those scores.” Bud goes
on to write: “I had to cut out
tennis and any other strenuous
activity some time ago due to
unnatural declines in energy
and breath, blaming all of it on
COPD and the lung surgery for
cancer of three and four years
ago. The tests given for my problems showed that the real villain
is critical aortic valve stenosis.
This will be attacked in the next
weeks with a newish successor to open-heart operations
called trans catheter aortic valve
replacement.”
Bud goes on in his letter to
lament the fact that Williams’
director of admission thought
his grandson was unlikely to
be admitted, but his grandson
gained early admission to Trinity.
I had a similar experience with
my grandson, who gained early
admission to Hamilton.
I also have a short, handwritten note from Bud, dated May 7,
in which he says that his aortic
valve replacement was a success
and that he plans therefore to
attend the next reunion.
I understand from Shelly that
Tom Hyndman, with whom he has
lunch once a month, has a grandson who just graduated from med
school. Mary is still unwell.
The job of being the class scribe
is becoming rather more onerous, in part because I am having
trouble typing, and a shrinking
number of classmates seem to
be willing to forward me news
of their doings. I may limit my
activities to every-other issue of
class notes. We shall see!
1947
John C. Speaks III
33 Heathwood Road
Williamsville, NY 14221
[email protected]
Well, we had a reunion and no
one was able to make it. I was
unable to be there, and my surrogate, Jim Curry, who had planned
to go, had to cancel at the last
minute. Our class has been
fragmented, to say the least, and
many on my active list—which is
now down to 41—did not actually graduate from the college.
But here’s something for you.
Find yourself access to YouTube
and take a look at this video of
Dick Crissman: http://bit.ly/crissman. It’s great to see a member
of our class having so much fun.
I’m sure he would appreciate any
comments. You can send them to
me, or you can reach him directly
at 7525 Alaska Ave., Caledonia,
Mich. 49316.
1948
REUNION JUNE 6–9
John A. Peterson Jr.
5811 Glencove Drive, Apt. 1005
Naples, FL 34108
[email protected]
By now you all received class
president George Kennedy’s letter
re: the course in leadership studies to which a substantial part
of our 50th Reunion Gift was
allotted. Another reason for ’48
to be proud.
Re: those class members who
have three or more generations at
Williams, Lionel Bolin writes that
his family has his grandfather
Gaius C. Bolin, Class of 1889,
Lionel and his niece Lauren M.
Hobby ’10. He also says he talked
with Don Shack, who is well, as
is his family. Barbara Shapiro
says the Shapiro family also has
three generations at Williams:
her late husband, Paul, their sons
Michael ’73 and Howard ’82 and
Michael’s daughter Robyn ’15.
Barbara adds: “I am doing well
now and living in New Jersey.
Hope to see some of you the next
time I’m in Williamstown.”
Our class president for the first
10 years following graduation,
Bud Wilson, writes: “My dear
wife Barbara passed away a year
and a half ago, just short of our
61st anniversary. I keep active
on our farm in the mountains of
northern New Mexico, where
we still run the Youth Ranch
Program every summer. I see
Sandy Orr and Wally Croen now
and then.”
The class roll continues to
decline. I have been notified of
the following deaths: Bud Dodge,
our first class secretary (38 years);
Chester Fell; Hugo Higbie; Dick
Schwab; and Bill Wesson.
Your scribe had a heart attack
last January resulting in openheart surgery— triple bypass and
a valve replacement. He was out
of it for three and a half months
but now is back full time with
the brokerage firm of Raymond
James here in Naples.
Lastly, our 65th reunion is
next June 6-9. Don Markstein,
our treasurer, and I are communicating with the college’s
reps, and we’ll have more info
shortly. Stay tuned. Hope to see
you there.
1949
Chuck Utley
1835 Van Buren Circle
Mountain View, CA 94040
[email protected]
It’s great to hear from classmates who have not been in
this column recently, as well as
regular contributors. Time flies
by quickly these days. So it is
wonderful to get news of your
interests and activities that help
keep us all up to date, even if we
can only do so three times a year.
Giles Kelly reported: “Three
years ago I had the idea that Ann
and I could do a coffee table
photo book on The Diplomatic
Gardens of Washington, D.C. It
was published this May. So after
all the work involved, we went
off to the Netherlands to see their
tulip fields and saunter through
the famous Koukenhoff Gardens.
We also drove to Bruges, Belgium,
for the chocolates and a sense of
old Europe. Meanwhile, my son
Byrne Kelly ’77 was in Williamstown in May to celebrate WUFO
‘Games’ (Ultimate Frisbee), which
he founded in his senior year at
Williams. He claims it is now the
biggest club on campus.” (Could
that be right?)
Richard Bilder and his wife Sally
enjoy their life in Madison and
the many activities that the University of Wisconsin and the city’s
lovely lakes and surroundings
offer. “I remain active at the UW
Law School, doing some writing
and, among other things, still
editing a section of the American
Journal of International Law.
We travel occasionally—mostly
to see our four married children
and 10 grandkids. And we usually vacation with at least some
of our family in Sanibel, Fla., in
February and Wisconsin’s Door
County in August. In years our
only Williams contacts have been
Giles Kelly and Jim Finke ’50—but
I retain fond memories of my
years at Williams and send warm
regards all.”
Oren Pollock provides a look
into Chicago alumni activity that
has been ongoing for the past 10
years, with Williams grads volunteering at two Chicago middle
schools (grades 6-8). “We volunteer on Saturdays, once a month.
Our activities have included
math games, writing poetry, a
session on the upcoming national
elections, exercises in building
vocabulary, and understanding
nanotechnology. Ably filling the
ranks of volunteers have been
alumni of several classes: Tom
n 1 9 4 6 –4 9
Altman ’74, Zach Cook ’96, Sarah
Dugan ’97, Kat Kollett ’93, Kristin
Moo ’02 and Ted Unger ’06. I’m
not sure that we have found a
future Eph at the school, but they
are still young. The turnout of
students has been gratifying, with
up to 30-plus showing up for two
hours on an average Saturday.
And as of this date, there is a
large Williams watercolor of
Griffin Hall and the chapel now
hanging in the school where we
are presently volunteering. On
the personal side, Sam and I did a
couple of days in NYC , staying
at the Princeton Club (39th Street
Eph club is no more), and happily
the same Williams print of Griffin
Hall and the chapel is hanging
on the first floor of the Princeton
Club, where we enjoy reciprocity.” And Nero added a plaintive
note for all ’49ers: “We slipped a
bit with annual giving; so please
try to amuse your aging amiable
and anxious agent.”
Jerry Page passed along news
that included a remarkable
family statistic: “We moved to
Naples, Fla., and sold our house
in Columbus, Ohio (luckily after
only six months). … Our second
grandson, Ian Page ’12, graduated
from Williams. And with Richard
Page Bode ’02 we finish off four
generations of Ephs including
Jerome Page ’13, me, Jerome Page
III ’77 plus the two grandsons.
Unfortunately we were not quite
healthy enough to attend the
graduation but watched a lot of
it on our computer. Williams has
been wonderful for our family.”
There’s a record that will be hard
to match!
The well-tuned ears of Bill
Wilde caught a report about
Williams on the Today Show in
February that otherwise would
have escaped us. The Princeton
Review announced the three
universities and three private
colleges providing the best value
in American education. Based
on quality, price and 28 other
data points, Williams was ranked
number one among the private
colleges, followed by Swarthmore
and Princeton. Ed Maynard let
us in on his new responsibilities:
“Not a major job, but I’ve taken
on the presidency of the board of
our Fox Hill Village retirement
community. We have about a $16
million budget, so I am learning
finance instead of medicine. It’s
a great group to work with.
Happily attending graduations
of three grandchildren, but none
from Williams.”
Seth Bidwell provided a
synopsis of life since Williams:
“I haven’t written for the class
notes since I was secretary. … I
went to work for Time the day
after graduation and started
in Philadelphia. My last 15
years I was worldwide marketing director, trying to sell ads
everywhere. It finally did me in.
The last two-week trip in early
December 1979 went from New
York to Tokyo and Singapore.
That was it. … I retired and
moved to Hilton Head for the
next 32 years. Played a lot of golf
here and abroad. Hank Wickham
would come down every spring
for a weekend of golf at Bear
Creek, of which I was a founding
member. I started my wandering
again and took several trips to
Ireland, Scotland and Australia.
One of the Williams trips to
Scotland included Dick Wells and
Tom Leous ’50. Susie and I married several years after Caroline’s
death; Susie had three kids and I
had five who are now scattered
all over the country. She died
five years ago, and I lived in the
house for a year and then moved
to a retirement community a
couple of miles away. Last June
I broke my leg, ironically while
water exercising, and along with
neuropathy in my feet, have had
to give up golf. I’ve had enough
island living, so I moved to …
Asheville, N.C., this past May,
and it is a major culture change.
Three kids are here, and I insisted
they get me an apartment right
downtown. … I know I am going
to like it here. Guitar players
and clowns on the street corners,
a street system which makes it
mandatory to get lost, three kids,
two grandkids and a tapas bar
directly across the street.”
From Ron Chute: “Nancy and I
drove thru Williamstown in late
May on our way to Chester, Vt.,
where we plan to move as soon
as our new place there is built.
Williamstown looked beautiful,
with several new buildings I was
hard pressed to identify. The
Saint House looks like it’s been
power washed, as does the rest
of the college. We sold our 1774
house in Washington, Conn., in
April and are living temporarily
in rented quarters at a friend’s
farm here. I still play tennis once
or twice a week, which is about
as much as my bad knee can
take. While we were waiting for
the move, we hope to visit our
daughter Ann in Kentfield, Calif.,
outside San Francisco. Fortunately, our two sons and their
families live in Connecticut.”
Al Kernan would like us all
to know that his address has
changed from Princeton, N.J., to
an independent living facility at
900 Hollinshead Road, Skillman,
N.J. His new email address:
[email protected].
Howard Kaufman is pleased that
he will have two grandchildren
attending Williams in the fall:
brother and sister Jonathan ’16
and Hillary Reder, a graduate of
Skidmore College who will be
entering Williams’ graduate art
program. Their uncle Bob Reder
’75 is equally proud.
As part of their usual March
visit to Florida, Tay and John
Thoman took advantage of Jean
and Hank Klein’s invitation to
head up to Fort Myers for a few
days. “Both are well,” John says,
“but short of ’49 information.
They have two of their three children in the neighborhood, which
keeps them well occupied.”
Joan and Jim Smith decided
to break up the Buffalo winter
and go visit their number-five
child, Nancy Donovan, her
husband Tim and their children
Ben, 6, Allie, 4, and Zack, 3, in
Lakewood Colo. “Ben had his
sixth birthday while we were
there, so things were very festive.
He also has taken to liking the
game Monopoly, so ‘Papa’ was
kept very busy. The weather
was excellent … sunny and the
temperature between 70 and 80.”
The Smiths were looking forward
to their “annual family gathering, this year … in upstate New
York near Lake George. All five
children will be there with their
families.”
“Pedro” Stites came through
with a big “Hola,” and in true
Stites style made the message
distinctly his: “Saludos de Cincy
(Ohio) at Dupree House where
it’s quiet as a mouse. Life is
GREAT! We get five dinners a
week and weekends, too, if we
apply for them. Edna May, my
dear wife, also is fine. So both of
us are fine as wine. Best wishes
to all from Williams College ’49.
Edna and I hope you also are
as fine as wine!” Pete and Edna
can be reached at Dupree House,
3939 Erie Ave., Apt. 2130, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208.
Unfortunately, the obituary
notices keep on coming. Jay
Angevine passed away last Oct.
18 in Tucson, Ariz., where he
was professor emeritus at the
University of Arizona’s College of
Medicine. Jay received an MA in
histology and embryology and a
PhD in neuroanatomy from Cornell University, and then spent 11
years teaching at Harvard Medical School. In 1967 he moved
CL ASS
NOTES
west to become the fifth faculty
member of the first College of
Medicine in the Sonoran Desert,
at the University of Arizona in
Tucson. By 1980 Jay decided it
was time to live out a childhood
fantasy, and he became an unpaid
but fully trained, state-certified,
45 Colt-packing reserve deputy
sheriff in the Old Southwest. A
reception honoring “Dr. Jay” and
his love of the desert was held
near his home for family and
friends in March.
Notification that Dick Williams
died in LaMirada, Calif., in
March 2011 arrived belatedly
and is being mentioned here
for the benefit of friends who
may not have learned of his
passing. Dick and Ruth married
soon after college and in 1951
migrated to California, where
they eventually settled in La
Mirada, close to Knott’s Berry
Farm and Disneyland. Their
four children all enjoyed jobs at
those fun-factories at one time or
another. Dick started early as a
computer systems analyst, back
when machines took up space
the size of a basketball court.
He designed the first credit card
system for Bank of America,
converting manual applications
to the computer. His hobbies
included music, reading, designing audio systems, photography
and repairing bicycles for the
neighborhood kids. He rode his
own bicycle all year long, averaging 5,000 miles a year.
We were also made aware of
the death of Ken Hoeck, early
last year in Chandler, Ariz. His
diverse career in finance began
at the Bank of Manhattan and
carried him to Hollywood and
Columbia Pictures. He then
moved on to the industrial development office for NYC, where
he spent 10 years. In 1979, he
helped open relations with China
as part of The China Exhibition
Group and then further extended
his international interests as
treasurer for the Corporation
to End World Hunger. More
recently, Ken joined the Center
for the Study of the Presidency to
help improve understanding of
that office on a nonpartisan basis
and to provide an educational
program for college students. He
is survived by his wife Gail and
their four children.
As a final item for this everexpanding portion of ’49er news,
notice just arrived that George
Wright died peacefully on May
14 in Jamaica Plain, Mass., with
his son Denny by his side. George
came to Williams as a veteran of
WWII, where he earned battle
stars for his service in Northern
France, the Rhineland, Central
Europe and the Battle of the
Bulge. At Williams, he excelled at
squash and tennis and continued
to play at a high level for many
years. He worked briefly in Chicago but soon left the corporate
world to obtain a master’s in
education from Boston University
and become a teacher at Dexter
School in Brookline, Mass. There
he was introduced to the love of
his life, Nancy, by one of his students and future stepson, David
Weed. George and Nancy were
married in 1962 and remained
best friends for 47 years. He
became headmaster at Thompson
Academy on Thompson’s Island
in Boston Harbor in 1968 and
ran the school with Nancy’s
assistance for nine years. In 1974
they relocated to Hanover, N.H.,
where George taught school in
Lebanon and served as director
of the Upper Valley Hostel. In
2009 they moved to Springhouse
in Jamaica Plain, where Nancy
preceded George in death three
years ago.
1950
Kevin F.X. Delany
3143 O St., NW
Washington, DC 20007
[email protected]
The class has been hit very hard
in months. We have lost a number of outstanding classmates. In
terms of time and energy spent
on behalf of the class, one of the
biggest losses, at 83, was that of
Sidney Moody, who died April 15
at his assisted living home from
post-polio complications. Sid had
been class secretary for 32 years
when he stepped down from the
job after our 60th reunion. At
that reunion, Sid was awarded
the Thurston Bowl for outstanding contributions as a class secretary. By that point he had already
been voted class secretary for life.
It doesn’t get any better than that,
and I think even a contrarian
like Moody agreed. In terms of
full disclosure: Sid was one of
my best friends in the class. He
called me Mr. President long after
my tenure as class president had
ended. I always called him Mr.
Secretary.
My wife Joan and I attended
a remembrance gathering for
Sidney on May 5 at a country
club near the Moodys’ former
home in Bernardsville, N.J. I have
attended a number of memorial
services over the years, but the
one for Sid Moody was very
different from any in memory.
The event was packed to the
rafters with family and friends.
The Moodys’ sons, Clarke and
Michael, led off the eulogies by
describing what it was like to
grow up as Sid’s children. Their
stories and anecdotes brought
gales of laughter from all in attendance. Sid’s wife, Pat, an indomitable force for their more than 60
years of marriage, put together
the memorial as “Remembrances
and Appreciations of a Life
Well-lived.” She spoke movingly
of their life together and of Sid’s
final days.
The hilarity continued for
two solid hours as we heard
Moody lore from more than a
dozen additional eulogists. Most
stories were unforgettable, a few
unprintable, but fortunately all
were taped for future edification.
Sid had an outstanding career
of nearly 30 years with the Associated Press, covering the major
stories of his times, from WWII
to the Kennedy assassination. He
was part of a select group of AP
writers known as the Poets Corner, who wrote features for distribution throughout the world.
Several of his AP colleagues were
at the remembrance, and they
made it clear that as a writer,
Moody was second to none.
Your scribe had his turn to
speak, and he said, “If you are
really lucky in your lifetime, you
will meet few persons who are as
special as Sid Moody.” He ended
with: “Good Night, Mr. Secretary, you will be sorely missed.”
The last speaker was followed
by a lone bagpiper playing her
doleful notes on a single swing
through the audience. Then
after a talented Dixieland band,
entitled “Dr. Dubious and the
Agnostics,” went into high gear,
trays of Bloody Marys and wine
quickly appeared, followed
by additional trays of food. A
memorable day, indeed!
Howard Schow, 84, passed
away peacefully on April 8. His
obituary in The New York Times
said that Howard was not only
a beloved husband and father of
three children, but also one of the
world’s great stock pickers. Howard had been chairman of Capital
Research and Management in LA
until he left in 1983 to become
manger of Vanguard’s Primecap
Fund. His 50-year record as
a portfolio manager garnered
the attention and respect of the
investment community. His one
constant was his ability to outperform the market. At Williams,
n 1 9 4 9 –5 0
Howard endowed a professorship and gave the lead gift for the
Nan and Howard Schow Science
Library. In 2000 he funded a
private family foundation to
support health care, education
and the environment at the community level. The foundation
has supported 99 organizations,
including the Schow Trauma
Center at Huntington Memorial
Hospital.
Charles (Chuck) R. Alberti,
84, died on April 26 at North
Adams Regional Hospital. He
attended Pittsfield High School
and Deerfield Academy before
serving in the Navy during WWII.
He received a law degree from
Columbia University. Chuck and
his wife, Mary Angela Gualtieri
(Nan), then moved to Pittsfield,
where he practiced law. In 1974
Chuck was appointed special
justice of the Southern Berkshire
District Court, and in 1976 he
was appointed to the Superior
Court. Thereafter, Chuck served
as a professional mediator and as
an interviewer for the Williams
College Oral History Project,
which he joined in 1996. Chuck
is survived by his son Christopher
and daughters Lisa and Sarah.
Nan died in 2009.
The class lost another outstanding classmate, Albert (Bud) Blakey
III, 82, from complications of
multiple myeloma on May 5
in York, Pa. After graduating
from Williams, Bud went on to
Yale Law School, from which
he graduated in 1953. He joined
the U.S. Army and served at Fort
Sam Houston in Texas. Following his discharge, Bud returned to
New York and began a long and
distinguished legal career. In 1972
he was appointed as a judge in
the Court of Common Law. Bud
formed his own law firm in 1980
and continued to practice law
until the spring of this year. Bud
was known for his wonderful
sense of humor, which rivaled
that of many stand-up comedians. Bud is survived by his wife
of 25 years, Judith Law Blakey,
and five children from his prior
marriage: Albert IV, Erin, Sophia,
Daphne and Margaret.
Herbert Mohring died June 4
in Northfield, Minn. Herb, a
member of Delta Upsilon, was an
active class member with Purple
Key, manager of the swim team
and held many different roles
with the Williams Record, including managing editor senior year.
Richard (Dick) Proctor of
Cazenovia, N.Y., passed away
on March 9 at the age of 83.
Dick grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y.,
and attended the Hotchkiss
School before entering Williams, where he was a member
of Kappa Alpha. He enlisted in
the Air Force in 1951 and served
in Korea as a pilot and flight
instructor for four years. In 1957
Dick and his wife Nancy moved
to Cazenovia, where he worked
in industrial sales and real estate
but also found time for tennis
and skiing. Dick is survived
by his wife of 55 years and his
daughters Holly and Amy.
Andrew J. Scheffey of Leverett,
Mass., died at home on March 19
at the age of 84. Andrew attended
Williams for one year before
transferring to Haverford College.
After 25 years of teaching at
the University of Massachusetts
at Amherst, Andrew retired in
1988 as professor emeritus of the
Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning.
He also taught for three years at
Williams, where he established
the Center for Environmental
Studies and became its first director in 1967.
John (Jack) Wideman died May
10 at the age of 84 in Agawam,
Mass. After attending the Hill
School in Pottstown, Pa., he
graduated from Williams and
then earned a PhD in education
from Harvard. Jack moved his
family to Amherst and embarked
on a long career as a professor
of counseling psychology at the
University of Massachusetts at
Amherst. Jack is survived by his
wife Katherine Butler, daughter
Victoria and son Thomas.
In addition, we have been
informed belatedly of the deaths
of Howard Wedelstaedt, who
died Feb. 18, 2007, and William
Fowler, who died April 29. Our
condolences to both of their
families.
The class also sends condolences to Donald J. Miller on the
loss of his wife, Suzanne LaRoe
Miller, who died in May in
Lexington, Ky., at the age of 81.
We also send our condolences to
the family of Eli Reynolds, who
died April 7 after a brief illness.
Eli was the widow of Marcus
Reynolds, and she was a welcome
addition to our 1950 minireunion
last October. Our class number
now stands at 198.
Moving on to happier subjects,
I would like to thank the classmates who sent in their “war stories” in reply to my queries about
their WWII and Korean War
experiences. The responses were
forthcoming and more numerous
than I would have imagined—
many truly remarkable stories,
a number of which are included
below. Most of these accounts are
verbatim but shortened because
of space limitations. Please let me
know if I missed yours, so that I
can include it in the next edition.
Irv Burrows writes: “I graduated from high school in 1945
and joined the Navy. A radio
technician program was available
which promised a tech school
and instant rating as seaman
first class. The war ended while I
was a ‘boot’ at Bainbridge Naval
Training Station; the class was
canceled, and I was assigned to
a sub chaser in the Caribbean.
The first-class rating was a help,
and I was able to move up to
quartermaster 3/c via study and
OJT. Several months later I was
awarded an appointment to
Annapolis, … a long-term goal of
mine. I was released from USN
to prep for the USNA entry and
ended my active duty with less
than a year.
“At Annapolis, during the physical (and having been accepted
at Williams in the meantime), I
came to the conclusion that I’d
really had enough of the Navy
and told the docs that I suffered
from bouts of asthma (true).
They flunked me, of course, and
instead of becoming a plebe at
USNA I reported to Williams.
“During our senior year, the Air
Force came around looking for
pilot candidates. I was already a
licensed pilot and was intrigued
with the idea of moving up to a
high-performance aircraft and
signed up. Five years in the Air
Force as a fighter pilot included
some interesting events—100
missions over N. Korea, and
a crash landing on a beach in
Florida with resultant cracked
vertebrae and over four months
in a body cast.
“Out of the Air Force and
onward to McDonnell Aircraft
Co. here in St. Louis. … Twenty
years as an experimental test
pilot ended with my making the
first flight and doing much of
the early testing on F-15, back in
’72 the best fighter plane in the
world. I left that part of the business in ’76 as chief test pilot and
moved to the first of a number
of different executive positions
leading to retirement in ’91 as an
executive VP.”
The following account is from
J.W. Anderson: “I arrived at Williams with the firm intention of
becoming a physicist. Williams
was running on a wartime
schedule of three semesters a year.
My father thought things were
moving too fast for me, and there
CL ASS
NOTES
was the matter of the draft. ‘They
will get you sooner or later,’ he
said. Never did a father give
better advice to his callow son. I
thought I liked boats and trotted
off to the Coast Guard, but it
offered only a three-year program. The Army would take me
for 18 months, so I was sworn
in on my 18th birthday and
shortly found myself at Camp
Polk, La. Meanwhile, the Army
had discovered that it faced an
unexpected crisis in northeastern
Italy, a part of the world where
the 1946 national borders were
a matter of opinion. Tito’s Red
partisans had come streaming
into the area above Trieste to
inflict rough and bloody justice
on the Fascists. British troops had
managed to push them back, but
warned the Americans that they
hadn’t the manpower to maintain
the effort.
“After three weeks of basic
training, I found myself loaded
onto a ship in Hoboken, N.J.,
along with some thousands of
equally raw kids, and shipped
to Italy. … Over the next year I
worked briefly for a divisional
weekly paper, then stood guard
for some months in the town of
Gorizia, then put to work with a
jeep and driver, delivering the Stars
and Stripes through an austere and
classically beautiful landscape.
“All of it was totally safe. The
Yugoslav Army, veterans of fine
years of war with the Germans,
could have eaten us up for breakfast and been in Venice in time
for lunch. As troops go, we were
worth hardly more than so many
Boy Scouts. We weren’t there
to fight. We were what became
known later as a tripwire. On
the provisional border there was
occasional pushing and shoving
between the Yugoslavs and the
Americans, but nothing serious.
As we learned much later, Stalin
had told the Yugoslavs to cool it.
He neither liked nor trusted the
Yugoslavs and didn’t want them
setting precedents for cross-border shenanigans that could make
trouble for him in Germany.
Safe, but it was a point where
the great forces of world power
were colliding, in a country that
had been defeated by both sides
in a great war. … All of this
made a substantial contribution
to the education of a very green
kid whose whole experience of
life had previously been limited
to the Philadelphia suburbs and
Berkshire County.
“After the Italian peace treaty
was ratified, we marched onto
ships and sailed back to the
U.S., where some of us with a
few months still to serve were
assigned to the 82nd Airborne
Division. For me it was an
introduction to soldiering as it
was done by professionals. The
82nd, I’ve been told, was at that
time (early 1948) the only division of the U.S. Army capable of
taking the field in combat. There
were press releases, for Soviet
consumption, about the 82nd
up to full fighting strength. In
March, all of us short-termers
and amateurs were discharged
without any press releases.
“And I returned to Williams
where I changed my major from
physics to history.”
Bill Gehron provided the following: “After being drafted
in 1943 and a few months of
basic training at Fort Dix, N.J.,
I applied for Infantry Officer
Candidate School (OCS) at
Fort Benning, Ga. Most men at
that time saw the war as a just
cause that brought out patriotic
emotions and spelled out heroic
dimensions. … I was wrapped up
by and in the flag.
“After graduating from OCS
in 1944, I was ordered to report
to the European theater. On the
Queen Mary, as we entered English waters, aside from our presence there, there was no sign that
this was but another day with
nothing amiss. We crossed the
English Channel from Southampton to Le Havre and it was there
that I realized the horror of war
as the city had been completely
devastated.
“I ended up as a second lieutenant platoon leader in Gen. George
Patton’s Third Army, immediately
after the Battle of the Bulge,
where I replaced a platoon leader
killed in that action. I spent some
months in combat before the
German surrender, which hardly
qualifies me as a battle-hardened
veteran of the war. However, it
was enough to be a live target, to
get a real sense of the tragedy and
brutishness of war, and to feel for
those soldiers of today who are
put at risk with two, three or four
tours of duty in combat.”
1951
Gordon Clarke
183 Foreside Road
Falmouth, ME 04105
[email protected]
Greetings. Each edition of notes
brings something new! I will lead
with “a note from the distaff
side.” Stan Hazen is immersed
in a family genealogy project;
Sheila, his wife, is “trying to help
by composing something for the
class column.” Stan’s project took
the Hazens on a two-week auto
trip (from Charlottesville, Va., to
central Illinois) to investigate a
trunk full of family photos that
had turned up in Champaign
County. While in the area, they
visited the new Lincoln Museum
in Springfield as well as the only
house Mr. Lincoln ever owned.
Editor’s note: I claim knowledge
of the area, having, in the spring
of 1943, made the 20-mile walk
from Salem to Springfield, Ill.,
as part of earning a Boy Scout
award. One walked alone and
mostly on gravel roads through
rolling farm country. The farmers
and their families were used to
seeing solo hikers, and I especially
recall resting on a back porch
with a glass of milk and a large
piece of corn bread.
Tad Jeffrey writes, “We had a
’51 minireunion at Walt Morse’s
lovely memorial service in Philadelphia in April. One of several
speakers was Jack Fraser, who
spoke so well that I have tried
to sign him up to speak at my service. In addition to Jack and his
wife Mike, Chuck Pusey, Tom Kent
and Dick Siegel along with Ellen
were there. Walt would have
loved the service, at which several
of his children and his dear friend
Kit also spoke. We’ll miss Walt,
but it was a happy occasion.”
Bill Paton asks, “Are we getting old? Maybe that’s what’s
wrong with my tennis game.”
The Patons were to be at their
house at Rehoboth Beach, Del.,
until their tenants arrived in July.
In the meantime, Bill was, “still
playing a little banjo, ‘doing a
few good works’ and altogether
pretty healthy.”
Pete deLisser is excited about
the publication of his latest book,
Courageous Conversations,
at Work, at Home, which is
now available digitally. Editor’s
note: I found it for the Kindle
on Amazon. Pete “got a quick
response from a client, who said,
‘I don’t know a Kindle from a
giraffe, but I want the book.’” He
also reports that he now has an
iPhone because he has found that
the only way he can communicate with his nine grandchildren
is by text message. Pete also sent
along a small, grainy old photo,
taken in June 1951. He claims
that the images are of himself,
Green Carleton, Scrubby Perry
and Bill Rodie, photographed
at the end of a round of golf
played right after exams with
prizes consisting of swallows of
n 1 9 5 0 –5 1
Classmates attending a memorial service for Walt “Mumbles” Morse ’51
in April included (from left) Tom Kent, Tom Costikyan, Jack Fraser, Dick
Siegel, Chuck Pusey and Tad Jeffrey as well as John Whitney ’53.
scotch at the end of each hole. It
is probably just as well that the
photo won’t be published, as the
subjects look a bit the worse for
the wear!
Phil Cook was one of several
classmates who noted that my
last broadcast email “was quite
cheerful and not announcing the
passing of another classmate.”
The first several months of
2012 were hard on the class of
1951! The Cooks are frequent
travelers, sometimes to escape
the allergies and winds of Santa
Fe and sometimes to visit more
exotic destinations. Their list
includes: Florida (dining with
Jane and Bob Geniesse); NYC;
Vermont (for July 4); and Italy
(for cooking school). When not
packing/unpacking, they are
active members of the Santa Fe
community. Phil has taken up
golf and shot one stroke better
than his age (81) last September
and is finishing a two-year term
as chair of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. (Editor’s note:
Having paged through the SGCF
website, I am confident that this
role entails major responsibilities
and decision making.) Phil and
his wife are politically active (I
won’t be more specific, but he
did use the word “troglodyte.”),
and Phil is going to get back to
writing an unfinished novel about
“a newspaper editor in the 1880s
who is the victim of a murder
plot. Who wants to kill an editor? Everybody! So the novel is
really a defense of the embattled
newspaper business.”
When I read John Snyder’s
note, I was reminded that when
I arrived in Williamstown in
1947 I was reconnected with
friends with whom I had been in
class since the first grade: John
Snyder, Dick Lippincott, John
Kadyk and I all started first grade
at the Hubbard Woods School
together, and, I think, we were
joined by Bob Geniesse in junior
high school. They all went on
to New Trier; I came east to live
with my grandparents during the
war. The Snyders have bought a
place in Boca Grande, where they
hope to see more of the Geniesse
family. John’s grandson Nels will
be attending Williams in the fall.
This lad is a swimmer whose
times today are faster than the
world records when John was
swimming for Williams! Wow!
For a second successive year,
last January Don Gregg taught a
Winter Study class at Williams
with political science professor
James McAllister. “The subject
was basically CIA and how it
has functioned (very mixed).”
Don found the interaction with
21 Williams undergraduates very
stimulating and has applied to
the college to teach again next
January. Don is glad that David
Petraeus is now CIA director. He
“had a chance encounter with
(Petraeus) in Washington last
November” and observes that
he “likes the job, is impressed
with the CIA people and that he
has great respect for President
Obama, particularly in the light
of his courageous decision to
send the SEALS to get OBL.” No
wonder Don stays so young!
Jackie and Alfred Schlosser
“have been leading the quiet
life,” to which this writer would
add “active.” As retirees, they
can attend matinees, walking
to the station in Larchmont,
lunching in Manhattan and
then walking cross-town to
Lincoln Center. They spice these
ventures by meeting sometimes
with Eric Showers and Ellen and
Dick Siegel. Al writes that their
oldest grandson, who graduated
Hamilton in 2011, found two
years of employment as a tutor
and athletic coach at the Qatar
Leadership Academy. Clearly,
he is having a great opportunity
to learn, especially when one
considers the traveling he is doing
during his time off. However, he
will soon return and have to find
a permanent job here in the U.S.
Those of ’51 who served in the
military upon graduation will
recall and recognize the stress of
returning to civilian life in the
mid 1950s.
The following is my translation
of Dr. Wally Bortz’s submission,
which looks to be a forwarded
email, originally sent to a friend
in the UK: “Flying San Francisco
to Dublin July 16/17; lecture at
Trinity College, July 18: ‘Plasticity of Aging’; run the marathon
in Stokestown, July 21; all of this
is pretty well confirmed. Then
we propose to fly to the UK July
23 where we will hire a car to
visit you (our highest priority)
and Mae Wan Ho (?) in Milton
Keynes plus a nearby Diabetes
Wellness Foundation office;
return to Dublin July 27.” The
balance of the text has to do with
a guest house and alternatives.
We will have to wait for Wally’s
next submission to learn how this
all worked out.
Finally, it has been almost two
years since my wife Karen died at
a local Alzheimer’s facility where
she had lived for three years. I
still recall some of that experience
vividly. Through some fortunate
quirk of fate plus the quick wit of
a staff member, she was assigned
quarters near a high school and
Smith friend. The two egged each
other on and, as both enjoyed
singing, sang frequently. They
both knew the traditional college
songs, which they belted out
together. At least nine times a Williams legacy, Karen was especially
proud that she could sing all the
verses of “The Mountains,” and
her friend could fill in for most.
Most of the other residents
were elderly ladies, although there
were some gentlemen who usually
kept quietly to themselves. One
morning, as Karen and friend
were starting “The Mountains,”
they were joined by a strong,
clear tenor. It turned out that
his name was Jim and he was
Williams Class of 1955. For the
CL ASS
NOTES
next several weeks, whenever they
started a Williams song, it was
likely that Jim would join them.
I am still touched by the effect of
that experience. Those ties that
we formed so many years ago
seem to stand the tests of time
and adversity remarkably well.
1952
Alec Robertson
3 Essex Meadows
Essex, CT 06426
[email protected]
That was one great 60th
Reunion! Departing President
Fred Goldstein and Edwen, Nicky
and Paige L’Hommedieu, and
Susan and Jim Henry put on a
great show. Fred turned over the
reins to Bill Missimer and Jane,
plus an excellent cadre of officers,
including VP Jim Henry, Class
Agent Doug Foster, Planned Giving Chair Ray George, Treasurer
John Montgomery and yours truly
as scribe. Thank you for your
continuing super contributions.
Please contact me if you’d like
a list of attendees— an all-star
lineup. We had three great
dinners, had Bob Aliber, John
Sylvester and Art Levitt impart
words of wisdom, marched in the
parade and attended a beautiful
memorial service on Sunday for
those who have left us over the
last five years—an unfortunately
long list. It was an amazing and
heartfelt reunion.
Spoke to Becky about Joe Bumsted. They were unable to come.
Joe is suffering from Alzheimer’s,
brought on by diabetes, which
he has had most of his life. Becky
takes good care of him, but he is
not doing well.
Ex-President Fred Goldstein
wanted to “repeat again that
the 60th was one of the best
ever reunions thanks to reunion
co-chairs Nicky and Paige
L’Hommedieu, Susan and Jim
Henry, and honorary chair Judy
Campbell. In addition, what great
dinners hosted by Jackie and
Don Martin, Betsy and Ted Taylor,
Ann and Doug Foster, and Emily
Kraft. Passing the mantle of class
president off to Bill Missimer, I
am thrilled that the class is now
in such good hands. It was great
seeing everyone. … We do have
the Really Great Class of 1952.
Again, I want to express my
thanks to ’52 and especially to
Ted Taylor for his kind remarks
Friday night. I am trying to figure
out how to hang the bronze seal
in our living room so both front
and back can be seen. I also am
trying to figure out how everyone
in the class can wear Joseph’s
Coat since it really belongs to
all of you for your support and
friendship. We look forward to
the mini Oct. 12 and 13.”
Robbie and Swifty Swift
announced: “Our new granddaughter (born September 2011
to youngest son Ethan in southern
Vermont) is number six, but no
grandsons! We’re still trying to sell
our home in St. Michaels, Md.,
to 1) spend more time at summer
place in Northeastern Vermont,
and 2) travel more and maybe
buy a small place in Green Valley,
Ariz. We spent three weeks over
Xmas in California visiting two
daughters and one granddaughter
and many other friends and family
members. Had hoped to do some
skiing but no Sierra snow and
none in Vermont when we got
back East either—first winter with
no skiing at all!” The Swifts were
“expecting all kids & grands to
visit in Vermont this summer!”
“‘Travel while you still can’ is
our motto,” reports Howie Martin. “Less than three weeks after
returning from Dordogne, Betty
and I joined our family on the
Danube for an early celebration
of our 60th anniversary. The tight
scheduling came because this was
the only time all 11 could get
away. Luckily we survived!”
“I did want to tell you how
sorry Lucy and I were that we
couldn’t join you in Williamstown,” apologized Woody Waesche. “She has always told her
friends that she has never known
a group of men who were so
warm, welcoming, sharing, etc.,
and were all involved in POSITIVE activities. I must note that
the class has finally recognized a
fellow physics major by electing
Bill Missimer president.”
“Sorry we couldn’t make it.
Sounds as if it was a very jolly
and satisfying event,” wrote Pete
Mezey from San Francisco.
Ted Chasteney chimed in:
“What a great weekend! One
that I will remember for a long
time. All you guys did a wonderful job. I am already looking
forward to our 65th!” (Ted just
moved to Dana Point, Calif., to
be near his daughter.)
I had a nice note from Marlene
Rice: “I was sorry to have to miss
this reunion, but I had a town of
Tiburon function I could not miss
… and my first volunteer day at
the U.S. Open. … I would have
loved to have seen everyone again
on this joyous occasion.”
John Phillips says of CCRC living: “Life at the old folks’ home
is going pretty well regardless of
my age. The octogenarian residents continue to tell wonderful
stories and make insightful comments. Here are a few: ‘It was
so cold last night that my teeth
never stopped chattering, and
they were in a glass beside my
bed.’ ‘I’m getting so feeble that I
get winded doing the crossword
puzzle.’ ‘Back in the ’60s, I had a
Freudian psychiatrist. He taught
me that I had an id, an ego and
a super ego. Then I had to admit
that I was driving a YUGO.’
Remember them?”
Jay McElroy wrote before
reunion: “Mary and I … took a
river cruise from St. Petersburg to
Moscow. It was a really fun trip.
I had a number of political conversations with Russians. They
did not like Putin. I asked how he
won the election, and they said
he changed some rules that really
helped him. He now appoints
all the mayors, and if they don’t
deliver the votes they may suddenly be out of office. He also
changed the rules on judges. He
now appoints them also. … The
most amazing thing I learned was
that Russia is going to stop free
education beyond the third grade.
I couldn’t believe it, but everyone
I asked said it was true.”
Pat and Bill Hatch are firmly
entrenched in a home in a
retirement community not far
from where they used to live
in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. “I now
know I am in an old folks’ home
when the residents stage dog
parades and games such as bag
toss, bowling on the green and
croquet. Our home is great, but
I am not ready for all the other
stuff. Had the privilege of seeing
our second grandson graduate
from Vanderbilt … in Nashville,
and we are thrilled he has a job.
It was fun to have our class HQ
at the old Psi Upsilon house.”
“Vicki and I were in Kauai
for 10 days in May with her
95-year-old mother and brother,”
reported Bob Huddleston. Bob
was all “traveled out” so didn’t
make it to reunion. He continued,
“I saw a very nice red Mercedes
Benz convertible with a Williams
sticker on the window in a restaurant parking lot in Kauai but
couldn’t locate the owner.”
Dick Walters wasn’t able to
attend reunion. He was “stuck
back here in California (no
complaints),” looking forward
to the high school graduation
in Portland, Ore., of youngest grandson, Jenson. “He is
valedictorian of his class and a
composer who is going to St.
n 1 9 5 1 –5 2
Olaf’s to continue in his father’s
footsteps as music professional.
Jenson recently wrote a Gloria,
a part of a requiem, which was
performed by a choir in Portland
to considerable acclaim.”
Tim Redfield: “Sorry not to
make it to the 60th. Just too tired
all the time. No pain, though!
Our grandson Stephen Mayfield
was accepted by Williams via
early decision and starts this fall.
Another grandson, Matthew
Redfield, was a freshman at MIT
this year, had excellent grades
and played varsity basketball.”
Frank Olmsted wrote: “Williams gave me a good academic
education. Williams also helped
me, a non-fraternity man, to
understand what it is like to be
of a disdained caste. It helped me
to see all mankind as brothers
and sisters. That was worthwhile,
but being in the disdained caste
muted my feelings for the school.
It still does, even though Williams
has done the right thing and
has gotten rid of the system that
made so many of us not sons, but
stepsons of Williams.”
Jane Mykrantz wrote: “I was
so very sorry not to be there, but
I had been in Williamstown the
weekend before for granddaughter Lauren’s graduation—also a
really great occasion.” When she
wrote, Jane was gearing up for
a “family trip to the Galapagos
(11 of us).” She said: “I’m thrilled
that Fred Goldstein received
Joseph’s Coat, a well-deserved
honor, and that the really great
class achieved 100 percent in giving. Wow. The list of those who
have died in the last five years
was humbling, and it didn’t even
include the dearly beloveds like
Mary Lee. Still we have so much
to be grateful for, including happy
memories of great experiences in
the Purple Valley and a worldclass school to be proud of.”
Our reunions are always very
special for Betty Ann and Rick
Wheeler. “We are not only back
together with the class, but we
are back home where we started
in our marriage 62 years ago.
You are absolutely right about
the wonder and pleasure that
was interwoven with the daily
agenda. The lectures, the tours
and visits added so much. …
Being again in the beauty of the
topography that surrounds us in
Williamstown is a very special
and wonderful sensation. … And
special thanks and appreciation
to Fred for his wonderful leadership over the years.”
Ted Withington wrote prior to
reunion: “Robin and I have a
great-grandson named Nathaniel Dougherty. I look forward
to learning from other greatgrandparents at reunion how to
behave.” Ted received the first
Distinguished Service Award
from the Numismatic Society in
New York in January.
“Sorry I missed the mini,”
intoned Dick Somerby. “I was en
route from Naples to Hartsdale
on my annual transition from
sunny (and too hot) Florida to
cooler New York.” He planned
to spend the summer catching up
with a son (and three grandkids)
and daughter (and two grandkids) in New Canaan and a son
(and two grandkids) in Brooklyn
Heights and Bellport on Long
Island. Dick said, “Rick Jeffrey
and I are the ’52 contingent in a
small but active Williams Club
in Naples.” He was planning to
return there in October.
“Delighted with the magnificent turnout of more than
50 classmates plus wives and
partners—which is a tribute to
not only our organizers and the
creativity of their plans but also
to the spirit of the Great Class of
’52,” wrote Sam Humes. “I was
especially struck by the turnout
because the other 60th Williams
College reunion I attended (my
father’s in 1983) was attended by
only five ’23ers. Granted that the
classes were smaller and longevity
was shorter, but still a 10-times
ratio is very impressive. Three
(no, many more) cheers for our
organizers.”
“Dear Hard Workers,” wrote
Cal Padgett. “Well, the Really
Great! Class of 1952 did themselves proud again. … However,
it is you, the ‘hard workers,’ who
made it such fun for the rest of
us and deserve the kudos. The
60th was outstanding. Always
something interesting to do or see
or learn, prizes for two of ours
who deserved it the most (Doug
and Fred), the best food and
decorations ever and the warm
hospitality of all involved. Please
know that the Padgetts from Kansas City had a great time and will
remember it with a smile.”
Ben Heilman wrote: “This is
the second email I have done
since very heavy spinal surgery
on May 1. I am beginning to
get around, driving locally and
being very careful about how I
move. Sorry to miss our 60th. In
addition to my back this infernal
machine was (1) upstairs and (2)
it broke down.”
Bob Bischoff wrote: “Those
’52ers who worked on the event
seem to have pulled it off with
a deft touch that left us very
pleased and thankful for their
efforts. It was great to have our
daughter Melanie with us for the
weekend and to have daughter
Elisabeth ’83 turn up with grandson Michael Ormsbee ’03 for the
Friday night dinner. Very special
for us to have their company.”
I am sorry to report the death
of D. Dean (Mac) McCormick on
March 24, in Tustin, Calif. Mac
got married in 1952 but lost his
wife eight years ago. He was a
transportation executive, owning
his own rail car, The Scottish
Thistle, in which he traveled all
over the U.S. Mac was a significant contributor to the government, school boards and other
eleemosynary efforts in Orange
County. He is survived by three
children and numerous grandand great-grandchildren. We will
miss him.
Frank Eichelberger died Dec. 20,
2011. Frank was a first lieutenant in the Air Force and earned
a bachelor’s in metallurgical
engineering at Washington State.
He was an engineer at Kaiser
Aluminum, an insurance broker
and owned his own Ford agency
in Spokane. He is survived by his
wife Dianne, three children and
four grandchildren.
David Evans passed away
March 26. After serving in the
Army, Dave excelled in a career
in the insurance industry, occupying executive positions with AFIA
and Marsh & McClellan and was
president of his own company.
Dave is survived by his wife
Debbie, two children and two
grandchildren.
Also, Ned Collins passed away
Feb. 16 from acute leukemia.
Ned served as a lieutenant in
the Navy, went to architectural
school at Yale and had a very
successful 50-year career. Ned
designed private houses, pioneered condominiums in the form
of cluster housing throughout
New England and the East Coast
and aided in restorations of
historically significant buildings.
Ned was also an accomplished
skier and sailor, having won the
Sears Cup. He is survived by his
wife Susan, three children and six
grandchildren.
Well, it was a warm and
welcoming reunion, put together
with care and concern. Thanks
to all who made it a wonderful experience. We are looking
forward to getting together for
the minireunion Oct. 12-13 in
Williamstown and urge all to
make reservations early, as it is
homecoming.
CL ASS
NOTES
1953
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Stephen W. Klein
378 Thornden St.
South Orange, NJ 07079
[email protected]
David Palmer wrote that his
“father was a cowboy from
Western Montana and somehow
left Montana Normal School in
Dillon, next stop Williamstown,
Class of 1909. The how and
why is buried in obscurity. In the
summer of 1952 Dave and Len
Chapman got west of the GW
Bridge for the first time and saw
the Black Hills, etc., and went
to Dillon, Mont., where his dad
lived. It was not much more than
a wide spot on the road, but they
went to a miniscule library to
inquire after him. On mentioning Douglas Palmer’s name to the
librarian, she waxed eloquent,
explaining that they had attended
Montana Normal together. That
same summer of 1952, Chapman
and Palmer contacted another
of his father’s 1909 classmates,
one Henry Toll of Denver, a
high-profile attorney. We were
questioned rather closely before
an invitation to a posh Denver
club for which we did not have
appropriate clothes. Then we
went to work for yet another
1909 classmate Dick Eurich. He
had been a successful chemical
engineer in Ohio before retiring
to Big Timber, Mont., to raise
Palomino horses. We worked
there for several weeks, which
was a godsend, as we were very
broke. Ancient stuff to be sure,
but does say something about the
amazing spirit that resides in the
Williams alumni clan, both then
and now.”
Peter Sterling, in Pennsylvania
for a grandson’s graduation from
Dickinson College, managed in
the same trip to see Charles Glass
and Ethel Banta in Virginia and
in DC had a good lunch with
Suzanne and Bill Miller. Pete
mentioned that Bill was to give
a commencement address at the
oldest university in Ukraine.
Mike Lazor and I were discussing the travails of English 1 and
the generous grading (C!) of our
instructor Jack Ludwig. Gene
Linett, who is at least as well
informed as Major General Stanley, has mentioned in passing Jack
Ludwig’s romantic involvement
with the wife of Saul Bellow.
(This was not part of the English
1 or subsequent curricula.) Mike
had lunch with Nancy and Woody
D’Oench when they were visiting
in Chatham, Mass. It should be
noted that Mike’s granddaughter Kathleen Elkins ’14 was an
outstanding member of the again
NCAA Division III Women’s
Championship Tennis Team
and had a 28-0 record in singles
matches for the season.
I had the good fortune to speak
with Father Michael Scanlon.
Mike is in retirement at the Franciscan Mother House in Loretto,
Pa. Mike misses particularly the
contact with his students at Steubenville but clearly has retained
his dry wit and positive outlook.
Rumor has it that George
Hartnett is returning to golf after
a three-year hiatus. It is hoped
that we have further news on this
venture.
A reminder from Todd Mauck
that the fall minireunion is Oct.
12-14. Friday night dinner will
be at Hobson’s Choice, and Tiger
McGill’s home will be the venue
for Saturday’s dinner. Saturday
lunch as usual at Weston Field.
Todd is also completing arrangements for our 60th reunion
next June. As of this posting, a
reunion uniform has not yet been
selected.
A footnote: Happy and Todd
recently welcomed their fifth
great-grandchild.
1954
Al Horne
7214 Rebecca Drive
Alexandria, VA 22307
[email protected]
Steve Selig, who died at his
home in New York in late June
after complications from a
long-standing heart condition,
played a major role in our class
as VP from 1989 to 1994 and
as president from 1994 to 1999.
He was also deeply involved in
working with the broader alumni
community as chairman of the
Planned Giving Committee from
1978 to 1980 and as a member
of the Society of Alumni’s Executive Committee from 2002 to
2005. A Columbia Law graduate,
he joined Baer Marks in 1957
and was a partner from 1964 to
2008. As he once wrote in the
late 1970s, “I think I have done
reasonably well at (and by) the
practice of law. I like what I am
doing, it pays well and I am fairly
well-known in the once obscure
but now growing field of commodity futures.”
Steve loved to travel, said Allan
Fulkerson, recalling trips that he
and Judy had made with Steve
and his wife Joan. Steve was also
an art collector, a patron and
supporter of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and Metropolitan Opera, and for more than 40
years he and Joan enjoyed summers at Wellfleet on Cape Cod.
He had set up a Williams scholarship named for his two daughters, who died with his first wife
in an auto accident. The address
of the Laura Ross and Pamela
Kate Selig Scholarship Fund is 75
Park St. in Williamstown.
Joe Usatine, who wrote to us
about using chemotherapy to
fight his blood cancer for several
years, lost that battle at the end
of May in The Dalles, Ore. Joe
had lived in the Columbia River
gorge since moving in 2003 from
South Carolina, where he had
been a self-employed accountant after getting his MBA from
Columbia University. Joe’s widow
Martha told Hal Zimmerman that
donations in Joe’s name can be
made to a youth reading program
for which Joe had volunteered:
SMART, 101 S.W. Market St.,
Portland, Ore., 97201.
A happier milestone was the
graduation of Didi and Harry
Rieger’s granddaughter Katy at
the Williams commencement in
June. The occasion led to a minireunion with the resident ’54 Zete
contingent—Mary Jo and Russ
Carpenter and Harry Montgomery
and Audrey Clarkson. Katy, her
grandfather noted, was a successful math major, while grandpa
Harry “did math for three years
myself and then was lost in space
and had to focus on chemistry.”
A week later, the official alumni
reunion drew a modest turnout
from our class. Apart from the
local residents—those named
above, plus Shirley and Jim
Carpenter, Pokey Kalker, Daphne
and Bob McGill, and Bill Stott and
Julie Mestre—the reunion visitors
were Nancy and Hugh Germanetti, Annaick and Buzz Eichel,
Mal Kane, and Dan Tritter and
Jacqueline Laroche. Hugh notes,
however, that, at last count, 19
class members and spouses were
expecting to make the next minireunion, which will open with
dinner at the Six House Pub at 6
p.m. Friday, Oct. 12—Columbus
Day before holidays started being
moved to Mondays.
Now for some literary news:
Our quarterback Dana Fearon
completed a long pass to his
publisher, Eerdmans, which will
bring out Straining at the Oars,
a book he describes as “20 case
studies of problems that face new
n 1 9 5 3 –5 4
From left: 1954 classmates Russ Carpenter (seated), Harry Montgomery
and Harry Rieger celebrated the Williams graduations of Rieger’s
granddaughter Katy ’12 and her friend Emily McTague ’12 in June.
ministers,” this fall. Many of the
cases are drawn from Dana’s 42
years as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville,
N.J., and “half the cases reveal
how I could have done a better job,” he says. Dana’s wife
Janet, meanwhile, is undergoing
chemotherapy and faces possible
surgery for lung cancer. “She is
doing well,” Dana says.
Peter Goldman has forsaken
political reporting to write a
series of detective novels. His
first work of fiction, The Last
Minstrel Show, features a former
New York police detective who
probes a string of murders
plaguing an all-black traveling basketball team while he
communes with the jive-talking
ghost of Albert Camus. If you’re
looking for summer reading, this
is a hoot. Pete also notes, “One
of my 10 nonfiction books, The
Death and Life of Malcolm X,
is scheduled for republication
by the University of Illinois next
spring, with some updating by
me on who ordered Malcolm’s
assassination.”
From Paris, Michel Balinski
reports that he’s now “finishing
a book on what’s wrong with the
U.S. electoral system.” Mike’s
other current projects include
“writing an article on how wine
juries should decide rankings and
advising the Tunisian constituent
assembly on the electoral system
they should adopt.”
Bob Cluett, whose last fulllength book was published in
2003, reports that his slides
from a 1956-57 tour of duty as
commander of a Coast Guard
Long Range Navigation station
in northern Greenland have been
turned into an official video
called A Year at the Top of the
World. Bob’s last book, The
Gold of Troy, is a family history
that includes the Cluetts’ close
connection with Williams dating
back to 1887. Bob “became the
16th consecutive Cluett, 27th
of the extended clan, to enter
Williams in the fall of 1950,” his
book relates, and the college still
has a Cluett chair in religion.
“Though I left Williamstown
in February of ’52, Williams has
stayed with me,” Bob writes in
a letter from his farm in Wellington, Ontario. “John Donner
and I lived in the same house
at Columbia in 1953-54 and
played squash together at least
once a week; Gary Stahl all but
physically carried me through my
first semester in graduate school
in 1958, teaching me everything
I know about Aristotle, and Bob
Bletter, as director of Columbia’s
Teachers College Press, was the
editor/publisher of my magnum
critical opus, Prose Style and
Critical Reading, in 1976.”
From Keene, N.H., Bob Seaman writes: “The good news
is that vol. 2 of The History of
the Grand Cascapedia River is
now available for the aficionados of salmon angling. Anyone
interested should look up Hoagy
Bix Carmichael, the author, on
the Internet. My daughter Robin
did all the book layout and
design, and I did the illustrations.
Same team as in vol. 1. This is
the fourth book I’ve done with
Hoagy and the third for Robin.
“The bad news is I’ve got a
bad case of stenosis and other
lower spine miseries.” Bob was
facing going “under the blade
in August” but still hoped to
visit with Molly and John Beard
on Swans Island, Maine, in
September. “Unfortunately, have
to put teaching at the Sharon Arts
Center on hold until my back
gets rearranged. Still painting and
drawing, however, and if anyone
is interested they can check my
website: 368Art.com”
Guy Verney reports that at this
spring’s Alumni Fund leadership
dinner he presented the Sawyer
Trophy, held by our class for the
past seven years, to Doug Foster
’52. “He achieved something I
never will (knowing our class)—
he got 100 percent participation
from his class of 138. It is their
60th reunion, so we have something to strive for, but I have had
a few classmates who have told
me that they will never contribute
to the Alumni Fund—despite
my pleading on bended knee! In
order to recapture that trophy,
which is based on a combination of dollars and participation,
we’ll need to get the participation
percentage up into the high 80s,
with some more money. I will
definitely give it a shot this year,
with a big push in 2014!”
From New York, Joe Rice
writes that he is stepping down as
chairman of the leveraged buyout
firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice,
which he formed in 1978. “The
buy-out business … was one of
the great growth businesses of the
20th century and may well be a
great growth business in the 21st
century. It has been fun.
“I have … a daughter who
is now 44 and lives in North
Carolina with her husband and
three young boys; a son who
is 39 and also has three young
children; and a daughter, 18, who
will enter Cornell in the fall. I
have been married for the past
20 years to a woman who is a
partner in a large New York law
firm. What we are going to do
now is unclear, but if we can’t
find something that interests us, it
is only our own fault.”
Similar news has arrived from
the LA area, from the courtroom of Judge Charlie Sheldon:
“I’ve decided, as 80 is a nice
round number, that I might just
retire later this year. After more
than 1,200 jury trials, with 40
boxes of trial notes sitting in my
upstairs storage, I am likely to
write the all-American novel—
ha, ha!” Charlie notes also that
“Brenda Hoffman and I are close
to 13 years together.”
From West Hartford, Quincy
Abbot reports that The Arc of
Connecticut gave him an award
CL ASS
NOTES
at the governor’s mansion
in Hartford for “36 years of
dedicated services to the Arc
Movement and the developmental and intellectual disability
community in Connecticut.”
“Throughout your tenure,” the
governor’s statement read, “you
have worked tirelessly on the
Board of Directors of The Arc of
Connecticut, as acting director
of many Arc organizations and
as an advocate for people with
disabilities … You have dedicated
your career to civil rights and
leadership in disability advocacy.” A photo of Quincy at the
award dinner appeared in The
Hartford Courant, which managed to misspell his last name.
From California, Jerry Schauffler writes that he and Barbie
went on a Williams boat tour of
Belgium and the Netherlands.
The trip, Jerry says, “had some
definite highs—the staggeringly
beautiful Keukenhof Gardens (the
world’s largest flower gardens,
near the Dutch city of Lisse) and
our superb Williams professor,
Zirka Filipczak—and a real bust:
the complete-waste-of-time trade
show billed as the Floriade.”
From Brewster, Mass., Dick
Payne reports that he and Joan
completed their “10th annual
road trek to the desert in southwest Texas. We drove our motor
home and stayed at a very remote
and very rustic campground
outside of Big Bend National Park
for two months. It was warm,
quiet and beautiful.”
From Oregon, Cal Collins
reports, “I am still here, gimping
along, slowly but more surely.”
And Rod Starke says that he and
Esther “still enjoy living along the
edge of San Francisco Bay, playing golf often, traveling some,
enjoying our twin 6-year-old
grandkids often and having our
son Steve and his family close
enough to see at least weekly.”
From Boulder, Colo, Mitch Stahl
reports that so many were turned
away from the May lecture on
“Trauma’s Role in Health and
Illness,” part of the health lecture
series established in honor of her
husband Gary Stahl, that a second
session had to be held in June at
the Boulder Public Library. “I
never imagined that the field of
trauma diagnosis and treatment
had developed so far,” says
Mitch, who trained as a nurse.
From Newport, R.I., Dave
Moore writes, “At the great old
age of 80 I am still continuing
my post-Williams education
here. Dinny and I attend weekly
lectures at either the Naval War
College, the country’s oldest
library, Newport Art Museum
or Salve Regina University. I am
even writing historical essays
about Newport in the local
Green Light magazine. I wish I
had majored in history!” Another of our Rhode Islanders, John Miller, reports, “I’m
still active in Narragansett on a
number of committees. I continue
fighting Town Hall. Unfortunately, Town Hall manages to
withstand my assaults. We have
student rental issues (noise,
unruliness, etc.) here in town,
and occasionally, in attempting
to counter the students, memory
nags me with the thought that I
have switched sides.”
1955
Norm Hugo
37 Carriage Lane
New Canaan, CT 06840
[email protected]
Submitted by former class
secretary Charley Bradley: Your
secretary apologizes in advance
for the brevity of these notes, but
not for their quality, and reminds
the reader that the great members
of the Great Class of 1955 must
provide content. Your secretary
does not write fiction.
It was really good to hear at
last from our celebrated author
Rick Smith, who wrote as follows: “Oh Muse of class notes.
… After 21⁄2 years of reporting,
researching and writing I have
finally finished a new book: Who
Stole the American Dream?
which is being published by
Random House in September.
It is a sequel to my earlier
book, The Power Game: How
Washington Works, but I think
this book is smarter, stronger,
more up to date and much more
broad reaching. It describes and
explains how we as a country
have moved from an era of effective bipartisan politics and middle class power and prosperity to
an era mired in partisan gridlock,
with an unequal democracy and
an even more unequal economy
that has unraveled the American
Dream for millions of middle
class families. Who Stole is very
timely, but I don’t want to mislead anyone. This is not about
the 2012 election. The narrative
begins in the early 1970s with
some surprising revelations
about a political rebellion that
changed the landscape of power
in Washington, the accidental
beginnings of the 401(k) program, the policy shifts that came
under Jimmy Carter and the
Democrats, preceding Reagan,
though much accelerated by
him, and lots more—business
in the 1990s, globalization, the
vanishing middle in U.S. politics.
Even for folks who keep up with
politics and public affairs pretty
closely, I think there will be
plenty of revelations.
“The college has asked me
to come back and make some
remarks during a big alumni
weekend Oct. 13, so I hope that
coincides with a minireunion for
’55. Hope to see you there.”
Peter Cook, with whom I went
to grammar school in Corning,
N.Y., wrote from Sanibel, Fla.:
“Lots of travel in the Cook family this summer. Susan and I did a
very interesting Ft. Lauderdale to
San Francisco cruise—transiting
the Panama Canal is a fascinating
venture in history (built around
1905), economics (an amazing
diversity of other ships going
through) and modern technology
(the new widening effort).” When
he wrote, Peter was looking
forward to a trip to the Oregon
coast for the 4th of July. He and
Susan were looking forward to
an Alaska cruise to celebrate their
57th anniversary. Peter wrote:
“We are trying to get a lot in
before the aches and pains you
mention catch up with us. Actually we are holding up pretty well
and enjoying the retired lifestyle.”
Dick Beatty wrote: “The phone
rang a month or so ago and a
voice said, ‘Hello Dick, it’s Len
Platt, remember me? I’m in your
building.’ Translation: He was
with a lovely lady—Margot—
who lives part of the year in
our condominium. Both rather
recently widowed. I rattled the ice
bucket, they came right up and
we had great visit. We had not
known Margot, but I had known
her previous husband’s family
over years growing up here. Well,
guess what: They were engaged
to be married in three weeks, at
the nearby National Cathedral.
They were, in fact married by
our dear friend, Jane Dixon, the
first woman (suffragette) Bishop
of Washington. I think they met
in Hobe Sound and expect to
migrate up and down the East
Coast to New Hampshire and
points in between. Len was a cochemistry major and close friend
of but not related to Jeremy Platt.
(Jeremy was my roommate and
best friend, and I am godfather
of his son Campion Platt, a
celebrated architect and interior
designer in NYC and Palm
Beach.)”
n 1 9 5 4 –5 6
Sandy Laitman ’55 (second from right), who received an honorary degree
from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in May, celebrated with
classmates (from left) Bob Behr, Roger Friedman and Norm Hugo.
Mel Bearns, who was the first to
respond to my plea for material,
wrote: “In late March Deere and
I embarked from Fort Lauderdale for Lisbon on the Seabourn
Odyssey, a 250-suite ship from
the line that’s been voted best
small-ship cruise line in the world
for several years running and
deserves it. The crossing was 12
days, and the level of creature
comfort and attention was off the
charts—I consumed more caviar
and champagne on that cruise
than I would have in any three
lifetimes, I think. Everything, to
the tiniest detail, was impeccable.
… I can’t recommend Seabourn
highly enough. Check it out at
Seabourn.com.”
Mel shared many details of his
spring travels, which took him to
Paris, Copenhagen and Iceland
before he returned home. Contact
him for useful travel information
and reviews.
Had a lovely letter from Arlene
Elise Bailey Leinbach Prince
reporting on the lives of her
and Gary Leinbach’s children.
“Michelle Elise Leinbach, a
graduate of Northfield-Mt.
Hermon School, Colby College
and Northeastern Law School,
is married to Robert Travis, also
a Colby graduate. They live in
Wayland, Mass., and have three
children. Michelle is with the
Boston law firm of Mintz, Levin,
and keeps her maiden name.
Robert Dale Leinbach, a graduate
of Hawaii Preparatory Academy
on the Big Island, Occidental
College and the University of
Washington Law School, is married to Jenni Jones, a graduate of
UW. They live in Phoenix, Ariz.,
and have a daughter, Alison, 16
months old. Rob practiced law in
Seattle for eight years and is now
president of Walton International
Group in the U.S., a Canadabased company.”
Arlene, a few years after Gary’s
death at 39, married Robert
Prince, a Seattle native and family
law attorney who passed away
in December 2010 of multiple myeloma and amyloidosis.
Arlene continues to work as an
independent college counselor
and consultant with students in
the northwest and as far away
as India.
We have lost several classmates.
Our condolences to the families
of Terrance Canavan, Ned Reeves
and Jim Goodbody.
1956
Vern Squires
727 Ardsley Road
Winnetka, IL 60093
[email protected]
I must start with my all-toooften beginning: noting deaths,
which have occurred since the
last article. Reg Plesner passed
away on Jan. 4. He was an
architect and longtime resident
of Denmark. He is survived by
his wife Marlene and children
Charlotte and Ulrik.
My April 2012 notes generated a reply from Vance Luedeke,
whom I wrote about, leaving two
problems for me. First, it was
written entirely in German. German 101 as taken in September
1952 didn’t help me much, but
I finally got the gist of it, which
led to problem number two:
I discovered that I misspelled
Vance’s name in my write-up. So,
abject apologies to Vance (whose
last name I am certain is correct
in this paragraph).
Bob Schumacher provided a
wonderful account of his and
Anne’s rendezvous with Brett
Gutsche in early May. Brett drove
up from Paoli, Pa., to join the
Schumachers for the Metropolitan Opera production of Billy
Budd. Brett is a real opera aficionado. He has six subscriptions at
the Met, where he volunteers and
gives backstage tours on weekends. He guided the Schumachers
through the building, with dinner
at the employees’ cafeteria,
where members of the cast were
eating. Brett still practices as an
anesthesiologist and has been on
the faculty of the University of
Pennsylvania for over 42 years,
but he was to retire at the end
of June.
Chicago-area class members
had a very busy couple of
months, attending a variety of
Williams-connected events. Toni
and Ken Harkness, Bill Troyer and
Judy and Vern Squires spent an
evening at a special event at the
famed Newberry Library, where
former Williams President (19851993) Frank Oakley received the
2012 Newberry Library Award
in recognition of his achievements
in the humanities. That occasion
was followed a few days later
by the annual Peter and Alicia
Pond Lecture, at which Professor
Richard De Veaux, from the
mathematics and statistics department, provided a fascinating talk
on data mining. In attendance
were Ausrene and Bill Kerr and
the Harkness-Troyer-Squires trio.
Ed Pitts sent a nice update
on his family. Ed and Marilyn
live in Key West most of the
year, with Baltimore and the
Delaware shore as their summer
location. He works five days a
week in local schools, serving
as a psychologist focusing on
borderline incorrigible kids. Ed’s
oldest grandson graduated from
Williams in June. Ed’s and Marilyn’s daughter, Laura Smith ’80,
is also a Williams graduate, so
that makes for three generations
of Williams graduates. Ed has 17
grandchildren sprinkled among
many educational institutions:
Duke, Yale, Bowdoin, Colorado
College and Gettysburg. One is a
fourth-year med student at Tufts.
As Ed put it: “Lots of fun—lots
of reunions.” He is still jogging,
lifting weights and taking piano
lessons. He added: “Warm wishes
to my classmates.”
Bruce Dayton reported that his
grandson Tucker Dayton ’14 was
CL ASS
NOTES
awarded two internships for the
summer for economic policy
research in Cape Town, South
Africa, and for global policy in
Mombasa. Classmates on the
Williams-sponsored trip to South
Africa two years ago will recall
that the college’s program in
Cape Town is outstanding.
In a February letter, Wally
Jensen told of his interest in
a rare earth element (“ree”)
company out of Australia called
“Lynas.” In his words: “Studying
the rare earth space companies
has been fascinating. China’s
tight grip on rees has required
many companies to move their
operations to China in order to
obtain rees. Often intellectual
property is ‘stolen’ in the process.
The Japanese have offered Lynas
preferential financing in order to
develop the Mount Weld deposit
in the Gebeng Industrial Zone
of Malaysia. Lynas has built
their plant there, but tremendous
opposition was engendered
because of radiation safety fears.
This whole saga has given me the
chance to explore so many different subjects that it seems like
I am back at Williams preparing
for examinations! I love the thrill
involved in studying new subjects!” (For those who, like your
scrivener, were quite unaware of
rare earth elements, check this
website: http://bit.ly/PRJaPx.)
Wally reported that Bob Buss
retired from his Reno stock
brokerage occupation and is now
enjoying full-fledged retirement.
Bob’s wife Bourne is writing
two separate novels. And Wally
reflected on his long-standing
relationship with Jim Symons:
“He has had a fascinating career
as a preacher and community
leader. He was one of my closest
friends at Williams and someone
I admired intellectually, too. We
were English majors together. His
themes and papers were always
better than mine, his writing style
was unique and his interpretations insightful. I always enjoyed
reading his papers when they
returned with A’s on them from
our joint professors!”
Buster Grossman never ceases to
amaze. Five days after returning
from our 55th reunion, he led a
group of 28 of his Venturers on
a weeklong backpacking trek to
the Havasupai Indian Reservation
in the Grand Canyon. Ever since
1979, Buster and his youth group
have hiked the 10 miles from
the trailhead to the campground
(I am thinking that at this point
in our lives many of us would
probably take the helicopter).
Later in summer 2011, Buster
proceeded on to Oklahoma City
for the U.S. National Masters
Diving Championships. Notwithstanding his health issues of late
2010, Buster did just fine in the
championships, winning both the
1 meter and the 3 meter events.
Then, three days after returning
from Oklahoma, Buster set off
on a several-day backpacking trip
with seven hiking buddies into the
high country of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, visiting an area just
south of Yosemite. And, if all this
were not enough, in September
Buster took his grandson on their
first backpacking trek together up
the East Fork of the San Gabriel
River in the local mountains.
Buster shared photographs of
these adventures that show, with
some sense of awe, the enormous
size of the backpacks.
Buster’s diving accomplishments are well known to us, but
probably not so well known is
how he got into diving in the first
place. As he reminisced in his
letter to me, “I got into diving
because of Bill Jenks, Kirt Gardner,
Dick Beamish, John Taylor, Dave
Cunningham and Pete Lewis. In
the latter part of our freshman
year I went to see Bob Muir to
tell him I was planning on joining
the swim team and that I had
been a county champion in the
freestyle in New Rochelle. He
informed me that in my class we
had six high school All-Americans, including the backstrokers
and the breaststroker, who could
beat my time in the 1,000-yard
freestyle by 5 seconds. In swimming you might as well time 5
seconds with a calendar or an
hourglass. Bob said to me, ‘How
would you like to dive?’ Changed
my life.”
Mary Clare and Bill Jenks were
hosts to Buster and Bev for a
delightful evening at their home
in Tryon, N.C. A visit followed
to what Buster described as “the
remarkably conceived and beautifully designed home of the hospice
facility of which Bill is the chairman and in which he and Mary
Clare are wonderfully involved.”
Phil Palmedo shared activities
involving a passel of Williams
people. In October of last year,
as part of a trip organized by
the college museum, Phil and
Betsy joined Gracia and Bruce
Dayton and Ellie and Sig Balka
and others on an art-filled trip to
Minneapolis. An interesting stop
was Blu Dot Design, a pre-fab
furniture company started by two
enterprising Class of ’87 grads,
Charlie Lazor and John Christakos.
Phil’s latest book on the life and
work of kinetic sculptor Lin
Emery was published by Hudson
Hills Press last winter. Lin Emery
is dedicated to John Cleveland
’46, a great friend of the sculptor
and now a friend of Phil’s. Phil
obtained his first copies of the
book in January while at the
Vermont Studio Center, a writers’
and artists’ colony, where three of
his valued colleagues were painters Kate Gridley ’78 and Rebecca
Suss ’03 and writer Eric Markowsky ’06. Concluding thought
from Phil: “Williams adds to our
lives in many ways.”
Chuck Thorne reported that he
finally retired after running his
own home services business in
Colorado for the past 15 years.
He and Pat moved to Kenosha,
Wis., where they enjoyed an
overnight visit from Bob Fordyce
in May. His concluding thought:
“Forget health foods— I need all
the preservatives I can get!”
Betsey and Jo Anderson
attended Jo’s 60th University
School reunion in Shaker
Heights, where he enjoyed seeing
classmates from those far-off
days, including Jeff Smyth and
Tom Wigglesworth. Tom was a
member of our class but transferred to Kenyon after his first
year. Other University School ’52
members who went on to Williams were Clark Sperry and Dave
Cunningham. By the time you
read these notes, Jo and Betsey
will have gone on a Williams
trip to Greece and Turkey with
points in between. Another Williams trip planned was “Russian
Waterways” from Moscow to
St. Petersburg in late August, led
by Prof. Bill Wagner. Judy and
I were set to join several other
alumni for that one, but we were
the only representatives of the
Class of ’56.
From Falmouth, Maine, Dave
Snow reported that after many
years he finally parted company
from Morgan Stanley, leaving
him time to enjoy, in his words,
his “terminal car”: a 2013 BMW
X3. His excuse: “Because of my
age and eyesight, I and all that
drive with me would be safer
if we sat high.” Dave remains
plenty busy. He was elected to the
Falmouth school board in 2010,
is serving on his third consecutive
search committee for the local
Episcopal church and is active in
trail building and maintenance
for the Falmouth Conservation
Corps. He still had time left for a
trip to Israel, and he was the sole
class representative at Williams
Reunion Weekend 2012.
n 1 9 5 6 –5 7
It was a joy to receive a great
letter from Ira Haupt (the first one,
he said, that he has ever written
to a class secretary, leaving me
feeling much blessed). Ira spent
time in the military after college,
and then it was off to New York
and financial firms, including his
grandfather’s brokerage firm, Ira
Haupt & Co. Ending his brokerage career in 1982, Ira moved on
to apply his financial expertise in
a host of charitable organizations,
including leadership positions in
The Explorers Club, the Archaeological Institute of America and
his preparatory school, The Peddie School. Now, he has left his
leadership positions to the next
generation and, as he put it, “I
just go to things—no more board
meetings.” There is a definite note
of adventure in Ira’s life story. He
reported a few: sailing the Straits
of Magellan, cruising the Amazon, puttering around Greenland
and trekking the Mayan jungles.
Two goals yet to be accomplished:
visiting Timbuktu (although the
Taureg rebels make that problematic) and fishing for salmon in
Haines, Alaska.
Price Zimmerman sent along
several items that I am pleased to
pass on. Lee Diggs has returned to
Liberia with his wife Otterlee. She
is handling the business affairs of
Liberia’s VP while he attends to
affairs of state. Meanwhile, Lee
is busy with his family’s business
affairs. Price noted that Marcia
and Bill Quillen’s daughter Carol,
a former Renaissance scholar,
teacher and administrator at Rice
University, is the new president of
Davidson College. (You can find
a nice picture of Carol and her
president’s message at http://bit.
ly/M77jgx).
A question roiling the academic
world is whether courses should
be made available through the
Internet. Hal Mendelson wrote: “I
am in favor of an ‘online’ education by world famous educators,
with seminars for a broader
population at a fraction of the
cost; and scientific facilities need
to be accessible at local institutions.” For the next edition, I will
report on where Williams stands.
Jim Davie is a California resident and has been retired since
2009. He is remodeling his and
Maureen’s house in Westlake
Village after encountering one
of the two scourges of home
ownership, water damage (fire
being the other). California is a
beautiful state, but Jim did some
serious wincing over the tax
structure there. He and Maureen
are dealing with the “two old
standbys—growing old and looking after the kids, if they let us.”
A final note and thought from
Bruce Dayton. As the class president for the last two and a half
years before our 60th reunion,
he is exploring with the college
a minireunion in Vero Beach for
March 5-7, 2014. If you might
be interested in attending, please
send Bruce an email at bmd56@
concentric.net.
1957
Richard P. Towne
13 Silverwood Terrace
South Hadley, MA 01075
[email protected]
At our 55th reunion, 59 classmates combined with spouses,
children, significant others and
two widows brought us 110
participants for the three-day
event. If you’d like a list of
attendees, let me know. I’d be
happy to share one with you.
Picture-perfect Berkshire weather
allowed many to enjoy walks, a
few to hike, others to golf or visit
art galleries and all to attend a
myriad of faculty lectures. Dodd
House, known to us in the ’50s
as the Williams Inn, was our HQ.
Here meals and entertainment
were provided underneath a large
tent, and orange-clad student
rangers stood ready to assist
with baggage carrying to upstairs
dormitory rooms and answers
to every possible question about
present-day college life. Drinks
and dinner on Thursday and Friday nights were plentiful. Dinner
music was provided with gusto
by the Reunion Jazz Band inside
the tent, soothingly followed by
our own incomparable Jim Lund
on his piano in the Lounge at
Dodd House.
A final dinner was held Saturday night at The Williams Inn,
where President Peter Fleming
turned over his gavel to our new
President Dick Flood. Both gave
short speeches to thank all volunteers, especially Reunion Chair
Tom Slonaker. Peter highlighted
the importance of our 55 years
together, and Dick, his hope for
future class gatherings. Both
emphasized the importance of the
Class of 1957 Scholars Program.
More than 160 students have
benefited from the $2.9 million
awarded since the program’s
inception at our 25th in 1982.
The market value has grown to
over $4.3 million. Peter also told
the class that our 50th Reunion
Summer Interns Research Program in Humanities and Social
Sciences has given $380,000 from
its $2.2 million present market
value. This gift has provided 100
students with on-campus summer
internships among professors of
arts, literature, theater, political
science and related studies.
Special thanks were given to the
outgoing slate of officers, VP Stu
Young, Treasurer John Holman,
Secretary John Pritchard, Class
Agent Bob Driesen and Planned
Giving Chair Dick Flood. A new
slate of officers was elected:
President Flood, VP Charley
Berry, Treasurer John Holman and
Secretary Dick Towne. Ted Cobden
led a closing prayer and tribute to
the memory of 48 classmates no
longer with us.
Peter gave special mention to
the work done by Tom Slonaker
in chairing the reunion and by
Pritch for diligent reporting on
all our activities over his 17 years
as class secretary. Well-deserved
honors for both.
Another special thank you goes
to John Sudduth, who organized
a unique, well-received tribute to
Professor Fred Rudolph ’42, 92
years young. Rudolph succeeded
in challenging 24 members of ’57
by teaching them American History and Literature circa ’56/’57.
Suds produced a five-page document about AH&L during the
mid-’50s that he gave Fred at the
Joseph’s Coat luncheon Saturday
at Lasell Gym It was his 70th
reunion! For 13 of his students
and those who could not attend,
with Suds humorously thanked
Fred for being “our professor,
guide and friend.”
Since there is a space limit and
deadline for this column, I ask
your forgiveness if you do not
find yourself in this edition. I
promise to continue with more
comments in the next one. Here,
however, are reflections about a
few folks your new scribe recalls
seeing during the weekend.
When we left Molly and Bob
Appleford at the 50th reunion
he had just retired from his
law practice, still deciding his
choices among multiple, diverse
opportunities. While they still
include gardening, travel and
splitting firewood, as he told us
then, his hometown community
service organizations refused to
ignore his talents. So his life in
Frankfort, Mich., continues to
include a lot of local community
service along with grand parenting together with Molly.
Bob Beebe is the only guy in
the class besides myself that I can
think of who pursued a business
career in manufacturing. As you
CL ASS
NOTES
recall, manufacturing entails
making tangible things. His are
for the automotive industry. He
still does that well and looked
robust as we enjoyed his recollections about outings with friends
aboard his sailboat on Lake
Michigan. Bob enforces a rule
aboard ship to restrict reports
about anyone’s physical ailments
to one statement apiece not
longer than 20 minutes. Useful
among my own friends nowadays, I think
Tony Brockelman and Anne
came from Simsbury and
celebrated together with his
hockey teammates, of which
there were several. Indeed,
along with football and baseball
plus a smattering of basketball,
soccer and other sports teams,
reunion attendance certainly
was stimulated by the class
participants in college athletic.
Tony still pursues success in his
own wholesale business in Torrington, Conn.
Steve Bullock and his son
Michael made reunion interesting by their story-telling gifts
and love of antique automobiles.
Steve contributed use of his
1940s-era Buick for the parade
to Lasell Gym on Saturday,
running flawlessly thanks to
their mechanical skills. Mark
says Steve still plans to make
Williamstown his retirement
home once the real estate market
in Alexandria contributes its fair
share to his plan.
Jean and John Childs must love
reunions. I’ve seen them at nearly
every one I’ve attended: still
looking eternally young. Their
Williams outfits make them hard
to miss! They joined Martha
and Doug Poole at Taconic for a
golf game over the weekend, but
nobody told me who won. The
Pooles haven’t lost their youthful
looks much either.
Ted Cobden and wife Nancy
were active in promoting and
participating in reunion. Ted
delivered the Prayer of Remembrance to open the 190th Annual
Meeting of the Society of Alumni
on Saturday. In his ever-graceful
way, Ted’s remarks honored
departed classmates, friends and
contributors to the college, and
in so doing our class. We hope
to continue seeing the Cobdens
as we strive to improve our
computer skills during future
workshops in Holyoke at the
local Apple store.
David Connolly and Judy joined
the group of 11 surviving American history and literature majors
put together by John Sudduth to
honor Professor Rudolph. I will
return to this event next issue.
Stuart Young received another
honor from the great state of
Delaware. The 50th anniversary issue of Delaware Today,
published in April, lists “The 50
people who have shaped our lives
over the past five decades.” Stuart
is included as an “enduring arts
advocate,” and we congratulate
him on his many contributions of
time, talent and treasure!
Among the several AH&L
majors who could not attend
the 55th was Skip Cole in Santa
Barbara, Calif, where he’s spent a
career teaching art history at the
University of California at Santa
Barbara. He was to be back in
Williamstown in July, his note to
Suds told us, to give a talk at the
college art museum on the art of
Africa, Skip’s professional passion
over the years. His essay on the
topic introduced a brochure on
the subject at the museum. Then
it was off for a cruise in Maine
with fellow yachtsmen Bob Beebe
and Dee Gardner, an annual event
for the three of them.
Dee Gardner was slated to lead
a reunion discussion about the
fraternity system and its passing
during the era of the mid ’50s
until an illness intervened. We
understand he’s now recovering
from stomach surgery. We missed
him, but the talk was held using
material from Dee and led by
President Emeritus John Chandler and panelist Bruce Grinnell
’62. Both President Chandler and
Dee are reported to be writing
books about the topic.
Howard Delong, his wife Shirley
tells us, continues to work on a
book too. His is about America’s
founding fathers’ problem with
the structure of our government
and how its decision making
structure complicates today’s
political and economic governance. Besides this labor of love
for Tom, he keeps up with his
family, grandchildren, tennis and
jogging in West Hartford.
There are always attendees at
a reunion you wish you could
have spoken more to. Among
the ones I saw too briefly riding
in a golf cart at the parade were
Dewitt Davis and his wife Clare
from Virginia Beach, Va. Like
Bob Beebe, we attended a prep
school together down in the Pioneer Valley and several reunions
there since then. This 55th, to
me, seemed like more fun! Every
time I saw Dee at cocktail hour
it seemed there was a phalanx of
other classmates, glasses in hand,
forming a barrier between the
two of us when I tried to move in
his direction. Next time, Dee.
Mary and Frank Dengel were
no surprise visitors. They’ve been
at virtually every reunion I know
of. Happy and healthy looking,
they divide their time between
Milwaukee and Delray Beach,
Fla., where someday soon I hope
we can share a lunch.
Where would we be without Bob Driesen and Iris, who
holds Bob’s feet to the fire as he
pursues us relentlessly for our
Alumni Fund gift? Bob’s been
doing it tirelessly for 30 years,
as Peter Fleming highlighted at
the class dinner Saturday night.
We achieved a record 78-percent
contribution rate in 2007 and
more than $173,000 in 2006,
both all-time college records at
the time, and $3 million to the
Alumni Fund with Bob as our
class agent.
Nice to see again was Peter
Elbow, who is a celebrity in his
hometown of Amherst, Mass.
Every time we lunched together
during the 50th reunion book
project a former student came by
to shake his hand. His wife Cami
is even more celebrated than
Peter because of her successful
efforts to develop a new local
movie theater for indie films in
Amherst. Peter’s got a vacation
house in the Berkshires high on
a hillside with a spectacular view
of the Taconics. “It’s just half an
hour from Williamstown/Tanglewood and includes a swimming
pool, an unfinished bunkhouse
and 36 acres.” You can check
it out for yourself at http://bit.
ly/MX4BZJ. As a writer and
teacher, he continues to revolutionize how people think about
writing with his latest book,
Vernacular Eloquence.
Dick Fearon made a brief
appearance at Taconic Golf,
playing with Bud Sidles and the
Berrys. Nobody knows who won,
as Dick left following dinner on
Thursday night for New Haven
activities with his family. Other
golfers included the Kirschners
and Youngs (Stu carded the
only birdie we know of), Doug
Poole and the Childses, Ted and
daughter Alison Swain, coach of
Williams’ women’s tennis team,
John Sudduth and me.
Much was seen of Cary and
Peter Fleming at Dodd House
and elsewhere as Peter brought
his five-year term as president
to a successful conclusion. Peter
and his Hilton Head neighbors,
the Lanes, the Sykes and the Slonakers, had been an instrumental
part of the 50th reunion and the
n 1 9 5 7 –5 8
55th this year as well. Hospitality at their homes, opportunity
to view their surroundings and
education into the history and
culture of the Carolina scene
were hallmarks of the 50th in
2007. Bob Lane and wife D’Ann
have lost none of their agility I
noticed in watching them on the
dance floor at Dodd, stimulated
by the rhythms of Jim Lund’s playing a new age piano, the name of
which is lost in my memory.
Len Kirschner is still a busy guy!
