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SUMMER 2016
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161
Periodicals
postage paid at
Andover MA
and additional
mailing offices
SUMMER 2016
Households that
receive more
than one Andover
magazine are
encouraged to call
978-749-4267
to discontinue
extra copies.
A SONG FOR SOLIDARITY
Harbingers of spring,
Jessie Wallner
red and yellow tulips sprout
from the grass in front of
the Andover Inn.
In celebration of 20 years,
Brace Center event
highlights importance
of gender studies
The Rebecca M. Sykes
Wellness Center:
A Renewed
Commitment
to Empathy
and Balance
It was an emotional return to
campus for former associate head
of school Becky Sykes when the
new Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness
Center was dedicated May 6. The
state-of-the-art facility supports
student health, both mental and
physical, and is a fitting reflection
of the Strategic Plan’s emphasis
on empathy and balance.
Inset: Barbara Landis Chase, 14th
head of school, Becky Sykes, and
John Palfrey, head of school
Left: Peter Currie ’74, president
of the Board of Trustees
Below left: Sykes with sons
Emerson ’01 (holding his son,
Otis), Eliot ’97, and Emmett ’92
Right: Sykes and husband
Elwin Sykes, faculty emeritus
Sykes, who left PA in 2013 to head
the Oprah Winfrey Charitable
Foundation, wore numerous
hats during her 40-year tenure at
Andover, from college counselor
to residential dean to dean of
Community and Multicultural
Development.
After opening remarks from Board
President Peter Currie ’74 and
Head of School John Palfrey,
Sykes addressed the crowd
assembled on the lawn outside the
new facility. With characteristic
graciousness, she thanked the
many supporters who made the
Sykes Wellness Center possible;
she also teared up when noting
that it was the first building on
campus named for an African
American woman.
“Today is proof,” she said, “that
we continue to be the recipients
of the grace of this community.
Even the naming of the wellness
center is a privilege I know I will
spend the rest of my life working
to earn.”
Thirteen Years and Counting
A Story of Consecutive Giving
E
ven as a youngster, Dorothy Voorhees ’04
had her sights on Andover. When she
finally arrived on campus as an upper in
2002, Dorothy carried on a legacy started by her
father, Steve ’72, and continued by her brother,
Paul ’06.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Ala. (“I had my
first snow-shoveling experience at Andover!”),
Dorothy immediately felt welcomed into the
Phillips Academy community, meeting people
who would become lifelong friends. “While
everyone at Andover is extremely gifted in one
area or another, the school really is greater than
the sum of its parts,” she says.
As an athlete, Dorothy competed fiercely in
volleyball (having an undefeated season her
senior year), captained the softball team, and
cheered wildly as a Blue Key. In the classroom,
she dove into AP French literature, reveling in
Hale Sturges’s dynamic reenactments of works
by playwrights Molière and Balzac. Carroll Perry’s
economics class sparked her interest in learning
more about poverty in the developing world,
eventually prompting her to move to Senegal
through the Peace Corps after college.
Dorothy’s 13 years of consecutive giving started
with her senior gift. “Andover does a great job of
demonstrating the value of your education, even
when you’re still a student,” she says.
“Giving to Andover every year is my way of
ensuring that the school continues to attract
and retain ‘youth from every quarter.’ Many
of my friends wouldn’t have been able to
attend without the school’s need-blind admission
policy. The economically diverse student body
truly enriched my learning experience, and
it’s an honor to help pass that opportunity on
to others.”
Dorothy Voorhees ’04, a merchandise buyer for
Target Corporation, lives in Minneapolis. She has
been a PA alumni admission representative for
three years.
Steve ’72, Paul ’06, and Dorothy ’04
To learn more about making an annual
gift to Phillips Academy, please contact
Stephen Rodriguez, director of annual giving,
at 978-749-4312 or [email protected].
C ON TE NTS
F E AT U R E S
12
18
44
18 From the Archives: The Man
Who Transformed the PA Campus
Nearly 100 years ago, Thomas Cochran III was the driving
force behind the transformation of Andover’s campus.
DEPARTMENTS
3 Letters to the Editor
20 A Master Plan Takes Shape
6 From the Head of School
With an eye toward sustainability and creating physical connections
on campus, Andover creates a new “path to the future.”
24 The 2016 Claude M. Fuess Award
Ai-Jen Poo ’92, founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance,
receives Andover’s highest honor in recognition of her advocacy on
behalf of domestic caregivers.
7 Dateline Andover
13 The World Comes
to Andover
14 On Course
16 Sports Talk
18 From the Archives
38 Philanthropy Highlights
40 Connection
26 A Fond Farewell
42 Andover Bookshelf
The 2016 class of retiring faculty members features six
individuals whose impact reaches far beyond Andover Hill.
44 The Buzz
45 Class Notes
34 The Brace Center at 20
In 1996, PA undertook a groundbreaking initiative by creating the
Brace Center for Gender Studies. Twenty years later, the center
continues to provide crucial programming, research, and discussions
about this important topic.
105 In Memoriam
108 Tales Out of School
Close-Ups
67 Rocky Chin ’65
An Activist Ahead
of His Time
97 Sarah Sherman ’04
Mission to Mars Dream
Launched at PA
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
EverTrue
Linked In
SmugMug
Twitter
PA Mobile
Access these sites at www.andover.edu/intouch.
Andover | Summer 2016
1
FROM THE EDITOR
SUMMER 2016
Volume 109 Number 3
PUBLISHER
Tracy M. Sweet
Director of Academy Communications
EDITOR
Allyson Irish
Director of Editorial & Creative Services
DESIGNER
Ken Puleo
Art Director
MANAGING EDITOR &
CLASS NOTES EDITOR
Jane Dornbusch
CLASS NOTES DESIGNER
Sally Abugov
CLASS NOTES COORDINATOR
Laura MacHugh
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Alessandra Bianchi, Jill Clerkin, Seyi Fayanju ’01, John Gould,
Victoria Harnish, Corrie Martin, Adam Roberts, Tracy Sweet
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jill Clerkin, Keziban Barry ’02, Neil Evans, David Flash,
John Hurley, Emma Kaufmann-LaDuc ’17, Mabel Lee P’04,
Gil Talbot, Jessie Wallner, David White
© 2016 Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Andover, the magazine of Phillips Academy, is published four
times a year—fall, winter, spring, and summer—by the
Office of Communication at Phillips Academy,
180 Main Street, Andover MA 01810-4161.
How can you measure the effectiveness of a teacher? Strong test scores? A waiting
list for classes? Consistently receiving five stars on ratemyteachers.com?
Countless hours have been spent studying the topic of teacher assessments and
there are many views. But I would argue that one of the most important criteria for
measuring a teacher’s effectiveness is impact, both on students and on the institution
at which they teach. Retiring PA English instructor Seth Bardo addressed this very
topic in Cochran Chapel during this year’s Baccalaureate, reflecting on what he will
take from Andover—and on what he will leave behind—after teaching for 35 years.
Teaching, said Bardo, is a profession that provides delayed gratification. “Most
often, as teachers we learn about our impact on our students, if at all, in unexpected
ways—some immediate, others years later.”
This year’s six retiring teachers certainly have had an immense impact on thousands
of students and colleagues, as well as on the Academy itself. Beginning on page 26, we
profile these remarkable individuals and share personal stories of gratitude from their
former students. Alumni recall meeting with counselor Max Alovisetti at difficult
times and cite their appreciation for his calm and positive manner. They remember
Bardo’s quirky attire and difficult classes and Kathleen Dalton’s tenacious scholarship
and compelling classroom discussions. Many stories came in extolling Marc Koolen’s
humor, running prowess, and his love of birds. Chris Walter is celebrated for his deep
knowledge and love of music, while Steve Carter had a hand in almost every teaching,
athletic, and administrative function during his 36 years at Andover.
As you all know, Andover is very challenging. Add to that academic rigor the
difficulties of living away from home and the dramatic swells of adolescence, and
sometimes it can feel downright impossible. That is why the relationships formed
with adults on campus are so critically important. Faculty here are teachers first, but
as these stories show, they are so much more.
Best,
Main PA phone: 978-749-4000
Changes of address and death notices: 978-749-4269
[email protected]
Phillips Academy website: www.andover.edu
Andover magazine phone: 978-749-4677
E-mail: [email protected]
Allyson Irish, Editor
Periodicals postage paid at Andover MA
and additional mailing offices.
Postmasters:
Send address changes to
Phillips Academy
180 Main Street
Andover MA 01810-4161
ISSN-0735-5718
Content Created with Alumni in Mind
Andover has always been known for innovation—in its curriculum, its
pedagogy, and in its graduates. That is why we are looking to you, our alumni,
to help us identify the next chapter of Andover magazine.
In this spirit of innovation, we are looking to provide PA alums with the most
exciting news and information about Andover, delivered in the best format.
And what better way to understand your wants and needs than to ask you?
Please take a few moments to access and fill out this survey, available at
http://tinyurl.com/z7cxatn. The survey also will be e-mailed to alumni.
No need to take the survey twice; please use whichever format you are
most comfortable with. The results of this survey will be used to guide our
decisions as we seek to identify and deliver the best content. We look forward
to your responses.
Cover: Alexa Rodriguez Pagano ’16 takes part in
Andover’s Take Back the Night event. Read more
on page 34. Photo by Gil Talbot
TO TH E E DITO R
To the editor:
I read with interest the articles in each issue of
the magazine and continue to be amazed by the
activities and programs offered to the students and
very impressed by the accomplishments and lives of
the alumni.
—Nancy Donnelly Bliss ’54
Brunswick, Maine
To the editor:
I would like to congratulate you on the most
enjoyable Andover magazine I have ever read [winter
2016 issue]. As a member of PA Class of ’72 I have
certainly seen a lot of them, and this issue was by far
the best.
Andrew Olson ’72
Las Vegas, Nev.
To the editor:
I thought your article on The Nest, a makerspace
at PA [winter 2016 issue] was lacking in substance.
There was only a very shallow definition offered of
what a “makerspace” actually is, little to nothing
said about the technology involved, and no
attempt to describe the process that presumably
moves from statement of the problem to program
design to gathering of resources to final product to
distribution.
Can you identify the
campus location of the
item below?
The article was rather breathless in its assertions
about “speed and simplicity,” “connected learning,”
branding, the creation of a “vibrant, exciting, and
creative environment,” creating a logo, something
called “design thinking,” “inspirational words and
phrases,” and “puttering around.” I hope that I am
not being too harsh in calling this puffery.
—Judson Brown ’65
Northampton, Mass..
If you think you know,
send your answer to:
To the editor:
I’m getting more and more confused. Maybe it
started back around 1950, when balsa models
were rapidly phased out and replaced with plastic
models that re-created every last detail. The magic
of transforming delicate pieces of die-cut wood and
paper into objects that, with some visual forgiveness,
represented the awesome gadgets operated by
big people was replaced by a different kind of
magic—something that provided greater detail than
anything that could be approximated with wood,
paper, and glue but obscured the underlying physics
of structure.
What is this 3-D printer [“Making Ideas Possible,”
winter 2016 issue]? It’s all the rage. Someone
transforms computer code into a physical—ah, I
missed that boat way back when they told me that
x equals the number of oranges, when clearly it
doesn’t.
For the computer code to give the object the
necessary strength to be functional, the person
writing the code must be able to transform all the
probable stresses into numerical values for the
strength of the material, which used to involve
judgments like “Probably don’t want to use that
one; the grain isn’t straight, and the knot goes all
the way through.” Too big a subject for 200 words.
andovermagazine@
andover.edu
No winner of the winter
2016 Macro Mystery
Jill Clerkin
The only tiny note that caught my eye was the
story on the musical Hairspray. I didn’t realize the
Academy orchestra was no longer up to handling a
big musical production and that three members of
the student body sat in with a professional band. In
“my day” (long, long ago), of course, things were
different. Things do change!
It would have been nice to have been presented
with examples of social, economic, or environmental
issues students have determined can be effectively
addressed with the technology at hand. It would
have been instructive to learn how a project is
actually taken from concept to application.
Macro
Mystery
Jill Clerkin
I just returned from the Abbot campus, where I
spent a wonderful day with classmates, other Abbot
alums, and present PA students as we participated in
the program honoring the 20th anniversary of
the Brace Center for Gender Studies. Gender
equality continues to be a much-discussed topic.
Therefore, I was struck by the lack of press for
Emma Goldstein ’09 in the article “Running the
City” [winter 2016 issue]. I felt that there could
have been more written about her time at PA, her
accomplishments, and her background, giving her
the same attention her well-accomplished [male]
schoolmates received.
We are told that “good ideas can move fast,” but
we don’t hear much about what those “ideas”
actually might be, other than swift. There is no
theory offered and little said about actual content.
You may have encountered this
osseous personage (rumored
to have been pals with George,
the resident ghost) in the old
Isham Health Center. He or she
is likely enjoying brighter days
in the new Rebecca M. Sykes
Wellness Center. —Bob Sanderson ’60
Marion, Mass.
Letters to the Editor Policy
Andover magazine welcomes letters of 200 words or fewer from members of the Andover community addressing topics that have been
discussed in the magazine. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, and civility. Opinions expressed in the Letters to the Editor section do not
necessarily represent the viewpoints of the editorial staff or of Phillips Academy.
25%
Cert no. SW-COC-002508
3
4
A
warm, sunny day and an expanse of green lawn
drew three Andover students out to sit on the base of
the Armillary Sphere this spring. “We had a seventh
period free, and the weather was so nice, so we sat outside
to do our English reading. We were reading Cannery Row
by John Steinbeck,“ says Molly Katarincic ’18, pictured at
left with friends Thomas Glover ’18 and Olivia Brokaw ’18.
5
Jessie Wallner
Dave White
From the Head of School
STANDING UP
AND STANDING OUT
FOR ALL
I am certain that Donna Brace Ogilvie ’30 was with our community in spirit as a large group assembled at Samuel Phillips Hall
April 21 to make a statement against relationship violence and
sexual assault. Take Back The Night (TBTN), a nationwide movement to heighten awareness and empower survivors, has been
observed for decades at colleges and universities, but this year
was different. Guided by Drs. Flavia Vidal and Tasha Hawthorne,
codirectors of the Brace Center for Gender Studies, Andover was
the only secondary school to take part on this night.
Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff turned out for the event.
Led by candlelight, they marched from Sam Phil to the Abbot
Circle. They read poetry and cited statistics that tell us there is still
much work to be done to make our campuses and communities
free from sexual violence. I could not be more proud of their efforts and of this event—one of many that stand out in the center’s
rich history.
Consider the heady topics researched by Andover students under
the banner of the Brace Center, and you understand why their presentations pack the room and often finish with a standing ovation:
Abbot’s cultural and artistic influence on coeducation, reclaiming
masculinity in ballet, a proposal for all-gender housing on campus,
and gender fluidity in baroque opera. Some students have even
had their work published.
When Mrs. Ogilvie made a generous gift to establish the center in
1996, she sought to honor the history of Abbot Academy in a forward-leaning way. Although she was already a tenacious advocate
for girls on our campus and across the country, it was important
to her that this new center welcome all and not serve exclusively
as an enclave for girls and women. We applaud that prescient
thinking today, especially as we consider the many complex issues
facing schools, our states, and our nation. Debates surrounding
gender identity, limitations of the gender binary, the importance
of Title IX beyond sports, and the pressures of masculinity facing
teenage boys are just a few examples.
TBTN is just one of the many initiatives—faculty research,
student scholarship, and peer-school conferences are a few others—that demonstrate the serious and important work supported We lost Donna Brace Ogilvie last fall at the age of 105. As we
by the Brace Center. Standing up and standing out is exactly what celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Brace Center this year, her
the center has done for two decades. In its current iteration, it exlegacy shines brightly—across gender lines.
pands on its original role as a campus hub for scholarly research on
gender issues and brings the Equity and Inclusion mandate of our
Strategic Plan to bear on all aspects of our students’ experience.
John Palfrey
6
D ATE LI N E AN DO V ER
Clockwise from lower left: Students packing
groceries for The Future Isn’t Hungry; sorting
and measuring trash at the Non Sibi Weekend
waste audit; and helping prepare the Abbot
Phillips Community Garden for spring planting
Photos by Neil Evans and Jessie Wallner
Non Sibi Weekend
As part of another successful Non Sibi Weekend in April, hundreds
of students, faculty, staff, and alumni took part in community
outreach efforts on campus and around the globe.
“Non Sibi Weekend carves out time and space for our community to learn beyond the classroom and to see how our partners are
tirelessly addressing community-identified needs every single day,”
says Monique Cueto-Potts, director of the Office of Community
Engagement. Although Non Sibi Weekend constitutes a very important annual event, community engagement, says Cueto-Potts, is
truly a meaningful year-round effort for many at Andover.
Non Sibi 2016 Stats
1,400 number of participants
25projects
9states
3continents
34 community partners
9 new community partners*
*Binky Patrol, Community Giving Tree, Gaining Ground, Merrimack
River Watershed Council, Salem Sound Coastwatch, Daily Table,
The Future Isn’t Hungry, Hands on Hartford, and Rosie’s Place
7
D ATE LI N E ANDO V ER
Faculty
Honored
Jessie Wallner
At the winter meeting of the Board of
Trustees, five faculty members were
awarded instructorships and foundations. The recipients are, from left, Pat
Davison, Jonathan French Foundation;
Paul Murphy ’84, Class of 1915/
Garrigues Foundation; Megan Paulson,
Frederic S. Allis Jr. Instructorship in
History; Peter Merrill, Alfred Earnest
Stearns Foundation; and Catherine
Tousignant ’86, Cecil F.P. Bancroft
Foundation. Congratulations to all!
Andover Hires New Outreach & Summer Session Director
Beth Friedman joined PA May 9 as the
new director of Outreach and Summer
Session. With more than 15 years
of experience in teaching, academic
administration, and educational
consulting, Friedman succeeds
Fernando Alonso, who will become the
Academy’s new dean of administration
and finance, effective July 1.
“I am incredibly excited to work
with a community of passionate,
committed educators to leverage the
resources of an institution like Andover
for the creation of greater opportunities for all students,” says Friedman.
Friedman will oversee Phillips
Academy’s five-week Summer Session,
one of the nation’s top summer
academic enrichment programs
for students entering grades 8–12.
Summer Session, which welcomes
both boarding and day students, is
8
held on the PA campus for students
from across the country and around
the world. She also will manage
Andover’s four distinct outreach
programs: (MS)2, PALS, Andover Bread
Loaf, and the Institute for Recruitment
of Teachers (IRT).
Friedman most recently was senior
project manager at SchoolWorks, an
educational consulting company that
has worked with clients such as the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
and the New York State Education
Department. From 2004 to 2011, she
worked at Boston Collegiate Charter
School in Dorchester, Mass., first as
a teacher and advisor and then as
the Lower School principal. She also
held the positions of assistant dean
of admission and assistant dean of
preparation and placement at The
Steppingstone Foundation in Boston.
Friedman is on the board of the
Bridge Boston Charter School and the
Academics Committee of the KIPP
Philadelphia Charter Schools. She
has a BA degree with a dual major
in English and psychology and a
concentration in women’s and gender
studies from Williams College, and an
MEd degree in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard
University.
137,000
Summertime, and the campus is busy
Andover students—and many faculty—may be off pursuing other adventures, but campus
does not sit idle during the summer months. Between Summer Session and the various
outreach programs—IRT (the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers), PALS, (MS)2, and
Andover Bread Loaf—Andover is alive with scholarship, inquiry, and fun.
meals served
including:
Turkey Burgers
384 lbs.
Equal to the weight of
300 basketballs
Pasta
673 beds in 35 dorms
Required to accommodate summer students
840 lbs.
Nearly the weight of
a grand piano
Apples
5,200
C
S
41 bushels
54
Number of countries represented
39
Number of states represented
150
5,750
Reaching more than
a half mile if placed
end to end
A+
Number of teachers and volunteers
Bananas
Chicken Breast
800
Total number of summer students
including Andover Bread Loaf, IRT,
(MS)2, PALS, and Summer Session
3,937 lbs.
Ken Puleo
Nearly the weight
of an adult rhino
9
Summer at the Addison
Revolution of the Eye:
Modern Art and the Birth of the American Television
Through July 31
Avant-garde art shaped the look and content of American television in its
formative years, from the 1940s through the mid-1970s, and in turn, television
introduced the public to the latest trends in art and design. Presenting more
than 260 art objects and clips, Revolution of the Eye investigates how artists
fascinated with this brash new medium and its technological possibilities contributed to network programs and design campaigns; appeared on television to
promote modern art; and explored, critiqued, or absorbed the new medium in
their work. This dialogue between high art and television is revealed through
a selection of fine art and graphic designs by artists such as Saul Bass,
Alexander Calder, Georgia O’Keeffe, Marcel Duchamp, Allan Kaprow, Roy
Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Eero Saarinen, Ben Shahn, and Andy Warhol as well
as ephemera, television memorabilia, and clips from significant television programs, including Batman, The Ed Sullivan Show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,
and The Twilight Zone.
Batman and Robin,
1966. Image provided by
20th Century Fox/The
Kobal Collection at Art
Resource, New York
Walls and Beams, Rooms and Dreams: Images of Home
Through July 31
The words “house” and “home” carry powerful associations. While “house”
refers to a physical structure meant for habitation and shelter, the meaning of “home” is infinitely varied, complex, and evocative. As containers for
living, the forms that the house and the home take are as varied as the human
desires they hold. The historic and contemporary paintings, prints, photographs, and drawings from the Addison’s collection presented in this exhibition
give evidence of the multiple types of dwellings that humans have constructed
for themselves, the many ways in which those spaces are inhabited, and the
wide range of emotions and associations attached to them.
Sam Cady, Moved
House Being Rebuilt,
1983, oil on canvas,
museum purchase,
1987.39
Selections from the Permanent Collection
Through July 31
FALL 2016
This exhibition presents some of the most well-known and loved paintings
from the museum’s rich permanent collection. Works by artists such as Thomas
Eakins, Winslow Homer, Jackson Pollock, John Singer Sargent, Charles
Sheeler, and John Sloan will be on view together in one gallery.
10
Albert Bierstadt,
The Coming Storm,
1869, oil on board, gift
of Mrs. Leon Bascom
Making It Modern: The Folk Art
Collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman
This traveling exhibition, organized by the NewYork Historical Society, presents approximately
100 objects from the Nadelmans’ collection,
along with several examples of Elie Nadelman’s
“modern” sculpture.
Be sure to visit www.andover.edu/museums/addison.
FLOATING ON A SPRING BREEZE
Emma Kaufmann-LaDuc '17
Beauty, grace, color, and harmony filled Tang Theatre in late February,
when the theatre and dance department, in collaboration with the
music department, presented an evening of contemporary dance
featuring members of the Andover Dance Group and the Academy
Chamber Orchestra. The centerpiece of the show was the iconic
Martha Graham/Aaron Copland ballet Appalachian Spring, reimagined
by instructor and chair in theatre and dance Judith Wombwell.
Rounding out the program were Dreams of Terpsichore, choreographed
by Janice Cheon ’16 and set to music by Charles Stacy ’16; Equal and
Opposite, choreographed by Wombwell; and Take 507, choreographed
by instructor in theatre and dance Erin Strong.
11
Racquet-Raising Exploits
Photos (clockwise from left):
Athletic director Leon Modeste and
Head of School John Palfrey; West Point
cadet Alexi Bell ’13; Pentatonix beatboxer
Kevin Olusola ’06; NECN meteorologist
Matt Noyes ’96; and muppets Beaker
and Bunsen (with help from their friend
Brian Henson ’82)
Rarely has a racquet caused such a racket. At exactly 5:30 p.m. on February 15,
Head of School John Palfrey raised his exalted blue squash racquet in Paresky
Commons and announced Head of School Day. The annual surprise day off from
classes is greeted with excitement by students and recalled with much affection
by alumni. Take a look at the myriad sightings of the “traveling squash racquet”
and relive the moment on Instagram or Twitter at #HOSD2016.
BRACE CENTER CELEBRATION
On April 9, the Brace Center for Gender Studies celebrated its 20th anniversary with a day of special
programming and performances (see related story on page 34). Abbot alumnae and other friends of the
center came to campus to hear a Brace Student Fellow presentation by Erica Nork ’16, share Abbot
oral histories, enjoy an Abbot tea, watch a Drama Lab production of plays written by Abbot students,
and laud the forward-thinking center as a crucial space for gender research and discussion.
Jill Clerkin
Brace Events
12
TH E WO R LD C O MES TO ANDOVER
Dr. Jane Goodall
World-Renowned Primatologist
Jessie Wallner
As she began her April 8 presentation in the full-to-capacity Cochran Chapel,
Dr. Jane Goodall speculated, “This is the first time in this lovely chapel that you’ve
heard a voice other than a human voice.” To the delight of the crowd, the eminent
primatologist then let fly, mimicking the grunts and shrieks that constitute the
greeting of a chimpanzee. The audience’s attention never wavered during the
90-minute talk as Goodall shared her personal history, her experiences studying
chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, and her urgent calls to action on
behalf of the environment.
During her British wartime childhood, Goodall saved up her pocket money to
buy an intriguing secondhand book: Tarzan of the Apes (written by Edgar Rice
Burroughs, PA Class of 1894). “I fell passionately in love with this glorious lord
of the jungle,” Goodall recounted, adding, “What did he do? He married the
wrong Jane!” She went on, “This is when my dream began: I will grow up, I will
go to Africa, I will live with wild animals, and I will write books about them.”
And though, she says, everyone laughed at the very notion, through pluck and
determination she ultimately proved the doubters wrong.
The presentation was sponsored by Joe Tatelbaum ’78, who was on hand to
introduce Goodall. Tatelbaum described his work with Goodall’s Roots & Shoots
initiative in China and expressed the hope that Goodall’s visit would “inspire each
of us to be our better selves.”
danah boyd
Robert Pinsky
On March 31, danah boyd, noted social
media scholar, researcher, and author of It’s
Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked
Teens, visited campus to speak about the challenges facing young people as they navigate
a networked world. She explored some of the
major issues raised by social media, including
privacy and online cruelty. Her visit also included
a lunchtime conversation with students.
The Jewish Student Union kicked off Jewish
Cultural Weekend January 29 by sponsoring a
talk, titled “Jewish Imagination,” by acclaimed
poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator
Robert Pinsky. A professor in the English department at Boston University and former U.S. poet
laureate, Pinsky is the author of 19 books, most
of which are collections of his poetry.
Social Media Scholar
Stephen Prothero
Religious Studies Professor
On February 5, Dr. Stephen Prothero, author,
commentator, and professor of religion at Boston
University, addressed the PA community in a
talk called “Religious Literacy and Religious
Diversity: How to Talk (and Think) about the ‘R’
Word in Public.”
Katarina Wong
Artist
As part of World Interfaith Harmony Week,
award-winning Cuban-Chinese-American artist
Katarina Wong visited campus February 3 to
present a talk called “Cuba, China, and the World
Between.” The event was part of an interfaith
awareness initiative sponsored by several organizations on campus.
Poet
Roxane Gay
Author
Editor, professor, blogger, and author Roxane Gay
received wide acclaim for her 2014 debut novel,
An Untamed State. In her work and her March 24
talk on campus, Gay discussed the multiplicity of
identities and themes in pop culture.
Moustafa Bayoumi
Author
The war on terror and the presidential election
were among the topics addressed by Moustafa
Bayoumi, author of This Muslim American Life,
during his March 31 visit to PA. An English professor at Brooklyn College, Bayoumi is also author of
the critically acclaimed How Does It Feel to Be a
Problem? Being Young and Arab in America.
13
ON COURSE
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FreeImages.com/A. Hulme
riting,
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Photos by Gil Talbot
by Alessandra Bianchi
T
here’s snow on the ground and
the temperature hovers in the
20s, but the atmosphere inside
Room 109 couldn’t be warmer this
January afternoon. Sunshine streams
through the windows lighting up the
25 elementary school students sitting
snugly in a circle, clasping clipboards
and, at alternating decibels, sharing
their thoughts.
“I feel frozen and joyful.”
“I feel amazed.”
“I feel wind in my face.”
“I hear at night some grasshoppers and
my baby sister sing a song.”
With each statement, a fluttering
of congratulatory finger-snapping
ricochets around the room—an act
that makes the students smile, for the
14
gesture feels more genuine and pleasingly illicit than standard applause.
Precisely 12 minutes earlier, as he does
each week, Bernieri had given the
young Lawrence students a writing
The students in Room 109, who are
prompt. Today’s was “In the wintercheerfully writing, sharing, and snaptime in Lawrence, I see ____ and I see
ping, are second-graders at South
____. I hear ____ and I hear ____.
Lawrence East, where Andover stuI feel ____.” The PA students in the
dents work each week as writing menroom knew this prompt was inspired
tors with 150 children. The high school
by Walt Whitman, the “grandfather of
students are part of English 501AB
spoken poetry.” Just a few days prior,
Writing and Teaching to Change the
in Bulfinch Hall, they had completed
World, a new senior elective taught by
a similar writing exercise imitating
Tang fellows Louis Bernieri, longtime
Whitman’s style:
PA English instructor and Andover
Bread Loaf outreach program founder, “I hear the mad scratching of graphite
and Monique Cueto-Potts, Office of
on the thin-lined paper.”
Community Engagement (OCE) direc“I see the spare look of the farmer as he
tor. Novel in format, the course is a
hopes to keep his crops alive.”
collaboration among PA’s Department
of English, OCE, the Lawrence Public “I see banana pancakes in my near
Schools, and other Lawrence commu- future.”
nity organizations.
PA students and instructors worked with
second-graders in a Lawrence classroom
as part of Writing and Teaching to
Change the World. From the top:
Tim Ossowski ’16, Angela Dolan ’16,
English instructor Lou Bernieri,
and Katherine Wang ’17.
PA students have found Writing and
Teaching to Change the World to be an
exciting and challenging departure
from their typical classes.
“On the first day of class, we participated in a writing workshop,” recalls Lily
Augus ’16. “I’ve learned the importance
of sharing work, of getting feedback
from peers, and of embracing my raw
written work, knowing that there is
always room for improvement. Mr.
Bernieri and Ms. Cueto-Potts have high
expectations but without high pressure.”
The logistics of meeting weekly in
Lawrence brings its own challenges
such as bus transportation and photo
releases for each youngster. However,
the purpose of the course—to build an
educational bridge between these two
communities—far outweighs the difficulties and brings numerous benefits
to kids in Lawrence and Andover alike.
PA students hone their writing skills,
learn about educational theory and
practice, and have the opportunity to
share this knowledge—in an ageappropriate manner—with the secondgraders in Lawrence.
“There’s an educational and environmental divide in America now,” says
Bernieri. “This course enables both the
Phillips and Lawrence kids to see that
deep down, they are not much different
from one another.” Bernieri attributes
his lifelong interest in urban education
to growing up in an immigrant community in Brooklyn, N.Y. Similarly, CuetoPotts has focused her professional life
on issues of educational equity and
social justice. A former public school
teacher in New York City and Lynn,
Mass., she now relishes helping PA
students figure out the roles that community engagement and activism will
play throughout their lives.
Veteran Lawrence second-grade
teacher Kathleen Loughlin, who has
collaborated on community writing
programs with Bernieri for more than
25 years, says this class allows her students “to use their own ideas, to have
a voice in their writing, and to not be
afraid. The benefits carry over to their
other work. They’re much more ready
and confident,” she says.
“Getting PA students
out of the Andover
bubble is a win-win.
The Andover kids end
up learning as much
as the Lawrence
students.”
—Lou Bernieri
PA English instructor and
Andover Bread Loaf program founder
On this January afternoon, as if on cue,
one of the second-graders illustrates
the teacher’s point magnificently.
Dressed in a silver glittery T-shirt, navy
skirt, and a bright lavender sweater
cinched at her waist, 8-year-old Arianni
boldly reads aloud her writing for the
day. Her last line concludes: “I feel free
to be unique.” 
Alessandra Bianchi is a lifelong learner and
writer based in Marblehead, Mass.
15
SP ORTS TALK
“I learned how to believe in myself through the sport
and Sorota’s coaching. He showed us that, with
determination and dedication, we could succeed.”
—Steve Snyder ’56
Back On Track
Legendary Sprinter Helps Fund New Facility
by Adam Roberts
onstruction of Andover’s new 96,000-square-foot athletic facility, the Snyder Center, will begin
this summer. But it was really 64 years ago that the true work began, with the record-setting track
career of a fleet-footed ninth-grader who would eventually become varsity track captain.
A 1956 alumnus, Snyder recently made a leadership gift to fund the new athletic facility, which will
open in 2017 and will stand as a fitting tribute to one of Andover’s most enduring sports legends.
“Steve Snyder is a legendary athlete here,” says current track and field coach Rebecca Hession. “The
new 200-meter track inside the Snyder Center (see story on page 38) will present a fantastic opportunity for our athletes to train at the collegiate level. We can’t begin to express our gratitude for his vision
and generosity.”
When Snyder joined the squad in 1952 as a junior, Andover already had enjoyed a rich history in track
and field, which in 1878 became the school’s third major sport, joining football and baseball. Its debut
featured two events: the one-mile run and the running high jump. By the time of Andover’s first interscholastic meet with Exeter on June 12, 1889, there were nine events. Andover prevailed 6–3, marking
the beginning of the third major athletic rivalry with “the boys from New Hampshire.”
Andover was tapped to host the following year but lacked the facilities. The student body deplored
the state of affairs: “Track and gymnastics are restricted for lack of a running track and an adequate
gymnasium,” lamented The Phillipian. That fall, the school’s Football Committee reported a surplus of
$454.57, which was put toward construction of a new track, estimated to cost $700.
16
PA
RS
A
H
EA
IC
LET
TH
DLI NE
Boys’ Swimming & Diving: Won its
sixth New England Championship in
10 seasons. Darren Ty ’16, Marcello
Rossi ’16, Nick Isenhower ’18, and
Christian Alberga ’17 set new pool
and school records in the 200 freestyle
relay. Jack Warden ’19 set a new
junior record in the 100 butterfly.
Jacob Hudgins ’19 set a new junior
record in the 100 breaststroke.
Alberga set a new upper record in
the 50 freestyle.
Girls’ Basketball: Emma Kelley ’17
was named to All-Area “Super Team”
by the Eagle-Tribune.
Wrestling: Won the team title at the
2016 USA Wrestling Massachusetts
State Girls’ Folkstyle Wrestling
Tournament.
Opposite page: Steve Snyder ’56 wins the 40-yard dash.
Above: Architectural renderings of the new squash courts.
Right: Steve Snyder ’56.
Nordic Skiing: Carmen Bango ’16 was
league champion for the second year
in a row and finished second overall
at the NEPSAC Championships.
Boys’ Basketball: Danny Evans ’16
was named All-NEPSAC, and Sam
Jefferson ’16 earned an honorable
mention.
Girls’ Hockey: Charlotte Welch ’18
was named Division 1, Second Team
All-NEPSAC.
The price tag ultimately reached $1,134.88, and construction took two years to complete.
In 1891, when Andover hosted Exeter in its brand-new facility, the boys in blue again
emerged victorious 46–44, with a new scoring system awarding prizes to second- and
third-place finishers.
The facility remained unchanged until fall 1919, when a new wooden track was laid out
behind Borden Gymnasium. That same year, a 30-year run of record-breaking performances began under Coach Ray “Shep” Shepard. Another milestone occurred in November 1923, when Case Memorial Cage became available for indoor racing, allowing for the
formation of the school’s first full-fledged winter track team. By the time of his retirement
in 1949, Shep’s varsity teams had defeated Exeter 26 times.
Soon afterward, junior Snyder, who was described by The Phillipian in 1954 as “PA’s skinny
sprintman,” and Coach Steve Sorota continued this success. Formerly Andover’s head
football coach, Sorota had been assisting Shep in track and field since 1937. Under Sorota’s
tutelage, Snyder would become an eight-letter varsity track star and join the ranks of the
fastest sprinters in PA history, smashing the school’s 40-yard-dash record, which had stood
for 32 years. Snyder’s record of 4.5 seconds still holds today.
ALUMNI HEADLINES
Cory Schneider ’04 of the New Jersey
Devils was named to the NHL All-Star
Team. Schneider was also named to
USA Team, which will compete in the
World Cup of Hockey this fall.
Tom Palleschi ’12, playing basketball for
Tufts, earned NABC and D3Hoops.com
All-Region honors.
Giovanna Pickering ’13, playing
basketball for Babson, earned
D3Hoops All-Region honors. Pickering
was also named to the NEWMAC AllConference First Team for the second
year in a row.
Ryder Gamsey ’15, at Notre Dame,
was named ACC Lacrosse Freshman
of the Year.
“I learned how to believe in myself through the sport and Sorota’s coaching,” says Snyder.
“He showed us that, with determination and dedication, we could succeed.” 
17
F R O M THE AR C HIV ES
A vision of beauty and orderliness
The man who
transformed
the landscape
of Andover
by Victoria Harnish
T
he triangular building with the
limestone façade was considered
the embodiment of American capitalism during the 1920s. Inside 23 Wall
Street, home to financial giant J.P.
Morgan, banker Thomas Cochran III,
Class of 1890, spent countless hours
planning for a renaissance 200 miles
north at his beloved Phillips Academy.
Nearly 100 years ago, Cochran devised
and carried out what would now be
considered a wholesale campus master
plan. In the span of 13 years, from 1923
to 1936, Cochran facilitated a transformation that included the demolition of four buildings, the relocation
18
of seven, and the creation of several
iconic Andover structures: George
Washington Hall (1926), Samuel
Phillips Hall (1928), Paul Revere
House and the Oliver Wendell Holmes
Library (1929), Commons (now called
Paresky Commons) and the Andover
Inn (1930), the Addison Gallery of
American Art (1931), and Cochran
Chapel (1932).
From his office at J.P. Morgan, often
on weekends, Cochran penned many
letters to PA headmaster and classmate
Alfred Stearns during the 1920s and
’30s. Many of these letters included
detailed descriptions of Andover
projects that Cochran was funding or
wanted to fund. “Progress is always
simple if we have saneness and courage,” wrote the self-assured Cochran
to Stearns. “The main point is to have
wise judgment. The putting it into
effect is easy.”
Born to well-to-do parents, Cochran
was a rising star at J.P. Morgan and
enjoyed a comfortable life in the city
until his life took a tragic turn. His wife
died at age 42 after only four years of
marriage, and their only child did not
survive past her first night. Cochran
never remarried, instead focusing his
energies on his alma mater. Phillips
Academy became his child of sorts, and
he donated $10 million to transform
the campus into a precisely curated display of Colonial Revival architecture.
Though he had made financial contributions to Andover after graduation,
Cochran became deeply engaged
after his 1923 election to the Andover
Board of Trustees. He initially focused
on what he considered vital improvements to Andover—“books, music, art,
scholarship, religion”—but eventually
moved to building projects.
After each visit to Andover, Cochran
wrote to Stearns about his campus
vision, asking for a house to be moved
or a new structure to be added. “We’re
building here for a thousand years,” he
once told PA treasurer and classmate
Jim Sawyer.
Class of 1900, and designed by famed
landscape architectural firm Olmsted
Brothers. Cochran also was instrumental in building the Log Cabin and
assisting with negotiations with the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts to
widen Main Street and construct the
Route 125 bypass, thus reducing traffic
through campus.
While Cochran was the sole donor
for certain projects, he aggressively
reached out to alumni to help fund
others, often scheduling appointments
for Stearns to meet with top prospects and ensuring each project was
endowed. “To me, as I ponder over it,
Nearly 100 years ago,
Thomas Cochran III
devised and carried
out what would
now be considered
a wholesale campus
master plan.
When Cochran had an idea, he moved
on it quickly and decisively. Standing
on the steps of Samuel Phillips Hall
one morning in 1928, Cochran and
renowned American architect Charles
Platt reviewed their plans. Platt voiced
concern that Tucker House was blocking the western view of the vista. “Very
well,” responded Cochran, waving his
hand imperiously. “We’ll have it moved
it is a crying shame that a school with
at once!”
148 years of history has made such
Claude Fuess, at the time a PA instruc- little material progress,” he wrote to
tor (and later headmaster), received
Stearns in 1926. “I am convinced that
notification the next day that his three- the only reason that this is so is because
story residence would be placed on
help has not been asked for in the right
rollers and moved within the week—
way and persistently enough.”
at a cost of more than $20,000, which
Although his focus on Andover seemed
Cochran provided. “The impulsiveobsessive at times, Cochran had a
ness with which Tom reached and
broader goal: He wanted PA to be the
announced his decisions was startling
to more pedestrian souls,” wrote Fuess model for other secondary schools
across the nation to improve their
in his book Independent Schoolmaster.
educational offerings and support their
Cochran conceptualized the 150-acre
faculty. For that reason, he wanted the
bird sanctuary, which was named
Academy’s sesquicentennial celebrain honor of his brother Moncrieff,
tion to be newsworthy.
“Of course we must have the president,” he declared. “I’ll see to it that he
comes.” It is said that Calvin Coolidge
made one of the most rousing speeches
of his career on the steps of Samuel
Phillips Hall on May 18, 1928.
Cochran’s final building project was
Cochran Chapel, named in memory
of his parents and built in 1932. The
interior, barrel-vaulted and colonnaded
with carved oak paneling, suggests
the late 17th-century English Baroque
style of Christopher Wren, one of
Great Britain’s most highly acclaimed
architects.
Cochran began sliding into the grip
of debilitating depression in the early
1930s and eventually was unable to
return to PA. At the same time, his
comrades’ involvement with PA waned:
Stearns left Andover in 1933 and Platt
died that same year. On October 29,
1936, Cochran succumbed to a heart
attack.
Despite his personal challenges and
sometimes overly tenacious temperament, Cochran succeeded in his goal
of creating an orderly and beautiful
campus that continues to this day to be
enjoyed by students, faculty, staff, and
countless visitors.
In a 1937 book honoring Cochran,
Fuess wrote, “The towers and pillared
porticoes on Andover Hill stand today
as his memorial, and every Andover
undergraduate for many years to come
will profit because of his energizing,
farseeing, unconquerable spirit.” 
Victoria Harnish is an advancement communications
professional currently serving as executive director of
donor relations at UMass Lowell.
19
Andover’s path to the future
The 2016 Campus
Master Plan
Recently approved by the Board of Trustees, the new
Campus Master Plan (the first since 1996) honors the
history of the school by affirming the landscape and
organizational concepts introduced nearly 100 years
ago by the Olmsted brothers and Charles Platt’s “Ideal
Andover” vision and realized by Thomas Cochran III
(see page 18). At the same time, A Path to the Future
lays out a vision to support Andover’s 21st-century
living and learning experience.
Guided by the firm Beyer Blinder Belle, Andover
pursued a full-year process of discovery and
conversations that included energetic engagement
with students, staff, and faculty as the community
imagined how the campus will evolve to meet
future needs.
The resulting 15-year plan is based on five guiding
principles that serve as a framework for decisionmaking about the near- and long-term physical
development of the campus.
A comprehensive set of strategies touches on all
aspects of campus life:
• A sustainable and accessible campus footprint
• Connections that integrate places and programs
• Reinvigorating the architectural fabric
of the community
• A diversity of places for interaction and
student-centered activity
• A diversity of residential experiences
throughout campus
Highlighted as important themes are connections
and sustainability. For example, parts of the plan
call for adaptive reuse of existing buildings vs. new
construction and resources focused on a sustainable
campus footprint. The plan also emphasizes
connections: to enhance programming, improve
safety, more effectively integrate various far-flung
areas of campus, and encourage walking and contact
with nature.
20
1
Five Guiding Principles
Enhance Phillips
Academy's unique
sense of place,
guiding the evolution
of its built and natural
environments to
support contemporary
priorities while
affirming the historic
character of the
campus.
For a copy of the Campus Master Plan,
visit www.andover.edu/CMP
2345
Develop the campus
footprint using
sustainability as a
core value for creating
an environmentally
responsible learning
community.
Maximize the
potential for campus
spaces to enable
openness to new
pedagogies and
programs that foster
interaction, inclusion,
and interdisciplinary
collaboration.
Strengthen a system
of diverse residential
neighborhoods that
individually and
collectively support a
sense of community.
Encourage walking,
accessibility, and
improved connections
to the outdoors that
support learning and
personal well-being.
21
Project Highlights
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
22
GEORGE WASHINGTON HALL
The relocation of some administrative functions provide an opportunity for more student activity space.
2
8
8
NETWORK OF STUDENT ACTIVITY HUBS
In lieu of a single student center, the existing
network of student activity hubs is strengthened
and expanded.
CULTURAL CORRIDOR
A corridor highlighting the arts and culture links
existing destinations along Chapel Avenue with
the Peabody Museum and a new music and dance
building to the west.
10
MORSE HALL RENOVATION
Relocation of Community and Multicultural Development and student media to George Washington Hall
opens up more space for the expanding mathematics, statistics, and computer science program.
OWHL + TANG INSTITUTE
Oliver Wendell Holmes Library—the intellectual
heart of campus—continues to evolve as a “learning
commons” linked to the Tang Institute.
ATHLETIC FACILITIES
RENEWAL AND EXPANSION
A comprehensive upgrade includes a new field
house/squash center, a new pool and gymnasium
complex, and extensive renovations within
Borden and Memorial gyms.
CIRCULATION AND SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
Redesign of Main and Salem streets turns these
barriers into connectors. An expanded network
of pedestrian pathways improves connections to
campus destinations and nature.
FACULTY NEIGHBORHOODS
A cycle of renewal provides energy-efficient faculty
homes in neighborhoods within walking distance of
the campus core.
NEW MUSIC AND DANCE BUILDING
A new music and dance building provides a spacious,
centrally located home for these vibrant programs.
UPDATED CLUSTERS: Abbot and Foxcroft
Reaffirming a commitment to the cluster system,
the plan envisions new dormitories for Abbot and
Foxcroft clusters.
8
3
3
9
2
1
2
2
10
3
7
2
4
5
2
7
8
2
2
6
8
2
6
8
2
23
Changing Policies, Changing Lives
Ai-jen Poo ’92
Receives
Fuess Award for
Advocacy Work
Jessie Wallner
by Jane Dornbusch
Head of School John Palfrey and Ai-jen Poo ’92
A
i-jen Poo ’92’s advocacy on behalf of domestic
workers has garnered her countless awards—
including the 2016 Claude Moore Fuess Award,
Andover’s highest honor. But she graduated from
Andover with a very different career path in mind.
“She was going to be a potter,” recounts
Seth Bardo, recently retired English
instructor and an important mentor to
Poo during her high school years.
Instead, moved by the vital but largely
unrecognized contributions of the
domestic workers and caregivers she
had come to know, Poo plunged into
the difficult and demanding work of
advocating for their basic rights. She
has dedicated her career to elevating
domestic workers’ rights issues to the
national level, helping to found the
National Domestic Workers Alliance
(NDWA), the country’s leading
voice for dignity and fairness for
the millions of domestic workers in
America, most of whom are women.
She is also codirector of Caring Across
Generations, a national movement
24
of families, caregivers, people with
disabilities, and aging Americans
working to transform the way we care
in this country.
by race and class, or we can present a
vision for the future of this country
where everyone is part of the solution,
and we take care of each other.”
When introducing Poo, Head of School
John Palfrey noted that she is “truly the
embodiment of non sibi.” Her work, he
said, is proof that one person can make
a difference in the lives of many.
Bardo, who had advocated for Poo to
receive the Fuess Award, was thrilled
to see his former student back on
Poo visited Andover to accept the Fuess campus and says he saw hints of her
Award at All-School Meeting April 27. future achievements while she was
At once forceful and low key, Poo
at Andover. Poo was one of the few
described the stark contrast between
students he trusted to watch over his
the care her paternal grandfather
own young children. “We could see
received in a nursing home and the
she was a great caretaker.” Today, he
care, provided by a domestic worker,
says, “To be in her presence is to be
that allows her maternal grandmother
aware of a larger spirit…. There is a
to live comfortably at home at age 90.
power that she possesses not unlike
that of Martin Luther King Jr. talking
We are at a critical moment in our
approach to caregiving, she said, with an about nonviolence and altering
thousands of lives.”
aging baby-boom generation that will
soon require the resources and support At Andover, says Bardo, Poo was a
of a vast number of caregivers. At this
very thoughtful student and a “terrific
crucial crossroads, “We can be polarized listener,” but it was only later that she
The Claude Moore
Fuess Award
Q
First awarded in 1967, the Claude
Moore Fuess Award was established
at Phillips Academy to honor
alumni who embody non sibi
through distinguished contributions
to public service. Named in honor
of Claude Moore Fuess, Phillips
Academy headmaster from 1933 to
1948, the award is the highest honor
bestowed by the Academy.
really “came into her own being.” She
spent a year at Washington University
in St. Louis and then transferred
to Columbia University, where she
earned a degree in women’s and gender
studies. At Columbia she began her
involvement with social justice causes,
working as a hotline volunteer at the
New York Asian Women’s Center and
becoming involved with the Committee
Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV).
She cofounded Domestic Workers
United in 2000, which in turn led to the
formation of NDWA, placing Poo at the
forefront of the struggle for domestic
workers’ rights.
In 2012, Poo was named to Time’s 100
Most Influential People in the World
list and to Newsweek’s 150 Fearless
Women list; the following year, she was
designated a 2013 World Economic
Forum Young Global Leader. In
2014, Poo was named a MacArthur
Foundation Fellow, cited by the
foundation for her “compelling vision,”
which is “transforming the landscape of
working conditions and labor standards
for domestic or private-household
workers” and “catalyzing a movement
of respect and improved working
conditions for millions of workers.”
“There is a particular
brilliance to the
spirit of non sibi.
More than ‘not for
self,’ non sibi is
about how the self
is fundamentally
interconnected and
interdependent
with others.”
—Ai-jen Poo ’92
Poo’s experiences at Andover, she says,
“played a huge role” in her life choices.
“There is a particular brilliance to the
spirit of non sibi. More than ‘not for
self,’ non sibi is about how the self is
fundamentally interconnected and
interdependent with others.”
Asked what’s next for her, Poo says she
expects to stay the course and continue
to help improve the lives of domestic
workers—though, she says, she might
add one more pursuit to her busy
schedule.
“[I may] take up ceramics again, which
was a passion of mine at Andover. I
must have spent 15 hours per week
sitting with Mrs. Bensley in the
ceramics studio with my hands and
clothes covered in clay. I’m thinking it’s
time to get back to that.” 
Visit www.andover.edu/fuessaward
for a Fuess Award timeline.
25
For the
love of teaching
M
any things can be said about
this year’s class of retiring
faculty. An exceptional group of
educators, these men—and one
woman—have many talents:
Roosevelt scholar, birder, jazz
aficionado, activist, counselor,
administrator, veteran. What they
share is a love of teaching, a love
of scholarship, and a commitment
to non sibi in action.
by Allyson Irish
For more information, visit
www.andover.edu/retiringfaculty
Photos by Dave White
26
Max Charles Alovisetti
Director of Counseling and Chair,
Department of Psychology
PA Start Date: 1986
On Meditation: Along with
several colleagues, Alovisetti
developed the first meditation
program for Andover. While on
sabbatical in Nepal, he studied
at a Tibetan monastery.
Other PA Roles: Counselor,
Instructor of Psychology,
Wellness Educator
Before PA: A special education
and elementary school teacher;
worked as a U.S. Army civilian
child and adolescent psychologist
in Frankfurt, Germany
Max C. Alovisetti
I
n December 2015, the beautiful new Rebecca M. Sykes
Wellness Center opened in the center of campus, marking a new era in PA’s commitment to lifelong health and
wellness. It was a bittersweet moment for Max Alovisetti,
who spent his 30-year PA career counseling students in
historic Graham House.
Walking through Graham House during his “official” retirement photo shoot, Alovisetti described how the quirky
triangular building had been renovated and rearranged to
accommodate the needs of staff and students through the
years. Inside his office, the leather chair showed the results
of his many counseling sessions, the armrests indented and
worn down from use.
Reflecting on his years at Andover, Alovisetti recounted a
very difficult time at PA following the tragic loss of a student
on campus. Though the experience shook the community
to its core, Alovisetti says Andover eventually was “able to
weather this crisis and to emerge somewhat battered, but
whole and able to go on with life and our tasks as part of
this great school.”
This ability to help students address personal crises and
move forward in a compassionate manner is what many
appreciate most about Alovisetti. One alumna recalled that
Alovisetti started a group her senior year comprising students who had lost immediate family members.
“I remember thinking, ‘How weird that Graham House
has invited me for a meeting,’” she said. “But that group
changed my life. I was in the throes of being angry and
upset about the passing of my mother the prior spring and
felt like no one could possibly empathize with me. Then
there came this group. It gave us a space to feel safe and
share, and it made us into a little bit of a family. I have
the best memories of that group; it helped me more than
anyone knows.”
While he has helped so many through the years, Alovisetti
says that he is the one who is appreciative. “During the
course of my career, I have been privileged to witness the
courage and strength of our students. For that, I am deeply
grateful.”
27
Seth Burton Bardo
English Instructor
PA Start Date: 1981
Notable Attire: Cowboy boots
Interests: Travel, politics,
literature, jazz, history, and
bicycling
Retirement Plans: Bardo hopes
to rent an apartment “somewhere
between Boston and Andover”
and to volunteer at a program
like ScholarMatch, which helps
students whose parents have
not been to college navigate
the application process. He also
plans to listen to a lot of jazz—
both live and recorded—read
books, and spend time with his
granddaughter, Greyson.
Seth B. Bardo
E
clectic. Compassionate. Radical. Creative. Tough.
The list of descriptive words for English instructor
Seth Bardo paints the portrait of a teacher many
recall fondly as one who encouraged—and sometimes
pushed—them to be their best selves.
Former students remembered their teacher’s warmth, compassion, and authenticity: calling a student to offer encouragement after a rough day; sharing his zeal for The New
Yorker and homemade calzones; reaching out to a student
whose father died during the year.
“Mr. Bardo was a fearlessly bold, inspired, and visionary
teacher,” wrote Margot VBS Maltzahn ‘95. “In an ecosystem as intense and unyielding as [Andover’s], however, it
was how radically human he was—and how humane—that
truly set him apart.”
Bardo fondly recalls raising his children, Jesse ’03, Aaron ’04,
and Hannah ’10, on campus with his wife, Sarah. Noting
all the work she has done to support PA and her husband’s
work, Bardo says of her, “She is a true community participant.” He also acknowledged dear colleagues Diane Moore,
Jim Sheldon, Shirley Veenema, Elaine Crivelli, and Aya
Murata, with whom he has created lifelong friendships.
Known for his challenging classes and energetic teaching
style, Bardo taught English 100, as well as some of the
first interdisciplinary courses at PA, including Rosebud and
The Essential Gesture. But it was a course dedicated to the
Vietnam War that many remember as a pivotal moment in
their Andover education.
“My favorite class of all time was a class he taught,
Literature from the Vietnam War,” says Ai-jen Poo ’92,
labor organizer, founder of the National Domestic Workers
Alliance, and recipient of the 2016 Claude Moore Fuess
Award (see page 24).
28
When asked how he thought students would describe him,
Bardo replied without hesitation: “As a hard-ass and whimsical.” Those traits certainly shine through in the numerous
farewell and congratulatory notes sent in from alumni
around the world, who acknowledged how meaningful their
former instructor is to them.
“Mr. Bardo has been one of the shaping influences in my
life. With his quick wit, keen intelligence, and kind heart, he
made my time at Andover unforgettable,” wrote Hannah
Beinecke ’12.
Kathleen Mary Dalton
Instructor in History and Social Science
PA Start Date: 1980
Notable Awards: 2015 McKeen
Award with husband E. Anthony
Rotundo
PA Family: Husband E. Anthony
Rotundo, faculty emeritus (instructor
in history and social science); daughter
Barbara ’00 and son Peter ’05
Retirement Plans: With funding
from a National Endowment for the
Humanities fellowship and a Roosevelt
Institute grant, Dalton will continue to
work on her next book, which focuses
on the close friendship that Eleanor and
Franklin Roosevelt had with Caroline
Drayton Phillips and William Phillips
(a relative of the PA Phillips family)
and William’s role as undersecretary
of state and ambassador to Italy during
World War II.
Kathleen M. Dalton
I
n her 2004 book, Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life,
history and social science instructor Kathleen Dalton
reveals the stark contradictions in the character and
viewpoints of the 26th president, a man continually in pursuit of self-improvement.
A Strenuous Life could just as easily have been the title for
Dalton’s own biography and 36-year career at Andover, where
she skillfully managed responsibilities as an instructor and
house counselor, along with producing an impressive portfolio of writings that included two books on Roosevelt.
Through it all, former students say Dalton was unstinting in
the kindness, inspiration, and mentorship she provided.
“I will always remember my American history experiences
with Kathy Dalton... [Her ability] to contextualize events from
the [distant] past in ways that were relevant to me and my
high school classmates and to catalyze passionate discussion was remarkable,” wrote Andrew Frishman ’93. “Most
of all I remember Kathy as someone who was kind and
compassionate, while maintaining academic focus.”
Roosevelt, and gender issues, and serving in various outside
positions, such as visiting associate professor in the history
department at Boston University and consulting historian at
the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site.
For many, however, it was Dalton’s fundamental role in
helping to address gender disparities at Andover that stands
as her legacy. Dalton authored the school’s first study of the
first decade of coeducation at Phillips Academy; A Portrait of
a School served as a clarion call for the Academy to address
gender issues on campus, and Dalton went on to serve in
numerous related leadership roles as cofounder and advisor
of the Women’s Forum, coadvisor to the Girls’ Leadership
Project, and interim director and codirector of the Brace
Center for Gender Studies (see story on page 34).
Sterlind S. Burke Jr. ’00, who took Dalton’s gender relations
class, says, “It was so refreshing to be in a class where we
could have conversations about topics that typically would
not have been discussed in my previous educational environments. Kathy Dalton was, without a doubt, one of my
favorite teachers during my time at Andover.”
While at Andover, Dalton continued her own education and
scholarship, penning multiple articles on American history,
29
Marc Dana Koolen
Biology Instructor
PA Start Date: 1974
Big Blue Coaching: Varsity
Soccer Assistant, JV I Soccer
Head Coach, Boys’ CrossCountry Assistant, Varsity Boys’
Basketball Coach, JV Boys’
Squash Coach, JV II Boys’
Lacrosse Coach
Response to Bad Behavior
in Dorms: “Negative!” or (in
dire circumstances) “Extreme
Negative!”
Student Nickname:
Mr. “Cool”-in!
Retirement Plans: Koolen
purchased a home in Rochester,
N.H., on the Cocheco River, where
he hopes to become involved in
local running and conservation
organizations.
Marc D. Koolen
I
f Marc Koolen had not been a teacher, another career
option might have been a professional birder, standup comedian, or runner. As it is, the longtime biology
instructor merged all of these talents into a remarkable
teaching career that had a positive impact on hundreds of
students.
In pages of fond recollections, anecdotes, and praise, alumni
recalled their former biology instructor as enthusiastic, cool
(or “kool”!), and corny, many noting the sing-songy jingle
that he created to help them remember the composition
of the molecules in a membrane: “Two fatty acids and a
GLYC-er-ol!”
After graduating from St. Lawrence University in 1972,
Koolen served in the U.S. Army and arrived at Andover
in September 1974. Some remember Koolen as a house
counselor in Draper Cottage, Nathan Hale House, Adams
Hall, Alumni House, Fuess House, and Tucker House. Others
recall the enthusiastic, bearded, physically fit cross-country
coach: “The sight of Mr. Koolen zipping past me—seemingly
100 years my senior, knee bandaged, mustache twitching
in the breeze—encouraged me to press on,” says Jonathan
Adler ’08.
30
But what Koolen is perhaps best known for is his passion for
birds and several bird-related projects at Andover.
With funding from Abbot grants, Koolen was able to
refurbish the Greene-Smith Bird Collection in Gelb Science
Center and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, construct
the bird blind off Highland Road, and—his favorite—build
and install nest boxes on campus. Koolen was specifically
hoping to lure back the Eastern bluebird, which had not
been documented in Andover since the 1960s. Much to his
surprise, the bluebirds did in fact use the nesting boxes and
“on one historic day in May 1994, the eggs hatched—all five
of them!” For five years, pairs of Eastern bluebirds continued to use the nesting boxes, an accomplishment Koolen
calls “truly amazing and heartening for the bird lovers on
campus.”
For an instructor who gave so much of himself to Andover,
alumni say that his passion and his teachings live on.
“Every time I see a bluebird (or a Steller’s jay—more likely
on the West Coast, where I live), I think of him,” wrote
Jen Charat ’93.
Christopher Robert Hugh Walter
Music Instructor
PA Start Date: 1977 French
instructor; 1982 music instructor
In Recognition: The new Steinway
& Sons grand piano in the Timken
Room was dedicated to Walter and
his years of service in January 2016.
PA Family: Son William ’03 and
daughter Sophia ’01
Retirement Plans: Walter is
moving to Rockport, Mass., and
plans to become involved in the
thriving music scene there.
Christopher R. Walter
T
he year was 2013. Spain. Christopher Walter was
leading a PA student trip, with a planned performance at a hospital in Grenada. Unlike the highly
organized events Walter typically managed at Andover—up
to 60 per year—this was a much simpler affair. The impact,
however, was enormous.
“When we started singing in the front lobby, there was
hardly anyone there at all, but within 10 minutes the place
was jammed with more than 100 people: patients who
had left their beds, nurses, and doctors,” says the longtime instructor in music. “I have never witnessed a more
appreciative audience in my life. There was no doubting the
power of music that day.”
Mr. Walter did was deeply felt. Every singer in the choirs he
led, every student in the classes he taught, and every colleague with whom he interacted, student or faculty, knows
exactly what I mean.”
During his PA career, Walter coached JV squash, taught
French and German, and served as a house counselor and
music instructor. He led numerous student music trips
to Ireland, Spain, Prague, Budapest, and cities across the
United States. He was chair of the music department, director of performance, and director of the Fidelio Society, the
oldest music organization on Andover Hill.
Many have a similar feeling about Walter, whose impact on
PA students has been substantive and long-lasting.
Walter recalled with delight a 2000 concert with worldfamous cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Cochran Chapel, during which
Walter accompanied him on piano for one piece. “It was a
musical memory that I will treasure for life,” he says.
“How can I even begin to relate the ways in which
Mr. Walter was not only enriching but also central to my
time at Andover?” asks Bryan McGuiggin ’15. “Perhaps
[Mr. Walter’s] own words, originally used to describe a
Schubert piano trio, fit the bill: ‘deeply felt.’ Everything that
Speaking for many alumni, Charmaine Chan ’89 said that
Walter’s patience and dedication have been an inspiration.
“When I think of Andover now, a soundtrack of soul-moving
music flows through my mind, and he is responsible for a
large part of that repertoire.”
31
Stephen D. Carter
Andover Says Goodbye to a Visionary Leader
E
ach weekday morning, Steve Carter has followed the
same route on his way to work. Around 8:20 a.m., he
leaves his home on School Street and walks south,
up the hill. Crossing Main Street, he walks past Cochran
Chapel, turns right, and passes through the Elson Courtyard.
Ascending the steps, he watches the morning sun light up
the main campus: the iconic Samuel Phillips Hall on the left,
the Great Lawn stretching to the right.
It’s a lovely view—one that Carter says he will miss. “I still
enjoy my walk to the office each day. It never fails to remind
me of how lucky I’ve been to spend most of my career at
such a great place,” he says.
How do you summarize the work of a man who has served in
nearly every key faculty and administrative post on campus?
During the course of his 36-year tenure at Andover, Carter
has been an instructor, coach, house counselor with wife
Adele, cluster dean, associate dean of studies, scheduling officer, PA parent, dean of students, dean of faculty, and—most
recently—chief operating and financial officer. Carter has
been able to see and shape the Academy from a unique vantage point, and those who know him best say he has done so
in an amazingly humble, good-humored, and steady manner.
“He has a polymath brain and a big heart,” says former Head
of School Barbara Landis Chase. “Steve knows the history,
the people, the ins and outs of Andover, every financial policy,
every investment, every corner of every classroom building
and dorm.”
Carter arrived at Andover as a math instructor in April 1980,
three years after earning a master’s degree from Wesleyan
University. Carter says his colleagues were supportive and
stimulating from the very first day. Early on, he helped rewrite
the precalculus curriculum and worked closely with math
instructor George Best. Carter helped develop original problems and explanations for teaching materials, and eventually
went on to coauthor two math textbooks.
Former students recall Carter as patient, warm, and funny. “I
have very fond memories of being in Mr. Carter’s classroom.
Math was always one of my favorite subjects, and Mr. Carter
brought it to life for me in a way that very few teachers before him could,” says Keeva McLeod ’97.
Others have similar stories of Carter’s generous nature.
Recalling his first year as head of school, John Palfrey says,
“Steve was instrumental in my own Andover education. From
the moment I arrived on campus, Steve generously offered
historical context for the full sweep of the administrative and
academic matters faced by a new head of school.”
32
“He has a polymath brain
and a big heart. Steve
knows the history, the
people, the ins and
outs of Andover, every
financial policy, every
investment, every corner
of every classroom
building and dorm.”
—Barbara Landis Chase
former Head of School
Board treasurer Amy Falls ’82 also is appreciative of Carter’s
assistance through the years. In 2008, Falls was serving as
PA’s first chief investment officer and helping the Academy
manage tremendous market volatility due to the global financial crisis. Even during this difficult situation, Falls says Carter
brought the right blend of seriousness and good humor.
“I will always remember him for his strength, reliability,
keen intellect, and tremendous kindness,” she says.
Carter brought these same qualities to the teams he coached,
which included hockey and lacrosse. But he is best known for
his contributions as football coach from 1984 to 2015.
Carter, athletic director Leon Modeste, and English instructor
Lou Bernieri formed a coaching triumvirate that would see
two undefeated football seasons and impact thousands of
players. “He kept on coaching, never stopped coaching,” said
Modeste. “His heart was always with the football team, and I
think that is one of the things that has connected him most to
the students.”
Over the years, Modeste has appreciated Carter’s cerebral
approach to football as well as his friendship and mentorship.
After Andover defeated Exeter this past fall, Modeste said
the team was “on top of the world” but then quickly realized
that it was Carter’s last season.
“That didn’t really hit us until recently. Now it’s really hitting
us all. Steve’s a part of the fabric here,” says Modeste. “He’s
just like this bell tower I’m looking at right now. I can’t imagine Andover without him.” 
Stephen Douglas Carter
Chief Operating and Financial Officer
PA Start Date: 1980
Key Projects Completed During
Tenure: Renovations to Paresky
Commons, Andover Inn, Addison
Gallery of American Art, and Bulfinch
Hall; construction of Rebecca M.
Sykes Wellness Center
Favorite Phrase: “Do your job.”
PA Parent: Stephen ’96 and Emily ’00
A Legacy Lives On: PA will name
the Snyder Center’s upper lobby
after Carter and create an endowed
scholarship in his name.
33
A Bold Initiative
in Gender Studies
The Brace Center at 20
by Corrie Martin
This year marks the
20th anniversary of the
Brace Center for Gender
Studies. Founded with
a generous gift from
Donna Brace Ogilvie ’30
to honor the history of
Abbot Academy, the
Brace Center has been
a catalyst for positive
change at Andover,
providing an important
space for gender
research and discussion.
O
n a warm April night,
hundreds of students and
faculty line the steps of
Samuel Phillips Hall, spilling out onto
the pathway. Candles light their faces
as they process through campus, across
Route 28, and down School Street.
Along the way they chant: “Shatter the
silence, stop the violence. Wherever we
go, however we dress, no means no, and
yes means yes.”
34
Passing under Merrill Gate, they form
a ring around the Sacred Circle, where
they listen to poems and readings
about sexual assault statistics. After a
moment of silence, student vocalists
begin singing U2’s “I Still Haven’t
Found What I’m Looking For.” Their
voices—young and strong—rise over
the campus and beyond.
The April 21 “Take Back the Night”
event was designed to raise awareness
about sexual, relationship, and
domestic violence and was sponsored
by the Brace Center for Gender Studies.
It was fitting for the ceremony to end
at the Abbot campus, where, 20 years
earlier, Abbot alumna Donna Brace
Ogilvie ’30 helped develop and fund
a center that would foster intellectual
debate, analysis, and scholarship about
gender issues such as these.
Addressing Gender Inequity
When the Brace Center opened in
September 1996, it was heralded as an
idea whose time had come. Many at
PA—including faculty, administrators,
and students—had spent almost four
years brainstorming, fundraising, and
planning for the center.
Nearly 20 years earlier, a study of the
first five years of coeducation identified a
need for curriculum and administrative
revisions related to gender equity. In the
1980s and early 1990s, PA addressed
some of these deficiencies through
hiring and promoting female faculty
and staff, aiming for gender parity in
admissions and strengthening sexual
harassment policies. However, the more
formidable task entailed confronting
bias among faculty and students, and in
the curriculum.
“The idea for the Brace Center evolved
organically from within the school,”
says former PA secretary of the
Academy Patricia A. Edmonds, who
worked closely with Ogilvie to renovate
Abbot Hall and create the Brace Center.
Ogilvie was interested in funding a
project that would honor both her
father and her Abbot peers, and the
idea for the Brace Center fit these two
objectives. “We wanted to ensure the
appreciation of Abbot Academy and
also to lead the school in understanding
and addressing how gender issues
affect learning and the educational
environment.” Luckily, Andover had
the right people at the right time, as
well as the resolve to grow into the very
best educational institution possible for
all students and faculty.
“With the rich diversity of the student
body, the integrity of the institution
and its educational vision, and the
incredible dedication of my colleagues
to educational equity, I was confident
that PA was the right place to launch
a bold initiative in gender studies at
the high school level,” says inaugural
director Diane Moore.
It Started at Abbot
One of the outcomes of the Brace
Center’s work has been its role in
helping to integrate the history
of Abbot Academy into PA’s
consciousness, culture, and identity.
In addition to the founding gift from
Ogilvie, the Abbot Academy Association also provided a $100,000 seed
grant, a sum that Abbot Academy
Association president Susan
Goodwillie Stedman ’59 recalls was
“a big deal for the AAA at the time!”
Current & Past Directors
• Tracy Ainsworth
• Kathleen M. Dalton
• Tasha M. Hawthorne
• Diane Moore
• E. Anthony Rotundo
• Flavia M. Vidal
The Brace Center’s “Tri-Heritage
Project,” which began in 1997, sought
to collect, preserve, and celebrate Abbot
Academy’s historical legacy as a pioneer
in the education of girls. And in 1999,
the center inaugurated the McKeen
Award, which is named in honor of
Abbot principal Philena McKeen
(who served from 1859 to 1892) and
given to individuals who have made
significant contributions in shaping
education for all genders at Andover.
fills up nearly an entire room in the
archives.
Another student research project by
Erica Nork ’16 looked at “Abbot’s
Cultural and Artistic Influence on the
Coeducational Phillips Academy.” She
presented her paper during the April 9
daylong celebration of the Brace Center
(see page 12), which included oral
history interviews with Abbot alumnae
and the production of five plays from
the Abbot Courant literary magazine.
“I’ve been delighted by the work of the
Brace Center,” says Stedman. “It has
inspired and enabled students to study
and bring the history of Abbot alive.”
Women’s Issues and Beyond
While the idea for the Brace Center was
born out of a desire to acknowledge the
rich history of Abbot Academy, those
involved with its creation wanted to
The Brace Center also sponsors student ensure that its mission and impact had
a far broader reach.
research projects related to Abbot
history. One such study by Brace
“Ultimately, it was important to me
Student Fellows Annika Neklason ’13
to have the center feel like it was
and Rachel Murree ’14 eventually led
something relevant to the entire school
to the creation of the Abbot Archives
and not a special enclave,” says Moore.
Project. Abbot memorabilia now
35
Recent Brace Student Fellow presentations:
Erica Nork ’16
Fax Ardens: Abbot Academy’s
Cultural and Artistic Influence
on the Coeducational
Phillips Academy
Karissa Kang ’17
A Proposal for All-Gender
Housing at PA
Through the years, the Brace Center
has identified itself as an academic
center that welcomes all viewpoints.
“It was—and is—a place where we
don’t enforce gender conformity,” says
Kathleen Dalton, former PA instructor
and Brace Center codirector. “We
wanted students of all genders to feel
welcome to realize their full potential
and not be held back by stereotypes or
prejudice.”
That goal originally entailed
discussions about femininity and
masculinity, and about ways that
gender norms affect all students and
their educational experiences. In recent
years, the discussion has broadened to
include topics related to the LGBTQ
community as well as issues of gender
identity and fluidity.
Some of these discussions have led
to important changes at PA. A 1998
Brace Faculty Fellow presentation by
Susan Perry on the merits of including
gay and lesbian house counselors
was part of a larger grassroots
movement addressing homophobia
and discrimination. Her influential
presentation paved the way for a Board
36
Graham Johns ’14
Breaking Negative Stereotypes
of the Western Male Dancer:
Reclaiming the Masculine
Nature of Ballet as a Sport
“The Brace Center
has been a catalyst
for collaboration
and interdisciplinary
approaches to educating
the campus about
gender justice.”
—Tasha Hawthorne,
Brace Center codirector
of Trustees vote in 1999 to allow gay
and lesbian domestic partners to serve
as house counselors.
Along with other groups on campus,
such as the Office of Community and
Multicultural Development (CAMD),
the Brace Center has led the charge to
highlight sometimes-difficult emerging
issues related to race, ethnicity, class,
culture, and sexuality.
Taylor Clarke ’10 says her association
with the Brace Center helped her
develop a better comfort level with
her own sexual identity. Clarke came
out as queer while a student at PA
and pursued a Brace Fellowship her
Isabel Bolo ’14
Examining Otherness:
Women on the
American Podium
senior year to study portrayals of gay
and lesbian characters in film and TV.
She says the Brace Center provided a
safe place to discuss issues of sexual
identity, ask questions, and offer
different perspectives.
“We could get together with likeminded people and have conversations
that weren’t driven by the curriculum,
but by your friends,” says Clarke. “The
Brace Center offered an academic
perspective, with books and faculty
members who encouraged us to
push through first impressions and
first assumptions. We learned there
is always more to learn, always more
perspectives.”
Scholarship at Its Core
While providing important
programming and a safe space for
discussions, the center also has
maintained a strong focus on gender
scholarship for students and faculty.
The Brace Student Fellows program,
started in 1997, selects up to six
students annually to pursue a wide
range of research projects under the
mentorship of faculty members.
Mayze Teitler ’14
Princesses, Soldiers,
and Prostitutes:
Gender Stereotypes
in Video Gaming
Cem Vardar ’15
Child Marriages in Turkey:
A Cultural and Human Tragedy
Student Fellows then present their
research to the campus during the
school year (see examples above).
The Brace Faculty Fellows program
likewise has encouraged faculty
scholarship and the broad analysis of
gender issues from many perspectives.
As one of the inaugural Faculty
Fellows in 1996–1997, Shawn
Fulford, instructor in math, looked
at gendered differences in students’
levels of optimism and resilience. Her
research led to suggested teaching and
mentoring strategies to support both.
And in 1999, Ada Fan, instructor in
English, conducted a 10-year attrition
study of PA faculty analyzing why
faculty of color, female faculty, and gay
faculty left PA.
The Future of Gender Studies
Current codirectors Flavia Vidal
and Tasha Hawthorne, both English
instructors, recognize the importance
and impact of the Brace Center
throughout the years. They plan to
continue this tradition by broadening
the vision of the Brace Center as a place
of academic scholarship that “informs
Alex Westfall ’15
“Fire the Girls!”:
The Female Pioneers of
Modern American Comedy
and prepares students to understand
‘how we got here’ and to engage with
them in problem solving around issues
of gender inequality that we face daily,”
says Vidal.
“In this way, we hope to merge the
scholarly tradition of the center with our
students’ full experience on campus.”
Recent programming has included a
presentation of SLUT: The Play with
follow-up discussions on sexuality
and sexual violence, a gender theory
colloquium for seniors, and discussions
about new definitions of masculinity.
Looking ahead, Hawthorne and
Vidal are excited about continuing
the good work that has been done
at the center, especially as it relates
to the Andover Strategic Plan. They
are working to examine and relaunch
the Faculty Fellows program, assist
with the school’s first campus climate
survey on gender-based violence and
harassment, and develop a Learning in
the World program in the Dominican
Republic focused on women’s and
girls’ empowerment. They also plan
to establish an Abbot Speaker Series
Janice Cheon ’16
The Castrato Conundrum:
Gender and Sexuality in
Baroque Opera and
Modern Performance
“We hope to merge the
scholarly tradition of the
center with our students’
full experience on
campus.”
—Flavia Vidal
Brace Center codirector
with nominations from Abbot alumnae
and host a women in economics
conference.
“The Brace Center has long been
a catalyst for collaboration and
interdisciplinary approaches to
educating the campus about gender
justice,” says Hawthorne. “We
look forward to making important
contributions to PA’s efforts toward
equity and inclusion.” 
Corrie Martin is former director of the
Women’s Resource Center at the University
of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., and is a
PA faculty spouse.
37
P H I LA N TH R O P Y H IGHLIGHTS
NYC Welcomes
Thomas Cochran Society
Photos by Keziban Barry ’02
Andover hit all the right notes at New
York’s Carnegie Hall in April, as Head
of School John Palfrey and Board
President Peter Currie ’74 hosted a celebration of the Thomas Cochran Society,
which recognizes benefactors who
have made fully funded gifts to Phillips
Academy totaling $250,000 or more.
Featured guest Max Meyer ’08, who
attended Andover on a full scholarship,
spoke about his experience at PA and
how philanthropy made it all possible. “Andover doesn’t
just change lives,” he
said. “It empowers
you to change your
own life.” Meyer
recently launched
Getmii, one of the
year’s fastest-growing social apps that
crowdsources services,
goods, and answers. Also a
talented jazz pianist, Meyer treated the
crowd to a rendition of “Summertime,”
accompanied by longtime PA music
instructor Peter Cirelli on trombone.
Above inset: Mary Camp Hoch ’78
and her husband, James S. Hoch
Above: Max Meyer ’08 and Peter Cirelli
Left inset: Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’96
and her husband, Peter Johannsen
Left: Thomas Keefe ’50 and his wife, Susan
Keefe (on the ends), and Antony Herrey ’50
and his daughter, Dorothea Herrey ’85 (center)
(See story about Thomas Cochran III on page 18.)
Snyder Center Will
Transform Athletics
Thanks to generous leadership funding
from former track star Steve Snyder ’56
(see story on page 16), Andover’s new
athletic facility, the Snyder Center, will
soon become a reality.
Overlooking Phelps Stadium, the
Snyder Center will enhance student,
athlete, and fan experiences, enhance
opportunities to engage in life sports,
and offer versatile new spaces for
student-athletes, coaches, trainers, and
community members. Highlights of the
96,000-square-foot facility include the
following:
•
•
•
•
38
A 200-meter oval four-lane track
A 60-meter eight-lane straightaway
12 international-size squash courts
Exhibition court seating for 175
spectators
Northwest Corner
• Convertible track infield with
configurations for baseball,
basketball, and tennis
• All-weather practice space for
field sports
• Multipurpose areas for dance,
fencing, and fitness programs
• An outdoor plaza adjacent to glassenclosed lobby
The Snyder Center is a central component of PA’s Athletic Facilities Master
Plan, which seeks support for the
school’s full range of competitive and
instructional fitness offerings.
To learn more about donor opportunities, contact Nicole Cherubini, director
of development, at 978-749-4288 or
[email protected].
David Flash
Endowment Conference
Hosted in Hong Kong
our most important competitive
advantages is the collective
investment knowledge of Andover
alumni throughout the world.”
Board President Emeritus Oscar
Tang ’56 spoke at the outset,
commenting on Andover’s historic
ties to Asia dating back to the
mid-19th century. Panelists and
speakers included Board Treasurer
Amy Falls ’82, P’19; Trustee Joe
Bae ’90 of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
& Co.; Charles Chao, P’14, of SINA
Corporation; Stephen King ’83 of
Violet Hill Partners Limited; Eashwar
Krishnan of Tybourne Capital
Management; Jason Lee, P’18, and
X.D. Yang ’83 of The Carlyle Group;
Kathy Xu of Capital Today Group;
and Yichen Zhang ’82, P’18, of CITIC
Capital Holdings Ltd.
While the overall sentiment was
one of caution, attendees identified
pockets of opportunity throughout
global and Asian financial markets.
These included energy investments,
venture capital, private equity
in Asia, and emerging markets
equities.
Head of School John Palfrey
wrapped up the four-hour event
by conveying his gratitude for the
group’s commitment to guiding
Andover’s endowment decisions.
Photos by Mabel Lee, P’04
Spotlighting the collective financial
expertise of the Phillips Academy
community, approximately
60 Andover alumni, parents,
administrators, and students
gathered in early March at the China
Club Hong Kong for the Academy’s
Future of the Endowment
Conference.
This was the seventh such
conference, which began more
than a decade ago to leverage the
intellectual capital of Andover’s
alumni and parent community. In
gathering financial experts from
around the globe with a common
purpose—to protect and grow the
Academy’s endowment—Andover
draws on the experience of a
network that is unparalleled even at
major universities.
Attendees at the conference,
which was presented by Phillips
Academy’s Board of Trustees and
the Asia Council, represented
some of Asia’s largest and most
successful private equity firms,
venture capital firms, hedge funds,
and other financial and investment
institutions.
“Achieving our investment goals
allows the endowment to support
the Andover community today and
in the future,” said Chief Investment
Officer Michael Reist. “One of
Clockwise from top left: Head of
School John Palfrey, Oscar Tang ’56,
Amy Falls ’82, P’19, Joe Bae ’90, and
Chien Lee ’71
Claudia Chu ’17, Alice Rogers ’19,
and Michelle Ng ’19
Soojin Min, P ’19, Cherry Chu, P’18,
and Ching Ju Yeh, P’19
Jin Hyuk Park ’83, P’17,
Kyungjoon Lee ’83, P’17,
and Oscar Tang ’56
39
C ON N E CTIO N
Al um n i
Architects of the
New Millennium
by Seyi Fayanju ’01
One morning during senior year, my class filled Tang
Theatre to listen to an invited speaker, who talked
to us about our roles as “architects of the new
millennium.” We welcomed the required respite
from our busy routines, but more than a few of us
rolled our eyes as he and his trendy copresenter
chatted away in language tailored to sound hip and
cool to Generation Y.
Alumni Out of the Blue features
true Abbot- or Andover-related
stories about issues of class,
race, gender, religion, sexual
orientation, geographic origin, and/
or (dis)ability. Please e-mail your
350-word story, a brief bio, and a
high-resolution photo of yourself to
[email protected].
What did the phrase “architects of the new
millennium” even mean? With the hype about Y2K
safely behind us, we figured that the transition
from the 1990s to the 2000s would not impose
further challenges on us. Sure, there was a lack of
consensus over what to call the new decade, and
we still fretted about “weighty” topics like college
acceptances, but we lived in a country enriched
by a stock market boom, with low unemployment
and seemingly steady progress toward equality
and harmony. Topics like the Cold War, apartheid,
and civil disobedience were material for history
class, not front-page news. We could remember
the Oklahoma City and Olympic Park bombings,
but terrorism still seemed like things that affected
people anywhere but at Andover.
I felt confident that the free expression and friendly
debate about topics that seemed so natural at
PA would continue after high school. Growing
up as one of the few African Americans in a
predominantly white, Catholic, middle-class town
in New Jersey, I found that Andover was the most
diverse environment I had experienced since my
preschool years in Newark. There was education
without rancor as we discussed such topics as race
and politics in the classroom or in Commons.
Now I realize that I was both lucky and naïve. I
look back and see that, though my experience at
Andover was very positive, there were occasional
microaggressions—subtle but offensive actions
and comments that unconsciously reinforced
stereotypes. There was the classmate who, without
malice, told me he was surprised I spoke English so
well (though my parents are immigrants, I was born
in Ohio). Once, a storekeeper in downtown Andover
asked me to leave his shop because my presence
made him uncomfortable (I promptly left and never
returned). More significantly, my classmates and I
were sitting at the start of a new era in which we
would be challenged by war, economic downturns,
polarization, and questions about identity and rights
in an America that had not truly come to grips with
ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and class.
I can’t remember the finer points of that GW
assembly, but in hindsight I feel that we were, and
are, well equipped to serve as influential shapers
of the evolution taking place within our borders and
beyond. Phillips Academy was a safe environment
for initiating this process of purposeful engagement,
and I hope that I and other Andover alumni do our
school justice by building something better, as
modern “architects” of change.
Seyi Fayanju ’01 is a member of the Alumni
Council’s Equity and Inclusion Committee.
The author in front of the
Palace of Versailles, where
he traveled in the summer
of 2000 as part of a
study-abroad program.
40
Charlotte
Boston
Phillips Academy Alumni & Parent Events, Summer 2016
Los Angeles
July 9
Boston
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Red Sox
July 13
New York
Wicked with Carrie St. Louis ’08
Aug. 27
Water Mill, N.Y.
Reception with Head of School John Palfrey
Sept. 10
New York
Sixth Annual Todd A. Isaac Memorial Basketball Game
and Reception
Sept. 14
Baltimore Orioles vs. Red Sox
Boston
Watch your e-mail for fall events, including college kickoffs and evenings with Head of
School John Palfrey!
For the most up-to-date listings, visit the Office of Alumni Engagement
event calendar at www.andover.edu/alumnievents.
New York City
Chicago
Boston
New York City
41
A N D O V E R BO O KS H ELF
African American Doctors
of World War I
by W. Douglas Fisher ’55 and
Joann H. Buckley
McFarland & Company, Inc.
During World War I, 104 African
American doctors joined the U.S. Army to
provide care for the 40,000 men of the
92nd and 93rd divisions, the Army’s only
black combat units. The astonishing and
little-remembered lives of these heroic physicians are recounted
here in rich, vivid detail by husband-and-wife team Fisher and
Buckley; nearly every tale could supply ample material for a
novelist or screenwriter.
Fine Lines: Vladimir Nabokov’s
Scientific Art
Edited by Stephen H. Blackwell ’83 and
Kurt Johnson
Yale University Press
Many fans of Vladimir Nabokov’s literary
works are aware that the renowned
author was also an avid lepidopterist.
But this book takes it further, making a
definitive case for Nabokov as a serious scientist who created
more than 1,000 technical drawings of butterfly anatomy
and put forth controversial hypotheses, lately confirmed by
DNA testing. The new work reproduces 148 of Nabokov’s
meticulous drawings, succeeding both as inquiry and as art.
The Big Fear
by Andrew Case ’90
Thomas and Mercer
Veteran detective Ralph Mulino is over the hill at age 53. An
old-school cop, he’s uncomfortable with the changes New York
City has undergone in the past 30 years. Sure, the city is safer,
and citizens no longer live in fear of muggings, car theft, and
petty robbery. Instead, they’re subject to the Big Fear: Buildings
might come crashing down, elevators could be filled with
poison gas, bridges may collapse. Against this backdrop of
post-9/11 New York, Mulino unwittingly shoots another officer,
setting up a far-reaching inquiry that brings him into an uneasy
partnership with Leonard Mitchell, the head of the agency
charged with investigating police misconduct and corruption.
A satisfying thriller, with the form’s usual complement of
twists and turns, Andrew Case’s first novel has been compared
favorably to Serpico.
The author brings an unusual level of firsthand knowledge
to the project, having served for a decade as an investigator,
spokesman, and policy director at the Civilian Complaint
Review Board, which investigates allegations of misconduct
against New York City police officers. Case is also an awardwinning playwright whose work has been produced by, among
others, the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and the New
Theatre in Miami.
The Big Fear has particular resonance at a time when police
misconduct is very much in the news and under scrutiny.
Readers may come away convinced that such cases are rarely
as simple as they appear.
42
Dividing the Union
by Matthew W. Hall ’63
Southern Illinois University
The Missouri Compromise, which
regulated slavery and in so doing
postponed the crisis that led to the Civil
War, is familiar to even the most casual
student of American history. Less well
known is the role played by Jesse Burgess
Thomas, the junior senator from Illinois
who helped handle the delicate negotiations that led to the
statute. This first in-depth biography of Thomas helps shed
light on the larger issues surrounding the compromise.
Immunity
by Taylor Antrim ’92
Regan Arts
A deadly virus has killed off 4 percent of
the world’s population—but that’s not
the biggest problem facing the characters
in this dystopian thriller. The plague,
seemingly contained but just barely so,
has served to reveal the deep fault lines in
a world where the underclass struggles to
survive and the privileged squander precious resources. Sound
familiar? It’s surely meant to, as Antrim spins a cautionary tale
about an all-too-plausible future.
Wilderness to Wasteland
by David T. Hanson ’66
Taverner Press
Photographer Hanson tips his hand in
the title of this handsomely produced
monograph of striking color photographs
that document the despoiling—by industrialism, development,
militarization, and the like—of the American landscape. As
Joyce Carol Oates puts it in the book’s foreword, “How far
we have come from the romanticized wilderness of the 19th
century!” But despite their grim subject, Hanson’s images have
a stark beauty all their own.
Beckett’s Words: The Promise of
Happiness in a Time of Mourning
by David Kleinberg-Levin ’58
Bloomsbury
This third volume in the author’s
Redeeming Words series takes as its
subject the plays, short stories, and novels
of Samuel Beckett, the Irish avant-garde
author. Beckett has rarely been seen as an
avatar of happiness, but Kleinberg-Levin,
in a highly original reading, contends that even in Beckett’s
darkest works, “the light of...redemption, weak though it is,
can occasionally be glimpsed” and that “Beckett never forgot
the thought, the dream, of happiness.”
Life in a Black Community:
Striving for Equal Citizenship in
Annapolis, Maryland, 1902–1952
by Hannah Jopling ’60
Rowman & Littlefield
Jopling’s fascinating book began life
as her PhD dissertation. But it’s no dry,
scholarly tome: Through the lens of five
“encounters”—including a baseball
game, a lawsuit, and a hanging—
the author explores the proposition
that Annapolis, a “border-state” town possessing both
characteristics of the Jim Crow South and a black community
that pushed for change, held a unique position in the struggle
of black residents to gain full rights as citizens.
INADDITION
Deities & Demons
by Charles J. Schneider ’80
Double Dragon Publishing
Eros/Power
by William Torbert ’61 and Hilary Bradbury
Integral Publishers
—Jane Dornbusch
Been published recently? Please send your book to Jane Dornbusch,
Office of Communication, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover MA,
01810-4161. After your book is announced, it will be donated to the Oliver
Wendell Holmes Library. Autographed copies appreciated! Regrettably, due to
the high volume of books written by alumni, not all books will be featured in
the Andover Bookshelf. Selection is at the discretion of the class notes editor.
From Silk to Silicon
by Jeffrey E. Garten ’64
HarperCollins
Pondering globalization can resemble the parable of the
blind men describing an elephant: Some will contend that
expanding trade leads to more economic growth, greater
choices, and lower prices, while others point to shrinking job
opportunities, economic inequities, and international banking
crises. No one person may be able to view all sides of the issue
at once, but Jeffrey Garten, dean emeritus at the Yale School
of Management, takes up the challenge in this ambitious new
work. Rather than seeing globalization through the lens of,
say, a particular industry or specific event, Garten tells the story
by focusing on “10 extraordinary lives”—portraits of people
whose contributions truly transformed the course of history or,
in his words, “opened doors to a broad array of possibilities
for progress” and “changed the prevailing paradigm of how
society was organized.”
The result is a highly readable book that makes the sometimes
abstract concepts behind globalization concrete and accessible
by giving them a human face. To be sure, not all of these
globalizers are wholly admirable. (But then, paradigm changers
seldom are.) Garten begins with Genghis Khan and proceeds
chronologically through an idiosyncratic group that includes
Mayer Amschel Rothschild, John D. Rockefeller, Margaret
Thatcher, and Deng Xiaoping. He concedes that “some left
significant damage in their wake,” but their global—and
globalizing—impact can hardly be denied. Garten’s farreaching take on the topic may make it possible for readers to
see, as it were, the whole elephant.
43
the Buzzzzz
z
Documentarians Moira Demos ’91 and Laura Ricciardi received
worldwide media attention for their Netflix crime documentary series,
Making a Murderer. It tells the story of a man who spent nearly two
decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, filed a lawsuit for
damages, and was later convicted of murder. Demos and Ricciardi first
heard about the series’ subject as graduate students at Columbia.
Two alums are among the 2016 class of Young Global Leaders as
chosen by the World Economic Forum, which selects candidates
who are “the most enterprising, innovative, socially minded, and
exceptional leaders under the age of 40.” Among the 27 chosen from
North America are U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton ’97 and Vanessa
Kerry ’95, cofounder and chief executive officer of Seed Global Health.
Carrie St. Louis ’08 is starring as Glinda in Wicked on Broadway at the
Gershwin Theatre. The musical explores the early lives of the witches of
Oz, Glinda and Elphaba.
A summa cum laude graduate of New York University, Zachary
Fine ’11 was recently named a 2016 Rhodes Scholar. Last year,
Fine founded NOLA Safe Police Watch, a New Orleans–based
nonprofit focused on promoting safe practices for citizens filming
encounters with the police. He intends to pursue a master of
studies degree in the history of art and visual culture and a master
of science degree in criminology and criminal justice at the
University of Oxford.
Patrick Kinsel ’03 recently created a new app called Notarize that
allows users to set up a video chat with a licensed notary public
and have documents notarized remotely. A partner at the venture
capital firm Polaris Partners, Kinsel also is one of the cofounders of
Spindle, a search system that was acquired by Twitter in 2013.
Tristan Perich ’00 made it onto Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 20 Best
Avant Albums of 2015, which compiles the year’s best in “noise, out-jazz,
contemporary classical, ambient, drone, and more.” Perich’s album Parallels
received praise for being “totally mesmerizing, hypnotic, and sparking.”
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker
nominated attorney Eric Neyman ’86, a
partner at McCarter & English in Boston,
to the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the
state’s second highest court. Neyman was
unanimously confirmed for a judgeship. He
previously served as deputy legal counsel
to two former Massachusetts governors
and as deputy general counsel to the
Executive Office of Public Safety.
The Buzz features recent notable accomplishments by PA alums. Please send suggestions to [email protected].
44
Sheila Barabad
Jessica Gonzalez ’91, a senior attorney
at BP America, was featured in the
article “Past is Prologue” in the March/
April 2016 edition of Hispanic Executive.
In the article, Gonzalez talks about how
she took advantage of the educational
opportunities in her life—beginning
with Andover. After PA, she attended
Princeton University and Stanford Law
School, where she was copresident of the
Environmental Law Society and managing
editor of the Stanford Law Review.
www.andover.edu/intouch
CLASS NOTES
Marc Koolen • 1976
1935
ABBOT
Doris Schwartz Lewis
250 Hammond Pond Pkwy., Apt. 515S
Chestnut Hill MA 02467
617-244-7302
[email protected]
1937
Kathleen Dalton • 1981
PHILLIPS
Max Alovisetti • 1989
Back in Time
Christopher Walter • 1978
Photos of retiring
faculty through
the years. Read
more on page 26.
[Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that
longtime class secretary John Foskett passed away
Jan. 29, 2016. Please see the In Memoriam section
for his obituary. If any member of the Class of 1937
would like to take on the role of class secretary,
please contact Laura MacHugh at 978-749-4289 or
[email protected].]
1938
ABBOT & PHILLIPS
Dana Lynch ’68
P.O. Box 370539
Montara CA 94037-0539
650-728-8238
[email protected]
1939
PHILLIPS
Joseph F. Anderson
Meadow Ridge
100 Redding Road, Apt. 2118
Redding CT 06896
803-767-1667 (cell)
203-544-7089 (home)
[email protected]
Seth Bardo • 1982
Steve Carter • 1985
Shortly after I submitted these notes to Andover,
I had a call from Kate Hall. Sadly, she told me
her husband, Danny Dannenbaum, died in late
August 2015 in Belfast, Maine, close to the family’s
longtime summer home in Stockton Springs. I
knew Danny only slightly when we were in our
early years at Andover. I remember he spent lots of
time in the pool. At Yale, in addition to graduating
cum laude, he was never defeated in backstroke.
Elected captain of the swim team, he won NCAA
championships in 1942 and 1943. Danny was
45
stay connected...
a hero in WWII, when, as a second lieutenant,
his ship was torpedoed and sinking fast. He
ordered that all hatches be opened, thereby saving
hundreds of lives. He survived an eight-hour ordeal
hanging onto a makeshift raft. In telling me the
story, he said his swimming prowess kept him alive.
Farewell to a great friend, whom I came to know
well as I compiled these notes.
Mona Fletcher, widow of Herb Fletcher,
called to say how much Herb and she enjoyed
Andover magazine. As you will recall, Herb’s “rags
to riches” career took him from holding a job as
a movie theatre usher in Albany, N.Y., during the
depths of the Depression, to being one of the
leaders in the international distribution of motion
pictures. Highly regarded in the industry, he was
elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. Mona told me that more than 40
family members gathered in Washington, D.C., for
Herb’s memorial service.
“Old Reliable” Faelton Perkins, always
accessible for this correspondent, is enjoying life
with his wife, Pauline, in their townhouse in Ewing,
N.J. They visited family in eastern New York for
Christmas. Pauline enjoys yoga and her new classes
in French. As we spoke, Faelton told me he has a
pacemaker, not an unfamiliar device for many in
our age bracket. Faelton is 95.
Win Bernhard, now 94, said all was well
with him and wife Elizabeth. It’s difficult for the
Bernhards to travel to their family summer home
in the Adirondacks. The family has owned the
house, located west of Ticonderoga, N.Y., for more
than 100 years. Not being able to drive anymore
makes for a big difference in summer travel to
the mountains, Win notes. Win was a faculty
member at UMass Amherst, and the Bernhards
formerly spent the entire summer at their
Adirondacks home.
John Leitch is enjoying life in Laconia, N.H.,
with his wife of three years, Charlotte. I’m sure you
remember John’s courtship: Quite by accident,
he met Charlotte with some of her friends on
his way to dinner. John picked up the check! His
hearing is faulty—join the crowd—and he uses
a speakerphone, which is “beautiful,” he says. He
grew up in Andover, and after an engineering
career moved to Laconia. Between them,
Charlotte and John have eight children, several
grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Their story is one for the books.
Attempts to reach Bill Kurtz, Jack Sullivan, and
Harry Anderson were unfortunately unsuccessful.
As for the Andersons, we’re doing OK at
our new home at Meadow Ridge, a life-care
establishment in Redding, Conn. It’s quite different
from owning your own home and driving your
own car, but it’s quite elegant and, more important,
safe, with no heavy lifting. You can reach me
at 203-544-7089 or at [email protected]. It
would be more than satisfying to hear from you.
And by the way, I turned 95 in March.
46
1940
ABBOT
Nadene Nichols Lane
125 Coolidge Ave., No. 610
Watertown MA 02472
617-924-1981
PHILLIPS
Blake Flint
The Pines of Sarasota
1501 N. Orange Ave., No. 1924
Sarasota FL 34236
941-365-0250
[email protected]
Look on page 56 of the fall 2015 issue and you will
find a picture of our Brad Murphy attending our
reunion, sitting among a bunch of youngsters from
the Class of ’45. Thank you, Brad, for representing
us once again.
Tracy Dickson and his wife, Pat, are living in
New London, N.H. Pat has some health problems,
and Tracy is her caregiver. They no longer travel.
Tracy goes to an occasional meeting. Happily, he
has never fallen.
Bill Hart is still living alone in Duxbury, Mass.
He is happy to have his two sons and daughter visit
him on a rotating basis.
Now for the sad news. Bob Snower died
July 2, 2013. He will be remembered as having been
at Andover for one year, during which he made a
significant incursion into the brilliant ranks, with
one term on the second honor roll and another on
the credit list.
Benjamin Thomas McElroy died
Aug. 16, 2015. Tom spent one year at Andover,
where he played on the football team. After
graduation, he went on to Yale University and
was sports editor of the Yale Daily News. After his
service in the Navy during WWII in the Pacific
theater, he entered the University of Texas School
of Law, and the rest of his life was filled with
memorable achievements in the legal profession.
At one time, he was a legislative assistant to then
Congressman Lloyd Bentsen and also represented
Sen. Lyndon Johnson in court. Known as a trial
attorney, Tom was highly respected and valued
by judges and colleagues. A fellow lawyer once
said, “He was in every sense of the word a lawyer’s
lawyer.” Tom ran for governor of Texas in 1972
as a Republican, with the goal of creating a true
two-party system in the state of Texas. He later
became a strong supporter of and advocate for
Gov. Bill Clements.
Jack Malo passed away Nov. 8, 2015. He was
preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth, and his
son, John Jr. Jack was a member of the graduating
class of 1944 at Yale and served in the U.S. Navy
during WWII. Jack will be remembered for his
tennis prowess. He was on the varsity tennis team
all four years at Andover. In his business career
he was longtime president of the Malo Feed
Company, involved in grain merchandising and
cattle feeding. Jack was also deeply involved with
philanthropy in the Denver area.
Edward “Ted” Walen died Dec. 1, 2015. Ted
will be remembered as an accomplished skier and
manager of the ski team his last year at Andover.
World War II interrupted his stay at Princeton, but
he wed his sweetheart, Barbara Gahm, before he
was shipped overseas, where he was a lieutenant
on an airbase in India servicing planes as they flew
over “the Hump” to Asia. After Harvard Business
School, Ted worked in the field of textiles until the
late ’50s, when he started working in the chemical
business. Ted worked for Exxon Mobil for 25 years.
Later, he concentrated on a second career as a
grassroots advocate for Southbury Training School
in Connecticut, where his youngest son, Jimmy,
has lived for most of his life. Ted was a great sailor,
sailing his boat Tigress up and down Long Island
Sound, collecting his share of trophies and having a
wonderful time. R.I.P.
And now about myself: My address has
changed to the Pines of Sarasota, as noted above.
I have moved there for therapy and assisted living
and hope to continue this column for a couple
more years.
1942
ABBOT
Ann Taylor Debevoise
Pinnacle Farm
222 Daniel Cox Road
Woodstock VT 05091-9723
802-457-1186
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
Robert K. Reynolds
185 Southern Blvd.
Danbury CT 06810
203-743-0174
[email protected]
In my winter notes I mentioned that, implementing my bucket list, I planned to take to the air again,
since my commercial pilot’s license, issued in 1945,
is still valid—even though I haven’t flown in 50
years. However, back in November a private pilot
with more air time than I have was approaching
Danbury airport for a landing when he inexplicably crashed into the Titicus Reservoir a couple of
miles west in New York State. He and his wife were
killed. I’m now changing my bucket list. Although
I haven’t skied in 50 years, this seems to be a safer
alternative. I’m open to other suggestions.
In December I received a phone call
from Carolyn Quarles, widow of classmate
Tom Quarles, who died recently. I had sent her
a copy of a book of essays I had written about
my life, including a year at Andover. She found it
very interesting and thinks some of you may, too.
Copies are available (no charge), including one in
the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library.
There has been a paucity of news from
classmates, so I must revert to commenting on the
upcoming election. As usual, it’s difficult to sort fact
from fiction in assessing the policies and platforms
of Democrats and Republicans. However, in the
years since the 1932 election, when FDR defeated
Hoover, I have developed definitions of various
political terms that will enable voters to better
understand what’s happening and vote accordingly.
(1) Liberal: A person who knows everything
that’s wrong with the world and expects someone
else to pay for the repairs. (2) Conservative: A
person who believes this is the best of all possible
worlds, if only the liberals would stop screwing
things up. (3) Politician: A person who pursues
public positions for personal profit and power.
(4) Government: An organization that extracts
money from its citizens and then gives it back to
them after deducting a handling fee. (5) Truth:
A concept much to be desired but often in short
supply. Beware of any person or organization
that claims to have a monopoly on it. (6) Special
Interests: Evil persons or organizations, never
identified, who seek favors from congressmen
in return for contributions to the congressmen’s
political campaigns. No to be confused with
lobbyists, who also seek favors but must identify
themselves. (7) Lobbyists: See Special Interests.
(8) Global Warming: A natural event that has been
going on since the end of the ice age. If it continues
at the present rate for the next 100 years, politicians
will still be crying that the end of the world is near.
1943
PHILLIPS
Richard L. Ordeman
619 Oakwood Ave.
Dayton OH 45419
937-299-9652
[email protected]
Lou Hudner’s portrait, which will be hung
aboard the new destroyer named for him, the
USS Thomas Hudner, was unveiled at Andover as
part of the school’s commemoration of Veterans
Day. A new book, Devotion, by Adam Makos, was
released this past fall. It tells the story of the close
relationship between Lou and Jesse Brown, his
fellow pilot, whom he tried to rescue; Lou received
the Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts.
People magazine carried a story in early December
about the surprise meeting between Lou and
Jesse’s family. The article concludes, “For Hudner,
the reunion was a reminder that ‘friendship is
colorblind.’ ” It went on to quote Lou, “As much
racial turmoil as there is today, it shouldn’t be this
way. If you know somebody, if you’re a nice person,
who cares what color you are? It didn’t seem to
matter to me, and that was 60 years ago.”
Good to hear from Joe Houghteling’s widow,
Judy, who, having sold her home in San Francisco
and moved to a condominium, now has more
time to travel. She writes, “Took a week on the
Mississippi River from St. Paul to just north
of St. Louis, and it was truly magnificent! I had
heard about this great ‘Father of Waters’ all
my life but never expected it to be so beautiful
and interesting.”
An October article in the Wall Street Journal
about the history of Hollywood homes told of the
home that Kathryn Hepburn might have rented in
1930, which was bought by Boris Karloff in 1934,
who later sold it in 1954 to Fred Jordan, onetime
president of Raleigh Studios. I visited Fred in his
beautiful home when he hosted a party for “Obie”
Obermeyer ’42, who was to be married the next
day. Unfortunately I had to leave early to catch
the red-eye back to Dayton, Ohio. Fred sold the
home in 2003.
Charlie Weiner called to be sure I knew of
Dick Meryman’s passing. I had written about
Dick in my column for the fall issue of Andover
magazine, which Charlie probably hadn’t received,
but it was great to hear from him (as it is to hear
from any of you) and to know that someone out
there is reading my notes. Charlie had special
memories of Dick and their days at Amherst and
had kept up with him over the years. He told me
he still has a 22-foot powerboat, but his days of big
boats and ocean travel have passed.
“Colombian Clan Holds Keys to Deal” read
the headline on an Oct. 9 Wall Street Journal article
discussing the possible merger of SABMiller and
Anheuser-Busch InBev. The story indicated that
Anheuser-Busch’s efforts to close the merger
depended heavily on persuading the Santo
Domingo family to agree to the merger, noting
that the family, led by Alejandro Santo Domingo, is
the second-largest shareholder in SABMiller, with
a 14 percent stake. Alejandro is a grandson of our
classmate Julio Mario Santo Domingo, who died
in 2011. I’m sure Mario would be proud of the way
in which his descendants continue to manage the
family business.
Wendy and Jim Munro, who frequently depart
on a world cruise at the beginning of the year, are
staying home this year. Jim has plenty of health
problems but keeps going. As he tells it, “My
knees are pretty well shot: two canes, but I walk
and drive and do stairs and anything I feel like
doing, except it takes two to three times longer
(five to six, maybe). I’m OK. I get steroid shots
every six months or so and work with or without
the pain four to six hours a day at construction
projects here at home. I’m not blowing smoke. I
work hard because I cannot vegetate or teleview or
sit around.”