As president of AARP Arizona,
he spoke in March on changes
Medicare marketers will face as
a consequence of 2012 politics.
His comments at the World
Congress Meeting in Orlando
were guarded, but he mentions
a growth opportunity for the
managed care industry in terms
of Medicare Advantage plans.
Also he stated that coordination
between Medicare and Medicaid to include care to the “dual
eligibles” will become a major
issue at the federal and state levels. Keep plugging, Len! Naomi
and Howard Gardner, Len and I
phoned Duane Yee during dinner
Saturday to wish our old friend
good cheer. Variety School of
Honolulu keeps Duane busy taking care of the needs of severely
handicapped children. Duane’s
wife Pi Yum you’ll recall, passed
away shortly after they attended
our 50th reunion.
Barbara and Ted Graham, living
in the Vermont North Country at Hardwick, wrote before
reunion with regrets they could
not attend. They chose instead
to attend Williams’ graduation
in the week before to see their
Bulgarian scholar Ana Antonova
’12 get her diploma. They were
instrumental in helping her
become admitted to Williams.
Then it was off to graduation of
a granddaughter at Franklin &
Marshall; reunions at Lawrenceville; Princeton for graduation;
and another grandchild’s high
school graduation. Ted continues
to teach Advanced Placement
curriculum to high school biology
teachers in Vermont. Both the
Grahams were completing UVM
extension courses for urban landscape stewardship, learning how
to protect trees and plants from
the ravages of invasive pests.
Sadly, on March 2, Bob Lombino passed away after battling
cancer at his home in Danbury,
Conn. He is survived by his wife
Linda, six children, including son
Robert J. Lombino ’00, who delivered his eulogy at a memorial
service and many grandchildren.
“His proudest achievements were
his children and grandchildren.”
His time with them was joyful
and fulfilling. As Bob wrote in the
50th reunion book, “For the past
16 years, I have been married
to Linda. She has been a terrific
companion and fan and has
made my life fun and meaningful.” Bob chaired the ’57 Scholars
Program for many years and was
largely responsible for its success
as a key scholarship endowment
at Williams. We will all miss Bob.
We also lost Phil Fradkin in July.
The NY Times described him as a
notable author for his explorations about the West. Indeed he
was. Phil wrote 13 books on
topics dealing with earthquakes,
man-made environmental
destruction and San Francisco’s
firestorm of 1906 along with
prize-winning reporting of the
Watts Riots and awards for
his landscape photography. He
probably was one of 57s most
accomplished. Phil and wife
Dianne lived in Point Reyes Station, Calif.
Well, for now that’s all the
space and time I’ve been given.
But we’ll have more to say about
who and what we saw in the next
edition of the ’57 class notes.
Meanwhile, send me your news
at the address listed above.
1958
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Dick Davis
5732 East Woodridge Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
[email protected]
I’m grateful to David Kane for
the news that Tom Jones was
elected and inducted into the
U.S. Squash Hall of Fame. The
following is written about Tom at
the U.S. Squash official site: “Tom
Jones was a pivotal and ebullient
leader who revolutionized squash
in America in the last quarter of
the 20th century. A Rochester
native, Jones won the 1977 U.S.
and Canadian national veterans
(40-plus) doubles title with John
Swann and was an active A singles player. From 1978 to 1999
he and his wife Hazel White
Jones issued Squash News, the
first national squash magazine,
with Tom as acting publisher,
advertising executive and chief
front-man. They became major
tournament promoters, directing
three North American Opens
and after presciently switching
it from hardball to softball, 14
U.S. Opens.” Congratulations
Tom and Hazel. What a class
for racket sports! Who needs
Cooperstown and Canton? We’ve
got Famers!
David notes that Tom managed
to survive the early drag on his
career imposed by himself and
Morgan Hall roomies Joe Bartlett
and Frank Tokioka. (As Webster
said of another entity there are
those of us who love Morgan
Hall.) Another perspective on
Tom comes from Dave Cook, who
was a schoolmate prior to Williams. They had an adventure in
Manhattan years ago when Tom
was working there wherein Tom
undertook to instruct Cookie in
the fine arts of racquets, or court
tennis. Cookie was left reeling
but got a great workout.
When the “Linsanity” hit
regarding Jeremy of the Knicks,
I asked Sandy Fetter if there was
angst in Palo Alto over losing its
native and All-Stater to Harvard.
Sandy answered from Beijing,
where he was delivering a series
of lectures at Tsinghua University,
“the MIT of China.” He said
his understanding was that most
locals felt Lin wouldn’t have gotten much play time at Stanford.
Sandy is enjoying life. “I have
had many other physics-related
trips over the past several years,
even though I officially retired
from the Stanford faculty in
2010. As emeritus professor, I
have so far been able to keep my
office, which is great. … I am able
to travel on my own schedule
instead of being governed by university class terms. In December I
was in Paris, and Lynn joined me
afterward for a five-day vacation.
… Life is good for Lynn and me.
We got married nearly eight years
ago. She has an apartment in San
Francisco, and I keep my house at
Stanford, so I go back and forth
at least a few times each week.
This lets me keep a foot at Stanford, but I also get the advantages
of San Francisco.” Bay Area life
can include visits with the Carl
Vogts, John Buckners, George
Vares and Dave Phillipses. When
Jim Becket was up there doing a
documentary some time ago, they
hiked the hills behind Stanford.
Herman Cain rode across the
political horizon at a fast pace,
and it wasn’t until later that I
understood that he was likely at
Pillsbury and Burger King with
Roger Headrick. Just back from a
trip to China, Roger wrote: “Herman Cain was a very capable
leader while with Pillsbury and
Burger King and apparently did
very well with Godfather’s as
CL ASS
NOTES
well. He was a good guy, too. I
don’t think he would have made
it as the Republican nominee
for president even without the
alleged side issues, but I liked his
dedication to the cause as well
as his ability to communicate his
views.” Your scribe, a Republican, was for another candidate,
but Roger’s comments ring square
with me. I hope to see more of
Herman Cain.
Williams President Adam Falk
was here in Phoenix in March
along with the Eph baseball team
and gave the assembled area
alums an in-depth description of
our college today. Barbara had
a prior commitment, but Karen
and I enjoyed the evening with
Larry Nilsen. Larry and Barbara
now have 16 grandchildren.
Ted Wynne acknowledges
that he’s late to the party but is
nonetheless the proud and joyous
grandpop to twin grandsons,
Francis and Barnaby Bates
Wynne. These are the progeny of
Ted’s son Matthew, who is starting a new FX consultancy. Ted’s
son Ted Jr., known as Jay, was
on the BBC weather team for the
London Olympics. Ted concedes
there’s some decline in manners
in some parts or quarters of
England, but most of the old joys
remain.
Tim Smith and Dica have five
children and 13 grandchildren.
One son works for Citigroup
in Moscow. Tim has exited his
travel enterprise but keeps a hand
in real estate. He urges me to
stay away from the subject of the
Cubs. I will, Tim, but as sure as
there’s God in heaven your Cubs
and my Bucs will yet surge.
Spencer Jones writes: “I had a
pleasant encounter a few weeks
ago with Arnie Sher. He called
to say that he was mailing me
something of interest that he
had found in an antique shop on
Spring Street. The ‘something’
was one of those traditional
white beer mugs with the Williams logo and the year 1958.
Further checking it out, Arnie
found that the original owner
was ‘Spence.’ The only ‘Spence’
Arnie could think of was me, so
he very thoughtfully sent me the
mug. I am sincerely grateful for
this gesture, and the mug now sits
in a place of prominence in my
house as a further reminder of
the meaningful connections that
we have.”
Spencer and Steve Frost will
take on John Palmer ’59 and Sam
Parkhill ’59 on the links again
this year. John and Spencer are
brothers-in-law. Bill Taggart
and Lil were to visit with these
folks, but a family health crisis
intervened.
Jim Kolster got down to Vero
in March for Chet Lasell’s golf
outing with the Eph undergraduate team. Twenty-one alums
played, including Jim, John
Hutchins, David Sims, Walt Kasten,
Bob Kingsbury, Joel Greeley and
Ed Hughes. Head Coach Rick
Pohle and Assistant Coach Kevin
Bennison also played. Big time
enjoyable, including chatting with
the undergrads, Jim says.
John Hutchins told me in May
that he and Suzy were “scrounging” back up north via stops
with good buddies in Charleston,
S.C., and others. John didn’t say
whether he stopped by Ft. Bragg
to upgrade his parachuting skills.
Lou Caplan writes: “The big
Caplan news is the upcoming
marriage of our youngest son
Benjamin ’03. He is now a family
practice resident. All of our other
five children are married, including Dan ’88 and David ’92. We
now have 11 grandchildren and
two more on the way. I am off
to give the Wepfer lecture for the
European Stroke Organization in
Lisbon and later a major lecture
at Stanford. Still working full
time and enjoying it.”
Bruno Quinson and a partner
have a new e-book venture. In
early April, Bruno was off to
England for the London Book
Fair. He stayed with his son Tim
and family. Over Easter, Bruno
and Minkie had 18 family members at their home in Pittsfield.
The Tom Connollys, Matt
Donners and Skip Martins were
among the guests at the marriage
of Karen and Whitey Kaufmann’s
youngest son, Terry Kaufmann
’96, to Anne Toal of Larchmont
in March. Terry was a co-captain
of the soccer team and an AllAmerican at Williams. There
were other Ephs present.
Whitey keeps me busy keeping
up with him. As I write this
in early June, he is in Nuuk,
Greenland, for a U. of Arctic
board meeting. He’s eaten whale
and seal, I think one serving of
each only.
Jim Murphy and Connie were
returning home from Montserrat in April and spent a night in
Antigua. Emplaned to Newark
the next morning, who should
come down the aisle but Jim Bowers and Susie. They had a good
visit. No eruption this year on
Montserrat. Bowers is expecting
a good season: four new calves
and more to come. The hay may
get as high as an elephant’s eye.
Jim has a new email address,
[email protected].
Bob Severance accompanied
Tom Shulman to an Ohio State
game at the Boston Garden during the March Madness regionals. Bob and many of us learned
a full panoply of Buckeye cheers
from Steve Cartwright and fellow
Columbusites a little over five
decades ago. Almost 55 years ago
or more, to be more exact. There
will be a serious blowout at,
among other venues, a renovated
Chapin Hall when that milestone
matures. Save the dates! June 6-9,
2013.
In the meantime, Rick Driscoll
is preparing for a first-rate
minireunion to be held over the
Middlebury football weekend,
Oct. 12-13. Don’t fail to let the
leaves see you peeping. And
don’t let the Gothamites miss
your cheery miens at Matt’s and
Joe’s and Rob’s holiday lunch on
Dec. 7.
Chet Lasell called attention
to the fact, surprising to me
although it should not have been,
that our class is second among all
the classes in the number of members in the Ephraim Williams
Society. Seventy-nine members of
our class have made a testamentary provision for the college; we
trail by only one, the Class of ’61,
which has 80 members. As you
know, Carl Vogt now chairs the
Ephraim Williams Society, having
succeeded President John Chandler. Congratulations to those in
our class who have brought this
about, and prospectively to those
who will grow the achievement
yet further.
David Plater is researching and
writing a family history. His
ancestors left the U.S. Army in
1831 and became sugar planters
in Louisiana. There’s a wealth of
material, but it’s scattered, and
David has to do a lot of reading
to give it context. David and
Sheela hit their 50th anniversary
and planned a summer family
celebration in Kauai.
Phil McKean saw the film
Journey of the Universe about
our origins and the future of
the species and noted it thanked
Jim Becket for contributions.
Phil and Deborah were going to
England for their grandson’s 10th
birthday and then on to Jerusalem for some “people to people
peacemaking” with friends of Phil
Wilcox.
Stan Lawder moved from
Denver to Petaluma, Calif.
Stan’s Denver Darkroom was
a huge success for some time
but ultimately came up against
n 1 9 5 8 –5 9
the tidal wave change to digital
photography. Stan now has the
Petaluma Darkroom, a photography art school. Stan’s daughter is
an emergency room physician in
Petaluma. His new address is 721
Western Avenue, #12, Petaluma
94952. Stan has the strongest and
finest kind of memories of working with Prof. Lane Faison ’29
while he was in Germany. Like so
many of us, Stan started off with
a pre-med frame of mind. Then
came Art 1-2.
Tom Synnott just finished teaching “The Economics of Alternative Energy” at Cooper Union.
There’s one we’d all like to audit.
Tom says he really enjoys teaching and thinks it is keeping him
looking younger than he feels.
Jim Conlan was grateful for
leads from Tom and Matt Donner
as he geared up for left hipreplacement surgery in the spring.
Jim’s now well into recovery,
doing a lot of physical therapy.
Jim’s wife Virginia is retiring as a
teacher this year. She has put in
a good and enjoyable 38 years.
She is so good, Jim says, that
her principal cried in making the
announcement.
My wife Karen has now had
right knee and, more recently, left
hip-replacement surgery. Both
operations were major successes.
It doesn’t hurt at all that her
son is a Mayo-trained physical
therapist. Brendan is a tough
taskmaster but gets magnificent results. Karen’s doc, also a
star, pronounced her “Bionic
Woman.”
Bill Hawes checked in with a
Facebook message and display.
All goes well with Bill in Georgia.
Jack Talmadge was doing some
Civil War-related family history
checking in Virginia. I don’t
know that anyone is much more
bicoastal than Jack, although
Zeke Knight and Carl Vogt, among
others, do their share.
Carl Smith checked in from
DC, where he was through
mid-August. His chapter on
“The United States and the 1967
War” has appeared in The 1967
Arab-Israeli War: Origins and
Consequences. The 8th edition of
his Palestine and the Arab-Israeli
Conflict will appear in September.
Carl has seen Phil Wilcox and Warren Clark and highly recommends
their foundations as sources for
Middle East issues. The URL for
Phil’s Foundation for Middle East
Peace is www.fmep.org, and Warren’s Churches for Middle East
Peace is at www.cmep.org.
Carl ran into Jack Platt’s name
in a spy novel. See p. 160 of
Jon Stock’s Games Traitors
Play, which Carl says deals with
friendships among spies during
the Cold War. I’ll stop there,
since I haven’t read the book. I
don’t want to spook anything or
anybody.
Phil Rideout is out with two
more dictionaries, one on fun
idioms and the other a business
dictionary. These are distributed
through the electronic media. Get
to Phil at [email protected].
1959
Dan Rankin
1870 Bay Road #213
Vero Beach, FL 32963
[email protected]
No matter how hard I try
to dodge the age issue it keeps
hounding me. I know what an
old fellow I am, and since 95
percent of you, good classmates,
were also born in 1937, you
understand my predicament.
You’ll therefore grasp the quandary a contemporary faced when
he had a call on his birthday from
his grandson. In the conversation the boy asked, “How old
are you Grandpa?” When my
friend replied, “75, Tommy,”
there was a pause and then the
boy asked, “Geez, did you start
at 1?” My comment might have
been, “Right, Kid, and if I haven’t
grown up by age 75, forget it,
I don’t have to.” Terry O’Leary
explained to his son that what he
likes about being old is, “There’s
no peer pressure.”
Among the loyal cadre of
classmates who heed my calls for
information, Ernie Imhoff ranks
near the top. Ernie and Hilda
had dinner with Pete Tacy and
Barbara in April and report Peter
is publishing his second book on
education, entitled The Appleby
Century, about the Canadian
independent school, Appleby
College. His first book was Ideals
at Work. I was pleased to get
a nice update from Bill Bailey,
who left us after sophomore year
and entered Columbia. He went
on to get a master’s in history
and has been teaching in private
schools for 52 years. He lives in
NYC and stays in close touch
with Steve Bachand and Abdul
Wohabe. He was honest in his
comments about how he viewed
himself at Williams and how
he viewed the college, and my
sense was that he, like many of
us, struggled with our lack of selfesteem between 1955 and 1959.
Bob Gould, from across the sea in
Edinburgh, struck a similar chord
to Bill’s, saying, “One thing that
heartened me at reunions was the
fact that nearly everyone I talked
to (including myself) looked back
on their earlier selves with some
regret.” Bob’s self-image as a
“grind” may be correct; however
I viewed it with admiration,
not as a negative. Anyone with
his tenacity and perseverance
deserved the status of valedictorian. Sian Batchelder writes from
England that she was enjoying
the festivities surrounding the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the
2012 Olympics.
From Worcester, Mass., Herb
Varnum and Jean will celebrate their 54th anniversary
in September. They have three
grandchildren, all in their 20s,
and Herb and Jean divide their
time between Massachusetts and
Maine. I had to remind Herb the
only reason any of us were willing to see Dean (Triple R) Brooks
was because he had such an
attractive secretary—Jean. Herb
says, “She finally agreed to a date
so I would go away and let her
get her work done, and well, you
know the rest.” Pim Goodbody
wants to know what’s happened
to the powerhouse Williams
sports teams. He says our record
against Amherst over the last year
is two wins, 20 losses and one
tie. Well, Pim, we have to let the
Lord Jeffs win sometimes. Bart
Robinson and Ingela returned
from Florida to their Williamstown home and were gracious
enough to let me to stay there for
Reunion Weekend. Jerry Tipper, in
Waterville, Maine, reports the sad
news that Jay Hodgson’s wife Julie
died in May after a long battle
with cancer. Our thoughts are
with Jay as he faces some hard
times. Jerry and Betsy spent the
winter in Florida and saw Nick
Frost and Patty, who spend most
of the year on Nantucket but
winter in Florida. From Greenwich, Ernie Fleishman writes he
and Amy “took two wonderful
trips to India and South Africa
this year. Two countries undergoing enormous political and economic changes.” Ernie still works
part time at Scholastic, volunteers
with kindergarten students and
mentors principals. Jerry Rardin
reports that in mid-March he and
Sue “traveled the Mohawk Trail
from Concord to Williamstown
to see the screening of a very special film written by Liza Johnson
’92, who happens to be our niece,
now teaching American studies
and film at Williams. Her film
Return is a carefully understated
and seemingly ordinary portrayal
CL ASS
NOTES
of a soldier returning from the
Middle East and experiencing
the traumas of re-entry. It’s far
more gut-wrenching than most
documentaries and is getting
rave reviews after screenings in
NYC, LA and Williamstown. A
huge plus was we got to take the
writer/director out to dinner.”
Jere Packard was working
his tail (my word, not his) off
spring semester, teaching Western
civilization and world politics to
nearly 60 students at Misericordia University. Though he
lost his gallant battle for a seat
on the Luzerne Country (Pa.)
Council, he was rewarded with
the chairmanship of the County
Elections and Registrations
Board, a “watchdog committee.”
As chief pit bull he says he’s looking in the mirror and “practicing
my growls.” Back in Reading,
Pa., following their Patagonia
trip, where they linked up with
Marc Newberg and Ruth, David
Thun and Barbara say they were
to be under way soon on their
sailboat to cruise the East Coast,
and Boothbay Harbor was on the
itinerary. We looked forward to
seeing them. Other possible visitors expected this summer here in
the Harbor were Harry Gratwick
and Tita. The diligent author is
still cranking out books about
Maine and the Civil War and was
sure to be a main attraction at the
Maine Book Fair here in town.
In upstate New York the
remarkably assiduous and unflagging writer Steve Webb is on the
verge of having his 50-year labor
of love published. As of May 30,
“the page proofs of vol. 4 of The
Governors-General, together
with instructions for making
arrangements for proofreading,
indexing and additional (endless)
acknowledgments have just
arrived on this machine.” When
this project is completely finished
the old professor may have to
wrestle with the ambivalence of
relief and/or boredom.
The spring issue of Columbia
University’s Magazine of the
Teachers College ran a superb
article about Jack Hyland. It
correctly points out Jack is not
one to be stereotyped and notes
he’s served in top roles at some
of the nation’s leading investment firms, including Morgan
Stanley and Paine Webber/
Young & Rubicam Ventures; he’s
written the admired biography
Evangelism’s First Modern Media
Star: The Life of Reverend Bill
Stidger; he’s the photographer
whose pictures from Bhutan
and other far-flung places have
appeared in newspapers and
magazines; he’s the art enthusiast
who has chaired the board of
the American Academy in Rome
and served on the boards of
several museums including Williamstown’s Clark Art Institute;
and he’s the cofounder of Media
Advisory Partners, which was
established to help companies
navigate the complex new media
landscape.
Moving south into Virginia,
Alex Reeves stays busy working nearly half time as a clinical
neurologist, though his true love
is chasing the elusive perfect
trout around the globe. He often
travels to the Williamstown area
in this quest and joins fellow fishing enthusiast Barry Mayer. Dave
Sack now flees North Carolina
winters for the Sunshine State
and has been able to gather in
Fort Lauderdale for lunch with
Fred Wallach, Al Wurtzel and Ben
Zox. Dave describes his working
status as “mostly retired” though
he does continue to consult for
his hosiery company and chase
his four grandchildren. Another
North Carolinian, Stu Wallace, serves as president of the
Wake County Senior Democrats and continues to teach in
North Carolina State’s Encore
program. He and Jennie hosted
Tom Christopher and Judy in
April, and a highlight was seeing
Tom’s brother Bill perform in
On Golden Pond in Fayetteville. Apparently Bill was Father
Mulcahy in Mash.
When Hurricane Irene hit the
North Carolina coast late last
August, it flooded the home of
Chip Ide and Eve, and it wasn’t
until late March that they were
able to return. As Chip says, “It’s
been a real bummer.”
From Atlanta comes word that
Bob Hatcher writes a popular
weekly column in the Clayton
Tribune, and its content often
centers on the high rankings
Williams College receives from
several national publications. It’s
questionable whether Bob’s infectious enthusiasm for Williams
will ever be dimmed; it was hard
enough to tone down his cries of
“Entry A all the way” freshman year. Dan Fanning and Sue
continue to make John’s Island,
S.C., their winter home and
then migrate to his home state
of Rhode Island for the summer.
Dan has learned that if he’s late
with his gift to the annual fund,
he’ll get a call from Tony Volpe
reminding him of his recalcitrance. Funny thing, he always
waits and enjoys that yearly call
from Tony.
It’s difficult to know who is
and who isn’t a Floridian. While
20 or more classmates spend
the winter there, I’m not sure
anyone spends the whole year
in the land of hanging chads.
Dave Taylor and Scotty are part
of the Vero Beach group but
planned to leave for the Chicago
area shortly before the summer
solstice. Last year they celebrated
their 50th by taking the whole
family on safari in Kenya: two
daughters, two sons-in-law and
four grandchildren. Tom Hayne
and Martha also are Vero folks
who depart for Darien, Conn.,
in the spring and the Rankins
escape Vero for Maine. The nice
thing about being in Vero Beach
is so many classmates do come
for visits. Among that group this
year were: Dan Fanning, David
Earle, Hanse Halligan, John Halsey,
Tom Christopher, Harry Gratwick,
Jack Dietze, Geoff Morton, Nick
Frost and Tony Volpe, and from
neighboring communities we
occasionally see Henry Foltz and
Terry O’Leary. From St. Petersburg, Fla., Tony Harwood writes
he has visited John Mangel in his
Naples condo. Tony’s “business
of real estate development is
smaller but still active, mostly in
the Atlanta area.” He and Jane
maintain a condo there but spend
two summer months in their
Winter Harbor, Maine, place.
That’s right, three homes! With
the aid of his Cirrus airplane this
Bronxville native is able to travel
far and wide to see his four children and four grandchildren.
From the Midwest comes word
that Beth Listerman, Cleveland
resident, was journeying to her
place in Falmouth on Cape Cod
for the summer and looked forward to seeing her two daughters
and two grandchildren. Before
Bruce’s death, he and Beth were
very active on the curling circuit,
and while she still does curl it’s
on a reduced scale. Watercolor
painting, which seems to have
taken its place, has kept her busy,
and her return to Mount Holyoke for her 50th “was a blast.”
Summers in Columbus, Ohio,
are fine for David Boothby, but
he, too, heads to Florida for the
winter, and like John Mangel he
takes up residence in Naples.
He retired from IBM 20 years
ago and now runs his family’s
real estate company. “We own
commercial, retail and residential
properties in Columbus. I utilize
my Internet connection with our
primary computer in Columbus
to manage the properties with the
n 1 9 5 9 –6 0
assistance of my office manager
and two custodians.” He cherishes every living moment since
his liver transplant in 2005. He
has faced a long and slow road
to recovery but has been able to
return for college reunions and
hopes to take some of the travel
excursions the college offers.
Joe Turner writes from the
Windy City that he’s still quite
busy, “working away as a senior
advisor to five companies in steelpower-mining and maintenance/
construction.” He’s fine, gets out
on the golf course often and sees
Pete Willmott and David Earle on
occasion. From what I can tell,
Joe is lucky to catch Pete, since
Pete bounces around the country
seeing a son in California, chairing the board of directors of
the Thoroughbred Owners and
Breeding Association, and serving
as president of the directors of
the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown. Palmer White, Pete’s
senior roommate, is still recovering from the shock of learning
about this last position. He knew
Motsey had some talent but did
Art 1 & 2 properly prepare him
for this role? Chicagoan Tony
Volpe keeps tabs on Peter and
joins him for Williams gatherings
and theater events. Tony and Tom
Hayne agreed to team up for the
Williams Alumni Golf Tournament in July and “do damage to
the Taconic course.”
I’m never sure whether Bob
Platt is in Port Republic, Md., or
out in the Rockies at his Bozeman, Mont., home. As soon as I
track him down he tells me he’ll
be in Bismarck, N.D., and then
will see Dave Cooley at a Model T
gathering in Kalispell, Mont. He
really does wear me out.
Thank heavens I can find Bill
Arend where he’s supposed to
be in Denver, Colo. He reports
he’s still active in research as a
“distinguished professor emeritus
at the Colorado School of Medicine. I gave the keynote address
at a Keystone Symposium on
Rheumatoid Arthritis and have
been elected to receive the 2012
Columbia University School of
Physicians & Surgeons Alumni
Association gold medal for outstanding achievement in medical
research.” Congrats Bill!
Santa Fe, N.M., resident Pete
Fessenden has recovered nicely
from his stroke but believes it’s
time he and Sandy should start
checking out three-stage communities in Colorado and Arizona.
Among our class contingent
living on the “Left Bank” of the
U.S. is Carter Coleman, who’s
“still working as a sales consultant with three active clients on
topics ranging from sustainability
and software development for
mobile applications to homemade
fruit pies.”
Cliff Colwell in La Jolla says
he’s taken up the guitar with less
than virtuoso success: “I’m rather
dreadful.” I identify completely
with Cliff, since I was going to
become an expert musician on
the banjo when I retired from
teaching. I never got past the first
few bars of the dueling banjo
scene from Deliverance.
I received a very entertaining
remembrance of adolescent life
from Californian Jim Reynolds,
describing his days at dancing
school, counting back in line
to be sure he would be holding
hands with his true love, Cammie. Nothing exposes the aging
factor more brilliantly than talk
of dancing school, wearing white
gloves, changing partners when
the teacher used her clicker, etc.
Jack Hyland also recalls “intensely
disliking dancing school.” Did
we really grow up in the 20th
century?
In Petaluma, Calif., Norm Cram
participated in the ordination of
an openly gay man in the Episcopal church in which he’d served.
As he states, “The ceremony
could be viewed as a metaphor of
the rebirth of a loving, accepting, principled community that
respects the dignity of every
human being.” The Sonoma
County triumvirate of Norm, Bo
Kirschen and Chuck Dunkel continues to converge for lunch every
few weeks. Chuck and Ernie
Fleishman have raised a subject
for our consideration concerning
Williams yesterday versus today.
I agree wholeheartedly with Ernie
when he notes, “While I loved
my time at Williams, I think it’s
a much better institution now.
The elimination of fraternities,
the advent of co-education, the
increase in student diversity and
the increased flexibility in course
selection and personalization
of instruction represent marked
improvements.” In the March
Alumni Review, Jim Barnes ’69,
commented on the article about
President Jack Sawyer by writing,
“Williams had been sliding into
mediocrity when he became
president. A pathetic endowment,
degenerate fraternities and a very
unimaginative curriculum. It
was an institution complacently
cruising on a reputation.” Chuck
wonders if Jim’s assessment is a
fair representation of the school
we attended. This is interesting
material, guys; please let me hear
your thoughts.
We were all saddened to learn
of the deaths of two classmates.
Ron Williams passed away on
April 7, and Jim Wallace died
May 8. Ron taught science and
served as athletic director in
Athens, Ohio, for many years,
and Jim taught English in Uganda
and served as senior editor at
McGraw-Hill before moving to
Vermont, where he was involved
in local theater, disc jockeying,
writing children’s books and
hiking. We shall miss our fallen
friends.
1960
Michael Penner
38334 South Desert Bluff Drive
Tucson, AZ 85739
[email protected]
Lee Metzendorf reports all is
well with him and his family in
New York. Watching their four
grandchildren grow and play a
lot of soccer has been fascinating
for Lee and Ellen. Travel destinations have been Alaska, Turks
and Caicos, and Florida. Lee and
Ellen have been kept busy with
the many attractions of the Big
Apple. Lee expresses his concern
for many issues we face as a
country today and how we can
resolve them. He asks the Class
of 1960 to keep our health and
our spirit!
Jerry Bernstein reports: “After
my wife died five years ago I
decided to sit around, get fat
(OK, fatter) and feel sorry for
myself. One day, as I pondered
what Oprah had scheduled for
the day I realized … OMG I
am wondering what Oprah has
scheduled for that day! So I rolled
off the couch, broke out the
celery stalks and decided it was
time to get back into life—which
for me meant working. (I never
had hobbies.) I decided after
being in the scrap metal business
for so long that my karma probably need some improvement, so
I sought out a consulting gig in a
nonprofit as a business development maven. After a couple
of years at the San Francisco
Lighthouse for the Blind I was
made COO (nice, but five days
a week instead of my three-day
consulting scam). Kicking and
screaming allowed me to have
my dog in my office in return
for the five days, so life was
OK. With the help of a new and
aggressive CEO I have managed
to increase our net asset base by
20 percent, add a new $3 million
CL ASS
NOTES
manufacturing building, and we
are filling the building with about
$20 million in federal manufacturing contracts. Employment of
the blind in our agency has gone
from four to 50 … and on the
way to employing 100. We are
on a $1 million capital improvement project for our 350-acre
Napa Valley camp and retreat,
and planning to add to a zipline
in 2013. By the way, is anyone
aware that the unemployment
rate among the blind workforce
is 70 percent nationwide? With
assistive technology today, blind
workers can do virtually anything
a sighted person can do (although
they do not make very good cab
drivers). … I hope to continue as
long as my health is good (and it
is). The people I work with continue to amaze and humble me
(as does my Border collie, who, if
he had thumbs, would be smarter
than I am).” Jerry, you are a class
secretary’s dream—telling a great
story, needing no editing and
inspiring us all. Well done!
John Richardson is pleased to
announce completion of a new
website about the Alexander
Shepard biography he wrote:
www.alexandershepherd.net.
John invites classmates to visit
the site and pass along any suggestions you may have. Email:
[email protected]. Shepard
was a self-made businessman
and politician with great power
in the post Civil War period in
DC and nationally. His story is
particularly interesting because
of his great achievements and the
controversy surrounding them.
This biography by John is the
first about Alexander Shepard.
Buck Frederickson reminds
us that the minireunion will
be Oct. 12-13. We will have
evening functions both nights
with Middlebury as our football
opponent. It will be a “pass the
baton” weekend with many
events on campus. Buck hopes
many of you will attend. Buck
also reported that their daughter
Ann ’85 was doing the bike Race
Across America over the summer
(San Diego to Annapolis).
John Whitman reports from his
Vermont farm that the extensive
damage caused by Irene’s floods
did not do the same destruction
to their hilltop property as at
lower elevations. In a year of
generally strange weather, he
had hoped that the traditional
Vermont mud season followed by
a few weeks of biting black flies
might be avoided, but no such
luck! Now that mud has dried on
the roads and pastures, a costume
of mesh screens and insect repellent permit gardening preparations to begin. In addition to
doing trail conservation mapping
for others, John is in the woods
daily with a GPS backpack in an
effort to construct an elevation
model of his farm that is more
detailed and accurate than can be
obtained from topographic maps
and similar public data. John
states his methods are impractically time consuming but have
proven to be effective despite the
fact that GPS positions are particularly inaccurate in the vertical
coordinate. Over the summer
John was to present papers on
this work in Vermont and in
San Diego. By then, if his legs
held out for the last push of data
collection, John hoped to have
half his farm mapped and airtight
arguments defending his accuracy
claims. Now that the Russian
GLONASS system complements
the U.S. GPS system, John is
expecting later this year or next
to be able to justify/rationalize equipment and software
upgrades that should cut both the
collection time requirements and
errors in half. Bottom line: John
may finish his farm map before
our 60th!
Colin McNaul reports that he
and Earla Sue are marking the
one-year anniversary of their
relocation to Trumansburg, N.Y.,
outside of Cornell and Ithaca.
Colin is attempting to revive the
Finger Lakes Williams Association. He observes that people in
New York are powerless when
compared to what you can do in
Vermont. Colin is involved in trying to get a moratorium or ban
on fracking for Hector. Without
this, citizens will be relying on
an understaffed Department of
Environmental Commission for
protection. Travel plans for Colin
and Earla Sue include Spain, Portugal and Morocco this fall. This
trip will preclude Colin’s return
to Wyoming to ride, but he will
settle for some horse camping in
the Finger Lakes Forest, which is
like Wyoming, only greener. July
marked the 51st wedding anniversary for Colin and Earla Sue.
Kevin Tierney wrote from
Galway City, where the sun was
out all day and the entire city
celebrated. Kevin spent his day
cycling Innishmore, the largest
of the Aran Islands, just outside
Galway Bay. Kevin was in Ireland
for a month because Connecticut
budget layoffs put judges on
temporary leave until July.
Jim Pilgrim writes that he and
Thelma were to be visiting friends
and relatives in Michigan but
would return to Massachusetts to
see the start of the New England
Collegiate Wooden Bat Baseball
League. They go to all the home
games of the North Adams
Steeplecats. Jim believes the
league was started by Fay Vincent.
Jim reports that Dunc Brown, Jim
Briggs and Bob Stegeman have all
been active supporting the team
and that Dunc was chairman of
the team last year.
Carter Craigie writes from his
mountain home in Blacksburg,
Va., that he was looking forward
to getting his upcoming back surgery over and done with. Carter
and Kay have lived in Blacksburg
for five years and are really enjoying the mountains and becoming
big Virginia Tech fans. Go Hokies! They both are still on the airwaves every day with their ham
radio and many of their friends
from the ham radio world. Carter
laments that his bottom-dwelling
Phillies provide true suffering to
fans like him.
Our class agent Dick Holiday
reports that congratulations are
in order for 146 classmates who
contributed to our Alumni Fund
and raised our participation rate
from an embarrassing 66 percent
to a respectable 72 percent and
gave more than $191,000. Dick
sends out special thanks to
the associate agents who used
the Alumni Fund soliciting as
an opportunity to contact old
friends. Dick personally spoke
with many of our mates not seen
in 52 years, some fun and interesting conversations. As summer
approached, Dick was planning
to enjoy sailing and cruising
opportunities on New England’s
south coast. Come September,
Dick was again planning to
follow Mary Lou and Jim Briggs
up into their beautiful Tyrolean
heights.
Joe Masino reports from
Lexington, Ky., the heart of horse
country, that all is well with him
and Jackie and their two dogs,
Sadie and Gabriel. No triple
crown winner this year, Joe.
Maybe 2013.
It was good to hear from Bill
Harsch, who had just returned
with his wife from a trip to Chile.
Their travels included a visit to
Easter Island, which Bill reports
is one of the most remote and
remarkable places on the planet.
He thought the statues were
truly amazing, as is the story of
the disaster that befell the island
because of the combination of
isolation and overuse of the
island’s resources to the point
n 1 9 6 0 –6 1
where it could no longer support
the population.
Nick Ratcliffe presented in April
the new cooperative U.S. Geological Survey-State of Vermont Bedrock Geologic Map of Vermont
(Ratcliffe and others, 2011) to
the governor in Montpelier. This
took about a third of Nick’s professional career as a geologist for
the USGS, and much boot leather
as well as combating untold
swarms of black flies. Harvey
Carter (ex Vermont senator and
state representative) accompanied
Nick to the governor’s office and
the House (his old digs) for the
event, which was given an excellent reception by the Vermont
press. Nick is hopeful that these
new data will be used in productive ways to further Vermont’s
efforts to be the greenest of the
green states and help as stewards
of some beautiful countryside.
Nick notes that Harvey has
dedicated much of his own legal
and teaching career to furthering
sound environmental practices in
Vermont and elsewhere.
It’s always great to hear from
Williamstown-based Duncan
Brown, who reports, “Williamstown survived a very mild
winter, much to the chagrin of the
ski-loving Brown family. To compensate for lack of skiing, Duncan
and Susan headed south to bike
the Cape Town area, including
the beautiful wine country around
Stellenbosch and Franschhoek,
where they enjoyed great biking
and wine. April in Charlestown
was a repeat from last year. Paul
Galvani and Sheila were gracious
hosts for cocktails, dinner, golf
and in-depth Charlestown history. In late May, Duncan, Phil
Scaturro and Ned Benedict, along
with Herb Allen ’62 and five 1962
classmates, biked the hills south
of Austin, Texas, and then above
the hills of Santa Barbara, Calif.
Duncan reports that culturally
the Berkshires continue to excel.
The Clark is under a major and
beautiful expansion. MASS
MoCA is opening “Oh Canada,”
a most exciting exhibit of 62
Canadian contemporary artists.
Jacob’s Pillow enters its 80th
season with dance groups from
all over the world. Tanglewood
will thrill thousands with its
excellent music. Summer theater
is available at four venues within
a 45-minute drive. Duncan urges
us all to come to the beautiful
Berkshires!
Nils Herdelin sent me an
interesting article about Charlie
Nichols in a publication of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Nils
graduated from Jefferson Medical
College with Charlie and John
Donnelly in 1964. They have each
gone in to different specialties.
Charlie has had a distinguished
career in ophthalmology at the
Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania; John is a shrink;
Nils retired a few years ago from
the private practice of otolaryngology in his hometown. Nils
assures me that none of this
should be held against them.
On May 4, the Philadelphia
Museum of Art held a reception followed by a dinner in
honor of Dr. Charles Nichols
for the opening of “The Art of
German Stoneware, the Charles
W. Nichols Collection and the
Philadelphia Museum of Art.” A
catalog of the collection is published by Yale University Press,
and the show was also covered
by The New York Times. Charlie
has been collecting German
stoneware for many years, with a
collection of more than 40 pieces.
Exactly one week later, the
Perelman School of Medicine,
University of Pennsylvania,
Department of Ophthalmology, held a dinner in honor of
Dr. Nichols’ contributions to
ophthalmology over the past 50
years. Dr. Joan O’Brien, chairman of the department, described
Dr. Nichols’ contributions, as did
five additional speakers. Three
of the speakers have Williams
connections—Dr. Joe Rudick ’79,
Dr. Christian Dankers ’99 and Dr.
Josh Ney, husband of Dr. Erin
(Morrissette) Ney ’00. Charlie
continues to work five days a
week (and some Saturdays!) for
the Department of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of
Medicine. In Charlie’s free time
he not only collects art, but also
enjoys gardening. What a great
pair of honors in one week!
It was great to hear from Dixie
and Keith Griffin, who had just
returned from a brief trip to
London, where they attended
a reception hosted by Prince
Charles to celebrate the granting
of a Royal Charter to the Oxford
Centre for Islamic Studies. Afterward, the center was the host
for a large dinner for about 100
dignitaries, at the end of which
Keith gave a short speech. Keith
and Dixie also spent time with
daughter Kimberly and grandson
Benjamin. Benjamin is about to
begin his teaching career. He is
a chemist from Imperial College
London, and after a year in Japan
on the JET program decided
he wants to teach science at the
junior high level. Dixie reports
that Prince Charles was warm
and gracious at the reception in
St. James Palace, a place close to
Dixie’s heart because it was the
site of the Texas Legation to the
Court of St. James from 1835 to
1845 when Texas was a country
before statehood. There is a
bronze plate there to mark this
historic period. The Griffins are
moving back to southern California after seven wonderful years
in Oregon. After Dixie broke
her wrist falling on black ice in
December, a move to warmer
climes seemed like a good idea.
Their new address is 2286
Decade Court, Riverside, Calif.
92506. They would be happy to
see classmates in the area.
Unfortunately we lost two more
classmates. Nick Carter died Jan.
22 and is survived by his wife
June. Dr. Fred Schweizer III died
March 4 and is survived by his
wife Tizzie.
1961
Bob Gormley
P.O. Box 3922
Westport, MA 02790
[email protected]
Not exactly an outpouring in
response to my call for comments
on Election 2012—in fact more
classmates expressing dismay at
our sad state of governmental
affairs—but there was enough to
claim a ’61 focus group. George
Reath responded to John Mayher’s
challenge to show where they
stood today in contrast to their
11/2/60 Williams Record editorial. John had pledged his vote
back then to JFK and is standing
by Obama this year; Reath
had gone for Nixon (“the first
of many votes cast for losing
presidents,” he exclaimed, while
meaning “losing votes cast for
presidents,” I’m sure). George
added that he was pleased to
recall how his thinking made
good sense then and now, voting
to “control inflation by curbing
government spending. But who
thinks that way anymore?” I
gather that George is still a proud
Republican.
The most serious and impassioned response came from John
Logie, our distinguished 12-year
mayor of Grand Rapids. He’s an
Independent, a social liberal and
fiscal conservative, proving that
the two can dance together. But
he also contends “that we are
in the midst of a major breakdown in this Republic.” John
hails from Jerry Ford country
and appreciated that leader’s
CL ASS
NOTES
ability to move to the center in
Tip O’Neal’s House in order to
get legislation passed. John followed that model in his city and
proudly notes his passing of 12
balanced budgets on cue. He had
to go to the voters four times to
bump taxes, and four times they
concurred. We can have government without rancor. John also
noted that he would be voting for
Obama, since “he offers the best
chance to keep our Republic”
intact. Joining him was Gordie
Stevenson, another lifelong Independent, leaning to Obama but
not entirely certain and willing
to listen to whichever candidate
shows some courage in breaking
from strict party ideology.
On the right, Fred Mayer is
standing firm and was indeed
one of the very few to embrace
Romney by name. Of course,
Fred also added a dash of
family political history along
with a cartoon that’s made the
rounds showing elite eagles on
top perches dropping on those
below who can only look up to
rear ends—the point being that
politics is not left or right but
up and down. Fred and Pat celebrated their 50th in January in
Hawaii, visiting Pete Glick. Pete
wrote that Bob Kaplan and Debra
also visited in February. Seeing
the view out to Diamond Head
from Pete’s back deck, you might
consider visiting as well. Fred was
impressed with Pete’s hospitality,
down to his perfect use of the
Vietnamese language at a favorite
restaurant. Remember that Pete
had been known as “the mayor
of Saigon” back in the day.
On the 2012 political side, Pete
is pessimistic about our future,
feels we have wandered too
far from “first principles” and
added that it seems the college
has too with its flaps over racial
and sexual issues. Herb Allen ’62
wrote a strong complaint letter
to The Record for the college
allowing, though not sponsoring,
a controversial and allegedly pornographic program on campus
in the spring that drew the ire of
several classmates, Gibby Rachliff
and Gil Kerr among them. A sad
addition to Gibby’s note was
that he suffers ALS and is now
severely limited.
Back on the national scene,
Jim White came down hard on
Obama and did not “digress”
or “rant,” nor did he pull any
punches: Chicago politicians do
not compromise, they “ramrod”
as per Obamacare, whereunder
small businesses like his suffer
costs and cannot add jobs.
Moreover, Private Equity (e.g.,
Bain) has an important role in
wealth creation and government financial support. He
was also looking for Wisconsin
Gov. Walker to withstand his
recall and for his victory to add
momentum to oust Obama. So
there.
To the more liberal side of the
ledger, Tim Weinland was back
from Turkey, where he encourages us all to visit, and challenges
Romney supporters to come up
with one core Romney belief.
Tim Oliphant checked in to admit
voting for JFK back in ’60 but
switching to Nixon in ’72, never
to vote again for the GOP. Gerri
Strauss, Tony’s widow and a Sr.
VP at Coldwell Banker in Cinci,
hails Obama on women’s issues.
Al Demb, as usual, helps us keep
Canada in the comparative
spotlight and noted that Canada’s
right/left divide has widened along
with ours. “In my opinion,” he
concludes, “Obama would wreak
less havoc than Romney, but
the U.S. will never actualize the
social democratic haven it could
be, a deficiency that too many
Americans wear with personal
individualistic pride.”
Stan Rosenblatt kicked in with
some welcome humor on the
political front. Stan felt pride in
JFK, glumness for most of the
years since, and disappointment
with the Obama record so far
but will stick with him given the
blandness he sees on the other
side. “My liberal passion has
aged, like its owner,” but he’d
like to see intelligent leadership
and a “Not Dork” memorable
president for son Gabriel’s generation, one who’ll keep us out
of war. “Maybe Bono or Jimmy
Fallon or Anderson Cooper.”
Tom Fox joined the chorus of
the disaffected, albeit from his
enlightened DC angle. Disgusted
in May by both campaigns and
their pandering to the polls, he
also called for a return to the
civility and substance of ’60.
Frank Gluck was honored to have
received the “Heart of Hospice”
award for his contributions
to End of Life care from Alice
Hospice in Nashville, pioneering
work in a field all too close to us.
Frank’s vote in ’12 will not go to
anyone not referring to this field
in “Death Panel” vernacular!
Joan and Lou Guzzetti and my
wife Bea and I ventured up to
Hobart College (Geneva, N.Y.)
in June to support Tom Millington’s being recognized with a
Distinguished Faculty Award for
lifetime teaching. Tom also sat
on an “Is this Election a Tipping
Point?” panel with a group of
political scientists where he discussed his research on Hispanic
immigration and tipped his hat
to Obama. Guzzetti, per force,
a strident conservative, tossed
a few hardball questions to the
academics. All in all, a memorable Millington weekend wherein
Tom’s son Ken (R.I. School of
Design) was also celebrated for
his historic, large scale buildingside mural in downtown Geneva.
Kevin Morrissey, who claims to
be into politics as never before
but skirted it in a more homey
contribution, is still riding the
warm feelings of reunion, along
with semi-retirement and grandparenthood. He was celebrating
the arrival of a fourth grandchild
and reading Moby Dick, wishing
he had taken the opportunity
back in college with Luther Mansfield. His old roommate Noyes
Rogers had been to visit in NYC
twice since last June for opera
and symphony. He’d also crossed
paths with Harvey Simmonds
’60 and ’61 (and now Cistercian
Brother Benedict) and Phil Cohan
at a DC memorial service for Lael
Stegall, wife of Ron Stegall ’60.
Kevin was also looking to get
together with the Max Davidsons
in NYC soon. Meanwhile, Max
wrote about new grandchildren,
son William ’02 with Harry and
son Max expecting identical
twins in June. So he and Kevin
can talk kids aplenty. Max and
Mary went to Sundance in February with a MASS MoCA group.
With all those new Davidsons
and high culture, no wonder he
too was fed up with politics and
put it in a back seat. And, speaking of kids, Gardy Brown asked
if any of us had seen the David
Brooks column in the Times noting that college students in 1961
spent an average of 24 hours/
week studying while today’s
students spend half that. First
Gardy had a flush of pride that
we worked so hard, then he realized we may just be slower. These
kids are good. Time studying, I
think, depends on how much of
their online time goes to reading,
research and learning.
Much of the good feedback I
got this time referred to travel.
Wally Bernheimer, John Denne and
John Byers have advanced with
their Williams ’61 group travel
plans to pinpoint Sept./Oct. 2013
as the time preferred and a choice
to be made between: 1) Milan
and the Lakes Region of Italy; 2)
Southern Spain; 3) Provence; or
4) a WWI/Champagne/Alsace/
n 1 9 6 1 –6 2
From left: Paul Mersereau ’61 and his children Pam (Mersereau) Dickinson
’86 and Chris Mersereau ’91 pose for a photo on the first tee of the Old
Course at St. Andrews, Scotland—the family’s first visit there together.
Burgundy combo. Whichever is
chosen would be customized for
the group and led by a Williams
faculty member. More to follow
from them. Like price.
Per Southern Spain, one of the
choices above, we could all drop
in on Fred Noland (and Susan
Hansen) in Salobrena, on the
Mediterranean coast south of
Granada. George Lowe was there
last year, and Carolyn and Phil
Cohan, along with Ron Stegall
’60 were there in May. Phil gives
it a five-star rating. Penny and
Joe Low were in China when Joe
wrote, marveling at the experience despite some transportation
inconveniences. He was thanking
Susie and Jack Wadsworth for the
impetus to go and was astounded
by the growth and sea of people.
Sheila and Jim Hodges had
just returned from a Harvard
B-School class reunion trip to
South Africa in March. His
group has been scheduling home
visits to countries and U.S. cities
of various members for many
years. Bob Judd was home with
Kathryn in Bozeman, Mont., and
wrote it up in dreamy travelogue
fashion; the Gallatin River (as
captured in the film A River
Runs Through It) running by
their family ranch, snow flecked
mountains in the distance, Big
Sky colors, exotic wildlife, fishing
paradise.
Eric Widmer wrote as he and
Meera were off to a lunch in Boston June 6 with the Bernheimers,
Marty Linsky and his 98-year-old
mother. He promised to get back
with a report but missed the cut,
so maybe next time. Marty’s
two sons were married this year,
and his mother is pushing for
great-grandchildren already.
Funny aside to Eric’s brief note in
that a copy went to John Denne,
who then erroneously hit the button for the entire class to receive
a copy whereupon John Leathers
wrote me somehow assuming I
was also going to this Eastern
Liberal Summit Lunch and wanting to know about our agenda.
Such paranoia on the right!
A Texas bipartisan, culture and
garden-oriented gathering was
held in Fort Worth at the Kimball
Museum and others in April.
Page and Walt Henrion hosted
the Bernheimers and Guzzettis
for a six-museum gallop in two
days and were joined by Vicky
and John Castleman and Jane and
Steve Thayer at a special dinner.
No political debate, or it might
not have been as much fun.
On an environmental note,
John Allen wrote to nominate
Eliot Coleman, our organic farming whiz up in Maine, as perhaps
the most influential member of
our class over 50 years. John is
a vegetable grower and says one
can’t turn around without seeing
a book or a tool created by Coleman. And it just so happened
I had been saving a lead piece
from the Times—from the Home
section, which I rarely read—on
Feb. 23 since it featured the Four
Season Farm of Eliot (we used
to call “Boots”) and his wife,
Barbara Damrosch. Coleman followed the back-to-the-land urge
of the ’60s and managed to buy
60 acres of Penobscot Bay land
for $33 an acre in 1968 from
Scott and Helen Nearing, pioneers of do-it-yourself living and
authors of the famous 1954 book
Living the Good Life. In one
way or another Eliot has been
working and improving his land,
and writing about it to make an
international impact ever since.
There were a few other entries,
but I’ll save those for another
day. Let me just add a couple
of bits; one happy, two very
sad. Dave Whittemore hosted a
May golf outing at Weston CC
for the Boston and R.I. alumni
associations, and I joined him,
Paul Mersereau and Paul’s son
and daughter for an enjoyable
day on that wonderful track.
The Mersereaus were then off to
Scotland for more serious golf
on some ancient courses. The
very sad news is that we lost two
prominent classmates. Bill Penny
died unexpectedly May 24 following surgery. Our condolences
to Vivi and his family. And Jim
Frick succumbed to cancer July
14. Pete Hager spoke warmly
at his memorial service of Jim’s
lifelong love of golf and their
enduring friendship. Our prayers
go to Jane and their three sons.
Hope your summer has been
full and your fall is pleasurable. And don’t forget to vote in
November!
1962
William M. Ryan
112 Beech Mountain Road
Mansfield Center, CT 06250
[email protected]
At home on Sunday night
after our 50th, I asked Bonnie
what she thought of the reunion.
Her reply: “I can’t think of an
adjective big enough to describe
it.” We finally decided that
Mary Poppins had it right, and
we agreed that our reunion was
“supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” We don’t know what it
means either, but it’s a BIG word.
Here are my memories of our
50th along with those you have
related to me.
We began with an informal
dinner on Wednesday. Most of
us had arrived by then, and the
final total was 126 alumni, 105
spouses and four widows, earning
us the award for the highest percentage of returning classmates.
According to our indefatigable
chairman, Dick McCauley, we set
an all-time record for both number and percentage (53 percent).
Much of that credit goes to him
and to the attendance committee,
headed by John Huntington. Lastminute cancellations included
Bart McDougal (wife Nancy in
the hospital with pneumonia),
Jameson Campaigne (recovering
CL ASS
NOTES
from open-heart surgery) and
Jeff Rosendhal (stroke two weeks
prior to reunion). I talked by
phone with both Jameson and
Jeff, and both assured me they
are headed toward full recovery. Many commented on the
poignant and powerful sophomore year story Jeff wrote for
our book. Sadly, Banger Lang’s
wife Missy tripped on the curb
at the Williams Inn and broke
her shoulder, and the Langs had
to leave the next morning. Missy
was trussed up in a sling and
reported that time will heal that
wound as well. Kris Atchley was
an unexpected arrival and did
yeoman duty with his camera. Jim
Gordon showed up on Saturday,
too late to be counted in our
total but not too late for the
parade. He certainly added to the
youthful appearance of our class!
It was especially heartwarming
for me to see my roommate Bob
Mahland. The Buffalo is awaiting
a hip replacement but struggled
with his walker to all our formal
events. “No way I was going to
miss this one,” he emphasized.
Jim Van Hoven tried for three days
to get me up to the roof of the old
St. A. House, our reunion HQ, to
show me where they used to party
(remember the photos he supplied
for our book), but the door was
locked, and we were told that “no
one has a key.” Probably a good
thing, as I’m certain he would
have tried a reenactment.
Thursday began with retired
Rear Admiral Steve Clarey’s seminar on the role of the Navy—
past, present and future—which
his wife Bonnie helped prepare. I
was particularly impressed with
the clarity of their slides, as was
Mike Scott, who commented on
his “comprehensive world view.
I feel more comfortable about
our military after Steve’s talk,”
he said, “and I also enjoyed Peter
Murphy’s talk about the graphic
novel—what a wonderful teacher
he must be.” Next, we listened
to Steve Telkins and Jay Tompkins
articulate discussion of the place
of Williams and America in the
new global landscape. Jay, who
headed our gift purpose committee, was the driving force behind
our intention to provide the college with “international venture
capital” to enable Williams and
its students to become more of
a presence in the world. Steve
related to me later that he had
re-connected with John Shoaff at
reunion and discovered that both
had worked within five miles
of each other in Ghana during
the early ’60s, Steve in the Peace
Corps and John with Crossroads
Africa.
The Wild, Wicked, Wily
Women of Williams sponsored
a luncheon for spouses that was,
from my secondhand reports,
well-attended and delightfully
staged. Many spouses had
never been to Williams, and the
luncheon helped them connect.
Leon Lane’s wife Sharyn: “I feel
the two spouse events put on
by the WWW added much in
making the spouses feel welcome
and involved.” Thanks to Bruce
Grinnell, Dick Paul and Tom Payzant for marrying Judy, Carol and
Ellen, respectively. Concurrent
with the WWW lunch, we alums
heard three of the four Williams
trustees from our class speak on
that experience. (Toby Cosgrove’s
return flight from Abu Dhabi
was delayed. The weekend prior
to reunion, Toby received an
honorary degree from Williams
at graduation. Just what Toby
needs—more doctorates!) Jack
Kroh, Mike Keating and Choppy
Rheinfrank constituted the panel.
Mike was especially articulate in
his description of the Williams
governance system. Choppy was
Choppy—intense and direct with
his opinion on the tenure system.
No surprise there!
Thursday afternoon was
filled with three terrific faculty
seminars, a tour of WCMA, golf
or leisure. We gathered at our
HQ on Thursday evening for our
first official dinner. I joined the
Purple Herd as your entertainment—wait, that’s wrong, they
wouldn’t have me—the Purple
Herd and I were on the program.
Thank you all for your lovely
comments about our book and
my talk. Bonnie says I can no longer get through the door because
my head is too big. If there ever
was a labor of love, this was it.
My theme is that there are many
wonderful people in our class
that I hardly knew during our
college days. My journey enabled
me to correct that, and I urged
you to do the same at reunion.
Many did just that: Jim Wick, who
told his hilarious Tunbridge, Vt.,
joke, which I suspect has now
gone viral, said, “I had a brief
encounter with Choppy because
of your exhortation.” I didn’t
know brief and Choppy could
reside in the same sentence. Guess
they didn’t discuss tenure. Dick
Cappalli: “A special moment was
when Marc Comstock sat with
me at a dinner table ‘to make a
new friend.’” John Moynahan: “I
was about to say ‘Buddha sent
me’ to an almost-stranger, when
the recipient said ‘John, how
are you?’ like he had known me
all my life. Thankfully, I kept
my mouth shut.” Ed Jarman did
a ton of work organizing the
Purple Herd, and five of them
returned and regaled us with their
harmonies from the past: Ed, Ash
Crosby, Kit Jones, Charlie Merrill
and Jack Shaw. Special thanks to
Charlie, who spent much time
looking up the lyrics and working
out the chords. Al Oehrle gave
many classmates CDs of his band
with the comment, “It’s free. Add
$20 to your next Alumni Fund
gift.” We finished the day with
some memorable (and a mercifully brief effort at) dancing in the
’62 Center.
Friday began with a breakfast
at the Faculty/Alumni House
for members of the Ephraim
Williams Society, those who have
remembered Williams in their
will. There are 44 persons in our
class who have done so, and we
were treated to the first of several
marvelous talks from President Adam Falk. Several more
seminars during the day kicked
off with Toby Cosgrove and Tom
Payzant discussing the future of
American health care and education, respectively. Or as moderator Kit Jones phrased it, “Sick and
Stupid.” Kit did a masterful job
of relating these two disparate
topics, and Toby and Tom shared
exciting ideas.
In the afternoon Sel Whitaker
moderated a panel of ’62ers on
“Flunking Retirement.” Fin Fogg
related how he “retired” from
his law firm only to become
president of the NY Legal Aid
Society, leading 300 lawyers
with an $800 million annual
budget. Mike Scott has significantly reduced his neurosurgery
practice; in its place he has
formed a jazz band that plays all
over the country. And Wif Floyd
described his path from the CIA
to a Japanese B&B, which he and
wife Taeko own and operate in
rural Virginia. Said Wif about his
very first reunion: “I was amazed
at the accomplishments of our
classmates. I only wish I had
known more of them better when
I was there. Come visit us at our
B&B.” No time like the present.
Today is the youngest you will be
for the rest of your life.
Those wily women sponsored
an afternoon talk and discussion
with psychology professor Susan
Engel on memory and identity. I
forgot what it was about! But I
remember that it was very well
attended. I do remember another
impressive performance by Adam
n 1962
Falk at our theater. He was frank
and open about some very controversial matters and stressed the
importance of need-blind admissions at Williams, where 53 percent of the Class of 2016 requires
scholarship money. (It was 20
percent when we were there.) I
read recently in our local paper
that Wesleyan has been forced to
abandon need-blind admissions.
Paul Hill was impressed with the
college’s reaffirmation of the
value of a liberal arts education.
“In this world, where focus seems
even more intense on specialization and finding a job ASAP, this
was a welcome and reassuring
statement.”
Several fraternity members
organized parties for their
brothers. Bob Henry hosted a
cocktail party for the 14 Chi Psis
who returned; 12 Theta Delts
gathered at the instigation of
Steve Telkins; and Dick Cappalli
reunited several Dekes. Though
the KAs had no separate function, 19 of the 20 living alumni
were present, plus Sandra Roe,
widow of John, and we did manage to convene for a photo.
Perhaps the most enjoyable
moment of the reunion for me
occurred when Bonnie and I
exited the elevator at the Williams Inn to be greeted by our
4-year-old granddaughter Ashley
as she leaped into our arms. Our
son Jim ’92 had told us he didn’t
think he could make it. What a
delight to see him, Beth, Ashley
and their son Andrew. It made
our weekend even more special.
(Ashley repeated her leaps at the
Alumni Society meeting on Saturday, much to our delight.)
Our Friday party and dinner
took place at the Clark, where
Adam Falk again inspired us:
“Welcome home!” he said, and
we cheered. Indeed, as more
than one classmate mentioned,
“By that time my hands were
developing callouses from all the
applause.” Class officers for the
next five years were elected: Carl
Davis, president; Tom Payzant, VP;
Bill Ryan, secretary; Jack Kroh and
Bill Beadie, class agents; and Ed
Warren, treasurer.
Ah, the Saturday parade and
meeting! Dick McCauley and I
were thrilled with the honor of
leading you and all the alumni in
the parade and ushering our class
into Chandler Gym to thunderous and lengthy applause. I am
pleased to report that Mac and
I never wavered in our pace nor
dropped the staffs (tho’ Mac did
have to switch hands). What a
thrill to view Park Street filled
with straw hats, blue blazers and
sweaters, and colorful scarfs as
far as the eye could see! Anecdotes: Steve Brumberg walked in
the parade with granddaughter,
Tamar, daughter of Josh Brunberg
’92. Tamar asked, “Why is
Daddy so far behind us?” Steve
replied: “Don’t worry. With luck,
he’ll catch up in 30 years.” Kit
Jones was sitting next to Bob
Hallman at the meeting, and after
it was over Kit asked Bob if he
was ready for lunch. “He looked
at me in bewilderment and asked:
‘Aren’t you going to the parade?’
Bob had walked with the rest
of us from the Frosh Quad but
apparently didn’t realize that
was the parade. I guess he had
something in mind like the Rose
Bowl or Macy’s Thanksgiving.
Now whenever I see him I’ll be
sure to say, ‘You wait here, Bob.
The parade will kick off at any
moment now.’” Bill Whitman:
“Barbara and I walked into the
meeting with Gillian and Spike
Kellogg. I suggested that it would
be appropriate for the women
to walk three paces behind their
husbands as is common in the
Middle East. Gillian replied,
‘Good. Then you’ll step on the
IUDs. Whoops! I guess I mean
IEDs.’” Highlights of the meeting: Mike Keating receiving the
Kellogg Award as recognition of
his outstanding legal career; Dick
McCauley being honored with the
Rogerson Cup for his lengthy and
remarkable service to the college;
Bill Whitman presenting our 50th
reunion gift of $12.7 million to
augment the scholarship fund
and to serve as “international
venture capital.” Thanks from
the class to Bill, Jay Tompkins and
Bob Henry, our fundraising chairs,
for their hard work in these hard
times. The best line of the meeting came from the co-chair of the
25th reunion fund, a member of
the Class of ’87. He said: “Being
paired with the Class of ’62 is
like double dating with George
Clooney. Someone is going to
be disappointed, and it won’t be
Clooney’s date.”
After a lunch on Chapin lawn,
many of us joined an overflowing
Griffin Hall classroom to hear
President Emeritus John Chandler, Bruce Grinnell and a member
of the Class of ’57 discuss the
history of fraternities at Williams.
Lefty did a fine job of explaining
the role of our class in this development, and as Ralph Temple
remarked to me later, “Bruce
deserves a tremendous amount of
credit for his courage in 1961 and
1962. I didn’t agree with it then, I
loved my house, but he was right,
and I was wrong.”
Many of us went separate ways
in the afternoon, some to tennis,
some to “Hike with Spike” and
most to take a nap. John Huntington reports “The Class of ’62 tennis tournament was won by John
Newton, who beat me, 7-6, 6-7,
7-6, in a two-hour battle that was
unbelievable! Literally. Nineteen
classmates and spouses hiked
with Spike. All survived—barely.
Then there was the party and
performance generously hosted
by Herb Allen. As Rawson Gordon
put it: “Herb really knows how
to throw a party. From the champagne and exquisite wine, to the
coral peonies from Columbia on
every table, first-class food, and
truly marvelous performance by
the Grammy-nominated John
Pizzarelli Quartet joined by
John’s wife Jessica Molaskey, it
was an evening to remember.”
Thanks, Herb! Steve Telkins
remembers: “We joined several
classmates to walk to our class
dinner. As we proceeded, a group
of younger alums in shorts and
T-shirts passed by. We waved to
them and then heard these words
drift back to us: ‘You guys really
clean up good.’” A Dick Adams
memory: “Remember the hilarious song they sang about New
Jersey. After the concert, in the
lobby, I ‘talked Jersey’ with them.
They really are from my home
state.” Gene Cassidy remembers:
“Most classmates brought their
wives. To my disappointment
there was not a flashy bimbo in
the whole bunch.” Fenner Milton:
“Barbara and I and Julie and
Steve Cohen crashed the party of
the 30th reunion class who had a
true rocking and rolling band and
danced up a storm. We should
hire that band for our 55th (if
they still exist and there are any
of us still standing.)”
Sunday morning saw two
special services to honor
deceased alumni. The first, in the
Thompson Chapel for all classes,
featured eloquent speakers and
the Reunion Choir, including
Walt Graham and Jim Van Hoven.
We proceeded to Griffin Hall
for a ceremony remembering
our 46 deceased brothers of ’62.
Our gratitude to Joe Bassett,
Dan Crowley, Ned Daugherty and
Steve Brumberg for the simple
but heart-wrenching event. Lots
of tissues consumed.
Final event: Lunch at the Faculty
Club with six academics of our
era. In attendance were Presidents Emeriti John Chandler and
Frank Oakley, John Hyde ’52,
CL ASS
NOTES
Kurt Tauber, Fred Greene and
Hank Flint ’44. I spent some time
chatting with Frank and Hank.
Remarkable people, then and
now!
I’ll end with some of your
thoughts: Rob Beard: “Let’s do it
again!” Mike Canon: “The Class of
’62 owes our deepest respect and
gratitude to the wonderful gang
of our friends who organized this
special weekend.” Kent Collins:
“A truly extraordinary weekend
in every respect.” Mark Comstock:
“Thanks to all for sharing their
experiences, stories and this
weekend. I think I now get it as
to why Bill Ryan went on his great
odyssey.” Jef Corson: “I enjoyed
the chance to interact with everyone. Carol and I will be back for
the baton-passing ceremony.” (Ed.
note: Oct. 10-12.) Dan Crowley:
“We are clearly a very lucky tribe.
And so the reunion sends us home
with a challenge to share our good
luck and fortune with those who
are not so lucky or fortunate.”
Carl Davis: “Most impressive were
the classmates, their bios and
their accomplishments.” Charlie
Dickson: “I wish it had gone on
for several more days.” Rawson
Gordon: “Our reunion was an
organizational miracle (for which
much of the credit is due to Dick
McCauley and our other class
leaders).” Steve Huffmann: “I got
to spend time with fabulous guys
I never knew well before. What a
distinguished group!” Spike Kellogg: “Let’s keep up the reunion
habit.” Charlie Kurtz: “We have all
become friends and can sit down
and converse with each other,
even if we didn’t know each other
in college.” Lin Morison: “The
campus looks fabulous, particularly the ’62 Center. … I am so
proud that I went to Williams.”
Art Palmer: “This was my first
reunion, but I was surprised how
much I enjoyed speaking with
classmates I hardly knew in ’62.
It’s true, every person has a story.”
Barney Shaw: “What an amazing
weekend—it’s hard to come down
from such a high.” Roger Smith:
“Betty and I were very impressed
with the smooth running and
perfect execution of all the details
for the great reunion.” Bill Vaughn:
“Without trying to sound too
pompous, we all return to our
lives with different lenses to ponder who we were, who we are and
who we still have a chance to be.”
Gene Cassidy: “And we’ll fight for
dear old Williams/Until we win
and win again.”
I’ve never missed a reunion. I
never will. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
1963
50th
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Jim Blume
23 Vicente Road
Berkeley, CA 94705
[email protected]
Prior to the election in Greece,
which once again threw Greece’s
relationship with the Euro into
turmoil, I asked our class’s foreign correspondent, Alex Kyrtsis,
to opine on the financial crisis
from a personal perspective. He
wrote the following response,
“Having taken early retirement
and having sold my business
before the crisis, my personal
finances, although heavily taxed,
are still in fair shape. But seeing
those around me suffer (my
ex-business partner, who bought
my shares, is in danger of going
broke, while my younger friends
who work for others have not
received their salary for months)
makes my own life miserable. I
even feel a touch of guilt to have
survived, while others agonize,
and yet life continues.” Alex,
indeed, paints a pretty sobering
picture of life in Greece in 2012.
Stanley Hutter belatedly commented on Bob Rich’s acquisition
of an English title as follows,
“Our forefathers fought the
Revolutionary War in great part
to rid themselves of tyrannical
titles and banished them forever
in Section One, Article Nine and
Ten of the U.S. Constitution.
Any American man buying a
title must therefore be known as
homo nobilis ex officio and in
absentia. By my Randolph forbearers furthermore I am direct
descendant of Scotland’s King
David I and am thereby a prince,
ever modest and, of course, ex
officio and in absentia.” Lest anyone forget, Stanley won the Latin
prize at Williams and is an avid
Oakland A’s fan and a devoted
Dickens scholar.
Alan Schlosser, whose name
appears regularly in this column,
largely because he has a longstanding “in” with your scribe,
was honored as a Champion of
Justice by the National Lawyer’s
Guild in March. Four hundred
people attended the event, including Dotty (Alan’s 94-year-old
mother), daughter Jessica ’00 and
her husband Matthew Butterick,
Roger Warren, Bobby Seidman and
me. Alan’s acceptance speech,
which had the crowd in an uproar,
was typically clever, humorous
and decidedly irreverent.
Subsequent to the event,
Schlosser met Murray Ross and
Peggy and Gordon Davis in NYC
in order to see the revival of
Death of a Salesman. After the
play, over dinner, they engaged
in a lively conversation about the
play’s meaning. Alan’s concluding comment, transcribed by
Murray, was a classic: “Seeing
the play at 70 is different from
when you were 55. Then it was
about a father and a son. Now
it’s about the death of a salesman.” Gordon, keenly listening
to the dialogue, inquired of Ross
and Schlosser, “Where was the
line about I could have been a
contenda?” Oh well, Davis was
obviously not an English major.
Gordon incidentally recovered
from the trauma of his firm,
Dewey & Le Bouef, where he had
been a partner for 18 years, disintegrating. Gordon and several
of his partners in Dewey’s real
estate practice joined Venable, an
esteemed Washington-based firm
with 500-plus lawyers and with
a growing real estate practice.
Peggy and Gordon also attended
the Medal of Freedom ceremony
at the White House in which Bob
Dylan and Toni Morrison among
others were honored.
And speaking of the Great
White Way (Broadway), Garrett
Kirk’s daughter Christina received
rave reviews for her starring role
in the hit play, Clybourne Park.
I received an e-mail from John
Connor, complimenting me on
my musings in the class notes. He
commented that my write-ups had
provided just the right amount
of data on each classmate. He
then went on to describe his 50th
reunion at Pingry, where the class
president discussed his difficult life
without the “usual braggadocio”
and how meaningful that was for
him. He further wondered if our
50th reunion would include time
for a thoughtful dialogue. I wrote
back asking John to update the
class about his doings. Despite
my persistence—I had previously successfully seduced such
“recalcitrant” classmates as Bruce
Buck, Leigh Baier and Bill Holmes
to respond—John chose to ignore
my pleadings.
Evidently, I erred in my description of the aforementioned Bill
Holmes’ career path. I thought
he spent many years practicing
medicine in Kansas. Rather it was
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mea culpa!
John Bell, Mac Dick and Bill
Burnett travelled to Midland,
Mich., to visit Myong Ahn,
who sadly was diagnosed with
n 1 9 6 2 –6 3
Alzheimer’s disease several years
ago. The three Michiganders
met with Myong, his lovely
wife, son, daughter-in-law and
his two grandchildren. Myong,
despite his affliction, remains
cheerful and maintains a sunny
disposition. Myong’s son Shaun
whom all three of our classmates
thoroughly enjoyed, lives directly
across the street from his parents.
John, in his e-mail, recapped the
remarkable career of Myong. Following master’s and PhD degrees
from Yale, he spent two postgraduate years in LA with a leading
scholar in his field of endeavor,
chemistry. Subsequently, Myong
joined the faculty of Indiana
State. Myong continued to work
on innovative research projects
throughout his career. When he
retired, he moved to Midland to
be near his son.
John concluded his e-mail by
noting, “Myong is 74, so a bit
older than our class, although
he is very fit and looks virtually
unchanged from his yearbook picture, save for his current gray hair
and sporty, wire-rim glasses. In all,
we were delighted that we were
able to visit Myong and come to
know his family members.”
Bobby Seidman wrote that the
copy editing is complete on the
Muybridge novel. “Both pumped
and nervous about what’s ahead
for the book. Pumped because I
think it’s reasonably good; nervous because I have no idea what
sort of reception awaits Moments
Captured. Publication date is
set for October or November.”
I’m sure I’m joined by many
classmates in wishing Bobby all
success with his new novel.
Alas, I regret to inform everyone
about the loss of two valued classmates: Stan Blair and Harry Lum. I
have received a lovely card from
Stan’s wife Janet, enclosing his
obituary from the Davie County
Enterprise Record (North Carolina). Janet noted, “He is being
missed. Stan was very proud of
his Williams education.”
After graduating from Williams
with a degree in chemistry, Stan
earned an MBA from Union
College. Janet and Stan have
three children and four grandchildren. Over the years, Stan
worked at GE as well as at several
startup businesses. The obituary
stated that Stan “retired to Lake
Norman in Statesville, where he
enjoyed woodworking, remodeling their lake house and captaining their pontoon boat. He loved
spending time with his children,
enjoying his granddaughter’s baking and watching his grandson
play football. He will be remembered for his colorful commentary
on life, wry sense of humor and
his generosity.” The last sentence
captures the essence of the Stan
Blair, whom I remember.
Harry Lum is survived by his
wife Candance, three children—
Chip, Megan and David—and
four grandchildren. Harry’s entire
career was spent in the automotive business. After Williams he
worked for GM and then Ford.
In 1977, he purchased Cross
Roads Lincoln Mercury in Cleveland, which during the period of
his ownership sold more vehicles
than any other dealer in Ohio.
During the course of his career,
he owned and operated four
other dealerships.
At Williams Harry played
baseball for four years and was a
member of Phi Gam.
On behalf of our class, I send
our sincere condolences to the
families of both Stan and Harry.
Rich Castiello continues to see
dermatological patients four
days per week. He is an associate
professor at Georgetown as well
as a long-term civilian consultant
to dermatological residents at
Walter Reed Hospital. He feels
appreciated as a teacher and
claims that his work is not physically taxing.
Rich and Kathy (Smith ’64)
have been married for 46 years
and have four grown children,
all of whom live in the Washington area. Son Tommy ’94 is an
attorney who has three children.
Kathy and Rich have three married daughters who, in aggregate,
have five children.
His family is central to his life,
but Rich also enjoys reading
history and playing golf. Rich,
a Romney supporter, bemoaned
the lack of civility in our political
discourse. He regrets not being in
touch with classmates but is looking forward to our 50th reunion.
I received a brief email from
David Larry, a faculty member at
Appalachian State: “Woo hoo!
I’m retiring effective May 31.”
Bill Hubbard copied me on
a submission he made to the
Hotchkiss (his secondary school)
magazine, which I will largely
paraphrase. “Things are slow
in the real estate business, so I
have been able to engage in some
non-income-producing extracurricular activities, both on land
and water,” noted the irrepressible Bard.
“On land I joined the National
Governing Board of Common
Cause several years ago, hoping to bring some sanity to the
national dialogues. … Now,
we’re struggling to deal with
the issues of money in politics,
campaign finance reform and the
broader issue of income disparity
in the country.”
“On the water, I raced with our
son Will on our 46-foot sloop
Dawn Star in the 2010 Sydney
Hobart Race. We then competed
in the 2011 Transatlantic Race
and came in first in our class. …
We followed up with the Fastnet
Race and scored 13 out of 72
boats, respectable, but no silver.”
Two of Bard’s children, Will
and Alexa, graduated from
Columbia. His third child,
Alyssa, is in the 12th grade at
The Trinity School. Bill and
Daisy continue to reside on East
63rd Street in NYC. He recently
lunched with Gordon Davis and
sees Jimmy Sykes socially and on
the sailing circuit. Bard stated
that his “squash is as good as
ever.” He plans to play in the
2012 U.S. Masters Championship. If he does compete, I’ll issue
him a warning: Watch out for
Bernheimer.
And while I’m on racquet
sports, Dave Lougee and his
partner won the 70s division at
the Pacific Coast Senior’s Tournament at the Berkeley Tennis Club
(my home club) in straight sets,
triumphing over the number-one
seeds, whom they had lost to in
the finals in 2011. Loug and his
partner planned to play in the
National Hard Courts in June.
Charlie Pratt had knee-replacement surgery. His knee has been
a constant sore spot for him as he
was forced to forgo both football
and hockey at Williams because
of an earlier injury. According
to Charlie his post-op has been
difficult. Previously, he had
undergone one major surgery in
the ’60s and three arthroscopic
procedures which had kept him
“limping along for many years
(and 35 marathons), but when
the cartilage is gonzo it’s time for
a different approach!” Good luck
on the rehab, Charlie.
I chatted with George Mayer,
who retired in 2006 from Nichols
School in Buffalo. George taught
AP chemistry and coached
football, baseball and tennis. For
a number of years he competed
in tennis but was forced to retire
from the sport due to a bad knee
(it seems like a common ailment
among aging classmates).
George has been married for 47
years. He and his wife Barb have
three children. Kate works at
the Bank of America in Chicago.
Son Andy is a gastroenterologist
CL ASS
NOTES
in San Diego, while Ben lives
in Virginia and is currently
unemployed.
In retirement, George is totally
immersed in the Cavalry Episcopal Church as a Eucharistic
minister, which he calls a “labor
of love.” He remains close to
Brother Fred ’61, who lives in St.
Louis.
George, defying convention,
has chosen not to own a computer. As a confirmed Luddite I
was intrigued as well as stunned
by George’s decision. From day
one at Williams, George always
danced to his own drummer, and
seemingly not much has changed.
I also received a lovely email
from George’s former roommate,
John Nash. John attended Case
Western Reserve Medical School
and then completed his internship
and residency in OB-GYN in
Cleveland. After two years in the
military, he and Ginny moved to
Roseburg, Ore., where he bought
a ranch and raised horses, cattle
and sheep. Smash retired from
private practice in 2000 after
delivering 6,000 babies. Initially,
retirement was difficult for him as
he was consumed by guilt, which
gradually faded. He now loves
retirement and spends considerable time in his avocation, raising
and training Quarter Horses for
cutting horse contests.
John’s oldest and youngest
children, a boy and a girl, live in
Charlotte, N.C., while his two
middle boys live in Roseburg.
He claims “fertility must run in
the family” since he and Ginny
have 11 grandchildren and two
Both George and John indicated that they were hoping to
attend our 50th.
In my never-ending quest for
news of classmates, I was thumbing through my wife Kathryn’s
alumni news from her secondary
school, Riverdale, in NYC. I noted
with interest the following comments from Geoff Howard, who
with Kathryn’s brother Tommy
Sundaram graduated from Riverdale three years earlier than she.
Geoff stated, “Carol and I will be
heading off to Nepal in December for two weeks trekking. We
decided that we couldn’t be sure
how much trekking we had left in
us, so we’d better do it now.”
In an opinion essay in the Wall
Street Journal on May 28, Bret
Stephens was discussing Iran’s
ability to frustrate the West about
its intentions with regard to
nuclear weapons. In the article,
he quoted John Kifner’s report
in The New York Times in May
1981, 31 years ago. Kif wrote at
the time: “The early attempts at
negotiations all sank on the rock
of Ayatollah Khomeini’s moral
absolutism.” Kif noted that for
Khomeini, “This was a war of
Islam against blasphemy.”
Stephens likened the current
regime to Khomeini’s and further
indicated that Kif’s insight proved
prescient then and is similarly
applicable today. Iranian intransigence, as Kif noted 31 years
ago, is at the heart of the current
impasse of negotiations.
Jay Rohrlich wrote that he was
dismayed to learn of the death
of Mark Teitelbaum, since their
friendship had been rekindled in
the past 10 years. Jay continues
to practice psychiatry and is a
clinical professor at Cornell Medical School. He looks forward to
retiring to his home in Hillsdale
to more fully indulge his woodworking hobby. Jay added, “All is
good. Three wonderful grandchildren and a very happy marriage of
almost 25 years to Patti.”
I’m completing this submission
just prior to embarking on our
class trip to Oxford to reunite
with 20-plus other ’63ers and
their spouses. I’m excited by
the prospect but saddened that
Kathryn will not be joining me
because she recently broke her
leg. Nevertheless, I’m greatly
looking forward to the experience and will faithfully report
details of the adventure in the
next edition of People.
1964
Martin P. Wasserman
13200 Triadelphia Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042
[email protected]
Classmates, I hope you all
enjoyed a healthy and relaxing
summer. Many from our class
continue to respond to the Reily
weekend last fall. I continue to
receive positive notes regarding
Ben Wagner’s heroic efforts to
remember his teammate and our
classmate Mike Reily. Here is a
humorous story from Dick Plumer
about an incredible freshman
prank that he and a bunch of
others “dared” to carry out.
“Inspired by all the wonderful
stories of Mike Reily, I decided
to send in my story of … the
great ‘wars’ of freshman year.
Mike and his roommate Alex
Branch lived in Williams C. Chuck
Heywood and I were directly
across from them on the second
floor. Although Tommy Todd
roomed with Mike and Alex and
Jeff Hausdorf roomed with Chuck
and me, for some reason the wars
did not involve them. This ‘battle’
started with Alex, typically the
agent provocateur, ‘borrowing’
my floor lamp. When Chuck and
I tried to retrieve it, their door
was locked, so we took Mike’s
new laundry sitting outside.
We naturally locked our door,
awaiting Mike and Alex pounding on our door, demanding its
return. We offered a trade for the
return of our lamp. Shortly, they
returned informing us they had
wastebaskets full of water. Chuck
and I laughed thinking it was
a bluff until a deluge of water
appeared over the threshold of
the door and into our room. …
We told them we were soaking
up the water with Mike’s fresh
laundry. They laughed, not
believing us, as we began piling
the clothes on the floor, trying to
mop up the water. I can’t remember how this war actually ended,
but Chuck and I did survive! I
look back on the ‘wars’ as the
important bonding of young men
in a carefree time … something I
found difficult to accomplish in
later years. … Although Chuck
and I are still best friends 50
years later and I’ve seen Alex
a few times, I wish I could see
Mike. … I have always been
struck by the irony of Mike’s
death. He was a bigger-thanlife figure with his good looks,
charm, athletic ability, Jaguar
XKE, Southern accent and his
ability to date the best-looking
girls. Then, senior year, I sadly
watched him valiantly struggle up
a flight of five stairs to art class.
He fought a great fight and will
always be remembered.”
“The Williams event for Mike
was the most moving and joyful gathering at Williams ever!
Ben and his crew deserve our
enormous gratitude,” writes Peter
Hero. “In 2008 I left Community
Foundation Silicon Valley as
president/CEO, increasing its
assets from under $9 million to
assets to over $1.1 billion during
my 18 years. Since then I have
been teaching at the Center for
Social Innovation at Stanford
Business School and served briefly
as VP at Caltech, reorganizing
their fundraising and external
relations. A year ago I started …
The Hero Group, working with
foundations and high net-worth
individuals to create high-impact
strategic philanthropy, including the China Foundation
Center in Beijing, where we are
helping create China’s firstever local/regional community
n 1 9 6 3 –6 4
foundations.” Peter has no plans
for retirement and lives in San
Francisco with Bonnie.
You will recall our efforts previously to support Tom Stites, who
won the Game Changer Award
for his Banyan Project. Paul
Kritzer has taken a very active
role in supporting Tom in his latest quest to support “community
journalism.” Paul writes, “The
Banyan business model calls
for a reader-owned, nonprofit,
cooperative news outlet aiming
to create community institutions
providing reliable local journalism to increase civic engagement
and strengthen democracy.” Tom
is launching his first test site in
Haverhill, Mass., after spending a
year as a Berkman Fellow at Harvard Law School. He needs to
raise $35,000 for the launch, and
donations made through Spot.
Us are tax deductible (http://bit.
ly/KfsHmD). I have made my
donation because I believe in this
project, and I believe in Tom and
this exciting work. Paul quietly
enjoyed his 70th birthday with
family at Sonoma Vineyard and
recently became a grandfather.
“Life is reborn with the new
generation!”
Victor Koshkin-Youritzin continues teaching art history at the
University of Oklahoma, where
he holds the university’s highest
teaching honor, a David Ross
Boyd distinguished professorship.
He is in his 40th year there. This
summer, together with Margaret
Morgan Grasselli, a student
of Art Wheelock Jr. ’65, Victor
curated an exhibition on loan
from the National Gallery of Art
and titled “From Vernet to Villon: 19th-Century French Master
Drawings,” and he co-authored
its catalogue. He reports that this
past February, Roger Mandle ’63,
former deputy director of the
NGA and executive director of
the Qatar Museums Authority,
delivered a “fascinating, eloquent
and brilliant lecture” on the current state of museums and culture
in Qatar and surrounding areas.
Victor serves as VP of the Koussevitzky Recordings Society and
has published on this legendary
former conductor of the Boston
Symphony. I think Victor wins
the prize as “most deeply remaining academic” in our class.
Others continuing to work
and making major contributions
include Bill Frado, who moved
to Williamstown after retiring
as senior VP of Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care in Boston. He
joined the board of the Northern
Berkshire Healthcare System and
was soon asked to take over as
its president during “troubled
times.” Skillfully he brought
financial stability to the local
hospital and guided the system
out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy
proceedings. The hospital currently has received high marks for
patient satisfaction and quality
indicators. The hospital is the
city’s largest employer, with 575
employees and a payroll of about
$34 million. Steve Birrell sent
me an excellent article praising
Bill for his actions (http://bit.ly/
NcQQK7). Bill’s concluding comments were: “This has been the
most enjoyable job I’ve ever had.
I’ve gotten more satisfaction and
gratification out of working with
the people in this hospital than
any place I’ve ever been.”