It is with great sadness that I report the death of
Phil Drake’s wife, Susan, on Nov. 28, 2015. They
had been married 66 years. Along with Phil, Sue
hosted many of our Naples, Fla., gatherings, some
in their own home. While croquet had become
a passion of Sue’s in her later years, she had a love
for literature, was an avid reader, and enjoyed golf
and tennis. Those who have been to the Naples
reunions will remember Sue for her efforts in
making each gathering a special event. We’ll miss
you, Sue. Our class offers its condolences to Phil,
his four daughters, three grandchildren, and two
great-grandchildren.
1944
ABBOT
Emily McMurray Mead
P.O. Box 292
Etna NH 03750
603-643-3741
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
Angus Deming
975 Park Ave., Apt. 2A
New York NY 10028-0323
212-794-1206
[email protected]
As 2015 fades away like an old soldier and 2016
becomes the new normal, it’s good to know that
our classmates are still active and newsworthy,
particularly given that 72 years have gone by since
our graduation from Phillips Academy.
Consider Sumner Milender, now going
on 90 yet brave and optimistic enough to have
gotten married recently. Actually, it’s not quite so
sudden as that. He and his bride, the former Edie
Michelson, had been living together as husband
and wife for 14 years, but for several reasons,
Sumner wrote, they decided it was “time to make
it legal,” and so they officially tied the knot. That
done, Sumner and Edie sold their home in Tucson,
Ariz., and moved to a retirement community called
North Hill, located in Needham, Mass. Sumner
has gifted the assets of his company, Thinking
in Music—a nonprofit that promotes music to
enhance learning among young students—to
Rider University, in Lawrenceville, N.J. “These
three events,” Sumner wrote, “have set the path
for the rest of my life—whatever years I have left.
So now, every day is a new, exciting experience to
anticipate and enjoy.”
Speaking of age—or maybe agelessness—
consider the unsinkable Wheelock Whitney.
His Christmas cards are like an annual travelogue,
with photos from places such as Egypt (the
pyramids as scene setters) and Havana (a vintage
Chevy convertible nearby). This year’s card shows
Wheelock and his glamorous wife, Kathleen, a
former chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme
Court, celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary,
with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
Inside, another photo shows the dynamic duo
in hardhats and light green construction vests
getting a “sneak preview” inside the new stadium
47
stay connected...
of the Minnesota Vikings, one of the teams that
Wheelock once owned, or maybe still does. “I’m
hanging in there at 89,” he wrote in a personal
greeting. Keep on hanging, old friend.
Our often peripatetic classmate Pete Stevens
appears to be staying put for a while in his
retirement community in Beverly, Mass., where
he reports being “enmeshed” in family affairs—
including keeping up with his daughter Helen.
A Yale graduate with a nursing degree, Helen
worked at a UN refugee camp in Thailand, where
she met a fellow aid worker, from Turkey, whom
she subsequently married. They now have two
children, both now in college—one at Syracuse
University, the other at Yale. Helen’s husband has
been stationed in Baghdad with the UN’s refugee
agency but was awaiting a new assignment, while
Helen has rented a house in Beverly to be near her
father and children.
Meanwhile, Pete’s niece, Ames Sheldon,
recently wrote her first novel, titled Eleanor’s
Wars, which captures the experiences of Nat,
an awkward and naïve boy who enters Andover
in the fall of 1942. Also at Andover is his older
brother, Eddie—a self-assured upper whom Nat
struggles to emulate. But it’s tough going. Nat is
homesick and overwhelmed by his demanding
courses, and although he joins a fraternity, he
finds the initiation humiliating. But then he
takes part in a school production of Gilbert and
Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and finally begins to
acquire some of his big brother’s confidence.
Says Pete, “The story recalled for me my own
adjustments to life at Andover in the mid-1940s
and the very different life we all led during those
war years.”
In a somewhat self-deprecating tone,
Roger Strong sent a card in which he claimed,
“There’s little news I can report from life in the
slow lane. It takes me longer to do less.” It may
take longer, but Roger says he still goes to work
four days a week and finds time to squeeze in
museums, shopping, movies, and doctor visits—
and maybe an office party. He also lunches from
time to time with old PA friends Whit Stevens
and Dick Abrons. And on the seventh day he
rested. Roger says he still goes out to Scottsdale,
Ariz., for some time off every few weeks,
“depending on the weather and grandchildren’s
vacation schedules.” What slow lane is he
talking about?
Dick Abrons, by the way, was featured in a new
posting on Facebook, wherein he is identified as
“author, playwright, vice chairman of the Henry
Street Settlement and director of GrowNYC.”
The FB photo shows Dick seated in front of what
appears to be a blackboard, looking very much
at ease with himself as the handsome man of
distinction he is.
From his home in Massapequa, N.Y., on
Long Island, Stan Dickey reports having recently
received a phone call “out of the blue” from
Otis Parker who, he said, “sounds great.” For
cardio fitness Stan goes to a gym twice a week
48
for a routine that includes 15 minutes on the
machines, 10 minutes with weights, and 10 minutes
of exercise. “Then,” he says, “home for a nap.”
Finally, Woody Stockwell reported that he and
Mimi have sold their house in Denver and have
moved to a new home in Boulder, Colo. (He refers
to it as “the People’s Republic of Boulder,” though
I’m not sure exactly what that means.) The move
was a hassle but not enough to diminish Woody’s
usual verve. “Life is good,” he says. Woody and
Mimi remained busy in 2015: Apart from keeping
up with grandchildren, they went to Vail, where
they often skied back in the day but where they
now bask in the pleasures of summer—minus the
fly rods, hiking shoes, and mountain bikes of old.
And in September they took a Seabourn cruise up
the East Coast, from Boston to Nova Scotia and
down the St. Lawrence River to Prince Edward
Island, the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec City, and
Montreal. “Canada was a delight,” Woody said,
as he signed off with a hopeful message: “Here’s
looking to happiness for all in 2016.” Amen to that.
[Editor’s note: The Academy was saddened to
learn that Wheelock Whitney passed away on May
20, 2016, after the submission of these notes. An
obituary will run in a later edition of the magazine.]
1945
PHILLIPS
William M. Barnum
681 River Road
Westport MA 02790
508-636-6025
[email protected]
Dear Classmates,
A nice note from John Thorndike tells
of attending the presentation of the Andover
Alumni Award of Distinction to our classmate
Marvin Minsky in Cochran Chapel last
November. I am sorry to report that Marvin died
Jan. 24, 2016. He was one of the world’s leading
authorities in the field of artificial intelligence. You
can read his New York Times obituary online at nyti.
ms/1QxmNyD. [Editor’s note: Please see Marvin
Minsky’s obituary in the In Memoriam section of
this magazine.]
I called Herk Warren, who has given up
tennis for bridge. Never thought it would happen.
Art Moher is a great source of class information
and was kind enough to record the names of all
classmates who attended the reunion last June.
It was a good turnout. Cy Chittick, Art Moher,
John Thorndike, and I have all had the pleasure of
meeting for lunch at a café in Westwood, Mass.
Please, if any of you have news about classmates,
let me know so that I can include it in these meager
class notes. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday
season, and I wish everyone a wonderful 2016.
With fondest regards, Bill Barnum
1946
70th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
ABBOT
Sarah Allen Waugh
441 Pequot Ave.
Southport CT 06890
203-259-7640
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
Cliff Crosby
45 Hedgerose Lane
Bethlehem NH 03574
603-869-2582
603-991-4919 (cell)
[email protected]
I love the obituary page. In most cases it is a
celebration of life stories rather than sad news.
You often learn things about your friends that you
never knew. I found the following four life stories
fascinating and hope you feel the same.
Born in NYC, Roger Neuhoff, who died
Oct. 28, 2015, spent his childhood in Kings
Point, N.Y., with his brother, John, from whom
he was inseparable and whom he followed to
both Andover and Amherst. We knew Roger as
a hammer thrower, track star, and very popular
classmate. We didn’t know that he was one of
the earliest recruits of the CIA, where he was
deployed behind enemy lines in North Korea,
rescuing downed American pilots. With a keen
intellect and boundless ambition, Roger had a
meteoric career in media that began with a job as
a salesman at WTOP-AM in Washington, D.C.
With his wife, Louise, he began building Eastern
Broadcasting with the acquisition of a radio station
in Charlottesville, Va., in 1955. Before long, Eastern
added another 11 markets and then was sold in
what was then one of the largest transactions of its
kind. Not satisfied to retire to Florida, Roger and
Louise started Neuhoff Communications, which
still operates in six Midwest markets. Roger was
equally successful with his family and in his two
communities, in Florida and Martha’s Vineyard,
Mass. He also beat cancer, at least partly with his
positive attitude and ability to use humor to rally
those around him. He leaves 10 grandchildren, two
great-grandchildren, and an Andover very grateful
for his generosity.
Fred Thomas, who died Sept. 16, 2015, was
also born in NYC but spent most of his life
living abroad. We knew him as editor in chief of
The Phillipian and another popular classmate.
We probably did not know he graduated cum
laude from Harvard with a degree in Arabic
and received a doctorate in social anthropology
from the University of London. He and his wife,
Xandra, served in the Peace Corps in Morocco
and Somalia; he was also USAID administrator
in Jordan and a UNDP rep in Saudi Arabia and
Haiti. He wrote several books: Calcutta Poor, To
the Mouths of the Ganges, and Jihad in the Sudan. He
sang with the Berkeley chorus, played oboe, and
painted scenes from his travels. He leaves two sons
and four grandchildren in the San Francisco area.
Scott Paradise, who died Sept. 13, 2015, was the
son of one of our favorite instructors at Andover.
After Yale and Episcopal Theological School, he too
set out abroad for Sheffield Industrial Mission, in
Sheffield, England, and a pioneering effort to bridge
the gap between the church and the working man.
He came back to the U.S. to repeat the effort with
the UAW in Detroit. He, wife Jeanne, and two sons
moved back to New England to serve the scientists
and engineers along Route 128. He became an
activist in the ecological crisis and the gap between
rich and poor, marched with Martin Luther King
Jr., and was arrested for civil disobedience in
nonviolent protests against the nuclear arms race
and U.S. policies in Central America. In 1978 Scott
became Episcopal chaplain at MIT. On retirement,
his award read “Your untiring efforts to promote
public conversation on wide-ranging, complicated
issues has reflected your steadfast belief that we
at MIT must understand how our work affects
society.…Your wise and compassionate counsel
has been invaluable.”
Jim Kurtz, who died Dec. 3, 2015, survived
the transition from Grand Junction, Colo., and
a challenging football experience to room with
Don Lazo, Hal Upjohn, and Steve West at
Yale. He then returned to his roots and built an
employee-owned business empire spanning
13 lumberyards in Colorado and New Mexico
on a foundation of tough lessons learned as a boy
working for his dad. His son-in-law was quoted
as saying, “He had to start with the most menial
tasks and work his way up. His father always
paid him less than other employees, which he
resented, but it impressed on him the significance
of every job in the yard and how important it was
to acknowledge every employee’s contribution.”
Jim was an honorary life trustee of the Denver
Zoo Foundation, where he used his extraordinary
business and management skills for 37 years. He
was a loving husband to his wife, Katharine, a great
father to his four children, and an example to his
three grandchildren.
We need all of you to come to our 70th Reunion
June 10–12 and share your life stories.
1948
ABBOT
Gene Young
30 Park Ave., Apt. 12C
New York NY 10016
212-679-8931
[email protected]
I’m sad to report that Dorothy Lee Booth Witwer
died in Key West, Fla., Sept. 21, 2015. Lee was the
youngest, and indubitably the brightest, member
of our class. Before she even got to Abbot, she had
won a statewide history award. After Abbot, Lee
went to Smith, and, in 1951, before graduation,
she married George Osborn Witwer of South
Bend, Ind. They lived in Connecticut, New York,
Indiana, and Key West, making Key West their
second home in 1989. Rosemary “Momo” Jones
and I visited her there several times in the early
2000s. Lee was known for her fine mind, sense
of humor, serene spirituality, and devotion to
her family. She was active in many charitable
and community organizations. She leaves her
husband, four children, 14 grandchildren, and five
great-grandchildren.
Helen Tasche North writes that after Abbot
she earned a bachelor’s degree from Vassar and
spent two years at Harvard’s Graduate School
of Design. She recently retired after 28 years on
the staff of the Montshire Museum of Science in
Norwich, Vt., and at the same time moved from
Lyme, N.H., to an apartment in Hanover, N.H.
Like many of us, she fills her time with bridge,
hiking, golf, tennis, cross-country skiing (she gave
up downhill last year), and a reading group. She
travels extensively: around the country, to see her
four children and their families, and abroad. Her
foreign travel has included Syria, Pakistan, and
Vietnam. She enclosed a photograph of her large
and handsome family at her birthday celebration.
Her granddaughter, Harper North ’16, is a senior
at Andover. Harper is the daughter of Helen’s son
John North, who graduated from PA in 1980.
My mother and I celebrated our respective
birthdays (two days apart) at a big party in
September 2015 at the Pierre Hotel in NYC. I
turned 85, and my mother, 110 (!). The festivities
were organized by my sister Shirley Young ’51 and
Oscar Tang ’56. A highlight of the evening was
Mummy dancing—in her high heels—with Oscar.
I fell on Helen North’s colorful and enjoyable
letter like a parched wanderer in the desert. Please
follow her example and send me some information
about your life!
PHILLIPS
Robert Segal
118 Sutton Hill Road
North Andover MA 01845
978-682-9317
[email protected]
Paul McHugh’s byline appeared once again on
a column in the Wall Street Journal. In the Jan. 10,
2016, issue, Paul commented on “the incident
(that) involved a Yale professor…who was waylaid
on campus by angry students. They were livid
about a letter written by his wife, also a Yale teacher,
who had suggested that the university’s recent
admonishments about Halloween costumes,
cultural appropriation, and racial insensitivity
perhaps were unnecessary, since young adults are
capable of deciding for themselves what to wear
for Halloween and might even learn from being
‘a little bit obnoxious.’ ” Calling the incident an
“ ‘emotional stampede’ by a group of sensitive
young people living in a culture of suspicion who
were provoked into believing that they had been
gravely injured,” Paul goes on to conclude that this
“culture of suspicion” at Yale and other universities
“must be remedied for the academic pursuit of
social diversity to succeed.” A link to the article can
be found here: on.wsj.com/1RESrtA.
Ronnie and Alan Schwartz were in Boston for
a few days this past fall and put together a dinner
attended by Nancy and Mike Hurwitz, Carole
and Phil Aronson, and Maralyn and Bob Segal.
Alan has put a series of medical issues behind him,
and he and Ronnie soldier along after the loss of a
son this past year. Alan looks onward and outward.
Shelby Coates signed in, “Harry Flynn
and George Rider ’51 may think I arrogated a
bit too much from your latest. Yes, I was SOPA
(Senior Officer Present Afloat) as to them, but
not vis-à-vis some other officers on the ship and
out in the fleet. A typical SOPA would have been
COMDESRON 24 (Commander Destroyer
Squadron 24) or CTG 95.1 (Commander Task
Group 95.1) who was on an aircraft carrier
bossing the escorting destroyers. But Harry and
George, being ‘old salts,’ should be able to figure
out the intended context.
“On December 18th I’m looking forward to
zipping down via Amtrak to Manhattan to attend
a Christmas party to be thrown by Lucy Adams,
widow of my Yale classmate George Adams.
Andover Yalies who have shown up in the past
at Lucy’s have included Richard Coulson and
Lincoln Cornell. Always a great occasion.”
Dan Garland wrote in to cite the NYT frontpage editorial on weapon ownership and the
inability of the United States to begin to act on
gun control.
Latie and Roger McLean sent holiday
greetings. They recounted summer travels
with family in Europe and the activities and
accomplishments of their grandchildren.
More holiday greetings came from Fran and
Terry Buchanan, who offered a picture chronicle
of a year of travel with family to Snowmass
(Colo.), Tuscany, Washington U., Berkeley
(Calif.), Hawaii, Yosemite, Calgary (Alberta),
Glacier National Park, London, the Douro River
in Portugal, Thanksgiving in Encinitas (Calif.), and
Christmas in Sun Valley (Idaho). They even found
time to work on a major benefit for children’s
services in February. They may have retired from
downhill skiing but remain active outside.
As for any less sensational lives, we’re still
all here.
49
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1949
PHILLIPS
James P. McLane
28 County St.
Ipswich MA 01938
978-356-4149
[email protected]
Some say there is a book in all lives. It’s true. Read
on about the Dr. Carter Nance story.
Carter writes, “A year of nostalgia and of familial
reflection for me. In February 2015 I flew to
Manila to join the 70th anniversary celebration
of the liberation of the three civilian internment
camps established by the Japanese during their
occupation of the Philippine Islands. My father
had been incarcerated in two of the camps. He
had had a medical practice in Shanghai, but in
January 1941, the State Department had ruled that
it could no longer guarantee the safety of women
and children in Shanghai, and virtually all of the
American families there heeded the warning. My
mother, with my two sibs and me, returned to her
hometown of New Orleans. My father arrived in
Baguio, the old summer capital of the Philippines,
in mid-1941 when it appeared that his family
would not be able to rejoin him in Shanghai.
“Baguio was bombed the day after Pearl
Harbor, and within a month my father was
imprisoned. He played a major political and
medical role in the operation of the first camp
in Baguio and then later at a larger camp at
Los Baños. Residents of the Los Baños camp
suffered pretty serious starvation toward the
end of the Japanese rule. The camp, 30 miles
behind Japanese lines, was liberated in a
spectacular operation involving paratroopers,
Filipino guerillas, and amphibious troop carriers,
which rescued some 2,100 civilian prisoners
without loss of a single civilian life. (The story
has recently been retold in a good book by
Bruce Henderson: amzn.to/218wAMQ.)
“As leader at one camp and as the director of
medical services at both camps, my dad protected
the health of his fellow internees under very
difficult circumstances. For his services, he was
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“My February trip was a great chance to meet
surviving members of the camps, most of whom
were children during the war. I also visited the
campsites, from which all traces of the camps have
gradually disappeared. And it was a bit nostalgic
to return for the first time to the city of my
birth, Manila.
“In June 2015 I flew with my brother Walter
(PEA ’50) to Suzhou, China, at the invitation
of Soochow University to witness the unveiling
of a statue erected to honor my grandfather
Walter B. Nance, who was a founder of the
university and who served as its third president,
in the 1920s. My grandfather, who became a
Methodist missionary after his graduation from
50
Vanderbilt, was the first president of a missionary
university to give up his title as president to
a Chinese native (he remained as ‘Western
advisor’). He saw the university through the early
years of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–41),
when the campus was relocated to Shanghai.
At the end of the war, he returned to Soochow
University at the age of 78 to help the university
restart, leaving China only after the end of the
revolution in 1949.
“Recognition of the missionary roots of the
university is an unusual step. The missionary
movement has not been well regarded by the postChiang regime, but the university has become
interested in its true roots and is celebrating
its history.
“Our hosts could not have been more gracious.
We were given several banquets, a tour of the old
campus, a tour of the new campus with its 50,000
students, and tours of the beautiful garden city of
Suzhou. The unveiling took place in a garden next
to my grandfather’s campus home, an appropriate
place, since it houses the oldest archives of the
university. During the ceremony, the archivist
presented us with a manuscript written in my
grandfather’s hand: an autobiographical fragment
describing his life before he left for China. It is a
remarkable document describing the childhood
and adolescence of a boy growing up in post–Civil
War Cornersville, Tenn. This, coming from my
most respected relative, giving details I had never
before known about, was a priceless gift for my
brother and me.
“We had a chance to revisit Shanghai on
our way home and were able to locate our old
home, now occupied by 10 Chinese families. The
neighborhood seemed little changed after 75
years—except for the absence of Caucasian faces,
rickshaws, starving refugees, Sikh policemen,
French street names, White Russian ladies of the
night, and Chinese amahs (nannies).
“My life has resumed its old measured pace.
My wife and I have settled into a new townhouse
in Chatham, N.J. We observe with pleasure
the maturation of our four children and four
grandchildren. I do a fair amount of reading
(history) between eyeball injections to stave off
macular degeneration. I play competitive bridge,
and I still can routinely solve Monday through
Thursday NYT crossword puzzles. All in all, a
pretty satisfying retirement.” —Jim McLane
1950
ABBOT
Nora Johnson
1619 Third Ave., Apt. 13G
New York NY 10128
212-289-2097
[email protected]
I’m bloody but unbowed. Six months in rehabs,
plus brain surgery, was a real test of Abbot’s
training. I think I’m thinking straight, but if not,
you’ll soon find out.
I hope other lives are more serene than mine.
Love to all, Nora
PHILLIPS
Eric B. Wentworth
2126 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Apt. 32
Washington DC 20008
202-328-0453
[email protected]
With a class-notes deadline arriving soon after
New Year’s Day, several of our classmates shared
news and updates on their recent activities.
John Hanna reported he was still practicing
real-estate-development law full time at his threelawyer firm in the heart of Silicon Valley. “Right
now we have some exciting new projects we are
working on,” John wrote, “including two new highrise mixed-use projects in San Jose and the new
Golden State Warriors complex being developed
in San Francisco.”
Aside from professional pursuits, John added,
“Last year, I had to hang up my mask, fins, weight
belt, snorkel, and abalone iron after 50 years of
free-diving for abalone off the Northern California
coast—on orders from my cardiologist, after he
installed a pacemaker. The good news is that I have
trained my granddaughter, Ally, and she got her
first ‘ab’ last summer off the Mendocino coast at a
depth of about 15 feet.
“Other things I have given up,” John continued,
“include tennis, skiing, mountain climbing, and
auto racing. For the first time in 30 years I am
without a Ferrari, having sold my last one in
2015.” On the other hand, he has learned to play
the bagpipes.
John was looking forward to the continuing
recovery of his eldest daughter, Kristine, who
fractured her skull and almost died while skiing
on a black diamond run near Reno, Nev., in
January 2015.
Busy as ever, Skip Schaum has turned his
attention to project management ventures in Asia
and South America: working with the Sri Lankan
government on the Rama Setu bridge project
linking Sri Lanka with India, providing technical
and project management services to a Singaporean
general contractor converting Malaysia’s television
broadcasting system from analog to digital,
and developing lithium carbonate mining and
production facilities in Bolivia and Peru.
Intrigued with the history of the Lewis
and Clark expedition, Jerry Schauffler and
John Beard, with their wives, Barbie and Molly,
enjoyed a riverboat voyage up the Columbia
River to the Snake last October. The University of
Montana historian who guided their trip, Harry
Fritz, gave the group an awe-inspiring account of
how the 19th-century explorers met and overcame
formidable challenges.
Shortly before Christmas, Phil Brooks and his
wife, Claire, took a riverboat cruise with a different
itinerary—up the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel,
Switzerland, with a date to meet Burkhard Strack
and his wife, Trudi, when the boat docked for the
day in Speyer, Germany. “We hosted them on
board for lunch,” Phil wrote, “then they served
as our private guides for a tour of the famous
Romanesque Speyer Cathedral. Burkhard moves a
little slower but is his same ebullient self.”
Bill King and his wife, Jayne Palmer, in Bath,
Maine, enjoyed a visit from Pim Epler and his
wife, Eleanor, in early September, and later visited
Bob Burgess in Cotuit, Mass., on Cape Cod. Also
in September, Bill and Jayne traveled with a friend
by bus from Maine to NYC, where they spent two
days making the rounds on a “hop-on, hop-off ”
double-decker tour bus, stayed three nights in
a Times Square hotel, and took in a Broadway
show—a revival of An American in Paris. Bill wrote,
“It was the first time either of us had been to the
big city to stay for many years—like 40. It was
wonderful and a great trip.”
Ken McDonald reported that he and his wife,
Chandley, were “busy and well” and that Chandley
had declared that, after 32 years, she was going to
retire from the U.S. Department of State in April.
“As for me,” Ken wrote, “having turned 84 the day
before yesterday [December 30], I have a declining
number of institutions to retire from. I still attend
the luncheon-speaker meetings of the Washington
Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Tertulians of
McLean. I’m moderately active in my Alexandria
parish, Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, which
has a connection with the Virginia Theological
Seminary, from whose board of trustees I retired
some time ago.” Ken reviews books for the Journal
of Military History and occasionally gives lectures.
“As an emeritus professor at George Washington
University,” he added, “I still have library privileges
and, more importantly, reserved parking
on campus.”
Will Watson reported finishing the manuscript
of his book Hemingway’s Bimini Log: Big-Game
Fishing in the Summer of 1936. While waiting
for Patrick Hemingway, Ernest’s second son, to
write his preface or prologue, Will was gathering
photographs, charts, drawings, lists, some
Hemingway correspondence, and other materials
for the book.
Dick Bell wrote he has left the board of the
South Central Connecticut Regional Water
Authority, which is responsible for water supplies
in that part of the state, but still heads the
Watershed Fund, its charitable foundation. Dick
and his wife, Annie, who’s well recovered from a
bad fall last spring, spent Christmas as usual at
their weekend cottage in Sharon, in the wilds of
northwest Connecticut. “I didn’t go fishing on
Christmas Day,” Dick said, “but I did on Dec.
26 and 27. On both days, I took a gorgeous
brookie from the pools behind my house! And
released them!”
Chuck Gordon wrote that he was entering
his 20th year of retirement still healthy enough
to follow his “four Gs” prescription: golfing,
gardening, geography (travel), and keeping up with
grandchildren (of whom the Gordons have five).
Chuck said he was sorry to miss our 65th Reunion
last June but has managed to keep in touch with
quite a few classmates.
Marv Steinberg and his wife, Delores, also
missed our 65th Reunion last June, in order to
attend a grandson’s high-altitude (10,000 feet)
wedding in Telluride, Colo. The Steinbergs, who
have 12 grandchildren plus a great-grandchild,
were planning a trip to France and England in April
to celebrate their 60th anniversary. “I am no longer
seeing patients but remain active academically in
the orthopaedic department at Penn, teaching,
editing, and doing research,” Marv added.
On a sad note, our classmate Don Mulvey
died New Year’s Eve after a short illness. [Editor’s
note: Please see Don Mulvey’s obituary in the
In Memoriam section.]
1951
65th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
ABBOT
[Editor’s note: Connie Hall DeNault has stepped
down as class secretary for the Abbot Class of 1951.
The Academy thanks her for her service. If any
member of the class is interested in taking over as
class secretary, please contact Laura MacHugh at
978-749-4289 or [email protected].]
PHILLIPS
George S.K. Rider
22 Curiosity Lane
Essex CT 06426
860-581-8199
[email protected]
Jan. 6, 2016—so far, so good! You can count the
snowflakes that have fallen so far. I’ll probably
jinx it. This time last year we were well on our
way to a tough, snow-filled season. Today is also
the one-year anniversary of my book launch. The
year has brought lots of readings, reviews, and
welcome comments.
I received a note from Halsey Sandford’s
widow, Barbara, informing me that, sadly, he had
passed on, on Aug. 29, 2015, from complications of
Alzheimer’s. Barbara added that although he spent
only a year at Andover, he enjoyed being there and
valued the experience and the friendships that he
made. Halsey graduated from Yale in 1955. We
were both in the NROTC there. He was stationed
in the Mediterranean aboard a fleet tanker. Our
destroyer fueled from Halsey’s ship in late 1956.
Following his Navy duty, Halsey received an MBA
degree from Harvard and helped run the family
business, WKYW, a local radio station. In 1965,
he joined Hilliard Lyons of Louisville, Ky., where
he served as senior vice president and corporate
director. After 27 years at Hilliard, Halsey joined
Res-Care, a provider of services to persons with
special needs, fulfilling his passion for improving
the lives of others. He is survived by Barbara,
daughter Janet Brown, son Neal Sandford, and
four grandchildren.
On a lighter note, do you remember
the old saying “Out of sight, out of mind”?
Tony Thompson, our classmate for one memorable
year and class secretary for Stanford 1955, calls ’em
like he sees ’em. In a past column he rattled off a list
of Stanford classmates who attended PA and were
no longer with us. Bob Barton, very much alive,
took umbrage at his name appearing on the list of
the departed. Bob’s note correcting the error was
duly noted. As your class secretary, I share Tony’s
angst at the dearth of news coming from many
classmates, which leads to the occasional oversight
or error. I am printing a note I recently received
from Packy Maxwell, whose name appeared on the
same Stanford list as Bob Barton’s:
“Greetings, George. I’m still here on earth, along
with Bob Barton. I don’t blame Tony Thompson—
rather, it’s my failure to communicate. I am a ‘happy
camper’ here in the Sierras, just north of Yosemite.
It’s raining, thank God, after four dry years and
two major forest fires to the north and south of
us. [Wife] Nancy and I are preparing to celebrate
our three grandsons’ graduations this spring from
colleges in Texas, Oregon, and California. I am
holding brain cancer at bay with the great staff at
Stanford Medical Center. We are going on a cruise
next month—a respite for us both. My regards to
all my classmates, and particularly Tony Thompson,
who is a great [Stanford] class secretary, and
congratulations to you on your very successful
book.” Fair winds and following seas, Packy!
On Nov. 11, 2015, Adm. Charles S. “Steve”
Abbot ’62, USN (Ret.), delivered an insightful and
memorable keynote address at the sixth annual
Veterans Day dinner held in Paresky Commons,
attended by an SRO crowd of students, faculty,
administrators, and veterans. Adm. Abbot served
from 1966 to 2000. He commanded the Sixth Fleet
from 1996 to 1968, Carrier Group Eight, and the
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and completed
his naval career as deputy commander-in- chief,
U.S. European Command. He later served as deputy
homeland security advisor to George W. Bush
from 2001 to 2003. He is currently president of
the Navy–Marine Corps Relief Society, a private,
nonprofit organization assisting sailors, marines,
and their families.
A heartwarming highlight of the evening
occurred when Medal of Honor recipient
Capt. Thomas Hudner ’43, attending with members
of his extended family, was joined by members of
the family of Jesse Brown, Lt. Hudner’s onetime
wingman and the U.S. Navy’s first African-American
pilot. On Dec. 4, 1950, during the Korean War,
Ensign Brown was shot down in enemy territory
in the battle of Chosin Reservoir. Lt. Hudner
pancaked his Corsair in an unsuccessful attempt to
51
stay connected...
A group of alumni from the Class of 1954, along with friends and family, convened for a December lunch
in New York City. From left are Sarah Lentz (friend of Dave Knight ), Dave Mackenzie , Kent McKamy ,
Charlotte and Steve Pendleton , Dave Knight , and Hannah Mangold and her father, Bob Feldman .
save his wingman and friend. For his heroic action,
he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President
Harry S. Truman.
Capt. Hudner was taken completely by surprise
later in the program when a beautiful portrait of
him in dress blues by famed artist Charles Fagan ’84
was unveiled. Tears were evident when Hudner
greeted the Browns and viewed his portrait.
The keel of the Arleigh Burke–class destroyer
USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) was authenticated
during a ceremony at the Bath Iron Works shipyard
last Nov. 16. I am so fortunate to be a part of
memorializing the contributions of Andover’s
veterans. What great examples of non sibi for us all!
Too early to tell about spring, too soon to gloat
over the absence of snow, but wife Dorothy and
I are content to wait for the inevitable storms to
come, cozy with cat Marybeth and the glow of
Christmas memories and the hectic holiday season.
1952
ABBOT
Mary “Molly” Edson Whiteford
149 Pine Valley Road
Lake Oswego OR 97034
503-636-0980
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
[We received this note from Lisa Bromberg, wife
of longtime class secretary Mike Bromberg: “I am
sad to report that Mike passed away April 30, after
a valiant fight. He was a hero to the end. He always
said that cowards die many times before their
deaths but the brave die but once. He was truly
52
one of the brave. I was blessed to be with him up
to the end. Andover always held a very special
place in his heart, and the friends he met there
became his family.”
The Academy is grateful for Mike’s service. If
any member of the class is interested in taking over
as class secretary, please contact Laura MacHugh at
978-749-4289 or [email protected].]
1953
ABBOT
Patricia Eveleth Buchanan
9 The Valley Road
Concord MA 01742
978-369-6838
[email protected]
I was so pleased to hear from so many of you.
Pam Bushnell Ellis says that being 80, going on
81, is a wonderful time! She writes, “I walk my dog
in my nightgown (if modest) or my bathrobe; I feel
free to do exactly as I wish. I attempt to be a better
person to those I interact with, and I am delighted
when asked if someone can help me!” Pam lives on
Sanibel Island, in Florida, and heads north to visit
family during the summer months.
Janet Bowden Wilson writes that she and
her husband still enjoy Savannah, Ga. She says,
“I don’t have much to report, since we haven’t
been out of Savannah in a couple of years, except
to Charleston, S.C., in June for the Spoleto
Festival. That is always a treat, because Charleston
is different in its own way and it has very fine
restaurants. We pretty much eat our way through
the city between concerts. Our two children are
well and both living in Brooklyn, N.Y.”
Nat Starr and her partner, Gayle, continue to
explore the world away from home (a retirement
village near Baltimore). They visited Albania in
2014 and Provence, France, last fall, and the two
intend to keep on adventuring.
Dee Bethell Wroth writes, “As a sporadic
contributor to the Abbot Courant (which probably
no longer exists), I am pleased and proud that four
of my children have become professional writers
at a far higher level than I ever achieved. Sarah
Zobel is a freelance writer and editor whose work
can be found on her website and often appears
in Andover magazine; she was recently hired as
senior medical writer for the mobile app AskMD.
Katharine Wroth is a writer and editor for Grist,
an online environmental publication. John Zobel
is completing a biography of early aviator Eugene
Ely; Dave Zobel is one of two writers for the NPR
program Says You and has just written a book on
the science of The Big Bang Theory (that would be
the sitcom, not the real thing).” Then there is son
Tom Calder, “a wine broker living in Paris, and
Libby Zobel, a graduate of the BU School of Social
Work, [who] has been working at that profession
in Boston for over 20 years.” Dee, who has had a
distinguished career as a steel band drummer, is
now a member of an African drumming group.
Beverly Berkey Sipes writes, “My life in
Tulsa, Okla., is happy with family, friends, good
health, and activities. Three of my children are
in Tulsa with their families; a son lives in Denver
and a daughter in Brooklyn, N.Y. In November
they had a surprise 80th birthday dinner party
for me, which was very enjoyable. The table
decorations reflected interests of mine over the
years, such as gardening, children’s books, owl
collection, painting, teaching, college sorority,
and grandchildren. I continue to usher at the
performing arts center, garden, attend Bible
scripture class, read for two book clubs, and do
aerobics. My greatest pleasure is helping with my
three youngest grandsons, ages 7, 10, and 12.”
In a phone chat with Betsy Hitzrot Evans, I
learned that she and husband Dick traveled via
buses and boats through Scandinavia last summer
with a group that included Anne Oliver Jackson
and her husband, Dick.
Audrey Taylor MacLean writes, “We had a
very quiet holiday, but all the family gathered here
in October for my big birthday. It was the first time
in eons that all the children and grandchildren had
come here to Houston. I was thrilled. The young
ones and parents stayed through Halloween. It was
such fun to have them all together.”
Bunty Benedict Ferguson and her husband
are happily ensconced in their Florida home, after
a replacement of her right knee in September.
She says, “I’m planning on getting back to tennis
and am already playing golf. Had a great summer,
which included a family reunion as a premature
celebration of my 80th (eek) birthday and a
weeklong trip to the Dordogne valley of France.
That was wonderful—I had no idea there was so
much to see there.”
Ellen Smith, also recovering from a knee
operation, flew to Nevis Island before Christmas,
Fred Fenton and Ray Oliver, both Class of ’53, lunched together in
February at the UC Faculty Club in Berkeley, Calif. The two hadn’t
see each other since graduating from PA 63 years ago.
joining a party of 12 to celebrate her brother’s 80th
birthday. Not that long ago, Ellen was zip-lining
over a forest canopy, which inspires me to say to
Ellen and to every one of us as we round the corner
into the next decade: You go, girl!
PHILLIPS
Bill Joseph
225 W. 83rd St., Apt. 5Q
New York NY 10024
347-907-4647 (cell)
[email protected]
Pete Capra sounded hale, hearty, and happy when
I called to thank him for sending the following:
“Just this past July, I made a journey, with my
20-year-old grandson, back to a ranch I worked on
62 years ago. I was one of several college kids stacking hay the old-fashioned way (not baled, as they
do now). The ranch has not changed much; the
bunkhouses, kitchen, barns, and corrals are very
much as they were then. The same family owns and
runs the ranch. However, the one-eyed foreman
is long gone! The hospitality for us Easterners was
very generous, and my grandson joined a couple
of younger family kids fence-mending. I bunked
in one of the bunkhouses; my grandson was in the
main house, where he could play the piano!
“The ranch is in Nevada, and you get to it off the
interstate by driving on a dirt road for miles. As a
city kid, when I arrived decades ago the summer
was an eye-opener to the vastness of our country
and the beauty and loneliness that envelop you out
there; that is why I longed to see it once again and
share this feeling with a younger generation. We
did not see the modern watering systems as you do
elsewhere in the West; here, you still have to work
largely with what you have had for generations,
though one concession is the use of an aircraft to
survey the land.
“This return to my younger years was as
memorable as my previous stay, and I hope it has
Several women from the Abbot Class of 1954 met for a mini reunion in October 2015 at
the Winchester, Mass., home of classmate Peggy Moore Roll. Front, from left, are Peggy,
Francie Nolde, Sue Larter Lingeman, Sylvia Thayer, Sandy Liberty, Jane Munro Barrett,
and Paula Prial Folkman. Back row: Maris Oamer Noble, Nancy Donnelly Bliss, and
Pat Skillin Pelton.
made a positive impression on my grandson as to
the vastness and diversity of our great country.”
Charlie Brodhead sent a Christmas card in
which he expressed his appreciation for Andover
magazine’s review of his novel The Quebec
Affair (published under his pen name, Robert
Penbrooke) in a previous issue. He also updated
me on his three daughters and his son.
Fred Fenton also took advantage of Christmas
to send me a copy of his annual Christmas letter.
He writes, “Those who are lucky enough to be
grandparents can imagine our pleasure in having
three delightful granddaughters. Perry, the oldest,
is in her second year at San Francisco State. She
is a top student and was chosen for a role in
Chekhov’s The Seagull. Sophia and Stella are in
primary school in Durango, Colo. We are excited
about the girls and their parents coming to spend
Christmas with us. Son David is an experienced
tech writer. His brother, James, was promoted from
reporter to business editor for the Daily News in
Farmington, N.M.”
In December, I finally got to the Mnuchin
Gallery’s exhibition of about a dozen of
Carl Andre’s sculptures. Coincidentally, the
exhibition also included several works by
Frank Stella ’54.
Don Shapiro mailed the following: “Arlene
and I moved to a life care community (actually a
12-story high-rise on the Gulf of Mexico) here in
Naples, Fla., a year ago, and we love it. No kids or
grandkids nearby, but we have Florida weather and
our many friends here in Naples.
“We just arrived today from our home in
the Berkshires, where we live from mid-May to
mid-October.” He also indicated that Margot
and George Bixby were making a similar move.
Further inquiry yielded the following from George:
“Good morning, Bill. Land line: 781-875-3121. Cell:
978-302-1110. E-mail: [email protected].
“Wife Margot and I have been very busy getting
settled at Linden Ponds in Hingham Mass., a
continuing-care retirement community. The
decision to move came suddenly this summer,
after Margot’s spine surgery in May 2015. If she
hadn’t had the surgery, there was a good chance
she would have been in a wheelchair the rest of
her life; it was becoming more and more difficult
for her to walk without assistance and go up and
down stairs. It was time to downsize and move to
a life care facility. Margot’s recovery will take more
than a year, and she is on a cane and a rollator. We
will miss Andover greatly, having lived there for
46 years and being involved so deeply with the
town, Christ Church, PA, and Lawrence, where
we have been so active with Habitat for Humanity
and now Esperanza Academy, a middle school for
girls; serving as treasurer and finance chair there
takes up a good amount of my time. Margot’s sister
moved to Linden Ponds a month before us, and
we both have sons named Andy living in Hingham.
So far, we like our new digs very much. We feel
fortunate to have such a wonderful place to spend
our remaining years.”
Evan Geilich reports he has now completed
five novels, all available on Amazon. He and
wife Grace spend six months of the year in Palm
Beach, Fla., and six months in Concord, Mass. Not
too shabby!
The indestructible Dutch Wolff is resting
comfortably at home after a week in hospital and
some rehab time.
Jack Bigelow sent the following: “Retired
after 37 years teaching upper-school math at the
Park School of Baltimore in 2000. Lost my wife
to cancer same day. Did substitute work at Park
for another four years, remarried, and moved to
Palm Coast, Fla., in 2004. Did some sub work
and tutoring and joined a community theatre
here. Currently have stepdaughter, husband,
and three girls living with us. Caring for another
stepdaughter’s kids when she or her husband is
working. Yes, staying busy!”
I wish you all a healthy, happy, and
prosperous 2016!
53
stay connected...
1954
ABBOT
Nancy Donnelly Bliss
31 Cluf Bay Road
Brunswick ME 04011-9349
207-725-0951
On Oct. 16, 2015, Francie Nolde, Sylvia
Thayer, Sandy Liberty, Jane Munro Barrett,
Paula Prial Folkman, Maris Oamer Noble,
Sue Larter Lingeman, Patti Skillin Pelton,
and I gathered at Peggy Moore Roll’s home in
Winchester, Mass. We enjoyed a delicious lunch,
and, as always, conversation flowed nonstop
and covered a variety of topics, including family
news, present activities, travel plans, and news of
other classmates.
We also had a very interesting and meaningful
discussion after lunch, generated by four articles
that Maris had sent to us ahead of time. Their titles
were “Why I Hope to Die at 75,” “The Joy of Old
Age,” “This Old Man,” and “Medicine, Hope, and
Managing Death,” all published in the past year
and a half. Maris received the articles when she
attended a series of talks on aging. Our sharing
was honest, poignant, helpful, and sprinkled with
humor and gratitude that those present were
healthy, still able to drive, living independently,
and continuing to contribute to society as well
as enjoying time for ourselves and family. In the
course of our conversations, the book Being Mortal
by Atul Gawande was mentioned several times—
not an easy read, though highly recommended.
Thanks, Maris, for your efforts in preparing us for
such a worthwhile time of sharing.
Jackie Wei Mintz took a “fascinating”
trip to Mongolia, and this past December,
her work was in a two-person art show in
Towson, Md. Debbie Huckins is doing well after a
hip replacement and planned to spend two weeks
this winter in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic,
with husband Morgan. Joan Wheeler Kaufman
and Paula belong to the Crescendo Club in Boston
and attend several musical performances a year
given by very talented young people who attend
local schools like the New England Conservatory.
Peggy hosted her book group last fall and
invited Paula to attend, as the group was discussing
Dr. Folkman’s War by Robert Cooke. The book
tells the story of Paula’s late husband, Dr. Judah
Folkman, and his cancer research. It was written
before Judah’s death, so the author was able to
interview him and to have use of his notes.
In early December, Peggy attended the Brace
Student Fellow Presentation on “A Proposal
for All-Gender Housing at PA” by Karissa
Kang ’17. Peggy reported that Karissa was very
knowledgeable and an interesting speaker. Our
class continues to support the efforts of the Brace
Center for Gender Studies, and we hoped to have
a group attend a presentation commemorating
the 20th anniversary of the Brace Center in April.
54
In addition to supporting the Brace Center, many
classmates are in the process of contributing
our memorabilia to the Abbot Archives Project.
I encourage continued support of this very
worthwhile effort in working to preserve the
history and legacy of Abbot Academy.
Speaking of Abbot’s history, one of our faculty
members died in December 2015, at the age of
96. Miss Adele Bockstedt taught French from
1949 to 1954 and kept in touch with me in recent
years; she spoke fondly of her memories of our
class. [Editor’s note: Please see Adele Bockstedt’s
obituary in the In Memorium section.] Also
on a historical note, many classmates enjoyed
seeing the pictures on the Andover website
of the replacement of the restored dome on
Abbot Hall. The photos were great, especially the
aerial views on a very clear day on campus. Most
of us confessed to never having been up to the
observatory during our time at school.
I close with a line from Martha Belknap’s
poem, “Pray For Peace,” written several years ago.
“When you’re watching children run, laughing
freely in the sun, pray for peace.” —Nancy
PHILLIPS
W. Parker Seeley Jr., Esq.
W. Parker Seeley, Jr., & Associates, PC
855 Main St., 5th Floor
Bridgeport CT 06604
203-366-3939 ext. 483
[email protected]
Again, there is very little “news” passing over my
transom as your class secretary. Perhaps we are
not obsessed with ourselves, or we are so busy in
retirement that we do not have time to jot a few
notes about the passing months and our interactions with classmates, or the 2016 “presidential
candidates show” has consumed us. For those of
us who follow Ken MacWilliams’s VCR, we do
get a lot of news about classmates’ activities there.
Steve Wilson continues to write his blog,
LetsFixthisCountry.org. Categories covered
include, but are not limited to, healthcare, foreign
policy, war, politics, education, law, and policy. It
makes for provocative reading, and there is the
option to sign up for alerts to new material, which
come about every 10 days.
Ken MacWilliams brought to our attention
Bob Feldman’s Concinnitas Project collection
of prints based on mathematical expressions
executed by famous mathematicians, physicists,
and a Turing Award–winning computer scientist,
the subject of a feature in the January 2016 issue
of Scientific American. The collection of aquatint
prints of “beautiful mathematical expressions” is
published by Bob’s Parasol Press, LTD, of Portland,
Ore., and executed by printers Harlan & Weaver,
Inc., of NYC. They are at the Nancy Hoffman
Gallery in NYC.
Not too far from that gallery is the Frank Stella
retrospective at the Whitney Museum of
American Art. Included are his irregular polygons,
which elicit in the observer the artistic effects
of geometry.
Kent McKamy arranged a class luncheon at
the Bryant Park Grille on Dec. 19, 2015, attended
by Dave Mackenzie, Bob Feldman, Bob’s
daughter Hannah Mangold, Dave Knight and
his friend Sarah Lentz, Steve Pendleton and his
wife, Charlotte, and Kent. Classmates who could
not make it: Bob Semple, who had commitments
that kept him busy at the New York Times and sent
his regrets; Dick Carlson, who was busy with
his business in Connecticut and also sent his
regrets; and, sadly, your secretary, who was also
busy with business in Connecticut. Our honorary
classmate, Dutch Wolff, found it too hard to get
down to Bryant Park, and he was missed. Kent
has been arranging these get-togethers at the
Bryant Park Grill for many years, with wives,
friends, and family always invited, and we thank
him for keeping them going for us New York–
area classmates.
Bob Semple is in his 51st year at the New York
Times, editing the editorial page and also writing
for it, mainly on environmental and energy-related
issues. Who could forget his 996 Pulitzer Prize–
winning editorials on environmental issues and, in
particular, the one about a proposed mine to have
been built on the edge of Yellowstone? He looks
forward to his 14th presidential election at the
Times. He is 61 years from his chairmanship at The
Phillipian, and recently he cochaired a successful
effort to raise an endowment for it, since it cannot
make it on its own these days. He writes, “I play
tennis once a week, depending on my partner to
track down the overheads and drop shots, work
out at the Yale Club when I can, and always—I
mean always—hold on to the rail.”
Finally I had a nice note from our beloved
Dutch Wolff. He lives in the same “castle family
tower” co-op apartment on the fourth floor of the
building where he has lived for close to 60 years.
He had a bout of rehab before Christmas for an
infection in his leg, which was badly injured in a
freak accident he suffered a number of years ago,
but he says he is getting along pretty well in spite
of his 91 years, a knee that is “as bad as it gets” (to
quote one of his surgeons), and having to climb
four flights of stairs to get in and out of his “castle.”
He loves to hear from his old Andover students,
friends for so many years; his phone number is
212-LE5-2886. (Bob Semple advises the “LE” is
for “Lehigh,” the exchange Dutch had when he
moved to NYC in the late 1950s.)
Please be sure to send me your news.
1955
ABBOT
Nancy Eastham Iacobucci
17 Wilgar Road
Etobicoke ON M8X 1J3
Canada
416-231-1670
[email protected]
The calendar flipped over to 2016 too quickly for
me. How about you? The first change actually
came about in late 2015, when Andover told me
that I needed a different e-mail address for the
magazine, since BlueLink was no longer going to
be in service. Therefore, please note my new e-mail
address, which is dedicated to the magazine and
the piles of mail I am going to receive from all of
you. (Please note that I have retained the “blue”—
Abbot blue, of course.)
Since I do not want to end this column with bad
news, I shall start with it. You may remember from
the 2015 reunion report that Kathy Stirling Dow
had attended the Abbot tea with her younger son.
She wrote me in December to say that her older
son had died, most unfortunately, on Aug. 17, 2015,
of stomach cancer. Kathy has had much more than
her share of sad happenings in the past little while,
and I’m sure you join me in sending our sympathy
to her.
Another piece of unhappy news is that our
classmate Marcia Cooper Lee died Oct. 3, 2015,
after a brief illness. (I sent an e-mail to the 18
classmates whose addresses I have, but this news
may be new for the rest of you.) After Abbot she
went to Bradford College and then Katharine
Gibbs School (aka “Katie Gibbs,” which provided
excellent training for women wanting to work
in business). She then did work in business for
many years, as a sales associate at Macy’s. She had
twin sons, who live in Steamboat Springs, Colo.,
and two grandsons, who also live in Colorado.
Unfortunately, I have no further details.
My super Christmas correspondent,
Christine Maynard, has come through again!
Unfortunately, for the few of us who attended
our 60th Reunion, she had already gone to her
cottage in New Hampshire before the reunion,
so we missed seeing her or even talking on the
telephone with her. I expect she was motivated
to get away from her Andover house as soon as
possible, since many spring storms in Andover
had left her with a lot of repairs: four ceilings
needed repainting and a further ceiling had to be
replaced—enough to make anyone want to leave
town! Fortunately, there was no damage to her
New Hampshire cottage, and her summer there
was delightful. When she wrote, she was about to
do her annual Christmas decorating, this time with
Annalee dolls. Evidently, when she unpacked them
she discovered she had so many that she picked
out just some from each category and repacked
the rest! (Being unfamiliar with Annalee dolls, I
Googled them—and I wish I had seen her house
decorated with these very cute characters!)
My other loyal reporter, Dee Fleming
King, sent an e-mail in October describing a
“spectacular” fall trip to Alaska. She evidently took
the last cruise ship of the season, since she wanted
to watch the wildlife preparing for the long winter,
and she was definitely not disappointed! Some of
her favorite sights were watching two young grizzly
brothers “out foraging by themselves for the first
winter without mom,” Dall sheep “running about
in the snow,” osprey guarding their nests, and
whales frolicking, but the highlight was holding an
8-day-old sled dog in her arms! She also had a ride
on a training sled pulled by 10 enthusiastic dogs
and commented that since she has loved training
Labradors most of her life, she felt at home in that
milieu and wondered whether there might be a
“second chance” for her as a “musher”! Altogether,
she found the trip enlightening, as well as “full of
humor and fun.” She added, “How about being out
on a dark, rainy night in a covered wagon (pulled
by two horses who did not want to be there) in
bear territory, with a guide who was afraid of
the dark?”
Dee was looking forward to her next trip,
over Thanksgiving, when she and her family
were heading to New Orleans to visit the WWII
museum there. She described the trip as a “test
to see if the grandsons are ready for a June trip to
Normandy.” My guess is that they will have been,
so stay tuned to hear about it in the magazine!
I ended my last column with the following: “As
I end this report, I am wondering whether anyone
reads this column. If you do, please send me a
quick e-mail saying that you do. If I don’t hear from
anyone, I shall assume nobody reads the column,
and I shall stop writing!” Since I now realize that
you will have received that threat after I write this, I
am repeating it. You have been warned!
PHILLIPS
Tom Lawrence
1039 1/2 Sweetzer
West Hollywood CA 90069
323-654-0286
323-804-4394 (cell)
[email protected]
Greg Miller passed away at his home in Harlan,
Iowa, on April 20, 2015, and was laid to rest at
Crawford Heights Memory Gardens in Denison.
After Andover and one year at Yale University,
he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in
Heidelberg, Germany, as a member of the 33rd
Army Band. In 1960, he married Ann-Marie
Andersson of Halmstad, Sweden. Following
discharge, he earned a bachelor’s degree in
chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, with
high honors.
The Millers moved to Seattle, where, in 1968,
Greg completed a PhD degree in inorganic
chemistry at the University of Washington.
After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University
of Southern California, he joined Marquette
Cement Manufacturing Company in Chicago,
where he worked as a research chemist. Living in
Lake Zurich, Ill., he served the Portland Cement
Association in Skokie as senior research chemist
and process development manager. An early arrival
on the front lines of environmental protection, he
was tasked with the control of gaseous pollutants.
In 1978, the family moved to Scandinavia, where
he worked for FLSmidth & Co. in Copenhagen,
Denmark. In 1981, he returned to the United
States, working first as process operations director,
then as director of research, for Ideal Cement. Greg
held many positions in the cement industry. He
was acclaimed for his development of new uses for
waste fuels and substitute raw materials.
During his career, he authored many awardwinning technical and scientific papers for the
cement industry. He earned an international
reputation for his presentations at worldwide
cement industry conferences, as well as for his
problem-solving consulting services for cement
manufacturers on six continents. He taught
technical courses at a number of cement plants as
well as at the Colorado School of Mines and was
a member of the American Chemical Society, the
American Society for Testing and Materials, and
the Air & Waste Management Association.
In 2003, he retired from Cement Technology
Laboratories in Skokie. He and his second wife,
Janet, whom he met in a divorce recovery class,
moved to Colorado, where he established a
consulting business, Cement Etc., Inc., from which
he retired in 2013.
He researched, wrote, and taught adult Sunday
School courses, sang in church choirs, and played
his alto saxophone, clarinet, jazz piano, and
ukulele at worship services, annual gatherings of
the 33rd Army Band, and many social gatherings
and family reunions. He sang with the Denver
Lutheran Chorale and the Denver Mountaineers,
a barbershop chorus. He is survived by Janet,
two daughters, three grandsons, and eight
step-grandchildren.