I requested information regarding how individuals “greeted”
their 70th birthday and received
several responses. Chuck Heywood writes philosophically,
“At 70, I think more and more
about career roads, those taken
and untaken particularly for
my Williams classmates and my
students over nearly 30 years, as
well as my own two children and
myself. What intrigues me is the
striking differences in how we
ended up in our working careers.
I think of classmates who were
certain about their after-college
plans. They knew they wanted
careers in medicine, law, business, the arts or, in the case of
Leo Murray, sleeping in tents in
far-off places. After graduation,
my sophomore roommate Evan
Brodie headed off to medical
school as he had planned since
the age of about 5, I think. Then
there was me. I had no particular
interest and spent years drifting
from one professional pursuit
to another, in jobs for which I
had little enthusiasm or talent.
Then, at 38, almost entirely by
accident, I found myself on a
road not previously taken or
even thought about and spent
the next 27 years deliriously
happy, teaching English in a high
school classroom. Like Robert
Frost’s traveler, I took a road
that indeed did make all the difference. On the other hand, my
daughter Jessica and my son Sam
both decided in middle school
they wanted to be attorneys, and
neither waivered through high
school, college, law school and
now careers in the law. Does it
much matter when we discover
work we love? Is it better to
have uncertainty early or late?
At 70, I do not have an answer.
Ask me again in 10 years.”
Also turning 70 and surprised
that his oldest grandson will
be entering college in the fall is
Dick Tucker, having returned to
the main campus of Carnegie
Mellon after serving in their
satellite campus in Doha, Qatar,
for a number of years. Dick was
to return to Kigali, Rwanda,
over the summer when another
campus site opened supported by
the African Development Bank.
He will teach one undergraduate
class each semester, “finding that
the bright, inquisitive, humorous
and very hard-working young
people help to keep me feeling
young.” He will continue with
administrative responsibilities
related to the Qatar campus
and an active research agenda
in second-language learning and
teaching. Wife Rae is retired
but studies Arabic at Carnegie
Mellon. Their children and five
grandsons are all thriving. “If I
were able to foresee the future,
I’d imagine working full time for
at least another two years before
retiring full time to our house on
Cape Cod; but who knows.”
After retiring from the Seattle
Children’s Hospital/University of
Washington in 2006, Mark Smith
lives on the Oregon coast with
his wife Holly and dog Pablo.
“Although I thought writing, gardening and beach walking would
be all I’d do, I missed pediatrics.
So I work one day a week in a
local clinic as a general pediatrician and a few weeks volunteering in Mexico. I have completed
my novel about WWII events on
the Oregon coast and in Japan
(Enemy in the Mirror: Love
and Fury in the Pacific War); no
agent bites to date, probably will
self-publish. And am researching my next book where my
American protagonist is involved
in the Korean War.” Seems like
both Mark and former Class
Secretary Terry Finn share interests
in researching and writing about
military history.
Also considering publishing is
John Wester, who was preparing
for the September Mendocino
County Fair, where he will try to
sell a chapbook he is arranging.
John has been sending rhymes
to the Anderson Valley Advertiser since the ’80s, and “they’ve
printed quite a few of them. So
I’m selecting some and putting them together to sell at the
fair.” His chapbook’s cover will
be designed by one of his sons,
who is an artist. John writes
frequently, and I have had the
opportunity to read and enjoy
many of his poems—so please
CL ASS
NOTES
send me a chapbook, John, as
soon as they are ready! He reminisces, “I had never heard of Williams before Rob Durham ’61, a
fellow swimmer, told me about it
and Bob Muir, its legendary swim
coach. My AP English teacher in
high school, having worked with
Fred Stocking ’36 at the college
boards, wrote him following my
acceptance and informed him of
my interest in English. Nevertheless I got a C freshman year
but have been writing off and
on since graduation. I recently
retired, having spent the last 18
years teaching at a computer
school.” John and Katheryn have
two sons and two daughters, all
living in California, with four
grandsons and one more “on the
way.” His oldest son is named
after Coach Muir. John, a star
swimmer for Williams, confesses
that he has not “kept up with
swimming, although I coached a
swim team for a year for a sports
club in Mexico City in 1980. I
haven’t worked out since but like
to walk.” He and Katheryn have
traded in children for four dogs
for whom there’s lots of love.
Chris Hagy reached 70 and
retired from the bench in May. He
looks to the future with “trepidation regarding what I will do
with myself … having done little
else but work for the last 45-plus
years. We have golf (Bandon
Dunes, Ore., in June and Pebble
Beach, Calif., in October) planned,
and in August we are joining Leo
Murray for a 15-day horseback
ride and camping trip through
the Gobi desert and mountainous
regions of Mongolia. We have
been wanting to join Leo on some
of his Asian adventures for some
time but just could not make the
time in the past. If I survive, I will
report on Leo and Mongolia after
the trip. As to reflections at 70—I
think our generation has been
very fortunate. When I look back
at what my parents went through
(great depression and WWII)
and what my kids may be facing
(relative decline of the U.S. and
global struggles) I cannot help but
think that we lived in the golden
years. Maybe in the time left for us
we can help make it better for our
kids—but more and more I think
the best we can do is get out of
their way.”
While continuing to work as
director of public health for LA
County, Jonathan Fielding has
also had a career teaching at
UCLA. Last spring, together with
his wife Karin, Jonathan made an
extraordinary financial contribution to the school where he has
taught and learned for so many
decades. He commented that he
“had a fortunate investment”
which he wanted to share with
the university, its faculty and
students. Subsequently the entire
UCLA organization celebrated
the dedication of the Jonathan
and Karin Fielding School of
Public Health, the result of an
amazing “once-in-a-lifetime
gift” from one of this country’s
great public health leaders. As
a fellow traveler in this field, I
have worked with Jonathan and
observed his growth and leadership throughout the years.
When I think of generosity and
couple it with Williams, I come
up with our class president, Gay
Mayer, who continues to travel
the country joining classmates for
a meal and conversation. Recently
he was in Chicago and had dinner with Tom Howell and Karen.
He then drove to Michigan to
visit Charlie Lischer, and they
compared notes on aging body
parts and followed with a round
of golf with Bruce Birgbauer. (“He
plays on a different level than my
game!”) After 1,800 miles on the
car, he had lunch with Tom Todd
outside Pittsburgh. “It was really
nice to have time to see all these
great guys!”
Gay wanted me to remind
everyone that we will return to
Williamstown during the Middlebury Weekend of Oct. 12-14 for
a minireunion with the Classes
of ’62 to ’66. Rooms are reserved
at the Williams Inn. He stated
that the colloquium in April
went well, and the current crop
of students “is pretty impressive,
and the professors we got to meet
are surely as good as or better
than those that we recall from
our time years ago. They are truly
outstanding.” Although the dates
are not set yet for the June 2013
trip to Oxford, he wants us to be
aware of that opportunity, which
should be “fantastic!” Finally
he notes that the 50th reunion
class gift will be a combination
of support for tutorials, the
1964 Memorial Scholarship and
rebuilding performance space and
seating for Chapin Hall to bring
this glorious building into the
21st century.
In conclusion, I managed to
complete my 17th swim across
the 4.4 miles between the spans
of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It was a beautiful day, and
the currents were mild. Out of
the 650 swimmers I was the sixth
oldest and had one of my best
times. May the waters be smooth
for you as well.
1965
Tom Burnett
175 Riverside Drive, #2H
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
Secretary Burnett reports:
The 50th reunion committee
and its gift purpose committee
have been busy over the past
several months. During the
Feb. 24-26, 2012, weekend, the
committee members assembled
in Vero Beach, Fla. Events were
kindly hosted by Connie and
Dave Coolidge and Connie and
Ron McGlynn, and there were
several reunion-related meetings
conducted by Dave and Dusty
Griffin. Some 20 classmates and
their spouses/partners attended
the weekend, which President
Falk kicked off with a talk Friday
night. Importantly, the committee adopted two separate funds
as the designated gift purposes
for our class at the 2015
reunion. The first is the Student
Opportunity Fund, which will
be administered by the Office
of the Provost. This fund will
target students who seek summer
internships, need help with travel
and related expenses for a Winter
Study course or wish to pursue
a summer research project with
a faculty member. The second
will be the President’s Venture
Fund, which will be awarded
and administered with consultation with senior staff. This fund
will encourage and allow the
president to support and develop
important initiatives that are not
adequately funded at the present
time. Over the next few months,
Dusty and Dave will be communicating with the class to answer
questions about the funds and to
encourage classmates to discuss
these gifts among themselves.
The next minireunion will be
the Oct. 12-14 football weekend
in Williamstown. The reunion
fund committee will meet that
weekend, and a class dinner will
be hosted at the home of Kathy
and Phil McKnight. In addition,
Dusty and Dave have begun
to organize a series of lunches
with classmates at various cities
across the country. The first lunch
was held on June 4 in DC and
hosted by Fred Ohly, Mike Brewer
and Dan Plaine at a conference
room in Dan’s law firm. Also
attending were Tod Ackerly, Clark
Brinckerhoff, Dan O’Flaherty,
Les Pierce, Ken Watson and Art
Wheelock. Future luncheon events
are planned in Boston on Sept.
19 and San Francisco on Nov.
n 1 9 6 4 –6 6
9. Classmates are encouraged to
attend. Please contact Dusty or
Dave by email.
On May 5, Jim Worrall was
honored at the Alumni Fund
Leadership Dinner in Williamstown. Our longstanding class
agent was given the Alumni
Fund Chair Award, and it was
richly deserved. Jim has been
our agent since May 1991, taking us through some 21 straight
alumni fund campaigns. He has
raised over $2 million for the
fund in the last 10 years alone,
despite the difficult economic
conditions faced by all of us
during most of that period. Fortunately, Jim has agreed to stay
on as agent through our 50th
reunion. Others attending the
dinner were Gale and Dusty Griffin, Saranne Murray and Jack
Foley, Kathy and Phil McKnight,
Alice and Joe Small, Martha and
John Storey, Tina and Fred Ohly,
and Alice and Dave Wilson. Congrats, Jim, for a well-deserved
recognition.
I am indebted to Joe Small
for sending me information on
Chuck Metcalf, who was honored
on March 10 by the American
Repertory Ballet in Trenton, N.J.
Chuck serves on the board of
Mathematica, where he was president and CEO for many years.
His philanthropic work includes
the boards of Opera New Jersey,
where he is chairman, and of the
New Brunswick Cultural Center.
Doug Drake is staying busy with
his art consulting and appraisal
activities, with frequent sales
of art works in Kansas City.
His wife Elisabeth writes for
art catalogs and for the Kansas
City Star. She is also designing
jewelry, which she is successfully
marketing at galleries and private
showings.
In May Marc Charney
announced the winner of the
Jeffrey O. Jones ’66 Fellowship
in Journalism in Williamstown.
Marc is a staff editor for the
Sunday Review at The New York
Times, where he works with
outside writers on Op-Ed articles
and opinion pieces for the section. He has been with the Times
for 28 years.
The college sent me a notice
that Akisoferi “Mike” Ogola
passed away on Dec. 3, 2011.
He was a member of the Uganda
Parliament and described as a
“career diplomat” in the official
newsletter of the Parliament.
Nancy and Steve Robinson
enjoyed a Williams alumni trip to
northern Spain. They have also
visited China and Thailand on
separate tours. Nancy is active
in her third term as an Oregon
state representative, and they
both spend time in Salem during
the legislative sessions. Steve has
started a consulting business
called Decision Metrics (www.
decisionmetrics.org) whose focus
is the analysis of tax expenditures
and budgets.
Last November, Jane and Jim
Orenburg enjoyed a three-week
trip to Bhutan, Bangkok and
Hong Kong. It was a memorable
visit that included hiking in
the Himalayas. They split their
time between their apartment in
downtown Palo Alto and their
home at Sea Ranch. Their son
Josh also lives in Palo Alto, where
he has set up an IT consulting business. Second son Jacob
is an energy analyst with the
California Energy Commission in
Sacramento.
Don Ross continues his work
as the director of the Center for
International Education at Salem
State University in Salem, Mass.
He can be reached at dross@
salemstate.edu or dross65@
gmail.com.
I have caught up with Dick
Aborn, whose son Jon ’94 works
near me at Omega Advisors,
where he is co-director of
research. Jon and Kara have three
children and moved from Brooklyn to the Upper West Side in
Manhattan. Jon’s sister Lynn ’96
is a doctor in California. While
Abbey is fully retired, Dick continues to take on airline clients,
including an assignment for U.S.
Airways. He is a board member
of Mountain Ridge in New
Jersey, which is hosting the 2012
Senior Amateur Championship
in September. Dick is co-chair of
the event.
The April 2 Wall Street Journal
carried an article on the National
Gallery’s show “Civic Pride;
Group Portraits from Amsterdam,” which will run through
March 2017. The article explains
the key role played by Art Wheelock, curator of northern Baroque
painting at the gallery. In April,
Art and Perry spent a weekend
with us in New York. Arthur
continues his work at the gallery
and the University of Maryland,
and he remains “Iron Man” fit
with energy to spare. Perry was
recently promoted and given new
responsibilities at the National
Park Service.
In June, Harriet and I hosted
Lorinda and Tim Reichert,
Saranne Murray and Jack Foley,
and Ted Preston at our house in
East Quogue as we begin “home
and home” exchanges with Jack
and Saranne, who have hosted us
for years at their home in Groton
Long Point, Conn. It was good
to see Ted, who moved from
Florida to North Carolina to
be closer to two of his children.
His son Marshall is stationed at
Ramstein AFB in Germany, and
Ted recently visited the family
there, highlighted by playing with
his two grandchildren.
The big news for us was the
birth of our second grandchild
and first grandson, Xander Jackson Abrams, in Denver, where
our daughter and new mother
Nora lives.
1966
Palmer Q. Bessey
1320 York Ave., #32H
New York, NY 10021
John Gould
80 Ocean St.
Lynn, MA 01902
[email protected]
Bailey Young writes that his
project at Walhain in Belgium
was featured on TV: “I and my
castle excavation are featured on
this 90-minute Ken Burns-style
special about Belgian castles.” It’s
a summer archeological project
involving Bailey’s students. Bailey
says of the broadcast, “It came
out pretty well.”
Charley Gibbs wrote: “I am
enjoying most of the things that
are coming to me as I age. I feel
so comfortable in my marriage—Teddy brings daily joy
into my life; I am loving my new
adventure (assistant lacrosse at
Porter Gaud, a private school
in Charleston fielding its first
varsity lacrosse team), which in
turn makes practicing law almost
fun (leaving office at 3:30);
grandchildren are wonderful and
teach this old man something
every time I see them; and our
children are mature adults who
lead interesting, productive lives.
The drawbacks I find in aging
are having to pee too much, an
inability to sleep well, and friends
and parents of friends dying or
going into dementia.” As his law
practice wanes, he is actively trying to get a job as a teacher at a
local middle or high school.
Charley added a moving postscript: “I am sorry I missed Mike
Reily’s memorial/#50 retirement.
I got tears in my eyes reading the
story, and it brought many great
memories of him and time at AD
and Williams with him—Hell
Week and initiation, football
CL ASS
NOTES
practice, road trips to Skidmore,
studying for the Philosophy 102
final with Mike, and my last
farewell to him. To this day, the
fact that he fought the cancer
taking his body away to graduate
is in the top three of the bravest
actions I have seen.”
Bob Snibbe forwarded a link to
an NPR All Things Considered
story about, among others, Jack
Vroom. A long time ago, Jack
bought a ticket from American
Airlines that would allow him
unlimited flights, forever. Audie
Cornish, in an interview with
Ken Bensinger of The New
York Times, reveals that Jack
has flown over 37 million miles
during the last 20 years, and now
the airline wants to renege on the
deal. So lawsuits are flying now,
as well as Jack. You can hear the
story at http://n.pr/La9Zyv.
Dan Cohn-Sherbok has revealed
a hitherto unknown talent:
caricatures! He sent a delightful
image of President Obama saying, “I salute the Williams Class
of ’66 on their forthcoming 50th
reunion.” Dan has written me
that he is pleased with the new
Williams: “A largely civilized
coeducational, multicultural and
multiracial environment.”
Jim Meier is interim executive
director of the Literacy Assistance
Center, a NYC nonprofit that
provides support for all manner
of those people and services that
focus on adult, family and child
literacy. This position takes him
three days a week; the rest of the
time he consults for his firm Arete
Consulting and continues to
swim and ski vast distances. He
adds that his daughter has been
living/working in Uganda for the
last three years and is now deputy
director of the Malaria Consortium. He and his wife can’t wait
for her to move back to the U.S.
Roger Kubarych is still working
down in Langley, “trying to make
sense of a confusing world, at
least the economic and financial
foibles. But careful planning this
past winter allowed for some
skiing in brutally cold Swiss Alps
and remarkably empty Park City.
(The East was not so felicitous).”
Jim Biehle says that he and
Cynthia are well. He is still
consulting on the planning
and design of science labs, and
Cynthia is still teaching English
as a second language. She plans
to retire in 2013, but Jim is not
planning to stop consulting. His
youngest son and only daughter
both live nearby in the St. Louis
area; both have two children.
In fall 2011 the senior Biehles
visited number-one son in New
London, Conn., with a 2-yearold son, and number-two son in
Seattle with a 1½-year-old son.
They all planned to converge on
the Saugatuck, Mich., area for a
week in the summer. Jim and his
youngest son have been active in
home brewing for about the last
12 years. He’d love to show off
his prowess, and writes, “If you
like beer, come for a visit.”
Michael Katz writes that in April
he and his wife had a monthlong
trip to England, Switzerland, Germany and Russia—part research
on his current translation project
and part sightseeing. This summer he planned to teach a course
to English teachers on “Chekhov
and the Drama” at the Bread
Loaf School of English. He says,
“I am enjoying my retirement
but miss contact with students,
so hopefully this will supply
some.” He adds that his daughter
Rebecca was married in June at a
small ceremony in Rockville, Md.
She is a social worker doing good
deeds in Montgomery County.
An email from Jeff Rosen has
a bit of a gloat that he is only
67, and he knows that I’m a
year older. Jeff splits his time
between Taos, N.M., where he
and Madeleine ski, and Houston.
“Still remember having to climb
up the Williams ski hill to get the
trails ready for Winter Carnival
and almost killing myself on
the way down, since I was just
learning to ski.” In April he did
some traveling in the U.K. to talk
about breast cancer and other
medical matters. He planned to
go to Brazil over the summer.
“The NCI decided to fund me for
another five years, which I view
as a minor miracle in this terrible
funding environment, so I should
have a grant consecutively funded
for 42 years. We are continuing
to try to convince Congress that
funding of biomedical research is
important not only for improved
health but even makes sense
economically.”
Ron Worland returned from a
surgical mission to southern India
in April and reported hot weather:
One hundred degrees every day,
plus incredible humidity. He
decided to retire in April and
was looking forward to enjoying
grandchildren and no longer
covering the emergency room
after 35 years. He was planning a
trip in July to China “on another
mission” and hoped to “continue
to participate in international missions on a regular basis to keep
active in surgery and maintain
what surgical skills I may have.”
Rob Cunningham has finally
learned how to manage retirement. He and Rigney live on
Cape Cod, on Nauset Beach.
“I’m a director on the board
of two great organizations and
tramp the trails at the Wellfleet
Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (Audubon) as a volunteer trail naturalist. Along with assorted ‘normal’
birds, I can count fox, coyote,
deer and wild turkey among visitors to our property.” Daughter
Caitlin, a freelance photographer,
recently got her first credit in The
New York Times. Rob reports
an ominous rekindling of an old
interest: “I have recently rediscovered the joys of pocket billiards,
which I play on rainy/snowy days
with a random assortment of
four other wastrels from Orleans
and Chatham.”
Bill Bowden reports that already
plans are afoot for the class
minireunion Oct. 12-14 in Williamstown. Other plans are being
bruited about for the reunion
itself. Anyone who is interested
and not yet in touch should email
him at [email protected].
I received an email from Dick
Joyce ’65 expressing sadness
over the death of Peter Gallagher, who was his roommate
in Zeta Psi. “I kept in touch
with Pete when I was a graduate
student at Berkeley and drove
down … to Woodside when
he was home during his senior
year and on leave after he went
into the Navy. His parents were
wonderful people and were sort
of my ‘California family’ when
I was in school there. I last saw
him in 1980 when I attended a
meeting in San Francisco. Pete
had been married to Susan for a
couple of years and I was newly
married, so we had something in
common there.”
Stuart Simon still works full time
in the emergency department at
the Watsonville Community Hospital in Aptos, Calif. “I have no
plans to retire anytime soon, since
I like what I am doing and I’m
in good health.” Betty is hard at
work with the house and gardens,
enjoying life as a grandmother.
Their grandson, Sean Fox Simon,
lives with his parents about an
hour away. Daughter Lisa and her
husband live in Vancouver, BC,
where she is finishing a degree in
computer arts and archeology.
(Bailey Young, take note!)
Budge Upton writes, “I wrapped
up at the MFA one year ago and
have been spending time with my
son Jake, tending to some development opportunities. We are
commencing with construction
n 1 9 6 6 –6 7
on 200 apartments on Arlington,
Mass. … and chasing an opportunity in downtown Boston next
to my old haunt, Faneuil Hall
Marketplace.”
Bill Ewen ended his run as boys’
varsity tennis coach at Hopkins
School on a high note in May. At
the end of his 44-year career, his
teams won three consecutive New
England Prep School Team Championships and completed two
consecutive undefeated seasons,
covering 30 dual meet contests.
Bill follows in the footsteps of
Williams Coach Clarence Chaffee,
who was a role model and mentor
for him. The senior who won the
clinching match for Hopkins this
year, Brian Astrachan, was to enter
Williams in the fall. And so the
tradition continues.
Rob Bradley wrote of the spring
class dinner: “We held the Fifth
Annual Williams ’66 Boston
dinner at the Country Club in
Brookline on May 24. There
were 14 attendees—our largest
gathering thus far. In addition to
the usual round table contributions from all the participants,
Dan Coquillette gave a brief presentation with photos on the twovolume book he is writing: The
History of Harvard Law School.
He focused on the founder of the
school: a slave owner, a Tory and
a bit of a coward. It was a most
engaging delightful talk.”
Rob continues, “Jeff Jones,
currently counsel to the college
and spending two days a week
in Williamstown, gave a brief
talk on the current state of play
at Williams, which included
the financial situation, scholarship policy, federal and state
regulatory overload and sexual
misbehavior and its consequences
at the school. It engendered lots
of discussion—especially the last
part, as can be imagined.
Rob concluded, “David Tunick
got the award for traveling the
farthest, coming from Copenhagen that day, arriving at Newark
and driving up to Boston. For
his trouble, he came down
with a kidney stone at the end
of the dinner, and Dick Pingree
ministered to him before David
went to the hospital, where the
stone was taken care of. So he got
an additional award for courage
under fire.”
Bill Bowden gave a further summary: “It was a lovely evening,
and everyone seemed to have a
good time. My notes show that
Dan Coquilette, Dave Tunick, Dick
Pingree, Jeff Jones, Wink Willett,
Rob Cunningham, Bill Adams,
Dave Dapice, Budge Upton, Peter
Allen, Marty Shulkin and Rob
Bradley were in attendance.”
Much thanks to Rob and Bill
for these reports.
I visited with Coleman Bird
and Jim Harrison last spring as I
drove down to Florida to watch
baseball. Coleman reported that
his daughter Garren ’99, her husband and his parents all visited
over Easter. Garren (who lives
in London) is expecting what
my old roommate Tom Jack once
called “a coupon on the bond of
matrimony,” this in July. I also
spent a night with Charley Randolph in Jupiter, where he, Gayle
and I went to a Cardinals game.
It was sunny, the grass was green
and the balls bounced gaily.
In other Gould news, we
just bought a house in Lynn, a
century-old (recently restored)
Victorian a block from the beach.
And I just finished teaching a
seven-week course in grammar
called “From Syntax to Style” at
Bennington! Yes! I had a terrific
time. (I also got to visit Margo
and Bill Bowden several times for
drinks as I drove back home to
Lanesborough after class.) Bennington is now coed, filled with
interesting and bright students.
The commencement address
featured Bennington alumnus
Peter Dinklage, an actor in Game
of Thrones. He was excellent.
Bennington seemed very different
from the way it was in the 1960s!
1967
Kenneth A. Willcox
178 Westwood Lane
Wayzata, MN 55391
[email protected]
The very sad news leading this
issue is the announcement of the
death this past April 7 of Frank
Holland, better known to most
of us as Jomp. Jomp was an
attorney in Nashua, N.H. He was
a Boston U Law School grad. He
began life in the Midwest, growing up in East Lansing, Mich.,
before ending up in the East.
With those East Lansing roots, he
never lost his ardor for Michigan State football. He received
awards from his city for his work
in creating parkland. He also
volunteered in Mexico, building
homes for Homes for Hope while
supporting an orphanage in
Tijuana. Jomp is survived by his
life companion, Ferol McAlister,
and his children Amy, Elizabeth
and Todd. We have lost another
wonderful member of our class.
For more information on
our other departed classmates,
complete summaries appear at
www.williams67.com. Gregg
Meister and Allan Stern are the
diligent webmasters.
Happily, I do have some good
news to report. Our class held
its 45th reunion the weekend
of June 8-10. We had about 64
members in attendance along
with 59 spouses/guests. We were
told that is a very good showing
ahead of a 50th reunion, which
is, of course, our next formal
one. Much of this year’s success
had to do with the hard work
that Allan Stern put into it as our
reunion chair.
We had some turnover in our
class leadership. Stepping down
from the triumvirate presidency
was Chris Covington. He gave
much of himself to the class
over his years of service, and
we are grateful for his many
contributions and energy. John
Hufnagel was elected to take his
place. He joins Allan Stern and
Jon Vipond for five more years at
the helm. Also retiring was John
Lovell, our hard-working lead
class agent for the past 10 years.
Elected to succeed him was Ron
Bodinson. Bob Tyre returns as
treasurer. Your secretary was
reappointed to his ink-stained
responsibilities.
Gregg Meister delivered a
poignant tribute before the class
dinner eulogizing our classmates
who passed away since our last
reunion: John Gladney, Rob Hammell, Jomp Holland, Bob Ingalls
and Tom Mahler.
One of the more interesting
segments of the dinner was Peter
Bent, our event designer, trying to
explain to the class the cartoon
printed on the back of our
reunion T-shirts. Although it was
a compelling scene of a purple
cow (Ephelia) playing poker with
some card sharks (actual fish),
the moral of the scene was not
entirely self-evident.
Attending his first reunion ever
was Jim Lindheim. The class held
a symposium Saturday afternoon
in Griffin Hall to share views
on our collective life journeys.
The superb session began with
frank, thoughtful and creative
presentations by Jim, Ed Helm,
Rick Ackerly and Meg Tyre. They
revealed the hopes, dreams, disappointments and turning points
that had shaped their lives. They
also discussed their concerns
and/or optimism for the future.
A lively discussion followed with
commentary from Les Loomis,
Charlie Parham, Bob Conway and
Warren Suss. Warren also made
a pitch for sponsoring a lecture
CL ASS
NOTES
series in honor of English prof.
Don Gifford.
Prior to the symposium, Warren
led a brave posse of 14 up Pine
Cobble—and fortunately back.
In more mundane exchanges
with your secretary, a number of
classmates apologized profusely
for having never contributed to
these pages. Arnie Heller seemed
contrite, although he didn’t
promise any better reliability in
the future either. Nick Lang was
firmly in Arnie’s camp.
Bob Conway came to reunion
on the heels of the gala opening
of a George Bellows exhibition
at the National Gallery in DC.
Bob was a contributor and had
authored the catalog. He left Williamstown predawn on Sunday
to drive back to DC for a 2 p.m.
lecture at the gallery.
Dave McCarron and his wife
were met at reunion by their
third son, Matt ’14, who is entering his junior year. Son Jesse ’96
has returned to Portland with
his wife Chris and daughter
Vivienne. They both have faculty
appointments (orthopedics and
pediatrics) at the Oregon Health
and Sciences University (OHSU).
Son Tim ’99, with his wife and
son, also returned to Portland,
where he developed a successful
property management business. Their daughter Mairead is
entering her senior year at Catlin
Gabel, where Wally Wilson is
retiring after a long, remarkable
career teaching Spanish. For the
past decade Dave and his wife
have directed a national nonprofit, Shaping America’s Youth,
which addresses the weight crisis
in children. Dave has maintained
a visiting professorship at U.C.
Davis following 25 years in
nephrology at OHSU.
Dave Nash, looking very fit and
ready for action (tennis), and his
wife Linda were on hand. Dave
is retired from banking but continues piling up tennis championships all over the world.
Mike Roizen is over-employed,
as usual. In addition to his day
job, he writes seven columns
a week for 133 syndicated
newspapers, five blogs per week,
six magazine articles a month
and has a Saturday syndicated
radio program that his wife loves
(5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays)
and often interferes with social
engagements.
Rick Ackerly is writing books
and blogs. Terrific stuff. The
second edition of his book The
Genius in Every Child: Encouraging Character, Curiosity and
Creativity in Children was
released in July. Rick’s wife Victoria Podesta came to her first Williams reunion. She is VP and chief
communications officer of Archer
Daniels Midland (ADM), one of
the world’s largest commodity
and transportation companies.
It was her appointment at ADM
that precipitated their move from
the Bay Area to Decatur, Ill.
Ed Helm and Adrien alternate
between their homes in St.
Petersburg, Fla., and Vermont.
Ed remains active in politics and
does a marvelous Mark Twain
impersonation routine to help
make his points. He also hosts
a radio show. His website is
DemocracyorEmpire.org.
Also alternating residences are
Andy Cadot and Lindsey. Now
retired, they move seasonally
between their house on the rugged Maine coast and their place
in Portland.
Bill Taylor was thinking of
retiring this summer after putting
four children through Vanderbilt
and paying for the last of four
weddings. But when his four
grandchildren got wind of the
plan, they reminded him that
they’re now old enough for trips
to Disney World and the beach—
his treat. So he guesses he’ll now
defer those thoughts of retiring
from pediatrics for another year
or two.
As they have been doing for
many years, Bruce Kraig and
Tamara continue managing clients’
portfolios in West Chester, Pa.
Paul Atkinson sent his regrets.
He cited too many trips within
Europe to be able to add a transAtlantic one to attend reunion.
He is trying to find a transition
from full-time work to retirement
that leaves him sort of in the middle. He has been a “pensioner”
since 2006 but has kept his hand
in economics and finance. He’s
planning to be at our 50th.
Bill Clendaniel and Ron were
sorry to miss reunion. They were
walking England, first the Cotswolds, then Cornwall. In July
Bill stepped down as board chair
of the Massachusetts Historical
Society. He remains active with
the Friends of the Public Garden
and the Trustees of Reservations.
Scanlon Gail and his wife Sara
couldn’t be at reunion because
they were in the midst of a move
to Atlanta for six months. There
they will be on location for the
filming of Hunger Games Two.
Sara worked on the first film also
with her team in the set decoration department. Scanlon didn’t
know whether he would be in
the film, but he has an agent in
Atlanta and so expects to find
ample work in the area.
Jeff Bowen and Hillary retired
simultaneously as school
superintendents at the end of this
past school year. Jeff had also
been doing double duty as the
K-4 principal. He wrote, “It’s
great to be hugged by little kids.
Teachers don’t do that to superintendents very much, so it’s a
nice change.” He also mentored
and evaluated the Niagara Charter School principal over the past
year. This summer their plans
were to kick back for a while on
the Maine coast.
Also absent from reunion were
Neil O’Donnell and his wife Chris
Motley. They were with their
daughter Catherine ’03 and her
husband Ed for the arrival of
their first grandchild, Conner
Logan Gormbley, born May 31
in NYC. After spending the past
six and a half months working
out of his DC office, Neil and
Chris were to head back to San
Francisco in the summer.
Don Brown expressed his regrets
at having to miss reunion because
of some speaking engagements.
Don is fully active with his
Brown Studio Architecture firm
in Montgomery, Ala., which he
started 30 years ago. For the past
several years he has also headed
the nonpartisan national political
advocacy effort of the American
Institute of Architects. He was
elected VP of the association this
year. He has done extensive work
throughout the South. One of
his projects was the historic restoration of the original Tuskegee
Airmen Flying Field.
Although Bob Steele has been
retired from the insurance/
financial community in Hartford
for six years, he still does some
consulting. He and Bev are very
involved with their three grandchildren. They do a lot of volunteer work when they aren’t on
the golf course or enjoying their
vacation home on Cape Cod.
Hank Grass had every intention
of being at reunion, but back surgery a week before the weekend
put the end to those plans.
Although their offices are
in New York, Tom Ehrich says
he would be getting a taste of
Silicon Valley this summer. He
and a colleague were launching a
software-as-a-service app called
Plannir. It is used for managing
professional work, projects and
ideas. A young alum named Sid
Mehra ’10 designed their website
www.plannir.com, and new alum
Pinsi Lei ’12 is their director of
online marketing.
n 1 9 6 7 –6 9
Chuck Glassmire sent his regrets
at not being at reunion. Earlier
class notes chronicled his trek
this year along the length of
the Appalachian Trail, which is
where he was during the weekend. He hopes to do all 2,176
miles over three summers.
Tom Phillips also couldn’t make
it but pledges to do better in the
future. His son is in a five-year
MIT philosophy program, so
Tom says he has great excuses
to come east and reconnect with
classmates.
Gove Effinger regretted he
couldn’t do reunion with us, but
his daughter Laura ’06 received
her PhD in computer science
from the University of Washington on the same weekend. He,
Alice and Laura’s twin brother
Sean were there cheering her
accomplishment.
Craig Currie sent a glowing
report about Mark Piechota’s
five-year tenure as head of Crefeld
School in Philadelphia. Craig was
a close observer as a member of
the board. Craig wrote that prior
to Mark’s arrival the school was
in desperate need of progress.
The board had just about finished
its search for a new head when
Mark’s wife Pat saw the ad, and
Mark submitted his resume. He
was so well qualified, he was
promptly hired. He became,
reportedly, the stuff of legend.
He almost single-handedly saved
the school and in the process
prevented hundreds of kids from
going down the drain. Mark
retired last June. Craig said his
amazing triumph of imagination
and talent were celebrated at his
retirement party.
Your secretary is still operating
our manufacturing businesses.
That involves riding the feast or
famine cycle of truck production (currently feast). I have also
pretty well decided to throw my
hat back into the ring this fall
to run for re-election as mayor
of Wayzata, Minn. My first
four-year term was more involved
than I had anticipated with the
budget collapses that paralleled
the recession. I’m hoping the
worst may be behind me. Next
issue I’ll report whether I was
returned to office or tarred and
feathered and sent packing.
Remember to check our class
website www.williams67.com.
It will be an additional source of
information particularly as we get
closer to our 50th. As you know,
the 50th reunion is the last time
that our class will be together
in an organized setting. It is so
important that we all be there.
1968
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Paul Neely
P.O. Box 11526
Chattanooga, TN 37401
[email protected]
This episode of class notes is
devoted to the future.
In the late spring, the following classmates gathered in
Williamstown to plan for the
45th reunion next year and begin
planning for the 50th in 2018:
Paul Allison, Jeff Brinn, Sandy
Caskey, Kevin Dougherty, Barton
Jones, Larry Levien, Paul Neely,
John Oppenheimer, Ned Perry and
Michael Yogman.
That list includes some people
who have already done a lot for
the class over the years. They are
back at it again.
The 50th reunion is obviously
The Big Deal. Historically, more
than half the living members
return for the event. Many who
do not regret it later when they
hear it described. You’ll be hearing more about that for the next
six years.
You’ll also hear about it at
the 45th, next June 6-9. While
attendance at the 45th is smaller,
it’s a great way to roll toward
the 50th.
The group in Williamstown
chose Trav Auburn as reunion
chair for next year. Various
people—some present, some
not—were asked to head up
specific functions for the reunion:
food and drink, entertainment,
communications, etc. Many of
you will receive requests from
Trav to help out in these areas.
Please try to say yes.
The 50th reunion is a little fancier. The consensus of the group
was to keep the 45th lower key,
making time most of all simply
to enjoy each other’s company.
Nevertheless, there’s substantial
work to be done. If you would
like to help out in any area,
please contact Trav at tauburn@
reidandriege.com.
The Williamstown group chose,
in a preliminary way, Barton
Jones and Bob Stanton to be cochairs of the 50th reunion. Both
understand that this is an early
choice by a small group, so nothing is chiseled in stone (wonderful
cliché from a journalist).
Along that line, one important
event at the 45th is the election of officers for the next five
years, those who will play key
roles leading up to the 50th. The
drafting for those positions can
be a little tricky, and we have
the beginnings of a list, but here
are requests from the group last
spring: 1) If you are interested in
being considered for a class officer position, speak up; 2) If you
have thoughts about others who
might serve well, or if you have
qualms about anyone potentially,
speak up about that, too; 3) If
there are specific roles you might
play that don’t require being
an officer, suggest those, too.
(Example: The group has already
asked Sandy Caskey to develop
a class website leading up to the
50th; Sandy’s whole career has
been in that sort of work.)
Who to contact? You can talk
to Class President John Oppenheimer or me or anyone you consider a good friend on the list of
those who were in Williamstown.
If you would like a more neutral
ear, in essence to speak more
anonymously, feel free to contact
anyone in the Alumni Relations Office. Many of you know
Chris Robare, who has been the
primary contact with our class
for the Alumni Fund for the past
several years. Mary Richardson ’91
is the director of major reunion
programs for the college.
Next time, back to news of
retirements and grandchildren.
But make plans now to attend
next June and hear the stories in
person.
1969
Richard P. Gulla
287 Grove St.
Melrose, MA 02176
[email protected]
As the Class of ’69 hits that
magical Medicare age of 65,
we see mixed results on retiring
versus working— and more
grandfathers.
Bruce Plenk says he’s “still in
the working stiff group here in
Tucson. I’m now a member of the
Arizona Rooftop Solar Challenge
team, an effort to reduce the cost
of solar installations on houses
even lower by speeding up and
reducing the cost of permitting,
inspections, etc. All of this is part
of my continuing work for the
city of Tucson as the city solar
coordinator. I hope all of our
classmates have already put solar
on your houses so I don’t have to
get on your case about this at the
next reunion. How about a little
carbon reduction!”
Francis Moriarty, re-elected as
VP of the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong, is also
CL ASS
NOTES
still working, with no intention of
stopping. “Plenty of work to do
promoting press freedom and letting Beijing know what we think
about its treatment of reporters,
like al Jazeera’s former bureau
chief, Melissa Chan. Get a lot of
pleasure meeting young Williams
grads working in Hong Kong or
just passing through.”
Dr. Keith Edwards, who with
wife Judy has been living in Williamstown for the last 16 years,
has no plans to retire either. “I
commute 35 miles to Albany
where I run an MS center. Love
it.” Keith is director of the MS
Center of Northeastern New
York, affiliated with the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Former Class President Bob
Grace “joined those who have
retired at the end of April. Still
not sure what I’m going to do
when I grow up, but the absence
of work pressure is wonderful,
and right now I’m enjoying a bit
of long-delayed vacation.”
Dave Low wrote that “after
42 years of trying to keep up
with teenagers in two different
independent schools (Cranbrook
& Blair Academy), Candy and I
decided that it was time to live at
a different pace. We retired and
moved to our Pownal vacation
home last July and have enjoyed
our first year of settling in and
re-familiarizing ourselves with
the Purple Valley and its Green
Mountain neighbor. Living on a
hillside spared us flooding damage from Irene, and a winter with
very little snow and milder than
usual temperatures also helped to
ease us into year-round New England living. It’s fun to reconnect
with the Williams community
after having experienced it as a
student and then twice as parents
of Ephs. Would love to see any
’69ers returning to campus. We’re
just 12 minutes from the top of
Spring Street!”
His Honor Tom Sipkins has new
grandchildren and is “still judging. Can’t play golf in the Alumni
Golf Tournament because of
rotator cuff surgery. That may
be a blessing in disguise for the
Taconic golf course, except that
Dick Peinert will still be there
destroying it.”
Bill Hoffman says he retired
from Davis Polk in February
(though it doesn’t sound like it)
“to make sure the first anniversary of my retirement would give
me some breathing room for
progress on two post-employment projects, which will take a
back seat to our 19-month-old
grandson Ethan Young (Williams
’32!). The first project is to get
congressional voting rights for
the 617,000 of us who live in
the District of Columbia. The
second project is to end, or at
least end the extraterritorial
aspects of, our 50-year-old Cuba
sanctions. Unlike our sanctions
on Iran, Sudan, North Korea
or Burma, the Cuba sanctions
target any person outside the
U.S. who, at any time since July
1963, has been a Cuban citizen
or domiciled in or a permanent
resident of Cuba. In other words,
we treat any Cuban refugee who
ended up in a country other than
the U.S. as a sanctions target.
And we prohibit Americans and
U.S.-owned businesses outside
the U.S. from dealing with those
persons or their property unless
they get permission from the U.S.
Treasury Department. It will take
a little time to move these projects to fruition, hence the Leap
Day retirement date. Medicare,
here we come!”
Gordy Bryson also retired at the
end of this school year after 34
years in Hawaii. “Liz and I will
be living in Baltimore, closer to
our family and friends. First stop
now that we’re on the mainland
is DC, where I will join Presidential Scholar Kyle Matsuda of The
Hawaii Preparatory Academy
for the ceremonies honoring us
at the White House. On Monday
we’ll visit the Hawaii congressional representatives. This will
conclude an emotional and
action-packed last few weeks
at my school, during which I
delivered the graduation address
and attended a retirement party
in my honor facilitated by my son
Carl and my wife of 43 years,
Liz. (Most Williams friends will
remember her as the girl who was
much too good for me during
my four years there.) We’ll return
to Baltimore, receive our goods
from the movers and go about
our new lives.”
Dr. Dick Peinert, who reported
“nothing new with me except
still upright and working,” was
kind enough to fill in the rest of
the story about the overly modest
Mr. Bryson. The presidential
scholar Gordy mentioned above
was one of his students, one of
only 141 so named in the nation.
And, says Dick, “his essay on his
most inspiring teacher was, of
course, about Gordy. Each student is allowed to invite a teacher,
so Gordy got to accompany
him to Washington to see the
award presentation. Kudos to Dr.
Bryson. Oh, I forgot to mention
he completed his PhD at age 63!”
Congratulations to Gordy also
came from Bob Bower, who’s still
lawyering in California.
Skip Comstock and wife Claire
have been empty nesters for a
few years and, “while still both
working, spend as much time
as we can at our home in the
mountains of New Hampshire.”
Skip had the unique experience
of going to Williamstown in
June for two reunions: one for
his son, Scott Comstock ’02,
celebrating his 10th, and one
for his brother, Marc Comstock
’62, celebrating his 50th. Skip
and Claire were “babysitters in
residence for Scott’s 6-month-old
daughter Ashley, and, sadly, I
will be recognized as the grandfather I am in the 10th reunion
tent and mistakenly assumed to
be a fellow classmate in the 50th
reunion tent!”
Larry McCullough sends greetings from his beloved Texas. “As
an old Houstonian taught me
to say about our summers here:
They build character. They also
require discipline, and we call it
central air conditioning. We get
to watch professional baseball
games downtown (there is always
one good team on the field) with
the roof open and the AC on.
Next year takes us to American
League, and I will be able to
see the Red Sox every now and
again. As I recall, Fenway is not
air conditioned, and is out of
doors.” Larry completed 24 years
of teaching medical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine in June,
36 in all when he counts Georgetown and Texas A&M medical
schools. “I am daily amazed that
I get to teach such wonderfully
talented and committed students,
residents and fellows and to work
with colleagues of extraordinary
caliber.”
Lots of news came from
journalist Mike Himowitz, the
most important of which was
the birth in January of his first
grandchild, James, to son Ike and
daughter-in-law Amy, “an event
that pleasantly interrupted our
winter in Bonita Springs. The
kid is already a bruiser—we’re
figuring linebacker material.
When we returned to Florida,
Paula and I drove across Alligator
Alley for lunch with Gina and
Geoff Wickwire in Delray Beach,
where Geoff and Gina met on
said beach when they were mere
children. A few days later we had
dinner with another old roomie,
Keith Cunningham, who makes
an annual pilgrimage to take in
spring training on the Gulf Coast.
All are doing well.
n 1 9 6 9 –7 0
“I’m still doing part-time
production work for a public
radio talk show host here in
Baltimore (wypr.org), which
keeps me as busy as I want to
be and is portable enough to do
anywhere we happen to be,”
Mike writes. “My old partner in
crime and best man, Dave Reid
(one of the longest continuouslyemployed journalists I know),
officially retired in March. We
started together at the Providence
Journal in 1970. I departed
for Baltimore a few years later,
but he stayed on and served in
various capacities as a reporter
and editor for more than four
decades. When he left, Dave’s
Journal colleagues presented him
with a going-away front page
whose banner headline read:
‘Beloved Editor Retires.’ In all
my years in the newspaper business, I have never seen the words
beloved and editor juxtaposed in
print. His career at the Journal
was something special.”
Sal Mollica has a grandson who
turns 2 in September, and “Mary
Beth and I see him a lot and are
just loving the experience. … I
continue to be quite active with
volunteer work, church (Unitarian), Bridgeport Children, with
advocacy, tutoring and smallbusiness mentoring. I walk over
five miles a day and listen to podcasts. I enjoy fly-fishing and will
be off from our cottage in New
Hampshire to fish in the wilds of
Maine. Life is good.”
Jim Barns visited his daughter’s
school, Ohio Wesleyan, which
hosted the NCAA Div. III Track
and Field Championships in the
spring. “It was a great experience and much enhanced by the
Williams contingent staying in
our dorm. Williams runner Jen
Gossels ’13 gave me the greatest
sports thrill of my life as she came
from behind and won the 5K by
a foot. Added drama was that her
teammate Annie Dear ’13 was the
favorite but had fractured a thigh
bone in the 10K. Jen won that
10K, too, and later was named
the Div. III Cross Country Runner
of the Year. At the meet, I talked
with a very amiable freshman
Eph hammer thrower, Amina Avril
’14, in an event new to her. She
finished 11th, the first 10 are AllAmericans. She vowed “to beat
those Wisconsin Osh-Kosh girls”
who had dominated. She finished
third this year. … Maybe subconsciously, I am trying to make up
for my casual approach to being a
sports editor of The Record!”
As we approach our 45th
reunion, Pat Dunnolly in Seattle
perhaps summed it up best:
“Yikes, it feels like we just
graduated!”
And speaking of gatherings,
anyone wishing to lend a hand
for the 45th reunion committee
can write to our Class President
Alan Dittrich at a_dittrich@
hotmail.com. Thanks to those
who fill this space. Stay well and
in touch.
1970
Rick Foster
379 Dexter St.
Denver, CO 80220
[email protected]
First, a note of appreciation to
all of you who are so faithful in
sending me information about
what’s going on in your lives.
The contact we maintain with
one another through class notes
I imagine may be one of the
reasons we have such a high class
participation rate in the annual
Alumni Fund campaign. Of
course, the major reason for our
success in that department has
been the herculean efforts of a
few notable classmates who take
on the burden each year of leading the associate class agents and
the many others who volunteer
to make the last-minute calls that
elevate us from a high participation rate to a phenomenal
participation rate. This year, we
owe our gratitude to Paul Miller,
Chris Williamson and Kevin Austin,
who jointly coordinated the effort
that resulted in 90.67 percent of
the class donating to the Alumni
Fund and gave back to our class
the Wood Trophy that we had
won for so many consecutive
years under the legendary leadership of Bill Sammons.
The Wood Trophy was
presented at an event in Williamstown on May 5 , which
Paul Miller described in an email:
“Chris Williamson, Kevin Austin
and I met with alumni office folks
before heading to a lovely reception in the lobby of the performing arts center—the patio was in
play as the day was nice. We were
joined there and at dinner by Ken
McCurdy, Kevin Sullivan and Bob
Ware, who were all instrumental
in the class’s final grand result of
90.67 percent participation. The
high point was the presentation
of the Wood Trophy—nice to see
‘Class of 1970’ on it again! I’m
glad to say that Jim Worrell, the
longtime agent from the Class
of ’65, which came very close to
winning, was also recognized for
his great service to the college.
I hope you will permit me the
chance to again thank everyone
who gave this year and say I hope
all of you will do the same next
time around!”
Bill Lawson provided a picture
of what hopefully may lie in store
for the rest of us: “We have had
an active and fun year. In midFebruary we spent two weeks at
a villa overlooking the ocean in
Pt. Milou, on Saint Barthelemy, in
the French West Indies. We have
been going every year for eight
years. Earlier in February we
attended the Super Bowl events,
which was nonstop fun for about
two weeks in our city. In March
it was off to Naples, Fla., for
more R&R. In April we were
in the Baleares Islands off of the
coast of Spain—Mallorca, which
I highly recommend. … There are
virtually no Americans—almost
all British, Scandinavian and German tourists. In the spring and
fall there are no crowds and the
weather is delightful.” The Lawsons planned a May trip “to the
Indianapolis 500 racing events”
and planned to “spend the summer at our lake home on Lake
Charlevoix in northern Michigan.
Williams prepared me well for
this part of my life. Lots of hard
work for many years and now
time to enjoy the fruits of our
labor. I do consulting in the marketing and sales area with health
care companies. … We do market
research, business strategy, new
product planning, portfolio
analysis, such as prioritization in
the medical device, biotech and
pharmaceutical areas as well as
health insurance, medical and
hospital areas. It is a lot of fun,
and I no longer have a 9 to 5,
five-day-a-week routine. Most of
it I can do from wherever I am at
the time. I just love talking to customers and understanding their
needs and concerns! Our older
son is married and is a deputy
attorney general at the Indiana
attorney general’s office, and
our younger one was on an Indy
racing team, traveling all over the
world, but decided to go back
to school full time to obtain a
degree in automotive mechanics.
We have no grandchildren at this
time. I have been married almost
34 years, and my wife Cathy
is head of development at Park
Tudor School here in Indianapolis
where she, her sister and our sons
attended. I remember when our
class was listed at the end of the
class notes book—p. 113—and
each year we move closer to the
front of the book. This year, p.
44. Here’s hoping we continue to
CL ASS
NOTES
have lots of notes from many of
our classmates year after year and
none in the very back pages!”
Don Berens passed through
Denver in June in furtherance of
his “Bike in Every State” mission,
to do some high-altitude training
in preparation for an upcoming
trip and to get to Mount Hood
for the Highpointers convention
June 8 and 9. The Highpointers
is an organization of people who
are interested in climbing the
highest peak in the various states
of the U.S. Don is the eighth person ever to have climbed the high
point in every state. Don has now
also biked across the country
(from west to east) once and also
biked from Maine to Florida.
Ken McCurdy once asked Don
which of the 50 peaks was the
most dangerous, and his answer
was Delaware’s. Ken, somewhat
puzzled, asked why, and Don
informed him that “the highest
point in Delaware is smack in
the middle of a crowned road.”
In July, Don was to travel to the
French Alps to do some highaltitude biking, including portions of the Tour de France route
in the morning before watching
the tour riders on the same route
in the afternoon. Thus the reason
for his training in Denver. One
morning, he and I rode 15 miles
together, after which I went to
work and he proceeded to bike
another 60 miles! Postscript:
After leaving Denver, Don did
achieve his goal of having biked
in every state of the union. He
did it in Nevada with a bike ride
around the circumference of Lake
Tahoe on June 8.
Don Berens’ continuing quest
for physical accomplishments
made me think of George
Sawaya, who I often point out to
acquaintances as someone who
continued his college athletic
career on an amateur basis long
beyond graduation. After writing about Don, I sent an email
to George, a varsity wrestler at
Williams, to see if he was still
wrestling in NYC, where he practices law. He replied immediately
that he “wrestled competitively
from 1993 to 2001, sometimes
in tournaments in the 30-andover bracket, and sometimes in
dual meets between my club and
local colleges. Overall I won 23
matches and lost 16 and won
a tournament at Mendham,
N.J. Since then I have wrestled
informally at my club, although
infrequently in the last two years.
It’s frustrating because I’m still
in good shape and can wrestle.
The problem is fatigue for two or
three days if I wrestle more than
two minutes. So I decided to try
to be sensible instead of killing
myself. It has been exhilarating to be fortunate enough to
make wrestling part of my life
into middle age. My dad also
competed in four-wall handball
until the age of 60, when he
sadly developed cancer. I suspect
that I have some sort of gene for
athletic longevity in the light of
my father’s abilities.”
Bob Lee wrote in early May saying, “Kathy and I just got back
from a trip to France. She had a
conference in Lille, so we added
a bit on … to spend some quality
time in Paris and Brussels. French
scholars get to go to much more
interesting places than economists. I get to go to Minneapolis
for my next conference.”
Kelly Corr advises, “We are now
officially empty nesters for the
first time. Son Riley is a freshman
at Pitzer. Daughter Erin is graduating from Santa Clara. She plans
to take a year off and then, horror of horrors, go to law school!
I’m still practicing law in Seattle;
I’m in a litigation boutique. We
started this firm in l999 with
nine lawyers; we now have 22.
I’m trying to cut back a bit so we
can travel more. … Last fall we
went to Spain for two weeks with
another couple and next fall hope
to head to South America. In …
dreary Seattle winter months, am
spending long weekends in the
Palm Springs area.”
Rod McLeod wrote, “Proving
that we classmates maintain
some kind of ephemeral connection, the day after I received
the most recent alumni mag in
the mail and read about Ray
Kimball’s serious bike fall, I took
a shoulder plant myself off my
new carbon fiber Canondale
mountain bike. The bike felt so
good and fast that I had to push
the envelope and, well, you know
what they say about fast bikes
and hard falls. No serious injuries
but a banged up shoulder and
assorted cuts and bruises. Wrote
an article about a 216-kilometer cross-country race in Israel
(the longest here and probably
in the entire Middle East) and
sent it off to the WSJ to see if
I could get a little publicity for
the race. My wife and I manned
one of the relay stations. Haven’t
heard back from WSJ and likely
won’t. Since a number of the
participants were in their 60s
(the oldest I knew about was 67),
who knows—maybe some of our
classmates might get a kick out of
putting together a team for next
year’s race. I would ensure the
team would taste the best Israeli
wines while they were here, but,
alas, my knees don’t allow me to
run. I’m good for 5 kilometers at
most—in a day! And the eightman teams are each running two
13- to 14-km segments. … Life
is damn good in the land of milk
and honey and running.”
Jeff Krull, our devoted class
secretary for many years, wrote
in May to say that he and Alice
“drove down to Bloomington to
visit Janelle and Sluggo Stearns in
late April, before they returned to
Thailand, where they live most of
the year. Janelle teaches English
at the university there in Bang
Saen. While at Sluggo’s, we took
the opportunity to call and annoy
a few other classmates, namely,
Kim Montgomery, Lee Owen and
Jack Maitland. At that point we
ran out of beer and stopped calling people.” Jeff went on to say,
“Jenny and Lee are now splitting
their time between Jupiter, Fla.,
and Gibson Island, Md. They
have hosted Q. and Kim and
Shirley and Jack at their Jupiter
home. Alice and I are hoping to
connect with Lee and Jack on one
of our trips to South Florida to
see our granddaughter Allison,
4, daughter of son Rob and his
Turkish-American wife Ozlem.
Back home in Indiana, we spend
a lot of time with our 10-yearold grandson Alex, son of our
daughter Marla Peters ’95.”
Tom Crowley sent a long email
in June. He and Lynda sold the
home they had lived in for 28
years, downsizing into an interim
condo rental in Goldens Bridge,
N.Y. They plan to move out of
New York at some point but
don’t know where they’ll end up.
Tom and Lynda also accomplished the miraculous feat of
seeing three children married in
one year. They’ve also had major
changes in their work lives. Per
Tom, “Along with everything
else, we’ve both started new businesses and become entrepreneurs.
Lynda’s business (Sort n’ Settle)
helps seniors to transition out of
the homes they’ve lived in for the
bulk of their adult lives into living
situations that make more sense
for their next 10 to 20. It combines elements of pre-transition
planning, scaling down, weeding
out, moving logistics, unpacking/
redecorating and lots and lots of
hand-holding. The ‘industry’ is
called Senior Move Management,
and it’s obviously a business with
a growing demand, even before
we Baby Boomers begin moving
into that stage of our lives. She
n 1 9 7 0 –7 1
is doing really well with it and
especially enjoys the interaction
with the clients. And, yes, we
basically used our own downsizing process as a test case of sorts.
I’ve switched from being strictly a
venture capital investor to being
more of a combination investor/
operator. Last year I partnered
with a three-times successful
entrepreneur and launched a new
Internet business called Enthusiast Nation. We build membersonly buying clubs for ‘enthusiast’
consumers. These are folks
with avid (or rabid) interests in
particular leisure time activities
(e.g., cars, boating, motorcycles,
hunting, fishing, equestrian, etc.).
Our first club, called Car Guy
Nation (www.carguynation.com),
launched in April and is focused
on automobile enthusiasts. Think
of it as a combination of Amazon, Groupon, Facebook and
Top Gear—call it ‘social commerce’—all glued together and
customized for the specific needs/
interests of car enthusiasts. It’s
going quite well so far, and we’re
looking forward to expanding
into other enthusiast categories
once the first one has hit scale.”
Well, that’s it for now. If any of
you are not on the college’s list
server and don’t receive my emails
asking for material for our class
notes, please send me news at the
address at the top of these notes
or to [email protected].
1971
John Chambers
10 Ashby Place
Katonah, NY 10536
[email protected]
Our last few editions featured activities in the arts and
in service, a farm report and a
reunion retrospective, along with
purposes, pleasures, perils and
milestones as seen by members
of our class. While your bulletins
supply the content, I take the
liberty of applying headings; here,
as of late June, in anticipation of
September publication, we find
more about service, a few follies
and news about families.
Service: Bob Eyre began the new
year doing “missionary surgery
in Jacmel, Haiti, in January. …
Jacmel is the third largest city in
Haiti, but they had never had
access to urologic care before, so
the demand was overwhelming.
In the four days we operated, I
did 17 surgeries and saw a lot of
clinic patients. They had virtually
no surgical equipment, so necessity was the mother of invention
(battery camp headlight instead
of working OR light, had to fly
in every IV bag, anesthesia drug
and suture with us). I worked at
a tiny hospital with a one-room
ward … and one operating room.
We assisted the Haitian staff with
a number of C-sections … and
many babies who would have
otherwise died survived thanks to
our spectacular anesthesia team.
I can’t wait to go back again in
January. I’m hoping that one of
my kids might … join me.”
Bob’s spouse Katie ’73 has
a service commitment of her
own—she agreed to co-chair her
40th Williams reunion next June.
A mere 40th; got nothin’ on us!
Remember Peter Clarke’s plan
to take his Cushing Academy
students to Bhutan? (Perhaps
you remember, too, that Bhutan
prefers the measure of GNH—
Gross National Happiness—to
our GNP.) Now returned, they
plan to continue the connection
in a variety of ways, including
an August conference tentatively
titled, “Educating for Sustainable
Happiness,” which Peter touts as
inspired in part by Bob Gaudino.
See http://bhutan.cushing.org/.
Another teacher, Bill Briggeman,
is leaving the Cranbrook School
after 10 years for Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., “just down
the road from Matty Mathieson’s
former stomping grounds in
Greenville, Pa.” Bill will teach
literature and “an interdisciplinary course I call ‘The Congo in
History and Literature.’ But the
real news is I’ll finally be living in
the cottage Rebecca and I bought
about 10 years ago in western Pa.
(5783 McDaniel Rd., Cochranton, Pa. 16314) where we’ve
had too many bear sightings this
spring. Their presence is beginning to reshape our thoughts
about the long walks we like to
take along the country roads …
with our two large dogs.”
John Walcott does some service
in teaching: one semester a year
in the School of Foreign Service
at Georgetown. His full-time job
is leading the national security
and international affairs team at
Bloomberg News in Washington.
He reports communing occasionally with David Shipley ’85 in
New York, but the foremost item
in his news report appears below
under the “family” heading.
How about a book as service?
Dave Ferguson credits his old
neighbor in Sage Hall, John
Canfield, for asking “me to read
and review his book last summer.
That gave me the impetus to finish
my own, The Business Owner’s
Bible—Operating on Faith,
published Dec. 31. As a business
coach I’ve been collecting ideas for
the past six years and finally figured out a way to present them in
a purely secular and coherent yet
inspirational way. It’s available on
Amazon in paper and electronic
versions, and I plan to have a
sequel finished this year.”
So if business service is a category, how about Jane Gardner’s
gig: Harbour Strategic Consulting, which “helps organizations
build on their DNA—their core
strengths—so they can be more
effective.” Need strategic planning, brand positioning or CSR
strategy? Go to harbourdna.com.
Gene Bauer and Dave Olson
did their January service in
Williamstown, team teaching
the Winter Study course “Mock
Trial.” There were 14 students,
and the course culminated in two
“trials,” where Paul Schneider
was one of the judges and Doug
Pickard and his wife Jane were
in the jury box. Also attending
was Carl Samuelson, Dave’s
former swim coach, who audited
the class and sat in the jury box
both days. Gene says, “It was a
great opportunity to return to
the campus to see the college as a
working institution.”
Follies: And you thought those
guys just came to Williamstown
to play golf! Admittedly, golf
did get a mention in Gene’s
news: “In March, Ellen and I
spent her spring break (still on
an academic calendar!) in San
Diego. Yes, we did golf Torrey
Pines South. We also had a great
sunset on the Pacific dinner with
Bill Miller and his wife Ida. Bill is
a physician at Scripps, where he
is doing all sorts of neat stuff in
hematology.”
Also mentioned was a visit with
Colin Brown in his wonderful new
home in Lighthouse Point, Fla.
Gene’s summary: “Not a serious
word was uttered in five days.”
This item does not sound too
serious either. Steve Lawson was a
guest on Wait Wait … Don’t Tell
Me! It’s the “Bluff the Listener”
segment from June 16.
For serious folly, try losing your
email address to a hacker, as Mark
Pearson did. No fun, he reports,
but even so he finds time to
expand his whole-person healing
center in New Hampshire, while
searching out a publisher for his
new book on “the time period
right after Jesus’ Resurrection and
just before the Day of Pentecost.”
Jay Fahn might argue that
his news is a farm report, but
farming and folly have much
CL ASS
NOTES
in common. “Early spring and
sustained warm weather meant
getting the bison off of hay bales
and onto fresh grass a month
early, much to the delight of your
correspondent and the herd. Due
to last summer’s extreme heat,
the females postponed breeding
so calving now expected July/
August. Hope to complete fencing
of one additional pasture to finalize rotational grazing plan. Hay
fields could use about two inches
of rain.” Jay says he is learning on
the job, having failed to take relevant notes as an undergraduate.
Another kind of folly—a high
school reunion—provided a
Doug Bryant sighting to Dan Hunt,
whose class loyalty led not only to
this report, but to Dan’s question,
“I wonder what it will take to
get him to come to our Williams
reunion?” I think the answer is
this: prompting by classmates.
Family: Those kids produced by
Bob Eyre and Katie ’73 (the ones
he wished might join him next
January in Haiti) have plenty of
expertise, and lots of Williams
credentials, as Bob explains:
“Steve ’03 is about to start his
chief resident year in urology at
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
in Boston. He married Dr. Caty
Sumner ’03 last May. Andrew ’06
is finishing his first year in emergency medicine at the combined
Mass General-Brigham residency
program and hopes to be able to
make the trip. Peter ’00 is busy
with his law practice in DC and
will be helping to stage the presidential debates for the fourth time
under the auspices of the Commission on Presidential Debates.”
John Walcott says, “Nancy
and I turned a page on May 20,
when we watched our youngest
daughter, Elizabeth, graduate
from Colgate.”
It was a high school graduation
for Meg and Paul Schneider’s son
Greg, who surely must count Mike
Rade as his best godfather. Greg
was headed to Lesley University.
Sadly, some classmates—like
Dr. Joseph T. Maleson—are no
longer here to celebrate such
happy moments. But Joe’s widow
Jill was good to share news that
their “amazing daughter” Sherrie
Rose Harris Maleson was to
marry Michael Mayle on July 22.
“Sherrie Rose is a full-time kindergarten teacher at Yavneh Day
School in Los Gatos, Calif. She
is also a professor of early childhood development for Pacific
Oaks College. Mike owns and
operates Balance Yoga Center
in San Jose, Calif. At this joyous
time, Joe’s absence is keenly felt.”
Weddings often lead to babies,
right? (Though I can testify that
babies sometimes precede matrimony.) Dick Lamb expresses pride
in the fact that he and Holly are
new grandparents: twins, Spencer
(boy) and Emerson (girl) to David
’95 and Griffin. Dick says, “I
think that makes them Class of
’33.” He also earns the Class Secretary’s Award; this may be the
first time he has chipped in on the
notes, though he is much more
regular chipping in on Fridays at
the Taconic.
I got to see Maddie, Steve and
Sue Brown’s granddaughter, just
over 1 year old, in April; what a
cutie! Maddie’s mom and dad,
Ali (Brown) ’04 and Chuck Abba
’04, were off somewhere, trusting
the wee girl to the care of our
generation. If you have not tried
it yet, there is much to relish in
grandparenting.
Rob Jones recommends it: “We
have three grandchildren, two
in DC and one in LA and, we
can’t get enough of them. Thank
you, Skype.” That LA grandchild
belongs to son David ’97, director
of photography for a series called
Best Friends Forever. Rob reports
on work, too: “I remain in the
very busy practice of cardiac
surgery in Midland, Mich. I am
the initiator and director of the
program there. I walk most days
to work and hope to continue
operating into my 70s, fingers
crossed.” He and Mica find time
to do things like hosting “three
recently graduated Eph students
(JJ Augenbraun, Antonio Lorenzo
and Christopher Fox) who rode
their bicycles from Seattle, Wash.,
to Provincetown, Mass., and
called the effort the Tour de Ephs.
Great bunch of guys. Because
they traveled from west to east,
they were a bit more tan on the
right side of their body.”
In closing, one of my favorite
items on the college website,
among the “I Am Williams”
profiles: “48 inches tall and can
ride roller coasters. fallible. my
wife, family, friends, teachers,
students, patients. willing. visual
in a visual place. at my best when
I am communicating well, interacting with others, challenged,
productive, creative, with color,
smiling, watching a good movie,
on a journey.” The author of this
wit and wisdom? Our classmate,
Hugh Hawkins.
Your own news, even if it does
not equal Hugh’s in wit, will
be most welcome. Sightings of
elusive classmates bring an extra
smile to the age lines on your
secretary’s face.
1972
Jim Armstrong
600 W. 115th St., Apt. 112
New York, NY 10025
Julie Rose
27 Norfolk Avenue
Northampton, MA 01060
[email protected]
The weekend of June 7-10 had
a little bit of everything: rain, fog
on the hills, clouds and, finally,
clear skies and bright sunshine.
As always, the campus and the
surrounding countryside were so
stunningly beautiful, it almost
made you ache to look at them.
After a very dry winter and early
spring, rain had come at last to
the Berkshires, and by the time
we descended on Williamstown,
the lawns, meadows and hillsides
were swathed in glorious shades
of green.
And so another successful
reunion has come and gone.
Under the tireless leadership
of co-chairs Carter Peterson
and John Brewer, and with the
support of outgoing president
Harry Kangis and past president
Gregg Peterson, our 40th set a
college record by attracting 109
members of the Class of 1972
and 71 others who accompanied
them. This year’s first-timers
included Vince Lackner, Brad
Parks, George Malanson and
Anne Forrestel, who traveled
from her home in Eugene, Ore.,
and wrote in an e-mail a week
later: “Fabulous time, well worth
the trip and then some, and, yes,
I’ll be back!”
The festivities got off to an
early start with Bonnie and Doug
Herr hosting all comers at their
beautiful house north of campus
Thursday evening. More of us
showed up Friday afternoon
and evening. We gathered at the
class’s HQ at Agard House and
then made our way over to the
Paresky Center for cocktails (outside) followed by dinner (inside).
After dinner there was a special
treat: a concert at Brooks-Rogers
(adjacent to Chapin Hall) by Livingston Taylor, singer, songwriter
and professor at Berklee College
of Music in Boston. An exact
contemporary of ours, Livingston performed at Williams our
junior year; through the efforts
of Harry Kangis and Sam Moss, he
returned for our reunion weekend. It was difficult to tell who
was happier that he was back
on campus, the very appreciative
audience or Livingston himself.
Partway through his concert he
n 1 9 7 1 –7 2
was made an honorary member
of the class by enthusiastic popular acclaim.
Saturday morning featured the
parade of the reunion classes
from the lawn in front of the
Paresky Center and Chapin Hall,
past Sage and Williams and over
to Park Street, then east on Main
Street, and down Spring Street
to Chandler Gym for the annual
meeting of the Society of Alumni.
The walk is relaxed and always
a good time to mingle and catch
up with classmates. The Class
of 1972 set a decidedly casual
tone: word had gone out that
each of us should dig around and
see what vintage reunion garb
we could come up with—“Viva
Espana” T-shirts from our 20th,
various baseball caps, polo shirts
from the 25th, etc. After reaching
the gym, we all gathered on the
side bleachers, where we sat in
stunned silence as the very nattily
attired Class of 1962—us, a
decade from now?—entered by
the dozens, then by the score,
and proceeded to announce their
gift to the college: $12.7 million.
In the afternoon John Kunstadter, now retired from the
Foreign Service, spoke to a
college-wide audience about his
experiences in Belarus, which
he continues to visit many times
every year, always with his trusty
Leica around his neck and with
plenty of black-and-white film at
the ready. Shortly thereafter, Paul
Tucker addressed the class in the
auditorium at Lawrence Hall.
He spoke with his customary
panache about Claude Monet
and the artist’s extraordinary garden at Giverny, making particular
reference to “Monet’s Garden,”
an exhibit currently at the New
York Botanical Garden. The
exhibit, which Paul researched
and organized, features more
than 150 species of plants. It’s
received glowing reviews and
runs through Oct. 21.
Our class dinner was held at
Lasell Gym on Saturday. This is
always the big event of the weekend, and the 2012 version lived
up to the high standards set by
our many previous reunions: good
food and even better conversation. It seems that as the members
of the Class of 1972 age, we get
more idiosyncratic and increasingly set in our ways—and yet, at
the same time, more mellow and
more interested in each other and
our collective lives. There’s no
doubt we enjoy talking; indeed,
getting everyone to actually find a
table and sit down was like trying
to herd cats. However, once we
finally took our seats, we found
treats awaiting us. The first was a
bottle of Lazer Sauce, a delicious
savory sauce made and marketed
by Julie Rose. On her website, she
describes it as “a unique blend
of spices with the zip of lemon
that enhances the savory taste in
meat, fish and vegetables.” It can
be used as a marinade or sauce
or added to soups and stews. (It
can be ordered online at www.
lazersauce.com, or contact Julie
directly.) Then came the wine,
which was donated by Brenda
Mixson and Tom Thornton from
their winery, the Grade Cellars,
located in the Calistoga AVA
(American Viticultural Area)
District of Napa Valley. The name
“The Grade” comes from The
Silverado Squatters, a memoir
by Robert Louis Stevenson, who
spent his honeymoon in the
Napa Valley. For our class dinner,
Brenda and Tom chose their 2010
Sauvignon Blanc (“Sea-Fog,”
another RLS reference) and their
2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (“The
Grade”), both of which were
superb. (They can be ordered
online at www.thegradecellars.
com.) They clearly made an
impression, because less than a
week after reunion, Frode Jensen
and his family stopped by for a
tasting in the vineyard’s vintage
Airstream.
During the course of the
evening, the slate of new class
officers was presented, seconded
and approved unanimously. Our
president for the next five years
will be David Webster, and Steve
Barger is our VP. Hank Maimin
is our treasurer, and Julie Rose
and Jim Armstrong will act as cosecretaries. David Farren continues
to serve as head class agent; Paul
Haklisch and John LaPann are
co-chairs of leadership giving;
and the chair of planned giving
is once again John Enteman.
Among the many presentations
made Saturday evening was the
awarding of the Purple Cow
Bell. This special award, which
was established at our 35th and
thus was being given for only
the second time, “recognizes and
celebrates a ’72 classmate who
is held in high esteem by his or
her classmates and who, through
persistent and enthusiastic efforts,
whether visible or unsung,
demonstrates loyal support of the
college and of our class which,
in turn, reflects well on the entire
Class of 1972.” This reunion’s
winner was Paul Isaac, joining
Lew Steele, the 2007 recipient.
Of particular interest was the
surprise announcement that in
September Charlie Waigi will be
awarded the college’s Bicentennial Medal. He will be the fifth
member of our class to receive
this high honor, joining Paul
Grogan, John Malcolm, Eric Reeves
and Mark Udall. Teresia and
Charlie and perhaps members of
their family will be traveling to
Williamstown for Convocation,
which will be on Saturday, Sept.
8. Stay tuned for more details.
For the third consecutive
reunion, the class dinner was
followed by dancing to the ageless
classic rock sounds of John Kincheloe and his band Blue Maneuver,
a group whose musical awesomeness simply cannot be overstated.
Sunday morning dawned
bright and clear. There was a
gradual increase in activity in
and around Agard as people
emerged from their rooms or
arrived from elsewhere for coffee and a light breakfast—and,
of course, more talking, more
visiting. And then it was over. It
was time to head home. We all
packed up, said our goodbyes
and took off. The weather as we
left the Purple Valley was just
about perfect—a description that
could be applied to the entire
splendid weekend. Kudos to all
those involved in the preparation
for and successful execution of
all events, including Tom Kerr,
who designed the “Moobucks”
logo that graced the cups we all
received and adorned the flag
hanging above the entrance to
Agard. John Earle once again
set up shop and throughout
the weekend took photos of
classmates and families, adding
another layer of documentation
to his extensive archive, now 35
years in the making. Thanks also
to Megan Hawgood ’88, Harry’s
daughter and the webmaster of
our class’s wonderful website,
www.purplecow72.com. Please
be sure to visit it—or to continue
to visit it. There is a great deal
of information there, and we are
all encouraged to add to it and
make it even better by providing
personal news and updates.
Adam LeFevre had perhaps the
best excuse for not being able to
attend reunion. As he wrote in an
email from the Palace Theater in
midtown Manhattan right before
the weekend, “Alas, it’s not looking good. I’m contracted without
an out to be prancing amongst
the beglittered gaiety of Priscilla,
Queen of the Desert. Friday night,
two shows Saturday and Sunday.
Damn!” Although he couldn’t
be in Williamstown, Adam sent
in an updated version of his
CL ASS
NOTES
commencement poem, “How to
Make an Ivy Sandwich.” The new
version, “How to Make an Ivy
Sandwich Forty Years Later,” can
be found on the class website. It is,
as Adam says, “more appropriate
to our current venerability (and,
alas, vulnerability).”
Early in the weekend, Paul Isaac
and David Webster accompanied
Stuart Dornette to the temporary
location of the Williams History
Collection (pending completion
of a new library building). It
happens that in 1920 the son of
one president of the U.S. wrote
another, wishing him well on his
new law practice. The sender was
Harry A. Garfield, Class of 1885,
president of Williams College,
and the recipient was Robert
A. Taft, later U.S. senator from
Ohio. The letter reposed in the
archives of Taft Stettinius &
Hollister LLP in Cincinnati until
it came to the attention of Stuart,
who, on behalf of the firm,
donated it to Williams.
The University of Rochester
has commemorated the leadership of its ninth president, Tom
Jackson, by naming a complex
of residence halls and the Sage
Art Center in his honor: Jackson
Court. In the words of university
president Joel Seligman, “Tom
Jackson played a decisive role in
further reenergizing undergraduate education at Rochester. Under
his leadership, arts, sciences
& engineering designed and
implemented the first Renaissance
Plan and later the Rochester
Curriculum, with its nationally
recognized cluster system. Tom
was a university leader, and during his tenure the medical center
developed and implemented its
highly effective 1996 strategic
plan.” (Thanks to John Thoman
’49 for this news.)
Gregg Peterson writes that a gift
in honor of Willard Webb was sent
by Jack Lee. Jack told Gregg, “I
was at Williams for only the fall
semester of our freshman year,
after which I enlisted in the Air
Force Reserves and then finished
school at University of Texas.
However, during my short stint in
Williamstown, Bill and I became
good friends and managed to
stay in touch for several years
thereafter.”
In April, Andy Bader and Liz Titus
’75 traveled to Montclair, N.J., to
attend the ordination of Barnaby
Feder as a Unitarian Universalist
minister. Barnaby, who spent 27
years as a New York Times business reporter, was jointly ordained
by the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation at Montclair and
the Morristown (N.J.) Unitarian
Fellowship. “This was a remarkable moment for Barnaby, as he
achieved a longstanding dream,”
writes Andy. “For the three of us,
it was a highlight of the 40-plus
years of friendship that we’ve
shared. The church was packed
with family, friends and visiting
ministers as well as an enthusiastic
gathering of members of both
congregations. After the words
of ordination were spoken, the
assembly burst into sustained
applause … for Barnaby as he
stood on the altar ready to give his
first blessing as the Rev. Barnaby
Feder. Just a week before his
ordination, Barnaby and his wife,
Michele Lowy, received word that
the Champlain Valley Unitarian
Universalist Society of Middlebury, Vt., had voted unanimously
to call him as their next minister.
He was to begin his new pastoral
role in August.”
Andy also reports that he is
retiring from a 28-year career in
the fields of aging, senior living
and longterm care, most recently
at the nonprofit Rogerson Communities in Boston. He has an
application pending to serve as a
Peace Corps volunteer in Africa.
“My youngest child, Emily …
will attend Warren Wilson College near Ashville, N.C., where
the spirit of experiential education and service learning is alive
and well. Her transition gives me
the opportunity to take a new
path of my own.”
A few weeks before reunion, the
following item appeared on the
college’s website. “Gerard Caprio
Jr. ’72, William Brough Professor
of Economics at Williams College,
has been named a ‘Top Wonk’
on the economy. Top Wonks is
a group of experts in a broad
range of public policy issues. The
directory of Top Wonks is widely
used by journalists, researchers
and public officials to enlist the
help of policy experts. Caprio
was selected by a distinguished
committee of his peers as one
of the country’s best thinkers
on financial economics and has
been included in the Top Wonks
volume and site. … Caprio’s interests include financial regulation
and financial crises, developing
economies and financial history.
Prior to joining the Williams College faculty in 2006, he worked
at the World Bank for 17 years.
Caprio’s most recent book, The
Guardians of Finance: Making
Regulators Work for Us (MIT
Press, 2012), argues regulatory
officials’ failures are a neglected
factor in the global financial crisis
and makes proposals for how to
hold regulators accountable and
to increase the pressure on them
to defend taxpayers’ interests.”
1973
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Cole Werble
2540 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Apt. 204
[email protected]
The spring notes brought in a
seasonally and age-appropriate
collection of graduation news.
First in was Lucy Calkins, who
reports feeling “incredibly grateful” to the alma mater for the
opportunities for her son Evan
’11. As a math and econ major,
“Evan loved every minute at Williams. When Evan left Williams,
the baton was passed to Lucy’s
niece, Emily Calkins ’13.” Lucy’s
other son, Miles, graduated from
Swarthmore “just a year or two
earlier.” Both sons went from
liberal arts to consulting arts: one
at McKinsey; one at Bain.
Lucy says she “continues as the
Robinson Professor of Literacy at
Teachers College, where she leads
the Teachers College Reading and
Writing Project, an organization
that provides literacy professional
development to several thousand
schools across the world.” Lucy
is looking forward to the 40th
next year and finishing a deadline
on a series of 32 books at the
end of this year. “If anyone has
children wanting to be involved in
education, especially urban education,” Lucy says she’s “eager to
help pave their way into a grand
profession.”
Win Quayle reported in early
June looking forward to the
graduation of his son Will ’12.
Win’s daughter Katie ’08 will also
be at the 2013 reunions. He was
in DC in the spring and got some
close-up analysis of “the current
dysfunction of Congress” from
Dave Schooler, who served nearly
four decades as a key member of
the Democratic staff on the House
Energy & Commerce Committee.
Larry Heiges writes about his
son Max, a 2010 graduate from
Dartmouth who “for some
reason likes green more than
purple.” That choice is informed
by an artist’s sensibilities, as Max
earned high honors in studio art
and is following the tough path
of a creative artist in NYC.
Suzanne Folds McCullagh says
she will “be at Smith College this
n 1 9 7 2 –7 4
fall as the Ruth and Clarence
Kennedy Professor in Renaissance
Studies, teaching a colloquium
on French and Italian drawings
from the Renaissance through
Romanticism.” She moved up
to chair the department of prints
and drawing at The Art Institute
of Chicago, where she has had a
show on Italian Renaissance and
Baroque drawings, “Capturing
the Sublime.”
Charlie Kieler writes that he
and Bill Simon joined a group
of tennis team grads from our
generation to take on the current
Eph men’s tennis team at “an
impromptu squash/tennis reunion
in beautiful, sunny southern
California.” Charlie reports
the “young Ephs prevailed in
a tightly scored, somewhat
competitive match against the
alums.” More importantly, “none
of the alums were carted off to
the hospital during match play.”
Joining Charlie and Bill in the
quixotic match were “legendary
racqueteers Pike Talbert ’71, Jim
Marver ’72 and Peter Talbert ’74.”
Scott Hopkins writes about
some sporting endeavors with
an odd twist, or more accurately,
many odd twists, turns and
spins. Returning to his sport
at Williams, Scott has been a
college wrestling impresario for
more than a decade. He began in
2000 working in St. Louis on the
NCAA Div. I wrestling tournament. “It was the first tournament in the 75-year-history of the
event not to be held on a college
campus,” Scott notes. “The tournament set an attendance record
(one which we have since broken
four times out of five additional
events) and was so well run that
the NCAA awarded back-to-back
events to St. Louis in 2004/5 and
2008/9, another first. In midMarch this year, we hosted our
sixth tournament since 2000.”
Scott enlisted Gene Frogale ’75
to help on floor operations crew.
It sounds more trying and tiring
than the actual wrestling: “The
physical wear and tear of setting
up, rearranging and taking down
of the eight-mat setup (each mat
has three sections that weigh
over 300 pounds each) added to
being on our feet for most of five
straight days from 6 a.m.-11 p.m.,
was more than enough for me.”
Scott planned to be in Williamstown over the summer to play
in a golf tournament with his son
Andrew and was “hoping to do
better than our 1-4 record of five
years ago.” He also was to celebrate his mother’s 90th birthday
in Bennington.
Di Strickler’s son Will is a professional golfer in Dallas, where he
met his girlfriend playing in the
Byron Nelson Championship in
2011. Di is enjoying grandparenthood: Her first grandchild, Elizabeth Belden Powers, was born
Dec. 4, 2011. She lives about 10
minutes away with Di’s daughter
Meggie and son-in-law. “Everyone says being a grandparent is a
wonderful, and I fully concur!”
Di also is helping with the older
generation: “My mother, sadly, is
sorely afflicted with Alzheimer’s,
so like many classmates, life is
running the gamut right now.”
Phil Dodd sends much-appreciated news of a number of classmates, including a lunch with me
in April in Washington, where we
reminisced not only about Williams but working together in DC
in the first few years after college.
On the same spring trip south
from Montpelier, Vt., Phil visited
“the ever-busy” Steve Harty,
“who continues to juggle multiple
roles at home, work and for the
college. Steve also makes a mean
martini.” The visit sounds nice,
but the geography is confusing: I
had heard that Steve was running
a company in Montana, not
directly on the route from DC to
Vermont. Maybe this will elicit
another explanation and update.
“Back here in Vermont,” Phil
reports, “most things are the same
in my life, except … after five
years in Colorado, our daughter
Eliza (and boyfriend) moved
back for a job in the Burlington
area, and my wife and I bought a
sailboat (Catalina 34) for summer
cruising on Lake Champlain.”
Phil also caught up with “fellow
Montpelier-area resident Jim
Clemons, who is lucky enough to
be retiring at the end of this year
from his law firm. He will be kept
busy by various activities, however, including his membership on
the Board of Trustees of Vermont
Law School.”
Phil is beginning to do informal
advance work for next year’s
reunion—a process, I assume,
under way broadly among our
classmates. He reports that Jim
and Bud Ruf have been talking
about coming to reunion next
year, which, Phil believes, would
be Jim’s first reunion appearance
since our 20th.
Phil and his wife Fran are also
planning on attending the 40th.
Stimulating the Eph competitive
spirit, he notes that Fran went to
her 40th Smith reunion in May,
“where her class reported the
highest attendance of any reunion
yet. Best of luck to our Williams
’73 reunion chairs, J.O. Neikirk
and Katie Jacobs Eyre, in drumming up a similarly good turnout
for our class.”
Several ideas for entertainment
at the 40th came in: Bing Bingham reports he is still performing
with Joe Knowlton. They have a
website (joeandbing.com) with
great pictures and memories
from the past and photos of
performances, including one from
2010 at Greenwich Academy,
where Joe is director of academic
technology. They appear primed
and in tune for a possible reprise
next June.
Finally, I received an intriguing suggestion for entertainment
from Hutch Smith, who sent a
brief note suggesting that we
should “invite more porn stars
back for our reunion.”
That was initially very puzzling
because I did not remember
any previous porn stars at our
reunions, though I must admit
to having only attended the past
two reunions. With a little further
correspondence, it became clear
that Hutch was commenting on
an appearance at the college by a
transgender performer, Jiz Lee. The
appearance—definitely a different
style of performance from what
now seem to be the quaint acts of
the early 1970s—stimulated some
interesting email discussion among
a number of ’73 Ephs, including
Ken Bate and Greg Williams. Note
to reunion planners: There may
be a spontaneous entertainment
committee that could emerge from
the Lee response. I look forward to
more correspondence on possibilities in future notes.
1974
Jonathan W. Fitch
5 Cedar Hill Road
Dover, MA 02030
[email protected]
The Great Class of 1974 is
breezing through The Year of
Turning 60. Take Marty Singer’s
happy report: “I am engaged to
be married to Ann Gordon. The
wedding is this November. My
wonderful fiancée is a retired
foreign-service officer, now working three days a week at the State
Dept. on consular matters. After
getting the house in McLean
remodeled, Ann and I moved
there in late May and are now in
the process of planning the wedding … in a gorgeous Mount Vernon (Va.) setting at a restaurant
next to Washington’s mansion.