Steve Kaye, who says he retired from farming
“because the bulls and the boars got too big and
I no longer wanted to tangle with them,” is still
tangling with reporters and advertisers as editor of
the Millbrook (New York) Independent. He reports
he was hoping to sell the paper “to a successor who
wanted to work 45 hours a week gratis and have a
ball funding the thing. No takers.”
Steve says he’s never been happier than at this
stage of life. He and wife Belinda visited Poland last
August for a music festival and then met friends in
Italy for a tour of the wine country.
Julie and Mark Gordon enjoyed Paris in
April 2015 and an immersive nature outing to
the Galapagos Islands last November. Most of us
travel long distances north and south to maintain
a comfortable climatic environment. When
things get too toasty for Mark and Julie in Tucson,
Ariz., they take a much shorter route––a vertical
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stay connected...
one––to a nearby place called Pinetop, which
sounds both smart and cool.
Dil Cannon was recently the coverboy for the
magazine Orthopedics Today, which reported on
his extensive research into training methods for
orthopedic residents. With advances in medical
technology and changes in the health care system,
the way residents are being trained has shifted
from a traditional master-apprentice model to
one of proficiency-based progression training
and simulation.
Dil, who has spent many years at the University
of California San Francisco Medical Center, noted,
“In 2013, the Accreditation Council for Graduate
Medical Education stated that every orthopedic
training institution must incorporate some
form of surgical skills training in their curricula,
whether it is something as straightforward as a
cadaver lab, or low-fidelity simulation such as a
knot-tying board, or—as technology improves
and costs come down—high-fidelity simulation.
Using a surgical simulator to train residents can
help them to reach a predetermined level of high
proficiency and allow them to go into the OR and
fine-tune their skills starting from a higher level.
The result could be fewer surgical errors.”
A previously published study by Dil and his
colleagues showed that residents who underwent
knee arthroscopy training on a simulator to a
predetermined proficiency level performed
significantly better according to a procedural
checklist, compared with residents who continued
institution-specific orthopedic education training.
A copy of African American Doctors of World
War I, coauthored by Doug Fisher and Joann
Buckley, arrived just before Christmas. I haven’t
quite finished reading it yet but am finding this
scrupulously researched compendium of 104
short biographies of these pioneering volunteers
inspiring and eye-opening. Students of early-20thcentury military history, politics, medicine, and/
or civil rights, take notice.
Marilyn and David Haartz have pretty much
run out of new ports of call and so have resorted
to venues most often chosen for the purpose of
hiding one’s money and identity. Reunion Island,
Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Malta
were on the itinerary this year. And hanging out
in the western Indian Ocean presented our class
globe-trotters with their first “pirate drill.” What is
the proper reply to “Argh”? …Y.
56
1956
60th REUNION
June 9–12, 2016
ABBOT
Anne Woolverton Oswald
7862 East Greythorn Drive
Superstition Mountain AZ 85118
480-374-4281
317-502-0339 (cell)
[email protected]
Our 60th Reunion is June 10–12. Please take
time to join your classmates at what should be a
great event.
I heard from Eleanor Rulon-Miller York.
She will miss reunion but has a good excuse. Her
granddaughter is getting married. Also, another
great-grandbaby was due in March.
Ellen Welles Linn reports on a new hip. She is
back to Pilates and walking several times a week.
Ellen and husband Gene were expecting their first
grandchild in January.
Husband Bob and I spent Christmas week with
daughter Anne in Virginia Beach, Va. It was 79
degrees the day after Christmas, so we were able to
take a long walk on their gorgeous beach. Weather
changed the next day.
This past winter found us in Arizona, where
it was cold and wet, thanks to El Niño. Hope
to see more news forthcoming. Let me hear
from you, please. And try to get to the reunion!
Hugs, Woolvie
PHILLIPS
Phil Bowers
322 W. 57th St., Apt. 30F
New York NY 10019
212-581-0538
[email protected]
Philip R. Hirsh Jr.
106 Body’s Neck Road
Chester MD 21619
[email protected]
Our 60th Reunion is only days away, and if the
results are proportional to the energy being
invested by the planning committee, it will be a
ringing success. As these notes are being written,
six months out, there are 18 PA and Abbot
classmates hard at work on every aspect of the
event, determined to make it the equal of our
fabulous 50th. There is no detail too small for this
group. Take the Reunion Catering Committee,
for example: Planning at a distance didn’t work,
so they met at Paresky Commons to sample and
select Saturday night’s bill of fare. And bring your
dancing shoes, because there will be a band to
serenade us as we dance away the evening under
a paper moon. And by special arrangement, the
ghost of Lester Lanin will appear at midnight to
sing “Goodnight Ladies.” That is just one part of
a weekend overflowing with social, educational,
and fine dining activities. And don’t forget:
Generous classmates have covered the cost of
all campus events. The current record for a 60th
Reunion is 59 PA and Abbot returnees. We had
135 at our 50th, so we ought to be able to add a
new attendance record to our already crowded
trophy case.
Making my telephone rounds, I hear repeatedly
that memories of the 50th are a powerful
motivating factor in deciding to return. There is a
feeling that our class is exceptionally cohesive and
that we really know how to throw a party. The 50th
was Frank Killilea’s first reunion, and he enjoyed
it so much he is planning to make it back again.
In talking about his experience at Andover, Frank
remembers that being a day student kept him from
fully feeling a part of the class zeitgeist, a lingering
feeling of isolation that was erased at the 50th. The
key frustration for all the day students was not
being allowed to board and really join student life.
Frank recalls, “We were relegated to a room in the
basement of the library, but even that was difficult
because Joe Pellegrino smoked us all out.” And
they couldn’t do much about it, because Joe was
the day student proctor. I remember a similar
conversation with Joe five years ago. In spite of
playing baseball and soccer, being in student
congress, and forming many durable friendships,
not being allowed to board took something away
from Joe’s experience.
Andy Leaf was also a day student, but he
managed to get into Paul Revere as a senior—
just how, he didn’t say. He, too, remembers the
isolation of the library basement and Joe’s nonstop
smoking. Andy is “practically retired” from
consulting work in organizational development.
He is also “open-minded” on coming back for the
60th. Orrin Hein is hoping to reroute a planned
extended stay at his home in Paris in order to
attend. Skip Klemm reports that muscular
dystrophy has finally put him in a wheelchair, and
though he says he is doing “quite well,” he isn’t
sure about the reunion. He says, “I’d love to come
back again to the school that changed my life, and
it’s still on my calendar, but I’m not sure I can do
it. Someone would have to push me around.” I
assured him there would no shortage of friends to
see to his needs.
We have two notes from Europe. Victoria
and Bill Ellington are coming from their new
home in Belgium. Anticipating the fallout from
England’s 2017 referendum on quitting the EU,
they decided to leave London. “No matter the
outcome, Brussels is the place to be,” writes
Bill. From Vienna, Bill Kieffer sent his regrets
and “best regards to all our class members” in a
handwritten note—no computer for Bill. Along
with fond recollections of our Berlin trip, he
reported his continuing immersion in the Vienna
music scene: “I am still singing in the choir of the
Russian Orthodox Church and play trombone
(jazz and swing) and the flute (classical).” He is
also in the Vindobona Old Stars jazz band; look
him up on YouTube. In between gigs, Bill managed
a trip to Cuba with a Williams College travel study
group, “thereby setting foot on Cuban soil for the
first time since my family left the island in 1947.”
Whew!
Too often we find out belatedly about the loss
of a classmate. Jan van Amerongen died in fall
2014 at his home in Amelia Island, Fla. Jan and wife
Pat retired in 1998 and moved to Florida so they
could enjoy year-round tennis, golf, and life on
the oceanfront. Jan was captain of the Penn tennis
team, and he and Pat played serious competitive
doubles tennis. “But most of all,” Pat said, noting
Jan’s dry humor, “he loved the ocean and spent
hours staring out over the Atlantic. When people
asked him what he was looking for, he would say he
was waiting to see two waves exactly alike.”
Bob Berlind died just before Christmas. Bob
was an extraordinary artist, art historian, and
writer. Take a Google tour to see his art and read
about his many awards and museum commissions.
One critic described Bob’s art as “rooted in
landscape, reflecting a scholar’s knowledge of the
history of art.” Another said, “He painted with the
gestures of a tai chi practitioner, gradually exposing
all dimensions of space and time.” Phil Bowers
and Jeremy Nahum attended Bob’s funeral in
NYC. Jeremy spoke at the service. He described
Bob as his “friend of longest standing, who helped
get me through the four worst years of my life, my
years at Andover. His playfulness, mischievousness,
and affection for all were models in how to live
and let live.” Jeremy had the chance to spend time
with Bob just before he died. He said, “He never
felt bitter, never bemoaned his fate, and remained
interested in others to the very end.”
Sixty years out and our memories and
friendships are still powerful, still defining us.
Come back to the reunion and rekindle the fire.
—Phil Hirsh
1957
ABBOT
Anne Boswell
5 Choate Road
Hanover NH 03755-1701
603-643-5043
[email protected]
Lucinda “Lulu” Cutler
267 Legend Hill Road
Madison CT 06443-1881
203-779-5859
[email protected]
I (Lulu Cutler) was treated on Jan. 8 to a special
day in New Haven, Conn., enjoying a wonderful
lunchtime visit with Jody Bradley Bush (our hostess), Dinah Hallowell Barlow, and Mimi Ganem
Reeder at the Union League Café. The three of
them had visited the latest exhibition at the Yale
University Art Gallery. Our two-hour lunch
passed as if we were sitting in a cozy dorm room
having a fun chat (lots of it).
Jody, Dinah, and Penny Holbrook had an
adventurous cruise Downeast on a 62-foot
catamaran owned by Jody’s son Jonathan
Bush ’87’s company, athenahealth. In June, I
(Lulu) had a special family reunion in Bermuda
hosted by my son Alec and his wife, Laura, who
live there. It is such a gift to be with my three sons
and their families; I have seven grandchildren,
ages 13 to 18. James IV is a freshman at Holy Cross
and in NROTC like his dad, Jim, was. Anna is
in a postgrad year at Exeter and will attend the
U.S. Naval Academy like her dad, Alec, did. All
the grandchildren are active and happy and love
being together. I planned to attend an AA-PA
luncheon in Vero Beach, Fla., where I recently
spent two months.
Louisa Lehmann Birch added the following
news: “In November, Lulu and I attended a show
of Elizabeth Enders’s paintings called Come
In, at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New
London and Real Art Ways in Hartford, both in
Connecticut. Of her paintings, Elizabeth writes,
‘So I paint—abstracting rivers, oceans, mountains,
fields, language—using lines, marks, glyphs to
open the doors of the subconscious.’
“The program began at the Lyman Allyn,
where we observed an exhibition of Elizabeth’s
works. The breadth of her paintings shown here
was great. Included were many watercolors on
paper, all abstract but many clearly of the sea, and
others of land and sky. There were oil paintings
on linen, some with her famous markings and
others with her familiar repeated words. Referring
to these, Elizabeth writes, ‘Mark making is about
filling in the blanks, making something complete.
It’s about making sense of things.’
“Also included were a variety of handsome
botanicals, mostly in watercolor. An art professor
from Connecticut College went about the gallery
with us, discussing Elizabeth’s paintings.
“A delicious luncheon was served in the
handsome library of the art museum. From here
we went to Real Art Ways in Hartford. Lulu drove
me, and we had a wonderful time catching up!
“The two settings—the handsome classical
museum and the renovated industrial building—
couldn’t have been more different. Seeing
Elizabeth’s paintings in these two settings gave
them more breadth and meaning. Many small
watercolors and markings were here, as were penand-ink drawings of botanicals and underwater
creatures. More of the lovely watercolors of the
sea were included. The show was dominated by
several large oil paintings on linen, the central one
of the sea seen best from a distance. Summer Days,
with the sun shining on the shimmering water and
the calm blue sky, gave a feeling of peace.
“My drive from my home in New Hampshire
was a long one. Elizabeth and husband Anthony
kindly invited me to spend the night with them
in their handsome home with a spectacular river
view. How fortunate I was to see even more of
Elizabeth’s large oil canvases and to enjoy their
delightful company in such a beautiful setting. This
visit was indeed the highlight of my fall.”
Please send news. Love to all. —Lulu and Anne
PHILLIPS
Stephen C. Trivers
151 South Rose St., Suite 611
Kalamazoo MI 49007
269-385-2757
[email protected]
Gregory Wierzynski
4426 Klingle St., NW
Washington DC 20016
202-686-9104
[email protected]
Class website: www.andover57.ning.com
As my scribal colleague, Stephen Trivers, notes,
“Thanksgiving and Christmas are big holidays,
bringing families from one end of the USA to
another,” and many of us are breathing a big “Oof!”
now that they’re over. In Triv’s case, he and his
wife, Irene, spent Thanksgiving in Portland, Ore.,
with their two daughters, their daughters’ spouses,
and three grandchildren. A highlight for Triv was
attending the Oregon-OSU game with his sons-inlaw. “The game was close, but it was very cold and
I was frozen,” Triv reports. Three weeks later, Triv
greeted the whole gang at the Kalamazoo, Mich.,
airport. Everybody managed to squeeze into Triv’s
guest rooms. He says, “We had several activities for
the granddaughters, ages 8, 9, and 10, like swimming in the indoor pool in our community center
and ice skating. All of us had a great time. Irene and
I fell asleep as soon as they left. When we woke up,
it was 12 hours later.”
Similarly, John Finney had an epic Christmas,
complete with nieces and nephews and their
children, a brother and sister-in-law, a cousin,
her son, and the son’s lady friend from London.
“We now have a fourth-generation PA student,”
John reports. “My father was ’22, my brother ’49,
myself ’57, nephew Jay Finney ’75, and now Jay’s
son Quint is Class of ’18.” John is active as a board
member of two community not-for-profits and as
an elder of his Presbyterian church.
Diane and Phil Olsson spent the holidays
ensconced in their house on Sanibel Island,
in Florida, now their principal residence.
Overnighting there before Thanksgiving, wife
Barbara and I found Phil well recovered from his
orthopedic misadventures. Earlier, in Washington,
D.C., Phil threw an SRO book party for his
daughter Karen, author of a novel called All the
Houses. At the same time, Results, a film by Karen’s
husband, was singled out by the New York Times as
one of three gems that should, but probably would
not, be nominated for an Oscar, prompting Phil to
observe, “I didn’t realize that Oscar nominations
were so much like the Republican Party, where
57
stay connected...
the opinion of the New York Times seems not
to matter.”
While in Florida, Barbara and I also
shared a long and chatty dinner with Nancy
and Gil Wright. After years of lawyering in
Massachusetts, they moved to Jacksonville and
now wax eloquent about the genteel Southern
traditions of their new home. I wish I could say
the same about Washington.
In November, John Austin produced another
of his opera extravaganzas. Tom Terry was
there and provided this report: “John, at his
impresario best, rounded up a semiprofessional
orchestra of around 50, including Jim Cook on
trombone and John playing bass, plus a group of
fine soloists and a chorus of around 40, including
me and my wife, Lee, Jim Stewart, and Brian
Pendleton. We performed Oberon, a three-act
opera by Carl Maria von Weber. This opera is
sillier than most—so silly, in fact, that the Met
hasn’t performed it since 1921. But it’s got great
music, and we all had a great time hanging out
with each other.”
Tom then goes on to add, “I’ve been musing
about the way we individually have the possibility
to create value for others. I started thinking about
this at Austin’s opera, realizing what a lot of time
and effort he has put in nurturing his passion
for sharing musical activities with others. As a
result, hundreds of us who have connections
to John have benefitted and added value to our
lives because of him. My wife and I started a
Renaissance a cappella vocal group some 40 years
ago, and I was reminded by some nice thank-you
notes over Christmas that we, too, have created
value for others, through something that started
out as our own passion for Renaissance music.”
Now that he’s retired, Bob Darnton has
begun to accept invitations that, because of
his demanding schedule, previously got an
automatic “no.” Bob writes, “The only condition
I attach is that my host pay for my wife’s fare as
well as mine. So we have been traveling: Dublin,
Oslo, Frankfurt, Vicenza, Modena, Lugano, and
Buenos Aires, and we are currently packing for
Amsterdam, Paris, and Uppsala. When I return to
Cambridge to do the laundry, I try to take off a few
days to make progress on the next book.”
For the past two years, John Hansman, as
president of his homeowners’ association, has
sought to have his community in Rockville,
Md., added to the National Register of Historic
Places. So far, the process has been slow. An
urban planner, John spent most of his career
working for Maryland’s Montgomery County
government. He’s also done pastoral work at his
Unitarian church.
Jim Blackmon, our class rocket scientist,
reports he has discovered irrefutable proof of
global warming: “We now have armadillos in
northern Alabama,” he writes from Huntsville.
Their armor can puncture a tire, he warns, adding,
“The folklore about possums—that, contrary
to popular belief, possums are not born dead
58
along the side of the road—can now be changed
to ‘armadillos.’ ”
Karl Milde, our lawyer-inventor, has turned
his talents to gun safety. Over the holidays, he
was awarded two patents, bringing his total of
gun-control patents to six. All involve the use of a
smartphone to frustrate unauthorized users.
In his class letter, Bill Sterling vents his
frustration with the current state of affairs in
the land and suggests a cure: Go local. So he’s
immersing himself in efforts to improve the
Anderson Valley (Calif.) school system, a rural
enterprise that is, he writes, “underpaid, short on
resources, and challenged to find young teachers
willing to stay.”
It’s time to start thinking about our (yikes!)
60th Reunion. Arkie Koehl has formed what he
calls a motley crew of Bill Cox, Grabo Keator,
Al Blanchard, Jim Blackmon, Bill Sterling, Tom
Terry, Triv, and yours truly to plan a suitable
program. The dates are June 9–11, 2017. A great
summer to all. —G
1958
ABBOT
Parry Ellice Adam
33 Pleasant Run Road
Flemington NJ 08822-7109
908-782-3754
[email protected]
Seems as if we’ve all “just settled in for a long
winter’s nap”! No news for now. We’ll look forward
to the exodus from hibernation.
That’s it for this session. Thanks so much.
—Parry
PHILLIPS
Dermod O. Sullivan
Carlton House, Apt. 3-L
35 North Chatsworth Ave.
Larchmont NY 10538
315-750-0385 or 914-834-6816
[email protected]
I caught up with good friend Don Richardson,
retired and living on Long Island, N.Y. Don has a
good-news health story. In early 2011, he had back
surgery, which was a failure. Infections set in and
were not diagnosed, even after three follow-up
appointments, and he became crippled in a
bent-over fashion. Don went on his own doctor
search, interviewing numerous New York hospitals
that he rejected because they were either not
accepting insurance or prohibitively expensive.
He finally settled on an orthopedic surgeon from
NYU Langone Medical Center, which specializes
in spinal deformity. In April 2013, reconstructive
surgery was performed on Don’s back. We are
happy to report that the operation was a complete
success: Don is no longer bent over and is walking
naturally upright. Attentive readers of this column
will remember that Don is an avid sailor and had
been commodore of the Seawanhaka Corinthian
Yacht Club on Long Island. He is now able to
resume his competitive sailing, performing all the
strenuous activities of that sport.
Sam Friedman founded AFCO Realty in 1971
to provide commercial real estate services to the
business community. AFCO has become a major
factor in Atlanta real estate. Although I caught Sam
at home, he is still active in the business, doing
deals and closing transactions when he is not at his
second home on St. Simons Island, on the coast
near Sea Island, Ga.
Sam has contributed much to the
Atlanta community, and one of his proudest
accomplishments is creating the PATH
Foundation, serving on the board for more than 20
years. His title is founding chairman of the board.
The PATH Foundation has raised more than
$50 million to construct open pathways around
Atlanta and has built more than 200 miles of such
paths since its creation. Sam was inspired to start
the PATH Foundation by his years as a jogger,
recognizing the beneficial effect open greenways
have on quality of life. Sam is also chairman of the
board of the Atlanta Kiwanis.
Sam recently took his grandchildren to France,
visiting the Normandy memorials. All lovers
of freedom and liberty should make this tour.
Afterward, he self-published a book about the trip.
Two years ago, I took my two boys (plus my
youngest’s intended) to Austria and Germany
and did an old-fashioned leather-bound album,
including photos, museum entrance tickets, beer
coasters (of course!), and other ephemera. This
summer I’m taking the two boys trout fishing in
Montana and plan to do a similar album.
Bill Stiles passed on the sad news that
Charlie Kellogg passed away Sept. 21, 2015.
Charlie went to PA for two years and then
transferred to Holderness School in N.H. to
graduate. From the start, Charlie was an ardent
skier, and it seems apparent that he decided to
go to Holderness to be closer to that first love,
skiing. He then went to Williams, where he was a
classmate of Frank Morse and the late John Reid.
He was captain of the ski team and the crosscountry team. He also served as graduate president
of the class. After Williams, he earned a business
degree at the Tuck School at Dartmouth. Bill Stiles
writes, “Charlie was at our PA 50th Reunion for
part of it; the other part of the weekend he was at
Holderness. I talked to Charlie at length during
the Addison tour, a very enjoyable conversation.”
Frank Morse effectively represented the class at
Charlie’s memorial service in Manchester, Mass.
Charlie was a singular character, and, although
I remember him, I was unaware of his transfer
to Holderness and completely unaware of his
accomplishments. He served in the Army from
1963 to 1965 in Alaska with the modern winter
biathlon team, where he obtained two years of
intense training and the experience of international
competition. That enabled him to gain the top
American finish at the 1964 world military
competition in Sweden. He also had time to hunt
and fish in Alaska on the government’s nickel. After
the Army, Charlie started a 30-year career with
IBM. He became the biathlon national champion
in 1965 and raced in the 1968 Olympics in
Grenoble, Switzerland. Imagine that! An Olympic
contestant from the Class of 1958! IBM frequently
resettled Charlie’s family: to Shelburne, Vt., to
Hong Kong, and to Rochester, N.Y. I remember
hearing that IBM stands for “I’ve Been Moved,” and
Charlie was a prime example. Following his career
with IBM, Charlie became a consultant for Global
Partners in Cambridge, Mass., where he continued
exercising his skills in international business
marketing. Charlie and his wife, Gillian, settled
in Manchester, Mass., close to family and not far
from his favorite ski trails in Jackson, N.H. Charlie’s
passion for racing had kept him on the U.S. ski
team through 1972 and earned him a gold in 1998
at the World Masters XC Ski Championships.
His zeal for cross-country skiing, biathlon, and
running also led him to support many young
racers. He served 15 years on the U.S. biathlon
board and as a board member of the Jackson Ski
Touring Foundation. His delight in trail building,
formed during his five years as an Appalachian
Mountain Club “hut man,” was recently reprised
in his leadership work with the Manchester Essex
Conservation Trust, where he served as president.
He is survived by his wife, Gillian Shaw Kellogg,
his children, and their spouses.
1959
ABBOT
Nathalie Taft Andrews
2407 Ransdell Ave.
Louisville KY 40204
502-459-5715
[email protected]
Susie Goodwillie Stedman sent me her beautifully written Twelfth Night 2016 letter for me to
share with you. Here are some highlights.
“My heart aches for our broken planet, but I
am struck by grace all around me—blessings far
beyond my share—including friends, like you,
whom I cherish and who sustain me. My travels
to Iceland and Israel, with nearer destinations in
between, enriched my understanding of real life on
this lovely blue marble.
“When not a grateful guest in so many beautiful
places, I am an Airbnb host, having achieved
‘super host’ status after 11 of 12 sets of guests this
past summer each gave me a five-star rating! Hot
dog. Though I go steady with the washer-dryer
in season, I enjoy the worldly company and
appreciate the income.
“Having joined a memoir writing group, I
intend, finally, to try to make something of the
two-and-a-half years of conversations with mom
that I recorded at the end of her life. I will celebrate
chairing my last meeting of the Abbot Academy
Association at Andover in May with gratitude—
for the marvelous experience it has been and for
my liberty!
“I smile at the many morning walks, midday
meals, afternoon teas, and lovely evenings with
friends that seem increasingly to make up the warp
and woof of my days. I’ll not imagine leaving this
place of peace and glory. In the run-up to 75, I feel
ridiculously well. I hope you do, too, and that you
have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and joy
in your heart.”
Sue Calnan Bates’s biggest news is her newest
granddaughter, Avlin Josephine, born in January.
“She is the first child of our younger son and his
wife. So now we have five granddaughters, and the
oldest will be off to college in the fall. I still run
agility with the youngest of our three goldens. Still
role-play for medical students at UVa, and Ben still
is a docent at Montpelier.”
Missy Iams Kittredge will head back to
Panama to avoid the cold weather in Ohio. In
the meantime, she writes, “One of the things
that amuse me up here in rural Ohio: squirrels
love apple peelings, carrot tips, and squash and
pumpkin scrapings that I toss out on top of the
septic tank in the backyard instead of dumping in
the compost. And then I get to watch the squirrels
while I’m working on the computer. Doesn’t take
much to keep me happy at 74.”
Ann Travers Butler and Sandra Moulton
Burridge are stirring up interest in remembering
our years at Abbot. Ann challenges us to remember
all the kooky things we did as students. Here is
what she wrote: “As I woke up on the first of this
month it actually entered my head that I should
say ‘rabbit rabbit’ before I spoke another word. If
I didn’t say ‘rabbit rabbit’ at that moment I would
have to walk downstairs backwards and then say it.
This little oddity I learned more than 55 years ago
at Abbot and remembering it all these years later
is even more of an oddity. It might be fun to see
how many other little peculiarities our classmates
remember. How about looking for the seal on
the back of your dinner plate? If it was an Indian
head (blue, I think) you were going to get a letter;
if not, then no letter. Or Tiffin and Fortnightlys?
Or Gargoyles (yeah!) and Griffins? You can
either chalk this up to insanity or run with it, dear
class scribe.”
From Oxford, U.K., Sandra Moulton Burridge
adds, “I am very much interested in the Abbot
Archives project, even though so far I haven’t
managed to get my stuff together to send in. I
do intend to do it. But the urge to go and spend
some time in the attic rummaging in boxes that
have crossed the Atlantic several times has yet to
come upon me forcefully enough. It is more fun
to go to London to play with my new grandchild,
age 10 months.”
The history and memories of Abbot are being
eroded with time. The Class of 1973, Abbot’s final
class, aware of the importance of preserving our
history, conceived the Abbot Archives Project.
Our school archives have many official documents
but lack the full student voice—the snippets
of personal recollection that give richness and
context to those records. If you want to submit
photographs, scrapbooks, letters, journals, and
other items, contact Paige Roberts, director of
archives and special collections, at 978-749-4069
or by e-mail at [email protected].
Let’s do it!
PHILLIPS
David Othmer
4220 Spruce St.
Philadelphia PA 19104
215-387-7824
[email protected]
There are more than 1,000 World Heritage Sites
across the globe, and more than 250 World
Heritage Cities. Pompeii, for example, is a World
Heritage Site; Naples and Rome are World
Heritage Cities. In the United States, there are
about 20 WHS—including Yosemite, Taos
Pueblo, the Great Smokey Mountains, Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park—but until a few months
ago, there was not a single U.S. city on the WHC
list. Italy has 28, France 12, Russia seven, Spain 18,
and Mexico 11. That changed as a result of several
years of intense effort by Susan and John Smith,
among other Philadelphians. Philadelphia is now
the U.S.’s first WHC. Sites are named to the list for
their beauty and historical significance. Cities are
named because of what they stand for: Philadelphia was chosen because of the influence that the
Declaration of Independence and Constitution
have had on governments and people all over the
world in the past 200-plus years. John, as board
chair of the Global Philadelphia Association,
worked for years on this project. He traveled, he
cajoled, he lectured, he charmed, and, best of all,
he succeeded. Huge congratulations to him and,
of course, Susan, without whom he would be just
some guy named John Smith.
Scott Thompson, who, along with John
Howland, was born Jan. 1, 1942, celebrated with
fireworks in Manila and at his “beach” house on a
volcanic lake south of the city. Despite back pains,
he continues to thrive.
Kirby Jones reports, “I still go to Cuba once or
twice a year. Going at end of March with my one
client, which is about all I want to handle these
days. All OK in semiretirement in Arizona.” Kirby’s
decades-long relationship with Cuba and the
Castros has given him an extraordinary perspective
on a fascinating aspect of history, which is now
continuing to evolve.
Steve Foss, whose wife Pat died in 2009,
married Leslie Lascheid about a year ago. They
live in Naples, Fla., and are good friends with
Tom Kukk, who lives just down the street.
Dave Harris continues his remarkable
reinvention in Florida. He writes, “I’m acting in
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Memphis, which won the Tony for best musical in
2010. Spent New Year’s Eve volunteering for First
Night St. Petersburg, an arts and music event in its
23rd year.”
And speaking of reinvention, Jim Hayman’s
career as thriller writer keeps getting better. He
writes, “My latest, The Girl in the Glass, after two
stops at No. 14, hit No. 6 on the New York Times
e-book bestseller list for Jan. 10, sharing honors
with the likes of Patterson, Grisham, Baldacci, and
Michael Crichton.”
John Doherty has basically reinvented himself
physically, writing, “I had a knee replaced back
in October 2015, and with an artificial shoulder,
hip, and knee I am now loaded with titanium,
vanadium, and cobalt. Query: Who gets all that
when I croak? No doubt the class legal beagles will
be able to answer that.” He also underwent three
months of radiation for prostate cancer. Despite all
that, he’s remarkably cheery and energetic!
Peter Moock continues to work part time: with
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
and the World Bank, on a National Education
Action Plan for the Solomon Islands, and chairing
the international outreach committee of the alumni
council of Columbia University Teachers College.
Wife Joyce is equally busy—consulting, writing,
and traveling to Africa four times last year.
Charlie Kivowitz is “still a working stiff ” and
plans to “continue practicing medicine among the
Beverly Hillbillies.”
Doug Jenner reported that while we in the
East were going through an extraordinarily mild
beginning of winter, he was experiencing “an actual
winter here in Colorado—snowy and very cold.
Great for cross-country skiing, which is my best
low-impact enjoyable exercise!” He saw fellow
Coloradan Pepper Stuessy a few months ago. “He’s
doing great and traveling extensively,” says Doug.
Be well, and thanks for all the notes about the
birthdays! Enjoy them all.
1960
ABBOT
Virginia P. Agar
41 Dix Point Road
Bernard ME 04612
207-266-1705
[email protected]
Great appreciation and commendations to
Lynne Furneaux Clark and spouse Dave for their
class notes contributions through the years; best of
luck to them as they navigate Dave’s serious health
issues. Congratulations on the celebration of their
51st wedding anniversary!
Sadly, we have lost two classmates, Anna Dudley
Egan and Janet Dennison Frake. Condolences to
their families and loved ones.
A successful mini reunion, our 55th, was held
in Santa Fe, N.M., in October 2015, with 14 “Abbot
Rabbits” in attendance.
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Hannah Jopling reports, “We had such fun; we
decided we should meet more often. I suggested we
go on a river cruise. Kathy Stevens has offered to
help, and I welcome suggestions.”
Charlotte Palmer Moreno writes, “It’s great to
be in touch again with such wonderful women.”
Dorothy Tod writes, “I am sorry to be missing
you all in New Mexico; I have just returned from a
kayak expedition on the Dalmatian Coast—great
paddling and lots of excellent seafood!”
On another note, Hannah Jopling has written
Life in a Black Community: Striving for Equal
Citizenship in Annapolis, Maryland, 1902–1952. Her
e-mail address is [email protected], if any of you
wish to order her book; she recommends finding it
at your local library. All congratulations, Hannah!
Meg Wilkins Noel writes that she and her
husband celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary
in France: “A wonderful trip, full of history lessons
about the wars between England and France in the
medieval times and WWII.”
Cally Sherman Williams writes that she and
her husband, Frank, have taken four of the five
grandchildren on the spring break trip of their
choice when they turned 10; the Big Island, in
Hawaii, was one expedition. Cally and Frank had
a three-week trip to Uzbekistan just before the
reunion in N.M. Cally also says she is able to spend
many days in her pottery studio, still discovering
new glazes and shapes.
Lexa Crane’s new e-mail address is
[email protected]. She writes that her
grandson “went off to Auburn University this fall
to try the architecture major and granddaughter
is a sophomore in high school, runs a mean crosscountry, and plays volleyball.” Lexa still has the
dream of publishing but is not there yet.
Jill Kohler writes, “After 39 years in my
Barrington, Ill., village house, I moved to a house
on Timber Lake, about 15 miles north of the old
house. My new address is 470 East Lake Shore
Drive, Barrington IL 60016-1470. Home phone is
847-865-0945; cell phone is 847-224-7187. Just
had my second cataract removed—everything
looks so different!”
Anne Kales Howson has sent us a recent family photo with her spouse, Jeff, children, and their
spouses and children, including newest grandson,
Cooper Howson. She missed the reunion because
of a monthlong trip to Spain, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, China, Tibet, Laos, Myanmar, and Jordan.
Lindsay Knowlton’s e-mail address, for any
clarification needed, is [email protected].
I am planning to move from Mount Desert
Island, Maine, to the Phoenix area, where I will be
closer to family. Hopefully, the marketing of a small
saltwater farm on the Atlantic Coast won’t be too
difficult a process!
All the best to each of you; I look forward
to more news coming in for our next column!
—Ginny
PHILLIPS
Mike Burlingame
111 North Sixth St., Apt. 301
Springfield IL 62701
217-206-7364 (work)
217-299-9306 (cell)
[email protected]
Larry Gillis continues teaching legal studies
courses online for the University of Maryland University College, mostly from poolside in Fort Myers,
Fla. He also teaches a writing course in Florida Gulf
Coast University’s Renaissance Academy. He and
wife Marcia pass their summers on the seacoast of
New Hampshire.
Also summering in New Hampshire is
Toby Tompkins, who reports that he spends the
rest of the year quietly in NYC, where he says he
is “still living happily with wife Patsy (née Hobbs),
after 44 years.” (Is this a record for our class? If any
of you have celebrated more than 44 anniversaries,
let me know!) “No kids, by mutual consent, but
we’re on our third pair of Siamese cats. I don’t act
anymore, having abandoned that career for a surefire
way to make big bucks: writing. Mostly fiction, but
I have yet to attract a publisher, perhaps because
my stuff is hard to pigeonhole. But for a number of
years, I’ve been a monthly contributor to a quirky
little publication on the West Coast called Black
Lamb, which uses only essays, book reviews, and bits
of memoir—no poetry or fiction. The contributors
are just as quirky, ranging from a woman who
runs a funeral home to a guy who used to coach
basketball in Italy, another guy who’s slightly to the
right of Donald Trump, our far saner classmate
John Daniel, and other writers of various bents, all
of them good at putting words together.”
Speaking of John Daniel, in a recent blog post, he
offered a reflection on the power of memory that has
special relevance for those of us recalling our days
on Andover Hill. John had written an essay about
his father, who died when he was only 2. He says, “I
told of the many fine things I had learned about my
father, from friends and family members who knew
him well. I also mentioned that he was occasionally
beset by lengthy stretches of melancholy, which my
mother called his ‘Welsh moods.’
“I made the mistake of sending a tear sheet of the
article to my older brother, who knew our father
well, because my brother was 15 when our father
died. So well does my brother remember our father
that he wrote back and corrected me. Apparently,
our father was not moody, but was always cheerful.
“My mistake was not that I got my facts wrong.
My mistake was to send this essay to my brother.
What was I thinking? I should have suspected that
he would be disturbed to read that his hero might
occasionally have been gloomy.
“The lesson I learned from this mistake: Choose
your audience. And remember, happily, that
memory is a creative, inaccurate record. If you have
siblings and you write about your parents, chances
are your memories will not match theirs. No two
siblings remember the same parents.
“In the same vein, don’t go to a high school or
college reunion expecting to share memories with
people who were once your closest friends. Chances
are they will remember the moments
quite differently, or not at all. Expect them to tell
tales about you, with events that never happened,
you think.”
Ted Martin has several children—five, to be
exact, and they have provided him and his wife
with 11 grandchildren, among them twins born
last September. He also has several enthusiasms,
including Shakespeare, Churchill, and grand opera.
He says he enjoys “playing leadership roles (like
president) on boards of organizations that are
concerned with those subjects.” A man after my own
heart, he adds that “Lincoln, too, is an enthusiasm of
mine. I am giving each of my children at Christmas
a little book of his speeches. I reread his second
inaugural almost every year and sob over the beauty
of the words and the feelings behind them. My wife
and I are catching up on trips abroad after all those
stay-at-home years with the kids.”
Last October, Allen Ward became president
of the Classical Association of Connecticut and
reports that in that capacity he is busy “trying
to organize events and programs that will bring
together both secondary-school and college/
university classics faculty in order to strengthen
classics programs throughout the state. I also
am continuing to be the coordinator of the New
England Ancient History Colloquium, which meets
twice a year at a different college or university each
semester. Otherwise, wife Carol and I are trying
to keep the path between our respective condos
during the winter and waiting to break ground for
our new duplex in the spring. In the meantime,
Jeremy Wood keeps me intellectually stimulated
with his greatly appreciated e-mails containing all
sorts of interesting news items, links to essays, and
quotations of the wise and famous.”
I continue teaching each spring semester in the
Holy Land (aka Springfield, Ill.), while spending
most of the year in Connecticut. I still do some
scholarship but at a reduced pace. (I keep reminding
myself that I’m not 73 anymore!) I have prepared a
scholarly edition of Henry Villard’s many newspaper
dispatches from Springfield between November
1860 and February 1861, constituting the most
intense daily press coverage of Lincoln on record. I
have promised a photographer friend to provide the
text for his book on Lincoln’s years in New Salem.
With another friend I plan to edit the numerous
writings of a minister who, in the late 19th century,
interviewed people who knew Lincoln during his
Indiana years. The Southern Illinois University Press
has inveigled me into contributing another volume
to its Concise Lincoln Library series, this one on
Lincoln’s emotional life. (My earlier volume in the
series was Lincoln and the Civil War.) Meanwhile, a
fellow Lincolnian has agreed to help me condense
the Green Monster (aka Abraham Lincoln: A Life)
into a manageable single volume of about 500 pages.
All this keeps me out of trouble, insofar as possible.
Please let me know what you’re up to these days!
1961
55th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
ABBOT
Carolyn “Cally” Butler Dow
44 Spruce St.
Portland ME 04102
207-899-4178
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
Paul Kalkstein
42 Doubling Point Road
Arrowsic ME 04530
207-443-5675
[email protected]
Hope you have made plans to attend our 55th
Reunion June 10–12. Our fundraising volunteers,
Clint Kendrick and Bob Diemar, have news:
Since we are 65-plus years young, all documented
bequest intentions we might make for PA will
count at full face value toward our reunion totals.
For example, if you have a $20K bequest for the
school, our class total will include this $20K.
Questions on this? Contact Connie Pawelczak at
[email protected]. Please consider making
a five-year pledge. The total amount of the pledge
will also be included in our reunion totals and
allow the Academy to forecast and budget effectively for the future. Questions on this? Contact
Diane Glynn at [email protected].
A while ago I sent a PA video and a message
to our class and got some replies. Bunky Carter
wrote, “I am at this moment in the Singapore
airport lounge, on my way to teach at a 28-day yoga
teachers’ training in Bali! Quite different from the
business startup I have been involved in during
much of this last year.”
Ray Keeney wrote, “It was great to see the high
degree of enthusiasm displayed in the video. I very
much enjoyed seeing our children go through
Andover and can only imagine what it must be like
to have a grandchild there. Maybe someday.”
Said Pierre Latour, “Thanks for sending
along the short film. Especially liked the opening
exercises, which contrasted sharply with our
day, when we filed silently into the chapel under
the baleful gazes of Kemper, Gray Baldwin, and
Benedict. It looks like a much happier, more
entertaining place.”
Jack Schmedeman wrote, “Happily enjoying
my hometown of Little Rock, Ark. Consulting
on major and innovative minerals project in
Florida. My Colorado School of Mines education
continues to pay off.”
Rick Rhoads said, “As cochair of the Faith in
Action Commission of the Unitarian Universalist
Community Church of Santa Monica (Calif.), I
helped organize three marches on Venice Beach
to protest three killings that happened in Venice in
the course of a few months.”
Bill Torbert and I had an exchange about
Scotty Royce, to be continued in June. He kept up
with the Royces for many years.
A number of classmates, including
Floyd Hoffman, Jobe Stevens, Mike Mayers,
Dave Hannon, and Mike Bragg, correctly
identified Dan Mahoney as the jackknifing diver,
in an archived picture shot by Frank O’Brien. I
have to add that Andy Graham and Bernie Boone
got votes as the diver.
Diver Dan himself writes, “Ahh, summer
school during the summer of 1957. I learned to
hambone that summer. Unfortunately, I did not
learn much that might have prepared me to deal
with the English department during my four years
at Andover. I had a grossly deficient elementary
school exposure to English grammar, but, alas,
basic grammar was not a part of the summer
school English curriculum. I suppose grammar was
a remedial bridge too far. Roots of words? Check.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Check. The Virginian?
Check. Daily diary? Check. Basic sentence
structure and punctuation? Surely, you are not
completely illiterate—are you?” Dan says he can
still hambone. We will check him out in June.
Are you keeping up with Bob Trivers? Bob
is a world-class scientist whose work and life
are celebrated. Having profited from reading
his book about fools, I look forward to reading
his latest work, a scientific memoir called Wild
Life: Adventures of an Evolutionary Biologist,
available on Amazon. Wild Life is also the title of
a documentary about Bob that comes out this
spring. I watched the excellent trailer at https://
vimeo.com/147424887.
Did you think John Marks would be idle when
he stepped down as president of Search for Common Ground after 32 years? Hardly. He writes,
“I wanted to continue working full time—and to
avoid being bored. We are moving to Amsterdam,
where we are living at the junction of two canals. I
am working to produce European versions of The
Team, a dramatic TV series that promotes peaceful
coexistence across ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic lines. To date, I have served as executive
producer on 327 episodes of this series in 19
different countries. I am also spending a great deal
of time carrying out unofficial projects aimed at
improving relations between the U.S. and Iran. My
colleagues and I believe we played a role in making
possible the recent nuclear agreement with Iran. I
am definitely staying busy, and wife Susan and I are
definitely enjoying ourselves.”
Jim Payne reports that “Jerry Keller has been
skippering a sailboat up and down the Pacific
Coast and in the Caribbean. He’s asked if I wanted
to go on board, but it’s not really my thing! I’m now
in Carmel Valley, Calif., outside Monterey, and he’s
visited a few times.”
At Thanksgiving, Leslie Stroh sent us, via the
class listserv, a poem beginning “Fear is leaving
love behind the barbed wire of the future / Round,
flat circular, nailed with a trinity of nails / Not a
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September brought a group of Abbot ’63 alumnae together in Camden, Maine, for a mini reunion.
Front, from left: Ann Harris Furgerson, Iris Vardavoulis Beckwith, and Muriel DeStaffany Karr.
Middle row: Cynthia Kimball, Danica Miller Eskind, Ann MacCready Northup, Suzanne Burton,
and Anita Schenck Zednik. Back row: Anita Miller White, Lucinda Hannon, Morley Marshall Knoll,
Helen Watson Collison, Betsy Cadbury, Cindy Sorensen, Tish Upton Brown, Marie Fox Young, and
Susan Archer Vollmer.
dream but a daily nightly manic mind clinging / To
remembered love for the hug of another.” Always
happy to hear from creative minds.
As we age, we do not necessarily become
less active, as Duncan Bremer reminds me: “I
am enjoying having five of seven grandchildren
within 25 minutes’ drive; working at overcoming
codependence, which has greatly diminished my
marriage; searching for elk out every morning from
my back deck (I have a cow tag); participating
in two small, intense, Christian men’s groups;
working out enough to keep me skiing and
mountain biking; praying for my sister-in-law
with cancer, my sister recovering from alcoholism,
and my youngest grandson, born at 1 lb., 13 oz.;
investing in my son’s businesses; mostly enjoying
my legal work in real estate, estate planning, and
business startups; and reading the Bible, mysteries,
and political science. I fondly remember music at
Andover, especially in the Chapel: Haydn’s ‘The
Heavens are Telling’ to Dr. Banta’s powerful Bach
on the organ to Dave Austin’s solo cello.”
1962
ABBOT
Kathrin Krakauer
240 Columbia Drive
Bomoseen VT 05732
802-273-2548
[email protected]
In fall 2015 we had a wonderful weekend visit
with Caroline Thomas and her husband, Robert
Benes. Curiously, Caroline and I spent much time
talking about our mothers and came to realize
that, even at age 71, their impact on our daily lives
remains significant.
It is early January now, and the lake in front
of my house is not yet completely frozen. I fear
climate change is clearly evident in Vermont.
Otherwise, life here is quite idyllic, with brisk air
to breathe, little vehicular traffic to slow us on the
62
roads, entertaining wild bird comings and goings at
the feeders, and piles of books to keep me occupied
beside the fire.
Please send news to keep us all up to date with
your lives.
Also, a reminder that the Abbot Archives Project
is still looking for pieces of history from our time at
school. They have little information from our class.
If you are cleaning out for a move or just a good
sweep, be aware that your kids have no interest
in your old stuff, but the Archives would love to
have it. Contact Paige Roberts at 978-749-4069 or
[email protected] for details.
PHILLIPS
Vic Obninsky
1101 Navarro St.
Santa Rosa CA 95401
707-230-2271
707-843-5784 (fax)
[email protected]
[Editor’s note: The Academy was saddened to learn
that Vic Obninsky passed away March 16, 2016,
after the submission of these notes. We are grateful
for his long service as class secretary. Please see his
obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
My duties as your scribe have doubled with our
annual reunions, and I have not spent much time
randomly seeking conversations with old friends
and classmates. This picks up with Christmas cards,
but, sadly, fewer people are sending them these
days, relying instead on the computer system of
sending a picture without much verbiage. One
person who is still writing beautiful Christmas
cards is Priscilla Grew, Ed Grew’s wife. I had the
privilege of spending some time chatting with her
at our 50th Reunion. Priscilla has just retired as
the director of the University of Nebraska State
Museum, after serving for a number of years as
vice chancellor for research at the University of
Nebraska Lincoln. Ed has received a number
of lifetime awards as a geologist. I have been
fascinated to follow his career and travels to places
where I will never go, such as Antarctica, the Altai
Mountains, and many other remote places. Last
year Ed received a medal from the Mineralogical
Society of Great Britain and Ireland. This was
followed up by a special issue of The Canadian
Mineralogist magazine, dedicated to Ed’s career
and featuring on its cover the recently discovered
mineral edgrewite, named in his honor. The Grews
have been married for 40 years, with Eddie based
at the University of Maine at Orono and Priscilla
mainly at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. I
have been frightened of long-distance relationships,
but perhaps I should take a second look.
My random finger hit the Southern California
button on the dial and George Budd was on the
other end of the line. The last time I had heard
from or about George he was establishing the
Disneyland operation in Paris. In any event,
George returned to the United States around the
year 2000 and moved to California. His parents
lived in Florida, but he convinced them to move
to the Golden State; Mr. Budd lived more than
100 years and Mrs. Budd well into her 90s. George
has pretty much occupied himself with private
investments and is glued to his computer. He did
visit Bill Chickering briefly in Cambodia last
spring and was able to have dinner with Chick, wife
Benedicte, and their two children. He also raved
about the beauties of Angkor Wat temples. Once
again, this is something I would have loved to see.
The strong rumor is that Bill has moved back to
New York City. I hope that we can get together
sometime, because Bill is one of the fellows with
whom I kept in contact over the years.
I almost forgot to mention that Nick Knueppel
and wife Caroline spent Dec. 29 with us, drinking,
eating, and watching California beat Air Force in
the Armed Forces bowl. Believe it or not, this was a
big deal for all of us.
Too often my articles close with reporting the
passing of one of our classmates. I am sad to say that
Tim Beck has joined our other brothers in repose.
I did not know Tim well, but he seemed a quiet,
pleasant person, and I remember that he lettered
in track. It is too bad that the day students were not
more integrated into the class of boarding students.
This would be hard to do when you have a running
home life locally.
I want to get this article in to our faithful editors
at the alumni office, because I am once again late.
Before I leave you and begin to think about the
coming baseball season, I want to suggest again that
you send me an e-mail and get daily blurbs from
your classmates. They are often very interesting.
You can communicate with folks with the press
of a button as well. The other suggestion is that
you plan to attend our mini reunions, which
occur in between our official PA reunions. They
are unbelievably low-key and lots of fun. The next
one will probably be over Veterans Day weekend
somewhere near Andover, with a trip to the school
to watch the Andover-Exeter game, where we
hopefully will eat red meat.
1963
ABBOT
Cynthia F. Kimball
7 Thoreau Road
Lexington MA 02420
781-862-6424
[email protected]
Greetings to all! Sharon Seeche Rich writes of
the delight she and husband Howard are having as
they treasure times with their grandchildren. She
says, “We didn’t even go out to Tanglewood this
summer. Life has a different kind of music now,
and little ones get big so fast that we are holding on
to every second.”
In mid-September a good number of us
gathered in Owls Head, Maine, for a magnificent
mini reunion organized with great skill by
Iris Vardavoulis Beckwith. Her brother, Ion
Vardavoulis, provided good company and help
when needed. Not only was the weather great,
we all also rejoiced in the chance to spend time
with one another. Our gathering began with a
beach dinner that included a collective birthday
celebration, as well as a repeat of the flash-mob
dance that debuted at our 50th Reunion. The
next day we enjoyed a tour of the Farnsworth Art
Museum and its Wyeth Center, followed by a drive
to Camden. We all enjoyed a stop at the Vesper
Hill Children’s Chapel and garden, which is lovely
beyond what can be described here. The following
day featured a fantastic tour of the Cellardoor
Winery, with pairings of wine and tapas after the
tour. Early the next day, we boarded a ferry for
Monhegan Island, where some of us hiked across
the island, trekking along Whitehead Cliff. We
all appreciated the consistently beautiful flowers
grown everywhere, along with delicious cuisine.
Ann MacCready Northup and Cindy Sorensen
preferred to go out on the water independently.
Ann writes, “Cindy and I went out on a ketch out of
Rockland. We walked to the dock. So convenient
and a lovely two hours on the water.”
Without listing all the reunion participants here,
I’ll include updates from some of the attendees.
Susan Archer Vollmer has had a store related to
cooking for a number of years, but the store is to
close in June 2016. Suzanne Burton summarized
her time after college as follows: “I worked for 27
years [at National Geographic], first for the art editor
and then as the sole interior designer. After that I
became office manager at a dental office, where I
met so many fascinating people from all walks of
life. That’s the joy of Washington: foreign-service
members, ambassadors, NPR reporters, etc. I
retired after 18 years there. Now I’m enjoying
painting watercolors and have exhibited in several
shows. I’ve reconnected with some of my old
friends from the Geographic and had time to visit
museums and galleries and spend more time up in
Boston and Maine with my sister and brother-inlaw. The best part is not having a schedule, so I feel
I have much more freedom. I love my new life!”
Muriel DeStaffany Karr writes,
“[Husband] Ron and I spent a week in Rome and
then celebrated my 70th birthday in Yorkshire,
England, where my ancestry research suggests
my mother’s Holmes lineage goes back to the
time of the Norman Conquest in the tiny town of
Paull Holme!” Muriel belongs to a poetry group.
Marie Fox Young enjoys painting, using acrylics.
Lucinda Hannon continues with a task she has
been working on for two years, that of settling her
brother’s estate. Ann MacCready Northup writes,
“I work for a company that places international
high school students in U.S. high schools and
with host families. The students I place attend
Hopkinton High School and Groton-Dunstable
Regional High School, both in Massachusetts. I
contact the students and their host parents at least
monthly throughout the school year to ensure that
they have a successful experience.”
Both Morley Marshall Knoll and
Anita Schenck Zednik enjoy traveling with
family. Anita wrote me from Belgium, where
she went after the mini reunion to visit her son.
Cindy Sorensen continues with sailing and her
greyhound rescue work. Tish Upton Brown met
Iris Vardavoulis Beckwith in Paris late this past fall,
sharing the experience of being grandmothers.
Muriel DeStaffany Karr, our class poet, wrote four
poems that we treasure. In response to requests to
include in this column some of the poetry written
during our Maine gathering, Muriel chose one
poem which is presented here in prose from Rising,
Falling on Monhegan Island, Maine: “If we start and
end this way—rising sculpted from, and falling
back into the muck—primeval compost, let us live
this interval alive—soaring, mud between our toes
reminding us of whence we came—blessèd earth.
A prickly fog descends so quickly—dense. Still the
artist stands at the shore, attempting to capture on
canvas the what-it-is she sees at low tide, the sea
quietly lapping, gulls on the watch.” Thank you,
Muriel!
PHILLIPS
John C. Kane Jr.
28 Puritan Park
Swampscott MA 01907
781-592-4967
[email protected]
As the sands run down (ever so hopefully, those
sands) on my 15 years of loyal if undistinguished
service as your class secretary, I am again reduced
to beginning these notes in the first person. As I
write, I am still outside the class necrology, still
married, still unemployed, a new grandfather (of
Celine, born to son Chris ’99 and daughter-in-law
Pascale), proud father to three active wage-earners,
and planning to vote for Trudeau in the upcoming
election for national leader. And if that sentence
doesn’t encourage you to flood my e-mail and
snail-mail boxes, shame on you.
The limited news begins with Bill Hartman.
He writes, “A summer highlight was getting a ‘four
wheeler’ (ATV) with power steering, winch, and
cart for our Maine camp. It augments my aging
muscles by pulling logs out of the woods, lifting
docks from the lake, and hauling rocks to protect
the shoreline. More important, it makes me feel 55
years younger!”
Bill continues, “Part of my newfound youth
has been spent catching up with classmates. I had
a delightful visit with Bruce Cleverly and his
charming wife, Caroline, at their summer home in
Harwich Port, Mass., where wine and lobster rolls
were superb. A dinner in Boston with Linda and
Ty Shen was a treat—the two retained their high
spirits notwithstanding more than six months in
temporary quarters as repairs were made to their
condo, which suffered water damage last winter.