So there’s definitely life after 60!”
Cheers to Marty and Ann!
CL ASS
NOTES
Barbara Pierce visited Williamstown in June and dropped us a
note: “After years of separation, I
returned to Williamstown to celebrate my Diamond Jubilee. My
daughter Emma visited the college I could never get in to today.
And my siblings (including Tom
Pierce ’68) attended the opening
of a summer festival play, The
Importance of Being Earnest,
directed by my brother David.
After more than 25 years with
CBS News, I’m now teaching at
the journalism school at USC.
Summers off. What a concept.”
Good to hear too from Katherine Roome, saying, “Sixty. Unbelievable. I am faring fine. I’m still
a VP associate general counsel at
The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
I telecommute from Greenwich,
N.Y., about an hour Northwest
from Williamstown. My daughter
finished 10th grade at Emma
Willard, and my son is working
in DC at the Defense Department.
My husband is still at Scholastic.
Here’s a plug: I’ve been self-publishing some mysteries with my
mom (murderinmaine.com). And
another plug for a nonprofit: I’m
working through the Agricultural
Stewardship Association to conserve some of the finest farmland
in the Northeast. … That about
sums it up for now.”
Lynel Horne Long writes, “I
have returned home to London
after almost two years of living
and working on a USG-funded
human rights project in Cairo
and look forward to catching up
again with Williams friends passing through London. Throughout
this time, I’ve also continued
volunteering for our NGO, Her
Equality, Rights, and Autonomy
(www.hera-web.uk), which helps
formerly trafficked and vulnerable young women in London
and Central and Eastern Europe
become entrepreneurs. I hope
eventually we can extend this
work to the Middle East. A Williams graduate, Ali Tozier ’09, and
a Williams senior, Emily Gowen
’13, have also been volunteering
for HERA, and their contributions have been invaluable. The
HERA organizers appreciate their
support, and they have been great
ambassadors for our school.”
Steve McIntosh also mentions commendable work he is
involved in: “In our spare time,
my wife Qi and I volunteer for
HandReach and manage the
travel and lodging logistics for
severely burned, poor children
from China who come to Boston
and Springfield for surgery
and prosthetics at Shriners
Hospitals.” While also working
as a tech writer, Steve still finds
time to sing, “I have been singing
tenor in a regional chorus for the
past six years, hitting the correct
note just frequently enough to
avoid dismissal.”
Harvey White has started a
new business, Vessel Health. He
reports, “Having sold the Heart
Hospital of New Mexico, Vessel
was created as a cardiovascular
healthcare initiative which seeks to
mitigate our ongoing epidemic of
cardiovascular disease. We intently
focus on cardiovascular risk,
provide traditional and holistic
preventive therapeutics, empower
individuals to achieve circulatory
health and seek to rekindle the
provider-patient relationship in
medicine. (Dr. Oz for the common
man.) Vessel can be researched
at www.vesselnm.com, and on
YouTube (some of the videos are
clearly homegrown). Most important, I am always available to
address concerns of any classmates
… at [email protected].”
Jeff Johnson writes, “After
annoying all my friends and classmates with FB posts and email
announcements, my new book is
finally on the shelves: Things Your
Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know.
When I was younger, I tried to
write things that were intellectually stimulating. Now I’m happy
if it’s funny and sells a few copies.
This past year, I also made the
bizarre choice of going back
to work in advertising. Why? I
can’t explain. It is nice to have an
apartment in NYC again.”
Chuck Mitchell has made some
moves in NYC: “Just wanted to
drop a quick note to let the class
know that we moved our home
on May 1 to a larger New York
apartment. After seven years in
a small space, it is wonderful to
have larger quarters. Needless
to say we are still unpacking (I
have yet to find my aftershave).
We also moved our law office to
midtown Manhattan, 25 West
43rd St., Suite 711, New York,
NY 10037, right next to the
Williams Club. The proximity to
the club was a factor in deciding
on this location. After starting
my legal career in midtown, it is
great fun to be back in the center
of the Manhattan action. We will
continue to represent clients in
labor/employment, real estate,
estate planning and litigation in
those areas. Two moves in one
month are a bit much. I would
not recommend it, but we are
having more fun than ever.”
Quite a few have burnished
our reputation as a well-traveled
lot. From his homeland of Brazil,
Raul Nobre Martins writes, “For
the past couple of years I have
been a member of the Professional Practice Commission of
the UIA (International Union of
Architects) which this year met
in Tangier, Morocco. I took the
opportunity to travel around
Spain, staying a few days in
Madrid and driving around the
Southern part of the country for a
week. I was amazed how much it
made me think of the Don Quixote course I took at Williams, the
only Spanish literature course I
have ever taken. … Andalusia,
where I spent most of the time, is
where Don Quixote’s action takes
place, and there are frequent references to the book, including old
windmills. We had a great time!
Having read the book added a lot
to my enjoyment of the trip.”
Dave Giles writes about a trip
to India sponsored by the alumni
travel office, with Professor Francis Oakley as the tour’s faculty
instructor. Dave says, “The trip
was a traditional north India tour
loop (Delhi-Jaipur-Agra-Varanasi
and stops between), and Frank
illuminated everything we saw
with his powerful erudition (and
humor!). One lasting memory for
me: As our group walked through
the archway into our first view of
the Taj, Frank was near and said
quietly, ‘This is not an anticlimax.’ It sure wasn’t, and neither
was anything else about the trip.”
Peter Riley and his wife Patsy
celebrated their 30th anniversary
and Peter’s 60th birthday with
a trip to Berlin, Munich and
Stuttgart in June. Peter says,
“Wonderful art, wonderful food
and wonderful beer. Oddly, the
Germans were unfamiliar with
Iron City beer whenever I asked
about it.” Geologist Don White
has made frequent trips to Mexico this year pursuing his gold and
silver mining interests. Don says,
“Wife Loretta usually accompanies me on all such adventures
and has been many times to
Mexico the last year. We camped
at ranches in the border area of
Sonora, SE of Yuma, Ariz., and
have lived in tent camps in the
high Sierra Madre of Chihuahua.
The highlight, however, was our
enjoyment of a monthlong project
in the very civilized and historic
silver camp of Guanajuato. What
a fabulous place, with 450-plus
years of mining history and
continuing production more
substantial than ever. … We hope
to return there again because it is
so lovely.” Don’s spirit of adventure has rubbed off on the next
n 1 9 7 4 –7 5
generation. Don writes, “Clark,
now 29, still single and well
along in his helicopter training
(commercial license in hand and
working on specialized certifications). As a break he left Arizona
last Jan. 3 on a huge BMW
motorcycle, loaded for the end of
the Americas. Three months later,
he reached the Beagle Channel on
Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The
common turnaround point for
such travelers is Ushuaia, said to
be the southern-most road accessible city in the world, and it is. I
advised him however, that there
is a road along the channel SE
that gradually gets a bit further S.
He went to the end of that, too,
making him the southern-most
continuous-wheeled traveler of
the Americas for that moment.
Next time he does a trip like that
I may have to get him a sidecar.”
Thanks to those who have
written in reports of minireunions.
Skip March got a group up to
Williamstown for the annual Yo
Yo Memorial Golf Outing in June.
Skip says, “Attendees were Fran
Doran, Mike Parker, Tom Douglas,
Dean Murphy, Andy Holt and me.
Golf highlights of the day were
Dean’s chip-in for birdie on the
ninth hole and Mike’s impossible
20-foot putt for par on the 13th.
The other highlight was sitting on
a couple of benches off the 10th
hole reminiscing, catching up on
family and personal news and lots
of laughing while watching the sun
set over the Berkshires. Needless to
say, the 19th hole was the longest
of the day. The Executive Committee, which is comprised of whoever
attends that year, has decided to
more aggressively expand the list
of attendees. The memories and
camaraderie are too good not to.”
Fran warmed up for the outing
earlier in June with Bob Patterson,
who visited Duxbury for a threeday member guest tournament.
Fran says, “We won our flight. Bob
putted like a pro, sank a 45-footer
on one hole. Lots of fun.”
Erik Thorp writes, “Nothing
earth shattering, but I have seen
a few Williams people recently. I
have been in Boston and Portland
a couple of times over the last
several months and had a chance
to have dinner with Mike Adams,
my old roommate. He is doing
well, living in Portsmouth, N.H.,
and commuting to his job as an
architect in Boston. Most of his
work seems to be on health care
facilities. Jeff Thaler came to Denver a few weeks ago for an alternative energy conference. We had
a couple of dinners with him, and
he stayed with us one evening.
He also stayed at our place up in
the mountains and got a chance
to do a little hiking.”
David Hoffman writes: “Williams
keeps intersecting my life. My son
Fenn ’13 just finished his junior
year, is a double major in studio
art and English and is very active
with the cross-country program.
My daughter Addison just finished
her freshman year at archrival
Wesleyan, and they still seem
to be talking. Ted Whitaker and
Jim Clarke ’91 both work for the
investment firm I run. I invested
in a film coming out in September
written, produced and starred in
by Sarah Thomas ’01. The film is
called Backwards and is a romantic sports movie loosely based on
her experience on the Williams
crew. Check out “Backwards the
Film” on Facebook, and see the
preview. I am heading to Thailand
with my daughter for a week and
then doing business in Thailand,
Hong Kong and Brunei before I
stop in Greece for Ted Whitaker’s
20th anniversary party.”
Dr. John Downing’s daughter
Elizabeth is following in his
footsteps as a physician. He
writes that she has completed her
first year of internship at Ohio
Health Doctors Hospital System
in Columbus,. Elizabeth is also a
prize-winning graphic artist.
Congratulations are in order
for our classmates who attended
graduation exercises for their
children this year. Collette and
Jack Dill were in Palo Alto at the
graduation of daughter Elizabeth
Dill ’07 from Stanford, where she
received a master’s in educational policy. Eric Olsen writes,
“Daughter Lindsay ’12 graduated
this spring and claimed a Thomas
J. Watson fellowship to travel to
New Zealand, Bali, Norway and
the Faroe Islands in the coming
year. She is also featured in the
college promotional video Three
Voices of Williams and in the July
2012 Alumni Review.”
Carol and Rich Levy were also
at the Williams exercises. Rich
says, “In early June this year,
I passed a significant Williams
milestone by finally reverting
from the status of an Eph alum/
tuition-payer for the past seven
years to simply a ’74 alum when
our son Michael ’12 joined our
daughter Rachel ’09 in the ranks
of the Society of Alumni.”
Speaking of our legacy, I
received jubilant notes from both
Eric Harris and Mike Parker, each
reporting that daughters will
be entering Williams in the fall.
Congratulations to all!
Learning that I was leaving for
a trip to Essex, England, cousin
McKelden Smith sent me a copy of
The Fitches of Essex. Regarding
our common ancestors, the book
says in summary, “From rustic
origins in Northwest Essex in
the 15th century, by degrees and
through a series of profitable
marriages in the course of two
and a half centuries, they contrived to zigzag their way across
country before their final extinction in a flourish of heraldry and
a blaze of squirearchical glory.”
Apparently, they got what they
deserved. I thank McKelden for
this genealogical alert! And as
to Breezing through the Year of
Turning Sixty, I’ll give the final
word to McKelden, who says,
“To respond to your queries: my
plan to turn 60 on May 1 was
cancelled, so I am still 50-something. My last graduated from
Washington & Lee University in
June, but my first started graduate school, so we’re still writing
those checks. We are not aware
of any grandchildren to date.”
Now, there’s a man who knows
how to move forward!
1975
Julia Berens
22 Sperry Lane
Lansing, NY 14882
[email protected]
Since I wrote the last column,
I have had more than my usual
number of encounters with
classmates. In January, Larry and
I spent three days at the Naples
Beach Hotel and Golf Club and
had some quality time with Mike
Watkins and Ellin Goetz ’76, who
can now happily say they no longer have three children in college,
the oldest having graduated from
Hamilton in the spring. In April
we traveled to Nashville for a wedding and were hosted by David
Kern and Melissa McGuire, who
showed us some of the finer sights
of the city. Melissa’s daughter
Nora Kern ’12 graduated in June,
and her son Benjamin is headed
to Colorado College. Connie and
Harry Sheehy were in Ithaca in
May for the Ivy League baseball
championship games (Dartmouth
vs. Cornell), and we met for dinner. Following their son’s graduation from Williams in early June,
Dan Whipple and Kathy Bogan
stopped in Lansing for 14 hours
on their way to Colorado; Kathy
has another year of her threeyear commitment to working in
Nairobi for Nation Media. Her six
words for 60 submission: “Up in
the air after Africa.”
CL ASS
NOTES
Forty-one years of silence was
enough for a few classmates.
Judith Mender, dean of Students
at Cardozo Law School in NYC,
has been in touch with various
Ephs over the years, including
Cardozo professor Jeanne Schroeder, vice dean and professor Ed
Stein ’87, director of academic
support Zelma Rios ’95 and Carol
Roscoe Sterk ’74, whose husband
is a Cardozo professor. Judith
has also stayed in touch with Kim
Healy ’74, who works at New
Alliance Bank in Connecticut and
is responsible for introducing her
to Tom Pearl, her life partner.
Tom’s extended family includes
brothers Alex ’76 and Mike Rosten. Brother Don Mender ’71 has
a psychiatric practice in upstate
New York and is a faculty cosponsor of the Yale Philosophy
and Psychiatry Group. Judith
joined in her brother’s exchanges
of truly bad puns with Ed Palmer
’74, a professor of transplantation immunology and nephrology
in Switzerland. She is also in
touch with N.J. state Sen. Bob
Gordon ’72. Her daughter Lynn
Levy “had the nerve to attend
Wesleyan” and works at WNYC
radio on the show RadioLab.
Self-described “long time listener, first time caller” Jimmy Lee
and Beth Brownell Lee celebrated
the graduation of daughter Izzy
’12 from Williams in June. She
joins siblings Jamie ’06 and Lexi
’04 to form (perhaps?) the first
parent/offspring group of five
from 1975 with Williams degrees.
Suzanne Fluhr emailed from
Copenhagen, where she and husband Steve Albelda were enjoying
a 25-day European tour intertwined with Steve’s physicianscientist speaking gigs in Dublin,
Helsinki and London. Suzanne
is still part-time lawyering and
blogs at www.boomeresque.
com. Still living in London, Philip
Aaronson is teaching and doing
biomedical research at King’s
College. His son was accepted to
do a PhD in mathematics at the
University of Nottingham.
The 6 words for 60 did not
appeal to everyone; “Too much
like English; I’ll pass,” is my
creation for Guy Creese. His
daughter Sarah will attend Wheaton (Mass.) in the fall and wants
to be a writer. Guy continues
to write reports and advise IT
departments for Gartner and
is happily forced to stay up to
date with new social software
and the “cloud” to keep pace
with the younger crowd. Guy
created a Facebook group for
our class (Williams College Class
of 1975), and all are encouraged to subscribe to keep up (in
a more timely manner than this
publication provides) with what
classmates are doing.
Bob Luce took a leave of
absence from his litigation
practice to complete a nine-week
Bikram yoga teacher training
in LA. He hopes to help his
peers stay healthy and flexible.
Dan Muzyka reached the term
limits for deans at University of
British Columbia, Vancouver,
and will become president and
CEO of the Conference Board of
Canada, with its principal office
in Ottawa.
Hardin Coleman had the
distinction of handing both
his sons diplomas in May; son
Aaron received a B.S. in social
studies education and has a job
at Framingham High School,
and Jesse got an EdM in physical
education. Hardin serves on
the external advisory board for
Boston Public Schools. Lee Nash
Cary reports, “At last the ink has
dried on our last [tuition] check.”
Their youngest is off to Baltimore
for a real job, giving Steve and
Lee opportunities to visit Sheila
and Jerry Brown. Lee still enjoys
working among school children,
though she is finding recent years
to be especially challenging;
“sculling still helps; yoga helps
more.”
Fred Dittman went on an
“absolutely fascinating”
Williams-sponsored trip to India
in February led by former College
President Frank Oakley. He also
had a leading role in a run of The
Admirable Crichton. Robert Black
retired from emergency medicine
after 24 years and is playing golf
and watching out for his four
children, ages 28 through 24.
Entering his sixth year in
China, Chris Alberti is “cofounder of Cascade Healthcare,
the first foreign invested senior
care company in China providing
residential care services.” His
son completed eighth grade, and
wife Susan has an import-export
business focusing on jewelry
and smalls. His 6 words for 60:
“family, friends, meaningful
work, China engaged.” Nancy
Reece Jones says she thinks she
ought to be getting out of her
comfort zone and firing up some
new brain cells but is “so damn
content with my life now that I’m
just fine as is.” She is freelance
writing and was anticipating
summer hikes and horseback
rides.
News from Williams ’75’s
first mother: Jackie Strachan
Meadows has a book out called
Little Black Breastfeeding Book
published under Jacqueline Lois.
Jackie writes her “breastfeeding
journey started at Williams back
in the previous century when I
was a senior.”
K.K. DuVivier’s home won the
Colorado Renewable Energy
Society’s “renewable energy and
sustainable design in buildings
award” in May. In July she was
to visit with Williams roommate
Debbie Jordan ’76 on her way to
an energy law teachers’ workshop in Vermont. Her 6 words
for 60 is a take off on the reduce,
reuse, recycle mantra: “reconnaissance (heading west); reconsider
(switched from geologist to
lawyer); reproduce (2 children);
retool (law teaching); reunite
(current husband proposed upon
seeing her for the first time in 22
years); rejoice (current state).”
Mike Rosten saw Bill Southard
at the wedding of his daughter
Abby ’07 to Brian Carey ’06, son
of Tom Carey ’77, who was one of
Mike’s freshmen when he served
as a JA. Also in attendance were
brother Alex ’76 and Steve Piltch
’77. Mike was to be in Ithaca for
daughter Meryl’s “son” Rocky’s
graduation from high school,
which will take place in the same
venue where he saw Star Wars
with Debba Curtis while in law
school. Debba’s younger son
graduated from Ithaca College
with a BFA in musical theater and
was employed through Labor
Day. Son #1 is still in Dubai
working for a German/Swiss
consortium, doing what Debba
perceives as a sort of James Bond
activity. She continues to teach
history and law and downsized
from a large Victorian home to
much smaller living quarters.
She ran into Morgan Mead ’73
and had a great talk, catching up
after many years. Charlie Selcer
continues to teach ethics and
work his tail off as a CPA, and
his wife was running for the Minnesota House of Representatives.
His son is in film school, and his
daughter just returned from Vietnam, where she is a teacher.
Robin Durrell Geissler is still
enjoying being a middle school
teacher and expects to continue
in that role for several more
years. Her 6 words for 60: “love
living on the left coast.” Dean
Cycon’s version: “big hearted
world changing theater buff.”
Dean continues his work on
women’s health with coffee communities in Guatemala in connection with his wife’s organization,
Motherwoman Inc. He is also
n 1975
Beth (Brownell) ’75 and Jimmy Lee ’75 (center and right), celebrated the
Williams graduation of daughter Izzy ’12 with (from left) daughter Lexi
Sullivan ’04, her husband Justin ’04, and son Jamie ’06.
working in Palestine setting up a
café/performance space for young
actors and musicians with his
daughter, who starts Berklee College of Music in the fall. In June
Dean gave a talk about using
business as a vehicle for social
change at the annual dinner at
the Williams Club in NYC.
Anton Bestebreurtje reported
closing a refinance for Rich
DeSalvo ’76 and had an uncharacteristically small contribution
of news. He saw Wendy Gradison
at a networking lunch; she
continues as CEO of Psychiatric
Rehabilitation Services, which
works to acclimate individuals
into society. Chan Lowe has plans
for October to return to Austria
to give a series of lectures for the
State Department about the presidential campaigns and U.S. politics. He did the same just before
the 2008 election; in addition
he will be teaching a course in
communication to journalists at
a Viennese media academy. Will
Parish sits on the California State
Board of Education’s Instructional Quality Commission as
chair of the science subcommittee. His son Mac is still with Kiva
in Nairobi, and Nate is a biology
major at Colorado College.
Tom Cummings writes from
Oklahoma City, where everyone
was crazed about the Thunder in
the NBA finals. In October Tom
will marry attorney Allison Hart.
His sons are in medical school
and law school, and in Tom’s
words, “Life is either getting easier or I am adjusting my attitude.
Whatever the cause, I am happy
and content and enjoy what I
do.” Who knew that Barbara
Volkle had a “mania for knitting
socks” and Liz Titus is the proud
recipient of Barbara’s handiwork?
Liz is grateful for the energy efficiency industry boom and looked
forward to working remotely
from a lake cottage this summer.
She acknowledges the “grace”
with which Christine Ruf ’74,
Polly Smith and Deborah Grose
celebrated their “big” birthdays.
In fact, Deborah emailed me on
her birthday and she planned to
stretch out the celebration at least
through Labor Day. Her 6 words
for 60, clearly reflective of a Williams BA in philosophy: “Life’s
messy; that’s why it’s neat.”
Bobby Kittredge reports:
“Armand Bakalian found”; he
lives six miles from Bobby in Sacramento. In true Kittredge form,
Bobby provided the process by
which he arrived at his 6 words
for 60; he “began with fasting,
meditation, whirling Dervish
ecstatic dancing, crystal ball gazing and several other divination
techniques too pompous and
self-congratulatory to mention.”
The result? “Extended the 70s;
what extension’s next?”
Martha Coakley is serving her
second term as Massachusetts
attorney general, busy “fighting unnecessary foreclosures,
human trafficking, challenging
DOMA, keeping health care and
energy rates down, and trying
to prevent bullying and cyber
bullying.” Her 6 words for 60:
“Still crazy after all these years.”
Renee Meyer had a somewhat
different take on the 6 for 60:
“Ballet Mobile. Making people
happier. Fun. Still in love with
life. Thankful for the sky and
for Williams.” Helen Kelly has
promised 7 words for 70; in the
meantime, she offers a haiku:
“What the hell is this?/If 60’s the
new 40/Why am I so stiff?”
The six-word memoir suited
many classmates just fine; Chuck
Chokel: “Happiness=Free Time,
Health, Enough Money.” Julie
Winkler Petri: “We’re working
into grandparenthood. Retirement, too!” Ned Reade: “Enjoy
the moment; Live 4 Art!” Ellen
Davis: “Friends, family, fauna,
flora foci now.” Theodore Cox:
“Daughter: you were alive back
then?” Alicia Kershaw: “Change
is the only constant; no regrets.”
Andy Roberts: “Bartender,
another Guinness for my
friends.” Andrea Axelrod: “My
warranty expired. Anything
could happen.” Elizabeth Maier
Stiles: “Faith, family, friends,
fun; farewell fifties!” Ben Strout
(from Australia): “Upside Down
Penmanship: Sydney Writers’
Festival.” Dan Stinebring (sent
from Melbourne astronomy
conference): “Likes travel,
astronomy, Oberlin, sailing, family.” Polly Wood-Holland: “Life is
not always a cabaret.” Tim Reny
(finalized after several texts):
“Amazing Bonds Connect Deep
Eph Friendships.” Phil Less:
“Back in New England at last.”
Gil Parsons was undoubtedly
the most persistent in sending
his 6 words for 60, experiencing
the frustrations of technology
which prompted additional
memoirs: “Yogi smarter than the
average bear” and “Moe really
was the smartest Stooge.” His
initial memoir: “mi ritrovai per
una selva oscura”; I will leave
the translation to the Clay Hunt
scholars. I hope to keep this
memoir theme running for the
next few columns, so if the spirit
moves you to create one for
yourself or a classmate, please
send it along.
Finally, it is with great sadness
that I pass along the following
news: “Bob Stacey’s son Will,
a sergeant in the U.S. Marine
Corps, was killed in action in
Afghanistan on Jan. 31. This
was his fifth deployment and
his fourth to Afghanistan. Nine
hundred-fifty people attended
Will’s memorial service in
Seattle. Attending his interment
at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60, were Anton
Bestebreurtje, David Grogan,
Jeff Jacobs, the Rev. William
Rich, who was Will’s godfather,
and Drake Tempest ’74.” Our
heartfelt sympathies extend to
Bob and his family, and we are
grateful for his son’s service to
the country.
CL ASS
NOTES
1976
Jane Ray Kell
4 Spring Lake Place NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
[email protected]
I open this edition of class notes
with an announcement from our
class president Chris Oates, who
has been busy planning a fun fall
weekend for all of us in Williamstown. “In what has quickly
become a tradition, the Class of
1976 will gather for its annual Fall
Football Tailgate Extravaganza,
this year on Saturday, Oct. 13, as
the Ephs take on the Middlebury
Panthers at scenic Weston Field,”
Chris writes. “The foliage should
be at its peak, matched only by
Debbie Nelson’s culinary delights
to sustain you throughout this
exciting NESCAC tilt. Look for
the 1976 banner as we will gather
along the fence just inside the field
entrance. In a dramatic change
from reunions, the weather last
fall was spectacular, and we hope
another band of enthusiastic ’76ers
will be there to help the Ephs
prevail. We hope to see you!”
I was delighted to receive news
from Jerry Kuper in Rochester,
N.Y., who stays in close touch
with Bill Moehle, who was
elected supervisor of the town of
Brighton in fall 2011. According
to Jerry, Bill “began his term by
displaying a trait rarely shown
by political figures: he took a
$5K cut in his pay.” With 18
years of experience under his belt
as legal counsel to the city, Bill
knows exactly what is needed
to maintain quality of life in
Brighton. He has instituted a ban
on hydrofracking, prioritized
projects involving traffic safety,
worked on a Green Street project
and negotiated fire service protection, among other great work.
Jerry keeps in touch with Richard O’Hara, “who besides being
president of John Carroll School
in Bel Air, Md., is preparing for
his oldest daughter Caitie’s wedding on Oct. 27,” and sees Joe
Hurley ’78, “who besides running
his Saving for College business,
keeps busy harvesting maple
syrup and honey from the bee
colonies on his 50-acre property
in nearby Victor, N.Y. The bee
colonies are all named after
various colleges. I do not know if
there is an Amherst colony, but I
am sure if there is, the Williams
colony will get the best of them!”
Jerry consults with companies
on the research and production
of solid-state laser systems. “I
have been involved with tattoo
and hair removal design this
past year, along with work on a
high-performance laser for precision hole drilling. Our daughter
Laura, Vassar ’07 (Cappy Hill’s
first graduating class!), is in her
third year of a clinical psychology
PhD program at University of
Illinois at Chicago. She has written a book chapter and received
awards for her master’s thesis.”
Lisa Gruenberg is enjoying
working part time as a pediatric
and adolescent gynecologist at
Children’s Hospital Boston and
continuing to teach clinical anatomy and histology at Harvard
Medical School. She has done
some international work, most
recently with Partners in Health
in Rwanda, and was named to
the Fulbright Senior Consultant
Roster for Global Health. She’s
also writing, having earned an
MFA in creative writing in 2007
and received a Massachusetts
Cultural Council Grant for fiction
this year. Husband Martin Carmichael is head of the corporate
group at Goodwin Procter and
has been involved in building the
firm’s London office. Lisa and
Martin’s older daughter, Heather,
just completed her first year of
medical school, and daughter
Lydia is Williams Class of 2013,
majoring in history. “After 25
years in the Boston suburbs, we
moved into a loft in South Boston
last year,” Lisa writes. “We are
really enjoying city life.”
Last spotted in the Cotswolds,
Michael Rosenblum has surfaced
in Nashville, Tenn. “For years
Lisa and I have been splitting our
time between London and New
York,” Michael writes. “Now
we’re adding Nashville to our
repertoire. We’re launching a new
national network, based on the
belief that N.Y. and LA simply
don’t address the interests of
most Americans. We’ll see if that
theory holds true soon enough.
Meanwhile, we are aggressively embracing our new home
ground.” Michael and Lisa are
living in Franklin, Tenn.
It’s been a full year for Mary Raz,
who heads North America Human
Resources for Xyratex International, a global data storage technology company headquartered
in England. “It’s been a time of
challenging assignments involving
the start-up of a warranty center in
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and
a software center of excellence,
located in Ontario. As a result,
I had to become an extremely
fast study in both Mexican and
Canadian labor law. What struck
me about my experience in
Guadalajara was that despite the
fact that the country has highly
publicized social problems and is
plagued by drug-related violence
of a horrendous nature, the Mexican people represent an amazing
source of talent.” Mary found
Guadalajara to be “a nucleus of
higher education, a city of great
architectural significance and a
cradle of great artistic creativity.”
She also traveled to Seremban,
Malaysia, which she found rich
in cultural significance and full of
“gracious, kind, productive, smart
and interesting” people.
Mary’s children continue to do
well. Her oldest, Jonathan, an
art history graduate of Pomona
College, was to enter the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law at
Yeshiva University in the fall and
plans to practice asylum law with
a focus on human rights. Danielle,
a graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara, works for
Yardi Software in Santa Barbara
and hopes to make her way back
to the San Francisco Bay area.
Mary was to visit Boston in late
July, where she planned to see
Susan Collings, who is executive
director of the nonprofit Art Connection and living in the South
End. “It’s amazing to think that
I’ve known Susan since freshman
year, and we’ve managed to keep
in touch and connected for over
35 years! Ouch! That makes me
feel ‘mature,’” Mary quips.
Debbie and Paul Nelson planned
a 10-day July vacation at Georgian Bay, Ontario, with Martha
and Chris Grant. “Paul’s family
has a rustic and beautiful cabin
on a small island there that is
the perfect summer retreat. No
phone or electricity=awesome!”
Debbie writes. “I also have committed to doing a one-day ride
in the Pan Mass Challenge in
August, so maybe I will join Paul
in cycling to Williamstown for
our 40th! (NOT J.)”
Kit Traub continues to enjoy
life in DC with wife Ulrike and
son Herbert. Last fall the Traubs
joined Kristi and Sandy Bragg in
celebrating the wedding of their
son Nathan Bragg in Vermont,
along with Rebecca and Artie
Lafave and Dave ’77 and Sue
Clapp. There subsequently was
a “January redux” in which the
Traubs and Clapps met in DC for
the professional choral concert of
the Clapps’ son. Clearly on a roll,
the Traubs ran into Doug Hollett
and astronaut wife Pam Melroy
on their way to the Williams/
Amherst football game last fall.
Pam and Herbert struck up a
conversation, which resulted in
n 1976
Herbert attending Space Camp in
Huntsville last spring, hoping to
follow in Pam’s footsteps. “Ulrike
is not so sure about the plans
to go to Mars he’s brought up a
couple of times and keeps reminding him ‘there are many science
jobs on earth, too, Herbert,’”
Kit writes. “We attribute all this
running into friends and partying
to the clean and honest living that
is the hallmark of the DC area.
Ulrike and I have had a great
year watching as Herbert met all
the challenges of sixth grade. He
learned to prefer jazz over Mozart
on the piano and wore me out
with his invented two-man, frontyard baseball game involving wiffle balls, three bases, two strikes
and two outs.” Kit’s job has taken
him to Australia and around the
Pacific, advancing the president’s
“pivot to Asia” strategy. “There’s
a lot of water out there,” Kit
quips. They were to “spend some
happy days in Vienna and on
Tybee this summer before I enroll
at the National War College this
fall for a year of ‘senior training’
in security studies.”
Doug Brockway has taken on a
“quirky project” in memory of
his father, George P. Brockway ’36.
“Toward the end of his career in
publishing, and for many years
after, he had a regular column
in The New Leader under the
title, ‘The Dismal Science.’ I have
recently found the articles, some
170 of them, and I’ve been scanning, editing and loading them
at http://gpbrockway.wordpress.
com/.” Doug was on the 10th one
when he wrote me over Memorial
Day weekend (a stalling tactic
when he was supposed to be
cleaning gutters). He is taking
care to add hyperlinks to the blog
that help readers research names
and concepts, and it’s likely some
of our professors, if not parents,
will be referenced therein.
In a stunning case of reverse
migration, David Berson is leaving
the San Francisco Bay Area for
Columbus, Ohio, to become
senior VP and chief economist
at Nationwide Insurance. He
planned to live in long-term
rental housing through the summer before moving into a house
with his wife Anne, hopefully
close to the downtown area.
Anne and daughter Emily were
to remain in California to wrap
up family business before joining
him in August. Emily was to
enter Northwestern University
in the fall, having chosen it over
Williams because she preferred
a larger school. “As good as I
am in math (and I’m pretty good
given my training and job), she’s
much better and plans to major
in it,” David writes. “It will be
math plus, but plus what? Physics? Economics (I can only dream
of this)? Finance (maybe she’ll
hire me one day).” The Bersons
look forward to becoming reacquainted with Morty Schapiro
during Emily’s time in school.
“I want to apologize for not
making it to the 35th reunion,”
writes a repentant Dave Trawick.
“As usual, a combination of
family and job-related issues
conspired to prevent me from
visiting my beloved Williamstown.
I am definitely planning to travel
there for the 100th reunion of the
Williams cross-country team.”
The fact is Dave and wife Becky
did travel last summer, “first to
Rome where we visited the usual
sites then spent approximately
one week in Spoleto, which is in
the Italian province of Perugia on
a foothill of the Apennines. It is
a beautiful walled city and was
everything I envision Italy to be,”
he writes. “The boys, Becky and
I had an unbelievable time and
cannot wait to get back. As for
this year, we will be returning to
Acadia National Park and look
forward to climbing The Beehive
again, although Becky swears that
she will stay at the base this time.”
Though Dave says he has not run
a road race for at least three years,
the Trawicks continue to excel at
athletics, with Becky running a
triathlon in Pittsford, N.Y., and
older son Samuel joining the track
team at his school and embracing
Nordic skiing, downhill skiing
and soccer. Younger son Alex,
who Dave describes as having “a
body more suited for middledistance running,” is predicted to
surpass Samuel in the 800 meter
in a few more years. “That being
said, I believe Sam will always
be the king of the X-Box,” Dave
adds. “As for me, I was extremely
pleased to see my beloved Louisville Cardinals make it to the Final
4 in the NCAA tournament. Take
that, Chris Mavroides (Cincinnati
Bearcat fan that he is)!”
To demonstrate that “summer
always comes late in Seattle,”
DC Dugdale sent an impressive
picture of himself atop a snowy
peak 45 minutes outside the city
in June. “All three kids home for
the summer, but youngest graduating from high school and off
to Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y.,”
he writes. “So we will have no
kids at home next fall—surely
a change, but one that many of
my classmates have already navigated!” DC caught up with Steve
Pagnotta ’77, a North Adams
attorney, on a trip to Williamstown to visit daughter Emily ’14.
He also made it up to Bangor,
Maine, to visit Matt Rowe ’77,
an interventional cardiologist
whose youngest daughter was to
join older sister Meghan ’14 at
Williams in the fall. DC paid a
visit to Tom Klumpp ’78 in Wynnewood, Pa., in May and planned
to spend the summer close to
home, where he continues to
work in the School of Medicine
at the Univ. of Washington.
“I wish we had another ‘big
reunion’ coming up, as last year’s
35th just whet my appetite for
another one,” opines Jim Ware.
“One of the more interesting
conversations that I had recently
was a dinner with ex-Senator
Gregg from New Hampshire in
which he pondered the future of
higher education. As he put it:
‘Higher education doesn’t require
brick and mortar anymore. I
wonder what these colleges and
universities will do down the
road in this digital age.’ Got me
thinking about my daughters and
what their college education will
be like in another 10 years. One
thing for sure: … expensive!”
Finally, I had a brief communiqué from Vin McLoughlin,
who attached a picture of himself
attending a Red Sox game in Philadelphia last spring along with
John Solar, Bob Murphy and Bruce
Entwisle. “Copious ad hominem
insults abounded,” he reports.
“Despite being a Red Sox fan,
I doffed a Phillies hat to avoid
being pummeled by the normal
Philly vigilante crowd.” Vin adds
that Bruce’s son, an assistant
baseball coach at Williams, has
moved to DC to work in the front
office of the Washington Nationals, and Bruce continues to run an
industrial chemical firm, where
he works with ace marketer Tony
Kroker ’75. John is a podiatrist in
suburban Philadelphia, and Bob
is a plastic surgeon. As far as I
know, Vin is still in the northern
reaches of Atlanta, running Cardinal Logistics Management Co.
Well, that’s all the news for this
report. I hope to see you in Williamstown in October!
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
1977
Deborah DePorter Hoover
7480 Herrick Park Drive
Hudson, OH 44236
Sandra Lorimer Lambert
149 College Road
Concord, MA 01742
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing class
secretary Daiva Gasperetti: Having just organized our wonderful
35th reunion, Patty May Thomsson
remarked, “What can I say…
Great reunion, great committee, teamwork par excellence.
Williams College is a place worth
remembering!” Many thanks
to the outgoing class officers:
President Patty Thomsson; CoVPs Rich Spicer, Bill Spriggs and
Steve Wertimer; Treasurer Rich
Remmer; Class Secretary Daiva
Gasperetti; and Class Agents
John Greer, Debbie Kuchtiak and
Dennis O’Shea. Special thanks to
Rich Remmer, Jeff Boswell, Chris
Lovell and Martha Williamson for
the fabulous reunion meals, wine
tastings, class gifts and Ephlats
entertainment, and to Monica Bennett, who headed the reunion golf
committee. We’re also grateful
to Jeff Knisley and Roger Wilson,
who organized the first-ever (and
very successful) reunion weekend
bike ride! Finally, kudos to Dennis
O’Shea, who was inducted as
president of the Williams College
Society of Alumni.
Attending her first reunion ever,
Susan Lee found it wonderful
to see old friends and make
new ones. A few years after
graduation, she became a nurse
practitioner in urban health, specializing in refugee health care.
She has been married for 20 years
to Steve Fielding.
Phyllis Staffier also attended her
first Williams reunion last June.
Phyllis lives in Andover, Mass.
Another first-time attendee,
Mike Schiffmiller and wife Lori
(Lehman ’76) enjoyed the weekend. They live in Indianapolis,
where they started a company
that recycles precious metal. Lori,
who had never slept in a dorm
room before, appreciated “the
magnificent buildings, mountains
and people” in Williamstown.
Kathy Hart works at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art
as associate director and curator
of academic programming,
developing programs that help
professors incorporate museum
exhibitions and collections into
the curriculum.
Living in Ridgewood, N.J.,
Carol Reid Highet works for her
local bookstore, which is owned
by Walter Boyle ’78. She has three
daughters: Emily, who works
for Mindshare in NYC, Chrissy,
a teacher in San Francisco, and
Gillian, a HS junior.
Holly Boyer Scott lives outside
Cleveland and works in admission at Hawken School. She has a
stepson who is a doctor, a daughter studying for a graduate degree
in sociology at Boston College,
and a son at Prescott College in
Arizona. Husband Peter Scott
recently published his fourth
novel, In Deer Isle, Maine.
A resident of San Francisco,
Joninna Simpson is executive
director of a local synagogue.
Her eldest daughter works for a
tech company nearby; her middle
daughter graduated from Haverford and works for the nonprofit
Red; and the youngest is a junior
at George Washington in DC.
Joninna reports that Jeb Seder
continues to live in Paris, where
he works for a security company.
His son Christopher graduated
from Hampshire, his daughter
is at Goucher, and youngest son
Luke is at Trinity.
Bob Marquess is president of
Proteus Insurance Management
in Conshohocken and PIM Program Managers in Manayunk.
His two oldest sons, Todd, 30,
and Tyler, 27, graduated from
college and work in Philadelphia,
while youngest son Cody, 19,
a virtuoso musician, finished
his first year at Monmouth
University. Bob is on the board
of a school for autistic children in
Paoli, Pa.
A lawyer in LA at Warner
Brothers, Pete Sheil was promoted
to SVP business and legal affairs
and works in the digital distribution division. Partner Bruce Batchelor is a lawyer at Murphy &
Beane, where he manages workers’ compensation for Viacom
and Paramount Pictures. Bruce
and Pete both stay in touch with
Jeb Seder and Joninna Simpson.
Deb Hoover is still serving as
president/CEO of the Burton D.
Morgan Foundation in Hudson,
Ohio. She and husband John
’76 are thrilled that son Jack is
Williams Class of ’15. Daughter Catherine ’09 is pursuing a
graduate degree at Case Western
University.
Sam Wright is a commercial
real estate broker in Menlo Park,
Calif., where he and wife Kathy
have lived for 24 years. All three
children—Steven, 26, Kelly, 24,
and Eric, 20—are graduates of or
students at Stanford University.
Sharing a 650-year-old profession with illustrious figures such
as Chaucer and Shakespeare, Jill
Stephens is a magistrate outside
of London. Her eldest daughter
graduated DePauw University;
her middle daughter finished
her second year at Durham
University in the UK and was
looking forward to working in
the Versailles school district over
the summer; and her youngest
daughter was admitted to the
Williams Class of ’16.
Brent McKinley continues to
teach at Greenwich Academy
in Connecticut. Son Jake Levitt
graduated from Vassar with a
theater degree and is living in
Brooklyn. Daughter Laine is a
theater major at Ithaca College.
Traveling across the state from
Cambridge, Mass., Monica Bennett and husband Mike had a
super time at reunion, “catching
up with everybody but especially
the Morgan Hall and Gladden
House crowd. We made some
new friends and reconnected with
old buddies like Claudia, Brent,
Daiva and Jill.” Mike has been at
State Street Capital for almost 30
years, and Monica has embarked
on a second career as a billing
coordinator at Tufts Medical
Center in Boston.
Roger Wilson reports a big year:
his daughter, now an eighth-grade
Spanish teacher, was to marry in
August. A former captain in the
U.S. Army, his son started at the
Fletcher School in September, in
the law and diplomacy master’s
program. Roger and wife Marilyn live in Winchester, Mass.
“Aside from a spectacular
reunion with life’s best friends,”
Chris Lovell and Julie Scott Lovell
’78 met up with Michael and Barbara Eisner as well as Ramsay and
Holly Prentice Stabler last spring.
Ramsay and Holly met them via
pedicab, having traveled across
Boston in style! The Lovells live
in Sherborn, Mass. Their eldest,
John, 27, is pursuing a PhD in
evolutionary biology. Samantha,
25, is teaching second grade in
Brookline, Mass. And Amanda,
21, is a senior at Bucknell, having
enjoyed a junior spring in Spain.
Brad and Barb Kendall celebrated 34 years of marriage on
May 27. Their sons Travis (Colby
’07) and Stephen (Trinity ’10) are
gainfully employed and well.
George Schutzer was pleased
to make it through reunion
weekend after a major failure as
a travel agent—putting his wife
Ellen Ginsberg on a 10 p.m. flight
to Albany rather than one at 10
a.m. George is still a tax lawyer
n 1977
in Washington. He has a 16-yearold daughter, so he attended
the admission presentation at
reunion. George’s daughter
attends Maret School in DC,
where Michael Beschloss recently
spoke. Michael’s son Alex ’16 was
headed to Billsville this fall.
Working at Sun Trust, Duff
Anderson commutes between
Atlanta and N.J. A la Brady
Bunch, he and his wife of five years
have six children—three boys and
three girls—between them!
Michael Opong-Kusi is doing
well and living in Broken Arrow,
Okla. He and daughter Avis
enjoyed reunion, and invite classmates in the Tulsa area to come
by, as Mike has lots of room!
Hervy McIver loved seeing so
many old friends and acquaintances at our 35th reunion and is
already looking forward to our
40th! “It’s great to see how we
have changed, yet are much the
same.” Hervy is settled in Hillsborough, N.C., near the Research
Triangle and would enjoy seeing
anyone who is traveling south.
An architect working at
Columbia University and managing a construction project, Ira
Pinkus and wife Marla are proud
parents of Rebecca, 23, Lev, 18
and a sophomore at Colby, and
Sara (future crew star). For the
last 24 years they’ve lived in Port
Washington, on Long Island.
They enjoy traveling north for
winter sports and like to kayak
and cycle on Long Island during
the summer.
Scott Davis enjoyed our 35th
reunion, which many of his closest friends attended, and found
it easy to pick up where they last
left off. Scott visited Syria, Lebanon and Jordan just before things
began to unravel there. He lives
in Harlem and works in downtown Brooklyn in case management at a large nonprofit whose
mission is to end the dual crises
of homelessness and HIV/AIDS
through advocacy, services and
entrepreneurial businesses. Scott
is considering pursuing a degree
in nursing or public health.
Enjoying retirement from the
banking industry, Marty Marchese
is keeping busy by renovating a
house in Monroe, Conn., which
he’ll soon occupy. He’ll then try
to sell his Greenwich condo and
resume traveling, likely with John
(JD) Child next year in Bhutan.
John has lived in Kathmandu,
Nepal, for 17 years and has led
six Williams Alumni Travel/Study
trips since 2000. He gave a fascinating talk about his adventures
at reunion.
Peter Bergathon is moving his
laboratory and research of the
biophysics and computational
modeling of human intelligence
to Pfizer’s Neuroscience Research
Unit. He will be head of Neuroinformaties and Computational
Neurology, building the new
unit at Pfizer as the company
innovates to change the paradigm
for neuroscience drug discovery. Peter will remain affiliated
with Boston University School
of Medicine as a professor in
anatomy and neurobiology and
biochemistry as well as at Tufts
University in neurology and in
biomedical engineering. He says
the Pfizer job is the “opportunity
of a lifetime.” Daughter Kristin
’09 completed her first year at
Duke Medical School, and wife
Cindy is an MD, specializing in
infectious diseases.
Matt Rowe is a cardiologist in
Bangor, Maine, and attended
reunion with his wife Layne Halstead Rowe. A reunion ranger,
daughter Meghan ’14, provided
great care for reunion attendees.
Last June the Rowes were in Williamstown, attending daughter
Jennifer’s ’11 graduation. They
will all be back this fall to settle
in their newest Williams student,
Allison ’16.
Seth Dahlberg and wife
Anne Chaffee are physicians in
Worcester, Mass. Their son Jon
’09 graduated from Williams and
daughter Ellen graduated from
Middlebury last spring.
Jane Lester (yet another MD!)
shared that all is well with her.
Daughter Lisa is spending two
months in Amman, Jordan,
studying Arabic. She was to
graduate from University of
Washington in August as an
international studies major.
Daughter Nina was to start at
Ohio State in the fall and was
slated to play in the World Junior
Ultimate Frisbee championships
in Dublin in August.
Carol Relihan is still living in
Houston, retired from the practice of securities law and spending time painting and traveling.
David Levy had a wonderful
time at the reunion: “Whomever I
spoke with, whether old friend, a
classmate I hadn’t really known,
a spouse, or someone from
another class, I found delightful.
What is it about Williams—does
it select for really nice, interesting people who all marry other
nice, interesting people?” David
was especially grateful to Martha
Williamson, Rich Spicer and all
the Ephlats, including his old
HS buddy Betsy Fuchs Beck, for
sharing their wonderful talents
with us. David’s daughter Claire
is about to turn 25 and continues
to live and work in digital
marketing in NYC. Hannah, who
just graduated from Bowdoin,
started her new job in Portland,
Maine, working for Unum in the
professional development program, and she absolutely loves it.
Alice is now a high school senior,
while wife Judi continues to
cultivate their beautiful garden.
David runs the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center, an LLC that sells
economic research services, and
is doing some money management as well. He began public
speaking again after a number of
years away.
Peter Bergathon passed on news
of Mark Russell, who’s “happily
married to wife Sally (took me
a few tries to get it right) who
works crazy long hours as an
elementary school vice principal
while also pursuing an MA in
conflict resolution.” He has two
great sons and two great stepsons,
ages 24, 25, 26 and 28. He continues practicing law while still
enjoying anything with wheels,
and he motorcycled cross-country
last July so he could ride back
with his older son Cameron via
the Canadian Rockies. Cycling
remains his true passion despite
titanium components in his body
(both hips). He started a cycling
tour company with a friend, and
they conducted their first trip to
the Dolomites (30,000 feet-plus of
climbing) via Dublin last September and have the Berkshires lined
up for next May and Corsica for
next September. Sally and Mark
are also looking forward to a
bike/barge trip in Holland next
April. Mark visits the Williamstown area regularly as a board
member of Darrow School in
New Lebanon, N.Y. He also
enjoys “hobnobbing with literary
types on the board of The Frost
Place,” Robert Frost’s former
home in Franconia, N.H.
Although they were sorry not to
make it to reunion, Kirk Kramer
and wife Kate (’76 exchange
student) had a good excuse: son
Tom ’03 graduated from medical
school the same weekend.
Bill Spriggs was also unable
to attend, as he was busy at the
U.N. as head of the Delegation
for the US Government to the
101st International Labor Conference, where the International
Labor Organization conducts
most of its business. On the
Friday of reunion weekend, he
delivered the U.S. government’s
remarks to the plenary session.
CL ASS
NOTES
Additionally, he was on the committee that worked on the ILO
Recommendation on National
Social Protection Floors.
Continuing to live in NYC,
Daiva Gasperetti works as an
SVP in credit card marketing
at Citibank. Her son Joe is a
senior at Stanford, majoring in
computer science, while daughter
Margot was accepted to UPenn
as a sophomore transfer student.
Daiva loved her five-year stint
as class secretary and wishes our
new class secretaries well!
Congrats to the new class
officers: President Rich Spicer, VP
Roger Wilson, Treasurer Monica
Bennett and Co-Class Secretaries
Sandy Lorimer Lambert and Deb
DePorter Hoover.
1978
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Jeff “J” DeLisle
538 Bloomingrove Drive
Rensselaer, NY 12144
[email protected]
In this column I am departing from the usual newsreel so
I can give expanded attention
to four books written by three
classmates, all published this
year. Their interesting subjects
and quality prose are sufficient
to merit attention, but what is
most praiseworthy is that each in
its way promises to significantly
contribute to the betterment of
our society and its citizens.
Mark Roche’s Why Choose the
Liberal Arts? is a timely arrival
to the national discourse on
education. The cost and value
of a college education has been
increasingly questioned, and the
liberal arts are the target of particularly fierce criticism. Reminding us that to really know one’s
subject means knowing its critiques, Mark catalogs and summarizes these disparagements,
then offers a refutation that is at
once elegant and forceful, and I
think utterly convincing. In the
opening chapter Mark defends
“Engaging the Great Questions”
as an inherently pleasurable,
satisfying and noble end in itself.
In “Cultivating Intellectual and
Practical Virtues” Mark argues
that broad study in the liberal
arts, rather than study in specialized fields, ultimately offers
graduates, employers and society
greater utility. Mark opines,
“Wisdom is the ability to interpret individual phenomena from
the perspective of the whole.”
He worries that students fed
restricted diets will make narrow,
uncreative decisions. He wonders
whether some of the great fiascos
of our age (Enron, political gridlock and corporate greed) could
have been avoided if decision
makers had been wise in this way.
The heart of the book, though, is
the chapter “Forming Character,”
where Mark reaffirms the notion
that higher education has an
obligation to develop students’
moral development on par with
their intellectual development.
In this, Mark (an Eph backstroker) is swimming against the
tide of modern academia, where
“epistemological skepticism” is
king. Mark rebuts that to elevate
critical thinking, an essential
but incomplete goal of education, is to encourage one to view
the world with a distant and
disinterested, if not cynical, eye.
He scolds today’s academics, only
a small percentage of whom consider students’ development and
personal character important, as
out of step with their charges and
their paying parents, who studies
convincingly show hold those
goals as essential. Mark has their
backs. “Our students’ education
is often reduced to mastery of
information and the acquisition
of techniques; it is rarely viewed
as serving the loftier purpose
of helping them to develop a
philosophy of life and preparing
them to answer a moral obligation or discern a sense of vocation.” Professor Roche reminds
us that from the time of the
Greeks and until quite recently,
“education was not only about
cognition but also about longing,
motivation and inspiration as
well as attaining self-knowledge
and developing virtues.” He
holds that despite disclaimers to the contrary, liberal arts
intrinsically goes beyond critical
thinking to a search for the truth,
which inevitably engages students
in a variety of character virtues.
To complete a liberal arts degree,
one must show discipline, perseverance, be flexible, patient and
overcome one’s prejudices.
Those of us who know Mark
(my freshman-year roommate)
know his soft spoken, modestcum-goofy manner is camouflage
for a nuclear pile of smarts. I
remember when he told me he
was intending to major in history of ideas. I couldn’t be sure
he wasn’t joking, because I had
never heard of such a course let
alone a major, and you could
never tell with him. As I read
through Why Choose the Liberal
Arts?, I was astonished and
amused to see that his choice,
made as an 18-year-old kid, set
him on a course of study and
scholarship that enabled this
wonderful thesis.
For two years Kate Stone
Lombardi has been toiling on a
book about mothers and sons. In
March The Mama’s Boy Myth
hit the shelves. The book started
over a cup of coffee when Kate
and a friend confessed to one
another that they felt a remarkable intensity of feelings of closeness and identity with their sons.
Their instincts told them these
powerfully pleasant feelings were
healthy, yet each felt a hesitation
if not guilt in sharing it with the
other. Culture, much common
wisdom and scientific authorities
have held that a mother getting
too close is bad for a son. Closeness has been held to be synonymous with smothering. Too much
love and overprotection makes
boys (but not girls) dependent,
anxious and sissified—mama’s
boys. “As I thought more about
it, I realized the reason I had
never discussed my true feelings
about my son with anyone—not
even my own sister—was because
there seem to be no words, no
context whatsoever to describe
a close bond between a mother
and son that doesn’t in some way
raise eyebrows and invite strict
censure.”
The conversation was an
“Aha” moment for Kate, and
when her friend recognized the
“journalist look” taking over
her visage, she begged her not to
write about it. Nothing doing!
Kate had a head of steam and
was off and running.
Kate started with scores of
interviews of close friends and
professional acquaintances, then
set up a website and started taking calls from strangers in every
walk of life. The big surprise was
the intense and sublime closeness
with her son, which Kate had
assumed to be unique, was actually common, if not universal.
So against the backdrop of
the common wisdom, were all
these mothers holding feelings
of overwhelming tenderness
toward their sons that they were
loathe to share. When Kate
got to them they were eager to
finally talk: “Most figuratively
and some literally grabbed on
to my sleeve to prevent me from
ending the interview.” Like Kate,
these women did not believe the
common wisdom that their closeness hurt their sons, and to the
contrary their intuition told them
n 1 9 7 7 –7 8
it made their sons stronger and
healthier men.
Kate’s initial idea was to out
the secret, but the more people
she heard from, she realized there
was something else brewing:
“an underground movement
being conducted by a generation
of mothers. It’s not only that
women are keeping close to
their sons; it’s that in rejecting
decades of accepted ‘wisdom’
about how to raise boys, mothers
are questioning the very nature
of masculinity and redefining
assumptions about gender.”
It was a lot to take on. There
are centuries of tradition, and at
least a century of scholarship.
Drawing on medical, psychological, sociological and popular
sources, Kate assembled a
powerful thesis that stands some
of the traditional thinking and
advice on its head. In representing arguments from all sides, she
plays fair—sort of. For all its
objectivity, there is a militant edge
in the book, an avowed irritation
with male “authorities.” In a
chapter titled “Oedipus Wrecks”
she is able to draw on a century
of research as she slices and dices
some of the antiquated—but
historically influential—theories
of my man S. Freud. Ouch. In
the chapter “Moms and the
‘Boy Crisis’” she takes folk hero,
workshop guru and author of
Iron John Robert Bly to task for
his imputing weakness in men to
controlling mothers. She points
out Iron John conspicuously
omits “the obvious question”:
How can you account for successful and strong sons raised by
single mothers? And what does
Bly imagine mothers should do
when fathers withdraw, abandon
or are otherwise absent from
their sons? Does Bly suppose the
kid would be better off if mom
withdraws? In her iconoclasm
Kate proves once the adage—at
least it should be an adage—you
can take the woman out of Williams but you can’t take the Williams Woman out of the woman.
As a psychiatrist whose training
included a pretty healthy dose of
the traditional teachings, I find
Kate’s revisions refreshing, incisive and persuasive. It has always
bothered me that women are
always having to contend with
unsolicited proscriptions and prescriptions about everything to do
with their children—don’t have
coffee or a glass of wine during
pregnancy or you’ll hurt your
child, don’t give them a bottle or
you’ll hurt your child, don’t work
outside the home or daycare will
hurt your child, don’t ever think
one second about yourself or
you’ll hurt your child, don’t ever
do what seems natural because
it’s wrong. Kate’s book has done
mothers a great service by reassuring and affirming many selfdoubting moms of the correctness
of their instincts.
The book has resonated pretty
loudly. There is a long list of
emphatically positive reviews in
the best periodicals including her
own New York Times. Kate has
been in demand for panel discussions, Op Ed pieces (Wall Street
Journal), and talk shows (including NPR, MSNBC and CBS).
“Call me Ishmael. Some years
ago—never mind how long
precisely—having little or no
money in my purse, and nothing
particular to interest me on shore,
I thought I would sail about a
little and see the watery part of
the world.”
If you recognized these lines as
the opening of Herman Melville’s
Moby Dick, you are correct. But
it also fits another New Englander, Herb McCormick, to a T.
Herb fell into his career as a landlubber might fall off a boat. Right
after graduation, a close friend’s
catastrophic accident brought
him back home to Newport, R.I.
His mother, who ran an agency,
got him a temp (ha!) job at Cruising World, a sailing magazine,
as a receptionist. When, running
a delivery errand, he discovered
a proofreader’s missed typo just
before handing it to the printers,
he had a Wally Pipp moment
and became the new proofreader.
Calling upon his undergraduate skill of turning out decent
papers the night before they were
due, Herb supplemented some
of the corrections with a couple
of unsolicited edits and thus
grabbed the notice of the editor.
Thirty years and 75,000 nautical
miles later, Herb finds himself
editor-in-chief of Cruising World,
the yachting correspondent of
The New York Times and holder
of all of the significant awards in
the industry. This winter Herb
sent me, unsolicited, two books
that had just been published.
(Remarkably, Mark’s book came
the same day, also unsolicited.
I had to shell out for Kate’s,
but what the hey, maybe she’ll
autograph it.) Gone to Sea is a
greatest hits collection of Herb’s
most highly regarded articles. It
is divided into Faces (interesting
characters), Places (travelogue)
and Races (competitive sailing).
Though the stories contain a fair
amount of technical information
and jargon, one need not know a
thing about sailing to appreciate
and enjoy them. That’s because
Herb’s real subject is people. His
sharply drawn portraits speak
to those core parts of the human
spirit that the sea brings—
adventure, risk, beauty and the
contemplation of the ineffable
and infinite. His account of Mike
Plant’s ill-fated solo circumnavigation is as painful and compelling to read as any tragedy. Any
father who reads “Glimpsing the
Future in the BVI” about his sailing vacation with his 7-year-old
daughter Maggie, is bound both
to smile and get a lump in his
throat. Short but dense, I found
the chapters are best taken one at
a time, just before retiring, like a
bedtime snack.
Herb’s other book, One Island,
One Ocean, is the chronicle
of the Around the Americas
expedition, commissioned by
the Pew Trust to investigate and
report on the environmental
threats posed to the ocean. On
board the trusty Ocean Watch,
a crew of brave and sturdy men
and women, of which Herb
was the scribe, circumnavigated
North and South America and
returned to Seattle. En route,
they observed the waters and the
industries that depend on them.
The coffee table-sized book’s
magnificent photography is a
worthy complement to Herb’s
prose and captures the spirit of
the voyage. For all the advantages
of technology at Captain Mark
Shrader’s disposal, this was not a
pleasure cruise. Ocean Watch is a
64-foot sailboat; 25,000 nautical
miles is a stretch. The crew was
at hazard at many points. The
first major test was in the Northwest Passage, where Arctic Ocean
icebergs threatened to crunch
them. In the Atlantic, gales
generated mountainous waves
that threatened their inundation.
Picking their way through the
zillions of islands at Cape Horn
the warren of narrow passages
and tricky Antarctic currents
presented the risk of shipwreck at
every tack. Sailors don’t conquer
nature but negotiate with her. At
a port call at the Chilean resort
Valparaiso, the crew’s feelings
that the worst was behind them
proved illusory, and only a lucky
break saved them. Just after their
departure they received word that
an earthquake and tsunami had
just devastated the town. Fretful
and sad about the friends and
country they’d just left behind,
all they could do was head on
CL ASS
NOTES
to Lima, then the Galapagos
Islands, then back home.
The mission was educational
and admonitory, and Herb dutifully got the message across. Yet
once again, what grabbed me
was Herb’s eye for places and
people—and adventure. The crew
of the Ocean Watch spread and
received good will, and in 13
months burned more adrenaline
and drank more of the planet’s
human and terrestrial beauty than
most of us do in our lifetimes.
Taken together, these books,
published within weeks of one
another, are important contributions to three of the major
spheres of contemporary concern:
education, child development
and planet. The magnitude of
their accomplishments thrills me
and makes me proud. I always
get a kick out of seeing Williams
mentioned in print, and each
author credits Williams as part
of their inspiration. I don’t think
I am diminishing any credit due
them when I reflect that I sense
that in these works’ rigor and
moral trajectory, I see Williams’
institutional values. I like to think
it rubbed off on all of us.
1979
Barbara H. Sanders
3 Stratford Road
White Plains, NY 10603
[email protected]
Hi everyone! Kathy Sakamoto
was the first one to write in this
round. She reflected on her time
at Williams, saying it gave her the
opportunity to “see the world,”
and as someone coming from
California she had a chance to
travel up and down the East
Coast (from Vermont to Florida).
After spending time at UCLA, she
is now division chief of pediatric
hematology/oncology at Stanford, where her research focuses
on leukemia. Her husband is
a cardiologist at Stanford. She
spoke with Beth Somers Stutzman
(Mt. Holyoke ’79), who spent an
exchange year at Williams. Kathy
participated in a manuscript on
diversity and her experience as a
minority student at Williams in
the 1970s.
Shortly after I sent out the email
blast, Carolyn Craven sent a reply
from Europe—crystal clear, and
seven time zones away! “My
family spent spring semester in
Berlin and Helsinki, on leave
from Middlebury College where
my husband Peter and I teach.
Both cities were delicious, and
our daughters Cat and Emma
embraced urban life. Berlin swallowed us up quickly into countless
cafés, monuments and shops. Helsinki was introverted in contrast.
But it was welcoming, elegant and
dedicated to its spring party days.
The days were already long by the
beginning of April, which makes
the fierce, cold weather easier to
tolerate. Even with long days, the
months fly by.”
Barbara Ernst Prey has been featured on TV and in print for her
NASA painting, and her artwork
can be found in museums across
the country. She has become an
advocate supporting the arts in
America. She has been in touch
with Mitchell Reiss, Franny Todd
Stewart, Henry Lee, Peter and
Laurie Jones Thomsen, Kristen
Johanson and Peter Wells, and,
of course, her daughter Emily
’14. “I have begun a series of
paintings of the Berkshires and
surrounding area; Williamstown
has always served as a source of
inspiration,” Barbara says.
Hal Zendle wrote: “Home
improvements have been on the
schedule. I’m trying to stay happy
and healthy. Wishing everyone
good health and happiness.”
Marcia Johnston Wood reports,
“Things are well with us in
Portland, although sad to say
that my renewed direct contact
with the college has shifted a bit.
My daughter started at Williams
as a freshman but transferred to
Stanford, and my younger son
will start at Stanford this fall.
The big plus is having them on
the ‘left’ coast with us. I do get
back to Williamstown regularly
each year because I have family in
North Pownal. Despite the empty
nest, my husband and I couldn’t
be busier. I am chairing the
squash committee at the premiere
athletic club in Portland where
I have played squash for years.”
Marcia was unable to attend our
30th reunion because it was the
same weekend as her daughter’s
high school graduation. But
she promises to attend a future
reunion (hopefully the next one!).
“I think it’s time I finally wrote
in!” Elisabeth Keller says in a
highly appreciated recap. “I’m
enjoying my foray into the business world as CEO of my family
company, Keller Enterprises. One
of the joys of this job is overseeing the development of our farm
in central Louisiana, where we
are transitioning from a conventional commodity operation to
an integrated organic vegetable
and livestock operation. We
have a website (www.inglewoodfarm.com). Since I know
nothing about finance and need
to know a lot about finance, last
year I took a short course from
my friend Ginny Earll Soybel at
Babson. She is an excellent and
affirming teacher. I frequently
travel back and forth to Louisiana and my old home state of
Arkansas from Cambridge,
Mass., where my husband Steve
Bonsey and I live with our baby
girl, Annie (now a junior in high
school). We delight in visits from
our three young adult sons. Noah
Bonsey ’07 lives in Tampa, Fla.,
and works as an Arabic analyst
for a defense contractor. When
I am puzzled about the Middle
East, I call him! Our son Sam
(Harvard ’10) lives in Tanzania
and runs an organization he
co-founded (www. 2seeds.org), a
nonprofit which incubates effective agricultural development
projects in Africa. He is always
on the lookout for young, bright,
passionate, entrepreneurial
volunteers to come to Tanzania
for a year. Josiah, now a junior at
Harvard, stops by home often to
have dinner and harass his sister.
I also enjoy visits from Barbara
Ernst Prey and Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, who occasionally cruise
through town. Betsy Harper
sometimes tries to rope me into
doing things like hiking through
Nepal, and I suggest a dog walk
in Cambridge as an alternative.
But with the empty nest looming,
that trek through Nepal is starting to look pretty good.”
The hottest news on Spring
Street is Jody Harrison’s new
store. “Adding to The Harrison
Gallery, Ruby Sparks is a fun
women’s clothing boutique, and
it was profitable in its first year!
It’s been a lot to handle two
businesses, but I love working
here in Williamstown. So from
art history major, then software
businesswoman, and now here I
am, a happy small-town retailer.
And great location—we see lots
of Williams parents and alumni,
including Laurie Thomsen. In
other news, my youngest son,
Michael Silipo, is now assistant
coaching both football and
lacrosse teams at Williams!” You
can visit Jody’s shop at www.
rubysparkswilliamstown.com.
Russell Kamer says, “I was on
my way to my vacation, sitting in
a restaurant at JFK Airport, when
the Keno brothers walked in.
Les ’79 and Leigh looked bleary
eyed, as they had just arrived on
an overnight flight from the West
Coast where, no doubt, they were
on an antiques expedition. … Les
recounted an earlier expedition
n 1 9 7 8 –7 9
While vacationing in the British Virgin Islands in March, Hugh Calkins ’79
(second from left) and wife Beth met for dinner with classmates Dana
Gaines (left) and Mark Robinson (right), who were also visiting the island.
when someone ventured out on
the snow-covered roof of Garfield
house while we held him by the
belt to rescue a folk art wooden
cow. It’s always great to see Les
in person and not just on TV. He
really looks the same as ever.”
Les and his identical twin brother
are widely known for appraising
antiques on public television.
Connie Carpenter Deans DuPont
has “fessed up” that “I’m one of
the people who hasn’t written—
probably in years. So here goes.
I got remarried on Oct. 8, 2011,
almost six years after Stuart died.
In an odd coincidence, I married
Michael duPont, a classmate
of Stuart’s from Lawrenceville.
… We were married in a tiny
ceremony on Fishers Island, N.Y.,
with family and close friends.”
Connie and Stuart’s children
Emily ’09 and twins Spencer and
Trevor Deans were part of the
ceremony, which also included
Jim Carpenter Sr. ’54 and Candy
and Gene DeFalco (parents of
Tracy Henderson Cook ’03). Connie continues: “In addition to my
children, we were attended by
Michael’s children: Ned, Bennett
and Michael Jr. The ceremony
and reception took place over
Columbus Day weekend. We are
residing at my home in Redding, Conn. Trevor and Spencer
graduated from Wheaton College
(Mass.) in May. They have been
such troopers and never left
each other’s side for long. They
roomed together, majored in
economics, and were co-captains
of the swim team. They went
on a three-week, cross-country
drive after graduation. As with all
parents, I am enormously proud
of them, and I’m not above
asking our fellow ’79ers if they
are in a position to hire two fabulously personable, well-educated
new college grads! Emily is still
working for Lego three years
after graduating from Williams. I
returned to work as a seventhgrade Spanish teacher in Redding
after a two-year leave of absence.
During my leave I was able to
travel to Argentina, Ecuador
(on a Williams alumni tour) and
Chile with Habitat for Humanity.
I made it to Machu Picchu this
summer. I’m trying to hit as many
Spanish-speaking countries as
possible!”
After 30-plus years in the
“crazy toy business,” Kevin Curran retired last spring. “Karen
and I are now splitting time
between homes in Phoenix and
Point Abino, Canada. Some
people asked me if I’d have
enough to do in retirement after
working 60-hour weeks and
spending 100-plus nights per year
in hotels, but I have found that
having fun is a very time-consuming task. Every week is like six
Saturdays and a Sunday!” If there
are any ’79ers in the Phoenix
area, Kevin’s looking for golf and
hiking partners.
Marty Taft Elkins has served
as an administrator, teacher,
coach and counselor at various
independent schools over the past
30 years (which has also kept her
in touch with Williams). She left
the New Hampton School (New
Hampshire) to begin a new chapter as head of the high school
at the Beacon Academy, near
Manila, in the Philippines. “My
husband Paul and I have been
speaking of working somewhere
else in the world for a long time.
This opportunity fell into our
laps when several folks on the
founding board of this endeavor
contacted me. They were all
graduates of New England independent schools or currently had
children at those schools. The
Beacon Academy vision is to be
the finest independent school in
Asia, with the curriculum of the
International Baccalaureate and
the discussion-based Harkness
system. Hopefully the academy
will be starting a boarding program as well. My husband Paul
is a 33-year independent school
man and will become the academy’s first dean of students. These
goals are certainly lofty, but it
also resonates deep within me, as
I attended Exeter with Harkness
and also saw how it transformed
my own child.” Mary looks forward to seeing Ephs living there
or passing through.
Craig Shaver sends greetings
from Minneapolis and is doing
well. Very much on his mind is
his son, Cpl. Craig Shaver, who is
deployed in the Sangin District of
Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
He thanks Stew Menking for his
terrific effort boosting awareness of Ephs serving our country,
particularly during wartime.
“I had a busy spring and summer, getting ready for the opening
of Chelsea Piers Connecticut
in Stamford!” exclaimed Dana
(Belshe) Thayer. She sends thanks
to the many classmates who have
been helpful with introductions
and advice, and she is hoping to
see many of you soon.
Over a 10-week period, Cathy
Jackson Edington and her team
raised more money for the Rhode
Island Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society than the other female
candidates, and “I was named
the 2012 RI LLS Woman of the
Year! … People from every part
of my life (including Williams)
jumped in to help. We had a
raffle for a foursome at the TPC
(that was my golf league girls), an
’80s party (family and friends),
an oldies dance, a yard sale, a
Zumba party, wine-tasting, and a
meat raffle—all with great energy
and fun! When it was done, the
group of 20 candidates raised
over $232K.”
In the spring Mark Robinson
was “hangin’ out” on Virgin
Gorda, BVI, “where Dana Gaines,
Hugh Calkins and I ‘rendezvoused’
for a night. Hugh had some of
his family in tow. He had just
arrived back in the States from
medical-lecturing in Europe the
day before and turned around for
his vacation time on BVI. Dana,
CL ASS
NOTES
another friend and I were spending the week at the other end of
North Sound when Hugh invited
us for dinner at the Bitter End
Yacht Club. No one has rowed
better in our class than Dana
Gaines (winner of many longdistance saltwater races including
the Blackburn Challenge around
Cape Ann), but ironically he
is a Williams crew wanna-be,
having taken up the sport after
graduation.” Dana added that
“everyone agreed it was so much
fun to have so many Ephs in one
exotic location at the same time!”
Hugh was named president of
the Heart Rhythm Society, a
group representing physicians
and researchers from more than
70 countries who specialize in
cardiac arrhythmias.
We can count on Lisa O’Shea to
not only write, but also to find
intriguing news items about classmates. That includes a web news
video from the Baltimore Sun on
Bill Whitney, physics teacher at
Notre Dame Preparatory School
in Maryland. Applying scientific
principles from class, his students
made boats of cardboard and
duct tape, and their goal was to
paddle them across a swimming
pool without sinking (they were
successful). Sounds basic, but it
was a very impressive video!
Liz Stell and Bill Matthiesen ’70
celebrated their 25th anniversary
by hiking in the Vaucluse region
of Provençe (home of Gigondas
wines). “It was a perfect combination of roughing it on miles
of varied trails each day and fine
restaurants each night, with occasional detours for Roman ruins.
We have just finished Returning
Heroes, our sixth recording of
historic dance music. While our
band Spare Parts (www.bfv.com/
spareparts) still plays a few contra dances, most performances
are formal 19th century and early
20th century balls. Music now
takes at least half of our time
and energy, though we have kept
our day jobs in editing and video
production, respectively.”
In March, Ann McCabe was
appointed a commissioner of
the Illinois Commerce Commission. The governor commented that Ann “brings strong
leadership and a wide range of
experience to the commission. I
look forward to Ann using her
extensive expertise to make sure
Illinois consumers of all sizes
have reliable, safe and affordable
public utility services.” Ann has
an impressive résumé, and we
are very proud of her. She has
been in touch with Dorea Ferris,
now director of development at
Tampa Museum of Art. And Ann
married Bill Houston (longtime
friend and Amherst grad—despite
Stew Menking’s advice!).
With some “supportive
coaxing,” we’re getting more
classmates to come out of the
woodwork. It’s always great to
know that you’re still on this
side of the Earth’s surface. And if
you’re one who’s written recently,
your updates are still highly
valued, so keep it comin!
1980
Laura Pitts Smith
1828 Old Yellowstone Trail S.
Emigrant, MT 59027
[email protected]
I kicked off the summer in
Williamstown, watching our
son Ford ’12 graduate along
with offspring from numerous
members of our class. We stayed
with Nancy and Ronnie Hayden
and their two boys. While I did
not see her, I know Barbara von
Euler was in attendance. Her
son brought four friends home
for the night before graduation,
as they traveled south to Hilton
Head for senior week. Kirsten ’81
and Jim Levinsohn were seated in
packed bleachers, watching Eric
’12 accept his diploma. Jim had
been in Moscow, traveling on
behalf of the Jackson Institute at
Yale. Son Jonathan ’10 shared the
celebration with his brother as he
finished up his first-year exams
from Yale’s School of Medicine.
This issue welcomes Chip Oudin
and his wife Julie back from a
trip down the Rhine, discovering
castles and drinking French wine.
Chip traveled to Ghana in June
for meetings and planned to play
golf with Ed Bousa in the Alumni
Golf Tournament in July.
Cora Yang broke a 32-year
silence to report she joined
Melissa Congdon and others to
hear Susan von Moschzisker Morse
read from her book The Habit in
San Francisco. Cora recommends
it highly! Suzanne Crawford
wanted to be there, but she was
out of town. Last winter Suzanne
spent a night in NYC with
Kate McKee Weist ’81 and then
visited Kathanne Fowler’s home
in West Hartford, Conn., where
she caught up with Pratt House
roomies Lisa Tucker and Nina
Davenport. They determined age
was interfering with their former
party skills. Suzanne is working
with Top Agent Network, a real
estate-related startup, hoping to
wind up with an IPO that fares a
little better than Facebook’s.
Guido, aka Phil Adams, and
Thomas Calloway reported on the
WUFO/Kraftee Vets weekend
last spring in Williamstown. It
was the 35th gathering, and the
program continues to flourish.
Thomas and Guido each shot a
round in the 90s on the Taconic
with John Goodrich before picking
up their discs. Thomas suggests
we drag the class notes into the
21st century by creating a Twitter
hashtag or two and setting up
quarterly discussion topics for the
class to e-gather around.
Rebecca Webber is running
races and happy to have moved
into the 50-plus age category
(past those 40-plus women,
who are “killers”). She enjoys
commercial litigation and
employment law. Her older two
girls were both commencement
speakers at their graduations this
year, one heading to Bowdoin
and the other to BC. She has two
14-year-olds at home.
Toni King Callahan earned the
2012 outstanding adjunct faculty
award at the University of New
Hampshire Manchester. The
award recognizes her contributions to the college through
demonstrated teaching excellence
in a minimum of six undergraduate courses. Callahan has taught
Italian there since 2005.
Lee Szykowny is taking a break
from psychiatry and learning
more about yoga. She hopes to
integrate the two this fall and
return to some form of patient
care. Two of three kids are out
of college and finishing graduate
school, and the youngest one will
be a junior in college. Lee visited
Nancy Flaherty in Concord, Mass.,
and met Nancy’s first grandchild.
She also had dinner at the Williams/Princeton Club in NYC
with Monica Grady, Jeanne Hannigan and Anne Islan. In Williamstown, she enjoyed whole-grain
pancakes at Elizabeth and Steve
St. Clair’s, complete with their
own homemade maple syrup.
On Cape Cod, Peter Ripley and
his wife Judy purchased the primary care medical practice where
he’s been working for the past 25
years. Peter is hoping his son, premed at Northeastern, will join
him. Their youngest (of four) will
be a senior in high school and
was planning a tour of Williams.
When Peter isn’t traveling, sailing
or working, he can be found in
his garden, tending tomatoes, or
with his faithful dog Tootsie.
Laurie Mayers reports: “After
spending the last few years stress
testing and assessing overall
n 1 9 7 9 –8 0
Kathanne (Wray) Fowler ’80 (right) hosted classmates and Pratt House
roommates (from left) Lisa (Lyne) Tucker, Nina Davenport and Suzanne
(Kluss) Crawford at her West Hartford, Conn., home in January.
capital for the UK banks as
manager of the UK regulator’s
capital management team, I will
be moving in August to Moody’s
Investor Services, where I will
take up a role as associate MD
for European banking.” Laurie
ran into Dan Maynard and Kathy
Kelliher in London at an alumni
event on debt in the Eurozone.
Her middle son was to head to
RISD in September to begin a
five-year architecture program.
Hal Masters caught up with Jon
Cooperman ’82 and Ned Brown
’82 in New York for a night on
the town. He is the director of
Capital G Bank Ltd. and chairman of Capital G Investments
Ltd., both in Bermuda. His
family still owns a place in Williamstown, and they planned to
be there in August.
Over the summer Michael Battey’s family was planning to head
to the annual Canada Day box
lacrosse tournament in Calgary,
where two sons were to compete
for the second consecutive year.
They then planned to join Will
Ballew at his home in Missoula
for July 4. He says Mark Lanier is
taking his four kids to Amsterdam for a culinary experience
(unless that was a joke. I can
never tell with you, Michael).
Sally Brown had lunch with
Peter Winn and is lamenting an
injured shoulder that may prevent
her from competing in the lake.
Lore Macdonald sounds impressively positive, recuperating from
a bilateral mastectomy. Twenty
three years ago she received chemotherapy and mantle radiation
for Hodgkins lymphoma and was
warned that breast cancer was a
possibility in the future. She’s very
happy they caught it early, and her
family has been incredibly supportive. Don ’77 returned from a
two-week ophthalmology mission
in Tanzania; Donny ’04 completed
his master’s in English at BU; Ali
’06 is working for Jonathan Adler
in NYC; Meg ’00 finished her
first year of a master’s program
in mental health counseling at
Baruch; and Ian graduated from
Santa Clara University in June.
Sonia Weil’s son Gabriel
graduated from high school
in Germany. An emergency
appendectomy complicated
Gabe’s inflexible exam schedule,
necessitating a trip from the
hospital straight to his IB biology
exam. He is headed to GWU in
DC. Sonia continues to battle
an unusual disease in her hand
and will join Jill Simon Svoboda
and me in Chicago this summer
for possible surgery with lots of
moral support. Michele Corbeil
thinks she’s behind most of us,
as her daughter is just graduating from eighth grade, but Tom
Walsh is sure he has the youngest
child (31⁄2 years) in our class. Tom
is working as a financial adviser
after forsaking law. Much of his
new practice focuses on helping
families with special-needs children with planning issues.
Mark Walch has been certified as
a Mental Game Coach, merging his pursuits in athletics and
psychology. Mark enjoys working
with motivated young people and
seeing the rapid results as principles of psychology are applied to
performance. Mark talks to Tom
Seldon, who has two girls and visits the Adirondacks now and then.
The Williams-Amherst game is
viewed annually at a bar in Sante
Fe, and Mark attends faithfully.
He stays busy cycling and hiking
in the Southwest.
John Thurner reports: “My life
is now consumed by the Eastern
Massachusetts Senior Softball
league. I also play in a few tennis leagues in the Northeast. I
would love to know if any of our
classmates are involved in either
of these activities. Unlike me, no
one else seems to have tattooed
a purple cow to their foreheads.
To finance my exercise, I have
been consulting in educational
planning for technology with a
concept called Technology by
Design.” John does a lot of work
with Native Americans and claims
that multiple pipe ceremonies and
sweats have polished his Williams
education.
Bill Wickwire opened his sixth
location of Beach Cities Dermatology in Seal Beach, Calif., this
past January. He planned trips
to Italy and Hawaii in the summer. He sees Bob Safford, who
is launching Joia in the LA area.
Bob’s product was deemed “Best
Carbonated Soft Drink of 2011.”
Bill Clark had dinner with
Brian Avery and his wife Janet
in Chicago. Bill has been at the
Institute of Pastoral Studies at
Loyola University Chicago, on
leave from the College of the
Holy Cross in Mass.
Gus Nuzzolese got a surprise
visit from Mike Curran and four
of his six kids over Memorial
Day weekend. Gus’ crew is busy:
Margaret works for Boston
College; Elizabeth and Colleen
ran the LA and DC marathons;
and Patrick is heading to the
University of Dayton to study
mechanical engineering and play
Div. 1AA football.
Conrad Liles and his wife
Susan are back at the University of Washington, where the
mountains offer year-round
backcountry skiing, hiking and
mountaineering. He still holds
a part-time position at the University of Toronto and maintains
research labs on both campuses.
In May David Beardsley hosted
Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta and Secretary VA Eric
Shinseki at his command, Lovell
Federal Health Care Center.
David was officially commended
for accomplishing the first merger
of a VA and DOD health care
facility. Capt. Jim Lovell (commander of Apollo 13) stopped by
to offer his congratulations.
Eda Joyce, an exchange student
from Smith, described her junior
year at Williams as “by far my
favorite year of college.” She lives
CL ASS
NOTES
in the DC area with her husband
Tiger and two boys. The older one
will be a sophomore at Cornell,
and the younger, a freshman at
Georgetown. Both are goalies for
their schools. Eda is self employed
as a fine art appraiser and auction
consultant. She’s ready to ramp up
her business as the reality of the
empty nest looms.
Jim Holmes’ daughter enjoyed
her year as a JA at Williams
and was headed to NYC for an
internship at the International
Music Division at Sony. Son Davy
will be a freshman at Pomona,
where he plans to play baseball
and football. His football coach,
Roger Caron, is a former Williams
assistant coach, and his baseball
coach is Frank Pericoli ’97.
Steve and Erica Davidson are
bracing for the empty nest.
Their youngest, in the space of a
month, became an Eagle Scout,
got his driver’s license, turned 18
and graduated from high school.
He is headed to New Hampshire
to work as the ecology director at a Boy Scout camp. Their
daughter is studying in Australia,
dreaming of relocating there.
They spent nine years pre-kids
and won’t have long before they
rediscover what that was like.
Becky Chase wrote in: “My
husband and I are enjoying life as
empty nesters, though in reality I
have my youngest at home with
me this summer and working
alongside of me teaching tennis
at our local club. Kristen is a
junior at Bates College, and my
first Parents’ Day was more like a
Williams reunion. … Tracy BakerWhite was my freshman roommate, and her son Matt, now
a senior at Bates, and Kristen
are good buddies! Kristen is on
the Bates tennis team, and they
have been regularly dominated
by the Williams team—NCAA
champs five years running! My
son Richie is a senior at Michigan
State, where he is majoring in
biochemistry and looking to go
into the business side of things
(jobs anyone?). My stepdaughter
Genna just graduated UVM and
is starting her first year at Teach
for America, having spent six
months doing research in Alaska,
north of the Arctic Circle.”
Becky continues, “My father
Neil Chase ’52 was inducted into
the New England Tennis Hall of
Fame on June 9 for Chase Tennis
Camps in Bethlehem, N.H. Many
a Williams student spent summers teaching tennis at Chase,
Jim Parsons, Amy Demerest and
Mary (Simpson) McAuley being
several of them. My husband
Michael Waldvogel coaches Div.
I women’s lacrosse at Fairfield
University, so if any Ephs have
daughters looking to play college
lacrosse and are looking for
advice, please feel free to contact
us. I know there are some highly
athletic Eph offspring out there!
Finally, I have …stayed in close
touch with Nancy Dougherty,
Betsy McGean and Trudie Larrabee. Nancy’s son Andy (junior
at Haverford, playing tennis for
Sean Sloane, former Williams
tennis and squash coach) and
Kristen share the love of tennis
and have become good friends
over the years, to the point where
they invited one another to their
senior proms!”
I thought I would close with a
most inspirational story. Marko
Remec says he has “gone back to
my roots in studio art … full time
since 2008. Primarily conceptual
sculpture. … This past week. … I
was part of a successful group art
show at Art Greenwich, which was
held over Memorial Day weekend.
The venue was the SeaFair, a
228-foot ship with three floors of
galleries docked at the pier in the
Greenwich, Conn., harbor! I have
been asked to do a large outdoor
installation at MASS MoCA for
the summer of 2013, starting that
June. I have mockups in my studio
in Long Island City, N.Y., and
would welcome any visitors.” I
asked him how he recreated himself, and he replied, “I have always
kept up with the art world, visited
galleries and kept lots of notes on
ideas, etc. Now I have the time to
actually realize them and go out
and meet a lot more of the players.
I actually thought long and hard
about doing art out of school,
and I had one show in NYC right
after we graduated, but I was not
ready then for the starving young
artist route. I had a great 25 years
in finance, but in the end I needed
something different. In my mind,
it is less of a recreation but a going
home.”
Hope all of you are home, or
finding your way there.
1981
Alexis Yoshi Belash
1466 Canton Ave.
Milton, MA 02186
[email protected]
I am sitting in my office looking
at the Petronas Towers and the
New Palace on a beautiful Friday
afternoon. We are dressing up
the twins for one of their various
end-of-year semiformals, having
made it through the eighth grade
at the International School of
Kuala Lumpur.