In Freeport, Fred Palmer fulfills both Maine’s
slogan, ‘The Way Life Should Be,’ and non sibi;
he and his wife, Pat, are devoted to supporting
education and giving to the most needy in their
community. When passing through Austin,
Texas, Harry Schwethelm met me for lunch; he
spent time last summer traveling through Italy
and Sicily in preparation for an upcoming trip to
Ecuador and Peru.”
And finally, in conjunction with his class agent
role, Bill concludes, “A September visit to Andover
was exhilarating and inspiring! Go to Andover.edu
and check out the Tang Institute, the Sykes
Wellness Center, the makerspace, and more ...
including the section of the site labeled ‘donate.’ ”
In early November, Tracy Kidder was
honored, along with three other Andover and
Abbot graduates, with an Andover Alumni Award
of Distinction. Dick Clapp and I attended the
dinner for the awardees held the evening before
the awards were presented, and we were privileged
to sit at Tracy’s table. Each recipient speaks briefly
during the dinner, and Tracy’s comments were
built around the death by suicide of one of our
classmates, an Asian boy who was targeted with
snideness and ridicule when, in his isolation, he
was noticed at all. Tracy ruminated on what role
each of us, he included, had played in that death
some half century ago. His comments brought
back with perfect clarity the aspects of our
adolescence at PA that were cruel, even brutal.
Afterward, while Tracy was being interviewed
by two young Phillipian staffers, I had him
sign several copies of his books for my KIPP
Academy Lynn teacher colleagues. One of the
Andover students asked: “Were you two friends
at Andover?” “Not really,” I answered. “Tracy was
a much cooler person than I was.” “Or trying to be
cool,” I heard softly from my left.
Whatever Tracy was “trying to be” as a kid,
he certainly has been a remarkable gift to his
generation. Among Schoolchildren is but one of
several classics from his pen. Four superb KIPP
teachers now proudly possess a signed copy.
In October, Todd Lueders and his lovely wife,
Kathy, conducted a tour of Historic Monterey
63
stay connected...
Alumni from the Class of ’65, some accompanied by spouses, met for dinner at the Andover Inn in
November. Front, from left, are Ellen Huntington Slade ’65, Tunket Spaulding ’65, Melanie Davis ’65,
Penny Carnevale (widow of Mark Carnevale ’65), Toney Hopkins ’65, and Anne McDermott ’65.
Back, from left, are Head of School John Palfrey, Paul Henry ’65, John Samp ’65, Tim Mahoney ’65,
Wendy Kellett, Eddie Samp ’65, Bud Kellett ’65, Andy Higgins (spouse of Anne McDermott),
Steve Seeche ’65, Don Shepard ’65, Lowell Turnbull ’65, Mike Hudner ’65, Lesley Silvester (spouse
of Terry Kahn), Tom Doherty ’65, and Terry Kahn ’65.
(Calif.) for me, three KIPP Lynn seniors, and their
AP English teacher, as part of a Steinbeck-inspired
trip to Monterey and Salinas. Todd is retired from
his position as president/CEO of the Community
Foundation for Monterey County. Joining an
organization with few assets and no endowment in
1981, Todd left it in 2010 with over $130 million in
assets and a strong staff. It was neat to see Monterey
from the Luederses’ perspectives, and they remain
committed to the community in retirement. Theirs
is a life well earned, in a glorious part of the nation.
And, if you see a common theme in my life,
connecting KIPP Lynn and Andover, it continues.
In September, I brought two KIPP female juniors
to hear my friend and Andover student Claire
Glover ’16 present her CAMD Scholar paper,
“Journeys Home: Echoes of Heritage,” to an
audience of more than 100 in Kemper Auditorium.
Claire’s paper tracks European-American
immigrants from arrival through assimilation
to rediscovery of their roots. Then, some three
weeks later, along with two teachers, I brought 28
KIPP Lynn middle-schoolers to meet and hear
a talk by Abbot alumna Julia Alvarez ’67, author
of In the Time of the Butterflies; Alvarez was on
campus to receive an Andover Alumni Award of
Distinction. As an outgrowth of the two events,
I put together a group of 13 Lynn students in
grades 8 through 12 and four faculty members
for a three-evening discussion in January on how
Americans, and especially Americans of color,
balance Americanization and assimilation with
maintenance of ties to our roots. The students
come from a wide range of backgrounds (Haitian,
Dominican, African, European, Asian, Guatemalan,
African American, Jordanian, Salvadoran) and
64
religions (Christian, Muslim, Buddhist). The goal
is to create a paper of ideas to share both internally
and externally. KIPP Lynn and Andover: Two
schools educating youth from every quarter. I am
lucky to have ties to both.
Hope you are all well. Hope you will all share, in
writing, your secrets for staying so.
1964
ABBOT
Allis Brooks Hanley
206 Sioux Place
Loudon TN 37774
865-458-8872
[email protected]
Once again Abbot ’64 classmates have come
through with news!
Joan Harney Wiles and husband John ’64
spent a wonderful Christmas at home with their
son, Christopher, who visited from osteopathic
medical school. John and Christopher had a good
time discussing medicine and comparing the
medical field now to what it was like when John
was in medical school.
Linda Pattberg Meixner is still enjoying
working. She just had a fundraising event featuring
a prerelease screening of In the Heart of the Sea
(Ron Howard’s film about the real Moby Dick
story), so she is recovering from all the stress and
fun that kind of thing brings. She learned more
about whaling than she ever thought possible!
I suggested a trip to Mystic Seaport in Mystic,
Conn., to learn even more about whaling. Linda
wrote that the holidays with her kids and grandkids
were great, and she’s now back in DC for the winter
and the start of the silly season: elections.
Gwyneth Walker wrote that Christopher
Walter, the fine PA music faculty member
(conductor of Fidelio Chorus and an excellent
pianist as well), will be retiring in May 2016, after
40 years of outstanding service to the Andover
musical community. Gwyneth has composed
a new choral work to honor Chris, a friend and
colleague. She hopes to return to campus for the
“farewell concert” in May.
Carol Barker Guilford and her husband, Gary,
traveled to Boston, Maine, and New Hampshire last
October. They had a wonderful time visiting the
historic sites in Boston, the Maine coast, and the
White Mountains, including Mount Washington.
The highlights of their trip were visits with Joan
Whipple Trimble in Maine and Dale Thomson
Milne in New Hampshire. After 50 years, they still
had a lot to talk about and a lot in common.
Mary Travers Munger writes that she and
husband Craig are officially “snowbirds,” or
hibernis avis, as a friend said. They welcome all
fellow flocking Northerners. She tried to leave her
home in “dying shape,” but she states “those of you
that remember me from Abbot know that was
not possible.”
Laura Stevenson’s book Liar from Vermont
is out, and one chapter is on the “Bradford
School for Girls”—Abbot by another name. Not
complimentary—but OK. If you missed this
public radio story about Laura, you can listen to it
here: bit.ly/1Ll0jjU. Laura has finished her mystery
novel and is looking for a home for it while starting
a new one.
Gretchen Overbagh Lord is busy in retirement
but isn’t traveling. Her bowling team came in first
and she was given the trophy for “No. 1 Baking
Bowler,” as she supplies homemade treats each
week. Her bowling is not great, but her team can
use her high handicap! She hopes to get back to the
East Coast this year as her family is all there and
not many are keen on going to Minnesota to visit
(especially between October and May!).
Pat Morrill’s husband, Ed Riegelhaupt, is
recovering from a rare form of Legionnaires’
disease and the side effects of the powerful
antibiotics. It has been a challenging time for
them, especially since it took the doctors months
to figure out why he was so ill. Fortunately, the
antibiotics got rid of the infection, but they affected
his walking. Hopefully time and PT will help. Pat
and Ed are planning to go to Paris in the spring.
On previous trips they’ve rented apartments in
the Latin Quarter near the Place Maubert, which
makes them feel like Parisians.
Susie Localio sends a note to all grandmothers!
She recommends the novel The Penderwicks (and
the three sequels that follow) by Jeanne Birdsall.
She says they’re great for girls in fourth through
eighth grades—old-fashioned and lovely. Susie
putters on, with some lovely hiking with views of
Mount Rainier. She feels keenly that her hiking
days are not infinite, so she vows to get out more
while she can still heft a pack!
Kit Jones Prager and her husband, Allan,
traveled to Texas for family events and enjoyed
seeing three presidential libraries in pursuit of their
goal of visiting all the presidential libraries. They
took a springtime trip to Japan and connected with
old friends at Allan’s 50th reunion at Stanford.
Husband Dan and I enjoyed visiting with
our son and his family (including our 4-yearold grandson) in Anchorage, Alaska. Not much
sightseeing, but we enjoyed being with all of them
for the holiday!
PHILLIPS
Ken Gass
2107 Evening Star Lane
Bellingham WA 98229
360-393-2612 (cell)
[email protected]
Dan Cooper, who reported viewing
Mike Cathcart’s retirement role leading this year’s
Rose Parade (see the fall 2015 edition of these
notes), added, “All’s well here in San Antonio. I’m
adjusting to ‘semiretirement’ and wondering how
others are liking this stage of our lives.” Have you
shared what is giving meaning to your life as you
reach 70? Whether couched in terms of being
retired or not, if you have not yet shared your story,
please send it my way.
In this edition, Jack Garrity and David Walker
provide us all with examples on the value of
uncovering our Andover archive treasures
and sharing them. Look for their pictorial
contributions, and those of others, at the online
link 1drv.ms/24YSpDk.
Thanks to my Oberlin College roommate,
David Walker, we are reminded how young
we once were, seeing David, Conway “Doc”
Downing, Francis “Fran” Crowley, Tim Booth,
and Fred Fay in an old photo from Park House
(with housemaster’s son Jim Munro) in our lower
year, contrasted with an image of David and wife
Celia from last year. David wrote, “I am semiretired
[as chair of the Columbia U. geology department]
in that I no longer have to teach classes … [and] as
of next summer I’ll be fully retired, but expect to
keep busy in the lab.”
Jack Garrity wrote, “My wife, Kristi, and I
visited Kiyoshi Kondo, his wife, Michiko, their
three children, and their grandchildren for a
wonderful lunch overlooking Osaka Castle this
past October. Kristi and I traveled around Japan
by train for six weeks and had a wonderful time
visiting about 18 places throughout the country. It
is a trip that I strongly recommend.” Jack and Kristi
are kept busy managing the extensive art estate
of Jack’s former wife, multitalented PhilippineAmerican contemporary painter Pacita Abad, who
died in 2004.
Jack also shared part of his collection of
priceless 1963 Stearns House artifacts: a photo
taken by Kiyoshi of Bob Chessman, John Bemis,
Ron Mitchell (now deceased), and Jack playing
cards and a Christmas card signed by his Stearns
housemates, some of whom are now deceased.
Jack said of this card, “I have been keeping this as a
treasure in my bookshelf for 53 years.”
Doc Downing e-mailed, “I am attaching a recent
photo taken last October, when Chayapat ‘Boom
Boom’ Kambhu ’97, son of our deceased classmate
Tirachai ‘Chai’ Kambhu, was in DC for a friend’s
wedding, with a new bride of his own. I’ve known
Boom Boom since his PA days and his younger
years, but he had not met Chai’s roommate
from Taylor Hall, Vijay Shah. Chai and I were
roommates at Harvard as well.”
Randy Hobler was rightfully proud to
announce, “On Dec. 9, 2015, I held the latest
reading of my award-winning musical, The
Spirit of River City [see previously mentioned
link for copy of invitation]. It went over really
well. Chien Chung ‘Didi’ Pei attended, as did
Jay Heard and Craig Bonda and his wife, Mary.
I called the reading ‘Tigers Tackle Broadway,’
because I spent two years searching out Princeton
grads in theatre, and, in the final production on
the stage and behind the scenes, we had 15 Tigers
involved, ranging from the classes of 1960 through
2015, with a cast of 21 and an orchestra of seven.”
Part of the PA ’64 April 2015 China trip
contingent gathered in December in Tucson, Ariz.,
to join fellow travelers Steve Spare and partner
Sue Taylor, Steve’s family, and many other friends
from around the country in celebrating Steve’s
70th birthday. Attendees included Ken Gass
and wife Francie, Logan “L.E.” Sawyer and wife
Carolyn, and Midland, Texas, friends Earl and
Lynn Freeman. We were thrilled to be joined by
Peter Schandorff, the organizer of our China
adventure, making his first trip outside St. Louis
in more than a year, following his first (of five)
operations related to spinal fusion. Steve’s PA and
Henley Regatta crewmate Peter Gerard and wife
Melinda also attended. Peter G. broadly toasted
the birthday boy’s derrière, with which he was
forced to stay in sync as they rowed. A lively, awardwinning girls’ high school barbershop group, the
Treblemakers, came all the way from Phoenix to
entertain us!
On campus, our “townie” classmates always
seemed to blend in, yet this report provided by
Abbot alum Jackie Eby ’64 points to a strong bond
among townies across both campuses, perhaps
from feeling different—cool now, but not back
then. “John Axelrod asked me to send you this
photo taken at the Addison in the first week of
January 2016. We had a regathering of the seven
of us who shared a table at our Friday night 50th
Reunion dinner. Pictured with Addison Director
Judith Dolkart in the front middle are John
Axelrod, Jackie Eby, Jo Keefe ’64, Tony Sapienza,
Lee Hoehn ’64, Andy Crane, Sam Allis, and
two curators, Allison Kemmerer and Kelley
Tialiou [the young-looking ones]. After Judith
and the curator of the Daze exhibition, Susan
Faxon, gave us a tour of the current exhibition
and an enthusiastic and enticing talk on the new
exhibition being installed for a Jan. 23, 2016,
opening, we had dinner at the Andover Inn.”
Ever helpful, Dick Howe announced, “I’ll be
retiring from Andover on Jan. 8, 2016. Please let me
know if there’s anything I can do to help from this
end before then, or after then, for that matter.”
Bob Marshall reported running into
John “Jay” Heard, camera around his neck,
crossing New York’s Park Avenue. Jay reported
similarly running into Randy Hobler in New York
the week before. Bob added, “What a small place
the Big Apple must be! Back in Santa Barbara,
Calif., a week later, I attended a luncheon reception
cohosted by Richard ‘Dick’ Wolf for PA Head
of School John Palfrey, who was making a West
Coast swing with his new book, BiblioTech. Dick
was feeling good about the reviews of his latest
TV show, Chicago Med, but not so good about his
torn Achilles tendon.” It would appear that Bob has
become bicoastal in his retirement.
1965
ABBOT
Karen Swenson
20100 SW Peavine Road
McMinnville OR 97128
503-472-2988
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
Ely “Terry” Kahn
243 West 60th St., Apt. 7D
New York NY 10023
917-575-1514
[email protected]
Nearly four months have passed since I wrote my
first class notes submission, and an event that took
place in early November still holds the fondest ’65
memory: SampFest, or as the more modest duo
of John Samp and Ed Samp might put it, “The
PA ’65 Annual Fall Dinner 2015.” (Wait, now that
I think of it, that’s how Doug Pirnie put it. And he
wasn’t even there.) Those of you who have seen my
irregularly produced, e-mailed class notes updates
first read about the get-together in early December.
If you did open that note instead of immediately
directing it to your spam folder, you may recall
that we had 11 classmates show up in the private
dining room of the Andover Inn, augmented by
five Abbot ’65 alumnae, three spouses/partners,
and Penny Carnevale, Mark Carnevale’s widow,
who—as far as many of us are concerned—is an
honorary ’65er herself.
Although I won’t go into the detail that I
covered in the update (let me know if you’d like
me to resend it), I will note that the classmates
in attendance were Paul Henry, John Samp,
Tim Mahoney, Eddie Samp, Bud Kellett (with
65
stay connected...
wife Wendy), Steve Seeche, Don Shepard,
Lowell Turnbull, Mike Hudner, Tom Doherty,
and myself (with wife Lesley Silvester). Doherty,
who’d driven down from Kingston, N.H., where
he’s retired after a career with Western Electric, told
me he’s having a second act as a certified financial
planner (volunteering his skills through AARP, he’s
quick to point out). Mahoney shared he’s still in his
first act—running the Hollywood Center Studios
production complex in Los Angeles—but planning
to spend more time at his East Coast home in South
Dartmouth, Mass. All in attendance agreed that
SampFest—that is, the Annual Fall Dinner—was
worth doing again. Presumably in a year.
I also need to correct an update note from
the dinner. Paul Henry is not exploring a venture
opportunity focused on tech-enhanced concrete.
Rather, as he corrected me in an e-mail, the
“initial focus is on asphalt (but, if successful, the
technology may have applications in concrete
and elsewhere).” If this intrigues you, please reach
out to Paul.
With the first NYC snowfall of the season
scheduled for this evening, as I write, my thoughts
turn of course to...farming. Not that I’m on the
verge of planting tomatoes, but I have recently
come to realize that three of us—Lou Rorimer,
Mike Madison, and Rob Arras—are full-timers.
(Well, Arras is a coffee grower in Costa Rica, and
his spread may in fact be a plantation, but it’s a lot
closer to what Rorimer and Madison are doing than
to developing 21st-century road surfacing. But I’m a
New Yorker. What do I know? And I digress.)
Lou, based in Shaker Heights, Ohio, was
recently featured in Andover magazine. If you just
saw the hard-copy version, you missed him. His
comments—under the headline “Keeping the
Family Farm Alive”—appear only in the online
version. Lou, whose first act was a law career, makes
the point that nonfarmers like myself tend to
romanticize the experience (of farming, not law).
“People say,” he told the magazine, “ ‘It must be
wonderful to be outdoors and in the countryside.’
It’s not like that. You’re scrambling to keep it afloat,
and it’s challenging. It does provide balance, but
not in the way you’d expect.” He also notes that the
upside is rewarding: “I’m doing something for my
community, producing good, healthy food, and
people love it.”
Mike Madison shares the passion at his Winters,
Calif., “diversified” farm (he hand-picked 38,000
pounds of olives this past fall and made more than
800 gallons of olive oil). In an article he penned
for Edible East Bay, he discusses “the beginning
farmer’s plight,” which he describes as the
barriers—economic, psychological, strategic, and
imaginative—to acquiring and sustaining farmland.
“We are entering a new era,” Mike writes, “and we
need new social and economic institutions that give
young farmers access to land. At the same time, we
need to educate would-be farmers as to the realities
of their situation—historic agrarian philosophies
are no longer valid, and will have to be reimagined.”
Lou Rorimer, and perhaps Rob Arras, would likely
66
agree. Mike’s article is on the publication’s website,
if you want to check it out.
Over the holidays, I had a chance to spend a
little time with Doug Pirnie and Jack McLean, who
began with us and finished with ’66 (I’m pretty sure
he sees himself as a ’65er). Jack, whose memoir,
Loon, is a must-read, is writing and teaching in the
New York area. Doug, retired from sports megaagency IMG (where he more or less invented the
professional bull-riding circuit), has got a couple of
second acts going. He’s a docent at the American
Museum of Natural History and a consultant
with the Taproot Foundation, which pairs retired
executives with nonprofit organizations looking
for pro bono professional expertise and guidance.
Through Taproot, Doug has engaged with the
Special Olympics of New York City, helping lead a
rebranding effort there.
Lots more to share, including tidbits collected
by Eddie Samp from your responses to his birthday
greetings. I will pull together those in the next
e-mailed class notes update, which you will see
long before this arrives in your mailbox.
1966
the fragility of life. The Richmond [Va.] TimesDispatch of Nov. 8, 2015, included the following
obituary, anchored by a poignant photo of
Ayer Chamberlin: “In the early hours of Nov. 3,
2015, Ayer Chamberlin passed away peacefully at
home, surrounded by those who loved her. She is
survived by her son, Chad Gambill; her siblings,
Sally, Andy, and Bob Chamberlin; and Bob’s wife,
Jeanne, and two children, Jonathan and Sarah
Chamberlin. Following her career as a child-life
specialist at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital in
Richmond, Ayer followed her dream and became
a Hanover master gardener, eventually teaching
and mentoring her fellow gardeners. She refined
her passion for gardening by taking classes at J.
Sargeant Reynolds [Community College], where
she ‘adopted’ the horticultural program. She
nurtured the greenhouse plants and volunteered
her skills to coordinate the Gardenfest plant
production for several years. ... We are grateful
for the love and sensitivity bestowed upon us by
Ayer’s many friends and neighbors, who provided
limitless support during Ayer’s illness.” To read the
full obituary, go to bit.ly/1WjxepH.
On that note, our 50th Reunion embodies the
richness of life experiences since we marched into
an uncertain future on a bright June day in 1966.
50th REUNION
June 9–12, 2016
ABBOT
PHILLIPS
Greetings from a shape-shifting New Hampshire
January, with kayaking on our high mountain lake
and torrential rains spurring a river flood.
These class notes are slated to arrive shortly
before our 50th Reunion. With thanks to our
intrepid committee, months of communiqués
have provided a stream of information. Even at the
last minute, please feel free to come, participate,
enjoy—or just reflect and relax.
Ruth Sisson Weiner, Beth Humstone,
Marcia Watson Goldberg, Peigi Donaghy
Huseby, Bethe Moulton, Pinky Rock Noll,
Lucy Thomson, Barbara Corwin Timken, and I
have coalesced as a lively and articulate committee,
with a collective responsibility for the initiation
of Friday’s Abbot@Andover Day. Committee
members also work with PA ’66 and the Andover
partnership to ensure a cohesive yet Abbot-centric
50th celebration. Join the Abbot ’66 Facebook
group and check out phillipsacademy66.com. A
cordial December meeting with PA ’66 leadership
served as a reminder of adolescent years spent
on adjoining campuses, in different but still
overlapping worlds.
As we celebrate the upcoming reunion,
another profound loss to the class represents
Gentlemen, in the end, after weeks of brinksmanship and more than a few “This will be the last
times,” a robust 115 of our guys answered the “last
call” and submitted their 50-year narratives. I have
had the privilege of reading these stories prior to
their publication in our 50th Reunion yearbook,
and I’m pleased to present you with some excerpts,
which will whet your appetite to hear the full
stories when we gather at Andover June 9–12.
Kelly Stelle writes, “My life since Andover has
been a life in science, plus languages, travel, and
a few romances. At Harvard, I majored in history
and science. I then spent a year running the cosmic
ray laboratory at Amundsen-Scott South Pole
Station for the Bartol Research Foundation (then
of Swarthmore, Penn., before it moved to the
University of Delaware). After a year of preparation
and a year on the ice, I returned to the books and
in due course got a PhD in 1977 from Brandeis—
working on the implications of quantum
corrections to general relativity.
“Thus began my life as a theoretical physicist.
First three years as a postdoc in London: King’s
College, then Imperial College. Then a year at
CERN and a half-year at the École Normale in
Paris, at which time I won a five-year fellowship to
return to London at Imperial College. I’ve been
here at Imperial ever since. Rose through the
Blake Hazzard Allen
481 School St.
Rumney NH 03266
603-786-9089
603-359-0870 (cell)
[email protected]
[email protected]
Ray Healey
740 West End Ave., Apt. 111
New York NY 10025
212-866-8507
[email protected]
Rocky Chin ’65
levels, and have been a professor of physics here
since 1995.”
Sandy Colby writes, “In 1992, following a
banking crisis, the opportunity arose to buy the
trust department of a bank in Chestnut Hill, Mass.,
that had been closed by the comptroller of the
currency. Together with a few partners, I bought
the business, grew it eightfold, and sold it 10 years
later to the Bank of New York. That, of course, put
me right back where I did not want to be—in a
large bureaucracy. So, following a three-year ‘earn
out’ and one-year noncompete, I walked out the
door one Friday night at age 58 and started all over
again as one of the owners of Ipswich Investment
Management Co. in my hometown of Ipswich,
Mass. This has been the most enjoyable period of
my 43-year business career. No suit and tie, no twohour commute, and nothing to stand in the way
of my favorite activity—working with my clients,
some of whom I have had for 30-plus years. ... I look
forward to never fully retiring.”
Arthur Field writes, “I went to the University of
Chicago for a master’s degree and to the University
of Michigan for a PhD. In 1989 I joined the history
department at Indiana University, where I remained
until my ‘early’ retirement in 2014. At Chicago I
moved into early modern European history, and I
have specialized since in the Italian Renaissance. In
my last years at Indiana I also taught undergraduate
seminars on Marxism, which included an attempt
to convince the students that the left was at one
time serious. My honors have included a Prix
de Rome at the American Academy in Rome,
a fellowship at I Tatti in Florence (the Harvard
University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies),
a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
fellowship, a Fulbright fellowship, and two ACLS
fellowships. My accomplishments in life are major
manuscript discoveries in the Italian Renaissance.
I found new works by Leonardo Bruni, Francesco
Filelfo, Cristoforo Landino, Marsilio Ficino, and
others.”
Robin Hogen writes, “My career has included
chairing the art department at the Nichols School
in Buffalo [N.Y.], directing public relations for a
professional soccer team in Hartford [Conn.],
heading the corporate philanthropy departments
at United Technologies and Merck, running public
and investor relations for a biotech startup in
Cambridge [Mass.], leading the crisis management
team at Purdue Pharma (makers of OxyContin),
serving as director of strategic communications
for Yale, and leading a 35-person communications
team at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
the largest health philanthropy in the U.S. If there
is a ‘red thread’ that connects all of these wonderful
jobs, it is bridging the worlds of purpose (non sibi)
with profit. Lucky me.”
Rick Stewart writes, “After becoming sports
editor at the [Lawrence] Eagle-Tribune, I moved
on to the Boston Herald American and served as
Sunday sports editor there before moving on
to the Hartford Courant for 20 years and finally
to the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah. I’ve
An Activist Ahead of His Time
R
ocky Chin ’65 grew up in a college town in the heart of Appalachia—a
setting where he was keenly aware of being “different.” On a family
road trip through the Deep South in the late 1950s, he recalls, gas
stations prominently displayed “Whites Only” signs on their bathrooms.
“The attendants couldn’t figure out our family! We didn’t identify as either
white or black; we weren’t given a choice. To these attendants, we were
never ‘American.’ ” Chin, born on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.,
was taken aback by the experience.
Phillips Academy was also a culture shock for Chin. “I had to grow up very
fast. There was just a handful of minorities in the entire school, and I was a
minority among minorities,” he explains.
It wasn’t until he attended graduate school at Yale, earning a masters’
degree in urban planning, that Chin met and bonded with other
Asian American student leaders and activists, eventually becoming an activist
himself. Increasingly drawn to a career as a “change agent,” Chin was
propelled toward law school.
“I was fortunate to have
been able to both be an
activist and pursue a legal
career in civil rights,” he
says. At the New York City
Commission on Human
Rights, Chin was one of
several attorneys involved in
a major case that ultimately
allowed women into large
private clubs in New York
City, and he helped organize
New York’s first Asian Pacific
American conference at city
Amy Wolf, New York Community Trust
hall. Later, at the N.Y. State
Division of Human Rights, Chin served as language services coordinator
and was involved with an ambitious project that required translating critical
documents into nine major languages and developing language services
policies and protocols.
“I’m proud that we were pioneers in establishing best practices regarding
the needs of limited-English immigrants,” he says.
Chin retired last year; he remains a member of AARP’s New York State
Executive Council and continues to be involved in two organizations he
helped found: the Association of Asian American Yale Alumni and the Asian
American Bar Association of New York.
He has also become a dedicated New Yorker, at home in a neighborhood
that couldn’t be farther from Appalachia. “I love living on the Lower East
Side. It has been the home for many activists for social justice and defenders
of American values. So much history on these streets.”
Andover in the early ’60s wasn’t always an easy place for minority
students. “But when I reflect on my time at Andover,” says Chin, “I try
to balance some of my angst during those years with the positive things
I experienced. It was [at PA] that I learned to think for myself and better
understand my own personal values.”
— Victoria Harnish
67
stay connected...
Stay in Touch!
Visit our “one-stop Web page” that consolidates all the various
ways of connecting with Andover friends and classmates.
At www.andover.edu/intouch, you can link to Alumni Directory,
Andover’s Facebook page, Notable Alumni, and lots more.
Of course, you can still update your records in the traditional ways:
● Visit
www.andover.edu/alumnidirectory, and log in to update
your information
● E-mail
●Call
[email protected]
978-749-4287
●Send
a note to: Alumni Records, Phillips Academy,
180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161
covered the Celtics, the Patriots, the Red Sox,
March Madness, the Frozen Four, the America’s
Cup, and the 1978 Kentucky Derby, and even
shared dinner with Howard Cosell at the Fenway
Park press facilities. I don’t remember what he ate,
but he was actually very warm and friendly. I’ve
run along Storrow Drive with Jim Fixx, tried out
for Major League Baseball, tried out for the New
England Tea Men of the old North American Soccer
League, and interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger
when he brought Pumping Iron to the Exeter Street
Theatre for its Boston premiere. Forty years in
print journalism was always fun, even when I found
myself later doing more supervising and editing
than reporting and writing.”
Joe Schepps writes, “My last great literary work
was cowriting The Ship with Bill Newhall and Chris
Moore. After college, I moved to Santa Fe, where,
over the decades, I built adobe homes, pioneered
with solar energy, built and operated inns and hotels,
and enjoyed all the beauty and outdoors of New
Mexico. And made a new family of friends. And, to
give the non sibi tradition its due, I was involved with
creating Santa Fe’s performing arts center and served
the United Way, Santa Fe Opera, and other civic
endeavors. I made my life in Santa Fe, and much of
it will always be there. I am fortunate to own and
operate the Inn on the Alameda.”
Adios, amigos. Keep writing and e-mailing.
68
1967
ABBOT
Anstiss Bowser Agnew
46 Goodwives River Road
Darien CT 06820
203-912-5264
[email protected]
[email protected]
Catherine Hoover Petros
25119 U.S. Hwy. 40
Golden CO 80401
303-526-5202
[email protected]
Twenty-three classmates gathered at the Craigville
Retreat Center on Cape Cod in October. We seem
to be busier than ever, have incredible energy, and
could definitely be described as young at heart.
We took time to remember our loved and
admired classmate, Claire Moore Dickerson,
who died peacefully after a courageous battle with
pancreatic cancer. She was an esteemed professor, a
fine lawyer, a great athlete, and a devoted mother.
Julia Alvarez, tenured professor at Middlebury
College, is a recipient of the National Medal of
the Arts. Julia arranged a visit by Ruth Stevenson,
Abbot English lit teacher, who talked with us
about her tenure at Abbot and subsequent
educational positions.
Sarah Beale Gaffin is currently a senior
director of leadership giving and the Wheeler
Society at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Diana Bonnifield Hill has retired from her
fashion consulting business and lives in La Jolla,
Calif., with husband Mike. They were next off on a
trip to the Serengeti.
Anstiss Bowser Agnew retired as executive
director of Forestdale, an agency that provides
services for foster children and their families.
She still serves as senior advisor for special
projects and maintains her therapeutic practice
in NYC. Rhonda Carrington Jamison and her
husband retired, selling their insurance agency.
She is caring for her mother, who lives with them,
and is enjoying her gardening. Sara Delano is
volunteering for the community music school
and Winchester A Better Chance (ABC), finding
summer programs for students in the program.
Charlotte “Lotte” Elmenhorst-Volz, retired
child therapist, traveled the farthest, coming
from her home in Merzhaussen, Germany.
She and husband Dieter are enjoying time to
travel. Dorsey Green continues her practice as
a psychologist seeing couples and individuals in
Seattle. She now has four grandsons—and their
parents—living in Seattle. She couldn’t join us,
due to the birth of number four.
Judy Hannegan Sherman provides guidance,
job coaching, and help with housing for clients
with mental challenges. Catherine Hoover
Petros continues as chair of the advisory board
of the Center for Women’s Health Research at
the University of Colorado. She and husband
Ray took a hiking trip in Tuscany and then went
to Slovenia to sightsee and connect with many
Petros relatives.
Candace Howes is a professor of economics
and chair of the department of gender and
women’s studies at Connecticut College.
Priscilla Howes Harris retired from her role as a
tax manager at Trinity Health. Recently, she and
her husband visited Steve Brown ’67 and his wife
in Tucson, Ariz.
Louisa “Weezie” Huntington, chief reunion
organizer, and husband Paul are enjoying their
new retirement home. Weezie took a photography
trip to Michigan and is looking forward to another
in Iceland.
Pamela Jones Hahn and her husband lived
and worked in Asia for more than 20 years,
returning to the U.S. in 2013. She is mostly retired,
and they planned a winter trip to Yellowstone
National Park. Warren Osborne Collins and
husband, Lenny, live in Kinderhook, N.Y., on their
working farm, raising chickens and organic fruits
and vegetables, and spend time at their home on
Cape Cod. Lenny was kind enough to host several
husbands during our “retreat.”
Nancy Porosky Harris-Frohlich has retired
from her position as head of school at the Advent
School. She is currently involved in Leaps of
Imagination—an in-school art and literature
program that promotes social justice.
Susan “Abby” Shapiro continues working as
a therapist. Recently she and her husband moved
to Auburn, Ala. Juliet Schneller VanEenwyk
retired from the Washington State Department
of Health, where she worked as the state
epidemiologist. Travel with her husband last year
included Croatia and Italy, with 2016 plans for
Kauai and Japan. Susan Smith Hager founded
Tango Tile, which showcases a collaboration
among tile artisans and tile vendors, offering
original tile designs for residential and
commercial applications.
Linda Sullivan served as our co-organizer
and transportation coordinator. She owns a
transcription company and 18 months ago
moved it to East Rutherford, N.J., where she
lives. Jane von der Heyde Lindley, a retired
M&A attorney, has been traveling in France
and spending time with grandchildren Jack
and Charlotte.
Joyce “Joy” Wannop Bruce continues to
sing with the Lions Gate Chorus. She shared
her adventures planning and attending two
weddings for her daughter—one in Vancouver,
B.C., and one in the U.K.! Cathy Welch Strauss
works for a transport company. Recently
she had a wonderful trip to France with her
sisters. Roxanna “Roxy” Wolfe is continuing as a
psychologist in her private practice. One focus is
the psychology and treatment of trauma.
Hannah Whitney spoke to Anstiss and
reported that she and brother Steve both live in
Montana. Hannah has a dog-grooming company
and also does rescue work. She loves her lifestyle
and friends. We’re trying to get her East for
our 50th!
PHILLIPS
Joseph P. Kahn
28 Gallison Ave.
Marblehead MA 01945
781-639-2668
617-515-7553 (cell)
[email protected]
Dan Cunningham ended his 19-year run as a PA
trustee last summer. Dan, who was honored for his
extraordinary service during a campus ceremony
in November, played a vital role in shaping today’s
Andover, from championing a need-blind admission policy to helping recruit and hire John Palfrey
as head of school. I recently asked him how
and why he decided to undertake this level of
involvement in school affairs. It was during our
25th Reunion year, Dan told me, when his class
fundraising efforts sparked a discussion of how he
might do even more for Andover. The rest, as they
say, is history. Dan’s new title is trustee emeritus,
although he swears he’s done with attending board
meetings. My guess is they will miss him dearly.
On a December trip to Tucson, Ariz., Dan
met up with classmates David Van Wyck
and Stephen G. Brown. While hiking in the
mountains with Dave one day, Dan discovered the
two shared a similar “How did you find Andover?”
story. In both cases, a family member had read the
Time cover story on PA headmaster John Kemper
and urged the boy to apply. (Anyone else out there
with the same story, more or less?) Boarding the
way-back bus on another fine Tucson day, Dan and
Steve B. drove south to the Sahuarita ranch where
Steve grew up and which Dan had not visited
since 1966.
“Hasn’t really changed much,” said Steve when
I subsequently reached him by phone in Tucson,
where he and his wife built a house two years ago.
He meant the ranch, of course. (We all look exactly
the same as we did 50 years ago.) Now retired from
a long career in human services, Steve divides his
time between the Southwest and Cape Cod, travels
the globe as an environmental consultant (his
daughter and grandkids live in Australia), works
as a substitute schoolteacher, and writes books.
His latest is titled Concealed, a coming-of-age novel
about two teenagers on the run in the Sonoran
Desert (visit www.concealedthebook.com for
more info).
Walt Mintkeski’s annual holiday missive
summarized a busy 2015 for Walt and family, a year
that included (1) a 20th anniversary celebration
for his beloved Johnson Creek (Ore.) Watershed
Council, (2) attending a groundbreaking for
a project that will help restore a local salmonspawning marine estuary (“I felt fulfilled and
hopeful explaining to my grandchildren how this
project was going to help ensure that they would
have salmon to enjoy when they grow up,” Walt
wrote), (3) traveling to the Citizens’ Climate
Lobby Conference in DC to advocate on behalf of
a national carbon fee and dividend, (4) sailing trips
to Mexico, British Columbia, and the Caribbean
with Derick Gates, and (5) volunteer work for
the Nature Conservancy and Oregon League of
Conservation Voters.
Idle question: In one capacity or another,
how many classmates are seriously involved in
environmental/climate change issues? (Lower
your hand, David Arnold; I’ve already got you
counted.) Could be fodder for an interesting panel
discussion at our next reunion, no?
James Platz has won inclusion in the
prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database,
though that hardly does justice to his longtime
love affair with aviation. Now retired from the
banking business in Auburn, Maine, and working
for Platz Associates, a family-owned architecture
and engineering firm, Jim is a founding board
member and vice chairman of Patient AirLift
Services, a network of volunteer pilots who fly
needy patients—at no cost—to hospitals and
medical facilities throughout the Northeast. “I am
continually amazed by the courage, determination,
faith, and positive attitudes that our patients show
in the face of challenging situations,” Jim said in
a recent interview. He has done volunteer work
for a number of other nonprofits as well. Good
on you, Jim.
From Richard Weinberg: “The Rising Storm
is brewing once again, and we need help from
PA ’67. An independent California filmmaker will
start shooting a documentary this summer on the
origins of the Rising Storm at Andover, and our
history since. He seeks any Rising Storm photos,
articles, posters, etc., that may be in the hands of
our classmates—especially any sound recordings
or home movies they may have made of our live
performances at PA.” If you have any, alert me,
and I’ll put you in touch with Rich, who goes on
to write, “Anyone possessing a copy of our album
Calm Before in good condition should proceed
directly to eBay. A sealed copy recently changed
hands between vinyl collectors for $6,000!”
My regular North Shore golf and tennis partner
Steve Gardner spent the winter of 2016 in Vail,
Colo., helping out with an adaptive ski program.
(Very jealous of you, Dr. Steve.) Speaking of
skiing, I enticed the aforementioned Mr. Arnold
to accompany me to a PA alumni and parents ski
outing at Waterville Valley (N.H.) this past January.
Dave and I may have been the oldest alums on
hand, but we can still get down the mountain
pretty well for a couple of old guys. We both hope
to lure more classmates to next year’s PA ski outing.
See you there, or somewhere.
1968
ABBOT
Karen Seaward
659 Kendall Ave.
Palo Alto CA 94306
[email protected]
We requested your “two holiday best moments,”
but most were challenged to pick just two.
Nan Roberts began the conversation by
describing her holiday lunch with Debbie Webster
in Albuquerque, N.M. She and Debbie were
intent on finding Joanne Sapienza Evangelista,
and Debbie did find her! Let’s pester Joanne to
fill in her missing decades for the next class notes.
Debbie visited New England to see family over the
holidays. She noted that it was much warmer there
than in New Mexico, and there was no snow! I am
writing these notes Jan. 12, and there is still only
limited snow in most of New England. As for those
of us in California, after four years of drought,
we are having one of the best snow years I can
remember in the Sierras. Come on out!
Kathy Wies Dietz wrote that her daughter
Martha and her husband had their second girl,
named Rose Leland Loring, in December.
Congratulations, Kathy! I will just have to quote
Juliana Crane’s best moments because she
described them so tenderly: “Helping my son and
daughter-in-law, after the little ones finally went
to sleep, get ready for Christmas morning—just
the three of us coordinating surprise; seeing my
69
stay connected...
other son and his girlfriend, who live in Thailand,
celebrating Christmas Day with us via Skype,
and then watching the 3-year-old granddaughter
jump in front of the Skype camera and say, ‘You do
remember I love you, right?’ ”
Jackie McGinty sent photos of herself with
her daughter, Jessie (thanks, nice photos!), and
described her holiday staycation best moments
this way: attending a Celtic Woman concert
in Charleston, S.C., before Christmas with her
daughter, and enjoying Christmas dinner with her
daughter at BLU restaurant in Folly Beach, S.C.
Susan Barton wrote about the response from her
21-month-old grandniece about where her Papi
was: “A ‘who knows’ shrug of arms and shoulders.”
Susan insisted that she is not old just yet: “Getting
home at 3:36 a.m. after attending the entirety of a
New Year’s Eve gala.” Susan also included a “best
defies-logic moment: Last night, with below-zero
wind chills, when less than nine days ago I spent
Christmas Eve shopping in flip-flops.”
Anne Moses Bennett wrote this about her
Christmas 2015 memories: “Making the long
car/ship journey from Greece to Switzerland
via Italy, spending time with friends on the way;
arriving just in time to set up the tree and shop for
Christmas dinner; spending New Year’s Eve with
dear friends and realizing that ‘family’ includes all
those we love.”
Betsy Handy McCormack spent Christmas
with her children, their spouses, and her four
granddaughters. A highlight “was Christmas dinner. Caroline, 5, said the blessing. She showed us
how to hold our hands as she stood on a chair.
Not to be outdone by her older sister, Jane (who
just turned 3) stood on the chair, put her hand
over her heart, and in loud voice said the Pledge of
Allegiance perfectly, then bowed her head and got
down. Kids are great!”
Christmas Day for Diane Russell included
Star Wars, then dinner at a funky French restaurant
with an Elvis-impersonator chef. This was the “first
get-together of my BF, my daughter and daughter’s
BF, and his daughter and daughter’s fiancé.
Weddings in the future (not mine).” As for my best
moments, while the warmth of family and friends
is very special to me, my strongest memories of
this past holiday are: a superb cross-country-skiing
day out the door of our cabin, when the trees were
heavy with snow and my kick-wax was perfect; and
my first day of downhill skiing when, at the top
of the lift, I looked around to see the magnificent
vista of the Sierras covered with snow and other
downhill skiers with huge grins just like mine.
70
PHILLIPS
Gordon Baird
27 Fort Hill Ave.
Gloucester MA 01930
978-283-0390
[email protected]
Classmate Stuart McAfee passed away in May
2015 in Chapel Hill, N.C., after a brief illness.
Stuart was born in NYC and matriculated from PA
to Harvard where he played rugby and sang with
the Harvard Krokodiloes, then studied medicine
in Bologna, Italy. That training came in handy in
the bank business at Central Carolina Bank and
Sun Trust Mortgage for decades. Stuart retired in
2005. He will be missed dearly by all who had the
fortune to cross his path.
Part of the continuing quest to resurrect
the past as we cling helplessly to our vanishing
youthful memories, a snippet from housemaster
Sherm Drake’s handwritten daily dorm records:
“On Saturday, April 24 [1965], about 3 p.m., a
group of girls from Rogers Hall, accompanied
by their visiting dads, came to Will Hall to see
Skip Jensen, Rip Cohen, and others. While
engaged in some activity or other in the ballroom
(downstairs), it seems that one of the girls made
it known that she would like a ‘souvenir’ of Will
Hall (who wouldn’t?). Cohen, Jensen, or Sean
Konecky—I’m not sure which—spied a pair of
huge shoes lying under the Ping-Pong table and
gave one of the shoes to the girls. (She must have
been thrilled, because you know what they say
about guys with big feet.)
“On Monday, Gary Meller complained that
he had no shoes to wear to class because one
of them had been given to Rogers Hall. I tried
to find an extra pair among my own supply,
then the proctors’ supply, etc., but to no avail, as
Gary’s requirements are too large. Meller was
given permission to wear his slippers to class. On
Tuesday, Sean Konecky reported than I would
not, after all, have to write a letter to Mrs. Ramsey,
headmistress at Rogers Hall. Instead, the girls
had been telephoned and the shoe was to be
returned by mail. As of 9 a.m. Friday, April 30, it
is unclear whether or not Meller is still wearing
slippers on campus.
“Also noted that day, Vin Crowley, Russ Hall,
John Kelsey, and George Wolf were caught
playing Frisbee in the ballroom. They were
warned to cease the activity in that location. Later
that afternoon, when I returned, there they were
again, playing Frisbee in the ballroom. I shall give
Crowley, Wolf, and Hall demerits. They should
have known better, anyway. Additionally, two
boys, Dick Spalding and Cliff Wright, were
attacked without provocation by town boys
on School Street. Neither was hurt badly. Both
were punched. Evidently there have been other
similar incidences lately, involving upperclassmen.
Perhaps the campus police should be alerted. I will
tell Bill Bennett.”
Meanwhile, back in 2015, Oliver Drake—son
of Jay Drake—was headed for the major leagues.
The Gardner, Mass., native, 28, was recalled by the
Orioles and told to report to Miami, where they
played the Marlins on Saturday night. Oliver had
pitched in parts of eight seasons in the minors after
Baltimore picked him in the 43rd round of the
2008 draft. He got the call in Norfolk, Va., where
he was the closer for the Orioles’ Triple A team in
the International League, managed by former Red
Sox first-base coach Ron Johnson. Oliver had done
so well for the Tides that a promotion to the major
leagues seemed inevitable, but nothing is certain
in baseball.
“The way he had been pitching, we’d been
hoping for this,” said Jay, “and it was very, very
good news.” Jay immediately starting looking for
flights to Miami and found a morning one out of
Logan Airport, landing in West Palm Beach. He
was joined by son Elliott, Oliver’s older brother.
Oliver’s mother, Celeste, couldn’t make the trip
because Memorial Day weekend is about the
busiest one of the year at the True Value hardware
store she runs in Gardner.
From Michael Quinlan, the founder and CEO
of Transparent Language, Inc., a language learning
software company: “Something you might find
interesting: My TEDx talk on our 7000 Languages
Project just went up. In it I talk about how we
support language surge for DoD. I explain that the
capability we invent for that purpose also happens
to be perfect for supporting endangered and
less common languages, and so we have started
this 7000 Languages Project. Since we offer the
7000 technology for free and it just keeps getting
better and better, that part is fine. The key now is
for people and organizations around the world
that care about languages to become aware and
participate, so feel free to share.” Watch Quinlan’s
TEDx talk on YouTube at https://youtu.be/
SZbNyp1jeGo.
Finally, Bruce Hearey sent in this little tidbit
about another star attorney, Tom Mesereau ’69,
Michael Jackson’s lawyer: “As the president of the
Cleveland Bar Association, I get to invite a speaker
for our annual law day celebration at the historic
City Club of Cleveland, citadel of free speech for
114 years. The speech was broadcast out over an
extensive NPR network. Tom, celebrated trial
lawyer, came in from LA on May 1 at my invite to
deliver the law day speech. He was great, speaking
about his significant pro bono activities, access
to justice, and the wide-ranging avenues of legal
careers for lawyers. He was a big hit. The night
before, Tom and I had dinner with my younger
brother, Clem Hearey ’72, and reminisced about
our days at PA.”
We only wish Sherm Drake had been there to
write it all down.
1969
ABBOT
Sheila Donald Millington
5271 West Boniwood Turn
Clinton MD 20735
[email protected]
301-868-1631
I am happy to report news from our class. Looking
forward to hearing from many of you in the future.
Katrina Moulton Wollenberg reports, “I
have enjoyed visits from all my family members,
although not all at once. My sons and families
were in town the middle of December; my sister,
nieces, and mother arrived in time for Christmas.
Naturally, I had to try hundreds of new recipes,
which involved the nieces in very festive cooking
classes. An occasional tornado even meant a night
of leftovers, following 30 minutes of huddling in the
pantry with four adults, two children, and two dogs.
While we were safe, I was sad to learn that several
friends suffered severe damage to their homes. As
the calendar turned to 2016, I used a few days to rest
and relax. Gosh, it feels good to catch up on sleep. I
must now turn my attention to a large 60th birthday
celebration I am hosting for my partner, Michelle,
in Oklahoma City. Party planning from a distance
has its challenges, but attention to detail is keeping
me focused. I continue to feel so grateful for good
health, a happy family, and great friendships.”
Margaret Lavender wrote, “This will be a year
of big transitions for my husband, John, and me.
We will be leaving the Chicago area with mixed
feelings, after 30-plus years there, and relocating to
Naples, Fla., for the winter and Westport, Mass., for
the summer. We were both born and raised in New
England and have returned during all the summers
of our lives, so this is our longtime dream, though
we hate to leave so many good Midwestern friends.
We hope to reconnect with our many East Coast
friends and maintain our Midwest friendships by
relocating to two desirable vacation areas. We have
been madly sorting, tossing, sorting, and tossing
for six months now and have more to do before
putting what’s left into storage for most of 2016. I
am looking forward to seeing my Abbot friends
more often!”
Congratulations to Jennifer Cecere, who
received a Building the Circle Award for her
project for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority, a culmination of two years’ work. The
Little Italy–University Circle Station, which opened
Aug. 11, 2015, and features Jennifer’s work, is the
first new station for the transit authority in 55 years.
Madelon Curtis Harper reports: “Husband
Stephen [Harper ’69] and I had a nice Christmas
season, and we spent New Year’s weekend at the
Ojai Valley Inn and Spa in Ojai, Calif. We love it
there, with its fabulous, relaxing spa treatments and
quietness. We are going down again for Valentine’s
Day weekend. We realize there are so many
wonderful places to visit right here in California,
where we live, that we should take advantage of
them before we ever move away! Plus, we don’t
have to get on planes and deal with all the hassle. I
am teaching ballet, choreographing, taking Pilates
classes, and acting. By the time these notes are out,
maybe some of you will have seen Caged No More,
the film that I am in. It was released Jan. 22.”
My daughter and I spent a fabulous vacation
in the San Francisco area after Christmas, visiting
my son, who recently moved there. He’s an
information technology guru, and that’s the place
to be. He loves being in the city and being able to
walk to dining, entertainment, and shopping. I am
more of a suburbanite, used to driving everywhere.
For all of you who are into Facebook and other
social media, perhaps you can get in contact
with classmates I have found on Facebook
and/or who are part of the Abbot 1969 public
group: Joan Faro, Sara Gray Stockwell, Linda
Lacouture Vliet, Helene Jenkins Kovach,
Mary Ketcham Lambea, Elisabeth Miller
Blackwood, Jena Treneer Miller, Sandra Waugh
Winans, Carol Nimick, Lindsay Whitcomb,
Gali Hagel, Jennifer Van Anda, Barbara Allen,
Carolyn Cain Ware, Stephanie Ross,
Mary Stewart Owczarek, Dale Dingledine,
Jessie Butler, Susan Gurganus Drackett,
Wendy Ewald, and Mary Schiavoni. If you are
on Facebook but provided news, your name was
not repeated here. Here’s an invitation to join the
Abbot Class of 1969 Facebook Group!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.
However, by the time you read this, that holiday
will be a distant memory and you’ll be looking
forward to summer. Let me be the first to
say, “Have a great summer!” Thanks for your
submissions.
PHILLIPS
Hugh Kelleher
12 Atwood St.
Newburyport MA 01950
617-448-8073
[email protected]
Ben Gruber wrote from his new digs in Denver,
where he has retired. Ben had a long career in IT.
Says Ben, “Thank you, Steve Harper, for getting
me through our BASIC programming course.”
Ben offered a bold idea: “What if we used our
class gift to benefit Greater Lawrence instead of
PA? There are so many ways a generous gift from
the Class of ’69 could help the community: selfsustaining college scholarships; a recreation center;
improvements for the school system or medical
and veterans’ facilities—the list goes on.”
I’m very interested in what our classmates think
of Ben’s proposal. To me, it sounds great—and in
keeping with the spirit of our class. Bill Schink, our
class agent, must be consulted! A recent letter from
Bill spoke about our 50th Reunion in 2019—and
he is encouraging us all to help support the school.
Perhaps, as in politics, there may be compromise:
Some for PA, some for Lawrence.
The last time I saw Ben, he was riding his
bike along Memorial Drive in Cambridge,
Mass. It was 1987 or so. He was headed to work
somewhere around MIT. I was on a coffee break
on a construction job. I was sitting with some of
my Plumbers Local 12 buddies on the edge of the
concrete slab one or two stories up, and Ben came
by, and we recognized each other. Just one of those
things you remember.
Another chance encounter: running into
Jim Volker not long ago—quite by chance, at
a business office on the North Shore. Jim is a
semiretired lawyer, and he told me that he and his
wife, Marcia, were planning a trip to California
in January. He asked about his old day student
buddy, Pete Olney. Later, Pete and Jim were able
to get together in San Francisco, where Pete and
his wife, Christina, live. They sent along a great
photo—complete with the Golden Gate Bridge
in the background. (Check out our class Facebook
page, where webmaster J. Bluhm plans to post the
photo.) Pete says, “What a pleasure to see Jim and
meet his wife, Marcia. We are a little grayer and
heavier, but we kinda picked up where we left off
in ’69.” Seems to be one of the things that happen
when members of our class have these mini
reunions: Doesn’t matter much what the years in
between have amounted to. Friends remain friends.
I’m sure that Pete and Jim must have at least
mentioned politics—Pete being of the leftish
persuasion and Jim distinctly on the other side of
the aisle. What many in our class may not know
is that Pete, who was my roommate at the time,
dropped out of Harvard to become an elevator
operator. He worked at Boston City Hospital and
later completed his degree at UMass Boston while
being a union organizer at BCH. Pete is posting a
series of articles online at the Stansbury Forum.
One incident concerns the night he was running
the hospital elevator and a guy came in on a gurney.
They had trouble getting him through the door,
because he had a crowbar through his skull. Check
out bit.ly/1RjEELt.
While on a business trip to LA, I spent a couple
of days in lovely San Marino with my long-ago
roommate Larry Uhl and his wife, Valerie Casey.