It’s been quite a year for us all
adjusting to the daily heat and
lack of seasons in Malaysia. I’m
coaching rugby, and my U12
boys just ended nine months
of playing by winning their
tournament finals in front of the
home school fans in a thrilling
come-from-behind game. I am
also helping with touch rugby
and varsity girl’s soccer. (Our girls
will be freshmen on the team,
Isabel as the starting goaltender,
Ali at midfield.) My wife’s job as
a consultant for the central bank
of Malaysia has her on the road
a lot. I try to join her in the fun
spots: in the fall Nepal along with
Bali for Thanksgiving. We also
managed to get to the island of
Penang to watch the girls play
basketball. This spring found us
joining Kate snorkeling off Kota
Kinabalu in Borneo and scuba
diving off Tinggi Island in the
South China Sea.
March was a challenge: While
mountain biking in the jungle I
contracted dengue fever; after
two weeks of recovery and on the
eve of chaperoning a school ski
trip to Saas Fee Switzerland with
the girls, our house in Milton
burned to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt. We were
flying back to Boston in June
for a month of architects and
insurance adjusters. I guess we
will be building our retirement
home a few years early. We are in
Malaysia for at least another two
years, so we have some time and
a roof over our heads.
Robert Kukulka wrote from
the Etihad departure lounge at
O’Hare, where he was “waiting
to take off to Abu Dhabi, where
I will spend the next three years
working in the real estate department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. I will be joined
by my wife Sofia and 14-year-old
daughter Marcella. College kids—
Nicole at Wellesley and Lucas at
University of Denver—are eager
to spend breaks somewhere warm
vs. Chicago, where we have spent
the last 15 years. We’ve been living up on Northshore in Wilmette
and spent much time with Julia
Fiske and her husband Jim Parker
and their family. Jim and I have
been doing a ski trip to Steamboat
with our daughters while our
wives go to Florida. Other folks
we see all the time are neighbors
John and Kendra Olvany ’82, Craig
Kirby ’83 and his wife Maureen,
Jim Brault ’83 and his wife Mimi
as well as John ’79 and Katie
Palmer, who live in Winnetka. We
n 1 9 8 0 –8 1
also see Kevin Drewyer ’82 and
Jim Brault ’83, whose son is great
friends with my son. … Spent
spring break in DC and NYC,
where I caught up with old roommate Joe Cotter and his wife Liddy
for a great dinner and met up for
drinks with Keith Scott, who is
back in NYC after a few years in
San Francisco. Looking for fellow
Ephs in Abu Dhabi to watch
Williams-Amherst this fall.”
Back to Asia, Eric Widing was
promoted at Christie’s to deputy
chairman, Christie’s Americas,
and he sent me a notice of a
Christie’s Asian 20th century and
contemporary art opening featuring highlights from China, Japan,
Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. “I
will still be active in American
art while enjoying an expanded
role with other departments. I’ll
also be doing more internationally. I opened a show in Beijing
of Andrew Wyeth, which I will
take to Hong Kong. It turns out
Wyeth has a big following among
Chinese artists, and there is real
interest in his art there.” Eric still
lives in Manhattan and has a new
farm in Stahlstown, Pa.
John McCammond works with
software startups in the Boston
area on business development.
He is also on the Board of Advisors at Thompson Island Outward Bound. “My wife Linda has
been able to leverage her business
background in her work with
volunteer organizations. Our
daughter Caroline is doing well
in school and loves tennis, sailing,
field hockey, lacrosse. She’ll be
attending my alma mater, Milton
Academy, as a boarding student
in the fall and looks forward
to meeting new kids and trying
new activities such as squash and
astronomy. Finally, our black lab
Midnight continues to think he’s
a lap dog and do his best to aerate our garden.”
If you’re looking for any really
cool pieces of hand-built rustic
furniture with great history, Terry
Heneghan is your man in Idaho.
He uses hand-hewn logs and
antlers and can make just about
anything. I have seen his work
and workshop, and they are beautiful pieces. Terry reports: “As an
escape my hockey cronies and I
returned to the Senior National
Championships as the ‘Used to be
Sun Valley Suns.’ We played in the
top tier (Elite Division/ex-NHL,
Div. 1 etc.). We lost in OT and in
a shoot-out to the two teams that
played for the championship. We
had a one-goal lead halfway thru
the third—in both games! Tampa
was a pleasant respite from the
stagnant environs of the Wood
River Valley.”
Terry’s old roommate Dick
Flood reports that he is “geared
up for the big climax to the
season (in London) with the
Quins (London rugby team the
Harlequins) in the premier league
final and the all-Irish Heineken
final. Not to mention London 7s
last weekend. With no local Puck
(hockey), rugby is the next best
thing.” He planned to see David
Dewey, organizer, and WRFC legend Dave Weaver ’82, moderator,
at an Eph event on the financial
crisis in London.
Val Colville went to Williams
to attend the retirement party
of geosciences professor Markes
Johnson, her thesis adviser. She
reports: “You know you are
getting older when your thesis
advisor retires—gulp.”
Jamie Speyer sent a piece on
Andrew Julien, who was named
editor-in-chief of the Hartford
Courant, the oldest newspaper in
America. “‘Andrew is a proven
leader in the newsroom with a
unique blend of qualifications that
will only lead us to success in the
future,’ said Richard Graziano,
publisher of The Courant. …
Julien was part of the reporting
team that won the 1999 Pulitzer
Prize for breaking news for … coverage of shootings at Connecticut
Lottery headquarters. He served
as metro editor from 2006 to
2009 and has been city editor and
previously was a reporter covering
health, labor and other areas.
Caron Garcia Martinez spent a
weekend with Lesley King-Lewis
when Lesley accompanied her
mother, founding director of the
European Youth Orchestra, to
Washington in April. They met
up with Rick Stamberger for dinner, and Caron and Rick attended
the EYO concert at the Kennedy
Center the next day. Lesley is the
head of charitable giving for the
Man Group in London. Rick is
the president and CEO of SmartBrief in DC and remains very
politically active. Caron writes:
“Spring brought lots of visitors
to DC: I had dinner with Michael
Koessel, who lives in airports for
his job at Citibank. … Beth Connolly Caputi ’82 and her daughter
Maggie (Middlebury ’17) came
through town with Beth’s advising work for College Compass
and Maggie’s senior project
involving youth who are active
in politics. She interviewed some
of my students at American University as well as Mr. Stamberger
and Nancy Van Duyne ’80 to see
how they first got started being
politically minded.
“Karen and Scott Schroth
invited John and me to a
Nationals game, but since the
weather called for a 40-degree
monsoon, we opted for brunch
instead,” Caron adds. “Karen
is an elementary school special
ed teacher with Fairfax County,
and Scott continues to teach and
administrate at George Washington University Medical School.
Their son Andy graduates from
UVa this spring; daughter Kristen
graduated a few years ago from
Elon University and is now working for a pharmaceutical company
in North Carolina.”
Caron also writes that Lynn
Brandi Bunis is entering a new
phase of life as a pastor’s wife.
Lynn’s husband Al left banking
and will head up the historic
Plymouth Church in Brooklyn
Heights. Caron and Sarah Foster
Wetstone are in a book club in
the DC-Bethesda area. Sarah
visits Boston often, since her
two girls, Lisa and Katie, are
Harvard undergrads, and her
parents live in Belmont. Caron
says Sarah Behrer Schmidt spent
the year as an elementary school
reading specialist in St. Louis.
Sarah’s daughter Liza graduated
from Brown in the spring, and
son Henry ’14 is spending the fall
at Oxford. Sarah’s youngest son
Peter is a high school freshman.
“Finally,” Caron writes, John
and I took part in a stimulating
conversation about multiculturalism hosted by our regional association (thanks Drew Newman
’04!) in April at the Smithsonian
Anacostia Museum. It was a
great opportunity to reconnect
with alumni across the years and
discuss diversity at Williams, as
well as catch up with Mike Reed
’75 and Paula Moore Tabor ’76
from the college. I wrapped up
the spring semester of my fourth
year at American, and now it’s on
to my summer gig at the FDIC.
In catching up with tasks I’ve
neglected, I’m posting my photos
from last year’s reunion on our
class FB page. It amazes me how
we can have so much fun in the
soggy weather that seems to
‘bless’ us every five years.”
I don’t know when Caron
found time to win the alumni
trustee election this year (running
against my old JA Tom Gardner
’79). Congratulations! I am
counting on even more class
notes from you now!
Amanda Bayer was brief: “Jenny
Ordeman is still the funniest
person I know.”
CL ASS
NOTES
Sarah Foster Wetstone says:
“Attended my 35th high school
reunion, where I gave a little
talk about what I do for work
followed by an exhausting day
of moving our girls and all their
stuff out of dorm rooms last
weekend, looking forward to a
hiking trip in Utah.”
John Pike says: “Our older
daughter Emma is finishing her
freshman year at the University of
St. Andrews in Scotland, so Dad
(John A. Pike ’53) and I are heading over next week to pick her
up and drive down to northern
England for some hiking in the
Yorkshire Dales on the National
Trails. This is the land of James
Herriot, whose stories of being a
country veterinarian are some of
the best.”
Béa Avant/Vita Wells writes from
Berkeley, Calif.: “I have an art
exhibition up in Oakland now
and had another comprehensive
solo show in Carmel, Calif., in
January/February. Named ‘Best
Bet’ by the Monterey County
Herald newspaper, I had great
turnout for the opening and
lecture I gave in conjunction with
the show. The Oakland show has
likewise been well attended, cited
in the thick of the burgeoning
East Bay art scene, Art Murmur,
getting blogged, invited to be
included in an art book by a
respected publishing house. …
Everyone’s healthy and thriving in
school and work: three gorgeous
boys, one finishing at UC Santa
Barbara, one at American University in DC, the third headed
for Stanford in September; my
partner’s new book comes out at
the end of the month, and she’s
well into the next; in June we’ll
hike another leg of the Camino de
Compostela, 200 miles in France.
Then in the fall we are off to
India, Nepal and Bhutan for more
hiking and ‘Buddhist pilgrimage,’
in short, an amazing abundance
to be thankful for.”
Gary Cole wrote a book, Black
Box, which “probes the power
of performing art as well as the
price some pay for its pursuit.”
Final words go to Peter Barbaresi: “I am living in Newport
Beach and have been out here
since moving from St. Louis in
’92. Yes, I saw lots and lots of
Cardinals baseball and Blues
hockey games during my years
there, as well as the last home
game the football Cardinals
played before the big move to the
desert. Now I have been running
Velocity Sports Performance
for the last three years, being
brought in as the ‘turnaround
guy,’ something I have had the
pleasure/displeasure of doing for
about five different companies.
It’s been a tough environment to
turn anything around, but such is
the job at hand.
“Still traipsing around with my
three soccer-playing daughters,
who kick soccer balls around all
over the U.S. for their club teams.
It is expensive and exhausting, but I wouldn’t trade it for
anything. My eldest is heading
to Pomona College, making the
final choice over Amherst. The
good news is that we’ll get to see
her play, as it is 35 versus 2,000
miles from our doorstep. My
other two are ages 16 and 14.
Wife Kathleen still practicing law
and keeping us all in line.”
I hope everyone had an eventful
summer—and is willing to share.
Till next time…
1982
Will Layman
8507 Garfield St.
Bethesda, MD 20817
[email protected]
And, lo, it came to be that
we were old—30 years out of
college, and thus did the Great
Ephraim come to us and say,
“Returneth to the Purple Valley,
hencely and thusly, and celebrate
thy decrepitness with thy classmates as if you were 20!” So
spake-eth and proclaim-eth the
Great Ephraim.
And, so, come we did. In
droves. (And, in some cases, with
vaguely disgruntled teenaged
children, whose embarrassment
at our love for old Ramones
songs was biblically visible.) And
party-eth we did.
What did we, in the Town of
William with our long weekend,
we reunioners, in worship of
our past? The scrolls of fun and
fresh air did speak from the hills,
and they said: Walk-eth up me,
indeed, at the place known as
“Pine Cobble,” and hike-eth did
Charlie DeWolf, his wife Mary,
Will Layman, Joe Alfano, Jeff Hedlund and his devoted spouse Amy
Apperson ’80. And it was good,
and it was sweaty.
Upon placing our names into
the book of registration, we did
thusly receive gifts from the lords
of reunion, who in their planning
did place in our hands stemless
wine glasses containing various
mysterious digits: “1982,”
“1793,” “30,” and even a tiny
“3,” which baffled many of us
until we realized said “3” was
indeed a “Little 3.” Ahh.
And we came to worship
properly at the shrine of the
fuzzy yellow ball, did we as well.
Speak, Chuck Warshaver, and tell
us of the glory of the serve and
volley: “For me, getting together
with the tennis team was the
weekend highlight.” And thus
did Warshaver make a list of the
mighty tennis celebrants who
cheered his inner being, including
Steve Graham and Steve Doherty,
not to mention the excessively
youthful Marc Sopher ’83, Kelton
Burbank ’83, Greg Zaff ’84, Tom
Harrity ’84, Tim Rives ’85 and
Kevin Callignan ’87. And thus did
Warshaver’s report cease before
listing the number of these more
youthful Eph-mates who are now
bald. O, discretion.
Down from the hills of wisdom
and experience came many
members of our class—down
from clouds of brilliance to
address-eth the rabble. And, said
Jay Hellmuth, our most excellent
and most charismatic classmates
were the “best presenters each
respective day,” in speaking publicly: Eric Schmidt, most esteemed
reporter for the Times of New
York, Jay Thoman, professor of
chemistry at said Williams College, and the Hon. Mike McGinn,
mayor of the municipality of
Seattle, in the state of Washington. Glory be to our class!
And thusly did our Friday night
barbecue shine more glory upon
our enjoyment. For Seton Melvin
did wear a golden cloak upon her
arrival and, verily, did also wear
a nametag labeled “Satan.” And
there was Earth, Wind and Fire,
and it was also good.
Or maybe it was too good,
notes Mr. Hellmuth, who nominates Cathy Brooks for the Good
Sport Award “for having the
bedroom window in Perry next
to the porch where much singing
and drinking (maybe not in that
order) went on Friday night into
the next day.”
Let it be written that Saturday
was a glorious day for a parade,
and let it be written that we of
’82 did struggle to wear our
purple bandanas attractively if
occasionally tied to our upper
arms in the style of Mike Rosenfelder. And Howard Shapiro did
march and, lo, he was handsome.
Hear thee now the Saturday
morning saga of Will Layman,
who lost his wallet the night
before while chatting with
the jazz-singing daughter of
Michelle Gazzolo only to have it
magically returned mid-parade
by the graciously smiling Lee
Allison, who did, nevertheless,
n 1 9 8 1 –8 3
shy away from a hug of thanks.
Flush again with cash and ID did
Will ascend to the gymnasium
stage with a hop in his step to
receive the Thurston Bowl on
behalf of the class. Then, at Jay
Thomas’ suggestion, did he leave
the gym with said bowl only
to be tracked down by campus
security, requesting with perhaps
more than casual urgency, the
prompt return of the prize. And
the power of Ephraim is again
supreme, for he did cave in.
And verily did other classmates
(such as Lisa Quinn) go to the
Purple Pub where much beer and
sangria was consumed. And it was
delicious, and it was quenching.
And Saturday afternoon begat a
cocktail reception at the Williams
College Museum of Art, and the
reception begat a dinner outside
of Perry House, and the dinner
begat an insane party featuring
Chris “Kool Aid” Williams (guitar
and vocals) and Bill Burakoff
(drums) fronting the band “Eph
U” that played many thumping rock songs while hips were
shaken verily indeed.
And let the voice of reunion
organizer Amy Daubert ring out
from low to high, celebrating
“standing on the stage, on the
side and watching everyone
have a great time thanks to Eph
U. I had so much fun dancing
with Annie Longobardo ’14, my
son Thomas ’13 and all of their
friends. I just love my class,
reconnecting with people who
have never been back. What a
reunion they chose to attend!”
Let it be written that Annie
Neal Corkill recalls the night with
similar joy: “The most fun was
dancing to the righteous tunes
of the infamous Kool Aid and
the Gang with Cathy Brooks,
Kevin Rocap, Marlene Standish,
her husband Cesar, Jeff Morrisey
and Steve Ierardi and daughters
Gwen and Alice. Having reunion
newbies Rinda Bartley and Riika
Melartin with us this time was a
real treat, too.”
But, lo, does Mark Raffman
report that the party continued in
the Perry House “inner sanctum,
swilling dark rum at 4 a.m. with
Cathy Brooks, Kool Aid, Bill
Burakoff and Will Layman. Doing
this with friends old and new was
both fun and (at this stage and,
fortunately, I suppose) unusual.”
Breakfast the next morning featured donuts and cold pizza, no
joke. And so it was written and
shall be remembered as we all left
town. Whew … and happiness.
Will there be smiting and
hails of pestilence for those who
missed the reunion? No, for
Ephraim is merciful.
For example, though Steve
Graham missed most of the event
for the tennis reunion, he is
verily and truly blessed because
his “daughter Kerstin ’15 was a
freshman last year, and she loves
Williams. And my latest news is
that after a 25-plus year hiatus,
I came out of retirement from
breaking last year, basically to get
my little kids into it.” If you have
not seen this, then Ephraim commands that you search “Silverback” (Steve’s BBoy nickname)
and “breakdancing” on YouTube
and prepare for some serious
popping and locking.
Will Foster, though absent from
dancing activities, doth report
“a new job at Georgia Tech in
Atlanta,” and Marian Hewitt,
despite full indulgence at the
reunion, reports “planning a trip
to Colorado with a swing down
to Santa Fe,for two weeks at the
end of August. I am not sure how
many years of camping and openfire cooking are left in me, but I
suppose I will have a better idea
after the trip.”
And so it is The Word and so it
is written, which is why we also
excuse the absence of novelist
Alyson Hagy, who has been traveling in support of a new book
and who writes: “I’m sorry I
missed the gig. Though Joe Alfano
thoughtfully bought me a terrific
WC shirt. My early summer
has been happily taken up with
events linked to the publication
of Boleto. Now it’s almost time
to go back to what seems to suit
me most: scribbling new stuff,
fishing and playing tennis.”
With those words the sun sets
on our reunion recounting, a
purple patch, indeed, of friendship and enjoyment. So says
Ephraim but more importantly
so say the many of us who keep
connecting through this piece
of the past made present by our
continued friendship and spirit.
That is the word, my friends,
and I hope to see you all in five
years—and every few months in
this column.
1983
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Bea Fuller
404 Old Country Road
Severna Park, MD 21146
[email protected]
For this column I asked for
favorite summer traditions and
news. Favorite summer traditions
for my boys and me include our
annual week at the shore with my
sisters Kenwyn Kindfuller ’82 and
Alison Fuller ’85, sometimes my
brothers Vince and Tony Fuller ’89,
my mom, and 14 rascals from the
next generation (11 boys!). Love
the morning runs, family meals,
lemonade stand, mini golf, lax
and football, boogie boarding, jellyfish dodging… As the first of the
14 heads off to college this fall, we
fear that the tradition may fade. In
what could become a summer tradition: Ann Dietrich writes: “Bruce
and I are leaving our kids at camp
in Canada in early July to spend
time with cousins at a lovely place
called Paradise Lake, a few kilometers from where my husband
grew up. We’ll enjoy some time
visiting the various beaches and
seeing relatives. Afterward, it’s
more time at another lake further
north with uncles, aunts and more
cousins. My days will soon be
filled with sleeping bags, sunscreen
and s’mores.” Thalia Meehan:
“My summer traditions include a
week on Block Island and a night
at Fenway with the Boston alumni
group. All in all, no complaints
other than ‘euro zone/fiscal cliff
fatigue.’ Playing a lot of golf in
an attempt to keep my sanity. Am
heading to play Taconic for the
first time since its makeover (so I
think it’s been almost four years).
Our household is up to three
golden retrievers (two 12-year-old
siblings and a 9-month-old male
who is the great-great-nephew
of the other two).” Elizabeth
Nielsen’s “favorite summer tradition is the churning of homemade
ice cream. We received a hand
crank ice cream churn from my
brother-in-law for a wedding gift
almost 27 years ago and now we
use it several times a year when
we have friends over. It never fails
to draw people together as they
crank and to elicit memories from
the older guests and questions
from the younger ones.”
Steve Flaim shares, “Kathleen and I are now up to seven
children since adopting Giselle
from China last year. Ages range
from 4 to 22. Positive news
for cash flow—my two oldest
graduated from college within
a week of one another, Chelsea
from Siena and Chris from
Binghamton. However, that does
put some stress on the domestic
infrastructure since they are now
back home looking for jobs.
Where’s the quantitative easing
when you need it? … If anyone
has an offspring who’s interested
in IT project management or
CL ASS
NOTES
consulting have them drop me a
line. Happy to try and help ease
the transition to the real world!”
Anna (Simas) Cristofaro writes,
“I expect I’m not the only one
out there who delayed parenthood until the 11th hour, who’s
wondering if it’s a good idea to
attend out 30th reunion next
year with a toddler in tow. Daniel Jacob will be 2 this July, so by
the time reunion comes along,
I’m hoping he will be completely
potty trained. Are there any
other late blooming parents out
there?”
Sarah Smith Thomas: “We are
watching graduations all around
us, and it feels odd to not have
kids in high school anymore.
After four months of empty nest,
the nest is full again, at least
for the summer. Both kids were
overseas this year, and we visited
one. We had a great bike trip in
Andalucia and met up with Robbie in Barcelona. Work at NCQA
continues to be interesting and
gives me a chance to travel some
but not too much.”
Marianne O’Connor “reconnected with Kimberly Kirkland a
few months ago while she was
in the San Francisco area doing
research interviews. “We had a
great time catching up on life,
though I think we both wondered
how almost 30 years could have
passed so quickly. Life as a law
professor at UNH certainly seems
to agree with her; I guess the
apple doesn’t fall far from the
tree! I also had a nice long Skype
with Sandra Becket in June. She’s
working way too many hours as
a homeopathic doctor in Geneva
and is doing some amazing things
in the area of autism, but despite
her year-plus waiting list for new
patients, she gave me a good
chunk of her evening! I’m still
working hard in Silicon Valley
helping tech companies get more
visibility, but I also have family
vacations planned to Vancouver
Island, Montreal and Boston.”
Karen MacAulay: “My husband
surprised me by asking me to
go out to Cambridge to hear a
band his colleague plays in—on
a Wednesday night! We made it
until 10:30 and really enjoyed
ourselves! In April I got together
with former roommates Carol
Derby and Kim McCarthy McEntee
at Kim’s home in Duxbury, Mass.
We talked, went out to dinner,
talked, drank wine, talked, did
yoga, talked and enjoyed a great
walk on Duxbury Beach on a
warm, sunny Sunday. Kim is
still as funny, thoughtful and
upbeat as ever. Her 10-year-old
1983 classmates (from left) Donna Wharton-Fields, Jane Parker
Cheremeteff and Kathy Pope visited New York City’s Central Park in April.
son commands a crowd with
his jokes and card tricks. Her
12-year-old daughter is a star
basketball and soccer player who
is as understated as her mom is
over-the-top. Carol lives in NYC
and is enjoying her summer with
her daughter before UCLA in
the fall. My younger daughter
will join her older sister in high
school in September. They are
as different as could be: a ballet
dancer and a soccer/hockey
player. After all these years, Kim,
Carol and I marvel and appreciate how we can get together
and just relax. Our lives are full,
busy and thriving and far from
perfect, but we all feel blessed
and content—most days!”
Lis Bischoff-Ormsbee writes:
“Mike Ormsbee ’13 and I drove
to Williamstown for a visit
with my sister Melanie and
my parents, Marigold and Bob
Bischoff ’52, who were there
celebrating Dad’s 60th reunion.
It was great fun! We got to see
Amy Withington’s ’83 parents and
Margie Duffield’s ’85 parents.
We sat at the kids’ table with the
Duffields and the Slocums. Great
dinner with ’52! I also saw Bruce
Goff and Mark Sopher in Goff’s.
I’m really looking forward to our
30th reunion.”
Marc Sopher writes from the
’80s tennis team reunion: “The
first ball struck in regulation
play was an ace. Yes, Steve
“Dots” Doherty ’82, without a
single warm-up serve (FBI rules
in force, of course, for the over
50s), served wide, an untouchable ball that Chuck Warshaver
’82 could only wave at. Little did
we know that Dots, with only
a single fourth doubles match
in his Williams tennis career,
was using the tennis reunion a
as warm-up for bigger things,
Senior 8.0 Mixed Doubles. While
it would seem obvious that Dots
would also garner the award for
Most Improved, he shared that
honor with Kelton Burbank ’83.
Kelt brought a new weapon, an
impressive topspin backhand.
Tom Harrity ’84 easily outpaced
the field, claiming Most Tenacious honors. By unanimous
decision, it was agreed that the
best doubles team was Tom and
Anybody. True to form, despite
not playing tennis the past year
and arriving without a racquet,
Greg Zaff ’84 joined the play, his
hands not letting him down. Tim
Rives ’85 and Kevin Callanan ’87
simply epitomized tennis grace,
striking the ball with the same
beautiful form as three decades
ago. Tim had no competition in
the Most Sensible division, for
liberally applying sunscreen and
adjusting his classic purple cow
chapeau. Steve “Crack” Graham
’82 took both the coveted Best
Dressed and Most Outstanding Carpooler. Chuck recovered
quickly from being aced by Dots,
laying claim to Best Commentator, Tennis And Life Division,
telling story after story throughout the weekend, reminding us
why we are brothers still. An
evening at the Purple Pub capped
a perfect day. Joining the festivities was Jamie King ’84, who won
the Most Dedicated award,
zooming up the Taconic Parkway
following his daughter’s high
school graduation earlier that
afternoon.”
John McClellan writes, “Liz
Martineau ’82 and I were proud
to see our oldest daughter Jane
graduate from Williams on June
n 1 9 8 3 –8 4
3. The previous weekend, we saw
her and her Williams teammates
win their seventh consecutive Div.
III national rowing championship, and Jane was named a
first team All-American. I …
competed at the New England
masters swimming championships, where I caught up with
Mike Regan ’82. Competing in
the 50-54 age group, I won the
500- and 1,000-yard freestyles
(because all the good swimmers
were doing sprints), and picked
up a fourth and fifth in the 100
and 200 free. Mike won the 100
free and brought home a lot more
medals in other sprint events.
Because there are some really
strong 49-year-old swimmers
who age up this season, I might
retire and launch a comeback
when I turn 55.”
Kathy (Reynolds) Perry attended
the Williams Women’s Rugby
Football Club’s 35th reunion in
April. “I was delighted to meet
Barbara Good ’82 and several from
the classes of ’83 and ’84. We
shared some good true confession
stories at a wonderful Mexican
restaurant at the old Captain’s
Table. I witnessed poetry-inmotion passing by the alumni
team front line. Beautiful. The
alums (aka “old bagges”) won,
although it turns out no one was
really keeping score. Cookout,
keg, visit from security, interesting
contortionist drinking games—all
good. I may show for the next
reunion in five years, although my
chances of actually playing are
even less than they were this year!
Many thanks to Xio Pinto ’12 for
organizing the events!”
Dan Maynard writes, “Colin
Moseley, Mike Brownrigg, David
Park and I are in final discussions
surrounding the ‘Mother of all
Fishing Trips.’ Have narrowed
our assault down to Argentina,
Montana, Quebec and British
Columbia. Mike, David and I
met for a strategy session at the
clandestine House of Nanking
in San Francisco. We were
intrigued at Dr. Park’s presence
in San Francisco until we finally
extracted from him the little
tidbit … he was there to receive
from the American Thoracic
Society the Outstanding Educator
Award, which recognizes lifetime
contributions in education
and mentoring in the fields of
pulmonary, critical care or sleep
medicine. This award honors
excellence in clinical or research
education as it relates to pulmonary disease. (Dave is associate
professor of medicine at Harborview, where he directs respiratory
care, pulmonary diagnostics and
bronchoscopy services, among
numerous other responsibilities.
He is associate program director
of the Pulmonary and Critical
Care Medicine Fellowship Program and chairs the Washington
State Tuberculosis Advisory
Council. He teaches at all levels
in the School of Medicine, directs
courses and workshops and mentors trainees. He has given more
than 75 international, national
and local educational presentations. Dr. Park investigates lung
infection, lung host defenses,
and issues of clinical training
in pulmonary and critical care
medicine.) How about that for
a pretty big deal! Back to more
important matters, our session
at the House of Nanking was
followed by another summit in
Seattle where Colin, David and I
continued planning for the fishing
trip with debates on cigar brands
and wine grapes.”
Glenn Kessler, supervisory
climbing ranger on Mount Rainier, traveled to DC to receive the
Department of Interior’s Valor
Award, presented by Secretary of
the Interior Salazar in recognition
of the actions taken in rescues
on Ingraham Glacier on June 6,
2002. Contact me for a copy of
the National Park Service citation, which concludes: “For their
extraordinary courage and heroic
efforts, under extreme environmental and physically challenging
conditions, to rescue and save the
lives of the three injured climbers,
and to attempt to find and rescue
the two missing climbers on
Mount Rainier on June 6, 2002,
Paul Charlton and Glenn Kessler
are awarded the Valor Award for
the Department of the Interior.”
Hope everyone from the Class
of ’83 has had a great summer.
Start making your plans to attend
reunion next June—less than a
year away.
1984
Sean M. Crotty
31 Carriage House Lane
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Carrie Bradley Neves
1009 County Route 3
Halcott Center, NY 12430
[email protected]
Hello again, fellow ’84ers, and
happy fall. Lots of great entries
again—thank you!—so had
to cut to fit. Sorry! It’s hard to
believe we are all staring down
the barrel of a half-century of
living. My shout out for reflections therein was answered with a
characteristic 1984 combination
of creativity, affinity for symbol
and ceremony, and some superfun-sounding parties. This is the
age of gratitude: to have made it
this far; to have lived fully and
been lucky enough to have some
very special experiences; to have
love, family and friendship; and
to still be growing and dreaming
of adventures ahead.
Lyn Betz wrote of an impressive
birthday gathering: “Together in
Williamstown: Suzie Dingwall,
chief organizer; myself; Laura
Boothman Stamm; Dave Parker;
John Springer; Alycia Peloso Crane;
Richard Dodds; Dan Aramini; and
honorary ’84 members Raf Francis (’83 by the college records)
and his wife Nancy Aramini
Francis. We prowled Spring
Street, drove up Mount Greylock
and told stories of past and
present late into the night. Bob
Hollister joined us on FaceTime
via his new home in Naples, Fla.,
and Jeff Sultar made a telephone
appearance, so we were able to
celebrate his new contract with a
synagogue in New Jersey. Alycia
is studying to be a school guidance counselor, Laura is working
toward her helicopter pilot’s
license, and John got a toast for
being dad to 2- and 4-year-old
sons. I am spending my summer
as a chaplain intern at Dartmouth
Hitchcock Medical Center.”
Suzie Dingwall Williams corroborated, “I wish I could describe
the sense of occasion; these folks
are my people, who lived the dayto-day life of Mission Park with
me. We sat around a dinner table
for hours on Saturday nights, taking turns saluting each other.”
From another critical mass,
Dianne Jewell wrote, “Catriona
Galloway Keller, Sara Griffiths
and I spent a lovely weekend in
NYC celebrating the milestone
birthday. Caught up with Dorothy
Briggs Brill for dinner on Friday
night and Julia Foulkes ’86 for
brunch on Saturday morning.
Spent the rest of our reunion
walking up and down Manhattan, touring the Met and Tenement museums and taking in the
play War Horse [with musical
direction by Greg Pliska]. Weather
was perfect, adult beverages
were plentiful, and laughter was
constant!”
Dorothy Briggs Brill was busy
among the Manhattan 50ers.
“A surprise birthday party was
successfully pulled off for Val
Difebo by her sisters. The special
occasion attracted all seven of
CL ASS
NOTES
Val’s senior-year Seeley House
mates: Kathy Spraitz (Minnesota),
Melissa George Iserloth (Chicago), Jamie Tarses ’85 (LA), Amy
Connelly Doherty (Aspen), Susan
Martin Mitchell (Va.), and Laura
Spearman Watt and me (Conn.).
And there were many others—
I’m sure I’ll miss someone, but
here are a few I remember: Pam
(Briggs) Besnard (Williamstown/
NYC), Chris Harrington (Katonah, N.Y.), Cesar Alvarez (LA)
and Bill Pelosky (Boston). I’m
still working hard as head of HR
at Silver Point and finding that
motherhood for 11- and 14-yearolds is more demanding than it
was when they were little!”
From Navjeet Bal: “For the
many people turning 50 in our
class this year, a group of us got
together in Boston to celebrate in
mid-June. Peg Stevenson and her
partner Karen Topakian flew in
from San Francisco; Katya Hokanson flew in from Eugene, Ore.,
where she is a professor of Russian literature at the University
of Oregon; and Peyton (Curlee)
Griffin flew in from Sisters, Ore.
Joining the festivities from Boston
and surrounding areas were
Betsy Anderson and her husband
Mickey Zibello, Nica Faulkner,
Leila O’Connell, Anne Jochnick,
Dana Williams Fulham, Maureen
Kane, Amanda Clarke Shipley,
Matt Kennedy, and my husband
Eric Fernald ’83 and I. There was
a lot of laughter, catching up and
rediscovering what made going
to Williams so much fun: hanging
out with good friends!”
I had the kind of chance
encounter a secretary loves: longlost John Leahy out for breakfast
in a remote spot in the Catskill
Mountains. He and his wife
Aditi “are living in Manhattan,
where we are both teaching economics at NYU. From our living
room, we have watched dance
classes at the Tisch School of the
Arts across the street and the
weekly marches of the Occupy
protesters in the street below.
Our twins Ishan and Ananya are
now 51⁄2 and just finishing up
kindergarten at PS 41 in the West
Village. I sometimes see Matt
Widman at pickup and drop-off. I
try to keep in touch with Lee Link
(Seattle), Tim Sedlock (Pownal)
and Jack McGonagle (New York),
but I do not see them as much
as I would like. One reason is
… for the past few years, I have
been teaching a course at NYU’s
campus in Abu Dhabi. As I
write, I am in Hyderabad, India,
teaching a course at the Indian
School of Business.”
During a Williamstown weekend in June organized by Suzie Dingwall
Williams ’84 (standing, at right), classmates—along with Raf Francis ’83
(in the water)—gathered to celebrate turning 50.
Kate O’Hanlon celebrated the
big 5-0 abroad: “We flew from
Toronto to Paris via Iceland and
had a whirlwind 24 hours on
tour bus, metro and foot. Took a
night train to Venice and stayed
for three days of crazy streets and
canals; then by train via Bologna
(just missed the earthquake) to
Bari for the overnight ferry to
Dubrovnik. There we stayed on
the luxurious island of Kolocep
and relaxed. Then a 15-hour
odyssey of ferry, bus and taxi
to Kosovo to see my husband’s
people. On to London by late
flight to experience the horror
of Gatwick at 1 a.m; a day in
London but did not manage
to catch Jean (Loew) Hennessy,
alas. On to Iceland for the Blue
Lagoon, geysers and Gullfoss
waterfall before heading home
on a packed plane—to face the
reality of a late shift today.”
Ben Bahn writes: “Got divorced
last year—a good thing. My
daughter has finished her junior
year at William & Mary, on
track for med school. After a few
years in banking, during which I
got to watch the mortgage meltdown up close and personal, I
am working as a business analyst
at the Blue Cross Trade association. It’s not a bad gig; beats the
hell out of finance. I joined a few
of our other classmates at Collin
Harris’ 50th b-day party, along
with Heidi Coggeshall, Lee Ordeman, Brent Butler and Wendell
Miles ’86. Collin roasted a pig,
and we had a good time toasting
him, reciting various stories and
of course eating.”
Maggie Winslow wrote: “I am
starting a new faculty job in the
fall in the master’s of science
in environmental management
program at the University of
San Francisco. I was at Presidio
Graduate School for nine years
and am looking forward to doing
something a bit different.” Her
kids range in age from 12 to 41⁄2
years old.
Ned Buttner, writing from a
break abroad from his post as
physician scientist at McLean
Hospital, is a parent of three:
“Edgar will be in first grade this
fall. Grette is 3. Mika is 1 and just
starting to talk. We are taking our
summer vacation in Stockholm.
Wouldn’t want to live here in the
winter, but the summertime is
beautiful. This city was spared
WWII, and there are a ton of
older buildings and museums.”
Class agent Suzy Akin writes:
“One of the great discoveries
I’ve made in recent years is that a
number of my favorite colleagues
are all also members of the Class
of ’84. (One of them is Julie Lillis,
whose daughter Carolyn graduated high school as a classmate
of my son Conor in June.) They
are such a smart, cool group of
people, and we have been making
turning 50 together quite a celebration. I read that an authority
on generations and social change
identified college freshman in the
fall of 1980 as the last group to
firmly embrace the idea that ‘the
most important goal in life is
developing a meaningful philosophy of life.’ Those who followed
tipped toward prioritizing ‘being
financially well off.’ That makes
us interesting—broke, perhaps,
but interesting. Thanks to everyone who helped us meet (and
surpass) our participation goals.”
Ted Leon wrote: “Yep, turning
n 1984
The 50th birthday of Collin Harris ’84 (seated) brought together (from
left) classmates Heidi Coggeshall, Lee Ordrman, Ben Bahn and Brent
Butler and Wendell Miles ’86 for a pig roast and party in Washington, D.C.
50 later this month, so I did a
rigor mortis check up on my
body by competing in the Hawaii
70.3 Ironman event on Big
Island. The only hard part was
the swim, bike and run. But I
finished the race, so it appears
that I am not dead yet!”
Dina Zeckhausen shares: “I wrote
a musical that was performed at
the Alliance Theater in Atlanta
last week. It’s called What’s Eating
Katie?, a show about a girl who
struggles with an eating disorder,
designed for teens to perform
for their peers. As a psychologist
specializing in eating disorders, I
wanted to find an effective, teenfriendly way for schools to address
this sensitive topic. The script is
available for schools, so we can
spread awareness and information
in a forum that is both powerful
and funny.”
My old Lehman entrymate
Bronwen (Browne) Loeb mused:
“I don’t have much to report,
except for the perpetual surprise
I feel when I realize I’m 50. How
could that have happened? My
husband and I have lived in Philadelphia for almost eight years. I
have done some Williams-related
activities. Most recently, Polly Bell
Alden ’85 organized a wonderful
tour of the Van Gogh exhibit at
the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
I am in relatively frequent contact
with Christine Young, who is
doing well in England and, unfortunately, less frequent contact
with friends from Lehman Hall
and Fitch-Currier. My husband
works as a special assistant at the
Pentagon, so I don’t get much
contact with him either. Is this
really how 50 is supposed to be—
separated from friends and loved
ones while working feverishly at
a law firm?”
My co-secretary Sean Crotty
had big news: “The company I’ve
been flying with for the past six
years filed bankruptcy at halftime
of the Super Bowl back in January. I got lucky enough to find a
B747-400 captain job with Air
Atlanta Icelandic. I’m presently
hip-deep into my simulator training and hopefully will be headed
down to Jeddah in the next 10
days for my line checks. Flying
the 747 has been a joy, and
taking over as captain in such a
huge and historic aircraft is the
culmination of a very rewarding
flying career.”
Matthew F. Kadish sent news for
the first time in a while. “My wife
Barb and I are enjoying watching our two children Melissa
and Zach grow into fine young
people. From July 7-14, the kids
will be joining me for the annual
People International Inc. meeting.
This will be my 33rd year. … I’m
continuing to enjoy law, about 12
years after returning to Cleveland
to practice with my father Steve
Kadish ’60. Facebook has been a
great way to keep in touch with
classmates, including Andrew
Laitman, Jeff McIntosh, Jamie
Crist ’83 and many others. I’ve
also been bumped up to CEO
of the Small Business Council of
America (we lobby Congress and
work with federal agencies on
behalf of small businesses).”
I got a note from Paul Peppis
and Libby Wadsworth: “Our
son Cole just graduated from
high school in Eugene, Ore.; a
musician, he will be attending
Oberlin in the fall. Our daughter
Tess, 15, a young soccer star,
participated for the third year
in a row in the Oregon Olympic
Development program. Libby
continues to manage to be both
a great mom and an accomplished artist. She regularly
shows her artwork at the Zolla
Lieberman Gallery in Chicago
and the Liz Leach Gallery in
Portland, Ore.; a number of her
most recent pieces will be on
show at Art Basel Miami Beach.
Paul is still an associate professor
of English at the University of
Oregon, where he was honored
this spring with the university’s
highest teaching award.”
From Donna Ching: “I’d be
remiss if I didn’t begin with a
huge ‘Mahalo!’ to everyone for
putting up with my pleas during
the Alumni Fund. We set new
highs for dollar and participation
marks, got our challenge matches
and smoked! Memorial Day
weekend was my 50th birthday
party (Funny, exact same moment
Donna’s Morgan Hall fellow Lucy
Corrigan and I were toasting our
50s here in the Catskills —ED)
and the 24th annual Memorial Day Observance at the War
Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki.
I am so grateful to Society of
Alumni President Dennis O’Shea
’77 for his help with the cause.
My niece Emma Benjamin ’15
helped out by singing an incredible a cappella version of the
National Anthem. Next up on
my agenda is Ted Leon’s 50th
birthday party at his new house in
Manoa Valley. Rick Goldstein will
be here with his daughters in July
for their first visit in several years.
Other people (you know who you
are, Sean Crotty) keep threatening
to show up for a visit. Come on
people, we’re turning 50, Hawaii
is paradise, what else do you need
to know to come out here?”
I have to venture, Christine
Harrington wins the happysurprise contest for 50: “Yes,
a baby! … Daniel is now 7
months old and just a delight.
He’s keeping Todd and me
joyful, exhausted and—hopefully as time passes—youthful!
Daniel’s many Williams ‘aunts’
and ‘uncles’ have been generous
with time, stuff and advice. Diane
and Andreas Halvorsen hosted a
wonderful shower for us last fall,
attended by Anne (L’Hommedieu)
Sanderson, Lauren (Ribaudo) Irvin,
John Skavlem, Nick Nocca, Sarah
Mack, Matt Widman, Alison Earle,
Mariet Westermann and Pam
(Briggs) Besnard. Amy Elsbree and
Andree Corroon made the trek to
Mount Kisco to meet Daniel after
he was born, and we’ve received
CL ASS
NOTES
wonderful notes and gifts from
many others, including toddler
parent Tim Murray, Kathy Spraitz,
Virginia Rutter, Bill Harrison, Martha Jannotta and Rick Stamberger
’81. Wish I could write more but
I’ve gotta run and deal with a
pre-nap meltdown!”
Cue for my nap, too. —What?
I’m 50! Cheers, Carrie.
1985
Wendy Webster Coakley
271 Pittsfield Road
Lenox, MA 01240
[email protected]
Cheers to first-time correspondents Allison Fuller, Peter
Dombrowki, Ken Irvine and John
Pier! Allison hosted Mace FoehlHemphill and son Cooper as they
passed through D.C. on their way
south with the Northfield Mount
Hermon boys golf team, which
Mace coaches. Teenage Cooper
was a hit with Allison’s three
sons, “especially young Nico,
who got a trip to the National
Zoo out of the visit, with Cooper
carrying him on his back the
entire time!” Bethesda neighbor
Kurt Rumsfeld, wife Margo and
kids Ben and Kira also dropped
by to catch up with Mace.
Pete replied to my news plea
from Chapin Hall, where he and
his daughter were attending a
program for accepted students.
The upshot: Johanna Dombrowski
’16 is matriculating. “If all goes
well she will play basketball
for the Ephs, thereby betraying her father’s hockey playing
roots,” Pete wrote, adding, “I am
pleased, of course, but you may
expect a rash of bank robberies.
The prospect of paying the bill is
daunting, to say the least.”
This from Ken: “After 27 years
of neglecting to respond to all
entreaties from class secretaries, I
am finally motivated to respond
and share some good news. Our
eldest son, Spencer Irvine ’16, is
going to Williams! I’m looking
forward to making more frequent
trips to the Purple Valley.”
Likewise from John: “Although
I have been on campus only a few
times since graduation, I will be a
more frequent visitor. My daughter Sarah Pier will be joining the
Class of 2016.”
Other class kids heading to
college this fall include Batesbound James Wyatt, son of Emmy
Olmsted Wyatt and Ken Wyatt ’84;
Chris Varrone’s daughter Emilia,
matriculating at Oberlin; and Tory
Mayher, daughter of Cacky Caan
Mayher and Jack Mayher ’86, going
to Trinity, where Scott Smedley is
on the biology faculty. Congrats
to all hard-working students and
their shell-shocked parents.
Lisa Celona will be visiting son
Michael, a Boston University
junior, during his study-abroad
year in London. A tenured professor at Tunxis Community College
in Farmington, Conn., she teaches
Spanish in both traditional and
online classes and also tutors at
Cheshire Academy, Choate and
Miss Porter’s School. Anne Melvin’s bicycling saga from the previous class notes encouraged Lisa to
share her own two-wheeling tale:
“I was motivated to bike more
after learning at my annual physical that I might need medicine for
high blood pressure. My boyfriend
had joined a cycling club, and we
sometimes rode together. Finding
it easier to keep up and talk if
we’re both on the same bike, I
decided to surprise him with a
tandem. He was a good sport, and
it’s pretty much all we’ve ridden!”
The couple has done rides and rallies up and down the East Coast.
“Our new hobby has been really
fun, great exercise—I never ended
up needing any blood pressure
meds—and a good way to meet
new people,” Lisa said.
Paul Toland offered some
healthy living advice: “After
months of following the ‘digital’
Ken Hillman on Facebook, I
enjoyed meeting up with the real,
‘analog’ Ken Hillman in Durham,
N.C. Ken was in town for a trade
show, spreading the word about
the benefits of his gluten-free
foodstuffs. Ken lives in Cary, Ill.,
and I live in Cary, N.C. We compared notes about our respective
middle-age dings and dents: sore
hip for Ken and bum ticker for
me. Spending time with Ken lets
you do the three things that every
Eph should do more often: think
about stuff, learn about stuff and
laugh about stuff.”
Peter Burghardt clearly follows
Paul’s think/learn/laugh mantra.
Last time we heard from him, he
was learning to ride a unicycle.
This time he wrote, “In another
attempt to keep my aging brain
from rusting, I’ve been trying to
teach myself to play a musical
instrument, something I never
succeeded at when I was younger.
My progress on bass guitar has
been glacial, but I have been to a
couple of open jams and had the
fun of playing with a group for
the first time in my life.”
Peter also learned to ride a
motorcycle. “Been thinking about
it since high school. Took the
class, got the license, bought a
small, used bike, rode it for a few
months and sold it. It was fun on
the back roads, but I often felt
vulnerable in traffic. I know: guitar + motorcycle + graying hair =
midlife crisis. I don’t think so, but
I am conscious of time passing,
and there are a lot of things I’d
still like to try.”
Polly Gottesman is a pioneer
in the Community Supported
Agriculture movement. Polly and
husband James Just have run
Pumpkin Ridge Gardens outside
of Portland, Ore., since 1989.
Over 23 years, their clientele
has grown from four families
to 175. Thanks to sharp-eyed
Susan Rosenzweig, who spotted
an article about Polly in The
Oregonian.
Susan and her engineer husband
Isaac Simkin traveled to Salt Lake
City for the opening of a multitower project he worked on for
four years. With daughter Alanna,
they checked out Salt Lake City’s
natural history museum, where
Linda Aaron Gillis oversees youth
education. “It’s a very cool
museum, architecturally as well
as content,” Susan reported. “If
Linda had any hand in designing
the exhibits, she did an awesome
job. They were very engaging.”
Susan’s daughter is enrolled in a
Portland public school Mandarin
immersion program funded by a
Department of Defense grant for
strategic languages. “It’s pretty
amazing to see how far she’s come
after just one year of kindergarten,” Susan noted. “She reads,
writes and sings in Mandarin, and
also learns math in Mandarin. So
far, she can read and write more
than 50 characters.”
Ben Olshin is being tutored in
Mandarin as well—by his bilingual 6-year-old daughter! The
Olshins returned to Philadelphia
after a year in Taiwan, where,
Ben reports, “I continue to work
in a wide variety of fields, managing to survive in this strange
new economy of ours: I am a
professor of philosophy, history
of science and design at a modest
university in Philadelphia; writing a weekly column on politics
and culture for a national blog
(thanks to Kurt Rumsfeld); serving
as a management consultant in
the area of cross-cultural communications; and doing freelance
design work. I’ve traveled to
Ghana, Canada, Portugal, Egypt
and elsewhere, giving conference
talks on everything from cultural
studies to sustainable business.
When not running around like a
mad man, I am quite content at
home with my lovely wife and
n 1 9 8 4 –8 5
daughter.” Ben also stays in touch
with Elizabeth Dear, Peter Van
Walsum and Jim Foley ’84.
Karla Miller left her Colorado
teaching career to move back to
her hometown of McCall, Idaho,
where she grows 13 varieties
of organic potatoes during the
two months of summer there.
In the winter, Karla noted, “I’m
on the ski patrol, play hockey,
teach yoga, substitute in the
schools and, in general, volunteer
to make the world better. I’ve
decided to run for the State
Legislature, which, as a woman
and a Democrat, is a steep, uphill
climb. Luckily I used to ski on the
Nordic team at Williams, so I like
that sort of thing! Our legislature
is 75 percent male, one-third
Mormon and, well, very conservative. Many of my constituents
hate wolves, taxes and women
who step out of line. My district
is larger than Massachusetts, with
a wilderness area in the middle
of it—no multistory buildings or
freeways, but lots of dirt roads
and people for me to meet.”
From Birmingham, England,
Clark Baim wrote, “I celebrated
25 years of living in the U.K.
by co-authoring another book,
Attachment-Based Practice with
Adults: Understanding Strategies and Promoting Positive
Change. It’s already opened doors
around Europe and in Australia for opportunities to deliver
training and keynote speeches.
It’s popular with social workers
and psychotherapists, for whom
attachment theory is an underpinning theory.” Clark scored points
with his 13-year-old daughter by
landing equestrian event tickets
to the London Olympics.
Mike Hennigan wrote in from
Panama City Beach, Fla., where
he serves as medical director of
a Healthsouth Rehabilitation
Hospital. “We were ranked the
number-one hospital in the country in 2011,” said Mike, who has
been named Medical Director of
the Year three times. “I follow
about 60 patients at any given
time. It’s a busy life, and I don’t
play too much golf these days,”
which must be a tough trade-off
for the former All-American, living in Florida, no less.
Allison Martin Mertens is the
new director of business services
at a fast-growing media-buying
company in Greenville, S.C.:
“It’s run by two 50-year-old guys
trying to manage 50 women
between the ages of 22 and 32.
They are like deer in headlights
and, for some reason, they think
I can help them herd the cats. It’s
more like making sure that everyone plays in the sandbox together
and we get the sand castle built.”
Paul Bierman continues to be
a walking advertisement for a
geology career: This past year,
his job at the University of Vermont took him to South Africa,
Iceland, Scotland, Greenland
and Australia! He’s also been
putting the finishing touches on
a geology textbook. “In between
it all I tried to ski this winter, but
that wasn’t easy,” Paul reported,
“although I did get to spend
a couple days on snow with
Williams geology Prof. David
Dethier. I’ve also had James
McCarthy ’11 working with me
at UVM in the lab, which has
been great.”
Anne Melvin reports that Shaela
Cahill Saxon took a dramatic
professional turn five years ago,
when she left marketing for
culinary school, studying French
pastry arts. After graduating,
she landed her dream job at a
restaurant on Long Island, where
she had the opportunity to work
with Claudia Fleming, a major
force in the pastry world. While
this was great for her new career,
it meant she had to live away
from home and husband during
her work week, which led to the
difficult decision to move on after
three-and-a-half fulfilling years.
“It’s official: I’m addicted to
plein air painting,” states West
Virginia-based artist Leslie Ganyard Nutting. “My truck is loaded
with gear so I’m ready to paint
anything, anytime, anywhere.
Every day is perfect for painting,
no matter what the weather.
That’s when you know you have
a plein air painting problem!”
Check out her local Appalachian
landscapes, as well as works from
her travels to Arizona, California,
Colorado, New Mexico and Utah
at LeslieNuttingFineArt.com.
Cathy Wick has gotten deeply
involved in local issues, defeating
a town referendum to sell public
land to Toll Brothers for condos.
“It takes time to distribute 3,000
flyers,” she noted cheerfully.
Mary Beth Greiter Miotto has
been homeschooling her two
sons. “My elder one is in high
school and has mostly tutors and
online learning but is never in
one place. My younger one is still
in elementary school, and that
remains pretty low key,” Mary
Beth says. “Fortunately, they have
always both been strong students,
whether in bricks-and-mortar or
home school.”
Sticking around for the movie
credits has its advantages: Dan
Blatt reports that Pete Anthony
conducted the orchestra for Men
in Black 3 and both conducted
and orchestrated Snow White
and the Huntsman. Dan has
enjoyed several visits with Robert
Mancuso since renewing their
acquaintance at our 25th.
“Just wanted to say how
enjoyable the whole Facebook
experience has been in terms of
reconnecting with old friends
from ’85 and getting to know
others even better than when we
all shared a zip code,” offered
Adam Pass. “It’s not just for kids!
And no, I don’t have any shares
of FB stock that I’m trying to
bolster. I encourage fellow Ephs
to give it a try if they’ve been
reluctant.”
Francie Billups Mannix hosted
a girls’ weekend to celebrate
Jonna Kurucz’s engagement to
Rich Wada. Sara Harkness Curry,
Cacky Caan Mayher, Anne Melvin,
Allison Martin Mertens, Katherine Myers, Rachel Stauffer, Suzy
Schulze Taylor and Jane Rech Toll
all converged on Newport, R.I.,
to toast the happy couple.
Here’s a wonderful update from
Jenny Bicks: “Adam Peck and I
got married in Jamaica on April
14. After 10 years together, we
figured what the heck! It was
a delightful event, and we feel
really lucky. Also got to catch
up with Sarah Cooper Hall in
Rome on the last night of our
honeymoon. She and Erik are
doing well and soaking up living
in Rome.”
Ian Finley sent me a tweetable
tidbit: “I attended my wife’s
(Karen Adams Finley ’87) 25th
reunion, and the Purple Valley
looked radiant! I only hope we
have such good weather for our
30th. #@!& we are getting old!”
Enjoyed this note from Class
Agent Elizabeth Edwards Prickett:
“News on our front includes
one child looking at colleges, the
other entering his second year at
boarding school (Holderness, his
father’s alma mater), Will Prickett
spending a lot of time in San
Francisco and all of us looking
forward to a trip to Italy before
the kids have flown the coop. I
would also like to send thanks
to everyone in our class who
participated in the Alumni Fund.
It is clear from the class notes and
many conversations with classmates that all of us are involved
in a broad range of personal and
professional endeavors, and that
makes it particularly exciting that
so many continue to make Williams a priority, with gifts small
and large.”
CL ASS
NOTES
Finally, on behalf of the entire
class, heartfelt condolences to
Mark Van Norman, whose wife
Margaret passed away earlier this
year in Redondo Beach, Calif.,
from breast cancer. A gifted
teacher as well as Girl Scout
leader and Sunday School director, Margaret left three daughters
in their daddy’s care. Mark,
please know that you and the
girls are in our thoughts.
1986
J.P. Conlan
Tulane D-2
San Juan, PR 00927
[email protected]
A year after the 25th anniversary of the graduation of the
Great Class of ’86, there has
arisen a growing realization:
We are not the youngsters we
once were. Having served as
class secretary when our class
notes were at the BACK of the
book, Martha Nikitas Stone now
reports, “I am scandalized at how
my notes are so, so, so … well,
middle aged. I am serving on the
Vestry at our church in Concord
and as a corporator for Emerson
Hospital, and questioning, ‘Who
authorized this all too swift passage of time, hmm?’ With Sarah,
16, and William, 12, John and I
will spend a lot of the summer in
Kennebunkport, in our new place
with just enough green space for
pick-up wiffle ball games, plenty
of sunlight for painting and close
proximity to food and water
(read: a short walk to restaurants
and the ocean).”
After taking their three teenage
children to China for three weeks
this summer, Kevin McGonigle
and Susan Bratton bemoan that
they need to start the college
application process for their
oldest. Susan and Kevin want to
apologize to their parents for the
grief that was invariably thrust
upon them 30 years ago when
they needed to guide Susan and
Kevin through this odyssey.
Among those who could not
attend reunion last year was
Michelle Lavigne Flynn, whose
ninth child, Lily, was hospitalized for whooping cough. “I was
saddened to not see my entrymates from Morgan East as well
as others from our class,” writes
Michelle. “I received many nice
messages, especially one from T.J.
Lydon on Facebook—thanks, T.J.!
Thankfully she recovered well and
is a bouncing 1-year-old now.”
Michelle lives in Bedford, N.H.,
with her husband Jim and her
six girls and three boys. “I used
to practice internal medicine,”
writes Michelle, “but decided
to stay at home after my fourth,
Danny, came along, and then I
had five more girls.” Her oldest
son, Mike Flynn ’15, played football for Williams, and Michelle
gushes, “We are so proud of our
new purple cow. He had a wonderful first year, and the school
has impressed me with its teaching excellence, perhaps even more
so than when we were there. He
has had many opportunities to
take advanced classes, and lined
up a great internship this summer
through the alumni network. I
am really thrilled at his experience and would recommend the
school wholeheartedly, despite
the fact that Baxter is no longer
there and they want to take down
Sawyer Library.”
Barbara Feeny Marshall writes,
“I returned yesterday from Williamstown from the 25th reunion
of my husband Tom Marshall
’87. It was the first time our sons
Christopher and Thomas ever
visited Williams. They were very
impressed with all the soccer fields
and college kids willing to play
frisbee with them. We assured
them that they could choose any
college to attend in the future, but
as the weekend went on, we fell
back in love with Williams.” She
met up with two members of her
freshman entry, Dennis Butler ’87
and Dan Reynolds. Though it is a
six-hour drive to Williamstown
from Farmington, Maine, where
Barb works in a school library,
she and Tom are already looking
forward to doing it again in four
years or sooner. “As a 19- to
23-year-old,” Barb reflects, “I saw
many of my classmates as out of
my league and assumed that they
did not have time for a struggling student from Maine. Now
I see them as talented individuals
whom I should have made more
time for. I can not do over my
time at Williams, but I can help
my sons see the potential in all
their peers.”
Still residing in Northern
Virginia with his wife Ginny,
their two children Will, 12,
and Sophie, 11, and his golden
doodle Scout, Ian Brzezinski has
“established [his] own consulting
firm, the Brzezinski Group, which
provides strategic advisory services to U.S. and foreign firms.”
Ian’s main clients have been in
the U.S. and European defense
and energy sectors. Ian is also
a senior fellow at the Atlantic
Council of the U.S. In May, Ian
testified before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee on matters
concerning NATO. He says he
has “become badly addicted to
fishing off the coasts of Cape Cod
and Maine,” and a nagging back
injury has Ian doing more cycling
than running, which he prefers.
Writing from Park Slope, Brooklyn, Charles Goforth is part of a
theater company in NYC named
Labyrinth: “This past November,
I was honored to perform in a
play with them written by David
Bar Katz ’89 and starring Ellen
Burstyn.” In addition to acting,
Charles is “jazzed” to be joining
the faculty of NYU Tisch School
of the Arts this fall to teach acting
with the Meisner Studio.
At SUNY Albany, Martin
Hildebrand was a recipient of a
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, issued by the
chancellor of the State University
of New York. “Alas,” Martin
bemoans, “the award did not
come with a log where I could be
at one end and a student at the
other end. However, since I am
in mathematics, I suppose I could
plot the log function instead.”
Those of us who struggled
through Math 107 will quickly
recognize that such a graph
would have immediate application in proving the Garfield
Theorem of Education—that the
limit of Eph as Eph approaches
Mark Hopkins does not exist.
Ted Plonsker has spent the last
year working on the relocation
of the East Coast operations of
AGSCO Corp., a business operated by his family that distributes
industrial minerals, abrasives
and sandblasting equipment and
performs blending, screening
and packaging of numerous dry,
powdery materials for many
companies, including some in
the Fortune 500. Ted anticipated
that the move to “a significantly
larger, state-of-the art facility”
in northern New Jersey would
be done by August. “We must
be one of the few companies
expanding operations in the
neighborhood,” Ted writes,
“as the town into which we are
moving wants to have a ‘ribbon
cutting’ ceremony for us. Should
be a hoot.” This spring, Ted
coached his son’s seventh-grade
travel lacrosse team and cheered
on his daughter’s fifth-grade
team, somewhat surprised that
players cannot kick the ball in
girls lacrosse.
Jeff Lilley writes, “We are coming up on one year in Amman,
Jordan. My work as the head of
an NGO doing political development work puts us on the cusp
n 1 9 8 5 –8 6
of the so-called Arab Spring or
better the Arab Awakening (there
will be more springs, summers,
falls and winters for real change
to occur). We try to work intelligently, respectfully and with
our heads on a swivel watching
regional developments.” In addition to front-row seats to these
most “interesting times,” Jordan
offers some great tourist sites, a
surprising number of canyons
with waterfalls for a water-poor
country and the opportunity for
Jeff’s sons to play Little League
with the son of John Austin ’87,
who runs a boarding school in
Jordan called King’s Academy
(founded by Eric Widmer ’61).
Emailing me from Singapore
on business for Juniper, Steve
Troyer has “added several new
destinations to my travels,
including Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
Istanbul, Ankara, Tel Aviv and
Mumbai. More to come as the
year unfolds.” Steve and Preston’s
eldest son, Wade, was headed
to Humboldt State in August in
the shade of the redwoods. To
contemplate the greater freedom
and the loss of the youthful
swagger around the house, Steve
was planning a family trip to
Germany, Austria and Prague.
Libby Hoffman Johnson continues to tour North America,
screening the powerful documentary Fambul Tok, now available
on Netflix, that she produced
about the success of the community-based approach to restoring
civility to war-torn Sierra Leone.
Also traveling over the summer
was Mary Vacarro, a professor of
art and art history at University
of Texas at Arlington. Mary has
a grant to survey Italian paintings
held in French regional collections toward the end of organizing their exhibition.
Dave Chua is excited to report, “I
just became a new uncle … when
my youngest brother William and
his wife welcomed their first child,
Sebastien, into the world. My
youngest son, Jared, is particularly
excited as he will no longer be
at the bottom of the totem pole
in the Chua family!” On his first
vacation from work in over a year,
Dave and family are traveling to
Orlando, Fla., a destination, Dave
assures us, not chosen by himself.
He makes no mention of what
point on the birth video he cried
out, “I’m going to Disney World!”
or even if such a moment was
successfully taped, but he appreciates that Disney allows “my dad
and younger brother Ted and his
family, who are all traveling from
Hong Kong, to join us.”
Michelle Lavigne Flynn was
excited to see Ultima Robison
Danforth last year at a gymnastics meet in Vermont, in which
Michelle’s daughter Elizabeth
and Ultima’s daughter Ida May
were competing. “Ultima is well,
as are her husband and three
kids, Michelle reports, “and we
sometimes meet at my place at
Lake Winnepesaukee. I am on
Facebook and welcome anyone
in the New Hampshire area to
visit, especially in the lakes region
during the summer.”
Dave Scheibe and his wife Renee
met Ted Plonsker at a lacrosse
tournament in Moorestown, N.J.
Ted writes, “Dave is the only
classmate I know who has had
only one job since college: quite
an achievement.” Dave’s oldest
child, Caroline, will be a freshman at Oberlin College in the fall.
Sally Hart Peterson and
suitemate Andrea Burns were
photographed while touring Gillette Park, courtesy of Jonathan
Kraft. Tedie Jones Bastian and
Libby Hoffman went to see Mama
Mia!, the musical, in honor of
Libby singing a solo in Ephoria’s
version of “Take a Chance,” one
of the songs from that show. At
Parent’s Weekend in October,
when Tufts plays Williams, look
out for EBeth Anthony and Pete
’85, whose son Evan, a graduate
of Malibu High School, will be
in uniform for Tufts. EBeth says,
resignedly, “I guess we’ll have
to wear Ephs gear and Jumbos
gear.” So, classmates, if you see
two purple elephants on the
sidelines, do say hello.
It is my sad duty to report that
our Great Class lost two cherished
members of our community,
Andrea Rafael and Chris Gray. Julie
Foulkes writes, still reeling from
Andrea’s death, that she “was glad
to be there at the amazing memorial service to celebrate her life.”
Williams was well-represented
by Bill Tinsman, Betsy McIver,
Betsy Hawkings, Beth Ebel, Diana
Manchester and Ken Richardson as
well as members of other classes.
Julie writes, “Beth and Diana gave
a loving tribute to Andrea, speaking of following her bouncing
ponytail as she ran ahead of us all
and her endless hugs and infectious laughter.” Julie spent more
time with Andrea in Northampton, where they both landed a
few years after college, than at
Williams. In Northampton, Julie
recalls, “Andrea became a leader
in that community, working in
mediation and then education,
hosting international students and
building her kind of family—a
son and daughter with John Riley
and pretty much anybody she
met.” Julie describes Andrea as
the music at her wedding: “On
her own initiative, [Andrea] and
John led my family and friends
one evening in a sing-a-long,
bringing not only the instruments
but the handmade songbooks for
everyone. No excuses, everyone
must sing!” And so they sang
at the memorial service as well,
Julie says, with more than 400
people belting out “This Land is
Your Land.” Andrea shall indeed
be missed. Classmates recall her
seemingly boundless energy and
write, “She made the places she
was in warmer, and the people in
her company happier.”
Those who wrote me about
Chris confirmed my impressions
of the nobility, graceful power
and courage that he displayed
at Williams. It cannot have been
easy to be an African American
student at Williams in our time,
where the messages from the
college seemed so mixed. On the
one hand, there were the plans
to implement a set of grand
social experiments to truly effect
the promises of the Reconstruction Amendments: that the U.S.
belonged to every citizen in equal
right, regardless of race. On the
other hand, there was the means
by which the administration
chose to finance these plans:
by way of investing the college
endowment in businesses that
leveraged their income by exploiting the appalling inequalities
of South African apartheid. To
all eyes, Chris acquitted himself
nobly, contributing mightily to
the basketball team, our chief
source of community in the
winter, greeting all with an understated, quiet smile and treating
every classmate courteously,
despite the deep contradictions
in college policy that could not
help but trouble his conscience.
Already at Williams, he was a
man to be admired. It is a deep
understatement of our loss to
declare that Chris shall be missed.
The blessings of peace, health
and happiness to you and yours.
I look forward to hearing from
you all. Be careful out there.
SENDNEWS!
Y
class notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
1987
Jeff Heilman
494 Court Street, #4
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Jill Shulman
135 Red Gate Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
[email protected]
secretaries Greg Keller and Rob
Wieman: Clearly the highlight of
our class news was the incredible
turnout for our 25th reunion and
all that was connected to it. If you
have not yet had a chance to read
and re-read the reunion book so
ably edited by Jill Shulman and
Karen Adams Finley, we urge you
to do so. The entries read like the
dreams of Phil Smith ’55 fulfilled,
chronicling lives that have covered
the globe and every imaginable
line of work, as well as writing
that wrings wit and wisdom from
the mundane, hints of courage in
the face of adversity and, above
all, a shared sense of gratitude for
the lessons learned and friendships
made ’neath the shadow of the
hills. What you all wrote about
yourselves is much more interesting, amusing, and informative
than anything we could distill in
our short allotment of words.
The book was more than
augmented by stories, shared experiences and general fun times at
the reunion itself. The photos and
comments at the reunion Facebook
page fill enough space for several
versions of these notes (see “Williams College Class of 1987” on
Facebook). Amy Jeffress addressed
the class and all who were interested about her experiences working with the Department of Justice,
balancing the need for civil liberties
and security, as well as the benefits
of a liberal arts education for those
engaged in such pursuits. You can
see her address at: http://bit.ly/
MfBH8d. Gail Henderson-Belsito
also addressed the community,
speaking movingly on negotiating
the world of parenting children
who present challenges and joys
we never expect.
We had a huge turnout, and
people were overwhelmingly
grateful to those who made the
weekend happen: Jordan Hampton,
Ann Marie Plankey, Anne Noel Jones
Dawson, Joey Horn, David Futterman, Cindy Morhouse Bardwill, Don
Dagnoli, Chas Foehl, Sam Beltran
and countless others, including
Jill Shulman’s husband, Matt Lebowitz, who designed the reunion
logo. Also, Conny Isby and Alice
Wilson in the alumni office made
much of it all possible. Word is
they even were able to engineer the
old party shutdown by the town
police at midnight. The consensus
seemed to be that none of us there
had enough time to spend with old
friends and to enjoy all the great
things to do in Williamstown on
such a beautiful weekend.
Because so many of us spent
so much time sharing stories and
histories, both in writing and in
person, this column will concentrate mainly on those who were
unable to be at the reunion and/
or did not submit something for
the class book.
Malcolm Smith is a treasure
trove of information regarding
classmates, Morgan Westerners in particular. He says Steve
Browning moved to Houston,
from Columbus, Ohio, to help
manage the Houston branch of the
Ohio-based law firm he works for.
Steve, his wife and son are loving
Texas but had not yet experienced
the furnace otherwise known
as summer in Houston. Fellow
Morgan Westerner Joe Ehlers,
reborn as an avid hiker, outdoorsman and healthy eater based in the
North Woods of Minnesota, was
planning to visit Williamstown in
June, but after reunion. Libby (Hennessey) Sawyer lives near Philadelphia and helps find appropriate
school options for folks who find
themselves relocating overseas.
Sean Denniston enjoyed reunion
and heard that Mike Best was
appointed as a counselor for NYC
mayor Mike Bloomberg. It is not
clear exactly what kind of counsel
the mayor will be soliciting from
Mike, but it is sure to be wise and
balanced. Also in New York is
Geoff Smith, who made it to the
reunion, but not into the class
book. He was too busy directing
the new Center for Technology
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
at the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at Mount Sinai School
of Medicine. He is excited about
being a professor and teaching
after 20 years of innovating and
entrepreneuring. Aaron Morse,
also in New York, took a new job
managing equity at Scopia Capital.
Dave Freilach missed reunion
to attend a three-week program
for museum leaders from around
the globe, a nice spot to be after
20-plus years in the museum business. He promises to be at the 30th.
Beth (Shaefer) Burke (Mount
Holyoke ’87) spent her junior
year at Williams, rooming with
Eileen Holland, Betsy Frost and
Steff Jacon. She remembers that
year with fondness and writes
that she spent 10 years in New
York working in advertising and
acting, then lived in Hong Kong
and London with her husband.
She now lives in New Canaan,
Conn., with her three children.
She sometimes takes in WilliamsAmherst football games, where
her family is split between her
husband, the Amherst grad, and
her own Williams connections.
(Her father also attended the
Temple of Knowledge just around
the corner from Colonial Pizza.)
Craig Breon has managed to
create a lifestyle that minimizes
responsibility except for work.
He is the regional climate change
program director for the Sierra
Nevada Alliance, overseeing
land use, resource planning
and response to climate change
throughout the 400-mile Sierra
Nevada Range in California.
Despite his attachment-free life,
he may succumb to the “mandatory dog requirement up here in
the mountains.” Perhaps the dog
can apply for that credit card
Craig still refuses to get.
Chris Kirwan tells of the Williams
swimming alums known as the
Angry Fish and their tales of derring do. Rob “Sticky” Benson ’90,
Jim Kirkland ’69, Jen Raymond, Dan
Snyder ’90 and Jordan Lewis ’79
along with Erstwhile swim babysitter (er, coach) Carl Samuelson and
wife Nancy all enjoyed watching
Chris swim into a two-ton channel
marker during his leg of the Tampa
Bay Marathon Swim and timing
the arrival of the sharks thirsting for Kirwan blood. Chris was
undone not by sharks, but by barnacles—invisible, sharp barnacles
that hover below the waterline of
fast-moving channel markers.
Chris also issued a plea, on
behalf of himself and co-fundraiser Cindy Morhouse Bardwill to
remember that the 2012 Williams
Alumni Fund starts in October.
Hold on to those good feelings
from reunion, and think generous
thoughts. We will be writing,
calling, emailing, stalking your
Facebook pages and peering into
your window from that tree in
your backyard very soon.
Jeff Dalzell drops perhaps the
most Williams connections of any
classmate in his note. Jeff spent
some “pretty lean recession years
in New Hampshire, anchoring
house for chickens and children”
but now lives in Amherst, where
he is an architect for the University
of Massachusetts, spreading joy
and goodwill over the entire commonwealth (not just Northern
Berkshire County). Despite his
residence near the den of defectors, Jeff spent the year “trekking
n 1 9 8 7 –8 8
1988 Ephs (from left) Cary Benedict Collins, Lew Collins, Dave Greenberg,
Tim Bock and Brooks Foehl, along with a friend of the Collinses and Chas
Foehl ’87, biked 110 miles and climbed 8,500 feet at Gran Fondo New
York in May.
back over the trail to mark some
weighty milestones—son entering
as a freshman, Dad stepping
down to emeritus after 42 years of
teaching. In the college cemetery
family friend professor Michael
Bell rests beneath a headstone
with an epitaph of his writing, in
small letters, ‘If you can read this
you are standing on me.’ The tux
Michael lent me for senior prom
may be down there with him. It
occurs to me, especially this year,
that I have been standing so close
to Williams for so long now, that
I am pretty much standing on it. I
wonder if there are not times when
we all feel that way.”
Unfortunately, amid so many
memories of old friendships
and ties reforged, it saddens us
to bring news of the death of
James Paul Lanza last October.
He joins the list of classmates
who will be sorely missed.
Finally we would like to thank
the Class of ’87 both for giving us
the opportunity to be your class
secretaries these past five years and
for sharing so much of yourselves
and your stories in response to our
ever-more desperate pleas for news
and connection. It has been a real
privilege and pleasure to hear so
much from so many of you.
SENDNEWS!
Y
class notes column.
1988
25th
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Britta Bjornlund
7504 Honeywell Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
Carolyn O’Brien
241 Huron Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
[email protected]
Twenty-five years ago, almost
to the day. Were you anxiously
packing and repacking your
typewriter supplies? Did you
hand-write a letter and put it
in the mail for your soon-to-be
roommate? (No Googling them!)
Were you savoring those last days
of high school summer freedom
or happily anticipating the
freedom of being tucked away in
a little town in the Berkshires far
from almost everyone’s home?
Yes classmates, it’s been 25 years
since September 1983. As we begin
the yearlong build-up to our 25th
reunion at Williams, we’re happy
to share with you some postings
on Facebook about freshman-year
memories. (There’s something we
never anticipated when those bold,
early adopters were holed up in the
computer lab mysteriously sending
messages by computer to friends at
other colleges!)
Please, if your memory is good
enough to recall crazy antics,
the cherished beginnings of a
friendship, or just the smells and
sounds of Williamstown circa
the mid-1980s, drop us a line,
send us a text or mail us a letter
(something I don’t believe we’ve
received in four-plus years of coclass secretary-ship).
Numerous 1988ers recalled
Ray Charles’ concert at Chapin
Hall among the highlights of our
freshman year, along with R.E.M.
rocking the hockey rink. While
some folks felt the hockey rink
acoustics weren’t the greatest,
at least one person suggested
that R.E.M. lyrics were never
understandable in the first place.
And another recalled getting there
early and seeing the band playing
Frisbee across the floor before the
concert started.
Food was a big memory for
many folks, from the grilled
honeybuns in the old Snack Bar
(with or without ice cream is
a very touchy subject), to the
Snack Bar’s frosts, egg “McBagels,” chicken cutlets and veggie
pockets (although that sounds
suspiciously healthy for the Snack
Bar). Freshman Quad cookouts still evoke fond memories.
Brownies, anyone?
The Midwesterners recall how
amazing it was that the entire
college could enjoy lobster in
the dining hall at least once a
year, and virtually everyone had
a favorite Pappa Charlie’s sandwich. The Gilda Radner! The
Richard Chamberlain! A Gilda
Radner swiped from someone
else, all the better! The more
adventurous, or perhaps more
athletic, recall hot apple cider and
apple cider donuts after a hike to
the top of Mount Greylock.
Food leads to road trips for
food, when the dining hall just
couldn’t satisfy. While for some a
trip to Dunkin Donuts in North
Adams for “good” coffee hit the
spot, at least two Ephs could
recall (mostly) a trip to NYC for
Chinese food that began at midnight and was done in time for
the morning’s classes. Apparently
there was excellent Irish coffee in
Bennington.
Irish coffee reminds us that a
few folks might have had a drop
or two of alcohol freshman year.
There was some debate over
whether Whales Tales at the
Log was an official part of the
freshman curriculum or merely a
treasured tradition. Whales Tales
subsequently played all over campus seems to have affected some
memories overall. Williams D
folks still remember their victory
over Williams F in the “great kegoff,” when “Picka” took to the
college radio airwaves to declare
that “D had the desire!”
While we’re trying to protect
the identities of the guilty here,
CL ASS
NOTES
there are some classmates that
may need a pardon before coming back to campus. For innocent
entertainment, one classmate
wrote admiringly of another’s
ability to do every Grinch eyebrow move to perfection during
our first Eph Christmas. Yet
another recalls a famous throw
of a pizza box round from the
Freshman Quad, into the window of the women’s bathroom in
Williams D, and into the urinal.
Possibly the round was on fire at
the time. They say that the sense
of smell invokes the sharpest
memories. If so, the residents of
Sage C likely still shudder when
they remember the combination
of Italian salad dressing followed
by Grey Flannel cologne that
graced their stairway for … was
it mere weeks? … courtesy of a
certain future class president.
May we suggest that the
nametags for our reunion include
the helpful “I tunneled” or
“What’s tunneling?” distinction
that seems to divide our class in a
largely friendly way. Many recall
fondly the days of entering into
(“breaking into” seems so harsh)
the college’s underground steam
tunnels and making one’s way
to the old Lasell Gym and pool
for some late-night swimming.
At least one classmate chose
Williams after a high school visit
that included tunneling and quick
dip in the pool. The really smart
’88ers recall figuring out that
exit tunneling was not necessary.
You could just run out the doors
of Lasell and hope you weren’t
caught. No one admitted to getting caught, but feel free to let us
know if you were. And for the
folks that never did tunnel, there’s
talk of exploring all the new
construction via steam tunnel for
our 25th. (If there are engineers
in the mix, perhaps you could let
us know if steam tunnels are still
built in this day and age.)
Many thanks to the following
classmates who shared memories
of freshman year: Jody Abzug,
Richard Barton, Jeff Brancato,
Britta Bjornlund, Jim Elliott, Bob
Gallagher, Ray George, Steve
Gutterman, Steve Halloran, Eric
Hanson, Andy Harris, Megan
Hawgood, Tracy Heilman, Claire
Hsiang Marx, Kathryn McDonnell,
Keith McIver, Scott Purdy, Mark
Raisbeck, Vonessa Schulze, Amy
Searight, Chris Shorb, Mark Solan,
Lisa Tenerowicz, Debbie Wisleder
and Carter Zinn.
Keep those memories coming!
There are three more years of
college and only a few more class
notes before our 25th!
1989
David Bar Katz
138 Watts St., Apt. 4
New York, NY 10013
Shannon Penick Pryor
3630 Prospect St., NW
[email protected]
Katrina (Hubbard) Bens is moving to France, where she and her
husband have accepted positions
at INSEAD (a graduate school of
business) about 40 minutes outside of Paris. “Trying to fit four
people’s things into a 45-cubicmeter container (which is our
moving allowance) is making me
wish I were an engineer!”
Stewart Verdery, Randy
Schriver and Ted Hobart had a
minireunion in Arlington, Va.,
in April. There was some mild
amazement around the fact
that TJ Hooker has reappeared
in prime time cable lineups.
Stewart’s consulting firm in
DC, Monument Policy Group,
finally cracked the double-digit
employee barrier. Doug Hunt
writes, “We had our annual
Seder, which grew by another
alum this year! Lani Wishnie
Wolfe, Sarah Marcus Barton and
Sarah’s sister Miriam Marcus ’91
joined with their families, making
18 of us on our houseboat. It was
insane, and no one fell in. We get
to see Rachel Maiorano regularly,
as she takes Cordelia as the unofficial little girl in her life in her
world of boys. Anthony Winker
’91 came to visit, and a whole
crew of us will be celebrating
the 20th anniversary of Theater
Schmeater in June, including
Laura Richman Myers, Richard
Ward, Tim Moore ’90 and Anthony
Winkler ’91. We’re also trying to
get Kent Whitehead to join Laura
from DC.” In DC, Dan Pryor and
I (Shannon Penick Pryor) once
again hosted our annual July 4
open house to watch the fireworks over the National Mall. In
attendance were John Nicholson
and his growing family. We were
also able to catch up briefly with
Britty Shaw. Dan, Cooper Jackson
and our ’89 associate agents are
getting ready for the Alumni
Fund kick off in just a few weeks,
so please consider making your
gift early!
Allison Robichaud and her family traveled in Spain over spring
break and learned afterward that
Mark Reid was in Spain at the
same time with his daughters!
She writes, “It was interesting
to witness the national protests,
and I was overwhelmed by the
persistence of ham and potatoes
in the food! I can’t believe anyone
would care that I am getting
more interested in plants in the
yard (this does NOT include
lawn maintenance—ours is
covered in dandelions and weeds,
and we’re a bit proud of that).
Perhaps I can grow more than
garlic this year! Our girls are
teenagers now, which actually I
am enjoying. Well, I miss board
games, but overall so far so
good!” Tom and Tina (Webster)
Loose traveled to Peru to see
Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca.
“We did have a little trouble with
altitude sickness (the lake is at
about 12,500 feet above sea level)
but the views were amazing, and
the local cultures were fascinating! We picked up our new
puppy the same day we returned
to the States. A belated birthday
present for our 13-year-old twins,
‘Milo’ has won us all over. Now
if we could just get him fully
house trained.” Heather Zona
spent three weeks in Thailand
working with elephants. “It was
a lot of fun. I am biased, I know,
but it looks like all the elephants
are smiling in my photos. Otherwise, still in San Francisco. Still
playing soccer. Still working with
kids in foster care.”
Jennifer Fox-Colwell reports
that she has “kitchen shelves full
of food that I canned or dried—
most of which I grew. A friend
and I just dumped a truckload
of alpaca ‘beans’ in our yard,
preparing for another season of
gardening in the desert.”
Lastly, Mark Reid sends in this
reminiscence about Dave Galliard.
“I have been missing Dave plenty
over the last five months. At
Williams, Dave and I spent many
late hours discussing whom we
should be and what we would
try to do in this life. He had a far
greater impact on me that I think
I had on him. Dave did things
because they were the right things
to do. He looked after little things
that had no one else to look after
them. He was a peaceful and loving man. In the evening after our
first day of classes at Williams, we
were standing outside Williams
A when we heard the sounds
of revelry at Dodd house. Dave
looked at me wide-eyed and with
his big boyish grin said, ‘Let’s
go!’ As I prepared arguments
for rigorous study and earlyto-bed, I found I was already
enjoying the festive company
of a roomful of upperclassmen.
During our years at Williams
with more or less planning as
n 1 9 8 8 –9 0
the situation might require, this
summarized our approach to
activities ranging from a jog up
Pine Cobble to a spring break
road trip. While most people
grow heavy with the burdens of
adult responsibilities and mature
ways of thinking as the years go
by, Dave continued his jolly and
enthusiastic approach to living.
A few years ago, he called to tell
me he was moving to France for
a year. I started to ask him if he
had lined up a job and a place to
live only to remind myself that
this was Dave. He had made
plenty of plans about where
to ski and climb and the rest
of those little details were sure
to work themselves out in the
usual natural way. In the last few
months, I have talked regularly
with Dave’s family and his wife
Kerry. I have spent many hours
with my memories of Dave from
Williams and life since. I told my
daughters of the time Dave and
I tipped a canoe in the middle of
the night on an icy lake in New
Hampshire and how Dave pulled
me up from beneath the water. He
was a wonderful friend.”
1990
Katie Brennan
2018 Rosilla Place
Los Angeles, CA 90046
[email protected]
Holy schmackeroni! Our
indefatigable head agents Dave
Pesikoff and Hilary Klotz were
back in Williamstown this spring,
collecting the Alden Trophy for
the second year, thanks to our
impressive 70.4 percent level of
participation in the Alumni Fund!
Our first Alden was a couple of
years ago, in our 20th reunion
year, and it is quite a feat to have
edged out the reunion classes of
this year! Thanks to Dave and
Hilary for leading so valiantly,
and to everyone for stepping up
and contributing.
And we have another dad of
triplets! John Jordan is the proud
dad of William, James and Brian,
born in spring 2011. Alison
(Smith) Mitchell reports that John,
whom she has known since kindergarten, was enjoying life with
the triplets, who had recently
gone mobile. John said he thinks
he got more sleep in college than
he’s getting now. I can imagine!
Perhaps Doug Barnaby and John
can share trip tips.
Hopefully by press time Alison
has recovered from chairing the
Orono, Maine, school board!
“The district is in the position of
needing to cut about 10 percent
to 15 percent out of the budget
for next year. In the process, two
of the three towns in the school
district have initiated their own
processes of withdrawing from
the district. So … the pressures I
face at every meeting are intense,
and the work has been excruciatingly difficult this winter, as we
took up the real ‘meat’ of the
potential cuts. I feel a certain
affinity to Olympia Snowe, who
announced her retirement from
the U.S. Senate. Though not
nearly on that grand a scale, I can
totally relate to the partisanship that she referred to in her
announcement. I am relieved that
my term ends in June—I intend
to have a very restful summer
where hopefully I can be basically
anonymous again!
“Last fall (2010) I started a
master’s in social work. It’s the
natural ‘coming together’ of a
lot of different (mostly volunteer) experiences and I love the
program. My children are in fifth
and seventh grade, which means
they have a lot of activities but no
driver’s license yet. I enjoy them
(and their activities!) but … the
schedule can get full sometimes.
Being a grad student and a parent
with a full adult life is a different
kind of experience, but we’re
making it work.
“I attended Tracy Davis’ ’91
wedding last summer outside
Boston with Polly LeBarron, Beth
Gannon, Stacey Minyard, Emily
Donovan and Abby Burbank
’89. It was great fun to catch
up with everyone and enjoy an
incredible ceremony in the backyard of the family members who
hosted the event.” Alison, Stacey
and Beth enjoyed watching their
children get to know each other.