We had a great day at the Huntington Library. If
you ever get to LA, the Huntington is a must-see.
The Japanese gardens alone are worth the trip.
Speaking of California and politics: You—yes,
you—will have a chance to cast a vote of greater
significance (not) than any Super Tuesday primary.
I’m speaking of this year’s slate for PA alumni
trustee. On the ballot is Nate Cartmell. If there’s
one guy who is devoted to PA, it is Nate. We’ll be
giving him our support.
Interesting piece in the NYT about the
“Bill Gates effect” on book sales. Gates blogs
about books he appreciates—and he rated
Evan Thomas’s Being Nixon as one of the best
books of 2015. Congrats, Evan!
Boston was the site of this year’s American
Library Association Conference in January,
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stay connected...
attended by head of the Kansas City Public Library
Crosby Kemper. Crosby is in his 11th year as head
of the KC library and has made it into one of the
nation’s finest systems. We got together in Boston,
had a wonderful meal, and developed a blueprint
for resolving the world’s most troubling issues.
Crosby’s daughter Maddie ’16 is graduating from
PA in the spring and heading to Barnard. Crosby
was going down to New Haven, where he would be
seeing old friends, including Fred Strebeigh, who
continues teaching at Yale.
I am sorry to report that Lock Miller passed
away this past fall. Lock had been an Outward
Bound instructor and later a very successful
businessman, as owner of West Coast retail chain
Marmot Mountain Works. He was loyal, wry, and
insightful, and he always made sure to come back
to the Hill and enjoy our reunions. He was quite
the hiker and outdoorsman, interests he probably
developed through Search & Rescue at PA. If you
look online, you will find some wonderful tributes.
Here’s an excerpt from one: “Lock was key in my
life. I never would have met my husband if he
had not rescued our company financially in the
late ’80s. This changed my life forever.” May each
of us accomplish something as worthy. A detailed
story about Lock appears at bit.ly/1pJPBtD.
Ben Gruber and others in our class are clearly
enjoying retirement—and others of us intend to
join them afore long. If you decide to head to one
of the sunny states, here’s a real estate alert: Dave
Marshman is a top realtor in lovely Venice, Fla.
Send an e-mail to [email protected].
Stay in touch.
1970
ABBOT
Adelle Nicholson
851 Three Islands Blvd., No. 118
Hallandale Beach FL 33009
954-456-4312
[email protected]
Tobi Solomon Gold
130 SW 31st Terrace
Cape Coral FL 33914
239-940-2396
[email protected]
Adelle Nicholson and Tobi Solomon Gold here!
We greet our Abbot classmates and hope that 2016
is finding you well. We have joined forces and will
be sharing the responsibilities of class secretary. We
are both looking forward to speaking and—if we’re
very lucky—seeing you in the near future.
Tobi says, “I was delighted to talk with my firstyear roommate, Pauline Cerf Alexander!” Pauline
lives in a small town near Morristown, N.J. She is
the manager of admissions and graduate services
for Seeing Eye, Inc., an organization that breeds,
raises, and trains dogs to assist the blind. After 23
years of service, she plans to retire in about a year
72
and a half. Her son Will graduated from Milton
Academy and Bowdoin College and works for
Education First Educational Tours in Cambridge,
Mass. Pauline’s daughter, Lizzie, lives in New
York and is a school counselor at a small school
for special needs children. Pauline has two sons,
Edward and John, in San Diego. John is married,
with an 18-month-old daughter named Elsie, and
Pauline visits them often. She is very enthusiastic
about our big reunion in 2020 and hopes to attend.
Debbie Prudden Lathrop is a psychotherapist
and has her own practice; she specializes in
working with adults and teenagers who are gifted
and creative. Her husband is retiring this year and
will keep busy consulting. Debbie was delighted
to share that her son, David, got married last
spring and that the newlyweds are doing well.
Lisa Contarino divides her time among Rome,
Cambridge, Mass., and Santa Fe, N.M. For the past
three years, Lisa has been working with the Italian
government on an annual Italian film festival that,
this year, will be held in June in Santa Fe. Her son,
Luca, is 13 and plays basketball and soccer.
Adelle says, “I had a wonderful conversation
with Sue Cleveland Jacobson, who lives in Texas
with her husband, Jake. They resided in Houston
for 25 years, and, since 2008, they’ve called San
Antonio home. They have two children, Missy and
Billy, and nine grandchildren ages 9 and younger!
Sue and Jake have a vacation home in Bella Vista,
Ark., where they live during golf season. Jake calls
the town a ‘university campus for grownups,’
except that one can drink legally and one has time
and money to do what one wishes. Not only does
Sue play a lot of golf, she is also the self-proclaimed
Google website guru for Bella Vista golf groups—
she has helped all of them launch websites and
continues to help by maintaining them. Sue is
happy to visit with anyone who is passing through
San Antonio or Bella Vista.
“Last fall, Tobi, Janet Cohen Miller, and I
met at the beautiful Hudson at Waterway East
Restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway in Delray
Beach, Fla., and enjoyed a meal together. Seeing
one another was fun, and we felt so comfortable, as
if no time had passed since our Abbot days. During
our conversation, we discovered that we have all
kinds of connections. Janet and her late husband,
Philip, lived on their sailboat in Fort Myers for a
year, during which time they visited with friends in
Matlacha, Fla. There is now a wellness center there,
where Tobi is now a yoga instructor! Janet and
I discovered that she went to elementary school
in her hometown of Lawrence, Mass., with a boy
whom I dated for a brief time while I was at Abbot
and who figures prominently in my life because
he introduced me to Led Zeppelin! Janet is newly
retired and busier than ever. She is an avid cyclist,
gardener, and reader, and she likes taking on home
improvement projects. She is an active member of
bicycle and book clubs. She also enjoys spending
time with her two sons and their friends.
“Until next time, dear classmates, Tobi and I
wish you a wonderful summer!”
PHILLIPS
Peter Williams
3070 Shamrock North
Tallahassee FL 32309
850-893-3342
[email protected]
Frank Herron
38 Prospect St.
Winchester MA 01890
617-852-0126
[email protected]
This one is a little different. Bear with us.
It wasn’t the dawn of a new year that got
Chuck Willand thinking. Rather, it was a letter he
received from one of his former Andover students
near the end of 2015—nearly 40 years after she
was in his biology classroom. Her note got him
thinking, and we thought it worthy of ink, paper,
and pixels. What Chuck wrote follows, after some
minor nipping and tucking.
“Most of you know I joined the PA faculty as a
teaching fellow in the biology department in the
fall of 1976 (having received a life-changing tip at
our Fifth Reunion, by the way, from Don Rollings,
who had spent his first year after Princeton as a
teaching fellow at Andover).
“I continued teaching at PA for seven more
years, forging new and expanded relationships
with teachers such as Messrs. Richards, Lux,
McClement, Penner, Sturges, Sides, and Wennik.
At the same time, slowly and less apparently,
I worked with dozens of classroom students,
athletes, and dormitory charges. To some, I taught
subject matter; several, I counseled or consoled;
many, I coached to higher levels in swimming or
softball; and, yes, a few, I busted.
“For these reasons, at our Class of ’70 reunions,
I actively seek out my former students from
the co-reuning classes of 1980 and 1985, while
keeping a close watch, too, for my few remaining
faculty colleagues.
“I tell you this because as the years go by, I—
and you—receive notices periodically that our
teachers and mentors have passed on. Whenever
possible, I make my next contribution to PA in
memory of that former teacher or faculty peer,
and without fail, I have received heartfelt and
personal thanks from the families in beautiful,
handwritten letters. Nancy Sizer, Audrey
Hoitsma, Helen (Mrs. Skip) Eccles, Karen Sturges,
and Jean McKee are among those who have sent
very moving notes to me.
“A few weeks ago, just before Christmas, I
received a letter from the Academy telling me
that a former student had made a gift to the PA
Parent Fund in my honor (happily, not in my
memory). I was stunned at this news, but I finally
understood why those widowed spouses had
written me. I thought about all those nice letters, so
I immediately thanked the current donor, now in
her mid-50s, with a handwritten note of my own.
Then, in a two-page follow-up letter, that same
student shared a series of point-by-point examples
of how I, as a green, 24-year-old teaching fellow,
had made a difference in the PA life of a bright but
uncertain 15-year-old from a blue-collar town in
central British Columbia—even though she never
took any more biology at Phillips after her lower
year or played on any of my sports teams or dated
boys in my dorms.
“In this class note, I’ve used personal examples
to illustrate a point. But this message is not about
gifts I’ve given to the school or letters of thanks
I’ve received, so I offer you this: The next time
you are moved to send PA a check, I hope you will
consider naming and honoring a PA figure with
your gift—a teacher, a coach, a faculty spouse, an
administrator, a work-duty supervisor, a classmate,
living or deceased. Your gift to the Academy and
your recognition of an individual who in some way
helped you ‘learn the great end and real business of
living’ will truly make someone’s day.”
It may seem coincidental, but in the wake
of Chuck’s well-reasoned suggestion regarding
donations, we heard from class agent Andy
Wexler. It looks like he is planning a retirement
from Kaiser sometime in the next two years. With
that in mind, after what he calls “many years of
Southern California’s sun-drenched lifestyle,” he
and wife Geri have bought a house on Cape Cod.
That might put them in a closer orbit to their two
daughters, Becca ’02 and Sarah. Andy says that
retirement will not end his work in the developing
world, and Geri will keep up her work in pediatric
clinical psychology.
In the meantime, Andy wrote in early January,
he was headed to Madagascar to operate on
children in the spring. He was hoping he could find
some time “checking out lemurs” on that island.
And he offered fair warning to the class: “I do
expect to survive the jungle and be back to fulfill
my duties as your agent, encouraging you all to
cough up the cash for Andover.”
Speaking of retirement, Charles van der Horst
has done it. The longtime professor of medicine
at the University of North Carolina Medical
School and widely known AIDS researcher
turned 64 as 2016 bawled its way into our lives.
If he dares to ask, like Ye Olde Beatles, “Will you
still need me?” at this age, the answer appears to
be a resounding “Yes—more than ever.” On his
birthday, he thanked many people on his Facebook
page. One paragraph hints at the incredible
breadth and depth of Charlie’s recent selfless work.
Recent projects: helping village health workers
with Last Mile Health in Liberia; writing grants
for demonstration projects on adolescent HIV
prevention in Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand;
volunteering with Urban Ministries in North
Carolina. He wrote that 2016 will bring “a year of
protesting (I rejoined NAACP N.C. yesterday),
volunteering in the free clinic, and swimming
like a fiend.” He quickly made the plunge on the
third goal. He celebrated his January birthday
by competing in a one-mile swimming race in
San Francisco Bay. (Brrrr. Fifty degrees, maybe?)
And, finally, Peter Williams filed papers in the
fall to make another run for state attorney for the
six-county judicial circuit that includes Tallahassee,
Fla., and part of the Panhandle. Peter is running as a
Republican. He has enjoyed occasional breakfasts
with Romerio Perkins, who—with the help of
wife Sharon—has recovered well from his surgery
last year.
1971
45th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
ABBOT
Sara Ingram
500A E. 87th St., Apt. 12D
New York NY 10128
212-879-4665
[email protected]
Abby Johnson
1983 Maison Way
Carson City NV 89703
775-885-0612
[email protected]
Caitlin Owen Hunter marked her 21st year of
creating and selling farmstead goat cheese in
Appleton, Maine.
Anne Rappaport’s youngest child is engaged
to be married to a wonderful young woman in
September 2016. Anne’s middle child dances
joyously and competitively, and the oldest lives
with her husband and Anne’s delightful 9-year-old
grandchild in the Midwest.
Sue King-Irwin and her husband, Hank,
had a very busy 2015 Christmas season. All four
daughters and four grandchildren visited from
four states. Sue and Hank also had an abundance
of friends, extended family, and both ex-spouses in
and out through the holidays. Sue says it was “fun,
exciting, crazy, exhausting, and filled with drama!
We feel very blessed with the wonderful people in
our lives and wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Beatriz McConnie Zapater shared her
thoughts and journey toward retirement in a way
that we think will resonate with all of us. No matter
what we are doing, we need to think and plan for
the future. Beatriz recently retired from 40 years
of teaching and creating schools and programs
for “really marginalized, off-track young people.”
Beatriz writes that she left “without another job
waiting for me, without a real plan—simply acting
with the courage to leave, the courage to lead.”
Beatriz had a transition plan for the final school she
worked in and a lot of support in taking the leap
to retirement. After she left, Beatriz took a short
trip to Finland and Paris to decompress. Now she
is doing some education consulting, painting (not
walls), cooking, playing her guitar, and dreaming
about the ideal retirement scheme with her wife.
We will stay tuned to see whether Beatriz pursues
consulting to redesign the high school of the future
for Boston. Or will she make a change and pursue
a career as a chef ? Both sound pretty exciting for a
“retired” person!
Emmy Schroeder Reade’s granddaughter,
Abigail MacLaren Law, was born in August 2015.
Emmy’s daughter Lissy and her husband, Cam, live
in Greenwich, Conn., and love being new parents.
Eldest daughter Amanda and her husband live in
Newport, R.I., with granddaughter Elise, who is
almost 3. Sadly, May 2015 brought a diagnosis of
cancer for Emmy’s husband, and though he went
through a lot, he is thankfully in remission. We
wish him good health for 2016! Emmy has kept
herself busy by “running the family chemicaldistribution business, being a grammie called
‘Emsy,’ and more recently training a new shih tzu
puppy! The cycle of life brings it all!”
These days, Tawwaba Samia Bloch’s life
is centered on her spiritual life and path. Over
the past 10 years, she has served a universal
Sufi teacher, assisting him on one completed
book, with another in process. Tawwaba and
the Sufi teacher offer retreats together, and she
is increasingly involved in teaching and spiritual
guidance and counseling. She helps manage a
small residential community, plus she has a little
house in Berkeley, Calif., that serves as a private
refuge. Don’t think it’s all about sitting still for
Tawwaba, though! She has a “sweet, simple, funky
camper van named Wanda. I drive it to retreats and
then take time on my return in the gloriousness of
this land, from the red rocks and formations of the
Southwest to the wild, free rivers and forest and
coastline of the Pacific Northwest. In Wanda
I wander in wonder and I return to my true
hippie girl roots!”
Sara Ingram traveled to Amsterdam in
October 2015 and had a great time walking all over
the city, seeing museums, canals, and other sights.
She ate lots of great food and was thrilled to have a
room overlooking a canal. Astonishingly, she never
saw one of the Amsterdam “brown cafés.” She
made up for it with Dutch chocolate.
Lynn Comley Frueh’s daughter is applying
to colleges. Lynn had several encounters of the
Abbot kind in 2015. While touring Reed College
in Oregon, their guide was an Andover grad,
and another student on the tour was a senior
at PA, working on the Abbot Archives project.
Recently, at a psychology conference in LA, Lynn
reports, “A group of us introduced ourselves in
a small breakout session, and a woman said, ‘I
knew a Lynn Comley at Abbot years ago.’ It was
Holly Tytell Culver! Really great to see her again
and reminisce.”
Please attend our 45th Reunion June 10–12,
2016, so we can catch up in person!
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PHILLIPS
Frank duPont
8 Nichols Drive
Hastings-on-Hudson NY 10706
914-478-7818
[email protected]
The 45th Reunion is fast approaching, June 10–12.
Though this is not the mega-event 50th, we’re
hoping for a good turnout. Affirmative responses
are rolling in, with a few holdouts who are claiming
other obligations.
Grover Burthey just sent me a photo of his
first grandchild, with this note: “Luke Burthey
is here—9 lb. 11 oz., 22 inches! Going to put
him on Ernie [Adams] and [Bill] Belichick’s
radar...a big boy! And good-looking, too.” I joined
Stewart Crone and Pierce Rafferty for lunch in
Mystic, Conn., recently—the second installment
in what will ideally be a rolling series. Plenty of
catching up to do, from the film class with Steve
Marx to Danny Cahn and other classmates to
Pierce and Stewart’s time spent together during the
making of Atomic Cafe.
Ran into Jeb Bush recently at the Yale Club.
Pure coincidence. He was emerging from a
fundraising event, brimming with campaign
energy. Even though we hadn’t seen each other
since PA, he stopped for a minute to talk. His
entourage, which might have been staff (or a
couple secret service agents), stood by impatiently.
Tonight, as the returns come in from Iowa, it’s
looking increasingly clear that his path to the
White House is being eclipsed. Maybe he’ll have
time to join us come June.
John Gillespie shared his current plans:
“Shifting focus this year to a new book and a
magazine for teaching financial literacy to 8- to
14-year-olds.” He also mentioned that he and
wife Susan were planning on a June Alaska cruise
(reminding me of the David Foster Wallace piece,
“A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”). It
may start after the reunion, so he might make it. On
another front, I knew that John in his earlier career
did innovative financings of stadiums, like Camden
Yards and the Staples Center, but I didn’t know that
he was once No. 49 on The Sporting News annual
list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Sports”
(beating Michael Jordan).
Speaking of sports, I followed up on a prompt
from Mark Bamford ’81 recently about the
Andover Athletics Hall of Honor and started
an online conversation about the best athletes
from our class and the nominees who are up for
consideration. Phil Hooper, Sam Walker, and
Jeff Rosen had already been nominated. The
question under consideration was who in our
class merited inclusion in the Hall, and could we
supply sufficient background info for full decision
making? The debate flowed for several days.
Dana Seero, Gregg Meserole, and Bob Frisbie,
among others, were advocating for Phil. Dana,
well versed in the Hall of Honor members and
74
guidelines, caught us up. Bill Belichick is already in,
as are Medal of Honor recipient Tom Hudner ’43,
George H.W. Bush ’42, Ted Harrison ’38, and Paul
Kalkstein ’61, among others. Soon, lots of new or
long-forgotten information was flooding in.
Little did I know that the lacrosse team in our
senior year was not just New England champions
but also had several high school All-Americans
(Hooper, Frisbie, and Seero).
Phillipian cosports editor Matthew
Rueter lobbied for Frisbie, Tim Neville, and
Steve Sherrill. Sherrill, who allowed that he was
an “OK honorable mention,” in turn advanced
Dick Cashin and Milt Holt. Cashin, according
to Steve, was “the best athlete at Harvard ’75, was
on two Olympic crews, and has twice been his
age group’s world champion on the ergometer.”
Tim Gay, Lawry Bump, and Stan Livingston
supported Holt, supplying stories of Holt as
quarterback in his famous white shoes delivering
repeatedly in the clutch. As Tim put it, “If my faulty
memory serves me correctly, he was also offered
a signing bonus to forgo Harvard and to pitch for
the Pittsburgh Pirates.”
Greg Zorthian, who was Phillipian assistant
sports editor, put forward Jeff Rosen, who, he
mentioned, was undefeated in wrestling over two
years and in one year “pinned every opponent.”
Jeff responded with straightforward modesty and
shared his story since PA: “Thanks for thinking of
me. My story is easy. Yale. Varsity wrestling for two
years, junior year in Israel, where I met my wife
(Rebecca). We married my first week in law school
@ Iowa, still married to this day, with four terrific
daughters. I’ve been trying lawsuits (which to me
is just like wrestling) in Kansas City for 38 years. I
remember our team like it was yesterday. What a
great group of guys!”
Sam Walker was likewise unassuming, writing,
“I am honored to be included, but bow out of the
process.” As he explained, he broke his arm a few
days before football started senior year “and never
played a down.” In addition, he played lacrosse with
a second injury in the spring. It was the cohorts on
his line in lacrosse that he credited: Peter Bensley
and Kurt Kuchta.
Pete Sachs, Sandy McAdam, Doug Buxton,
Bill Cahill, and Evan Livada all joined the fun.
Evan contended that Holt was the “greatest
athlete of our class” but then pitched a change-up,
proposing Ernie Adams. “If we want a lock
nomination it should be Ernie, as he is clearly the
brains behind the greatest dynasty in NFL history
and one of the nicest guys in the class. He is finally
getting the national recognition he deserves.”
Michael Carlisle replied, “I’m pretty sure Ernie
would decline—he prefers to stay behind the
scenes—but Evan, you’re absolutely correct, and
Bill [Belichick] and Robert Kraft would be the first
to agree!!”
Unfortunately, this year Ernie and Bill Belichick
ended the football season one game shy of the
Super Bowl. Maybe they, too, will join us in June.
1972
ABBOT
Julia Gibert
300 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7ED
England
+ 44 0 7766 022832
[email protected]
PHILLIPS
Tom Rawson
P.O. Box 1361
Eastsound WA 98245
206-632-8248
[email protected]
It’s not easy being green, but Rus Perry is doing his
part for a sustainable future, and he’s getting some
well-deserved recognition for his efforts. Rus was
named a 2015 LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) Fellow by Green Business
Certification Inc. Rus heads up the corporate
sustainability efforts of SmithGroupJJR, one of
the largest architectural and engineering firms in
the U.S.
SmithGroup had this to say about Rus and his
award: “Perry is widely recognized as one of the
most collaborative, knowledgeable, and dedicated
experts in the sustainable design industry. He
is among the industry’s top professionals who
advocate moving beyond designing buildings
that do less harm and consume fewer resources
to designing buildings that are truly regenerative.
Under Perry’s leadership, SmithGroupJJR became
one of the first firms to sign on to the American
Institute of Architects (AIA) 2030 Commitment,
a mandate that the building industry achieve net
zero energy for every building designed by the
year 2030.” Noble work, Rus. Yet another fine
example of ’72 non sibi.
Bob Pfeiffer’s partner, Larry Parks, died in
October at their home in Pendleton, Ore., at age
73. Larry had been in declining health for several
years. Bob and Larry lived together in Atlanta
before moving to their new home in eastern
Oregon a few years ago. They enjoyed traveling
around the Pacific Northwest visiting family, as
well as keeping up with Bob’s PA ’72 pals. I always
enjoyed a much-too-brief visit with Bob and Larry
at the Tumbleweed Music Festival in Richland,
Wash., every September. They faithfully made the
one-hour trek from Pendleton to catch my set
and chat for a few minutes. Larry accompanied
Bob to our reunion in 2002 and regaled all with
his Southern charm and sweet humor—one of
the friendliest fellows I’ve ever met. Bob wrote,
“Larry made friends wherever he went, and we
will all miss him. Those of us who believe can take
comfort in knowing that, after a long life, he is now
in a better place than we are.” Our condolences to
Bob on his loss.
I had a nice visit with Doug Westberg in his
hometown of Vancouver, Wash., when I was
there to play a benefit concert for the Clark
County Democrats. Doug joined me on stage and
performed one of his clever original songs—a
fitting venue for our first meeting in 38 years. As
14-year-olds at PA, we bonded over Democratic
politics in Will Hall in the fall of 1968, along with
Jim Mayock, bravely doing intellectual battle with
our GOP adversaries, Dan Burd and Bill Pruden.
Doug and I used to take great pleasure in altering
Nixon-Agnew bumper stickers. This being a family
publication, I can’t tell you what they said when
we were finished. Actually, truth be told, I can’t
even remember. I do remember that the alterations
required much fine motor dexterity in the days
before Photoshop.
I saw Bill Boak and wife Mary Wang in
November at their happy home in Manhattan.
They are empty nesters now, but Mabel the yellow
Lab provides good company. Bill and Mary have
moved, but just across the street. They’re still on
72nd Street—a testament to Bill’s fierce loyalty to
his high school class.
By the time these notes appear in print, it
will almost be time for Cape Cod party chez
Jon Atwood, version 3.0. Be sure the PA Alumni
Office has your current e-mail address so that Jon
and the other organizers can give you the details
for what has now become an annual September
extravaganza.
And don’t forget reunion 2017—just around
the corner. See you there!
1973
ABBOT
Jane Cashin Demers
43 Morton St.
Andover MA 01810
978-470-1684 (home)
978-502-8733 (cell)
[email protected]
Noreen Markley
783 Wooddale Road
Bloomfield Village MI 48301-2468
248-645-0536
[email protected]
Marcia B. McCabe
160 W. 62nd St., Apt. 10B
New York NY 10023
917-796-1594
[email protected]
In NYC, on a Friday night in October 2015, a
party hosted by Sara Nelson ’74 began a weekend
of celebrating turning 60. Thirty or more women
from the classes of ’73 and ’74 congregated. Guests
from the class of ’74 included Jeanne Nahill
Kempthorne, Lissy Abraham, Priscilla Martel, Sara
Wedeman, Margaret Downs, and Elizabeth Halsey
Yoakum. Sara proved to be an accomplished
hostess. (Look at the Abbot Rabbits group on
Facebook for photos of the weekend.)
Judith Webster made a quick appearance on
Friday and then ran to parents’ weekend at Trinity.
Weaving through the crowd at the functions were
May Irwin, Marcia McCabe, Mindy Feldman,
Ginny Carter, and Josie Martin. Later on Friday
night, a group headed to a jazz club in Columbus
Circle, led by Jane Cashin Demers.
On Saturday morning, Dianne DeLucia,
Kim Grecoe Sherwood, and Barbara
Contarino Tomkins took a tour of NYC, which
Mimi Kessler and Jane Pugh Perrett had done
on Friday morning. Jane loved every minute of
the weekend! At the home of Richard Cashin ’71,
Jane Cashin Demers hosted a gourmet lunch.
Lots of friends made their first appearance
here: Betsy Fauver Stueber, Cecilia Blewer,
Lucinda Leach, and Natalie Ziegler.
Mimi Kessler reported on her recent
conversations and visits with Abbot Principal
Don Gordon ’52. Don lent his “memory book,”
a gift from our class that was compiled and given
to him in 1973.
Anne Spader Byerly wore an Abbot softball
shirt—one produced as part of a project funded
by the Abbot Academy Association a few years
ago for that year’s softball team. The shirt is Abbot
blue, with a large “Abbot” in script on the front and
a smaller “Phillips Academy.” Reunion shirt idea?
Yes!
Betsy Fauver Stueber had previously suggested
that we submit poems. Debra Heifetz Stein
wrote a song, set to the tune of “Camelot.” It
was a great crowd pleaser. Other contributors:
Betsy, Leslie Monsky, Vicki Wood DeBoest,
Amanda Cobb, Molly Prescott Porter,
Elizabeth Kent, and me (Noreen Markley).
Loraine Washburn sent a book full of prompts,
in order to record our reflections. Near the end,
Anne Weisman Hogeland led the group in a huge
thank-you to Jane for the event.
Next event: Saturday dinner hosted by
Lori Goodman Seegers and Marcia McCabe,
at Lori’s lovely home. Several PA guys were
invited. Knowing that there would be lively
conversation, beautiful women, great food, and
loud laughter, they said “Yes!” Among the PA
friends were these ’73ers: Phil Bauman, Glenn
Ball, John Bishop, David Downs, Bill Drake, Peter
Fernberger, Will Hart, Cap Lesesne, Scott Mead,
and Henry Mueller. There were also some friends
from ’74: Jack Gray, Julian Hatton, Bob Trehy,
and Kent Vogel.
I found my hometown friend Ann Hoover
Maddox ’74. Julie Horowitz was videoed talking
to Josie Martin. Christina Landry, who is Floridabased, and Vicki Wood DeBoest, who spends her
winters in Florida, escaping the chill of Chicago,
talked with Susan Urie Donahue, whose children
are now in NYC. Dinner was capped by the
desserts: a cake for our collective 60th birthday
and “heavenly goo”! Lori and Marcia knew us well.
Sunday morning arrived. Bets Kent and
Ellen Hoitsma headed down to the National
September 11 Memorial & Museum. A few ladies
met for brunch at the Harvard Club, in order to
capture a few more minutes.
A sincere thank-you to the hostesses: Sara, Jane,
Marcia, and Lori. Thanks, also, to the planners,
Mimi Kessler and Jane Cashin Demers, who never
gave up on the idea of a big birthday party.
In other news: Kathleen Reardon Murphy
wrote she was planning to be in Italy, instead of
NYC. Her husband’s book was chosen to be part of
a world tour that spans three years. Kathleen lives in
Illinois and trades in municipal bonds.
Charlotte Mason has been received the
Marketing EDGE Outstanding Educator Award.
She is a professor of marketing (and department
head) at the University of Georgia.
A last word: Your three class secretaries have
urged you to join Facebook. You can see photos
and videos of the NYC events, and other items.
Contact Mimi Kessler or Connee Petty Young
to join the group. To illustrate its power: I was in
Arizona for a wedding. A strangely colorful vehicle
pulled into the parking lot. The vehicle reminded
me of a FB photo from Catherine Armsden,
regarding her sister’s trip around the West and its
national parks. I walked up and said, “I am a friend
of Catherine Armsden. Are you, too?” The reply
was, “No. I am her sister.” I got to spend some time
with Beverley Armsden Daniel ’66 and her architect
husband, Warren. Beverly was headed back to
San Francisco for the launch of Catherine’s book,
Dream House. (Buy the book. It is wonderful!)
PHILLIPS
Pete Morin
41 Border St.
Scituate MA 02066
[email protected]
www.facebook.com/pete.morin2
Public service announcement: Facebook is for
grown-ups now—so many grown-ups that the kids
have abandoned it. It is now populated with indie
authors, pet lovers, and high school reunioners like
us. Look for Andover/Abbot Class of 1973 and join
the group!
Scarce news this quarter, most of it from the
above Facebook page. Word is there was quite a
60th birthday party in Manhattan, but they didn’t
post any news about it or otherwise inform the
recording secretary. I hear through the grapevine
(via Bill Drake) that it was a fine time.
For those who live in a black box,
Craig Reynolds is in the tequila business. Craig
and his partners have launched, as a labor of love,
a small-batch agave spirit called Dos Volcanes,
and it is positively sublime. All sales proceeds go
to Project Amigo, a scholarship fund benefitting
the poorest children of Colima, Mexico (the site
of the farm that produces the blue agave). So get
yourselves a few bottles!
75
stay connected...
The product was launched in inimitable
Reynolds style, including a party at the home
of Will Schutte, the fallout from which was an
animated discussion about tequila’s medicinal
qualities and the absence (or not) of a hangover
after consuming it. Dos Volcanes also made
it to Lawson Fisher’s home, where he, wife
Christine, and Dave Swanson (America’s house
guest) gave it a thorough blessing (picture not
fit for publication). Reynolds and I embarked on
something of a joint marketing mission, tequila
and crime fiction. Picture on Facebook page.
Don Lazo expressed his own dismay at the
lack of party news and reported that Ted Wood
celebrated his 60th in Boulder, Colo., wearing a
gorilla suit. Way to go, Ted.
Jim Hackett made a road trip up to Andover to
have lunch with Carroll and Elaine Bailey. Carroll’s
sight is pretty much gone and Elaine is coping with
cancer, but they are still full of vigor and absolutely
love to spend time with their old charges, so
anyone in the area is encouraged to ring them
up for a visit. They are at the Atria Marland Place
facility, which is by the old Converse shoe factory.
Brooks Bloomfield sent a nice e-mail, which
as far as I can tell was designed to practice up on
his computer skills, as he used phrases like “cut and
paste” and “attachment” in regard to news he was
going to send but never did. Good ol’ Brooks.
Perhaps the news Brooks failed to mention
was the same supplied by Sandy Wood, who
spent September hiking and golfing around Park
City, Utah. Brooks joined him for some hiking
and eating.
Just got an e-mail from Scott Mead. He
wanted me to know that he loves Half Irish (my
third novel) and that his twin daughters, Emma ’18
and Isabelle ’18, are ensconced in Paul Revere.
The school must have really cleaned the place
up after David Donahue, Steve Rooney,
Walter Bukawyn, Swanson, John McDonald,
Hackett, John von Schlegell ’72, and Dolan
got done.
Remember the telephone call from
Majjid Ahmed, calling from Dubai? He called me
again, just to say hi. From Dubai. His daughter is
now in NYC, and our government has granted him
a visa, so everyone in the greater New York area,
stay on your toes.
Please feel free to use my e-mail address above
and send me some news. I cannot report what I
do not hear.
1974
Jack Gray
80 Central Park West, Apt. 20F
New York NY 10023-5215
212-496-1594
[email protected]
Marcia McCabe and Lori Goodman Seegers
(both Class of ’73) hosted a fabulous party at
Lori’s swank Manhattan apartment last fall. The
76
occasion was a celebration of Abbot ’73 women
as they approached a big birthday; this party
was one of several events that weekend. Several
members of our class were invited too, even some
who never attended Abbot Academy. Lori was
perfectly clear: “If I’m going to throw a party, I
want men to be there as well as women!” Your
correspondent was joined by Kent Vogel and
Bob Trehy, both looking debonair as usual.
Elizabeth Yoakum came north from Florida and
enjoyed a classic Manhattan prepared by Lori’s
son and daughter, pitching in behind the bar;
Ann Hoover Maddox, visiting from Baltimore,
joined her. Sara Grosvenor was there from
Washington, D.C., and set up a laptop showing
newly scanned images originally taken for our
yearbook. Margaret Downs came south from the
Upper East Side. Sara Nelson hosted a brunch that
weekend—for Abbot alums only, thank you—that
was well attended and great fun.
That’s all I have this time. Obviously, I need
more news!
1975
Mari Wellin King
1884 Beans Bight Road N.E.
Bainbridge Island WA 98110
206-842-1885
[email protected]
Roger L. Strong Jr.
6 Ridgeview Circle
Armonk NY 10504
914-273-6710
[email protected]
Peter Wyman
963 Ponus Ridge Road
New Canaan CT 06840
203-966-1074
[email protected]
I’m happy to report that the New Year brought lots
of news from the great Class of ’75, including from
some who wrote in for the first time!
John Lenz and Bill Wong were on hand last
fall for the ceremony at the University of Michigan
Medical School when classmate Sagar Parikh was
named the first Greden Professor of Depression
and Clinical Neuroscience. John, a professor of
classics at Drew University, sent a great photo of
the three of them, as well as a vivid memory of
Dick King telling him all about Latin during their
first few months of life in Will Hall.
On a dark and stormy mid-November night
in Brooklyn, a small group of intrepid classmates
from the tristate area assembled at Bar LunÀtico,
bassist Arthur Kell’s hip, tin-roofed brownstone
hangout in Bedford-Stuyvesant, for cocktails,
Italian small plates, and live music. The rapt PA
crowd included Michael Boldt, Geoff Richards,
Mike Galvin, Joe Albert, Roger Strong,
Lawrence Kemp, and me (Pete Wyman), as
well as Ellen Greenfield Lewis ’76 and Brooklyn
resident Janie Barnett, whose torch song solo
enlivened the evening.
Leaving “startup hours” behind him by taking
a new job at Dassault Systèmes (working on the
next generation of their SolidWorks software),
Eben Gay is thrilled about “having nights and
weekends to build a baidarka (Aleutian kayak).”
From down in Texas, Kurt Schwarz, a
litigator with Jackson Walker LLP, writes with the
impressive news that he was recently appointed
by Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson
to the federal Advisory Committee on Family
Residential Centers—the facilities where women
and children are housed while they await decisions
on their claims for asylum. Kurt, who is also board
president of the ACLU of Texas, says, “Since most
of the committee’s meetings will be in DC, I’m
hoping to find time to check out Gary Lee ’74’s
Peruvian restaurant there.”
Not only is Vicki Christian back on stage (at
Duke University, in a student-directed production
of Hamlet), she is also in the midst of creating the
new Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.
Four years ago, Holly Sutton moved to “the
middle of nowhere,” her term for Albuquerque,
N.M., where she loves living and is currently
developing “a crazy property that includes a
fantastic guest house…with an open invitation
to pretty much anyone.” Rick Cotten apparently
helped Holly get the financing for the property,
which includes olive trees that, Holly explains
excitedly, “just produced 1.5 gallons of olive oil in
first pressing since our trees were planted, five years
ago!” Holly’s son, Zander, is in LA and last year
created a TV show, Casual, that was nominated for
a Golden Globe.
How great to hear from Marianne Daniels
Guarino, who says, quite aptly, “I guess 40 years
after graduation is ‘better late than never’ to write!”
Marianne was passionate about lacrosse and field
hockey at Andover and sends a shout-out to her
PA teammates. Living in Tennessee (just outside
Nashville) with her husband of 33 years, one of her
sons, and two dogs, Marianne teaches kindergarten
at Rocketship United. She also has two sons
living in New Hampshire and a married daughter
in Nashville with two little girls. Marianne, a
teacher for many years while living in Derry, N.H.,
received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at
Wheelock College and a post-master’s degree at
Lesley University. All four of Marianne’s children
went to Pinkerton Academy, and about that
chapter she writes, “I especially loved watching
lacrosse, field hockey, football, and track and going
to the games against our old rival, Phillips Exeter!”
“I am currently revolutionizing the personal
growth (positive psychology) community in the
greater Boston region,” explains Dennis Pratt.
He has been busy creating an umbrella group
that today has 1,600 members and about 150
practitioners offering more than 200 events a
year—parties, practice groups, and workshops.
“Ann and I have both retired, and we’re four
weeks into a five-month trip to Hawaii, Australia,
and New Zealand,” Rod Rolett reported from the
road. Rod’s son, who works for Twitter-owned
MoPub, got married last year, and his daughter
is working on an MFA at the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts. Rod plans to join the
boards of two former clients (nonprofit senior
living communities) and work with the Student
Conservation Association.
Living with his wife, Els, on the Rappahannock
River in Fredericksburg, Va., Andy Craig writes,
“I’m semiretired, spending my time fixing up
old boats and working on my latest passion:
paragliding. I am now a P3-rated pilot. Just got back
from 11 days of incredible flying in Valle de Bravo,
Mexico.” I say next reunion we have Andy paraglide
off the Bell Tower and down to Cochran Chapel.
Having completed a PhD degree two years ago,
Larry Coben is now spending substantial time
in Peru and Guatemala running his foundation,
the Sustainable Preservation Initiative, as well as
conducting archaeological excavations near Lima.
Larry reports, “The foundation is growing rapidly,
creating incentives for people to preserve their
cultural heritage.”
If you’re ever in the Finger Lakes region of
New York, Sarah Davis wants you to visit her
on the small farm she’s building with her partner
and two daughters in Ithaca. Clearly enjoying her
new adventure, Sarah reports, “Our first group of
livestock are three hilarious goats. I never realized
how entertaining goats are!”
Mark Grange worked for many years in the
energy-engineering field in NYC and the DC area.
Since 2007, Mark has been running a real estate
investing business out of Phoenix, where he lives
with his wife and two children. Mark gushed with
pride regarding his experience with the PA crosscountry team: “I would surely nominate the PA
distance-running team of ’73–’74, with coaches
Steve Marx and Doug Hardin (both often ran 10
miles with us!), for the Andover Athletics Hall
of Honor.”
Nancy Rose Blais is busy working as a guardian
ad litem in several courts and managing the private
supervised visitation center in Dover, N.H., that
she co-owns. Both of her sons got married last
summer, and her daughter is at UVM finishing a
BSN degree program.
Lastly, I’m excited to have two of my three sons
living and working (as of last summer) just blocks
away from me in NYC: Pete Jr. at Debevoise &
Plimpton and John at Ernst & Young. Third son,
Hank, is in SF working for a startup called Piazza.
Roger, Mari, and I greatly appreciate your
updates. Please communicate next with Roger,
who is our scribe for the next set of ’75 notes.
Many thanks. —Pete Wyman
1976
40th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
Ruben Alvero
137 Sessions St.
Providence RI 02906
303-358-8739
[email protected]
Lisa Barlow
530 9th St.
Brooklyn NY 11215-4206
[email protected]
I begin this round of notes with the sad news that
Doug Lilley died in his sleep last October. Doug
came to Andover from Southeast Asia, where he
grew up, and continued on to Middlebury and
then NYU for an MBA degree. Work took him to
California, New York, and, most recently, Washington, D.C., where he served as the business manager
at Capital City Public Charter School and as a pro
bono financial advisor to the Douglas A. Campbell
Foundation, which supports hands-on projects in
the developing world, particularly Southeast Asia.
An avid Ultimate Frisbee player, Doug loved
to read and travel the world. He was a devoted
Washington Redskins fan and loved music,
particularly that of the Grateful Dead. He is
remembered for his gentle manner and his
wonderful, dry sense of humor.
In thinking about classmates who are no longer
with us, there are a number who shone so brightly
at Andover that it is hard to believe they are long
gone. Francesca Woodman, who died in 1981,
is someone whose light has blazed even brighter
with time. “Her appeal [as an artist] has grown
rather than waned,” says Corey Keller, a curator
of photography at the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, in a recent piece in the Guardian
about Francesca and her photographic legacy. The
story points to Andover as the place where “she
began to explore some of the ideas that would
appear in her later work (such as the strikingly
grown-up series of photographs in a cemetery
in Boulder, in which she appears naked among
the headstones).” Francesca’s work is exhibited in
museums throughout the world.
New York Times readers stretch their minds
and rethink common assumptions every time
they read one of Tanya Luhrmann’s excellent
opinion columns. Tanya’s work as an anthropology
professor looks at the way people experience
God and the supernatural, often through the lens
of psychiatric illness. She writes: “I have really
loved being a contributing op-ed columnist,
and I continue to write more scientific pieces,
including something recent in the British Journal
of Psychiatry, as well as books, these days about the
ways people experience invisible others. I continue
to teach at Stanford, which I love. And I just got an
enormous grant (for an anthropologist, that is) to
explore whether the way people think about their
minds affects the way they experience God in five
different parts of the world. I plan to surface for air
in about three years.” Tanya adds, “Hugs to all of
my classmates! I think of those days often and wish
you all well.”
Mike Gibbs-Harris touched base with
Ruben Alvero a few months ago to congratulate
him on his move to Brown University and
relocation to the East Coast. A New Zealand
resident, Mike writes: “This year my wife (Molli)
and younger daughter (Gaenor) became Kiwi
citizens in a very nice ceremony in Government
House in Wellington. Gaenor moved to NZ when
she was 1 1/2 and has British and Australian
citizenship (through me) and U.S. citizenship
through Molli. She grew up as a Kiwi and felt it
appropriate to officially become one.
“The governor-general, Lieutenant-General
Sir Jerry Mateparae, presided over the ceremony.
Sir Jerry was previously chief of the Defence
Force in NZ and then became director of the
Government Communications Security Bureau
(i.e., chief spy) before becoming governorgeneral. After the swearing-in ceremony, the
approximately 30 new citizens mingled for a
formal photo. Sir Jerry approached Gaenor and
asked her whether she was going to stop now
that she had four citizenships. It is a bit of a worry
when your country’s ex-chief spy knows who your
daughter is!”
Jim Horowitz shares news of his beautiful
grandson, Hugo, who was born in August to
son James ’98 and Katie Horowitz. Jim writes,
“Not much to say other than that he is adorable
and apparently likes art, because he came down
to visit for Miami’s version of Art Basel. I’m still
living a quiet life in Miami Beach. Lately, I began
investing in young companies. Tim Draper
wouldn’t give me a job. So I decided to do it on my
own. (Smiley-face emoji.) I had a very enjoyable
dinner in NYC with Gilbert Sewall, former history
instructor at Andover. He now writes for several
publications, including the New Criterion. It’s been
fun reconnecting with ’76ers and others in nearby
classes on Facebook. Had some lively exchanges
with Phil DiPietro and George Chadwick
there. And I see Labeeb Abboud not frequently
enough when I get to NYC. He has a beautiful
daughter, Sofia.”
Tim Dempsey paints a bucolic picture of
his new life outside Andover, balancing an
appreciation of nature with a love of technology.
He writes, “I have at long last (after 30 years)
moved away from Andover—now living the life of
the riverain alongside the tidal Lamprey River in
glorious Newmarket, N.H. Merely an hour from
Boston, we are surrounded by great beauty—
ancient trees, unquarried granite boulders, owls,
woodpeckers, finches, herons, and history. And in
a converted outbuilding, we have one extremely
high-tech home office, supporting our work as
marketing and strategy consultants. Ah, the power
of high-speed Internet and video conferencing!
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stay connected...
“I see our classmate Michael Krumpe often—
his brother Andrew and wife Carla Contarino
(both ’77) live in nearby Lee, N.H., and Michael
is in town often to visit with their father, classics
instructor emeritus Carl Krumpe. Carl lives in the
same neighborhood as Wendy Richards, and those
visits always make for belly laughs and great fun. I
have also stayed in touch with Laura Richards ’74
and Jon Meath ’74, who are in the region. Beyond
that, it’s social media that keeps me up to date. If
you haven’t been ‘friends’ with Jenny Peck, she
posts beautiful photos from her native Vermont
almost every day. Highly recommended!”
I have to add my own smiley-face emoji and
virtual fist bump to Facebook for keeping many
of us in touch throughout the year. While my
children assure me that there are many cooler
social media sites (you can find me on Instagram
as lisabnyc), Andover can proudly assert that
the original paper Facebook we all remember,
along with Exeter’s student directory, served
as inspiration for at least the name of Mark
Zuckerberg’s Internet behemoth.
Beyond the virtues of virtual bonding, let’s not
forget the joys of real-world interaction. Mark
your calendars for June 10–12 and our (gulp!)
40th Reunion. It promises to be a truly great
weekend packed with picnics, parties, and most
thrillingly, the chance to see one another in person.
—Lisa Barlow
1977
Buck Burnaman
222 Nod Hill Road
Wilton CT 06897
203-834-9776
[email protected]
1978
Jeff Strong
[email protected]
Jamie Clauss Wolf
514 Ribaut Road
Beaufort SC 29902
843-694-7443
[email protected]
Connie Barrett Dawson shares that in June 2015
her son got married to his high school honey, that
one of her daughters graduated from Colgate last
spring and is working in NYC, that another moved
to LA and is really enjoying it after a life of New
England winters, and that her youngest daughter is
finishing her junior year at Nobles, playing lots of
hockey and getting ready for the college admission
process. Connie jokes that she, like many of us,
thought life was supposed to slow down. I wonder
where she got that idea?
Nobuhisa Ishizuka writes, “It’s hard to believe
78
we’re only a couple of years away from our 40th
Reunion! My journey across 30 years of legal
practice over two continents started in Fuess
South senior year. It was there in my room one
sunny afternoon where it all came together: My
love of English classes with Jon Stableford ’63 and
indifferent results in everything math and science,
coupled with my growing interest in Japanese
studies, led to the inevitable conclusion that my
future lay in a legal career somehow involving
Japan and the U.S. It has been an eventful 37-plus
years putting the pieces together, and quite a
rewarding journey. And I owe it all to PA.” Nobu, I
think your heart and dedication had at least a little
something to do with your successful journey!
Jonathan Justice reports that he’s still living
in New Castle, Del., and is a professor at the
University of Delaware’s School of Public Policy
and Administration. He says, “Perks of the job
include an annual study trip to Seoul with my own
graduate students, along with colleagues and their
students from other schools of public affairs. For a
former city kid who now lives in a small town, it’s
a welcome fix of urban life, in addition to being a
great academic program. I also get to visit regularly
with George Mostoller in Philadelphia. I’m still
glum because my standard poodle, Daisy, died in
the fall.” Jonathan, that’s a tough one for any of us
who have lost a pet, so we wish you well.
Mark Resnick lives in Boston, where he is
a litigator. He was a partner at a large firm and
then opened his own practice. He has four boys,
and says, “My oldest is 24 and lives in Boston.
Another goes to college in Canada, and I have two
in high school.” He acknowledges only sporadic
attendance at reunions, but I am hopeful that he
and many of you will revisit that and give them all
another chance.
Michael Cannell says, “My daughter, Cricket,
now 13, has confidently told me that she’s going to
Andover, then Harvard, then moving to London.
So we’ll be touring the campus in the coming
months. I’m finishing a book, my third, tentatively
titled Incendiary, for St. Martin’s Press. The book is
narrative nonfiction about the first case of criminal
profiling. I had a long, fascinating lunch with
[former history instructor] Gil Sewall last fall, and
Jeff Strong and I had lunch in December with
both our fathers in attendance—both of them
going strong in their 80s. Thankfully, Jeff and I
didn’t pay for lunch.”
Robert Clark writes, “I recently celebrated
my 25th anniversary with my partner, Wayne
Anderson. I have been designing large-scale charity
events in NYC, a few weddings, and landscaping
in the summer at Point O’ Woods, on Fire Island,
where we see Mike Cannell and his talented wife,
Elizabeth. We live in a flower-filled apartment with
our two cocker spaniels: Desi and his new puppy
companion, Ethel.” That all sounds lovely!
John Margolis has been in LA for about
two years now, after 20 years of having his own
architectural practice in Beverly Farms, Mass. He
loves working for a larger firm full of vibrant young
people and currently is involved in four large
residential projects in Montecito, Agoura Hills,
Hermosa Beach—and Weston, Mass.!
John’s been busy: He joined the board of overseers
at the fabulous Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los
Angeles, joined a book group, and continues
to work with the Southern California chapter
of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art,
after five years as president of the New England
chapter. John attended a PA event hosted by Brian
Henson ’82 at his studios in Hollywood and says,
“Palfrey’s clear thinking and visionary leadership
bring Andover’s potential to new highs! He is so
impressive as a person and as a mentor!”
Pam Carter writes, “When I arrived at PA, I
already had a high school diploma from my small
school in Montreal. (I hadn’t had grade 12 and
wasn’t ready for college, so I deferred for a year.)
I was told I could take any courses and receive a
certificate, or take music and art and American
history and get a PA diploma. So, Stacy Schiff
and I were American history classmates with
Wayne Frederick as our teacher. I’d never had a
minute of American history before in my life. It
was the hardest course I’d ever taken. Mr. Frederick
asked me, and only me, questions the entire
second class—after we’d had our first reading
assignment—even though I stopped being able
to answer them two-thirds of the way through the
class. Maybe sooner. Meanwhile, Stacy seemed to
float through it—predicting the content of tests
with great accuracy, for example—and I was still
attempting to finish the reading. So, I always look
forward to Stacy’s newest book to appreciate her
historian mavenhood all over again.” (Stacy’s most
recent book is The Witches.)
Jamie Wolf attended orientation in the fall as
a new member of the Alumni Council, and while
up north had a great dinner with Rob Blanks
and his wife, Carolyn, at their home near Boston,
along with Greg Soghikian and his companion,
Heather. Greg and Heather made the drive after
a day of watching college games at Bowdoin and
Colby, where Greg’s twins are freshmen. When not
working on news updates for Andover magazine
or tasks for the Class Secretaries’ Committee
Jamie is opening a new business. Second Wind
is a specialty wellness center in Port Royal, S.C.,
offering therapies to address movement disorders,
weight and toxicity, and stress and anxiety, focusing
on helping people with Parkinson’s, MS, those
recovering from accidents or stroke, wounded
warriors, and those with PTSD.
Finally, a big thank-you to our class agents:
Lee Apgar, Anna Schneider Durham,
Shelly Guyer, Nobuhisa Ishizuka, John Kukral,
Jeffrey Reuben (head agent), and Peter Warren.
—Jamie Clauss Wolf
1979
Amy Appleton
2201 Hall Place N.W.
Washington DC 20007-2217
202-338-3807
[email protected]
Rick Moseley
Philadelphia PA 19118
215-275-5107
[email protected]
Doug Segal
1028 Kagawa St.
Pacific Palisades CA 90272
310-617-9988
[email protected]
You return home from a long day and casually flip
through the daily mail and its typical contents of
bills and junk. Credit card offers, another AARP
solicitation, and then you see it: Andover magazine!
Your heart races as you eagerly thumb through
to find the ’79 notes (ominously creeping closer
to the front of the publication). And then, like a
punch in the gut, there’s nothing there! Fine. You
suck up the disappointment and let it go, maybe
check the surrounding years for familiar names
before placing the magazine in the company of the
Pottery Barn and Sharper Image catalogues. You
return to your life, and the months quickly pass
until again, the next issue arrives. Surely, there must
be something this time. You give yourself permission to feel that excitement again, risking paper
cuts as you speed toward ’79, and then… “Are you
kidding me? Again? What the—!” For this torturous emotional roller coaster, I sincerely apologize,
on behalf of my fellow secretaries and myself. The
unpredictable nature of life sometimes interferes,
and commitments such as these unfortunately
become casualties.
I (Doug Segal) might as well start with
news of some of my own PA encounters. As son
Michael prepared to enter his first year of college,
our family road-tripped to visit some schools,
ending up in New Orleans, where we had a
great stay with Josh Kaufman. Josh, a doctor, is
remarried, with two kids from wife Vicki’s first
marriage and two girls of his own, who are off in
college. Continuing the adventures, wife Susan
and I were invited to visit friends in England for
Thanksgiving and planned to spend a few days in
Paris beforehand. A week before our scheduled
visit, the attacks happened. After much debate, we
kept our trip in place, and while in Paris enjoyed an
afternoon with Sallie Doyle Boulet-Gercourt ’80;
the photo posting on Facebook prompted some
enthusiastic “Likes,” including one from the lovely
Jane Moncreiff. Jane is a chief investment officer
in Boston; she and husband Josh have two kids off
at college. Jane and I have yet to see each other—
entirely my fault, as Susan and I managed to get
to Boston for a day over the Christmas holidays,
stopping to have lunch with Susan Palermo, who
lives in North Andover and balances daughter
Josie and a busy work life (the nature of which
I can never get exactly straight). From there, we
had dinner with Rachel Cartmell, who recently
relocated with husband Tim and daughter Lucia
to Lexington, Mass. Rachel is now director of
communications at Harvard Kennedy School.
Though we exchanged messages, I didn’t get to
see Paula Elias Ross, out in Northampton, Mass.
Jennifer Melville and husband Alex spent some
time with us last fall after dropping their son, Caleb,
off at UCLA, a far cry from Maine, where Jenny
works in land conservation and preservation.