I had a couple of delightful Eph
Internet sightings in the spring.
Amazon was running a feature
on their home page of small businesses that have prospered via
Amazon, and one day there was
a photo of Brice Hoskin and sons
on one of their Mountain Boy
sleds! I also drop in on Aetiology, a blog that covers infectious
diseases, and I was amused to
read that the blogger was joining
the advisory board of the Zombie
Research Society, along with Dan
Drezner!
Of course, I had to inquire,
and Dan wrote that it was true.
In fact, he was invited to be
part of a panel on zombies at
Comic-Con in San Diego. “This
is one of the many awesome
side benefits of writing Theories
of International Politics and
Zombies. There’s a chance that I
will be turned into a character for
a zombie comic book, commissioned by the Zombie Research
Society! I’ll be myself, consulting
with various foreign governments
to prevent a zombie apocalypse.
WUFO alums will be pleased to
learn that my special zombiekilling skill is beheading the
undead with razor-sharp discs.
… Sam just finished sixth grade,
and we’re now dealing with the
fact that his bar mitzvah date is
less than a year away. Lauren
will turn 8 this summer, and she
remains a ball of energy. I will be
on sabbatical this coming year,
and I hope to finish one book
on global economic governance
and start another one. We get
together with Neal Lindeman
and Liz Borowsky for brunch
on a semi-regular basis. Neal continues to run his lab, and Liz got
promoted to upper management
at Akamai—we know it’s upper
management because she’s going
to get an office with walls!”
Will Hong is in Brooklyn, seeing
lots of Williams sweatshirts out
jogging in Prospect Park. Also
some sightings of a Hilary Klotz
look-a-like that may actually be
Hilary’s twin, who apparently
lives in Brooklyn. Will has been
doing editing and visual effects
for TV, and also some high
fashion and music videos. “Basically, I’m supplying work where
there is demand, which can be
challenging and interesting at
times for sure, but which is also a
far cry from my art background
that started way back with E.J.
Johnson ’59 and Whit Stoddard
’35 in Art History 101. The hope
is that someday the two will
dovetail nicely and I’ll find that
super-fulfilling professional life
that I guess most of us are after in
one way or another. Anyway, life
is good. I reconnected with Dave
Bank. … Excellent to see him and
catch up after all this time. …
Also see Andy Bernheimer fairly
regularly out here in Brooklyn, as
well as Troye Jenkins every now
and then.”
Ethel Brooks and Farhan Haq
’89 and their two daughters
have been in London for the
past year, Ethel as the 2011-12
U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Distinguished
Chair at the University of the
Arts London. “I am here doing
research on Romani displacement
in light of the 2012 Olympics
(many Romani families were
shifted from the Olympic site),
looking at centuries-long Romani
histories of London and larger
questions of the right to the
CL ASS
NOTES
city—for poor people, marginalized people and people of color.
The girls LOVE being here, as we
do; Farhan is on sabbatical from
the U.N. but has been also going
back and forth between London
and New York.”
Steve Branoff is living in
Albany, Calif., “working as an
environmental consultant and
trying to juggle the demands of
work and family. The most recent
Williams grad I’ve seen was Win
Goodbody, who makes periodic
treks out here so we can see plays
at the Berkeley Repertory Theater.” It turns out that Steve and
I, in addition to having shared an
apartment senior year on Hoxsey
with Sally Ball, are connected in a
new way, through my husband’s
coworker who is Steve’s brotherin-law! We have yet to reconnect in person, the distances in
California being what they are,
but hopefully soon!
Tina Lieu is moving to Japan
with her husband Katsuya. He’ll
work for Basis Technology, and
Tina will transition from full-time
work now (her husband is the
part-time employee and stay-athome dad) to part-time work and
full-time mom. Her kids are 3
and 8 months, so chaos ensues as
they get ready to move, but they
are looking forward to it.
Jane Lewis is a veterinarian,
having “moved back to northwest Connecticut about 10 years
ago. Currently I am the program
coordinator and assoc. prof. in
veterinary technology at a local
community college. I’m married
to a dairy farmer, and we are
currently milking 100 head of
mostly Holsteins, with about 225
total head of dairy cattle on the
farm and other assorted livestock
such as goats, mules, horses,
pigs, rabbits and poultry. I have
a 12-year-old son and three adult
stepsons who also live on the
farm with two daughters-in-law
and six grandchildren. I also have
a small flock of chickens, a threelegged dog, three house cats, an
uncertain number of barn cats,
and two colonies of honeybees
that I started last season. We
don’t have a lot of free time;
our idea of a vacation is taking
a couple of days to go to a farm
show in New York or Pennsylvania. It’s a good life, though, and
we’re happy. Someday I hope my
son looks back on his childhood
and realizes how blessed we
are. My daughter-in-law has a
beautiful painted plaque hanging
in her dining room with a picture
of a dairy barn and a caption
that reads, ‘God bless America,
and the farmer that feeds your fat
ass.’ Sort of brings a tear to my
eye every time I read that…”
Dave Cox writes: “I have a fun
job working as a pediatrician at
Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine’s primary teaching
hospital. Live in a quaint little
town with a wife and two boys,
9 and 7. The rest of my family
lives in the same town, which is a
blast. I drink beer and eat lobster
and clams, that is it.”
Ed Wiggers has been busy
raising capital for ColinCowieWeddings.com, a super-chic
and stylish wedding-planning
resource. Things are off to a good
start: “Step one, our ColinCowieWeddings page on Facebook
just passed Martha Stewart Weddings in terms of total fans!”
In January Brad Gendell and
wife Yfat Reiss welcomed son
Fox Martin Reiss Gendell into
their clan. Siblings Guy and India
are thrilled with “Foxy.”
Alice Maurice writes, “I teach in
the English dept. at U of T (that’s
Toronto for all you Yanks!). We
like it here quite a bit; our son
was born here. It’s got big-city
appeal but is also family friendly
in that Canadian way. But we
admit that at times—especially
in election years—we miss being
south of the border. And the
people are just so darn polite
here! Tough adjustment for
a New Englander and a New
Yorker.”
We have a Tweet! “@gil: she
worked, she fell in love, she fled
NY, she worked some more,
she bought a house, she sold a
house, she fell in love again. Now
she writes.” That’s from Gillian
(Lippert) Marcus. “Long version:
I morphed around until I started
my own business in 1994, under
the guise of which I designed
records systems, marketing
processes, information systems
and whatever else the client on
the other side of the check asked
for until 2001, when I went to
work for a company that put
woodworking consumer shows
on around the country (in case
you’re interested, Makita makes
the best cordless drill) until 2006,
when I started doing interior
design and staging, which I did
until about three years ago.
Now I write for a living—and
have managed to acquire no exhusbands, 12 god-children and
a seemingly permanent residence
on the left coast.”
Tamra Hjermstad “married
right after graduation and took
a job in Sawyer Library. My
husband was managing editor at
The Advocate then, but we now
own our own monthly paper
called Berkshire Trade & Commerce. I started working with
foreign language faculty here on
multimedia and digital tools for
learning. I took a job at Mount
Holyoke in 1999 and was there
for 10 years as an instructional
technologist in the visual arts. I
returned to Williams in 2009 as
part of the instructional technology team here—I created the
Media Education Center here in
Jesup, teach a media immersion Winter Study course, run
an annual short film competition and last summer started a
video intern project, which was
responsible for conceiving and
producing the Williams Thinking
series (in collaboration with the
communications office) http://bit.
ly/P0WFMg.”
Jamie Wallace and his family are
settling back into their house in
Shanghai’s old French Concession. They had to move out for
a year while it underwent repairs
and spent a lot of time this past
spring trying to resuscitate their
garden. Jamie says he is pleasantly surprised by the number of
Ephs he comes across in Shanghai, but there does not yet seem
to be enough of a critical mass to
get people together to watch the
Williams/Amherst game.
Just before going to press we
learned that Bob O’Neil passed
away. Please feel free to share
with me your remembrances of
Bob for the next issue, in which
an obituary will also appear.
1991
Christine Choi
150 President St., Apt. 2
Brooklyn, NY 11231
[email protected]
Have you joined our class Facebook page? (Type in “Williams
College Class of 1991.”) Check
out photos from gatherings and
re-live our 20th reunion, after
which it seems we’re making
more time for each other—in
Williamstown, at home and while
abroad. Gatherings were a salient
theme in your updates. That, and
you’re procreating!
Since leaving his white-collar
crime-fighting in DC and NYC
to open a bar in his hometown,
Sean Watterson has transformed
how Clevelanders take their beer:
Happy Dog features interdisciplinary talks by astrophysicists,
paleo-anthropologists, evolutionary biologists (did you
podcast “Making Babies: The
n 1 9 9 0 –9 1
During a visit to New York, Boston-area residents (from left) Robb ’93
and Elisa Dugundji Friedman ’91 and their two children spent time with
Louise (Price) Kelly ’91 and her family at the Bronx Zoo in April.
Evolution of Childbirth?”), and
even performance art. Cleveland Museum of Art’s deputy
director and chief curator Griff
Mann lent Happy Dog a video
art installation by Icelandic artist
Ragnar Kjartansson. Griff also
guest-lectured on Rembrandt to
a packed Happy Dog. When not
raising the bar, Sean is learning
to paddleboard with his dog as
lifeguard, “running along the
beach barking at me to make sure
I’m OK.”
Seanna Connor Walter, Matt
Walter and their three children
were joined on their vacation in
Costa Rica by Betsy Pennebaker
and Andrew Allen. On her most
recent mother-child trip, Seanna
and 12-year-old son Cole visited
college roommate Adena Testa
Friedman outside DC: “Her husband Mike Friedman ’88 collects
interesting items including Darth
Vader, who resides permanently
in their dining room.”
Mike Donofrio plans to
mountain bike with Joe Cruz and
Kristian Omland, who remains
passionately energy-efficient
and whose daughter Phoebe (21
months old) “woke me yesterday
by putting running shoes on my
face as if to say, ‘Wake up, dude!
It’s time to play!’” Mike left the
Vermont Attorney General’s
Office to become general counsel
of a new agency, Green Mountain Care Board, which controls
health care costs in the state and
improves access to high quality
care. His band, The New Year,
finished their fourth record, due
out next spring.
Cindy McPherson Frantz is in
touch with Wendi Haugh, at St.
Lawrence University, and had a
“fabulous getaway weekend”
with Cara Schlesinger. Cindy is
immersed in the Oberlin Project,
an effort to turn Oberlin (where
she teaches) into a post-fossil fuel
community: “It’s fine that I know
almost nothing about energy and
lots about psychology because the
problem is 99 percent the people.”
Lee Schroeder and her wife
Jules Tortolani live in NYC
with 16-month-old son Oliver.
In Williamstown they met up
with Williams swim coach Carl
Samuelson and his wife Nancy,
“who are as wonderful and
vibrant as ever.” She visited Laurie Baker, “who lives in Medfield,
Mass., with her husband John
and their two adorable, funny
girls Adelaide and Olive; and
Katy Carr White, who works in a
community clinic in LA while her
husband Bill is an assistant pastor. Their oldest child Timothy is
getting ready to enter high school
(now that is crazy).”
Lee also caught up with Brent
Powell, who with wife Wendy,
two daughters and son, spent
the last year in Norway and
Edinburgh and traveled to
Africa, India, Bali, New Zealand,
Thailand, China and Japan: “It
was everything we had hoped for,
the experience of a lifetime. We
would love to help fellow Ephs
planning a similar venture; please
get in touch.” In July, Brent
returned to Derryfield School in
Manchester, N.H., as head of the
Upper School.
Ivan Sigal wrote from Amsterdam, “en route to London, then
Nairobi, then Germany, etc. It’s
been that kind of decade.” Based
in DC, Ivan runs Global Voices, a
nonprofit that works with citizen
media producers and activists
around the world. His solo
photography show on Siberia,
Central Asia, and Afghanistan at
the Corcoran Gallery opens in
November.
Allan Isaac sold his car and did
research in the Philippines before
returning to Rutgers, where
he chairs the American studies
department.
Kathi Fisler and family were in
London last spring to supervise
students on WPI’s study abroad
program and saw Amy (Butler)
Greenfield: “Her 5-year-old
taught my 3-year-old to chase
pigeons in the park.” Now back
in Worcester, Mass., Kathi is
having “the most fun I’ve had
teaching in years.”
Carsten Vala is finishing his
book God Above Party, the Politics of Protestants, Civil Society,
and Party-state in Contemporary
China. Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore) is home, but he
spent a month in Denmark as an
EU scholar and was interviewed
on Danish national radio “on
whether a moral crisis exists in
China and whether religion is
part of the solution. The debate
was done in Danish, and despite
my conversational grasp of the
language, I’d only invented one
new word!”
James Lee is enjoying serving
as class agent and “still mentally
processing” his two-week trip to
North Korea.
Lisa Kaestner works in Istanbul
with the International Finance
Corp., managing a team in Eastern Europe that advises governments on improving the business
environment in their countries.
“Lots of interesting places to
visit: As a family went to Cyprus,
Israel, Italy and also through
Turkey. Robin Neidorf and her
sister visited; other visitors are
welcome!”
In Egypt are Karl Galle, who
teaches at the American University
in Cairo, and wife Sylvia: “We’re
doing fine and mostly managing
to avoid the conflict areas. We
have not yet hosted a single Eph:
Visit and support the hard-hit
Egyptian tourist economy!”
When Molly Foehl’s not on tour
as Mavis Staples’ tour manager—
Mavis is opening for Bonnie
Raitt—she lives in the Bay Area
and visits Williamstown: “My
brother Brooks Foehl ’88 works
as head of the alumni office, and
I always reconnect with Kathleen
(Judge) Igoe and her three adorable children.”
Congrats to Leila Jere, who
will serve as VP of the Society
CL ASS
NOTES
of Alumni (along with President
Dennis O’Shea ’77) for the next
two years. Leila is based in the
Bay Area and consulting; “Jessica Melcher helps me with my
books; it has been good to see
more of her.” I hope to see Leila
at Dreamforce in San Francisco
this fall.
The Williams College Board of
Trustees promoted Sara Dubow,
assistant professor of history, to
associate professor with tenure.
Sara received a surprise fête by
Lisa Leinau, a geriatrician and
mother of 4½-year-old twins,
and husband Tim; Traci Miringoff
Wolfe and husband Joel; and Tim
Hildreth. Lisa writes, “Greenfield
sounds like an unlikely hub, but
it’s handy for Sara and husband
Rick, Traci in Amherst, Mass.,
Tim (and husband Michael) in
Milford, N.H., and us in Keene,
N.H. Tim is quite the runner; this
spring saw his best time in the
Big Lake half marathon, and he’s
gearing up for the Marine Corps
Marathon. Cliff Majersik, Joel
McElvain and Monica Brand had
better be ready for Tim in DC.”
Tim had a celebration of his own:
“My son William graduated high
school. When you have a baby,
you forget that you’re not having
a baby but an adult—and having
the baby is just the first of all the
scary, trying yet rewarding things
to go through to get that baby to
adulthood. We’re not quite there,
but high school graduation is a
huge milestone, and we’re really
proud of him.”
Aaric Eisenstein made a rare
trip to Williamstown for the 35th
anniversary of WUFO: “In addition to a great Ultimate tournament, I hiked up in the Hopper,
where I hadn’t been in 20 years.
It’s gorgeous up there. Economics
Professor Ralph Bradburd and
I had lunch, and I saw the guys
at B&G where I worked in the
paint shop. It was an incredibly
great trip!” He was joined by
Louise Price Kelly, who hosted
Elisa Dugundji Friedman and Robb
Friedman ’93 “and their two
adorable sons from Boston, in
the chaos of our [Pelham, N.Y.]
home, which was under construction. We had a great time.”
Congrats to Melissa Fenton
on her new position as Bronx
Preparatory Charter School’s new
chief development and communications officer. She and Sarah
Peterson attended the African
dance and music memorial
service in honor of the late music
professor Ernest Brown: “Lipp
Family Director of Dance Sandra
Burton organized a beautiful
concert. The weekend was a
celebration of his brilliant artistry,
dedicated teaching and creative
spirit.” Melissa caught up with
Greg Woods and Mary Moule,
Joe Cruz, Tom Morgan “and his
better half Lorraine” and Mary
Richardson (who now works at
Williams). In NYC she joined
a tour of the Whitney Museum
with Matt Tropp and his wife
Julie, Dierdre Pappalardo Gurney,
Amy Honigfeld and Tara Hurley;
and, at a Crunch spin class, she
ran into Rich Harrington, who
was performing over the summer
at Williams.
Melissa reports that Erica
Dankmeyer delivered her baby,
Cooper, “sans epidural, which
only further perpetuates my
admiration for Erica as one fierce
mama!” And that kicks off our
baby boom, of which John Freedman first alerted me. John had a
second son, Lior Samuel Baskir
Freedman, born on his grandfather’s birthday and “a very
happy little guy.” Soo La Kim,
who teaches at Columbia College Chicago, had a second son,
Charlie, who is equally happy
and laid back. Elizabeth Allison’s
Emilia Grace arrived a month
after Charlie “under the light of
the full moon.” In San Francisco,
Elizabeth teaches environmental
studies at the California Institute
of Integral Studies.
In NYC, Chad Asarch saw
Rebecca Sokolovsky and her
husband Franco and twin babies
Milo and Gideon. Chad reports
that David Huber and his wife
Rosie had a baby girl, Delilah
Rose Huber—“Lila for short; the
full name is reserved for when she
gets in trouble, if she’s anything
like Dave…”
Jessica (Baraka) Nolan’s third
son, Thomas Henry, was born
last spring. “With three kids 5
years old and under, we haven’t
been doing any extreme sports
or engaging in fabulous travel
adventures.” She hung out with
Judy Conti and her family.
Erik Sebesta, when not busy
with his latest start-up, cloudTP.
com, plays “Angry Girls,” a
conflict resolution game he’s
invented where he throws his
3- and 5-year-old daughters into
a sofa full of stuffed animals: “I
semi-carried/hurled the screaming
daughter onto the sofa where she
smashed the pigs and hippo,”
resulting in that age-old conflict
breaker called laughter.
Barry Clifford in Everett, Mass.,
says his “greatest joy is being
close to my family and a part of
my nieces’ and nephews’ lives as
they grow up. My niece Maggie
(my goddaughter) told me that
when she grows up she wants to
have a beard just like me.”
Bevin B. Cooper Farkas runs a
gift and calligraphy business,
Bumble B Design, when she’s
not driving “my teenage kids
crazy with crunchy sun-dried
clothes (when the sun comes out
in Seattle), relentless ‘turn off the
lights!’ and refusal to use ziplocks and plastic wrap to save the
whales. I had a short but sweet
visit with Berne Broudy ’90 after
she was spoiled rotten as a photographer and writer—Canadian
heli-skiing by day, vodka tasting
in a subzero cellar by night.”
Heidi Beebe and husband Doug
practice architecture in both Portland (Ore.) and Detroit (teaching
at the University of Michigan’s
architecture school): “We can see
Canada, or at least the casinos
in Canada, from our window.”
The pair finished—and won an
AIA award for—a contemporary addition to an old house in
Boise’s historic district for Dan
Zuckerman ’97 and his wife Dana.
Stein Soelberg hoped to win
a few bucks in his company’s
NCAA men’s basketball pool
run by Yahoo! but won the
national pool (grand prize
$10,000), beating 3.2 million
people. “It came down to the
final game—Kentucky or Kansas
(I had KY)—and the total score
of the combined two teams. I
was on pins and needles; oohing
and sighing with each rise and
fall of fortune were my wife
Emily at my side and Robin Lloyd
… via text from Seattle.” Stein is
thrilled that we “eclipsed the 69
percent contribution percentage (a record for our class in
a non-reunion year) and beat
our dollars-raised goal.” Stein
reminds us that the Alumni Fund
kicks off in October.
And now my Morgan people:
Michelle Sanders enjoyed a
family reunion with her and her
husband’s family in upstate N.Y.
Michelle lives in the same town
as Jonquil Wolfson’s mom: “Jonquil is up with her daughters for
most of the summer taking refuge from Florida heat. Jonquil’s
daughters are just as smart,
charming, witty and beautiful.”
Chris Aylott and Deb Tomaselli
’92 live in central Texas with their
8-year-old Star Wars aficionado
and a 16-month-old swimmer.
Chris left Zynga for freelance
writing: “If anyone needs a financial journalist/web community
manager/trend researcher/video
game reviewer—I do it all. If you
n 1 9 9 1 –9 2
need something else, I can write
that too!”
Charley Rardin works as a
urogynecologic surgeon at
Brown and director of robotic
surgical services at Women &
Infants Hospital, and wife Jane
Sharp is an OB/GYN: “Pity our
three boys being brought up by
two gynecologists. I can only
hope to be burdened with Williams tuitions. Also, I love my
eight-minute Vespa commute to
work.”
Hilary Appel and Joel Isackson
and I caught up over sushi in
Brentwood when I was in LA
for a Vogue September issue
shoot featuring our spaceships
(yes, Virgin has spaceships!).
Between her duties as wife and
mother (her three boys “speak
some English, some Italian
and some Spanish”), Hilary is
professor of government and
associate dean of the faculty at
Claremont McKenna College.
Her areas of expertise include
political economy, comparative politics, Eastern Europe,
international political economy
and Russia. Her latest book, on
tax politics in Eastern Europe,
was published last year. Joel is
an internist in Santa Monica
and a UCLA clinical assistant
professor of medicine, teaching
second-year med students. His
wife Nicole is an architect with
Marmol & Radziner, and their
children Bailee, 7, and Jonah, 4,
are big fans of guest Dan Skwire’s
juggling.
We’ll end with characteristically witty reflections from Dore
Lebeau, who is pursuing a “Master’s in MOM which includes
courses in negotiating the behavioral patterns of children, finding
zen in chaos created by stray tiny
parts of toys, and an advanced
course in multitasking. After an
extended internship, I have been
promoted to CEO of the Toung
family household—with its
three-figure salary. On the side,
I attempt to continue practicing
internal medicine at NYU. While
these tasks are deserving of my
time, the by-product is I have
neither read a book nor written anything longer than two
consecutive paragraphs.” Dore,
I share the same affliction but no
beautiful children to show for
it! While it might appear that
we lead pretty different lives,
all of us are clearly making an
effort to enjoy and fulfill our
passions as best as we can. May
we strengthen and support and
laugh with each other as we try
in our own ways to “have it all.”
1992
Heidi Sandreuter
130 West 79th Street, #11A
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
secretary Stephanie Phillips: It
was pretty awesome being back
in Williamstown and seeing
so many of you! Big thanks to
Heather Warren Whitman and
Fife Whitman and the rest of the
planning team for all of the hard
work that went into the weekend.
And thanks to those of you who
saved my rear and sent in notes
so quickly. I think it is just poor
form for a reunion class to have
no notes. So here goes.
Christy Johnson shared: “Following an amazing reunion weekend, Christy Johnson, Lon Troyer
and Lora Verkouille recuperated
at Christy’s parents’ place on
Cape Cod. Denis Gainty, who
had to miss reunion due to a
conflicting academic conference,
managed to join the fun for a
few days. Denis is still living in
Decatur, Ga., with wife Jen Patico
’94 and two kids. When not
playing mandolin in his bluegrass
band, the Porch Bottom Boys,
Denis is an assistant professor
at Georgia State University. He’s
hard at work overseeing a home
renovation project and finishing
his first book, Martial Arts and
the Body Politic in Meiji Japan,
which will be published sometime
next year.”
Jennifer Bryan was sitting in
her office during prospectivestudent week at Oberlin College,
where she is an English professor.
She heard a knock on her door,
looked up and saw a young man
standing in the doorway—but
not just any young man. It was
Marcus Christian Jr., firstborn
son of her freshman roommate
Valda Clark Christian. Per Jen, “It
was all I could do not to cry. I
hope more members of the Class
of ’92 will send their children to
my office to chat about choosing
a college!”
Jim Ryan’s family had an
incredible time at reunion.
“Ironically, it was refreshing,
re-energizing and exhausting,
all at the same time! Those Williams D bunk beds lack a certain
‘user-friendliness.’ My kids loved
meeting everyone else’s kids,
and it was so fantastic to catch
up with both great friends and
several people I’m not sure I ever
spoke to in college! To be there
while my father celebrated his
50th was just icing on the cake.”
Jae Gruenke was unable to
be there because she lives in
Scotland. (Ed. note: Hmph. I’m
pretty sure that Logan McDougal
traveled from the Ukraine…)
Jae, her husband and her
3-year-old son have been living
in Edinburgh since last August
and find it a wonderful change
from New York. Her husband
is in a PhD program, her son is
starting to pick up an accent, and
her Feldenkrais workshops for
runners appear to be in demand
throughout the UK, so she has
been traveling to teach and enjoying herself very much.
Stacey (Jones) Both missed
reunion for her 5-year-old
daughter’s dance recital. However, she planned to make the
trek from Warrenton, Va., to
Williamstown soon to show her
5-year-old twins and her 7-yearold the beautiful campus and visit
museums and such. Stacey adds,
“I will soon be a certified Zumba
instructor and return to teaching
in some capacity as my younger
children enter school full time.”
Karen Schroeder writes, “After
a 20-year career as a consultant
managing federal financial system
implementations, I am switching
gears and going back to school
to get my law degree at George
Mason University. I still live in
Arlington, Va., and I’m happy
that the GMU Law campus is
just a five-minute walk from my
condo. I look forward to being a
student again.”
Parry Graham was also not
able to be at reunion, as he and
his family relocated back to the
Boston area in July. Parry shares,
“I will be starting work as the
principal of Nashoba Regional
High School in Bolton, Mass.,
and we are moving into a house
in Concord. We are sad to leave
friends and family in North
Carolina but excited to get back
to Mass. My regret at not being
able to get to the reunion is
somewhat assuaged by the fact
that we will soon be able to visit
Williamstown just about any
weekend, and that the attendance
of the whole family will be a
done deal for our 25th.”
Now some news from the
reunion. Chip Becker writes, “I
rented a house with Marisa Brett
and her family for the weekend.
She and I have daughters about
the same age both named Naomi.
It was lovely to see them play
together over our few days in Williamstown. You asked about great
conversations—I had more than I
care to count; our classmates are
doing remarkable things.”
CL ASS
NOTES
Doug Dreffer says Pete Angevine
regaled him with tales of being
“asked” to perform spine surgery
on the King of Saudi Arabia
and will have to fly over there
every two weeks to check on his
majesty. Doug writes, “Unspoken
that if it didn’t go well he’d disappear into the desert and not make
our 25th.”
Kate (Lee) Flynn professes to
have been up at reunion for 24
hours, but as she didn’t see either
me or Heidi, she worried about
her chances of ever getting into
the class notes. So I just wanted
to make sure Kate had her
moment in the sun!
Sallie Han and Jason Antrosio
and I were also at reunion, down
from Oneonta, N.Y. Sallie writes,
“There just seemed not enough
time to talk to everyone—and
cater to the whims of our 5-yearold son, Sam, whom a number of
others in our class either met or
at least heard. … My funny story
involves our 8 year old daughter,
Sabrina, who, hearing me tell
yet another classmate that I just
received tenure, looked straight in
my eye and say: ‘Again? You tell
everybody that.’ And look, I just
told everybody again.”
Abigail Solomon has possibly
the best excuse for not being
at reunion: She was on her
honeymoon. Abigail got married
to Jason Teuscher on Martha’s
Vineyard on May 27, and Abigail
Lash was a bridesmaid.
Kelly McCracken writes that she
was “exceedingly pleased with
the Lehman turnout and optimistic for an even more abundant
Lehman photo at the 25th. It was
also a treat to catch the screening
of Liza’s Johnson’s feature film
Return at Images.” (Ed. Note:
For those of you who have not
seen Liza’s film (and I think that
Anne Etheridge was the director
of photography), it is really unbelievably good. Go see it.)
Bob Riley reports that most of
the funny stories he heard cannot
be shared. But among his memorable moments was when he
“had lunch with Dave Frank and
football coaches Joe Doyle and
Dick Farley. They are both doing
well. … I hiked Pine Cobble with
Eric Swanson and Dave. I had
forgotten how beautiful both
Williamstown and the larger
Purple Valley are. My favorite
reaction to telling a classmate I
live in Little Rock, Ark., goes to
Heidi Sandreuter. Upon hearing
the words “Little Rock, Ark.”
she immediately brought her
hand to her mouth and exclaimed
‘Oh, my God!’ Funny stuff.”
Lastly, Arielle (Kagan) Masters
skipped the reunion because of—
wait for it—Girl Scouts activities.
That’s all I’ve got. Someone
asked me what the hardest part
of the job was. Frankly, this was
not that hard a job, and you all
made sure that it wasn’t thankless
(thank you!). It’s been a privilege
and a pleasure receiving news
from all of you for the past five
years. For those of you not at
reunion, Heidi Sandreuter very
kindly agreed to be the new
secretary, so look for her emails
in coming months. Be well and
be sure to write to Heidi when
she asks!
1993
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Chad Orzel
1570 Regent St.
Niskayuna, NY 12309
[email protected]
There were a bunch of near
misses on the way to this round
of class notes. I was in the LA
area in early June but wasn’t
able to catch up with Andy Lee. I
was in San Francisco later in the
month, but Ed McDermott was
out of town. And while Chris
Wolf happened to be in town,
our schedules didn’t mesh. I was
supposed to go to a Reunion
Planning Workshop in May, but
my kids got sick that morning,
so I missed out on that, as well.
I did catch up with Andy Lee on
an earlier West Coast trip, when
we watched my New York Giants
beat the San Francisco ’49ers en
route to another Super Bowl. I
realize I’m going to get hate mail
from the Boston crowd for bringing up such a painful memory, but
I don’t get to gloat much at home,
being married to a Patriots fan.
Judging from the responses
to my emails asking for news, I
was headed to the wrong state
beginning with “C,” as we have
a good deal of news from Colorado. Matt Cushing and his wife
had a daughter, Alyce, in Boulder
last fall, and Matt says having
kids is an awe-inspiring experience. Shawn Allen writes for the
first time, from Boulder, where
he lives with his 10-year-old twin
boys and 2-year-old daughter.
Shawn regularly sees Neil Goldenberg, who’s a hematologist at the
University of Colorado and also
has three kids, including twins.
In Denver Meg Tilton attended an
alumni event organized by Jonathan Coleman. Meg also relayed
the news that Mary (Buss) Reale
and her husband had a daughter,
Stephanie Suzanne, in May.
Allison Danner was appointed
a Superior Court Judge for Santa
Clara County in California. Chris
Cihon and his family moved to
the Golden State, according to
Andrew Rutherford, who completed his emergency medicine
residency in Dallas, where he’ll
be practicing. And Jennifer
Joslyn-Siemiakoski and family are
headed back to California after
six enjoyable months at Oxford.
Jon Nasser visited John Case,
who works for Microsoft in the
Seattle area. Nasser says he was
initially excited to see so many
people sporting Williams gear,
only to find they were actually
from some upstart state school
out that way. John Dye passed
the bar exam in Hawaii, his third
state, which might be some kind
of record. He was looking for
jobs and enjoying stay-at-home
parenting for the summer while
his wife Gale Prentiss settled in
as the head team physician for
the University of Hawaii. In
the oceans nearby, Kevin Weng
continues to chase fish and sharks
but reports that encounters
with classmates have been few
in number, owing to the lack of
weddings.
Indeed, Kevin is right—only
one wedding announcement this
time, from Navin Girishankar,
who married Sawdatou Wane
and is now the proud stepfather
of two teens. Navin and Sawdatou visited his family in Chennai,
India, and plan to visit her home
country of Senegal in December.
On the East Coast, Pete Kirkwood’s Shawnee Craft Brewing
continues its relentless expansion
and is now available all along the
eastern border of Pennsylvania.
It has yet to turn up in this area,
though, where it might come into
conflict with Chris Ericson’s Lake
Placid Brewing, causing some
divided beer loyalties. Pete and
his family were in the process of
moving to Traverse, Michigan,
where his wife Liz ’92 was to start
as policy director for Flow for
Water. Pete plans to continue to
manage Shawnee long-distance
and start another brewery in
Michigan, thus encircling the
crucial Buffalo, N.Y., market. Or
something.
Nadine Block returned to Williamstown for the WUFO Kraftee
reunion, where she caught up
with Dave Young and Ethan
Marin. Also in Massachusetts,
Dave ’92 and Jennifer Ryan had a
daughter, Penelope Jean, in early
n 1 9 9 2 –9 5
June. Jennifer’s update came from
inside the hospital while waiting
for paperwork, which is the kind
of dedication to the class notes
that I really appreciate. Judging
from Facebook, everybody is
now happily at home.
Also in New England, Amy
Matthews had a “cute little redheaded boy,” Rowan Shadrach
Moakly, last August. Mei Ying
So wrote in to note that her 10th
wedding anniversary was this
year (in response to my request
for news, which was sent on my
10th anniversary), along with the
sixth anniversary of their wine
shop in Beacon, N.Y.
Holly Bernstein wrote that
August will be her 16th wedding
anniversary and the bat mitzvah
for her daughter. Erik and Patty
Rutins are celebrating their 16th
anniversary this year, and their
son was “graduating” from
preschool this year and starting
kindergarten in the fall.
Andrew Wright wrote with the
scary but ultimately good news
that he recently completed a
course of treatment for cancer,
and his prognosis is excellent. He
was spending the summer getting
his strength back, and he hoped
to be fully recovered by fall. Best
wishes for his recovery.
And in the fine Williams tradition of the Society of Alumni
getting the final word at graduation, I have been asked to remind
you all that next year will be our
20th reunion, hard as that may
be to believe. Thus you should
mark your calendars for June 6-9
next year, and watch your mail
(e- and otherwise) for additional
appeals for donations. Also, if
you’re into social media, you can
join the class group on Facebook,
and if you’re interested in helping
with the reunion, contact Brian
Foster (brian.foster@tuck2000.
com). And, as always, if you have
news to report, send it to me at
[email protected].
1994
Elizabeth Randolph Rappaport
9 Killington St.
Chappaqua, NY 10514
[email protected]
I hope everyone had a fantastic
summer. My suburb of New
York feels like a hilly vacation
town in the summertime, so I was
spending weekends at our pool
club, playing some tennis, biking
and barbecuing. Tim Watson
wrote that about two years ago
he scratched an “entrepreneurial
itch” and began a supply chain
consulting company. He lives
in San Francisco with his wife
Jane and two boys, Ty, 2½, and
Charlie, 4. Tim started his venture after working for 15 years
in retail with Bloomingdales and
Wal-mart, with a break for business school.
Send me your news. Sorry, this
update is a little thin. Give me
more! Best, Liz.
1995
Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin
535 Arabella St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
Nancy O’Brien Wagner
1049 Linwood Ave.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
[email protected]
Thank you all for sharing your
news. It is always a fun privilege
to read what you are up to. I
want to hear more, though!
There was a 4.6 percent respond
rate to my appeal for this installment. Let’s shoot for 10 percent!
I will start with Ted Welsh, who
responded within seconds of me
pressing “send.” Teddy was honored to give the faculty address
at Westfield State University’s
commencement in June. Greg
Crowther sent a wonderful link
of himself giving a presentation
on educational science songs to
the University of Washington
community as part of its annual
“Mini-Medical School” series.
Check it out: bit.ly/MYtKbS.
Pam Smith was part of the U.S.
100-kilometer national team
for the second year in a row. In
April the team competed in the
100-kilometer World Championships held in Seregno, Italy. The
U.S. women came home with
the gold medal. Pam was fifth
overall and earned a silver medal
in the World Masters Association
competition. Pam shares: “Greg
Crowther and Nikki Kimball both
competed for this team in the
past and were a major inspiration
for me.”
In January Jonathan Eric
Eades completed his third halfmarathon in Houston. He was
recovering from foot surgery
and hoping to run the LA and
San Antonio half-marathons in
the fall. Lisa Siraganian spent
a year in Cambridge at the
American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. She has been tenured
and promoted in the English
dept. at SMU. Julie Yuen Heller
started a job at Best Buy in the
dot-com area and is enjoying
working for a large corporation
for the first time. She and her
husband started volunteering for
Minnesota Sheltie Rescue. Jen
Hood-DeGrenier was to start a
job at Worcester State University
in the fall. She also purchased a
house in Wayland, Mass.: “We
are currently enjoying many trips
to Lowe’s and seemingly neverending box unpacking. The kids
(Julia, 61⁄2, and Atticus, 4) are
excited that we live in walking
distance to the town pool.”
Shelby Hallam Benton finds
herself “in the middle of domestic
crazy town.” Daughter Maggie
graduated from eighth grade,
spent the summer in Atlanta
babysitting her special-needs
cousin and in the fall planned to
head to Bristol County Agricultural High School, where, Shelby
adds, “the cows are a more
normal color than purple.” Son
Drew spent the summer working
on a farm in Michigan. When she
is not chasing around her toddler
Patrick and almost-1-year-old
Sarah, Shelby is busy with Boy
Scouts and is the treasurer for her
troop committee. She is hoping
to get back to playing the violin
and taking regular showers in
between homeschooling Drew
and breathing! Emily (Sterne)
Schebesta returned to New
Orleans in April for Jazz Fest
and to visit me (Anamaria)! She
introduced her 1-year-old son
Lucas to phenomenal music and
the smells of food he’ll get to
taste on his next visit! Emily continues to focus on her wedding
photography business between
Lucas’ naps!
The Class of ’95 is going strong
in the reproduction department!
Flo Waldron welcomed her second
daughter, Susanna Merilda
McCooey, on April 18. Flo says:
“I never could have imagined
so many aspects of parenthood
would be easier the second time
around, as everyone kept telling
me, but being up and about this
time really has made a huge
difference.” Flo was “hoping to
get in lots more biking [over the]
summer and otherwise looking
forward to enjoying my girls.”
Helen Spande and husband Simone welcomed a marvelous little
boy, Raffaele Dante Amidei, into
the world on April 29. Caroline
(Mahon) deCarvalho welcomed
her fourth baby in February. Her
name is Melissa. She joins siblings
Feliciano,11, Susanna, 7, and
Angelina, 2. Caroline continues to
teach at the International School
of Amazonas, a Cambridge
University International Examinations Center in Manaus, Brazil.
CL ASS
NOTES
She extends a warm welcome to
“any Williams visitors who want
to see the Amazon rainforest.”
Her email is [email protected].
David Lamb sends the happy
news—possibly his first
update—that he and wife Griffin
welcomed fraternal twins Lillian
Emerson and Spencer Armstrong
Lamb into the world on May 6.
They are David and Griffin’s first
children, and they were born at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center in Boston, where David
has worked as in-house counsel
for eight-and-a-half years.
According to David, Neil Glass
was “first to point out the subconscious use of Williams dorm
names.” Subconscious?
Also among the newbies to
this column, Hal Johnson writes:
“I have been lurking this list for
a long time, both because I am
habitually a bad correspondent
and because my life has hitherto
been composed mainly of the
unremarkable: grifts, heartbreaks
and comic books. It is therefore
with some degree of trepidation
that I mention where the grifting
finally paid off. I have a novel
coming out from Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt this September: Immortal Lycanthropes it
is called, and it’s a young adult
book, ages 13 and up, but it’s
really a fine read for all ages,
except, apparently, those under
13. It’s got secret societies and
adventure and forbidden lore,
plus people who turn into gorillas
and moose and stuff like that. So
I’m saying that everyone should
read it. If they do, it will keep me
off the streets. This is the proof
that what I say is true (most of
it): http://amzn.to/Nm9lsi.”
Neel Ghandi writes: “Even
though I’ve rarely written in
with my own updates, I read the
notes religiously to keep up with
everything our classmates have
been up to. I’m writing this time
around because my family has
decided to move to Atlanta. This
is a big change for us, having
lived in NYC for most of the
past 12 years since graduating
medical school. I will be taking
a position in the epidemiology department at the Emory
School of Public Health. I will be
continuing my clinical research
in tuberculosis and HIV in South
Africa, where I’ve maintained a
study site for the past 10 years.
With this transition, though, I
hope to also be able to expand to
other countries as well. My wife
Sarita Shah, who has been my
main research collaborator, will
be taking a position in the International Tuberculosis Research
Branch at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. She has
the wonderful opportunity to
help in shaping CDC’s many TB
activities worldwide. Overall,
our kids have taken the news
well. Sahil, 6, and Ashima, 3, are
looking forward to having their
own bedrooms, a yard and being
able to swim outdoors for more
months out of the year. Sahil will
be starting second grade, and
Ashima will be in pre-K.”
I’ll present Lisa (Masterman)
Michaud’s contribution as I got
it: “Here is an M-themed update.
I am greatly enjoying being a
*M*om to 6-year-old Princess/
Ninja Renee and 8-year-old
Jedi/Ninja Noah. I finished my
second year teaching computer
science at *M*errimack College
in *M*assachusetts. I had the
experience of hiring one of my
former students from my first job
as a new colleague, which means
my career is really *M*ature at
this point! This summer I had a
*M*ountain of research to get
through in between three big
family road trips to *M*innesota,
*M*aryland and *M*aine.”
David Lee enjoys life in San
Francisco with wife Angela and
21 month-old-son Alexander.
David works at a financial
research firm called ISI Group,
based out of NYC. He, Adam
Nagata, John Streng and Jessie
Price attended a mutual friend’s
wedding in S.F. David reports
that John has apparently “created an amazing driving range
in his backyard (forest), Adam
is ‘shrinking’ people in LA, and
Jessie continues to write for Eating Well.” David also went on a
golf outing in the Nevada desert
with Frank Puleo, Matt Governali,
Brooks Gibbins, Alex Shawe, Jay
Ashton, Justin Griffith and John
Thompson. “It was Slippery B vs.
Meadow St., and while I think
there were some funny numbers,
Slippery B was victorious this
time around. Looking forward
to next year’s rematch.” Also in
California, Celia Quezada and
her husband have been enjoying
living in the country in and are
pondering what to do with 2.5
acres of “pretty much nothing.”
However, they are surrounded
by wineries, so “life is good
because wine is available 24/7 on
a non-workday.”
After 12 years in Chicago,
Laura Barré Nadler has moved to
San Francisco. Laura says: “My
husband is joining the faculty of
UC Berkeley, my 3-year-old son
is planning to have a garden in
our backyard, and I am figuring
out what’s next career-wise. I’d
love to hear from any classmates
who are out there!” Laura Brown
Coulam and her family moved
from Rhode Island to Brentwood, Tenn. She is busy raising
her three boys (ages 7, 4 and 12
months). She’s also beginning to
look for a part-time position in
Nashville as a neuropsychologist. Jeff Vander Clute is spending
a lot of time in the Seattle area.
As executive director of New
Stories, a board member of the
Compassionate Action Network
International and board president
of the Happiness Initiative, Jeff
has been working with organizations experiencing profound
growth and transformation,
especially movement-building
organizations in the nonprofit
sector. Most of this work is in
the Seattle area. Jeff adds: “As
much as I love California, my car
is spending more and more time
up north.” Norma Lopez moved
to Oak Park, outside of Chicago,
and works at the Schuler Family
Foundation with three Williams
alums. Norma writes: “Of the
four of us, three are from a ’90s
class—fun times. I work with
high school students from underresourced communities over the
course of four years, through
academic programming and college counseling, with the purpose
of having them matriculate at
private, selective colleges. Any
guesses where I’d like to send
them?” After ending her appointment on the Alumni Executive
Committee, and looking to be
in touch with Williams, Norma
helped organize an alumni of
color event in Chicago. Thanks,
Norma, for all you do!
I would also like to thank
(on behalf of all of us, if I may)
Suzanne (Le Page) Wintner for all
the hard work she and her team
of agents accomplished for the
Alumni Fund. As you read this,
get excited, because Sue has a
special message for us: “Alumni
Fund kicks off in just a few
weeks, and as class agent I’m
hoping that ’95 gives early, gives
strong and gives lots of feedback.
We always welcome new agents,
so drop me a line if you’d like
to join the team: suz_lepage@
hotmail.com.” It is a fun team,
so give Sue a call, and let’s be
really strong this year! Sue and
her family went to Syracuse in
June to visit their good friend
Justin Moore and his family.
Justin coached women’s crew at
Williams from 1999-2010.
n 1 9 9 5 –9 6
As for yours truly, I continue
to raise my 6- and 7½-yearold boys, and, most days, I do
a pretty good job. I continue
working in the recovery of New
Orleans, and I love my connection to Williams via this column
and other endeavors. Stay in
touch y’all!
1996
Lesley Whitcomb Fierst
245 Dale Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20910
[email protected]
Much like episodes of Sesame
Street, this edition of class news
will be brought to us by the
number 1 (in ordinal form) and
the letter J.
For the first time, we have had
a classmate’s news submitted by
his PR rep: Brooks Goddard ’63
writes of his son: “Peter Goddard
just finished his 12th year teaching English at Newton North
High School in Newton, Mass.
He is a respected teacher and
junior varsity boys soccer coach.
As part of his leadership class he
has been taking student groups
each spring to New Orleans
to help in the Katrina cleanup,
which, regrettably, is ongoing.
He is now embarked on helping
to form the ‘Mass Nine for the
Lower Ninth’ program, which
will take nine Massachusetts
vocational high school programs
each year to the hardest-hit
section of New Orleans. With
support from the city mayor and
Sen. John Kerry, Peter hopes that
this model will get federal funding and become a pilot program
for high schools helping disaster
areas. Peter’s wife Natasha is
also an educator, and their three
children are thriving students.”
Celebrating her first solo art
show is Katie Sawyer Rose. “It’s
called NATIVE: California Plants
in Glass, Metal & Light, and
it’s at Inclusions Gallery, San
Francisco, opening July 14. I’ll be
showing my new series of mixedmedia lightboxes, plus a companion website with information on
the native plant species depicted.
The kids are 4 and 2 now, so
we’re a potty-trainin’, preschoolin’, mac-’n’-cheese-eatin’ circus
over here … good times!”
Elizabeth Waugh has rejoined
the workforce. “After having
been a stay-at-home mama for
the past five years, it has been a
big adjustment for all of us for
me to go back to work, but I am
thrilled to share that I am the
executive director of the Orange
County Cultural Center, a nonprofit arts center in Hillsborough,
N.C. We are working hard to get
a permanent performing arts center going in historic downtown
Hillsborough that will be accessible to everyone in the county,
including folks in the much more
rural sections between Chapel
Hill and Hillsborough.” After
splitting up with her partner last
fall, Elizabeth is dating a guy
who is “a Massachusetts native—
and a cop!” and hosted Tiffany
Steinwert and her family over
Memorial Day weekend in what
has become an annual summer
get-together.
For the first time in 15 years,
we’ve heard from Silas Beebe: “I
really enjoyed the reunion last
year in Billsville and get the urge
to visit in June and September
every year but rarely make it
happen. Last year I came straight
from a frequent-flier-mile-funded
three-week trip to Kyoto and
Tokyo. Great fun, and I even
managed to see Tokyo during a
typhoon. It was strange being
there a few months after the tsunami, but the only sign I saw of it
was occasional posters for charities and a couple of stone lanterns
that fell over in a Tokyo cemetery.
My group of friends from Williams has had our own reunion
(usually nine to 20 people) every
single year since we graduated.
This is actually the first year there
hasn’t been a long email heckle
thread going around our crew
getting everyone organized for a
reunion, so I’m getting the feeling
this may be the first year we miss.
I’m not allowed to name names,
because some people seem proud
of their mysterious absence from
class notes?! But hopefully some
of my friends will read this and
get their butts in gear!”)
Silas continues: “I started trail
running last year (better late than
never), and it didn’t take long to
run into Matt Abrahams on the
trail. He also lives in NW Portland and obviously runs a lot,
because I had a hard time keeping
up with him on the long uphills.
Last year was a momentous year
for me, personally, because I
finally got a couple of my designs
into the mass media. There was
an exoskeletal bionic arm (the
X-AR for Equipois) that made
it onto CNN (http://cnnmon.ie/
LP3GRC) and Fast Company.
And I finally got something into
The Wall Street Journal! In their
Oct. 8, 2011, print and online
(http://on.wsj.com/NvYoo2)
they featured my second-place
winning (in the Oregon Manifest
national bike design competition)
design for the ultimate urban
utility bicycle, a ‘Bentley of city
bikes,’ that is my personal dream
bike. It’s the world’s first bicycle
with retro-reflective powder coat
paint, so it amplifies safety and
practicality with style.”
Experiencing for the first
time the need for the pee-pee
teepee when changing diapers
is Lyn Aborn, mom of 2-year-old
Sabrina and Leo, born Feb. 15.
Lyn says, “Sabrina … is slowly
adjusting to life as a big sister. I
think the one who has had it the
worst has been the dog, who now
actively seeks out affection at the
local coffee shop. But all is well.”
Lyn was on maternity leave
until July and planned to spend
most of June back East (“really
excited about the long plane ride
with toddler and infant—not”),
excited to catch up with family
and friends. She concludes, “Life
with two is definitely more chaotic, but also wonderful.”
Bryan Greenhouse wrote, “I
finally got my first real job at age
37 at UCSF, with my own lab
and everything. Most importantly, it comes with free access
to dry ice, which is handy for
keeping ice cream from melting.
… Cara and I managed to get our
oldest, Lucia, into our favorite
public kindergarten in SF. It is
hard to imagine our son, Emile,
2, in kindergarten at any point, as
he currently has an unfortunate
combination of traits—the physical prowess of a leopard and the
common sense of a reality TV
star.”
And for the first time, I have an
international Facebook friend:
Bernard Asirifi friend-requested
me, and apparently he is living in
Bermuda? Nice!
Moving to the Js, Jane Roper
reported, “Our twin daughters
are headed for kindergarten
in the fall, and we wrote the
last-ever preschool tuition check
of our lives. What a rush. Also,
my memoir, DOUBLE TIME:
How I Survived—And Mostly
Thrived—Through My First
Three Years of Mothering Twins,
was published this month by St.
Martin’s Press. (Any ’96 Ephs out
there with twins?)”
Robin (Keller) Elliott and I saw
each other briefly in May. Robin
was in DC for about 24 hours to
celebrate the arrival of her new
niece, and she was kind enough
to fit in a visit to my daughter
Aviva’s soccer game to see us;
clearly, this woman and mother
of three boys has some experience multitasking.
CL ASS
NOTES
Jen Rubinstein and her husband
Pete are living in Charlottesville,
where Jen is an assistant professor of political theory in the
politics department at the University of Virginia. “Our big news
is that we are now parents! Our
daughter Zora Raye Rubenstein
Furia was born April 2. So far
she seems to be primarily committed to eating; she also shows
admirable fortitude in the face
of our efforts to squish her into
slings and other baby-transport
devices.”
Just having closed on a house
in Moss Beach, Calif., is Farah
(Schaeffer) Gerdes. “For classmates who attended WilliamsMystic or live(d) in the Bay
Area, think Fitzgerald Marine
Preserve and then walk five
minutes south.” The Gerdes clan
planned to move in right before
the summer.
Jay Schuur received a Young
Investigator Award from the
Society of Academic Emergency
Medicine in May and was
named chief of the Division of
Health Policy Translation in the
Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham & Women’s
Hospital.
Heather Wilkinson shared, “I
am so thrilled that I have been
offered a job as a full-time physician acupuncturist working with
The Wounded Warriors Project
at Walter Reed National Military
Medical Hospital in Bethesda!”
When she wrote, Heather was in
the process of moving back to the
DC area “and desperately trying
to find a place to live … close to
the social scene yet will accept my
two dogs and cat! I have a little
menagerie that travels with me,
but, seriously, I have been working the angle that one of my dogs
is blind and he depends on his
‘sister’ to help him get around.
(OK, not so much, since the blind
one is super independent, but she
does head him off when he heads
toward walls, etc.!)”
Japan’s Daniel Heller wrote,
“I often tell my colleagues at
Yokohama National University
and others about Williams, its
alums and the Williams society.
While we will never be able to
make our school into Williams—there is only one Purple
Valley after all—I dream of the
day when we can move closer
toward something like the truly
symbiotic relationship that we
Ephs have with our alma mater.”
Amy Prieto writes from Colorado
State University: “I get to keep
my job! My husband and I both
got tenure. It’s a bit odd to think
that we finally get to know, for
sure, that we can stay in a place
we love living, with two jobs we
love, in theory for life. So for all
my fellow Ephs who have an itch
to visit Colorado, I’ll be here for
the foreseeable future!”
Josh and Lisa (Matus) Grossman
have had a busy year. Josh just
got tenure and was promoted to
associate professor at St. Mary’s
College of Maryland. He’ll be
chair of the physics department
next year. Lisa got a new job
for the Navy as an acquisition
specialist. “Our sons are growing like weeds. Joe, age 51⁄2, is
going to be entering elementary
school in the fall, and Eli, 15
months, thinks he is already 2
and has mastered the word ‘No!’
We had a hectic minireunion
with Kim (Tabtiang) and Ben
Evans and Lisa (Blaskey) and
Matt DeCamp and all their kids
last winter in Baltimore at the
train museum.”
And I must conclude with a
J and a first: The first time that
someone has responded to a
direct call-out for a news submission, AND it’s Josh Cohen.
Josh and I ran into each other at
a lawyers’ conference in Miami,
so Josh’s response is not entirely
unprompted. “As promised at
the Shore Club, and in response
to the summons you issued in
the last edition, good tidings
from San Francisco!” Success!
Josh sent an adorable photo of
Ella Jean Cohen, welcomed by
Josh and his wife Jennifer Huber
on Aug. 8, 2011. “In the rare
moment when I’m not fathering, I practice criminal defense
at Clarence Dyer & Cohen. A
few months back the firm was
honored to host a fundraiser
for Congressman Chris Murphy
to further his campaign for the
U.S. Senate. Not surprisingly,
Murph was incredibly wellreceived by Ephs and others.
Andy Berlind, Lucy (Ingle) Johns
and Paige Patterson were all
there to show their support.
Over Memorial Day weekend
my family met Lucy’s—which
includes 17-month-old twins
Zach and Lexi—at a neighborhood playground. We also spoke
to Brawley Reishman ’95, who
lives in Chicago. And of course
I bumped into Lesley Whitcomb
Fierst among a bunch of pasty
suits at a white-collar convention
in Miami Beach at the end of
March, which pretty much made
my spring.”
What better note to end on
could there be? Look forward to
sharing more news next edition!
1997
Jeff Zeeman
1103 Park Road NW, #8
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing secretary
Bahia Ramos: Ah! 15 years and
still going strong. I wasn’t able to
make it to reunion this year, but
here’s a couple of reports from
folks who did.
Former Secretary Kate Boyle
Ramsdell reports, “We laughed,
we cried, it was better than
Armstrong Late Night. … I was
impressed with the social stamina
of many of our classmates who
managed to party late into the
night in Morgan basement. Had
Colonial Pizza still been a stone’s
throw away, I may have joined
in the fun. Had a great time
catching up with so many people,
but the crowning achievement
of the weekend was, by far, the
exceedingly high percentage of
Williams B members in attendance! Our best count put us at
10. Tom Eldert, Dave Turner, Jess
Bongiorno (with an entourage
including husband Nik, baby
Mia, Jess’ younger sister—now
married to Seth Morgan, and their
new daughter and puppy), Rachel
Obenzinger Cohn and her gaggle
of beautiful children, Chloe Bland
Shaw and her boys, Nancy Lee,
Bevan Brennan, Alex St. Clair and
family, Chris Sweeney, and me.
Witnessed the genius of Robbi
Behr and Matt Swanson as they
magically captured the attention of a group of toddlers and
children and then helped them
to create personalized flip books.
Anyone with kids should sign up
for their newest initiative, Bobbledy Books. I had the chance to
drive out to Williamstown with
John Young, who is still coaching
at Davidson and had the chance
to spend time in DC with Alex St.
Clair and then with Brad Maron
and family on his way up from
Charlotte. Kim Kehrberger and I
(using our very narrow research
sample) believe that we—at
15 years apiece at our current
places of employment—are least
likely to have a new job at the
20th. She’ll be at Bain, and I at
Nobles, and so it goes. The class
parade was a hit, and our Rock
Fan mugs nicely complemented
our class banner of the same
theme. Mariana Santiesteban
Pesin and Isaac arrived with their
brood, and she, Liz Fishman, Mac
McClelland, Sam Walsh and I even
braved the 90-minute annual
meeting in Lasell. Proud Ephs.
n 1 9 9 6 –9 7
Annie Thoms was a part of the
weekend’s ‘TED’ talks—impressive, indeed, with her take on
teaching in NYC post- 9/11.
Casey Longergan and his wife
Anne ’98 came up from Philly.
They talked about the fact that in
five years they’ll be bringing their
oldest, Hughes, along for college
visits! How did we get this old?
So many others joined in the fun,
including Guillermo de las Casas
(from Hong Kong!), Jeff Zeeman
(our new class secretary—thank
you, Jeff!), Dawn Biehler (and
Alice), Hillary Buyea, Lori Chelius
and her adorable daughter, Colleen Classen, Mortisha Howell,
Susan Costanzo, the McLears,
Cartees, Watsons (both ’97
families of that name), Forbeses,
Tripps, Vazquezes, Sommerses,
Kellys, etc., etc. (too many to
name), and our excitement for
the 20th only heightened. Thank
you to Hallie, Seth, Liz and
others who helped to put it all
together for us.”
Well done! And, as if they were
listening from afar, our organizers
have this to say…
Seth Morgan and Hallie Dagruma thank everyone for coming
out for reunion. It was a great
time. Hallie writes, “I thoroughly
enjoyed being the reunion chair
and seeing everyone pour into
town. It was a bit sad, though,
to see everyone go … with the
only consolation that we would
get to do it all again in five years,
and, hopefully, see some folks in
the meantime! I would also like
to thank Seth for being a great
co-pilot in the planning. I think
we worked really well together,
and I appreciate all that he did. I
also want to thank Guillermo de
las Casas for his help throwing
together some great activities for
the kids and for helping with the
electronics. Thank you!”
Hallie’s recap: “We had two
packed days of fun, with events
planned by the college during the
daytime and evening activities
with our class under the tent in
the Science Quad. We had a BBQ
dinner on Friday night followed
on Saturday with a more formal
affair. Food was delicious, in my
opinion, and the mojitos also
did the trick. On Sunday we said
goodbye with a breakfast in the
morning.
“Some highlights of our class’s
festivities: Seeing everyone spread
out in the sun in the Science
Quad; classmates playing guitar
and making music on the new
Jenny Holzer bench; pop rocket
and balloon launches up on
the hill bringing kids of all ages
together; swapping stories about
our lives (personal and professional) and recalling some pretty
fun stories from the good old
days (thanks for the laughs!);
Class of 1997 kids huddling
close and sharing bins of truffle
popcorn giggling to Shaun the
Sheep under the stars; seeing Alex
St. Clair’s kid Penn hip-hop on
the dance floor (my kids’ favorite
moment of the whole weekend)
… he was good!; staying out
(much too) late with friends, with
even some people heading down
to the Purple Pub (like old times);
and, in sum, catching up with
everyone, reconnecting with old
friends and making new ones.
Thanks again for coming! Looking forward to our 20th!”
Write Robbi Behr and Matthew
Swanson: “We’d like to thank all
the kids (and parents) who came
to our reading and book-making
workshop at reunion. The kids
did such an amazing job, and we
hope they will all keep making
books. Along those lines, we’re
excited to be collaborating with
Drew Bunting, who will be writing and performing children’s
songs for our new book club for
kids, Bobbledy Books, which
launches in August.”
One more recap just to
reinforce this good time had by
all… Michel Ohly writes, “The
Ohly clan had a fabulous time
at reunion. The isolation of the
Science Quad combined with
the abundance of small and midsized kiddos meant that our kids
were able to run wild as part of
the pack. We made sure we could
locate them every once in a while,
and we all had a blast. Miles, our
5-year-old, had the time of his
life heating up the dance floor
with Alex St. Clair’s little boy,
the river-dance-break-dancing
wonder. Both Lily and Miles are
still talking about the friends they
made that weekend. Family fun
highlights included book making
with Robbi and Matthew, a kids’
concert in Brooks Rogers and
heart-felt interactions with the
purple cow, Ephelia. While the
kids ran wild, Derek and I got
more time to chat with other
adults than we have had in years.
It was fun catching up with old
friends like Sarah Breckenridge,
Eunice Lee, Chris Sweeney and
“Mac” McClelland, to name a few.
We also really enjoyed making
new connections with people that
used to be mere acquaintances
or complete strangers. And to
the members of Williams E and
Poker Flats E and F who didn’t
make the trek, we expect to see
you at the 20th!”
And with that, we return to life
away from the Purple Valley.
Matt Rouse was planning a
move to Boston in August. He
writes, “I’ll be starting my clinical
internship, the last hurdle I have
to jump in order to get my doctorate, in September. I’ll be spending
eight months at Boston Medical
Center, working with children and
adolescents, and then four months
at the VA working with veterans.
I plan to recruit Brad Murray and
Penn Clarke into some kind of a
cappella group for middle-aged
men.”
Kate (Hedden) ’98 and Dave
Vosburg finalized the adoption
of their third child, Diego, in
March. He’s effectively a twin of
the other family adoptee, Isabella,
and both are adding to the ethnic
diversity of the family. Now the
whole family’s trying to learn
Spanish!
Dave also saw Franklin Mullins
in Palo Alto in May for the world
premiere of a documentary film,
From the Dust: Conversations in
Creation (fromthedustmovie.org).
Franklin’s connections with the
producer got Dave involved with
the film, resulting in an appearance on a panel at the premiere
and a spot in the credits!
Carrie Philpott reports, “My
husband Cy and I welcomed a
daughter, Anna Bailey Philpott,
on Feb. 3. She is the first girl on
my husband’s side in four generations, so it’s taken us all quite
a while to get used to all of the
pink! She’s an easygoing, happy
baby, and big brother George,
3, is having lots of fun with her.
We’re in Atlanta and were sad to
miss everyone for the 15th!”
Bryan Sherman has spent five
years living in Tokyo with his
wife Miyuki and their Norfolk
Terrier, Gramercy. After working
in the Tokyo HQ of Fast Retailing, the parent company of the
retail brand Uniqlo, he is now
in business for himself, running
a small consulting, training and
facilitation company with a focus
on the globalizing Japanese client
(www.gramercyengagement.
com). He is enjoying the thrills of
entrepreneurship.
Melanie (Lerch) Howard writes,
“The biggest thing in my life right
now is my son, Jackson Marquis.
He was born in 2010, and it has
been a wonderful whirlwind since
then. My husband RJ amazingly
offered to assume the role of
full-time caregiver so that I could
continue to pursue my career. I
remain at my firm, Loeb & Loeb
LLP, and I was promoted to
CL ASS
NOTES
senior counsel in February of this
year. I am in the advanced media
and technology department,
and my practice focuses on the
intersections between new media/
tech innovation and intellectual
property rights. I also continue
to serve on the board of Fonkoze
USA, supporting the work of the
largest microfinance institution in
Haiti. RJ and I traveled to Haiti
in March for my annual board
meeting, and we were fortunate
to visit some of the clients of
Zafen, our newest program for
SMEs. We were also welcomed
into the center meetings of two
women’s lending groups, one of
which has been together for more
than seven years (and at least as
many loan cycles). I am always
humbled and inspired by these
trips and come away so grateful
to be involved with the work of
Fonkoze. I haven’t been able to
connect with as many Ephs in the
past year as I would have liked,
but I did enjoy a reunion with Jo
Tams (Holbert) in the Bay area last
summer.”
Barbarose Guastello is living
in Birmingham, Mich., where
she and her husband celebrated
their daughter Katherine’s first
birthday: “She is a big walker, so
I’m constantly chasing her.”
Emily Eldredge submits, “I’m
still very happy in Tucson, Ariz.,
with my sweetie Paco, being
‘weekend mom’ to his two little
girls. I presented my emotional
healing technique, The Drawing
Out Process, at a prison in Ohio,
and it was a rousing success!
Inmates were lined up for hours
to go through it, and the prison
now wants it to be a permanent
part of their program. I’ve since
been sharing it with rehab centers,
spas and other organizations. I
hope to spread this work far and
wide, healing as many hearts as
I can.”
Mimi Epstein received her JD
from the William & Mary School
of Law and is to be clerking next
year for the Hon. Lorraine Nordlund at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va. Mimi
writes, “This was a major change
of career. Until law school, I was
designing sound for theater. I
couldn’t make it to reunion either,
so I’m looking forward to meeting up with DC-area alumni!”
Little has changed for Sumi Kim
since the last update: Still the Buddhist chaplain at Duke University
and still the minister for the Buddhist Families of Durham (BFD!).
Still has two kids and a husband.
Still good-looking and smart. GO,
Sumi!
Steph (and Brian) Slattery
report, “Brian’s third novel was
published by Tor in April. It’s
titled Lost Everything. Our lives
are otherwise largely unchanged.
I’m starting my eighth year at
a pediatric practice in the New
Haven area. Brian is working as
a freelance editor and also helped
found (and is one of the editors
of) the New Haven Review, a
biannual literary journal and
micro-press. (They have so far
published three books, two by
New Haven authors). The Review
was founded by Mark Oppenheimer, husband of Cyd (Fremmer)
Oppenheimer ’98.”
Leigh and Ziv Lalich were unable
to attend reunion, but they have
a pretty good excuse: They had
their third baby boy, Nevin Ellis
Lalich, on March 12, and they
moved six weeks later.
Alyssa Trzeszkowski Giese moved
from Austin to the NYC area to
work on a doctorate at NYU and
had boy number three, Stefan.
She was happy to reconnect with
classmates at reunion and Amina
Abrahams’ wedding.
As for me, I’ve become a bit
more used to life in tropical
Miami, though it seems I’m rarely
here. Had the honor of being a
bridesmaid on Amina’s big day in
June, when I hung out with Mark
Kossick, Chloe Shaw, Alex Steinberg Barrage, Alyssa Trzeszkowski
Giese and a bunch of ’95ers who
made the event a blast.
As I close out on these five
years of being your secretary, I
want to thank you all for every
plea to which you responded,
all the moments you shared and
your patience with me. It’s been
great staying connected with all
of you, but life demands a break.
Congratulations to Jeff Zeeman
for leading us into our 40s (gasp),
and see you at our 20th! Lots of
love, B.
1998
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Andrea Stanton
734 St. Paul St.
Denver, CO 80206
[email protected]
Hello, and welcome to another
season of 1998 updates. As usual,
we have a number involving
family and children. Jim and
Caroline (Nesbit) Bell welcomed
their second child in January—a
son, Myles. Thais Mariz de Oliveira
Tavares had her second child,
daughter Catarina, in late 2011;
she joins Thais’ 5-year-old son
Caique. Thais and her family plan
to be at our reunion next year.
“I’m still headhunting, working
with Heidrick & Struggles,” she
writes, and she has seen a few
Williams folk trickle through Sao
Paolo, including Carlos Arnaiz,
Nacho Palma and Carlos Gil ’97.
Catherine Riihimaki and spouse
Kira welcomed son Kai on June
1, and they are “looking forward
to dressing him in various purple
cow outfits!” Tui Sutherland and
Adam Sterns welcomed son Elliott
in April—their second child.
“I’m trying to write in the brief
snatches of time when both children are sleeping,” she writes. She
has a new dragon-fantasy series
for children 10 and older, Wings
of Fire, launching from Scholastic.
She adds: “I hope everyone has
had a chance to read Bitterblue,
Kristin Cashore’s new novel,
which was a New York Times
bestseller—it’s so great!”
Kate (Hedden) Vosburg writes
that son Diego’s adoption became
official in March and that she
and husband Dave ’97 created a
Hobbit-themed birthday party
for son Nate. “Lots of trips to
the library, coloring, building
Legos and making up stories with
stuffed animals,” she says, “but
life is good.” Mari-Claudia Jimenez
and her husband also welcomed
a new one this year: daughter
Miren Antonia in January. She
enjoys her Williams “aunts”
Alana (Teutonico) Brock, Lauren
Gioia and Caroline (Nesbit) Bell.
And Catherine Bolten reports a
birth of the academic kind: She
has reviewed the page proofs of
her first book. She and husband Mac are heading back to
Sierra Leone for a new research
project on youth, education and
unemployment. Matthew Woods
Weber writes that despite running a marathon over Memorial
Day weekend, he and Janee are
“feeling old” since son Jakob
turned 13 and will soon be a
high school student. Janee visited
Lauren (Guth) and Tony Barnes for
daughter Ariadne’s first birthday,
and they also saw Deborah
Hirschmann.
Emily (Snyder) Queenan writes
that she, her husband and the
oldest of her three sons have
taken up mixed martial arts, and
she hopes to spar with kickboxer
Cat Bolten at reunion. “I have also
settled into life as a family doctor
in private solo practice, which can
be time-consuming,” she writes,
“especially since I also deliver
babies, who come at all times
of the day and night. But this
n 1 9 9 7 –9 9
continues to fuel my passion of
caring for families—love it!” She
welcomes visitors to Rochester.
Bill Kelsey writes that he and wife
Michelle welcomed a second son,
Benjamin, in May. They are happily settled in Connecticut, and
Bill adds: “I’m fortunate to get
many chances to return to London, where we spent 2005-10, on
business.” Jed White writes from
Madison that he and wife Sharon
welcomed a son, Philo Bracken,
who joins older sister Azelle.
When Lee Kindlon wrote, he was
“embroiled in a heated Democratic primary, running for the
office of Albany County (N.Y.)
district attorney.” The primary
was scheduled for September, and
Lee reported that the race was
taking up a lot of time. “I don’t
get to see my wife and three boys
much,” he wrote. We wish him
luck! Jessica Mintz, who I have
the pleasure of seeing whenever
I’m in Seattle, writes: “After a
decade as a technology journalist,
I decided to hang up my fedora
and head back to school. I’m
taking all the pre-med courses
that I imagine many of our class
still have nightmares about,” with
the goal of applying to veterinary
schools in the fall. Jessica spends
her non-pre-med time “volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation
center, working as an assistant at
a veterinary surgical clinic, and
swimming and cycling and hiking
around Seattle.” Conrad Oakey
was admitted to a Duke University cross-continent MBA program
and looks forward to someday
being a Fuqua alum like Kirsten
Thomas. “The program will
consist of a series of residencies
in Durham, Shanghai, Dubai and
St. Petersburg over the coming 14
months,” he writes, adding, “I’m
re-learning math … slowly.” Jed
Untereker writes that he is now
a Texan, having moved with his
family to El Paso in January after
taking a job with the Paso del
Norte Civil Rights Project. “El
Paso border region is a fascinating
place to live and work,” he says.
“We love it and find we’re much
more active than in Chicago.”
Their activities are enhanced by
son Ari Philip, who joined older
sister Leila last August.
Micaela Coady and her family are on the move: “After a
wonderful 10 years in NYC,
my husband Nate, 2-year-old
daughter Eliza and I are headed
to live in northern India and Thailand for the next eight months.”
They’ll be overseas for work
(“technology and public health,
respectively”) and travel, and they
invite anyone to visit. They’re
planning to be back for our 15th
reunion. Laura Townsend writes:
“After three years representing
foster children as an attorney with
the DC-based Children’s Law
Center, I moved to Pittsburgh and
took a position as director of the
Family Support Policy Board of
Allegheny County.” The board
works to marshal resources and
promote public policies to help
at-risk children and families. She
also married Eric, an internal
medicine resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Meggin (Thwing) Eastman and her
husband have just completed a
“long overdue kitchen remodel.”
A number of people combined
travel with minireunions in the
spring. Evelyn Spence met up
with Veronica Roberts and Honora
Englander in Bend, Ore., for a
weekend of intense activities:
“Half-marathons and half-Ironmans and the like,” followed by
hiking as a cool-down. Evelyn is
living in Seattle but spent February in Mongolia on assignment
for Skiing magazine. Chris Bell
writes that he had a great backcountry ski adventure in Vermont
with Ned Sahin, another ski trip
with Mac Harman and family in
Lake Tahoe, and a jaunt back to
Williamstown with Bill Reeves for
a “four-hour legendary meal” at
Hops n’ Vines, Mezze’s current
incarnation. He also received
what he calls an “aptly named”
Williams grant—a first for a
University of Oregon adjunct
faculty member—which he will
use to develop an experiential
environmental history course for
incoming first-years. “Will be
channeling Professors Whitney
Stoddard ’35 and Satterthwaite,”
he notes. Sarah E. Nelson ran the
Boston Marathon in April “in
90-degree heat.” “It was my first
marathon A.K. (after kids),” she
writes, “and now that I’ve recaught the running bug, I might
just let Juliana Chen talk me into
doing another one next year.”
Meanwhile, Abby (Wadsworth)
and Adam Serfass ’95 had a
minireunion with Julia Sunderland
and her husband and daughter
while Abby was in Chicago for a
conference and Julia was visiting
her in-laws. She also reports seeing Matt Swanson ’97 and Robbi
Behr ’97 at the conference, saying:
“It was fun trying to figure out
how we knew each other back at
Williams.” Derek Sasaki-Scanlon
writes that although “work,
family and life are keeping me
pretty busy,” he did make it to
Williamstown for the Kraftees
(Ultimate Frisbee) 35th anniversary celebration in May. “We had
159 undergrads and alums in the
energy circle,” he writes, including Sarah Nelson.
The winner for this season’s
most action-packed update
comes from Bunge Cook, my LA
Lebanese restaurant guru. “In
January 2011 I eloped in Maui,”
he writes, and “in February I
acquired a 4-year-old yellow
Labrador. In April I earned my
private pilot certificate,” while
in June he completed his stint as
head of LA-area Marine Corps
recruiting. He has been reassigned
to the East Coast for a year of
graduate school at the Naval
War College in Newport, R.I.
Although happy to return east,
he says, “after 14 years in CA I’ll
miss many things, including the
thoughtful and well-organized
events put on by the LA Williams
alumni society.”
Thanks to all of you who sent
in updates—I hope you all had a
great summer.
1999
Erik Holmes
915 East Mayfair Ave.
Orange, CA 92867
Nat White
11 Interlaken Road
P.O. Box 800
Lakeville, CT 06039
[email protected]
Heather Kovich mentioned
how much she enjoys reading
class notes, even in the age of
Facebook, when keeping tabs
on friends is easier than ever. It
got me thinking, as I do every so
often, about how special a place
Williams really is. A few months
after my son was born in January,
I eagerly awaited the next issue
of Williams People so I could
clip his birth shout-out for our
baby book. I even read the email
Ephnotes—which at other schools
would be considered spam—and
take pride in what we Ephs, collectively, are accomplishing. So
thanks for reading, everyone—it
takes a truly special place for
something like class notes to even
exist, much less thrive as it does.
Now that you’re all misty-eyed
and nostalgic, it’s the perfect time
to hit you up for money. Our
Alumni Fund co-head agents
Andrea (Slate) Daily and Stephanie
(Sewell) King asked that I start
beating the drum for the 2013
Alumni Fund campaign. Our
class surpassed our dollar goal
for 2012, raising over $46,000,
CL ASS
NOTES
with 52 percent of classmates
donating. The goal for 2013 is
60 percent participation. Andrea
and Steph are also looking for
our next crop of class agents, so
if you’re interested in volunteering, shoot a note to andrea.slate@
gmail.com or Stephanie.king@
jpmorgan.com.
There aren’t many perks of
being class secretary, so the least
I can do is give co-secretary Nat
White the first baby shout-out of
this issue. Nat and wife Julie Rusczek welcomed daughter Margaret
Ellen White on Jan. 16, invading
the turf of big brother Jasper. Julie
returned to work in the spring,
and Nat is set to become one of
the co-heads of the math department at the Hotchkiss School in
Lakeville, Conn. Nat and Julie are
building a house near the coast
in beautiful Harpswell, Maine,
where they plan to spend as much
time as possible during summers.
Kate (Nolan) Joyce had a baby
boy, Ciaran John Nolan Joyce,
on June 1, a lovely time of year
in Kate’s hometown of Jamaica,
Vt. Heather Kovich is the proud
new mama of Bennett Owen
Weber, born Jan. 30. Heather and
husband Andrew Weber prepared
for the birth (as much as one can
prepare for these things) with
Lindsay (Beach) Petersen, who
teaches a natural childbirth class
that Heather said was excellent.
Lindsay put her skills to use on
Feb. 29, when she gave birth
to daughter Eleanore Beach
Petersen. She enjoyed a visit from
Heather Rutherford over Memorial Day, and Lindsay planned to
return to work practicing massage
therapy in June.
Matt Whalin and Sarah (Moline)
Whalin also have a new addition
to their family: Ethan Harris
Whalin joined big brother Benjamin on June 6. Matt is completing
his anesthesiology residency and
will stay on as faculty at Emory,
and Sarah accepted a position
as a career law clerk at the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals. Saskia
Nesja narrowly avoided sibling
rivalry when her son Max was
born in August 2011, just six days
after his big sister’s birthday. She
and her family moved from London to the countryside outside
Oxford, where they avoided the
summer Olympics crush.
Joining the sleep-deprived new
parent club was Leigh (Winter)
Martin, whose son Burke Winter
Martin was born Jan. 14. Leigh
reports that Burke is particularly
skilled at sucking on his feet,
which I’m sure she bragged about
in June when she ran into Mike
Hodel on the escalator at the
Atlanta airport. John Olson and
wife Joy welcomed their first
child, son Jaime Wyrick Olson,
on March 15. The Olsons are
nearing the end of their stint in
Paris and plan to return to New
York at the end of the year.
Andrea (Slate) Daily’s daughter
Rylan Page Daily was born on
Feb. 11 and quickly upstaged big
brother Max by sleeping through
the night. In April Andrea
celebrated Max’s second birthday
with a gathering in Colorado that
included Jill (Morris) Green and
daughter Saoirse, Sylvia (Englund)
Michel and daughter Joanie
Claire, and Tiffany Talley and her
children. Justin Belcher and Julie
(Zlotnick) Belcher had their second
girl, Riley Arden Belcher, on May
29, and Kate Dunlop had her
second daughter, Julia Christina
Abbott, on March 15 in Tokyo.
Also welcoming her second was
Catherine (Polisi) Jones, who gave
birth to Teague Jameson Polisi
Jones on Feb. 28. Catherine has
been keeping busy with Teague
and his big brother Creighton,
2½. Just in case she had any free
time, Catherine returned to work
as a director at ASC Advisors
in Greenwich, Conn., after a
three-month maternity leave. At
her birthday bash in mid-May,
Catherine caught up with Dede
Orraca-Cecil and her husband
Mark Cecil, Heather (Genovesi)
Einstein (who had her second son,
Liam), and Wilmot Harkey and his
wife Papri (who had their second
son, Benny, in January).
Laura (Moberg) Lavoie welcomed
Luke Ryan Lavoie on May 11.
Luke was born nine weeks premature via emergency C-section,
and the doctor who Laura credits
with saving hers and the baby’s
lives completed her residency at
the University of Rochester under
Colby Hunter-Thomson Previte.
Luke spent the first month of his
life in the NICU but was able to
come home happy and healthy
in June. Prior to Luke’s arrival,
Laura and husband Brian traveled
to Chicago for their annual Red
Sox road game, and they hung
out with Emily (Palmer) Janz and
Aaron DeCamp while they were
in town. Laura also saw Kathleen
Mason and Kelly (Shinn) McAdam
at baby showers.
In LA, Rachel Axler will be
writing for The Goodwin Games,
a new sitcom by the creators of
How I Met Your Mother. The
show will begin airing in fall 2012
or January 2013. Rachel wrote
an episode of a spinoff of the
show Childrens Hospital, called
Newsreaders, which will air on
Adult Swim. After living in western Michigan for the past couple
of years, Sarah (Cooper) Anderson
and Eric Anderson moved to
Providence, where Eric has a job
as an assistant professor of design
history at Rhode Island School of
Design. Sarah had been working
for the School Reform office in
Michigan, helping a failing school
manage a federal School Improvement Grant, and she plans to do
similar work in Providence. They
look forward to being back in
the northeast and reuniting with
Margaret (Tedeschi) Kyle and Andy
Kyle, Lindsay (Renner) Schwartz,
and Sarah Sweeney and Paul
Benzon.
Edward McPherson, wife
Heather and daughter Penny
left Minneapolis for St. Louis.
Edward has a job as an assistant professor teaching creative
writing in the MFA program and
English department at Washington
University, where Heather will be
teaching creative writing. Edward
says the family is looking forward
to warmer weather, better barbecue and blues.
Brett Linck wrote from Curacao,
where he is on a deployment as
a doctor in the U.S. Air Force.
His tour at a base in Germany is
winding down, so he encourages
anyone who wants to take advantage of his guest room to get in
touch. Ben Warner and his family
relocated from Russia to Houston
and are looking to reconnect with
Williams friends.
Writer Dayna (Kaufman) Lorentz
had four books published last
spring: a three-book series called
“Dogs of the Drowned City”
for middle-grade children and
the first book of a new young
adult series called “No Safety in
Numbers.” She celebrated with
a book launch party at an independent children’s bookstore near
her home in South Burlington,
Vt., and she promoted the books
with appearances on Vermont
Public Radio and a local TV station’s morning show. Dayna was
revising the second book in the
young adult trilogy, which will be
published in summer 2013. She
and Jason Lorentz ’96 are busy
raising their 3-year-old daughter,
but Dayna visited Cate Williamson
in St. Louis and Tui Sutherland ’98
and Adam Sterns ’98 in Massachusetts. She had dinner with
Jenn Walcott when Jenn was in
Burlington for work.
Justin Yarmark and Marie-Michel
Tasse ’00 ditched the kids and
made a cross-country trip to visit
friends and take in the wedding of
n 1 9 9 9 –2 0 0 0
their surrogate daughter at Harvard. While in Boston they caught
up with Matt Sly, Cara Shortsleeve
’00 and Megan Kelley ’00. Meg
(Randall) Park and husband Eddie
’98 are thoroughly enjoying life in
sunny Santa Monica, where she
finished her first year of internal
medicine residency at UCLA. Meg
and Eddie planned to head to Vermont in August for the annual pig
roast at the farm of Marc Barreda.
One of these years I’m going to
make it to the pig roast.
Stephanie (Sewell) King was hit
by a bike while jogging in Central
Park. She got banged up pretty
badly but reported she’ll be just
fine. Three-year-old son Graham
gave her a stern warning when
she left the house for work after
the incident: “Mommy, don’t get
hit by a bike when you walk to
work!” Steph works in a change
management role at JP Morgan,
and husband Jonathan King ’98
heads up customer experience for
the consumer bank at JP Morgan
Chase. She visited Boston to
attend a baby shower for Brooke
(Harnisch) Roberts.
Josh Lewis is living outside
Boston in Needham and working
at marketing and advertising firm
Digitas. His 5- and 3-year old
children are keeping him busy
with the weekend circuit of ballet,
soccer, ice skating and all the
other things kids like to do.
Making a sojourn to Williamstown was Rebecca (Krause)
Missonis, who attended the Class
of 2002 reunion with friend and
colleague Gisele Pinck ’02. She
also celebrated with her brother
Peter Krause ’02 and dad Peter
Krause ’67. Rebecca said the
weekend got her excited for our
15th in a couple years, and she
suggests we steal the Class of
2002’s reunion gift idea—a Williams snuggie. I’m sure it would
work nicely as a late-night beer
pong uniform.
Rich von Bargen was in Williamstown with wife Suela (Nako)
von Bargen ’00 to attend their
final Alumni Fund Vice Chairs
meeting. Attendees stayed at
Mount Hope Farm, which makes
me more than a little jealous. Rich
was elected to be Williams Club
VP, and he caught up with Leticia
Smith-Evans and Paul Alsdorf
while in town.
As for me, my wife Shannon
Reid and I are loving life as new
parents, and we now understand
why so many of you looked
bleary-eyed at the last reunion. I
decided to fill all my “free time”
by taking up woodworking,
because what every new parent
needs is an expensive and timeconsuming hobby. We had a visit
in February from Scott Selberg,
whose mind seemed blown by
the fact that I have been entrusted
with an actual baby person. Shannon and I hosted Ian Eisenman,
wife Ariane Verdy and their two
kids for an afternoon BBQ in the
spring. Ian started work in January as an assistant professor at the
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
in San Diego, where Ariane is a
researcher.
That’s all the news that’s fit to
print. I hope you all enjoyed your
summers.
2000
Jon Pearson
129 Franklin St., Apt. 218
Cambridge, MA 02139
[email protected]
Let’s get right to it, shall we? In
order of appearance in my inbox:
Leah Larson-Rabin lives with her
husband, son and daughter in Des
Moines, Iowa. Previously they
spent 15 months in southwestern
China, where Leah conducted
research on water pollution in
rural communities for her dissertation. While there she had dinner
with Prof. Sam Crane, her former
advisor: “Sam is the reason I studied Chinese at Williams; I took his
international politics introductory class my freshman year and
was hooked. Sitting in Kunming,
drinking wine and sharing stories
with him, 15 years later, was
pretty fantastic.”
In addition to helping people
build better websites, teaching at the Corcoran College of
Art + Design, and assisting in
organizing a citywide version
of Free University, David Ramos
regularly wins bar trivia events in
DC with the help of Dan Puskin.
Paul Friedmann’s news revolved
around a “Touch-a-Truck”
event he attended with his wife
Allison (Jacobs) Friedmann and
their daughter Maya. Tom and
Kate (Flynn) Grant were there,
too, as were fire engines, dump
trucks and other assorted types of
truck. Paul was named one of 12
finalists for the Fishman Prize, a
national competition to highlight
superlative teaching practices in
public schools that serve highpoverty communities. Though
he didn’t win, I think we can all
agree he’s done us proud.
Wil Harkey checks in from
Westport, Conn. He and his wife
Papri had a second child, Bennett
Sumit, in January. Older brother
Wes is loving the new addition.
Wil and Papri caught up with
John Moorhead and Elise Estes
at Ann Brophy’s June wedding.
They also caught up with a pair
of black bears that were feasting
in a dumpster next to their car
after the reception. Rebecca Cover
sent her update from a village
in southern Senegal that has no
electricity or Internet. Which begs
the question of how she sent said
email. Rebecca was there for nine
weeks, doing linguistic fieldwork
on the Badiaranke language and
planned to return to Columbus,
Ohio, to continue her postdoc
and visiting assistant professor
position at Ohio State University.