In news from around the globe,
Rachael Horovitz sends love from New
York, where she is still producing movies but
considers Ed Hill’s Facebook postings the best
entertainment around. Beth DiRusso Grenauer
lives in New Canaan, Conn., and is figuring out the
next chapter of her life, after spending several years
working as a litigator in London. Her daughter,
Madison, is inquiring about an Andover education,
but, like many of us, Beth has a hard time imagining
being away from her child. (Steve Chernow and
Sylvia Platt, if you’re reading this, Beth would love
to hear from you.) Forty Conklin continues to
row, row, row his boat and sing in his glee club, and
last Christmas he and his wife, Sandra, headed to
upstate New York to visit Jorge Pedraza. Forty is
one of many classmates who currently have kids
at Andover. Roger Kass, who’s in NYC, has a
daughter who is currently a PA junior. (Tim Finn,
Roger is requesting to know your whereabouts.)
Geri Pope Bidwell has twins, Brooke ’17 and
Alex ’17, who are in their upper year, and a
graduate, Lucy ’09, who was recently featured on
the cover of the New York Times Magazine for her
series of virtual reality films. Geri can always be
counted on as the glue for ’79ers, advocating for
classmates such as author-artist Kris Timken and
her recent book, The New Explorers. And in other
book news, Bruce MacWilliams ’77 attended a
party Geri hosted for Head of School John Palfrey,
celebrating his new book. Bruce is branching out
from commercial directing and into features with
his screenplay, Trombone. Geri also reports that
Cindy Farrelly Gesner ’80’s son Finn was recently
accepted to UCLA. (Betsy Campbell, Nancy
McCormack Liva, and Tory Read, Geri—and
I—would love to hear from you.)
Janet Milkman sounds like she’s got things
figured out, having recently quit her job, sold
her house, and moved to Cape Cod, where she
is busy paddleboarding and making Dark ‘n’
Stormys. Other movers include Bill Schultz, who
is relocating for the 14th time, now headed from
Atlanta to Toronto to run the Coca-Cola bottling
facility there. After 25 years, Dan Ryan recently
moved his family and software company from
Laredo, Texas, to San Antonio and is enjoying
the change and closer proximity to his son.
Doug Sun was urgently summoned to Chad,
hastily relocated from New York back to Africa
to serve as the economic/commercial officer at
the U.S. Embassy there.
Augustus Schoen-Rene has been serving as
technical director for the Smith Opera House in
upstate New York and caring for his ailing mother.
Carol Whitaker attended a reunion of Frost
House residents, including Molly Fields Walls
and many ’78ers. David Hartzell reports of a PG
reunion at a Patriots-Eagles game last December.
In attendance were Steve Collins, Eric Jordahl,
and Steve MacDonald. David, now a PA parent,
frequently returns to Andover, often seeing
other classmates such as Forty, John Francis,
Sue Warren, and, of course, Jim Ventre, who
heads up the admission office. And rounding
out the reunions, Scott Drescher reports of
the blowout SYA (School Year Abroad) 50th
anniversary celebration, with many friends and
classmates in attendance. Scott’s in Dallas with wife
Patty; they have a daughter who just turned 30. But
it’s Paul Whittall who gets special mention, as his
30-year-old daughter just gave birth to a baby boy.
Congratulations, grandpa!
If you’re not getting e-mails from us, that means
we don’t have your current e-mail address, so
please contact the Office of Alumni Engagement
and update your records. Trust me, there are
many out there who would love to know what
you’re up to. And we’d never have to face a
blank ’79 page again. —d
1980
Jane Shattuck Mayer
[email protected]
781-710-7532
Amy Davidsen
451 West End Ave., Apt. 14E
New York NY 10024
917-545-9617
[email protected]
Greetings to all! I am writing on behalf of our
trusty head class secretary, Jane Shattuck Mayer,
who received news from several classmates. We
would love to hear from more of you, especially
any four-year seniors, because this September
marks 40 years since that major life-changing
moment, the start of our junior year.
Just a few quick memories from me: I recall that
my first week of school was a bit of an adjustment
as a boarder. Under the watchful eye of Mr. and
Mrs. Eccles, I lived in Tucker House in West
Quad South, where I inadvertently caused a few
headaches regarding curfew. A lower in Adams
South had assured me that it was fine to play
cards in his room late into the night, but I quickly
figured out my error in judgment when I returned
to Tucker House to find the door locked—and
had to ring the bell for a puzzled Mrs. Eccles to let
me in! Other memories of the first week include
walking through the quad with Paige Crowley.
79
stay connected...
I wore a yellow T-shirt with a black-and-white
photo of Al Pacino from the movie Dog Day
Afternoon, and she was far ahead of the fashion
trend in Calvin Klein. Last, a senior decided to give
me the nickname “Frampton” because my hair
was reminiscent of the cover of Frampton Comes
Alive. We all remember Paige’s gorgeous locks—no
nickname was needed. What are some of your
early memories?
Chuck Schneider answered Jane’s request for
news, writing, “I attended the summer reunion,
which was certainly a highlight! Other things
include the release of my fiction sequel to A Portrait
in Time, titled The Vale of Years; the imminent
rerelease of two of my early novellas in a hardback,
paperback, and digitally available anthology
(Deities and Demons, containing second edition
rewrites of Cytherea and With Tower and Turrets,
Crowned); continued patient care in my oncology
practice at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center
in Newark, Del.; got remarried in February 2015
to the love of my life after ‘dating’ her for five
years.” Upon hearing that our class has yet another
author, I immediately searched Amazon for more
information on Chuck’s work and found glowing
reader reviews. The 35th Reunion was Chuck’s
first, and we hope that he will make attendance at
all future reunions a new tradition!
Rich Goldberg’s son, Alex ’18, put together
and performed a lower-year violin recital last fall,
which Jane was honored to attend. She thinks that
Alex is an amazing talent, and she encourages all
of us to keep an eye on the PA music scene to take
advantage of other opportunities to hear him play.
Dan Hajjar and Jane continue to get together
for coffee and a campus walk when Dan’s in
town visiting family. He made it back for both
Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2015 after several
years celebrating away and has enjoyed getting
reacquainted with campus. Dan loves teaching
high school math at the William Penn Charter
School in Philadelphia and keeps busy playing bass
with two local rock bands. Classic rock rules! If you
want a night out in the greater Philly area, contact
Dan to see if he’s playing.
Susan Getgood travels a lot for work and
has been brushing up on her Icelandic language
skills in preparation for a pleasure trip to see
the Northern Lights. Sue, please be sure to
send us a first-person account (and photos) so
that those of us who can’t travel can enjoy the
spectacle vicariously.
And, as a public service announcement, I
wanted to let you know that if you have a bluelink.
andover.edu e-mail address, PA is ending this
service. No news yet on what will replace it, but be
sure to make any changes necessary so that you do
not lose contacts or information you want to keep!
Please do drop us a note with an update on
what is happening in your life. Eddie Garden?
Harry Bartlett? —Amy Davidsen
80
1981
35th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
Warren Jones
Houston Texas
281-450-6457
[email protected]
Stefanie Scheer Young
New York NY
917-287-6111
[email protected]
We are saddened to report that we lost our beloved
classmate Chris Arnold on Oct. 30, 2015. Chris
was our class poet and pianist. His wit and zeal
were an inspiration to us all, and this is a truly great
loss to many. We are collecting his poems and
songs, so please send along any you have to your
class secretaries, as his family hopes to put together
a book of his writing.
Chris’s brother, Rome Arnold ’73, wrote this
obituary, which appeared in the New York Times.
“Christopher Colver Arnold, age 52, beloved
brother, devoted uncle, and friend to many, died
Friday, Oct. 30, in Southampton, N.Y. He was
born and spent his early years in Chicago, where
he attended the Latin School; later, he moved
East and graduated from Phillips Academy
Andover. After spending a year at Rugby School
in Warwickshire, England, he earned a bachelor of
arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Chris was an accomplished writer, composer,
lyricist, event producer, photojournalist, art
gallerist, and collector. He dazzled with his
knowledge—quoting Caesar in Latin, Homer in
Greek, or Shakespeare in rhyme—and was the
life of the party with his musicality, often playing
the piano and singing his own parodies of Cole
Porter tunes. Chris worked in public relations
for many years with his close friend Ted Kruckel
at Ted, Inc. He coproduced events for clients
including Van Cleef & Arpels, Christian Dior,
InStyle, and Vanity Fair. Throughout his life, Chris
loved photography. A decades-long friendship
with legendary photographer Bert Stern steered
him to the art world, where he became associated
with the Keszler Gallery in Southampton, a
venue recognized for its local support of the artist
Banksy, as documented in an HBO special. Chris
was inspired by new artists and the challenge
of unusual installations at Art Miami and Art
Hamptons, including transporting the wall of a
building adorned with a piece by Banksy. ‘Moncle
Chris’ will be missed by his nieces and nephews
and their friends, who loved his magic tricks,
Marco Polo in the pool, piano playing, and card
games. His family and all who knew him mourn
the loss of a kind and sensitive man whose sense
of style, mischievous wit, and generous spirit
brightened every room he entered. Chris is
survived by his brothers Rome and Greg, their
wives Lisa and Mona, and Rome IV. Contributions
in his memory may be made to the Southampton
Hospital Foundation. Plans for a life celebration/
memorial event will be announced at a later date.”
We would like to honor Chris and the other
classmates we have lost at our upcoming 35th
Reunion, June 10–12. Please contact your class
secretaries if you would like to be involved in this
planning. Best —W&S
1982
Graham Anthony
2502 Waterville Drive
Champaign IL 61822
434-989-5800
[email protected]
John Barton
480 Hulls Highway
Southport CT 06890
203-254-7751 (home)
212-230-3235 (work)
[email protected]
The rapid countdown to the deadline for the
submission of these notes brings to mind, as
short deadlines always do for me, Scott Corry,
immortalized in our yearbook mid-struggle with
the long-past deadline of his History 35 paper
(and currently holding regular visiting hours on
Nantucket). Ultimately embracing the task, as Scott
did then, I’m grateful to several classmates and to
Facebook for help in collecting a few stories.
I found honors given (and due) to
Yalda Tehranian Uhls in a very complimentary
profile of her work in the field of parenting and
media and her recent book on the subject, Media
Moms and Digital Dads: A Fact-Not-Fear Approach
to Parenting in the Digital Age. The Deseret News, of
Salt Lake City, says, “Her even-handed approach
and position as a voice of reason rather than alarm
make Uhls an asset to any parent who has ever
worried about the hours spent in front of a screen.”
Given my own struggle to keep my kids from
spending too much time with their various devices,
I’m grateful for Yalda’s efforts and reassuring
findings. Yalda’s work, both as a research scientist
for UCLA and a family and media advocate for
nonprofit Common Sense Media, is described as
focused on the intersection of technology and child
development. I’ve found Common Sense Media
to be an extremely useful tool and recommend it
to any of our classmates still parenting (or perhaps
grandparenting?) younger children.
Yalda found support from others in the Andover
community. She received book blurbs from
Lisa Henson, P’16, and Willow Bay ’81, and was
pleased to see Lisa, Andrea Feldman Falcione ’83,
and Devin Zimmerman at her book signing.
Paula Lee wrote Yalda’s first book review, and
Chandri Navarro hosted her when she was in DC.
Another team effort from our class can be found
in the creation of the Restwise System, created
by classmates Matthew Weatherley-White,
Jeff Hunt, and Mike Sokolov. Restwise helps
athletes train smarter by understanding recovery
from their workouts. Matthew and Jeff, both
endurance athletes who have competed on the
world stage, were inspired to develop the system by
their own experience overtraining—Jeff as a cyclist
at the Olympic Training Center and Matthew as
a rower at Dartmouth. Together they approached
Mike, who, with 12 software patents to his name
and the common sense to stop training before
becoming overtrained, seemed to have all sorts
of relevant expertise. MIT’s website lists Mike as
using “computers to promulgate new forms of
communication and expression.” I assume, given
the MIT imprimatur, this is something more
sophisticated than emoticon design.
Your scribe would have paid big money to be at
the table when Matthew and Jeff pitched Mike on
joining in. I imagine something like this:
Jeff and Matthew: Dude, we want you to help us
design a system to help athletes understand recovery.
Mike: Oh, yes, I’ll get right on that. Did I tell you I
have been working to help folks see?
A threat to make Mike relive History 35 may
have done the trick. I recall his suffering through
that with Scott Corry. Whatever it took, Restwise
has since been used by such athletes as the All
Blacks rugby team (the New Zealand national
team), sailing legend Ben Ainslie, and marathoner
Ryan Hall, on their way to winning scores of
Olympic and world championship medals and
NCAA titles.
Perhaps they can sign up Robert Tuller.
Robert’s accomplishments in 100-mile ultra–
marathons, completing 25 to date, have been
mentioned in previous class notes and would seem
to indicate a need for software that signals when a
rest might indeed be wise. Classmates interested in
following Robert’s athletic and culinary adventures
should seek his Coach Robert Tuller Facebook
page, where they will find him no less interesting
than we remember.
Other classmates’ athletic endeavors are spotted
from time to time among their Facebook posts. I
reached out to Ellen Nordberg, noticing a great
frequency of spectacular backdrops in her photos.
She reports that she bikes to raise money for
college scholarships, skis, and hikes, but “no more
than anyone else around here.” Since “here” is, in
this case, Boulder, Colo., perhaps she too might be
a candidate for Restwise. Ellen is a freelance writer,
focusing on “health and fitness, parenting stuff, and
humor.” She also performs in story slams (precise
definition pending) and is coproducing the
Listen to Your Mother show in Boulder. The show
“celebrates motherhood and is staged in 41 cities
across the country each year around Mother’s Day.”
Ellen has had fun hosting many visits from
Amy Starensier Lee and Liz MacDonell—happy,
I’m sure, for the opportunity to ski. She reports,
though, that despite her efforts she can’t seem to
talk Mary Ogden out of Vermont to join them.
Among our skiing classmates, Parker Quillen,
sommelier de la neige, has evidently become a fan of
the snow in Japan. He has journeyed there a few
times to enjoy the powder and provide the rest of
us with some spectacular ski photos. I skied with
Parker years ago and plan one day to join him in
Japan, intent on, among other things, encouraging
him to inflict his a cappella interpretation of “Me
and Bobby McGee” on the locals. I imagine filming
a version of Rashomon in which, instead of offering
conflicting interpretations of events, the unwilling
listeners are uniform in their reviews and requests
that I remove him.
Back to Scott Corry. In correspondence with
him a few months ago, he and I agreed that, unlike
the athletes mentioned above, we’re both in better
shape now than we were during college. In our
case, the secret to the accomplishment is the low
bar set for comparison. Perhaps Restwise can build
this fundamental insight into human physiology
into their software? —John Barton
1983
Andrew L. Bab
170 East 83rd St., Apt 6F
New York NY 10028
212-909-6323
[email protected]
Artists and writers! I’ve noted in past columns
how many of our classmates are published authors
and recognized artists of all sorts, among them
Angela Lorenz, Chris Fitch, Holly Peterson,
Sheri Caplan, Richard Murphy, Bill Storey,
Jeffrey Stafford, and many others. Well, Chris’s
work was included in a show of internationally acclaimed “automatists” at Heron Arts in
San Francisco this April. And Angela’s mosaics
of bikini-clad athletes, titled Victorious Secret and
based on originals in Piazza Armerina, Sicily, are
on display in the Education Commons at the
University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field.
Jason Bernhard writes that Warren Zanes’s
new book, Petty: The Biography, is a fabulous
read, and the reviews are terrific. (Warren, Jason’s
looking for a signed copy.) Stephen Blackwell
also has a new book coming out in the first quarter
of 2016. It’s a collection of anatomical butterfly
drawings by Vladimir Nabokov called Fine Lines:
Vladimir Nabokov’s Scientific Art. While teaching
Russian literature at the University of Tennessee,
Steve also finds time for photography, rowing,
biking, and hiking.
Architect Harry Elson has designed a Center
for Multifaith Education and Engagement for New
York’s Auburn Seminary. As part of the project,
Harry conceived the Macky Alston Media Lab,
in honor of the founding of Auburn Media by
Wallace “Macky” Alston, 15 years ago. Harry
describes the lab as a “state-of-the-art flex studio
designed to equip leaders of faith and moral
courage to frame and win today’s critical values
debates in the media.”
Paul Chutich got to meet Robert De Niro, Zac
Ephron, and Aubrey Plaza, stars of the movie Dirty
Grandpa, which came out in early 2016. Apparently
they filmed a few scenes at Paul’s restaurant in
Atlanta. Look for a fictitious place called “Sweet
Peaches Café.”
From Hong Kong, Jin Park, a partner at
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and leader of
the firm’s Korea practice, writes that he goes back
to Andover quite a bit to see his daughter, who is
an upper. Jin also has a 6-year-old daughter, and
invites any of us who pass through Hong Kong or
Korea to give him a shout. From nearby Taiwan,
David Chen reports that he and his family of
four are enjoying life on the island. He is general
manager of the Taiwan life insurance business for
BNPP Paribas Cardif and invites any classmates
who pass through Taiwan to look him up.
My predecessor and friend Susannah Hill tells
me that she is the director of the Menlo Park–
Atherton Education Foundation. Her husband,
Pat, serves as a radiologist at O’Connor Hospital in
San Jose, Calif. Susannah seems to be getting quite
involved in community service these days, because
her son Andrew, a seventh-grader, enjoys such
service and makes her accompany him.
In other kid news, Jeffrey Rossman and
Corinne Field’s daughter, Thea ’15, is now at
Stanford. Nat Worley and Sarah Rosenfield
Worley’s daughter Nina graduated from the
College of the Holy Cross and is now teaching
eighth-grade English at Mystic Valley Regional
Charter School in Malden, Mass. The Worleys
are now empty nesters and conclude that their
work here is done. And so it is time to renew
old friendships; they have recently reconnected
with Derek Johnson, Joshua Hubbard, and
Carolyn McGowan, among others.
Vivian Bache Quam’s oldest, Justin, is working
on a PhD degree in German at Georgetown
University. Daughter Cassandra works at a
middle school in St. Paul, Minn., and Seth is a
junior at Syracuse University. All of them are, like
Vivian, involved in music. Vivian, an oboist from
her Andover days, still plays in two community
orchestras near Chicago, while her sons both sing.
Justin, a former Whiffenpoof at Yale, performs with
the Capital Hearings and the 18th Street Singers,
both around DC.
Charlie Neff, Eagle Scout, is on his way to the
College of William & Mary. Charlie is Doug Neff’s
son. Doug’s daughter made the varsity soccer
team as a high school freshman but also now has
a learner’s permit and, to her dad’s dismay, seems
to enjoy driving fast. (I know the feeling: My son,
Jason, is now 17, with a full driver’s license, and
can cite the top speed and acceleration of every
Porsche, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Maserati,
and McLaren ever made.) After completing some
classes at UVa in cybersecurity management, Doug
changed jobs and is now chief information officer
at MicroStrategy, Inc.
In other big life changes, John Byrnes writes
that after nearly two decades in Los Angeles
working in digital media, he and his wife sold their
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business and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area
with their 3-year-old son, Nikko. They love hiking
in the Presidio and living near their entire extended
family (members of which occasionally serve
as babysitters).
What would this year’s class notes for the Class
of 1983 be without the reminders that we are
all turning or have turned 50? Frederick “Fritz”
Reichenbach would like to thank David “Max”
Williamson for inviting him and his son to join his
celebration, sailing in Maine on the Lewis R. French,
an 1870s schooner operating with its original
equipment. Sounds like some of the sailing work
reminded Fritz of crew practice (is that good or
bad?), but he felt that he earned the wood-stovecooked meals and local libations.
Andrea Feldman Falcione celebrated her 50th
birthday in England and France this past October,
together with Quincey Tompkins Imhoff and
Laura Culbert Knowles-Cutler. This news came
from Tammy Snyder Murphy, who has been
seeing a lot of John Kim and Karen Humphries
Sallick; their three girls are best friends at Andover.
Tammy has also just joined the board of visitors
at UVa.
Well, that’s it for now. It was great to hear from
so many of you. Please keep it up!
1984
Alexandra Gillespie
52 Amelia St.
Toronto ON M4E 1X1
Canada
[email protected]
William P. Seeley
Department of Philosophy
73/75 Campus Ave.
Bates College
Lewiston ME 04240
[email protected]
Adam Simha
84 Rice St.
Cambridge MA 02140-1819
617-967-3869
[email protected]
Hi, folks! Winter has finally arrived in Maine.
We have some snow, and the temperature is
dipping to some unfathomable negative number
on the Celsius scale tonight. Even the bottoms of
my skis are cold. Thanks to everyone who took
time to drop us a line with news. I was particularly
happy to see the reckless abandon and creativity
with which we collectively address the simple
matter of out-of-office replies. Maybe it’s because
we are the last generation to be raised predigitally.
A couple of you were kind enough to remind me
that we have reached a milestone: We are turning
or have already turned 50 this year—making
us just as old as the Super Bowl (in case you get
forgetful). I’m sure it’s the new something.
82
Mike Bayer writes that he used the benchmark
as an opportunity to climb the technical route
up Kilimanjaro (apparently his birthday lasted
12 days: nine up and three down). Of the highest
mountain in each of the 50 states, he has now
summited 46. Last fall he managed Utah. He’s
planning Montana for 2016. Lest you think he’s not
too busy, he also writes that he has changed jobs
and is now general counsel at Miramax. I guess I
hope he’s saved Delaware (451 feet), DC (410 feet),
and Florida (345 feet) for the last three!
Ho Nam writes that he had a chance to catch
up with classmates Willie Woo and Jim Chung
in Washington, D.C., at the first gala for CKA
(Council of Korean Americans) a couple of
months ago—old Facebook news, but breaking
news for class notes! Willie made the flight from
Boston and Ho flew in from San Francisco.
KT Vahan is just back from trekking through the
Panamanian jungle with her mother. She writes,
“Amazing birds, sloths, orchids and more. The birds
were so spectacular! Plus, we were there when an
enormous hawk-and-vulture migration was going
on—millions (no exaggeration) of birds flying
south for the winter.”
Duncan Robinson—recently remarried—
ran into Ben Schlosser, Caroline Ren Jackson,
Kathy Baxter, Claudia Kraut Rimerman,
and Paul Murphy on campus this fall.
Duncan was dropping off his daughter, who
started at PA in September. Duncan also saw
Joel Post recently for a delightful holiday repast.
Courtnay Smith Perevalova is back stateside
chasing her son’s alpine racing exploits across
northern New England. Beverly Tillery has
switched jobs. As of this past October, she
is the executive director at the NYC AntiViolence Project.
Robert Townsend says of middle age that he
has decided to own it! During the holiday season,
Robert wrote, “After 19 years at Bayer, I left the
company in May and joined Cerus Corp. (in the
blood safety space) in order to be part of a more
nimble and dynamic company environment
(Bayer was just about to go through yet another big
reorg, so I decided to bail before that happened).
Still located in Berlin and loving it. Have been in
Germany for 13 years now. Over the summer, I was
fortunate to be able to catch up with Laurie Nash,
who was in Berlin on business. Some people (I
guess especially men) get Porsches when they
go through a midlife crisis. Others get multiple
girlfriends. I could not afford the Porsche and
am happily married, so instead I ran the Berlin
Marathon on my 50th birthday. Currently, we are
at my in-laws’ in Alicante, Spain, and my 4-year-old
daughter is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the
Three Kings, who arrive tonight bearing presents.”
Claudia Kraut Rimerman waxed poetic about
my brother-in-arms Adam Simha: “My 15-yearold son and 12-year-old daughter were held in
rapt attention as Adam showed my family around
his workshop and explained how he pursued
his passion for design to arrive at what my kids
think must be the coolest career ever! They may
not be wrong.” News is that Adam has moved
from designing knives to wrestling them. Claudia
also mentioned that she saw Scott Crabtree
speak about his work with his company Happy
Brain Science at Andover recently. My other
partner in crime, Alex Gillespie, is, as always,
secretly plotting to replace the maple leaf on
Toronto’s road sweaters with a life-sized decal of
Lanny McDonald’s moustache (in low relief).
Jim Reische’s reply to my recent call for news was
that, although he was out of the office and would
not be checking e-mail, we should call him if we
had any immediate needs. Jim did get back to me.
After years among the rolling cornfields of Iowa,
he and wife Aimee are packing up the prairie
schooner and riding the trade winds back East
from Grinnell for a new job as vice president of
communications at St. John’s College in Annapolis,
Md. I suppose his sage words about dynamic
systems and the social fabric will now come to us
in Greek as thickly veiled metaphors for the sea!
They’ll miss the occasional Iowa pork product and
the ritual corn dance but not the Alberta clipper
they’ll be riding all the way home! (It’s a wind,
not a semi-pro hockey team affiliated with the
Oilers, Alex.)
Sarah Bullock and I caught up by e-mail a
couple of weeks ago. Last I saw her, Sarah dropped
by my office at Bates nearly unannounced (from
a coast away). She and her son were back East on
a college tour and (if I recall correctly) visiting
family in Bangor, Maine. It was the nicest surprise
of the spring! In news on the home front, we have
moved to Bath, Maine. I’ve been moonlighting at
Yale and Bates this year but have officially moved
my academic offices to the University of New
Hampshire. The move to the coast came with
quite a surprise. There was a cool photo in the
local paper recently. One of the new destroyers
they are building down the road at the Bath Iron
Works was making its way down the Kennebec to
the sea on its inaugural voyage. As my eye lingered
on the misfit scale of the ship in the picture, I
noticed a familiar name in the photo credits:
Paul Kalkstein ’61. I guess he was having coffee
and caught it drifting by from points unknown!
—Bill Seeley
1985
Pamela Paresky
P.O. Box 8878
Aspen CO 81612
[email protected]
Before going on to the rest of our class notes, I
begin with sad news. Though it will have been
several months by the time this is published, many
of our classmates may not know that in February,
Peter Stark’s daughter unexpectedly passed
away. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Peter
and his family.
These class notes were written and submitted
before February, so please pardon the clumsy segue
into regular news updates. Remember, please write
me at Pamela@aYearof Kindness.com. Speaking
of writing (sorry about the awkward transition),
Susan Conley is cofounder of the Telling Room
(www.tellingroom.org), a creative writing lab
that won a White House award for exceptional
programming for refugee and immigrant story
writing programs. “My third book, Stop Here, This Is
the Place, is out,” she reports. “It traces a year in the
life of family, with photography and stories about
the thing we call parenting.” Susan lives in Portland,
Maine, with her husband and two boys, and she
raves, “Summer in Maine means I get Sara Woolf
and Paige Cox sightings!”
Other classmates courageously marched into
enemy territory for Andover-Exeter Weekend in
New Hampshire last November. Among them
were Alex Tuller, Michelle Franciose, and
Stephanie Sanchez, who proudly displayed her
“Defect to Andover” button (which must be a
collector’s item) while deep in red country.
Ben Schwall had a visit from Doug Stiffler,
“He was on a 100-day sabbatical in Japan and
spent a few of those days playing hooky in Taiwan
with us.” Ben continues, “I had not really seen him
since our Harbin days in 1984. Hope to connect
with him again soon in Pennsylvania (or perhaps
at some place with homemade cider and a wood
shop in Connecticut?).” Sadly, Ben missed out.
Strother Purdy writes, “Doug Stiffler, wife Jingxia,
and their two preposterously talented and bright
boys, Dylan and Ethan, spent the night at our place
on their way to Andover, right before New Year’s
Eve. We drank sake, hunted deer, and discussed
how the world is divided between those who love
and those who hate Hello Kitty.”
In January, Dana-Farber fundraiser
extraordinaire Liz DeLucia, Marcella Larsen ’84,
and I had a quick dinner as Liz prepared to visit
Liz Somers Urdang. In NYC, Tajlei Levis and
Sarah Heard regaled Alyson Yashar and me
with stories of their NYC dance-club antics as
college freshmen. Alyson, who was on call for two
hospitals, entertained us with real-life medical
horror stories/comedy.
Tajlei quips, “As a former NYC lawyer who grew
up in Vermont, I often felt that I was living the
Green Acres classic sitcom.” A perfect background, as
it turns out. Tajlei, who spends time in Manchester,
Vt., writing and producing history-inspired
interactive musical mysteries and creative events at
the Wilburton Inn (which her family has owned for
28 years), was commissioned to adapt Green Acres
for a Broadway-bound musical (both book and
lyrics). A reading is expected in NYC soon, and a
touring production is planned for next year.
In September, the ’85 Facebook flock gathered
for a mini reunion on the patio of the Andover
Inn, and I had the great pleasure of being part of
what turned out to be a fairly raucous evening,
complete with chocolate martinis (discovered
in 2014 by Alice Stubbs). Troublemakers
(and regulars) included Megan Carroll,
Carter Vincent, Rebecca Derderian Daniels,
Strother Purdy, Liz DeLucia, Peter Stark,
Hal Gillam, Maureen O’Brien, and Ted McEnroe.
Encouraging our decadence were legendary English
instructors Tom McGraw (now retired and scouting
for a house on the Cape near Jean St. Pierre) and
Greg Wilkin (now “Dr. Wilkin,” having completed a
PhD degree sometime after our era).
Mini reunions at the Inn happen regularly now,
and apparently Jeff Kip has also been known to
attend. About a recent gathering, Rebecca noted,
“There was most definite admiration for John
Palfrey. Anyone visiting campus should stop by his
office, Bulfinch, and the new [Rebecca M. Sykes]
Wellness Center to see Strother’s amazing work.”
Strother recalls, “Liz [DeLucia] and I traded
tales from our time at PA, good and bad, remarking
how powerfully the experiences still resonate.
Carter noted how impressed he was with the
Palfrey-Currie dynamics and his excitement for the
Academy’s future. But mostly we had a good time,
got to know one another better, and drank and ate
responsibly. All are welcome at future events, even
other classes.”
Peter remembers the evening a little differently,
writing, “At first there was some bitching about the
decor and the slow and spotty service. But then I
recommended immediate proletarian revolution
and Carter tempered the moment with a Fabian
solution, leaving Becca to suggest capitalism could
be salvaged, until Ted made a bid for a second
round of drinks before Liz and Megan suggested
the Blairite ‘Third Way.’ But nobody remembered
what it was, exactly, so instead, we talked about our
children, the weather, and the excellent job that
Exie Palfrey is apparently doing. In other words, I
can’t remember what anyone said, so I hope that a
complete fabrication is helpful.”
Ted diplomatically suggested that I “tell everyone
that all seems fine atop Andover Hill—as I see it
from about 100 yards away.” (Carter, for reasons
that can’t be printed, declined to comment. “Alumni
Council,” he writes, “was the highlight of my year.”)
Megan urges, “Join us! If anyone plans to be in
the Boston area, please check our class Facebook
page for our monthly or bimonthly get-together
at the Andover Inn on the chance that it might
coincide with your visit. You can also e-mail Megan
Carroll at [email protected]. We have a nice
group of regulars and welcome classmates from far
away and other PA alums, too.”
Rebecca adds, “I love that 30 years after
graduating we look forward to seeing one another,
enjoy one another’s company, and are still learning
about the uniqueness of each of our experiences at
Andover. I hope more of our classmates will drop
by these little proletariat revolutions to catch up
on their lives and learn from their perspectives. If
you feel that the drive is too long, a few of us have
surfable couches to share. These evenings have been
a great way to reconnect!”
In my own news, I now write for Psychology Today
(PsychologyTodayBlog.com). I would love your
suggestions for article topics! (The blog is called
“Happiness and the Pursuit of Leadership,” so I
have a lot of latitude.) And please e-mail me with
news, notes, or memories, or just to connect.
(Write “Class Notes” in the subject line.)
If you’re ever in Aspen, let me know! Otherwise,
see you at the Inn.
1986
30th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
Kathleen Campbell DiPaolo
2516 Vista Drive
Newport Beach CA 92663
949-689-3314 (cell)
949-209-2043 (fax)
[email protected]
Caroline Langston Jarboe
3124 63rd Ave.
Cheverly MD 20785
301-322-4241 (home)
301-379-6572 (cell)
[email protected]
Hi, class! I’m here to get you fired up to go to our
30th Reunion, June 10–12. It’s a little crazy, since
I am only 30 years old. Ha! David Eckman is in
charge of what should be a very fun weekend.
Ariel Hubbard will be there. She ended her
2015 with a ton of newness. Ariel writes, “I became
a single mom, closed my businesses in California,
moved to the Seattle area, started new businesses,
and moved to a new home! My 6-year-old, Reese,
started a new school. Hoping to find PA alumni in
Seattle to connect!”
Tom Takoudes took a family trip to MontTremblant, Quebec, where, he says, “We were
able to ski every day but also got in some crosscountry skiing, dogsledding, and extreme tubing,
and just enjoyed the beautiful village.” I want to
try dogsledding! That and extreme tubing are up
my alley. Tom and his wife, Lisa, also took their
kids, who are 13, 11, and 9, to Italy for almost two
weeks in August, visiting relatives on the Adriatic
coast before touring Rome, Florence, and Venice.
What a great experience!
I (Kathleen DiPaolo) love traveling with my
kids, too. I most recently went to India, Morocco,
and Spain with my gang. My husband works in
India more than 50 percent of the time, so we may
be sending you “new address” cards from New
Delhi, India. Stay tuned.
Brian Vaughan mentioned that Eric Neyman
was recently nominated and confirmed as a judge
for the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Congrats!
That is huge. Here’s a link to his former law firm,
with more information: bit.ly/1TrhUsM.
Jon Kukk’s daughter has really enjoyed being a
junior at Andover. Jon said he has seen many of our
classmates with their children at parent events.
My old roommate, Christine Balling, has
83
stay connected...
moved to Washington, D.C. While there she
picked up a book coauthored by Sara Corbett,
published in 2013, titled A House in the Sky.
Congrats, Sara! Patrick Kennedy also coauthored
a book called A Common Struggle, about addiction
and mental illness. Congrats, Patrick!
We have another class author, Hannah
Nordhaus, who wrote American Ghost: A Family’s
Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest, following her
book The Beekeeper’s Lament: How One Man and
Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America. How
exciting to have such talented classmates!
Well, that’s all, folks! Don’t forget to come to the
reunion. I can’t wait to catch up with you!
XO —Kath Campbell DiPaolo
1987
David Kopans
2 Princeton Road
Arlington MA 02474-8238
781-646-4515
617-947-2454 (cell)
[email protected]
From atomic sit-ups to the demise of the dartthrowing chimp to weekend trips to China, there’s
lots to report, so let’s get going.
First off, in honor of Stanley Tarr and family
visiting Boston, a few folks got together and kicked
off the first day of 2016 in casual style. Reports
from that party are of Stan and Lauren having
raised perhaps the most polite boys ever (can
you imagine a 12-year-old offering to take out the
trash?), Dan Medwed and Sharissa having yours
truly step in and opine on Class IV laser policy
issues, Paul Marston and family perfecting the
art of treetop drone retrieval, and John Greco
and family discussing the Brownian-motion
nature of Pee-Wee hockey. Toasts were raised to
Annie Gatewood, Cindy Greene, Jonny Bush,
Ruth Webb, Matt Bellows ’86, Christian
Ehrbar ’86, Newt Davis ’86, Jon Bernstein ’86, and
Travis Metz, who were out of town at the time and
could not attend.
Speaking of Travis, in November, he,
Steve Hopkins, and I traveled over to China for
the weekend (yes, weekend), and not just because
the flights were cheaper than those to Montana
(they were). We went to celebrate the opening of
one of the top new museums in Asia, the Mu Xin
Art Museum in Wuzhen. Designed by our own
Hiroshi Okamoto, with some hard work and
critical bench design from Steve, it was amazing
(http://tinyurl.com/HiroshiMuseum).
On other artistic fronts, Josh Coleman is a cast
member at one of the nation’s premier classical
repertory theatre companies, A Noise Within
(http://tinyurl.com/JoshPA). Josh is too kind and
humble to toot that horn, so just blame me on that
front. What he did write in about was the recent
birth of a daughter. Congrats to Josh and his wife!
More congratulations are in order: April Peters
84
is also a new mom. I received a lovely e-mail
from April that read: “It was a busy 2015 for me. I
finished school in May and was ordained a rabbi.
In September, I gave birth to a sweet baby girl.
My wife, Emily, and I are thrilled. We are living in
Manhattan, and I changed my last name to Davis
so that the three of us would match. I get to see
Janet Choi frequently, and I had dinner with Janet,
Aimee Vincent Jamison, and Jay Jamison ’89 when
they were in town this summer.”
Also on the new-parent front, Caroline Cannon
and Whit Spaulding ’85 doubled down with twins
in 2015. I was lucky enough to see all four of them
tromping around in style and with smiles at Annie
and Bob Gatewood’s annual pig roast party.
Sue Graham Johnston reported moving to
London to take on the role of managing director
of British Oxygen Company, running the business
in the U.K., Ireland, and Africa. A big change
from high tech, for sure—and a big change from
her role as the “damsel in distress” in the famous
Batkid Make-a-Wish event in SF about two years
ago. This wonderful event was organized by her
husband, E.J., who starred as Batman. Check out a
picture of Sue and E.J. here: http://tinyurl.com/
BatKidPA. And, if your fashion sense says you
just must have Sue’s cool green Joker gag, check
out her Instructables site, http://tinyurl.com/
BatKidPA2. Sue looks forward to connecting with
folks in London.
Like her sister, Liz Graham is also on the move.
Liz reported that she had the surreal experience
of moving her daughter, Miriam Feldman ’18, into
her old dorm, Stimson. And on a less surreal front,
Liz recently moved herself into a new role heading
global sales and service for Wayfair.com. Her
husband, Brad, is in his 16th season broadcasting
New England Revolution soccer.
Jonny Bush takes us farther into Europe with
a trip to Berlin. In true Bush style, he rallied the
troops and connected with Jonathan Lutes and
Todd Fletcher for a night of revelry. Apparently
Lutes and Fletcher have been living there for quite
some time—within a block of each other—but did
not know it. Jonny fixed that. Berlin might never be
the same.
Jay Ulfelder brings us back to North America.
Jay reported in that his younger son, August, has
become obsessed with cyclo-cross. Recently,
August won the Maryland and mid-Atlantic under14 regional championships, and he is headed to
nationals. Good luck, August! On other fronts, Jay
shut down his famous Dart-Throwing Chimp blog,
freeing him up for listening to older son Parker’s
digital music. Jay writes, “If anyone’s in the business
and wants to offer advice or insight to an aspiring
professional, Parker would be grateful to hear
from them.”
Erica Hollern Kelly and husband Jeremy
celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in 2015.
Out in California, they are responsible for founding
the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation (www.
myotonic.org), which grew out of Erica’s personal
connection to this disease. Erica reports that
foundation-supported researchers have drugs in
trial and in the pipeline that may offer a cure to her
two boys (both in high school) as well as herself.
As Erica wrote to me in an e-mail: “We have a lot
of hope—which goes a long way! And we couldn’t
appreciate each day more than we do. Carpe diem,
everyone.” To see a smiling picture of Erica and
learn more about the MDF, go here: http://tinyurl.
com/EricaPA.
Robin Koster-Carlyon e-mailed from Down
Under. Robin sent me a beautifully written e-mail
with lots of info that she summed up as “know
your farmer, know how your food is being grown,
save the planet, and be healthier for it!!” Check out
Robin’s smiling face and incredible farm at http://
tinyurl.com/RobinPA.
Kirstin Hoefer wrote in to report taking a short
break from working hard to make the world a
better place. For many years, Kirstin has been a real
power player in renewable energy (pun intended).
From Sungevity to Clean Power Finance, we can
all thank Kirstin for helping put more solar on
roofs in America! During her break, Kirstin saw
Jenny Ogilvie and reports that Jenny has two
adorable boys, ages 3 and 5, whom she adopted
from Ethiopia. On the same trip, Kirstin saw Tyke
Higdon O’Brien ’88 and husband Jamie O’Brien.
And of course, no matter how it ends up, I am
ever thankful to Kirstin’s husband, Robert, for
the help he provided since Kirstin’s e-mail to me
months ago. More on that story as it develops, so
stay tuned.
1988
Terri Stroud
800 4th St. SW, Unit N418
Washington DC 20024
202-486-4189
[email protected]
Laura Cox
21 Merced Ave.
San Anselmo CA 94960
415-302-7709
[email protected]
Matt Lavin
2221 46th St. NW
Washington DC 20007
202-365-8593
[email protected]
Heather Ross Zuzenak
12 Ginn Road
Winchester MA 01890
781-874-1747
[email protected]
Greetings, ’88ers! Here’s the scoop.
My comrade in football fandom (“Go, Giants!”),
Keil Decker, writes that he is the director and
head of national accounts marketing at BlackRock.
He lives in Princeton, N.J., with his wife, Nora,
who works for Deloitte, and his three children,
Phoebe, 7, Catherine, 5, and Winnie, 2. He plays
squash with the kids and still cycles. Speaking of
cycling, he shares that his former PA cycling coach,
Derek Williams ’65, is doing well in retirement, and
that former teammate Chris Peck just moved to
Cupertino, Calif., to work as an engineer for Apple.
Guenter Meyer writes, “I just dropped my
daughter, Darcy ’18, back off at Andover today. I’m
happy to report that she is enjoying her first year
there, and I’m definitely enjoying the Andover
experience the second time around as a parent—
but this time I get to listen to the concerts, and
it’s great to see that some of my favorite music
teachers are still teaching and conducting (Vinny
Monaco and Chris Walter). It’s also been fun
bumping into other classmate-parents at various
events (Bart Kalkstein, Pete Welch, and
Matt Milkowski so far; I’m sure there are a few
more). Cool thing is, my daughter and I will be on
the same reunion cycle!”
One of my Bronx homies (and former Stimson
West roomie), Evette Maranda Clarke, was
ordained as a minister at her church this past
fall. Another of my Bronx homies, Aisha Jorge
Massengill (who also attended elementary and
junior high school with Evette), was in attendance
at the ceremony.
David Richeson, Peter Reese, Eza Gadson,
and Ivar Bazzy attended a Foxcroft reunion at
the home of Bob Gibbons ’89 in November. Also
there were Ed Jasaitis, James McLain, and Ted
Helprin, ’89ers all, and Rett Wallace ’87. David says
that a good time was had by all, and that no one
ended up in jail, but I will definitely check public
records to confirm.
This past September, I hung out with
Naomi Cromwell, Hodgson Eckel, Bruce
Hamilton, Sandra Morales, and other members
of the PA family at the Fifth Annual Todd A. Isaac
Memorial Basketball Game and Reception in New
York. It was a pleasure to see my old JV basketball
coach, Tom McGraw, coach the Blue Team to
victory. (Or did the White Team win? I really don’t
remember. We were all having way too much fun
to keep score.) Full disclosure: I was a manager
for Coach McGraw, not a player. Still, I recall at
least one occasion where my finesse at the freethrow line saved the guys from having to run extra
suicides. Guys: You’re welcome.
Alesia Wilburn Wall writes that she sees
June Eguro Burkhart quite a bit socially in
Chicago, and that they commiserate over the
Northwestern football team. Alesia volunteers with
children with disabilities, and she has performed
in a couple of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with
the Savoyaires, the first U.S. company known to
have produced the entire G & S 14-operetta cycle.
Otherwise, Alesia is enjoying family life with her
two daughters, one of whom is a teen now, and her
husband, Derek, as much as his busy schedule as a
trauma surgeon allows.
Paula Hornbostel caught up with her college
roommate, Christina Weaver Vest ’89, in the
Boston area over Halloween, a real treat. Back in
New York, Paula discovered that the wares from
Sarah Ludington’s Van Brunt Stillhouse distillery
make wonderful holiday gifts, and it was fun seeing
her not so long ago!
Finally, Jim Dand wrote to say that he was
recently elected supreme emperor of the galaxy
and was selected to compete for Romania’s
rhythmic gymnastics team in the next Olympics,
to which I replied: “Duh! We already knew that!”
Well, that’s all, folks! Until next time. —Terri
1989
Laura Bauschard
2918 Octavia St.
San Francisco CA 94123
415-806-2412 (cell)
[email protected]
Curtis Eames
978-994-9015
[email protected]
Gina Hoods
400 Chaney Road, Apt. 1024
Smyrna TN 37167
423-892-7140
404-667-4939
[email protected]
Greetings! There is much to report, so here we go.
From Walpole, Mass., Anujeet Sareen reports,
“Life is good and full!” He and his wife truly have
a “full house,” with four boys and four girls, ages 5
to 22. Anujeet works for Wellington Management.
Rachel Keyser has practiced veterinary medicine
in Wolfeboro, N.H., for almost 19 years. She hopes
to purchase a practice this year and also reconnect
with her old roommate, Kim Markert Bowden.
Henry Gourdeau reports that his 2½-yearold has committed early to UNC for lacrosse.
David Carnes loves being back at PA more often,
now that his oldest daughter, Sasha ’19, is a student.
Curtis Bragdon’s daughter Margaret ’18 is a lower,
rooming in WQN with Kate Archibald Donchi’s
daughter Emma ’18. He recently hung out with
Ed Jasaitis and other ’89 parents at Family
Weekend. Curtis works at Darktrace, and he can
help prevent you from being hacked. His wife,
Heather Garretson Bragdon, has become more
involved with her family’s cranberry farm.
Andy Shea had a weekday stroll and lunch
with Keith Flaherty and Alex Walley in Boston
this past November. Jennifer Carr-Smith ran
into Dave Frechette and his family at an Andover
food-drive event in Stamford, Conn. Jen’s new job
as president of Peapod, an online grocer, takes her
to Chicago, where she dined with Laura Hsieh.
Laura is teaching at a private school and keeping
busy with her two boys.
Carl McCarthy, a lawyer in NYC, cofounded
Techie Youth, a nonprofit that provides coding
classes to young adults coming out of foster
care. George Webb IV is contemplating trading
his corporate position for entrepreneurship,
building a vegan family-buffet restaurant and
entertainment complex. He reports that his
sister, Emily C. Webb Doskow, together
with her husband and twins, picked up and
moved from NYC to LA. Seth White (aka Fr.
Thomas Joseph White, OP) is a Dominican
priest who has been living and teaching for the
past eight years in DC at the Dominican House of
Studies, where he is the director of the Thomistic
Institute. The Vatican recently appointed him
to be a member of the Pontifical Academy
of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Bob Gibbons hosted a Foxcroft reunion
in November at his house in New Canaan,
Conn. James McLain joined from Westchester,
Ted Helprin came from Portland, Ore.,
but Ed Jasaitis flew in from an Amsterdam
business trip for the historic get-together.
Unfortunately, Alex Friedman was unable to be
there. Ben Shin attended an early September
reunion in Park Slope, Brooklyn, organized
by Orin Herskowitz. Roberto Garcia,
Chase Madar, Shellee Hendricks, Andy Case ’90,
Jon Luongo, Marianna Baer, Robin Hessman ’90,
and Sean Sullivan were in attendance. Ben also
sees Troy Selvaratnam and Ricardo Lima
on occasion.
Andrew Kunian lives in Houston, where he is
converting northern China and southern Chile
from coal to gas power. Gina Hoods visited
Atlanta and met up with David Jaye and his
family. She also visited with Elisa Istueta and her
family in NYC and saw Kent Strong at Head of
School John Palfrey’s talk at the Ford Foundation.
Gina caught up with Hollis Fuller Morris and
Christian Parker, and saw Justin Jefferies in
Australia. Gabe Wardell binge-watched Twilight
Zone episodes over New Year’s Day and, along
with Alex Friedman, experienced the uncanny
feeling that he was back in Rockwell, staying up
all night watching The Twilight Zone in my room.
Gabe recently became director of development at
Fugees Academy, a school in Clarkston, Ga., that is
dedicated to helping child survivors of war rebuild
their lives through education and soccer.
Charlie “Scrimp” Kemp reports that he and
his family still enjoy LA and that he still works in
insurance. We hope to meet on the East Coast in
the near future.
Libby Palomeque continues to pursue
competitive figure skating in Oakland, Calif.,
recently winning four gold medals and a silver
at the ISI Adult Figure Skating Championships.
Fiona Brandon reports from San Francisco
that she and her husband, Dietmar, welcomed
their daughter, Flora Celestina, into the world
in July 2015, just a month after the birth of
Caleb Jacobson-Sive’s daughter, Louisa Valentine.
Fiona and family visited with Caleb and his family
over the holidays. Fiona is still in contact with
Mike Megalli, who recently left Microsoft to
start indie.biz.
Matthew Ferrara, recently relocated to
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stay connected...
Many alumni and friends turned out to congratulate Instructor in History and Social Science
Kathleen Dalton and Faculty Emeritus Tony Rotundo when the couple received the McKeen Award
on the Abbot campus in November. Front, from left: are Andrew Case ’90, Troy Selvaratnam ’89
with wife Mary Skinner, and Barbara Dalton Rotundo ’00. Back row: Dan Ankeles ’00, John
Michael DiResta ’00, Oliver Schwaner-Albright ’90, Robin Hessman ’90, Tom Doherty (Barbara’s
fiancé), and Robin’s husband, Lorin Wertheimer.
Las Vegas, traveled 200,000 miles this year,
speaking to audiences around the world on
philosophy, economics, creativity, leadership, and
modernity. Sarah Gray Rakovshik is into her
third year at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre,
where she helps run postgraduate psychotherapist
training programs for the University of Oxford and
continues to work as a researcher and therapist.
She and her family spend part of the summer on
Martha’s Vineyard, so let her know if you’ll be on
the island!
In Japan, Betsy Wiedenmayer Rogers and her
clan are preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
and request that you don’t wait until the last
minute to show up on her couch for that or the
Rugby World Cup in 2019. Come visit sooner!
Although she misses living close to high school
friends, she loves life in Japan.
Costas Anastassiadis is spearheading the
business development effort at Innora, an
engineering consultancy outside Athens that
produces robotic prototypes. He also manages a
vacation rental business on the island of Kea.
After 18 years working in New York,
Peter L. Juhas started a new job in Ireland in
September. Wife Katie and their three boys will be
joining him there next summer.
John Eagleton retreated to a château in
northern France with his wife and five children
to write screenplays and children’s books.
Mirabelle Kirkland, who lives within walking
distance of Versailles, is head writer for a TV
comedy series and produces (and sometimes
appears in) a Web series called Mr. Piji. She also
reports that Jon Luongo was selected for the Child
Life Council’s Leadership Academy program for
his work helping children through difficult and
painful procedures.
From Arambol, Goa, in India, Anshula Kedar
writes, “This place is the most amazing nexus of
music and love. I’m going to London, pretty much
stone cold for the summer. Don’t know anything
86
about it but got my tix already so am going. So
please, if you are there, find me!”
As I write this in my home office, eerily similar
to my room in Rockwell, I am in a twilight zone of
acting and working with my education company,
Quantum Prep. It’s been many years, but I feel
that, at any moment, Mr. Lorenço is going to step
in and bust up our Twilight Zone marathon party.
—Curtis Eames
1990
Thomas W. Seeley
1572 Heifer Road
Skaneateles NY 13152
315-263-0052 (cell)
315-685-3416 (work)
[email protected]
Hard to believe it has been nearly a year since so
many of us met on the beautiful grounds of our
alma mater. As I write with snow falling outside
the window, it still feels as if only moments have
passed. I am hopeful many of us have managed
to keep our resolutions to be in closer touch and
spend more time together.
Wonderful to ring in the New Year with
members of our Andover family! Had a fantastic
visit with Susan Marcus and Carl Smit and their
families at the Marcus family home in Queechee,
Vt. My road trip continued through Maine, where
I was able to visit briefly with Molly McGrath and
meet her amazing family.
Andy Case’s debut novel, The Big Fear, was
released on April 1. Andy reports positive reviews
are already pouring in: Publishers Weekly’s starred
review called it a “standout among Serpico-type
crime thrillers.” In more literary news, word has it
that a second novel by Sonya Chung is scheduled
for release later this year.
Though he hasn’t formally opened an account
(as far as we know), a Joe Bae sighting was
reported recently on Facebook! Joe accompanied
his wife, Janice Y.K. Lee, as she toured the country
promoting her new novel, The Expatriates.
Yvette Lee recently accepted a post as executive
director of the Skystone Foundation, a nonprofit
organization formed to oversee the Roden Crater,
a monumental art installation by light artist
James Turell in the Northern Arizona desert.
Prior to accepting this post, Yvette worked at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Foundation,
the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the
American Federation of Arts in NYC.
Great to catch up with Julia Cumes, who sadly
could not make it to reunion because she was
planning a photography workshop scheduled
for February and July 2016 at the Ngamba
Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda. A
photographer based on Cape Cod, Julia’s work
has been published in National Geographic and in
newspapers all over the world. In the past, she has
also coordinated photo workshops for children in
Rwanda. You can check out her work on her blog,
Apertures and Anecdotes.
If you haven’t watched Mr. Robot yet, what are
you waiting for? So amazing to see our very own
Alexandra Shapiro among the stars at the Golden
Globe parties celebrating Mr. Robot’s victory as
Best Television Series: Drama. Alex is executive
vice president of marketing and digital at USA
Network. She lives in New York with her husband
and two children.
In NYC, Michelle Pae is revolutionizing
restaurant ratings. Michelle helped launch Renzell,
a new app designed to provide holistic rankings of
54 elite New York restaurants. Watch out, Michelin
and Zagat!
That’s all I have for now. Miss you and love you
all. Who’s up for crashing reunion this June?
1991
25th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
Hilary Lerner Gershman
6124 SW 104th St.
Miami FL 33156
305-467-6581
[email protected]
Greetings, fellow ’91ers! As hard as it is to believe,
five years have come and gone in the blink of an
eye, and our 25th Reunion is around the corner!
Indeed, by the time you are actually reading this
update, you might be revving it up in the Sanctuary
or on your third trip to Harrison’s for another
“large heavy, radish and onion.”
As we have been for the past half-decade,
the great Class of 1991 is busy. Lex Carroll got
the party started in May by marrying Emma
Reid in Boston. Congratulations, Lex! I think a
year should just be enough time to get Emma
mentally prepared for the 25th. Sasha Alcott had
a memorable summer on tour with her band,
When Particles Collide. She got to hang out
with Josh Russo at “one of the best dive bars in
Huntsville, Alabama”; it is unclear if he came to
see the concert or is just a regular. In addition
to leading the life of a rock star, Sasha continues
to teach at Exeter alongside Shane Cooper
LaPointe, Christina Breen ’89, and Jeanette
Saraidaridis Lovett ’03. Sasha is also pleased to
report that Andover women are slowly but surely
taking over, and total domination is on track to
be achieved by the 50th Reunion. I will take that
under advisement and plan accordingly.
Victoria Farley Hostin was in the audience
at one of Sasha’s shows in Denver. Vicky reports
that when she is not enjoying the abundance of
natural pleasures Denver offers, she is hard at
work opening charter schools. Looking to put
her master’s degree in visual arts to use, Vicky
has also recently jumped into the burgeoning
weltanschauung art scene of central Colorado. She
is using cutouts from cat-food labels, comic books,
and Bass Pro Shops catalogs to create collages of
political events and Biblical scenes on the sides of
empty fish tanks. She describes her work as “Andy
Warhol, Don DeLillo, and Alanis Morrisette taking
a road trip in the family truckster down the Route
66 of history.” Although she pretty much left me
behind at “art,” it sounds impressive!
After two and a half terrific years reporting
for the AP in Istanbul, Desmond Butler is
transitioning back to Washington to work on the
international investigations desk. Josh Tulgan
is in Moscow, where he is busy negotiating
economic and political crises in Russia and dealing
with the greater drama of raising a 6-month-old
dachshund. He was recently in LA, where he had
a fun dinner with Mara Raphael. Separately, Mara
also caught up with Blair Lawson, Steve Matloff,
and Ben Stout. After 10 years of writing jokes for
the comedian Craig Ferguson, Ben has become
a producer and editor for The Late Late Show
with James Corden. When he is not doing that, he
is chasing his two daughters, ages 2 and 6. Ben
also reports that his wife, Masha, connected with
Matt Reid and his wife, Nena, in San Francisco.
Great stuff!
Back on the East Coast, Josh Tulgan,
Sasha Kipka, Max Hoover, Win Burke, Jamie
Schriebl, Christoph Cushman, Tyler Newton,
and Nat Furman all caught up for dinner. Sasha
recently became a father. Congratulations!
Max reports that his three children—Enrico,
11, Valentina, 9, and Felix, 9—are keeping him
and his wife, Tatiana, very busy. Nat did not
give me an update on his family but insists that
his hair is still all natural and encouraged me to
give “until it hurts so good” in honor of the big
reunion. Tyler recently got a big promotion and
is now heading the business services division of
his firm. “BSD,” as he is known internally, keeps
busy “being very hands-on with the biggest and
hardest assignments, which can be quite hairy.”
Sounds exciting! Across the river, in Brooklyn,
When Josh Tulgan ’91 visited from Moscow, numerous classmates gathered to mark the
occasion in New York City. Front, from left: Jamie Schriebl, Josh, and Tyler Newton. Back
row: Win Burke, Max Hoover, Sasha Kipka, Nat Furman, and Christoph Cushman.
Lucie Flather is having a good time. She recently
connected with Uche Osuji, Tiffany Corley, and
Andy Frankenberger, who are all doing well.
This past September, after three years of
research and design, Mike Meiners opened
Hackstudio, a 16,000-square-foot facility in
Evanston, Ill., dedicated to helping kids do
“anything they set their minds to.” The response
from the community has been enthusiastic,
and enrollment has exceeded his expectations.
Hackstudio is now serving 82 kids, ages 8 to 18,
with a pilot program for adults coming this winter.
Mike spends what little free time he has longing for
a simpler era, when his biggest worry was returning
to his room to find John McGrath taking another
nap on his orange couch.
Unfortunately, this update concludes my time
as coclass secretary. It has been a great team effort,
and I very much appreciate all of you who kept the
news coming. I have had a wonderful time keeping
in touch and look forward to reconnecting in
person in June! Warm regards. —Matt Fleming
1992
Allen Soong
1810 Burnell Drive
Los Angeles CA 90065
[email protected]
This edition of the notes comes to you from
30,000 feet as the holiday break ends way too
soon and I half-heartedly return to the grind in the
New Year on an early-morning transcontinental
flight. One of the things I love about my job is that
the scenery is constantly changing, but on this
morning I want nothing more than to still be back
at home with my wife and three girls.
Speaking of domestic bliss,
Mara Terlizzi Ziegler, her husband, Justin Ziegler,
and 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, recently
returned to the Boston area and settled into a new
home in Medfield, Mass.; a few short months later
they welcomed their second child, Luke Michael.
Mara writes: “We are thrilled to be home and
closer to family. Elizabeth is a great and enthusiastic
big sister.”
I’m relieved to report my oldest has also been
great, despite being joined by not one but two
“interlopers.” We pitched her impending big-sister
status as a “promotion,” which mostly worked.
There was that one time, before the twins were
born, that our then 3 1/2-year-old informed us that
she had “looked up the reviews on the Internet and
all the new babies are bad,” so we should abandon
this whole idea of having more. Happily, she feels
much different now.
Anyway, looking to drag my mind back to work
mode this morning, I started perusing the book
selections at the airport terminal newsstand before
boarding and was totally underwhelmed until I
came across Josh Davis’s Two Awesome Hours:
Harness Your Best Time, Get Your Most Important
Work Done. You may recall I wrote about Josh’s
book this time last year in advance of its summer
publication by HarperCollins, and since then it’s
been translated into eight languages and is officially
an international bestseller! Great reviews have
appeared in the Financial Times, Fast Company, Inc.
Magazine, Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune, Reader’s
Digest, the Globe and Mail, and the Guardian,
among many others, as well as in many prominent
blogs. Josh has been interviewed on close to 30
radio broadcasts and podcasts and has done several
speaking events (which would have included my
company’s off-site retreat this past October if not
for a last-minute schedule change by my managing
partner). If you haven’t already, pick up a copy and
do yourself—and your New Year’s resolution to
be more productive—a favor. From the jacket:
“Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience, Josh
Davis, director of research at the NeuroLeadership
Institute, explains clearly that our brains and
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stay connected...
bodies operate according to complex biological
needs that, when leveraged intelligently, can make
us incredibly effective. … Two Awesome Hours
will show you how to be your most productive
every day.”
Another author from our class also enjoyed
success in 2015: Taylor Antrim’s Immunity was
released last May to great reviews by the New York
Times and others. Taylor’s second novel is a fastpaced dystopian thriller set in a present-day New
York City in the grip of a pandemic and a police
state that has arisen in response. Unlike most
doomsday-outbreak stories, Immunity imagines an
incurable virus that wipes out some areas but not
others, which turns out to be a fertile context in
which to explore the gulf between haves and havenots. Scarcity takes on several new dimensions in
a world hobbled but not exactly decimated, à la
The Walking Dead, and the advantages of wealth
reach more sinister heights, or depths, depending
on your perspective or station. In researching
the novel, Taylor dove into a crash course in the
science of epidemics with the help of several
prominent infectious-disease experts, who helped
him conceptualize his fictional virus so that it
would be chillingly plausible. In a piece he penned
for the Guardian about his writing process, Taylor
wryly noted that “someone who hasn’t taken a
science class since [upper year] shouldn’t lightly
embark on a biothriller.” When he’s not scaring the
bejeezus out of himself and his readers, Taylor is a
Brooklyn dad and senior editor at Vogue; his short
stories have been featured in Best American Short
Stories, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly
Review, and other literary publications.
Noy Thrupkaew is a freelance journalist who
has made it her mission to shine a light on human
trafficking, and not just the kind the media tends
to focus on. In a TED Talk from last year, available
at www.ted.com, Noy makes the distressing
observation that forced prostitution, as shameful
and deplorable as it is, represents only 22 percent
of human trafficking, whereas forced labor, at 68
percent of the total, is three times more prevalent.
Exploited labor is found everywhere, on fishing
boats and construction sites, in fruit orchards
and sweatshops, even car washes. It finds its way
into the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and
many of the products we buy. Noy hopes that
greater awareness of how “we have unwittingly
but willingly allowed ourselves to profit from and
benefit from” a broken system will eventually lead
to fundamental change.
The election cycle isn’t the only countdown
to track in 2016. By the time this goes to press,
our 25th Reunion will be one short year away!
Mark your calendars, start making travel plans,
and get a jump on all the catching up by watching
this space—and the class Facebook page!
Reach out to Jenny Elkus, Sherri Shafman,
Pristine Johannessen, Darryl Cohen, or Daphne
Matalene for an invite.
88
1993
Susannah Smoot Campbell
301-257-9728
[email protected]
Jen Charat
619-857-6525
[email protected]
Ted Gesing
917-282-4210
[email protected]
Hilary Koob-Sassen
+44 7973775369
[email protected]
As I write these notes, I sit in my parents’ dining
room, listening to my children, nieces, and nephews sing carols (off-key) in the family room. It has
been a boisterous holiday. Many thanks to those
of you who responded to my requests to “Help a
Smoot this holiday season” by sending news!
Karina Wagle Benfield wrote that she married
Rick Benfield in November 2015 on the beach
in Punta Mita, Mexico. The wedding was a small
ceremony with family and close friends, including
Alissa Fishbane. The couple zipped off for an
amazing honeymoon in New Zealand and Bora
Bora. Earlier in the year, Karina had traveled to
Boston, where she caught up with Michelle Cho
over lunch and went back to visit Andover. Karina
works in LA as a corporate attorney.
On Facebook, Mark Jaklovsky posted an
awesome video of the Andover Community
Chorus singing the “Hallelujah” chorus from
Handel’s Messiah in Cochran Chapel. If you look
closely, you can just see Mark graciously offer his
tenor to the swell of voices.
Ramona Gittens Morgan and her lovely
young family are enjoying living in Brooklyn,
which, she jests, is teeming with Andover hipsters.
Nick Thompson and Chris White are rumored
to be nearby. (Chris was recently spotted as a
talking head on Bloomberg Television.) Ramona
confirmed the presence of Samantha Appleton,
who wrote to say she looked forward to getting her
daughter, Beatrice, together with Ramona’s girls,
Eve and Tabitha.
Beth Canterbury is happily living in Natick,
Mass., with her husband, Tap, and kids, Sam and
Isla. She teaches voice at the Walnut Hill School
for the Arts, where she is also faculty advisor and
coach to an a cappella group, Mixed Nuts. She
saw Arian Giantris Clements, with her husband,
Matt, and girls, Olive and Sophie, over the summer.
Matt and Arian recently moved from Portland to
Brunswick, Maine.
Marc Baker celebrated his oldest son’s bar
mitzvah in October 2015; David Bernstein flew
in from Russia to attend. One week later, Marc was
celebrated by Gann Academy for his 10 years of
leadership as head of school. “It was an awesome
night!” he reports.
Brandon Schwartz called with news of his
growing family. Daughter Alex just turned 2 and
is looking forward to being a big sister come this
June. Brandon is retired from the practice of law.
He lives in San Francisco and has a new career
as a real estate entrepreneur. He is learning how
to mind his own business (pun intended) while
leaving time for coparenting. If any classmates in
the Bay Area would be interested in playdates with
their kiddos, please contact him.
Ted Sterling wrote from Dancing Rabbit in
Missouri, where he is “still kickin’ it ecovillagestyle.” He stepped down from the Dancing
Rabbit Inc. nonprofit board this year after 10
years’ service and right on to the Dancing Rabbit
Village Council. Ted made a significant foray
into cheesemaking this year—primarily hard
goat cheeses, though he also made plenty of feta
and haloumi (“a Cypriot frying cheese, salty and
heavenly”). Ted is pleased that his efforts have
started to make a dent in Dancing Rabbit’s dairy
importation needs. If anyone else would like
to experience the homesteading lifestyle, Ted
welcomes your visit.
Ted wrote with updates on a few classmates. He
had a near miss with Johanna Cricenti in the DC
area this past year. Johanna is spending some time
in Malawi. He also received his annual card from
Fred Terry, who is safe and sound in Denver.
Jessica Glasser Kaufman wrote to say she is
in DC, producing news for the local ABC affiliate
each weekday at 5 p.m. Her girls, Maya and Lillian,
are 5 and 3.
Jessica shared that Kathryn Henderson lives
in Bethesda, Md., where she works for the Gates
Foundation. Kathryn was elected the captain of
her golf league this past summer. Scott Hennessey
is also in Bethesda, where he is likely celebrating
the recent budget bill that included extended tax
credits for solar power, which has been Scott’s
focus for the past few months. Scott works for
SolarCity. Kate Kennedy lives in Newton,
Mass., with her delightful husband, Dave, and
their two kids. She’s helping launch the library
at a new elementary school. Jessica noted that
Christine Bergren Orr is always the highlight of
her Facebook feed. Christine’s adventures with
her sons and her husband, James, seem to be
never-ending. Christine still runs (and has made
the cover of Runner’s World), her kids build Lego
marvels, and her son John seems to be the life of
any party.
Alexis Dittmer wrote to say that she is living
in Jackson, Wyo., and accepting visitors. Alexis
recently had the pleasure of bumping into
Megan McGrath, who was visiting from NYC.
Serendipity!
David Jackson moved with wife Kat and
children Isabel and Ollie from Seattle to Munich to
lead Amazon.de. In June 2015, Dave helped launch
Amazon Mexico. That success opened up further
international options to him. Before the move
to Germany, Dave was able to take a few months
off, traveling with his family to Canada, England,
and Luxembourg. The family welcomes visitors
and looks forward to exploring more of Kat’s
native Europe.
Sofia Echegaray wrote that she’s moved to
Boise, Idaho, where she is writing, making music,
and testing software. Michael Schulte wrote that
he’s doing well and living with his partner, Sarah,
on the north side of Chicago. “Anyone planning
to be in town, please look me up—we love
entertaining and have a spare bedroom!” Mike said
it took him less than two months to recuperate
from last summer’s Grateful Dead shows. Mike has
been working for the past couple of years in the
fantasy sports industry.
Mike caught up with Dan Haarmann and
Tushaar Agrawal last summer. They’re both doing
well and have amazingly cute kids. Dan is in Menlo
Park, Calif., with his wife and two kids. Tushaar
is in Bethesda, Md., with his wife and three kids.
Mike also played some fun-filled, highly erratic golf
with Rejji Hayes this summer. Rejji digs his new
job and living in Michigan with his wife and two
kids. Gus Quattlebaum was recently promoted to
director of pro scouting with the Boston Red Sox.
And Peter Kaiser recently welcomed his third
child and is living in Chicago.
Ileana Lee wrote from Portland, Ore., where
she lives with her husband and her son, Desmond.
The family went on a backpacking trip to eastern
Oregon this past September, relying on two llamas
to carry their kit.
Thanks again for your updates. Reach out with
news! —Susannah Smoot Campbell
1994
Moacir P. de Sá Pereira
244 Greene St.
New York NY 10003
312-792-8828
[email protected]
It is still the case that I am in New York City, and it
is also still the case that our class is not as receptive
to my cajoling as they seem to have been in the
past. Our Facebook group still has many subscribers (http://tinyurl.com/pa94fb), but as I was
looking over the e-mail list the other day, I noticed
many bouncing e-mails and many unsubscribed
users. I say this all the time, but PA gives me a lot
of space in which to talk about your adventures,
and it’s a shame for me to submit notes that are so
comparatively lean.
Anyway, onward. In my own news, my
first semester at NYU was great and useful.
It is wonderful to be back in the U.S., and it is
especially wonderful to be young and fancy-free
in downtown New York. I’m going to start a
punk band.
During the fall, I had a long, long phone
conversation with Greg Whitmore. The last place
we saw each other was only a few miles from the
NYU library (where I’m writing this), as we walked
up and down the still new and still tourist-light
High Line. Greg has kept himself busy between
work in the Pacific Northwest and engagements
in Nigeria. He’s still trying to wrap his film about
the sculptor Beverly Pepper, but he’s also trying to
figure out how to meet—and purchase beverages
for—the other 17 inhabitants of North America
who don’t yet have Facebook accounts.
Ivan Barry wrote from California, where
he still teaches history at the Cate School,
near Santa Barbara. He spent an entire month
during the summer in Turkey. He was in New
York over the fall for his little sister Kezi ’02’s
wedding. While in New York, he met up with
Byron Chiungos, who also recently got married.
The entire Barry family, including recently retired
PA fixtures Don and Roxy Barry, visited Ivan for
Christmas. Donna Kaminski has finished her
residency program in New Jersey and is moving
on to a fellowship in integrative medicine at
the University of Arizona, while continuing her
medical missions in Malawi.
As a sign of how much the gaming industry has
changed, Dan Ingster and his wife, Melissa, have
been able to leave Las Vegas for Florida without
his switching fields. Dan is now the VP of slot
operations at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa.
Marta Rivera Monclova also has a new job, as
an editor at Cloudera, Inc. Danielle Debrule
completes this new job triptych, as she is now
teaching children’s art classes through an outreach
program run by the Newport Art Museum in
Newport, R.I. She’s very happy with her new work,
because, as she puts it, “Every day is art class!”
In the family section of the notes, former
frequent contributor Peter Caperonis wrote
to let me know that he is getting married.
Otherwise, things with him are more or less the
same, as he continues to work in technology and
telecommunications in Philadelphia, while also
playing music here and there. Berk Nelson’s
second daughter, Clover Malia, was born in
December. Aaron Sharma wrote about his family
(Ellie is 7, and Harrison and Emmett just turned
3). He’s still working in interventional radiology in
upstate New York.
Merry Rose wrote in to insist that her life is
“crushingly boring.” At the same time, she included
this completely unboring bit of information that
I’m reproducing verbatim: “So I’m in LA still.
Hating on the drought. Still working in advertising
as a writer. And I’m now an unofficial expert in
local travel. So anyplace within a few hours of LA,
I can tell you where to eat, camp, hike, shop for
used books, and stay in somebody’s cabin. I have
no formal outlet for this expertise, just throwing
it out there in case anyone needs any advice.” If
you find yourself in Los Angeles, then, dear reader,
consider asking Merry for travel advice. Similarly,
Aaron Flanagan wrote to let me know that he’s
had a “pretty uneventful” three months. But in lieu
of travel advice, he quoted some lyrics from Public
Enemy’s 1990 song, “Can’t Do Nuttin’ for Ya Man.”
Finally, I attended my first PA alumni event in
New York in December, a holiday party in Chelsea.
If there were any classmates around, they slipped
from view, but I did speak to Deb Blanchard ’90,
older sister of Elliott Blanchard. She told me that
Elliott was back in New York, living on the Upper
East Side. Deb was accompanied by Liz Stites ’90,
whose younger brother was a classmate of mine
in grade school. Sadly, I didn’t get to talk to
them much. I also had separate Rockwell North
reminisces with Joaquin Escamille ’97 and Chris
Pulling ’97. Much of the evening was spent
discussing alumni service with Michael Fang ’95,
who interviews for PA, though I also unexpectedly
spent awhile talking to Ayaka Shinozaki ’13,
who is studying physics at Columbia. One of
the guests of honor at the party was Stephen
Carter, in whose pre-calculus class I became a
wizard at programming the TI-81 calculator; it
was a pleasure to speak to him and to his wife,
Adela, at length about their son, Steve ’96, who is
teaching English at the University of Colorado in
Colorado Springs.
1995
Erik Campano
DeMartini-Spano
via Saccardo 44
20134 Milano
Italy
+39 338 740 0452
[email protected]
Lon Haber
2645 South Bayshore Drive
Miami FL 33133
323-620-1675
[email protected]
Margot van Bers Streeter
+44 077 393 77700
[email protected]
Laurie Coffey writes that she will be finishing her
tour at the U.S. Naval Academy this summer and
has been having a good time in Annapolis. She will
be taking an assignment in Naples, Italy, with the
Navy’s Sixth Fleet headquarters. “I look forward to
being stationed overseas in/on something other
than an aircraft carrier!” Laurie says. Her daughter,
Brooke, is “lamenting” the lack of hockey rinks in
southern Italy, so it “looks like it’s time to learn to
play soccer.” Laurie has also joined PA’s Andover
and the Military affinity group and attended the
Veterans Day celebration on campus.
Tyler Currie says that he, Ismael Arjune,
Andy Mahony, Leevert Holmes, Jose Saenz,
and Joe McCannon recently met up in
Gbenga Dawodu’s backyard in Harlem for a
barbecue. Tyler writes that Joe has “gotten into
artisanal doughnuts.” David Engel and his
girlfriend, Jill Nathanson, welcomed their little boy,
Braxton, into the world in November. David writes
that he’s “toiling away at the entrepreneurship
89
stay connected...
thing, and, well, life is good!” Michael Graffeo
rang the NASDAQ opening bell this past fall,
and Justin Libby reports that over the holidays
he got to have brunch with Michael, Bob Masys,
Gillian Morrison, Jeff Wang, Jill Imbriano
Puglisi, and a whole host of PA friends from other
years. “There were so many young children present,”
writes Justin, “we were worried the adults would be
outnumbered. It was wonderful to catch up with
people over the cries and fussing of toddlers. Our
son, who is now eight, is already more social and
athletic than I ever was.”
Lon Haber spent some of his winter
holidays “tucked into the mountains of Tyrol.”
Vennette Ho Lee has been living in NYC with
husband Dave, son Dylan, and daughter Kira.
“In a total ‘I never would have predicted this in
1995’ turn of events,” Vennette writes, “I am an
investment banker focused primarily on mergers
and acquisitions for the beauty space. A funny
tidbit,” she adds, “is that I was actually named one
of ‘Beauty’s 50 Most Powerful Women’ by WWD
last year. It’s a fun job where I get to meet and help
some amazing founders and entrepreneurs in a
happy industry.”
Kate Humphrey has celebrated her engagement
and is working as a psychiatric nurse in Maryland.
Rick Johanson and his wife are “elated to welcome
Crew Robert Johanson into this big, wonderful
world. If Andover is in his destiny,” Rick writes,
Crew Robert will “graduate with the Class of 2033.”
Alexandra London-Thompson has become the
director of dramatic arts at Miss Porter’s School
in Farmington, Conn., and also the director of
children’s programs for the Martha’s Vineyard
Film Festival. Her husband, Peter, is an actor,
screenwriter, and director and has been working
in the U.K. on two feature films. They live on
the Miss Porter’s campus with their 4-year-old.
“It’s a wonderful community,” writes Alexandra,
“and we are very happy.” Dede Orraca-Tetteh
lives in Wellesley, Mass., has four children, and
works as a healthcare consultant across the public
and private sectors. She sometimes sees Alexis
Curreri Madison, who, Dede says, resides in the
neighboring town of Sherborn with her “three
beautiful girls.” Dede also “spontaneously” ran into
Vanessa Kerry at a playground recently. David
Koller writes that he has been enjoying the first
year of fatherhood and that he randomly ran into
Michael Fang and family in NYC’s Central Park.
Delphine Rubin McNeill and her family were in
Palm Beach for the holidays, and she writes that she
saw Eric Ray and his wife, Juliet, there. Delphine
says she is “enjoying life in London and is busy
starting a line of women’s tops.”
Stuart Shapley is in Austin, Texas, working
as a patent attorney. He is the proud parent of a
3-year-old girl. Margot Stiles has been spending
most of her free time whitewater kayaking with
her husband and friends. Margot will be helping
coach the Peru office of Oceana, the international
ocean conservation and advocacy nonprofit, as it
develops its strategy to improve management of
90
the largest fishery in the world. Margot reports that
she is still also working with Oceana’s offices in
Brazil, the Philippines, Canada, and Chile and, “in
the meantime, baking lots of bread.” Phil Ciampa
writes that he and his wife, Erin, have been looking
forward to the arrival of their third daughter.
As for me, Erik Campano, I am working toward
my doctorate in medicine at the University of
Milan. If you are passing through the city, please
do not hesitate to look me up! My apartment has a
comfortable guest room, and I have learnt to cook
risotto allo zafferano.
1996
20th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
John Swansburg
396 15th St.
Brooklyn NY 11215
[email protected]
We’ll soon have occasion to catch up properly—
in person, on a lawn, at our 20th Reunion. In the
meantime, a lightning round of updates from
near and far:
Jenny Hoffman has moved to Vancouver,
Canada, to take a position as a professor in the
physics department at the University of British
Columbia. In fall 2015, she returned to the USA
Track & Field 24-Hour National Championship
and defended her title, this time by running
138.4 miles in 24 hours. If you’re passing through
British Columbia, she says, drop her a line. Bring
your sneakers.
Alex Green is on a streak of catching up with
old friends. He saw Jerry Bramwell in Chicago
in September, David Black-Schaffer in NYC in
October (David was in town from Sweden), and
Lillian Kiang in Dublin (where she had traveled
from Hong Kong) in January. Alex and Lillian
were both attending the same aircraft finance
conference, naturally. “All were doing well,” Alex
reports of his sightings, “and all somehow looked
about the same as I remembered from a couple of
decades ago.” Alex lives in Manhattan with his wife
and three children, ages 8, 7, and 5.
Julie Gwozdz Redfern checked in from San
Francisco, where she works for Apple in its retail
group. She welcomed a baby, Drew, in November;
her daughter, Charlotte, turned 2 in December.
“Charlotte is an amusing chatterbox, and Drew is a
cuddly, happy baby,” Julie writes.
Josh Mann got married this past summer to
Caroline Pierce. The ceremony was held at Edith
Wharton’s old estate, The Mount, in Lenox,
Mass., and several carriages full of Andover ’96ers
made the journey to the Berkshires to fête
the happy couple. Let’s see if I can nail the full
list: Steve Carter, Noah Peffer, Alex Burns,
Ben Garcia, Chris Flygare, Charlotte Newhouse,
Ting Poo, Hamilton Simons-Jones, Bret
Asbury, Hannah Pfeifle Harlow, Jesse Kean,
and Mike Krupp were all there, and all in excellent
form. Mike’s father officiated, and Mike himself, as
is his wont, offered his best man’s toast in rhyme. I
captured it on video, if anyone requires proof that
Mike’s MC skills have only improved with age.
Charlotte’s very funny Comedy Central series,
Idiotsitter, debuted in January. If you haven’t caught
it yet, do so.
Megan McClellan adopted a daughter from
Taiwan. “Ann is now 7,” Megan writes, “funny and
smart and awesome beyond our wildest dreams.
She is rapidly gaining English fluency, and we’re
working hard to keep up her native Mandarin
Chinese. Ann has already used the laser cutter in
the new makerspace at the Oliver Wendell Holmes
Library and made collages with PA art students at
the Addison in the shadow of Winslow Homer’s
paintings. Her favorite colors are pink and purple,
but she also loves blue and white.” Megan works
at J.P. Morgan as a managing director in the bank’s
asset management business. She also dedicates
volunteer hours to the SPCA of Westchester (N.Y.)
and to an economic development organization
focused on a small village in Guatemala.
Minor Myers, Tricia Taitt, and
Jane Biondi Munna all attended an event
celebrating the Frank Stella ’54 retrospective at
the Whitney Museum, a tribute to the artist’s
astonishing career. Caitlin Henningsen ’01, a
fellow at the Frick Collection, kindly and patiently
walked your secretary through an interpretation
of The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, from Stella’s
influential series of black paintings.
Constantine Farmakidis welcomed his
first child, George, in October and recently
caught up with Justin Steil. Steve Yang works
as a dermatologist in Baltimore and teaches at
Johns Hopkins.
Quincy Evans is still living and working right
outside Philadelphia. “Kids are growing fast (son
Milo, 4, and daughter Kendall, 2 going on 20),”
he says, “and I’m going gray even faster.” Quincy
reconnected with Bret Asbury in Philadelphia. “It’s
awesome to see Andover friends become amazing
adults,” he writes. Very true. Eager to see all you
amazing adults up close soon.
1997
Jack Quinlan
514 S. Clementine St.
Oceanside CA 92054
760-415-9054
[email protected]
Kelly Quinn
2538 NW Thurman St., No. 205
Portland OR 97210
919-949-0736
[email protected]
Hello everyone! Hope all of you have been enjoying the winter/spring months and that 2016 has
been good to you so far.
Several of you welcomed new additions to
your lives over the past few months. Simone
Thavaseelan and husband Brian greeted daughter
Iris Leoni Donnenfeld in April 2015; she joins
older brother Jake. Simone and Brian still enjoy
living in Providence but head up to Andover quite
a bit to visit family. Living in Denver, Steve Dise
and wife Lauren announced the birth of their
son, Anderson, in late December, narrowly
escaping what Dise calls the “dreaded Christmasbirthday combo.”
Ali Aiello Lemaitre and Josh Lemaitre
welcomed daughter Tilly this past September.
Ali says Tilly is already paying careful attention to
the shenanigans of her older brother, Alfie, who
is now 3. Ali is teaching perinatal yoga classes and
hoping to add fertility yoga and nutrition to the list.
She’s channeling positive yogi power toward the
presidential race to help keep haters out of office,
while Josh is relying solidly on the power of the
Jedi. When he wasn’t busy working at Thomson
Reuters, Josh had multiple Star Wars viewings lined
up this past December.
Lindsay Warner Ferrer and husband Eddie
sent news of the November birth of Alejandro
Ferrer. Lindsay describes him as a “spirited” little
guy and was gracious enough to share a photo of
him with us. Adorable. Marc Hustvedt and wife
Carly also added to their brood. Joining older
brother Maverick is Edie, born in early January.
Luis Angel Gonzalez recently moved back
stateside last December after five years abroad—
three in Europe and two in Asia. Luis and wife
Lauren are happily tucked away in Newport,
R.I., where he is the supervisor of maritime
engineering and gas turbine specialty at the U.S.
Navy’s Surface Warfare Officers School. Luis will
continue working through his command-at-sea
training pipeline before returning to the fleet in
roughly two to four years. Visit him while you can,
just like Mike Napolitano and Jess Judge Cox ’00
recently did.
Also on the move was Adam Tober, who
moved back to Boston from Tokyo. Adam will be
joining Skinner auctioneers as director of the fine
musical instruments department.
Michelle Kalas recently moved to Lawton,
Okla., where buffalo roam the wide-open spaces.
Michelle relocated for a position as a civilian
legal assistance and claims attorney for the Army
at Fort Sill. In addition to this, Michelle was
commissioned as a JAG Reserve officer in the
Army (her Army specialty is military law, and her
job is somewhat like the TV show). All visitors
are welcome!
Also welcoming folks to his offices, in DC and
Salem, Mass., is Seth Moulton, who continues
to work hard down on the Hill to help make a
difference in local government. Seth announced
his bid for reelection to Congress in early January,
continuing to help pave the way for new leaders
in government.
David Constantine married Molly Jennings
in early September in Osterville, Mass. Helping
to celebrate were Tom Ryan, Pat Noonan,
Erin Keaney Noonan, Leah Kalfas LaRose,
Owen Tripp, Rob Holmes, Todd Pugatch,
Paul Pennelli, Dave Weiner, Lara Constantine
Craddock ’89, Tiffany Horne Noonan ’99,
Claire Constantine Larson ’01, and
Robert Constantine ’06.
We’re excited to announce that some
fun and light-hearted jabbing on the social
networks actually works! Answering our
call for updates were Lisa Devellis Medard,
Hillary Dresser Seith, and Elizabeth Adams.
Lisa Devellis Medard is currently enjoying a
yearlong maternity leave from an engineering job
in UK local government, following the birth of her
daughter, Céleste Josephine Rose, this past August.
Lisa moved to coastal East Sussex (England)
four years ago from California, and, despite it
being billed as the sunniest place in England, she
confirmed she officially misses the sun.
This is a big year for Hillary Dresser Seith.
She is celebrating her 10th anniversary with
husband Gary Seith (congrats!). They live outside
Philadelphia and have two children, 9-year-old
Juliet and 6-year-old Alexander (Xander). Hillary
just completed an MBA degree at Villanova
University in December; she was on a five-year
track, during which she earned a fellowship to
work on a Villanova women’s initiative, worked as
the business manager of a small business, and kept
a flexible schedule while raising young kids. She
will be starting a new job at Vanguard this summer
as a member of their MBA Development Program.
Until then, she is thrilled to have the downtime to
tackle some home improvement projects, take a
couple of vacations, and visit family and friends,
including Maggie Dickson and Julia Henderson,
with whom she has remained close over the years.
Elizabeth Adams recently completed a PhD
degree program in musical composition. In
addition to this amazing feat, Elizabeth also
organizes political education workshops through
the School for Designing a Society and the
Free University of NYC, which grew out of the
education working group of Occupy. And in her
spare time, Elizabeth helps elders coordinate
eldercare and real estate. Impressive indeed.
We learned through the grapevine that
Ian Klaus recently received a wonderful review of
his 2014 book Forging Capitalism: Rogues, Swindlers,
Frauds, and the Rise of Modern Finance (Yale
Series in Economic and Financial History). We
encourage everyone to grab a copy (you can find it
on Amazon), as Ian provides an insightful history
of modern finance via the evolution of trust over
various eras of time.
We were lucky enough to catch up with
Shirley Mills and Jed Wartman this past fall
during Alumni Council Weekend. Shirley crushes
the finance world as a director, portfolio manager,
and senior equity analyst on long-only and hedge
fund strategies across market caps. Jed continues
his work as senior associate dean of students and
director of campus life up at Colby College, where
he and his family have been for the past few years.
Wishing all of you the best and looking forward
to hearing your next round of updates soon.
—Kelly Quinn
1998
Zoe Niarchos Anetakis
658 Massachusetts Ave., No. 2
Boston MA 02118
781-475-9772
[email protected]
1999
Kirsten Riemer
72 Connecticut Ave.
Greenwich CT 06830
[email protected]
Hello ’99ers! I hope this edition finds all of you
well, having made it through the crazy El Niño
winter! It appears that as a class we have been
quite busy. Whether it’s been getting together
to celebrate milestones, attaining professional
accomplishments, or churning out candidates for
the Class of 2033, we are an extremely busy group.
Let’s start with the babies! Adam MacDonald
and his wife, Angelina, welcomed their daughter,
Presley Harper MacDonald, last July. The
MacDonalds live in Orange County, Calif., where
Adam is a senior vice president of investments and
principal at the Adams Financial Group of Wells
Fargo Advisors, LLC. Angelina is a board-certified
behavioral analyst, assisting families with specialneeds children in getting funding for behavioral
therapy from insurance companies and regional
centers. Alex MacCallum and her husband, Nick,
welcomed a son, Theodore Hopper Fribourg, in
August 2015. Alex was recently appointed to run
video at the New York Times and is looking for great
people to join the unit. If you, or anyone you know,
might be interested, please reach out to her.
Marisa Connors Hoyt and her husband, Kyle,
welcomed their third child, a daughter named
Eliza, last September. Eliza joins big brother
Connor and big sister Eve. Marisa says that life as a
family of five is pretty crazy, but the Hoyts continue
to enjoy life in Charleston, S.C. In November,
Robert Ramsey and his wife, Tricia, welcomed
the newest member of their family, Anna Ruth
Ramsey, who joins older brother George. The
Ramseys reside in Charlottesville, Va., and are very
much enjoying living there. Jenny Seo and her
husband, Anthony, welcomed a baby boy, Brennan,
in December 2015. Jenny and family are currently
living in Chicago, where Jenny is finishing up the
last year of a combined internal medicine and
pediatrics residency at the University of Chicago.
The plan is to stick around Chicago after Jenny
completes her program, at least for a couple of
years. Congratulations to all the new parents and
growing families!
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stay connected...
But the baby train doesn’t stop there! Expectant
father Bill McGonigle wrote in, saying, “I had the
opportunity to meet up with Barrett Hamilton
the day after Thanksgiving. We both brought our
wives to one of our old high school hangouts:
Richardson’s Ice Cream over in Middleton, Mass.
While it was great to see Barrett again (I hadn’t seen
him since my wedding), I was looking forward to
springing some other news on the old dormmate.
Funny thing is, he was looking forward to springing
some news on me, too. Long story short: We’re
both expecting our first kids in June, with due dates
about a week apart. In other fun news, Lindsay
Hoopes moved in down the street from me here in
DC. We ran into each other at the local cheese shop
but sadly haven’t had a chance to catch up more.”
Barrett is living in Wyndham, N.H. He spent
New Year’s Eve with Kris Hedges and Kris’s wife,
Caroline, in New Hampshire, and also had the
opportunity to catch up with J.P. Chisholm a
few days before Christmas in NYC. Barrett also
recently saw Lindsay Hoopes (who is quite the
globe-trotter) at a trade show for his company’s
distributor in Boston. Both Hoopes Vineyards and
Barrett’s company’s portfolio are represented by
Horizon Beverage in Massachusetts. Kristin Cook
works for Horizon Beverage, and the trio were
able to catch up at the show in the ballroom of
the Seaport Hotel, the room where we started our
senior prom.
Also in Boston I had the pleasure of attending
Nathaniel Fowler’s beautiful wedding last fall at
the Boston Public Library. The Class of ’99 was well
represented. All the way from South Korea, Eugene
Cho taunted wedding guests with the possibility
of a reenactment of Psy’s “Gangnam Style.” Also in
attendance were Colin Dinneen, Fletcher Boyle,
Teddy Dunn, Matt Kalin, T.J. Durkin, Jim Ellis,
Alex Mantel, and Lindsay Hoopes.
On the professional side of things, Rob
Crawford wrote in to say, “A college friend and I
started publishing a poetry journal called Prelude
(preludemag.com), which has won a Pushcart
Prize. The second issue is now available at Barnes
& Noble. Other than that, I’m still working as an
editor and book researcher in New York City, and I
actually did some research work on Jon Meacham’s
recent biography of George H.W. Bush ’42.”
I also heard from Kam Lasater, who reports, “I
have ‘retired’ from the software company I founded,
SeeClickFix. Instead of working full time, I’m now
only on the board and live full time in Philadelphia.
The plan is to take 2016 as a sabbatical year and
recharge for the next venture.”
Finally, Bill Lincoln and Piercarlo Valdesolo
are both members of the faculty at Claremont
McKenna College. Bill is an assistant professor of
economics and Piercarlo is an assistant professor of
psychology and the director of the college’s Moral
Emotions and Trust Lab. The two see each other
from time to time at faculty meetings.
That’s it for this go-round. Please keep the news
coming! Have a great summer, and I look forward
to hearing from all of you in the fall.
92
2000
Jia H. Jung
550 11th St., No. 4R
Brooklyn NY 11215
917-589-5423 (cell)
[email protected]
Last November, Dan Ankeles, John Michael
DiResta, and Barbara Rotundo converged on
campus as Barbara’s parents, Kathleen Dalton and
Tony Rotundo, received the 2015 McKeen Award,
the Brace Center’s highest honors for work in
gender issues (see photo, page 86). Dan said, “We
had a great time and learned some crazy things
about how campus used to be, which the powers
that be might not let you publish. I’m only half
joking.” He also tipped us off that John is getting
married this summer. (At the time of writing, this
had been neither confirmed nor denied by the
alleged groom-to-be, so stay tuned.)
Over the holidays, I swung by the Park Street
Pub in Andover to reunite with Jessie Smith (still
living it up in Tampa, Fla.), Adam Schoene (on the
verge of receiving a PhD degree from Cornell), and
Aaron Litvin. We talked long and deep enough
that I lost my voice. We also cackled, recalling the
greatest (and only) campus voice-mail shenanigan
ever (who remembers?). Hungry for conversation
even after the local haunt had closed for the night,
we proceeded to Aaron’s pad, where he cracked
open a bottle of whiskey from his recent trip to
Tokyo and gave us an exclusive preview of his
documentary on Brazilian migrants living in Japan.
The topic of his undergraduate and graduate theses,
the film was painstakingly constructed during a
decade of working and living in Brazil and Japan.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see this up on the big
screen soon.
Also over the holiday season, Mabel Ning
Bernstein’s baby boy, Gen, turned 1! The
Bernsteins moved to Jersey City, N.J., over the
summer and continue to love living there.
Tristan Perich had a baby girl named Bronwyn
(now 2 years old!) with wife Lesley Flanigan.
Tristan’s other shining moments have included
composing a triple string quartet commissioned
by the LA Philharmonic and releasing Parallels,
recognized as one of Rolling Stone’s “20 Best Avant
Albums of 2015.” Of course, Tristan didn’t tell me
this himself—it’s public information for any art or
music appreciator to find, so forgive me for doing
some bragging for you, Tristan!
J.M. Imbrescia and his wife welcomed their
baby boy, Massimo, last March, then—after 11
years of residence and eight years of marriage in
Brooklyn—escaped from New York to Somerville,
Mass., at the start of this year. Congratulations on
all counts, J.M.
The grand finale of these notes has been made
possible by Sterlind S. Burke Jr., whose gracious
consent to share his contribution verbatim makes
a proper close to this edition. Till next time,
my friends.
Sterlind’s story: “On June 11, 2014, I met
someone who would have more of an impact on
my life than I ever thought possible. She opened
my eyes and made me realize how bad my health
had gotten. I started to turn my life around at
that point and began the process of looking for
somewhere to have bariatric (weight loss) surgery.
As I was going through the required doctor’s
appointments, I was discovering that my health
was even worse than I knew. I needed to start
making changes right away; I couldn’t wait for
surgery. Between late June 2014 and Aug. 5, 2015,
which was the day of my surgery, I lost 117 pounds.
I felt better than I had for at least five or six years.
“The gastric sleeve surgery went well. I did my
three days in the hospital, and then I was gone.
I didn’t even need to take the pain medication
that was provided for me. I went to my follow-up
appointments later that week, and I was cleared to
resume doing what I love, coaching football. The
first day of practice was on Aug. 12, and I was really
excited for it. I went to practice and made sure I
followed the doctor’s orders. I was just happy to
be interacting with the kids. That night, as I was
getting out of bed, I felt a pop on the right side of
my abdomen. I instantly felt intense pain, my body
felt heavy, and I had trouble breathing. I walked
down to my kitchen to take some pain medication,
thinking that was what I needed. It took me five
minutes to walk downstairs to the kitchen and
10 minutes for me to get back upstairs. I knew
something was wrong, but I sat on my bed and
contemplated just sleeping it off. The pain very
quickly became too much to bear, and I called 911.
“Eventually, the doctors were able to figure out
that a blood vessel near my colon had burst and I
had massive internal bleeding. When I first reached
the hospital, my blood pressure was 45 over 25.
The doctor performed emergency surgery; he later
told my parents he removed a basketball-sized
amount of blood from my abdomen. He also said
that had I not called 911 when I did, I would have
bled to death in two or three hours. I woke up in
bed with a breathing tube down my throat. I spent
a week in the hospital and was out of work for
another three weeks.
“Knowing how close I was to death was the
scariest experience of my life. I was so glad that I
had already taken steps to change my life, since it
is likely I would not have survived the emergency
operation if I had not lost the initial weight. The
time in the hospital was a time that I did a lot of
thinking and praying. It was a life-changing event,
to say the least. I am happy to say that I have lost
212 pounds since June 2014. I am now the lightest
I have been since my junior year of college. I am
looking forward to continuing my healthy journey
and continuing to increase my workout intensity. I
thank God every single day that He decided that I
was not done on this earth. I am living every day to
the fullest, and I will not waste this second chance
that I have been given.”
2001
15th REUNION
June 10–12, 2016
Misty Muscatel
203-569-9713
[email protected]
Members of the Class of ’01 continue to rise
through the ranks in their industries and bring
beautiful new babies into the world. We are gearing
up for our 15th Reunion this June and are pumped
to get the gang back together!
Update of the quarter goes to Will Chan, who
at this writing was volunteering for a few weeks
in Lesvos, Greece, where many refugees arrive
in boats from nearby Turkey and then await EU
processing. He has found it inspiring to see how
many ordinary people step in to fill gaps left by
governments and NGOs.
Carly Rockstroh was promoted to director at
PwC earlier this year and is currently leading their
account at the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau, among other public sector financial
services clients. Carly moved up to Chevy Chase,
Md., a year and a half ago and is having fun with
her puppy, Sieger.
Debbie Linder is still rocking on the faculty
at Tufts Veterinary School and has also recently
become associate director of the Tufts Institute
for Human-Animal Interaction. Her current
project involves bringing therapy animals to visit
children with cancer at nearby UMass Medical
Center. With this new project, she gets to see
Mara Meyer Epstein and her daughter, Hannah, as
Mara works at UMass.
Vanessa Nickerson is still living in Denver and
had a glorious trip to Costa Rica over Christmas
with her boyfriend, Jeff Forbes, along with her
family. Vanessa also began a new position as
a criminal law associate with Hernandez &
Associates, P.C., a boutique criminal-defense and
immigration law firm.
Helen Ho has been working for Vanguard
in Malvern, Penn., for the past four years, since
graduating from business school. She had a great,
relaxing holiday hanging out with Meredith Chin.
Ashley Foster Sellers is finishing an MBA
degree program this spring at Kellogg in Chicago
and participated in an exchange program in
Melbourne, Australia, for a bit this winter. She
loved escaping the Chicago winter and enjoying
the 80-degree weather every day.
Raquel Leonard Moreno is still doing well
with husband Orlando in Philadelphia. They
enjoyed a quiet holiday season and celebrated
Hanukkah for the first time with local friends.
Just before the holidays, Nekia Durant came to
visit Raquel for a day of vegging out and catching
up. Stephanie Araujo also visited Raquel down
in Philadelphia, and her visit coincided with the
FringeArts festival, where they saw an artistic
performance by the Leah Stein Dance Company.
This past November, Misty Muscatel ’01 married James Davis in Boston, with many Andover
friends sharing in the celebration (all Class of ’01, except as noted). Front, from left: Alida Payson,
Caitlin Henningsen, Ella Hoffman, Amita Singh, Marion Read (obscured), the bride and groom,
Ruth Weiner ’66, Sarah Kline, Nicholas Ma, Paige Austin, Stefani Kovach ’02, and Nate Beck.
Back row: Greg Sherman, Danielle Vardaro, Rachel Weiner, Josh Aisenberg ’00, Tom Beaton ’73,
Erin Winkler, and Smita Singh.
In Class of 2034 news, Susie Dickson and her
husband, Jamie DeGraw, recently welcomed their
first child, Dickson McEachern DeGraw. Dickson
met his Andover aunties Marion Read and Erin
Winkler, who also live in San Francisco, and looks
forward to meeting the rest of the ’01 crew.
Marion has had an amazing time with her
new son, Malcolm, including introducing him to
Andover aunties Susie Dickson and Erin Winkler
at home in San Francisco and the whole crew at
my wedding in Boston. Marion returned to work at
O’Melveny & Myers in January.
James Kenly and wife Kristen welcomed their
second child, Andrew Robert Kenly, last August.
Scott Darci came to Denver over Halloween and
James’s daughter dressed him up as a “big kittycat” for trick-or-treating! The Kenly family gets to
see Greg Kimball and Kate Kimball regularly,
now that they’ve moved to Boulder, Colo., and
they see Steve Dise ’97 occasionally, as their kids
are in the same play group. James also finished an
MBA degree program at the University of Denver
in August.
Gavin McGrath and wife Amanda are excited
to become a family of five this June, as they
anticipate the arrival of their third child.
In the Big Apple, Ife Babatunde is working for
LinkedIn. I heard from Elka Gruenberg, who will
graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology
(FIT) this spring with a master’s degree in global
fashion management. The program has taken
her to Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In New
York, she has been working for French lingerie
brand Simone Pérèle as their fit expert and also as
Northeast account executive. While flying back
from Hong Kong, Elka ran into Christine Lee in
the airport; Christine was on her way to Myanmar.
Over on the West Coast, Kevin Sinclair,
Brad Meacham, and I met up for dinner in LA
over the winter. Liesl Beecher-Flad got married
to Antonio Sirabella, a delightful, kind, and
handsome “Mainer,” at San Francisco City Hall
the Thursday before Labor Day. Christine Lee
and Shanna Bowie were in attendance at the
small reception afterward, held at the Mill Valley,
Calif., home of Liesl’s father, Ward Flad ’68. Liesl
has been working at the Togus campus of the VA
Maine Healthcare System as a licensed clinical
psychologist in primary care, striving each day
toward better integration between primary care
and mental health. The newlyweds are living
in Hallowell, Maine (aka “New Orleans on the
Kennebec”), in a converted mill apartment. Liesl is
very much looking forward to the 15th Reunion in
June, especially since it’s now just a drive away and
she doesn’t risk missing her flight!
In other nuptial news, I tied the knot with
James Davis in November at the Boston Park
Plaza Hotel with a serious Andover and ’01 crowd
to share the special day. The weekend turned out
to be beautiful, sunny, and brisk, with the foliage
holding out for us, letting out-of-town guests enjoy
their time in Boston. Joining in the festivities were
Alida Payson, who traveled from Wales, Nate
Beck, who traveled from Alaska, Marion Read
and Erin Winkler, who came in from the West
Coast, and Amita Singh and Smita Singh, who
came in from Chicago, as well as East Coasters
Paige Austin, Nicholas Ma, Greg Sherman,
Ella Hoffman, Caitlin Henningsen, Josh
Aisenberg ’00, Stef Kovach ’02, Tom Beaton ’73,
and Ruth Weiner ’66. Rachel Weiner was by my
side as a bridesmaid, and Sarah Kline read an
amazing Big Blue blessing during the ceremony. We
are so excited for this next chapter and were happy
to have been surrounded by so much Andover love
during our wedding. We followed up the fun with a
safari honeymoon in Africa this February.
These are our last notes before our 15th
Reunion! We are so ready!
93
stay connected...
Andover friends turned out in force for the Nantucket wedding of Lirra Schiebler ’03 and Dave Hill ’03 in
July. Front, from left: Mari Ono Zilles ’03, Claire Reyner ’03, the bride and groom, and Alyssa Hill ’06,
Dave’s sister. Back row: Meryl Mims ’03, Sam Levenback ’04, Zach Cafritz ’03, Matt Longley ’03,
Alessandra Colaianni ’03, Shaalini Ramanadhan ’03, Rashid Galadanci ’03, Aneesa Sayall ’03,
Bob Yamartino ’03, and Nick Ingaciola ’03.
2002
Lauren Nickerson
P.O. Box 711477
Mountain View HI 96771
[email protected]
Aloha, Class of ’02! Before we get started, here is
a quick reality check for all of us: Recently, I had a
conversation with my husband and remarked that
our “10-year reunion” was next year. He quickly
responded, “How old are you?’’ Oops. We are
coming up on our 15th Reunion next year! As it
turns out, I am not the only one with memory
lapse. Sam Takvorian concluded his update e-mail
with “Hope to see you at the 10-year.” Guys, we
aren’t in our 20s anymore! Without further ado,
here are the notes.
Caroline Van Zile had quite a busy 2015. In
July, she finished working as a law clerk for Justice
Anthony Kennedy. In September, she got engaged
and followed it up with some world travel. She
went to South Africa and Southeast Asia, where
she met up with Paull Randt ’04. She is now
living in DC again, working for a law firm. She got
together with Nadeem Mazen, Chris Wegrzyn,
and James Sonne to catch up and hear about
Nadeem’s ventures in business and politics.
In September, Emily Reynolds launched a
24-hour online news service called The Spark
(www.sparkthenews.com), based in Brockton,
Mass. The site’s mission is to provide unbiased,
hyperlocal news and return journalism to its purest
form—no endorsements, no opinion, just the
facts. Check it out!
Sam Takvorian, whom I look forward to
seeing at our 15th Reunion, and his wife, Melina
Marmarelis, were both matched into fellowships in
hematology/oncology at Penn and look forward
to their upcoming move from Boston to Philly.
94
Stephen “Stevie” Brock moved to Detroit and
started a songwriting and recording program for
high school students. Stevie stays in touch with
Wills Hapworth, who is “doing great things”
with his Thought Into Action Entrepreneurship
Institute at Colgate, and Dean Felch, a newly
minted firefighter in New Orleans.
Niki Roberts got married Nov. 7 in Houston
to Krisa Benskin. Ryan Coughlan played the role
of flower man (which sounds amazing, and I really
wish we had photo evidence). Nancy Glober and
faculty member Carol Israel attended, as did Niki’s
stepfather, David Whittemore ’78.
Katherine Cascio is currently working on a
dissertation focused on improving mental health
and trauma services for women trying to leave
prostitution. She recently saw Kim Ramos and
Dave Breen while home for winter break. Kim
and Katherine enjoyed a lunch in downtown
Andover at Bertucci’s.
Laura Miller, Amy Galvin, and Melanie Cyr
joined Sasha Corken at her new home in Reading,
Mass., for a Halloween celebration. Regarding the
location of her new home, Sasha remarked that if
she and her husband ever choose to have kids, “I
guess they will be day students!”
Tony Bitz had an exciting 2015. He and his
girlfriend quit their jobs in NYC and toured
the United States in a counterclockwise road
trip. Their travels took them to New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon,
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado,
Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia,
Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and finally,
our nation’s capital. Along the way, they saw
Geoff O’Donoghue, Adam Arguelles, and
Chloe Lewis. They also traveled to Hawaii and
stayed with Diane Liu in Honolulu. Highlights
from their trip include camping in the Badlands
and surfing in Maui. The entire trip was a “farewell
to the U.S. tour,” as the happy couple will be
moving to London next year.
Not to be outdone by his former cross-country
and track teammate, Pablo Durana once again
contributed to my favorite game, “Where in
the World is Pablo Durana?” He spent a month
filming a documentary inside an active volcano in
Vanuatu. He spent another month in Afghanistan
documenting women’s rights and filming the
first female Afghan mountaineering team. He
also filmed in Angola, where he explored new
rock climbing regions and helped set up an offgrid solar program. Kudos to those of you who
know where Vanuatu is. Full disclosure: I had
to Google it.
During the holidays, husband Bobby and I
joined Mari Ono Zilles ’03 and her husband, Kyle,
for a delicious dinner where everyone upstaged me
by doing “uni shooters.” Has anyone else tried this?
It was definitely not my cup of tea, or rather, cup of
sea urchin gonads. If any of you are ever headed to
the Big Island, drop me a line. You are more than
welcome to buy your favorite class secretary a cup
of Kona coffee or a pineapple martini. In return, I
may even be willing to play tour guide!
Thank you to everyone who submitted notes.
It is always wonderful to hear from clas

stay connected... - Phillips Academy

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