According to Rebecca’s dissertation (found with The Google),
“Badiaranke is a member of
the Tenda group of the Atlantic
subfamily of Niger-Congo. The
language is spoken in southern
Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. … There are around 12,000
Badiaranke speakers divided
among these three countries,
although the actual numbers are
probably higher.”
On May 7, Emily (Boer) and
Jared Drake welcomed daughter
Vivian Sarah into the world.
“Her arrival was punctual and
efficient,” reports Emily, as she
was born on her due date after
a four-hour labor that started in
yoga class and ended at the hospital 20 minutes before she was
born. Early Eph visitors included
Jon and Alicia (Currier) Kallay and
David Fuchs. Kristi Grippi Litman
and her husband Levi welcomed
a baby girl, Emily Catherine, on
Jan. 14. “Everyone’s doing well
five months out, still adjusting to
the disproportionately large influence one tiny 13.5-pound person
can have on life,” Kristi says. She
hosted Kristin (Walker) Treadway, Emily (Eustis) Liggitt, Jenny
Heller, Kim (Massimiano) and
Mike Paolercio, Ann and Albert
Naclerio, and Emily Small at her
house. The Litmans also enjoyed
a Father’s Day brunch with the
Paolercios and Lisa (Knappen)
Ridd and her husband Sebastian.
Cathy Nicholson, her husband
Marc and daughter Miriam
welcomed Ruth Emily Levenson,
born in June 2011. “Ruthie’s a
gem, and Miriam is the dearest
big sister imaginable, but in
honor of Lauren Applebaum’s
request for truth-in-parentalupdates, I will add that neither
of them sleeps worth a damn.”
First-time updater Jason Holmes
and his partner Stephanie Buzzell
welcomed their first child, James
William Buzzell-Holmes, on Jan.
29. “Jamie is a happy, healthy
CL ASS
NOTES
baby and is amazing us every
day!” They live in Atlanta.
Carrie Ryan, Official Literary
Celebrity of the Class of 2000,
has two books coming out:
an anthology she edited called
Foretold: 14 Takes of Prophecy
and Prediction, which comes out
in August from Random House
Children’s Books; and Divide
and Conquer, part of Scholastic’s
new multi-author/multi-platform
series, Infinity Ring, in November.
“I’m still loving my job and have
run into several Ephs in the kidlit
world!” In May Carrie competed
in her first mud run.
Gabriella Allen moved back to
North Carolina to take a marketing director role at Corning in
the Fiber Optic Cable division.
She requested that I help her put
out the Bat Signal to any of you
who live in the Charlotte area
who’d like to get together. During
a trip to Seaside Heights, N.J.,
Dan Mason and his family almost
ran over no-last-name-required
pseudo-celebrities Vinny and the
Situation, who were carrying
laundry bags across the street,
Jersey Shore camera crew in tow.
Last winter Shara Pilch and
her husband Hunter bought a
house in Somerville, Mass., and
moved in the middle of a huge
snowstorm. I’m pretty sure I
moved out of Somerville on the
very same day. Bad timing for us!
Shara has taught math at LincolnSudbury Regional High School
for more than nine years and
shared some exciting but highly
forbidden MLE news that will
one day include the words “welcomed,” “world” and “pounds.”
I’m going to bet that what used
to be the last half of that sentence
was redacted by the editors. Or
was it?!
Lots of updates from Kevin and
Virginia (Pyle) See: He’s a big fan
of his new job as a biometrician
studying how salmon productivity
is linked to their freshwater habitat in the Northwest. “Essentially
it’s lots of math related to salmon,
and hopefully it produces very
tangible, useful results for managing these endangered species.”
Virginia started grad school for
speech pathology at the University
of Washington in June. The Sees
celebrated Father’s Day with
their annual tradition of taking
the girls out for a hike. Williams
get-togethers included Oren Kallay’s pirate-themed birthday party,
complete with scavenger hunt and
treasure map, and a Chris Ronai
sighting in May.
When she sent her notes, Hilary
Barraford had just committed
With seven children among them, (from left) Katie (Bishop) Calhoun ’00,
Heather May Eckert ’00 and Mike Schloat ’01 celebrated the 2nd birthday
of Ber Calhoun (second from left) at Deerfield Academy last March.
to doing some work with John
Sayles ’72. He cast Hilary in his
new drama Go For Sisters!, in
which she will play corrections
officer Cindy Roberts. “It feels a
little like I’m off to Camp Sayles
for the summer! (Best. Camp.
Ever.)” The Internets tell me that
the film has a budget under $1
million and is scheduled for only
four weeks of shooting, so Hilary
might need a nap when it’s all
over. She also partnered to create
a web short with Rachel Axler
’99 and Jeff McMahon ’99. It’s
about two women whose college
minireunion doesn’t quite go
as planned. Hilary lives around
the corner from Jessica Coffin
Butterick.
Ben Smeal wins the Class
Secretary’s Award of Distinction for Brevity and Not Writing
Very Much: “My wife Diana
gave birth to our son Theodore
on June 5, and we are all doing
great.” George and Aida Avdic
Anthes relocated to Brattleboro,
Vt., with their daughter. Aida is in
charge of a hospitalist program,
and George has been admitted to
the Vermont Bar. They’ve enjoyed
visits from Patchen Mortimer,
Shara Pilch, Bodo Sen, Mary
Glendon ’99, Doug Marshall and
Amu Ahuja ’98. They have also
seen Sheraz Choudhary, Alfonso
Gonzalez and Pelagia Ivanova in
Boston, “so the move is already
paying off.”
Elise (Estes) Morgan and her
husband welcomed Robert
Christopher on April 4 at
12:36 a.m. Key info: 8 pounds,
9 ounces, and we are all to
call the little bundle by his
middle name. Elise attended the
previously mentioned Brophy
nuptials. She was looking forward
to a “Thomas Street Reunion”
in July with Becca Parkinson, Lili
(Anderson) Mann, Ann Brophy and
Alexis (Scott) Faber in Williamstown—the first time they’ve been
together since graduation. Steve
Roman contributed his patented
bullet-point update: Debbie Ebert
Bloss, her husband Kevin and
their daughter Ella visited Steve
and Becky Iwantsch in San Francisco. There was consumption of
hamburgers, drinking of beer and
much revelry. Steve and Becky
enjoyed seeing Mariya Hodge and
Jeff Grant at their daughter Zoë’s
third birthday party on Cinco de
Mayo. Steve sees a lot of Drew
Sutton and Drew’s husband
Bayliss in Sacramento, and, as
an aside, points out that he is
addicted to bowling.
Raph Rosen reviewed a scienceand-art show in NYC, and the
review appeared on the Scientific
American website and in the
Wall Street Journal. He visited
Fort Worth and had some great
barbecue. Katharine Lusk and her
husband Nic completed their
graduate studies in May. Katharine graduated from Harvard’s
Kennedy School with a master’s
in public policy and was to start
working as an advisor to Mayor
Menino in August. Jessica Coffin
Butterick is working on a business
venture when she’s not busy doing
criminal appeals. She’s selling
very cute crocheted animals that
she makes out of organic yarn.
The business is called Schmuddle
Buddies, and you can find it on
The Internets and The Facebook.
“It’s all very LA, but also very
exciting,” she writes. Jocelyn
(Riedl) and Nick Weiss were early
n 2 0 0 0 –0 1
customers. Jessica saw Randy
Lindquist in Berlin in May. They
played in the park with Randy’s
twin girls and had a spirited discussion about the Euro crisis.
Meadow Linn and her mom
have written a cookbook, The
Mystic Cookbook: The Secret
Alchemy of Food, due out in
November. In addition to including a number of her recipes, it will
feature many of her photographs.
Meadow often posts beautiful
pictures on Facebook; check them
out. Don Wood writes from Maui,
where he and Melissa (Vecchio)
Wood were vacationing and
celebrating his parents’ 50th anniversary. They did some snorkeling
and saw giant sea turtles and a
white-nosed reeftip shark. Traveling, Don says, is “definitely an
adventure with an almost-1- and
a 3-year-old along. … We may
come back home more tired.”
David Gilford still lives in
New York but left his job at GE
Capital for “greener pastures with
the NYC government.” He helps
the city support clean technology
and energy, especially through
entrepreneurship. His colleagues
included Dave Lombino and Clare
Newman ’02. He keeps in touch
with Nick Sophinos and Melina
Evans, Class Secretary Emeritus
Bert Leatherman and Kayser
Strauss, and caught up last spring
with his former squash partner
Allen Wong, who has his own law
practice, and Johana Castro, who
is senior counsel for the NYC
Law Department.
Mary Brevdo clinched the last
word for this edition by sending
her update 16 hours after the
deadline. She and her boyfriend
Dan were to spend the summer
through-hiking the Pacific Crest
Trail, from the Mexican border
near San Diego all the way to
Canada, where the trail enters
British Columbia. They put all
of their San Francisco belongings
in storage and were racking up
20-plus mile hiking days. They
were hoping to finish the trail in
early October.
As usual, many thanks for your
terrific updates, congratulations
on the MLEs, good luck on your
through-hikes and best wishes
until next time.
2001
Liana Thompson Knight
135 Pleasant St.
Richmond, ME 04357
[email protected]
It is amazing to think that it has
already been over a year since
our 10th reunion. The time keeps
flying by, and our Williams ’01
family keeps expanding through
marriages and births.
Fumi Tosu married Karen Hsu
on June 9 in Lakeville, Conn.
Ken Ryu ’02 was best man, Lock
Reynolds was a groomsman, and
Patrick Curtis, Sonya (Ravindranath) Waddell and Alice Li were
in attendance. Fumi said the
wedding was even better than
they expected.
Danielle Tarantolo and her
husband had a son, Carlo, in
January. Danielle was in a bar
with Brooklyn neighbor Margaret
(Radzik) Scoolidge when she went
into labor. She was digging being
on maternity leave but was soon
returning to her job as a staff
attorney at the New York Legal
Assistance Group, where she
works on class action lawsuits to
help poor New Yorkers.
Adam Thalhimer and his wife
had their second child, Annie
Lisa, on Feb. 3. Adrienne Wiley
and Grayson Myers welcomed a
second child in February with the
birth of Sebastian Lark. Adrienne
reports that they are learning
how to be a family of four and
how to take care of their new, old
house. They enjoy Seattle, where
Grayson works at Microsoft and
Adrienne works as an ESL facilitator just south of the city.
Geraldine Shen and Joe Bergeron
were delighted to welcome daughter Gabrielle Shen Bergeron to
the Williams family on April 24.
Geraldine reports that she and
Joe are finding Williamstown to
be an even better community in
which to start a family than it
was as a place to live for college.
Any 2001ers stopping in Williamstown should feel free to call
on them!
Elizabeth (Hamachek) Herrick
and her husband welcomed
August Russell into the world
on May 4. Elizabeth writes that
they are just in awe of this little
being and his punctuality (he was
born on his due date—to parents
who are not known for their
punctuality!).
My daughter, on the other
hand, was not at all punctual.
Stella Jean Knight arrived on
April 27, a full (seemingly interminable) two weeks after her due
date. We are gradually figuring
out life with a small person. Since
I’m new to Maine, I’ve enjoyed
doubling my social circle by meeting other moms in the area.
Todd Swanson Merkens checked
in from Seattle, where June-uary
had him eagerly anticipating
the summer weather of July. He
enjoyed tracking this year’s Williams graduation over Twitter.
Feyisara Akanki is finishing the
last few weeks of her residency
in family medicine in the Bronx
and applying for clinician jobs in
the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She
caught up with Jamilla Deria and
Dafina (Brody) Westbrooks over
Thai food, followed by drinks at
a Brooklyn bar while watching
the Mayweather vs. Cotto boxing
fight. Feyisara reports that Jamilla
had gone skydiving and wanted
them to all skydive together later
in the summer. “We’ll see…” she
concluded.
Zuzana Tothova was approaching the end of the first year of her
hematology/oncology fellowship
and looking forward to having all
of her weekends off for the first
time in a long time. She caught up
with Anne Dwyer Wilmer and her
16-month-old son, Patrick, who is
becoming quite the museum buff,
having attended the annual “Art
in Bloom” exhibit at Boston’s
Museum of Fine Arts.
Caitlin (Carr) Lopez finished her
fellowship in breast imaging in
the early part of the summer, and
she and Dusty Lopez were anticipating a move from St. Louis,
Mo., to Ann Arbor, Mich., in
July. They have three daughters:
Nora was 4 in July, and identical
twins Anna and Brenna turned 1
in August.
Dan Perttu is a faculty member
and music theory program coordinator at Westminster College in
Pennsylvania. Several of his compositions have been performed in
Alabama, Illinois, New York and
Pennsylvania, including two premieres. One of his compositions,
a piece for saxophone and piano,
will be published shortly by Dorn
Publications.
Rob Seitelman performed in
A Doctor in Spite of Himself at
Berkeley Repertory Theatre with
Stephen Epps, in 9 to 5: The
Musical at Willows Theatre in
Concord, Calif., and in a reading
for the Eugene O’Neill Foundation. He is also the lead teacher of
Delta Academy for the Performing Arts in Antioch, Calif. Rob
says the academy graduated its
first class this year. He is always
looking for help in reforming
educational policy and providing
opportunities for his underprivileged students.
Sarah Thomas reports that Backwards, the feature film in which
she stars with James Van Der
Beek, will be released on Sept. 21.
For film information and a trailer,
see http://bit.ly/zQg6al. Sarah
had drinks with Robyn (Goldman)
CL ASS
NOTES
Fisher in NYC, and Robyn’s ice
cream business is taking off.
Johanna Kolodny is working
for Print Restaurant, where
she sources ingredients, and on
expanding this effort to a consulting business. In June she launched
www.farmtopeople.com, which
allows consumers to buy from
producers across the country and
have products sent to them.
Annie Richards went to a
conference in Boston in late April
and reunited with Kat (Dingman)
Boger, whom she hadn’t seen
since our fifth reunion. Annie is
working as a nurse practitioner
for an early intervention program
in Vermont.
Kivlina (Shepherd) Block works
in residential property management in Alaska. She moved
from part time to full time, and
her three kids and a dog keep
her busy! She looks forward to
attending a Seahawks/Patriots
game in Seattle in October.
Royce Smith was listed in
Philadelphia magazine as one of
the 2012 Pennsylvania Rising
Stars by Thomas Reuters, which
recognizes up-and-coming lawyers. Royce works as an attorney
for the Philadelphia-based
personal injury law firm Feldman
Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner
Weinstock & Dodig LLP.
Bill Lindeke wrote that he’s a
sidewalk philosopher in St. Paul,
Minn.
Enrique Perez caught up with
Andrew Weller and Jen Doleac
’03 in April during a trip to DC.
He also trekked to Williamstown
with Anna ’05 and Phil Swisher in
May to surprise Professor Dalzell
at his last class and retirement
party. Enrique has moved to
New Haven, Conn., to pursue
his MBA at the Yale School of
Management.
Josh Burson moved to South
Portland, Maine. Seth Brown may
have permanently moved to the
Berkshires after being afflicted
with the inertia of the Purple
Valley, but his heart remains in
Rhode Island. Thus he authored
his latest book, It Happened In
Rhode Island, a look at various
events ranging from Bob Dylan
to a giant sock, published by the
same company that published
his first book, Rhode Island
Curiosities.
Mike Schloat wrote in wearing
his official hat as one of our
class’s head agents for the Alumni
Fund, urging us all to get our
gifts in early when the fund kicks
off in a few weeks. Remember
to get your news in for the next
issue of Williams People, too. I
love hearing from all of you!
2002
William Davidson
115 East 89th Street, Apt. 7E
New York, NY 10128
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing secretary
Holly Kohler: In case there was
ever any doubt, our showing at
Reunion 2012 was proof that 10
years on, the Class of 2002 still
has it. More than 150 classmates
returned to the Purple Valley for a
lovely June weekend of celebration: Nostalgia was indulged,
favorite pastimes were revived,
fine victuals were consumed, lectures and parades were attended,
and many new memories were
made. The Berkshire Quad served
us well as a home base, and our
gifted Snuggies were the envy
of all.
There were a delightful number
of ephspring in attendance.
Among those introducing their
children to campus life were Eric
Powers and his wife Amy, who
brought along their daughter
Lucy and allowed me to hold her
pretty much whenever I wanted
to. Lucy Joy was born on Jan.
14. Jen and Kenny Marines ’01
returned to Williams with their
son Ryan Andrew, born on Jan.
12, and his big sister Gabriella,
now nearly 2. The Marineses sold
their Manhattan apartment “and
made the inevitable move to the
suburbs,” where visitors include
Ame Igharo and Jess Schaefer.
The youngest baby in attendance was Amber Moore’s son
Carter Lowe Smith, born on May
19. Amber graduated from her
internal medicine residency at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center (BIDMC) in Boston and
is starting a job as a hospitalist
at BIDMC in October. John and
Caroline Norton Vance ’03 traveled
from NYC with their daughter
Catherine Alexandra, born on
May 2.
Jessica Ohly was pleased to
find that Steve Biller and his
family were already in the Boston
area and that others, like Chris
Warshaw and Erin Graham, would
soon be arriving. Jessica ran her
second Boston Marathon this
year. Shortly afterward she met up
with Brad Nichol in London while
visiting her sister Christina Ohly
Evans ’90. Jessica has enjoyed regularly meeting up with Williams
folk in Boston but was preparing
for the summer departures of
Jamin Morrison to Philadelphia for
a fellowship and Nicole Theriault
’03 to San Francisco.
Jess Paar finally gave into parental pressure and bought a condo
in Boston. “Even better than
being a first-time homeowner,”
she says, “I can continue to participate in monthly craft beer tastings with Mark Robertson, Dave
Glick and Nate Cardoos (they’ve
reestablished their beer club from
college).” That trio arrived in Williamstown with several cases of
home-brewed Reunion Ale.
I shared a Fitch suite with Kari
Sutherland and her husband Steve
Hoover. Among Kari’s favorite
moments were hanging out on
Spring Street with Karen Lichtman,
Elizabeth Healy and Eric Powers
and his family; getting a frost
in the new snack bar with Alex
Meriwether and Adam Steeves;
relaxing with Freeman Zhu, Abid
Shah, Joshua Wakeham and Austin
Duncan on the Adirondack chairs
adorning the Berkshire Quad; and
chatting with Allessandra Stewart,
Andrew Woolf, Luis Taboada,
Marissa Berman ’03 and Sergio
Espinosa while the music from
Saturday night’s Goodrich party
pumped in the background. Abid
and Austin hitched a ride back to
NYC with Kari and Steve, and
Austin stayed on for a few days
before returning to DC. Kari is an
editor at HarperCollins Children’s
Books, where her projects include
the bestselling teen series Pretty
Little Liars and The Lying Game.
She is writing a fantasy middlegrade series with her sister Tui
Sutherland ’98, the first book of
which—The Menagerie—is due
out in March 2013.
Karen Lichtman finished her PhD
in linguistics at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
is starting as an assistant professor at Northern Illinois University
in DeKalb, Ill., this fall. Topher
Goggin flew out from Michigan
for reunion, still riding the high
of an epic golf adventure. When a
hometown player qualified for the
Masters, Topher finagled a media
credential from his local newspaper, spending the week writing
about the tournament. “Apparently a question I asked Phil
Mickelson aired live on ESPN,”
he says. “To add to the fun, there
is a lottery for media folks to play
Augusta National the day after
the tournament, and my name
was one of the 28 drawn. So I
spent April 9 playing Augusta,
which is pretty much the biggest
dream any golfer can ever have. (I
didn’t even play too badly.)”
Sarah Philipp summed up a common sentiment from the weekend:
n 2 0 0 1 –0 2
“It was so great to catch up with
people and hear about all the
awesome things people are doing
with their lives!” Sarah is based
in Jacksonville, Fla., as a flight
surgeon for the Navy. She’ll be
heading to Japan in November
for a seven-month deployment.
She spent time in Dubai and Scotland: “Both fun trips, although
obviously extremely different
places to visit!”
Dave Rowe “really enjoyed
re-connecting with so many old
friends while perfecting my tan.
It was also great to meet some of
my classmates that I never had a
chance to talk to during my four
years on campus. … I can’t wait
for the 15-year!” Heather Brutz
is looking forward to our 15th,
vowing to do the next parade on
her stilts, which were under repair
this year. She lives in Takoma
Park, Md., and works for Transportation for America as deputy
field director. When not traveling
around the nation talking to
people about transportation and
the federal transportation bill,
Heather, “still an avid cook,” is
“constantly working to perfect
[her] pizza crust.”
Charlie and Lida (Ungar) Doret
caught up with many old cohorts.
Charlie was excited to learn that
John Phillips was due to start a
tenure-track position in political
science at Austin Peay over the
summer. Charlie accepted a
tenure-track faculty position in
physics at Harvey Mudd College.
He deferred the job until fall 2013
to minimize his time on the West
Coast while Lida finishes medical
school in Atlanta. They traveled
to California in June and went
to the Bay Area to visit Katy and
Art Munson (both ’01) and Todd
Gamblin and hike among the
redwoods of Muir Woods. While
visiting Claremont, they found
the houses “funny looking” but
were pleased that Mount Baldy
will provide them with skiing 35
minutes from “a place that’s 70
degrees all winter.” Adds Charlie,
“Tahoe being about five hours
away won’t hurt either.”
In between all the catching
up and cavorting over Reunion
Weekend, some class business was
attended to: namely, the election
of our new officers. For the next
five years, Josh Burns will serve
as class president, ably aided by
Luis Taboada as VP, Jen Cahill as
treasurer and Will Davidson as
secretary. Will will be handling
the class notes from here on out,
and I encourage you to help keep
him busy! He and his wife Blaire
are now proud parents of two.
Their son William Henry (Harry)
was born on March 22 and is
adjusting to “the extremely bubbly personality of his older sister,
Lucy.”
Though unable to attend
reunion, Jessica Bauman, her husband Robert Adamo ’01 and their
daughter Amelia moved from
Philadelphia to Boston at the end
of June and were looking forward
to their “first Massachusetts
winter in 10 years, and to reuniting with many Eph Bostonians!”
Jessica was to begin a hematology-oncology fellowship at Dana
Farber Cancer Institute.
Brad Nichol, Emilie Mathieu
and Nishant Nayyar met up with
Rebecca Marques in London to
regale her with tales of reunion.
Emilie flew in from Germany for
the occasion. Nishant “held court
throughout the night, recalling the
highlights [and] Brad … may have
dropped mad real estate knowledge on everyone involved.”
Laura Crum was sorry to miss
reunion but “heard great stories
from friends who attended.” She
was graduating from business
school that weekend, and now
that she’s finished at Chicago
Booth has moved to Midland,
Mich., to work for Dow Corning
as a business builder in the Business and Technology Incubator.
She’ll miss living two blocks from
Richard Bode and his wife Margaret in Chicago but welcomes
the chance to see Ephs in the Bay
Lakes Region of Michigan. Laura
was looking forward to catching
up with classmates at Amanda
Gramse’s wedding in Maine.
Sophie de la Barra, Iris Moon,
Victoria Restler, Susan Kim, Caitlin
Bowler and Lisa “Rascal” (Stern)
Apprill were preparing for a June
reunion of their own in LA. They
were last together at the weddings
of Susan and Iris and looked
forward to meeting Iris and Ravi
Purushotham’s ’01 son, Immanuel.
Jessie Grandgent Stanley also
made up for missing the Williamstown festivities by hosted a
minireunion. Bethany Cobb Kung,
Megan Delehanty and Janet Curran
visited Jessie, her husband and
their 1-year-old daughter Fiona at
their home in Richmond, Va.”
Dan Elsea was unable to make
it to reunion but “will do the
15th for sure.” He attended the
Documenta Preview in Kassel,
Germany, a wedding in Robledo
de Chavela, Spain, and visited
Madrid, Stockholm, Auckland
and Hong Kong. Writes Dan: “In
the few weeks before reunion,
both Shenil Saya and Liz Sterling
each visited me in London
(separately). … Highlights with
Liz were drinks at the Institute of
Contemporary Art (ICA) and dinner at St. John’s; highlights with
Shenil were seeing the West End
play One Man Two Guvnors and
a Sunday brunch at Bistrotheque
in Hackney.”
Shoshana Clark finished the
first year of an MBA at London
Business School and wrote from
China, where she was learning
Mandarin. She’s been running
the project Turquoise Mountain
in Afghanistan for the last few
years, now flying back and forth
to check on it. Jasmine Bradley
received her doctorate in clinical
psychology and sport psychology in June and was starting
a post-doctoral fellowship at
Arizona State University in July
after finishing up a pre-doctoral
internship at California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena. She
would love visitors in Tempe.
Sadaf Ahmad moved to DC
and regularly sees Erika Beltran
’01. She attended the Congressional Asian American & Pacific
Islander Caucus summit with
Caroline Fan ’03, who spoke at
a panel on immigration with
DREAM activists in support of
undocumented student workers.
Sadaf wrote a poem for the AsianAmerican women advocates
anthology Work in Progress,
which was compiled by Caroline,
and it was read aloud at PJ
Clarke’s in DC. Sadaf, Erika and
Sandina Green ’99 were planning
a trip for Labor Day weekend
and hoping that Vanea Norris ’01
would be able to join them.
Mike Paarlberg traveled to
Cuba in May as part of an
academic delegation led by retired
Congressman David Bonior,
studying its labor market reforms
and transition toward a mixed
economy. Reports Mike: “I had
been there 12 years ago as an
undergrad as part of a Winter
Study program led by Prof. James
Mahon, along with Jon Wiener,
Clare Newman and David Noe ’01.
Cuba’s changed since then—most
notably the food available to
tourists got a lot better, now that
the government is encouraging
formerly underground private
restaurants to open up. It reflects
a general shift in government
strategy away from trying to
suppress black market activity to
formalizing and taxing it.”
Irena Hollowell is visiting several
intentional communities this year,
including Dancing Rabbit and
Sandhill in Missouri and Earthaven in North Carolina. She’d
just returned from The Farm in
CL ASS
NOTES
Tennessee. Eric Olson-Getty is in
Durham, N.C., and finished his
fourth year with YO:Durham
(Year of Opportunity for Durham
Teens). Wrote Eric: “I’m in
my usual rhythm of managing
volunteers, working with local
businesses and nonprofits to provide internships for our kids and
writing a lot of grants. Our son
Noah turned 1 on Feb. 24, and he
is running around and saying lots
of words.”
Sarah Hart-Unger and her
husband Joshua were thrilled
by the arrival of Annabel Hart
Unger on April 5. She was born
at Duke, where Sarah and Joshua
work. Alex Garceau and his wife
Hannah Larsen welcomed Sophie
on March 22. Megan Samenfeld-Specht and Jeff McBride
celebrated the arrival of daughter
Charlotte Marie (Charlie) on Feb.
22. They’ve enjoyed introducing
her to Meghana Gadgil, Jon Wiener
and Megan’s sister Erin Samenfeld-Specht ’09. In San Francisco
Kelly (Steinmuller) and Patrick Finn
’01 were joined by Isabel Miller
(Isa) on Dec. 28.
Reports Garry Sanders: “I am
planning for the trip down to
the nuptials for Jonathan Wiener,
NOM (Nemesis of Evil), and his
lovely bride Valerie Kirby, which
should be an amazing affair. We
were disappointed to miss the
10-year reunion but we hope
that the Kir-biener wedding will
make up for it. No major news to
report except for our upcoming belated honeymoon to the
Mediterranean, following in the
footsteps of Andy and Cynthia
Herr and Brittany and Josh Burns
to various spots in Italy, Greece
and Turkey.”
Remember that you needn’t
wait another five years to reconnect with classmates: Join the
Facebook group “Williams College: Class of 2002” to enjoy a
perpetual reunion (sans Snuggies).
2003
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Anri Wheeler Brenninkmeyer
4 Howard St.
Somerville, MA 02144
[email protected]
Let the countdown to reunion
begin! Ellie (Walsh) Beasley, Danni
Lapin, Danielle Rosario-Mullen,
Tracy (Borawski) Baker, Raj Bhatia
and Chrissy (Holland) Wooliver
met in Williamstown in early
May to begin planning our 10th.
Please save the date for what
will undoubtedly be a fabulous
weekend. Ellie has had a very
enthusiastic response from many
classmates who have volunteered
to help plan the festivities. She
sends many thanks to everyone
who has already pitched in. If you
are interested in planning and/or
have ideas about activities, please
email Ellie (elliebeas@hotmail.
com). Hope to see all of you in
Williamstown next June!
Leah King has been living in
Philadelphia for the past year
and a half. She is an architect
working for a firm that specializes in healthcare/universities/
labs. (Leah finished her master’s
in architecture from Parsons in
2008.) In June, Leah married
Kehinde Metzger, barefoot on the
beach in Jamaica with about 90
guests, including Natalie Stephens,
Andrea Nogales ’04 and Nick
Minekime ’02. Kehinde is finishing
his radiology residency in Philly.
He and Leah met six years ago
in NYC.
Liz Toomey, who is in the Peace
Corps in Madagascar, launched
a project to build a bridge across
the Sahanambo River. The project
has been approved by the Peace
Corps offices in DC, and Liz’s
blog dedicated to the project is up
and running. For more information, or to donate, please visit
http://bit.ly/Ol5CgQ.
Mitchell Green and his wife Lisa
are enjoying spending time with
their daughter Lindsay, who was
born in December 2011.
Bryan Marcovici and his wife
Leila welcomed their first child,
daughter Vivienne Sage, on April
14. Bryan is working at Oliver
Wyman doing healthcare consulting and living in NYC.
Dave Brenninkmeyer and I had
our second daughter, Harper May,
on May 1. We’ve been enjoying
the transition to a family of four,
and older sister Summer is slowly
but surely learning to share.
John ’02 and Caroline Norton
Vance welcomed their first baby,
Catherine Alexandra, on May
2. The Vances are still living in
NYC. Catherine received her first
item of Williams gear, a onesie, at
John’s 10-year reunion in June.
Caroline writes, “Maternity leave
is my favorite thing ever.”
Sabrina ’04 and Justin Reliford
had a son, William Oliver, on
May 16. He was 8 pounds, 3
ounces.
Leo Andrew was born to Jae
(Cody) Engman and her husband
Andy on May 25. Jae and Leo
were enjoying having the summer
off together and looking forward
to meeting other Class of ’03
babies at reunion next year.
Brigitte Teissedre, Andy Golden,
Janet Ho, Lisa Marco and Linda
Lau won group-entry for the April
1 Cherry Blossom 10-mile race
in DC. There they reunited with
their significant others plus Kyla
Dotson, Caroline Fan and Kevin
Hsueh. While Janet, Linda and
Lisa all finished strong, Andy ran
a six-minute pace and finished the
10 miles in under an hour. Brigitte, recovering from an injury,
enjoyed being race photographer.
Mike and Abby Tadenev are
in Bar Harbor, Maine, and are
pleased to be new homeowners.
They’re on a quiet dirt road and
hope that their road association
functions well enough to keep it
plowed in the winter, otherwise
they’ll be getting lots of snowshoe
exercise. Abby is doing her postdoc at the Jackson Laboratory,
and Mike is working at a small
insurance defense firm in Bangor.
Andrew Ferrer is working in
Boston as an attorney in corporate and health care law.
In May, Irene Yoon visited Boston for the first time in years. We
had a lovely lunch with Dorothy
Hiersteiner and my daughters.
Irene then attended the wedding of Audrey (Herzig) Jackson
and Keith Wellington Jackson ’06
(younger brother of Abi Jackson).
Irene is finishing her first year as
a research associate at the Utah
Education Policy Center and loves
her job and co-workers. She’s taking advantage of the mountains
and trails of Salt Lake City and
looking forward to a visit from
the Brenninkmeyers next winter.
Irene heard from Lashawn Mays,
who is starting business school at
Michigan in the fall after living in
Atlanta since graduation.
Last summer, Anjuli Lebowitz
moved to Boston to complete
her PhD in the history of art and
architecture at Boston University.
She’s loved hanging out with
Nicole Theriault. Anjuli takes
regular trips to New York, where
she sees Alicia Andrews, Karin
Rosenthal, Jasmine Mitchell and
Maria La Petina ’04. This year,
she’ll be studying for orals.
Brian Katz’s first book was
accepted for publication: a
textbook for inquiry-based math
courses. This summer he planned
to attend KatieFest 2012 (Katie
Saxon’s PhD composition recital)
in Santa Barbara along with Pippa
Charters.
Matt Ellis was to defend his dissertation in August at Princeton
and is looking forward to beginning an assistant professorship in
the history department at Sarah
n 2 0 0 2 –0 4
2004
Nicole Eisenman
114 Joralemon St., Apt. 3E
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Cortney Tunis
150 The Riverway
Box 802
Boston, MA 02115
[email protected]
Nearly 20 Ephs from the classes of 2000 to 2004 gathered for the
wedding of Rebecca Linder ’03 (center) and James Blachly (not pictured)
last November.
Lawrence College in September,
where he’ll be teaching courses on
the modern Middle East. He will
stay in New York and continue
hanging out with Dave Goodman,
Matt Swan, Joe Gallagher and
Mike Winton, who also call the
city home. Matt crashed history
professor Robert Dalzell’s last
class at Williams in early May
and to celebrate with the Dalzell
family, Allen Coker and many
other Ephs.
Emily Siegel finished her emergency medicine residency and is
moving back to her hometown of
Sacramento, Calif., to be close to
family and practice medicine.
Jen Doleac completed her PhD
in economics at Stanford in May.
In the fall she’s to start as an assistant professor of public policy
and economics at the UVA Batten
School. Jen studies the economics
of crime and how incentives affect
criminal behavior. Jen was spending the summer in DC and Italy
before moving to Charlottesville.
She is excited to be back on the
East Coast.
Luke Hyde received his PhD
in clinical and developmental
psychology from the University
of Pittsburgh and completed his
clinical internship at Western
Psychiatric Institute/University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
In September, he was to start
a faculty job at the University
of Michigan in the psychology
department. He’ll miss Pittsburgh
a lot but is looking forward to
Ann Arbor.
Freeden Oeur caught up with
Justin Crowe by phone. After
seven years in California, Freeden
starts this fall as an assistant
professor in the education
department at Tufts, with an
affiliation with sociology. Freeden
ran into Andres Schabelman ’06
at an ’80s dance party in San
Francisco.
In June, Cara Cipriano finished
her orthopedic surgery residency
in Chicago. She was working for
Doctors Without Borders in Nigeria before beginning fellowships
in orthopedic oncology and joint
replacement. She periodically sees
Emily and Peter Tucker, Marissa
Berman, Neal Hannan, Andy Howard and Amy Graham.
Liz Chase graduated with her
PhD in English and a certificate
in women’s studies from Emory,
where she’ll continue working in
the manuscript, archives and rare
book library.
Jason Deaner completed a
graduate program in educational
leadership, and he and his wife
bought a house.
Maggie Popkin finished her
PhD in art history at NYU in
the spring and was teaching at
NYU over the summer. Maggie
hosted a NYC bachelorette party
for Jasmine Mitchell attended by
Anjuli Lebowitz, Nicole Theriault, Adrienne Ellman and Karin
Rosenthal.
Perry Kalmus is in the Angel
round of financing for his company, DrinkCity. He is raising
a large amount to expand the
concept to LA and San Francisco.
Perry sees Marshall Dines all the
time. Marshall is doing his residency in LA. He is also growing
out one of the craziest red manes
of hair Perry has ever seen.
At press time we learned that
Eric Tietze passed away July 12. I
hope you’ll share remembrances
of him for the next issue.
Cortney Tunis had a great time
visiting Adam Grogg in DC in
April. They did touristy things
(red, white and blue astropops on
the National Mall) alongside chic
and cool things (four-hour Indian
dinner). Cortney and Adam had a
plaid-clad meal with Steve Seigel
and his husband Justin Wilson.
Cort caught up with Adam’s
roommate Jack Nelson ’07 over
cocktails and deep-fried bacon
wrapped Reese’s peanut butter
cups.
In May Ashley Carter finished
the first year of her master’s
program in nutrition at the
Friedman School at Tufts. During
a break from summer classes,
Ashley joined Cortney and Pete
Endres for a delicious but sweaty
meal in Chinatown on Boston’s
first 90-degree summer day. Pete
works in wind development and
moved to Boston from Cleveland.
Claudia (Arzeno) Mooney
curated an exhibition at the
Milwaukee Art Museum titled
Face Jugs: Art and Ritual in 19th
Century South Carolina. The
exhibition is touring for a year
going to the Columbia Museum
of Art, Birmingham Museum
of Art and Georgia Museum of
Art. She saw Violeta Archilla and
Jarod Kidd ’02 and their daughter
Amelia in Austin over Easter.
Charlie Davidson saw Matt
Watson and Bryan McCoy at the
Columbia MFA show and ran
into Cliff Huang and Katherine
(Haklisch) Earnhardt (separately)
in NYC. Charlie had birthday
beers with Rob Follansbee and
Katie (Joyce) Follansbee ’05.
Rob and Charlie were joined by
Andrew Nathenson and Matt Rade
in Lanesboro, Mass., for Forge
wings and golf. Kam Shahid and
Charlie went fishing with Kam’s
son (Charlie’s godson) in Mystic,
Conn.
Rob, Matt, Andrew and Charlie were in Lenox with the Class
of 2002 before their 10-year
reunion to participate in the
Matthew J. Kelleher ’02 Memorial Golf Tournament. Charlie
says, “Matt … was a football
and lacrosse player at Williams
and one of the nicest people I met
CL ASS
NOTES
throughout my time at school. He
died in a tragic accident in 2003,
and since then his friends and
family have established an award
in his name for the Williams
lacrosse team and are also raising
money to give in his memory and
on behalf of Williams alumni to
the Kelleher Field Fund at the St.
Stephen’s and St. Agnes School
in Alexandria, Va. For questions
about giving to the fund, you
can call 703.212.2717. The golf
tourney was a success, and Rade
won closest-to-the-pin.”
Dan Bahls moved to Springfield, Mass., to do foreclosure
prevention litigation with
Community Legal Aid in four
Western Massachusetts counties.
He saw Neil Anderson, Josh Ain
’03, Suzanne Walsh ’05, Graeme
Schranz, Al Gordon and Tom White
at a surprise 30th birthday party
for Neil.
Bryan McCoy finished two years
in Philly at Wharton, and he was
moving to Lusaka, Zambia, to
manage a venture-backed aquaculture (fish-farming) startup.
On a beautiful May night,
Shamus Brady, Laura Day, Andrew
Giarolo, Neil Hoffman and Drew
Newman hung out and toasted
our class on the roof of Mount
Hope. At the beginning of June,
Drew, Neil and Josh Earn flew to
Trinidad to celebrate Goodrich
housemate Jamaal Mobley’s wedding to Denyse Deane ’03.
Mike Crotty took over as director of the Middlesex Magic AAU
Boys Basketball Program when
his father passed away suddenly
in 2010. Previously Mike worked
for the Celtics for three years.
He left to become an executive
recruiter and to coach with his
father in the program he played
in and that his father built. They
coached together for one year.
Michael Crotty Sr. started the
Middlesex Magic in 1993, and
Mike played for his father in the
program as a young boy through
high school. Mike says, “I
know how many lives my father
shaped, guided and changed
over the years, and I knew that
I shared this exact same passion
for helping kids. Since taking
over as director of the Middlesex
Magic we have grown and now
have spring and fall programs
for third through 12th grade.
This past year we had over 350
kids play in the program, and the
Middlesex Magic has guided over
30 student-athletes to top colleges
in the past two years. My feelings
on this part of my life are simple:
I have a true passion for coaching
kids on the court and guiding
them off the court. My father
set a wonderful example of how
to be a great man and how to
help student-athletes understand,
prioritize and achieve their goals.
Carrying his legacy through the
Middlesex Magic has been amazingly rewarding and something I
thoroughly enjoy!” The Boston
Herald published an article on
Mike and his dad on June 1.
After four years assisting at
Williams, Mitchell Baker started
last August as head women’s
cross country and assistant track
and field coach at Brown. He
has enjoyed the challenges of a
new place and, in early June, saw
Matt Winkler and Maya Kessler
’05 in Des Moines, Iowa, as
they traveled from California to
Minnesota for new employment
and while Mitchell coached at
the year’s final collegiate meet.
He made some quick trips to see
Shamus Brady, Sean Hyland ’08
and Bill Ference ’07 in Boston,
and to New York for a dinner at
Eric Engler’s place.
In June, Nicole Eisenman Weber
attended the New York Ephs
and Williams Club Annual Dinner, where she spent time with
Maria Lapetina, Nora Burns, Phil
Michael, Eric Engler, Johanna
Rodriguez and Sydney Streets ’06.
Dean Cycon ’75 was the guest
speaker and gave an inspiring
presentation. Dean is founder and
CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic
Coffee Co., a certified 100
percent organic, fair trade and
kosher coffee roasting operation
in Orange, Mass., as well as a
co-founder of Coffee Kids (a nonprofit development group) and
Cooperative Coffees (the world’s
first fair-trade roaster’s cooperative). In February Nicole visited
Marly Briggs in Alta, Utah, along
with Nicole’s husband Simon, Liz
(Papa) Simons and her husband
Andrew, and Bridget McDonough.
Marly and her fiancé Brett, as
well as Marly’s parents Mayke
and Scott Briggs ’72, were excellent hosts. Nicole looked forward
to reuniting with everyone in
Montana in August for Marly
and Brett’s wedding. Meanwhile
Bridget was bravely traveling the
world on her own and having an
amazing time in far-away places
such as Nepal and India.
Sam Arons switched from
Google’s internal sustainability
team to Google’s datacenter
energy team, focusing on procuring renewable energy for their
operations. He writes: “It’s been
a fun transition, and there’s lots
to learn! Hopefully at some point
I’ll be able to report back that
we are 100 percent renewablepowered, but we still have a little
ways to go in order to get there.
I got married last August (to
Magali Rowan ’07) and am still
living in San Francisco.”
Andrew Giarolo was named editor-in-chief of Seton Hall’s Sports
& Entertainment Law Journal;
he was entering his fourth (and
final) year of part-time study/fulltime work and looked forward to
having a “normal” lawyerly life
starting in spring 2013. Laura Day
ran her second half-marathon in
the spring while proudly sporting
a purple Williams shirt. Laura
and Andrew enjoy life (and gardening) in Montclair, N.J.
Dan Ohnemus took a five-week
research trip, “sampling the
Southern Ocean between South
Africa and West Australia. I’ve
also watched the PhD defenses of
Rachel Horowitz ’03 and Andrea
Burke ’05 from my graduate
program and am hoping to join
their ranks next summer.”
Emily (Bright) Krusack and her
husband Matthew announced the
birth of daughter Abigail Bright
Krusack. She was born Jan. 3 in
Marshfield, Wisc., home of Elaine
Denny, who visited them in the
hospital.
Meredith (Jones) Clifford
defended her dissertation in
neuroscience at Georgetown in
January with Sean Clifford ’05,
Josh Earn and Brian Lowe ’06 in
attendance. Two weeks later she
and Sean had their first child,
Eliana, who received her first
purple cow gear from Professor
Noah Sandstrom.
Janette Funk and her husband
Brian had a baby boy, Jackson
James, in October 2011.
In the fall Chuck Jakobsche was
to begin as a chemistry professor
at Clark University in Worcester,
Mass. If you are in the area, he
would love to hear from you.
Caitlin Canty writes: “I have
finally finished my new album,
Golden Hour (available in July).
Many Ephs helped make it possible by fan-funding the album on
Kickstarter, and it features members of Darlingside (Sam Kapala
’09, Harris Paseltiner ’09, Dave
Senft ’07 and Don Mitchel ’06).
I’ll be touring the U.S. this fall in
support of this release and would
be grateful for any Eph support
(audience attendance, a couch for
a night, an iTunes review, a house
concert). Also Cliff Belts (by Cliff
Huang) was featured in Oprah
Magazine!”
Ally Matteodo saw Jeremy
Koulish during his jaunt to
Boston. The two caught up over
n 2 0 0 4 –0 5
blueberry mojitos at the West
Side Lounge. The following day
they enjoyed a stroll through
Faneuil Hall, followed by dinner
at Legal Sea Foods and a sunset
cruise of the Boston Harbor. Ally
attended a lecture given by Kate
Stone Lombardi ’78 on her book
The Mama’s Boy Myth. Ally also
attended a Williams day at the
Weston Country Club. She and
her Northeastern alum companion Jeff Meoli were the only
two to hit the tennis court while
others enjoyed the stunning golf
course. When she’s not working
at the Natick Mall, Ally enjoys
performing every Friday night at
Umbria with her Fireball Improv
troupe. Umbria is in the Financial
District of Boston, and Ally
would be delighted to see Ephs in
the audience!
2005
Aron Chang
1432 6th St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
Charles Soha
30 Garrison St., Apt. 108
Boston, MA 02116
[email protected]
Space Shuttle fly-bys, celebrity
sightings, fox hunts, dueling
pianos, broken limbs, Foley catheters, kittens, babies, marriage
proposals as excuses, amazing
e-coupons and terrible insults all
take a turn in this edition of class
notes. Enjoy.
Former class secretaries should
always get to lead off. Zach
McArthur speaks glowingly of
“one of the very best weeks of
my whole life.” Over a full spring
break week in Hawaii, he spent
evenings drinking beers and playing music with Pete Holland and
days exploring the white, red and
black sand beaches of Maui with
Andra Takayesu and Maya, Pete
and Andra’s cheerful and “supercute” 6-month-old.
Class secretaries should also
expect to be taken down a notch
or two. Jonathan Landsman
harbors some resentment—he
used to phone Zach with messages detailing various adventures
for inclusion in the class notes.
“Sadly, [Zach] proved to be
about as good about that as he
was at cribbage.” We would be
foolish, then, not to mention Jonathan’s most recent story, which
involves a federal courthouse,
a fire drill, evacuated lawyers
and clients and courthouse staff
crowding around Jonathan as he
digs up tulips in the public garden
in front of the courthouse and
a loquacious Hasidic Jew in the
throes of an anguished 10-yearold divorce proceeding.
Ken Brown is a ranger again
at a state park in Vermont this
year and happy that the spring
brought far less flooding than
what he had to deal with last
year. He was learning to operate
boats, including a WWII-style
landing craft with which the staff
moves their dumpster off Burton
Island. Jonathan suggests that
Ken may have set the record for
“the most relaxed pace toward a
master’s degree” in our class. He
finally defended his thesis despite
the best attempts of Jonathan
and Zach to distract him with
invitations to come to Boston
for beer, brunch and quality time
on Zach’s couches even as Ken’s
advisors issued stern warnings for
him to avoid such temptation.
Abby Wattley, Kevin Kingman,
Jason Davis, Maryl Gensheimer,
Owuraka Koney, Tameka Watler
and Micah Halsey were in Williamstown for the Alumni Fund
Leadership Weekend. Micah and
Elena Bonifacio are both in their
first year at Columbia Business
School, where they see each other
but don’t get a chance to socialize
with many other Ephs. Earlier in
the year, Kevin and Abby traveled to Florida to see family and
attend Meaghan Rathvon ’06 and
Will Lisman’s wedding, at which
they saw a host of Abby’s rowing
teammates from the classes of
2006 and 2007. Kevin and Abby
plan to move to Charlestown,
Mass., later this year, and he says
Jason and Maryl now have a
puppy that goes by “Fenway.”
In March, Owuraka, Tameka,
Marquis Daisy, Estelita NimohBoateng, Ilunga Kalala and Chris
Sewell joined a number of Ephs
(’03-’07) and Jeff Delaney for his
wedding to Roxanne Wiles in
New Jersey. Sara Gersen is doing
climate and clean air litigation in
Boulder, Colo., as a fellow at the
Environmental Defense Fund,
and Joe Kerckhoff is in a postdoc applied physics program.
They married last fall in Half
Moon Bay, Calif. Stephanie
Swanson, Lillian Chang, Mark
Hobel and Giorgio Mosoni ’07
were in attendance; Stephanie
officiated, and Lillian built
the chuppah under which the
ceremony took place.
Matt Gardner Spencer has been
teaching at Oberlin College but
plans to be back in Williamstown
this fall as a visiting math professor. Jocelyn Gardner Spencer
won’t be far away as the pastoral
resident at Village Church in
Wellesley, Mass. Robin and Caleb
Bliss are establishing a new home
in Sudbury, Mass., with the help
of their dog Ajax.
Katie Garvin and her husband
celebrated the April birth of their
son Sebastian Joseph. He was a
few weeks early but is doing well
and is already well equipped with
Williams gear sent by alumni.
The family is moving to southern
Rhode Island, where Katie looks
forward to enjoying abundant
beaches and open space.
Dan Krass was in Williamstown
with 154 WUFO members for
the 35th Kraftees weekend.
He and Marissa Black ran into
each other on a flight departing
Boston’s Logan Airport for Memphis. Marissa is in her fourth year
of medical school and returned
to New Orleans after a lengthy
stay in Cajun country. Dan Krass
is bracing for his first Nashville
summer and continues to duel on
pianos in both Nashville and San
Francisco.
Paul Simon will shift from clerking with the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals to working at
the Lafayette, La., office of an
energy law firm. In between jobs,
he and Angelica Cortez will take
their daughter Pilar Evangeline
on a lengthy trip through Europe
and South America.
Zophia Edwards still loves
Gabon, despite catching a strain
of mumps during a four-month
trip there to collect data for her
dissertation and to improve her
French. She fell for the country’s
delicious poisson, spotted elephants and monkeys in national
parks and caught a few African
Cup of Nations soccer matches.
Katie Dolbec is completing her
second year emergency medicine
residency at the Maine Medical
Center after spending May in
Utah on a wilderness medicine
elective, “in the mountains, on
the river and in the desert.”
Jenni Simmons gaped at the
Space Shuttle Discovery as a
Boeing 747 ferried it in broad
loops through what is typically
restricted airspace above downtown DC, toward Dulles Airport
and its final stationing at the
Smithsonian. Laura Delgado and I
ran into each other while she was
looping around New Orleans on
an unimaginably slow tour bus.
Laura was down from Boston for
a conference on vacant properties. We caught up over mac ’n
cheese and fried pies.
Meg Bossong provided a
challenging update mentioning
HVAC tune-ups, the social media
CL ASS
NOTES
habits of the farmer who runs her
community-supported agriculture
program and her decision to
switch to a new brand of running
shoes that provides good “foot
feel” and lightness.
Bobby Muhlhausen gathered
in Brooklyn with Dan Narva,
Dan Lieberman, David Thome, CJ
Bak, Dave Roth, Abby Whitbeck,
Laura Kaufman, Laura Futransky,
Amanda Niu, Elena Bonifacio,
Kate Ambler, Mariah Robbins,
Rachel Berlin, and Becky Allen
for Hal Kronsberg ’03 and Sarah
Johnson’s wedding. The wedding
staff had to usher a number of
’05s out of the building at 3 a.m.
so that everyone could go home.
Rachel Berlin started her third
year of medical school at UMass
and was planning her own Williams in Boston wedding for the
end of the summer.
Marissa Doran finished her
second year of law school at Yale
and was in NYC for the summer.
Veronica Mendiola graduated
from the Wharton School of
Business along with CJ Bak and
was moving to NYC in the fall.
Chuck Soha was to move to
Boston at the end of the summer.
Adam Kollender was to move to
London in August. Amy Katzen
writes in every four years, according to her records. Since 2008,
she has earned a master’s in public policy and a JD and is living in
Boston with her partner.
Adam traveled to Park City
in February to ski with Shomik
Dutta and other Ephs and spent
time in March in NYC with
Adam Zamora and Kyle Skor,
who was visiting from northern
California. The three feasted on
sushi and hopped underground
tequila bars. Karl Johanson joined
them for a farewell brunch.
Nicky Decesare, Kyle Anderson,
Rene Hamilton ’04 and Barry
Fulton spent a weekend at the
National Association of Independent School’s People of Color
Conference in Philadelphia. Barry
left the Pennington School, where
Jordan Aubry and his girlfriend
are. He loves life as a day school
teacher and as a sixth-grade team
leader responsible for 95 students
at the Pingry School in Martinsville, N.J. He will continue in his
role as director at Camp Rising
Sun and an international leadership camp in Rhinebeck.
Phil Enock made it into The
New York Times for his research
on smartphone apps for psychotherapy. See http://nyti.ms/
MYpYKr.
Beth Landis planned to leave
Cambridge in August for
Kusika alumnae (from left) Sharon Owusu-Darko ’06, Chelsea
Pollen ’05, Ophelia Adipa ’06, Jennifer Hermanski ’06, Jocelyn Gardner
Spencer ’05 and Samantha Goldman ’05 attended a drumming show at
Harvard together in February.
Worcester, Mass., to take her
position as a chemistry professor
at the College of the Holy Cross.
Worcester is her husband Dan’s
hometown. Leisa Rothlisberger
and her husband have new titles
and responsibilities: She successfully defended her dissertation in
April and brought baby girl Vera
into the world in May. Simone
Ciccel plans to show off baby
girl Grace at homecoming, and
Sean and Meredith Clifford are
proud parents of baby girl Eliana
Clifford.
Lydia and Matt Barhight are
both moving to Cincinnati to
begin work at the Children’s
Hospital, he as a pediatrics
resident and she as a pediatric
psychologist. Desiree Gonzalez
will leave Miami for NYC with a
degree in fashion design, though
beautiful Miami weather was
making her wonder whether this
was the right move.
Julia Prieto is halfway through
her year in Chicago, working on
digital programs for the Obama
campaign. Joanna Lloyd is in her
final year of veterinary school
and is learning everything from
large-animal surgery to smallanimal dermatology in a series
of two-week rotations. She has a
new litter of foster kittens. Hilarie
Ashton will start at CUNY’s English PhD program next year.
Jane McCamant handed in her
master’s in social science thesis
and plans to stay in Chicago to
take advantage of library privileges and the office resources of
former professors as she applies
for PhD programs. She’s run into
Marcos and Devin Gouvea ’07 as
well as ’08s in the elevator in her
building. A dog named Macy has
been the topic of conversation on
at least one of those shared elevator rides.
Noah Allen taught Natalie Geier
how to place a Foley catheter when she was his medical
student—they are both at the
University of Cincinnati. He is
finishing his intern year in general
surgery, and she is a fourth-year
medical student. Emily Bloomenthal broke an arm while grocery
shopping because she “loses all
semblance of coordination when
not dancing,” but she triumphed
at her audition for Forty Steps
Dance despite the ailing limb.
She keeps her day job as a child
and family law attorney in
Massachusetts.
Chris Sewell plans to move to
Atlanta, Ga., to become dean of
instruction at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate High School. He’s excited
to switch from middle schoolers
to the “big kids.” Holly Takashima
left New Orleans after two years
and moved to Colorado for a
teaching fellowship at Eagle
Rock, an alternative residential
school in the mountains. She will
stay on as a full-time English
teacher there in the fall.
Lindsey Taylor remains in
Boston, where she now works
even longer hours in Parthenon’s
private equity practice. She is also
taking her equestrian skills into
the rarefied world of foxhunting,
on Boston’s North Shore. “Yes,
people still do this,” she says.
Asha Rhodes was running late
for work one morning in April
when her boyfriend of five years
pulled out a ring and said, “Now
you have a reason!”
n 2 0 0 5 –0 6
Emily Grant and her husband
travel through Europe every
chance they get, now that they
live in London as representatives of Travelers Insurance. “It
will not come as a surprise that
[London] is a significant improvement from Hartford, Conn.” In
addition to meeting Ephs at the
Williams Europe alumni weekend
in San Sebastian, Spain, Emily
spotted Hugh Grant at her neighborhood pub on Notting Hill.
Hannah Stauffer teaches math
and coaches soccer at the all-boys
Gilman School. She is engaged
and ran a marathon in the fall to
honor her brother Matt ’96. She
was raising money to establish a
scholarship in his name at Camp
Keewaydin Dunmore, where
Matt was a camper and a counselor while he was at Williams.
2006
Ariel Peters
626 Independence Ave., Apt. 206
[email protected]
Half of my entrymates got a
mention this go around—East
1, comin’ at ya! I’m pretty sure
stealing another entry’s banner
(you shall remain nameless)
during orientation week was
our best moment, though. Was
it really 10 years ago that we
arrived at Williams?
Melody Marchman married
Capt. Matthew Schade (U.S.
Army) in his hometown of
Basking Ridge, N.J., on Nov. 26,
2011. Ellie Schmidt ’06, Elizabeth
Spragins ’07 and Laura Day
Giarolo ’04 were bridesmaids,
and Laura’s husband Andrew
was a reader in the ceremony.
At the reception, Amelia (Bishop)
Landberg, Nell Putnam-Farr ’00
and Brendan Nelson ’00 joined
them in a spontaneous rendition
of “The Mountains,” singing
the entire song! Melody and her
husband live in Fort Lee, Va.;
she’s finishing her dissertation,
and he’s teaching at the Army
Logistics University.
It was a spring full of bachelorettes and weddings for Poker E.
They hosted a hen party for Emily
Vargyas in Boston in February;
a couple of weekends later, they
traveled to Austin for Meaghan
Rathvon’s bachelorette. Meaghan
was married on Amelia Island,
Fla., on March 31, and Emily
tied the knot in Washington on
April 28. Kate Sauerhoff, Ali
Macdonald, Beth Ann Barnosky
and Phoebe Fischer-Groban were
bridesmaids in both weddings.
Daniel Moccia-Field is a privateevents cook at Blue Hill at
Stone Barns; his frosh Samantha
Peterson ’08 attended a wedding
he did, but they didn’t put it
together until a couple months
later. Meghan Ryan works there,
too, and they sometimes run into
one another during staff family
meal.
Blake Albohm and Sasha Gsovski
planned to attend seven summer
weddings—including their own—
taking them to Boulder, New
York, New Orleans, Ithaca and
Martha’s Vineyard.
Jessi England is in San Francisco
and couldn’t be happier out west;
she spends the majority of her
free time training for triathlons
(“I’m finally the athlete I never
was at Williams!”) and hanging
out with freshman roommate
Martine Neider.
Jared Powell and Julia Esko are
engaged (nine!). He popped the
question while on vacation in the
Bay Area—there was an ocean
sunset, a lighthouse and a myriad
of animal onlookers, including
deer and a jackrabbit, not to
mention a rainbow! Jared and
Julia hung out with Alexandra
Chan before heading home to the
Bay State.
Matt Teschke is also engaged;
fiancée Helah is a Georgetown
alum, “but she loves Williams!”
Meredith Singer welcomed
Bryan Dragon and Steve Acton
to the Deep South in March; all
three attended Aaron Reibel’s
graduation from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. She
only suffered a few flashbacks
to their late-night Wolfenstein
battles freshman year.
Meredith disbanded her
production company, Primo
Multimedia, and rolled components of it into another Alabama
startup, Verge Pipe Media; they
have a free app for golfers called
Golf Joust. She’s used her social
media know-how to connect
with fellow Alabaman Sarah Louise Smith from across the state.
Sarah Louise graduated from
b-school and took a three-week
trip to Laos, China and Thailand.
She’s staying on as executive
director of Impact Alabama and
is a principal in a consulting
firm, Black Smith LLC. (She’s the
“Smith.”)
Aaron saw Sarah Louise in Birmingham in the spring, and Matt
Hsieh visited Aaron before he and
Meg McCann (10!) took off for
Senegal, Matt’s first assignment
with the State Department.
Aaron was to start his Armor
Basic Officer Leaders Course in
July: “I’ll get to shoot from tanks
and other fun stuff.”
Dave Butts visited Joe Shoer
in Philly in the spring; they flew
the remote-control glider they
built with Joe Gangestad during
Winter Study junior year. “It
still works great.” Joe spent
three weeks in Australia with his
family: “If you’re counting, that
includes Larry ’73, Leah ’09 and
Rebecca ’13, whom we met at the
end of her semester abroad.
Dianne Pfundstein wrote from
Cambodia. She finished her PhD
in political science at Columbia
and was to do a postdoc at the
Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School this fall and become
an assistant professor at UMass
Amherst in fall 2013. During
graduation weekend she celebrated her engagement to U.S.
Army Maj. Robert Chamberlain,
whom she met at Columbia on a
six-week tour of Southeast Asia.
Sarah Steege and Ilya Feldsherov graduated in May from
the University of Michigan Law
School. Ilya was studying for the
bar, but he was excited to move
to Houston to work for a law
firm that does education and
school law. Laura (Noel) Borland
and her husband Seth ’03 offered
him their guest room.
Kathryn Fromson was working
for the North Carolina Science
Festival, which took place in
April and included two weeks of
science events across the state.
She had a beer with astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson! She had
just accepted her dream job at
the North Carolina Museum of
Natural Sciences and paid a visit
to Jon Russell, Melissa Paige, Joe
Hutchinson, Alexis Saba and Alana
Whitman ’05 in NYC.
Jennifer Hermanski spent five
years as a union investigator at
the U.S. Department of Labor in
Boston before starting a career
in foundation development at
Boston Public Television, which
produces Downton Abbey. She’s
also serving as head of the Boston alumni association. In January she caught up with Emma
Golden over dinner in London.
“John,” Adam Bloch’s Williams
buddy in Harlem, told him about
a town in the West Virginia
coal fields where the action was
getting hot: “I headed down
there this spring and found a
combustive mix of restive miners,
a new union organizer from out
of town, scabs imported from
Italy or the South and a couple of
company goons. As usual, forces
conspired to keep good workers
down.”
CL ASS
NOTES
It’s impossible to compete
with Adam; here goes nothing.
I’m now the owner of a rescue
dog! Her name is Tallulah, and
she’s definitely the best thing that
happened to me during my first
year of law school. I celebrated
the end of exams with a trip to
Brooklyn to see Pamela Good and
Ainsley O’Connell and commemorate the end of their time in the
borough.
Finally, Jen Linnan is proud
to announce her new venture,
Linnan Literary Management,
specializing in graphic works and
illustration in addition to adult,
YA and middle-grade fiction and
nonfiction. Cheers!
2007
Caitlin Hanley
1121 Arlington Blvd., Apt. 608
Arlington, VA 22209
[email protected]
secretary Diana Davis: Warren
Buffet’s wife reportedly imparted
five secrets to success to her
children: 1. Show Up; 2. Tell the
Truth; 3. Pay Attention; 4. Do
Your Best; 5. Stay Unattached to
the Outcome.
Our class is clearly following #1, as a whopping 267 of
us showed up for our five-year
reunion. This was the highest
number of any class, winning the
Reunion Bowl for the great Class
of 2007 (based on the highest
number of registered and present
classmates). Outgoing Class President Sarah Jenks reports that 350
people were at dinner Saturday
night. Mark your calendars for
the 10-year; we’ve got our sights
set on the percentage prize.
We elected new class officers
at the reunion. President David
Brown; VP Sheryl Brea; Treasurer
Stephanie Wai; and Secretary
Caitlin Hanley.
Once again Chris Furlong was
the first to send in his news. He
started a job working for a real
estate lender in January. Chris
had a great time at the reunion.
Dominique Mack is halfway
through her master’s in international relations and economics
from Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International
Studies, where Michelle Cousland
is studying, and from which Alix
Murphy graduated. Dominique
spent her first year at the school’s
campus in Bologna, Italy, and
traveled all over Europe. Her
classmates in Bologna included
David Rackovan ’04 and Jonas
Brown ’96. She is spending the
second year of the program at the
DC campus.
In January Dominique met up
with Brendan Mulrain in London
and ran into Martin Williams in
Bologna. Alyssa Mack visited
Dominique for two weeks, and
they recreated “our own version
of Under the Tuscan Sun in a
rented white SmartCar that
Alyssa nicknamed ‘Snowball.’”
Rachel Jordan graduated from
Boston University School of
Medicine and over the summer
planned to move to the West
Coast to start her residency in
pediatrics at the University of
California, San Francisco.
Ben Echols has lived in San
Francisco since August 2011; one
of his roommates is Dani Wolinsky
’08. He started a job as a product
manager at Location Labs in
Emeryville. He frequently sees
Godfrey Bakuli, Matt Kane and
Mike Davitian.
Matt Earle is producing a short
film about a group of friends who
have escaped the apocalypse to a
sheep farm in Maine. He planned
to take the summer to build a
solid meditation practice.
Nathan Friend “bought a total
fixer-upper in Seattle, just blocks
from where my grandpa grew
up.” He is enjoying spending
time with his fiancée and making
it their own.
Sara Morrissey graduated
from Portland State in June
with a master’s in urban and
regional planning and a focus in
transportation. For the summer
she planned to travel through
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Our newly elected class
president, Dave Brown, finished
business school and is executive
director of TUGG (www.tugg.
org), based in Boston.
Over the summer Kate
(Scheider) Powlison planned to
ride the entire Tour de France
course with five other women.
She says: “We’re riding to raise
funds for Bikes Belong (the
nonprofit where I work) and to
encourage more women to ride
bikes. When we make it to Paris,
we’ll have pedaled more than
2,000 miles in just 21 days. I’m
planning to break out my hideous
Williams cow-print spandex for
one of the days.”
Daniel Sussman wrote from
a beach house in Connecticut,
where he was celebrating the
wedding of Jamie Sweeney ’08
and Elena Betke-Brunswick.
Young Hahn, Anne Smith, Sarah
MacWright, Frecka Brasz ’09,
Peter Schmidt ’08 and Katie Fleming attended. Daniel was finishing
his PhD with a thesis defense
scheduled for July. He planned
to start a postdoc at UPenn in
August. Daniel was excited to
head back to the East Coast!
Helen (Selonick) Prevas graduated from Johns Hopkins and “is
now supposedly a doctor. I’ll test
that out since I’m staying there
for medicine.”
Karen Olson is pursuing her
MBA at the Tuck School of
Business at Dartmouth. Four
other Ephs are in her class: Steve
Abbott, Max Pinto ’08, Eben
Pingree ’04 and Matt Webster
’04. She had a great first year,
complete with requisite MBA
international travel to Japan and
Hong Kong. She was spending
the summer in Boston, living in
the South End and working as an
MBA summer intern at Keurig.
Alyssa Howard reports: “Year
two at the Yale School of Drama
is done, finished up by assistant
stage managing for The Realistic
Joneses at Yale Repertory Theatre. I’m staying in New Haven
over the summer, working as
production stage manager for the
Yale Summer Cabaret, a festival
of three plays in rotating repertory. … The reason I missed the
reunion is because I was in tech!
Come see a show!”
Charles Plaisimond lives and
works in Cambridge, helping
researchers making cake-baking
robots. “In my own time I’ve
been heading the implementation
of a tele-medicine platform in
my native Haiti with Partners in
Health. I often have bumped into
Mitch Brooks, Katie McAllister,
Alan Rodrigues, Meghan Stetson,
Dave Brown, Lars Ojukwu and
others. Our five-year reunion was
a wonderful experience, and it
was great to reminisce.”
Dan Binder drove to reunion
with Matt Kane and Mike
Fairhurst. In March Dan took a
trip to the Northwest Territories,
where he “got to go dogsledding, cross-country skiing,
snowmobiling and viewing the
northern lights.” He was working
and enjoying the summer.
Daumantas Mockus works
as associate in Royal Bank of
Canada’s mergers and acquisitions department in London. He
says, “This year I am also leading
the Lithuanian City of London
Club, a nonprofit members
organization for Lithuanians
working in London finance,
law and management consulting. Our club (and myself) were
recently mentioned in an article
in The Economist.” Daumantas
attended an Eph wedding on
n 2 0 0 6 –0 8
Cape Cod in August.
Auyon Mukharji reports that allWilliams band Darlingside was
to release its debut, full-length
album Pilot Machines on July 17.
“We could not be more excited,
and we will be touring up and
down the East Coast in support
of it. Hope to see some of you at
the shows!”
Brett Moody shared exciting
news: “I just got engaged … to
Chris Bodnar ’05. Too soon to
have any planning details, other
than that the future wedding will
be sure to include lots of Ephs!”
As for me (Diana), last spring
I had some extra time, so I made
a video that explains my math
PhD thesis through interpretive
dance. It was a pretty awesome
project, and I’m thrilled with
the result. I missed our five-year
reunion to run a race, and luckily
the race went well. From now
on, Caitlin Hanley will be our
class secretary. See you all at the
10-year reunion!
2008
REUNION JUNE 6–9
Julie Van Deusen
92 Charles St., #32
Boston, MA 02114
[email protected]
It’s hard to believe that in less
than a year we’ll be gathering in
Williamstown for our five-year
reunion. A lot has happened over
the last few years, and there are a
number of engagement/wedding
announcements and career moves
throughout this column.
Will Parker got engaged to
Pritzker medical school classmate
Mei Zhou, graduated medical
school in June and got a job as
an internal medicine resident
at the University of Chicago.
He reunited with Tyler Hull, Ben
Byrne and Will Eusden in Vegas,
where they wore suit coats excessively. Will (Parker) is looking
forward to hosting friends in his
new townhouse in Old Town.
Diana Jaffe got engaged to
her boyfriend Vilas, and they
moved to the Chicago area as
Diana is starting her MBA at the
Kellogg School of Management
at Northwestern. Diana spent
the summer traveling in Russia,
Turkey, China and India. Diana
wrote in from China with Jessica
Beck, who is also doing a world
tour before starting at HBS in
the fall. Jessica was headed to
Turkey and the Nordics with
Stephanie Wai ’07.
In February, Edmund Rucci went
to Argentina with three friends,
including Mike Eisert. They
consumed lots of steak and red
wine and had several adventures,
including visiting a penguin
colony. In May, Edmund, Mike
and Dan Wong, Hayden Boucher
and Gary Simonette visited Williams to watch the men’s tennis
team, coached by Dan Greenberg,
in the NESCAC tournament.
They made sure to visit The
Forge. This fall, Edmund is looking forward to starting at Kellogg
Business School, where Tanya
Pramatarova ’09 and Kevin Kellert
’07 are starting.
Adam Banasiak, Betsy Todd and
Terry Tamm hosted an impromptu
Williams-Oxford reunion at their
apartment in Jamaica Plain last
spring. Prassanna Raman, Max
Gutman, Sara Siegmann, Jason
Ren, Becky Howard (Exeter ’09,
via Skype), Andrew Douglas,
Carynne McIver, Terence Tamm
and Jenny Gimian all stopped by.
Adam saw Carynne and Rachel
Allen in January in San Francisco,
where he was visiting Sara Carian
at Berkeley Law and Steve Melis
(who was testing his New Year’s
resolution to be a raw vegan for a
month and is in TFA in Oakland)
for a long weekend of eating
(including dinner with Lily Li and
Mike Reynolds) and trampolining.
(Adam even learned how to back
flip.) Adam finished as a contractor for the U.S. EPA Office of
Ground Water and Drinking
Water and is going back to school
for a master’s in public policy at
the Harvard Kennedy School in
the fall. He hiked with his sister
and Anna Weber on the South
Island of New Zealand in the
spring (their fall) for a few weeks.
Anna also crashed with Adam
and his sister on their hike last
year in Iceland and was happy
to go to a place this time around
that a) has trees and b) isn’t in
perpetual sunlight.
It’s been a very busy few
months for Erin Brown and
Constantine Mavroudis. Erin
graduated from the University
of Chicago with a master’s
in public policy. Constantine
graduated from medical school
at Loyola Chicago and matched
into UPenn’s integrated cardiac
surgery residency program, and
Erin accepted a position as a
major gifts officer at Wharton, so
they’ve relocated to Philadelphia.
Constantine and Erin also got
engaged and anticipate celebrating with a small ceremony within
the year. Matt Allen caught up
with Alec Schumacker in Florida.
Over the summer, Matt moved
to Philadelphia to start medical
school at UPenn. On Valentine’s
Day Matthew McClure proposed
to first-grade teacher Ashley Linnelli, whom he met in Pittsburgh.
He graduated from medical
school in late May and moved to
Philadelphia to begin a residency
at UPenn in physical medicine
and rehabilitation.
Allison McAndrew graduated
from Northeastern University
School of Law in Boston and
moved to the Bay Area to study
for the California bar exam.
She got a warm welcome from
Darcy Montevaldo, Godfrey Bakuli
’07, Toni Kraeva ’09 and Jaimee
Hermann ’10. Katie Stack finished
her fourth year in the geology
PhD program at Caltech. She was
excited to be a member of the
Mars Science Laboratory team
for the landing of the Curiosity
rover on Mars at the beginning
of August. That meant she’d be
on “Mars time” for three months
and not getting much sleep or
going outside often. Rachael
Konecky graduated from the
University of Washington School
of Law and took the Washington State Bar Exam in July. Jeff
Lin finished his second year of
law school at the University of
Washington and spent the summer in Berkeley, interning at the
National Center for Youth Law
in Oakland.
Deborah Anderson got married
in January, and she and her
husband Jake are both rocking
their very long and not so sexy
(Deborah’s words) last name,
Anderson-Bialis. They didn’t have
a wedding, but Esa Seegulam ’06
flew out for a raging costume
party they threw a few weeks
after. Deborah graduated from
law school at Berkeley in May
and was studying for the bar.
In early June Greg Schultz
reunited with Sam Kapala ’09,
Adam Janes, David Eisenson ’07
and Carlos Ramirez to play for
the five- and 10-year reunions on
campus. Greg’s little sister Gwen
Schultz ’15 finished freshman
year, making her the second family Eph. Then on the docket was
Greg’s bachelor party in Sitka,
Alaska, with Charles Christianson
(groomsman) hosting Greg and
Jeff Lyon (best man) ahead of the
big day in September, when Greg
and Whitney Ryan (Princeton
’06) will tie the knot just outside
of Boston.
Last May, Caroline Goodbody
flew out to San Francisco to join
Carynne McIver, Rachel Allen and
Michelle Donnelly for a three-day
CL ASS
NOTES
backpacking trip. They trekked
in California’s “Lost Coast”
and enjoyed views of Northern
California’s coast, beaches and
redwoods. They also survived
some fierce windstorms and (at
least in Caroline’s case) even
worse poison oak. Caroline
reports that it was great to catch
up after not seeing each other
for a couple of years. Caroline
finished her three-year stint in
Senator Cardin’s office in the
spring and then headed to Peru.
This fall, she plans to start at
the Yale School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies, focusing
on applied economics.
After playing poker professionally for the last four years, John
Snipes will attend the Johnson
Graduate School of Management
at Cornell University to pursue
an MBA. Ben Springwater is a
principal at the Parthenon Group
in Boston. He’s lived and worked
there since graduation, but this
fall he plans to move to DC to
join an education startup. Over
the summer Jarrad Wood moved
to DC to start law school at
American University.
Angie (Blanchard-Manning) Jordan was in Jersey for Megan Brankley and Aatif Abbas’ wedding,
where she caught up with Uzaib
Saya, Katherine Padilla, Prassanna Raman and other Williams
friends. Katie Powers graduated
from Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine (with Laurel
Bifano ’02 and Hilary Webb ’01)
and will be a small animal rotating intern at VCA Alameda East
Veterinary Hospital in Denver for
the next year. Kim Taylor lives in
Bozeman, Mont., and is working
on a PhD in ecology and environmental science at Montana
State University. She traveled to
Chilean Patagonia recently to
collect data for her project.
Ryan Dunfee left the adventure
travel company he was working at in New Hampshire in
October and moved to Lake
Tahoe, Calif., to pursue his
snow-sports journalism career.
He wrote a lot this winter and
got in some great skiing despite
a dismal winter; he now wants
to get involved in sustainability
efforts and likely will head back
to Boston. But he’s glad to report
that seven years after breaking
his back, he’s stronger than ever
and has been skiing, surfing and
mountain biking better than he
ever has before. Ryan hung out
with Riley Maddox, Haley Tone
’07, Sylvia Semper, Talia Anders,
Cooper Jones and Nate Brevard
over the winter and spent New
Year’s in Aspen with Sylvia and
Justin Vassar.
Jared Oubre is beginning
divinity school in Boston. A
Quinceañera celebration with
his Peace Corps host sisters of
the Dominican Republic and
hiking and skipping rocks with
inner-city kids on the beautiful
shores of Lake Michigan have
him pondering how he can capture and live forevermore like a
free-spirited child. Williams cross
country runners Grant Burgess,
Corey Levin, Jared Oubre, Brendan
Christian ’09, Brooks Uldlesman ’09, Ryan Ford ’09, Rachel
Asher ’09, Bill Ference ’07, Sean
Hyland ’07 and Chris Furlong ’09
put together a solid team in the
Litchfield, Conn., 7.1-mile road
race. Sweat, smiles and s’mores
were shared by all.
Gabriel Salinas got married
on May 29, 2011, and has a
new job as senior manager of
sales operations and analytics
at Machinima. Sarah Fink and
Ben Rudick got married on May
20 in Baiting Hollow, N.Y. (on
Long Island). Cantor Bob Scherr
officiated, Jesse Levitt signed their
ketubah, Morgan Goodwin was
a groomsman, and they had a
number of Ephs in attendance.
Ben and Sarah were both in
Lehman freshman year, so they
would like to thank Campus Life
for their role in matchmaking.
They plan to move to Shanghai
in the fall.
Eric Zaccarelli lives with Ryan
Karolak and Tom Sargeantson.
Eric was disappointed that the
Rangers lost in the playoffs to
the hated Devils, but he kept his
spirits high and continued going
to work anyway. He planned
to play beach volleyball over
the summer whenever possible.
Margaret Ryan finished her first
year at Columbia Business School
and interned at American Express
over the summer. She saw Katie
Powers, Kristen Lemons, Joey Lye
’09, Morgan Simpson ’09, Becky
Sansone ’09 and Liz Gluck ’05
in Williamstown for a softball
reunion in May.
Elizabeth Mitchell will attend
Bowling Green State University
in Ohio this fall. She is beginning
an MFA program in creative
writing. Kate Nolfi wrapped up
the fourth year of her philosophy
PhD program at UNC-Chapel
Hill and flew over to Palo Alto
to visit Eugene Korsunskiy for
his graduation. By the time this
is printed, Eugene should have
an MFA in design. For Eugene’s
master’s project, he and some of
his classmates outfitted an old
delivery truck with high-tech
shop tools like laser cutters and
3D printers and started driving
around to local elementary
schools to bring back hands-on
education. From July to October,
they will be taking the truck for
a cross-country trip. You can
follow their adventures at www.
sparktruck.org.
Taryn Rathbone and Michael
Daub got married on June 9 at a
botanical garden in Claremont,
Calif. Then they enjoyed a honeymoon in Costa Rica, where they
took a zip line tour of the cloud
forest. They took a great Williams photo at the wedding.
2009
Mijon Zulu
377 East 33rd St., Apt. 8H
New York, NY 10016
[email protected]
This July marked a year since
my father’s passing and, at the
memorial, my family taught me
a lot about life. In short, we are
lucky to have accomplished, kind,
inspiring people in our lives. We
cannot explain it and did not ask
for it; we just have them and are
blessed. I have always believed
this. When asked why I chose
Williams, my immediate response
is the people. Would I do it
again? In a heartbeat. I cannot
imagine being the person I am
today without the people that I
have known, and they definitely
include my college classmates.
So, let us read and revel in each
other’s trials, successes and
accomplishments.
In Asia, Scott Tamura finished
his third and final year as an English teacher in Nagano, Japan.
Mr. Tamura saw Maya Lama
in Tokyo as she pursues an art
career, Andy St. Louis as he continues to edit an up-and-coming art
magazine, and Peter Shine ’08 in
Seoul, Korea. In China, Stacey
Baradit and Alexa Valenzuela
reported continued domestic bliss
with their cat, Napoleon. In January Jon Earle transitioned from
working as a web editor at The
Moscow Times to working as
reporter. En France, Emily Voight
updates us on her activities. After
a year working as a teaching
assistant, Ms. Voight found work
in the administration department
at a private language school. She
plans a move to London to complete an MA at Queen Mary.
On the other side of the Chunnel, Aroop Mukharji was elected
to the Executive Committee of
the Society of Alumni and gave
n 2 0 0 8 –0 9
the valedictorian’s speech at the
“leaver’s event” for Marshall
Scholars. Mr. Mukharji was also
named a Presidential Management Finalist and is looking for
work within the government.
Ali Tozier worked at HERA, an
organization that helps victims
of human trafficking become
economically independent.
Ms. Tozier spent the summer
traveling Europe before returning to the States in August for
her annual girls reunion with
Denise Duquette, Lauren Bloch
and Courtney Asher and moving
to Portland, Maine—where Tim
Ryan lives—to pursue a law
degree focusing on international
and human rights.
In Africa, Camille Bevans
decided to extend her stint in the
Peace Corps and serve a third
year as the monitoring and evaluation coordinator for Catholic
Relief Services in Kedougou,
Senegal. Lindsay Moore battled
baboons outside her biology
classroom while working at
Abaarso Tech in Somaliland.
Ms. Moore also worked with
the Ministry of Education and
traveled back to the UK to see
Ms. Tozier and Scott Olsen ’10. In
the fall, Claire Whipple and Jake
Koshland planned to relocate to
Malawi till December to work
for Maloto, a nonprofit aimed
at women and children living in
poverty there. Mr. Koshland will
be doing economic development
work, and Ms. Whipple will be
teaching.
Robin Kuntz and Ben Bodurian
survived their first years at Berkeley Law and the University of
Virginia, respectively. Ms. Kuntz
spent the summer working for a
district court judge in Manhattan, while Mr. Bodurian interned
for a judge on the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims in DC. GWU law
student Ian Simmons worked in
Reno, Nev., and lived with Jennifer Morrison ’12 for the summer,
while Ian Mitchell, who attends
U Minnesota, left his externship
for Alan Penderson to work as
a legal assistant for Pathways
Counseling, helping mentally ill
people avoid recidivism. Finally,
Randy Dorf graduated from Cornell Law School and will relocate
to Boston to work at a law firm.
Kevin Connolly returned to the
Northeast from AZ, where he
was teaching, to explore postbac and med school options.
Jess Kopcho finished her second
semester in her pre-med post-bac
program at Columbia before
traveling to Thailand in August
with Rob Buesing. Lauren A. Finn
left Philly and spent the bulk of
the summer back in Laconia,
N.H., before moving to Yakima,
Wash., to start med school. Stew
Buck finished his first year at
Emory, while Caroline Kan and
Jared Lunkenheimer finished their
second years at U Rochester.
Rachel Ko completed therapeutic
culinary school in San Fran, and
Beverly Acha completed her MFA
in painting and printmaking at
Yale. Molly Klaisner is working on
her comparative literature PhD
at Harvard and spent the summer in Senegal doing research.
Mindy Misener left Northampton,
Mass., for Ann Arbor, Mich., to
pursue a creative writing MFA
at U Michigan. Emily Olsen
received an MS in conservation
social science from U Idaho and
will teach at The Sage School in
Hailey, Idaho. Sarah Hill received
an MA in exercise physiology
from UT Austin before heading to Spain to hike the Camino
de Santiago, which Matt Felser
also hiked over the summer
after trekking through Paris
and Barcelona. Amber LaFountain received her MS in library
and information science from
Simmons College and remains
in Boston. Geology students
Danielle Zentner at Stanford and
Ruth Arnoff at Purdue continue
to pursue their PhDs, as does Ed
Newkirk, who studies math at
Brown, Theresa Ong, who studies
ecology and evolutionary biology
at U Michigan, Stefan Elrington,
who studies physics at Yale, and
Tatiana Fernandez Cruz, who
studies history at U Michigan.
Raul Cruz has been working as
an administrator at a charter
school and will start an MA in
education at U Michigan. The
Cruz family welcomed Amaya,
Raul Jr.’s new sister, in June. Also
at U Michigan, Nanny Gephart is
pursuing an MS/MBA and hosting prospective grad school Ephs
like Bibi Metsch-Garcia.
The fall will see a new crop
of grad school students enter
the classroom. Jenna Taft will
pursue a PhD in chemistry at U
of Vermont, Naya-Joi Martin will
begin an MBA at Emory, George
Miller will start at MIT Sloan,
Becca Gordon will pursue an MA
in teaching at Columbia, Hannah
Baker will pursue an MA in Chinese, and, finally, the bromance
has ended. After six years of
living together, Jake Gorelov and
Alex Zackheim split amicably. Mr.
Zackheim left Boston for NYC to
start at Columbia Business School.
Elissa Brown will start her
second year teaching in Boone,
N.C., but spent the summer
leading a backpacking trip on the
Appalachian Trail. Liz Kantack
taught, coached skiing and
worked as a dorm parent at the
Stratton Mountain School. Rashid
Duroseau implemented a language arts enrichment program
that he designed from scratch and
finished his third year of teaching
in a Philadelphia Turnaround
Charter school.
In Beantown, Andy Ward acted
as Patrick Swayze’s Sam in
Ghost: The Musical. Housemates
Emily Flynn, Katie Grace and
Kristen Milano are ridiculously
busy. Ms. Flynn is the manager of
special projects at the Sustainable
Endowments Institute and gets
visits from Dan Pesquera ’10, who
is an assignment editor at ESPN.
Ms. Grace works at the Initiative
for Responsible Investment at
Harvard and travels to Seattle,
Brazil and Kenya, and Ms.
Milano finished her MA in teaching but plans to stay to receive
further accreditation to train to
become a high school guidance
counselor. Jess Rodriguez visited
Beantown from Brookfield,
Conn., to run a zombie-themed
marathon with Lauren E. Finn and
then munch Cinco de Mayo burritos with Alex Kopynec.
Darlingside has been hard on
the road. Though always up
and down the Northeast, Harris
Paseltiner, Sam Kapala, David
Senft ’07, Auyon Mukharji ’07
and Don Mitchell ’06 played the
Williams College Spring Fling
while gearing up for their first
full-length album release, Pilot
Machines. In Mount Tabor, Vt.,
Dan Perez worked as a project
leader for the Student Conservation Association, leading a trail
survey crew over the summer in
the Green Mountain National
Forest. Mr. Perez was also a
project lead for the launch of the
National Park Service Academy,
aimed at promoting the interest
and training of minorities for
conservation-based careers
(http://bit.ly/NvP2Kw).
In Lewiston, Maine, recently
married Victoria Williams left the
small nonprofit world and started
working as a writer in the Bates
College communications office.
In Norwalk, Conn., Rahul Bahl
moved to a job at GE Capital,
where he benefits from good
golf and weekends in the city.
Moving down the East Coast,
Cary Choy enjoys being stateside
and is looking for work in college
admissions. Molly Hunter is an
assignment editor on the foreign
desk at ABC and is happy to be
CL ASS
NOTES
close to good friends Arianna
Kourides, Riki McDermott, Helen
Hatch and Ms. Metsch-Garcia.
Brooklyn residents Zach Safford
and Julian Mesri enjoyed settling
into new apartments. Mr. Safford
is happy to have ended his travels, and Mr. Mesri was honored
with an Emerging Artist of Color
Fellowship at the New York Theatre Workshop and directed the
new play 39 Defaults at Teatro
Stage Fest in June. Natalie Diaz is
an assistant to an NYC businessman, working for his business
and philanthropic efforts. Over
the summer, Ms. Diaz continued
freelancing with IMG, working
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
Swim in Miami.
In Baltimore, Lindsay Millert
received another promotion at
Under Armour and was preparing for her sister’s wedding in
Colorado as well as the occasional visit from Christine Cohen.
Bonnie O’Keefe finished her first
year of an MA in public policy
at Johns Hopkins and spent the
summer commuting to DC to
work as an education pioneers
fellow.
In DC, Jay Cox-Chapman left
his job with an energy and
microfinance NGO and started
a job at Opower, an energyefficient software company.
Emily Fowler-Cornfeld moved
from Boston to DC to work for
Democracy International, an
international development firm.
Fiona Worcestor toured Eastern
Oregon as a member of the New
Old Time Chautauqua, a traveling vaudeville circus, playing flute
in the marching and stage bands.
Joshua Adeyemi returned stateside
and is in San Fran, working as
a software engineer at Peanut
Labs, a tech startup founded by
Williams alums. Ale Jochum is
working strategy and M&A at a
clean-tech company. Ms. Jochum
loves her new job and the many
get-togethers with Berkeley law
student Jeremy Goldstein. Ms.
Jochum also banded together
with Sue Fue, Hannah Cho and
Toni Kraeva to purchase tickets
for the next Coachella. Ms.
Kraeva continued working for
Virgin and participated in the
Bay to Breakers run with Ms.
Jochum and Joya Sonnenfeldt ’10
with costumes inspired by 101
Dalmatians.
During the winter Kevin Coombs
left St. Louis to visit Austin,
Texas. Mr. Coombs reconnected
with Mike Gerbush and Katherine
Leslie, and he even dragged Rusty
Abedinzedeh out of the library
for a weekend of Texas barbecue,
6th Street and multiple late-night
karaoke sessions. Next, Mr.
Coombs ventured to Dallas to
rekindle some bromance with his
former roommate Eric Muller on
Valentine’s Day. While separated
by distance, Mr. Gerbush, Mr.
Coombs and Mr. Muller revisit
their glory days as lacrosse
coaches. Kat Conoway was planning to leave Austin and move
back to the Northeast for some
more purple and gold love. The
ATL’s Morgan Phillips-Spotts had
her bib featured in the February
issue of Pregnancy and Newborn
magazine. Ms. Phillips-Spotts
took a trip with Amanda Santiago
’08 to attend the WWRFC 35th
anniversary with Cat Vielma ’10,
Liz Pierce ’08, Kim Dacres ’08,
Taryn Goodman ’08, Jessica Beck
’08 and Steph Wai ’07. While at
Williams, Ms. Phillip-Spotts ran
into Mijon Zulu and Eric Phillips,
who were in town for a Spring
Streeter concert. Mr. Z and Mr.
Phillips have been trying to see a
lot more of each other, especially
after Mr. Z’s St. Patrick’s Day
weekend trip to Chicago, where
he, Mr. Phillips, Wes Johnson, Eric
Kang and Thomas Zimmerman ’06
gaped at the Green River from
Mr. Halloway’s Marina City digs
and partied with the Obama
campaign.
In May, Lauren Philbrook had
her bridal shower in Hopkinton,
Mass., and her bachelorette party
with Beth Links, Julie McNamara,
Rachel Asher, Natalia Rey de
Castro, RJ Jacoby and Mary Feeley
at Bell in Hand bar in Boston.
Lauren Philbrook and Steve Van
Wert were married in June.
Friends, Ephs, ’09s, thank you
for good news. We are stronger
for it. Take care, and Till the
Next, YCS.
2010
Ethan Timmins-Schiffman
907 Washington St., Apt. GN
Evanston, IL 60202
[email protected]
Many thanks to those who sent
an update. I thoroughly enjoyed
taking in your writing and your
stories.
Mike Drzyzga won a teaching award at Brandeis, and his
name was to appear next to
Anthony Daniels’ in the credits
for Dirigible Days (http://bit.ly/
LXbqA6), a web series premiering
in September. Anthony Daniels
voiced the character C3PO.
Mike also rocked out “like it’s
1899” at a Waltham steampunk
festival. “Things are pretty damn
awesome on my end,” he says.
Charlie Cates became certified
as a muscle activation techniques
(MAT) specialist in the spring
and planned to take mastery
classes in September. He says, “In
the meantime, I am establishing
my MAT practice, interning at
Northwestern in their strength
and conditioning department and
expanding my personal training
business.” He hiked the Grand
Canyon with his brother and dad
over Father’s Day weekend and
began mastery-level resistance
training specialist (RTS) classes in
July, focusing on exercise mechanics and physics.
Also in Chicago, Janay Clyde
was teaching art at Learn Charter
School. “It’s a college-prep elementary school, and I am having
a great time teaching and heading
an after-school art club.”
After a brief stay in Chicago,
Christophe Dorsey-Guilluamin
relocated to DC in the spring to
continue work for the Obama
campaign. He visited Jeff Stenzel
in San Francisco, where Jeff
was teaching elementary school.
Christophe and Jeff then took a
road trip to Connecticut.
Tommy Coleman wrote while
hanging out with Jim Dunn and
Vince Powell-Newman. Tom is
working hard at Mizzou and
enjoys finding time to kick it with
his friends.
Eben Hoffer’s in Brooklyn,
still “plying the sorry trade of a
theater artist.” In the spring he
founded the small company Tugboat Collective (www.tugboatcollective.com), which includes Chloe
Brown and Nathaniel Basch-Gould
’11. The Tugboat folks premiered
The What Dance at the Bushwick
Starr in April. Eben was to be in
northern Washington State for
two months in the fall, working
on a “community-engagement
WOYZECK” and hoping to
make a play with the Satori
Group in Seattle.
Gigi Campo moved to Brooklyn
and works in book publishing at
Penguin Group. Also in Brooklyn,
Joe Mastracchio hosted his first
Annual Clam Jam on May 19.
The event featured live music and
more than 20 pounds of grilled
clams. He is hoping to double
that figure next year.
Casey York is “very happy and
challenged” as the associate
general manager of Playwrights
Horizons, a nonprofit Off-Broadway theater. In May Casey went
to Kallan Wood’s dance program
showcase with Liza Curtiss and
fellow New Yorkers Libby Kaufer
and Chloe Brown. In June Casey
n 2 0 0 9 –1 0
2010 classmates Bex Gilbert (center) and Elizabeth Brickley (right)
climbed Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland, last March with Leila
Crawford ’12.
visited Hannah Smith-Drelich in
Florence, bumped into Julianne
Feder in Cinque Terre, and hit up
Paris and Rome.
Kallan’s showcase concluded
her dance training program,
which she reported went “incredibly well.” She says living with
Sarah Ginsberg is “the best thing
ever.” She concluded, “Over the
summer I will be dancing, working and spending some muchneeded time with friends and
family in the city.”
“I’m living with Matt Zanedis
in NYC’s Lower West Side, and
we’re killin’ it each and every
day!” wrote Andrew Bartsch.
Andrew works at Mindshare, a
media agency that his friends are
convinced just has him looking at
Facebook all day. On weekends,
you can find him at Fat Baby on
the Lower East Side.
“I am currently in a state of
flux,” wrote John Withers from
London, where his work for JPMorgan Chase relocated him. He is
working more hours and “racing
to revamp internal processes and
systems in response to the mercurial regulatory environment.”
But he’s still doing what he loves
most: “Juggling.” Now he’s
juggling “disparate business interests” instead of a multifaceted
Williams life, “but liberal arts has
equipped me well to deal with the
surprisingly diverse skills needed
at work!” He’s looking forward
to meeting Ephs in London.
In the spring, Andrew Forrest
moved to DC to start working for
Upworthy, a startup that focuses
on spreading viral content about
“stuff that matters” through
social media. “In other words,
videos with ‘Charlie Bit My
Finger’ levels of popularity but
about important issues,” he says.
Andrew wrote that it’s “exciting and crazy,” and he’s having
a great time. He’s reunited with
entrymates Doug Smythe, Chad
Brown and Emily Barrios and their
JAs Liz Hirschhorn ’08 and Ben
Bullitt ’08.
When Jason Copelas wrote, he
was planning a move to DC at
the end of August to continue his
work with NERA, hoping to be
living with Chris Law and pumped
to be in the capital. In the spring,
Jason, Crosby Fish, Mr. Law and
Chris Ting went on a 10-day trip
to Turkey. They saw Paul Fraulo
in Istanbul and road-tripped
through the Turquoise Coast.
George Carstocea finished his
master’s at Boston University.
He’ll pursue a PhD in critical
studies at the USC School of
Cinematic Arts, “a fancy way of
saying film, TV and new media
studies.” Before he left Boston,
he saw Owen Martel ’09 and
Tanya Zhuravleva and received
visits from Joe Lorenz and Fida
Tashfia. When he visited USC, he
drove the Pacific Coast Highway
with Eva Flamm. George was in
Romania for two months of the
summer and expecting a visit
from Hannah Cunningham, Charles
Rousseau and Scott Oleson.
Colleen Farrell starts medical
school at Harvard in the fall.
After living in a quiet town in the
Hudson Valley for two years, she
is excited to be living in Boston,
where she can hang out with
Annie Park and Ruth Ezra.
David Blitzer taught eighth-grade
English language arts at Boston
Preparatory Charter Public
School last year.
Perri Osattin is exploring Boston, sailing on the Charles River,
catching comedy shows and
having sushi with Lars Ojukwu
’08, George Carstocea and Leo
Brown ’11 in Brighton. She says,
“Somewhere in there I find time
to continue working at the art
gallery as well.”
Jenny Schnabl lives in Boston’s
Beacon Hill neighborhood with
her beau Leland Brewster ’11.
Jenny was working at Rue La La,
an off-price fashion flash-sales
website. After spending years
reading design blogs that left
much to be desired, she decided to
take matters into her own hands.
(Check out thefoodogatemyhomework.tumblr.com.) On June
5, she began the certification process in residential interiors at the
Boston Architectural College. She
passes the time at bars, watching
her Beacon Hill neighbors Joey
Kiernan ’11 and Shawn Curley
’11 mix and mingle. In the early
spring, she, Leland, Andy Ward
’09, Becca Licht ’11 and Anna
Soybel ’11 won a Williams vs.
Amherst team trivia competition
at the Boston Alumni Association:
“BOOM.”
Writing from “somewhere in
the Pacific on a boat,” Erik Tillman
says he will be in Cambridge a
“while longer,” starting a PhD
in biology at MIT in the fall.
He spent the summer traveling
to the Ecuadorian Amazon; the
Galapagos; LA; Whistler, British
Columbia; and Georgia.
Halfway through her baking
and pastry program at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa
Valley, Jamie Havlin spent the
summer interning at the famed
Hotel Commonwealth, where she
worked with breads and pastries.
She says, “I’ll be back in Cali
starting in September and hope to
graduate next May!”
Schuyler Hall was keeping things
at the Williams student center
under control, “rocking the ones
and twos” at the Purple Pub a
couple nights a month. He will
be back at Williams for another
year and thus compares himself
to a certain Van Wilder. Over the
summer, he completed the third
quarter of a master’s in organizational and professional communications at the University of
Denver. In May, he competed in
the Tough Mudder New England
with Andrew Kung ’12, Mindy Lee
’12, Kevin Garcia ’13 and Ashley
Lazevnick ’12.
After living in Indianapolis for
a “hot minute” in the winter
and spring, Abby Wood is back in
Pittsfield working in social media.
CL ASS
NOTES
“While living in Indy,” Abby
wrote, “I had the distinct privilege
of meeting and working with Alex
Carroll ’39, the spunkiest 95-yearold I’ve ever known, sampling
local brews with Jon Carroll ’11
(no relation) and exploring … the
city with the help of Marc Johnson
’81. Oh, and some big football
game happened there, too.”
Cullen Roberts wrote from his
parents’ house in Cheltenham,
Pa., after finishing another school
year at Choate. But before he
got home, he ran a road race
in Litchfield, Conn., with Grant
Burgess ’08. Cullen ran well, “but
the coolest part of the trip was
hanging out with Rod Dixon,”
a Burgess family friend. Dixon
is one of the great mid-distance/
long-distance runners, whose
accomplishments include winning
an Olympic bronze medal and
a first-place finish at the NYC
Marathon. Cullen looked forward to summer travels, including
a trip west in July to run in the
Headwaters Relay with Williams
cross country alumni.
I relocated to the West Coast
from the Chicago area by driving
to my sister’s house in Seattle
with James Wang ’12. I then spent
a few weeks in San Francisco,
working for my uncle’s construction business and feeding his
neighbor’s fish. Next I went to
Israel with Tanya Zhuravleva,
visited Iliyana Hadjistoyanova ’11
in Bulgaria and made my way to
an organic farm in Italy.
Bex Gilbert had a busy spring.
She visited Europe twice, first
Amsterdam, then the UK. She
traveled with Elizabeth Brickley
to Edinburgh, the Lake District
and Cambridge. She hiked
Arthur’s Seat with Leila Crawford
’12, negotiated the English train
system and briefly hitchhiked. In
June, Bex was back in Berkeley,
where she was moving in with
Alessandra DeMarchis.
Allegra Hyde planned to spend
the summer working in a bakery,
baking granola, crafting animalshaped cakes and “testing the
limits of self-restraint.”
2011
Caroline Chiappetti
2090 Frederick Douglass Blvd.,
Apt 2C
New York, NY, 10026
[email protected]
It’s not every week that I can
say I’ve had the pleasure of singing “The Mountains” across the
street from my office with a group
of Ephpeople, but at the Williams
David Roth ’11, who was spending several months in New Zealand, met
up with Gabe Lewis ’13 a few times, including once at Abel Tasman park.
Club’s annual alumni dinner I
did exactly that. I ran into Laura
Murphy, Britt Baker-Brousseau,
Fiona Moriarty and Rob Gearity in
the Princeton Club, and we were
grateful to catch up before the
inspiring and entertaining Dean
Cycon ’75, founder of Dean’s
Beans, began his talk. The club
assigned us all to the same dinner
table, seating my dad Mario Chiappetti ’78 there as well to assure
we were on our best behavior.
I grow increasingly grateful for
nights like this one, where I can
escape the grind for a couple of
hours and feel myself welcomed
into a metaphorical Purple Valley;
to walk into a room of fellow
alums, even ones I’ve never met,
feels like coming home.
After spending a year in
Madrid, Ellen Song was headed
to Duke in August and was eager
to know if other Ephs are in
the area! While abroad she was
struck by the mobility of Williams people; mostly she hung out
with Marco Sanchez ’10 in Dublin
and Ben Davidson ’10 in Madrid.
CJ Flournoy finished a stint with
Teach for America in Memphis
and is joining April Davidson ’10
in graduate school near Dallas
in the fall. He planned to spend
his first summer in the education industry “like a true Eph …
traveling. Destinations include
NYC (where I’ll be meeting up
with Cindy La Rosa), California,
Mexico City, Lima, Hawaii,
Florida and the Bahamas.”
Dan Walsh was headed to Penn
State in the summer to do geology research before starting his
master’s there in the fall. He’s
been working in southern Utah
with Lisa Merkhofer, exploring
slot canyons, ancient ruins and
natural arches on their time off.
Last spring Dan met up with
fellow Williams climbers Muzhou
Luǚ ’13, Joe Skitka ’10, Josh Cantor
’08 and Sara Dorsey ’12 at Red
Rocks, Nevada.
After spending a little more
than a year newspapering in both
Indiana and Virginia, Cameron
Nutting seems thrilled to be
heading to DC this fall to pursue
her master’s at GWU’s School
of Media and Public Affairs.
Irtefa Binte-Farid will be starting
an MA/PhD in anthropology at
UVA in the fall. Taylor Stevens
will be in Charlottesville, teaching
Español at St. Anne’s Belfield after
graduating from Smith College
with her master’s in teaching in
June. Taylor leaves behind her
roomie Chessie Jackson, who’s
entering her second year of
the exercise and sports studies
program at Smith. Tess Bingham
survived her first year of dental
school at Tufts. She was to spend
the summer in Boston, “doing
research and eating cupcakes.”
She got to Williams for the
Ephlats’ final concert and had a
great time. She sees Leo Brown,
back in the States from Siberia, a
fair amount. Leo says he’s “basking in the warmer climes of the
eastern seaboard.”
Abby Martin remains at Yestermorrow Design/Build School in
central Vermont, doing community outreach and taking classes
ranging from ecological design to
tiny house design/build and timber framing. Leah Lansdowne paid
her a visit, and Abby invites other
Ephs to find their way to the Mad
River Valley.
JJ Augenbraun wrote in on
behalf of his friends. Akemi Ueda
is leaving her job as a barista
n 2 0 1 0 –1 2
at Tunnel City to pursue a PhD
in English at Stanford in the
fall. Tony Lorenzo was leaving
Williamstown at the end of the
summer to start a physics PhD
at University of Arizona (where
Santiago Sanchez will be pursuing
a philosophy PhD and the two
former roommates may reunite to
live together!). JJ was finishing his
job in Williamstown and moving
to Boston in August to work for a
renewable energy consulting firm.
He’s seen many friends passing
through Billsville, including Janna
Gordon, Laura Corona, Danielle
Diuguid, Marissa Pilger, Julian Suhr
and Emily Studenmund. He also
sees Akemi and Tony frequently
(they live together), and they all
miss Chris Fox, who surprisingly
hasn’t been to Williamstown in
a while.
JJ will have his pick of Ephs to
hang out with in Boston. Katie
White has been living with Lizzie
Barcay and her puppy Roscoe
for the past couple of months
and working at the Sustainable
Endowments Institute in Harvard
Square, a research and advocacy
organization that works with colleges and universities to advance
sustainability in campus operations. Katie sees “Nina Cochran
(an immigrant from NYC), Jonah
Zuflacht (when he comes over for
lavish dinner parties), Adrienne
Darrow, Anna Soybel, Allie Page
and lots of others. Hope more can
come visit.”
Sophie Robinson spent a year as
a nanny in Nashville. She was to
spend the summer on her farm
before moving to Boston, where
she will waitress,volunteer for
350.org and live with Jen Rowe
and Will Lee.
Meghan Rose Donnelly has
been teaching acting classes
for children ages 5-12 for the
Contemporary Theater Company
in Wakefield, R.I. She met Jackie
Berglass, Tasha Chu and Tarra
Martin for coffee in Boston. While
directing Chuck Mee’s Paradise
Park in the historic Narragansett
Towers, she was delighted to find
John Miller ’54 in the audience.
Will Herron, working on a farm
in North Carolina, wrote: “Spring
has fully flowered into early
summer, my garden is booming, and our goat herd had 26
kids—an astounding success for
several first-time mothers. It was
also a success for our new buck,
the aptly-named Ron Jeremy,
who was rewarded for fathering
only twins and triplets by being
turned into stew (munching on
our newly-planted apple trees
might have had something to do
with it as well). I saw Chandler
Sherman … in February and a
bunch of ’12s during their spring
break (including much of the
cycling team, who looked to be
enjoying themselves riding up and
down the mountains out here),
but I’m lonesome for some Eph
company.” Will planned to move
to the Northeast when his internship ended in August.
Heath “still the pride of Reelsville” Pruitt is back in his hometown in Indiana, finishing a year
as an instructional assistant in a
kindergarten classroom. He spent
the spring coaching middle school
track (South Putnam) and was
looking forward to summer, when
he hoped “to reunite with the
rest of Pokerdiculous and make
up for lost time.” Mopati Morake
planned to be in Senegal for a few
weeks before going back to South
Africa, where he’ll “probably
chill” with Kush Fanikiso ’13 and
Veronique Hob-Hob ’13. He was
hoping to see Don Molosi’s ’09
play Blue Black and White, which
has been touring the U.S. and was
coming home to Botswana.
Tim Lengel spent the past year
on a teaching fellowship at the
Collegiate School in Richmond,
Va. “It has been an interesting
year, but I love it down here,
and … I’ll be back full-time next
year.” He hosted Chandler Sherman and Sarah Dewey. Chandler
is loving her job at a Democratic
political communications firm in
DC. She’s working on strategy
and messaging for more than 30
campaigns around the country,
from the presidential race to ballot initiatives. She may not see the
world outside her office until after
Election Day, but she’s excited
for the adventure! Will Slack has
been busy with business travel,
working in eight states in the last
few months! He planned to be in
DC in June.
Also traveling “up the wazoo”
is Emanuel Yekutiel, our Watson
fellow. Since he last wrote in
from Goa, he finished his three
months in India, where a camel
stepped on his iPod in the Thor
Desert in Rajasthan—“still works
though!”—before making his way
to Australia, where he spent three
months, two weeks of which were
spent in a station wagon driving
through the outback. He then
traveled to Singapore, Beijing
and Hong Kong (where he stayed
with Cadence Hardenbergh). He’s
now in Rio de Janeiro and says,
“It is beautiful and crazy here,
and I love it.”
David Roth spent the last few
months working on a winery in
Marlborough, New Zealand, and
traveling. He saw Gabe Lewis ’13
a few times to go wine tasting and
backpacking along the beach.
Jackie Russo wrote on behalf of
Julia Schreiber, who made a trip
up the Eastern Seaboard before
leaving for her 27-month stay in
Ecuador, where she’ll be a member of the Peace Corps. Julia’s first
stop was Boston, to say farewell
to Allie Page, Sara Wild and Annie
Hanson. She was then off to NYC
to say goodbye to Annie Neil,
Tyler Rainer, Kara Duggan, Lizzy
Danhakl, Anne Marie Burke and
Jackie. “Of course, she wouldn’t
be totally ready for Ecuador
without a farewell visit from
Annelise Snyder, who undoubtedly gave her some valuable tips
of knowledge before her trip,”
writes Jackie.
Most of the 66 Hoxsey Street
boys (Joe Vella, Andrew LyonsBerg, Gordon Atkins, Gaston Kelly
and freeloader Colin Ainsworth)
left their “big-boy jobs” in NYC,
DC, Stamford, Boston and San
Francisco and made a carefully
planned visit to Charleston, S.C.,
to reunite and surprise their professional athlete (Charleston Battery) best friend Charlie Romero
for Memorial Day weekend.
As for me? In addition to
numerous planned get-togethers
with Williams folk, my random
NYC Eph sightings continue.
I found myself standing next
to Gordon Atkins in a crowd of
thousands in Central Park at a
road race in June, and I bumped
into Jon Morgenstern on a rooftop
in Brooklyn, Annie Neil on a train
from Connecticut, Ryan Lupo on
the subway, and Kevin Rose, who
enthusiastically promised me he
was “just responding” to my class
notes email at lunchtime in Bryant Park. I still haven’t received
the email. But I hope you enjoyed
the summer, folks, and had safe
travels! Hope to hear more good
news next time!
2012
Kyle Martin
54 Woodland Road
Madison, CT 06443
Kendra Sims
29 Hoxsey St.
[email protected]
W ED DI NG
A LBU M
All dates 2011 unless noted
MELANIE BEECK ’04 & LEE GAUDION
Melanie and Lee (third and fourth from right) were married on Dec. 28 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with Williams friends who
traveled from as far away as Paris. In place of a traditional honeymoon the couple and many of their guests traveled by bus
the day after the ceremony to the beach town of Búzios to celebrate the New Year together.
ANGIE CHIEN ’06
& GARRETT CALDERWOOD
’86
ERIC ROSENBAUM
& BRIAN SPRAGUE
Aug. 27, New York, N.Y.
Oct. 1, Fort Worth, Texas
LUCY THIBOUTOT ’05 & DAVID COOPERMAN ’02
Sept. 17, Washington, Mass.
KATIE QUINN ’08
& BRYAN ECKELMANN
‘09
KATIE HASSELL & JOE MCCURDY ’04
July 3, Lincolnshire, Ill.
July 30, Red Bank, N.J.
SARAH FINK ’08
& BEN RUDICK ’08
May 20, 2012, Baiting Hollow, N.Y.
MAHA AL-JASSER
& RAMI ALTURKI ’95
Oct. 5, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
ELIZABETH JUN ’09
& KAY JEONG KIM
’09
April 14, 2012, Williamstow
n, Mass.
EMILY HUNT & JOSHUA LIN ’93
April 7, 2012, St. Helena, Calif.
W E D DI NG
A L BU M
LAURA LEE ’07 & CHRISTIAN ERNST
Laura (front row, center) and Christian (behind and to her right) were married March 31 in Franklin, Tenn., surrounded by
several of the bride’s friends, all of whom met through Williams Christian Fellowship. The celebration included a special
wedding reception dance in honor of a music video (http://bit.ly/O7QbZm) made in 2006 by Laura’s Williams friends.
KEVIN BOLDUC ’99
&
BEN SCHLECHTER
CONNIE CARPENTER DEANS ’79
& MICHAEL DUPONT
Oct. 8, Fishers Island, N.Y.
Dec. 3, Boston, Mass.
CATE OLSON ’01
& JOSH JORDAN
Nov. 12, Cincinatti, Ohio
EMILY GUSTAFSON ’04
& LUCAS HURT
July 3, Barnstable, Mass.
ROXANNE WILES & JEFF DELANEY ’05
March 31, 2012, Montclair, N.J.
Williams People publishes photographs of weddings, commitment ceremonies and civil unions. For detailed instructions on how to submit
your photo, please visit http://alumni.williams.edu/sendphoto.
W E D DI NG
A L BU M
1952
1999
William C. Missimer Jr. &
Jane K. Pinsley, Dec. 29
Juliet Berman & Christian
Wagner, July 16
Kevin M. Bolduc & Benjamin
Schlechter, Dec. 3
1954
The Rev. Wendell H. Elmendorf
Jr. & Mildred Jorgensen Pelrine,
October 2011
1955
Leonard S. Platt & Margot
Reid, May 19, 2012
1976
Peter Peyser & Lisa Jared
Daniels, Jan. 21, 2012
1978
Miranda Heller & Mark
Salkind, July 11
1979
Susan E. Shea & Ted Vogt,
Aug. 13
1989
Niklas R. Waltasaari &
Nikken Permata, Oct. 20
1990
Carolyn (Repp) Hassett &
David Rexford Tucker, Aug. 13
1993
Joshua Lin & Emily Hunt,
April 7, 2012
1994
Heather Morse & Alexander
Hall, July 17
Aliina Hirschoff & Tim
Hopkins, Feb. 18, 2012
1998
Jason Price & Sarah Beaty,
Aug. 27
2000
Michelle B. Dunn & Matthew
Green-Leibovitz, Sept. 4
2001
Robyn S. Goldman & Tobin
Fisher, July 4
Christina Hale & Jonathan
Mohraz, Oct. 1
Erin Brigid Troy & Ming-Lun
Tung, Oct. 1
Catherine Olson & Joshua
James Jordan, Nov. 12
2002
David M. Cooperman & Lucy
E. Thiboutot ’05, Sept. 17
Jennifer Veraldi & Matthew
Brinkmeier, May 27, 2012
Erin Wheeler & Mattitiyahu
Zimbler, May 27, 2012
2003
Stephen J. Eyre & Catherine
Meredith Sumner, May 28
Stephen Oliver & Shilpa
Duvoor ’04, July 30
Tracy Cheung & Daniel
Bowermaster, Aug. 27
Alexandra Davis & Andrew
Weiss, Sept. 11
Kristen Shapiro & Antoine
Griffin, Sept. 18
Randall N. Lewis & David
Flaherty, Oct. 22
2004
Shamus M. Brady & Anthea
Medyn, July 2
Joseph R. McCurdy & Katie
Hassell, July 30
Christopher P. Ryan & Ellen
Abbott, Aug. 13
Nicolas Bamat & Tara Wedin,
Aug. 20
Molly Cahill & Zachry Barber,
Sept. 10
Stephanie Hall & Benjamin
Coffin, Sept. 24
Ryan M. Paylor & Elena de
Blank, Nov. 12
Melanie K. Beeck & Lee P.
Gaudion, Dec. 28
2005
Will Cary & Ella Studdiford,
June 18
Renee Kontnik & Yervant
Dermenjian, Aug. 11
Emily Gorin & Jon Malenfant,
Sept. 17
Jeffrey E. Delaney & Roxanne
Wiles, March 31, 2012
2006
Cecilia F. Lederer & Miles P.
Klee ’07, July 3
Colleen Marie Hession &
Christopher S. Thom, July 16
Kevin Greener & Lindsey
Harcovitz, Aug. 13
Ian J. Barbash & Kathryn
Stutz, Aug. 20
Elissa L. Rehm & Joel M.
Bradley, Sept. 18
Meaghan Rathvon & William
Lisman, March 31, 2012
Emily Vargyas & Kevin
Madden, April 28, 2012
2007
Rowena Ahsan & Jainal
Chisty, Dec. 30
Laura Lee & Christian Ernst,
March 31, 2012
2008
Laura Specker & Ian Sullivan,
June 25
Deborah S. Bialis & Jake
Anderson, Jan. 27, 2012
Brendan C. Hanifin & Jillian
Gordon, April 28, 2012
Sarah J. Fink & Benjamin I.
Rudick, May 20, 2012
Taryn G. Rathbone & Michael
W. Daub, June 9, 2012
2009
Elizabeth Jun & Jeong H.
Kim, April 14, 2012
B I RTHS
&
A D O P TI O NS
1979
1997
Allegra Teodora Sole May to
Peter J. May, Aug. 17
Oliver James & Eve Rose
Brackenbury to Jesse D.
Brackenbury, Aug. 6
Milo Victor & Emmett George
Vainieri to Christian M.
Vainieri & Emily A.
Piendak ’99, Dec. 21
Anna Bailey Philpott to Carrie
Elson Philpott, Feb. 3, 2012
Nevin Ellis Lalich to Leigh M.
Keyser & George Ziv Lalich,
March 12, 2012
Felix Solomon Elieson to Brian
Elieson, March 31, 2012
Olivia Lee Morgan to Seth J.
Morgan, April 5, 2012
1982
Andre Alexander Simon to
Matthew Simon, Oct. 3
1986
Leila Antonia Moffat to Philip
F. Moffat, Sept. 15
1988
William Huffman to Mark
Gordon Huffman, Oct. 10
1990
Fox Martin Reiss Gendell to
Bradley H. Gendell, Jan. 11,
2012
Lev George Eisenberg to
Jennifer Eisenberg, Feb. 18,
2012
1993
Charlotte Marie Davidson to
Thomas A. Davidson, Dec. 13
1994
Greta Jane Martin to Sharon
Zell, Aug. 26
1995
William Hsu to Patricia A.
Oey, Sept. 22, 2010
Caleb Levi Ginsberg to
Stephen M. Ginsberg, May 7
Maya Jane Boxer to Paul
Boxer, Aug. 1
Sarah Madison Kivi to
Michael J. Kivi, Jan. 5, 2012
Abraham Bryant Johnson to
Sarah R. Knight & Marc E.
Johnson, Feb. 1, 2012
Susanna Merilda McCooey to
Flo Waldron, April 18, 2012
1996
Kai August Heard to Anna
Cederberg Heard, Aug. 9
Colette Abigail Stapleton to
Walker R. Stapleton, Aug. 19
1998
Noah Michael Doughty
Mankoff to Kristin C. Doughty
& Josh M. Mankoff, July 6
Poppy James Borus to Justin
& Tobey (Adler) Borus ’00,
July 22
Joshua Tae Harman to
Stephanie (Min) & Thomas
MacMartin Harman, July 29
Kimia Anjali Jenks to Robert
Jenks, Aug. 17
Miren Antonia Coffey to MariClaudia Jimenez, Jan. 11, 2012
Callum Gray Martin to
Catherine Schultz,
March 29, 2012
1999
Daniel A. Hutchison to
Geoffrey R. Hutchison, June 14
Ainsley Previte to Colby Anne
(Hunter-Thomson) Previte,
July 10
Rigel Yoder Matzen to Cara
Yoder Matzen, July 13
Laila Marie Hennessey to
Brian S. Hennessey & Verena
Arnabal ’01, July 20
Julia Morgan Vanderwaart to
Elissa Anyon Hallem & Joseph
C. Vanderwaart, Aug. 25
Leo Verdy Eisenman to Ian
Eisenman, Oct. 26
Burke Winter Martin to Leigh
Winter Martin, Jan. 14, 2012
Margaret Ellen White to Julie
M. Rusczek & Nat White,
Jan. 16, 2012
Rylan Page Daily to Andrea
(Slate) Daily, Feb. 11, 2012
Julia Christina Abbott to Kate
Dunlop, March 15, 2012
Dylan Marek Dworak to
Maureen E. Brudzinski,
March 18, 2012
2000
Brynn Susanne Kim to Stephen
Kim, June 28
Quinlan Grant Rogers to Kelly
(Grant) & Joe Rogers, July 20
Sigrid Ellynn Calhoun to Katie
(Bishop) Calhoun, Aug. 9
Tyler Franklin Wood to
Donald Franklin & Melissa
(Vecchio) Wood ’01, Aug. 9
Andrew Constantineau to
Jane Vaughn Constantineau,
Aug. 22
Henry Eisenhower Groth
to Philip Henry Groth II &
Abbey Severance Eisenhower
’01, Oct. 3
Autumn Marie Darrin to
William Darrin, Nov. 7
Micah Zev Applebaum to
Lauren (Siegel) & Aaron M.
Applebaum ’01, Dec. 22
Emily Catherine Litman to
Kristy Grippi Litman,
Jan. 14, 2012
2001
Siddharth Lunia Williamson
to Anjali Lunia & Daniel S.
Williamson, July 7
Brenna & Anna Lopez to
Caitlin Carr & Dusty Lopez,
Aug. 1
Harriet Yiwa Wessler to
Matthew Wessler, Aug. 2
Oscar Baldivieso to Alan
P. Baldivieso & Jennifer D.
Wetzel ’02, Aug. 14
William Craig Pratt to
Elizabeth Smith Pratt, Aug. 24
Miranda Kate Seitelman to
Rob Seitelman, Aug. 27
Brady Dingman Boger to
Kathryn Dingman Boger,
Oct. 24
Noa Abigail Gelbord to
Allyson B. Rothberg, Nov. 20
Louisa Lucia Crump to Sarah
Carlin Rutledge, Nov. 22
Gabrielle Shen Bergeron
to Geraldine Shen & Joe
Bergeron, April 24, 2012
2002
Robert William McGehee to
Robert McGehee,
March 5, 2012
William Henry Davidson to
William H. Davidson,
March 23, 2012
Reiter Kaczmarek to
Alana (Clements) & Jan S.
Kaczmarek, July 7
Caitlin Hanna Kazarnowicz to
Cristin Brennan Kazarnowicz,
July 7
William Jesse Gilyard to
William & Afton (Johnson)
Gilyard ’05, Sept. 3
Thomas Frederick McCurdy to
Patrick J. McCurdy, Sept. 21
Jackson William Ranney to
Sarah Barger Ranney, Nov. 10
Iliana Lucia Wijpkema to
Stephanie A. Pirishis, Nov. 25
2003
Joe & Anna Coker to Allen M.
Coker, June 17
Caitlin Ann Sacks to William
J. Sacks, Sept. 5
Isabel Rose Leyden to
Anastasia (Gilman) Leyden,
Sept. 14
Peter Lansdell Yu to Bethany
(Sayles) Yu, Nov. 25
Liam James Clites to Tina
(Howe) Clites, Nov. 28
Phoebe S. Townley Beal to
Kimberley (Kemper) & Angus
L.H. Beal, Dec. 2
Kairi Noel Janney to Courtney
Hunter Janney, Dec. 20
Lindsay Megan Green to
Mitchell Howard Green,
Dec. 27
Sebastian Joseph Garvin to
Christopher & Kathleen
(Marsh) Garvin ’05,
April 9, 2012
Vivienne Sage Marcovici to
Bryan N. Marcovici,
April 14, 2012
Harper May Brenninkmeyer
to Anri Wheeler & David R.
Brenninkmeyer, May 1, 2012
O BIT UA RI ES
1932
alumni relations, he grabbed
the opportunity for a life that
would allow him more time
with his family. He spent the
next 15 years at Williams,
where he led the alumni body
through some of the college’s
most transformative years
and established programs
that continue to foster good
will among alumni, such
as Williams Today and the
Alumni Golf Tournament, for
which he remained a committee member until 2006. He
and his wife Eleanor Lahey
English, who predeceased
John in 1986, raised their
children in Williamstown and
retired to Cape Cod in 1975.
He received three Williams
honors: the Rogerson Cup
for alumni service in 1971,
the Thurston Bowl for distinguished class secretary
in 1982, and the Joseph’s
Coat Award, bestowed upon
a member of a post-50th
JOHN P. ENGLISH, March
6. At the age of 101, John
was the last surviving member
of his class, having served as
class secretary for the preceding 37 years. His devotion to
the college was second only
to his love of golf, which
he played well into his 80s.
Graduating from Williams
in the heart of the Great
Depression, John felt lucky to
find work as the sports editor
for the Boston Herald, in part
because he could write about
the game he loved. He went
on to earn his MBA from
Harvard (1938) and serve for
seven years in the U.S. Navy
during WWII and the Korean
War. John spent 10 years as
the assistant director of the
USGA, where he founded
the Golf Journal. When, in
1959, he was offered the position of Williams director of
William Oliver Reliford
to Justin O. & Sabrina
(Schwager) Reliford ’04,
May 16, 2012
Leo Andrew Engman to
Margaret Jae Cody,
May 25, 2012
2004
Thomas Raymond Haciski
to Rebecca Ann (Kiselewich)
Haciski, Aug. 15
Ethan Claxton Weisenbeck to
Joshua T. Weisenbeck, Sept. 1
Daniel Joyce Follansbee to
Robertson G. Follansbee &
Catherine Spinney Joyce ’05,
Nov. 4
Theodore Arthur Lanum to
M.J. (Prest) Lanum, Nov. 17
2005
Mirabelle May Bitter to Edwin
W. Bitter, Oct. 14
Emil Agramonte Gehlot to
Natalia Romano Gehlot, Dec. 11
reunion class held in high
esteem by Williams and fellow alumni, in 1997. In 1973,
President John Sawyer ’39, R.
Cragin Lewis ’41 and James
R. Briggs ’60 established
an Alumni Fund trophy in
John’s name. Among John’s
survivors are a stepson, two
daughters, three grandsons
and his longtime companion
Betsey Metters.
ENGLISH
O BIT UA RI ES
We are pleased to debut a new format for obituaries. We hope these more personal remembrances of Williams alumni
provide readers with meaningful glimpses into their lives. To access more biographical information on many alumni go
to www.legacy.com or www.tributes.com and enter a name into the search box.
Obituaries are written by Julia Munemo
1933
1938
GEORGE H. GRIM JR., Jan.
8. After graduation George
went straight to journalism
school at Columbia University
(1934) and soon landed in
Minneapolis, where he wrote
for the Star Tribune for 40
years. He was a war correspondent during WWII
and a foreign correspondent afterward, famous in
Minneapolis for his daily column “I Like it Here” and his
Santa Anonymous program,
which brought Christmas
gifts to “youngsters who
were not counting on getting
any.” George’s volunteerism
included working with prison
inmates, one of whom wrote
a column for the prison paper
called “I Don’t Like it Here”
under the name Grim George.
In 1977, George told the
Tribune, “I don’t have a single
relative anywhere on Earth.
When I go, that’s it.”
FLETCHER BROWN,
March 20. Fletcher’s love
of the outdoors was evident
in college, where he was a
member of the Outing Club.
After graduation, he worked
as a ski coach, honing his
skills in what would become
his lifelong passion. A founding member and director
of the Sugarloaf Mountain
Corp. (1955-87), Fletcher
was instrumental in choosing
the site and clearing the runs
on the slopes he would ski
into his 91st year. When there
was no snow, he took to the
water, teaching his children
to fly-fish and canoe. Fletcher
served in the Naval Air
Service (1941-44) and operated the Chrysler Plymouth
Agency (initially with his
father, Simmons Brown, Class
of 1912) until 1979. Having
lost his first wife, Margaret,
to cancer, Fletcher served as
the executive director of the
Maine Cancer Research and
Education Foundation from
1980-84. Among Fletcher’s
survivors are his second wife,
Charlotte, four children,
including Christopher Brown
’73 and Montague Brown
’74, two stepdaughters, several grandchildren, cousins
Eliot B. Payson ’44, Fielding
Brown ’45 and Kevin Brown
’66 and niece Amanda Clarke
Shipley ’84.
1935
REEVES MORRISSON,
Jan. 14. As a history major
at Williams, Reeves studied the first sea voyages.
As a husband and father,
he brought those voyages
to life, sailing across the
Atlantic several times, once
following Columbus’ route.
Reeves earned his engineering degree from MIT in
1938 and spent nearly 40
years at United Aircraft (now
United Technologies), where
he was most proud of his
work designing gas turbines
for jet engines. Reeves was
a Williams class agent from
1979 until his death. Among
his survivors are two daughters, including Taylor Briggs
’73, and grandsons Nathan
Briggs ’03 and Avery Briggs
’06.
1939
THORNDIKE WILLIAMS,
Nov. 3, 2011. Dike’s study
of art history set him in good
stead to become an interior
designer, a passion he shared
with his wife Jane, who predeceased him in 2006. He and
Jane lived and worked first
in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.,
and then in Beaufort, S.C. He
was a member of Alpha Delta
Phi in college, a decorated
B-17 pilot during WWII, and
an amateur sailor and artist
in his later years. Among his
survivors are three children
and several grandchildren and
1940
KENYON COOK, Feb. 23.
Kenyon, class president and
star swimmer, went on to join
the Marine Corps and serve
in the Pacific during WWII.
After returning to his home
state of Connecticut, he spent
some time in the banking
industry before discovering
his true passion: teaching
mathematics, for which he
earned his master’s in education from NYU in 1963. He
was a lifelong lover of the arts
and music, an appreciation he
credited Williams with fostering. Ken’s first wife, Caroline,
predeceased him in 1953.
Among his survivors are Ken’s
second wife, Betty, and his
two children.
JOHN P. HUBBELL, Jan. 6.
Most of John’s patients won’t
remember him, but he was
among the first to welcome
them into the world, initially
as attending pediatrician in
the newborn nurseries at
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
and later as that department’s
director. John’s medical
career also included a senior
partnership at Longwood
Pediatrics, an associate professorship at Harvard Medical
School (where he earned his
MD in 1943), and travel to
Honduras, where he taught;
Grenada, where he provided
medical aid after the U.S.
intervention; and Saudi
Arabia, where he established
a pediatric department at
Jeddah Medical Center. John
served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and the Korean
War. His survivors include
his wife of 67 years, Martha,
their three children, including John P. Hubbell III ’71,
many grandchildren and great
grandchildren and cousins
George L. Hubbell ’43 and
Edgerton G. North Jr. ’48.
LESLIE G. LOOMIS III, Jan.
15. Bud began working for
Liberty Mutual soon after
graduation. After 15 years
climbing the corporate ladder, he was told that he was
“constitutionally unsuited to
having a boss,” so he founded
and built the Rochester,
N.Y.-based L.G. Loomis and
Co. Insurance, from which
he retired in 1986. In 2006,
Bud’s wife Betty, to whom
he had been married for 64
years, passed away. Among
his survivors are two daughters, son Les Loomis ’67 and
many grandchildren, nieces
and nephews.
W. EDWIN MOSHER JR.,
Feb. 29. Ed, a lifelong golfer
and sports enthusiast, coached
his sons’ little league teams
and, in 1959, coached the
all-stars team in the Midwest
Regional Finals. Ed’s career
at the Stroh Brewing Co. in
Detroit spanned more than
40 years, and he retired as
assistant company secretary
in 1992. Before working at
Stroh, Ed served in WWII
as a supply officer on the
USS Concord. Ed’s wife Jane
predeceased him in 2009;
his son Richard ’67 predeceased him in 1992. Among
Ed’s survivors are two sons,
including W.E. Mosher III ’64,
and many grandchildren and
JOHN PALMER TIEBOUT,
Jan. 7. At Williams John was
in the glee club and served
as choir president his senior
year. His passion for singing
would lead him to meet his
future wife, Ruth. After serving in the U.S. Navy during
WWII, he moved to his native
NYC, where he joined the
choir of St. Bartholomew’s
Episcopal Church, in which
Ruth sang alto. John started
at McGraw-Hill Publishing
as a trainee around the same
time and eventually found
his place in publication
space sales, marketing and
administration. He retired
in 1985. Together with an
organist friend, John spent
years touring and performing
at churches and cathedrals
throughout Germany. John’s
survivors include his wife of
62 years, two children and
several grandchildren and
1941
GEORGE W. BLOSSOM III,
March 12. Poor health forced
Bud to leave Williams in the
middle of his first semester,
and although he came back
in 1943, he was unable to
stay long. But by 1947, he
had enrolled in a learn-to-ski
program and discovered what
would become his lifelong
passion. He traveled around
the world to ski and enjoyed
the sport into his 80th year.
Bud was a successful insurance executive, retiring as
VP of Willis Corroon Corp.
in 1984, and was an active
member of social and cultural
organizations in the Chicago
area. Bud’s survivors include
many nieces and nephews.
HENRY H. KIMBERLY JR.,
Dec. 22, 2011. Henry had
a habit of starting low and
working his way to the top.
He joined the U.S. Army as
a private in 1942 and was
honored with five battle stars
and a Bronze Star Medal,
retiring with the rank of
major. He was later honored,
on the 50th anniversary of
the Normandy Invasion, with
the Normandy Award. After
the war, he started working
in the Morgan Co. factory,
doing every job asked of him;
he retired as president of the
company 38 years later. In
this way, Henry absolutely
lived up to his father’s advice:
“Always leave the woodpile
a little bigger than you found
it.” Henry’s wife Patricia
predeceased him in 1989. His
survivors include their seven
children, many grandchildren
and great-grandchildren
and nephew Timothy C.
Geoffrion ’08.
THOMAS H. LENAGH,
Dec. 8, 2011. A member of
the Navy V-7 program, Tom
began serving in the Navy
immediately after graduation. When he had to choose
between returning to the
States for a spot at Yale Law
School and commanding the
USS Steady, he chose the latter and never regretted it. He
ultimately graduated from
Columbia Law School in
1948 and briefly went into
practice before discovering
his interest in investments.
His career change was interrupted by the Korean War,
during which he was the
executive officer of the USS
Harry Bauer. Tom worked
in the investment field with a
variety of different companies
through his career. He was
predeceased by his wife Leila.
Among Tom’s survivors are
three children, including Jessie
Lenagh-Glue ’83, and two
granddaughters.
1942
PHILIP B. COLE, March 29.
One weekend in the 1970s,
Phil’s daughter arrived at his
house with a canoe and an
announcement: They were
going to enter a canoeing race
together. Having never before
paddled, Phil was both skeptical and eager. Thirty-five
years later, at the age of 90,
he was still competing—with
a unique rowing technique
he had developed over the
years—in races sometimes 70
miles long. In 1988, the U.S.
Canoe Association named
Phil “Paddler of the Year.”
O BIT UA RI ES
He was unable to serve in
WWII because of a knee
injury but worked instead
as a physicist with the Navy,
retiring in 1973. Phil was
predeceased by his first wife,
Rachel, mother of their three
children, and his second wife,
Charlotte. Among his survivors are his children and stepchildren, grandchildren and
1943
EMLEN L. CRESSON, July
11, 2011. Emlen conducted
research on malaria before
joining Merck & Co. as a
chemist, where he worked
from 1947-82. His life’s passion, which he shared with
Ruth, his wife of 61 years,
was dancing. The two danced
together in several troupes,
including English and Scottish
Country, New England
Contra and 18th century colonial American dancing, for
which they made their own
colonial costumes and Emlen
grew a peruke. Emlen and
Ruth also loved bird watching
(he could mimic many calls)
and sailing. Ruth predeceased
Emlen by less than a year.
Among their survivors is a son
and Emlen’s cousin Malcolm
Coates ’48.
JOSEPH R. SANTRY, Feb.
15. Joe’s love of the sea was
born in his youth, when he
learned to navigate Brutal
Beasts and Q-boats; by the
end of his life he was an experienced ocean racer and fed
his love of all things nautical
from his year-round home
in Marblehead, Mass. After
graduating from Williams,
Joe joined the Army Air
Corps, navigating B-24 bombers during WWII, and then
worked as a sales manager
for Combustion Engineering,
from which he retired in
1983. Joe’s wife of 47 years,
Janet, predeceased him in
2000. Among his survivors
are two daughters, four
grandchildren, and nephews Peter T. Santry ’81 and
Robert T. Santry ’90.
CHARLES G. ABBOTT,
Dec. 21, 2011. Tony had
just enough time between
his graduation (in February)
and joining the Army to
marry Florence “Babs” von
Hasslacher and have a brief
honeymoon. After serving as
a contract officer for the Air
Force until 1946, he worked
at American Airlines, where
he was part of the team that
developed the airline reservation system SABRE. Tony
later worked as a telecommunications and computer consultant, retiring as president
of his own company in 1987,
at which time he and Babs
moved to Bainbridge Island,
Wash. Tony was predeceased
by Babs, and his survivors
include five children and four
grandchildren.
E. MANDELL DE WINDT,
April 4. Born in the
Berkshires, a graduate of
The Berkshire School and as
the son of Delano de Windt,
Class of 1916, Del attended
Williams for two years and
always credited the college
with his success. His was the
first referral the Williams
Placement Bureau ever made,
and it launched Del’s 45-year
career at Cleveland’s Eaton
Corp., where he started as a
clerk. He retired from Eaton
as CEO in 1986. He also
credited the college—and a
blind date—with meeting
his wife Betsy, with whom
he had five children. She
predeceased Del in 1988. Del
served on the boards of more
than 20 Ohio businesses
and foundations, and he
volunteered widely. His life
philosophy was emblazoned
on his office wall: a picture
of a turtle with the caption
“He only makes progress
when his neck is out,” which
Del said his was—perpetually. The college honored
Del in 1983 with the Kellogg
Award, in recognition of a
distinguished career in the
financial sector, and again
in 1993 with a Bicentennial
Medal. Del received eight
honorary degrees, including
one from Williams in 1997.
The Weatherhead School of
Management, Case Western
Reserve University, honored
Del with The E. Mandell
de Windt Professorship in
Leadership & Enterprise
Development. Del’s survivors include his second wife,
Mary, five children, including E. Mandell de Windt Jr.
’85, and many stepchildren,
grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, including
Brian Adams Kelly ’02.
DE WINDT
1944
DONALD L. FUCHS, Feb.
8. Don served as a staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps
during WWII and spent
most of his career working
at Teachers Insurance and
Goldman Sachs in New York.
When he moved to southern
California in the 1970s, he
began working remotely for
his beloved alma mater as
assistant director of alumni
relations and development,
West Coast regional office.
Don had a lifelong commitment to helping others and
spent years on the boards of
Wellness Community and the
Monte Vista Grove Homes.
Betty, his wife of more than
60 years, predeceased Don in
2010. Among his survivors
are four daughters, including
Elizabeth Beck ’77, many
grandchildren and greatgrandchildren and nephew
Reginald L. Jones III ’82.
RAY B. KIRKPATRICK, Jan.
30. When Ray was in high
school, he acquired a 1902
Stanley steam car. Keeping
it road (and parade) worthy
became a lifelong passion that
he eventually shared with
his children and grandchildren, who continue to drive
it today. Ray left Williams
to serve as a technician in
the Army Signal Corps during WWII, and he returned
to earn his BA in 1946. He
went on to receive a BS from
University of Michigan (1949)
and an MBA from Oklahoma
City University (1966). Ray’s
first career was as a design
engineer; his second was in
personnel and business financial planning, retiring from
the American Express Co. in
2009. His survivors include
his wife of almost 70 years,
Mary, two sons, a daughter
and several grandchildren.
RICHARD K. MEYERS,
Feb. 26. Dixie served in the
U.S. Navy and then earned
his PhD in chemistry from
Purdue University in 1950,
after which he started a
career at Texaco in Beacon,
N.Y., retiring as manager of
research laboratories in 1985.
He and his family traveled the
globe for both work and pleasure, highlights of which were
trips to Belgium and a photographic safari in Africa. In
MEYERS
retirement, Dixie served as the
assistant district manager of
the Service Corps of Retired
Executives. Dixie established
the Richard K. Meyers 1944
Texaco Scholarship Fund in
Chemistry at Williams. His
67 years, Phyllis, their three
children and a grandson.
GIRARD F. OBERRENDER,
March 7. After graduation,
Gerry served in the Army
Signal Corps and then earned
a degree in electrical engineering from Cornell in 1949. He
went into the manufacturing
business, retiring in 1992 as
president of TechRight Corp.,
where his career involved
what he called “producing
goods for the betterment
of others.” Gerry lived in
Ithaca, N.Y., for more than 40
years and spent his summers
in Bridgehampton, where
he played golf and boogie
boarded with his grandchildren. Gerry was active in his
local church and was chair
of the Tompkins County
Republican Party and president of the Tompkins County
Chamber of Commerce. He
began serving as 1944’s class
president in 2004. Among his
survivors are his wife of 62
years, Marty, three children,
including Ann Oberrender
Noyes ’80, and nine grandchildren, including Eliza H.
Noyes ’16.
JOHN M. ROYAL, Dec. 14,
2011. John came to Williams
with strong family ties. His
father was John Douglas
Miller Royal, Class of 1914,
and his brother Douglas Royal
’46 arrived during John’s
sophomore year. John served
in the U.S. Naval Reserve
from 1944-46 and then
attended Harvard, earning his
MBA in 1949. He worked in
advertising at Eastman Kodak
before beginning a career as
a professor in the business
and economics department
at SUNY Brockport, from
which he retired in 1990. At
Williams John was a member of Beta Theta Pi and the
wrestling team, and he played
in the band. John’s survivors
include his two children.
FOX
1945
WILLIAM C. FOX, Feb. 29.
Bill’s time at Williams—where
he matriculated when he
was only 16 years old—was
interrupted by his service
in the Navy, during which
he led an elite underwater
demolition team that helped
to secure Iwo Jima and
Okinawa. Bill received the
Silver Star for his service
before returning to the
college. In 1949 he earned
an MBA from Harvard and
began a diverse career, first in
sales for a folding-paper box
company, then for his fatherin-law’s commercial laundry
and dry cleaning operation
and finally at First National
Bank. Bill was promoted to
bank president in 1971 and
retired as chairman, president
and CEO in 1988. Upon
retirement, Bill and his wife
Alice left their longtime home
in central Illinois and moved
to Hilton Head, S.C., where
they spent many years playing
golf, gardening and traveling.
Bill’s survivors include
his wife of 63 years, four
children, 10 grandchildren
and one great-grandchild.
STUART J. KING, March
26. People who met Stu
felt immediately at ease,
O BIT UA RI ES
thanks to his ability to talk
to anyone about nearly any
topic, especially sports. An
athlete in his own right, Stu
was described as a walking
encyclopedia of sports
history. He played baseball,
tennis, golf and racquetball
into his 80s. He also swam,
body surfed, boogie boarded
and skied. The father of five
children, he was most proud
of being a family man and
cherished his retirement for
the time it gave him with
his large family. Early on
he owned and operated six
swim schools in southern
California, but in 1960
he switched gears and
became a teacher, counselor
and administrator with
the Artesia Bloomfield
Carmenita Unified School
District, a career that would
last 30 years. Stu’s time at
Williams was interrupted by
WWII; he graduated from
UCLA in 1948. His survivors
include his wife of 62 years,
Bette Lou, five children and
many grandchildren.
six children, and many
grandchildren.
JOHN H. OHLER, Dec.
8, 2011. John’s love of the
outdoors was evident in his
membership in the Outing
Club at Williams, where he
was also a JA and worked
on the Record. Throughout
his medical career and
well after his retirement
in 1988, John navigated
ocean sailing expeditions
and organized youth Nordic
skiing programs. His
volunteer activities included
work with Habitat for
Humanity and helping in
math classes at local schools.
John completed his medical
training at Harvard (1948)
before serving in the Korean
War (for which he received
a Bronze Star Medal). He
later went into private
practice in New London,
N.H., where he also worked
as an adjunct professor at
Dartmouth Medical School.
John’s survivors include his
wife of 65 years, Priscilla,
H. PARKER SMITH, Oct.
17, 2011. WWII had a
profound effect on Parker’s
education, motivating him
to leave Williams after just
one year to attend the U.S.
Naval Academy, from which
he graduated in 1945. He
served on mine sweepers and
weather patrol craft in the
Western Pacific after WWII
and was recalled to active
duty during the Korean War.
He attended the Stonier
Graduate School of Banking,
graduating in 1962, and
served as Boatmen’s National
Bank VP from 1956 until
1989. Parker’s lifelong
home was in St. Louis, Mo.,
where he was an active
member of many boards
and civic organizations,
including the YMCA, United
Fund of Greater St. Louis,
Children’s and Family
Services of Greater St. Louis
and St. Luke’s Hospital.
His survivors include his
wife of 61 years, Harriot,
three children and five
grandchildren.
1946
WILLIAM E. CARL, Dec. 5,
2011. After receiving a degree
in geology through the V-12
Program, Bill served as a
second lieutenant in the U.S.
Navy during WWII. After
the war he began a career in
oil and gas production and
exploration, first in Houston
and eventually in Corpus
Christi, a city he loved for
its climate, community and
proximity to the water, on
which he sailed often. Bill was
a director of several business
and foundation boards, as
well as the owner and operator of Carl Oil & Gas, until
his death. Bill’s survivors
include his wife of nearly 60
years, Billie, two daughters
and two granddaughters.
1947
RICHARD B. HARRIS,
Feb. 18. Richard came to
Williams with the V-12
program, served in WWII
and graduated from the U.S.
Naval Academy in 1947.
He was recalled to active
duty during the Korean War,
after which he worked as a
teacher at the Naval Academy
Preparatory School at the
Bainbridge Naval Station in
Maryland. Richard made a
lifelong career in manufacturing, retiring as plant manager
from Plume & Atwood in
1992. He was a devoted
member of Christ Church in
Watertown, Conn., for 39
years, and then of St. John’s
Parish in Waterbury for 22
years, singing in both church
choirs. Richard volunteered
in his community, notably as
president of United Cerebral
Palsy of Waterbury and as a
member of the Watertown
Republican Town Committee
and Watertown Land Trust.
He was predeceased by his
wife of more than 60 years,
Sally, in 2007. His survivors
include four children, five
grandchildren and three
ROBERT W. WATSON, Feb.
27. One afternoon during
his senior year at Williams,
Robert was taking a nap in
his room when his English
professor woke him with an
offer to lecture in the department the following year.
Though until that moment
the economics major had been
undecided about his career,
Robert accepted and began
his lifelong career as a professor of English and widely
published author of poetry,
fiction and essays. He completed his doctorate in English
at Johns Hopkins University
in 1954, by which time he
had moved to Greensboro,
N.C., with his wife Betty,
an artist who was teaching
at the University of North
Carolina. Robert was soon
offered a position in the university’s English department,
and within a decade he had
started its MFA program and
founded its literary journal,
The Greensboro Review.
Robert traveled extensively,
providing him with fodder for
his eight volumes of poetry
and two novels. His work
was honored by the National
Endowment for the Arts
and the American Academy
of Arts and Letters. Among
Robert’s survivors are his wife
of 60 years, two children and
four grandchildren.
1949
JAY B. ANGEVINE JR., Oct.
18, 2011. Jay will always be
remembered at Williams as the
man who led the Committee
on Review of Fraternity
Questions, commonly called
“The Angevine Committee,”
whose unanimous decision
effectively ended fraternities.
After earning his PhD from
Cornell in 1956 in neuroanatomy, Jay worked at Harvard
during what would later be
understood as the birth of
neuroscience. In 1967, he
started teaching cell biology
at the University of Arizona
College of Medicine, a position he held until a childhood
dream beckoned too strongly
to ignore any longer: He
became an unpaid but fully
trained reserve deputy sheriff
in what he called “the Old
Southwest.” Jay’s survivors
include his wife of nearly 60
years, Midge, two children,
one grandchild and cousins
Bill Angevine ’51 and Robert
P.B. Angevin ’85.
1950
CHARLES R. ALBERTI,
April 26. Chuck’s love for his
family, Berkshire County and
Williams never wavered. His
Italian heritage was a constant source of pride, one he
expressed in the kitchen (he
was a fabulous cook) and in
conversation, describing his
him away from his beloved
Berkshire County. Among his
survivors are three children,
including Christopher Alberti
’75, several grandchildren and
cousin Jed C. Scala ’89.
ALBERTI
father’s journey to America
and the complexities he
faced making his life as a
lawyer in Pittsfield, Mass.
Chuck followed in his father’s
footsteps, first in coming to
Williams (his dad was Class
of 1919) and then in becoming a lawyer himself—also
in Berkshire County. He
was appointed district court
judge in 1972 and retired
as Superior Court Judge in
1992. After a few years of
retirement, Chuck opened
Alberti Dispute Resolutions
and worked as mediator and
arbitrator until 2001. His
most enduring contribution
to the college is his role as
main interviewer for the Oral
History Project, which he
joined in 1996, conducting
interviews with faculty, staff,
alumni, trustees, presidents
and friends of the college until
his death; the collection can
be accessed on the college
archives’ digital collections
website. Chuck’s love for his
wife Nan was widely known.
She predeceased him in 2009
after 56 years of marriage,
and several times a year after
her death, Chuck requested
that her favorite flowers stand
on the altar during Sunday
services at St. John’s Church in
Williamstown, which they had
attended together for more
than 30 years. Chuck served
in WWII, attended Columbia
Law School (1954) and traveled extensively with his wife
and family, but those were the
only experiences that brought
SIDNEY C. MOODY JR.,
April 15. Partway through
his Williams career, Sid traveled in war-torn Europe
on motorcycle, contracted
polio and was treated with
limited supplies on the ship
sailing home. He joined the
Associated Press in 1956,
and he described his almost
four-decade career there as “a
PhD in American studies.” He
wrote or co-authored several
books and was nominated for
the Pulitzer Prize five times.
He covered important events
in American history including
the Kennedy assassination, the
Detroit race riots and North
Korea’s capture of the spy
ship the USS Pueblo. Sid was
an avid sailor and, together
with his wife, sailed to locations such as Grenada and
Canada’s Bay of Fundy. Along
with chronicling the goings
on of his class as a Williams
class secretary for 32 years, he
also took the opportunity to
right a wrong he perceived in
this publication: extolling the
virtues of those passed. Sid’s
survivors include his wife
of 60 years, Patricia, two
sons, three granddaughters,
including Brett DeVries
Moody ’07, and cousin Edson
B. Moody ’51.
MOODY
O BIT UA RI ES
RICHARD W. PROCTOR,
March 9. Dick joined the U.S.
Air Force after graduation
and served in Korea as a first
lieutenant before starting a
career in real estate with his
wife Nancy in Cazenovia,
N.Y. In 1980 he formed an
acoustic country trio called
Crooked Road, with whom
he played well into retirement. Dick was an avid bird
hunter, sailor, skier and tennis
player. Among his survivors
are his wife of 55 years, two
daughters, including Holly
W. Proctor ’83, and two
granddaughters.
he received last sparked what
became an interest in and an
instinct for investing. After
starting with equity investing in NYC, Howard and
his wife Nan moved to LA,
where he eventually founded
PRIMECAP Management Co.
and started on the path that
led him to be considered one
of the best portfolio managers
in the mutual fund business.
He was hugely generous in
philanthropic endeavors, and
among his contributions to
the college are an endowed
professorship, the lead gift for
the Nan and Howard Schow
Science Library and a donation to the Declaration of
Independence Purchase Fund.
His survivors include his wife
Nan, their three children,
including Steven Schow ’81,
five grandchildren and nieces
Kristin A. Daley ’93 and
Brenda Melissa Perry ’07.
ANDREW J.W. SCHEFFEY,
March 19. Andrew spent
a year at Williams as an
undergraduate but came back
in 1967 to serve as the first
director for the Center for
Environmental Studies. He
devoted his professional and
personal life to preserving
open spaces and protecting
the environment. As a professor of landscape architecture
and regional planning at
UMass, from which he retired
in 1988, he challenged students to understand the philosophical and practical aspects
of the conservation movement. As a private landowner,
he contributed his time and
eventually his family’s land in
Leverett, Mass.—his lifelong
hometown—to the state for
preservation and recreational
use. Andrew received his
BS from Haverford and his
PhD from the University
of Michigan. His survivors
include his wife Alice, three
children, five grandchildren,
brother Lewis Scheffey ’46,
cousins Peter Thun ’59 and
Christopher Thun ’96, niece
Lydia Weiss ’96 and nephew
Nathan C. Scheffey ’06.
HOWARD B. SCHOW, April
8. The course of Howard’s life
was changed forever when he
was in an automobile accident while attending Harvard
Business School. His desire to
make the modest settlement
SCHOW
1951
ROGER A. DICKINSON,
Feb. 9. After graduation,
Rog went into the U.S. Coast
Guard, staying on the West
Coast after his discharge to
earn an MBA from UCLA
(1955). Eventually returning
east, Rog entered Columbia
University, receiving his PhD
in business administration in
1967. He worked as a dean
and professor of marketing
at the University of Texas at
Arlington for 33 years before
retiring to Florida. In 1994,
Rog published Living 101: An
Academic Perspective on Life.
His survivors include his wife
of 55 years, Ruth, four sons
and many grandchildren and
WALTER H. MORSE II,
March 2. While at Williams,
Walt met his future wife, Sally,
and made what he called
“the best decision of my life”
by convincing her to marry
him. Together they traveled
the country while Walt was
in the Air Force, eventually
settling in Hartford, Conn.,
when he took a job at Pratt
& Whitney Aircraft. During
his career there, Walt earned
his engineering degree from
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute and later went on to
Jacobs Manufacturing, making machine tool accessories
and truck components. He
retired early, bought a cottage
colony on Cape Cod and with
Sally spent the next 10 years
as an innkeeper, a lifestyle
they both enjoyed. Walt was
predeceased by his wife of
nearly 50 years in 1999. His
survivors include four children, four grandchildren and
his partner Carolyn Staley.
JOHN R. ZEBRYK, March
21. John was a star football
player in college, receiving
All New England and Little
All American football honors
while completing a major in
economics. During the Korean
War, he served with the
Army Corps of Engineers in
Germany and then launched
his 35-year career at Package
Machinery Co. in Agawam,
Mass., from which he retired
in 1993. John served on
the U.S. Department of
Commerce Industry Sector
Advisory Committee and
was the VP of the Agawam
Historical Association. His
28 years, Sasha, two sons and
three grandchildren.
1952
HENRY E. CATTO JR., Dec.
18, 2011. Henry was born in
staunchly Democratic Texas
and married Jessica Hobby,
the daughter of the state’s
Democratic governor. Henry’s
political life, the aim of which
was to bring the Republican
party to favor in his home
state, took him far—though
not through elected positions. After graduation, he
worked with his father’s
insurance company, but it
wasn’t long before he ran
for political office (against a
gambler who had twice been
indicted for murder) and lost.
Henry found more success
in appointed positions, and
his career included serving as
ambassador to El Salvador,
the European offices of the
U.N., and the Court of St.
James. In 1990, longtime
friend George H.W. Bush
brought him back to the U.S.
to head the U.S. Information
Agency. In 1993, Henry
published a memoir called
Ambassadors at Sea, about
his experiences in Washington
and abroad. More recently,
Henry served as vice chairman of the board of an
Aspen Institute-sponsored
group trying to help grow
the Palestinian economy.
Henry and Jessica, a noted
conservationist and journalist,
remained as committed to one
another throughout their 52
years of marriage as they did
to their separate political parties, until her death in 2009.
Among Henry’s survivors
are four children, including
Heather Catto Kohout ’81
and Isa Catto Shaw ’87, and
11 grandchildren, including Elizabeth Nevea Catto
Kohout ’08, and cousins
James L. Hayne ’56 and
Walter C. Hayne ’90.
EDWARD C. COLLINS II,
Feb. 16. Ned served as lieutenant, junior grade, in the
U.S. Navy during the Korean
War and earned his master’s
in architecture from Yale
University (1958), where he
met his wife one night while
drawing in the studio. He
became a pioneer in his field,
helping to launch the cluster
housing movement that swept
New England and restoring
historically significant buildings, several in his hometown
of Chatham, Mass. Among
his survivors are Susan,
his wife of 54 years, three
children, including Edward
C. Collins III ’81 and B.
Shattuck Collins ’83, and six
grandchildren.
FRANK EICHELBERGER
JR., Dec. 29, 2011. Frank was
6-foot-6 and had a booming
voice and large personality.
Not shy of showing love and
affection, he was described
as a “role model” husband,
father and friend. Frank was
a first lieutenant in the U.S.
Air Force from 1952-54 and
then earned his engineering
degree from WSU in 1956.
While he was a successful
engineer, he dreamed of owning a business, so he opened
Center Ford Inc. in Spokane,
which he owned and operated
with a partner from 1967-86.
A faithful Washington State
University Cougar fan, Frank
often simultaneously watched
games on TV and listened to
commentary about them on
the radio. Among his survivors are his wife Dianne and
three children.
DAVID M. EVANS, March
26. After serving as a first
lieutenant in the Air Force
during the Korean War, Dave
and his brand-new bride
Deborah set sail for London.
They spent the next 12 years
living overseas while he
worked as resident VP with
American Foreign Insurance
Association and then settled
in Glen Ridge, N.J., when
they returned to the States.
From his NYC office, Dave
had responsibility for all
European, Middle Eastern
and African operations and
asserted that his Spanish
major served him well in
his career. Dave’s survivors
include his wife, two children
and two grandchildren.
DEAN D. MCCORMICK
JR., March 24. Dean’s love
of the railroad developed in
childhood as he walked to
school and watched the trains
rush by. After a long career in
California as an executive in
the transportation industry,
Dean realized a dream in
1994 when he became the
owner and operator of The
Scottish Thistle, a private rail
car. Dean served for 29 years
on school boards for Tustin
Elementary, Tustin Unified
and the Orange County
Department of Education and
was honored in 1981 with an
award for outstanding service.
Dean was predeceased by his
wife of 50 years, Mary Helen,
in 2003, and by his daughter
in 2007. His survivors include
his longtime companion
Susan Dobak, two sons and
several grandchildren and
1954
FREDERICK A. JOSS, Feb.
19. After graduation, Fred
joined the U.S. Air Force as a
navigator and then spent 35
years in finance and marketing in Brazil, the U.S. and
Canada before becoming a
teacher. He worked first at
Shady Side Academy and
later in the Pittsburgh Public
Schools, where he taught
until the time of his death.
Fred earned his MBA from
the University of Pittsburgh
in 1967 and his master’s in
education from Duquesne
University in 1994. In 1996
Fred was named executive
director of the National Flag
Foundation. His survivors
include his wife Diana,
four children and three
grandchildren.
O BIT UA RI ES
1955
sculpting in wood and clay.
He was a passionate gardener
and kept a pruning saw in his
truck; if Jerry passed a tree in
need of help, he would stop
to tend to it. Having spent
time in Mexico as a young
man, Jerry and his wife Mary
moved back after his retirement, although they returned
home to Santa Fe before
his death. Jerry’s survivors
include his wife of 23 years, a
son and one granddaughter.
TERENCE C. CANAVAN,
March 22. After graduation,
Terry simultaneously signed
up for Chemical Bank’s training program and the U.S. Air
Force, spending four years
as a fighter pilot and flight
instructor before returning
to work for Chemical, from
which he retired in 1994 as
executive VP. In 1964 Terry
moved to Caracas, Venezuela,
to open Chemical Bank’s
office there. He spent 12 years
living abroad, opening and
running Chemical branches
in Mexico City and Spain
before returning to the U.S.
in 1976. Terry and his family
made their home in Chatham
Township, N.J.; upon retirement, he and his wife Mary
moved to Savannah, Ga. He
was an avid golfer and crossword puzzler and a champion
of the micro-credit movement.
His survivors include his
wife, three children and four
grandchildren.
1956
REGNAR C. PLESNER, Jan.
4. Reg’s career in architecture had its roots in Whitney
Stoddard’s ’35 “Art 8” class,
which steered him away from
medicine and engineering and
solidly into a graduate program in Denmark. His plans
to return to the States with
his bride were foiled when she
“nailed him down” to a life in
Copenhagen, where he spent
30 years renovating various
aspects of the Frederiksberg
hospital before retirement.
Reg’s survivors include his
wife of more than 50 years,
Malene, two children and
several grandchildren.
GEORGE F. PORTER JR.,
March 22. Jerry was an urban
planner, working for the city
of Santa Fe, N.M., from 1971
until his retirement in 1994.
He was also an important
member of Santa Fe’s spiritual
community and a local artist,
LOMBINO
1957
ROBERT J. LOMBINO,
March 2. Bob worked
as a textile executive for
many years before switching careers 10 years ago to
become a real estate agent
in Danbury, Conn. He loved
this work for its freedom
and the people with whom
it brought him into contact.
Bob was the chairman of
the Williams ’57 Scholars
Committee, a program he
cherished deeply. He said his
proudest moment came during his 25th reunion weekend, when he bought his son
a T-shirt at Goff’s that stated
“Class of 2000.” Among
his survivors are his wife
Linda, six children, including
David Lombino ’00, and 14
grandchildren.
1959
RICHARD L. CREWS,
March 7. Richard earned
his MD from Harvard in
1963 and then served in the
Army, eventually completing
a psychiatry residency in San
Francisco and becoming chief
of psychiatry and neurology
at a 1,000-bed hospital in Fort
Bragg, N.C. He later returned
to California to practice psychiatry in Mill Valley, and,
after 15 years, he co-founded
and became president of
Columbia Pacific University
(1978-2001). Richard spent
his retirement homesteading
52 mountaintop acres of land
and acting in local plays (for
which he won a few awards).
Toward the end of his life, he
moved to an apartment “only
a seven-mile bike ride” from
his son’s house, and he rode
those miles every day until his
last, suffering a heart attack
on his morning ride. Richard’s
survivors include his son and
his former wife (and, later,
good friend) Joyce.
1960
NICHOLAS S.F. CARTER,
Jan. 22. Nick would have
graduated with the Class
of 1958 but took a leave of
absence from 1956-58 to join
the Naval Reserve. Moving
to the Boston area with his
bride June after graduation,
Nick started working in the
financial industry and retired
as senior VP of Fleet Boston
National Bank 37 years
later. Many of those years
were spent in Milton, Mass.,
where Nick was active with
the Civil War Society, the
Milton Historic Commission,
the Orthodox Church of
America and the Clipper Ship
Foundation. Nick’s survivors
include his wife of more than
50 years, two children, two
grandchildren and brother
Michael C. Carter ’50.
FREDERICK SCHWEIZER
III, March 4. Fred attended
Cornell Medical School after
graduation and worked for
many years as an OB-GYN
in Columbus, Ohio, where he
also taught medicine at Ohio
State University. In 2002 Fred
and his wife Tizzie moved
back to Ithaca, N.Y., where
Fred reported in 2010 they
were raising their 6-foot-2,
275-pound grandson, a lover
of football. Among Fred’s survivors are his wife of nearly
48 years, two children and
four grandchildren.
limestone, manufacturing
wooden novelties and operating a specialty cleaning service. Stan’s survivors include
his wife Janet and their three
children.
1961
BRIAN T. O’LEARY, July
29, 2011. Brian was a scientist, author and former
NASA astronaut who worked
tirelessly to find sustainable
free-energy technologies and
restore the environment. He
resigned from NASA in 1968,
after they canceled the Mars
program, and began teaching astronomy, physics and
science policy assessment at
Cornell, Hampshire College,
Princeton and UC Berkeley,
where he’d received his PhD
in 1967. Brian served as the
energy adviser for several
U.S. presidential candidates,
including Morris Udall,
George McGovern, Walter
Mondale, Jesse Jackson and
Dennis Kucinich. A lifelong
war protestor and activist,
Brian and his wife Meredith
moved to Loja, Ecuador, in
2004, where they opened a
retreat and conference center
called Montesueños. Brian’s
survivors include his wife,
two children and brother
Frederick A. O’Leary Jr. ’55.
1963
STANLEY A. BLAIR, Jan.
13. Stan earned a master’s
degree in industrial administration from Union College
and settled for a time in
Pittsfield, Mass., working as a
middle manager for General
Electric Co. In 1975 he was
struck by the entrepreneurial
spirit and moved with his
family to North Carolina,
where had what he called
“a roller coaster of career
successes and failures” in
fields as diverse as quarrying
BLAIR
HARRY W. LUM, Jan. 19.
Harry went into car sales
after college and by 1973 was
managing the Cross Roads
Lincoln Mercury dealership,
which he bought in 1977.
The dealership sold more cars
than any other in Ohio during his 35 years of ownership.
Harry also owned and operated dealerships in Dayton,
Bedford, North Olmsted and
Cuyahoga Falls and served
as the lead negotiator during negotiations between
the Lincoln Mercury Dealer
Advertising Association, of
which he was the chairman
for 17 years, and the IAM and
Teamsters Unions. Survivors
include his wife of 50 years,
Candace, three children and
four grandchildren.
1967
FRANCIS G. HOLLAND,
April 7. Frank earned his JD
from Boston University in
1970, after which he moved
to Nashua, N.H., joining
a firm as a trial lawyer
and later opening his own
firm, which he operated for
more than 40 years. He was
well respected in Nashua
for the dignity with which
he treated his clients and
for his commitment to the
community. As a member
of the Nashua Conservation
Commission, Frank helped
to create Mines Falls Park
and received a mayoral
citation for his work.
A world traveler, Frank
also supported the places
he visited. In Mexico he
helped to build homes and
provided lasting support to
an orphanage in Tijuana.
Among his survivors are
his life companion Ferol
McAlister and his three
children.
HOLLAND
1976
LUM
GEORGE POWELL JR.,
Nov. 12, 2011. George was
a native of Savannah Ga.,
and had lived in Tampa,
Fla., for the last 28 years.
He worked as the economic
development manager at
Boone, Young & Assoc. and
as program director at Central
City YMCA. His survivors
include his daughter and his
companion Belinda Carter.
O BIT UA RI ES
1978
ANDREA P. RAPHAEL,
April 6. Andrea had a
wide smile, enthusiastic
greeting and zest for life.
She was a passionate athlete
(participating in three
sports at Williams) and
outdoorswoman, seeker of
social justice and advocate
for those less fortunate. She
started her professional career
at CalPirg and the World
Wildlife Fund, eventually
coming back east to the
Progressive Group in Hadley,
Mass. She made her home
and community in western
Massachusetts, where she
worked as a special education
teacher in the public schools
and volunteered widely,
serving as president of the
Northampton Center for the
Arts, a mediator at the Center
for Human Development in
Springfield, a member of the
Hamden County Community
Accountability Board, which
helps inmates transition back
into communities, and an
advocate for the Families with
Power project at her children’s
school. Toward the end of her
life, Andrea was crippled by
chronic Lyme disease, a topic
she focused her research skills
and energy on understanding,
calling it “the confusing and
controversial world of chronic
Lyme.” Her survivors include
her husband John Reily, their
two children and her father
Christopher Raphael ’61.
DONNA W. LAYDEN, Feb.
1. Donna received a medical
degree from State University
of New York Upstate Medical
School and moved west for
an internship in Denver.
She spent the rest of her
life in Colorado, where she
worked with the Colorado
Anesthesia Consultants group
for more than 20 years. She
was an associate professor
of anesthesiology at the
University of Colorado. She
was a member of the Denver
Medical Society, the Colorado
Society of Anesthesiologists
and the American Society of
Anesthesiologists. At Williams
she was involved in numerous
activities, including Lehman
Council, Outing Club and the
soccer and volleyball teams.
She is survived by her mother.
1986
CHRISTOPHER A. GRAY,
March 28. Chris touched the
lives of everyone he came
into contact with, from the
members of the basketball
team he coached at St. Ann’s
School in Cleveland Heights
in the 1980s to his Aikido
students more recently.
A graduate of Cleveland
Marshall Law School (1994)
and a teacher and mentor at
the University of Washington,
Seattle, Chris was also an
accomplished amateur nature
photographer. He worked
as a trust officer at National
City Corp. in Cleveland
before moving to Seattle in
the mid 1990s, where he
owned Ronin Publishing
until 2001. Chris then served
as the VP of Mellon Private
Asset Management until
he was unable to continue
working. He fought his cancer
diagnosis valiantly for six
years. His survivors include
his wife Aleya and their
daughter.
1987
JAMES P. LANZA, Oct. 19,
2011. In 1991 James moved
to Columbia, Conn., where
he spent 20 years as a selfemployed residential building
contractor. His survivors
include his parents, three
siblings and two nephews.
Carolina before moving to
Texas, where she taught
biology and math at Texas
Military Institute. She then
turned her considerable
science and mathematics
knowledge to the world
of educational publishing
and test development. In
2010 Betsy discovered she
had developed acute colon
cancer, which she fought
while trying to keep her
family’s life as normal as
possible. Among Betsy’s
survivors are her husband
Allan and their three sons.
Other Deaths
ARTHUR BRATTON ’35,
Chester, Vt., May 29, 2009
ROBERT H. BERNHARDY
’41, Patterson Township, Pa.,
Dec. 26, 2010
RALPH A. REILLY ’43,
Brooksville, Fla., Sept. 4,
2010
RICHARD A. BURTON
’46, Hockessin, Del., Nov. 21,
2006
ALFRED J. GIANASCOL
’47, Salinas, Calif., July 11,
2011
CHESTER T. FELL JR. ’48,
Buffalo, N.Y., April 17, 2011
RONALD S. LEWIS ’48,
Santa Barbara, Calif., June
17, 2011
RICHARD A. SCHWAB ’48,
Fort Myers, Fla., Feb. 11
KENNETH T. HOECK JR.
’49, Chandler, Ariz., Feb. 27,
2011
RICHARD HEYWOOD
WILLIAMS ’49, La Mirada,
Calif., March 4, 2011
DONALD S. CHAPMAN
’51, North Fort Myers, Fla.,
Feb. 4, 1989
GEORGE W. BALKIND ’52,
Paris, France, June 19, 2011
ERIC R. MILLER ’66,
Eugene, Ore., April 17
1992
ELIZABETH CARSON
RUPE, Jan. 10. Betsy spent
her first year after graduation
working with the Chemical
Industrial Council of North
Obituaries are written based on
information that alumni and
their families have supplied to
the college over the years.
W H AT
REU N I O NS
A SK
Reunion (n); the act of uniting again.
The reunion photo spreads in the front
of this magazine capture some of the energy
and enthusiasm that enveloped the campus
in June. The pictures, however, tell only part of
the Williams reunion story, and I’d like to share
some more of it with you.
Sixteen hundred alumni, accompanied by
an almost equal number of spouses, partners,
guests and kids, descended upon Williamstown
as happens every year. The 2s and 7s, from
1942 to 2007, celebrated their connections to
each other and their college, and we’re grateful
for the efforts made by all to gather together.
Like many aspects of our Williams community, our reunion planning model is unique
among our peers. For all colleges and universities, reunions are a primary point of engagement with alumni. Williams alumni, however,
don’t just attend their reunions—they plan
and shape every aspect of their weekend, as so
many of you can attest.
We don’t often talk about what reunions
ask of us as people, because, frankly, it’s a lot.
Reunions push us to our interpersonal limits,
and while some of us thrive in these situations,
many of us find them difficult. Jordan Hampton
’87 just led her class through their remarkable
25th celebration. A message she wrote to her
classmates encouraging attendance thoughtfully conveys the complicated nature of reunion.
It read, in part:
“Many classmates have had personal,
academic, and/or financial success—and many
have had hard times. Often the same people
have had both highs and lows. Many are coming to reunion with a spouse or partner; many
are coming alone. Some are divorced, others
haven’t married, others are widowed. Wherever
you are—personally or professionally—please
come; you will find common bonds, I promise.
We want you to be there to join the fun, to add
your own story to our collective class story. We
are who we are because of the lives we have
lived, and we are all a part of each others’ lives.
O F
US
Come back to touch base, to rediscover who we
all were and who we have become and what
has happened along the way. There have been
a lot of changes. Some good, some hard, all
important and valuable.”
What helps us conquer any hesitation is a
desire to reconnect with each other in the place
where most of us first met. It’s about connecting not just with people, but also with the place
and the college we hold so dear. We hope you’ll
find the payoff for attending far outweighs the
emotional commitment it takes to put yourself
out there. We’ve heard time and again from
alumni who were initially unsure about attending but in the end were so happy to be here
with their classmates.
On behalf of the college, we invite you to
“unite again” together in Williamstown the
next time your reunion cycle comes along. For
you 3s and 8s, that’s June 6–9, 2013. Mark it
on your calendar, and we’ll see you then.
Best wishes from Williamstown,
Brooks L. Foehl ’88
Director of Alumni Relations
[email protected]
Dennis M. O’Shea ‘77, President, Society of Alumni,
talks about the bonds among Williams alumni
MAYAN YUCATAN Antonia Foias
SEA OF CORTEZ Jim Carlton
THE LESSER ANTILLES Paul Karabinos
CUBA Jim Mahon & Ileana Perez Velazquez
MACHU PICCHU Michael Brown
NORTHERN PARKS Bud Wobus
KILIMANJARO CLIMB Scott Lewis
CLASSIC CHINA Sam Crane
THE BLACK SEA Bill Wagner
PORTUGAL’S DOURO Leyla Rouhi
MOSEL-RHINE-MAIN Dan O’Connor
BHUTAN FESTIVALS John Child ’77
COASTAL IBERIA John Hyde ’52
ALUMNI TRAVEL-STUDY 2013 Since 1981 Williams has offered outstanding
educational travel opportunities led by professors and alumni who are experts in each
destination. Learn more at http://alumni.williams.edu/alumnitravelstudy or contact
[email protected], 413.597.4011.

2012 - Alumni News

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